Thanks for the mention in your "Buzz" column [April 17]. I must confess to not being a regular reader of the Dallas Observer, save those occasions when a friend points out a rare item of casual or passing interest (as was the case with this brief piece). So I am a bit abashed, yet still grateful, to learn that the editors of the Observer have joined the 20,000-plus new subscribers attracted to Texas Business since the magazine changed ownership, design, and content philosophies last year. Thanks for your interest, patronage, and continuing readership.
Robert Deitz
Editor-in-Chief
Texas Business
Editor's note: While we are not regular readers of Texas Business, we were delighted recently to discover that this spunky little magazine is apparently still publishing, given its early financial troubles. Defying great odds, Deitz and his eclectic staff continue to patch together a breezy compendium of refreshingly upbeat business news, offering a reassuring counterpoint to other, weightier business publications.
Hanks a lot
I just want to compliment your paper on the excellent article about the legend Hank Thompson ["Honky tonk man," April 24]. When I was about 16 years old, I would take any money I could raise and buy a Hank Thompson record (about $1.00 in 1951) and play it until the needle went through the other side. I found out about the article from the steel guitar forum on the Internet. Thanks for the story. It told me some facts that I didn't know.
Dan Dowd
Kentucky
McLetters
I had to laugh to myself as I read of the McDonald's located at the corner of Commerce and Griffin using Muzak "Light Classical" to repel "undesirables" ["McFugue, no cheese," April 24]. I could picture myself as an adolescent reacting pretty much the same way. I believe I would have said, "I'm gonna blow this joint." Even now, as part of the over-40 crowd, Muzak versions of any genre of music send me fleeing with a silent scream stuck in my throat.
McDonald's' move is yet another example of Dallas' tendency to move unsightly problems rather than solve them. Like the homeless chased from under Interstate 45, being a disenfranchised youth is not a crime. These problems will not go away by pushing them to another part of the city.
Sheila M.McKay
Dallas
I really liked the article "McFugue, no cheese." I feel that the "elevator music" has really soothed things--it's like a different atmosphere. "CrackDonald's"--I must have laughed at that name. Keep up the good work.
Alicia
Via Internet
I found your article strangely yet pleasantly in concert with the philosophy of many so-called uptight (read: white) North Dallas and Plano residents. Twice in the article you made the connection between (public) transportation and crime. The Greyhound bus station and the DART station were noted when it came to criminal activity in the area. Please do not fire the writer for slipping up and exposing the way liberals really feel.
Jeffrey Chern
Via Internet
Worshipping false Zippies
In response to the "satirical" conclusion of your column pertaining to the Heaven's Gate Cult ["Bopp 'til you drop," Buzz, April 3] I'm wondering why you found it necessary to malign any other religions?
Isn't it enough to uncover the soft underbelly that lies in city hall, or do you plan on opening an office at the Vatican and at the Wailing Wall? I cannot believe that a supposedly liberal-minded newspaper would even want to enter into that arena. I am not an adherent to any form of formal worship, but I don't assume that everyone else will see things my way either.
If you have a hard time believing in transubstantiation and stigmata et. al, I would like to suggest that you keep your opinions to yourself.
The only thing I have come up with in your defense, is that in order to write for the Dallas Observer you must convert to the "Pinhead" religion and worship the cartoon "Zippy" as your deity.
Ed Devitt
Mesquite
