Beatropolis: Oh joy! Beatropolis has returned! (Not that they really went anywhere, but it always feels like forever when they're not around.) Anyway, Beatropolis' special brand of dance rock, live drum 'n' bass, and futuristic space pop will have you up until the wee hours of the morning. The Toy Soldiers (a heady nu-electrorawk mix of Flaming Lips, Justin Timberlake, and Hot Chip) and the Buttercream Gang (a local indie/post-punk/afro-beat band) also perform starting......

Because we love us some music lists and just featured our staff's favorite songs and albums of 2007, we thought it would be nifty to feature up-and-coming efforts of '08. A few of our favorite seasoned artists will release new works, along with new talent on the horizon that we're impatiently anticipating (even some local bands!), so check them out: 1. Sia, Some People Have Real Problems - (Monkey Puzzle Records/Hear Music) 1/8 -......

Each Tuesday we will feature new music that should (or whatever) be on your radar. Standouts: This week is worst than last week. Really though, there's nothing (except the Original Cast Recording of Lovemusik). Even on the Amoeba Records website, they only have two, we repeat, two records on their list. With the holidays approaching, one would think that there would be an avalanche of CDs being released but again, there's only a few. Please......

Anyone who's ridden Muni in the middle of a weekday is quite familiar with this scenario. As your bus pulls up to it's stop, you see a dozen or two school kids anxiously waiting to step up and embark Muni. You and your fellow passengers groan and brace yourselves for the ensuing chaos. (Mind you, we enjoy the company of kids but not groups of them in enclosed spaces.) Last Friday morning was our most recent encounter of this kind, and we were inspired to compile all of our of "gangs of kids" on Muni memories. Feel free to share your kid/Muni invasion experiences in the comments! Friday's ride played out like this: We were riding the 49 along Van Ness, when we were soon invaded by about ten to fifteen 10/11-year-olds. Although we were at the back of the double-bus with no vantage point of the stop, we had a bit of a warning about this invasion when the bus, in the process of pulling up to the stop, was met by the collective, high-pitched screams of several young girls. We were like, oh no, did one of them get run over? Luckily not—they were just excited about the novelty of riding Muni. And maybe the driver looked like Justin Timberlake or Usher? (We can't exactly remember what our driver looked like, but we think he probably looked more like Pat Morita. And by the way, who are the tweens loving these days, anyway?) About six of these said young girls decided to all congregate in the middle, bendy part of the bus, so that they could scream every time they lost their balance, while at the same time blocking the railings for passengers attempting to get past them. We're not sure which was worse—the prepubescents' ear-piercing screams or the ear-piercing yells of their teenaged chaperones behind us who were telling them to quit screaming. One of the "chaperones" also loudly said, "I'm sure these people didn't pay to hear you scream." And we thought to ourselves, "We didn't pay to hear you scream about their screaming either," but we all know it's more than likely futile to try to communicate with power-hungry teenagers on Muni. Luckily, we soon found ourselved getting off at City Hall to buy our Fast Pass with our first commuter check at Room 140. (Until we remembered that security checks your bags at City Hall, and we had two-days worth of dirty yoga clothes stuffed in ours. Yuck.) More kids invade Muni after the jump!...

SFist is still giving away tickets to see our boyfriend, Justin Timberlake, when he brings his virtuoso blend of singing, dancing, and white boy flava to the HP Pavilion on September 12th....

With all that went down this week, we thought we thought we'd cheer everyone up by giving everyone a double dose of dogs. It was a rollercoaster ride of emotions this week at DCist. Like the rest of country, we were floored by the news of so many dead coming out of Virginia Tech, and with so many of the victims and their relatives from the D.C. area, we felt it important to pay......

Because we're not ashamed to admit we actually paid to see NSync live when we were 17, miss Justin's white boy 'fro, and still have the program from that concert somewhere in our parents' house...Because the stars finally aligned, and both Justin Timberlake AND Prince William are single (call us, Willie, we totes fancy you!)...And because we want Justin to dedicate "What Goes Around Comes Around" to Gavin Newsom when JT comes to town in September. ...

--> Nancy Pelosi: "Does Gavin look like he does coke? The only white funk he does is when he dances to Justin Timberlake, so y'all better step off!" Image replaced to avoid hotlinking. Photo of Tina Turner's cat courtesy of the Institute for Private Dancing Studies.......

...But we couldn't resist posting this excellent YouTube of Justin Timberlake's "What Goes Around (Comes Around)" set to the movie "Closer." When TourkGate 2007 broke out, we were at home listening to our Justin Timberlake CD. We waited with bated breath until the video co-starring Scarlett Johansson premiered, but we were underwhelmed with the result - too much talking, we didn't get the whole concept with the dancers, and JT's acting kind of sucks. (Plus, we like Natalie Portman in this movie because she totally stole our old haircut.) ...

Last week's winner, the San Jose Metro. Gary Singh infiltrates a ladies' drinking circle, while Chuck Reed goes drinking with the Merc News. Do note, Gavin Newsom, that Reed only drank two bottled waters the entire night. Cover article: Making Redwood City fun again (land use edition). Italian food in Los Gatos. Lemon trees in winter. Women chanters. A review of the Justin Timberlake show. And the Straight Dope: are the magnetic poles going to......

What do these shows have to do with the special election? Absolutely nothing. ...

It's time for our monthly housing market speculation fest, as the real estate housing numbers come in for September. Like 'NSYNC sez, it's dirty pop! (Out of charity for you, we won't do the Justin Timberlake mouth-scratching noises.) Housing sales in the Bay Area are down for the sixth straight month -- sales are down 7.2% from last year and 7.5% from last month. House appreciation is down to 7.9% (annual). However, the median price went up $101,000 from last September (to $616,000). So you're spending more and it's worth less -- love it! And anecdotally, more and more folks are seeing houses move at cost or even at below asking (imagine!), and some people are just pulling their houses from the market entirely. (Optimists, though, report that this isn't happening in tony areas like Montclair or Noe Valley.) Man, it is never a good time to buy a house in San Francisco. ...

So last week the Gavster announced this big, huge plan to build more housing, even low-cost housing. The point being, of course, the more housing the better, especially more low-cost housing, because the more housing you have, the less expensive housing will be. Gavin's idea is that with just the waving of the magic wand of better bureaucracy, the Department of Building Inspectors and the Planning Commission will have easier times allowing for more housing......

While losing to the Shaq-led Miami Heat 98-91 isn't that much of an embarrassment, it being the Warriors' seventh loss in a row is. It's especially disappointing in that not to long ago, back in those halcyon days of late 2004, the Warriors had gone on a four-game winning streak and were making people think that maybe Chris Mullin knew what he was doing. Considering that at that point, the Warriors were about to go......