Like the letter-writer in last week’s paper, I miss Your Negro Tour Guide (“Tour Will Be Missed,” issue of Feb. 16-22).
I miss being nudged or catapulted — depending on the subject matter — out of my comfort zone. I miss having to think in new ways, having to re-examine my experience as a white, heterosexual, upper-middle class woman. I found Kathy Y. Wilson’s writing consistently stimulating, provocative and, yes, educational.
While YNTG was not my only reason to read CityBeat, it certainly had become my primary reason. When I read the late-January column in which Wilson said that it would be her last YNTG, I first felt stunned, then sad — my feelings somewhat assuaged by her promise to write future CityBeat articles (but not a regular YNTG column).
I look forward to those, but I still miss my weekly dose of Your Negro Tour Guide.
— Nancy Brown, Anderson Twp.
Leave Your Personal Bias out of Opinions
In your recent “Locals’ Guide to Bars and Clubs” called Swizzle (issue of Feb. 2-8), I was shocked to read Kathy Y. Wilson’s very negative and misleading description of Cincinnati’s most prominent Jazz venue, the Blue Wisp Jazz club. A few quick facts about the Wisp:
· The Blue Wisp is one of only a few clubs in the country featuring Jazz seven nights a week.
· Wilson complains about the Wisp “recycling identical talent,” giving it a “lounge lizard complex.” For over 25 years, this club has showcased the area’s finest musicians. Practically every established Jazz musician I know has had the opportunity to play on many occasions at the Blue Wisp. The Wisp has a great trio backing the wide variety of local and visiting talent on the weekends, not to mention the big band and the rest of their regular groups.
· Wilson writes that the club’s saving grace has become the CD release parties of local musicians like Mike Wade and Marc Fields. While these players are excellent and have terrific bands, I’m sure they would agree with me that the Blue Wisp’s strongest point is that it consistently brings more world class players to our city than any other establishment in this area. In the past year alone, the Wisp has hosted a long list of Jazz giants including Ira Sullivan, Javon Jackson and the Fred Hersch trio.
Because of the Blue Wisp, I’ve experienced some of Jazz’s legendary performers, from Sun Ra to John Clayton to Dave Liebman. In the future, when your paper runs a feature showcasing Cincinnati nightlife, have Wilson save her personal bias for her CD reviews and let her aim for a little more objectivity in her comments and observations.
— Jim Connerley, Covington
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2005.
