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Oct. 28, 2020

Episode 8 (Adam Stripz)

Episode 8 (Adam Stripz)

We are joined by former adult entertainer and ally Adam Stripz.  We discuss his life as a male stripper and working in a predominantly gay strip club environment as a straight male.  He also brings us new details on his new social media platform, Social Swing thing/ The Adult Social Media.  Listeners can get a discount to join using promo code THEQLOUNGE when you visit socialswingthing.com or theadultsocialmedia.com.

Transcript
Eric:

Hello and welcome to the Q lounge podcast. We are your hosts. I'm Eric

Gil:

I'm Gil.

Eric:

Join us as we discuss news stories and life situations. As they relate to the LGBTQIA plus experience, please visit us@theqloungepodcast.com and hit that subscribe button or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to the Q lounge. I'm Eric and I'm Gil. And today we are very pleased to be joined by Adam Stripz. How are you doing today, Adam?

Adam:

Okay. Hey, thank you for having me on your show. I'm really excited to be here and, I'm happy to hear that, a lot of your fans are my fans as well. So I think everyone will be happy to hear an awesome

Gil:

podcasts.

Eric:

I'm looking forward to it. how are you doing with the life in the pandemic? Just catch up a little bit. I've known you for, I've known you for a few years, actually,

Adam:

man. I think the pandemic has really hit everyone

Gil:

really hard, so I hate to,

Adam:

complain or put, any

Gil:

personal stuff out there just because I would feel like,

Adam:

almost undermining

Gil:

everyone. Else's hard, a hard life that they've gone through, but it's,

Adam:

I think everyone's pretty much been real

Gil:

scared about

Adam:

wearing masks, touching doors, using the gas pump. And you're like, Oh

Gil:

shit, who used it before me,

Adam:

but. as far as work, everything for me at least is strong. I haven't yet any job, that's really good,

Gil:

but I've had a

Adam:

few losses in the family, and not due to COVID or anything, but it's just a long with, all the crap hitting the fan in 2020 here.

Eric:

Yeah, it's so hard. So I'm sorry to hear about that. And I'm glad that you haven't lost any jobs, so that's great. So I've known you probably for, I don't even know how long I want to say, like 12, 13 years, our paths have crossed.

Gil:

It's gotta be about there.

Adam:

Cause I haven't been at the club in about.

Gil:

Four

Adam:

five years and, I was there for nine. So we, we talked

Gil:

for years.

Eric:

Yeah. Okay. So just in case anyone doesn't know, Adam is a former male stripper. Yes. Woo. I am all for strippers. I love me a stripper, an exotic dancer and you are straight and you worked in a predominantly gay setting or gay strip club.

Gil:

Yes.

Adam:

Yeah. I got my start,

Gil:

at

Adam:

Boystown off of second and Broadway. and,

Gil:

I've worked for a lot of different

Adam:

clubs. I've done private parties

Gil:

worked in Las Vegas.

Adam:

but

Gil:

yeah, I did, I worked

Adam:

at, I think.

Gil:

Three or four clubs out in Las Vegas

Adam:

with a couple friends of mine, when we skipped out, on work there for about a week or two and

Gil:

decided to just go out

Adam:

and

Gil:

dance and see what Vegas was all about.

Eric:

I saw you in Phoenix once.

Gil:

ah, yeah, that was

Adam:

Oh, damn. You were the one. Dang. Yeah.

Gil:

You were the same customer. I was, I

Adam:

always wondered who that was. I was like, I know I ran into somebody that I knew from Colorado in Phoenix, Arizona, for some reason, but yeah, world.

Eric:

Yeah, it is, I was actually performing in a dance show. And then you had posted something like I'll be at Dick's cabaret. And I was like, I am like right in Phoenix. How odd is that

Gil:

that's crazy.

Eric:

how did you get your start?

Adam:

Ah, man. All right. I guess everyone needs a

Gil:

push to

Adam:

go and do a job like that. everyone has this idea.

Gil:

Do you have Oh, a strip club. It's like a,

Adam:

a dark,

Gil:

back

Adam:

alley kind of thing. And they got these dark corners and there's weird stuff going on. And, it's definitely not like that when you get into it, but

Gil:

the

Adam:

push was definitely not having money. And I got into it because my ex wife actually. Found the place on some kind of a business ad listing for jobs went in and applied. And I, they, a pair of underwear from needs, right next door under the male underwear store. And, yeah. Yeah, they hired me the next day.

Eric:

where did you learn to dance? Cause you're a pretty good dancer.

Adam:

shit I, Nan, I, you should have known me when I first started you with it.

Eric:

Oh, I think I did know you when you first started. I think I saw your first few times.

Adam:

I was not, I was definitely not, a professional dancer by any means

Gil:

it took years

Adam:

and years

Gil:

to perfect a different

Adam:

pole dancing skills. And

Eric:

you were one of the best at the poles there for sure.

Gil:

There

Adam:

is a lot of fun. Awesome workout too. And, I was really happy to be trained by the second best male pole dancer in the world. Alberto Jerome, he won second place in the, male pole dancing competition in Spain. Oh, wow.

Eric:

That's

Adam:

awesome. And, so yeah, it was awesome time.

Eric:

Oh, that's good. And how are you received, from your audience? You were always one of my favorites, but I'm biased. So

Adam:

I think everyone really enjoyed, the hard work that I put into dancing and yeah. don't get me wrong.

Gil:

I love strip clubs and I

Adam:

love strippers and stuff. But if I walk in, even as a straight guy, if I walk into a female strip club and there's just some girl laying on the stage, not really doing anything and there's no way I'll tip her, I have to go in and see that there's actually a talent.

Gil:

Before I

Adam:

do that. Yeah.

Eric:

Yeah. I'm the same way. I always tip those who I think, have that work ethic too, because being a former dancer, my just a former dancer myself, I always appreciate those who dance or who can put on a show, even going into a female strip club. If you're working the pole or you're actually dancing, I will like basically throw you my credit card. But if you're just taking off clothes and just standing there, I'm like, yeah, I, I. Don't really care that doesn't excite me and same with a male strip club. Like I want to see you put in some sort of work.

Adam:

and I guess I don't want to be a hypocrite. I guess one of my biggest moves was just standing there and shaking my Dick around, like

Eric:

you definitely perfected the Dick wiggle. So

Adam:

you got to hold one

Gil:

leg up. So it

Adam:

goes in a circle the same time. But, yeah, if there's a girl just, shaking her butt around, like it's cute, but it's not worth it. more than even a conversation

Gil:

or a couple of dollars,

Adam:

at max, I got to see some talent.

Eric:

I agree. So how was it being submerged into that culture? The gay culture and the strip club scene?

Adam:

it was, I guess I was nervous at

Gil:

first.

Adam:

and then,

Gil:

You have a couple

Adam:

of shots on the first night, and you get into it and you're like, you loosen up a little bit and you got some good music going on. And, I

Gil:

think after a few weeks,

Adam:

you find your

Gil:

groove

Adam:

a little bit better and. You get some music of your own, hopefully that, and that you like to dance too. and, after that, I think everything was pretty smooth, but, an awesome community of people

Gil:

that really,

Adam:

helped me get into everything and learn and taught me how to dance is amazing.

Eric:

So were you part of the LGBTQIA community as far as an ally prior to, or did this kind of just bring you into that?

Adam:

I've had gay, lesbian, friends even

Gil:

throughout high school, but,

Adam:

I was never considered in the community. and I didn't. Really have any at the time and any need to, I was in college and then working at an underground mine. And, so my life was

Gil:

pretty full

Adam:

with everything else to even be able to go out.

Eric:

Okay. And then when you were submerged into that, did your perception of the LGBT community change at all or that it reinforced what you already thought your perceptions.

Adam:

I think it opened up a lot of my perceptions because everyone has, and just like the strip club. And, you think

Gil:

that there's like dark

Adam:

little corners and holes and stuff going on. But, I think when I got into stripping and dancing, I had an idea of it and I was comfortable with it because I knew it was good pay, but. Once I got in it and I was more comfortable.

Gil:

there were different

Adam:

areas of it where, you'd

Gil:

have the tops

Adam:

bottoms, the real, flighty, type of, people. And then you'd have

Gil:

guys that you would think are the straightest

Adam:

on straight that would come in and, You wouldn't ever even expect them to hit on you or give you money and that's

Gil:

yeah, there's a whole

Adam:

spectrum

Gil:

of. Variety of people.

Eric:

that's cool. And did you have any altercations ever, or any tense interactions with patrons or other dancers or,

Adam:

I didn't and I've never had any tense interactions with the

Gil:

patron or,

Adam:

Employee, I think ever in my life. but I'm a real easy going guy and I like

Gil:

to solve problems instead of

Adam:

create more. but I've definitely seen

Gil:

bar fights.

Adam:

many times I've seen chairs thrown

Gil:

across the bar tables.

Adam:

yeah.

Eric:

Oh, wow. what are some of the most interesting places you've performed at?

Adam:

I think that'd be the

Gil:

Drais

Adam:

nightclub in Las Vegas, and I

Gil:

believe they're

Adam:

closed right now. I've been trying to get ahold of the owner because

Gil:

I would really like to,

Adam:

do some cross promotion with them, on a different platform.

Gil:

But that was just. the biggest, idea

Adam:

of a party environment that

Gil:

you could possibly go to

Adam:

and it's expensive,

Gil:

but rooftop

Adam:

pool on the Vegas strip

Gil:

is the place to dance

Eric:

straight up VIP status right there.

Adam:

Yeah. Yeah. Like the Kardashians and, everything Will Smith, Jada,

Gil:

there's

Adam:

a number of,

Gil:

Artists, actors, actresses that go there,

Eric:

Oh, very cool. So you said you did private parties, any big private parties, or how was that for you?

Adam:

Oh, my biggest

Gil:

private party that I ever did, I

Adam:

think was,

Gil:

for Larry Eulaberry, that he's the,

Adam:

radio announcer for

Gil:

it was Ks one Oh

Adam:

seven five, but they moved it to. Something,

Gil:

anyway, he's

Adam:

pretty well known

Gil:

radio host.

Adam:

and,

Gil:

that was

Adam:

crazy

Gil:

to.

Adam:

Put on a party for somebody that you have been listening to for

Gil:

years,

Adam:

on the radio, what was

Eric:

your biggest tip?

Adam:

Oh, wow. not from him, surprisingly enough. It was. and not from a, not from anyone famous or even a male, it was a female that came in and gave me a thousand

Gil:

dollars tip

Adam:

damn. but I think that was just working.

Gil:

With her over years and years, because she had,

Adam:

some kind of a disability and

Gil:

was just super happy

Adam:

that I had been there and helped

Gil:

her out real happy, friendly,

Adam:

and understood the whole time. And so in appreciation, I think she came back and tipped me that.

Eric:

That's really awesome. And you are always like such a wonderful guy. I remember you would just come in like chat with us at the table. Like I think even when we first start met and then like anytime we would come back and I think you always remembered me because even when I didn't live in Denver, you still like, would come chat with us.

Adam:

yeah. And I think I got that. just from. being able to remember faces, I, for some reason I can meet somebody once and I'll see them two years later. And I'll be like, I remember you from somewhere where we've met before.

Gil:

So it was a very awkward,

Adam:

Interaction.

Eric:

So how did, being an adult entertainer influence your life or has it changed your trajectory at all?

Adam:

I think, Being a male entertainer and even working in the adult industry nightlife. it's an amazing gift

Gil:

to be able to have a job where you're

Adam:

also, entertained or, to help be a part of the entertainment. And so I think in a. A shaping of my life. That would be more that I know that I want to work with, the adult entertainment and nightlife industry. And if I can provide help, to any business like that, at a discounted rate, then that's right.

Eric:

Oh, that's awesome.

Adam:

Especially with COVID and everything, shutting them all down. Oh, yeah,

Eric:

it's been really hard for, people in the adult entertainment field.

Gil:

Did you have any tips for anyone who was like wanting to start in the industry now that you've had experience, under your belt?

Adam:

Yeah, I,

Gil:

I would say

Adam:

I made a lot of mistakes and I, one of the most embarrassing ones, When you go on stage, don't

Gil:

wear socks that are really long,

Adam:

like long socks.

Gil:

just wear

Adam:

the standard ankle socks. don't go crazy. don't wear anything flashy and don't try too hard. Don't get up on the stage and just, really try to go all out on your first night, just so you can get in the door,

Gil:

to take it easy, take it slow, try to

Adam:

dance to some music you like, have a couple shots and try to have fun

Gil:

Awesome.

Eric:

that's Good to know.

Adam:

and don't stuff, anything down there, either

Gil:

people notice if there's a,

Adam:

some something funny in the pants down there, it's not right.

Eric:

You're super gifted down there. So people are having to compete with that.

Adam:

Oh

Gil:

yeah,

Adam:

that was fun. The bartender would call me Gonzo all the time. Thanks Brian.

Eric:

I remember Brian. Is he still there? I don't know if he's still there.

Adam:

no. He's bartending at a different bar. I can't remember which one he told me last time I spoke with him.

Eric:

Okay. were you ever pigeonholed in like a role, like people expected you to be a certain way or?

Adam:

the owner of the club

Gil:

originally would tell all of the dancers that they would have to tell,

Adam:

Tell everyone that they're gay

Gil:

because

Adam:

you're trying to appeal as a business owner to a certain clientele. And not everyone that you have that walks in the door is going to be

Gil:

gay or bisexual.

Adam:

and you and legally, you can't make them be

Gil:

gay or bisexual if they are straight or vice versa.

Adam:

And that's the hard part I think with hiring as a strip club owner is most patrons feel like they aren't going to tip you if you're not of the same,

Gil:

sexuality

Adam:

as they are.

Gil:

And

Adam:

so I think, one of the misconceptions is that if you

Gil:

lie about your. sexuality

Adam:

then you'll make more money

Gil:

and

Adam:

that's a short-term game. If you want

Gil:

to just

Adam:

dance for a month or, or two and then be done. But, But if you're in a long-term game and you're nine years in, there's no way that you can lie to people and tell them that

Gil:

you are whatever.

Adam:

And there's no reason to. And I think most people would appreciate it more. If you're honest with them, instead of creating a

Gil:

fictitious

Adam:

person.

Eric:

it's always a slippery slope with that. When you're talking about orientation

Adam:

it is hard. And honestly, I don't blame people for trying, because there've been a lot of straight guys, quote, unquote, that, come in and they apply as a dancer and they don't really know they're, still figuring themselves out, so they end up, finding that they do. enjoy

Gil:

both or, the other

Adam:

opposite gender and that's

Gil:

perfectly,

Adam:

perfectly fine.

Gil:

I just prefer to err,

Adam:

on the side of being honest, instead of a. making up stuff. And I think that's what got me further in my,

Gil:

Later

Adam:

years of dancing

Gil:

is just building trust with

Adam:

people.

Eric:

Okay. I always appreciate honesty, but I know in that field, it's also about selling fantasy so I can see both sides of it.

Adam:

and there were,

Gil:

let's

Adam:

just call them, real hot flames, guys that would come in for a few months and they'd play that fantasy role. And they'd. They would,

Gil:

put out all of these

Adam:

lies and tell people things that they'd want to hear and then they would end up making a lot more enemies in the end because they ended up screwing people

Gil:

over, taking their

Adam:

money, not paying out or doing what they

Gil:

were paid to do,

Adam:

even though it may have been illegal

Gil:

or whatever.

Adam:

yeah,

Gil:

it just causes issues. That

Eric:

kind of leads me to another question. did you face or see any hypocrisy in that scene?

Adam:

I had some people come in. they might not have known that they were in a gay bar and

Gil:

they're also, straight

Adam:

guys that would come in with their gay friends. And they'd be very standoffish. aside from that though, and it just the

Gil:

weird part, would be that

Adam:

you go into a strip club knowing that, and this is all pre COVID. knowing that this is a strip club, people are there to get attention, talk to, flirted with a little

Gil:

bit,

Adam:

and then you'd go up to someone and you'd be like,

Gil:

Oh, Hey, how's your night

Adam:

going? just want to say hi, introduce myself. And they were like, don't talk to me. I don't want to talk and you're like, wait, you came into this fun establishment, like an asshole. And, yeah, just, thank you so much. And

Gil:

talk to you later.

Adam:

Very confusing

Eric:

I'm sure it can be.

Adam:

are

Eric:

there any misconceptions people have of you and, or the adult entertainment? We'll start with the adult entertainment world first as you know it. And then if any misconceptions on

Adam:

you. so yeah,

Gil:

as the whole

Adam:

adult entertainment industry in general, I would say the biggest misconception is that most people that.

Gil:

Create these,

Adam:

preconceived notions,

Gil:

something where they just they're like, I don't like that place because I feel like it's, dark, dirty dingy,

Adam:

and

Gil:

yeah, there are some strip clubs out there I

Adam:

wouldn't go into,

Gil:

but.

Adam:

in the end of the day, it is a misconception because you have,

Gil:

employees that work

Adam:

there that are dancing entertaining for money, so they can go home and

Gil:

just

Adam:

put food on the table. And

Gil:

that's what I did for

Adam:

seven, eight years, and it was hard, every night you knew that.

Gil:

You are

Adam:

going to make your money and just being there alone. Isn't good enough. You need to go in and you need to be happy every night. And if you're not happy, you're going to be one of those other

Gil:

types of strippers where they just sit off to the side and cry all

Adam:

the time and they get petty tips and. That doesn't work for long either. Yeah.

Gil:

but the

Adam:

misconception, that I

Gil:

noticed with everything is the Karen's of the world

Adam:

that have never been, they've never been to a strip club. they only have their own agenda and their own thoughts and they aren't basing it off of anything. Factual. By going out and

Gil:

actually

Adam:

talking to some of these people that

work

Gil:

there, it's destroying the families. Yeah. Like just,

Eric:

yeah, because I've had some conversations with other adult entertainers and different aspects of that world. And I know a lot of people just want them to be a pretty face. And they don't want them to have any thoughts of their own and they don't, people don't respect them for being intellectuals. And I always think that's a huge slap in the face to them.

Adam:

Oh, yeah, there were so many times I would get told, why are you talking?

Gil:

Stop talking,

Adam:

shut up and just dance.

Gil:

That's all. I was just dance. Don't talk. It's wow. okay,

Adam:

I am a human being. I am an individual. I'm not just a piece of meat. However,

Gil:

That's what people go

Adam:

there for, they want to

Gil:

express their sexuality

Adam:

openly and have fun with it, and I think as an adult, everyone should have a place

Gil:

to be able to do that.

Eric:

Yeah. I used to always get in trouble there for dancing.

Adam:

I think everyone did. And I think that's the dumbest reason.

Gil:

okay. So however,

Adam:

I understand it's a dumb rule. Everyone wants to dance, but,

Gil:

this bachelorette.

Adam:

Never danced. However, one of my

Gil:

craziest stories,

Adam:

She and her seven friends came in and they all got a seat, right next to the catwalk and the main stage. And she's right in the corner, the bachelorette's right. And in the corner of the stages, And I go up on stage and the beats about to drop and it's, go and go in and I'm about to do this huge kick spin, pole trick and, the music drops and it's boom. And I go up on the pole and I come around and all of a sudden

Gil:

it's just. Smack like right into the girl's head because she stood up at the same

Adam:

time and she was like, does anybody want a drink and bam down?

Eric:

Why do I think I was there when that happened?

Adam:

And I didn't see, I didn't see her coming, nothing, but she was down and

Gil:

I had to play that

Adam:

off. Really quickly. and I bought the whole table shots. She ended up buying the lap dance for me in the end of the night, but

Gil:

it was, it was a very tense situation

Adam:

for a second.

Eric:

Oh, wow. I feel like I was there that night. It sounds so familiar.

Gil:

how do you look

Adam:

sexy while you kick a female in the face?

Eric:

Yeah. that's almost

Adam:

impossible.

Eric:

Pretty much.

Adam:

Yeah. She at least left with a

Gil:

good story. That's memorable.

Adam:

and I'm sure some

Gil:

nice pictures the next day for her. wedding.

Adam:

Honey. Why do you have a black eye in these pictures? Oh,

Eric:

did you ever witness, or were you ever a victim of any homophobia?

Adam:

I think I was a few times and

Gil:

I, as a straight guy would laugh about it

Adam:

because internally I wasn't

Gil:

upset about it,

Adam:

you always double think something, even if it's two or three

Gil:

seconds after

Adam:

the fact, and I'm like, okay, yeah, I am straight, but wait a minute, fuck you buddy. You can't go around and

Gil:

say that to people like that's fucked up. What if we all is a group went up

Adam:

to you and told you that, you

Gil:

were a certain way or felt a certain way? it

Adam:

always irritated me

Gil:

if I had ever

Adam:

heard that, from anyone, I think one of the first things we'd go do is

Gil:

just let

Adam:

the DJ know. And you remember Davey.

Eric:

Don't know,

Gil:

Davey, the big Black DJ

Adam:

used to sing, like top of

Gil:

his voice go up to tables. Sing right in your face.

Adam:

yeah. Yeah. he would always go and

Gil:

throw those people out real quick.

Eric:

Oh, that's good.

Adam:

Yeah, they, they're usually pretty drunk.

Eric:

You need to have a safe environment. cause there's a lot going on. you want to have it fun and turned up, but at the same time, like you don't need people being belligerent either

Adam:

on their way out. He would

Gil:

always say a

Adam:

drive fast take chances.

Gil:

Eric, you did that on a shirt.

Eric:

I do that on a shirt that would

Gil:

be badass.

Eric:

Maybe I'll put that on my new tee shirt line.

Adam:

You can have, so you can have the idea right. Fast, take chances,

Eric:

drive fast, take chances. I will write that down. did, Any of your patrons ever try to cross the line? Or did you ever cross the line with any of your patrons or because I know that in certain places that's super taboo and you're not allowed to do that. And then other places there are a little bit more lenient. Yeah. You still want to sell the fantasy, but there's maybe some leeway once in awhile.

Adam:

yeah, I think, I think it was six nights a week,

Gil:

that I was there,

Adam:

there'd

Gil:

always be some

Adam:

patron trying to break the rules. that was nothing new

Eric:

in trouble for not always tipping on the side. So

Adam:

yeah. sometimes you let people

Gil:

go a little closer to the

Adam:

front because you either know them or they're, that they're respectful. Yeah. if you know that they're a person that's just going to try and pull everything out, there's no way there's no way, but, the fun

Gil:

parts or the,

Adam:

the interesting nights I would say is when a dancer would come back in the dressing room and they would have, some kind of a really kinky

Gil:

public like story you just did that with that. Customer right over there, like really like

Adam:

at

Gil:

the table

Adam:

and no one saw

Gil:

what the fuck,

Adam:

it as few and far between you'd ever hear these. And that's what made them so interesting is, when they'd happen, do

Eric:

you have any of those stories yourself?

Adam:

I might. He's a gentleman, gentlemen, don't tell. Okay. That's

Eric:

fair enough. I have to respect that.

Adam:

Don't kiss and tell,

Gil:

but

Adam:

I won't deny that.

Eric:

Did you ever have people, trying to turn you one way or the other? I know that's a stereotype that's out there. if a woman thinks your gay is going to try to turn you straight and gay men always fantasize about the straight guy.

Gil:

I think

Adam:

that is a fantasy, for sure. just and it's interesting for me being a straight male and I'm not really into lesbian porn. so I guess. I dunno, maybe I'm a smaller, percentage of males that aren't really into lesbian porn, but yeah,

Gil:

there are areas of the gay

Adam:

male community

Gil:

where there, or people that are much more into

Adam:

trying to turn a straight guy into, a gay guy or even just having fun with them. so that was a niche that I would

Gil:

always,

Adam:

here, on a pattern basis. And, you play along with it because that's

Gil:

what they're

Adam:

tipping for. And that's what they came to the club for was

Gil:

a little bit of saucy conversation

Adam:

or something. But, anything after that, when it would end up getting too far into a conversation and they start, throwing dollar amounts around and times and dates and meeting locations. that's when you got to

Gil:

gracefully. Excuse yourself.

Eric:

Now

Gil:

that's yeah, they're harder part is to gracefully, excuse yourself, from a

Adam:

conversation and still end up recouping the customer. The next night they come in.

Eric:

Okay. And I can see, everyone probably has their own boundary of like, when they're going to gracefully, excuse themselves, some will go a little bit further than others.

Gil:

True.

Adam:

And,

Gil:

I always tried to figure out

Adam:

even as a,

Gil:

employee of a strip club

Adam:

and a patron, where that fine line was. If you walk in, like I think everyone,

Gil:

it sits back with their buddies and

Adam:

they say, okay, what are we going to do? Are we going to go in and are we going to tip

Gil:

$5 to all of the dancers?

Adam:

And we're going to see which one gives us the most attention, or are we going to go in and pick the one. That we want and drop all the money on that one. And then that one will end up giving us more than what any other dancer would.

Gil:

I would stick with,

Adam:

the first option, spend less

Gil:

and see who,

Adam:

gives you the attention. Because it's going to be the person that either,

Gil:

really deserves it

Adam:

and needs it and is working for it, or it's going to be the next person who's trying to scheme and scam you out of as much as you have. And as long as those two are coming, you can decipher between them. and then you Wade your way through and you find the one that's just a little friendlier than the others

Gil:

and

Adam:

start throwing some $5 bills and 10, and

Gil:

then see where it goes.

Eric:

that's some good advice. I think I fluctuated between. Both sides. sometimes I'd be like, I know I'm going in just the tip, these people. Cause I just want to see this one or two dancers and they're getting all my money, but then occasionally I'll be like, Oh wow, that person I've never seen before. And they're really good. So I should give them some attention too, so

Adam:

well, and if you go in tipping, the person that you think is the hottest person in the club right off the

Gil:

bat,

Adam:

you'll almost be cutting

Gil:

yourself out of other opportunities with other

Adam:

dancers. and some that may actually be willing to do

Gil:

stuff with you.

Adam:

Whereas the one that you thought was very hot is either in a committed relationship or most of the time is straight. Yeah.

Gil:

What I've heard.

Eric:

No, that makes sense. That's some good advice. Do you have any, advice on etiquette strip club etiquette?

Adam:

don't. as a customer, don't leave your money on the bar. don't come in, flashing your money, put it out on the bar

Gil:

because

Adam:

dancers will come up and talk with you and they will

Gil:

just slyly

Adam:

take some money off of the bar, thanks for your time, because they're going to assume that money is there to come up and say hi, and Halloween candy or some shit. I don't know. I never did that, but in any case,

Gil:

the other etiquette,

Adam:

just

Gil:

try to be as respectful as possible,

Adam:

and realize that

Gil:

strippers get treated like, pieces of meat.

Adam:

every night.

Gil:

so if you come off

Adam:

as a genuine person, who's genuinely interested in that other individual, and

Gil:

what

Adam:

makes them tick and what are their hobbies and passions outside of

Gil:

the club,

Adam:

you'll

Gil:

get a lot further with that type of conversation

Adam:

than you will with a,

Gil:

Oh, you

Adam:

got a big Dick. Should come over here

Gil:

so I can,

Adam:

let's do this and

Gil:

get a little creepy with it. that turns people off pretty quick.

Adam:

And if you don't have the money to back it up, then you're just going to turn

Gil:

dancers away.

Adam:

Yeah.

Eric:

I can see that. I always appreciate it. Like actually having conversations with the dancers and getting to know them on a more human and personal level. Cause I'm all about that authentic bond or something, even if it's just for the moment. I don't know. I just, it feels, more genuine to me. And so I always appreciated those that would come and talk to you and actually have full on conversations with you and not just rub my shoulders and say, Oh, you should come get a dance with me. And then.

Adam:

Yeah, they're not being genuine as

Gil:

strippers,

Adam:

they're trying to work there. One angle that worked for them on the first week and they needed to step it up and start

Gil:

talking to people about real stuff. And then

Adam:

maybe they'll get

Gil:

into better conversations, but as far as, The customer's

Adam:

concerned, like that weight shouldn't

Gil:

fall on their shoulders. They're just coming in

Adam:

for a good time.

Gil:

It's up to the entertainer to

Adam:

entertain with good conversation.

Eric:

I think that's fair. but I do sometimes think customers come in, like with just that mindset. And so they don't want. To see what the entertainers have to offer.

Adam:

I have a question for you

Gil:

guys

Adam:

and for your listeners, if they put in any input here, With this new world of

Gil:

COVID

Adam:

going on and the lack of fun and entertainment, in strip

Gil:

clubs, especially,

Adam:

you're not really getting your

Gil:

private lap

Adam:

dances, you're not getting your one-to-one interactions. And so

Gil:

without that,

Adam:

do you think that this would open up more

Gil:

of a world for. Strip clubs to have their clubs live stream,

Adam:

and even maybe live stream the back, dressing area. And you can tip the models that are on screen.

Eric:

Oh, I definitely think that there's a market for that. if you look at like the only fan sites or the different chatterbate sites where the models will come and talk to you, or you can watch them doing stuff and you can tip them through the computer and everything else. I think there's definitely a market for that. And to actually have it not just be the model masturbating in front of you or. Watching them have sex and just having that fantasy like of the strip club. I think there's definitely a market for that because people love fantasy. Aye.

Gil:

aye.

Adam:

Sorry. I understand why, people are going to only fans because of, the clubs having a hard time. But if

Gil:

the clubs were to stream,

Adam:

their own models,

Gil:

I think that they could still recoup some of that lost

Adam:

income.

Eric:

I think that's very

Gil:

good and go digital

Adam:

because I know when,

Gil:

I was informed, like in Portland, they're doing drive-thru, strip clubs right now. So the, like they tent over your car, you drive up, they make it a one-on-one, experience and that's the way that you reserve a time in advance and You

Adam:

go from

Gil:

there. That was very interesting for COVID. Yeah, but they're doing that in Portland right now, I was like, okay, interesting.

Adam:

I'm pretty sure there are some people that would definitely pay for a Dick imprint or some titties rubbed on the

Gil:

window for sure. Their car

Adam:

won't come off. All right. My car,

Gil:

they have a coffee shop

Adam:

like that.

Gil:

I'll just do a random

Adam:

shout out, for, hot chick, a latte,

Gil:

it said a drive through coffee shop, but all of the models there were lingerie.

Adam:

Oh, nice. So it's an interesting coffee shop on East Colfax.

Gil:

If you haven't

Adam:

seen it, you should check it out.

Eric:

I haven't been to Denver in a while, but I know that some of our listeners are from Denver. So hopefully they'll go check it out. if you could give any advice to a younger you, what would that be?

Adam:

When you're not

Gil:

at your day job, what are you working

Adam:

on that will

Gil:

benefit your life

Adam:

in the next five

Gil:

years?

Adam:

would be my question to myself. In my later years,

Gil:

I was a drunk stripper

Adam:

for many years, and, off and on, good and bad. I think I was having fun the whole time, but, if I could go back and I could spend, the 10 hours out of my day to do something that would benefit me, reoccurring benefit, financial benefit. that's something I think everyone needs to find, a way that they can make money with passive income without having to spend all of their time in that box. whatever box it may be. You go to every day,

Gil:

there's a way out of it, for sure. Or at least a partial way out of it. So you can work part

Adam:

time, and

Gil:

enjoy the rest of your life because you

Adam:

only have enough time on this planet to

Gil:

do so much.

Eric:

looking back, is there anything you would do differently?

Adam:

I wouldn't have worn the

Gil:

first pair of socks. I decided

Adam:

for sure. some girl gave me

Gil:

hell about that for years, but

Adam:

yeah, no. I never got into. a big drug scene. I didn't make too

Gil:

many crazy bad decisions, but

Adam:

I do think

Gil:

that if I could

Adam:

go back, I would

Gil:

probably save

Adam:

more money for the long run. and instead of, spending it on just

Gil:

whatever that you don't

Adam:

even remember, two years, three years

Gil:

down the line

Adam:

and you're like, damn, I made

Gil:

50 K last year, but I don't know

Adam:

where the money went.

Eric:

It's happened to me a few times.

Adam:

I found,

Gil:

much better areas for.

Adam:

Investing my time and money than I ever even knew about when I was a stripper. And I think if I would have woken up and a little sooner, I have

Gil:

realized that I had a lot

Adam:

more time in my day that I could have done a lot of things now that I barely have time for. And I still do. Do

Gil:

you have any projects or anything that you're currently working on?

Adam:

Yeah. thanks for asking.

Gil:

I do have the three businesses

Adam:

that I run. One of, them's not really doing too much.

Gil:

It's at Denver smart

Adam:

mirror.com. I'm not

Gil:

even sure if the URL is really working on that, but it's,

Adam:

it'll be a fun, digital. Mirror that, companies can buy casinos,

Gil:

stuff like that. But

Adam:

then I have the web development company, as well. And right now we're developing, a brand new social media

Gil:

platform for adults.

Adam:

so a dumbed down version of Facebook, mixed with

Gil:

the, sexiness

Adam:

of Instagram. but the, the nudity involved as well. Then we have some

Gil:

private groups, for Reddit,

Adam:

type blog, posting content, and free giveaways,

Gil:

as well as streaming models.

Eric:

And that's social swing thing, right?

Gil:

Yeah, a

Adam:

socialswingthing.com or the adultsocialmedia.com. I'm still trying to figure out which way I want to go with that.

Gil:

Because if I

Adam:

go into a

Gil:

specific niche, like social swing

Adam:

thing, it makes people think that it's just a

Gil:

site for swingers.

Eric:

Okay. That makes

Adam:

sense. Yeah. When, it's really for

Gil:

everyone, LGBT straight,

Adam:

and anyone who wants to

Gil:

feel like they want to express their sexuality,

Adam:

Without having that raunchy kind of side, you know, a whole bunch of spammy advertising, stuff like that. you want to meet people

Gil:

talk,

Adam:

Create

Gil:

groups

Adam:

create conversations. you want to, live stream models and check them out and send them tips and credits. Then, that's another thing we can do too.

Eric:

Pretty cool site. Cause I have an account. I have an account on there, so it's a pretty cool site. And let me know when you decide, what web address you're going to go with. So we can totally throw that up on the website.

Adam:

Yeah. It's for right now it's just social swing thing.com, but you can search it up

Gil:

as the adult, social

Adam:

media.com as well. And it'll pull up just the same.

Eric:

Okay, cool. I'm done. I'll throw both of those up there. and you have an app coming out too, don't

Adam:

you? so I'm not exactly sure when the app will

Gil:

be fully developed.

Adam:

however, it's going to definitely help the communication level between users so they can get a notification on their phone

Gil:

instead

Adam:

of just an email, letting them know that someone replied,

Gil:

Oh, that's good.

Eric:

And what made you decide to get into this?

Adam:

I really don't mean to, Be any type of a downer,

Gil:

with the background of this story. It all, it's actually a really happy story for

me

Adam:

because it got me up off my ass and changed my thinking.

Gil:

but earlier this year,

Adam:

I

Gil:

had said I had a

Adam:

couple of deaths in the family. My mom, passed away.

Eric:

I'm sorry to hear that.

Adam:

Oh, and her and I,

Gil:

we joked and laughed

Adam:

about, her passing in the future. And, we tried to come to terms with it and understand because she's

Gil:

actually,

Adam:

been having heart attacks since I was 14. And so I knew it was coming at some point, I'd been taking care of myself for a very long time. And.

Gil:

So after she

Adam:

passed,

Gil:

it was hard because

Adam:

I had to go and I had to, move stuff out of

Gil:

her place and,

Adam:

take care of, the, Cremation and everything they weren't doing

Gil:

burials or

Adam:

anything like that with COVID. But, it seemed like, even a couple of days after

Gil:

she passed,

Adam:

I

Gil:

had this crazy dream

Adam:

and I can't even remember the dream at all. but I remember waking

Gil:

up out of it with this idea

Adam:

of, An adult

Gil:

site where people can share

Adam:

their own nudes or nude content. they can upload their nude content. People can pay for it. models can stream on it. Businesses can advertise, Users can date and flirt. and then if, if anyone, doesn't like someone, they can block them, report them, and, have total site

Gil:

security. because

Adam:

I have been getting a little fed up with

Gil:

the level of security that we

Adam:

have on social media these days. And there is none,

Gil:

whatever you put out there is out

Adam:

there. And, and people take it and

Gil:

use it for targeted advertisings

Adam:

and stuff so they can sell you more stuff. and that's something that I won't ever do. I have of advertising's on there

Gil:

because they're adult,

Adam:

Business oriented. but I don't track

Gil:

what people

Adam:

click and don't click and what they're interested in and not. And then I don't sell that information

Gil:

to a third party.

Adam:

Company, so I can benefit off of your information. I think

Gil:

that's just horribly fucked out.

Adam:

Yeah.

Gil:

I

Adam:

like to sleep at night and I like to look at myself in the mirror. I think I'm decent looking. Yeah,

Eric:

I would agree. how do you think this business is going to help people. Getting into the adult business or in the adult business?

Adam:

I really do think that it'll help, all areas.

Gil:

the businesses themselves are

Adam:

low on customers coming through the door and

Gil:

if they've had to close their doors

Adam:

and now they're reopening, they may not know. people may not know that they're open. So if they can advertise on my site

Gil:

for. Way cheaper

Adam:

than any other

Gil:

site out there.

Adam:

for instance, I've looked into advertising on, traffic junkie.com and there's a minimum of $25.

Gil:

So you have to have

Adam:

a

Gil:

hundred dollars

Adam:

in your account, minimum to start and you can do

Gil:

four days of advertising.

Adam:

Yeah, that's it.

Gil:

so yeah, the businesses will be able to advertise

Adam:

on this site and, it'll

Gil:

be $50

Adam:

per month.

Gil:

So 30 days instead of two.

Adam:

And, you can pay a hundred dollars a month and you can be on

Gil:

multiple pages on the website instead

Adam:

of the main, first one. and, you can do either, one month

to

Gil:

try it out or

Adam:

reoccurring, monthly payments and just set it up and make it easy. another thing, it gives the models that

Gil:

have lost their jobs or have had their clubs closed,

Adam:

an additional place to stream from, to make money from different clients. they may have only fans and, and that's awesome. Only fans is amazing. I think that they help

Gil:

people as well.

Adam:

however, my platform again, I don't take any cut from the models like

Gil:

zero. So every other cam site out there, they take

Adam:

anywhere from 20%

Gil:

to 60%

Adam:

of the models, It's crazy. Yeah. and I won't ever do that. the patrons that pay on the site are paying $5 per month because they know that their data and their pictures and everything

like

Gil:

that will be theirs. And

Adam:

once they delete

Gil:

their account,

Adam:

it's gone. I don't take it. I don't sell it. I'm

Gil:

actually

too

Adam:

busy to even look at it. and eventually this will need to be monitored. Better, when we have more users, but for now I think it's

Gil:

a

Adam:

pretty friendly site, and pretty tamed down.

Gil:

there's not a lot of

Adam:

raunchy level to it, which is nice. more of an Instagram, feel would be nice. Can

Eric:

I make a quick suggestion?

Gil:

Yes.

Eric:

I've had issues with only fans because every time I pay to subscribe to someone's page, my credit card gets blocked or my bank card gets blocked and then I have to call and I have to have it unblocked and reopened. So then I can maybe make a purchase and then I can usually make purchases within the next two days on an only fan site. And then after that I started getting blocked again. I don't know if there's anything that you can do from it on your end or what that would be, but it's always frustrating. So I don't even really. Subscribe to many only fans anymore, just because I'm like, I don't want to deal with the headache of my card, getting blocked all the time

Adam:

that most likely has to do with their payment

Gil:

processor.

Eric:

Okay.

Gil:

So

Adam:

basically, and, give me just one

Gil:

quick second here. sorry. It's like a mini strip tease

Adam:

up in here now. Awesome. Do

Eric:

some Bitcoin or something?

Adam:

Just getting so hot. Oh

Gil:

gosh. but

Eric:

people are gonna want the video of this

Adam:

shit.

Gil:

I got to start doing

Adam:

video editing right now, but, let's see. Where was I? Oh yeah, the payment

Gil:

processor. so if they

Adam:

have a negative Mark or a few big negative marks on their, payment processing and there's only a few, that you can really link up on a site, then yeah, it

Gil:

can cause there, I guess

Adam:

their payment fund, and or the payments coming in and out, look a little more fraudulent to some banks. not all banks

Gil:

will flag that.

Adam:

As fraudulent. and they won't bug you so much, but if you have a business account or if you have any type of a bank that, really keeps track and alerts you from it,

Gil:

most likely they'll do that just because of the other

Adam:

companies, standings with. Their bank.

Eric:

Okay. that makes sense. I just thought I would throw that out there because it does keep me from subscribing to as many only fan sites as I would want to, yeah. Got to support the sex worker come on. Of course.

Adam:

and I think right now, our payment

Gil:

processors Stripe

Adam:

and, out of, I think 360

Gil:

subscribers. So far,

Adam:

I have, I've only had to refund one person and

Gil:

that was because, they had

Adam:

put in their information, and they didn't

Gil:

read that it was $5 a month.

Adam:

And

Gil:

I wasn't

Adam:

obligated to return yeah. Any money to them. But, I

Gil:

did for sure, just because I felt like

Adam:

it was the right thing to do. and, I think that they were pretty happy with it. And I'm happy with not having a lot of payment processing issues

Gil:

or

Adam:

anything like that.

Eric:

That's good. You don't want a whole Bella Thorne situation happening? what happened with only fans?

Adam:

Oh God, no, that's definitely not what I'm trying to do.

Eric:

Yeah, no, that was awful. I'm not even in the sex work industry and I was so heated for sex workers. I was like, that is just so disrespectful. It was just awful. So

Gil:

what did she do?

Eric:

So she started an only fans page. And so she had like millions of people, subscribed to her page. And she was like, Oh, I'm going to go ahead and release stuff. And so people thought she was going to release nudes. And so all these people started like paying all this extra money and tipping all this extra money for her nudes. And she made like a few million, I think, off of it. And then it was just like a few pictures of her in lingerie and people were pissed, so they wanted their money back and they went after only fans. And so they had to refund. All this money back. And then, so now they put caps on how much the individual people who legitimately have only fans, pages can actually get paid now from individuals.

Adam:

I think the max is

Gil:

$50. I want to say

Eric:

50,

Gil:

$50 tip.

Eric:

Yeah,

Gil:

because of that. Which is good,

Adam:

I'm trying to work that in a scenario in my website and

Gil:

see if

Adam:

that could be a potential issue as

Gil:

well.

Adam:

however, I

Gil:

don't think so. You transfer credits just like you would

Adam:

tip a dancer, you transfer X amount of credits to them and they

Gil:

give you the password to their content.

Eric:

Yeah, I think that's more than fair. I think that's really cool. That's a good way to do it. So what do you do on your spare time? spare time because you have 85 jobs,

Gil:

like

Adam:

shit. They, the spare time, that's the fun part. I think. I love learning every day and. Anytime I can. So my spare time

Gil:

consists of,

Adam:

in the shower and I'm driving. and I

Gil:

try to get to work every day, about half an hour early, so I can sit in the

Adam:

parking lot and continue to listen to the video that I was listening to driving

Gil:

to the way to work.

Adam:

Usually that's on. anything from, Elon Musk and

Gil:

Tesla with a

Adam:

Starlink and his other company. Neurolink, AI networks, different,

Gil:

typology of,

Adam:

fifth and sixth dimensions.

Gil:

Different,

Adam:

time-space

Gil:

theories,

Adam:

everything it's nuts.

Eric:

It's really

Adam:

cool. anything I can learn? That's really cool. everything interests me if it has something to benefit off of the information. And I'm not planning on going to a different planet anytime soon, but, conspiracy theories and, alien,

Gil:

stuff

Adam:

like that. That's all fun

Gil:

as well

Adam:

to get into, and you

Gil:

take it with a grain of salt for sure. But

Eric:

I totally believe in aliens. I'm from New Mexico. So we have Roswell here.

Adam:

Yeah. Yeah. that'd be interesting to walk around a little bit. yeah, there's just some evidence out there, that's irrefutable and

Gil:

there's a

Adam:

CIA, documents that have been,

Gil:

declassified

Adam:

recently on the brain Hemi sync. I don't know if you've

Gil:

ever Googled that,

Adam:

or looked it up, but, brain Hemi sync

Gil:

it's,

Adam:

Meditation, to get

Gil:

both sides of your brain on

Adam:

equal wavelengths. So you can,

Gil:

have access to, a higher, A higher

Eric:

frequency or vibration or,

Gil:

yeah, just,

Adam:

you have a question in your head and it just comes to you and you're like, damn, I've

Gil:

never put out a rap song.

Adam:

I don't know how to do an EP, I'm working literally right now, I'm working with a new up and coming artist. his name is Aiko NASA and, he asks me questions all the time, Dude,

Gil:

how do I put this out?

Adam:

How do I do this and that? And I don't know. Sometimes

Gil:

it works, sometimes it doesn't,

Adam:

but I feel like sometimes you hit that resonance and you're just having a real good day and you're just on your game and someone asks you a question and you have no idea. You've

Gil:

never heard that before, but for some reason you just

Adam:

have the answer. It's amazing.

Eric:

Yeah. That's awesome. So any thing else that we can look forward to

from

Adam:

you? let's see,

Gil:

hopefully with this

Adam:

new platform, I'll have the app out. I'm giving it a timeline of

Gil:

roughly four to six

Adam:

months. there's going to be a whole brand new live cam area

Gil:

that is set up with a URL redirect,

Adam:

to, a different

Gil:

hosting. So it keeps the site speed quick, that's

Adam:

nerd language

Gil:

for, there will be an

Adam:

awesome, cam area coming out very soon within the next couple of days.

Eric:

Awesome.

Adam:

and just general site

Gil:

user-ability

Adam:

speed, everything. we keep working every day on that, but, as far as myself,

Gil:

I hope to

Adam:

build as an entrepreneur and have more businesses and provide, more entertainment and fun for everyone if I can.

Eric:

That's awesome. good luck with all of that. And thank you so much for spending this last hour with us here in The Q Lounge.

Gil:

Yes. Thank you so much.

Adam:

thank

Gil:

you guys so much.

Adam:

we definitely have to hook up some time and, catch up, have some drinks or whatnot.

Eric:

Absolutely. I look forward to it when I can start traveling again. I'm definitely hitting up Denver. So I actually think about moving back there most of the time,

Gil:

it's that's your fallback

Eric:

say, like going to 90% of the time. I'm like, let me look up real estate. In Cheesman again, or cap Hill or whatever and Baker. I like, those are like my favorite area and

Gil:

stuff. Yeah. they're expensive areas, but

Adam:

it's

Gil:

nice. I actually just, got,

Adam:

I, my life's been fucking crazy, but I got an apartment in cherry Creek.

Gil:

It was like, Four

Adam:

five months ago. I lived there for about a month and then I moved out.

Gil:

for personal reasons,

Adam:

you know what not, but, but I found a subletter and everything, so

Gil:

it all worked out there. Good.

That's good. Yeah I lived in Cheesman when I lived in Denver, so I love that area, but

Eric:

Q lounge. If you would like to check out social swing thing, please go to social swing thing. Dot com. Under promo code type in the Q lounge in all caps, no spaces. And you will get 60 days for $2. That's two months for $2. swing thing. Dot com promo code the Q lounge. All caps, no spaces.

Track 2:

And thank you for joining us

Eric:

here at The Q Lounge.

Gil:

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Eric:

until next time live in your authenticity.