Undercrypt

Our dark steampunk cabaret has a delicious line-up of music, dance, and spoken word pieces, highlighted by the extraordinary Tempest and the amazing Tim Rayborn as they cross the country on The Durga Tour.

It’s also the debut performance of my new band, Voluntary Nightmare. I’m thrilled by the whole thing.

Preshow ticket sales have been very good, but they’re going offline momentarily – if you want to see the show, getting there a bit early isn’t a bad idea.

UPDATE: Sadly, this show has been canceled (although I’m hoping it just turns out to be postponed).

The Chicago Grand Guignol Theater Company makes its debut on Friday, May 1, presenting two classic plays from the original Parisian theater of the macabre:  Tics, or Doing the Deed! and The Final Kiss.

As far as I know, this is the only Grand Guignol happening in the midwest, and as such it’s worth more than a little effort to check out.

For more general information on the horrific delights of this theatrical style, pay a visit to Grand Guignol Online.

Gothic bellydancer extraordinaire Tempest and internationally-acclaimed  musician Tim Rayborn bring The Durga Tour to Minneapolis for an evening of opulent and mysterious delights.  Blood & Steam is a glimpse into a dark and breathtaking future through the eyes of the past.

Thursday, June 4th, 7:30 p.m.
Doors open at 7:00 p.m.

Intermedia Arts
2822 Lyndale Ave S
Minneapolis, MN

Tickets are $12 in advance at Mourning Doll Playhouse, $15.00 at the door.

With countless examples of real-life horror filling history books and news channels, why spend any time at all telling fictional stories of blood and zombies?  If I’m trying to relate an engaging story (I usually am) and not presenting shock for shock’s sake (I’m usually not), what’s the point of the dark themes and the violence?

For me, part of the answer involves facing our fears voluntarily.  A horror story (and particularly a live performance) can bring emotions home in a very personal way, giving us the opportunity to reflect on our own responses to situations that – hopefully – we’ll never encounter in our daily lives.

Another part of the answer, one that I’m still trying to understand more fully, is the connection between fear and awe, Burke’s terror as the path to the sublime.

There’s another aspect to horror that I also believe is important, an excellent description of which I found in the gaming book Heroes of Horror:

Horror lavishes attention on the dark side of fantasy—painting horrible monsters in bold strokes but also including plenty of subtle shades of gray, particularly in the complex motivations of the heroes. The intent is not to glorify evil but to cast good in sharper relief, even if good is represented as a tiny candle flickering weakly in a darkness that threatens to overwhelm it.

Fictional horror allows us to consider all of these things in a clearer light because it disallows one of the strongest and most appropriate reactions to real-life horror: “How do we stop this from happening?”  In a horror story, we know we can’t stop the inevitable; we can only gaze into the dark mirror and learn what we can from the reflection that stares back.

I’ve reached the point where I’ve got several things planned for 2009, but nothing is firm yet, and there are events which haven’t been announced so I can’t talk about them.  As a result, my year currently looks a little bit like this:

• There’s editing happening.
• I’ll be writing more music.  About stuff.
• The Undercrypt podcast will make its first appearance before, say, the end of February.
• I might be performing at CONvergence with Invocatio.  Or I might not.
• I’ll be performing at a thing on a day in June, with people.
• Something will get recorded.
• Maybe I’ll be providing music for a Halloween show.  Could happen.
• There’s this amazingly cool thing planned for November in which I may very well appear.

The only thing I’m absolutely sure about right now is that it’s going to be a busy and exciting year, and I’m quite looking forward to it all.

What makes a situation terrifying?

The distinctions between horror and terror have been explored, particularly in the realm of gothic literature, but I’d like to suggest a simple definition:

A situation is terrifying when (a) it provokes a fight-or-flight response, and (b) neither fight nor flight is possible.

I like this definition because it covers not only the gothic terror of unknown impending doom, but also the melodramatic strapping of people to logs in sawmills (which would seem a lot more terrifying and a lot less cliché in the first person).  It’s a useful framework for building a scene.  It also strikes me as a decent starting point for developing musical themes.

…was a tale of classmates, young love, and the importance of avoiding direct sunlight.

I’m referring, of course, to Let the Right One In, a Swedish film that strolls gracefully through the shadows between romance and horror and everyday life.  The story is both heartwarming and chilling, moments of tenderness offset by dripping blood.  This is what really good horror looks like, and it is well worth making a special effort to see.

If you’re in the Twin Cities and missed it at the Lagoon, it’s starting Friday 1/9 at the Riverview.

The WordPress theme I’m using started out as thirteen by Becca Wei before I customized it.  If the site looks good, thank Becca for putting together a lovely theme with solid CSS.   If the site looks bad, blame me for being a musician and not a graphic designer.

Unfortunately, the source site seems to have disappeared, so I can’t link to it in the footer for proper credit.

I’ve got a new look for the site (now powered by WordPress) and a whole lot of plans for 2009 – let’s get this show on the road!

Things that will be showing up in the near future include…

• Local events of interest.
• Updates on Invocatio, my dark romantic music group.
• A podcast of songs, samples, and other oddities.
• A few surprises.  What fun would it be without surprises?

Here’s to the start of a great year!