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Feature

Dream Job

Do you like sleeping, eating, shopping, reading, TV watching, Internet surfing, large amounts of overtime pay, and small amounts of actual work? You may have a future as a dispatcher for the San Francisco Fire Department.

By Tara Shioya

Published: June 4, 1997

The San Francisco Fire Department's Communications Center is quiet this May evening, except for a low electrical hum and the sound of firefighters washing the dinner dishes. Three dispatchers...

Letters

Letters

Published: June 4, 1997

Boris Bows Out I was outraged to see the statement attributed to me in the May 21 Grid ("Treasure Island Giveaway"), by George Cothran and Chuck Finnie. The statement that the mayor appointed...

Music

Riff Raff

By Robert Arriaga, Michael Batty, Johnny DiPaola, Karl D. Esturbense, Jeff Stark, Silke Tudor, Bill Wyman

Published: June 4, 1997

Who Loves Lucy? Last Friday night, master taste-maker Seymour Stein was seen feasting lavishly at Yuet Lee, and it wasn't just because he has a penchant for Bay Area seafood (though he did stay for...

Music

Bubble Burst

By Bill Wyman

Published: June 4, 1997

Poptopia! Various Artists (Rhino) Everything made sense until the Beatles broke up. Rock's audience expanded explosively at precisely the same time the music lost its popular and...

Music

The House of Tudor

By Silke Tudor

Published: June 4, 1997

A genius on anything you blow, Ralph Carney has bestowed his humor and exceptional talent on countless local projects -- among them Oranj Symphonette, Rubber City, and Pluto -- all of whom have...

Music

Hear This

By Jeff Stark

Published: June 4, 1997

Yo La Tengo Yo La Tengo's decade of material has been an anomaly in the rock world -- music that actually gets stronger, more refined, more precise, with each record. Ever since the Hoboken,...

Music

Night Crawler

By Silke Tudor

Published: June 4, 1997

"Are you here for the Tenderloin Walking Tour?" asks Alan Black, co-founder of the Scottish Cultural and Arts Foundation, standing outside the Edinburgh Castle. "You had better take this...

Music

Racket

By Andi Zeisler

Published: June 4, 1997

Time and the supermarket tabloids have proven over and over that the only thing more unfortunate than a child star is a child star who grows up. The shocking tales of former tiny celebrities --...

Music

Recordings

By Curtis Bonney, Martin Johnson, Jeff Stark

Published: June 4, 1997

Verbena Souls for Sale (Merge) Here's some advice for a record exec working at an entertainment conglomerate (and worrying a bit, in the face of all this Britronica, about the state of...

Eat

Moon Over Hong Kong

By Naomi Wise

Published: June 4, 1997

Bow Lum Moon 2337 Irving (at 24th Avenue), 661-1688. Open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Street parking conceivable; Muni access via the N Judah, and the 71 bus. The restaurant is wheelchair...

Film

Zoom Lens

By Tod Booth

Published: June 4, 1997

New Asian Cinema The Four Star this week is presenting "New Asian Cinema 1997," a series of six films, each from a different country. It's a very mixed bag, ranging from the wonderful to the...

Film

The Text, the Film, the Director, and His Talk

Peter Greenaway on The Pillow Book, the death of narrative, and the end of cinema as we know it

By Gregg Rickman

Published: June 4, 1997

"A lot of people feel The Pillow Book is the most successful movie I've made," said a deliberately ironic Peter Greenaway. "It's a film about young people, it's a getting of wisdom, it's a love...

Film

Second Time Around

By Gary Morris

Published: June 4, 1997

The Scarlet Empress/A The Scarlet Empress (1934), the sixth of Josef von Sternberg's seven collaborations with Marlene Dietrich, is to these eyes the most deliriously visual. An early montage...

Film

The Amazing Disappearing Human

By Michael Sragow

Published: June 4, 1997

The Designated Mourner Directed by David Hare. Written by Wallace Shawn, from his play. Starring Mike Nichols, Miranda Richardson, and David de Keyser. Opens Friday, June 6, at the Embarcadero...

Night&Day;

Night+Day

By Heather Wisner

Published: June 4, 1997

wednesday june 4 Vargas Revisited Flamenco is only part of the story in Spanish dance, and Sara de Luis, a San Francisco native who joined Spain's Ximenez-Vargas Ballet Espanol at age 23...

Halloween

REAL ASTROLOGY For an Unreal World

By Rob Brezsny

Published: June 4, 1997

Aries (March 21-April 19): The world will be awash in omens for you this week, Aries. Here's a rundown of a few of the oracular meanings you may encounter. Seeing a squashed bee in a place far from...

Halloween

Unspun

By Phyllis Orrick

Published: June 4, 1997

Lightning in a Tube Neon signs have been around for 100 years, but they're still a rogue advertising medium. Just ask Gerry O'Birne, owner of Kate O'Briens, a bar on Howard, south of Market....

Halloween

Slap Shots

By Jack Boulware

Published: June 4, 1997

Fists of Fury "We need it more than ever," raps the cabbie, weaving around cars on Kearny, beeping his horn. "It keeps kids off the street, they work out their aggressions." We're talking about...

Halloween

The Grid

By George Cothran, Chuck Finnie

Published: June 4, 1997

Honest Shaft Last December, campaign consultant and Yber-lobbyist Jack Davis took one of his clients, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, to visit representatives of another client, Home Depot,...

Stage

Stage

By Frederick Luis Aldama, Michael Scott Moore

Published: June 4, 1997

The American Century Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years. Adapted by Emily Mann from the book by Sarah and Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth. Directed by Roberta Levitow....