Our concert picks for the week of 5/12-5/18.

Welcome, welcome, hordes of new readers who have recently discovered what our loyal readership has known for months -- that SFist.com is our fair city's Best Local Blog. (This will not be the first nor last mention of this honor bestowed upon us by SF Weekly). But enough with the self-aggrandizing babble. Onto the concerts! Tonight Ivy conjures their dream pop at Slim's in support of their latest album In The Clear. Support the locals by seeing Luce's radio-ready rock at the Independent or The Gris Gris' spooky sounds at Bottom of the Hill. We're not sure if Lyrics Born is officially a local artist, but we'll treat him like our own when he descends upon Great American Music Hall. SF Jazz presents living legend Ravi Shankar with special guest Anoushka Shankar at the War Memorial Opera House.

If you haven't gotten your copy of Gimme Fiction yet, you could pick one up at Amoeba on Friday afternoon when Spoon plays live. Get there well before the 7pm start time, because any band that can sell out the Fillmore shouldn't have a problem filling Amoeba for a free show. Later that night, SFist faves Von Iva open for The Vanishing at Bottom of the Hill. 1015 presents The Return of Futurism featuring Two Lone Swordsmen, Matmos and Diplo. SFist Rain suggests a road trip to Albany to see Blown Cuda with the Drogues and Painted Bird at The Ivy Room, but SFist Emily is only going as far as Oakland to see Jimmy Eat World. 12 Galaxies is throwing a launch party for the brand new SF print edition of The Onion. Admission is free and the Dead Hensons are playing. The truly adventurous among us should head to Hotel Utah, where one of the scheduled performers is actor John Corbett of "Sex and the City" fame. We think John Corbett is affable and oafishly handsome, but we are not quite sure what he's doing at a music venue. We hope it does not involve spandex. If anyone goes, please do send us a report.

M.I.A., M.I.A., M.I.A. If you haven't heard at least three people raving about her, then you don't know enough tastemakers. We found her KCRW.com performance to be a little underwhelming (watch it here), but what do we know? Her Friday show at the Independent is sold out, but you can see her Saturday at Amoeba at 5pm or later that night when she opens for LCD Soundsystem at the Fillmore. Jolie Holland's Friday show also sold out, but you could score tickets to her Saturday show at Great American with Sean Hayes and Sonny Smith. Congratulations on Club Six turning 6.

On Sunday you should don your wackiest togs, fill your flasks with libations and tie your running shoes on tight for the sweaty, drunken, jog-party that is Bay to Breakers. Piano rocker Gavin DeGraw will wear some sort of hat when he headlines Footstock just after noon.

On Monday, Audioslave rocks the Warfield. We're not crazy about their new single, "Be Yourself," but that doesn't diminish the fact that Chris Cornell is a dreamboat. The Independent's Cinema Drafthouse presents an exclusive screening of Live From Bonnaroo 2004 plus a ticket raffle to attend the festival. Our close compadres in Eleventeen have returned from a long hiatus with a new singer we haven't heard yet, but we're betting he's the real deal. Catch their first show in ages at Bottom of the Hill.

Tuesday night KALX presents The Books and Mia Doi Todd at Cafe Du Nord. Slim's has the laid back folk rock of Citizen Cope. Amoeba presents a show on Wednesday by Iron & the Albatross as part of their Homegrown Program. Multi-instrumentalist Ara Anderson has collaborated with Jolie Holland and Tom Waits, so we reckon his music must be good.

Image of the Dead Hensons from IUMA.com. Image of Citizen Cope from TheMusicEdge.com.