Good words
Thank you for this "Remembering Ravitz" (April 21). I was extremely disappointed when I read the articles in the mainstream press regarding Mel's passing. I know that the many individuals who had the honor to work with him and his thousands of supporters who read this article will thank you for providing this depiction. —Rick Robinson, Detroit
Wrong on Jack
Jack Lessenberry's air-brushed portrait of Jack Kevorkian is beyond the pale of even Dr. Death's ghoulish visage ("Knowing Jack," April 28).
In his canonization of the renegade pathologist, Lessenberry omits Kevorkian's most infamous pronouncement: "There's no such thing as the sanctity of life." Spoken like a true murderer.
And another glaring sin of omission in Lessenberry's paean to euthanasia is my favorite quotation from Kevorkian's former ambulance chaser extraordinaire — Geoffrey Fieger: "Jesus was just some goofball who got himself crucified." Why stop killing people when there's no threat of a sanction, heavenly or otherwise? —Martin Yanosek, St. Clair Shores
Revisionist rock
I just wanted to thank you for writing the story on Bootsey. Over the past several years, it has seemed as though there has been a concerted effort to promote a revisionist "history" of Detroit music which, among other things, erases my entire generation of musicians (meaning those of us who were gigging between roughly 1979 and 1994). As far as I can tell, this started with a few British music journalists who wrote stories about the White Stripes when they first started getting big. (Just to be clear, I have nothing against Jack White — he was such a nice kid, and besides, he paid his dues.) It seems like some people actually think that Detroit was a musical wasteland after the MC5 and the Stooges broke up, and that the only bands here were the Gories and Goober & the Peas. Not only that, but they seem to think that none of us in (for lack of a better term) the "punk rock scene" had ever heard of the blues! Like Jack came out of a vacuum as an idiot savant. Maybe it's difficult to understand that the aforementioned bands were only parts of a larger context, but what about the Cult Heroes, the Laughing Hyenas, Son of Sam, Trash Brats, Shock Therapy, Almighty Lumberjacks of Death, Feisty Cadavers, Liars Cheats & Thieves, Focke-Wulf 190, Happy Death Men, Cranford Nix ... Bootsey X & the Lovemasters, too! I could probably go on for pages. Myself, and my own band, are footnotes at best — but it is obscene to write off all the great Detroit bands of that era simply because our music scene was too heterogeneous to easily pigeonhole. Our stylistic (and sartorial!) diversity was our greatest strength, and it damn sure made things a hell of a lot more interesting! I was lucky at that time to be surrounded by so many talented and eccentric musicians in that scene. Again, thank you for writing the story. —Liam Stewart Williamson, Detroit
Shame on us
Thank you for the write up of Dr. Dog's Shame, Shame (Spun, April 14). Unfortunately, you have attributed some songs to the wrong singer, and spelled both of their names wrong. Now that's just sloppy. Scott McMicken (not McKinnen, thanks) does not sing the title track. That song was written and sung by Toby Leaman (not Leamon, you'll notice). Scott is responsible for "Shadow People," "Jackie Wants a Black Eye," and all the others that sound like they're sung by the same guy. Toby sings "Shame, Shame," "Stranger," and the other songs that sound like he sung them.
Even if you mix up who sang what, at least try to get their names right. Seriously.
Thank you for fixing these errors. —Lindsay Moody, Philadelphia, Pa.
Wrong about Repubs
Re: "Victory for all" (March 24), Jack's wrong about "Republicans are behaving more like street thugs than statesmen."
They are street thugs and there's no resemblance whatsoever to statesmen!
And, in my opinion, it has nothing to do with any legislation proposed by President Obama — including health care. It's pure, unadulterated racism!
It's an epidermal-thing with those Republican sorehead losers. "Tan Man" Boehner and "Bitchy Mitch" O'Connell make me sick!
FYI: I've just send to Boehner — via snail-mail — my official Pain in the Ass Award, "in recognition of your pathetic bitching and non-cooperative Republicanism." —William Carruth, Royal Oak
