SF Weekly

The secret is out. Warner Bros. waited to unwrap The Box until two days before its opening because, compared to its madcap predecessors — the psychotic Holden Caulfield update Donnie Darko and the delirious welcome-to-the-21st-century extravaganza Southland Tales &mdash... Full Story »

On any Thursday night, dozens of dudes on Harleys descend on a 10th Street SOMA clubhouse painted red and black. Their leather vests and jackets are emblazoned with diabolic skulls in fedoras and the words "Bay Riders." The club is a registered nonprofit, and was recently on the TV news for donat... Full Story »

Just about everyone in Eric Bricker's festschrift seems to love Julius Shulman, including (adorably) the unstoppable old gent himself. What's not to like? Ninety-three years old at the time of filming, the great photographer of modernist architecture was still working (“What else is there?”... Full Story »

On the night of Aug. 5, inspectors at San Francisco's homicide detail got a call about a Pontiac Aztek abandoned on Terry Francois Boulevard, a two-lane street that runs along the edge of what used to be the city's industrial port, just south of the Giants' ballpark. Ena Canales, 32, had apparent... Full Story »

The Bucks Should Stop Here Banking on integrity: This is a thorough crack to the jaw of our national hypo-crisy [" No Justice ," James Lieber, Feature, 10/28]. With so many people locked ... Full Story »

The smell of smoke was enough to spike firefighter Mike Estrada's bloodstream with adrenaline. He knew it was going to be a big fire, because there was no wind that morning and yet he could still smell the smoke from blocks away. By the time the fire engine he was riding in began winding its way ... Full Story »

Ordinances that boldly go where no liberal legislation has gone before are a hallowed convention of San Francisco government, and as SF Weekly went to press, the latest in a long history of such measures appeared poised for approval by the Board of Supervisors. The law in question would re... Full Story »

Last week, San Francisco Chronicle executives said they were "pleased" after learning that the paper's circulation has dropped 26 percent in six months. What else are Chron chieftains pleased about? • Recent layoffs mean everybody finally gets a parking space &#... Full Story »

I do social work for a developmentally disabled client who loves to play pool. I'll call her Sylvia. She also likes bars, although she only drinks Cokes. Lucky for us, bars and pool tables go hand in hand, and she and I have scoured the city together in search of flat felt (easy to find) and non-... Full Story »

For three decades, Alternative Tentacles has been middle-fingering the thieves, hypocrites, warmongers, and lapdogs in government, religion, the media, mainstream music, and corporate America. The indie label is still run by original Dead Kennedys visionary Jello Biafra, who now fronts the... Full Story »

Oakland metal juggernaut Saviours put in so much dogged road work since the release of 2008's Into Abbadon — logging time on both sides of the Atlantic with the likes of Skeletonwitch, the Sword, Clutch, and Saint Vitus — it's a small wonder the band found time to track ... Full Story »

Pixies ' influence on modern rock is well documented, but the fact remains that no other band has been able to match its exquisite mix of pop hooks and unabashed weirdness. The bigger and balder version of the band took several long-awaited victory laps a few years ago. Now Pixies have boar... Full Story »

Breakups can be brutal, but the worst part is the dread before the expected split. Once you're single, your slate is nearly clean. It's when you haven't yet left the comforts of a relationship that a chilling sort of isolation sets in. The Dutchess and the Duke's latest record, Sunset/Sunrise Full Story »

It's been five years since Oakland rapper Gift of Gab made his solo debut with 4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up , but the wait for a follow-up has made the time feel much longer. Not that the man born Timothy Parker has been slouching. He has continued thriving as half of Blackalicious,... Full Story »

In terms of cringeworthy musical clichés, stating that "the blues" is a state of mind ranks near the top of the list. Thankfully, Queens-based duo Blues Control gets into the best kind of headspace possible: that of a total mindfuck. The band crafts woozy, inscrutable, seemingly endless in... Full Story »

Vinyl is an unusually stunted medium. It hasn't grown much beyond Brian Wilson's quaint ambition nearly 45 years ago to record an entire LP — the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds — without clunkers. In 2009, with CD sales plummeting and death-of-the-album talk reaching new levels of hyst... Full Story »

It's a testament to San Francisco's good taste that DJs Pickpocket and AC's Donuts club night has thrived against the mindless wave of Lady Gaga–ish '80s-glam attitude that has recently broken over the local club scene. Now Donuts celebrates three years of presenting obscure '60s to ... Full Story »

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town. To recommend a spot, e-mail fresheats . Acme Burgerhaus: 559 Divisadero (at Hayes), 346-3212. Western Addition . Burgers. Art/s: 2353 Lombard (at Scott)... Full Story »

You can find the state induced by a recent meal at Yu-Zen, a modest but charming Japanese restaurant in the outermost Outer Richmond, in its name. The calm succession of properly made sushi, exquisitely presented sashimi, and lovely cooked izakaya small plates, delivered in a nicely decorated roo... Full Story »

Historical cataclysm produces conspiratorial thinking: Germany's loss in World War I, the JFK assassination, and 9/11 are all naturally understood as the stuff of unimaginable plots, unspeakable cover-ups, and unseen forces. The guys who made The Men Who Stare at Goats can't quite ... Full Story »

It's not hard to see how the director of Forrest Gump would be thought a good fit to adapt the dearly beloved (and much lampooned) Charles Dickens tale that has survived nearly 170 years of retelling if you count the Flintstone, Muppet, and Barbie versions. Stuffed with simple souls winnin... Full Story »

To submit a listing, e-mail film@sfweekly.com . Artists' Television Access. "Silhouettes and Serenades": Dark folk music and improvisational film. Thu., Nov. 5, 8 p.m. $6. Wholphin Selections: Shorts from the DVD magazine. ... Full Story »

Moon is a modest science fiction film with major aspirations. The tale of a lonely spaceman might have made an excellent Twilight Zone episode, but Moon’s premise is even more suggestive of a song by director Duncan Jones’s father, David Bowie, whose 1969 hit “Space Oddity,” took... Full Story »

This deliriously foul-mouthed political satire is set sometime between 2002 and the day after tomorrow; hard to say, given that the country with which U.S. and U.K. pols want to go to war is unnamed save for its location in, you know, the Middle East. The prime minister and president, likewise, go u... Full Story »

First Day of School . In Billy Aronson's raucous comedy — making its West Coast premiere at SF Playhouse — well-to-do parents attend to their six-year-old children's prospects with a ferocity arising from barely repressed sexual frustration. We've seen this before, but Ar... Full Story »