Grind that Axe, Armond
Armond White belongs to the Pauline Kael school of reviewing: Pour the words on something you don’t like. Why such detail and the feeling of venom I sense in White’s review of [Savage Grace (“New Queer Bomb,” May 28-June 3)], something that so appalls other than an opportunity to rage against something that has hit home? Just what is he trying to prove? How tough and mean he can be after the fact? I doubt I will see the picture: No deference to the review. The subject does not appeal to me. (I am now reading Lot’s Daughters so kindly don’t lecture me.) Armond has an axe to grind. I think he owes it to his readers to explain it.
—Irwin Moss, L.A.
Mouthful of Nothing
Amazing that a movie reviewer [like Armond White] can say so much about so little (Opiate of the Lasses, May 28-June 3). I don’t know which is worse—the pretensions of the movie [Sex and the City] or of the writer.
—Shan Finney
Choke on It
Dear Armond White: I think I love you. Thank you a billion-fold for trashing Trash in the City... Uh, er, Sex and the City. And to those who go apcalyptic (sic) upon reading your critiques, I say: Let them eat their copy of New York Press... and maybe choke on it?
—C. Yannis
Male Chauvinist Reader
Simon Abrams’ reading list (“An Elitist’s Summer Reading List,” May 28-June 3) is exclusively male. That’s fucked up.
—Cate Marvin, Staten Island
An Xpert Witness
I enjoyed your interview with Exene Cervenka (“Magical Meteorite,” May 28-June 3), but I just wanted to mention that there was some misinformation in the writer’s comments where it’s stated: “Zoom left the band in 1986, and they recorded one album, See How We Are, with Dave Alvin in his place before disbanding. X then reformed with Zoom in ‘93 to record Hey Zeus! and has toured on a periodic basis since.”
That’s not true. Dave Alvin only played on one or two tracks on See How We Are and only toured with them once, in mid-1986. Tony Gilkyson played on the rest of SHWA, Live at the Whiskey A Go-Go, all of Hey Zeus! and the live acoustic, 1995’s Unclogged and then toured with them from late 1986 until 1996 or so. Billy Zoom rejoined X in 1998.
—Tony Palmer, Lagunitas, Calif.
Ate it Up
Your review of Ate Ave (“The Quicker Picker Upper,” May 14-20) was hilarious. Thanks for making me laugh out loud during a stressful workday.
—Jane Kratochvil
A Strand Supporter
I read “Struggle at the Strand” (April 30-May 6) and the subsequent letters to the editor and am completely dumbfounded. Does Kimberley Thorpe or your readers have any idea how difficult the bookselling business is and how hard it is to maintain an independent bookstore in a market dominated by Amazon and Barnes & Noble?
Look at the difficulties a chain like Borders is having. For every B&N that goes up (or closes, like the recent superstore on 6th Avenue and West 20th Street), another independent bookstore in the city goes out of business. Book Row is long gone, and recently we’ve lost Books & Company, the Gotham Book Mart and Coliseum Books. That Fred and Nancy Bass are running the Strand like a business, trying to make a profit, is the reason this 80-year-old bookstore is still around; and, given the difficulties of the economy, it’s to their credit.
I cannot speak to the racial issues implied in the article, but I can speak to the need for the Strand, the need for the Strand in New York, and the need for the Strand to remain profitable and survive among the chains. I salute them for continuing their family tradition, and for maintaining an excellence in bookselling that Barnes & Noble and Amazon and Borders could only hope to one day emulate.
—Charles Kochman, NYC
Cheated and Chided
Let me add to the discussion about the Strand bookstore from another perspective—that of the seller of review and other books. I was cheated regularly by the book buyers, who were often antagonistic when asked to slow down as they zipped through the volumes and did the additions in their heads and arrived at arbitrary sums. Books from my own library were denigrated, even though I knew they were often worth much more than the low prices offered, often with a sneer. The people at the Strand, no doubt, feel that theirs is the only game in town and in that way justify taking advantage of sellers.
—Mark Tomlinson, NY
Armond White belongs to the Pauline Kael school of reviewing: Pour the words on something you don’t like. Why such detail and the feeling of venom I sense in White’s review of [Savage Grace (“New Queer Bomb,” May 28-June 3)], something that so appalls other than an opportunity to rage against something that has hit home? Just what is he trying to prove? How tough and mean he can be after the fact? I doubt I will see the picture: No deference to the review. The subject does not appeal to me. (I am now reading Lot’s Daughters so kindly don’t lecture me.) Armond has an axe to grind. I think he owes it to his readers to explain it.
—Irwin Moss, L.A.
Mouthful of Nothing
Amazing that a movie reviewer [like Armond White] can say so much about so little (Opiate of the Lasses, May 28-June 3). I don’t know which is worse—the pretensions of the movie [Sex and the City] or of the writer.
—Shan Finney
Choke on It
Dear Armond White: I think I love you. Thank you a billion-fold for trashing Trash in the City... Uh, er, Sex and the City. And to those who go apcalyptic (sic) upon reading your critiques, I say: Let them eat their copy of New York Press... and maybe choke on it?
—C. Yannis
Male Chauvinist Reader
Simon Abrams’ reading list (“An Elitist’s Summer Reading List,” May 28-June 3) is exclusively male. That’s fucked up.
—Cate Marvin, Staten Island
An Xpert Witness
I enjoyed your interview with Exene Cervenka (“Magical Meteorite,” May 28-June 3), but I just wanted to mention that there was some misinformation in the writer’s comments where it’s stated: “Zoom left the band in 1986, and they recorded one album, See How We Are, with Dave Alvin in his place before disbanding. X then reformed with Zoom in ‘93 to record Hey Zeus! and has toured on a periodic basis since.”
That’s not true. Dave Alvin only played on one or two tracks on See How We Are and only toured with them once, in mid-1986. Tony Gilkyson played on the rest of SHWA, Live at the Whiskey A Go-Go, all of Hey Zeus! and the live acoustic, 1995’s Unclogged and then toured with them from late 1986 until 1996 or so. Billy Zoom rejoined X in 1998.
—Tony Palmer, Lagunitas, Calif.
Ate it Up
Your review of Ate Ave (“The Quicker Picker Upper,” May 14-20) was hilarious. Thanks for making me laugh out loud during a stressful workday.
—Jane Kratochvil
A Strand Supporter
I read “Struggle at the Strand” (April 30-May 6) and the subsequent letters to the editor and am completely dumbfounded. Does Kimberley Thorpe or your readers have any idea how difficult the bookselling business is and how hard it is to maintain an independent bookstore in a market dominated by Amazon and Barnes & Noble?
Look at the difficulties a chain like Borders is having. For every B&N that goes up (or closes, like the recent superstore on 6th Avenue and West 20th Street), another independent bookstore in the city goes out of business. Book Row is long gone, and recently we’ve lost Books & Company, the Gotham Book Mart and Coliseum Books. That Fred and Nancy Bass are running the Strand like a business, trying to make a profit, is the reason this 80-year-old bookstore is still around; and, given the difficulties of the economy, it’s to their credit.
I cannot speak to the racial issues implied in the article, but I can speak to the need for the Strand, the need for the Strand in New York, and the need for the Strand to remain profitable and survive among the chains. I salute them for continuing their family tradition, and for maintaining an excellence in bookselling that Barnes & Noble and Amazon and Borders could only hope to one day emulate.
—Charles Kochman, NYC
Cheated and Chided
Let me add to the discussion about the Strand bookstore from another perspective—that of the seller of review and other books. I was cheated regularly by the book buyers, who were often antagonistic when asked to slow down as they zipped through the volumes and did the additions in their heads and arrived at arbitrary sums. Books from my own library were denigrated, even though I knew they were often worth much more than the low prices offered, often with a sneer. The people at the Strand, no doubt, feel that theirs is the only game in town and in that way justify taking advantage of sellers.
—Mark Tomlinson, NY
