Crystal
- 3 years ago
- 29
- 0
"We've been invited to her home!" an excited Andrea announced after she and Crystal emerged from the hotel lobby's public phone booth.
"Whose home?" I wondered, not really having paid much attention.
I was sitting splayed across one of the Crown Hotel's most threadbare red velour sofas. We were now on the latest stop of our trans-American tour and in the city of Providence, the capital of the tiny Ocean State of Rhode Island. I'd been browsing statistics about the state in a tourist brochure the hotel handed out to its guests and, compared with most states of America, they were on a reassuringly modest, even homely, scale. Rhode Island had a smaller total population than most English counties and was almost as small in area. I'd also been taking advantage of the fact that I was just out of the receptionist's line of sight and had surreptitiously rolled a joint. I was in desperate need of narcotic recreation after the drive from Boston. At least we were scheduled to stop for three or four days this time. An opportunity at last to relax.
"Veronica Wilson," said Andrea.
"Sorry, who?"
"Veronica Wilson," Andrea repeated. "You must have heard of her. Singer-Songwriter from the seventies. She used to perform with the likes of James Taylor and Carole King. She made a name for herself at the Newport Folk Festival in its heyday and she's a regular now it's been revived."
"So, she's a folkie," I said dismissively.
"She's very good," said Crystal who ambled towards us. "Your sister's got good taste, Pebbles. I've always been a fan. We've been invited to visit her at her home in Newport. On Bellevue Avenue Would you like to come along?"
"Shouldn't we be preparing for the gig?" I said, even though I'd have much rather lit up my joint than rehearse.
"That's not till tomorrow night," said Andrea.
"Judy and Olivia are already practising at Thorn's with Tomiko, Bertha and Jenny," said Crystal referring to the venue where we were due to appear. "I have absolute faith in their ability to rehearse without us. There wasn't anything else you were planning to do, were you, Pebbles?"
"No, not really." Although Jane, Jacquie and I had discussed getting out to investigate Providence's night clubs, nothing had been decided. "Will we be going in the Chevrolet?"
Crystal nodded. "There's no other way to get there."
"And you want me to do the driving?"
"It'd be good if you could, Pebbles. As you know, neither your sister nor I know how to drive."
And so it was that rather than smoke a spliff, I volunteered to drive Andrea and Crystal in the back of the car, who brought along their instruments with them: namely, a violin and an acoustic guitar. The two chatted enthusiastically about the life and discography of Veronica Wilson while the more I overheard the less engaged I felt in the conversation. I'd never had much interest in Andrea's collection of LPs by the likes of Joan Baez, Pentangle, Bert Jansch, Al Stewart or even Bob Dylan. And the more my sister enthused about Veronica Wilson and her falsetto voice and her idiosyncratic blues-influenced plucking style on the six-string guitar the more I regretted not having brought along a Techno cassette to listen to in the car.
Crystal and Andrea had always been fans of folk music and singer-songwriters. In fact, Crystal's first album, Triad, featured nothing more than Crystal's voice, Crystal's guitar-playing and occasionally Crystal on piano. There were no overdubs and hardly any post-production. It was Crystal Passion as naked as she could be (and in her case literally as well as metaphorically). It wasn't my favourite Crystal Passion album, but then it was also the only album I hadn't played on. On the other hand, it was the music from that album that had enticed me in the first place and, even unplugged, her songs were more than good enough for me to enjoy without having to imagine how much better they'd be with a kick-drum, a bass line or extra colour. Although the music on Triad was simpler in terms of arrangement or instrumentation than it was on later albums, the songs were no less daring in lyrics, rhythm and structure.
There was a certain relatively naïve romanticism in some of her songs. The one Polly Tarantella likes most, Rambling Woman, has the sort of verse you'd imagine a Romantic poet like William Wordsworth might have penned given all its references to valleys, mountains and glades grazed on by sheep, rabbit and deer. It reminds me of the American folk song The Wayfaring Stranger, which Polly also mentions although I guess the version she's most familiar with is the one by Jack White rather than, say, Johnny Cash or Emmylou Harris. Then there's Mercy Mistress which is now best known from the Disclosure mix, though I personally prefer the one by Floating Points. It lends itself to a House or even Trance mix with its slow build-up to a swooping chorus, even though its lyrics are a down-to-earth confession of personal failure and frustrated ambition. The song that's most controversial is All On My Own which Polly's interpreted as a plea for help and understanding and which others have interpreted as a bold statement of Crystal's spiritual beliefs. I'm not sure it's either of those things, but it's the song on which Crystal is at her most anguished. This is especially so in the lines where she sings: "Strip off my clothes and throw them away. / Put a conical cap on my head and turn me to the wall. / Tie me up and pull me down. / Take away my soul. Leave nothing at all." There's been a lot of speculation as to who she was supposed to be addressing, but all she ever told me was that it was an allegory on self-reliance.
I don't know whether Veronica Wilson had ever heard of Crystal Passion before. It's possible I suppose. Andrea had heard of Crystal through her folk music friends, so she must have had some small degree of fame in that scene. Maybe it was the association with John River that piqued the interest of this moderately famous American singer-songwriter. But however little or well Veronica Wilson knew about Crystal Passion, we were greeted like long-lost relatives when we turned up at her door.
In so many ways, Veronica was exactly what you'd expect an American singer-songwriter from the 1970s to be like. She was a woman in her mid-forties with long straight hair that she almost certainly continued to dye blonde. She had a good figure for a woman of her age, though she was no longer as slim as she once must have been. Her bosom was full and almost matronly, her thighs were squeezed into tight denim from the crotch to the knees, and her well-scrubbed face was no longer left to only nature's whims. She wore a baggy orange sweater and designer jeans, but no shoes or socks.
I'd expected a grander home for such a relatively successful musician. Although Bellevue Avenue was one of Newport's more expensive streets, with many relatively old New England houses, her home was relatively modest compared with, say, Professor Simon's. Nonetheless, it was detached, had a large garden and boasted more space than one woman would need just for herself, even though, according to Andrea, there was no husband, partner or child currently sharing her life.
I parked the Chevrolet on the driveway while Veronica ushered Andrea and Crystal into her house, both clutching their instruments. I deliberately took my time till I followed them in as I had my joint to smoke which I did in her front garden behind a tree that hid me from the gaze of the street. I'd been promising myself a toke ever since we arrived at the Crown Hotel and I could now take the opportunity to gather my thoughts together. I discreetly stubbed the roach out on a tree trunk and tore it apart before scattering it to the wind. And then I walked into Veronica's house.
I had no difficulty in finding where Veronica, my lover and my sister were gathered. The sound of guitar, violin and piano led me down a long narrow hallway past closed doors to Veronica's living room. This was an impressive space with a sturdy wooden floor, like the rest of the house, dominated by what in those days was a very large television, many times deeper than wide, and a Sohmer mini-grand piano. And sitting on the piano stool was Veronica who was singing as I entered.
I'd stumbled on an impromptu concert recital and one where I was not at all at ease. I plumped down on the leather sofa with an apologetic smile, while Veronica, Andrea and Crystal performed songs which as far as I knew might have been traditional American folk songs, contemporary folk-rock classics or the Veronica Wilson songbook. I could tell that it was being performed exceptionally well, that the songs had catchy melodies and that the lyrics were possibly profound, but I didn't share my sister's ear for acoustic music in those days. I'd probably appreciate it much more nowadays. I've since bought records by Veronica Wilson and other singer-songwriters I never thought I could enjoy, but I'll never be as much an enthusiast as Andrea.
My pleasure in watching the performance was less from listening to the music than from just admiring the trio. Veronica was a handsome woman, however much at that time of my life I couldn't ignore the gnarly veins on the back of her hands, the creases around her eyes or the glimpse of grey at the roots of her hair. These days, in my own early middle age, I'd consider myself lucky to be half as well preserved as she was. Andrea was pretty as always. Her bushy hair made her look like a romantic heroine while her checked shirt and jeans made her seem almost more American than British. She handled the violin as if it was an extension of herself. It seemed to grow out of her chin while, as she sang, her mouth moved with the same sweep and flourish as her bow. But as always it was Crystal who was the centre of my attention. My eyes rested on Veronica and Andrea for only brief moments before once again settling on my closest friend and most favourite lover.
It's probably because I knew Crystal so intimately and seen her naked so often that it only belatedly became apparent to me that although Andrea and Veronica were dressed just as they were when we arrived, Crystal had once again removed all her clothes. She was wearing nothing, not even shoes, as she plucked her guitar and joined in the chorus when Veronica prompted her. How had this woman whom we'd never met before not only accepted Crystal and my sister as accompanists at such short notice, but showed no sign of embarrassment when Crystal took off her clothes? This is the kind of incident that I find most miraculous about Crystal, rather than the many apocryphal stories that so excite Polly Tarantella.
Between each song Veronica would glance at Crystal and Andrea in turn, a broad grin on her face, and suggest another song. She might say for instance: "I Carry the Victory" or "The Face of My Love" or "Strange Fruit" and either Crystal or Andrea would nod and with only a couple of notes on the piano as a cue, they'd launch into a new song. Or she might say: "Banks are Made of Marble" or "This Land is Your Land" or "Dark Night Blues" and there was a general incomprehension followed by a few bars of rehearsal and Crystal and Andrea would then be playing along to a song that neither had ever heard before.
After I'd sat through nearly an hour of what was almost entirely unfamiliar music to me, instead of suggesting another song, Veronica said: "Hey guys. How long you planning on staying in the Ocean State?"
"Another three or four days," said Andrea.
"We've got a residency at Thorn's Folk and Blues Club," Crystal elaborated. "We're there for three evenings in a row."
"So where you guys staying?"
"The Crown Hotel," Crystal said.
"Never heard of it."
"It's a dump," said Andrea.
"That doesn't sound good," said Veronica. "You're not gonna perform your best at Thorn's without a good night's sleep. You wanna stop over here at my place? I've got plenty of room for you guys."
"As long as it's no trouble..." said Crystal.
"Not only is it no trouble, but I absolutely insist."
"What about our luggage?" said Andrea, who was never content unless everything was properly organised.
"I can go back and fetch all that," I volunteered.
"If you could?" Crystal pleaded in a way that left me no space to change my mind.
It took me less than an hour to drive back from Newport to Providence and as always I was grateful for America's wide roads and relatively good drivers. As a Brit, I was often bemused by signs that directed me to ostensibly homely destinations like Warwick, Coventry and Greenwich. If it weren't for the fire hydrants on the roadside and the fact that I was driving on the right, I could almost believe I was driving through the West Midlands. I parked the car just outside the Crown Hotel and rushed through the lobby and up to the bedrooms where Crystal, Andrea and I'd been booked to collect the bags. Although I was pleased at the prospect of staying at a grand historic house in Newport rather than yet another crappy non-descript American hotel, I still felt that I'd be very much the odd one out in a company of folkies. I'd almost prefer to stay with Jane and Jacquie, even if the beds were rather too small and lumpy to be truly comfortable.
I was just about to stumble downstairs to the lobby loaded down with luggage when I heard the high-pitched sound of a clarinet coming from one of the other bedrooms that we'd been allocated to. It could only be Thelma. I knocked on the door and was let in by Olivia who wore only a pair of denim shorts and plastic bangles on her wrists. Thelma was wearing a large baggy tee-shirt under which there might have been a pair of knickers.
She laid down the clarinet and asked straight away: "Have you seen the paper?"
"Newspaper? Which one?" I asked as I sat next to Olivia on the edge of the bed.
"This one," said Olivia who passed me a copy of the New York Post that was open somewhere in the middle.
I could see a picture of Crystal Passion and Judy Dildo that had been taken at the concert in Philadelphia just before they'd been told to put more clothes on and in which crudely painted black bars both highlighted and obscured the otherwise bare nipples and crotch.
Polly Tarantella hadn’t always been the great custodian of Crystal Passion’s legacy nor always the music’s greatest champion. In fact, I first heard of her when Olivia—one of the few original band-members I still keep in touch with—e-mailed me a link to a Rock Music website I’d never have discovered otherwise in which Polly Tarantella lambasted Crystal Passion with a vehemence that was bizarre given the many years since the band had broken up. In those days she was known as Sally Tyrant and was...
Crystal and I came trotting back from our morning run and a twenty-minute period of meditation in the little clearing in the woods. We'd seen a deer as we sat motionless, but the deer just meandered away in no particular rush. As we got near the house, I said to Crystal, "Would you marry me?" Crystal whirled around in complete surprise. She tried to speak, sputtered, her mouth moved, but no words came out. Then, I figured out what she tried to say: "No." She shook her head, paused, and...
‘Where is everyone?’ I asked when after an exasperating journey on Philadelphia’s public transport system I’d finally got back to the hotel and found Crystal sitting in the hotel lobby with only Jenny Alpha and our luggage for company. Crystal pretended to look around the hotel lobby at the scuffed velour chairs and the sticky linoleum floor. ‘They’re not here, that’s for sure,’ she said with a smile. ‘In fact, they’ve all left in the camper van for Boston.’ ‘They left without me?’ I...
I cried almost nonstop for an entire week. Everyone came by the house and tried to console me, as well as the others close to Crystal. We were all crying or moping around the house; we relished the few moments when we fell asleep exhausted because for a few minutes we were numbed from the events Crystal precipitated. Crystal was gone, disappeared, and maybe even dead somewhere. I couldn't even think of her without feeling total devastation sweep over me. For two days that first week, I...
Chapter One How well did I ever really know Crystal Passion? I ask that because everyone says that no one knew her better than me. And that’s just not true. It’s obvious why so many people believe I know more about her than the dozen or so others who were with her on that last fateful tour. I’m the one who renowned American rock critic Polly Tarantella has elevated to the status of Chief Guardian of the Crystal Passion legacy. Of the rest of us who were there, does anyone remember...
Both Crystal’s and Judy’s parents preferred that their daughters be buried rather than cremated so the final moments of the funeral weren’t of two coffins sliding inside a furnace and being incinerated. Instead a procession of hearses snaked out of the funeral home and wound through the roads and avenues of Rock Hill to Crystal’s final resting place at the Forest Hills Cemetery. I was a mess of sorrow and tears during the whole drive. The brief respite I’d had from my grief by the need to...
If you looked for a sexy, feminine, human dynamo with spectacular artistic talent, Brite Reber would flawlessly fill the bill. She lived outside St. Cloud, Minnesota, and for the past five years had done business on her own terms. She commanded top-dollar for her photo sessions, and last I knew you had to book her at least two years in advance even if you were the queen of England, the President, or the newest movie star. "Jimmmm," she crooned into the telephone, responding to my name...
Polly Tarantella hadn’t always been the great custodian of Crystal Passion’s legacy nor always the music’s greatest champion. In fact, I first heard of her when Olivia—one of the few original band-members I still keep in touch with—e-mailed me a link to a Rock Music website I’d never have discovered otherwise in which Polly Tarantella lambasted Crystal Passion with a vehemence that was bizarre given the many years since the band had broken up. In those days she was known as Sally Tyrant and...
Dan bumped his head a couple of dozen times against the wall in the bedroom he'd been in with Ellen. The act looked funny given he was naked and sober, but so were the rest of us. He'd dropped the newspaper that repeated the story in a British tabloid about me carrying around pornographic and lewd pictures that had been sexted to me or taken by me on my cell phone. I took his head pounding as an indication that my publicist hadn't the slightest idea how to cope with this sudden release of...
"Where is everyone?" I asked when after an exasperating journey on Philadelphia's public transport system I'd finally got back to the hotel and found Crystal sitting in the hotel lobby with only Jenny Alpha and our luggage for company. Crystal pretended to look around the hotel lobby at the scuffed velour chairs and the sticky linoleum floor. "They're not here, that's for sure," she said with a smile. "In fact, they've all left in the camper van for Boston." "They left without...
I slept between Crystal and Ellen the night we got back from Minnesota. I think we were sexed out because uncharacteristically no one made any overt gestures to any of the others regarding sex. We were cuddly and happy, and even went to bed early making up for the sleep deprivation we'd suffered when we opted to keep messing around until the wee hours while at Brite's home. I remember wondering what each of the women was thinking or dreaming as I drifted off. Were these moments a calm...
I felt her lips reach the base of my cock and I gave the back of her head a soft caress followed by a little push. Her lips gently flared out on the base of my hairless shaft and she moaned with my cockhead buried in her throat. I looked down and watched her green eyes as they stayed locked into mine. Crystal had enhanced her eyes the way she usually did when we went out somewhere. She fringed her lashes with lots of that CoverGirl ThickLash mascara that gave her lashes a longer, plush look....
I felt her lips reach the base of my cock and I gave the back of her head a soft caress followed by a little push. Her lips gently flared out on the base of my hairless shaft and she moaned with my cockhead buried in her throat. I looked down and watched her green eyes as they stayed locked into mine. Crystal had enhanced her eyes the way she usually did when we went out somewhere. She fringed her lashes with lots of that CoverGirl ThickLash mascara that gave her lashes a longer, plush look....
I felt her lips reach the base of my cock and I gave the back of her head a soft caress followed by a little push. Her lips gently flared out on the base of my hairless shaft and she moaned with my cockhead buried in her throat. I looked down and watched her green eyes as they stayed locked into mine. Crystal had enhanced her eyes the way she usually did when we went out somewhere. She fringed her lashes with lots of that CoverGirl ThickLash mascara that gave her lashes a longer, plush look....
you can visit www.boomsex.tk for the best porn :)I felt her lips reach the base of my cock and I gave the back of her head a soft caress followed by a little push. Her lips gently flared out on the base of my hairless shaft and she moaned with my cockhead buried in her throat. I looked down and watched her green eyes as they stayed locked into mine. Crystal had enhanced her eyes the way she usually did when we went out somewhere. She fringed her lashes with lots of that CoverGirl ThickLash...
I think our rendition of the song brought tears to nearly every eye in the arena. The song was Perhaps Love; it was a cover for one done years ago by John Denver and Placido Domingo, except Crystal and I had added our own touch to both lyrics and melody shifting the song into a romantic ballad of the country music genre. I could tell we'd seriously moved the audience because as the last bars of the song died out an eerie silence hung over the stadium for a full five seconds before the...
‘We’ve been invited to her home!’ an excited Andrea announced after she and Crystal emerged from the hotel lobby’s public phone booth. ‘Whose home?’ I wondered, not really having paid much attention. I was sitting splayed across one of the Crown Hotel’s most threadbare red velour sofas. We were now on the latest stop of our trans-American tour and in the city of Providence, the capital of the tiny Ocean State of Rhode Island. I’d been browsing statistics about the state in a tourist brochure...
If you were touring America these days and you wanted to contact your manager or, indeed, anyone back in the UK, all you need to do is switch on a laptop or tablet or smart phone and use Skype. And if not Skype exactly, you’d use Viber or exchange e-mails or instant messages. But in the early 1990s, the internet was very slow and ridiculously expensive and most people weren’t online anyway. So, when Crystal wanted to contact Madeleine, our agent, to find out how things were doing she had to...
It had been several years since I’ve been back to my hometown, I didn’t know what to expect when I moved back since I really haven’t stepped foot in this town since I graduated high school. Once I arrived back at my hometown I noticed that the town really hasn’t changed much. I noticed a new water tower, a new school but everything else was the same. What did I even expect from a small town, nothing is going to change in a small town. I got to my grandparents house, I looked around to...
The envelope had a wax seal across the flap embossed with the script letters 'NR'. On the front, written in bold letters, were the words, "To be opened only by Jim Mellon." An usher brought it to me at intermission time. I thanked him and went to tip him, but he said, "Oh, no sir, the young lady handsomely tipped me to deliver this to you personally." I figured it was some not-so-subtle fan mail. The green room door opened and a stage hand yelled into the room to Crystal and me, "On...
"You don't really want to know about my sex life or nearly the lack of one." I told her. We had joked about sex as Carol was growing up and had our talk about safe sex, I had let my ex wife do the sex talk with Carol. Carol had asked questions about different things about sex over the years but nothing that was personal. "Dad you are a great looking guy and I wish you would get out more, maybe get laid once in a while." Carol was blushing badly by the time she finished saying...
‘Wherever it is we’ll be tomorrow, it won’t be Kansas,’ Crystal announced when she’d returned from the hotel foyer after what was originally intended to be a routine phone call to Kai about the tour itinerary. ‘And it most certainly won’t be Kansas City.’ ‘No need for ruby slippers then,’ said Thelma. ‘So, if we’re not going to Kansas, where are we going?’ Andrea asked. ‘Weren’t we supposed to be travelling from there to Chicago, Washington and New Orleans?’ ‘It isn’t only Kansas we won’t...
I was working ate in the campaign office along with about three volunteers. I was in charge of a Get Out The Vote effort for a local candidate and we had been brain storming things for weeks with staff. One of the three volunteers was a college-aged girl named Crystal. Crystal had an engaging smile and the only thing bigger than her smile was her heart and her boobs. I had secretly stalked her Facebook photos after she added me as a friend. I had hopes of determining a little more about her...
Hardcore"Ellen will be your very special assistant. She'll be your script girl, check your makeup, help you go over your lines, and keep you on schedule." Crystal smiled at me to be sure I thought I'd be taken care of, "And, of course, she'll keep you warm in bed, and she's promised to remind you that I love you even though I'm six thousand miles away." She laughed at her innuendo abd then whispered, "And I've left instructions that she's supposed to fuck you senseless at least once a...
I'm sure most of the population think that music and movie stars have chauffeurs everywhere they go, plus a huge entourage who wait on their every need. Not true! I personally drove the crowded SUV across Tennessee from Nashville to a rural suburb of Knoxville where Crystal and Ellen's parents lived. With Crystal and me also were Ellen, Claire, PJ, and Nadia. We were all in a jovial mood, laughing and even singing Christmas carols along with the radio. The back of the car was so full of...
Nobody should approach me if they want a fair, balanced and informed opinion of Rock Hill, South Carolina. Most of what I discovered about the city was well after the Crystal Passion tour and what we saw was probably unrepresentative and, to be honest, not especially attractive. It was a town very much in the shadow of the somewhat larger city of Charlotte, 25 miles away and mostly only glimpsed at as we drove by on the relatively new Interstate 485 which also took us past Charlotte Douglas...
The Moscow concert and premiere of Crystal's film The Naked Truth had gone off without a hitch. The worry I'd felt over those events before paled in comparison with the angst I felt over having to check out of the country with Russian immigration and customs carrying a contraband iPod with a terabyte of highly classified Russian data on it. I tried to calm myself by recalling one of the missions I'd had in Russia when I was a Green Beret. My squad had done a HALO drop into the edge of the...
Not surprisingly, I found a few residual women in my bed on Tuesday morning, and we made love again. After that, we all showered, having some sexual play in our shower room, dressed, and then had a light breakfast. I felt like a kid waiting for Santa Claus to arrive, just knowing I would get my favorite and most wished for present later that day – Crystal! The clock slowed to a crawl. I kept looking at it, trying to see how fast 5:30 p.m. would arrive. It wasn't coming fast at all....
Nobody should approach me if they want a fair, balanced and informed opinion of Rock Hill, South Carolina. Most of what I discovered about the city was well after the Crystal Passion tour and what we saw was probably unrepresentative and, to be honest, not especially attractive. It was a town very much in the shadow of the somewhat larger city of Charlotte, 25 miles away and mostly only glimpsed at as we drove by on the relatively new Interstate 485 which also took us past Charlotte Douglas...
I looked at the pretty young woman and pondered how to answer her question, 'Mr. Mellon ... err, this is delicate ... I don't know how to put this ... but, well, ... do you have a child ... by a woman who lives in Greenville, Ohio – a baby about seven or eight months old?' I practically choked out loud. I did indeed have a child I'd fathered in Greenville, Ohio. Crystal knew too, but other than the baby's parents no one else should have figured out the lineage of that child. Crystal...
However much I admired Crystal’s song-writing skills when I was playing in her band, I didn’t really dwell much on the meaning of her lyrics. Certainly not with the intense attention to detail as Polly Tarantella. She quotes from Crystal Passion’s lyrics as if it was poetry and uncovered depths of meaning in them that had never occurred to me. I suppose it’s natural to think you might glean everything about Crystal’s philosophy of life from her lyrics, especially since she never explicitly...
By the time I called room service for lunch, four nearly nude women sat engaged in various activities in the living of our suite at the Hotel George V in Paris: Crystal was reading a script she'd been asked to consider for our next movie, if she liked it then I'd read it next; Jill had started to read a Clive Cussler book on her iPad; Helen sat near a corner of the room practicing various yoga positions au naturel; and Margo, naked except for her thong, alternately worked on her computer or...
I guess it should be obvious to just about everyone simply by having a look at an atlas, but it came as something of a surprise to me, to realise how big America actually is, and we were only travelling from North to South down the Eastern United States. Almost every single one of America’s states is bigger than England, and some are bigger than France or Germany, but when you travel across Europe you know for sure when you’ve left one country and entered another. In America the differences are...
"Wherever it is we'll be tomorrow, it won't be Kansas," Crystal announced when she'd returned from the hotel foyer after what was originally intended to be a routine phone call to Kai about the tour itinerary. "And it most certainly won't be Kansas City." "No need for ruby slippers then," said Thelma. "So, if we're not going to Kansas, where are we going?" Andrea asked. "Weren't we supposed to be travelling from there to Chicago, Washington and New Orleans?" "It isn't...
If you were touring America these days and you wanted to contact your manager or, indeed, anyone back in the UK, all you need to do is switch on a laptop or tablet or smart phone and use Skype. And if not Skype exactly, you'd use Viber or exchange e-mails or instant messages. But in the early 1990s, the internet was very slow and ridiculously expensive and most people weren't online anyway. So, when Crystal wanted to contact Madeleine, our agent, to find out how things were doing she had to...
*** This tale is an ADULT experience. It contains strong sexual content that is not at all suitable for minors. *** This story can be read separately, or be regarded as a continuation of ‘Phoenix Rising’. Be aware that there are spoilers here for ‘Phoenix Rising’ and that you may wish, therefore, to read that story before you tuck into this one… As you wish, it’s your experience not mine… *** CHAPTERS. CRYSTAL A job with prospects. CRACKED CRYSTAL A service with no prospects. LEAD CRYSTAL The...
FetishMy meditation was broken by the almost inaudible sound of a footstep nearby. I sensed an animal; but instead of jerking my head around to look I remained absolutely still and slowly opened my eyes. From my right side, a fawn moved into the clearing with me – light brown with white markings, large dark eyes full of curiosity. The pretty animal knew I didn't belong, yet obviously didn't fear me. It approached and sniffed at my ear and cheek. Not too far away, I heard the heavier footfalls of...
Edie Gerst and her editor published the story about my baby, Summer, George, Crystal, and me on Thursday. They carefully picked the day of the week, because that's the day most of the tabloids get to the newsstands, so it would be a week before they would be able to catch up with the scoop we'd given the Dayton Daily News. By the time they would be able to write about the story, it would be old news, and depending on what else happened during the week, including what flying saucers landed...
Both Crystal's and Judy's parents preferred that their daughters be buried rather than cremated so the final moments of the funeral weren't of two coffins sliding inside a furnace and being incinerated. Instead a procession of hearses snaked out of the funeral home and wound through the roads and avenues of Rock Hill to Crystal's final resting place at the Forest Hills Cemetery. I was a mess of sorrow and tears during the whole drive. The brief respite I'd had from my grief by the need...
A lot of hate is thrown on boredom, but without boredom, where would humanity be? Boredom has been the impetus behind many of man's most significant accomplishments. Along with sex, it's one of our primary guiding motivations.From Boredom to WhoredomNothing is worse than sitting around with nothing to do. Why do you think we all masturbate so fucking much. It's the easiest solution to having nothing to do. Boredom can even lead a bitch to discover porn, and that's precisely what happened to...
Twitter Porn AccountsIn her best-selling biography, Polly Tarantella makes clear that she ranks the most significant days of Crystal Passion’s life as those from when she arrived at JFK airport until her fateful last day on American soil. It’s probably not surprising that an American writer asserts that Crystal’s few weeks in America should be her most important. Although Polly interviewed me for the book and we continue to exchange e-mails, there’s a lot in her account I don’t really recognise. And this is even...
We dozed for a long time, drifting in and out of a pleasurable nap brought on by the soporific afterglow of the pleasure we'd just completed. Not unexpectedly, I had dreams of a sexual nature. I held Kim's naked body against me; our spent sex organs nestled together at our groins, and my hand cupping one breast. Behind Kim, her daughter Crystal lay naked and tightly against her mother's body; one arm wrapped around and cupping Kim's other breast. Ellen had spooned behind me; her erect...
"You don't really want to know about my sex life or nearly the lack of one." I told her. We had joked about sex as Carol was growing up and had our talk about safe sex, I had let my ex wife do the sex talk with Carol. Carol had asked questions about different things about sex over the years but nothing that was personal. "Dad you are a great looking guy and I wish you would get out more, maybe get laid once in a while." Carol was blushing badly by the time she finished saying...
Crystal always had me fascinated from a young age. The eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Clifton nextdoor, she was older than me by about 5-10 years. She was more mature than the rest of us k**s growing up, but still cooler to hang out with than the grown ups when our parents would get together for one of the many neighbourly BBQs on their back deck. We had a close relationship with the Cliftons. I was about 4 or 5 when both our families had moved into the street about the same time. The summer...
Crystal always had me fascinated from a young age. The eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Clifton nextdoor, she was older than me by about 5-10 years. She was more mature than the rest of us k**s growing up, but still cooler to hang out with than the grown ups when our parents would get together for one of the many neighbourly BBQs on their back deck. We had a close relationship with the Cliftons. I was about 4 or 5 when both our families had moved into the street about the same time.The summer...
In her best-selling biography, Polly Tarantella makes clear that she ranks the most significant days of Crystal Passion's life as those from when she arrived at JFK airport until her fateful last day on American soil. It's probably not surprising that an American writer asserts that Crystal's few weeks in America should be her most important. Although Polly interviewed me for the book and we continue to exchange e-mails, there's a lot in her account I don't really recognise. And this is...
However much I admired Crystal's song-writing skills when I was playing in her band, I didn't really dwell much on the meaning of her lyrics. Certainly not with the intense attention to detail as Polly Tarantella. She quotes from Crystal Passion's lyrics as if it was poetry and uncovered depths of meaning in them that had never occurred to me. I suppose it's natural to think you might glean everything about Crystal's philosophy of life from her lyrics, especially since she never...
It's often assumed that because I've been cast as Crystal's best friend, I'm also the one who knows most about her childhood or at least about her life before she became a musician. That's just not true. Her husband Mark knew Crystal's family far better than I ever did. Mark was never really a close friend. In fact, I regarded him rather more as a rival. Neither Crystal nor Mark were jealous lovers but that wasn't what it was like for me, although I accepted Crystal's sexual...
Edie, the pretty reporter from the Dayton Daily News, appeared nonplused. "You ... err, how can I ask this delicately ... you conceived a second child last night?" She looked between Summer and me about a dozen times in ten seconds. Summer spoke directly, not being evasive in any way, "Yes, exactly." "How do you know you're pregnant? You can't tell for sure for at least a couple of weeks." "I can," Summer replied with great certainty. "I knew it the second he ... the second his...
Crystal Clear Crystal Clear.Written byGemma Swallow AKA Tainted Angel "She knew that she was out of her depth; she was usually self assured, confident, controlled. She was proud of her ability to handle herself well, people saw what she wanted them to see, that is not to say that she was deceptive she had just got used to dealing with things alone. If she was honest with herself she was a bit of a control freak. It was safer that way. She always thought that she would like to have a man...
There’s a lot I simply can’t remember that happened in the following few days we were stranded in Rock Hill. My attention was almost entirely focused on my overwhelming sense of grief. I was completely disconnected from the many events swirling around me. I guess I was hoping that Crystal might still be alive and would magically appear from somewhere. And when it was established that Crystal had been murdered at almost exactly the time that Judy Dildo made her brief appearance at the Penitence...
When my dad passed away last year, I wanted to come home and be with my mother. But mom insisted that I finish the semester. College was important to both my parents. I did come back for a few days for the services. Mom and dad had a modest savings account and dad had a pretty good insurance policy, so we were ok financially, at least for a while. The first few days back at school were difficult as you can imagine, but I called mom almost every night to be sure she was ok. When the semester...
The powers that be at Sony Entertainment had decided that Wengen, Switzerland, would be the perfect place to film the outdoor ski scenes for our movie Downslope. The small ski town was serviced by a rack railway system. The massive and famous Eiger rises spectacularly in front of the town, a well-known part of the Alps. Ski slopes of all varieties and difficulties left from the town, with a wide variety of transport to return to home base once some end point had been reached. Crystal and I...
Chapter Seven ‘Detroit!’ Jacquie exclaimed as she looked up from the tour itinerary she’d been reading. ‘That’s where our next gig’s gonna be. I’ve always wanted to go there.’ ‘Home of the MC5 and Iggy Pop,’ remarked Judy Dildo. ‘And much more importantly,’ I said. ‘The home of Techno.’ ‘It’ll be good to see Juan Atkins or Derrick May on the decks,’ said Jane. ‘I absolutely love that Nude Photo album.’ ‘You’re irrepressible!’ giggled Philippa who excitedly gripped Jane’s shoulder. She was...
I guess it should be obvious to just about everyone simply by having a look at an atlas, but it came as something of a surprise to me, to realise how big America actually is, and we were only travelling from North to South down the Eastern United States. Almost every single one of America's states is bigger than England, and some are bigger than France or Germany, but when you travel across Europe you know for sure when you've left one country and entered another. In America the differences...
There’s a lot I simply can’t remember that happened in the following few days we were stranded in Rock Hill. My attention was almost entirely focused on my overwhelming sense of grief. I was completely disconnected from the many events swirling around me. I guess I was hoping that Crystal might still be alive and would magically appear from somewhere. And when it was established that Crystal had been murdered at almost exactly the time that Judy Dildo made her brief appearance at the...
Crystal Sky: Origins by Red The Bard It all started when a rock fell from the sky and landed on Zoey's head. It had been a pretty nice day so far, she had finished her morning shift at the hospital, and was heading home for some sleep, the noon sun pounding hot against her head. It wasn't long, however, until she felt a more decisive pounding, as a small yellow rock cracked against her skull, sending the brunette crumpling to the floor. She groaned, motes dancing in her vision and her...
Crystal always had me fascinated from a young age. The eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Clifton nextdoor, she was older than me by about 5-10 years. She was more mature than the rest of us kids growing up, but still cooler to hang out with than the grown ups when our parents would get together for one of the many neighbourly BBQs on their back deck. We had a close relationship with the Cliftons. I was about 4 or 5 when both our families had moved into the street about the same time. The summer...