This feature was in the James Moss magazine “San Francisco Gay Life–Where It’s At” number 3 in 1977. Jane Dornaker, Pearly Gates, Eddie Troia, and Doris Fish met up while performing with the Tubes at Bimbo’s in 1976. Dornaker and Gates formed the rock band Leila and the Snakes.
This all led to great things, as Eddie Troia started working with Doris and the Sluts to turn the first Sluts A Go-Go show into a semi-professional production that finally became Blonde Sin (1980-1982). Troia brought his client Dornaker and a young musician named Timmy Spence to give Blonde Sin some professional credibility and star power (Jane and Timmy were headline performers on the Blonde Sin New Year’s poster). Leila and the Snakes were short-lived but produced one single for Rock and Roll Weirdos. Dornaker moved onto comedy and eventually a career as a popular traffic reporter, losing her life in a 1986 helicopter crash. Pearly Gates became Pearl Harbour, lead singer of Pearl Harbour and the Explosions, and Pearl Harbour Country. Her official website and Instagram are well worth a visit!
Of note here is the mention of the first public performance of Rock and Roll Weirdos, the Anita Bryant Lookalike Contest and Dornaker starring in Magazine Movie.
The photos are amazing and I dearly wish we could see the originals instead of the printed copies. Pearly Gates wears the Doris Fish T-Shirt produced for Magazine Movie!
The highlight is the featured image of Doris doing makeup for Dornaker, with the assistant of Jasper Havoc, Doris’ friend who was visiting from Australia at the time.
