Letters

Pipsters
It was jolly gratifying to read Silke Tudor's account of S.F.'s growing "Britpop" scene in SF Weekly ("Night Crawler," Jan. 15). There are hordes of Anglophile music fans in the Bay Area who find British music a smashing change from American alternative rock. That British artists tend to have a more finely tuned sense of irony and self-deprecating sense of humor endears them to the clubsters at Cat's Grill's "Popscene" and Kate O'Brien's Friday night soirees. But is SF Weekly aware that the city also possesses a burgeoning scene made up of its very own Britpop bands? Chappies like Handsome Poets, Tom, Dick and Harry, the Hairdressers, and the highly touted Sunshine Club (who are actually 50 percent British) have long been producing bloody marvelous melodic, edgy rock.

If the Weekly were to devote some column inches to these unsung local heroes, we could really have a scene on our hands. Pip! Pip!

Darryl Llewellyn
Oakland

Trendies, Fall on Your Chords
I'm reading the new SF Weekly, and there's yet another article (yawn) about Britpop ("Night Crawler").Pop, alternative, and all those other overglorified forms of rock are the only music the press seems to write about.

Rock music comes in other forms, you know. Ever hear of death metal, grindcore, sludge, or black metal? Well, they do exist.

This music has a huge following worldwide, takes more talent to play than some cutesy-girl, three-chord pop band, and in many respects has more in common with classical music than pop.

How about stories about the numerous bands that play modern metal in the Bay Area? No matter how the little trendies want to pronounce us dead, WE WILL NOT DIE!

Martha Hughes
Excelsior

Pop of Ages
I am from L.A. and met Rodney Bingenheimer when I was 13 years old. That was 31 years ago, and he was an adult then! When Silke Tudor ("Night Crawler") says he was "twice the age" of most of the clientele at the Britpop clubs, I think "three times the age" is a little closer. If Rodney isn't at least 50, I'll eat my 17-inch monitor.

Patricia Rodriguez
Sunset

Gong Show
That Michael Batty piece on gamelan ("Bang a Gong," Music, Jan. 8) was a parody, right? If so, it was fucking brilliant. If not, I'm scared.

Myrna Gevurtz
Mission