Letters may be edited for clarity and length. E-mail to le*****@oc******.com, or send to Letters to the Editor, c/o OC Weekly, 1666 N. Main St., Ste. 500, Santa Ana, CA 92701. Or fax to (714) 550-5908.
TRICKLE-DOWN PUNKONOMICS
Your attempt to rewrite music history is way off-base [Matt Coker's “You've Been Punk'd,” Sept. 29]. Giving Ronald Reagan credit for creating punk is a sin! Are you kidding me? He became president in 1981. By then the Sex Pistols had already broken up! The Ramones had seven albums out! Darby Crash was dead. The Masque had long since closed. I'll reserve final judgment until after I've seen American Hardcore, but it sounds to me like OC Weekly and Blush are trying to alter history and give more credit to OC than is warranted. As George Orwell wrote in 1984, “To enforce the lies of the present, it is necessary to erase the truths of the past.”
Neil Hubbard
Kirkland, Washington
Matt Coker responds: That issue's cover headline, which I did not write, was “The President Who Created Punk Rock” next to a photo of Reagan. My story and Blush's film (and book) credit Reaganism for helping spawn hardcore punk rock, which came after old school punk's first wave and was most certainly huge in Orange County. But a cover line reading “The President Who Created Hardcore” would have been misleading considering Calvin Coolidge's widely acknowledged role in the creation of hardcore pornography.
ROCCO HORROR PICTURE SHOW
I was very disturbed that Steve Rocco had fallen off this year's list of OC's scariest people [“Ghouls Gone Wild: Orange County's 31 Scariest People,” Oct. 27]. Rocco is hoping to align himself with newcomers Chris Emami (a 20-year-old seeking control of a $240 million district) and Alexia Deligianni (a young politically hungry conservative Republican in Anaheim). The fact of the matter is when a nut like Steve Rocco gets elected it emboldens the borderlines to jump into politics. School board politics are often a political springboard for folks who have further ambitions up the food chain. Sadly, a poor board member (or a slew of bad members) can turn a district upside down and drive talented teachers and administrators from applying or remaining in the profession.
Mollie Sparks
Tustin
BANG! BANG! SHOOT! SHOOT!
Your article on building an AK-47 was bullshit [Theo Douglas' “Osama's Gun,” Nov. 9]. I know a thing or two about this subject and can testify the article is a complete fabrication. We are asked to believe that Theo Douglas knew nothing about guns or gun laws before embarking on his project. How is it, then, that he manages, alone of anyone else in the media, to accurately and intelligently describe California's assault weapon ban? CNN couldn't do it; the LA Times couldn't do it; no other journalist or major media outlet could do it. Are we to accept that some moonbat reporter from a local free weekly actually sat down and researched the subject in detail, double-checking with the DOJ as well as the NRA before submitting his story? Bullshit. Douglas is obviously a seasoned gun nut, and now we know who it is in the Weekly's offices who subscribes to the CRPA's Firing Line.
Mitch Barrie
Mesa Tactical Gear and Accessories for Law Enforcement, Military and Personal Defense
PS: Rah! for buying the receiver from my customer Gunrunners.
PPS: Come over to our office on Monrovia Avenue and we'll show you some really evil—I mean cool—stuff.
PPPS: Actually, Douglas got a couple things wrong but got so much more right than is usually the case that I (uncharacteristically) don't feel inclined to pick nits.
GET IT RIGHT, IT'S SELL-TO-PLAY
George Fryer accuses the Coach House and Galaxy of using a “new twist on the old pay-to-play scheme.” He complains, “My Grandmother could go in there and read the phone book if she came up with the money” [“Letters,” Sept. 22]. First off, yes they probably would let your grandmother read the phone book if she sold some tickets. From my experience with both venues, the booking agents are very open-minded about acts that they will book. Secondly, they've never demanded a minimum from my band, which is how pay-to-play works. Yes, they give the band tickets to sell. Yes, the band is required to turn in the unsold tickets and pay a percentage from the tickets sold. I never considered that pay-to-play. It was just a savvy club making sure that bands were doing their side of promoting themselves. That's good business. The Coach House and Galaxy provide a great opportunity to get onto a professional stage and open for a wide range of signed, touring acts. Keep rockin' into the next decade, Coach House and Galaxy!
Mitch Faris
Mo' Evans Band
I'VE GOT A FEVER
Vickie Chang's article was amazing [“Yellow Fever,” Nov. 3]. It hit the spot on so many of the issues that we as Asian Americans have been facing for a long time now. I hope she opened some eyes to how much racial stereotyping and prejudice there is toward all Asian Americans. I worship the ground she walks on. Thank you, Vickie!
Phillip Lee
Via e-mail
DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS
In a recent story on an exhibition of photos of the Doors [Theo Douglas' “Indians Scattered on Dawn's Highway Bleeding?” Nov. 17], it turns out that Jim Morrison didn't actually save a group of children's fragile-eggshell minds by taking away the rag they were huffing. He spent the entire gig navel-gazing, and kept audience contact to a bare minimum.
