Jess Hemerly

Cougars and cubs, Trader Vic's in Palo Alto is the place to be on this rainy Friday! Ladies get locks, men get keys, and you spend the night tracking down your match. The party starts at 8 and goes until midnight so you'll have plenty of time to find that special someone. Lock and key party will be followed by a "dance party" with a "professional DJ." Even if you're not a cougar or a cub, if you happen to be in Palo Alto tonight, it might be worth the $20 for the sheer spectacle.

The fourth annual, biennial Experience Hendrix Tour is back in the US and bringing its all-star lineup of musicians celebrating the music of Jimi Hendrix to the Warfield tomorrow and Wednesday night. This year's lineup includes Jimi Hendrix Experience guitarist Billy Cox, Aerosmith''s Brad Whitford, Joe Satriani, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Living Colour, and members of Los Lobos. The show has sold out a bunch of its other stops, but not San Francisco, so if you love Hendrix covers you're still in luck.

Three recommendations if a fixie isn't the ride for you.

Raymond Carver, frequently compard to Chekov, was one of America's greatest short story authors. His stories center on dysfunctional relationships and broken spirits, which are exposed yet dignified by Carver's sparse elegance. Bay Area writer Carol Sklenicka, author of a new Carver biography, Raymond Carver: A Writer's Life, will speak at the Mechanic's Institute Library tonight at 6pm ($12) about her work and about Carver's life, from his working-class origins to his battles with substance abuse and, in the end, cancer. The SF Chronicle writes, "Raymond Carver's life, as related in the exhaustive and definitive new biography by Carol Sklenicka, reads like a Raymond Carver story."

www.flickr.com/photos/bisonblog/3262731566/

Bring in the Year of the Tiger with fireworks, costumes, dance and music at San Francisco's annual Chinese New Year parade next Saturday night starting at 5:30p at 2nd and Market. Since its inception in the 1860's, San Francisco's parade has grown into the largest Chinese New Year parade outside of China and one of the largest Asian cultural events in North America. The parade features 100 units, from Miss Chinatown to marching bands, as well as the famous Golden Dragon.

All My Friends are Funeral Singers, written and directed by Califone's Tim Rutili, weaves film and music together into a single narrative. An album of the same titleprovides the soundtrack for the film about a fortune teller confronted with spirits from the past. At this year's Sundance festival, the experimental, non-competitve showcase New Frontier featured Rutili's film, with Rutili providing the soundtrack live. As far as we can tell, Rutili won't be playing live when Noise Pop shows the film this Sunday at ATA (4:15p, $10), but he will be there for Q&A after the screening. Trailer after the jump.

Via Landmark Theaters

Starting this Friday, Landmark Theaters will show the 2010 Oscar-nominated short films at Opera Plaza Cinema (Civic Center) and the Lumiere Theater (Russian Hill). Live shorts in the program include Instead of Abracadabra, about a magician far too old to still be living at home, and The New Tenants with Vincent D'Onofrio, about neighbors from hell. The animated shorts feature the latest Wallace & Gromit installment, A Matter of Loaf and Death.

Terry Jones (via Sketchfest)

Monty Python fans have a great reason to go to Sketchfest: Tonight, the the Castro Theater will host an onstage discussion with Monty Python's Terry Jones, followed by a 35th Anniversary screening of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. If it's not enough to be quoting Grail all day Friday, stick around afterward for Monty Python's Life of Brian—introduced by director Terry Jones—and let the guys remind you to always look on the bright side of life. The discussion starts at 7 ($20), followed by Grail. Life of Brian starts at 10 ($10).

flickr.com/jkoshi

We're halfway through a gloomy week of winter storminess, and at this point you may or may not be completely sick of it. To help keep your spirits up, we've compiled a 10-song playlist on Last.fm of some rain-themed songs. Some are sad, some are jubilant, but all have to do with rain, metaphorically or literally. The playlist is here: Stormy Bay. The tracklist is below the jump in case you have trouble linking through.

We'd love for you to comment with your favorites and we'll add them if possible!

The old Amish order is known for their devotion to God and communiy, avoidance of technology, plain clothing, and the Pennsylvania Dutch language. But Amish culture is also one of America's enduring culture of makers—farmers, canners, seamstresses, crafters, painters, and quilters.