12/29/98, Jim "Reverend Horton Heat" Heath, Via Internet

Why is Robert Wilonsky so hard on me? I am just a local artist who is trying to feed my family. Sure, I may play concerts all over the United States and abroad, but I still like to think of myself as a local guy. I live in Dallas. I love Dallas.

In a recent issue of the Dallas Observer, Robert seemed to be dancing on my grave with the reports of Reverend Horton Heat getting "dropped." I long for the good old days when the Observer music writers were on the side of local artists instead of the big-business types at the major labels.

Robert called my album "filler." But if Robert could write at least one song as good as any of the songs on Space Heater, he could have his own silly band. Now that's a scary thought!

In the "Dude, you dropped" section of Street Beat, Robert starts with that "sources close to the band" stuff, and it makes me ask one question—why in the heck didn't he just call me on the phone to get the real story? It's not like I'm friggin' Cher or something! Instead, he writes falsities and insults.

Maybe Robert should think about shoring up some of those old journalistic abilities. He's not good enough to do his own job right, yet he can critique the job that I'm doing. It's people like Robert Wilonsky who love to destroy a good local music scene.

But I'm in good company. When Frank Sinatra died, Robert had this great idea. I could just hear him thinking, "Remember when I gave Frank Sinatra that bad review? Now that he died, let's run that same article about how much his last concert in Dallas sucked." Tasteful.

One night at Sol's Taco Lounge, Jeff Liles came up to me and said, "Robert Wilonsky just saw you come in the front door, so he quickly left out of the back." Well, Robert is not that stupid after all. So let it be known that when Robert Wilonsky loses his job, I will reflect and be a little sad. Because that is the kind of guy that I am. I'll save my dances for joyous times. And I'll be back reading the Dallas Observer.