..*(updated Aug. 30)*..The Rose: How, What, Where; A Typical Night At The Rose; The Music; The Ladies ..."(updated 10-1-19)*

I was lucky to be a part of this fabulous show!

I made some friends there including Dave who I worked with in a later dance group.

We had a nice dressing room with lockers so we could leave our costumes and stuff and we had a little TV.  I brought my dumbbells so we could pump up our muscles before our shows.

I usually would sleep late at home but I had time to have a short workout and a swim and steam and sauna at the health club before work.

The Music: The sound system was great and I enjoyed all the music I heard there.....
My choices for my act were:  "Ain't No Stopping Us Now", "Ride Like The Wind", .....*(to be continued)*....

The Ladies: In the beginning the crowd was large....all ladies on the main level and couples in the back, up a few steps.
         Some Memories:
I ran into an old friend I used to work with at the P. O.  She was there with three or four of her girlfriends.

I'm dancing on a table and a voice calls to me....I look down and see some girls I went to H.S. with.

And another time I met a girl and I ended up going to Paris with her for over a week.  We were in a nice hotel across from the Louvre. Then when she had to go to London,  I stayed for almost another month and traveled first class on the trains, including the Orient Express, and visited about twelve countries.  I figure I must have gone six or seven thousand miles! Quite an adventure!

Hi from Paris

I met a girl and we were a couple for three and a half years!   A very important part of my life!

 1(enlarged by Roger)

 By Antonio
Bartczak

2

3

From Saints And Sinners To The Rose...*(updated Aug.13 & 21, Nov. 8)*

I found out a club in the NW suburbs was looking for dancers.  I auditioned and got the job.  (I found out much later they auditioned a lot of guys before they picked me!)
The night club was in Palatine, Illinois and was called "The Rose"
I had to leave Saints And Sinners, I where I had so much fun, but the Rose was a move up.  It was so much bigger and had shows six days a week.  The entertainment consisted of a comedian or comedy group, an impressive light show, a serious dance number with a male and female, and the main act...the male dancers.

Tracey and Mike

T

Judy

Our lovely audience

Sound and Lights

Dave saying Hi to

a lady

Halloween 

Tony(?)

Judy and me

Still More Bad, Bad Boys....At The Poison Apple...*(updated Jan. 2020)*...

Lynn's Bad, Bad Boys danced at the Poison Apple two or three times.  For Lynn and most of the guys, who lived in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, this nightclub was about one and a half hours away. But for me and another guy add an extra forty five or sixty minutes....we lived in the northwest suburbs.
We would all meet and park around 80 & 294 in South Holland and drive in Lynn's car to New Buffalo, Michigan.
We would do our show with Lynn as the MC. It was a great scene, us guys dancing like crazy and the girls yelling and screaming!  After the show we would hang out for an hour or so to have a drink or two and dance and talk to the girls.
Then we piled in the car for the long ride. After we got across the border Lynn would want to stop in at Denny's for an early breakfast.
I really wouldn't have stopped if I was on my own.  The lights were so bright in there and I was thinking of getting home and sleeping, and eating wasn't something I needed to do.  I was a good sport though and went inside most of the time, except once I stayed in the car.
But I was happy to be dancing at the Poison Apple.  I thought it was nice to be adding Michigan to my list of states I traveled to for this unusual job I chose.  I didn't have a big list though....in 12 or 13 years I only danced in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

She Flew Me To Ohio...*(Updated Aug. 14)*

I don't know where I met this girl but she liked me.  She owned a club in Ohio and she wanted me to dance there.  She said she  was going to get me an interview on TV or radio and there would be a crowd at her club.  She flew me out there.
The club wasn't very crowded at all.  There was no interview, no TV, no radio, nothing much.  I complained.  She said nothing was for sure.  I should be grateful I was flown to Ohio for a job and got decent pay.  I was upset then but now I realize it was all OK.  I was treated well.  I had just got to feeling I was some kind of star or something.  I feel now I was very lucky to have fallen into a great job and got to meet all the wonderful people and to have a lot of very good memories of those dance years!

More Bad, Bad Boys

We danced at the Poison Apple two or three times.  The nightclub was located in New Buffalo, Michigan, about an hour and a half from my house.   An hour away for Lynn  and the other guys who lived in the South and Southwest Suburbs.  

The Bad, Bad Boys At Pointe East

Pointe East was a big club in Lynwood. The Bad, Bad Boys were going to perform there.  As we looked around the dressing room we saw some writing on the wall.  When we got closer, we saw there were names up there.  And the main name was "Fast Freddy"!...the big star of the male strippers!  "Fast Freddy and the Playboys"!....Wow we made it...we were going to be dancing in a night club where he worked!


.........I don't remember anything else about Pointe East except that it was a big place and and I think we worked there a couple times

The Bad, Bad Boys At The Copa

This was one of the earliest nightclubs the Bad, Bad Boys danced at.  It was on 95th St. in Evergreen Park.  It had been there for a long time and it looked a little like a small castle!

I think I remember Lynn, who started the Bad, Bad Boys, suggesting a song for me.  It was "Instant Replay".  It's pretty fast but if remember right, it worked out OK!

The Girls Were Screaming Like We Were The Beatles!

The Bad, Bad Boys were dancing at the Starship in Chicago Heights in 1979.  The club was packed.  There must have been two or three hundred beautiful ladies there.  They were seated all around and upwards.  This very large place must have been a roller rink in earlier years.  

Everybody was excited and ready for us!  I

opened the show.  The girls were screaming like we were the Beatles.  I was doing my "Mr. 9 To 5" act.  I just took off my tan raincoat and was dancing around.  I started to undo my tie, when, out of all directions, a mob of wild girls jumped me and ripped and tugged and tore all my clothes off!

 The crowd went crazy and screamed even louder!!  Of course I was very flattered!  I was in the middle of all the excitement!

But I was a scared too!   Someone could've gotten hurt and that person was me...an innocent young male stripper!!

What an amazing thing...in no more than 10 seconds a bunch of girls ripped my clothes off!  A great experience... but I wasn't able to do my act and didn't get any tips but maybe it was OK because I now I have this story!!!

Clubs Where The Bad, Bad Boys Appeared

Starship---Chicago Heights, I'll.
Copa---Evergreen Park, I'll.

Loading Zone---
Poison Apple---New Buffalo, Mich.
Pointe East---
and more

I Join "Lynn's Bad, Bad Boys"...*(updated Aug. 27)*...

After 3 or 4 months at Saints And Sinners I heard about a new group that was being created.  A girl named Lynn was looking for dancers. I joined.
I was still able to work at Saints & Sinners but not as much.
But The Bad, Bad Boys got more and more work and for a short time I danced 7 days a week (l wished it could've been "Eight Days A Week"!!)
We had a lot of ladies out there in the audience in the night clubs

and had fun doing our shows.

Still More Saints And Sinners: Heavenly Music...*(updated 9-27-2019)*...and (12-15-19)

I met a girl I liked a lot.  Her name was Debbie and she liked me a lot too!
One day I visited her at her house.  She lived near a farm.  We walked through a cornfield to an old silo, open at the top.  We went inside.  There was an echo when we talked.  I knew what I had to do immediately...I hurried back to my van and grabbed my 5 string banjo!  I ran back to the silo and started playing some great music. The echo chamber effect was perfect!  I was in Heaven! It sounded so good!  I wanted to play forever.  .....but my Heavenly music was cut short by an inconvenient visit by a cop!  He said we were on private property and wanted to see identification.  He checked me out and everything was OK but we had to go! He was just doing his job but it kind of spoiled  the mellow mood.  But in a few minutes we were good again!  No harm done!  And I did have a great time visiting my friend Debbie.

Saints And Sinners : Funny Money!...*(updated 9-27 2019)*

Kay was a very loyal fan of my mine!  She was out there in the audience at so many of our shows.  And she always tipped well!  I used to have a stack of ones from her that I kept as souvenirs.  I eventually spent most of them.