NYT Sweats SF 4 Eva

Seems like every day, those creeps at The New York Times come up with yet another device to demonstrate just how much they sweat San Francisco, particularly things associated with Gravel & Gold. First off, there was that blasphemous “Sisters in Idiosyncrasy” situation that came out back when we were finishing up construction on the [...]

Granny Socks Just For You

When we were first preparing to open the shop, the Ladies and I compiled a big list of items that we had always imagined carrying in some shop we owned, sometime down the line, somewhere in the world. And, lo and behold,  many items from that first brainstorm did indeed make their way to our [...]

Tom Waits Still Owes Us

Hi Tom!
So we’ve been hearing around the block that your Glitter and Doom shows are your best ever. That must be nice for you. Of course we Ladies are still waiting for those VIP tickets you promised us in exchange for stealing our name. Just wanted you to know that if it’s too late to [...]

BatmanFanorama

Mamma Mia! was so awesome, y’all.

4, 3, 2, 1 Sesame Street!

Elmo say Feist on Sesame Street wearing a beautiful embroidered blouse!
This must have been her true intention with this song all along—to land this sweet gig on the Street of streets. Well worth those iPod commercials everywhere, if you ask me.

Thanks again to SuperForest, who in turn would like to thank [...]

Ed Party

Many thanks to Ed Masuga for playing last night and sounding so super good. Also, for bringing along two excellent musician friends, Pines and Little Boy Blue. We now have Ed’s two CDs and one from Little Boy Blue available at the shop. Come by any time and we’ll flip one on the stereo and [...]

Ultra Island Hang

Lady Andrea Dunlap came by the shop last night and let me know that she has Fickrized a bunch of lovely pictures from our group Angel Island concert/camping sha-bang last weekend. And if these puppies don’t make you want to move to the Bay Area, meet some nice folks, fabricate a bicycle-powered PA system, and [...]

Calling All Artists: Ceiling Installation Needed

Handy with fake flowers and a glue gun? Love yourself a band saw? Have visions that include aluminum foil and pipe-cleaners in the shape of clouds and comets? Some ideas of your own, thank you very much? We want you to dream up a ceiling installation for the shop!
As visitors to the shop may be [...]

Event: Ed Masuga’s Musical Throw Down

Here’s Ed comin’ up from the beach on his bici this past weekend, claiming his fair share of fun at the super duper Angel Island music festival group hang situation. Look like the sort of fella who knows a thing or two about singing sweet songs, playing a little guitar and making serious merry? Right [...]

Mo’ Pie, Pitty Pie Pie Pie Please

In an attempt to smother my dismay about Leif leaving for Austin all too soon, I’ve lately taken to (over) indulging in some of his favorite things while he’s still around so that I might pick up some of his delectable vices before he’s gone. And so: Pie. Pie as frequently as possible.
Today the Sutros [...]

Snockumentous Basty-Bash!

Thanks so much to everyone who turned out last night for the superb Bastille Day Bash, which was recently voted our “Best Party Yet” by a familiar group of constituents in an official poll conducted by entirely partisan partial-to-shiny-things pollsters. Our semi-surprise guest of honor Michael Hurley strummed and crooned it up to an audience [...]

SuperVictorious Victory Garden Hooray

Make no mistake: That burst of curiosity and enthusiasm you felt rippling through our great foggy/firey city last week was none other than Nile’s brother Jackson and his collaborator-friend Andrew of SuperForest renown, combined with Lisa’s safe return home from a long journey East.
As ever, Team SuperForest managed to combine good times with reporting on [...]

And a Good Day to You, Sir

So, friends, as many of you are aware, the Ladies of Gravel & Gold are each fierce multi-armed beasts. Aside from our stringent duties at the shop—manning the desk, attending flea markets, seeing to glamorous international buying sprees and chardonnay-fueled deckside planning sessions—each of us also pursue interests other than the shop. Lisa is an [...]

Event: Bastille Day Bash

There are far too many awesome Frenchie things in this world to count, but let’s give it a try any way. Ok, I’ll start off with French fries, which might technically be considered Belgian, but have nonetheless withstood a humiliating bout of Congressional cafeteria “Freedom Fries” re-branding, only to now taste even crispier on the [...]

Pillars of Silence at Cafe du Nord

Our dear friend Marc Dantona and his super pretty band Pillars of Silence, including Roxy Brodeur and Meghan Edwards, take the stage tonight—Thursday, July 10th—at Cafe du Nord to celebrate the release of their ten-song debut album. Believe things should get going pretty early, around 8:30. We’ll be there right on time, do doubt cooling [...]

The Crucible’s Fire Arts Festival

This latter-week, West Oakland’s own hub of welders, smelters, steampunkers and assorted blowtorch-friendly hotties—The Crucible—hosts its 8th annual Fire Arts Festival. Last year’s festivities drew over 10,000 visitors, according to their reckoning, and I’m certain that this year’s “celebration of creativity through [...]

A Plea to End Non-Buyers Remorse

To the individual who beat me out by a long shot on the shiny shiny East West Musical Instruments Company silver lamé jacket last month, aka eBay bidder “**vintagemylove”:
I need that jacket.
No. I’m sorry. Let’s start again.
Never in my life have I been afflicted with such a burning case of Non-Buyers Remorse. I am positively [...]

Offering: Sock Puppet Carnage, Dance Moves

I’ve already received a lot of encouraging feedback in regard to my Stevie posting yesterday (note our first official comment!), so I thought I’d just go ahead and let a couple more of my music video cats out of the bag.
So this. Is. The. Macromantics. Apple Crumble. Video. In my former days working at various, [...]

Public Domain, Awesome Domain

In the course of researching ladies in profile sporting obscenely large Princess Leia jewelry, the same obsessive boat shape in lots of different colors with little bits of calligraphy beside each one, Virginia Woolf, Japanese pipe smoking beauties, and how to balance a tray of plastic fruit whilst modeling a curious bikini top, I recently [...]

Offering: Stevie Where-To-Begin? Nicks

This amazing situation has been making the rounds lately thanks to a mass email from our super-fine friend Ellie a couple weeks ago. I just thought I’d include it here on the Thrilling Blog to give everyone who hasn’t had the chance to sing along and/or motivate themselves to gather up their white silkish polyester [...]