Nicole Atkins starts this week off strong with some soulful tunes from the Jersey shore over at The Independent, starting at 8pm. She's crazy-cool and has a voice of gold. If you're more of a rocker, than get to Cafe du Nord early to see Cold Hot Crash and Filter play. It looks like the only way you can buy tickets is at the door and there's not too many of them. A Fine Frenzy,......

Oh good. Valentine's Day is just around the corner. And if the thought of next Thursday's approaching fillet mignon-for-two-free evening doesn't make you want to slice open an artery followed by nap-time in the bathtub, then how about not making Nob Hill Gazette's annual Lucky 13th Annual Eligible's List? (Yes, yes, you and your hipster S.O. are too cool to celebrate a Hallmark holiday, clearly, but what a privileged thing to decide not to......

Madeleine Albright, it seems, "will also share her recommendations for the next president." There will be more than one recommendation? Oh joy. Part of her tour to promote her new literary effort, Memo to the President Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership, the former United States Secretary of State will stop by Nob Hill to chat with the peons. President and chief executive officer of the World Affairs Council of Northern......

What? Come on, cats are %100 swell. (Crazy cat lady syndrome be damned!) In fact, felines kicking it in windowsills should have its own site as far as we're concerned. Very SF. This image was taken in Nob Hill. And the added touches of graffiti and cheap Levelor horizontal blinds (in Nob Hill!) make it that more melancholic. Image credit: SFist's Leanne Maxwell......

SFist interviews Brian Regan...

Nice package. -- Of Montreal: Someone was talking of this art-rock outfit the other night -- quite controversially, in fact -- and we thought that they were talking about the city in Canada. Because we're old. Of Montreal goes on tonight with Grand Buffet and MGMT at 9 p.m. at Great American Music Hall; $18. (They also perform tomorrow night and on Wednesday; the kids just love them that much, you see.) -- Donuts:......

Seeing as how they have nothing else going on, this week the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote on a city proclamation honoring John Barleycorn Pub, calling for its preservation. The bar is set to close, and as already mentioned on Yelp, your local watering hole plays a large part in the aesthetics and feel of a neighborhood, so it's a good idea to pay attention to when these things start closing down around you....

We were thinking wistfully just the other day about Drew Altizer's excellent society photos, now that we no longer read the Sunday Styles section to show our support for the dearly-departed Catherine Bigelow -- so how excited were we when Drew sent us this latest round of A-list pictures he's taken! Joan Rivers and Bill Pullman are in town with their stage productions at the Magic Theater: The Joan Rivers Theater Project (a work......

-- Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers: Not only does this "Basie-esque" outfit perform lush jazz and blues tunes, but the chanteuse is pretty funny in between songs. Check them out tonight at 7 p.m. at the Top of the Mark, InterContinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, One Nob Hill, (999 California); $10. -- Joan Rivers Theatre Project: Though you're sure to hear even more about her pendulous, sagging breasts, her new project is......

Made famous to us plebeians not by the names littering the social registry and its many sad suck-ups (an aside: ahem, our rent is due soon, bitches), but by the much-missed former SF Weekly's "Dog Bites" columnist Laurel Wellman, Nob Hill Gazette just landed another beloved local writer, former Chronicle society scribe Catherine Bigelow. She starts today as the top-drawer publication's shiny new Deputy Editor & Society Columnist, working alongside longtime Editor Merla Zellerbach. An......

John Vanderslice is someone you can truly count on. Aside from his incredible talent, we're always impressed with his indie rock work ethic. He keeps his studio Tiny Telephone open as an incubator for top quality recordings, he's always good for a genuine smile and a hug when we run into him, and about once every 18 months or so he releases another incredible album through Seattle-based indie Barsuk Records. His latest release Emerald......

Submit your Bay Area finds to found [at] sfist [dot] com, or tag them sfist and found on Flickr! Let us know where and when you found the item and any other helpful info. We thought we'd mix it up today with some of our favorite found photos ever. These are just a few from a whole pile that we found a couple of years ago in Upper Nob Hill neatly tucked under a recycling......

The dapper and dreamily salt-and-pepper Dan Noyes recently culled 911 calls, dispatch tapes, and police and fire departments radio traffic surrounding last year's failed rescue attempt of 27-year-old Nick Torrico. High atop a Nob Hill building, Torrico plunged to his death one sunny afternoon. Apparently, Vic Wyrsch, a fire fighter from Station One, in an appropriate fit of heroism, grabbed Torrico to save him from the ledge. When a struggled occurred, Torric fell and......

Send your Bay Area finds to found [at] sfist [dot] com or tag them sfist and found on Flickr! Let us know where and when you found the item and any other helpful info. Today's find is courtesy of Greg Dewar of the fabulous N Judah Chronicles, brought to us via the SFist Found Flickr stream. We love the colors and texture in this one. The sink looks like it belongs in some big,......

Unlike the way things work on Geary, just south, the block of Post between Leavenworth and Jones features no low-budget street vendors hawking old sweat pants and older Singer sewing machines. If that doesn’t put the “Nob” in “TenderNob,” what does? Welcome to the neighborhood whose name would get you immediately escorted out of a proper English tea garden party. Post seems to be the southern border of this ‘tweener section of town: Nob Hill shines to the north, Union Square falls due east, while the Tenderloin lurks in the other two directions. A few walls here may still get tagged, but it’s a different game on this mixed-use stretch of Post: one part business, another part residence, and still another part lodging....

At some point in 2003, we were at a meeting of the local puppetry guild (because that's the kind of rough crowd with which we roll) and someone mentioned that they'd done some concept art for Pixar involving rodentia. That's four years ago that those poor saps were playing with rats, tweaking every twitch and crumb day after day. And now, finally, Pixar's finally ready to say "okay, done" to Ratatouille. Upcoming Pixar reports......

We've got a really cool giveaway this week. Everyone knows who Rufus Wainwright is, right? Please, tell us that you do. He's still crooning luxuriously behind the piano, wearing fabulously tailored suits and hasn't aged a day since his auspicious self-titled debut nearly ten years ago. His brand new record, Release the Stars, is hot off the presses and he's coming to play a special show at Nob Hill Masonic Center with Sean Lennon......

We're sorry to pass along the news that a pedestrian is near death after having been hit by a car in the Nob Hill/Polk Gulch area at around 5:30 this morning. The pedestrian was crossing California Street at Hyde when an eastbound car going up the California Street hill plowed right into him. Witnesses reported that the pedestrian rolled up onto the hood, and then fell off after the car hit the brakes. The car......

We're very sad that the SF Int'l Film Festival is over -- but at least we live in a city where you don't have to wait for just once a year to see some amazing foreign films! We've got free passes to the Danish movie Adam's Apples, about which the Bay Guardian has said, "If Adam's Apples isn't the best movie I see in 2007, whatever movie is will be really, really, really good."......

--The dude who got shot yesterday isn't cooperating with the cops. --David Halberstam's attorney blames the J-School driver for Halberstam's fatal car accident. --A second gas leak in SF this afternoon? This one in Nob Hill. --There was a fire at 1 a.m. this morning on Natoma (between Mission and S. Van Ness) and 14th Street. --A Santa Cruz councilmember has issued an apology for making sexual comments to a female police officer on a......

Hey, tomorrow's Saturday. You were going to have a few stiff ones anyway, right? May as well have them at the John Barleycorn. From 1-5 p.m. tomorrow there will be a free BBQ at this the historic pub...

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 47. (We almost counted the mannequin at your right!) Number of people pictured whom we recognize: 3. Minority count: 2 (4.2%). Hats, capes, tiaras: 5, 0, 0. Getty v. Traina: 1-2 (Gavin for Team G and Dede for Team T). Amount of money it'll cost you to attend the SF International Poetry Festival this summer: 0! Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman, a Marxist, says poetry......

-Middle Class can't find no housing in San Francisco. -Mavericks surf contest to probably be called off due to no waves. -Swooning teenager saved by the Governator. -Kerouac Alley in North Beach is all redone. -Trade show workers might be going on strike. -Four construction workers are buried in dirt and rock while working in a basement in Nob Hill. -Mountain lions are finding Pleasanton very pleasant.......

Gavin Newsom was all raspy voice and bulletproof hair at last night at Cesar Chavez Elementary in the Mission. Despite somebody's command to "Go back to Nob Hill!" Gavin asserted "I'm not going away." He's used that phrase a couple times now. Is that your campaign slogan, homie? We hope not, because you're not exactly the underdog. It's almost April and you still don't have an opponent. ...

Here's a reminder that there's only four days left in our big SFist contest for tickets to "An Evening of a Thousand Scowls" For those who don't remember, it's a comedy show put on by 826 Valencia and featuring Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt, Al Madrigal, Jasper Redd, Brent Weinbach and others. The performance will raise money for 826 Valencia's student writing and tutoring programs. ...

Our next big SFist contest is for "An Evening of a Thousand Scowls" a comedy show put on by everyone's favorite writers workshop, 826 Valencia. The night features such comedians as Janeane Garofalo, Patton Oswalt, Al Madrigal, Jasper Redd, Brent Weinbach and others, and will be hosted by non-comedian Daniel Handler (aka “Lemony Snicket”). The performance will raise money for 826 Valencia's student writing and tutoring programs. ...

-It's light out in SoMa as there's a black out going on. -And there was a fire in Nob Hill this morning. One person was critically injured and the cable cars near where the fire was were shut down. -There was an earthquake this morning off the coast near Eureka. -Oakland Police Department and Oakland might be at a contract impasse. -Part of the land the 49ers want to build on in Santa Clara is......

Those of us you who live or work near the Nob Hill/Russian Hill/Chinatown area are conveniently located near the biggest-bang-for-your-buck yoga in town. Yogic Motion's intro offer of $20 for 30 days of unlimited yoga is impossible to resist and a very smart tactic. "Everyone can go to the ATM and withdraw a twenty," explained Yogic Motion owner Brian Monnier. And for that $20 you can do yoga every day for a month. Then you will be hopelessly hooked. And hey, we gotta giveaway too. Start off your new year right and enter to win a free month of unlimited classes at Yogic Motion. ...

Busses of all sorts have us in a tizzy these days. Got Milk? With our MUNI wait? That seems so 1993 and wrong! When we think of the smells of baked cookies, we feel a combo of anticipation, hunger, happiness, and youthful delight. Of course, that's assuming the doughy, chocolatey smells come from a real kitchen (preferably our own) and are not competing with cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes, urine, barf, or rancid food....

-You know how Gavin said we needed more money to fund all the new police work we're asking the police to do? He was only punking Chris Daly. ...