You can wake up now, Ed: Highways take more people through, around and away from St. Louis than they bring in [Unreal, April 6]. So the Mark McGwire Theatre in the smoke-free, steroid-free Kiel Opera House is more "positive." Open with Damn Yankees! or Damn Red Sox! while other shows, concerts, dance and exhibits fill the rest of the building. Down below a movie theater runs Pride of the Yankees, The Jackie Robinson Story, It Happens Every Spring, Bang the Drum Slowly, The Babe Ruth Story. Sports and arts -- living together -- downtown.
Ed Golterman
Kirkwood
Dirty Pool
The naked truth: I do not understand why the Missouri government wants to impose a "smut tax" on adult businesses [Mike Seely, "Choke the Chicken," March 23]. It seems that this puritanical government wants to impose its self-righteous ideals on its citizens. I am a resident of St. Louis and have been stationed in Germany for four years. I am surprised that America is still a puritanical society. In Germany sex is open-minded, and no one makes a big deal about adult businesses and prostitution because both of these are legal. Also, German newspapers, magazines and television shows display naked women and no one complains about it!
This is why you hardly ever hear about crimes such as rape, pedophilia and sexual assault in Germany. In America you cannot go one day without hearing about these violent crimes. It's time that the state of Missouri -- and America for that matter -- gets rid of its "puritanical" ideals and gets in tune with the 21st century.
Luis M. Martinez
Ansbach, Germany
Post-"PostMortem"
Incoming shitbomb: Well, you win. The RFT wins the award for the Single Biggest Act of Hypocrisy Since Roy Cohn Persecuted the Gays [Chad Garrison and Malcolm Gay, "PostMortem", March 2 and March 9]. What on earth possessed you to think you could get away with publishing an article critical of the sale of the Post-Dispatch by the Pulitzer Corporation to another corporate hegemony? I seem to recall a fella name of Ray Hartmann selling out his beliefs to a media conglomerate called New Times, no?
Get off your high horse, you pathetic haters. If the sale of the Post is somehow ominous, the sale of the RFT has proven to be an utter shitbomb, no prognostication necessary. Unreal isn't funny. News of the Weird is gone. William Stage is gone. Ray Hartmann's liberal screeds are gone. The calendar is gone. The incisive writing of Eddie Silva is gone. Alison Sieloff writes like the RFT is her high school paper. (It's not funny, honey, it's just lame.) I virtually never agree with the opinions of the movie reviewers. Hello? The City comic strip has sucked for more than a decade. And your covers are often screaming for attention: "Hey! Look at this!" sensationalism.
(Why do I read the RFT? Savage Love, mainly.)
For a long time now, the Post has had nothing to lose. The complexity of the writing, like that of most dailies, hovers around the fourth-grade level. It's as moronic as society at large. And you know all that; that's why Unreal has made fun of the Post so much, right? It's an easy target. (I know you took special pride in getting Daniel Finney fired for his idiotic blogging escapades. You said as much by the act of printing a follow-up story. Cute, guys!) But now that the once-proud dynasty has died, it's time to mourn. With two cover stories, no less.
"In Money We Trust." What a bunch of hypocrites you are. Isn't it time for an exposé on the corporate takeover of the "alternative" media? Weasels.
Frank X. Johnson
St. Louis
Errata
In Jean Oppenheimer's review of Fever Pitch last week, we wrongly stated that Manchester United was the protagonist's favorite soccer club in Nick Hornby's novel and the 1996 British film based on that book. The correct club was Arsenal. Additionally, in last week's Drink of the Week column, we erroneously stated that Saint Louis University had replaced the legendary 20 North Club with a parking lot. In fact, SLU built a sculpture park where 20 North once stood.
Tune In
Riverfront Times has an immediate opening for a full-time music editor. This position entails planning and editing the weekly music section, writing feature stories and a weekly column and working with freelance writers. Qualified candidates will have strong writing and organizational skills and will be well-versed in rap, hip-hop, DJ/dance and indie rock. An editing test is part of the interview process. Applicants should send a cover letter, résumé and five best clips to:
Tom Finkel, editor
Riverfront Times
6358 Delmar Boulevard, Suite 200
St. Louis, MO 63130
(No phone inquiries or singing voicemails, please.)
