We had twenty but it's down to the last five. Live 105, a big supporter of local music scene (see popscene) is at it again. Each December, Live 105 hosts the "Not So Silent Night" event which brings a host of great bands - this year it's Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World, Angels & Airwaves, Spoon and Paramore - to San Francisco. (Seems like a great line-up to us.) To make it even more... more ›

SFist reviews Architecture in Helsinki at Great American Music Hall May 23, 2006 more ›

We first heard of Rogue Wave when they opened for Spoon a few years ago, and though we liked them back then, we had no idea they'd make such gorgeous records. Descended Like Vultures, released last October, is a must-own and with airplay on MTV2, a deal with Sub Pop and tours with Nada Surf and The Shins, they're not our hometown secret anymore. more ›

The days of being bopped on the shins by little old Chinese ladies carrying pink and white striped plastic bags and suspiciously poking the flesh of fresh fish may be numbered, as DPW tries to pass a law banning overcrowded sidewalks and double-parked trucks in Chinatown. DPW notes that it's very difficult to walk on Stockton Street on the weekends, and the plethora of produce delivery trucks frequently brings traffic to a standstill. Well, suuuuuure -- but come on, DPW! It wouldn't even really be a Chinatown if proud vendors didn't get to show off their electronic chirping crickets outside their store, or the big basket of plastic slippers, or the huge stacks of produce with their colorful misspelled labels (we still love the one we saw in New York that said COC*NTS (we've omitted the offending letter)). How will tourists have an authentic Asian-American experience if they don't get to see, say, an old man in a windbreaker sniffing the butts of fresh crab? And we don't know what we'd do if the 45 bus could just zip on through to Union Square without the maddening stop-start wrenching of our shoulder out of its socket as Cantonese speakers glare at us for refusing to give up our seat. Life doesn't always have to be so plastic-wrapped and convenient all the time, you know! Sometimes we like that wave of nausea we get when the odor of the seafood bins wafts out onto the sidewalk! Picture of Stockton Street off an MTC website more ›

The June music issue of The Believer will come packaged with a CD compilation of pure indie rock gold. We hear that local do-gooder and author extraordinaire Dave Eggers is behind the compilation, proving his excellent taste and indubitable influence by convincing the persnickety indie rock elite to cover each other's songs. Local duo Two Gallants made the cut, as did Devendra Banhart, Vetiver and Joanna Newsom. The majority of the songs were recorded specifically and exclusively for the compilation. All this genius for only eight bucks, friends! Behold the track list: more ›

Sure, there are new releases this week by Britney, Eminem and Shania, but what love have they ever shown to San Francisco? more ›