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Dear Dana's apartment went up in flames,I went there after to see it, it was verry scary.Then at her memorial service there were many rumors flying about her john and other trannys,scandal.
Were you there? do you remember the sensibly dressed crossdressed epileptic fit in the front of the church? with size 13 flats a flyin? literally. It was one of the most memorable mourning moments ever! after 5 minutes or so, Madamme stood up and said"someone call an ambulance" and sat back down.
Hattie, do you have a copy of the "Christina the Party" video? Am I even getting the name right? It's Christina, right? The one who threw a mic stand at an audience member and got arrested?

I am dying to see the video again. The only part I can remember clearly is the air piano number. If anyone remembers her, please post descriptions here of her performances.
No, Pops, I unfortunately do not have any documentation of Christina's magical performances. Perhaps Bunny?
Though I do have, somewhere, the transcript for the Christina attempted murder trial, which took place when she was no longer with us. I was the one who had to drop that bombshell in court, and the judge called the DA stupid. He was.

And you're right Daddy, I knew you had to be stopped somehow, and I was the queen to do it. Fortunately it didn't work!
Hatches, I always ask you about her and forget that you don't have the video. But maybe someone with a copy will read this.

Some of my other favorite shows at Pyramid (pre 1990's):

Needy Poodle
Sister Dimension's Harpsichord Follies
Drag Queen Olympics
Harmonic Convergence Acid Party
Baby Gregor as a witch hanging over the front door on Halloween
And - not my *favorite* show but worth mentioning -
That time when Philly was supposed to be performing but she passed out on a chair, someone (maybe you, Hattie?) tied her to the chair and brought her onto the stage. Then she woke up and vomited.
... it was I who tied her to a chair, Pops, but I also gagged her to shut her up. She managed to wrestle out the gag, however, before she projectile vomited all over the audience.

And Daddy, I have so many of Baby's paintings. Perhaps I should try selling one on Ebay to see if it's worth anything. I also got all of her records and her cat (a black one of course) that I gave away to Pikki from Montreal.
The acid punch was mixed by Wendy Wild (naturally) and Michael Kitty Ullmann. In order to get a cupful, you had to go to Wendy in the coat check and say a code word. But Wendy and Kitty forgot it was four-way acid and gave everyone a major dose. It was the first time I hallucinated on LSD. I mean REALLY seeing things. But I remember little else.
I do remember, however, that we went up to the gathering in Central Park. Wendy, Kitty, Sister, Marjan, Marcia Resnick, Hali Fields, and a few others. We brought 6 bottles of the fine Volga vodka with us, and were asked to leave because we were so noisy. Bah!
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I stopped going to clubs around 1979. In fact I stopped going most anywhere outside,( for the next six years I hardly had any contact with other humans at all ) except maybe twice a month to buy food, -that and to shoot photos under the elevated at 2AM or in the burnt out apartment buildings that lined the block behind my apartment- soooo the last things I saw at clubs were punk bands, The Damned, The Slits, The Specials, P.I.L. etc. -Oh yes, I started going to clubs again around '92/'93- a certain place way west on 14th in the meatpacking district. But what I want to know is what was the Egypt theme on Avenue A since across from the Pyramid on A at 7th was King Tut's Wah Wah Hut? Was there any connection?
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I don't remember who actually came up with the name. It might even have been Jesse Hultberg, but...
Dug and Maggie had drawn up a list of about 5 or 6 possible names for the new bar, which included King Tut's and Dug read them to me. The bar was still under construction and they hadn't yet decided on a name. Later in the day, Haoui Montaug called me up and was writing an article about clubs and bars in the East Village for some major press like the Times. "What's the name of that new bar across the street?" he asked me. I instantly answered, "King Tut's Wah Wah Hut!" When it came out in print, they kind of had to call it that, after all...
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For all of you who worship at the shrine of Pyramid elder statesmen Hapi Phace and Tabboo, please join them at HIGH LIFE this Saturday Oct 4 for what could be the most rotten show since the bygone days of The Pyramid. GROANER jokes at their worst!!! THE CHER BEARS is the title with Hapi, Tabboo!, and myself as hearty eating homos paying homage to a gay icon. Oh the misery. I have had so much fun brainstorming with these two knuckleheads. I laughed til I was almost sick at our rehearsal. Showtime is around 1am-ish. Hope to see you. Big Grin Eek Big Grin Eek

HIGH LIFE @The Marquee
356 Bowery betwn Great Jones and E 4th
saturday night
1am
hey daddy i'm doin great....glad you are still on the planet...where is that god-forsaken slurpy-face? i miss her even though she stole my pink floyd idea...
anyway some of my best(and worst)memories of the pyramid were in the infernal "tech room", a sony trinitron,a couch,and mad debauchery...
when i started as a busboy it was me,hattie, big ole coke dealer robin,bobby,burt,kitty...i didn't have a place to live and it didn't matter because we would all just pile into bed together at the end of the nite in a drug stupor...
here's a chuckle for you all,
i was a total white trash country boy 2 months off the bus from Pennsylvania when i picked up this pretty blonde artist at dean savards civillian warfare gallery (1983ish)...i was so taken with her i invited her to this dinner party on central park west...the guest list was stellar....lydia lunch,henry rollins,sonic youth,swans etc...the hostess commented on my dates "lovely deep voice" later at her place i said something suave like "what a pretty little girl you must have been" "actually i was a really confused,fucked up little boy" came the reply...after the initial shock wore off i remembered lou reed had a post-op trannie wife so i kept dating her ...
she was of course greer lankton...
Awwwww David... I certainly don't ever want to lose touch with you again either. I am very eager to hear more stories.

That post was perfect because I used to always joke at the time-- with Greer and Hapi in particular-- that we should put up a card table at Port Authority bus terminal, right next to where those blue robed nuns used to stand, to welcome America's children into our wicked web.
Little did I know that Ms. Langkton actually was doing that.
I have one of Greer's few two-dimensional pieces hanging on my wall and truly think of her every day. What a genius!
And Dean Savard... because he died so early, he is often unfortunately overlooked by art historians documenting that time. In that tiny postage stamp storefront he called Civillian Warfare Gallery, he truly changed the course of history. IMHO, Dean, Gracie, Pat (Hearn) and Patti Astor and Bill Stelling (Fun Gallery,) really created that Eighties arts explosion.
Jog my memory a bit David, did Rat At Rat R ever perform at Civillian Warfare?
nope,i did some carpentry work there and that's how i met greer,the next day someone took a photo of greer,dean and myself eating at life cafe....it took up 1/2 page in this east village eye article by carlos mc cormick...(still have it)i was so out of it though....i still hadn't figured out greer was TG even after we got it on..i just knew something was "different"...(go ahead laugh)
so i had been in town 2 months and i had accidently slept with a former guy and there was a huge photo of us in a magazine...
so....i got a job at the pyramid....
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Hi! I'm looking for reminiscences about my late sister, Ann Craig, a Pyramid Club emcee/performer from that great '80s era. I think she also performed at Danceteria and other venues. Would anyone have any stories/images/video of her? (I have access to broadband and can download large files.) I'd love to know more about her performances from those years -- I only got to attend a couple of wonderful, wild Pyramid events. (I particularly remember one Father's Day night when our Dad was the 'guest of honor' -- more like 'centerpiece.') We're coming up on 20 years since her death, and it would be great to celebrate her life with memories (ALL memories welcome: the happy and the painful, too).
If you can help, or know anyone who can, I'd be very grateful.
Many thanks,
Bill Craig

preemptivehindsight.com
(Please excuse newbie posting to general board: I wanted to get to this topic but missed!)
Hello Ann's Brother, Bill!
Just the other day I was sitting in a parking lot in Fort Lauderdale and thinking of Ann and of writing a bit about her...
Ann's involvement with the Pyramid predated my own, believe it or not. She was the regular host of Bobby Bradley's brainchild-- a Sunday night performance art event called "Cafe Iguana." Gracious, chatty, and personable, Ann's introductions often began in a rambling and disconnected manner, but somehow she managed, during the course of her monologue, to brilliantly tie all these odd elements together into a wonderful and magical grand finale. She was definitely an inspiration to me and taught me quite a bit about working an audience and connecting with them-- valuable lessons indeed.

Ann was truly a personality and a definite EV fixture, and her kohl eye makeup, put on like it was thick magic marker, was often imitated by young drag queens and genetic females alike.
I know I, for one, definitely worshiped her!

Ann was also able to take many of the traditions we had inherited from the Sixties and Early Seventies-- such as Astrology and Eastern Mysticism-- and translate them very adroitly into the new punk idiom of the early 1980s.
Her weekly "Astro-flash" where she discussed astrology while the sound guy played with the reverb and echo was a perfect example.

She was a very private person, and like a will-o-the-whisp, would disappear for most of us when the Pyramid closed its doors on Sunday night, only to reappear, like an apparition, the following week.

And I most definitely remember the Father's Day moment with your father. That, in itself, was groundbreaking!
I will look atound for pics of Ann, though her time on the Pyramid stage occurred before we even thought about documenting this clubland phenomenon.
God, what a gift your memory of Annie is! Putting out my request after stumbling across the Pyramid and Danceteria discussions, I don't think I realized what it would be like to actually read a post such as yours. It's wonderfully moving, to think of you thinking of her -- and your specific memories are like clues to recreating that fabulous and fractured time. Thank you! I DO remember her descriptions of Cafe Iguana, though I never caught a regular show. I know she thought of her job description as "urban shaman," and truly felt that her mission was to offer a sense of community and healing along with the humor and theater. She brought my Dad in, that Father's Day night, as a stand-in for all the fathers who might not be so accepting of everyone's choices and adventures. (OK, and he was a pretty funny centerpiece, too!) I'd love to know more about everyone involved -- yourself, Bobby Bradley, and performers I remember (Little Stevie Taschen[sic?]; the girls in the faux-country band who sang "I'll be Damned If I'll Go Home With a Wild Turkey Like You"). I've read a couple of references to a memoir/history of the club that might get written... I'd sure love to see it, as I've been writing about Annie, too. Of course, like you, I worshipped her. Many thanks, keep any thoughts or pics coming, Bill
Hi Ann's brother..I don't think I knew Ann but I was a photogrpher in the 70's and 80's and I've just come across the pyramid files..Bobby bradley is there along with so many others. If you do post a picture of Ann I'll look through my archives and see what I can find. She sounds like she was a "fierce ruler". That's Jackie 60 speak for fabulous!

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