Tag Archives: Las Vegas

Interview with Laila Lucent, The Yoga Stripper

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The Yoga Stripper (1)

Laila Lucent, Author

Laila Lucent is a yoga instructor and the author of The Yoga Stripper: A Las Vegas Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Namaste.

Q: Tell us about your new book.

A: The Yoga Stripper is an inside look at my two years working at the BEST strip club in Las Vegas, and probably the most famous strip club in the world, the Spearmint Rhino. The book is 100% true (unless it’s my parents asking), really funny and has a lot of heart.

The take away message of The Yoga Stripper is that women are SO MUCH MORE POWERFUL and SO MUCH MORE IN CONTROL than most of them realize, and that EVERYONE should have sex with the damn lights on!

Being a Woman is POWERFUL. SEXUALITY is NOT evil or immoral. SEX is FUN.

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Q: What attracted you to Las Vegas?

A: I was 22-years-old and knew I wanted to move to L.A. to find work as a writer. I packed up all of my stuff in my car and drove alone across the country from Ohio. I made it as far as Las Vegas, and then I got distracted by all the shiny lights. They can be quite distracting…

Honestly, I just always wanted to try working as a stripper! And I was right. It was awesome. I figured writing a book about stripping would make me appear to be more responsible than I actually am.

 

Q: What is more challenging? Yoga, Pole Dancing, or Writing a Book?

A: From scariest to least scary:

Writing a book. The amount of courage required to believe that what you have to say is good enough to be heard is really intense. Putting out a work of art… you need to be able to battle the voices in your head that insist that you’re not talented, smart or cool enough to accomplish your goal.

Pole dancing. I really enjoy dancing on stage topless. I’m an exhibitionist, and it’s not too hard to convince me I should take off my clothes. However, it did take me a while to get the courage up to get on my hands and knees, turn my ass towards the audience and twerk. haha That requires a few drinks.

Yoga. Ah yoga. Yoga has transformed my life in so many amazingly wonderful ways. Yoga is my favorite of the three. Everything about yoga is about accepting yourself as you are and letting yourself be where you are that day. Everyone can do yoga and choose the level of challenge they want.

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Q: Are there too many strip clubs in Las Vegas or not enough?

A: If there were too many then they’d close. There is a massive supply of horny tourists, and therefore there is an equal supply of tits ‘n sass available (for a cost).

Q: Some say that Las Vegas doesn’t let you leave once the lights have you. Do you find it hard to leave or can you come and go as you please?

A: Come and go as I please. I’m living in L.A. these days. Vegas is a quick car ride away if I ever miss the lights, the sin and the wonderful anonymity.

I had an amazing life in Vegas, but I was sure happy to get out of there without a criminal record and my life still in tact.

Vegas is extremely dangerous; anyone who tells you otherwise wasn’t doing it right.

The Yoga Stripper (6)Q: What is the strangest thing (you’ll admit) you’ve seen on the Las Vegas Strip?

A: Everything is a contender: the little Latin people handing out prostitute cards; Mario and Luigi drunk, desolate and begging for change; the celebrities whose parties you can crash (I once stayed up all night partying with one of the guys from Glee and his friends); and the middle-aged Asian business men with their big fake ol’ tits blonde prostitutes. Vegas is bath salts crazy.

Q: Who is your favorite superhero?

A: Batman.

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Laila with Penn Jillette and NYT best-selling author Larry “Ratso” Sloman

 

Q: Where do you see Las Vegas in 10 years?

A: Vegas is the cockroach of the USA. You can’t kill that mother fucker.

Probably Vegas will have at least one more roller coaster and hopefully a massive water slide right in the middle of strip.

And it’ll have been renamed “Penn and Teller‘s Las Vegas.”

 

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Laila with Emily Jillette and friends

 

 

Laila Lucent is a yoga instructor (certified to teach Envision yoga and vinyassa flow) and is presently living in Los Angeles. Her book, The Yoga Stripper: A Las Vegas Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Namaste, is available now on Amazon. Laila can be found on the web at http://theyogastripper.blogspot.com/ or twitter @theyogastripper

 

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LITTLE MONSTERS: New Independent Film Features Child Murderers

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Little_MonstersLITTLE MONSTERS has everything a successful independent film needs, a veteran director with a passion for his craft, a hungry production team who can eke out every resource from a shoestring budget, and a stable of actors from Las Vegas who take pride in their craft. David Schmoeller’s realization of his own script entices you with crime, drama, and suspense. The film explores bullying in America at its core by examining how the horrific crime of two ten-year-olds has shaken America. Everyone from the victim’s family, to the seedy tabloid market, to the vigilantes with a bone to pick has a hand in this story. But something happens about midway through the film. Schmoeller brings this twenty-thousand-foot view slowly and methodically down to the personal level of the characters. It’s subtle at first, but when you realize what happened, the film takes on new meaning. These two bullies (now 18 and recently released from Juvenile Detention) become human. We feel how these events have changed them, how the events have eaten away at their lives, and the lives of those around them. Scenes become engrossing, wrapping you up with complexity and providing you with a window into the souls of these characters. This is where the actors shine, playing off each other and bringing you with them into their emotional worlds. The scene where Carl (played by Charles Cantrell) meets his mother after being incarcerated for eight years is film masterpiece. Being a fan of Schmoeller’s early work (Puppetmaster (1989); Tourist Trap (1979)), it’s wonderful to see how his films have changed over the years with the rise of independent filmmaking, yet his works still hold true to his ability to scare you, to shock you, to play with your emotions. LITTLE MONSTERS is no different. If you get a chance to see this film, you must see it!

LITTLE MONSTERS will have its Las Vegas Premiere at the Vegas Independent Film Festival (VIFF) – it will be an “Encore Closing Night” Screening at Brenden Theaters at the Palms on Thursday, May 9th, at 7pm (Red Carpet at 6pm). Tickets are available for this screening from Fandango HERE.

Watch the trailer:

Like LITTLE MONSTERS’s Facebook page for updates.

Read Jonathan Sturak’s interview with David Schmoeller from November 2012.

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Vegas Loves VEGAS WAS HER NAME

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Author Jonathan Sturak was invited to the Clark County Library on Flamingo Road in Las Vegas on Saturday, April 6 to meet library patrons and discuss his new novel, VEGAS WAS HER NAME. Guests holding books about the history of Las Vegas or about gambling secrets stopped by to learn about the new crime novel by Noir Nation Books set in Las Vegas. The event was a success!

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Noir Nation launches VEGAS WAS HER NAME by Jonathan Sturak

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Noir Nation is pleased to announce the release of Jonathan Sturak’s novel Vegas Was Her Name. Sturak grew up in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. A Penn State University graduate with degrees in Computer Science and Film, he currently lives in Las Vegas, where he uses the energy of the city to craft stories about life and the human condition.

“The Place Called Home,” Sturak’s essay about Eastern European heritage in Northeast PA, was featured on Glass Cases, associate literary agent Sarah LaPolla’s pop culture blog at glasscasesblog.blogspot.com. He is also a Noir Nation contributing editor. His debut thriller novel Clouded Rainbow was published in December 2009 and has over 100,000 downloads on the Amazon Kindle. More information about him is available on his website at sturak.com.

Vegas Was Her Name concerns Michael Harris, CEO of an engineering company. At the world’s largest technology convention in Las Vegas, Harris debuts Venus, a humanized computer brain that can predict human behavior. He attracts international attention, including the attention of Rachel, a steamy seducer who cons Michael by concealing a secret of her own. Melissa, Michael’s wife, flies to Las Vegas to save her husband and her marriage as the events unfold in the shadows of the Las Vegas Strip.

A real potboiler! Available now on Amazon.

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