The Blight - Photography by Neil Girling   

Photo by the inimitable Violet Blue at the Blogger Bungalow

It is but a scant few short hours before we depart for the Big Easy to join Jill Tracy and Paul Mercer for two shows, the Queen of the Damned Ball Saturday and Endless Night Saturday. I can’t think of a better place (or better company) to spend Halloween. We’re also fortuitously escaping the rain currently gracing San Francisco’s streets (though I like the rain).

If I can steal a laptop, I’ll post photos as I can from a cafe somewhere; if not, look for them Sunday upon my return.

Lily, on the rooftop of BMHQ

Some slight degree of trespassing and a small excursion last night brings you a small handful of photos of my friend Lily in her finest (borrowed) Victorian garb, which likely took longer to prepare than the photos did to take (and process).

Just one exposure and no Photoshop, taken on a filthy shoreline in East SF

I do in fact shoot portrait-session photoshoots (not just events!), so if you have something in mind and need some work done, let me know.

Salamander, as she’s known

This past Friday I had dinner with a friend, a lovely musician under the project name Oryx Incruentus; it was her idea as she wished to hand-deliver the album of hers I purchased, and we feared for the safety of courier boys in this perilous city. Also, wax cylinders are much too heavy for carrier pigeons. I had toyed with the idea of going to Diamond Dagger’s Burlesque Masquerade show, as many of my friends would be modeling Dark Garden corsets, and so off we went.

Autumn of Dark Garden Corsets

To make a long story short, there were a score of beautiful corset-clad women clamoring politely requesting that I take their portrait, utterly preventing me from doing my sacred duty of shooting the show (actually, that’s a blatant lie, as I wasn’t there to shoot the show (watch, yes) at all). But, then the show ended early and they all vanished (lest their finery fizzle and their carriages return to pumpkins? Perhaps).

See the gallery (handful of snapshots) here.

PS: I love my job.

California voters: Tonight is the last night to register to vote. Do it. I’m not telling you who to vote for November 4th (*cough*, *cough*) hoping instead that you’ve watched the debates and paid attention to the failed polices of the last 8 years (or have you been living under a rock?). We need to send the world a message that we are not hopeless, arrogant bullies.

However, I will tell you to vote NO on Proposition 8 — don’t eliminate marriage for anyone (gays have the same right to be as miserable as heterosexual couples). If you vote Yes on 8 you are no longer my friend. This is much more cut-and-dry than the presidential election (where both major candidates are good, honorable people); this is about bigotry.  This is about out-and-out lies from the proponents: Churches will not lose their tax-exempt status (though those that support this should) and schools will not be forced to teach gay marriage in schools if Prop 8 does not pass. This is flabbergasting and out-and-out offensive.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming…

I bring you photos from Hubba Hubba Revue’s Oktoberfest! (pardon the lack of extraneous riduculous umlauts here), wherein Lee Presson and the Nails did play, joined by a very special guest, Leslie Presley — the two of which have not sung together for over four years (I believe).

Pictured above are Whitney and Jessica (of the zombie burlesque troupe the Living Dead Girls) brandishing faux firearms as the Oktoberfest Beer League Defense Guild (or so I just made up).

Burning Man Decompression Heat the Street Faire in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco; pictured above is Fou Fou Ha!, and within are the Hobo Gobbelins, Fandango brand shenanigans, and plenty more…

The Cruxshadows played at the DNA Lounge last week (along with Ayria and I:Scintilla) and I can’t summarize  their performance better than JWZ when he declares them to be also known as Kai Last of the Brunnen-G featuring the Cleopatra 2525 Dancers. They’re trying much too hard and their show is overproduced. You almost wonder if there’s an inside joke to which you’re not privy, but then you realize they’re serious. Oh well. (Ayria and I:Scintilla were fine).

Also last week were Attrition, Unwoman, and Imprint (the solo project of Attrition’s lead singer), who did a rendition of America the Beautiful (distributed with permission), fitting to these trying political times. (She also did this song unnanounced in Portland, and was heckled by one audience member (who was then heckled by other musicians) but here she prefaced it with an explanation that it’s a political piece and should be taken as such. No one booed or heckled her this time).

October Events:

• Tonight: Attrition, Imprint and Unwoman at the DNA Lounge
• Saturday the 11th: Jill Tracy and Paul Mercer at the Hypnodrome
• Sunday the 12th: San Francisco Decompression
• Friday the 31st: Queen of the Damned Ball, New Orleans

November Events:

• Saturday November 1st: Endless Night, New Orleans
• Saturday November 15th: The Crazy Hay Maze in Half Moon Bay
• Saturday November 29th: Bohemian Carnival at the DNA Lounge, San Francisco

There will be many more, so check back for updates.

Photos from Los Angeles’ Burning Man Decompression ~

This past Saturday I wandered down to the arid* Southron lands (*except that it rained on Decom — again) for their very own Decom. Gooferman and a few members of Vau de Vire were down there already for another gig, and they joined Mutaytor, the Wandering Marionettes of Cirque Berzerk, and Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque on the Mutaytor stage. Pictured above is Eric Gradman of Mutaytor/Cirque Berzerk, clearly violating the “GLOWSTICK FREE ZONE” that Decom was declared to be this year. Silly clowns.