Home
"They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries." - Tennessee Williams
"The ghosts race towards the light, you can almost hear the heavy breathing spirits, all determined to get somewhere. New Orleans, unlike a lot of those places you go back to and that don't have the magic anymore, still has got it. Night can swallow you up, yet none of it touches you. Around any corner, there's a promise of something daring and ideal and things are just getting going. There's something obscenely joyful behind every door, either that or somebody crying with their head in their hands. A lazy rhythm looms in the dreamy air and the atmosphere pulsates with bygone duels, past-life romance, comrades requesting comrades to aid them in some way. You can't see it, but you know it's here. Somebody is always sinking. Everyone seems to be from some very old Southern families. Either that or a foreigner. I like the way it is. There are a lot of places I like, but I like New Orleans better." - Bob Dylan
Shrouded in river mist, softly lit with gas lanterns, haunted by pirate kings and drag queens - New Orleans is a perfect city in which to hold our yearly Gothic gathering! Frank Schmidt, Matthew Checki, Joanie Boucher, Mattvaughan Black and the cast of characters comprising the New Orleans Gothic scene offer you their proposal for a Convergence in the city that care forgot. *
The Plan
Continuing the tradition of Convergences past, C21 in New Orleans would be held during the middle of Spring, avoiding the infamous heat and humidity of summer in the South. Summer here is like standing in a wet crematorium – you don't want any part of it. We are currently negotiating with venues that can accommodate us for Easter weekend (April 3-5), the same time of year that the previous two New Orleans Convergences were held. Our plan is to host two nights of nationally (and perhaps internationally) known bands combined with net.goth and local DJs, a third night of simply DJs, and show off the beauty, magic and weirdness of the city during a very few planned daytime events (but not so early you can't pry yourself out of bed yet), and keep you awake until the smallest hours or until enough mistakes are made. This is the year that Convergence turns 21 years old, and we want that to happen in all the elegance, chaos and stately old debauchery of New Orleans. Ticket prices will be in accordance with past Cs.
The Place
New Orleans has been called a number of things - The Crescent City, the Big Easy, the City that Care Forgot, N'Awlins - but practically never by locals. Lounging in the shade of majestic live oaks and the combination of Victorian and Caribbean architecture, our city is the birthplace of jazz and the cocktail, the home of the first opera house in the Americas and the first movie theatre in the world, and the home of the best food on Earth. As Mark Twain put it, "New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin." The city's history lives and breathes in everything from its ancient live oaks to its spectacular above-ground cemeteries. At night, we disdain the concept of "closing time," and have no fixed hour at which bars or clubs must shut down. We are also civilized enough that in the French Quarter we don't blink if you choose to sip your drink while walking down the sidewalk.
Travel to and staying in New Orleans is easy and inexpensive. All major airlines (including Southwest) fly into our airport, and we're accessible from both coasts and everywhere in between by Amtrak and Greyhound. Our city has more visitors' accommodations per capita than any other city in America, so we'll get some hotel deals together for you. Due to the popularity of New Orleans as a travel destination, hotels are nearly all within walking distance or a quick taxi/streetcar ride away from venues, clubs, shopping, and other places of interest.
Spring turns New Orleans into an Eden of banana trees, exotic flowers, and gorgeous weather. Expect the temperature to be about 50 to 70 degrees F, with the good possibility of a little rain.
At the writing of this proposal, the tattooing and piercing age is 18, and you must also be 18 to enter a bar. However, you must be 21 or over to purchase alcoholic beverages or enter an establishment offering gambling or gambling machines. People of drinking age may carry and consume drinks (in non-glass containers) in the street. "Bar time" is not set by government regulations, and many bars are open into the wee hours of the morning (a last call at 6:30am is not unusual). Some bars are open 24 hours. If you absolutely must go to Bourbon Street, we recommend that you do not wear open-toed shoes.
* This is a phrase that no one here ever uses, has used or will use.