"Unable to fight it.
It's pulling tighter on the noose.
Pumping concrete through my veins.
No way to get out of these fucking chains."
-- Imperative Reaction, "Panic Cycle"
I had a busy weekend. Then I kept going out to do more stuff instead of staying in and writing a blog post as I intended.
Oh well. Here it is.
I finally got out to Die Maschinen back on Friday night. It was pretty cool, all-told.
It was a little strange, as I didn't get out to the Cat until after 11. But the place was fairly empty upon my arrival. Yet, by midnight, the numbers jumped about three-fold. Not as packed as, say, Dark Shadows, but still a fairly solid attendance.
My only complaint was, at one point while waiting for the slated performance, the DJ in the back room seemed to be playing some kind of meta-beat and jamming songs into that arrangement - so you couldn't really tell when one song was ending and another beginning... not that any of the pieces were fairly distinguished, themselves. So, as we waited for the coming performance, it just sort of dragged the energy down in the back room with unending beats that didn't even really inspire dancing.
Bad form, that.
Eventually Demodulate played in the back. Very danceable, which was good. Got some serious work out on the floor thanks to them, alongside my new acquaintances from DG last week: Collin, Amelia, and Pythos. On the other hand, I was under the impression that we were there for a Down Machine Down CD release party... Maybe a last moment cancellation?
So, I finally got back out to Solace on Saturday, after all these months of fate fucking with my time-table. So imagine my disappointment when I heard that Solace is going on a couple-month hiatus while Persephone and Darkmoon find a new venue. Turns out they've been having some problems with the Vagabond's new pricing scale which seems to fail to take into account the fact that the Ballroom is fairly small (ruling out large crowds entirely) and in a fairly questionable part of Oakland (further depressing attendance). Needless to say, very small events like Solace and fellow Ballroom events the Cell and (recently) Club Nocturne can't really afford a price-jack based on unreasonable expectations from the VB's commune-inhabitant/caretakers.
It's a shame, because the Vagabond is a very awesome space. But the fact is that they're basically pricing themselves out of the small venue market. And the event promoters talk with each other, so when one of those promoters finds another suitable venue for a better price, the VB crew are like to lose the majority of their events in one fell swoop.
Regardless, Solace was awesome, if a bit morose from the announcement of the expected and necessary changes. Persephone and Dark Moon sound like they're shooting for a January reboot. So let's keep our black-nailed little fingers crossed, shall we?
As to Death Guild... Well, it's fucking Death Guild. It was awesome, as always. I can't usually afford to go to DG as often as I'd like. Not because of expense, mind you. I just hate going to work the next morning feeling more undead than usual.
So for me to hit DG two weeks in a row was a bit unusual. Last week I was able to take Tuesday off to escape the issue of getting up and being functional. This week, though, I got a last minute birthday party summons (BTW: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIE!! Also, Happy B-Day to Tawny and all those other folks that were celebrating birthdays that night as well... Seriously, there were fucking birthdays everywhere on Monday), so I managed to swing a deal with my boss to show up to work really late so that I could actually get some sleep and a shower before being expected to actually work on Tuesday.
Anyway... A busy but awesome week, all told. A week that's continuing right into this coming weekend - I'll be checking out the Vespertine Circus on Friday night for their first show of the season (missing Dark Shadows this month, unfortunately) and the second instance of DJ Burning Skies' Club Nocturne on Saturday (Reverence is just a bit too far for me this week - in distance and expense - but I hope they have an AWESOME HALLOWEEN PARTY despite my absence), both at the Vagabond Ballroom (I know, first I complain, then I go to the very venue I'm bitching about).
It's going to be a very Oakland weekend.
-- Mr. M.
It's pulling tighter on the noose.
Pumping concrete through my veins.
No way to get out of these fucking chains."
-- Imperative Reaction, "Panic Cycle"
I had a busy weekend. Then I kept going out to do more stuff instead of staying in and writing a blog post as I intended.
Oh well. Here it is.
I finally got out to Die Maschinen back on Friday night. It was pretty cool, all-told.
It was a little strange, as I didn't get out to the Cat until after 11. But the place was fairly empty upon my arrival. Yet, by midnight, the numbers jumped about three-fold. Not as packed as, say, Dark Shadows, but still a fairly solid attendance.
My only complaint was, at one point while waiting for the slated performance, the DJ in the back room seemed to be playing some kind of meta-beat and jamming songs into that arrangement - so you couldn't really tell when one song was ending and another beginning... not that any of the pieces were fairly distinguished, themselves. So, as we waited for the coming performance, it just sort of dragged the energy down in the back room with unending beats that didn't even really inspire dancing.
Bad form, that.
Eventually Demodulate played in the back. Very danceable, which was good. Got some serious work out on the floor thanks to them, alongside my new acquaintances from DG last week: Collin, Amelia, and Pythos. On the other hand, I was under the impression that we were there for a Down Machine Down CD release party... Maybe a last moment cancellation?
So, I finally got back out to Solace on Saturday, after all these months of fate fucking with my time-table. So imagine my disappointment when I heard that Solace is going on a couple-month hiatus while Persephone and Darkmoon find a new venue. Turns out they've been having some problems with the Vagabond's new pricing scale which seems to fail to take into account the fact that the Ballroom is fairly small (ruling out large crowds entirely) and in a fairly questionable part of Oakland (further depressing attendance). Needless to say, very small events like Solace and fellow Ballroom events the Cell and (recently) Club Nocturne can't really afford a price-jack based on unreasonable expectations from the VB's commune-inhabitant/caretakers.
It's a shame, because the Vagabond is a very awesome space. But the fact is that they're basically pricing themselves out of the small venue market. And the event promoters talk with each other, so when one of those promoters finds another suitable venue for a better price, the VB crew are like to lose the majority of their events in one fell swoop.
Regardless, Solace was awesome, if a bit morose from the announcement of the expected and necessary changes. Persephone and Dark Moon sound like they're shooting for a January reboot. So let's keep our black-nailed little fingers crossed, shall we?
As to Death Guild... Well, it's fucking Death Guild. It was awesome, as always. I can't usually afford to go to DG as often as I'd like. Not because of expense, mind you. I just hate going to work the next morning feeling more undead than usual.
So for me to hit DG two weeks in a row was a bit unusual. Last week I was able to take Tuesday off to escape the issue of getting up and being functional. This week, though, I got a last minute birthday party summons (BTW: HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIE!! Also, Happy B-Day to Tawny and all those other folks that were celebrating birthdays that night as well... Seriously, there were fucking birthdays everywhere on Monday), so I managed to swing a deal with my boss to show up to work really late so that I could actually get some sleep and a shower before being expected to actually work on Tuesday.
Anyway... A busy but awesome week, all told. A week that's continuing right into this coming weekend - I'll be checking out the Vespertine Circus on Friday night for their first show of the season (missing Dark Shadows this month, unfortunately) and the second instance of DJ Burning Skies' Club Nocturne on Saturday (Reverence is just a bit too far for me this week - in distance and expense - but I hope they have an AWESOME HALLOWEEN PARTY despite my absence), both at the Vagabond Ballroom (I know, first I complain, then I go to the very venue I'm bitching about).
It's going to be a very Oakland weekend.
-- Mr. M.
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