We've always had a soft spot for rosé, the pink-headed stepchild of white and red wines that's a regular fixture on the bridal shower circuit. So we were glad to see the Chronicle's exhaustive rundown on the best rosés of this year, which has apparently brought "a perfect storm of rosé" our way.

Although rosé has been trendy for a few years now -- New York Times ran a popular 2006 piece, which got picked up in the LA Times; and Drinks Business called rosé one of the top 10 wine trends of the "last three years" -- it seems to have gotten even classier since the last time we drank it hot and straight from the bottle while reclining in a partially-deflated inner tube. So much so, in fact, that the Chronicle's reviewers divided their list into four distinct sections. Do you like your rosé "fresh and friendly" or "quiet and thoughtful"? Or do you prefer it "hearty & rambunctious", like the large and energetic puppy of the pink wine world? We wouldn't know what to say to a rosé "with some gravitas," but we'd start by putting on a shirt and shoes.

Want to follow the pink wine trend, but don't quite know where to start? Here are our five easy rosé picks for summer:

• That special pink magic that happens when you pour some white wine into a glass that has a little leftover red wine in it.
• The rosé from the goodie bag you won at your cousin's bachelorette/bridal/baby party.
• That one bottle of orange wine you bought when orange wine was the new thing, seen through rose-tinted glasses.
• Twist-top rosé in a picnic basket at the beach. Variety irrelevant.
• Pink lemonade and vodka.

In all seriousness, if you want a good recommendation, we point you toward Baxter Winery in Anderson Valley. They produce some of the finest rosés in California if not the world.

Just remember, pink novices, a white zinfandel is not a rosé. Words to live by.

[Chronicle]

Knowing that the report wouldn't put the Mayor in that nice of a light, he held a pre-emptory press briefing on Friday in which he said everything was on the up-and-up, that it was nothing out of the ordinary, and the people he had given raises to were working for that department anyways. His people were so adamant that there's so nothing going on that Gavin's Chief of Staff Phil Ginsberg said the report was "bull--" and Gavin added "is it two l's? You can quote him on that." We have no idea what that means either. So concerned were Gavin's people, in fact, they took an early copy of the report (which they weren't supposed to get) and got all Chuck Klosterman with it, adding footnotes wherever possible to explain themselves (since we too got an early copy of the report too, we'll give you an example-- on Stuart Sunshine, for instance, the footnote reads: "No, Stuart Sunshine was not picked for his name and no, despite everyone's confusion, he is not Stuart Smiley Smalley, although he is good enough, smart enough and doggone if people don't like him).

Both Jake McG and Aaron Peskin have said that they won't comment on the report until it's officially released on Monday but as Peskin and Newsom appear to be fighting like cats and dogs lately, it should be rather heated. We eagerly await Aaron Peskin's next bout of drunk dialing.

Dude. Duuuuuuude.

After a four-year federal investigation, today cranky baseball icon Barry Bonds was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice. Ouch. And Jesus. He's like Pete Rose, but worse. Which? Again, ouch.

According to CBS 5, "[w]hile Bonds was chasing Aaron amid the adulation of San Franciscans and the scorn of baseball fans almost everywhere else, due to his notoriously prickly personality and nagging steroid allegations, a grand jury quietly worked behind closed doors to put the finishing touches on the long-rumored indictment." Prickly is sure putting it mildly.

Each Tuesday we will feature new music that should (or whatever) be on your radar.

Looking at the fact that Serj Tankian's concert at Slim's on October 28th is already sold out, we venture to think that Tankian already has a huge following from his System of the Down days.

We've got two Serj Tankian care packages that we are going to give away. They are filled with Tankian's new CD (they might be autographed), t-shirts, posters, stickers and even a 7-inch record. (Each care package will have a mix of these prizes.) Take the jump to enter this fantastic giveaway.
Download: "Empty Walls"

2. Alison Krauss & Robert Plant - Raising Sand: Yes, that says, Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. We have the "God of Rock" and the "Goddess of Bluegrass" collaborating together to make Raising Sand. Now this isn't any ole' normal bluegrass or rock album. This album breeds musical genius - not hard for two of the music industries' most prominent performers. They venture into blues, alt-country, rock, bluegrass and folk - each time, with grace and style.
Download: "Trampled Rose" & "Gone, Gone, Gone"

For fantastic prizes, more CD releases and of course our guilty pleasure, take the jump...

h, 1979…"I Will Survive" topped the charts and Bette Midler gave us "the Rose" (love, it is a river, you know). ESPN came into existence, the kids were into "Captain Caveman," and Muni got a new command center. Some things may have changed and gone away, but some things stay the same. Like Muni’s command center-- it hasn't been updated since those carefree days of Studio 54 and New Wave.

To fix the problem, Muni's honchos are putting hat in hand and asking $120 million to update the thing. Estimates say it'll cost upwards of between $100 million and $300 million to do the job but $120 million was their first and best guesstimate.

Officials say the outdated system can partially explain all those Muni meltdowns we all know so well. Among other things, it takes too long to track data, communications between driver and the command center are unreliable (we wonder if that means they use CB radio and they have to say things like "10-4 Good buddy" while relaying information), and information inside mission control has to be passed around by hand. To make matters worse, the command bunker hasn't really been remodeled so it's cramped and falling apart. Also-- shag carpeting.

Muni has made a presentation to the San Francisco County Transportation Authority and will present then will talk to Muni's board of directors next week.

Andrea Froncillo and Jennifer Jeffrey teamed up last year to write stinky prose. (We'll re-use that pun as much as we please.) He is a chef/partner in a bunch of restaurants in the city, including the Stinking Rose and the Crab House, and she's a San Francisco-based freelance writer. We'll link to Andrea's blog too, but he hasn't updated it in a year. Slacker! We're especially frustrated since it's titled "Sex and the Kitchen," and we sincerely hope all the fluids are strictly accounted for in the Stinking Rose kitchen.

They have re-upped for a new tome, Crab which will be released next week. Sex, kitchen, crab; it's almost logical. We have a fondness for crab, seeing as how it's as San Francisco as sourdough and Rice-A-Roni, so we had to shoot some questions at Jennifer and Andrea to know more. Their answers after the jump!

To conclude the apprenticeship program’s 50th season, the Merola program gave its grand finale concert last Saturday at the War Memorial Opera House. The singers did not present a full fledged opera, as in the previous concerts this summer, but selected arias to display what they can do best. The staging was minimal, and the costumes were black tie attire, but felt like what a formal 50 year high-school reunion in Texas would wear: expensive, full of satin, but bland, bland, bland.

To explain what was at stake: last year, Heidi Melton and Noah Stewart gave superlative performances, and were later invited into the prestigious ranks of the Adler fellows, and voila, they were both singing in the cast of the Rosenkavalier on arguably the second best opera stage in the country a couple months back. While all singers on Saturday were amazing, many in the audience were trying to figure out who was going to “make it,” who was going to be the next Thomas Hampson or the next Patricia Racette.

Above, Jamie-Rose Guarrine and Vince Yi; below (left to right) Ani Maldjian, Cynthia Hanna, Alek Schrader, Sam Handley (w/ scroll), Alexander Boyer, Tom Corbeil, Matthew Hanscom, Kenneth Kellog, Paul Murrihy (ponytail showing), Matthew Moore, Nathaniel Hackman, Daniela Mack (blue dress), Tamara Wapinsky (black dress). Photos by Kristen Loken/SF Opera

-- "Chilidog": Italo, "nu/no wave," (?) and disco sounds abound at the Transfer's Tuesday weekly dance party named after a most vile, vile act. (We’re sorry, but you will have to look up what a modern-day chilidog is for yourselves.) Music starts at 9:30 p.m. at the Transfer, 198 Church; admission is free and well-drinks are a ridiculously cheap $2!

-- Fuckwolf, Prismatics, and 3 Leafs: Acoustic and plugged-in rock outfits -- some more potty mouth-titled than others, tsk tsk -- perform tonight in the beautiful Tenderloin. Show starts at 9:30 p.m. at Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk; admission is $5.

-- La Vie en Rose (La Môme): Holy hell, what an amazing performance Marion Cotillard gives as songbird genius Edith Piaf -- brutal and brilliant. Warning: in French with subtitles. See this film tonight at 8 p.m. at the Clay, 2261 Fillmore; tickets are $9.50-$7.25.

As we told you last week, the San Francisco Mime Troupe performed in Dolores Park for the public on the 4th and last weekend. It was the premiere of the group's show "Making a Killing," which lampoons the current administration. We dropped by the Sunday performance; the photo above is during a charming ditty where "Condi Rice" and "Dick Cheney" were arguing over who was more popular in the polls.

They'll be taking the show all over the Bay Area and Northern California in the next few months; on Thursday it's at Mill Valley Community Center (6:30 p.m.), while Saturday and Sunday you can catch the show at Cedar Rose Park in Berkeley (go here for a full schedule)

--A guy jumped onto the field to say hi to Barry Bonds yesterday. Arrested, drunk. [The Chron photo pool, the Snitch.]

--They're looking on the Oregon coast now for the missing Alameda County woman and her friend the priest. It's been three weeks. [The Chron.]

--Alamo Square was cordoned off this afternoon after gunfire on McAllister Street hit a motorist in the head. [ABC 7.]

--There were also shootings at Webster and Rose and Div and Fulton. [SFist Tips line]

--"Ed Jew Resign" stickers in Chinese are popping up in Chinatown. [The Wall.]

--People are having problems activating their iPhones. [the Merc News.]