After his whirlwind national jaunt on behalf of dance clubs and the National Cabret Association, Mike Ross is set to go out on the road next week. After that, it's a well earned vacation in the islands. Ross was in the thick of things this past week in Tampa where they're having a huge lap dance controversy.
Ross: "We bounced around the country. We went from Washington D.C. to Maryland to Pennsylvania to New Jersey to Charlotte to Myrtle Beach to Tampa in 12 days. I love it, man. It was fucking fun.
"I've been working hard to get to this level. This is the kind of thing that's important for the industry, and I'm really grateful to have the opportunity to do this. I really feel fulfilled because of it. With regard to what I did, I did everything from sitting on the Supreme Court case on the PAP's AM stuff to meeting legislators, city council people and reporters. When I go to certain cities I do certain things and take care of any business I need to take care of. So I was in the capitol. We did some press conferences in D.C. and Tampa and Philadelphia."
G. Ross: "Was this kind of a name recognition tour for NCA?"
Mike Ross: "I guess you could say that. It's hard to say. I plan it and we turn around and have different things going on. We're trying to help the owners organize. We put on a couple of seminars to get them educated. We got a new state which is South Carolina where we're going to be organizing everybody. We were able to work with Tampa and make some appointments with legislators and come up with amendments. We met with the city staff to make sure everybody knew what was going on. We held a dancers' rally to educate the dancers on what needs to be done. Then we testified at the hearing. We got up and made a presentation.
"In some cities like Myrtle Beach we just did an organization. In some places like D.C. we sat at hearings where, at the other extreme, we actively rolled up our sleeves and got involved. This is the kind of thing I think everybody needs to do. For one main reason. We need the experience. We as an industry don't have the experience to start doing all this stuff. What we need to do is grow.
"In Tampa we may lose, but in the long run, because of the collective knowledge we're getting, we're going to run."
Ross says his strategy going into places like Tampa is to keep a low profile. "We don't keep harping on everything from day one," he says. "We give the politicians an opportunity to let the dust settle so nobody has to deal with the issue."
Mike Ross: "In Tampa, the Joe Redner [owner of Mons Venus] vs. the city council vs. the media publicity is so great, there's no way to overcome that. The city is forced to vote. I think the city has a couple of major problems with their ordinance. I've been working on something, and we've got another project down there that's going to continue after they pass this thing [the six-foot rule].
"We're going to do a ballot referendum - put this thing up for a vote. About 80% of the people that were polled by the St. Pete Times was opposed to the ordinance. The politicians aren't brave enough to put it on the ballot. They just want to pass it and want the publicity."
Ross says he's getting input that the Christian Coalition is monitoring both his website and geneross.com. "They're taking the information and starting to use it against us," he says. "Which is good to some point. We're getting viewership, but on the other hand it can work against us where I have a legislator who tells me, 'You wrote about us in your newsletter. I knew you were coming.' How did you know I have a newsletter? Obviously, somebody briefed him on it."
Ross: "The reality is people are starting to wake up and we need to be organized. In Tampa this was the Joe Redner vs. the city council show. People are going to pay because of it. Whether it's the city council losing money or whether it's the dancers losing their jobs. Somebody's going to lose their jobs. Somebody's going to have to pay.
"Now what I need to do is interject a different line of thinking. I think this may be the middle ground. We've presented amendments to the city. The city got those and I should be hearing back from them Tuesday. I think this is a very interesting city and something we can learn from. Joe Redner's attorney put on an excellent presentation. We had several people make presentations to talk about STDS and secondary effects studies, how you can catch communicable diseases, that kind of stuff.
"The important thing here is this. The experience we're gathering is tremendous. What happened in Tampa should be a symbol for every community that has adult businesses in it across the country. We organized and got the dancers involved. You hear how dancers are dumb? Well, nobody looked bad. Nobody swore. Everybody acted like a lady or a gentlemen. And that's the biggest thing we've got to overcome because everybody thinks we're crazy people. I was extremely proud of that.
"The reality comes down to this. The community performed. The politicians were voting against Joe Redner and what they're voting against is not lap dancing. Joe Redner moved into Bob Buckhorn's district and ran against him in the city council race. Buckhorn [author of the Tampa lap dance ban] went after Redner's main source of income which just happens to be lap dancing. I'm sure if Redner was making a million dollars off of Xerox, Buckhorn would have gone after Xerox. The thing Buckhorn had no idea of, is Joe Redner's a purist. He doesn't back down.
"I will tell you this. I don't believe that there's a constitutional right to have a lap dance. I think you have the right as a consumer to purchase one. You have the right to purchase one in a safe situation. And these businesses have a constitutional right to exist. What we did is make an amendment based on that concept.
[In Tampa you can either get nude lap dances or nude bed dances. In the bed dance you go into a room with a bed. The girl takes off your belt, you put your hands behind your back and the girl dance on you naked. Tampa claims that STD's are being passed because of this. Tampa also says that dancers on a stage are passing STD's.]
Ross: "The city council believes that you can get STD's if a dancer is rubbing your crotch. They're really concerned about AIDS. AIDS is nothing to laugh at. It's a big concern, but I'm not too concerned about a lap dancer giving me AIDS.
"One of the things that they have there is called 'bed' dances where the girls get fully nude and jumps on top of you. What we did is suggest that we regulate ourselves and one of the regulations being that the person receiving the dance has to have both feet sitting flat on the floor and the entertainer has to keep one foot on the floor at all times. It still means you can be nude, but no more bed dances. The thing that came across to them is not the fact that we're trying to stall, but everybody was shocked that we came there prepared to negotiate. Negotiation only makes us stronger in the long run.
[As an illustration, Ross comments on John Weston's remarkable showing before the Supreme Court in the PAP's AM Case. "We got mobbed by the press," Ross said. "But for all his savvy, skill and style, he did not handle the press well. The press handled him. He should have been more in control. When I did my thing with the press, I was in control. When I didn't want to answer a question, I said, no, I'm not answering that. I noticed that in a couple of other cities where we did stuff with the attorneys. I've come to the conclusion that the attorneys are not trained to negotiate. They're trained to sue. They're not trained to deal with the media. In this industry you have to be trained to deal with the media because everything we do, the media picks up on. The upshot is I noticed some of the good stuff and some of the bad stuff. And I do believe we're standing on a good spot. I am very happy where we as an industry are going. In the short time we may lose some of the skirmishes, but we're going to win the battle."]
Ross: "We gave Tampa about four pages of amendments which includes a better definition of adult retail vs. live adult. We want people to see that we're different. We're not tied in with the bookstores and the worst thing is that they had us tied in with the escort agencies. The argument is the escort agencies don't have a right. We're not the escort agencies. We're regular, licensed adult businesses. We do have the right. So we made the amendments look good for us. I've got to get back to the city and talk to them about it."
