A Forgettable Critique

I’m sitting here this morning with The Times’ Calendar section in front of me wondering what qualifications your staff writer Janice Page has to write about Natalie Cole’s performance (“Natalie Cole: Less Than King-Size,” July 6).

She compares Natalie to Roy Orbison, her father Nat (King) Cole and Ella Fitzgerald. She continues that “she sometimes suffers in comparison to the originals” and “sadly . . . Cole doesn’t have Fitzgerald’s voice either.” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to discover that “Natalie . . . is no Nat” but a talent on her own.

Why can’t someone who writes for a paper such as yours look for what a performer does well, instead of making ridiculous comparisons just to be able to say something negative?

The column left me wondering whether Page has really earned the right to comment on Natalie’s “Unforgettable”: “Joyous and moving? Sure. Unforgettable? Not nearly.”

The charts and record sales alone would tell you that millions of people differ with your writer.

KAREN MOHRHOFF

Newport Beach