When I was a goth kid in 90s suburban Long Island we had to be super creative with our clothing because the shops catering to the scene were VERY few. We had 2. Utopia and Skull City. Unless you took an excursion into the city you'd then have to be able to afford it because the good stuff came with a triple digit price tag. Anyone else remember the days of Religious Sex, Ians, Fifth Wheel and the wares of St. Marks Place back in the day? Crap, I miss it!
Anyway, we'd shop in thrift stores and the regular ole girl stores that catered to the masses like Contempo, Rainbow, Mandee, 579 etc. If it was black it was a contender! We lucked out around then with some finds in those pop-culture stores because with Bjork being on MTV we scored a lot of PVC and straight up translucent plastic clothing for a steal. The guys who were more into Industrial got their accessories at the hardware store. Electrical tape, wiring, screws and bolts.
There was just something about the thrill of the hunt. Sifting through tons of pastels and denim to find a gem and make it your own. We took DIY to another level. So in that spirit I do my regular budget goth-wear series where everything is under $20 (bad months it's under $30) but generally $20 and I had a good month! So I hope you like the goth scores. Links to everything in the description.
Here at VF we are accepting of all people and since June is Pride month I thought it would be fun to do an LGBTQIA+ themed contest!
This is a challenging one because it involves goths wearing colors!
VF Rainbow Goth Contest:
Submit an image of yourself (or yourself plus other VF members), wearing multiple colors and still being freaky looking!
Extra points for anything LGBT related
Different shades of black does not count as different colors!
Feel free to get creative with makeup, accessories or anything in your environment!
Grand Prize: $100 gift certificate to the new and improved VF Store, plus 2 tickets to Dark Side Of The Con and 2 years of premium membership.
Deadline: June 30th
How To Enter:
Simply submit your entry as a comment on this thread!
Can submit up to 4 pictures.
Can also submit video if you'd like to submit a youtube link to the video.
If there's one topic in the world of spooky stuff that I really have no time for, it's demonic possession and exorcism stories. They're horseshit, to be brutally frank. Dig deeper into the stories presented and you'll inevitably find that what's really on offer is either an outright hoax or a horribly idiotic response to mental illness, as several hundred years of medical advances get booted out of the window in favour of rank superstition. What is wrong with these gullible savages? Unless you go the whole medieval hog and try to treat all your various aches and ailments with leeches, just accept that exorcism is all just a bit passé and move on, OK?
Having got all that out of the way, here's an exorcism story. Damn. It's going to have to be a good one now, isn't it?
The exorcism of Anneliese Michel was jaw-dropping on three levels. Firstly, the time and place. These events weren't in some 18th/19th century uneducated backwater, but in the comfortably modern setting of 1970s Bavaria. Anneliese was 22 years old, and for some years had suffered from symptoms diagnosed (entirely reasonably) as schizophrenia, depression and epilepsy. Her behaviour manifested as violent reactions against religious iconography, coupled with claims of being possessed by a number of entities, including Hitler- this may cause the hard of thinking to conclude "Aha! Demonic possession!", but it has to be remembered that she lived in a hyper-religious Catholic household where religious iconography was UTTERLY BLEEDIN' EVERYWHERE, so I'd have to suggest she was just reacting to her everyday surroundings. When you’ve got crucifixes and sacred hearts sprinkled merrily around everything in your house that can’t crawl out of your God-bothering presence, it’s a truly spectacular lack of mystery that a psychotic guest might start reacting to them.
Enter the Priests. It was the mid-1970's and "The Exorcist" had just done stellar business at the box office- so much so that people briefly stopped quoting “Casablanca” in favour of informing others what their mothers preferred to suck while in hell. While "The Exorcist" is a great movie, it's also about two hours of unashamedly fundamentalist Catholic propaganda, and had proved a wonderful marketing tool for the Vatican. Some Priests were willing to take its "heroic exorcising saviour" theme all too literally, and two of them (Ernst Alt and Arnold Renz) became regrettably involved with the Michel family.
The second jaw-dropping point about this case is just how far it went. Between September 1975 and July 1976, the two Priests carried out 67 exorcism rituals with Anneliese, who had been withdrawn from conventional medical treatment at her own request. I repeat- 67. These ceremonies lasted many hours with the unfortunate woman being provoked into an agitated state and forced to genuflect in prayer. What this amounts to is many hundreds of hours of repetitive psychological duress- if you did this to a soldier in wartime, you’d probably breach the Geneva Convention. At some point over this period she stopped eating, but no attempt was made to seek medical assistance. The exorcisms just rolled on.
By late June 1976, Annaliese weighed just 68 pounds and was in a state of advanced malnutrition and dehydration. Both her knees were broken from being repeatedly forced into genuflections. It's safe to assume that she was in agony and clearly in the process of dying. The exorcisms continued.
On 1 July 1976, Annaliese died. In the outcry that followed, Fathers Alt and Renz were prosecuted for negligent homicide, alongside Michel's parents- though all were treated leniently with suspended sentences. Nobody was jailed
Right, that’s all the rational and righteous indignation covered. Now let’s have a guilt-free wallow in the spooky stuff. Having set this story up a level-headed rationalist look at the story, I'm now going to merrily shoot myself in the foot by focussing on the exorcism recordings. Recordings were made of Annaliese in her psychotic state, as she talks in the voices of her "demons" and I'm going to post one below. And, yes- it's entirely reasonable to expect this to be a bit weird and shouty, but...but...but....
I am excited to announce this months Release the bats, one of the oldest and consistently running goth clubs in Los Angeles! The long losts travel all the way from NYC, to grace us with their presence. We have a lot in store for those of you that make it out!
We will be giving away vampirefreaks stickers, candy,and we will be interviewing TheLongLosts for Jet and his next Darkside of the Con 3, while they are here. Anyone who shows up from Vampirefreaks will get the chance to be on camera, and I will force you to say "We love Vampirefreaks" haha just kidding. But honestly, just admit that you love and appreciate Vampirefreaks because I am sure most of us have made friends, had fun, and even may have met significant others through Vampirefreaks. Plus we got to show NYC that we have fun over here in Cali too! Right?
On a side note, This video will be featured site content!</font>
Address and Venue: The Que Sera 1923 E. 7th street, Long Beach, ca 90813
Contact me directly or leave a comment here for more details!
RELEASE THE BATS!!! Est. 1998
The Infamous California Deathrock club in Long Beach California that changed the world!
HAPPENS ON THE 4th FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH
in Long Beach California USA at the famous Que
Sera
Original Gothic, Death Rock, Dark Alternative music spun by resident 'Doom Jockeys' Shane Dingbat - Dave Bats - Dave Grave~
Plus special guests and live acts from all over the globe!
You've heard a lot about it and everything you've heard is probably true!
21 and over only with ID
Cover is usually 5$ unless there's a special event happening
BE THERE!!
CLOSING NIGHT IS FRIDAY OCTOBER 26TH 2018 - THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY
Thee bands that created what is known as The Bat Stage! 1999 - present
45 GRAVE
ANTIWORLD
AUDRA
BABYFIEND
BESTIAL MOUTHS
BIRTH
BLOODPENNY
CHRIST VS. WARHOL
CINEMA STRANGE
CIRIL
COFFIN DRAGGERS
COSTUME
CRUSH VIOLETS
D-TOX
DEATH IN DRESDEN
DESMO DONTE
DINAH CANCER & THE GRAVE ROBBERS
DRYSPELL
EGRETS ON ERGOT
ELEMENT
ELVORIAN & THE VEINS
EVA O
EX VOTO
FANGS ON FUR
FEAR CULT
FLESH & THE DEVIL
FRANK THE BAPTIST
FRANKENSTEIN
GENTLEMAN JUNKIE
GHOST TRAIN
GITANE DEMONE
IGOR SPECTRE
JOHNNY INDOVINA
KASTLE GREY SKULL
KOMMUNITY FK
LEGION WITHIN
MAGNETIZED
MEPHISTO WALZ
NATIVE FAUNA
NEON KROSS
NEW COLLAPSE
PEELING GREY
PENIS FLY TRAP
PHANTOM LIMBS
PINS AND NEEDLES
PUNK ROCK VATOS
REDEMPTION
REMORESLESS
REZUREX
RIKK AGNEW
SCARLETS REMAINS
SECRET SOCIETY OF THE SONIC SIX
SISTER BLACK
SLEEPMASK
STG (Screaming To God)
SSLEAZE
STRAP ON HALO
SUPERHEROINES
SWAMPLAND
THE CREEPS
THE DAGONS
THE DEEP EYNDE
THE LAST CRY
THE LAST DANCE
THE READERSHIP HOSTILE
THE SPIRITUAL BAT
THE TELL-TALE HEARTBREAKERS
THE VANISHING
THIRD NIGHT
TRAGIC BLACK
UNEXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN
VOODOO CHURCH
WAILING WALL
WHITE CHAPEL FIENDS
WITHOUT TEARS
WRECKAGE
WRITTEN IN ASHES
Here at VF we are accepting of all people and since June is Pride month I thought it would be fun to do an LGBTQIA+ themed contest!
TheLongLosts
