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Feature

Shouldn't We Just Kill This Dog?

Does San Francisco's pit-bull testing program put good dogs in good homes -- or put lethal land sharks back on the street?

By George Cothran

Published: June 11, 1997

Death row smells like dog piss. The inmates, five pit bull terriers, have fouled their cells. Repeatedly. They're yowling in indignation. They're pounding and banging on their cell walls and...

News

Sails Pitch

Born to sell, would-be America's Cup skipper Dawn Riley puts her birthright to work

By Matt Smith

Published: June 11, 1997

In sport more than elsewhere, pedigree can make all the difference. No matter how hard you train, no matter how technically advanced your coaching, if your birthright doesn't include acres of...

News

Dog Bites

By George Cothran, Lisa Davis

Published: June 11, 1997

And the First Nominee for Stupid Criminal of the Year Is ... The thin margin by which the 49ers won their stadium initiatives, Propositions D and F, spurred a round of election-night jokes...

News

Times Two

In the UCSF-Stanford merger, the busiest health care workers are the doctors of spin

By Lisa Davis

Published: June 11, 1997

While Stanford University and the University of California at San Francisco move to combine their hospitals into one health care behemoth, the spin doctors are working at a furious pace to win over...

Letters

Letters

Published: June 11, 1997

No Man's Island We are writing to set the record straight on the Treasure Island Development Authority ("Treasure Island Giveaway," The Grid, May 21). Reporters George Cothran and Chuck Finnie...

Music

The House of Tudor

By Silke Tudor

Published: June 11, 1997

Dance music chanteuse CeCe Peniston doesn't stand a chance against the androgynous evil of the legendary Grace Jones, or so you would think. In Barry Singer's version of The Wiz -- an urban,...

Music

Night Crawler

By Silke Tudor

Published: June 11, 1997

Comet, a small, dappled mutt who looks less frightening for his bright pink life preserver, mans the helm of his owner's kayak (also bright pink). The champion canine projects high-pitched yips at...

Music

Recordings

By Curtis Bonney, Martin Johnson

Published: June 11, 1997

Guided by Voices Mag Earwhig! (Matador) For 15 albums or so, Robert Pollard has been the honcho behind the thirtysomething, Dayton, Ohio, Brit-invasion-style, lo-fi pop ensemble Guided by...

Music

Riff Raff

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

Published: June 11, 1997

Spin Off The news that Spin has been sold to the owners of Vibe magazine brings at least to a temporary end the career in rock journalism of Bob Guccione Jr. It's worth looking at what he wrought....

Music

Hear This

By Robert Arriaga

Published: June 11, 1997

Avail When a punk band makes the slightest move toward a more melodic sound, it's enough to whip the hardcore masses into a frenzied chant of "sellout." The Richmond, Va.-based punk ensemble...

Music

Hear This

By Sam Prestianni

Published: June 11, 1997

The Joel Harrison Octet For his CD debut, 3+3=7, guitarist Joel Harrison assembled an intuitive double-trio of percussionists and fellow six-stringers who blurred the divisive lines between...

Music

Americana Gothic

The Carter Family reissues (Rounder)

By Michael Batty

Published: June 11, 1997

Savor whatever sort of refinement you wish in this culture of ours; I say that American art (musical, literary, cinematic, plastic -- hell, even culinary) has distinguished itself with creepiness....

Eat

Puttin' on the Ritz

By Naomi Wise

Published: June 11, 1997

The Terrace at the Ritz-Carlton 600 Stockton (at California), 296-7465. "Seafood Celebration": Fridays 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. through Sept. 12. Paid hotel parking; on-street difficult. Muni...

Film

That Sinking Feeling

By Andy Klein

Published: June 11, 1997

Speed 2: Cruise Control Directed by Jan De Bont. Written by Randall McCormick and Jeff Nathanson. Starring Sandra Bullock, Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe, Temuera Morrison, and Brian McCardie....

Film

Second Time Around

By Michael Sragow

Published: June 11, 1997

The Thief of Bagdad In the 1924 silent version of the Arabian Nights adventure, Douglas Fairbanks overflows with physical euphoria. He's different from the action heroes we usually see today....

Night&Day;

Night+Day

By Heather Wisner

Published: June 11, 1997

wednesday june 11 See and Say The Beatnik artists who gave North Beach its hep reputation back in the '50s live again in The Beach, as Richmond filmmaker Mary Kerr interviews key figures...

Halloween

Slap Shots

By Jack Boulware

Published: June 11, 1997

Baseball Punks, Tits, and Chuck Barris New local publications continue to start up, both in print and on the Web, and one of the more specifically targeted is ChinMusic!, a fanzine devoted...

Halloween

Unspun

By Phyllis Orrick

Published: June 11, 1997

Anatomy of a Letter to the Editor Writing letters to editors is an art. The best such letters are often disagreeable, but they are always stylish in their disputations. A good letter to the...

Halloween

REAL ASTROLOGY For an Unreal World

By Rob Brezsny

Published: June 11, 1997

Aries (March 21-April 19): We only get one Friday the 13th in 1997, and this is it. So be sure to take advantage. Remember, 13 is only unlucky to those who worship the values of patriarchal...

Stage

Stage

By Carol Lloyd, Frederick Luis Aldama, Julie Chase

Published: June 11, 1997

Unsafe at Certain Speeds Ralph Nader Is Missing! By Charlie Varon. Directed by David Dower. Starring Varon, Bobby Weinapple, Stacy Ross, and Carl Magruder. At the Marsh, 1062 Valencia (at 21st...