{"id":3033,"date":"2018-11-12T15:03:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T15:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=3033"},"modified":"2019-09-20T12:47:50","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T12:47:50","slug":"3033","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/?p=3033","title":{"rendered":"New Dark Age – Nov 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concerts<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nine inch Nails<\/strong>
\nRadio City
\nOct 13, 2018<\/p>\n

Opening at 7:00 pm sharp was Kite Bass, a comely female duo consisting of a blond guitarist with a really nice voice and a brunette with a thunderous bass guitar. The vocals were beautiful, but the songs were definitely industrial, lacking true melody.<\/p>\n

Second openers, The Jesus and Mary Chain followed at 7:50 pm, introduced by splashes of electronic static noise, that led up to almost an hour of hit after hit from their much-loved repertoire.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After they closed the stage was crowded with a throng of technicians, musicians and other support staff. The crowd was excited and restless waiting for NIN to come on. As the band set up on stage, strains of Angelo Badalamenti\u2019s \u201cThe Fireman\u201d filled the air. The arena swarmed with wandering light beams and the stage sparkled with glittering waves of dazzling LEDs in bizarre purples, magentas, yellows and blues that never occurred in nature. The opening piece was \u201cMr. Self Destruct\u201d off the \u201cDownward Spiral,\u201d then on into one of the most popular of their entire body of work, \u201cWish\u201d from the 1992 EP \u201cBroken,\u201d which created a roar of enthusiasm bringing many to their feet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Their enthusiasm seemed to sink with \u201cLess Than\u201d from the 2017 EP \u201cAdd Violence.\u201d It has the signature NIN sound, but the audience was there to hear classic NIN. They were charged back into a frenzy with \u201cMarch of the Pigs\u201d that followed. But \u201cThe Lovers,\u201d and \u201dThis Isn\u2019t the Place,\u201d two wishy-washy, predominantly instrumental pieces, also off \u201cAdd Violence,\u201d had a sedating effect. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Perfect Drug\u201d from the soundtrack of the motion picture \u201cLost Highway\u201d and best remembered for its steampunk-style video extolling the alleged virtues of absinthe restored the crowd\u2019s joy, especially by inclusion of a virtuoso drum solo. This was followed by a several pieces from the latest album, \u201cBad Witch,\u201d including \u201cGod Break Down the Door,\u201d which has a distinctive, erratic drum cadence. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The rapid techno mantra piece \u201cCopy of A \u201d offered a pleasant return to a compelling rhythm, and was followed by the even more rapid, frantic \u201cGave Up\u201d from \u201cBroken.\u201d ThenTrent Reznor took a moment to remember David Bowie and to perform one from the late rock star\u2019s famous video, \u201cI\u2019m Afraid of Americans,\u201d in which Reznor himself appears. It is always good when a giant celebrity pays homage to the greats of the past. To Reznor\u2019s credit, the next entry was also a cover, the Joy Division tribute, \u201cDigital.\u201d<\/p>\n

NIN was definitely on a roll at that point, nailing down two of its best, \u201cThe Hand That Feeds\u201d and the trailblazing \u201cHead Like a Hole,\u201d which paved the way for industrial music to cross over into mainstream and alternative.
\n After a brief break, they returned with three encores, \u201cAll the Love in the World,\u201d \u201cOver and Out\u201d and the grand finale, the low-key, passionate, \u201cHurt.\u201d <\/p>\n

The world of industrial and rock music is replete with flashy, raucous and bombastic shows, but there is nothing that quite matches NIN. That said, this groundbreaking, prolific and inventive project is in its creative twilight. The iconic masterpieces of the 80s, 90s and early this millennium stand the test of time, but the most recent entries seem to be pedestrian works with erratic rhythms, incoherent noise and meaningless lyrics. It will always be a delight to revisit \u201cHead Like a Hole\u201d and \u201cCloser,\u201d but we should stop asking Mr. Reznor to stretch his body of work into four more decades.<\/p>\n


\nStabbing Westward <\/strong>
\nGramercy
\nOct 20, 2018<\/p>\n

Stabbing Westward was founded in 1986 before they dissolved semi-permanently in 2002. During those years they produced one EP and four studio albums. The reunion and revival of Stabbing Westward began in 2016 when they celebrated their 30th anniversary with shows at the Chicago Cold Waves Festival and Dracula\u2019s Ball in Philadelphia. This October 2018 represents the first activity of the band – aside from the release of two recordings – since then. <\/p>\n

As for the opening band, The Amatory Murder: the less said the better. But second openers, The Clay People, revived the crowd with mind-blowing industrial-strength punk metal on a par with giant rockers, Tool. The Clay People have been around since \u201989. Why haven\u2019t I heard them? <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n The main set of Stabbing Westward\u2019s performance was drawn from their smash hit album \u201cDarkest Days\u201d (1998), playing all but three tracks, in the order in which they appear on the record. They opened with the title track, a lumbering piece that nonetheless affords Chris Hall opportunity to scream his rage and declare his pain as did the next selection, \u201cEverything I Touch.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDrugstore\u201d picked up the pace and did more to grant the instrumental accompaniment opportunity to shine as Hall screamed the rhetorical question, \u201cHow Can Everything Be Justified By You?\u201d Next they went into what may be the favorite of many fans, the raucous \u201dSave Yourself,\u201d unless, of course, your favorite is \u201cHaunting Me,\u201d which followed.
\n The show galloped along on \u201cTorn Apart,\u201d then slowed a bit for \u201cSometimes It Hurts,\u201d and the creepily sedate \u201cDrowning\u201d and \u201cDesperate Now.\u201d Chris Hall found his spleen again with the rocking anthem, \u201cThe Thing I Hate\u201d and \u201cOn Your Way Down,\u201d then closed the set with \u201cWaking Up Beside You\u201d before taking a brief break.<\/p>\n

They returned with five great encore pieces, namely \u201cNothing\u201d off the 1994 album \u201cUngod,\u201d \u201cSo Far Away,\u201d from their final, eponymous album, and \u201cViolent Mood Swings,\u201d also off \u201cUngod.\u201d Next came their iconic masterpieces, \u201cWhat Do I Have To Do?\u201d and \u201cShame,\u201d both from \u201cWither Blister Burn & Peel\u201d (1996).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sad in a way that this brilliant and engaging musical group found it necessary to break up after four terrific albums. Stabbing Westward has done a great job of giving voice to anger and frustration in an industrial, yet melodious format. Whether they must continue to rehash their oeuvre from the 1990s or if they can – reunited – create new music in the same ferocious mode remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Halloween Specials <\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nEndless Night : New York Vampire Ball 2018<\/strong>
\nDrom
\nOct 20, 2018
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

International impresario Father Sebastiaan hosted the latest – and final – NYC-based, Halloween-season Vampire Ball and Long Black Veil Reunion on Oct 20 at Drom in the City\u2019s Lower East Side, co-hosted by club scene veteran Chi Chi Valenti and backed by a who\u2019s who of top class deejays, Aengel, V Christ, Xris Smack and Ian Ford. The dress code called for all-black with attendees encouraged to wear costumes, custom contacts, fangs and necklace ankhs. \"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Doors – manned by Victor Magnus and M Banshie – opened at 11 p.m., and the crowd of dancers and imbibers grew rapidly. Enthusiasm swelled to a crescendo when, at midnight, Father Sebastiaan, with the support of Chi Chi Valente and the pulchritudinous presence of Sabrina and Claire, led the faithful in a warm and nostalgic \u201cHowl and Toast.\u201d In a healing ceremony, Sebastiaan spoke of the history of his Endless Night series with reference to the origins as Long Black Veil, the ancestral club event which launched himself, his Sabertooth Clan and Endless Night series into leadership of the Gotham – and later world-wide – vampire community.\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Svelte Cassandra Rosebeetle performed an ecdysiast dance followed by K-Star who performed a belly dance wearing a long, sheer, wing-like cloak. As on all previous iterations of Endless Night, a costume contest was held, with winners selected by the crowd\u2019s response. The dancers of Stimulate performed on stage between the major events while deejays filled the air with the likes of Nine Inch Nails and Bauhaus.
\n\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a> The party went on until 3:45 a.m. at which time there was a last call. Father Sebastiaan has since made it clear that New York City no longer provides venues of sufficient size to accommodate the massive crowd which Endless Nights draw, making this the last such event. Those who yearn for more such gatherings can keep track of and plan to attend Endless Nights in various locales around the USA and the world, or they can hope to be invited to exclusive invitation-only functions that hopefully will occur locally in the New York area. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dracula\u2019s Ball Oct 31, 2018
\nPatrick Rogers\u2019s Dancing Ferret hosted Dracula\u2019s Ball at Philadelphia\u2019s Trocadero on Halloween night this year. The fact that Halloween occurred on a Thursday in midweek didn\u2019t stop it from being a sold-out, all-ages event. Planners only allowed two-thirds of capacity tickets to be sold, so that there was comfortable space for attendees to enjoy. Plenty of NY\/NJ\u2019s Goth aristocracy showed up for the annual festivities.<\/p>\n

Dutch darkwavers Clan of Xymox headlined the show with support from Baltimore\u2019s Ego Likeness and coldwavers Curse Mackey from Texas. Costumes were encouraged but not mandatory.<\/p>\n

Nights Out <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Necropolis at Windfall<\/strong>
\nWindfall NYC
\nNov 3 2018
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Father Jeff Ward\u2019s famous recurring dark dance event took place on the first Saturday of November at its regular location which was decorated for the Halloween season as shown in the photo. Jeff\u2019s deejaying efforts were supported by his top tier associates, DJs Patrick, Templar and Aengel. M Banshie provided hospitality at the gate and guests were greeted warmly by Windfall\u2019s host Chris Savo. Celebrities in attendance included Hippocampus Press publisher Derrick Hussey, New Goth City\u2019s Sir William Welles and the Long Losts, Anka and Patrick McGowan.<\/p>\n

Museums<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nAlive! Frankenstein at 200<\/strong>
\nThe Morgan Library and Museum
\n NYC
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nTo commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley\u2019s famous book, the Morgan Library and Museum is hosting an exhibition, \u201cIt\u2019s Alive! Frankenstein at 200\u201d until Jan 27, 2019. The universal appeal of this story, the landmark starting point for science fiction cannot be overestimated. As a book, it has spawned countless books, plays, cinema works and the other media. Commentary has been vast as have been imitations, sincere as well as plagiaristic.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As a story it surpasses others in that those who have not read it know the basic premises of the story almost as well as those who have. The story has penetrated down into the collective consciousness like few others have done. A significant segment of the population consider themselves \u201cfans\u201d of Frankenstein. Even the back story of how a nineteen year-old girl went into competition with some literary greats to write a gothic novel is pretty well known.<\/p>\n

What is a gothic novel? Basically any novel that deals with the nightmare side of the world, whether supernatural or rational in its explanations. This exhibition gives credit for the first gothic novel to Matthew Gregory Lewis for \u201cThe Monk\u201d (1796), but Horace Walpole\u2019s \u201cThe Castle of Otranto,\u201d(1764) is more commonly cited for that title.<\/p>\n

This exhibit shows that despite the enthusiasm that we all share for \u201cFrankenstein,\u201d it has all been \u201ctip-of-the-iceberg\u201d knowledge, and that there is factual history as well as critical literary analysis still to be learned about \u201cFrankenstein\u201d and his girl-genius creator. From this exhibit we learn that Gothic style in the arts had been popular for centuries in the English culture in which Mary Shelley grew up. Also shown are books she read as the daughter of two writers and her father a publisher as well. All the reading and writing in which Mary Shelley was immersed paid off by providing her with creativity, style, knowledge and profound insight.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We learn that she first published \u201cFrankenstein\u201d anonymously. In the days when theater companies disregarded copyright laws, three Frankenstein plays plagiarized the story with variations on characters and issues. These boosted Mary Shelley\u2019s creation from book to myth status.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just scholarly stuff at the exhibit. There are colorful movie posters from early cinema and rows of comic books and graphic novels featuring the monster or the name. There\u2019s a clip of stop-action animation from the Thomas Edison\u2019s 1910 silent movie in which the monster \u201cself-assembles.\u201d An early edition volume of \u201cFrankenstein\u201d with notes in the margins in Mary\u2019s actual handwriting is displayed in a glass case. Classic portraits and Richard Rothwell\u2019s beguiling portrait of Mary Shelley in oils are on open viewing. Walls and shelves have images of gothic horror and even a display explaining the electrical discoveries that informed Mary Shelley at the time of her writing.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This is a must see exhibition, on display during what remains of the winter 2018 -2019. Otherwise one will have to wait until 2118 for the 300th anniversary of this immortal masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Recordings<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n
\nAsh Code<\/strong>
\n\u201cPerspektive\u201d
\nMetropolis Records
\nItalian darkwavers Ash Code\u2019s third and newest album featuring seventeen tracks was released this month. A video of the ninth track \u201cBlack Gloves\u201d gives a representative sample of the frenetic industrial rhythms and creative, layered electronic arrangements that typify their style. The video, available on Youtube, features some pretty edgy, sensuous and sado-horrific images while the sound track is compelling, mantra-like and repetitively hypnotic.
\nThe album is available on CD, vinyl and download as of Nov 9, 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Concerts Nine inch Nails Radio City Oct 13, 2018 Opening at 7:00 pm sharp was Kite Bass, a comely female duo consisting of a blond guitarist with a really nice voice and a brunette with a thunderous bass guitar. The vocals were beautiful, but the songs were definitely industrial, lacking true melody. Second openers, The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3033"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3421,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033\/revisions\/3421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doktorjohn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}