ELVIS SLAG

Rip It Up, Issue 195, 1 October 1993, Page 26

ELVIS SLAG

DUMB LETTERS TO ELVIS An occasional folly-filled series of authentic letters from readers -foolish . enough to tangle with a heartless and overworked editorial staff . I Dear Editor J • . Issue 192, July 1993 I refer you to the above issue of Rip It Up . ; and in particular to; ■ 1. the advertisement on page 29 for The Cruel ■ ■ Sea where the byline reads "The Fucking ‘ • ■ Brilliant New Album" . '2 to page 33 for Bad Jurassic Action Piano - . where it is stated that it is "(low Showing always in every Fucking Cinema Everywhere" ' . - 3. to the Elvis Report on page 33 ' ' 4. and to the column "Just say Yo" on page 36 Can you tell me the purpose and intent of the ■■ ' language and views expressed considering that the magazine is presumably designed to keep its readers informed about the rock music scene. ..A.';--.;'/I 'vivA ' I look forward with interest to your reply ■ Russell Garbutt St Leonards Well Russell, an excellent question on your part. Not as excellent as "why the name Garbutt exactly, and — more incredibly — how?" but still one which had us scratching our heads. Why indeed? Speaking as part of a magazine designed to keep its readers informed about the rock scene, we turn always to that scene itself. Not the well-spoken and wryly inquiring scene of somewhere like, say, St Leonards, . but the rough, rugged and hearty world of the "street." Yes, the STREET, where treacherous devil-may-care louts, scoundrels and stablehands inhabit : inns, deserted warehouses, drinking taverns and brasseries. Where dirtyfaced villains—the Straw People, for example, orthe Dribbling Darts—laugh gap-toothed and slam wet tankards on rough-hewn table-tops, all the time | clutching large-bosomed Cockney prostitutes called Mary, etc. It is this scene, Mr Garbutt, which inks our mighty quill! . In this the "rock scene" the term "fuck" (excuse me!) is used to express excitement. Thus a statement made in the finger-snapping repartee of the urbane average person from, say, St Leonards (eg Man! That hep-cat is one cool daddy-o!) would, in the language of the street, become succinctly transformed, thusly: "FUCK!" ” - * : So Russell, satisfied? And incidentally. Bad Jurassic Action Piano was in fact (ahem) NOT a film but PART of the Elvis report, which may explain other readers' letters wondering why there are no dinosaurs in the new Jane Campion movie. PS. Ring the Ribidup office and we'll give you Russell's phone-number, absolutely free!