Firesign Burns On

The Firesign Theatre defunct?

You could have fooled me (“Pressing the Media Into Service,” by Dennis McDougal, Sept. 4).

My partners and I have, for over 20 years, produced over 30 record albums, books, films, compact discs and long-form videos, many of them (including a 1985 Grammy nomination album) released in the last five years, several under the aegis of Pyro Playhouse, our production company, presently under contract to Lorimar Television for sitcoms.

Understandably, since we have been off the road and away from the world of live performance for almost six years, one might assume that there would be some rumors of defunctedness swirling, but next time please check it out. We may never go away.

Whatever may be our ups and downs in the eyes of our idiotically loyal audience over these many years, we are proud to continue to produce original works, most of them audio, and not tired rehashes of popular cliches like “War of the Worlds,” the sort of self-serving waste of Public Radio’s money that just fills space on the airwaves.

PHIL AUSTIN

Hollywood