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......

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......

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......

Lucas (1986), Say Anything (1989), My Bloody Valentine (1981): The first film has socially-retarded Corey Haim falling head over heels in love with a sensitive football player, Charlie Sheen, or something like that; Cameron Crowe's tale of teenage love and angst has John Cusack causing egregious noise pollution when he holds up a ghettoblaster pumping out a Peter Gabriel ballad; and the final film has a murderer in a small coal mining town killing......

The weekend's coming up, and that means that Muni's got a long list of street closures and cancellations. And this week, the radical homosexual agenda is to blame: for several nights, streets around the Castro will be closed due to filming for the hilarious smash-hit romantic comedy Milk. In the film, Hilary Swank plays a cold-as-ice milkmaid who's sworn she'll never fall in love again. But when she unwillingly becomes the guardian of a......

Hal Holbrook in "Mark Twain Tonight": Julia Sugarbaker's husband and Oscar nominee for this year's Into the Wild, Broadway veteran Hal Holbrook won a Tony Award in 1966 for playing satirical American writer in this performance, and he's been doing it ever since. This one-man show draws on observations taken from Twain's own material. A real treat for admirers of American literature. The show starts tonight at 8 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center......

Look out, Alamo Square! A "hot prowl" has been reported! We have no idea what that means -- maybe SF Crime knows? -- but oh lord how it makes us giggle. Time to send in the Hot Cops! We've really been digging this "EveryBlock" website, which aggregates news, crime reports, photos, reviews, health inspections, and lots of other details about neighborhoods. But unfortunately, the SFPD's data-sharing tool CrimeMAPS is pretty old-fashioned (it says it......

This was the scene tonight in the Castro with hundreds of extras helping to make movie magic....

Rope Burn by Still Flyin' (directed by Isobel Knowles) Still Flyin': Not to knock (heh) its former incarnation, the Odeon, but we love the Knockout. From obscure DJ nights to live bands, this nightclub seems to pull it off minus any affectation -- a difficult feat for any artsy venue to accomplish. Tonight head over to the Outer Mission spot and catch beloved San Francisco-based supergroup Still Flyin', along with rock-ish outfits Yellow Fever......

Seeing as how castroshopper's Ray F. has some choice shots of the Castro's conversion to 1978, we thought we'd thrill you with a few more recent images of the world's most flowery neighborhood. Also, it seems to have gone through a big transformation -- bigger than we thought, in fact -- but many of the stores that are there today seem faithful to the stores' genres of yesteryear, at least according to Van Sant's......

Photograph of the Castro currently under Milk renovation by Ray F., castroshopper Maybe the '70s were better?......

Given / Harvey Milk's old camera store (Rob Cox) Shot in the Castro this week, the neighborhood is made to appear as its halcyon, pre-Staph era days for Gus Van Sant's Milk.......

First eco-friendly homeless shelter opens its doors. Glamour, glitz, green. [Oakland Tribune]The Mayor uses Muni funds to pay his posse. [SFGate, N Judah Chronicles]Speaking of which, buy your "The N Is Near" t-shirt now. No, now. [N-Judah Chronicles]Mary Ratcliff reports on the police state formerly known as Bayview-Hunter's Point.Yikes. [SF Bay View]Yerba Buena Loft cover up? Shady. [Curbed]Although he seems like more of a Mission fag, Gus takes over the Castro. [eBAR]Sir, there are no......

Let's Get Lost (1988): Bruce Weber followed around jazz trumpeter and heroin addict Chet Baker on a year-long excursion, "from the West Coast, to the East Coast, to Europe--including a stop at the Cannes Film Festival--with interviews with Chet, colleagues and friends, including dueling insights from his third wife, a former British show girl, and three children in Oklahoma, and from old flame Ruth Young, a sardonically throaty torch singer." Screens tonight at 7......

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......

Undergoing a procedure to erase 30 years from its face, the Castro neighborhood is going retro, circa 1978, for the filming of Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic, Milk, which starts shooting this week. Already the Castro Theatre, right, and boutique shop Given, formerly Milk's camera store / campaign headquarters, are being renovated to get that '70s vibe. Rumor has it that Castro Street between 18th and 19th streets (i.e., the staphicenter) will be......

Reliable tipster Jerry Jarvis reports that things are a bit damp right now in Market Street's combat zone. Somewhere in that no-man's land between Powell and the Castro, a truck bumped into a fire hydrant, and you know what that means: guerrilla water fountain! Crews are currently working to either shut it off, or to splash playfully.......

Sketchfest continues...

RiffTrax Live at the Castro - Plan 9 from Outer Space: MST3K's Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett provide live commentary on Ed Wood's cult classic, the abominable and beloved Plan 9 from Outer Space. Eeee! Like, we could just die! (Part of SF Sketchfest.) Starts at 9 p.m. at the Castro Theatre.Your Macworld Expo Parties: It's winding down, kids. Partake in the Macworld festivities while you can.Ships in the Night: San......

Cosco Busan Update: ...

Hoodies-N-Heels: Tonight's hip hop for the ivory white comes to you care of DJ VinSol. But he does more than just pump out hip hop staples. His electro, thrash, and slick soul sounds will have you staying to this Mission club just a little bit longer, getting just a little bit more drunk. A win-win, really. Goes from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Double Dutch; free. Media Web Meet-Up III: The Producers: Come......

Michael Pollan: Come hear this foodie sensation talk about his latest book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, in which he suggests that you should not "eat anything that your great-great grandmother would not recognize as food." (Impossible. Also, yes, Michael Leaverton, we DO need to know the exercise logs of the fowl we plan on eating.) Catch him tonight in conversation with restaurant critic, Hayes Street Grill chef/co-owner, and local food celeb......

If you took Coolidge Corner and moved it to San Francisco, you'd wind up with something very much like West Portal, a nicely-kept secret neighborhood with folksy shops and restaurants and a theater, about a 10-minute subway ride from the Castro. And get this: it's about to get even nicer, thanks to some sprucing-up by Muni. "Underinvestment in the Muni system has brought us to a point where we cannot postpone this work," says......

Laughing Squid’s Last Minute Unholiday Party: Scott Beale and the gang will be having a most splendid post- and un-holiday party/experiment with social media. Although LS will be "providing some beer and buying pizza, but please feel free to bring some more beer, wine, leftover holiday food, etc." The mood is low-key and geek-filled, and we mean that in the best possible way. Starts at 7 p.m. at Citizen Space. Ben-Hur (1959): Not only......

Mayor Gavin Newsom says that one of his "top priorities is to ensure that every San Franciscan has a safe and happy New Year. Riding Muni is a smart and green way to ring in the new year." (Thanks, Gavin!) And with a firm flick of his wrist, this New Year's Eve, starting at 8 p.m., Muni will be free all night, which is about what it's worth. The free rides come to a......

Charming! And the Curbed Cup award goes to: Hayes Valley. San Francisco's top hood took the crown with 262 votes (52.8%) over second-place Mission's 234 votes (47.2%). Total burn, Valencia Street! And you know what? Well played, HV. Well played. Ideally, it's just the perfect neighborhood. No, it really is. For starters, the area lies flat and stands as the nexus of many other neighborhoods. What's more, it has perhaps one of San Francisco's only......

-- Crime in Choir: CIC rocks it. Hard. For reals. Big time. One of the purest sounds coming out of SF these days, really. Brave the chill and head down to Potrero Hill to check them out. You won't regret it. Pink Mountain and Science of Yarba open at this anniversary party for Frenetic Records. The music starts at 10 p.m. at Bottom of the Hill; $10. -- It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine:......

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

Cris takes some time off the Bonds case to support her lady. No one pulled out a bitch's clump of hair. That's the big news. Oh, and some other stuff happened, ahem: The Club's membership voted tonight on the February 2008 ballot and the June 2008 State Senate primary, and the endorsements are... Prop 92 (Community College Funding) - Yes Props 94 - 97 (Gaming Compacts) - No Prop A (Neighborhood Parks Bond) -......

We love Gridskipper's edge as of late. Take, for example, today's revealing top 8 San Francisco bars with the "crappiest crowds." Rankings 8, 7, 6, and 5 are Beauty Bar, Medjool, Swig, and R Bar, respectively. In all fairness, you need to visit good ol' Gridie to find out just who made the top four. (Also, regarding the number-one spot, we've never visited the sorta chic spot but have heard mixed reviews. Is it......