In his annual round-up, Jeffrey Gantz repeats the comment he made in his original review of the Royal Ballet’s Manon: “With its art prostituted to [the choreographer] MacMillan’s politics.” Thus, in Gantz’s world, artists are apparently not permitted to address social or political issues. So, out the window go dance classics such as Kurt Jooss’s The Green Table, Christopher Bruce’s Swansong, and Jane Dudley’s Harmonica Breakdown, not to mention Picasso’s Guernica and Goya’s Disasters of War. Thank goodness Gantz’s diminished and enfeebled view of the arts is not shared by those artists and many of their peers.
Stuart Sweeney
Orpington Kent
England
Kerry’s nation
Apparently John Kerry’s biggest mistake was making a one-liner from two lines, and allowing every phony with a grudge to seriously misquote him as you have done again, thus adding injury to injury. The unspoken crime that no one is talking about is that the military is the choice of last resort for many that grew up poor and do not have other prospects.
If the Gang of Predators did not already believe that only stupid people would join the military, it would not have occurred to them to quote only the last half of Kerry’s joke.
Bob Danforth
Orlando, FL
Step off
Regarding Camille Dodero’s piece on the new store AWOL, if she thinks my artwork is “shitty” she’s entitled to her opinion, and if I put my art out on the street I have to expect all kinds of reactions. But trashing a struggling freelance artist in a major paper is like shooting fish in a barrel, and doing it in a piece that merely promotes a sneaker store is pointlessly mean. I get a lot of praise for my artwork too. I’ve had work in major newspapers and I had a children’s picture book published that I wrote and illustrated. It’s a brutally unfair business, though, and I do everything I can to get my name out. The Grecian Diner, also on Harvard Avenue, is currently exhibiting my work, but if you don’t live in Allston, you can check out my artwork at the following link:www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Park/1147.
D.L. Polonsky
Allston
Knowledge is power
Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate almost all our music writers and their talents. However, Matt Ashare made a huge mistake in his article titled “Neo-new-what?” When mentioning Nouvelle Vague’s 2006 release of bossa nova covers of post-punk classics, Mr. Ashare incorrectly states that the band does “reworkings of (Echo & The) Bunnymen’s ‘The Killing Moon,’ New Order’s ‘Confusions,’ and The Cure’s ‘Ever Fallen In Love?’ ” Now, as a big music fan myself, I can honestly look past Mr. Ashare incorrectly referring to New Order’s “Confusion” in a plural sense, but I cannot believe that he would mislabel “Ever Fallen In Love?” as a Cure song. This is, in fact, a Buzzcocks song, not a Cure song. I expect a lot more from Mr. Ashare, seeing as I’ve enjoyed his work in the past. But to not know the artist of a classic post-punk song such as “Ever Fallen In Love?” (hell, Pete Yorn has covered this song for the Shrek 2 soundtrack) and to attribute it to the wrong band is just pure carelessness. Point is, a little research and knowledge go a long way. Matt Ashare, I’m disappointed in you.
Brian Lumauig
Brighton
Billy club
The depth of your stupidity, ignorance, and lack of sensitivity is mind-boggling. Not only is singling out Billy Cowsill as overrated completely inaccurate, downright mean, and, no matter how you say it, wrong — it’s very unprofessional and callous. I hope you can realize what a faux pas you made, Mr. Garboden. You need to apologize both here and on cowsill.com which I strongly urge you to check out.
Suzanne Perdue
Marlborough
