Locals

Punk flyer a security threat?

The prurient interests of San Diego vice officers were piqued two weeks ago when a flyer depicting Osama bin Laden sodomizing George W. Bush began circulating around the College Area.

The flyer advertised a Feb. 4 concert at Hot Monkey Love Café featuring local band The Dissimilars with out-of-town acts The Breakdowns and The Irish Brothers. Hot Monkey owner Alma Felan was paid a jarring visit by a San Diego Police Department vice detective the night before the show.

“The police said that the flyer was out of line in light of these difficult times, with the war and terrorism and everything,” she said. “They told me they were going to keep checking on my place and put a red flag on my business.”

Felan said the detective told her the flyer presented a “homeland-security issue.” Police Department spokesperson Dave Cohen is skeptical, however, saying that the FBI would have been involved if it truly was a homeland-security issue. An FBI spokesperson was not aware of the flyer and that it would be a Secret Service issue. The Secret Service disavowed knowledge of the event.

“The Secret Service investigates all threats against the president that we are aware of,” said Scott Christensen, a supervisor at the Secret Service's local field office. “Based on what I've heard on this particular instance, there would be no reason for us to be involved.”

San Diego Vice Sgt. Mark Sullivan doubts the police visit was due to the political content of the flyer. “With the things vice officers see on a regular basis,” he said, “I don't believe they'd be offended by this flyer. Our only concern would be with the crowd that this flyer is trying to attract and if that is people they are not allowed to attract.”

The flyer may be in violation of a law barring pornographic material from being shown to minors. So far, no citations have been issued, Sullivan said.

He added that all venues and bars are subject to a list of restrictions placed on the establishment's entertainment permit by the vice division. These restrictions are specific to each establishment, and Hot Monkey Love Café's restrictions include a ban on all alcohol and stipulations demanding adequate security and barring minors after 10 p.m. without a guardian.

“If they follow those conditions, then there won't be any problem,” Sullivan said, adding that there were no entries in vice's complaint log referencing the flyer. He also suggested that anything the detective said about homeland security may have been just casual conversation, as it isn't his department's concern.

“It seems like they're trying to divert attention from the real issue here, which is that Hot Monkey Love has been a problem,” he said, noting that the venue had received two complaints in February, neither having anything to do with the flyer. “The people of San Diego want us to enforce laws to protect their neighborhoods, homes and places of business. [Hot Monkey Love] has continually violated the conditions of their permit and regularly get complaints.”

The whole experience has shaken Felan. She's hired an attorney and is collecting letters that speak positively about her business. She also says her café has been unfairly targeted by neighboring residents and businesses, resulting in regular visits from the police.

“We live in a very conservative city and are forced to be conservative people,” she said. “Unfortunately, businesses that support music and the arts and give a place for the youth to go are not always well received by the community. Some people don't like having kids around; some people don't like a rock-and-roll business. I wish we could do something to change that.”

Felan said she was unaware of the flyer and didn't authorize its distribution for the show: “I was shocked when the police called. I wasn't aware there was a picture of men having sex hanging on my window.”

Felan takes a laissez-faire approach to booking bands and thinks that was the root of the problem.

“There's not many places in town where bands can play at, and where a band can have total freedom and responsibility to book their own concerts and do whatever they want,” she says. “As much as this is scary, I'm not going to stop doing that. It just made me remember I have to be very careful about what bands are promoting because it reflects on me.”

The flyer was made by San Diego State University student Scott Gawlick, who manages The Breakdowns. It was inspired by his feelings toward the Bush administration, coupled with the recent debate in the College Area over allowing convicted sex offender Douglas Ernest Badger to move into the neighborhood.

The flyer bears the question, “Who is the real sex offender?” above the picture.

“The Breakdowns are a political band and I thought the flyer should reflect those political views,” Gawlick said. “I wanted to make a statement and also do something that would get people talking, make people think. The flyer played off the debate over allowing a sex offender to move into the neighborhood and George Bush's political views, particularly because he's against gay marriage.”

Gawlick says his mission was accomplished: “I walked into my sociology class and the teacher had a copy of the flyer and gave her whole lecture on it. It inspired conversation and debate in class. She didn't even know I made it.”

The detective who most likely visited Felan the day before the show was unavailable for comment and thus could not give his side of the story. Local American Civil Liberties Union spokesperson Dale Kelly Bankhead noted that the police department is involved in a Joint Terrorism Group Task Force with other agencies, but it's unlikely that group was involved in the brouhaha.

“I'm just extremely skeptical,” she said. “As far as I know about homeland security, this has nothing to do with it and just sounds like intimidation. Then again, it could be idle conversation on the part of the police officers.

“As long as they haven't filed obscenity charges, it just seems like an attempt to keep everyone on their toes.”

Musical porn

“Basically we are PORN: The Musical,” said Matt Kerr of Maiden Taiwan, his self-styled XXX group, equal parts performance, electronic music and sex. “I can tell you it's not something you want your kids listening to after school,” he deadpans. “The stage show has sexual acts and as much raunch and debauchery as is legally allowed. As it is, the girls are in pasties and mini skirts.”

With Kerr on guitar, his wife Angel on vocals and turntablist Erik Rodriguez, Maiden Taiwan will be featured on Playboy XFM Channel 205 on Feb. 16.

“We hooked up with the Playboy Radio Channel through our friends at Ramco Productions,” Kerr explained. “They're a local company that produced a movie called Clown Porn, which was a big success at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. We went there and helped each other promote. They handed out [our] CDs and Angel dressed like a clown porn girl and posed for pictures with fans of Clown Porn.”

The cross promotion continued after the convention, as the buzz about Clown Porn cranked up. The folks behind Clown Porn were given a spot on Playboy's radio show called Night Calls, during which they hyped Maiden Taiwan. The show's executive producer called Kerr and asked them to appear on Night Calls; he also asked to license one or two of their songs for use during the show.

“We will be playing music from our CD, Rough Sex, [but] then they are going to start using a song for their radio show in segues, commercials breaks and intros, etc.,” said Kerr, who is quick to point out that it's impossible to get the full Maiden Taiwan experience without visuals.

“It shocks most of the people that see us for the first time,” he remarked. “But a lot of people come back because of how secretly dirty we make them feel. We are a lot of people's ‘guilty pleasure.'

“We have only had one bad experience,” he added. “Let's just say that was our first and last all-age show.”

Untapped Roots

At a time when most record stores are struggling to survive, Pacific Beach's Trade Roots is preparing to commemorate two decades as San Diego's premier outlet for reggae. Although the official anniversary date isn't until October, owner and music promoter Elliot Leib will receive a plaque in honor of the event during the Bob Marley Day Festival Feb. 21 at the Sports Arena.

“I'm looking forward to a year of celebration,” quipped Leib, noting that the reggae community has grown in those 20 years. He then expressed how disappointed he is in, well, CityBeat and its kind.

“It's terrible how much reggae is ignored by most of the media in this town,” he said, duly noting the irony of his statement. “There are a lot of people interested in reggae here. There's a reason we can have shows like the Bob Marley Day concert year after year and fill the Sports Arena with more than 10,000 people every time. That's such a large community that rarely appears in the press.”

Leib credited reggae's popularity in San Diego to a strong grassroots movement that includes Makeda Dread's “Reggae Makosa” show on 91X and the Belly Up Tavern, which often hosts top international reggae acts.

“San Diego has a history of reggae music dating to before Trade Roots, so the youth that patronize us today have reggae as part of their musical diet,” Leib said. “When artists come to San Diego, they find there's a large audience, which some find surprising, because there isn't a large Jamaican community here.”