PLAYMAN: ON LEISURE
Escaping Your Comfort Zone
“Flogging Molly "…Notes on a Long Running Undergroud Club in Chelsea. A play in one act by Playman
The set: Dave King and Bridget Regan, two member of the Irish Celt Band "Flogging Molly, "have just finished their east coast tour and are heading back to Dublin on Monday. They are staying at the legendary Chelsea Hotel on 23rd Street. Having read about “One Leg Up” in the Sexuality in The City column by Susan Crain Bakos, they decide to head to “Flogging Molly” (Not the club's real name) an S &M club near their hotel in Chelsea. Frank Murray , their manager, joins them in their suite after they have returned from the club.
Frank Murray: You guys went to that place….Ewwwww.
Dave: Look it was OTK-over the knee spanking-nite. The place was packed.
Frank Murray: Oh, well that’s different then. Right. Give us a smoke, luv.
Bridget: I went in a school girl outfit and got in for free.
Dave : There were a lot of chicks there in school girl outfits…it was not uncommon to be in a room with like 3 different folks getting spanked. I got spanked by Mistress Gia…I lasted like two seconds…it was killing me.
Frank: Low threshold for pain, eh guy?
Dave: You got it guy. But then a fat black chick spanked me and it was great…for around 3 minutes.
Frank: Ewwwwww.
Bridget: You know Candace Bushnell has done a good job at delineating just how unglamorous these places are…..but ya know, there is a feeling of danger…I kind of needed that just now.
Dave: And I had a heck of a time spanking the shite out of Bridget.
Bridget: He really Flogged my Molly.
Frank: Ewwww.
Bridget: Early on a mistress from “Punishment House,” a famous dungeon that borders and shares some common space with this club walked through with a slave who was nude, tied up and in a hood. Two gross couples with huge breasted chicks practiced breast fondling near the cage…and it was less gross. It’s a place where heavy people do become attractive…sadly the key word behind the concept used to get that going is … “sick.”
Frank: Okay…I just have to add another “Ewwww “…here.
Bridget: Actually, its pretty nice.
Dave: And a beautiful, leathered up chick named “Berlin” was flirting all over the place.
Frank: Ok…I am listening…
Bridget: Apparently an out of town spanking group was there and there was this like 77 year old spanking this 26 year old chick in a school girl outfit.
Frank: Again: Ewwww. Indisputable. Ewwww.
Bridget: Don’t be so sure, Frank…in a few years that man will be you….
Frank: Okay, alright..I’m heading out for a pint.
Dave: Spanking films played and they kept serving cookies at the bar.
Frank: Double Ewwww.
Bridget: However there is something in me that must relate to the most bohemian elements of the past 50 years, this visit and other moves we made on the U.S. tour in someway satisfied that…I feel more alive today, but truly I'd rather go back to Ireland and raise a family….It is however interesting and even fun to be in a risky environment where, ya know, contact may just happen on the fly, and to not have it be at the Three Copper Jacks Nightclub in Dublin after the Scotland Ireland 6 nations rugby match if ya know what i mean. Lotta skirts there but....anyway, its fun to see the dark side and not be horrified or done in by it…to see its pleasures and leave it at that. Another way to ride the river, eh?
Dave: When we came up early Sunday morning…up from the dungeon... t'was the first of the snow of the season.
Frank: Now, that’s lovely.
CURTAIN
The set: Dave King and Bridget Regan, two member of the Irish Celt Band "Flogging Molly, "have just finished their east coast tour and are heading back to Dublin on Monday. They are staying at the legendary Chelsea Hotel on 23rd Street. Having read about “One Leg Up” in the Sexuality in The City column by Susan Crain Bakos, they decide to head to “Flogging Molly” (Not the club's real name) an S &M club near their hotel in Chelsea. Frank Murray , their manager, joins them in their suite after they have returned from the club.
Frank Murray: You guys went to that place….Ewwwww.
Dave: Look it was OTK-over the knee spanking-nite. The place was packed.
Frank Murray: Oh, well that’s different then. Right. Give us a smoke, luv.
Bridget: I went in a school girl outfit and got in for free.
Dave : There were a lot of chicks there in school girl outfits…it was not uncommon to be in a room with like 3 different folks getting spanked. I got spanked by Mistress Gia…I lasted like two seconds…it was killing me.
Frank: Low threshold for pain, eh guy?
Dave: You got it guy. But then a fat black chick spanked me and it was great…for around 3 minutes.
Frank: Ewwwwww.
Bridget: You know Candace Bushnell has done a good job at delineating just how unglamorous these places are…..but ya know, there is a feeling of danger…I kind of needed that just now.
Dave: And I had a heck of a time spanking the shite out of Bridget.
Bridget: He really Flogged my Molly.
Frank: Ewwww.
Bridget: Early on a mistress from “Punishment House,” a famous dungeon that borders and shares some common space with this club walked through with a slave who was nude, tied up and in a hood. Two gross couples with huge breasted chicks practiced breast fondling near the cage…and it was less gross. It’s a place where heavy people do become attractive…sadly the key word behind the concept used to get that going is … “sick.”
Frank: Okay…I just have to add another “Ewwww “…here.
Bridget: Actually, its pretty nice.
Dave: And a beautiful, leathered up chick named “Berlin” was flirting all over the place.
Frank: Ok…I am listening…
Bridget: Apparently an out of town spanking group was there and there was this like 77 year old spanking this 26 year old chick in a school girl outfit.
Frank: Again: Ewwww. Indisputable. Ewwww.
Bridget: Don’t be so sure, Frank…in a few years that man will be you….
Frank: Okay, alright..I’m heading out for a pint.
Dave: Spanking films played and they kept serving cookies at the bar.
Frank: Double Ewwww.
Bridget: However there is something in me that must relate to the most bohemian elements of the past 50 years, this visit and other moves we made on the U.S. tour in someway satisfied that…I feel more alive today, but truly I'd rather go back to Ireland and raise a family….It is however interesting and even fun to be in a risky environment where, ya know, contact may just happen on the fly, and to not have it be at the Three Copper Jacks Nightclub in Dublin after the Scotland Ireland 6 nations rugby match if ya know what i mean. Lotta skirts there but....anyway, its fun to see the dark side and not be horrified or done in by it…to see its pleasures and leave it at that. Another way to ride the river, eh?
Dave: When we came up early Sunday morning…up from the dungeon... t'was the first of the snow of the season.
Frank: Now, that’s lovely.
CURTAIN
Playman Returns
On January 23rd, 2000, in the small mining and ski town known at Telluride Colorado, at a newspaper that was, and is, in fact, called "The Daily Planet" a creature emerged from an abandoned mine shaft 14,500 feet above sea level, at a spot called Ajax Point. That creature had been born without a human head. Nay, his head was sort of a proscenium, with 18 quaint light bulbs surrounding it, and a colorful western motif miniature mural as its curtain.
Today, Playman claims to be most pleased and delighted about the way that he looks. "Hey....you people have to resort to 'face painting' and all sorts of other crap to get 'lit up'. What's up with that?" After a falling out with Daily Planet editor Bob Beer, at the 2001 Blues and Brews Fest in Telluride, at which it was discovered that Playman could not drink beer, or anything else...because he did not have a mouth.....Playman disappeared, some say back into the old mine shaft up on Ajax Mountain.
Today, here on Glamwire, he will reappear for he first time since September 3rd 2001, the day which marked the publication of his last piece in the Daily Planet, about a Telluride Film Festival film that was by the Coen brothers and was called "O Brother Where Art Thou?" We may not know where our brother Playman is today, physically,...but his agents, Benjamin Williams and Alan Rosenberg, have contacted us from downtown Telluride, specifically from the Wintercrown building on 100 Colorado Avenue, and they tell us we will soon be Telexed, thats right, Telexed, a first column, which we hear will be neither about a play nor a movie. When we get that column we assure it will appear right here, on Glamwire.
July Sales Down
With the benefits of government stimulus checks largely exhausted, retailers struggled to make their numbers in July and most fell short of both expectations and their year-ago same-store results.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ended the month with a 3 percent comparable-store sales gain in its U.S. unit, excluding fuel, within its own guidance but short of analysts’ estimate of a 3.4 percent increase. The company prepared investors for a tough August as well, with its estimate of a 1 to 2 percent boost in U.S. comps. “We still see volatility from week to week,” said Tom Schoewe, executive vice president and chief financial officer, “especially around paycheck cycles.”
Target’s comps fell 1.2 percent for the month, while Kohl’s was off 10.4 percent. Despite strength in women’s apparel, family shoes and children’s, J.C. Penney was down 6.5 percent.
Higher-end stores weren’t exempt from the month’s pressures either. Neiman Marcus was down 1.7 percent in July and 1.4 percent for the quarter, while Saks was off 5.3 percent for the month. Nordstrom’s same-store sales dropped 6.1 percent.
Gap Inc.’s comps were down 11 percent, with U.S. Old Navy stores down 16 percent, again showing the steepest declines. Among teen retailers, Abercrombie & Fitch and American Eagle Outfitters were both down 7 percent for the month, but Aeropostale managed a 13 percent increase and Buckle again raised eyebrows with a 20.9 percent advance. Pacific Sunwear of California was off 4 percent.
Limited Brands dropped 5 percent, while Chico’s FAS was down 18.5 percent. Wet Seal finished July with an 8.2 percent same-store sales decline. Among the specialty stores showing comp increases for the month were Mothers Work (2.8 percent) and Cache (2 percent). Off-price specialist Ross Stores registered a 4 percent increase.
Dillard’s reported a 2 percent increase but noted that juniors and children’s were both below the trend. Bon-Ton checked in with a 0.2 percent increase based principally on late-month promotions. Tony Buccina, vice chairman, said, “The consumer continues to be event- and value-driven, which pressured gross margin performance.
