One more check on my “to do” list.
I don’t know if I remembered to mention it, but my story “A Taste of Inspiration” has been accepted by Shadowfire Press, and I just finished all of the paperwork for it (except for the contract which will go out tomorrow). It feels good to get that done, knowing what a pile of things I have slotted to do tomorrow. One project is I have is to decide whether I am sending the first three chapters of “Bloodstained Innocence” or “White Lotus” in for the Wiscon Writers Workshop this year. Which ever one I decide on has to be worked on this week so I can get it in before the April 1 deadline.
Now some of my friends have been waiting for my report regarding my first visit to an erotic dance club. Well, wait no more. I’ll leave the next section beneath the cut for those who do not wish to hear of my debauchery (heheh) I apologize now to typos and the like, but a lot of this came out in a rush from my head, which was full of the experience.
I’ll start my tale from the beginning, to give you my impression from the moment I walked in the place. The outside was HUGEnormous, and in fact attached to the same building as the exotic dance club, was Jokers Comedy Club. Interesting. Inside as you walk in the walls are dark all the way down to the hallway to the curtained window/booth the door lady sat behind. I’d guess the walled were painted black, but from the ten zillion flashing colorful lights coming from the club area it was hard to be certain. MC and I gave them our “get in free” tickets (the lady scowled at them for whatever reason) and out IDs, and we were in.
We found a seat close to the stage without taking up space in the “money seats” where people who are supposed to be tipping the dancers sit. (note to the cheap asses sitting at the bar…you are supposed to TIP the dancers) I traded in one of my 20s for 1s and then we ordered lunch. I could barely hear MC to talk to him the music was so loud, and the bass was cranked to the point that the music was distorted. Not a good sign of a quality DJ IMO. Later I found out the same DJ was suppended for stalking one of the dancer, and now that he's come back just acks like a jerk to them. Guess who doesn't get to be part of the creation of the series cool DJ character.
A dancer came out, and I noticed the place was not real full of people. Several folks were at the bar, on at the slow machines, and some at table behind us. No one…I mean no one… was near the money seats. Feeling bad for the hard working dancer who I know didn’t get any money if she didn’t get her tips, I walked over to the stage and lay down a dollar, hoping to cue some of the other folks to get off their lazy butts up and show some appreciation.
“What are you doing?” MC asked as I came back from the table.
“I was giving the dancer a tip.”
MC rolled his eyes and took a dollar from his pocket. “You don’t do it that way.” He looked exasperated. “C’mon.”
I followed him back to the stage unsure of what part of giving the tip I’d done incorrectly, and then he insisted I place the dollar in my mouth and try again. I felt ridiculous, but in the spirit of adventure I did as he asked. The dancer chuckled (likely telling right away what a complete noob I was) and got very close and cuddly with me as she danced before she finally took the dollar.
Okay, I was totally confused as we walked back to the table. I’d spent about a week reading dancers blogs and forms so I know what to do and what not to do to so the dancers would know I was trying to be respectful. A bunch of the dancers online said they didn’t like taking a tip from a patron by mouth, but the dancers here it seemed didn’t mind it, or at least this one didn’t. To be honest cash tastes nasty, so I figured fine, I wouldn’t place tips on the stage anymore, but they weren’t going in my mouth again. Blah.
The second and third dancers came out, each doing a two song set, between which the next dancer was given her cue to get ready. I tipped each a couple dollars, and was glad to see that a few patrons were getting the hint that they were suppose to get off their lazy buts and tip the dancers. I don’t know what I did that was so amusing, but I got the sweetest and in some cases the most graceful responses from the dancer for just coming up to tip (more so then they seemed to do with the other customers). Maybe they found my permablush cute or something.
I admit, my shy volume was on high, and it took effort to talk to the dancers. I did tell them I was doing research for a series of novels, and why I wanted to show people the real deal around exotic dancing, not the wacked out misconceptions. My the time my family size plate of chicken quesadilla arrived (it was so big I ate one triangle and took the rest home) several dancers had stopped by our table to talk, including I beautiful East Indian woman, (I’ve decided to use initials in case the dancers told me stuff that might get them in trouble) L, who spent all her time at the table talking to us when she wasn’t dancing (even though I didn’t have a ton of tipping money)
I admit, well formed natural breasts are a thing of joy, but it was the conversations I had with dancers like L, D, and later on G that I could see myself coming back for. Heck on dancer, O, was having such a good talk with me while dancing she forgot she was supposed to be dancing for about 30 secs…oops…
G was a gorgeous caramel skinned woman that in her 7” heels towered over me like an Amazon. She ago liked to give full body hugs that left me to become very close friend with her bosom on a few occasions. G said she was Dominican, and her dance was a mix of African dance and meringue. We talked a long time about the challenges she found being a woman of color in the industry (I’d asked Love the same question since the rest of the dancer had been white, but she didn’t experience the same challenges it seems). G explained that often the dark and light skinned American black women had trouble getting decent tips there, but someone like her, with an more exotic/foreign flair did very well. That was crucial information considering the main character for the series is of Egyptian and South African descent, but born in America.
There were a few things both G and L agreed on. Working the day shift, though less customers, was still far preferable to the night shirt where the girls got really competitive and often nasty. Unlike many people think, these women are dancer, not hookers, though L did say at night a few of the girls had pimp send them there to dance to make money. She said those girls she didn’t bother competing with, it wasn’t worth it. One thing L told me that blew my mind was that Silk employs 250 to 300 dancers in a single club. Wow. She even says that some special nights all the dancer have to come in for the third shirt parties…now this place is big but 300 dancer…plus patrons…I don’t even want to think about a crowd that size or the number of bouncers needed to keep the girls safe.
I can tell you this, if I ever had a doubt about whether or not these gals were being exploited, I don’t anymore. These are some strong women, with clear goals and a manner of ones not to be trifled with. Yeah the fees they pay to work there, the cuts off their lap dance, the tips required to share with club staff, these are all things they hate, but it’s part of them being private contractors they say. Just like in all jobs some bosses are cool, whole others are jerks. In the end the women I talked to all said the same thing, they danced because they liked the money and they were the ones in control.
As far as the numerous jerks they deal with… I suppose it what any person might expect working in any job dealing with customers that there are some bad one, just the dancer seem to deal with bad customers in a far larger percentage. Just some of the stories on the dancer blog told me right away they have a TON more patience dealing with bullshit than I do. Even days later my brain is spinning with what I learned, and the landslide of even more questions this experience had stirred up. I wish I was well off so I could buy out one of the champagne rooms for a couple hours and sit in there with a bunch of the dancers having more and more of these conversations. These women are smart, funny, fascinating, and deserve a hell of a lot more respect than they get from the general public.
Will I go back again? I hope so. I hope the girls I gave my business card to will email me so and share more stores. They really seemed to want to, though I imagine between dancing 8-14 hours a day and anything else they do like school and whatnot, their free time is limited. I’ll likely go back again with my measly pocketful of dollar bills to soak up any wisdom and humorous tales they wish to share. If they look past the bare breasts and the flashing light, folks might be amazed what they could really see...and learn.
I can’t wait to start working on this series now.
Now some of my friends have been waiting for my report regarding my first visit to an erotic dance club. Well, wait no more. I’ll leave the next section beneath the cut for those who do not wish to hear of my debauchery (heheh) I apologize now to typos and the like, but a lot of this came out in a rush from my head, which was full of the experience.
I’ll start my tale from the beginning, to give you my impression from the moment I walked in the place. The outside was HUGEnormous, and in fact attached to the same building as the exotic dance club, was Jokers Comedy Club. Interesting. Inside as you walk in the walls are dark all the way down to the hallway to the curtained window/booth the door lady sat behind. I’d guess the walled were painted black, but from the ten zillion flashing colorful lights coming from the club area it was hard to be certain. MC and I gave them our “get in free” tickets (the lady scowled at them for whatever reason) and out IDs, and we were in.
We found a seat close to the stage without taking up space in the “money seats” where people who are supposed to be tipping the dancers sit. (note to the cheap asses sitting at the bar…you are supposed to TIP the dancers) I traded in one of my 20s for 1s and then we ordered lunch. I could barely hear MC to talk to him the music was so loud, and the bass was cranked to the point that the music was distorted. Not a good sign of a quality DJ IMO. Later I found out the same DJ was suppended for stalking one of the dancer, and now that he's come back just acks like a jerk to them. Guess who doesn't get to be part of the creation of the series cool DJ character.
A dancer came out, and I noticed the place was not real full of people. Several folks were at the bar, on at the slow machines, and some at table behind us. No one…I mean no one… was near the money seats. Feeling bad for the hard working dancer who I know didn’t get any money if she didn’t get her tips, I walked over to the stage and lay down a dollar, hoping to cue some of the other folks to get off their lazy butts up and show some appreciation.
“What are you doing?” MC asked as I came back from the table.
“I was giving the dancer a tip.”
MC rolled his eyes and took a dollar from his pocket. “You don’t do it that way.” He looked exasperated. “C’mon.”
I followed him back to the stage unsure of what part of giving the tip I’d done incorrectly, and then he insisted I place the dollar in my mouth and try again. I felt ridiculous, but in the spirit of adventure I did as he asked. The dancer chuckled (likely telling right away what a complete noob I was) and got very close and cuddly with me as she danced before she finally took the dollar.
Okay, I was totally confused as we walked back to the table. I’d spent about a week reading dancers blogs and forms so I know what to do and what not to do to so the dancers would know I was trying to be respectful. A bunch of the dancers online said they didn’t like taking a tip from a patron by mouth, but the dancers here it seemed didn’t mind it, or at least this one didn’t. To be honest cash tastes nasty, so I figured fine, I wouldn’t place tips on the stage anymore, but they weren’t going in my mouth again. Blah.
The second and third dancers came out, each doing a two song set, between which the next dancer was given her cue to get ready. I tipped each a couple dollars, and was glad to see that a few patrons were getting the hint that they were suppose to get off their lazy buts and tip the dancers. I don’t know what I did that was so amusing, but I got the sweetest and in some cases the most graceful responses from the dancer for just coming up to tip (more so then they seemed to do with the other customers). Maybe they found my permablush cute or something.
I admit, my shy volume was on high, and it took effort to talk to the dancers. I did tell them I was doing research for a series of novels, and why I wanted to show people the real deal around exotic dancing, not the wacked out misconceptions. My the time my family size plate of chicken quesadilla arrived (it was so big I ate one triangle and took the rest home) several dancers had stopped by our table to talk, including I beautiful East Indian woman, (I’ve decided to use initials in case the dancers told me stuff that might get them in trouble) L, who spent all her time at the table talking to us when she wasn’t dancing (even though I didn’t have a ton of tipping money)
I admit, well formed natural breasts are a thing of joy, but it was the conversations I had with dancers like L, D, and later on G that I could see myself coming back for. Heck on dancer, O, was having such a good talk with me while dancing she forgot she was supposed to be dancing for about 30 secs…oops…
G was a gorgeous caramel skinned woman that in her 7” heels towered over me like an Amazon. She ago liked to give full body hugs that left me to become very close friend with her bosom on a few occasions. G said she was Dominican, and her dance was a mix of African dance and meringue. We talked a long time about the challenges she found being a woman of color in the industry (I’d asked Love the same question since the rest of the dancer had been white, but she didn’t experience the same challenges it seems). G explained that often the dark and light skinned American black women had trouble getting decent tips there, but someone like her, with an more exotic/foreign flair did very well. That was crucial information considering the main character for the series is of Egyptian and South African descent, but born in America.
There were a few things both G and L agreed on. Working the day shift, though less customers, was still far preferable to the night shirt where the girls got really competitive and often nasty. Unlike many people think, these women are dancer, not hookers, though L did say at night a few of the girls had pimp send them there to dance to make money. She said those girls she didn’t bother competing with, it wasn’t worth it. One thing L told me that blew my mind was that Silk employs 250 to 300 dancers in a single club. Wow. She even says that some special nights all the dancer have to come in for the third shirt parties…now this place is big but 300 dancer…plus patrons…I don’t even want to think about a crowd that size or the number of bouncers needed to keep the girls safe.
I can tell you this, if I ever had a doubt about whether or not these gals were being exploited, I don’t anymore. These are some strong women, with clear goals and a manner of ones not to be trifled with. Yeah the fees they pay to work there, the cuts off their lap dance, the tips required to share with club staff, these are all things they hate, but it’s part of them being private contractors they say. Just like in all jobs some bosses are cool, whole others are jerks. In the end the women I talked to all said the same thing, they danced because they liked the money and they were the ones in control.
As far as the numerous jerks they deal with… I suppose it what any person might expect working in any job dealing with customers that there are some bad one, just the dancer seem to deal with bad customers in a far larger percentage. Just some of the stories on the dancer blog told me right away they have a TON more patience dealing with bullshit than I do. Even days later my brain is spinning with what I learned, and the landslide of even more questions this experience had stirred up. I wish I was well off so I could buy out one of the champagne rooms for a couple hours and sit in there with a bunch of the dancers having more and more of these conversations. These women are smart, funny, fascinating, and deserve a hell of a lot more respect than they get from the general public.
Will I go back again? I hope so. I hope the girls I gave my business card to will email me so and share more stores. They really seemed to want to, though I imagine between dancing 8-14 hours a day and anything else they do like school and whatnot, their free time is limited. I’ll likely go back again with my measly pocketful of dollar bills to soak up any wisdom and humorous tales they wish to share. If they look past the bare breasts and the flashing light, folks might be amazed what they could really see...and learn.
I can’t wait to start working on this series now.