Image: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

All was not visions of sugar plums this past weekend at Madrone Art Bar, as the watering hole was forced to eject a belligerent Santa for berating clientele with condescending art critiques directed both at patrons and the current photography exhibit. But in a strange twist, Madrone owner Michael Krouse believes that the pretentious Santa was in fact the photographer, Sawyer Forbes, himself, and that this was some sort of performance art gone wrong.

In an open apology letter sent out Monday morning, Krouse apologized to anyone who may have had a run-in with the not-so-jolly St. Nick.

While we all sometimes enjoy the antics of temperamental artists, we acknowledge it can go too far for even us. In that spirit, Madrone Art Bar would like to apologize for the behavior of exhibiting photographer Sawyer Forbes last weekend. His conduct was obnoxious and unwelcome. If you are one of the people he insulted, please come in to let us know and your first drink is on us.

We sincerely regret any offense.

In conversation with SFist, Krouse said that over the weekend a man dressed as Santa Claus entered the bar and began interrogating patrons. It seems he was very interested in what they thought of the photography exhibit, which shows work by artist Forbes (which apparently is a pseudonym — his real name is unknown). Santa then launched into a weird fugue state of assholery and art criticism.

"This was directed at people looking at the artwork," explained Krouse. "[Forbes] was being weird and condescending, being very confrontational. He was being a dick," furthered Krouse.

The bartender and bouncer had to escort Forbes from the bar, who all the while yelled a stream of art critique at bar patrons.

Krouse has reached out to the artist about the incident, but has yet to hear back.

The exhibit, titled ONE gLOVE, runs through January.

Madrone introduced the Sawyer Forbes show in November saying that the artist has always refused to be photographed himself, and refuses interviews. They say that the ONE gLOVE show was "over a decade in the making," and that Forbes' "career has been a series of critical successes, creative flame-outs, public dust-ups, disappearances, and sea changes in both genre and style." SFist can't find any evidence of these earlier successes and dust-ups and suspects Forbes wrote that bio himself.

Related: SantaCon Disputes Death Reports, Ramps Up For December Revels

The United States Postal Service is attempting to bring a little joy to the hearts of children, and they need your help. This year marks the 103rd anniversary of USPS's Operation Santa, a program designed to match letter writing volunteers with letters addressed to the North Pole written by children. Residents of San Francisco can respond to local letters — hopefully filling the hearts and minds of Bay Area youth with holiday cheer.

According to the United States Postal Service, the program began in 1912 when Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock officially authorized USPS employees to respond to letters addressed to Santa. By the 1940's, the amount of Santa mail had increased so much that USPS began partnering with non-profits all over the country in an attempt to respond to as many letters as possible.

KRON 4 notes that those interested in volunteering their letter-writing skills should head over to the San Francisco Processing and Distribution Center located at 1300 Evans Avenue. Letter writing times are 11 a.m to 1 p.m on the 1st, 8th, and 15th of December.

In addition to simply providing delight and magic to children in this all-too-frequently dreary world, USPS notes that Operation Santa "helps to promote literacy" as a "letter to Santa is often a child’s first written correspondence."

So go volunteer your time and put a smile on some child's face, and who knows, maybe this year you'll get something other than coal in your stocking.

Previously: Post Office Needs Help Answering Kids' Letters To Santa

Oh dear. Santa's down for the count. Photo by Gerard Livernois.

Thank the Lord above that your fragile SFist editor was stuck in OC last week and not here in SF. Why? SantaCon, that's why. Like a holiday-themed Bay to Breakers going from village to village to terror locals, hordes of Santa Clauses invaded bars on Saturday throughout the city to spread cheer, beer-tinged barf, and assault. But was it really bad?

New York City had what appears to have been a righteously shitty SantaCon -- Gothamist published a wonderful antediluvian guide on how to avoid it, while John Del Signore's review of Saturday's Summer's Eve fest, where he was invited to suck someone's "nuts," will give you nightmare for Christmases to come -- but San Francisco's seemed tame (dare we say even fun?) by comparison.

Some folks on Twitter, however, disagree -- especially when the party got tipsier and filtered out to other areas of the city. Out of a slew of anti-Santacon tweets we read, this one stuck out the most:

Some dude just side boob groped my friend & then stealth kissed me. Thanks Santacon for nothing.

— em gee (@mal10cal) December 16, 2012

Until next year, check out these images from Union Square during the Santa blitzkrieg.

Over the nippy weekend, loads of children and adult Star Wars fans helped construct a 12-foot Santa Yoda in San Francisco's Union Square. The wondrous creation, being dismantled as we speak, helped support the local Bay Area Boys & Girls Club. The Santa Yoda amalgamation charmed many, but also raised eyebrows due to Yoda's rather stern facial expression -- one of the many side effects of The Force. As SFist commenter Barry J. Weir, Jr notes, "Santa Yoda looks pissed off: A 'Christmas Merry' it is not, young Skywalker..."

PREVIOUSLY: Scenes from the LEGO Santa Yoda Construction in Union Square
12-Foot Tall LEGO Santa Yoda Coming to Union Square

In Union Square today, a 12-foot tall by 10-foot wide Santa Yoda made entirely out of LEGO bricks is underway. Here are some scenes of the Yoda erection (ew) in progress. As of this afternoon,wWe've got shots of the mini Yoda in various poses including but not limited to a dangerous yet thrilling ride atop the Zamboni. We'll update throughout the day with new, vibrant, jolly pics of Santa Yoda as it gets bigger and better.

LEGO Santa Yoda will help support the local Bay Area Boys & Girls Club. Be sure to drop by to check it out, but do it soon, folks. Yoda will leave Union Square Sunday night and will be gone by Monday.

As we mentioned yesterday: current Lefty O'Doul's Santa-in-Residence and former Macy's Santa Claus, John Toomey flew down to LA yesterday to appear on the Tonight Show. A little over three minutes in to Jay's monologue and Toomey gets a brief introduction before Jay starts to address him as the actual Santa. The jokes are every bit as cheesy as you'd expect, but with those cheeks like roses and a nose like a cherry, no one can say he doesn't look genuinely happy to be there.

Previously: Fired Macy's Santa Hired by Lefty O'Doul's

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 for the SC gang.

9 p.m. // 12 Galaxies [2565 Mission] // $6

FILM: It's an all-Lana Turner night featuring The Postman Always Rings Twice (screening at 7 p.m.) andThe Lady From Shanghai (1948) (starting at 9:15 p.m.)

7 p.m. & 9:15 p.m. // The Castro Theatre [Castro & Market] // $6-9

THEATER: 12th century Japanese comedy and 18th century French satire collide when the Theatre of Yugen presents its annual take on Voltaire's classic Candide with Sorya! A Candid Dispute.

8 p.m. // NOHspace (in the Project Artaud) // $10-$15

The listed events were chosen by the editors of SFist and brought to you by the 2009 Toyota Corolla.

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, Council, it seems, was traveling northbound on Stevens Creek Road at approximately around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. His patrol car somehow crossed the center divide, which then struck three cyclists heading southbound.

According to a good Samaritan at the scene, Bryce Renshaw, who came to the aid of the victims, officer James Council might have been asleep at the wheel at the time of the fatal collision. "I saw the officer pacing back and forth on the roadway. He said 'I must have fallen asleep,'" Renshaw tells the San Jose Mercury News.

Council, who has been a sheriff's deputy for only 18 months, has since been placed on paid administrative leave as the investigation into what really happened continues. Wow. An unfortunate situation for all parties involved.

Photo image of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's car that struck bicyclists: CBS 5

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 word as to what is and is not art, thusly:

Tagging is not an art form or about expressing oneself. It is vandalism and the destruction of private and public property. Tagging is any unauthorized marking, etching, scratching, drawing, painting or defacing of any surface of public, private, real or personal property.

Tagging causes blight in our community resulting in a genuine threat to the quality of life, incalculable economic losses to businesses, and can lead to the general deterioration of the area in which you live or work. The eradication of graffiti is a huge drain on the City’s resources in both cost and manpower. In most cases, the difference between graffiti being art or a crime is PERMISSION!

Totally. You just can't argue with that kind of bold, all-caps logic.

Next up: a graphic from the Newport Beach city government helping parents figure out if little Dylan or Taylor is a racist, varsity football-playing date rapist. Really, that would be even more helpful.

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 1 p.m., and that one of the family members, not the faculty member, was attacked before the intruders fled. The male victim had made sure his wife and children were safe in the back of the house before he confronted the attackers. He suffered minor injuries after being hit with an unknown object. None of the other four people in the house were injured.

The goes on to say that:

A friend of the students who were inside the Riverside home told the Sentinel the incident was related to animal rights and SHAC

We tried contacting Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC7) for comment -- who, it should be noted, are very attractive for a group of pro-lifers -- but so far have yet to hear back from them.

The name of the faculty member has not been made public. Also, be safe out there, slug researchers. We know you're fighting the good fight.

Update: SHAC7 claims they didn't do it. To read more, go here.