Late 1975 at San Diego State. Double feature with Phantom of the Paradise (I’ll withhold judgment on that one). It was the second time around at SDSU got RHPS, and they hoped the combined star power of Brian de Palma AND Paul Williams round out the bill nicely.

I was seated toward the rear of the theater with my cohort, when a male & female couple entered wearing almost cartoonishly large turbans and sat directly in front of yours truly. I tried my best to act civilized and not make a scene. Perhaps they were observant Sikhs. It was a minor annoyance, but it became so smoky that I could hardly see the screen anyway.

I played Eddie in the floor show at the Vogue Theater in Louisville, Kentucky in the early 90's. I was stationed at Fort Knox at the time, and the Armed Forces were going through the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' debate. Lot of homophobia going on, and when I advocated for LGBTQ rights, every guy I knew asked the same, stupid, lame-ass question: "How would you like to have to shower next to one of them?"

Well, I didn't fucking care what they thought. I just spent my weekends with my friends in the St. Mathews district, hung out at The Connection, a gay-bar in St. Mathews, (Never mind the 'gay' part; it was the best club in town, hands down), and occasionally acted as an escort for drag queens walking from the stage door to their cars.

As a classical-music loving, Shakespeare-reading kind of guy, I didn't fit in very well with my fellow tankers, but my friends in the Rocky Horror crowd always made me feel accepted and valued. I treasure the memories of those times to this day.

at the Roxy in Los Angeles

Saw the film far too many times. One of the weirdest film viewing was in Paris at Halloween, late 1970s or maybe 1980. Except for a few American high school students, there was no audience performance or yelling out lines. Everyone just set there in their seats, quietly eating ice cream.