Blondes Have More Fun...with Stiv
Stiv Bators and B Girl, Cynthia Ross here on the town in LA.
Yeah, Stiv, little, scrawny... total ladies man. He always had beautiful women chasing him!
Stiv & Sabel Starr
And when he chased them (although he didn't have to), they fell for him.
Nice guy. But you'd have to get to know him, of course, to find that out.
On stage, he posed a menace, a troublemaker, faked his death, did anything to shock. Off stage, he was soft spoken and downright gentlemanly.
I knew this because Stiv and I had a completely different kind of relationship. We were like siblings. We kept each other out of trouble and looked out for each other's best interests. I thought he was a pussy cat.
A couple months ago, at my exhibit at Grimeys in Nashville, Catherine Irwin of Freakwater, who was there for the photos but more so to show support and enjoy The Reigning Sound for whom Freakwater's bass player, Dave Gay moonlights, was telling me that Stiv was a hugely important influence to her musically, and that surprised me. But not really.
I know I say it all the time, but while we were doing this punk thing, we were outsiders and people didn't really understand us... and the people who did... we knew most of them! We felt pretty small. Its pretty gratifying, even though its up to 30 years later, to learn what you did meant something to someone... that you touched a total stranger and ruined their life! But seriously.... that you touched a total stranger and gave them a choice, an example of other possibilities in life beyond their wildest dreams.
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