From: Marc 182 <marc182spamless@globalcrossing.net>
Newsgroups: alt.sex.strip-clubs
Subject: ASSC: AFTSD: Ten's Entertainer of the Year, Oct. 15, 2003
Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2003 01:07:46 -0700
Organization: tucson-topless.net
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This post doesn't actually have anything to do with the Entertainer of 
the Year contest at Ten's Showclub, except that it happened to happen 
there.

I knew I'd be attending the contest as soon as the date was announced. I 
wasn't sure about anyone else, even my wife, the once-upon-a-time dancer 
Jasmine Tea (JT), late of Ten's. But as I mentioned the event around, 
the guest list began to grow. By the day of the show I found myself 
calling ahead for a reservation for ten. For sure RSVPs were 14, actual 
shows were 6, so just about what I expected.

I got there early.  Having a reservation gets you a seat, but not 
necessarily a good one. I claimed two rows of prime territory, one row 
from the front.  The judges got the first row, a bunch of local radio 
DJs. I felt a bit weird sitting there taking up two entire rows with 
just my skinny butt. But soon Omar arrived and his more substantial butt 
did a good job of holding up the other end of one row.

I spotted Rich, the owner's son and manager. "Hey Rich, you want me to 
shoot this thing?" This was actually a tricky question, at one time I 
was this club's webmaster and shot inside with impunity, but now I had 
no formal relationship with them at all - my wife hadn't even worked 
there in years. 

Rich did the chin rub thing, "Hum, they all sign releases, it's in their 
work contracts. Yeah sure.  Just give me copies, I'll make a collage or 
something." Cool cool, I went to fetch my trusty ol', ...I mean spanking 
new Canon EOS 10D out of my car. I'd save about 1/4 of the cost of that 
digital bad-boy just in film and developing that night.

Funny thing, and I've noticed this before, I walked past a door girl, 
door man, and floor manager, none of whom knew me, carrying that massive 
rig (the 10D weighs like a brick) slung shoulder high, and no one said 
anything. So long as you look like a pro, you can just about go 
anywhere. Wanna sneak into a nuclear reactor? Carry a clipboard.

We filled in pretty well, but I released the second row of chairs to the 
bouncers trying to seat people. After two acts, I was just about getting 
in gear with the new photo equipment, when our last shows arrived, 
Carrie and Lorrie. Carrie works with JT at "megacorp.com" and Lorrie is 
Carrie's ex-girlfriend. In spite of being ex-girlfriends, they remain 
friends, and I rarely see one without the other. I dumped 4 lagging AA's 
into an ashtray and gave hugs all round.

The shows were a bunch of fun.  There was body paint, some fire, a big 
swing thing that could'a hurt someone, some more body paint, and some 
blood that I presume was fake. Six shows in all. I can't really post the 
pix because while the club has releases, I don't. But I will give you 
this:
http://www.tucson-topless.net/images/tens-ent20031015-100.jpg and this
http://www.tucson-topless.net/images/tens-ent20031015-179.jpg, just to 
show I really was there.

But one thing I noticed, as I bounded around shooting pictures, was 
Carrie and Lorrie holding hands. There were lots of couples there, 
including JT and I, and we talked, butted shoulders, hugged, patted, 
whatever, but we didn't hold hands resolutely like that, fingers 
interlaced, not letting go. I kept glancing at them, trying to figure 
out if they were getting back together romantically. I like both of them 
and I guess I was hoping for them.

About 12 AM our people started leaving (1AM is closing here). I vowed to 
stick with it, one more show to go.  Did I mention that Entertainer of 
the Year was held on a fickin school night? No wonder everyone bailed. 
As I said my goodbys, Lorrie accepted a hug from me, and then set me 
back by taking my hand and very formally kissing the back of it. She 
kissed the back of my hand!

That threw me, I didn't know how to take it. At first I thought it was 
sarcastic. I thought she'd noticed me looking at them holding hands and 
then kissed mine as a statement. But I couldn't see how Lorrie would 
even be capable of that.

I didn't figure it out right away, it took a while, it bothered me, but 
I finally got it. Tucson is a liberal town by Arizona standards, which 
still makes it pretty damn conservative. We do have some good gay and 
lesbian bars in town, places where a same-sex couple can be themselves, 
but you're not going to see them holding hands in public. Except, of 
course, in a strip club, a place where "conservative" is a meaningless 
word. Carrie and Lorrie weren't holding hands because they were getting 
back together, they were doing it simply because they could. Here, in 
this enclave of sanctioned male boorish behavior, they got to see pretty 
naked girls performing skits on stage, hang out with a bunch of their 
hetero friends, relax and be themselves, and they got to hold hands in 
public. For setting that up, I got my hand kissed.  

Marc
-- 
Please always remember, It's hard to meditate on amphetamines.
                                         -Joe Walsh
http://www.tucson-topless.net         Uncovering Tucson and Baja Arizona
http://tens-showclub.com              Tucson's Ultimate Showclub