Village Voice Media Inc.

Check Out Livefyre, Our Cool New Commenting System

Today, we here at All Shook Down say goodbye to Disqus and hello to Livefyre, the new commenting system for this and all other SF Weekly blogs. Livefyre is pretty cool -- futuristic, even -- so we're excited for you to get acquainted. Here's a rundown of some key features: Tag your friends on Faceb ... More >>

Bordering on Revolution: America's War on Mexicans Has Gone Too Far

The Worst Moments from SXSW 2012

The last few days, Village Voice Media's indefatigable music staff has been regaling you with stories of the best from SXSW 2012. In the midst of these discoveries, we've been culling another list: the worst shit. The acts that ranged from huge bore-fests to downright lame. Below, you'll find our cr ... More >>

The Best of SXSW Music: Thursday 3/15/2012

If you're familiar with chaos theory, which in its basic form is the attempt to find patterns in the random acts of shit on Earth, then you may understand the difficulty that comes with describing a full day at SXSW. To break down the bright, scintillating chaos, Village Voice Media's roving music e ... More >>

Alert: SXSW Coverage Ahead

"What I want from each and every one of you is a hard-target search of every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in that area." -- Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive You don't have to spend much time at South By Southwest to know that all of the above building ... More >>

Why Don't We Send Waiters to School?

​Up until the middle of the last century, being a waiter required a significant amount of culinary skill: You didn't just greet customers and deliver food, you dressed salads, carved chickens and deboned fish, and sautéed meats at the table. (In this month's issue of Bon Appetit, Brett Martin pro ... More >>

Appeals Court Judges Grill Arpaio's Lawyer on Alleged First Amendment Violations

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio​An 11-member panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit had some tough questions today for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's lawyer about why "America's Toughest Sheriff" should be exempt from a lawsuit claiming he violated an Arizona ... More >>

‘Out There’ Is Here

Sex Worker Advocates Launch First Media Campaign -- on Muni

​When you consider the unsavory elements one encounters on Muni -- seeds, stabbings, sermons, and semen, -- an ad campaign advocating for prostitutes' rights is rather benign.Local sex worker activists have launched a media campaign aimed to educate the bus-riding populace that sex workers are pe ... More >>

"Farmageddon" Film Opens Friday at Roxie Theater

​"Farmageddon," a film about the US government's war on raw milk, opens Friday at the Roxie, where it's scheduled to play through Sept. 29. The producers have scheduled a variety of events around the film, notably panel discussions on Friday night and both evening showings on Saturday. A full ... More >>

Women's Work

Underground Market Gets National Exposure, a Seasonal Produce Chart for the Detail-Obsessed

​Today's notes on national stories, local trends, random tastes, and other bycatch dredged up from the food media. 1. The New York Times Discovers the Underground. Times Bay Area correspondent Patricia Leigh Brown visits the Underground Market, which she calls a "crave." (Mmm ... not buying it. ... More >>

Last Night's VVM SXSW Party: Wu-Tang Packs It, Wild Flag Rocks It, and Yelawolf Goes Shirtless

Shannon CottrellWu-Tang Clan​Still only on Day 2 of this ridiculous conflagration, last night forced even more torturous decision-making on festival-goers with a crazy-stacked series of shows. (The Strokes even had fireworks!) But the Village Voice Media party at Austin Music Hall, featuring Wu-Ta ... More >>

Insane Clowns Break Down Magnetic Juggalo Appeal for LA Weekly

Didn't we meet at the tuxedo rental place?​ Meanwhile, in one of the six or seven other places in the world that is not Tokyo or Austin, Gustavo Turner of our sister rag LA Weekly went to the "vast wasteland of poverty" that is Detroit to kick it with the Insane Clown Posse, who've been wearing ma ... More >>

A Critic Whines About Pazz & Jop: Why Does Consensus Feel So Shitty?

​Let's get this over with as quickly as possible: The results of the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop Critics Poll were released this week, and, to no one's surprise, it turned out that Kanye West released the most praise-winning album of 2010. Almost as expected was the conclusion that Cee-L ... More >>

Reddit Employs Novel Financial Strategy: Begging

'But you have 280 million monthly pageviews, my good man!'​Heavy traffic, a lean staff -- easier to achieve when you don't employ your own reporters -- and a comfortable spot under the aegis of a corporate publishing titan. If this sounds like a recipe for Internet media success, think again: the ... More >>

KFC's Double Down is Brilliant (And No, I'm Not Sticking That Thing in My Mouth)

BlueisCoool/FlickrEvil genius.​I hope whoever runs the marketing division of KFC gets a bonus to rival a hedge-fund director's this year. Because he or she is a genius for getting R&D to come up with the most disgusting sandwich ever invented. New York is all a-twitter about the Double Down, w ... More >>

Guardian Cell-Phone Antennas Approved; Opponents Vow Appeal

Veteran Bayview-Hunters Point activist Espanola Jackson speaks out against the Guardian project​Foes Assert Project is Un-American, Will Hurt Children...The San Francisco Planning Commission today unanimously approved San Francisco Bay Guardian Publisher Bruce Brugmann's application to rent the ro ... More >>

SXSW Friday PM: Village Voice Day Party w/ Surfer Blood, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Superchunk, The xx

At an hour when most folks were still sleeping off last night's music benders, indie rock fans started lining up around the block at La Zona Rosa, where the whole Village Voice operation was hunkered down for our afternoon of acts both on the rise (Surfer Blood, The xx, Pains of Being Pure at Heart) ... More >>

'SF Weekly Is Not Going Out of Business'

​That's word from our bosses. Sorry, Brugmann -- it's still too early to declare "mission accomplished" on your plan to use an obscure state antitrust law to snuff out the competition. (Oh, the irony!)Earlier this week, a San Francisco Superior Court commissioner ordered SF Weekly to give half of ... More >>

Doggy Bag: Today's Odds and Ends

Our favorite morsels from the food blogs and beyond. First Foodie: Is Michelle Obama a stealth locavore? Grist's Tom Laskawy ponders the possibility. According to the Washington Post, FLOTUS's commitment to denying Big Ag goes a bit beyond scratching out a few rows of heirloom radishes on the South ... More >>

Unknown facts about Noise Pop performers

Hot! Horny! Wasted! Teens!

New research about young military recruits who smoke, drink, and screw too much.

Appealing to a Higher Authority

We respond to the latest ruling in the Guardian's lawsuit against us.

Judge to Weekly: Don’t Hurt the Guardian

Specialist Referrals

Everybody orders the same particular thing at these Korean finds — for a reason.

Response from Village Voice Media to Verdict in Bay Guardian Lawsuit

Who You Callin' Guilty?

The Waiting

Latest Target of Brugmann and Redmond's Wrath: The Snitch Himself!

Apple, Cisco, Google, SF Weekly To Attend SanFran MusicTech Summit Feb 25

Murder, Myspace, Babysitters, Betrayal: The Best True Crime Stories of 2007

Judge Lets Guardian's Loony SF Weekly Lawsuit Go to Trial

Fiery Furnaces

Widow City (Thrill Jockey)

A Chorus of One

Boxing Bootcamp Day 876,234 (10) -- Half-Heartedly Apologizing for the Penis Jokes

Net Radio Royalty EXTRA -- UPDATES: David Byrne, Cover feature

Boxing Bootcamp: Day 3

Pieces of the Action

What's worse? A venture capitalist or a guy who smokes crack with underage hookers?

The War Emcee

Messy Marv keeps it gutter

Flowing bodily fluids and a surreal sort of evil

Meet the New Boss

The Hold Steady's version of classic rock is full of sex, drugs, and Jesus

Letters to the Editor

Letters from the issue of Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Pig Heaven

Some costly meals during an East Coast trip remind us that good things often come in inexpensive packages

Hairy Spray

A New Yorker shows us his wits

The Strokes

Is This It (RCA)

REAL ASTROLOGY For an Unreal World

Night+Day

Night+Day

Samples