Southern California

TJR on Loving Golf, Having Psy Almost Rip-Off His Music, and the Ideal Day Off

The party hasn't stopped for Southern California house producer and DJ TJR since his hit "Funky Vodka" propelled him to the top of the charts and piqued the interest of Mr. Worldwide, aka Pitbull, last year. Now a certified platinum artist thanks to his production of Pitbull's chart-topping single " ... More >>

Oakland Soldiers Aaron Gordon and Stanley Johnson Faced Off in State Championship Game

When we reported on the Oakland Soldiers summer league basketball team for our June feature, Swoosh Dreams, its best player, Aaron Gordon, was sidelined with a broken foot. It's second best player, Jabari Bird, was also out with an injury. So when the Soldiers took the court against the Houston Ho ... More >>

Belcampo's Anya Fernald on Expansion Plans, Why Their Meat is Hard to Beat

Anya Fernald, chief executive at Belcampo Meat Co., thinks a lot about how her company's meat will taste. And she should, as head of a sustainable meat supply chain that includes a 10,000-acre organic farm and Temple Grandin-designed slaughterhouse up near Mt. Shasta, and now a butcher shop and rest ... More >>

Arthouse Movie Listings January 16-22, 2013

Arthouse Movie Listings January 9-15, 2013

Paramount Searching for Unreleased Film That Was Stolen in San Francisco

It's like a story made for the movies. Police are reportedly searching for a yet-to-be-released version of a film from Paramount Studios that was stolen from a car in San Francisco. ABC7 News has the scoop after talking to Paramount Pictures' security team while they were in San Francisco trying to ... More >>

City's First Union Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opens -- Finally

San Francisco may be a union town, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily easy for a union business to open up shop.Especially if that business is a medical cannabis dispensary.Nearly three-and-a-half years after Mission Organic Center first applied for its dispensary permit -- or, in other words, t ... More >>

Tita Caldwell, One of S.F.'s Beloved Wild Old Women, Dies

SF Weekly is sad to report that Tita Caldwell, one of the city's most active lesbian senior citizens who took on local banks alongside the Occupy Movement,  died this week from an apparent heart attack. She was 80.Caldwell, born in 1931, was a self-described feminist and "movement activist" who ... More >>

Live Review, 8/25/12: The '80s Babies and Their New Faves Rule Rock The Bells

Rock The Bells Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012 Shoreline Amphitheatre Better than: Partying with your own demographic Rock The Bells is the only annual hip-hop festival to manage the difficult feat of attracting a truly diverse and multi-generational crowd. In its fifth year in the Bay Area (and ninth ove ... More >>

Occupy, Environmentalists Say No to Nukes

San Franciscans found yet another reason to protest PG&E.Yesterday, on the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, OccupySF Environmental Justice Working Group, No Nukes Action and Greenaction for Health as well as Environmental Justice gathered in front of the Japanese Consulate ... More >>

S.F. or L.A.: Which City Is More Hip?

The rivalry between Los Angeles and San Francisco is most obviously felt any time the Dodgers come into town, or vice versa. But because we can't entirely base everything on baseball, StumbleUpon, has given us these new benchmarks to determine which city is hipper. If you are a recent California tra ... More >>

The Four Dearly Departed Classic SF Eateries We Miss Most

Many restaurants come and go in San Francisco, while some stay for hundreds of years. Since there's no shortage of good food around these parts, it is the personalities of the defunct places that can stir up the most nostalgia. We don't ever remember a Doggie Diner (1949-1986) wiener as being the be ... More >>

Organized Labor Flexes Muscle for Medical Marijuana Dispensary

Support from UFCW Helps Mission Organics Win PermitSan Francisco's reputation as a union town was hard-won on the docks and picket lines of the 1930s. Less violence accompanied the city being known as a haven for pot-smoking freaks, but it took the carnage of the AIDS epidemic for San Francisco to b ... More >>

Swoosh Dreams: How Nike Helped Turn the Oakland Soldiers Into Pros

Cops Fight Clarity of Medical Marijuana Sales

Police in California have long expressed displeasure with the state's medical marijuana laws. And with good reason: Cops just might have the legal right to haul into court medical marijuana merchants who exchange cash for cannabis. But then again, they might not. Much police behavior depends on the ... More >>

State Might Have More Women, Minorities Than White Men in 2013 Congressional Caucus

There's a decent chance that in 2013, white men will not rule California's congressional caucus for a change. Currently, 28 of California's 53 representatives are white men. Of the other 25, 19 are women, nine of whom are minorities, and six are minority men. Because of redistricting, handled by ... More >>

Meet the California Lawmakers Who Are Enabling the Marijuana War

Losing efforts sometimes score wins. Medical marijuana scored such a moral victory late Wednesday, when 163 members of Congress voted in favor of not allowing federal dollars to be spent on busting pot growers, distributors, and dispensaries in states with medical cannabis laws.The brainchild o ... More >>

Gustavo Arellano on San Francisco Tamales, Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs, Taco Bell, Part 2

According to this week's cover story, written by Gustavo Arellano, San Francisco played a surprising and key role in the spread of Mexican food across America. The story is an excerpt from Arellano's new book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, which comes out this week. Arellano's book c ... More >>

Gustavo Arellano Talks San Francisco Tamales and Burritos, Part 1

San Francisco has gotten used to thinking of itself as a remote outpost in the Mexican diaspora, since our lively but embattled Mexican American community is dwarfed by much larger ones in Los Angeles and the Southwest. But according to this week's cover story, written by Gustavo Arellano, San Franc ... More >>

Brian Simoneschi, Ex-Soldier, Travels to California for Sex with Underage Girl

​A San Francisco judge has sentenced Brian Simoneschi, a former soldier and convicted sex offender, to seven years in prison after he admitted to moving to California to have sex with an underage girl he met online. Simoneschi was a convicted sex offender when he met the girl, but he had neglected ... More >>

Medical Marijuana: Three New Dispensaries Approved in the Excelsior District

​What's the adage? One step forward, two steps back? In the case of medical marijuana in San Francisco, it's "five pot clubs shut down by the federal government, three new ones opened up by city government."City planning officials approved three new medical marijuana dispensaries for the city's Ex ... More >>

Lass Out Loud: Rachel Fannan on Her New Band, Only You, and Playing with "Three Vixen Warlords"

The women of the Bay Area music scene are breaking rules and defying expectations. Lass Out Loud is a new column exploring their lives and work. Former Sleepy Sun singer Rachel Fannan's new all-girl group, Only You, takes a break from the sunnier shores of Southern California to perform at Brick an ... More >>

Christopher Dutel: Police Release Photo of Fisherman's Wharf Sexual Assault Suspect

​Police have finally released a photo of 18-year-old Christopher Dutel, who was arrested yesterday on suspicion of sexually assaulting a foreign juvenile who was visiting Fisherman's Wharf. According to police, the girl was with a group of tourists on the Wharf when she went missing at about 2 a.m ... More >>

San Francisco's Top 10 Cupcake Spots

Tamara PalmerPart of the outdoor mural at Let's Cupcake.In a fickle landscape for food businesses, many cupcake shops have opened in recent years in San Francisco -- and, happily, they continue to stick around. While not every innovation regarding the dessert has worked out in practice (cupcake and ... More >>

Medical Marijuana License Fees That Saved Cops' Jobs at Risk in Mendocino

​The one-of-a-kind cooperation between medical marijuana growers and the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department -- which legitimized cannabis cultivation in the eyes of the law and saved the jobs of deputies facing layoffs -- is at risk, pending the outcome of a court case.Since 2010, Mendocino Cou ... More >>

Chris Metzler on His Fishbone Doc Everyday Sunshine, Which Plays Tonight at the Roxie

Opening tonight at the Roxie is Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, a documentary about the highly-regarded -- if somewhat forgotten -- punk-funk band from Los Angeles. After years on the road, traveling between festivals, the film is finally in a theater run. Tonight and tomorrow, the Roxie p ... More >>

Filmmaker Chris Metzler Brings Fishbone Back to S.F. With Everyday Sunshine

Chris Metzler fits in perfectly in the eclectic documentary circles of his adopted S.F. home, even if he hasn't shed his L.A. roots. Everyday Sunshine: The Story of Fishbone, the high-energy follow-up to Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea (co-directed with Jeff Springer), tracks the stormy histor ... More >>

Live Review: X at Slim's, Friday Dec. 30

X at Slim's on Friday, Dec. 30​ X Sean Wheeler and Zander Schloss The Black Tibetans Dec. 30th, 2011 Slim's Better than: Zander Schloss' acting in the cult film Repo Man. Among the many reunited punk bands on tour this year, X is an anomaly. The group still has all four of its original me ... More >>

Live Review: The Pharcyde Offers Nostalgia By The Numbers at Yoshi's

Slimkid3 shows off his solo work during the Pharcyde's set at Yoshi's.​The Pharcyde Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 Yoshi's SF Better than: Letting life pass by. The early music of the Pharcyde offers an almost idyllic snapshot of the early-'90s hip-hop scene in Southern California. The group's care ... More >>

U.S.S. Iowa Sails Out of Bay on "Last Mission" (Photos)

Gabor GardonyiAnchors aweigh...​Just over an hour ago, the mighty U.S.S Iowa sailed beneath the Carquinez Bridge and past Mare Island, soon to leave the bay forever on the last voyage of the "last battleship." It's a somewhat poignant moment in a long and strange journey for the 887-foot onetime p ... More >>

Is Nancy Pelosi Too Powerful for Pot?

Right Behind You​Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi -- who, despite no longer being House Speaker, is arguably still the most powerful resident of San Francisco -- is a very busy politician. Just this week, the highest-ranking woman in American political history had her fingers in everything from the Ch ... More >>

Obama's New Marijuana Policies Also Target Alt-Weeklies and the Bill of Rights

Say, is that hemp? Kill it!​​In their unrelenting quest to kill legal medical marijuana dead, President Barack Obama and the United States Department of Justice appear content to incur collateral damage. Last week, property owners who rent to dispensaries were informed that the federal governmen ... More >>

Lawyer Suing San Francisco for Racial Discrimination May Need a Lawyer Himself

Evangelicals Speak Out in Favor of LGBT History Bill

Todd FerrellLast week, SF Weekly reported that antigay group Stop SB48 had started collecting signatures for a referendum to overturn the FAIR Education Act, the nation's first law requiring public schools to include LGBT history in the curriculum. We were contacted by The Evangelical Network, an ... More >>

Angry Wife Cuts Husband's Penis Off and Runs It Through Garbage Disposal

Composting would have have been friendlier​Perhaps this story is one more reason some of you (men) wouldn't miss Southern California. An angry and bitter wife from Orange County decided she couldn't wait for her pending divorce to go through she cut off her husband's penis and then tossed it into ... More >>

Tobias Wolff Springs to Mike Krukow's Defense

Joseph SchellFamed author says broadcaster Mike Krukow need not grab some pine...​Mike Krukow, you have an ally in Tobias Wolff. Let us explain. The other day, a reader named Rhonda Chaikin called to vent about the longtime Giants broadcaster and former pitcher. She seemed to be a Kruk fan, save f ... More >>

Sake Superstar Tours San Francisco

Philip Harper​Where: Ozumo 161 Steuart at Howard (Monday); La Mar Cebicheria Pier 1 1/2 at Embarcadero (Tuesday)When: 6:30 - 8 p.m. Monday; 6-8 p.m. TuesdayHow much: $40 Monday; $40 advance, $45 at the door TuesdayIn the tiny world of English speakers who love sake, Philip Harper is a superstar. N ... More >>

Previewing San Francisco's New Fresh & Easy Markets

Jonathan KauffmanFresh & Easy's prepared salads are attractively packaged.​Wednesday, June 22, is opening day for the Richmond District Fresh & Easy, a Britain-based grocery chain spreading across California with the speed of kudzu vines in Georgia. Owned by Tesco, Fresh & Easy opened ... More >>

'Parental Alienation Syndrome' Not Likely to Be Included in DSM-5

Richard Gardner, father of PAS​A scientific task force evaluating psychological conditions for formal inclusion in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders will recommend that the controversial theory known as "Parental Alienation Syndrome" (PAS) or "Parental A ... More >>

Sandow Birk: "American Qur'an," and Al Farrow: "Reliquaries"

Bryan Stow Update: Billboards Donated to Help Catch Attackers of Comatose Giants Fan

Looking for Bryan Stow's attackers​A Southern California company has upped the ante in the hunt for Bryan Stow's attackers. Lamar Advertising has donated more than 300 billboards that will be placed throughout the Los Angeles area, with the suspects sketches and the reward offer.Lamar Advertising ... More >>

Tea Partier Portrays Obama as Ape in E-Mail to Friends

Courtesy OC WeeklyTea Partier Marilyn Davenport sent this photo to fellow conservatives​Time for some link love to one of the southern garrisons of the Village Voice Media empire. We've written before about the paranoiac, semiliterate reasoning that supports the related belief systems of the Tea P ... More >>

Fool's Gold puts Hebrew words over Muslim music. Everybody dances.

Wavves' addictive surf-punk makes it king of the beach

(100) Days of Summer Movies

Living in the moment at Cityhouse

Sin and Dumplings

Exploring the Richmond's riches during a tempting film series

Chow for Champions

A local chef cooks for the U.S. snowboard Olympic team. The team wins gold, silver, and bronze. Any connection?

Fear of Comics

Los Bros Hernandez return, bearing Love and Rockets

The Bloom Is Off the Rose