I had to visit Fantasia on...

I had to visit Fantasia on the final Saturday in November, before the ABC Board began enforcing Alabama's anti-nudity law on December 1st. That rule forbids any part of the breast from the top of the nipple down from being on display. The girls I asked about it were afraid it will really cost them a lot of business and some are already thinking about moving on to other states to dance. I hope their fears are greatly exagerated, but I'm sure it will reduce tips during the stage sets. The limitations in the amout of contact allowed during tips (since the ABC agents visited 10-22), especially no longer being able to tip the "kitty", has already slowed the tipping down some. All tips now must be placed either on the side of the G-string or in a garter. No more Stevie's either. Occasionally a dancer will still try to sneak in a nose rub with the front of the G/thong or give a very quick view of the top of the pubes, but this seems extremely limited to a few dancers and their best customers. One dancer did mention that after things settle down they may relax some of the tipping rules, but the tops are going to have to stay on for the forseeable future. The good news is that the VIP upstairs is pretty much business as usual, since it is officially a separate business that doesn't sale or allow alchohol. Whether any other state agencies (other than ABC) will be getting involved in enforcing the anti-nudity law that has been on the books for years remains to be seen.

Having said all of that, my visits in November were pretty much what I expected other than the tighter tipping rules. Some of the long term regular dancers are gone, but there are some new ones that more than make up for their absence. Overall, I would say the sum total of all the current dancers are as good as I have seen it in quite a while, maybe ever. Best bet on a weeknight is Thursday. I haven't been in on a weekday recently, but some of the day shift girls still around on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday nights looked pretty good. Friday is usually the better of the weekend nights, as the girls are working harder to make their monetary goal, and the customers seem to have a little more to spend. By Saturday night, those girls who had a really good Friday tend to no-show, and the crowd is ussually a lot younger and poorer. They don't tip very much, and this of course frustrates the girls immensely. On the flip side, if one of your favorites is way behind on her income goals for the weekend, they will sometimes be willing to negotiate lower than normal tip levels in the upstairs VIP. As we have said before, get the right dancer, negotiate before going upstairs, and you can have just about anything you want at fairly reasonable prices compared to other places in the strip club universe. Enjoy while you can, before busybody politicians trying to get in the press before the next election take it all away.