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Feature

Runaway Train (Part II)

Tricia Sullivan fled her southern Oregon hometown and the confines of her family in April. Arriving in San Francisco, she melded with the street community of young castoffs, misfits, and rebels. Phoning home, she lied and told her dad she was in New Yor

By Sia Michel

Published: September 13, 1995

As Castro's Street's bars close at 2 a.m., well-dressed young men pour into Rolling Pin Donuts for a quick carb fix before hitting the hay or the after-hours clubs. While they laugh and chat, a...

Feature

Runaway Train

Tricia Sullivan fled her Southern Oregon hometown and the confines of her family in April. Arriving in San Francisco, she melded with the street community of young castoffs, misfits, and rebels. Phoning home, she lied and told her dad she was in New Yor

By Sia Michel

Published: September 13, 1995

Between bits of his chocolate-covered glazed at Rolling Pin Donuts, a chaos punk is threatening to kill me. I don't tak it personally: He's too high to do me any real harm, and I know...

News

The Last Homeless Story

Are there long-term solutions to this problem?

By Ellen McGarrahan

Published: September 13, 1995

It was just over a decade ago that they first appeared, in their dirty clothes with their outstretched hands, at the margins of the modern American mind. Hard to imagine, now, that there was a time...

News

Dog Bites

By Jack Shafer, John Sullivan

Published: September 13, 1995

Dead Parrot High atop the masthead of San Francisco Focus resides the name of one Mark K. Powelson, a former Berkeley Barb radical who now occupies the starched-shirt-and-suspenders world of...

News

Chatterbox

Published: September 13, 1995

Observed in Noe Valley's Streetlight Records lingering over Alan Parsons Project CDs: San Francisco Chronicle columnist Phil Matier. Although he appeared tempted by the art-rock bilge, we are happy...

News

The Straight Poop

Human excrement in the parks -- dangerous or just dirty?

By Jeff Stark

Published: September 13, 1995

Touring the razed homeless camps in Golden Gate Park after the SFPD's crackdown on illegal encampments, Mayor Frank Jordan uncovered a dirty little secret: Homeless people shit in the woods....

Letters

Letters

Published: September 13, 1995

Done Deal I have great respect for Roberta Achtenberg ("Achtenberg's Third Act," Aug. 30). Her intelligence, integrity, and dedication are exemplary. However, I cannot let her question -- "What...

Music

Moon Rocks

The otherworldly sounds of Tortoise and the Sea and Cake

By Greg Milner

Published: September 13, 1995

If it's true, as scientists and sages say, that sound waves never really die, then what happens after they break free of the conduits and enter the night air? Imagine the sounds continuing their...

Music

Night Crawler

By Silke Tudor

Published: September 13, 1995

Seven cop cars sit in front of the Cow Palace on Sunday afternoon. Taunting them directly across the street is a group of 40 or so red-clad gangbangers who had been kicked out of the 1995 Lowrider...

Music

Recordings

By Mike Rowell, Sam Prestianni, James Sullivan, Eric K. Arnold, C. Kenyon Silvey

Published: September 13, 1995

Merzbow Hole (Heel Stone) The next time you curse that horrible racket your roommate considers music, thank your lucky stars you don't have the bedroom next to mine. One night I...

Music

Samples

By Greg Milner

Published: September 13, 1995

Marathon Session "Frequently the voice of the masses is nothing but farts," noted a radio program director during a panel at the CMJ Music Marathon and MusicFest '95, held in New York last...

Eat

Brunch-Drunk

Ella's lays on some soul-satisfying starches in a most convivial space

By Paul Reidinger

Published: September 13, 1995

Imagine the cast of NBC's Friends going out to brunch with all their friends, and you'll have an idea of what Ella's is like around noon on a warm summer Saturday. The restaurant describes its menu...

Eat

Dish

By Paul Reidinger

Published: September 13, 1995

Lights Out at Ernie's Ernie's, the venerable restaurant on Jackson Square, closes for good at the end of the month. The press release trumpeting this news makes it sound as if the place were...

Film

All the Dead Young Men

In Clockers, Spike Lee evokes the self-contained hell of a drug-infested Brooklyn neighborhood

By Paul Reidinger

Published: September 13, 1995

Clockers, Spike Lee's new movie, opens with a horrifying montage of blood-soaked corpses with bullet holes in their foreheads or necks or chests, or all over. A melancholy, bluesy song plays in the...

Night&Day;

Night+Day

By Johnny Ray Huston

Published: September 13, 1995

wednesday september 13 Nutty as a Fruitcake Betsy Salkind isn't one character, she's a whole cast of them. In "Betsy Salkind Unplugged," the young comedian takes on the death penalty,...

Halloween

REAL ASTROLOGY For an Unreal World

By Rob Brezsny

Published: September 13, 1995

Aries (March 21-April 19): Recently I've received inquiries from an Aries who wants to know if I'd accept bribes in return for a series of horoscopes with fabulously positive predictions for her...

Halloween

Savage Love

Published: September 13, 1995

Hey, Everybody: Readers often accuse me of selecting letters for their shock value. Nothing could be further from the truth. The most outlandish letters I receive, the uber-vile, never make it into...

Halloween

Slap Shots

By Jack Boulware

Published: September 13, 1995

Behold the Renaissance Cleavage Faire! "Reach down, cup thyself firmly," instructs the clerk to his customer, a blond woman in her early 20s. "Lift upwards and to your chin!" She bashfully...

Stage

Aisle Seat

By Laura Jamison

Published: September 13, 1995

Fantastic Voyage This week, Solo Mio Festival opens with a toast to Idris Ackamoor and Rhodessa Jones, who have powered through 15 years of performance with their company, Cultural Odyssey. The...

Stage

Slightly Off Balance

A disoriented (albeit enthusiastic) company stumbles in Edward Albee's play

By Mari Coates

Published: September 13, 1995

Consider the delicate balancing act required to produce nonprofit (or, for that matter, any) theater these days, and imagine that you are a managing director. Your excitement at signing an actor --...