There's a lot going on in this picture, snapped last night in the Castro Muni station (click it for a larger version), so let's begin our reading with the original author's intent. Those irritating PSP ads (as opined about on Gothamist, discussed by a commenter, and complained about by lots of local bloggers) have finally been put in their place -- a billboard. Rather than being slapped up on peoples' walls in their neighborhoods, Sony's finally figured out that advertisements go, duh, in advertising space.

Next: the "added-value" graffitti. By identifying their billboard as a place for graffitti, Sony probably didn't realize that they were inviting further contribution to their work of art. Such is the nature of scrawling; once one piece gets thrown up, everyone else wants to add to it like a game of telephone purple monkey dishwasher. This particular graffitti appears to say "ghetto B+" -- perhaps an evaluation? "Your ghettology merits a B+" the author is saying, which seems like a fair grade to us.

The sticker, in reference to the upcoming year-long closure of late-night subway service, does a pretty good job of speaking for itself. "Yet another year of subway closures? Enough is enough!" Indeed, Señor Sticker, it is. Let us protest this outrage with huffy anonymous address labels. That'll show 'em.

Bottom of the Hill tends to draw a mixed crowd. We can never accurately predict which shows will sell out there. We were pleased, and surprised, to see that the place was packed last Friday. True, it was an all ages show. The crowd was really mixed—old fogies and the high school set seemed equally excited to check out the new up-and-coming acts.

SFist fav Aqueduct, on Barsuk, started their set with their cover of the Ghetto Boy’s, "Damn" and ended the set with Journey’s "Don’t Stop Believing". Between that they managed to play a good chunk off of “I Sold Gold” and two brand new songs. No mean feat for an opening band that was down to just two members after their drummer forsook the tour for financial stability. As singer Dave Terry pointed out, his job was to warm the crowd up. Mission totally accomplished.

Why?, from the East Bay’s Anticon Records, were the headliners. This band has been justifiably generating a considerable buzz lately. Their sound is hard to place. Seeing the actual band members perform their music is somewhat disconcerting—they just don’t look like you think they will. Which is good. It’s always refreshing to have artists who seem more concerned with the sound than their looks. The highlight of the set was “Sandollars” from their recent E.P. Why? currently resides in the Bay Area-- and it's clear they've found a core audience for themselves. Hopefully it continues to grow.

This week we bring you a crucifixion, ghetto Shakespeare and mean people in love. Because why get vanilla ice cream when you can get, say, caramel ice cream with fudge chunks and cookie dough and cherry bits and sugar cone slivers? Just kidding. You can't really get that ice cream. But ghetto Shakespeare, we got that.

at New Conservatory Theatre Center
One of the last times playwright Terrence McNally's name was linked to a crucifixion, it was in the late 1990s and the play was his Corpus Christi. Featuring a tormented gay man named Joshua who leaves Corpus Christi in search of tolerance and who picks up, so to speak, 12 other men along the way, it was one of those plays that was picketed, threatened, dropped from theatres schedules and then put back on after protests from other artists. Well, as far as we know, the world premiere of Crucifixion at New Conservatory Theatre Center has had no such problems. Using multiple story lines laid out by 11 characters, the play centers on a high-profile TV producer who is murdered by a Jesuit priest. The characters, ranging from a lesbian couple to a Broadway composer to a Bay Area weatherman, discover how they're connected through family, faith and community. Artistic director Ed Decker commissioned the play after McNally, who was in San Francisco for the production of Dead Man Walking (he wrote the libretto) at the San Francisco Opera a few years ago, dropped in on New Conservatory's rehearsals for, appropriately, Corpus Christi. The rest is, as they say, soon to be history.
Crucifixion opens October 8 and plays through November 6.