Tonight, Lawrence Ferlinghetti's living legacy is celebrated with a poetry reading and film screening, comedian Nato Green records his first (and reportedly Oakland's first as well) live comedy album, and Professor Eric Johnson discusses twentieth century composer Ernest Bloch's vast photographic work. more ›

While we wait for the new iPad reveal at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts today at 10 a.m., we've been looking back at rumor-mill coverage of the next generation iPad. Our favorite takeaway from the hoopla comes from Macworld, who gives us a close reading of the iPad invite text—which simply read, "We have something you really have to see. And touch."—that would make any Comparative Literature professor proud. more ›

Tonight's edition of the monthly Communion club will feature The Driftwood Singers, who are in their early 20s and sing folk songs "that could have been written ages ago but were more likely written in the last few weeks," along with Birdhouse, Lauren Shera, and Infantree. more ›

MUSIC: Flavorpill paints an intriguing picture of the come-back of Roky Erickson, '60s psychedelic rocker whose struggles with schizophrenia stalled his music career: "Tonight, revel in Erikson's gravelly, whiskey-soaked voice mingling with Okkervil River's harmonies, and witness the return of an Austin rock legend on the road to recovery." (8 p.m., Slim's, 333 11th Street) more ›

Expect to get a contact high at the Warfield tonight as Snoop Dogg takes the stage with Wiz Khalifa, in support of their new soundtrack for the film, Mac & Devin Go to High School. more ›

STORYTELLING: Have a story to tell about holiday excess? Then head over to the monthly Porchlight Open Door, to tell your 5-minute anecdote for a chance to win $50. "Sex, drugs, food, love, pain, -- even OCD handwashers entirely welcome!" (7 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk Street) more ›

MUSIC: The legendary Robyn Hitchcock will be at Slim's tonight performing his 1990 solo album in its entirety, Eye, which Hitchcock says concluded his stint on the college radio air waves. Also featuring guest Dawn Mitschele. (8 p.m., Slim's, 333 11th Street) more ›

ART/LECTURE: Visiting artist Stephen Kaltenbach with speak about his lengthy and diverse career most notably "creating conceptual gestures, magazine advertisements, diagrammatic propositions, 'Street Works,' time capsules, and photorealistic paintings," as part of S.F. Art Institute's free Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series. (7:30 p.m., San Francisco Art Institute, Lecture Hall, 800 Chestnut Street) more ›

The Bay Area Science Festival continues tonight with Radiolab Live in Berkeley, which explores being In the Dark with a night of "gripping stories, wonder-inducing demonstrations, and jaw-dropping illustrations." Also happening tonight as part of the festival are a science pub crawl and a book swap. more ›

READING: Author Adam Mansbach will be at City Lights performing a complete reading of Go the F**k to Sleep, a kids book that's just for adults. (It's a phrase that SFist finds ourselves muttering almost nightly, among millions of others.) (7 p.m., City Lights Booksellers, 261 Columbus Avenue) more ›

FILM: There might still be seats available to Frameline and GLAAD's special sneak peek at the new documentary, The Strange History of Don't Ask Don't Tell, before it premieres on September 20 on HBO, featuring filmmakers Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato in person. (6:30 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street) more ›

MUSIC: Amoeba will be hosting a Winterland Day Celebration, commemorating the worldwide release of Jimi Hendrix Experience Winterland, a four-CD box set documenting the band’s six historic performances at San Francisco’s legendary Winterland Ballroom over three nights in October of 1968. Bootsy Collins and Jimi Hendrix's sister Janie Hendrix will be in attendence. (7 p.m., Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight Street) more ›

This Friday, 826 Valencia is hosting 8 hours and 26 minutes of non-stop writing as part of their 2nd Ever 8/26 Day Write-a-Thon to benefit the organization's free student programming. We can hear all those knuckles crackin' already! more ›

CABARET: Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy is at the Rrazz Room tonight and tomorrow night performing her "voyage into the Beatles song book,"Back in the USSR, which is described as "Abby Road meets the Met with a good dose of cabaret." The Countess will be accompanied by the Tom Shaw Trio. (8 p.m., The Rrazz Room, 222 Mason Street) more ›

READING: Porn star Oriana Small, AKA Ashley Blue, will be reading from her new book, Girlvert: A Porno Memoir, which offers an intimate view of her last decade in and out of the adult film industry, love, and drugs, and beyond. The reading will be accompanied by a slide show featuring stills from Small's movies by Dave Naz (Anal Sex Love) and Dennis McGrath, along with guest "introducer" and moderator Carol Queen. (7:30 to 9 p.m., The Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street) more ›

FILM: In The Big Uneasy, humorist and New Orleans resident Harry Shearer speaks to the tireless investigators and experts who studied the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and uncovers a courageous whistle-blower from the Army Corps of Engineers, who warns that the same flawed methods responsible for levee failure during Hurricane Katrina are being used to rebuild the system expected to protect the "new" New Orleans from future peril. (7 and 9 p.m., Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street) more ›

Jeffrey Eugenides, Susan Orlean, James Ellroy, Mary Roach, Ishmael Reed, Adam Mansbach, Jane Smiley, Chris Adrian, Thomas McGuane, Christopher Moore, Daniel Woodrell, Deepak Chopra, Cyra McFadden, and Guillermo Gomez-Peña are just a few of the authors scheduled to read at this year's Litquake Festival. "Er, like, what's Litquake," you derp? Well, Litquake is the city's annual festival of literature devoted to the printed word. Lots of words. Dangerous words. more ›

MUSIC: Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson bring their collaborative sound, which might be described as "folk-hop" to the Independent tonight, along with Rob Sonic and DJ Big Wiz. (8 p.m., The Independent, 628 Divisadero Street) more ›

Tonight, laugh yourself silly at Cobb's while enjoying your two-beverage minimum, attend a one-of-a-kind performance that's "part dance, part video, and part radical social experiment" at Z Space, or check out some funky fashion while gyrating to some live dance-rock and electronica at the First Unitarian Universalist Church. more ›

Esteemed writer and bartender Alan Black will host a bevy of local baseball writers at Home Run! Baseball at the Library. Jason Turbow reads from his book The Baseball Codes: Beanballs, Sign Stealing and Bench Clearing Brawls - the Unwritten Rules of America’s Pastime; Missy Roback reads her short story, The Warning Track; Dan Fost goes back in time with Giants Past & Present; Al Saracevic will chat American's favorite pastime; and aforementioned host Alan Black reads a "knuckles up a short history of the Baseball World cup, first completed in 1938 when England beat the USA." more ›

MUSIC: Graham Central Station, ConFunkShun, Tower of Power, and lead singer Ashling Cole will perform at the Teena Marie Birthday Tribute as 6 Piece & a Biscuit, commemorating what would've been Teena Marie's 55th birthday. more ›

MUSIC: Smile presents a Save KUSF Benefit, featuring performances by The Trifles, The Twinks, The Danger Babes, and Hate Factory, along with DJ Neil Martinson spinning psych, soul, glam, bubblegum, and laserboogie. All proceeds go KUSF's legal fund. more ›

THEATER: Expect to see "full-frontal puppet nudity" at Avenue Q, the hit Broadway musical about real life in New York City, as told by a cast of people and puppets through a hilariously irreverent and risque Tony-winning book and score. more ›

FILM: IndieFest presents The Drummond Will, which pays homage to the classic British comedies of the '40s and '50s, featuring brothers who reunite after their father's death and encounter a colorful cast of local characters. more ›

The lineup for this year's Litquake, San Francisco's tribute to the written word, looks like a smashing one. Why? Because it vboasts a special appearance by a very special cinematic legend and infamous felons. Of course, we're talking about Winona Ryder. The actress and sometimes San Francisco resident will appear as part of a tribute to Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Lights Bookseller. Sure, other stellar names will also help out (guitarist Lenny Kaye, Michael McClure, New Yorker cartoonist Eric Drooker, Ishmael Reed, former San Francisco Poet Luareates Jack Hirschman and devorah major, the rad Beth Lisick, Michelle Tea, and the Marcus Shelby Quart), but we are saving our pennies and holding our breath for Ryder. more ›

ART: Artist Milkgap (aka Geoffrey Porter) will be showing some of his new and old ink and watercolor pieces tonight. Grab some beverages at Pirate Cat Cafe and check them out. more ›

From what little your editor knows regarding the sexy world of comic books, we had heard about a divide between Marvel Comics and DC Comics fans similar to that of the Catholics verses the Protestants. However, it turns out the difference between the two isn't that great an issue. "It's like Bing versus Yahoo, who gives a fuck," a comic book-reading friend tells us. But for you die hard Marvel fans, you will definitely want to check out Mrs. Vera's Massive Marvel Comic Book Sale, happening this Saturday. more ›

According to personal finance aficionado and BusinessWeek's economics editor Chris Farrell, frugality is back. And while this isn't anything we didn't already know... more ›

is a series of fictional explorations of the afterlife that range from downloading one's consciousness to a computer to meeting God (both male and female versions). Fans of Radio Lab on NPR may have heard him as well as a couple pieces from the book on their recent episode about the afterlife (listen to the podcast here). more ›

VARIETY: The Rumpus and Kink.com host a Sex, Music, Comedy Night with Jill Sobule, co-sponsored by The Center for Sex and Culture. The evening includes readings and performances from sex worker authors Zak Smith, Kirk Read, Michelle Tea, Lorelei Lee, and Madison Young (NSFW), comedy by Los Angeles based comedian Kyle Kinane, a short film by Wholphin, and music by Sig Hafstrom and special guest Jill Sobule. more ›