About Commenting Here

This is just a short announcement but one that I unfortunately must make. It seems that I'm once again, receiving a flurry of spam that's getting through as comments to my various posts here. For that reason, I have been forced to put all comments on moderation for the time being.

I don't know what it is that causes people to think that they can simply spread their garbage on people's blogs and websites without their consent and without the content having anything to do with the subject at hand. Their actions however, are both an inconvenience to the blogger and to his or her readers and commenters.

Please be assured that for the time being, I'll be keeping watch here and will attempt to get all legitimate comments up as quickly as I can. Hopefully, my having to approve comments will only be a temporary measure. In the meantime, I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, the reader.

World Goth Day 2015

Time sure has a way of flying by doesn't it? It seems like it was only yesterday that I was celebrating World Goth Day with a group of people at a nearby museum. Yet, here we are again. The day has almost arrived and it's time to start thinking about how each of us will celebrate our subculture; and may I say, our gothiness?

There are events scheduled to take place in various parts of the the United States as well as the rest of the world. The World Goth Day website has a listing for some of this years events, which you can access by Clicking here.

If no events are taking place in your area you can still be creative by perhaps organizing a gathering with gothy friends, dressing up, or simply by watching a horror movie and/or reading a good book.

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you all have a great World Goth Day 2015!

Voltaire's Forgotten Cities Tour Comes to Fayetteville

As I sit typing this blog post I am listening, for the third time, to Ego Likeness' latest CD entitled When the Wolves Return. The album is so new that it hasn't been officially released yet. So how did I get my hands on it so early in the game? The answer is that last night marked Aurelio Voltaire's anticipated return to Fayetteville as a part of his Forgotten Cities Tour, which he is doing with the creators of the new album, one that I'm very much enjoying. 

For those not familiar with with them, Ego Likeness is a darkwave/industrial band from Baltimore. It was founded back in 1999 by artist/guitarist Steven Archer and writer/vocalist Donna Lynch. While I had heard them before last night's show, I was totally unprepared for just how good they would sound live. Accompanied only by a drummer whose name escapes me, Ego Likeness opened the night's festivities with a stellar performance. I am very impressed with Donna's vocals as well as Steven's ability to create a full industrial sound to accompany his live guitar work. As the group performed, an old black and white horror film played on a screen behind them. Nice touch guys! 

As for Voltaire's performance...well, what can I say? The man is thoroughly entertaining. His comedic mix of singing, guitar playing, story telling and just plain having fun is infectious. His style is consistent; yet, he manages to bring new material to the fore with each new visit. If I found a somber moment in last night's program it was when he spoke about his reasoning behind the Forgotten Cities Tour. It seems that there are cities Mr. Voltaire used to visit regularly that have more or less been left behind due to practical financial considerations. As he put it, cities that used to have weekly goth nights first scaled down to monthly, then down to twice per year, etc. until the goth night scene simply ceased to exist. Performers such as Voltaire and Ego Likeness need to at least be able to make ends meet while on tour; and in many localities, that's no longer happening. So, he's hoping that by hitting these neglected cities, he might be able to create sort of a goth-event revival. Good for him and I wish him every success with that. As for Fayetteville, he informed us that we're still a viable market and that we bring in larger crowds than some larger cities. Good for us! That means he'll keep coming.

I'm not great at doing reviews, so I'll just say that last night was a great time and I enjoyed Cannibal and Craft as a new venue. It was good getting together with old friends and acquaintances while enjoying some great entertainment. My personal thanks go Bobby Scarbrough for organizing this wonderful event and making it happen. To Voltaire and Ego Likeness I simply want to say, thanks for coming and giving us such a good time. 

  

As always, Voltaire concluded his performance by bringing up the Fayetteville Chapter of the Beelzebub Philharmonic Choir to assist him with the last song for the night. 

Catching Up

It has been a little over a month since I last posted here; I suppose this is not a good thing considering that I used to make it a point to post once a week. Still, not much of any significance has been happening in my life until last weekend when my vehicle gave up the ghost. There have been no goth events to talk about, no ghost sightings here at the cemeteries and no unexpected romantic encounters with darkly clad women. So for the most part, I've been inactive. Over the past week or so, things have changed a bit and so I thought I'd share these things with my readers.

The Bat Fit 2015 Project

Some months ago, the Insomniac, whom many of you already know, and I somehow got into a discussion about how much I liked the cloak that Hugh Jackman wore in the Van Helsing film that he starred in. After all was said and done, she graciously offered to make me something similar. During the months that transpired she and her husband spent a considerable amount of time and effort moving out of, and saying their goodbyes to the famed Gothic Mansion, the abode in which they had spent so many years of their lives.

After securing a piece of land suitable for the construction of a new home somewhere in the wilds of Alberta, the Insomniac and her spouse spent many months languishing in a hotel/motel room while their new abode underwent construction. Finally, with work on the new place nearly completed, they began moving into their beloved Gothic Cottage, which incidentally, is located in the Spooky Forest. During all of this time, the Insomniac would occasionally keep hope alive that the cloak would one day be completed. So, imagine if you can, how excited I became upon learning a few days ago that the bat fit, as she likes to call it, is on its way to me.

I wish to offer my sincere thanks to the Insomniac for her generosity and hard work with this project. I can't wait until there's an event I'll be able to wear it to. If you'd like to see pictures of her masterpiece and my new treasure, follow this link.

Scoring Goth Points 

Getting harassed is never a good thing and it sure doesn't feel good, but from time to time it happens to people like us and I had another turn at it a couple of days ago. As I mentioned, I'm temporarily without a vehicle and therefore, headed to the south side of town where a recommended used car lot is situated. After going all the way down there and finding the lot closed on Tuesdays, I stopped at my favorite Mexican restaurant where I had a margarita and a tasty meal. Upon resuming my trek back toward the center of town, where a 4:00 pm happy hour beckoned to me, I suddenly heard  a man's voice coming from what I first thought was a loud car radio. As offending vehicle drew closer I looked to see the driver of a pickup truck hanging out his window screaming something at me. At the moment, I'd been so deep in my thoughts that I didn't pick up on what he was screaming at me. I felt his animosity toward me; and for that matter, probably toward goths in general. But what else could I expect? I had been, after all, walking on the south side of town, which with every block you walk away from the center of the city grows more closed minded and intolerant. I hadn't been harassed by anyone in nearly a year and a half, so I simply call it scoring goth points.

The Return of Voltaire

I also learned last week, that Voltaire will once again be returning to Fayetteville on May 13. As with the last two times he appeared here, Voltaire will be performing at George's Majestic Lounge, which I consider a very suitable venue. Also joining him for the show will be the goth/industrral group, Ego Likeness.  

It looks like this will be an enjoyable night; and as a person who can use a bit of cheering up these days, I'm really looking forward to it. I doubt that I'll be able to wear the new bat fit to this affair though, as the weather here is heating up quite quickly this season. It's already getting quite summer-like and it's only early April.

The New Nightwish Album

Several weeks ago I pre-ordered Nightwish's new CD entitled Endless Forms Most Beautiful and it arrived on Saturday. I've got to say, it's a wonderful piece of work and in my opinion, is the most classical sounding album the band has put out yet. Endless Forms Most Beautiful has only served to convince me even more that composer and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, though a metal musician, is one of the great classical composers of our day.

This is also their first album in which the talented Floor Jansen performs the lead vocals. She's an excellent match for the group and if you listen to her vocals singing around the choir in the last song entitled, The Greatest Show on Earth, you'll get a good idea of what she's capable of.

I always get a bit annoyed when people lament the disappearance of good, creative music. Because I know that there's Nightwish.

Well, that's it from here in East Mountain for now. I'm sure that I'll find something else to write about before too long.