Crystal Passion Ch. 06

Amongst the complex weave of possible sexual combinations practised by the members of the Crystal Passion band, what I'd always avoided at all costs was any that involved me being intimate with my sister. Carnal knowledge within the family was something I simply could never contemplate. I'd never discussed it with Andrea, but I'm sure she felt the same way. It puzzled me sometimes that Jane and Jacquie weren't likewise shy of sibling sex, but I guess the relationship between twins, even if not identical, is of a different order from that between sisters separated by a few years. And although in the orgies and group sex sessions, it is possible that my lips or fingers might have engaged with her crotch—or vice-versa—this had never been intentional.

But despite my reservations, I could see no way out. It was still necessary for me to make every conceivable effort to avoid physical engagement with Andrea however difficult it was to avoid when four women were engaged in passionate embrace on the sofa and thick woollen rugs of Veronica's massive living room.

Although the pivotal centre of our activity was Veronica whose body had probably not been so lavishly stroked, kissed or violated for many years (judging by her awkwardness and the frightening intensity of her orgasms), for me it was always a case of how to navigate past Veronica and Andrea towards Crystal who, for reasons of fairness with regards to Andrea and of artistic respect towards Veronica was equally as assiduously manoeuvring her attention in the opposite direction. So it was inevitable that of the four of us it was me who was the least satisfied and most eager to continue late into the night.

But this was not to be. It was Crystal and Veronica who nestled together in Veronica's huge double bed while Andrea and I slept in separate beds in different rooms. This was my first solitary night for quite some time. Normally, I relied on one or both of Jane and Jacquie to keep me company throughout the night. Now it was just me by myself and no other woman's body against mine.

And, to be honest, I rather enjoyed the novelty of it.

Even if nowadays I'd be rather more grateful for and certainly more appreciative of the attention of as many passionate, frequent and regular sexual partners as I had then.

I almost certainly had a more restful night's sleep than Crystal. And when the opportunity at last came for me to show her the article embedded somewhere towards the middle of the New York Post, her reaction was much worse than I'd expected. She gripped the newspaper article in her hands as if it might otherwise escape and compulsively read it over and over again.

"Don't fret, sweetie," said Veronica as she pulled Crystal's head down onto her bosom. "You shoulda seen what they said about me when I was dating Tim Buckley. It's just good that no one ever found out about me and Laura Nyro."

"I just feel that instead of being treated like a song-writer or a musician, I'm being pilloried as a freak," Crystal wailed. "It's as if the American media were stripping me bare, beating me with a whip and holding me up for ridicule."

"It's not as bad as all that," I said.

"No?" said Crystal with a look of mock disbelief as a tear trailed down her cheek and onto Veronica's bosom and across the wide expanse of her areola. "What does it say? 'Naked antics'. 'Lesbian filth'. And what about this call to boycott our concerts? What have we ever done to deserve this?"

"Are you sure it's not because you play this 'punk rock' music the kids dig these days?" Veronica remarked.

"There's no 'punk' in our music at all," said Crystal. "Judy plays a mean rock guitar, but that's about it. Crystal Passion is more Everything But the Girl than Dead Kennedys. It's more Portishead than the Damned. There's absolutely nothing about Crystal Passion for anyone to get upset about."

"There's the nudity and the lesbianism," I pointed out.

"As I said," Crystal repeated firmly. "There's absolutely nothing that should upset anyone about Crystal Passion."

As always, Polly Tarantella has plenty to say about the New York Post article, though I suspect that if she were familiar with UK newspapers like The Sun or The Daily Mail, she might have a different attitude. In her biography, it really does seem as if Crystal were spat at, stripped of all modesty, beaten with a whip, paraded naked down the street and forced to wear a dunce's cap. The chapter regarding this incident is even entitled America Scourges Crystal Passion and she portrays Samuel Hedrick and Reverend Bob Farrow as party to a grand conspiracy whose objective is to humiliate Crystal and drive her out of America. Much as I'm sure both pundits would have been delighted to see Crystal Passion fly back to London before we'd completed our tour, I doubt that this was the only campaign against the encroaching tide of permissiveness and immorality they were engaged in.

Polly makes a great deal about Veronica's role in comforting a distressed Crystal, although she discreetly overlooks the fact that they had sex together. However, in Polly's defence, Veronica wasn't quite as eager as Crystal was to share her body with more than one other woman. And nowadays this is something I can readily relate to.

Polly also expresses regret that there isn't a recording of Veronica Wilson and Crystal Passion playing together, but in the days when mobile phones couldn't even take still pictures let alone films and when cameras were too heavy and clumsy to carry in a pocket, this isn't surprising. But it's thanks to Veronica that our gigs at Thorn's Folk and Blues Club were sold out and attracted a more than usually appreciative audience.

And that's mostly because she agreed to perform on stage with the band: a decision which led to a frantic last-minute publicity campaign by Barry and Anita Thorn who pasted a sticker on all the concert posters they could find so that it now read: Featuring A Guest Appearance From Veronica Wilson!! And this publicity most definitely attracted a bigger and more enthusiastic audience for Crystal Passion.

There is no sense that Crystal changed our set simply to suit Veronica Wilson. She always adapted the choice of songs and arrangements to fit wherever we were performing. So, in this gig, there were some songs she performed with only Andrea rather than with the whole band. And she was more than content to perform as Veronica Wilson's accompanist on her Rhode Island lover's songs. This was probably much like her early days when she played in a duet with John River. But along with songs that appealed to Veronica's many grateful fans, there were the more upbeat songs in which Judy Dildo took full possession of the stage and where the larger ensemble, including saxophone, clarinet, percussion and, of course, my electronic keyboards, made a clamour which disorientated those in the audience with abundant grey beards, long white hair (if there was any hair at all), chunky jumpers and leather sandals. They must have thought they'd been accidentally transported to a night club, though I doubt whether any of them would appreciate the difference between Michael Jackson and the Jungle Brothers or between the Temptations and Orbital. And, most crucially of all, Crystal performed as she mostly always did: in the nude, unannounced and unabashed. Nobody else, including Judy, exposed more than the usual amount of flesh that a female musician in a hot and sweaty cellar venue might normally display.

Polly's wrong to say there wasn't a record of Crystal Passion performing with Veronica Wilson. There were no photographs, film or recording. That's true enough. But there was a brief review of the concert in The Brown Daily Herald under a picture of Veronica taken some ten years earlier which was captioned as Veronica Wilson Plays with the Crystal Passion Band. This review focused almost entirely on Veronica's music though it does admit that "the Crystal Passion Band were spirited accompanists" and that "the English all-girl electric folk and blues group acquitted themselves well and much to the appreciation of Providence's folk fraternity."

And this was probably the warmest praise Crystal Passion received during the entire duration of our American tour.