Mail letters to Letters, Santa Fe Reporter, PO Box 2306, Santa Fe, NM 87504, deliver them to 132 E. Marcy St., fax them to 505-988-5348 or email them to the editor.
2012 Clarification
I thought it would be considerate to offer a few clarifications from the 2012 article. 1. It was a volcano goddess, not god, who, by the way, doesn't handle disrespect very nicely. If you've been to the Big Island of Hawaii, you know who I'm talking about. 2. Terence McKenna in the 1994 edition of his revised Invisible Landscape book clarified his position and understanding on the "galactic alignment" after we spoke personally at a Transpersonal Psychology Conference in California in 1989. 3. The "domestic abuse" thing was the revenge of my preteen daughter for not buying her a "Brat" doll at the mall, during an admittedly ugly divorce. Her karma crept on her when she got caught shoplifting at 14 and got banned from the mall…until the end of time. 4. My new attitude toward 2012 charlatans is to "love them like they've never been loved before." Peace y'all.
"Starman" aka Raymond Mardyk
Santa Fe
Feel into It
Greetings. I was exceedingly disappointed in your music critic's take on the Gordon Free Band. I was also at Cowgirl on Nov. 4 but came away with the taste of candy sweetness.
In 2006, I heard awe inspiring tunes wafting in through my window as this band opened for Zozobra. To me, it sounded so buoyantly mesmerizing that I was entranced and compelled to take to the street, running toward it! But to my chagrin, upon arrival, this groovy, soulful music stopped and was replaced by loud, strident circus music. Needless to say, I was repelled and ran back feeling very ineffectual and crestfallen. Because now I had a teasing taste of melodic ecstasy, but had no idea who this band was! All of my attempts to find out were fruitless.
Eventually, I synchronisticly found them when I was given a free demo CD that I found rapturous! I now knew their name! The Gordon Free Band! I somewhat resent the fact that I had to wait three years to be graced enough to hear them play live at Cowgirl. I delight in every song on their CD SuperConscious. I admit to playing it rather obsessively. I can't help it! I can't get enough! And just to run with this one, I find Gordon's lyrics and vocals ever-inspirational and very deep indeed. "If music be the food of love, play on!" (and on and on and on). My suggestion to the critics out there is to please take another listen and, this time, feel into it!
Emilie Clayton
(One of Gordie's groupies!)
Santa Fe
Don't Share hate
Wow. I have to say that I'm shocked after reading "Free Is Too Much." This article is just mean. I know Gordon and I'm familiar with his extensive musical background/discography (which was not even mentioned in the article), as well as the high level of production, composition and musicianship that goes into his projects, including SuperConscious. FYI, the Obama promo song isn't even on the actual record, so I can only assume that Alex did NO research before spewing this nasty article. Are you seriously saying that you are losing friends over the quality of this show? If your friends no longer take your calls, I'm sure it's not Gordon's fault. I appreciate the relaxed nature of this town, but this level of professionalism is just sad, not to mention that you offer no sense of support in this small and thriving music community. Over and over, I've seen people stepping on each other to get on top of this tiny hill. Slop like this doesn't help anyone. Share your opinion, not your hate! Do your research and provide a balanced review. Suffering seems to come second nature to you, Alex. Do you hate your job or just yourself?
Michael Chavez
Santa Fe
Eating Vegetarians
Zane Fischer reviews and lauds the book Eating Animals by vegetarian Jonathan Safran Foer, then attacks vegetarians and vegans.
Especially Natalie Portman.
His subhead indicates his scorn for the veg/vegans among us: "Food for idiots: Meat comes from cute, fuzzy animals."
Well, Zane, we do know that. It comes from snakes, frogs, dogs (offered to my vegan son in China), horses, fuzzy little bunnies, pretty much everything that moves. And we choose to eat none of it.
He oddly insists that vegetarians should be "equally passionate" in supporting local meat production (as opposed to factory farming) as they are about not eating animals.
While I support and applaud local farming, it is a bit much to ask vegetarians to passionately support meat production of any kind. We don't eat it, we don't feel it is necessary or desirable in our diet, so it is unlikely to provoke our passion in supporting it.
It still involves killing and eating animals.
Froer does support local production as preferable to the environmentally destructive alternative, but he says, too: "How imperfect must animal farming and slaughter be before they are too imperfect? Different people will draw the line in different places…But for me, for now—for my family now—my concerns about the reality of what meat is and has become are enough to make me give it up altogether."
By the way, Zane: I read The Jungle. Long ago. And I bet Natalie Portman did, too.
Barbara Cleaver
Santa Fe
Le Camino Royal
Thank you, Carol Wright and others for your letters of sensibility and compassion regarding Steven Salemi's reply to Zane Fischer's article about Agua Fria. It is hard to comprehend Mr. Salemi's sour-grape comments. May I suggest that Mr. Salemi take a trip on Agua Fria all the way from Guadalupe Street to Airport Road to perhaps take time to reflect and learn something positive. Let's talk about the name Agua Fria, which was the historic El Camino Real, not Camino Royale! Remember, Mr. Salemi, it was actually the Spanish who came up to the north of New Mexico on Camino Real, not the French; but if they had, most likely it would have been called La Rue Royale. Now if the French had used the name Camino, which I doubt, it would have then been called Le Camino Royal, as camino is a masculine word.
Mr. Salemi, you owe apologies to Jan Brennan, owner of A La Mesa; Fernando Olea, [chef at] Epazote Restaurant (formerly Bert's La Taqueria); Señor Andy of Andy's Liquorette and his customers, who you called "winos." And, last but not least, you owe a big apology to Mr. Zane Fischer! Shame on you for insulting our wonderful Agua Fria, Santa Fe business owners and residents, and your neighbors, who do business on the historic Agua Fria (El Camino Real), the same street on which you do business under the name of The Computer Guru.
Inger Boudouris
Santa Fe
The Reporter welcomes original, signed letters to the editor. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to speci?c articles in the Reporter. They may be edited for clarity and space. Include address and phone number for veri?cation purposes; these will not be published.
