Nocturna
Posted on August 22nd, 2010 by admin
I don’t know if Nocturna is like a secret gem, or one of those things that everybody who should know about it already does, and has forever. When I was a wee one, not even old enough for the 18+ admission, I would rip out ads for it in the Illinois Entertainer, where Scary Lady Sarah’s face would stand out against all the awfully generic metal bands they’d be pumping from Rockford and Joliet and emo and indie bands from Chicago and the burbs (yep, I was a judgmental kid then and a judgmental adult now, but I likes what I likes).
For the uninitiated, Nocturna is a monthly goth night “dark alternative” dance party (read: EBM, industrial, goth, deathrock, darkwave, and some classic punk/post-punk/glam), helmed by Chicago expat Scary Lady Sarah, now in its 22nd year at the Metro.
It is a celebration of all things dark (and then, between the colored contacts and the tinted goggles, the mohawks and wigs and dread extensions, a fuck of a lot of color), and a place where you can get into a serious argument over whether steampunk/cyberpunk is the awesomest/dumbest subculture/literary device ever (believe me, I heard it go down).
Before I turned 21, it was one of the only dance parties I could go to in the city proper, and I wasn’t going to drive out to the suburbs for [shudder] Zero Gravity or Energy, and crush super hard on 10-feet tall girls in corsets, and it was the first party I ever got kicked out of after I turned legal (I blame everclear), so it will always be attached to a bunch of fond memories there.
One more word to the uninitiated: do not miss out on Nocturna’s Halloween party. It is one of the best annual parties in Chicago, featuring the best and most elaborate costumes I’ve ever seen.
Scroll down for the full set of pictures from the night. Right-click any image to download, and for info on ordering prints, click here. All the pictures from this set were taken by Meagan Fredette, visit her blog at Latterstyle.
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