When a concert review gets published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, an email contact is included at the bottom of the review, so that readers—should they feel so inclined—can contact me with their response to the review. About half the time, it’s someone disagreeing or pointing out a mistake, like “by the way Melissa Etheridge has a son and a daughter, not “daughters” as you put it.”
Or someone disagrees with my assertion that Mastodon played a better set at Unholy Alliance than Lamb of God, though I stand by Mastodon, no matter how many emails I get. Mastodon is quite possibly the loudest band in rock! And their set was not only frightening because of its sheer volume but also the dizzying degree with which they delivered that fifty minute pummeling!
Recently, however, readers of my Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young review have come forth with much praise, none more so than this kind fellow, whose letter I post below in its total, unabridged glory:
Dear Shawn,
My wife & I read your review of the CSN&Y concert in the Seattle P-I. We felt it was the best concert we have ever been to, not only because the group was superb, but the political message was so important. Your review of the concert completely captured both the musical and political spirit of the experience. I have never read as good a review of a concert as yours. It reflected an incredible depth of musical and social understanding. We share your review with our friends who missed it since it is a perfect summary of the night. Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Bill Caradonna
P.S. Please forward this to your PI editor. I look forward to reading more reviews from you!
Bill, just so you know, I’m not only going to forward this to my editor, I’m going to post it to my web site so that everyone can see it. Including me, whenever I want to. And I want to probably every day for a while. It’ll be my warm-up to balancing my checkbook, just to remind myself why I struggle with this kind of writing, because we all know, IT’S NOT FOR THE MONEY!
