Big Sur

Woodsist Festival Announces 2013 Lineup: White Fence, Foxygen, Fresh & Onlys, and More

Considering the setting and the bands, the annual Woodsist Festival at Henry Miller Memorial Library in Big Sur is one of the coolest and most un-festival-like festivals in Northern California. Organizers (((folkYeah!))) just released the lineup for this year's festival, as well as new dates, which ... More >>

"The Company You Keep": Robert Redford Brings Back Activism

The 10 Best Bay Area Metal Albums of 2012

Our year-end listmaking continues with a look at the heavier side of things. Featuring venerable greats as well as brand-new bands -- and even some freaks in heavy costume -- here are our picks for the 10 best local metal albums of 2012: High on Fire De Vermis Mysteriis [E1] Convoluted as the prem ... More >>

Live Review: Thee Oh Sees, Real Estate, and a Bunch of Cool Kids Relax in the Redwoods at the Woodsist Festival

Woodsist Festival Henry Miller Memorial Library, Big Sur Aug. 4-5, 2012 Better than: A "music festival." An hour south of Carmel along the serpentine path of Highway 1, there's a bend in the road and a fence, behind which lies a lawn of the size that'd fit behind a standard suburban house, and a ... More >>

Woods: Show Preview

Q&A: Philip Glass on Collaboration, Minimalism, and His Henry Miller Library Benefit Show with Joanna Newsom

Popular, influential, and cult musicians come through San Francisco every day. But it isn't every day when an event comes along that you know will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and serve a good cause. On Monday, Philip Glass' Days and Nights Festival and local promoter (((folkYEAH!))) presen ... More >>

Citrus Jams and Marmalades as Summer Starts: A Taste Test

While the heat of a new season is finally upon us, the fruit of that season isn't yet here in an adequate abundance for new jams, so when we took a tasting tour of new preserves a couple weeks back we focused primarily on citrus. The skin of citrus fruits is a natural source of pectin, and as pectin ... More >>

Phillip Glass and Joanna Newsom Plan Benefit Show to Help Henry Miller Library

In addition to being a living monument to American writer Henry Miller, Big Sir's Henry Miller Memorial Library hosts numerous events near and dear to the hearts of Bay Area cultural types. Later this summer, for example, the serene bibliothèque will once again be the site of the two-day Woodsist F ... More >>

An Incendiary Life Remembered

Woodsist Fest Will Bring Real Estate, Thee Oh Sees, the Fresh & Onlys, and More to Big Sur

Bay Area residents need but the slightest excuse for a weekend getaway down to Big Sur, sure -- but for local fans of woolly indie rock, the annual Woodsist Fest is pretty much the best justification imaginable for that two-hour drive. The festival takes place over a weekend at the Henry Miller Libr ... More >>

Links: Bayview Man Who Allegedly Killed Himself in Police Shootout Was a Rapper, Vinyl Is Sexy, and More

Kenneth Harding​Kenneth Harding, the 19-year-old man whom police say shot himself in the midst of a gun battle with police in the Bayview this month, was a gangsta rapper. [SF Examiner] The CEO of Berkeley-based music streaming service MOG prefers to listen to vinyl. [Mercury News]

July's Literary Events

Five More Ben Gibbard Benders

Ben Gibbard, now off the sauce.​For more than a decade, Ben Gibbard has been a wildly successful musician. He's fronted for Death Cab for Cutie, was one-half of the iconic indie-electro outfit The Postal Service, and, oh yeah, married Zooey Deschanel. But during all that, he harbored a dark secret ... More >>

Animal Collective's Henry Miller Library Show Moved to Santa Cruz; More Tix Onsale Thursday

Is Animal Collective laughing in the face of Mother Nature, or laughing at the fact that they'll now sell more tickets?​Mother Nature, you are a saucy bitch. First, you offer us a sweet place like Big Sur's Henry Miller Library to have shows. The place books a concert for the beloved weirdo band A ... More >>

Coachella Runoff: Animal Collective Plays Great American Music Hall This April (Updated)

The creature-loving crew of Animal Collective​ All behold the glorious largesse of Fauxchella! When many among the massive onslaught of bands coming to the Golden State for that sweaty confab down south spread the love to we cold-weather-preferring hippies of Nor-Cal! Thus heaping yet another eco- ... More >>

The Arcade Fire Announce Greek Theater Show Oct. 2

​You were scared there for a while, weren't you? You checked the tour dates on the Arcade Fire's web site a while back, saw that the last ones scheduled were for the East Coast and Europe, and worried that the band would neglect to play out here on the West Coast anytime soon -- that it ... More >>

Watch New Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Movie By FolkYeah's Britt Govea

As promised, a new film short starring Bonnie 'Prince' Billy premiered online this week. The movie, Hombre Sencillo, was written and directed by Britt Govea, also known as the indie promoter (((FolkYeah))), which has produced some amazing shows in Big Sur, the Santa Cruz mountains, and more ... More >>

New Bonnie 'Prince' Billy Film From FolkYeah's Britt Govea

​Now this is a match made in heaven (aka Big Sur). Bonnie 'Prince' Billy helped indie music promoter Britt Govea, the guy behind (((FolkYeah))), start doing those amazing shows along the coast by agreeing to be one of his first bookings. Govea started setting up shows for Billy in Big Sur and has ... More >>

Real Estate, Woods, Moon Duo, Kurt Vile at Woodsist Show in Big Sur

Sarah McKayKurt Vile​You know how lots of dudes have their "fantasy" sports teams, where they get all crazy about their dream combinations of men with bats and balls? Well I have fantasy concerts, all the time, most of them involving some picturesque outdoor venue--in Big Sur--and a lineup involvi ... More >>

Big Sur's Big Spring Show Lineup: Yo La Tengo, The xx, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros

Shannon CottrellThe xx​The best thing about the weather getting better? It means it's almost time to hit Highway 1 for those amazing lawn shows down in Big Sur. The Henry Miller Library is, hands down, my favorite venue in Northern California (next to its neighbor up the road, the Fernwood). It's ... More >>

The Dodos: New Video, New Pornographers Tour

If this spring weather isn't enough to make you want to get the hell outta Dodge, check out the new video from SF indie pop stars the Dodos. The visuals for the single "Longform" encourage as much of an escape as the lyrics (in which Meric Long shouts "Go!" and sings of being free to leave everyth ... More >>

Etymology of a Special: A16's Chanterelle Bruschetta with Cresta di Gallo

A16Liza Shaw.​A new SFoodie feature: Every week, we call a local chef to ask what he or she is putting on the menu that night, and what inspired its creation.Liza Shaw has been at A16 since 2004 and its executive chef since Nate Appleman's departure in 2009. All it took was a 15-second explanation ... More >>

Got Your Goat: Clooney's latest lacks humor

Jay Farrar, Ben Gibbard, and a bad actress pay tribute to Kerouac’s Big Sur

Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar Plan Kerouac Tribute Show in S.F.

Autumn de WildeJay Farrar (left) and Ben Gibbard​We reported earlier that Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Son Volt's Jay Farrar teamed up on the soundtrack to a new Jack Kerouac documentary, One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur. (The movie and the soundtrack come out Oct. 20). Now th ... More >>

The Outside Lands alternative: In the Pines

Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard Pay Tribute to Jack Kerouac

​When I interviewed Ben Gibbard back in 2007, he'd been holed up in the same cabin where Jack Kerouac wrote his famed book Big Sur. Gibbard was in Big Sur writing material for what would become the next Death Cab For Cutie record, but he was also part of the documentary One Fast Move or I'm Gone: ... More >>

Music Fest Road Trip: Mendocino's Invisible Ocean

Little Wings​Summer's the time to hit the road for a little R&R: rest & relaxation (& rock & roll). Big Sur and the Brookdale Lodge are going off down south, but there's also a beachy festival coming up further north, featuring a number of Bay Area acts. On September 5 & 6 ... More >>

Animal Collective: live from Big Sur

Tonalism in Big Sur: All Night Ambient Music (Free Tix Available)

Windy and Carl(((folkYEAH!))) promotes the most interesting music events in Northern California, hosting numerous shows in Big Sur and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Next week, honcho Britt Govea has two big performances: Animal Collective on Wednesday, May 27, and an extra special all night gathering de ... More >>

San Franciscans Got Dirty, Finished Strong in Big Sur's Mud Run Last Weekend

Although many San Franciscans enlisted in Big Sur's fourth annual, military-sponsored Mud Run last weekend just for fun, a handful were dead-set on winning. I happened to catch a ride down with two serious mud-runners, Craig Baum and Andrew Wasserman, who both live in San Fran and wor ... More >>

New Doc on Big Sur (((folkYEAH!))) Fests

One of my favorite local(-ish, he's based in Monterrey) promoters is (((folkYEAH!))). Under that name, music fan Britt Govea has brought a host of freak folk, heavy drone, psych rock, and the like to the Fernwood and the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur -- as well as concerts in the Santa Cruz Mounta ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

Frisco Freakout makes a California scene

White Hills Roll Into S.F.

Summer's Mini-Festivals/Road Trips

Beachwood Sparks in Big Sur

(((folkYEAH!))) brings Cluster up the coast

Jack Kerouac's writing still influential for rock icons 50 years after On the Road

The Spirit Is Willing

Local churches let you get right with God without the hassle

Freaks, noiseniks, and beach bums

Floppy hats, Fernwood memories, and a big (((folkYEAH!))) to Big Sur

Get Outta Here

Two big fests to get you off your ass and outta town

SSRI-ay Cap'n

Depression is all around us, but here's some upcoming shows that won't bring you down

Retreat to Invigoration

Where and how to tend to your soul (and body) when it's summer in the city.

The Thrills

So Much for the City

The Only Way From L.A. to S.F.

One definition of heaven: A week, a t-top Camaro, and the Pacific Coast Highway.

Dog Bites

Navel Maneuvers

If Adam and Eve moved to Northern California, they'd probably note on the first day that the balmy weather, inspiring vistas, and mellow vibesreminded them of Eden. On the second day, they'd pick up a copy of "Common Ground" and enroll in a self-help cour