Peter's Spotlight Entertainer: Shelby (Hurricane Betty’s)

Readers/lovers of Peter Tips,

It is with great excitement that I unveil the newest treat from your favorite blog: Peter’s Spotlight Entertainer, where I will interview New England’s finest entertainers and post those interviews for your reading pleasure. I believe in showcasing not only the physical beauty of my muses, but also their emotional and intellectual depth, and I'm confident that these women will impress as much with their prose as they do on the pole.

The first installment highlights Shelby, a snarky spitfire from Worcester’s Hurricane Betty’s with a foul mouth, sharp wit and killer body. Join me for my sit-down with this North Shore native as she hates on Nickelback, confesses her love for late-night sci-fi and reveals what not to say during a three-way lap dance.

[Note to all dancers: my calendar is filling up quickly, so if you’d like to be considered as a spotlight entertainer, please e-mail me ASAP at stripperpoll@gmail.com]

PETER: First things first, tell us about your history as a dancer: where you’ve worked and for how long.

SHELBY: [Editor’s note: due to an equipment malfunction, this answer has been paraphrased]. I’ve been dancing since 2005. I started at Centerfold’s 2000 in Worcester, spent about a year there, then danced a little bit in LA, moved back East and spent some time at Mario’s and Cabaret. I really bounced around a lot until I came to Hurricane Betty’s a few years ago and I’ve been here ever since.

PETER: When you’re working, do you have a favorite type of music to dance to, like R&B, hip-hop, rock?

SHELBY: I try really hard to mix up my choice of music and not dance to any particular genre. My musical choices are really eclectic. You know what it is? I like to dance to shit that no one has heard at a strip club, and I hear it all the time, like “Oh, are you dancing to the Darkness?” People get psyched, people get jazzed, because they never hear that. Or [read more...]

even obscure classic rock, you know, some B-side on a Zeppelin album. I feel like that’s memorable.

My favorite song to dance to is “The Passenger” by the Deftones. But I guess, I don’t know, like sexual rock, but I really like that song, let’s put it that way.

I’d just as soon not get up there and dance to Nickelback because you have to dance to Nickelback, you know what I mean. (Editor’s note: Yes, Peter knows exactly what you mean).

PETER: Do you have any sort of signature dance move when you’re on stage? Something that’s unique to you?

SHELBY: I guess the only thing that I exclusively do is usually…actually, every night except for tonight, I always wear a studded belt, you probably remember this, and I keep it on when I get nude, so it’s just me and the belt and the shoes. And what I do is I put my hands in the belt behind me in sort of a, you know, bondage… [read more...]

sort of like alluding to a bondage thing. And so I dance like that. You know I dance, and I slide my hands in the belt and I put my back to the guest and so I’m dancing with my hands behind me. And then I do some floor work and I pull my hands out and there you go. It’s not spectacular, but if you were to describe it, somebody would say that’s Shelby.

PETER: Okay, here’s the question that the readers really want answered. What makes for a great customer?

SHELBY: Some of my favorite regulars – I can only say what I like about a regular – because I have a lot of regulars, but there are ones that I really remember, I look forward to them coming in…when they come in, my eyes light up. Just as people, I really like to dance for them, and that’s if like, they sit down, and you can tell that they enjoy it, but they don’t try to touch. Maybe after three or four [read more...]

dances they’ll progress to touching your hip or something. But just, you know, if they respect your boundaries without even you having to say it, because when I’m giving a dance, I want to know that I can hover my fucking ass like two inches from your nose and you’re sitting right where you started, that I can always anticipate where you’ll be. Cause then it makes me able to give you a better dance. So I like when customers just sit down and they get dances, you know what I mean. That’s what makes for a good customer, really; a guy who appreciates that time is money, but doesn’t make you feel, that doesn’t…I don’t know, I don’t like it when they make me feel like I’m a nuisance, like I’m begging to get naked for them. You came to my job, I didn’t make you come here. So when they come in and it’s understood, and that allows the sexiness to take place, because all the rest of it is just whatever. You’re in a strip club, you pay me to get naked, let’s just move on. I talk a lot…

PETER: Equally important, what makes for a terrible customer?

SHELBY: Well, I think the most terrible thing a customer can do is insult you. Like picking something about you and criticizing it, especially if they got a dance from you. They get a dance and you say: Oh, how was it? “Well, it was okay, but…” and then they have some, like you’ve asked them for a thumbs-up or something, they have some point to critique you on.

PETER: How often does that happen?

SHELBY: It happens a lot, but I’ve been dancing for five years. So, thank you, it was nice doing business with you and perhaps, maybe you’ll enjoy a dance later in the evening. I’m 29, I’m not gonna [read more...]

teach you how to be a gentleman; I’ll pass you along to an eighteen-year old that has the patience for it. You know, I got the twenty. So I think that’s a bad customer. I don’t think anyone really likes being propositioned. You know, if you give a dance, and all of a sudden it segways into “Would you like to come home?” I don’t like that, cause I’m like, you put me on the spot, now I have to remind you that no, I will not be coming home with you. And then they act like it’s just like, “you just got naked for me.” So I don’t like that, but I especially don’t like the critic. Or even when you’re on stage, they put up a dollar and whatever you do just wasn’t enough. Because you go to collect it and they’re like “That’s it.” I’m like: It’s a dollah. That’s like a fourth of my toll to get here. It’s a dollah. Yes, that’s it, that’s all. You think I’m gonna light a hoop on fire and jump through it? It’s a dollah.

PETER: How often do you get hit on at work?

SHELBY: How often do guys want to make me their girlfriend? All the time, for real, and it’s not arrogant, because I’m a really modest and humble person, even like, over the top, too much. And I will say, all the time, every night, and it happens to everyone, that’s the thing. It’s not unusual. I don’t know why, I don’t know why they do that.

PETER: Is it shocking in some situations who’s doing it? Or is it, like, a young 19 or 20 year old guy who’s like “Yeah, I’m gonna go home with a dancer.”

SHELBY: No. That’s the funny thing. It’s not exclusive to any age group or ethnicity. I mean, it’s more strong in say, like the Brazilian community, because I guess like down in Brazil, that’s copacetic. So you get it a lot from them, but you can get it from a nice sweet little 18-year old that is just genuinely wanting to hang out with you. Or, you know, you get it from guys who are 50 or 60 years old, but I guess cast your nets, do your thing. Who knows what you’ll pull back, right?

PETER: What’s the worst pickup line you’ve heard from a customer? And what’s the best?

SHELBY: The worst? I ask a guy if he wants a private dance and he says: “No, I don’t. I wanna take you home and introduce you to my mother. I wanna bring you out to a nice dinner. Why would I spend money on a dance when I can buy you a lobstah dinner?” I’m not making this up, as though I can deposit a lobstah dinner into the bank and pay my electric bill with it. [read more...]

Or you’re too nice is my favorite, too. “You’re so nice, you’re so pretty, you’re really smart. No, I wouldn’t like a dance.” I’m like, why, isn’t that what you want? “No, I want a dance with that girl.” And it’s just like Oh, okay, I guess you win some, you lose some. You didn’t want the nice, smart, funny girl, okay.

But the best pickup line? Sometimes customers are really charming and they woo you, because they’re genuine. At least that’s what would woo me. I mean I like, I don’t know, you’ll get a regular come in like 12 or 13 times where you get to know them a little bit and then they’ll awkwardly say to you, as you’ve been sitting down enjoying a beer or something, not even like in a dance: “Hey, I got this Christmas party or I got this wedding coming up…” And you kind of know them on a friend level, so it’s like, you could tell they just don’t really know that many people to ask, and they don’t want to insult you, like they’re going out of their way to let you know that they don’t want to sleep with you, but they would like to see you outside of work. I like that, I think it’s sweet because I appreciate that it’s real. There are all these factors that go into me thinking that something could be charming.

PETER: Okay, what’s the best way for a customer to not rudely say no to a dance?

SHELBY: Well, they should decide why they’re saying no. Some good excuses would be – well, not excuses – some realities: I’m married, I told my wife I wouldn’t get any dances, you’re beautiful. That’s a good one. I love, this is my favorite: “I really don’t have any money. I’ve been here for a couple of hours, I’m gonna get going, I [read more...]

genuinely don’t have money.” Okay, well we have an ATM. “I don’t have a bank card.” Perfect, now I don’t have to go back. I appreciate that, that’s great.

But the best thing to do is if you don’t like a girl based on her looks, you know, she’s a brunette, she has fake tits, she has real tits, she’s overweight, she’s too pale, short, Spanish, whatever, say to her: “I’m sorry, I prefer blondes,” meaning, “In the next eight hours, you cannot change into someone I like. You know, I’m a nice guy, just don’t come back.” Because then it’s like great. Guys think if they say “Oh, later, later, I need to get a drink, I’m waiting for my friend,” or whatever, I’ll keep coming back. And that’s just wasting…we’re all bopping to guys that just don’t like us. If people would just narrow it down and say “I don’t like black girls,” that’s wonderful. I’m never coming back to you and I’ll go tell all my friends that are white to go to you. And then it would like – it’ll never happen – but it would create more harmony. So just say something nicely. Don’t say “I don’t like fat girls.” Try not to say: “I don’t like…” and then insert something about the person. Just say “I prefer…” something that that person definitely isn’t.

PETER: Windpants in clubs: the ultimate in comfort for him and her, or just plain creepy?

SHELBY: So, there is something to be said for wearing a normal pair of pants in that you’re gonna get a normal dance. If you wear shorts, with your business potentially peeking out of it, I’m not gonna touch you at all, I’m gonna hover. [read more...]

There’s a difference between being in this business for 5 years or 10 years. You’re an adult. You have adult men in your life outside of here. You have expectations about what a guy should act like, you know what I mean? So it’s like, I don’t even put up with that shit. I’m like “Listen, I told you three times not to do that. I’m someone’s mother, I have to go home and kiss someone before they go to bed.” You know, like, I’m selling my nudity, not my dignity, sort of thing. So I just say “I have to ask you to leave.” I mean, there’s a nice way to do it. Cause really I think the humiliation should be the punishment, you know.

PETER: What’s the weirdest/creepiest thing a guy has said to you in a club?

SHELBY: There are times in a club when guys say something that, you can’t…you have to be careful what you say, especially when you say something shady. So I’ve heard guys say stuff about kids before…children. And you hear it through the grapevine and you’re always like [grossed out sound]. My best friend that I’ve been friends with for 20 years –I worked with her up until recently – and we were here, and we always [read more...]

give double dances and stuff and whatever, like light playful touching and we’re cool with that. So we’re giving a dance to this guy once and it was September and it happened to be the 20th anniversary of when we met. So we told him that, kind of to amp up the factor of we know each other so well. And he said something to the effect of “Gee, I wish I knew you girls when you were eight.”

Literally, I was in the first booth and I walked over, mid-dance, to the DJ, repeated said comment, and then I went back to the dance and proceeded like “Listen, twenty dollars is twenty dollars, but thank God I’m not a man, ‘cause I would follow you out to the parking lot and reign blows upon you.”

That’s creepy, right? I wish I knew you when you were eight. Don’t say that to a girl who has an eight-year old daughter. Don’t do it.

PETER: What’s your favorite strip club story, besides the one you just told.

SHELBY: All time from a strip club? It’s already on YouTube. A girl who works here recorded it; you can look it up, it’s me. So I won’t tell you that, ‘cause it’s like, redundant. Favorite story? I don’t know; can I come back to it? [Shelby didn’t come back to this question; Peter will update the interview next time he sees her.]

PETER: Have you ever gotten a much larger tip than you expected?

SHELBY: Well, it’s all tips, so it’s hard to say that I’ve ever gotten…there’s making more than you expected. Like when you take a guy in the champagne room and you just kill it. You don’t even mean to, but it just snowballed into like [Peter edited out this number, but suffice it to say that it was a big score, in four digits], that’s [read more...]

awesome. Well, it’s not all my money, they pay to be in here, too, but that wasn’t in this economy, that was over at [Centerfolds] 2000.

But yeah, I have. I’ve given like three dances and had the guy peel off two hunge. And it’s so…I mean it is really nice. When I was younger, when I first started, I’d be inclined to be like “No…I didn’t…no, you take this,” and now I’m like “Are you sure? Okay, thanks.” I give you one second to get out of it. “Did you mean to? (pause) Thank you.” I can tell that that made you feel good to make me feel good. It’s a symbiotic relationship we got going on here, so…by all means, come back.

And those people, you do remember. And every once in a while, I don’t know, you spend more time with them than usual, you know what I mean. One hand washes the other, especially with regulars.

PETER: Alright, let’s talk about Shelby now. How do you unwind after work?

SHELBY: Every night when I get home, I get home about 3:30 in the morning ‘cause I live 70 miles away. So I get home at 3:30 in the morning and it’s pretty much, I’m a very habitual person, I eat a bowl of ice cream, Brigham’s ice cream, and I watch sci-fi, every night after work.

PETER: Like the Sci-Fi channel?

SHELBY: Yeah, like Iguanadon fights Tyrannosaur. I love it. So that’s how I unwind; I like watching really over-the-top, lame sci-fi movies after work. And then I just go to bed, ‘cause I’m exhausted. Just day-to-day, I’m really boring. I really lead two lives, you know what I mean. I live on the ocean, so I go to the beach every day, I play with my kid, I play Scrabble, I read, I have pets, so I take care of them. That’s it…really nerdy stuff.

PETER: What’s your favorite book?

SHELBY: Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky. [Peter tried to launch into an intellectual discussion here, but despite being an educated man, he couldn’t keep up with Shelby, so he cut that section of the interview.]

PETER: Favorite drink?

SHELBY: My favorite cocktail is probably an espresso martini, made with real espresso. There’s only a few places that really make them well and this place isn’t one of them; they don’t have an espresso machine. But I don’t really drink here. If I drink here, I’ll have like a shot of Sambuca or a glass of Bailey’s on ice. Just like, if I drink, it’s cause I’m bored and I’m sitting with a gentlemen that I enjoy his company and I have time to kill.

PETER: How often does that happen, you enjoying people’s company in here?

SHELBY: All the time. You see the worst in people, but as much as you see the worst, you definitely see the best, and I love talking to people; that’s why I’m still in this business.

PETER: How do you, and other dancers, keep yourselves in such great shape?

SHELBY: Take a look around at any strip club, and especially Hurricane Betty’s. The variation and the selection of body types at this place and at a lot of places, you have every girl, there are girls that are super skinny, girls that are real heavy, girls that are super athletic, girls that are just naturally slim. I, personally, stay really [read more...]

active at work, I work out, I run when I’m not here. But I know a lot of girls that teach sports, like teach soccer, and other girls that play sports themselves. And then there’s some girls that don’t work out at all, they have outstanding bodies. Some girls don’t have great figures at all, they don’t work out, they’re hitting that niche of guys that likes a thicker lady. So everyone’s different.

I, in particular, have a 9-year old daughter so, you know, I’m active just parenting. Working here, but then I run, I walk every day, I do abs, you gotta do your abs, I don’t know that that’s very evident.

PETER: What’s the one day of the year you don’t want to work?

SHELBY: I guess the day that I don’t really…okay, say I was supposed to work on my kid’s birthday, clearly that would be a dealbreaker; I would not work on my kid’s birthday. After last year, I don’t think I’ll work a St. Patrick’s Day again. St. Patrick’s Day was a shitshow in this place. Plus, I have fun on St. Patty’s Day, ‘cause I never go out and I rarely drink, so it’s fun for me to do that, like that one day a year.

PETER: When you do go out, what types of things do you like to do?

SHELBY: I’ll go out when, like, the Sox are playing. I’ll go see games at a local bar. So mostly I’ll go see sports or, you know, I go out on holidays, but I don’t really go to nightclubs. I mean, I’ve worked in the service industry, in nightclubs and strip clubs, for 11 years now. I get paid to dance and unfortunately, when I’m not getting paid, there’s so many other things that I want to do, you know what I [read more...]

mean. I’m burnt out on dancing. I love to do it, and it’s nice, like once a year, to go out with my sister or something. But if I go to a bar, I usually sit and watch the game or I’ll have a pint and I’ll shoot the shit with some friends of mine, very low key. But I have a social life, it’s just…you know…boring.

PETER: Okay, last question before we let you go. What’s the best thing about Hurricane Betty’s, besides you?

SHELBY: This is kind of like a Miss America question. Miss Naked America. I genuinely do like Hurricane Betty’s, so I’m a good person to answer that. The best thing about working here for me, and what makes me come back even when you just have shit months, okay, is that there is a real camaraderie among the girls. There’s a lot of [read more...]

girls that have been here a long time, 3 or 4 years or more, and girls take care of each other in this place a lot, and it’s like I said, there’s no pretense. So if I wanna get up on stage and I wanna dance to metal, I can do that. If I wanna wear this kooky outfit, I can do that. If I wanna only wear a studded belt, I can do that. I can do whatever I want, ‘cause I’ve earned trust from my boss. But for the most part, we have a lot of leeway to be creative in our music and the way that we dress, and no one really is censoring that or putting us into a mold of, you know what I mean, you need to wear a gown, you need to dance to hip-hop or techno. That’s what I like about it, it’s unique; you don’t go into any other club and it’s like this. And I like all the different girls and there’s a lot of freedom in the club, and it’s very real. That’s what I like about Hurricane Betty’s.

PETER: I lied, I’ve got one more. Who’s your favorite Boston athlete?

SHELBY: Mike Lowell, the silver fox, obviously.

PETER: Thanks so much, Shelby. And congratulations on being Peter’s first featured dancer.