Era Art Bar and Lounge is a truly beautiful and HUGE new cocktail venue that just opened a few weeks ago on Grand & Broadway in Oakland about four blocks from the Fox Theater. Their cocktail menu was designed by resident mixologist Marjan Simovics, who describes the Fleur de Pepin cocktail thusly:

The name translates to Flower of the Seed and refers to the grappa, which has grape seed. Hayman's gin has more of an orange rind citrus flavor, the juniper berry is not overpowering in this particular gin. The egg white adds texture and softens the acidity of the drink. It is served shaken, up, and garnished with an edible blue flower petal (such as orchid, or lavendar bud), or citrus rind.

Fleur De Pepin

1 1/2 oz. Hayman's Gin
1/2 oz. Grappa
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. egg white
1/2 oz sugar cane juice
2 dashes orange flower water

Attention all ye fans of Vampire Weekend's catchy, preppy, articulate musical stylings: They've added a second show at the Fox in Oakland on April 20th, following on a quick sellout of their April 19th show, both with openers Abe Vigoda. Get tickets here. Above their recently released video for "Giving Up the Gun" featuring Joe Jonas, Jake Gyllenhaal, and a waifish red-head girl playing indoor tennis.

On this relatively slow local news day in which most everyone is out of the office, the Oakland Tribune is running this amusing scandal from the archives about Maury Diggs, the builder of the Fox Theater and one of the men responsible for designing Golden Gate Fields as well as San Quentin Prison. The story happened almost a hundred years ago, in 1913, when Diggs and his friend Farley Drew Caminetti, both in their twenties, were arrested for taking their underage mistresses across state lines to Reno.

Both men came from politically connected families, and both were married, so the scandal got a lot of press attention. Reporters later talked about the four-way trysts they would have with their society girlfriends, Marsha Warrington and Lola Norris in Diggs' Sacramento Office.

Diggs and Caminetti each served time for "white slave trafficking" for having transported the girls to Reno one weekend, and both appealed their cases as high as the Supreme Court, arguing that the law should only be applied to prostitution and not affairs of the heart. Diggs ultimately married Warrington when he got out of prison, and the couple lived on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland until their deaths. And there you have your moment Bay Area tabloid scandal history for this Thanksgiving weekend.

After the 2008 departure of co-founding members Chris Ross and Myles Heskett, Australian hard rock group Wolfmother has reassembled itself and released a new album, Cosmic Egg. They're on tour and hitting the Fox in Oakland on Tuesday Monday (tickets still available here). Above, their new video for the single "New Moon Rising," which is not to be confused with the new Twilight movie, New Moon, or Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising."

This week's concert preview is being brought to you by Kevin Meenan of Epicsauce, providing detailed concert listings for the Bay Area every week. Follow them on Twitter.

Another packed week with sludge metal veterans Big Business at Bottom of the Hill tonight, unapologetic thrash/dance hybrid All Leather at Thee Parkside Tuesday and alt-rock legends Dinosaur Jr. at The Fillmore Friday.

Our weekend pick is Berlin's DJ prodigy Boys Noize at Mighty Saturday. Best known for his epic 2007 remix of Feist's "My Moon My Man," Boys Noize puts a techno spin on the exceedingly repetitive electro genre. Already a giant abroad, our money is on him being one of the few mainstays to emerge from the current round of dance stars. And while his no frills live show may not quite rival that of Daft Punk or Justice on the visuals front, his banger heavy improvised sets are always a good time.

Quite a few other solid calls this week including Bradford Cox's Atlas Sound at Great American Music Hall Tuesday, San Francisco's unusually eclectic Battlehooch at Bottom of the Hill Friday and a string of Jello Biafra appearances in celebration of Alternative Tentacle's 30th anniversary -- as always, be sure to consult the showlist.

Monday, November 2
Big Business, Triclops! @ Bottom of the Hill $12
The Airborne Toxic Event, Everything Must Go @ Fillmore $21
Land of Talk, Eulogies, Nightmare Air @ Cafe Du Nord $10
Farmer Dave Scher, Andy Cabic, Jonathan Rice and Jonathan Wilson @ Independent $15

Forgive us if her sugary sweetness leaves you wishing for a glass of milk (or some kind of metalcore antidote), but the Australian Madonna is hitting our shores for two shows starting tonight at the Fox. Kylie Minogue may not be as huge here as she is Down Under and across the pond, but she is a cancer survivor and she's sure to bring the gays and a certain contingent of teen girls out to party with her pure dance-pop confections. Some new tickets were JUST RELEASED are still available here, if you're into that kind of thing. Or just watch her new-ish four-year-old video for "I Believe In You" here.

The week kicks off with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Lenny White playing several just-announced all acoustic sets at Yoshi's Oakland. Then on Thursday, jangly French pop band Phoenix is at The Warfield, and their set will surely include the single "Lisztomania" (video above) from their latest album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. The lyrics are charmingly foreign, including the refrain, "Lisztomania / Think less but see it grow / Like a riot, like a riot, oh ! / I'm not easily offended / It's not hard to let it go / From a mess to the masses." We think it's about socialized medicine, or something. Anyway, it's fun.

Oh, and, uh... Skynyrd, man.

Monday, September 14
Monks of Doom / Penelope Houston Band, Cafe du Nord, $15
Toshio Hirano @ Amnesia, free