Letters

—Mary Forthofer
Longmont, Colorado

D’ARCY’s INFLUENCE

Thank you for your very informative article [“Ten Years After,” January 9–15]. I was referred to it by my friend Miles West, father of D’Arcy West. Miles has suffered greatly from the loss of his daughter. He e-mailed me to notify me of your column, with the comment, “Sarah, this article mentions my daughter D’Arcy. Thought you might be interested. Obviously, I have mixed feelings about it.” Obviously, that is an understatement, but honestly, I think your words were a help.

—Sarah Goalby
Tucson, Arizona

My sister, D’Arcy West, loved the Campfire Girls! She loved the music, the boys, the friends who made Bar Deluxe. Mike Semple joining Andrew Clark and Christian Stone makes heavenly sense, as if life were a chessboard navigated by angels, and the success of the Campfire Girls is sweet redemption for D’Arcy’s swan song of a band. Well-beloved. Thanks for writing of her so gloriously in her home rag. Well-beloved and well-deserved. Rock on, Girls!

—Brooke West
Los Osos

MIXED REVIEWS

I am not in the movie business, but I do go see a lot of movies. I have seen 21 Grams three times now. And everyone else I have talked to thinks that it is a good, if not great, movie. And I am fairly certain that many critics (even though I don’t always agree with them) thought highly of it as well.

Needless to say, I was shocked when I saw the review by Scott Foundas [“Taking Measure,” November 21–27]. How could somebody that shortsighted write for such a large publication, and in L.A. no less?

I won’t go so far as to say that 21 Grams is undeniably one of the best movies of the year, because everyone shares different opinions. However, if you are going to have someone who is a movie critic review movies for L.A. Weekly, I would think that the editor(s) would want to make sure that person knew what he or she was doing.

In short, Foundas was having a bad day, he missed the point, or he has no business reviewing movies of quality and substance.

—Warren Colt
Nashville, Tennessee

After reading your review of Torque [“New Reviews,” January 16–22], I must conclude that your reviews are written solely to extract those 3- to 10-word quips printed on the box of the video. Where else could the distributors find anything good to say about this movie? Dude, you were the only critic who liked it.

—Greg Johnson
St. Cloud, Minnesota

DREDGING UP THE FACTS

In “Scoring the Clubs” [January 2–8 ], Dave Cotner eloquently and incorrectly states that the band Dredg is a “sometime side project of members of Incubus.” I’m guessing he did not come to this conclusion by looking at the band’s press kit, official Web site, or by doing a simple Google search. I’m sure the band appreciates your publication’s recognition, but not at the expense of its reputation.

—Collyn McCoy
Los Angeles

CORRECTION

In “Trauma and Triage” [January 16–22], the director of the Watts Labor Community Action Committee was incorrectly identified as Ted Watkins. The director is his son, Tim Watkins. Ted Watkins is deceased.