Nerd Nite SF #28: Mites Mystery, Weird WWII SF, and Pierrot Lunaire

Itching to get out of the house? Feeling a little moonstruck? Ever wished our lecture-in-a-bar catchphrase were "the History Channel with beer" instead? Well, you're in luck, 'cause we have a NNSF grab-bag to fit almost any predilection, with a biologist's personal account of ectoparasite hell, a history buff's tales of SF's WWII weirdness, and an ensemble performance-presentation on Schoenberg's moon-crazed mime. Be there and be square!

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"The Year of the Mite: A Scientific Detective Story" by Jane Ishka

Jane Ishka's family decided to keep a couple of cute, fuzzy baby chicks in the family room for a few weeks, until they were big enough to live in the backyard coop with the laying hens. But it turns out a chicken can host up to 10,000 D. gallinae, translucent mites, each the size of the point of a pin. They bite people, crawl in and out of human pores, carry some really nasty diseases, and reproduce so quickly they have out-evolved most pesticides. Jane the biologist (http://yearofthemite.com/) was their favorite host. Join us for a talk that will make your skin crawl.

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"Prowling Subs and Panic Attacks: Ten Bizarre Stories From World War II San Francisco" by Carl Nicolari

World War II-era San Francisco was ground zero for many a bizarre episode that you were never taught in history class. We'll declassify the files of wartime weirdness and reveal ten true stories of riots and racism, POWs and panic attacks, and the real reason the United Nations was founded here. You don't have to be a military history geek to enjoy this presentation!

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"Pierrot Lunaire, Cabaret for a Crazed Clown: A Performance-Presentation on Arnold Schoenberg's Expressionist Chamber Music Masterpiece" by Nonsemble 6

Nonsemble 6 (http://www.nonsemble6.com/) gives a performance-presentation of Arnold Schoenberg's epic masterpiece Pierrot Lunaire. Scored for voice, piano, violin, cello, flute, and clarinet, this melodrama is about Pierrot, the original melancholy, moon-drunk clown and mime from Italy's commedia dell'arte. The music ranges in fits of hyperactive expressionism–Schoenberg's "atonal" music was and still is reviled by many. But in the hands of the competent, this music sings with delicious romanticism, dances the waltzes of Vienna, and claws at the psyche with frightful hallucinations.

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DJ Alpha Bravo mans the decks, spinning vinyl and tweeting along to the presentations' themes. Find out what you're listening to by following @djalphabravo.