'One day in '78 I ran into Coca Crystal, a woman I knew from High Times who hosted a public access cable show called "If I Can't Dance You Can Keep Your Revolution" (after an Emma Goldman quote.) Coca's show featured Yipees and bohemian characters, like Tuli Kupferberg of the Fugs. They smoked pot on air and talked about anarchy. Coca asked me to come on her show and I said sure.
Coca's show was fun but I didn't think anything about it until the next day. I was on the subway and strangers came up to me and said "Hey, I saw you on TV last night." Others accosted me on the street. I thought, "My God, people are watching this stuff!" Public Access programming had been going for a few years. It was a part of New York City's agreement with the cable companies. In exchange for their monopolies the city's two cable companies had to provide the public with access to programming. In other words, they had to let amateurs have television shows. Amazingly, with no money, you could have a show with a potentially huge audience of Manhattan cable subscribers.'
- Glenn O'Brien, Host of TV Party
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