You know, they have some pretty awesome pictures of Hizzoner Mayor Newsom in the "Mayor's Photo Gallery" page on sfgov.org. We've been dying for an excuse to use this picture for weeks now -- weeks! more ›

So on Friday night, you may have seen that we described Noise Pop headliner Jason Collett as "rainy Sunday afternoon music." Ironic, then, that on the actual rainy Sunday afternoon, we went to see a straight-up bar band at the Bottom of the Hill, the Trainwreck Riders. The Trainwreck Riders were described to us as a country-punk type of outfit, but we didn't really hear much of the country in their raucous set -- it was instead loud drums and complicated guitar rhythms; our favorite! They tore through a number of songs (the lyrics of which we were totally unable to make out), to the bobbing heads of young, dark-haired fans. It was flannel shirt day at the club, apparently, and the rain gave the Bottom of the Hill an unfortunate mildewy odor, but a good time was had by all. And how sweet are these guys? They dedicated one of their songs to the drummer and bassist's mother, who was standing in the back of the club wearing a sensible sweater, for being really nice about them rehearsing all the time. It sort of reminded us of this week's Onion article, "Raccoons Force Garage Band Into Attic." We are very sorry we missed the gypsy-folk band >a href="http://www.noisepop.com/2006/artist_detail.php?artist=49">Gavin Newsome, who are actually the band formerly known as Full Moon Partisans and are taking votes for a new band name. (Why is it that the name "Gavin Newsome" is an excellent band name, but "Matt Gonzales" is not?) If you're looking for a new name, might we suggest..... CSI Plumpjack? more ›

Gavin Newsom's beleaguered this week! So beleaguered we're breaking it down into two posts! more ›

On Thursday night, political non-profit organization Music For America presented their inaugural Icon Awards to honor influential musicians, outstanding political achievement, and social responsibility. Honorees included Gavin Newsom, Green Day, Death Cab For Cutie, Oakland-based Youth Movement Records, Working Assets, and MFA Board Member Dan Lipski. With 60,000 members, Music for America endeavors to engage young people in politics through partnerships with musicians and music communities. more ›

Hooray to us! We have now officially flogged the Gavin Newsom & Sofia Milos thing to death. But hey, we got in the paper of record -- thanks, Swells! We'd like to thank everyone who made this possible, including SFist Jon, who came up with the naming contest idea in the first place. And the winner of the First Annual Name That Newsom Couple is...... CSI Plumpjack!!!! Congratulations, commenter Dave! We'll be getting in touch with you to get your address to send you some fine, fine SFist swag. Looks like we should have had one extra entry, though -- the hot, hot name of "Milos + Guest." Leah Garchik reports that Getty Images has a picture of CSI: Plumpjack up on its site, with the caption "Actress Sofia Milos + guest arrive at Elton John's Academy Awards party." Is Getty Images affiliated with the same Gettys that funded Newsom's campaign? Are those checks made out to "plus Guest" as well? And finally, yesterday's Two Cents featured the question: "Would you rather read about Newsom's love life or potholes?" Is the Chron so hard-pressed for newsprint that there isn't room in the paper for both? Photo of "Sofia Milos + guest" by David Livingston, from Getty Images more ›