ABSTRACT
Dallas, a low gray wood-frame building with a tall blue neon sign that spelled out
EMPIRE in large vertical letters, ROOM small and horizontal beneath. Left of the front
door gleamed the plate-glass window of a booking agency; through the door lay the
club proper, an open room with a long bar running along the right-hand wall, wooden-
back chairs and square tables around a polished dance floor, a low stage at the far end.
