Midnight Mystery rides are quickly becoming one of my favorite things in San Francisco. Every third Saturday of the month SF Midnight Mystery Ride posts a meeting location. Cyclists of all ages and abilities gather at the meeting spot just before midnight and are led by organizers on a route unknown by anyone else. You’re led to a secret location, sometimes making stops along the way. And at the end there’s always some form of surprise entertainment waiting at the end. In my two rides I’ve been treated to an outdoor film screening, live music and fire dancing. Not bad, right?

These rides are great because there’s that element of discovery. You’ll stop to take pictures. Jam out because someone brought a boombox. Share snacks and swigs of whiskey with strangers. You’ll find yourself in a part of the city you’ve never bothered to go before and you never know what’s in store at the end because it’s different every time. The only constant is meeting rad new people and returning home in the wee hours of the morning telling yourself it was completely worth it.

Midnight Mystery rides are starting to pick up in cities across the world. But my hope is that every city with a sizable population starts having them. If you hate surprises, spontaneity and feel like you gotta have control over the situation, don’t bother showing up. But if you just wanna get down and ride bikes with awesome people, watch this video and make sure you’re there at the next meeting of the Midnight Society.

If you started the year nursing a hangover, make sure you gather yourself so you can hang out with us Thursday evening in NYC. We’ll be hosting RESET with our pals at Collective Good. This isn’t “networking”. What it will be though is bringing together creative people for some tasty drinks to make sure your 2013 starts off right. We’ll also be partnering with clothing recyclers Wearable Collections, so clear out your closet and bring any unwanted threads with ya.

Headed to Treasure Island this weekend? We’ll be there and decided to drop an Treasure Island 2012 mixtape with a track from each of the artists playing this weekend. Throw this on, build your schedule with the official mobile app and get ready to ride a giant ferris wheel or dance yourself silly at the silent disco.

It’s been three years since I had the opportunity to check out Treasure Island Music Festival, but I actually might be more excited for it than I was about Outside Lands. Outside Lands is great and all, but it’s become a mega event that gets too crowded for me to consider it an absolute favorite.

I’ve heard friends justify not going to Treasure Island this year due to a lineup they’re not familiar with, but to me that’s just more reason I’ve got to be there. Who am I pumped on seeing? Tycho, Matthew Dear, Toro Y Moi, Grimes and Los Campesinos! are plenty enough to keep me happy, but I’m also definitely checking out Wild Belle and Brit Daniel’s new band Divine Fits (think Spoon + Wolf Parade).

Photo from Electrojams

See the thing about TIMF is you don’t have to make any sacrifices since there are no overlapping sets. You get to see every artist (if you fancy) or take a break to ride a gigantic ferris wheel and have a dance party at the silent disco. Getting there is a small obstacle, but the festival has a free shuttle from AT&T Park that has been on point in the past. If the weather is in any way nearly as awesome as it has been lately, you’ll be treated to a absolutely dope view of Downtown San Francisco. You can tell I’m psyched, but how I could I not be with such fond memories of TIMF in my past. Hope to see you there, dancing and smiling away. That’s what this weekend’s for.

The essentials:
Lineup/Schedule
Getting there
Festival app
2012 Treasure Island Mixtape
What Treasure Island artists dig about SF

If there’s one event I’ve grown to love over the past few years it’s PARK(ING) Day. If you aren’t already saying “Hell yeah!”, it’s an annual worldwide event started by Rebar where city dwellers demonstrate the need for more public green space by creating mini-parks in metered parking spots.

People get really creative with it. Some spots feature free bicycle tune-ups, live music or a spot to get your hair did. Others use the opportunity to create a more traditional park. Holiday Matinee has participated in PARK(ING) Day for a few years and it’s always been an amazing day filled with hi-fives, making strangers smile and minor controversy with people that hate fun. I still laugh at the time my buddy Zack and I got called lazy hippies for organizing a little fun with our friends.

There won’t be an official Holiday Matinee spot this year with the team spread out in NY, SF, SD and London but I do know our pals at Sezio will be doing PARK(ING) Day 2012 proud in San Diego and I’ll be cruising round San Francisco to visit as many of the spaces I can that day. Yes, we all have work on Friday, but take the time to visit the mini-park(s) in your city (peep the map here) and keep an eye on the #parkingday Instagram tag to follow the action. It’s totally worth it and will get your weekend started right.

Last weekend, I had the privilege of attending Outside Lands for Holiday Matinee. And since everyone’s been asking me “How was it? Did I dig it?” In a word, helltotheyes. If the festival offered nothing else, you really can’t go wrong with a lineup that includes Beck, Sigur Rós, Jack White (check out this surprise set) and Stevie Wonder, but there was plenty more that made Golden Gate Park the place to be for 72 hours.

Much to any local’s amusement who is familiar with SF weather, some ladies peppered the crowds in Daisy Duke shorts and tanks like it was Coachella. Heck, one girl wore a open leather jacket with nipple tape. True, the days started warm, but as the clouds and Karl The Fog rolled in, it made me wonder how many hoodies and blankets the festival sold to out of towners. PayPal sponsored the brilliant idea of festival lockers for the weekend (only $5-10 for all 3 days!), but those quickly sold out to the most prepared festival-goers.

As for the tunes, it’s excruciating painful sometimes to discover we still haven’t figured out teleportation and I pretty much had to miss some acts I really wanted to check out. Father John Misty was a consensus favorite among just about anyone who saw him, although I happened to miss that set. Personal highlights for me included Reggie Watts explaining what a festival’s for, YACHT’s energy (plus our interview), The Kills’ badass bandana-clad percussionists and the media tent dance party for two hours of Stevie Wonder.

Festival food was delish and I ate like I was about to hibernate for the next 4 months. Fried chicken sandwiches, fresh poke, veggie wraps, pizza, burritos, tots and mulled cider – how could I not when everything was local fare from area restaurants? While last year’s tree house fort and swing was sorely missed, I dug the smaller stage nestled in the woods for folksy/bluegrass tunes. And if your timing was just right like mine, you may have even caught a mime funeral. This area of the festival only got better at night when the lights and kicked up dust made everything look magical.

With year five of Outside Lands in the books, it’s established itself as one of the premiere US music festivals. Check out our full Outside Lands photo gallery and previous coverage too!

Ready for a weekend of tunes in Golden Gate Park? We’ll be there and thought we’d drop an Outside Lands 2012 mixtape of some of the artists we’re looking forward to seeing. Throw this on, build your schedule with the official mobile app and you’ll be even more pumped than you already are.

p.s. If you don’t see the tape you’re probably on your mobile device. Spotify Premium users can listen here.