Results tagged “nightlife”

As we all know, San Francisco nightlife has been under fire quite a bit lately. In addition to the ongoing saga of the Alcoholic Beverage Control's enforcement of arbitrary rules they've set for all-ages music clubs, a group of conservatives have been showing up at hearings at City Hall claiming that night-time entertainment is the cause of "violent crime, murder, prostitution, public urination and defecation and any host of problems that the city has been facing for decades."

The Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, a malignant cancer attacking San Francisco's nightlife scene, has dropped its "ambiguous" suit against Great American Music Hall. It seems the ABC was upset at the O'Farrell venue, according to NBC Bay Area, for "operating more like a nightclub than a restaurant." (They serve food at GAMH?!) This creepy attack from the booz controllers goes along with similar complaints they have filed against clubs like Cafe Du Nord and DNA Lounge. On Monday, however, "the ABC dismissed its complaint against the Great American Music Hall after an administrative law judge recommended the charges be dropped because 'the regulation relied upon by the ABC was ambiguous.'"

by Moses Namkung
What do you get when you mix members of the Smashing Pumpkins, Hanson, Fountains of Wayne and Cheap Trick? Apparently... Tinted Windows. Aidan Vaziri at SFGate has an amusing interview with Taylor Hanson, the 26-year old father of four, in which he says, and we quote, "Heroin has a real down side, so I try to stay away from the hard stuff" and "I've figured out what to do with my hands ... onstage... I subtly molest the mike stand." The kid apparently has grown up a lot in the 12 years since 1997. You can catch the demi-supergroup at GAMH on Friday. Select list of shows around the city, after the jump...

by Moses Namkung

Outside Lands has arrived. Remember last year? Substantial Muni fail, Radiohead's sound cutting out, Mr. Clothezoff, and other freshman-year festival growing pains... this year, we have a gaggle of headliners and acts that hit their prime a generation ago, but also an array of potentially promising Outside Lands night shows the entire week, including The Dodos (sold out, unfortunately), Holy Fuck and Os Mutantes. And that's on top of a week that's already front-loaded with Ted Leo at BOTH and Pete Yorn at the Fillmore on Monday and SubPop's Fruit Bats at Ameoba SF and the Independent on Tuesday. We've been analyzing the schedule, trying to figure out which day of the festival we are the most (and least) excited for. For some reason though, while we do so, we're finding ourselves drifting off and daydreaming of the Flaming Lips, Girl Talk and Grizzly Bear...

Select list of shows around the city, after the jump...

by Moses Namkung

This week, the Bay Area plays host to Third Eye Blind, Green Day and the Warped Tour -- quite the triumvirate of throwback California alternative rock. Just wondering, is anybody out there going to the 3eb gig? Ever since we stopped contemplating purchasing their debut and/or ) on Tuesday and also has J. Tillman of Fleet Foxes fame on Sunday for a solo show. See you out there.Select list of shows around the city, after the jump...

After City Attorney Dennis Herrera asked the city to shutdown Heaven Mini Theatre for performing lapdances without the proper permits (not to mention allowing prostitution inside its doors, just like every other SF hoochie-coochie establishment), the club owner is crying foul. Peter Lambertson claims that his North Beach club is being targeted since they're not playing ball with supposed SFPD blackmailing tactics and city-sanctioned kickback requests.

by Moses Namkung

by Moses Namkung

Did you miss out on buying tickets to the secret show for Sonic Youth at the Independent tonight? Never fear, they're available for... oh, wait... somebody's asking for the extortionary amount of $175, or 5x face, on craigslist!? For shame. If you aren't in the mood to shell out that kind of dough to see some aging rockers from two decades ago, you can still kind of get your 80's fix with Black Francis, aka the big, bald white guy from the Pixies, Frank Black, at Hotel Utah on Thursday and Friday.


Two other shows of note, both on Thursday, include Harlem, recently signed to Matador at Rickshaw Stop and The Dry Spells
celebrating their CD release at Cafe du Nord. Otherwise, it's a bit of a slow week in the Bay Area, so to keep you entertained, here's a nice mixtape of KZSU digital sessions, courtesy of the recently and dearly departed SF music blogger ipickmynose.

by Moses Namkung

The Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival,
the two-week long extravaganza featuring an array of "local
independent concert promoters, musicians, artists, filmmakers, dancers
and multi-media performance artists",
finishes this week with shows throughout the city including tonight's
gig at Cafe Du Nord featuring singer-songwriter Miranda Lee Richards.
Her soft folky tunes can help sooth the pain of Monday, but if you're
instead in the mood to shell out $30 to hear audience members yell for
more cowbell, you can see Blue Oyster Cult at Slim's tonight, as well.


Also of potential interest later in the week, the heavily-hyped (translation: got 8.0+ on Pitchfork?) The Pains of Being Pure At Heart will return to Rickshaw Stop, while electro-pop duo La Roux heads up Cafe Du Nord on Wednesday. Over in the east bay, funky Of Montreal and Halle Berry's ex-husband will head up shows at Fox Theater on Friday and Sunday, respectively. See you out there.


Select list of shows around the city, after the jump...

Two men were shot inside Impala, a Broadway nightclub frequented by types who still think bottle service is cool, at around 1:15 a.m. this morning. According to 's cover story this week on "the failures of the San Francisco Entertainment Commission to adequately regulate violent clubs." Oops. Rightfully livid about this morning's violent shooting, Sam Young, owner of the nearby Dragon Bar, shot off a cross email to City Hall this morning, saying, "This should come as no surprise since I stated numerous times that this would happen ... As usual, City Hall does absolutely nothing and now there is another shooting, which could have and should have been prevented."

Do you like to eat meat? Are you one of those people who likes hearing about it, reading about it, learning about it, talking about it and ogling it? Then you might want to drop by the 18 Reasons Gallery on Thursday evening from 7-9 pm for a showing of Julio Duffoo's killer photo portraits in Meatpaper Magazine of people who work with meat.

The week ahead in music is a quiet one, as if the Bay Area needed some time off to nurse it's collective post-Pride hangover. Quiet doesn't mean silent, however, and there are still plenty of offerings for those who want a little auditory stimulus for their come-down. Two shows featuring roots music are worth checking out this week: Deer Tick at The Independent on Wednesday and The Moondooggies at The Rickshaw Stop on Thursday. The B-52's make an apperance on the peninsula on Tuesday, continuing to surprise those who see them live with their durability and tight musical chops. As you plan ahead for the Fourth of July weekend, make sure to check out the Fillmore Jazz Festival, consistently one of the best street festivals in San Francisco. The fest regularly features top-notch talent from across the jazz spectrum while celebrating the musical heritage of the Western Addition neighborhood. Best of all, it's free. Highlights of this year's festival include: Spencer Day, Marcus Shelby Orchestra, Kim Nalley, Sila & the AfroFunk Experience, Norman Bautista, and many more. Check out www.fillmorejazzfestival.com for more details. If you feel the need to escape the city for the weekend, you can always head up to the Marin County Fair and join graying hot-tubbers as they sway to the retro sounds of Sha Na Na and the latin rock of Los Lobos.

Brooklyn-based quartet Grizzly Bear has had the indie music community abuzz with rave reviews of their latest album, Veckatimest, which even cracked the Billboard Top 10 a couple weeks ago, just ahead of... Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts. Yes ladies and gents, they've hit the big time. All Shook Down certainly loved 'em last night (apparently it was better than seeing a unicorn) and they're back for more tonight. Also, the Greek Theatre in Berkeley has David Byrne and Wilco back to back nights; as for recommended local acts, A.A. Bondy and Telekinesis are hitting up Cafe Du Nord and BOTH, respectively. See you out there. Select list of shows around the city, after the jump...

Zagat drops their San Francisco Nightlife edition tomorrow. Survey top-spot winners include Auberge du Soleil ("overall appeal"), the St. Regis Lobby Lounge ("décor"), the Four Seasons Bar ("service," "cocktail expertise," "quiet conversation"), Absinthe ("popularity"), El Rio ("queer"), La Trappe ("beer"), Toronado ("dive," "jukeboxes"), Hotel Biron ("wine"), and Specs ("best buy"). Oh and, hey, look: here's the Zagat guide getting a nod on How I Met Your Mother, a show that makes us want to rip off our eyelids and smash our face through a window. Anyway, if we can move away from the press release for a second, we have to admit that the Zagat Nightlife Guide does comes in handy, especially if you're a slave uncovering new local nightspots in which to get trashed. So, invitations to tomorrow's top-drawer Zagat launch party aside, we totally recommend it.

The Harmony Festival, coming up this weekend in Santa Rosa, will feature Michael Franti & Spearhead, India.Arie, Cake, ALO (Animal Liberation Orchestra), Balkan Beat Box and countless other musical acts over the course of the three day festival. Come join up and see that "at the Harmony Festival, it becomes obvious that we are all one." Er, yes. Go out and feel those good rhythms of humanity, brah. Select list of shows around the Bay Area after the jump...

The last time we saw Jens Lekman, as his set ended he apologized that he had run out of time. The lights went on, he hopped down from the stage to mingle with the crowd, and then said, "I'd like to keep playing music. Do you know of anywhere else we can play some more music? I'm not from around here." Phew, such a nice guy. We suggested Union Square in NY, went there and waited in the cold, but he sadly never showed - he apparently "got lost in Halloween weekend traffic".

by Moses Namkung Exciting week ahead, yes? Yes. Our favorites? We'll be catching St. Vincent on Wednesday, Jenny Lewis on Friday and the Thermals on Sunday! See you out there. Monday, May 25 Flight of the Conchords @ Berkeley Community Theatre, $39

by Moses Namkung Over at ipickmynose, Adrian Bischoff is consistently producing superb, original local music coverage including this garden tour today with local resident John Vanderslice; in it, the two discuss, among other things, strawberry trees, succulent plants and echium. Vanderslice will be playing an in-store tonight at Amoeba Music and will be playing tomorrow at Rickshaw Stop.

The fine folks over at Eater came across the May issue of Esquire, which boasts their annual list of the Best Bars in America. San Francisco scored big, with Zeitgeist (cyclists and porta-potties!), Toronado (somewhere in the Haight!), 21 Club, (grit!) Bourbon & Branch (never been before!), Cantina (secret basement fumblings!), Vesuvio (North Beach at its most preserved!) and Tosca Cafe (Sean Penn!) making the annual list.

FILM: Bring your bike, a cushion/blanket, and a radio for the Disposable Film Festival's first ever bike-in screening (as opposed to a drive-in). Immediately following the movie, there will be a party inside the Good Hotel, hosted by the SF Bay Guardian, which will celebrate the release of their Bike to Work issue, and there will be a bike valet by the trusty SF Bicycle Coalition.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a law on Tuesday banning any and all loitering outside of SF nightclubs. This, it seems, will help stop violent crimes that happen in front of nightclubs. Now thugs looking to punch or murder other patrons will have to walk a few feet away from a nightclub in order to commit their preferred acts of violence. A dirty, evil loiterer is, for those of you who don't know, a person who "remains a pedestrian for a period of over three minutes within ten feet from the entrance of a nightclub or within ten feet from any point on any lines formed at the entrance to a nightclub." If a loiterer is caught in the act of mischievous loitering outside a nightclub, according to SFBG, they will be "fined $50-$100 and/or community service. But if charged with a misdemeanor, they will be punished with a $200-$500 fine and/or community service, or six months in the County jail, or fine and jail." In related news: You weren't using those First Amendment rights anyway, were you?

The curse of Nelly's "Hot in Herre": since that summer in 2002 when the song came out, every time somebody says, "man, it's hot in here", there's a decent chance some goon will instinctively say, "so take off all your clothes!". Shhhh! Anyways, Jenny Owens Youngs, who comes to Bottom of the Hill on Friday, also sings that cursed song kind of sweetly, acoustic-style. Yeah, acoustic covers of rap songs... here are a couple lists/threads with boatloads of them, in case you're interested: list one and list two.

COMEDY: Be sure to check out the Cartoon Art Museum's fifth annual "Comix for Comics," a pee-your-pants night of hilarity featuring stand-up comedy by Carlos Alazraqui of Reno 911, Mike Meehan, Harmon Leon, Joe Klocek, the always-awesome Justin Lamb, and Michael Capozzola. What's more, the ticket price gets you a night of sparkling comedy, as well as tasty nibbles and booze.

          

by Moses Namkung

by Moses Namkung

SOMA/SATURDAY: Early Saturday morning at around 2 a.m., a 24-year-old man was shot and killed at Third and Folsom streets, just one block away from 715 Harrison. The incident happened a little after 2 a.m. The victim, James Jamonte Turner, 23, was pronounced dead at the scene. And although three men were seen running from the scene just after the shooting, no arrests have been made,

by Moses Namkung

by Moses Namkung

SF Entertainment Commission, the mafia-like overlord of entertainment permits, wants more control over San Francisco nightclubs. This time, though, they want club owners to take more responsibility for the trash that lingers outside their venues (i.e., 715 Harrison, 1025 Folsom, wherever women congregate to do "the whore dance" [you know, where two girls "freak" each other while waving one hand in the air?]) The new nightlife law would double "the area outside a venue the club is legally responsible for, from 50 to 100 feet." Also, according to the Chronicle, the new Newsom- and Maxwell-introduced legislation would the SFEC executive director to "unilaterally shutter a club for up to three days if a crime occurred on the premises. The changes also would allow the director to fine a business for excessive noise or for not following city-approved security plans." What we want to know is, who is responsible for removing the locks on single-occupancy bathrooms at bars and clubs? That's just downright mean.