In March of 1990, I performed Monster in a Box in Washington, D.C., as a benefit for Art Against AIDS. For me, it was a very high evening, and it all went very well.
Three days after I got back to New York City, I got a phone call from a representative of the National Foundation for Mental Health. And she said, “Mr. Gray, we saw your show in Washington and we were knocked out by it. What we’d like to propose, and don’t get me wrong on this, is that you become our national spokesman. I hope you don’t think this is out of line with what you’re doing, but we feel that we’ve never heard anyone so articulate about their mental illness.”