How the church appeared on November 13. This Friday -- Black Friday -- Michaela Alioto-Pier's little neighborhood that thrives on ridicule will become a little more ridicule-less. At 9 a.m., Pacific Standard Time, on the day of November twenty-third, two thousand and seven, the store at 2125 Chestnut will open its doors. And at that moment? Apple will welcome in its third San Francisco store, completing the trilogy started by its flagship location on......

Yesterday, we posted a contest in which we're giving away a copy of Matt Silady's "The Homeless Channel," a new graphic novel. Matt, a Berkeley resident, was both the writer and artist of this creative yet grounded fiction about the woman behind a 24-hour broadcast network devoted to covering the homeless. This Friday, the Isotope turns into party central (as it often does) to celebrate the book's launch, which anyone can attend....

This Friday will be Critical Mass and everybody is curious to see what happens, not the least of which is the Mayor who supposedly has a lot riding on it (see, riding, get it? Get it? We made a pun!). We are told that if things go wrong, it could reflect poorly on the Mayor as it will show that he is unable to control simple things like several hundred anarchist bikers out loose on the streets. Hey, wouldn't that discussion only encourage bikers? You know, like a biker would start thinking "hey, if I scare some poor, unsuspecting family from Walnut Creek, Gavin's approval rating could go down to 60%." ...

Special Friday Night Lights edition This Friday night in San Francisco offers such a great selection of shows that it's all were going to focus on this week. So here's how to use this week's column:     Step 1. Decide you're going to see live music on Friday night.     Step 2. Read about all your choices below, and be sure to listen to the music and watch the videos.     Step 3. Call up a friend or......

Open wide! (At the orifice of your choosing.) This Friday ... 7pm ... A Different Light (489 Castro St. at 18th St.): a book signing by local comic artists Justin Hall, Steve MacIsaac, and Andy Hartzell. Justin, along with Dave Davenport, is one of the smutty minds behind "Hard to Swallow," a periodic anthology of phalluses and gooey fluids. (He also writes a non-pr0nish series called "Swallowing a Cobra's Heart and Other True Travel......

The kids at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival are already gearing up for IndieFest 2006, planed for February 2-14 (mark your calendars now!). This Friday they're having another of their trademark events, the Rock N Roll Horror Show, at the 1751 Social Club (1751 Fulton at Masonic). Doors open at 7, Kiss of the Vampire screens at 8, and at 10 musical acts Stolen Babies and The Graves Brothers Deluxe hit the stage,......

Our life as a reader isn't all about borrowing and buying books -- sometimes we like to go to literary events, as well. We interviewed Nic Harcourt a bit back. He's the music director at LA's KCRW and host of "Morning Becomes Eclectic". This Friday at 6 p.m. he's going to deejay from the Virgin Megastore DJ booth, and read from his new book, Music Lust: Recommended Listening for Every Mood, Moment and Reason.......

-After raising prices and decreasing fares, you'd think that with ridership going up, everything in MUNI-land would be copacetic, right? Wrong. Those ever increasing gas prices are affecting MUNI in that after all that number crunching, spreadsheet summing, and budget rearranging, they still might be four to five million in the red. Also causing a budget crunch is the fact that MUNI is receiving less money in parking fines than they had expected. Yep, the very fact that more people are getting out of their cars and taking MUNI is actually hurting MUNI. Kind of ironic, don't cha think? ...

Friday, April 29: Go watch lots of women talk about their abortions Abortion is one of America’s last major, messy taboos. It’s been called the “A-word;”; it’s also been called murder, and a right, and a luxury, and a choice. It’s been legislated and rallied and referred to and defended and protested to death. But, according to Award-winning (but still underground and unheard-of) New York filmmaker Penny Lane, it’s still not really being talked......