I found the Music Issue interesting, but also was surprised at how much it missed out on. Yes Prince did come to Ivory’s on Broad, but left when everyone started gazing and photographing him while he was seated in the back of the club. Also no mention of the New Horizon’s Reggae Club that was located at Broad and Shafer streets. It featured the original Awareness Art Ensemble on any given night as well as Jamaican performances from Peter Tosh, Burning Spear and Third World among many (it caught on fire in the early ’90s, and rumor was VCU didn’t want it to return. It was a prime Rasta hangout in the ’80s!).

Also I was surprised to read not much about Richmond’s closest thing to the Fillmore, the Floodzone. No mention of the pre-major-label Dave Mathews Band, which performed on most Wednesday nights for five bucks, or the legendary Bootsy Collins show from the early ’90s that ended around 3 a.m. with fans climbing through the side window, across a sea of herb smoke, to check out the concert, which also featuring Richmond’s own Good Guys.

Darrl Davenport
Richmond

I want to again express my thanks to the writers, especially Terry Rea and Dale Brumfield as I know both personally. I was proud to be chosen as someone to be featured in the 1960s portion of the story “Aural History.” Steve Wall of Titfield Thunderbolt and I were able to reconnect to a happier time on the Saturday before the article appeared. He helped me remember so many forgotten bands that flowed so effortlessly along West Grace in the day. It’s stories like this that help someone like me discover a forgotten youth.

Ellen Shaver
Chesterfield