SECOND GROUP GAME: CLOSE CALLS
Skip Williamson was one of my personal saviors. He had practically helped invent the underground comic books I had read as a hippie kid,
he was a total art genius who had provided much eye candy for tripping hippies. Not only did he have an eye for his own art, he could spot talent a mile away. I had brought him artists like Tim Anderson fresh out of college, Will Northerner, and a guy named Mitch O'Connell
all brilliant- but basically comic book guys I didn't really hang with. Comic book guys are funny. They can be your best pal, then when a girl comes along- they drop all their friends the woman doesn't like. But Skip- Jesus- we destroyed the Gold Coast together so many times it wasn't funny. He was a biker without a bike, a poet a hoodlum a fellow drinker a hell raiser a man's man. Somehow, he had become one of the Art Directors at PLAYBOY. And the issues he did art editing on are still highly prized by those in the know. I would meet him at his office for lunch and we would teach the bars we went to how to make Long Island Iced Teas. I still believe we re-introduced the drink to Chicago, as at the time no bar was serving them in Chicago.
And when a girl would tell him to get rid of me, he just laughed it off and ordered another round.
Once he took out $600 to buy a leather jacket and we headed to Oak Street to get buzzed into an exclusive clothing store. They took one look at Skip, who resembled a biker, and wouldn't let us in! An art director from PLAYBOY with $600 cash in his pocket and they were afraid of him!
That is Skip. I thought that was cool as hell.
A lot of guys at Playboy use their job to get laid. Not Skip. Babes would come on to him and he would walk away. If he had a girl, that was it. That was enough. How cool is that?
Before I took Patti in to see Skip- I had to get her off coke.
So I sat her with one night- and she stopped. The funny thing about addictions is that once the person decides to quit- they just do it. When Patti went through two days without doing a line, and flushed the quarter ounce she had down the toilet, I knew it was ok to take her to Playboy.
But first, she wanted me to go to the Blues Brothers Bar, and meet this guy named Del Close.
I had never had a girl tell me they wanted me to meet one of the other guys they were fucking before, unless it was a three way. But she said we had the same sense of humor and I should meet him. He was one of the teachers and directors at Second City.
I had been to Second City in college, they didn't card so college kids could drink at the late show.
We went to the Blues Bar and there he was. Holding court. Surrounded by students hanging on to his every word. He saw Patti and broke into a huge smile and they hugged.
Gee, that wasn't awkward for me!
Patti had to go, she made the introductions and Del asked his students if he could speak to me alone.
Class dismissed.
I sat down and his eyes teared up. "I heard what you did for Patti", he said, " Thank you".
And then I said, "Well I had read MOONCHILD by Aleister Crowley so I knew how to get people off drugs".
He looked stunned. "You know about Aleister Crowley?" he asked.
Well, Kenneth Anger, one of the heads of the O.T.O. was a friend of mine and-
"You know Ken Anger?", he asked.
"Yep, since I was 17. I had written him that I thought I had figured out sex magick and he invited me to his his home in NYC. I brought a girl from the Art Institute with me and we had sex in one room, while Ken had a chess board in the other. I would visualize the board and shout out my moves while having sex with the Art Girl from the Art Institute I had met and fallen hard for and though I didn't win, the game went about two hours.", I said.
We talked of Crowley's poetry,
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Ken's films (he helped create underground movies with FIREWORKS, SCORPIO RISING and other films).
I told him I was into Japanese animation. He hadn't seen any, because in those days those cartoons weren't available here.
And the time passed and we agreed to meet at my place in a few days.
I dug the guy. But didn't know anything about him really.
Let me just say that in all the years we knew each other, Del never raised his voice or questioned me or anything like that. Never. I was surprised years later to hear how hard he was on people, phonies and assholes. He never even raised his voice at me.
It was time for sleep, and to take Patti to Playboy.