Salon | Letters to the editor

______________SOUND SALVATION: STOP THE VIOLINS! BY SARAH VOWELL (10/31/97)

I agree 3/4-heartedly! Violins have been the instrument of many a musician's downfall. They inspired Kate Bush's artistic nadir, the song "Violin" from the album "Never for Ever," which featured such sterling lyrics as "Whack that devil/Into my fiddlestick/Give me the banshees for BV's/Jigging along with the fiddle ooh Johnny/Jigging along with the fiddle-dee-dee." Ick, in short. And then, of course, there was Elvis Costello's mostly undistinguished "The Juliet Letters." At least that album served the purpose of putting all the lamest songs of his recent career in one easy-to-ignore place.
Still, the violin and its kin are not beyond redemption. The Brodsky Quartet, in atonement for their aforementioned album with Elvis, are the highlight of Björk's "Telegram" album, and Stereolab's string arrangements are simply heaven-sent. The violin is just like an electric drill: a powerful tool, but dangerously boring in the wrong hands
-- Francis Heaney

_______________MEDIA CIRCUS: PUBLISH AND PERISH BY MORGAN CAST (10/31/97)

I cackled like a fiend reading the rib-tickling "Publish and Perish." I have always been told that entry-level paychecks in publishing are transparently thin, but the anonymous writer at least brings tears of laughter to the eyes of industry ingenues like myself, who hope to be the future occupants of those shitty lower-level rungs. I only take pleasure that my CUNY English degree was city-subsidized and won't leave me buckling under the strains of crushing student loans when I begin my slow climb to the top.

-- Ola Fadahunsi

SALON | Nov. 3, 1997

R E C E N T L Y+| CRYING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK BY MICHELLE GOLDBERG

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______________SOUND SALVATION: STOP THE VIOLINS! BY SARAH VOWELL (10/31/97)
	I agree 3/4-heartedly! Violins have been the instrument of many a musician's downfall. They inspired Kate Bush's artistic nadir, the song "Violin" from the album "Never for Ever," which featured such sterling lyrics as "Whack that devil/Into my fiddlestick/Give me the banshees for BV's/Jigging along with the fiddle ooh Johnny/Jigging along with the fiddle-dee-dee." Ick, in short. And then, of course, there was Elvis Costello's mostly undistinguished "The Juliet Letters." At least that album served the purpose of putting all the lamest songs of his recent career in one easy-to-ignore place. Still, the violin and its kin are not beyond redemption. The Brodsky Quartet, in atonement for their aforementioned album with Elvis, are the highlight of Björk's "Telegram" album, and Stereolab's string arrangements are simply heaven-sent. The violin is just like an electric drill: a powerful tool, but dangerously boring in the wrong hands -- Francis Heaney
_______________MEDIA CIRCUS: PUBLISH AND PERISH BY MORGAN CAST (10/31/97)
	I cackled like a fiend reading the rib-tickling "Publish and Perish." I have always been told that entry-level paychecks in publishing are transparently thin, but the anonymous writer at least brings tears of laughter to the eyes of industry ingenues like myself, who hope to be the future occupants of those shitty lower-level rungs. I only take pleasure that my CUNY English degree was city-subsidized and won't leave me buckling under the strains of crushing student loans when I begin my slow climb to the top. -- Ola Fadahunsi SALON \| Nov. 3, 1997