GREEN-EYED LADY MONSTERS I'm a little behind on my New York ...
ADY MONSTERS
I'm a little behind on my New York Press reading, so I've only just seen the letters in response to Celia Farber's cover story on Bill O'Reilly and the sexual harassment suit against him ("No Sexual Dealing," 10/27). I thought the story was brilliantly written-as did most of your readers, judging by the letters.
I noticed the two disgruntled readers, both of whom were former employees of mine, complaining-still! 10 years later!-that Celia only got ahead because of her relationship with me. As wonderful as that would be for my ego, sadly it isn't true. I don't have such magical powers, and whatever influence I may have doesn't extend to Vogue, Esquire or the dozens of other publications, including New York Press, that have published her. Let me call a spade a spade: They were jealous of her then, they're jealous of her now. That's sort of sad, frankly, isn't it?
Celia navigates the political-correctness minefield better than any other journalist I can think of. Oddly, perhaps masochistically, but certainly courageously, she has made that her beat. She did so with her AIDS column we published for 10 years in SPIN, and she's done it on countless other stories, including the one in these pages a few weeks ago. On the other hand, I've yet to see those people who cry foul produce comparable work.
As for our much-publicized relationship, I'm very proud of it and especially that we're still close friends, 20 years later. But then I've always had a thing for brilliant women.
I love New York Press!
Bob Guccione Jr., Manhattan
SARCASM IN A CAN
Lucius Allred, what a writer ("My Cheatin' Art," 11/10)! I wasn't aware that New York Press printed erotic fiction on its front page. Allred should perhaps consult with Bill O'Reilly, whose own predilections for sexual flights of fancy were celebrated recently and about as engaging. Tell Allred to worry not, as the sales of O'Reilly's particular volume were respectable. I would even venture to say that someday Allred may even be invited to sit in at symposia dedicated to analyzing O'Reilly's themes and use of motif. Someday they may even speak of an O'Reilly-Allred connection.
Please tell Allred to keep writing and aspiring. Encourage him to aspire to the talent of Bill O'Reilly and by gosh, I have no doubt that someday he will get there.
As always, impressed beyond belief by your publication.
Peter Coston, Yaphank, NY
BUT WHAT OF QUALITY JERKING OFF AND WHINING?
Attracted by the cover illustration by the excellent Danny Hellman, I picked up your paper and slogged through the dismal and vapid article it isn't about (Lucius Allred, "My Cheatin' Art," 11/10). Even if this flyblown flight of fancy were true, what makes it fit for a cover story? Why should trees die for this?
In a city grieving for the total disregard of its safety and ideals a week after the re-election, you give us this to chew on? It isn't fun, it isn't relevant, it isn't good art-nada. I wish you guys would take your position as a large-circulation free weekly as an opportunity to put out quality, not to jerk off and whine.
Kate Moon, Manhattan
GOD BLESS PSEUDONYMS
The person who wrote "My Cheatin' Art" is a complete fuckbag (Lucius Allred, 11/10). It is my hope that all of the women he mentioned in his article corner him in a dirty alley and beat him until he is too crippled to piss.
Penny Rene, Los Angeles
A MOTHER'S LOVE
Concerning your Best of Manhattan 2004 "Best Page Six Description of a Clumsy Junkie," (9/29):
Who are you to judge and minimize my son's life and death? It's apparent you knew nothing about him. [Ryan Noel] was a talented, intelligent, funny and caring person. Did he make mistakes? Yes-he fought his addiction for four years and had been clean for over a year. For one weak moment, he paid with his life.
I was contacted by many who had known Ryan from as far back as junior high school. He left an impression on their life. Ryan had touched a lot of lives in his 29 years. I am proud and honored to be his mom.
Sandy Neal, Springfield, OR
The editors reply: Our target was the New York Post for its adolescent romanticization of a drug overdose. We meant no disrespect to Noel's survivors. What we now find curious, however, is a report from Noel's hometown daily. According to the June 18 Springfield News, the musician "died following an automobile accident in New York." This, 10 days before the Post's item citing the overdose. According to the Springfield News' editor, the obituary was supplied by the Buell Funeral Chapel. Did the funeral home lie to protect a local boy's legacy? If so, at whose request?
SEE YOU AT THE NEXT RIDE
Thank you for publishing your "Critical Mass Ass" piece-a fantastic, timely response to an incredible act of editorial entitlement ("The NewsHole," 11/10). I can guarantee the junior editors are laughing at amNew York editor-in-chief Storozynski behind his back-they ride in Critical Mass! I plan to deliver several copies of the New York Press issue to his office to remind him not to co-opt my pro-mass photographs-and those of others-in the future for his rants.
Peter Meitzler, Brooklyn
REGULASCAKES.COM
I recently read an article in New York Press by Gabriella Gershenson about Regula's Cakes in Brooklyn ("Eats & Drinks," 6/23). I am interested in contacting Regula's Cakes for a wedding cake; however, the phone number listed seems to be disconnected.
Do you know how else I can contact Regula's Cakes, or if they are not in business anymore? Thank you.
Jennifer Vento, via email
MISSING COUSINS
I just read the Lord Jamar interview by Steven Psyllos (10/6). My name is Roscoe DeChalus, Lorenzo's (Lord Jamar) cousin. I have not been able to contact Lorenzo. It has been too many years since I have seen him. Do you have the means to pass my contact info to him or his to me? Thanks in advance for anything that you can do.
Pastor Roscoe L. De Chalus, Bartlett, IL
DAMIAN'S OMEN
Would you please give a "Thank You, Really" to the MTA for locking all the north exits of the 34th St. station on Veteran's Day, a holiday only for union members? The rest of us were running up and down the panoply of staircases looking for a way out. We took turns complaining to the token-booth clerk at 34th St.; she referred us to the manager. When I called to speak to him, he, of course, had the day off.
Damian Gerndt, via email
BEEHNER: NO WILCO FAN?
It seems to me that Lionel Beehner has committed the cardinal sin of criticism in his review of The Wilco Book: emphasizing what isn't in the book over what is ("Books," 11/10). If he'd like more on Uncle Tupelo, perhaps he shouldn't look to a book obviously about Wilco.
It's clear from the first two paragraphs that Beehner isn't a fan of the band. When he does get around to discussing the book itself, he seems upset that it shows an artist evolving. There is no question Tweedy and Wilco have evolved into a more serious and, yes, esoteric band. Many who have enjoyed the evolution would dispute his assertion that they are not "better." Whatever. That's a matter of taste.
But shouldn't a review of this book be based upon what it is, not what it isn't? It is a coffee-table book with artsy photos and candid dialogue with a CD for fans. Period. Review it as such. What is it about the tunes that makes them forgettable? I would think the music included in this package released by musicians would warrant more than a glib parenthetical comment.
Beehner's piece reminds me of reviews of Robert Altman films that take the filmmaker to task for not making a "Hollywood" movie. The absence of a "banjo or a slide" isn't a surprise to anybody who follows Wilco these days. And Mikael Jorgenson's observation regarding the value of fewer knobs fits right in with the band's shift from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot to A Ghost Is Born, but I don't suppose Beehner has listened closely enough to know that.
And what's with the snide closing paragraph? "[B]umpkins from the midwest and bobos from the coast?" What kind of bullshit analysis is that?
Tom Flynn, Portland, ME
SMITH: BRINGER OF THE BIAS BASH?
As a regular reader, the anticipation was almost too much as I waited for today's first post-election column by Russ Smith ("Waiting for 2008," 11/10). What a letdown! I just knew he was going to savage the rotten election-night coverage where journalists were stunned, despondent, angry and lost. The sight of station after station of dour faces instantly had me thinking, "This is perfect for MUGGER! What better demonstrates the bias of the media?"
Maybe Smith can revisit that night with the likes of poor Judy Woodruff, almost in tears as she announced Florida, as she and her gang tried desperately to cobble some kind of winning electoral formula for Kerry. Or the Hardball gang, which shut their traps for once. I actually felt sorry for Doris Goodwin, who seemed in pain; Matthews was almost as bad and Ron Reagan, who never has anything to say anyway, said it without words. Tim Russert's face was as long as Kerry's, Juan Williams wiped tears, Larry King kept shaking his head, but best of all was the geriatric crew at CBS. Rather was not about to award Ohio and his underlings (probably in communication with Woodruff) were likewise attempting to find a winning Democratic strategy.
The coverage, more than any single event, crystallized the media slant.
Russ, write the article we are all waiting for.
Steve Bryant, Franklin, TN
NO RELATION TO LINDA
I lived in Manhattan throughout the 80s and 90s, working for a glossy art magazine in Soho, and had impeccable lib credentials-and read New York Press all the time.
Now I'm in Los Angeles, a little older and more conservative (thanks to parenthood and 9/11), voted for Bush and am reading New York's reaction to the election with disbelief and amusement. Good lord, to think I once aspired to be like Tina Brown and her crowd.
So I was tickled to come across Russ Smith's latest piece on the internet. He nailed it for me ("Waiting for 2008," 11/10). Now that I have a certain distance and perspective, I'm asking myself: Who are these clueless, arrogant people? Was I like that? Oy!
Joyce Lovelace, Los Angeles
WIN WON FOR THE MUGGER
I just read Russ Smith's "Waiting for 2008" (11/10). Great column! The liberals haven't learned much since Pauline Kael famously said, after Nixon's 1972 landslide blowout of McGovern: "I don't know how Nixon could've won. I don't know anyone who voted for him."
Let 'em keep thinking that way, and we'll keep winning elections.
John Elfmont, via email
HE ATE THREE IN TEXAS
Hate to do this to a fellow Sox fan (and Shaughnessy hater), but I'm going to stop reading Russ Smith now. The biggest shame of politics in this country is the total lack of the shade of gray. Any fair writer, no matter his leanings, would concede that a given party sometimes is right and sometimes is wrong, but Smith is not that writer. His work is a compendium of complaints about liberal shots at Republicans, coupled with his own shots at liberals. How am I to take anything he writes seriously?
I can sum it up thusly: If Bush ate a baby-literally ate a baby-and one columnist criticized him for it, Smith would rip that writer and follow up by wondering how a liberal could criticize Bush's baby-eating when JFK once ate veal. I have decided that this is clear evidence that he writes solely for right-wingers, not for the general public.
Obviously, I should have realized this before, but I wanted to believe Smith was fair. This clearly is not so. But I should not expect to find any middle ground with a Bush supporter; none has yet explained to me why I should vote for a man who clearly doesn't believe that all men are created equal, who acts on his hunches by eschewing expert counsel and has done his best to eliminate free speech when it is critical of him or his party ("free speech zones," vetting any reporter questions before they can be asked at the White House, etc.). Also, Bush blurs the line between church and state with his support for faith-based initiatives, ad nauseum.
Yeah, yeah, I know, but Kerry did blah blah blah. I think this is where I came in...
Mike Gordon, Norwalk, CT
In his review of the movie Kinsey, Armond White refers to the film as Bill Condon's "directorial debut," and later criticizes Condon's "screenplay for Gods and Monsters"-implying that Condon was only the writer of that film ("Three Liberators," 11/10). In fact, while Condon may be best known as a screenwriter (he won the Oscar for Gods and also wrote the screen version of Chicago), he was also the director of Gods and Monsters, as well as the horror sequel Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (to say nothing of a number of tv movies).
Matthew E. Goldenberg, Manhattan
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
I just read Armond White's article "Five Films by John Cassavetes," and would like to respond to his comment "...[Ray] Carney's devotion is borne out by this DVD collection (unaccountably without Carney's commentary) of Cassavetes' best-known films..." (DVDs, 11/3).
If you are interested in learning more about the dispute between Cassavetes' estate, Criterion and Ray Carney over the first version of Shadows and the recent release of the box set of Cassavetes' films, no need to be mystified or uncertain. It's all posted on the internet. Carney's amazing and gargantuan Cassavetes website at cassavetes.com ("Ray Carney on Art and Life") has blow-by-blow details of his work on the Criterion box set, Carney's having his name removed from the box set (even though most of his work remains), his opinion about the Charles Kiselyak documentary that is bundled with the set (he calls it "A Constant Forgery")-as well as the stories behind his discovery of the early prints of Shadows and Faces, and Gena Rowlands' attempts to suppress both discoveries and legally confiscate and destroy the print of Shadows.
Marty Jobe, Dallas
CAST AWAY
Thank you for your provocative article on the world of Scott Powers (Gregory Gilderman and Andrew Lorin, "The Casting Ouch," 10/20). Everyone in the business knows these casting people laugh at the young performers who attend these events, thinking they are stupid and desperate. It is quite regrettable that we in the arts do not speak out against those who, like Scott Powers, profit from the dreams of naive and aspiring young actors. He is certainly not the only one who does this. It goes on all over New York and Los Angeles, with many high-profile casting directors participating.
The publications that claim to serve performers mostly remain silent about these kinds of scams because they make money from them through advertisements. They could put these scumbags out of business in a jiffy. My students can barely afford a genuine acting class, let alone hundreds of dollars to meet these jerks. Scott Powers and his ilk steal from starving young artists. And we ought to shout him and his buddies out of the city.
Jason Bennett, via email