Wow, an article about a rock/classical hybrid (“The Pastiche Is Prologue,” 9/3). Makes my old prog-geek heart go all fluttery. Name checks of Beethoven, Stravinsky…Webern, Schoenberg…Radiohead? Umkay, so far, so good; you use what you got….Hey, wait a minute, I’m getting that sinking feeling, familiar from reading too many looka-me-I’m-hip reviews of new prog bands afraid to associate themselves with genre….Hmm, halfway through the piece and nary a mention of the word….Aw shit, I know what’s coming now….Wait for it….Wait for it….Ah, there it is, the obligatory putdown of ELP and Yes: “overblown Frankenstein’s monsters.” Whew, that wasn’t so bad. I kinda dug Frankenstein’s monster, myself.

Anyway, reading the article was far less painful than reading Stinkfish. Glad to see it’s still OK to like a band that goes all Wagnerian (as long as it’s Metallica).

Looks like I’ll be seeing Telegraph Melts if the band starts playing out. But someone should tell the band—and Virginia Vitzthum—that being drawn mostly to 20th-century classical music won’t guarantee a reprieve from Frankenstein’s Curse—ELP covered Janacek and Bartok and Ginastera, after all, and classic Yes was deeply indebted to Stravinsky.

Bethesda, Md.