Category: Event

Tune In to “In Goth We Trust” this Wednesday Night!

Tune in on Wednesday night to hear my voice on the radio! Chelsea Goodwin has invited me to call in as a guest on her radio show In Goth We Trust. The show runs from 10:00pm to 12:00am (Eastern Time) every Wednesday and Thursday night on WIOX Community Radio in the Catskills. She plays a wide variety of gothic music and interviews folks from  throughout the wider goth community.

I’ll be calling in this Wednesday, May 2, at 10:30pm to discuss my work on this blog, the panels I gave at Dark Side of the Con, what I’ve been up to in Green-Wood Cemetery, and whatever else we feel like talking about. If you’re local to the New York City Watershed area, you can tune your radios to 91.3 FM. The show will also be streamed live online. You can listen at WIOXradio.org (scroll down a bit to find the player, you may need to download Adobe Flash) or use a radio app like TuneIn. I’m looking forward to chatting with Chelsea!

New Morbid Anatomy Exhibit at Green-Wood Cemetery

This spring, there’s a new pop-up exhibit at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery—and I’ll be volunteering as a docent! The Morbid Anatomy collection will be installed in Green-Wood’s Fort Hamilton Gatehouse, with an exhibition called “The Power of Images: Life, Death, and Rebirth” on the lower level and a library in the building’s attic, with books on the intersection of art and medicine, death and culture. The exhibit will be open from 12:00-5:00pm on weekends, now  through June, and is free and open to the public. So far, I’m scheduled to be there on 4/15, 4/21, and 5/6, and maybe there a few other weekends as well. Come visit me!

Fort Hamilton Gatehouse in Green-Wood Cemetery

What is Morbid Anatomy, you ask? Well, if you’re from the Brooklyn area, you may remember that there used to be a quaint little museum in Gowanus that closed down last year. It housed a varied collection along the lines of a Victorian cabinet of curiosities, as well as an extensive library and an event space for authors, lecturers, and workshops. It closed its doors last year, but it didn’t go away for good! Its collections are curated by Morbid Anatomy’s founder Joanna Ebenstein and head librarian/program director Laetitia Barbier. The current exhibition contains a mix of macabre paintings, strange specimens, and funerary ephemera. I’m so excited to see my favorite death-centered museum brought back to life!

Do you have any questions about the exhibit? Have you visited already, or are you planning to? Let me know in the comments!

Dracula, Performed

Dracula was always meant to be adapted to the stage. At the time that he wrote his most famous novel, Bram Stoker was working as the business manager for the Lyceum Theatre in London, owned by his friend, the renowned actor Henry Irving. Irving’s performances were often dark and dramatic, and he was best known for playing charismatic villains. It’s even been suggested that he partially inspired the appearance and personality of the Count in Stoker’s novel. Thus, it should come as no surprise that when Stoker finished his masterpiece, he envisioned Irving playing the titular character in a stage adaptation. He even drafted a script and ran through a staged reading of Dracula, or The Undead at the Lyceum, afterwards eagerly asking Irving what he thought. Irving’s answer, however, shut down any hopes Stoker had for his stage production: he summed up his opinion in one word: “Dreadful.”

Continue reading Dracula, Performed

Dorian Gray: The Musical, a NYMF Production

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray took on new life this summer in a musical adaptation as part of the New York Musical Festival. NYMF is a three-week annual festival that seeks to shine the spotlight on new works, many of which go on to perform Off-Broadway, and some even make it to the Great White Way! Dorian Gray: The Musical began as a graduate thesis project for playwright Christopher Dayett, with music arranged by Kevin Mucchetti. Last week, the beta musical appeared in three showings at the Acorn Theater. Director Christen Mandracchia invited me to attend a performance and share my opinion on the show. Continue reading Dorian Gray: The Musical, a NYMF Production

Steampunk World’s Fair 2017: Where Goth and Steampunk Meet

Last weekend, I went to one of the largest steampunk events in the world, Jeff Mach’s Steampunk World’s Fair. For those who are unfamiliar, steampunk is an alternative fashion/music/literature scene, which can essentially be summed up as Victorian futurism—imagine a world where, on the cusp of the industrial revolution, technology advanced through steam power and gears instead of electricity and computers. The fashion blends corsets and top hats with brass and goggles, while the literature tends to feature dirigibles, automatons, and mad scientists. And the first weekend in May is when hundreds of steampunks from around the country take over two hotels in the middle of Piscataway, New Jersey. I’ve been attending Steampunk World’s Fair for many years, and two weeks ago I gave you a preview of what I was looking forward to at this year’s convention in particular. Read on to see how last weekend lived up to my expectations. Continue reading Steampunk World’s Fair 2017: Where Goth and Steampunk Meet

Preview of Steampunk World’s Fair 2017

The biggest steampunk event of the year is just around the corner! Steampunk World’s Fair is one of Jeff Mach’s most popular events and the largest steampunk convention in the world. Earlier this year, I attended and wrote about my experience at two of Jeff Mach’s brand new conventions: the fairy-themed Glimmerdark and the three-day goth party that was Dark Side of the Con. Now it’s time to return to one of my old favorites. I have been attending Steampunk World’s Fair for about five years, and it never fails to impress. The convention takes over two hotels in Piscataway, New Jersey, and will be taking place next weekend, May 5–7.

Tea and a Cthulhu cookie from a World’s Fair past
While I was thrilled to attend two events this year with a more overtly dark aesthetic, I always feel at home at Jeff Mach’s steampunk events, despite not quite ascribing to that subculture myself. Goth and steampunk have much in common, which I’ve written about at length for the Steampunk Tourist blog. In short, though, I can always rely on a steampunk convention to bring me together with other people who enjoy literature, Victorian fashion, and tea. Below, I’ll share with you a few things that I’m looking forward to at this year’s SPWF in particular: Continue reading Preview of Steampunk World’s Fair 2017

Dark Side of the Con 2017: A Rundown of America’s First Goth Convention

Last weekend I went over to the Dark Side, at Jeff Mach and VampireFreaks’s newest convention, a three-day event designed specifically for goths. Dark Side of the Con came right on the heels of another brand new convention, Glimmerdark, which I attended and posted a rundown of last month. In my overview, I noted that Glimmerdark hit a few snags trying to figure out what kind of convention it was and what audience it wanted to cater to. Dark Side of the Con, I felt, had no such problem. The convention was geared toward a very specific audience—goths—and with VampireFreaks helping to run the show, it was an audience that the organizers knew well. A few weeks ago, I posted a preview of which aspects of the con I was looking forward to most. Overall, my expectations fared pretty well against reality, despite the fact that a poorly timed sore throat and headache prevented me from getting as much out of the weekend as I wanted to. Read on for some highlights of the convention.

The spooky DJ stand for Dark Side’s Friday and Saturday night parties

Continue reading Dark Side of the Con 2017: A Rundown of America’s First Goth Convention

Preview of Dark Side of the Con: Finally a Local Goth Convention!

Want to spend a weekend just letting your goth flag fly in a hotel full of other creatures of the night? This St. Patrick’s Day weekend, you can dodge the garish green and seclude yourself among like-minded admirers of a monochrome wardrobe at Dark Side of the Con. Last month I gave you all a sneak peek and then overview of a brand new faerie festival called Glimmerdark. Now I’ve been invited back to attend another inaugural Jeff Mach Event and report back with my thoughts. Dark Side of the Con, happening in Piscataway, NJ, on March 17–19, is a new goth convention co-hosted by Jeff Mach and Vampire Freaks—the creators of a thriving online goth community and purveyors of excellent gothic goods. I’ll give you the low-down after the con, but in the meantime, here’s what’s got me excited, so far:

Continue reading Preview of Dark Side of the Con: Finally a Local Goth Convention!

Glimmerdark 2017: A Rundown of This Faerie Festival’s First Year

Last weekend, a three-day long faerie revel took over a hotel in Princeton, New Jersey. This misfit faerie festival known as Glimmerdark is one of the newest conventions created by goth/geek/steampunk event coordinator Jeff Mach. A few weeks ago, I gave you all a preview of what I was looking forward to at this event. I would say that although the convention hit a few organizational snags, it met most of my expectations and I had a delightful time—as I always do at Jeff Mach Events.

I got captured by a towering Green Man at Glimmerdark!

Continue reading Glimmerdark 2017: A Rundown of This Faerie Festival’s First Year

Preview of Glimmerdark: A Brand New Dark Faerie Convention

What better way to dispel the midwinter blues than to disappear into a magical world of freaks and faeries for a weekend? Glimmerdark is a brand new convention run by Jeff Mach, who organizes cons throughout the northeast including the world’s largest steampunk event. My favorite Jeff Mach Event, the indoor Renaissance festival known as Wicked Faire, had its final run last year and Glimmerdark has sprung up in its place. The new con has been described as a “misfit faerie festival” and “a hotel party unparalleled in all space and time.” The multi-genre convention encourages people of all worlds and genres to venture into Faerie and enjoy a weekend of performances, workshops, and alluring crafts and creations for purchase. The convention takes place the first weekend of February in Princeton, NJ, and I’ve been invited to attend as press. I’ll be writing up a run-down after the convention, but I wanted to give you all a little taste of what I’m looking forward to most.

Glimmerdark promotional image by Encore Design
Glimmerdark promotional image by Encore Design

Continue reading Preview of Glimmerdark: A Brand New Dark Faerie Convention