Here at Seven Days, it’s not uncommon for me to receive letters and e-mails from the general public. While I always encourage folks with to write to THE EDITOR to sing praise or vent frustrations, some of them prefer not to. 

I still consider their communiques to be public domain, however, so I’ve decided to start posting some of them on this blog. That way all of you voyeurs can catch a glimpse of what it’s like to be me.

Here’s an example from Ruff Dave, who titles his missive “Real,Good,Music.”

You wouldn’t know good intelligent music if it came up and bit you in the
ass. (Aren’t you the one who said Caralina was an up and coming band to be
on the lookout for? Cara-who?) And give me a hypocritical break. Seven
Days, environmentally aware, yada, yada. Yeah, sure.

A quick visit to his website reveals that Mr. Ruff’s recordings feature none other than Bill Mullins, one of my favorite area guitarists .

You can listen to a bunch of his songs. He invites you to drop him a line to let him know what you think.

Keep ’em coming, you wacky Vermonters!

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Casey Rea was the Seven Days music editor from 2004 until 2007. He won the 2005 John D. Donoghue award for arts criticism from the Vermont Press Association.

5 replies on “We Get Letters!”

  1. I’m glad you liked my letter Casey, but I certainly wasn’t condoning mediocrity or people putting together lame press kits. To me the style with which the article attempted to be humorous was the party most guilty of mediocrity. Reviews and press simply don’t mean as much these days as they once did because there are so many self proclaimed critics with their very own website. We all need to raise the bar musically whether it is the written word or the recorded note. I hear Andy’s gripe… and I hear your point that some music sucks… I just feel we need to get beyond that and focus on the people really making a difference. We need more musicians expressing themselves not emulating the past or one another. And at the same time, we need more critics and writers that are original in thought and perspective. We have some really great things happening in our region – some really original stuff that is unique in the context of the National underground scene. This is what we need to promote, discuss, and generally just rock to.

  2. Hey Casey. Love the blog photo with your new snuggle. Enjoyed the comments on Andy. Man, he’s never really been received well. I remember when I was going to college with him at UVM and he got his share of hate mail at the school paper and then again at the Independent when he started writing for them. Me? I think he’s hilarious, a little cocky, but I’ve never minded spunk much so I enjoy the style. Anyway, like the blog. I’m sure I’ll have a chance to give you shit about the kitten soon… Can’t wait.

  3. Well said, Larry!Seriously, Larry’s letter was so well written, that we should give him a job.Ever think about reviewing CDs, man?I definitely agree about the proliferation of self-styled “critics” these days… Everybody with a Liberal Arts degree and a copy of Lester Bangs’ “Carburettor Dung” thinks they’re qualified. The internet has definitely pushed this phenomenon along.But the democratization of recording (cheap home gear, etc.) and the 40 plus years of rock mythologizing have resulted in a glut of bands are all competing for an increasingly tiny slice of the same pie. And not all of ’em are good.Who knows where we’ll end up?All I know is that there’s some frickin’ great local music out there right now. I’m working on this Cush record as I type, and DAMN, it’s hot.keep the posts coming!-Casey

  5. I got bit in the ass by a spider once. It might have been a good spider, but the action of biting me did not raise it’s appeal nor did I become keenly aware of it’s potential greatness. It just pissed me off. So good music biting someone on the ass helps no one and is bad way to promote itself.

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