—A. Hauke
Memphis, Tennessee
I agree with Nikki Finke: We should not watch the Oscars, this year or any other year. We are tired of hearing from a handful of liberal, overpaid performers using their occupational status for a soapbox. Do they really believe that the average person is going to believe a drug culture of people who have been married several times? They can’t even manage their own lives, yet alone manage anyone else’s.
—Ken Ross
Detroit, Michigan
SWEET GRAPES
Re: Steven Leigh Morris’ “History in the Remaking” [March 14–20]. Thanks for your profile on Ed Begley Jr. and his musical. Because of that article, I went to a performance last weekend and found, in its combination of humanity, intelligence and emotion, the core of what theater should be — and rarely is. Musicals, in general, suck. They present false situations in pseudo-pop musical styles and interest only people already interested in musicals. Cesar and Ruben is about something that matters, and uses real pop music to tap deeply into the emotional core of it audience’s lives. I did not think I would like a singing Cesar Chavez, but Roberto Alcaraz made a flesh-and-blood human being out of an icon.
—Robert Fleet
Los Angeles
BAIT AND SWITCH
Jonathan Gold misses the target in his response about people who visited Bastide for the $60 dinner and were intimidated into ordering the $90 dinner, then billed an unannounced $30 supplement for truffles [Ask Mr. Gold, March 14–20]. Back in Ohio we called this “bait and switch.” I know that we see dishonesty in heads of both studios and governments; but restaurants, being more important than either, should be run honestly.
—James Boyk
Los Angeles
CORRECTION
Contrary to what we reported in last week’s Learning Pick of the Week, Daniel Buren is giving two presentations at LACMA. For information on “Stripes Strike,” a dialogue with critic-historian Serge Guilbaut to be presented Friday, April 11, see Page 152.
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