Hacienda howdy-do:
Please excuse our Gaffney gaffe
First of all, as the drummer for the Hacienda Brothers, I just want to thank you for all the support you’ve given to our band and our music. I’ve been a No Depression reader and subscriber for years and it’s a real honor to be in the magazine that features so many of my musical heroes.
I wanted to make one correction, which I’m guessing you’ve spotted yourself by now. In the photo of the band at Joe’s Pub [Miked, ND #65], that’s our very own Chris Gaffney in the hat, not the great Dan Penn. Dan was in the pub, he just wasn’t on the stage at that point. Just thought I’d set the record straight.
Once again, thanks for keeping me informed about all the music out there. I look forward to reading more issues, possibly even with my name in them again.
— Dale Daniel
Hacienda Brothers
Josh Ritter:
Mission statement
I enjoyed reading about Josh Ritter in your May-June issue. However, I was quite puzzled as to how the writer of the article, Linda Ray, could mangle the name of the Catholic mission mentioned in Ritter’s song “Wings”.
Given that it is indeed Idaho’s oldest building as mentioned in her article, it deserves to be called by its correct name: Cataldo Mission — not Catawba the name the writer of the article uses.
— David Pratt
Boise, Idaho
Musicians and TV ads:
Round three
To the reader from Round Rock, Texas, who objected to my criticism of Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison for their Claritin D commercial [Box Full of Letters, ND #65]: Your point about songwriters being underpaid is well taken. It’s true that if songwriters and other artists were better paid to do the work they’re called to do and for which they have a gift, we probably wouldn’t be having this discussion. I’ve sold out a time or two myself, which is why I now have a job I hate as opposed to doing what I love to do for a living. It was a choice I made in order to pay the bills. No, it’s not fair and we ought to be angry about it, but my argument is that making excuses for the compromises we’ve made does nothing to mitigate the damage done to our integrity and our souls.
I’d love to mind my own business, as you “admonish,” but it’s a little hard to do that when the thing that offends me is broadcast over the public airwaves in an attempt to sell me things I don’t need. And the thing that sucks most is that I can’t even enjoy my favorite Kelly Willis CD anymore without being reminded of that damn commercial and how insulted I was by it. I’m only one fan, of course, but if I were Kelly Willis or Bruce Robison, I’d be more than a little troubled by that.
— Shawn Cote
Fort Fairfield, Maine
Regional pride:
A buncha Buffalo hockey
Mr. Meinzer from Buffalo, New York, is right when he says in your September-October issue, “I know that Buffalo is not the center of the universe” [Box Full of Letters, ND #65]. The only reason he’s discontent is that he doesn’t like the south, and he’s sore that his Buffalo Sabres lost the Stanley Cup to the Carolina Hurricanes down in Opieland.
— Sandy Wimbish
Cary, North Carolina
Certainly there’s something you liked enough, or didn’t like enough, in this issue to warrant dropping us a line and letting us know. Send us an e-mail at letters@nodepression.net or write the old-fashioned way at No Depression, Box Full of Letters, 17000 Viking Way NW, Poulsbo, WA 98370. Make sure to include your name and your city of residence.
