First up were Famous in Vegas and The Alphabet Bombers. I arrived at 6:30pm to one or the other on stage. By the time I grabbed an early dinner, mingled with old friends, and willingly parted with my twenty, I caught the tail end of the third band, Graveyard School. They represented the night’s only out and out punk band with a rockin’ chick singer. Her set of howling pipes would have made Wendy O look twice to see who was on stage. Ohio’s Funeral Crashers took the stage next and proceeded to reunite for one gig only. Then of course they broke up again with a loud “I’m never doing this again” from the guitarist. Closing with a cover of Eno’s “Baby’s on Fire” was the best thing they could have done. Years from now no one will remember any other songs from the set. Up fifth the Memphis Morticians attacked the stage with sheer presence. This three-man outfit from New York, I believe, gave one of the finest performances of the night. With dramatic rapid-fire delivery, the moves of a bad contortionist, and surprising creativity when the mike stand broke the singer gave his all and preformed on key. Songs like “Hex Appeal” and “Full Moon Hop” drove through the audience like a hearse on crack. On a final note the Bassist is an inspiration to musicians everywhere. He played his fretless standup bass with a slap style of years gone by while standing astride his machine like he was making love to her.

Alabama’s Cancerslug also played “the last show ever”. I still cannot figure out how this hardcore sounding band even got on the bill when bands like NYC’s Psycho Charger were overlooked. Their look was very alternative rock with a drunken singer in a Strawberry Shortcake t-shirt. Seventh on the bill came New York Favorites The Brides. After being in CB’s, with its explosive bathrooms, for more than five hours I knew it was time for an over priced drink. After shooting my obligatory photographs for posterity, I made my way to the back of the club and realized everything sounded so much better the farther away from the stage one was. As usual The Brides gave a great performance. As the anticipation for Cinema Strange grew, The Secret Cervix took the stage. This was one band I had seen years ago and looked forward to hearing once again. With a name like that, truly one of the most original I’ve ever heard, I expected great things. On a side note I was very happy to see a healthy representation of female musicians at this event. Long live chicks that rock! All I can say is I remember Secret Cervix sounding so much better years ago. Jessica, the guitarist’s vocals made my throat hurt – they sounded so raw.

Antiworld finally took the stage close to 1am. Not only did the whole band look Deathrock as hell, but they also hold their own against such greats as 45 Grave and Wendy O. Singer Granny Fiendish has a presence not too often seen on the scene. She performs dramatically with carefully chosen props including a moving witches hand, a coffin of candy that was pelted at the audience (the candy, not the coffin my pretties), and a bodiless druid-like Styrofoam head. Having never had the pleasure of actually hearing them I can’t really comment on their lyrics or songs, but I can say they Deathrocked the house. For an audience prompted encore Antiworld covered a Wendy O song and I felt what it must have been like to see a loose cannon like Wendy O perform twenty years ago. All in all an impressive performance by a West Coast band I believe will remain infamous in the years to come.

Ohio’s own Cult of the Psychic Fetus are a Ghoul Goth favorite. They sound great, look great, and perform every time with a bang. They were one of the most pulled together and all around professional bands on the bill. Reverend Doom sings, on key, with the presence of the long dead and rotted corpse of a 1950’s cigarette smoking, hip shaking, motorcycle riding bad boy. “Orgy of the Dead” is a personal favorite of mine. Other great sounding tunes included “In my Coffin” and “The Black Tower”. The audience loved the performance and there was much dancing and beer swilling to prove it.

Finally at 2:30am Cinema Strange took the stage. Exhausted and working on a bit of a buzz, I was insulted by the drastic amount of time it took them to set up and get the hell on stage. The anticipation (say it) was making everyone in the audience yawn. Cinema Strange are typical Hollywood Glam boys. And I mean that in a good way; when you look as good as they do you can pretty much do whatever you want. Finally the house lights went down and Lucas appeared front and center in a white wedding gown, complete with a long train and two pig masks attached to the front and back of his head. The members, including an instrument free mime that must have begged for a free trip to NYC, all wore typical dramatic costumes for this over the top Goth performance. I do have to say they commanded CBGB’s small stage so much better than the larger one at C8. On this night they were musically alive for a New York debut that no one will ever forget. People will be talking about this show for years to come and there will be two factions, those who attended and those who wish they had. The audience was unfortunately much more sparse than I had hoped for. I think after nearly eleven hours most people were exhausted and too drunk to stay for the finale; their loss.

Interspersed between the bands were a plethora of scene famous DJ’s. One Mark Splatter of LA played some damn good tunes with a cherubic smile. DJ Vlad of VA banged out a paltry two tunes because of equipment delay. Boston’s Purp hammered out some punk while Charlie the Slut looked every bit the mysterious Deathrocker. Also in attendance were Bad Luck, the Punk styling of Mange from CT, Sneaky Bats, and Prozac. All in all the DJ’s pretty seamlessly held the between time together.

The Drop Dead festival, organized by NY Decay’s one and only Polina (DJ Bad Luck), may just bring old school Goth back to the forefront of the “Goth” scene in New York City. I am ready for next year’s second annual festival already. And I have one final shout out, to that guy who came from England. Thanks for the Dead and Buried flyers, not that I’ll ever make it to Gossips in London!