Tonight, the Children of Ghost gathered at the Whisky a Go Go in LA to observe the archival exhibition, celebrating the band’s 1969 performance at the venue. The event was hosted by Metal Myths, who previously showcased Ghost's history and lore in mockumentary format. For any readers who are not versed in the lore of Ghost, I’ll give you a quick rundown so you’re not too lost. In reality, the first Ghost demos were released in 2010 by the talented Tobias Forge who portrays Papa Emeritus IV, the frontman of Ghost. Forge also has portrayed the previous Ghost frontmen named Papa Emeritus III, II, and I in past years. According to the lore, Papa Nihil (not portrayed by Forge) founded Ghost in 1969 and is the father of the first three Emeritus brothers. Could he be the father of Papa Emeritus IV? That’s another conversation for another time. During Papa Nihil’s reign as Ghost’s frontman in the late 60’s, he debuted 2 songs, “Mary On A Cross” and “Kiss The Go-Goat,” live at the Whisky a Go Go (which came to be the music video footage). He released them both on an EP titled Seven Inches of Satanic Panic, which Loma Vista “re”-released in 2019 as a “50th anniversary edition.” Papa Nihil later “died” at a 2020 performance, but fortunately he’s “resurrected” via defibrillator at every show to perform a quick saxophone solo, before passing out and dying..again. Make sense? In 2022, Ghost experienced a whirlwind year with the release of Impera, an AMA nomination and win, Imperatour, their (now Grammy-nominated) performance on Jimmy Kimmel, and of course, Seven Inches of Satanic Panic’s “Mary On A Cross” going viral on TikTok. In addition to the promotion and music videos that came along with the release of Impera, the viral status of 2019’s “Mary On A Cross” prompted the band to also 1. release a multicam video of the song from their Tampa show which has garnered almost 11,000,000 views so far, and 2. release a long lost lyric video, filmed at the Whisky a Go Go. During tonight’s event, I had the immense pleasure of speaking with none other than Kristen Mulderig, Ghost’s Manager. I asked her a couple questions about all things Ghost - including “Mary On A Cross” and their Grammy nomination for their performance of Impera’s “Call Me Little Sunshine”. I wanted to know how everyone on the team was feeling about the nomination, to which she graciously replied, “We’re always celebrating. I know it’s so cliche to say this, but to be nominated and to be recognized is half of the battle, and we’re happy to consistently get nominated. That just means the work is still as good as it was, or better. We’re already happy! If we win we win, if we don’t we don’t. We’re gonna do the same thing on Grammy night whether we win or lose. We’re excited!” I told her the fanbase was excited as well, and that the nomination was well-deserved. As someone who’s been with Ghost since the beginning, I asked Mulderig what she’d suggest to newer fans who recently have gotten into Ghost via “Mary On A Cross.” Her advice: “I think “Mary On A Cross” is an amazing gateway into the fanbase. My suggestion is that they go into the back catalog on Spotify or Apple Music, and I think they’ll be very surprised.” Pleasantly surprised, of course. In addition to the Reverence and Resurrection exhibit, Ghost recently launched another campaign that has had fans on the edges of their seats for the past few weeks, simply by placing a massive, mysterious poster of Papa Emeritus IV’s face and the sentence, “JESUS IS COMING.” in Hollywood. When I asked Mulderig if she could divulge or if we’d have to just wait and see, she had a good laugh and said we’d have to wait and see, and to just “pay attention.” With all of these developments, it’s no wonder why the fans were so excited about this exhibition. I got to the venue around 11:00 AM, work laptop and portable chargers in hand, and was excitedly greeted by a group of 8 fans sitting on the sidewalk. We all watched eagerly as various boxes and bins came out of the Quixote truck that was shading us from the California sun for most of the day. As the afternoon went on, 8 grew to 20, which grew to 120, then 200, then I lost count. I took the time to briefly speak to about 100 fans, asking them how far they had traveled to get to the event. Some were local, most were about 2-4 hours, a few around 8 hours, but two fans stood out in particular. One of them drove 3 hours to an airport in Kansas City then flew into LA for the event. Another took a 21 hour bus ride (including layovers) from the Bay Area. I asked Mulderig if she was surprised by this massive turn out on such short notice, or if she was expecting this, especially given Ghost’s explosion of TikTok popularity in 2022. Her response: “The Ghost fans never let us down. We did a pop-up at The Roxy for Prequelle and the turnout was amazing, so when we started to talk about doing this - we knew. I didn’t realize there would still be as long of a line at 8:00 PM as there was at 4:00 PM, so that definitely beat our expectations, but we knew the fans would come out for it because they're just the best fans. Tonight, our publicist said to me, ‘there’s K-Pop fans, there’s Taylor Swift fans, and then there’s Ghost fans.’” Immediately upon its announcement, this exhibit had fans wondering and theorizing all over Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, and it definitely lived up to the hype. Tables were strewn with tarot cards and black candles. A lifeless Papa Nihil was laid in a glass case with a wreath and sash that read “RIP Papa Nihil” while a glowing white Grucifix lit up the scene. The main downstairs area included a glass display case, holding Papa Nihil’s prized saxophone and another case that held a rare t-shirt from Papa Nihil’s 1969 performance at the Whisky a Go Go. Art displays included framed 60’s-eque comics, a wall of Life magazine covers with Nihil on the frontpage, and a Nihil/Scooby-Doo crossover cartoon on an old, vintage television; it was very fitting for the long running joke that “Ghost sounds like Scooby-Doo chase music.” The crown jewel of the exhibition was definitely the main stage, set with mannequins in Nihil’s costume, hair, and facepaint from the 1969 show, backed by mannequins of his masked bandmates, where fans could take turns posing in front of Nihil and getting their photo taken while a costumed-mannequin of Sister Imperator glared on from the balcony above. The upstairs area included a merch table with exclusive designs on t-shirts, hoodies, pins, and tote bags. The long awaited purple reprints of Seven Inches of Satanic Panic were also available, along with the coveted Ghost-branded record adaptors in yellow and black. The bar offered themed drinks for fans to “Receive. Consume. Digest. Defecate.” including the Sunset Boulevardier, Not Just Another Bloody Mary, and The Purple Haze (Nihil-Alcoholic). I tried The Purple Haze, and it tasted similar to a Baja Blast which was fantastic. For hours, Ghost’s discography coursed through the speakers while I chatted with new friends and old friends. The Ghost community is truly something special, and like any organization, it's a trickle-down effect. Everyone involved is passionate about what they do, which is how we’ve gotten so lucky to have such awesome events such as this. Thank you to everyone who made this possible. As always, Hail Ghost! - I’ll be co-hosting a fan meetup this Sunday Feb. 5 from 1:00 - 3:00 PM PT to celebrate Ghost’s Grammy (or should I say Ghrammy) nomination. We’ll be meeting in front of the Ghost poster on Sunset and Alta Vista in Hollywood to deliver offerings (e.g. flowers and stuffed rat plushies) to the “shrine”. Event will be livestreamed for those who cannot attend.
2 Comments
Patty Martinez
2/2/2023 09:52:30 am
What a great writeup! Thanks again to you and Andres for the great livestream.
Reply
Hannah Gini
3/7/2023 10:17:21 pm
Thank you, Patty! ♡ We had so much fun with the livestream and loved bringing the event to those who couldn't attend.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |