*CRAFT: Knitters and crocheters come together in harmony tonight over at the (newly remodeled!) Three Dollar Bill Cafe. Don't know how? No worries. Someone will be there to teach you. Happens every Monday. Q&A: Ask Dr. Hal is back. One time fixture over Chicken John's the Odeon (RIP), you can now find Hal over at 12 Galaxies. So head on down to Mission Street to ask him whatever pressing questions are on you mind......

The hilarious Eugene Mirman and Jon Benjamin are hosting SF Sketchfest's "Fresh Faces of Comedy" show on Sunday night at Mezzanine that we can't wait to check out. There will also be a short film contest with Jon Lehr of TBS's 10 Items or Less (he was also Geico's Caveman, whom he looks nothing like, BTW), which had us chuckling aloud the other night. "Five finalists will have their grocery-store themed films showcased and the......

We've had a couple of chances to catch Perfect Machines live over the past few months. What can we say, other than that they rock in that super-fun NOFX-meets-Misfits supercharged punk way. They're throwing a CD release party tomorrow at 111 Minna - copies of the album are free with the $10 cover, along with Jameson shots - and we decided to take the opportunity to ask them a few questions. Name Perfect Machines Sam......

-- Colors of Christmas: Oh yeah. You know you want to hear this KOIT-ish night of soulful holiday tunes live at Davies, right? Well, we sure do. Peabo Bryson, Oleta Adams, Ben Vereen, and Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. croon R&B-tinged holiday classics and modern hits starting at 8 p.m. at Davies Symphony Hall; $20-$80. -- The SantaLand Diaries & Season's Greetings: David Sedaris' famous dysfunctional and wry Christmastime tales hit the stage.......

San Francisco's musical offerings were bountiful Wednesday night ranging from Film School to Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings to The Thermals. It seems, though, that most of you made the correct choice: Vampire Weekend. Now we don't doubt that the other shows weren't amazing -- we were pretty miffed that there were so many choices on one night -- but clearly if you are anybody then you were wearing a blue pin-striped shirt, dark......

-- "Punk Rock Karaoke": Damnit all to hell. We can't believe that we have to miss this: members of the Adolescents, Bad Religion, and NOFX perform live while "singers" drunkenly slur along, karaoke-style. But you shouldn't miss it! Starts tonight at 9 p.m. at 111 Minna Gallery; $10. -- Red Poppy Art House Holiday Exhibit & Art Sale: According to the Poppy, "this show will feature works from such artists as Addie Shevlin, Todd......

-- Cinewhores Present Midnight Cowboy (1970): Although tame by today's smut-filled standards -- oh, you heard right! -- Midnight Cowboy has the distinction of being the only X-rated film to have ever snagged the Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The film -- about the friendship between Joe, a rookie New York City hustler, and Ratso, a terminally-ill New Yorker -- is prefaced by a reading by queer author Kirk Read. (Oh, and Sylvia......

While it's no new thing for rock bands to come out with their own movies, they've definitely gotten more dramatic. Two films (that couldn't be on more opposite ends of the cinematic concert-film spectrum, if you ask us) are showing in the next two weeks: Sigur Rós' Heima (Icelandic for "Home" or "Homeland") and Daft Punk's Electroma. While Heima is more your traditional rockumentary (see band play. See band play in nice locations.), Electroma......

Writer, lead singer, guitarist, and founder of J-Church, Lance Hahn, passed away due to kidney disease complications on Saturday. He was 40. Although he formed J-Church in San Francisco during the halcyon days of the early '90s, he moved the group on to bigger things in Texas. There, he finally found success within the scrappy Austin-based punk scene. Read more about his life and music at Punk News and Austin 360. Image: Amanda Mauer......

coarse language = a wee bit NSFW -- The Boys in the Band: Mart Crowley's work, which takes place one night during a birthday party, details what happens to the gays after leaving the 18- to 25-year-old demographic, with twink rage aging into fine bitterness. Really, it's the most accurate depiction of gay men, ever. Screens tonight at 7 p.m. at -- where else? -- the Castro Theatre, Castro & Market Streets; $6-$9. --......

-- Daft Punk's Electroma: Pinocchio-ish road movie about two robots -- played by Daft Punk members Peter Hurteau and Michael Reich -- and their quest to become human. Riot In Belgium, the Bang Gang DJs, Dandi Wind, and Richie Panic & Jefrodisiac perform tonight before and after the movie. Doors open at 7 p.m. at Mezzanine, 444 Jesse (at Mint); free with RSVP at going.com. -- Justice League Wiffle Ball Game: According to Laughing......

Just passing along the latest news on Roisin Isner, the 17-year-old drummer hit by a firecracker in Dolores Park on July 4. The 17-year-old boy the SFPD arrested has been released by the juvenile court to home detention, but remains a person of interest in the case. They have videotape footage confirming that he was on the scene, and he admitted to anarchist activity and to throwing firecrackers in the park and in a phone......

--Our city rules. [Examiner.] --Today's Matt Gonzalez Mayoral Candidate Magic Eight-Ball reading: Maybe yes. [Left in SF.] --The Punk Rock Sideshow at the Hemlock is hosting a benefit concert next Monday (July 16th) for Roisin Isner, the girl hit by the firecracker on July 4th. It'll feature a lot of all-girl bands. We're wishing you the best, Roisin! [Hemlock Tavern, via All Shook Down] --Do you play the piano? Paul Hogarth wants to talk......

We found it pretty interesting that the L.A. Times saw fit to publish a feature story examining teh Haight, complete with quotes from actor Peter Coyote, a Marin Resident. (Leave it to the LaLa Times to turn to an actor for quotes . . . ). ...

Before you bike to work on Thursday, brush up on your inner urban cyclist with a free bike clinic with tips on navigating through the city -- not to mention step-by-step instructions on how to fix a flat. Get there by 7 for the workshop. REI San Francisco, 840 Brannan, SF. Elegant illustrations by Bay Area residents Marci Washington and Michele Carlson are on display at Giant Robot SF, 618 Shrader. After checking out the......

A very sincere thank you to the reader who forwarded along this picture of former Mrs. Gavin Newsom Kimberly Guilfoyle with her baby boy Ronan Anthony Villency. All together: awwwwwww! And this got us thinking: what's going on with the rest of Gavin's squeezes these days? Here's the results of our Google searching! Sofia Milos: The Scientologist girlfriend! Sofia (watch out, the site plays execrable music when you load it up) was recently spotted at......

Droll NPR commentator (who was previously fired for cursing) Sandra Tsing Loh brings her one-woman show, "Mother On Fire," to the Women's Building tonight! For a 9 night run! The show's about her travails trying to find an appropriate school for her kindergarten age daughter in the California school system and ran for 7 months in LA. Here's the one-liner. "I looked at public schools, private schools, parochial schools -- even Baptist school. It turns......

Cultural Learnings of Blogosphere for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of -Ist-a-verse Jagshemash! Borat is a hit. It's getting rave reviews, grossing millions, and definitely the most quotable thing we've seen in ages. But Borat seems to have missed most of the -ist cities, and we were all wondering how the film would have been different if he'd made his way around the world on the -ist tour. In Shanghai, Borat would be observing Inane Learnings......

Our new favorite trivial pursuit is police radio codes and according to APCO (that's the Association of Public-Safety Communication Officials), 10-16 means "domestic trouble." So, to avoid any domestic trouble, we're heading on over to ATA (992 Valencia @ 21st) to check out the Free Form Film Festival program OUT2, a series of "outsider" shorts about the holidays. High kitsch factor alert! The screening will be followed by a performance by Sabreteeth, who will hyphenatedly......

Hey, did you see SFist Rita's review of Punk Like Me? She described it as "like a John Hughes movie, only punk rock" and said that she "laughed so hard during the concert scenes (she) pulled a stomach muscle." Given that Rita spends most of her time in a man hating lesbian funk due to her angry infatuation with our mayor, the fact that this movie could get her to crack a smile at......

This is such a brilliant idea. So the 36-year-old star (and writer) of this documentary, Rich Wilkes, had the genius idea to sneak his band onto a major national rock tour -- by posing as a freelance writer for Rolling Stone and telling the guy who runs the Vans Warped Tour that he wanted to cover the scene "undercover." Unfortunately, about a month before the tour was set to begin, his band broke up. So......

When we heard children's book author Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author of Good Night, Monkey Boy (a favorite with our nephew) had a new book out, we wondered how he'd top the wacky brilliance of Baghead, a story any of us who have trimmed our own bangs can relate to. Then he emailed us about his newest opus, Punk Farm. He told us, "I'm especially excited about it, so any plug that you could give......

When we heard that the Golden Gloves were moving back up to San Francisco from the Cow Palace, we were all "sure, that sounds cool", but we didn't really get how awesome it was until we set foot in the Civic Center Friday night. Right away, we want to take our hats off to the entire organization for taking what was, as we said earlier, basically a friends and family event and making it......

Has everyone gotten into the holiday spirit, or are we all just hopped up on eggnog? Either way, there are some festive fetes, punk rock riots and buzzworthy delights coming to our neck o' the woods this week. Hold on to your knickers -- it looks like Tom Jones kicks off a three night stint at the Fillmore this evening! Actually, in that case you should take your knickers off and throw them at him.......

The San Jose Museum of Art plays host to the first major solo U.S. exhibit of work by Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara. Citing influences such as Disney and Punk Rock, Nara is best known for his unsettling cartoon-like children. Although they may fit the Japanese sense of kawaii, the direct gaze and sense of malice that is often present in Nara’s characters excludes them from fitting a Western definition of ‘cute’. The tilte of the show, “Nothing Ever Happens” is an apt reflection of the startling sense of ennui that permeates much of Nara’s art....