cf, you should've been there.
Happy Birthday, Lady.
First there was dinner at Mon Nan. Shrimp until we thought we would burst, and Tsingtao beer... A troupe of sixteen goths, all grinning between mouthfuls of singapore noodles.
Crazy.
And then the Sphinx. Or the Stinx or Sphincter or whatever-you-wanna-call-it, but aside from a serious need to practice his mixing, the new DJ gets a kiss from me any day.
Smoke and hugs from people I haven't danced beside in months, screaming out words of songs that I'd forgotten I'd ever listened to, sets like "terror couple kill kernel", "Don't Fall" and "Ribdancer" (but Bauhaus, the Chameleons and The Arch, respectively) had me alternately hurling myself at shadows or playing willow-to-the-wind.
And Benoit was there. Benoit, who a year ago was too much the tortured musician (though I still play his albums often enough) for me to bear. Benoit, the beast in bed.
Benoit who I had to kiss for succumbing to my shrill whine that the night didn't feel right without the Chameleons...
You looked great tonight, Ben. SO did you, Stef, and Matt - you're a better guy than I'd given your credit for. 'specially cuz yer ticklish. ;)
Leaning into Ollie, both of us drenched and weak in the knees from exhaustion, we watched the writhing dance floor and sighed... It's been too long for all of us, there's too much goth in all of us, we're getting old, we're getting old (we will wear our trousers rolled ;), and despite having learned to hate The Cure so many years ago, I danced to them tonight.
And to "Bela". The first song I ever heard, walking into La Nosee, back when Jason had hue blair and pointy goatee that he dyed black.
I still remember the words to that nine-minute ghost of a song... And with my eyes clenched and my fists tracing patterns in the smoke, I was back there, 3am and in love with the new world.
The first world where I didn't have to be violent to feel like I fit.
The new romantic days are dead, everywhere was PVC and blinding vynil reflecting the sparse lights, but I've still got velvet-and-lace in my closet, and I'm thinking I'm breaking it out sometime this summer. (feelin' up to it cf? how 'bout you, kaff? :)
Thanks Lady. Happy 26th. It was good trying to get you drunk, it was good kissing Benoit, it was good hugging the vynil-fishnet-children.
Very, very, good.