Hippie parent killin': I can't believe that recent letter writer, Sandleboy of Seattle ("Business As Usual," Letters, March 18). What the fuck is Greg Leos' waterlogged problem? I've lived in both cities, and Phoenix has just as many cool nightspots as the precious jewel of the Northwest. And the weather is better in the Valley of the Sun. He says Kreme's bored by what he sees here. Quite the contrary. The Kreme Team seems to be enjoying itself hugely at our fine nightspots. I loved the romp at the Blunt Club. I didn't even know such a cool spot exists over there in Tempe, but you can bet that I'm on my way.
I've been to a couple of clubs Inferno has been to, and I can tell you that the writers (Stephen Lemons and Elaine Bell) are right on. I like the Scottdale places like Devil's Martini, but I prefer places like Seamus and Rosie McCaffreys, real bars. I would suggest that the duo go to something other than places where everybody is stoned on X. Hot Pink can be cool if you like faggy boys and stoner chicks dancing with themselves around one of those poles.
I've got to argue also with Brad Myers ("Turning Up the Heat," Letters, March 25). If ever anybody proved that this column is cool, it's this ancient dork. He's why a lot of us want to kill our hippie parents. He says he might get some social disease from wiping his ass on Inferno. Well, that's the only way this putz is gonna get an STD, because I doubt anybody would fuck his wrinkled old cock. He's probably still listening to Springsteen while us worthless "social parasite" young people hit all the cool spots, and snag the hot pussy.
He says he hopes that we all get hit by cars. I'd like to get this grandpappy in my high beams.
Ronald Renfro
Phoenix
Sandleboy, puh-leeze: In readin' Greg Leos' lovely little comment, I wanted to shove some information down his throat. If there's nothing to do in the Phoenix area, why am I constantly having to decide which show I want to go to?
There are tons of local bands out there with lots of talent, no matter what type of music you enjoy. If he comes here and judges Phoenix by clubs such as Axis/Radius, then shut the fuck up.
So may I suggest that, next time, check out collectiveunderground.com or azpunk.com to see lists upon lists of events. And then come back and bitch. You know, it's whiney lazy people who won't get off of their ass and try something that makes this scene less than its full potential.
Sarah Burkard
Tempe
Degas Laid Bare
Stick to Inferno, sucka: Boy, they really broke the mold with Stephen Lemons. If there were ever a story that wasn't a story, it's this latest attempt by New Times to whip up false furor over the Degas exhibit ("Degas Uncovered," Stephen Lemons, March 18). Duh, anyone who's taken an art humanities class in college knows Degas' models were later cast in bronze to preserve them for later generations. It doesn't change the fact that the exhibit provides us a fantastic opportunity to see the level of craftsmanship and pure talent for the three-dimensional form that Degas possessed, and a window into the artistic process.
That Degas wanted the models destroyed is given as evidence of PAM's nefarious intentions to pull one over on the good people of Phoenix. But plenty of artists and writers request their body of work be destroyed upon death -- does that make that output any less worthy of viewing? If James Joyce requested that Finnegan's Wake never be published, should the world have listened?
Finally, Lemons' argument is baffling that there's a problem because these are unfinished. Hell, to follow that logic, why not pull all those da Vinci and Michelangelo sketches off the walls, people! It's a travesty they should be displayed. Makes suckers out of all of us!
Phoenix is fortunate to for once get a decent exhibit, although I agree $12 is a bit steep. I know you feel it's your duty to slam art exhibits, overachieving high school kids and other threats to society (what was that bitchy article on Amanda Brown all about? Someone must just have a vendetta against the girl).
Your credibility has gone so far by the wayside that I think I'll stick to the Cafe section and the excellent new column on Phoenix nightlife, where Lemons should confine himself.
Tara Seals
Phoenix
Shame on PAM: I read with great interest the article detailing the deception in the "Degas in Bronze" exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum.
I commend Phoenix New Times for exposing this fraud. Phoenix is lucky to have a newspaper of such courage and connoisseurship.
However, Mr. Lemons failed to make one important point. As a member of the Association of Art Museum Directors, the Phoenix Art Museum endorses the College Art Association's ethical guidelines on sculptural reproduction, which in part, states:
"All bronze casting from finished bronzes, all unauthorized enlargements, and all transfers into new materials, unless specifically condoned by the artist . . . should be considered as inauthentic or counterfeit . . .. Accordingly, in the absence of relevant laws and for moral reasons, such works should not be acquired by museums or exhibited as works of art."
The facts are that all of these 73 so-called "Degas (bronze) sculptures" are inauthentic and counterfeit, and the Phoenix Art Museum is violating its own endorsed ethical guidelines by exhibiting them.
Gary Arseneau
Ribault's Gallery of Fine Art
Fernandina Beach, Florida
Hip, hip horray: Excellent article on the Degas bronzes, and shame on the Phoenix Art Museum!
Chuck Lakin
Phoenix
Afflicting the Weak
Throw out the scoundrels: As a former member of the Arizona House of Representatives I have been reading with dismay your articles regarding Mark and Connie Thompson.
I served many years as a member of the House Human Services Committee. My last two years were with Representative Pete Hershberger. Although we were of different political parties, we collaborated on many matters. Mr. Hershberger is exactly the type of man that this committee needs. He is selfless, not self-serving.
To now see that he has been replaced by the likes of Mr. Thompson is not only a slap in the face to all of us, but downright scary. Mr. Hershberger was punished for doing the right thing, and Mr. Thompson was rewarded for doing what? Voting for a bill with which he had a blatant conflict of interest.
As someone who has spent a fair amount of time on senior-related issues, I'm appalled that the Thompsons have been able to abuse the system in such a fashion. These people should not be making decisions that affect the lives of anyone, let alone some of our most vulnerable citizens. I applaud you for your efforts in bringing this to light. Perhaps the voters will send a message next November.
Kathi Foster
Former State Representative
Litchfield Park
Gays Aren't Special
I'm no Nazi sympathizer: Am I the only one who sees the ulterior motive behind the display exhibit "Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals" at Burton Barr ("Pink Persecution," Robrt L. Pela, March 18)? Am I the only one who sees the irony of this exhibit being displayed at the same time that gays are trying to ram same-sex marriages down our throats?!
The obvious implication here is that those of us who oppose same-sex marriage and the gay lifestyle are like the Nazis who slaughtered thousands and thousands of innocent Jewish men, women and children in WWII.
I do not at all condone what the Nazis did, but I fail to see how the homosexuals were singled out of anyone else whom the Nazis wanted to eliminate. I'm saddened that the library is wasting its space on this bullshit and even sadder still to see New Times waste its ink on it. To use the deaths of those thousands of people to further other agendas is sick, twisted and wrong!
Jon Krieger
Phoenix
