Remember a couple years ago when I didn't really have a Halloween costume idea and everyone was all "Oh dude you GOTTA be Siouxsie" and so I dressed up as Siouxsie for Triple Rock Halloween and nobody knew who I was supposed to be so I just got drunk and accused strangers of having bad taste in music? Well, who could've known then that only two years later I would be spending one night in the magical week leading up to Halloween in the presence of the woman I had so disastrously tried to emulate?!
Yes, it's true. I have seen Siouxsie Sioux and I am still fairly coherent. This is quite the achievement when viewed in light of the Beth Gibbons/Geoff Barrows Encounter of 2002! ("I love you guys so much! You changed my life!") So what's it like seeing Siouxsie sans the Banshees, 30+ years on from that first 100 Club show (the same venue that I sometimes catch the 55 bus in front of!!!), at the John Peel night of the BBC Electric Proms? Did she sing any old songs? Were people drinking absinthe and brooding? Was there any representation from the Depeche Mode superfans haunting the Mute Records message board?
Well, I'll tell you. The answers are "yes," "no", and "I think there's a strong likelihood." The show opened up with "Dear Prudence," followed by "Arabian Knights" and "Hong Kong Garden." Siouxsie then started playing songs from her new album Mantaray, which was tons better than my ultra pessimistic you-can't-disappoint-me-if-I'm-already-expecting-the-worst expectations. Unfortunately, my mind started to wander pretty early in the set thanks to the pathetic and annoying one man moshpit that suddenly sprung up and began repeatedly introducing itself to my right arm. My new friend looked like a gay Asian James Chance on pills, which he may well have been under the influence of, considering how often he put his arm around my waist. Either that or he was trying to pickpocket me, in which case the joke's on him because I'm not wearing any pockets tonight. Ay-yoooo!
Dude alternated between using my shoulder as a balance for his non-stop cell phone photography and performing a strange drunken dance that looked like he was either swimming fabulously above the crowd or drowning--unfortunately neither of these things actually happened. At one point he was actually breaching through the crowd of PVC, pleather, and Sisters of Mercy t-shirts like a gay Asian James Chance HUMPBACK WHALE. This charming little fellow disappeared shortly before the encore, when Siouxsie sang "Cish Cash", her collaboration with the Basement Jaxx from a few years back. She sounded great, and everyone at the Electric Ballroom--from the teenaged goth Amy Winehouses to the myriad of miniature Count von Bismarck doppelgangers--was totally feeling it.
Coincidentally, today means that we're all only 7 days away from Halloween, the greatest holiday ever. I gotta apologize for the total lack of updates this week; I spent a very busy Monday afternoon catching up with last week's episode of America's Next Top Model and acquainting myself with Lindsey Lohan's life outside of rehab. You can do it, Lindsey!!!! Updates may be sparse the rest of this week, too, as I'm busy preparing for the upcoming Halloweekend spectacular at Minstrel Court (where I live at). Tonight while I was on the bus I actually heard one English guy ask another "Is it almost Halloween yet?" in a manner that implied that dude DID NOT KNOW WHEN HALLOWEEN ACTUALLY WAS. This sort of ignorance must be stopped. You cannot silence the greatest holiday ever, especially when, at this very moment, somewhere in LA a woman is sewing tiny costumes to dress her lizards in come that special October day.
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