Another reason we love SFGate's Catherine Bigelow? Shot like this: Society dowager Dede Wilsey posing next to male performers Adam Musgrave and Ronnie Reg Waite at a tricked out SOMA loft on Thursday night. (Typical Dede!) The bash was in honor of Jean Paul Gaultier's Bay Area arrival and his new exhibition at the deYoung. Read/see all about it. more ›

It's that time of year again where stylists dress actors to within an inch of their true personalities for the red carpet and product endorsement deals. That is to say, it's Academy Awards time! Where will you be watching the Super Bowl of cinema come Sunday? At a bar? At a chatty Oscar party? At home alone wondering why once again you haven't made the move to Hollywood to take a stab at The Industry? Have no fear. SFist is here to tell you where to go on Sunday night. Whether rooting for The Descendants, The Artist, or (the dreadful) Midnight in Paris, here are just a few places in San Francisco where you can cheer on your favorites of 2011. more ›

Two parties. One night. Both perfect for you and your dilated pupils. First up, we have Go Bang! at Deco Lounge in the Tenderloin. The regular club night snorts things into high gear with a most festive end-of-2011 bash. But don't take our word for it. Hell no. Here's what SF Bay Guardian's delicious Marke B had to say about Go Bang!: "This awesome, mixed-crowd monthly disco party has zero attitude but all the glamour. It's like a Studio 54 you can actually get into. Atlanta's DJ Osmose will bring his scratching turntable technique to bear on some rare disco tracks this NYE, along with Doc Sleep, Eddie House, and hosts Sergio and Steve Fabus. Good times!" more ›

Were you aware that Alcatraz could be rented out for events, for a price? Neither were we! Leave it to major liquor distributor William Grant & Sons, who came to the Bay Area to host a booze-industry fete and butter up a bevy of local beverage folks, to inform us. The occasion was Repeal Day (the repeal of Prohibition), which is actually not until December 5th, and the theme was, appropriately 1920s/Speakeasy. more ›

Tonight we have British singer-songwriter VV Brown, 'Octubre,' and best of all, The Bangles! more ›

During Monday night's (now regularly occurring) protest/party at the BART Civic Center station, at least 40 people were pinched by the fuzz during the melee. What initially started out as a rally to decry to SFPD shooting death of Charles Hill on July 3, and then a protest to blast BART for censoring cell phone service, has now turned into a comparatively festive recurring "BART Mondays" at Civic Center. more ›

Hi, everybody. Welcome to Gay Pride weekend in San Francisco. What's Gay Pride weekend, exactly? Well, it's the time of year when lesbians hold hands walking down Market Street and gay men's pupils dilate to the size of dinner plates. More or less. And what with so many parties happening from today until the wee hours of Monday morning, we here at SFist would like to tell you what to notice and what to avoid. You're welcome. more ›

We just got sent this video in connection with a party happening tonight at Public Works called SPKR: Evolution of the Queer Dancefloor -- it's a benefit for the GLBT Historical Society and will feature the music of five legendary gay clubs in San Francisco: the Trocadero Transfer, Townsend, the I-Beam, the EndUp, and the Box. Two legendary DJs from the late 70s and early 80s will be on hand to spin, Steve Fabus and Bobby Viteritti, and they'll provide a kind of audio history of dance music from the early 70s to modern house. more ›

Union Square more ›

Did you attend the French Laundry's epic holiday party last night? Of course you didn't, you plebeian. Neither did we. Bunrab, however, did. They have loads of photos from last night's gastronomic gathering in Yountville to prove it, including girls dressed as extras from A Little Night Music, Thomas Keller and a bowl of What-Am-I-Chopped-Chicken-Liver (technically, that's not what it's called but wouldn't it be a goddamn scream if Keller started naming his dishes the Rachael Ray way?), brilliant Inside Scoop editor Paolo Lucchesi, and a block of super-fancy ice. [Bunrab] more ›

Swirl Wine Bar, which has gained a solid reputation for serving excellent varieties of grapes and spirits (and then some), will throw what promises to be an authentique champagne party on Thursday. The Castro wine bar's Champagne Holiday Party will feature esteemed Veuve Clicquot. Yes, real-life, actual champagne, folks. They've promised "no Loire Sparklers, no Prosecco, no Cava, and not a California wine in sight." Just real champagne made in France -- and the good stuff, to boot. more ›

Where can you party with Jane Kim, Gavin Newsom, Rafael Mandelman, Kamala Harris, or any number of your favorite S.F. candidates tonight? (To answer the first four: Public Works, Tres Agaves, Pilsner Inn, and Delancey Street Foundation, respectively) Check out SF FYI, SF Appeal, BAR, and BeyondChron. If you're not hungover/exhausted from last night's Giants celebration, they have the scoop on election night festivities. more ›

We're not short on choices for this weekend's Halloween festivities. Let's get to it! PARTIES Trannyshack Halloween: For everyone who misses the Castro Halloween street party, the 4th Annual Trannyshack Halloween, featuring best "ghoul-friends" Heklina and Peaches Christ, is the place to be on Sunday night at DNA Lounge. Lucha Va Voom: Also on Sunday night is the touring Halloween blowout & Cramps tribute at the Fillmore, featuring Lucha Libre, burlesque, comedy, and a costume contest. more ›

Happy birthday, Jessye Norman, she turned sixty five yesterday. Last week, she showed no intent of cashing in the 401(k) at the Opening Night Gala of the SF Symphony, singing Copland's In the Beginning for a capella choir, and some Duke Ellington jazz standards. Those were book-ended by French pieces, Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, in a somewhat approximate, not-yet-back-from-summer-break rendition, and a delicious, energetic Daphnis and Chloe suite by Maurice Ravel. more ›

Local drag impresario Juanita MORE! is throwing another of her big fetes this Sunday night, this time to celebrate the arrival of her friends, Scissor Sisters, including S.F. native Ana Matronic. It's the official afterparty for the Sisters' show at the Fox -- which still isn't sold out, btw, but the afterparty almost is -- and it'll be at the old, faithful, swanky Redwood Room. more ›

There's a scavenger hunt going on today, sponsored by GayCities.com, in which local drag impresario Juanita MORE! is checking in (via iPhone app) at various locales throughout the city and dropping off pairs of tickets for lucky scavengers. more ›

Knowing that Bambuddha Lounge was closing (you've heard, right?), drag queen and party promoter Juanita MORE! had to find another place for gays of all stripes to congregate after the Sunday Gay Pride festivities on June 27th this year. "It had to be someplace with great outdoor space," Juanita tells SFist, and for her now famous post-Pride party she finally settled on Kelly's Mission Rock Café, a space better known to the heteros about town. "There's floor to ceiling windows upstairs looking out over the entire Bay, so if it's the tiniest bit chilly it's still going to feel like you're outdoors but you can stay warm." more ›

Apparently, raves are still going strong, as 20,000 people attended the "POP 2010: The Dream" party on Saturday night at Cow Palace. more ›

Something called "Take Back Halloween: Part One" will go down at the Embarcadero this year. Brought to you by the same folks behind FlashDance and Black Rock Roller Disco, the All Hallow's Eve party is, we assume, a non-city-sanctioned event, thus it should promise to be a fun one. (Though, this could be a clever ruse by the city to get people to a locale other than the Castro. Hm. Crafty.) more ›

For those who want to join together to watch tonight's premiere of the likely ironically epic Trauma, which was filmed in San Francisco, you're in luck. North Beach's Upper Grant Avenue bars will be having a block party simultaneously screening the show at 9 p.m., hosted by JE Talent, LLC. Participating bars include Mojito, Royale, Maggie McGarrys, and Grant & Green Saloon. There will be live music by Jugtown Pirates, "industry networking," and themed cocktails, featuring Grey Goose Vodka & Bacardi Rum. The party runs from 7 to 11 p.m. more ›

In lieu of posting the actual question -- we've received several written and oral inquires regarding the matter -- we'll just go ahead and ask: are there any Mad Men viewing parties happening on Sunday night? We want to know. So does Yelp. So does... anybody who enjoys magnificent TV. more ›

Our favorite society photog, Drew Altizer, has dipped his toes in iIl linguaggio del cinema (which, for those of you not in the know, è universale), and his latest effort is this surf punk-infused montage of 's Best of the Bay Party. more ›

So, you know what's-his-name will be our President in, oh, a few days, right? Well, SF is certain to be filled with parties, hooting, hollering, and spontaneous choreography breaking out in the streets, welcoming Barack Obama to the White House. more ›

• RiffTrax Live at the Castro - . Eeee! Like, we could just die! (Part of SF Sketchfest.) Starts at 9 p.m. at the Castro Theatre.
• Your Macworld Expo Parties: It's winding down, kids. Partake in the Macworld festivities while you can.
• Ships in the Night: San Francisco's jankiest and most awesome bar--of the homosexual persuasion, anyway--is having one of the city's jankiest and most awesome! DJs L'il Manila, Durt, and Vroom pump out all of your favorite dance floor classics this evening. What's more, your admission fee goes to pro-abortion group, Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights. Woo hoo! The drinking and dancing starts at 10 p.m. at the Gang Way; $3-5.

Too real, if you ask us. Election night will soon fall upon the city like a blanket of darkness. But that doesn't mean you should celebrate or grieve alone. Ripping off Inspired by SFBG's Election Night Parties, we present to you SFist's...election night parties. Ta-da. -- Gavin Newsom's (Victory) Party: Pros: at the Ferry Building, the thrill of victory, Gavin's form Cons: at some point you will be snubbed by someone in the society... more ›

We got lucky this weekend. Not like that. We got lucky because one of our dear friends gave us a fantastic pair of black leather boots. The boots are brand new, never been worn, tall ones that go up to our knees. We've wanted a pair of boots like this for a while. But we have big calves (ok, this is where it gets weird, because I have big calves and I know for a fact that most of the SFist staff doesn't. Really, I've seen Matty Matt and Rita and Jeremy in the flesh, and not like I was really looking, but they all seem to have very normal sized calves, maybe even tiny ones). We bring the size of our calves up because, instead of denying the very cool boots our friend gave us, instead of turning them away and saying, oh those boots won't fit us, we took one look at them and thought, hey we can run those puppies through our sewing machine and alter them and make them fit just perfect. Which is exactly what we did. And we were so proud of ourselves that it got us thinking about all the other stuff we have lying around that we don't use anymore but could probably turn into something very useful with some cutting or gluing or altering. So this weeks post was inspired by those black boots and our very sweet friend who gave them to us. What follows is a sort of laundry list of ideas and resources for turning old things into new ones. Although it's not a unique concept, the craze to make recycled crafts is more popular than ever. If having a green issue of Vanity Fair is what it takes to get the main stream into the idea of 'going green' again, we'll take it. But for those of us who make it a point to always live resourcefully, no matter what Newsweek is telling us, there are some great new craft books that feature projects with a green angle. Re-Creative has 50 projects that can all be created from 'trash', cast-off, or found items. We like what we're hearing about Danny Seo's new line of books called Simply Green, which teach people how to make eco-friendly gifts and party decorations. Although Craftivity isn't entirely centered around recycled craft projects, it does have some great ideas for reusing cast aside items, including moth eaten sweaters. Image from Needles & Pens more ›

Cultural Learnings of Blogosphere for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of -Ist-a-verse more ›

SFist interviews Mara Sohn of Yerba Buena Center for the ARts more ›

While we can think of about fifty places in the Mish to practice your Downward Dog without even trying, it's nice to find places where we can practice our favorite set of postitions without looking like we were stranded by our dates in the Cow Palace parking lot after Exotic Erotic. Since none of those Yoga Tree joints will let us practice our California Roll and the Metereon threw us out after our last Popcorn Bucket, we have to look a little further afield, like, at those places where people are to have sex in public -- sex clubs. more ›