While "The Sopranos" has perpetuated the Italian mob stereotype in mainstream society, this is the first such incident I can remember in the punk community. I totally welcome everyone's input, regardless of how much I'm sure a lot of you will disagree with me.

Below is an email I wrote to Richard Reines, the label's president. He has yet to respond:

Hey Richard,

I'm not sure whether this email is worth reading since it doesn't really concern music; rather, it's about the marketing for the upcoming sampler, "Welcome to the Family."

I guess the Italian mob theme, along with the pizza box cover, is a joke, but the whole thing seems kind of anti- Italian. Some Italians, though certainly not all, have grown tired of being constantly likened to mobsters or pizza delivery guys. Although it probably wasn't ill intentioned, your label is clearly using both stereotypes to sell cds.

Basically, if the new sampler had a picture of a black guy with the title "Welcome to Jail" on the cover, almost everybody would consider it racist. The current cover is pretty much the same thing, only Italians don't have any outspoken leaders to bitch about prejudice, so it will go ignored.

I'm definitely not suggesting a change, but you might want to think about issues like this (if you care at all) in the future. I understand that Drive Thru isn't Italian-owned, and probably doesn't even have any Italian band members except, possibly, Vinnie from the Movielife; however, it might be worthwhile to think about the message you're sending to open minded kids: it's ok to make racist jokes about a group since they can't do anything about it.

The creators of the Sopranos made lots of money this way- -you could, too. Or, you could have a conscience.

-Matt