There's bad news coming out a church in West Portal-- two sheep and a lamb have been pilfered from a Nativity Scene. Yep, what we have here are a bunch of sheep stealers. The church in question is the West Portal Lutheran Church at 200 Sloat Blvd and the nativity scene in question had at one point four animals in the background. Now it has one. All things considering, it could be worse as stealing things from Nativity Scenes is quite common during the holidays. These thieves even stole Baby Jesus! We don't think we're exaggerating to say this will definitely make little Baby Jesus cry (unless he's Ninja Baby Jesus). ...

You probably haven't been to a vocal concert since your high school crush object sang that solo from Carousel in the annual choir festival. What relevance does choral music have to my everyday life? you ask. Well, how about a celebration of everyone's equal right to love? San Francisco's Volti, a new-vocal music group (the adjective "new" modifies "vocal music," not the group itself, which has been around for over 25 years), is performing the world premiere of No More To Hide: An American Wedding Cantata, in tribute to last year's same-sex marriages. No More to Hide sets to music a verse from 1 John 4:7 ("Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God.") and snippets from Leaves of Grass ("I dream'd in a dream, I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth.") -- and for you civil rights activists on a budget, will be performed for free at City Hall next Wednesday, November 16, courtesy of the Mayor's Office of Neighborhood Services and the Music@MONS program. (don't worry, folks, there's seats.) If you like to absorb your choral music in a more pastoral setting, Volti will perform No More To Hide, along with several other gay-themed works (more Whitman, and some Edna St. Vincent Millay) at St. Francis Lutheran on Mon. Nov. 21, which was expelled from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America for ordaining gay and lesbian pastors in 1990, and thus was totally free to bless the same-sex weddings from 2004. Tickets available here (and also a Sunday performance in Berkeley). Picture of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, same-sex marriage no. 1...

The Richmond’s 4 Star Theater (phone 415.666.3488) is one of our favorite places to see movies in San Francisco. We’ve spent many a night gorging ourselves at one of the zillions of great places to eat up or down Clement Street, then staggering up to Clement at 23rd for great alternative and world movies....