A Short Description and History of the Denizens of The Dark and the Brooding.
The D.J.'s
Those purveyors of auditory delight...
QUOTE: "In a few months, you'll all be begging me to play this. No one here appreciates new music! You're all stuck in a rut, but I will drag you kicking and screaming into the 21st Century."
D.J. Gothmaster B - When he was just 12 years old, he had a traumatic experience that changed his life forever. His parents (old Hep-Cat Beatniks) were walking home from a Halloween Poetry Soiree at the local coffee house when they were killed by a drunk driver in a hit and run. It was later discovered that the people responsible had been returning from a different Halloween bash. It was a theme night at the local club and all of the occupants of the car had been dressed as a maurading party of Tuetonic Visigoths. At that moment he vowed to destroy everything associated with the word 'goth'. (You should see his blueprints for blowing up Notre Dame Cathedral) He does find the Goth's attire strangely comforting, though. He keeps his plans well hidden, but sometimes he slips and starts to giggle when another Goth falls victim to his ultra-super-hyper-extended-mega-remixes of Ministry and NIN.
QUOTE: "Of course I like you. What would make you think otherwise? Here, why don't you go dance?" (puts on an extended re-mix of Jesus Built My HotRod)
The Chia-Goth Desk Set
So called because they are interchangable, easily replacable, and a new set shows up every year.
Vincent - He actually spent one semester at the respected Geiger Art School before dropping out. He left because he was politely told that while he was good at learning technique, he couldn't learn talent. He took this very badly, and proceeded to scream at his instructors and counseler. Such comments as "no talent sell-outs!", "can you even recognize true art anymore?", and "mass producing crap that is only fit to be hung in the lobby of a corporate office!" He then stomped off to Banshee Records to buy Smiths, Cure, and Morrisey c.d.'s for proper brooding music. The rest just fell into place. His parents are both artists, dad a commercial photographer, and mom a landscape painter. He wants to live up to there standards of art, while at the same time damning them for being 'obvious and boring.' He has a wonderful relationship with his dad, who he works for developing and framing prints. He regards Benny as his best friend (insofar as he has friends), but he is also harboring a very deep resentment for Benny's talents. Vincent also thinks he might be falling in love with Benny, but he is afraid to say anything because he doesn't know how Benny will react.
QUOTE: "I am a true artiste becuase I don't pander to any organized school of style or design. I strike off in new directions that will bring the art world to its knees! What? What do you mean it looks like a 3-year-old's finger painting?!?! What do YOU know of real art?"
Benny - He liked setting fires as a child. I mean, REALLY liked setting fires. By the time he was 10 he had torched three doghouses, a tool shed, and a chicken coop. At this point his parents were starting to get a little worried, so they signed him up for art courses at the Y to try and distract him. Through one of the teachers there he was introduced to art welding, or, in his mind, setting fire to metal legally. It was a match made in the sweltering infernos of hell. He grew up in Detroit, but moved here to attend the Gieger Art College. He immediately bonded with Vincent through the understanding of being an outcast. When Vincent left the college, he felt guilty about staying, and Vincent's continual ragging about being a student at 'that damnable black hole of talent' bother him. But not as much as the fact the Benny harbors a deep and passionate crush on Vincent, but he's afraid to say anything for fear of being called a 'typical faggot '. It was those words (and others) coming out of his parents mouths that caused him to move from Detroit in the first place.
QUOTE: "IT JUST DOESN'T SOAR, DAMNITT!!!" (looking dejectedly at an oddly shaped pile of metal)
Zack - He acts young and immature most of the time, but he means well. He is desperately trying to impress someone, anyone. It's not the 'I know because I know and you OBVIOUSLY don't' attitude, it's more of the "Lookie at what I drew in school today! Do ya like, huh, do ya?' sort. He's led an amazingly average life, home in the 'burbs, corporate businessman father and a professional secretary mother. A very middle class white picket fence type of life. In school he graduated with a 3.2 GPA, but anyone of his classmates would be hard put to remember his name or what he looked like. He had always gone from scene to scene, trying to find the one that fit him. To this end he got a job at Banshee records. He soon found out that people talked to him there, and he became quite knowledgable about music scenes. In fact he has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of artists, album titles, and songs. It was at the store that he met Vincent, who had come in to buy the new Switchblade Symphony c.d. Zack questioned him on the gothic genre, and Vincent, not really knowing that much himself but wanting to make an impression, cobbled together a bunch of things from various books, movies, comics, and songs. Zack was highly impressed, and soon there after began hanging out with Vincent on a regular basis.
QUOTE: "No, you must have me confused for someone else. Why on earth would I have been at an Ice-T concert? I've always been like this! Rap music....how absurd!"
Christina - She's very quiet and doesn't have much to say. She re-met Zack at Banshee Records. They had never really noticed each other in high school, in spite of the fact that they had had at least four classes together each year. She became drawn to Zack because he is always sure of himself, whoever he happens to be at the moment. She is incredibly beautiful, but because of her shyness she never really seems to be all there. Her parents are both college professors, well educated in thier specific fields (Rennaisance Poetry and Ancient Eastern Philosophy) but severely lacking in most other aspects of life, including parenting. When Zack got into the goth scene, she naturally followed, and was pleasantly surprised to find a scene where he eccentricacies were not only accepted, but lent themselves to popularity.
QUOTE: "....human voices wake us and we drown....what? What was the question? Ask Zack, he'd know."
The Regulars
The ones that everyone knows cause they've occupied the same corner of the club since the day it opened.
Nigel - (Geriatric Goth)He got into punk in his early 20's. He moved to NYC when he was 23 to be discovered as CBGB's, but nothing ever came of it. Angered by the demise of the punk scene, he slipped into a deep black funk. He drifted aimlessly around the country for a while, hoping beyond hope to find a city where the original punk scene was alive and well. He eventually settled here, and proceeded to get more gloomy. He discovered he wasn't alone. Forlornly drinking his coffee one night, he looked around at all the people surrounding him and realized they were all wearing clothing as black as his mood, and half of them looked as depressed as he felt. Eventually these people, assuming he was one of them, began inviting him to clubs and parties. He became a goth by default. He is good friends with Tristan as he seems to be the only one who sees beyond all the bullshit to the genuinely likeable person that Tristan really is.
QUOTE: "Let me tell you what it used to be like. I was here in the beginning, and I'll be here till the depressing end. You kids these days, you have no sense of history! Let me tell you...once I was at CBGB's and Souxsie Soux came up to me...."
Tristan - (Vampire Goth) His Reality: Born in a Parisian whorehouse in 1721, he was flung unwanted into the gutter when he became old enough to be a nuisance. He was taken in by traveling gypsies, who taught him the finer arts of picking pockets and knife fighting. He wanted more, and at the age of 16 traveled back to Paris, where he became involved with a pack of street thugs. He soon learned that he was incredibly skilled at B & E, and he amassed a small fortune as an accomplishes art thief. This all changed one dark and stormy evening (suddenly a shot rang out! The maid screamed...We miss ya Snoopy.), Sunday the 23rd of November, in the Year of Our Lord 1745, just as he was removing a Rembrandt from its frame, a tall, pale person appeared behind him. "You!" it intoned, "Have no appreciation for true art, true beauty. You only see the monetary value behind what you look at. You are even unaware that you yourself are truly beautiful, your skills are an art in themselves. Only I can show you the path to this, your true destiny." And as the lightening crashed and the storm raged, thus began his life of immortality in darkness.
Reality: His parents like Wagner...ALOT! Just ask his siblings Isolde, Sieglund, and Wotan. After a childhood of merciless teasing and name calling, he decided to show them what he was truly capable of. He became the most popular kid in school. He recieved such accolades as: Captain of the Pep Squad, Best Smile, Perfect Attendance, Lead in Every Musical, and Most Likely to Become an Actor. However, after graduation, he became lost because he suddenly realized that there was no one left to impress, and the people at college had already seen his kind a dozen times over. On the bus one day, he over heard some girls giggling and talking about him. At first he ignored them, they were cute, but they were dressed all in black, so they had to be freaks. His life changed when he heard one of them squeal, "He's soooo Gorgeous! He looks just like Peter Steele! Ohmigod, I'd die to be with someone who looked like him." With that he realized that his dark good looks and his brooding external nature would make women who dressed like them to throng to him. He did his homework (after picking up one of the girls on the bus), and with some hit and miss experimentation soon realized that the 'tragic vampire' persona would make women swoon. He continually denounces the LARPers because 'they don't know what it's like to be him!"
OLD QUOTE: "Hey guys! Let's go see the special limited edition release of Oklahoma...again!"
NEW QUOTE: "Look upon me and be amazed. I am proof of those things that dwell in the shadows. Soon you will succumb to the power of my evil eye." (The left one.)
Ravyn - (Mysterious Goth) No one knows if Ravyn is male or female. S/he hasn't bothered to clear any of this up as s/he is too busy trying to deal with a severe case of amnesia. Ravyn's only clear memory is of a pale man in black standing over him/her. His/her next memory is of waking up in the Klub with Rick poking him/herand telling him/her to leave. S/he follows the goths around because they are familiar and comforting and they dress the same, besides s/he has no other place to go. Ravyn found a rent reciept in his/her pocket, along with a paycheck stub, but apparently both the job and the apartment were obtained mere weeks before his/her first memory. Niether Ravyn's boss nor his/her landlord was able to give him/her any information, and there are no clues at either place as to his/her past.
QUOTE: "What? I just don't know. I don't know anything. Do you know anything?"
Sturm und Drang - (Grumpy German Industrial Goths) Twin brothers from Canada, they were die hard black metal fans. Thier lives were changed when they first heard Kraftwerk. They are really good friends with B.C., who feels that they are the only people who truly understand what she is trying to do.
QUOTE: "*grunt*....no good music....*growl*"
Miscellaneous Things
And also introducing various assorted club denizens:
The LARPing troupe - I LARP, you LARP, he/she/it LARPs
Glittergoths - "From the deepest darkest darkity dark basement of my depressing mascara....ooOOOooo SHINY!"
Tourists in the wrong place - "Lookit them freaks, Martha, izzat a boy er a gurl?"
And an entire chorus of jocks, preps, ravers, g-homie-dogs, and other creatures that a goth is subject to encounter whilst whiling a night at their favorite haunts.
The Perkygoths
Yes, they get their own section, as the creators of this show are ones, so NYAH.
Serra - Born and bored with the 'burbs, Serra moved here in an attempt to find some thing to do. She spent high school hiding in dark corners and moping around behind her hair. After years of therapy and Prozac, she found a group of people who were just as lost and forlorn as she was. Eventually she realized that they were too depressing and dull and struck out on her own. She soon found a new group of friends that were interesting and actually did things other than talk about how depressing their lives were. As a result, Serra has become determined to drag all the people moping in dark corners out into the artifical light of day to prove to them that being depressed isn't the end all and be all of being a Goth. She lives with her boyfriend Kevin (who is a LARPer, but we'll forgive him), happily surrounded by all manner of reptiles and small furry things.
QUOTE: "All you need is..reptiles! Snakes, lizards, and spiders, Oh My!"
Eve - Growing up in a beyond disfunctional family, Eve barely survived the infighting caused by parents/ stepparents/ stepsiblings/ friends of relatives all hating eachother and themselves. After a few years on her own, (and in the Goth scene) she realized that she actually had a cheerful personality and a skewed sense of humor. Disturbingly cute and seemingly ageless, she and her boyfriend Jack ( who can often be seen wandering the club oblivious to some poor chia-goth who has gotten her fishnets accidentally attached to the many spikes and things sewn onto his jacket) run 'The One Stop Goth Shoppe'.
QUOTE: "Hey, we got watcha need right here! We got your clothes, your makeup, your books, decorations for the house, everything you could possibly need or want to be a goth. All it take is a little creativity and imagination. We offer classes."
Lilly - Barely surviving a military upbringing, Lilly discovered heavy metal in her early teens. It had the intensity that she wanted, but not the depth of passion. Delving deeper into the darkness, and following a lifelong love of Medieval things and horror movies, she discovered the Rennaisance Societies. Through a friend in the SCA she was politely introduced to the Gothic culture. Initially she took to it like a duck to merchant banking, but in a few short days she discovered that it fit her like a (velvet) glove. Within months she realized that she didn't the focus and rock hard determination to be gloomy all the time. She decided to be true to her inner self, and proceeded to show up at the club in anything from ballgowns to jeans and flannel t-shirts. Often she would come carrying hula-hoops, devil sticks, and other cheerful items purposefully meant to annoy mopeygoths. She writes horror short fiction and poetry, but is ashamed to tell anyone because she feels that this is too typically goth. She lives in a fairly normal looking apartment in the 'artsy' section of the city with her fiance, Michael, who is a comic book artist.
QUOTE: "What's the point of being depressed, gloomy and forlorn if you don't have fun with it?"
Maddy - Child of a minister and a housewife, she missd being born on Halloween by 4 hours. As a result, she was doomed (sic) from the beginning to be a goth. In spite of this, she grew up to be a very cheerful and confident woman. She has taken on the role of 'momma goth', being the sort of person you can tell anything to, and even if she can't give advice, she at least offers a shoulder to mope on. She lives with her husband Thomas and various assorted spiders, both of them having a fetish for tarantulas.
QUOTE: "Better living through Prozac and Therapy!"
The Staff
We love 'em, you love 'em, with out them our clubs and coffee haunts would be nothing.
Andrew - Not particulary into the goth lifestyle, Andrew nontheless loves the pagentry and guadiness of the denizens of the club. He has a bad memory for names, but an almost encyclopedic recall for drink recipies and preferences. He grew up in California, where he earned his bartender's license and made fairly good money working the bar at Planet Hollywood. He moved here at the behest of his girlfriend, who was originally from here and had gone to California to attend UCLA. She broke up with him after six months because she felt thathe 'wasn't truly committed to her.' Independantly wealthy due to an inheritance left to him by his grandmother, he was at a loss for what to do with himself because he didn't really want to move back to California. A friend jokingly suggested that he get a job at 'that freak bar' so he could see how the other side lived. Andrew took him seriously and has worked there for several years now. He loves his job and the crowds that come in, it makes him feel useful to serve people who actually order interesting drinks, instead of the same old shit every week.
QUOTE: "O.K. You want a Captain Crunch, you want an Ameretto Sour, you two want red wine, and you want a Jack and Coke with a shot of Crown Royal.....umm....what were your names?"
Rick - Bouncer/Doorman for the Klub, he is very easygoing in general, but will immediately and harshly deal with whoever breaks the peace of his domain. His parent were very middle class, dad an auto mechanic, mom a secretary in a computer company. A born and raised local, his three passions are his girlfriend Nadia, his motorcycle, and his reptiles. He looks after the patrons of the Klub with a kind of bemused affection, as he feels like they are his extended family. Generally he is very down to earth, but sometimes people catch things acting wierd around him, especially doors.
QUOTE: "SWAMP WITCH!!"
The GothFather - He appears every once in a while to solve problems and clear up matters. The only ones who actually know what he looks like and what his given name is are Rick and Andrew. They're not telling because they've been sworn to secrecy. The GothFather inhabits a secret back room in the Klub. No one knows where the entrance to this room is (and many have mysteriously vanished after stating that they would find the entrance), but it seems to have aaccess to every part of the club. Occaisonally faint baaing can be heard coming from behind the walls, but most people attribute this to an auditory hallucination combined with too much drink. Most people only remember his appearences as involving a ring of fire and a large onyx ring carved into the shape of a bat.
QUOTE: "I have spoken. So it must be. (faint baaing)"
Kat - Born and raised in Chicago, she moved here for no other reason than sheer nomadic impulse. Her friend Mark owns The Lazy Bean, the coffee house that is frequented by the goths. When he opened it, he asked her to help out until he was running in the black. She supplements the income by working as a printer's devil at the local newspaper, but Mark has recently asked her to become a partner in running the business. She is just barely on this side of fanatic about Ren Faires and is a Sword Master in three seperate and distinct styles of weaponry and fighting. Kat delights in being perpetually cheerful at the goths who come into The Lazy Bean, but her favorites are the Perkygoths. She feels that they come the closest to being true to themselves and what they like.
QUOTE: "Hey guys! Isn't it a beautiful day?! Look at that sunshine!!! I'll be right back with your drinks!" (Bounces off whistling a Beatles tune.)
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