Provoking conversations
‘Odd Salon’ serves up very San Francisco conversations over cocktails
The event series curates lectures that highlight strange-but-true stories from history, science, art, and adventure, live on stage.
The next Odd Salon is on June 4.
By Jenneviere Villegas
As the sun descended on a chilly springtime afternoon, I walked through the doors of Public Works on Erie Street; the dimly-lit room filled with eager minds, and bartenders poured cocktails concocted with what I assume was a hint of mystery. I stepped into the world of Odd Salon, an event series where curiosity reigns supreme and the truth is always stranger than fiction.
“Odd Salon” curates lectures that highlight strange-but-true stories from history, science, art, and adventure, live on stage and served with cocktails. Its founders Annetta Black, Tre Balchowsky, and Rachel James began the series in 2014 out of their collective hunger for the bizarre, the overlooked, and the downright eccentric. Participants do not need a fancy résumé to grace Odd Salon’s stage.
“We wanted something where being a speaker wasn’t gated by what your credentials were or by having previous experience on stage,” Balchowsky said, adding:
“History is full of people of all shapes, colors, and genders doing powerful things to move culture forward, to save themselves, to save their friends, and to be the hope in the world. In our modern time, that’s important to know.”
Public Works lent itself well to transporting nearly 350 people into a clandestine hub of secrets and subterfuge. Cocktails began at 6:30, and I grabbed a beer and settled in for an evening of artful mimicry, shadowy machinations, and tales of cunning cons that would make even the most seasoned spy blush.
The night’s theme — Deception — unraveled stories of mimics and misdirections, foils and frauds, and the cloak-and-dagger schemes of agents of espionage. We discussed the last Queen of the Kingdom of Oudh (or was she?); cephalopod cloaking mechanisms; WWII; an elaborate Byzantine architectural revenge plot; and a lively discussion on various species who use scent to control insects for their own benefit.
By the end of the evening on April 2nd, we were all in awe of these masters of deception, and I personally wanted to sign those octopuses up for the next season of Penn and Teller’s Fool Us.
In a nightlife scene that sometimes feels less bookish, my inner geek felt particularly excited. I heard full-audience shout-outs of “ART!”, “SCIENCE!”, “MAPS!” and “BOATS!” whenever such things appeared in the graphics that accompanied each talk, raucous laughter at the very many comedic moments, and multiple cocktail toasts throughout the evening. The night felt more like a jovial nerdy house party rather than anything that might resemble a formal historic or scientific lecture.
During intermission, I peeked a merch table laden with plush versions of Odd Salon’s official spokes-beast — a wolpertinger named Harvey — along with glassware and other sundries.
As the crowd mingled and finished their drinks after the last talk, I could hear facts being shared excitedly as they chatted. Murmurs of “I had no idea cephalopods are color blind!” and “Can you believe that guy actually joined AA as part of his long con?” followed us out the door as the venue emptied into the street.
The evening felt near perfect for me and my friends: It wasn’t overly loud like a club, we weren’t jostled at an overcrowded bar, we were highly entertained, and we were done by 11 p.m.
It’s quite a thing to be in a room absolutely brimming with people eager to learn something new, something weird, or something wild, and it’s rare to attend a lecture series with speakers that are actually engaging. Odd Salon delivers on both of these things in spades.
// The next San Francisco Odd Salon titled “Bananas: seeking takes of the wild and the weirdly wacky” is on June 4.
Jenneviere Villegas is a Community and Marketing Leader based in San Francisco, and the founder of engagementalchemy.io
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