Don't pick on pipers!

What's with the person who writes the smart-ass photo captions for the Front? I'll bet that person was never even at the St. Patrick's Day Parade, so I find that his assessment of the military musicians in the photo of the March 20 issue to be totally uncalled for. Undisciplined and un-military, he said.

What does this person know about military discipline anyway? Unless he has done his time he should just shut the fuck up. He should remember who fought for his rights to free-speech during two world wars and on countless other occasions.

The military bands in the parade are there to add to the spectacle of the Saint Paddy's Day Parade. Whether they are Pipes & Drums or Brass & Reed bands, the musicians are there to support this grand event. They are there out of the kindness of their hearts, and if they are reservists, they are doing this on a voluntary basis. They personally receive no financial remuneration!

The parade route takes about an hour to complete. Why is it surprising that you have to let your musicians "shake it out" a bit on the way? Have any of you weak pathetic losers ever marched over five kilometres playing bagpipes? The guys in the picture are drummers, and they are carrying a drum that weighs over 20 pounds. Even with hi-tech harnesses, the weight of the drums is hard on the shoulders and lower back.

Why is it that you have to take the piss out of soldiers, pipers & drummers, and people who wear the kilt, at any chance you get? In a few weeks you can mock the Greeks for their traditional garb when they celebrate their independence. Another week you can pick on the hijab! Or the turban! Or lederhosen!

You really owe these people an apology for your ignorance. And show respect for the military that fought and died for your right to make your insipid comments with such impunity!

» Concerned Parade Patron

[Ed.: In fact, news editor Patrick Lejtenyi, who wrote the (ironic) caption, spent four years in the Royal Montreal Regiment.]

Boo to AFI review

I feel that Johnson Cummins' review of AFI's Sing the Sorrow was, to say the least, incorrect [Discs, March 27]. Of course music is extremely subjective, and we all have our own tastes. As a musician Mr. Cummins is well aware of this, having played in a band known as the Doughboys - something that I'm sure helps him in reviewing other artists' work.

I fear, however, that Mr. Cummins' review of Sing the Sorrow may have been unfairly biased as a result of an unpleasant experience he suffered while playing alongside AFI. While the Doughboys are a band who were, for the most part, highly respected in the punk/hardcore community, it appears that most music fans do not regard them as highly as AFI. In fact, the Doughboys were once booed offstage, by fans who were more interested in hearing one of Davey Havok's doozies than Cummins' own work. Surely the fact that AFI were supposed to be supporting the Doughboys did not help matters.

I hope that Mr. Cummins' review was of some therapeutic value to himself, as it was of little value to fans of music.

» Niall Conlon

American shock value

Regarding the vile polemic signed "E.B., American," [Letters, March 27] consider this: were you to substitute the word "Jew" or "nigger" for "Canadian" in this effusion, your legal counsel would doubtlessly have advised you not to publish it as it would have constituted a racist item, and probably would have been, by definition, hate literature.

However, were this individual more literate, and more capable of choosing his vocabulary in a less emotional manner, it would be difficult to distinguish him from George W. Bush or Donald Rumsfeld. The mind-set is the same: if you do not agree with our position, we will kill (or invade, overthrow or subjugate) you.

Albeit that your mandate as an independent weekly is to be open to a broad range of divergent opinions, the decision to publish any given item must at all times be governed by discernment, discretion, and above all, common sense.

In this instance I fail to see that any of these qualities have been exercised on the part of your editorial staff. The only reasonable explanation must be that you chose to do so for the shock value of this outpouring of stupidity and xenophobia. As to the vicarious psychological underpinnings of such a decision, I leave that to the imagination of the reader.

It is unfortunate that a certain proportion of our American neighbours choose to regard us in this light, and that in their posturing their only response to our objection to their unsanctioned and immoral war is to threaten to "invade [our] worthless country." But then, that is the posture of their government, which believes that all differences can be resolved by armed force.

As is turning out to be the case in Iraq, it is altogether possible that were such a thing to happen, we would not greet them as liberators and purveyors of take-out democracy, but rather, as Gen. Montcalm stated, we would answer them "par la bouche de nos canons." E.B. would not fare well up a dark lane here in Montreal these days.

» Paul G. Shaw

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