Letters 06-01-2000

A Comic Book Reader?

I have met the chef at Angelika Cafe a couple of times ["Name Above the Title," by Dennis Abrams, May 18]. I agree with you about the talents of Chef Zumm Escudier. She is a woman. I'm sure she got a chuckle out of an otherwise right-on review.

J. Moon
Houston

Positive About Negativland

Anthony Mariani's Negativland write-up [Amplified, May 11] was a poor example of musical critique. In the absence of anything substantive to say, Mariani resorted to broad personal attacks on Negativland, "liberals" and even local venues such as No tsu oH. Musical and artistic tastes are subjective, but solid criticism is based on facts, not conjecture.

Negativland consists of five members, most of whom do play musical instruments (as if it mattered). I arranged the No tsu oH portion of Howard Boiehm's documentary The Ad and The Ego, for which Negativland did the score. Negativland's Mark Hosler was in attendance and showed three rare videos by the group.

It has been a while since I read something that so desperately tried to be cynical and hip and turned out so weak and ill-informed. Fact-checking and due diligence beat ranting any day.

Rodney Perkins
Houston

Don't Hit the Road

It's tough to judge a band by only its first low-budget CD [Rotation, by Roger Wood, May 11]. I saw Todville Road live several times before it released Carousel. Honestly, I like the band more live. I do believe it has a ways to go to capture its live performance in the studio.

Sure, the vocals may be off some, but I bet you wouldn't criticize Bob Dylan for that. I give the group credit for coming up with original pop songs that have great hooks. "If This Is Love" sounds like it could have been a Squeeze song. And "Fall to Fly" would have been a good hit for the Gin Blossoms.

Please give the band credit -- it is actually going against the norm in Houston. It's tough to find original pop music here. I think Todville Road is a great start.

Eric Wilson
Houston