Tag: Michael Steinberg

It was Saturday, June 30. We were gathered in the courtyard of Midtown Garden Apartments. Bobby Webb carefully removed his sax from the black bag and took the stage. It didn’t take long for us to realize we were in the presence of a master virtuoso, immediately demonstrating his versatility. In retrospect, Bobbie (Spider) Webb may have been playing his own epitaph on that Saturday at the end of June. Less than three months later, Bobbie Webb left the world stage he had graced so brilliantly.

On Nov. 13 the San Francisco Chronicle ran a lead story written by the S.F.-based Center for Investigative Reporting. The story was about the radioactive contamination of Treasure Island, a former U.S. Navy base in the middle of the Bay. This story is important in and of itself but also because it once again unearths the region’s role in the birth of the atomic age and also highlights the radioactive legacy that continues to haunt us.