RE: "KISS at Sleep Country Amphitheater, Fri June 27" [End Hits, Mon June 30], in which Music Editor Ned Lannamann reviews KISS and Def Leppard. While not necessarily a KISS fan, he is won over by their "ridiculousness," but thoroughly unimpressed by their opener.
Are you on crack?
Donna Bristow
Wish the poor soul who wrote this luck on his next job.
Juan Licon
You are definitely too young to remember what has made these bands develop a following for as long as they have.
Stephen Oneil
RE: "Land of the Fire-Free" [I, Anonymous, June 18], in which the anonymous author calls for an end to the use of fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July.
HELLO—If anyone thinks that Portland has a problem, just drive north over the Columbia River to Clark County, Washington. Sadly, after experiencing the "war zone" here my first summer in 2008, I have been leaving town for a week, from a few days prior through a few days after the Fourth of July. And I just keep my fingers crossed that the illegal debris that lands on my second-story roof doesn't burn my house down.
Carl Tuttle
RE: In Other News [June 25], about the Portland Development Commission's decision to buy the lot where homeless rest area Right 2 Dream Too currently stands, with an additional $300,000 kicked in (at $10,000 a month) to allow time for negotiations on where to move it.
DEAR MERCURY—If that $10,000 a month in the contract gives the city incentive to speed up the process of finding R2DToo an acceptable permanent space, then I'm all for it, but as a lump payment it's a total waste that would be better spent on alleviating the need for R2DToo's services.
B
RE: "Join the Mercury Civic Clean-Up Crew... Get a Free Lawn Chair!" [New Column!, June 7, 2007], when the Mercury made a point of cleaning up all the tape that had been put down to illegally reserve spaces on the sidewalk for the Rose Parade (which resulted in litter, historically), spurring a crackdown on the practice.
DEAR MERCURY—I really respect and appreciate the way the Mercury led the movement to stop the unfair "reservation" system for parades. I've got another issue I hope you can get behind: Clearing overgrowth from our publicly owned pedestrian right-of-ways, our sidewalks. The city has never done a good job requiring property owners to cut that shit back! I'm sure there are others who have been walking along one of our many neighborhood sidewalks alongside a friend only to be slapped into single file by high bushes or low trees. If everyone who did would call 823-4000 and report it, the city might begin to notice the problem and do something about it. Help me, Portland Mercury, you're my only hope.
Voice in the Wilderness, Rod Yoder
RE: "The Falls of History and God" [Feature, June 25], in which freelance author and Oregon hiking expert Adam Sawyer compares a waterfall view to a Thomas Kinkade painting with a little more tongue in cheek than this reader seems to realize.
DEAR PORTLAND MERCURY—As a new transplant to PDX, I've really enjoyed reading your rag and obviously I'm loving this city. Adam Sawyer's article "The Falls of History and God" was particularly enjoyable and illuminating for a newly arrived grasshopper. To serious art historians like myself, Sawyer's reference to anything Thomas Kinkade ever made being a masterpiece, however, is laughable. His paintings are like comparing, oh say, Avril Lavigne to David Bowie. Please tell Sawyer to check out Thomas Cole or anyone else from the Hudson River School of painters for a true American landscape masterpiece to compare our wonderful waterfalls. He will not be disappointed, I promise.
Nix Given
WE'RE PRETTY CERTAIN there was a wink in there from Sawyer, Nix, but in the spirit of welcoming you to our winking, sarcasm-laden city, we're giving you this week's Mercury letter of the week! That means you get two tickets to the Laurelhurst Theater, where there are often cinematic masterpieces, as well as disappointments.
