A NOTE TO OUR READERS: Due to construction on Interstate 5, delivery of the print version of The Stranger may be delayed by several hours for the next few weeks. You can always find the new issue online on Wednesday afternoons.
FRITO PIE ROCKS
GREETINGS ERICA: Let me say how much I LOVED your Frito pie article ["Frito Pie 101," Erica C. Barnett, July 26]. It couldn't have come at a more perfect time—I've been eating Frito pie for dinner for almost a week straight since my sister from Texas brought me some Wolf Brand Chili from home. I'm happy to know I'm not the only crazy person in Seattle who was raised on the stuff. And you're right, nobody up here has ever heard of Frito pie... I mean, what the hell did they eat at football games? A hot dog?! That is so lame.
I will try your recipe sometime, since I'm about out of the Wolf Brand. Now, if only we could find some decent brisket in this city.
Thanks from a fellow Texan straight out of Austin, and long live Frito pie!
SuzyRUDE MOVE, DUDE
HI JONATHAN: As a closeted Deadhead, I was thrilled with your article ["Coming Out of the Closet," Jonathan Zwickel, Aug 2], until the last line. What an insult—and completely unnecessary. Have you ever even heard In Lake'ch play? Guitarist Andy Coe is one of the best pickers in Seattle and absolutely hit "Shakedown Street" at last year's celebration. With his envelope filter and extended solos, you could close your eyes and imagine being back at Memorial Stadium in 1995. Once again, The Stranger pokes fun at any music that isn't Capitol Hill indie glam (oh, Girl Talk, oh, Wolf Mother... oh, give me a break).
Damian
AND COWARDLY
HELLO JONATHAN: I just finished reading your article about Jerry Garcia and the celebration show happening at Nectar. Was it really necessary to add the final thought?
You are completely out of line to promote and advertise a music event and then turn around and bash the musicians involved. Why would you pair your article with an event you don't even want to see? Just needed to fill space? Ridiculous.
Jenn Meyers
ONE VOTE OF APPROVAL
JONATHAN: Hey pal, I just wanted to say thanks for stepping up with the Grateful Dead. I've lived here for two years and played in various indie bands, and my friends give no love to my music. I, too, dislike granola hippies and jam-banders and imitators who judge the Dead on their '80s and later shows (personally, I don't listen to anything past '77) and I thought for a while that I was the only hipster Seattleite who could appreciate the tapestry of a '74 "Eyes of the World" or the mystery of a late '71 "Other One." Knowing there are others makes me proud.
I'll hit up the show, but more for the scene than the music. Hopefully, your piece will draw out other like-minded souls.
Desmond
LINDY IS MY HERO
STRANGER: Just wanted to say that I check in every week online just to read Lindy West's movie reviews. I love them! I also subject my friends to the e-mailed reviews every week, whether they like it or not.
Jennifer Berndt
NOTE TO SCIENCE
EDITOR: Here's another angle on fluorescent versus incandescent lightbulbs [Dear Science, Jonathan Golob, Aug 3, online only]. If you live in an apartment that is heated electrically, in a climate generally in need of heating and not cooling, then an incandescent bulb is just as efficient as a fluorescent: While as you state, only 2 percent of the electricity used becomes light, the other 98 percent becomes heat. It's cogeneration writ small.
Pat
VOTE VELAZQUEZ
STRANGER ELECTION CONTROL BOARD: Good job on getting the city council endorsements right—at least in the article if not completely on the cheat sheet [Aug 2]. Joe Szwaja would be a much more thoughtful and progressive voice on the council than the well-meaning but ultimately useless Jean Godden. I think you misinterpreted his 520 plan, however, as some community groups support a four-lane replacement with an expansion to five lanes over Portage Bay, the extra lane being a reversible HOV lane connecting to the I-5 express lanes. Venus Velazquez would be a good addition as well, but how did you manage to check Al Runte on the cheat sheet? I hope to see the corrected cheat sheet next week!
Owen Hamel
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: We did indeed fuck up last week's August 21 Primary Election Cheat Sheet by marking Al Runte rather than Venus Valezquez for Seattle City Council Position 3. Please turn to page 18 for a corrected version.
