We heart tortillas. We heart art made in our 'hood. Naturally, we're all over the tortilla fest known as the Great Tortilla Conspiracy exhibition. It's free (!!!!) and a few steps away from our home BART stop, the beauty that is otherwise known as 24th Street. Artists use corn tortillas as a canvas, using silk-screening, digital printing and other means for thought--although maybe not hunger-- provoking art. We outright giggle when folks say they......

To the tune of Beethoven's Fifth: Beethoven's skull...... Beethoven's skull..... So it turns out some guy in Danville's had fragments of Beethoven's skull sitting in a safe-deposit box, and he's turned them over to San Jose State, which apparently collects bits and pieces of Beethoven's body for their Center for Beethoven Studies. (The Center also has a lock of Beethoven's hair.) Is Beethoven like Lenin now or something? The Center is hoping that by examining the bones, they can determine whether Beethoven was killed by lead poisoning, and possibly extract DNA to determine whether Beethoven's deafness had a genetic component. There's a press conference later today, and the results of the forensic study (.pdf) will be released in the latest issue of the Beethoven Journal. (Look for it right behind US Weekly on the newsstand!) Says William Meredith, the director of the Beethoven Center, "I have no doubt that they are Beethoven's skull bones. Whenever I hold them or work with them, they strike me mute for the whole rest of the day. It's not a describable feeling.'' We'll go with the description, "ewwwwww." (but we're easily grossed out.) Picture of reconstructed skull from the Merc News, courtesy of SJSU and the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies...

Crap to do on a Wednesday night for those of you who can call in sick to work tomorrow... The Mills College Music Department and The Center for Contemporary Music present Ring My Bell, 8:00pm to 10:00pm at Mills College in Oakland. Arrive at six to check out a preview of student's senior shows, and drop in on guest lecturer Michael Smith speaking at the campus Art Museum at 7:30. Before We Sell Out......