Cocky and Cheeky posters offend SPD, Nazi Liquor Control Board and Mayor McCheese

Eric Grandy reports over at Line Out on the Slog that cops came by ChopSuey on April 25th demanding they remove all of the posters for the monthly dance event, Comeback. The homoerotic posters traditionally feature vintage porn imagery of the 70's and 80's with strategically placed stickers over any offending genitalia. (Occasionally, they forget the stickers...) But, this month's design, shown here, doesn't even go the frontal route, but features a rear view portrait of some retro gay porn stud; it's cheeky but hardly pornographic. Cops claimed that the posting of such imagery violates state law, as mandated by the Liquor Control Board as outlined here, which was posted by Meinert in the comments section of this posting on LineOut:

WAC 314-52-015

General.

All liquor advertising shall be modest, dignified and in good taste and shall not contain:

(2) Any statement, picture, or illustration which promotes overconsumption.

(3) Any statement, picture, illustration, design, device, or representation which is undignified, obscene, indecent, or in bad taste.

(10) Any reference to any religious character, sign or symbol, except in relation to kosher wines or where such are a part of an approved label.

http://www.liq.wa.gov/enforcement/enforcementQA.asp

This is beyond lame. The SPD is bitching that they don't have enough manpower to do their jobs effectively, (which many people agree with, myself included), yet they're out waging war on naughty posters and noisy music venues. Meanwhile, robberies and break-ins in this town seldom get much more than a token investigation. And are the cops going to straight bars that have posters of scantily clad women, usually promoting some sort of beer or hard alcohol product? I kind of doubt it...

AND, live acts are raging that they can no longer drink booze at the venues they perform in since the Nazi Liquor Board decided that performers are employees of the venues they perform in, and thus aren't allowed to drink on premises. As a good friend of mine and drummer in a band pointed out to me this weekend, most bands seldom make ANY money from their gigs, or at best, a few dollars. By this rationale, shouldn't the venues be paying the bands Washington State minimum wage? And what about health benefits?

And most irritating to me, I think the Liquor Control Stormtroopers have come dowm hard, (pun intended) on the gay bars that show porn in their establishments. Last couple times I've been in the Eagle, they were showing, respectively, a non-hardcore promo for Falcon shown on an endless loop, and a children's spelling bee subtitled in French!

Before Mayor McCheese and his henchmen are done, Seattle will be about as exciting as a day at the Seattle Center Fun Forest...

Check out the original post at LineOut: http://lineout.thestranger.com/2008/04/im_sorry_officer_are_these_penises_too_l