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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Spinning in NYC, Schoolgirl Style...

I dressed up as a schoolgirl to DJ for this Fetish party in NYC, courtesy of FIXE MAGAZINE. Thankfully there was a barrier between the DJ and the crowd, because some Fetish guys were trying to get back there! Sorry guys, I'm not a Domme but a Musician!






The Fetish scene has been on a steady decline since the days of MOTHER, and I think the all-time low was when an elderly gent tried forcefully in a very entitled way to get me to turn the music down because it was bothering his hearing aid! Are you kidding me? This is a Fetish party in the East Village of Manhattan, NYC, not a retirement home. If you're geriatric it's time to turn in your thong, LOL!

What happened to the days of "cerebral nightlife", a phrase coined by the genius impresario Chi Chi Valenti of Mother? Let's see some intelligent themes and haute glamour pumped back into the Fetish scene.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Redesign

I've been working at redesigning this blog. When I think about how much $ MySpace, Facebook and Twitter have made from my images and posts...wow. Plus, I don't like to be limited in how many characters I can use. I kind of miss MySpace in that I used to be able to be more creative with the posts(and more long-winded, LOL!). Facebook has been particularly limiting in that it only allows bite-sized chunks of text to be written in most cases, unless you want to post a Note. I miss the spontaneity I used to have on MySpace.

The thing about Facebook is that it's targeted. This is great if you are an advertiser using Facebook as a marketing tool. But personally, I find it creepy to have things like "Steampunk Emporium, half price sale" popping up on the side of my page as an ad. I never wanted to think of underground fashion movements as something that could be marketed so aggressively. When I was growing up, I never would have expected to see "Punk Rock Emporium, half price sale" targeted directly at me from information on a profile page. That would be so anti to the purpose, IMO. ALTERNATIVE fashion should not be treated as something to ram down people's throats with a pervasive advertisement that pops up multiple times. I remember that half the fun was sewing my own clothes out of found materials or sifting through stuff at a thrift store and finding retro glamour.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Propaganda and it's Antidote

When Jason and I started doing ABSOLUTIONlast year in July of 2009, we were surprised to hear a number of strange sentiments being repeated by people in the NYC Goth/Industrial scene that seemed anti to the club scene getting back on it's feet. Could people really rebuild a functioning Goth/Industrial society if they believed things like "Our scene is dying"?

I decided to assemble a collection of the negative propaganda that had somehow infiltrated the NYC Goth/Industrial scene, now that a year has passed, and contrast that propaganda/negative rhetoric with what has actually taken place.

1) "NYC Can't support a Weekly Event". FALSE. Since we started doing ABSOLUTION, many monthly parties have had grand openings and a very rapid grand closing, or closed after a long period of being slow. But the three weekly parties of NYC- Tuesday DARK WATER@ Ottos' Shrunken Head, Saturday DEFCON @ Pyramid and Friday ABSOLUTION @ UC87, are all still here. Not only that, ABSOLUTION actually expanded and added a floor and regular weekly performances, in the slowest period of the year, summer. Obviously NYC not only can support a Weekly event, it does in fact support Three of them.

2) "Everyone in NYC is respectful of each other's parties". FALSE. Since we began producing ABSOLUTION on Friday nights, a whole slew of monthly parties have tried to open up on Friday nights. So much for that particular slogan.

*NOTE- the poor rate of monthly parties staying open on Friday nights/losing their venues should give people a clue that opening a monthly on the same night as a weekly Friday with so much going on in it is a bad idea. The list of parties that have either closed or lost their venue in the past year on Friday is long and gruesome.*

3) "The Goth/Industrial Scene in NYC is dying". FALSE. Twilight and True Blood are some of the most popular shows on TV in the USA, seeding the public conciousness with Gothic aesthetic and ideas. Never has there been a time more suitable to create a thriving Gothic Society. Also, all over the USA Goth/Industrial clubs are enjoying a regular audience, even right across the river in New Jersey less than 20 miles away from the area where the Goth/Industrial scene is supposedly "dying". (Yes, I guess it IS dying in your particular area if you are going around telling everyone it's dead, creating a "dead zone" where only you are seen as the altruistic patron of this poor, dying scene...oh how noble of you *sniff sniff* How much everyone owes you for taking the time to keep the poor dying scene even half alive...wow, what a great person you are....shall I continue? LOL!)! The Goth/Industrial scene is far from dead. The minute people were given the chance to come out weekly again, they did.

4) "I just do this to have fun, I don't make any money from the scene". FALSE. Since everyone has to buy Gothic Clothing, Shoes, Jewelry, Accessories and Music, and venues, alcohol, DJ equipment, heating and air conditioning, and the man-hours it takes to design websites, flyers, distribute flyers, do booking and scheduling of DJs, Bands, Performers and Nightclub Staff all cost money, there is a very obvious economy involved in the Goth/Industrial Scene of NYC. Too bad they don't give all that stuff out for free! I wish they did. Events are extremely costly to put on.

*NOTE*- if there is someone who pays out of pocket for these events, pay close attention to them, because nobody does something for nothing. They are, in fact, getting something out of it- trying to influence the political direction these events are taking. I would urge such people to Get A Life.

5) "Cross-Promotion for parties on the same night is good for the scene". FALSE. Who says this? Obviously not a seasoned promoter. If you believe this, I have a bridge to sell you. I covered this topic extensively in my last blog, so if you're interested, scroll down.

6) "It's all about the music". FALSE. The minute you start selling a product (advertising events with a cover charge where you are performing or producing), you become a businessperson. Saying you are "only in it for the music" does not absolve you of the responsibilities and concerns that govern all businesspeople.

I'm sure there is more propaganda that I'm leaving out, but you get the idea. The next time anyone tells you something that doesn't seem to "jive right" with reality, it's time to perform a critical analysis of what they're saying, or get advice from someone who has experience who has an objective viewpoint and no personal stake in the situation if you're not sure.