Memories of Betty Blowtorch’s Sweet Rocker

In a year filled with so many devastating losses, we weep yet again. On Saturday morning, Bianca Halstead from Betty Blowtorch died in a car crash at 5:30 a.m. in New Orleans. She’d been the passenger in an ’86 Corvette that spun out of control.

Rocker chicks are a rare and fierce breed, and according to those who knew her best, she was sweet as pie. Her life was celebrated Monday night at the store Serious on Melrose Avenue. Everyone who knew her is devastated.

The news came the morning after a major rock ‘n’ roll triumph, the reopening of Club Cherry at the sublime new rock ruins A.D. in Hollywood. Among the revelers were such first-class scenesters as Dayle Gloria, Coyote Shivers and wife Pauley P., J.D., Casper, Jim Freek, Tairrie B., Ricky Vodka, Jason Shelby, Blest boutique fashion divas Christina Carey, Liz Khader and Clynt Catalyst, dancer-designer Russell, club king Joseph Brooks, promoter Bryan Rabin, and DJ Mike Messex, whom I nailed with an ice cube ‘cause his set was so hot.

Friday’s grand opening of the Shamrock Social Club was a family affair, as close friends and relatives celebrated famed inkslinger Mark Mahoney’s new tattoo parlor. The Sunset Strip venue was built on punk rock love, with veteran performers pitching in as if it were a barn raising.

Caught up with singer Eddie Nichols at the Shamrock, who tells me his Royal Crown Revue is playing Boise, Idaho, on New Year’s Eve. I can’t wait till someone figures out how to make him a star.

And lastly, big props to Mario Taglieri from the Rainbow Bar & Grill, who informs me the Sunset Strip nightclub is turning 30 in April. Rock ‘n’ roll.

Heidi Siegmund Cuda