Taboo Strip Club Raided By Police

[marc anthony]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

All but four of the customers were permitted to leave

>without giving their names etc.

 

Did the dancer know why the four customers were picked out? Were they the only 4 in the back at the time, or did the undercover cops notice them doing other things prior to the arrest?

 

Among the staff who were

>arrested were the manager Ti-Guy Doux, the deejay Nick, the

>dance room doorman Fernand, the waiters Stefan and Jerry.

>Currently they are not permitted to work at the club. They

>may be back later, depending on the outcome of their court

>hearings.

 

This seems extreme. Why would the waiters and the DJ be barred from returning to work prior to their court date? Is that by management or by the court mandate?

 

 

>All 23 dancers were arrested and given summonses to appear in

>court in August. They include: Ghislain, Chris, Anthony,

>Guillaume, Ben, Dominique, Pierre, Benoit, Andrea, Diego,

>Pierre-Luc, Francis, Damien, Justin, Philippe, and Jimmy (plus

>7 more whose names I can't recall at the moment).

 

Wow! They got EVERY single one that I like!

 

One of the dancers was

>discovered to be underage: Jimmy. He had successfully used a

>fake ID to get hired by the club.

 

Can't place this one... was he brand new?

 

All of the other dancers

>are being permitted to continue to dance.

 

One piece of good news!

 

 

They have been

>told explicitly not to appear on stage--and certainly not in

>the back room--with an erection.

 

This is pretty ludicrous. Have the Canadian authorities ever been to the Gay Village? The whole place walks around on the street with an erection!

 

Customers are encouraging them to hang in until

>things, one hopes, gradually begin to change or until

>customers get accustomed to and accept the now strictly

>enforced rules. But inevitably some of the dancers will leave

>and try to find work elsewhere in order to survive.

 

I hope they will hang in there, though if no one takes them to the back room, they will obviously have no way to make money. Someone posted earlier that the new rules involve no kissing, and no touching of anywhere except legs. Is this your understanding as well?

 

I hope for the boys sake that things return to normalcy real soon. And I hope for my sake they return to normalcy by July when I return there!

[marc anthony]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

Forgot to ask...

 

Do you know from your one night there if Damien, Pierre, and Thomas returned to work?

[Guest YFSC]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

Thanks, nesmontreal, for a very enlightening report. I am an occasional visitor to Montreal and visit Taboo often when I am there, though I am not as familiar with it and the staff as some others here are because I don't get there that often. I'll add my 2 cents but it's not as inside as what some others can provide.

 

As it happens, I am in Montreal now and was at Taboo yesterday. I knew about the raid before I went. Taboo is definitely open again. I arrived around 12. There weren't a lot of customers, but it was a Wednesday night and I don't know how that compares to before the raid, and the last time I was there is almost a year ago.

 

I noticed that the staff was all different, except for the guy that seemed to be the main DJ before (don't know his name, probably that's the Robert that nesmontreal mentioned). He has been there for years and is/was the usual DJ. Maybe the raid was on his night off so he wasn't caught and barred from working there.

 

There were about 12 dancers that I saw, maybe there had been a few more earlier in the night. Many of them were ones that I recognized from before, and there is always a lot of turnover. In particular, from among those that nesmontreal named, Ghislain, Anthony, Ben, Diego, and Pierre-Luc were all dancing (and not the others that he mentioned). There were also Gabriel, Carlos, Eric, Danny, Sylvester, and 1 or 2 others. Some from this latter group may be new.

 

Not too much activity in the back room, although there was some.

 

As for the dances, the first dances were all normal, of course. The second dances were noticeably different. More restrained, and the guys did not show naked erections. All came out wearing at least something. Some were hard under that but covered by briefs or whatnot. The briefs eventually came down but only after they were not hard any more. For some of them the briefs remained around their thighs but most did eventually take off everything. It's quite obvious that they must have been told not to show hard, and it tends to support what has already been said here.

 

Regarding the speculation about whether or not it's illegal to show a hard-on, I don't know the law in Montreal or Quebec, but I have run into other jurisdictions in the US and abroad where that is true. Full nudity is legal (art) but nude erections are not (sex). It would not surprise me if that is the case in Montreal, and it does seem to be that way from the way the dancers were behaving.

 

Regarding the possibility of an underage dancer, of course the club would not do that knowingly, but as someone has already suggested, it's not that hard to come up with a fake ID. Even if the club checks and catches most of them, sooner or later one is bound to slip by. And because of Taboo's profile the police may be watching them more carefully in that regard.

 

Regarding the "common bawdy house" provision, if there were things going on in the back room that violated the law, that would presumably be enough to bring that into play, and then the "found-in" provision comes along with it. That's also very likely the reason that 4 customers were arrested too, to make the case. There have to be acts to cite and those acts require a second participant.

 

There may have been an underage dancer and if so that was certainly part of it, but the feeling that I got (not based on talking to anyone that knows) was that the activity in the back room probably had something to do with it as well, allowing for the label as a "common bawdy house". Just having an underage dancer doing otherwise legal things probably wouldn't suffice for that.

 

It does seem peculiar that people like bartenders and waiters who were caught up as "found-ins" were barred from working there, while the dancers, who were obviously more directly involved, were not. And my observation of several of them dancing last night confirms nesmontreal's account that they are being treated differently.

 

I will go there again tonight, sacrificing myself for the common good (;-)), and will report again.

[Guest YFSC]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

>> They have been

>>told explicitly not to appear on stage--and certainly not in

>>the back room--with an erection.

>

>This is pretty ludicrous. Have the Canadian authorities ever

>been to the Gay Village? The whole place walks around on the

>street with an erection!

 

Presumably there is a legal difference between a clothed erection and a nude one. Which makes sense in its own way.

 

Some of the dancers last night *did* appear on stage with an obvious erection but covered by clothing (briefs, etc.). The clothing eventually came down, but not until the erection already had.

 

There seems to be no problem with showing asses, though, which were very much in evidence last night, both in the second and the first dances. And dicks are OK, just not hard.

[Guest YFSC]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

>Forgot to ask...

>

>Do you know from your one night there if Damien, Pierre, and

>Thomas returned to work?

 

None of them was dancing on Wednesday. We'll see what happens tonight.

[Michael]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

>It does seem peculiar that people like bartenders and waiters

>who were caught up as "found-ins" were barred from working

>there, while the dancers, who were obviously more directly

>involved, were not.

 

I think that the distinction may well be between people who were

actual paid employees of the club (bartenders, waiters, etc) and

who, therefore, might be considered to be taking part in the

operation of a "common bawdy house", and people who were not

(dancers and customers) and who therefore would only be treated

as "found-ins" unless they were actually specifically observed

taking part in some illegal activity.

 

While I don't *know* for sure how things work in Montreal, I am

almost certain that the dancers will be regarded as "independent

contractors" (or something like that) rather than "employees".

[bigguyinpasadena]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

Thanks to our two on the scene reporters for such excelant coverage(or uncoverage -take your choice!)

Have either of you gents noticed any difference in the other 4 clubs(Adonis,Campus,Stock,Westside-poor westside.no one ever reports on it)in the back or front rooms?

Heading there Saturday-can hardly wait!

[Guest nesmontreal]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

I can make a few additions to my first message about last Friday night's raid; try to answer some of the questions that others have raised; and report on "Thursday night at Taboo."

 

As I understand it, three of the four customers who were arrested were unlucky enough to have been in the back room when the cops arrived. The fourth was an even unluckier gentleman who was identified as someone who had been observed in the backroom on a certain day in February. It seems that cops arrived Friday night with a file of secretly taken pictures of customers and dancers in the backroom. I don't know if the pictures had been taken on more than one date. This, of course, is really frightening.

 

It's true the current deejay Robert has been around for many years. In recent months another deejay Nick has been working regularly on Friday and Saturday nights. That's why Nick was arrested and Robert now continues. Another new deejay "in training" is a nice young guy who used to dance at Adonis and then worked there as deejay for a while.

 

As for Serge the continuing doorman, I intended to write in my first message that he is NOW apparently full-time. Tonight, however, the doorman was a particularly unpleasant man whose name I don't know and who has done that job occasionally in the past.

 

To the list of 16 arrested dancers I gave before, I can now add only one new name: Kevin (the really nice guy who dances to "Born in America".)

 

Jimmy, the 17-year-old, has been dancing at Taboo for several months, although it was his custom to go away for periods of a week or more. His picture can be found in the current issue of FUGUES in the Taboo ad. Wouldn't you know it?

 

I remarked before that customers now are encouraging the dancers to hang in and wait for better times. I can assure you that the "encouragement" includes inviting them for dances in the backroom. The sad thing about this is that in virtually all instances, both the dancer and the customer know in advance that what is about to take place in the backroom is going to be a disappointment. I say "virtually all instances", because an exception might possibly be a new customer who doesn't have a basis for comparing BEFORE (the raid) and AFTER.

 

As for Thursday night: I'm happy to say that Pierre and Damien were back tonight. It was also interesting that some erections were re-appearing on stage. But the backroom scene was dismal. There was very little activity. I myself was caught with my right hand on the left calf of a dancer, and we both were shouted at by the doorman that no touching was allowed. I do not exaggerate. The dancers seem profoundly embarrassed--and sometimes a little angry, too--that they can offer nothing more than standing on their little stools and slowing rotating.

 

It's pretty discouraging. Pierre says that he is leaving and going to Adonis, where he will be Saturday afternoon for auditions. Mickey says that he is moving to Stock.

 

The dancer with whom I spoke for a long time Wednesday night was worried about how he would find a lawyer to go with him to his August hearing. Tonight I saw Pierre, the owner of the clothing store Bo' Goss (which was sponsor of the Mr. Taboo 2003 contest--now sadly canceled after several weeks of prelims and semi-finals), and he assured me that lawyers would be enlisted to represent the dancers. I later asked Ghislain (the "dean" of Taboo dancers, in that he has been there for 8 years) what he was planning to do. He said that he was going to wait to see what happens in June when the staff members have their day in court.

 

As for the other clubs: I can speak only of Campus. I was there Thursday afternoon. One dancer told me that they have been ordered by the management to cool it in the private dance areas. But I also collected evidence that some dancers are not yet observing any such order. Perhaps others can report on Adonis, Stock, and poor West Side.

 

I guess I'll go to Taboo again Friday night. On the other hand, I may decide otherwise. Some people seem to think (with or without basis, I just don't know) that the police may not be finished there yet; and that they may show up again with their pictures of "wanted" customers.

 

One optimistic long-time customer told me tonight that about six or eight years ago the police closed down all of the Montreal strip bars; and that they rose again!

[marc anthony]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

>I can make a few additions to my first message about last

>Friday night's raid; try to answer some of the questions that

>others have raised; and report on "Thursday night at Taboo."

 

 

Thank you so much for all the information... you and all the others that are chiming in. It is helpful to be so far away and still have some knowledge as to what is going on.

 

 

It seems that

>cops arrived Friday night with a file of secretly taken

>pictures of customers and dancers in the backroom. I don't

>know if the pictures had been taken on more than one date.

>This, of course, is really frightening.

 

Frightening, and also in very poor taste, I might add.

>

 

 

>

>Jimmy, the 17-year-old, has been dancing at Taboo for several

>months, although it was his custom to go away for periods of a

>week or more. His picture can be found in the current issue

>of FUGUES in the Taboo ad. Wouldn't you know it?

 

He must have been gone on my last visit, because I can't place him at all.

>

>I remarked before that customers now are encouraging the

>dancers to hang in and wait for better times. I can assure

>you that the "encouragement" includes inviting them for dances

>in the backroom.

 

Please continue to do so. Hopefully, things will get better.

 

 

>As for Thursday night: I'm happy to say that Pierre and

>Damien were back tonight.

 

That's great. If you can, please tell them Mark from the US says hello and will see them in July. I promise to help "make things better!"

>

 

Tonight I saw Pierre, the owner of the

>clothing store Bo' Goss (which was sponsor of the Mr. Taboo

>2003 contest--now sadly canceled after several weeks of

>prelims and semi-finals), and he assured me that lawyers would

>be enlisted to represent the dancers.

 

This is wonderful indeed. Hope the lawyers kick some ass!

 

>

>I guess I'll go to Taboo again Friday night.

 

Please do, and as I mentioned, give my best to Damien and Pierre if they are there.

 

>One optimistic long-time customer told me tonight that about

>six or eight years ago the police closed down all of the

>Montreal strip bars; and that they rose again!

 

Viva le Montreal! and all its clubs!

 

Thanks again for the excellent coverage.

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

Yes, thanks much for your reports and I look forward to any updates that you can offer. It's been very frustrating knowing so many potentially involved but not knowing exactly what happened and to whom, much less why. Your posts have shed much light.

 

Also, I ask a small favor if you get the opportunity. Mention to Pierre-Luc that I am trying to contact him thru Benoit (email) to get Pierre-Luc's phone #. We forgot it at Easter when I was visiting with Mark. Just say the man from Boston who requests the song 'If These Walls Could Talk' -- he'll know.

 

Thanks, and thanks again for the hard information. If we have the opportunity to meet one of these times in Montreal, drinks are on me.

[jaynnj]

RE: Taboo Back in Business (Sort of)

 

I visited Campus during my last visit to Montreal during easter

week. They hired a former dancer there to keep a eye on the back rom

he is not only there during the day but nite time as well.

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

P.S.

 

Also, If you have the opportunity, please ask Ghislaine if he still intends to come to Boston in June. Thanks.

[Guest YFSC]

Thursday night 5/15 at Taboo

 

Thursday night at Taboo:

 

A very informative report on Thursday from nesmontreal above. I have some other details to add. (nes, we must have seen each other but not known. Maybe we can meet tonight or next time.)

 

First, since some were asking who?s still dancing, here?s the Thursday lineup. (Unlike the Gaiety, it?s different from day to day, not the same for the whole week.) Thursday there were 13 dancers: Ricardo, Danny, Sylvester, Pierre (?Petit Pierre?), Guillaume (maybe the William that some were asking about?), David (?Petit David?), Steve, Diego, Anthony, Jerome, Phillip, Ghislain and Mickey. (nes, I didn?t hear any Damien mentioned, and if it?s the same Damien who was dancing there last summer I didn?t see him, either on stage or in the club.) Yes, Pierre was back on Thursday. Pierre-Luc had been there on Wednesday.

 

There were a few small steps toward what used to be ? as opposed to Wednesday night. I thought the atmosphere was a little more relaxed, and a few of the dancers ? 2 or 3 - appeared on stage hard or semi-hard. Several also came out for their slow dance already naked, while on Wednesday none had (including dancers who were there both nights). At least a few of them clearly felt a little more comfortable, which is to be expected as time goes by.

 

The house was thin at 8:00 when the dancing started, but picked up to a good size by about 10:00 or 10:30, and then started thinning out again around 12:00 or 12:30. I don?t know how normal that is for a Thursday night, but it was way better than Wednesday. Also a more varied patron group on Thursday than had been there on Wednesday. Perhaps a sign of things starting to return to normal.

 

But the back room is still very slow, usually only 1 or 2 going on at a time and the dancers are understandably unhappy. The monitor is very watchful, and the activity is very restricted. I had backroom dances with several of the dancers, and they were all very subdued and cautious. Tentative erections started to reappear on stage, as I mentioned, but *not* at all in the back room (including dancers who had appeared on stage with them), not even a hint of one. That?s obviously a big no-no and will be for quite some time. And without exception all the dancers I was with in the back room apologized for not being able to be looser and for the time being ?boring.?

 

I didn?t know about the cops using surreptitious pictures from a previous day. That indeed is scary.

 

I spoke with several of the dancers at length and can provide a little more about what happened ? or how it happened. The cops arrived ? or started the raid ? at about 10 or 10:30. As mentioned before, there were a few undercover ones inside, and then hordes of uniformed ones came in, about 30-40 of them (to subdue all the unruly dancers and patrons, no doubt). They chased the customers out, letting them go without any hassle or ID, except, apparently, for those that were in the back room, as nes has reported. One dancer said that the crowd of cops in the place looked almost like a normal-sized crowd of patrons, except for the uniforms.

 

Nobody spent any time in jail and nobody was even hauled down to the police station. The cops set up shop right there and processed everybody on the spot in the club, and then let them go after all the formalities. The dancers have a court date on August 8. The club management and employees have theirs in June, I think on the 21st.

 

The club managers, bartenders, waiters, deejays, etc. are barred temporarily from working there until after their court date, and then bound by whatever the court outcome is. The dancers, obviously, have not been restricted in that way, but could be affected by the outcome of their court date. Most seem to be expecting just a slap on the wrist, but it is obviously a stressful time, and there could be other outcomes.

 

Michael above was right on in his supposition. As topsy-turvy as it might seem, the bartenders, waiters, etc., who were obviously *not* themselves engaging in any illegal activities, are the ones barred from working because they are direct employees of the club, and I suppose are seen by the law as ?fostering? the activities there. The dancers, on the other hand, who are the ones that would be charged with performing any alleged illegal acts, are free to come back to the club and dance because they are freelancers and not employees paid by the club. Justice at work.

 

I`ll be there again tonight and will report. I was at Campus briefly on Thursday afternoon. Out in the bar things seemed normal, but I didn?t have any dances in the back room so I can?t say anything about that. I also tried to stop in at Adonis, but it was Ladies? night (M-Th now) and that made it seem very different.

[Guest YFSC]

RE: Thursday night 5/15 at Taboo

 

Damn this French keyboard which is sending unrecognizable characters to the software. On my screen they show up as what they are supposed to be, but they all appear as ?s in my post above. Some of those ?s are apostrophes, some are double quotes, and some are dashes. And 1 or 2 are actually question marks. You/apostrophe/ll have to figure it out for yourselves.

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

RE: Thursday night 5/15 at Taboo

 

>Damn this French keyboard which is sending unrecognizable

>characters to the software.

 

Yes, those French keyboards are a pain in my ass when I'm there!! I cannot get a ? for the life of me... and that is only the beginning.

 

Thanks for the update. I know many of us appreciate it.

[marc anthony]

RE: Thursday night 5/15 at Taboo

 

>Thursday night at Taboo:

>

 

Thanks so much for this additional report. It really does make a lot of us feel better to be informed, though we are far away.

>

>First, since some were asking who?s still dancing, here?s the

>Thursday lineup. (Unlike the Gaiety, it?s different from day

>to day, not the same for the whole week.) Thursday there were

>13 dancers: Ricardo, Danny, Sylvester, Pierre (?Petit

>Pierre?), Guillaume (maybe the William that some were asking

>about?), David (?Petit David?), Steve, Diego, Anthony, Jerome,

>Phillip, Ghislain and Mickey. (nes, I didn?t hear any Damien

>mentioned, and if it?s the same Damien who was dancing there

>last summer I didn?t see him, either on stage or in the club.)

> Yes, Pierre was back on Thursday. Pierre-Luc had been there

>on Wednesday.

 

 

Damien is a smallish , thin 18 yo boy with a beautiful face. He was won the Mr. Taboo contest many times, just because of his look. He was not there last summer, as he started dancing at Taboo only about 2 months ago. I really hope he is still there are Nes reported. Perhaps you can keep looking for him and say hi to him for me from Mark in the US! I'll see all the boys in July!

 

Thanks again!

[imrthr]

RE: Taboo & Montreal

 

It is indeed unfortunate that Montreal's gay village has recently come under active scrutiny by Montreal’s local police. At the present time, it is not known if the 40 plus police-officer raid of the Taboo last weekend was a one-time event or merely a precursor of what visitors to the gay village should expect in the future if they frequent establishments such as Taboo, Campus, Stock et cetera.

 

There is no question that last weekend's raid on Taboo was harassment of its personnel, its dancers and its customers. The basis for the 40 plus police officer raid on Taboo was selective. This is because many bars in Montreal have customers engaging in activities similar to those "lewd activities" engaged in at Taboo, even bars that are not "strip” bars.

 

The only rational police action that evening at Taboo was in connection with the alleged underage dancer who had presented management with a realistic phony identification that stated the dancer was over age 18 when in fact the dancer was not. However, a "minor" working at Taboo certainly would not justify wasting the resources, time and expense of 40 plus police officers. Is this harassment, overzealousness or what?

 

Equally disturbing is the admission by police that over a period of several months, they surreptitiously photographed customers while certain customers engaged in victimless “crimes” while on the premises of Taboo. Other than to intimidate customers, the photos served and continue to serve no productive purpose.

 

It is no secret that thousands of gay tourists repeatedly come to Montreal to frequent the bars, stores and hotels, athletic events and so forth. These gay tourists bring millions of tourist dollars with them which they spend throughout Montreal (not merely in the gay village). If harassment of the gays is the future agenda of the police in Montreal, gay tourism could dry up and Montreal could quickly gain a reputation for being unfriendly to gay tourists. It is my hope that Montreal will not slip into history as a once favorite and fun place to have a great time.

[Guest nesmontreal]

Friday night (May 16) at Taboo

 

I am sending this early morning message only as a clarification of a couple of topics that have attracted some interest among us.

 

Guillaume (who was among the 23 dancers present last Friday night when the police raided Taboo) was dancing last night (Friday) as well as the night before. William is a different dancer who has not worked often during the past several weeks, was not among the 23 unlucky dancers, and may possibly decide not to dance at Taboo anymore.

 

The Pierre whose name keeps coming up is not Pierre-Luc (nor the Pierre who owns the Bo' Goss clothing store, of course). He is the much tattooed little dancer who arrived in Montreal from Toronto just a few months ago. In fact, his picture can been seen and his voice heard on his web site: http://www.pierrecam.com He was among the unlucky 23, he has been dancing the past three nights, and he told me last night that he will probably stay at Taboo for now and not go to Adonis today (Saturday) for auditions.

 

Although Mickey didn't dance last night, I spoke with him yesterday, and he said that he had decided not to move to Stock right away. It is clear that the dancers don't really want to leave Taboo. They are just hoping that Taboo progresses quickly enough back toward "normal" that they can soon start making more money than they have been making this past week.

 

Damien is indeed the "smallish, thin 18 yo boy with a beautiful face" (to quote marc anthony). He was one of the Friday-night 23. He danced last night, as he had also on the two previous nights. (I think perhaps TFSC may have misheard his name as "Danny.") The Damien who formerly danced at Taboo, including last summer, has not worked there for a long time--although I have seen him drop by as a visitor on a few rare occasions.

 

Speaking of Pierre the owner of Bo' Goss: My earlier assertion that the Mr. Taboo 2003 contest had been canceled is not true. At the moment, it is "postponed." Pierre (whose store sponsors the contest) told me last night that, while he thinks that the contest probably will be canceled, now they are waiting for the outcome of the staff members' day in court in June before deciding whether or not the contest will resume.

 

Finally--and most importantly--I want to back away from my earlier report about secret photographs having been taken in the past in the private dance room and the subsequent use of those photographs by the police in an attempt to identify customers who have engaged in illegal acts there. I reported that on the basis of having heard it stated as fact by two different people (one dancer, one customer) who I thought were in a position to know. In fact, it may be true. However, last night I spoke with two other people (as it turns out, again one dancer and one customer) who seem to have grounds for doubting the statement. They think the photographs being talked about may be only those taken by the police Friday night just as the raid was beginning. They think that that unlucky fourth customer whom I and others have mentioned here may have been identified by the police on some other basis. There seems to be general agreement, however, that the arrested customer was told by the police that he had been observed in the backroom on a certain day in February.

 

As you can see, this scary topic--with an alleged file of compromising photographs of customers past and present--seems to be getting more complicated. For that reason, I want to go on record now as saying that I do not know the truth of it. I regret having reported it here as fact. It may or may not be true. If I hear anything further that I consider final and unequivocal, I will report it.

[jakobsen]

RE: Friday night (May 16) at Taboo

 

Glad to know that Mickey is back in play. It would be a great loss if he stop working or move to Stock. He'll chase Rene out the door.

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

Did Lightening Strike?

 

Thanks nesmontreal for the update. Any information and clarifications that you present a very much appreciated. I'm glad to see that some of the boys are hanging in for now.

 

Some thoughts. This episode does puzzle me. I know there is still some fog about the what, why, and how of this raid and thus these comments may not really apply. However, it is my impression from the thread as it progressed that the under age dancer was discovered as a consequence of the raid and not the cause. And that as far as I can see Management fulfilled it's responsibiity to check dancer ID before hiring. If so, then why was Taboo chosen for selective enforcement when more egregious infractions commonly took place at Campus that I know of and probably at some of the other clubs too. But forget the Village, what about all of the MANY straight strip clubs in Montreal. Do we really think that nothing equivalent or more damning is going on there or are we to believe that only choir boys frequent those places to support would-be novices for the sisterhood. Yet, Taboo was chosen as target. If not the underage issue then why? True, lightening does strike somewhere every day, but it rarely strikes in the back yard.

[Guest YFSC]

RE: Did Lightening Strike?

 

TY

 

Check your private mailbox to get your lucky numbers.

[marc anthony]

RE: Friday night (May 16) at Taboo

 

>I am sending this early morning message only as a

>clarification of a couple of topics that have attracted some

>interest among us.

 

First of all... I think all of us owe a debt of gratitude to Nes and YFSC for their unselfish and excellent reporting. Thanks, and please keep us informed. I will be there again soon, but it is very reassuring to keep reading postings that seem to indicate that both the club and, more importantly, the boys are coping.

>

>The Pierre whose name keeps coming up is not Pierre-Luc (nor

>the Pierre who owns the Bo' Goss clothing store, of course).

>He is the much tattooed little dancer who arrived in Montreal

>from Toronto just a few months ago. In fact, his picture can

>been seen and his voice heard on his web site:

>http://www.pierrecam.com He was among the unlucky 23, he has been

>dancing the past three nights, and he told me last night that

>he will probably stay at Taboo for now and not go to Adonis

>today (Saturday) for auditions.

 

That is good news. Pierre is one of the more "sexual" creatures at the Club. He is uninhibited, friendly, hot, and just lots of fun to be around.

 

> It is clear that the dancers don't really

>want to leave Taboo. They are just hoping that Taboo

>progresses quickly enough back toward "normal" that they can

>soon start making more money than they have been making this

>past week.

 

Nes, can you clarify the rules in the back room now? Is no touching allowed at all? Or is touching allowed, but just not in certain areas? Or is touching allowed if the dancer is partially clothed? And someone reported that kissing is out... is that true also?

 

>Damien is indeed the "smallish, thin 18 yo boy with a

>beautiful face" (to quote marc anthony). He was one of the

>Friday-night 23. He danced last night, as he had also on the

>two previous nights.

 

He is beautiful. Hope he is practicing his English for my next visit (or dammit, I should just practice my French!). Please give him my regards the next time you go the club. Tell him it is the Mark from the US that took him to Le Sandwich.

 

>

[Guest YFSC]

Friday night 5/16 at Taboo

 

The Friday night lineup was:

 

Damien (see below), Leonardo, Benoit, David, Steve, Sylvester, Guillaume, Pierre-Luc, Chris, Ghislain, Pierre, Steven, Vince, and Yan (or is it spelled Ian?). Diego was there too yesterday but was not dancing.

 

Things seem to be inching back toward normal. I thought the atmosphere was less tense - or maybe I am just getting used to it. A few more dancers are showing hard on stage, but it's still a no-no in the back room. There was a fashion show for about 1/2 hour in the middle of the evening put on by Bo' Goss, and at one point some of the dancers came around and gave each customer a white rose (well, a few were red but almost all were white). Mine was just the right thing to give to one of my favorite dancers.

 

The crowd was good. Not as large as I have seen in the summer on a weekend night, but respectable, and this is still May. But the back room is still pretty deserted. It was a little more populated than Thursday, but not much, and that might just be due to the fact that it was Friday and a somewhat larger crowd. At one point when I was in there another patron, apparently unaware of what had happened, started to protest loudly about the treatment he was getting (or not getting) from his dancer and had to be told by my rose-adorned dancer that there were new rules. Clearly annoyed, he paid his dancer in mid-song and stalked out of the room.

 

But the police did *not* come back. At least not openly. There had been some speculation that they might. They might still, but not yet.

 

Thanks to nes for clarifying the Guillaume/William situation. Didn't mean to create any confusion. Since I am only an occasional visitor to Montreal I haven`t seen William. Someone asked about him and I was wondering if it was the same dancer.

 

Pierre is who DJ Robert called "Petit Pierre" (Little Pierre) on Thursday. Pierre-Luc is much taller.

 

Thanks also to nes for correcting my mistake about Damien. He is indeed who I mis-identified in my earlier posts about Wednesday and Thursday as "Danny," and he was new to me. Between Canadian French pronunciation and the overmodulated sound system over the music, "Damien" and "Danny" can sound very much alike (even though they don't in English). And I was thinking of Damien as the larger boy who had been there last summer and before. Sorry for the confusion. In my earlier posts please read "Damien" instead of "Danny" everywhere. And, marc, you can relax, he was there Wed and Thurs and Fri.

 

All of the dancers that I spoke to were understandably somewhat apprehensive about their court cases and unsure of the future at Taboo, since their income is down drastically. But all were also very positive in their attitude and were expecting that things would probably work themselves out OK. For now, anyway, they seem to be hanging in there.

 

Stay tuned to this station for further developments.

(nes, maybe we should both wear a carnation in our lapels for recognition.)

[marc anthony]

RE: Friday night 5/16 at Taboo

 

YFSC:

 

Please see my latest post in response to Nes...

 

Thanks so much for your reporting. YOu don't need carnations. The recognition is in our hearts!

 

Thanks for clearing up Damien. He is truly one of my favorites... so I am happy he is there and doing ok. With the face of an angel, how can you not like the kid?

 

Anyway... did you see my questions to Nes? I was wondering about the exact rules to the back now. Is it no touching at all, or no touching in certain areas? Can you touch the dancer if they remain partially clothed? And is it true that kissing is out now?

 

I think I could survive some of those rule changes... but if all of them are permanent... YIKES!

 

Thanks again for "making the sacrifice" and being on the scene for the evolving Taboo saga!

[Guest YFSC]

RE: Friday night (May 16) at Taboo

 

>Nes, can you clarify the rules in the back room now? Is no

>touching allowed at all? Or is touching allowed, but just not

>in certain areas? Or is touching allowed if the dancer is

>partially clothed? And someone reported that kissing is

>out... is that true also?

 

I have gotten a couple of different stories for the official rule. One is no contact at all, but the more widely-circulated and more probable one is that you can touch them from the knee down, and they are not supposed to touch you. I haven't heard that clothing has anything to do with it. Of course, *a lot* depends on the dancer. Some are more cautious and uptight about it, and others are more laissez-faire (this is, after all, *French* Canada).

 

And that's the tule for the back room. Out in the bar there is still the usual embracing, touching, putting one's arm around, etc.