48 Hills | Independent daily San Francisco news + culture

Save 20% on SF International Arts Festival tickets!

Here's the code to get you into the boundary-crossing blast, Wed/29-May 10, at a discount.

Promotion Marke B. - April 28, 2026

Michael Jackson and Prince deserve better

Sanitized blockbuster 'Michael' and estate-quashed Prince doc rob us of nuanced, imaginative, and true portraits of the pop giants.

Movies John-Paul Shiver - April 28, 2026

Drama Masks: ‘Hamnet’ is gorgeous, but how was Shakespeare’s sausage made?

Plus: 'Bloodlines' promises resistance, and SF Ballet's techno AI blockbuster 'Mere Mortals' returns, trailing cultural import.

Stage Review Charles Lewis III - April 28, 2026

Beyond Butoh: inkBoat’s ‘Clouds from a Crumbling Giant’ reaches past genres

At SF International Arts Fest, storied local dance company takes collaborative approach to crossing borders of life.

Dance Aimée Ts'ao - April 28, 2026

Onstage

The world is large! 8 must-sees at SF International Arts Fest

Lou Fancher - April 27, 2026

Korean tango, Canadian food prep cirque, improv hip-hop, deconstructed drag, a 'Lesbitarian Church,' more from border-erasing event.

Crime

Jury acquits man who spent 18 months in jail while DA delayed giving evidence to his lawyer

JJ Lansing and Tim Redmond - April 27, 2026

In yet another case, DA Jenkins loses after questions arise about evidence and ethics

Music

RIP, MTT: Read our 2012 review of the Maestro making a fruit smoothie onstage

Marke B. - April 26, 2026

SF Symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas passed last week, but left a legacy of avant-garde 'American Maverick' treasures.

The Agenda

Pushing back against a radical move to change SF’s housing and drug policy

Tim Redmond - April 26, 2026

Chen calls budget hearing to address the importance of 'housing first.' That's The Agenda for April 26-May 3

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Joffrey Ballet plunged into bizarre and wondrous ‘Midsummer’s Night Dream’

Stage Review Lou Fancher - April 25, 2026

Gags, puns, allusions, and bodies flew as storied company literally made hay with beloved fantasia.

At ‘Passing the Torch,’ KCSM literally schooled the crowd in jazz

Music Review Tom Molanphy - April 24, 2026

Storied station's Jazz Appreciation Month tribute showcased refreshingly human high school, college, and pro talent.

Under the Stars: OM Records announces 30-year Embarcadero blast

Music John-Paul Shiver - April 24, 2026

Plus: Shabazz Palaces hit the parsecs, Hollie Cook wows in dub, Jeff Parker bounces back, Altın Gün pays tribute, more music

The brutal Lurie budget: Cuts for everyone except the cops and the very rich

City Hall Tim Redmond - April 23, 2026

Mayor's Office admits that its budget will harm vulnerable communities while pouring vast sums of money into law enforcement

What if Tom Steyer wasn’t a billionaire any more?

Humor Joel Schechter - April 23, 2026

If he gave away most of his fortune to good causes in the next few weeks, he could say he's not just a rich guy running for governor.

Screen Grabs: SFFILM Fest hits 69. Nice.

Movies Dennis Harvey - April 23, 2026

11 days of global visions, including Boots Riley's latest, a Kid Koala cartoon, and 'The Empire Strikes Back.' Plus: 'I Swear,' 'The Blue Trail,' more

BIG WEEK: Dahlia Sale, Shipyard Open Studios, Foglifter, GUSH fest, ‘Broadway Baby’…

Big Week Marke B. - April 23, 2026

'Mere Mortals,' Black Gold Sun, SFFILM Fest, 'The Celluloid Closet,' Paranoid London, more to do this week!

Alleluia Panis traces a notoriously racist miscarriage of justice through dance

Dance Marke B. - April 22, 2026

In 1975, two Pilipina nurses were wrongly jailed for murder; choreographer's immersive 'Burden of Proof' imagines their story.

Drama Masks: From another time of terror, ‘Burden of Proof’ urges to fight and fear not

Stage Review Charles Lewis III - April 22, 2026

Alleluia Panis' latest dance follows a Pilipina nurse snatched off the streets and wrongly incarcerated.

Lurie wants to undermine mandate for big institutions to tell neighborhoods what they are doing

City Hall Tim Redmond - April 21, 2026

Colleges and universities would no longer file Institutional Master Plans in many parts of town

Trans trailblazer Sean Dorsey: ‘When shit gets hard, we choose to show up for each other’

Dance Joshua Rotter - April 21, 2026

His legendary dance company's 22nd annual home season offers 'a balm for this moment in America.'

At the Warfield, Baroque pop avatar Oklou emerged a star

Music Daniel Bromfield - April 21, 2026

Classically trained French multi-instrumentalist carves her own path with polyphonic, Internet-fluent allure.

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Movies

Michael Jackson and Prince deserve better

Sanitized blockbuster 'Michael' and estate-quashed Prince doc rob us of nuanced, imaginative, and true portraits of the pop giants.

Movies John-Paul Shiver - April 28, 2026

Screen Grabs: In the trenches of democracy with Amy Goodman

Screen Grabs: Balboa Theater hits 100—and honors a costuming legend

Grab a free pass to see new doc ‘Lorne’

Music

Michael Jackson and Prince deserve better

Sanitized blockbuster 'Michael' and estate-quashed Prince doc rob us of nuanced, imaginative, and true portraits of the pop giants.

Movies John-Paul Shiver - April 28, 2026

RIP, MTT: Read our 2012 review of the Maestro making a fruit smoothie onstage

At ‘Passing the Torch,’ KCSM literally schooled the crowd in jazz

Under the Stars: OM Records announces 30-year Embarcadero blast

Art

Karyn Gabriel’s ceramic sculptures ask, ‘Is beauty important?’

Drawn to the mantra of repetition and the stillness of nature, the Marin artist lets each work 'percolate on its own timeline.'

Art Mary Corbin - April 18, 2026

Rachel Simon Marino’s off-kilter Day-Glo world aims to overwhelm

Four decades later, seminal queer punk zine ‘Homocore’ blasts back into view

For Iranian artist Shiva Ahmadi, ‘ornamentation becomes a form of resistance’

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Housing

The best and worst of CA housing policy, on display at UCLA conference

Some rational discussion based on facts, and some Yimby presentations with no facts

Housing Tim Redmond - April 16, 2026

In Oakland, a tiny-home community is forced back onto the streets

Is the tide finally turning on the ‘abundance agenda?’

Supes approve affordable senior housing project—but discussion raises larger issue

Politics

Pushing back against a radical move to change SF’s housing and drug policy

Chen calls budget hearing to address the importance of 'housing first.' That's The Agenda for April 26-May 3

The Agenda Tim Redmond - April 26, 2026

Lurie wants to undermine mandate for big institutions to tell neighborhoods what they are doing

SF backs away from harm reduction and Housing First

Hundreds rally against health care cuts

Opinion

What if Tom Steyer wasn’t a billionaire any more?

If he gave away most of his fortune to good causes in the next few weeks, he could say he's not just a rich guy running for governor.

Humor Joel Schechter - April 23, 2026

‘Sex trafficking’ stings—or ICE deportation at the Super Bowl?

United Nations, won’t you come on home?

HIV denialist Peter Duesberg is dead. Good.

Sponsored link

Performance

Drama Masks: ‘Hamnet’ is gorgeous, but how was Shakespeare’s sausage made?

Plus: 'Bloodlines' promises resistance, and SF Ballet's techno AI blockbuster 'Mere Mortals' returns, trailing cultural import.

Stage Review Charles Lewis III - April 28, 2026

48 hillsIndependent San Francisco News + Culture

48 hillsIndependent San Francisco News + Culture

48 Hills is community-supported journalism

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