Go for it, Billy — Have you ever stopped to think what it would be like to see yourself played on the big screen by a major star like Brad Pitt? I can’t even imagine (if I work at it, I could picture, say, Steve Buscemi wincing his way through a portrayal of me), except…

On celebrating the great San Francisco bookstore we’ve all come to adore — Like any aspiring writer in San Francisco, I used to limit my pilgrimages to Green Apple Books on Clement Street. It wasn’t just that, like many aspiring writers, I was often totally broke, living on top ramen and peanut butter and the occasional slice of pizza, and any time I…

‘California was a business venture for the MAGA movement, that’s it’ — If nothing else, the sideshow of a rich-right-wing-crank-fueled recall sideshow targeting California Governor Gavin Newsom shows that major media in this country study the example of their worst collective failures over the years. Oh yes, clearly, debacles like the endless front page But her emails! stories about candidate Hillary Clinton…

This weekend marks the birth of the East Bay calendar staple so many of us came to adore — I moved into the high rise dorms at Berkeley in fall 1980, took the elevator to my new room on the seventh floor of Freeborn Hall, and noticed two things: my two new roommates and I had a spectacular view, looking out toward San Francisco Bay with the outline of…

My best friend of 25 years died suddenly in February; I mourned along with thousands — Six days after my great friend Pedro Gomez of ESPN died of sudden cardiac arrest on February 7, 2021, I stood at home plate in a baseball stadium in Scottsdale, Arizona, and gave a speech comparing Pedro to the ideal friend evoked by John Cusack in a 1980s movie called…

With record legal sales, California hit the $1 billion mark in cannabis tax revenue for 2020 — What do you get when you essentially make Californians stay home for a year? A lot of weed. Pandemic binge-buying of marijuana sent California’s legal cannabis to new heights. Recently released figures for 2020 show that cannabis tax revenue surged last year, surpassing $1 billion for the first time after…

The Quiet Eloquence of His Call for a “Whole Soul” Politics — The final days of Donald Trump’s presidency were for us here in Santa Cruz very, very California: an earthquake on Saturday night — just a hello-there-4.2-shaker, no big deal — then the freakish onslaught of violent winds, fraying nerves and causing damage; then, finally, on Trump’s last night in the…

My family and I will head to Washington, D.C. — You have your fire evacuation plan if you’re a Californian who has lived through 2020. You also have your voting plan if you haven’t already cast your ballot. But have you also developed a Trump attempted-coup action plan? If not, it’s time to think this one through. This past Friday…

More than 60% of the total votes cast in the state in 2016 have already been sent in early — San Francisco philanthropist Uli Schmid-Maybach was planning on voting as always this year — until he talked to his wife, Danielle. She implored him to see this year as different. “I would normally be fine dropping it in the mailbox,” Uli told me on the phone earlier this week. “I…