We'll 'fess up. We haven't been to the Cow Palace since the 2005 Tattoo Expo. With that said, we're a bit torn with how to feel about the possibility of the Cow Palace being demolished. With such historical events as the Beatles playing there and John F. Kennedy speaking to the masses about starting the Peace Corp, on that hand alone, we'd hate to see this place go. The other hand, however, has to admit......

The motorcycling-riding Johnny Knoxville of his time, minus any homoerotic subtext, Evel Knievel died today at the wonderful age of 69. He passed away after years of suffering from "diabetes and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs." Which? Good for him -- in that he wasn't taken down by his daredevil-laced stuntsmanship. He even survived a run-in with the Hell's Angels. (Aside: why do the Hell's Angels act like such......

We received a few messages this morning of sleeplessness regarding last night's Oracle Open World finale. Even the enchanting Stevie Nick's couldn't keep SF residents from calling the cops to ask what the hell was going on. ...

You think Hallwoeen on the Castro is a nightmare of douche-baggie proportions? Try the Oracle Open World 2007 convention, which is happening this Sunday, November 11 through Thursday, November 15. And it sucks for us plebeians. Imagine nerds and sales tools infused with a false sense of power. (Except for any Oracle SFist reader; you're all golden.) Imagine nasty Oracle PR bitches who hangup on local media outlets trying to get a modicum of......

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......

Special Friday Night Lights edition This Friday night in San Francisco offers such a great selection of shows that it's all were going to focus on this week. So here's how to use this week's column:     Step 1. Decide you're going to see live music on Friday night.     Step 2. Read about all your choices below, and be sure to listen to the music and watch the videos.     Step 3. Call up a friend or......

Twenty-three thousand nine hundred seventeen dollars and eighy-three cents -- but let's just round it up to a solid $24,000. That's how much the MTA (Muni's parent agency) is going to be allotting to pay off this month's round of settlements. Collecting Muni money in February are State Farm Insurance, Nikita and Vivienne Johnson, and Tokuko Yamagishi. The Johnsons' case is dramatic -- they claim that back in 2004, a driver on the 9......

We weren't sure what to expect when entering the Dickens Fair for the first time this past Sunday. We (as in the contributor of this story) had never even heard of this curious event until just a couple of weeks ago. When we eagerly checked out their web site, we learned that it's been around since the '70s and was started by Red Barn Productions and the Patterson Family, the people who ran the Renaissance Pleasure Faire at Black Point in Marin before it closed. Wikipedia also informed us that San Francisco's fair is "the oldest, largest, and most successful of the modern Dickens festivals outside of England."...

Yes, we went to the Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the Cow Palace this weekend. Why? Aren't we supposed to be virulently anti-gun? Shouldn't we hate not just guns but people who like guns? Well, maybe. But we actually thought going was a no-brainer. After all, we live in a city in which watching somebody leading another person in their bondage slave gear is considered normal but a guy in pickup truck with "Vegetarian is an Indian Word For Lazy" isn't and there's a lot more of the later than the former in this country. We like checking out things that we don't normally get to check out and a gun show definitely fits into that category. Let's put it another way, any event that has to go out of it's way to make everyone aware that paraphernalia glorifying Nazism isn't allowed has to be seen to be believed. ...

Saturday: We're wiping down our vinyl dress for the San Francisco Fetish Ball. Running March 16 through 19, get your chips, dips, chains, and whips on at a variety on venues all weekend. Sunday: It's the final day of the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show at the Cow Palace. From 9 a.m to 6 p.m. see six acres of extraordinary gardens, seminars and shopping. It's more nature than we can handle! Monday: We......

You can bet your ear plugs we'll be tuning in to "American Idol" tonight as the show continues with its seemingly endless episodes of auditions, because San Francisco is their next stop! The try-outs were held way back in August and we've learned from many, many seasons of the show that just because auditions are held in San Francisco, does not mean that everyone who'll be featured for praise or ridicule will actually be......

If we're done talking about Drew Barrymore's braless appearance at the Golden Globes last night, let's move on and see what TV has in store for us this evening. We're pretty sure the premiere of "American Idol" at 8 p.m. on Fox will include fashion gaffes that will put Drew's Barrymores to shame. At least, we hope so. It takes more than bad singing to earn our scorn after sitting through countless seasons of "American......

We were walking through the Cow Palace the other day -- that giant warehouse-ish building, way south of the Mission, where they have rodeos and exhibitions and stuff -- when who should walk past us but a tall man with an ivy wreath on his head, luxuriant flowing white hair, and majestic robes. He was holding by the arm a small, whimpering man in a dressing gown, and he was saying something like, "look,......

Four unrelated shootings in San Francisco over the long Labor Day weekend -- one at 24th and Alabama, one at Turk and Laguna, one at Harrison and 1st, and one in Visitacion Valley near the Cow Palace. Two victims are dead, two are in the hospital. PG&E announced that it figured out why that generator blew the other week underneath the Ralph Lauren store -- water leaked into the transformer, which caused an electrical short, which then blew up oil in the chamber used for insulation. Who uses oil for insulation? (Okay, engineers, enlighten us.) In other news, another transformer blew up on Market Street due to a failed cable splice, there was a power outage near UCSF when a tree blew into some power lines, and another outage in the Outer Mission when a car drove into a pole. And celebrating Labor Day the old-school way, 61 union members were arrested outside the Grand Hyatt at a sit-in over the year-long hotel strike. The union organizers have agreed to end the boycott against the Westin St. Francis because the WSF management has agreed to support several of the union's key demands. ...

People, what are you doing sitting around reading this site when local auditions for "American Idol" are being held TOMORROW?! According to the show's official site, the lining-up process began this morning at 6 a.m. If you haven't received your official "American Idol" lining-up bracelet yet, we're sure there's still time. And this is part we couldn't believe: Parking is FREE! Hell, just going there, parking, and witnessing the sheer humanity is probably worth......

While we can think of about fifty places in the Mish to practice your Downward Dog without even trying, it's nice to find places where we can practice our favorite set of postitions without looking like we were stranded by our dates in the Cow Palace parking lot after Exotic Erotic. Since none of those Yoga Tree joints will let us practice our California Roll and the Metereon threw us out after our last......

When we heard that the Golden Gloves were moving back up to San Francisco from the Cow Palace, we were all "sure, that sounds cool", but we didn't really get how awesome it was until we set foot in the Civic Center Friday night. Right away, we want to take our hats off to the entire organization for taking what was, as we said earlier, basically a friends and family event and making it......

With the preponderance of ">world ">class gyms and fighters in the Bay Area, SFist has always wondered why the San Francisco Golden Gloves has evolved into more of a fighter friends and family event than a fan-oriented competition, as it was when established in 1931. In years past we've witnessed the Gloves from the bleachers of the Cow Palace, where remnants of hay and manure from last week's rodeo made us feel more like......

roundup of the Bay Area weeklies...

We'd like to point out that our fair state's evil anti-smoking laws have finally struck the Lone Palm -- we were told no more smoking last night. Almost makes us wanna move to a nice, tolerant red state where we can smoke and drink away our sense of impending doom like a normal human being. We had two new weekly features debut this week - the Trimethyldioxypurist will be bringing you slightly jittery thoughts......

SFist went to the rodeo yesterday. Yeehaw! This year was the 60th Grand National Rodeo at the Cow Palace and boy howdy, was it fun. The rodeo, livestock show and other related events lasted the whole week, but we showed up at the end for the event finals. We don't know much about the rodeo -- everything we know we learned watching 8 Seconds -- but we've always wanted to go, and it was as......

All you shower-singers and karaoke fans, you probably know this already, but American Idol is hosting tryouts at the Cow Palace tomorrow for the fourth season. ...

The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus is in town again. It's only the 134th edition -- how many times have you seen it? And did you know the guy who did the logo is a local font guru?...

round-up of recent Bay Area crime...

Andre Ward, born and raised in Oakland, is currently in Athens, Greece getting ready to take on the world in the boxing ring. America's best shot for gold as a pugilist, he is one of dozens of athletes at the Olympics with ties to the Bay Area. This guy hasn't lost a fight since he started boxing at age fourteen - much like his father, who was undefeated in fifteen bouts. A light heavyweight, Ward trains at King's Gym in Oakland....