Paul "Nova" Black

The Androgynous Anarchist him/herself.

Paul is larger than life- he is a Nova. He is vain, he is fashionable, he is a tough bitch. He knows, somewhere deep down that he was never meant to be a 'he'. He plays up his looks, often sending people into a mess of confusion about him- using the glam rock trend of identifying as neither a man nor a woman. He rejects what most people think of him (unless of course he agrees with their opinion). He tends to be needy, manipulative and a bit f a follower. He will adapt his personality to those around him- a social chameleon. There are only a few people he trusts enough to show his true face, and if you are not one of them, expect to be greeted by whatever you want or expect to see.

Paul Edwin Black was born in New Jersey- the armpit of the universe. His parents are regular working class folk. His dad works in a factory and his mom is a homemaker raising him and his little brother and sister. Paul has never had the approval of his father- from the moment he caught Paul playing dress-up in his mother's clothes and make-up, his father has rejected him, trying to get him to "man up". Paul often found himself at the wrong end of the belt because he did things his father didn't consider manly. His father forced him to play baseball, football and run track in an effort to toughen him up, but it just never took.

When Paul was 14, he tried to kiss his best friend Jacob and was subsequently victim to a beating worse than anything his father had given him. From that day forward, he was the local 'ponce', 'fairy', 'princess' 'cunt' and other such epitaphs with the local boys. He was put in the hospital twice- once for a broken leg and once with internal bleeding when his kidneys were bruised by a particularly harsh beating. By 16, Paul had discovered glam rock- David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople, Sweet and even the New York Dolls to some extent. He embraced it, carving out a new persona for himself in Nova- like Ziggy Stardust only more.

This did not go over well with his father (and to some extent his mother as well) and he endured more beatings and punishments and long hours of sermons from the local priest. He dropped out of High School at 17- a year before graduating and was promptly ran away to New York. He ran with only his Telecaster, 200 bucks, a bag of clothes and a couple of sandwiches. He knew no one, but managed to worm his way into the clubs and after two week on the streets, found a place where he could crash on the couch.

He got to New York and joined a small glam rock band called Brava!, where he sang, playing off his natural androgyny to bewitch the crowd into loving him. They actually had a fair amount of success, but then the lead guitar player OD'ed on heroine and the band broke up after that. It was around this time that he started becoming more hardcore- not just with the drugs, but also with the music. He found his way into Greenwich Village and the Arts Center where he discovered punk rock. From there he found CBGB and a small band called Waking Bullet. He managed to become friends with the people in the band and when they broke up, he joined Wet Randy with Jesse Shooter as the lead guitarist and back-up singer.

Wet Randy always had problems- Wendy and Jackson never really accepted Paul (mostly because Nova was a better singer than Wendy and in, his opinion, far prettier). Living with Jesse gave Paul a chance to be himself. After a year long crush on Jesse, Paul eventually realized that the two would make a terrible couple and started to turn his attentions elsewhere. (Because Jesse tended to be a bit an uptight, know-it-all, neat freak.) He played up his feminine side and took advantage of the unknowing men and occasionally the unknowing women. When Wendy and Jackson found out about Jesse and put him in the hospital, Nova decided s/he was going to cut that bitch a new nose.

And s/he did. With a broken whiskey bottle.

His father managed to toughen him up after all.

Paul stayed by Jesse's side while he recovered. The pair still lives in the brownstone in Greenwich Village and haunt all the best clubs looking for a new drummer. Lately, Paul has been more Nova even off stage.