[Read Part One or Part Two] This is the third and last installment of the series. As I explained in part one, I haven’t spent all that much time in strip joints, strip clubs, gentleman’s clubs or whatever you want to call them. As I said in part one, there were two periods of time that I visited strip clubs. The first was when I was in high school, as illustrated in the first two parts. The second was after I divorced my first wife. I had a job on Northwest Highway, I was lonely, and they were convenient.
But oddly enough, the third time I saw a celebrity was in neither of those time periods. It was later, but I’m not sure how much later. The strip joints were dwindling in the particular area on Northwest Highway. A lot of things were dwindling in the area. I was there for some reason or another in the late afternoon or early evening and I wanted a beer. Then I came upon Caligua. It was one of the first “gentlemen’s clubs”, in that it was looking for a higher class clientele. But it was still called a strip club.
I didn’t see any other place where I would like to get a beer, so I pulled into Caligua. I sat with the small group in front of the stage where a ventriloquist was performing. He was funny, but a lot of the jokes were making fun of people in front of the stage and the hecklers who just wanted to be pains in the ass. But being where I was it seemed rather natural. I just sat and drank my beer. I think I finished the beer at the same time he finished his set and took a break. So I got up and left.
Like the first two instances, it wasn’t until later that I realized who the ventriloquist was. It was when Cyndy and I went to see him. It was Jeff Dunham and, if I’m not mistaken, the “dummies” I saw that day were earlier editions of Peanut and Walter.
Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.
Peace be with you.
Chasing After Wind 