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Blown Up

Always in style: Cocaine is back in style ["Got Blow?" Racket, by John Nova Lomax, July 5]?! Give me a fucking break! That would imply it has ever gone out of style. Psst, it didn't! Drugs will always be around, and every one of them will always be "in style."

You think heroin is out of style? It's not — I'm sure you can ask anyone when the last friend of theirs overdosed on heroin, and you will find it wasn't that long ago.

What's sad is the presumption that drugs follow some sort of fashion trend. The only time you will really see a surge in a particular drug is when it first comes out. Otherwise, its popularity will always be present dependent upon its availability. (To clarify — its abundance doesn't make it more popular; its scarcity makes it not so popular. I'm sure if peyote was more easily accessible, more people would be playing around with it.)

Furthermore, it's naive if you relate heroin to the depressed and coke to the happy, I-just-wanna-party type of people. ALL drug use, including cigarettes and alcohol, stems from covering up insecurity and/or depression.

Maybe what this article should have really been about is how people have become more sloppy about their drugs. Just because you didn't see it before didn't mean it wasn't there to begin with.

This was a worthless article. Did you just run out of ideas?

Shu Latif
Houston

Mean Guys

Shame, shame! I know your job is to sell newspapers, and I know that "negativity sells," but when you resort to being mean, I submit there are better ways to sell newspapers. I refer to your article about the many sports-talk radio shows ["Jock Radio," by Richard Connelly, June 28], and in specific, the part about a local frequent caller referred to as "Howard from Memorial." When Connelly referred to Howard's "Noo Yawk" accent, that was entertaining. When he mentioned the "sigh" from the talk show hosts, that was downhill, and a cheap shot. And the ending was, well, just mean-spirited.

This reader thinks that when a person writes for a living and resorts to cheap shots and meanness, it indicates that the writer is either lazy or not clever enough to sustain the entertaining beginning of the article he started. So when Connelly writes another mean-spirited article, he might do well to remember: It may be a finished thing, but not necessarily a well-written thing.

Lana Goldberg
Sugar Land

The Unit

Spectacular!!! I love the Zero Tolerance Unit ["Less than Zero," Hair Balls, by Richard Connelly, July 5]! How do I sign up to have it delivered?

I know all too well about this zero tolerance madness. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to laugh about it (though when it happens to your child, it is no laughing matter).

I only wish that you wrote for our local newspaper.

Looking forward to the next one.

Marie Perkins
Newark, DE

The New Kemah

An online reader responds to "Beyond the Boardwalk," by Robb Walsh, July 5.

Depressing: It's a shame that you didn't get to spend time in Kemah before everything changed. Not that I did when I lived in the area — I'd go to the seafood markets in Seabrook every week or so, but rarely ventured south across the bridge. I only went to T-Bone Tom's a couple of times, and had very good brisket there. Sorry you had a disappointing experience.

I haven't wanted to go back because I don't want to see what's happened to the channel area. It's depressing enough looking at it from the Seabrook side. I think Jimmy Walker's is still there in name, but it's now a Landry's restaurant. My parents remembered it from the time they were dating and always enjoyed going there for sentimental reasons. It was kind of like going to Gaido's without having to drive all the way to Galveston. There was another place that had very good food (can't remember the name, but it was still there around '96 or '97) and a great traditional Galveston Bay atmosphere (which means it wouldn't stand a chance in the Landry's corporate culture).

Anyway, glad to hear that T-Bone Tom's is still there and is still good.

Comment by Bill N, July 5

Corrections

A photo credit line on page 26 of the July 12 issue of the Houston Press incorrectly listed who owned the rights to the picture. The photograph of John Evans was taken by Houston Chronicle staff photographer Sara Cress. The Houston Press was given incorrect information about who had the rights to the picture when it asked for permission to republish it.

In addition, in the same issue the opening of the "Give Up vs. YAR!" show at Domy Books was listed on the wrong day in the Night & Day section. It opened on Friday, not Saturday.

The Press regrets the errors.