What did you check out last night? Tell us about it in the comments. Tonight, we're going to see the Mountain Goats. There's several other shows that look killer too-- Stepen Malkmus, French Kicks, Matt Costa and more. Sleep is obviously out of the question.

If you're still not sure what your Thursday Night might hold, write a haiku about good music in the comment section below. One lucky poet will win a pair of tickets to see Martha Wainwright at Slim's.

Tis the season for existential angst to descend on all music loving folk in the area. The Noise pop festival starts tonight, and thehttp://www.noisepop.com/the-2009-festival-schedule about which shows to go to have driven many a hipster to the brink. As always, SFist is here to help. We'll be sharing our daily pix, and thanks to to the kind folks at Noise pop, we've got tickets for you too.

Tonight we'll be checking out John Darnielle and Tobias Wolff at the Herbst Theatre. Other good picks are Antony and the Johnsons at the Masonic Center, and the Kick-off party with Deerhunter at Mezzanine (which is free if you RSVP).

For those of you who plan 24 hours ahead, how about tickets for Matt Costa ,An Horse, Robert Francis and Two Sheds at Slim's tomorrow? You want em? Write a haiku about Noise Pop in the comments and we'll pick the best entry we get by midnight tonight.

The International Animation Festival starts tonight, kids. And speaking of them, don't bring yours to tomorrow night's wonderfully smut-filled orgy of animated shorts, Top Drawers.

What's more, one lucky soul will get a free pair of tickets to tomorrow night's screening. You will have the chance to see such "playful, sexy shorts" as Signe Baumane's Teat Beat of Sex and Kelly Sears's Drift. So, the fifth person to send us an email to editor [at] sfist.com, with "Top Drawers I Want" in the subject line, will win the free pair of tix. [contest closed] Otherwise, the rest of yous has gots to pay.

Again, that's:

What: San Francisco International Animation Festival, "Top Drawers"
When: Friday, 11/9 (i.e., tomorrow)
Time: 7 p.m.
Where: Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema

(More info on Top Drawer after le jump.)

Here at SFist we like to think of ourselves as givers. We give. You take. Again and again. So here you go, we're doing our part. We've got a pair of tickets for you to check out Mike Birbiglia at Cobb's on the eve of Halloween (yes, Tuesday, the 30th).

Mike is one very funny guy-- and nice enough to do a SFist interview. Which makes us feel pretty good since he's a regular on Letterman and Conan. So yes, we're in a good place right now, being a giver, and talking to the Stars. If only we could figure out what to be for Halloween...

Feeling Lucky? Enter by noon on Monday.

What's your take on the comedy scene in the Bay Area?
San Francisco has enough great comedians. It was a tough city to break into they don’t really need imports. Let’s just say there may be more creative people in the Bay Area than in Nebraska City, Nebraska. Is that a place?

Any advice to aspiring comedians?
Don’t be afraid to spend $80 on gas to make $50 to perform. And keep telling yourself that it’s going better than it is.

What makes a joke funny?
I think a grain of truth posed in a way the audience has never considered. Also, bananas and farts and the word “snausages” are very funny.

Is there anything that is not funny?
Well, in many instances comedy and humor are really devices for coping. In my life I’ve laughed at funerals, and with sick relatives in the hospital. We laugh to keep from crying. I believe that’s from Langston Hughes. Or Abrahams Lincoln. But you can credit “Mike Birbiglia.”

Friday Show

Saturday Show

Last Thursday night we went to Bimbo's to see Stereo Total at the behest of a good friend. We'd never seen the duo before but they charmed us with their energy, humor, zesty accents (hers French, his German) and playful relationship with the English language. Françoise played the laid back good-natured chanteuse while Brezel flailed about with the energy of a toddler. The songs were fun and fast and they kept them coming through a few different encores, culminating in an onstage dance party with a bunch of folks in the front row. Here's a blurry photo of the mayhem.

And now for this week's show recommendations. Hustle to Amoeba by 7pm to see a free performance by Pinback. Later on Scissors For Lefty open for The Bravery at the Warfield. And let's all wish a very happy birthday to Popscene! To celebrate 11 years of breaking artists, premier performances and jam-packed dance parties, Hot Hot Heat perform at Popscene's home of 330 Ritch along with guest DJs from The Bravery. Friday night's for dancing, apparently. Rickshaw Stop presents Disco Hook Up 2007 with Hey Willpower, Hot Tub, Voxhaul Broadcast and DJ Omar. Robot Rock presents VHS or Beta and Walter Meego at Mezzanine.

This week's show recommendations: Hurry up and head over to Amoeba at 6pm for a chance to see Okkervil River perform for free and then get a free, limited edition CD sampler when you purchase their new one The Stage Names (while supplies last, of course). Later on this evening you have a serious wealth of options to see good music. Our dear friend Ashod Simonian is on the road with Stereo Total who play tonight at Bimbo's with The Octopus Project. Ashod's toured with many a great band and recently put out a book called Real Fun which features 100+ candid Polaroids of musicians on tour during their downtime, including Spoon, Death Cab, Jenny Lewis, Broken Social Scene and tons more plus a CD with tracks by Irving, Dios Malos and Norfolk & Western. Over at the Warfield, Rilo Kiley perform songs from their new one Under The Blacklight (which we don't think sounds at all like Fleetwood Mac, for the record) with Lewis' man-friend Jonathan Rice and Grand Ole Party. Cafe Du Nord's got the oddly-named pair of Joan As Police Woman plus Michael Zapruder's Rain of Frogs. Bottom of the Hill presents Sacramento's nostalgic Nintendo-music tribute band The Advantage with Them Hills and The Lovely Public. For some local music, you could see Thee More Shallows at Hemlock or Eats Tapes and Lemonade at Rickshaw Stop.

This week's show recommendations: Tonight Popscene presents the live world premiere of Blaqk Audio, the new collaboration between Davey Havok and Jade Puget of AFI. At Make-Out Room see a trio of local "The" bands: The Passionistas, The Happy Hollows and The Dont's. We're pretty big fans of As Tall As Lions' self-titled debut record, but we haven't had a chance to see them live yet, unless that performance we watched on Jimmy Kimmel counts. Lucky for all of us, they're playing on Friday night at Bottom of the Hill with Mae and Dear And The Headlights. At Cafe Du Nord, see some local music by Bellavista, LoveLikeFire and Rescue Me. LoveLikeFire just released a brand new EP this week called Ocean In The Air which you can listen to in its entirety on their website.

On to this week's show recommendations: Tonight see Built Like Alaska at Bottom of the Hill with Audio Out Send and The Parish. At Cafe Du Nord, hear Earlimart featuring the String Dream Team play songs from the just-released new album Mentor Tormentor along with opener Patrick Park. On Friday at Bottom of the Hill, see the lovely lasses in Au Revoir Simone along with Oh No! Oh My! and The Morning Benders. The Beastie Boys play at The Warfield on Friday and at The Greek on Saturday.

Listen to Earlimart's "Everybody Knows" [windows media player] and watch Au Revoir Simone's video for "Sad Song":