Letters to the Editor

Correction: Our critics don't get to eat:I appreciate Michael Scott Moore delivering a compelling review of this year's Fringe Festival by deadline ["Seeking the Fantastique," Sept. 15], but his argument that there's nothing new and offbeat being offered at the Fringe fell flat with his admission that his search was quick and small. When looking for a gem, for the show that will be the next Lunatique Fantastique, in the midst of an unjuried festival consisting of 44 shows at nine different venues, you might have to allot more than one night for the search. Especially if you take a dinner break.

Melinda Whitehouse
Sunset

Pssst. Anger management. There's nothing dishonorable about anger management classes:Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! John Mecklin ["Making Kerry Kerry On," Sept. 15] and his brain-brother Matt Smith ["Toward a Cyclocross Ethic," Sept. 15] are the original smarmy centrists who have advised the Demos to run Republican-lite campaigns for years while Redbaiting any of those horrible S.F. lefties who dare to dissent from the conservative conventional wisdom. Mecklin's main complaint is that S.F. doesn't think and vote like Texas. Tough shit, Johnboy, go back to Houston! It's not like you're going to be missed around here. Many of us said a year ago that Kerry was going to be a horrible candidate, and his "I've killed more gooks than Bush" line was going to backfire. And John, I'm so sorry your afternoon was disturbed by the listing of police murders and unpardonable skepticism about the neocon crowd and 9/11.

Matt, please drop the progressive pretense and go back to being a landlord shill. That suit fits you better.

Kerry will lose. We will have Bush to kick around for at least part of his second term, until impeachment. I'm looking forward to it.

Michael P. Hardesty
Oakland

And we don't think you're the least bit sorry, either:The debut of your new music column, Bouncer, is a mixed bag. As the producer of the event Ms. St. Clair wrote about [Sept. 8], it was curious to me that your music editor would send an admitted disenfranchised punk rocker gal who doesn't actually listen to electronic music to cover an all-night ambient event. Though there were genuinely clever and sharp moments in the column, it seemed that the writer was taking cheap shots at ambient music, fans of it, and such types of events because of the odd notion that being angry and thoughtlessly critical is edgy and very Indie. The article was littered with random tangents, and I wouldn't want to speculate what sort of disorders lay below her constant references to her high school experiences.

In any case, I hope Ms. St. Clair and the Weekly continue to develop her skills and, perhaps, her breadth of music appreciation. However, we enjoyed her company and appreciate the slight bit of exposure for the area's surging ambient/chill-out music scene. And we're sorry that she didn't get laid. Perhaps next time ....

Maer Israel
El Cerrito

Even if both artists are for the birds:After reading the article titled "Graffiti to Gallery" [Sept. 1], I went to Clarion [Alley], and I went to Lexington and 18th, two excellent outdoor galleries in San Francisco and a breath of fresh air in juxtaposition to the decorated puffy hearts littering the city or some of the boring crap they're showing at SFMOMA. I did want to mention what I felt was an oversight on the part of the reporter regarding [Andrew] Schoultz and [Aaron] Noble. I wondered about the birds in both artists' work. Noble's early work includes more obvious birdlike figuration, while in his later work it is more hidden. I suppose it's obvious what influence this artist has on Schoultz, and you certainly mentioned that, so perhaps it isn't such an oversight as an understatement. Thank you for the article that has led me to some people and artists I understand.

Adriana Fischetti
Oakland