When we first mentioned Nicole Atkins, back in October, we genuinely loved her unique sound calling it "...an incredibly beautiful masterpiece of songwriting and story-telling." Almost six months later, we still agree with our initial reaction - if anything, it's grown on us even more. Our friends over at Noise: SFBG are totally into her as well. "There's always room for more melodrama in my life - just as long as it's strictly of......

Tickets, tickets, anyone want some tickets? We have two tickets to Friday's concert at Slim's featuring: Until June, Matt White and Melee. We've already told you that you don't want to be late to this show, because all three bands are equally as good. Until June, from sunny Phoenix, traveled to Los Angeles in hopes of a record deal. Obviously, at first, they got lost in the mix, but promised themselves that if they didn't......

Previously on "Project Runway," Chris March made the cut, while Elisa "My Skull!" Jimenez was out. Heidi met the designers on the runway and told them they'd be making dresses for one of the most important days in a woman's life, and you could tell the designers were fearing a wedding dress challenge. We were all prepared to fast-forward through the boring choosing-of-the-models segment, but were pleased to see it wasn't the usual batch of......

Back in December, The Lovemakers, a glam-rock outfit from Oakland, decided to stay put and forego their national tour to record their next full-length album entitled "Love is Dead." (For a band called "The Lovemakers," that's quite a title!) According to their blog, they've also decided to "be a 3-piece [band] again for the next while live. Scott, Lisa and Michael Urbano on drums. Back to basics. Very cool. Very fun." What we didn't......

School buses to run on waste grease from local restaurants. [SF Sentinel] 2007, as Chrissy from Newport Harbor: the Real OC might say, is "o-v-e, but the 'r' is not there yet." Totes, dude. Totes. [SFoodie, SFBG, CHOW, Gridskipper, Yelp] "Subprime" is your word of the year, or so says the Gate. [SF Gate] Tiger stuff. (An aside: Big-Cat Expert is perhaps the best job title in the world, ever.) [Examiner, SFBG] New Jersey......

Here's todays sports news...

Each Tuesday we will feature new music that should (or whatever) be on your radar. Standouts: 1. Nicole Atkins - Neptune City: This New Jersey native, reaches down deep to relate stories of her hometown, Neptune City on her debut release. "From the time I was a kid I started collecting these sad little tragically beautiful personal stories from the people in my life, and my own as well. That sense of history really appeals......

This 4-bedroom, 5-bathroom house helped to land 94123 on Forbes’ Most Expensive Zip Codes list - #55 to be exact. At 2500 Lyon Street, you can live right down the street from Gordon Getty and Larry Ellison. How fun! The property lies at the entrance to the Lyon Street steps and boasts “abundant with rich and opulent architectural detailing and superb Bay views.” Not expensive enough for you? Coldwell Banker lists another 94123 gem......

Thank goodness. Let the blessed distraction begin. For just a little while, there there be kickoffs and touchdowns and the illusion of a level playing field. Tonight, it's time for the National Football League's 2007 regular season to begin. Wonderful....

Here's todays sports news...

New Jersey-based blogger "Serge the Concierge" has the goods on a pretty cool local party venue -- a junkyard!...

From the tallest skyscraper in the City of Brotherly Love to Canadian tourism copywriting brilliance, here's what you should know from our -ist cities: This week, Phillyist took a gleeful listen to the White Stripes' exciting new release, watched in awe as their new tallest skyscraper was finally completed, found a cheaper way to get to Gothamist, invented a tasty new dessert, and brought back their Craigslist Round-Up feature with a bang. Bostonist watches......

A's 2 Red Sox 0- Before we begin our recap, we'd like to give our condolences to Kate Hudson and Owen Wilson as it appears Kawen is no more. Or was that Ote? Eh, who knows. Anyways, the A's mojo once again kept on keeping on as they have now taken two straight from the Sox of Red, shutting out one of the best lineups in baseball. And, yes, they beat Dice K who, despite......

Royals 2 A's 1- So who is this Jack Cust and where the hell did he come from? He's from New Jersey and was drafted in '97 by the Dbacks. He then went from Arizona to Colorado to Baltimore and to San Diego and his only major accomplishment in the bigs up until this past week was tripping on the basepaths during a rundown when he was on the Orioles. All along, he was known......

San Francisco's trying to be a better host this time around -- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor and the author of Night, is back in town to accept a $250,000 award from the Koret Foundation on behalf of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, and this time, we're going to take better care of him. You may remember when Wiesel was in San Francisco earlier this year for a peace conference, a......

It's time for American Football Spectacular's capsule reviews of the 2007 NFL Draft. Adventure, excitement,measureables!...

Austinist gets arty with an interactive guide to SXSW, loved some local art galleries and a new art exhibit and lamented the possible loss of "Friday Night Lights" production to New Mexico. Bostonist was happy they finally found an Anna Nicole Smith connection to their fair city and that an Apple Store was opening up. They were less happy that new rules have been established limiting underage shows and that their Governor is spending......

he Calfornia Supreme Court yesterday decided to weigh in on Gay Marriage by agreeing to decide whether or not a ban on gay marriage is constitutional or not. At issue is whether or not the ban is discriminatory. How did we get here? Let's go take the Way Back Machine and see. ...

We'd have a sad face too if the Chron came out against our position on Question Time, some mayoral pipsqueak in Santa Clara was out to eat our Niners lunch, and our chief of staff had just resigned because he'd been clashing with our minder Peter Ragone! (Though for full disclosure, this picture's almost two years old.) The latest news on the 2007 mayoral front? The Examiner went down to City Hall and got......

We're just as taken with the shiny new mall downtown as you are, but once you're inside it you may as well be in Wayne, New Jersey. Charm your friends and family this holiday season with some gifts you can only get in our lovely city, and rest easy knowing that you're helping local businesses and crafters thrive. Don't know all the local talent San Francisco has to offer, or where to shop for it? We're here for you....

Let's take a look back at a week that raised this Zen koan: if Kevin Federline got into a wrestling ring with a wrestler, who would you root for?...

Yes. Today is the day. American football begins anew. Tonight we've got the resurgent Dolphins up against the defending champeeen Steelers, as the National Football League's 2006 regular season springs forth into action. So, here's how we think it'll play out. ...

Growing up in public schools, we never bothered to learn Latin, but we hear that Caesurae translates to “cutting,” and this aptly titled group exhibition at Urbis Artium is not for the faint of heart. The show opens with Jordan Eagles’ series of luminous resin pieces that from far away look like the cross section of old-growth Redwood with their deep red, cracked concentric circles. Upon closer inspection, you find that the red color......

You may have already noticied the surprising tactical move to seize local public transportation, or the advance battalions who've landed on the Embarcadero, sending skirmishers down Market street. Word is that their supported by another invasion force on the North Coast, while yet another detachment is rumored to be marching from South City. BARBARians have us cornered on this damn peninsula! This is especially disconcerting considering news that the invasion is already on the......

Yeah, we know, we're supposed to hate on Starbucks, hate on them with the passion of a thousand burning suns. In fact, if there's one thing the tribes of San Francisco can all agree upon it's that Starbucks is the anti-Christ of strip-mail confecteries. So much so we often think San Francisco should adopt as it's slogan "Give us your tired, your poor, your Starbucks hating masses yearning to drink free trade, Sumatra blend coffee." But today, we come to praise Starbucks, not bury them. For in all the fire and brimstone directed at Starbucks' way, one simple incontrovertible truth still lays out there. That once you leave the cozy confines of the Bay Area (which we think a lot of people in this city need to do just to gain some perspective on things), Starbucks is really the only place you can get good coffee. And yes, we're totally serious. ...

Oh lord, do we ever kid (though we can't wait until John Ashcroft Googles that and finds us. Hey, John, check out our coverage of Frameline 29!). It seems that the new 'powers' granted by the Patriot Act (which, of course, don't include finding Osama), have allowed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency to turn up a Hayward man, Noor Alocozy, who wired an unspecified amount of money to Jack Idema in Afghanistan as......

Ever since SFist was a wee little SFist, we were always told that if you were going to make money off people driving, the thing to do is to tax them for the gas they buy. This was considered a win-win: the state makes money and it encourages people to buy fuel-efficient cars. But in this crazy, mixed up state in which we live in, the Governator is thinking about taxing driving differently, by......

Well, on the bright side, at least someone around here won something. The only good thing about the Bush victory is that our adorable editor SFist Jackson won 1115.org's electoral map contest! SFist Jackson, horrified to see that he had called it as a squeaker for Bush (287-256, if our math is correct -- SFist Jackson says he got New Mexico, Nevada, and New Jersey wrong), asked in penance that his prize of an......

[Ed. Note: Since LAist seems to have dropped their new CD release column, SFist Krissy is here to pick up the slack.] Technically Tuesday is new release day, but I couldn't imagine posting such a frivolous list on Election Day. Now that we're all depressed and despondent, perhaps this list is just what the doctor ordered. If you like to listen to your live concerts in your living room or in your car, rather than......

This scenario playing out in Hayward is so Kevin Smith, you'd think we lived in New Jersey. ...