_______________STOP USING OUR CHILDREN BY SHERRILYN A. IFILL (02/04/99)
	I found Mary Bono's question to White House counsel Gregory Craig ("What do you tell your children?") sanctimonious, hypocritical and disingenuous. Whoever hand-fed the new congresswoman that particular question obviously thinks the American public has selective amnesia about the Bonos. For instance, what does Mary Bono tell her children when they ask why Daddy, as a grown man of almost 30, was living with a young teen runaway (Cher at 16)? What does Mary Bono tell her children when they ask why Daddy was married four times? What does Mary Bono tell her children when they ask why Daddy has several children from three different women, purportedly one of which, a grown son, was only recently acknowledged by Sonny, and who was not supported as a child? What does Mary Bono tell her children when they ask why Mommy was 30 years younger than Daddy? Mary Bono should, and most likely does, have plenty of experience enlightening her kids about the harsh realities of life. Most especially after the fatal skiing accident of her husband, their father, and her subsequent announcement blaming his death on an addiction to prescription drugs. She probably has also been doing a lot of explaining concerning their grandma, Sonny's mother, who has gone on national television saying that Mary had an adulterous affair herself, and that she is a poor excuse for a mother. Her question of White House counsel Craig was born out of no great concern for the welfare of his children, or ours. Puh-leeze. She is simply a hand puppet of her conservative right-wing elders in Congress, who think they are being politically savvy using her (the widow Bono) for soundbites. Once again, the Republicans underestimate the American public. Mary Bono was a rich Hollywood trophy wife, and now widow, who has at least as many skeletons in her family closet as President Clinton has in his. Her question to Craig stuck in my craw, no end. Talk about gall. Who do they think they're fooling up there? -- D. Renee
_______________IT'S HEEEEEEEEERE BY GAVIN McNETT (02/03/99)
	Merely reading Gavin McNett's review of Rhino's "Postpunk Chronicles" brought back shivery good memories of the '80s to this 34-year-old, since that era is best exemplified to me by its soundtrack. Time to put all three discs on shuffle play and go dust off my ripped up Army surplus jacket with the XTC and Buzzcocks buttons still pinned to it. I can empathize with his worry about who's replenishing the water-table of the underground in this era when even the destruction of the very word "alternative" is ancient history to today's kids. And in large part even the real underground of rock 'n' roll seems to have been fatally poisoned -- sure, there are zillions of underground rock labels nowadays, but most of their output sounds like endlessly recycled derivatives of the very '80s figureheads that Rhino's new comp exhumes in their original undiluted glory. The real shame is that 15 years ago the then-greatest bands on the planet (Sonic Youth, Cocteau Twins, etc.) were still completely unknown to the mainstream, but you could knock on doors in any college dorm and find some of their records within 10 minutes (and probably make new friends in the process). Nowadays, I don't know. Even the most optimistic take on this leads one to conclude that those same dorms are now full of musical scenes of one -- each kid a fan of a different microscene and maybe not connecting or cross-pollinating at all. What's to be done? --Jen Alfke San Jose N E X T+P A G E+| The debate over C-sections