Tweet

One of Timothy’s most endearing traits was his ability to remain non-judgmental of anyone who came into his orbit. He had a real talent for finding something worthwhile in everyone he met. He is one of a handful of people I have ever met where you learn something every time you are in their presence. If knowing Timothy Leary taught me anything at all it was to try and remember life’s rich possibilities and take full responsibility to explore them the best you know how.

I did not see Timothy again for a very long time after the party days and nights of Nelson Lyon, and had practically lost touch not only with Nelson but with a lot of other characters from that period. However, about two years before he died, Timothy Leary was shining very brightly in Hollywood once more and his hilltop home off Sun Brook Drive in the Benedict Canyon area of Beverly Hills was becoming a non stop party, attracting the young and hip crowd from the clubs on the Sunset strip, as well as well- known personalities from the Art and Film world. Leary had always been part of that B-list of Hollywood’s social scene, but now he was glowing on the internet as the man who saw it all coming years before computers were the norm.

The Cancer diagnosis allowed him the opportunity to dispel one last taboo in the human condition – to have a “designer’s death”; to show America how Death can be embraced with grace and good humor. And so he did, and without how media circus would have played it by having his head removed and frozen, to be revived at a later date like good old Walt Disney. He led the media down the garden path for one last time before going through the final door of perception.

My last memories of him were happy ones, of course, because this was a joyous man who savored every moment he had on this earth in spite of tremendous adversity with the Law as well as the establishment he had once been a part of and then sought to ignore.

On one of my last visits, Timothy was by now in his wheelchair with a pan of home-made pot-filled brownies sitting on his lap, which he was glad to share. Timothy loved to use his microwave to make snacks and as you can imagine he used his own special ingredient, several grams of his best pot, to drop-kick any of his favorite recipes up a notch, always citing the microwave as a gift from the Gods of the future as it intensified the THC in the weed. It is safe to say that Tim enjoyed each and every day he had left with a childlike wonder at all that was around him.

After our kick-ass snacks we sat there on his outdoor patio enjoying the spectacular view, and I made up my mind to ask him to sign something for me as a keepsake. I did not have a photo or a book, so he took out an index card and asked me what I wanted him to say. I thought about it for a moment and then said, “Well just sum up our time together or whatever you want to say, Tim.” He thought for a moment and then wrote “For David, we sure got high Honey…..” That moment was so right on, as the children used to say. We then went back inside, and this became my chance to scope out his bedroom which was, by then, filled with art work and candles. It all resembled a well thought-out pleasure dome for the man who started it all and lived to see his vision justified, as well as having a legacy that will continue to lighten the path for all that will follow his example, which began with TUNE IN TURN ON DROP OUT, then, on the very threshold of the 21st Century, became TUNE IN TURN ON MOVE FORWARD. As the good doctor was fond of saying ‘We all will get the Timothy Leary we deserve.” Cue THE MOODY BLUES…

VAMPIRA: “BLINDED BY THE FRIGHT”

The first thing you must understand when discussing the late Malia Nurmi – AKA Vampira, the greatest of all Television Horror Hosts – is that Malia was the FIRST person to EVER be a television Horror Host. Her work in this genre has never been equaled. Only Lisa Marie, in Tim Burton’s affectionate tribute to Ed Wood, paid homage to Vampira, and did so with respect and éclat.

Malia was a pioneer in the world of Pop Art personality. Graced with a spectacular figure (38-17-36), her character of Vampira was inspired by the attitude and personality of coffee house poets of the beat generation. Most importantly, with her wicked sense of humor she altered the landscape of horror film iconography forever. Her most famous moment in motion pictures did not require sound, only her presence. Her airless occult love affair with the camera is all that was required to make her, as well as PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE, a legend. Her fashion sense also endured, bestowing yet another title, that of the Queen of Goth sensibility, among the Blair Witch set. One only has to walk down Hollywood Blvd or check out the fishnet stocking and black eye liner of the ladies in the clubs on Goth night to see Malia’s shadow hovering over the scene.

I first met Malia quite by chance one summer afternoon as she came into a boutique I was managing in Beverly Hills called TIBERO’S right next to The BISTRO. She was going from shop to shop selling her unique brand of jewelry, neck-ties and spider rings. After enjoying her off-beat way of offering her wares, she left and it was not until my boss came back into the store was I told who she was. I was disappointed that I did not pick up on it, and lamented a lost opportunity to tell her what she seemed to know regardless of my telling her….that she was part of my childhood experience watching PLAN NINE on the late show, not to mention all the photos over the years that made her image the dark side of Betty Page’s sexuality.

A few years later I was working on a documentary for PBS called THE HORROR OF IT ALL, and the producers wanted VAMPIRA to appear on camera to discuss the Horror film as it was evolving for baby boomers watching her TV show in the fifties. I managed to track her whereabouts down to a neighborhood restaurant in the Los Feliz distinct called The HELIATROP that served Finnish food. I was soon to discover that Ms. Nurmi was a native of Finland and had many friends from that community, thus the job of being a hostess in a Finnish restaurant. However we were out of luck in getting her to appear in the documentary as she maintained no phone number and guarded her privacy. All this was understandable when later on she would recount real life horror stories regarding her crazy fans and the death cult around James Dean. Dean was a former boy friend of hers and his death marked a turning point in her time in Hollywood. One from which she never really recovered.

In the late 80’s I began, when time allowed, to help out my celebrity friends at autograph shows, mostly on weekends. My functions were mainly keeping them company, moral support, and handling the money from the sale of photos and autographs.
The actress I worked with the most at these shows was my good friend Martine Beswicke. Martine was a cult Queen on two fronts as she was a BOND GIRL in two James Bond films as well as the wicked lady in two Hammer Horror films in the UK.

Because of her status as a BOND GIRL we wound up signing on for a weekend autograph show known as The GLAMOURCON which was devoted primarily to pin-up girls and Playboy centerfolds. It was at this venue that my path would once again cross with the legendary Vampira. The show was a total hoot as most of the girls were just plain dumb. When they finally did a reality show around Hugh Hefner and the young women who service his needs at the mansion, multiplying that scene by ten would give you The GLAMOURCON.

Continue to page: 1 2 3 4 5