Strip City by Lily Burana
I bought this book back when I did research for Dream Dancing. I found it at a Barnes and Noble in Freehold.
Lily Burana is a writer that at this time had writing credits in smaller punk rock magazines and e-zines. This punk rock chic with her dyed pink/red hair had a past in adult clubs as well. In this book, she takes one more trip through the clubs. It's a crazy idea, but she has support. Support that many women she'll meet don't have. There are some clean places where there is a lot of money to be made. She dances in some dives also.
She gets a stage name and a wig to hide behind.
Because Burana had a background in writing, the prose is full of emotion and detail. She gives you the lights, the smells, and the feelings of these clubs through her words.
When the book is done, she has moved on from the clubs and into her new life. She has since published more books and has had several articles published.
Lily Burana was a panelist at the Association of Jounalists convention in Manhattan in 2004. I met her afterward. She is a really good person. She wasn't a know it all during the panel and afterward she took time to speak with many of us. They didn't leave much time between panels to talk, but she got off the stage and gave advice on magazine writing. She signed my copy of Strip City. It's still on my bookshelf.
Here's the link to buy the book on Amazon.
Here's the link to Dream Dancing
The Lily Burana website;
lilyburana.com
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