Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03

[Aloha Mr. Learned Hand]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Speaking of the Canadian Ballet, has Windsor been mentioned? It's phenomenal, plus it has a casino. 5 Canadian dollar lap dances; 4 Canadian dollar Labatt (Canada's Natural Lite!). And take Chicago OFF the list completely.

Agree on Windsor, but unfortunately Coltrane is right about Chicago, especially within the city limits... Daley, et al., have legislated the fun out of the clubs in town. Funny because from the looks of him and his "advisors" they look like guys that would appreciate a good lap dance.

There are only a couple of full nudity, full liquor bar clubs in the area that I'm aware of and they are in a pretty shady suburb to the south... Some up north or by the airport are o.k., too. The Admiral is a legendary facility and draws the top adult film actresses, but alas it is within the city limits.

As for other towns that deserve mention, St. Louis is far better than Chicago on this front, with the original PT's and a slew of clubs with loose rules on the east side of the river... Also have had a good time at some clubs in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm area. And finally, a special honorable mention to an out of the way joint that is an absolute mecca for college guys in the midwest... Big Al's in Peoria, Illinois.

[bridge of love]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Speaking of the Canadian Ballet, has Windsor been mentioned? It's phenomenal, plus it has a casino. 5 Canadian dollar lap dances; 4 Canadian dollar Labatt (Canada's Natural Lite!). And ....

and the drinking age is 18 or 19 so the border is full of young kids leaving the US going to get bombed and older guys going to the strip clubs, and it all washes back up on our shores about 3:30 AM. I always wonder/worry about why US Customs doesn't bust dozens of real drunk people every night.

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Speaking of the Canadian Ballet, has Windsor been mentioned?

No need to go city by city - all Canadian strippers are apparently hot. Except in Halifax I have heard. And I wouldn't count on much hotness in Newfoundland. 'A Current Affair' did a show on it a while back "Why are Canadian Strippers so Good-Looking?" - in it they interviewed random Canadian strippers who didn't know why they were so good looking and their drunken customers who came up with such reasons as "I dunno, clean air" and one said "our national symbol is the beaver" as a reason. Now that's quality TV.

The only strip clubs I have been in have been in Montreal- about half the customers were women, it seemed, like going on a first date to a strip club would not be unusual. The women didn't seem unusually good looking, but very friendly.

[ABBAKiss]

Originally posted by greatwhitenorthchick
"Why are Canadian Strippers so Good-Looking?"

I again caught portions of Paradise Hotel and found myself asking "Why are the Reality Hotel Guests so Average to Sub-par Looking?"

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
According to Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Tour Across America, strip clubs in Montana and Alaska are pretty wild, and are totally nude. Central Florida was noted for the sheer number of strip clubs, though Houston has the most in a single city. The author of that book favored Dallas over Houston due to the new city ordinance about the number of feet allowed between the patron and the dancer. She seemed to hate El Paso and Pueblo, Colorado. Vegas overwhelmed her.

Totally nude places are overrated in my opinion. You may as well pay to be a gynecologist in skankville. And of course, the non-totally nude places tend to be wonderfully free market driven. The artists are usually considered independent contractors, so not only do the establishments not compete, but the the artists themselves constantly seek ways for product differentiation.

I have heard about the distance thing. I used to work for an attorney that had been assigned to the vice unit (heh) of the Harris Cty DA's office, and his job involved site inspections to make sure these distances were observed. He said that after a time it was the most boring job he'd ever had. Anyway, based on empirical observation, the distance restrictions are either no longer in place or are not enforced.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by ABBAKiss
I again caught portions of Paradise Hotel and found myself asking "Why are the Reality Hotel Guests so Average to Sub-par Looking?"

If you want an extreme example of that, watch Ocean's Eleven and then take a walk through the actual Bellagio.

Sodenbergh must've done a thorough sweep to rid the floor of flip flops and tank tops.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by dc_chef
Ah, it's good to be remembered.

On an unrelated note, I was recently at a bachelor party. Needless to say, we ended up at a strip joint. Due to poor planning on my part, I had run low on cash, but didn't realize it until showing up at the club. I decided to charge some stripper bucks to my credit card. The only options were $50 or $100. $50 would get me nowhere, as lap dances were $20 per sho...uh, time. So, I took out $100.

I bought a lap dance for myself. (No grinding, natch.) Then I bought one for the bachelor. Other guys in the group started buying lap dances for the bachelor, so next thing you know, I'm left with $60 in Monopoly money, and it's getting late. I then proceed to get three more lap dances for myself. After all, I'm not going to let the money go to waste, right?

When I get home, the Mrs. says, "So, how many lap dances did you get?" I tell her that I got four. She is half-mad, half-laughing at my indulgence. (Apparently, she forgot that she told me that I "could" get five.) Feeling slightly guilty, I explain the story, and how I was left with $60 in money that couldn't be spent elsewhere. She asked, "Well, why didn't you just give it back?" I replied that the money was non-refundable, so it was use it or lose it. That seems totally logical to me. She, on the other hand, thought that was the lamest excuse ever, and couldn't understand why I didn't just throw the $60 at the bouncer and be on my way. The thought of that pained me, so we had to agree to disagree on that issue.

I also debated the merits of various places to get lap dances with a friend who had just taken a weekend trip to Montreal just to go to strip joints. My rankings were: 1) Las Vegas, 2) New York (Scores, that is), 3) Atlantic City, and 4) Chicago. He raved about Montreal, and said that if you go to the right clubs, not only is there grinding and much grabbing by the dancers, but you can touch just about anywhere you want, crotch excepted. Now that's living.

Houston.

<EOM>

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Gattigap

Sodenbergh must've done a thorough sweep to rid the floor of flip flops and tank tops.

How do I get in touch with him? I have an assignment for him at my firm.

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
According to Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Tour Across America, strip clubs in Montana and Alaska are pretty wild, and are totally nude. Central Florida was noted for the sheer number of strip clubs, though Houston has the most in a single city. The author of that book favored Dallas over Houston due to the new city ordinance about the number of feet allowed between the patron and the dancer. She seemed to hate El Paso and Pueblo, Colorado. Vegas overwhelmed her.

I bought that book on your suggestion and am reading it now. Thanks for the recommendation. Next up is Dry by Augusten Burroughs. I already read Running With Scissors, so I know his writing style. Anyone read Dry?

Also I read Positively Fifth Street recently. I really enjoyed the subject matter (learning about all the World Series of Poker hot shots and about Ted Binion's murder), but I have to say that McManus' writing style tended to bug me. Interestingly he taught writing to David Sederis at the Art Institute in Chicago, so Sederis had a blurb on the cover of the book. More interestingly, Sederis is a much better writer (IMO) than his instructor.

Any other book club suggestions? I'm doing a bunch of traveling coming up, so I could use a few more books to carry with me...

[notcasesensitive]

info for those who are interested --

David and Jeff, Kelly and Jon, and Reichen and Chip will sprint for the finish line and $1 million on tonight's finale of The Amazing Race 4. The one-hour conclusion airs at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Executive producer Bertram van Munster says that "(what happens) is very exciting and unexpected." He and his wife and co-executive producer Elise Doganieri discuss the logistics of the show in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Responding to a question about danger, Doganieri says the show has "an incredible security team that travels with us, and they do advise us on locations we choose, and they are watching closely where the contestants are and where they're going." The Journal Sentinel notes that they "are waiting to hear if you are renewed for a fifth season."

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
Any other book club suggestions? I'm doing a bunch of traveling coming up, so I could use a few more books to carry with me...

I am reading The Death of Vishnu by Manil Suri. He's a math prof somewhere on the east coast but this is a novel about the inhabitants of apartment complex in Bombay. It's very Bollywood-influenced, if you are amused by that kind of thing. It's quite strange and funny.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
I bought that book on your suggestion and am reading it now. Thanks for the recommendation. Next up is Dry by Augusten Burroughs. I already read Running With Scissors, so I know his writing style. Anyone read Dry?

Also I read Positively Fifth Street recently. I really enjoyed the subject matter (learning about all the World Series of Poker hot shots and about Ted Binion's murder), but I have to say that McManus' writing style tended to bug me. Interestingly he taught writing to David Sederis at the Art Institute in Chicago, so Sederis had a blurb on the cover of the book. More interestingly, Sederis is a much better writer (IMO) than his instructor.

Any other book club suggestions? I'm doing a bunch of traveling coming up, so I could use a few more books to carry with me...

I'm reading "Prague" by Arthur Philips. It's fiction, not travel. If you like(d) the Lost Generation (the actual generation: Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein, Ford, Joyce, etc) then you might like it. It's about a group of 1990's ex-pats in Budapest. Very interesting characters. If you've ever had the urge to ex-pat yourself (everday for me), then I'd definitely recommend it.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
I have heard about the distance thing. I used to work for an attorney that had been assigned to the vice unit (heh) of the Harris Cty DA's office, and his job involved site inspections to make sure these distances were observed. He said that after a time it was the most boring job he'd ever had. Anyway, based on empirical observation, the distance restrictions are either no longer in place or are not enforced.

The distance rule is honored about as well as the prohibition on open containers. That's why so many strippers carry condoms while working and any gas station or Stop-N-Rob has single beers with little brown paper bags.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by taxwonk
The distance rule is honored about as well as the prohibition on open containers. That's why so many strippers carry condoms while working and any gas station or Stop-N-Rob has single beers with little brown paper bags.

Friendly edit: your second sentence should have ended after "condoms."

[evenodds]

Life of Pi is in paperback.

If you have an interest in NY or Gangs of New York, I recommend Kevin Baker's Dreamland. I loved it. Paradise Alley will soon be out in paperback, and it also received rave reviews.

My favorite book to read on planes is still Consolations of Philosophy. We own his-and-hers copies, one on each nightstand, after he kept stealing mine. (On a related note, we also own two copies of Working Out, Working Withing and 24 hour Zen, also on each nightstand.)