Chippendales

High flying melodramas are the types of events that really hold our attention. We soaked up the Versace series, then the Getty series, the House of Gucci movie, and recently fans have been absorbed in Curse of the Chippendales. All of these stories had phenomenal rises to fame, to end so tragically. The worse ending of all these types of tales has to be the Chippendales story. Steve Banerjee, an immigrant from Mumbai, arrived on the shores of California, to get slave wages for doing menial jobs, to whirlwind success. Without even knowing it, he helped women that were liberating themselves to feel more liberated as they were able to fondle G-stringed gentalia without any fear of persecution. Then this gentle soul was accused of murder, and found dead, hung in a prison cell. Was his death a suicide or murder? As many question whether Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide or was he silenced for knowing about too many powerful men’s secret affairs with under-aged girls. The same types of question are now arising in Banerjee’s suicide. Did he have too much information on married men’s fetishes with his male dancers? Before Chippendales, men taking their clothes off for an unrestrained crowd of women wasn’t popular, but after Steve introduced his choreographed male strippers, gyrating into the imagination of women, it became a household name. Women of the 80’s, that were freeing their minds, bodies and souls from tryrannical husbands in a world that thought of them as second class citizens, Chippendales became a way for them to let their hair down, a Girl’s Night Out! Jesse, Steve’s oldest son, was only a teenager during the height of this explosion. He watched his father build Chippendales, piece by piece of a man’s clothing flying toward a desirous woman. The rise would be magnificent, the ride famous, but the fall very tragic. It was reported that Steve committed suicide to avoid a long prison sentence for the murder of his partner, Nick DeNoia. Jesse knows another story that the perpetrators never want to be told about how the Chippendales Empire just happen to fall into the hands of an FBI agent, and all the powerbrokers: lawyers, Casino owners, and the mob, that would gain control. Jesse has watched other people, far too many years, profit from the idea his dad created. His stepmother, Irene, lied to him about the role he would play in the company after Steve’s death. After this promise didn’t come to fruition, Jesse began to ask questions about his father’s fortune as was his right as an heir, and was threatened by Irene’s brother-in-law, an FBI agent. Jesse was told in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t be receiving anything. Many stories have been told about Chippendales, all of them are mostly the narratives of the perpetrators that stole the empire, and cleverly they have managed to make their story very believable and credible. Silenced by intimidation, threats, and a corrupt Justice system, not anymore. For the first time, Jesse is revealing the true story in Bowtie Legacy.

"Old Brahmin Boston being engulfed by the modern Boston of commerce." Cf. Hanna, A. Mirror for the nation.

In 2008, Las Vegas hosted 37.5 million visitors according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Global Travel Industry News and Forbes Traveler rank Las Vegas as the #2 most popular U.S. destination to visit calling it "America's favorite playground". The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas ranks over 100 hotels and casinos- the most offered by any other guidebook for the destination, providing complete detailed descriptions of each casino hotel.

Through a variety of archival documents, artefacts, illustrations, and references to primary and secondary literature, On the Job explores the changing styles, business practices, and lived experiences of the people who make, sell, and wear service-industry uniforms in the United States. It highlights how the uniform business is distinct from the fashion business, including how manufacturing developed outside of the typical fashion hubs such as New York City; and gives attention to the ways that various types of employers (small business, corporate, government and others) differ in their ambitions and regulations surrounding uniforms. On the Job sheds new light on an understudied yet important field of dress and clothing within everyday life, and is an essential addition to any fashion historian's library, appealing to all those interested in material culture, the service industry, heritage and history.

The Amazing Race is a reality show like no other and it has the best set around. Best-selling novelist, Adam-Troy Castro, explores The Amazing Race in My Ox is Broken! one of the first books ever published about one of the best reality television programs around. From Thailand to Greenland, this show has consistently gone where no other show has gone before, and Castro continues the excitement of the Race in a book that is funny, entertaining, and unique—just like the show itself. The Amazing Race has hooked viewers for all the right reasons and it doesn't show any signs of stopping. My Ox is Broken! is the best reading companion for any fan of this hit show or for any fan of reality television at its best.

Sex, Money and Murder in 1980s LA and New York: In 1987 a heroin addict murdered an Emmy Award-winning choreographer in Manhattan. Then a wealthy LA surgeon and his teenaged son were targeted. In 1991, an out-of-work redneck flew to London with cyanide to poison three members of a male exotic dance review. If the poison didn't work, he was told to use a hammer to beat them to death. Who was behind these seemingly unrelated horrific crimes? Deadly Dance tells the fascinating story of Steve Banerjee, founder and owner of the smash LA nightclub, Chippendales. In the post-pill, pre-AIDS, sex-filled LA club scene of the 1980s, celebrities, desperate housewives and wild bachelorettes converged on one place: Chippendales-and behind it all was arson, the Mob and murder.

Published to coincide with the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of Thomas Chippendale, England’s most famous cabinetmaker, this issue of the Bulletin addresses the history of Chippendale works at The Met. Morrison H. Heckscher recounts the designer’s meteoric rise from rural obscurity to the heights of the London luxury trade, crediting that remarkable success to the publication of the Chippendale Director, an instructive book on furniture design and ornament. The text analyzes the Museum’s rare collection of drawings by Chippendale, revealing a gifted and highly imaginative designer who mastered what today would be called branding. Illustrating a wide selection of the Director drawings alongside furniture inspired by the Director or actually made in Chippendale’s shop, this Bulletin features works of art that attest to the museum’s century-long infatuation with drawing, prints, books, and furniture in the Chippendale style.

A behind the scenes expose of action both on stage and off. This is the true account of Troy Kline, a handsome, tall, 28-year-old experiencing life in an all-male Chippendales strip review touring the Scandinavian countries. Take a cataclysmic ride across theatre stages and into rave clubs and hotel rooms where Chippendales erotic dancers not only strip their lives bare, but participate in drug excesses and sexual orgies with willing subjects. Experience after-hours antics of women enticed by muscular fantasy men, and advances taken for granted by Chips on the prowl for sexual pleasure. Troy, having struggled through a strict religious upbringing, marriage and divorce, is discovered at the age of 27 in a Kirkland, Washington bar as a gifted singer worthy of becoming a Chippendales show lead. Half-way through the Scandinavian tour his breaking all the rules attitude to drugs, alcohol and sexual abuses results in Troy's contract being terminated. This devastating action sinks him into a mire of clinical depression which threatens to destroy him.