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I give people a different reason every time I'm asked about Plasticmask, just for personal entertainment, and because the people who ask genuinely don't care; they're simply making conversation.
But now since the pandemic and the movies whose names I cannot recall regarding the U.S. govt making a single day per year legal for any and all crimes including murder (Purge?) "Plasticmask" has popped up all over the globe, which irritates me to NO end. Until all of that, I was truly the only (THE ONLY) Plasticmask on Planet Earth, I ALWAYS used it for BBS boards, aliases and otherwise, and it made me very happy. I checked regularly, once there became an Internet to give me the ability. I was the ONLY ONE for YEARS.
However, here's the actual truth of it. The TRUTH.
When I was a kid, by that I mean a teen, I was the frontman of a VERY BAD garage band and we were struggling to decide on a name for the band. The drummer's Mom had a VERY cool-looking plastic Mardi Gras mask on the wall in their living room so we decided to call ourselves Plasticmask that day, inspired by her choice of wall decor. The rest is hilariously bad history; we played Heavy Metal mostly, covers more than anything else but we DID do a handful of songs that we had written ourselves. I did the vocals mostly, with a bit of rhythm guitar. I could sing VERY well but the lead guitar sucked gravel and so did the bassist therefore I freely admit that we were pretty darned terrible. Didn't stop us from getting gigs at the High School and small local clubs as long as we presented as "Punks". lol
(You don't need real TALENT to play Punk; just some rage and some mild talent and ability. Actually too MUCH talent ticks off the audience if you are supposed to be a Punk Band. So, we did alright. We just couldn't do REAL Rock because we didn't practice together enough. Not NEARLY enough. Anyway, back to the story):
Exactly like what happened to Alice Cooper, people assumed that *I* was Plasticmask because I sang lead and engaged with the audience the most, and although I would tell them onstage "We are Plasticmask" and offstage "No, the BAND is Plasticmask" it eventually turned into "No, the BAND is -okay, okay, yes, fine. I'm Plasticmask."
I didn't know that I could have changed my name for free after we all passed age 18, so I took it as a DBA name and still pay the pittance it costs to keep it. My Wife hates it and won't take it as her name so legally changing it doesn't really carry import for me since I became deaf anyway and can't perform. Also it feels a bit juvenile, now. But it was MY NAME FIRST, DARN IT!! lol
The band long long ago resented me for taking it and using it as my surname (although the girls LOVED IT back then haha) and it was actually a part of the reason we ended up breaking up the band. Again, just exactly like what happened to Alice Cooper.
Anyway, now everyone who made it through this understands my moniker and it's origin. Thanks for reading.
But now since the pandemic and the movies whose names I cannot recall regarding the U.S. govt making a single day per year legal for any and all crimes including murder (Purge?) "Plasticmask" has popped up all over the globe, which irritates me to NO end. Until all of that, I was truly the only (THE ONLY) Plasticmask on Planet Earth, I ALWAYS used it for BBS boards, aliases and otherwise, and it made me very happy. I checked regularly, once there became an Internet to give me the ability. I was the ONLY ONE for YEARS.
However, here's the actual truth of it. The TRUTH.
When I was a kid, by that I mean a teen, I was the frontman of a VERY BAD garage band and we were struggling to decide on a name for the band. The drummer's Mom had a VERY cool-looking plastic Mardi Gras mask on the wall in their living room so we decided to call ourselves Plasticmask that day, inspired by her choice of wall decor. The rest is hilariously bad history; we played Heavy Metal mostly, covers more than anything else but we DID do a handful of songs that we had written ourselves. I did the vocals mostly, with a bit of rhythm guitar. I could sing VERY well but the lead guitar sucked gravel and so did the bassist therefore I freely admit that we were pretty darned terrible. Didn't stop us from getting gigs at the High School and small local clubs as long as we presented as "Punks". lol
(You don't need real TALENT to play Punk; just some rage and some mild talent and ability. Actually too MUCH talent ticks off the audience if you are supposed to be a Punk Band. So, we did alright. We just couldn't do REAL Rock because we didn't practice together enough. Not NEARLY enough. Anyway, back to the story):
Exactly like what happened to Alice Cooper, people assumed that *I* was Plasticmask because I sang lead and engaged with the audience the most, and although I would tell them onstage "We are Plasticmask" and offstage "No, the BAND is Plasticmask" it eventually turned into "No, the BAND is -okay, okay, yes, fine. I'm Plasticmask."
I didn't know that I could have changed my name for free after we all passed age 18, so I took it as a DBA name and still pay the pittance it costs to keep it. My Wife hates it and won't take it as her name so legally changing it doesn't really carry import for me since I became deaf anyway and can't perform. Also it feels a bit juvenile, now. But it was MY NAME FIRST, DARN IT!! lol
The band long long ago resented me for taking it and using it as my surname (although the girls LOVED IT back then haha) and it was actually a part of the reason we ended up breaking up the band. Again, just exactly like what happened to Alice Cooper.
Anyway, now everyone who made it through this understands my moniker and it's origin. Thanks for reading.
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