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THE
STARGAZERS I: Diana and Cameron
Synopsis
August, 1976. Oakland, the open-air coliseum during a live concert.
Journalism student Diana Hilton is literally swept off her feet
by British rock star Cameron Prince when his fans tilt the stage
and he keeps them from being swept off into the audience. With
her at that concert is Daphne Dalton, a close friend. Diana
and Cameron are destined to be lovers, and indeed suffer love-at-first-sight.
But Cameron is a man manipulated by his own success and the
people who serve him, and Diana is a very young woman who knows
little of his sordid, jaded world, and even less how to survive
in it. The autumn following their meeting is a series of nightmarish
incidents for the lovers -- Cameron's messy divorce from his
wife, Chloe; his kidnapping of their son, Zachariah; his subsequent
arrest in Geneva for child abandonment; his suicide attempt
on Thanksgiving Day; and Diana's flight to Geneva. During this
period it is Diana's friends Daphne and Brenda Broadmoor who
help her through the crisis.
January, 1977. Cameron and Diana are back in California, where
Cameron is producing an American tour for his friend Jimmy Osborne.
Diana is confused by the open hostility shown her by Cameron's
agent, Peter Gibson; but it is not until she encounters his
publicist, Sybil Van Klein, that Diana realizes the disasters
that plague them are a carefully constructed plot to drive her
out of Cameron's life. Diana does indeed leave Cameron at the
end of the tour, when Sybil injects him with heroin after he
collapses from nervous exhaustion; Diana finds him in a drug-induced
euphoria.
August, 1977. Back home in San Francisco, Diana begins work
on her first book about rock music, working with local musicians.
She moves into a flat in the Haight-Ashbury with magazine editor
Anna Mae Wright. Cameron and Diana encounter one another again
in November, when Diana goes to see Jimmy Osborne play at The
Old Waldorf and is confronted by Cameron, who has flown to San
Francisco on Jimmy's insistence that his tour is going badly.
Diana faints backstage at the club and is taken to the hospital
by Anna Mae and Peter Gibson.
Cameron returns the same night to New York and splits up with
girlfriend Monika. He has planned to spend the holidays with
Jack and Juliana Orchid, but, unknown to either Cameron or Diana,
Peter Gibson and Anna Mae Wright have other plans.
December, 1977. Cameron and Peter arrive at Diana's flat in
the middle of her Christmas party, and Peter and Anna Mae announce
they were married in Reno the previous weekend. Anna Mae, who
harbors intense jealousy towards Diana, has joined forces with
Peter and Sybil Van Klein to undermine Cameron and Diana's reunion;
and she shatters Cameron's utopia by some unsubtle attacks during
a plane flight to Los Angeles. When Cameron retaliates, Peter
summarily quits as Cameron's agent in the heat of ill-advised
chivalry.
January, 1978. When the doomed foursome arrive in Los Angeles,
Cameron fires Sybil as well as Peter. Afraid Cameron will discover
from the state of their books they have been spending money
they are unable to account for, Peter and Sybil conceive a plan
they think will make Cameron leave Diana and flee back to them
in a wallow of self-pity.
Back in San Francisco, Cameron and Diana throw a gala party
to announce their engagement. Two weeks later Diana interviews
drummer Joel Coventry and is so intoxicated by his hashish incense
that she passes out in his house. When she awakens the next
morning she cannot remember what happened during the night,
and when she arrives home Cameron is packed and ready to leave
her.
The lovers have reached an impasse, neither one willing to make
the move needed for a reconciliation. Cameron does indeed flee
back to the safety of Peter and Sybil; but while on tour in
April, he sends Diana a telegram asking her to come to his show
at The Oakland Coliseum. Sybil has anticipated them yet again,
however...
May, 1978. Rock promoter Benny Garland asks Diana to be Mistress
of Ceremonies at his benefit for Greenpeace. The headliners
are Cameron, Jimmy and Jack Orchid. By the time Cameron arrives
at the benefit with Jimmy and Jack, he is too drunk and has
taken too many pills to perform. It is left to Diana to shock
him into sobriety, and although she does get him onstage, she
realizes they have nothing left together. She leaves him lying
unconscious on a couch at the post-benefit party in Beverly
Hills.
When Cameron comes-to in his hotel room and demands to see Diana,
Sybil tells him Diana has returned his engagement ring with
the diamond heart. She gives him what he thinks is the ring
but is actually a good copy. Cameron throws it out the window,
and it falls twelve stories to the ground, where it shatters
on the concrete pavement.
January, 1979. By the time Cameron discovers that Peter and
Sybil gave him a copy of the diamond heart, he finds his life
folding around him like a house of cards; and as one blow after
another lands on him, he is unable to find his way back to Diana.
April, 1979. Cameron's first publicist and lover, Charity, returns
and they become bed partners again. When his new album tapes
are rejected by ARC Records, Cameron picks up a girl at a party
and attacks her with an ice pick, hospitalizing her. His subsequent
breakdown makes it impossible for him to work, and he goes to
London to see a psychiatrist.
Autumn, 1979. Diana has a short affair with Phillippe de Regazza,
a devastating Spanish/Cherokee Indian model. Their affair is
sabotaged by Diana's friend Madeline Duchamps, who covets Phillippe
for herself; and by Diana and Phillippe themselves, as they
are both confused about their feelings.
Cameron, back in New York, believes he has his newly-acquired
psychosis under control, but discovers he has simply changed
one manifestation for another when he picks up a teenaged boy
at an industry party after smoking Angel Dust, and spends the
night with him.
January, 1980. At his birthday party in London, Cameron meets
Victoria Lyndell, a model who bears a striking resemblance to
Diana. Happy to feel anything at all for any woman (he believes
his night with the male groupie has somehow unmanned him), Cameron
takes Vikki back to Switzerland with him. While they are cross-country
skiing, Cameron hits an outcropping of rock and breaks his leg
in three places. He is hospitalized for several months and forced
to cancel his already scheduled World Tour. Shortly after that
Peter realizes Cameron has begun to beat Vikki -- although the
marks on her are obvious, Peter is afraid to mention it to Cameron.
March, 1980. Madeline Duchamps meets rock music producer Aaron
Entwhistle. When she introduces him to Diana, they are strongly
attracted and begin to date; but Aaron, who is a close friend
of Cameron's, is concerned that Diana and Cameron might still
be in love. Aaron asks Diana to come and live with him, which
she does, though they both seem to have strong misgivings.
June, 1980. Diana, Aaron and Brenda go to Los Angeles, where
they attend a party given by ARC Records. Cameron, Vikki, Charity,
Peter and Sybil are also at the party. Diana and Brenda find
Vikki crying in the Ladies' Room; Diana confronts Cameron with
his cruelty to Vikki, and he breaks down, begging Diana to return
to him. When Aaron comes looking for Diana, Cameron is crying
in her arms. Aaron leaves the party, telling Diana she must
make a decision that night -- to return to Cameron or stay with
him. Diana, frightened by the violence Cameron has exhibited
towards Vikki, goes to Aaron, who is waiting in their hotel
suite.
July, 1981. More than a year after their tragic meeting in Beverly
Hills, Diana and Cameron have again made drastic changes in
their lives. On her own after leaving Aaron, Diana is hosting
a television talk show in San Francisco.
January, 1983. Diana's first book about rock music is published.
During this period Cameron has been making slow but steady progress
towards becoming not just a superstar, but a strong, self-contained
man. The horror of his existence during the late '70's has ended,
and he is at last content. With his son Zachariah he travels
the world and performs for the first time in five years.
June, 1984. Diana meets entrepreneur Dick Calloway, and together
they begin work on a film based on her affair with Cameron.
By September the screenplay is written, and Diana has asked
Phillippe, now a fashion illustrator, to do the costume portfolio
for the film. In November Dick contacts Cameron, who has expressed
the desire to become a director, and asks him to direct the
film, entitled The Diamond Heart. The film has been accepted
for production by Samuel Goldwin Productions and the book version,
still in-progress, will be published by The New American Library.
January, 1985. Diana and Phillippe fly to New York. Diana goes
with Cameron to a party at Jack Orchid's house. Cameron tells
Diana he has decided to direct the film, and Jack expresses
interest in producing it. Diana worries that this will cause
friction between Cameron and Jack, who although friends have
also been rivals.
Back in Los Angeles, Diana and Phillippe buy a condominium in
Westwood. In May, Cameron and Zachariah arrive in town, and
production work begins on the film. Diana, thrown into daily
proximity with Cameron, is forced to see the changes in him.
She is torn between the peacefulness of her life with Phillippe
and the sweetness of her newly burgeoning success, and the pull
that Cameron still exerts on her heart.
Filming is completed in September, and Cameron leaves for New
York to begin work on a new album. Diana works with the film
editors; Phillippe begins classes at The Los Angeles Institute
of Fashion. A week later Cameron sees Aaron at a party in New
York. Aaron tells Cameron he believes Diana is still in love
with Cameron, and has been all these years.
The next day Cameron returns to Los Angeles, and goes to Diana's
condo while Phillippe is in school. By the time the afternoon
is over they are again lovers. Lost in one another, they are
discovered by Phillippe. He suggests they all go out to dinner
so Diana can decide which one of them will be living alone in
the future.
December, 1985. The Diamond Heart premiere. Diana and Cameron
have set their wedding date for the following March.
Valentine's Day, 1986. Diana and Cameron are married in the
garden of Jack's estate in Bel Air, with Jim Osborne as best
man and Brenda as Maid of Honor.
Sample Chapter
Chapter
One: Summer, 1976
He stared into the scotch. He wondered why it was so fascinating.
It wavered, and shimmered in the glass, and seemed to envelope
him. Perhaps he could enter it, drown in it, become part of
its' world. He shook his head, and threw the shot down his throat.
His beard was growing. It was in the itchy stage. Before he
returned home, he'd have to shave. But he didn't care what he
looked like, what he wore, did or thought. And going home was
too scary to contemplate. Where was home, by the way? He'd forgotten.
It all started that day at the Oakland Coliseum. He'd let them
talk him into headlining one of those damned outdoor concerts,
the ones where they packed in ten thousand screaming dope fiends,
wanna-be groupies and scam artists looking to lift wallets and
drugs in the crowd. Maybe live concerts had been different in
the 1960's (he couldn't say, personally, because he was still
struggling in London pubs at the time) but in the mid-1970's
they were more like bear-baitings in the arena.
July in California, he hadn't expected it to be nearly 100 degrees.
He wasn't even on tour at the time, but recording his new album
at Different Fur studios. It was Grace's fault. Grace Slick,
that was. Back singing with The Starship, she'd convinced him
to play the concert. He'd never imagined he'd be a bigger name
in California than they were, but he'd been lucky with a few
albums that went platinum.
Anne hadn't bothered to come. She had her excuses ready, as
usual -- it was too far to fly with the baby, she wasn't feeling
well, etc. etc. Of course, he didn't want her there anyway.
There, or anywhere near him. For now until eternity. Or unconsciousness,
whichever came first.
He'd loved San Francisco on sight. Like a Faerie city, perched
on its' little spur of land, nearly surrounded by water. No
haze of pollution above it, only mist that could have transported
it straight from another world. The people were different too;
there was less of an edge, less attitude, and a lot more seeming
freedom. He wondered what it had been like there in 1967, the
notorious 'Summer of Love'. Many of his friends had been a part
of that, and now, for the first time, he regretted not having
seen it as well. A strange thing, since he had been part of
another youthquake, one happening halfway round the world, in
London. As usual, he wanted it all.
Looking out from the backstage over the sea of colorful humanity,
he 'd forgotten to put on his hat. His bright red hair was a
beacon, and before long the girls had spotted him, were jumping
about and waving, screaming and tugging on one another too 'Look!
It's him!' 'No, it's not', 'yes, it is!' until a couple of brave
souls ventured too close to the barrier, and he retreated to
his trailer.
He was destined to never perform that day, however. After donning
his silk suit and fedora, he went into the wings to watch The
Starship perform. Marty Balin and Grace had finally made up
their quarrel, whatever that was -- with that group the bickering
seemed continuous. Then again, as fond as he was of his guys
in his current backup band, Alien Cockroaches, would he still
be playing with them in ten years? Not if they still had that
name, he decided...he was sick of it already.
Grace still had it, though the booze and abuse would take her
voice eventually. But now, with the huskiness just a little
more pronounced than it had been during her heyday (and didn't
that come awfully young for performers, he thought, feeling
every one of his twenty-nine years and counting?) she had the
crowd loving 'er. And Marty, though older and more weathered,
would never lose his voice...some performers just kept going
till they keeled over. That was how he wanted to go, he thought...perhaps
without the bright red hair, styled short in front and on the
sides, long in the back. It was a hairstyle that would gain
popularity in years to come, but in 1976 it looked as alien
as the name of his band.
He saw the two girls standing quietly at the other end of the
stage, watching the performers from the wings, well out of the
way of roadies and others. They were both pretty, young and
with the long, straight hair popular that year. In this respect
they resembled most of the other girls in the audience. But
they weren't noisy, or jumping about, or generally revelling
in the chaos that was an open-air, Benny Garland concert.
Instead they swayed gently to the music, intent on Grace's singing.
A woman with a clipboard, who looked to be closer to his age
than theirs, came to speak to them, and they nodded and whispered
amongst themselves. Then clipboard retreated, and left them
to listen once again. The taller girl had the longest hair,
down past her waist. It was luminous honey-blond, without the
phony-looking blond streaks everybody favored. Her face was
porcelain pale, and she wore a large straw hat to keep it that
way. A long, natural cotton dress trimmed in lace encased what
appeared to be a terrific figure, with a really standout bosom.
He was tied between being a tits or legs man, and whichever
was better on a particular bird usually one out.
The other girl had strawberry blond hair, and the complexion
to go with it. They both had green eyes, the redhead paler,
like water jade, the blond darker, like green olives. A strange
alliteration, he thought, laughing.
This attracted the girls' attention, and they focused on him
for a moment. The blonde simply stared at him, and the redhead
whispered something to her that made her nod, and smile slightly.
A thrill went through him. Was it possible she hadn't known
who he was? He really had to meet a college co-ed who'd had
to be told his identity.
He started towards the back of the stage, where a catwalk ran
around the scrim to the other side. But just as he put one booted
foot on the walk, the entire stage started to shake. What was
happening? An earthquake? He'd heard those were pretty frequent
in California.
He was heading towards the stage when it happened again. The
whole thing was tilting to one side! Now he could hear people
screaming, and see them sliding down the stage into the audience.
The two girls he'd seen before came running toward him, slipping
and hanging on to one another. He managed to keep his balance
by hanging onto a pole, and when he saw the blond girl starting
to go down, he caught hold of her arm and pulled her against
him.
"Hello, love," he said. "We've simply got to
stop meeting like this."
She laughed -- what a relief to meet a girl who didn't giggle
-- but started to scream in his ear when she saw her friend
fall and start to slide towards the audience. Good thing the
redhead was wearing jeans, he thought. "Daphne! "She's
falling!"
He thought he detected a cultured British accent, which amused
him. His own accent, though lately he'd been working on it,
was far from cultured. He grown up mostly on the streets of
Brixton, and what knowledge he possessed he'd mostly fought
for. "Don't worry, love -- there are a million people down
there. They'll catch 'er."
"They're the ones who caused it!" She turned wild
green eyes to his, and he was immediately smitten. "You're
English?"
"Yes, just like you. Well, not just like. I'm Brixton,
you're Richmond."
"Close; Osterley Park. I'm Diana Hilton."
"Cameron Prince. Did you say the audience caused the earthquake?"
"It's not a quake! It's nothing like a quake," she
said contemptuously, and he assumed she'd been living in California
for a long time. "The kids in the audience managed to break
some of the supports, so it tilted and everybody slid off."
A chant had started up below them. Cameron couldn't really see
what was happening just below the stage, but he could hear them
chanting his name, over and over. "Prince! Prince! Prince!
We want Prince!" Then there was some muttering, like, "We
didn' get 'im -- he must've gotten off!"
"Your fans, I presume?" Diana asked him sarcastically.
"Either that or hired killers. Probably hired by my wife."
He hoped he saw disappointment cross her face, but he wasn't
sure. "Soon to be ex-wife," he amended quickly.
"I think the stage has stopped moving," was all she
said. "We could make it to the edge and get down to the
grass."
They held on to one another and managed to get to the edge,
where there were people waiting to help them down. What they
didn't know was that an ambitious paparazzi had somehow gotten
photographs of them while they were clinging to the post --
and one another.
***
Cameron perused the menu at Chez Michel. "We'll have a
bottle of your best Sauvignon Blanc."
The waiter regarded Diana and Daphne somewhat dubiously. "Are
the young ladies 21?" He asked.
"I'm buying it," Cameron snapped. "Go away, and
come back in ten minutes for our orders."
The waiter left, looking upset. "Are you always so charming
with people serving you?" Diana asked him, but she was
smiling.
"Oh, bugger that," was his response. "I can't
believe you have to be 21 in this country just to have a glass
of wine with your dinner."
"Primitive, isn't it?" Daphne asked him, grinning
wickedly.
"Oh, you're not drawing me into that trap, young lady,"
he responded severely. "What were you two doing backstage,
anyway? You weren't working there, were you?"
"In a way," Diana responded. "We work at S.F.
state university, for the New School. Benny Garland donated
some of the money from the concert to the school for a New School
building."
"Di's the assistant to the Dean of the New School, so we
got to come," Daphne added. "I'm the Coordinator."
"I thought you two were students."
"Oh, we are. We both work about 20 hours a week."
"Industrious, you American birds. You make me feel like
a feeble old man."
"Oh, right," Daphne snorted. "Pull the other
one!"
"Now where did you get that expression from, I wonder?"
Cameron asked her, laughing? "From our other demure maiden
here?"
Now Daphne laughed. "You mean Diana? She looks demure,
doesn't she? You seem to be overlooking the fact that she's
5'10" tall and probably could've saved you, if you'd been
the one sliding by her."
Cameron took a startled glance in Diana's direction, who batted
her eyelashes at him mockingly. She was taller than she'd seemed,
particularly when she was clinging to him. He hadn't been mistaken
about that body, however, particularly the cleavage part. The
waiter was heading back in their direction, accompanied by the
Maitre'd.
"Sir," the Maitre'd began, in obviously discomfort,
"I'm sorry, but the young ladies...I mean, in this country..."
"My uncle forgot to mention that we'll have two Pepsis,"
Diana cut in, smiling at him disengenuously.
When they were gone, Cameron fixed her with an indignant glare.
"Uncle!" Was all he said. They were still laughing
when the long-suffering waiter came to get their order. He had
to leave and come back a few minutes later.
***
The summer Diana Hilton met Cameron Prince she was a nineteen
year-old virgin, working for San Francisco State University
and pursuing a bachelor's degree in Journalism. Cameron was
twenty-nine, the father of a three-year-old son, married to
a woman he didn't love and desperately wanted rid of. When they
became lovers and he discovered her virginity, Cameron felt
as if she was a gift he'd been given, chauvinistic as it sounds,
and he had to prove himself worthy of receiving it.
Around the beginning of September Diana was leaving work when
she saw a shock of red hair in the distance,and knew it was
him. He wore faded jeans and a denim workshirt, and she shook
her head, smiling. She wondered if she would ever understand
his strangely eclectic way of dressing -- one night like a European
gentleman, the next like a construction worker.
When he saw her he started running across the lawn in the middle
of the campus, while the two girls she was walking with stood
staring round-eyed. She started running as well, suddenly feeling
she couldn't wait another moment to be in his arms, and he picked
her up, twirling her around until her hair fanned out around
them.
"Cameron, everybody's staring at us!"
"Let them! They're just jealous of two people in love."
He pulled her after him and they ran to where his rented Mercedes
was parked by the curb, drawing admiring glances from passers-by.
They leaped in and he shot away into the street, cutting off
a Pinto and a Volkswagen bug. Amid a chorus of horns they sped
down the street and around a corner.
"You'll get us killed, you fool."
"At least we'll go together."
"Bizarre. You are totally bizarre."
"My old drummer is playing at Winterland tonight. He's
in the group VOYAGE. Have you ever heard of them?"
"No."
"That was a silly question. You've never heard of THE ROLLING
STONES."
"Have too."
"Well, I promised him I'd do a guest star spot with them.
We have to be there in forty-five minutes for the sound check."
"But I'm starving!"
"Pete can go and get us some sandwiches."
"Two for you."
He laughed and pinched her knee so she jumped on the leather
seat. "Little bird, are you trying to fatten me up?"
"Definitely yes."
"Well, forget it. This is part of my image."
"You're changing your image. Everyone says so. Besides,
it doesn't interest me. Only the real Cameron Prince interests
me." He turned to look at her. "I think you're the
only one who's ever found the real Cameron Prince."
Two days later they sat staring at one another over coffee in
Enrico's on Broadway. Diana was wondering if there had ever
been another such beautiful man in the history of the world.
She traced the line of Cameron's strong jaw with her eyes, the
curve of his sensual lips, his straight, classic nose. He leaned
over and put his hand over her's. "Di, I've extended my
stop here by two weeks. At the end of next week I have to go
back to London. There are some matters I have to take care of
there. But I'll be back as soon as I can. You trust me, don't
you?"
She smiled weakly. She was young, but not that young, and she'd
never been naive. "I believe you mean what you say. Whether
or not you'll still mean it in a month, I have no idea. I hope
you mean what you say. I think I'm in love with you, you arrogant
bastard."
Cameron grinned. "I'll be back. Will you be my virgin bride?"
"You made sure it's too late for that. Get the waiter to
bring me a hot fudge sundae. I always eat when I'm nervous."
"No chance. I don't want my wife to weigh more than I do.
Take this instead. But don't try to eat it." |
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