48 Hills | Independent daily San Francisco news + culture

Communities are aligning to fight data centers: A report from rural Wisconsin

Across the political spectrum, people are organizing against Big Tech—and it could have national implications

Business + Tech JJ Lansing - August 20, 2026

She touched roses: From Book of Love to ‘Plants That Heal’ with Susan Ottaviano

As synth-pop queen prepares band debut's 40th anniversary tour, she pops into Omnivore Books with some natural wisdom.

Lit Joshua Rotter - August 20, 2026

Under the Stars: Black Rave Culture locks in for the groove corrective

Plus: Cindy Blackman Santana bangs out the vibes, Pearl & the Oysters open their 'Monkey Mind,' Club DeLuxe reopens, more music

Music John-Paul Shiver - August 21, 2026

OPINION: The danger of Stefani’s nuisance law for sex workers and people of color

AB 2001 allows city attorneys to weaponize past charges to seize property and shut down businesses

Opinion Maxine Doogan - August 20, 2026

Big Week

BIG WEEK: Crash an Indian Wedding Party, SF Bay Popfest, ‘Disastrous!,’ David Byrne…

Marke B. - August 20, 2026

'Girl of the Golden West,' Starman SF, SF Cocteaufest, All Mo' Wax, SF Queer Film Fest, more to do!

Music

In Kensington, a small-town orchestra survives as civic triumph

Michael Tapscott - August 20, 2026

Navigating an era of gutted arts funds, a volunteer symphony rallies for its 49th season, teddy bears in tow.

Movie Reviews

Screen Grabs: Sassy ballers, Latino leathermen, E’ville queens? It’s SF Queer Film Fest time

Dennis Harvey - August 19, 2026

Plus: Willem Dafoe finds 'Late Fame,' snarky summer camp romp 'Floaters', excellent 'Everyone is Lying to You for Money'

Music

This year’s Bliss Fest was all about the sparkling ride

John-Paul Shiver - August 19, 2026

Elliott Peck's immersive jazz-folk, Combo Tezeta's energizing cumbia, Circus Bella's high clownery drove some Presidio heat.

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Drama Masks: A sensitive Julius Caesar, lost in the ’70s shuffle

Stage Review Charles Lewis III - August 19, 2026

Marin Shakes' bold, beautiful, but muddled adaptation humanizes a tyrant at the expense of message or meaning.

Kiev, 1911: the Bund, revolution, and a sparkling work of historical fiction

Lit Tim Redmond - August 18, 2026

'Radiant as the Stars' tells of a young woman who returns from the US to fight in the Russian Revolution—and it's based on a real story

Al Green gilded Stern Grove’s season finale in golden soul

Music Review Jess Oledan - August 18, 2026

80-year-old legend brought R&B classics, funky arrangements, 'Love and Happiness' to adoring crowd.

Lurie attacks affordable housing plan—and undermines his own proposal

Campaign Trail Tim Redmond - August 17, 2026

By saying housing money hurts the cops, he may be undermining support for his own Housing Trust Fund.

The Marina Safeway project has a serious toxics and sewage problem

The Agenda Tim Redmond - August 16, 2026

And yet, thanks to Wiener, there's no EIR. Plus: Punk politics in the 1970s—and today. That's The Agenda for Aug. 16-23

Toro y Moi’s sweeping show at Bottom of the Hill hurt so good

Music Ankita Bhanot - August 16, 2026

Chaz Bear's trip through artistic eras served as poignant reminder of why small rooms matter.

Monét X Change: retired party girl, current comedy queen

Onstage Joshua Rotter - August 15, 2026

'Drag Race' and 'Traitors' star brings two nights of coming-of-age cracks to Cobb's.

Musical genius runs in the family—but the Womack Sisters’ success didn’t come easy

Music Tamara Palmer - August 13, 2026

'We got it out the mud,' they say, as debut album soars.

From Telegraph tapes to Hip Hop Fairyland, Sunspot Jonz builds his own world

Music Morgan Garcia - August 13, 2026

Living Legends co-founder turns handmade cassettes, Xeroxed pages, and East Oakland parties into durable art philosophy.

Why IE campaign corruption matters

Campaign Trail Tim Redmond - August 13, 2026

The contribution limit rules exist for a reason. If we allow the IEs to coordinate with campaigns, those rules become pointless

Sheila E. grew a career that the Bay—not the music industry—taught her was possible

Music Joshua Rotter - August 12, 2026

On the eve of her gig at Blue Note Napa, the Norcal icon talks Berkeley drum circles.

Under the Stars: The Womack Sisters’ debut album heralds arrival of a new soul generation

Music John-Paul Shiver - August 12, 2026

Plus: megiapa finds voice in Chicago's beat scene, golden hip-hop happening at Shoreline, Valerie June, more.

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Movies

Screen Grabs: Sassy ballers, Latino leathermen, E’ville queens? It’s SF Queer Film Fest time

Plus: Willem Dafoe finds 'Late Fame,' snarky summer camp romp 'Floaters', excellent 'Everyone is Lying to You for Money'

Movie Reviews Dennis Harvey - August 19, 2026

Director Jane Schoenbrun: ‘I’m trying to queer the rules of horror’

Screen Grabs: ‘The Piano’ plays again

Screen Grabs: From farmworker to ‘the Shakespeare of Chicano theater’

Music

Under the Stars: Black Rave Culture locks in for the groove corrective

Plus: Cindy Blackman Santana bangs out the vibes, Pearl & the Oysters open their 'Monkey Mind,' Club DeLuxe reopens, more music

Music John-Paul Shiver - August 21, 2026

BIG WEEK: Crash an Indian Wedding Party, SF Bay Popfest, ‘Disastrous!,’ David Byrne…

In Kensington, a small-town orchestra survives as civic triumph

This year’s Bliss Fest was all about the sparkling ride

Art

Sculptor Michelle Gregor gives the kiln the last word

'The way clay receives and holds color feels limitless in possibility,' says artist with deep history on the Sunset dunes.

Art Mary Corbin - August 11, 2026

‘Jerry farts and burps’: Grateful Dead live on in spirited retrospectives

Mildred Howard writes her own history book

Flushing things out with artist Blake Cedric

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Housing

The Chron discovers, sort of, that Wiener’s housing bills are a con

Finally, a story that mentions the real issue: Cities can't force developers to build

Housing Zelda Bronstein - July 6, 2026

Lurie and four supes move to cut affordable housing fees for luxury developers

New Melgar-Lurie plan for affordable housing is great; cutting other funding is not

The complete failure of Lurie’s tax cuts for developers on full display at hearing

Politics

Lurie attacks affordable housing plan—and undermines his own proposal

By saying housing money hurts the cops, he may be undermining support for his own Housing Trust Fund.

Campaign Trail Tim Redmond - August 17, 2026

Why IE campaign corruption matters

‘Independent’ super PAC paying Wiener campaign staffers, records show

Wiener’s attacks on Chan backfire, badly

Opinion

OPINION: The danger of Stefani’s nuisance law for sex workers and people of color

AB 2001 allows city attorneys to weaponize past charges to seize property and shut down businesses

Opinion Maxine Doogan - August 20, 2026

I was a fake chatbot in San Francisco

The other problem with police drones: They don’t work well in San Francisco

Why can’t all that campaign money go to public services?

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Performance

Drama Masks: A sensitive Julius Caesar, lost in the ’70s shuffle

Marin Shakes' bold, beautiful, but muddled adaptation humanizes a tyrant at the expense of message or meaning.

Stage Review Charles Lewis III - August 19, 2026

48 hillsIndependent San Francisco News + Culture

48 hillsIndependent San Francisco News + Culture

48 Hills is community-supported journalism

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