Image used Royalty Free from Magnific
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It’s been a whole long time since I wrote a blog post. You may then wonder what has brought me back to the page. Well, to be honest, I have missed writing. The words still rattle around in my head but getting them down to my fingers and onto the keyboard has proven harder than I thought it would be.
Easy to blame the pandemic, certainly. I can also blame the passing of two of my creative mentors in 2020 for reasons not related to COVID. I can blame the unavoidable changes that women of a certain age go through and the brain fog that comes with it. I can also lay some blame down on an enormous amount of work stress. All of those are certainly a factor.
But what’s brought me back here and made me feel that old compulsion to say a few words was the recent passing of two absolute legends within one day of each other.
I can’t yet talk about Ms. Dolly. That one is going to take me a while to sort out. Today, however, I want to talk about the legendary Tim Curry, because I have a story that is somewhat related to Mr. Curry and his most recognizable movie role.
Let’s get into it…
I have a brother who is seven years older than me. That means when he was in high school, I was still in grade school. Back in the day, there was a movie theater not too far from where we lived that did midnight showings of cult favorite movies like A Clockwork Orange and of course, Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Apparently, back in those days the midnight shows of Rocky Horror could get pretty rowdy. People would bring things like rice to throw during the wedding scene and squirt guns for the rainy scene. My brother ran with that crowd and used to go to the showings. I was too young for all of that.
At some point, my brother also bought the vinyl album of the original soundtrack to the movie and that’s where I come in.
Being a music fan, I loved to dip into the vinyl collection of both my parents and my siblings to entertain myself when I was at home alone after school. How many schoolkids back then were listening to Tiajuana Brass? I mean, I rocked to the song “Tequila” before Pee Wee Herman made it big.
I also ran a groove through my sister’s copy of the Urban Cowboy soundtrack along with my brother’s copy of Gary Wright’s Dream Weaver, along with many others. But I digress.
There among the vinyl was that copy of the soundtrack to Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I played endlessly. I still love all of the music from the film. No fourth grader was more equipped to do the Time Warp than me. “Put your hands on your hips/and bend your knees in time.”
Okay, now we’re getting to where the Venn Diagram of a young Karen and the fabulously campy Tim Curry intersect.
There on the playground of Governor Bent Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I used to love to climb up and swing around what was then called the Monkey Bars. Do they still call them that? Anyhow. Blame my mother for enrolling me in gymnastics class where I learned how to be unafraid of gravity and swinging my body fearlessly on metal bars.
One day at recess I’m climbing and swinging and doing my usual Karen things while singing to myself, “I’m just a sweet Transvestite/from transsexual Transylvaniaaaaa” complete with mimicking the now classic vocal inflections of Mr Curry.
A schoolmate came over and asked me what I was singing, so I sang it again and louder. Needless to say the classmate told the recess monitor. That teacher asked me if I understood what I was singing and rather than wait for an answer, told me in no uncertain terms to not sing that any more. I seem to recall they did me a solid back then and didn’t report it to my parents. But I honestly didn’t understand then (or now) what the big deal was. It was a different time.
Aaaanyhow, today I was out riding my bike and thinking about Mr Curry’s body of work. Of course all over social media I’ve seen posted that incomparable entrance scene of Dr Frank-N-Furter. Of course, since those carefree monkey bar daysI have now seen the movie several times and I better understand the implications of the words to the song. I still love to sing it the way Tim did. Fabulous.
Well then, to say Mr. Curry had an impact on a young and impressionable Karen is a slight understatement. Today I feel enormous sadness at his passing. He had been unwell for some time, and I hope release from his failing body brings peace to both him and his family.
May Tim Curry rest easy in that next place we go, wherever that may be. I hope his comedic timing and fearlessness is entertaining them all on the other side.
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In addition to not blogging lately, I also don’t post much on social media anymore, but recently I did share the amazing news that the book Chicken Soup for the Soul “Lessons Learned from my Cat” is being made into an audiobook. You may recall I had a story published in that book back in 2023.
Recently I learned that the audio version of my story from the book would be included in a Chicken Soup for the Soul podcast episode. It is the August 21 episode and can be found wherever you usually go for podcasts. Here also is a direct link: Chicken Soup Podcast