So, back on 7/8/11, SFGothic.net had over 130 different visitors in a single day. And the next day we had over 70. These are the two highest unique visitor counts we've had so far and it's amazing!

I'm attributing this more than a little to the lovely Madame Deidre Anaid of the Cell linking us on her Dark Fusion Facebook page and connecting her awesome fans to us. So many thanks go out to that classy lady!

Some of you with more web-experience are probably scratching your heads going: "Wow... really? That's all and you're getting excited?"

But the fact of the matter is this: SFGothic.net is a niche website. We're catering primarily to goths and industrialists and other alterna-folk specifically in the San Francisco Bay Area who are active enough on the Internet to actually find or hear about us, which makes us a niche-within-a-niche-within-a-niche. And while some of the information herein reaches out as far as San Jose to the south and Sacramento to the east, the info from those areas is spotty at best - so our core demographic is fairly centralized.

All of our advertising is word-of-mouth, the business cards I manage to drop off at events I'm personally attending, and a Facebook page that doesn't even have enough "likes" to become its own named address yet (that's my next goal, so I can put it on the next batch of business cards).

So, yeah. 130 different IPs hitting us in the same day is pretty awesome. Having it followed by another day of 70 is even cooler.

On the other hand... I know that there's more than just a few hundred people out there that could use the information provided on this site. So now I want to hit that 100+ mark every day. I want my next: "Awesome!!" to be about hitting the 200 visitor mark. Or, even better, the 300 visitor mark.

So if you're a fan of SFGothic.net, I want to ask you for a couple of small favors:

1. Go to our home page or to our Facebook page and "like" us on Facebook.
   
2. Tell friends and family and acquaintances about us, especially if they're of a darksider persuasion. Shoot them an email or mention/link us on your Facebook page a couple of times or "like" our links. Help us broadcast our existence! Let the world know that we exist!
   
3. Comment on the blog! Tell me if you find a post interesting or inaccurate or just plain ridiculous.
   
4. Send me (via the contact page or even just in blog comments) information about the events, shows, concerts, clubs, whatever in your neck of the woods (whether you're one of the promoters or just a fan) and let us advertise it here! It's free advertising which can only help make those events more successful.
5. Also via the contact page, send me suggestions of things you'd like to see on the site or hear about or maybe just things to chat it up about.

And you don't even have to do all of these things to help us out. Just one or two of the above could really boost our site traffic and get us linked on other people's pages and further disseminated throughout the region and the scene. And that slowly pushes us further up the rankings on Google searches, bringing even more people to the site.

And if you do any of these things, tell me. Shoot me an email or leave me a comment (on the blog or on Facebook). Let me know so that I can thank you for helping SFGothic.net be the resource it is intended to be.

-- Mr. M.

So, I want to apologize for going dark this last week. I was forced to miss all the things I wanted to do over the Fourth of July weekend and the weekend prior - and I definitely want to apologize to the people I said I'd support and then wasn't able to.

First, I missed the Saints of Ruin release party back on 6/23 because I was leaving town for the weekend and needed to get packed. I hope those that made it enjoyed it. Anyone heard the new album? If so, tell me if you like it. I'm willing to pick it up if it's got some supporters out there.

Over the holiday weekend, I was hoping to go to the newly reborn Splinter on Thursday, go to Strangelove's Military Fashion Show on Friday, then go to the belly dance performance by the Standfire Collective on Saturday, and wrap up my weekend by heading out to Sacramento for Asylum on Sunday (since I was off work on Monday and wouldn't have to get up and be functional the next day).

It was going to be an awesome weekend of Gothic overindulgence and high fuel and bridge-toll expense - and I was totally fucking game.

And then a family emergency reared its head and destroyed the whole weekend. And since I had to now head down to Southern California, it was all of the expense and none of the fun (and three times the fucking heat, thank-you-very-much).

And, while the emergency itself resolved fine (thankfully), it also came with further and long-term bad news on the same front.

So, now, I want to punch Fate in the face. Also: cancer and heart problems. Fuck cancer and heart problems in their stupid ears with gigantic, flaming, spiked-and-barbed cocks.

I'm getting a little fucking tired of people I love dying all around me. This isn't the transhumanist, post-scarcity, 200-year-life-span future I was promised in my youth. Why haven't we cured the fucking plagues of the 20th Century yet even though we're in the 21st Century? Where are the god-damned hypo-sprays that just make this shit go away?

Why does making rich old people's dicks hard get priority over a baby's heart imploding on itself or bodies fucking cannibalizing themselves in some form of fucked up body-horror insanity?

I do want to thank my family (close and extended) for making this last weekend at least vaguely tolerable. You guys always surprise me with how well you roll with the punches and adapt and pull together.

So, at the risk of coming across sappy,thank you all for being so fucking awesome when the chips are down and the whole damn world is falling apart.

Even though most of you will probably never get around to reading my blog. :)

All that said, I'm hoping to make it out to the Cell's Dark Salon tonight at the Vagabond in Oakland (anyone care to join me?) to see some awesome dance performances and listen to some excellent music.

And maybe some liquor. Liquor would be perfect.

-- Mr. M.

Fashion.

It's a word that embodies much of the scene, darklings.

Whether you're turning old shirts into club-wear or buying yourself some platform boots on the interwebz, fashion tends to be a driving force in the gothic and industrial subcultures.

Since I have become more active in the club-scene, I've suddenly become aware of the paucity of appropriate fashion in my own closet. Certainly, my tolerant fellow dark-siders wouldn't judge me too harshly if I just showed up in a black t-shirt and black pants... But, part of the point of our little subculture is self-expression - often most apparent through our fashion choices. And if I can't look the way I really want when I'm in the crowd that will tolerate -- nay, even appreciate it -- well, when the hell am I supposed to dress up?

So, I've begun working on my fashion collection.

And let me tell you, kiddies, goth fashion can be god-damned expensive to buy online.

So what's a broke little gothling to do? Well, the beauty of our punk origins means that we don't have to buy in to fit in. That's right, children! Fight the Man! Fuck the System! Anarchy in the motherfucking U.K.!!

Wait... what was I talking about again? Oh, yeah... Fashion on the cheap.

Below, I'm posting an image of what I wore to the Meat vs. Death Guild night at the end of May and the total buy-in cost of each item. Let's start at the top, shall we?

• Bad-ass Welding Goggles - $12+shipping from Amazon.
• Spiked Collar - $12 after tax, from a pet store. That's right. I'm wearing a dog-collar. Bought it that day on the way home from work.
  
• Sleeveless Shirt- This button-up dress shirt ran me about $25 two years ago. But sweat stains had ruined it in the interim - so I couldn't wear it to work anymore. So I slashed the sleeves off (clipping off the sweat stains with them) and left the edges rough and un-hemmed. If you don't have a shirt you're willing to butcher, go to your local Goodwill or other second-hand store and pay $5-$10 for something you are willing to butcher.
  
• Arm Wrap - Literally a long strip of "throw-away" scrap cloth from something I had tailored for me years ago. I just tied a knot around my hand, wrapped the remainder around my arm and up again, and then knotted it again (I recommend knotting as just tucking it tends to result in it coming loose while dancing). If you want to make your own without having spare scrap cloth lying around, a yard of fabric will cost you a few bucks at a fabric store (I recommend something light, that breathes - mostly-cotton blends or muslin).
• Suspenders - You can't see them very well. But trust me, they're awesome. Cost me $12-$15 at Macy's about a year ago (remember children, sales are your friend!!)
• Pants - A pair of Dickie's I bought at Target for $20 - again, a year or more ago. Also the type of thing you can often find at a second-hand shop in a pinch.

Another idea that occurred to me the other day? Goth/Cyber finger-less gloves.

1. Go to your local Goodwill.
   
2. Buy a shirt with tight sleeves in an appropriate color - maybe even too small for you to wear usually (guys, this might mean that you need to fish around in the girls' departments).
3. Go home, and cut the sleeves off half way. Then, with a razor blade or scissors, slice a small hole in the seam near the "hand" end of the sleeve for your thumb.
4. Hem or not, according to your ability or interest.
5. BAM! Instant finger-less gloves.
6. If you want to go really crazy, add accessories - safety pins up the back are easy and cheap, or, if you have the chain from an old chain-wallet (or any chain of a similar gauge), you can attach something like that with some well placed holes and some key-rings. Or, with a piece of ribbon, you can cut a few holes and "lace-up" your new gloves.
   

Any of you gothlings out there have some tips of your own for cheap/fast/easy-to-make fashion? Let me and your fellow dark-siders know in the comment section.

I also found a site called Antimony & Lace... it's a bit dated since they last changed it, but there are some interesting articles on how to sew or mod your own low-cost goth fashion. Check out the "Project" and "Articles" sections for some great info.

And gaze, again, upon the awesome handsome-ness that is me before you go.

-- Mr. M.