-- Benefit Show Honoring Erno "Tattoo" Szabady: Local rock bands Slowfinger, DickDusters, and the Walker Brothers get together to raise money for a burial "niche" for well-known, recently deceased tattoo artist, Szabady. Show starts at 8 p.m. at Peacock Lounge, 552 Haight Street (at Fillmore); $10-$15. -- Live-in Maid (Cama adentro): Norma Aleandro's dramatic role, about a "wealthy woman and her live-in housekeeper" dealing with the economic collapse in Argentina, finally arrives in the......

Got your ruching done? Better hope so, because Tim Gunn's coming to town! Everybody's favorite Project Runway mentor is in the area on Friday and Saturday to promote his new book Tim Gunn: A Guide To Quality, Taste, And Style, which covers topics like: how to shop (broken down into designer, chain, and vintage), creating your own personal style, and even how to improve your posture. ("I don't know. I just don't love it," we......

So as we were heading to the Opera Plaza movie theater for the SFIAAFF yesterday around 5:45 p.m., we noticed a huge number of helicopters overhead and wondered what was up. Turns out there was a huge fire on Page Street that started around 5:15 p.m.. One person jumped to escape the fire (no word on that person's condition), one firefighter had to jump onto the roof of the adjacent building to escape smoke, and......

In the words of opening night movie guest: Stop! SF International Asian-American Film Festival Time! That's right, ladies and gents, guess who's showing up tomorrow at the opening night screening of Finishing The Game (a Bruce Lee comedy) at the Castro? Everyone's favorite local rapper in baggy pants, MC Hammer!!!! Also appearing: local reality TV star and fashion model Yul Kwon. You know we are so there. (Tickets are still available -- but move quick,......

We can't take any more of this Bay Area independent bookstore stress -- first the Kepler's drama and now this? Venerated SF independent bookstore stalwart A Clean Well-Lighted Place For Books is on the market. Owner Neal Sofman says that it's been hard getting walk-in traffic at its Opera Plaza location and that sales have been steadily declining over the years. But what about that new Peet's that just opened next door? Surely that would......

It's a triple espresso shot in your Blotter/Trimeth latte -- the SFPD were called in this afternoon to the Starbucks on Van Ness and Bush after an employee found a homemade pipe bomb in the bathroom. The police cleared out everyone from the neighboring Ellis Brooks auto center, the Wayo sushi bar, and the apartments upstairs. The bomb squad took about 20-30 minutes to defuse the bomb, which was described as "a portion of a flashlight and a fuse." No one was injured, and the folks evacuated across the street said they didn't hear anything when the bomb was detonated. Traffic was rerouted for about an hour. Picture of the Van Ness/Bush Starbucks from the site Starbucks Everywhere...

Our friends at Larsen Associates love SFist readers! They've given us passes for the run of engagement of Going Shopping, which opened yesterday at the Opera Plaza cinema. Holly (Victoria Foyt), is a successful clothing designer with her own boutique. In the course of a tumultuous Mother's Day weekend she is confronted with deceit, elation, desperation, kleptomania, rebellion, addiction and passion, all the while under pressure to save her business and her family in......

If SFist's discussion-inspiring content isn't enough of a reason to keep your browser on us all the day long, how about all our awesome contests? This time, we're giving away passes for two to see The Beat My Heart Skipped at Landmark's Opera Plaza at any screening between July 25 and 28. An acclaimed French crime drama about a piano playing property shark and remake of James Toback's Fingers, we loved this movie when......

There are so many reasons why Team America: World Police is our big budget pick of the week. Let us count the ways: 1)Dude, puppets. Who f**k. Yeah. 2)That pompous ass Sean Penn is lampooned in the film. We already thought his performance in Mystic River approached brilliant self-parody, but this takes the extra step into genius. Finally, there's 3) Our sworn Nemesis Mick LaSalle who gives it an empty chair. Given that our (and......