Blame the messenger
Khary Kimani Turner’s article about the need for downtown hotel rooms quotes Patti Shock, chair of the Convention and Tourism Department of the University of Las Vegas-Nevada (“The inn crowd,” Metro Times, Oct. 15-21). “Detroit needs to do some heavy PR to combat the negative image painted by the press over the years.”
If there is a negative bent to any story about Detroit, Detroit media will run with the negative aspect as the primary story. So it’s no surprise that the national media jump on the same negative stories. Detroit media is one of Detroit’s worst enemies.
Regarding the forthcoming hotels, bring them on. Let’s make up our mind as to whether they are necessary once they have been built and occupied. You can be assured that the casino hotels will meet the expectations of the casino entities. Because of them, Detroit will be marketed in a way that has not happened previously. The casinos will do what is necessary to fill their rooms and, along with that, they will promote a positive picture of Detroit. And, when they decide to build second towers, there will be no questions asked as to whether they can fill their rooms. —Robert P. Thibodeau, Detroit
Extra space
It is good to read the other side of the situation. It appears that there will be excess rooms available. To do all that for one event does not make sense. Hopefully convention crowds will come, but then we need to have a draw. So far Detroit offers little if any attractions. Yes, it would be good to have nicer restaurants and inns in Detroit. In fact it would be nice to have a lot of new buildings in the city, but for a business decision there has to be a return on investment and Detroit may not support such undertakings. —Henry Sommerstorfer, Clinton Twp.
Review reviewed
Editor’s note: The following e-mail concerning Carlo Wolff’s review of The Five People You Meet In Heaven is printed as we received it, with all spelling and grammatical errors intact.
I am so glad that your one sided totally closed minded book review for The Five People was not printed in the Free Press (“The review the Freep wouldn’t print,” Metro Times, Oct. 8-14). I thought you came across sounding like such an idiot. On the other hand, if your review was printed, it may help the book sales (not that it is needed at number one) because I will NEVER read a book that you like. Secondly, the book was short and not too complicated. It is very easy to read in a few hours, and it is just right to myself and many others. I think your an idiot. Go find a different profession please because you are the one who should get a bad review! —Emily Brooks, parts unknown
Once a scab, ...
Hurray for Jack Lessenberry (“The Albom ethics flap,” Metro Times, Oct. 15-21)! I’m glad to finally see someone take Mitch Albom to task for his blatant self-centerism and outright creepiness. To this day I think of Mitch Albom as a scab.
Here’s a man rich beyond compare, the Albom Empire spanning radio, television, newsprint and books, yet he didn’t have enough backbone to stand with his fellow employees at the Freep/News in their fight to maintain a standard of living that the JOA tried so hard to strip away. And why should he — he’s got his, so screw you.
And even though Albom’s show airs local bands in tiny little segments giving local talent the chance it richly deserves, the man disgusts me so much that I refuse to listen, even when members of said bands are friends of mine. Because to listen to his show is to acknowledge his existence, and I’d rather he just fall off the face of the earth, the sooner the better. —Allen Salyer, [email protected], Royal Oak
Follow-up
Circle of Confusion, the Detroit-area filmmakers mentioned in last week’s Back Words column (“24-hour movie people,” Metro Times, Oct. 22-28), did not win their midnight moviemaking competition. For additional details, visit nycmidnight.com.
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