San Francisco police and other city departments are preparing for the 102nd Bay to Breakers race on Sunday with added security measures following the bombings at the Boston Marathon last month.

Backpacks or other bags larger than 8.5 inches by 11 inches by 4 inches will be banned from the 12K course, which spans from downtown San Francisco to Ocean Beach on the western end of the city.

Bomb technicians and canine units from the Police Department will be located along the course while police will also monitor cameras in real-time at the start and finish lines and at a hilly location along Hayes Street where crowds often gather for the race, police Chief Greg Suhr said.

A total of 17 law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, are contributing resources to ensure the safety of runners and spectators, Suhr said.

The city's Department of Public Works has also been replacing regular trashcans along the course with transparent ones so authorities can make sure nothing suspicious has been placed inside, Suhr said. Organizers of Bay to Breakers, which is presented for the first time this year by the classified ads website Craigslist, are reimbursing all costs for law enforcement, Suhr said. Race director Angela Fang said, "We're going to have the same great event that this city loves."

Matt Stiker, chief marketing officer of the San Francisco Travel Association, called Bay to Breakers a great example of the quirkiness of San Francisco.

The race is famous for the zany costumes worn by its participants, as well as the occasional runner wearing nothing at all. Stiker said the race is "a pressure release valve" for hard-working San Franciscans and "this city blows off steam like no one else does."

One costumed contestant will be Tom Sweeney, who has been a doorman at the city's Sir Francis Drake Hotel for 37 years and is running Bay to Breakers for the 40th time. Sweeney has run the race for the past 15 years in his 40-pound beefeater outfit similar to the ones worn by guards at the Tower of London.

"It's not your everyday running outfit but I love the challenge," he said. Sweeney is a native of San Francisco's Sunset District and grew up with Suhr, even briefly dating the police chief's sister.

He said he is always cheered on by his friends and other supporters when he runs the race. "It's great, seeing all my friends," he said. "I look forward to this day every year."

Sweeney said he wasn't concerned about his safety in the wake of the Boston bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 200 others near the race's finish line in April.

"I think it will be the safest thing ever," he said. "Boston was unique but I think in San Francisco, everyone comes together. It should be a good year." 

Olympian Ryan Hall, who holds the fastest marathon time ever run by an American, will be participating in the Bay to Breakers for the first time this year.

Tesfaye Alemayehu, an Ethiopian who trains in Antioch and has three top-five finishes in the San Francisco race, is among other top competitors.

The race starts at 7 a.m. Sunday at Howard and Main streets and will affect San Francisco Municipal Railway bus lines along the course.

More than 25 Muni routes will be affected, including the F, N, 2, 5, 6, 8X, 9, 10, 12, 14, 14L, 18, 19, 21, 22, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 38, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49, 71 and 108 lines.

The Great Highway parking lot closed at 6 a.m. Thursday in advance of the event, while dozens of other streets will be closed shortly before and during the race.

A list of street closures and other information about the event can be found online at www.baytobreakers.com.

Bay City News

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There may be no meat to incite the masses to action, like bacon.

Burger restaurants, pizzerias, bars have all folded under the vocal opposition of neighbors. But it seems a San Francisco restaurant that specializes in bacon will live to oink another day.

The year-and-a-half-old Bacon Bacon in the Ashbury Heights neighborhood has been battling for its porky existence since some neighbors began complaining a while back about the bacon smell wafting their way.

“Depending on the wind patterns day to day, there were strong odors of bacon,” said attorney Ryan Patterson, who is representing a neighbor with sensory olfactory nerves. “This is a restaurant that specializes in bacon and is called Bacon Bacon -- and it did smell like bacon.”

MORE: SF Bacon Restaurant Must Close Due to Aroma Issue

With dishes like fried chicken wrapped in bacon, bacon scones and a bacon bouquet (five bacon strips wrapped in paper), it’s not incomprehensible there would be a bacon smell.

But the restaurant had other issues beside just the aroma – namely it didn’t have a permit.

“They have been operating without a permit since December 2011,” said Richard Lee of San Francisco’s Health Department. "We finally set a deadline when they need to get a permit.”

Under the city’s deadline, the restaurant was set to shut down on Friday at 3 p.m. Owner Jim Angelus said he offered to install a $35,000 air filtration system, but was afraid to commit to the work if the city was going to shut him down anyway. But on Friday, Angelus seemed to work out a deal with his neighbor after saying he would install the new system, even thought it had yet to be put into writing, and still required approval from the Planning and Health departments. There is a hearing in July to formalize the permits, and until then, Angelus is running a bacon food truck. To see when and where click here.

Supporters signed petitions, and finally, came down Friday to pig out one last time, walking past a chalkboard sign out front that read “Save Our Bacon.”

“I want to stay here because I’m not going to let a couple neighbors ruin what’s a great neighborhood,” Angelus said. “I live in this neighborhood, too.”

But as Angelus’ four employees wondered if they’d have jobs next week, Angelus received a call Friday - just after lunch - from his neighbor and Patterson. As they negotiated over speakerphone, the contingent finally reached a verbal deal. Angelus agreed to put in the filtration system, and the neighbor would drop his complaint.

“My client has offered to contribute money to make this happen,” Patterson said. “I think everyone is really happy about it.”

But as he hung up the phone, Angelus illuminated a cautious smile. Then he headed back to the restaurant’s kitchen – there were bacon burritos to be made.

More Local Stories:

• Restaurant Cleanliness: S. Bay Eateries Closer to Accountability
• Embarcadero's Dying Palm Trees Leave Big Bills
• Pot-Bellied Pig Stench Causes Neighborhood Ruckus

Follow @nbcbayarea

The bacon smell smelled so much of bacon that now, the bacon must go.

A San Francisco bacon restaurant — called Bacon Bacon — must shut its doors after neighbors' complaints about the smell of bacon revealed a fatal permitting issue, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

Bacon Bacon, at 250A Frederick Street, will close its doors at the end of service Friday after its owner "failed" to negotiate with neighbors who took offense to the pork restaurant's smell.

MORE: Reprieve for SF Bacon Restaurant Facing Closure

The smell led to the revelation that the restaurant lacked "proper health permits" last summer.

The restaurant may be able to secure a permit but the first time a hearing can be held is July. So the restaurant must close.

Neighbors claimed that the "porcine aroma" was overpowering and that grease was illegally disposed of in the sewers.

Neighbors also say that they offered to buy the restaurant owner a new air filter — but he declined.

Owner Jim Angelus says he'll revive the restaurant's food truck — when he can find an approved kitchen location in which to prepare meals.

More Local Stories:

• Restaurant Cleanliness: S. Bay Eateries Closer to Accountability
• Embarcadero's Dying Palm Trees Leave Big Bills
• Pot-Bellied Pig Stench Causes Neighborhood Ruckus

Walking through the stately Woodside mansion, its rooms decorated by the hippest of designers, a view of the vast forested valley beyond its windows, the last notion anyone would think of is going hungry.

But beneath all this utter swankiness, was the idea of raising money to help seniors.

“Our job is to keep people able to live at home,” said Bart Charlow, director of the Peninsula Volunteers organization. “We keep people out of institutions every day.”

So exactly how does this millionaire mansion figure into feeding seniors?

With the Peninsula Volunteers facing severe federal sequestration cuts, the group crafted the idea of staging a Decorator Show House. Twenty decorators sought about tweaking the 11,000 square foot mansions stately rooms.

The public can buy tickets to tour it. The money goes toward supporting Peninsula Volunteers many programs, including Meals on Wheels, two senior apartments, the Little House, an activity room and a café that serves daily meals to seniors.

Like many groups, the Peninsula Volunteers is prepping itself for federal funding cuts coming around the corner. Charlow said the group stands to lose $40,000.

“In our case we are figuring it’s about 7,500 meals we will not be able deliver next year,” said Charlow. Menlo Park’s Meals on Wheels program serves 130-thousand meals a year. Most of the recipients are home bound seniors who can’t cook or travel to the grocery store.

Eighty-year old Leonor Quinones said she looks forward to the meals, and the occasional conversation that comes with them.

“She take ten minute to 15 minute, talk, talk,” said Quinones of her Thursday food delivery driver. “I like it.”

The Decorator Show House will be open for tours Tuesdays through Sundays, thru May 24.

Check out the organization’s website for ticket info.

The chain famous for buffalo wings served by waitresses clad in tight tank tops and short shorts, Hooters will attempt to draw more women into its restaurants this Mother’s Day with a free meal -- but only if the kids come along.

Hooters expects to serve 20,000 moms this year, and the presence of a child serves as confirmation of the coupon, said Dave Henninger, the chain’s chief marketing officer.

“We know most people may not think of Hooters as a typical place to take mom for Mother’s Day, but we want to make it more appealing for mom to try Hooters,” Henninger said. "We’re a popular destination for families for lunch and dinner."

This Sunday will not be the first time Hooters has tried to gain female customers. For Mother’s Day in 2011 and 2012, the chain offered women 10 free wings.

“Hooters is showing moms they are the ‘wind beneath our wings’ with this free offer,” Mike McNeil, vice president of Hooters marketing, said on the company’s Facebook page in 2011.

This year, the chain -- which touts itself on Facebook as “delightfully tacky yet unrefined” -- will not restrict the deal to wings but will give moms any entree under $10 if they bring a child and buy any drink.

“A lot of mothers just weren’t into the wings,” Kyle Penera, Hooters of Burbank manager, said. He added that the $10 limit covers new salads and sandwiches, dishes that got many requests by moms.

The deal’s fine print requires a mother to “be accompanied by one or more of her offspring,” but Penera said he would still honor the deal if a mom is sans-child.

“If you say you’re a mother and you ask for the deal, we aren’t going to deny it,” he said.

Hooters has 24 locations in California, including three in the Bay Area.

Not everyone is in favor of The Randy Rooster.

Plans to open up a high-end gentleman's club in San Francisco's Castro -- in other words, a strip club for men, staffed by men -- have upset some residents of the "gayborhood," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The club, which would go into retail space at the corners of Castro and Market streets formerly occupied by a clothing store, is a "gay gentleman's supper and burlesque club," the newspaper reported. Patrons would sup and dine, and admire men "stripping down to thongs," according to the joint's would-be operator.

Food would be local and sustainable -- of course -- and some of the proceeds would go to charities, the owners say. But there's still a backlash.

According to the newspaper, owners have already spent $7.7 million to buy the building and will spend another $6 million to buy the club, which would be like "the Abbey in West Hollywood," the newspaper reported.

Some neighbors aren't happy, and others aren't quite yet sure what the club will be like and are reserving judgment.

The purveyors of dark spirits know you have a choice when it comes to whiskey bars -- and the fine penmen and women at GQ magazine will have you know that in San Francisco, you can choose from among the very finest brown liquor bars in America.

You can choose Rickhouse.

The downtown distiller's best friend is among the 10 best whiskey bars in these United States, according to GQ, whose report was picked up by SFist.

That may be saying something, seeing as how Rickhouse has stiff drink competition within San Francisco's own bridged borders.

But "is Rickhouse the best whiskey bar in America?" SFist asks.

As long as who you're asking isn't behind the bar at Whiskey Thieves, Nihon Whiskey Lounge, Bourbon and Branch, Hard Water, Alembic...

The Rolling Stones' "50 And Counting Tour" stops in the Bay Area.

The Stones play at Oakland's Oracle Arena tonight. They will be in San Jose at the HP Pavilion on Wednesday.

A legendary band that knows how to perform and give a visually and sonically appealing show to tens of thousands, Mick Jagger and crew will perform on a stage designed to look like the band's iconic lips logo, complete with sprawling tongue and enhanced with video screens and special effects.

Guitarist Mick Taylor, who played with the Stones from 1969-74, is set to join the tour as a special guest.

The setlist will focus on classics, though will incorporate some rarities and cover songs.

The last album came out in 2005, which leaves some fans speculating that some new material could creep into the show.

The band will also return to London's Hyde Park on July 6, almost 44 years to the day of their first show at the Royal Park. 

Fans of comedian Kristen Schaal’s character, Louise, on the hit, animated show, “Bob’s Burgers,” better bust out their bunny ears because she will be sporting some in San Francisco on Saturday, May 11.

That’s when “Bob’s Burgers Live” comes to the Nob Hill Masonic Center. Cast members will perform a little stand-up, do a table-read of a “Burgers” episode and maybe “take the audience with us to the Bahamas,” joked Schaal. The last time Schaal was in the Bay Area, her comedian pals surprised her with a birthday cake backstage at an SF Sketchfest show.

“The audiences in San Francisco are some of my favorites. I go as much as I can,” Schaal said.

On Fox’s “Bob’s Burgers,” Schaal plays the youngest child in a family where her pink-bunny-eared mischief-maker is actually the most-rational thinker in the clan. Schaal said she can relate a bit to Louise’s instigating nature.

“I do like to get things going,” she said. “I definitely have a weird schedule where I’ve got a lot of pots in the air. I like to get involved in a lot of things. I like to inspire stuff. I don’t think I’m as demonic as Louise is.”

“Bob’s Burgers” is a rare major network show that has been able to grow and find itself and has been renewed for a fourth season. Schaal’s cast mates—including H. Jon Benjamin (burger-joint owner, Bob), Dan Mintz (eldest, booty-obsessed daughter Tina), John Roberts (songbird Mom, Linda) and Eugene Mirman (flatulence-obsessed middle-child, Gene)—will all be part of the festivities.

Schaal said if they were touring the country on a big bus a la rock stars, she could bunk with Mirman.

“Eugene is the most affable of everybody in the cast,” she said. “Everyone is pretty chill. I would say Eugene would lead the charge of being the coolest. I always love to hang out with these guys, and this is a scheduled excuse to hang!”

And as for those aforementioned bunny ears, Schaal said they would be at the top of her list for ways to merchandise the show.

She has a couple of homemade pairs from fans. “One woman was making them and selling them on Etsy.

She sold out immediately because I posted a link to her site,” Schaal said. “I got another pair from a friend of a friend, and she crocheted them. I will probably wear those on the tour.”

If Fox does get on the merchandising bandwagon, don’t expect to find “Bob’s Burgers” sheets adorning Schaal’s bed.

“That would be a little weird, but I would send them to everyone in my family,” she said. Schaal also played Hazel, a demented NBC page, on “30 Rock” which ended its landmark run earlier this season. Surprisingly, Schaal is not too intrigued about doing a Hazel spin-off 25 years in the future. “Not really,” she laughed.

“She was trouble. I don’t know if she could get worse. She could get better, but that wouldn’t be very interesting. She’s tireless in her ambition. She probably would still be on the top of her game in some respects.”

And if Hazel and Louise were to team up, would they be an unstoppable force? “Could be, but I think Louise has a little more decency than Hazel,” Schaal added.

Louise is fortunate to have a grounded family, even if they smell of cooked ground beef and fried foods. Visit this link for tickets and information on “Bob’s Burgers Live!”

Corey Andrew has been interviewing comedians and writing about comedy for the last decade and a half. He recently published the book, “Laugh Lines: Conversations with Comedians.” Corey was a writer and performer with Midwest sketch troupe, The NonProphets, before moving to the Bay Area with his family several years ago. If you have ideas for future columns about comedy, you can send them to coreywrites@yahoo.com or follow him at twitter.com/coreywrites.

The Man does not abide the county's fee.

A lawsuit filed by organizers of Burning Man against Pershing County, Nevada -- where Black Rock City sets up every August in the desert -- over the local government's new fees for the event is going forward, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

U.S. District Judge Robert Jones denied a motion by Pershing County to dismiss the suit entirely, meaning Black Rock City LLC can tell a court why the "county's thinly veiled attempt to exact more fees or drive" Burning Man "out of Nevada" should be kiboshed, the newspaper reported.

Burning Man has been a fixture of the Black Rock desert in Nevada since 1991. The art event pays $1.5 million in fees to the U.S. Department of the Interior for a permit -- but the permit says that Burning Man must also set up an arrangement with Pershing County.

The event has done that every year since 2006, but last year, a local law went into effect that "levies new fees against Burning Man," the newspaper reported. Burning Man says that the extra $600,000 to $800,000 in fees go above and beyond costs to the local Sheriff's Department -- hence the lawsuit.

There's a law in the works at the Nevada state Legislature that would also ban local governments from extracting money from events on federal land, the newspaper reported. But in the meantime, the Man will go to court.

Managers at Chez Panisse in Berkeley have set June 10 as a reopening date after the world famous restaurant was damaged in a fire last month.

On Monday, the restoration took a major step forward when a crane lifted a two-story steel face into place. Building codes have changed since the restaurant opened in 1971, and the steel is a new requirement in the name of earthquake safety.

The steel will be covered in Redwood in the next few weeks.

The builder told NBC Bay Area getting the frame in place was a huge accomplishment.

Gene DeSmidt is working with the original designer who came up with a sketch of what the new Chez Panisse will look like. They call it a mix of Japanese style design and American craftsman.

On March 8 a fire burned the front portion of the restaurant.

Chez Panisse was founded by food activist Alice Water who believes in fresh, local and sustainable foods.

The restaurant isn't taking reservations yet.

As originator of the role of Magenta, the demented Transylvanian housekeeper, actress Patricia Quinn has seen her share of screenings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“It’s bad enough having to watch the film again, never mind the play,” the “Rocky” veteran said with a laugh. So, Quinn and San Francisco’s “Peach transvestite,” Peaches Christ, collaborated on a unique idea—a “Rocky Horror Show” 40th anniversary tribute concert!

The performances on May 10th and 11th at the Victoria Theater will be the stateside premiere of such a tribute—and Quinn will kick it off with her iconic lips singing the song she originated in the musical 40 years ago, “Science Fiction/Double Feature.” More on the controversy surrounding that song later. Acclaimed drag queen Peaches, a.k.a. Joshua Grannell, said that Bay Area “Rocky Horror” fans have quite a few opportunities to go see the iconic 1975 film on the big screen, but to have a live concert honoring the 40th anniversary of the musical is quite unique.

“We will literally do all of the songs from ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ back-to-back, with a full band and back-up singers. We’re bringing a saxophone player. All local, notable vocalists will perform different parts, including Jason Brock who was on ‘The X Factor’ doing Frank-N-furter,” Grannell said. “Peaches will be stringing the narrative together between songs. It will still have a narrative feel, even though it’s a concert.” Also look for Peaches to do a juicy take on the song, “Sweet Transvestite.”

One reason for not doing the entire “Rocky Horror” play—aside from the massive undertaking of it—is to leave room for one of Peaches’ wild on-stage interviews, this time with Quinn. “I’ve been in the unique position to get idols of mine, such as Mink Stole and John Waters,” Grannell said.

“When we get onstage, I don’t want to wrangle them. Part of the joy is getting to hear stories that you’re just not going to get anywhere else.” Patricia Quinn—who is ecstatic to be visiting San Francisco for the first time—shared some “Rocky” memories during a recent interview, while she was in the States for the premiere of “Lords of Salem,” a new horror movie in which she co-stars. “My agent said they wanted me to audition for this thing at The Royal Court Theatre (upstairs),” Quinn recalled about her origin with “The Rocky Horror Show” in 1973.

“He wasn't keen on that because there’s no money in a 60-seat theatre. At the time, 18 pounds per week, which I gave to my nanny. She was looking after the baby, not me . I said to my agent, ‘What is this about?’ He said, ‘I think it’s something to do with the circus.’ I said, ‘All right.’ And, I have to say, he wasn't too far wrong. Because I've been in the circus ever since.”

When “The Rocky Horror Show” was voted the most-enjoyed piece of theatre ever performed at the Royal Court, “Rocky” creator Richard O’Brien tapped Quinn, “Little” Nell Campbell and British theatre notables to perform a tribute concert in the larger, downstairs theater at the Royal Court in 2006.

“Richard introduced me and said, ‘Now, we’ll have this young lady sing what she sang 33 years ago upstairs,’” Quinn said. “It was quite brilliant. You don’t have to watch the play anymore. You don’t have to watch the film anymore. It’s new and refreshing, and it’s great.

“I said to Peaches, ‘Why don’t we do that?’ He said, ‘What a great idea!’” Now, back to those lips. Quinn’s crimson lovelies will forever be the iconic image of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” as they were used on movie posters advertising the film all over the globe. 

They also are the first thing you see in the film after the 20th Century Fox logo. But, it’s not her voice singing “Science Fiction” as it was in the play. In the film, it’s O’Brien with Quinn doing the most-famous lip-sync ever.

“That story has gone around and around, and O’Brien has contradicted it since,” Quinn said. “I tell you, on the first day of the shoot, we were in a field outside the church, which was a wooden front.

Over that field came the soundtrack of ‘Science Fiction,’ and Richard said, ‘Listen to that voice.’ I thought, ‘I’m gonna get this pitchfork and stick it in you.’” After the filming for “Rocky Horror” wrapped, Quinn was performing in Anthony Shaffer’s play, “Murderer,” when she was asked to come back in and perform the disembodied lips for the opening of the movie.

“The studio was dark. It was me and the camera crew. It was tragic,” she recalled. “They had no special effects or anything. The mouth kept going out of focus. In the studio, they had these big lamps. They unscrewed the lamp and put the lamp on my head, so it wouldn’t move. It worked. It was like Frankenstein. Hmm, I have never thought of that before. It was Frank-N-furter, based on Frankenstein. I was bolted in so the mouth wouldn’t move. It was extraordinary.”

The Rocky Horror 40th Anniversary Concert Tribute is expected to sell out.

Visit http://store.peacheschrist.com/products/116-the-rocky-horror-show.aspx for tickets.

Corey Andrew has been interviewing comedians and writing about comedy for the last decade and a half. He recently published the book, “Laugh Lines: Conversations with Comedians.” Corey was a writer and performer with Midwest sketch troupe, The NonProphets, before moving to the Bay Area with his family several years ago. If you have ideas for future columns about comedy, you can send them to coreywrites@yahoo.com or follow him at twitter.com/coreywrites.

A well known yet outdated movie theater complex in San Jose might soon be torn down
and redeveloped with shops and housing.

The 11 acre parcel land is directly across the street from Santana Row and currently holds three popular domed Century theaters and the Flames restaurant.

If the plan is approved, the theaters and the diner will be torn down.

San Jose City Council Member Pete Constant says turning the land into mixed use development makes good economic sense, but some locals are worried about traffic.

Traffic on Winchester Blvd. is already a mess from Interstate 280 to Valley Fair Shopping Center.

The size of the lot is about the same size as Santana Row, so if it is approved the outdoor shopping mecca will basically be doubled.

The Winchester Mystery House is also in the general area, but it is off limits.  The mystery house is a city landmark and therefore protected.

The map below shows the area. The green is the current Santana Row site. The yellow is the proposed site.

Silicon Valley is famous for innovation, tech, stock options, and wealth. What we don't have much of, is retail.

When Japanese retail giant Uniqlo moved into San Francisco recently, the lines went around several blocks, as people couldn't get enough of the store. Now, another Japanese retailer, Muji, is trying to replicate the buzz.

But not in San Francisco - Muji is moving into the South Bay.

Specifically, right by the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose, an area with lots of people and money, but very little retail.

Now, it will have close to 4,600 square feet of retail, an experiment that many in the South Bay hope will succeed.

Muji sells both clothing, and home items, with an emphasis on the household goods.

Can it work, a la Uniqlo?

We'll be there at the opening to see.

Scott will post to Twitter: @scottbudman

After four decades enlightening visitors to science with its clever exhibits, it seems San Francisco's Exploratorium is finally seeing the light.

Following 44 years in the dim halls of the Palace of Fine Arts, the beloved science museum is poised to reopen in its new 330,000 square foot, glass-walled digs in a transformed finger pier on the city's waterfront. "We have windows for the first time really in Exploratorium history," said Exploratorium executive director Dennis Bartels.

"So we get to bring the outdoors, indoors as well." For the next phase of its journey, the museum brought along hundreds of its strange science contraptions from the old space, while creating 150 new ones for the concrete and steel pier.

The stump of a large 330-year old Douglas Fir tree salvaged from Olema sat in one of the galleries. Visitors were encouraged to touch its bark which was already flaking off in chunks, a week before the museum's official opening.

"We sort of anticipate a slow evolution of the tree," said artist Michael Brown, "as it sort of gets picked at by the visitors."

In an exploration station, visitors got to eyeball a young woman dissecting an eyeball from a cow. In another corner of the massive building, people gazed into a giant parabolic mirror which made images look as though they were hovering in space.

"One of the most satisfying things to hear is the early previews," said Bartels. "Everyone says we kept the spirit and the culture, and even the quirkiness and the funk."

The museum is also taking cues from its new location, thrust out into the bay with water lapping at all sides.

A healthy amount of the exhibits are devoted to studying the bay's tides, currents and biology. In a room the museum dubbed the classroom, a contraption called the Wired Pier kept a running log of Bay tides and water quality.

"The Wired Pier is a platform for us to do research working with local researchers and NOAA," said project manager Mary Miller, "to really understand what's happening; the dynamics of the bay waters, the surface currents, the tides."

Those exhibits Mother Nature didn't create, the museum's team of tinkerers were racing to complete.

The museum's workshop was arranged in full view of visitors, just as it was when Frank Oppenheimer founded the Exploratorium in the Palace of Fine Arts more than four decades ago. A few feet from the shop, a tall Tinkerer's mechanical clock extended its dial as a mallet struck a gong to mark the hour.

The museum is set to reopen next Wednesday - officials said tickets for opening day were nearly sold out.

Even as the Exploratorium begins to hold previews in advance of its opening, workers in hard hats were still scurrying to finish the last minute details.

Still, it may be one of the few remodeling projects, people were happy to acknowledge, will probably never end.

"It will always be a constantly evolving institution," said Brown, "We're always making new exhibits, new experiences."

The concept of a bucket is commonly used in relation to ice cream (as in "pass me that ice cream bucket" or "I could eat a bucket of mint chocolate chip about now").

But there's another bucket to consider when pondering the frosty dessert superstar: the bucket list. Trying every Ben & Jerry's flavor appears on more than one bucket list on the 43 Things site, and we have a suspicion that there are a few creative wordsmiths out there who wouldn't mind naming a flavor.

On just about everyone's lower-level bucket list, though? Grab free ice cream when free ice cream is for the taking. Tuesday, April 9 is the much mythologized and idolized Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day.

The upshot? Show at a Ben & Jerry's and get a free cone of ice cream. Good? Good.

There are a number of locations around the Bay Area:

• San Jose - 115 East San Carlos (San Jose)
• Haight Ashbury - 1480 Haight Street @ Ashbury (Haight)
• Macy’s Department Store  (Union Square)
• Fisherman’s Wharf  (Pier 41)
• Argonaut - 475 Jefferson Street (Fisherman’s Wharf)
• Jack London Square –  505 Embarcadero (Oakland)
• Berkeley - 2128 Oxford Street (Berkeley)
• Bon Air Center – 290 Bon Air Center – (Greenbrae)
  

There are a couple of things to know before you go. One? You gotta love a queue, big or small, to get your mitts on a cone. And two? The Ben & Jerry's site periodically checks out on Free Cone Day due to traffic.

Surprising? Mais non. As stated, everyone but everyone loves free ice cream. But that in the Big Book of Facts and call it a day.

So, while you're waiting in line for your gratis sweet, you'll have time to dream up that flavor name. What shall it be? And what if you had to name a Ben & Jerry's flavor in honor of your neighborhood or city? Santa Mochana? Long Peach? Maltadena?

Take it away, bucket list dreamers. And free cone lovers, too.

Does the looming tax deadline have you down? Comedian Grant Lyon would like to perk your spirits and not break your bank.

On Thursday, Lyon is presenting “Say Hello to My Little Funny,” a unique collection of short films made by comedians with filmmakers who have strong ties to the Bay Area comedy scene. The event is $10 and will take place at the Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema, 601 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco, at 7:30 p.m.

Lyon went to college in Santa Cruz, has performed comedy all over the Bay Area, and now lives in Los Angeles. While in college, he worked with a sketch troupe that made Web videos, but his film, “Interview Date,” is his first foray into traditional filmmaking.

“We learned a lot by doing. It was a lot of, ‘OK, how do we put together a shot list?’ We had never done that before,” he said of making the film with director Mike Lemcke. Lyon and Lemcke share co-writer duties, and Lyon produced.

“Interview Date’s” tagline is “Right date. Right time. Wrong person,” and sees two couples in awkward situations. One group is there for a job interview. The other is there for a blind date, but they’re with the wrong people.

“Seeing people laugh in an actual theater, that gratification is why we put in all the hard work,” Lyon said.
While “Interview Date” has screened at dozens of film festivals all over and won several awards, it’s yet to be seen on the big screen in the Bay Area. Lyon thought putting together an evening of comedy films by comedians with local ties would be a unique way to see all of these films in one place, with some of the filmmakers in attendance.

“The world of stand-up comedy is fairly small and insular,” Lyon said. “We see each other all the time. So we thought we would reach out to other comedians we knew who did things other than just stand-up.”

The other films will include:

•    “Lucifer’s Crewcut,” a mockumentary about the fate of a death metal barbershop quartet. Comedians and filmmakers Sal Calanni and Robert Selander will be on hand to introduce the film.

•    “Thugs the Musical,” also a mockumentary about a disastrous musical production, is written by and stars SF comic Kevin Avery, who will be in attendance.

•    “Successful Alcoholics” is by T.J. Miller and stars Miller and Lizzy Caplan.

•    And “John’s Wrath,” co-star and writer, Sammy Wegent, will also be there to chat about his film.

While the event is casual, Lyon said he’s trying to be an adult for the first time in his life. So he will be keeping it classy in a Hugo Boss suit, “and probably a bow tie,” he said.

Visit Landmark Theaters for tickets to “Say Hello to My Little Funny.” More info on Grant Lyon can be found at GrantLyon.com.

Corey Andrew has been interviewing comedians and writing about comedy for the last decade and a half. He recently published the book, “Laugh Lines: Conversations with Comedians.” Corey was a writer and performer with Midwest sketch troupe, The NonProphets, before moving to the Bay Area with his family several years ago.

If you have ideas for future columns about comedy, you can send them to coreywrites@yahoo.com or follow him at twitter.com/coreywrites.

A former parking garage in downtown Oakland is transforming into a showcase for art.

The city has now converted the empty lot in the uptown district into a sculpture park.

Five artists filled the former site of a Sears parking garage with nine sculptures.

The display includes an archway made entirely of bicycle parts.

The park sits right next to the restored Fox Theater, an area that has seen a massive revitalization in the last few years.

“That’s one of the things I love about public art is you’re out on the street, people happen on the work, they don’t know that it’s going to be here and then there’s a smile on their face as they want to talk to people, want to ask questions,” Oakland public art manager Kristen Zaremba said.

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and the city will celebrate the park's completion Friday night.

The city says the sculptures will remain for a year, and then be changed out with a new set of sculptures.

Longstanding video game company LucasArts is soon to be no more.

The San Francisco-based video game company, which is known for classic Star Wars video games such as X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, will be shut down by new parent company Disney,  the San Francisco Business Times first reported.

LucasFilm later released a statement that said it was shifting from building video games to licensing out the Star Wars names to developers.

“After evaluating our position in the games market, we’ve decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company’s risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we’ve had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles.”

Disney recently paid $4 billion for Lucasfilm Ltd. and will shut the studio — which will result in the loss of 150 jobs — as a way to consolidate costs.

There will still be future Star Wars games, and the ones under development will likely be created.

But the future? Other companies will make them.

According to its website, LucasArts was founded in 1982 by filmmaker George Lucas. It said it is a leading developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software worldwide for video game console systems, computers, mobile devices and the Internet. It has development facilities in San Francisco and Singapore.

Stand down everybody.

Kyo-ya Hotel management now says it will not sell Maxfield Parrish’s The Pied Piper painting.

The mural, titled "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," has been on display at the bar of The Palace Hotel for more than 100 years. 

Last week came the news that the hotel was going to put it up for auction at Christie's.

Apparently, the outcry that followed was loud enough to make a difference.

Kyo-ya Hotels owns the hotel which is located at Market and New Montgomery streets. 

Kyo-ya issued a release Monday that said in part, "Given the local community’s affection for Maxfield Parrish’s The Pied Piper painting, Kyo-ya Hotels and Resorts, owners of The Palace Hotel, have reconsidered the sale of the beloved piece, which will remain on property."

It did not guarantee the painting would return to the exact spot over the main bar. The painting is no longer on display at the bar.

The location might not have been the best spot for a masterpiece anyway. It reportedly had both smoke and liquid stains.

Apparently the reaction came not only from the public, but from City Hall. The Kyo-ya release said it had consulted with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee "to ensure that the interests of the residents of San Francisco were instrumental in this decision."

The painting is one of San Francisco's little known cultural treasures. It is valued between $3 million and $5 million. It is the work of Maxfield Parrist, who is a famous American artist from the first half of tht 20th Century.

There is no pleasure without at least a little pain.

That even goes for wine making.

This year's unseasonably warm and dry weather is pushing Livermore's wine grape vineyards to begin blossoming a tad on the early side.

The appearance of buds is known in wine making jargon as "bud break."

It's a springtime call for winemakers to spring into action.

"When you get warm weather you produce buds or bud break," said John Concannon, a fourth generation winemaker from Livermore's Concannon winery. "So bud break is really the beginning of wine making."

The catch is; the year's record dry start is forcing winemakers to irrigate a little on the early side.

On top of that worry, buds on the vine are vulnerable to frost. "Frost is our biggest threat," said Concannon. "We're not really worried so much about rain but just thirty minutes of exposure under 30 degrees can damage the buds at this point."

Fortunately, Livermore's geographic orientation rarely exposes it to damaging frosts. So the giant fans, helicopters and other frost-coping measures can stay in the shed for now.

"Mother nature does bat last," said Wente Vineyards senior viticulturist Rob Sorenson. "It's just a matter of being proactive versus reactive."

Mostly though, bud break is a cause of celebration among wine growers and their wine-sipping public.

This weekend Livermore will mark the arrival of the buds with its annual barrel tasting weekend, with over 30 wineries offering tastings before their vintages even hit the bottle.

"Barrel tasting weekend is a great time to celebrate this," said Chris Chandler of the Livermore Valley Winegrowers' Association, "and see the little buds breaking on the white varietals in the valley."

Yosemite National Park faces a huge overhaul that includes tearing down many family favorites. 

If the plan goes through, the ice rink and swimming pools will be destroyed and most rental options will be put out of business. 

It's all the work of the National Park Service. And it should be noted that the proposed changes are intended to protect the Merced River, which runs through the park, and come after decades of back-and-forth lawsuits filed by environmentalists. 

People on both sides of the debate say in many ways, the plan shows just how hard it is to balance public recreation while preserving the environment.

Here are specifics: Under the proposal, horse, bike and rafting rentals would no longer be allowed in the valley.  Swimming pools would be removed from both the Ahwahnee Hotel and the Yosemite Lodge. The Curry Village ice rink would be gone as would the Sugar Pine bridge. The iconic bridge, built in 1928, is located behind the Ahwahnee. 

The lawsuits helped form a $235-million "Merced River Plan" that has been in the works since the end of the 20th century. (Read the plan for yourself).

The plan will be discussed Thursday evening in San Francisco at the Fort Mason Center.

To understand why some of the most popular things to do at Yosemite would be removed, you have to got back to the 1980s and a developers idea to build hydroelectric dams on the river west of Yosemite. Environmentalist fought back and with the help of then-Sen. Pete Wilson got the river a special designation signed by then Pres. Ronald Reagan that blocked such dams.

Fast forward to 1997 when a flood destroyed 406 campsites. Environmentalist noted the special designation in a lawsuit aimed at stopping a plan to replace them.

That lawsuit lead to a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2008 that said restaurants, hotels and businesses contributed to the "degradation" of the river, when the special designation required proof that all new things "protected and enhanced" the river.

The policy director of Friends of the River group said the current plan goes too far.

Ron Stark told the San Jose Mercury News it leaves him "heartbroken." "We were trying to block the construction of dams near the park. We weren't trying to ban recreation," Stork told the Merc. 

Calling all Punk Rockers of all ages - one of the most notable shows will be going on not only tonight, but tomorrow, too.

Whether you have been into punk rock for a short spurt of time or still hold on to the subculture's messages, values and lifestyle, you have quite certainly listened to the iconic, internationally renown punk band Anti-Flag. 

The punk rock lifestyle has definitely stuck with these musicians and political activists.  This year marks their 20th anniversary since they formed in 1993.  They will be playing at the Oakland Metro Operahouse on 630 3rd Street.
Classic songs will be revived throughout this tour.

"It's going to be a lot of fun. There will be songs we haven't played in 15 years. The real life of a song is playing it live. Songs that haven't had life in a long time will now have life when they're sung along to," says Pat Thetic, drummer and one of the founding members of Anti-Flag, 

With the amount of material they have produced over two decades, drummer Pat Thetic was asked if they remember all the songs they are going to perform. 

"No. [Laughs]. We are up to at least 120 songs It's hard to remember all of them. We had to practice quite a bit to remember them.We also have different sets. We have our opening sets and our headlining sets. Those are fun to do."

With a two night set, the variety of songs will get everyone fired up allowing them to more than likely hear one or more of their favorites. 

MUSICAL EVOLUTION and MAKING MUSIC FOR TWO DECADES

When talking to a band that has been around for as long as Anti-Flag has been, there are not many original questions to be asked - whether it is about their political stances, musical evolution, experiences around the world, or their personal lives. However, Pat Thetic still offered interesting insight on the topics.  

After playing for so long, a typical musician would hold a strong sense of confidence and maybe even a bit of an ego with their musical creativity and abilities. Pat Thetic is not a typical drummer, and Anti-Flag is no typical band. 

Pat Thetic offers an abundance of humility when it comes to talking about drumming. "The evolution of me as a drummer is to not suck as badly. It's a joke, but very real. We had ideas when we were young, but didn't have the ability to make them work. As we get older and have an idea that we can't make work, we find the middle ground. I realize more now what I can't make work and what I can."

"With drummers, it's much more a body experience. Drums within punk rock and hardcore, the drummers are trying to express something. We are all trying to do something to make ourselves known that is outside the box. I've never been a very good drummer, sometimes we f**k up and it doesn't work, but it makes it more interesting."

 There is a large amount of genuine humility and gratitude that exudes when Pat Thetic speaks. And it's assumed that the other members feel the same way when it comes to making music, politics, and their experiences. he ego other musicians seem to get as their fan base grows seemed to be nonexistent when talking to Pat Thetic (or when reading or watching any other interviews with him or other members of the group).  s appreciative as they are for their fan base, their creative drive is not necessarily dependent on people.

How does a band create so much music, stay so passionate, keep up with the recording, touring, interviews, and their own record label? 

"The nice this is we don't have to get that from the outside. e are interested in creation of music and activism. we might not find it in a show sometimes, but we find it in the four of us and the eight of us [the other crew members that work with them at home]. We're into the creation of something new, pissing somebody off, making a statement that's not socially acceptable at this time in history.

The goal is to create this message and create a way of making people hear them.  The music, shows, the tour, the website, the tweeting, the record label are all vehicles to make people hear them."

MEMORABLE CITIES and MUSIC COMMUNITIES

When traveling to different cities, countries, and continents for so long, choosing a favorite place to play becomes a difficult thing to do.  

Pat Thethic talks about some of the his favorite cities and countries and the morphing of the punk communities within cities. 

Moscow - there's a wild west feel about Russia that you can't get anywhere else in the world. Australia - Sydney and Melbourne because the weather is nice and the people are great. We've been very lucky to experience these places around the world.  But even playing Cleveland is fun. Cleveland was fun in the [mid 90's] because there were a lot of punk rock kids. Then there were none for a while. In 2004 they were there again." 

"Different cities go through different phases in their music community. You're talking to a small group of people and that morphs and changes. People grow up. They haven't been to a show in 10 years and then come to this 20 year anniversary show. They can always go back and the energy and the passion are still there."  

"There is no city that has a constant large punk music community. There is always that 400 to 500 people that come out.Those are the people making music and are trying.  They believe they don't need a record company to make music.They are going to do it no matter what. And the beauty is we connect with those people."

Punk rock in your teens and early adulthood entails anger, frustration, rage, being vocal for causes you believe in, and speaking out against things you believe are wrong.  For many punk rockers that grow up, the punk values may stick (or may not) and expression fades.

 Not for Pat Thetic and Anti-Flag. When asked if that anger they felt when they first formed the group 20 years ago still exists today, he was quick to respond with a yes. 

"It definitely does. The only difference is when you're young you don't think about consequences. With time, we thought 'Well, if we express ourselves in this way, we have a better chance of someone hearing the message." 

Pat Thetic believes people don't really care about music these days. "Music has become an accessory. Music is about video games, commercials, being an accessory at the mall. It's not about the expression of one angry person. That's not happening. Not in my world. I don't see that. We're waiting for young people to say 'F**k it, let's just do it.'"

Anti-Flag has a hard look to them. But don't be fooled. They stand for people without a voice, the people that are being ignored, and the people that are being mistreated - whether it's internationally, domestically, or locally. In short, Anti-Flag's politics consistent of not dropping bombs on people, stopping economic exploitation, people in power giving some up for people who are suffering.

Anti-war, same sex marriage advocate, and treating people with their rights regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or sexuality. Their stances are what attract many of their fans. Not only do they enjoy the music, but the meaning behind the music.

Anti-Flag (which consists of Pat Thetic, Justin Sane, Chris Head, and Chris 2) is set to be touring for all of 2013. Yes, the whole year in the U.S. and abroad to commemorate their 20 years of music making. It will be a long time before they return. You don't want to miss your chance to see one of the most dedicated bands to the punk scene that have substance to their content and an abundance of energy. 

You can get more info on Anti-Flag at www.anti-flag.com

By 8:02 p.m., the gathered crowd stretched a city block and a half. These 20somethings had ventured to Oakland to imbibe and take in the spectacle known as Tourettes Without Regrets.

On the first Thursday of every month, it happens at The Oakland Metro, 630 Third St. Is it stand-up comedy? Burlesque? Spoken word? Sideshow? Vaudeville?

Yep. Uh huh. Indeed. Of course. Positively.

Last month, I ventured inside the warehouse-esque space which by 8:35 was getting jammed full of folks and energy. The vibe said something crazy was going to happen. Or amazing. Perhaps both. Cray-mazing.

Glad-handing and gliding through the masses pre-show was the ringleader behind the cavalcade of hilarity and mayhem, Jamie DeWolf—looking and performing like a mash-up of P.T. Barnum, the Cat in the Hat and Ed Sullivan on absinthe.

“To me, it’s like a poisonous cocktail,” DeWolf said of putting together the show’s line-up. “I’ll tinker with it sometimes to the day of. The last show was really solid but needed more bite. I got the couple from Slave Labours. She uses a grinder on pennies made of steel and grinds sparks into this guy’s face until his cigarette lights off it.”

Every show is gleefully different though rap battles, beat-boxing and burlesque appear to be regular features. Of course, this isn’t your granddads’ burlesque.

A diorama of a ’50s housewife preparing dinner unfolded as the striptease morphed into a bloody abuse revenge fantasy—capped with a fake head being launched into the ravenous crowd.

“I want the audience to be hit in every direction—interactive anarchy. I try to keep it a mix of high art and low-brow comedy,” DeWolf said.

“A lot of people need to remember that Shakespeare basically had ‘Yo momma’ jokes in his shows.”

When not creating the most-eclectic live show in the Bay Area, DeWolf makes films—such as “Smoked” which has played the festival circuit—teaches writing workshops for school kids and produces on National Public Radio’s “Snap Judgment.”

“I’m a busy guy,” said the also great-grandson of L. Ron Hubbard (yes, that L. Ron Hubbard).

Tourettes Without Regrets has grown by word of mouth. Initially, it was performed in Vallejo and Benicia, before getting tossed out of venues—sometimes during a show. “We would move it to someone’s house,” DeWolf said. Based on the e-mail list passed around at shows, the crowd isn’t just Oakland but from all over the area: San Francisco, Sonoma, Fremont, San Jose, etc.

They arrive fired up and ready to be part of the action.

“I’m encouraging the audience to be as involved and rowdy as possible,” DeWolf said. “To people who haven’t seen the show, that can sound terrifying. They picture people running up on stage, ripping their clothes off and throwing chairs at them.”

Back in the day, it could descend there, but DeWolf is the key to keeping the show from getting completely out of control. In March, to keep the crowd on their toes and paying attention, he offered a free drink to the winner of a no-rules, trousers-around-the-ankles game of musical chairs.

A spit-take moment emerged when it came down to the final two and the music stopped playing. The heavy-set gent yanked the chair away just as a bespectacled female was plopping down upon it.

She landed flat on her derriere, and the two began to tussle, until she was able to wrestle the chair away and claim victory.

“She broke her glasses!” DeWolf howled.

During the show, I ran into one of the headliners, Oakland-based comic Caitlin Gill.

“Aw, Tourettes is the best,” she said. She recalled a time when the audience was a little tepid. So DeWolf took to the stage and had everyone face the person to their right, then screamed, “1, 2, 3, 4, I declare the thumb war!” Gill said the place exploded into a frenzy of school-yard thumb wrasslin’, and the energy was bursting through the roof for the rest of the show.

“I love that the word of mouth must be so confusing,” DeWolf said. “’They were grinding sparks into some dude’s face and this chick is eating this guy’s head and then there’s some really great, heartfelt poetry—then blood flying around!’ ‘What are you talking about?’”

Audience members sign up to take part in an open-mic contest where would-be stand-ups and poets spit their craft into the mic. In March, transgender comic Morgan won. There are also dirty haiku battles, circus acts and storytelling.

DeWolf tries to schedule things according to how tipsy audience members might be getting, thereby affecting their attention span.

“The parts they really need to pay attention to and are about lyricism are in the first half of the show, and it becomes more unhinged as the night goes,” he said.

DeWolf added that April shows tend to be on the “randy and zany” side, and the show on April 4 will include “Game of Thrones”-themed audience events. Visit facebook.com/TourettesWithoutRegrets for more info.

Corey Andrew has been interviewing comedians and writing about comedy for the last decade and a half. He recently published the book, “Laugh Lines: Conversations with Comedians.” Corey was a writer and performer with Midwest sketch troupe, The NonProphets, before moving to the Bay Area with his family several years ago.

If you have ideas for future columns about comedy, you can send them to coreywrites@yahoo.com or follow him at twitter.com/coreywrites.

No more Lululemon black yoga pants.

For now.

The Vancouver-based maker of the iconic casual uniform in yoga-friendly markets -- such as the entire state of California -- has pulled its black offerings from store shelves after the pants were deemed "too revealing."

The "Luon" pants, which make up 17 percent of the company's total sales, have a "quality control problem," according to the Associated Press. One of the suppliers made the pants with a material that are "too sheer," and they were sold between March 1 and March 16.

Lululemon's stock dipped 5 percent in trading Tuesday following the announcement.

Julie Brown of San Francisco is not going to hold the issue against the company.

"Generally it's a great well-made product," she said Tuesday while out jogging along Crissy Field. "We love it, shop in the store all the time."

The same factories in Asia have made the pants since 2004, but there's apparently now a problem with oversight. What it is and how it will be addressed was not disclosed.

Customers who bought the recalled revealing pants can get a refund. 

To watch a NBC Bay Area report in November on Lululemon's controversial ad "Goodbye Camel Toe and Hello Mistle Toe," click here:

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

San Francisco became the official home port for the ship Grand Princess Saturday.

No longer will people in the Bay Area have to fly somewhere to start a cruise. They just need to hop in a car, bus or BART and get to Pier 35.

The Grand Princess is a 2,600-passenger ship that has several round trip cruises along the California coast or to Hawaii, Alaska, or Mexico planned in the coming 15 months. 

The list from Princess Cruises shows options included a 15 day round trip cruise to Hawaii and several ten day trips to either Mexico or Alaska. 

The Princess Cruises says its first few trips are already sold out. 

A cruise ship spokesperson said every time the Grand Princess comes into San Francisco, passengers will spend an average of $1 million on San Francisco hotels, restaurants and other attractions.

The ship came in early Saturday and was scheduled to leave in the afternoon. The departure was at least five hours delayed.

The folks on board will be heading to Hawaii. 

The Grand Princess will become a normal visitor along the Embarcadero as it makes 37 scheduled cruises over the next 15 months.

In that time some 100,000 passengers will come aboard, according to ship management.

Having a cruise ship stop in San Francisco is not unusual, but having one that has the City as its home base year round hasn't happened in decades.

Ignition. Three, two, one... blast off!

One of San Francisco's most beloved pieces of public art is heading off to the firmament in search of new uncharted territory.

The art group Five Ton Crane is removing its beloved rocket ship art installation from the Embarcadero this weekend.

The popular aluminum rocket starred in about a gazillion photos during its two year stint on the Embarcadero. Originally scheduled to remain a year, the Port of San Francisco extended its stay several times because of its popularity.

"I think for most people, it's really just fun," said David Shulman, one of the rocket's builders.

The artists originally built the rocket for the Burning Man arts festival, and even claim they successfully launched it a foot off the ground (the claims are somewhat dubious since the supposed liftoff was shrouded in fireworks, and the fact it doesn't have an actual engine).

But its presence just south of the Ferry Building was a genuine surprise to countless visitors who chanced upon it.

"People come by when we're out doing maintenance," said Shulman. "They want to tell stories of the rocket ships they played with as a kid or their grandfather telling stories about early science fiction."

Exactly where the rocket is heading next is still unknown.

For now, Shulman said the group will haul it to its Oakland studio for a good cleaning.

It's searching for another destination for the ship to land.

The Port hasn't yet said what it plans to install at the site, which has been home to other temporary art installations including a giant spider and two towering figures made of scrap metal parts.

Shulman said the rocket ship is another success story in the push to install temporary art pieces around San Francisco.

"People see things come and go and they realize it doesn't have to be permanent," said Shulman. "So let's take a chance and if we don't like it it'll come down in a year or two."

The artists were planning to toast the rocket with a Friday night blowout on the Embarcadero, before cranking up the launch pad Saturday morning.

There's not a lot of real rock n' roll left in this world. Even at big festivals like South by Southwest, one might find a lot of impostors.
 
Enter Iggy and The Stooges, who took the stage at The Mohawk Wednesday at SXSW, the annual musical, tech and film conference in Austin, Tex.

The band came to promote their new album, "Ready to Die," in front of about 200 people, mostly media types.
 
The show? Well, Iggy - guitarist James Williamson, saxophonist Steve Mackay, bassist Mike Watt, and drummer Toby Dammit, trounced the the place not only with classic Stooges numbers like "Raw Power," "Search and Destroy," and "I Wanna be Your Dog," but they also segued so quickly into the new material that the lines seemed blurred between the new and the old work. 

The twin steel guitar installment between James Williamson and Bill Hoffnar, who also sat in, was a special treat. Iggy's constant stage diving and constant invitations to sing along kept the already frenzied crowd even more hyperactive.
 
Songs like "Burn" and " I Got a Job" round out the set of classics as if they were written way back during the original Stooges sessions.
 

 

A state lawmaker's proposal would allow restaurants and bars in California the option of expanding alcohol service hours to 4 a.m. -- two hours later than allowed under current law.

Full Text: SB 635

Senate Bill 635 was authored by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). The bill gives local communities the option of expanding alcohol service hours, and establishments would go through an approval process that  would allow for late-night service.

"This legislation would allow destination cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego to start local conversations about the possibility of expanding nightlife and the benefits it could provide the community by boosting jobs, tourism and local tax revenue," Leno said in a statement.

Current state law allows for alcohol service between 6 a.m. and 2 a.m. for on- and off-sale establishments. Leno's proposal only applies to on-sale businesses, such as nightclubs, bars and restaurant.

The bill, scheduled for committee hearings in the spring, does not apply to liquor stores.

In his announcement, Leno cited economic issues behind the proposal. Expanded service would better position Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego to compete for tourism dollars with Chicago, Las Vegas and New York City, he said.

He also mentioned safety issues.

"Uniform closing times put significant stress on public transportation systems and the law enforcement agencies tasked with managing and dispersing large crowds of patrons when they all leave the clubs at 2 a.m.," Leno said.

Under the plan, local communities could submit a plan to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

A certain San Francisco restaurant is so odorous that a noisy neighbor's complaints threaten to shutter it over the smell.

Of bacon.

Bacon Bacon is the eatery, and it's no surprise what the Haight Ashbury restaurant specializes in. More surprising is the problem an anonymous complainant has -- with the smell of bacon.

More people appear to be a fan, with 1,100 swine fans signing an online petition in support of the restaurant.

The eatery needed to reapply for permits to remain open. That allowed a neighbor with a distaste for bacon to voice complaints, according to the San Francisco Examiner.

The neighbor wants the restaurant to install a filtration system on the roof to smoke out the scent of bubbling, sizzling hog fat, the newspaper reported.

The owner of the restaurant, Jim Angelus, agreed -- as long as the city gives him the permits.

Musicians in the San Francisco Symphony put down their violins and tubas on Wednesday to belt out a staccato note: They are on strike.

The musicians are upset about their pay, which is at least $140,000 a year; some make as much as $165,000 a year. While that may seem like a hefty sum, the musicians point out that their counterparts in the Los Angeles and Chicago symphonies earn about $7,500 more annually. They have been playing without a contract since Feb. 15.

Management's current contract offer has a pay freeze for the first year and "small" increases the following years, according to the musicians. Management also points out that they get ten weeks of vacation.

"We don't feel we're getting the support we need and have come to expect traditionally in the past," said David Gaudry, who plays viola and handles the musician's labor bargaining.

The symphony said that the Musicians Union of San Francisco, Local 6, American Federation of Musicians have rejected proposals for new contracts that would have kept them "among the three highest paid orchestras in the country."

And in a statement on the symphony's website, management expressed regret over the work stoppage.

“We are disappointed that the musicians have chosen to strike and deeply regret any inconvenience to our patrons,”  Brent Assink, executive director of the San Francisco Symphony said. “We will continue to work hard to develop a fair agreement that gives our talented musicians a contract that reflects our stature as one of the top orchestras in the country but also one that sets a prudent financial course for the future.”

The musicians said they are asking for a 5-percent bump to address the high cost of living in the Bay Area and the cost of their instruments, which can be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Along with the strike, the symphony announced the cancellation of Thursday's concert at 2 p.m. 

That matinee is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to possible cancellations. The symphony is preparing for a very prestigious East Coast tour, including a concert at Carnegie Hall.

"It's incredibly stressful and it kind of puts a cloud over everything," said symphony viola player Katie Kadarauch told NBC Bay Area Tuesday.

On Tuesday, a string quartet of symphony musicians played Beethoven in San Francisco City Hall to rally support for their cause. The musicians wore Dodger baseball caps to signify the Los Angeles Symphony earns more than San Francisco musicians.

The publicity event preceded the new negotiations between musicians and management scheduled for Tuesday afternoon with a federal mediator.

The symphony musicians went on strike in 1997, and threatened a strike in 2006.

Symphony guests are most likely hoping that both sides strike a note of harmony just before the fat lady tunes up her vocal chords and steps out on stage. This time the stage would be Carnegie Hall.

Related story:

San Francisco Symphony Threatens to Strike

Movie legend George Lucas is playing the role of supportive dad this week as he makes an appearance on the Syfy Channel's reality show "Robot Combat League."

Lucas' daughter, Amanda, is a professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter and a member of the cast.

Robot Combat League features fights between eight-foot tall robots controlled by a human fighter called a robo-jockey and an engineer called a robo-tech.

The 24 contestants battle it out each week in hopes of winning the $100,000 grand prize.

The robots were designed and created by robotics expert, Mark Setrakian (Hellboy, Men in Black), who is considered a leader in the sport of robotic combat.

The episode featuring George Lucas airs Tuesday night.

Show producers say George Lucas made a surprise visit to the arena to watch Amanda in action.

He "lends moral support to Amanda as she preps for her upcoming battle as the robo-jockey at the helm of the powerful and impressive Robo Hammer."

Amanda Lucas is one of 24 contestants.

She is a professional mixed martial artist. She also has some impressive movies to her credit. She appeared in Star Wars: Episodes I, II and III.

Filmmaker Bobby Razak is known for making films in Mixed Martial Arts.

Below is a short film about Amanda's career that also features her famous dad.

The study found that the best predictors of high intelligence include "Thunderstorms," The Colbert Report, "Science," and, yes, "Curly Fries." Low intelligence, it said, was indicated by "Sephora," "I Love Being A Mom," "Harley Davidson," and "Lady Antebellum."

Traffic delays are expected on several Palo Alto streets Tuesday while crews film an upcoming comedy TV series about Silicon Valley, a Palo Alto police lieutenant said.

The filming is for a 30-minute pilot of an HBO series directed by Mike Judge. Palo Alto police Lt. Zach Perron said HBO applied for permits under the name "Untitled Silicon Valley Project."

According to the Internet Movie Database, the pilot is for a show expected to air sometime this year called "Silicon Valley."

The filming is expected to affect traffic in several spots, but the biggest impact will be on University Avenue between Waverley and Webster streets between 4 and 8 p.m.

That part of the filming will be mostly on the sidewalk but there may be intermittent lane closures on University Avenue between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Perron said.

Downtown businesses will remain open throughout the filming. This morning, from 9 a.m. to noon, crews will be filming on Page Mill Road between El Camino Real and Peter Coutts Road, and on El Camino between Embarcadero and Page Mill roads. Between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., crews will be on East Charleston Road between Alma Street and Middlefield Road.

Only minimal traffic backup is expected in those areas, police said. Police advise motorists planning to travel through the downtown area Tuesday afternoon to take alternate routes if possible. Judge is best known for directing the 1999 feature film "Office Space" and creating the animated comedy series "Beavis and Butt-head."

Entertainment news reports indicate that the show will mock the startup and technology culture in the Silicon Valley, and that the plot centers around six programmers who are living together and trying to make it big.

It's an old story that's been told over and over again.

Simply put: the Good Guys vs. the Bad Guys.

By taking a few cues from stage production, the professional wrestling industry has cashed in on that theme for decades.

As of late, the iconic characters who have risen from pro-wrestling as good guys and bad guys look more like they walked out of a comic book than from the "sacred squared circle," which is one reason that some may be puzzled by how so many adults still attend wrestling events.

The cast at Oakland's Hoodslam Wrestling show are anxious to break those kind of wrestling stereotypes.

"The difference with Hoodslam is we're not trying to insult the intelligence of our audience," said Hoodslam cast member Shane Hansen. "We give them a wink and and a smile and we let them know we're in on the joke."

The show is a non-stop frenzied pit of action and satire and can be found just about anywhere twenty feet from the stage.

From the odd-looking wrestlers, one was described as "coming from the basement of The Power Exchange," to a very adult comic who played a game of "guess what's in my shorts" with a crew member - to a heavy metal band whose name changes from night to night but the moniker used the night I saw them won't be amplified here.

They were good performers.

The show runs on the first of every month at The Oakland Metro and it travels around the state so you can get a whiff of it or a puff of it easily.

The song ended -- right in the middle, in fact.

Bob Weir, the legendary Grateful Dead guitarist and solo star in his own right, stormed off stage in the middle of a tune Monday in Mill Valley, according to reports.

Weir was playing a Bob Dylan song during a solo acoustic set at Sweetwater Music Hall, a small venue of which he is part owner, according to the Marin Independent Journal. But audience members at the venue's back bar were apparently talking too loud for his liking during the set.

"He got so mad that he asked, 'Am I interrupting you? Am I bothering you?'" photographer Stuart Levine told the newspaper.

When audience members kept jabbering, Weir declared he'd had enough.

"That's it, I give up," he said, before storming off stage.

He returned with the Ratdog Quartet, which put on an electric set, but at one time had to tell the audience to shut up again, the newspaper reported.

Who's to blame? Depends who you ask.

Some commenters on jambands.com and elsewhere say it was the moneyed investors and lawyers who live in Mill Valley. Aaron Kayce, who manages the club, said it's more likely the fault of the dreadlocked kids who "smoke pot in the bathroom."

Video of Weir's meltdown circulated on the Internet before it was taken down.

Director George Lucas is among a field of groups vying to build a new cultural institution in San Francisco’s Presidio, at the site of the former commissary, currently the home of Sports Basement.

Lucas is proposing a pop arts museum to house his life-long art collection, which includes some Normal Rockwell paintings.

The director of such films as Star Wars and American Graffiti is offering to foot the bill for the museum, at more than $300 million.

“We’re really excited to have George Lucas in the mix,” said Craig Middleton, director of the Presidio Trust. “Obviously he’s a creative genius.”

Lucas’ presence already looms large in the park with his Letterman Digital Complex occupying the site of the former Letterman Hospital.

Middleton said the Presidio Trust has long toyed with the idea of a cultural center occupying the site of the commissary, which owns pristine views of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

“It’s gotta be one of the most beautiful, remarkable sites in the world,” said Middleton.

The Trust put out a request for ideas on what could occupy the commissary site, which features a cavernous 90-thousand square foot building. Sixteen proposals came in just before the deadline.

They range from a Depression Museum, to a center for environment and sustainability, to a lab devoted to color.

Diane Frankel’s group is proposing a play center inspired by art and innovation.

She envisions labs for artists, scientists and other people in-tune with the area’s long history for innovation. “Innovation was whether someone was creating the Golden Gate Bridge back in the thirties,” said Frankel, “or whether somebody was creating the idea of flight in Crissy Field.”

Middleton said the Trust hopes to narrow down the proposals by the end of Spring, and possibly choose a finalist by the end of the year.

“I think we have done what we set out to do,” said Middleton, “which was to get people to think big and to think imaginatively about innovation.”

Link to the 16 proposals.