Archive Search

Feature

Disease Detective

Deborah Hayden's new book, Pox, pulls the covers off famous people with syphilis. That's right: syphilis.

By Peter Byrne

Published: January 15, 2003

Two women drive into a parking lot near the Ferry Building in San Francisco. They show identification to a bald man sitting in a van. "Is this the place for ... the dinner?" asks one of the women....

Mecklin

Thinking Small

As Bush heads to war, the Chron bashes city bureaucrats for not putting up parking meters fast enough

By John Mecklin

Published: January 15, 2003

Over the past few months, U.S. troops, planes, and warships marched, soared, and sailed toward seemingly inevitable war. President Bush proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts. The...

Night Crawler

In the Spirits

From the ghosts of the Queen Anne Hotel to the "Miss Undead" pageant

By Silke Tudor

Published: January 15, 2003

The Queen Anne Hotel rises out of the inky, mizzly gloom, its decorous rose hue complemented by pools of lacy light gathering under the ground-floor windows. "Ahhh! Good evening and welcome,"...

Dog Bites

An Alias for All Seasons

Our hero finds an interesting way to track the sources of his junk mail

By Ben Westhoff

Published: January 15, 2003

Dear Fellow Republican, If you are not already actively supporting the Republican Party's 2003-2004 national campaign effort -- Now is the time to act! The 2003-2004 election cycle will be...

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Week of January 15, 2003

Published: January 15, 2003

Mamas and Papas And baby gets screwed: Bernice Yeung's article about Alanna Krause's lawsuit in Marin County family court was good ["Girl, Interrupted," Dec. 18]. However, it does not go...

Music

Survival of the Phat-est

Pianist Jacob Aginsky fosters the new jazz evolution by embracing electronica and other musics

By Lawrence Kay

Published: January 15, 2003

On a gray, rainy Saturday afternoon in downtown Berkeley, a tall, slender young man hunches over a small piano near the front window of Shattuck Avenue's La Note restaurant. He rocks slightly as he...

Reviewed

Summer at Shatter Creek

Summer at Shatter Creek

By Dan Strachota

Published: January 15, 2003

Summer at Shatter Creek is the ultimate solo album. Not only has Craig Gurwich played every instrument and written and recorded every song on his debut, but the tunes themselves feel like they...

Reviewed

Loose Fur

Loose Fur

By Philip Sherburne

Published: January 15, 2003

Loose Fur is not a Jim O'Rourke album -- but that's only true in the sense that Magritte's famous painting The Treason of Images (which features the line "This is not a pipe" written in French...

Reviewed

Various Artists

Ultra. Chilled 03

By Mikael Wood

Published: January 15, 2003

The New York-based dance label Ultra excels at neat summations of current electronic-music fads: Its recent electroclash compilation, Ultra. 80's vs. Electro , pitted young nü wavers like...

Pop Philosophy

Honey, I Shrunk the Hoot

The "smallest show in town" makes a big noise

By Dan Strachota

Published: January 15, 2003

It's not the size of the show that matters Onstage at the Hemlock Tavern, Dan Leone steps out from behind his steel drum to raffle off a carton of eggs. "Did anyone score a goal in a soccer game...

House of Tudor

House of Tudor

Remedial Cinema, Voodoo Organists, studs for hire, and more

By Silke Tudor

Published: January 15, 2003

At first I am comforted and compelled by the notion of "Remedial Cinema," a film series that promises remedies for all disease and deficiency, imagining I will just sit back, relax, and let my...

Hear This

Hear This

A pack of Orphans you don't want to mess with

By Bob Cantu

Published: January 15, 2003

"I write songs about boys in bands that piss me off and break my heart," says Jenny Stiletto, singer for the Orphans. Heartbreak is a great subject for punk songs, as the Muffs and Buzzcocks have...

Eat

Out of the Past

Inspired by an S.F.-set film noir series, we haunt the classics

By Meredith Brody

Published: January 15, 2003

I've always been attracted to the science-fiction mainstay of time travel. In fact, I practice it frequently. Pace H.G. Wells, I employ no high-tech machinery. Though I give points to Jack Finney...

Social Grace

Take It Away

A police inquiry into petty theft does have a way of ruining a party

By Social Grace

Published: January 15, 2003

Dear Social Grace, My friend "Alice" is dating a new fellow, "Joe." At a New Year's Eve party thrown by our mutual friend "Susan," I saw Joe subtly pick up a small knickknack from a bookshelf...

Film

Scot Free

When the boyfriend passes away, Morvern Callar may play

By Andy Klein

Published: January 15, 2003

The title Morvern Callar may sound like an Edward Gorey book or a job designation for telephone solicitors, but it's actually a name -- pronounced (roughly) "Mawvin Calla" (like the lily)....

Reel World

Entre Nous

This week: A lesbian longshorewoman, a horse head in bed, and a quickie interview with the filmmaker behind Morvern Callar

By Michael Fox

Published: January 15, 2003

East Bay filmmaker Lauren Himmel's debut feature, Treading Water , played more than 30 festivals around the world, including Mill Valley in 2001 and the S.F. International Lesbian & Gay fest last...

Reps Etc.

Reps Etc.

Published: January 15, 2003

Commentary by Gregg Rickman ( greggr1@mindspring.com ). Times compiled from information available Tuesday; it's always advisable to call for confirmation. Price given is standard adult...

Night&Day;

Banzai!!

Thrill to the amazing acrobatics of Aeros

By Heather Wisner

Published: January 15, 2003

Unfettered by gravity, common sense, and potential point deductions from that pesky Olympic rule book, the acrobatic movement-theater troupe Aeros delivers the thrill of victory without the agony...

Night&Day;

She's Back

Performance artist Karen Finley, that "chocolate smeared woman," is back in S.F.

By Lisa Hom

Published: January 15, 2003

Free speech icon and performance artist Karen Finley knows how to make an impression. The last time I saw the San Francisco Art Institute alumna (in her one-woman show Shut Up and Love Me ), she...

Stage

Play With Your Food

If you haven't seen it yet, now's the time to catch the world-class Teatro ZinZanni

By Michael Scott Moore

Published: January 15, 2003

Teatro ZinZanni started almost three years ago as a sort of sit-down, dinner-theater version of Cirque du Soleil, and it shows no signs of age. Neither does its current hostess, Liliane...