Convergence 13 Seattle Committee and Staff

Affectionately known as "The People Who Seem to be Allergic to Free Time", different combinations of the C13 Seattle Committee and Staff promote and host several weekly and monthly Gothic and Industrial club nights, present and organize Gothic fashion shows, officiate and produce most community weddings, bring international bands to Seattle, and organize genre-specific art shows. 
 
Comprised of a group of individuals with a long history of working together producing, hosting and promoting successful community events, the C13 Seattle Committee and Staff have been carefully chosen based on each individual's areas of professional expertise.   For the C13 Seattle Committee and Staff members, their roles in hosting C13 would mirror their professional lives to help make a Convergence gathering in Seattle unforgettable once again.

Alexia Roy / Alexiarnps
Chair, Chief Cat Herder

Alexia made her first black dress, on her grandmother's sewing machine, at age eight. At eleven, she cried when she found out she was too young to get into an Adam Ant concert. By age fourteen, clad in riding boots, vintage frock, and topcoat, Alexia was listening to Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and Legendary Pink Dots, when, to her surprise, someone called her a Goth. She's never looked back since - except to make sure her bustle is on straight. Although she still gets rankled every time someone asks if her given name is a made-up "Goth name", she does carry calling cards inscribed "Professional Diva".
 
Alexia's day-job resume includes a few two-dollar words like "artists' liaison", "special events coordinator " and "personal assistant to the CEO of a major publisher.”  Currently a regional operations manager for a medical company that manufactures and maintains human bionic implant devices (yes, it’s exactly as cool as it sounds), her job description includes “maintaining cadaver levels” and she wouldn’t have it any other way.
 
After spending her formative starving-student years in Portland's Goth scene of the early 1990's, hosting house parties in lieu of a regular club night to go to, she moved to Seattle in time to harbor nostalgia for the original downtown Machinewerks and Vogue locations.  She currently moonlights as moderator chair for the Seattle Gothic message board, producer, entertainment booker, and promoter of Seattle's reoccurring "Gothique" fashion show events, and occasional guest panelist on "Goth" and "costuming" related topics at cons that are, of course, nowhere near as cool as Convergence.
 
She's also become something of a 'go-to girl' whenever Seattle's crisp, Northwest air inspires yet another couple to plan a Goth-friendly wedding. With a scant four weeks to plan her own wedding, and a tight budget after spending too much on the hotel at C7, a 'quiet, simple ceremony' quickly turned into 'let's throw a party'.  Arriving in a hearse to a reception opened as a no-cover club night and concert to the public with catered goodies, goth/industrial rock bands, guest DJs, and a crowd of 750 guests - complete with radio promotion, a documentary-series TV crew, and perhaps most importantly, a Dias de los Muertos bride and groom on the cake. 
 
Alexia has three black cats, three pet toads, and one very understanding husband.

Erica Jantos / Vomvamuse
Co-Chair, Hotels, Hospitality, Facilities, On-Site Events

A proud New Jersey native, Erica grew up among classic architecture and rolling hills - the 'garden' part of the Garden State. She frequented the local music venues as well as the clubs of Philadelphia and New York until she relocated to the Pacific Northwest in 1996. She was a committee member of her first convergence, C6 in Seattle. She looks forward to the revelry that will be C12 New Orleans, partook in the event that was C9 Las Vegas (baby!), and would like to forget that she even tried to help with C7.
 
A 15-year corporate goth in the hospitality industry, Erica is currently a catering sales manager at an exclusive private club in downtown Seattle. When she is not making each party 'perfect' you will find her either record flipping for that one import, dining out somewhere, or rating the night's DJ at a local club, rarely without a confidante in tow.

Jillian Venters /
The Lady of the Manners
Co-Chair, Daytime Outings, Voice of Reason

A C6 committee veteran, the Lady of the Manners makes no claims of having always been Gothic; the Lady of the Manners firmly believes that no one can really claim that, and anyone who does might be trying a touch too hard to establish their gothy credibility.
 
However, the Lady of the Manners was a fairly spooky and morbid child, with parents who never objected to the Lady of the Manners’ eccentric taste in clothing. (Instead, the Lady of the Manners’ parents used it as an incentive to do well in school: “If you get straight A’s, we’ll buy you pointy buckle boots!”) The Lady of the Manners’ father raised her to be his revenge upon the Universe, while her mother rolled her eyes a lot and frequently had an air of amused patience.
 
When the Lady of the Manners discovered the existence of the whole Gothic subculture, she clapped her hands with glee and fell upon it like a babybat upon a box of Count Chocula cereal. Eventually the Lady of the Manners came to realize that excellent clothes were not, contrary to popular opinion, a substitute for excellent manners, and that being a Black-Clad-Freak didn’t have to mean being depressed and snarly. (Witty, sarcastic, and possibly a touch cynical, yes. Mean-spirited, sullen, and rude, no.) Since then, the Lady of the Manners has spent a not-inconsiderable amount of time trying to gently persuade others in her chosen subculture that being a goth and being polite is much, much more subversive than just wearing black t-shirts with ‘edgy’ sayings on them.

www.gothic-charm-school.com

Mike Wimer /
Noxious Emotion, MusicWerks, ADSR
Co-Chair, Music Booking, Talent Liaison

Beginning with his own bands, and then as concert promoter, label owner, and record store owner, Mike's dedication has made him an irreplaceable fixture of the Gothic / Industrial music scene in Seattle since the late 1980's. His independent record label, ADSR, has been responsible for releases from his own Mental Ward and Noxious Emotion, along with SMP, Ninth Circle, ThouShaltNot, OMNIbOX, GLIS, And Christ Wept, Static Engine, and Tau Factor. As a booker and concert promoter with MusicWerks, he's been responsible for bringing a steady stream of national and international acts to Seattle, and years of experience booking shows across the United States and Europe, Japan, and the former Soviet Union. 
 
Mike's treated West Coast audiences to performances from Assemblage 23, Covenant, And One, OHGR, Hate Dept., Front 242, Echo & the Bunnymen, Faith and the Muse, Collide, Snog, Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Attrition, Moev, Cruxshadows, Bella Morte, VNV Nation, Icon of Coil, Apoptygma Berzerk, Beborn Beton, KMFDM, 16 Volt, Kidney Thieves, Slick Idiot, Seabound, Stromkern, Mors Syphilitica, Death in June, Haujobb, Hocico, Babyland, Voltaire, Melotron, Noisex, Funker Vogt, Hanzel Und Gretyl, Delerium, Wolfsheim, Imperative Reaction, Imminent Starvation, Hungry Lucy, Combichrist, Gene Loves Jezebel, Written In Ashes, Android Lust, Marina Sirtis...and many, many more, earning a well-deserved and long-standing reputation for treating not only concertgoers well, but the bands he brings in, topped with his trademark warm, humble smile and sense of humor.  
 
When the original location of Mike's MusicWerks record store - one of far too few 'goth-industrial only' brick-and-mortar record stores in the country - fell victim to an unfortunate electrical fire in 2003, regional bands quickly came together to show their support, putting on the now-infamous "Fire Festival" marathon benefit concert, including a literal "fire sale" of smoke-damaged CD's. Musicwerks' new Pine Street store is within walking distance of the proposed hotel(s) and Capitol Hill event locations.

Monsignor
Pre Function and Post Function Host

A Seattle native, true Gothic Elder and active community member, our own martini-soaked fallen Holy Man has provided countless services over the years, including producing the highly successful monthly evening known as 'Confessional' and hosting dozens of events and club nights in additional to marrying a good number of us, er, to each other, I mean! 
 
The first person to arrive, the last person to leave, and always with a smile, Monsignor is the absolute 'Host with the Most' harkening back to the golden days of the immaculately executed soirée.

Robert Tritthardt /
DJ Sprockets, Uber Comics
DJ Coordinator, Comics Artists Coordinator

Robert was raised in the nothingness of the midwest. For many years he was lost, until he heard Tones On Tail's 'Burning Skies' while attending art school. In only ten years, he has deejayed at many clubs across the country (and a few places overseas) and has become internationally recognized for his gothic comic Writhe and Shine. He helped organize C5 in New Orleans, and subsequently attended C6, C9, C10 and C12. Robert moved to Seattle in 2005 where he hopes to accomplish a hell of a lot more, but if some Wookies dropped by and asked him to come along for an adventure, he'd totally go.

www.writheandshine.com

Katie Mineke / Mineke, Dark Industry
Fashion Events Coordinator

Katie Mineke is a native Washingtonian. Sewing since childhood, she followed her dream of becoming a fashion designer and obtained her degree from the Art Institute of Seattle's Fashion Design program a short eighteen months after graduating from high school. She uses her lifetime of skills and her trusty schooling for her current venture, Dark Industry Clothing. 
 
She's been a very active participant in Seattle's gothic/industrial scene since before she was old enough to attend clubs, volunteering and being called upon for many fashion-related projects. She continues to put out line after line, at her own expense, to be shown in the local fashion shows and to inspire others to dress to impress.
 
Her day life is also spent in the fashion industry, working as a materials coordinator and product developer for Columbia Sportwear (the brand new owner of the Pacific Trail and affiliated brands). So she basically eats, sleeps, drinks, and breathes fashion every single day of her life, and she loves it.
 
Plain and simple: she loves making clothes, and especially loves making clothes for this genre. In no other group of people would a period gown made out of shiny vinyl be not only accepted, but lusted after; where the color black is seen as a form of self-expression, where a lifestyle of decadence is revered. She's come to find that the highest standards of fashion and beauty are right here, in this scene, and feels so grateful to be a part of it.

www.darkindustryclothing.com

Jim Graham / TwelfthNight
Production Management, Venue Coordinator, Technical Director

With an extensive career in the event and concert industry, Jim hit the road at the age of eighteen when he started working as a roadie for many local, national, and international acts. After twenty years spent on the road running front of house, managing road crews, and, much to the delight of his friends, having embarrassing pictures of himself in Spandex leggings resurface years later in Motley Crue tell-all biographies, he retired back to Seattle to set up his own production company, Jim Graham Productions.

Jim Graham Productions has gone on to produce events for such clients as Microsoft, Apple, Nordstroms, Tabor 100, and many other national corporations. Jim also works as a freelance production manager and technical director for many other local and national production companies, providing them with his talents and skills, but still manages to show up at the club for a round of Jameson's every weekend.

Colleen Smet-Mathis / LeeNy, Leenerella
Co-Webmaster, I.T., Non-Musical Performances Consultant, Fire Safety Advisor

Born and raised in Washington, Colleen became an AZgoth in 1998, and returned to Seattle just in time to volunteer for Convergence 6.  She is the webmaster for www.gothic-charm-school.com, and www.granolagoth.com, along with her day job as a webmaster at University of Washington, and has also served as a moderator on the Seattle Gothic message board.
 
Colleen has a background and education in theatre, and has volunteered to help with many local theme events, organized SeaGoth beach burns and produced, directed, and performed in fire shows throughout Washington state.  As her Granola Goth credits suggest, she's an avid outdoor enthusiast.  She is working on a theme camp for her fourth year at Burning Man, and loves firedancing, bellydancing, and yoga.  She is married to a tall, dark, and handsome stagehand, and they live on Capitol Hill with their two cats, Dib and Gaz.

Chris Roy /
Chrisrnps, Dollfactory, NPS-Media
Co-Webmaster, Printed Materials, Promo

Picking up the violin in fourth grade, and later moving on to guitar and keyboards, Chris earned his first Goth points clearing the audience at a high-school talent show with feedback-drenched covers of Killing An Arab and Dark Entries. Playing in Oregon and Washington with his early bands Crown of Thorns and Guernica throughout high school and college, Chris moved to Seattle in 1993, and has worked as a graphic designer, multimedia programmer, sound and lighting technician, stagehand, music store sales manager, audio post engineer for the film and video industries, and technical support administrator for live sound and recording studio equipment manufacturers, which one would think might exempt him from getting stuck with a nickname like "The Foppiest Fop in all of Fopdom", but after putting on a frock coat and downing a few Sapphire-and-tonics, he really doesn't have a leg to stand on.

Currently at work on upcoming CDs from SMP and his current band, Doll Factory, Chris' favorite memory from previous Convergences was the unofficial "C7 Rescue Committee" night at the Limelight.