The
SSQQ Sleazy Bar Whip Party |
Story Written by Rick Archer
March 2005
The Texas Whip first
appeared in dives, honky-tonks, and juke joints that
surrounded the Texas oil fields and refineries back in the late 40s and
early 50s.
Back in those days you had dark, smoky lounges with plenty of cheap beer
and a rough blue collar working crowd looking to let off steam after a
hard day�s work.
The band or jukebox played a steady flow of Texas Blues. Think Stevie Ray
Vaughan or ZZ Top for modern examples. The Blues had a raw,
angry sound with sensual rhythms often described as Stripper music.
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Legend has it the Whip
started as a "pickup" dance. A man would be leaning against the bar drinking a beer. A woman
(someone he knew? someone he would like to know?
someone who would like to know him?) would drop by
and smile. While she was there, she would grab his
free hand for connection. Using his hand for counter-balance, she would proceed to glide back and forth
to the music and give him a little
show.
She would roll her hips
in time to the music and tease him a little. Most of the women just wanted some attention,
but a few were professionals engaged in a little
advertising.
The man would act cool and pretend to barely notice the performance, but no doubt the
corner of his eye would track her movements like a hawk measuring its prey!
One thing was certain - the better the bump and grind, the more likely the man
would be the first one to surrender.
Eventually a few of the men would get interested and participate in the dancing as well. Pretty soon the guys who
could dance where the one who ended up leaving the bar with the good-looking ladies.
The others were left holding their beer.
It didn't take long for the 'left behinds' to figure it out.
Soon enough they were learning to Whip if for no other
reason than to get their fair share.
And that is how a very sexy dance known as the Texas Whip
was born.
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The name had nothing to do
with spanking the women, though certainly some were impudent enough
to deserve it. Others say it was named for the psychological pressure the woman applied
to the man with her provocative motions. She "Whipped" him.
Both thoughts are clever plays on the name, but neither were
correct.
The Whip got its name from the arm tension that caused the woman's hips to
SNAP back at him and RECOIL after he "cracked the whip". In
other words, he "Whipped"
her. It was a great name.
The
Legendary Four Palms
The
Four Palms is now out of business, but in its heyday it fit all the definitions of a
dive: smoky,
crowded, lots of drinking, lots of hustling, and
some tough customers. At first glance you
wondered if you stumbled into the
Reptile House at the Houston
Zoo by accident.
SSQQ used to go Whip dancing in the mid 1980s at
the the
Four Palms off Telephone Road. Long ago Telephone Road was
infamous for its houses of ill repute. Upon
my first visit in 1986, a cursory look
suggested the area's past could
easily be its present. This was definitely the Blue Side of Town.
The Four Palms was known as a "Pressure Cooker Bar", a
phrase for a bar where bored and restless women
would go looking for
a little Meat on the Side. During
the weekday while her husband was at work in the refinery
and the kids were busy in school, some women were ready to get out of the
house.
As her family's evening meal
was slowing simmering in the
Pressure Cooker at home, Momma would
head over to the bar and look for action so she could do a little
sizzling of her own.
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The regulars would stroll in
from 9 am on. The band started up at 11 am
in the morning (it was jukebox from 10 am till 11 am). The hustle
would begin just as soon as the women showed up. If a pair hit it off, they would give their business to a
No-tell Motel, many of which were lined along Telephone Road. These
institutions conveniently offered hourly rates.
The rule of thumb was "Score by Four". If you couldn't get some by
4 pm, then hang it up. That's when the band quit and the gals
headed home to work on the evening meal for hubby. These women
were called 'daylight Cinderellas' because many of them got home and
changed clothes just in the nick of time.
I definitely wasn't looking for any action when
I stumbled into the Four Palms for the first time. The attraction for
me was a fabulous blues band called "The Soul
Brothers" that I had heard about. I was told this band
played great rhythm and blues Whip music
every Sunday night.
The band definitely delivered as advertised.
"Knock on Wood", "St James Infirmary", "Mustang Sally", "Take Me
to the River", "Never Make Your Move Too Soon"...I loved every song they
played! The moment I heard The Soul Brothers play,
the Four Palms immediately became my favorite place to dance each week.
When that Saxophone player let loose to "Cleo's Mood", I quickly made the
connection between Sax and Sex - this music affected me in very powerful
ways. The following week I could not wait for Sunday to roll around so I could dance
Whip again at the Four Palms!!
The Sunday Night Whip Dancing was sponsored by the Houston Whip Club, an
organization whose members lived around Pasadena and southeast Houston.
We may have come
for the band and the dancing, but it was impossible to overlook the Four Palms
regulars in the background who gathered to do their drinking. They
enjoyed watching
the dancers.
Some the men sitting at the bar eyed the female dancers the same way they
would the performers at a Strip Club. More than one lady I danced with said she
got the creeps when she noticed the patrons weren't hiding their
enthusiasm for her dancing very well. This kind of unwanted
attention was a constant irritation.
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It was the heavy drinkers that gave the Four Palms
its well-deserved "bad reputation".
This was not a polite group. I wish I could put this delicately, but I
came to realize where the clich� "Lounge Lizards" came from. What rock did
these guys live under? For someone like me who had not been
to a dive before, the place was almost surreal.
The Four Palms made you think you were on a Hollywood set for a retro
crime thriller. There
were drinkers and there were loose women, there was smoke everywhere,
there were guys hitting on girls, there were lechers and oglers,
pool players and hustlers.
However once you figured out the tattoos were real and so
were the knife scars, you realized these people weren't extras in a
Sam Spade movie. In the background you had blues lyrics about being bad to the bone, but
these real life low-lifes didn't seem to need much encouragement.
They put me on guard and gave our ladies the creeps.
Everyone looked like they could handle themselves in a fight.
It wasn't just the men who were rough. Those Pasadena girls were
powerful. Some of the women in that place could have snapped me
like a toothpick.
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Danger!
The Four Palms could be
very intimidating if this was your first visit and didn't know what to
expect. For
starters, the Four Palms was in a rough neighborhood. The front door
was locked. Many times
there was a bouncer checking you out carefully.
You had to make a
serious leap of faith at the door. You didn't get in until you
paid your cover charge. There were no windows. The whole place was boarded up
like a fort. You could hear the music, but it was so dark you couldn't see inside
even if you tried peeking around the bouncer.
Furthermore, as if you weren't nervous enough
paying your cover charge before you entered, the Four Palms had a
sign on the wall that was a serious attention grabber. The sign said:
"Check your guns and knives at the door".
Are you kidding me? What kind of place is this?
Needless to say, that sign got everyone's attention muy pronto!!
I remember I did a big swallow the first time I entered the place. Everything on the outside was so secretive. What were they hiding??
I went by myself the first
time. As I stood there on my first visit, it crossed my mind I might
actually be walking into some danger. I really had no idea what
I was
getting yourself into. Do I pay my money and take my
chances or do I follow my instincts and run to my car?
It was kind of like diving off a cliff - no turning back!
Every SSQQ visitor
later told me they also wondered what they were getting themselves
into when saw that sign.
If you had never been there before, this sign definitely made you think
twice before choosing to enter.
In fact, there
were so many precautions being taken I sometimes speculated there was
gambling or perhaps the oldest profession taking place in the back rooms.
I never had the guts to ask.
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Several women told me
they actually took one look a place, then turned
around and drove home without even getting out of their car. Fortunately after we encouraged the
women to try again, most of them
screwed up their courage and came back a second time. Next time however
they made sure to not to come alone.
The Four Palms regulars were scary enough, but the dancers weren't exactly
angels either. Although some of the SSQQ women didn't appreciate the kind
of looks they were getting from the men on the sidelines, not all the
women felt that way. Indeed there were
several women - veteran Whip dancers - who seemed to go out of their way to "stir up the
crowd" with their dancing. They would get those hips moving and
get whistles, cat calls, smiles, and winks for their efforts.
It didn't help matters that the band played exactly the
kind of music that brought
out the lust in everyone. After a few beers and some nasty blues
music, once you saw those women move you had to be dead not to feel the heat starting
to rise inside. I distinctly remember getting turned on by what I
was seeing out there on more than one occasion.
I couldn't decide who was
naughtier - the patrons, the band, or the dancers. Out on the
dance floor the women were soaking up every note of this Sin Music
and expressing it with their hip gyrations. I saw scenes straight out of "Dirty
Dancing" - some of these women were wild!! I stared in open
astonishment. These women were teases.
Definitely Bad to the Bone!
And like I said there were a couple hussies who clearly enjoyed
turning on every man in the joint.
Big
teases!
My eyes bulged. I couldn't help it. I was seeing the "Dirty Whip" for the
first time. The dancers were having a great time getting down and dirty,
but here I was this innocent little college boy taking his first walk on
the Blue Side of Town.
After I
recovered from my initial shock, I decided to let the place corrupt me a little.
Good decision. I had way way too much fun.
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I made my first
visit to the Four Palms back in 1986. This was the year I used
dancing to help recover from a serious depression brought on my
divorce. Whip Dancing became quite an obsession for me that
year - did you know I went Whip dancing 201 Nights in a row?
This is when I first fell head over heels in love with Whip
Dancing! 201 Nights of
Whip Dancing
During my Streak of 201 Nights in 1986, I went dancing all over
the city. But Sunday nights at the Four Palms were special. I loved every minute
I danced at the Four Palms. Dancing here was such a bizarre
experience, I couldn't wait to tell my friends at the studio about
this Wicked House of Sin. Pretty soon I began to talk
all the clean-cut nice girls from SSQQ into going slumming with
me the following week. I had a selfish motive - I needed
someone to dance with!
I was scared to death of the
hip-thrusting ball busters who moved their bodies like a lethal
weapon. It was strictly "look but don't touch" as far as I
was concerned. I preferred women more my speed to dance with.
I lured the SSQQ girls over to the Four Palms with a catchy line,
"Want a little sin and debauchery mixed in with your dancing?" The ones who were brave enough to venture over to the Four
Palms all went "yuck" the moment they saw the place and feared
for their lives and their virtue, but once the band started playing, they gave it
up just like I did.
That music was very seductive. Our SSQQ good girls never knew
what hit them. Without even being aware of it, that music got
those nice girls moving in ways they didn't realize they were
capable of. Like a snake charmer, the music lured the 'bad
girl' out of a lot of nice girls. Eventually they lost their
inhibitions enough to stop fighting their conscience. No one
minded, certainly not the men. We were very encouraging. We called it the "Four Palms Effect".
One of the first
women to get corrupted was beloved SSQQ instructor
Sharon
Crawford. She had heard rhythm and blues music played before and
loved it, but Sharon had never seen a group of people dancing to it.
Sharon didn't even know what the music was called if memory serves.
However the moment Sharon entered the Four Palms, she was just as
hooked as I was. Just like the rest of us, Sharon just needed a
place that gave her an excuse to dance the way she wanted to.
Before long Sharon became my favorite partner in crime. While
the rest of our group made occasional visits to the Four Palms,
Sharon and I never missed a week.
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Unfortunately our fun
only lasted for about a year. The Four Palms closed down in 1987. The Houston Whip Club,
sponsors of the Sunday night dance, decided to move their
operation over to a place called the "Rusty Bucket". They brought the
Soul Brothers along with them. It was a good move - the Rusty Bucket
was a fun place to dance in the Four Palms tradition.
The Rusty Bucket wasn't quite as
sleazy as the Four Palms, but it was close enough. Besides, it was
the chance to dance to the music that brought us there, not the
slime factor. Sharon and I moved over to the Rusty Bucket without
hesitation and so did our loyal flock of emerging bad girls and bad
boys. However it didn't last long. About six months later, sad to say, the Rusty Bucket went under as well.
The floor was always packed on Sundays, but apparently business
wasn't that good on the other nights. Another rumor was that the dancers weren't drinking enough to support
the cost of the band. Who knows?
After the Rusty
Bucket closed, if the Houston Whip Club found another venue, no one told me. That
was the end of our Sunday Sleaze Sojourns. We were really
disappointed.
Sharon and I took the loss of our Sunday night honky-tonk dancing
pretty darn hard. The Thrill was gone.
It was the end of an era.
Origins
of the SSQQ Sleazy Bar Whip Party
After the demise of the Four Palms and the Rusty Bucket, Sharon and I came up with
the idea of recreating the "Four Palms Experience" here at SSQQ.
We would have everyone dress up as
low-lifes and play a steady stream of down and dirty R&B music. We named it the "Sleazy Bar Whip
Party", a title that pretty much captured the evening's theme in a
nutshell.
We were taken back at the initial level of skepticism we faced about the
idea. Very few of our students had the slightest idea what Sharon and I
were talking about!!
We explained it was a dance where everyone pretended they had been
transported back the evil days of yesteryear when the Dirty Whip was used
as a pickup dance. To my dismay the women immediately rejected this
idea!
I'm Not that Kind of Girl!
During the
Garner State Park years of the Whip back in the 60s and the
emergence of the Whip Clubs like the Houston Whip Club and the Southwest
Whip Club in the 70s, the Dirty Whip had undergone a transformation into a
strongly sanitized version of its original form. In order to be
introduced into proper society, the dance had to be cleaned up. The
Hitch and Bump was toned down, the raunchy style was replaced by footwork
and the emphasis moved to turns and dance patterns rather than a steady of
dose of suggestive movements.
It is a known fact that Whip dancers much prefer to do their dancing in
the dark. In the old days, people learned right out on the floor of dark
smoky bars, but now the Whip was taught in well-lit venues. The
modern version of the Whip actually resembled dancing now and didn't
require alcohol or loose morals to learn.
Now I was asking the ladies to return to the Dirty Whip of yesteryear for
one night. Is that too much to ask?
Well, actually, the was 'YES, RICK. YOU ARE ASKING TOO MUCH.'
You see, the Four Palms Blues music tricked our nice girls into
learning to dance naughty. But without the music, our
clear-headed women looked at me like I was crazy.
All the studio's nice girls said they could
never behave that way!
It didn't sound like their idea of fun at all!!
Oh please. I sighed deeply and rolled my eyes in frustration. This party
was going nowhere! I had a big sales job on my hands. Without
the women, we weren't going to have a party.
Part of the problem was that the Four Palms and Rusty Bucket had been
closed for some time. Other than Sharon Crawford and Margie Saibara
(a serious nice girl who hated the place!), there were no women at the studio who would vouch
for me how much fun they had over at these two dives.
I was asking our ladies to take my word for it this was going be fun.
"Oh sure, Rick, we're going to believe YOU? We don't
trust you for an instant! You are trying to trick us into
something. We know you too well!"
Now you are starting to
catch on to what I was up against.
Our SSQQ girls loved to dance and we all had lots of fun, but to be blunt
they were all just too, uh, well-behaved by nature and nurture. Not that I have anything
against "Nice Girls", but let's face it, they were not my ideal target
audience when it came time to sell a party advertised as a chance for
"Nice Girls to Behave Like Bad Girls."
This was shaping up as a real uphill struggle. Without a serious attitude
adjustment, this party was going to be toast.
Half the time I couldn't even get the women to move their hips correctly
in dance class. I would tell them to push their hip out over their
left heel and they would respond incredulously, "You want me to stick my
butt out that much!!?"
The joke around the
studio was that Bad Girls did not require training in how to stick out their hips
- it was a
life-style prerequisite. Bad Girls needed no practice assuming the "Left Hip Spanking
Position" because it came so naturally to
them.
Back in the old days, the Whip was this really naughty dance that a different sort of woman
would use to arouse a man for whatever reason, professional or extracurricular.
But after they cleaned the Whip up a little, now even Good Girls
like our SSQQ women wanted to
learn the Whip. However once
they started, they
discovered they had deep-seated inhibitions against thrusting
their Left Hip out
properly. As I was fond of teasing, the
problem was mostly "psychological".
The ladies didn't appreciate my humor nearly as much as the men did.
I didn't help things much with my BS that our ladies had a "severe disadvantage"
because they hadn't
grown up on the "Wrong side of town" like the Naturals. Instead of a
childhood spent using their bodies to lure men to do their bidding, our
ladies had gone to good schools and had learned to attract men the hard
way by acting in a ladylike fashion. Such a handicap!
I would tell a woman to push that hip further out and they would argue
with me. I would taunt them by saying, "Okay, have it your way. Virtue is
its own Revenge." Obviously my mouth had a death wish.
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However some of what I said
struck home. Slowly but surely the Nice Girls began to get in touch
with their "inner bad girl" and started to move those hips they way they
were meant to move. But they still didn't like the idea of the
Sleazy Bar Party.
The Nice Girls Change Their Minds
As I said earlier, after I first brought up the subject, the women in our
group complained and resisted the idea of my "Bad Girl" dance party for
several weeks. I was just on the verge of giving up when the women
suddenly made an amazing shift in attitude.
Our ladies may have been a bit on the modest side, but if there was one
thing our girls were not, it was "dumb". When the women began to see
the disappointment in the men's eyes at the prospect of this party not
happening, they began to wonder if maybe this Sleazy Bar Party wasn't such
a bad idea after all.
It was the SSQQ men that saved the Party. Their pressure finally caused
the ladies to shift their position on the proposed party. After several
weeks of listening to the SSQQ men bitch and moan, plead and beg, goad and
tease, the women slowly started to warm up to the idea of the party.
Finally the ladies climbed on board if for no other reason than to get the
men in our group to shut the youknowwhat up and quit their whining.
The scenario turned out to be an amazing psychological tug of war in the
neverending Battle of the Sexes. The women played hard to get. I had tried
my hand at persuading them, but I wasn't getting anywhere. The men finally
realized this party wasn't going to happen unless they got involved.
Without their urgency I doubt we would have ever turned the corner.
In the end the women decided anything that could get this many guys
excited about dancing was worth
investigating further.
Behind closed doors, the ladies all started talking to each other. From
what I gathered, it was decided if each
lady promised to pretend to be bad, then the rest of them would pretend to be bad
too. In other words, as long as all the women promised to risk their
good girl reputations, then maybe just this once they would stick out
their hips and give the boys a little thrill. And perhaps this one
night only they could leave their morals at the door and let the boys have
their "Animal House" fantasy.
Amazingly, the women agreed to the party. Anything to get the men to shut
up.
It's the "Clothes", Stupid!
Now a new problem emerged. The ladies decided they weren't so worried
about moving their hips as long as the room was dark enough and all the
other women promised to misbehave too. A couple glasses of wine and their hips
would work fine.
Now however the women were concerned they didn't have the necessary
wardrobe!! Getting this party together was a lot more work than I
could ever have anticipated... The whole thing was becoming a giant
headache as far as I was concerned. I remember wishing the Four
Palms had never closed.
It was a sad condemnation of our
well-scrubbed group of ladies that the majority of them didn't have a clue
how to dress in a tawdry fashion. Sharon and I had a major education
problem. Our new hurdle became the constant question "How do I
dress? What do I wear?"
Sharon tried to describe how bad girls dressed to some
of the women, but the problem was Sharon wasn't very well qualified to
describe what "bad girls" wore in the first place. To her
credit, Sharon asked around and got some ideas on what bad girls wear.
Finally the word
"leather" was mentioned and that got some nods of recognition.
"Skin" was another word with high recognition.
I told the women to dress
as sluts, but they didn't see the humor in that. A few pictures would have
helped, but we didn't have any pictures. Some women began to threaten
not to come because they didn't have the right clothes.
I was getting frustrated. I was seriously beginning to wonder if this
party would ever get off the ground.
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Then I had an inspiration. Several years back my ex-wife
liked to tease me about going to a
"Prep School" when I was a kid. It didn't matter that I was the
poorest kid in the school; she cut me no slack. She decided I was
born a nerd. Then one day
she noticed the school colors were "Red and Black". Suddenly she
was impressed. For some odd reason
she liked the red and black of Saint Johns School.
She laughed and said
Red and Black were "pretty damn sexy colors for a Prep School".
With these taunting words in the back of my head, I told the women to wear something red or black or
a little of both. That turned the corner. With
the addition of this pretty damn sexy color theme, most of the women felt sure there
was bound to be something already in the closet that would do the trick.
The women were back on board. Another hurdle crossed.
Let's Hear it for the Boys!
The men were on board from the get-go. They were just waiting for me to talk the women into it.
The women were all worried about what to wear, but the
men couldn't have cared less.
I quickly discovered that the men didn't need to be told what colors to wear or how to
dress. I just told them the women would be half-naked and they would say "when and
where?"
I told the men the Party was "clothing optional". The men laughed at
my jokes but the women didn't. In fact if you asked the women what they
really thought, they would probably say I was a giant pain in the butt for
even thinking of this stupid party in the first place.
A couple guys did ask for clothing suggestions. I told them to
come dressed as the most desperate lounge lizard or the toughest biker
imaginable.
Several men like my friend Jim Smith
(pictured at right with Sharon) thought that was a great idea and promised
not to let me down. Unfortunately my suggestion about the bikers would
backfire in a way far beyond what my imagination ever thought possible.
But more about that later.
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The men treated me like their hero
for accomplishing the minor miracle of getting the women to agree to this
party, but I knew better. If it wasn't for their collective
behind-the-scenes lobbying, this party would never have happened.
Now that the women were warming to the
idea, the buzz surrounding the party improved dramatically. Sharon and I
grew confident
the party was going to be a hit before the evening started. We were encouraged that our idea had been
well-received. However just when I was starting to relax,
believe it or not, there was yet another hurdle to cross.
The Incredibly Disgusting Sleazy
Bar Whip Workshop
The party was only a couple weeks off when one
night in class a lady said she didn't think her boyfriend
even knew how to dance dirty. She said, "If we are going to stick out our hips,
what makes you think
our boys will learn to dance well enough to deserve it?"
The women in the class all laughed at her impertinence and decided she had
a point. Were our men worthy enough to deserve the immense pleasure our
women had finally agreed to deliver "despite their better judgment"??
This became the next issue. This party in my opinion had long
crossed the line of becoming a major pain in the A__. It was the
perfect example of a project that no one in their right mind would have
undertaken if they could have foreseen the consequences and difficulties
ahead of time.
Wasn't
it sad that people had so many objections to a party that simply
encouraged them to misbehave??
The lady's remarks became a bombshell.
Talking about putting the pressure back in the men's court! It
was a lot more fun when the men could taunt the women about being "uptight
good girls".
Now the men were on the defensive. "What do you mean I
don't know how to dance 'sleazy'?"
This was yet another problem I hadn't anticipated. Now the men were
being told they better make it worth the women's time and energy. The
men wanted this party in a big way and the women knew it. The women
had agreed to the party, but now as it approached the women decided to
threaten at the last minute to boycott the event unless the men made
another concession.
I gasped in horror at the power of women to use "sex" to their advantage.
From the moment this party had been suggested, the women had
systematically used their feminine advantages to make these men jump through hoops.
As always in any bargaining situation, the person who wants it the most is
at a disadvantage. These sexual politics were dirty business in
opinion, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.
The men
were given an ultimatum to improve their Dirty Dancing or else.
So I came up with an idea - I would teach a "Disgusting Sleazy Bar Whip Workshop"
complete with all sorts of evil moves for men to use to turn on their
women and for the women to... well, heck, all the women had to do was stick
that hip out.
The women agreed the workshop was exactly what they had in mind. If you
want me to Smile, Give me my Sleaze with Style.
Unfortunately I didn't have a wide range of Sleazy moves to teach. As I
have told this story, I may have given the impression that I was the King
of Sleaze, but in reality I was only slightly less inhibited than the
women I loved to torment about their hips. But don't tell anyone!
So
I began to research my videotapes of Whip contests in search of some
incredibly Sleazy patterns. I was astonished at the nerve of what
some men were willing to while the camera was rolling!
One video clip showed a man named Gary Henson trap Renee Stevens in a
tight embrace. As he held her still with one hand, Gary reached to his
brow to wipe off some sweat, then slowly caressed her bare leg with an up
and down motion as he dried his hand.
I had to laugh. Now that was Sleazy!! I was impressed with the
imagination of some these men. In my opinion most of those moves were
better left in the dark, but I was at least grateful I finally had some
ideas for my workshop. I dutifully copied down the move and added it to my list.
Nevertheless I was deeply worried about the "touchie-feelie" nature of
what I planned to teach.
Obviously there are certain moves that are not appropriate to teach in our
clean-cut, well-lit group classes. After all, you are always
switching partners and you barely know many of the women you are dancing
with.
You never know whose wife you might mess up one of those hip catches with
and grab something forbidden!! Or whose girlfriend's breasts were "inappropriately"
touched on a confusing new move.
So I decided there would be no "partner switching" in the
workshop. I also said the lights
would be kept very dim. And in my wisdom I provided a bottle of wine
to make sure everyone was well-oiled.
I spent hours preparing to teach the Sleazy Bar Workshop. But in
continuation with the dark cloud motif that had followed the planning of
this party every step of the way, I have to tell you from an artistic
standpoint I thought the crash course was a complete bust.
What went wrong? I could not get my students to stop laughing!
In my stupidity I thought my students seriously wanted to learn some
"moves" no matter how bizarre to use with their dancing that night.
But that was not meant to be. I had forgotten the Sleazy Bar Party was
essentially a "tongue in cheek" satire on the real thing.
Perception is everything.
Take for example a horror film. If you are with
a serious crowd, then a horror flick like "Night of the Living Dead" is
scary beyond belief. But if you see the same movie with smart alecks
who laugh and spoof, then the movie changes into grotesque humor.
The people
around you generally have the influence to change your perception. Same
movie. One man screams, the other laughs. That's why they put laugh tracks
with sit-coms; they are trying to influence your perception.
I soon discovered no one could
carry out my suggestive patterns without laughing!
A guy would drop to his knees, duck his head under a woman's arm only to
find himself facing his partner's most private area. From there he would
rise slowly with his nose passing between the twin peaks of the woman's
breasts until he finally came eyebrow to eyebrow with his thoroughly aroused partner.
Lurid, right? Right!
Disgusting, yes? Yes!
Sexy, yes? Well, No.
It is impossible to pretend to be sexy and keep a straight face for long.
This stuff was silly beyond belief. People were dying of laughter.
People were rolling on the floor!
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I didn't think it was
funny at all. I was too uptight to see the humor. I was approaching this class like any other dance class - I
was trying to teach dance patterns. From my standpoint the evening was
ruined. I was so frustrated to see my class flop like this
after all my work.
Then a curious thing happened. After the crash course was over my students came up and thanked
me for the most fun they had ever had dancing. At first I thought they
were kidding. Then I realized practically everyone had not only liked the
class,
they loved it!
The women didn't care if it wasn't sexy. So what? They had laughed
from start to finish.
They loved it because it was hysterical watching their men try so hard to
be wild and crazy. That was worth every cent of their hard-earned money.
The guys on the other hand had a great time too, but they didn't really
completely get what the women were thinking. The men thought they were
sexier than Tom Selleck and Patrick Swayze rolled into one.
They thought the women's laughter was approval for how "good" they were at
each move. They thanked me because they thought the women really wanted
them. Good grief.
Never in my life had the "Venus-Mars" difference in the way men and women
think been more apparent.
In the men's minds, it was the SSQQ Night of Decadence. In the women's
minds it was a goofy night of Pretend Sin and Pretend Debauchery.
The whole thing was too absurd for me. In my mind, as long as they all paid their
admission I decided they could think anything they wanted.
I was reminded of a famous Broadway Play called "The Producers". Somehow
an accountant figures out a brilliant plan to create a huge tax write-off
if they can produce a play that fails horribly. Hoping to design a
play that flops on a grand scale, they create the
worst farce imaginable. Miraculously the play becomes a giant hit.
The night's results eerily paralleled the Broadway Play. My Sleazy Crash
Course became one of the great giant megahits of my career... for
all the wrong reasons. Perception!
The Sleazy Bar Party is HOT in more ways than one!
After the Crash Course, I went to the office and put on my carefully
assembled wardrobe for the night. I was a lot
more open-minded in 1988. I
wanted to look the part so I took great care piecing
together my outfit in the previous week. Unlike everyone else who
didn't have a clue how to dress, I had a big advantage - I had actually
been to the Four Palms. Therefore I didn't need to use my
imagination, just my memory.
For our Party, I decided to lose my inhibitions. I
wore tight black pants, a leather jacket but no shirt.
I went to Southern Importers and found a cheap gold chain
with a medallion that hung down to my chest. I greased back the hair
and added sunglasses even though I couldn't see a thing in the darkness.
So what? I may have
had a tattoo but I can't
remember. I spent all night taking pictures, but no one bothered to
take one of me. Maybe it's just as well. I wouldn't want any
photographic evidence that might come back to haunt me if I ever become
respectable.
Just take my word for it - I was one tough-lookin' dude, someone Mr. T or Dennis Rodman might want to hang out
with. Shaft, John Shaft. I was a Bad M-F
for the evening.
Are you laughing at me? Well, go ahead, you have a right to.
Yes, I was just as self-deluded as the rest of the
guys. I thought I was irresistibly sexy. I was out of character that
night it was ridiculous, but wasn't that the point?
I was ready to take a fashion risk. Look at me with a bare chest!
I am so modest I usually wear a tee-shirt in the swimming pool. But
not tonight. I was proud of myself for being so brave to wear such a
bold outfit in public. Maybe I should confess - I had two glasses of wine
while I was changing. So much for all my bravery...
I left the office and got the party started. I was
pleased to discover the turn out was huge and so was the enthusiasm.
Finally all the hard work had paid off. The Sleazy Bar Party was awesome!!
We had well over 100 people dancing to "Love and Happiness" and "Heard it
Through the Grapevine." Despite their initial resistance, our women
came through in the clutch and dressed like tramps. There were loose women
everywhere! Even better, the ladies were having the time of their lives pretending to behave like bad
girls. As long as it is just an act, it's okay, right?
Like me, our guys dressed tough, acted tough, and we all had the sense to do
everything in our power not to openly drool at the women... but we
wanted to!! There was eye-candy everywhere. I asked all the
girls to dance and never sat out a song. I was having a great time at my
own party! But now I am thirsty. Hand me another glass
of wine!
I noticed about halfway through the party that
I
was dripping wet. My leather
jacket may look good, but it sure is hot to dance in!
Room 1 felt like Dante's Inferno. Our wild Whip dancing had
generated a lot of Heat.
I had an idea. It was a chilly spring night outside, so I
opened the emergency exit in Room 1. This would
allow our air-conditioner to pull in lots of
extra cool air and knock the temperature down
quickly.
There's someone who wants to speak
with you, Rick.
Now it was time for a John Paul Jones, a dance event where
everyone dances with everyone. This dance is popular because it gives each
person a chance to dance with ten different people during the seven minute
song. I lined up our 50 women in a circle facing outward. Then I had 50
men form an outer circle that would rotate around the women's circle. We
filled the entire room.
Then I started to play that sexy blues standard "Bad to the Bone".
The women gyrated their hips in unison as the men circled around them like
wolves ready to pounce. Each time I blew my whistle the man would quickly
grab the babe in front of him and take her for a ride.
The music
blared, "BAD TO THE BONE BUH BUH BUH BAD TO THE BONE!" The
place was throbbing with energy! "BAD TO THE BONE!"
The party was under control, but just barely. The place was definitely
rocking!!
As the John Paul Jones
continued, I blew my whistle again to signal it was time to grab a new
partner. Something caught my eye.
Because I am so tall I was able to see over the crowd.
Two huge, mean-looking
Bellaire Policemen were standing in the doorway to Room 2.
They both had a very tense look on their faces! Both
men appeared to be scanning the place for Bad Guys.
That's when I nearly swallowed my
whistle in shock. I watched as one man pulled out his walkie-talkie
and began to talk into it.
My thoughts were something like, "Oh damn!!! What have I done?!"
Both men had their hands
on their hips an
inch from their holster. I
could tell by their faces there was something wrong. Both men were frowning.
I didn't know what it was, but they looked unhappy about something.
"What in the world is wrong?", I
thought to myself.
Were we being raided? Was it was a drug bust?
But why? For what?? Was someone here suspected of dealing
dope?
It's one thing to be in trouble, but when you don't know what for,
paranoia runs wild. My imagination was racing wild with the possibilities.
What did I do wrong?
My
fear response kicked in. My
heart was racing furiously. I
was absolutely freaking out!!
I turned so pale you could rent me out as a
stand-in for Casper the Ghost.
My mind did the mental Indy 500...
"Why are the Police here?"
I ran this same thought
in my mind over and over again. There can only be one reason the police are
here... this has to be a Bust! Nothing else made any sense.
Were we drinking too much booze? Did someone do something stupid in
the parking lot? What is it???
I
completely sick to my stomach.
I wanted to do my best cockroach impression and slink off to a
corner and hide.
Busted!
A complete hush came over
the crowd. The John Paul Jones had ended just about the
time when the students began to notice the Police. The only noise
was Wilson Pickett's "Midnight
Hour" playing in the background. No one was dancing.
Finally one of
the cops broke the silence and barked in a loud voice, "Who runs this place?"
200 eyeballs and 100 fingers simultaneously pointed
at me!! They gave me
up instantly.
Nope, None of that "I am Spartacus!"
crap where all the
slaves step up to protect their leader Spartacus from Roman Cruelty.
Every one of my loyal
students turned me in without a moment's hesitation.
Spotlight on Rick Archer
For a desperate moment I contemplated becoming the Fugitive.
Nah, it wouldn't work. I was too easy to catch. Plus where
would I go? The cops already knew where I worked.
Instead I meekly walked forward. So much for my David Jansen
impersonation. I kept reminding myself I haven't
done anything wrong. Or have I?? My paranoia was way out of
control.
I wasn't alone.
Basically every person
in the studio was just as confused and frightened as I was.
None of us had ever seen a Bellaire policeman on the
premises. Now we had two very tall intimidating men carrying armed
weampons. Both men looked pretty
angry about something none of us understood. I wasn't the only one
who wondered if I would be spending the night in a Bellaire holding cell.
One part of me figured I was going to jail
for something, but another part of me kept
insisting that
a brief review of all my recent personal and professional activities revealed nothing
particularly illegal, immoral, or depraved.
That same little inner voice
also suggested I might try acting
Respectable. It occurred to me it would be a lot easier to act
"Respectable" if I looked
"Respectable".
Even worse I was a little drunk. Actually,
I was a lot drunk. But
believe me, I was sobering up fast!
I wondered how I could covertly zip up my leather jacket
and cover my bare chest with 200 eyes
watching me. Would anyone notice?
Probably.
So I had no choice. I accepted my fate. I would
confront the authorities wearing my ridiculous
no-shirt biker outfit and try not to let them see how
drunk I was. At least I had the sense to take
my sunglasses off.
I walked over to these incredibly stern-looking men. Everyone stood
still and watched.
High Noon at SSQQ
"Hello, Officers, I am Rick Archer.
I am the owner of this place. How
can I help you?"
The two men just stood there gawking at me. They were
clearly sizing me up. I desperately wished I
could zip up my jacket!! Quite frankly, I do not know if words can adequately describe how
worried I was. Finally one officer looked at the other
for a cue, then looked back at me.
Here we go.
"Mr. Archer, we have a report of a gunshot
fired in the area.
Are
there any firearms on the premises?
"No, Officer, there are no firearms on the premises," I
replied.
"Have you had a shooting
incident inside or outside your
establishment tonight?"
"No, Officer, look around for yourself. This is a dance party."
The two men looked again at my dangerous guests. All my guests
tried to smile and look respectable. I groaned at how ridiculous we
looked.
Both men looked at each other and seemed to
tacitly agree this was a "Scene", but probably not a crime scene.
"Mr. Archer, have you heard
any gunfire tonight? Have you heard gunshots?"
These questions didn't
seem to have anything to do with the studio. Curiosity slowly
began to replace my terror. Maybe I was going to
survive this.
"No, Officer, I haven't heard any
gunfire. Could you explain to me what you are concerned about?"
"Just a second. One more question. Has there been a fight or
an argument of any nature on your premises tonight?"
"No. We have never had a fight on these premises ever. This is
a respectable establishment."
Then I took another look at my
guests who were watching this carefully. There they were smiling
back at me in their gorgeous sleazy outfits. They were counting on
me to handle this. If only they looked a little better. Then I
winced as I was reminded of my own attractive ensemble.
"Mr. Archer, a report was phoned in that indicated the
possibility of a gunshot in the area near your business. We were on patrol driving around the
neighborhood to investigate when we heard the music coming from your
party."
My mind raced quickly to the back door I had opened twenty minutes earlier to let in the cold
air.
"Yes, Officer, I opened the back door to let in some cool air."
I pointed to the door way in the back. "I am sure that is
how you heard the music. But I never heard any gunshots. You have my word
on that."
Now both men started to relax. So did I. I took
the deepest breath imaginable.
We continued to talk, but it became more informal. Both men had
obviously decided our studio was not a problem after all. The
Officer told me it was not a confirmed report, but serious enough
to warrant an investigation. The music was the only
thing out of the ordinary. Since there was a
possibility the shot had come from from my business, it was their job to check it out.
At this point two more policeman entered the room with
their hands on their holsters. They looked at our group and began to
frown. However before I could start to worry again, one of the
original officers walked over to explain the situation.
Meanwhile the Officer who had been interviewing me lowered his voice and
told me with a smile he had
called for backup just as a precaution. He
said he had been more than slightly taken aback
by what he had seen when he first entered our building.
Now that the tension had eased,
he actually started to laugh
at the difference between what he first thought and what we had turned to
be.
Now the light bulbs finally turned on in my brain. Things started
to make a little sense. It had not even remotely
occurred to me that my group could appear dangerous to anyone.
Gunshots are serious
business. The men were just doing their duty by
visiting the studio. However neither man had any idea
what sort of business "SSQQ" was.
The problem started when the two policemen were shocked by what they
discovered!!
They were afraid they had walked
in on the secret drug-crazed
party
of the biggest, baddest biker gang
and their half-naked biker women in the history of Bellaire!!
The moment they walked into Room
2, they were as shocked to see us as we were to see them!!
That's when they radioed for backup.
Apparently, with 100 hombres and biker chicks, for a second there,
SSQQ dancers had actually looked tough!!
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Now that I finally completely understood
what was going on, I calmed down a little bit. I
began to explain what was "Really" going on here.
As I spoke, it didn't hurt that they
now realized every tattoo in the place was fake.
At this point, the two new policemen left, but the original two policeman
stayed. However they clearly no longer saw us as any threat.
As difficult as it was for me to believe that my group could ever be considered
"intimidating", it occurred to me how careful I am whenever I
meet a new dog for fear of being bitten.
These men had no idea who we were. Someone in the area had possibly fired
a weapon. When they came in and saw our bikers and our huge crowd, for a
brief moment the
thought had crossed their minds that there might be weapons in the room or
possible illegal drugs.
They were just taking precautions.
It was about this point that Sharon decided she wasn't going to
get shot after all. Seeing the coast was clear, like any good hostess Sharon came over and
asked the men if she could get them a soft drink or a beer. "No, thank you, Ma'am, we are
still on duty."
Geez, Sharon!! The last thing I wanted them to do was stay!
Seeing how brave Sharon was, everyone else took the cue
and decided the coast
was clear too. Seeing the policemen smile and actually turn their
backs to them was a good sign.
They dancers all started to Whip again.
So much for the toughest baddest biker gang in Bellaire history.
My mind recalled Michael Jackson imitated a gang member in his "Bad"
video. "Because
I'm Bad, I'm Bad- Come On,
You Know I'm Bad, I'm Bad!!"
What a ridiculous turn of events.
The Policemen soon left and not long after so did my dancers. The "Bust"
had taken most of the steam out of the party.
Later as my customers went out the door, they all complimented me on my
clever extra touch of inviting the cops to pretend to bust us all. Hahaha. They all
laughed much harder than I did. No laughter for me. I was still shaking.
In the weeks that followed, rumors emerged I had actually arranged for the
police to visit.
Hogwash!! Nothing could be further from the truth. The whole
thing was my worst nightmare.
In the Years to Follow...
Can you imagine a worse moment for the Bellaire Police to walk in?? The
sequence of events was so bizarre I imagine the writers on "Cheers" would
reject the script as too absurd. "Outer Limits" or "Twilight Zone"
would be more like it.
Speaking for me I
have never been so caught off-guard
in my life. For everyone else, The
Sleazy Bar Party was fabulous
fun, but I can honestly say that night ended my own Sleazy Days for eternity. For the
past twenty years or so since, I have simply worn a black shirt and pants
to this party just in case lightning strikes twice. So much for my
bare chest days.
They say "All's well that End's well".
I suppose other my own personal trauma, I would agree our inaugural Sleazy
Bar party turned out to be a fabulous
success. Everyone said they couldn't wait for the next party!!
Over the years since the inception of the SSQQ Sleazy Bar
Whip Party in 1988, not only
has this party become a yearly fixture here at the studio,
but other Whip clubs in Houston and Dallas have gone on to host Sleazy Bar Parties of
their own under different names.
Obviously Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...
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