DISCUSSION/THEATER: Before Michael Bennett and Bob Fosse rose to fame with shocking original choreography, directorial genius, and having a penchent for abusing dancers, we had Jerome Robbins. The mastermind of steps behind such famous works as Gypsy, West Side Story, and Fiddler on the Roof, just to name a few, will be discussed in length tonight at "Words on Dance Celebrates the Life and Career of Jerome Robbins." The panel discussion will be hosted......

*MUSIC: Hotel Utah launches a brand spanking new party, YEAR. The night is being labeled as an "innovative branded concept," hosted by KUSF radio personality and creative director for the Mill Valley Film Festival, Dennis "The Menace" Scheyer. Each month at YEAR, one year will be celebrated -- ranging from 1956 to 2006 -- and the playlist for that month's event will be the top hits from that year. Which year will be the......

-- Doug Benson: How he didn't win the last season of Last Comic Standing is above and beyond all logic. Then again, competitive reality TV makes little sense at times. (See: Banks, Tyra) Benson managed to make it on LCS not once, but twice. And with good reason: he's downright hilarious. Nikki Glaser and Mo Mandel open for the Benson. Show starts at 8 p.m. (and continues until Saturday) at the Punch Line; $15.......

-- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: A typical night at the cabaret this is not. The last time we saw Connie Champagne perform (during her stint at the Plush Room), tweakers were passing out in the audience, drunks wept into their vodka rocks, and Connie busted out a dead-on tribute as Judy Garland. Performing Garland's classics (like "San Francisco") as well as songs she might have crooned ("Bohemian Rhapsody" and "A Case of You"), Champagne......

Pardon our absence last week, but we were on vacation along with, apparently, every other nerd in the world down at Comic-Con. We have a lot of local reality contestants to catch up with! First and foremost, the dread "Pirate Master" was cancelled by CBS, although they will be putting up the remaining episodes on their Web site. So far we haven't felt compelled to actually watch those. We'll probably wait until the final episode......

On "Last Comic Standing" former local comedian Sabrina Matthews did not make it to the next round, despite being one of the funnier comedians of the night. And that's really all there is to say about that. Which brings us to a note to the "Last Comic" producers: The single best moment during any season of "Last Comic Standing" was when all the comics were living together, and one day they convinced Dat Phan......

-- Double Indemnity (1944) and Clash by Night (1952): Barbara Stanwyck sears the screen tonight in two gems: Billy Wilder's shadow-heavy, film noir hit about adultery and murder, followed by Fritz Lang's fick featuring Marilyn Monroe in one of her first roles. Shows start at 7 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., respectively, at the Castro Theatre, Castro & Market Streets. -- Brass Mafia: Along with DJ Daymitreeus spinning in between sets, local jazz band performs......

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......

We're still recovering from two weeks of finales glut, not to mention a three-day weekend full of way too many episodes of "The Dog Whisperer," (episode after episode, all Cesar seems to do is convince dog owners to take their pets on nice long walks while saying "Tssst!" and using their "hands as a mouth, for biting." And yet, we can not look away!!). Anyway, all that TV watching has turned in to a big......