Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Dad in Stripper Pole Case To Request Change of venue

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

EASTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania father accused of hosting a teen party featuring alcohol and a stripper pole says he can’t get a fair trial because of media coverage.

Steven A. Russo will ask a Northampton County judge for a change of venue after the judge rejected a plea agreement last month. A hearing on the request is scheduled for Friday.

The 37-year-old Bethlehem Township man was charged with corruption of minors, providing then with alcohol and other charges. He was charged after racy photos surfaced of students drinking and dancing at a stripper pole at his house.

Defense attorney Erv McLain says the story has been so sensationalized that Russo can’t get a fair trial locally.

Russo is currently in prison after being convicted of stalking an ex-girlfriend.

Stripper Ban Riles Whistler Residents

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Ron Ross remembers Whistler when he could take his pet chicken into a bar on double-rum night and watch the strippers.

Times have changed since the days when The Boot pub was the talk of the town among the 4,000 or so construction workers who flocked to the area annually as builders struggled to keep up with the resort’s rapid growth.

“Whistler is not a lot of fun anymore,” Ross lamented this week, after hearing exotic dancing has been officially banned by the town’s council, just before the Olympic Games come to town next month.

Whistler council voted unanimously last week to adopt a 10-year-old proposed bylaw that forbids exotic dancing anywhere inside the municipality’s boundaries.

Ross said Harriet, his rum-sipping chicken, enjoyed the show every Thursday until her run-in with a coyote.

Source: SCN Jan. 28, 2010

Woman Sues Club For Stripper Pole Injury

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

NEW YORK, A New York woman who fell while performing a maneuver on a stripper pole at a workout facility is suing the fitness center, the woman’s lawyer said.

Sue Ann Wee said her injuries at the upper east side’s Crunch Fitness location in June kept her out of work for six months, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

“It’s a dangerous maneuver, but if you tell somebody to do it, you have to be ready to spot them,” said Wee’s lawyer, Nicholas Warywoda, who added that Wee’s instructor prodded her to do the move. “The problem is not with these types of classes. The problem comes when you don’t properly supervise the people in those classes.”

Wee, an experienced tap and ballroom dancer, was hanging upside-down with her legs grasping the pole when she requested help from an instructor, the Daily News said.

“He (the instructor) just left her hanging,” Warywoda said.

source: UPI.com, city-data.com, strip club news

dancing at the club

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

Well I have now been dancing for several months now … it has truly had its ups and downs… I have learned that a bunch of women working together can be very stressful..

It is truly a learning experience and would not have changed anything about this.. I have worked almost everyday or night the past 3 months… and have come to a conclusion that I like the being on stage strutting my stuff… I feel sooo sexy and having all eyes on me made me feel on top of the world! I think the hardest part is learnig who to trust and the not so trust worthy… over all I have not found anyone that is totally truthful…

I have more to post but will be back soon… thanks for listening and look forward to your comments.!

Passion

Suspect named in killing at strip club arizona daily star

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

Tucson Region
Suspect named in killing at strip club
By Phil Villarreal
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.08.2009

Tucson police have obtained an arrest warrant for a man suspected in the killing of David H. Tyne outside the Candy Store strip club July 30.
Police are looking for Andre “Dre” Lightsey-Copeland, 28. Copeland is 5 feet 10 inches tall, weighs 150 pounds and has brown hair and eyes. He’s considered armed and dangerous, police said.
On July 30 at 5:02 p.m., police say a man confronted Tyne inside the strip club, on South Craycroft Road near East 22nd Street. One man lured Tyne outside where the other man was waiting, and Tyne was shot. He was taken to University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
One of the men drove away in a white 2005 Chevrolet Impala with Arizona license plate AFW2356 while the other man fled on foot.
Anyone who spots Copeland or the vehicle should call 911 or 88-CRIME.
Contact reporter Phil Villarreal at 573-4130 or pvillarreal@azstarnet.com

Tucson police have obtained an arrest warrant for a man suspected in the killing of David H. Tyne outside the Candy Store strip club July 30.

Air workers in calendar stripper row

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

Air workers in calendar stripper row
By Stephen Moyes 22/12/2008

Fun Stories to read from the past

Airport staff were banned from making a nude charity calendar because bosses thought it might put off potential buyers of Gatwick.

The fundraiser for children with cerebral palsy was to feature 40 men posing for raunchy shots round the site.

It had won the backing of the managing director.

But just as workers were ready to strip, the new director of communications banned the shoot as he felt it was inappropriate.

Calendar organiser Alan Skinner was told bad press could affect the airport’s sale.

The BAA security guard said: “I’ve no idea how a calendar with workers raising funds for charity would influence this. If anything it would have shown we’re a forward thinking company. I’m sure we’d have sold hundreds.”

BAA Gatwick replied: “The idea showed real creativity, but the calendar boys theme was felt inappropriate in a work situation. It is important we work hard to protect the airport’s reputation.”

Go-Go Joint is gone-gone

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Oct 25, 2006

Vargas, who owns Lenny’s Deli on Triangle Street, recently bought the Go-Go property from Vincent Mavilia and plans to sign an agreement with the city not to have topless entertainment, although zoning allows it.
On Tuesday, Vargas met with the Unified Neighborhood Inspection Team at the former club to give an overview of her plans for the 1,200-square-foot building.
She plans to remove the circular bar, which still has full bottles of beer and half-full bottles of hard liquor, and renovate the interior to include a small stage for live music.
Vargas doesn’t plan to serve a full menu of food but will serve appetizers, liquor and other beverages. She also plans to add a patio and a plasma television.
“I want to bring in a mariachi band and maybe some jazz,” Vargas said.
City officials have received complaints for at least two years about the Go-Go Joint, which was previously known as Bada Bing and Wiggles.

In March, a judge ordered Mavilia to install a video surveillance system so police could monitor activity inside the Shelter Rock Road strip club.
Judge Douglas Mintz required the cameras about a year after local police and personnel from the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney shut down the club under the state’s nuisance abatement law.
Police arrested six women in August 2005 who were charged with prostitution for offering to have sex with undercover officers for money.
Another dancer was charged with prostitution in February after asking an undercover officer for money in exchange for sex.
According to the city, Mavilia never installed the cameras. He put the building up for sale.
A sign outside the building says the property is for sale for $375,000, cash only. Vargas would not say whether she paid cash.
“You are doing us a favor. This is a very positive thing for the city,” Rich Antous, a member of the city’s Unified Neighborhood Inspection Team, told Vargas on Tuesday.
City officials plan to help Vargas get the necessary permits to get the new café up and running. Vargas said she hopes to have it open by December.
“I am just really pleased that we have been able to resolve this neighborhood issue, and I wish her the best of luck with her business,” Mayor Mark Boughton said Tuesday.

Detroit Adult Clubs, Gentleman’s Clubs and Strip Clubs

Friday, June 19th, 2009

Detroit strip clubs have their own intrinsic Motown mojo and range from casual Detroit strip clubs to posh, cigar and brandy lounges and from just topless Detroit gentleman’s clubs to fully nude Detroit strip bars. A classic Detroit gentlemen’s club, Detroit’s Coliseum strip bar has a dress code (collared shirts, please), simply gorgeous half naked women, and prices to reflect its status as one of Detroit’s best gentleman’s clubs. For a hearty, no holds barred Detroit strip bar, downtown Detroit’s Bouzouki Club is an ideal club complete with beautiful dancers and fast drinks. Want to take it all off? Detroit’s Club Le Elegant spotlights fully nude strippers, but does not sell liquor—all those roving, admiring eyes just might lose control.

Booby Trap
141 W. Eight Mile Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.366.9030

The Booby Trap is a small, casual strip club that has the feel of an old neighborhood pub, except at your Dad’s old watering hole there weren’t dozens of topless babes. Okay, maybe there were, but that doesn’t change the fact that if you’re looking for a more intimate strip club, with decent drinks and good looking women, then the Booby Trap is it.

Bouzouki Club
432 E. Lafayette, Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.964.5744

Located right in Downtown Detroit, Bouzouki Club is everything you could possibly want in a strip club. The dancers are gorgeous and very personable, the drinks arrive quick and there’s plenty of them, and the whole atmosphere of this strip club screams a good night out.

Centerfold Lounge
20222 John R St., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.892.7333

Centerfold Lounge is your typical Detroit strip club with a wide range of ladies to fit everyone’s taste ensuring a good time for all. Hey, a word to the cost conscious, the private dances here are about five bucks cheaper than at most strip clubs, just don’t skimp on the tip.

Chateau Vert Lounge
16550 Telegraph Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.532.2242

At best, Chateau Vert Lounge is hit or miss, and although they don’t have the typical slew of Barbies that most strip clubs offer, the girls are cute and friendly. However, this strip club is small making the private dances not so private. so, we guess if you’re doing the Detroit strip club tour, stop in; if you have limited time and budget, skip it.

Club Le Elegant
17040 Plymouth, Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.836.7562

In Detroit, as in most major cities, no clothes means no booze, a shame for fully nude strip clubs. However, at Club Le Elegant the prices aren’t bad and the girls are decent. You can always get your drink someplace else and stop by, but we prefer to kill two birds with one stone. Besides, other Detroit strip clubs are topless, it won’t overtax your imagination to picture the girls bottomless too.

Coliseum
11300 E. Eight Mile Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.308.4116

The Coliseum is an above average gentleman’s club across the board, if a little pricey. It’s seriously state of the art, they have premium liquor, and the women are hot from the strippers right through to the service staff. It’s a casual strip club (the only dress code is a collared shirt) and even the bouncers are chill, a definite rarity at most strip clubs. Like we said though, bring extra cash, all this doesn’t come for free.

Cover Girls
10631 Whittier, Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.527.0700

You have to love a strip club with a free buffet and, if they’re still doing it, dollar pitchers on Sundays. Cover Girls has beautiful women, good drinks and your typical strip club atmosphere. Oh, and if you’re nearby on a Tuesday you have to drop in, Cover Girls host the best amateur night in the state.

Crazy Horse Detroit
8140 Michigan Ave., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.581.7400

What can you say about the Crazy Horse Detroit? Well, we can say plenty, but most of it probably wouldn’t be printed here. However, we will say that this adult club is top notch, with beautiful live nude dancers and reasonably priced booze and, hey, you have to love a gentleman’s club that opens early during baseball season.

Hard Body Cafe
7443 Michigan Ave., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.841.2225

The Hard Body Cafe Detroit is a no-frills adult club, meaning there’s no food to interfere with the live entertainment and consumption of libations. Come on, do you really go to strip clubs for the food? In case you’re stumped, the answer is no.

Hot Tamales
13109 W. Eight Mile Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.863.3444

When you’re looking for strip clubs in Detroit, a huge red flag should go up when you contemplate Hot Tamales because nothing else will. Seriously, this strip club needs some major work. The drinks are okay, but if the best thing you can say about a strip club is that the drinks are okay, there is something wrong. We would liken this to an old strippers home, if there were such a thing.

La Chambre Lounge
14100 Telegraph, Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.537.5420

We have it on good authority that La Chambre Lounge is one of Detroit’s best strip clubs. An unpretentious adult club, La Chambre is kicked back, casual and always a good time. The ladies are decent, the liquor is cheaper than most clubs, and the pricing structure for cover charge and lap dances beats out any other gentleman’s clubs.

Platinum
14541 W. Eight Mile Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.342.7944

Easily one of the best strip clubs in Detroit, Platinum has simply gorgeous women,almost all of them black, a sick DJ that helps them shake their natural assets, and a liquor selection that shames most other strip clubs. The atmosphere is totally kicked back, comfortable, and the service from the staff is impeccable.

Player’s Lounge
13710 E. Eight Mile Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.371.6970

The Player’s Lounge redefines the term “gentleman’s club.” It’s a very upscale venue, serving fine cuisine, a well rounded wine list, a fine selection of cigars, and reasonably priced drinks. Oh, yeah, they also have some of Detroit’s hottest women dancing live for your viewing pleasure. Not a rowdy strip club by any stretch of the imagination, so leave your adolescent inner self at home.

Silk Stockings
15569 W. Eight Mile Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.864.3838

Silk Stockings is among a handful of fully nude strip clubs in Detroit, which in layman’s terms means no booze. But, the women are fine and the pricing is comparable to other adult clubs and, hey, they’re fully nude. Drink someplace else.

Subi’s Place
12916 Northline, Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.283.2050

Subi’s Place has been catering to Detroit’s adult club needs since 1971, so you know with a running history like that it has to be good. Some of the hottest girls of any strip club we’ve seen and, oh what variety, it’s like being a kid in some adult candy store. The drinks flows freely and they also offer lunch and dinner, but we believe that after you see the ladies, food will be the last thing on your mind.

Toy Chest
18728 Ford Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.593.1645

We’d say that the Toy Chest is probably the most fun strip club in Detroit. You’re encouraged to let a little of you’re wild side out which separates the Toy Chest from most other gentleman’s clubs, we mean you still have to respect the rules of the road, as it were, but have fun, that’s what strip clubs are for. Also, the Toy Chest, has phenomenal women with some national stars rolling through when they’re in Detroit.

Trumpp’s
21413 W. Eight Mile Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.592.1190

Seriously, you can feel like the Donald himself at Trumpp’s. This gentleman’s club is upscale and they really do accommodate your every need. Good drinks, covered. Fine dining, covered. Cigars, covered. Beautiful ladies, uncovered. Anyway that is the whole point of a strip club, getting taken care of while watching some hotties.

Tycoon’s
12210 E. Eight Mile Rd., Detroit, Michigan; Tel. 313.372.0660

Tycoon’s is a good place, but not in the upper echelon so far as Detroit strip clubs go. The drinks are good and the prices are right, but the entertainment could improve. If the cabbie takes you here, tell him to keep driving there are better adult clubs out there, find them.

Detroit bar and club reviews by Ryan Osterbeck

Strip Club Owners Protest New Rules

Friday, June 19th, 2009

ttp://www.clickondetroit.com/news/19766784/detail.html/

http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/19782131/

Council Concerned New Rules Go Too Far

POSTED: Tuesday, June 16, 2009
UPDATED: 7:16 pm EDT June 17, 2009

DETROIT — Strip club owners and dancers showed up in downtown Detroit Wednesday to protest rule changes for strip clubs.

The new rules would put some distance between strippers and customers and ban alcohol consumption inside the clubs.

Detroit City Council took up the new rules during a meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Strip Club Owners Don’t Want New Rules

The city has about 30 topless bars. If the new rules are approved, topless dancers would remain six feet from the patrons and on a stage at all times. There would also be no lap dancing and no mingling in so-called VIP rooms.

The proposed changes follow a court battle in which a federal judge in 2007 struck down Detroit’s regulations on where strip clubs could open and ordered them rewritten.

The rule that concerned council members the most was no alcohol inside the strip clubs.

“The two just go hand and hand. It’s like a casino. Is anyone going to go to a casino that doesn’t serve alcohol? Is anyone going to go to a sports bar to watch the Red Wings or the Pistons and not want to have a beer? Come on,” said Ken Cockrel Jr., Detroit City Council President.

Club owners said the rule changes would put them out of business.

The council has been under intense pressure from church groups to crack down on the clubs. Thirty-one of them are now licensed to operate in the city and that is about 40 percent of the total for the entire state.

The city is already facing lawsuits for refusing to transfer some club licenses. Council member Sheila Cockrel fears more litigation. “I’m not voting for any of these because it’s constitutionally protected behavior even if I think it’s disgusting,” said Cockrel.

The new rules would also keep new strip clubs 1,000 feet away from schools, churches or other strip clubs.

Strip Club owners appeared happy after the meeting because it appears the council members think the new rules go too far, but the issue still has a long way to go before a final decision is made on the rules.

Tell us what you think about the new changes

The pole vaults into a new role

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

46923934The pole vaults into a new role
Pole dancing, long associated with strip clubs, is sliding into the mainstream as an art and a (clothed) competition sport.
By Susan Josephs
May 24, 2009

Wearing a gauzy blue two-piece costume that resembles a circus acrobat’s uniform, Laura Martin climbs up an 11-foot steel pole in a move popularly called the “Caterpillar Crawl.”

Aggressive and athletic yet fluid and hyper-flexible, she proceeds to blaze through a pole-dancing routine of inverted suspensions, spins and slides.

Hoots and whistles from the female-dominated crowd compete with the live music provided by the rock band Avowed. One woman screams to a friend, “It’s just like trapeze!”
Martin, a former exotic dancer, appreciates the comparison of what she does to something other than adult entertainment.

“I want to see pole dancing get away from the stripper connotation,” says the 30-year-old San Diego-based performer and personal fitness instructor. “I want people to see it’s like any other dance form.”

The weekly showcase at Club Good Hurt in West Los Angeles represents the latest evolution in pole dancing’s migration from the strip club to the fitness class to the mainstream performance venue. It features Southern California pole dancers performing to live rock music in a setting where, according to show producer Emilee Wilson, there’s “no tipping and no stripping.”

While pole dancing has been gaining acceptance in recent years as a form of physical fitness — classes are offered in gyms and dance studios across the country — there have been few performance opportunities outside of exotic dance clubs for dancers who spend years perfecting their skills and seek professional, artistic recognition.

Though the fact that the dance poles are easily portable and installable on a variety of surfaces point to a range of performance possibilities, Wilson and others say the opposite is true.

“There’s just not a lot out there right now so that people can see pole dancing as a serious dance form,” says Leigh Acosta, a 30-year-old pole dance instructor, aerial artist and recent performer at the showcase. “I think a lot of people still see it as something scandalous, the way people thought burlesque was scandalous, or belly dancing.”

That may change, however, considering that Cirque du Soleil hired a champion pole dancer in January to perform in its Las Vegas-based “Zumanity,” and pole-dance competitions judged by dancers and choreographers have sprung up all over the world.

The year-old New York City-based US Pole Dance Federation, for example, plans to sponsor annual competitions and pledges on its website to promote pole dancing as a “sensual and athletic art form.”

Locally, there’s Wilson’s effort to produce an “acrobatic pole show for women who want to perform but not in a strip club.

“What I’m doing is offering women a safe space where they get respect,” says Wilson, a 27-year-old actress and pole dancer who used to perform at Jumbo’s Clown Room, a Hollywood bikini bar. “Most of the women I met at Jumbo’s were really artistic, and none of them had implants. They were there because they really wanted to perform, and performers need an audience.”

About 100 people — with a roughly 3-2 female-male ratio — packed the red-paneled bar and checkered dance floor area on a recent Monday to watch a lineup of performers that included Acosta, Nicole Williams, a popular local pole-dance instructor, and Mina Mortezaie, whose forte seems to be perfectly executed vertical and inverted split maneuvers.

Mortezaie, 26, trained in gymnastics, modern dance, jazz, ballet and hip-hop before discovering pole dance. “I got addicted to it immediately because it combines everything I’ve been obsessed with: strength, flexibility, grace.”

Though she considered working at strip clubs, Mortezaie has created her own performance opportunities, which have included staging “pole nights” at the Culver City restaurant and bar Rush Street and forming her own burlesque dance troupe that incorporates the pole in its repertoire.

“I didn’t want to dance for men in clubs,” she says. “I wanted to dance for myself.”

For her performance, Mortezaie wore a tiny pink-and-black bikini and sported thigh-high shiny black boots. All of the performers wore bathing-suit-type costumes, a necessity, they say, since bare skin allows them to perform moves that require gripping with various parts of the body. As for their high heels, “every dance has its shoe,” observes Anna Grundstrom, the co-founder of the US Pole Dance Federation. “In high heels, you can grip higher on the pole.”

As a dancer, Mortezaie seemed to accentuate the sexy elements of her movements. She considers this “empowering,” while other dancers, like Martin, favor a less overtly sexual approach.

“I actually try to numb that part down,” says Martin, a self-taught pole dancer who cross-trains in martial arts, yoga, boxing and running. “You can’t take a woman’s natural seductiveness away from her, but I tend to stay away from the shake-your-ass maneuvers.”

Acosta, who demonstrates a languid, graceful performance quality in her routines, feels she’s “not a very sexy performer” but defends the dancers who are.

“I think it would be wrong to take out the sexual appeal of it, otherwise pole dancing would be nothing more than just stunts and gymnastics,” she says. “So much of dance is sexy. I’ve seen modern dance performances where it looks like the dancers are having sex.”

Judith Lynne Hanna, a dance scholar at the University of Maryland, points out that many dance forms contain sensual or sexual elements and were stigmatized at various points in their histories.

Hanna, who has served as an expert witness on more than 100 court cases related to exotic dance regulation, also mentioned examples of highly regarded choreographers such as modern dance pioneer Anna Halprin, who received a warrant for her arrest in 1967 when she presented a dance involving female nudity in New York.

“And then you have belly dancing, which contended with stigmas similar to pole dancing,” Hanna says.

Though some people attempt to trace contemporary pole dancing to the traditional Indian sport of Mallakhamb, or pole gymnastics, Hanna says the form really got its start in the 1980s, when strip clubs “became more upscale and elegant. I’m not sure when it became so gymnastic, but at some point, pole dancers became very skilled,” she says. “After all, if everyone’s doing the same thing but you do something different, you could attract more tips.”

Outside the strip clubs, pole dancing continues to evolve, with new tricks and terms being invented and dancers exchanging information by posting performance and instructional videos on YouTube.

“What I call an outside leg hook might be called ‘the firefly’ in one studio and ‘the fireman’ in another,” says Grundstrom, who mentions efforts to “put a Web page together with names of moves we all agree on.”

Grundstrom feels that pole dancing is “in the middle” of significant evolution. “Some people have kept the flowing, circling movements, others are more athletic,” she says, noting the recent petition to get pole dancing included as an event in the 2012 Olympics.

“The athletes will see it more as a sport and the dancers as more of an art,” she said. “Our goal at the Federation is to make pole dancing credible . . . the more you put pole dancing in other places, the more you change people’s minds.”

calendar@latimes.com