| Archived Interviews |
This website exists today only because courageous, intelligent and daring women back in the 1970's decided to break the rules of society. They rallied together under the banner of the punk movement. Many of them are no longer with us. This page is dedicated to their memories. Because many people have written to me to suggest other people to interview and wondering how I choose the women I interview, I want to explain my criteria for inclusion in this section. They are: 1) You must be a woman - or have been one at the time. 2) You must have been active in the L.A. punk scene before 1980. By active, I mean actively participating by frequently going to shows, taking photos, writing, being in a band, supporting the scene in some way. This section was never intended to be a "celebrities only" section. It's an oral history of the early scene from the female perspective. 3) You must be able to send me your answers via email. I don't talk on the phone. I have previously sent interviews via email to women who would seem to be obvious choices for inclusion but they have either not responded or have told me they are working on it and then they forget about it (you know who you are). So if you know someone who belongs in this interview series, remind them to finish up their interviews and send them in. Everyone gets the same eight questions. No space or time limitations. Since I think that women's voices have already been over-edited by others, I reserve the right to refuse to edit these women's responses. Instead, I intend to publish them in their entirety, raw and unexpurgated. LET THE WOMEN SPEAK! |
conducted July 2010 |
Alice, I’m honored that you included me on your awesome website!! I also wanted to say, looking back, I am a romantic at heart and my memories are mostly beautiful or funny to me. I was young and madly in love. My camp was mostly boys and there are so many stories...I couldn’t include them all, it would just be too long! To me the Masque scene was gritty, short lived, dangerous, heady and exciting!! I made so many great friends, many I still know and many that are no longer with us.
My contribution is that I witnessed the birth of the Masque and I have stories to tell. I was a friend, a fan, a cheerleader, a Den mother and source of inspiration (I’ve been told). I met Billy Bones in 1976, a few years after he had left his small town in Maryland because he didn’t fit in. I was a California girl who had come from a horrible David Lynch style upbringing in Highland Park. My only salvation was my Mexican-American stepfather Joaquin and my southern grandmother. Nevertheless I left home at a very early age and ended up in the arms of a very wealthy man. The glamour wore off quickly and all he wanted was to control me. Bones and I crashed into each other one night in 1976 and have been together ever since!! Bones was working at the Supply Sergeant on Hollywood Blvd when he ran into his friend Mick Wallace (Sten Gunn) who invited him to come down below the Pussycat Theatre to what would become the Masque. We went down there, met Brendan and hit it off immediately! Mick was cleaning and building furniture and stages, Connie Clarksville was setting up stuff, it was an amazing group effort to create this place. We were all very proud of what we were making. We were not only creating a safe haven but also history. When things started getting going Mick asked Bones to sing in his band, The Skulls and Billy gladly accepted. He is an amazing performer. What some people don’t know, however, is that Billy wasn’t the only one in our duo who practiced in that maze of rehearsal rooms and played on that great graffitied stage. Some of the most fun I had was being in Arthur J and The Gold Cups. I was part of the “cupcakes,” a trio of backup singers with cutesy dance/sexy routines, cowgirl hats and pistols. It was a blast playing with Brendan, Spazz Attack, Marty, Vanilla, Kelly and our leader Geza. I had so much fun!! Lights would go down, surf guitar (way before Tarantino), horns, Brendan’s drums- it was the ultimate show we put on and different than anything else. Spazz would come out beautifully dressed in punk regalia and he was perfection. He would surf on a hubcap and we’d all dance the night away. And 30 years after the Masque, Bones and I are both still rocking. We have a fun band “Los Triente Anos” in honor of our 30 years together. It’s Bones’ current band (The Billy Bones) lineup, our daughter and some other talented musicians we have the pleasure of knowing. We do Sonny & Cher songs, Johnny Cash songs and the like with a little punk flavor. It’s fun to cut loose sometimes, and it definitely brings us back to the masque days. It’s the only time I get to sing! So much fun! One contribution I feel very proud of is how I’ve always helped Bones with ideas and lyrics. When Bones and I just sit down and brainstorm for songs, it’s amazing. We talk politics, love, film, anything really. Bones’ is a great writer and it’s wonderful to get creative with him. I am a big film lover and years ago I turned him on to Roman Polanski films, the song “Incomplete Suicide” is about the film “The Tenant”, which is a Skulls classic. 2. Which Artist, band concert and/or show had the most impact on your life? I fell in love with Patti Smith, and played “Horses” 'til there were no more grooves in the record. I loved early Bowie and emulated him in the way he dressed at that time, but I think I probably looked more like Marlene Dietrich than Bowie or Patti Smith. I loved Blondie, Velvet Underground, Nico, early Bryan Ferry, Marc Bolan. Earlier in my life, my older sister had every 45 done by every girl group under the sun!! I knew every girl group song by heart! They used to make me sing and dance for them!! The Ronettes, Motown, everything like that. Then my parents had their music blasting, my dad with all his latin stuff and my mom with her Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Wanda Jackson, which was all about relationships, heartbreak and who’s done who wrong!! When songs come on I still know all the lyrics by heart, so in a strange way those bands all still have a big place in my heart. As far as shows go, the Masque shows with all our friends were simply unforgettable. Those shows at the Whiskey were always fun too, I think they were afternoon shows. But the one that sticks in my head was the Ramones/Blondie/Devo show. Remember that one? The one where Debbie comes out in a wedding dress and then rips it off? That may have to take the cake. The Screamers, The Weirdos, X, and Arthur J going up to SF to Mabuhay Gardens to see The Avengers is WAY up there too. (I used to call in sick from my job and put cotton balls in my mouth to sound sick!) I remember seeing an amazing show at the John Anson Ford theatre that’s always stuck in my mind, Robert Gordon doing “Black Slax”... so so cool. Also, seeing a Devo show with Spazz on a giant screen doing flips was amazing. 3. What was the role of women in the early punk scene? I think the role of women in the early punk scene was varied. For me when I think about it, there were lots and lots of inspirational women. There were Singers, Poets, Film makers, Dancers, Designers, etc. And of course Muses, Paramours, and tragic figures abound! I think if you had a vision or a passion for your particular idea, you could see it through. I think for the most part women were treated as creative equals and that freedom to be who you were and not hold back was welcomed, this was the Masque days. 4. What is the legacy of punk in your life? I would not be the woman I am today if I hadn’t been part of the punk scene. I rebelled against a lot of ideas that were shoved down my throat when I was a young woman. I was not gonna be controlled and I had my own ideas! My husband still does his music, its roots are steeped in punk, I’m still his number one fan, he likes to run things by me, so I feel as it’s part of me. He loves to mentor young musicians, teach them, produce their records, we love passing on all the musical history to the younger generation, and I’m pretty much right by his side all the way. Of course, Brendan Mullen was a great friend and we supported all of his endeavors, (we were devastated by his passing), and try to support others as well. Our daughter sings and plays bass also, and just passing on creativity and a love for music to her, well I feel like I’m doing something right! 5. What are you listening to now? I like The Ravonettes, Nouvelle Vague, Julee Cruise, France Gall, girl groups and singers, and I love reverby guitar stuff, The Shadows, Spainish guitar. I like to drive to soundtracks like “Once Upon A Time In Mexico” or “Last Tango in Paris”, “Pirate Radio”, etc. Billy always has something to play for me, and my daughter Dani is always playing me something new and cool. 6. Do you have any funny or interesting stories? Oh!! Do I! I have a very good memory!! One story I have involves your friend Craig (Lee), Billy Bones and I were at The Whiskey for a show, don’t remember who was playing but it was punk, it was the early days for sure because they were serving drinks in those heavy glasses, it took awhile to switch to plastic!! Anyway, I had on some killer boots, thick and high on the leg. There was a girl throwing glasses around and being completely crazy!! I’m having a good time and next thing I know I look down and blood is pumping through my boot! It’s feeling squishy and I’m thinking I better get the boot off! So I end up at Cedars Sinai ER and guess who’s there, Craig with some kind of head injury from a show. He was sweet, we sat there, music lovers “simpatico.” He got ice for his head, and I got stitches on my bony little foot! Ouch!! Another rather bawdy story was the time there was a party at a Santa Monica or Venice beach house. The party was given by an artist (thinking back probably his kids) and was in honor of some of the Masque bands, you might have been there. Everyone drank way too much, but of course! Billy Bones and Mark Morbid decided it was a good idea to strip naked and run into the freezing surf, I thought, what the hell, you guys are gonna drown! I had to go the ladies room, probably to pee, but maybe to vomit!! Anyway, I went into the wrong room and lo and behold, a girl scout was straddling a Nazi!! Yep, lots of colorful memories like that!! It was fun! A kinda scary story was the time, Brendan and The Skulls decided to do a photo shoot in a building near the Masque, I’m not sure which one, but Brendan knew that the upper floors were empty and we could sneak up there with some equipment and take some pics, my friend Lene was the photographer. Anyway, it was getting late, we were on the top floor which had lots of windows, and out of the shadows comes a really young security guard with his gun drawn!! My friend Lene starting mouthing off, so did the boys! The security guard's hand was shaking and I thought “Oh Shit,” but it was Brendan who talked everybody down. Of course, Brendan could be so diplomatic and charming! Whew! Scary!! Another story: one night The Skulls had a show at the Whiskey and they had a song about the Hillside Strangler. As we all know, (that) was such a horrific crime spree, killing young women and girls and disposing their bodies like trash, they had killed a young woman named Jane that was in our Masque community. Well one night some men came to the Whiskey and came backstage and started talking to Bones and the Boys, trying to get information about the Hillside Strangler, saying they were doing a film. Brendan to the rescue again!! He suspected they were not film makers! He asked them "are you cops?" They had to answer, (they were) not Cops, but FBI!! Also, from that time, our friend Mick was very protective of me and I had to drive from Highland Park to Hollywood Blvd to pick up Bones every night, the Hillside Strangler creeps were right in that area, so Mick says to me, "I want to show you how to use this knife I made for you, put it under the seat of the car and if you get stopped, pull it out and stab him in the eye!!" Oh yeah, I was 5’3” and 100 lbs!! So sweet!! 7. Are there any punk women from the early scene that you feel have not been adequately recognized? I’m not sure about that one. I hope everyone got their due, or a wink or a nod or something! Maybe the girl from The Alleycats? I never see many pics of her in all the books published about the early scene! I thought she was really cool. I’ve noticed more and more books on the Masque scene being published. I love looking at all the pics! 8. What is something we should know about you that we probably don’t know? That my daughter Daniella was born with a severe medical condition and in a span of ten years, she had many surgeries and treatments and became a Child Ambassador for Children's Hospital LA. Daniella, Bones and myself helped raise awareness and money to build new research and surgery centers. We met many amazing people, from sick children and the parents, doctors and nurses, to first ladies, presidents, and celebrities. The experience for us was about turning a very tragic situation into something very humbling and rewarding. If you know Daniella, you would be amazed at the person she is! Starting in the Masque days and continuing through Dani’s childhood and adult life, Bones and I have stuck together through every kind of thick and thin and it’s made our lives and our daughter's life all the more rich and full of love. For all the scary and wild experiences, chaos and trying times, I wouldn’t change a thing. I wouldn’t have become who I am today if it weren’t for those things. |
I always thought of Arthur J and the Gold Cups as the Masque’s unofficial house band. The band was propelled by the riveting stage antics of Spazz Attack, famous for being able to do a flip through the air, completing a full 360 degree revolution in the middle of any given song. It was also endowed with the guitar virtuosity of Geza X, the steady beat of Brendan Mullen on drums and Hal Negro sending out elephant mating calls on his trumpet. The insanity and cacophony of their stage show teetered on the edge of dissonance and that is precisely where the sweet voices of the Cupcakes worked their magic on the band’s sound. In a stage show full of wild free-form musicianship the three pretty, unassuming backing vocalists, true to their name served up confections as pleasing to the eye as they were to the ears, providing a thread of melody on which the other band members performed their high wire acts of sound. Christina Cupcake shares her memories of the Masque, Arthur J and her life with fellow musician Billy Bones of The Skulls in this latest Interview with Women in LA Punk. Enjoy! |
| Siouxsie Sioux and Kid Congo ready to blast off at Disneyland. Courtesy of Donna Santisi |
| Christina and Billy Bones Courtesy of Christina Bones |
| Christina Bones Courtesy of Christina Bones |
| Christina and Marc Moreland Photographer Unknown |
| Christina and The Skulls Photo Shoot Courtesy of Christina Bones |
| Billy Bones and Christina Bones, Los Treinte Anos Courtesy of Christina Bones |