Review: The Crow: Lazarus Heart by Poppy Z. Brite

This book was an enjoyable read. The characters were unique and intriguing. The setting, a hurricane ravaged New Orleans, added an atmospheric layer to the story, perfectly complementing its dark tone.

While this felt more like a thriller than a mystery, it leaned into gruesome, almost gory territory. Though not my favorite work by Poppy Z. Brite, it was still a solid and compelling addition to their repertoire. Fans of dark, visceral storytelling will likely enjoy it.

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The Cure – Songs of a Lost World (2024)

The newest album from The Cure: Songs of a Lost World, released on November 1, 2024. had me thrilled even before its release—I preordered it right away because they’ve long been one of my favorite bands. I’ve had the privilege of seeing them live, and they never fail to amaze.

This album surprised me with its mellow, reflective tone, featuring a strong presence of piano and thoughtful arrangements. There were many places where it reminded me of the bloodflowers (2000) album. It’s a very chill record, perfect for playing in the background while going about your everyday business.

There’s a lot of talk online suggesting this might be their final album. I can’t help but hope they’ll release at least one more. Still, if this is their last album, it’s a beautiful and fitting farewell.

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A Poem : Pizza Place - S. Pasadena 1999

You and me, Sitting in the small pizza shop. Both in our gothic style. I was so proud of my new city and wanted to share it with you. “ Do you want me to read your cards?” I asked.  You said yes and I pulled my deck of Raymond Buckland fortune telling cards out of the old military surplus gas mask bag I used as a purse. I remember that I did a Celtic Cross reading for you. You teased me for not memorizing the meanings of the cards and having to look them up in the manual. I assured you that I "did not take the cards seriously and it was only for entertainment", so afraid that you would judge my peculiar interest in divination. No judgement here, just curiosity, interest, and perhaps some skepticism of the occult…and I was truly happy to be there with you sharing this moment and to not be seen as something bad or wicked because of my “blasphemous” deck of cards. 

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I was a teenage “mall goth”

  

The term "mall goth" is used to describe  those who dressed in a specific edgy and alternative way in the nineties. -my friends and I were definitely alternative teens-There was a bunch of us and we mostly listened to goth , industrial metal or "nu-metal". We did not use the term "mall goth" at all back then, and definitely not to describe ourselves. Most of my friends and myself would try to avoid any and all labels and definitely did not associate ourselves as any kind of subculture like "goth"or "industrial" even though we listened to these kinds of music. Looking back I think that I was part of what would have been considered a part of the  "mall goth " subculture. 

Finding info on anything alternative was a lot harder in the nineties. The internet was really different. You had to know websites and addresses to get anywhere so although you could find fan sites or music themed AOL chat rooms most of what you learned about industrial metal and goth subculture came from word of mouth. Either friends who were more knowledgeable or from adults who had been/still were involved in the movement. 

Although I've heard that there was magazines that were focused on the industrial and goth movement, My friends and I really didn't have access to those. If we wanted to learn about bands we were kinda stuck with documentaries and popup video on VH1, MTV, or current industrial metal bands in magazines like Rolling Stone and Spin.

Most of us were buying the new goth music that was being released at the time from more mainstream  bands like The Cure or Depeche Mode but we were also buying industrial metal music like Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie and those of us did listen to the older or more obscure goth music from the 80s would have to find those cassettes in the used section of the music store.

We mostly found clothes at Hot Topic because it was so easily accessible. There were other places were we might find some cool dark or gothic looking stuff. Melrose Ave. always had cool stuff and so did a shop called The Electric Chair in Huntington Beach. People really didn't shop online at this time so most clothes were bought in person. Thrift stores were a great place to find cheap clothes that looked old and mysterious. Mostly,  my friends and I tried to look like modern edgy vampires. the girls wore long dark skirts, slips layered together, pants, and dresses usually in black or burgundy and flowy blouses, band shirts or edgy tops from hot topic. We would wear capes, cloaks or coats as outerwear. Collar necklaces were a must. Some of us dyed our hair Bright Red or Black and we wore lipsticks in red or black with heavy eyeliner. The guys wore dark pants or cords in black or burgundy and also would wear silky flowy shirts (oftentimes the guys would find their clothes in the women's department). Dark Jackets or Hoodies and goatees with long hair dyed black. Also sometimes top hats for special occasions and sunglasses (think Gary Oldman in Bram Stokers Dracula). There was Lots of velvet, leather, pleather, and Lace on the clothes for both men and women. Everyone wore 20 eye doc martins or combat boots, fishnets, striped knee socks, eyeliner, black or blue nail polish leather cuffs and silver jewelry. 

Since there was not a lot of all ages clubs that played goth or industrial metal music we would hang out at a few gothic looking coffee houses like The Bourgeois Pig and No Future Cafe. 

No Future was a coffee house that opened every Friday night and was an all ages punk venue with live bands. There were different genres that would play there and if we were lucky we would get to see one of the dark wave/ ethereal wave/metal rock bands. 

As I got older, we would hang out at the midnight showing of the rocky horror picture show and a Los Angeles club called Club 80s.  There was an awesome "Dark Wave" room at club 80s.

Club 80s was such a fun place. It was really a place that you could just enjoy the music you liked and dance however you wanted with no judgement. I saw so many beautiful dance moves there and heard so much great music from the 80s. Not everyone "dressed" for the club and it was really just a magical place to be yourself . Looking back club 80s was great because it wasn't an "official" goth club so the focus was really on the music and not the fashion.

For me, it was all about romance, discovery, emotion, the freedom to express yourself and be free however that looked to you.

"If tonight lasts forever, It won't matter if there's no tomorrow"- Marilyn Manson

 

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The Vampire Circus

The Vampire Circus in Hollywood was not something I had planned on going to…. but an add popped up while I was scrolling and I immediately got tickets. I wasn’t familiar with it at all I just loved the idea of it. Vampire + circus so many possibilities and I just imagined the whole “dark cabaret” music  scene from the early 2000s and how cool that was. I was sold. 

I got tickets for the whole family. We were making this the first “halloween” event of the season. My son had never been to a circus so I felt this was extra special. We rode the train into North Hollywood and exited on Hollywood and Vine. This metro station is so very Hollywood themed and opens up onto a street facing the Pantages Theater. It’s really quite a sight. Once in Hollywood we walked over to the Montalban Theater and made our way inside, 

The theater was a charming older theater built in the nineteen twenties. The Vampire Circus had a photo backdrop outside and a very nice merchandise booth that was front and center when you walked into the theater. These things helped to set the spooky mood. The staff was so polite and helpful. Of course we had balcony seats so we headed up stairs. About halfway up to the balcony there was a floor that opened into a bar where there were themed drinks. The most popular one called blood bag and was served in what looked like a medical blood storage bag. 

we continued on to find our seats. The seats were easy to find, with the help of the usher and we had a very nice view of the stage from our seats. The show was so much fun and really a good time. 

The show opened with the origin story explaining the vampiric performers. The set was really amazing a the front of a beautiful stone castle with an archway opening topped with gargoyles and to the sides of this magnificent castle are iron fences and headstones. The costumes were very much what I had expected very dramatic and on theme. Lots of red , black, and gold velvet lace and ruffles. Everything had a lovely gothic feel. 

The performances were really all very well done.  There were mostly amazing aerial acrobatic acts but also poi, tap dancing, drumming, juggling of several different dangerous objects including axes and heavy weights, balancing, contorting, hula hooping, high ring and swing, roller skating and in between all these wonderful acts was a lot of great comedy delivered by the scary clown ringleader. 

audience members were  called on stage for several comedic acts and skits. Everyone seemed to have a great time with it. The audience itself was lively and energetic getting into the acts and receiving the jokes with good spirits and enthusiasm. 

It was such a fun night out. I really highly recommend going. It’s great for a family thing. I was  happy to see so many audiences members who were goth or just dressed up for the performance. Everyone’s outfits  were just so wonderful and it’s always nice to go to these events and see that other gothic people  my age still exist. 

You can watch a YouTube video of last years performance here. 

The sound I searched many years to find.

                                      

     Once upon a time... in the nineties, I had somehow found a Halloween cassette that I found myself really liking and I liked it so much that I continued to play it all year long. (This Halloween tape was the kind that had music and sound effects on it to create background for a haunted house or a Halloween party). I loved the atmosphere that it created as I played it in the background as I went about my everyday business of chores and homework and what not. 

     Unfortunately, I lost that tape and could not remember the name or where I had gotten it in order to replace it. For years, I would buy Halloween tapes hoping that I would come across a tape like the one I had loved so much. I even remember one of my dear friends lovingly teasing me for listening to such "cheesy" or "cringe" music. 

     Well, twenty years later I finally found the sound I was looking for. I had long given up on trying to find a great Halloween cd until I saw one called Midnight Syndicate 13th hour. Taking a quick look at the back of the cd, I had a good feeling that this could possibly be the sound I was looking for. The moment I played it I was so excited. It was indeed what I was looking for all those years. in fact, the album was really very good and I was so happy that I had went with my intuition and bought it. 

     With the name of the cd I went online and researched and found a few other albums that had this kinda Halloween atmospheric sound. I discovered that it is called a few things but I think that the most common ones I saw were dark neoclassical, neoclassical ambient wave, dark ambient, or neoclassical dark wave. 

     I have started listening to these albums and I find this music so relaxing and interesting. I think that I will have a collection of this music in no time. 

     I am including a list of the groups I really like that I have found for anyone who may be interested. I am including albums I think are Neoclassical dark wave and Neoclassical ambient wave . However, my apologies if I have put any of these bands/groups in the wrong genres.

 

Midnight Sanctuary

Nox Arcana

Lustmord

 Danzig- Black Aria (this album specifically)

 

Update : I found the name of the cassette. It is the 1990 version of Pumpkin Time's Chamber of Horrors sold by Kmart in the 1990s. There is supposedly a CD version of this recording but the running times don't match. I think I'm going to try to get a hold of one and see if its the same. There is more information about this cassette on my Recommended links page. Scroll to the bottom to check out the links.

Voodoo Church

Voodoo church

I heard about this band for the very first time this morning. I literally know nothing about this band except for their name.  I have been listening to them on Spotify all morning and I think they are really great. The sound is atmospheric with some beautiful guitar playing. I can hear some grungy sounds that give a 90s vibe really cool since this is something I haven’t really heard in “goth” or death rock music. The lead vocalist has an amazing voice that is both raspy and strong. This is a great band and I’m so glad that i got a chance to hear them.