Local Goth Dancers Protest the Removal of Rave Bridge

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Written by: Robin Brewin

“This sucks and my life feels like it has no meaning. Honestly, kind of a good day,” said protesting goth Bloodsoul Sadness.
Photo by Robin Brewin

A local troupe of black-clad dancers have taken to protesting the proposed demolition of what is to many an unremarkable concrete overpass. Known as The Nightshift, this small community of about twenty members held weekly dance nights beneath San Diego freeways until very recently when one offramp in Imperial Beach was closed off in preparation for demolition.

Since receiving news of the upcoming construction project, The Nightshift meets weekly in the construction zone beneath the overpass, with members often staking out for several hours at a time. Deathly Death, a 26 year-old “graver,” or gothic raver, reportedly quit his day job as a car salesman in order to display his support for The Nightshift full-time. “We’ve never seen the guy leave the place,” says Joel Frisbee, a construction worker. “Never seen him get here either, he just kinda showed up one day. Doesn’t matter what janked up hour we work, he’s there. Nobody even knows when he eats or goes to the bathroom.”

When asked about the importance of this particular location, Nightshift member Bloodsoul Sadness said, “You don’t find this kind of dreary dankness under just any bridge; the cool sewer breeze flows freely here and there’s the perfect ratio of unidentifiable dead things and parched grass. Besides, this was where we first met Nothing, our leader.” Sadness reports that Nothing overthrew the previous Nightshift leader via dance-off, with “the most depressing, mopey dance moves I’d ever seen”. When asked if Nothing was available for interview, Death proclaimed that Nothing was adamant about not talking to “mundanes.”

Current demonstrations held by The Nightshift range from “dancing” to the ambience of nearby traffic, poetry readings, and laying hands-over-heart in the construction zone, as if the dancers were positioned to be viewed at an open-casket funeral. Peggy Schmegg, whose apartment complex is only a few hundred feet from the overpass, had this to say in response to The Nightshift’s demonstrations: “We’re fine with them protesting, it’s actually better than what they were doing before. I mean, there’s only so many times you can stand hearing ‘sex horror sex bat sex sex horror sex vampire sex bat horror vampire sex’ blasted through tinny speakers in the middle of the night.”

The Nightshift has no plans to stop their protesting anytime soon, and only time will tell whether they succeed in their endeavors. Sadness remarked, “It would really put a stake in my heart to see this bridge go, but there is that freshly abandoned Denny’s we could make into our new space. It feels so macabre, a vacant, rotting corpse … as much a symbol of late-stage capitalism as it is a victim of it. The delicious irony of it all makes me salivate, and so does the lingering smell of syrup.”

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