The Rocky Lips
Thursday, March 15th, 2012
Not being a tremendous fan of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it was no surprise that I nearly held out in my haggling with Patricia Quinn, who portrayed Magenta in the film, over the cost of getting a signed glossy and an photo with her. However, knowing the cult status of the film and the fact that it is Ms. Quinn’s lips that were used in the promotional posters and material related to the film’s release, I caved a bit and paid the $30 for the combo (although the original price was $40). Her handler was pretty nice though and invited Jamie to get into one of the pictures as well, so we got a bit of a two-fer there. Read the rest of this entry »
Neither I nor Patti LaBelle are strangers to Billboard’s Number One Hits charts. I’m a student and collector of music, while Ms. LaBelle actually had two songs hit the coveted number one position. The first one came in 1975 when the song Lady Marmalade by LaBelle, the band she was fronting before become a solo act, topped the charts for a week in March. The second came as the result of another collaboration – this time with Michael McDonald. The song On My Own capped out at number one for three weeks in June in 1986. 
She most certainly wasn’t your typical Laurel and Hardy leading lady, but Diosa Costello was about as close as we came to having one in their 1945 feature film The Bullfighters. She even had a rousing musical number called Bim Bam Bum, which although some may claim it has no place in a Laurel and Hardy film, I quite enjoy. Even as of this writing, Diosa Costello is one of a very, very few number of L&H co-stars who are still living. Unfortunately, in the intervening years, we have lost track of her. 
I’ve gotta be honest: when it comes to Sally Kirkland, I knew almost nothing about her. But when it comes to the Academy Awards, I know plenty. And there was a point – in 1987 to be exact – when Ms. Kirkland’s performance in the movie Anna garnered her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role. In case you didn’t hear me, I said Leading Actress! But circling back around, when it came to that particular movie, I knew virtually nothing either. 
As I entered the heavy metal era wholeheartedly in the late 1980’s, there was one movie that epitomized the metal-headedness of our generation of morons and that was Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. While Keanu Reeves, who portrayed Ted, went on to bigger and maybe-not-so-much-better things, his partner in headbanging time travel, Alex Winter, who was Bill, is now signing autographs at the Chiller Theatre Show in Parsippany, New Jersey, on April 30, 2011.