Strip show came as a surprise

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Sherryl Kenney wasn’t expecting Disney On Ice when she attended the Guns N’ Roses show Sunday at the Everett Events Center.

But she wasn’t expecting pierced and tattooed Goth women stripping down to G-strings and pasties and slathering each other with chocolate syrup, either.

“I’ve been to a lot of hard-core rock ‘n’ roll concerts, and they certainly don’t start with strip acts,” said the 45-year-old Lynnwood woman who shelled out $75 to attend the show Sunday night.

Since November, Suicide Girls, a burlesque troupe of women who model for the online erotica site www.suicidegirls.com, has opened for Guns N’ Roses on its North American tour.

A phone call and an e-mail to the Suicide Girls’ public relations contact in West Hollywood were not immediately returned.

Kenney said the Everett performance included seductive dancing and simulated sex acts as well as nearly naked women licking chocolate syrup off each other.

While the Suicide Girls were listed on event fliers, parental warnings of adult content were not.

Even so, were the scantily clad dancers pushing the envelope for a Guns N’ Roses show, a band known for pioneering “sleaze rock”?

Yes, said Kenney, who decided to “boo loudly” at the dancers.

She said her objections to the nudity prompted members of the audience to lash out by shoving her.

“If I was outside stripping in front of children, I’d go to jail,” Kenney said Tuesday, her voice still hoarse from the concert. “If they want to be sleazy, that’s fine. But you better card everybody going through the door.”

That didn’t happen at the all-ages show.

It isn’t clear whether the performance was in violation of city ordinances regulating adult cabaret performances.

City rules require businesses with nude or sexually oriented entertainment to obtain licenses and to follow strict rules, including barring the admission of minors to shows.

Global Spectrum, the Comcast-Spectacor subsidiary that manages the publicly owned Events Center, issued the following statement Wednesday:

“The support acts performing with Guns N’ Roses are part of a national tour. As Operators of the facility, we don’t control the content of the artists’ performances.”

Tammi Bryant Olson, Global Spectrum’s director of marketing in Everett, said her office received about 10 complaints following the show.

The complaints are being forwarded to Guns N’ Roses’ management, tour promoters and the Everett Facilities District’s five-member board of directors.

The special facilities district owns the ice rink and the arena, and oversees the conference center for Everett.

Earl Dutton, president of the district, was among the 5,300 people who attended the Sunday concert.

Dutton, 79, caught the Suicide Girls performance but left his executive suite at the arena well before the 11:40 p.m. appearance of Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose. That was way past his bedtime.

While he was shocked by the dance number, which he said was in “bad taste,” Dutton said he thinks it would likely fall under protected speech if put to a decency test.

“A bunch of ladies got up on the stage that didn’t have much on,” he said. “As far as the upper part is concerned, I don’t know because my eyesight isn’t that good anymore. Damn it.”

Kenney filed a complaint with the Everett Police Department, alleging she was assaulted by spectators who pushed her. Everett police are investigating.

Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@ heraldnet.com.