I was walking down Iberville, heading towards Bourbon. I'd been going around talking to the human resources people at some of the hotels, which should give you an idea of how desperate the job search is getting. I'd just left the Ritz and I was going to walk down Bourbon and see if anyone had any HELP WANTED signs out, or something.

["I went to the Ritz," I told Sonya later.

"Oh, really?" she said, "wasn't it swanky?"

"Uh, I don't know. The employee entrance wasn't too fancy."]

I got behind these two girls who had just come out of a parking lot. Big crazy hair, tight pants, little tops, big shoes. I never saw them from the front.

"Strippers," I guessed.

They turned onto Bourbon in front of me. I followed. Sure enough, they went into the Hustler Club.