I MET THE COCKETTES

I was watching the Cockettes documentary, and I kept having these feelings that I'd met them or at least seen the movie before. So, it kept driving me crazy, and I watched the movie about fifteen times, trying to figure out if it was just deja vu or what.

I either did meet them once, or I had a very, very detailed realistic dream that I did. If you have ever been to a party with me where alcohol was served, please read this. Maybe you were there. Maybe you were the one who said, "Hey, c'mere, you will know who these people are. You like John Waters right?" (To which, one of them, I think Jilala, said "Everybody remembers Divine! No one your age knows who we are." In this hallucination or memory or whatever it is, I irritated Jilala alot because I begged to become his apostle and wanted to take a name similar, like "Shelala", which I still think I might, now that I remember all of this.)

Anyhow, so that is how I ended up being introduced to the Cockettes. If I remember correctly it was Jilala, Scrumbly, Sweet Pam, Rumi, Marshall and Fayette. Ralph might have been there, and Kreemah Ritz, but I don't have any memory of direct conversations with either of them.

I remember asking "Sweet" Pam why she was named that, and everyone just shrugged. I was pretty loaded, and flirtatious, and most likely single and looking to score, or at least flirt, and I asked her "Sweet cuz you are so nice, or do you taste all sweet?" I got an appreciative laughter and more than a little banter from that one, which clued me in to the fact that I was among kindred. (Oh my Goddess, had I only known how kindred-- I would have begged to resurrect the group and I doubt I would be here writing this now!)

She said "Sweet to taste, I guess." Then I met "Scrumbly" and I said "like srumbdiddlyumptious?" And made a comment about how he and "Sweet" were a nice treat together . (Yeah, I was pretty loaded.) Then he said he was gay but that he and Sweet Pam had been married and had a kid. Completely piqued at this point I asked if Sweet Pam had changed him or what. Someone, I think it was Fayette, said that they had all kind of been married to each other. (Throughout the night she and Marshall hissed at each other, and they had mentioned that they had been married, so I think this was a thread of conversation.)

Then I further pissed Jilala off by becoming completely starstruck when they mentioned that they not only had known Divine but knew John Waters very well. Which was too bad, because Jilala was (is) probably one of the most fascinating people I've ever met, even before I saw the movie. I think he just has amazing courage and vision. (I irritate certain personalities, and he was one of them. Oh well.)

Then Fayette said something about Hibiscus, and somehow it came up that his name was George Harris, which is the (partial) name of my uncle. Further, my uncle was gay-- if secretly-- when he was younger, even if he is married with kids now. He caused a big split in my family when my grandmother died by stealing money and locking us out of her estate sale and generally pissing on the rest of the family and our memories of her. So this encounter definitely took place after 1996. Hibiscus died back in the 1980's, but I remember this weird feeling when they said Hibiscus' birth name.

I remember a conversation with Rumi about the origin of his name. I told him I believed that it was a witch name, whether he knew it or not.

And this must have taken place down here, because they were going back to San Francisco the next day.