Dear Gregory Berryman,
As much as I appreciated your insightful contribution to our daily newspaper ("Spring concert," Mar. 29), I must say that I think you made two glaring mistakes in your letter to the editor. Assuming that you simply overlooked them before submitting, I will point them out here for your and everyone else's sake.
The first error is that you seem to believe that your opinion of artists' ability is synonymous with their level of talent. Though it was difficult to see through your sarcasm, I believe that when you said O.A.R. brings "poignant and potent lyrics," you were really trying to imply the opposite ... a truly tactful method. However, did you ever consider that others might judge musical talent on different criteria? Whereas you perhaps appreciate Lil' Wayne's music due to his ability to fit as many offensive expressions and expletives into a verse as possible, I might place more value on the melodies of an O.A.R. ballad.
The second oversight you seem to have made is to equate fame with talent. I don't know much about the hip-hop artist Chiddy Bang, but the fact that you criticize him because he is a "second--rate rapper" and call O.A.R. a "wannabe Dave Matthews Band" shows that you might just be looking to brag to your IU friends that we have better concerts than them, something I am not losing too much sleep over.
Next time you write to The Observer, you might want to think first that there are indeed other people in the world and that some of those people go to Notre Dame and appreciate O.A.R. and are actually grateful that there are people at our University responsible for bringing them here. Or, just abstain. Don't go, and instead pay to go to a Rebecca Black concert in Michigan City ... I hear she's pretty famous.
Sarah Brenzel
junior
Walsh Hall
Mar. 30
