The Drug That Makes You Spend All Your Money
Abilify treats depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, but it can also lead to compulsive gambling, shopping, eating, and sex. OK Whatever Last week, Fareed Khalil* bought a figurine for $150. The week before that, he spent a similar amount on a...
Visiting Dead Relatives on Google Street View
Google Maps is meant to look up addresses, but it can also provide a window into the lives of the recently deceased. OK Whatever Three years after her grandparents’ deaths, 19-year-old Luisa Hoenle looked up their old house on Google Maps. Feeling nostalgic if not a...
Will the Original Bob Ross Painting Please Stand Up?
In the market for a genuine piece of artwork by the iconic artist? Good luck. (You’ll need it.) OK Whatever Bob Ross was a mythical unicorn. From his perfectly coiffed and permed hair to his gentle demeanor and ASMR voice, there was nobody else like him on TV for...
It Costs A Lot to Own A (Kind of Terrible) Britney Spears Painting
How Robin Leach, for the sake of charity, spent more than he expected on art his granddaughter could have made. OK Whatever Britney Spears is painting on the veranda of a very large, ivy-covered house. Grecian columns and a tiered fountain buttressed with hedges loom...
The Cartoonification of Florida Man
A daily comic series inspired by the antics of Florida’s zaniest denizens — and the bizarre headlines they help create. OK Whatever Everyday is “Florida Man Day” in Florida. Translation: People regularly do crazy and headline-grabbing things in that...
Cover Story: Hitsville High, the School That Launched A Thousand Stars
The unlikely music factory at Pinole Valley High School SF Weekly (Cover Story) The lunch bell rings at Pinole Valley High School, and hordes of teenagers swarm out of squat, rectangular bungalows. Since the fall of 2013, Pinole Valley's 1,200 students have been...
Guerrilla Public Service Can Make the World a Better Place
Regular people are taking it upon themselves to make fixes and repairs around their cities, from cutting back overgrowth to filling in potholes. OK Whatever The next time you walk through your neighborhood, observe your surroundings. At a glance, everything might...
Why Would You Fake Having Cancer?
A lymphoma survivor investigates disease scamming — a growing trend of faking health tragedies to rake in donations. OK Whatever Most people didn’t know that I had cancer. They didn’t know why I stopped going to school or why I was suddenly absent from basketball...
Five Things I Learned About Love From Charlie Wilson
SF Weekly It was the night of Valentine’s Day and I was sitting next to my boo at Oracle Arena watching the Grammy-nominated singer Charlie Wilson. Flanked by four back-up dancers in light-up L.E.D. suits, Wilson had just finished singing the song, “Charlie, Last Name...
Cover Story: The Hatching of Dirtybird
The story of how four friends turned a barbecue in Golden Gate Park into a dance music empire. SF Weekly (Cover story) I’m standing in the center of a party bus, clinging to a stripper pole. Deep, molecule-rearranging bass music vomits out of the speakers, drenching...
Throwback on Wheels: Touring SF in a Vintage Van
There's just something about riding in a vintage Volkswagen van that makes taking a tour of San Francisco so appealing. SF Weekly A vintage Volkswagen van covered in psychedelic, S.F.-centric paintings idles on the corner of Jefferson and Hyde streets, its doors wide...
Cash Rules Every Song Around Me
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers recently sued nine venues around the country for playing members' music without paying. The Grand Nightclub in San Francisco is one of them. SF Weekly We’re living in a golden age for live music. Seemingly...