.Metroactive

The legend of the Winchester Mystery House has inspired so many things in pop culture, from Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride and Stephen King’s Rose Red to the 1993 sci-fi novel Vanishing Point and countless episodes of ghost-hunting shows.

Few things are as exciting as a live mariachi band, even without leopard skin spandex pants, wrestling masks and mariachi-fied covers of well-loved heavy metal songs from the likes of Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Black Sabbath

For Blood Be Water, Oakland-based artist Esteban Raheem Abdul Raheem Samayoa’s first solo exhibit, he displays a collection of 50 charcoal drawings, airbrush paintings, oil pastels and ceramic works that feature themes and symbols from his Guatemalan Mexican roots, dogs, cars, vintage cartoons and his conversion to Islam.

Some bands spend a lifetime rehearsing and fine-tuning their songs until they are showcases of harmonic perfection.

Best known as the original bass player and a vocalist in the hugely influential alt-rock band the Pixies, Kim...

Bay Area band Slinger self-identifies as emo, but that label arguably sells the group short.