article for Advanced Reporting Class at University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
Propping her half-naked body up against a table and wrapping her legs around the neck of a man on a Monday night, Brandy usually only has one thing on her mind: her three children.
“Sometimes you think about what groceries you need to get for the week or what bills you have to pay,” she said. “Other times you keep telling yourself to keep faking it in hopes that it will seem believable and they’ll pay more.”
Brandy, a 28-year-old dancer who prefers to be referred to by her stage name, is a topless dancer at The Silver Bullet Bar. With long blonde hair and a tan, chiseled body, she has worked for the strip club industry for the past three and a half years. However, her ultimate goal is to finish nursing school.
“The majority of us have a quota when we come in here with bills and things we have to pay,” Silver Bullet dancer Colleen Cook said. “That’s what makes it easier for us to come in and do it.”
With ages ranging between 18 and mid-forties, the dancers come to work for many reasons, but most said they hope to transition to something better. Cook, a 31-year-old dancer whose stage name is “Nadia,” has been working at the Silver Bullet on and off for the past ten years. As a mother of three girls, Cook said she enjoys working at the club because it provides her with more flexibility during the day. However, Cook said working at the club takes an emotional toll under the pressure of having to play different roles that cater to a variety of customers.
“I’m older, but a lot want the younger types. Others like having a conversation and don’t mind you showing your intelligence or your real self. Some people pay just to talk,” Cook said. “They want a counselor. They want you to sympathize and listen to their problems.”
Craig McFadden, a supervisor at SuperValu Warehouse, said he frequents The Silver Bullet 2-3 times per year, unless he is in a relationship because he considers it an infidelity. McFadden said he usually prefers to engage in small talk and tries to be as much as a gentleman as he can be with the women.
“You do try to touch, but it’s not like your girlfriend,” McFadden said. “I mean, it’s sort of a mutual thing because they need the money and well, I need…you know…”
The Silver Bullet owner, Ed Salfelder, said that this type of relationship is what makes his business successful.
“I think you will find that the dancers are just normal people needing to make money,” Salfelder said.
Located at 1401 E. Washington Street in Urbana, The Silver Bullet is open evenings on Monday through Saturday. Salfelder opened the bar in 1985 and now runs it with his wife, Tonya.
He said that the women who dance at his store are independent contractors. Making their own hours, dancers pay $20 to work at The Silver Bullet, but take home the rest. According to Salfelder, dancers usually take home $200 to $300 on most nights, but can make between $500 and $1000 in one hour for a private party. McFadden said that on an average night at The Silver Bullet, he will usually spend anywhere from $40-100.
“This is a place for them to make money. It’s fast money, but they’re well protected,” Salfelder said.
As one of only two strip clubs in Champaign-Urbana, Salfelder prides himself on what he calls a “clean business.” Abiding by the city codes restricting adult businesses to 200 feet from a residential neighbor and 1000 feet from a church or hospital, he said the problem has never experienced any controversy from the community.
Salfelder, whose father is a retired Champaign City police officer, said his club has strict rules about prostitution and drugs that he enforces having observed problems at competing institution, Malibu Club.
“You have to make sure not to let prostitution occur around your business,” Salfelder said. “The girls usually tell us when something isn’t right. If they don’t, it’s bad for their business too because they’re losing clients.”
Creating a safer environment for the women, most everyone agreed that there were rarely disrespectful customers. Jim Jones, a bouncer and doorman for the bar, said that in the three and a half years he has worked at The Silver Bullet, he has only had to lay his hands on seven customers.
“No one wants to call for bail money saying they screwed up at the strip bar,” Jones said. “Ed runs a very clean bar.”
Nonetheless, many of the dancers, such as 21-year-old Amanda Smith, try not to get too close to customers.
“It’s not really safe to give out your full name,” Smith said. “I’m very reserved. If you touch me wrong, I’m going to slap you across the face.”
Smith wears the same outfit every night because it is only one she has left: a red tube top and pair of matching pants. She said her father burned the rest of her outfits. Her parents currently think she is working as a waitress and said that she has no intention of letting them know she’s working at The Silver Bullet again.
“The money is much more substantial than waitressing. A lot more,” Smith said. “It’s kind of a, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ sort of thing.”
Before working at The Silver Bullet, Smith was enrolled in the Marine Corps before being discharged for anxiety problems. She said she has been working at the bar on and off for the past two years because of a suggestion from her abusive ex-fiancé. Though their relationship ended two months ago, Smith said she started again as a way to get back on her feet financially in hopes of finishing her degree in radiological technology.
“Some men respect that you’re here to work, other men look at you like you’re trash,” Smith said. “What I do doesn’t define me. I’m as classy as I can be.”
Though naked in flesh, the dancers at The Silver Bullet hide the complex reasons that bring them to work. Taking a break from soliciting customers and chatting over a cigarette, the women who work at the club said they treat their job like any other profession.
“A lot of people think we’re wild women that want to take our clothes off, but we all have goals,” Cook said. “All the girls that work here are good girls.”