Wednesday night is when things get real exciting. Division Day, who released their debut album, Beartrap Island on Eenie Meenie Records (Scissors for Lefty, Wallpaper, Great Northern) at the end of last year is back in San Francisco. We consistently have loved everything that Eenie Meenie Records has put out, including Division Day. They will be supported by A-Sides, an indie-rock band from Philadelphia. It should be a great show!

The Hands (pictured to the right) are a straight-up rock band from Seattle, Washington. We wanted to recommend The Hands, playing over at Kimo's in Nob Hill on Friday night, but when we googled Kimo's (to find out more information about the venue), we realized that Kimo's didn't even have a website. This is 2008, right? We checked out reviews on yelp and boy we're we surprised. Kimo's was reviewed as being "dirty and disgusting" with the "worst sound ever." Ouch. There weren't too many favorable reviews posted. (Kimo's rating is a crappy two out of five stars.) For a band who is playing SXSW later this month, we're a bit surprised they aren't playing Bottom of the Hill or Slim's. We're wondering, is it really worth going to Kimo's? From what we've read, we're a bit worried. What do you think?

For full listings, take the jump...

Does anyone else cry at the end of the movie when Jesse bids farewell to Willy? Gets us every time. Every time!

The three boys who took part in the shooting death of Ichinkhorloo "Iko" Bayarsaikhan in Washington Park in Alameda last Halloween, and then reportedly boasted about it, were sentenced in juvenile court today. One of the teenagers, the 16-year-old, will spend seven years behind bars, but the other two first-degree killers, the unidentified 15- and 13-year-old, were ordered to attend the Rites of Passage program, which is "a structured camp in the Nevada wilderness."

According to their site:

At Rite of Passage, we do not believe our students are bad, but they have made bad decisions. This is why our cognitive behavioral program focuses students on developing problem-solving skills...The term VALIDATE exemplifies these learning opportunities found at Rite of Passage. The letters of the word validate represent eight different areas of an adolescent’s life that should be focused on and understood. Validate also represents our achievement-based process – in which we require proof or substantiation that learning and change have truly occurred.

Eh, we think this is a good ruling. Bang out the dents on these young kids, etcetera, etcetera, and so forth. In related news, guess where we're not camping this summer? Anywhere near the Nevada wilderness.

-Bud and Donald went to Washington yesterday for the annual brow-beating on baseball by congress. Taking the most heat were the Giants, who were shame-shame-shamed (shame of fools) for not doing anything about Barry's posse. In the hearings, Selig said he was looking into doing something to the Giants as punishment for letting Barry's head grow and looking the other way. And yes, you can't say unfair without an f and u for dinging one team while the entire league was looking the other way too.

-The Santa Clara city council voted 6-1 to play "let's make a deal" with the 49ers about building a new stadium. Next step: working out a plan, stan, and then putting the measure up to a vote.

-In a continuing quest to trade everyone who currently plays on the A's, Billy Beane yesterday traded Mark Kotsay to the Braves for right-handed reliever Joey Devine (who'll be another in a long list of A's with mellifluous names) and some single A pitcher in the Braves farm system. So far, there is no truth to rumors that the A's are looking to trade Stomper to the Cardinals for two minor league mascots to be named later

-And speaking of the A's, in order to make up for all their player trading, the team announced that they will be opening up one of the sections in the upper levels to bring A's fans four of the most magical words in the English language: "All-You-Can-Eat." Yes, for the low, low price of $35, you can sit in the section and eat all the hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, and popcorn your little (and soon to be disease-ridden) heart can desire. Prices may vary too depending on what sort of ticket plan you want.

It nice to see that the farming and ranching traditions of Livermore's past live on to this day. You see, seven men were nabbed this past Sunday in connection with a cockfighting ring on the 4000 block of North Livermore Avenue. Ick.

Busted while a fowl fight was in progress, officers arrested three gentlemen from Alameda, two blokes from Livermore, one from San Jose, and another from Las Vegas. Police officers also uncovered "300 gamecocks being used or prepared for use in cockfights" as well as 150 gamecocks and hens in an unincorporated part of Livermore. All of the birds, it seems, are worth up to $500,000. Wow.

Authorities are in the process of finding "sustainable homes" for the poor little birds.

Once considered acceptable in the US--even our founding papas George Washington and Thomas Jefferson used participated in the sport--cockfighting is now banned in all states except for Louisiana. Britney Spears' home state will officially outlaw cockfighting in August of this year.

Image credit goes to artist Guy Buffet.

Gavin Newsom began his second term as mayor of San Francisco this morning in front of a huge crowd under the largest dome in the western hemisphere. (Yes, even larger than those found in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., but why would we bring those places up?)

Fashion report. Vivid purple necktie ( matching glove[s]). Fiancée Jennifer Siebel appeared in yellow looking just like a Hitchcockian blond. Shoe bonus: undersides completely lacquered in International Red-Orange, redolent of the Golden Gate Bridge. How apropropriate for San Francisco.

When a politician's crew puts on a show (you know, swearing-in ceremonies are pretty much legally-mandated photo ops), things can go well, or not so well. This inaugural went well. And speaking of Obama, his much talked about Kennedyesqueness is more Robert, less John. Today's event was heavily on the on JFK side of things.

The reception will occur tomorrow at the de Young Museum. Read all about today's ceremony here and here.

-- the Jesus Lizard, "And Then The Rain"

* Washington vs Seattle
Saturday, January 5, 2008. 1:30 PM, PST.
Wild Card 2008
Battle Of The Wounded

Washington is still riding the emotional wave of FS Sean Taylor's untimely death, and gashed their way into the playoffs by beating (an admittedly resting-for-the-postseason) archrival Dallas by 21 points. 21 was Sean's jersey number. Now this ragtag just-good-enough emotionally-charged franchise heads northwest to Seattle.

Photo via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The cold-fish Seahawks have the unenviable task of trying to defeat a team that has become a memorial wake on-the-field. The Hawks are unwillingly become the opposing force in Washington's storyline. No fun.

And no run game. Seattle still misses former LG Steve Hutchison (long gone; poached by the Vikings), and their run game has sucked so hard that it's been given up. The Seahawks have become one-dimensional, dragging their dead run game behind them like a wolf that'd chewed off its leg to get out of a trap. The crazy part? It's worked. Shaven-headed QB Matt Hasslebeck has had a fantastic season executing Head Coach Holmgren's pure form of the West Coast Offense, and it may provide enough firepower to get Seattle through.

Both teams are hurt, but in different ways. Who will survive?

San Francisco started the year with a bang. Literally.

• 1/1: The title of First Murder of 2008 was snatched up just a few hours after midnight. An unidentified man was shot to death on the 300 block of 9th Street in SOMA yesterday morning at around 4:50 a.m.

  No suspects, no arrests.

• 1/1: Two non-fatal stabbings occurred at 2 a.m in Washington Square Park. No word yet at to whether or not a pizza parlor is to blame. We wouldn't put it past them.
• 1/2: Found by someone walking their dog along the King Estates' hiking trail in East Oakland, just below Interstate Highway 580, a woman was found "beaten to the point where she was in critical condition." As of now her exact age and identity are not known, and, as Mornings On 2 kept repeating during their report, she was found "fully-clothed."

  No word yet as to any possible suspects.

Two brothers and a friend (ages 16, 15, and 13) were convicted in juvenile court today of first-degree murder. While neither of the three rapscallions was the actual shooter, they were found guilty "because they aided and abetted in an attempted robbery that led to the death of Ichinkhorloo "Iko" Bayarsaikhan in Washington Park after a night of trick-or-treating." Oh snap. And all three of them could receive the maximum sentence: stuck in juvie until age 25.

The alleged shooter's and three other boys' cases are still pending, but it appears that they will see some heavy, heavy jail time. And you can read more about today's sentencing here.

Getting the Busan ready for the long journey home. Most of the patching job should be done by now.

San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera filed suit this morning against a host of players involved with the Cosco Busan oil spill. It's nice to know that our top legal eagle is a "former maritime attorney, and appointee to the U.S. Maritime Administration in Washington, D.C., during President Clinton’s Administration." That experience might come in handy before all this is done.

In related news, the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun alleges the pilot aboard the Busan ordered "full speed" shortly before the allision when visibility was about a tenth of a mile. Of course, that's just the "accusation" and it's way early to have all the info needed to apportion blame among the players involved. Respected commenter and California Insider Daniel Weintraub wonders why legislators have said relatively little about the one person involved who was the most responsible for what happened: the pilot. [Free registration, by the way] But at least one Assemblymember has spoken out to say that he thinks Captain Cota is being "set up.". Interesting.

Also, word comes from gCaptain about a new animation of the path of the Busan.

And speaking of petroluem oozing out where it doesn't belong, check out some South Koreans dealing with an Exxon Valdez caliber oil spill here Now, that's an oil spill. Things could have been much worse for us. Are we ready for the next major spill?

More on our new lawsuit after the jump.