Email Author Mark Athitakis

2000 Stories by Mark Athitakis

• The 10-Minute Masterpiece

  published December 13, 2000

  In Mrs. Bromberg's fifth-grade class at P.S. 194, there were four Richards. The politics of the Brooklyn schoolyard demanded that they distinguish... More >>

• Buried Memories

  published November 29, 2000

  It makes sense that a collection of materials related to beat generation poetry calls San Francisco its home. But "home" is a nebulous term when... More >>

• The Beautiful South; Fatboy Slim

  published November 22, 2000

  When the Housemartins disbanded in 1988 -- killing off what was, hands down, the finest Christian Marxist folk-funk-pop-soul protest band to come... More >>

• A HAL of an Idea

  published November 15, 2000

  On Jan. 12, 1992, Dr. David G. Stork hosted a birthday party for ... well, you might say a friend. Stork is a professor of electrical engineering... More >>

• The Return of the Bastard Angel

  published November 8, 2000

  On Oct. 23, a dozen members of ACT UP S.F. burst into the Sixth Street offices of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Chanting slogans into... More >>

• Various Artists

  published October 25, 2000

  Tastefully appointed, this five-CD box set is billed as a celebration of the power of folk song in the '60s -- tales of social injustice filtered... More >>

• Mr. Reppas Goes to Hollywood

  published October 18, 2000

  The entertainment industry is arguably the best PR firm for whatever cause you care to mention. Lifetime Television thrives on mawkish... More >>

• Smackdown!

  published October 4, 2000

  Everything was fine until after the roller derby. As the warm August sun set over Union City, the wrestling fans in the football field... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published July 26, 2000

  This Column Is Brought to You by the Letter M, the Letter P, the Number 3, and the Concept "Death of the Artist" It's been the better... More >>

• Hear This

  published July 26, 2000

  Of all the assertions contained in Michael Veal's fine new Fela Anikulapo-Kuti biography Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published July 19, 2000

  Everything Quieter Than Everything Else Like a lot of so-called "new music" records in the marketplace these days, the packaging of... More >>

• Sunny Day Real Estate

  published July 19, 2000

  In 1994, back when the Sub Pop imprint still meant something, Sunny Day Real Estate released a remarkably dull album titled Diary. That's... More >>

• Hear This

  published July 19, 2000

  However celebrated Sonic Youth has been for gleefully scoffing at rock 'n' roll traditions -- all that out-there feedback, all that talk about... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published July 12, 2000

  A Punk's Progress Pop music and God have never gotten along very well -- think of all the religious leaders who've pilloried Elvis, the... More >>

• Happy Go Lucky

  published July 5, 2000

  "We're surrounded by Americans," says a slightly disoriented Fabrizio Steinbach, who's taking some time away from his native Germany to visit San... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published July 5, 2000

  Goodbye to All That Here's a challenge: Try to find a travel article on San Francisco that somehow avoids invoking the word "heaven"... More >>

• The Modesto Invasion

  published June 28, 2000

  A few miles away from a spanking-new cineplex, a Starbucks, a Borders, and other trap- pings of mainstream exurbia, Charlie's Spirits is one of... More >>

• The Old New Media Blues

  published June 21, 2000

  Robyn Hitchcock and Grant-Lee Phillips took different paths to get to the exact same place. For Hitchcock, it began in Cambridge, England,... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published June 21, 2000

  Left Of(f) the Dial Until recently, Dore Stein was host of a twice-weekly radio show called "Tangents," broadcast on KALW (91.7-FM),... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published June 14, 2000

  Welcome to the Atrocity Exhibition Noe Venable talks like a rocker, sings like a jazz crooner, and tells stories like an old folkie --... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published June 7, 2000

  Not That Tired Old Business About Dot-Coms and Culture Again These days, you can feel the backlash against the backlash kicking in -- a... More >>

• The Old Old Thing

  published May 31, 2000

  You'd think there was a law or something. Should you happen to be in charge of the homes section of a daily newspaper, and should you happen to... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published May 31, 2000

  All reports to the contrary, the recent Dead Kennedys vs. Dead Kennedys lawsuit wasn't about royalties, or even preserving some amorphous... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published May 24, 2000

  It's a Big World After All The first annual San Francisco World Music Festival inspires a lot of questions. First on the list: Why?... More >>

• Riff Raff

  published May 17, 2000

  The Wedding Present Weddings are generally boring. Or, rather, they're boring to write about -- how the New York Times consistently... More >>