Montreal Strip Clubs: end of August 2009

[+ newatthis]

For a more complete overview of the previous two weeks in Montreal, read this report (covering the last week in August) in conjunction with those of eeyore, who visited over pride weekend (August 14-16), and of Karl-G, who visited shortly afterwards (separate reports on Campus and Taboo).

 

Taboo. Taboo is back in play! After a slow decline, followed by a dismal period during which many veteran dancers and staff were fired or left, it's a fun place once more. The size of the crowd and the number of dancers grew steadily from Sunday through Thursday. As Karl-G noted, the smallest, most fem guys are no longer to be found, but they've been replaced by a host of others whom Oliver and I found to our liking, with new ones every night. Nor are they all twinks: Bruno and Kumar, for example, have finely muscled swimmer's bodies. Bruno, in fact, is a transplant from Stock.

 

This is the place you're most likely to see real dancing on stage. Some of the routines are very creative, and almost no one just struts around. The $12 charge in the back room means effectively that you round up; the dancers do not carry around loonies to make change.

 

Things are far from perfect. The rest room is cramped and often smelly and littered with paper towels. Drink prices for beer and cokes are up to $7, and the barman doubles as waiter on the slower nights, necessitating long waits to be served. The owner has a bad reputation with his employees. Taboo's web site has been woefully out of date for years.

 

Despite this, there is a high level of energy among the dancers. They clearly like each other, whistling and applauding during and after each stage presentation. It's not uncommon for one dancer to join another on stage. Everyone is having a good time, and that communicates itself to the customers. While the younger, less experienced dancers still tend to cluster together and ignore the clients, there are many others who are more mature socially and interact well.

 

 

Campus. Campus was wonderful all week – afternoon Campus, from about 4:30 to 9 pm. There were 15-20 dancers every day, ranging from small to large, smooth to hairy, twinky to muscled. There was no one as small as the smallest at Taboo, nor as large as the largest at Stock. Oliver, Mtlover, and I have different tastes, yet we all found dancers who drew our attention.

 

Were I to list all the dancers we saw over the week, you'd find practically no overlap with the list Karl-G provided, so they must have a deep bench. One dancer suggested that many stayed home the week after pride, figuring the client base would be down. They were mistaken. While the club wasn't full at all times, there was a nice ebb and flow of customers. We never felt we were rattling around in an empty space, and the dancers seemed to have a steady stream of invitations to the back booths.

 

Campus is somewhat amateurish in the way they do things, despite some physical improvements. Their hi-tech panel videos of the dancers show guys who left years ago. The projection screen behind the dancers was still advertising their anniversary celebration days after it had concluded. The stage lighting can be hit or miss, sometimes making it impossible to see much of the dancers' bodies. The rest room is cramped and far from spotless, but is still cleaner than Taboo's. Campus' web site, out of date like Taboo's, is now under reconstruction.

 

In general, Campus dancers are the most adept at circulating among the customers and drawing them in with conversation without being overbearing. (One of the exceptions drew a sharp rebuke when he sat himself down and asked Oliver to buy him a drink.) They're not one big happy family, like at Taboo, but most project an air of enjoying themselves and getting along.

 

 

Stock. This is the place to go for outrageously beautiful muscled bodies, almost entirely straight. Over the past year or so, a few swimmer's builds have entered their lineup, but you won't find anything smaller. Almost none of these guys does much but walk around on stage; calling it "dancing" would be lying. We did see some acrobatics with and without the pole. In the two nights we spent at Stock, we attracted no attention from any of the dancers wandering about on the floor, except for Julien, an old friend of Mtlover's and mine.

 

To draw in more customers, Stock has abolished its cover charge and reduced drink prices (most to $4) on normally slow Mondays. They've also made Monday a second ladies' night.

 

Stock is the best run of these clubs. Its web site is up-to-date; the restroom is spacious and clean; the lighting, sound, and stage effects are managed well; and the DJ announces names clearly in French and English. Both current and former Stock dancers I spoke with like owner Taz and generally feel well-treated by him.

 

On the other hand, dancer-dancer interactions at Stock seem cool and distant (my own observation as well as reports from dancers) and they rarely seem to be enjoying themselves, on stage or off. To me they project an aloof air.

 

 

A word about erections. Most Taboo dancers maintain the old tradition of appearing for their slow dance fully nude and fully hard. Even those who begin with some clothing show what they've got early on and keep it out there for the rest of their dance. I didn't see any cock rings being used.

 

By contrast, the Stock dancers all used cock rings to keep it up. Not that it matters much; the amount of dick on view here is minimal to non-existent (with a few notable exceptions such as Julien – who started his career at Taboo) – a quick flash, often soft, suffices for many. There's one dancer who never showed his dick at all, setting off some catty speculations among our group.

 

The Campus dancers fall between the Stock and Taboo extremes, probably more towards the Taboo side. Some emerge on stage hard, some soft; some show it for most of their slow dance; some take it out for a while and then tuck it back in. Only a couple used cock rings while I was there (although a Taboo dancer with many Campus friends claims they use Viagra to keep it up).

 

 

Are we losing the strip clubs to the ladies? Stock has added a second ladies' night and the energy level in the club is palpably higher when the girls are there. They grab the seats closest to the dancers, join them on stage, hoot and cat call. Campus on ladies' night is packed to the gills. And L'Adonis has been replaced by a male strip club which is always open to a mixed-gender crowd. While the dancers complain that women don't tip as well as men or do as many lap dances, the owners seem to do better business when the women are present.

 

Is JP's (the new Adonis) the wave of the future? Will we wake up one evening to discover that every night is ladies' night?

[eeyore]

Thanks New for your comprehensive follow-up report. Regarding the ladies, I’ve had several dancers at Campus tell me they won’t work on Ladies' night because they are total animals. He said the men are much more respectful, and mindful of limits. Apparently (or so the story goes) there was an incident one night where a female patron lost it in the back room and dug her fingernails into the dancer’s back, scratching it rather severely.

 

I’m glad to hear that Taboo’s resurgence wasn’t just a Pride weekend anomaly. Hopefully they will keep the momentum going. There is nothing finer in life than sipping a glass of Merlot while watching a Taboo boy work the stage pole (then again, my needs in life are quite simple…).