San Francisco comes out to play
Tonight was the sixth annual Edwardian Ball. In this case, the "Edward" refers as much to Edward Gorey as to King Edward VII. I always like an excuse to see well-turned out people in their vintage finery, and the fact that the event was at the Great American Music Hall--just 2 blocks from home--was quite a bonus.



Now, I don't own any Edwardian clothing; the closest I have would be some 1930s suits. But, being San Francisco, the rules were a bit more flexible than "strictly authentic Edwardian", so I ended up wearing an early 1970s Cortefiel burgundy velvet half-belted coat, pale burgundy silk sharkskin shirt, 1960s Liberty of London cravat, 1950s black stirrup ski pants, 1960s Pierre Cardin boots, and topping it off with a 1960s Cardin "Cosmocorps" hat. My wife contributed a black silk rose for my lapel. It's my "space-age Tyrolean dandy" look, and it's not coming soon to a runway near you.



I foolishly didn't bother to buy tickets in advance ("how many people could possibly be into Edward Gorey and gothic dandyism in San Francisco?", he stupidly asked). I sauntered over to the box office at 6pm, intending to buy tickets, but they didn't open until 7, by which time I was back at home and well into my second cocktail of the evening. When my wife and I walked back to the club at 8:30, we were deeply chagrined to discover that tickets were sold out, and we were very unlikely to be able to get in.

Indeed, by 9:00, the line of we who didn't have tickets but were hoping for a miracle, stretched all the way down the block. At least the people-watching was excellent; I hadn't seen so many stylish people gathered together for years. Some of the outfits--especially the women's--were astounding, with huge Edwardian hats mixed with Dark Garden corsets, ostrich plumes, glitter eyeshadow and fetish boots. We waited semi-patiently, and had a nice conversation with the girl in front of us who had driven up from Santa Cruz with two friends. The word from the doorman was increasingly pessimistic until, at 10:00, he essentially said that there was no chance that any of us were going to get in.

Then, a surprise: it so happened that two of the three girls from Santa Cruz actually had tickets, but they refused to go in unless their friend could join them. No one else had a single ticket to sell, so they were going to give up and go home. They offered us their two tickets, for free! I couldn't possibly accept them for free, so I was glad that they accepted my offer of their face value. We didn't dare look behind us as we walked in, as I'm sure that fifty people would've been willing to commit unspeakable acts to get those tickets instead of us.

Unfortunately, we missed Jill Tracy, who had already left the stage. But the crowd was fantastic, and the Edwardiana (of both varieties) was quite impressive. Someone on 5-foot tall stilts was dressed as the ghoulish fellow with the umbrella from "The Gashlycrumb Tinies". There was also a Basil, who had been assaulted by bears, as well as many more Gorey characters. We found a table on the mezzanine, ordered drinks, and soaked in the bygone revelry. Strangers started up animated conversations, took pictures, danced, left their valuables unattended, and generally enjoyed themselves with abandon.

The headliners were Rosin Coven, whose recordings we own, but weren't particularly impressed by. We were quite surprised to find that they were much better live than on record. Perhaps it's because we couldn't understand their rather stilted lyrics this way. The vibes player, two cellists, baritone trombone, etc., sounded more interesting live, and lead singer Carrie Katz also played a lovely old Kay guitar. An impossibly stylish lesbian couple danced the tango, like a scene out of "Henry and June".

By far the highlight of the evening was the Vau de Vire Society, who performed a splendid rendition of Gorey's "The Gilded Bat". The troupe of performers was amazing, with classically-trained ballet dancers-cum-contortionists/acrobats not only acting out the story, but looking exactly the part. I very much doubt that any group could ever do Gorey greater justice.

I'm sure that many people will have uploaded pictures by tomorrow, but if you're curious about the event, there is much information here: http://edwardianball.com/