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The Inevitable Rant about Art and the Goth Scene

8/22/2013

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"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.
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SFGothic.net is Two Years Old!!

4/30/2013

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"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.
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Wil Wheaton Speaks Truth

9/12/2012

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"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.


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I hate Daylight Saving Time! I hate it SOOOOO much! Oh, and event reviews!

3/13/2012

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"There is a house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun.
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy, and God I know I'm one"
-- The Animals, "House of the Rising Sun"

I really, really, really, really, really hate Daylight Saving Time (not "savings time", as one friend had the decency to point out to me yesterday. No "s" at the end of "saving").

First off, it's an affront to our biology. Our bodies work with a certain set of cycles and rhythms, and DST disrupts those cycles. Sometimes for weeks and some people never adapt at all. DST results in lack of sleep and all the obnoxious side effects that accompany that (irritability, inability to focus/attention deficit, inability to multitask, depression, anxiety, and, in some cases, increased likelihood of heart attack and suicide). For more details, here's some links (that I found on Google while looking for convenient evidence to support my point):
  • Houston Chronicle
  • ScienceDaily
Second, the idea that DST saves energy is faulty, especially as we've changed how we use energy in the world. In fact, studies actually seem to contradict that DST has any effect on energy usage any more (if it really ever did). Behold my use of Wikipedia to support my agenda!!

Third, why do we have to fool ourselves by changing the clocks if we honestly think we need more daylight? Why not just have Summer Hours for places of business that find it useful and let the rest of us keep our hour? Are we so advanced as a species that lying to ourselves is the most productive choice?

Fourth, they've extended DST to the majority of the year now. It starts in March and doesn't end until November. Two-thirds of the year is currently spent in DST - more time than we spend in our "regular" timezone. Really? This does not make sense! (Link to: Chewbacca defense)

Fifth... Calling it DST makes it sound like some kind of disorder of the brain or disease. I'm going to refer to it as such from here on out. "I'm dealing with DST! It's not my fault! I didn't ask for this!"

Now that I'm done with my rant, let's get back to the point of my blog, shall we?

Back on the 3rd, I got to go to the Witches' Ball in Benicia. It suffered from the usual problems that Pagan Alliance events seem to regularly suffer from - a lack of any real advertising, very little seating if you didn't pay for a VIP ticket, and bad sound techs (seriously, have none of these guys heard of doing sound checks before people start showing up?). They also suffered from an extra problem this year, entirely outside of their purview - ridiculous gas prices kept a large number of the usual attendees from SF and the South Bay from making it out.

The DJ was pretty awesome, though. Got some good gothy tunes, at least for part of the evening. Also, the mead was excellent.

I also got to go to Hexenfest on the 9th. This is a first shot at a, potentially, annual event. Primarily put together by tribal rock outfit Pandemonaeon, it also featured goth-rock act The RaZor Skyline and a number of local bellydancers.

The RaZor Skyline was quite good. A little more rock than goth, they still had some solid tunes and a strong line-up. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of them in the future.

I was also surprised and delighted to see one of my favorite bellydancing divas, Dusty Paik of Snake Church, get up onstage to dance with them. Yay!!

Between stage acts, bellydancing by Anaar and Morpheus Ravenna was quite lovely as well (I particularly enjoyed Anaar's use of fans and silks).

And then we got Pandemonaeon to wrap the evening up. Best way to describe them might be Fleetwood Mac if Fleetwood Mac were more metal. Definitely good music to dance to if you like to dance in the pseudo-folk fashion that a lot of pagans do.

Also, the bar at the Oakland Metro Operahouse is pretty good for such a small bar. Hey, a man has to have his priorities, and mine apparently involve getting drunk.

Upcoming events to be aware of:
  • Club Nocturne on 3/17
  • Death Guild's multi-night 19th Anniversary Bash from 3/18 to 3/21 (featuring some really awesome bands!!)
  • The Hubba Hubba Revue's "Goth Night" in celebration of Death Guild's anniversary on 3/22
-- Mr. M.

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Dating on the Dark Side - Part I: GothScene.com

12/9/2011

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"I thought that you were the one.
In darkness my heart was won."
-- Dead Can Dance, "The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove"

I've been playing around with dating sites for some time now. One of the advantages of being poly is that, even when things are going lovely in one's primary relationship (which isn't actually the case for me anymore, but that's another conversation entirely), one might still be available to meet interesting people with whom to make an acquaintance and, potentially, establish a romantic connection.

Of course, the problem is finding folks to date. Especially goth-y folks.

Thus, this post and the series it kicks off will focus on the highlights and failures of the online dating scene, both in general and as it relates to being a dark-sider in the Bay Area.

So let's start with one of the more obvious sites for this: GothScene.com

When I stumbled onto GothScene, I thought: "Awesome... a whole dating site devoted to finding people of exactly the type that most draw my eye!"

And it really is replete with profile entries and lots of pictures. Many of the women seem quite attractive and the profiles seem really interesting. The selection of men seems, to me anyway, somewhat more sketchy and distinctly less goth-y than advertised, though (and decidedly slim for men looking for men). So, heads up to those interested in the boys.

Here's some of the really unfortunate and glaring problems with GothScene, though:

  1. You have to pay to be able to send and read messages. So you can set up a profile for free, but if someone responds to that profile, you can't see what they've got to say or respond back to them in turn unless you're paying for a membership. this wouldn't be awful except...
  2. Most (as in: by far the vast majority) of the profiles have been abandoned for an indeterminate period of time, at least around San Francisco and Sacramento. So all those entries and pictures are basically a ruse. They may not have started that way, of course (though I'm starting to wonder). But that's what they are now.
  3. There are only a dozen people on the site at any given time. And not just in the Bay Area. We're talking across the entire country. So, #1 Alternative Dating Community might be accurate because there is no competition for that particular moniker. But it's certainly misleading considering the number of alternative people that are extremely easy to find on other sites (for free, no less).

Final Conclusion: GothScene.com is radically over-priced for what it provides. There's lots of neat little tools to play with for socializing (forum, chatrooms, mailboxes, who's looked at your profile, who's "favorite" tagged your profile, etc.). But there's no one to socialize with, despite the illusion to the contrary. And yet they want to charge you $10/month for the pleasure of not having anyone to talk to.

Learn from my mistake and save your cash. By all means, create a free profile there, but slip in some mention of your email address or your handle on some other non-pay dating site and direct potential suitors there. Because, at the moment, whoever is running GothScene has set up a situation where they're absorbing cash in return for a product that is almost entirely a fantasy.

-- Mr. M.





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Blargh! Silence and Finances and Exhaustion and... Blargh!

11/19/2011

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"Whenever I'm alone with you,
you make me feel like I am free again.
Whenever I'm alone with you,
you make me feel like I am clean again."
-- The Cure, "Lovesong"

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Lots of life going on, which seems weird to me.

As a side effect of all this life and trying to hit clubs and events, my sleep cycle's all kinds of fucked up. One night I'll be up until 2 a.m. and up at 7 a.m. and the next night I'm in bed by 8 p.m. and asleep until 9 a.m. and.... blargh. The effect of all this is that I feel more than a little exhausted all the time.

Add in to that financial stuff. I've lived a little too large of late, trying to hit more events and shows than I probably should, expending immense amounts of gas and paying lots of bridge toll. I'm working on figuring out some ways to free up a little more cash each month, and now I just have to enact some of those plans - but money is a stressor for me (as I'm sure it is for many folks), and I'm delaying for fear of having missed factoring something, somewhere.

This last bit makes me feel really bad - like I'm not supporting the scene enough if I hold back due to cash-flow reasons. And, for the sake of the site, it is fairly important that I do go to lots of events because that's where one actually finds out about more events in the scene.

For example: I'd have never been to Club Nocturne if I'd never heard of Solace first. And I would have never heard of Solace had I not gone to Dark Shadows. But I would have never heard of Dark Shadows had I not gone to Death Guild in the months before Dark Shadows started.

This sort of thing, of course, is the reason that SFGothic.net exists - to help my fellow darklings hear about things they never otherwise would have. Especially folk like me who live outside civilization-proper (by which I mean: I live in, basically, ultra-East-Bay suburbs) and so don't get to hear about the latest and greatest events and clubs and concerts and what-have-you that are springing up.

So all that said - what with the holidays about to kick into full gear and my cash-situation being a little strapped already - I'll probably not be getting out to a whole lot over the coming month or two, while I get finances sorted out.

Instead, I'm hoping to start writing a few more reviews of albums I've had the pleasure of picking up over the last six months or music I find on the web and also a bit more discussion on fashion. And maybe even more of my thoughts on stuff in general. We'll see.

Ultimately, what I'm saying is: you may be seeing a bit less of me out-and-about than before in SF-proper for a month or two, but I'm hoping that you'll be hearing/reading more from me as a result.

To kick some of that off, let's do some scene news:

There's rumblings that the Cat Club is radically shaking up its weekly/monthly calendar for 2012 -
  • Word is that DieMaschinen will be ending in December due to low turn-out (I'll be honest, I only got to make it out there once and wasn't super impressed with whomever was DJing in the back that night - and I've heard some horror stories from other attendees that only reinforce that bad impression).
  • I've also been told that Diverge will be ending next month as well. Diverge has never struck me as quite my thing, but I know some awesome people that really enjoy it, so it's a loss that will be felt within my circle.
  • There's also tales that the wildly successful and excellent Dark Shadows may start happening two nights a month... and potentially on Saturdays instead of Fridays. So there's some serious "yay" in that. EDIT Update: Nope, sounds like 2nd and 4th Fridays. That's okay. I like hitting the Cat on Fridays.
I'm still hoping to hit Club Nocturne later this month, and maybe the Cell the week after. I might even try to hit Disorder finally on the following Saturday, since it's on my side of the Bay Bridge.

-- Mr. M.
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Silence isn't Golden

9/15/2011

1 Comment

 
"I'd give up all tomorrows, to have one yesterday.
And I'd live within that moment, as long as you could stay.
Beyond goodbye. Beyond the pain.
I will never let go. You will always remain."
-- Imperative Reaction, You Remain

2011 has, for me, been one of great, repeated, and unrelenting loss. I expect that I will look back at this time in my life as the darkest I have ever lived through, when I even choose to look back on it at all.

I am returned from the latest of these losses and, as has been the case in all the previous, I feel diminished in so many ways for my troubles. I feel less human. I feel less alive. I feel less driven. I definitely feel a lot less happy. And I feel even less like the person I once was (and not in a good "self-improvement" sort of way).

I give homage to the glorious dead. For they no longer find themselves troubled by the vagaries of human life, human interaction, human failings, and all-too-human betrayals. Rest well.

Now that I have returned, I wish to apologize to those whom I had promised to come see over the last few weeks (especially the performances - Molly foremost, as I seem to keep missing your shows over and over again).

I also apologize to those to whom I haven't responded via the various communication channels available. Thank you for your thoughts and concerns. I am, in fact, still alive.

And I am back now, and SFGothic.net can now return, hopefully, to something resembling its previous operating parameters (which only included about one post a week, I admit, but at least I was keeping up on the Event pages and Calendar).

Welcome back to the shadows, my darklings. I'm glad to be home.

-- Mr. M.
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Apologies for Life

8/22/2011

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"Love...
Love will tear us apart...
Again."
-- Joy Division, Love Will Tear Us Apart

So, I would like to apologize for my prolonged silence.

I'd also like to apologize to DJs Persephone and Darkmoon and Melting Girl and Daniel Skellington, as I had planned on attending this month's installments of Solace and Dark Shadows, both (and, as such, was unable to write the glowing commendation that I'm sure they both deserved - not to mention the Vixens, who are always so much fun to watch).

Unfortunately, real life and family emergencies cropped up. And, also unfortunately, it may just be a fact of my life at this point that real life and family emergencies will keep cropping up fairly consistently from here on out.

And real life is something, it seems, that I am unable to apologize for.

For those to whom it would matter, I'm hoping to hit both Dancing Ghosts' Sandman vs. Death Ball at the Cat Club on Friday and Reverence in Sacramento on Saturday.

I don't have anything particularly Sandman or Death-ish to wear on Friday, much to my dismay, but I'm looking forward to enjoying the Eternal cosplayers. And I've been hoping to hit Reverence for months now. Hopefully I'll have the energy to manage both.

-- Mr. M.
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The Fall of Splinter

7/28/2011

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"You follow the path that you meant to avoid
A matter of time till an echo unfolds
What the next step might bring?You take a look back
While your heartbeat is raging to this song you sing."
-- Diary of Dreams, The Wedding

So, as some of you may already know, Splinter (promoted by DJ Femme Mystique) has closed its doors this week after an attempted reboot last month.

This makes me unhappy for a couple of reasons -
  1. I missed the reboot because of the family emergency I mentioned in a previous post. I really wanted to go because, as I explained in that previous post on the topic, Splinter was going to be my kick-off for a crazy goth-y four-day 4th of July weekend. Ultimately, this means that I never got to go to Splinter before it died. And that makes me feel really bad - like I didn't do my job in supporting them enough.
  2. More selfishly: I was really looking forward to going tonight. I had actually set it up to take tomorrow off of my day job so that I didn't even have to get up in the morning and could just dance myself stupid into the wee hours of the night. On an off chance, I checked Splinter's Facebook page only to learn that there wasn't going to be a tonight. Now what the hell am I going to do with my evening? I see a porn-centered consolation prize in my future.
  3. This subtracts a monthly event from what had looked like a steady build-up of goth/industrial club-nights. As many have been wont to remind me when I talk to them about SFGothic.net, there was a time in the mid '90s when there was a goth club almost every night of the week in the City, if not two. And the last year or so seems to have seen something of a renaissance among the darkling community. But the scene is still small enough that one club lost means a loss of a measurable whole-number percentage of the entirety - for the mathematically-minded, it's roughly 2-3% of all the things I'd tagged for the month of July. So Splinter's absence effectively diminishes the entire scene - from Sacramento to San Jose.

So what do we do about all this? Ultimately, I don't know. I'm not even really sure why Splinter didn't work out, since I never got to go.

Femme Mystique's comments on the Splinter FB page suggest that she believes the Thursday night timing to be a big issue. I suspect she's at least partially correct. I think the "last Thursday of the month" element might be compounding that problem further, though, since "last Thursday of the month" might by the 4th or 5th Thursday, varying from month-to-month depending upon where the extra days after the first 28 fall on the week.

Also, the "single weeknight of month" aspect can be a big killer. It doesn't seem to be a deal-breaker for the Friday and Saturday events, but that's because they're Friday and Saturday nights. The only regularly-occurring week-night events seem to be every week (Examples: Death Guild and Bondage-A-Go-Go) or, at least, nearly every week (Example: Swing Goth). "Little" events like the Cell manage to make it by focusing on very small venues and catering to much smaller crowds than a San Francisco-based club is willing to risk income on - not to mention that the Cell also focuses on a very specific type of entertainment, what with the performance art and dance angle rather than a club-orientation.

Either way, I wish DJ Femme Mystique and her crew luck, and I hope to see them rolling out another club night soon. As she mentions on the FB page, they're looking for something on Fridays or Saturdays, which (as you can see above) I think is a better idea for a once-a-month event.

Here's hoping.

-- Mr M.
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Thanks and more

7/23/2011

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"Hey you hey you,
Let's hear you scream.
I'll spoon-feed you my imagery.
I need you, I need you,
to spit it out.
I'll be what everyone talks about."
-- Aesthetic Perfection, Spit It Out

So I want to thank all of you for helping promote SFGothic.net on Facebook! Now that we have enough "likes", we now have a Facebook page with it's own address: www.facebook.com/SFGothic.net. Hooray!

But it seems that I've gotten a taste of this fame thing and now I want more. And I've recently been playing with Google+ (which is fairly awesome by the way - if you have a Google account, I'd recommend giving it a try). So we've now added an awesome "+1" button to the page as well!

Since I'm limited by Weebly's software, it might be a bit before I can get a button for individual blog posts - but you can always follow me (MisterMephisto in case you've forgotten me) on Google+, and I'll do my best to keep you updated via posts there.

So, thanks again to all you awesome people that have supported SFGothic.net! And please continue to do so!

Because it starts to look a little funny when all I'm doing is talking to myself.

-- Mr. M.
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    MisterMephisto is a pretentious prick. That's why his opinions are so much better than yours.

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