'70s boasted
bigger cock cult

The Temple Priapus you wrote about ["Hail the cock worshippers," July 31] seems to be a sleazy version of a much more influential, secret and serious group that was around in the '70s: Knights of the Order of Phallic Worship.

Initially, you could only be inducted if you met the approval of the 13 Templar Knights and were initiated by them. The ritual was a lot like sacrificing a "virgin;" during the ceremony the 13 templars, each in turn, would perform fellatio on the inductee. Once initiated, the inductee, or "new saint," could introduce a new member to the group. There were a number of hot A-list guys proposed as Knights, but since 13 people had to agree the cock was worthy, not everyone who was proposed made it.

At one point there were about 300 knights, and they held an annual rite in various cities throughout North America. You had to be pretty well heeled, as well as hung, to belong. A porn star was, as I recall, at one time the "saint" who toured the circuit and allowed himself to be "worshipped" by the congregation. All Knights filled a goblet with their cum.

"Saints" were well looked after and supported the Templars if they needed money for education until they reached the age of 25, at which point they became a Knight in the Order, and had to contribute to the well-being of new inductees, or drop out.

Knights were given gold rings engraved with a flying phallus and wore black velvet robes with a gold phallus embroidered on the left shoulder - and nothing else - to the rituals. The last full membership ritual I attended was in 1973 in San Francisco. There were a couple of chapter invitations in Montreal after that, but then the group dissolved.

» Dick (name withheld by request)

Old Port workers
not whiners

I'm writing in response to a letter written by Karine-Iseult Ippersiel regarding Noemi Lopinto's article on the locked-out employees at the Old Port of Montreal ["Letters" July 17].

What I described to Noemi Lopinto for the article is an overview of the consequences of having a lock-out imposed on us in the middle of the summer. We had no clue how long the situation would last, and it was not possible for everyone to make ends meet simply by picketing for $50 a day.

We were not permitted to picket on certain days and I was already involved in an unpaid internship that took a lot of my time. So for Mrs. Karine-Iseult Ippersiel's information, I did what I had to do and did find a second job, which, luckily, I could leave without any problems when the conflict at the Old Port was resolved and I was able to go back to work.

What I tried to get across in the article was the instability we had to deal with due to a lock-out that we had no control over for an unknown period of time. Also, let me tell you that it's not that easy to find a job in the middle of the summer when your schedule is already filled with engagements taken before this disruption occurred. Besides the fact that many employees are unsatisfied about the new deal and feel they fought for very little or no gains at all, most employees are back at work and everything is going just fine.

» Caroline Russell

Parking perspective myopic

Kristian Gravenor's latest single-minded, button-pushing splatter of wordage, "In Praise of Parking" [Kristian Perspective, July 31], is this time so myopic that I'm afraid the gig is up. I mean, think of all the people reading this right now in their car, probably while snacking on their lunch, because they're sitting in traffic.

Be careful that the Perspective doesn't start to sound like an "Ed Anger" column in American tabloids. Even right-wing morons, so stupid they actually dream at night of owning all the roads, know when they're being made fun of. Right?

» David Burnie

Here's to hoops

It's about time that this town throws some respect at the hoop. 'Cause, hey, I'm into sports of all types, but why do you want to go out and watch crooked-nose yeti hockey beasts bump into each other all night when you could be digging basketball finesse. The King of the Court Tournament has a big future in this city [The Front, Aug. 7]. If people would get into it a little, maybe we could support a Montreal NBA team one day. Now that's class.

» Lisa Morgan

Bizarro aftertaste

Alice and Yanka's most recent restaurant review [Resto, Jul. 31] was not only in bad taste (no pun intended) but poorl [sic] in grammar and incoherent in content.

The objectives of a critic are to explain, observe and comment, leading up to a balanced opinion. To try to be chic by resorting to vaulgarity [sic] and obscenity by constantly reiterating four-letter F words and others is neither shocking nor cute, but just leaves an aftertaste of gross absurdity verging on stupidity. Mirror readers deserve better.

» S. Haben

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