Here at CP, out from beneath the maniacal, Schimmellian iron fist, it was like a goddamned revolving door. We debuted future movies editor Sam Adams, photographers Julia Lehman, Kass Mencher and Adam Wallacavage, staff writers Mark Naymik and Gwen Shaffer, freelancers Jenn Carbin, Geeta Dalal, John McCalla, Jennifer Rauch, Alexandra Richmond, Sara Sherr and Bram Teitelman, future art director Jessica Weber and future production queen Claudia Lippman. How much were we paying that publisher of ours?

Sure, we made some mistakes. "A major piece of pubic art has vanished. Didja Notice?" read the subhead to one Pretzel Logic column. But hey, we all had a good laugh about it.

Margit Detweiler chronicled the Khyber's suburban makeover at the hands of Marc Brodzik and the death of mod-rock station WDRE. Neil Gladstone sold hot dogs at the Vet and interviewed compulsive David Sedaris (NG: "Are you doing your dishes?" DS: "Oh yeah, I'm sorry, I'm just rinsing things off."). Scott Farmelant reported the brutal murder of a popular Bella Vista street chicken named Greta, and Jim Quinn wrote about Pete's Live Poultry: "Why it's good for you to meet what you're about to eat, and how to cook it afterwards."

David Warner profiled the "Fringe-tastic Five" — Nick Stuccio, Deborah Block, Eric Schoefer, Carrie Stavrakos and Conrad Bender — responsible for Philly's first Fringe. Frank Lewis sought the Jersey Devil and a missing woman (whose remains, sadly, turned up in October). Carbin profiled drag king Nicole LaGreca.

In a cover story called "Winning Clean" about Christie Whitman and Jim McGreevey's no-mud-slung campaign for New Jersey governor, we ran an illustration of the two of them in a tub together, which we thought was pretty scandalous at the time. Who knew?