being a lengthy, completely superfluous, shocking profile of the fabulously demented queer artist Tino Rodriguez

by Mark Mardon

Just now, Tino Rodriguez is hot. Some would say he's always been hot, but consider his art, rather than the 32-year-old San Francisco painter's vibrant queer sexuality. Even those who don't regularly patronize art galleries could well run across Rodriguez's work. Walk into a bookstore carrying gay literature, and there among the new arrivals you'll see a paperb... read more

The old queen speaks out on her nearly 90 years of camp

by Mark Mardon


A long time ago, according to 88-year-old raconteur Quentin Crisp--one of the English-speaking world's most visible homosexuals and a man renowned for rarely turning down party invitations--people had a lot more time for fun.

"In Edwardian times, things were fun," he declares. "Then, there was more idleness, more time to flirt with everybody, to hold conversations, have great dinners and all t... read more

How a queer hippie kid became a rave king


by Mark Mardon

Anyone who thinks San Francisco's hippie counterculture died out with the 1960s hasn't been to any raves recently, and certainly hasn't talked with Jimmy Siegel, proprietor of Distractions head shop in the Haight/Ashbury district.

Siegel is one of the living links between the Flower Power era of the '60s and the electronic-music/rave revolution of the '90s. Although he's a mere 43 years old, when he runs through the history... read more

How Brian Epstein's passion for the Beatles shaped history.
. . .

by Mark Mardon

No figure in rock 'n' roll history did more to trailblaze the road for future band managers - defining the path to success for all great bands - than Brian Epstein, who managed the Beatles, boldly shaping their ascent from Liverpool obscurity to global superstardom. Elvis may have had Colonel Parker, but compared to Epstein, Parker was a mere carnival barker. In marketing the Fab Four to the world and se... read more

-- “A verse to gay life” (Bay Area Reporter): Profile of poet Aaron Shurin
ebar.com/arts/art_article.php

-- "The reluctant activist" (Sierra Magazine): Profile of writer Wallace Stegner
findarticles.com/p/article...i_13180167

-- "In Search of Elusive Metaphors: The Art of Travel Writing" (South American Explorers)
www.saexplorers.org/publicat...uidelines

-- “Cultural Revival” (Sierra): Journey to Ladakh ("Lit... read more

BOOK REVIEW

Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, and Dying, by Ram Dass; Riverhead Books.

"What happens after death is a central theme of all the world's religions," writes the guru of psychedelic experience and Soul awareness, Ram Dass, in Still Here, his elegant swan song, written from the perspective of an old man confined to a wheel chair, having endured a stroke, now looking back upon his life and evaluating the prospects for death - and the Soul's existence after death. He quo... read more

Photo of David R. Brower. Essay by Mark C. Mardon

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This essay appeared in the Winter 1990 issue of National Forum, the Phi Kappa Phi Journal, devoted to "preserving the global commons."
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David Brower, the grand old man of conservation -- the man author John McPhee once dubbed The Archdruid -- sips a martini at Sinbad's, his favorite lunch spot, overlooking San Francisco Bay. He looks out through the plate-glass window, scanning the air... read more