The incredibly crowded space was crawling with an audience that was brimming with excitement. Their excitement had been curtailed while Grand Ole' Party and San Francisco's own, Still Flyin' opened for this seemingly "members-only" band. Based out of New York City, this four-piece afro-pop band met while attending New York's best, Columbia University. The incredible buzz has been everywhere - ranging from blogs to the New York Times.

In June, the Times said, "Even without an album, Vampire Weekend have made one of the most impressive debuts of the year." Impressive is headlining a show without even having a CD released. The two songs, "Mansford Roof" and "Ladies of Cambridge," which have been available on iTunes were some of the crowd favorites. The live versions of "A-Punk" and "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" were off the hook. The pianist, Rostam Batmanglij and bassist, Chris Baio were both equally as talented though a few dance lessons might improve the whole aesthetic. You also can't forget the audience participation in "One," when everyone was screaming "Blake's got a new face!" over and over. Apparently, Blake is from Palo Alto, a Stanford biochemistry major who disappointingly didn't show up for the concert. How do you not show up to a concert when a song is written about you? Koenig and the rest of the band were severly disappointed. Shame on you!

Because a day can't go by without some sort of cocaine mention, behold:

Shipped from Peru to the Netherlands, each of these (dead) little felllas were busted for transporting 10oz ($11,000) of the disco dust in their backs.

We can only hope that every single news outlet has printed a typo when reporting the amount of cash the United States is sending Peru, which is still experiencing severe aftershocks. As the death toll climbs past 500, with more than 1,500 reported injuries, the United States government has pledged a whopping $100,000 in support. Why don’t we just send America’s Player, Eric (with his oh-so-attractive pierced nipples) from Big Brother to help them out?

If you’re feeling a tad more generous than Uncle Sam, the Red Cross has its International Response Fund. If you want your donation to go to Peru, make sure you designate your donation accordingly.

Peace.

By Deborah (note: Deborah will have her own MT account and post her own stuff come Monday. Welcome her, won't you?)

-- 8.8-foot-long Smart Fortwo cars in SF. Squash. [Chron]

-- No surprise: Gap Inc. sales suck. (Hint: Burn all billboards promoting horizontal pastels.) [Examiner]

-- Hayward murder-suicide.[Chron]

-- Barry Bonds bash. [Examiner]

-- Wall Street went up and down a lot today, or something. [Chron]

-- Hey! If it ain't the ol' pro-Blue Angels switcheroo. [BeyondChron]

-- Devaughndre Broussard asked to take the fall? [ABC 7, Oakland Tribune]

-- RIAA brings their silly war on music and video piracy into Cal dorms and classrooms. Chortle. [KRON 4]

-- Trouble with tidal power. [SFBG]

-- Peru earthquake-Bay Area earthquake paralleling. (Oh, and are you prepared?) [SJ Merc]

Long-time SFist readers will remember that we were so inspired at last year's SFIAAFF by "Chinese Restaurants: Three Continents" that we gave it our prestigious Best Film We Saw On SFist award for 2005. The premise behind the Chinese Restaurants series is that the Canadian filmmaker, Cheuk Kwan, visits Chinese restaurants around the world and interviews the owners to find out how they ended up in their particular country. So Kwan has visited Chinese restaurants in Israel, one of the northernmost cities in Norway, India, and Cuba, among others. We are for not having this idea first.

In Latin Passions, Kwan stops by Peru, Brazil, and Argentina. Before we get started on the review, we should also just say that it was cruel of the SFIAAFF to screen this at 12:45 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon -- the audience audibly moaned in hunger as Kwan lovingly zoomed in on wokfuls of fried rice gleaming with egg, or the Peruvian-Chinese woman making Chinese sausage in her basement. Cruel, SFIAAFF, cruel!

Kwan's organizing principle seems to be that Chinese immigrants always have fascinating stories, ideally heard over a nice meal of steamed fish. He meets Peru's Martin Yan, watches the Brazilian World Cup, and practices his Argentinean tango, while listening to tales of swimming from the Cultural Revolution, Chinese workers building the trans-Andean railroad, and internationalism. The stories are always interesting, and the food always looks great.

Chinese Restaurants shows again at the Kabuki on Thursday at 7:15, but you'll need to wait for rush tickets as the showing is already sold out. Make sure you eat beforehand.

Picture of a Peruvian "Chifa" (from the Chinese "chi fan," meaning "eat") from Latin Passions.