MUSIC: Late '90s Santa Cruz band the Huxtables headline a night of "fun rock" tunes. Take, for example, the song their dedicated to Dungeons & Dragons, "Dungeon Master," which they had to revise after the latest edition of the game was released. Talk about staying true to your deliciously dorky roots. (For a more in-depth explanation of this adorable geek-rock song, go here.) Alt-country band the Bitter Sweets and Two If by Sea open......

Alas, it was not a good weekend for cyclists of the Bay Area. The sheriff's deputy that accidentally crashed into three cyclists in Cupertinio over the weekend -- a collision that killed Olympic hopeful 31-year-old Kristy Gough of Oakland (the third-fastest, non-professional women's triathlete in the world); and 30-year-old Matt Peterson of San Francisco -- has been identified as 27-year-old James Council. A deputy at the West Valley Patrol Division of Santa Clara County,......

God, sometimes we love Orange County. It's such a parody of itself at times, which we admire. Especially when it comes to brilliance like the following found over at Laughing Squid. You see, the city of Santa Ana (oy) wants to help parents determine, via the graphic above, whether or not their child is a rat bastard tagger. The city of Santa Ana's site explains their accusatory and unfair image, along with the final......

An update on today's story about a UC Santa Cruz faculty member whose home was invaded by, according to local media outlets, members of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty animal rights group: the animal rights group claims zero responsibility for last night's attack. We just made contacted with a member of the reportedly elusive SHAC7. They told us the following: No--we are not responsible. In fact, the only knowledge we have of the whole......

Pro-life animal rights group Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty is being accused of taking part in a break in of a UC Santa Cruz faculty member, whose research using animals "sheds light on the causes of breast cancer and neurological diseases," and attacking a man at the residence. According to Santa Cruz Sentinel: Santa Cruz police reported that six people wearing bandanas tried to break into a Westside home ["Westside rules!" -- SFist] just before......

Somehow this news story managed to slip past our radar last week, but the Gate published a story on how our wonderful state of California will be spraying the Bay Area with pesticides this summer. In an effort to eliminate the light brown apple moth (aww. Aren't they so cute?), an insect potentially disastrous for farming in California, the state agricultural department will be spraying an insecticide known as Checkmate over urban areas, according to......

We hate shit like this. 66-year-old Santa Clara ice cream man Santokh Singh Sajan made some dirty comments to underage ice cream patrons the others day. Sounds bad, right? And according to the Merc: Sajan allegedly made sexually inappropriate comments to two teenage girls, police said. He was booked Tuesday on charges of three counts of annoying a child - misdemeanors, according to police. The ice cream vendor, who drives white van that plays......

Police believe that a Santa Rosa man, who recently stabbed himself with a homemade spear just seconds before the fuzz burst through his front door early Sunday morning, is possibly connected to last Thursday's carjacking and rape incident involving a 29-year-old mother. According to the Gate, "Aristotle Quadra, 30, faces charges of carjacking, kidnapping, sexual assault and attempted murder. He is being held at a Santa Rosa hospital while being treated for self-inflicted stab......

Described as a wiki of stupidheads, jerks, and self-awareness-free men, the Wikipedia parody site lists notable dickslices such as homecoming queen murderer O.J. Simpson; sexist boor Donald Trump; the Gisele Bundchen-impaling Tom Brady; that fat Arctic bastard Santa Claus (mean!); and Marin County's very own Harvey Milk impersonator, Sean Penn. The nerve. According to Dickipedia: Often described as an acting "powerhouse," Sean Penn is known for his intensity and humorlessness. He has been a......

Surely looking to turn us all into latter-career, Catalina-vacationing Natalie Woods, it looks like the rain will fall down (and wake our dreams) and won't stop until god knows when. Flooding, high winds, high tides, airport delays, glacial weather, and mass hysteria are all expected to bring us some mid-winter cheer. Santa Cruz will be getting the brunt of it, or so says the radar, so grab your spot at Pergolesi early and hold......

Yesterday's near perfect weather is now but a sepia-toned memory. Reports of a strange, icy substance, often referred to as "snow," is falling on Mount Diablo, Mount Hamilton in Santa Clara County, Mount Hamilton, and (any minute now) Mount Tam. It's also blanketing the eerie Santa Cruz Mountains, resulting in the closure of Highway 9. It looks like many of you will have to take Highway 17. If you dare. Oh, and be sure......

Here's what's been going on in the wide world of sports while we've been fighting off the flu......

Twenty-four of the world's most bitchin-ass surfers are on their way to Half Moon bay for a dangerous showdown at this year's 2008 Mavericks Surf Contest. Shore stars like Shawn Rhodes, Greg Long (San Clemente FTW), Brock Little, Randy Cone, Santa Cruz's Tyler Smith, and more will take part in tomorrow's dangerous and exhilarating surf contest. The cold waters of Half Moon Bay combined with the Pacific storm winter weather make some of "the most dangerous waves in the world." This battle of the sea is not to be missed. Dude....

Yes, by popular demand, San Francisco Film Society's SF360 Film will once again bring you the one, the only, "Trapped in a Closet" sing-along, the awesomest sing-along this side of the Buffy "Once More With Feeling" sing-along (sing it everyone: "Bunnies aren't just cute like everybody supposes/They've got them hoppy legs and twitchy little noses...") The show will be Friday, January 25, at 7:00 pm at Mezzanine....

SFist saw Christmas Day turn tragic after a Siberian tiger escaped from her pen at the San Francisco Zoo, killing a visitor and mauling two others. Phillyist counted down the top ten items on Philadelphia's New Year's wish list. Gothamist looked at the wooden bikes being offered for NYC's first bike share program on Governors Island. LAist received a Christmas present in the form of a drunk Santa Claus in a g-string. Bostonist launched......

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Ensemble: This awe-inspiring gospel ensemble from "the other side of the Bay," noted for its "interfaith, multi-racial, and multi-cultural" makeup -- will get you in the mood. The Christmas-y mood, that is. And if you can't handle all of the holiday joy abounding, there are plenty of bars around the neighborhood where you can get your joy on, booze-wise. The singing starts at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at Slim's; $15.Midnight......

Since the advent of the digital camera, we haven't stepped foot inside a Costco. Now we have a reason to return. Today's Hot Stuff ("Catering by Costco") in the Merc rates the appetizers found in the frozen food section of everyone's favorite warehouse store. Some of their top picks are the Full Circle Torta Stella, Cuisine Adventures' spanakopita, Clear Springs' smoked rainbow trout (smoked trout is phenomenal, folks -- miles above smoked salmon), and......

Reporting from spa-side in Santa Ana, it's your American Football Spectacular preview of the next rung of pain on the agony ladder that is the 49ers' '07 season....

The recently-released website post-consumer.com is addressed to “anyone who has played or attended an indie rock show in Santa Cruz between 1999-2004.” We did! We were there! We remember the tall, handsome fellow with incongruous Ugg boots and a microphone on a stick who recorded shows in every bar, basement, living room and attic during the golden years of Santa Cruz indie rock! And now you can be there, too – Nicholas Taplin’s hoard......

Between the oil spill and Barry being his Bonds self, crime has been a wee bit sloooow over the past few days -- well, at least reports of foolish mischief seem sluggish. -- Santa Rosa fuzz have a suspect in the robbery/shooting death of Gurdip Singh, which took place at Bill's Market far away in the land of Santa Rosa this past Monday. Javier Pena, 37, is now in custody. Good ol' CBS 5......

Why, we've been so preoccupied with murder right down the street from SFist, we forgot that the rest of the Bay Area is also littered with shootings and bloody tomfoolery. Forgive us, won't you? Ahem: Two employees of Bill's Friendly were shot last night during a botched robbery attempt. One of the store's employees was killed, the other taken to a nearby hospital. (At right: the lone gunman's fierce image.) Another shooting in the......

According Eric Thomas from ABC 7, who went into mighty graphic detail about what happened, a suspect was arrested today for the kidnapping and rape of a 17-year-old Palo Alto teen. A press conference is scheduled at noon (now!), where even more details, names will surely unfold. This past Wednesday a teen was kidnapped in Palo Alto, taken to Sunnyvale (on the 500 block of Fair Oaks Avenue), and then sexually assaulted. She survived......

We caught Phil Setzer, the violinist for the Emerson String Quartet, being driven down between performances in Santa Barbara and Orange County. We hope it was in a stretch limo, as these guys have won eight Grammy awards and critical acclaim everywhere they go. They are the only chamber music group to ever win a best classical album grammy, and they even got two. So they better travel like the rock stars they are. They'll......

Whether you like it or not, SoCal is a part of us. So, this one is going out to our lower half: stay safe, San Diego and SoCal. Fueled by disgusting, freakishly warm Santa Ana winds, coastal and inland areas are on fire. La Gov declared a state of emergency last night for San Diego and seven surrounding counties. Work and school has been canceled; people evacuated. Ugh. In a rare state of concern, we......

-- The Breasts of Sherry Glaser: The protest-y Miss Glaser's comedy and peace activism show runs the gamut from her unsheathed mammary glands to an interpretation of 9/11 and the Twin Towers falling down. Oh my. (Warning: audience participation will occur!) Starts at 7:30 p.m. at The Marsh; $10-15. -- The Velvet Teen: The Velvet Teen rocks. Hard and with perfection. Because that's what they do in Santa Rosa. Be sure to see them......

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own such......

The Mission's an interesting place to screen a movie about gentrification, filmed from the eyes of the gentrifier -- so there was certainly no shortage of things to think about at last night's showing of New Urban Cowboy for DocFest at the Roxie. New Urban Cowboy is a documentary about Michael Arth, a kind of hippie-dippie former resident of Santa Barbara who moves to the small town of Deland, Florida, near Orlando, and more......

CBS5 recently uncovered Caltrans secret pet cemetery -- somewhere along eerie Highway 9 in the Santa Cruz mountains -- where they simply bag, tag, and toss little fluffy over a cliff. Gross. Caltrans, it seems, is supposed to notify the pets' owners or take them to local pounds or an SPCA. But don't. The best part of Anna Werner's investigation, though, is the discovery of pet remains stuffed into orange trash bags labeled with......

Oh No, Chris Kavanaugh! Berkeley's own Ed Jew, a Green Party member of the Berkeley rent board who was actually living (and litigating with his landlord) in Oakland, pled not guilty to three charges of voter fraud, one charge of perjury, and one of grand theft (for taking a stipend from the Berkeley rent board) yesterday. Kavanaugh spent Friday night living in the Santa Rita jail before being released on $30,000 bond, and will report......

At Pine and Divisadero on Wednesday afternoon, a man severely slashed a woman with a box cutter (some reports we saw said she might die, while others said the wounds were not life-threatening); the cops subsequently caught him. A police officer in Oakland shot a man to death yesterday afternoon at 54th and MLK, where a number of shootings have occurred recently. The officer confronted the man for reasons that they declined to specify to......