Vampy Red: Behind The Villainy

VampyreDJ666...Some just don't know how old that screen name is. It's been read all types of ways, primarily Vampy Red J 666. I've since given up any attempt at correction of that old defunct screen name. There is a story behind it, though. I think it's about time that I finally reveal it.

Now, back in late 2000, early 2001, I hosted a show on Live365.com back when it was free in the late hours of the night playing everything from glam (David Bowie) to black metal (Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Dark Funeral) to straight Rock (Guns N' Roses." I might have had about 100 mp3s on the laptop I was using which belongs to my now ex-wife. The show didn't really flesh itself. It didn't have the time to do it. Live365.com's program ventured into the territory of program death and never returned. Attempts at revival didn't work. The show died with it but not before the Satanic rockers crawled out of the darkness and began requesting all the black metal I had in my collection over and over again.

The screen name was born from the combination of the late-night runs and music format. Vampyre DJ 666 was born. The only unfortunate thing about the screen name was that I always saw it as a reflection of that failure, and therefore, a total pariah. I was never truly proud of it. Even when my second shot at internet radio came up and I was even able to revive The Genocydal Empyre (which was formerly slated to be a band name) and the name Genocyde (the name I would have taken on as lead vocalist/character) I still wasn't proud of having to use it but the whole thing was convenient.

It's no longer in use. Rayne saw to that, albeit unintentionally. I look at it as she did me a favor by killing that old bullshit screen name. I had given serious thought to just giving it a rest and therefore, getting a new one and readding all the people on my list that mattered. I was, however, unceremoniously locked out of it and now, months upon months later, I'm still remembering to add the people that matter. If I haven't gotten around to adding you to my new Yahoo, it's not that you don't matter, it just means that I'm still scraping my ancient and decrepit long-term memory for screen names. Just shoot me a message and I'll add you to my new one if I haven't already.

Red though, is a color that has been bleeding (no pun intended) into my life more and more lately. My rosary's Hail Mary beads are Blood Red Czech Glass. The Our Father beads are skulls...not sure that I want to know what they're made of and they're sitting in a coffin on my desk lined in red felt. My new RAZRphone is Death Cult Armageddon Blood Red and on a good day, I can set it to fire off some really focused signals to make people do all manner of things considered insane. My favorite Cockfight Club t-shirt is red...though it's fading from the washes. Isn't it amazing how another color can go so well with black? Hasn't done much for local rumor about me being some bloodthirsty vampire/Satanist but then again, I have so much fun with those rumors. People love their villains. Darth Vader, Pinhead, Freddy, Jason...those movies were never associated with their heroes. Lestat never started out as a hero. He was villainous and pure evil in Louis' account until many simply made him into a hero. Anne Rice merely responded to the call of the people. Louis took a backseat through the rest of the series, if not, the trunk of that car.

At least one thing can be said of the Villain in our culture...he or she always lives free. They're not bound by morals, ethics, rules of conduct, etc. Villains do as they wish. Some heroes are made into villains. Some villains are canonized. I rather enjoy it in a sense. To know that I don't stand with some of these rather detestable types. Perhaps I'm more the anti-hero type. I'll tolerate the intolerable when it suits me and I make my alliances where others question it. I am also protective of those alliances to the point of a fury most deadly. I hold no hesitation about resorting to savagery to protect those I care about. Perhaps I am a predator waiting for the right moron to cross my path. If it happens, my friends, cover your eyes and your ears. The things you see and hear will not be that of the friend you know but of a monster, great and terrible and like a furious storm, focused and calm at the center, wreaking havoc and destruction outward from it.

"Life is a moving shadow. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing..."

-William Shakespeare "Hamlet"