Jerkin’ on the Crest of a Wave

On Jerkin’
Re “We’re Jerkin’ (Starring the New Boyz, J-Hawk and Pink Dollaz),” by Jeff Weiss (August 6):

This was a great article on the jerkin’ movement. I just moved back to Los Angeles from Atlanta, and there is a similar movement or lifestyle there on the underground hip-hop scene. In ATL, people aren’t “jerkin’ ” but the skinny jean/skater/neon-skateboarder/fashion/music lifestyle is prevalent. Upon my arrival back in L.A. I was flabbergasted seeing the amount of “skinny-jean crews” walking down Central or on Crenshaw in packs no less than 10. It’s good to see the shift of lifestyles and the transition of the hip-hop culture. “Jerkers” continue to capitalize on the opportunities that the Internet has provided. It’s amazing to see this type of movement. I love it!

—Comment by JC Bumpers, L.A.

To the commenter saying that this is not a proper movement: Just because white kids are doing it ironically doesn’t mean it’s defunct or devoid of worth. Just about every modern music movement born in America’s black communities has been ironically aped by white people before ultimately being accepted and embraced. Like any movement, this will continue to evolve and split, and its final impact on modern music’s landscape will perhaps be assessed years down the road. The strength of this article is that it captures it now, still in its formative days, all the while tacitly acknowledging that the story isn’t anywhere near being finished.

—Matt Shea

May the Schwarz Be With You
Re “State Budget Debacle: California Descending,” by Jill Stewart (July 29):

Okay, like no one saw this coming? First and foremost, this person we call governor is from an almost dictatorship-type country and now is being allowed to inflict it on California. In addition, the cuts are meant to rid California of all the poor people and make it primarily for the rich. The sickening part is that if our governor had spent his years in office going after the businesses cheating California by filing as Nevada corporations and the ones that are outsourcing their work to India to avoid taxes, that just may have closed the deficit in a huge way. How in the world did this guy who probably doesn’t give a crap about California bamboozle his way into office? What American political experience does he have? And, lest we forget his promise to education, law enforcement, etc.?

And by the way, when in the heck does he get out of office? Many are real sick of him, and he screwed California. He can twit and tweet until his fingers get numb but he is still not an appropriate choice for a governor and nobody wants an autographed anything unless it’s on a check to replace those bunk IOUs.

—Trace, Burbank

The prison industry of human warehousing is one of the biggest moneymakers and political baseball bats used by politicians to scare the public into believing they can keep us safe by giving longer sentences indiscriminately. “Tough on crime” has only made longer terms for those who got caught, and has done nothing to catch any more or reduce the tremendous cost that was placed on the taxpayers’ backs. What it did accomplish was to open the wallets of taxpayers with the fear tactic of “keep our streets safe.” We are no safer and our law-enforcement agencies are struggling.

We need to put our money into the community, NOT into the P&P (Politicians & Prisons) coffers. Instead of improving our community, they always seem to sweep problems into a prison in hopes no one will know. Meantime, it festers into a huge financial mess.

We need community jobs and programs to help one another with rehabilitation and family support services and children’s services and senior services. Otherwise we are just a dog-eat-dog society. Like a bad Conan movie!

—Larry, Marysville

Funk Spirit Speaking
Re “Funk Spirit Rising, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Dudley Perkins’ Dueling Soul Excursions,” by Brandon Perkins (July 30):

The last few days, Georgia and I have been receiving hate e-mails and concerned-parent e-mails. The writer put me and my family in a bad light with our church community. My children are raised to have respect and are very well-behaved. The “circus” that writer Brandon Perkins described consists of three kids. One is 9 months old. We do music to help, not for personal pleasure. We are strict vegans and don’t watch television. Georgia is not a typical human. She’s awake in every aspect of the word, so to see these things written about us after we opened our doors to Brandon and showed him complete respect — when he left he thanked me for my hospitality and allowing him to come into my home (in which all the walls are not green ... and if they were, so what?). I had a bad feeling in the first place. I thought, “Why would L.A. Weekly be interested in us?” We don’t do sleep music. We ain’t Hollywood.