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Feature

Trannyshack Reno or Bustier

An extreme road trip that's never just a drag

By Lessley Anderson

Published: May 26, 2004

The sidewalk in front of the Glama-Rama! hair salon on South Van Ness is packed with drag queens who are sipping mimosas. A pair of bathing beauties in 1960s swimsuits, Marge Simpson wigs, and...

Matt Smith

Democracy in Suburbia

The Economist asks: "Is California Back?" Contra Costa County wonders: "Were we gone?"

By Matt Smith

Published: May 26, 2004

In Need of a Makeover: A Survey of California By John Micklethwait The Economist Newspaper Limited , 16 pages, reprints $4.50, 15-copy minimum "Is California back?" The words, next to a...

Night Crawler

Death Valley Night

A trip to the Mojave and the Amargosa Opera House, where Marta Becket has acted out a dream for 35 years

By Silke Tudor

Published: May 26, 2004

Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living. -- Miriam Beard Death Valley Junction is a whisper in the middle of the...

Dog Bites

Puppy Love

Dogster hosts photos and profiles of almost 20,000 canines

Overheard By Matt Palmquist

Published: May 26, 2004

Ted Rheingold is like a lot of dog-obsessed San Franciscans. He ends his e-mails with sign-offs like "Much woof and bark" and "Bark out." He still mourns his boyhood pet, Sparky, a Dalmatian/...

Letters

Letters to the Editor

Letters from the issue of Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Published: May 26, 2004

Counter to the Counter-Counterculture Is that fascism with a capital or lowercase "f"?: Every day I am shocked by the blind eyes of the people who keep this country going in the direction...

Music

Turner's Death, Taxes, & Prozack

Oakland MC Prozack was headed for the big time. Then his major-label deal fell apart.

By Dan Strachota

Published: May 26, 2004

Prozack Turner couldn't believe his eyes. There he was, a scrawny little white MC from San Jose, partying at the Hollywood Hotel with some of the biggest names in hip hop. Megaproducer Jermaine...

Reviewed

The Streets

A Grand Don't Come for Free (Vice)

By Abigail Clouseau

Published: May 26, 2004

Huh? The thing is, the first record, Original Pirate Material , was good: Gah-Rodge beats, Eminem-orchestral strings, and not-so-tough stories about playing some PlayStation or rolling the...

Reviewed

From Bubblegum to Sky

Nothing Sadder Than Lonely Queen (Eenie Meenie)

By Chris Baty

Published: May 26, 2004

Supposedly an homage to the music Bubblegum bandleader Mario Hernandez loved in the '80s, Nothing Sadder Than Lonely Queen covers a fair amount of territory in its 13 tracks. Pop fans hoping...

Reviewed

Jerry Garcia

All Good Things (Rhino)

By Mark Keresman

Published: May 26, 2004

This box set collects all six JG solo studio records, from 1972's Garcia to 1982's Run for the Roses . With the exception of two albums, these often find Garcia in the role of interpretive...

Music

OK Then

By Garrett Kamps

Published: May 26, 2004

"James Brown Is Dead." Wait, no he's not. You know how I know? I was standing right in front of him! God bless the summer concert season. Like NASCAR and cruise missiles, these shows -- the kind...

House of Tudor

House of Tudor

By Silke Tudor

Published: May 26, 2004

In 1997, three pretty young "women" from Japan jumped up onstage in the ultrahip environs of the Shibuya district and, despite their supposed lack of musical experience, completely captivated...

Hear This

Hear This

By Dan Strachota

Published: May 26, 2004

Columbus, Ohio's Moviola is the new Band, which is good since everyone respects the Band, it was one of the greatest groups ever, blah blah blah. Right? Wrong. The Band sucked. Don"t let any old...

BeatBox

BeatBox

Published: May 26, 2004

Almost every week, Princess Kennedy entertains the supposedly hip masses that congregate at "Trannyshack" with her wildly inventive, always blemish-free drag performances. Now, she, along with hair...

Eat

Beefed Up

You get grilled meat until you cry uncle at Espetus

By Meredith Brody

Published: May 26, 2004

A few Tuesdays ago it was dueling restaurant desires, when the first place we'd thought of for dinner after an art opening in North Beach proved to be closed for a private party (booked by the very...

Film

Old Faithful

For the 2004 summer season, Hollywood sticks with what it knows

By Luke Y. Thompson

Published: May 26, 2004

If the summer movie season is our annual time for escapism, last summer's audiences escaped most often with the likes of Hulk , Terminator 3 , and The Matrix Reloaded . Those titles,...

Film

Summer Film Previews

By Luke Y. Thompson, Gregory Weinkauf

Published: May 26, 2004

Bukowski: Born Into This STARRING: Charles Bukowski, Bono, Sean Penn, Barbet Schroeder DIRECTOR: John Dullaghan PREMISE: From the official press release: "The name Bukowski is as...

Film

Frogs Gone Loco

Childhood games turn into obsession in Love Me If You Dare

By Gregory Weinkauf

Published: May 26, 2004

It's a sign that a nation may be losing its collective mind when it grants a nutty hack like Quentin Tarantino an exalted title like Officer of Arts and Letters, but there's France for ya. Whether...

Film

Scars and Bars

Bukowski gets his in a touching, terrifying documentary

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: May 26, 2004

"Whadyawant, motherfuck?" They're the first words Charles Bukowski speaks in John Dullaghan's documentary about the poet and novelist, famous for his writing and infamous for his drinking and...

Film

Straight to Helen

Hudson's a bad mother, and sister, in this pat parenthood tale

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: May 26, 2004

Sitting through Raising Helen is an exercise in frustration, because somewhere inside this big heap of Hollywood nothing is a something (someone, actually) worth saving and savoring. Her name is...

Film

The Passion for Christ

High school outcasts and Jesus freaks duke it out in Saved!

By Melissa Levine

Published: May 26, 2004

Beware the exclamation point. When found at the end of a title, it almost inevitably signals a level of self-hype rarely justified by the content of whatever it hopes to name. In the case of the...