Sir, - How can you justify publishing the feature by John Lane entitled "Message in a bottle" (Arts, October 20th)?
This puts forward the proposition that without the use of "mind-altering substances" the "creative juices" will refuse to flow. The use of "mind-altering substances" has ruined and is ruining the lives of too many people worldwide. To suggest that anybody embarking on a career in the creative arts will get nowhere without recourse to "mind-altering substances" is just a tad short of drug-pushing by print.
One of the most creative of all musicians, the late Charlie Parker, put the opposite case to that of John Lane very well when he said:
"Any musician who says he is playing better either on tea, the needle, or when he is juiced, is a plain, straight liar. When I get too much to drink, I can't even finger well, let alone play decent ideas. And in the days when I was on the stuff, I may have thought I was playing better, but listening to some of the records now, I know I wasn't." - Yours, etc.,
Dermot O'Shea, Meadow Grove, Churchtown, Dublin 16.