Archive Search

Feature

The Intimidator

Why is a stay-at-home dad from Foster City striking fear in the hearts of San Francisco darts players?

By Mark Athitakis

Published: February 13, 2002

Chris White scares people. More specifically, Chris White scares darts players. Darts and fear don't seem as though they ought to go together; darts, after all, is a laid-back sport that's all but...

Matt Smith

Attack of the Self-Serving Pol!

A deft film in which a southland legislator and lazy journalists rewrite history, blame Enron for the energy crisis, and leave Sacramento corruption untouched

By Matt Smith

Published: February 13, 2002

Actor/producer/writer J. Stephen "Rock" Peace's 1978 film Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! set such a high standard of campiness that for two decades nothing topped it -- not Return of the Killer...

Night Crawler

Cold Fête

A fund-raiser for an unusual art space gives new meaning to the term "frozen dinner"

By Silke Tudor

Published: February 13, 2002

Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant dangers. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success. -- Sir Ernest...

Bay View

The Price of Citizenship

A quirk in immigration laws, and tougher security rules, demand a terrible choice from Filipino baggage screeners at SFO: their jobs or their families

By Bernice Yeung

Published: February 13, 2002

It is a stunningly sunny afternoon in late January, and a Secret Service agent wearing all black waits impatiently as his bags are checked in at the American Airlines terminal. As his luggage...

Dog Bites

Gone at the Chron

The paper loses a managing editor but gains a lot of nervous tension

Lisa Davis

Published: February 13, 2002

Local news junkies were hardly shocked by this week's departure of the San Francisco Chronicle 's managing editor, Jerry Roberts. (He and his boss, Executive Editor Phil Bronstein, had had an...

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Lovable Luke; Who Knew Rent Control Was So Controversial?; Festival Facts; Correction

Published: February 13, 2002

Shocked, repulsed, and sickened -- in our profession, we call that the hat trick: As a career women's studies teacher, I am shocked and repulsed by your article about Luke Brugnara ("Luke...

Music

Scratch Attack

How a white punk from Ireland helped jump-start the Bay Area hip hop and turntablist scenes

By Lawrence Kay

Published: February 13, 2002

It's midnight on a brisk February night, and a large, boisterous group of folks has gathered in the studio of Berkeley radio station KPFA-FM (94.1). Local DJ luminaries Marz, Pone, Flare, and...

Reviewed

Various Artists

The Forcelab Edition: Composure (Forcelab)

Philip Sherburne

Published: February 13, 2002

Thanks in part to Montreal's annual electronic music festival, MUTEK, the city is quickly becoming known as one of North America's premier centers for experimental techno. Montreal is also home...

Reviewed

Josh Rouse

Under Cold Blue Stars (Rykodisc)

Chris Baty

Published: February 13, 2002

Josh Rouse has a way with words. It's not so much what the Nashville singer/songwriter says as how he says it -- a reluctant enunciation that unfurls like a slowly blooming flower. With his first...

House of Tudor

House Of Tudor

A sexy film fest, a Croatian lute fest, and a festering punk band

By Silke Tudor

Published: February 13, 2002

Drawing on shorts submitted to festivals all over the world, Pink Bubble Bath: The Sexy Film Festival selects movies that look at sex in a "new and interesting, non-exploitive way." Of course,...

Hear This

Hear This

The debauched Sleazefest West festival brings punk and pasties together

By Jennifer Maerz

Published: February 13, 2002

For fans of wild rock 'n' roll you can watch in a G-string, an event like Sleazefest is heaven. Founded in 1993 by Rick Miller, the kitsch-loving frontman for North Carolina's Southern Culture on...

Eat

Pro Fusion

Lotus

By Matthew Stafford

Published: February 13, 2002

Hanging in my apartment is a detail drawing of San Francisco in 1915, nine years after the great earthquake. The perspective is from a biplane or a hot-air balloon hovering above Yerba Buena...

Social Grace

Curb Rage

The dangers of trying to save a parking space

By Social Grace

Published: February 13, 2002

Dear Social Grace, Interesting to read your piece regarding saving a parking spot ["Parking Violations," Jan. 30]. Some time ago, I was standing in the street while my friend, who was parked...

The Mix

Outer Limits

Discover the Alaskan Duck Fart and other charms of the Outer, Outer Sunset's dive bars

By Greg Hugunin

Published: February 13, 2002

Pittsburgh's Pub may be the only bar in San Francisco with a banner touting the Alaskan Duck Fart (Kahlúa, Irish cream, and Canadian whiskey; one's plenty), but the place's charms extend...

Film

A Closing Iris

A writer's long descent into Alzheimer's makes for gripping storytelling

By Andy Klein

Published: February 13, 2002

After a long absence from American screens, British stage director Richard Eyre, best known for his agreeably nasty The Ploughman's Lunch in 1982, makes his return with an alternately depressing...

Reel World

Tongues Untied

An East Bay filmmaker documents the life of Invisible Man author Ralph Ellison

By Michael Fox

Published: February 13, 2002

Tongues Untied "Ralph Ellison never allowed Invisible Man to be made into a movie, a play, or an opera, although he got appealing offers from Sidney Lumet and Quincy Jones," relates East Bay...

Night&Day;

Peace and Love

Brava! celebrates "A Special Evening for Peace in Afghanistan"

By Sam Prestianni

Published: February 13, 2002

Feminist theater company Brava! for Women in the Arts couldn't have chosen a more convincing presence to consecrate "A Special Evening for Peace in Afghanistan" than Coleman Barks, the popular...

Night&Day;

Love Hurts

Offbeat Valentine's Day events for those who hate the holiday

By Lisa Hom

Published: February 13, 2002

I must admit that I'm not much of a romantic. In my junior year of college, while most of my colleagues were getting drunk and getting laid, I was writing my final paper -- what I'd like to think...

Stage

Queen Lear

Lynn Redgrave shows promise as a playwright

By Michael Scott Moore

Published: February 13, 2002

The first time we see her, Lynn Redgrave's character is a devastatingly confused, imperious old Englishwoman who used to be a famous actress. Now her career is over, her husband is dead, and her...

Stage

The Mystery of Irma Vep

A high camp staging with werewolves, Egyptian magic, and a dead lady named Irma. What else do you need?

By Michael Scott Moore

Published: February 13, 2002

This nearly indestructible "penny dreadful" by Charles Ludlam, about a Victorian household cursed by werewolves, Egyptian magic, and the memory of a dead lady named Irma, has been perfectly revived...