Christine R.
Yelp
I love karaoke, so Sunday night Stripparoke was a must-do in Portland. The bartender at my hotel rattled off a surprisingly long list of sinful attractions taking place around the city on Sundays, like fire dancers and other stripper-based activities, but it's all about pop songs and microphones over here.
Devil's Point, with its divey environs east of downtown, was strip-club-non-regular-friendly, and the drinks (craft beer, natch) reasonably priced at $4 a pint. We got there in time to hear the rules of Stripparoke, which include tipping your dancer (a requirement, not a suggestion), no touching, and no pictures/video. The deal is that you get to pick out a song, the DJ calls your name when you're up, and you get on stage and sing while your dancer does her thing.
I have forgotten the name of my dancer, but she was amazing. Maybe she just liked my song selection (Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears - one of my favourite songs to sing) She hung off the poles, swung from the ceiling, shook what her mama gave her in directions I didn't know things went, and also sexily loosened my ponytail and even picked me up at one point! I easily got the best dancer in the place, I think. Afterward, one girl in the crowd even asked if we were friends. It was a pretty cool experience.
Afterward, we thought about sticking around to sing more songs and hear more people sing (there is some great singing talent at this thing as well), but the place was pretty packed and if you want to hang around a strip club, let's face it, you'd better keep drinking and tipping. Drinks are cheap, there's no cover and the staff are pretty low-key on the pressure, but you gotta keep the dollar bills going. I think it was money well spent for the evening's entertainment. Stripparoke, stripperoke, stripparaoke, oh yeah, baby, sing it and work it!