Two recent concerts in Berkeley and San Francisco offered different musical takes on contemporary and historic North America.

Queer bands have come a long way since Fanny, the Village People, Culture Club, Bronski Beat, Tribe 8, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Indigo Girls.

March goes out like a lion, at least on the San Francisco music scene this year.

"Warm" (dBpm), the first proper solo album of all original material by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and Uncle Tupelo fame, is the kind of musical project that will please his fans.

San Francisco Symphony announces 2019-20 season The announcement by the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas of the 2019-20 season marks the track for the departing Music Director's final victory lap at Davies Symphony Hall.

LGBTQ feminist singer-composer-activist Holly Near, one of the founders of the 1970s Women's Music movement, is profiled in a new "American Masters" episode that premiered on PBS March 1.

"It's nothing to do with loving a man," government prosecutor Mortimer screams at King Edward II at the beginning of George Benjamin's third opera, "Lessons in Love and Violence."

"Unveiling: New Music from Sweden and America" included some US and world premieres in a smartly produced program featuring an enduringly successful Bay Area composer and a promising new voice from Scandinavia.

"Live in Hollywood" (Rhino), the long lost/recently rediscovered audio recording from Linda Ronstadt's 1980 HBO concert, is cause for celebration.

Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony and notable guest artists have made February at Davies Hall a month of special events.

Queer male musical acts such as Perfume Genius, Car Seat Headrest, Shamir and John Grant are proving that there's more to gay men's listening habits than disco and show tunes.

The Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera, the thoroughly renovated fourth floor and basement of the Beaux Arts-designed Veterans Building, opened to enthusiastic praise three years ago. It is home to the 299-seat Diane and Ted Taube Atrium Theater.

Stephen Sondheim's "A Little Night Music," inspired by an Ingmar Bergman movie, endures as one of his most successful shows. It's that "Send in the Clowns" musical, as marketers are quick to remind.

Even though Out There is a very urban person, we know that it's very important to get out of the big city every now and then. So we try to get away, and high on our list of destinations are the resorts, eateries and wineries of Sonoma County.