Shake Your Tailfeather?

So what do you do when you show up to the bar your first date told you to meet him at and it's a burlesque show?  Now, don't get me wrong -- I am no prude.  But a first date?  Burlesque shows have a sense of antique timelessness to them, but they are still based around disrobing to music.  I don't know about anyone else, but that seems dangerously close to stripping -- and who would bring their first date to a strip club?  (Don't answer that.) 

It only gets worse from there...  He makes me lug my work bag (came straight from the office) up to the bar (he kept wanting to move around), asks me if I want to get a drink, and when I say yes and order a gin and soda, he pauses a minute, looks at me, and says "Don't worry I'll get this one."  Yeah, buddy, you think?!?  You asked me to meet you out (apparently to watch women undress to old music), and you asked me if I'd like a drink.  You sure as hell are paying for it.  And if you think I am paying for anything after an hour of enjoying your discourse on boobie tassels and other aggressively premature costume-based sexual innuendos, then you have another thing coming!  Needless to say, there was no more drinking.  And I am not one to sit around with a perfect stranger admiring butt decorations reminiscent of a peacock being jiggled about.  What a weirdo.  Who would think that was a good choice for a first date?  Answer: someone who doesn't get a whole lot of second dates.  Just had to throw that out there.

On that note, some of the best (read: creative, fun, or interesting) NYC first dates I have been on include:
-- Watching the fireworks from a rooftop bar on July 4th in Manhattan
-- A walking tour of the East Village and Chelsea
-- Mid-day beers at the end of the pier at the Frying Pan
-- Window shopping in SoHo
-- A Whole Foods picnic in Union Square Park (and admiring the local artists)

Of course, there is something to be said for the usual, non-threatening drinks at a neighborhood bar -- especially if you know a particularly great spot. 

And with all of these options at his fingertips, he chooses the burlesque show....

Oh well. 

R Bar
218 Bowery near Prince
The bar that hosted the show is apparently normally more of a rocker bar that hosts a bunch of live musicians (which would have been a MUCH better choice), plus it had a cool, sexy, dancing-type atmosphere. So, if you're down the Nolita/LES way, I'd say go ahead and pop in. I know I'll be checking it out...when I am not on a first date...and there aren't naked chicks with feather boas running around.