Mr. Sanders:

I read your column in the May issue of OFF and it brought no outrage. It brought no happiness. It brought no insight. It didn't even bring me constipation. It, like many of the columns I've read in the OFF over the past couple of years, just added to the sense of numbness I've had in me over the state of music and music coverage in the area over the said period. And since you have invited opinion, I'll take time better spent studying for finals to respond.

You wanted a response to the eternal question; "Who are the best guitarists in Cape?" Has a more subjective question ever been asked in your magazine? What kind of response were you wanting? Lately, you've been running stories that reek of provocation; (i.e. Doom In The AM, Tommy's reaction to said Doom, the Arts Council dinner where you were being honored) and those stories got you some infamy and so-called bad press. But you probably know, as I do, that there is no such thing as bad press. The only bad press is no press, which too many deserving, hard working bands get from your magazine.

But Matt, it's sort of like the Boy Who Cried Wolf. You print a controversial story, the villagers get riled up, readership goes up, you apologize, and the villagers settle back down until you propagate more controversy. Well, just as in the story, the villagers figured out your game, and the next time you cried "Best guitarists in Cape" everyone who heard it, said "There goes Sanders again ... Ho-Hum", and went back to their daily lives.

Now I know three of the four guitarists in the article (I don't know Party Nate), and with no disrespect to any of them, IN MY OPINION there is no really best guitarist anywhere. It's all in what kind of music you like. Maybe if you start writing more about other bands than the four or five that regularly end up in the pages of this magazine, you'd find out there are more "best guitarists" out there than you think.

On another note, I am going to express the pleasant feeling that I felt when I saw that you are going to do a tribute to Tommy DeWolf. It's too bad that he had to pass away to get your magazine to print anything besides articles about his personal habits. It's a shame that you have ignored one of the hardest working bands I've ever seen, with the most friendly, approachable, talented personnel anywhere.

Timexx, Tommy, Geep and Skully are signed to a respectable record label but get no press in your magazine. Oh, they get a blurb here and there about a paragraph long, and a 2" by 3" picture in the corner of a page of your magazine, but that just doesn't cut it with a lot of people who know how amazingly hard this band works to get their name and music out there.

I hope that next month's magazine gives them their just due. Because as it is said, it's also true. "You can't stop the Drivin' Rain!!!!!!"

Selah,

Daryn Brooks

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Something on your mind? Get it published. Send your letters to:

Matt Sanders

c/o Southeast Missourian

301 Broadway

Cape Girardeau, MO 63702

or email: msanders@semissourian.com