Playboy March 2005

COVER STORY This year, after successful performances in prime time, on the best-sellers' list, in modeling and in heiressing, Paris Hilton indubitably ranks as the girl with whom we'd most likely want to succeed. It explains her appearance on top of our list of the sexiest celebrities of the year, surpassing some bare and bountiful competition. Our Rabbit worked his way into this photo taken by Odette Sugerman. He's convinced we've netted a lovely catch. FEATURES 70 STOLEN SCREAMS Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is world famous. It's been called "the primal image of urban alienation" and is a symbol of Norwegian national pride. In slightly over a decade, it has also been stolen twice by daring thieves. Here is the suspenseful story of how cunning detectives versed in the international art-theft game found the painting and nabbed the culprits the first time—and how that case may suggest who has The Scream today. By Simon Cooper 90 THE YEAR IN MUSIC 2005 Thousands of you voted—and we listened! Velvet Revolver snags the award for best rock album, Kanye West wins for best hip-hop, and David Bowie is (finally!) inducted into the Playboy Hall of Fame. Who else won? You'll be surprised. Also: an ode to music goddesses from Gwen Stefani to Christina Aguilera, Q&As with Scott Weiland and the Streets, and first-hand tales of how your favorite rock stars lost their virginity. It's enough music to blow your speakers. 98 SOUND + ART Looking for $200,000 worth of sound? PLAYBOY shows you how to get a premium audio system on the cheap. By Kyle Kolbe 116 VANITY VINYL Your series ended, your movie went straight to DVD, and not even Vegas is calling. When all else fails in Hollywood, cut a record. PLAYBOY assembles the best of the worst in our own version of Celebrity Idol. By Jake Austen FICTION 86 PUNCHDRUNK Two Army veterans set off cross-country in drag, lip-synching to Babs, Celine and Bette. Their stages are rodeos, redneck bars and gun-show parking lots. The mission: a slugfest to save the world. The outcome: dubious. By Chuck Palahniuk THE PLAYBOY FORUM 53 TOWN VS. COUNTRY Call it blue state vs. red state, but in fact it's city vs. country. The friction can be seen in microcosm in Washington, where urbane Seattle is fighting with the rugged individualists out in the hills. By Jonathan Raban 128 KID ROCK The Kid reveals how he's bedded some of the hottest women to grace the pages of PLAYBOY, the joys of pimping in identical duds with his 11-year-old son and why he supports Bush whether he agrees with him or not. By Alan Light 61 THE ROCK The world always needs an action hero, and former wrestler the Rock—who gave up his defensive-lineman spot at the University of Miami to Warren Sapp—is happy to serve. But he's no grunting Stallone clone. In his new movie, for instance. he plays a gay bodyguard. In the Playboy Interview he talks about steroids in sports (and his own use of them), when to brawl with fans and how he lost his virginity—both on-screen and in high school. By Michael Fleming PICTORIALS 76 PLAYBOY'S 25 SEXIEST CELEBRITIES Hubble, Hubble! PLAYBOY goes stargazing. This month we pay homage with a constellation of the hottest women imaginable. 102 PLAYMATE: JILLIAN GRACE Howard Stern's sexy discovery fulfills her childhood fantasy to become a Playmate. 132 DEBBIE DOES PLAYBOY Deborah Gibson gets comfortable with her sexuality, and we get lost in her eyes, among other places. NOTES AND NEWS 15 WORLD OF PLAYBOY 16 LA VIDA HEF Steven Tyler, Tara Reid, Hunter S. Thompson, Dennis Rodman and many beautiful women stop Hef from singing "'O Sole Mio." 127 CENTERFOLDS ON SEX: COLLEEN MARIE Colleen Marie dislikes giving direction in bed, but she makes sure her requests are heard. 159 PLAYMATE NEWS Playmates get physical on the Playboy X-Treme Team, and Krista Kelly recalls the first time she read PLAYBOY. DEPARTMENTS 5 PLAYBILL 19 DEAR PLAYBOY 23 AFTER HOURS 45 MANTRACK 51 THE PLAYBOY ADVISOR 114 PARTY JOKES 147 WHERE AND HOW TO BUY 163 ON THE SCENE 164 GRAPEVINE 166 POTPOURRI FASHION 120 SEX, DUDS AND ROCK AND ROLL Mick Rock rocks the fashion and music world! The celebrated photographer captures today's coolest performers in the hottest new styles. By Joseph de Acetis REVIEWS 35 MOVIES Uma Thurman heats up Be Cool; Kevin Costner is The Upside of Anger; Naomi Watts electrifies The Ring Two. 36 DVDS How to find the hidden treasures in DVDs; Saw is on the cutting edge of filmmaking. 41 MUSIC The rambling melodies of the Mars Volta; the Kills are frighteningly good. 42 GAMES Why PlayStation Portable is the first must-have from Sony since the Walkman; Oddworld Inhabitants creates another world. 43 BOOKS John Edgar Wideman works out some quirky stories in God's Gym; confessions we're all Not Proud of.