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A very bad show
This show was about fifteen years ago, and was the singly most humiliating show I ever accepted money for during the worst I' ll-take-any-shows-just-to-get-by period in my life (to date).
I was driving two and a half hours each way to pass the hat in a mall outside of Cincinnati on weekends. I was lucky to pay for gas because the tips were so bad, but at the time, I needed to be doing shows rather than sit on my ass. Some club owner saw Thomas Mann, who was also working there doing latex sculptures (balloon animals), and me at the mall and asked us to perform at his club down the street that night. Being the whores that we were (are?), we took it. I think we agreed on a $100.00 each with a handshake.
The club bouncer greeted us at the door. After we convinced him that we were supposed to perform, he let us inside. Only after entering did we realize that the club was a go-go.
That night, I ended up juggling atop a pedestal about .75 meters square, just enough room to stand, elevated about two meters above the dance floor with people flailing around by my feet. There were so many people jammed in there dancing that one couldn't drop anything and ever expect to see it again. There were no lights except for the strobe and the halo-spots on the two girls dancing on the neighboring pedestals. (We'll just leave it that I had more clothes on then they did. Like anyone was going to be watching me anyway! Hell, I had a hard enough time keeping my eyes on my own props.)
A couple of hours later and I made a hasty retreat back home with an extra $40.00, a sum significantly less than promised, but given the context, I would have been disappointed if the manager hadn't ripped us off. I'm sorry to say that I didn't make any tips in my G-string that night. Maybe next time.
Steven Ragatz