WW welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to letters of 250 words or less. PSYCHO BORE While Kim Morgan acknowledges that Gus Van Sant's negligibly daring imitation of Psycho lacks the brilliance of Hitchcock's original in her recent review, she tends to praise Van Sant's experimental homage to a master's craft ["Psycho Killer, Qu'est-ce que c'est?" WW, Dec. 9, 1998]. I must admit that--as a fan of Gus, horror cinema and the great insight into human perversity that Psycho offers--I gladly shucked out seven bucks to catch the film on opening night. The spectacle does have its moments. William H. Macy is fantastic as the hard-boiled private investigator, and Julianne Moore burns brightly as Marion Crane's strung out sister. Despite these performances, the film drags and irritates. This can largely be attributed to Vince Vaughn's awful and embarrassing take on Norman Bates. Vaughn is one of the biggest bores in Hollywood, and it seems a scam that Gus and the Universal Studios powers that be chose this boring hunk to emulate Anthony Perkins' brilliant performance. Jeremy Davies or a subdued Crispin Glover could have delivered so much more. The color schemes are great, and Danny Elfman's slight alterations of Bernard Herrman's classic score are effective. Still, this Psycho generally tastes stale and is about as intriguing as a mediocre high school revival of Carousel. Stephen Blair Southeast Woodward Street THE BICYCLE IS THE MESSAGE I congratulate Maureen O'Hagan ["Yanking Their Chains," WW, Dec. 9, 1998] for identifying the real story about the 18 bicyclists arrested in downtown Portland the day after Thanksgiving. Police spokesmen made it clear what their duty was: To protect from disturbance that holy square between Nordstrom and Meier & Frank where the annual Christmas tree lighting was taking place. In the midst of thousands of motorists, they singled out bicyclists and wrongfully arrested and jailed them on charges of disorderly conduct for intending to disrupt vehicular traffic. Bicyclists ARE traffic and it is time to seriously begin to educate the public about what this means. When we dismiss Critical Mass riders as mischievous bikers, we cheat not only them, but ourselves. In a city that struggles with its transportation future and is freshly wounded by the loss of North-South light rail, we are arresting bicyclists and declaring the automobile sacred. It is a message that will make more difficult the hard work of change ahead. Allen Durning, author of How Much is Enough?, calls the bicycle one of the "Seven Sustainable Wonders of the World." In one package: ecology, economy and exercise. Maybe we should see the Critical Mass cyclists not as criminals, but as messengers. Perhaps sometime in the not too distant future, "The City that Works" will become the "The City With a Vision" and send the police out to the cyclists, not as a roadblock, but as an escort. Gary McDonald Southeast 26th Avenue GOOD RIDDANCE Leaving town, not with a bang but a whimper? [Timbre, WW, Dec. 9, 1998] How appropriate! The few times I've ever read yer overinflated, self-indulgent tripe, I got filled in on Hazel, Sleater-Kinney, Quasi and Junior High. Today's pile of rotting hubris was no different. Portland really let you down eh? Didn't quite live up to yer big league expectations? How sad that you could not find personal fulfillment in this town, reviewing the same four bands over and over again for three years. It must have all been very hard on your fragile psyche. Good riddance that you move to Seattle where you can prattle and bleat with your brethren sycophants. Perhaps a job writing about Sleater-Kinney, Quasi and Jr. High for The Rocket or The Stranger will inspire you to greater things (although it would not seem possible that you are capable of greater things, seeing as how you have already risen to the absolute peak of your own mediocrity. And it remains to be seen as to whether you are actually capable of real inspiration anyway). Maybe a job in shoe sales? Maybe Janet Weiss will respect you more as a Seattle resident. But it would seem you have reached the point of diminishing returns. Your inability to perceive changes in the musical landscape (other than standard, knee-jerk Like/Don't Like responses) tipped off most discerning Portland natives that you are a shill and not much of one at that--and that there was not much that you could or would do for the actual musical community that existed in Portland long before you slithered into town and will thrive long after you've crawled off. It has been clear for some time that you were out of the loop and much too self-centered to realize it. No wonder no one ever showed up to your touted gigs. Your recommendation was like putting a quarantine sign up at the door: "Hey, if Richard likes it, it must be bad." Sorry Rich, but when you have the audacity to say something really stupid like, "this city no longer provides the type of environment in which a music 'writer' [I think you flatter yourself here] can inspire readers to check out a local band," you, yourself, must shoulder some of the blame for being blind to what was really happening in Portland all along. You shot yourself in the foot. And now you are free to peddle your twaddle in some other locale, leaving behind a legacy of ellipses and question marks. It's a good thing you elected to compose a farewell message. Otherwise, it is quite possible that no one would have realized you were gone. Certainly, you won't be missed (except, perhaps by Quasi, Sleater-Kinney and Jr. High). Love & Kisses. S.P. Clarke Two Louies Northeast Airport Way EPIDEMIC? WHAT EPIDEMIC? No wonder private funding has dried up for AIDS organizations ["A Plague out of Vogue," WW, Dec. 9, 1998] as the number of new AIDS cases in Oregon has been dropping dramatically since 1994. This year, Oregon has seen only 132 new cases of AIDS (to Oct. 14), compared with 4,104 new cases of Chlamydia (information from Oregon Health Department documents). Where is the epidemic? Leaders of AIDS organizations talk about a new threat of AIDS among women and minority populations, but looking at the specific numbers of cases--not percentages--these groups have small numbers and have seen an actual drop in AIDS cases for several years. The number of women with AIDS since 1981 in Oregon is reported to be a total of 280; men, 4,014. Among OOminority populations in Oregon since 1981, 192 have been African Americans (including 26 women); Hispanics, 206 cases. In all categories, the actual numbers continue to fall. Bill Wells Southwest Cedar Street APPLES AND ORANGES The City of Portland is a billion-dollar municipal corporation with a governance structure best suited to a 19th-century small city. Blaming Mayor Katz for its failings is a bit like blaming the driver of a Model A for its performance against a modern car ["Still Going...But Where?" WW, Dec. 16, 1998]. Side-by-side comparisons with former mayor Neil Goldschmidt are also silly. The Portland of the mid-1970s was a much smaller place in terms of population and diversity, and geographic area due to annexations. The challenges today are very different, as is the city. The challenge back then was to develop a thriving commercial center. Today, Portland is more and more a bedroom community for the suburbs, a trend reflected by residential development of the Pearl District, and the challenge is to maintain safe and livable neighborhoods. Unfortunately, for all the fulmination about change in Portland and babbling about vision, there is no serious talk about reforming the structure of city government within the corridors of power. Comprehensive Charter reform should be at the top of the growth management agenda. The primary growth challenge before the city is to manage taxpayers' resources efficiently and responsibly. The City of Roses needs a governance structure which reflects the size, population, diversity and changing role of the city. A quaint, bumbling and archaic commissioner-in-charge form of government has outlived its usefulness. The mayor and council need to appoint a Charter Reform Commission with the charge to bring city government into the 21st century. That is where we need the vision so badly. Anthony Boutard Southwest Davenport Street PARADISE REGAINED? We at Portland Planet Art Network (PAN) would like to share the truth of our World 13-Moon calendar Change Peace Movement following your amazingly inaccurate portrayal of our organization in the Dec. 2 cover story "Y2K Hippies" . PAN's current focus is living in accord with and promoting the use of the 13-Moon, 28-Day calendar to replace the present world standard, the 12-month, 28/29/30/31-day Gregorian calendar. The adoption of the 13-Moon calendar is actually a unique and profoundly overlooked Y2K solution because it directly addresses the underlying cause of the imminent technological breakdown: a gross misunderstanding of the Nature of Time. We at PAN view the Y2K crisis as a clear reflection of how disconnected modern society has become from the natural world. Unconsciously following the traditional Gregorian calendar, which is based on a mathematical error in time, has produced the "time is money" mentality and a bio-hazardous, technology-dependent lifestyle that is now obviously reaching a destructive climax as we approach 2000 A.D. We advocate the change to a lifestyle where individuals live once again in conscious harmony with the planetary and galactic cycles found in the 13-Moon calendar. As a manifestation of the recently discovered Universal Law of Time, the natural time calendar represents the unification of Mayan time wisdom, the fulfillment of all ancient prophecies and the advent of new sciences. This simple, practical and spiritual tool is being adopted worldwide to bring about the reemergence of the Earth's natural garden state and the empowered, loving human being. Navigation Council PAN Portland Southeast 10th Avenue - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published December 22, 1998