Chinese New Year Parade and Festival: Festival-goers might actually enjoy a dry Chinese New Year extravaganza this year. Leave those umbrellas and ponchos as home! more ›

FESTIVAL: One of the best Mission events of the year is happening tonight with the annual Dia de los Muertos procession and Festival of Altars celebration. Bring candles in glass containers to honor your loved ones who've passed -- no open flame candles are allowed at the park. (7 p.m., procession starts at 22nd & Bryant, runs down to 24th and over to Mission, then back up to 22nd; 6 to 11 p.m., Festival of Altars, Garfield Park) more ›

The English Beat and My First Earthquake at Stern Grove: The Stern Grove Festival presents yet another stellar show on Sunday. Check out SFist's interview with the English Beat's Dave Wakeling from earlier this year. more ›

Carnaval Festival & Grand Parade: Danny Glover is the grand marshal of the 33rd Annual Carnaval Parade. Accompanying him at the helm will be Giants’ mascot Lou Seal and the 2010 World Series trophy. Check out the festival all day on Saturday and Sunday, and the parade starts on Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. more ›

Sorry this is so late folks! There are quite a few things going on this weekend that SFist already gave you a heads-up about, including the Disposable Film Festival, Shop for Japan, and the Artisan Cheese Festival in Petaluma. Yum! Here are some more things happening -- if you feel like leaving your cozy abode on this rainy weekend. more ›

The Disposable Film Festival kicks off its fourth year celebrating short films made on everyday equipment like cell phones, pocket cameras, and other inexpensive video capture devices tomorrow night. Get your tickets now for the opening night event at the Castro Theatre showcasing the best disposable films of the year, which usually sells out. more ›

Sunday Streets: Sunday Streets kicks off its 2011 season this weekend on the Embarcadero. Run, bike, walk, skate, hula hoop, etc. to your heart's content along the waterfront from Fisherman's Wharf to Mariposa Street. more ›

Oakland Museum White Elephant Sale: The much anticipated annual weekend-long rummage extravaganza in Oakland is finally here. Get you and your tote bags over there first thing tomorrow, as it gets picked over quickly. Or, if you like the bargains, go on Sunday afternoon. According to the sale's Facebook page, they just received some cool last-minute donations, including Olympic souvenirs from Russia, Spain, Alaska etc. and a baseball signed by the A's of the early 80's "when Billy Martin managed the team and Rickey stole the bases!" Check the plethora of gear here. more ›

PHOTOGRAPHY: Robert Tat Gallery presents a group exhibition of vintage and contemporary photographs, Sign of the Times, celebrating the special qualities that are captured when images incorporate existing signage into their compositions. more ›

FILM: Nine Nation Animation, a compilation of recent award-winning animated short films from the world’s most renowned festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Annecy, Clermont-Ferrand, and others, "proves that there’s a lot more to the animator’s art than either the cutting-edge ultra-realism of Pixar or the flat functionality of sitcoms like The Simpsons" (Village Voice). more ›

FILM: At Electronic Cinema, sound artists myrmyr and Kadet Kuhne will perform live electronic scores for experimental films by Sue-C, Paul Clipson, and Maia Cybelle Carpenter, incorporating and celebrating "unexpected ingredients and impressions, breaking open new forms not-yet-categorizable". more ›

On Saturday and Sunday, that beatnik neighborhood on the other side of Market Street played host to the 54th annual North Beach Festival. Here are several shots that local photogs snapped up from the scene. more ›

Excuse us for only finding out about Outside In #4 at the last minute. Dishes by eighteen San Francisco street food and local underground chefs will be paired with eighteen Portuguese wines and beers. more ›

Artisan musical treats like Magnetic Fields, Mark Kozelek, Rogue Wave, Atlas Sound, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Four Tet, John Vanderslice, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Wallpaper, Zee Avi, The Limousines, and Foreign Born will make up part of next year's Noise Pop festival. More acts will be announced at a later date. Also, Bender's will be the bar of choice this year for their daily happy hours too. No surprise there. Check NoisePop.com for ticket information and more details. more ›

VARIETY SHOW: Tonight is the premiere of PianoFight's Monday Night ForePlays, a female-driven variety show that will run every Monday through November 23. Consisting of comedy sketches, original dance numbers, a rotating line-up of musical acts, and special additions ranging from burlesque acts to comedians, the shows will feature "a titillating collection of comedic sketches touching on performance anxiety, bodily functions, relationships, robots, office politics, writers block and sex." more ›

Oakland's Eat Real Festival, which was founded last year, is a sister event to the San Francisco Street Food Festival and sounds like a much better run event than the SF-based debacle trial run was. Get Real also benefits La Cocina, and there's no entry fee. more ›

The Bay Bridged, Noise Pop,Tartufi, and WhizBang Fabrics bring you the 2nd annual Rock Make Street Festival this Sunday. The six-hour party will consist of approximately 60 Bay Area vendors selling their handicrafts, visual arts, and fashion, nestled between two stages featuring 12 local bands, including Tartufi, Music for Animals, The Don'ts, and the Odawas. more ›

Finally, a food festival that we can afford! San Francisco Street Food Festival 2009, which is a benefit for La Cocina, is a free, day-long block party full of micro-entrepreneurs, informal food vendors, and renowned chefs bringing you delicious eats for $8 or less per item. more ›

Like a comet, or a certain Venetian art fair, the San Francisco International Poetry Festival only comes around every two years, and the second biennial fest kicks off tomorrow with a party in Jack Kerouac Alley in North Beach and the gathering of poets from two dozen countries. The festival will be co-hosted by San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane DiPrima and Poet Laureate Emeritus Jack Hirschman, and a special honor will be given to another Poet Laureate Emeritus, Lawrence Ferlinghetti (who'll be reading at the main stage event on Friday at the Palace of Fine Arts). Though that's the official kickoff, there is actually a screening tonight at Koret Auditorium at USF of a documetary about Jack Hirschman directed by Matthew Furey. All the festival's events are listed here, so for all you frustrated haiku composers out there, you might want to go have a listen to some masters. more ›

Feel like getting away to Tahoe this weekend for three days of beautiful scenery and an amazing line-up of bands, including Spoon, Broken Social Scene, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Gillian Welch, Jenny Lewis, Rogue Wave, Girl Talk, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, plus many more? Here's your chance to win a pair of 3-day, weekend Wanderer passes to the Wanderlust Music and Yoga Festival, happening Friday evening through Sunday. The Wanderer gets you into all music-related events throughout the weekend, but not the yoga. more ›

We know that some of you plan to boycott this year's Pride because it's not angry enough, or whatever. We know that some of you will get blotto by noon today, not ready to come down until Tuesday. We know that some of you will visit San Francisco for the first time this weekend. We know that some of you will finally decide to have your very first same-sex sex experience. We know that some of you couldn't care less. more ›

MUSIC: Award-winning violinist Gil Shaham will perform the Berg Concerto, "part requiem, part showpiece," which he has explored for years and has played often, and Schubert's Mass No. 6, a "glory of the choral repertory." more ›

San Francisco just approved a contract that will permit future yacht rockers to entertain the masses at Golden Gate Park. That is to say, we've got three more years of the Outside Lands Festival. And it's a good thing for the city. According to KCBS, "[l]ast year, 130,000 people packed Golden Gate Park and the city made $815,000 dollars. The new contract guarantees the city a minimum of $950,000 dollars and allows Another Planet to stage a concert each summer for three years, with an additional two-year option following that." Old-time crooners like Pearl Jam, this indie rock band, the Beastie Boys, that indie rock band, the Dave Matthews Band, that group Fergie is in are some of the groups scheduled to perform for this year’s concert in the park. more ›

Despite the searing chill in the air, the annual Carnaval festival in the Mission was a vibrant smash. Noted photog Ted Weinstein captured the color and glorious garishness of yesterday's Carnaval parade. (Seriously, these are some amazing images Weinstein snapped up.) more ›

We have the annual Carnaval shaking up the Mission District on Saturday and Sunday. The Festival runs both days on Harrison St between 16th & 22nd St from 10 a.m. to 6p.m. The Parade is on Sunday, starting at 9:30 a.m. at 24th & Harrison, going west along 24th St, then turning up Mission all the way to 17th St. Check out the Entertainment Line-up for both days. more ›

Roxie Theater has been having a film noir festival, I Wake Up Dreaming: The Haunted World of the B-Film Noir, which started last Thursday and runs through this Sunday. The best part is that all nights are double-features. Here's the line-up: more ›

SF Citizen's Jim Herd captured some great photos of the Ninth Annual Cesar E. Chavez Day Parade and Festival yesterday. The parade started at Dolores Park, and the street fair was on 24th Street. Looks like there was a good turn-out. See all the photos at SF Citizen. more ›

Noise Pop 2009 is just around the corner. A few highlights: Anthony & the Johnsons, Goblin Cock, Monument to Masses, A.C. Newman, No Age, Clues, Ryan Auffenberg, Ex-Boyfriends, and Martha Wainwright (Not-Judy's sister). Films will include Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, which documents "the most important day in the career of an American icon, and Agile Mobile Hostile: A Year with Andre Williams. more ›