From: Shannon Blake
Subject: More FGTH thanks-babble
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 06:33:37 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies.rocky-horror

Anyone on my own cast or in the Bay Area knows how ferverently anti-newsgroup I am, but I rather figured that hell could freeze over just this once in the name of a good cause. (whether that cause is actually thanking those who need to be thanked or personally providing individual heart attacks to Byron, Rich, Jarret, Steve, and all the rest who know I deny the very existence of the NG.....)

To M.I., here's to hoping you never DO get tired of hearing what a fabulous job you did, because you're going to be hearing it for a looooong time - and you damn well deserve ever word of praise you get. Oodles of fun, really, waaaaay worth the price of admission. So yeah. Thanks.

To the people on Sins, for remembering (or pretending to remember) me from one brief, meeting during which I was completely eclipsed by the wonder that is Jen Longley in a see-thru bunny costume.

To all the people who, having met me repeatedly at shows and conventions over the past 6 years, still greeted me with "Hi! I don't think we've met, have we?", thereby proving my theory that I am, in fact, invisible. (No, really, this is a good thing....)

To all the people who stopped by our patio-slash-sewing circle to introduce themselves, admonish and admire us for our domestic efforts, commiserate, or (in one instance) pee in our shrubberies. And to all the people who, stopping by, decided to hang out or join in or help out. Dolls, every one of you.

And similarly, big thanks to Rich Davidson and Sean for playing cabana boys, waiters, human cigarette holders, and general flunkies to a small congregation of frazzled little seamstresses - and for being amused by the Endless Stream of Donut Jokes. Fuckin' donuts.

And most importantly (save, of course, the ceaseless thanks to M.I. for their much appreciated efforts), a big fat thank you to all the people who HAD personal issues and COULD have started drama - and didn't. It's nice to know that for three days, at least, we really CAN all get along. Love it.

And now, it's back in to the peaceful shoes of an anti-net luddite (or realistically, on a two week jaunt to Australia).

shannon
constant scapegoat, occasional director, and all-around mom
the bawdy caste
menlo park

From: Liz S.
Subject: FGTH memories...(slightly long)
Date: 27 Jun 2001 08:21:31 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies.rocky-horror

Thanks to M.I. for hosting an extremely memorable event!! We all know "this is the con that never ends" so until my borrowed-from-MI's-hotel-room bottle of Chambord Liqueur is empty, I consider FGTH to still be happening. :)

My highlights:
I got to meet a lot of people I normally just quietly drool over, which was awesome.
Having Jess and Barb stay with me & sightsee until Thursday. I feel like we're all related now :)
Having Pat Quinn flirt with my boy Scott at the Thursday night party. "Is that a shamrock, darling?"
Having Pat look me up and down as if I was nuts when I told her "I showed you my underwear in Vegas!"
Seeing Pat strut out on the dancefloor to the Chemical Brothers.
Bob Simon telling me my Oscar Horror costume was "fabulous," and telling me to make out with a tree!
Sal asking me what my favorite made-for-tv movie was.
Licking a wall to the tune of many flashbulbs clicking, which cemented my role as the biggest dork ever.
"Wilkommen"...WOW... was that the fucking shit, or what?!?!
Receiving the David Awards. Not only was it fun as hell but I got to grope the BoB!!!
Having our preshow be OVER WITH! :D
Doing Ansalong for the 1st time. Everyone who did Shocky was just amazing. It was wonderful to be onstage with such great talent. I hope when Jessica's world famous she'll still remember her "RHPS twin" :)
Having the honor of being a costume contest judge. It was actually much more fun than entering!
Seeing Elvira's Haunted Hills in person };)
Getting to do the last minute floorshow. I didn't even have to do the makeup, so I just made a total fool of myself and had great fun! Thanks to everyone who did the ending scenes with me...I hope you'll forgive me for not having my costume handy.
Being one of the human jukeboxes on Sunday night/Monday morning.
And of course, heckling Bernie at the softball game ;)
Making new friends -- especially Veronica...growrr, baby!, hanging with M.I., who are all incredible, highly talented people and who have my utmost respect for putting this all together, and getting closer to my cast, who are the best, kindest, sexiest & most creative group of individuals I know.
All the stressful stuff for me was over on Friday, leaving me to just relax and have a good time for the rest of the con! Whoo!

Hugs to everyone, and I can't wait until the next con!!!


Liz~
http://www.sinsotheflesh.org

Join the RHPS Costuming Mailing List!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RHPSCostumesCostumersNFreaks

Need a wig? Try http://members.fortunecity.com/sexy_chicken/Wigs/wigs.html

From: jazzyfresh
Subject: FGTH..Shock Treatment
Date: 27 Jun 2001 11:27:48 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies.rocky-horror

Okay basically im starting my own post cuz i haven't seen any others.

See i'm not a huge fan of Shock Treatment but i went to go see it live for the first time to support someone who was performing and im glad i did.I'm not saying it's my favorite movie now but i just wanted to congratulate the cast who performed on Fri. night, and let anyone know who missed the show how poetic it was. It was one hell of a performance. I was really impressed,everyone did really well especially considering that they don't do that every weekend.Anywhoo,i just wanted to tell that to anyone who would listen that even though i whined and bitched about being there(i think i offended scott mcdonald cuz i was shot a look when he over heard me intoxicatedly sharing my true feelings about the flick...SORRY..=>)that it was a kick ass performance and a real example of fuckin' it up!

~Jazzyfresh
Divine Decadence

From: Jessica Feldman
Subject: Re: FGTH memories...(slightly long)
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 19:22:21 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies.rocky-horror

   Ok..I don't even know where to start so I'll just highlight in brief..First of all Liz you know I'll remember you always you are my rhps west half! :) Some of my best memories: Meeting Pat again and buying her her first drink at the con (she told me this on mon hehehe)..thurs..having Pat ask me what I wanted..and when I said a kalua and cream..she asked me what that was and I said a Khalua and cream lol..dancing with all the fabulous freaks of the night-we have some good dancers in our rocky community don't we -we can really boogie!

   Before that staying with Liz and really getting to know her and her incredibly warm, friendly, and talented cast!-emily, jason-you're the best, heather-you are so sweet, grant and luv-can't remember your name..um getting pulled over with peter by two cops..that was not fun lol put a tag on that thing! dancing..karaoke..seeing a friend from school at karaoke..watching sins rehearse..over and over and over..lol but you guys did it! Congrats..once again Liz and Scott you guys rock my world..thank you so so so much..come visit me now! and everyone I didn't mention from sins cause I suck at names.

   Moving on...fri..seeing my Japanese friends, they are so sweet, Yoshiki, Shinya-thank you for the book..big hugs to all the girls from japan you rock! Congrats on winning shock sachiko! you deserved it!

   Getting to hang out with the dear sweet Q. :) We had a lot of fun chatting for hours with the very gracious Patricia Quinn. She told us stories and gossip and let me try on one of her many pairs of reading glasses lol..(sorry for the runon sentences lol..i'm just writing free verse here hehehe) and she also bought some of us drinks-pina coladashehe I still have my umbrella(we all wore it in our hair like her lol) Sioux and Q you guys were wonderful to hang out with-please keep in touch and we'll exchange pics ok? (hope you see this) big hugs to both of you for sharing a really surreal afternoon with me lol and for being such nice peeps. Oh I can't forget going to breakfast with bobby (simon) and Q and laughing about the little old ladies who checked out his bum..well wouldn't you? Mcdonalds of all places lol..he's amazing..what a voice

   Fri night: Kudos to MI for all of thier hard work if I haven't said anything-Mark Becky you guys deserve so much for all the hard work you put in, it was definitly one of the best cons I've been to. You all were great too when you had technical difficulties on fri and bobby really was a pro for improving his act. Damn he's an inspiration to me and I'm sure many other aspiring performers. From what I saw also the preshows rocky especially sins..sorry I'm bias..I watched them gruel over rehearsals..You guys did it! and the blood went well! lol I really loved the beginning Jason..lol I said this would be short..oops..well moving on

   congrats to all the award winners who recieved the david's and also all the costume winners. I was so excited about the columbia award, but I was nervous too, and I want to say here that all of you are winners (first off in my catagory and then in the other rounds as well) for putting time effort and luv into your costumes. All of the Columbias were beautiful and I was really happy to be there with you guys-if any one has good pics please let me know! and some of the other categories were so hard and equally as lovely-magentas yeeowza!

   Shock treatment was fun (sorry for jumping around once again stream of conciousness) except for my foot getting caught on the stage and the hat kept falling off my wig-that damn thing..Jaimie help!-please email me lol but yay..kudos again to MI Little Black Dress was fine cause of the nice sturdy table!

congrats to all performers for putting on a great show especially the ones who did it for the very first time! and to my janet whom I can't remember her name from Mi but you were great :)

   Great Rocky..whoa to the eddie dance! lol

   Did not like the trailors but that's old news on here i'm sure. Gorgeous props...what else..oh saying goodbye to Pat ..sigh..she's a dearheart as my mum would put it. What a sweet lady. I have so much respectfor that woman now it's not even funny.

   Going to disney and Universal-what a blast! I was sad not to see beaches or share the picnic with you guys..but there is always next time.

once again thank you MI, Sins, and everyone who attended this incredible event. Withought all of you it wouldn't have been the same. So a big round of hugs, kisses, and Cyber drinks to you all.

   Last of all luv to my mom and luv to sean who unfortunatly couldn't attend. But you were missed baby. and hugs to both of my casts at home here-Transexual Misfits, and Castle Transylvanians-may we get a theatre soon!

   oh one more thing and than I'll shut up hehe..if anyone found a muel (for pj costume) it's mine-black backless shoe if anyone sees it please let me know. once again thank you..I just wish i had seem more of the sat events..missed elvira..wah..hugs kisses kudos to you all..see you at the next event (whenever that might be ;P)

   Jessica "Kitten" Feldman

From: Nate Havoc
Subject: I'm 90% sure I went to FGTH....
Date: Wed, 27 Jun 2001 21:51:49 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies.rocky-horror

I did go, and I had a blast! It was great to see everyone again, and meet a few new faces. Thanks to the members of MI for being so helpful to answer questions and offer assistance. Mark, I never did get a program for the Con, please let me know how to get a couple.

It was great watching Elvira's Haunted Hills with the star right in front of me, to look out my balcony and see Patricia Quinn just below, drinking Great White Rum in the various rooms I ended up in, hanging with the sharks I don't get to see that often, and all that other stuff I'll start to remember as soon as someone reminds me what I did. I wish I could have made it to the picnic on Sunday, but I didn't get up until it was time to check out of the hotel, and then I ended up out and about in Hollywood. There were a few people who could not make it I would have loved to have seen, and a few people that did make it I wish I could have seen more of.

I had a great time partying with everyone, and I think the worst thing that happened was when a mouse ran up my pant leg by the pool, but it will make for a funny story. Can't wait to do it again!

Nate "Motha Fuckin Shark" Havoc
Barely Legal, CA
www.barelylegal.rhps.org

From: Mark Tomaino
Subject: FGTH:Thanks for coming Love MI
Date: 27 Jun 2001 22:30:34 GMT
Newsgroups: alt.cult-movies.rocky-horror

Dear all who came near and far:

It was a thought after our convention in 97. Every four years...just like the Olympics. With other casts starting to talk of west coast cons..every couple years seemed too often and four years is really what it took to put this event together.

We wanted to give the con a different flavor than the other two we hosted in Long Beach and in Anaheim. We felt our home theater was busting at the seems last con, and we did not want to have a capacity problem. We wanted to let visitors from out of town get a sense of something unique that California had to offer. Hollywood. Beaches. Movie Stars. Picnics. Softball. All stuff you can do in the sun that is not entirely available elsewhere all the time.

MI is a cast of about 35. From this I chose a committee of five including myself that would organize the event. These people were ones who had shown that they could and would put in the effort. Could and would go above and beyond. Could and would have the creativity and be dialed in to the pulse of RHPS. And they had a history of completing their assignments in a timely fashion.

These included Bill Ung, the one constant in MI from the eighties to now. He is the voice of reason. He is the pillar of dependability.

Becky Roberts has performed with billions and billions of casts. She has a perspective on what other audiences see and feel outside our own. Also...in the last three years as stage director she has shown that she can make decisions on the presentation of our show that our audience will appreciate. She decides who is main who is understudy and who auditions. She decides when someone needs to improve and sometimes when someone has to be pulled from stage. Our -attendance had been steadily increasing over the last nine years at a 7-10 oerc3ent rate annually....except for the year of el nino...but about a year and a half ago our audiences jumped 30-40% and this year we are on schedule to break our annual FULL YEAR attendance record by the END OF SUMMER...much of the kudos and kitkats go to Becky.

Marty Roberts had the good sense to get engaged to Becky and their wedding was a beautiful outdoor rennnaisance wedding. Marty goes to home depot and prices props. Marty builds props. Marty rebuilt our starship and tank better than they were before complete with ladders and tubes and colors and platforms and hydraulic jacks. Over the last 67 months marty has has his crew in my driveway almost nightly bending pipes, drilling, sawing and all this after working an 8 hour day. Then this weekend he and his crew moved mountains loading and unloading a 24 foot moving truck, setting up lights and sound and screens and stages. Marty made many trips to Hollywood...checking and rechecking the sites and the equipment requirements. During Con he had no time to enjoy...he only had time to run around checking things while the rest of us enjoyed his work and did not know it.

Colleen made the pillows. Colleen and Bill took many trips to Hollywood and compiled the guides that were in the progams of the local area for your convenience. She and her boyfriend Steve the piercing Frank made the ST Table, she worked with Becky on the program content and helped make tons of other neat arrangements for our guests.

The rest of MI made a major effort as well. Since the 25th anniversary last october the schedule looked like this:

Monday: Wilkommen rehearsals at Beckys Work
Tuesday LAdy STardust rehearsals at Beckys WOrk
Wednesday Girl for All Seasons rehearsals at Beckys work
Thursday night Cast Meeting at Marks
Saturday Show
Sunday Colleen and Becky working on Programs.

The attendance at rehearsals was phenomenal. Reign handled choreography for the most part for Wilkiommen like a professional dance instructor. The band assembled for Lady Stardust was unbelievable. Girl for all seasons was a great way to use the MI trixies before the show Saturday.

The convention committee spend more hours working on the convention than we did at our regular jobs for the last 3 or 4 months. I want each member of MI to know that I am proud of their effort. I feel we have grown as a cast immensely due to this endeavor. The teamwork was wonderful, and the drama almost non existent. Everyone got behind what we were doing, and it was as fun to work behind the scenes with these people as I hope it was for you to attend.

One big question was: Cheap hotel or fancy? Could we save people a few bux or roll the dice and get the best place we could find? Could we charge 65 dollars for a convention? Would people come for four days?

You guys rock. I did not hear one complaint about the price. We were able to locate reasonably priced lodging close by so no one had to be excluded. And about 75% of those pre registered came for all four days. Thank you for having confidence that MI would come through. The feedback we are getting is exhilirating. All the hard work and time and effort and sweat are forgotten when someone says the things we have been hearing. Cast members are relaying things to me that blow me away.

Thanks to Bob Simon...who was only too happy to do anything we needed done..and helped out in areas I did not expect. And for being the catalyst of getting Pat there. Bob was talking to Pat at an opening in Milan when he told her of the con. She said she wanted to come and things worked out from there....all less than two weeks before the event.

To John Mandracchia for helping with negotiations with Pat when things started going South.

To Lady Stephens herself for being more accessible than we could have ever imagined. When can you hang out with your favorite movie stars in your room or by the pool? She was a wonderful surprise in regards to her openness to the people there.

To Sal Piro. Every conventions success begins and ends with Sal....his stamp of approval...his newsletter promotions...his professionalism. I am proud to call this honest and fair minded man a friend to me and MI.

To all the casts that brought out new original special performances for this event. You guys went balls to the wall. We expected nothing less....but you still gave us more.

To Former cast members John and Jeff, for renting us equipment and setting it up and running it for us. These guys have moved on to professional careers in the industry but showed up this weekend to take care of their old friends.

To Magick Films for bringing excitement to our theaters and conventions over the past year, for honoring us with a special edition video to sell at our event, for promoting Rocky and not apologizing for the sloth and raunchiness that so many people use for buzzwords to promote their show, then back away from when it is showtime. And for going to work on the FGTH Highlight video...available soon. Thanks for being there while we showed your film.

To Cassandra Peterson and Mark Pierson for honoring us with a sneak preview of Elviras Haunted Hills. When can you ever watch an Elvira Movie with Elvira and go to RHPS with Pat Quinn? In the same day? Watching movies with moviemakers...that is what Hollywood is all about.

To Holly Johnson for having a cool band name we could rip off.

To Dennis Ritz and Vicki Strutt at the Roosevelt for being as excited about our event as we were, for striking a deal for a huge room discount and making it possible to have this event in a place like no other convention before.

To Rex and Colleen at the Galaxy Theater..both BIG Rocky fans as well, for letting us have the run of the place Saturday Night.

To Beverly Hills for selling us a permit for a ballfield and picnic area even though we are not residents.

To our sponsors, Dractours, Dark Refrains, Leopard Lounge.

To Shelly Foss for making a surprise appearance with her new boyfriend Carlos. She was pleasant and said she wanted not to be thought of in ways she had been previously thought of. Based on previous rifts, this was a nice gesture.

BUT MOSTLY to you guys who spend your money, left your jobs, travelled, came and MADE THE SHOW! That so many of you made the trek means everything and is why we do this.

When we originally hoped to plan the unveiling of a Star on the Walk of Fame for Richard, then plans for that fell through, we thought things would be a little less than glamorous. As it turns out the thing went better than we could have imagined. We are proud to have been your hosts. We are glad if you would all be our friends forever.

In humility and gratitude,

Mark Tomaino and the entire cast of Midnight Insanity

PS If you want your movie ticket back from Saturday send SASE to
Mark Tomaino
PO Box 8632
Anaheim CA 90812
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