We volunteered to meet and greet sell Noise Pop merchandise to festival attendees who often ended up spending all their money on band merch (as if) and/or beer (or more specifically in Cafe Du Nord's case -- Fernet Branca and Poppy Jaspers). It was quite a fun experience though, and we highly recommend it. Contact them about volunteering at next year's event! Tuesday: Our first Noise Pop night was on Opening Night at the Rickshaw......

-- Crime in Choir: CIC rocks it. Hard. For reals. Big time. One of the purest sounds coming out of SF these days, really. Brave the chill and head down to Potrero Hill to check them out. You won't regret it. Pink Mountain and Science of Yarba open at this anniversary party for Frenetic Records. The music starts at 10 p.m. at Bottom of the Hill; $10. -- It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine:......

Kids, it's time to get rocking. (Especially before the "Private Party" dry spell that is coming on. Yikes.) This week, the San Francisco music gods are offering a vast array of newbies and veterans - something that we will graciously partake of any day of the week. Now that the bets are in (okay, so no one really cast any bets - how boring is that?), you can go to Cafe du Nord, tonight,......

Walking on stage dressed in school boy suits, that would suggest that these five band members are in Harry Potter's entourage, we suddenly knew we were in for something special. The colors of their suits, black and white, did not match with their in-your-face, loud, rock-star sound. Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn), the drummer, took the stage first. With his face, but mostly his eyes (Tyra Banks would be proud), Dangerous would look at different spots......

Dude, she was shot at Jonestown! it doesn't matter she didn't win her race for Lieutenant Governor. Former State Senator Jackie Speier speaks at the Commonwealth Club tonight about the book she co-authored, This Is Not The Life I Ordered, which tells not only her story, but the story of three of her friends as well. $18, reception at 6, reading at 7, at 595 Market 2nd Fl. (x 2nd). Other events: --The Stars and......

Pick your poison -- it's either flyering for Gavin Newsom or going to the Progressive Convention this afternoon. If politics isn't your game, here's some other options for today and tonight: --The Manga show's opened at the Asian Art Museum! Featuring the art of Astroboy! Check out the blog, and check out the show. 200 Larkin Street, $12, 10-5. --Bring a radio and come to a Southern Exposure artists' walking/radio broadcast narrative tour of 20th......

We complain a lot about San Francisco -- you name it, we'll bitch about it, sometimes to the point of distraction. Sometimes it takes an outside perspective to remind us of the good things. Today's kick in the head comes from Jonathan Zwickel at The Stranger's Slog blog, where he writes about his first-ever Bay to Breakers last weekend:...

SFist Jenna sez....: Get your learn, dessert, dance and drink on at these Tuesday haps around the city: Reading & Book Signing: A.M Homes, (author of Safety of Objects, Music for Torching and The End of Alice) reading from and signing her latest book, The Mistress's Daughter, about her horrible biological parents, tonight at 7 pm. Booksmith,1644 Haight St. Get there a bit early to take advantage of the free cone day at Ben &......

Here's what's opening this week: Wild Hogs About four wannabe bikers who stumble into a chapter of Hell’s Angels, the film looks like an updated (and not-so-yuppie) retelling of City Slickers. Wild Hogs features Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, John Travolta and William H. Macy. A huge event for the Chinese “Year of the Pig” saw all four of the film’s stars in some sort of parade on the Embarcadero. There were supposed to be floats-- and motorcycles, of course. We hear you couldn’t pay press to attend. Let's hope the same can't be said of the movie. ...

Perusing the club listings for December, we're seeing an awful lot of blank calendars. We reckon that means many of SFist's great music venues are being rented out for holiday parties. Perhaps even parties to which we were not invited. Party throwers, don't be afraid to invite SFist. We promise not to do anything untoward that might tarnish our sterling reputation. Not like we did last year. Dear readers, there is a wealth of good......

Nerds should start arranging transpo down to Menlo Park tonight for the latest Dorkbot at Onomy labs. Topics include artist Jill Miller's hunt for Bigfoot in the northern Sierra, PARC alums Scott Minneman and Dale MacDonald discussing collaborative innovation and somebody will be bringing an x86 laptop with OS X hacked onto it. It's getting rather queer over on the Craiglist listings -- it's Naughty Schoolgirl night at Divas, Bay Area Black In The......

Last week's winner, the Weekly: Are you an apologist for Tom Cruise? Cover article: SF Cardinal Levada's denial of Catholic sexual abuse in the Bay Area. Meredith Brody hits her western boundary at Max's on Van Ness and Golden Gate. Bands in town next week: the peppy Go! Team and Sufjan (pronounced "Soof-yan") Stevens with two of the fifty nifty United States. Savage Love: male bisexuals -- are they real? And why don't bis date other bis? The EBX: Why do shooting-range targets have pictures of animals on them? Cruelty! Poorly-retrofitted houses. Cover article: A guy who loves metal (not Chuck Klosterman). Bay to Barkers! (not the family of Travis from blink 182). Judging pies at the Alameda County Fair. The Hammer show sucked. The top 10 Li'l Jon hits (we like his work with Pitbull ourselves.) More KPFA drama, this time featuring the hip-hop show Hard Knock Radio. And Sufjan! After the jump, Sufjan and other delectables in the SFBG, and the pick of the week. ...

We personally think the whole "Top Whatever" lists thing to be totally overdone and usually laughably wrong. On the other hand, they are darn fun to ruminate over. Especially a particularly juicy one that hasn't been done before. Recently, USA Today put together a list of the "Top Twenty American Rock Bands." The top American band of all time, as voted by the readers? Pearl Jam. Something they got in part for "longevity" even though we thought they broke up in '95 or something (we kid! We know they're still around. It's just that they’ve been releasing the same half-assed disc for the past ten years). Of local interest is the fact that the Bay Area throws down and represents. In fact, four out of the twenty (well, actually, twenty-one but do we really want to include Bon Jovi?) all hail from our hallowed climes. Those bands? The East Bay's own Creedence Clearwater Revival (15, tied with Bruuuuuce!!!!!) and Metallica (12), the Dead (7), and clocking in as the highest ranked Bay Area band-- Journey (5). Don’t stop believing, indeed. For a bit of perspective, that's more great bands than Chicago (zero bands), Boston (one band), Seattle (three) and the mighty New York (three). Take that, Big Apple! The only area more rocking than the Bay Area is SoCal, with six, but there should be some sort of penalty incurred for giving us the Eagles. ...

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......

It's looking like yet another beautiful weekend in the City, which means we're once again faced with a veritable plethora of choices on what to do. Hike Mt. Tam? Pound the pavements to affect political change? Drink steins of beer and polka? Don't know about you, but the choice is obvious- it's Polka time! Yep, Germany's most famous tradition that doesn't involve invading France is back for the annual Oktoberfest By The Bay at the......