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Feature

Enslaved in Palo Alto

A domestic worker from Kenya has accused her employer -- a prominent African journalist -- of human trafficking

By Bernice Yeung

Published: February 18, 2004

Alice B. grew up in Bungoma, Kenya, a district near the border of Uganda with a distant view of the jagged, extinct volcano Mount Elgon. Surrounded by rolling hills and verdant, grassy fields, her...

Matt Smith

Profiles in Gumption

Thanks to SFMOMA, Mattel wasn't able to squash a Utah artist who puts Barbie dolls in blenders

By Matt Smith

Published: February 18, 2004

Someday, tucked amongst the acrylic paints, modeling compound, and charcoal, art supply shoppers will find bins full of Barbie dolls. The lithe plastic figurines are to sculpture, cinema,...

Night Crawler

Reclamation Project

Pirates and other hooligans retake Haight Street for the only cause that matters -- love

By Silke Tudor

Published: February 18, 2004

"Love freely!" proclaims Tigger , a 24-year-old candy-hued pirate punk with bright pink dreads and a bright pink skull-faced heart-and-crossbones emblazoned across the back of her frayed...

Dog Bites

Queer Eye for the Canine

"We've mastered making people more beautiful, why not improve upon the rest of the world?"

Overheard By Matt Palmquist

Published: February 18, 2004

"I think she's a butch-femme-top," says Evan Kaminsky, bending down to pet a black half-pug, half-Boston terrier named Beatrice. "Aren't you, you widdle angel?" The dog squirms from his grip and...

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Published: February 18, 2004

Mything the Point Some S.F. legends are worth repeating: I like Matt Smith's positing of the Zygmunt Arendt House story as a new urban legend ["A Tale Worth Retelling," Feb. 4]. However,...

Music

Noise Pop the Game

The handy, portable way to test your musical knowledge (and kill time between sets)

By Nate Cavalieri

Published: February 18, 2004

Download PDF (961kb)

Reviewed

Diamanda Galás

Defixiones: Will and Testament

By Sam Prestianni

Published: February 18, 2004

With her late-'80s three-album opus Masque of the Red Death and its terrifying epilogue, Plague Mass , classically trained pianist and singer Diamanda Galás confronted the public's...

Reviewed

Low Flying Owls

Elixir Vitae

By Abigail Clouseau

Published: February 18, 2004

The irony of modern-day progressive rock is that the title is usually given to bands that have embraced a retro sound. Where's the progress in that? Sacramento's Low Flying Owls are guilty of being...

OK Then

Thrown From the Train

I go to five nights of Train concerts to find out if SF's biggest band is really all that bad

By Garrett Kamps

Published: February 18, 2004

It's about 10:30 on a wet and dreary Friday night when, downstairs, in the basement of Cafe Du Nord, San Francisco's R&B-tinged; pop-rock megaband Train -- which, like it or not, is one of this...

House of Tudor

House of Tudor

Crimp your hair and borrow your dad's Chevy: You've been invited to Kunst-Stoff's "The Prom"

By Silke Tudor

Published: February 18, 2004

With more than a nod to the cream of the pop-punk bands of the 1970s, the Briefs have glommed on to the bygone era with no intention of letting go until every one of their heroes – the Adverts,...

Hear This

Hear This

What looks like a mangled guitar sounds, in Paolo Angeli's hands, oddly beautiful

By Sam Prestianni

Published: February 18, 2004

For Paolo Angeli , musical innovation starts with adapting the instrument. In this case, it's the acoustic guitar of the artist's native Sardinia. A breed apart from the Martins and Guilds one...

BeatBox

BeatBox

"Bad Kitty!" is totally naughty and totally free; Marques Wyatt spins the house; and John Beltran takes it back to his techno roots

By Tamara Palmer

Published: February 18, 2004

Thursdays can bring out good moods in anticipation of the weekend, but at some club nights it's just too tempting to overdo it. Such is the case at "Bad Kitty!," where debauchery is highly...

Eat

Pig Heaven

Some costly meals during an East Coast trip remind us that good things often come in inexpensive packages

By Meredith Brody

Published: February 18, 2004

During a recent trip to the East Coast, I spent hundreds of dollars in the pursuit of good meals, trying a catholic assortment of new, well-reviewed places, ranging from a tiny, cozy storefront...

Social Grace

Lavatory Laments

A stream of responses to an earlier column about handicapped toilet stalls

By Social Grace

Published: February 18, 2004

Dear Social Grace, A question in this week's column ["Bearer of Bad News," Jan. 7] , about the disabled stall in the bathroom, raises another for me: When there are three stalls...

Film

From Bad to Worse

An Afghan girl faces the terror of life under the Taliban

By Melissa Levine

Published: February 18, 2004

If you were expecting the first film to emerge from Afghanistan since the defeat of the Taliban to be even remotely celebratory, you'll have to adjust your expectations. Radically. In Osama ,...

Reps Etc.

Reps Etc.

Published: February 18, 2004

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 admission;...

Night&Day;

Satan's Li'l Sweethearts

That foxy troupe of hoofers the Devil-Ettes celebrates five years of burlesque

By Joyce Slaton

Published: February 18, 2004

Asked to describe the Devil-Ettes , her foxy troupe of hoofers, Baby Doe pretty much nails it. "We're kind of like a lowbrow version of the Rockettes," she explains. But for a group of girls whose...

Night&Day;

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Published: February 18, 2004

Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Rodney O'Neal Austin is seemingly so good at everything he tries that you sorta want to punch him in the face. And you would, too, if you weren't too mesmerized...

Night&Day;

Art's Art

A visual joy-ride through comics with its most revered practitioner, Art Spiegelman

By Karen Macklin

Published: February 18, 2004

It's really no surprise that folks don't take comics seriously. The word itself connotes silliness, and the "comics" section of Sunday dailies is still referred to by some as the "funnies." But...

Urban Experience

Art & Politics Do Too Mix

Slogans "R" Us

Published: February 18, 2004

SAT 2/21 Say what you will about mass anti-war demonstrations, they bring out the best in creative signage. The many inventive messages displayed in last year's protests against the war in...