It Ain’t Hummel
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“In those days people were ready to dip their dicks into anything,” she says. She experimented with various casting substances for two years, including sand and water, wax, clay, and even aluminum foil, but it wasn’t until she discovered the alginates used in dental molds that her scheme began to solidify. And even that method required some refinement. She remembers an unsuccessful cast of a member of Procol Harum: “There was an avalanche of pink, wet chunks cascading down his dick, and he called me insane. But it resulted in good sex afterward, which was the main objective. I was too shy to seduce rock stars and I thought if I got their zippers down by asking them to pose for me, then surely sex would transpire. In most cases it didn’t.”
Plaster Caster’s official body of work began with a 1968 cast of Jimi Hendrix’s impressive hard-on, and before long she became something of a celebrity herself. A 1969 issue of Rolling Stone included a splashy feature on her exploits, and to this day only her friend Pamela Des Barres rivals her for groupie notoriety. That same year she moved to Los Angeles on the advice of Frank Zappa, who told her there was “a lot more rock-star cock” out there. “I was a keypuncher when he discovered me,” she says, pointing out that she’s always had straight day jobs. “Frank was the first person that called me an artist. What I was doing was so effortless and fun that I didn’t think it could be art.”
Plaster Caster’s lecture starts at 6 PM Monday in the SAIC auditorium, 280 S. Columbus. Admission for the general public is $5. Call 312-443-3711 for further information.