Stuff you may like to know about Crazy Horse Too
Dear Editors,
As a longtime reader and admirer of the Las Vegas Weekly, imagine my disappointment at the rather cruel treatment given to the Crazy Horse Too in your article “The Rise and Fall of Crazy Horse Too” (May 10), though the artwork was fabulous. You can tell that [writer Joshua Longobardy] spent way too much time listening to the rants of Mr. Barrier and disgruntled former employees, and not enough time speaking with the current and loyal staff, those of us on the front lines who’ve witnessed these events there on a regular basis. I’ve worked there for years, and while I have no knowledge of illegal activities and goings-on that this article refers to, I can comment on a few facts that J. Longobardy (I love that name!) just plain got wrong, either partially or entirely:
Every time Buffalo Jim Barrier bends the ear of the press, his criticisms get wilder and wilder. I heard him claim that girls regularly proposition him for acts of prostitution; knowing who he is, and how scary he looks, no girls I know would be that stupid. He has stated on numerous occasions that most if not all of us are committing acts of prostitution both in the club and in the parking lot; not any of my friends, most of whom have significant others and/or children to go home to, or have been so turned off by the behavior of males in the club that they just want to go home in peace, without being harassed or hooted at by “dudes” driving by. If anything we live in terror of the parking lot, with the homeless and meth-heads hiding out there waiting to catch a girl alone.
The 15-percent tip-out was the best thing to ever happen to the majority of the dancers, many of whom do not make the kind of money an elite chosen few make. If you only made $200 for the evening, you paid out $35, and were held to the honor system regarding the amount. Now we must cough up $85 up front, whether we make it back or not, or we cannot work, and more before we leave, some tips deserved and some not. With the cab drivers shunning us, some nights half the dancers leave in the red, often crying, and management couldn’t care less.
As to that dancer’s experience with Vinnie, the only girls he did that to were the ones who violated the honor code, lying about what they made. One in particular told him every night that she only made $100, despite having sometimes spent 3-4 hours in the VIP room. He allowed her to get away with that for almost a year before letting her go. On many an occasion he told girls who hadn’t done well not to worry about tip-out, myself included, and I was by no means one of the Favoured Ones, or high earners. These days they don’t care if you’re facing eviction or death, you’re gonna pay to play.
I’m sorry he was hurt, but Kirk Henry wasn’t disputing a bar tab, he was disputing four dances he received and refused to pay for, something he’d already done earlier in his visit. He changed his story in the press again and again, didn’t you notice? Many guys come in and pull the same trick, only refusing to pay when the girl won’t go back to his hotel, or won’t allow illegal acts. The word was all over the club, didn’t you ask the dancers? I know you writers are in there all the time, asking us questions, not tipping; do you actually listen to our answers?
The bouncers did watch the money, but only if the dancer was suspected of violating the honor system. They protected us, from guys who tried to spike our drinks, from men who think it’s cool to hit, pinch, bruise or bite us, burn us with cigarettes, verbally abuse us, and in one memorable case, from a counterfeiter who punched a tiny girl in the face for turning him in for passing fake hundreds.
... Things were better before, have no doubt, and this town is cruel enough without offering us poor dancers up on a platter to be spiritually and verbally stoned by the public at large. Consider that there is more to this story than the people at the top, at least that’s my opinion, and we all know what opinions are like, don’t we?
–ANONYMOUS, sort of
CORRECTION
The article “The Right Stuff” (May 10) advises anyone interested in Right Gin to go down on Sundays to Ditch Fridays at the Palms. Well, clearly we meant Mondays. Just kidding. Ditch Fridays are held on ... well, figure it out.