NEWS & FEATURES

TALKING POLITICS - Coveting a DC win: Washington, DC's successful bid to replace New Hampshire as the first to hold a presidential-nomination contest could turn its long quest for congressional representation into a national issue, David Bernstein reports. Meanwhile, the Dems are scrambling to make sense of it all.

Ironic, isn't it? President Bush seems to have learned something from the French after all: that all truth is subjective and facts are a scientific conceit. How else, asks Josh Marshall, to account for his politics of unverifiable assertion?

Which way is the wind blowing for the Atlantic Monthly - one of Boston's most venerable institutions - now that Michael Kelly is gone? Dan Kennedy finds out.

If you drive in Boston, says Marty Wolfand, you're familiar with the anxious drama that is trying to find a parking space - and one with a working meter, at that - in the city. But just what is the meter's history? And what is its future?

Chris Douglass first entered the kitchen at Icarus 20 years ago. Two decades later, the former South End storefront is one of the city's most respected restaurants. So why don't more people know Douglass's name? Tamara Wieder spotlights his work.

In the Phoenix editorial, we say that the pope is overrated.

In "Out There," Chris Wright wants a riot of his own.

In "Urban Buy," Christine Junge goes digging for China.

Letters to the editor

Moon Signs

Plus, this just in:

MUSIC

Sean Richardson says the Strokes match Is This It with Room on Fire.

Matt Ashare plays ref for Westerberg vs. Grandpaboy.

Franklin Soults say Morrison and Grandpaboy try to stop the drift by looking homeward.

Bill Kisliuk heralds the return of rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson.

In "Giant Steps," Jon Garelick stands by the avant-garde's old guard

Lloyd Schwartz reviews the BSO's dark Debussy and Boston Baroque's lightweight Handel.

Live reviews of: Interpol at Avalon, Thomas Hampson at Jordan Hall and The Holly Harris Party at Johnny D's.

Also, short reviews of:

THEATER

Tennessee, we hardly knew ye, says Carolyn Clay.

Jon Garelick says Eddie Izzard is an unstoppable Sexie machine.

DANCE

Marcia B. Siegel on Merce Cunningham at BAM, Rennie Harris at the Majestic.

Jeffrey Gantz sees the Boston Ballet looking to the past - and the future.

ART

Christopher Millis says the ICA's 'Splat Boom Pow!' misses the mark.

BOOKS

John Freeman reviews J.M. Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello (Viking).

TELEVISION

HOTDOTS: SUNDAY 26 11:30 (2) Fiesta in the Sky. The producers of this half-hour film about ballooning have taken hostages from among the families of WGBH executives and are ransoming them one at a time in exchange for the station's airing this show.
By Clif Garboden

Joyce Millman wonders if Karen Sisco and Tru Calling can live up to Alias and Buffy.

FOOD

SPECIALS