Letters to the Editor

Punk pioneer Mike Watt declines his glass coffin; ease up on Jar Jar already!

Letters to the Editor

Jun 16, 1999 | "Punk Rock Hall of Fame Awards 1999"
BY DAVE CLIFFORD
(06/09/99)

It's been printed in the press that I was supposed to appear at the "Punk Rock Hall of Fame Awards." This is not true. I was asked if I was available and I said I wasn't. I don't why folks were told I was going to be there.

Yes, I'm from the old days of punk, but my punk days are not over. However, I don't wish to lie there in a glass box like Lenin or Mao. I am trying to be intense in the moment and not dick-leech the past.

There is one "old-timer" I am trying to learn from these days. He's dead now but his name was John Coltrane. He was one trippy punk cat. Wild shit lives as fertile ideas, not as brittle souvenirs.

-- Mike Watt

Jar Jar Binks on the cover of Rolling Stone?
BY BILL WYMAN
(06/09/99)
Maybe he's not a superstar. Maybe he's not hip. But the "Phantom Menace" is part of the "Star Wars" movies. They are not made for 29-year-old men; they are kids' movies. Maybe you don't like Jar Jar, and maybe his toys aren't popular, but have you asked the kids? I know small children of 4 and 6 who liked him.

Jar Jar doesn't stand the chance of becoming a Jedi. Can't you just give him a chance at being a buffoon?

-- Holly Ames

I felt a bug-eyed astonishment when I saw the new Rolling Stone cover. As a relatively new subscriber, I had previously been impressed with its coverage of pop culture and public affairs. But after reading the preposterously titled "Jar Jar Superstar" article, one can only ask: what the hell were they thinking?

I was lukewarm to "The Phantom Menace," but openly hostile to the "Jamaican drag queen," as you put it so well. In a mediocre movie, he is its only full-fledged atrocity. Chewbacca and the Ewoks might have been annoying, but at least they didn't talk. I had been placated by the public's appropriate "Jar Jar must die" response. Then along came Rolling Stone -- which depends on its finger-on-the-pulse reputation for survival -- misfiring badly, and renewing my ire in the process. I was waiting for other media to pick up on and dismantle the article; you hit the nail right on the head.

-- Casey Newton

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