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Infiltrator

Onward Christian Ex-Gays

Infiltrator looks in on a few Christian groups that help misguided souls pray their way out of the gay lifestyle. Right here in the Bay Area.

By Harmon Leon

Published: December 22, 2004

"OK, time to get into the hot seat!" the leader of the Fellow Warrior support group announces. I'm herded over to the coffee table in the center of a small back room in a crappy two-story office...

Matt Smith

The High Life

Breathing in sleaziness at the rarefied and urbane levels of San Francisco political life

By Matt Smith

Published: December 22, 2004

Just Dandy If I owned spats and a gold-tipped walking stick, I'd have been wearing them Dec. 9. My day's schedule included a 9 a.m. meeting with Louise Renne, the former San Francisco city...

Dog Bites

Stealing the Scene

When the mayor doesn't show for his acting debut in the Tenderloin, the TL steals the scene

John Mecklin

Published: December 22, 2004

Now that Gavin Newsom has carved out a spot on the shortlist of nationally recognized mayors -- Daley of Chicago, Bloomberg of New York, Barry of D.C. Corrections (our historical favorite) --...

Weekly Obsessions

Weekly Obsessions

Things we were obsessing about on Dec. 22, 2004

Published: December 22, 2004

Certain cities with year-round chilly or balmy weather enjoy pretending as if they actually have four seasons: Florida stores are jammed with heavy sweaters each winter, and San Francisco retail...

Music

System of a Sound

What does it take to be the city's best reggae DJ crew? Specials, riddims, and well-connected sounds. Let us explain.

By Darren Keast

Published: December 22, 2004

It's a little past noon, and the peculiar, somewhat mysterious workings of the reggae business are already in full swing at Wisdom Records in the Outer Mission, the only record store specializing...

Reviewed

Burmese

Men

By Justin F. Farrar

Published: December 22, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (AP) -- Hip underground label Load Records has released the new offering by Bay Area heavies Burmese just in time for the mad holiday rush. This "22-minute peep show of infantile...

Reviewed

Various Artists

Niacin Sun

By Mike Rowell

Published: December 22, 2004

Locally produced zine Bananafish has explored the underground's fringes since 1987, exposing a panoply of ultraobscure musicians and visual artists as well as such edgy genres as extreme noise to a...

Reviewed

Holly Golightly

Slowly But Surely

By Rachel Devitt

Published: December 22, 2004

I have to admit that I was less than enthusiastic about the prospect of sitting through a new Holly Golightly album, another Valium-drip-slow trip through retro land, complete with a pit stop at...

Reviewed

Viva Voce

The Heat Can Melt Your Brain

By Michael Alan Goldberg

Published: December 22, 2004

Kevin and Anita Robinson -- the immensely talented husband-and-wife team behind Viva Voce -- undoubtedly have the chemistry. Their spacious old house in Portland, Ore., is the lab. And when they...

Reviewed

Albert Ayler

Holy Ghost: Rare & Unissued Recordings (1962-70) 10-CD Spirit Box

By Sam Prestianni

Published: December 22, 2004

Holy Ghost is an extraordinary career-spanning box set of rarely heard material by revolutionary saxophonist Albert Ayler. But it may not be a must-have for even the most serious jazz collector....

Reviewed

Various Artists

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

By Rossiter Drake

Published: December 22, 2004

Gone are the days when eight-bit video-game characters hummed along to forgettable tunes composed on vintage Casios. Today, shrewd label heads are brainwashing the kiddies by way of their...

OK Then

Group Hug 2004

It's been a shitty year on a number of levels. Here's a mix CD to cheer you up.

By Garrett Kamps

Published: December 22, 2004

"Just tell me that everything's going to be all right." So said a co-worker of mine last week, bursting into my office, exasperated as usual, seemingly in need of a hug. A hug was issued. It's...

Bouncer

Bouncer

You've got thirsty houseguests, we've got answers: Skip the Tonga Room.

By Katy St. Clair

Published: December 22, 2004

The best show on TV isn't Desperate Housewives or Lost . Nope, the best show on TV -- which also happens to have the worst name -- is ABC's Wife Swap . The premise is two American families...

Hear This

Hear This

Let the wily noise of D Yellow Swans both fray and soothe your nerves

By Justin F. Farrar

Published: December 22, 2004

Like the hyperactive offspring of Sub Pop's Wolf Eyes, Oakland's quantum noise-engineers D Yellow Swans have released a heaping closetful of vinyl, cassettes, and CD-R's since their inception...

BeatBox

BeatBox

Try "popscene" on Christmas Eve eve, "Full Circle" on Christmas Eve, and DJ DK Watts at the Bar on Castro on Christmas night

By Tamara Palmer, Brock Keeling

Published: December 22, 2004

Quirky Britpop, indie, and rocktronica bands always have a friendly home at "popscene," the weekly party that worked overtime this year to bring live shows from the likes of the Killers,...

Eat

Comfort Food

A delicious oasis of calm for pre- or post-holiday dining

By Meredith Brody

Published: December 22, 2004

Don't get me wrong: I love the holidays. And by holidays, I don't just mean the Thanksgiving-to-New-Year's marathon that we're in the middle of (well, it's now become Halloween-to-New-Year's, if...

Film

From Major to Minor

Why the best films of 2004 look like indies but aren't

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: December 22, 2004

To understand this most tumultuous year in film, over which loomed the ghost of a blessed messiah and the shadow of an accursed pariah, turn your eyes from the movie screen and look to the...

Film

Leaning Sideways

In a year when small movies came up big, picking the best was a Payne

Published: December 22, 2004

Our best movies of the year may have been anything but the best to a few of our critics — such is the dilemma of offering employment to writers of dissenting opinion. In other words, the No. 1 film...

Film

Misdirected

Almodóvar shoots for noir and misses the mark

By Melissa Levine

Published: December 22, 2004

Bad Education , the new film by the flamboyant Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, opens on a man sitting at a table, poring over the tabloids for stories of interest. When he finds something...

Film

Sea of Loathe

Wes Anderson takes Bill Murray out to sea and strands him there

By Robert Wilonsky

Published: December 22, 2004

The critic who takes notes during The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou will ultimately fill a notepad only with scribbled details: "All the crewmen wear red stocking caps with their tuxedos," "some...