Hall monitors

One of these days Robert Hilburn will be wrong, but I am not holding my breath. Once again he is right on target in “Good Isn’t Good Enough” (Oct. 31) with his “nominations” for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I particularly want to second his nominations of Randy Newman, Gram Parsons and the Sex Pistols. All are so underrated.

I use Randy Newman songs in class to illustrate how songs can reflect different cultures and cultural diversity issues.

I encourage my students from south Georgia to listen to Gram Parsons, who invented country rock and who is from Waycross, Ga..

I was telling my niece that if she really wants to get to the roots of punk rock, she has to listen to the Sex Pistols.

Dave Lake

Savannah, Ga.

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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has become a tired and ludicrous affair, the antithesis of that which it seeks to dignify with a silly statuette. Would the surviving Sex Pistols even want this award? Is Percy Sledge a rocker? Allow me to nominate a few worthy absentees for next year’s ballot: Donovan; Jan & Dean; Larry Williams; the Fugs; Arthur Lee’s Love; Thee Midniters & Little Willie G.; Canned Heat; Traffic; Johnny Otis; Huey “Piano” Smith and the Clowns.

And in the “Sidemen” category, let’s not forget the first black rock ‘n’ roll touring band -- Little Richard’s Upsetters!

Robert Leslie Dean

Los Angeles