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Feature

'Roid Ragers

Two macho men and the bitchy bodybuilding world that surrounds -- and, perhaps, spawned -- the BALCO steroids case

By Tommy Craggs

Published: May 5, 2004

"Once," says Emeric Delczeg, 51 years old and built like a fireplug, "I was called to help Barry Bonds to pose." It was for a muscle magazine photo shoot sometime last year, Delczeg explains in his...

Matt Smith

Building Up California

A high-rise condo boom in San Diego may show the way out of a statewide housing and sprawl problem

By Matt Smith

Published: May 5, 2004

It's mid-April, and I'm in San Diego with a group of San Francisco planners, architects, developers, and policy wonks, looking at a possible California future that's unfolding just north of the...

Night Crawler

Restoration Project

At "R_xehab," there's sure to be a cure for whatever ails you

By Silke Tudor

Published: May 5, 2004

It is a gorgeous Sunday morning in lower Polk Gulch. I squint into the dazzling sunlight, absent-mindedly scraping last night's blue greasepaint residue from behind my ears, and try to reasonably...

Dog Bites

Trouble at Home

Mike Farr is remodeling his Victorian to resemble a boat. But someone's trying to sink his ship of dreams.

Overheard by Matt Palmquist

Published: May 5, 2004

The house at 1478 Page St. is so shiny, you can almost see a reflection of yourself in its glossy redwood siding. Even at night, the exterior gleams under floodlights. Perhaps that's why the...

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Week of Wednesday, May 5, 2004

Published: May 5, 2004

Park Museum Parking Hey, activists -- get a car, already!: I have to disagree with Matt Smith's comments in opposition to the garage in Golden Gate Park ["Museum Quality," April 28]....

Music

The Art of Reuniting

Once upon a time, S.F.'s Death Angel was poised to bring thrash metal to the mainstream. Then its bus crashed. Now the band is back to finish the job.

By Charles Gray

Published: May 5, 2004

Is it not possible that popular music is about to die and is seeing its life flash before its eyes? In the past year alone we've witnessed a parade of hot new bands reanimate the old sounds of...

Reviewed

William Hung

Inspiration

By Todd Lamb

Published: May 5, 2004

The Bay Area is filled with lots of dorkballs, gaylords, punkers, and other people who just sort of suck at life. Berkeley student William Hung was one of us, but now he's graduated to celebrity...

Reviewed

Ty

Upwards

By Sam Chennault

Published: May 5, 2004

Like pre-Iraq War British intelligence, U.K. hip hop is regarded as suspect at best. After all, the classic hip hop mantra "Fuck the police" doesn't seem as relevant when the fuzz come armed with...

Reviewed

Of Montreal

Satanic Panic in the Attic

By Nancy Einhart

Published: May 5, 2004

There are a whole bunch of bands -- Apples in Stereo, Lilys, Of Montreal, and the like -- whose British Invasion- styled rock draws endless comparisons to the Beatles and their compatriots. Problem...

Reviewed

Snow Patrol

Final Straw

By Abigail Clouseau

Published: May 5, 2004

Remember how a few days after getting your first glow stick, the stunningly curious nuclear shine of the toy became a boring, sub-firefly-worthy illumination? Well, Snow Patrol isn't much different...

OK Then

Gone to Heaven

Though it got off to a rocky start, last week's Pixies concert in Davis lived up to the hype

By Garrett Kamps

Published: May 5, 2004

When the rumors of a Pixies reunion began circulating last summer, many of us simply didn't believe them. To a certain generation, the Pixies are the Rosetta stone of modern alternative rock; the...

House of Tudor

House of Tudor

Troubadour Jason Webley gets you singing, squirming, and maybe even doing the "gnome dance."

By Silke Tudor

Published: May 5, 2004

A charitable theurgist outfitted with an accordion, a moth-bitten fedora, and a peculiar sense of humor, Jason Webley has the uncanny ability to persuade roomfuls of people to close their eyes,...

Hear This

Hear This

The "D.A.I.S.Y. Age" may be long behind us, but De La Soul's hip hop still smells like roses

By Sam Chennault

Published: May 5, 2004

Shuffling between Ms. Mosley's seventh-grade math class and the school cafeteria with "Potholes in My Lawn" blasting from my cassette Walkman, it would've been nearly impossible for me to imagine...

BeatBox

BeatBox

Nate Cavalieri goes "Under the Radar"; Brock Keeling makes the "Tubesteak Connection."

By Nate Cavalieri

Published: May 5, 2004

Something about DJ Zygote's mixed bag of melodic IDM and delicate indie rollicking gives "Under the Radar" the slightly dour charm of an ex-lover's mix tape. But just when you start to get...

Eat

Hits and Myths

A fancy Greek restaurant explodes our expectations of cheap, unmemorable fare

By Meredith Brody

Published: May 5, 2004

I've never been to Greece, though I made a concerted effort one year when I was 16 and applied to a drama school in Delphi for a summer session. I think I was attracted as much to an imagined...

Dish Enchanted

Tuna Time

The perfect Dogpatch diner for the perfect comfort sandwich

By Bonnie Wach

Published: May 5, 2004

You ever notice how certain foods require just the right setting to taste good? Comfort foods, for instance, like fried-egg sandwiches or turkey/gravy/white bread/ mashed potato platters: I don't...

Film

Burning Japanese

Godzilla after 50 years reveals more than just a rubber suit

By Luke Y. Thompson

Published: May 5, 2004

It begins with the roar. That unmistakable sound, like an untuned violin bow being scraped against a rusty saw blade. Anyone with any exposure at all to global pop culture knows it; even Roland...

Film

McRibbing

A man eats fast food for a month -- guess what happens

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: May 5, 2004

What becomes of Morgan Spurlock's body after a month of eating and drinking nothing but McDonald's assembly-line foodstuffs is not surprising. He bloats up, gaining nearly 30 pounds in 30 days. His...

Film

City Limits

If you're young and female, New York Minute is your movie

By Jean Oppenheimer

Published: May 5, 2004

That sound you hear is the stampeding feet of millions of pubescent and pre-pubescent girls, racing to movie theaters this weekend to catch sisters Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen in their first feature...

Film

Monster Smash

Van Helsing explodes monster movie legends with hip upgrades

By Gregory Weinkauf

Published: May 5, 2004

"We must keep the atmosphere electrified!" announces creepy Igor in reference to an abominable experiment in Van Helsing , but he could be appraising the entirety of this enormous event movie....