RELATED STORIES

• Albuquerque strip club fights city, state for liquor license
• Northeast Heights residents unhappy with plan for new strip club

More News Columnists

• Bill Slakey: As Trib closes, many questions remain unasked
• Phill Casaus: Don't cry for us, Albuquerque; it was worth it
• Joline Gutierrez Krueger: My Wall of Fame holds memories of people, stories that have mattered

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

I had to chuckle reading the first paragraph of a recent Tribune story on a planned strip joint in the Northeast Heights. Namely, "A group of Albuquerque businessmen hoped they'd be hiring strippers by now."

The club All Fours — a name perfectly on target for both its intentions and boorishness — is in the middle of some sort of dust-up between the city and the state. Don't ask me the details, because the situation is a snore. I didn't make it past another few paragraphs.

That said, the point is that first paragraph, a delicious bit of wordplay because it gets right at something that has always fascinated me.

What is the deal with all these strippers in Albuquerque?

I'm probably wading into chest-deep water here, but I have discussed this with more than a few men and women and the results are always the same. It seems everyone knows a woman who has been a stripper, is a stripper now or has seriously considered stripping.

I'm not kidding. It's amazing.

Now, it would be fair to ask just what kind of crowd I run with. The good news — or bad, depending on your point of view — is these folks are not the rabble of society. The ones I'm thinking of are not the type to frequent these joints, date strippers or the like. (That's not to say they've never been in a strip club — and that includes me in my youth, though you're going to have to trust me on this one.)

There are a couple of angles here that fascinate me, especially the not-so-new trend of young women frequenting strip clubs.

Maybe I'm getting old, but the idea of groups of young women going to strip clubs for a night out doesn't quite resonate with my close-to-50 tuning fork. But I've had it spelled out for me many times, and the "get with the program" looks and retorts are revealing.

The cat is out of the bag on this one. Ask yourself this: When was the last time you heard a rant on the immorality and recklessness of being a stripper? I thought so.

Like it or not, stripping — in circles larger than most would imagine — has been completely legitimized.

I suppose it's partly a function of being in a city where the working wage is low. Add a kid to the household mix and the decision probably becomes a little easier. Toss in how acceptable it is now and it's a no-brainer, for women so inclined.

It's not that there are so many strip clubs in Albuquerque. We're not Fort Lauderdale, Fla. But when you consider the half-dozen or so that are here, and the female employees rotating at each, the numbers start to boggle.

As far as I can determine, there isn't much of a problem in this city finding strippers.

This fact came to me in Phoenix recently as a friend and I were chatting up a woman checking ID's at a downtown bar. She casually mentioned she is a "dancer," and after finding out we were from Albuquerque, provided the frustrations of "dancing" in our fair city. The competition here, apparently, is severe. It's tough to break in. So much so that she decided to give Phoenix a go.

Who knew?

Albuquerque has had its rubs with strip clubs. Remember the settlement reached with club owners in 2004, when the city dropped its lawsuit to get strippers to cover their topsides with "opaque" material? What that was supposed to accomplish was beyond me. Keep families' eyes safe if they mistakenly walked into a club?

Frankly, these places bore me silly. My last experience was getting dragged to the old Icehouse years ago by some friends only to get mercilessly teased for weeks because I read a magazine the whole time.

All Fours, if it gets the nod, will have no trouble finding employees. None at all.