I respectfully disagree with Scott Mervis' comments regarding Bob Dylan's performance at the New American Music Union Festival last Saturday (Music Review: Gnarls Barkley hits groove at festival; Dylan puts on an anticlimactic finish, Aug. 11). I thought it was a fine performance, but, having learned over the years that reasonable people can always differ on the quality of a Dylan concert, I'm writing more to disagree with a couple of specific points made in the review.

Mr. Mervis writes that festival curator Anthony Keidis "probably didn't envision [Dylan] filling the better part of his set with shuffling Western swing and ... nonclassics." If indeed this is the case, then Mr. Keidis didn't do his homework. For two years now, Dylan's set lists have been dominated by material from his last two albums. Dylan is not a nostalgia act and has never been one. He doesn't do "greatest hits" concerts or crank up the volume just because he happens to be following the Raconteurs at a festival.

Second, I don't follow Mr. Mervis' suggestion that the set would have been better in the afternoon. Good music is good, no matter what the time of day it is. I thought Dylan was the perfect closing act. It was an "American Music" festival, and Dylan gave the fans a glimpse of many different styles of American music, from rock to blues to swing to Western swing. That's as American as you can get!

Joseph A. Landolina
Squirrel Hill

I wasn't there because I had to go to a wedding, but a couple of things in regards to Scott Mervis' review of the New American Music Union.

1) Has he seen Dylan in the past 25 years? He has been rearranging his songs for as long as any Dylan fan can remember. Anybody who went there expecting a "greatest hits" set has no clue and is not a Dylan fan.

2) He played 13 songs and six of them were "greatest hits"-type songs: "Rainy Day Woman," "It Ain't Me, Babe," "Tangled up in Blue," "It's Alright, Ma," "Ballad of a Thin Man" and "Like a Rolling Stone."

Again, anyone who is in tune to Dylan would expect no more fan favorites than this. I'm not making a comment on the sound quality and the vibe the Dylan set left (again, because I was not there), but I think some of his points are pretty weak. Dylan's live shows have been pretty consistent for a number of years now. I don't know what Mervis expected.

Chad Huber
Pleasant Hills

We were not one of the "lucky" ones who got tickets to the New American Music Union, but here's what we saw from the outside: After Dylan's second song, those college students poured out of the fenced-in area in high multitudes.

If I had tape, we were tempted to ask for those used wristbands and re-tape them on our wrists. Yes, Keidis did a great job, but Pittsburgh did not give Dylan the respect he deserves.

Edward Kwiatkowski
Franklin Park

While local promoters of the New American Music Union at the SouthSide Works are to be commended for bringing a well-organized and fun event to Pittsburgh this past weekend, the real rock and roll "story" was happening at the other end of the South Side where local artists Bill Deasy, Anthony Rankin and Kelsey Friday shared the bill as part of the weekly Friday night Station Square Street Jam.

I have seen Deasy and Friday numerous times, and, as usual, they delivered fantastic sets that left you wondering why more local artists aren't bigger commercial successes. However, this was my first time seeing Anthony Rankin play live, and I, like everyone else in attendance, was totally blown away by his talent, presence and rapport with the audience. Playing a broad selection from his three studio album, Rankin epitomized the very best in rock 'n' roll with stirring guitar riffs, a diverse vocal range and creative lyrical prowess.

Next year, instead of an "anticlimactic" act like Bob Dylan, maybe the New American Music Union promoters should consider booking an up-and-coming icon like Anthony Rankin as the headliner. His infectious style of rock 'n' roll would be a guaranteed crowd-pleaser and definitely leave the audience screaming for more.

Keith G. Kondrich
Swisshelm Park

Read this release from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust carefully.

"Lisa Williams is an internationally acclaimed medium and clairvoyant who has an amazing ability to communicate with loved ones and friends whom have passed on to the 'other side'... She works with loved ones of the audience to help resolve past issues, inform them of situations that they may find themselves in, and give closure and healing. Lisa Williams shares these gifts through large audience readings."

There's not a word of demurral from the outrageous claims made by this "medium," "clairvoyant" and "healer." It is sad and cruel to exploit the genuine loss one might feel after the death of a loved one by pretending to contact them on "the other side," and it is complicit and a betrayal of "trust" for the Trust to market this balderdash.

I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall when the decision was made to bring in this act. Somehow I think this is not what Jack Heinz had in mind, and I'm surprised this wording got past the Trust's lawyers.

Where's Kathryn Kuhlman when we need her?

Attilio "Buck" Favorini
University of Pittsburgh Theater Dept.