I can't remember if I chose this life. I think I must have, but I might
not have known what I was in for. My family turned out to be mostly
jerks. My mom says I was named after the champagne. My dad likes to say
I was named after his product. I had a dog, Lucy, born when I was two,
she was just about my only friend. I got lost in the desert with her
once..... really lost...... when I was about nine. She saved me. When
she was twelve, I guess that's old for a dog, ....she just wandered
out into the desert one day when I was in the shower, and didn't come
back. One minute she was there, the next, I never saw her again, I
never could find her to say goodbye. I looked everywhere, even the old
mine shaft we hid in when we were lost. No one else cared. So pretty
soon I left too. They don't miss me, unless they just got used to
having someone around to blame. Now I run my own life, and its ok. I
get by and have fun sometimes too. I keep away from men and other
lowlifes. I wouldn't mind if I end up in Las Vegas, or Los Angeles, as
soon as I can get away from the desert. Seems like I still have
unfinished business out here.
We'll see.
"When I met James, he said : "Do you want to stay here ? " and I said Yes. In Topanga, somewhere between Malibu and Santa Monica. By the water, a stone throw from Hollywood. May the one place in the World where the me is the most expensive in the world and precisely this huge squat developped, forever on trial with the Syate of California for decades by now… The last beatnik stonghold. This was holy tribal land, then it became a fisherman's village,and the a Mexican rodeo , before welcoming the amercian artists of the 70's with Bob Dylan heading them. Acid, dealers, coke, chickss, a true heaven for the hippies ! And it has staid this way actually! It was the very first time people acknowledged what my madness meant and was worth. The beauty of my journey. It is quite possible to live here, to quite mad and paint yourself over in pink … When Bush startes losing it, we were the very first protestors. We'd be wearing angel wing at Rodeo Ground. I have worn them. On one of them was written "No peace ", with the peace symbol next to it. On the other was: "No pussy", with the same symbol only it was turned upside down so as to suggest... a pussy. That was a huge success. Everyone started wearing it on their arms, writing it on T-shirts. You could even find it embroyedered on panties! Of course I carried on sleeping with james! This war was meant to last 3 months at most… It's still going on after 3 years!"
(photograph and copyright by Titouan Lamazou)
Cristal is not some lot lizard. She is a spirit caught between worlds. She's so sensitive to the ethereal world and to the clarity of the light in the dessert. And to her loneliness. She doesn't seem to belong in this dimension, this time. And so all it takes is a puff from the Santa Ana winds, and she's off, gone mad completely. So she floats all around it like a ghost, and in that way, she never is in any real pain. She won't let it touch her. She knows she isn't real so she's learned to make the best of it.
Working on 29 Palms with Steffi is fantastic because to begin with, it is the perfect marriage of acting and modeling. Then also character development and writing and on top of that my songs are there, being used. I feel used by Steffie! In the best way, as a total artist.
If film is beautiful women doing beautiful things, as Fellini said, then Stefanie Schneider has an instant classic on her hands.
"It is dusty out here in the dessert Cristal. It is windy. The tears stains on your cheeks spell my name." ~~Margarita