Cover: Haunted Houses
With vacancy rates hovering in the 1 to 3 percent range, the rental market is getting ugly, giving some landlords room to engage in monstrous behavior.

News: Model Behavior
Writer David Templeton wonders why the state is still forcing nine year olds to build missions.

Trick or Treatise?: Move over, Wiccans--the Celts want to take Halloween back.

Public Eye: Pat Dando's mayoral makeover.

Polis Report: Watch out for the youthquake ahead.

Good Old Skull Days: Day of the Dead artists at MACLA, and a guide to Halloween events around the valley.

Also Durans: A little older and wiser, Duran Duran proves that they can sound as good as they look on their new album.

Ska High: Island Records relives its reggae glories on a new two-CD set--reviewed by Nicky Baxter.

A View of Debut: A new reissue chronicles Debut Records' jazz highlights of the 1950s.

Audiofile: Reviews of the latest CDs by Busta Rhymes, the Holmes Brothers, Copperbox and Ruth Brown.

Beat Street: Yes, I went to the Boo Bomb show. You gotta problem with that?

Techno Currents: Artists use and abuse technology at the San Jose Museum of Art's 'Alternating Currents' show.

Return of the Wing: The San Jose Museum of Art reopens its historic core.

Women of Wild Words: The Beat women regain their voices at 'Fast Speaking' conference.

Crescent Essence: Simple, elegant preparation and a feel for the season make Palo Alto's Crescent Park Grill a mainstay of the peninsula dining scene.

Bargain Bites: Ngoc Lan dishes out true proletarian fare.

Henry Shamed: Washington Square falls short of the Master's famous novella.

Horsing Around: Jim Jarmusch chronicles a year in the life of Neil Young's Crazy Horse.