Anyway, there is a musical law of karma you should know about, which is that if a group really plays crappy music, it will be cursed to play it night after night, year after year, and that should be sufficient punishment for all parties. Lighten up. I can think of a lot of bands who are better than Offspring and who never got a record deal. Offspring paid their dues and deserve their time onstage.
My kids loved their show, and everyone around me seemed to also enjoy the show. There's no use defying popular music, especially when it may not have anything to do with people our age. Maybe you could review the Cher or Dylan/Simon concerts because you would have a clue what they are about. I am 47, and I happen to hate Aerosmith, Sting and U2, but I like Gwar, Marilyn Manson and the Cramps. So cut Offspring some slack, or at least don't criticize what you can't understand.
Ian Snyder
Peoria
Gilbert Garcia's article was right on! My sentiments exactly. I have been complaining about the Offspring for years now, especially so after the Americana album. It is especially painful for me, being someone living in Southern California and having seen this band dozens of times over the past 10 years. I am quite embarrassed to think about how much I once enjoyed the Offspring.
Now I cannot stand listening to them being played every hour on the hour of commercial radio. I am amazed at what a farce they have become. I cannot accept that they take themselves seriously. Are they this naive? I wish they would just come out and admit that they just formulate their songs from computer programs in order to move the most product possible. These guys are simply product whores. There is no art, no sincerity in what they do; it is all about capitalism.
Walt Lutz
Los Angeles
Deputy Dogged
I wish I had the courage to put my name on this letter, but because of conditions within the sheriff's office I do not want to end up like countless other "dime droppers" and get fired. I have worked for MCSO for many years.
I would like to commend your paper and Tony Ortega for taking a stand against Sheriff "Joke" Arpaio ("Blowing His Cool," May 27). Your newspaper accounts have been accurate on the inner workings of the office and the games that Joe and David Hendershott have played.
Over the past several years, we have lost a number of great officers, both in detention and sworn, because they came forward in presenting internal memos of suspected wrongdoing. I have worked closely with Sergeant Cool on several projects. He is a very loyal, dedicated individual. It is a shame that he is being hung out to dry for telling the truth!
Please keep up the fine work you are doing, as you're the lone voice standing up for us!
Name withheld by request
Usually one must visit "pseudo Christian" circles in order to experience the degree of hatred and intolerance so proudly displayed by the Mesa woman Jennifer Alcock in her letter of May 20 ("Good Riddance") in which she praises the death by torture of a jail inmate.
Lance Hawthorne died because his cellmate ruffled the feathers of a Maricopa County corrections officer. That guard, a cowardly bully out for revenge against a caged man, shut off the fresh-air supply, killing the overweight heart patient. This action should not be applauded or tolerated in our community. If the reports are accurate, the guard himself needs to be tried and, if convicted, shut away.
Alcock would have us believe she sheds alligator tears for the innocent victims who stood in front of a camera, ". . . being operated by this joker [Hawthorne] or some other idiot." What she will sadly never realize is that she is the "other idiot." Had she been a neighbor of Hawthorne's, I'm sure she would have teased him for his size and belittled him at every opportunity, assisting him in making his eventual behavioral choices and in no small way contributing to the suffering of his victims.
Alcock rushes on to tell us that if she had been the mother of Lance Hawthorne, she would be glad that he was dead and ashamed to have given birth to him. My God, I wonder what sort of weaponry her children will be toting to school someday.
Daniel Craig
Phoenix
Gig Deal
This is in response to Mr. Tucker Woodbury, who listed Sistah Blue as one of the bands to have played or opened for a national act at Rockin' Horse Saloon ("Music Man," Letters, May 20). We've never had the pleasure, I'm afraid, but we're open to the idea!
Claire Griese, drummer
Sistah Blue
Yankee Lure
It is true that the photographs are public record and should not be censored, and I hope Scott Stanley prevails in his quest to show the atrocities occurring on the border ("Border Censors," House, May 13). But he, like many others, is not looking at the big picture: These people are coming to the United States for a reason, and that reason is life. The Mexican government is controlled by a number of families who couldn't care less about Mexican citizens dying in the desert; their main concern is gathering wealth and keeping the people ignorant and oppressed so they don't revolt and find themselves and their offspring hanging from a tree or standing against a wall wearing a blindfold. The second part of the problem is that here in the U.S., we have major corporations and many small businesses that depend on this labor pool to maintain their profit margins, and also to keep wages low for those of us who are U.S. citizens. And it is my personal belief that the past and present federal administrations (Roosevelt through Clinton) are working hand in hand with these wealthy and evil Mexican families to maintain the status quo.
Jim Garfias
via Internet
