Archive Search

Feature

Vlad the Mad

The hardest-working angry young russian comic in town

By Tommy Craggs

Published: March 24, 2004

Kid walks into a bar, right? It's an open mike at a dive in the Mission, or maybe it's a bar in SOMA or a pub in Palo Alto, but anyway it's always the same -- clinking glasses, clacking billiard...

Matt Smith

Share and Share Alike

A partial solution to S.F.'s parking wars? Turn over City Hall vehicles to the local CarShare program.

By Matt Smith

Published: March 24, 2004

A muffled thud shook the walls, then another, and another. Next, S.F. retiree Martin Macintyre heard an explosion of glass. "It was like Baghdad," says Macintyre of the series of bricks that hit...

Night Crawler

Bot of Course, My Dear

At the first ROBOlympics, the combat robots are thrilling, but those cute, humanoid Robo-Ones steal the show

By Silke Tudor

Published: March 24, 2004

The sound of combat robots is unmistakable: the high-pitched scream of vertical saw blades dragging across metal hulls; the ominous hiss and thud of hydraulic hammers finding purchase against the...

Dog Bites

Apology Accepted

You may be an unwitting Barry Bonds apologist. Take our quiz and find out!

Overheard by Matt Palmquist

Published: March 24, 2004

He's the least likable superstar in sports! The grouchiest home-run hitter in history! The man who makes President Bush look like a media-management expert during times of scandal! Yes, he's San...

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Published: March 24, 2004

President Pretty Boy Vote Gavin in 2012!: I think Matt Smith's article hits Gavin Newsom dead on ["Mayor AWOL," March 10]. The one thing Newsom has proved to me is that he's really good at...

Music

Dark Horse

The Unicorns strike it rich with their unique brand of sullied indie-pop

By Abigail Clouseau

Published: March 24, 2004

To use the word "sophisticated" when talking about sloppy Montreal pop outfit the Unicorns seems somehow inappropriate. There's nothing that sounds calculated or mature about the band at first...

Reviewed

Mekons

Punk Rock

By Mark Keresman

Published: March 24, 2004

One of the aspects distinguishing rock 'n' roll from the pop, country, and jazz of previous generations is that rockers very seldom revisit their back catalogs in a studio context. While iconic...

Reviewed

Octavius

Audio Noir

By Dan Strachota

Published: March 24, 2004

Nobody wants to be a band manager. You get no respect, no credit, no money -- basically, it's grief and ulcers and the occasional line of blow. Certain groups make you want to be a manager...

OK Then

Pants on Fire

Brooklyn's Liars have blown it with their sophomore album. And that's a good thing.

By Garrett Kamps

Published: March 24, 2004

It's "Liars." Not "The Liars," just "Liars." This is an important distinction. We'll get to it shortly. When Liars released They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top in 2001 (on...

House of Tudor

House of Tudor

Rap-metal prodigy Schäffer the Darklord plays his swan song (as if you cared).

By Silke Tudor

Published: March 24, 2004

Despite the ready wit of every producer associated with San Francisco's foremost metal club, "Lucifer's Hammer," the crowd did not welcome Schäffer the Darklord with open arms and raised...

Hear This

Hear This

Two years after the death of guitarist Mary Hansen, Stereolab returns to S.F.

By Tamara Palmer

Published: March 24, 2004

Stereolab is that rare band that transcends genre boundaries. The group has remained an influence on all sorts of cutting-edge music, from lounge and rock to experimental electronic and hip hop,...

BeatBox

BeatBox

The DJ that dared to remix Elvis, the man behind the Lazy Dog, and the ninjas that make up Ninja Tune

By Tamara Palmer

Published: March 24, 2004

Ben Watt is best known as one-half of Everything But the Girl along with his longtime love, the gorgeous singer Tracey Thorn. But for the past six years, Watt has gained momentum as a DJ. His...

Eat

Safe Harbor

At Harbor Village, the Cantonese nights are more exciting than the dim sum days

By Meredith Brody

Published: March 24, 2004

My friend Tom, who ought to know, told me that there are now 75 film festivals in the Bay Area. I was surprised, but I shouldn't have been, since I was still bemoaning missing some movies I'd...

Dish Enchanted

Doing Chicken Right

How to avoid glorified Americanese dressed up as ethnic kweezeen

By Bonnie Wach

Published: March 24, 2004

I've always had a love/hate relationship with dishes that purport to be of foreign origin but are really just glorified Americanese dressed up as ethnic kweezeen. There's something ignorant and...

Film

Robbin' Hood

Heath Ledger brings an Aussie outlaw to life, sanitized for the screen

By Jean Oppenheimer

Published: March 24, 2004

Nineteenth-century Irish-Australian folk hero Ned Kelly may be little known in America, but in his own country he is a legend, a cross between Bonnie & Clyde and Robin Hood. Born outside Melbourne...

Film

Dough Boy's Malaise

The strife of an Iranian pizza-delivery guy informs Crimson Gold

By Gregory Weinkauf

Published: March 24, 2004

Perhaps you've heard of Taxi Driver . Well, meet Scooter Dude . In Crimson Gold ( Talaye sorkh ), an Iranian portrait of urban ennui, detachment, and (briefly) explosive violence, the anti-hero...

Reps Etc.

Reps Etc.

Published: March 24, 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...

Night&Day;

The Thrill of Defeat

A one-man multimedia show on the mostly miserable musical career of Ira Marlowe

By Joyce Slaton

Published: March 24, 2004

Somewhere, sometime during his mostly miserable musical career, Ira Marlowe was accosted after a show by a woman on Ecstasy, who claimed she dug his act so much that she wanted a "private...

Night&Day;

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Published: March 24, 2004

Wednesday, March 24, 2004 1964 gave us so much that was so weird: the release of both Mary Poppins and Dr. Strangelove , Barry Goldwater for President, the Ford Mustang, the birth of Calista...

Night&Day;

Industrial Light and Magic

Yves Béhar designs ordinary things that meet our needs in extraordinary ways

By Karen Macklin

Published: March 24, 2004

Ever wish it were just as easy to change the wallpaper in your house as it is to change the wallpaper on the desktop of your PC? Or that your shoes were smart enough to know exactly how to fit your...