Electric Apricot (2006): Les Claypool's mockumentary along the lines of This Is Spinal Tap. It takes a gentle swipe at the endearing Deadhead/jam band set via fictional band called Electric Apricot. Jam bands - is there any other music genre that manges to be annoying, adorable, and, um, always-fragrant at the same time? Screens tonight at 7:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. at the Red Vic; $5.50-8. Cream: It's wet outside, but it could get......

Update!: We accidentally screwed up our contest-o-meter, so we're embarrassed to say we're going to have to run the contest again! Sorry, sorry, sorry, APAture. Reenter away, and we'll pick a winner by mid-day tomorrow. We promised you APAture event tickets, and we never go back on a promise: wanna see local Asian-American musicians Goh Nakamura, Dreamdate, Lumaya, and Amber Field tomorrow at the Make Out Room? It's a good mix of sounds, befitting the......

-- New Pornographers: Yay, the New Pornographers! We heart them ever so. Seriously. Heart them yourselves tonight as they perform along with Lavender Diamond and Fancey at 8 p.m. at the Warfield, 982 Market; $25-27. -- Laughing Liberally Local 415: Political comedy showcase featuring Joe Klocek, who performed on Comedy Central's Live at Gotham, and Diane Amos (AKA: the Pine-Sol lady!), who has appeared on Comedy Central, A&E, and at SF Comedy Day. Show......

It's been a long time since we randomly clicked on a band's website and were utterly captivated by the music we heard. We saw Bowerbirds' name and photo in Cafe Du Nord's show listings and were drawn to listen to the songs they stream on their site. It's amazing the beauty you can find sometimes just by turning over a few rocks. The music is homespun and intimate; Phil's gentle croon and the spare......

-- Barefoot Nellies: "The Bay Area's finest all-gal bluegrass band" headline at one of the Bay Area's finest bars, Amnesia, starting at 8:30 p.m., 853 Valencia; free. -- Killer of Sheep (1977): Charles Burnett's masterwork about a slaughterhouse worker/father and his family living in Watts, LA screens tonight at 7:15 p.m. 9:15 at The Red Vic, 1727 Haight (at Cole). -- Ryan Auffenberg: Local, tender singer-songwriter performs in the Mission. So does Clare Burson.......

-- Writers With Drinks: Tonight Robert Mailer Anderson, writer and game designer Austin Grossman, Sheng Wang, Darieck Scott, and Dom Brassey read. 7 p.m. at the Make-Out Room, 3225 - 22nd; $3-$5. -- Deep Fried Murder: A play about the world of competitive eating, veganism, and breaking up. Curtain rises at 8 p.m. at the Climate Theatre, 285 - 9th Street; $12. -- Altered Barbie Show: Fifth annual doll/art show has over 75 designers......

-- Writers With Drinks not only boasts an awesome substance-abuse party, but overlaps it with readings from some of your favorite local and national (that is to say, usually New York City- or LA-based) scribes and novelists. Who knew writers like to drink? But brace yourselves for tonight's edition: an "honest" look at the (dying? dead? necessary?) state of print publishing. Such inky icons as Ben Fong-Torres (from Rolling Stone), Lynn Peril (publisher of......

A variety show and a chance to help out Killing My Lobster? But of course! The Romane Event, the monthly music/film/comedy/spoken word event at the Make Out Room the last Wednesday of every month and hosted by Paco Romane, is a benefit for local comedy group Killing My Lobster, and will feature their sketches and movies tonight. Looks like fabulous fabulist Harmon Leon'll be there too! $7-15 sliding scale, 8 p.m., at the Make Out......

--It's June 16, which means it's Bloomsday! Commemorate the day made famous in James Joyce's Ulysses with readings from the book, music, and a special Bloomsday feast at the Mechanics' Institute. 57 Post Street (x Market), $15, saloon opens 6:30, readings begin at 7:30. --LAist Zach is coming to town as part of the CalArtsf alumni art festival: dance, spoken word, world music, animation, paintings, and lots more artistic expression at Cowell Theater and the......

For a thorough sampling of the current Bay Area rock/indie/pop/folk scene, look no further than Penny Arcade, a monthly, semi-acoustic showcase hosted by one of the cities most likeable citizens, Raul Sanchez. For the past two years, Raul has regularly packed various venues, such as the Make-Out Room -- now the event's permanent home, Bottom of the Hill, and The Hotel Utah with bands and fans alike. Tonight, come celebrate Penny Arcade's Two-Year Anniversary at......

Friend of SFist Charlie Anders reminds us that her nifty and unusual spoken-word group, Writers With Drinks, will be experiencing yet another stupendous explosion of literary greatness this Saturday, the 9th, from 7:30 to 9:30 at The Make Out Room. Presenters include: - Judy Budnitz, author of Nice Big American Baby and If I've Told You Once - Clifford Chase, author of Winkie - Sesshu Foster, author of Atomik Aztex - Anthony McCann, poet......

Friend of SFist judy b. is moderating a discussion about San Francisco's criminalization of poverty at the Little Roxie tonight, which is co-sponsored by the People of Color Coalition of the SF Green Party, POOR Magazine, and the SF People's Organization. Sup. Ross Mirkadreamy is scheduled to speak, as is PD Jeff A-Hotty-dachi. 6:30 p.m. and $5-15, but since it's about poverty, no one will be turned away for lack of funds). (Note: the......

Did you miss us last week? Here are our excuses: we caught a cold, had a birthday, and were up to here with work at our dayjob, for real. We're back now and anxiously awaiting a copy of Or, the Whale's brand new CD Light Poles and Pines to arrive in our mailbox. The few songs we've previewed on their site offer up banjo, steel guitar, and a chorus of male and female vocals......

Butoh dance is a post WWII form of modern Japanese performance art seen as a combination of dance, traditional Japanese theater, and mime, and which is described as provocative and shocking. Sounds like fun! The local Japanese dance group Theater of Yugen presents an evening of Butoh dance tonight, featuring nature-themed performances, along with music by new music ensemble the Nanos Operetta. 2840 Mariposa (between Florida and Alabama, near Project Artaud), 8 p.m., $15. Other......

Tonight, the SF Indiefest anschlüss continues, with a party celebrating the Coen Brothers' The Big Lebowski at Balazo Gallery (2183 Mission at 18th). Costumes encouraged. (9pm) Two great alcohol-accessorized reading events at the Make Out Room (3225 22nd St between Mission and Valencia): Friday and Saturday night is Mortified's annual doomed Valentine show with teenage stories of hopeless love, awkwardness and pain. (8pm) All this weekend it's the California International Antiquarian Book Fair at......

While current events here in SF centered largely on Teflon, it's time for some iron - Nato Green's Iron Comic at The Make Out Room (3225 22nd St. between Mission and Valencia). Iron Comic is a live gameshow where 5 comedians rush to write a routine in 10 minutes from topics suggested by the audience (have we got some topics for them, one of which is NSFW and involves Gavin impersonating Ricky Aicardi, Mrs.......

Noise Pop announced their full line-up this week and it has us feeling a little dizzy with excitement. The fest's 15th anniversary kicks off on February 27th with a free Opening Night Event (lineup TBA), followed by highlights including Sebadoh performing with their original lineup and Roky Erickson of 13th Floor Elevators' first Bay Area show in 25 years. Read all about the events and performances and get your all-fest badge while they're still......

Starting next Wednesday, we're wishing the Rickshaw Stop a very Happy 3rd Anniversary! In the last three years the venue has presented shows with everyone from Jonathan Richman to Silversun Pickups and has hosted all manner of wacky special events. Our favorite memory was an early show by Phosphorescent, and a pretty fun time on New Year's Eve in '05. They're celebrating their anniversary with a three day festival featuring a different style of......

How do you feel about holiday music? We thought that KOIT started playing their 24/7 holiday programming a little early this year, but we do love randomly hearing Jose Feliciano's "Feliz Navidad" in our car. There are two holiday albums out this year that we've been enjoying. If you're a fan of Sarah McLachlan, you should buy her holiday album Wintersong. The CD has several traditional holiday tunes, but we were pleasantly surprised by......

Who Wrote the Book of Tea - free public lecture by Norwood Pratt (we don't know if he has a charming British accent, but with a name like that, he so should) hosted by the Book Club of California. Pratt talks tea history, literature and lore. He is currently compiling an Encyclopedia of Tea. Pratt's lecture is preceded by teatime from 5 to 7pm at 312 Sutter St., Suite 510 (at Bush). CSS In Practice:......

More art tonight! Feeling hungry? Check out Détourned Menu: Food in the Form of Activism at The Lab(2948 16th Street @ Capp) from 6-9pm. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi continues his predecessor, Matt Gonzales' tradition of art shows in his office. Tonight, photos by Amy Auerbach and Ethel Mays! (City Hall Room 282) - 5-8pm. Saturday Writers With Drinks, two hours of trauma and nihilistic epiphany (and drinks), returns to the Make Out Room (3225 22nd.......

We're heading down to the Make Out Room (3225 22nd St. b/w Mission and Valencia) tonight for LitPAC and LitQuake's Progressive Reading Series featuring Dave Eggers, Keith Knight, Mary Roach (author of Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers), and more, hosted by Stephen Elliott author of Looking Forward To It: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the American Electoral Process. This is the last of this year's series of monthly......

Saturday: We're hitting the Pandora's Trunk art and fashion event. Come by 916 Natoma (at 10th Street) between 1-7 p.m. for "handmade fashion goods, art, homemade truffles, and a deluxe spa and massage corner." See the entire lineup of vendors for this free event here. Sunday: If you're still feeling artsy, there's the San Francisco Fine Craft Show, where you can browse "hand-crafted jewelry, clothing and accessories, baskets, quilts, and sculptural and functional objects in......

This week we're giving away a night of rock n' roll debauchery. Fans of good, old-fashioned, muscular rock like T. Rex and Thin Lizzy should listen up: there's a show at Cafe Du Nord next Friday (4/21) that's right up your alley. Living Things is a band of brothers out of St Louis who really have it all: lyrics with social awareness, grimy riffs that make you move and last but not least, swagger and......

Fill in your Wednesday so that every row, column, and 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9! Tonight: Local author ZZ Packer will be reading from her acclaimed short story collection, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, at the SF Main Public Library. 6:30, in the lower level auditorium. After the reading, go hear another set of interconnected tales at the Make-Out Room as the band Deliver Me From Nowhere covers Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, in track order. That show starts at 9. Thursday: Has anyone else seen this Dance Dance Revolution-type game where instead of dancing, you drum? Help us try and remember the name of that game as you attend the SF Conservatory of Music percussion department student recitals! Student Jamie Drake is performing for free at 8 pm in Hellman Hall (19th Street and Ortega). and Friday: It's the Exploratorium's opening night event for its show "Reconsidered Materials," and Elizabeth Hickok will be displaying her awesome San Francisco in Jello (tm), for one night only. Hickok makes a scale model of city scenes, then casts the buildings in gelatin, and then paints and lights it up. (See above.) The gelatin then falls apart. Event starts at 7. Picture of Alamo Square from LizHickok.com...

My Wednesday brings all the boys to the yard.... Tonight: The Make Out Room is dedicating tonight's PYT dance party to the memory of Sarah Tucker, who founded the monthly club event and was tragically killed in a hit-and-run bike accident two weeks ago. All proceeds will go to Uncommon Legacies, a group Tucker supported. Thursday: Take a private tour of the Contemporary Jewish Museum in support of its exhibition "Intersections: Reading the Space," an exploration of three women artists on faith, patriarchy, and collaboration. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a piece of cloth that the three artists, located around the globe, each worked on and passed along to the next. The museum's at 121 Steuart Street, call 415-292-1233 to register or for more information. and Friday: Stargazing! Bring binoculars and a red-colored flashlight (to preserve your night vision) to the SF Botanical Gardens tonight. Sunset is at 5:28 p.m., and the gazing begins at 6. They promise you that guide Bing Quock of the Morrison Planetarium will be able to point out sights like Saturn, Mars, and the Taurus constellation tonight, but we gotta say, the only one we can ever find is Orion. $8 members, $12 non, reservations appreciated at (415) 661-1316, meet at 5:45 outside the main gate. Picture of Sarah Tucker...

We saw the saddest obituary last week in the Chron, for the death of Sarah Tucker, a 26-year-old Mission resident who was killed in a hit-and-run bicycle accident on Polk and Geary Street on Thursday January 12. Witnesses reported seeing a black Honda CRV run a yellow light, and heard Tucker loudly shout "Hey!" before she was struck. The driver, reported to be an African-American man in his 40s, then turned off his headlights to hinder the reading of his license plate and drove away. Tucker, who was wearing her helmet, suffered severe head injuries and died shortly afterwards. Tucker, as she was known, was returning home from the Tango, Tango dance party when she was killed. Tucker was a fundraiser for the Cal Academy of Sciences by day and a filmmaker/DJ at night, volunteering for the SF Film Society, screening movies for the SF Int'l Film Fest, and running the Pretty Young Thing dance party at the Make-Out Room, among many other activities. As the obit says, "Sarah loved pugs, soul music, dancing, acronyms, sticky buns, fashion and aesthetics." If you see a black Honda CR-V with a large dent in its side on the passenger door, call SFPD Inspector Pat Tobin of the hit-and-run division at (415) 553-1641 or the confidential tip line (415) 575-4444. There's a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Please, folks, ride and drive safely out there. You probably love pugs and sticky buns too. ...

Happy New Year everyone! Were any of your holiday presents of the musical variety? If not, don't fret because our giveaways are back. This week you can enter to win a copy of local chanteuse Paula Frazer's Leave The Sad Things Behind, released in October on local label Birdman Records. Paula's Cline-esque croon floats angelically over spooky, romantic songs with lush instrumentation including horns and steel guitar. Sounds like the soundtrack to a love scene......

Most 2005 holiday parties and Top Ten lists have already come and gone, but here at SFist we like to procrastinate. Thankfully we can count on friends like Ted from BaGeL Radio who is going to spin at our holiday party (which hasn't even happened yet). Until we post our Top 10 of 2005 next week, check out what Ted had on heavy rotation this year and congratulate him on being voted on of SFBG's......

Nobody puts Wednesday in a corner -- nobody! Today: Stumble on down 22nd Street and check out the Bay Guardian-awarded Best Comedian Paco Romane's Romane Event at the Make Out Room. Romane will duel it out with the SF Weekly's best comedian Will Franken, along with another comedic troupe, the Hurley Brothers (no doubt soon to become the EBX's best comedy troupe). They'll also be screening a movie by cartoonist Lev. $7, 8-10 p.m. Thursday: Lush romanticism and plush seats! Local classical cult leader Michael Tilson Thomas conducts the Brahms violin and cello concerto at 2 p.m. in Symphony Hall. Also, a flashy Liszt piece (is there any other kind?), nominally about Faust. Dedicated slackers, if you get there early, you can line up for the 40 tickets in the Center Terrace (behind second base, as it were), which go on sale 2 hours in advance for $15-20. After you get your ticket, go check out the free pre-show talk at 1 p.m. too. Friday: Support the developmentally disabled artists of Creativity Explored at their annual holiday art exhibition and sale. Opening reception goes from 6-9 at their store, on 16th Street right off Guerrero (right by Otsu). Picture of Paco Romane and Robin Williams from Free Dirt Media website...