The Return of the Taboo staff

[marc anthony]

Can any of our friends in Montreal give us an update as to the atmosphere at Taboo now that the "old" staff has been permitted to return?

 

Is Ti-Guy Do the manager again? What is happening in the back room? What dancers are still there?

 

I guess I will know soon enough myself as I will be spending a good part of July in Montreal... but just curious about the evolving dynamics.

[Guest nesmontreal]

>Can any of our friends in Montreal give us an update as to

>the atmosphere at Taboo now that the "old" staff has been

>permitted to return?

>

>Is Ti-Guy Do the manager again? What is happening in the back

>room? What dancers are still there?

>

>I guess I will know soon enough myself as I will be spending a

>good part of July in Montreal... but just curious about the

>evolving dynamics.

 

Four "old" members of the staff have been working one or both of the past two nights: Ti-Guy Doux, the deejay Nick, and the waiters Stefan and Jerry. They seem be happy to have their jobs back. Presumably the doorman Fernand and the busboy Daniel are not happy, since they are still barred from Taboo.

 

The arrested dancers (those who still work at Taboo) are glad that the staff members have their jobs back--except for those who have been abused in the past by Ti-Guy Doux and those who see Nick as the most incompetent of all deejays. The other dancers (those who were not present the night of the raid, those who have auditioned and begun work since the raid, and those who have returned to Taboo after being away for months or years) are less engaged with these matters and mostly just wonder why they aren't making any money. A very heavy cloud hangs above the arrested dancers. Now that the cases of the eight staff members have been set for argument in court on September 26, the dancers see the whole affair as likely to drag on and on for a long time. They are now concerned about finding lawyers to represent them. They are assuming that when they plead not guilty to the charges in early August, they, too, will be given a court date some time in the future.

 

The rumor that some of the dancers cooperated with the police and gave evidence against the others is gaining momentum. Last night Ti-Guy Doux himself was speaking about it as being true; in fact, he is naming two dancers as having cooperated with the police. I have no way of verifying the truth of this. All I know for sure is that the lawyers for the staff will "soon" be given all of the evidence against their clients. (I don't know whether this evidence will include all of that gathered against the dancers as well; but I would assume that the evidence against staff and the evidence against dancers is the same, or at least that there is a big overlap.)

 

About midnight last night (Friday), four uniformed police entered Taboo, and _everything_ abruptly stopped. They proceeded to mill around the room, the restroom, the backroom for several minutes. Everyone expected the worst. After a moment the word spread that they were saying that there had been a robbery in the neighborhood and they thought that maybe the thief had come into Taboo. None of us believed a word of it. And then they left. Everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief, things returned to "normal", with all of us wondering how long it will be before the police pay their next visit.

 

A lot of customers have continued to come to Taboo to drink and enjoy themselves. The crowds are not as big as they were before the raid, but they are of respectable size. No doubt the owners continue to make a lot money. But there are no crowds in the private dance room. In fact, the room is usually nearly empty.

 

An anecdote as illustration: Chris, whom I'm sure many of you know as one of the most popular dancers to work at Taboo, for a year or more has been appearing at Taboo only rarely. On nights when he has appeared, there were typically lots of customers eager and waiting for dances with him. (He was unlucky enough to have been there on the night of the raid.) He has been back three or four times since the raid. He was there last Tuesday night. I saw him the next day, and he told me that he had made 40 dollars Tuesday night--all of it from (I know) one customer. His friends Guillaume, Anthony, and Mickey are urging him to leave Taboo, as they did, and work at Stock.

 

In fact, there is, in my opinion, one thing (that is, one person) more than any other that is responsible for the fact that customers are staying away from the backroom. There are now three people working as doormen. Two of them (Serge and Marcel) have been working at Taboo for a long time. In particular, Serge does his job effectively as an unobtrusive presence. Customers and dancers more than tolerate him; they respect him. The newly hired doorman, Frank, was a dancer at Taboo several years ago. I myself don't remember him, but some of my friends do. And they use superlatives to describe him: the most disgustingly unattractive dancer ever to work at Taboo, uniformly disliked by customers and dancers. The theory is that now he is taking his revenge. The "rules" that he enforces change, sometime radically, from one night to another. His enforcement of the rules, whatever they are said to be, is erratic. And his method of enforcement is intrusive and often insulting. When he sees something that he defines at the moment as an infraction, he sometimes whistles at the dancer and customer from across the room; sometimes he moves in closer with verbal and gestural warnings. Last Sunday night I saw him harshly order a new dancer (auditioning that night) and his customer out of the backroom. Ghislain and I, the only others in the room, just stopped and also left the room. When dancers and customers complain about such inconsistent and unnecessarily insulting behaviour, they are told (as Ti-Guy Doux was heard to say last night) that Frank is just doing his job. Frank has always been, and continues to be, a favorite of one of the owners.

 

Surely some customers are staying away from Taboo altogether for fear that the place could be raided again or for any number of other reasons. Some customers who continue to come are staying out of the backroom for various reasons--but I'm saying that perhaps the main reason is that they don't relish being (1) frustrated; and, more importantly (2) insulted.

 

So that's my wordy take on "the atmosphere at Taboo now that the 'old' staff has been permitted to return." "What is happening in the backroom?" In my experience, not a lot that is satisfying to either dancer or customer--although this varies from night to night. "What dancers are still there?" This is tricky to answer, because of the infrequency with which some of them appear. For instance, I haven't seen Diego for a while. Has he quit? I don't know. Among those who still appear with some regularity and predictability are Ghislain (who, with Chris, Guillaume, Anthony, and the waiter Sammy is in Boston this weekend), Chris, Ben (who will soon be leaving for a variety of reasons), Carlos, Pierre, Benoit, Andrea, Gabriel, Pierre-Luc, Justin, Philippe, Damien, Eric. I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting at the moment.

 

What I have written here is a mixture of a few "facts" with a lot of personal opinion. Others surely see things somewhat differently. And things inevitably will change. Determination to have fun and to enjoy just being in a special place like Taboo can certainly dispel the gloom surrounding the whole mess at least temporarily. I will be away from Montreal for two weeks beginning tomorrow (Sunday). If others of you are here during that time, I hope that you have lots of fun in Montreal and at Taboo and that you will keep everyone informed.

[+ Lucky]

>Can any of our friends in Montreal give us an update as to

>the atmosphere at Taboo now that the "old" staff has been

>permitted to return?

>

>Is Ti-Guy Do the manager again? What is happening in the back

>room? What dancers are still there?

>

>I guess I will know soon enough myself as I will be spending a

>good part of July in Montreal... but just curious about the

>evolving dynamics.

 

>Four "old" members of the staff have been working one or both of the past two nights: Ti-Guy Doux, the deejay Nick, and the waiters Stefan and Jerry. They seem be happy to have their jobs back. Presumably the doorman Fernand and the busboy Daniel are not happy, since they are still barred from Taboo.

 

The arrested dancers (those who still work at Taboo) are glad that the staff members have their jobs back--except for those who have been abused in the past by Ti-Guy Doux and those who see Nick as the most incompetent of all deejays. The other dancers (those who were not present the night of the raid, those who have auditioned and begun work since the raid, and those who have returned to Taboo after being away for months or years) are less engaged with these matters and mostly just wonder why they aren't making any money. A very heavy cloud hangs above the arrested dancers. Now that the cases of the eight staff members have been set for argument in court on September 26, the dancers see the whole affair as likely to drag on and on for a long time. They are now concerned about finding lawyers to represent them. They are assuming that when they plead not guilty to the charges in early August, they, too, will be given a court date some time in the future.

 

The rumor that some of the dancers cooperated with the police and gave evidence against the others is gaining momentum. Last night Ti-Guy Doux himself was speaking about it as being true; in fact, he is naming two dancers as having cooperated with the police. I have no way of verifying the truth of this. All I know for sure is that the lawyers for the staff will "soon" be given all of the evidence against their clients. (I don't know whether this evidence will include all of that gathered against the dancers as well; but I would assume that the evidence against staff and the evidence against dancers is the same, or at least that there is a big overlap.)

 

About midnight last night (Friday), four uniformed police entered Taboo, and _everything_ abruptly stopped. They proceeded to mill around the room, the restroom, the backroom for several minutes. Everyone expected the worst. After a moment the word spread that they were saying that there had been a robbery in the neighborhood and they thought that maybe the thief had come into Taboo. None of us believed a word of it. And then they left. Everyone breathed a deep sigh of relief, things returned to "normal", with all of us wondering how long it will be before the police pay their next visit.

 

A lot of customers have continued to come to Taboo to drink and enjoy themselves. The crowds are not as big as they were before the raid, but they are of respectable size. No doubt the owners continue to make a lot money. But there are no crowds in the private dance room. In fact, the room is usually nearly empty.

 

An anecdote as illustration: Chris, whom I'm sure many of you know as one of the most popular dancers to work at Taboo, for a year or more has been appearing at Taboo only rarely. On nights when he has appeared, there were typically lots of customers eager and waiting for dances with him. (He was unlucky enough to have been there on the night of the raid.) He has been back three or four times since the raid. He was there last Tuesday night. I saw him the next day, and he told me that he had made 40 dollars Tuesday night--all of it from (I know) one customer. His friends Guillaume, Anthony, and Mickey are urging him to leave Taboo, as they did, and work at Stock.

 

In fact, there is, in my opinion, one thing (that is, one person) more than any other that is responsible for the fact that customers are staying away from the backroom. There are now three people working as doormen. Two of them (Serge and Marcel) have been working at Taboo for a long time. In particular, Serge does his job effectively as an unobtrusive presence. Customers and dancers more than tolerate him; they respect him. The newly hired doorman, Frank, was a dancer at Taboo several years ago. I myself don't remember him, but some of my friends do. And they use superlatives to describe him: the most disgustingly unattractive dancer ever to work at Taboo, uniformly disliked by customers and dancers. The theory is that now he is taking his revenge. The "rules" that he enforces change, sometime radically, from one night to another. His enforcement of the rules, whatever they are said to be, is erratic. And his method of enforcement is intrusive and often insulting. When he sees something that he defines at the moment as an infraction, he sometimes whistles at the dancer and customer from across the room; sometimes he moves in closer with verbal and gestural warnings. Last Sunday night I saw him harshly order a new dancer (auditioning that night) and his customer out of the backroom. Ghislain and I, the only others in the room, just stopped and also left the room. When dancers and customers complain about such inconsistent and unnecessarily insulting behaviour, they are told (as Ti-Guy Doux was heard to say last night) that Frank is just doing his job. Frank has always been, and continues to be, a favorite of one of the owners.

 

Surely some customers are staying away from Taboo altogether for fear that the place could be raided again or for any number of other reasons. Some customers who continue to come are staying out of the backroom for various reasons--but I'm saying that perhaps the main reason is that they don't relish being (1) frustrated; and, more importantly (2) insulted.

 

So that's my wordy take on "the atmosphere at Taboo now that the 'old' staff has been permitted to return." "What is happening in the backroom?" In my experience, not a lot that is satisfying to either dancer or customer--although this varies from night to night. "What dancers are still there?" This is tricky to answer, because of the infrequency with which some of them appear. For instance, I haven't seen Diego for a while. Has he quit? I don't know. Among those who still appear with some regularity and predictability are Ghislain (who, with Chris, Guillaume, Anthony, and the waiter Sammy is in Boston this weekend), Chris, Ben (who will soon be leaving for a variety of reasons), Carlos, Pierre, Benoit, Andrea, Gabriel, Pierre-Luc, Justin, Philippe, Damien, Eric. I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting at the moment.

 

What I have written here is a mixture of a few "facts" with a lot of personal opinion. Others surely see things somewhat differently. And things inevitably will change. Determination to have fun and to enjoy just being in a special place like Taboo can certainly dispel the gloom surrounding the whole mess at least temporarily. I will be away from Montreal for two weeks beginning tomorrow (Sunday). If others of you are here during that time, I hope that you have lots of fun in Montreal and at Taboo and that you will keep everyone informed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nesmontreal<

 

 

It is sad to see al of the problems caused in this situation. Perhaps it would be better if Taboo was laid to rest and another venue started with a new tradition.

[Karl-G]

Thank you very much for your report; I hope others will keep us informed over the coming two weeks. I remember Frank from when he danced; he was particularly aggressive/offensive to me as a customer. He was the only dancer at Taboo that whined and tried to pressure customers into private dancers, or saying nasty things if they did not. Chris of course is a multifaceted guy; he dances at Taboo, performs frequently on Montreal Boys Live, was the favorite model for Roland at Lionmane (under the name Jarrid) for several years; and is trying to play professional soccer now, I think. He has a dazzling smile, a smoooooth body, is bulking up nicely from his sports playing, has an unusual highly articulated English pronunciation, and used to give a very nice private dance.

[Guest nesmontreal]

Chris of course is a

>multifaceted guy; he dances at Taboo, performs frequently on

>Montreal Boys Live, was the favorite model for Roland at

>Lionmane (under the name Jarrid) for several years; and is

>trying to play professional soccer now, I think. He has a

>dazzling smile, a smoooooth body, is bulking up nicely from

>his sports playing, has an unusual highly articulated English

>pronunciation, and used to give a very nice private dance.

 

He played hockey during the winter and now he's boxing. He is working in construction now. His second son was born in early May.

[marc anthony]

Nes:

 

Thanks for the report. It certainly is not as "rosy" as I had hoped, but at least it seems that some of the guys are managing to hang in there.

 

A couple of friends of mine went before the old staff returned, and reported that though it was not the Taboo of old, it was still fun.

 

By the way, as for Criss, who is about as hot as they come, I think it would by hard for him to get employed by Stock since he only likes to show up a couple times a month for work. He may just have to ride the Taboo recession, and hope for the best. I definitely will look him up when I am in town next month.

[Guest YFSC]

Thanks, nes, for a detailed and thoughtful update.

 

Have a nice trip, and I'll look forward to hearing more when you return.

 

In the meantime, ye other denizens of Montreal and visitors, please let us know how things are developing.

[Guest nesmontreal]

I am not in Montreal at the moment, but I was there last Saturday night and spent some time at Taboo. Ti-Guy Doux was holding court and Nick the deejay was screwing up about every third song. It seemed almost like old times. Sorry. But what I thought might be of interest to some, especially if you are planning a visit in the near future, is the fact that Ti-Guy Doux called a meeting of the dancers at the beginning of the evening and promulgated his new rules for backroom behaviour. (Of course, the rules may have changed as early as Sunday night; I wasn't there to find out.) As long as a dancer wears his boxers, the customer can touch the dancer below the knees and above the waist. When the boxers come off, there can be no contact whatever. He also remarked that a dancer, when standing and facing his customer, should never lean forward and place his hand(s) against the wall. Why?, the dancers wanted to know. Because if an undercover cop happened to be in the room, he might think that something terribly illegal was taking place. Ti-Guy Doux is eager to be seen as a strict enforcer of the rules between now and his court date of September 26. That accounts for something else he revealed to the dancers at the same meeting. If the outcome of the September 26 hearings is such that Taboo seems to have a future, the owners and management will reconfigure the private dance room, providing partitions of some sort for a greater degree of privacy. (Too bad someone didn't think of that a few years ago.) Why wait until then?, the dancers wanted to know. Because to do it now might send a message to the police that Taboo was acting in a manner intended to permit infractions of the rules.

 

Left somewhat out of the equation was the fact that the dancers are not making much money, if any, nowadays and the probability that that is not going to change a lot right away. One of the dancers did speak up and suggest that Frank the doorman (who, with Marcel the doorman was in attendance) should be asked to give the dancers a chance to enforce the rules before approaching dancers and customers in the abrupt and sometimes insulting manner that causes customers to be less than eager to return for more of the same. There was general agreement that that was a good idea.

 

To end with the obvious: we'll see.

[marc anthony]

Nes: Thank you. I heard EXACTLY the same story from a dancer who was in attendance... so I guess that's how it will be.

 

I still think Taboo can be lots of fun. Just hoping for 2 things...

 

1) The cute dancers hang in there until things get better

2) The courts give Taboo a second chance, and they build those damn partitions!

[Guest Stu]

nesmontreal

 

Keep the info coming!

 

I was actually arrested at Taboo on Friday 9 May - I was in the backroom with Criss at around 10.50pm when the police (42 in all) arrived. I was released without charge after about 50 minutes and was the last customer to leave - apart from those few who were handcuffed, taken to the police station and later charged.

 

I've read lots of speculation, supposition and rumour about the raid both in newspapers and on the Internet since it happened. And there are two aspects that I can provide clarification on.

 

Firstly - the rumour that a customer was allowed to leave soon after the police arrived. There has been speculation that this was an off duty police officer or political figure. I can't comment on that but I can confirm that this did happen - because he was sitting just a few feet to my right. The police arrived, everyone was arrested and told not to move, one of the five other customers in the backroom spoke privately to one of the police officers and was promptly allowed to leave. That's what I saw.

 

Secondly - the rumour that some of the dancers have been 'co-operating' with the police. The version of events I heard outside Taboo on the street as the dancers were gradually released (and the version I was told at Taboo the next day) was that one or two of the newer dancers were a little freaked out/upset and consequently may have naively said more to the police than they perhaps should have done. Many didn't actually realise that they had no obligation at all to answer any questions put to them. That’s the version of events I prefer to believe – over the suggestion that particular dancers have spoken in detail to the police in an attempt (presumably) to save their own skin in court.

 

It actually bothers me that all the dancers are facing a ‘found in’ charge and that I (and the majority of the other customers who were there) are facing no charge at all. I was as much a ‘found in’ as Criss, Steeve, Guillome or any of the other dancers who were working there on the night. I wasn’t worried at all at the time I was arrested because I knew that I was doing nothing – legally or morally – wrong. I actually found the experience quite funny at the time because the police were just so over the top. The use of handcuffs is testament to that – and the fact that one poor guy wasn’t even allowed to go to the loo?! However, it’s obviously not quite so funny now – for the staff or the dancers.

 

Incidentally, I knew Criss before 9 May and I’ve seen and spoken to him on more than one occasion since – and also chatted to him during his Montreal Boys Live shows here in the UK. And he’s fine about the whole thing. But if anyone feels that they’d like to contribute towards his legal fees – I’m sure he’d appreciate the odd tip via his ‘tip a model’ button on the Montreal Boys Live website (http://www.montrealboyslive.com).

 

Cheers.

 

Stu

Leeds, UK

[Guest Stu]

Montreal Boys Live can be accessed via http://www.videoboys.com by the way.

 

Dave and Gabriel from Taboo appear in shows on the site too.

 

Stu

[VaHawk]

Cute guys! I liked Gabriel best with Jeremy a close second.

[jack]

Back to business: Per Marc's 6/17 post, regarding 2)backroom design and construction: plus, getting the "Contact License" or whatever the all-inclusive license a place like Taboo (as in Adonis, Campus, and Stock) have to protect us and the guys so that we all can get back to normal.

 

Therefore, whoever has the in's, lets push on backroom design and the license.

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

>Just hoping for 2 things...

>

>1) The cute dancers hang in there until things get better

>2) The courts give Taboo a second chance, and they build

>those damn partitions!

 

 

Sorry Mark, I count that as three no matter how to you choose to number. Now I know how you collect so many boys. :+