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Neglected Treasures

A famed Mexican artist painted six murals for the 1939 World's Fair in S.F. One famously disappeared. The others have practically been ignored.

By Ron Russell

Published: January 16, 2008

In 1941, shortly after the close of the Golden Gate International Exposition (World's Fair) on Treasure Island, curators packed up six giant murals created for the fair by acclaimed Mexican artist...

Sucka Free City

Gus Fallay Beats Bribery Rap, Wants Old Job Back at SF Department of Building Inspection

By Will Harper

Published: January 16, 2008

Back in August 2005, FBI agents and district attorney's investigators swarmed the city's Department of Building Inspection during business hours and arrested midlevel manager Gus Fallay on bribery...

Matt Smith

Newsom-Linked Non-Profit SF Connect Twice As Inefficient As National Average

Sixty-two percent of budget spent on overhead in 2006

By Matt Smith

Published: January 16, 2008

San Francisco spends a small nation's budget on and around the problem of homelessness. Numerous programs sprawl over multiple bureaucracies, each with differing missions, and different levels of...

Sucka Free City

Department of Building Inspection Mutinies, Warns Mayor of Building Code Violations

Staffers' Letter Anonymously Asks Mayor For Investigation

By Joe Eskenazi

Published: January 16, 2008

It's not every day that members of a city department send a letter to the mayor stating, in essence, "Investigate us. Audit us. We're doing a horrible job!" And yet, last month, that's just what...

Letters

Fighting Oxbow Singer Gets Props; Fat! So? Author Says Bouncer a 'Weight Bigot' in SF Weekly Letters

Published: January 16, 2008

Mr. Feinstein Goes to China Spinning Blum's blunders: Regarding Matt Smith's column requesting a New Year's resolution he wanted from Dick Blum [ "Atoning in 2008," Jan. 9]: Timing...

BeatBox

Plaid's body-moving, soul-stirring beats

By Tony Ware, Tamara Palmer, Evan James

Published: January 16, 2008

New Jersey's Harry "Choo Choo" Romero has a locomotive moniker, but the house DJ and producer isn't known for trainwrecking records. Instead, he's managed to remain relevant in a fickle scene...

Reviewed

Magnetic Fields

Distortion (Nonesuch)

By Annie Zaleski

Published: January 16, 2008

The earliest albums released by the Magnetic Fields (particularly 1995's Get Lost ) featured burbling synth-pop in the vein of OMD and Soft Cell, long before such new-wave influences were...

Music

Hip-hop with a Golden Era glow: The Cool Kids

By Dan Leroy

Published: January 16, 2008

If you want a primer on the power of Golden Age hip-hop, Chicago's Cool Kids are the current exhibit A. The signifiers are everywhere you listen. There's the Detroit Pistons' "Bad Boys" starter...

Hear This

The Turks embrace Amphetamine Reptile's abrasive edge

By Dave Pehling, Hannah Levin, Jewly Hight, Jess Scott

Published: January 16, 2008

One of the most eclectic guitarists to emerge in the last three decades, Bill Frisell has traversed a vast terrain of music during his remarkable career. From his early days as go-to session...

Reviewed

Cat Power

Jukebox (Matador)

By Doug Wallen

Published: January 16, 2008

The two-minute take on "New York, New York" that opens Cat Power's second covers album is almost too easy. Iconic to a fault and not too engaging musically, it's mostly a warm-up for Chan Marshall...

Music

Major-Label Misfit: Mistah F.A.B.

By Eric K. Arnold

Published: January 16, 2008

Oakland rapper Mistah F.A.B. would be the first to admit there's a problem when it comes to rap music: If you're identified with the streets, you're not supposed to be lyrical; and if you're...

Reviewed

Various

Well Deep: 10 Years of Big Dada (Big Dada)

By Tony Ware

Published: January 16, 2008

Longevity in hip-hop is increasingly rare, so milestones should be memorialized. Enter Well Deep , two CDs (31 tracks total) marking the first decade of U.K.–based indie label Big Dada. An...

Music

CREEM of the crop: Rock mag maintains hip status in new book

By Ryan Foley

Published: January 16, 2008

Rock photographer Robert Matheu once wrote that a prepubescent diet of Hot Rod and MAD magazines prepared him for a teenager's obsession with CREEM . Brimming with the same chest-thumping...

Music

Technicolor Schwarzenegger: Dan Deacon's new eyeball-scrambling DVD

By Tony Ware

Published: January 16, 2008

On Dan Deacon and Jimmy Joe Roche's new Ultimate Reality DVD, a montage of tie-dye electro-coustic compositions and vintage Arnold Schwarzenegger film footage runs through a thermal filter. This...

Let's Get Killed

Sketchfest stokes the musician-comedian love affair

By Jennifer Maerz

Published: January 16, 2008

Let's face it: There are far too few laughs to be had at rock shows these days. The last musical performer who had me doubled over was David Lee Roth (mostly in spite of himself) in San Jose last...

Bouncer

Book nerds unite at the Marina's Horseshoe Tavern

By Katy St. Clair

Published: January 16, 2008

Peter Ustinov looks nothing like Hercule Poirot, Agatha Christie's Belgian sleuth. Yet he portrayed him a few times on film, despite being too fat, too fair of complexion, and not Belgian. It has...

Eat

Shanghai Dilly

Generic decor masks fantastic food at this unconventional place

By Robert Lauriston

Published: January 16, 2008

If there were a contest to find San Francisco's most eccentric restaurant, Jai Yun would be a strong finalist. This eight-year-old Shanghai-style place, recently relocated from its original...

Fresh Eats

New Restaurants

Published: January 16, 2008

A weekly listing of new restaurants around town. To recommend a spot, e-mail fresheats . Beach Street Grill: 380 Beach (at Taylor), 867-1711. Fisherman's Wharf . American comfort food....

Film

Chick Flick, Two Ways

In Keaton vs. Heigl, girl power (Mad Money) trumps bridesmaid fashion (27 Dresses)

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: January 16, 2008

If Diane Keaton were an up-and-comer in 2008, she'd likely be stuck in romantic comedies cooked up in movie studio test kitchens. No Godfather for her. No Annie Hall , no Shoot the Moon , no...

Film

Life Stinks, Blah, Blah, Blah

It's more of the same in Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream

By Scott Foundas

Published: January 16, 2008

"I do think the writing is pessimistic — all that stuff about life being a tragic experience," says Angela Stark (played by newcomer Hayley Atwell) early in Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream....