Stripper

Once the Queen of Baltimore burlesque, Fannie Belle Fleming — better known as Blaze Starr — has been living the quiet life in rural West Virginia for more than 30 years now, far away from the blinking neon signs, barkers and strippers of The Block. The Block was her venue, where she reigned supreme for more than 20 years. She is still fondly remembered by generations of gents, sans wife or girlfriend, traveling salesmen and servicemen all out for a night on the town, and for the rose petals that she gently blew across her ample bosom to admiring audiences from the runway of her Two O'Clock Club.

News of the World, the British tabloid that made a splash with the Michael Phelps bong photo, has a new story about the Olympian, and thank goodness this time there's no photographic evidence. In fact, the paper offers no evidence at all, save for the word of a Baltimore stripper. Scores dancer Theresa White told the paper that she knows Phelps in the biblical sense, and that back in November they had a three-hour romp with a third, unidentified person. Forget the purported sexcapades.

Q: For 20 years I worked as a bartender. As was only natural, after college graduation there was a plethora of weddings. It fell into my lap every time to arrange the bachelor party.Each and every best man wanted to have either a stripper or at least some porno films at the party, and I refused each time. All I allowed was good food, good friends and a few drinks. (Preparations were made ahead of time to make sure the "intended" got home safely. . . . Designated driver status was chosen.)

If you're a new novelist hungry for attention, it helps to mention embarrassing facts about yourself on the inside of the book jacket. Served time for a major felony? Be sure to include the name of the correctional facility. Suffered addiction or abuse? Don't forget to specify the number of years. First novelist Tawni O'Dell has so much personal information to confess that she's produced a three-page autobiographical statement to accompany review copies of "Back Roads" (Viking, 338 pages, $24.95)

Nightclub dancers in Baltimore may soon have to get a license to strip.In another attempt to crack down on adult entertainment, the administration of Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke wants strip-tease dancers, bartenders and barkers to be licensed to work in lounges on The Block and elsewhere in the city.The proposal, introduced in the City Council last night, would require employees of show bars to pay a fee for an annual license that would be issued by the housing department.To get the city's permission to work, a dancer, barker or bartender would have to be at least 18 years old. The bill, if approved, would allow the city to suspend or revoke the license if an employee is convicted of drug use, prostitution or related criminal offenses.

A 24-year-old woman was found guilty Tuesday of stabbing to death a stripper outside Norma Jean's Gentleman's Club in Baltimore in November 2008. Shontay Lane, 24, of the 3100 block of Westmont Court was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and carrying a deadly weapon with the intent to cause serious injury in the stabbing death Takira Leray Johnson-Bey, 27, outside The Block strip club. The incident began inside Norma Jean's on Custom House Avenue, spilling out between the club and the neighboring Glass Slipper, according to city state's attorney's office.

It isn't right for Jean Honus to be all alone on Barney Street.The house is quiet; hours are long.And there's no action.Not like the days when men gave her diamond watches just because they liked the way she moved.When strangers by the hundreds whooped and hollered and whistled as she sashayed her knockout figure across a stage.Back when Jean Honus did the striptease on Baltimore's Block in the glory days of burlesque.The theaters and musicians, the bookies, the barkers, the wise guys, the prizefighters and the straight men, all gone.

Two female strippers who danced on the bar while they took off their clothes at a popular Ellicott City restaurant last year have cost the establishment's owner a $300 fine. According to an agreed-on statement of facts, an off-duty Howard County police officer and his girlfriend were in the Phoenix Emporium in the 8000 block of Main St., on Sept. 29, 2000, when two women danced for 30 minutes on the bar, gradually disrobing until only thong panties were left, while patrons stuffed money into the women's underwear.

The owner of a Frederick County refinishing business has been charged with violating federal hazardous waste laws by dumping paint strippers and lacquer thinners without a permit.The indictment, returned yesterday by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, charges Anthony St. Angelo Sr. with four counts of illegal dumping at St. Angelo's East Coast Furniture Renewal Services in Ijamsville.The indictment accuses St. Angelo, who lives in Hagerstown, of ignoring "repeated warnings" that he needed a hazardous waste permit after several employees of Eastern Waste Industries, a trash-hauling company, became ill from the chemicals in 1987.

Even in the face of possible danger from unruly patrons and the mean streets, crowds of young women flock to Volcano's on Wednesday nights, eager to chase away the boredom of midweek and to eye the male strippers that perform there.And as has happened before, this week revelry gave way to tragedy as two college students were gunned down in a explosive display of violence. To those familiar with the club, though, such mayhem is a result of a few troublemakers and the crime-ridden area that surrounds the nightspot.