Dr. Dot Massages Away Musicians' Stress
By WAYNE PARRY
.c The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - She's had her hands all over the naked bodies of the
biggest names in music. But she's no groupie.
Meet masseuse Dorothy Stein, aka Dr. Dot. She's worked her magic on the
necks, arms and lower backs of Mick Jagger, Sting, Eminem, Justin Timberlake and a
legion of other tensed-up artists.
Stein's digital prowess first got her into a Def Leppard concert in Hampton,
Va., in 1983. Now it has blossomed into a full-time job paying up to $400 an
hour - cash only, please.
Whenever The Rolling Stones start it up on tour, they fly in Dr. Dot for
weeks at a time. She spent two weeks on the road with Eminem, and counts members
of Kiss, Aerosmith, Van Halen and many others as repeat customers. Next month,
members of Iron Maiden will visit The Doctor when their tour stops in New York.
Her scrapbook boasts a stream of testimonials from satisfied customers like
Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler, who wrote: ``Ew-La-La! You rub me the rite
way!''
``When you're out on tour for months at a time, there's always a muscle that
needs to be pushed back into place or rubbed, so you get a massage to help you
relax,'' said Kiss bassist Gene Simmons, who got his first massage from Stein
in Germany in 1999.
``I remember it was very quiet, music playing on a boom box, the lights down
low,'' he told The Associated Press. ``She was very professional. She also
didn't talk a lot, which I particularly liked.''
She prefers to let the stars do the talking - and boy, do they talk.
Courtney Love gave Stein a detailed appraisal of the physical endowments of
various rock and movie stars. Simmons prattled on about how women should be
glad their men cheat on them. And many male rock stars are only too glad to dish
about which female rock stars they've (allegedly) had sex with.
Born in Manchester, Conn., and raised by ``hippie parents'' on a steady diet
of Beatles, Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa, Stein had seen the
Dead in concert more than 20 times before she was 10 years old.
Her first brush with a rock star was outside a concert hall in Williamsburg,
Va., in 1981, where several members of The Cars quickly scrawled autographs on
the back of her jacket - and immediately disappeared.
``I was like, `Hey!' `` she recalled. ``I wanted to hang out.''
So Stein and two pals hatched a plan to meet Def Leppard: Get there early;
look older than her true age of 15 by using makeup, heels and a short skirt; and
dangle something other than sex.
Around midday, they spotted guitarist Phil Collen in the arena parking lot,
and walked up to him.
``He said, `Elo, girls!''' she recalled, deftly mimicking his British accent.
``Say, do you know where there's an Army-Navy store around here? Someone
nicked our clothes.''
Stein and her two friends piled into a car with Collen, and as Stein directed
him to a store, she made her pitch. She and her friends were soon on the tour
bus as Stein massaged the band.
Her one rule: No sex, please.
``If I gave in to what they wanted, they'd have no respect for me, and never
want to see me again,'' says Stein, 35. ``Men need to yearn, to want something
they know they can't have. That way, they'll pay for it, over and over
again.''
Many stars have tried to put the moves on her - males and females alike. She
says she only gave in once, to ``Die Hard'' movie star Bruce Willis, with whom
she had a brief fling after he split up with Demi Moore.
``That was the biggest mistake I ever made,'' she said. ``It embarrassed my
daughter and put a doubt over my ability to be a professional masseuse. I'm
only human. But that was a mistake.''
Though she was winging it at first, Stein eventually took professional
classes and worked at a massage clinic in Germany. It was her idol, Frank Zappa, who
first called her ``Dr. Dot'' during a massage in 1988. She liked it, and
started using it herself.
Stein estimates she got into more than 3,500 concerts for free. Stones
drummer Charlie Watts was her first paying customer during a 1994 session in Toronto.
``He said, So how much do I owe you?' I said, 'You're joking. It was an honor
to massage you.' He's like, 'No, really, That's bloody silly, Dot. Nobody's
going to take you seriously until you take their money.' Massaging had always
been a hobby, a way to get something for free. It became a business that day.''
Sting remains her favorite customer.
``He tells jokes the whole time,'' she said. ``He's just so charming. He's
himself, and he can be hilarious. He does yoga and shows me his yoga moves. He
also definitely has the nicest butt.'' (Another customer, Lauryn Hill, wins Dr.
Dot's award for Best Female Butt.)
Blondie singer Deborah Harry is another favorite.
``She tells dirty jokes, and she'd jump off the massage table, naked, and
start to act out the jokes,'' Stein said.
Stein is peddling an English-language version of a book she had published in
Germany, titled ``Butt-Naked and Backstage.'' She also hopes to someday land a
gig as a love/relationship adviser with a TV talk show, a kind of Dr. Phil
meets Dr. Feelgood.
Also in the works: a how-to DVD, including the ``bite method,'' in which she
kneads large lumps of back flesh in her mouth.
``People don't pay me to pet them,'' she said. ``I'm very aggressive.''
