Cover: Toxic Avenger
Ted Smith's unpopular mission: to keep the high-tech industry from turning the valley into a chemical wasteland. A lot of folks wish he would just go away.

News: Band Shak on the Run
The Stanford marching band's legendary digs are going to bite the dust to make way for an alumni center--that is, if the band doesn't torch it first.

Metropolis News Extras

• San Jose: Making the creek a healthy place to spawn.
  
• Willow Glen: Local couple invents baby software.
  
• Los Gatos: General Plan Task Force takes on growth issues.
  
• San Jose: City library versus university library.

Mutha of Invention: Building a better gopher trap keeps tinker on his toes.

An American in Classics: Leonid Grin and Marcus Roberts talk about the 'glorious noise' of George Gershwin.

Queen of the Hill: Lauryn Hill educates the mainstream about hip-hop and rap.

Grownup Teenager: Frank Black retreats from weirdness on his new album.

Taiko Time: San Jose Taiko celebrates 25 years.

The End of Irony: John Waters' newest film, Pecker, is an affectionate summing up of the director's lifetime fascination with life on the margins.

Yearning Lips: The heat is off in English Firelight.

Father Dearest: A Soldier's Daughter walks thin red line in memoir about novelist James Jones.

Critic at Large: Food reviewer Christina Waters has had enough of the mania for oversized portions. She's here to say that bigger does not mean better--it means bigger.