Two of the most telling moments in HBO's new series Girls come at the end of the first episode. After being denied further monetary assistance by her parents, 24-year old Hannah, played by show creator Lena Dunham, leaves their Manhattan hotel, pocketing a $20 tip left for the maid. (She later uses it to buy gourmet ice cream.) » Read More

Last year, things seemed to be going well for Eric Victorino. His group the Limousines, already a Bay Area favorite and a breakout alt-radio success, was invited to tour the United States and then Europe with the Sounds. He had two acclaimed books of poetry under his belt, and yet another outlet as an artist whose gritty, punk-rock-style drawings were in demand. » Read More

In Palo Alto, about a century ago, a man named Lee de Forest invented the three-element vacuum tube. With his typical sense of poetry, he named it "the Audion.' Superseded by other advances in amplification, the device exists, when it does, in those high-end tube amps that electric guitarists purchase. » Read More

After four years touring with the celebrated alt-bluegrass band Crooked Still, fiddler Brittany Haas is cutting back to essentials in order to discover her own musical identity. The Menlo Park native set down deep roots in Boston's burgeoning acoustic music scene, working with a wide array of innovative string players since graduating from Princeton in 2009. » Read More

Historical re-enactors Margie and Gideon discover love and meaning to life in playwright Carly Mensch's hilarious, but sweet relationship comedy set in New York's Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Now Circa Then makes its West Coast premiere at the Lucie Stern Theatre presented by TheatreWorks. » Read More

A tattoo can be described as a work of art that speaks to you so completely that you feel it must become a part of you. As the new show "Indelibly Yours: Smith Andersen Editions and the Tattoo Project" demonstrates, the nature of that art is as different as its wearers. » Read More

The bay area used to be a second home for Scott Hamilton. In the mid-'70s, the brawny-toned tenor saxophonist signed to Concord Records and helped revitalize acoustic jazz at a time when young lions like Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard were still unknown cubs. » Read More

James Curtis' monumental (in length at least) biography examines the life of an actor who specialized in "pillar of strength." Spencer Tracy was homely and often portly, but he was the embodiment of fortitude. And he was a nimble, if craggy, light comedian. » Read More

Walker Evans' indelible photos of the Depression have acquired a nostalgia factor, a cruel thing to happen to work made in protest. Today, the pictures of pine-walled cabins and farmers of seemingly untouchable integrity hit you like a Johnny Cash song. The fascination has to be something more than a longing for purity, orderliness and hand-made objects » Read More

South First Fridays Art Walk makes its 2012 debut in the SoFA district with a mix of contemporary and traditional artwork, live music and other entertainment. Several downtown San Jose galleries and businesses open their doors to the public for free during the evening event that starts at 7pm Friday. » Read More

Every few days, it seems, some "family values" politician is caught sleeping with an intern, soliciting sex in a restroom or asking his second wife for an open marriage. What boggles the mind, besides the hypocrisy involved, is how these men can engage in behavior that they know could destroy their careers. » Read More

Neuroscience has not been kind to the concept of free will. In recent years, the field has given us a picture of the conscious mind that isn't very flattering-it often looks to be quite an underachiever compared to the unconscious mind, and it's also disturbingly willing to take credit for work it didn't do. » Read More

During the holiday season, one finds time to reflect on the things that matter in life. Recent protests can provide a stark reminder. Artists in China and Egypt are challenging conservative power structures through the mere gesture of photographing themselves naked and posting the images online. China's Ai Weiwei has riled Communist authorities by posting in a nude photo. » Read More

Ah, Nevermind. Although the Pixies' Trompe le Monde, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' BloodSugarSexMagik and A Tribe Called Quest's The Low End Theory were all released on the same day in 1991 as Nirvana's breakthrough album, only Nevermind received the 20th-anniversary box-set treatment this year. » Read More

Cartoonist Art Spiegelman's new book MetaMaus is a series of literary concentric rings around his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, which was originally published between the years 1977 and 1991. These are conceivably Spiegelman's last words on the subject. He has been drawing "tragics" (as opposed to comics) about the Nazi death camps ever since a three-pager in a San Francisco underground comic in 1972. » Read More

English author Stephen Cavalier seems to be emulating Robert Sklar's now-indispensable World History of Film, and as such, his book The World History of Animation divides that history into three parts, just as Sklar does with movies. Rather than "silent, sound and digital," Cavalier prefers "studio, television and digital." » Read More

As an essential creative force in the Bay Area's Latin jazz scene, Wayne Wallace knows all about the power of a beat or a melody to evoke a forgotten world. The trombonist, arranger, educator and bandleader has spent the past quarter-century investigating the deep cultural currents flowing between West Africa and the Americas in a wide array of musical settings. » Read More

For all his years in California, composer Henry Mollicone has never completely lost his New England accent or his boyish sense of wonder and discovery. Indeed, despite all the sophistication of his music, he can still seem a little self-conscious and slightly mystified at how to cultivate fresh support for his next big musical idea. » Read More

At its peak, the Conficker Worm had control of at least 8 million computers. Conficker didn't steal credit card numbers; it quietly took over computers and waited for instructions. You wouldn't know it, but your computer would be a part of an army: a botnet that could be used for fraud, spam or a coordinated assault that could not only take down any website in the world but the entire Internet itself. In the fall of 2008, it was just waiting for instructions. » Read More

The ambitious multimedia collaboration between Frans Lanting and Philip Glass, Life, that premiered at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2006, is finally returning to the Bay Area after stops in New York, London, Italy, Mexico and elsewhere. Glass' score will be performed Saturday at the Flint Center in Cupertino by Symphony Silicon Valley under the direction of conductor Carolyn Kuan for a concert produced by UC–Santa Cruz titled "Evolutionary/Revolutionary." » Read More

After more than 25 years as a go-to guitarist in the Santa Cruz music scene, it's safe to say that Bill Walker loves to jam. He's hit the highest highs of collaborating with other musicians, since way back when he and his brother Rick played in one of that scene's most famous bands, Tao Chemical. » Read More

Neal Stephenson occupies a unique place in the world of literature. He writes extremely smart and obscenely long novels about science, history, philosophy and mathematics. And not only does he manage to get these things published, but somehow they always become bestsellers. » Read More

Craig Thompson, who is appearing at Lee's Comics this week and also at the Alternative Press Exposition in San Francisco is a major talent of the graphic-novel field. Thompson's Good-bye Chunky Rice (1999) mixes tales of funny animals with seriousness that keeps it from being precious. As for Blankets (2003)—it's not cute, it's acute. » Read More

Fashion week is a global celebration of couture that's been a part of the cultural landscape for several decades, but it's never really had a presence in San Jose-until now. Having participated in the popular Fashion's Night Out events earlier in the week, Santana Row hosted a fall fashion runway show on Saturday that showcased items from boutiques in the shopping center, keeping pace with fashion week's label-oriented reputation by focusing on higher-end designers. » Read More

The Arts in Silicon Valley seemingly sprint at full bore year-round these days, but the arrival of fall does herald the arrival of performing "seasons"-from the opera to the symphony to the many stage companies in the valley. » Read More

THEATREWORKS, whose musical version of Emma was favorably reviewed in 2007, now presents a sumptuous production of another Jane Austen classic. Sense and Sensibility, adapted by British writers Roger Parsley and Andy Graham, opened Saturday night in its stateside premiere. » Read More

Five world-class taiko drum ensembles from around the country will convene at Stanford University on Aug. 20 for the North American Taiko Conference and Taiko Jam 2011. The event, sponsored by the L.A.-based Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, offers audiences a rare opportunity to glimpse an art form that is more than 1,000 years old. » Read More

After practically disappearing from the face of the Earth, the funniest man alive is making a comeback. And considering that Dave Chappelle was just six years ago the most popular and visible comedian of his generation, he's done it in a way nobody expected: with tiny club shows announced at the spur of the moment-usually the same day as the show-a lot of them right here in the Bay Area. » Read More

The electronic book as envisioned by makes of the Kindle, the Nook and other digital platforms offers a measure of convenience at the expense of the visual pleasures of typographic design and the tactile joy of good laid paper that can be riffled with the fingers. » Read More

According to the old stereotypes, Tillery should be impossible. A supergroup bringing together three of jazz's most creative vocalists, songwriters and bandleaders, the project defies all the tired assumptions about the egos and insecurities of female jazz singers. » Read More

Luke, you are my fodder: Charlie Ross could say this if he ever met a certain intergalactic hero. During 2,000 shows on four continents, Ross has condensed the entire shuddering mass of the first three Star Wars films into his One-Man Star Wars Trilogy. » Read More

In a time when artists are encouraged to brand themselves—to find a marketing niche and stick with it—Cheyanne Payne's approach to creating comes as a bit of a revelation. An artist whose work is constantly evolving and whose personal style and art are seamlessly connected, the eccentric and exuberant Payne embraces artistic multidimensionality and allows her self-expression to move as it pleases. » Read More

The word 'landscape' makes most people think one of several things: a panoramic view of a city skyline or a mountain range; a dreamy Romantic painting; one's own front yard and the lawn that needs mowed. Concrete and expansive, landscapes typically offer the viewer something distant and real-a sight to be taken in from afar. » Read More

Consider the odd predicament of Iranian classical musicians. Heirs to a glorious and supremely sophisticated tradition with roots stretching back to Persia's pre-Islamic Sassanian Dynasty, they are barely tolerated at home, where the clerical government looks upon any nonsectarian expression with grave suspicion. » Read More

Robert Redford came from a typical 1930s L.A. background, where the oil business met Christian Science. We learn in Michael Feeney's new biography that Redford ran with a gang of Santa Monica JDs. Later, he flunked out of the University of Colorado. These misdeeds serve the same purpose as the subcutaneous cysts on Redford's face in Nora Ephron's description: They're there to keep him from looking too handsome. » Read More

It was a strange sight outside the Children's Discovery Museum on a showery Wednesday morning: the nearly 1-ton Colombian mammoth replica lying on its right side as workers attached its four 100-pound legs. Mamu, as she's affectionately called, had just completed her journey from Blue Rhino Studio in Minnesota. Once the legs were attached, a crane lifted her off her side and lowered her 15-foot body into place on the museum's north side. » Read More

Gertrude Stein lived briefly in San Jose, when she was a young girl in the late 1870s, before her family moved to Oakland—not long enough, thankfully, for her to do to us what she did (unintentionally) to Oakland when she quipped, "There is no there there." She was famed as an eccentric, an oracle and sometimes a joke. It took years before she was celebrated as a writer for finding the pulse of a sentence, making music from repetition just as Philip Glass does. » Read More