Forty Wild Crushes - Rocky Horror Controversies...in Abundance!

Few works of pop culture hold a devoted fan base like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and its original stage version, The Rocky Horror Show. Months before its October airdate, the Fox TV adaptation is riling fans and critics based on a few publicity photos and a one-minute trailer. My own connection as part of a shadow cast of the famous midnight film screenings is documented in fictionalized, and not so fictional, versions in my two latest books.

Just a sweet trans...gender?
First, the Fox controversy. The network will air their "adaptation" of not the stage script, but a version of the classic film. Playing the lead role is notable transgender actor Laverne Cox, known for outstanding performances in the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black.

LaVerne Cox and Ben Vereen in the Fox Rocky

Already, rumors of a censored version being produced have ticked off fans of the film and stage play. Despite its innuendo-laden wacky script, the sexuality of the show is farcical and the sex scenes are traditionally done behind screens. How will that translate to a network broadcast?

Recent live broadcasts of classic musicals have also been criticized for casting and production values, but more for not remaining reverent to the original sources. And comparisons have been made to the "cleaned up" and abbreviated version of Rocky performed on the hit Fox TV show Glee. 

But that episode specifically dealt with the issue of censorship, making for another, in my opinion, "meta-theatre" take on repressive high school morals. The gay character Kurt (played by openly gay actor Cris Colfer) refused the role of Frank N. Furter on the grounds of typecasting, so it went to Mercedes Jones (robustly played by Amber Riley).

Chrissie Hynde, Deborah Harry and Me

As an author of fiction that always involves gay men, I may have given women short shrift in my ongoing learning process of writing. But women have held a strong role in my life, and the women in my fiction hopefully will continue to hold a strong place in my novels. 

Also, being in the romance genre for my pair of novels Every Time I Think of You and Message of Love, I'm happy to see that two women rock stars are being equally productive at the same time.

Chrissie Hynde

The title of my new novel, is of course based on the 1981 song by The Pretenders. Penned by Chrissie Hynde, the music and lyrics offer a hopeful and positive feeling and a kicky beat. Hynde, a former resident of Akron, Ohio, had to leave the U.S. to find success in the United Kingdom. About a decade before me, Hynde attended Kent State University. Considering the numerous band member deaths and break-ups, it's no small irony of that I used a Pretenders song title for a story about love and trust between two young men.

Student Bodies

May 4. 

It's a day I avoid thinking about, a day somewhere in between the May Day protests that usually end up at nearby Civic Center Plaza, with resultant noisy media helicopters overhead, and Cinco de Mayo, with its accordant bar party invites.

But as someone who grew up in Ohio, and attended Kent State University, May 4 is a haunting morbid anniversary, historic proof of just how awful America can be.

These days, you can Google "campus shooting" and see dozens of horrifying events documents in thousands of news stories. Deranged students have been the culprits, usually.

But back in 1970, at the peak of U.S. anti-war protests, after several days of increasingly crowded student rallies, Ohio Governor Rhodes called out the National Guard, and after a tense stand-off, 60 shots were fired, four students were dead and nine others injured.