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Feature

A Bridge Too Weak?

A UC Berkeley professor believes the unique new Bay Bridge design is fatally flawed

By Ron Russell

Published: March 17, 2004

If only Abolhassan Astaneh were a flake he could be dismissed. But as an internationally recognized authority on the design of steel structures, the UC Berkeley engineering professor and his...

Matt Smith

Little Fish, Big Fish

Memo to Ashcroft: Why aren't you pursuing Barry Bonds the way you did Martha Stewart?

By Matt Smith

Published: March 17, 2004

Imagine an alternate universe where an entertainment figure is linked to fraud. Federal investigators, aware of the deterrent potential of a high-profile prosecution, target the celebrity's...

Dog Bites

Finger-Clicking Good

Why you have to see Bobby Badfingers finger-snap the drum solo to "Wipe Out"

Overheard by Matt Palmquist

Published: March 17, 2004

A Real Mayoral Face-Off Now that the California Supreme Court has spoken, ordering a halt to same-sex nuptials in San Francisco while it spends a few months deciding whether the city has the...

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Published: March 17, 2004

Down With Downloaders Just because people do it doesn't make it right: First: I don't like the traditional record industry; I think they act like pimps [OK Then, March 3]. I will not be...

Music

On Grime

We look beyond the buzz to get to the bottom of British MC Dizzee Rascal's phenomenal rise to fame

By Philip Sherburne

Published: March 17, 2004

It is in the nature of buzz that it obscures the sounds behind it, so it's no surprise that one of the year's most astonishing – and astonishingly hyped – albums has become one of the hardest to...

Reviewed

Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand

By Dan Strachota

Published: March 17, 2004

Some bands are destined to be defined by the groups that closely preceded them. You can't talk about the Mooney Suzuki without mentioning the White Stripes, just as you can't discuss Bush without...

Reviewed

Cee-Lo

Cee-Lo Green... Is the Soul Machine

By Tamara Palmer

Published: March 17, 2004

Cee-Lo's inclusion of a few guest collaborators -- most notably Blues Traveler's John Popper -- on his 2002 solo debut, Cee-Lo Green and His Perfect Imperfections , was adventurous. But while...

Reviewed

Aceyalone

All Balls Don't Bounce, Revisited

By Sam Chennault

Published: March 17, 2004

Clearly engulfed in an era of the producer (see Kanye West, David Banner, Lil' Jon, Madlib, etc.), hip hop fans have all but forgotten what for so long dominated their hearts and minds: the...

Reviewed

Omar Sosa & Adam Rudolph

Pictures of Soul

By Sam Prestianni

Published: March 17, 2004

In the liner notes to Pictures of Soul pianist Omar Sosa calls his extraordinarily focused improvisations with pioneering world-jazz percussionist Adam Rudolph a channeling of "the messages of...

OK Then

At the Movies

In which I take "The World's Most Hated Band" to see The Passion of the Christ

By Garrett Kamps

Published: March 17, 2004

Certain pairings feel so right that they require neither justification nor explanation. Peanut butter and chocolate, for example. Who can explain why such a coupling tastes so delicious? Who would...

Hear This

Hear This

These days, there's a DJ in every band, even David Krakauer's Klezmer Madness!

By Sam Prestianni

Published: March 17, 2004

On Live in Krakow , virtuosic clarinetist David Krakauer 's extraordinary third recording since parting ways with the popular Klezmatics in 1996, the artist updates the ancient folk music of the...

BeatBox

BeatBox

Rephlex Records brings its rebellious sounds to S.F., Luomo spins his aphrodisiac future-disco

By Tamara Palmer, Philip Sherburne

Published: March 17, 2004

Paul Dolby, aka Seiji , is one of the most well-known members of the West London production collective Bugz in the Attic. He was also one of the early innovators of an electronica subgenre known...

Eat

Take a Trip

Rustic Italian dishes and an interesting wine list beguile at the Marina's new A16

By Meredith Brody

Published: March 17, 2004

When Phillipe called to say that he and Liz were up from L.A. for a few days, we immediately made a date for lunch. "It's funny," I said, "that we actually eat together more now than we did when we...

Social Grace

Nothing More Than Feelings

Grandma wants to move in with you and the new baby? Just say NO!

By Social Grace

Published: March 17, 2004

Dear Social Grace, My husband and I are expecting our first child this summer. This is our first and the first grandchild for my husband's family. Everything is great, and we couldn't be...

Film

Punk Monk

Paul Bettany gets medieval in The Reckoning

By Gregory Weinkauf

Published: March 17, 2004

It's a bit unorthodox to ladle superlatives all over a film in the opening paragraph, but The Reckoning deserves them. Moving, gripping, and powerful, suspenseful, stylish, and literate, this...

Reps Etc.

Reps Etc.

Published: March 17, 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;

You See Your Gypsy

"Undulation: A Sultry Evening of Belly Dance and Exotic Music" includes performances by the Ultra Gypsy, Urban Tribal, and Djun Djun crews

By Hiya Swanhuyser

Published: March 17, 2004

So a fashion designer, a couple of glass blowers, a civil engineer, and a record store owner walk into a bar. Seriously. They really do walk into a bar, every last Thursday of the month, as members...

Night&Day;

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Published: March 17, 2004

Wednesday, March 17, 2004 There's a line in the come-on copy for "Sinsations," the monthly smutty cabaret show thrown by local arts agitator Dee Dee Russell, that has us kinda worried....

Night&Day;

Short Circuit

Check out the ROBOlympics this weekend, courtesy of the Robot Society of America

By Jane Tunks

Published: March 17, 2004

In the halcyon days of our collective youth, the future looked so bright we had to wear shades. We knew we would live in an urban utopia where there would be no pollution or war, and where we would...

Urban Experience

Heirloom Drag

Retro duds flee the attic

Published: March 17, 2004

SAT-SUN 3/20-21 American consumer culture -- with its strip malls, behemoth department stores, and nationwide chains -- is on a collision course with uniformity. From fast food to SUVs to the...