Marley's ghost: In the cover blurb for Joel Warner's Evan Hecox story ("On Target," August 17), you list several people who've recently inked deals with Target. But you forgot the most offensive one. As anyone who is forced to listen to KBCO knows, the money-grubbing, talentless son of Bob Marley is again showing his true colors: His new CD is available only at Target. This is the kind of deal that stifles artistic creativity and hurts independent music stores.
Ziggy got his CD title wrong. Instead of Love Is My Religion, it should be Money Is My Religion. Not only is the latter more accurate, but it meshes well with his rich, white frat-boy following.
Eric Frame
Denver
Park place: Adam Cayton-Holland's August 17 What's So Funny was hysterical -- and very, very true. My kids grew up in Park Hill and now two of my grandkids are here. I live in the home my grandparents bought in 1956, and my kids lived with my grandmother from the time they were born until she died in 1994! Pretty amazing. To make the story even better, her wish was that her ashes be buried in the rose garden. We did that, and planted a pink (her favorite color) rosebush on top of her. So she is still "with us," and I get to tell my grandkids that!
Just so you know, another mayor, Tom Currigan, lived right around the corner from me on Montview and Hudson. So we have had two mayors and numerous city bigwigs! Now we are hoping that Hick moving in will help those of us who have been here to keep the character of our beloved neighborhood.
And so it goes...
Betsy Snyder
Denver
Gotta go: Well, it was only a matter of time. With his August 17 Beatdown, Dave Herrera has officially gone over the edge. "Secret bathroom," indeed. Everyone knows that there isn't a "secret bathroom" at Red Rocks (right, Dave?). People may hear about it, but that doesn't mean that it's actually there. Maybe Dave can redeem himself by lobbying for a Drive-By Truckers gig in the area during their upcoming headlining tour.
Cal Connolly
Denver
Catch and release: First, let me just say I enjoy Jason Sheehan's Cafe column each week.
Second, his "Floating Belly Up," in the August 17 issue, addresses a question I've had since I began hearing and seeing the ads for Islamorada on radio and TV. Besides a guy who gets paid to do so, who the fuck in their right mind goes to dinner at a live bait shop? Apparently, quite a few people, which lends credence to one of my all-time favorite quotes: "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people!"
Keep up the good work.
David Lucas
Boulder
Ralph crammed in: I would rather eat the $42.50 (with or without butter) spent on lunch at Islamorada than set foot in there again. Good job with the review -- had I just eaten there, I would have laughed so hard that I would have ralphed up my gray crabcakes.
Lindsay Gerard
Denver
Meal went swimmingly: I disagree with Jason Sheehan's critique of the Islamorada Fish Company restaurant located in the Bass Pro Shop in Northfield. I had a very pleasant dining experience last week, when I ate there for the first time. My exquisite meal consisted of the fried shrimp, salad, baked potato and iced tea, and not forgetting the miniature loaf of bread, which was a nice touch.
All in all, the service was excellent and the food was good and fresh. I would recommend it to anyone. (The store itself was impressive, too!)
Rosemary McManis
Denver
Fishing for compliments: Jason Sheehan, you are the man. I can only hope you can get Beard awards for bad reviews as well as good. I've enjoyed your column, starting from, well, that one describing your trip up from Albuquerque.
If you're ever in Dayton, I'll buy you a drink.
Rich Doerr
Dayton, Ohio
Lofty ambitions: Regarding Jared Jacang Maher's "License to Chill," in the August 17 issue:
As one of the residents who lives in the narrowly defined "neighborhood" allowed by city rules to have an opinion on the Loft's cabaret/tavern applications at the August 9 Excise and Licenses hearing, I'd like to share another act perpetrated on the neighborhood by Mr. Lifestyle himself, Scottie "Anthony" Ewing, and company.
The applicants sent paid circulators out to collect signatures on petitions in favor of the proposed cabaret/tavern. Those petitions, which surprisingly also had over a hundred opposition signatures, were then filed by the applicants' representative at the Department of Excise and Licenses. When neighborhood-association members saw those petitions, we scratched our heads at Mr. Lifestyle's seemingly uncharacteristic naiveté, but it explained why grassroots opposition-petition circulators were told by so many residents that they had already signed in opposition and why our numbers seemed so low.
The applicants fired their paid circulators, claiming that they had misrepresented them in the community (?) and went out en masse themselves, re-misrepresenting the proposed business...this time as a restaurant, waving that tapas menu about like it was the answer to our neighborhood's prayers. I wonder if they also shared any details about their 8 p.m. dress code, sure to screen any neighborhood folks from rubbing elbows with "lifestyle" lovers from the 'burbs whisked in by limousine from the light-rail station, or if they shared anything about those very private Friday Night Flirts and the after-parties where participants can finally get rid of some of that bothersome lingerie.
At the Excise and Licenses hearing, all of the applicants' pre-filed petitions were withdrawn, silencing over a hundred residents in opposition to their cabaret/tavern application.
Some kind of tactics, but what do you expect from two people supposedly engaged to be married who choose to profile themselves as "available" under fake names on their swapper websites?
Carol Campbell
Denver
Here's the scoop: Regarding Michael Roberts's "Buddy Plan," in the August 17 issue:
Buddy Guy is to Chicago what chocolate is to ice cream. You will always have music, but none with as much flavor and satisfaction as his music has. We will be left with a huge, unsatisfied craving that no other flavor can fill the day this man leaves us.
Bre Tanner
Chicago, Illinois
Def match: Regarding Cole Haddon's "Fight to the Def," in the August 10 issue:
Singer Joe Elliott was never an illiterate grade-schooler. This "story" -- if you'd like to call it that -- shows who is the true illiterate grade-schooler.
Catherine Cleland
Brooklyn, New York
Hard-boiled egos: Cole Haddon said some pretty harsh words against Def Leppard, which is my favorite band. Granted, Journey put out a lot of great songs -- some of which I will listen to, but only if I have to. The thing I like most about Def Leppard is that there are no individual egos in that band. There is one ego, and that is of the band itself. Unlike most bands, Def Leppard stayed together even through the height of its popularity. Heck, even the Beatles broke up at the height of their popularity. And yes, even Journey eventually broke up, and we did not hear from them again until just recently.
My question would be, why? For what reason did Journey break up? Did one member want to go off and do a side project that the others did not like? Did someone's ego get in the way?
Therein lies the difference between bands like Journey and Def Leppard. This is where egos come in. No matter what each member of Def Leppard is doing, they always come back together to keep Def Leppard going. I have not heard the same being said of Journey.
Journey fans who read this will no doubt blow their lids off. But these are my personal views. I do like some of Journey's music -- just not all. And there are some out there who like some of Def Leppard's music -- just not all.
Donna Reid
Rockhold, Kentucky
Hung jury: Michael Roberts's description of Joe Bevilacqua, the director of FM programming for Clear Channel Denver, as an "evangelist" was right on (The Message, August 10). Clear Channel, with close ties to the (religious-right-favored) Republican Party, has been accused of boycotting Madonna's latest album and refusing to play it on the air since she is critical of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. I believe the accusation, as I just returned from Europe, where her new song "Hung Up" is a huge hit. Talk about censorship in the "land of the free."
On a side note, I really enjoy reading Westword. Keep up the good work!
Jaime Jacob
Aurora
Skating on the edge: At the end of the July 27 Off Limits item about the Denver Skatepark, why would your last words be "Skate or die, yo"? You are just feeding into what people think about us. I say "us," because I am a 33-year-old man who has been skating for about twenty years. I have had to hear plenty of negative words from all walks of life, because most people think we are all young punks. To say "Skate or die" implies that it's still 1988, and to end that with "yo" just sounds silly. I've never used that "word" in my life.
Gabriel Beyer
Westminster
