“Calamities shake people out of old thought
patterns and help bring in new light…”
Ramtha.
“A rose is a rose is a rose… No matter what
name you call her, she answers with thorns and all!”
Billy Graham,
Grateful Dead Show ‘93
“Calamity is a basket case…Can’t figure her
out heads or tales like an enigma but boy does she
charm…”
Warren Zevon
Named after a
bad magic mushroom experience onstage at an outdoor
concert in Del Mar, California in the 70’s, she
later became the endeared Calamity to locals in Las
Vegas and to national recording artists that
performed their first gig in Las Vegas at her world
famous establishment, Calamity’s Concert House on
Boulder Highway.
Influences…
Calamity is a
devoted fan of the old roots music of America, which
includes blues, rock, country, jazz, reggae,
mariachi and folk. Her style reflects these
influences and also includes philosophical and
social economical commentary…from Shel Silverstein
to MWGarrity.
As a performer and songstress…
Calamity Jayne
performed with her outrageous band of ex’s called
the Cowpunks
s to packed crowds at every major
casino resort hotel in Las Vegas, Tahoe and Reno
during the 80’s.
When offered a record deal in Nashville she declined
as it was too stifling during the early country pop
days. Instead, she opened her own venue by
refurbishing and renovating an old landmark in Las
Vegas. The abandoned building was once called the
Nashville Nevada Opera House. (Elvis Presley, Patsy
Cline, Wynn Stewart, Merle Haggard were just a few
of the regulars that frequented the place in its
early days.)
Jayne wanted to expose the community to more
extremes in music than what was offered on the
strip. She transformed the building into a state of
the art concert music house with the décor of a turn
of the century brothel. It later became known as the
infamous Calamity’s Concert House, written about in
Rolling Stone Magazine. Here she had free reigns to
perform with the Cowpunks
s and also expose the town
to her favorite artists and performers who deserved
recognition in entertainment capital of the world..
Artists that performed at Calamity’s Concert House:
Her marquee was
filled with the likes of such acts as, The Blasters,
Nirvanna, The Black Crowes, The Byrds, Kris
Kristofferson, Concrete Blonde, Sonic Youth, The
Beat Farmers, Warron Zevon, The Wailers, Ian Hunter,
Iggy Pop, Carl Perkins and the Smithereens, Buddy
Guy, Marshall Tucker Band, Tower of Power, Richard
Elliot to name a few.
Outlaw Chic Singer becomes Living Legend
Calamity became a living legend of Las Vegas, not
only because of her adventures with her notorious
band, her TV Show called Calamity’s Asylum Theater
and radio show, …but also for her contribution to
the music scene in the community. She was quoted in
Rolling Stone Magazine as the woman who changed the
face of the music scene in Las Vegas in the 80’s.
She brought upcoming and cutting edge, national
recording acts to Las Vegas no matter what the cost.
This tenacity and determination got her a brief
stint in the United States Federal Penitentiary.
Why was she convicted?
As the press
suggests, she had a string of wealthy paramours and
music lovers that helped fund many of the concerts
that were seen at her establishment. One happened to
be the biggest cocaine smuggler on the West Coast in
the 80’s. The rest is history written in the annals
of the 9th District Federal Court, TV and
Radio Newscasts and all the major newspapers on the
west coast concerning the case.
The smuggler got life for Ballin’ Chain (Jayne) as
the rock song goes…
Calamity Jayne becomes the first female country
outlaw…
She did time behind the wall in a medium- maximum
security prison for 2 years in Dublin, California.
It was an intense experience but eventually she
found the pony in the shit as in all her calamitous
experiences.
After Prison…
Upon her release
from Federal Prison, Calamity came back to Las Vegas
and performed at Michael Schivo’s Summerland Concert
Series with the ELO Band. She started to revitalize
the Huntridge Theater for the owner by booking
national acts that she had worked with in the past
until it collapsed on her.
With her lungs
damaged from exposure to asbestos, she needed
respite from singing and smoke filled environments.
So Calamity withdrew from the music scene in Vegas
and settled in the outskirts of Las Vegas in the
quaint colorless town of Boulder City where she
opened Calamity Jayne’s Unique Boutique. But that
quiet life was short lived.
The Historic Boulder dam hotel was in dire straights
due to renovation problems and a failing restaurant
on the verge of bankruptcy. They approached Calamity
to take over the restaurant to save the hotel from
closing.
So she came out of her retreat and created
Calamity’s Underground Cabaret in the
Historic Boulder Dam Hotel, with Craig Allan her
number 1 right hand man since the early days of the
original concert club.
It was a
refreshing breath of air to the town, but a few of
the stiffer founding fathers thought otherwise. She
created too much excitement for their pacemakers due
to the crowds that flocked the venue. They were
frightened of change, to say the least and did what
they could to inhibit the club from surviving.
After 6 months, just before the big re-grand opening
of the hotel took place, the fire marshals closed
her down for over exceeding occupancy.
(Editors note…the hotel has suffered greatly since
her departure…the hotel has been described as
lackluster, a mortuary. It had never recovered and
had been on verge of bankruptcy since. Later the
Mateo Brothers opened up the Underground and have
been trying to breathe life back into the town with
music but unfortunately without Calamity.)
After Calamity’s Underground Cabaret was shut
down...
Calamity did
extensive research with her writing partner, Ken
Byler, famous satirist and political writer of
Boulder City, on the history of the Boulder Dam.
They created a story based on facts how a woman
called the Boulder Damsel, was responsible for
building the dam on time. This is now a film in
development to be previewed at the Boulder Dam short
film festival in 2009.
(Boulderdamsel.com)
Calamity Jayne is a music shaman.
…dancing to her
own beat…she writes and performs her mojo on crowds
by drawing from her expansive spiritual
involvements. She has bedded and studied with
recognized tantric teachers, gurus and curenderos
behind the façade of her whacky image. Her current
focus is continuing her formal education at RSE Blue
College in Yelm, Washington w Master teacher, Ramtha,
where she learns ancient teachings of Gnostic wisdom
and quantum science.
She says mastering herself as a human being is her
ultimate quest the rest of it is just mirrors
Calamity
now resides in her place at the tip of Baja next to
the famous Hotel California…She is known as a her-iccane
there.
“Calamity
Jayne is not just a flower child locked in a time
warp…not a high paid mistress of the 80’s, not the
underground queen of Las Vegas camp but a
kaleidoscope of intrigue and fun.”
Dave Olsen
City
attorney of Boulder City, Nevada
