Steamed ’Shrooms

This is a comment on “In San Diego, It’s a Free-for-All,” page 20 of the May 31 Reader, by Siobhan Braun. That woman irritates the hell out of me. Every other mention of mushrooms, she calls them ’shrooms. I’m a native speaker of English. My wife is a native speaker of English. My family’s lived in this country for about 150 years, some of them for 200 years. They came originally from Germany, England, and Ireland, and I presume that Siobhan Braun is of German and Irish descent also, judging by her first and last names. And nobody in my family has ever called a mushroom a ’shroom. It’s even hard to pronounce. What the hell is wrong with that woman?

Name Withheld
via voice mail

Gluttony To Go

Matthew Alice’s answer to High C’s inquiry about opera singers’ weight problems (“Straight From the Hip,” May 31), alleging that before modern technical advances performers needed girth and power to make themselves heard, is only partially correct. Beverly Sills’s voice coach told me that in any era the primary factor in both vocal creation and projection is the larynx, or voice box, which is no larger than a fist and contains the vocal chords, and the gustatory excesses of the “life on tour” are largely responsible for the rotundity of many of the singers.

Gerald A. Shepherd
Kensington

Very Uninvolved

Kelly Formaldehyde used “her friend” Chance as a tool to create a smear campaign for her own interest (“Dark Cloud,” Blurt,” May 31). Her issues with Ruby Room stem from her trying to pass the blame on others for her actions. Kelly absolutely did not have any part of the organization of the May 3 “Evening for Chance” event at Ruby Room. The event planning and execution was entirely handled by Honor Industries (marketing agency) with the direct help of Genghis (local tattooer — apprenticed under Chance) and Andrea Going (longtime friend of Chance). Not only did she not have any involvement, but she didn’t even attend, and from my understanding she did not attend the second event that was thrown at the Shakedown.

Kelly showed up at the Ruby Room about an hour before load in and dropped off some hair clips to be auctioned off that night. While inside, she was calmly approached by Sean Cute and was asked to leave. After the last time she became unglued at RR (four months ago), she was finally 86ed for good. She has had many erratic episodes inside Ruby Room, and that was the final straw. It was her own actions that led her not to be able to attend the event.

The real issue here is that Chance’s fund-raiser events are being overshadowed by a very selfish and overembellishing individual. The “Evening for Chance” event was a huge success due to the overwhelming donations from artists from all over the country. Nearly all the artwork was sold! All the remaining artwork is currently displayed and for sale in the bar area of Ruby Room. One hundred percent of the sales will go straight to Chance.

Jim
via email

Great Right North

As a Canadian, I was pleased to see reference to Banff, Alberta, Republic of Canada (“Sporting Box,” May 31).

I am pleased that there is somebody down here who knows our northern neighbors.

And that someone is way ahead of time: he knows it will be or should be Republic of Canada. I plan to have a Montreal Tea Party (we do not have a Boston) soon to declare independence from Mother England. I wish when referring to British Columbia you had also qualified it as “neither British nor Columbia” but the westernmost province of the Republic (of Canada).

Akram Hencie
via email

Duped By Trash

Boy, you people really had me fooled! Your cover story “Untold Stories” (May 24) about Nathan Fletcher was the lowest dirty piece of trash I have ever read. Not even the U-T would print something like you did. Shame on you. I thought the Reader was better than this in this day and age. In today’s world, where we have so much more to worry about, what makes you think citizens of San Diego care about Nathan’s personal life? It doesn’t have anything to do with this race. I just hope you play fair and dig up some worthless information on the other people running for mayor!

Eric Awes
via email

A Burning Answer

Re “Jacumba Trusts the Naked Guy” (“City Lights,” May 24). Basically, a nice informative article on the current status of Jacumba, for which thanks. But a major mistake. The hotel did not burn down from arson but from an untended candle. I know; my wife and I were there that night and, in fact, were the last to exit the burning building. We have photos we took then and news articles about the event. If you want more details, I have ’em.

John Mood
via email

They’re Randified

Re: Ron Harris, Scripps Ranch, May 24 letter suggesting Congress fix the private-college debacle.

I have a question. Why would any sane person in this country run to Congress when they want something fixed? Chances are good that at least one, if not many, congressional types are in the hip pockets of the moneyed who are causing the untowardness going on about us, including private education. Unless, of course, you can offer them more money than they’re already on the take for. Just think of it as a Randified Cunningham situation and wait for a jealous co-congressional wanting in on the action to turn the perp(s) into Randified media fodder.

One last thought: if you’re voting Democrat or Republican, you’re voting against yourself! Show me an honest politician and I’ll show you a man that can’t get elected.

George Seibert
Normal Heights

Bold It

I really enjoy the new section where there are several restaurant reviews, several paragraphs long, by different reviewers. I just want to make a suggestion, though. When you read Barron’s or the Wall Street Journal, if they’re talking about IBM or Apple Computer, they put the name of the company in boldface. It would be very helpful to me as a reader, and I would enjoy the column much more, if you would put the name of the restaurant and the address in boldface so I can spot it easily if I want to go there.

Name Withheld
via voice mail

A New Species

I wanted to know if the May 3 cover picture of the giraffe with the zebra on its neck is real or Photoshopped. I am thinking it is real because of the image being courtesy of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

Name Withheld by Request
via email

Two separate photos were digitally manipulated by M&C Saatchi. — Editor