[DC][New Club Review] Catacomb DC
klaatu
As per invitation, and since any new DC-area club catering to
Goth/Industrial deserves a look-see, I decided to actually don some darkwear
and attend the new Catacomb DC night, held downtown at 1707 "L" NW. Not that
I actually got spiffied up (at my advanced state of ancient crusty dino
gothdom I just can't pull it off anymore) but I actually wore black.
"The Meeting Place", downstairs in the office blocks of Washington's "Golden
Triangle"[1] is a very nice restauranty place. It's got a decent-sized bar,
with a fairly good selection of imported/specialty beer, plenty of room for
people to sit and stand, a fairly standard restaurant ambiance of top-half
wood panelling and lower-half subdued dark-green wallpaper, and standard
brass bar fittings. It's not exactly what you'd think of as totally gothic.
For most of the week, I gather it's a daytime restaurant. It's in an area
which is as safe as any in Washington, and parking is plentiful in nearby
garages.
When I got there at roughly roughly 10:30, there was already a considerable
crowd. Perhaps as many as a hundred to 200 people attended all night, which
is not bad at all for a goth club in Washington, especially on short notice.
The crew was very much the old Capital Ballroom crew, with some of the old
Resurrection clique thrown in as well. I didn't see many of the folks from
the Club Heaven/Armageddon crew although DJ Medusa from Armageddon is
expected to spin next week. The crowd was pretty evenly mixed between males
and females.
Filling an aching void for a place to assemble and dance away our Saturday
nights to music we actually like, I must recommend Catacomb DC to those who
enjoy a Goth/Industrial get-together. I myself am a notorious mopey at clubs
where I don't know anyone, though most of the people I do know tend to
dismiss me as being hopelessly talkative. If you're sociable at all, you
should be able to meet some interesting people, definitely you can dance. If
you, like myself, prefer to mope in dark corners thinking how much you hate
bars and perkies, you too can go and be miserable in mostly good company.
For what it's worth, the service at the bar was quick and courteous,
possibly because I always tip generously. The music was excellent, with a
request sheet that was much-honored all night. There were a lot of people
dancing, and the music was sufficiently good that I actually managed to
force myself out of my mopey corner and do my patented 'psychotic shitkicker
fighting ghosts' dance. Most of the other dancers were pretty good and also
tolerant enough of this genuine paleo-goth performing genuine old-school
dance to let me make a fool out of myself without kicking my feet out from
under me which is what generally happened at least once a night at the old
Ballroom.
What I must comment on most strongly was the profusion of seriously
gothified people in attendance. Some of these folks had obviously put a lot
of time into their outfits and they looked very good. Others, such as
myself, contented themselves with the simple basics of just wearing all
black. Most of the ladies were pretty goth-all-the-way, though a punker or
two showed up, as did a couple of "mundanes". With the exception of major
mopeys such as myself, "a good time was had by all" and even I experienced
sporadic moments of actual enjoyment, going so far as to actually geeze
about the ancient days of DC gothdom with one of the better dancers there,
also something of an eldergoth (way over 25).
I probably won't attend much in the future, as I am admittedly not much for
clubs. I plead poverty and mopiness; for me, going to a club is basically an
exercise in expensive self-torture - I tend to sit in a corner and get drunk
and glare at people for being so annoyingly cheerful[2]. I am neither fun
nor gregarious. However, if you _are_ fun and gregarious, so far I would
recommend Catacomb DC as the place to get your Saturday night
goth/industrial mix.
For more information, see http://members.aol.com/catacombDC/
[1] http://www.clark.net/pub/klaatu/dupont.html (bottom half of the page)
[2] To be fair there were quite a few other mopeys in different corners also
getting drunk and glaring at people for being so annoyingly cheerful, which
is after all what mopeys do when they're forced to have a good time despite
themselves.[3]
[3] The worst thing about perkies is that they know we're having a good time
by being miserable and just get more perky to make us more miserable which
is after all what mopeys like to be.
--
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be
purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - P. Henry
Be kind to your neighbors, even though they be transgenic chimerae.
Whom thou'st vex'd waxeth wroth: Meow. http://www.clark.net/pub/klaatu/
SereneBabe
Okay, my apologies if this is off topic and all...but, I'm gonna post it
anyway...
Let me add an on-topic question:
You say Catacomb DC was dark green on the lower half of the walls and wood up
top with brass fixtures? Sounds like a sports bar to me.
On...to...the...off...topic...question...
What on earth would posess anyone to be into the "goth" scene?
Can you enlighten me?
I just, really, really, really don't get it.
I also can't stand "industrial" music -- though I like a bunch of people who
like it.
Explica por favor?
Thanks.
--Heather
***********
"Why are the pretty ones always insane?" -- Chief Wiggum
"It's All About Me!"
a weekly column by SereneBabe at http://members.aol.com/serenebabe/index.html
Kenneth Crudup
seren...@aol.comNOSPAMMY (SereneBabe) says:
>What on earth would posess anyone to be into the "goth" scene?
s/goth/hiphop
s/goth/club
s/goth/metal
s/goth/piercing
... etc.
As they say in Latin: Differentius folkii, differentius strokii.
... or something like that.
-Kenny
--
Kenneth R. Crudup, Unix Software Consultant, Scott County Consulting
Home: 8051 Newell St. #914 Silver Spring, MD 20910-0914 (301) 562-1922
Work: 2300 Central Expressway Santa Clara, CA 95050 (408) 566-2710
ke...@panix.com
klaatu
>
> Okay, my apologies if this is off topic and all...but, I'm gonna post it
> anyway...
>
> Let me add an on-topic question:
> You say Catacomb DC was dark green on the lower half of the walls and wood up
> top with brass fixtures? Sounds like a sports bar to me.
I gather that most of the week it is.
> On...to...the...off...topic...question...
>
> What on earth would posess anyone to be into the "goth" scene?
I'm not all that much into the scene myself, but I really _do_ like the
music. Old Joy Division and Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, New Order (a band
called "Orgy" has just done a redux of New Order's "Blue Monday" which is
topping local charts), Sisters of Mercy, The Cure - all great stuff if
you're feeling a bit gloomy and need something to pick you up a bit and
hearing "Stairway to Heaven" for the 10,000th time just doesn't cut it
anymore.
Also, in a world full of brain-dead white longhairs and people that listen
to black-top-40, one can as a rule walk into a bar full of goths and have
reasonable epectations of meeting someone with whom one can have an
intelligent conversation. Most goths I know, if they're moping, aren't
moping because they forgot their Prozac, they're moping because people are
starving in Somalia and the "powers that be" are making sure that no matter
what hippy-students do to raise money or send food, relief only gets to the
people who are causing the starvation. Or they're moping about similar
complexities.
>
> Can you enlighten me?
I tried. See above.
>
> I just, really, really, really don't get it.
>
> I also can't stand "industrial" music -- though I like a bunch of people who
> like it.
>
> Explica por favor?
I get pretty tired of industrial myself, for the same reasons I got tired of
(though initially somewhat liked) disco. Basically, you can dance to it, but
there are also a significantly limited number of variations possible within
the musical form. For instance, there are something like only 72 possible
discreet themes within Disco. But you can dance to all of them.
As for why I do gothic scenes, well, a few years ago I sure had something to
mope about - the rapid descent into total chaos of my nation's capital. I
had Marion Barry to mope about. I had crime in the streets to mope about. I
had a total overrunning of my nation's borders to mope about. Recently I had
Monica Lewinski to mope about. I still have Bill Clinton to mope about.
I think I'll put on a Cure tape, that usually helps.
>
> Thanks.
>
> --Heather
> ***********
klaatu
Sorry for the double posts...
<snip>
>
> What on earth would posess anyone to be into the "goth" scene?
>
> Can you enlighten me?
>
> I just, really, really, really don't get it.
>
http://www.darkwave.org.uk/faq/ag/
is the news:alt.gothic Frequently-Asked Questions. Check the "subculture"
headings.
Or if you want to get flamed by miserable mopeys honing their sarcasm
skills, drop in on alt.gothic and post without lurking for a while.
<snip>
>
> --Heather