Why?, Why Salon do you continue to torture your readers with... stuff.

I know, you're getting back at us for writing all those less than flattering letters!

But please, let's have some proportionality. Force feeding us six pages of Paglia is like boiling someone in lead for tracking mud on your carpet.

Oh, the humanity...

I sent Paglia a question about Bjork, and she didn't answer it, but I'm actually pretty curious about whether there is in fact a significant overlap in the fan base, as is my hunch, so I'm just going to post it here and see if anyone cares. My thesis is that Bjork's video for "Pagan Poetry" (available on YouTube) is exactly the kind of fusion of the chthonic and the decadent, the architectural and the pornographic, that Paglia was always trying to tease out of great works of art and literature in Sexual Personae, and that Bjork is in some sense more of an authentic successor to the early Madonna than Madonna herself has been (fans might already know that Bjork co-wrote "Bedtime Story" for Madge back in the day.) Her idiosyncratic personae which often emphasize identification with animals, especially birds, and other natural phenomena, and her amazingly eclectic and deep musical mastery and taste make her the emblem of a true, aesthetically liberated feminism. If Madonna is the Flaubert of pop music, then Bjork is pop music's Kafka. In particular I think this song and video could be read as a glorious masochistic homage and feminist correction of the famous "Origin of the World" by Courbet and its screen, fashioned by Andre Masson at the behest of (Paglia's dreaded) Jacques Lacan, who used to own the painting. Well, whatever, just watch the video, you won't regret it. (And yes, I clearly have no life since I always seem to catch this column about five minutes after it's been posted and since I write her letters and get bitchy when she doesn't respond. Oh well.)

you have to be told this-- that is what is funniest.

As for the Doors, I too have slowly come to the realization that the Doors were a truly monumental American band-- probably the greatest. The combination of elements, propelled by Morrison's staggeringly naked sexuality, is what does it.

You listen to some of the songs, and despite them sounding dated (something I hate about recorded music), the persona of the singer seems to jump out of the speakers themselves. What was being caught on tape was not a voice of a singer but a primal force graciously bestowing onto us mortals the wonder of infinite sexual power.

Yikes, I sound cheezy.

The recordings seem to sound best on those hot, dry late summer days, maybe in LA, toward the evening, when the sky is turning red and everything glows with a warm tone, when one is sitting anonymously in a cafe, staring at an old blue low rider Buick parked across the way, blonde vaguely Swedish girls walking by, on the fourth drink (it does not matter what libation) and lazily wafting in and out of a daydream.

'nuff said...

Your comments about Clinton as a "true feminist" are dead on.

Despite all the letters curticulizing Paglia's articles?....

All I've got to say is her writing always manages to remind me of my Tennessee father's saying "________ is like cornbread and sex. Even when it's bad, its still better than most things."

Thank you,

David Terry

www.davidterryart.com

Camille,

I wish you had challenged the reader who was demonizing Iran. ["From its draconian punishment of women and homosexuals to its aggressive anti-Semitism (to highlight a few offenses), Iran must be stopped from having the political and military leverage that comes with the acquisition of a nuclear weapon program. "]

For the record, Jews have been living in Iran since biblical times (see the books of Esther and Ezra), there are currently several tens of thousands Jewish Iranians living in Iran, and Tehran has dozens of synagogues. In fact, other than in Israel, Iran is the only country in the Middle East with any Jewish community.

Regarding the treatment of women in Iran, I think many of us hold on to the myth that women in Iran are oppressed whereas women in America are powerful and free. Anyone who has met an Iranian woman will soon be disabused of this illusion.

As to homosexuals, I think before criticizing other countries, we should look within. Outside large urban areas, American aren't exactly very tolerant of homosexuality.

Within the past 50 years, Iran has been invaded (by Iraq), attacked by chemical weapons (again by Iraq) and not retaliated, suffered foreign political interference (CIA coup), has its diplomats massacred (by the Taliban in Afganistan), etc. Surely if Pakistan (with its ties to the Taliban) is permitted to have nuclear weapons, then Iran, based on its size, population, history, etc., should at least have the knowledge to build one, in case it is again attacked.

The Beach Boys are 10x the band the Doors could ever dream of being. Jim Morrison may have been charismatic, but Brian Wilson was a certifiable musical genius. In my estimation wanting to have sex with the lead singer is not a qualification for a great band.

I'd take five Beach Boys songs:
Don't worry baby
Sloop John B
God Only Knows
Surf's Up
Wouldn't It Be Nice
and Help Me Rhonda
over the entire Door's catalog.

The Doors were an interesting group, and certainly had an influence on punk.

For me, however, The Dead are the greatest American band . I know that there are a ton of people who simply loath the band, but even their most strident detractors have to acknowledge the enormous influence the Dead had over 30 years. Their commitment to improvisational music meant that when they were on they were a powerful and transcendent force, and when they were off--they sucked, badly. I think you have to appreciate that kind of risk taking in the search for the sound.

Much of their music is rooted in a kind of mythic America--the strange and eccentric America full of shaggy dog stories and tall tales. They populated their Fennerio-like world with characters like Black Peter, Lady w/ a Fan, August West, Sugaree, Tennessee Jed, Uncle John--they often rubbed elbows with people like Charlie Chan, Uncle Sam, and even Billy Sunday. The good and the bad; when the Dire Wolf shows up they invite him for a drink and a game of cards. The songs, the music, and the attitude was vast and all-encompassing; a good natured fatalism with a good sense of humor.

Jim Morrison had nothing on Robert Hunter.