ETS! encourages comments, feedback, tips, corrections, and info! Please keep them as concise as possible so we can print as many different voices as possible: ETS!, P.O. Box 85541, Seattle WA 98145, or e-mail ets@scn.org.

The Music Section

Dear ETS!,

There was an article in the New York Times (Dec. 1, 1997) today that told of a movement by concert hall owners to set up a rating system for concerts. A movie style rating would either go on the playbills posted or on the tickets issued.

One of the reasons given is that hall owners are tired of receiving calls from parents, wondering why the owners would let such bands as Marilyn Manson or the Butthole Surfers perform lewd acts in front of their children. One concert hall manager stated that parents have often not heard of the bands that their children listen to, and only know what goes on at a concert when they read about it in the paper the next day.

Rather than cause a great debate about whether admission restrictions and a rating system would infringe on our First Amendment rights, why not legislate penalties for parents who demonstrate ignorance of their children's social habits? If we're going to let government take care of our social problems, let's find the real problem. It is not bands such as Mary Tyler Morphine and Suicidal Tendencies. The problem is inattentive parents.

--Peter Sosso, Minneapolis MN

In Defense of Chumbawamba

ETS!,

It's not "Jumba Wumba" but Chumbawamba. And Rage Against the Machine may put pictures of Che on their album covers, but Chumbawamba are anarchists going way back. They're very political, even though their lyrics aren't always overtly so. It's not "I get knocked out"...by various types of alcohol, it's "I get knocked down, but I get up again, 'cause they're never going to keep me down." The lyrics are actually very positive--life is rough, get by however you can, but don't give up because, "We'll be singing when we're winning!" In fairness, the band's political content is much clearer in the liner notes, where the meaning and context of each song is explained. Pick up a copy of SLAP!--their best album, and read the liners. Then you'll know what they're about.

--Chuck Domitrovich, Seattle

ETS!,

On the letters from the kids who are writing to ETS! as they travel, someone should set them straight on what an anarchist band is. It's not Rage or Suicidal Tendencies. They might be surprised to find out that Chumbawamba is a true anarchist collective. They just, this very evening, pulled off a revolutionary stunt. They were performing their innocuous sounding hit song on the David Letterman show when suddenly they changed the words to: FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL!!!! No shit, it was beautiful and it lifted my spirits right up. I'm sure some execs are sweating bullets over this outbreak of free speech on national television!

The dishonorable fascist Gov. of Virginia just allowed the execution of a black man named Charles Satcher about three hours ago despite serious evidence that the DNA tests originally used to convict were flawed. A request for a new test was denied as well as a life without parole alternative. For those keeping score it's Texas leading with 36 executions this year and Virginia coming up behind with eight.

I wish you well in your continuing efforts to present the news unencumbered by the barrage of infotainment and government propaganda. Your bias is usually my bias.

Love,

--Alan Benson, Hyattsville MD

Ghost Cat Flaps In The Sky

ETS!,

I was very much amused to see good ol' Gunter Burpus appear in ETS!. Urban legends are fascinating little bits of cultural programming that should be taken seriously by anyone who wants to understand people and society. For more info on Gunter (and his possible origins) I recommend the amazing Urban Legends Reference Pages at snopes.com. Gunter's specific 15 minutes can be found at the URL http://www.snopes.com/sex/embarras/burpus.htm. For more scholarly treatment of urban legends, the obvious source is the series by cultural anthropologist Jan Harold Brunvand, specifically his first book The Vanishing Hitchhiker (it contains the most anthropological relevance, I feel).

Keep 'em flying -

Phil, via e-mail

McDonalds Next Exit

ETS!,

Passing through cow country, there's only one game to play. Each passenger estimates the number of bovines passed on his side of the car. If you pass a cemetery on your side, blam! All your cows are dead. The one with the most (live) cows at the end of the trip wins.

Jen doesn't play fair, though. She likes to abort my cows in advance, declaring them dead whenever I pass a graveyard, whether I have any yet or not.

Speaking of graveyards, Jen seems to have an endless fascination with above-ground tombs. Seems in the lowlands it won't do to bury the dead six feet under; sometimes the water washes them back to the surface. So the concrete caskets here stick up out of the dirt. The first time we spotted one on this trip Jen nearly wet herself. I was unimpressed. But then again, it was on my side. All my cows were dead.

--Matt Asher, nearing New Orleans

More Cool, Fascinating Info On Bonds

ETS!,

In response to your article and Davis Oldham's letter (ETS!, Vol. 2 #12 & 13), bonds are one of a variety of methods to borrow money. Just as a personal car loan allows you to get a car and pay for it while you use the car (with interest, of course), municipal bonds allow governments to finance a "public" project or service (highways, schools, hospitals, sewage plants, transit systems, stadiums, port developments) and pay for them while they are used. If it's a "commercial" resource, such as port infrastructure or a stadium used for private $financial $profit, the bonds would (in a perfect world) be paid off by fair rental revenues from the resource. If it's a "service" resource (school, sewage system), they should be paid for from taxes levied "fairly" across the general population. And of course there are always those grey areas in between, like "mixed use" resources and how "fair" is defined.

There are few forms of commercial or private borrowing that don't include interest fees of some sort. Those who have ready cash (to loan or buy bonds with) will always be in a better position than those who don't. For some people, that means wisely investing your trust fund assets. For the rest of us, quit wasting money on junk you don't need and save. (We need ETS!)

Bonds can serve useful public purposes, but as with any form of borrowing, the virtue or vice lies not in how money is acquired, but how it is used. Bonds are the "messenger", not the "message". You may dislike certain features of the messenger, but don't let that distract you from the message.

--Dave Albergine, Seattle

Writers Wanted

Hi,

I have a question; is there someone out there willing and able to draft an initiative that would hold politicians to their campaign promises, that is, make them liable for following up on their claims, or am I a hopelessly deluded utopianist?

Love/hate your, um, organ. Keep up the good work.

Costi@speakeasy.org