Slutty Kid-Clubs

A great article by Andrea Peyser in the NY Post.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11122007/news/columnists/kid_raunch_clubs_221687.htm


KID RAUNCH CLUBS

By ANDREA PEYSER
HERE'S yet another reason to lock your kid in the house until she reaches 30.

When Nina Perez's 15-year-old daughter asked permission to attend a party for teens at a Manhattan club, the clueless mom was open to the idea. Her little girl was responsible and mature. What could be the harm?

But then, Nina happened upon a Web site dedicated to the weekly "19 and under" parties held at Club Deep on West 22nd Street. And she felt sick.

The site features color photos of "young people, half-dressed, having sex with clothes on!" Nina, 39, said, with equal parts alarm and disgust.

"There are couples and even triples all over each other in sexual positions, and then there are live shows on stage for the crowd to watch, where a young man with only pants and a young girl in skimpy top and practically no shorts grind and imitate sexual intercourse. See for yourself."

So I did.

Teen parties, it turns out, are held in all five boroughs, luring kids with online ads, a MySpace page and even paper fliers. Young people are drawn by the promise of scant adult supervision and free admission before 8:30 p.m. The party doesn't stop until 2.

While no alcohol is served, Perez said, her 17-year-old son told her that kids get wasted the moment they're out the door, and fights break out. Her son doesn't want his sister going.

What's more, the party is for teens ages 13 to 19 - meaning girls of 13 are invited to grind against men of 19. But, the ad boasts, "No ID required."

Some of the girls look to be 12.

Some of the guys look 25. Maybe older. See for yourself on cinteenbash.com.

Here, girls' clothes strip away the moment they walk in the door, revealing bikini bras and shorts the size of postage stamps. At a party held Oct. 13, two scantily clad and extremely young girls are seen performing lap dances aboard their grateful beaus.

A man calling himself Yanni answered the phone at the Fort Lee, N.J., offices of party promoters C.I.N. He assured me "there are no alcoholic beverages" at the parties, "and a full security staff. It's completely safe."

But when asked if ID was required, Yanni said, "The only people who probably get asked for ID look extremely old." Asked if there was a minimum age, Yanni laughed, "If you're 12 years old, you shouldn't be in the city anyway."

He promised to have someone directly involved with teen parties call me. No one did.

Nina's daughter, of course, was prohibited from attending. End of discussion.

"It's because I love you!" Nina shouted as her daughter angrily closed her door.

At least she's safe.

andrea.peyser@nypost.com

Unwanted Music Is Air Pollution

Very interesting that even the veering-to-the-left Newsday has this very insightful opinion article in the paper on Friday, 11/2.
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opfritop5442000nov02,0,204732.story

While I agree with the writer that Hip Hop is a major offender, R&B, dance music and even mainstream Top 40 pop music are all guilty.

Turn up the heat on violent imagery in hip-hop

BY WEBSTER YOUNG

Webster Young, formerly Long Island Opera director, was twice a candidate for director of the National Endowment for the Arts.

November 2, 2007

Every so often, Congress holds hearings on the subject of obscenity and violence in music. In the most recent round, held by the House in late September, testimony was heard from the heads of MTV and Warner Brothers Music, and two hip-hop stars, among others.

The hearing was a confused mix of considerations about consumerism and the economics of the music business, the rights of artists to express themselves freely, the role of artistic imagery in racial stereotyping, and the effectiveness of requiring obscenity warning labels on products.

Statements showed a general consensus that more needs to be done to limit negative effects of violence and obscenity in musical media, but the hearings produced little evidence of any new practical idea that would help.

Whenever the idea of warning labels come up, I can't help wondering about their effectiveness. My daily life has brought me into contact with obscene and violent music - and I have never bought a hip-hop CD.

There are many ways people are made to listen to music not of their choosing. It could be the boom box of a worker, a sunbather at the beach or a stroller that brings unwanted music to their ears. You might hear it on the telephone while you are on hold, or through the sound system of a store while you are shopping.

Hearing hip-hop in these circumstances is probably the exception rather than the rule, but all-pervasive background music shows that our culture has a whole area where warning labels are meaningless and where negative imagery can subtly work its way into the fabric of daily life.

One important way obscene music may be forced on the average person is through car stereos. And it's not always a matter of the volume of the music. On various occasions at outdoor cafes, I have had to sit listening to violent four-letter-word lyrics for five minutes or more while a van driver makes a delivery with his stereo volume just loud enough for everyone at the cafe to hear - but not loud enough for the police to stop. A stranger might as well have walked up to me on the street and cursed at me for five minutes. That is not civil life by any standard.

Really loud "boom car" stereos in "ground-pounder" cars can cause people's bodies to vibrate from two car lengths away as these intrusive sound systems spread hip-hop throughout whole neighborhoods - potentially sharing violent obscenity (not to mention the negative stereotypes) with many people who never asked to hear it.

Under state law, police in Nassau or Suffolk counties can issue a citation only if they hear the car stereo themselves and judge the noise level unreasonable. One reason they cannot stop the noise from boom cars is that by the time somebody makes a report, the offending car is long gone.

With a new code that went into effect in July, New York City is trying hard to curb all forms of noise pollution. But boom cars are so loud that they may come under city laws already on the books about disturbing the peace.

In either case, the city is making an effort to crack down. There is a $50-$150 fine for first-time offenders under the new noise law - and possible on-site confiscation of stereos for disturbing the peace. Long Island and the rest of the state, generally speaking, are continuing with the un-enhanced state law, even though many municipalities could enact their own stricter regulations.

There is a moral to the situation. The problem of boom cars and other forms of unwanted public music show that either quite strict rules must be enacted and enforced on the municipal level, or that obscenity should be recognized for what it is - and be effectively controlled closer to the source by federal or state regulation. If obscene music isn't controlled, all-pervasive background music will allow the negative imagery to filter into the culture continuously.

One way we'll know that progress on rap music and obscenity is occurring when we're no longer forced to hear that repugnant imagery spread in the streets.

Copyright © 2007, Newsday Inc.