Letters

Mr. Davis, I’m sorry, but you let us down.

—Jesse J. Smith
Los Angeles

SHELL GAMES

Alan Rich gets it dead wrong when he calls efforts to save the Hollywood Bowl shell “a woefully misguided protest” [“The Lost Lady, Found,” A Lot of Night Music, July 25–31]. For Rich to claim that the Bowl’s main feature, its shell, isn’t a landmark is to deny the obvious. To call it “acoustically lousy” ignores the history of the 1929 structure, which was designed to fix the poor sound of the 1928 structure — the very structure the city now wants to replicate. ‰

What the Bowl needs is a restored shell that retains the aesthetics of the structure while making it easier for musicians to do their job. What L.A. Weeklyreaders don’t need is cheap shots by lazy columnists, namely Rich’s comment that Hollywood Heritage head Robert Nudelman is getting his 15 minutes of fame out of this mess. Nudelman has 30 years of fame for stopping the wrecking ball from descending on the El Capitan, the Wiltern Theater, the Cinerama Dome and much of the rest of historical Hollywood. Let’s hope that he can add the Hollywood Bowl to this impressive résumé.

—Doug Haines
Beverly Hills

UNCOOL

Kristine McKenna’s feature on the Michael Duncan–curated group show “Post-Cool L.A.” [“Can L.A. Get Beyond Cool?,” July 18–24] failed to mention one small fact: Of the 48 local artists Duncan chose to represent our region in his traveling Angeleno survey, he failed to include a single Latino artist. Since your readers tend to have political leanings away from Trent Lott’s side of the aisle, I feel they should have been informed of the show’s subtler persuasions before being encouraged to make their way to Otis College’s exhibition galleries to view Duncan’s version of our art scene.

—Mat Gleason
Lincoln Heights

WEAK MEDICINE

Re: John Payne’s “Feel Better” [August 22–28]. Yes, I was a huge fan of the first two Medicine albums, and no, I do not like the new album. It has nothing to do with “lifestyle” issues. The new Medicine album simply does not resemble anything that made the original band great. Where is Jim Goodall? His drumming was as essential to the Medicine sound as Laner was. Laner should get over himself.

—Ron Karlin
Sylmar

MOTS JUSTE AND UNJUSTE

Re: “Out of Left Field” [cover story, August 29–September 4]. Reporter Jamie Wolf deserves special praise for her in-depth coverage of Howard Dean and his campaign. It is the best personal analysis of Dean — his faults as well as his strengths — that I have read thus far, and I’ve read a lot of them. Great writing, great insight.

—Marc Montefusco
Middletown, Maryland

Jamie Wolf criticizes Howard Dean’s choice of words while recounting a story. The word “nonplused” would characterize a perfectly normal and appropriate response under the circumstances described by Dean; Ms. Wolf should make sure she understands words in question before assuming others don’t.

—Alan Jacquemotte
Warren, Michigan