Quiet Color

by cheryl santa maria

Amsterdam’s Red Light District is packed with tourists and rowdy American college kids.  There are bright lights and beautiful hookers but there is no lust, no drug-fueled shenanigans spilling out onto the street. At 3 in the morning the District is as stale as the suburbs.  We wander in and out of alleyways determined to find a dirty, seedy coffee shop.  We find a hole in the wall.  If we’d blinked we would have missed it.

Artist: Bauhaus Song: Hope

..

The space cakes are huge and they taste like banana bread. There are black lights and mushrooms painted on the wall.  Bela Lugosi’s Dead by Bauhaus is playing.  The song always gives me chills - mostly because Peter Murphy is so damn beautiful.

Another tourist is sitting in the corner, alone.  He looks like Jesus.   He’s hunched over staring at what looks like a photograph.  He’s not moving.  He looks sad.

How does the saying go? Ah, yes..

Where ever you go, there you are.

You can travel to the other side of the damn planet.  You can buy things and you can distract yourself with inane activities but your demons will never leave you.  They’re a part of you and they will show themselves from time to time.  You might as well embrace them.

His music embodies that notion, doesn’t it? Often touted as the Godfather of Goth, Peter Murphy continues to make relevant music.  Currently on tour, he plans to make a live recording of his January 13th gig in Buenos Aires for future release.  The album will be his first since 2004 and there is buzz, buzz, buzz circling ’round the internet.  The official release date is TBA.  Check his blog for updates.