We're not sure how much we buy into shopping as the panacea for economic woes, but it sure is fun. Two of our favorite shopping events of the year are upon us. Tonight get your fix of local DIY craftiness at the ReadyMade Magazine's Winter Ball and Craft Show. It runs 6:30-9:30 at the Verdi Club (2424 Mariposa St). Expect Indie radness, extreme craftiness, reasonable prices and a cash bar. more ›

Originally starting out as a postcard show, the LAB now invites artists to sell anything they can fit in a small box provided by them. Original pieces ranging from $1-$30. more ›

Aaieeeee!! Just when you thought the Another Hole In The Head Indiefest horror film fest was over and it was safe to go back outside..... NO!!! Local stand-up splatter comics the Primitive Screwheads are presenting their blood-soaked Night of the Living Dead show, that both mocks -- and fears! -- the zombies stalking our land. $21, Doors at 7, show at 8, at the Hole in the Head Playhouse at 1333 Indiana (x 25th, in Dogpatch). Show runs through Saturday. And be warned: do not wear your nice clothes! more ›

If Wednesday was attacking your face instead of your liver, you'd do something about it. Today: It's summer! The time of the year where the city sponsors random music concerts in the middle of the day! If you make your way to Union Square at noon today, you can check out the rockabilly band Panther Slim, and if you're near the Crocker Galleria, it's Silk Steel. Concerts will go on around downtown through September. more ›

While we’ve been stuck inside our stuffy apartment in the Tenderloin, nursing a nasty cough amid empty tissue boxes and cartons of Chunky Monkey (hey, we have a sore throat), we’ve started to feel a touch of the cabin fever. Despite our frail and sickly condition, we’re determined to get a little fresh air and check out the following shows starting tonight. We hope to see you there, just don’t stand too close. more ›

In the past month we managed to catch up on two seasons of "Battlestar Galctica" (yes, we listened to our dear readers and got good and hooked) including the season finale, and now it's all over and we have to wait until OCTOBER for new episodes. Sheesh. Maybe we should have savored those DVDs instead of devoring them like the gluttons we are. more ›

We seem to recall Laurie Anderson pwning similar tech in the 80s, but The Lab (that nifty art/performance space in the Mission) is going to be showcasing some cutting-edge audio performance equipment that feels like it's straight out of a sci-fi novel. Michael Waisvisz and Robert van Heumen of STEIM (an Amsterdammish audio-performance-concocting center) demonstrate LiSa X and JunXion, software that creates "a sound field in the computer, where the performer can record and manipulate multiple sound streams on the fly," and "supports gestural input," and can turn basically any input device into a musical instrument. Sounds like they're breeding "TRON" with "Rez," minus the personal vibrator. more ›

Okay, maybe we're no better than the steelworking philistines in Pittsburgh, but we somehow doubt that the entire audience at "Hairy Bodies" will be primarily there for the exhibit's intended purpose: to look "at individual and group complexities, differences, and dynamics." Um, yeah, we'll be sure to check out those group complexities, just as soon as we're done ogling all the squeezy, scratchy pecs. Mmmmmmm. more ›