I was kind of excited when I saw the AngryStripper was
coming to Portland . I had been
following her situation since being terminated from the Houston Chronicle. I
was amazed to see that Gloria Allred (or at least her firm) was going to take
her case against her former employer. Gloria Allred is one of the highest
profile lawyers in the county. I’d love to ask the AngryStripper about her.
She was scheduled to be in Portland
on June 20th at the Wild Orchid. I have to admit I was
surprised at the location. The Wild Orchid is probably one of the last clubs I would have expected. To be candid, I don’t know much about the club. I
figured she would have headed to one of the better known clubs like one of the
Stars Cabaret locations or Devil’s Point but scheduling will make for odd
bedfellows. I didn’t even know where the Wild Orchid was located.
The first thing that struck me when I looked up Wild
Orchid’s address is that the club was less than quarter mile from where an airliner had crashed in Portland. That plane crash is one of those memories
that are burned into my psyche. At the time accident I only lived about a two
miles from the crash site. I remember riding my bike there the following
morning. The police had only taped off the aircraft's fuselage. The rest of the
crash site is still open and you could still wander around and examine much of the
wreckage up close. Seeing a jet engine stuck in hedge surrounded by twisted bits of wing leaves an impression. I still think about the crash every time I step on board a
plane.
She is supposed to start at 9:30pm at the Wild Orchid. Almost nothing starts on time in the strip club world. I figured 10:30pm or so for the actual starting time. Since I have to be at work the next morning I’m a little reluctant to head out. I decide that I can drink a pot of coffee tomorrow at work and head out for the evening.
I arrive just after 9:30 .
The first thing that surprised me about the club is how small it is. I’d estimate it’s about the size of a typical
McDonald’s. It’s a lot smaller than most of the clubs I hang out at. The VIP
area is basically a couple couches surrounded by some curtains. There are two
stages in the club. Granted it's still a nice club, but it’s not the kind of club you’d expect to see feature acts
at. Compared to some of the clubs I’ve been to in Texas
it’s positively tiny. The crowd isn’t bad but not really spending a lot of
money. The racks are mostly empty. At 9:45
on a Wednesday the stage sets are averaging $5 per song. You know you’ve been
hanging out at strip clubs too long when you start auditing how much people are
tipping. The bar staff definitely kicks ass there. I never had to wait for a
drink.
I order a drink and grab a seat near the stage. I notice in
the back somebody struggling a little with a pop-up banner. I used these things
all the time at shows. After a little bit of work with some assistance from a
bouncer a banner with the art work from the book is setup. Cool, maybe things
will start soon. Nope, I wait an hour and no sign of the guest of honor. They
had gone through the entire rotation of dancers and were starting to recycle
girls. I was trying to decided how much longer to stay when the DJ announces
that Sarah Tressler will take the stage at 11:30pm .
Fuck. I decided to cut my losses and head home. I notice that a bunch of other guys are leaving at the same time I am. Probably coincidence but I wonder if they're ticked off too.
The Wild Orchid ad listed 8pm ,
the tweets had 9:30 , and the DJ is
telling me 11:30pm . Why can’t strip
club events ever happen at a reasonable time? Seriously, does the book buying
public hang out at strip clubs at 11:30
on a Wednesday? To be fair this was probably meant to be more a media meet up than stage performance. I’m guessing the visit was more for the local
bloggers than the general public. Portland
seems to have more than it’s fair share of stripper bloggers. I’m still annoyed
though. Any interest in buying her book evaporated on the way home. The book is
apparently made of her blog old posts, in which case I’ve probably read most
it already. She does reference my blog in one of her posts. It would be cool if she
left that in but I really doubt it. Links to external blogs posts don’t
translate well to books.
