Mr. Reynolds, I appreciate the consideration of your reply and your agreement with me that a message in the program would have been more appropriate.

We also agree that “you might have to wait” if late to a performance, and that such policies spare both audience and artists.

Perhaps we would even agree that this policy may be overdue, that the Campus Activities Board is somewhat of a “latecomer” in this respect, and is really responsible for the very situation for which it has just chastised many hundreds of people, most of them guiltless.

In fact, a careful reading of our two letters will reveal only one substantive disagreement:

You wanted to applaud the announcement, and I would have much preferred to hear the Brubeck Quartet introduced in a somewhat more dignified and gracious manner, given the distinction of the artists.

Perhaps our only other difference, a minor one, concerns that remark I heard from someone nearby, that “this could be a comedy routine.”

You characterized it as “ignorance,” which means lacking in knowledge, and I thought it was generally perceptive, meaning showing insight and understanding of the true nature of something.

Personally, I didn’t find the announcement funny at all, which was the reason for my response.

Neither the quartet nor the audience as a whole ought to have been subjected to its trivial content (among other reasons, trivial because the policy takes effect six months from now) and inappropriately insulting tone.

Perhaps you will join me in hoping we can look forward to many enjoyable programs in the future at the Egyptian, and that the courties of those in the audience will also be reflected back upon them.

(Anyway, it appears you won’t have to buy your tickets any earlier next year.)

Robert Fleisher

Associate professor

Music