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The Sinclair Diaries: Part 7

sinclair

Strip Club Nation

I returned to the Home of the Blues for the first time in a year for a short vacation and to see how recent legislation had impacted the local strip clubs. Apparently, Shelby County had barred the sale of hard liquor in Memphis strip clubs and required dancer licenses. Club owners felt this would put them out of business, but so far it had not. After checking into my hotel just south of the Mississippi state line, I resurfaced back into the Volunteer State and considered my options for the evening.

Virtually all of Memphis's establishments are in an area south of I-240, yet north of the Mississippi state line, and close to the airport. The only club that is not in the aforementioned area is the Gold Club near the I-240/I-40 interchange on the east side of the city. Further classifying the Memphis scene, you have black clubs and white clubs generally speaking. The majority black clubs are: Babes of Babylon, Pure Passion, Showgirls, Jet Strip, and El Cabaret Dulce Amante (which is black/Latina). The majority white clubs are: The Pony, Gold Club, and Christies Cabaret.

My game plan was to hit the isolated Gold Club out on the eastern front and then possibly double back to the airport area, if needed, where the rest of the clubs are more closely concentrated. On my way into town that afternoon, I had heard on the news that there was a shooting outside the Gold Club the previous night. I could not find a news article on the internet. When I arrived at the club I asked about the shooting and, yes, it was true. Two Mexicans got into a scuffle in the parking lot resulting in one shooting the other in the leg. That makes for two shootings at Memphis titty bars in one week's time. There was a shooting at Babes of Babylon seven days prior. Apparently, Bluff City strip clubs could get dicey.

The last time I was at the Gold Club was in May of 2007. I remember this place being kind of dumpy with very few good-looking girls. Well, my current visit was completely the opposite. The Gold Club had been recently renovated (which was dragged out over a period of three years according to locals). The quality of dancers was definitely above average with some stunning 18-24 year old babes.* The inside was upscale with two stages, a large main with a pole and a small secondary with a spinning pole. According to the DJ, this club has the only spinning pole in Memphis, and the girls were all hanging out at the secondary stage early on trying to practice tricks on the spinning pole since it had been installed very recently. This was definitely not the same crappy club I remembered from four years prior.

Dances are $40 and a horrible value for a short song. You either have to try to negotiate a better price or wait until the occasional 2-for-1 deals. The two-fers also include a prize: a shirt or mug. Generally, guys were only buying dances during blue light shopping. I noticed some girls were charging $40 for the 2-for-1 prize dance while others were charging $50. I think the girls have to pay the house $10 for the souvenir itself, and some were trying to pass on that fee to the patrons. Dancers really seemed to hate doing the two-fers because they made half as much money. Dances took place in cubbyholes that anyone on the main floor could see into. You will not get extras here. In fact, I noticed the really perverted guys liked to sit at the tables that were within six feet of the cubbies, so they could be peeping Toms to your private dances. While you could generally get two-way contact during dances, 90% of girls would not touch you during stage tipping. You could insert money into their g-string and that was it except for a couple girls daring enough to break an apparent “buffer rule”. I was lucky enough to have one freak back her pussy into my face when I tipped. The Lycra covering her snatch was pressed to my lips. She smelled like spring flowers, and I would have loved to have partaken in that feast. Beer was being served, but there was no liquor being served. There is a two drink minimum, which are prepaid for with the entrance fee of $19 ($8 cover + $5.50 beer + $5.50 beer).

Some of the girls seemed to have bad attitudes. For example, I got a two-fer from a bolt-on Barbie, and she would not remove her top because she would only be making half as much money during the promo than she would have made if some dumbass actually paid full price for two dances. I made it a point to grab her melons with her bra on. I tipped a tattooed brunette well on stage, thinking I was sending a message. When she got off stage she ignored me and sat with some guy at the bar for two hours. The guy bought her one drink, unbelievable. Eventually, I hooked up with another young stripper. The attraction was mutual and the conversation interesting. Eventually we went for some lap dances and that is when we spontaneously started making out and got all girlfriendsy-boyfriendsy. She kept dropping hints that she really was into me and did not even want me to pay for the lap dances, but I still paid in full. I let my guard down and starting getting pathetic--something I am usually able to contain--falling in love with a stripper. I was spending time with a girl I would have definitely dated outside of the club. I tried to keep my head straight and reaffirm the past hour was a dream and did not happen. I tried to tell myself that my lover had a boyfriend, which is likely. Meanwhile, I noticed a guy staring at me from across the room the whole time all of this was going on. Now where I come from, if you stare at other guys, (A) you are a homosexual or (B) you want to fight. I could have destroyed this faggot easily. I soon learned the guy staring me down was one of my new ATF's regulars. He was jealous and clearly freaking out that his girl was all over me and ignoring him. I agreed she should visit him so she could make money; after all this is her job and I secretly needed to disconnect to keep myself from falling in love with a dancer. I ordered some more beers and chilled out a bit. The regular was a tightwad, not spending a dime on her for the hour and a half I remained at the club. I am starting to see this type of thing a lot: a guy drops hundreds his first few visits to establish “regular” status with a girl. Then, he starts to get cheap and really milks the dancer's time on subsequent visits. The dancer is scared to drop him from her stable because he may start discharging big bills like he has in the past. These are generally lonely guys that get absolutely no interaction with women in the real world, so they want to come into strip clubs and talk to girls for hours on end and spend as little as necessary to string them along. I have seen this frequently at Brad's Brass Flamingo.

I did not make it back to the airport district that evening. Tired, I headed back to the hotel and planned to do more reconnaissance the following evening.

*Side note: As of a few weeks ago Democrat Rep. G.A. Hardaway of Memphis wanted to pass HB 0072 to raise the minimum age of strippers from 18 to 21. I have not heard if this has been made into Tennessee law yet.