On December 8, 2002, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article by "Insight" contributor Bob Armstrong titled "Zen Dolls: Confessions of a Pimp in the Pod." In the article, Bob briefly recounted his adventures running an "escort" service before being arrested on March 27, 2002, on one count of pimping and two counts of selling drugs, all the while working as a freelance journalist. He spent time in the county lock-up where fellow inmates dubbed him "Vanilla Slim," but with a clean record he got off with 19 days served and three years probation. Articulate, argumentative, engaging, and witty, Armstrong is the philosopher-pimp: a college-educated, 50-something-year-old man, hip to San Francisco's various ethnic and cultural scenes, and hip to the city's history. Beautifully described in a kind of Bukowski-esque style, Armstrong relates the stories of his Zen Dolls with compassion and insight. Charging 500 a session, he's a cultural and sex industry critic, whose need to live a life of danger led him to think there was some good money and good times to be had by running a high-end operation. Armstrong's rise and fall is a rollercoaster ride through a life lived on the edge.
- ISBN10 0786737700
- ISBN13 9780786737703
- Publish Date 29 April 2009 (first published 19 December 2005)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher INGRAM PUBLISHER SERVICES US
- Imprint Da Capo Press Inc
- Format eBook
- Pages 256
- Language English