Hey, remember that Question Time thingy? You know, that non-binding measure that voters passed which called for Gavin to appear in front of the Board of Supes and answer questions thrown his way while the rest of us get to kick back and watch the fun? Well, if you remember, Gavin kind of refused to do it and instead staged fake Question Time, "Town Hall" meetings throughout the city and wound up killing any sort of conflict over the issue by basically boring everyone to death. Even the chickens got bored and stopped attending. ...

Maybe it was the heat. There were four serious attacks in SF last night, one of which were fatal. Here's the time line, from CBS 5/Bay City News. --around 9:20 p.m.: shooting at Taylor and Market in the Loin. One victim hit in the arm. --around 10:00 p.m.: shots fired in Sunnydale (can Dede Wilsey help with that?). Victim found with four gunshot wounds, one in each arm and two in the chest. Injuries considered......

You'll have to keep borrowing free wi-fi from cafes and the unsecured accounts of your neighbors for now -- Earthlink's backed out of the public-private free wifi deal with San Francisco because of its recent financial woes. Gavin Newsom says he's committed to finding another private company to set up the whole system, and blames the Board of Supervisors for the deal falling through because they wanted more information before approving the agreement; the Board......

Made famous to us plebeians not by the names littering the social registry and its many sad suck-ups (an aside: ahem, our rent is due soon, bitches), but by the much-missed former SF Weekly's "Dog Bites" columnist Laurel Wellman, Nob Hill Gazette just landed another beloved local writer, former Chronicle society scribe Catherine Bigelow. She starts today as the top-drawer publication's shiny new Deputy Editor & Society Columnist, working alongside longtime Editor Merla Zellerbach. An......

San Francisco socialites have been fellated for far too long by such hard-hitting glossies as 7x7 Magazine and San Francisco Magazine. Hell, even the pages from new society (excuse me, “philanthropy”) rag Benefit Magazine -- "the Lifestyle of Giving” is its tagline, God help us -- might lead you to believe that the upper crust would like nothing more than to head over to Bayview-Hunters Point and act as human shields from gunfire, saving the......

Hey -- we're not doing our usual light-hearted romp through the Swells society column this weekend, because we've got sad news. The doyenne of Swells, Catherine Bigelow, announced in this week's column that she's been asked to take the Chron's "voluntary buyout package," so this is it for your mathematically-inclined socialite review. Best of luck to you, C.Big, and we know you'll end up on your feet, tripping the light fantastic, and we hope you'll......

It's a short Swells this week! Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 85. Number of people pictured whom we recognize: 2: Dede Wilsey and Frank Jordan. Minority count: 13 (15.3%). Includes three food servers. Getty v. Traina: 0-1. Where's Gavin this week? We know he loves a party! Museums featured in this week's column: 3: the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Legion of Honor, and the Cal Academy of......

SFist Rita is out of town for work, so we are donning our tiara and gown for this weeks Swells analysis. Tra-la-la! Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 57. Total number of people pictured whom we recognize/know: 23. This high number is because of the SF Library event with lots of writers, including Amy Tan, Vendela Vida, Dave Eggers, Stephen Elliot, Ben Fong-Torres, Michael Lewis, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry,......

Number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 67. Number of people pictured whom we recognize: 9 (including 3 pictures of Gavin Newsom and 2 pictures of Dede Wilsey). Minority count: 5 (7.5%). Getty v. Traina: 10-8 (There's a spread about the LA branch of the Gettys in this month's Harper's Bazaar). Number of choice quotes concerning Gavin Newsom: 2. One by Dede Wilsey (re the Healthy Saturdays negotiations): "I learned that Gavin......

On time this week! Last week's winner: the East Bay Express. All pro-Wiccan letters except for one, which says witchcraft is not a religion. That's right -- it's a sandwich store! The mayors of Alameda and Oakland suck. Skating in the East Bay. Cover article: a local Burning Man DJ is popular, wants to get into hip-hop. That new movie by the Shawn of the Dead guys is pretty funny. Is payola coming back for......

The Sunday Styles section of the Chronicle does it again! Not content to rest on its laurels after watching poor Jennifer Bumblebee Siebel decimate herself, Styles next turns its gimlet eye on two other prominent members of the Swells set: Denise Hale and the inimitable bicycle-intimidator Dede Wilsey. Sunday Styles RULES. Turns out Pat Montandon, mother of Sean Wilsey and ex-wife of Dede's late husband Al Wilsey, has decided to pen a book of her......

"She loves 'plebeian American food' like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but doesn’t allow herself even a nibble, fearing an insidious slide into the next dress size." - San Francisco Magazine, on Dede Wilsey. ...

It looks like there might be peace in our time as a deal is in the works over the whole Healthy Saturdays thing. Apparently, city officials are trying to work out a compromise between fans of the plan and supporters of the Dede Wilsey Shrine to Her Wilsey-ness. No details have emerged yet, but apparently Gavin has been meeting with both sides to figure something out. ...

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 48. Number of people pictured whom we recognize: 2 (Kamala Harris and Willie Brown, at separate events). Minority count: 3 (the two we recognized plus one more, or 6.25%). Getty v. Traina: 0-4. Gavin Newsom count: 0. Ironically, Swells appears to be the only Newsom-free zone in the entire Chronicle. When Dede Wilsey expects her latest project, the UCSF Mission Bay hospital, to be......

More balletomania! We've read so much coverage of the 74th SF ballet opening night gala, we're starting to expect to see ourselves in these pictures! Number of people pictured in this week's Swells society columns: 48. Number of people pictured whom we recognize: 4 (Dededededededededede, the Shultzes, and Michela Alioto-Pier). Minority count: 4 (approx. 10%). Getty v. Traina: Again, a pity Gavin Newsom is in Davos -- Dede Wilsey again crushes the competition in favor......

Hip, hip, HOORAY! Hip, hip, HOORAY! Catherine Bigelow, the Chron society columnist, is back from vacation, and here with a special report on Wednesday night's SF Ballet Opening Gala! Number of people pictured: 24. Number of people pictured whom we recognize: 3 (the Shultzes and Jerry Yang, though we did also recognize Angelique Griepp's Oscar de la Renta dress from SFMike's blog). Minority count: 3 (12.5%). Getty v. Traina: Too bad Gavin's in Davos this......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 67. Number of people pictured whose names we recognize: 8 (Trainas, Gettys, and figures in local politics only, including on-the-way-out Steve Kawa). Minority count: 4 (6%). Hats, capes, tiaras: 0, 0, 0 (but Gavin's hair looks a little funny). Getty v. Traina: 6-12. It's Dede Wilsey's Christmas party, that's why!!! Dede had laryngitis but wore Chanel and had the best hors d'oeuvres in town......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 52. Total number of people pictured whose names we recognize: 4 (Neil Young, Elton John, Dede Wilsey, and Paul Pelosi). Minority count: 6 (approximately 12%). Hats, capes, tiaras: 0, 0, 0 (but two pendants, one of which was being dramatically clasped around the neck of an auction winner). Getty v. Traina: 1-1. Minimum number of children's books you can donate to get a plastic......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 74. Number of people pictured whose names we recognize: 12. (representative sample: Jonny Moseley, the omnipresent George and Charlotte Shultz, Gavin and child model Brittanie Mountz, Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind.) Minority count: 1 (1.38888%.) Getty v. Traina: 5-30. This week's event is a party at the DeYoung museum thrown by Dede Wilsey in honor of her son Trevor Traina's recent marriage! (30......

Is Chronicle editor Phil Bronstein the new Jerry Seinfeld? Every year, he steps on the stage of the SF Opera in the Park, which the Chron generously helps produce. And people are semi-drunk on chardonnay, satiated on taboule and tomato-and-mozarella salads, they are baking in the sun: they are warmed up already. Yet every year, Phil's attempts to warm up the crowd even more end up in a train wreck. Here are this year's jokes......

Total number of people in this week's Swells column: 61. Number of people pictured whose names we recognize: 4. (all at one party: Denise Hale, Trevor Traina, Vanessa Getty, and Stephan "Semi-Charmed Kind of Life" Jenkins.) Minority count: 0 (0%). Number of hats: 7. Getty v. Traina: 1-3. Number of feet Boaz Mazor's cell phone fell into Lake Tahoe: 17. Chef Franc Harris dove into the lake the next day to pick it up. Number......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 78. Number of people pictured whose names we recognize: 6 (George and Charlotte Shultz (listed twice), Dede Wilsey, Don Shula). Minority count: 0. (0%) Getty v. Traina: 0-1. Number of hats: 15 (approx. 20%). Number of references to The Sound of Music: 2. Number of parties declared "a hostess's worst nightmare": 1. Number of deadly bullet-like pine cones that fell from the towering sugar......

Our new weekend column on the Chron's society page! Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells: 58 Pictures of people whose names we recognize: 7. Two pictures of Willie Brown, two pictures of Gavin Newsom, Dede Wilsey, Stefanie Coyote, and we're counting Chronicle Books publisher Nion McEvoy as a person whose name we recognize, even though we didn't realize until reading the column that he's not a she. Minority count: 12 (about 20%).......

Isn't it ironic? Don't you think? Our press-loving governor thought it'd be a fun stunt to sign a bill to reduce congestion at the always-jammed Caldecott Tunnel. Isn't it ironic, then, that as motorists drove by the scene, they slowed down, honked, and shouted "Arnold!" out their windows -- causing a massive traffic jam. You know, it kind of is like ten million spoons, when what you need is a knife. The Dede Wilsey war......

Last week's winner, the Bay Guardian: Mocking Dede Wilsey and Newsom about the DeYoung parking situation. The Guardian gets distracted from its single-minded focus on Village Voice LLC to decry MediaNews's purchase of the San Jose Merc News. Letter from a Peoples Temple survivor asking for further investigations into a CIA conspiracy. Hipsters worry that they're accidentally causing gentrification in Oakland. Sonic Reducer reviews an album of songs sung by actors. You know, we may have to download the version of Ewan McGregor singing Sade (or Jennifer Garner singing a show tune. It's totally awesome to work out to!!!!!.) A review of the Flipper reunion show from April 8. It took them a month to get that up? New brunch place in Noe Valley, Shanghai soup dumplings in the Sunset. Cover: Daniel Clowes. And SFist Eve's horoscope: be more confrontational. Watch out, crazy commenters! The SF Weekly: Nate Cavallieri, ex-Weekly writer, won a journalism award for his cover article about a guy who works with gang members. Congratulations, Nate! Matt Smith on Chris Daly, Mission Housing, and someone saying that Daly speaks with a "forked tongue" -- outraged Matt Smith spittle flying everywhere! N.B.: Matt Smith reports that Chris Daly has adopted a policy of "not speaking to me." Gay cop sues. Orphan pigeon rescue. Cover article: why won't the SF Unified School District back smaller schools? Meredith goes BBQ, while SFist Ced roasts some ribs of his own! And Savage Love: do any fetishists want to buy a letter-writer's breast milk? Direct all responses to Dan Savage, not us. The EBX's Best Of issue, and the Metro -- after the jump....

Yesterday, the Board of Supes approved by a 7-4 vote a measure to close off part of Kennedy Drive on Saturdays just as it is on Sundays. Well, for a "six-month" trail run at least. The measure was passed without rancor, with serious intellectual debate, and a strict adherence to democratic principles. Nah, not really. It actually involved dueling rallies, people shouting each other down with bullhorns and the use of fresh-faced children and decrepit old people in wheel chairs as props. ...

When SFist Jackson announced, "Hey, I saw your BFF Dede today", we went scarlet (we don't wear green) with envy. When do we get OUR Dede Wilsey sighting? Taunting our jealousy, Jackson sent us this: In a black raincoat and brown Timberland boots, Dede Wilsey and squire looked bored and even a little uncomfortable while checking out the selection at Tsar Nicoulai Caviar in the Ferry Plaza on Sunday. Note to Dede -- kohl eyes......

We here at SFist like our celebrities like we like our men: insane, rude, dirty, and fabulous. Oh, wait, that's NOT how we like our men anymore (that's 12 years of therapy finally paying off, folks.) But any celebrity who seems too classy, clean, or "just like us" is not who makes us buy that Us magazine at the Cala point of purchase. Our attitudes about celebrities mesh nicely with our attitude about our......

We had to go to the Television Without Pity recaps of The Bachelor to figure out which one new Niner Jesse Palmer was. Oh, yeah, that guy. We thought he was kinda hot in a very International Male way until he started talking, and then we didn't any more. And not that we think every romance needs to have a wedding, but to end up offering the winner a plane ticket to New York?......

We have mixed emotions about Diane B. "Dede" Wilsey's pet cause, the new M. H. de Young Memorial Museum building. For years the antics surrounding that concourse -- museums moving, buildings being torn down, garages built -- have provided pages and pages of entertainment in the local press. More recently, the unfinished structure loomed darkly over John F. Kennedy drive like an aircraft carrier that somehow made it inland from Ocean Beach (and we're......