Gothic Cruise 2008 – October 12th

On the second day of the cruise we docked in Nassau on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas. I was well prepared for this port of call because on my previous visit I bought the book “A History Of The Bahamas” by Michael Craton.

This book provides the historical background you need to really appreciate the historical sites you’ll find on the island. However, I did find it kind of boring due to its emphasis on the changing political structure of the Bahamas and its skimpy material on the modern period. Based on what I read in the book I made sure to videotape The Assembly on Rawson Square and the Government House on George Street.

I did not have any shore excursions booked for Nassau and only planned on shopping downtown. Therefore I put on plenty of sunscreen which I accidentally rubbed into my eyes. I did not get any sunburns on this trip. In deference to the goth style I dared to wear my Greek Fisherman’s cap. It is not exactly goth but it is black and nautical. 

I found the streets of Nassau deserted and most of the shops were closed so I had a Frappuccino at Starbucks just like on my previous visit to the island. The Carnival Glory docked next to the Royal Carribbean International Majesty Of The Seas which was also there on March 11th. I believe Nassau is its home port so you will often find it there. I cooled off at Starbucks until 9:30 AM when some of the shops would be open. I was looking for a Hot Topic clothing store or an occult bookstore at all of the cruise ports of call but I guess the Caribbean economy is based on expensive watches, jewelry, liquor, and souvenir t-shirts. I searched for hours for a leather belt and eventually found one in the Bonneville store on Bay & George Streets. The leather belt cost $55.00 and they were unable to give me change for a $100 bill so I had to put it on a credit card. I needed a new belt because I was wearing my special belt with the plastic buckle that does not need to be removed to go through a metal detector. Unfortunately this belt does not cinch very tight so it frequently feels too loose.

I tried to shop at The Island Shop which has a bookstore upstairs but it was closed. So I went to the Pirate Museum store instead and bought the book “Under The Black Flag” by David Cordingly. I saw some other people from our group there which was only to be expected because pirates are like the goths of the sea.

A woman on the street conned me into paying $5.00 in donation for a cheap bracelet. What really bothered me about this was the blue and yellow dye that came off the plastic seashells to stain my wrist. I had to remove my pink wristband because of that. Eventually I got tired of walking in the hot sun so I returned to the Carnival Glory early. I took a shower to wash off my sweat and then went to the Ebony Cabaret to see a movie. The movie was the “Spiderwick Chronicles”. This was an appropriate movie for the Gothic Cruise 2008 because its subject matter is a hidden dimension of magic and wonder which is not apparent to the everyday world. It seemed to be based on the turn of the century mania for fairies that some hoaxers would pretend to capture in the new media of photography. I’ve read an interesting book, “Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide To The Otherworld” by Patrick Harpur which explains how fairy abductions were strangely similar to modern alien abductions in various respects, for example, the same descriptions of colored lights. You could say that “Spiderwick Chronicles” is really a movie about the daimonic reality. However there were not many cruisers who wanted to watch a movie while docked at Nassau so the Ebony Cabaret was virtually empty.

The Carnival Glory had a Starbucks onboard although they called it the Creams Cafe. I ordered a lot of cappuccinos and frappuccinos but every time I asked for an iced drink I would get a hot drink instead. These would show up on my bill which I could review on my TV by pressing the menu button on my remote. This reminds me. I never did get the itemized bill for my Sail and Sign card on the last day of the trip.

At 3:00 PM it was time for another special Gothic Cruise event. It was the first rock concert on the cruise ship and the band should have been Deepest Symphony but they were a no show, no call. Fortunately the promoter managed to find a replacement act from among the group which must have included many musicians. The band that did play that afternoon was Asmodeus X. According to their web site, Asmodeus X is a project that fuses electronic beats and metaphysical themes, – a hybrid of ancient teachings and esoteric schools of thought. Hmm, that is rather suggestive. And they draw inspiration from euphoric trance and industrial influences best described as Daemonic Body Music. Wow! I was just writing about daimonic reality.

I saw several people with cameras and camcorders so I felt free to videotape the concert but about half way through the show someone associated with All Genre Travel asked me not to film the entire show as only short clips were allowed. After that I decided not to videotape any of the concerts or events because it seemed better to let other people handle that. But I still shot a lot of video of the Carnival Glory and the ports of call. Nevertheless a man approached me later and asked me to contribute some footage for a private DVD which kind of confused the issue. There was a lot of theatrical fog during the show and some spotlights were used to make sure the swirling mist caught the light. This got me thinking, I could reproduce that in After Effects. You can easily create swirling curtains of mist in After Effects and you may be able to set lights that interact with the mist in 3D. I’ll have to try that when I have the time. I found a web page that claims theatrical fog may damage your lungs if it contains gylcol. This is probably a health hazard for a few sensitive people who work in a club but it would not affect you after just one show.

I got a free CD sampler, 8 tracks from the Asmodeus X Digital remix album from Next Gen records. I really like Track #7, Typhoon which I played 10 times in a row last night. It has a very stately beat and reminds me of the martial song Gloria by Life’s Decay.

Dinner that night was supposed to be a formal affair, dress code Cruise Elegant, so I wore a skinny white tie and a black vest. I probably looked like an ugly hit man. I was complimented on my skinny white tie which is classic punk. It is hard to find skinny white ties but I ordered one online back when I was feeling nostalgic for the 80s. A girl wearing only half of a black dress showed up with the CombiChrist drummer and was laughed at by the regular cruise goers for being too risque. The CombiChrist band had dinner at the same time as I did and always sat at a nearby table which was cool because they were the major attraction. There were not enough seats at our table because someone new showed up although he only sat at our table on that night. I had lobster and a rather strange strawberry soup. I’ve never had soup made from a fruit before. Soup is always some combination of vegetables and meat. I also had white wine. They always poured wine at dinner although on my previous cruise you only got wine if you bought a bottle. I don’t particularly like wine although I prefer white wine. It tastes like grape juice mixed with antiseptic.

That night I saw the only main show I was able to attend, Living In America starring the Glory Dancers in the Amber Palace. It was your typical fast paced mix of Broadway show tunes, a Vegas style show. I sat with some of the more mature members of our group who could appreciate a change of scene. I experienced only a mild reaction to this theater. I think the most interesting aspect was some old Broadway photos in the backdrop which presented a bit of ancient street cred. Live dancing and singing can be charming the first time you see it in real life but after awhile you get bored with its rigid conventions and phoney smiles.

Even later that night I went to the Ebony Cabaret for the R rated adult comedy show staring Michael Macy. The funniest part of this show was his interaction with some goths he spotted in the audience. I think he asked them what goth was supposed to be about and they replied that to be goth is to shit bats. Well the comedian didn’t think shiting bats was something he would want to be doing!  I wish I had my camcorder to record exactly they said because it was hilarious. I fantasized about extending the joke with something to the effect that you can’t shit bats until you get them crammed up there, like maybe through fudge packing only with bats.