francis cameron

Over the weekend, thanks to some very good friends, I watched the DVD of
The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I saw one of the original stage shows
when I was in Sydney during the 70s. Much more recently the film was on
the telly. My set is quite small. Many of the details were lost. The DVD
filled in many of the gaps. Afterwards I was left wondering :: is The
Rocky Horror Picture Show one of the influences on present-day Goth? I'm
much too new to Goth to know for sure, but I did recognise some
similarities. The white mask makeup of the principals in one of the set
numbers near the end. The breath-taking impact of Dr Frank-N-Furter's
first cross-dressing. The black knickers. The stockings and suspender
belt. The high heels. The front lace-up corset and the elbow-length
mittens. All so very striking. An ensemble to die for. And that's just
one image among many others of glorious camp. The bits I've seen on the
goth scene - and the bits I've not yet seen in real-life flesh.
Exuberant. High camp.

Have I got the sequence right? Are my fragments of memory still valid?
First there was rock-n-roll in the shape of Bill Haley and the Comets.
There's a lot of seething swirling rock-n-roll in the RHPS. And the RHPS
was just before or overlapped with punk - though I can't be sure about
that because my early intimation of punk came from just one film
presented in the bordello-like décor of a Sydney cinema. And that was
back in the 70s as well as half a planet away from the home of the
action. Did Goth come after? Picking up bits and pieces of influence
along the way? before growing into distinctive varieties, each in their
own right?

My own first few tentative steps into Gothland haven't as yet taken me
anywhere near the throbbing heart of Goth. Where should I go next?

--
Francis

songweaver

And Frank's entrance is one of the best I've ever seen. Takes a real man
to dress like that and be that comfortable with himself, just flinging
that cape off of him. Love it.

I had the pleasure of seeing a local small theater production of the
stage show. Campy to the extreme. And the costumes were even more Goth
than in the movie.

Wasn't RHPS from 1975? If so, there's some overlap with early punk.
Goth, I believe, was an offshoot of punk, or so I've always been told.
Possibly Goth was influenced by the dress and attitude of RHPS.

No clue, as I'm not really in the scene myself but like some of the
music. Disneyland just had Bat Days this past weekend. It's an
unofficial - meaning not officially sponsored by Disney - gathering of
Goths at the Magic Kingdom. About 1000 people showed up, some with
kids; one picture from the LA Times showed a 3-year-old in a Snow White
dress with her Goth mom <g> This happens every year about this time,
so if you happen to venture across the pond to the Left Coast of the
States... :-)

Blessings,
Songweaver
email: Lady_Kimmer at altcastlenet dot com

will

| > Over the weekend, thanks to some very good friends, I watched the DVD | of
| > The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I saw one of the original stage shows
| > when I was in Sydney during the 70s. Much more recently the film was | on
| > the telly. My set is quite small. Many of the details were lost. The | DVD
| > filled in many of the gaps. Afterwards I was left wondering :: is The
| > Rocky Horror Picture Show one of the influences on present-day Goth? | I'm
| > much too new to Goth to know for sure, but I did recognise some
| > similarities. The white mask makeup of the principals in one of the | set
| > numbers near the end. The breath-taking impact of Dr Frank-N-Furter's
| > first cross-dressing. The black knickers. The stockings and suspender
| > belt. The high heels. The front lace-up corset and the elbow-length
| > mittens. All so very striking. An ensemble to die for. And that's just
| > one image among many others of glorious camp. The bits I've seen on | the
| > goth scene - and the bits I've not yet seen in real-life flesh.
| > Exuberant. High camp.
|
| And Frank's entrance is one of the best I've ever seen. Takes a real
man
| to dress like that and be that comfortable with himself, just flinging
| that cape off of him. Love it.

Yeah....Franks entrance was always my favourite....had been for years
til I saw Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carribean! ;-)
| > There's a lot of seething swirling rock-n-roll in the RHPS. And the | RHPS
| > was just before or overlapped with punk - though I can't be sure about
| > that because my early intimation of punk came from just one film
| > presented in the bordello-like décor of a Sydney cinema. And that was
| > back in the 70s as well as half a planet away from the home of the
| > action. Did Goth come after? Picking up bits and pieces of influence
| > along the way? before growing into distinctive varieties, each in | their
| > own right?
|
| Wasn't RHPS from 1975? If so, there's some overlap with early punk.
| Goth, I believe, was an offshoot of punk, or so I've always been told.

Well....kinda....it waw a mix of that and an extension of the
futurists....there was a sort of move from New Romantic to Futurist to
Goth for a lot of (not all) people.....people got fed up of the wispy
hedonism of the NR and went for something a bit darker....as guitars
hadn't featured for a while....

Mind you, Bauhaus and the like had been slogging around throught the NR
thing.....andhow they were loved....

| Possibly Goth was influenced by the dress and attitude of RHPS.

More punk.....I mean look at columbia! Total punk chic!

| > My own first few tentative steps into Gothland haven't as yet taken
me
| > anywhere near the throbbing heart of Goth. Where should I go next?

Whitby?

trin

Will articulated:

/me again smiles sweetly at Hubby

--
Trin....... is both and neither. Leave the spam in.
Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is
essential to your own.
http://www.mercianeclectics.dsl.pipex.com
http://www.livejournal.com/users/tequilatrinity

will

| > Whitby?
|
| /me again smiles sweetly at Hubby

Heh....only been a couple a couple of times....great fun.

francis

In message <big14m$8sl5f$1@ID-22610.news.uni-berlin.de>, Songweaver
<mjg@deltanet.com> writes


It's a nice idea. Thank you for the invitation. My last visit was in
1965. I went to Los Angeles for Holy Week and then to Pesach (a genuine
Feast of the Passover) in New Jersey where they gave me the chair
otherwise reserved for Elijah ..
--
Francis

francis

In message <1061931994.79583.0@damia.uk.clara.net>, Will
<skellington@clara.co.uk> writes


Now that's a happy thought. I'm too late to do anything about this year.
Perhaps I can join a party next year .. )
--
Francis

will

| In message <MPG.19b624cbd240b8a79896d9@news.dsl.pipex.com>, Trin
| <tequilatrinity@AT.dsl.invalid> writes
| >Will articulated:
| >
| >> Whitby?
| >
| >/me again smiles sweetly at Hubby
| >
| Do we have the beginnings of a urp contingent here for Whitby 2004?

Alas no....much as I love the goth thing, I don't do conventions.......I
meet people for coffee though :-)

Will
(a bit shy)

jani

So, go meet people for coffee in Whitby

Jani

jani

We could try hippies in Whitby and see how that works ..

;-)

Jani