It's fun to read correspondence that proves its own point. Has anyone ever noticed how the level of stupidity is directly related to the level of immaturity of the writers? Interesting. One tip to the fellow thinking of moving to Italy: Unless he plans to live in a certain confined area of about 8 square blocks in Rome, he's picking the wrong country.
I strongly urge that he not "move" to anywhere in southern Italy because he will be in for a very rude awakening.
P.S. What do these guys read?
—Dan Calabria, South Pasadena. As a diehard fan of the band, I never thought that anyone could kill the charisma of Dave Matthews' soul-electrifying lyrics, but, sorry guys, the Forum did. In my many journeys to venues to see far worse bands than this, I have never been to a worse venue! The $50 seats that my accomplice and I purchased were reassured as being outstanding seats. They were, as far as viewing Dave's ass. That's about the extent of the thrill we got, other than admiring the drummer's elaborate drum set and playing "guess that tune." The acoustics in the Forum seemed to morph the band's sound into a sad rendition of the jug band from Hee-Haw, ending each anticipated moment with a county fair ribbon. People sitting in front of the house seats, mostly teeny-boppers and middle-aged kids, appeared to hear every lyric that Dave lulled, considering that they were holding signs, singing along, and gritting their teeth to hold back the tears. Maybe they were reacting to the sex-like faces that Dave makes during his performances, which I've only seen on TV, thanks to the Forum.
Forum, take my advice and only host hockey events until you can improve your venue. Everyone else, take my advice and don't waste your money on concert tickets until the Forum improves its venue.
—Lara Sahin, Via e-mailLet me get something straight here. We have one member of the so-called "Axis of Evil," namely Iraq (that couldn't fight its way out of a wet burkha 10 years ago), being touted as the greatest threat to American security, and we have another so-called evil nation (North Korea) caught selling weapons with tactical nuclear capability to a known haven for Al-Qaeda terrorists (Yemen). Yet the Bush administration is adamant about not going to war with a country that knowingly sells mass destruction technology to terrorist states like Iran, not to mention Yemen. And no one is batting an eyelid about it. Why? Because this country has fallen prey to a Republican version of the grilled steak switch-out, only with our national security in the balance.
The fact of the matter is that we look like king-size chumps to the rest of the world because we are too scared to back up our tough talk against North Korea. It could have something to do with the Bush administration not wanting us to get our asses kicked by a third world country that has proven its ability to fight in the past; the safe bet therefore is to pick on weakling scum like Saddam Hussein. Not to say that it wouldn't be a great idea to have someone whack that Stalin idolizing psycho, but let's be honest: The Reagan administration should never have provided him with all that intelligence during his war with the Iranians in the 1980s
That allowed him to fight a much larger country to a standstill and remain in power, so George Bush Sr. could have something to distract the American public with from the painfully obvious lack of domestic leadership he displayed prior to the Gulf War. Wag the Dog part I.
—Ali Sugerman, Via e-mail
This article appears in Dec 25-31, 2002.