Cynthia Albritton, the groupie recognized for taking plaster molds of well-known rock stars’ penises, has died on the age of 74 after reportedly battling a “lengthy sickness.”
The Chicago native stumbled upon her pastime whereas in school. An everyday live performance attendee, she initially had problem introducing herself to bands.
“I used to be a shy, fledgling, virginal goofy woman that needed to get laid by cute British boys with lengthy hair and tight pants,” she recalled to Rock Scene journal in 2012. “However I wasn’t skilled or seductive, and the one means I may go about getting the zippers down was, it needed to be in a goofy, humorous means.”
Inspiration struck the younger music fan throughout certainly one of her artwork courses.
“When my artwork instructor instructed me to make a plaster solid as my homework task of one thing that might retain its form. One thing strong,” she defined. “And I’d heard by way of the grapevine that penises obtained strong, though I had but to see that occur.”
It didn’t take lengthy for Albritton to seek out her first topic.
“I took up the topic with Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders, who was on the town that very evening,” she continued. “And he was comfortable to assist me with my homework task, besides that the fabric my artwork instructor instructed me to make use of to make the destructive impression was sand and water, which was not gonna be conducive to a strong state of penis. However that’s okay, not necessary. Extra importantly, I misplaced my virginity to Mark Lindsay simply on account of speaking about it.”
So started a singular hybrid between groupie fandom and experimental artwork that spanned a long time. Albritton turned generally known as Cynthia “Plaster Caster,” a legend in music circles. Albritton loved her repute and barely had hassle discovering volunteers.
“Again then, through the sexual revolution, you had a social obligation to dip your dick into one thing new and completely different,” she famous. “And we had one thing completely different for dipping.”
Jimi Hendrix, Wayne Kramer of the MC5, Gene Simmons of Kiss and Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks have been amongst her most well-known casts.
Although not certainly one of her topics, Frank Zappa befriended Albritton and helped transfer her to Los Angeles in an effort to pursue an artwork exhibition. After her residence was robbed in 1971, Albritton agreed to present the casts to Zappa’s enterprise companion, Herb Cohen, for safekeeping. This later proved problematic as, in an odd flip of occasions, Cohen refused to present them again. The discourse ended up going to courtroom, with Albritton finally recouping all however three of her casts.
There have been many tributes and homages to Albritton through the years. In 1977, Kiss launched the track “Plaster Caster,” impressed by the groupie. The monitor included such traces as: “The plaster’s gettin’ more durable / And my love is perfection / A token of my love / For her assortment, her assortment.” Jim Croce’s “5 Brief Minutes” was additionally impressed by Albritton, with lyrics reminiscent of: “Effectively, like a idiot in a rush I took her to my room / She casted me in plaster whereas I sang her a tune.”
Her assortment reportedly swelled to greater than 100 items, with filmmakers and artists added into the combination. Later in her profession, Albritton made casts of feminine rock stars breasts, with Suzi Gardner of L7 and Karen O of Yeah Yeah Yeahs amongst them.
“I don’t prefer to play favorites,” Albritton as soon as admitted of her famed casts. “I like all of them. And all of the experiences have been equally thrilling and bizarre and completely different from one another.”
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