Friday, May 18, 2007

how i busted my strip club cherry

Kimba commented on my recent post about a night in Kalamazoo that I should write about more strip club experiences.

During the waning years of my first marriage I had begun traveling to different parts of the country on business. Until I was past 30, I had never been to a strip club, and if any of my male friends at the time had been, it had never come up in conversation.

One afternoon in the late 80s, I found myself in Seattle, driving from the airport to my hotel downtown. Driving down Denny Way, I saw a sign that said "Razzmatazz -- topless" or something like that. Without forethought, I pulled into the parking lot and entered the club.

I had heard about "private dances" and even read an illustrated article in Playboy some years back about the new trend of "Texas couch dances."

As I remember, the club had a single stage with a girl dancing. It last late afternoon, and not too many customers in the place. Several dancers combed the room asking patrons if they wanted table dances. I kept saying no, especially as I wanted to witness what this was about before handing over money.

They had cards on the tables advertising "table dances" for $5. After a while a couple of the other customers did buy dances and I could see that the girls stood in front of them by the table, removed their tops and danced. I didn't notice much contact -- perhaps an occasional brush-up.

What I saw wasn't that intriguing, but I thought, "Here I am, I should experience this, and it's only five bucks."

A bit later, a dancer approached me to ask if I wanted a dance. She was pretty cute, and I answered "maybe." She asked if she could sit with me and I said sure, so she took the chair next to me and started a conversation. She, like so many dancers I've chatted with since, was working her way through school.

After a few minutes of this she leaned over, stuck her tongue in my ear, and asked, "Would you like the $5 dance or the $10 dance." This was a great introduction to the world of private dances, the opportunities and negotiations that often arise. I'm no dummy, I said "$10."

She proceeded to give me a dance that, while it wouldn't impress me in today's world of $30 lap dances, had a fair amount of leg-to-dick pressure action, blowing in ears, hair trailing over my head and chest and other things that were a great turn-on to a guy who was more than 15 years into a relatively sexless marriage. Schwing!

I know I had at least one more dance, and maybe two before thanking her and leaving to finish the trip to my hotel for check-in.

I knew I had opened a Pandora's Box of sorts. Although sexually frustrated in my marriage, I didn't want to have an affair. I realized that I could achieve a sort of sexual satisfaction (even without orgasm) this way. It led to many nights on the road experiencing a variety of clubs, and later to massage parlors and (only in Nevada) brothels.

Also, I found that trying to research the sex trade in each town I visited was a challenge and a fascination. Remember, this was before the internet. When I hit town, I would buy the local newspaper, pick up the alternative free weekly and anything else that held the promis of information, and then consult the yellow pages. I learned to parse language, especially with regard to massage joints, to determine what kind of place it was and what kind of experience to expect.

I still find myself doing this kind of research, now on the internet and in advance of a trip, even without any plan to engage in these activities. I love reading escort and courtesan web sites, reading reviews on TER and strip club sites, and finding local sex-trade info sites.

4 comments:

O said...

That's very interesting. I'm always interested in stories about exploration. Thanks for this.

Autumn Seave said...

Love you blog Al.

On the stripper thing, my sister and I used to go to the local stripper bar and make the guys all uncomfortable. But ever since, I've always prefered female strippers to male strippers.

Al Sensu said...

There are more women going to strip clubs these days, either in pairs/groups or with their boyfriends. No-one looks uncomfortable, especially when the women join the action.

I've seen some male strippers and I find them less athletic and less creative than the women.

kimba said...

The only strip show I have ever seen I went with my gay boy buddy - he was an androgynous sort.. but when the fellas stripping realised he was a man they FREAKED out.. freaked..

thanks for the story Al..

xx