Cover: Red Tide
Beached needles are just the tip of the medical-waste iceberg.

Night Howl: UCSC alumna and flutist extraordinaire makes good.

In the Ring of Fire: Santa Cruz author Jim Houston meets the people of the Pacific Basin.

New Opera Takes the Cure: UCSC collaborators' Opium: Diary of a Cure proves addictive musical theater.

Edible Poetry at Theo's: A recent dinner at Theo's--an edible Enlightenment--refreshed the whole idea of contemporary American cooking.

Bowled Over: Joel and Ethan Coen roll an offbeat strike in comic mystery The Big Lebowski.

Talking Pictures: Author, psychologist, and relationships expert John Amodeo attends the disarming romantic comedy The Wedding Singer.

Notes From the Underground: Good Riddance wins 'em over on stage and on record.