She took the remainder of her inheritance and sought out famous rock star photographer BOB GRUEN to
shoot her promotional photos. She says, “I felt like I was in the presence of God.”
However, when the money was gone--so were the “friends”. Undaunted, she became a fixture with ROCK
GIRL PRODUCTIONS--one of the few entities that actually had a woman in charge in a very male-dominated
arena. RGP booked all the venues in Manhattan at the time, like THE BLACK CAT, CAT CLUB, NIRVANA and
CHINA CLUB. Under the RGP umbrella, Karli shared the stage with the likes of ANDY TIMMONS (DANGER
DANGER) and JOE LYNN TURNER. Karli sang backup vocals, had an occasional solo and, if nothing else, was
a female presence on stage to shake her ass and an occasional tambourine. At one of these Rock jams, she
was drinking with ACE FREHLEY. “He kept showing me pictures of his kids,” she recalls. They were pretty
wasted when Ace said, “Hey, let’s do some ZEPPELIN ‘Rock and Roll!’” People were taking bets on who
would fall down first, Karli or Ace--but they propped each other up and finished the number.
Karli also recalls the acting bits she did during this time to make some extra cash on the side—walk-on roles
in episodes of “30 Rock” and “Law and Order”. And there was her short stint with The WWE. She drove up to
Albany to play the mistress of VINCE MCMAHON and donned a gold lame’ dress for a skit. One day, her
friends said, “Let’s go check out the Russian restaurant PARADISE--I hear they dance with swords on their
heads and crazy shit like that!”
Next thing she knew, she was meeting the manager of the band playing at Paradise and justlikethat, Karli
becomes the “Rocker Chick of the Russian Front”. She spent 10 years at Paradise (later destroyed by
Hurricane Sandy)—until she became pregnant. After the birth of her son, she signed on at THE
WINTERGARDEN (another Russian restaurant) on the boardwalk of Brighton Beach. Another 10 years went
by…until the restaurant burned down (a fire set by the homeless living around the boardwalk).
She next appeared at EUPHORIA--to complete the trilogy of Russian restaurants. Of her time with the
Russians, she says that they were generous and paid very well. And Karli gave them their money’s worth-with a full cabaret act, complete with costumes, dance numbers, impersonations--the whole bit. She had
made a name for herself with the “Ruskies” and they appreciated her talents. The wealthy Russian people
would tip her well. “One dude used to pay me $20 every 15 minutes to sing ‘Oh Darlin’. Another hired TAYLOR
DANE to show up and do a few songs for his birthday.” And no expense was spared in food and liquor for it
was “The Russian Way”—according to Karli. And the wives of the wealthy knew how to party too: ”They would
pull up a chair in front of me and strip while I sang ‘Summertime’. I’m not sure why that song had that
particular effect on them--the women molested me more than the men!” She lovingly refers to those times
in Russian restaurants as her “Moose and Squirrel” days.
During this time, she also did her first original 5 song EP with MICK JAMES. They also collaborated on a song
on CRISS ANGEL’S “Mind Freak”--that is Karli with Mick James on “Tomb of the Damned” doing the pseudoIndian chant. She describes the sounds she utters as something she likens to “Karli on crack”.
However, Karli began to have hip pain. All those years of giving it all she had for “Mother Russia” caused a
degeneration that required both hips to be replaced. During her recuperation, she not only gained weight,
but lost her spirit.