We're giddily loving this award-winning album featuring these noteworthy musicians: the Blind Boys of Alabama, Nick Cave, San Francisco's own Kronos quartet, and Natalie Merchant. You need some serious mojo to get all these on the same recording, especially when it's not for a We Are the World-ish feel-good cause du jour. This album is, in fact, for kids. Dan Zanes and his friends/collaborators include Philip Glass, Sheryl Crow, and The Boss. Why this......

There were a lot of locals in the world of reality TV this week! "America's Got Talent" included an audition from an East Bay music teacher named Michael Strelo-Smith. He had an OK voice, but he was kind of boring. He swears he can sing anything and everything, but so far we are unimpressed. "Last Comic Standing" continued its trend of finding comedians who have been around for years, and presenting them as new......

The Gavster strikes a humble pose at the Alice Griffith housing development. If you love Arnie, throw a 70's House Party -- because you really want to require parental notification for abortions. Chris Nolan is no longer standing alone as a journalist -- she's got friends and a new redesign. Now that Dubya is back in the Oval Office, Cindy Sheehan has decided to taunt him from where everyone else taunts him -- Berkeley.......

SFist contributor and virtual TV pundit Rain Jokinen offers her Bay-area-centric TV picks of the week We'll make this simple: Vote. And then go watch some TV. Your best bet for local coverage of election results and local ballot measures is probably KRON Channel 4. Their official coverage starts at 4:30pm. You can watch election coverage on the networks tonight, and hope for another breakdown from Dan Rather, or you can hold out until 10:00pm......

Sfist loves to read and recommend books (hence this weekly feature)....