(no subject)

[darren_stranger]

Ahh.  That was a good weekend.

Well, yesterday in particular, as i slept through most of today.

Saturday morning i took a pleasant stroll up to Brunswick Street and bought a couple of cheap cds, then strolled back home to revise one of my setlist plans for Monster Mash (the one i'd decided sucked when i test-played it Friday night).  After a couple of hours pottering, there was still plenty of time to make it to the taekwondo comp, despite a call saying all the times had been moved forward an hour, so i stopped by Heartland on the way there and picked up a couple more bargains (finally i have Diener Eines Geistes on cd).

The competition had started the hour early, as advised, and had apparently started running even more ahead of shedule before slowing up again.  By the time the teams event was ready to start, it was running an hour behind (ie back to the originally scheduled time).  That worked out okay, as our third teammate was running late and just got there as they were about to start that part of proceedings (though it really was another hour before we did go on).  My hip was playing up, making side kick difficult, and i none of the stretches i knew were touching the right area, but luckily my teacher Greg was wandering about and showed me one that hit the spot, so i was fine to go.  Our group was on first of the black belt teams, and despite the wait and knowing exactly when we were going on, i was surprised to discover it was halfway through the pattern before i realised we were actually on for real.  Funny how that works.  Anyway, we did okay - a bronze medal (which meant we came fourth, as there was a tie for silver, though not bad out of about ten teams).  I know one mistake i made was about 3/4 of the way through where i caught myself thinking "ooh, that was a crap front stance" and then "shit, don't think" but it was too late as i'd thought and lost the rhythm a bit, which was probably what stuffed us up (synchronised timing is a big part of group patterns).  Friends watching said that was about the spot we slipped, so no doubt that was what cost us.  But that's the sort of thing you do this to learn, so it's okay.

I stuck around a little while to watch some of the creative patterns, which were quite impressive.  I was wishing i could have gone in some more individual events, rather than just doing one pattern for the whole day, but as suspected it was starting to run late by then and even without sticking around for the individual patterns it was 8 o'clock before i got home then i had to rush to get ready.

I'd wanted to do proper makeup for Monster Mash, and tried the first couple of attempts with full whiteface greasepaint type foundation, before abandoning it for regular foundation and white powder.  It ended up working out and a couple of ideas nicked from Lux Interior made the zombie look turn out just as i planned.  I was running a little later than i'd planned by then, and it was sometime after 11 when i got there, but that seemed a good time with the crowd just building up nicely.  Elaine had worked until midnight on Friday and all day Saturday, so she decided to give it a miss, which was a shame as she'd been looking forward to it.

Ran into quiet101 and severina_242 early on (makes it sound more like a cyberpunk night) though i was hyperactive and wouldn't sit still long enough to chat, as usual.  Many more familiar faces appeared through the night, including bar_bar_ella, kits_the_dm, seedy_girl, siin, ultraviolencia, gothsuck and her viking man (who i still didn't end up meeting), blackjewls and Tim, psychotopia, Loom (what, no LJ tag?) and others, as well as the usual crew.  The vibe was really good from early on and i had a feeling it was going to be a good'un.

DJing wise, my first set didn't go too badly, and for once i played something resembling the set i'd planned to play.  I was surprised how quickly Bloodsucker cleared the floor though (especially when Gargoyles Over Copenhagen didn't) and after few tracks worth of tumbleweeds rolling about and i was thinking it might have worked better to just get drunk and fuck up like i usually do.  :)  But things picked up again and i later realised it was only four songs (which just seem like twenty when the floor's empty).  A bonus was people requesting quite a few songs i'd planned to play anyway, or very similar to.  Once again the request list had heaps of things like Snog or Wumpscut (and a surprising amount of glam metal, possibly the result of me handing out flyers at the Dead Things gig) though hopefully people still had fun even if they were expecting something else musically.

The toilet and bar queues were longer than normal (for fuckssake get that poor girl some help behind the bar willya?) so much potential dancing time was lost in one line or other, despite the smaller than usual intake and output (cough).  Many a fine tune was spun at any rate (must get that Cure song cat_a_pillargal  played one of these days) and the makeup job was tested by a decent sweat before long.

The second set went quite well, with some good requests and the joy of seeing swarms of goths dancing to Zombina and X-Ray Spex. It was good to feel i was doing my job right and i got a real buzz that left me quite euphoric despite only having a couple of beers all night.  Later on i didn't even feel like drinking or dancing, but was just happy to sit and chill, watching the fashions on the field and chatting as much as the noise allowed (met a nice ex-Melbourne couple who have just moved back to town via London and Berlin, and a few others).  My eyelids were getting droopy around 3.30ish, so i spent the last hour or so thinking i should head home but not wanting to tear myself away.  Finally staggered out of there with Kits, B and Seedy just as Lyle was playing some final ghouly 50s rock'n'roll song - i guess it was kicking out time, though the night still seemed to be going strong. 

Definitely the best vibe of the Kitty Kitty Gang Bangs yet.  Hats off to djpoisondwarf for pulling another one out of the bag.

Edit - forgot the set lists:

(earlier)
The Damned - Anything
Nekromantix - Gargoyles Over Copenhagen
March Violets - Snake Dance
Paralysed Age - Bloodsucker
Misfits - Astro Zombies
The Horatii - Island of the Zombie Women
Peter Murphy - Funtime
Ramones - Pet Sematary
Rosetta Stone - Something Strange
Fields of the Nephilim - Volcane (request/artist)
The Sisters of Mercy - Body Electric (request)
X-Mal Deutschland - Incubus Succubus (request/artist)

(later)
Star Industry - Nineties (request)
The Damned - Wait for the Blackout
Killing Miranda - Touched by Jesus
The Cramps - Bikini Girls With Machine Guns
Bauhaus - Lagartija Nick (request)
Killing Joke - Eighties
The Cult - Dreamtime
Zombina and the Skeletones - Nobody Likes You (When You're Dead)
Horrorpops - Where They Wander
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Surfin' USA
Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant (request)
Nina Hagen - Born in Xixax (request/artist)
X-Ray Spex - Oh Bondage Up Yours
Birthday Party - Mr Clarinet
Christian Death - Stairs, Uncertain Journey (request)

Comments

[djpoisondwarf.livejournal.com]

Your sets rocked :0) So did your make up. You did such a good job :0)

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I had a blast.

Hope Rachel's feeling better.

[djpoisondwarf.livejournal.com]

Yeah she is bloody Lemon Ruski's= too much sugar

[miss-rachael.livejournal.com]

hmmm...think it was the result of the cold & flu tablets to ease the chest infection mixed with very strong E...NOT A GOOD COMBINATION.

Darren - great make up & outfit, you looked fantastic & you spun some great tunes as well.

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Ouch - sounds toxic. (Though lemon ruskis are pretty evil too, especially those double strength ones - i spent all night at the hospital recently with someone who got so rotten on them she thought her drink had been spiked. Blew 0.45 on the breathalyser).

You looked pretty spiffy too, though headwound guy really took the prize.

[cat-a-pillargal.livejournal.com]

Your sets were fine. Sometimes there are songs people just want to nod along to- I think everything you played went down well.

The Cure song I played was 'Doubt' which you'll find on the Faith album strangely enough.

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

Ah, i didn't realise it was on Faith (thought it was a b-side). I haven't listened to that in ages.

And don't mind me, i just get moments of paranoia, like if i pick the wrong music i'll be personally responsible for ruining people's night. Delusions of grandeur in reverse. :)

[kehua.livejournal.com]

You played two of my favourite songs! and we weren't there! Grrr.

The next time we come to Melbourne WILL be a KKBB night. I mean it this time.

[greylock.livejournal.com]

k3wl.

[strang-er.livejournal.com]

W3rd.

[siin.livejournal.com]

\m/

[blackjewls.livejournal.com]

The club has got a good vibe

[gothsuck.livejournal.com]

You did a great job mate & I LOVED your makeup & get up!