*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......

-- 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.......

-- "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......

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. --......

-- The 2007 Bay Area Rhythm Exchange: Stepology (which we can only hope is very much like "Vibeology") presents tap stars Channing Cook-Holmes (Riverdance, Gangs of New York, Bojangles), John Kloss (Tap Heat), Deborah Mitchell (The Cotton Club, Black and Blue), Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards (Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, Bamboozled), Sam Weber (Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood). 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre (SF War Memorial and Performing Arts Center), 401 Van Ness; $19-$22. -- Chrome:......

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......

SFist Sara's back, with your weekend picks in indie cinema! We are always going to tell you to see Other Cinema. You can set your watch to it, we promise. This week’s Incredibly Strange Music program is packed with punk rock/bad music video genius. We’re particularly into the experimental film Foucault’s Pendulum but there’s oddity for every taste, as curator Craig Baldwin’s program religiously offers. This week, however, the OC schedule has a staunch competitor......

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......

It's been forty-nine years of great cinema for the SF International Film Festival (SFIFF), and starting April 26 through May 10 2007, it'll be fifty! To celebrate their gold anniversary, the SFIFF is not only presenting the always-dazzling film festival itself, but hosting a huge array of events as well: from tributes to Spike Lee (and a screening of When The Levees Broke), and awards to locals George Lucas and Robin Williams, an address about......

As the world holds it's breath, teetering precariously on the cusp of the Superbowl (well, at least in America), the wheels of the -ists keep on turning. Austinist was in a musical frame of mind as they listened to the new Shins album, updated the SXSW band listings and got called "punk rock" for their efforts by MTV. And an ice storm swept through the area. Bostonist said goodbye to John Kerry's plans for......

A passel of literary events tonight: LitPAC & Laughing Liberally Lab-SF Present a benefit for Slain Iraqi Comedian Walid Hassan featuring renowned writers Daniel Handler of Lemony Snicket, Andrew Sean Greer of Confessions of Max Tivoli, Michelle Tea of Valencia and Rent Girl, plus comedians, Joe Klocek, Sal Calanni of sketch group Tossing Alice, Ali Mafi of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour, Samantha Chanse, Kurt Weitzmann and more. The benefit will be hosted......

At the Roxie, (3117 16th St. between Valencia & Guerrero) it's FARMCORE, a documentary about punk rock's 1980s home in the Mission, The Farm. The screening is a benefit for San Francisco Indybay Media and Oaxaca Indymedia. The film documents the punk scene (Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, and Black Flag played there, to name a few) and the staff’s struggles to keep the doors open while battling a greedy landlord and hostile police, until the......

Courtney Love is scheduled for a book signing event at the Mission Bay Borders (200 King St. @ 3rd) to promote her "multi-textual memoir," Dirty Blonde. According to the official PR, the author will only sign her new book at this event. We assume that means don't bother asking Ms Courtney to autograph her late husband's albums or any appendages or pharmaceutical containers. (7pm) While we're not in the giving advice to celebrities business,......

Opening at the Lumiere tonight is Larry Clark's latest, Wassup Rockers. Larry has made a career of getting under the skin of American teenagers, from his photography work in "Tulsa," through movies like Kids, Bully and Ken Park. Like Kids, Rockers attempts to blend straight fiction with cinema verite. The protagonists of the movie -- young latino boys living in South Central -- portray themselves, and many of the situations in the movie were derived......

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......

Heading into 111 Minna on Friday for the West Memphis Three benefit auction, we were excited at the prospect of seeing some of our punk rock heroes in attendance. Lo and behold, once past the five foot tall photographs of the WM3 staring mournfully at us as we entered, stood Henry Rollins casually chatting with about six or seven adoring kids and clutching a cup of coffee. Could this be? After all, Rollins has......

We here at SFist not so fondly remember our adolescent quest, our desire to find the true essence of rock and roll. With a puberty induced punk rock fervor, we wanted to be rock stars that would catch panties thrown at us with our teeth, smash our equipment, mosh with the gnarlyist metal heads, and captivate audiences with our own brand of rock and roll mayhem. What we got instead were guitar lessons from......

We headed out to the Noise Pop Mission of Burma show all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 9:00 p.m., standard concert time, only to turn up at Bimbo's and find out that the concert started at 7:30! Not doors at 7:30, started at 7:30! We're very sorry we missed Seattle's The Ruby Doe and the ex-Versus Asian-American band Whysall Lane (hey, nice logo!) -- but, shamefacedly, we should also admit that we felt a huge surge of relief that we'd probably be getting home before midnight. God, SFist is old. Speaking of old, Boston-based Mission of Burma recorded a number of hugely-influential punk rock records from 1979 to 1983 (including the two big hits "Academy Fight Song" and "That's When I Reach For My Revolver") and then broke up when guitarist Roger Miller's tinnitus became unbearable. After taking around 18 years off, the band reunited in 2001, much to the joy and delight of the older half of Generation X, and began recording together again. This is the tour in support of their new album, ONoffON. So, you ask, how was the show? WHAT? WE CAN'T HEAR YOU? HOW WAS THE SHOW? Click through the haze of concert ear and find out. ...

Valentine's Day is upon us, which means it's time to separate the lovers from the haters. Are those tiny red hearts shooting from your eyes, or little sharpened daggers? It's no matter, SFist promises to love you either way. Here are our picks for the this week's bay area music offerings. If you're aware that umlauts are the universal symbol for rock, you might already have your tickets for Thursday night's Queensrÿche show at......

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.......

SFist is thankful that San Francisco has the greatest live music venues in the country, despite the bad news SFist Isaac gave us about the closure of seminal Lower Haight club The Top. If you're looking for an excuse to get away from visiting relatives, or a fantastic place to take them for some entertainment, read on for our suggestions. Tonight you can get your punk rock served up stadium-style with hometown boys Green Day......

summary of the Bay Area weekly papers (Guardian, SF Weekly, EBExpress and the Metro)....

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....

Calling all feminist hipsters (and those looking to pick up the same) – the second Ladyfest Bay Area will be hitting the Mission this weekend (July 29-August 1). Ladyfest is the feminist DIY post-riotgrrl community art, activism, and punk rock festival, which started in 2000 in (where else?) Olympia, WA, and has since spread throughout the land and throughout the world. So naturally, girl bands play, spoken word poets rant, knitting circles purl, self-defense classes take out the eyes and kneecaps of the oppressor, and positive female energy rules the day. It’s volunteer-organized, non-corporate sponsored, and appears mainly to have been advertised by spray-paint stencils on Valencia Street....