Letters

Genuine adulation!

Ian,

Received several copies of Ink Nineteen in the past few days. Actually, I have been out of town for an extended period of time so I don’t know exactly when they arrived… the bottom line is, thank you, kind sir! I have been curious how my little self portrait looked in print.

I have also taken the time to read many of the articles, and am impressed by the quality of the writing (REAL thought-provoking ideas, usually well-organized structure and themeatic development, perceptive observations). Kudos to you and your publication.

Nothing like the regular newspapers and magazines ( Time , Newsweek , Rolling Stone , etc.). Those clowns seem to bend over backward in order to avoid taking any kind of actual stand on anything or drawing any conclusions. Not only do many of your contributing writers present drawn conclusions about their subject matter… they back them up with REASONS! What a novel idea …

And, for me, a refreshing blast of fresh air in an otherwise spineless culture of “let’s play it safe, don’t upset anyone, straddle both sides of the fence, pander to the lowest possible denominator” modern journalism.

Thanks over and again,

Christopher A. Schlegel

Thank you for your kind words about our magazine and writers. We really don’t feed those monkeys as many bananas as we should, considering how much quality typed output they come up with…

The Shame!

Dear Mr. Moneygrubbing Editor,

I’ve been reading Ink Nineteen for almost a whole year now, and have come to rely on it as a reliable source of information about new, real, underground music. That is, until I saw your February 1999 issue at Vegan Boy Records. Ink Nineteen has finally sold out to the corporate cocksuckers. You put Motley Crue in your magazine! I did not even sully my hands by touching the issue (much less reading it), and I will never read Ink Nineteen again. I, who has been an ardent fan of Ink Nineteen for so long am now your worst enemy. I have brought the full force of my resources to bear against you; I told all nine readers of my ‘zine, sXe For Life , about this atrocity, I put the information up on the Web site my parents bought me (www.sxe4life.com), and wrote letters to Maximum Rock N’ Roll AND Ian MacKaye to let them know about this. All my friends in the sophomore class at Grover Cleveland High high school think this sucks. You have destroyed any credibility you ever had – in fact, I took all the records I bought based on your reviews to the store and sold them, because I didn’t want to taint myself with your corporate bullshit. I don’t expect that Mr. Fat Kat Businessman will read this letter, much less have the balls to print it, but I had to make the error of your ways known to you. I will destroy you and all the major label evil that you represent. I hope your writers enjoyed the fat payoffs they got.

A former Ink Nineteen fan,

Ethan Smith

sXe For Life

Ethan– Busted. We used the money from the Crue story to finance our staff’s debauchery at the annual Ink Nineteen Golf and Hookers retreat. You have shamed us into rethinking this whole money-for-publicity gambit. Soon, we will come up with a better way! Watch for future interviews with Elton John, Air Supply, and the guy who came up with the second “B” in ABBA. ◼