Saturday marks the SOMA/downtown installment of SF Open Studios. All of the open galleries will be in the Eastern SOMA/Yerbua Buena area near SF MOMA -- the Yerba Buena neighborhood, if you will. Fourteen art galleries in the hood will open their doors for free art and free refreshments. Contemporary, emerging, and established artists will be featured at these galleries: more ›

Timecapsule: October 9, 1776 more ›

• First eco-friendly homeless shelter opens its doors. Glamour, glitz, green. [Oakland Tribune]
• The Mayor uses Muni funds to pay his posse. [SFGate, N Judah Chronicles]
• Speaking of which, buy your "The N Is Near" t-shirt now. No, now. [N-Judah Chronicles]

-- The 2007 'Stache Bash: The regular world now knows what bears have known for a long time: mustaches are kinda cool. This even will show you just how cool they, in fact, are. Burlesque troupe Kitty Kitty Bang Bang and DJ Ross Hogg's hip hop, dancehall, roots reggae, and dub sounds intertwine with a night of 'stache championing. Tonight's bash will feature a mustache pageant, a beer foam retention test, a mustache haiku competition, and much more. Also, some of the proceeds go to charity. The hairy festivities start tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Rickshaw Stop; $10 (sliding scale). more ›

By Dianne de Guzman more ›

Update: all lanes are now open. It seems that "a box truck, from a business called 'Diet to Go'...drove directly into the back of the big rig," killing the box truck driver. Very sad. Sigh. According to SFGate, "three lanes of the upper deck of the Bay Bridge are blocked by a fatal accident, the California Highway Patrol says." Did you hear that? How awful. Just terrible. Three whole lanes of traffic have closed... more ›

Tonight, for one night only, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts will be featuring two sneak previews of Dirty Country, a highly entertaining documentary about the underground world of raunchy music, directed by Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher, founders and hosts of the Found Footage Festival, which sold out four shows at the Red Vic last month. Dirty Country, which won the Audience Award at this year's South By Southwest, is part of Yerba... more ›

You think Hallwoeen on the Castro is a nightmare of douche-baggie proportions? Try the Oracle Open World 2007 convention, which is happening this Sunday, November 11 through Thursday, November 15. And it sucks for us plebeians. Imagine nerds and sales tools infused with a false sense of power. (Except for any Oracle SFist reader; you're all golden.) Imagine nasty Oracle PR bitches who hangup on local media outlets trying to get a modicum of... more ›

Egads! The west span of the Bay Bridge was struck this morning by a container ship, the Cosco Busan. According to the Chronicle, "Coast Guard officials said the incident was not serious enough to merit a bridge closure." Still, that looks like some serious damage. A witness on the ship claims that the Cosco struck the second tower west of Yerba Buena Island, and says the the extent of the damage isn't known. If... more ›

-- Salute Day of the Dead: Before tomorrow's Dia de los Muertos celebration and march, be sure to check out this pre-party featuring music from Steve Taylor-Ramírez, Theresa Perez, and Drew Harrison. Begins tonight at 9:30 p.m. at RetoxSF; $7. more ›

-- Chapel/Chapter: Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company's modern, intricate dance revue. Starts at 8 p.m. at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum; $38-50. more ›

-- Tastes of the City: Help raise money for the George Mark Children's House in San Leandro by attending this culinary bash. Young and "philanthropic-minded" guys and gals meet and mingle while binge eating on food and wine from such places as Andalu, Jack Falstaff, and more. Goes from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Forum at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; $60. (!) more ›

-- Toshio Hirano: Local country music star -- alongside his trusty bassist, Kenan O'Brien -- croons tonight at 9 p.m. at Amnesia; free. more ›

Jake Shimabukuro Playing at Yerba Buena Gardens more ›

What's better than picking up a Beard Papa cream puff across from the Metreon over your lunch break? Eating that Beard Papa cream puff while catching the free symphony concert at Yerba Buena Gardens tomorrow! more ›

-- The 2007 Bay Area Rhythm Exchange: Stepology (which we can only hope is very much like "Vibeology") presents tap stars Channing Cook-Holmes (Riverdance, Gangs of New York, Bojangles), John Kloss (Tap Heat), Deborah Mitchell (The Cotton Club, Black and Blue), Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards (Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, Bamboozled), Sam Weber (Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood). 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre (SF War Memorial and Performing Arts Center), 401 Van Ness; $19-$22. more ›

Hey, cineastes! And all of you who say, "what I really want to do is direct"! Local independent film resource the Film Arts Foundation passes along word of their San Francisco Independent Filmmakers Conference next month at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. more ›

This past Sunday, under blazing blue skies in the City's snuggly warm SOMA bosom of Yerba Buena Gardens (YBG), there were no microphones, no stage lights, and no admission fees (and sadly no news coverage). There was plenty of energy though in the form of 10,000 spectators watching 267 actors in 77 different shows on 10 stages for the fourth annual San Francisco Theater Festival (SFTF).

The festive and well-attended public event filled not only the outdoor venues of the YBG like the Stone Stage, the Waterfall, and the Rock Circle, but also filled up indoor venues the Metreon and Zeum.

The San Francisco Theater Festival is an annual free event intended to build the theater-going audience by acquainting people with live-theater performance in the Bay Area. "It's always a bit of a crapshoot" SFTF Executive Producer Bill Schwartz told SFist on Tuesday, but he loves what he does and hopes that people will continue to join him in making the Bay Area a truly great theater town.

-- Sweetie and Love is Chemicals (image to the left): Hear rock and melodic ditties in the Mission with these two “sugary, pop” outfits. Show starts at 10 p.m. at the Knockout, 3223 Mission; $10 more ›

If you are concerned about people growing old around you, just keep looking for fresh faces to hang out with. We got this bit of wisdom not from Gavin Newsom (who got it from Willie anyway), but from James Schwabacher. One of Schwabacher’s initiatives was to co-found the SF Opera Merola program, now in its 50th anniversary, a training program-slash-talent-search for opera singers that lasts all summer. more ›

-- Using the garbage and junk-drawer debris from oh-my-God real-life celebrities (!), crafty artist Jason Mercier creates jaw-dropping portraits of A- through D-list notables, which range from Parker Posey to Heidi Fleiss. Celebrity Junk Drawer opens tonight starting at 9 p.m. at 111 Minna Galley (at Second St.); admission is free. more ›

Hey, SFist Krissy already told you about this, but we're going to remind! Go to the Benefit to Save Internet Radio at the Bottom of the Hill tonight. Bagel Radio Ted and SoMa FM Elise from SoMa FM are picking the tunes, and a bunch of favorite local bands will play too. 1233 17th St (x Connecticut), 6 p.m., and $3 (but give more). more ›

Brian Eno's visual imagescape 77 million paintings premiers tonight at Yerba Buena with a 45-foot wall of projections of changing images set to an evolving soundscape. Tickets are $25 unless you're a student or senior. No word on whether Eno will be there...but it seems worth it all the same. 701 Mission St., SF. more ›

a chance to help out Killing My Lobster? But of course! The Romane Event, the monthly music/film/comedy/spoken word event at the Make Out Room the last Wednesday of every month and hosted by Paco Romane, is a benefit for local comedy group Killing My Lobster, and will feature their sketches and movies tonight. Looks like fabulous fabulist Harmon Leon'll be there too! $7-15 sliding scale, 8 p.m., at the Make Out Room (3225 22nd, x Mission). more ›

Everyone knows the Saturday of Pride Weekend is the Dyke March! Put on your motorcycle helmet and take off your top. The theme this year (for the 15th anniversary) is "Healthcare for All," so there's going to be a mammogram truck on site, as well as the usual diverse array of religions, performers, and peoples. The rally and stage show starts at 3 at Dolores Park; the women go marching at 7. 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 ›

You've still got the Berkeley World Music Festival today, and Indiefest's Hole in the Head fantasy/sci-fi/horror film fest is in full swing! Your other options include: more ›

We really love these guys, and you should love them too! The Del Sol Quartet performs works by 20th and 21st century women composers in Berkeley tonight (and one male composer too) in their "Umbilical Chords: Women Composers and the Creative Process" program. And in interesting modern music trivia, one of the women composers (Ruth Crawford) is folk singer Pete Seeger's mother. Del Sol plays at the Ashby Stage (1901 Ashby, x MLK, right across from the Ashby BART), $20, 8 p.m. They'll also be playing at the DeYoung this Sunday and the SF Main Library next Tuesday. more ›

Can you still remember how to roller skate backwards? How about shoot the duck? For $2 skate rentals, you can give it your best shot at Mighty to the tune of really bad (or really good, depending on how you look at it) disco music. 7pm, 119 Utah Street, SF. more ›

The Bay Area Hip-Hop Theater Festival kicks off its two-week run of politically-inspired and racially-conscious dramatic and spoken word arts at Berkeley's La Pena Cultural Center at an event featuring the teen poets of Youth Speaks and their Brave New Voices College Tour. $10, 8 p.m., 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley (between Ashby and Alcatraz Aves.) more ›