Los Angeles Times (10.28.99)

Halloween Picks

Ideally, it's best to spend Halloween with those who consider the holiday's elements to be their natural habitat. And for that, there's no better bet than Coven 13 and Fetish Ball's third annual Halloween Masquerade Ball, where all the wanna-be vampires and denizens of the netherworld will be out in full glory. Of the five floors of phantasmagoric fun at the fabulously gothic Variety Arts Center, three are dedicated to dancing of the dark wave and industrial varieties. There will be a fetish dungeon taking up floor two. But the main theater is where trick-or-treaters will find the major treats -- sets from the Creatures, Switchblade Symphony, and the Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, in addition to a fashion show by Ms. Antoinette (grab that latex and get out those credit cards).

There's no more enduring female Goth icon than Siouxsie Sioux. In the wake of Siouxsie and the Banshees demise, the Creatures, her former side project and current main vehicle with husband, Budgie (also the Banshees' drummer), are the next best thing, and a pretty good one at that. S.F.'s Switchblade Symphony are, quite rightfully, this generation's most worshiped Goth chicks. There's nothing glorious or pretty about N.Y.C.'s Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, but the supremely freaky Kembra Pfahler and her boys have managed to get tight with the Goth and fetish scenes via their horror movie makeup and theatrical stage show. Suggested costumes: Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS; an adult infant. Sat., Oct. 30, at the Variety Arts Center, 940 S. Figueroa Ave. Los Angeles.

Contributed by Jerry Burch.