All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, D.C. | 
 enlarge | Author: Craig Seymour
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $23.00
Buy New: $11.50
You Save: $11.50 (50%)
New (28) Used (10) Collectible (2) from $9.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 99168
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.8 x 0.9
ISBN: 1416542051
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.77092
EAN: 9781416542056
ASIN: 1416542051
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.
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Product Description
A FRANK, FUNNY, EXPLICIT, AND INSPIRING MEMOIR ABOUT HOW DANCING NAKED IN GAY CLUBS IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL HELPED A COLLEGE PROFESSOR DISCOVER HIS TRUE SELF.I felt that I'd made a transformation as surely as Superman slipping out of a phone booth or Wonder Woman doing a sunburst spin. I was bare-ass in a room of paying strangers, a stripper. After years of wondering what it would be like, I had done it -- faced a fear, defied expectation, embraced a taboo self. It was only the beginning.... All I Could Bare is the story of a mild-mannered graduate student who "took the road less clothed" -- a decision that was life changing. Seymour embarked on his journey in the 1990s, when Washington, D.C.'s gay club scene was notoriously no-holds-barred, all the while trying to keep his newfound vocation a secret from his parents and maintain a relation-ship with his boyfriend, Seth. Along the way he met some unforgettable characters -- the fifty-year-old divorce who's obsessed with a twenty-one-year-old dancer, the celebrated drag diva who hailed from a small town in rural Virginia, and the many straight guys who were "gay for pay." Seymour gives us both the highs (money, adoration, camaraderie) and the lows (an ill-fated attempt at prostitution, a humiliating porn audition). Ultimately coming clean about his secret identity, Seymour breaks through taboos and makes his way from booty-baring stripper to Ph.D.-bearing academic, taking a detour into celebrity journalism and memorably crossing paths with Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, and Mary J. Blige along the way. Hilarious, insight-ful, and touching, All I Could Bare proves that sometimes the "wrong decision" can lead to the right place.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
Informative and gossipy, sexy and intellectual all at the same time! August 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I just finished reading "All I Could Bare," and what a great read it was: poignant, smart and informative all at the same time. It's a genuine contribution to cultural studies about the sex industry but also a very moving portrait of what it's like to be in a relationship as a gay man. It' a rich book on so many levels and the run ins with Mariah and Janet don't hurt! You'll love this book.
 funny, well-rounded...coming of age story August 14, 2008
This book was an instant favorite with me and several friends - its quick, witty prose and dialog was engaging and unique. Craig Seymour works in personal observation, history and commentary to make the memoir more entertaining than any other I've read in recent memory.
Baring it All...and then Some August 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was a excellant read. Now, that I've got that out. Let me quickly backtrack. I had the pleasure to sit on a PCA/ACA [popular culture association] panel with the author [Craig] at the annual conference hosted in San Francisco this past spring. Out of all four of us on the panel, his topic, at the time this soon to be released memior, captured everyone's attention in the small but packed room. And, let me just say, Craig is just as engaging in person, as well as his memior reads. If you looking for a memior thats, fun, light-hearted, insightful and filled with witty humor, then look no further. Craig bares it all and then some. Craig, and I only use his first name because I actually met him, introduces you the to the other side of stripping, the one that as a gay man myself, I [we] often forget exist. He puts a real human face to the eye candy filled world of stripping. In baring it all, Craig carefully crafts a memior that is deeply personal,and still scholary in nature. He meticulously devlops everything from his club days in New York, to his stripping in D.C, to his interviews with pop music royalty--working for Vibe Magazine. Lastly, all his experiences nicely merge and congeal to give his journey the most interesting flares. This is a must read for anyone interested in queer studies and enthongraphic research.
Loved it....and was surprised that I did August 5, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I could not put this book down. Perfect for a summer read.
Memoirs, especially by gay men, are the rage these days....this did not disappoint.
A MUST read for anyone who missed the DC club era! July 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I first heard of this book from a quick blurb on Sirius OutQ. I am fascinated with male strippers, so I knew I had to get this book. I rushed to work and ordered it the second I got online. The book arrived within a few days and I read it from cover to cover in no time flat. This was the most entertaining book I have read in a long time. Craig Seymour writes this book in such a way that you feel like you are right there with him, going through everything with him. It is like reading a graphic novel without the pictures. Every chapter tells another story and you don't want the book to end. As someone who missed the male stripper era in Washington DC, this book made me feel like I was there, but made me wish I was there even more! Told honestly and frankly, Craig leaves nothing out. He should be commended for a job well done. I recommend this to anyone who wants to be entertained. I give it my highest marks!
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