Seventy-nine years ago, Germans gathered in Berlin's Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Platz one May evening. They piled the books of Karl Marx, Bertolt Brecht and August Bebel (for whom the plaza would later be renamed), and burned them in the name of eliminating "un-German" ideas. On Jan 12, 2013, a group calle ... More >>
Polenta: The Delicious Economy of The Italian Kitchen Where: 18 Reasons, 3674 18th St. (at Dolores), 241-9760 When: Jan. 6 at 4 p.m., Jan. 8 at 6:30 p.m., and Jan. 20 at 4 p.m. Cost: $110 (purchase in advance via Brown Paper Tickets) The rundown: This is a three-part, hands-on polenta primer taugh ... More >>
A small public service announcement to everyone who thought the world would end yesterday: the apocalypse was always scheduled for Dec. 21, not Dec. 12. That said, we've got a little over a week left before the big day, so let's try to have fun, alright? It shouldn't be very hard to do when things a ... More >>
The Belgian people must be living right. International opinion on the country reads something like this: "excellent waffles, chocolate, frites, and beer." For a tiny country nestled between regions known for their culinary prowess, that's a pretty enviable legacy. Belgium's gastronomic successes hav ... More >>
It's times like these when you wonder why San Francisco doesn't have a major electronic dance music festival of its own. Yes, you guessed it, Decibel Festival has officially started to take over Seattle. Artists from all over the world are currently in planes headed for the West Coast. Of course, th ... More >>
So far the month of March has held no punches in delivering its share of dancefloor anthems. This time around we train our focus on popular sounds coming from abroad; the sort of stuff that carries clout in both techno and bass circles. Read on -- you just might hear these the next time you go out d ... More >>
Given the intensity of the debates over digital piracy, you'd almost think that if one side or the other were to "win," the question would be decided: If critics of copyright holders were victorious, piracy would run rampant and the media industry would be brought to its knees; if the copyright o ... More >>
Axel Willner, the FieldBerlin-based Swede Axel Willner has spent the last six years exploring elongated ambiance and saturated contrast. Producing as the Field, he dwells in the pockets where melodic digital shards teeter creatively in and out of time with live, loping krautrock-influenced gr ... More >>
SpuddMungo's Hi-Fi Tartan and bagpipes. Celtic and Rangers. Reggae and dubstep? Yes, add another thing Scotland can claim for its own, thanks to Glasgow's Mungo's Hi-Fi crew, a three-man sound system and production team that's swiftly put its stamp on bass-driven music. Whether it's playing v ... More >>
Star Eyes, veteran DJ of fifteen years and first lady of Brooklyn record label Trouble & Bass, has not-so-quietly gained a substantial international following of fans who share her love for teeth-rattling drums and dark melodies. Initially drawn to dance music by her interest in U.K. bass, St ... More >>
Contrary to what you might quite reasonably expect, Parisian post-surf-rock outfit La Femme is, well, not very feminine at all. Besides a variable cast of sultry chanteuses, the group comprises three to four vaguely shadowy young Frenchmen who, to hear them tell it, spend most of their time in a ... More >>
In arguably the least surprising development in the lead-up to next Tuesday's general election, Wiz Khalifa -- promising Pittsburgh rapper and successor to the weed-rules-everything-around-me mantle of Devin the Dude -- has come out in support of Proposition 19.
Campari's hand-crafted cuz.Maybe it's just us looking at the world through drunk-colored glasses, but it's never been a better time to have a drink. As the national interest in cocktails and the standard of quality in bars increase, it's created a market that allows for the revival of and ac ... More >>
Ricky Martin said, "Go, go go, ale, ale, ale." And England replied, "Fine, but please stop singing, because we have a game to win." England decided to pass on an official World Cup song this year, dismissing it as too much of a distraction. There's some logic to this. England won the competition in ... More >>
He'll be there... Those who prefer to take in the world's greatest sporting event drunk outside instead of drunk inside are in luck. AT&T Park will host a free screening of the Saturday, June 12 World Cup opener between the United States and England. Doors open at 10 a.m. and kickoff is at 11 ... More >>
Brian YaegerThe lineup.For this month's blind beer-tasting, we're not going beyond the pale ― we're going right to it. Made with lightly roasted malts, pale ales originated in England as a mellow alternative to dark mild and porter ales. They might have been invented in Burton-on-Trent, Eng ... More >>
Will CooperThis week, Phillip Mlynar writes that U.K.-based Bonobo, the production star of the Ninja Tune label, "is fond of creating epic soul- and funk-infused soundscapes embellished with expansive horn arrangements." Together with London-born singer Andreya Triana, who is featured on Bon ... More >>
JokerThis weekend bass music and dubstep are represented in full force with a party going on until five in the morning. The sounds of minimal techno come here all the way from Brazil. Then there's a bit of throwback nostalgia with some old-school hip-hop and funk, and a dismally fun night of dark ... More >>
J. BirdsallFully accessorized.Weds., Feb. 10, 2010 Amsterdam's falafel stands proved the spark for Gail Lillian's peripatetic truck, which splits its time between Emeryville and Potrero Flats. Liba's übercrunchy falafel are mostly textural, craggy, brown-crusted bits not much bigger than exp ... More >>
Hervé "RV" Salters is best known locally as the keyboardist from Honeycut and a frequent collaborator with fellow Quannum Projects mates Blackalicious. A few years ago, while on downtime from Honeycut, Salters decided to record his first solo effort, Cliquety Kliqk, under the moniker General El ... More >>
Belgian food and an epic beer list work in tandem.
Urges awakened by a trip to Russia are satisfied locally at the Cinderella Bakery and Café
The loveliness of Paris evoked in a Cal-Med restaurant-cum-wine bar
Fine German fare sandwiched between two viewings of the fine German photographs of August Sander
Grand Cafe
B44
At Alegrias, small tapas outshine big paellas
