Article reads as follows:

Odd-Mongering Wild Bunch has far-out cookout

By Alex Roth
Daily News Staff Writer

RESEDA- You know it's a Wild Bunch party when you're handed a glossy resume from a guy with a live python wrapped around his neck.

Or when you spot a transvestite in thigh-high leather boots discussing the film business with a man whose body piercings include a hoop ring through his upper gum.

Saturday was barbeque day for the Wild Bunch, a loose group of bikers/ actors/ entertainers whose tattoos and body art provide Hollywood with a heathly supply of movie villains and wack-os.

Snippets of small talk included "Weren't you in that Jeep Cherokee commercial?" and "Try to guess the size of my new pet rat."

Turtle was there, so was Smokey, Doc, Big Jackie, and Lady Di (a man). There were women without teeth and men without eyebrows and people who could claim dual membership in Hells Angels and the Screen Actors Guild.

The group has about 140 members who specialize in playing rough and tumble types, mainly as movie extras. Most have two things in common: A desire to succeed in the film business and a physical appearance that tends to make children gawk.

"In general, I scare people," admitted Mistress Eva, a leather-G-string wearing transvestite who hovers at 6 feet 7 inches when wearing his high heeled boots.

He said his professional opportunities have exploded since he began showing up to casting calls as a woman.

"It's cost me my marriage," he added, fingering his nipple rings. "But the experiences I've had, I wouldn't trade for the world."

The group was formed three years ago by aspiring actors Rico Bueno and Ron Traylor, and its members have had roles in such films as "Waterworld," "Face/Off" and "Escape from L.A."

And they've been getting a lot of publicity lately. Saturday's barbeque attracted a People Magazine reporter, a Brittish journalist and a Korean television crew.

Among the entertainers who showed up Saturday were a professional fire breather, an actor who plays a cackling fiend in a Pacific Bell caller ID commercial, and a man who stars as a "vampire lord" in the new Wesley Snipes movie, "Blade."

The actor in "Blade" is named Erl, and his body decorations include rings in his ears, tongue, gums, back of neck, stomach, nipples and nose bridge.

Just for the heck of it, he also had an operation on his stomach to create a vertical flap of flesh that protrudes above his belly button.

"I just call it a handle," he said. He's done most of his own body art himself, including tattoos on a particularly sensitive area below his waist.

"Hardest thing I've ever done in my life," the 60-year-old former truck driver said. "I put myself in shock a couple of times. Really painful."

Ted Shred, professional fire breather and certified animal wrangler, attended the barbeque with his 12-foot pet python, Eve.

The snake has made appearances in several films and is always the picture of equanimity, Shred said. The same can't be said for some of the people who encounter her.

Once, Eve got loose on a set where most of the extras weren't told a snake was being used in the film.

"There was mass havoc," Shred recalled. Saturday's barbeque was a mellow affair compared to the "clothing optional" bashes of the past, host Kerri Tobin said. Tobin described one recent party as "an all-out flesh fest."

"We earn the name, definately," he said. "You don't get to be in the Wild Bunch without earning it."