What I Do With My Wednesdays!
I love how my very first post is going to be an incident of me getting on a soapbox, of sorts.
Wednesday nights in Bowling Green are interesting. As night falls on Main Street, the bars and nightclubs flip on their neon beer advertisements, and great masses of night crawlers flock to them like bugs drawn to the luminous glow of a bug zapper. It’s a scene typical of any weeknight of any college town, with one difference. On Wednesday nights, the hoards of the nightlife are decked out in anything from fishnet, duct tape, spikes, and leather to corsets, hot pants, and latex. For years, Wednesday nights at two bars on Main have been themed “goth nights,” and since I came to BG in ’07, I’ve been a semi-regular attendant.
Now, I’ve been a “peculiar person” for as long as I can remember. There’s a saying that swept popular culture via internet flair and bumper stickers when vampires became popular: “When all the other girls wanted to be princesses, I wanted to be a vampire.” That was (and still is) me in a nutshell. I’ve always been eccentric, artistic, and drawn to aspects of life that others find strange or even frightening. It’s just who I am. So when I, a doe-eyed freshman, first came upon Skybar’s goth night-then called IGUN, now called Ination-I was in awe.
I’m sure when I say “goth night,” it conjures images of black lipstick, Tripp pants, and angsty head banging. Well, there is a lot of that (especially when they play Down with a Sickness,) but like most subcultures with stigmas attached to them, there is so much more going on. Now, I don’t consider myself goth, in spite of the label being slapped on me by many people. Other than undeniably obvious titles like Female, American, Italian, and Freak, I’m not a fan of being labeled. Having said that, there is a lot about the gothic subculture that I feel connected with. The blending of the beautiful and the frightening, for instance. I also love a great deal of the music. But I digress. The point is that there is so much more to Ination than most initially think. Yes, it’s radically different from regular club nights where they play the top hits on the charts right now, but most of the differences are, honestly, refreshing.
Yay, paragraph breaks for aesthetic purposes!
One of the biggest differences I see between Ination and everyday club nights is the complete and utter lack of groping. Every time I go out to dance on a normal night, often with friends who don’t share my love for Psyclon Nine and Rob Zombie, I feel visually violated the instant I step onto the dance floor. The air is so thick with hormones that I feel like I’m back in middle school, when girls’ breasts were beginning to grow and the boys had just discovered their dicks. And more often than not on regular nights, I’m catcalled, my ass grabbed, or I’m latched onto by some drunken frat boy who promptly begins to air hump me like a horny dog. Now as attractive as that is, I go to clubs to enjoy myself, not to fend off alcohol-fueled air-rapes.
I can’t speak for other goth nights or goth clubs, but at Ination, it seems like there’s an unwritten rule on the dance floor, and that rule is: Don’t fuck with anyone. There are people dancing with each other, of course, and there is plenty of grinding and air humping. A club is a club, after all. But I can count on one hand the number of times my hips have been grabbed and my ass thrust into someone’s crotch in a drunken attempt at some sort of awkward mating dance. And when that has happened, without fail, the perpetrators were first timers to Ination, if not to a goth themed night, period. I’ve been asked to dance by “regulars” once or twice, and I’m met with the upmost politeness and kind-heartedness when I gently turn them down. It’s no problem there. If you’re there to hook up, that’s great. If you’re not, nobody bothers you. As a woman of club-going age, I can’t tell you how refreshing that is.
Another big difference is the atmosphere, which is something I touched on earlier. Yes, the clothing and the music is part of it. Ination plays anything from Marilyn Manson to Combichrist to the theme song of the Muppet Show to Shake, Shake, Senora. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not exclusively angry screaming with heavy drums. All sorts of dancing, from raving with glow sticks to typical club grinding to the signature “goth stomp”, is embraced without judgment. I especially love this because I’m a belly dancer, and the urge to umi, camel, and undulate never really leaves me. And like the music, the dress at Ination is varied. I’ve worn the basic black ensemble, but I’ve also worn white skirts and tops drenched in blood, tiny schoolgirl skirts and white blouses, and an outfit that consisted of little more than a lot of gauze and metal spikes coming out of my back (not pierced, though I’ve seen that done, too!) Ination is truly a feast for the eyes, and a haven for artistic types like myself, because as far as dress and makeup is concerned, really anything goes. Anything.
I’ve always felt at home at Ination, at home with the darkling throng, as I like to call them. It isn’t because I’ve been ostracized or rejected all my life. On the contrary, I’ve always gotten along with just about everyone. I’m comfortable at Ination because I can dress however I want and, most importantly, dance however I want without judgment or ridicule. The enthusiasm is palpable, like an electric current in the air. For people watchers like myself, it’s an absolute feast or the eyes. And while there are a handful of what people consider typical “Goths”-namely, angsty, scowling anti-socialites with depression issues-I’ve found that the vast majority of people I talk to there are nothing but sweet, affectionate, kindhearted people who are enjoying the atmosphere and the community. Some of the sweetest people in my life are members of the darkling throng. I’ve met far more mean, angry, disheartened people in my day to day life than I’ve seen at the Ination (Especially since I work at Parking Services…ha.)
For anyone who is remotely curious about themed nights, I strongly encourage you to bite the bullet, throw on some fishnet, and go. Keep an open mind, and enjoy the night. I’ve found with newcomers that the first night is often overwhelming, at least with Ination. Go at least twice; it won’t be such an attack on the senses the second time, and you’ll be able to better enjoy the experience. I know that goth nights aren’t for everyone; not by a long shot. Not everyone has a place in the darkling throng. But when you do go if it’s anything like Ination, I guarantee it’ll be an experience you never forget.
And now for some more gratuitous Ination pics!
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