by Charles Irwell One of the key problems of being President of the United States is that you’re meant to be a symbol as much as a leader. It sounds like an easy sell, but it means that you often have to conform to a blandest common denominator which appears

Nearly a month ago, I received an unexpected invitation to a private launch party near Union Square, inside of a fancy, dimly lit, loft apartment decorated with wine bottles from other guests.  It was fitted with a narrow elevator directly opening into the apartment itself, along with an ostentatious piano,

It’s Springtime in San Francisco, which means it’s time to put your phone on silent for a while and step out into our fair city to sing, eat, and play with the wonderful people and programming on offer. Whether in the flesh or on a live stream, the journalists and

The “rain, rain and more rain” forecast for the three-day-weekend kinda ruined my plans to go out of town. Dissatisfied with my assumed fate of having a mellow weekend at home watching black-and-white movies, trying out new recipes with the veggies I got in my Farm Fresh to You box

There are a lot of V-Day haters out there, and I admit, I often share their disdain for the hyper-consumer, sickeningly-sweet pseudo holiday. What I don’t agree with is the without question condemnation of Valentine’s day and all it stands for. I agree, the celebration of love and affection has