Letters

I didn't see how a band like Los Abandoned was going to fit in the U.S. rock scene. To sing in Spanglish is great if you are playing in a bar or some small festival, but if your goal is to sell records or win a Grammy (i.e. be recognized), you have to sing in English. There is no other way around it. Ritchie Valens and "La Bamba" were very exceptional cases. I hope that all Latino rockers in the U.S. learn from Los Abandoned's breakup and the sorry state of rock en español.
Fernando Tacuri
via e-mail

SHAGADELIC

"Wall-to-Wall Shag" by Greg Stacy [Nov. 16] is an excellent review of Shag's show at Laguna Arts Museum. I like this kind of writing—ambivalent, studious and thoughtful. His opinion of Shag the artist is right-on. I know next to nothing about the study of art, film, wine or anything cultural, really. That is why it is helpful for me to read something and recognize my own opinion in it, even when I didn't realize I had formulated one. My only disagreement is in Stacy's opinion of Hell. I still don't want to go there. Even if it is like a big swanky Shag illustration. Thanks, Greg Stacy—you are helping me become the intellectual liberal-art-school snob I always wanted to be.
Suzanne Broughton
via e-mail