LETTERS

Dear Editor,

I was wondering what happened to the column, Wink, that used to be in your Weekly?

I live in California and frequent Las Vegas at least once a month for conventions, trade shows, etc., and also (of course) to play! About a year ago I picked up your Las Vegas Weekly magazine to check out some local happenings and got hooked on reading this column. The writer's unique perspective has somehow created a real-life story line that rolls Sex in the City, Desperate Housewives, Seinfeld and The Bachlorette all into one! In other words, it has a little bit for everyone, even adult men. In their 30s. Single and looking and hoping.

All of my friends, men and women, read the column online and look forward to picking up the Las Vegas Weekly when we come into town. It gives us the places to go, and usually some tips from Sonja on what to do when we get to those places.

Maybe you are still printing her piece, but just don't have it online? Not sure, but I am lost without it!

Sonja,

I love your column. I laugh, I cry, I beat my head against the wall when I read some of your exploits ... and I am a straight male! Where are you? Please do not go. First Art Bell, then you?

Come back, Sonja.

Editor's Note:
Can't a girl take a break? Sonja returns with Wink this week, page 94.

Dear Editor,

Lights, alcohol, gambling and partying to the wee hours of morning are thoughts that typically describe Las Vegas. Everybody wants to visit here, have fun enjoying the nightlife, while embarking on the famous slogan, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." Is it any wonder that it is being slandered with comments of "hopeless abandonment" when the Katrina rescuees are flown here?

From an outsider's perspective, these thoughts may be very true to form. Although Las Vegas is the so-called "gaming" industry of the world, it has dropped that title in order to offer relief for victims of Katrina. It has pulled together in this time of need to raise money, supplies, housing and jobs for those in desperation. The critics of this town need to open their eyes and see what Las Vegas can really offer.

Though the last two tragic incidents in America have been far on the East, the effects were still felt on the West. Las Vegas is coming to the aid of many after Hurricane Katrina destroyed people's lives, hopes and dreams. Bolstered by $1 million donations from Celine Dion and the annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, Las Vegas entertainers and star chefs are lining up to boost a mammoth Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Vegas has offered money, hotel rooms and even spare bedrooms to families left homeless by Hurricane Katrina, while military and civilian relief is left to the East Coast. The public gave roughly $180,000 on September 1 alone to the Southern Nevada chapter of the American Red Cross.

Even the gaming industry is getting involved. Harrah's Entertainment offered free rooms to assist current guests from the hurricane-affected region.

Although Katrina battered a number of the company's Gulf Coast casinos, Harrah's donated $1 million to set up a Harrah's Employee Recovery Fund. Harrah's headliner Clint Holmes said his "phone is ringing off the hook and there's an energy building" to bring the local entertainment community together for a fundraiser similar to the 9/11 USO event in 2001.

Many homeless West-Coasters are coming to Vegas with their spirits intact and, with the help from many locals, dreams of having a soft bed and warm shower are becoming realities.

Cities across the United States are all volunteering and doing what they can to help, and Vegas is right along with them. We have put aside the motto, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," and replaced it with "Welcome to Our City." I think that all the cities nationwide shall receive applause for their efforts in this time of crises.

Dear Editor,

Help! Some faceless, ratings-chasing, latte-drinking niche-marketer from Seattle stole my radio station! When I punched on my car radio recently, the twangy lyrics told me that something was wrong. Instead of Natalie Cole and "Unforgettable" some countrified lady droned about "… the old rockin' chair … runnin' a brush through Grandma's silver hair …" The too-loud, way-fast announcer gave it away.

Beasley Broadcast Group put my demographic out to pasture and gave KJUL 104.3-FM over to the hordes of pickup-driving newcomers streaming into Las Vegas.

You see those legions of C&W fans everywhere, wearing cowboy hats and big belt buckles, and hankering for a radio station to call their own. So BBG gave them the 2005 Adult Standards Station of the Year, according to last month's National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Awards.

Ouch.

When I moved to LV last summer, KJUL was the first station that I programmed on my car radio. KJUL was a comfortable oasis in this 24/7 death-by-freeway madhouse of a town. We were just getting to be friends and I'll miss it. I called the station last night and left a message of loss and surprise. I tried again this morning, but they didn't bother to pick up the phone and seem to have taken the answering machine offline.

I wondered what happened to the nice folks who worked at KJUL on Sunday, but were out of a station on Monday. I was curious how my shrinking demographic compared with the upstart C&W crowd.

It also raises the scary question: What other of my demographic pleasures might be in peril? I read and enjoy the Weekly every Thursday, so you might watch your publisher's face for signs of impending format change. You could wake up next Monday and be yet another what's-on-Paris-Hilton's-mind-this-week celebrity rag. Don't do it. Resist to the last semicolon!

Thanks for letting me rant and for your fresh and not-sold-out style of journalism. You are a bright spot in a media landscape made a little bleaker by the demise of KJUL.

Cheers,

Editor's Note:
Check out Pop Culture on page 32.