Key Change

Long shot: Thank God someone other than myself realized how stupid it was to give the key to the city to any rapper (Backwash, August 25). Because if the concertgoers are not being shot, the rappers themselves are the ones being shot.

I think Terry Riley, as well as Kay Barnes, are both fools, and when their terms are up, the city will be better off.

Russell Adair
Kansas City, Missouri

Poll Dance
Nip out: Thank you for your wonderful article covering this latest front on the new Prude Wars (David Martin's "The Big Coverup," August 25). Creationism (or "intelligent design") in the schools and covers on the nips ... what year is it, anyway? 1947 or 2005? Where do these "Morality Watchdogs" get off, anyway?

No one is forcing ADULTS to go into ADULT strip bars, nor to be dancing ADULTS in these strip bars. I, for one, don't want or need Mr. Bartle or Mr. Blunt determining what is appropriate for me.

All of this, of course, comes at a time when Kansas City is building a new arena to seemingly attract new revenue to the city. As if people will want to come to a city so backward that nude dancing is outlawed. And as far as that whole crime argument, might I suggest to Mr. Bartle and co. that crime in the city is due more to poverty, an underfunded and understaffed public education system and lack of (good-paying) jobs more than a few exposed nipples. Sex and the body are not the enemy: rabid and radical Republicans wearing robes of chastity soiled with hypocrisy are. Oppression does indeed come one step at a time.

JaCory Harold
Kansas City Missouri

Nude scene: Pitch readers may be interested in the history of Miami-Dade County's Haulover Park. In 1991 a group of activists persuaded the county commission to convert part of the park's beach to clothing-optional status. Prior to this, the area was described as "a virtually deserted shore" and "a haven for gang members, drug dealers and other undesirables" (http://www.sffb.com/).

Haulover Beach has since become a premier tourist attraction. Hotels are almost always full, and crime has fallen to near zero. In 2002 Dave Samson, then mayor of Sunny Isles Beach, stated, "The naturist beach has had no adverse secondary effect on our city or on our citizens who enjoy Haulover Park."

State Sen. Matt Bartle has engineered legislation requiring dancers in Missouri strip clubs to cover up their "naughty bits," presumably to combat "harmful secondary effects" he alleges these places cause. But as we learned from Pitch reporter David Martin, evidence supporting his claim is thin: "The only published, peer-reviewed study of secondary effects ... found that areas surrounding adult business actually reported less crime than areas in a control group."

Nude beaches have different aims than strip clubs — the former being for participants, the latter for spectators. The intersection is that at least someone is naked, and this is sufficient for religious or cultural conservatives to drag out the canard about harmful secondary effects to justify their urge to prohibit.

David L. Bitters
Mission Hills

Pocket Veto
Stuffing the ballot box: Regarding Justin Kendall's "Unnatural Selection" (August 18): Connie Morris was addicted to sex, according to her autobiography, and I think she now is addicted to trying to ruin the reputation of her opponents.

She lost her reputation as a whore, and now she attacks others, perhaps to recover her virginity/reputation.

Alvin Schneider
Kansas City, Missouri

Right Reverend
Artist statement:Thank you for Gina Kaufmann's memorial to John Puscheck, "So Long, Rev" (August 25). I lived down the street from John in the early '80s and remember the great block parties we used to have on Charlotte Street. Later, I really got to know John through fellow musician and artist Arnold Young, a good friend of John's. Our band played at some of the Evil Monkey art shows as well as at John's house.

John was not only a great artist and innovator but also one of the most generous guys I have ever met. I only hope that one day when I don't grow up, I can be what I think John was. A true artist.

Gerald Spaits
Kansas City, Missouri

Night Vision
Be like Mike's:Regarding Jason Harper's Wayward Son column on August 25: My husband and I want to say FINALLY and THANK YOU.

As working folk who have to be at day jobs (I work at a law firm; my husband is a school teacher), we've spent many a night complaining about the late starts at virtually every local music venue.

Some of our friends in bands have started limiting their weekday shows due to day jobs and their late-night tiredness. Not everyone who wants to enjoy music or do music in this area works a random job where they don't have to get up until 10 a.m. or noon, and I appreciate someone realizing that. I hope more places get the idea.

And if the local bars and clubs don't want people leaving by 10 or 11 p.m., then take a cue from my hometown area, where some places do early shows and late shows with one crowd attending from 7 to 10 p.m. and another from then on into the night. There are some good bands in this area, and it's a shame that a number of people never see them because they want to make it to work the next morning.

I've never been to Mike's Tavern, but if they host 8 p.m. shows once a week (that start on time, which is another issue out here), I'll likely go check it out sometime soon.

With renewed hope of seeing live music,

Kate Smith
Raytown