Wednesday night's production of Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class at A.C.T. was top notch, with supurb acting, writing, directing, costumes, set design, and props. The packed audience was delighted to be there, and most of us were classy enough not to wear jeans. (Our spouse set us straight about wearing our "dressy" jeans, and it appeared that several audience members could have used that same advice.) Curse of the Starving Class, directed by......

*COMEDY/THEATER: Rejoice, mama's boys of San Francisco. According to SF Weekly, "Judy Gold and award-winning playwright Kate Moira Ryan traveled around the U.S. for five years, interviewing over 50 Jewish women of different ages, ethnicities, and occupations," resulting in the Drama Desk Award-nominated comedy hit, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother. For those of you who have yet to cut the cord, this show is for you. (Runs until March 23.) 7 p.m. //......

MUSIC: As we already mentioned, Why? is performing this evening along with Dose One, Cryptacize, DJ Odd Nosdam, DJ Jel. 8 p.m. // Great American Music Hall [859 O'Farrell] // $13 *THEATER: Eve Ensler's Obie Award-winning play the Vagina Monologues -- featuring such monologues as I Was Twelve, My Mother Slapped Me, My Angry Vagina, My Vagina Was My Village, The Little Coochie Snorcher, and more -- takes the stage in the Castro for......

*FILM: The 5th Annual San Francisco Irish Film Festival kicks things off with Garage by director Lenny Abrahamson and writer Mark O’Halloran. This is followed by a reception with the Consul General of Ireland, Emer Deane. According to LS, "other highlights include Speed Dating, a romantic comedy about a lovelorn amnesiac; the award winning Irish-language feature film Kings, and finally The Undertaking, a documentary about Irish American undertaker and poet Thomas Lynch, who is......

MUSIC: San Francisco's favorite crooner, Utah-born singer/songwriter Spencer Day, performs tonight at the one of the city's newest music venues, the Rrazz Room located at Hotel Nikko. COMEDY: Let hilarity wash over you with the comedic stylings of Arj Barker, Kristopher Tinkle ("Tinkle" = hee!), and Matt Morales. They hit the mic tonight at Punchline. *FILM: SF Indiefest is going on, folks. Tonight check out La Trinchera Luminosa del Presidente Gonzalo, 7:15 p.m. at......

ROCK: Over at Edinburgh Castle, the aptly-titled indie-punk band Cupids headlines tonight along with Levator (Seattle) and Dazzling Strangers. *FILM: The film you all had to sit through in English Lit class goes up on the big screen, Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. In addition to the gorgeous Shakespearean tragedy, KRON 4's Jan Wahl interviews Olivia Hussey ("Juliet") and the divine Connie Champagne performs. (Psst, Connie Champagne will be the highlight of the night.......

According to the fine folks over at The Sword (NSFW), the GayVNs (NSFW) will be held here on Saturday -- you know, those homosexual pornography achievement awards, which led to Mayor Gavin Newsom getting all Berkeley City Council on us after he declared Feb. 23 to be Colt Studio Day last year? -- coinciding with that hairy-large-gay-appreciation festival thing happening. Anyway, last year the GayVNs had comedienne and social critic Kathy Griffin hosting the......

The 12th Annual Tết Festival Ceremony occurred yesterday all around Little Saigon in San Francisco...

Starting this week, as we all know by now, Palme d'Or-winning writer/directer Gus Van Sant starts filming Milk on our pretty yet smelly streets. But Gustave needs your help, folks. On Monday night, Feb. 4, and Friday night, Feb. 8, he will require you use your thespionic skills during several march reenactments. If you go here and register, you will be used. All ages, races and genders are just dandy; however, you must be......

Dinner and a show at the Cinema Supper Club program...

Cosco Busan Update: ...

Rickie Lee Jones: Easy listening-ish jazz and pop/R&B songstress ("Chuck E.'s in Love") sings tonight at 8:30 p.m. at Cafe Du Nord; $30. SOLD OUTThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007): "An action western surrounding the private life and public exploits of America''s most notorious outlaw, Jesse James," starring pretty boys Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, and the best actress in the entire stratosphere, Mary-Louise Parker. Screens at 8 p.m.......

Oh, those nifty New Yorkers; it's all about them. As usual. Why? Because David Gockley, General Director of the SF Opera, announced that the company will start producing HD broadcasts of performances for theaters all across the states. Lovely, right? But the NYT then turns it into some kind of pissing contest because they did it first. Hrumph. Dude, why can't we all just get along. It's not like people in Chico are saturated with......

SFist interviews Crispin Hellion Glover, who is screening his films at the Castro Theater this weekend. ...

Japantown's new Sundance Cinemas Kabuki will offer the more discerning moviegoer (i.e.. people who self-consciously laugh out loud during Shakespeare comedies) something, well, more. Curbed SF has the full rundown on the new movie house that's sure to make you feel even that more self-righteous than you already do while braving the choppy waters of independent film. Check it: Designed by Berkeley-based ELS architects, the renovation of the former AMC Kabuki 8 utilizes post-consumer......

During the execution of the Academy of Art University's real-estate master plan for San Francisco, they came across a bit of controversy after purchasing the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. It seems that they hate black people. No, not really. We're just screwing with you, attorney Stephens. To be fair, the building's owner, Sutter Taylor, already planned on converting the building into high-end condominiums. But then the Academy came along to gobble up the property for......

-- Completely Hollywood (abridged): The Reduced Shakespeare Company's latest stage play skewers "Tinseltown's most lauded stars and starlets" ranging from the silent era to today's most beloved and pretentious independent films. The curtain goes up at 8 p.m. at Marines Memorial Theater; $45-60. -- Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1973): David Bowie's swan song as Mr. or Miss Stardust screens tonight at 7:15 p.m. and 9:15 at the the Red Vic. --......

-- Built in 1911, the Tower Theater is up for sale. Again. [Curbed SF] -- Fatal Bayview fire still under investigation. [SF Examiner] -- Jew's attorney asks, "More time, please?" Look, the only kind of time that will help Ed's case is a time machine. Thank you, good night! [SFGate] -- The new Mint. (Also, a museum? Yawn.) [Transbay Blog] -- Milk vs. The Mayor of Castro Street. Me-ow! [ASD] -- Hit-and-run suspect snagged.......

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......

-- Unspeakable (2007): Documentary about the life of Satanic Priest Steven Johnson Leyba, "ordained by Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey, is known in the underground art world as the 'Father of Sexpressionism.'" (Chortle) Screens tonight at 7:45 p.m., 9:05 at the Roxie New College Film Center; $6. -- The W. Kamau Bell Curve: Local comedian's show, it seems, is "designed to end racism...in about an hour." Praise Jesus. This night o' comedy will......

-- Comedy, Darling: Sleepover!: Mary Van Note hosts a new monthly underground talk and comedy show, where the stand-up is done in pajamas. Cute! Breaking the hymen of this monthly party is gangbang of hardcore comedic talent, featuring Brent Weinbach, Richard Kiss, Candy Churilla, Chris Garcia, and musical guest Jethro Jeremiah. The funny startsd at 8 p.m. at Edinburgh Castle; $8. -- M.I.A.: "Get crackin' get get crackin'/Get crackin' get get crackin'" [horny horns].......

A loyal fan of the child-rearing arts -- she had taken nanny jobs at least twice before, even a job in Turkey, after answering online ads in the past; and even recently played Maria in her church community theater's production of The Sound of Music -- Katherine Ann Olson, 24, answered a Craigslist ad posted last week, looking for a nanny. The CL ad ultimately would lead to her death. Last Thursday, in Savage, Minnesota,......

Because we are no good at doggerel, we are going to decline what would otherwise be an extremely tempting way to write up this post and not write it in rhyming couplets. That's right -- local theater troupe Rhyme Time Theater is presenting Race Is A Lie, a play about race relations in the SFPD. Written in rhyming iambic pentameter. (To refresh you from high school English class, that's a sentence with the pattern da-DUM......

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......

SFist interviews Glenn Kotche about his collaboration with the Kronos Quartet as part of the SF Jazz Fest...

This past Wednesday was New-Yorker night in Civic Center: the classical music critic, Alex Ross was promoting his new book at Herbst theater, and we attended the production of the Magic Flute designed by Gerald Scarfe, who regularly illustrates the magazine. Scarfe toned down his usually acidic satirical pen (see the sample from his website that we put after the jump) to cook up sets that are humorous, and respectful of Mozart’s intent. The set,......

ODC Theater welcomes Guggenheim Fellow Donna Uchizono and her New York-based dance company with its west coast debut,Thin Air. Hailed by the almighty New York Times as "brilliantly imaginative," Uchizono draws inspiration for Thin Air from the Buddhist concept of "emptiness," which "stresses the interrelatedness of all things and quantum physics, which among other things made it possible to understand the atom. And, as the basis for our understanding of electrical currents and how......

We love Stephen Colbert (well, we love him insofar as we can stomach political satire), but we were shocked to hear that he's (maybe or maybe not) throwing his hat into the Presidential-race ring. Which? Cool. Or whatever. We find him sexually attractive, thus we'll probably vote for him if he does in fact run. So...there you have it. Go wild with your self-conscious guffawing, Embarcadero Theater audience types!......

-- Figurines, Dappled Cities, Union Trade: Rock bands -- with a little easy-listening thrown in there for balance! -- bust it out starting at 9 p.m. at Bottom of the Hill; $10. -- Custom Made Theatre's Silent Auction on the Stage: Bid on trips, theater tickets, and mighty fine art, and much more (just like dem rich do!) but in a more accessible setting. Fol-rock band the Jiffy Lube Allstars -- featuring Jason Garrison,......

More bad puns on Philip Glass’ name! Appomattox, which we rose our Glass to, was not the end of our wall-to-wall Glass coverage. The Glass is not full, we haven’t hit the Glass ceiling yet, ha. Take tonight. There’s a cool concert at Herbst Theater, presented by Other Minds, an organization devoted to new music: Dennis Russell Davies and his partner, Maki Namekawa, playing music for two pianos from Philip Glass, but also J.S Bach......