Let's do the Time Warp again...

“It's astounding;
Time is fleeting;
Madness takes its toll.
But listen closely...”

How can I celebrate Halloween without an homage to The Rocky Horror Picture Show?! I was first introduced to it at a small local theatre where a friend and I braved a snowstorm to see the stage production. I loved it. And weddings would never be the same without the show’s timeless hit “Time Warp”.

“Not for very much longer.

I've got to keep control.”

Rocky Horror first debuted as a stage show in London, in 1973. The film that we all know and love came out in 1975. Strange customs of throwing toast and calling out colourful adjectives became de rigur for viewers, who became participants in both film and stage productions across North America. It is undeniably a cult classic to live on forever. Love it or hate it, this show has left an indelible mark in our psyches. Every Halloween night, I like to carry on a tradition of watching it from my VHS tape while giving out candy to the neighbourhood kids. Passersby would find it curious to see us through the window, jumping up and down.

"I remember doing the time-warp
Drinking those moments when
The Blackness would hit me
And the void would be calling..."

Halloween can be so much fun for adults. And “Rocky Horror” is a really fun and slightly sinful way to express yourself and get a little crazy. While the children dress up in Disney costumes, we adults could become Magenta or Riff Raff for a night. Alter egos could safely come out at night and play.

"Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again."

Not only is the show a classic film and musical, we’ve also adapted dance steps that we have somehow  learned even as children. I don’t actually remember learning it. It seems like I’ve just always known it.

"It's just a jump to the left.

And then a step to the right."

I think that we love the inevitable transformations of the chaste Brad and Janet. Dr. Frank N. Furter was right in believing that there is a bit of naughty in all of us just bursting to get out.

"Put your hands on your hips.
You bring your knees in tight."

I love the way the story of “Rocky Horror” deals with same-sex encounters and other risqué themes. There was a lot of free love in the 1970’s but transsexuals and gays were still in the background of society.

"But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane."

Halloween will always be a favourite time for me. We don’t have any pressure of buying gifts for people, no guilt-filled family traditions to abide by on October 31st. It’s just about me and you and participating in an ancient Celtic tradition that has evolved into what it is today.

"Let's do the time-warp again.
Let's do the time-warp again."

 What do you think about these collector's items?

ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW BUTTON DANGLE EARRINGS

 

DR FRANK N FURTER ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW FIGURE



Rocky Horror Picture Show LP Original Cast Tim Curry



I'll Stick to My Woolite

Here is a soap recipe from The White House Cookbook, c. 1887

To set the leach, bore several holes in the bottom of a barrel, or use one without a bottom; prepare a board larger than the barrel, then set the barrel on it, and cut a groove around just outside the barrel, making one groove from this to the edge of the board, to carry off the lye as it runs off, with a groove around it, running into one in the centre of the board. Place all two feet from the ground and tip it so that the lye may run easily from the board into the vessel below prepared to receive it.

Put half bricks or stones around the edge of the inside of the barrel; place on them one end of some sticks about two inches wide, inclining to the centre; on those place some straw to the depth of two inches, over it scatter two pounds of slaked lime.

Put in ashes, about half of a bushel at a time, pack it well, by pounding it down, and continue doing so until the barrel is full, leaving a funnel-shaped hollow in the centre large enough to hold several quarts of water.

Use rain-water boiling hot. Let the water disappear before adding more. If the ashes are packed very tightly it may require two or three days before the lye will begin to run, but it will be the stronger for it, and much better.

I don't even know what half of those things are. Leach? I think I'll stick to my Woolite and gentle handwashing of my vintage garments.