I imagine the Twist started when I was six or seven years old. All of a sudden people were moving and grooving and gyrating, and getting it on with this new genre of music, rock 'n' roll. I remember my parents did the dance. It didn't take any talent.

From the Twist came the Mashed Potatoes, the Hully Gully, the Madison. And there were fashions created just for the Twist. My Aunt Virgina, she had to have some Twist shoes, the kind of pumps with a special heel that wouldn't break while you were out on the dance floor. A Twist dress had fringe and was usually short and tight.

My aunt Virgina frequented a club in LA called the Web. She had her Twist outfit, a tight black slipdress with shiny fringe, and her twisting mules. She had no trouble finding a partner to dance with. There were Twist contests, with cash prizes. Auntie won a lot, but it wasn't because she was twisting better than anybody else. It was because of the tight dress, and she looked nice.

It sounds silly now, but these were serious things being addressed in courts of law. Rock N Roll and the Twist were accused of coming from the devil. If you were out dancing, and you shook too much this way or that, you might get arrested.