Comedians don’t go into standup for the money. Late-night  shows in small basement clubs don’t often result in rags-to-riches stories. So it’s apropos that San Francisco’s biggest comedy event, the 31st annual Comedy Day on Sunday in Golden Gate Park, is free.“It’s a labor of love,” says Debi Durst, president and executive director of Comedy Day. “No one is getting paid, and we’re a volunteer-operated nonprofit, but all the comedians love doing it.” Read More

Shaun Sanders is the co-founder of Graffiti PR, which will be hosting its third annual Styling the Modern Man event Thursday at the Bently Reserve. Tickets, which include complimentary haircuts, shaves, massages, facials and drinks, are $20 to $100 and can be purchased at 2011stylingthemodernman.eventbrite.com. Read More

While “The Steins Collect” has been stealing the limelight at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art this summer, shows like “Face of Our Time” are what make the museum’s curatorial efforts ring with contemporary relevance.The exhibition features documentary photography by an exceptional quintet of artists — Bay Area photographers Richard Misrach and Jim Goldberg, along with Daniel Schwartz, Jacob Aue Sobol and Zanele Muholi. Read More

Byron Spooner, the literary director of Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, will conduct the 47th annual book sale Sept. 21 through Sept. 25. More than 500,000 books will be on sale at the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason. Volunteers are still being encouraged to apply. Call (415) 522-8606 or visit www.friendssfpl.org for more information. Read More

Dancers have been leaping in the air for centuries. But what about ascending? The Bay Area’s Project Bandaloop has been tackling gravity on a perpendicular plane for two decades, and it is celebrating its 20th anniversary with its first full-length work, “Bound(less).” Free performances are slated for Sept. 15-18 in Oakland, and sneak previews will be held in San Francisco’s Mint Plaza next week.   Read More

Eric Stanley, co-editor of the recently released book “Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex” — an anthology of writing from prisoners, activists and academics about transgender and queer liberation and prison abolition — is part of the Sept. 8 book launch at 7 p.m. at Modern Times Bookstore, 2919 24th St. What was one of your goals while compiling this anthology? Nat Smith, my co-editor, and I wanted to highlight and focus on the ways that transgender and queer people are impacted by the prison industrial complex. Read More

Tap dancing — it’s more than Fred Astaire’s slick moves and more than 5-year-olds in sequined costumes scraping their feet on the floor while exercising “jazz hands.” It’s a vibrant pursuit in which the feet become a rhythm section, and the body transforms into a two-fold performer. Still not convinced? The Bay Area Tap Festival may change that. Presented by Stepology, a nonprofit group committed to ushering tap into the 21st century, the festival, which features workshops, panel discussions and performances, runs today through Sunday in The City. Read More