Nick, you should check out the SF Weekly web site which is a useful guide to not just music but all types of event happening there. If you like jazz, Roy Hargrove and Pharoah Sanders have a residency at Yoshi's club this month

http://www.sfweekly.com/music

It's not a big city, so fairly easy to get about by bus. If you have time, the countryside across the bay in Marin county is beautiful. Have a great trip.

so it may have changed a great deal since then, but I absolutely loved the place.

City Lights bookshop is wonderful... well worth a visit. And you could play the 'spot the location used in Dirty Harry' game, which provided me with much entertainment.

Amoeba Records - It's a converted bowling alley in Haight-Ashbury. It's huge and it's fantastic. You can also have a stroll around there and see the corner of Haight & Ashbury, home of hippie-dom.

City Lights bookstore - a brilliant book shop, with a great pub beside it, Vesuvio - loads of beat generation history.

on Haight Street near Golden Gate Park. Any music lover who visits SF and doesn't stop here has rocks in their head. Give yourself a few hours, or preferably a whole day.

is still a fave of mine for a day trip on BART out of SF, see my comments here and others'-have fun

http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/holiday-report-1-san-francisco

My one massive recommendation is to go to the bar at the top of the Bank Of America Building on California St. For a slightly overpriced G&T, you get the best views ever of San Francisco and the whole harbour.

all the way to Grace Cathedral on a sunny Saturday morning while listening to Grace Cathedral Park by Red House Painters. Feel a bit tearful. Buy loads of stuff from the gift shop then look, rather unsuccessfully, for the actual park.

**Only works if you've spent a decade or so obsessing over GCP, soz.

I was there for a year, and went dozens of times to comedy nights featuring people I'd never heard of and only had one bum night. Cobbs is great (although they have Damon Wayans coming up, not so attractive) and the Punchline on Battery were my regulars.

Otherwise, check the classifieds for music. www.sfgate.com and others. Slims was a great place to see anyone.

City Lights is great as mentioned above, Chinatown and Little Italy too.

My brother in law owns a coffee shop in San Francisco. Its called The Celtic Coffee Company at 142 McAllister street. I have to give him a plug as its the law !

On Haight-Ashbury. You can easily meet people with stories to tell about 60's legends. I spoke at great length to a cop there who had seen most of the major bands and met them, with a huge knowledge of music. He may have been making it up but it was a great conversation anyway!

Ameoba is indeed THE place to buy music. The best record shop I have ever been to (although a lot might have changed in 11 years).

Thanks a load, everyone, lots of good stuff there. I'll try to do/see all of it!
Cheers,
Nick

to stop by Taquería Cancún on Sixth and Market for the best burrito in town. (just watch out for all the junkies)

worth it if someone you liked was on but looks a bit thin ...

http://thewarfieldtheatre.com/

was lucky enough to see Garcia/Grisman there many years ago.