Lost Girl
In the last decade some parts of the adult-club industry have evolved toward a corporate model, with conglomerates buying local clubs to form international chains with staffs of accountants and lawyers and uniform management standards. For instance, Houston-based Rick's Cabaret, where Anna Nicole Smith performed, is a publicly traded company on NASDAQ that recently opened a new club in Fort Worth. Another upscale topless chain, Spearmint Rhino, with branches in Britain, Australia and Russia, recently opened a multimillion-dollar outlet in a former Dallas steakhouse, where it sells $100 bottles of Moet champagne. Despite their preferred moniker of "gentlemen's clubs," many now hold couples nights and welcome women as a way of expanding their audience and profits, styling themselves as "restaurants with a view." David Beckham reportedly even took his wife Victoria on a date to a Spearmint Rhino club in Las Vegas.
Not surprisingly, Las Vegas's strip clubs rake in the most revenue, with their 24-hour, 365-day schedule. Atlanta is known as the Sin City of the South for its plethora of all-nude clubs that serve alcohol and are popular with conventioneers.
Dallas, another "primary market" for the national strip-club industry, offers something for everyone. Small clubs without liquor licenses, like Diamonds Cabaret, attract customers with bottomless dancers, because the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission will not grant liquor licenses to all-nude establishments. Young men looking for the girl next door or a punk rocker stripping to the sounds of heavy metal riffs, country crooning or Shakira might opt for a larger club, like Baby Dolls. Some businessmen hold dinner meetings at the Lodge, whose menu offers "Crabs! The Good Kind," a low-cal section, and an entire page of fine cigars. The girls who emerge from the Lodge's rocky grotto under the antler chandeliers strive for a modern dance aesthetic, spinning their legs overhead in languid circles while keeping their thongs on. Known for being one of the classiest strip joints in town, the Lodge employs a former Dallas Morning News editor as a day manager and is one of the few such clubs in Dallas owned by a woman.
Diamonds Cabaret is just across the Interstate, but a world away from the Lodge. Adult industry advocates hope the scandal of the former doesn't damage the reputation of the latter. "To make everyone pay for the few is unfair," says Spencer.
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: DAVBR4934 @ 05/16/2008 9:14:02 PM
Comment: 1ST OF ALL THERE ISN'T NOTHING WRONG WITH LIVING IN DALLAS. THEY SUBJECT SHOULD HAVE BEEN "BE BETTER PARENTS TO YOUR CHILDREN". I AM 21YRS OLD AND I'VE BEEN IN DALLAS FOR 21YRS. OVER THE TIME PARENTS ARE TO BUSY TRYING TO BE FRIENDS TO THEIR CHILDREN INSTEAD OF BEING PARENTS. WHEN I WAS YOUNGER ABOUT 7YRS OLD, I REMEMBER MY MOM TELLING ME "DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS". MY MOM WAS VERY STRICT ON HER CHILDREN. WE HAD CHORES AND WE KEPT GOOD GRADES IN SCHOOL. I WAS THE DAUGHTER THAT MOM THOUGHT WAS GOING TO HAVE SEX FIRST BECAUSE I USED TO WERE SKIMPY CLOTHING. I MADE STRAIGHT A'S IN SCHOOL AND I HAD A REAL BAD ATTITUDE. PARENTS THESE DAYS ARE TOO AFRAID OF THEIR CHILDREN. HOW DO A 12 YR OLD CHILD RUN AWAY LONG ENOUGH NOT TO BE ABLE TO FIND HER? APPARENTLY YOU WEREN'T LOOKING HARD ENOUGH. AND A RUN AWAY IS NOT GOING TO TELL ANYONE THAT THEY RAN AWAY FROM HOME, THEY'D BE TO SCARED SOMEONE WOULD TELL THE POLICE. HOW DID SHE KNOW SHE COULD TRUST ANYONE ENOUGH TO TELL THEM THAT SHE RAN AWAY? AND HER AGE DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING BECAUSE SHE LIED ABOUT IT AND SHE DOESN'T LOOK HER AGE. IF YOUR CHILD HAS THE BODY OF A 20YR OLD AND SHE IS 12, SHOULDN'T YOU BE PROTECTING HER AND NOT LETTING HER RUNAWAY??? NOW SHE PUT HERSELF OUT THERE YOU WANT TO TRY TO GET SOMEONE ELSE IN TROUBLE FOR THE MISTAKE YOUR DAUGHTER MADE? SHE RAN AWAY 4 TIMES, SO THE FIRST TIME SHE RAN AWAY YOU SHOULD HAVE MADE IT TO WHERE SHE DIDN'T WANT TO RUN AWAY AGAIN. NOW MY FRIEND IS DOING TIME BEHIND HER WANA BE GROWN ASS!! AND THE LIL GIRL EVEN TRIED TO BE WITH MY COUSIN AND MY COUSIN LOOKS YOUNG BUT HE IS 31 AND I'M PRETTY SURE THE "LIL GIRL" KNEW HE WAS WELL OVER HER AGE. HER PARENTS NEEDS AN ASS WHUPPIN AND SHE NEEDS AN ASS WHUPPING TOO. AND ONE MAIN THING, YOU CAN'T KIDNAP A RUNAWAY UNDERAGE OR LEGAL AGE. I DON'T KNOW HOW THE POLICE CHARGED HIM WITH ALL OF THESE CASES. AND IF DAVID BELL WAS CHARGED WITH SEXUAL PERFORMANCE AND HE DOESN'T EVEN WORK AT THE CLUB, WHY DIDN'T THE MANAGER GET CHARGED? IT'S HIS DUTY OVER ANYONE ELSE TO GET PROPER IDENTIFICATION VERIFIED AND COPIED AND PRINTED OUT. AND NO ONE KNOWS BUT THERE WAS A CASE FILED AGAINST DAVID BELL THAT WAS DROPPED, SO APPARENTLY THE GIRL LIED ABOUT SOMETHIN BECAUSE THE CHARGE THAT GOT DROPPED WAS A REAL BIG DEAL ASS CHARGE!!!! HMMMM IF THAT GOT DROPPED WHAT ELSE COULD BE A LIE? ALL OF IT!!! FREE DAVID BELL!!! I AM NOT WRITING THIS JUST BECAUSE DAVID BELL IS A FRIEND, IF HE'S WRONG I APOLOGIZE BUT IF HE IS PROVEN INNOCENT LIKE I KNOW HE IS, HE DESERVES AN APOLOGY NATIONWIDE BECAUSE OF THE TIME HE IS SPENDING BEHIND THIS NON DISCIPLINED CHILD OF PARENTS WHO CAN'T EVEN TAKE CARE OF THEIR CHILDREN!!! WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN WHEN SHE RUNS AWAY AGAIN? IT IS OBVIOUS SHE DOESN'T LIKE HER HOME... ANYBODY THAT READS THIS STORY WATCH OUT FOR A LIL GIRL, ID ANYBODY U DON'T KNOW!!!!
Posted By: skyblizzer @ 04/10/2008 5:52:56 AM
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Posted By: Nins @ 04/08/2008 7:39:22 PM
Comment: I'm a Christian Republican and I am in favor of abortion being legal, not because I think abortion is acceptable, but because it is obvious to me that reproductive freedom is an essential civil right. Ask the women who were forced to live in the conservative Mormon compound recently raided in Texas, where girls were mated against their will in incestuous polygamous marriages as soon as they reached puberty. I realize that this is an extreme (and thank goodness, finally illegal - it wasn't always), but if women don't have the final say over their reproductive organs, this is the kind of abuse that ensues. Look at the poor little girl discussed in this article. And realize that her story is less rare than it is shocking.
I am a medical doctor and the things I have seen over the years would curl your hair (or break your heart). There is a huge amount of tragic suffering in this country inflicted upon young women in the form of rape, incest and sexual abuse. Teens who get pregnant are highly likely to have been abused. Prostitutes have a huge incidence of childhood sexual abuse. These personal tragedies are just as immoral as abortion, and our society needs to address this. We need to recognize that a large percentage of the young women seeking abortion need love, support, guidance and counseling. They do not need to be censured or legislated against.
Also, since there are so many different opinions on abortion and we are a democracy, we are obligated by the spirit of our constitution to come to a fair compromise when we disagree on important matters. A fair compromise does not outlaw abortion, but sets standards as to in what circumstances is abortion allowed. Early term abortion, medically necessary to save the mother's life, and cases of rape and incest are GOOD compromises, compromises that weigh the rights of the individual against the needs of society and the different belief systems that make up our nation.