Hello to all of you, unconventional conventions. Welcome back to Rocky Talkie. I am so pumped to be back. I took a little hiatus. I was searching for the heart of the sea with James Cameron and I am happy to announce my friends we found it. Yep. Give us round. Here we go. Yeah. Yeah, because if you did find it, you know, it's called the heart of the ocean. So actually, ironically for you nonbelievers when we found the heart of the ocean, it was kind of tragic due to erosion from being in the ocean for so long. Its shape and color and form had shifted. So we changed the name to the heart of the sea. So as to properly reflect its external shell, it's in the shape of ac. Now it's the heart of the, it's just like an emoji heart and then of the letter C. I'm sure that will make the insurance claim much easier, Nicky. Much better. Well, well, congratulations. Thank you so much, Aaron. I'm very pumped to be here on this very special episode of Rocky Talkie. That's right. It's Aaron's birthday show, birthday, birthday, birth, birth, birth, birth, birth birthday, birthday, birthday, birthday, birthday. You could have, you could have just sung the words. It's not, it's not in the copyright anymore. Well, Aaron, how are you? How is your week? It's your big day. Quiet down, Nicky. I'm a little hungover from, no, I'm, I'm doing fantastic. I'm having a ton of fun. Uh, got the most awesome presents. We're going to talk about that here in a second, but I'm just pumped to be here talking with you guys. I mean, nothing against Jacob but Nicky, it's good to have you back. Thank you. It's so good to be back. Fuck you Jacob before we get into talking about uh you know what I've been doing this week, John, what were you up to this week? It was actually my first full week back in the office. So it sucked. I can feel that all my homies hate being back in person after, you know, working by yourself in your room and loving it for like what 18 months, it wasn't too bad. It's just really, really weird to be back in person. Aside from that, I've done basically nothing. I think the most exciting thing about this weekend is that I'm not doing anything. Oh, that's a change like we had Aaron's little, little Shin Di yesterday. Uh Tonight, I'm not streaming. I'm just, we're just recording and we're just, and I'm just vibing the rest of the evening and then the same thing on Sunday it's gonna be great. I love doing nothing. I do. Amazing. Well, speaking of nothing, I guess we should talk about it. So you guys went all out in the nothing that happened. So let me, let me set the stage for all of our listeners out there. So a couple of months ago, uh, Meg my wife, our producer, she, my wife. No, she asked me, she goes, so what, what would you want to do for your birthday? And I go, well, we're going to be back in New York and, you know, there's still not any Rocky or anything. I, I don't know what I'd want to do. Maybe go to dinner or maybe we just, you know what, it was just, just run out of theater and have, have all of our friends come and do Rocky. That's, you know, I offhandedly said the stupidest thing that I could possibly think of and probably actually the thing I really wanted. But, you know, uh knowing her, she immediately took that to be gospel and uh fucking delivered. So we went out to dinner last night out in Williamsburg in Brooklyn and had an awesome dinner and had some delicious Mexican food, uh, wandered around for a bit right afterwards. And then she drags me over to this like abandoned building. I, I wasn't sure we couldn't figure out which door to go in. I was getting super frustrated the entire time because I'm like, did you drag me to some, like, shitty underground bar or some nonsense thing that like, all right, I'll have fun but like, I, I'm standing on the street for five minutes at this point, what's going on eventually finally get let in and let up this, this staircase and through this weird emergency door and let into what's very clearly a black box theater with a tiny little screen set up in the middle of it and nobody else around and, oh boy, surprise, guess what happens next. All of my friends stumble out from behind this screen, wishing me a happy birthday, telling me that we're gonna do Rocky. Um, and then we did and it was awesome and uh it was probably one of the weirdest uh non shows shows that I've ever done. It had serious like kids running around on the playground vibes. That's exactly what it was. That's the best way to explain what happened. Right. We just did a massive tapout show with just the, I don't know, 15 or so people that were there, you know, alternating between being on stage and being in the audience and being on the floor and all kinds of craziness. It was so much fun. Thank you guys so much. It was the perfect birthday present. I loved it and I'm glad everybody had a ton of fun. We love you so much. Er, and it was the best time ever. It was a good time. I do. Need to say I have been doing Rocky Horror for like three years. I've performed with a lot of different people. Never in my life. Have I ever felt tinier than you? And I doing lifts, Aaron, you fucking hoisted me like nobody's business. I literally was like, oh my God, like I got air, I got an abundance of air. You know what I learned yesterday. Apparently in New Jersey you guys do lifts backwards. So it was either hoist you in the air or drop you. Well, you know what I learned yesterday, Aaron's a little baby back bitch and we survived. We did them and they were immaculate with four other eddies on stage. It was excellent. It was pretty good. But yeah, it was an awesome time. I I had a ton of fun. Thank you guys for coming. Thank everyone for coming and for everyone that are my closest friends who didn't manage to get there. We will be going out and doing some stuff soon. I promise. Let's go do dinner. I love you all. And with that right? I think we can get started with our first segment, Global News. And first up in global News this week we have a production of the Rocky Horror stage show at the Desert Rose Playhouse at one Mirage Place in Rancho Mirage, California. The Desert Rose Playhouse is Coachella Valley's premier LGBT Q Plus live stage production company and venue presenting quality LGBT Q programs and gay essential productions. That is an extremely long name. Their mission is to serve their local LGBT Q communities while presenting a wide variety of productions to people who love and appreciate good quality, intelligent and adventurous theater. The Desert Rose is also really big on community outreach. They regularly donate to LGBT Q organizations such as the Desert Aids Project and bloom in the Desert Ministries. They were even honored as the 2014 organization of the year by the Palm Springs Pride Committee. Oh, man. Good for them. Rocky seems super on brand for this group. Their current performance is produced by Matthew mclean and Robbie Wayne who also stars in the show as Franken Furter. It sounds like this was a bit of a passion project for Robbie in particular. We're told in a lovely review from the Coachella Valley independent by Bonnie Gil Gallen that Robbie Wayne as Franken Furter particularly shown quote, Robbie Wayne was absolutely born to play Franken Furter. Strutting around the stage in a garter belt and heels which show off his great legs. Wayne has the strong acting chops and soaring voice required for the role. He's clearly having a ball guys if you're in the Rancho Mirage area and you'd like to support this fantastic organization. You can get tickets to Rocky on their site. Desert Rose playhouse dot org performances run from August 26th to September 12th on Thursdays at seven PM. Fridays at eight PM and Saturday and Sunday two PM. And if that's not enough for you, they've also got upcoming productions of Hedwig and The Angry Inch Xanadu and The Great American Trailer Park musical, whatever that is, it's incredible. Yeah, I'm going to find out what that is. I've never heard of that one. And of course, we'd like to wish the Desert Rose Playhouse a wonderful run of their show. Break, some legs, guys break my leg daddy. Next up. We've got some fun for our listeners across the pond. Just two days ago, it was announced as part of Chester pride that there will be a showing of Rocky Horror hosted by a gorgeous drag queen named Get This Shagg, which is the most British drag name I've ever ever heard. Yeah, baby. She'll also be gracing viewers with an intermission performance with some of her friends during the film. Shaar is a drag queen, singer comedian and cabaret performer. She's been a fixture in drag events around the UK since 2011. She has been an absolute staple at Chester Pride for the past few years. She's a fabulous performer and you can check her out on Instagram at Sharaa and on Facebook at Sharaa outrageous drag act. The Rocky Horror screening is scheduled for Sunday, October 17th from seven pm to 10 pm. Tickets to the show were £3 but if you pony up £15 for a rainbow wrist band, you get entry to the movie as well as all of Chester Pride's other fundraiser events, plus discounts on all of the pride merchandise. Yeah. Chester Pride is a lot like New York City pride, except it's in England. That's right, John Fun. Fact, you can actually get in on Chester pride right now from wherever you are with their digital pride all at W W W dot Chester pride dot co dot UK. That's also where you'll need to visit to get more info on their upcoming events. We want to wish everyone in Chester a very happy pride, especially Shagg next up in pop culture. Global news. Hot topic has just released a new line of Rocky horror themed shirts. They need to stop, they, they need to stop. This is like the fifth time that we've talked about them releasing Rocky Merch on this podcast. Well, mind your tongue John, because being the resident E girl most likely to shop at hot topic, I'll be covering this one. Whoa, excuse me as the Resident Twitch Streamer who closely interacts with college students likely to shop at hot topic. I'll be covering this one. Teaching students who happen to be likely to shop at hot topic is nothing like being likely to shop at hot topic. You boomer Nikki. My bald goddamn head has seen more hot topics, rebrand themselves away from their emo roots than t-shirts you've seen on a hot topic wall, please. I've gone through more vapes than hot topics. You felt comfortable being in. Ladies, ladies who among us has spent enough to feed a small Ethiopian family for multiple decades on Rocky horror clothing. See, Nikki, you buy too many chicken nugget. Yeah, and it's not you John, right? Because you've bought too many video cards and P CS. You got this Twitch streamer on only I stand above as having spent an ungodly amount of money on Rocky Horror merchandise and particularly that Frank jacket that I may never actually wear. So, you know what I say, executive decision, we all are going to cover the t-shirts. Ok. Ok. Ok. So I hate it here. We are all happy to say hot topic has three new Rocky themed shirts and first up and actually this one is kind of my favorite. Uh is this like white t-shirt that just has Brad's Denton High patch on it? Now, this is the one of these that I can actually get behind. Unfortunately, the patch is not perfectly screen accurate because why the fuck would it be? It's being sold at hot topic. Uh But it's close enough that I can forgive it. And actually I really fucking love this. It's just a white t-shirt. It's got the Dentton High patch on it. I'm gonna buy one of these. Do we have links for these? I'm gonna buy it right now. Oh, I'm sorry. Our producer Meg is letting us know that it is fucking cream colored and that I need to get my eyes checked. So, you know what else is cream colored the soup? The second and the shirt is, it's like a black t-shirt and it has a little red box on it. And two pictures of Frank. The first one is from like the Brad and Janet like damn it Janet scene. And it says September 30th, he's in his little priest costume and then the picture next to it says October 1st and it's Frank in his four show costume. I I'm not, I'm not married to this one. I do really like the Denton one and the next one, but I just can't see anybody wearing this in earnest and not looking a fool. This kind of looks like something that, you know, like that one audience member who's been to four shows and thinks they know more than like the veteran on cast. This is what they look like they would wear. Yeah. Yeah. And it, and it definitely looks like something that like a 12 year old made on Red Bubble. Writer Jacob would wear this. This is, this is just a Facebook meme on a shirt, right? That's not a good Facebook meme. Also, can we talk about vertical space here? Like you could have put that vertically at least use the space so that, you know, it's fine. I'm not going to criticize the design consideration of a hot topic shirt. And lastly, we have a sweatshirt, you know, the kind that you give to your boyfriend to wear for a couple of days and then you get back from him so you can smell like him when you wear it. You know, the vibes. So it's like a, like, it looks like a college sweatshirt that you would like go into like the college bookstore and buy and it has like the university and their crest on it and stuff except it says Denton High School in 1963 and then in the middle it has like the tree that is supposed to be on like Brad's patch fighting trees. I actually really like this. I'm gonna take you guys on a life journey with this one. Imagine me in this sweatshirt with a white collared shirt underneath it. So you can only see the top of the collars peeking out of the sweatshirt and a little white flared tennis skirt underneath. Oh, I know you want me. I know the reason why I'm purchasing this is because I'm buying it right now. Put it into a Trixie routine. Oh, yeah, I can see that. I really wish this wasn't a sweatshirt. I would wear the fuck out of this if it was a t-shirt. I just, I don't wear sweatshirts. Yeah, I don't think I've, I've never seen you wear sweatshirts. I love crew neck so much and I cannot wait. And so for those of you who may not know, I work at a college and I cannot wait to wear this to work with. Exactly how Mickey said, like a little little button down underneath it and some pants and some dress shoes and people will be like, you have to take that off. It's not representing your college and it's like this high school doesn't exist. I can't wait. I'm buying it. I'm buying it right now. So hot topic. If you're listening, I'm so sorry if I shit on you at the beginning of the segment. These are actually really good. These are so cute. The other Rocky Horror hot topic pieces of merch are a little suss. I don't love them, but these are really cute. Yeah, this, this is the kind of branded shit that I want to see, right? Like it's obscure but it's on brand and like you can wear it out and not have everybody walk up to you and be like, oh Rocky Horror. I like that, you know, like they know their audience and then if somebody does come up to you and goes ha Rocky Horror, that's the kind of person that you honestly maybe want to be around, right? They're the kind of guy who walks up and gets the joke and at least like, yeah, no, I'm, I'm on board with that. So these three are just a very recent addition to an absolutely massive cache of Rocky Horror merch available on the hot topic site, some better than others. Uh But you should go check these out. We've got them linked for you in our show notes. If you feel like shopping. I know that I'm gonna go spend some money. I bet you guys are too. I'm doing it right now. Oh my God. There's so many. And with that, let's head over to community news. No, let's stay here for a little bit. You want to look at these shirts a little bit more? Oh, yeah. Actually the crew neck is actually on sale right now. I don't know if that's going to be a thing when everyone hears this, but it is currently 30 bucks and it's usually 37. Oh, I'm so slutty for these. Oh, ok. Let's move on to community news. Yeah. First up, we've got some exciting news from our friends in New England. The full body cast is performing again. That's right. F F BC recently announced that they're officially going to be back on stage starting on September 25th, two days after my birthday, 9 30 PM at the A MC in Boston Common. I'm personally so excited for this. I love F BC. I love all the people on F BC. This is gonna be so great. They're all fantastic. F BC was founded in 1978 where the cast originated in their Exeter Street Theater in the eighties. The group moved to Harvard Square where they held the title for one of the longest running shows in Rocky history. The theater in Harvard Square closed down in 2012 and the cast had relocated to their new home in the Boston Commons where they will be making their triumphant return in just a few short weeks just in time for Halloween. So if you're in the Boston area and are interested in checking out one of F B C's performances, which you should tickets for their show are now available on the A MC website for September 25th and every Saturday in October, as well as Friday, October 29th and Sunday, October 31st. If you'd like to buy tickets or check the cast out on social media, you can visit them at full body cast dot org or you can find them on all the social medias at F BC, Rocky Horror. And of course, if you're local to Boston and are interested in joining the cast or crew, you can always visit a show and ask for Ruthie who will be, be thrilled to initiate you into our wonderful little cult, one of us, one of us, yo, this Halloween is going to be especially crazy for recruitment like Halloween is always the craziest time of the year and as far as getting people who want to join, but also the weirdest, most hectic time for new members, it's kind of awesome to have so many hands on deck. But who, what a time to have to learn the ropes, right? Seriously. A few years ago. I think it was the first year that I was elevated up to leadership. We had somebody who joined our cast, like literally three days and I had them do Trixie because our Trixie was running late for one of the. It wasn't like Halloween. It wasn't a Halloween show. It was just a show in October and art tricky was like either running late or art Trixie forgot their costume. I don't remember what the specifics was, but it was in the middle of hosting and I wasn't hosting. I was just like, you know, fingering myself in the corner, found out that our Trixie wasn't gonna be there. And I looked at one of our cast members, Bridget and I was like, you're, you're Trixie tonight. And she was like, I don't have clothes. I was like, well, that's the fantastic part about Trixie is, uh, you don't need clothes and she was like, bet and like, with like three days on cash, she just hopped in and did Trixie was fantastic. It is. It is just Halloween is just that time where it's like, you know what if you're not ready? Too bad. Oh, man. I, I remember so the first time I ever went to see Rocky when I was in college, uh It was my freshman year at college and I went, I had, I was aware of Rocky. I went to see it over Halloween and like, immediately I was like, I need to be part of this. So I, I asked to join cast. And the first, you know, I, I got my stuff together, came back a couple of weeks later and like, you know that like Po Post Halloween lull that can kind of happen. Well, in other parts of the country, it's a Post Halloween crash. So it went from like my first couple of shows being there and just like sold out theater and everything crazy to like, I shit you not like one of the first shows I was performing at, there was maybe 15 people there or whatever. And like, you know, I'd done theater for a while. I knew that like, you know, you get the swings and the seasonal and all of this kind of stuff. So it wasn't too much of a shock, but it was one of those. Ok. Really getting thrust into it kind of moment. I'll thrust into you. Oh, Jesus. Yeah. Yeah. I, when I joined F N si. So like I joined F N S officially in November, but the October before they were like going to a bunch of different Halloween shows all throughout New Jersey and I was friends with everybody on cast. So I was getting rides from cast members. So I would be there at call time and I would leave like when the shows were over. And I, I knew like I came to F N S with the sole intention of joining cast but I was 16 so I couldn't. Um And I immediately just from being in that Halloween environment, I was like, this is a shit show. This is absolutely fucking horrifying. How do I sign up? Like going to all of these random venues, seeing all of these random people, all these weird costumes, all this crazy shit show after show, two shows in one night back to back like I was like, I am not even performing and I want to die. Let's do this again every single week for the foreseeable future of my life. It be like that. I honestly, I feel like a thing that we as cast members don't talk about enough, especially even in this conversation is like, we can reflect on the fact that like, oh yeah, like I remember my first Halloween, what about the cast members that are that just joined cast right now? That are about to have their first Halloween crazy by itself in a pandemic, crazy by itself with all of this new shit that they have no idea like what's going on. Like I feel like this like last Halloween and this Halloween are the weirdest Halloweens we've had in such a long time because now we have drive in shows and masks or no masks and we can't use virgins or we can and like all of these things that are just going to be so different. It's like a new Halloween experience for everybody. On. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely like a, a new Rocky experience entirely. Like we were the, the shape of rocky, you know, over the next several months as, as everybody comes back into it and I think Halloween's gonna be the big kickoff for that. It certainly seems like it is. At least over here on the east coast, all the casts are getting back into their theater and they're getting reacquainted with what they can and can't do and like it's gonna be, it's gonna be different. It's gonna be weird. And for all of these new people coming in, this is going to be their baseline. This is gonna be their normal, right? This is gonna be where they started doing Rocky and where they reflect on it in a few years going. Oh, well, since the whole time I've been here, it's been this way and, you know, we got, we got to appreciate that. We gotta understand Rocky moves on and, you know, it's gonna be a whole different place. I'm, I'm real excited for it. I'm real excited for all this recruiting. Hi, John, I'm really pumped for Halloween and speaking of recruiting the Appalachian Center for the Arts, located in Scenic Pikeville, Kentucky has put out a casting call seeking talent for their second annual Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shadow Cast. The Appalachian Center for the Arts or the A P P seeks to create a thriving regional arts hub in Pikeville by championing, cultivating and presenting the stories of their region. Pikeville is a vibrant community alive with the music of local stories and ideas. The A V P hopes to strengthen their part of the world by nurturing local creativity and embracing innovation. Yeah, the local theater offers summer acting camps for young performers. This year, they're going to be producing Juni B. Jones Musical and Junior. They also offer pop-up art classes available to creators of all ages taught by local artists. Recently, they've offered to teach community members painting and basket weaving, but primarily the A P P is home to an extremely wide variety of theatrical productions, including historic museum style presentations, concerts, stand up comedy and even Rocky or shadow casting. Oh, I fuck with that last one. I fuck with the first one. Well, if you're in eastern Kentucky and fucks with that last one too, the A P P would love to offer you an opportunity to join. Their production. Auditions will be held on Monday, September 13th at six PM for anyone 18 and up, the show will be performed on Saturday, October 16th and they'll only be requiring four rehearsals. If you're interested in checking out the A P P, either for more info on auditions to buy tickets for a performance or to visit one of their art classes, you can find them at the A P P arts dot org which we will of course have linked for you in our show notes. Fuck. Yeah. Bible Belt, Rocky Horror. Let's you really hate to see that. No, I love to see it. There's not enough. Well, speaking of things you can't get enough of and speaking of supporting the arts and local artists, John. Do you know what day it is? Dude? I barely even know what month it is. Well, wouldn't it be great if you did? Me and my boss would probably appreciate it a hell of a lot. Well, with a brand new Rocky horror illustrated 2022 calendar by the devastatingly sexy Lola Montez. Not only can you be informed of the current month, week and even day, you can do it all while being absolutely dazzled by gorgeous Rocky fan art. That's right. This calendar features over 12 brand new illustrations starring our Rocky horror favorites, including Magenta and Criminologist, crossed over with some classic pieces of media, including Mean Girls and the shining. Ever wondered what Regina George might look like as Brad Wonder no longer. This calendar also features over 11 of our favorite months including September and March. Plus, you won't believe the days this baby's got August the 12th, November 28th February 9th. That's a good one. And you can find every single one of these days months and movies all in one place. Wow, what a steal. I'm going to check out Rocky Talkie show notes right now to find out more information on how to purchase one. Thanks Rocky talkie in, in all seriousness. Uh This is an absolutely beautiful calendar. Uh Our friend Lola has been putting so much hard work and dedication into drawing these pieces. We've all seen a bunch of them. You might have seen some of them up on social media. They're gorgeous and fun. We're excited to hang them up and probably even frame them as art after we're done with 2022. Lola did an amazing job on these. The calendar would make an awesome addition to. Well, anywhere you need a calendar. If you'd like to check these out, they are currently available for preorder on Lola's Etsy page. Where can they find that Aaron, do we have it linked for them in our show notes? We sure do. Nicky. Hey, thank you. Wow. I sure am hungry from all that shopping. And when I get hungry, I always reach into my fridge for a delicious Nicky flavored knack snack. And what better to accompany your knack snack than a cold can of Trout Meister Light. That man of yours will thank you for it. And he'll thank Trout Meister. Oh, really? Are we doing shock treatment? Oh, please. Oh, please. Oh, please. Oh, please. Oh, please. Well, no, kinda but no. Oh, thank fuck. What the shit is Trout Master Light. You, you know, I mean maybe you don't. But uh when Janet and her mom are in the kitchen right before they talk about uh, Danny Slips you know, the boy who moved to New York City to find himself and was caught behind Wilson's Bakery with 15 other men, Mexicans. Right before that, Janet's dad goes to get a beer out of the fridge. But Emily being a horrible wife didn't stock the fridge with Trout Master Light. It's the Truman show style ad that's playing in the background during the whole thing. No, I've never seen shock treatment. Yeah, I super do not care. So, uh what's the question Nikki, I've actually got a couple of questions I want to ask today. And first up, yes, it's a question from shock treatment that we totally forgot to get to during the Tester staycation virtual convention during shock treatment. A bunch of people were confused about the dead bird that police officer Vance finds and why Betty freaks out about it. Oh, yeah. Sure. Because that is one of the many confusing parts of shock treatment. Well, yeah, but Aaron said we would cover it on the show. So do it, do the thing. What's with the bird we're playing catch up this week? I've got a whole pile of stuff. Sure. Yes, I love it. Uh So the bird that bird is an albatross. Uh but before we get there, let's talk about the context for this. So this is actually kind of a long journey. Um First, let's recap the context for where this takes place in shock treatment. So what's been happening with Betty and the judge up to this point. All right. I, I, I at least remember this. So, following Betty and the Judge's storyline so far, we've established that the judge is filling the role of a modern TV, network news pundit. You know, the judge who constantly talks on TV, and hasn't been in a courtroom for over a decade. He's the talking head on the news. Betty was the neutral host and alongside the judge, they produced the Denton dossier. Their show was just canceled part of Farley's reimagining of the entire Denton TV network entertainment is better than news. So the judge obviously thinks that there's some kind of conspiracy going on which there kind of is in so far as Farley trying to turn Denton into zombified fast food, loving idiots by espousing fake men, mental health advice from character actors, posing as doctors. But they find out that later at this point in the story, he's only got a suspicion. So Betty, she's still very pissed off over her rather public divorce from Ralph and she seems to be kind of smitten by the judge. So in an effort to investigate the judge's conspiracy suspicions and as a way to kind of get some alone time with judge Oliver, Betty takes him up to a fire escape that's above the studio set where they can just kind of observe everything that's going on. So when they get up here, here's the exchange that happens, we're just gonna play it straight from the movie. Here you go. Clever. Are here to find the spot. Betty. He pays to know your way around Oliver. I thought the home of happiness would give your theory a new perspective. A state led pleasure home. Indeed. Oh, I adore Coleridge Taylor. A matter of fact, it is an ancient mariner and he stop one of three by thy long gray beard and glittering eye. Now where stops thou me? So yeah, what the fuck? She just brings him up there to read some poetry. I mean, not really. Uh He is the one that brought it up. I'm sorry. What? OK. Follow me here. This one is really Richard o'brien showing his hand as like a fancy pants literary scholar. Or at least he's trying to prove that he's read some poetry. I mean, most of this stuff used to be required reading in high school. So it's not really surprising, but OK, looking over the whole Denton set, Oliver says a stately pleasure home indeed. So this is a bastardized reference to the opening of the 17 97 Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem Kubla Khan. According to Coleridge's preface to the poem, it was composed one night after he experienced an opium infused dream after reading a work describing Chengdu the summer capital of the Wan dynasty founded by the Mongol Emperor Kubla Khan. In the opening, Coleridge describes Khan's pleasure dome built along a sacred river. So this is how this poem opens in Xanadu. Did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure Dome decree where elf the sacred river ran through caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea. So Betty hears a stately pleasure home. Indeed. And she thinks of Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree for fuck's sake, right? And then because Betty is like super flustered and honestly, let's be real. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer. She tries to impress the judge by proving she gets the reference except she screws it up and she says, oh, I adore Coleridge Taylor. As a matter of fact, da da, da, da da. You know, so she then gets the author's name wrong to the reference that she concocted. Who knows if that was the judge's intent? It's Samuel Taylor Coleridge, not Col Ridge Taylor. And then she whips out her copy of the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner, a completely different poem also by Coleridge and starts to read from it. It is an Ancient Mariner and he stop one of three by the long gray beard and glittering eye. Now where stop tho which is the beginning of the story of the Mariner. And it's not sexy like Betty tries to imbue it with, you know, Betty is very much the butt of this joke, making fun of her airheaded understanding of romantic literature. Not like mm Yeah, lovely, romantic, like the romantic era, romanticism, the late 18th century European social and artistic movement that placed an emphasis on emotions, like fear, horror, and terror, and awe at the natural world and its beauty. So she completely reads the opening of this poem with the wrong inflection trying to make it sexy to chat up the judge. Right? So to understand the joke, we've got to go through the plot of the rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. I promise we'll do this as fast as we can. The poem starts with an old gray beard sailor. The Mariner stopping a guest at a wedding ceremony to tell him the story of a sailing voice that he took long ago. That's the bit that Betty actually read. It is an ancient mariner and he stop one of 31 of three wedding guests by the long gray beard and glittering eye. Now where for stop is thou me? It's not sexy. It's the dude going, hey, why did you stop me, bro? Right. So the rest of the poem, Betty presumably sits there and reads all through the night. It goes like this. The wedding guest is at first reluctant to listen, but the Mariner's glittering eye captivates him. The Mariner begins his tale with his ship departing on a journey. Despite initial good fortune, the ship is driven south by a storm and eventually reaches the icy waters of the Antarctic, an albatross appears and leads the ship out of the ice jam where it is stuck. But even as the albatross is fed and praised by the ship's crew. The Mariner shoots the bird with his crossbow. The crew is angry with the mariner believing the albatross brought the south wind that led them out of the Antarctic. The death of the albatross arouses the wrath of spirits who then pursued the ship. The wind now sends the ship into uncharted waters near the equator where it is becalmed. They become stuck, unable to move because there is no wind to push the ship. The sailors blame the Mariner for the torment. And in anger, the crew forces the Mariner to wear the dead albatross around his neck. After a weary time, the ship encounters a ghostly hulk and abandoned ship on board are death. A skeleton and a deathly pale woman called the nightmare. Life and death. That's me. The two of them are playing dice for the souls of the Mariner's crew with the role of the dice. Death wins the lives of the crew members and the life and death woman wins the life of the Mariner a prize she considers more valuable. Her name is a clue to the Mariner's fate. He will endure a fate worse than death as a punishment for killing of the albatross. One by one, all of the crew members die. But the mariner lives on cursed. Eventually, at this stage of the Mariner's curse is lifted after he begins to appreciate the beauty of the many sea creatures swimming in the water. Despite thinking they were slimy things earlier in the poem. As he manages to pray, the albatross falls from his neck and his guilt is partially relieved. It then starts to rain and the bodies of the crew possessed by good spirits reanimate and help steer the ship as the mariner is overcome by a trance like state. Finally, the mariner wakes from his trance and comes into sight of his homeland. He's uncertain if he's hallucinating the rotten remains of his ship sinks, leaving the Mariner stranded in the water within sight of the shoreline. A hermit and his boy come to his rescue. And upon returning to the shore, the mariner is compelled to tell the hermit his story as a penance for shooting the albatross. The mariner driven by the agony of his guilt is now forced to wander the earth, telling his story over and over and teaching a lesson to those that he meets. After finishing his story, the Mariner leaves and the wedding guest returns home and this is where we cut back to Betty like sleepily half, falling asleep. Reading the last lines of the poem, Judge Oliver is sitting there like completely dozed off and these are the lines that she reads the last ones in the poem. Uh This is talking about the wedding guests reaction to the story that the Mariner just told him he went like one that has been stunned and is of sense for a sadder and a wiser man. He rose, the moral mourn. Does this bird belong to you? He went like one that hath been stunned and is of sense for Lorne, a Saturn wiser man. He rose, the moral mourn. And then Vance, the cop finds a dead bird. He flips on the lights and asks, does this bird belong to you? Oh, holy shit. I get it. So she freaks out because it's a dark story about a guy who is saddled with the repercussions of killing a bird at one point, literally having it hung around his neck and to then be like, hey, is this your dead bird? It's like when you're watching a scary movie and the lights flicker or the phone rings, I get it. See, this is exactly why shock treatment is fucking stupid. 15 minutes to explain a joke that isn't even fucking funny. I don't know. I think, yeah, you would, wouldn't you? So there you go guys. That's the story behind the shock treatment. Bird. I hope it was worth the wait. So what other questions do you have Nikki? Anything you want to bring up that we can take way too long explaining. I'm hoping this one will be quick. I want to flash back to one of our very, very, very, very earliest episodes, the Easter eggs. So I know we ripped through all the facts, all the data, all the questions and we came down to a few conclusions there was no East egg hunt. And that the one specific egg that everyone talks about under the throne was most likely part of the throne itself or some kind of egg that was used as a set piece. But, well, I've got a bone to pick here. Oh, come on. I'm with Nicky on this one. Like I've seen a lot of photos of the Throne in the last year with everyone mass posting content on social media. That little egg bit is not there. In some of those shots, there's an egg and where there's an egg. Maybe there was an egg hunt just saying. And that picture of Little Nell holding an egg in Columbia's time work costume next to the Oakley Court Gargoyles. I think you're ignoring some important information. There could have been an Easter egg hunt. Stop it, stop it. Ok. Yes, full disclosure. I have come to the conclusion through a fuck ton of staring at photos that underneath the throne is probably actually an egg. It's probably not part of the chair. There are just too many shots of the throne where the little knobby bit isn't there. And even though we have pictures of a very similar throne with a little knobby bit that's on it. It's it's not the same throne. So yes, I do believe that that egg under the throne is a set piece in support of this uh, Mark Jabara recalled a conversation that he had had with Brian Thompson, that's the designer uh where he claims Thompson said that having an egg uh would have been totally in line with his scenic design for the film. Brian Thompson thought that the Transylvanian's would have seen things like the famous Russian Fabri eggs and maybe understood that they were some kind of status symbol, but they wouldn't have understood how to display them or what their purpose was. So, what would some out of this world aliens do with a weird glass egg? They would do the same thing that they saw hens do. They would sit on them. So under the throne, that's where the egg goes. I mean, ok, I can buy that. But what's to say it's not from that Easter egg hunt other than all the facts and the massive amount of research that you did before and that picture of now holding an egg, huh? Other than all that research and the facts and the extensive timeline and shooting schedule breakdown that we went through all that stuff in that episode and just, you know, every single thing I know about how rocky was shot. No, I can't. 100% prove it. I don't have firsthand knowledge of someone who was there. Oh, well, we do. Yeah, I'm surprised you really need to take better advantage of the resources at your disposal. What the fuck are you talking about? No, seriously here. Let me just pull this up. Erin, darling. Happy, happy. Birthday from me, Nell Campbell. Yes, that would be Columbia from the Rocky Horror Picture Show and how divine to hear that you and your gorgeous wife met playing in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I hear you. The sexiest Eddie ever, which is fabulous and the best performer. So that is great. I'll let Meat loaf know personally and let's discuss this Easter Egg rumor. Now, I'm not sure you're all aware that we filmed the Rocky Horror Picture Show in deepest winter. Um It was in Dece November into December. It was five weeks in England. In those days, there would no sooner have been Easter eggs available out of season than, you know, Easter bunnies. So, darling, you're hearing it from my lips. There was no Easter egg hunt. I, I hate to really want to tell you this, but I think I, for me, the truth is always more interesting than, you know, rumor. Um I, for instance, I always prefer true crime than phony crime invented stuff. So you can tell folk that you now know because you heard it from, there was no Easter egg hunt during the making of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, but that doesn't make the film any, the less fabulous. I'm sure you would agree. So, yeah. There you go. I'm glad Meg could do your job better than you can. It seems she finally got to the bottom of it. Good for her. I fucking hate you guys. Wow. Wow, your wife gets you a personalized birthday message from literally Nell freaking Campbell. And the best you can manage is that you hate us. I feel personally attacked. You should. Oh I'm just, no, I'm just so goddamn it meg I love you. Thank you so much. Also, are we not going to acknowledge that Aaron is the best and hottest Eddie fucking facts straight up. You heard it from Nell better than meat loaf just saying? Am I am so embarrassed? Um Thank you Meg sweetie. I love you. Uh And also of course, a big thank you to Nell for the birthday wishes. That's fucking awesome. So amazing. Uh Well, there you go. There is the damn answer straight from Nell's lips. Never ever, ever bring up the fucking Easter egg hunt ever again. I'm going to post that clip from her on every single news article every time I see it for the rest of time. I love you guys. Go fuck yourselves. Oh I will. But first I think we've got time for just one more bite size snack snack. I've got a good 11 that I know Aaron you've been putting off for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. How do I know? Because Meg is calling you out. Apparently you refuse to answer the simplest of all knack snacks. And since we were talking about shock treatment earlier and seeing is how it's your birthday and everything. Here we go. Mhm. Aaron. Where is Denton? Oh, fine. Ok. Uh, let's do this, Leroy. No. Uh, so, ok. This is also one of the oldest questions. It appears on the original FA Q that circulated on the news groups. It appeared in paper before that in the early fanzine issues. So, here you go. There are 18, Denton in the United States, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana has two. Nebraska, North Carolina, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas which also has two. Denton is supposed to be any town USA. But the popular belief and the thing that's right is that Denton in the movie is located in Ohio. And why is that mostly because of the Plain Dealer newspaper that Janet is reading during the driving scene and during there's a light, the Plain Dealer is the major newspaper based out of Cleveland, Ohio, ipso facto. Denton is most likely in Ohio even though there is not actually a Denton in Ohio. Yes. But see, I think you're holding out on us a little birdie has told me that there is overwhelming evidence that you are just ignoring entirely and who are you to cherry pick facts? No, no, I need you to address microfilm D D 4711. No. Come on. Yeah, and tell us about microfilm D D 4711. What secrets does it hold that you don't want the rest of the world to know about? Does it contradict your worldview. Are you withholding evidence? Are you part of the Rocky horror? Deep State? Refusing to let the truth about Denton out into the world? Oh my God. Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. This is Meg's doing, this is entirely Meg's doing. This is her conspiracy theory, but here it is ok in shock treatment when Betty sneaks into the archives, right? She searches in the computer for Cosmo and Nature that reveals that they're character actors that have worked under a wide variety of pseudonyms. They're always credited using the last name of different presidents. That's not what we mean, you know it afterwards. Betty searches for Farley flavors which the computer tells her should be cross referenced with Brad majors and references a microfilm number 40 7-Eleven like Frank's tattoo like the cologne. Yes. It's a cute nod to Rocky Horror using 40 7-Eleven again. So Betty pulls up microfilm 40 7-Eleven and it's a newspaper article about, well, spoilers here guys about how Brad and Farley are actually twin brothers that are separated after a horrific accident kills their parents, leaving the brothers as orphans. Brad is adopted by an uptown family and Farley adopted by a downtown family leading to the entire plot of the movie with Farley wanting to steal his brother's wife and imprison Brad. Yes. Correct. But that's not all that's there. Meg said we can't let you get away without addressing the elephant in the newspaper article. What was the horrific accident that caused Brad's parents death. Uh It was an automobile accident according to the newspaper article, an eyewitness named Zelda and a member of the This is great. The Keep America for Americans campaign. Hm. A little prescient. Uh, she watched as the Plymouth car that Brad and Farley's parents were driving careened into the side of a small truck owned by the fledgling mcdonald's Corporation. According to the article, it was carnage, frozen patties and buns littered the streets. Their parents were instantly killed and Brad and Farley were immediately put up for adoption. Holy shit. Is this? Why Farley becomes obsessed with fast food? Because his parents were literally killed by a mcdonald's truck. Don't read too much into it. It's a prop, it's just a prop that's being used in the movie. When in the fuck has that ever stopped you before? No, no, no. There is something here that you aren't telling us a deep dark secret. Go on. What else is in this newspaper? Fine. Ok. Um Fine. There is another article on the page. It's titled Fast Food for Denton and it discusses how there are plans to open a mcdonald's restaurant alongside the highway on a parcel of land that the city had reserved for a memorial to the soldiers that lost their lives in Korea. That's not all. No. The article quotes the mayor of Denton as Sane and I'm sorry guys. This is disgusting. But here it goes, quote, this is from the mayor of Denton. Let's face it. We only lost a couple of blacks in the war. Let's look to the future fast food is here to stay. I am 100% behind this imagined venture and I know that all right minded Dentton ins will support this march towards modernism. Well, that's fucking horrible, but also not the part I was talking about you really are avoiding it, aren't you? What the highway, the fucking highway that they are planning to open this mcdonald's next to, what is it? Route 94? Ah, and tell us Mr Smarty Pants, where is highway route 94? There is only one route 94 in the country and where is it? It's in New Jersey. It's not a very long highway. It's only 45 miles long. And is there a mcdonald's on route 94 in New Jersey? Yes, there are two mcdonald's off of route 94 in New Jersey and humor me here. What is the largest major city near route 94? And the mcdonald's that we are told are just outside of Denton? Well, it, it's not Denton, there is no Denton, New Jersey. What's the name of the city? Aaron? Denville. It's fucking Denville, New Jersey spelled D E N V I L L E, Denville. Now, Aaron, if you look up a book published, uh May of 1945 by the New Jersey Public Library Commission and it is titled the origin of New Jersey place names. It tells you the name of every single place in New Jersey and the origin for that name. So, Aaron, when you look up Denville, which is adjacent to Route 94 which is where we know there is a mcdonald's which are the major landmarks that are supposed to be adjacent to the home of happiness. What do we see in this historical reference book as being the origin of the town name of Denville? We see that the origin is the name of a landowner. And what's that landowner's name? His name was Daniel Denton. And therefore, surely we can conclude and therefore we can conclude Aaron and therefore, we can conclude that Denton is actually the local name, the historical name for the town of Denville. This is the town of Denville, which is off route 94 by the mcdonald's the only two concrete landmarks we are given in shock treatment. And therefore, and therefore Denton is actually located in New fucking Jersey. Damn fucking right. It is, it's not though it's not, it's, it's Ohio, it's in fucking Ohio. And what are you using for that? A newspaper, the plane dealer, I can get a newspaper anywhere, Aaron, I can bring a newspaper anywhere. Who's to say that Janet didn't get that newspaper from some out of town wedding guest who drove from Ohio, they drove all the way to New Jersey to the wedding in Denville, near Denton, just off route 94 by the mcdonald's. But it's not, it's so what you're going to use the map in the crim book. That's not Ohio. That's Kentucky. Actually, according to Lary Vill, it's an Ohio. Kentucky border map from 1973 published by Harman Map Company. So it's actually Ohio or is it Kentucky? Make up your mind? Facts. Don't care about your feelings. Is there a mcdonald's, er, or a route 94? No, that's what I thought. What about the scrapbook in the Rocky Horror scrapbook? There's a form that is shown that's filled out by Janet with her address and her address is listed as Denton Ohio or in the draft of uh the original shock treatment script where it's explicitly Denton, Texas. But does it have a zip code? Well, no, see Janet doesn't even know where she is. Maybe she was having it shipped to some other Denton because she knows that the mail service sucks in New Jersey, which is where she lives in Denville. Historically. Denton offered at 94 by the mcdonald's case. Fucking closed. I hate you guys so much. Happy birthday bitch. And, well, that's our show. We want to thank Neil Campbell Coleridge Taylor, the Albatross and our producer Meg for opening our eyes to the best kept Rocky Horror. Conspiracy theory. If anyone has a question they'd like us to answer on air for Nicky asks a question or some community news they'd like us to talk about or even a cool story to share with the community. We'd love to include a, on our show. Just go to our website rocky talky podcast dot com and fill out our contact form to tell us about it. If you're enjoying Rocky talkie, please help us out by rating, reviewing and subscribing to the show. It makes the podcast more accessible to new listeners and that helps us to really grow the show. And if you want even more Rocky Talkie content, check us out on Facebook, youtube, Instagram and tiktok all at Rocky Talky podcast. We'll talk to you all next week. Bye bye. Listen. I'm just saying that if Rocky Hard takes place in New Jersey and Janet lives in New Jersey and I play Janet and I live in New Jersey, then technically speaking on some quantum level, I am Janet Weiss. Do you live next to a mcdonald's? I do actually confirmed. I'm gonna go get chicken nuggets and celebrate. Ok. I'm gonna stop recording, Nicky, Nicky. No. Would it be a Aaron said among us, Aaron kind of sass. I don't know. I don't know about you. No, no, no. Let me explain why I'm not. S let me explain first up, we've got some exciting news from our friends in New England. The full body cast is performing again. That's right. I'll be right back. Really? Yeah, I got OK. I had one stop about an hour ago and it just hit me like a brick wall. There it is. Um, if we're gonna take a break, I'm gonna go to my closet and grab my hot topic gift card so I can buy these sweatshirts. I'll be right back. How much is on this? $10? What? No, I have another one. How much is on this? $50? Here we go. The Appalachian Center for the Arts or the A P P 60 three. What? It's ok. Don't worry about peepy. Anyways. Degree. Nicky. Are you down with the A P P? Let me do some Googling. That's not gonna help. How well do you know me? 17 plus App Store Apple wondering how well you know your friends or partners if you are, this is the perfect app for you can calculate how much you Oh, is it O P P? Are you done with the O P P? Yeah. You know me. Yeah. It's a song from the nineties Army with the harmony. Dave drop a load on him. O P P. How can I explain it? I'll take you frame by frame it. O is for other P is for people. Scratch and temple. Is this it? Yes, you're down with the O P P. Yeah. You know me every last homie, all the homies, all the, all the homies. Anyway, it's your line. The local theater offers summer acting camps for young performers, including historic museum style presentations, concerts, stand up comedy and even Rocky or shadow casting. Oh I fuck with that last one. I fuck with the first one I fuck with O P P. I'm sorry, my dogs are fighting outside. Hey, hey, you what you gonna do? I heard the door closed. Piggy just left. Sorry, Diane likes to kick Dominic's ass and I have to tell her to stop.