Introducing Rusty

It was the Winter Session of 1990 at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California. I was twenty-five, following my passions, and decided to enroll in a TV production class there. Saddleback had its own cable TV show about what was happening in South Orange County.

It was a very exciting class. The TV show was a complete student production where we learned to film, edit, and direct. Everyone in the class loved it. The instructor was looking for an original idea for a segment for the show.

At the time I had a girlfriend who was a dancer/hot cream wrestler at a local club called Captain Creams. I raised my hand and suggested we interview a couple of the girls in our studio and then film a wrestling match at the club. The entire class began to scream, whistle, and chant, “Captain Creams! Captain Creams! Captain Creams!”

With that, the instructor agreed, “Let’s do it!”

The shoot took two days and we were able to film some amazing footage. Upon editing the interviews, I was surprised at how normal these women appeared. When one hears the term stripper or exotic dancer, it conjures certain perceptions, none of which applied to these girls.

The next thing to catch my attention was the amount of money they made. On average, each one was bringing in $300-$600 a night. I was blown away. At the time I was working as a cocktail waitress making a fraction of that.

A few weeks after the shoot my dancer friend called me and mentioned they needed a cocktail waitress to work a few shifts at the club.

Without hesitation, I said, “I would love to do it!”

I worked a couple of nights watching the ladies strut their stuff. They were masters in this adult playground of fantasy. After carefully analyzing the dynamics of the club, and learning the subtleties of seduction, it only took a week, and eventually, I had enough courage to give the stage a try.

With my dance and gymnastics background, I was a natural performer, and an alter ego quickly emerged. Her name was Rusty, and she was dynamic with the ability to captivate an audience, through movement that was filled with intensity.

It was common to hear other dancers say, “Rusty is on stage now. We have to watch her.”

Soon she began to MC the wrestling shows, auctioning the girls off to the highest bidder. Rusty thrived on stage. The music, the costumes, and the performance were all an expression of her creativity.

I performed as Rusty for ten years, and each year would become more and more comfortable being in the limelight. During this time, I invested my money and purchased a townhome in the area. I knew the life of a dancer would not last forever so I wanted to be able to have something to show for all my hard work.

In 1995 an amazing opportunity presented itself and I was able to travel to Japan to work for a few months, which you will read about in later stories. Then in 1998, I was to begin the next part of my journey. I started to write. This was the birth of the Soul Inspirations poetry.

Something was telling me to sing, so I took voice lessons to help with my pitch and began to find my voice. Writing and singing soon became my focus. I was extremely motivated and found someone to help take my words and put them into music, recording my first CD. Then a year later, Rusty traded the G-string and pole for a pen and a microphone. The next chapter of my life had begun. I was ready for my next adventure and left that part of my life over twenty years ago with absolutely no regrets.

I feel the dancer I described on stage back in high school was the dancer I was later to become. I believe somehow, I was able to get a glimpse of an integral part of my journey and express it as I do now, by putting the pen to paper.

It was now time for Rusty to step back, so Lauri could step forward and be guided by the spiritual energy she was connecting to. Spirit and the higher realms do not follow a timeline but use signs to direct and guide us. Signs and symbols are all around if we just know where to look. There are no coincidences, just spirits guiding us if we are able to open our hearts and follow the way.