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Feature

Art on Two Wheels

There are reasons for building and owning extremely expensive, not especially speedy one-of-a-kind bicycles. The appreciation of craftsmanship. The satisfaction of owning something absolutely unique. The comfort of a perfect fit. The joy of true obsession

By Matt Smith

Published: June 24, 1998

Crouched beside three bicycles -- his hand-built dark-purple cyclocross bike, his mountain bike specially welded from rare Russian aerospace metal, and his customized single-speed cruiser -- and...

News

PG and ... EEEK!

State advocate says S.F. utility padded rate hike request by $900 million

By Matt Smith

Published: June 24, 1998

A request by San Francisco-based energy giant PG&E; to increase rates by $1 billion includes so much expense-padding that 90 percent of it should be thrown out, the consumer arm of the state Public...

News

Dog Bites

By Bill Wyman, George Cothran, Karen Solomon

Published: June 24, 1998

Muni'ed At a recent 8 a.m., we found ourselves in Noe Valley, at 24th Street, waiting for the J Church. When Dog Bites got there, a dozen or so people were loitering, suggesting that a train...

Letters

Letters

Published: June 24, 1998

Chronicle of Fear Kudos to John Mecklin for his brilliant, incisive article "Chronicle of Failure" (Mecklin, June 10) detailing the Chronicle's continued avoidance of publishing any negative...

News

The Jammer's the Thing

The artistic scope of fin de siecle roller derby makes Beckett's drama seem transparent

By Jack Boulware

Published: June 24, 1998

To properly critique the latest performance by the American Roller Derby League -- that is, to review it with the intellectual rigor professional theater demands -- one must consult the New York...

News

A Spoonful of Sugar

Using sex -- and celebrity -- to sell an antidepressant

By James Rocchi

Published: June 24, 1998

A young, professional crowd -- some in couples, some alone -- filled the Herbst Theater. They had accepted the invitation offered in the advertising for the night's sold-out event, which read, in...

Music

Boys Will Be Boyz

Matt Wobensmith ditches gay punk for queer hip hop

By Tim Kingston

Published: June 24, 1998

If you ask Matt Wobensmith, punk is dead. Five years ago the 27-year-old San Franciscan founded the zine and record label Outpunk to document queercore, an at-that-point little-known genre of...

Music

Hear This

By Sam Prestianni

Published: June 24, 1998

Quagmire Before migrating to the Bay Area a couple of years back, the Wisconsin natives in Quagmire must have indulged in the coming-of-age reality trip of the great American Midwest: torching...

Music

Hear This

By Robert Arriaga

Published: June 24, 1998

The Creatures Siouxsie & the Banshees died a horrible death. Some might argue that the famous goth band is not really dead, but merely existing in a state of suspended animation resulting from...

Music

House of Tudor

By Silke Tudor

Published: June 24, 1998

There are an estimated 15 million people spread out across the world who can trace their roots back to the Rom, colloquially known as Gypsies. In whatever country they have set foot, in whatever...

Music

Riff Raff

By Robert Arriaga, Johnny DiPaola, Karl D. Esturbense, Jeff Stark, Silke Tudor, Heather Wisner, Bill Wyman

Published: June 24, 1998

What's the Situation(ist)? Over the last few months you may have noticed an intimidating group of very bald men in dark sunglasses and bright orange crew jackets prowling through the streets of San...

Music

Mush Never Sleeps

By Mark Athitakis

Published: June 24, 1998

Various Artists Have a Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box (Rhino) Rhino Records began the '90s with the '70s: In January 1990, the reissue label unleashed the first volume of its...

Eat

Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

By Naomi Wise

Published: June 24, 1998

Absinthe 398 Hayes (at Gough), 551-1590. Open Tuesday through Saturday 5 to 11 p.m. (bar menu until 1 a.m.), Sunday 5 to 10:30 p.m. The restaurant is wheelchair accessible. Reservations are...

Film

The Red and the Black

By Michael Sragow

Published: June 24, 1998

Gone With the Wind Directed by Victor Fleming. Written by Sidney Howard, from the novel by Margaret Mitchell. Starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Leslie Howard, Olivia de...

Film

But Not Out of Mind

By Michael Sragow

Published: June 24, 1998

Out of Sight Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Written by Scott Frank, from Elmore Leonard's novel. Starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, and Steve Zahn. Opens Friday,...

Film

Zoom Lens

By Michael Fox

Published: June 24, 1998

A Town Has Turned to Dust What happens when hard-boiled East Bay filmmaker Rob Nilsson (Heat and Sunlight, Chalk) meets long-departed Twilight Zone maestro Rod Serling? A genuine small-screen...

Night&Day;

Night + Day

By Heather Wisner

Published: June 24, 1998

wednesday april 24 The Writing on the Wall How people remember activist/actor/poet John Trudell depends in part on their age. Baby boomers (particularly longtime locals) might recall his...

Night&Day;

Hot Licks

By Heather Wisner

Published: June 24, 1998

The strip around 850 Bryant, shadowed by the looming Hall of Justice, isn't exactly a happening scene, unless your idea of happening involves getting tossed in the drunk tank on a Saturday night or...

Night&Day;

Spit Happens

By Heather Wisner

Published: June 24, 1998

The Sister Spit open-mike series has seen its share of chain-saw wielding, naked cello playing, and puppet shows since it began, and eventually, hosts Sini Anderson and Michelle Tea decided that...

Halloween

Savage Love

Published: June 24, 1998

Hey, Faggot: I'm a straight, middle-aged woman, still out there in the dating jungle. Sitting in a movie theater recently on a first date with a single, straight, middle-aged man, I was presented...