Just got off the phone with Michael Precker, the former DMN writer-turned official writer-in-residence at The Lodge, who wanted to let me know that the car wash held at the club this weekend raised nearly $17,000 to benefit Best Friends Animal Society. Among those in attendance (or at least partaking in the Friday-night media dinner) were DMN columnist Gromer Jeffers, Dallas Observer writers Richie Witt and Brantley Hargrove, The Fan’s Sybil Summers, and radio personality and provocateur, Richard Hunter.
The event got some mentions (including on this blog), but Precker pointed out a bit of a double standard when it comes to coverage of strip clubs in Dallas. Whenever there’s trouble, or say, an athlete gets into a fight, the local TV stations are lining up at the door to interview anyone they can, and asking politely to come in and shoot B-roll. “It irks me,” Precker says. “If there’s something unsavory, my phone is lighting up. But if we’re doing something good, as Jon Stewart would say, it doesn’t fit the narrative.”
26 comments
Sorry — which part of a philanthropy-minded strip club is routine enough to warrant regular attention: the unsavory part, or the goody-two-stilettos part? Sure, raising money for a charity is great. But who’s going to cover that? Who realistically wants to cover that? Was the event “family friendly?” Or were there half-naked chicks doing, well, what strippers do? That’s not really appropriate video for a 5/6 p.m. television broadcast. Even the 10 p.m. show is a stretch.
And for what exactly does a strip club need a writer?
The bikini wash was promoted as “Headlights and Hounds.” Some people find that sort of thing exploitative of women. Slim chances the DMN is going to run with the PR materials and lead with a headline like: “Hotties, Headlights and Hounds Heat Up the Metroplex for a Good Cause.” Or, “Paws for The Cause; Hooters for Pooches.”
Might contact Rachel Maddow. She likes Lodge stories—but they have to have something to do with Rush.
I’ll never quite understand why breasts aren’t family-friendly. They generally come in handy when starting a family.
Also, humping a pole and grinding your rump in a man’s face for a dollar. Why are Americans so uptight about this? In Europe, you see whole families doing this while they picnic in the park, no biggie.
Hey, it was v-e-r-y G-rated and raised money for a very worthy cause. We covered it over on MySweetCharity.
http://mysweetcharity.com/2011/07/dawn-rizos-has-lots-of-newest-best-friends-including-mel/
don’t you know….repression is the best medicine.
Haha. Jeanne: I think you proved my point. You wrote 12 grafs (of 15), and distracted us with 11 photos, before you mentioned why we should know or care who Dawn Rizos is. I’d say you (intentionally) buried the lede.
For the record, Rizos is not really known for being an animal lover — except maybe by a few who know her well. She’s known for running a strip club. And for her inadvertent entanglements with politicians.
There’s no double standard here. I can count on one hand how many corporations and businesses get regular coverage of their charitable activities. But if they screw something up, the mainstream press will be all over it like white on rice. In short, good stuff = boring. Scandal = eyeballs = ratings = $$$.
If you run a strip club, and you and your employees (ahem) are involved in charitable work, that’s great. Brava. But how do you explain such charity work (and the peg that makes it really unique) without a few snickers and giggles? Apparently you whitewash the story by a) focusing on the four-legged beneficiaries; b) burying the fact that the host of the fundraiser is a strip club owner; and c) leaving out altogether the fact that those employees are topless dancers.
By the way, I love that former DMN scribe and media critic Ed Bark (his real name) has a soft spot in his heart for abused dogs. The profile hed writes itself.
I’m one of the many who does know Dawn Rizos well and have worked with organizations that have benefited from the $200,000+ she’s raised for animal causes over the past 8 or so years. In addition to the direct donations ($20 for a car wash and all-you-can eat buffet), Dawn pays all expenses and has often matched every donation dollar for dollar. She’s also donated club memberships to the organizations. And her annual car washes really are family-friendly. Yes, the girls wear bikinis, but so do they are apartment pools all over the city. And the event is, naturally, outdoors, right behind a Mexican restaurant and next door to a Sam’s Club. Dawn’s love of animals is genuine, and the animals she’s helped save don’t care what the dancers do for a living.
Sounds like they still raised more than the “Free JWP” rally at that church.
Here’s to boobs, non-profits and beer.
B.L. Powell’s two comments are weird. The business that threw the car wash for animals is certainly a part of the story, but poor Powell goes on and on, referring to its employees as “ahem.”
What’s up with that? Have you got a back story here, B.L.?
I am too lazy to research myself so I wonder aloud, how many positive articles did Mr. Precker write about strip clubs while he was a writer?
Rizos’ love and support of animals is fantastic. Don’t get me wrong. But Mooney’s original post is about a perceived double standard for media coverage of scandals associated with strip clubs versus the good work they do — or maybe the work just one strip club does, since I seriously doubt philanthropy is a mainstay in the adult entertainment industry.
I agree that coverage of charity work is mostly absent from mainstream journalism, except as a kicker, fluff piece or short feature used as fill. Bottom line: Rizos and her comrades at “The Lodge” need not feel left out — no one’s getting the attention they deserve.
But as I argued before, there’s something a little different about strippers doing philanthropy. I’ll argue strip clubs and their performers aren’t nearly as seedy as gangs, drug dealers and other unsavory characters/activities. But it’s not a family friendly enterprise in most circumstances. Perhaps it’s something that bears exploration.
Imagine a mob boss writing a big check to help out an orphanage. Maybe he’s a great guy at heart. But how do you cover something like that? Somebody write that lede without including the fact that the dude’s been known to whack a few rivals here and there. Sure, it’s a chance to change some negative attitudes about mob bosses — or maybe one mob boss. Does he change his day job? Not likely. But if he wants to shift public perceptions of him personally, should he consider changing his day job? That’s another matter entirely. Will he get better coverage of his philanthropic endeavors going forward? Only if he’s the biggest turn-around story in history. Otherwise, he’ll be lumped in with the other do-gooders.
So, too, with Dawn Rizos.
I was proud to be there, & FYI, as the son of a feminist activist mother, I see Dawn Rizo as a hero because she is a force of nature with a heart of gold when it comes to helping animals in need. Others may posture & raise a tongue clucking eyebrow that the proceeds of $17,000 was generated by bikini clad females while we ate sumptuous food buffet in a chilly air open tent. But disparaging words are cheap while money talks….and Dawn Rizo….whom I have deemed ‘the velvet activist’, not only contributes a ton of money to the Dallas sales tax coffers….including a whopping extra $600 grand in that suspect 5% surtax on so-called ‘Gentlemen’s Clubs; She has contributed over $200,000 to homeless animal relief in the last few years, putting her money where other people’s mouth is. Bottom line; a wagging tongue is no substitute for an otherwise euthanized dog’s wagging tail.
Thanks for a great good time, Dawn, & a charming meal & conversation.
Fair question, Todd. Spend $2.95 and tell me what you think.
Topless clubs’ charity work gets mixed reviews
Author: Michael Precker Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
Publish Date: June 14, 2000
Word Count: 1227
Document ID: 0ED822CF5F979B00
There are cookies for sale, with all proceeds going to an undeniably good cause. But these aren’t the Girl Scouts.
Volunteers in skimpy bikinis are waving at cars along Northwest Highway, beckoning them to a charity bake sale. More of their colleagues are under a parking lot tent, helping to raise thousands of dollars from customers who know them from an altogether different setting: a topless club.
“It’s good to do
» Purchase this article
And B.L., next year you’re invited. I’ll even spring for your wash.
@ jackson
The (ahem) B.L. Powell uses is because he feels he is superior to all those dancers who in his mind are just barely less scummy than a mob boss or a gang banger. he really needs us to know that he does not really consider them employees or even people.
@Mike Precker: You’re on.
@CraigT/Jackson: Nailed it. My superiority complex is so vast, I am able to reduce all other people to non-human entities simply by reflecting on my own awesomeness. ‘Cause I’m awesome like that, and you’re not.
“Stripper bites dog.” Now there’s a headline that even media critic B.L. Powell can love. (Except instead of “headline,” he’d call it a “hede.” What, you didn’t know that was a journalistic convention? Peasant.)
–30–
And Mike, thanks for reinforcing my point. Your nut graf reveals why it’s an intriguing story: strippers involved in charity work. Without the “skimpy bikinis” in a strip club parking lot, it would be the same as a bunch of old ladies selling pies in a churchyard. And that’s typically not a story found on A1.
What makes this particular event unique, IMO, is the (languishing) peg re: Michael Vick’s dog-fighting scandal.
If the last mainstream coverage Dawn got for her charitable work was indeed over a decade ago, then maybe it’s time for a profile on her. You’re a journalist, Mike. You know how to push a story. Do it.
Ouch, Mike. Sorry to hear you had a nut graf.
[laugh track: titter]
Where did they get the skin from?
[laugh track: uproarious, now-this-is-outrageous-comedy tumult; as it finally subsides, we're briefly treated to the stylings of a lone chortler; we'd guess him fat]
ROLL DOG-FOOD COMMERCIAL.
@B.L. Powell: Comparing Rizos to a mob boss is just dumb, sort of like the rest of your argument here. Whatever the hell it is.
Mike, exactly how often do major local media pay attention to a charity event that raises less than $20k? For DMN that would be “seldom.” TV more often, it’s true. But lots more don’t get even a 10-second look than do. If your biz wasn’t a strip club, what would be the peg? And if that’s the peg, there’s more to unpack than fits in a 10-second sound bite. Like it or not, for many viewers/readers, a strip club is a morally fraught activity. When there’s “trouble” that brings the media to establishments like yours, the trouble either involves people who are inherently newsworthy or the level of trouble itself rises to newsworthiness. When your core business is the sale of alcohol to men watching nearly-naked women, you don’t have a ton of room to complain about the lack of respectful, positive MSM attention for other activities…
Glenn: Thanks. You’re a peach.
@Jeffrey Weiss, you write: “When your core business is the sale of alcohol to men watching nearly-naked women, you don’t have a ton of room to complain about the lack of respectful, positive MSM attention for other activities.”
To be clear: You’re saying that a business appealing to men who like “alcohol” and “nearly-naked women” is less worthy of applause when they do a nice civic good than, say, a bake sale at the Y by the local Sisters Of The Poor?
Call me old fashioned, but don’t they both do equally good, in their way, with a public that needs to be more engaged in all these causes? Bill Buckley once said he wrote pieces for Playboy Magazine so his son would read them. Same sentiment.
As Dangerfield said (I think it was him), “Jeez, tough crowd!”
@B.L. Powell….I cannot for the life of me figure out why you are so negative about someone doing something good for someone else. It seems you have a major chip on your shoulder about the stereotypical strip clubs – of which The Lodge is clearly NOT! So what that it isn’t the local girl scouts or the old church ladies raising money for a good cause. These ladies are at least doing something for someone else…and it happens to be a wonderful cause, in my opinion. Dawn Rizos’ business might not be considered the most respectable, but comparing her to a mob boss? Seriously? From what I have heard and read about her, she seems incredible. She takes care of her employees, teaches them to be financially responsible and GIVES BACK TO HER COMMUNITy…which is a hell of a lot more than most! Before you continue to throw stones, I wonder how much YOU do for others??? I say KUDOS Dawn Rizos…you are a wonderful example in “giving back”. Too bad the news stations didn’t cover your successful carwash fundraiser…many people could have opened their eyes and learned from your generosity!
Sorry to be a party pooper, but if you were expecting sin and lust Saturday, it wasn’t at the car wash — just kids playing with pooches, no alcohol, no smoking, lots of food and fundraising.
I suspect there are many Christmas/holiday parties at well-established corporations that are far more racy and doubt if they benefit any nonprofit.