We love Gridskipper's edge as of late. Take, for example, today's revealing top 8 San Francisco bars with the "crappiest crowds." Rankings 8, 7, 6, and 5 are Beauty Bar, Medjool, Swig, and R Bar, respectively. In all fairness, you need to visit good ol' Gridie to find out just who made the top four. (Also, regarding the number-one spot, we've never visited the sorta chic spot but have heard mixed reviews. Is it......

We don't say this lightly, because there are really a lot of great artists coming out of the Bay Area, but we do have a current favorite: Birds & Batteries. We've been telling you about this co-ed quartet for a little while now, and our expectations for their new record were really high. Thankfully it's good news: we love I'll Never Sleep Again. It's still the B&B we met on their last release, but this......

It’s like someone threw a net over the Mission District circa 1972 and moved it south a couple miles. An overly simplistic description of this block at the heart of the Excelsior? Perhaps. But it’s more accurate than you might think. Didn’t some leisure suit-clad wiseguy in a Corvair convertible blaring an 8-track of Cosmo’s Factory just turn right onto Ocean Ave.? Or did we imagine that? The no-nonsense block of Mission St. between Brazil and Persia Sts. coldly swaps out the Beauty Bar for a dimly lit tavern called Pass Time, and Medjool for four austere Chinese joints and a closet-sized Filipino place specializing in palabok. Awnings could use an update. Shop fronts are less than shiny. There is no valet in sight. This utilitarian swath of businesses and budget eateries may not take home the crown if pitted in a glamour pageant against its celebrated rival up the way, but it stands a good chance to win the boxing match in a 15-round TKO....

Call it the calm before the storm, or a brief respite from the dudely bravado of the District 6 and other election campaigning, but we are thrilled that we have multiple women's literature events to attend tonight: The Madrone Lounge (500 Divisadero at Fell) presents a joint reading with The May Queen contributors and editor Christina Amini and contributors from Before The Mortgage. The May Queen describes itself as a "fascinating collection of 27......

It all started on Thursday night when Andy Smith, celebrating his birthday at the Beauty Bar and wearing a bathrobe, asked if we were going to BarCamp. "Uh, sure," was the reply, not really knowing what we were signing up for. By Friday afternoon we had completely forgotten about it when we got an IM from Min Jung Kim telling us to get ready, as she was leaving for Palo Alto in an hour.......

Wednesday nights at the Beauty Bar features Hip-hop and Dancehall at "Flavor in Ya Ear." Come for the music, stay for the $2 Cuervo shots and $3 rum-and-cokes, and leave nauseous. 'Indie' more your thang? It's DIY DJ night, "Indie Circus," at the Hush Hush -- bring a CD or an iPod and spend fifteen minutes looking for something besides the Bloc Party and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah that everyone else also thought......