-- 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......

By Dianne de Guzman Although it took awhile, we've finally recovered from the Yelp holiday extravaganza at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. As to be expected Yelpers know how to throw a party! There was an open bar, plenty of food to go around and lots of dancers, hula hoopers (hula hoopists?) and girls running around in Yelp underwear. More pictures after the jump.......

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......

-- 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. -- Poor White Trash II (AKA Scum of the Earth -- 1974): This Southern Gothic drama is also described as a "claustrophobic sweaty tale of a lost woman trapped by an incestuous, murderous backwoods......

-- 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. -- Quintin Mecke for Mayor & the Tamale Lady Happy Hour: Progressives, tamales, and DJ Julian Mocine-McQueen! Goes from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. (pub crawl to follow) at Mecke for Mayor HQ, 544 Haight. -- Black Fag: Hardcore queer tribute to '70s punk band Black Flag. Tippers Gore, Warkrime, Sabertooth......

-- 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. (!) -- Mathematicians, Madame Blavatsky Overdrive, and Odd Nosdam:......

-- Toshio Hirano: Local country music star -- alongside his trusty bassist, Kenan O'Brien -- croons tonight at 9 p.m. at Amnesia; free. -- San Francisco Contemporary Music Players: David Milnes leads this nineteen-member strong group of experimental and orchestral musicians, many of whom are already members of the San Francisco Symphony, Ballet, or Opera Orchestras. Starts at 8 p.m. at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; $10-27. -- Arse Elektronika's Afterparty: Tech-, machine-sex......

-- 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. -- Chrome:......

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. The conference features panels about the ins and outs of Bay Area filmmaking, how to get financing and funding in the area for your projects, getting distribution for documentaries, as well......

-- 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 -- Bad Boys of Summer: It's like Oz meets Field of Dreams, or something like that. Catch this documentary about San Quentin convicts playing baseball. Film starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Screening......

-- 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. -- Dance, get trashed, shove something up your nose in the bathroom, shove something up, um, somewhere elsewhere in the bathroom, have a......

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). Other events: --The Fillmore Jazz Festival continues all day today (10-6)......

A variety show and 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......

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. Other events:......

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......

In artist Paul Madonna's weekly comic series All Over Coffee, San Francisco architecture—and coffee—seem to be the main characters. Beautifully technical drawings of SF scenes, combined with disembodied voices that almost feel like the city's collective consciousness, give an ethereal quality to the pieces. You can catch All Over Coffee every Sunday in the Pink section of the Chronicle, and it's archived online as well. Paul also updates his web site every Monday with a new free cartoon. This month, there are several ways you can get to know Paul and his work a little better. • Tonight from 7 to 10 pm at 312 Valencia @ 14th street, there is a Book Release Party for Paul's collection of past to present work from All Over Coffee. You can also buy the book at a discounted price from City Lights Books. ...

This isn't just tonight -- it's for all month -- but it's so cool we're making it the pick of the day! Bank of America customers, you can flash your ATM card or credit card and you and a guest get into a bunch of local museums for free, free, free! (Wells Fargo card holders, you'll have to pay not only admission but also a $2.50 service charge. Kidding, kidding.) Offer applies to the SFMOMA,......

It's almost the end of April and we didn't even realize it was National Poetry Month! We're going to make it up to everyone by passing along tonight's Poems Under The Dome event. Poems Under The Dome is an open-mic poetry event in the big reception area of the SF City Hall and sponsored by the city -- show up and read whatever poem you'd like! (One poem per reader, time limits will be......

It's Bay Area National Dance Week! Dance studios across the city are dramatically flinging open their doors for free events all week. The one that jumped out at us for tonight is a free introduction to fire hoop dancing at the Temple of Poi. There's a 6:15 class and a 8:00 class, and the Temple is located at 953 Mission, Suite 11. Check out that YouTube clip of the Temple of Poi founder hula-hooping......

It's more than just Heart and Soul: the Berkeley Arts Festival presents an evening of four-hand piano pieces, composed by beloved local minimalist Terry Riley, and performed by Joseph Kubera and Berkeley radio host/pianist Sarah Cahill. 8 p.m., $10-20 sliding scale, at the temporary Berkeley Arts Festival location, which is the Fidelity Bank Building at 2323 Shattuck (x Bancroft). Other events: --A talk at the SF Main Public Library on "How to Listen to......

Tonight is another epic shindig at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission at 3rd), celebrating the opening of R. Crumb’s Underground, a thematically-organized show of collaborative drawings (including work with his wife, Aline), self-portraits, and counter-cultural chronicles, including early and new work, plus rare film screenings of some of the blues, swing and "exotica" bands that inspired Crumb's Cheap Suit Serenaders. The soirée also celebrates the opening of The Black Factory by William......

SFist Sara S. on this weekend's movie offerings. She tells us "There is nothing good coming out in mainstream movies this weekend," so it's all the little microcinemas around town this week! C'mon, what about Sandra Bullock in "Premonition"? Okay, Sara, point taken. At the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on Wednesday the 21st, the Film Arts Foundation is presenting a documentary on twenty years of the SF Graffiti scene, called Piece by Piece.......

There are not many words that scares us more than the words "interpretive dance." And there are not many phrases that scare us more than "examines modern man’s increasing disconnection from community, ritual and the environment." Throw both of them together and you got something that makes us want to run to VH-1 as fast as possible. So we went to see Loose Change's recent show, "Human Nature" at the Yerba Buena Center for the......

Tonight there will an interesting auction, for the Princess Project. It's a Bay Area non-profit that provides prom dresses and accessories to high school girls that could not otherwise afford them. Which sounds kind of not very important but just think about what a special night it will be for those girls who are suddenly able to have a nice dress to the prom. One could argue too, that this would make a great reality show for MTV but who cares about poor people when you can show rich, spoiled sixteen year olds. The auction will feature items from local businesses and will from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m., at Dolce in San Francisco....

It's another East Bay/West Bay collision! After months of Sampling Oakland, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission St. at 3rd) sets its sights on Berkeley's Kala (rhymes with ta-dah) Art Institute for an exhibition entitled, Cultivating Creativity: In Residence at Kala. Vampiric gesture or reflection of an "ongoing commitment to celebrating local arts organizations," no matter, check out the work of current and past Kala-affiliated artists working in printmaking, digital media, photography......

SFist interviews Liz Hickok... maker of Jello cityscapes ...

Community Hero: At YBCA (701 Mission @ 3rd) is a screening of the African Film, Sango Malo by Bassek Ba Kobhio, the story of an idealistic new teacher in a rural school whose plans for radical praxis bringing social change to students and villagers is met by strong resistance from the headmaster and the village chief. Co-presented by California Newsreel, the San Francisco Black Film Festival, the Museum of the African Diaspora Present and Yerba......

After reading the harrowing tale of the Kim family and how Mrs. Kim kept her children alive by breastfeeding them, we feel a bit blasé about all these fine food and cocktail party charitable events tonight. But since we are fortunate enough to not be in a life-or-death struggle for survival ... At the Rickshaw Stop (155 Fell between Van Ness & Franklin), Root Division presents Spectacle: A Cocktail Party and Visual Carnival, with......

Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 73. Total number of people pictured whom we recognize: 11. Minority count: 11. Not the same 11 whom we recognized. (15.3%) Getty v. Traina: 6-1. Some Gettys went to two parties. Hats, capes, tiaras: 2, 1, 0. This doesn't count the mention of Brittanie Mountz in a newsboy cap, accompanying Gavin to Denise Hale's Ritz-Carlton party. Number of times Brittanie was caught drinking: 0.......

Hey, isn't it a bit early for horror and blood? ...