Letters

Other types of dance writing are needed, too—more survey articles, crossover commentary, historical overviews. How about a polemic every five years? Or guest contributors like Baudrillard, Avital Ronell, or Lawrence Rickels for theoretical sirloin? Please restore the Voice once again to its frontline, cutting-edge dance-world preeminence!

Kenneth King
Murray Hill

Class Act

Thanks for presenting an honest and informative article about contact improvisation. Its unique position in the dance community gives it a pretty low profile in the rest of the world, so it needs all the publicity it can get. I am a contact improv teacher from NYC, and, having recently moved back from the San Francisco area, I am pretty disappointed by the scene here. I think New York's competitive and goal-oriented tendencies make C.I. a less immediately attractive alternative to technique classes, for example.

I am trying to start a new class and also possibly a new jam and I hope that the article will help to raise interest in this dance form. Please continue to write about C.I. and about dance in general.

Rafe Cohen
Red Hook

Jurassic Lark

To Harry Allen:

Your review of the Jurassic 5 album ["Today's Mathematics," December 4-10] highlighted what is lacking in many music pieces—insight, genre knowledge, and flair. Since I love hip-hop with the same zeal you espouse, I appreciated the elaborate review. And if anyone tells you that it was too long, screw 'em. Short reviews don't convey the breadth of the chosen album, since many albums are less shallow than the drivel pouring out of radio stations.

I applaud the Voice for giving space to musicians who are otherwise ignored by mainstream media. In a market saturated with clones, it's refreshing to know that the vestiges of cultural expression (i.e., hip-hop) are given respect by your publication.

Dave Silverberg
Toronto, Canada

The Confessions

Re "Speculation Gone Wilding," [December 11-17]:

Dasun Allah is right about everything, but left out a potent refutation to the false argument that the 1989 confessions deserve greater weight than Matias Reyes's recent confession: If the confessions made by the now exonerated defendants were really so reliable, why did none of them identify Reyes, the only person whose DNA was found on or in the victim?

Jeff Norman
Los Angeles, California

Gimme Shelter

Re Amanda Nowinski's "This Old House" [December 11-17]:

I was at Club Shelter a few weeks ago attending a birthday party for Robbi Walcott, the most visible and dedicated promoter of deep house. This was the best party I attended this year! Everyone there had something in common: the total appreciation of deep house in all its forms, shapes, and colors. The audience was made up of true New Yorkers, hip in the real sense of the word: straight, bi, gay; black, brown, red, yellow; lower, middle, and upper class; white collar, blue collar, and no collar; college grads next to high school dropouts.

Thank you, Village Voice, for finally recognizing the true home of deep house, Club Shelter.

John Perry
Long Island

Then You See . . . The Ring

Re "Bigger Is Not Better" [December 11-17]:

Please let Mr. Abramson know that a doctoral degree in sports science allows the recipient to deal with health science fields such as kinesiology (movement of the body) and physiology (study of cellular functions) with complete expertise. The fact that heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko was able to acquire a doctoral degree while still competing as an elite athlete is something that any imbecile should be able to appreciate.

In the case of Jameel McCline, the fact that he sleeps in an oxygen tent, does yoga, and watches what he eats shows that he is an athlete who's serious about being the best that he can be. This was evident when he fought GOOFi earlier this year. He displayed an incredible work rate from Round 1 through 10. I doubt Abramson could last a round punching the heavy bag at the same rate.

Francis Brodrick
Bedford-Stuyvesant

Black and Proud

Just wanted to let you know that Uni Watch is by far my favorite column in the Voice. As a lifelong sports fan with, some might say, a weird ability to notice the smallest differences in sports unis and logos year after year, I'm glad that my obsession gets satisfied—I wish the Watch were in each week's issue!

Anyway, I did want to correct one thing. In a recent column ["Mono Afflicts NFL," November 6-12] you mentioned that wearing white at home was a somewhat new practice in the NFL, and then named some teams that have actually worn white at home for years now. I recall you noted the 'Skins, Cowboys, and Dolphins.

But I'm a Raider fan, and I'm happy whenever we play one of these teams on the road, since it means we can wear our home black. The more teams wearing white at home, the better! Keep up the good work . . .

Tim Broun
East Village

Paul Lukas replies: Thanks for the kind words about Uni Watch, and for the Raiders reminder—much appreciated.

The Plasmatics

Erik Baard doesn't give much insight into anything fundamental about what Randell Mills and BlackLight Labs are doing with plasma energy ["Eureka?," December 11, villagevoice.com]. From what I know of chemistry and physics, plasma is nothing new, and has been discussed for a long time as a rocket propellant. Basically you strip away the electrons around nuclei, rendering them positively charged, then apply a magnetic field that causes them to accelerate. The reaction to the action is the ship's propulsion.