KATHLEEN WILSON: While I am no advocate of the music-store snobbery you deride ["Skivvies and CDs," It's My Party, Jan 23], I must remind you that only a few weeks ago you were advocating an equally noxious form of exclusionary behavior while lamenting the appearance of uncool "plain olds" at your favorite after-hours parties. Are you for or against such snobbish attitudes? From here it appears that you simply don't enjoy the taste of your own medicine.

Regarding your gripes with my place of employment, despite your self-centered delusions, you are not public enemy number one around the store; in fact, the only reason we have any opinion about you at all this long after your Makers/Sub Pop column is because YOU are so hung up on the issue that you keep bringing it up. (As I recall, this is the third time since the June 2000 column that you have used your forum to disparage Fallout.) Longtime readers of your column may also notice that you were intellectually lazy enough to recycle the same skewed "punk rock means don't say anything mean" line from a previous column. For the record, your use of Soundscan figures to judge an independent album's sales was journalistically shoddy--many indie stores that sell Sub Pop's records, Fallout included, don't report to Soundscan--and your music writing, flawed as it is, was not the only reason Fallout no longer advertises with The Stranger. And contrary to your implication, no one from Fallout has ever written you hate mail.

In any case, I am glad to see that you are so supportive of corporate colonization of local independent music. Be sure to wish your musician friends luck when they try to consign their self-released singles at Borders.

Nick Turner, employee, Fallout Records

KATHLEEN WILSON: I just wanted to thank you personally for the compliment you gave our local-music section recently in your column. I've put in a lot of work trying to get my hands on as much local music (old and new) as possible over the past few years, and the music staff here has supported these efforts religiously.

I feel most people overlook us for Northwest-flavored music because we're a corporate chain. I guess what they don't realize is that the music sellers here don't forget independent musicians. We go to shows we love, we buy music we love, and we support music we love by making it available to anyone who happens to come down from the Hill.

Shea Bliss,

Borders Books & Music

KATHLEEN WILSON: Thank you for your entertaining words on Orpheum. One sentiment in particular rang true for me when you mentioned, "Don't say I didn't try, guys." For example, when the new Land of the Loops came out (back in 2000), I called Cellophane Square that Tuesday and they didn't have it (or they "couldn't find it"). When Boards of Canada had a new EP out, Orpheum had no copies on the Tuesday release date. I normally try giving the local independent stores a shot first, but they simply don't have it together. U-District Tower Records has yet to fail me.

John M., via e-mail

JOSH FEIT: No need to give up ["I Give Up," Five to Four, Jan 23]. The line of stupid bullshit from King County Executive Ron Sims, claiming that Sound Transit now has funding to extend light rail to Sea-Tac Airport, is in reality light rail's death rattle. Sims has his image and political career tied up in light rail; both Sims' career and light rail are destined for implosion. There isn't enough money or support for this pathetic exercise in mediocrity anymore.

What Sims is doing is putting window-dressing on a house that's being gutted by fire. He's full of it. Light rail will never be built. It's a suck-ass idea, Sound Transit's been doing it back-asswards from the start, and Sims is leading the caboose.

Andy Dockhorn, via e-mail

STRANGER: While I appreciate your coverage of the antiwar protests in San Francisco, why do you have to be such snide assholes when it comes to the Potlucks for Peace ["Protests for Peace," Amy Jenniges, Jan 23]? Did you ever think that most of the hundreds of people across the city who participated in a potluck last Saturday probably knew they weren't going to end the war with that one dinner? This was an effort in community-building as much as it was an attempt to build a broader, more cohesive antiwar movement. I know the too-cool writers at The Stranger are shocked at the idea of people actually wanting to get to know and enjoy their neighbors. I know it's probably hard for you to take a stand against the war, too, since most of Seattle is antiwar, and if there's one thing The Stranger hates, it's ever agreeing with anyone. But putting "Screw the Potlucks" as your headline without any thoughtful analysis of why they're useless is simply deriding the hard efforts of dozens of people throughout the city who, unlike you pretentious fucks, actually give a shit about something and are trying to do something about it. Wasting ink to be rude is nothing new to your publication, I know, but what's the point of being such assholes?

Justin Hellier, via e-mail