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The Business blasts into June with a visit from author and journalist Jack Boulware. Mr. Boulware is one of the founders of Litquake, has written for Playboy, the New York Times Magazine, Wired, and Salon. He recently published "Gimme Something Better," an oral history of Bay Area punk rock, and Wednesday, he'll be reading with us at The Business. We've got a full set of Businessmen this week, with Alex Koll returning, and Bucky Sinister, Chris Garcia, and Sean Keane abiding. As always, The Business is just five dollars, the greatest deal in the Mission outside of Benders' Whiskey Wednesdays. Doors at 7:30, show at 8:15. BYO-Burrito.

Google announced this month that it is ending its ambitious project to digitally archive newspapers. The project to scan the archives of the nation’s newspapers and make them available online as a searchable historical record was announced in 2008 with the level of hubris only found in online enterprises. "Our objective is to bring all the world's historical newspaper information online,” said Adam Smith, director of product management at Google, announcing the project. Those lofty aims were echoed by Punit Soni, manager of the newspaper initiative: “As we work with more and more publishers, we'll move closer towards our goal of making those billions of pages of newsprint from around the world searchable, discoverable, and accessible online…."Over time, as we scan more articles and our index grows, we'll also start blending these archives into our main search results so that when you search Google.com, you'll be searching the full text of these newspapers as w

This week's Fasig-Tipton Timonium sale of two-year-olds in training is being reported as at least a modest success. The average price was down only slightly from last year ($47,263 versus $47,984 in 2010), the median was down 7.4%, from 27,000 to $25,000, and the percentage of horses in the catalog that were actually sold (subtracting both RNAs and scratches) was down 10 points, from 68.2% of last year's catalog of 400 horses to only 57.2% of this year's enlarged catalog of 600. I guess that, in a difficult market for sellers, modest losses count as success. [Note that my numbers differ slightly from those reported in the Blood-Horse; mine are calculated from the official sale report released by Fasig-Tipton, which can be found here .] Perhaps the most bizarre element in the Timonium sale was the eager participation of Korean buyers at the lower end of the market. Koreans, bidding principally through the K.O.I.D. purchasing agency, bought 46 of the 343 horses sold, or near

This week The Business returns like a video you saw on YouTube years ago that you can never get out of your mind no mater how much you cry and drink. And we're bringing comedians Shawn Robbins and Kurt Weitzmann to help hold you down and make you watch it again. Shawn Robbins is creator and smooth operator of the successful indie rock and stand-up comedy showcase, Snob Theater (recently featured in the Noise Pop Music Festival). A young whippersnapper with eyes on the prize who has acclimated to the San Francisco comedy scene very nicely (t hank you very much) since relocating here from New England. His cup runneth over with jokes. Also performing is comedic renaissance man Kurt Weitzmann. Kurt is one of the founding evil genii behind Comedy Noir Productions (and their popular "Roast" show series), writerproducerdirector of the short film "Last Call" (“Believably written, deftly directed and beautifully acted..." - San Francisco Weekly)

Los Angeles, you were so wonderful to us last month, we just can't stay away any longer. The Business is coming back to do it again this month! We'll be there for you, Lakers Fans, in your time of need and sorrow with another show and another burrito. All new material from Sean, Chris, Alex and a video from Bucky. Plus, special guests! The Medically Transported Burrito Raffle was a big hit in April, so we will be trafficking another Mission Style down to the show to give away. What taqueria will it be from? Will it be vegetarian (most likely)? Will Sean not be allowed to sit near it in the car because the warmth of his cheeks will mess with the ice packs? Come find out the answers on the last Friday in May. UPDATE: Special guests Jonah Ray and Aparna Nancherla will be joining the Business for our May show! Space is limited, so get your tickets here: http://www.laughstub.com/improv/buy.cfm?id=85991 The Business Friday, May 27th 2011 8pm $5 The Improv Lab 8162 Me

It's going to be quite a month for the Business! After a may-jorly triumphant journey to Los Angeles, and a packed, mays-morising show last Wednesday, The Business keeps the may-hem going by welcoming back one of our favorite guests, Mike Spiegelman, this Wednesday, May 11th. Mike "Speegz" Spiegelman is a founding member of sketch groups Fresh Robots and The Bitter Show, as well as the comedy duo of Laundry Basket & Spiegelman. He has opened for Neil Hamburger, Emo Phillips, David Cross, the late Mitch Hedberg, Robin Williams, and may-ny, may-ny more. He is a frequent host of the Darkroom Theater's "Bad Movie Night," and runs the popular Layover Bar comedy showcase in Oaksterdam (a may-rijuana-friendly section of Oakland). In addition, his website "Luggage Tuesdays" is the Internet's finest repository of restaurant- and produce-themed humor. We've also got Bucky, Alex, Chris, and Sean on the bill, and you never know who

The Business celebrates Cinco de Mayo one day early, welcoming comedian Matt Morales to our show this Wednesday. It's the 149th anniversary of the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla, so we encourage audience members to stop by Cancun Taqueria before or after the show. Crepes are not welcome, nor are any of Emperor Maximillian's family. Find your own acclaimed alternative comedy showcase, Frenchy! Matt Morales ... is a native of Slidell, Louisiana (home of diminutive SF Giants pinch-hitter Mike Fontenot), who moved to SF in 2002. He performs at clubs and colleges all over the place, and has appeared at the Edinburgh fringe Festival, as well as the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland. He plays in a metal band called Run Amok, and he's very excited about the Mark Ingram era in New Orleans. We are absent Chris Garcia, but we've still got Alex Koll, Bucky Sinister, and Sean Keane on hand to entertain you. While the French founded the Sec