1991 Year

With the threat of war and economic disaster, we all may have to learn to be grim realists in 1991. So I'm going to indulge in a little wishful thinking while I still can. I wish that Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, and all the other Croesuses of rock 'n' roll would start turning their checkbooks and their sense of philanthropic duty in a direction where it is desperately needed: toward the salvation of rock radio. What should rock radio be?

MOVIES 1991: The Year Punk Broke Filmmaker Dave Markey's documentary of tagging along with Sonic Youth on a summer festival tour of Europe is a snapshot of classic indie rock, with appearances from Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr., the Ramones, Courtney Love and more. Markey will participate in a Q&A after the screening. Cinefamily, 611 N. Fairfax Ave., L.A. 6:30 p.m. $12. (323) 655-2510. http://www.cinefamily.org. MUSIC Dolly Parton With a fresh record out and a world tour that includes her Hollywood Bowl headlining debut, the 65-year-old country veteran runs counter to the idea of surrender.

SOVIET UNION Sudden Death: The year's most momentous story was the rapid collapse of the Soviet Union, which seemed to implode and disappear into the black hole of history in less than five months. By the end of 1991, the 74-year-old Soviet superpower had ceased to exist. Rising from the ruins was the Commonwealth of Independent States, which linked 11 of the 15 former Soviet republics as sovereign states and was led by Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin. Meanwhile, former Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev was a man without a job. Prelude to Crisis: The beginning of 1991 saw Gorbachev alternately loosening and tightening his grip on the rebellious republics as he tried to quell ethnic and labor disputes and just hold the nation together.

European investors and a French government-owned bank engaged in a "conspiracy of deceit" to defraud hundreds of thousands of policyholders of the now defunct Executive Life Insurance Co., California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer charged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

President Bush said Sunday that "the agony of a very slow economy" has made 1991 a year of mixed emotions after victory in the Persian Gulf War and the growth of democracy in Eastern Europe. "Trying to cope with this economy is extraordinarily difficult," Bush told C-SPAN, the cable television industry's public service channel. But Bush, in an interview taped Friday, cautioned critics not to count him out, despite his recent plunge in the polls.

Closing another year's coverage of consumer affairs, we give their due to many incidents that weren't big news by themselves, but brought us so many complaints--by phone and mail--that their number demands note. Bad customer service was the chief complaint: No apology for it was the final outrage. The U.S. Postal Service caused the most complaints as always.

"What we've got here is a failure to communicate." Prison camp captain Strother Martin's reference to inmate Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke," the 1967 movie about a struggle between bullying authorities and a man who refuses to give in, could have served nicely as the precede to many of 1991's most significant albums.

A newspaper story about a human calamity has a beginning, middle and end for readers, but there is no easy closure for those whose misfortunes provide fodder for such accounts. It has been more than three months since Richard Worthington, armed with a pair of guns and a bomb, burst into a Utah hospital maternity ward intending to kill the doctor who had performed a tubal ligation on his wife.

You laughed. You snickered. Some of you even sneered. You thought the first annual Times Board of Psychics was some kind of joke. But consider the results. In this space last year, at a time when it was in no way a sure thing, the board unanimously predicted that America would go to war with Iraq. The psychics were almost unanimous as well that unemployment would rise. The psychics were down on real estate--another bull's-eye--and were eerily accurate on some other events as well.

Movies produced for TV in 1991 were dominated more than ever by the ubiquitous docudrama. More ideas for television movies originated in the columns of newspapers than anywhere else. Adaptations of true-life stories, most of them about crime and violence, are not necessarily life-threatening to the form, but there's a sameness about the TV movie format--the individual-in-jeopardy yarn--that's discouraging to creativity.

The price of oil had drifted upward to near historic highs and was expected to go even higher. The president responded by signing an order releasing millions of barrels of crude stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Within hours, the market price of oil dropped by just over one-third, the biggest single-day decline on record.

Benji Gil, then a cheerful lad in grade school, plopped down next to his father for a little talk. There was something about Benji's Little League team that dear old dad didn't like. The coaches? Good guys. The parents? Nice people. But . . . "My father saw there were two girls on my team. He didn't like that too much," Gil said. "He said, 'We've got to get you playing with guys.' " Politically correct? Not really, although this was 20 years ago. Father knows best? Absolutely, Gil believes.

Five San Diego companies catapulted their way onto The Times 100 ranking in 1992, doubling last year's showing. Although the five companies that made the list for 1991 remain among the top 100, each dropped in position. Companies on the list are those with the highest two-year average return on equity. Finding their way onto this year's list were GTI Corp. (No. 44) and Brooktree Corp. (No. 55), both semiconductor manufacturers; DH Technology, a maker of computer peripherals, ranked No.

The violent crime rate in the United States in 1991 rose about 3% for a fourth consecutive year of increase, according to preliminary FBI statistics released in Washington, D.C. The report shows property crime remaining about the same and violent offenses reaching a record high of 753 crimes per 100,000 U.S. residents. The 1990 rate was 732 per 100,000 people. Robbery showed the greatest increase, rising nearly 6%, calculations from the FBI figures showed.

An estimated 59% surge in rapes and attempted rapes and a substantial increase in assaults spurred a dramatic rise in violent crime last year, according to a Justice Department survey of crime victims released Sunday. Preliminary figures show there were 2,612,150 completed violent crimes last year, up 7.9% from an estimated 2,421,530 the previous year. Including attempted violent crimes, the total was 6,427,480 last year, up 7% from 6,008,790 in 1990.

JIM ABBOTT 25 PITCHER Bats: L Throws: L Ht: 6-3 Wt: 210 Birthday: 9/19/67 ML Service: 3.000 1991: After losing his first four starts, his career best 18-11 record and club-leading 2.89 ERA led to his being named the Angels' co-most valuable player (with reliever Bryan Harvey). Beat every AL club except Oakland at least once, finished third in Cy Young balloting. With the Angels: W-L ERA G CG SV INN H ER BB SO 18-11 2.

Television viewers will be bombarded today and Tuesday by parades, football, made-for-TV New Year's Eve celebrations, a movie marathon and talking heads bravely or foolish predicting what will transpire during the coming year. If everyone loves a parade, then television must love the Rose Parade, with all three major networks and three local stations providing coverage.

European investors and a French government-owned bank engaged in a "conspiracy of deceit" to defraud hundreds of thousands of policyholders of the now defunct Executive Life Insurance Co., California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer charged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Team League Overall Garden Grove 14-0 19-6 Kennedy 12-2 22-4 Rancho Alamitos 7-7 10-15 Pacifica 7-7 11-13 La Quinta 7-7 8-12 Bolsa Grande 5-9 7-14 Santiago 4-10 6-16 Los Amigos 0-14 0-18 League MVP: Cheryl Longeway (Kennedy).