From Locust Ridge to Transsexual Transylvania: Legends Lost
She wore a wig. He wore fishnet stockings and a corset. They both wore high heels. Two of the greats left us this week. Yesterday’s upsetting news that Tim Curry, whose indelible turn as the mad cross-dressing scientist Frank-N-Furter in 1975’s Rocky Horror Picture Show gave the world so much subversive joy, had at long last beamed up to Transsexual Transylvania, left many an outsider in tears. The world was already grieving; on Tuesday, we learned that Dolly Parton had succumbed to a brief battle with cancer. There was an avalanche of appreciation for Parton, but both performers were, if I may use an overused word, iconic . When Parton died, a hyperbolic headline flashed across my screen that said, “Apocalypse draws near as last remaining universally beloved human being passes away.” That seems about right. I do not feel qualified to fully appreciate Parton as a country performer because I do not particularly like country music. But I liked Parton. A lot. Joe met Dolly in the '8...
