We could've gone with a YouTube clip of the video for Love Is A Battlefield (totally one of the best videos ever), but we went instead for the Benatards doing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" at the Eagle Tavern -- that's right, Pat Benatar's playing a show tonight! If you can get up to the Marin County Fair in San Rafael, Ms. Benatar and her husband Neil Girardo will be performing hits like......

It's that time of the year again for San Francisco magazine's Best of the Bay party. The annual bash features lots of eats, drinks and chances to win prizes. Be prepared to fork over nearly a bill for your ticket here -- but as an added bonus it will also get you into the afterparty at Slide. San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center, 635 8th St. Come watch contenders for the Air Guitar championship title......

--The Dyke March was fun. [Chron.] --The Recall McGoldrick people didn't get enough signatures to get on the ballot. [From the SFist Tips line!] --It's the winner of the World's Ugliest Dog contest! [ABC 7.] --Learn more about Chris Daly! [Chron.] --Can Yahoo be saved? [Merc News.] --Ha ha ha ha! Crazy animal races at the Alameda County Fair. Would a duck beat a pig? [Inside Bay Area.] --Remember that house that collapsed in Sunnyside?......

As we mentioned yesterday, tonight is the MUNI confab with MUNI Director Mr. Ford live in person hosted by District 5 Supervisor Mirkarimi. Take the N-Judah to the County Fair Building (9th and Irving) for this scintillating discussion of service, security and the future of MUNI. (7-9pm) Perhaps after listening to bureaucrats thank everyone for their input, you need a stiff drink and valuable information about giant spiders and obscure factoids about dinosaurs. The......

Does anyone else remember those awesome signs they used to have behind the driver on the old MUNI buses -- "Information Gladly Given But Safety Requires Avoiding Unnecessary Conversation"? Well, get some information -- and maybe even have some unnecessary conversations -- at Ross Mirkarimi's Town Hall Meeting On MUNI tomorrow, Wednesday November 1! Ross and (SFist obsession) MTA Director Mr. Nathaniel Ford (!!!!!) will be on hand "to discuss your concerns about service,......

Caaaaaan yooooooou ..... dig it??? Tonight: Check out StartSOMA's Group Show tonight -- 40 artists, hundreds of works, and complimentary mojitos to boot! Hotel des Arts (447 Bush Street, x Grant) from 7-10, admission is free. The flyer also says they'll be featuring "the skateboard decks of Jason Lee." The Jason Lee? Thursday: You can enjoy the precious thoughts of New Yorker writer Adam Gopnick as he reads from the children's book he and his softballer son Luke have written together (awwwww), at Cody's on Telegraph at 7:30 -- or the harder-edged sex/death musings of Mary Gaitskill and her new novel Veronica, at 12:30 at Modern Times. And Friday: It's the Harvest Festival at the SF Botanical Garden! There's a farmers' market, you can meet the Bat Lady, and kids of all ages can decorate pumpkins and learn about "smelly, slimy, creepy, crawly plants." 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park at 9th and Irving. ...

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. ...

The Bonsai Society of San Francisco will be holding it's annual auction this Thursday, September 9th at 7:30 PM in the San Francisco County Fair Building (Who knew it even existed?) at the Corner of 9th Avenue and Lincoln Way. For those people who have never been to a bonsai club or a bonsai auction this is a great opportunity to meet people who are involved in bonsai in the area as well as pick......