Dear Tim "Grump" Greiner (ROX nicknamed their reviewers "Grump" for bad reviews, "Pinhead" for good ones. Yes, it is stupid.)
After reading your review of Court Jester, it's obvious that you are not capable or qualified to assess real talent. The guitar work is genius, dynamic and inspired. The writing is superb and the vocals great! As to printing errors, this makes the tape even more valuable. It happened to the Beatles.
This tape was done on a low budget in record time. Doug Guckert on drums, David Braswell on lead and rhythm guitar and vocals, Steve Jake Jakubik on bass and David Simmons on rhythm guitar are great, talented team of veterans. They didn't buy ads in your paper so they don't qualify for a good word.
I doubt if you have the guts to print this letter, but that doesn't matter. Everyone knows that if they believe what you write, the are stupid.
Sincerely,
Dave's Mom
(Shirley Braswell) - Happy and proud to be known as Dave Braswell's
mom.
Baltimore, MD
Editor's Response: I respect your enthusiasm about your son's music. We all need support; but I feel obliged to remind you that when artists submit their work to critical review, they must be prepared for negative publicity. I assure you that I do not form my opinions hastily. Rather, I base them on six years experience in local music and in comparison to all the other music I receive.
I pride myself on my own journalistic integrity and refuse to let advertising status bias my reviews. You'll find a Tim "Grump" Greiner review on Rumble Street's demo in our November 1990 issue. That band had been a long-time advertising client when the review was written.
Read the Court Jester review again. I pointed out the positives as well as the negatives, and my assessment stands.
Tim Greiner,
Editor of ROX Magazine