NIGHTCLUBS: Wild but Polished

She played the first couple of numbers straight—the melody always there, easy and obvious. Then she leered from between her big rhinestone earrings and let the crowd know that she was about to take off. She basted Lazy River with a wild boogie beat. Her knees bounced up and down like runaway jackhammers. She jumped from her bench as if kicked by a mule, grimaced like an ulcer case on the way out, writhed like a belly dancer, sucked her thumb, tugged at her bra, groaned. Sometimes she struck some keys with her elbow, but she never missed a note,...

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