When one embarks on a journey with naive, unbridled enthusiasm there's bound to be a certain amount of confusion. I was in the midst of what felt like a cosmic swirl. There were no guarantees. The tables had turned. It was either come up with an act for the bawdy night circus or nothing. And, even though they had had a special clown suit made for me, I had to audition with the cattle call. I found an abandoned mannequin from the old Factory days and turned her into The Eat Me Girl. She wore a Carmen Miranda hat, had a handle on her back and a board with wheels beneath her feet. Candy was attached to her netting and we were ready to audition.
Friday Match 10th, 1972
Jerry fired all the carpenters except for two from the Black Rabbit. Rehearsed the night show. Jack taught us basics of tap dancing.
Tuesday March 11, 1972
One month later and I'm ready to start the search for someone who can make a prototype of the larger-than-life-sized hologram for Revelation. Charlie says that Lloyd Cross is the physicist-genius for the job.
Flew to San Francisco with Charlie Patton. We made our way to Shotwell St. where we met Lloyd Cross at the new School of Holography. The minute I met Lloyd and his partner, Jerry Pethick, I was impressed. Their simple multi-mode laser and their plans for four 4'x5' camera rooms and a pulsed laser were going to revolutionize the visual arts.
From the school we piled into Lloyd's Keinholtz type car (his side was totally gutted), and we went to Jerry's house. His wife, Margaret is English and lovely. She made dinner for all of us. I had a spiritually uplifting experience downstairs in the dark room filled with granular ruby red laser light. Touch the sandbox (holography table) and the light pulsates in orgasmic patterns. Lloyd is patient, he explains everything beautifully in a soft, kind voice. Lloyd took my face in his light, gentle hands and positioned me in the laser light. He wants to shoot a hologram of me.
Not worrying about drunk Charlie we drove to Lloyd's city view house near Daly City. While I waited at the front door he chased a burglar around the back. Our timing couldn't have been more perfect. Then I noticed a crib through the front window. It totally freaked me. Indeed Lloyd was married, but never mentioned it. His wife and child had been living in Hawaii for the last four months.
Wednesday April 12, 1972
All of us went to the Exploratorium, then Charlie and I flew home so that I could audition for the Paradise Ballroom. Joan Nielsen did my clown make-up. I literally flew home, picked up 'The Eat Me Girl', flew to the Paradise Ballroom where a Tin Pan Alley band was auditioning. Jerry and Nick zoomed over to me and Nick said, "You're hired! Money's lousy, but it'll get better!"
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