Episode 70 Fayette Hauser

In the summer of 1968 artist Fayette Hauser was picked up hitch-hiking by Nancy Gurley, the wife of James Gurley, the guitarist for Big Brother and the Holding Company. Nancy brought Fayette to San Francisco and into the belly of the counter-culture. She began to live communely with other artists and in the fall of 1969 Fayette co-founded the avant-garde experimental theatre troupe The Cockettes. Fayette performed, designed costumes and photographed the troupe until the it's demise in 1972. In the summer of 1972 Fayette went to Seattle to perform with Tomata du Plenty and his troupe Ze Whiz Kidz. By the following fall, Fayette and Tomata had moved to Lower Manhattan to perform in the New York underground theater scene. In 1975 Fayette moved to Los Angeles, where she became a professional photographer and graphic artist, photographing and designing album covers for many of the artists in the music scene of Los Angeles in the 70's and 80's.  Fayette also created a small design business called Atelier Fayette which featured wearable art, one-of-a-kind clothing. Her clients included The Rolling Stones, New Kids on the Block, Arsenio Hall and Diana Ross.  In 2002 directors David Weissman and Bill Weber directed the documentary on the Cockettes, aptly titled The Cockettes. This past May Fayette's book The Cockettes: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy 1969 - 1972 was published by Process Media. The book recounts her memories from her time in the troupe.