All the ingredients in the drink are fresh and house-made, and Usman worked with techniques used in DOSA's kitchen to create a nectar from Jaggery (instead of simple syrup), and infused it with fresh ginger. Jaggery is raw cane palm sugar with an interesting flavor profile that perfectly balances the ginger. The rosemary sprig garnish is a gentle aromatic preparation for each sip.

The Ginger Ante

2 oz Goslings “Black Seal” Black Rum
1.5 oz Ginger Jaggery Nectar
3 oz Fresh Lime
A fill of Blenheim Ginger Ale

Shake the rum, jaggery nectar and lime juice with ice. Strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass, fill to the rim with ginger ale, and garnish with a rosemary sprig.

PREVIOUSLY: The Fogcutter from Smuggler's Cove
A Sour Mezcal Cocktail from Camino
A New School Cocktail Glossary
The Spruce Goose from Spruce
The Autumn Apple Cocktail from Cyrus
Seven Decades of Cocktails from Gourmet
The Pisco Sol from Pisco Lounge
The Five-Spice Margarita and Laughing Buddha
from Cantina
The Improved Sunrise from Rickhouse
The Grape Drink from Blackbird
Smokin' Stoned Fruit from Conduit
The Promissory Note from The Alembic
Blackberry Shrub
Strawberry Gin Shrub from NOPA
The Naughty Sun Dress from Bourbon & Branch
Gitane's Castillan Cup
Tales of the Cocktail
The Sexy Saint at The Four Seasons
A Roundup of Cocktail Blogs
The Rio Grande Cocktail at 15 Romolo
Old Sydney Town Punch at Elixir
The Vicious Circle from Range
Thirsty Bear's Strawberry Rhubarb Manhazarac
Rock & Rye from Rye
The Black Lavender from Alicia Walton at Elixir
Boulevard's Biscaccianti
DOSA's Batsman

In addition, the plan covers a 145-acre district bounded by Steuart and New Montgomery Streets, between Market and Folsom, giving landmarks status to four buildings including the Palace Hotel.

We don't know what the hell happened to the proposed 1,200 foot phallus with preliminary design by Cesar Pelli, which was chosen by the jury in the 2007 competition for a new Transbay Tower, or the other imaginary complex of 900-foot-plus towers by Renzo Piano. Well, we do know -- lots of people complained so city planners are trying to compromise at 950 feet now for the tallest tower. What's another 250 feet? (As you can tell, we like tall things). The surrounding, shorter towers will all have height caps of 800 feet, all well above the existing cap of 550 feet, voted in under the "sunlight protection initiative" of 1984. The revised height limit will have to be approved through a public process in order for the plan to move forward.

The first public meetings about the plan are set to happen soon (dates are unclear), but the draft Environmental Impact Report won't be released until mid-2010, and plan adoption won't be underway until late next year.

"Jars O Fish" by kapshure. (Also, this is horrible, keeping bettas in tiny little jars. Please don't do this. Bettas do not belong on your desk in, you know, a little glass or mug. They need room to swim around, be pretty, blow bubbles, etc.)

Just outside the VidSF offices at PariSoma in SOMA, an SUV was in an accident, causing it to flip over.

Remarkably, no one was injured. And it happened before this morning's deluge.

As always, be careful out there on the streets, folks.

The Daily Cal reports that somewhere around 60 protesters have locked themselves inside Wheeler Hall. And...they're still there! (What happened to the crowbar, cops?)

Wheeler Hall, obviously, is closed for the day. Chancellor Robert Birgeneau sent out the following message to students and faculty:

The campus police are working to resolve a protest action that is occurring in Wheeler Hall ... Employees who can contact their supervisors should talk to them if possible to determine whether telecommuting or relocation to another work area is an option. Those in the building right now are advised to leave until the situation has been resolved.

Also, fire alarms have been set off all over campus. The Daily Cal says that "fire alarms at several campus buildings -- Dwinelle Hall, Barrows Hall, Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, Moffitt Library and Valley Life Sciences -- went off within the last hour, causing hundreds of students to evacuate the building."

Students and faculty are protesting the UC Regents' decision to increases tuition 32 percent.

Tim Schafer (@TimOfLegend) sent out two unnerving Twitter messages this morning. A crime, it seems, occurred on the J Church during the AM commute.

"Holy crap! A guy just pulled a gun on a lady and took her iPhone on the J Church!!! WTF?"

And:

"Someone chased the mugger down the block until the dude stopped, turned around, and waved his gun at him." [PIC]

Anyone else witness what went down? We'll update as soon as we know more.

The last time Chris Brown performed in the Bay Area, he sold out Oracle Arena. A TMZ-obtained photo of Rihanna's battered visage, an awkward Larry King appearance, and a guilty plea to felony assault later, Chris Brown was back in town on a short run of shows geared towards rejuvenating his loyal fan base and healing his public image. The Fan Appreciation Tour, as it is called, is perhaps a test by various stakeholders to see how many fans Brown may have lost through the Rihanna ordeal.

Even though the venues on the tour have been on the smaller side, some of them have reportedly had trouble selling tickets. But the Fillmore, with its capacity of slightly more than 1,000, had little problem selling out last night. The venue did feel a little strange though, with metal detectors and multiple pat-downs upon entrance and adolescent teenage females everywhere. Also, we could be wrong, but even the barrel of apples may have been missing last night.

From the get-go, the new opening number "I Can Transform Ya", it's clear that Brown is still an absolutely electric performer. Experiencing this spectacle up close, one can't help but admire the 20-year-old's natural ability to perform and the sheer adoration of his fans. The kid can flat out dance. And every time Brown removed an article of clothing, hundreds of females shrieked in adolescent ecstasy. Now, if only he were a slightly better actor and could at least give the impression of sincerity in his apologies for his previous actions, he'd be the ultimate talent.

More vehicles were set ablaze in the recent string of car fire hitting the Bay Area. BCN reports, "The fires were reported at around 2:15 a.m. in the 2100 block of Vale Road near San Pablo Avenue, where two vehicles appear to have been set ablaze at the same location." No injuries were reported; no arrests. Over 20 cars have been torched in the last month.

Why couldn't Newsom tell CBS 5's Hank Plante, "Yeah, I took off to Hawaii. And what, hooker? Somebody hold my earrings."

Instead, after failing to turn a recent sit-down interview to the city's budget -- because, really, who wants to hear about something so crucial yet boring? -- Newsom got cranky. Because Plante insisted that our mayor tell us where he's been and what he's been doing over the last two weeks.

"Working my tail off," said Newsom.

The mayor, it seems, has been trying to fix the budget, dealing with a new daughter, attending "69 public events last week," and other assorted duties that weren't made public.

When asked about the media coverage of his so-called temper tantrum, Newsom fibs he doesn't read the press, doesn't read the Chronicle. Why? Because he's too busy getting stuff done.

Newsom then slammed Plante as "factually incorrect," accusing him of misleading his audience.

But then, when Plante brought up the budget toward the end of the interview, Newsom turned pissy. Which, of course, was brilliant. (He needs to do this more often. And frown; he needs to learn how to frown when he's upset. We couldn't find a screen grab of him appearing visibly upset, which is chilling.) After the interview ends and he takes off his microphone, the mayor spits back, "Off the record, I'm amazingly disappointed. Amazingly. I just am, personally, you know."

OK then. Well, glad to have you back, Gavin.

Early this morning, "dozens of student protesters" occupied UC Berkeley's Wheeler Hall. . "UCPD officers have surrounded the building, and some are inside," reports the Daily Cal. As of 9 a.m., "[p]olice are using a crowbar to open the door, according to protesters inside."

Protest signs have gone up around the building, with some students wearing masks. Lots of chanting, dancing, the usual stuff. Also, UC students are being encouraged to skip class and join the protest.

Twitter reports vary wildly, ranging from "People are getting tear gas thrown at them and getting beat wit batons in wheeler Hall." (@bsig223) to "Protesters in Wheeler Hall, Awesome!" (@ejohns131 ) to "just heard that students have taken over wheeler hall, uc berkeley to protest the fee increase... suerte y solidaridad!" (@elNopalero)

The protest is in response to the UC Board's vote to raise undergraduate student fees by more than $2,500 (32 percent) in the 2010-11 school year, "with some increases taking effect in spring 2010."

• In surprising food news, Sebastopol's Eloise plans to close at the end of the month. [Eater]

• Meet Jennie Ketcham, the former Penny Flame. [Violet Blue]

• Strife hits amid Prop 8 repeal effort? [BAR]

• This fake tree vortex is frightening fun. [Curbed]

• So long, Oprah. [Chicagoist]

• You too, French hors d'oeuvres dude. [SFBG]

• That's funny, because most everybody has had it with you, Meg Whitman. [SFGate]

• Some sort of gay anti-smoking rally happening tonight. [Examiner]

At a court hearing this afternoon in Oakland, Judge Morris Jacobson of Alameda County Superior Court decided to move the trial of Johannes Mehserle to Los Angeles in an effort to get a fair trail. Jacobson promised in September that the trial would move out of the area.

However, according to the Chron, "Los Angeles court officials said they would not be ready for the case to begin for at least six months, and more likely one year."

After Oscar Grant, 22, was shot to death by BART cop Mehserle on New Year's Day on the Fruitvale platform, Alameda County played host to numerous angry protests, condemnations by local leaders, BART meetings on awry, and other assorted disruptions of the peace.

Until then, Mehserle remains free on bail.

The phenomenal Dino-Ray Ramos met with Glitter star Padma Lakshmi, who visited Neiman Marcus SF recently, to talk about her new line of jewelry. The Top Chef hostess reveals -- at least! -- what the most beautiful part of a woman's body is. Discussing her new line of back necklaces, she informs Ramos, "The back is the most beautiful part of a women’s body, yet you never see it adorned." Until now! You can check out Lakshmi's pretty line of trinkets at www.padmalakshmi.com.

The well of comedy gold will run a bit drier as Carole Midgen announces that she will not run for the supervisor seat in D10 (Bayview-Hunters Point, Potrero Hill) when Sophie Maxwell terms out. "I don't envision this as a fit for me in the New Year ... I like where I live ... I have a good life," Migden tells SF Weekly's Will Harper. Alas.

After the 2008 departure of co-founding members Chris Ross and Myles Heskett, Australian hard rock group Wolfmother has reassembled itself and released a new album, Cosmic Egg. They're on tour and hitting the Fox in Oakland on Tuesday Monday (tickets still available here). Above, their new video for the single "New Moon Rising," which is not to be confused with the new Twilight movie, New Moon, or Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising."

For those of you who celebrate Christmas (not the "birth" of Jesus Christ and/or but the wildly festive gift-giving holiday), we have some disheartening news. The U.S. Postal Service planas to stop its popular Santa letter service, which began in 1954 in the Alaska town of North Pole, where residents volunteer to open and respond to "thousands of letters to Santa each year."

Why is the program coming to an end, you ask? Associated Press reports:

Last year, a postal worker in Maryland recognized an Operation Santa volunteer there as a registered sex offender. The postal worker interceded before the individual could answer a child's letter, but the Postal Service viewed the episode as a big enough scare to tighten rules in such programs nationwide.

Residents of North Pole, it goes without saying, are livid. "Losing the Santa-letter cache is a blow to the community of 2,100 people, who pride themselves on their Christmas ties," NPR reports. Huge tourist attractions here include an everything-Christmas store, Santa Claus House, and the post office, where visitors can get a hand-stamped postmark on their postcards and packages if they ask for it."

Other children from around the world, however, can still write to Santa.

"I can make a difference," Hammer said when speaking before the Rules Committee before receiving the nomination. He has pledged to keep police officers from acting as immigration officials, and said that he has no qualms standing up to the powerful Policeman's Association.

Should Hammer decide to run for DA next year -- if and when Kamala Harris vacates the position to become state's attorney general -- he has said he would resign the position if it presented a conflict. Previously, Hammer has served as a TV legal analyst for CNN and Fox News and he currently has a private law practice in the city.

In an city saturated with aggressively rustic food, these hors d'oeuvres are a refreshingly couture treat for any Thanksgiving spread. (We should point out that this is a dish SFist has praised in the past.) Plucked from Martha Stewart's Entertaining (also known as Entertaining: A Case Study in Hysteria and Paranoia), this recipe for snow peas stuffed with soft cheese is a simple and not-too-filling preface to a carb-heavy dinner.

Also, why do we sound so much like Giada De Laurentiis right now?

Anyway, enjoy.

Ingredients:

50 to 60 tender young snow peas
1/2 pound soft herbed cheese (e.g., St. Andre, Boursin, cream cheese)
Fresh mint (optional)

Directions:

Remove stem ends from snow peas, and blanch in a large pot of rapidly boiling water for 30 seconds. Plunge them immediately into ice cold water to preserve their bright green color.

With a small sharp knife, slit open the straight seam of each snow pea and pipe softened cheese into each one, using a small-tipped pastry tube, or spread with a small spatula.Garnish each pod with a tiny mint leaf just poking out at the top of each snow pea.

Makes 50 to 60 hors d'oeuvres

Editors tips:

- While the mint is optional, we highly recommend it for a good balance in taste, great presentation.
- In lieu of a pastry tube or spatula, we snip off the tip of a Zip-Loc baggie and use it as a makeshift pastry bag.
- Yes, it's a somewhat time consuming process, slicing open all those snow peas. But if you put in a DVD, plop down in front of the couch with a bowl of peas and a sharp knife, the times goes by right-quick.

While it was initially rumored that NBC might kill the ratings-challenged Trauma, word is NBC decided to pick up the medical/explosions show.

Deadline Hollywood reports:

On its first airing, the Peter Berg-produced Trauma drew just 6.9 million viewers and a 2.3 rating in the key 18-49 category. On the bright side, Trauma did build on its lackluster Heroes lead-in. Also, the reviews were disappointing, a backlash came from the Emergency Medical Services community, and a hefty pricetag made it one of NBC's most expensive new fall series. It's been so much on the bubble since its debut that it was declared DOA by blogs ... But I've learned that NBC has told the show this week the network not only will produce all 13 episodes from its current order but also order more. What helped to earn a pickup? A recent ratings rise.

Needs more Siebel, too, by the way. Bring her back.

So, um, great news, right? Does this mean you all want us to live-blog each episode? Whatever we can do to make it more palatable for you. Let us know in the comments.

[Hat tip: SFist commenter Joel.]

"Unmarked Police Car Picks Up An Escort On Sutter Street" by Troy Holden.

The Powell cable cars are down this morning after a delivery tuck accidentally rammed a lamp post, which then fell and smashed into a window at Game Stop at 151 Powell.

SFist talked to an employee at Game Stop who told us, "some idiot driving his deliver truck backed up into lamp post twice." Which broke their window.

Said employee said that the gaming store should be open by mid-afternoon. [Thanks for the tip, Anita!]

The Powell cable cars, MTA spokesperson Judson True tells SFist, are "up."

But it is happening, and here is a picture. Maybe now you will be able to get from downtown to the Western Addition in less than a half hour. [Hat tip: SF Citizen]

Tim Lincecum nabbed his second Cy Young Award in two years. This is what Lieberman is reporting, as is The Splash.

The first pitcher ever to win the Cy Young in his first two seasons in the majors -- the fourth National League pitcher to win consecutive Cy Youngs, along with Sandy Koufax, Greg Maddux, and Giants colleague Randy Johnson -- FanIQ says, "He also has arbitration coming soon, and I have a feeling he's going to get paid. A LOT."

Lincecum comes in ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, who scored second and third place slots, respectively.

Check out the voting results here.

Also, be sure to check out this All-Star photo tribute to Lincecum.

Update:Though Lincecum made a paltry $650,00 last season, Rich "Big Vinny" Lieberman, who talked to Lincecum's agent, reports that Timmy "could easily ask for over $15 million in arbitration from the Giants" after today's award announcement. Lincecum is eligible for arbitration in the 2010 season.

Merriam-Webster announced the 'Word of the 2009 ' today: admonish.

Admonish (ad-ˈmä-nish)
transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English admonesten, from Anglo-French amonester, from Vulgar Latin admonestare, alteration of Latin admonēre to warn, from ad- + monēre to warn
Date: 14th century

1 a : to indicate duties or obligations to b : to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner
2 : to give friendly earnest advice or encouragement to
3: duty of SFist commenters

"Admonish" was the most frequently looked up word in 2009. Runners up include emaciated,
empathy, furlough, and inaugurate.

Two vehicles had to be extinguished by firefighters this morning in the city's South of Market District. According to Appeal/BCN, "Units responded to Jessie and Sixth streets at around 5:15 a.m. to a report of a vehicle fire ... Two vehicles were found burned at the same location."

Chilling.

Speaking of which, some authorities claim that the recent spat of car fires in the city of Richmond and El Sobrante might be "psycho-sexually" driven.

"The psycho-sexual aspect of arson crimes really mirrors the psycho-sexual aspect of other sexual crimes. There’s an excitement phase and a plateau,” Richmond Police Detective Steve Harris explained. "And the reason arsonists tend to commit crimes when doing it for a psycho-sexual reason is that it allows them to regain control where they would otherwise feel powerless."

Harris has complied an arson list, one that works similar to the Megan's Law list, the database for registered sexual offenders.

Detective Harris claims that there's a "sense of euphoria" the arsonists feel after flicking their bics. "The excitement that leads to a plateau of euphoria when they're able to regain control. They're able to set all these things in motion and then able to stand back and watch what happens."

During a UC Regents meeting, students reportedly "stormed" and "took over" a building at UCLA on Wednesday. SF Chronicle reports that the "[s]tudents, furious at the increase that will bring their yearly fees above $10,000 for the first time, rushed the UCLA building where the regents were meeting, throwing food, sticks and vinegar-soaked red bandannas meant to look like blood."

A total of 12 students, the Daily Cal reports, were arrested.

As for today, a few students and faculty are still protesting outside the UC Office of the President.

Yesterday, if you recall, UC students put down their no. 2 pencils and books (students still use those, right?) and took to the streets to protest UC-wide fee increases.

Attendees can expect to find clothing, denim, sneakers, jewelry, street wear, accessories, bags, "cut n sew," new contemporary, and vintage, and many limited edition and one of a kind items. There will be live music performances, drink specials, door prizes, discounts, custom orders, and free style tips offered by the designers.

At 1 and 4 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, there will be a Fashion Fusion runway show, presenting some of the organizers' favorite clothing and accessory designers. There will also be a Style Lounge and a Big Photo Booth, as well as four Art Lounges and Galleries: 1. Artsprojekt.com's Live Art Lounge, 2. Tribe 13 Live Painting and New Work, 3. Design Your Own Tee with Sezio, and 4. Live Art Show and Sale presented by Art Now SF.

Guests can also recycle their clothes at Thread. Get $2 off the cover charge by bringing one bag of clean clothes to donate to charity. Or bring 10 items to the Clothing Swap, which happens from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each day, and go home with 5 items from someone else's stash. (The rest of your items will go to charity.) Check out the list of acceptable clothing for the swap at the bottom of this page.

Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Fort Mason Center, Festival Pavilion, Marina Blvd. and Buchanan St.
$8-10, RSVP online before Noon Friday (get $2 off with bag of donated clean clothes)

• UC Regents approve staggering 32% fee hike. [Daily Cal, CBS 5]

• What on earth is "business as usual" for Gavin Newsom? [SF Weekly]

• A chat with Tiësto, "The World's Biggest DJ." [SFBG]

• Sit around, kids, and let us tell you the magical fairy tale about people paying for online content. [Valleywag]

• Nominate your pick for hottest chef in the Bay Area. [Eater]

• Hamburger time. [Sex Pigeon]

• San Francisco is a dump. [Appeal]

• The only one to call 911 during the Richmond High School gang rape will be honored by city. [SFGate]

• Fallout from Richmond High School gang rape could lead to change in witness law. [NYT]

But every year, food and wine magazines and the food sections of newspapers around the nation revisit this topic, and each year there seems to be a new trend or the beginning of a new consensus about What To Drink With Thanksgiving Dinner. Some (us included) stick to Zinfandel, because a good bottle has got all the hearty fruit and spice to stand up to the various earthy flavors of the holiday. This year in Bon Appétit, the recommendation is all Spanish -- Rioja reds and Albariño whites -- because these wines seem especially suited to cutting through the fat of the meal. Gourmet on the other hand (in their *sniff* final issue ever), highlights Alsace Gewürztraminers for a Pennsylvania Dutch-inspired menu, and Napa Valley Syrahs for a Southern-style menu.

Today, SFist brings you a mini-guide with a few suggestions from Peter Eastlake, proprietor of Vintage Berkeley:

For Thanksgiving, with that tsunami of flavors on the table, you want a user-friendly wine with minimal oak and a nice balance of fruit and acid to make the peace. We've got a couple wines in the store that stand out at me as really fun choices for the holiday -- and three of these come in unconventionally large sizes, perfect for big groups so you don't kill the bottle after pouring five glasses.

Morgan Peterson at Bedrock Wine Co. has a liter jug of a red blend called Sherman & Hooker's Shebang ($16). It's what the farmers used to call "mixed blacks," which is a blend of all the dark grapes on a vineyard including Zin, Carignane, and Syrah. It takes its inspiration from Preston's jug wine that they sell only on Sundays -- and Morgan's dad is Joel Peterson who started Ravenswood, so he knows a thing or two about blending grapes. The wine screams not to take it too seriously, and it's got great balance.

Kermit Lynch imports an Alsatian white blend that I think is really cool. Meyer-Fonné Edelzwicker 2008 ($16 for a liter) -- it's a blend of everything they grow, Riesling, Sylvaner, Muscat -- it's a great, apple-y, juicy, balanced blend that will go great with dinner or dessert.

Bubbles always work -- they can pretty much go in any direction with food. There's one that we've really enjoyed: the Crémant d'Alsace Rosé from Allimant-Laugnier ($45 for 1.5 liter magnum).

Recognizing that Zinfandel is always a good fit for Thanksgiving, there's a Zin-like bottle from down in the Santa Ynez Valley: the 2007 Dolcetto from Palmina Winery ($16.50 for a 750ml) -- it's kind of leaner and zestier than a Zin but with all those pretty fruit flavors of raspberry and black cherry that we associate with Zin. It's a little more balanced with some better acid than a lot of California Zins, and has a more moderate alcohol so you don't fall face-first into your mashed potatoes.

PREVIOUSLY: Good Trader Joe's Wines Under $8
Astrale e Terra Winery
Quivira Vineyards
Loxton Cellars
Hess Collection
Preston of Dry Creek
Cline Cellars
Wine Apps for the iPhone/iPod Touch

Frank Chu and the "Jesus Loves You" guy seem to get all of the crazy-loon-with-crazier-sign attention. It's just not fair So, here's a shot of the sign that the guy at Powell and Market, near the cable car turnaround, has by his side screams "damned whore, repent!" at passersby.

While he's a hateful creature -- if someone knows his name, please let us know -- his sign is the most aesthetically pleasing one in San Francisco.

Update: his name is Owen Bias. And his sign is nothing short of magic.

Bolcom won multiple Grammies, a Pulitzer, the National Medal of Arts and teaches composition at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where we reached him at his home. We chatted about his partnership with NCCO fiery Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, about his upcoming world premiere with her next spring, about the "Bolcom Meets Strauss" program this week and about the French composers he studied with, Darius Milhaud and Olivier Messiaen. And while Bolcom is as American as apple pie, born in Seattle, earning a doctorate from Stanford, he floored us by conducting half of this interview, with the same charming volubility, in an impeccable French acquired during his studies at the Conservatoire de Paris.

How did you engage in a partnership with the NCCO?

To start with, in the mid-nineties, I wrote a sonata for Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, who leads the NCCO. We had a very good time, it was a sonata for violin and piano and I was commissioned to write it for her. We actually premiered it together, it's number three of my four violin sonatas, and it's been done fairly often. Actually right here in Ann Arbor, a couple of people will be doing it at the end of the month. It's been recorded several times, and so on. It's a piece I much enjoyed doing. I was very interested in writing for Nadja, she has a very strong, fiery personality. She's very identifiable when she plays, which is not always true talking about other violinists. They tend to be rather interchangeable, but Nadja, you know right away: it's her. Which is one of the reasons I enjoyed working with her, and we had a great time. And I guess she was happy about commissioning something else. I'm hoping she will be playing the solo part. I had the idea of a piece for string orchestra, which is the core of the New Century.

I've worked before with the string orchestras. One of them is the Stuttgart, Germany, orchestra, when it was handled by Dennis Russell-Davies, a very old friend of mine and a wonderful conductor, with whom I've worked for years and years, actually from the 60s on, and he did all my three operas. Dennis conducted them all for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. I enjoyed working with Nadja before, and when they asked for a piece, I thought "how terrific, I'll write a piece for Nadja and the strings." That's how that whole piece came about.

I certainly had the idea of a very lyrical piece. There is 19th century form called "romanza," which is not necessarily a form, but kind of a mood. Many of the great classical composers wrote them, and I wanted to do something in that tradition.

So you have the piece already mapped out?

Not only the piece is written, it has been engraved, I approved the score. Once I knew what I going to do, it came rather quickly.

This week's piece is titled Serenata Notturna for Oboe & String. Why the Italian title?

This piece I wrote for the oboist Richard Woodhams. He is the principal oboist in the Philadelphia orchestra and one of world's greatest oboists. So I wrote it for him and for the Guarneri Quartet, a famous quartet who just did their last year of touring a year or two ago. There's also a version for String Orchestra, and that will be the premiere of that version with the New Century.

The Serenata Notturna and the Romanza: they have one thing in common, they very much invoke the early 19th century romantic atmosphere. In recent years, I've fallen into that style. That's probably why the Italian name. Actually, there's a Serenata Notturna by Mozart (which is not the same thing as eine kleine Nachtmusik). A night serenade, the whole idea of nocturnes, that is something that is quite common in early 19th century. John Field, an English composer took that idea, and then Chopin wrote his nocturnes. It's very classical, early 19th century. Both the Romanza and the Seranata Nocturna have a classical, early 19th century feel about it. Why? Because I felt like doing it!

The concert is headlined: Bolcom meets Strauss.

Richard Strauss won't be able to show up, he died in 1948.

Is this a musical meeting of sort. Is there a reason for the pairing?

I did not know that. Why not? There are lot of wonderful pieces by Strauss. The chamber music, besides the big operas, the big orchestra pieces, there are a lot of very large chamber orchestra pieces. I don't know which one, I have seen the program, but I've forgotten.

It's Metamorphosen.

Oh yeah, that one is all strings. That is a very dark one, he wrote it toward the end of his life. This was a lament for what had happened to Germany. He wrote it in the forties. During the whole Hitler era, he was in Germany, somehow protected, but very unhappy about the situation. I think he did what he could to help people out, but he did not dare to go against the regime. He saw what happened to his country, what had happened to Austria, what had happened to whole German people, which had become rather horrifying. So the Metarmophosen is a very sad funeral march, although it's also much more lyrical. It alludes to the slow movement of Beethoven's 5th symphony, the funeral march for the death of a hero. That gets quoted at the end of the piece. It's a very sad piece, what happened to the destruction of a culture, really.

That darkness echoes with your nocturnal piece?

Maybe they chose the program because that one is dark, and mine is light. Mine is light and pretty and maybe it is a good contrast. Mine is full of tunes. It's a classical night piece, but not a dark piece. There are a couple passages that are a little dramatic, but most of it really is, and was meant to be, purely to enjoy. Metamorphosen is kind of a heart-breaker, you can see this man is very ambivalent about his life. It's a powerful piece, it's a little scary at first. It's like he's saying goodbye to his whole culture. That's the way I read it when I first heard it. I was struck by that. He was aware of the situation, and I don't know how he felt about his own complicity with it. It's a hard thing to know how to deal with. I'm sure Strauss was quite sad at the end of his life.

You studied composition with Darius Milhaud, whose music is full of humor, and Messiaen, who's way more austere.

Messiaen was terrible that way. He was a wonderful man, but I had a funny time with him. I have a funny story about him. [at this point, Bolcom asks us if we're French, and starts speaking in an amazingly beautiful, perfect French which he learned during his study at the Paris Conservatory and has kept in excellent shape since. From this point on, you are reading a translation of his French]

I was in his class at the Conservatory, which was every week, three times three hours. We were there basically the whole day. One day, he played piano with his wife, well not his wife yet, his wife was still alive in an asylum somewhere, but his next wife, Yvonne Loriot. For someone who loved birds so much, it's funny he married someone named Loriot [Oriole in English]. So they were playing a big piece for two pianos, Visions de l'Amen. And Messiaen said, with gravitas: "there are three divine species in the world, there are angels, there are saints, and there are birds. The angels are the highest form of Virtue. The saints are the best of the men. The birds, I love them because they are so small.

Milhaud and Messiaen have very different music. How much could you tell about their music from their personalities?

It's a great mystery. There are always cases where there is no connection between someone's personality and what he produces. There are cases where a great composer is also a bad person, like Wagner. I don't know if you read Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Le Voyage au bout de la Nuit (Journey to the end of the night). It's extraordinary, but he was a Nazi, an anti-Semitic person, he helped the Nazis in Paris. And at the same time he was a physician. But it's a great book. How do you solve such a problem?

You started composing in the 50s...[and he interrupted us here before we could actually ask our question].

Oh, that's what's written about me in the Grove dictionary. When I was young, I dabbled in many styles. There are aspects of dodecaphonism that I still find useful. In the US and in Europe, we felt the need to break things up after WWII. The past was the root of all the evil that we visited on this world. We all made silly things, horrible things, there are no exception. What to do? So we blamed romanticism, we blamed classical music, we blamed Wagner for the Nazis. The idea was to find a music without history, without a past, to start over from scratch, as in Edith Piaf's song. And we were very taken by this idea.

I was raised in Washington State in the US, so I was not touched by this until I went to Europe. Then, there was Pierre Boulez, Stockhausen, and Berio, I found this fascinating and very fresh. The alternative, back then, when Stravinsky gave a concert at the Conservatoire in 1948 with his neo-classical music, he was booed, there were demonstrations against him. It had been arranged, I believe, by Boulez and Stockhausen. The point is that back then, neo-classicism was dead. We had to go in another direction.

The best way to negate history was to find a system like dodecaphonism. There are useful things in this system, as in any system. There are always influences of mathematics in music from almost every cultures.

In the 50s, one needed a lot of courage to not write in that style. There was a lot of pressure from the other students. In Milhaud's class, there were Bouletists, there was a bit of everything. He cherished independent people. I was in a sense independent, but I was fascinated by the potential of all these musics. In the later years of my life, I moved away from that style.

Will you be here for the performances?

I will be there for the premiere in May, and the very same week, I made a melody for string quartet and baritone, which will be performed at Stanford, where I got my doctorate in '64. So I'll definitely be there.

Today, SFAppeal's Eve Batey and SFist editor Brock Keeing join wonk scribe Chris Roberts to chat about City Hall and current (as of now, we think) San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. It'll be a hoot. Hopefully.

Be sure to ask us loads of questions, inappropriate or otherwise.

See you at 4. Check it out after the jump.

Emergency_In_SF reports a blaze in happening in Bernal Heights. "Fire on the top floor of a 3-story residence at Peralta and Esmeralda near Bernal Heights [Park]. SFFD on scene."

YouTube character Gay Carrington is, near as we can tell, a stoner transsexual puppet who occasional chimes in to talk to her fans in Old Hollywood-style English about her moods, pets, and experiences. She posted the above "kaleido-vision" video "while resting up" for her next real video, but we think it's positively brilliant. It stars her cat, Christina "Mooks" Carrington, and as far as stoner YouTubery goes, it's the tops. Enjoy.

Bento415's regular menu currently offers four lunch boxes: The Mission Bento (Latin), North Beach Bento (Italian), Chinatown Bento (Asian), and Haight Bento (Vegetarian). Download their menu.

After tomorrow, Bento415 will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday. They also offer delivery to SOMA, Potrero Hill, Dogpatch, and The Mission with 24-hour advance notice and a 10-box minimum.

Bento415 Grand Opening
Thursday, November 19
300 De Haro St. Suite 342
Breakfast: 7:30 a.m.
Lunch: 11:30 a.m.

"Pier 14" by Troy Holden.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. (Can you feel the collective nervousness of the turkeys? That's the feeling of flavor!) And until next Thursday, SFist will post recipes we would love for you to use, if the mood should strike, for your Thanksgiving feast. What's more, some of the recipes will be brought to you by local chefs of note! Hopefully.

First up? This bone-shatteringly savory and fulfilling Wild Mushroom Bread Pudding with Cambazola we poached from Tante Marie Cooking School (The recipe, we should point out, was adapted from a 1998 issue of Fine Cooking.) Your SFist editor has prepared this dish for dinner guests well over a couple dozen times. So will you.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons butter
2 cups finely chopped onion
1 1/2 pounds mushrooms, sliced (chanterelle, crimini, shitake, oyster, etc.)
2 teaspoons minced fresh marjoram
1/2 cup Madeira wine (fortified red wine; red wine substitution acceptable)
1 1/4 cups beef stock (beef broth substitution acceptable)
1 cup heavy cream or crème fraîche
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
9 ounces Italian country bread (e.g., pugliese) cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 6 cups), dried
9 ounces cambozola cheese (rind trimmed), cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, season with salt and pepper and cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes. Remove onions and set aside. In the same pan, heat another tablespoon of butter and add half of the mushroom along with 1/2 teaspoon of the marjoram and a sprinkle of salt. Cook over medium heat until mushrooms are browned and all liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Set aside with onions. Repeat with remaining mushrooms. When the second batch of mushrooms are cooked, combine all mushrooms and onions in skillet. Add Madeira. Cook over, sirring frequently, over medium-high heat until liquid evaporates and mixture is a rich brown, about 5 minutes; cool.

In large bowl, whisk together beef stock, cream, eggs, egg yolks, thyme, and remaining teaspoon of marjoram and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Add bread and mushroom mixture; toss. Let stand for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, to saturate bread. Gently stir in cheese. Pour bread mixture into a baking dish. Bake in 350°F. oven until lightly browned and firm, about 40 to 45 minutes.

Makes 8-10 servings

Editor's tips:

- A blue cheese, like gorgonzola, may be substituted for the cambozola.
- We highly recommend using beef stock, but vegetable stock can be substituted for those of you with restrictive diets.
- Do not add walnuts to this dish. Walnuts will ruin the flavor. Walnuts are disgusting and an easy way out. Please stop putting walnuts in Thanksgiving Day stuffing, people.

In our city of liberal political correctness, the David Mamet play at American Conservatory Theater has been enough of a hit to score an extended run. It's timely (big hint: the title), and it's set right before Thanksgiving, when the president traditionally pardons the national turkey that's facing the death penalty.

Mamet's president, Charles Smith, seems a lot like George W. Bush: ready to invade far-off lands, ranking low in the polls and willing to dispatch problem people on secret flights to Bulgaria.

But the gleefully corrupt, lame duck Smith, who sees potential to squeeze campaign donations out of everyone and everything, is meant to represent the presidential office and money-driven politics more than the Republican Party or right-wing presidents. An ACT article in the play program cites a Village Voice essay by Mamet (entitled "Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'") in which the playwright says he discovered that Bush's faults "whom I, a good liberal, considered a monster--were little different from those of a president whom I revered," i.e., JFK.

So the play spins off to skewer folks of all types and persuasions, believers in sacred cows, taboo pigs and national turkeys included. Presidential speech writer Clarice Bernstein, a lefty lesbian trying to turn her wedding into a televised media event, picks up her boss' wheeling-dealing skills. None of the characters is particularly noble.

The president's jaded chief of staff has one of the best lines--he reminds Smith that his approval rating is lower than Gandhi's cholesterol. The humor's not gut-busting, but Mamet's play has some easy laughs without deep intellect. Catch November before it ends on the 22nd.

* For tickets or more information, check ACT's website.

* Probe Mamet's brain further in his Village Voice essay.

November Laughs originally appeared on About.com San Francisco on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 16:58:45.

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Coldwell Banker's national survey of 2,200-square foot homes finds that La Jolla is the most expensive place in the US: A four-bedroom pad there costs an average of $2.12 million. San Francisco's four-bedrooms are practically cheap by comparison, at (only) $1.36 million.

SF is (only) the 6th most expensive place in the country. Neighbor Palo Alto is 4th, and San Mateo 10th.

Our state, in fact, is quite a stand-out. Of the 10 costliest markets in the country, only two (Greenwich, CT, ranked 3rd, and Boston, 7th) are outside California. The Golden State also boasts the biggest price gap, a nearly $1.96 million difference between La Jolla's four-bedrooms and Lancaster's (a steal at $165,205).

An even bigger steal is Grayling, MI, which Coldwell Banker calls "the most affordable market in America"--you can swoop up the same sized house for a mere $112,675.

Where does NYC fit? The study excludes Manhattan because of its lack of sprawling single-family homes.

Real Estate, Take II originally appeared on About.com San Francisco on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 02:18:32.

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For the Bay Area as a whole, the median price paid in September was $365,000, about 9 percent lower than the price a year earlier, MDA DataQuick says. State-wide, the median price was $251,000, down 11.3 percent from September 2008.

Rent continues to decline. San Francisco rent--which averages $2,270 a month--has dropped 5.6 percent during the past year, says the SF Chronicle, citing a real estate report.

That's of little solace to tenants, though, who've faced a 26.4 percent surge in rent over the last four years.

Real Estate: The Price of Living in Paradise originally appeared on About.com San Francisco on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 23:51:52.

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The Daily Beast news website's survey examined the per capita college and grad school degrees, nonfiction book sales, universities and voter turnout in 55 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations of at least 1 million. Raleigh-Durham, N.C. was the smartest, with an IQ of 170.

But the ratings came with a mind-blowing conclusion: The Bay Area fell short of Raleigh-Durham "because of a relatively low score in political engagement," according to the news site run by former New Yorker editor Tina Brown. The Beast admits its methodology is "flawed" and plans to refine it--maybe next time it should check out our persistent sidewalk petition-signature solicitors, letters to the editors and Civic Center rallies.

SF's Braininess, Part II originally appeared on About.com San Francisco on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 23:42:29.

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We're the best city in the U.S. to visit, according to the Condé Nast Traveler's 2009 Readers' Choice Awards.

Actually, nothing new here; this is the 17th year in a row that the magazine's readers have awarded this title to SF. Our restaurants are a big factor, but we also rate high in atmosphere/ambiance, culture and sights, friendliness, accommodation and shopping.

After us come Charleston, S.C.; Santa Fe, N.M.; New York; and Chicago.

--For Brains, or Brain Studies

In neurotechnology (the study of the cranium and nervous system), the Bay Area is the world's leader, ahead of such rivals as Boston, New York, London and Los Angeles.

The Neurotechnology Industry Organization (NIO)'s ranking considers a place's neuroscience-centric companies, local risk capital and related infrastructure (universities, hospitals, research institutions).  Neuroscience is big business; nearly 2 billion people worldwide suffer from neurological disease and mental illness, NIO says.

Naysayers might grumble that SF had a home-team advantage, though, because NIO is based here.

We're Hot Stuff originally appeared on About.com San Francisco on Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 23:14:04.

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If the Chinese poet got past the Exclusion Act and into the country, he'd find other racist laws preventing him from owning property and marrying whites.

California has now formally apologized to the poet and tens of thousands of other Chinese. The state legislature adopted a resolution expressing deep regret for the persecution of Chinese immigrants who worked the gold mines and were recruited to build the Transcontinental Railroad starting in the mid-1800s. Other ethnic groups resented the Chinese, who were willing to accept less pay, and the outrage led to anti-Chinese riots and the passage of the Exclusion Act.

About 175,000 Chinese, mostly male, were detained for an average of three weeks at Angel Island Immigration Station, which operated from 1910 until 1940. The majority was eventually allowed into San Francisco, about two miles away, but some Chinese were held on the island for months and even years. Many detainees wrote or carved their thoughts on the barrack walls, and thanks to a meticulous restoration effort, about 200 poems are legible. The barracks and other facilities, closed during the multi-year restoration, were reopened a few months ago for public tours.

Assemblyman Paul Fong (D-Cupertino), whose grandfather was held at Angel Island for two months, co-sponsored the California bill. He's taking it to the next level, proposing that Congress officially apologize for the Chinese Exclusion Act--the only federal law to prohibit immigration purely based on race.

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Hanging next to each other are two photos shot in California. One, by Dorothea Lange, is of a weary mother and her bedraggled young children in 1939; the second shows migrant farm workers in 2005 living in a tent on a dirt hill. The clothing has changed, but otherwise the photos aren't that different.

Although the exhibit includes dark shades and woodblock printing that convey somberness and tragedy, Jane "In Vain" Winkelman uses eye-popping colors and animation-like drawing in showing desperation turned into nothing-to-lose outrage. "Feed the Poor or We'll Eat the Rich!" is the chant of the crowd in one of her paintings. Winkelman began learning art in a Tenderloin training program when she was homeless.

San Francisco artist Jos Sances says he occasionally parodies Thomas Kinkade's work. His Holiday Home looks like a Kinkade, depicting a Christmastime house party glowing with old-fashioned cheer--except for the hunched figure pushing a shopping cart in the foreground. And Sances says the doors in the painting, ala an Advent calendar, cover subliminal messages. Once you see them, though, they're difficult to forget.

Hobos to Street People is a multi-layered message that'll cause you to think. It runs through Aug. 15.

The Art of Homelessness originally appeared on About.com San Francisco on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 20:03:37.

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The ranking is based on criteria such as the number and enforcement of anti-homeless laws in the city (e.g., prohibiting eating or sitting in public areas) and the city's "general political climate" toward homeless people. LA tops the mean list. Berkeley is No. 10.

In the report by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless, San Francisco is criticized for energetically citing people for blocking sidewalks, camping and drinking in public, which the organizations say is costly and ineffective. From 2004 to March 2008, San Francisco spent about $9.8 million to issue 56,500 such "quality of life" citations that targeted homeless people--money that would've been better spent on housing, detox programs or counseling, the study says.

In a similar survey three years ago, San Francisco was No. 11 of the 20 meanest cities. But we're not the only ones who've become less friendly: Nationwide since 2006, there has been an 11% increase in prohibitions against loitering and a 7% increase in prohibitions against "camping."

Are we that uncharitable? Does our relatively balmy weather and open-to-all reputation attract disproportionately more homeless people than the city can handle--whether hospitably or inhospitably? If so, then what? What do you think?

SF Ranked 7th Meanest Toward Homeless originally appeared on About.com San Francisco on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 19:46:40.

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