The problem isn't where do The Roots fit in today's hip-hop/ R&B arena; the problem is why haven't there been more artists/groups like them [Cover, "Game On," Neil Gladstone, Aug. 17, 2006]. It is true in today's marketplace that image is everything, but that is exactly why we have such mediocre songs and albums in hip-hop right now. How many pimp/gangsta/crack-dealing stories can this genre that has taken over pop music bear? The fans only have themselves to blame for artists that are lazy, self-involved, and flat-out whack. Yes, it is wonderful to have Outkast and Kanye West break out and take over the charts. Yet, do we really need Lil' Wayne, Young Joc and the overly hyped T.I.?

The Roots are a great band, period. They transcend categories and play in a league of their own. Hopefully their continued existence will be an inspiration for other aspiring hip-hop artists to put intelligence, consciousness and individuality back in a musical genre in dire need of fresh air.

So, The Roots are featured in the City Paper. It must be Thursday again.

Thanks for telling the real story of these pioneering cats who remain true to musical principles when every molecule in the corporate universe is pushing them in the opposite direction [Cover Story, "Game On," Neil Gladstone, Aug. 17, 2006]. One point I'd like to mention; the bassist who left the band was not Steve Newman; it was Joshua Abrams. Josh left the band to attend college only after much serious soul-searching. I know this because we talked about it one night when the band I was in, Gutbucket, played on a triple bill in late summer of 1993 at The Khyber with The Goats and The Roots. It may have been one of his last gigs with the band and there was definitely a wistful undercurrent to that evening despite the overall raucous energy.

Anyway, big ups to CP for a job well done.

Aaron Luis Levinson

Fishtown

Thank you for [Philly Blunt, "Reefer Gladness," Brian Hickey, Aug. 17, 2006]. There are tens ofmillions of decent, (otherwise) law-abiding, patriotic Americans who use this wonderful plant for many medical purposes or simply to relax after a hard day of work. We are afraid to stand up for our rights because of theyears of government propaganda painting us as criminals and degenerates. Until the major media start paying attention to this issue, most Americans only see the lies the ONDCP feeds them. They don't realize that they could be the next victim of the police state.

Please withhold my name so I won't be targeted for arrest.

LEAP helps restore respect for police. Re-legalizing cannabis is also biblically correct since Christ God Our Father indicated He created all the seed-bearing plants, saying they are all good on literally the very first page of the Bible. To realize cannabis is a God-given plant that God says is good is important; many regular churchgoers do not receive this truth because of a failed clergy's agenda to serve the Christian right. Ironically, while many people know of cannabis as the tree of life, the very last page of the Bible indicates the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations; thus cannabis was and is created to heal and end war. Re-legalizing cannabis will help heal the nations of earth.

[Re: Philly Blunt, "Reefer Gladness," Brian Hickey, Aug. 17, 2006] It is easy for the media to slam reformers, but this article allowed the proponent to be heard. Well done!

Bill Fried

Boston

I wanted to thank you for your attention to a problem that seems simple to solve and would stop making criminals out of thousands of Americans. Hopefully, one day our politicians will at the very least begin to address this issue. This is such an easy fix if somehow we can find the people with the political will.

Mark Kelch

San Antonio, Texas

One of the crucial issues of why there is this bullshit war on drugs is to employ a huge multitrillion dollar cadre of police, judges, lawyers, prison suppliers, etc. Give free drugs, drug education, psychiatric and psychological support to those who are the lost souls and this "problem" would drastically diminish in a few generations.

Name Withheld

Via e-mail

My husband Edmund [Rek] and I are avid fans of the City Paper and find it a great resource for dining and entertainment information. However, we were very disappointed to see A.D. Amorosi imply that Edmund misrepresented his talents and work experience to the owner of Restaurant M [Icepack, July 27, 2006]. Edmund graduated from Johnson and Wales in 1994 and has been a "hands-on" cook/chef ever since.

Philadelphia is a small town and we have only been here for two years, so it is a real blow to our fledgling reputations to have the City Paper print this one-sided story. It is not with surprise that within your large circulation there are people we know, and it has not been easy fielding all the phone calls and e-mails asking what are we going to do. Last but not least, these comments appear to anyone with Internet access in the top listings of a Google search, which has left an unwarranted stain on our integrity as private citizens and has the potential to harm our standing far beyond Philadelphia.

[Re: Icepack, A.D. Amorosi, Aug. 17, 2006] I am greatly disappointed in your lack of journalistic discipline. I worked with Ed Rek at the Park Hyatt for three years in the critically acclaimed Melrose Restaurant in management capacities. Melrose was a AAA four-diamond restaurant and regularly reviewed as one of the areas best restaurants by Washingtonian Magazine and The Washington Post. I would encourage you to complete journalistic checks to verify these facts.

Hilary Kinney

Corporate Project Manager, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

I find it very disturbing that [A. D. Amorosi] could attack the credibility of an individual without first researching the truth of the attack. I think that it is very important to know the "rumors" about Edmund Rek are just that. I know for a fact that he is a very talented chef, and his credentials extend beyond that of Johnson & Wales and Park Hyatt.

I am curious what the motive behind publishing such an article was. It reminds me of 7th grade when all the girls would pass notes to one another trying to make each other look bad. To all involved in this vindictive attack: Grow up.

Laura Ozcoskun

Annapolis, Md.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for [News, "Dicey Propositions," Kevin Haney, Aug. 17, 2006]! The PGCB, Act 71, and those who helped create them are utterly corrupt at all levels. The more they are investigated, the more their disdain for the public is revealed.

We may soon hear more promises from either the PGCB (or the casino operators themselves) of extra neighborhood-impact compensations where the casinos will be built. Such compensation can include money for schools, gambling-addiction clinics, neighborhood associations and even local emergency services. However, there is absolutely nothing written in the law that says they must comply. Basically they are making promises that they don't have to keep. And seeing how the PGCB operates and the way casino operators historically operate, should we believe those promises?

Sean Benjamin

Fishtown

Perhaps it's too much to expect Bruce Schimmel to do research before writing on topics as complex and controversial as the gun violence besetting Philly and Camden [Loose Canon, "Of Arms and Angry Young Men," Aug. 10, 2006]. Better, maybe, for him to propound such unexamined notions as "criminals will always get guns" and pretend he has somehow contributed to the righteous effort to reduce the carnage in Del Val streets. Nice.

But, here's the thing: Despite Second Amendment whining by pro-gunners, the fact is that gun laws work. It's no coincidence that Pennsylvania's neighbors New Jersey and New York have both far more stringent handgun-background-check and permitting systems and far lower statewide per-capita rates of gun violence. It is much more difficult for bad guys, straw purchasers and gun traffickers to get their hands on guns in the Garden and Empire states than in Pennsylvania. Nor is it a coincidence that two New Jersey cities, Camden and Trenton, suffer disproportionately high rates of gun violence, as they're both only bridge rides away from Pennsylvania's menacing and efficient gun black market, where illegal guns are as easy to get as groceries.

Contrary to Schimmel's knee-jerk skepticism, we can slow the flow of illegal handguns to the mean streets, thereby diminishing supply, raising prices and making it far less likely that every kid in Point Breeze, Kensington, East Camden, Chester and dozens of bullet-riddled neighborhoods on both sides of the Delaware will have a handgun in his pocket and use it. We can do so by gaining enactment of a statewide One Handgun a Month law in Pennsylvania that will dramatically reduce the movement of guns from legal sale at Pa. gun shops to illegal street sale.

Yes, getting it done will be difficult and take time and long-term commitment, but not even Vince Fumo, busy these days doing the gun lobby's business by trying distraction after distraction, will be able to stop the growing momentum forever.

Finally, while it may feel good, a Philly-only solution won't work. There are many more gun shops in the suburbs than the city, which would be the only beneficiaries of a Philly-only approach. Happily, a growing coalition of concerned citizens and organizations called PATH (Pennsylvanians Against Handgun Trafficking) is busy stoking the fire of life-saving change (see www.PATHCoalition.org). It deserves City Paper's support.

Bryan Miller

Executive Director, Ceasefire NJ

We get all-new laws. We get border guards to keep those bad boys from buying guns in the suburbs and bringing them into our walled city. The new laws impede the law-abiding and make self-defense a big hassle but we solve the problem of straw buyers. What's a criminal to do?

How about staking out a cop's house and burglarizing it? Wow. A barely used Glock! For free. We could disarm the police to put an end to that worry. By the time they respond to your 911 call, they are already too late anyway.

Laws need to be enforced against the people committing the crimes. Those laws that only prevent the rest of us fromprotecting ourselves do nothing but make us better victims. We have an attitude in Philadelphia that we are suffering from a "law"deficiency. Has anyone checked to see what laws are already on thebooks and how they are being enforced?

The criminal-justice system is broken. The police, district attorney, courts and prisons need to meetand work out ways to get the relatively small number of violent repeat offenders from shooting each other on our streets or keep them in jail. They are bad shots. Maybe a target-practice program for gangbangers would help.

Morris Klein

Center City

[Naked City, "Flex Appeal, Tasha Ho-Sang, Aug. 3, 2006] contained several inaccuracies. Morjorie Newlin was 71 when she started lifting weights; the trainer who entered her in her first bodybuilding competition was Robert Rivers, the founder of Rivers Gym; Newlin trains four days a week at Bally and did not appear in commercials in Barbados, but rather a television talk show. City Paper regrets the errors.