It was just after 1 a.m. on a Tuesday, and Whispers was dead.
The floor was empty. Most of the girls had decamped to the locker room, where they passed a blunt rolled with surgical precision from a Russian Cream Backwood. Darren, tonight’s manager, perched behind the bar, his face lit by the glow of his phone screen.
It was the kind of lull smaller clubs can fall into late on a weeknight.
I passed the time mixing an odd cocktail of disco, post-disco funk, yacht rock and soul:
The Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing."
Kool and the Gang’s "Get Down on It.”
Toto’s “Georgy Porgy.”
Al Green’s “Tired of Being Alone.”
“Boogie Wonderland” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
And then The Jackson 5’s “Never Can Say Goodbye.”
The Jackson 5 jolted Darren from his phone screen. His right brow arched.
I knew that look. These tumbleweed-blown hours have a way of summoning great philosophical discourse — and whenever that eyebrow went airborne, I knew a Strip Club TED Talk was afoot.
“You know?” Darren said. “Michael Jackson was so talented his music was probably worth a few kids getting molested. I mean, if that’s what it took to share Michael’s gift with the world, I think I can accept that."
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Diary of a Strip Club DJ to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.