Shit. It's Valentine's Day this Thursday and by the looks of it most of you have already planned your perfect date. Three shows are already completely sold-out: The Kills at Rickshaw Stop, Slightly Stoopid at The Independent and Common at Mezzanine. While there are still several shows you can chance Thursday night, it might be wise to stay home and wait till the weekend to take your crush out. We are. Friday, the local music......

Each Tuesday we will feature new music that should (or whatever) be on your radar. Standouts: 1. Eskimo Joe - Black Fingernails Red Wine (w/ Bonus DVD): Hands down, one of the best CD's of 2007. Eskimo Joe released "Black Fingernails, Red Wine" as their debut single in the US in August. Their CD already went quadruple platinum in Australia (it was released in 2006). The quiet application of the piano combined with the melodramatic......

It's not too early to make plans for Halloween weekend, and if you want to make this year especially memorable, hop a plane to Las Vegas for the Vegoose Music Festival. It's an impressive lineup of tons of bands in one place: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Mars Volta, The Raconteurs, Cat Power and the Memphis Rhythm Band (we'll see about that), Gomez, Fiona Apple, Jenny Lewis, BRMC, and a bunch of those jammy/jazzy......

This week we're giving away an EP by promising up-and-coming local band Finest Dearest. We're excited to watch where this comely and talented co-ed group's bright future takes them. Fans of female-fronted indie rock should preview a few tracks here or here and pick up your own copy of their EP when they play the Hemlock this Friday night. (Contest ends Wednesday 10/12.) Hipsters unite at the Bill Graham Civic Center tonight for Franz......

Our concert picks for the week of 7/14 - 7/20. Sometimes people get an extra helping of the good stuff. Like Sufjan Stevens, for example. Not only is he a wildly talented musician and songwriter with an expansive artistic vision and respectable indie rock ethic, yeah, he's also easy on the eyes too. Well this week San Francisco concertgoers can get a little extra helping of their own, with several high profile artists playing multiple......