Despi...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/news/the-american-dream-s-700-billion-price-tag http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/news/skippy-cartoonist-s-daughter-sues-superbooty-musician When SuperBooty singer Mark O'Hara chose the name of Skippy Tornado for his first solo project, he didn't know he'd be facing a bigger storm in the form of a legal battle with a Florida woman who has been involved in the rights to the Skippy name for most of her 76 years. Joan Crosby Tibbetts, wh...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/news/skippy-cartoonist-s-daughter-sues-superbooty-musician http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/news/will-black-neighborhoods-in-s-f-support-the-gay-marriage-ban-again San Francisco may be the spiritual homeland of the gay-rights movement, but that doesn't mean all its residents are of the same mind when it comes to Proposition 8, the statewide initiative that would amend California's Constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage. In fact, a previous anti-gay-marria...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/news/will-black-neighborhoods-in-s-f-support-the-gay-marriage-ban-again http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/news/marin-republicans-love-them-some-sarah-palin It's lonely being a Republican in Marin County. According to Greenbrae resident and former archconservative KSFO radio host Melanie Morgan, only one in four people in the county voted for George W. Bush in 2004, even though the place is crawling with the filthy rich. But being the minority only s...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/news/marin-republicans-love-them-some-sarah-palin http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/news/building-overtime Six hundred and twenty-two dollars and eighty-one cents. This is a figure virtually every builder toiling within San Francisco city limits has had emblazoned onto his or her memory through sheer repetition. In fact, counting in multiples of the dreaded $622.81 ticket has become something of a pre...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/news/building-overtime http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/feeling-a-little-bit-country My friend who works at Rhapsody.com was compiling a list of the most depressing albums of all time and asked for my input. On its face, this seems fairly easy. But once I started actually thinking about it, I realized I would have to different...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/feeling-a-little-bit-country http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/dearly-beloved From the microtonal bleeding edge of cyberspace to Berlin's cavernous post-industrial clubs, the corkscrew productions of Matthew Dear (aka False, Jabberjaw, and Audion) have been in the headlights for years. Dear's digitally modulated singles explore microhouse and minimal's hypnotic reso...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/dearly-beloved http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/protest-staple Protest music" isn't always a guy or gal with an acoustic guitar, singing pointedly topical songs. There's a parallel tradition in America where gospel music and the civil rights movement intersected, perhaps best represented today by Mavis Staples. "We looked to the church for inner stren...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/protest-staple http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/they-fought-the-law Next time you hear a musician bellyache about the strenuous rock 'n' roll life, recall the Plastic People of the Universe. Formed in 1968 in then-Communist-run Czechoslovakia, the Plastic People were routinely harassed and jailed (without trial) for performing decadent Western rock by the ...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/they-fought-the-law http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/brightblack-morning-light-s-slow-rock-movement As the financial apocalypse looms and pundits panic about abstracted value, it makes sense to step back and think about our inner selves and how we tread in the real world. Ultramellow rockers Brightblack Morning Light's new album, Motion to Rejoin, shows this hectic generation the ...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/brightblack-morning-light-s-slow-rock-movement http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/jolie-holland-s-storytelling-grows-in-scope Say you wandered into the Rite Spot at 17th and Mission streets sometime in 1999. There's a crowd of dot-com cubicle monkeys unwinding at the bar, and a few couples lit by candlelight at a handful of tables. In front of the beat-up piano in the corner is a pretty gal strumming an old guitar and s...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/jolie-holland-s-storytelling-grows-in-scope http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/frisco-freakout-makes-a-california-scene Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/frisco-freakout-makes-a-california-scene http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/from-conservatory-to-cafe Armed with stringed instruments and intense training from the likes of Juilliard and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Classical Revolution is on a mission to change the way classical music is perceived and performed in this city. Conceived in late 2006, the collective's intent has been to...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/from-conservatory-to-cafe http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/loquat Waiting three years between albums can be suicide for an upstart band, particularly when new artists are being churned out faster than rabbits reproduce. But Loquat's sophomore release, Secrets of the Sea, is proof to ADD-afflicted music lovers that good things do sometimes come to those w...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/loquat http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/hank-iv After debuting two years back with Third Person Shooter, rugged locals Hank IV have landed on the resurrected Philly label Siltbreeze, whose well-documented appetite for noise-rock — from the Dead C and Harry Pussy to next-generation singings Times New Viking and Eat Skull — fi...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/hank-iv http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/kings-of-leon Over the course of three albums, Kings of Leon have worn their undigested influences on their rangy, sleeveless arms. Sure, this is partly born of a supremely unambitious approach, but the result is a rare, uncomplicated rock pleasure. 2005's Aha Shake Heartbreak has endured several years ...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/music/kings-of-leon http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/dining/new-restaurants A weekly listing of new restaurants around town. To recommend a spot, e-mail fresheats.

Academy Cafe: 55 Music Concourse (in the Academy of Sciences), www.themossroom.c...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/dining/new-restaurants http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/dining/i-ll-have-what-she-s-having Often, when I go with a group to an Asian restaurant, especially if it's one I've written about, I end up doing the bulk of the ordering. I'm happy, in fact happier, if everybody has a hand in choosing, but sometimes the others are overwhelmed by the long menus and many similar-sounding dishes. H...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/dining/i-ll-have-what-she-s-having http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/female-persuasion The protag of Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky is a modestly gaudy people's heroine industriously repairing the social world, one frayed interaction at a time.

After extended cameos in two previous Leigh films (as a resourceful pop tart in All or Nothing and the date-raped rich g...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/female-persuasion http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/lies-we-can-believe-in A new kind of war movie for a new kind of war, Body of Lies is about the War on Terror as it is being waged on the ground, in the air, but most of all in cyberspace. Directed with terrific verve by Ridley Scott (coming after the listless American Gangster) from a smart screenplay by...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/lies-we-can-believe-in http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/saving-marriage Come November 4, Californians will punch their ballots for or against an amendment to the state Constitution titled "Eliminates Rights of Same-Sex Couples to Marry Act" (aka Proposition 8). That's a harsh name for a measure whose origins can be traced to a 2003 Massachusetts Judicial Court order ...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/saving-marriage http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/the-other-sister Those who believe Jonathan Demme went all soft with Philadelphia and never recovered may not be reassured by his latest movie, an ensemble tale of family pathology gussied up with vérité camera work, world music, and improvising actors both trained and not. You can find the w...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/the-other-sister http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/art-house Castro Theatre. The Letter and The Little Foxes: Double feature of Bette Davis classics. Wed., Oct. 8, 12:30 p.m. 429 Castro (at Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com.

Dark Room Theat...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/film/art-house http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/also-playing All You Can Eat. Playwright and director Steve Morgan Haskell's new play is one of those dramas that's at once easy and difficult to decipher. The overall message of the play — which takes place backstage at the ballroom of the French Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, just bef...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/also-playing http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/october-art-events 1AM SF Gallery Grand Opening
The grand opening of a new gallery dedicated to street and urban art. The gallery's name stands for the First Amendment; it promises to offer workshops in mural-making and "demystifying" graffiti. This first show features work by Erik Otto, Jonah Levin, L...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/october-art-events http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/re-enacting-the-birth-of-california In 2004, when Julio Cesar Morales went to view the Bear Flag Revolt monument in Sonoma, truth was enjoying a particularly slippery moment. Dick Cheney assured the press that Saddam Hussein had long-established ties with al-Qaeda, and 42 percent of Americans still believed Hussein was involved in ...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/re-enacting-the-birth-of-california http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/chazz-palminteri-revives-a-bronx-tale-in-san-francisco Chazz Palminteri's autobiographical solo show, A Bronx Tale, is theoretically about an Italian-American boy's relationship with two father figures — hard-working, morally upstanding bus driver Lorenzo and neighborhood wiseguy Sonny. As the blurb for Robert De Niro's 1993 film adaptat...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/chazz-palminteri-revives-a-bronx-tale-in-san-francisco http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/believe-it-or-not-moby-dick-is-good-material-for-a-musical After putting the "head" in Hedda Gabler and the "sin" in Cinderella, the fishnet- and short-skirt–wearing schoolgirls of the fictional St. Godley's School for Young Ladies have decided "to mount dick"— Moby Dick, that is. This bawdy musical within a musical, whic...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/believe-it-or-not-moby-dick-is-good-material-for-a-musical http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/tim-barsky-s-new-play-leaves-us-begging-for-more I have no idea why Tim Barsky is not a huge household name; he is a megatalent. The Oakland-based Barsky is an unbelievable beatboxer, heartfelt storyteller, poet, flutist, and even a hip-hop harpist. This show is an urban reworking of a 19th-century epic folktale by Reb Nachman (the founder of B...]]> Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sfweekly.com/2008-10-08/culture/tim-barsky-s-new-play-leaves-us-begging-for-more