Metallica's monster

Normally I'm into death metal and heavier stuff like Cradle of Filth, but I liked Metallica up to, like, 10 years ago so I figured I'd go see that documentary [Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Cover, "Fights and fits," July 15].

Holy fuck. I've been in a bunch of bands mostly for fun but even I know what it's like not to get along with other bandmates. Especially lead singers and even more lead singers who don't play guitar or anything because that seems to give them some kind of inferiority issue that makes them act like fucks.

And I have no problem with that because good music comes from a dark place within where evil screams, and if you let it scream through the music (for me through my bass), it shakes inside other people who also feel the darkness. But anger has to be put in the right place, which is why me and most death metal musicians are the nicest guys you'll ever meet, most of the time anyway. It's like that line in the movie that the band comes up with, "My lifestyle is my deathstyle." The way you live is the way you die.

At first I thought that always having a therapist would destroy the band. Then those guys realized that their hatred with each other was destroying the hate in their music, instead of letting it boil in the womb and come out in a whiplash. So they turned things around and St. Anger is a totally solid album.

I appreciate it way more after seeing how it came together behind the scenes. It doesn't matter that those guys are half-yuppies because they remembered how to bring out the dark voice again in their music instead of breaking up and starting shit solo projects. Life is pain and pain is metal, so don't let bullshit destroy the fire within.

» Leonard Wilson

Thank you for drawing me to a film about a band that creates music of a worthless style, yet display a moving amount of humility as vulnerable human beings when brought together to share their feelings in an open, healthy discourse. May the film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster inspire others to seek out their own pathways of spiritual discovery and understanding.

» Diana St. Jules

X marks the error

In his review of Dave Alvin's new album, "Ashgrove" [Discs, July 8], Johnson Cummins states that Alvin was the guitarist in the final line-up of X. Not so! Alvin left the group in 1987 and was replaced by Tony Gilkyson, who played on with X until their demise in the early '90s.

» R. Barbaro

More on transsexuals

This is regarding the letter from the woman complaining that your paper is trash after her kid found ads for transsexuals in the classified section [Letters, July 8]. I must say, your newspaper is not always of good taste, but what really saddened me was the fact that this lady wanted to keep her kid ignorant about transsexuality - even saying that it's abnormal.

I assume this woman is afraid of something deeply rooted in her to have such poor judgement of others, whether they be transsexual, handicapped, or just out-of-the-ordinary. I understand that some people react to things that confuse them by turning their heads.

To the woman who wrote the letter: if you don't want to understand transsexuality, that's your choice. But if one day your kid becomes "abnormal" in any way, I hope you'll have enough patience to try and understand.

» Marie-Andrée Simard

This letter is inspired by the parent who complained about how your paper and its accessibility to children may have brainwashed her own children into asking questions such as, "What are transsexuals?" thus making them curious about the world they live in.

If I were a parent, I might have been a bit bothered, maybe even outraged by the fact that my son or daughter is seeing or asking too much at such a young age. But I'm not a parent so I'm not outraged - although I do feel that young children shouldn't preoccupy themselves with this type of subject matter.

What I do know is that it always boils down to the parents. They can control what their children see; they just don't all accept this responsibility.

There are many things out there that don't make sense to some people and are very important to others. Not everything is supposed to make sense, not everything will and therefore the only way to reach some sort of agreement or understanding is through communication.

Some might argue your newspaper is too accessible to children while others might suggest it is proper in that it portrays society accurately and in the way it should: by putting the information out there to as many eyes as possible and therefore promoting awareness, hence providing a forum for communication.

» Brian Moore

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