Ludwig van Beethoven

Curtain Calls

Hot Bach in the Summertime

Old Jazz Hand

What Is This, Paris?

Au Revoir, Addis

The Lowdown

Stuck for ideas? These events should keep you busy till Christmas.

Palm d'Hoberman

Our one-man jury bestows honors on the best of Cannes 2007.

Our top DVD picks for the week of April 3:

Our one-man jury bestows honors on the best of Cannes 2007.

Tone Deaf

Ed Harris cuts loose in Copying Beethoven, but a poorly composed script lets him down

From symphonies to smoke machines: snapshots of three very different shows

Ed Harris cuts loose in Copying Beethoven, but a poorly composed script lets him down

Our top DVD picks for the week of Sept. 27

Ed Harris cuts loose in Copying Beethoven, but a poorly composed script lets him down

The World on a String

As the San Francisco Conservatory of Music moves to fancy new digs, its students struggle with a shrinking professional marketplace.

Reeling the Out Sound In

What the Bay Area's world-class improvisational music scene is doing to put more butts in the seats

Best Radio Show

Desert Island Jazz

Sound Affects

Stretching Beethoven's Ninth Symphony into a 24-hour experience

Pop It, Lock It, Yo

You Got Served exhumes something suspiciously akin to break dancing

Disease Detective

Deborah Hayden's new book, Pox, pulls the covers off famous people with syphilis. That's right: syphilis.

Hear This

The Cypress String Quartet explores modern classical traditions

House Of Tudor

Stinky's Peep Show Four-Year Anniversary; The Gossip; "Live From the 215"

A Not-So-Quiet Library

Thanks to the sound library, background music is coming to the forefront

Brad Mehldau

Places (Warner Bros.)

Letters

Letters from September 27, 2000

Disney Lightens Up Online Exclusive

Compared to the original, the new Fantasia is funnier, with fewer scary patches.

Disco 'Round Midnight

Gianni Gebbia's out-there saxophone mastery masks a deep and surprising respect for all musical genres

Striking Chords

Gianni Gebbia's out-there saxophone mastery masks a deep and surprising respect for all musical genres

Melding Pot

Kronos Quartet blends history, cultures, and classical music

Night + Day

Kronos Quartet blends history, cultures, and classical music

Charley's Angel

Kronos Quartet blends history, cultures, and classical music

The House of Tudor

Kronos Quartet blends history, cultures, and classical music

Night Crawler

Kronos Quartet blends history, cultures, and classical music

REAL ASTROLOGY For an Unreal World

Kronos Quartet blends history, cultures, and classical music

Machine Dreams

The Hub, the world's first computer network band, trailblazes the field of making music on -- and with -- computers

Recordings

The Hub, the world's first computer network band, trailblazes the field of making music on -- and with -- computers

Isn’t It Symphonic?

The Hub, the world's first computer network band, trailblazes the field of making music on -- and with -- computers

10 Things To Do This Weekend For Under $10

Being a cheapskate is easy in this city -- there's plenty of culture to be had for less than the price of a fancy farmer's market cocktail. Below, our picks for a low-budget weekend.Dead Meadow at McLaren Park on SaturdayHex Dispensers @ Annie's (Friday) Loud, fast, and macabre: That seems to be the ... More >>

So what if August: Osage county won a Tony? It's still boring and bloated

Being a cheapskate is easy in this city -- there's plenty of culture to be had for less than the price of a fancy farmer's market cocktail. Below, our picks for a low-budget weekend.Dead Meadow at McLaren Park on SaturdayHex Dispensers @ Annie's (Friday) Loud, fast, and macabre: That seems to be the ... More >>

In Search of Beethoven

Being a cheapskate is easy in this city -- there's plenty of culture to be had for less than the price of a fancy farmer's market cocktail. Below, our picks for a low-budget weekend.Dead Meadow at McLaren Park on SaturdayHex Dispensers @ Annie's (Friday) Loud, fast, and macabre: That seems to be the ... More >>

Arthouse movie listings for December 23-29, 2009

Being a cheapskate is easy in this city -- there's plenty of culture to be had for less than the price of a fancy farmer's market cocktail. Below, our picks for a low-budget weekend.Dead Meadow at McLaren Park on SaturdayHex Dispensers @ Annie's (Friday) Loud, fast, and macabre: That seems to be the ... More >>

Local Frequency: Q&A with Judgment Day

​Brothers Anton and Lewis Patzner of Judgment Day got their start playing together on the streets of Oakland back in 2002. Highlighting heavily the fact that there are no guitars in Judgment Day, they are a trio of violin (Anton), cello (Lewis) and drummer John Bush. Playing what they call "stri ... More >>

Smashing Classical Boundaries at Switchboard Music Festival

Zoe Keating​The Bay Area is at the center of one of the most radical movements in music these days: the joyful destruction of the boundary between so-called "classical" music and "popular" music. The two worlds have been cross-fertilizing for years -- see Lou Reed and John Cale hanging with minima ... More >>

A 2010 Playlist for Outer Space (Update on Carl Sagan's '77 List)

New York's Vulture blog recently posted a link to the music Carl Sagan helped provide for robotic probes Voyager 1 and 2 back in the early days of space exploration. According to Lapham's Quarterly, Sagan was part of a curatorial crew that etched a soundtrack perfect for galaxy viewing into a "12-in ... More >>

Q & A w/ Sugar and Gold

Wes Rowe​Based on the buzz around Sugar and Gold, it's no surprise that they hail from a city that enjoys all things fabulous: ours. Their sophomore release Get Wet! is disco-pop perfect for this summer's parties. Disco-synth inspired tracks like "Feels like Fire" and "Stay Soft" are guaranteed to ... More >>

It'll Be Just Like Glee

Wes Rowe​Based on the buzz around Sugar and Gold, it's no surprise that they hail from a city that enjoys all things fabulous: ours. Their sophomore release Get Wet! is disco-pop perfect for this summer's parties. Disco-synth inspired tracks like "Feels like Fire" and "Stay Soft" are guaranteed to ... More >>

Afrika Bambaataa on the Origins of Hip-hop, the Perfect Beat, and His Most Treasured Record

Afrika Bambaataa​For those who haven't heard of Afrika Bambaataa, the Godfather of hip-hop, his resume looks something like this: 1969-1971: Warlord, Black Spades, Bronx River Houses, Bronx NY. Responsibilities included: Tagging turf; crossing enemy lines to forge relationships with other gangs ... More >>

Polanski, Beethoven, and Dingos on Trial

Afrika Bambaataa​For those who haven't heard of Afrika Bambaataa, the Godfather of hip-hop, his resume looks something like this: 1969-1971: Warlord, Black Spades, Bronx River Houses, Bronx NY. Responsibilities included: Tagging turf; crossing enemy lines to forge relationships with other gangs ... More >>

Wolfgang Gartner Plays Beethoven for the Spring Breakers at Ruby Skye

Let's play Tetris. ​Wolfgang Gartner April 7, 2011 @ Ruby Skye ​ Better than: Sitting through an interpretive dance ceremony.How many elbows to the head would you take to catch your favorite artist? If your answer is fewer than ten, then you might not have made it to see electro- ... More >>

May's Literary Events

Let's play Tetris. ​Wolfgang Gartner April 7, 2011 @ Ruby Skye ​ Better than: Sitting through an interpretive dance ceremony.How many elbows to the head would you take to catch your favorite artist? If your answer is fewer than ten, then you might not have made it to see electro- ... More >>

Zoe Keating and Redshift on How Technology Is Changing So-Called Classical Music

Eric SungNew music ensemble REDSHIFT​Classical music is dying, woe, woe. We've heard the dirge so many times, but nobody seems to know exactly where all the classically trained, tux-adorned musicians are going. They aren't completely extinct yet. Instead of dying out, it seems that this endangered ... More >>

If Bouncer's Date at Andalu Was an Episode of "The Wire"

Eric SungNew music ensemble REDSHIFT​Classical music is dying, woe, woe. We've heard the dirge so many times, but nobody seems to know exactly where all the classically trained, tux-adorned musicians are going. They aren't completely extinct yet. Instead of dying out, it seems that this endangered ... More >>

Bouncer Lives That Awkward First Date TV Episode at Andalu

​From this week's Bouncer column: I'm the only person I know who didn't get into The Wire or Treme, shows that have been dubbed "city symphonies." They remind me of donuts, which are my least favorite food, despite their amazing ingredients -- bread, sugar, and fat. These shows have great ac ... More >>