OMBUDSMAN'S CORNER |
with Horton Veal Scott: You're the editor and I'm just a humble retired grammarian doing a little minimum-wage journalism for porn money ... damn it, Dickensheets, I didn't write that! Editor or not, you cannot simply insert egregious porn references into my copy! One more chortling reference to your "godlike powers over the Veal oeuvre" and I'll walk! In fact, while you're busy monkey-wrenching my work, you're letting some pretty basic mistakes get by. Proper names, for instance. In last week's paper, in the photo feature highlighting entries in a Las Vegas sign contest, two pieces were credited to "Joshua Aggey." Even I've been around this town long enough to enjoy lots of porn—no, to recognize that it should have read "Joshua Abbey," a prominent enough cultural figure that someone should've caught that. I blame you because I'm a porn monkey and I love porn and porn, porn, porn! Very funny, Scott. You, sir, are a cad. And now I've wandered from my original point, which I think was that you should pay a little more attention to details. Oh, and I hope Joshua Abbey gives you a sound thrashing. |
Perhaps vastly underestimating the level of Melville scholarship in Las Vegas, a reader took issue with the headline atop our review of Reid's Fish & More, which read "Call Me Dickensheets":
I wonder how many people "got" Scott Dickensheets' obtuse literary reference in the title of his restaurant review in the April 22-28 issue.
Ishmael
Editor's note:
Excellent point, Ish. The intern who penned that headline, a cryptic young man named Bartleby, has been fired.
Prude Behavior
Your article on "Uptight Las Vegas" [Cover story, April 22] is the most frightening thing I've read in some time. Even more frightening was that Palms spokesman Brad Albertson told you a bald-breasted lie when he said that "their (the Palms) policy hasn't changed" in reference to the billboard on the 215/15 connector. Drive by now, and you'll see the same two lovely ladies in full tank tops covering all of the heart-racing, indecent "neathage" that was there before!
How naive of me to think that the Clear Channel/religious right/concerned parents/conservative movement could never have such an effect on one of Las Vegas' sexiest, hippest casinos. Maybe the Palms' next billboard can feature models in burkas. Isn't that where we're headed?
Darryl Margolis
Except on the Chaste Covers of Other Alt Weeklies, Sex is Unavoidable
An open message to Shari Peterson and her clan of mental midgets who were confused about what city they are in:
There is nothing wrong with sex. I know this is a shocking statement, but I think if you face this fact, you might be able to go back to your chore of being a hausfrau. A tit will not hurt your child. If you believe that your 6-year-old is getting turned on by seing half of a tit, then perhaps you should move to a cave where you can shelter her from life until you are willing to let go. What will you do when your kid is 15 and smoking pole in the back of cars? Ban automobiles? Protest Chrysler? The fact that people get organized to protect children from sex in a society dominated by violence is ridiculous. Why couldn't they organize to protect thier children from pedestrian-unfriendly streets, or rally to get better public transportation so their children could safely travel through town, or larger budgets for schools, or ... well, no ... this doesn't seem to be about kids at all. This seems to me like a religious assault on this oasis of American culture.
Shari Peterson had a choice to live in hundreds of other cities that already have prudish laws about adult content. Shari Peterson probably knows that these cities have a higher rate of crime, a lower working wage and a less than comfortable means of existence. She and her posse want to bring that here. If Ms. Peterson and her 15 children get what they want, do you really think they'll stop at billboards? I'm sure that copy of Clockwork Orange will find its way out of the library, the only television shows permitted will be censored versions of Will and Grace (sans any dialogue with two men refering to S-E-X) with reruns of Little House on the Prairie, and casinos will be forced to dress all employees in potato sacks.
If they want to live in this world, they should get together and start a settlement in Utah where they could be free of thighs, butts, breasts and, most disturbing of all, exposed midsections. Ms. Peterson obviously has some deeply rooted problems with sex, but she should note that in other places (like England, Japan, France and even Canada) where nudity is as common on television and in ads as violence is in American television, the rate of teenage pregnancy, rape and domestic violence is substantially lower. All Ms. Peterson is trying to protect is her own prudish belief system.
Ernest Hemmings
So That's What an Encore Is!
The classical music element in our April 15 music issue appealed to this reader, who spins platters at the city's classical music station, KCNV 89.7-FM:
Thank you so much for this week's Las Vegas Weekly. Yes, I'm talking about "Classic Rebellion." A standing ovation is in order for writing about the city's cultural icon (the LV Philharmonic) and highlighting a talented violist on your cover!
I, too, have had similiar incidents with friends/colleagues laughing when I say I'm at a Las Vegas classical radio station. (Also quite a few cocktail waitresses laugh when I tell them it's classical music I spin as a "DJ," but I digress ...) But I also have, since 2000, run www.classicallyhip.com, a website for those who know that classical is where it's at, or want to know more.
So, let's have even more—some real classical writing in your publication, maybe a review of a concert—or, when an artist like cellist Matt Haimovitz comes into town, playing at the IceHouse, a feature story. There is a growing number of musicians, events and even local recordings of classical musicians ... give the readers the choice of choosing—but give them the information beforehand. (The next soloist for the LV Phil is pianist Valentina Lisista and would be an excellent candidate for an interview—and oh so easy on the eyes.)
Again, thank you so much—BRAVO! Now, ENCORE! (A classical term for another performance, unnanounced, usually at the end of a concert.)
John Clare
Editor's Note:
Thank you! (A Weekly term used to express gratitude.)