I visited Mordor, Gotham and Gandalf's

As a teenager, more than a decade ago, I never considered myself a full-on Goth but I did partake in many of the cultural habits. I often dressed in nothing but black, only wore docks, had the long straight hair, adorned my eyes in black eyeliner and carried the appropriate morbid expression of leave-me-alone-life-sucks. Those days are long gone, although some elements like the docks and Depeche Mode remain.

Two weeks ago, after a substantial amount of margarita, a friend and I decided to take a trip down memory lane and go to the Goth club Mordor. It was closed, but Gotham next door was open. It was surprising how much I enjoyed the evening. The music, the darkness, the solitude dancing and the strangely pierced individuals brought back such memories and flooded my senses.

Last Saturday, we decided to go again. This time we went to an angels and demons party at a place called Gandalf's. It was an experience! There were very definite groups of people inside. The ultra pierced and spiked mingled carefully between men and women clad in corsets and fishnet stockings. The emo guys were huddled in the corner trying to be cool or hiding from the vicious head bangers giving themselves whiplash. Then there were those (like me) not dressed to any goth style...I felt out of place. I didn't even have any appropriate accoutrement! Many people had horns and wings and whips and chains.

The music was hard core: A heavy metal trance (is that a genre?) amalgamation that was quite intoxicating and very, very loud. Not to my taste per se, but interesting. Very surprisingly, when the DJ played the Cure's 'Lovecats', a poppy remix of Soft Cell's 'Tainted love' and 'Sounds like a melody' by Alphaville everyone stayed and danced. I never saw that coming...

I had a lot of fun but in the end it was a bit much. I suppose I am not a Goth after all, although I could be temped into a corset.