Formerly Club Paradise, Club X-Cel was recently given a dramatic makeover by owner Tom Donall, an artist who also owns Spiral. The mirrored panels adorning the building's facade? Gone. The pool tables? Cleared out to make room for a second "chill-out" room where a DJ spins progressive lounge music, though Donall says he plans to put a pool table back in soon. Black-lit, neon-swirled carpet; rainbow flags; and metal dance floor cages? Replaced by black-velvet-covered bar stools, tastefully patterned banquettes and light fixtures draped in sheer scarves. It's not like Donall did a little renovating - it's like he moved the bar to another city.

Most confusing piece of decor: Boxes filled with fine sand that appeared to be ashtrays sat atop the tables. Except that as soon as a cigarette was extinguished in one, a man would emerge from the shadows and fish it out, as if the butt was a dropping in a cat box. Then he set down a plastic ashtray with a pointed look. Hmm ...

Get chummy: Our favorite place to sit was the communal, U-shaped booth in the chill-out room.

All-inclusive party: We thought we had an idea of what kind of place we were in after we saw a row of eight monitors playing videos of men gyrating in their tighty whities. Then we noticed the bar slowly filling up with women. An hour later, the lights began spinning and 112's "Peaches and Cream" came blaring out of the speakers. A shirtless, tattooed young man sauntered out to the middle of the dance floor, visor cocked to the side a la Eminem, and promptly revealed he was wearing pull-away pants. Oh, so that's why there were so many women there - it was male revue night!

Health hazard? We hope it has something to do with health codes, but there is something wrong about seeing a man in a thong and ankle-high white socks.

Equal-opportunity lap dances: Although the women seemed to hijack the event, there were plenty of men there, too. The strippers appeared to entertain the men just as enthusiastically as the women. Some of the dancers were downright acrobatic.

Best overheard snippet: Said by two young women who took turns shoving a dollar bill into each other's hands, as a dancer's derriere swiveled mere inches from their faces:

"You do it!"

"No, you do it!"

"Girl ..."

Real men go to male revues: We saw a surprising number of guys hanging out with/making out with their girlfriends, with half-naked men milling about all the while. Evolved beings, indeed.

They got game: We even saw a few guys come in alone, seemingly indifferent to the half-dozen male dancers undulating on top of the tables, and proceed to hit on unaccompanied women. Bravo!

Beyond thongs: Check out hip-hop night on Saturdays or karaoke on Sundays.

Reason to go: You'll feel like you've left Lansing.