[Dixielandjazz] OKOM & Boobs

[Steve barbone]

"jack wiard" <jack_wiard at hotmail.com> asks
 
> In keeping abreast of all the tit-for tat comments appearing on the list,
> I have to ask what has this subject got to do with okom?  What I remember
> most about this time is that I had a five year gig at BURP HOLLOW [later
> called LITTLE CAESAR ] playing okom. The topless era caused many gigs like
> this to finish. The owner hired a topless girl to bump-grind with us for a
> few months before letting the band go and getting a juke box for the girl to
> 'dance'along with. Little Caesar later became an 'encounter parlour', where
> for a fee one could hold a girls' hand across a table . Now the location
> sells porno books.

Hi Jack

Good question. Basically the strip joints in the USA kept many serious OKOM
and Jazz musicians busy in the USA during the lean years. Most of them, from
the Dixielanders you and I revere, to beboppers like Phil Woods had a
numerous strip joint gigs. As does, or did, fellow reedman Evan Christopher
in New Orleans quite recently if not still ongoing.

The way those of us who did/do it see it, "Art is Art." Those gigs and girls
are fondly remembered.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone