News

Letters

Week of July 7, 2004

Christ Is King
What would Jesus play? Hey, for the first time in many months, you gave me a reason not to toss the Riverfront Times into the recycling pile right away. Thanks for Ben Westhoff's "Jesus for Juniors" [June 23]. Yeah, Jesus would play Foosball!

As host of The Answer Radio Show, a faith-based music program on Y98 FM (KYKY 98.1) on Sunday nights for 30 years, I've come across many stories similar to the ones you wrote about, where sincere outreach like the Realm has created positive results in a community. In fact, we've been impressed with a similar effort, Oneighty (180) in Fairview Heights, a cool youth-outreach to the metro-east community through Grace Church.

We feel that The Answer is trying to do the same thing. Like the Realm, we're trying to reach folks where they are and letting them know that Jesus sacrificed His life for each of us so that we could have the opportunity to receive eternal life through Him. That's pretty good news, I'd say!
Stel Pontikes, host
The Answer Radio Show
St. Louis

You can't outcool the Devil: Let me get this straight. Two dorks in their early twenties who graduated from Jerry Falwell's college have a "global" vision of outcooling the Devil by inviting teenagers to their youth center to eat pizza and listen to Jesus-rock. And you think this is new? Why don't you see this for what it is -- a way for a church to market itself in large affluent suburbs to raise money. It's a business.

Why do you think these guys know the demographics of the area so well? Harvard Business School graduates go to work at IBM and Microsoft when they graduate. Places like Liberty University and Oral Roberts teach their students about their business, too. The business of Jesus. Nothing more, nothing less. And these guys have a marketing plan to make Jesus cool, get people involved and ultimately make more money. Do you really think Freddy Williams and Jamie George have any other marketable skills? How many other "Ashton Kutcher-caliber hunks" their age hang out with dorky teenagers on a Friday night?

One more thing: Jesus rock is not mainstream. It's popular only in its weird subculture. If you want proof, go out to your car and scan through the stations.
Anne and Matt Koth
Kirkwood

Liberal Rag Time
Moore's the pity: It's understandable that an overly liberal "paper" like the Riverfront Times would print a positive review of Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11 ["George of the Bungle," June 23]. But Gregory Weinkauf's review takes Moore's picture at face value, showing his ignorance not only at Moore's filming and editing tactics, but also his unwillingness to see past those tactics to find the unbiased truth.

Moore's bias in his new film doesn't just point out that the Bush administration acted in the way some people thought it shouldn't have, but he makes it personal by poking fun at the way the president talks, for God's sake. Are we award-winning filmmakers or eight-year-old children on a playground? And Bush was stunned for seven minutes during the attacks on the World Trade Center -- seven whole minutes. Holy crap! I wonder how many people saw that image on television and weren't frozen in place for twenty minutes or more, yet Moore wants us to believe the president was crippled. Blah.

At least ten Web sites catalog and document blatant omissions of fact, distortions of actual happenings and flat-out lies in Moore's Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine. Did anyone honestly think Moore would clean up his act after accepting the award and look at the Bush administration objectively? Moore has even said that he won't appear on television interviews if he thinks the questioning would turn hostile. Okay, Mr. Simpson, we believe you're not guilty. If your film is loaded with truth, then stand behind it.

I have respected Moore as a filmmaker in the past and I still do. I enjoyed Roger & Me and The Big One, and I loved his farce Canadian Bacon. However, the amount of evidence that has refuted his presentation in Bowling and the amount of information the public already knows was ignored in Fahrenheit doesn't make him a documentarian. It makes him a fraud. Shame on you, Mr. Weinkauf, for not recognizing "fictition" when you see it.
Zach Lorton
Alton

Errata
In the June 2 RFT Music Awards '04 insert, a capsule description of Best Hard Rock nominee Killjoy4Fun included observations about the band's live performances. That material was based on a description published in Playback magazine in March by John Kujawski, whom we failed to credit. The RFT regrets the omission -- as well as the fact that we neglected to spell the band's name as1singleword.

Clubs Editor
The Riverfront Times is looking for a part-time (25-30 hours per week) clubs editor to contribute to our music section. Must be knowledgeable about -- and fascinated by -- the local nightclub scene and possess a desire to put that knowledge to work in building the RFT's clubs coverage. Please send résumé and writing samples to:

Jordan Harper, music editor
Riverfront Times
6358 Delmar Blvd., Ste. 200
St. Louis, MO 63130