Washington City Paper: Contents for Apr. 16

Washington Slept Here
Contrary to popular myth, used mattresses don't let the bedbugs bite.

Cover Story

Jerrod Shaw just wants to sell you a bed. That’s it. He doesn’t want to sell you a bedroom set or a “sleep experience.” No fancy add-ons or extras: no super pillow-tops, no Space Age visco-elastic memory foam. Just a bed. “Nowadays, you can make a bed that is just so comfortable that you probably won’t get out of it,” he admits, but Shaw, the frontman for the Southeast outlet of mattress store Bed-To-Go, isn’t necessarily interested in selling you one of those.

Business is slack on a Wednesday afternoon in late March, as Diane Jackson walks into Bed-To-Go looking for a mattress. A mental-health counselor who lives in Southeast, Jackson wants a mattress based on “price and comfortability,” in that order. The Bed-To-Go sign propped on the sidewalk offering “Beds From $29” caught her eye, and she decided to come in and examine the merchandise.

Shaw turns away from Judge Judy, gets up, and swings into his low-pressure sales pitch. “All the mattresses you see are used returns or trade-ins. They have been sterilized, sanitized, and deodorized. The ones in the black patterns here—under $100 for the set—those are refurbished. We take ’em to our factory, strip them down, clean ’em off, and re-cover them.” Shaw leads Jackson down the row of mattresses set up on the floor. “The prices marked on the plastic, that is top and bottom. We got adjustable frames, also, and those are $25 if you need one. Feel free to test them out; the plastic’s there for one thing—for you to sit on.”... Continued

Issue of Apr. 16 - 22, 2004

News and Features

Washington Slept Here
Contrary to popular myth, used mattresses don't let the bedbugs bite.
Cover Story By Justin Peters
Cheap Frills
At Wizards games, halftime is amateur hour.
Feature By Chris Shott
Massive Burial
The heavy cost of funerals for the obese
The City By Sarah Godfrey
Pop-O-Meter
The City By Tom Scocca
Orient Express
Nimby Tribunal By Josh Levin
Come on Down
The Mail By Christopher E. Earley
Indifferent Strokes
The Mail By Celeste Dawn Mitchell
One From the Heart
The Mail By Kelly Gordon

Columns

Deep in the Heart of Taxes
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Ax of Faith
City Desk By Mike DeBonis
Concrete Penalties
City Desk By David Morton
Promise Keepers
Loose Lips By Elissa Silverman
Corrective Behavior
Dept. of Media By Erik Wemple

Eats

Why Was This Week Different From All Other Weeks?
Young & Hungry By Todd Kliman

Movies

The Talking Cure
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
The Mourning Show
Film Review By Josh Levin
Connie and Carla
Film Review By Tricia Olszewski
Forget Baghdad: Jews and Arabs--The Iraqi Connection
Film Review By Mark Jenkins

Music

Intensive Caring
Acts Locally By Anne Marson
Waves in the Ether: The Magical World of the Theremin
Music Review By Andrew Beaujon
Misery Is a Butterfly
Music Review By Michael Crowley
Bright and Beautiful
Music Review By Shannon Zimmerman

Theater

Mommy Queerest
Theater Review By Trey Graham

Arts and Events

D.C. Hard-Core
The Rap Divas know what Washington men want: tough talk and a little sex. OK--a lotta sex.
Arts By Sarah Godfrey
Setting Picks
Artifacts By Mike DeBonis
Young and Hot
Artifacts By Louis Jacobson
The Old Small Game
Art Review By Louis Jacobson
Practical Magic
Opera By Joe Banno
Notes From Underground
Show & Tell By Robert Lalasz