"All you know about me is what I've sold you, dumb fuck.
I sold out long before you ever heard my name.
I sold my soul to make a record, dip shit.
And you bought one.

So I have got some great advice for you, little buddy.
Before you point your finger you should know that I'm the man.
And if I'm the fuckin' man, then you're the fuckin' man as well,
So you can point that fuckin' finger up your ass."
-- Tool, "Hooker With a Penis"

Lately I've seen a lot of anger on the Aesthetic Perfection FB page and it's sort of triggered some thoughts in my head that really wanted to get out.

Lucky you, darklings! You get to read them!

So, Daniel from AP has been launching into some rants over the last few days, taking umbrage with some of his "fans" that are basically bashing the relatively new "Antibody" single, and some of the fans have been lashing back concerning the fact that he seems, at best, uninterested in their opinions and, at worst, telling them to fuck off.

Daniel has posted at least one sorta-apology entry, admitting that his response hasn't been the "most gentlemanly", which is true.

That said, Mr. Graves has made some really solid points over the last few days, and his objections are something that I see infecting entirely too much of the scene across the board.

So, what's the complaint about "Antibody"? From what I gather, it's basically that it sounds "too techno" compared to his earlier work. And Graves concedes that people are entirely welcome to their opinion. His objection is, of course, them inviting themselves into his "own house" (the AP FB page) in order to bandy their unwanted critiques and club him over the head with them.

Here's where this conversation involves "the scene" in general.

People, including many of us in the darkling crowd, are in entirely too much of a hurry to stick things in boxes. We call it "classification" and seem to be under the impression that, if something falls into one box, it cannot possibly fall into another box. But the fact of the matter is that all "classification" is really just a series of continuums with an arbitrarily-set "midpoint" that is chosen to "define" any given continuum.

But even scientists and biologists and historians spend a lot of their time quibbling over when a wolf stops being a canine and starts being "something else entirely" or whether a particular piece of pottery is Late Paleolithic or Early Neolithic or evidence of "some other thing that's completely different that we now have to make up a name for".

And the "Goth scene" seems to be more egregiously infamous for this over-reliance on classification than many other "scenes"... Though, to be fair, goths were being hipsters before being a hipster became cool. So. Y'know. Par for the fucking course.

The problem is that art -- all art, whether music, or painting, or sculpture, or fiction, or poetry (or anything else that I'm accidentally leaving out) -- is even MORE continuum-based than biological science and history. Especially since all art is derived, influenced, and drawn from, guess what... PREVIOUS ART. And that all art is born SPECIFICALLY from the EVOLUTION of PREVIOUS ART within the SOCIO-POLITICAL CULTURE in which that evolution was formed. (And then it's all judged on another continuum based entirely upon PERSONAL TASTES that's just plain arbitrary as fuck.)

So when a particular "goth kid" (drawing from an example in my personal experience), says something along the lines of: "why aren't there more bands doing old-school goth, but, y'know, being innovative?", it leaves me somewhat boggled. Because, what this young gent is actually asking for is the OPPOSITE of innovation. He wants something that sounds a whole lot like what he's already heard (which was born out of a burgeoning punk scene that is now nearly 30 years dead), but he wants it to be "different". But there's only so much difference before he arbitrarily classifies it as "not goth", which, if he were being more honest, actually equates to "falling outside my own continuum of like/dislike" and has nothing to do with whether or not it's actually "goth" at all.

What he's actually asking for is for musicians to cater to his specific idea of what their art "should be" and ignoring the fact that a) they can't read his mind; b) what he wants was born from a culture that doesn't exist anymore; and c) his personal tastes are not the end-all/be-all of how their art is judged.

And, as Daniel himself pointed out: catering to what "makes fans happy" over what "makes Daniel happy"? We've got a name for that. It's called "selling out". That's putting the value of your dollar over his own integrity and evolution as an artist. You don't have to like what he's doing, nor do you have to support it. But you don't get to dictate the direction, either.

But going onto his page and shitting all over it? That's just fucking tacky. And pretending that he "owes you" something, artistically, because you're a consumer? That's just fucking ignorant and greedy and self-obsessed (oh, hello cultural results of American Capitalism!).

How does this relate to the scene and then back to the original issue of certain AP fans being obnoxiously vocal about their dislike of the newest single? I'm glad you asked! (No, really. You asked... Okay... No you didn't, but you're getting an answer anyway.)

"Music scenes", like all art, evolve or die. Eventually, a given scene becomes something else entirely, but is close enough that it is still obviously related and it takes a while before the differences become so pronounced that classifying it into a separate continuum makes sense.

The "Goth Scene" is unreasonably schismatic on this, whereas the actual unifying trait of the "Goth Scene" is a combination of "dark music AND morbid, shocking, and/or retro fashion". But you have "Old School Goths" and "Hardcore Industrialists" bitching about how all this "New Electronic Shit" is all over what they perceive to be "their withered lawn of shadows."

The issue is that Goth, as a scene, evolved to survive the fact that Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, and Siouxsie Sioux ran out of steam. So it added Industrial and darker Electro music because, face it, some of us wanted to dance to a beat when everyone else in the world got Techno. And from that, we got Darkwave and EBM and Aggro-Tech, all born from various mixtures of these continuums... And the same goes with fashion, where you get BabyGoffs in their Manson-shirts, next to Deathrockers in their mohawks and punk-wear, having a drink with some Industrialist in giant platform boots stomping away to Combichrist, mingling with swirly neo-Victorians and Pagan-Goths and their not-so-distant Steampunk cousins, dancing with someone that looks like a mashup between ol' Siouxsie herself and Gaiman's Death, while some darling Gothabilly in victory rolls and a pencil-skirt is sipping on whiskey while showing off her tats (I said "TATS" not "tits". Though we're talking Gothabilly, here, so, it's quite possible that she's showing those off, too).

And, without this ever-evolving continuum, we would have never gotten this music in the first place. If the dying of punk hadn't spawned the morbid nihilism of "original Goth", then we'd have gotten no Bauhaus or Siouxsie Sioux. And if it had not been for techno and the fading of "Old School Goth" artists, we'd have never gotten Throbbing Gristle and NIN coming in to fill the space... which means that we never would have gotten the stuff that the angry fans got from those first three AP albums, being that those albums were almost entirely born of the Industrial and Electro music that came as a result of those earlier acts.

So, what is Mr. M's overly-long rant really trying to say?

Mostly? Stop trying to choke the life out of your own scene by shitting on things that other people in the scene like. Stop screaming about how bands that evolve out of your taste range have somehow "sold out". The Goth Scene is expansive. It's growing because otherwise it will die out (and nearly has a couple of times, already). It's adding new things to its repertoire, it's cross-pollinating with other fringe cultures, and it's expanding its range. Whether you like specific changes or not, it will survive and evolve without you.

You're welcome to "like" or "not like" a given innovation. But you do not get to define what Goth is or "What counts as 'real' Aesthetic Perfection" as though it were only a single continuum based solely upon your personal tastes.

As to my opinion on the "Antibody" single? Eh. It leans a little further into the techno continuum than I'd prefer. But it's not a bad song and I happily dance to it at club. I'd have preferred to see Daniel head more into the grim waltz-y stuff that he did with the "All Beauty Destroyed" track... So more industrialized waltzes, some tangos, maybe a dark cha-cha... Can you even make a dark cha-cha?

But then you'd have people making the same complaints. Except me. I'd love it. :)

But, as many others on the AP FB page have stated: if I want to listen to "more of the same", I've got three full albums worth of that already. Daniel and AP don't owe me a damn thing. Except maybe to grow artistically, even if it's in ways I don't like.

-- Mr. M.

"You had plenty money, 1922.
You let other women make a fool of you.
Why don't you do right, like some other men do?
Get out of here and get me some money, too."
-- Peggy Lee, "Why Don't You Do Right?"

So, I just got back from the second day of this year's Steamstock.

Unlike last year, it was in July (rather than October) and lasted for two days (instead of just one). Here are my thoughts:

The performances were amazing!!! Considering that they're the primary draw of Steamstock, and were recruited from all over the U.S. -- nay, the WORLD!! -- this makes sense.

Lee Presson and the Nails were astounding (as usual, but it deserves to be repeated) -- if the combination of the terms "goth" and "swing" sound at all appealing to you, LPN is who you want to be listening/dancing to. Hell, even if your interest is just "swing", you'll do alright with them.

Victoria and the Vaudevillains were ALSO excellent. I missed most of their performance last year and somehow kept missing their shows elsewhere since then. Basically, I had to settle for Youtube vids to get a feel for their music, which only made me more sad about missing them over and over. Thankfully (and finally!) I got to see Victoria Victrola live with her cast of Villains and Zombies. And they did not disappoint in the least! Somewhere between adorable, creepy, and crazy, Victoria V and her crew put together a mean zombie cabaret act.

Other delights that particularly piqued my interest over the weekend:

Good Company - I believe Good Company performed last year, as well. But as I've gotten a little bit of a taste for Electro Swing and Boomswing, I was in a much better position to admire them as the only Electro Swing band currently in existence in the U.S. Very danceable, giving a modern twist on the musical stylings of the '30s and '40s.

Hannah Thiem - If you like our own local cellist-delight Unwoman, then you should definitely consider listening to some of Hannah's violin-electro music. Definitely in a similar vein to our own Bay Area darling.

Psyche Corp - This one is particularly hard to peg. Think Alice in Wonderland meets Mirrormask (especially the circus elements) and you might get some vague idea. Her music was dystopian and surreal, but also playful. My particular favorite was her rendition of Poe's "Annabel Lee". The young woman that is Psyche Corp definitely deserves to have a full band backing her. In fact, that she didn't was perhaps my only real complaint about her.

Mr. B., the Gentleman Rhymer - The "headlining act" of the first night, Mr. B was equal parts ridiculous and ridiculously entertaining. His style is "Chap-Hop", which is basically rap, but using overly-proper and exceptionally-polite Oxford English, backed with proverbial "fat beats", all while strumming along on a Banjolele. Amusing both for his own pieces and his renditions of hip-hop classics (slightly skewed to fit with his own styling).

About Steamstock in general:

This year there was definitely more music (two days' worth!!) and probably around 50% more vendors (which was nice when you wanted a break from all the performances).

I definitely liked the "two stage" arrangement again. It allowed the next performers to set up while the current set were on the other stage across the room. There were a few "sound check" faux pas, of course... but MOST of the bands were good and kind enough to adapt quickly to the arrangement and still put on wonderful performances.

There was lots of seating and table-space on the first day, which was nice when you've been standing for an hour after listening to two acts in a row. In fact, I'm not really sure why they took so much of it away on the second day... It made standing around a bit of a problem for those of us who had tired feet (especially those of us that had already done the standing "thing" for a whole day already). 

But the only real issue I had was putting the headlining acts for each day at the end of a very LONG day of music. For instance, I know a number of people that really wanted to see Mr. B on the first day, but they were so tired that, by the time his performance started at ten minutes to eleven, they had already left. And I recall this being something of a problem last year, as well. Abney Park was the headliner that evening, and a number of people had just gotten entirely too exhausted to stay late enough to see them perform, leaving AP with a much smaller audience than the day's ticket sales suggested.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure how fixable this issue really is.

So, there you have it, my darklings! Steamstock II was, by and large, as awesome as the first go round. I expect that Steamstock III will be comparable next year, and I look forward to seeing you all there!

-- Mr. M.

"If you came here to save me, you're walking too slow.
There is nothing left but burned remains of what I was two years ago."
-- Imperative Reaction, Diminish Me

I almost let this slip by unnoticed! SFGothic.net is now two years old!

I started it up in April of 2011 on a whim after realizing that there were no updated sources for the types of events I was interested in attending. In fact, it was Death Guild's 18th Anniversary week that inspired it all, as I had gone to DG on a whim the week before, with the woman I was involved with at the time, and learned that there was a pair of shows that I wanted to attend as part of the celebration. Shows that, conveniently, were occurring in line with the anniversary of that relationship.

It is fitting, in more ways than one, that I selected this particular line from Imperative Reaction for this post's quote.

First, that performance at the DNA for the DG-18 celebrations was my first time seeing Imperative Reaction (and Ayria) perform and my very first blog post on SFGothic.net concerned that show.

Second, the quote itself is particularly apropos of the changes that have taken place in my life since that first post.

The reason I mention this is because this site is one of the things that helped me survive those changes. The death of two  family members, the end of a twelve-year relationship, losing many of my friends, being single again, suffering from extreme depression, even falling in love again and losing it for a second time... all in two years. And working on this site helped get me back into the world and kept me going despite these setbacks -- it gave me highlights on which to focus that brought me immense joy despite the intense sorrow I was living through. Specifically, it resulted in me hearing a lot of new music, seeing a number of amazing performances, doing a great deal of dancing, and allowed me to meet some very awesome and interesting people.

And recent unexpected, but delightful, encounters with fans of the site have only reinforced my interest in maintaining SFGothic.net going forward. Seriously, I am always pleasantly surprised when I learn that anyone is actually paying attention to my blithering here. I welcome all of you to offer input by commenting on blog posts or shooting compliments or criticisms via the "Comment Section" on the Contact Us page.

I guess what I am ultimately attempting to convey is this: Thank you. Thank you for reading SFGothic.net. Thank you for supporting the scene in San Francisco and Sacramento and Oakland and San Jose and Santa Cruz and all those places in between. Thank you all for giving me your time and your energy and your attention as I go searching for new and delightful distractions to add to the calendar. Thank you to the promoters and DJs and performers that have kept me in the loop and talked to me about their events and the events of others. Thank you to the artists that have given me your time and created such wonderful music and art and literature and film for me (and others) to consume.

I'd also like to give special thanks to the following folks for being extra supportive: DJ Persephone (of Solace and Vintage Invasion), DJ Burning Skies (of Club Nocturne), DJ Daniel Skellington (of Dark Shadows and Witching Hour), DJ Necromos (of Apparition and Batcave SF), Draeden Wren (of Songs of the Goddess), Unsinkable Molly Mitchell, Tesla Dethray, Alexis Berger, Ruth Sears, Emory Marler, Deidre Anaid, and Madame Vaughan, and probably a whole bunch of other people that I'll remember an hour after I post this.

At this point, I'd usually put a list of awesome events/clubs/performances for you to see in the next few weeks, but, seriously, there's just SO MANY THINGS!! So I suggest heading over to the Calendar of Events and figuring out what you want to get to. Personally, I'm really looking forward to the Psyclon 9 and Hanzel und Gretyl shows coming up at the DNA Lounge in May.

See you out in the shadows, my darklings!!

-- Mr. M.

"I walk the line between good and evil.
My business is a little cloak-and-dagger.
I drink so much, I don't walk -- I merely stagger."
-- Alien Sex Fiend, I Walk the Line

Death Guild's 20th Anniversary was quite "the bomb" (as the kids say... or said ten years ago, anyway). It got just crowded enough, in my opinion, to feel like an important event -- which it was.

I think I would have enjoyed it significantly more in the company of someone I'm no longer involved with, though, which is unfortunate. Yes, even a goth super-villain occasionally "haz a sad" (understatement of the year).

Mostly, though, I was really excited to have an opportunity to check out some changes to the DNA Lounge that I've been putting off seeing for entirely too long (as some of you may remember, I missed the Halloween bash that was the "opening night" of those changes -- and I hadn't managed to make it out there since, either). Now that they have those extra two dance floors (and bars to accompany them), it just further diversifies the number of choices available for music to dance to and people to dance with when going out on a Monday night. Also, it means DNA can fit more people in, across the board. So win-win.

Also, a lot of excellent people were there -- some I hadn't seen in some time, others I got to meet for the first time, along with a not-insignificant portion of the Sacramento Contingent, who are awesome folks.

In fact, I even got some positive feedback concerning SFGothic, which warmed my filthy, black little heart. As a reminder, darklings, I'm always open to hearing your thoughts, ideas, about your favorite club or some event I've missed on the listings, and even the odd compliment or two via the Comment Box in the Contact Us portion of the site.

In other news:

I'd apologize for my latest lapse of bloggery, if I wasn't fairly certain that most of you had not become accustomed to (if not entirely tolerant of) my bouts of unwarranted silence.

In explanation, though, I've been spending a lot of time focusing on other projects.

The first is, unfortunately, looking for a "real job" so that I can afford to go to all these awesome events that I keep advertising. It's gotten to be an issue in the last couple of months that financial concerns have stopped me from enjoying clubs and shows that I'd otherwise not think twice about attending. Needless to say, this is an unpleasant and laborious process which has, so far, availed me of little but further frustration with the world around me.

The second is that I'm preparing, sometime in the near future, to begin another website devoted almost solely to the scribblings of my slightly less-villainous (but still freakishly handsome) alter-ego. When that happens, my fellow darklings, I'll be sure to post a link here on the site (and probably in a blog entry, too). The centerpiece is intended to be a serialized tale of grim fantasy, but I'll probably punish the world with three decades'-worth of accumulated bad poetry and other bits of fiction as well, in addition to talking about all those silly authorial things like process and inspiration and art and whatnot.

Obviously, my intention is to keep SFGothic running as well. I am, of course, willing to consider taking on evil minions who would be up to helping me keep track of all the awesome that the Bay Area's Goth-Industrial scene has to offer.

Upcoming Events:

3/22 - Double Feature of REPO! The Genetic Opera and The Devil's Carnival in Sacramento!
3/23 - Dangerous Beauties Bellydance in San Francisco (this might already be sold out if you don't have your ticket yet).
3/27 - Mindless Self Indulgence at the Ace of Spades in Sacramento.
3/29 - Dancing Ghosts' 6 Year Anniversary in San Francisco!
3/30 - Sevendust, Coal Chamber, and Lacuna Coil at the Regency Ballroom in SF.
4/05 - The start of Lumen Obscura III in San Jose. Runs until the 7th and yours truly will be MCing at least one of the performances.
4/06 - PEERS' Paris at Midnight Ball in San Mateo (for you social dancers).
4/12 - SOLACE!!! at the Prop Box Studio in Oakland.
4/15 - Dead Can Dance at Davies Hall in San Francisco.

Hope to see you out there in the shadows, meine Lieben!

-- Mr. M.

"That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange aeons, even death may die."
-- H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

I have returned from what appears to be manifesting as an annual cloistering from the end of November through most of January. It's mostly an "overwhelmed by holidays and forced socialization" thing, though I wouldn't be entirely surprised if there was some seasonal affective disorder in there somewhere, too.

Either way, though, I have returned from the worlds beyond!

I spent most of today trying to catch up with data from the usual haunts, though I still have much to do and will be filling the event pages and calendar out further as time goes on. Missed a God Module show the other week, though, which was disappointing to me. But that's what I get for being a hermit, I suppose.

In more positive news, Emily Autumn's shows in Oakland and Sacramento are next week! I'll be at the Oakland one while my buddy Draeden from Songs of the Goddess will be at the Sacramento performance. Let me know if you'd like to connect with either of us!

We also have a decent number of other concerts happening throughout February and March (including Velvet Acid Christ, Cradle of Filth, and Marilyn Manson - quite a range of musical styles for the darkling community to choose from).

And don't forget Club Nocturne in Oakland on February 16th.

I'm also currently hoping to make time for the Uncultivated Vulgarity II art show in March.

Speaking of which: I've also managed to do some updating in the Gothic Media portion of the site (and will hopefully find the energy to add some more bits and pieces as time goes on - especially the currently blank "Game" and "Art" sections), so feel free to take a look around and make suggestions, comments, or even the odd complaint. If anything, it let's us (by which I mean: me) know that you're reading!

Also, if you would like your art featured in that currently blank "Art" area of the aforementioned Gothic Media, shoot me some images of work that you're willing to let me post/show and an address for your website (or at least a Facebook page). If I like what I see, I'll happily share it with the community. I've already got one artist committed (locked in a padded cell and everything) and I've got one or two more in mind to accompany her when I finally do get something together, but, really, the more the merrier.

-- Mr. M.

"Boys and girls of every age,
would you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see
this, our town of Halloween!"
-- Danny Elfman, "This is Halloween"

October was excellent. So much to do! Only one month to do it all in!

I should have written something sooner, of course. But STUFF!!!!

So, here's my thoughts on some of the highlights:

PEERS Steampunktoberfest Ball:

This was delightful. Everyone was dressed excellently (including, if the ladies are to be believed, yours truly). Bangers&Mash provided amazingly good music (as they usually do). The drinks and snacks were fabulous (seriously, the people who were constantly bringing out more and more tasty vittles deserve to be lauded!).

And the waltzing was exquisite! I even got to try out a few "scripted" dances with some friends. All-in-all, a truly wonderful evening!

Being in San Mateo, it was a little further away from home than is ideal for me, though Oakland and SF folks shouldn't have nearly as much of a problem with that.

STEAMSTOCK:

Steamstock was, to put it bluntly, fucking amazing.

<== And, seriously, look how awesome I looked!!!

The vendors were really neat and the music was pretty damn epic across the board.

They really packed the musical acts in, but Brian Gardner and the SwingGoth folks had the ingenious idea of having two stages, so that the crowd could run to one stage to watch a performance while the next band was setting up and sound-checking on the other stage.

Abney Park and Thomas Dolby were quite excellent (as was to be expected), and I enjoyed being able to see Vernian Process live. But for me, the highlight was in getting to hear some really excellent acts I hadn't before.

Lee Presson & the Nails were the biggest newly-discovered treat for me. Seriously, a goth swing band? FUCK YES! And Lee was just... excellent. Super high energy, amazing voice, and he looked really god-damned dapper in that all-black zoot suit with his slicked-back hair and pencil-moustache. Now I really wish I knew how to swing dance!

Other delightful discoveries included Hydrogen Skyline and Victoria & the Vaudevillains (Victoria Victrola is fucking adorable, by the by); though, to be fair, all the acts were fun to hear and watch.

Good news is: they're already planning the Steamstock for next year! Personally, I hope they can use the same venue. The Craneway Pavilion was a really cool place; lots of room with an excellent view of San Francisco from the water.

My only complaint (I've always got at least one) -- I wish more of the vendors had more stuff. A lot of the stalls seemed really sparse on what they were offering. Even though what most of them were offering was pretty cool, there just didn't seem to be much of it. The exception was the Holzer & Combe Haberdashery stall -- they were positively bursting with crazy-awesome stuff to buy. You should seriously visit their website.

And a little more seating and maybe an extra food truck would have been nice.

Club Elysium:

I managed to make it out to the opening of the Club Elysium goth night at the new Purgatory Club in Sacramento (on the arm of a very, very lovely lady, I might add).

While the opening night suffered a few hiccups (like the top floor not being open yet and there not being enough bar staff on hand for the crowd), Club Elysium was quite a hit.

The venue is actually kind of swanky. Purgatory is clearly still in some kind of state of renovation, unfortunately, but the underground "Hell" floor was in excellent repair and was packed to the gills with gothling folks. Lots of nice booth seating with tables all around the perimeter. Clean bathrooms. A huge dance cage AND a stripper pole. All on just the bottom floor... I'm actually a little excited as to what the top floor will be bringing to the table when it opens up.

And the music was pretty damn awesome. It's the first time I've had the pleasure of listening to DJs Blixx and Keyz spin, and, I must say, I was impressed.

I do wish that there had been a little more "swirly goth" though, since the single floor issue crimped the whole "two floors - one for stompy/one for swirly" plan. More for others than for me, of course, since I'm a stomp-monkey. But a few breathers wouldn't have gone awry.

Good news is that it seems that Elysium blew the venue owners away as much as it did the Sac-Goth crowd. With only the one floor, the place quickly reached capacity by about 11 p.m. and the venue owners did manage to call in some back-up on the bar.

For those that don't know the background, Club Elysium is a goth night constructed by members of the Sacramento goth scene specifically to fill the wants and desires of their local scene as a whole. And while it's certain that they won't please everyone, they're definitely approaching the whole thing with arms (if not always eyes) wide open and really trying to meet as much of the community half-way as they can. There's an energy, a drive and passion, that really fuels this thing. Hell, they even had folks walking around with clipboards, taking notes on what people liked and didn't and jotting down suggestions their fellow darklings had.

My final summation is that Elysium is off to a really grand start. The only thing I see holding them back now is the venue itself getting fully up-and-running (in other words: more bar staff, opening the top floor, cleaning up some of the place's "rough edges", and making sure the bouncers stop letting people jump past the line ahead of people that have been waiting twenty minutes to get in). I can't see the future, but Elysium certainly felt like a solid heir to the Sunday-night scene in Sacramento.

Other stuff:

There were other things I made it out to, but I don't really have the energy to go into all of it now.

And a lot that I wished I could have made it out to but didn't: like Ariellah's ShadowDance and DNA's Halloween Bash... Lack of cash and an overabundance of depression leads to all sorts of stupid missing-stuff-I-like.

Upcoming Stuff:

Don't forget, my darklings --

Friday:

• Strangelove's Dia de los Muertos in San Francisco
  

Saturday:

• Le Bal des Vampires in Alameda
• Subkulture's DeathWake in San Francisco

Sunday:

• Club Elysium in Sacramento
• Komor Kommando at the DNA in San Francisco

Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Goth,

-- Mr. M.

"Far over the misty mountains cold,
to dungeons deep and caverns old.
We must away ere break of day,
to seek the pale, enchanted gold."
-- J.R.R. Tolkien, the Hobbit

Made it out to the Uptown Nightclub for the first time this week... then ended up there a second time for another dose of delightful depravity.

The Uptown Nightclub, for those that haven't been, is a fairly nice venue. When you first enter, you get a long view of the bar which is fairly well-stocked. Parallel to the bar, but with a wall between, is the "theater" which is as big as the barroom is, but just has a few tables mounted against the walls and mostly empty space for standing with a nice little stage at the end.

The bathrooms are clean and well-lit (this is a much rarer "plus" than one would like to think). The smoking area is enclosed and out back, with plenty of seating and space - and can easily hear what's going on in the theater area.

Most drinks are about as expensive as they are in SF-proper, which was a little bit of a disappointment - but not heart-breakingly so. Bottled water is about half price, though. So that's like a win, right?

The first show I went out for was Unwoman's CD release and Birthday party back on Wednesday, 9/19. She played most of her new album, with a couple of songs from previous albums to fill out her repertoire for the evening. I personally found her enchanting - her music was, of course, excellent (it was, in fact, the reason I was there to begin with) and it was more than a bit fascinating watching her use the looping pedal to turn herself into a one-Unwoman string quartet. But she was also very charming up on stage, flirting and bantering back and forth with her crowd, and more than a little bit lovely.

I suspect that I have something of a schoolboy crush on her at the moment. But I see no reason why I shouldn't, honestly.

The second show I went to was the final Cabaret Perilous! of 2012 on 9/22. An all-round enjoyable show, truly. With swing music by Mari Mac & the Monitors, magic by Mysterium, beautiful burlesque by Jay Siren's... well... Sirens, violated Disney tunes by Princess Creampie, and, last but not at all the least, a pair of numbers by the unreasonably beautiful Standfire Collective (with my personal favorite: Unsinkable Molly).

To give you an idea of how good Standfire is, I overheard (and am ruthlessly stealing... and probably misquoting a little, but the point is the same) someone's comment from last night: "It says something that, in a show that included beautiful women taking off their clothes, that the act that got the loudest cheers by far was the trio of women that didn't take anything off." I think Shutterpunk Neil Girling was the one that said this... so credit where credit is due.

If you haven't seen Unwoman perform or heard her music or you have not seen the Standfire Collective or Unsinkable Molly dance, these are oversights that you absolutely must work to rectify as soon as is humanly possible!

The truth is, if you are unwilling to repair these failings on your part, I must only assume that it is because you were dropped frequently as a child or that perhaps your mother drank an inordinate amount while you were in the womb - as such, you are beyond my help, but I can look askance at your sorry life in pity and thank the stars that I am not forced to live an empty life devoid of music or pleasure.

In other news:

We've got Amanda Palmer (accompanied by the above-mentioned Unwoman) coming to San Francisco on Wednesday 9/26; the Days of Terror Horrorfest in Sacramento on 9/28 and 9/29; Unit77's Allegiance in SF on 9/29; Steampunktoberfest and Steamstock on 10/6 and 10/7; and a whole mess of other shows, concerts, performances, and other madness.

Tremble in fear and joy, oh gothlings, for October and the Fall cometh! Keep checking the calendar and the event pages so that you don't miss anything awesome!!

-- Mr. M.

"No, nobody can own me.
This is my only authority.
My, my body is mine - to poison.
It is my gift for the killers to cut open."
-- Unwoman, "For the Killers"

Artist(s): Unwoman

Album: The Fires I Started

The recently released album by the Bay Area's own Unwoman, cellist and vocalist extraordinaire.

My Thoughts: A little dark cabaret, a little steampunk, a little political, a little electro, a little mythic, a little academic, a little war-torn, a little romantic, and a whole lot of wit, Unwoman (a.k.a. Erica Mulkey) can only be described as an entity of innumerable and far-reaching talents.

I actually regret to say that I only recently allowed myself to fall prey to her musical charms. To think of all the time I've clearly wasted!

For those who haven't heard Unwoman's music before... well, she's fairly difficult to pigeon-hole, to be honest (see above). Obviously, there's all that cello, sometimes with languid electro-synth tracks and other times with harsh heavy beats mixed in to add to the other-worldliness... Or perhaps "other-timeliness" is a better description. Meanwhile, her vocal stylings occasionally remind me of Miranda Sex Garden's Katharine Blake, but with less ethereal, fairy-tale subject matter and more heavy-breathed, film-noir allure.

Ultimately, this inability to pin her down is one of the things I like best about Unwoman's work so far. To call her fascinatingly anachronistic would be fitting - if only one could tell which direction and how far she has been displaced in time, so that we knew whether to mourn for a past forever lost or to yearn for a future we shall never see.

Highlights: The Fires I Started is a rich tapestry of aural delights. Picking out a few individual pieces on other albums is usually a good way to get a feel for the artist. But, in this case, each piece is a thing unto itself - highlighting one or another feels almost counterproductive, misrepresenting the immense range that is the complete album.

Of course, that is unacceptable; thus I shall endeavor to represent some of my particular favorites well and, hopefully, entice you, dear readers, as I have been enticed.

"The Future, the Boot" - Drawing its inspiration (and its chorus) from Orwell's infamous quote about the future involving "a boot stamping on a human face - forever", this jaunty tune plays with the idea of turning the other cheek and making beauty from horror in an attempt to subvert the assumed inevitability of such a future - "when life throws you sarin, you sing a sweet serenade", she trills wittily. Of course, even our singer seems to question whether this will really be all that effective in changing anything, asking "is there something bigger to believe in - to unite us under".

"The Heroine" - A poignant song of disappointment, it tells the tale of a war-time performer awaiting her beau/belle to appear at her underground performance in a locked-down city (I always imagine somewhere in WWII Nazi-occupied France in my own mind's eye, though the actual location is never said). The desired, though, never arrives, leaving our heartbroken performer to recognize that her beloved is either "a coward or could never love me or you have fallen to the enemy" - none of which, understandably, console her. All the other guests have appeared - but not her lover, who has, in one fashion or another, failed her.

"Siren Ship" - This piece, ostensibly about a defenseless treasure ship inviting pirates in order to entrap them, strikes me as a witty and pretty sea shanty. Of course, its elegant and cunning innuendos suggest a devious and extremely sensual (no, really, this song seriously turns me on) metaphor concerning a seductive and supposedly vulnerable beauty who lures her lovers to their emotional ruin. "Your type can never resist my call. I have been so many conquerors' downfall..."

"Star-Crossed" - This is one of the pieces where Unwoman's vocals seem most reminiscent of Katharine Blake. Elegant and slightly static-y, it has a fuzzy, unreal quality - as if playing from a dirty disc on an overused Victrola. I'm still not entirely sure what the song is about - or if it's about anything at all, really. But there's something about it's lilting, dream-like ambiance and soldierly drum-beat that really flows through the listener.

Final Thoughts: The Fires I Started is a mix of so many different elements that it defies any true classification and certainly anything resembling convention. A gem of independent music-making, it is atmospheric, alluring, and highly addicting (I suggest that Unwoman be forced to put warning labels on it).

If you don't believe me, go to Unwoman's website and listen to this or any of her other albums she has there for free. She also subscribes to the "pay what you want" model of music-vending, meaning that if you want to own some of her music and are a little strapped, she'll generally accept what you think is fair for most of her albums (and she doesn't skimp, either - other than the "singles", most of her albums seem to sit at a solid 15 or 16 songs).

I, of course, recommend throwing as much money at her as you can manage, either for one of her albums or during one of her crowd-funding endeavors.

I also recommend attending the CD-release party for the Fires I Started on Wednesday, Sept. 19th, 2012 (that's in two days, my darklings), so that you can see this siren perform in person. Details to be found HERE.

-- Mr. M.

"And I find it kind of funny.
I find it kind of sad.
The dreams in which I'm dying
are the best I've ever had."
-- Tears For Fears, "Mad World"

This post is going to be short and to the point. Just a heads up.

It may not be terribly surprising that, as an often-all-too-archetypal goth kid, I've spent a lot of time struggling with depression. For those of you that haven't had the dubious luxury of knowing me well enough to get the details, this has been especially true over the past year and a half (though the depression itself began much earlier than that).

For those fortunate enough not to know: depression saps your very will to live your own life. And, in particularly bad moments, it can cause you to choose to stop living entirely. Anyone that tells you to "buck up" or "get over it" has no idea how insidious, vicious, and debilitating depression is - how it undermines your faith in yourself, in everything you do, in the love that other people bear you, and even in your own worth as a human being.

So, it's more than a bit uplifting to see someone I hold in fairly high esteem, Mr. Wil Wheaton, come forward and admit to similar feelings and give his opinion on the topic. As the man says: "Depression Lies."

I'm not going to pretend that I'm anywhere near as relevant to the world-stage, or even to the Bay Area stage, as Mr. Wheaton is. And he really does say it more eloquently than I ever could - so you should just check out his post, as I'm not interested in further retreading the ground that he's covered so much better.

Also, you should consider supporting a friend of mine, Jasmine Boardman, who's been working so hard to put herself through school, specifically to combat this psychological dis-ease and one of the most unfortunate results common to it. She's attempting to complete her grad degree in Psychology and get certification specifically in suicide intervention and prevention. I know money is tight right now - but even $5 or $10 could help her go forth and save lives.

If it were not for her and her family, I am certain that I would not be here today. That may not matter much to some folks, but it matters a fuck of a lot to me.

(P.S. I also want to thank Ms. Tara D. for sharing Mr. Wheaton's post on FB so that I saw it.)

-- Mr. M.