From Chapter 3
Hollywood

Going out to the disco every weekend had started to seem so normal that Benita and her friends, including Robby in her drama class, pondered on some fun and different things to do. Last weekend she met Robby’s cousin Miko who was ‘different’. He was into the Punk music and dressed and went to Punk Clubs in Hollywood. They decided they wanted to go to a Punk Club with Miko. Miko bought all his clothes at the Thrift Store. Benita went with them shopping and for a few dollars had herself a pair if black tight pants that had gatherings along the sides, a white mans shirt five sizes too big, a thin black tie, and some old kung-fu patches from who-knows where to pin on the shirt. Miko had her put her hair in several ponytails sticking up and insisted it should be slightly messy looking. She wore some purple lipstick and black eyeliner thick and completely around her eyes. This was going to prove interesting. The plan was to get to Hollywood early, walk up and down Hollywood Blvd, looking in shops and eating at a grill, going to the ‘Whiskey-A-Go-Go’ at nine in the evening and at midnight go to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Miko showed them some Punk moves especially the ‘Pogo Dance’. Walking down Hollywood Blvd on a Friday afternoon with a crowd of people mainly consisting of tourists and vendors trying to sell stuff to the tourists, seemed like fun at first. A car full of teens sped by yelling out at the Punk looking threesome, “Punks are stupid!” Robbie and Benita had a fit of laughing while the more serious hardcore Miko flipped them off as the car sped off. Benita started to become aware that things might not be going too well when Miko shoved his way into a record store bumping into a big biker dude with a beard and tattoos of naked women all up his arms. Miko had disappeared inside the store and Robby was nowhere to be seen right then as the biker turned to Benita and sneered, “Freak of nature bitch!” Just as he was reaching out trying to grab a ponytail she ducked and dove between a small group of Japanese tourists who were then trying to take her picture. They took some shots of the biker dude instead as Benita hurried to the back of the store where Miko was browsing the records as if nothing had ever happened.

Finally at 8:30 in the evening they waited in a line which stretched around the block and down Sunset Blvd, to see a band Benita had not heard of called, The Dickies. While waiting, Miko rambled on about the history of the Whiskey a Go Go. The Whiskey had been through some interesting eras of live music and entertainment. In the late 60’s and early 70’s they featured a variety of live Rock bands, some even before they became famous, including Led Zeppelin and the Doors. In 1975 they tried to turn it into a discotheque to make money but by 1977 they caught on to the idea of live rock music again and the local Punk Rock scene took over. Miko told them, “I was one of the first Punk Rockers here and those of us who were the first, we all know who we are and who the new punkers are. I saw the Ramones and the Sex Pistols here. They have other rock bands here too, besides Punk. Last December I saw a band that was a lot like Led Zeppelin. They are from Pasadena and I think the band is called ‘Van Halen’, but I like Punk bands better.” “Why have I never heard of any of those bands? They must be new.” Thought Benita as the line started to slowly move toward the entrance of the Whiskey. But she was not going to admit that, she was now a part of the crowd going to the Whiskey A Go Go in Hollywood. “If Mickey knew I was here he would be shocked” she mentioned out loud to whoever would hear. No one was listening. Benita made a mental effort to push aside thoughts of Mickey, and with a sigh entered the Whiskey A Go Go.

The ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ was just down the street and they got there just in time to find decent seats. Half the audience was dressed up like the characters in the movie. Audience participation was part of the entertainment value. Some people had seen the movie dozens of times and had the songs and entire script memorized. When the Time Warp song came on everyone jumped up and went through the whole routine. Benita had a great idea. She imagined bringing that guy that’s been asking her out for weeks here to see Rocky Horror and scare the pants off him. That nice Christian guy, Mark Craft had proved himself a loyal friend and had called her every week offering rides to Church ever since Mickey had broken up with her. Then Benita got her new car, a 1976 Plymouth Arrow and did not require his charity any longer. Regardless, he called her then and started asking her to join him for other events. As a friend, she accompanied him to Church outings, Snow skiing trips, Miniature Golf and the Beach. Now he was starting to call her and ask to go to the Movies, and out to Dinner. She smelled a date and dating was not what she wanted to be doing right now. Besides, Mickey had seemed upset last month when Mark told Mickeys brother Joey that he couldn’t wait to ‘get some action’ from Benita. Mickey overheard them when he walked in on them and started to argue on Benitas behalf when Joey proudly informed Mickey that he himself had ‘seen some action’ with Benita. Mickey called Benita the next day and told her about the situation. She felt hurt and disappointed that Mark said those things and that Mickey now questioned her virtue. He also warned her saying, “You better watch what you do with those guys because they are all saying stuff about you that you wouldn’t like!” Benita sat in the movie theatre thinking, “If Mark Craft wants to see a movie that bad, he can bring me to the Rocky Horror Picture Show!” She decided to bring some of the props used by the audience. “Let’s see, I need to bring toast, rice, a lighter, a water squirter...” she made a mental list of the props and smiled as the movie ended.