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45:04

Remembering the "Mayor of Castro Street"

Randy Shilts has a new biography about Harvey Milk, the openly-gay mayor of San Francisco who was assassinated at the age of 48. Shilts details Milk's coming out later in life and his adroitness as a unity-building politician.

Interview
44:18

Tales of the City, Gay and Straight

Armistead Maupin developed a series of novels based on his serialized fiction published in the San Francisco-based Pacific Sun newspaper. His work is notable for featuring sympathetic and realistic portrayals of women and gay men.

Interview
25:52

The Impact of AIDS on the Gay Community.

On the second part of this special edition of Fresh Air addressing the AIDS epidemic, Terry Gross speaks with writer Dennis Altman, author of the new book "AIDS in the Mind of America." One of its subjects is the impact of the disease on the gay male community. The Australian Altman has previously written about the gay movement, and worked with the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California Medical School. Altman offers his thoughts on whether AIDS should be considered a "gay disease."

Interview
06:35

Cashing in on the Summer of Love

Rock historian Ed Ward looks at how record labels tried--and failed--to market second-rate bands from San Francisco's psychedelic rock scene.

Commentary
03:19

A Paint-By-Numbers Cop Movie

Actor Clint Eastwood is known for finishing movies quickly and under budget -- that way, he can focus his energies on his pet projects. Film critic Stephen Schiff says the new Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool, is an example of Eastwood's sometimes slipshod work.

27:38

Longshoreman and Author George Benet

Benet worked as a longshoreman in San Francisco until gentrification and automation rendered his labor unnecessary. He says he mourns the workers' culture more than the job itself. Benet later went to graduate school and became a novelist and poet. His newest book is called A Short Dance in the Sun.

Interview
06:29

The Authentic '60 San Francisco Sound

Rock historian Ed Ward says that several 1950s and '60s bands associated with San Francisco actually came from nearby cities and towns. He looks at some of the over looked, truly local, drug-fueled bands of that era.

Commentary
10:45

Mystery Novels, Lesbians. and Feminism.

Mystery writer Mary Wings. Wings' novels draw on the familiar hard-boiled detective genre, but her heroine is a lesbian-feminist detective named Emma Victor. Wings new book is titled "She Came in a Flash."

Interview
10:23

'Chronicle' Reporter on Pelosi's New Role

Journalist Marc Sandalow talks about Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who stands to become the first female Speaker of the House. Pelosi represents California's 8th District, which covers most of the city of San Francisco. She has held the post since 1987. Sandalow serves as the Washington Bureau chief for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Interview
07:47

In '60s San Francisco, Love Was the Song

Rock historian Ed Ward remembers the sound of San Francisco in the '60s, from the early days of countercultural upheaval through the Summer of Love in 1967. It's all lavishly documented in Love is the Song We Sing, a new four-disc set from Rhino Records.

Review
07:17

'Milk' Is Much More Than A Martyr Movie

Film critic David Edelstein says the Harvey Milk biopic, starring Sean Penn, is one of the most heartfelt portraits of a politician ever made. "The personal and the political aren't just hand-in-hand," he says: "They dance."

Review
07:50

Trident And The San Francisco Rock Scene

The rise of the San Francisco rock scene in the mid-1960s is a well-known story, but one which might have taken an entirely different direction if Frank Werber's fortunes had played out differently.

Commentary
05:48

Hackers? Techies? What To Call San Francisco's Newcomers.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg lives in the Mission and says young tech employees have been pouring into the neighborhood. But what to call these new residents? He says the term "techie" used to suggest a computer whiz with no social skills; now it suggests one with no social conscience.

Commentary

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