On the walls of the salon are blown-up photos of models with dazzling teeth and ingeniously tousled hair - women with names like Kelly and Dawn, who come from tiny towns in Texas and Washington, who are tall and thin, and who don't appear to be burdened by any pasts to speak of.

A saint after repentance will forgive himself for a sin; a man about town will never forgive himself for a faux pas.

I was only once faced with the task of auditioning a nimiety of sopranos.

I was a Deep House dancer, he says. And I loved the club scene: Octagon, Tunnel, Red Zone, Mars, Sound Factory, Wild Pitch. It was my escape from the neighborhood and all the thugness.