This document consists of:
1. Invitation to Gothic Funk New York City, Party #1.
2. Photos of the Party.
3. Account of the party.
1. Invitation to Gothic Funk New York City, Party #1.
Invitation was written by Connor Coyne and drawn and designed by Sam Perkins-Harbin. Sam designed two programs; one black-and-white for print, and one in color for email.
2. Photos of the Party.
3. Account of the Party.
Posted by Connor Coyne:
As originally envisioned, GFNYC#1 was largely modeled on GF Party #1, with an anticipated crowd of under twenty, season-appropriate snacks, a mystery to solve, and games along the lines of Werewolf. The last two, in fact, were combined, in that success at Werewolf allowed success at the mystery. Ultimately, however, this was a moot point.
What made GFNYC#1 different from the Chicago parties (so far) was that we had a series of readings. The readers were all people I'd met through the New School program, and represented a range of style and media. More on this momentarily.
There was no planned decor for the party, since we intended to hold it at the summit of Fort Greene Park, a spooky enough locale that is also the site of one of the early battles of the American Revolution: the Battle of Brooklyn Heights. The park is also adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where the Union ironclad Moniter was constructed, and where the British kept their prison ships during the Revolutionary War. The latter is the reason for the large monument in the background of some photos. Unfortunately, this too was largely moot.
About thirty minutes before the party began it started to rain. My apartment was listed on the invitation as a backup location, but there was no time to decorate, and I'm afraid that the rain and extra distance may have kept some people away.
At any rate, I had made homemade Apple cider and got some rum to make it special. Jessica got home, then Timothy and Daniel arrived first, and I went out to the park to make sure than nobody had mistakenly gone to the original location. Nobody was there, but I did take the first three pictures in the series above. Reinhardt arrived at the same time that I did, and a little bit later, Liesel arrived, and then, Barbara. This was as big as the party got; seven people. On the one hand, objectively speaking, it was probably the least gothic funky of any of the parties I've attended. On the other hand, GF#1 was tenuous as well, and the first law of GF parties (if there is one) is for them to be fun as parties before anything else. I think this party succeed fully on that front, and I would not be reluctant to throw another.
At any rate, we talked and ate snacks for awhile, and then turned out the light. We propped up a flashlight in the middle of the room to set the mood, and the readings began. The readings were quite different from each other and in some cases only tangentially related to the theme or to Halloween. This was deliberate however; the only suggestion for readings is that they involve a "darkness of the soul" somehow. Liesel read first, a poem and a nonfiction piece that both tackled harrowing personal experiences. Timothy read next, some poems and nonfiction that were, perhaps, a little less fraught than Liesel's, but nevertheless invoked ghosts and murders. Daniel read third, a short story that involved questions of identity, but I'm not going to say any more. Reinhardt's old belonged at the end, and I'm glad that's where he wound up: it was a manic, furious piece that cobbled together all of his personal phobias into a single night out clubbing. After a brief interlude (during which drinks were replenished, and the Tigers tragically lost the 2006 World Series), Barbara sung a haunting Celtic ballad, and the night wrapped up.
The readings themselves took close to two hours, but the pace of the party was relaxed, and so while we didn't get to the mystery at all, I did not regret this, and we can always tackle that another time.
Time will decide if there is going to be a GFNYC#2!
