Category Archive for Nightcrawling
LAVERITE VISUAL KEI J-ROCK, B&W CONCERT PHOTOS: 70S GLAM MEETS 80S GOTH.
Ever feel you belong in a different era? On Sunday, Jimi and I jumped into a time machine and set the dial to 1979. Bowie was in Berlin; The Cure had just put out its first album. He strapped on his bass; I uncapped my camera…
… and this is what unfolded.
Music, androgyny, beauty.
The facts, m’am? ‘Visual Kei band Laverite performs at Narciss in Urawa, Tokyo and drops a huge announcement: vocalist Yue will be leaving, but not before a final show on 11/23. Make haste and RSVP to receive a free single at the grand farewell.’
If you think Lolitas are prim and proper at all times, you’ve never met a Visual Kei fangirl.
The bottom of his shirt reads ‘The Rise of Louis XIV.’
Cross over to Jimi’s blog for his take on last night’s Goth/glam rock time-travel.
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ALAMODE NIGHT WITH DJ CHIHIRO: GOTH LOLITA COSPLAY, TOKYO EBM CLUB EVENT.
I was supposed to attend the Tokyo Game Show last Sunday, but due to a series of episodes involving rosewater and synaesthesia, I didn’t end up making it. I did, however, roll out to Studio Cube 326 for Alamode Night, a regular “Gothic and Lolita Culture Fashion & Club Event” presided by D’s Valentine and DJ Chihiro.
The party started ridiculously early and ended at 10pm; Tokyo Goth nights either run until midnight (when the trains stop running) or dawn (when they start up again). I Goth-ed up my Banana Fish dress with a black lace choker and armbands from Refuse to be Usual. Jim – sensei and manga artist extraordinaire – brought out his spiked leather dog collar and Joker makeup.
My cute ghost and decapitated bunny seem to be enjoying themselves, tearing up the platform with their fellow cyber / Goth / cosplay minions.
Nightcrawling isn’t for everyone, but for some, it’s their oxygen; a font of inspiration, a channel for self-expression… do you know what I mean?
I brought my Cybershot so the photos aren’t pro-quality – but on the upside, the camera produced some ghostly effects. On the right, DJ Chihiro turns translucent.
The Gothic and Sweet Lolitas mostly stood in the back with hands daintily clasped, leaving the cyber and cosplay Goths to battle it out on stage.
DJ Chihiro spun “Japanese occult EBM” and scream-sang several songs. He ended, as always, with his “world on fire” track. Whenever he screeched “fii-AHHHH,” everyone did the same arm movement. It was eerily similar to the “Y” from the Village People’s “YMCA”…
It was Chihiro’s birthday (his MySpace page says he is 100 years old) so his ghoul-friend brought out a cake with his face on it (upper left). A vampiric feeding frenzy ensued; even the Sweet Lolitas took part in pulverizing his flesh and forking it into our mouths!
On my nightlife calendar: Tokyo Dark Castle, Tokyo Decadance, Midnight Mess, Heaven’s Door, Club Cemetery…
LA CARMINA
