Monday 24 May 2010

World Goth Day; The Holiday Blues Effect

Imagine being shut in a cargo container for five months and having the exterior repeatedly hammered by a hundred people with baseball bats for twenty four hours a day, then all of a sudden, stop. That's how it feels today. It's the feeling you get when you come back from a holiday; that sort of downward spiral into reality that wipes the smile off your face and all you have to show for it is a straw donkey and sunburn (or in my case a WGD badge currently living on my waistcoat).
I'm sat at my desk with Ikon quietly playing away on my iPod and flicking through the odd spreadsheet adding invoices to them like the weekend never happened. I'm keen to start working on next year's World Goth Day immediately.
I don't think Martin Oldgoth & I ever saw the reaction to this year being so huge, at least online, which is where all the correspondance with several promoters, website owners and members of the general goth scene took place. We've received emails and forum replies from promoters saying that they've had turnouts they hadn't seen for a long time, people who have driven for up to five hours to get to events that I imagine normally wouldn't go to that sort of effort and expense.
World Goth Day wasn't just a success, it restored my faith in humanity or at least the Goth scene; quite the opposite of the disillusioned stereotype that us Gothic types are supposed to live to.
For the rest of the year, there will in all likelihood be muted activity on the WGD forum, maybe a couple of weeks of reminiscing and photograph sharing, occasional bouts of adrenaline fuelled "what are we going to do next year?" and suchforth. I'm half tempted to put it and the website into hibernation straight away for the next six months so it doesn't look abandoned and dusty like a much loved childhood rocking horse in the attic. People don't want to see an annual museum exhibit; they'd much rather see a plaquard in its place, "Back in six months-See you in 2011". I guess I'm just reacting from my own 'holiday blues' right now, and will probably replace that notion quite quickly with a more optimisitc one after a few days. But oh, what a ride. And so many passengers.
Thank you, Goth scene.
Thank you everyone who ran the social network pages on Facebook, VampireFreaks and anywhere else we might not have been aware of.
Thank you to the people who run online and FM radio stations who took interest and even played music which wouldn't normally be part of the playlist policy. Radio Nightbreed, Phoenix Radio and BBC Radio Shropshire, I'm looking at you, personally, though I equally acknowledge those for whom with some embarassment I forget the name of at the time of writing this.
Thank you to the DJ's who donated their time and talents to create special WGD shows for people who couldn't leave the house for one reason or other to hear and join in with the celebrations.
Thank you to the Bloggers, Magazines and journalists who promoted our cause to people who would otherwise have missed our attempt to promote World Goth Day elsewhere.
Thank you to the promoters who took a chance on an event simply made up on the spot, and of course,
Thank you to the people who got woke up, dressed up, left the house where possible and even drove for hours to meet up with friends or people they've never even met before.
Thank you to my family who put up with me and of course, Mr. Oldgoth for sticking with this insane idea in the first place. It simply wouldn't have happened without his help.

Right. I have invoices to reciept. See you later.

2 comments:

  1. Good Morning

    A warm Thank You to you and Mr. Oldgoth both. The day was well enjoyed here with events, parties and meet ups. Thanks for all that you do!

    Wendy
    The Gothic Tea Society

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  2. Yes, I, too, am sad that it is over. It was lots of fun! I had to get up rather early to drive about 3.5 hours to Richmond, but it was worth it. I was half expecting to see emos/ecene kids filtering though, but I never saw one of them at any of Saturday's events. Everyone was totally and completely a goth. Take THAT all you people that think goth is dead and emo is its replacement...cuz that is so not true.

    Thanks for all your hard work with this! It was a raging success. ...And if you want to put the site in hibernation for a bit, I don't see anything wrong with that. It actually sounds like a good idea.

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