A WORD FROM THE ANAL RETENTIVES

TO ERIK HENRIKSEN VIA EMAIL: In your October 20th issue's "Great Parties Throughout History," Erik Henriksen states that "a brutal aftermath followed the public release of a videotape depicting African American Rodney King getting viciously beaten by white LA police officers." This statement is fraudulent. The videotape footage Erik cites had been released many months prior to the upheaval that occurred in LA; it had already been more or less absorbed by the public consciousness. The upheaval that occurred was, in fact, in response to the racism-contrived acquittal of the LA police officers who assaulted Rodney King. "The Riots" were a popular response against the state's perversion of justice; it was not the primitive knee-jerk reaction Erik's portrayal frames it to be.

Sincerely, Jason Coyne

ERIK HENRIKSEN RESPONDS: Actually, my statement was not fraudulent. The riots did follow the public release of the videotape. My mistake was thinking that I wouldn't need to provide a 100-word-long mini-essay detailing the minute specifics to show how clever and anal retentive I was.

WHO YOU CALLIN' "PUBLIC ACCESS?"

DEAR MERCURY: SATV [Super Atomic TV, My, What A Busy Week! Nov 24] is NOT a "public access" show, it is in fact a commercial television property. The production values are exponentially higher than public access and the producers have the opportunity to control their own advertising revenues by working in conjunction with either Comcast Spotlight or, as in the case of SATV, negotiating a 'split of avails'. The mention of SATV as a "public access" show in the calendar section of the Mercury sets us back a great deal in both public perception as we attempt to expand our audience and the minds of potential advertisers.

It is time for those who enjoy the occasional mindless release of television to embrace those who work hard to move forward new avenues of programming and not be immediately dismissive by writing them off as something that they are not for the sake of brevity and laziness.

 Kurt

KARAOKE THROWDOWN!!

ALL RIGHT, HUMPY: You've thrown down the gauntlet [Mercury Karaoke Krew Challenge, Nov 24], and we're picking it up. While I'm confident that dozens of Chopsticks' corrupt regulars could demolish your makeshift Mercury crew, here's the Chopsticks team that's going to hand your honey-baked ham to you on a laserdisc platter:

Jen "Dirty Liar" Fitzpatrick; Derek "Fattie Bizness" Munson; Michelle "Rock You Like A Hurricane" Pecchia; Danny "Nepotistic Bastard" Coble.

So, assuming that your challenge was more than a jest, and assuming that you can assemble "impartial" judges and a competent and impartial KJ...

It's on...

Daniel R. Coble

[WOAH-HO! Looks like it is on! Check back here for details on when and where the gauntlet shall indeed be thrown.]

WE'VE GOT MOUTHS TO FEED

DEAR MERCURY: So you hate the Pearl, whatever. Justin Wescoat Sanders reiterated that in a recent review of the restaurant Roux [Last Supper, Oct 20]. What I find interesting is that for a paper that hates a district so much, you have no problem accepting advertising dollars from businesses in your hated neighborhood. You hate us but love our money, is that it? For an alternative paper, you behave just like most mainstream businesses where money is more important than values or beliefs. So you're not an alternative paper, you're just another mainstream paper with all the same bias and prejudice that any other mainstream media has, only you do it with a bad attitude and call it alternative. That's original—not.

Ken Aaron

SAYING "NOT" is totally original—not! But regardless, congratulations to Ken for winning our Letter of the Week! (Dude, can we throw a party in your loft?) For his troubles he wins two tickets to see the Honey Brothers on Dec 15 at Berbati's Pan and two tickets to the Laurelhurst! Oh, and BTW, the invitation from Bishops Barbershop on our cover this week is the result of Bishops winning a Mercury cover of their own design in last year's online holiday charity auction. Get yer own cover by bidding in this year's auction, benefiting homeless helpers JOIN! Bidding starts on Dec 7, look for details in the next issue!