4th Nude Newbie Night

Monday December 29, 2003OUR 4th "NUDE NEWBIE" NIGHT - PACKED!As I keep saying, anything can happen on Nude Newbie nights. I have one word for tonight - PACKED! The place was full by 10pm, we had to bring in extra chairs for the crowd. We had only 3 newbies signed up by part-way through the contest, but didn't panic because I suspected another cutie in the audience was trying to work up the nerve to sign up, which he finally did at the last minute (this ended up being Sirus, who we hope comes back soon). Please note ladies and gentlemen, Mondays have a very slow start, tonight being a perfect example. Our weekend dancers are welcome to work Mondays, but Silver was the only one who came tonight (the others lost out on the money, we're confident that the ongoing success of Mondays will bring some of our weekend guys so you're not sitting staring at an empty stage until 10pm when the contest starts. But those who came early got good seats and I spoke to almost everyone in the room and by the end of the evening everyone was entertained. The Lounge is a mellow place, a little namby-pamby at times, but we're trying to build up the vibe and build up the boys, and I'm so excited by tonight. I'm not going to go on too much more, I'm exhausted and ready to crash after tonight, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves - here's a summary of the evening:
Silver Does Push-ups
Contestant #1, DeMarco
Contestant #3, Sirus
Contestant #4
Mandy and the 4 Contestants
Contestant #5, James, the afterhours submission
Contestant #5's ass
Strip-off (Sirus vs. DeMarco)
Duo Show - Steve Works vs. DeMarco
Silver and Steve Duo
The other spontaneous stuff that happened was a bearish couple who partied with a big group of people all night turning the stage into a slow-dance floor for themselves. It was beautiful and romantic - we like it when the audience joins the show. Check us out this weekend - last weekend we were low on dancers, because of the holidays and, well, because dancers are dancers (you know, jail, girlfriend problems, flakiness, etc.) Anyways, we have allegedly 3 new dancers after tonight for the weekend - Steve Works, DeMarco, and James. Toby is also returning and Sirus even said he might join the crew.

Our 3rd Review

Monday December 29, 2003,
"My Fourth Visit to the Lounge" - I am from Brampton and I really appreciate the hard work that has gone in to making The Lounge a success. I would have to say that I have enjoyed each of my four visits to The Lounge and for many different reasons. I truly enjoy the fact that I am not pressured by every dancer to have a private table dance. The dancers are very friendly and easy to talk to and the wait staff is also very friendly and upbeat. I have had the opportunity to have several VIP dances( Christmas Presents for me!!) and I think that the dancers are very attentive to their customers needs and I truly enjoyed that experience. I would highly recommend checking out the Lounge and have a VIP dance- you only live once- enjoy life!
Dave

3rd NEWBIE NIGHT

Monday December 22, 2003
OUR THIRD "NUDE NEWBIE" NIGHT! It might just be me, but so far I think our Monday "Newbie" night could be our most popular. It certainly is the most adventurous, and can result in some surprise performances that range from freak-show to funny to downright hot. To explain to everyone about Mondays: Monday consists of an amateur contest at 10pm. Doors open at 8:30pm and the amateurs are supposed to be registered by 9pm. Sometimes our regular weekend dancers show up, they are welcome to do so, but we don't guarantee their presence. (This week Silver and Justice came, and I think they'll both want to be back as they seemed quite busy in the VIP area.)The "newbie" amateurs are allowed to work the room for $5 VIP dances from whenever they arrive until the contest, and then again after the contest. Our regular dancers still charge $10 per song for VIP dances. Sorry to Dave and the guys who showed up at 8:30pm last night due to our promotion in fab magazine, we should have made it more clear that there was no show until 10pm. But Dave had a great time, I think, he stayed all night and got to see the amateur night come to life.It started with Peter, our first "nude newbie", who spent an hour and a half testing out the most bizarre dance moves on the stage. His moves were unusual, and he fell a few times, but he provided some voyeuristic entertainment for those hanging out.Silver and Justice showed up at 9pm and both guys danced a few sets to warm up the audience. Steve Marks (now re-named "Steve Works" by Amanda) showed up for his 2nd week and this time he won the amateur contest. Steve got over his nervousness and worked the VIP area tonight, and made some bucks on top of his $50 prize. He's likely to be back, and he's even considering working out a bit so he can join our weekend roster of dancers. Steve is a fun and handsome guy who seems to get turned on by nudity (he didn't exactly tell me this, but his erection makes me suspect it's true).After the strip-off between Peter and Steve, the audience voted, Steve won, and the night continued. Both Silver and Justice did more shows, and Steve was a good sport and hung on the chain and entertained the crowd. And my favorite part about the Lounge - the spontaneous duo or trio shows. Tonight Silver and Steve did a hot duo show for the audience. We're not open on Wednesday night with the Shemale Strippers, nor on New Year's Eve, but we'll be open this Friday and Saturday with our male dancers, as well as downtown tonight with our Shemales. Happy Holidays, everyone.

OUR SECOND REVIEW

OUR SECOND REVIEW, by film director John PalmerThis review was written by a client of the Lounge (full disclosure: John Palmer is a friend of mine, and a colleague. But this review is honest - if he didn't like it, he wouldn't have written it. He has too much integrity.)

I've been to THE LOUNGE twice so far, once on amateur night (Mondays) and once on a Friday with "regular" dancers. I'm 60 and am therefore used to tense times at [unnamed downtown stripclub] (or Woody's for that matter) where I'm either looked down on as a harpy with the plague or pestered constantly by hardened "dancers" for $$$. Oldies are not treated as humans. So I had resolved to give up and stay home and watch Newsworld. Until I tried THE LOUNGE. D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T !!! I was greeted at the door by star owner Amanda Taylor herself. She actually took the time to gab and joke and introduce me to a cute waiter who also stopped to say hello. (*THIS WAS NICK) I tried not to gaze longinly at his tits,abs and a trickle of hair disappearing into what was no doubt a delicious crotch. Inside, at a cozy candle-lit table I noticed the FAB famous Todd Klinck being dj and taking pics of the dancers. What I loved about the dancers was that they wern't slick thrusting boringly lascivious pros with plastered fake grins--they were REAL!! Someone my age has seen it all, guys,and the last thing I need is some teasing svelte whore thrusting a hard-on at me without bothering to hide his contempt for me. I'm smart and I can tell. These dancers had a boyish innocence about them that made my heart (ahem) leap like Judy's on the trolley. Their skin was lumanescant, their legs and thighs tantalizing.Their cocks (only semi hard--what a dynamite tease!) and balls flopped around in a delicious way. I know my mouth was open--it has no manners of its own. And they smiled! Really smiled as they danced. Like when you meet somebody and they smile at you. Their dancing was not hard or blatant or even blandly professional--they were exploring what their bodies could do. And so was I. They were adorable! We were a team. Dancers and audience. I felt welcome not 60. In general a terrific ambience. The feeling in the room was relaxed (try and find that anywhere else!). After the dancing a friend I was with went back for a private dance with a hunk (not an overworked mag fag) and didn't come back for half an hour. But he was grinning from ear to ear. I, meanwhile had had a lovely conversation with a nude student about his family and his life. This turned out to be "baby Mario" who is the cutest knock-out hunk with a to-die-for smile....I had to have a private dance.... I noticed the recent review in FAB by what looks like an exhibitionist fashion plate--and I'm not surpised he was unenchanted. Some people are just plain bored silly. Anyway, I am going back to THE LOUNGE, back to the wonderful boys and the welcome feeling that doesn't exist downtown. I thank Amanda Taylor for opening this wonderful place and look forward to seeing her again soon. Hugs and kisses John Palmer

FRIDAY DECEMBER 18, 2003

Friday December 18, 2003The Friday night before Christmas started with Silver's arrival wearing reindeer horns and carrying a large silk rose. I suspect he rode all the way in on Mississauga transit in that get-up - he is one of the rare types of guys who can pull of flamboyant and adorable at the same time. We had six dancers tonight - Rabbit, Mitch, Silver, Raymond, Justice, and Lucca.As usual, Amanda and I talked to as many customers as we could. Several of them laughed at the fab magazine review just released (by Rolyn Chambers) - here is an excerpt:
"...off to Mississauga to check out the recently opened Lounge male strip club nights. Housed in the basement of a strip mall down the street from an Arby's it has potential. From the bottom, you can only go up. Most of the strippers are hideous, most can't dance, and not one had a hard-on while I was there. On top of that, it took 20 minutes to get a drink as our waiter was called on to strip...."
Rolyn's entitled to his opinion, but hopefully the photos we've posted here will show you that the dancers aren't hideous. We also don't encourage the guys to put elastic bands around their cocks - that is a personal decision - people have broken blood vessels doing this at other clubs, and we don't want that on our conscience. So if you want to see hard-ons on-stage, Rolyn is right, you might not. As he says, from the bottom we can only go up. (And for those who don't know, I write a regular column for fab magazine called "trade", which can be viewed online here so if you thought the media was all about favouritism Rolyn's review is proof in journalistic freedom).I spoke with some guys who drove down from Orangeville who stayed all night. They seemed entertained and were glad for a bar outside of downtown. We're hearing a lot of that, another guy from Mississauga told me I should mention on the website that those in the closet have nothing to fear - his friends are worried that their car will be seen in the parking lot. The Lounge is housed in the basement of a STRIP CLUB (not a strip mall as reported by fab) and it's a straight strip club, and no one's going to know if you came in the side door to the Lounge or went in the front. So I just wanted everyone to know that we've got the most discreet gay bar entrance in the GTA, so don't be shy. Amanda's going to be starting to contribute to the website on Tuesday, so watch for her page at this link starting then. She'll be posting her favorite pix from the previous week with a few comments of her own. A note on the format of the club, so people understand: we try to stay off the microphone to keep a more relaxed atmosphere, so when you first arrive you might not be able to tell what's going on in terms of organized entertainment. But here is the line-up: at 9pm, each dancer dances for 3 songs of their choice on-stage, by themselves. This gives those (like Silver) who like to do "shows" a chance to be creative. After that, all dancers enter the chain circuit - Dancer 1 starts his set on the chain in the middle of the room, moves to the stage, Dancer 2 goes on the chain, then moves to the stage as Dancer 1 moves to the second chain and Dancer 3 goes in the middle. At that point there are 3 dancers all at once. The dancers do two chain circuits in a row, then things slow down again. At this point, we go back to the individual shows, and sometimes spontaneous duo and even trio shows erupt. The atmosphere is like someone's living room, so don't expect choreographed organization, we're trying to create an atmosphere of voyeurism, so later in the evening we like to let spontaneity rule. The other entertainment can be found in our ongoing photo-shoots, which happen practically every evening. One last thing to mention - someone told me he didn't realize how close the Lounge is to the airport, which indeed it is. So travelling guys, please note - the Lounge is a very short cab ride from the airport. Have a great week, I'm not working tonight, it's Nick, Amanda, and our waiter Albert. See below for pix from Friday night.

New Shemale Photos

Thursday December 18, 2003
The Shemale Strippers had a rare slow night in Mississauga (remember that these exotic ladies are also booked downtown at xxxxxxx club, every Tuesday night). (note: we are no longer associated with this club). Since Candy and Mia and Mercedes were out of the VIP booths for once, we took the opportunity to snap some new photos.
CANDY 1
MERCEDES 1
MIA 1
CANDY 2
MERCEDES 2
MIA2

2nd "NUDE NEWBIE" Night

Tuesday December 16, 2003
"Nude Newbie Night" was fun again last night. Joey made a return appearance, total exhibitionist that he is. He did lots of tricks on the chain and won the contest. At the end of the night he was looking for ladies to give VIP dances to - he says he's back next week, so ladies and gentlemen don't hesitate to come see this hot and talented guy (not only did he dance, he took the microphone and sang part of "4 a.m" by Our Lady Peace, a capella, and naked. Where else can you see that sort of spectacle? (and he's got a good voice to top it off). Mello came in 2nd in the contest, but he's also a hot guy and we really hope he's going to come strip at the Lounge in a month (he's going away for a month). Two other fun guys entered the contest - "Steve Marks" (who had an erection the entire time he was on stage) and "Dare Bare", who started out in a business suit but ended up in a shiny thong. Both guys seemed to be doing it for the fun and to fulfil a personal fantasy, as opposed to applying to be Lounge strippers. Hopefully they'll come back again - over time, we'll build up a roster of Monday night regulars who either just want to show off, compete for the contest, and/or work for $5 VIP dances. You'll never know what is going to happen on a Monday, for example, Joey's impromptu candle show that he gave for the audience after winning the prize. And his strip-off with Mello was adorable. I was nice - this time I didn't play the Britney/Madonna duet.
One last photo...

Sat. December 13, 2003

I don't work Saturdays, but I missed an interesting night tonight, I hear. Only 20 or so people in audience, but again, those who came ended up staying until the end, which is a good sign. It's Christmas time as well, and bars are slower.Rabbit returned from his party, apologizing profusely. He's a good kid though, not into drugs, just had a good old-fashioned drinking party earlier in the week I guess. He posed for more pictures, including this one where it looks like he might be saying sorry.Him and Mitch were busy as usual, and Mandy introduced a couple of new faces, Toby being one of them. Lucca was back, and a spontaneous TRIO show happened later in the evening. These shows aren't contrived or scheduled, guys, the kind of atmosphere we're creating is one where the guys are part of the party, and they make sure the audience gets eye candy. A customer made a request, so Mitch, Rabbit, and Lucca went up and danced together. Mitch did some acrobatic demonstrations on the chain, which later in the evening fell out of the ceiling, giving Rabbit a minor scrape.

WEEK 2

Friday December 12, 2003
It's easy to have a good opening night, so tonight is the start of the test of if we can last. It's always a risk with a new club, especially in an untested territory (the burbs).The night started off with the predictable panic of making sure we have enough dancers. (By the way, our cover charge is now $10 - it was $20 for opening weekend) By the time we opened, I won't even try to tell you how many phone calls were made here and there, and I also won't mention that Rabbit partied too much, didn't show up, and didn't have either Mandy or my phone number, so we didn't even know if he was ever coming back. "Welcome to the world of male dancers," Mandy said, in that way she has. "They are like children."But tonight was a great night, in my opinion, the Lounge is starting to find itself and its niche. We're not looking to have a big strip club. One customer who lives in Mississauga said "It's like there's a gay bar in our neighbourhood that happens to have strippers." There ended up being only 5 dancers available for private dances, 6 doing stage shows if you count our waiter Albert (which you should, he was a great sport and did stage shows all night long - he'd run up, put his tray under my table, take off his jeans, do 3 songs, run back, put his clothes back on, and continue trying to make a buck selling a few drinks - kudos to Albert for being part of the team). The dancers were great tonight - they started to see the potential for the type of place the Lounge can become. They all did way more shows than would normally be done, because of their small numbers. The visuals in the room are great, you can see boys on boxes hanging off a chain, and a spontaneous duo show even erupted at the end of the night between Lucca and a new dancer who we'll be introducing on the website next week. Mitch seemed to be super-popular in the VIP booth, I think everyone wants to see that great ass up close. "Baby Mario" danced tonight for the first time - he is someone who you'll probably see at one of our nights working as door person or waiter, and he's trying out stripping to see how he likes it. I'm not sure he's coming back, so I'll keep his photo from you for now.I sat down with the customers and talked, and tried to see how they felt about the atmosphere. Overall the feedback was incredible. Thanks to the 20 or so guys who stayed literally all night from open until close, you were great. And don't hesitate to say hi next time you're there, I'm always working Friday at the DJ booth.

1st "Nude Newbie" Night

Tonight I have a staff party at fab, the magazine I write for which is also the sponsor for tonight's amateur night. I don't want to miss the fab party, but this is also our first amateur night, so I do a happy medium and make an appearance at fab with the goal of making it to the Lounge by 10pm. Mandy phones me at 8 and says "There are 10 guys signed up". By the time I make it to the club the place looks packed, but after I take a closer look I realize the amateurs almost outnumber the customers. BUT the night was off to an interesting start. By the time 10 pm rolled around, several of the guys dropped out of the contest - too nervous about dancing for men. (Monday is a mixed crowd night, so don't hesitate to bring your female friends guys, it'll help to entice the straight boys to take it off!)But a few good things came out of tonight - one was the manic and endless showmanship of this guy called Joey. Well at the beginning of the night he was known as B____, then he changed it to Joey. He was just a total exhibitionist - a straight guy from BC who likes to go-go dance and used to dance for women. He had no intention of doing private dances tonight, nor of applying to be one of our weekend strippers. But he spent most of the night dancing, doing spontaneous shows, and he brought a lot of props. This guy was HOT, but as per our agreement, we won't post his pic. (NOTE: JOEY EVENTUALLY CAME AROUND, HIS PHOTO IS ALL OVER THE REST OF THE BLOG)You'll have to see if he comes back and competes again some Monday...The other good thing that came out of tonight was a new waiter - Mandy tried to get him to go onstage and take his clothes off (as she does to any good-looking young man, that is, of course her job!) but he was too shy. But he turned out to be an excellent waiter and a really helpful guy, plus he wasn't too shy to let Mandy take some photos of him with his shirt off - here is one for you to look at now. And the third good thing that happened was the winner of the amateur contest - a guy who is now known as Lucca. He was the audience favorite, and won the cash prize. He was also auditioning to be a stripper, and was scheduled to work this Friday and Saturday. We'll see how it goes, but all I can say is he's got one of the most presentable asses I've seen in my life. We'll leave it at that.

Our First Review

This review was written by a client of the Lounge
A new male strip club opened in Mississauga called the Lounge. Along with a couple of friends, I paid the club a visit on opening night which was Friday December 5, 2003.The club is easily found if you keep your eye open for a large sign indicating DIAMONDS on the south side of Dundas Street, east of Dixie Road and west of Highway 427. A canopy with a sign indicating the Lounge is located on the west side of the building. There is ample parking which makes life easier.After entering the door and descending the stairs, you are greeted by a very personable, hot looking stud at the doorway to the Lounge (NOTE: THIS WAS "NICK", OUR WAITER, DOORMAN, AND POSTER-BOY). Upon entering the room, I immediately got the impression that I was in a cozy, somewhat intimate and upscale male strip club. It's a fairly large room with good, subdued lighting - very inviting. I really like the variety of seating --- regular height tables and chairs surrounding the main stage, some higher tables and chairs and an alcove with wonderful sofas where you can sink right down and let your imagination go wild as you watch a hot body dangling from a chain, dancing on a box within hands reach.What struck me most when I walked in was three hot male bodies dancing nude at the same time. Two of the dancers were on square boxes located in the midst of the tables holding on to a chain suspended from the ceiling rather than a pole to use as a dance prop --- I found this a particular turn-on. The third was on a large, three-tiered stage. The lighting on all three dancers was interesting in that the two who were dancing on the boxes had single, subdued spotlight shining down on them from above --- very seductive. The third dancer was on stage where the lighting was great to view his hot body --- his name was Rabbit, a tall, lean, dark-haired boy in his early twenties who took my breath away. He looked fresh and somewhat naive but had this very engaging smile on his face. I decided then and there that he was worth a VIP dance before the night was over.I took in the show which went on non-stop. It was an interesting sequencing of dancers --- each dancer started out dancing on a box, then moved to another box and then the stage. What made the stage performance interesting was the size of the stage --- it allowed for some great, uninhibited and seductive dancing. Several of the boys were incredibly good dancers --- which is often not the case in male strip clubs.As the evening went on and I got a chance to see all of the dancers strut their stuff, I still focused on Rabbit and approached him for a VIP dance. He was very polite and obliging. We went to the VIP booth area which interestingly is situated at the back of the same large room. I sat down on a comfortable chair and Rabbit began dancing in front of me. He was a total turn-on. I don't think ten seconds passed before he was totally nude --- this gorgeous, young body dancing right in front of me. Not only was he not adverse or standoffish, he actually seemed to like the attention I was giving him. What can I say other than after four dances I went back and joined my friends totally "satisfied". I was satisfied to the degree that I encourged my friends to "experience" Rabbit.What was quite novel and welcome was the ticket I received for one free table dance from the boy of your choice after paying the $20 cover charge upon entering the Lounge. Even more welcome was the fact that the VIP dances were $10 per song. After a good evenings entertainment and a few drinks, one didn't feel as if one had broken the bank so to speak.I plan to return to the Lounge for more "Rabbit" and to "experience" some of his co-dancers --- three of whom have added immensely to my fantasy world until my next visit.

Saturday December 6, 2003

I don't work Saturdays, so my notes for Saturdays are going to be sparse, just whatever info Mandy tells me. As far as I've heard, Saturday was fine, still a solid crowd, and about 6 dancers. I was panicking about having enough dancers, but we're starting to realize that our niche is different - this is a small room, and if we had any more dancers, the guys wouldn't make any money and therefore wouldn't come back. Tonight's audience again consisted of the curious for the first half, and our newly forming "regulars" for the second half. Our group of dancers is learning how to entertain the room, to keep a smaller audience happy. Our shemales have been entertaining small crowds since April, the Lounge is not a place to come where you'll find 100 guys in the audience.

GRAND OPENING

DECEMBER 6TH, 2003
Mandy Goodhandy and I have been running around like crazy trying to get it together for tonight. And one of our major stresses was getting the right dancers. Sure there were lots of guys who auditioned, but we didn't want to accept just anyone. The main criteria for dancers according to Mandy are: no attitude, very open-minded, no excess body fat. She doesn't care if they're bulky, scrawny, or traditionally gorgeous, attitude is the number one qualifier. Opening a new male strip club in the GTA hasn't been attempted for a number of years. I remember male strippers in the backroom at the Brass Rail when I first came to Toronto about 9 years ago, but they didn't last long. Since then there is only one male strip club, on Yonge Street. I think Mandy is pretty brave for attempting this, and it's understandable that the first few months are going to be nerve-wracking. Let me try to explain to you what Mandy and I are trying to create. First off, the Lounge is trying to do a totally different format than the above-mentioned downtown strip club. We have listened to customers, and we are going by our own instincts and the goal of this club is to create a party-room feel, a relaxed environment. I can't tell you how many people who have told me that the number one discomfort they feel at any strip club (straight, gay, in Toronto, and elsewhere) is the feeling of being pressured for private dances. It's not that the dancers shouldn't ask, in case anyone doesn't know, dancers make all their money from private dances, so that is why they are asking. BUT a good dancer should know how to ask politely and at the right time - not 30 seconds after a customer has sat down, and not in a high-pressure manner. And good dancers should know how to accept rejection gracefully, without making the customer feel guilty if he just plain wants to sit, drink, and watch the show. Mandy's boys have all been taught this, and feedback from the customers tonight gave us the affirmation that this is indeed an important thing for the boys to know. About opening night: in my opinion, opening night was a smashing success. We had 6 dancers, and 4 of them were total newbies. The audience got to see true virgins, and in my opinion a couple of stars were born on the first weekend. Let's start with Rabbit and Mitch. These two guys are naturals - down to earth, friendly, open-minded. I think they prefer ladies, but they are certainly not shy about socializing and meeting different kinds of people. Gea was a total star tonight as well, but unfortunately this beautiful half-Indian, half-Russian guy who speaks 5 languages ended the night by saying to me "I feel like taking a shower," and then phoned the next day to say he just wasn't comfortable with doing the VIP dances so he'd have to quit. Mandy offered him a job as a waiter or doorman, he gladly accepted, and now he is on our back-up list. Those of you who experienced Gea first-hand are lucky. I can't post a photo of him now, as he's not officially working with us, but as soon as he does a waiter shift I'll post one and let y'all see him. Al used to be a dancer at the downtown club, and has that "experienced pro" feel. To be honest, that is not the type of dancer we wanted in the first place, but being opening weekend and having limited talent on hand, Mandy decided to give him a chance. He was obviously out of place and uncomfortable, and couldn't hide his lack of desire to be working with us. He came back Saturday, but at the end of the night said he decided working at the Lounge wasn't for him. Things work themselves out, don't they? "Long Dong Larry" was another of our straight boys that we had hopes for. Young, blonde, with an ability to get hard on stage, he was all gung-ho to try a new weekend job. But after the weekend, he said he wasn't comfortable dancing and doing VIP dances for men after all. So those of you who met this nice gentlemen are also lucky guys. And finally Lizzard - Lizzard is an Eastern European guy who has an amazing body and loves to dance to trance. He seemed to be happy, and is set to come back next week.The place was packed tonight, but the first half of the night was obviously the curious. As the night went on, the crowd thinned out and there were about 25 guys who stayed until close, and returned with friends on Saturday.