Metro Silicon Valley | Columns

Silicon Alleys
The giant Mark's Hot Dogs orange and the Quetzalcoatl poop statue are ignored in the 'Weird California' book's coverage of San Jose. No surprise there.

Silicon Alleys
A talk with Tiffany fan Jeffrey Deane Turner, one of the subjects of the Slamdance doc 'I Think We're Alone Now.'

Silicon Alleys
Since the entire Little Saigon debate is bordering on surreal, here's a solution that will satisfy everyone: change Story Road to Madison Avenue.

Silicon Alleys
Back in the early '70s, the Doobie Brothers lived, partied, rehearsed and did who knows what else in the S. 12th St. house that deserves to be added to the Naglee Park Historic Inventory.

Silicon Alleys
San Jose barber Frank Annino celebrates 50 years of business.

Silicon Alleys
What to write?

Silicon Alleys
The mysterious powers of the legendary San Jose establishments that inhabit 'the Saratoga/Kiely/Stevens Creek Trapezoid.'

Silicon Alleys
With San Jose's harebrained hick-town penchant for naming buildings after politicians that aren't dead yet, they at least owe us a little rock & roll. Imagine Doobie Brothers Boulevard or Count Five Place.

Silicon Alleys
A roll call of the abstract mutant personalities employed by this column.

Silicon Alleys
Political theater of the absurd.

Silicon Alleys
This must be the place.

Silicon Alleys
More treasures for the hunting.

Silicon Alleys
Hidden treasure at San Jose State.

Silicon Alleys
Do the Jitterbook.

Silicon Alleys
Man or machine?

Silicon Alleys
Dove, actually.

Silicon Alleys
Tag, we're it.

Silicon Alleys
The revenge of public art.

Silicon Alleys
Ghost of Best Ofs Past.

Silicon Alleys
Read locally.

Silicon Alleys
Trying to ADD up.

Silicon Alleys
SJ in 3-D.

Silicon Alleys
Balls to the wall.

Silicon Alleys
Grading the curves of Monte Sereno.

Silicon Alleys
San Jose's issues: Solved!

Silicon Alleys
The main street in historic downtown Campbell is not the only Campbell Avenue in this valley.

Silicon Alleys
Jennifer Field of (every San Jose dude's) dreams.

Silicon Alleys
Old school Quakes.

Silicon Alleys
One track mind.

Silicon Alleys
Huts so good.

Silicon Alleys
Drive, he said.

Silicon Alleys
A walk through lost San Jose.

Silicon Alleys
Do It for Krazy George.

Silicon Alleys
Dance on my grave.

Silicon Alleys
In praise of Meridian and Hamilton.

Silicon Alleys
The pigeon invasion.

Silicon Alleys
Anti-man about town redux.

Silicon Alleys
Anti-man about town.

Silicon Alleys
Loss of innocence.

Silicon Alleys
Nightlife should not be solely just for kids and bohemian types. It should be for everybody.

Silicon Alleys
Walking San Carlos.

Silicon Alleys
Another Chuck on fire.

Silicon Alleys
Chuck Palahniuk amuck.

Silicon Alleys
The mother of all tailgates.

Silicon Alleys
The Improv goes nuts.

Silicon Alleys
An old refrigerator holds special meaning for Gary Singh.

Silicon Alleys
It doesn't matter what you build downtown, the Caravan will always be there. It will never die.

Silicon Alleys
Looking back down the Alleys.

Silicon Alleys: Mardi Gras in downtown San Jose
Why the hell do a thousand folks feel the need to come downtown and look for trouble?

Silicon Alleys: San Jose haters
One blogger calls SJ 'a disorientating nightmare.'

Silicon Alleys: SJSU memories
For one class, the final was to go bowling in the halls of the music department.

Silicon Alleys: Gas Chamber Orchestra
They were the Andy Kaufmans of SJSU's music department for six years.

Silicon Alleys: San Jose's industrial wasteland
Gary Singh visits the new exhibit at History Park San Jose about politics and athletics at San Jose State in the 1960s.

Silicon Alleys: Roberto Tinoco Duran
Alleys decided to hook up with one of San Jose's own favorite local Goliardesque poets.

Silicon Alleys: Adrienne Barbeau
The South Bay-raised star of the original version of 'The Fog' thrilled genre geeks (and former 'Maude' viewers) with her appearance at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors.

Silicon Alleys: The Heathers
This all-female drinking club is infiltrating the San Jose dives.

Silicon Alleys: 2006
Now that 2007 is upon us, Gary Singh reflects back on some of the more side-splitting experiences involving his column throughout 2006.

Silicon Alleys' year in review
Gary looks back on a year of writing dangerously—especially when the Elks are reading.

Silicon Alleys: Rudy Rucker
No one else can combine Santa Cruz surf culture with cutting-edge mathematics and find some way to ridicule Republicans, all in the same paragraph.

Silicon Alleys: Lou's Living Donut Museum
It's a travesty of justice that it's no longer in existence.

Silicon Alleys: Stockton Avenue
Alleys descended upon the most gorgeous eyesore of the entire neighborhood: the archaic dilapidated Westinghouse plant.

Silicon Alleys: Dennis Erectus
Since the San Jose rock radio legend has no health insurance, the first in what will hopefully be a long series of benefits will take place at Avalon in Sunnyvale on Jan. 12.

Silicon Alleys: George Best
Since Metro's gift guide issue this year has a sports theme, Alleys recommends a trilogy of books that the late Best himself authored, all ghost writers aside.

Silicon Alleys: San Jose's soullessness
'As soon as they see a 408 number on your CD, they just throw it the garbage can.'

Silicon Alleys: Passports
Norwalk, Connecticut—the 221st largest city in the United States—has a passport office and San Jose doesn't. Go figure.

Silicon Alleys: San Jose Earthquakes
Let us hope that Lew Wolff can reestablish the Quakes tradition and bring it back for good.

Silicon Alleys: Tom Lehrer
'The breakfast garbage that you throw into the bay/ They drink at lunch in San Jose.'

Silicon Alleys: San Jose's lack of an identity
Although San Jose has gargantuan potential for blossoming into a serious world-class city, the majority of its citizens couldn't care less.

Silicon Alleys: San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame
The group Trapt's high school roots in Los Gatos have been described by one astute observer as nothing less than 'twisted suburbia.'

Silicon Alleys: Where's San Jose?
Every major California city worth visiting was represented at the California Travel and Tourism Commission—that is, every city but San Jose.

Silicon Alleys: Steve Wozniak
The Apple co-founder tells all in 'iWoz.'

Silicon Alleys: Jaywalking
Silicon Alleys wants to hear your jaywalking ticket stories.

Silicon Alleys: Psychogeography
Part 2 of an an experiment in psychogeography.

Silicon Alleys: Psychogeography
Sometimes there are so many things going on over a stretch of just a few days that it's impossible to fully experience everything. Instead, one must engage in what some have called psychogeography.

Silicon Alleys: San Jose Elk Lodge
Everyone has driven by the Elks Lodge on Alma Avenue for years, but no one knows what's inside, so Silicon Alleys had to go find out.

Silicon Alleys: Liquor Stores
Support your favorite local liquor store.

Silicon Alleys: Annalee Newitz
She argues that the slimy killers and zombies in slasher flicks exemplify the brutal contradictions of capitalist culture.

Silicon Alleys: ZeroOne
The ISEA/ZeroOne festival had something for everybody, even the local bums.

Silicon Alleys: CADRE
Remembering the early days of 'broadcasting a show over the Internet.'

Silicon Alleys: CADRE
A look back at SJSU's CADRE Laboratory for New Media during the mid-'90s.

Silicon Alleys: Leigh High School
Call it the decline of Western civilization if you must, but hey, it was high school in suburban San Jose in the '80s, man.

Silicon Alleys: San Francisco vs. San Jose
San Jose will always be thought of as the James Franciscus to San Francisco's Charlton Heston.

Silicon Alleys: Mess Appeal
Gary Singh rummages through the various items lying around his cubicle.

Silicon Alleys: Too Far Gong
This special session of the City Council should have been an episode of 'The Gong Show.'

Silicon Alleys: The Caravan
The San Jose dive bar should be a registered historic landmark, if it isn't already.

Silicon Alleys: Bret Michaels and Poison
San Jose: where '80s hair bands go to die.

Silicon Alleys: The Lettrists
They would have loved San Jose in the 21st century.

Silicon Alleys: The World Cup Runneth Over
Local soccer fans are still in denial about losing the San Jose Earthquakes.

Silicon Alleys: Tour the Underbelly
Local musician Lisa Dewey explores the bowels of San Jose.

Silicon Alleys: Another Singha
A one-page play by Silicon Alleys.

Silicon Alleys: 24th Street, San Jose
Street offers a cross-section of San Jose culture.

Silicon Alleys
Gary Singh remembers 'A Day Without Burritos.'

Silicon Alleys
Memories of the booze-fueled punk band Verbal Abuse.

Silicon Alleys: Downtown When It Rocks
Be careful, Mai Bock is a devil in disguise. It sneaks up on you. In any event, you should support local beer. That's the point.

Silicon Alleys: The Rise and Sprawl of San Jose
SJ is nothing but 20 different small towns barely duct taped together with no common connection whatsoever.

Silicon Alleys: Beverly vs. Johnny V's
Remembering Johnny V's.

Silicon Alleys: Writing for a Living
Veteran freelancer Larry Tritten talks about staying in print.

Silicon Alleys: Soccer Show
San Jose State University and King Library in San Jose host 'Planet Football,' an exhibit of photos about soccer.

Silicon Alleys: Author John Fante
'Ask the Dust' author was a supreme writer of the 20th century.

E. Clampus Vitus—California Originals
Either a fraternity disguised as a joke or a joke disguised as a fraternity, E Clampus Vitus, or 'Clampers,' go out of their way to celebrate history in this part of California.

The Da Vinci Code Decoded
'The Da Vinci Code' is one of the silliest books ever written. For a taste of real Templar conspiracy, try Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry.

San Jose Standoff
Columnist Gary Singh makes like Travis Bickle in 'Taxi Driver' and stands up to pimps and extortionists in downtown San Jose.

Silicon Alleys
At the RSA Conference in San Jose, convention delegates jammed the floor while Secret Service chaps with spiral phone cords in their ears oversaw the action from the balcony level.

Silicon Alleys
Synchronicity.

Silicon Alleys
Dennis Erectus: A Monument.

Silicon Alleys
Haunted locations in the South Bay.

Silicon Alleys
Markets and Massages.

Silicon Alleys
Pages From History.

Silicon Alleys
Overwhelming Art.

Silicon Alleys
Bravo, Taco Bravo.

Silicon Alleys
Spies and Shibumi.

Silicon Alleys
The Secret Steinholders.

Silicon Alleys
Fast Times in Spartan Bookstore.

Silicon Alleys
True Local Flavor.

Silicon Alleys
Best in San Jose.

Silicon Alleys
Graveyard Shift.

Silicon Alleys
Meeting San Jose's Original Neighbors.

Silicon Alleys
Bring Back the Prosciutto.

Silicon Alleys
San Jose Gets Global Stage.

Silicon Alleys
1,000 Points of Live.

Silicon Alleys
Pac-Man Fever Revisited.

Silicon Alleys
Tripping Through Silicon Valley.

Silicon Alleys
Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto!

Silicon Alleys
Infidels and Other Subversives.

Silicon Alleys
Remembering Frontier Village.

Silicon Alleys
Gnarly Computations For the Future.

Silicon Alleys
Hitting Rock Bottom.

Silicon Alleys
Bob Moog, Sonic Outlaw.

Silicon Alleys
Beer and Loathing at Spartan Stadium.

Silicon Alleys
Suicide Club.

Silicon Alleys
Meat Loaf Art.

Silicon Alleys
Waiting for Miss San Jose Grand Prix.

Silicon Alleys
Machine Love.

Silicon Alleys
Counterculture A.D.

Silicon Alleys
Situationist Comedy.

Silicon Alleys
Talk Dirty to Me.

Silicon Alleys
The Born Identity.

Silicon Alleys
Vancouver Salute.

Silicon Alleys
Cloak and Dagger.

Silicon Alleys
Flush With Success.

Silicon Alleys
Ultra Hate.

Silicon Alleys
One Big Conspiracy.

Silicon Alleys
A New Spin on Neighborhood Art.

Silicon Alleys
Long Live the Paperback Car Cultureolution.

Silicon Alleys
Alien Notion.

Silicon Alleys
Lessons in classical music.

Silicon Alleys
The Other Joey.

Silicon Alleys
There's nowhere in SV to hide from Gary Singh's new column.