The first night was Skinny Puppy, playing at the Crystal Ballroom (the location of most of the musical events of the convention). I saw a bit of Zombie Girl beforehand, and they were awesome! Their whole album is wonderful, combining horror themes with industrial, rock, EBM, and metal. Very unique and fun/catchy. Skinny Puppy was the headliner and had a great show, performing a wide array of songs from various albums. It was gorgeous, though extremely loud. I realized that Ogre is actually pretty hot, and the trademark blood/stage gore was cool (which, I believe, is part of the band’s animal rights activism statement).

The second day, we went to the Chinese gardens with Madeline and Sky, which was beautiful. We ate some fine Chinese snacks and had traditional tea service, too. Fun! Then we ate at a vegetarian Chinese restaurant there, which we realized was owned by a Chinese cult (or so it seemed; upon further research, it is based in a radical non-monastic form of Buddhism and seems to be relatively progression/compassion-oriented, but the fact that they were wearing buttons on their shirt picturing the spiritual leader, and had posters of her in the store, and her own quotes were on the fortune cookies, it sure looked more than a little culty! Wikipedia says that the spiritual leader ‘has opened vegetarian restaurants,’ and some critics say that she is just in it for the money. Who knows? Still, there seem to be powerful and enlightening messages being delivered). A very, very strange experience. But the food was to die for. Anyway: Frontline Assembly was the headliner that night, and they rocked the Crystal! I got to hang out with Bill Leeb a little bit at an after-party, too, which was much fun! I also got to finally meet and talk with Miriam of Flaming Angels for a while! ^__^

The height of the trip was seeing FAITH AND THE MUSE play! A brilliant performance, and one that I had been waiting for many years to see. Monica and William wove magick on stage and had a great choice of songs. Paul Mercer joined them on violin (magickal and mystical) for some songs and Zoe Keating (she was in Rasputina and does amazing solo work) joined them for the finale. I met Monica and William afterwards, and it was lovely to connect with them personally. They are beautiful people with noble goals. Spiritual conduits to say the least. They are also starting Ars Terra, a LA-based Eco-sanctuary and animal rescue area, for which the next Dark Dreams in Missoula will be raising money. PLEASE donate some amount if you come to the show (all 3 of us DJs are donating our money, too!). Thank you Estha for the great idea.

Finally, in the spirit of not wanting to make my C13 report as a bitch-fest, I will bitch about some general observations. But with good reason: The first night, the three of us were standing in line to get into the Crystal Ballroom. Waiting for Skinny Puppy, there were a number of rivetheads and Goths hanging out, some of whom showed obvious signs of extended hard-drug use. Erasmus has a much better “fox nose” about sensing things like this than I do, and Estha gets pretty good psychick impressions as to the details of things (such as what drugs a person uses or whose energy has been affected by what), but one of the guys in the line was sooooooooo fucking high that it, by no means, would take a psychick, Witch, or even remotely perceptive person to see it. His eyes were wide and his pupils were completely dilated. He was stick-thin, sickly-looking, and couldn’t have been more than 23. His behaviour wasn’t threatening to anyone, except for himself; he would rock back and forth when standing, nearly falling down, would just stare… and stare… and stare… and would follow one group of “friends” away from the line, and back to the other group of “friends” waiting in the line. These people would laugh at him and tell him how fucked up he was, but it was clear that he was so disconnected from reality that none of the information may have gotten through to his field of perception. He was gone. One group of friends would say “you take him” and the other would say “no, you take him.” It was disgusting. They had obviously supplied him with whatever drug cocktail he consumed (I’m guessing alcohol + LSD + some disassociative), but didn’t care about his state of being, not even a bit. Estha also saw them all laugh at and insult him when he fell up the stairs inside the venue. How dare people treat another person like that. He was being given no compassion, no care whatever. Left to his own devices, he probably would have gotten himself killed. I didn’t get involved, though I wish I would have stopped him and had him sit down and be calm… but I was very sleep-deprived and in a bit of a culture shock from the surreality and dirtiness of the city. I also didn’t know if those guys would have become offended (and potentially aggressive) if I or we tried to intervene. I regret not helping him, and I should have put my fears of getting involved aside to assist another human being in need. It doesn’t matter how he got to that state (though it was his choice and free will, entirely); he needed to be comforted. I definitely regret not lending a hand, or at least attempting to. I wish him love, light, healing, and strength, with the hopes that he will better choose his friends and not destroy his body and mind. Sigh…

Additionally, I was dismayed at the number of attendees who were obviously just there for the fashion end of things. When the subculture just becomes about looking pretty and acting condescending to everyone, the beauty of the scene dies a little bit. Certainly, it was incredible to see all the outfits/makeup/creativity, but it was apparent that a number of people were just judging one another and talking about superficial things throughout. A bit saddening, and a harsh reality of dark culture… one that I’ve long idealized. It’s easy to forget that what the scene means to me and most of the people I know is not what it means for others. Everyone has different motivations, and for some, it’s to inflate the ego by gaining a sense of superiority/exclusivity, as means to cover insecurity. The fashion and the drama rather than the spiritual connection of dark musick and art.

Another thing that I’ve long idealized is the reality of city-life. As I’ve lived in a town all my life that has a population of about 75,000, I certainly have wanderlust (much of which will be alleviated by my Midwest/East-cost book tour in October!!!! [BTW does anyone on the east coast wish to allow me to crash for a night or three?]), and wish to move. Or at least travel a good amount. Still, I’m secure in Missoula and the rent is comparably cheap. The “big city” is full of great things, but also of apathy, insanity, and uncleanliness. So, some of that idealism was shattered for me. It does look like we’ll stay in Missoula for another year, which is fine by me considering, but I hope to find a nice place to move to with a population of approx. 150,000, that has a positive Pagan and Gothic scene… any ideas??!!!

End of rant. Thanks for reading my report about Convergence 13! :) If I owe you an email, I will try to get back to it within a month… sowwys. Seriously. I feel like a big ass but have 640 messages in my inbox. Meh! =)… I am also doing the final read-thru of Goth Craft and am trying to get things in order there. So much to do! (what else is new?)

Hail and farewell!!!!!!!