In your Jan. 21 issue, on the Arts & Entertainment page, Ben Jones gave a rave review, a 5 star review no less, to an up-and-coming band. That band was Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise. To give a band such a great review, such praise, one would think that a follow-up review by Ben Jones or one of your other Arts & Entertainment writers would have been published after the show held Saturday, Jan. 24 at the M-Shop.

To me, it is not understandable why you rate a band so highly after listening to a CD when you could go and experience it firsthand and give the audience a real opinion. I will admit that I loved the band also when I first heard the CD, but nothing can compare to seeing them live. There is no way to convey the same feelings of a CD to a real show.

Robert Bradley and his band put on such an intense show, filling the audience with such feeling and emotion, yet no one will know this because the “reviewers” didn’t show up to listen. I can sit and tell my friends how great it was, how I couldn’t help but smile because I was in the presence of this remarkable new band that just made me want to dance and be happy. But I can’t do them justice. Your reviewers can. They can, by far, expose their thoughts to many more people.

The review, the praise, in the paper about the band and their CD was excellent. Next time though, take the time to practice what you preach, go listen to the band for yourself, in person, then review. Experience firsthand is the only real way to experience.

Elizabeth Nordeen

Senior

Management information systems