Dracula 2020 – the BBC and Netflix Series

The BBC miniseries – actually trilogy – that debuted on Netflix this January is a worthy retelling of the classic Bram Stoker gothic novel for a myriad of reasons. Without going into actual spoilers, it is possible – and my intention – to examine this “nth” reiteration of one of the best loved and most disturbing stories that set the standard for gothic tales, looking for unique contributions it makes to the vast output of Dracula cinema.

Like all movie versions of Bram Stoker’s gothic novel, from the 1931 Bela Lugosi Universal Studios classic to the nearly one hundred motion picture versions, it derives its story from the original novel, while taking liberties to satisfy the filmmakers’ urge for creativity or to express poetic license or merely to lay a claim to some elements of originality. The trick has been – and many have succeeded at it – to stay true to the core elements of Bram Stoker’s book while paying respect to the character that Bela Lugosi created without being imitative to the point of caricature. To do otherwise – and some have done so – is to invite scorn, ridicule and failure. This involves walking a tightrope between the book’s portrayal of a demonic cadaver dwelling in a coffin in Transylvania and Lugosi’s suave, Central European aristocrat. The Netflix series succeeds at this.

A praiseworthy feature of this trilogy is that it honors Bram Stoker’s format of retelling the story in “epistolary” form, i.e. in broken-up narratives derived from diaries, letters, ship‘s log, memoranda and the like, but it does so in cinematic form.
The first episode “Rules of the Beast” provides an utterly dismal yet fascinating narrative of poor Jonathan Harker’s encounter, imprisonment, victimization and eventual destruction by Dracula. A sort of connecting thread, or recurring character introduced is that of a fly, whose unpleasant presence appears again and again – on window panes, on people, and – most disturbingly – on Harker’s eye as he is being interviewed by a Catholic nun named Van Helsing, who will prove to be Dracula’s nemesis and situational companion. Elements of Catholicism have always been a part of the Dracula story, and this trilogy is true to the tradition. Also introduced is Harker’s fiancée, Mina, who – as in the book and the countless retellings – becomes a particular target for Dracula’s bloodlust. Harker’s character – an undead victim of Dracula’s contagion- lays out the prototype for the state of being undead in a way that is uniquely explicit in this series.

This first episode goes a long way to creating an expansion of the Dracula world by way of introducing a whole population of box-contained “undead” in varying degrees of decomposition – begging for release. Thus the zombie trope is added to the vampire story, while intersecting with the terrible predicament of premature burial, popularized in writings of Poe. In so doing, the series has contributed another dimension to the lore of vampirism.

Yet another contribution that this series makes is to expound the effecting in which Dracula’s drinking of blood results in his absorbing the knowledge, experience and – if he chooses – personal qualities of his victims, something not included in other Dracula tales. I.e. he learns to act like a fine Englishman by drinking Harker’s blood. Thus, the subtitle “Blood is Lives.”
The second episode, “Blood Vessel,” tells a previously unexplored story of Dracula’s voyage on the sailing ship the Demeter to be transported from Transylvania to England along with a coffin containing his native soil, an essential ingredient in the folklore of vampires. Most other stories have skipped over this period, simply reporting the mysterious deaths of the crew at the end of the ship’s passage. In this second entry in the trilogy, the ending of the passage is quite different and unique. No spoilers will be disclosed here.

Without apologies or detailed explanation, it can be reported that the third episode, “Dark Compass,” brings Dracula – and a niece of Sister Van Helsing – into the 21st Century. There and then he pursues the fearless-of-death Lucy Westenra, as in previous retellings. As disconcerting as it might seem to purists, the 21st Century action works to expound much about the icon that may have been overlooked. He is explained to be a hedonist – whose pursuit of immortality has been in order to prolong his pleasures and epicurean delights is expressed and explained quite explicitly. He longs to see the sun after centuries of avoiding it. He has (irrational?) fears of the cross and of light and – above all – death, an obsessive fear he shares with most of mankind. And he has been – ironically and paradoxically ¬– shackled, for ages, by the superstitious peasant folklore which he has imbibed from countless Transylvanian victims, at least some of which proves to be totally false.

The series succeeds because it meets fans’ desires to see consistency and continuity with the essential features contained in the book and the classic cinema, elaborating them creatively and adding interesting tangential elements without detracting from the traditional and venerated story.

Peter Murphy

Jan 20, 2020
Le Poisson Rouge

Goth rock icon Peter Murphy reprised his famed residency at Manhattan’s Le Poisson Rouge on Monday, January 20, picking up the thread with a “Greatest Hits” night that ran a little over an hour and half, performing 17 songs from his vast repertoire.

First up was a torch singer, Vinsantos,
self-described “New Orleans-based
Drag Musician, Performance Artist and Queer Witch,” with a remarkable voice, a creative keyboard style and over-the-top drag-queen costume and make-up.

Peter Murphy came on around 9 p.m. and opened with an extended, electronically-enhanced and slightly discordant version of “Cascade” off the album of the same name – his fifth studio album and thus legitimately considered to be the epochal mid-point of his solo career. He then went on to “All Night Long,” with its unmistakable introductory, persistent wooden xylophone riff, from his second album, “Love Hysteria.”

He continued with “Marlene Dietrich’s Favorite Poem” and then a funky, almost unrecognizable version of “Deep Ocean Vast Sea” both from the third album Deep (1989). Then it was on into the Holy Smoke (1992) album for “The Sweetest Drop.”
“Lion,” from his last album of the same name isn’t heard very often. That album was the only one passed over during the August residency. It was followed by the much more popular “Socrates the Python,” with its undulant, leisurely pace and mysterious mantra, “Bennett, Gurdjieff, Jesus.”

The eight song – the halfway point in the set – “Gaslit” is from the Secret Bees, an EP that was a spin-off of – but not included in – the Ninth album (2011). Next came the much loved ”The Prince and Old Lady Shade” which was, however, included in Ninth.
Peter continued his well-established practice of joshing with the audience during several noteworthy exchanges. Early on he assured the crowd that he was “definitely NOT an icon,” while implicitly assuming the role of icon. There’s common and frequent speculation regarding just how big this “icon’s” ego is, and he teased a bit when he expressed the opinion that “these lyrics are brilliant” in reference to, I believe it was “Deep Oceans.”

Whether it was intentional or thoughtless, Peter let the microphone stand far away from his mouth during talks with the audience, rendering much of the patter inaudible to all but the front two or three rows of spectators. When heckled about it by farther away audience members – those unable to hear what he was saying – he continued speaking in low, intimate tones that perhaps only the closest five or ten people could hear. The heckling continued but to no avail.

“Subway” from Cascade was a most welcome return to Peter’s beloved, melodious oeuvre and was sung in a faithful-to-the-original style.This was followed by “Disappearing” from he same album and “A Strange Kind of Love” from Deep. “His Circle Meets Hers” and the raucous “Low Room” drew up to the final song of the main set, his all-time favorite and most requested song, “Cuts You Up.”

After a short break he returned with the lullaby, “Huuvola,” accompanied by his silver-voiced daughter, Hurihan. The concluding song of the night was “Hangup” from Lion, during which he repeatedly implored the listener to “hang up the phone! ” while echoing the name of Turkey’s most famous ancient edifice, the magnificent cathedral-museum “Hagia Sofia.”

This night was billed a night of “Greatest Hits,” but I would prefer to see it as Peter Murphy’s own personal favorites. Entries from Lion and “Secret Bees of the Ninth” hardly qualify as having “Greatest Hits” status among fans in terms of sales or requests. But they might have special meaning to Peter himself. For those fans who love the melodious, rhythmic selections like “Indigo Eyes” and “Hit Song” this set was a disappointment, since the emphasis was on funky, discordant, Bauhaus-like dissonance – not only the songs chosen, but in the manner of delivery ¬– of even the most romantic selections in the set. A
He had a cold to start off with, and all the chatter in which he engaged revealed that his voice had become quite hoarse and gravelly. His singing however, suffered little if at all, and his commitment to putting maximum effort into every note continues to be fulfilled, even after having suffered a heart attack late last year during the residency that he is now completing.

VNV Nation at Irving Plaza

Nov 24, 2018

Hamburg Germany-based electronic music project VNV Nation (“Victory Not Vengeance”) fronted by Dublin-born singer-songwriter Ronan Harris continued their 2018 tour with a performance to a packed and enthusiastic audience at NYC’s Irving Plaza in support of their latest album, “Noire.” They are famous for idealistic themes bordering on the sentimental and for passionate anthems.

New Dark Age doesn’t attend VNV shows because of Ronan’s unwarranted and incessant talking instead of singing, but we interviewed scene celebrity and event promoter, Lady Zombie, a big fan, who was attending her third VNV concert. She found the synth-wavers openers, The Rain Within, to be an awesome stand-alone act, capable of pulling off an amusing cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella.” They were followed by Holygram, updated post-punks from Cologne, Germany whom she described as having “an 80s goth sound.”

VNV opened with the ominous-sounding “A Million” from their new album followed by “Retaliate” from their “Transnational” (2013) album, then went back to the new album with “Armour” which features soaring, heartening melody and lyrics.

Ronan was loquacious as always, expressing his love of New York and imploring the crowd to put their phones down and to sing along.

They hit a couple more tracks from the “Noire” album, concentrating their set on their fans’ beloved favorites from their historic body of work. Thus, “Space and Time,” “Farthest Star,” “Chrome” — Lady Zombie’s favorite — and “Resolution” were included in the regular set. After nineteen songs they took a break and the crowd chanted “VNV! VNV!” prompting a return, starting with “Nova,” the first of the three encores which concluded the show with “All Our Sins” from “Noire.”

An official afterparty was held at the Pyramid club at which Ronan and the opening bands socialized with the fans.
VNV Nation at Irving Plaza
Nov 24, 2018

Light Asylum at Synthicide

Brooklyn Bazaar
Nov 29 2018

And Harriman’s club night Synthicide hosted a performance by Brooklyn-based electro-darkwave band Light Asylum on Thursday night, Nov 29. Normally residing monthly at the Bossa Nova Civic Club, Synthicide was held this time in the underground space of Brooklyn Bazaar to a packed, sold-out audience.

The focus of Synthicide is on electronic music with frequent live acts, as on this occasion. The opening group was Ghost Cop, a spacey duo consisting of Lucy Swope and Sean Dack. Early in their performance they were joined by some technical and musical assistants who worked multiple sound boards and keyboards producing compellingly rhythmic, sometimes brutal noise, with some pre-recorded samples as well as, pleasurable, echoic, sung vocals.

Next up, androgynous synth wave duo Korine, from Philadelphia, now frequent flyers in the NY/NJ metropolitan area and coming off their well-received shows at Stimulate the week before as well as the Human Music Synthwave Festival in May of this year, put on an excellent example of that style. This was my fourth time seeing Korine and I had an impression that the they came across like New Order might have sounded if Ian Curtis had survived to sing for them.

Between the acts, hostess Andi Harriman manned the turntables with powerful, danceable tracks, but the packed crowd had little space to move other than to sway side-to-side or bob up and down. precisely because no one was giving up their place for viewing the upcoming, headline act, Light Asylum.

Led by female vocalist Shannon Funchness and accompanied by pre-recorded electro-industrial tracks, Light Asylum burst right on with the first five tracks from their eponymous album. “Hour Fortress” was followed by he funky “Pope Will Roll,” then “IPC.” The next song, “Heart of Dust” has a discordant and erratic vocal quality with a harshness reminiscent of Nitzer Ebb. So did the next track, “At Will,” also from the album.

A couple more tracks from that album were performed, and attention was turned to the “In Tension” EP, concluding with the overwhelming favorite “Dark Allies.” This masterpiece features bizarre minimalism combined with perverse gospel vocals that highlight Shannon’s frenzied, baritonal voice. The crowd of twenty-something Brooklyn goths and hipsters went wild.

The Red Party

Mercury Lounge
Sat Nov 10

The Red Party hosted the dark rock duo the Long Losts who performed selections from their album “Scary Songs to Play in the Dark.” Guest DJ Valefar Malefic joined regulars Jarek Zelazny and Sean Templar playing goth, death rock, post punk and cold wave.

QXT’s in Newark
Nov 16, 2018

The mid-November weekend was eventful at the premier alternative club in the metropolitan area, QXT’s in Newark. Friday Nov 16 saw an early evening presentation of Diva Burlesque, produced by Lady J in an effort at reproducing the atmosphere of early 20th Century strip tease in the tradition of Newark’s Empire live vaudeville theater.

At 10 pm, the dance area took off with a night dubbed “Cure/Mode” with emphasis on the repertoire of those two iconic post-punk bands and other 80s standards in the deejays’ sets. In Area 51 the theme was “Shelter” where one could hear German Industrial Techno, Danish Electro, French Industrial and more new contemporary artists.

Nov 17, 2018 saw Green Jello headline a list of live bands which included the Gothsicles, Singaya and the Broken Co., following which noted DJ Aengel joined forces with QXT’s regular DJ Mindsolvent for an edition of Blasphemy, the original goth and dark dance party on the main floor with the likes of Peter Murphy’s dance-conducive “Indigo Eyes.” Downstairs in Area 51 there was a variety of music with the likes of And One and Project Pitchfork, while DJ Victrola played 80s synth pop and Wave in the Crypt.

On Sunday Nov 18 Sunday Brave rattled the rafters in support of the release of their EP “Taking Over,” alongside noted soloist Constantine Maroulis and two of the hottest local bands, The Randy Haze Trio and Our Fears.

Dec 1, 2018 Q’s also hosted a performance by 80s superstars Anything Box to a packed audience with opening band, Philadelphia duo, Korine.

Stimulate

Drom
Nov 23, 2018

Producer and DJ Xris SMack presented an exceptional edition of the recurring dance and entertainment party Stimulate on Nov 23, Black Friday at the East Village nightclub, Drom., Featured were a synth wave-style original band and two renowned tribute bands as well as hours of ambient, alternative dance tracks curated by well-known metropolitan area deejays including DJs Paradox, Phoenixxx, Cyclonus and Xris himself.

The night was dedicated to facing industrial giant, NIN against PostPunk icons, Joy Division cover bands. The crowd’s choice was to be determined at the end of the show.

Philadelphia duo Korine opened at around 11:30 with catchy, electronic numbers and a pleasingly androgynous, New Romantic stage persona. They had just made a big splash at NJ’s Human Music Synthwave festival this past Spring and were performing in support of their debut full length album, “New Arrangements.”

Over the PA and between band performances we heard “Better Be There” by FunkyGreen Dogs and “Cold” by the Cure. Hot, live go-go action provided visuals through the night, spot-lighting at least three sexily-clad ladies who took turns on stage as the crowd of attendees danced to the likes of Marilyn Manson and Icon of Coil.

Next up, Nine Inch Nails tribute band SIN opened their set with “Pinion” in a 30-second intro, then quickly launched into “Terrible Lie” off “Pretty Hate Machine.” Frontman Byron did justice to the frantic style of early NIN with an uncontrolled performance that saw him strip to the waist and wrap his torso in strands of black tape as he sang and gyrated convulsively on stage. “March of the Pigs,” “The Hand That Feeds” and five more hits followed, for a total of eight songs. Included of course was the once-shockingly explicit “Closer” and concluding the act was “Head Like a Hole,” the milestone entry that brought industrial into the alternative mainstream back in 1989.

Finally, renowned Joy Division tribute band Disorder started their set with archival radio announcements of JD’s historic recognition in the U.K media, then fired up their performance with “No Love Lost” off their “Substance” collection. They moved steadily through eleven songs from the band’s body of work with such beloved selections as “Dead Souls,” “Ceremony” and the mega-hit “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” Even “Blue Monday” by the successor band, New Order, got featured toward the end of the set. Approval from the audience was overwhelming.

Art Exhibit and Lecture – “Metaphysics in Everyday Life”

Center for Italian Modern Art
Antonio David Fiore & Paul Stiron
Nov 28, 2018

The Center for Italian Modern Art has been exhibiting and educating those interested in the peculiar, seminal school of Metaphysical Art for the past year and a half. The standard-bearer of that school is of course Giorgio de Chirico (1888 – 1978), whose works were on display early last year, followed by exhibitions of, first, Alberto Savinio, and – now, currently – collected works of Morandi, Sironi and Carra, all recognized exemplars of the style.

Having always been fascinated by the concept, I attended a lecture and slide show on a Wednesday evening at the Center lower Manhattan, hoping to get a grasp on what this artistic genre is really about and how to distinguish it from Surrealism, to which it is ancestral.

Rare and stunning works by the three above-mentioned artists are on display as well as one iconic piece by de Chirico which helps orient the viewer to the precise core of the artistic movement that arose in and around Italy in the very early 20th century.

A lecture by two scholars of art appreciation delved into the influence of Metaphysical art on realms of décor and architecture beyond the narrow field of painting. What I found most satisfying was coming to learn the philosophical and psychological substratum that inspired the movement, and it is – as I understand – as follows:

With the decline of religion at the end of the 19th century, the Western world – as often the case, led by Italy – was seeking a deeper, mystical meaning in the everyday world, something spiritual in the forms and objects of the real world. Thus, an abandoned piazza, a lonesome statue, an anthropomorphic mannequin, stark earthenware vessels with cast shadows might all evoke an otherworldly feeling that religious experience might have provided in the past or simply as a rebellion against Renaissance high art. Another source of such rebellion was found in ancient and medieval symbols, which got reworked by Metaphysical artists into decorative architecture and interiors for the same effect.

This erudite presentation and repeatedly viewing these artworks provided me with immense help in understanding an art movement with dark undertones that was, for me, previously a mystery.

Stan Lee (1922 – 2018)

By now everyone has read that Stan Lee died Nov 12 of this year at the venerable age of 95. Born Stanley Martin Lieber, he was the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, its publisher and chairman. Collaborating with Steve Ditko, he helped create the immensely popular Spiderman; and with the late Jack Kirby, with whom he shared the prestigious “Disney Legends” award, Lee helped create a whole stable of comic book legends including Fantastic Four, X-Men, and the Hulk.

Noted for having brought the genre of comic book art to a more complex level that featured flawed heros, burdened with ambivalence and existential issues, Stan Lee is thought to have elevated the category to the level of 20th and 21st Century literature.

Alex von Nihil aka Oleksander Fushtey (1988 – 2018)

The No Return Post Punk Society, a twice monthly dance club night will now be without one of its resident deejays and co-founders, Alex von Nihil who died suddenly and unexpectedly a few days short of his 30th birthday. Partner and close collaborator of founder Ryan Walker, Alex was known and beloved of the NYC underground post punk scene for his sense of humor, warmth, openness and hospitality.

Alex welcomed all to the events he hosted, from die-hard Goths to casual clubbers, tourists, street people and even yuppies who often made their way down the steep staircase to the Pyramid’s basement level on the first and third Friday of the month where he served up the sounds of classic goth, death rock and synth.

In 2012 Alex won the Eklectik Poetry Contest with his poem “We the Villains,” reproduced here. He was remembered at various commemorative events held around town and in a eulogy written by Luna Pallida.

A Murder of Crows – 2018

Recurring NYC summer music festival, A Murder of Crows – focused on Post-punk, New Wave and Death Rock – was held at Brooklyn Bazaar on the mid-month weekend of Sept 15 and 16, under the auspices of TempleChurch Entertainment. Festival-goers had access to sets by five different bands in the upstairs performance space on each separate night. On the ground level were merchants and curators manning booths to constitute The Dark Market where wickedly themed, crafted curiosities and more were on sale and where advocacy groups gave voice to their causes.

On the basement level, a nightclub disco dance party was also part of the festival. Famous deejays serving up tracks at this lower level dance party the first night included DJs Dave Bats, Martin Oldgoth, Patrick and the event’s impresario, Sean Templar himself. Lovely hospitality hostess M Banshie greeted arrivals and oriented them to the various points of interest at the festival, offering one-day ($30) or two-day ($50) access according to their preferences.

Finally, headliners Ritual Howls opened with their hit, “Helm”, its incongruously Western style guitar strumming punctuating its pitch-black chanted chorus. Ultra deep bass, twangy guitars, and deep drones amplified the deliciously morose mood of “Nervous Hands,” “Final Service” and other such other favorites as “Scatter the Scars” which they played late into the morning.

The second date, Sunday Sept 16, saw Rhode Island’s post punk band Way Out open; followed by popular Brooklyn bands the Bootblacks and Azar Swan; then displaced Australians – now out of LA – the VOWWS, before headlining dark wavers, Actors from Vancouver concluded the show. The deejay party downstairs, termed Forever Young, was different the second day, featuring such top spinners as DJs V Christ, Angel, Jet and Ash. DJ Frankie Teardrop manned the mixer in the Dark Market on closing night.

New Wave/Goth/Post-Punk Tribute Nite at the Bowery Electric

Sept 7, 2018

The Bowery Electric is a bi-level nightspot with a nice bar upstairs and a cozy performance space downstairs featuring a raised stage and split level viewing and/or dancing. The usual bill includes live rock bands, punk, reggae and the like as well as deejay dance parties.

This first September Friday night provided an exceptional experience for fans of New Wave and Gothrock. Headlining the bill was the by-now famous Joy Division tribute band, Disorder stopping back at home base as part of a brief East Coast tour which recently included an August gig in Baltimore and a subsequent stop in Richmond Virginia to take place in mid-September. Superstar DJ Sean Templar manned the booth and spun iconic favorites of the genre with the likes of Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy and Peter Murphy.

At 8 p.m. opening band The Scream paid tribute to Siouxsie and the Banshees, led by adorable Siouxsie lookalike Eva who, backed by guitar, bass and a spectacular drummer, did justice to such favorites as “Israel” and “Spellbound.”

Next up, All Cats Are Grey, an all girl band (but for the aforementioned male drummer who stayed on from the first band) covered The Cure’s beloved opus, including “In Between Days,” “Just Like Heaven” and rendered a consummate performance of “A Forest.” Lead singer Mary Choselle Colbert relied upon her own singing voice and stage persona rather than attempt to effect a gender-contradicting imitation of Robert Smith.

At around 10 p.m. acclaimed tribute band Disorder opened their act with a montage of interview clips relating to the burst of enthusiasm over the early discovery of Joy Division before launching into the ominous “No Love Lost.” Then on to “Disorder” from which the band takes its name.

Interspersed amidst the eleven track set were more archival samples, some from radio host John Peel, a pre-eminent discoverer and admirer of Joy Division. In one of these samples Peel announces JD’s release of the much celebrated “Dead Souls” and it serves as the prelude to Disorder’s closely matched version of that masterpiece. On another, Peel announces the sad news of lead vocalist Ian Curtis’s death by suicide, and it serves as a lead-in to “New Dawn Fades.”

Yet another voice-over features a monologue of Henry Rollins discussing the influential importance of JD’s album “Unknown Pleasures,” several pieces from which filled out the set list with “She’s Lost Control” and “Shadowplay.”

By the time Disorder had reached the tenth song, “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and the eleventh, “Transmission,” the exhilarated crowd of young and not-so-young spectators, was not letting them off stage. A ferocious demand went out from the audience shouting for an unplanned encore, so Disorder pulled a tour de force with the emotionally apt “Ceremony” before being allowed to end their performance.

Stimulate 10th anniversary

Sept 22, 2018
Drom NYC

Stimulate, the notoriously edgy, recurring music party celebrated its 10th anniversary in September by bringing back the very first band that performed at their opening event in 2008, Imperative Reaction. Host and impresario Xris SMack welcomed the return of these L.A.-based electro-industrial veterans along with Brooklyn trio, NØIR who opened the live show. The anniversary was combined with a Gary Numan after-party following the New Waver’s sell-out performance at Irving Plaza.

As always there was a stellar lineup of deejays including Annabelle Evil, DJ Paradox, Jet of Vampire Freaks fame and the host, Xris himself who treated attendees to every kind of gothic/industrial dance-conducive music. Again – as always – there were sexily-clad dancers on stage overlooking the highly stimulated crowd on the dance floor below.

The trio of Metropolis recording artists NØIR came on around midnight – masked, as is their signature stage appearance. They performed several of their by now increasingly popular and familiar songs plus a special throw-back to frontman Athan Maroulis’s early career with a piece from his earlier association with the industrial band Spahn Ranch.

World-famous electro-industrialists Imperative Reaction were welcomed with enthusiasm and reintroduced to the crowd around 1:30 a.m. and performed a set including their hits as well as new tracks, in their characteristic style employing two vocalists, one of whom served at the keyboard as well, while both were backed by live drums and electronic percussion.

A trample-enthusiast, wrapped in a carpet, lay adjacent to the bar, making his encased anatomy available to assist bar patrons to step up as they approached to get their drinks.

NYC goth scene celebrity Aurelio Voltaire accompanied by his lovely lady, was present as were Sean and M Banshie Templar and delight-to-the-eyes, statuesque, red latex-clad beauty, Ashley Bad, who participated along with Xris, in presentation of the anniversary cake topped with a pyrotechnic sparkler. It’s hard to imagine a more fun and festive night than this, that continued well into the morning.

Vampire Freaks Presents

Friday Sept 28
The Knitting Factory
Brooklyn NY

The entertainment production company Vampire Freaks, along with three outstanding musical performers hosted a night of shows at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn on the evening of Sept 28, headlined by the world-famous Aurelio Voltaire. The Knitting Factory is a grungy yet cozy venue that resembles the old CBGBs in spirit and mission. Indeed, its original location was in Manhattan’s Lower East Side like that venerable, now-defunct club to which comparison is often made. It’s on the ground level of what used to be the Brooklyn Luna Lounge and has a capacity of about 300.

This night, about 150 showed up to see the trio of acts introduced by impresario Jet VF, noted producer of such famed events as NY’s Cybertron and the annual Dark Side of the Con. Jet also curated the deejay set between acts with the likes of London After Midnight, Bowie and The Smiths.

Opening the night around 7:15 p.m. was the horror-punk duo The Long Losts, consisting of the married couple, vocalist Anka Jureña and guitarist Patrick McGowan. Their performance was nothing short of dazzling. Tambourine wielding Anka’s noticeable baby-bump, made her even more delightfully shapely than ever, while her beautiful features were under lit – cinema style – in brilliant and garish colors. The themes were – for want of a better word – “spooky.” Drawing from their popular album, “Scary Songs To Play in the Dark, they performed such gems as “Girl With the Haunted House Tattoo” and “Glow in the Dark.” In a twist on a classic scene from “Frankenstein,” a scantily clad dancer rose up from under theatrical wraps when they played ”Fritz Throw the Switch” off their “To Night” collection.

A tribute to The Munsters’ Lily Munster was introduced with the famous TV show’s musical jingle. Patrick’s electric guitar and a pre-recorded percussion track kept the set within the traditional hard rock & roll style.

An amazing performance followed, featuring North Carolinian, Crystal Bright, a gorgeous keyboard virtuoso and operatic vocalist who appeared in steampunk attire and performed a set of luscious, creative and amusing pieces accompanied by a drummer. Each gave her opportunity to showcase her amazing voice and stunning skills on both the accordion and a freestanding keyboard. In a twist on the old standard, “You Are My Sunshine,” Crystal Bright led the audience in a sing-along in the darker key of A minor (instead of the usual C major), reflecting her “Southern gothic” style. The combination of her vocal skill, musicianship and stunning stage persona were a rare treat and a source of astonishment to those present.

When the headliner, Aurelio Voltaire was introduced by Jet, the crowd roared to welcome him. He is known for interactive, tongue-in-cheek, clever and cutting narratives done along with acoustic guitar-driven Anti-Folk style. He quickly demanded – and received his consistent companion – a bottle of spiced rum from which to swig.

Playful pirate themes and social satire ran through the performance. Goths, small town America and the New York scenesters were targets of Voltaire’s sarcastic parody. His show was highly interactive with an audience that appeared to be composed of deeply committed fans that sang or lip-synced along with much of his set.

He told many an amusing anecdote and singled out birthday celebrants in the audience for good-natured ribbing. When a funny narrative about his Hispanic ancestry and the Mexican Day of the Dead prompted him to mock a meddling “Social Justice Warrior,” one angry protest was issued from an audience member who stated that she was from the U.K. She tried to instruct Voltaire that the term was used only by what she called “right-wing a—holes.” Voltaire leveled her, first, with a snarky reply, that this is America and that we give instruction on how to speak English. Then he went on to demolish the whole SJW attitude with a hilarious song off his newest album, “So You’re Offended,” mocking those who perpetually take offense.

Voltaire’s show had so many and diverse jokes, themes and tales that it is impossible to keep track and report all of them here. Suffice it to say that as always, he left the spectators, laughing, singing along and eager for every musical element and humorous yarn.

QXT’s 27th Anniversary

Sept 29, 2018

Newark’s famous nightclub also celebrated an anniversary in September – its 27th! This makes QXT’s not only the foremost dedicated alternative dance establishment, but the longest running in the greater metropolitan region. To honor the occasion, entrance was $15 that night, and the first hundred attendees received a free, newly designed teeshirt. The line-up of deejays ran from A – Z, DJ Ash to DJ Zeitgeist including residents like Damian Plague and Mindsolvent plus frequent guests Helixx and Caelestka, fourteen in all! Videos were curated by TM5.

All three bars and dance spaces on both floors were open from an early 9 pm start, and festivities ran until 3 am in the landmark venue located in downtown Newark adjacent to the safe Ironbound section and provided with plenty of secure parking.

The legend lives on!

Gothic Vampire Cruise on the Hudson

Oct 6 2016

The first Saturday in October kicked off the Halloween season with a special event, the Gothic Vampire Cruise. Hosted by Faunesk Productions, this represented the third recurrence of this event. Hostess Kai Irina Hahn arranged a unique variety show of entertainment including role-playing, costumed Count and Countess Orlok, belly dancers and a smashing performance by her own band, the electronic rock group The Sedona Effect.
Kai Irina Hahn of The Sedona Effect

The excited crowd was both Gothic and Victorian in looks and attire as they boarded the fully rigged schooner, the Demeter, via gangway at the Battery Park slip. Happily the weather held off, but the ship’s deck was well equipped with a canopy, just in case.
Besides playing their own hard-hitting industrial repertoire, TSE concluded their set with a tour de force, strong-female version of the iconic anthem, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.”
The piéce de résistance was a grand finale featuring Vangeline Theater Company’s Sindy Butz, who performed a riveting and poignant Butoh “dance” of sorts, that both touched and terrified the completely transfixed audience.

DJ Patrick kept the appropriate mood between acts with an ethereal, trip-hop blend that included Dead Can Dance and similar moody tracks. A well-stocked bar and hospitable crew made everyone comfortable as the Demeter hoisted sails and cruised the environs around the Stage of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Upper Bay area. The cruise went on from about 9 pm to 11 pm when the ship finally returned to dock.

Necropolis

An afterparty for the Gothic Vampire Cruise on the Hudson was held at Necropolis in its customary location, mid-town’s Windfall, where landlubber goths were joined by the recently disembarked vampiric cruise attendees. Upon arrival, they were greeted by Skinny Puppy’s “Smothered Hope” spun by master DJ Erik Aengel. DJ Patrick regained his land-legs and joined the stellar roster of deejays which included Sean Templar and host Father Jeff Ward spinning New Wave, Synth and dark dance into the night.

Morbid Anatomy Library & Green-Wood Historic Fund

“Bridging Two Worlds” Opening Party

Sept 21, 2018

Exhibit curators Joanna Ebenstein and Laetitia Barbier greeted and directed the dozens of Morbid Anatomy devotees who attended the latest exhibition and re-opening of the library’s new home in the enchanting Fort Hamilton Gatehouse of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery. An outdoor wine reception was combined with a meet-and-greet, as attendees entered and toured both the first floor exhibition room, and then made it up the charming, antique spiral staircase to the newly re-stocked attic library.

Containing over two thousand books, Morbid Anatomy serves as an open-access research library and is also home to photos, artworks, ephemera, and artifacts. Starting out as the Morbid Anatomy blog run by author Joanna Ebenstein (“A Graveside Companion” et al.) in 2007, the library first found a home in 2008 in Proteus Gowanus, subsequently at the now permanently closed Morbid Anatomy Museum, before settling into the Green-Wood Cemetery’s historic gatehouse. All this while, it has hosted and produced lectures, presentations, exhibits, workshops and publications around NYC as well as organized tours to festivals and museums around the world.

The current exhibition and the focus of the event is housed on the first floor of the gatehouse and features art and artifacts that fit into the theme of “Bridging Two World: The Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead.” The centerpiece of the exhibit is housed in a glass cabinet containing statuettes, tiny dioramas, articles and artifacts mostly pertaining to the Mexican Day of the Dead and other folkloric traditions. Representations of shamans, spiritual mediums, rituals relating to ancestor worship, metaphoric and allegorical imagery of the interface between the living and the dead are on display on the walls. Besides their fascinating symbolic significance, these works prove to be of surpassing aesthetic appeal, even when somewhat gruesome.

Among the most gruesome of these was the large acrylic-on-panel painting, “Kingdom of Death” (1990) by Wolfgang Grass, lent to the exhibit courtesy of the Stephen Gallery.

An ethereal, black & white, Spiritualist-inspired artwork, “The Styx” by Sherry Kerlin portrays ghastly yet serene figures in Victorian attire aiding the transport of a recently deceased over the river that leads to the world of the dead.

The list of intriguing, emotionally moving and historically important pieces on display is too great to cover in this report. So too, is the broad and rare contribution which Morbid Anatomy has made and continues to make to our regional culture, exhibiting, educating and enthralling all who frequent this unique institution.

Visit the morbidanatomy.blogspot.com to learn more, and by all means get over to the Morbid Anatomy Library in Brooklyn on Saturdays and Sundays to view the exhibition and to peruse the library. It is to be found at the gatehouse by the intersection of Fort Hamilton Parkway and Micieli Place.

“De Glömda”
A Glimpse into Supernatural Scandinavia

t of Darby Lahger
Last Rites Gallery

One of the most prominent tributaries of Goth culture flows from the cold, dark land sunless winters, particularly the Nordic traditional folk traditions from the Middle Ages. These are the original Goths, whose sombre folklore has shaped numerous forms of expression from Existentialism to Black Metal.

Darby Lahger is an American-born transplant to Dalarna, up in the forests of northern of Sweden where, with her husband and three children, she lives a life heavily influenced by the history, legends and aesthetics of her adopted homeland. She is also noted photographer.

The Last Rites Gallery hosted Lahger’s first solo exhibition of 17 of her drawings in graphite and charcoal, depicting witches, giants, gnomes ghosts and the like, all culled from Scandinavian mythology. Some are portraits, other scenes and others still are surreal. All have a naive, art-brut style which is not to say that there isn’t some excellent draftmanship as well.

We spoke to Darby who was enthusiastic in reporting on the legends and superstitions that inspired her work – ghastly night stalkers, practitioners of black arts and characters from nightmarish folk tales. Currently she is illustrating a book of stories with related fables being written by her Swedish husband. The exhibition opened Oct 5 and runs until Oct 20, 2018.

That’s The Way (I Like It) EP

Metropolis Records
Raymond Watts of industrial rock band in collaboration with author/singer/adult film star Sasha Grey issued this EP on Metropolis Records on Aug 31. Built around a cover of the 1975 disco hit by KC and the Sunshine band, it also contains remixes of three tracks off the recent (June 2018) album “Risen.” Two versions of “That’s the Way (I Like It)” appear on this EP, constituting the first and third tracks.

The first of these is dubbed the “rougher” version and the other called “PIG in the disco Remix.” The former is also available as a softcore video – believe it or not – on Pornhub! Musically, it is a down and dirty cover of the Sunshine Band’s original, complete with harsh percussion, growls and choral voices. Sasha Grey’s lead vocals have a sensuous, seductive quality, and are counter-posed to coarsely baritonal male replies. In second version (track number three) there is a weirdly ethereal intro with faraway vocals that rise gradually and distantly out of the wash of instrumental music. As this track progresses, it grows chaotic, yet retains a menacing, relentless cadence that suggests a plodding hoard of zombies on the march. Both tracks retain the familiar driving rhythm and backup vocals of the 1975 work but with sonic complexity galore.

Track number two, “Truth Is Sin” represents a Chris Hall remix of the song of the same name off the “Risen” album. It is a mean-spirited, hissing revisit of the album original but with bursts of guitar and a generally faster pace, giving it the Stabbing Westward signature sound.

Track four, the Hanzel und Gretyl remix of “The Revelation” has the same feel of post-apocalyptic funk as the original, featuring gravelly, croaking vocals, and swirling, repetitive guitar mantras that are on the “Risen” version, with little discernible difference from the original.

Finally, Ego Likeness has remixed “Cult of Chaos,” adding crackly deep male vocals, hand beaten percussion and tidal waves of pleasing, melodious, rhythmic sound.

Like the antecedent album “Risen,” this EP offers mesmerizing grooves, irresistible rhythms and creative electronica in both the original Raymond Watts compositions and the cover versions of the familiar 70s megahit. Be sure to check out the PIG & Sasha Grey video of “That’s the Way (I Like It)” which you can find on Youtube without having to navigate through Pornhub.

Dionysus

Dead can Dance

Neoclassical darkwave music project Dead Can Dance is about to release their ninth studio album called “Dionysus” after the Greek god of wine and religious ecstasy. Like much of their body of work, it will address its theme with folk instrumentation, field recordings and chants. The opus represents the myth of Dionysus in two acts of seven movements. The first movement of the second act, “The Mountain” has been made available to listeners on Pitchfork.

The myth of Dionysus, his birth on Mt. Nysa, where he was brought up by the centaur Chiron and ultimately, the chants and dances of the Bacchic rites are represented in musical form in this work. Listeners can expect the same gorgeous, powerful-yet-ethereal melodies, operatic-quality vocals and mesmerizing rhythms for which DCD is famous.

In support of this potentially monumental album, DCD will tour Europe in the Spring of 2019. The album will go on sale in November of this year. Pre-orders of the CD, vinyl, hardcover booklet, digital downloads and combinations of each are available through musicale.com

The Bela Session
Bauhaus

To celebrate Bauhaus’s 40th anniversary two companies, Leaving Records and Stone’s Throw Records are issuing an EP of largely unreleased tracks from the January 1979 session at which the defining anthem of Goth rock, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” was recorded. It opens with a nine and a half minute remaster of the work after which it is named.
The second and third tracks are the never-previously-released “Some Faces” and “Bite My Hip” which was later re-recorded as “Lagartija Nick,” the latter of which was included in the Singles EP. The fourth track is “Harry,” the Ska/Reggae-flavored piece named for Blondie’s Debbie Harry.

The fifth and last track is the original version of “Boys,” a very different version of which can be found in the Goth Box compilation.

It’s rare for something as monumentally iconic to arise from the corridors of time as far back as 40 decades ago, and this EP is sure to be a collector’s item when it comes out. Right now they are taking pre-orders and offering free download of the title track. A red vinyl version will be available as will the entire Bauhaus catalogue later this year to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the band.

“Ewige Eis”
Eisbrecher
Metropolis Records

Industrial, dark-electro rock band Eisbrecher released a 2-CD collection “Ewige Eis” (“Eternal Ice”) subtitled “15 years of Eisbrecher” with 20 tracks on the first disc and 18 on the second. This “best-of” set captures the German powerhouse band’s repetitive guitar riffs, deep dark vocals, with a smattering of choir singing and heavily cadenced military-march-percussion. Gravel voice vocals are the rule but occasionally more melodious male singing alternates with ritualistic and female choral sounds.
If you wish to sample the album, there are two tracks, namely “Verrückt” (“Crazy”) and “Was Ist Hier Los?” (“What’s Going on Here?”) that are both available as cinematic videos. The former mocks corporate board meetings. The latter displays disturbing, archival videos of examples of barbarity in war and everyday brutality that usually goes unseen. Both feature the driving beats, industrial guitars, chorals and danceable rhythms that are representative of the 2-disc Eisbrecher retrospective.

The War of the Worlds – The Definitive 80th Anniversary Collection 1938 – 2018

Stardust Records

All fans of radio and of Sci-Fi are aware of – and fascinated by – that wonderful historical event when eccentric media icon Orson Welles played a monumental prank on audiences when he broadcasted a show based on H.G. Wells’s “War of the Worlds.” He so structured the narrative as to leave it ambiguous to naive, radio-era listeners as to whether it was an actual news report or a mere tale of fiction. Mass panic ensued. It turned into one of the greatest spoofs of all time in 20th Century American culture.

Now Cleopatra Records exec Athan Maroulis (Spahn Ranch, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Noir) has gathered together a 2 CD collection that includes the complete original 1938 broadcast along with a 1940 conversation between Orson Welles and H.G. Wells and a rare 1955 broadcast. It became available Oct 19 on disc and on digital format in both the U.K. and the USA.

A must-have for students of weird history, 20th Century madness, Depression-Era eccentricity, media, sci-fi and general shenanigans.

Das Ich Besucht Amerika

STIMULATE
at St. Vitus/ QXT’s
Brooklyn/Newark

Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination

Satanik Germanic
Hanzel und Gretyl

2018

General Information

The world’s greatest festival of Goth culture takes place in Leipzig, Germany, during 5 days leading up to the Monday of Pentecost that follows Easter by 40 days. Wave Gotik Treffen begins on the Thursday and concludes on that Monday, which is an official holiday In Germany. Leipzig is an ancient city, a traditional commercial center since the Middle Ages, rich in European history, art, music and architecture, boasting famous medieval churches, two grand opera houses, ancient and modern town squares, the oldest restaurant in Europe and countless museums, music halls, cafes and entertainment establishments.

Attendees at WGT have to resign themselves to the fact that they will only be able to catch and enjoy a tiny fraction of the vast array of entertaining and educational experiences that the festival offers. This report is based upon our hectic experience in trying to see and do as much as humanly possible during the five-day festival.

The central theme of WGT is music. Although Post Punk, Goth and Industrial are the main agenda, dark electro, experimental, classical, baroque, opera, chamber music, church organ, folk, world, variety, modern dance, ballet and cabaret are all presented. Performances number in the hundreds. There are around thirty music venues, big and small, some of which have multiple spaces within, such as the fortress-like multilevel stronghold, Moritzbastei or the cavernous Agra. In addition to the massive music hall, Agra also contains a huge shopping mall where items of clothing, costumes, fetish accessories, footwear helmets, headdresses and the like are for sale. One of the great delights of the festival is to stroll through this section browsing and occasionally succumbing to make purchases of unique items. It also contains an ongoing exhibition featuring grotesque works of explicit art.

Besides standard music venues, there are churches, parks, theaters, restaurants, cemeteries, hotels, monuments, and even ancient ruins that serve as attractions and performance spaces, hosting exhibitions, lectures, films, shows and presentations. There are around ten participating museums to which there is free access for attendees ranging from fine art to Egyptian to a museum documenting the activities of the secret police, the Stasi, during the Cold War era of Communist domination of East Germany, the DDR. Even the main train station hosts opening events and concerts.

In addition to brochures outlining the many venues and participating institutions, and an exquisitely illuminated hardcover program book, there is an extremely helpful smartphone app that presents the entire schedule, lists the artists and the performances, providing samples of the music at each event and directions on how to get to each venue. Public transportation is free to WGT attendees wearing their identifying wrist bands.
Festivities began with welcoming parties at Moritzbastei, the multilevel complex very near the town center and other venues on Thursday May 17, the night before official opening of the festival. Free entry to the various museums also became available that day.

A nice place to ease into the WGT scene is the Absintheria Sixtina, a friendly bar that is open 24 hours a day and features a small menu of beers and wines, but over 250 types of absinthe and a near infinite variety of cocktails derived from them. One afternoon we sampled some absinthe while a rock band, Nietzsche and the Wagners, performed on the small indoor stage. Outdoors, in back of the bar is a yard where beverages bratwursts and similar fare are served at tent-covered picnic tables.

Performances and Events

On Friday things got serious. That afternoon we attended a massive gathering of thousands of festival-goers, with a sprinkling of tourists and local gawkers gathered at the Clara Zetkin Park for the annual Victorian Picnic. Participants wearing their finest appropriately-themed attire settle in groups on blankets to socialize and dine in highly civilized fashion from picnic baskets while around them is a promenade of costumed strollers wearing Gothic styles ranging from Victorian, Steampunk and Baroque to the most outlandish sci-fi, fantasy and fetish outfits.

By the time we found our way to Taubchenthal, a large music hall with a resort-like courtyard and surrounding food stands, the Beauty of Gemina, a Swiss gothic rock band was underway and sounded fantastic. The venue was so packed, however, that the crowd couldn’t enter, blocked the entrances and milled about outside, unable to get in and see the stage. We met up and socialized with our New York celebrities, Sean Templar, Matt V Christ and glamorous Serena Goss while sampling the local fare.

From there we headed over to see dark electro duo Boy Harsher at the Stadtbad, a large building that had once been an enclosed official public swimming pool now paved over and serving as a music hall. This dark electronic duo, with roots in the US South mesmerized us with Augustus Muller’s minimal dance beats and grinding synths and with Jae Matthews’s eerie, ethereal vocals.

At 11 pm we caught the avant-garde, neofolk (or “apocalyptic folk”) combo, Rome, out of Luxembourg. Singer-songwriter Jerome Reuter plays acoustic guitar while crooning deliciously morose, and poignantly poetic, English-language lyrics in his emotionally-wrenching baritone, supported by emphatic percussion and occasional industrial samples.

Things really got rolling on Saturday down at Agra. Having taken the twenty-minute tram ride it takes to get from Leipzig town center down to Agra, we were treated to the onstage performance of German industrial hard rockers, Oomph! whose bombastic style enthralled the crowd with high-energy, Rammstein-style rock. The audience revealed their devotion to Oomph! by knowing and lip-syncing the lyrics to most of Oomph!’s songs, while frontman Dero Goi energetically led the crowd like a conductor as he sang in clear, perfectly enunciated German and in English.

Oomph! was followed by Canadian electro-industrial originals, Front Line Assembly, whose underplayed performance fell below our expectations.

The reward for the night came with Norse ceremonious, traditionalist ensemble, Wardruna, whose grandiose use of ancient instruments and solemn chanting enraptured listeners with ominous percussion and pompous horns that are recognizable to those who are familiar with their soundtrack contributions to the series “Vikings.” Great music by which to burn witches!

On Sunday we took the 12.5 km (a 25 Euro cab ride) to an event at Kirchenruine Wachau, the magnificent, still-standing ruins of a gothic-style church, the interior of which has been entirely gutted to serve as a meeting place and music venue. Tall, ivy-overgrown stone walls bearing the remaining framework of pointed-arch cathedral windows towered over the crowd and the Swedish neo-classical, darkwave band, Arcana. The audience was tightly crowded into the capacious space under a blistering sun. Peter and Cecilia Bjärgö, supported by guitar, percussion, keyboards and backup singers, took turns thrilling those within and those gathered in gardens and cemetery grounds outside the walls of the church ruins. Medieval, ecclesiastical and oriental style songs were sung – mainly in English – creating a transcendent, otherworldly atmosphere that was both somber and uplifting.

Afterwards, back at the Stadtbad we caught three great EBM/industrial acts back to back. Spark!, from Sweden featured a lovably clownish duo whose irresistible, compelling music caused a wild mosh pit to form. Next, Sturm Café continued in the same style, but darker and even more furious. The third was an original industrial pioneer, Belgium’s Vomito Negro, whose delightfully nasty, deep bass beats and vicious, repetitive lyrics were perfectly matched by creepy, projected video images.

On Sunday evening, the next to last day of the festival, German 2-man synthpop group De/Vision took the stage at Agra, and it was a welcome experience to hear Steffen Keth’s smooth and pleasing vocals as he belted out songs with inspirational and positive lyrics.

During late mornings and early afternoons we took the opportunity to visit museums and galleries. The Egyptian Museum (Aegyptisches Museum) had extraordinary pieces, grand and small. The most remarkable of these was a perfect cast of a Mesopotamian stone column bearing the text of the legendary Code of Hammurabi, carved into the stone in cuneiform script.

On Monday the last day we toured a local gallery where one section featured acrylic paintings with mildly transgressive imagery and another, more secluded section, displayed small, life-size and larger sculptures representing female genitalia, some crafted in metal to serve as costume jewelry such as pendants and brooches.

Composer Felix Mendelssohn’s Leipzig home has been preserved as a museum of his life and work. It is not an official, free-admission item in the WGT festival, but was well worth the small charge for a visit that shed light upon this remarkably gifted human being. Mendelssohn’s masterful paintings and drawings came as an unexpected surprise to those of us who only knew of his great musical compositions. In previous years we have toured Leipzig’s spectacular Johann Sebastian Bach Museum, which likewise is a non-participant, therefore , requires a small admission fee.

The last night at Agra provided a sensational experience which included Dutch band Grendel, whose thunderous EBM style was electrifying, highlighted by superb, savage vocals. They were followed by Floridians, God Module, whose pitch-dark, demonic growling vocals, grim themes and pounding rhythms were occasionally spiced with cinematic samples and grisly backdrop videos. For lovers of this kind of entertainment, this provided the perfect conclusion to the five day festival.

Phantom of the Opera

Phantom of the Opera
The Majestic Theater
NYC 2018

Although Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” premiered in the U.K. in 1986, it made its Broadway debut in 1988, making this year its 30th anniversary in the States and the 30th anniversary of winning the Tony Award for Best Musical. It is arguably the most successful work of gothic-themed-mainstream-crossover performance art ever, as it continues to extend the longest run of any show on Broadway.

It is based on the long out-of-print, Gaston Leroux novel (1909). It shares, with other stories of the gothic genre, the theme of a flawed, demonic-yet-sympathetic villain who threatens to corrupt an innocent woman. The time setting places the action in the turn-of-the-century world of Steampunk. The gothic status of the work is established early when in a parody of a scene from the opera “Hannibal,” a diva strides to the front of the stage displaying a decapitated head with simulated blood dangling from it. As in most gothic drama, there is a suspicion of the villain’s having supernatural powers, but his ability to appear and disappear is explainable as theater tricks and pranks of a deranged but focused mind. A piano plays by itself. He employs his “Punjab lasso” to ensnare and kill with lightening agility. The final resolution of the love triangle that constitutes the plot is both touching and tragic.

This musical leads – and has eclipsed – a long list of works of literature and drama that are definitely categorized as horror. The vast scope and depth of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s adaptation goes farther than any prior versions, including Lon Chaney Sr’s famous silent movie; the 1943 Technicolor motion picture with Claude Rains; the Hammer production from 1962; Dario Argento’s Italian movie; as well as a musical by Ken Hill who wrote English lyrics to the music of classical and opera composers. Some have suggested that Andrew Lloyd Webber’s score can be classed as rock music, and at least one aria, “Point of No Return” has a rhythm that fits the description. But not all goth is rock and not all rock is goth. Certainly the heavy, minor key melodies place the score of “Phantom” music into the category of gloom and melancholy.

Thus, despite the overwhelming mainstream success and acceptance of “Phantom of the Opera,” it seems appropriate to place it squarely in the pantheon of Goth Icons.

On Saturday, May 12th , The Red Party presented the 10th Annual Joy Division party at Mercury Lounge! Called The Atrocity Exhibition, there was live music at Midnight, Back on stage was Disorder, “A Tribute to the Sounds of Joy Division.” This edition of the Red Party served as a pre-Wave Gotik- Treffen warm up party!
As usual the Red Party was hosted by the Red Queen, M Banshie Templar. As always it featured Goth, Post-Punk and DeathRock with special attention given to the music of Joy Division and wasserved up by DJs for the evening, Sean Templar, Jarek Zelazny and special annual guest, Frank Deserto, aka teardrop (The Harrow).

Excitement occurred when a disorderly (no pun intended) patron began to mess with the stage equipment, specifically the stand and cables serving the keyboard. Vocalist Mike Strollo proved up to the task of neutralizing the would-be vandal with one hand while still manning the microphone with one hand. Stage manager Pete Mele quickly removed the stage crasher, and with the assistance of yours truly, had him escorted from the premises.

The show went on without interruption and concluded with enthusiastic approval by the audience.

Over the course of the evening, Neoslave, Betamaxx and headliner Timecop1983 turned in mind-blowing and energizing performances of equally enjoyable sight, sound and rhythm.

Time constraints made it impossible to attend the second day of Human Music 2, but reports are that the nine-band line-up of groups from the US, France and Mexico met with equal success and were as well received as those of the first night.

COVENANT AT QXT’S

Covenant at QXTs
April 13, 2018
Newark NJ

This world famous electronic group performed to a packed house at QXT’s, the local venue with an international following on Friday April 13 in support of their latest album, “The Blinding Dark,” their ninth studio album. Tracing their origins to a collaboration of three teenagers in a medium-size town in Sweden, Covenant consists of vocalist Eskill Simonsson, Daniel Jonasson and keyboardist Daniel Myer. The band stands foremost amidst the dance club genre termed EBM, characterized by heavy, relentless and irresistible cadence. What makes Covenant stand out is its cold, sci-fi and existential themes linked to compelling, danceable rhythms.

The opening bands deserve special mention. From Elizabeth NJ, the synthwave artist, Encounter was purely (electronic) instrumental and mesmerized the audience with dark melodies and intense rhythms. They were followed by Korine, a delightfully sad, synth pop duo from Philadelphia who will soon be embarking on a nationwide tour with Timecop1983 an Aeon Rings.

Covenant blasted on stage after an eerie sci-fi-tinged intro – an excerpt, “Death of Identity” from their new album. Taking the stage, they opened the live performance with “Like Tears in Rain” then hit “Bullet,” “Ritual Noise,” “We Stand Alone” and “Call the Ships to Port” (not in that order) to recall a representative sampling from their past hits. “Sound Mirrors”, “Morning Star” and many others from the new album were performed in what turned out to be over a two-hour set, that was understandably received with vociferous approval by the sellout crowd, although a few were heard to voice disappointment over the failure to include “Dead Stars.”

This was the exclusive New York-area appearance by Covenant on its national tour of the USA. The takeaway is that QXTs has become increasingly identified as the local club which hosts performers of international stature.

[Below is the page as it appears in the Mat 16, 2018 issue of the Aquarian]

Ministry
Wellmont Theater
Montclair NJ

Ministry is recognized as one of the most ferocious and foundational post-punk bands, initially founded as a dance-oriented, synthpop group in 1981, but in the late 80s and early 90s converted into an especially radical version of industrial. Album releases during that era went gold (selling 500,000 copies) and platinum (1,000,000 copies). Many of us developed our love of and taste for the genre with immersion in Ministry’s output. Like many groups in the industrial scene, Ministry has had a huge number of in-and-out musicians and production team members, has collaborated with a vast array of other bands and has participated in numerous festivals. Al Jourgenson remains the consistent vocalist and frontman.

Montclair NJ was the 21st stop on a twenty-six US city tour that began in CA and the Pacific Northwest before crossing the country to our area and then on down to the South. The main focus has been the 2018 release, the “Amerikkant” album., the theme of which is – like much of Ministry’s output – leftist and anarchist politics with a particular focus on the presidency of Donald Trump.

We missed the first opener, but caught the second performer, neofolk vocalist Chelsea Wolfe and her goth-metal band whose morose, mournful, symphonic music was well-received by the audience.

Headliners Ministry are noted for their visuals and graphics in addition to their creative and complex use of every imaginable audio, electronic, distortional, and sampling technique to enhance both their music and their message. A giant screen went up behind the band setup and displayed the band’s name, having appropriated the encircled “A” symbolizing anarchy, but doubling the letter within the circle to change it into an “M” to serve as the initial letter of their name.

The opening song , “Twilight Zone” featured sounds and visual images from the famous TV series, intermingled with distorted voice-over and crackly videos of our current president, cutting into melodious and bombastic industrial metal and Jourgenson’s raspy vocals. quite convincingly portraying Trump as both looney and malignant.

The pace picked up in the next piece, “Victims of a Clown,” with the participation of Fear Factory’s Burton C. Bell on stage. Both songs are from the new album. Next up, the frenetic “Punch in the Face” from their next to last album captured the band’s signature sound from the 90s and seemed to be an endorsement of personal violence and was followed by “Senor Peligro,” a pure speed metal piece reminiscent of “Jesus Built My Hotrod.” A boost to conspiracy theories was the mission of rapid-paced “Lies, Lies, Lies” which also hearkened back to previous Ministry’s classic industrial sound. It was followed by “Rio Grande Blood, “ the third of three consecutive tracks from the 2006 album of that name. In it, images of George W. Bush make him the target of Ministry’s contempt.

Then it was back to the current album, “Amerikkkant” for “We’re Tired of It,” “Wargasm” which compares war to sex, and “Antifa,” a paean to anarchism in opposition to authoritarianism. What do we want? Violence! When do we want it? Now,” was the repeated chant in this intentionally offensive track.

To the joy of everyone in the audience, what followed next was a medley of classics: “Just One Fix,” “NWO,” “Thieves” and “So What?”
After a short break they returned with an encore, “Bad Blood” from the soundtrack of movie “The Matrix”.

Despite all the noise and chaos, Ministry manages to captivate with actual melodious hooks, monumental arrangements and mesmerizing rhythms, especially live. It is impossible to report on all the indescribable sights, sounds and special effects, both audible and visible during this extraordinary show which is definitely in the long tradition of Ministry’s live and recorded music and videos, but enhanced to a new, even higher level through today’s technology.

Skeletal Family at the Red Party

Annual Festival

Darkside of the Con 2

Billed as “North America’s 3-Day Dark Alternative Convention” and sponsored Jet Berelson’s online community and event-hosting network, Vampire Freaks, the second iteration of Darkside of the Con took place at – and took full control of – the Radisson Hotel in Piscataway, NJ, about midway between NYC and Philadelphia.

Many, if not most of the attendees at this three day, multi-event extravaganza took overnight rooms at the hotel, and wisely so, because there was an available swimming pool, late night activities, dance club events and unofficial parties late into the night. Impresario Jet was joined by famous deejays including Mike Saga, Aengl, V Christ , Annabell Evil, Swabby, End:The DJ, Sean Templar and Xris Smack in providing late night dance ambience.

The widely diverse agenda included six bands Friday the first night, nine bands Saturday the second night and six bands on Sunday morning. Such popular regulars of the scene as the Long Losts, The Rain Within, Ego Likeness, Disorder, Xentrifuge and Panzie were joined by others, equally popular, but too numerous to mention.

Panel discussions featured celebrity discussants as Sean Templar and Xris Smack among others. Topics discussed included every field of interest and inquiry pertinent to this community, including cosplay, gender issues, oddities, Wicca, vampirism, and “What the Hell is Goth?” Madame X hosted two meetings of the Iron Garden community discussing paranormal experiences and strange sightings. Bella Morte’s lead vocalist, Andy Deane succeeded in conducting group participation in extemporaneously writing a song that turned out with a sci-fi theme.

Fetish and handicraft workshops and ticketed, open-bar socializing parties were among the many activities in which attendees participated. A pool party took place on Saturday night. Vendors hawking corsets, masks, costume jewelry, accessories, toys and eccentric, crafted items contributed to the grotesque atmosphere.

Among the crazy entertainments there was a vampirish ballet in Victorian costumes called “The Burlesque Revue,” and a screening of “Little Shop of Horrors” simulcast alongside a live performance of the scripted action complete with life-size actors and hand puppets.

By far and away, the major attraction was the attendees themselves whose contribution was to provide the most gorgeous and extravagant outfits, costumes and make-up depicting every conceivable identity and persona that fit into the diverse agenda of the Gothic, punk and industrial world. Whether heavily armored in fishnets and leather or scantily exposed in bikinis and boots, the predominantly black-clad population of the dark underground community attained the heights of glamour, beauty and bizarre style. Photographers and mere onlookers stood in the corridors gaping in awe and admiration at the endless parade of beauty and outré fashion.

Darkside of the Con has achieved status as a convention on a scale similar and comparable to some of the major events that take place overseas. When I attend music and cultural gatherings in Europe, I am sometimes asked if there are like events in the States. It has been a long time coming, but now I can answer “yes.”

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Nights Out

Clan of Xymox
Brooklyn Bazaar and St. Vitus
Brooklyn NY
March 25 & 26, 2018

Metropolis Recording artists and Dutch dark wavers, Clan of Xymox performed at Brooklyn Bazaar on Sunday night, March 25 and again on Monday March 26 at St. Vitus, both Brooklyn venues. Tracing their origin to 1981, Xymox is famous for being early pioneers of the quintessential Goth sound. Their origin with iconic 4AD Records adds to their “cred.” presented by M Banshee and Sean Templar’s Red Party they performed identical set list at both places.

We missed the first opening band but caught the dazzling keyboard-centered Decoded Feedback and the Skinny-Puppy-sound-alike Static Bloom, both of which bands would be well worth going to hear live just on their own.

Xymox started with the eerie, instrumental intro, “Days of Black,” then went into “Stranger” off their first, eponymous 1985 album. The eighteen song show included mainly entries representing depressing – seemingly intentionally depressing – tracks from their numerous recordings, e.g. the languid “Leave Me Be,” and the morose “Louise.”

They also performed the utterly secular “Hail Mary,” which is not to be confused with the well-known Catholic prayer, although both touch upon the issue of redemption. The relatively recent “In Love We Trust,” title track off a 2009 album of the same name, was the ninth and midway-through-the-set song. The decidedly industrial “A Day,” integrates a melodious minor key melody and plaintive vocal callings of Ronny Moorings with bursts of mechanized and rapid rhythm. It was followed by “Back Door” from the “Medusa” album just before the first break.

Encores included “Obsession” from Twist of Shadow the third full album and “Cry in the Wind” and “Farewell” from the post-millennial album of the same name. “Muscoviet Musquito” off the 1st, eponymous album 1985 opened the second set of encores. They concluded the final set of encores with the much-covered 60s mega-hit “Venus.”

Throughout the show there was an unconventional and fascinating use of handheld bright diode lights of various colors.

COX, founded by Ronny Moorings, Pieter Nooten and Anka Wolbert in the Netherlands in 1981, is now mainly Ronny Moorings. He is joined by Mojca, Mario, Sean & Daniel. Nooten and Wolbert are no longer associated with the band. Despite superficial similarities, COX is not to be mistaken for a cultural spin-off of the immensely more successful band, the Cure. While the Cure is known for dark, introspective music, they have stretched their repertoire to poppy, even jolly, major-key entries, experimenting with brass instrument accompaniment, Latin rhythms and more. The Clan sticks pretty much to the mission of providing reliably gloomy, minor-key and somber electronic works to please the fiercest adherents to Goth orthodoxy – whether rapid for dance or slow paced for a funeral. Ronny Moorings’s plaintive vocals express better than almost anyone else – the wounded feelings and existential complaints of Goths around the world.

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Stimulate

March 31, 2018

The premiere monthly music event Stimulate celebrated the birthday of its founder and chief promoter, Xris Smack to close out the month of March with a special edition featuring three live bands at Drom on Avenue A.

The opening band was the Manson-esque group from NYC’s Lower East Side, Panzie, supporting their new album “The Joke’s on You,” and came complete with masks, make-up, balloons and a ferocious sound that contained elements reminiscent of Rage Against the machine as well as Rob Zombie. This certainly established a festive atmosphere for Xris’s birthday celebration.

The next two bands were from our home state of NJ. Metropolis Records hard rockers Panic Lift, supporting their recent releases, “The Poison Remains” and “From Blue to Black,” provided a welcome change to melodious, but heavy, guitar-based sounds with an industrial edge. Coming on late – very late – was the Cleopatra Records’ electro-industrial duo, Xentrifuge, whose harsh, mechanized and highly synthesized sound – drawn mainly from their new album, “Desensitized Parallels” – was a perfect apocalypse to put a top on Xris’s birthday event.

As is usual, there were gorgeous and exotic dancers joined by the even more gorgeous Ashley Bad whose green vinyl outfit riveted the gaze of onlookers and dance floor participants during between-the-acts sets provided by the stellar cast of deejays, including Father Jeff, Paradox, Joe Hart, Siren and the host, himself Xris Smack.

Beautifully under-dressed Nola Star shocked the audience with an act of self-inflicted piercing to provide Xris with some artfully-placed birthday candles to blow out.

Once again, Stimulate provided a night of over-the-top entertainment filled with great music and glamorous guests, both onstage and off.

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Lost in Echoes at

BerlinNYC @ The Pyramid
Manhattan
March 30, 2018

Berlin is a “Goth, Industrial, Alternative NuWave (sic) Underground” music event held on select nights of the month at the popular Pyramid Club on Avenue A in the East Village. We attended on Friday March 30 both to investigate the dance club event and to see a performance by a new cover band, Lost In Echoes. To add incentive, Berlin was also hosting a quickly arranged art exhibit.

Upon our early arrival in the famous downstairs basement space of the Pyramid – entry through the upstairs had cost us $8 each – we were greeted by host and deejay, Alex von Nihil, longtime veteran of the lower Manhattan scene. While he and his colleagues spun danceable tunes, we meandered about in the dim light, augmenting it with our phones’ flashlights, to inspect the remarkable paintings that had been -spontaneously and on short notice – churned out by Victor Auton in the preceding seven hours. Full of energy, frenzy and with highly suggestive imagery, they had both the feel of punk and that of a confident and accomplished artist.

When performance time came, the same Victor served as lead guitarist of Lost In Echoes. He was joined by vocalist Jorge Enriquez Obando, Diego on bass and Dyanne on drums.

What followed was a thoroughly entertaining set of new pieces and covers drawn from the tradition of goth and punk, starting with “Human Fly” by the Cramps. Obando imbued each lyric, each note with a mix of furor and punkish rage while still adhering to the most appealing qualities of the originals. “Alice” by Sisters of Mercy got exactly that treatment as did LIE’s original piece “Visions.”

A particular treat came when drummer Dyanne, a statuesque brunette, pulled a microphone close so she could take over lead vocals for a cover of Concrete Blond’s best song, “Bloodletting,” although I believe it caused her to break a drum pedal. This only enhanced the raw feel of the high energy show. A heated version of Bauhaus’s “Stigmata” and Peter Murphy’s “Final Solution” concluded the show.

Lost in Echoes at this point has a short-list repertoire but more than makes up for it in energy and dramatic delivery. In many ways, this cover band put on a show that was more entertaining than some highly polished and carefully rehearsed tribute bands. What Lost in Echoes showed above all else is the love and passion they have for the material and the tradition behind the music.

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Museums

David Bowie Is

Brooklyn Museum

March 2 – July 15, 2018

This exhibit has been on tour for 5 years and its last stop is here at the Brooklyn Museum. The exposition makes – and ultimately proves – the argument that David Bowie is the greatest rock star of all time. It also makes clear that throughout his career and certainly in the couple of years since he passed, David Bowie is a cultural icon whose persona serves as a symbol for our age.

Entry will cost you $25 on a weekend unless you’re a student with I.D. It’s a timed entry-situation, and we had to make it through 3 lengthy and long duration lines, the first to get tickets (50 minutes), the second to line up on the floor where the exhibit is housed (15 minutes) and the last one brief, to get into the spectacle itself. Bowie’s show is housed on the fifth floor, accessible by an elevator ride (after another line). I wouldn’t advise using the stairs because each floor is separated by two flights of steps, so your climb is 10 flights! No photos are allowed and cell phones must be in airplane mode.
And well worth all the trouble!

This is one of the most spectacular museum displays of all time, featuring almost countless items, artworks, costumes, video clips, giant-screen shows and historical artifacts and references. All the while the visitor is listening to narratives and to Bowie’s music via headphones that pick up the location-appropriate audio as one moves from station to station and room to room.

It isn’t possible to touch upon the myriad topics and presentations here. The unguided tour starts with his life history, from when he was born David Robert Jones in South London to his youthful interest in Beat poetry and Jazz. The situation in Britain at the time of his early artistic developments is outlined – from the economic disaster of post-World War II – to the socialist government that was supposed to remedy it – to young David’s exposure to Elvis, Chuck Berry and Little Richard. The Beatles and the British Invasion paved the way for him as he began to explore song and dance and musical instruments. He was also drawing and painting, something he would dabble with all his life. One wall displays numerous line drawings he did in collaboration with Laurie Anderson. A tarot card deck of his design is on view.

In the early days first Bowie knocked around with unsuccessful blues and jazz groups before exploding on to the scene with Space Oddity in 1969, released five days ahead of the Apollo 11 space launch. While a visitor is reading about this, the music is pouring in through his or her headphones. The character of Major Tom is introduced, said to be both heroic and vulnerable, not to say sexually ambiguous. He is to reappear in “Ashes to Ashes,” “Hallo Spaceboy” and in “Blackstar.” The mock astronaut suit Bowie wore for the video is there on display.

What this exhibition reveals is Bowie as a unique entertainer who saw himself as a “One Man Revolution,” determined to define a signature style that underlies all the superficial variations of appearance and persona. Along with this, he maintained an interest in Buddhism, in mime and in literature. His bookcase is displayed, filled with exemplary titles of books that defined our modern world: “1984,” “A Clockwork Orange,” James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time” and “The Hidden Persuades,” etc.

There’s much display and explanation of Bowie’s costumes, make-up and personae. The iconic facial lightning bolt appears on the “Aladdin Sane” album and on a mask, but was never – we learn – worn in performance. Its zigzag design also appears on a costume coat, modifying the stripes of the British flag.

The outlandish, sometimes androgynous, and bizarre costumes are shown to be central to his personal style. Among them one will see the giant plastic tux that Bowie wore on an historic 1979 Saturday Night Live appearance with bizarre Bavarian performance artist Klaus Nomi. At that viewing area one will be simultaneously watching a video of the actual SNL TV show. This occasion marked a turning point in both his career and that of Nomi. Bowie was now mainstream. And Nomi subsequently appropriated that tux for his own future stage appearances.

Posters, kabuki and extravagant fashion magazine covers that influenced the aesthetics of Ziggy Stardust are framed for viewing, and notably included images without regard to any particular gender. Bowie allowed there to be confusion of his identity with that of Ziggy. In 1973 he temporarily retired Ziggy but revived him in his final threnody, “Blackstar,” which was released on his 69th birthday, two days before his death. Bowie took in influences from around the world, and chose from broader, more exotic sources than most.

There’s a “Periodic Table” of Bowie showing the hundred-plus influences, musical and otherwise, laid out like the familiar Periodic Table of the Elements. The exhibition gives due credit is to artists and designers who helped Bowie realize his artistic expression with album covers, costumes and the like.

Astonished attendees stand and gape, fascinated by the many high-tech audio-visual experiences at the exhibition. One of these is a large, mirrored alcove that puts on a dazzling pastiche of video art with accompanying, matching music, fragmentary yet unified. There are many opportunities to just stand and watch movie and TV clips sampling Bowie’s musical and acting careers. And there’s more – much more – to the exhibit than this report.

Do we have to say it? Bowie’s influence spreads farther and deeper than just the entertainment world. His fabulous good looks allowed him to juxtapose weird costumes and makeup while remaining irresistibly attractive and at the same time promoting gender ambiguity, preposterous appearance and implicit iconoclasm. It’s hard to imagine the individualistic appearances of today’s world of style, fashion and gender identity without recognizing the spin put on our world by David Bowie.

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Morbid Anatomy Library

Green-Wood Cemetery
Brooklyn NY

Goths and other denizens of the dark cultural scene can rejoice at the resurrection of one of – if not THE most beloved institution in the greater NY/NJ area, the Morbid Anatomy Library. After an all too brief and glorious two year run in Brooklyn’s Park Slope from 2014 to 2016, the Morbid Anatomy Museum closed its doors amidst much grieving by its devoted members and enchanted visitors.

It’s important to remember that the Museum had its origins in a smaller, less ambitious establishment called the Morbid Anatomy Library, which was founded in 2008 in Proteus Gowanus, and before that in 2007 in the Morbid Anatomy blog of founder Joanna Ebenstein.

The mission of examining and celebrating the intersection of “art, medicine, death and culture” goes on – and never really ceased. It is now headquartered in the historic and fitting edifice that is the Fort Hamilton Gate House of Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

An open house at the new digs was held on Easter weekend March 31 and April 1. The dedicated core of Morbid Anatomy, namely artistic director Joanna Ebenstein and events coordinator and librarian Laetitia Barbier greeted guests and well-wishers on the second floor where recognizable artifacts from the original collection were on view and members of the press and other media were taking notes both days.

Downstairs on the first floor was an exhibit area, the centerpiece of which was the marvelous miniature diorama model of the fabled museum, lovingly and painstakingly built by Joel Schlemowitz. It shows both the iconic black exterior and the two main floors complete with breath-taking, detailed reproductions of furniture, architectural details and display articles. A video of the diorama can be viewed on Youtube under “Miniature Diorama of Morbid Anatomy Museum.”

The events-schedule of Morbid Anatomy continues. There is an ongoing Morbid Anatomy exhibition on artworks created with human hair at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia. One can learn about and plan to attend or visit upcoming local lectures, exhibits and activities of the Morbid Anatomy community by following their page on Facebook or going to the Morbid Anatomy blogspot.

Congratulations and best wishes from New Dark Age!

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Recordings

The January Sessions – 1998
The Empire Hideous
Hideous Productions

Gothic metal band The Empire Hideous was active mainly between 1988 and 1998, although there were a few spurts of activity and a couple of CDs released in the post-millennium decade. Just before and in anticipation of the official breakup of the band in early 1998, EH went into the studio with their best-ever lineup of musicians and recorded their then-current set list, in a series of sessions. Early this year, on the 20th anniversary, the recording of those January sessions has been released, consisting of fourteen tracks, some of which had appeared on earlier albums, some that had only been heard live, and some that would find their way onto CDs released after the band had gone into hibernation.

In a sense, this collection represents the band at its mature peak of artistic achievement. The Empire Hideous’s signature sound, combining howling, sorrowful guitar lines, ultra deep, bass guitar fulmination and compelling, urgent rhythms combines with mournful minor key melodies and Myke’s legendary voice. Fans of EH will feast their ears upon Myke’s unique vocal style, heavy with vibrato and echoic effects as he presents his poetic narratives that range from melancholy to demonic, delivered with an anguished intensity.

Four of these tracks were included in the sold out and no-longer-available CD, “Victim Destroys Assailant.” These include the funereal “God and I,” the rapidly paced “Talk Is Cheap,” the surprisingly folksy “Dead Season” and the hypnotic “Otherside.”

Live versions of “Kissing Your Poison” and “Parasite’s Bible,” with its recognizable harmonics riff, are resurrected from the first full length album, “Only Time Will Tell.” Covers in this collection include a driving, speeded up version of “All I Want” by the Cure and a version of “God of Thunder” that is more serious, less facetious than the original by KISS. “Girl at the End of My Gun” by Alien Sex Fiend gets the EH treatment in a frantically paced, faithful tribute to the original.

As this collection basically represents the concluding achievement and final culmination of the Empire Hideous, it was fitting that it should end with Paul Anka’s “My Way,” famously made into a mega-hit by Frank Sinatra and later the Sex Pistols. Here it starts ballad-like, highlighting Myke’s native and unaltered vocal qualities. About a third of the way through it accelerates and transforms into a goth rock anthem, serving as a perfectly apt conclusion to an album, a collection and a career.

This album is available only in mp3 version from various Hideous websites that can be found via the Internet, Facebook, Spotify, etc.

Cybertron

Blackthorn 51
Elmhurst, Queens NYC
June 24, 2017

Vampire Freaks, the large entertainment and specialty clothing organization regularly sponsors music events with a dark, futuristic theme, labeling such events Cybertron, connected—as it portrays itself—to the concept of the sci-fi oriented Transformers theme. Release of the motion picture “Transformers—The Last Knight,” served as an inspiration for the latest Cybertron, a night of dance music and live performances by three techno-industrial bands.

Doors opened at 9 p.m. at Blackthorn 51, a bar and performance venue that usually features heavy metal, situated deep in the heart of the borough of Queens. Our crew from New Dark Age was the first to enter, and we took note of the selections being aired by the assigned deejay—mainly electronic, goth and industrial, featuring Aesthetic Perfection, NIN, Manson and IAMX.

As the guests showed up, they presented an array of dark, sexy and elaborately attired fashionistas, predominantly black-clad, sporting leather, vinyl, metal spikes, two-toned stripes and high makeup. This was particularly true of the several dancers who had been engaged to entertain between band acts. Much focus was directed at one tall, statuesque beauty in a red wig who beguiled the crowd from her lofty place on stage. The room stood in awe when the gorgeous Ashley Bad made her grand entrance accompanied by famous impresario, DJ Xris Smack, who was eager to promote upcoming Stimulate events.

Several other celebrity deejays were present to spin dance tracks including Vampire Freaks’ own Jet VF himself, Matt V Christ, Annabelle Evil, and Shadownightz.

First up at 10 p.m. was the nasty, punk/industrial trio, DeathMaschine, that put on a powerful performance, with a ruggedly handsome vocalist, hovering over the crowd, naked from the waist up but for wrap-around shades and a leather, suspenders-like harness. He was accompanied by digital rhythm tracks, keyboards and by guitarists, one of whom served to also shower the stage with sparks off a metal grinder. The pounding beats and menacing, defiantly screamed lyrics were not for the faint-of-heart.

Next up at 11 p.m. came NJ-based, but internationally acclaimed harsh industrial duo, Xentrifuge, a rivethead-styled couple whose high-tech appearance is in accord with their robust aggro-tech sound. We were familiar with them because they had been selected as Fan Favorite at the recent Darkside of the Con this past spring. Severe and intensely colored lighting glared through an intermittently thick cloud to reveal the stunningly attractive pair. Black leather-clad and sporting shaved sides, Chris Xentrifuge took center stage to issue hissing, nihilistic vocals backed by his gorgeous better half Lisa Helen, who stood behind playing a keyboard and regulating the complex synthetic accompaniment consisting of catchy, mantra-like, repetitive melodies woven into hypnotic, mechanistic rhythms. Their set consisted of seven songs with titles like “Cerebral Ruins” and “Machine Winter,” which go a long way toward characterizing the motif of their style. They are perfectly suited for their next gig which will be to open for Stabbing Westward at the Gramercy this August.

Finally, at midnight, headliners, Colorado-based techno-industrial trio, Velvet Acid Christ, came on stage. They performed for at least an hour and a half, touching on most of their popular repertoire of EBM, darkwave and techno while projecting videos on a backdrop screen showing everything from kaleidoscopic, geometric animations to cartoon images with sociopolitical messages. They dedicated one song to Fox News, although it was difficult to parse the lyrics. One can assume it was critical of the Right that Fox represents, since this is the take on politics that has become almost a cliché in the alternative music scene these days. The beautiful female vocalist who remains nameless on the website and VAC’s Facebook page, sang a song in German about “being a loser.”

Although one could detect a certain sameness to much of their signature sound, VAC’s total repertoire is quite large, standing at 10 or so albums under the Metropolis label, and includes a fair enough variety with captivating melodies and cadences to make for a great body of work suited for goth/industrial dance.

Rammstein

Northwell Health At Jones Beach Theater
Wantagh, NY
June 25, 2017

It is indeed a challenge and all-day commitment to trek out to Jones Beach given the unavoidable disaster that is traffic encountered when crossing from NJ to the outer reaches of Queens, NY. The stature of this industrial metal giant, however, compelled us to make the pilgrimage, knowing the band’s reputation for spectacular visuals to accompany their thrilling and spectacular musical performance.

The show commenced when giant numbers were projected onto a dark screen that shrouded the stage. The audience participated in a countdown beginning from “8” and ending with “1” and the Rammstein logo. With that, the recognizable, syncopated beat of “Ramm 4” burst from the suddenly illuminated stage, and at the same moment there was the explosion of multiple Roman candles into the sky over the heads of even those in the loftiest stadium seats at this open-air theater.

Next came the slow paced, guitar-driven “Reise Reise,” “Halleluja” in which the band accompanies with a falsetto chorus, then the rapidly paced “Zerstören (Destroy).” “Keine Lust (No Desire),” another heavily syncopated song, followed. Next was “Feuer Frei,” a galloping piece with lyrics that play on the two meanings of the word “Feuer” (fire) to denote both the heat of fire—of which there was plenty on and around the stage—and the verb “fire” meaning to shoot a gun. Eight more songs followed, including the hugely popular “Du Riechst So Gut (You Smell So Good),” “Links 2-3-4,” “Du Hast” and the uniquely stylized cover of the Depeche Mode classic, “Stripped.”

It was impossible to keep track of the many and mind-blowing visuals which included flames and smoke belching from the stage ceiling and floor, explosions issuing from two tall towers that straddled the ground level audience seating, clouds of sparkles and confetti, instrumentalists lifted aloft by stage devices, guitars and personnel that distributed smoke, flames and mighty explosions, and rockets that flew across the crowd to ignite blazes on the two aforementioned towers.

A brief intermission was held after “Stripped,” and then they returned with “Sonne (The Sun),” then the rather tedious, yet well recognized “Amerika,” and the harsh and cynical “Engel (Angel).” For the second time, the band members took their bows and the sad strains of “Ohne Dich (Without You)” closed the show.

Seated up high in the outer and upper tier of this gargantuan, 15,000-seat theater gave us a great vantage point from which to view the overall spectacle, but deprived us of being able to appreciate the fine details of the various costumes and theatrical personae of the performers on the distant stage. Two large “Jumbotron”-type screens that should have shown video projections of the stage performers sat dark and unused. This failure to accommodate the ten or so thousand spectators in faraway seats of this gargantuan theater was, in my opinion, inexcusable. At all recent outdoor concerts I have attended recently, excellent use of the jumbo screens allowed the entire audience to enjoy the visual details of the stage performance, which was in Rammstein’s case extremely essential to appreciation of the special effects and costumes.

One more pet peeve: Why, in a vast audience of attentive and devoted fans—who have paid good money and suffered through the inconveniences of travel—do a handful of inconsiderate and hyperactive morons find it necessary to remain standing throughout the performance, essentially ruining the experience for those seated directly in back of them?!

The Red Party

Mercury Lounge
Manhattan, NY
July 8, 2017

Saturday, July 8, saw a spectacular recurrence of the iconic dance, social and entertainment event Sean templar’s Red Party. Once again it was held at the Mercury Lounge on East Houston St., itself a kind of monument to the punk music scene in the greater NY/NJ region.

Speaking of punk, the live performance this night was provided by Argyle Goolsby and the Roving Midnight, an energetic and energizing punk group just back from an overwhelmingly successful stint at the worldwide Wave Gotik Treffen festival in Leipzig, Germany. Coming on shortly after midnight, Argyle Goolsby proved their credentials not only in the old school punk category, but suffused the music with an element of horror. Front man Steve Matthews, in white contacts that emphasized the deep, dark circles surrounding his ghastly eyes and sporting a variety of shocking masks, cavorted on stage with a variety of props and an amazing facility for levitating himself to upstage heights.

Besides terrifying the delighted crowd with such pogo-punk pieces as “The Brides,” “Spiders and Flies” and “The Uninvited,” this guitar-driven sextet showed themselves capable of changing the pace and performing a pleasant, but dark-themed ballad or two.

Queen bee of the social scene, M Banshie, greeted guests as they arrived. At the merch stand was Rusted Autumn hawking one-of-a-kind jewelry and, of course, Argyle Goolsby’s latest CD, shirts, posters and the like. Host and impresario Sean Templar was present in force, spreading hospitality and warm welcome to old friends and newcomers alike. Ana Vice, famous for her role bringing the notorious Memento Mori night to the city for the past year and a half, was first up at the deejay board, providing a mix of irresistible death rock, goth rock and esoteric post-punk that kept the dance floor active. Sean and Jarek later took turns at the turntable.

Eye-candy was provided by a crowd of extravagantly gorgeous creatures of the night as documented in the nearby photos, and included such models of festive gloomy style as DJ Alex (Bela Lugosi) Zamora, Valefar Malefic and Luna Pallida. Special guest Myke Hideous, famous for his ’90s goth-metal project The Empire Hideous, was present accompanied by his beautiful fiancée, Kyly, and both enjoyed renewing acquaintances whom they rarely get to see, having relocated outside the metropolitan area.

Mummies
The Museum Of Natural History

The most fascinating exhibition at New York’s Museum of Natural History is on mummies. Although mummification has been practiced in many and diverse parts of the world, and although mummification sometimes takes place naturally because of climate conditions, the focus here is on the highly developed methods of mummification involved in burial rites by two distinct civilizations: the Egyptian and the Peruvian.

It goes without saying that man has struggled mightily and pretty much in vain in his effort to deny the finality of death. In the case of these two cultures, whole technologies developed to create the illusion that the human form could be pretty much preserved and supplied with provisions after death. The Egypt and Peruvian practices of mummification were somewhat different, but both date back many thousands of years. Peruvian mummies dating back 7,000 years have been discovered, and the Egyptian practice began over 5,000 years ago.

Using today’s technology, particularly CAT scanning, scientists have been able to uncover much of the condition of the deceased, without disturbing the fragile and delicate condition of the bodies within adhesive, resin-caked linen wrappings. In many cases, the state of health, diet, lifestyle and family social structure has been pieced together by visually stripping away layer by layer with CAT scans, from the artistically painted wooden coffins, down through the layers of wrapping, then the skin, the bones and the remaining internal organs.

We learned that the brain and visceral organs were removed as part of the mummification process; the latter being preserved in sculpted ceramic jars. The brain was discarded as insignificant in the afterlife. Arthritis, tuberculosis, childbirth and childhood mortality were common. Bone and dental health were often poor. The teeth of Egyptians appeared to have been worn away by the sandy grit left over from grindstones that were used to mill flour into their bread.

Despite these sobering observations, what most stands out is their knowledge of anatomy, their refined dissection and chemical preservation methods, their masterful artistry in the handling and decoration of the bodies and coffins as well as the magnificent stone sarcophaguses in which the coffins were encased.

The Chinchorro of Peru and Chile started mummification thousands of years before the Egyptians. They painted their mummies and encased the head in clay, fashioning clay masks representing the dead person in an acceptable appearance. Few of these fragile masks are intact, but reproductions are on display at the museum. Some people kept mummies of deceased family members in their homes and brought them to festivals.

The Cult Of Victorian Mourning

Green-Wood Cemetery
Brooklyn, NY
June 10, 2017

The much acclaimed and sorely missed, now-defunct Morbid Anatomy Museum, lives on in spirit if not in its real life, brick-and-mortar existence. Leading figures from the former museum, including curator-author Joanna Ebenstein, antiquarian scholar and museum co-founder Evan Michelson, art historian and former museum librarian Laetitia Barbier and lecturer-teachers Stanley Burns M.D. and Karen Bachmann joined with others of like interests to present a program on the topic of rituals surrounding mourning in the Victorian era under the auspices of Green-Wood Cemetery’s events program. The program echoed the very first exhibition, “The Art of Mourning,” held in 2014 at the opening of at the Morbid Anatomy Museum.

Dating back to 1838 and designated a National Historic Landmark, Green-Wood is a treasure trove of magnificent monuments, mausoleums, markers and graves of the famous in a rural setting of surpassing beauty of landscape and architecture. It welcomes visitors and offers self-guided walking tours.

The symposium was held in the Chapel, a magnificent example of flamboyant Gothic style. Opening remarks were by art historian and author Laetitia Barbier, Harry Weil, Manager of Programs at Green-Wood and creative director of the museum, Joanna Ebenstein who welcomed the sold-out audience and set the tone for what was to follow. Evan Michelson and Karen Bachman, Professor in Jewelry Design at Fashion Institute, exhibited and spoke on the peculiar practice of weaving commemorative jewelry from samples of hair of the deceased.

Jessica Glassock of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art presented the historic and highly specific attire worn during a widow’s period of mourning in the era from 1815-1915 in a slide show.

There was a casual interview with author and archivist Stanley Burns M.D., who talked about his lifetime of collecting historic photographs, including post-mortem photos and other topics from his 46 books and 1,100 articles written on related medical, military and cultural topics.

The most moving part was the aloud reading of letters of condolence from the Victorian era, and included poignant and eloquent examples from Abe Lincoln, Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens and others.

Readers with interests in gothic and morbid preoccupations are advised to visit Green-Wood Cemetery and to follow the Morbid Anatomy blogspot for future events.

Dingbatz March 3 hosted a sensational celebration to the 90s with three spectacular tribute bands playing covers of the three giant bands that represented the musical highpoint of that decade.

SIN

Starting early, but well-prepared, lead vocalist Byron led NIN cover band, SIN in a ten-song set starting with “Somewhat Damaged” which Trent Reznor co-wrote with Lennie Lohner, off their third album, the double-disc opus, “The Fragile.” “March of the Pigs” from “Downward Spiral” followed, then a welcome turn to “Sin” off the debut album, “Pretty Hate Machine.”

NIN music videos played silently on the backdrop screen as SIN ran through masterful renditions of select representatives of the most loved tracks on all the major disc releases. ”Burn,” the single from the movie, “Natural Born Killers,” enters the discography in the 2004 Deluxe 10th Anniversary re-release of “Downard Spiral,” but it doesn’t appear in the original (1994) album. When SIN performed a really accurate rendition of “Closer,” it caused those in the audience to recall not only its ground-breaking video, influenced by the eerie animations of the Brothers Quay, but also went a long way toward opening mass media to the daytime use of the “f-word.”
Other faithful covers included “Wish,” from both “Broken” and “Fixed,” “Only” from “”With Teeth” (2005) and two more from the first album, “Terrible Lie” and ending with the all-time most influential industrial-to-mainstream-crossover piece, “Head Like a Hole.” NIN fans were satisfied with the meticulously accurate and utterly sincere re-creation of their idol band.

Battle of Las Angeles

Founded in 2007, The Battle of Los Angeles takes its name from Rage Against the Machine’s third album. Opening with a mild, but rapid riff of single guitar notes, the opening song, “Bombtrack” released its sudden explosion on stage and lead singer Christian Alcantara leaped half his height in imitation of Rage’s Zach de la Rocha as he rhythmically screamed political leftist complaints against patriotism and capitalism. Next, “People of the Sun,” gave voice to the rage of indigenous tribes. Alcantara has effectively captured the original timbre of the Zack de la Rocha voice, just as he has mastered his athletic stage promenade.

Battle of Los Angeles (one of two RATM cover bands with that name) pulled no punches lyrically or artistically in delivering Rage’s defiant, pointed critique of American society with “Sleep Now in the Fire;” “Know Your Enemy;” “Bullet in the Head,” which Alcantara specifically dedicated to Jeff Sessions; the anti-war “Bulls on Parade”;” “Testify;” “Freedom” and their most memorable single, “Killing in the Name Of,” the popular anti-authority screed, which some call Rage’s “signature song.” At the conclusion of their set, we spectators were for a moment considering to head out in order to burn the system down, but we stayed to hear the next band.

SCHISM

Having already mastered the complex and experimental instrumental style and arrangements of Tool’s oeuvre, Schism took it to another level when in 2005, the man behind Schism, Keith Williams, recruited singer Angelo Rivera, whose vocal virtuosity is a match for that of Tool’s Maynard James Keenan, as nuanced and as finely tuned. Rivera’s transcendent singing is supported by Schism’s mastermind and guitar virtuoso, Keith; by the guitar-style techniques of Sean Patrick Murray on bass which closely mimic those of Tool’s bassist, Justin Chancellor; and by the infallibly accurate reproduction of Tool drummer/percussionist Danny Carey’s unusual time signatures and shifting rhythms.

Starting with “Aenema” off the similarly named “Aenima” album, Rivera imbued this viciously cynical damnation of L.A. culture with keen articulation. In fact, he did so with each of the exquisitely rendered pieces that Schism performed that night which included: “46 & 2,” “Prison Sex,” “Parabola,” “Stinkfist,” “Schism,” “Hooker with a Penis,” “Vicarious,” “Jambi” and finally ended with the spectacular – and spectacularly performed – “Lateralus,” one of Tool’s great treatises on philosophy and spirituality.

Not only is Schism the premier Tool cover band, but it is very near the top of all cover bands in any genre. Now at it 16 years, Keith Williams’ national touring band Schism is unique in that it is endorsed on the Tool website. They will be performing “April Tool Day” at artist Alex Grey’s Chapel of Sacred Mirrors in Wappingers Falls NY and at the Gramercy in NYC on May 5.