And this time, it’s with original Broadway cast member Gwen Stewart, the Seasons of Love soloist who belts out that ridiculously high note at the end of said song. Oh, and Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp also reprise their OBC roles as Roger and Mark, respectively. While these two are heralded as the stars of the show - and yes, they do deliver with the electric performances that helped to turn RENT into the most exciting Broadway production 13 years ago - this incarnation of the show, as is always the case, finds its strength in the ensemble. more ›

Did you really think the sinking economy would sharpen the tacks over at CitiAparements? No. No, it has not. Matt Baume over at Curbed tells the harrowing tale of supposed squalor at one SF-based CitiAparmtents building, a story you'll want to tell over a crackling fire and fresh s'mores. It seems that a CitiApartmens customer allegedly ran into all sorts of trouble in her building every since the place went on the market. A few bits of alleged sadness: "they removed most of the garbage areas," directing tenants "to drop their trash in a nonexistent basket"; water was shut off for "two weeks" in parts of the building; and insect patrolling has stopped, meaning that "cockroaches have started taking over the lower floors." But the most jarring part of all? An apartment hunter looking at the place was "quoted $1,495 for a 350-square-foot studio." Chilling. Read more about it over at Curbed. (They've got photos too.) more ›

Unless you're Chardonnay from The Love of Ray J, who eschews the smooth, tangy taste of chèvre, you might be interested in renting a goat. But where can you find one of these nifty creatures? Especially in an urban area? Over at GoatFinder, of course. According to a message What I'm Seeing's Plug 1 sent, they have a listing right here in SF on Fell Street. Charlotte Lewis at Living Systems will rent you one. "Goats and grazing animals have been used for countless years as land management tools and are a popular alternative to the conventions of mowing, disking, and burning," states the Living Systems site. Also, they look cute at parties too! Sadly, however, Lewis will not ship the goat. more ›

According to a recent report, "[t]he vacancy rate for U.S. apartments hit a three-year high in the first quarter and asking rents dropped the most in at least 10 years." And no where is that more felt than in San Francisco. This quarter, San Francisco/Bay Area saw, where the "biggest effective rent drop in the country," plummeting from 2.8 percent to $1,775. What's more, according to Curbed, rent rates have not yet seen bottom. (An aside: any choice studio availabilities for under $1,000 on Sutter Street, or in Hayes Valley or Glen Park should be sent here.) Also, is anyone calling Blu, Cubix, or one of those huge boxes in Mission Bay home? Seems like a good time to snatch those up. more ›

According to yesterday's article in the Examiner, rent prices are dropping. Plummeting by "$200 citywide," says one broker. Fantastic news, right? Not according to blog de revolución BeyondChron, who thinks prices are still too high. Which: true. (Curbed mercifully filters down the BC article here.) But we can't imagine prices coming down to a reasonable price any time soon, especially for those of us living on a single income who don't string together zeros and ones for a living. In related news, ultra-compact green complex Cubix is slashing prices on those boxes they call apartments (think efficiency studio, only cozier), and One Rincon Hill could use a little ($4,500+) love too. more ›

Remember how Hassan Ben Ali committed suicide in front of Berkeley police last week? Then, after doing a search of Ali's Ashby Avenue apartment, the police found an entombed body at his residence? Well, it turns out the dead body, -- which was discovered "wrapped up and hidden behind a wall in the laundry room of the complex," according to reports -- was Hassan 's son, Taruk Joseph Ben Ali. It is believed that the latter died of a drug overdose in 2004. Allegedly. Anyway, it turns out his father was keeping his corpse behind a false wall (lined with air fresheners!) in an effort to get free rent. The Chronicle says that "Benali had owned the property, and police believe Bin Ali hid his son's body to continue collecting rent." (Huh?) Although according to KNTV, "[b]oth father and son had been living in and managing the apartment complex," our local rag claims that a "tenant of the building has told The Chronicle that in recent years [Taruk] had been paying rent to Bin Ali, who said he was collecting on behalf of his son." So...yeah. When we know more, we'll update. more ›

You may want to squash those dreams over having your own studio is the TL. Lord knows we have. See, according to Curbed -- who has killed out Monday buzz, one that even Michelle Obama's jarringly bright red dress can't bring back -- rental prices have leaped more than 20% over the last two years in the city's cheapest neighborhoods: Downtown/Civic Center, the Haight and the Western Addition. more ›

Just so this protest isn't riddled with members of the progressive elite -- they always manage to turn the lives of the, ahem, disenfranchised into self-serving photo-ops, don't they? -- those of you who rent and are poor-ish might want to head over to today's Save Rent Control protest. It's happening over at Franklin and Grove Streets at 5:30 p.m. Swing supervisor districts of 1, 3 and 11 -- with supes McGoldrick and Peskin on their way out, so to speak -- rent control is on the line. Again. The suspiciously altruistic IndyBay has more to tell you about today's protest, right here.
more ›

Despite the fact that penetrating tower after penetrating tower continues to sprout up across SoMa, downtown, and Rincon Hill, San Francisco rent prices are still skyrocketing. According to SF Business Times, [a]sking rents in San Francisco have shot up 6.3 percent since the third quarter of 2007 to an average of $1,827 a month," climbing higher than every U.S. city save for Seattle and Tacoma. Also, except for New York City, the average monthly rent most of you throw away for your charming abode is higher here than anywhere else. No surprise there. This all comes on the heels of three new rental units popping up -- Trinity Properties' 1,900-unit development at 1169 Market St.; Avalon Bay’s 260-unit project at 355 King St.; and Urban Housing Group’s 192-unit project at 555 Mission Rock Blvd -- which most of you, let's assume, just won't be able to afford. (SF Biz Times, via Curbed) more ›

The historic Ferry Building -- home to stores devoted solely to hawking olive oil, cheese, fish eggs, mushrooms and the best Japanese food in the universe -- is raising its rents. Aw. And as Eater's Paolo Lucchesi points out,"The development is upsetting the smaller operations ... who might be forced out along with the other mom-and-pop type shops." Double aw. Landlords, however, won't fess up as to how much they plan on raising the cost due to he "'the nature of negotiations.'" Stay tuned. [KGO, Eater] more ›

Festishizing that "authentic, old-school New York experience," Adam Fisher moved to NYC to frolic with hipsters, sing selections from Rent, or snap his fingers to the jazzy beats along with the other bohemian artists when he moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn. Unfortunately, his time there was a bit too real. Severely beaten and mugged of $28 while at the Morgan Avenue L subway station, Fisher hightails it back to his hometown, San Francisco. In his jarring piece for New York Magazine ("The Bleeding Edge"), he goes into graphic detail and explains his move back West. more ›

-- So it has come to this: Barry Manilow, Brian Boitano, AT&T Park, and ice. [Examiner] more ›

Not to be outdone by San Francisco's own zip code fibbing person of the people, Green Party follower and Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board member Chris Kavanagh, according to today's Matier and Ross, "was hauled out of an Oakland coffee shop [Cole's Coffee Shop] in handcuffs today" and thrown in the clink on fraud charges for lying about his Berkeley residence. more ›

Alarmists of SF: We just received an word via AlertSF that: more ›

The Merc is reporting that starting today, Avis Rent A Car is offering Wi-Fi service with cars rented from its SFO location. At a mere $10.95 a day (which seems pricey, but we suppose is better than, say, renting by the hour at many cyber-cafes or whatnot), the enabling device can come with you into meetings, making this a pretty interesting option for the business traveller. more ›

At next TuesdayFriday's MTA meeting (March 20, 2pm, Room 400, City Hall), they'll be moving to pay off five claims. Most are unlitigated, so we can't look up the details; the other two are vehicle-property-damage cases that are pretty standard-issue, at least for Muni. One, Evelyn Bravos versus SF, involves a $3,000 fender-bender in the Richmond; the other, San Francisco Food Bank versus SF, involves a bus crash that did about $18,000 in damage. more ›

After vetoing Mirkarimi's foot patrol proposal on Friday, Gavin Newsom skipped on over to the Red Tie Gala at Neiman-Marcus, to benefit St. Anne's Home for the elderly poor in the Lake District, run by the Little Sisters of the Poor. Hope those Sisters don't need foot patrols! more ›

Okay, so you're a dad. It's Sunday and for whatever reason, it's your turn with the kids. Deep down, all you want to do that day is watch some football and go see "The Departed, " but, unfortunately, you have the kids. So, do you: a)Rent a DVD and watch something at home with the kids and see the movie later without the kids b)Go to another movie instead and see the movie later without the kids c)Find a baby sitter and see the movie without the kids or d)Say what the hell and take the kiddies to the movie anyways. After all, it's only a Scorsese flick about gangsters, how bad could it be? So, do you: a)Rent a dvd and watch something at home with the kids and see the movie later without the kids b)Go to another movie instead and see the movie later without the kids c)Find a baby sitter and see the movie without the kids or d)Say what the hell and take the kiddies to the movie anyways. It's only a Scorcese flick about gangsters, how adult could it be? more ›

Special treat this week, kids: a review. Oh, yeah, and the usual previews too. more ›

more ›

We're inundated with the hottest variety of shows you could ever hope for. more ›

On Wednesday we relished reading Matier and Ross's column about a brouhaha involving the San Francisco Film Commission. Seems that while shooting days in The City are up, all is not well between the commissioners and the executive director, Stefanie Coyote -- whom loyal SFist readers will remember from her previous brouhaha with deposed Treasure Island impresario Tony Hall over the Rent production. more ›

A trailer for Rent has hit the Internets, and that amazes us, as it seems like only yesterday we were watching them film in South Park, perpetratin' like it was Tompkins Square in New York. We tried to watch the trailer closely, looking for signs of our fair City, but if there are some SF-in-disguise shots in there, we have to commend them for doing a bang-up job of camouflage. Of course the video is quite small, and the song is really distracting, (we admit it--musicals just aren't our thing) so we invite you to cast your scrutinizing eye on the clip and see if you can spot any sure signs of San Francisco amongst the "New York" grunge. more ›

Gothamist, our sister site for people who don't know how to leave Manhattan, had previously secured assurances from Revolution Studios that all of the exteriors would be filmed in NYC's East Village, which is so OK with us we don't even care. No word yet on what made them change their mind, or why the film version of the play (which takes place during Christmas) would require footage of a leafy, summery park. more ›

[] more ›

So Dan Strachota, one of the music writers for the San Francisco Weekly, forwarded a note from Beau Bonneau casting to the SF Indie yahoo group mailing list. Looks like the Rent production is looking for air guitarists: more ›

We're not perfect. Couldn't be if we wanted to. So let us know when we f**k up. Worked for Judith and Alex. And it can work for you, too. Remember, you can always mail complaints to our ombudsman if you think you'll piss the staff off. more ›

If this blog entry suddenly disappears, you'll know why -- P.J. Corkery of the Examiner reports that after his column gently mocking Tony Hall and P.J.'s friend Frank Gallagher as "the Laurel and Hardy" of San Francisco over the Rent shenanigans ran, he received an angry, rambly voice mail from Mr. Hall himself. After defending himself at great length, Hall then said, "PJ, this is personal. When you get personal, I don't like that. Because that means it's a fight -- a two-way street. And we have our own ways of going about things." Um, yikes! Mr. Hall, we hope you don't read this website -- we're not very good at fighting. We never meant any of those things we said about you, honest! And please don't run over Mr. Corkery in your SUV that city taxpayers are paying $948 a month for! It's so hard to find entertaining political columnists these days! more ›

The ongoing landlord-tenant dispute known as the Rent movie negotiations flared up once again, with Chris Columbus's production team claiming they were promised free use of the facilities on Treasure Island, and the City claiming they needed to fork over a security deposit and other niceties. Please do note the irony of squatting in a film studio to film Rent -- okay, thanks. Please also note the irony of Tony Hall claiming that Rent is misusing city funds when he's having the city pay for a new SUV and his Christmas party. (obligatory libel CYA: those may actually be legitimate city expenditures.) Thanks again. So after tears, recriminations, and threats to move back to New York, Rent will be coughing up $12,500/month for studio space, plus utilities, and the rent goes up in July to $20,000. And you thought $1800 for a one-bedroom was too high. Local filming is scheduled to start soon, though it's unclear whether star Idina Menzel's Wicked injury will affect the schedule. more ›

] more ›