Inclusion Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Histologically or cytologically confirmed sarcoma

- Soft tissue metastasis or locally recurrent disease

- Stratum I (closed to accrual as of 10/17/03):

- Soft tissue sarcoma not specified in stratum II

- Osteogenic sarcoma arising from soft tissue or gastrointestinal stromal tumor
(GIST)

- Stratum II:

- Ewing's sarcoma of soft tissue or bone (if measurable soft tissue metastasis is
present)

- Rhabdomyosarcoma

- Osteogenic sarcoma of bone (if measurable soft tissue metastasis is present)

- At least 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion

- At least 20 mm by conventional techniques OR at least 10 mm by spiral CT scan

- Disease progression within the past 3 months

- No prior or active known brain metastases

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age:

- 18 and over

Performance status:

- Karnofsky 80-100% OR

- ECOG 0-1

Life expectancy:

- Not specified

Hematopoietic:

- Absolute neutrophil count at least 1,500/mm^3

- Platelet count at least 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic:

- Bilirubin no greater than 1.5 mg/dL

- AST/ALT no greater than 2.5 times upper limit of normal

Renal:

- Creatinine no greater than 1.5 mg/dL OR

- Creatinine clearance greater than 60 mL/min

Cardiovascular:

- No peripheral vascular disease requiring surgical management

- No history of congestive heart failure even if it is medically controlled

- No angina pectoris even if it is medically controlled

- No myocardial infarction within the past year

- No cardiac arrhythmias

- No prior cerebrovascular event

- No prior transient ischemic attack

- No EKG evidence of acute ischemia or conduction abnormality (e.g., bifascicular block
[left anterior hemiblock in the presence of right bundle branch block] or second or
third degree atrioventricular block)

- No history of orthostatic hypotension

Other:

- Not pregnant or nursing

- Negative pregnancy test

- Fertile patients must use effective contraception

- No prior allergic reaction to compounds of similar chemical or biological composition
to study drug

- No other uncontrolled concurrent illness

- No ongoing or active infection

- No psychiatric illness or social situation that would preclude study compliance

- No other malignancy within the past 5 years except adequately treated basal cell skin
cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix

- No symptomatic peripheral neuropathy greater than grade 1

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy:

- At least 4 weeks since prior immunotherapy and recovered

- No concurrent biological or immunological agents

Chemotherapy:

- Stratum I (closed to accrual as of 10/17/03):

- At least 1 year since prior chemotherapy in the adjuvant or neoadjuvant setting

- No other prior chemotherapy

- Stratum II:

- No more than 1 prior chemotherapy regimen

- No concurrent chemotherapy

Endocrine therapy:

- Not specified

Radiotherapy:

- At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered

- No concurrent radiotherapy

Surgery:

- Not specified

Other:

- Prior imatinib mesylate for GIST (stratum I closed to accrual as of 10/17/03) allowed

- No other concurrent investigational agents

- No concurrent commercial anticancer agents or therapies

- No concurrent combination antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive patients