6:19 And I Know I'm Ready...

WARNING: The events described are non-fictional. They are mentioned in the exact order in which they happened. Discretion is advised.

This is where it starts, this is where it will end, here comes the Moon again...

...so say the lyrics of the opening song, "If I Was Your Vampire". Today we warp to 2007 when the album "EAT ME, DRINK ME" was released. This was one of those moments in which such a trivial event becomes a symbol of your generation, as in the tradition of bands like Nirvana, the Beatles or even Elvis Presley.

For me it all began within the realm of dreams; a place so haunting and seducing like Alice's Wonderland. For isn't it true that every Manson fan's deepest wish is to come face to face to feel surrounded by his aura of greatness? Some struggle very little to get to it, some all their lives...

Nevertheless one night the dream unfolded in the form of a devious contest; one cleverly designed by the likes of big companies to always end up empty-handed, very much like Willy Wonka's grand mystery prize. I felt as broken-hearted as Charlie did in the end. But what was about to come next would stay with me for years...

I was standing in the middle of a bar leaning against a banister, feeling down when out of nowhere someone comes and along and whispers softly,

"I believe you were expecting me."

And as I tilted my head up I saw Manson. And a tight embrace became my immediate response.

There he was looking exactly the same as in the picture you see below, in black leather, as usual. The feeling of meeting an old friend that you haven´t seen in years came to mind.

Promotional photo for EMDM, by Perou.

And he slowly looked back at me and said,

"We're friends, right?"

Of course, that's better than nothing. And so we parted ways after that; a beginning and an end. And like Alice I grew curiouser and curiouser and decided to follow this dark rabbit, only to find out that he landed in the middle of a heated discussion.

There was a young blonde girl seated in a throne made entirely of glass, her arms crossed and that terrible expression of an upset girlfriend. She got up and smashed this chair right in front of Manson and left.

..or then again the blonde girl could
have been Alice.

And how ironic it seemed that in the background a somewhat familiar song highlighted the lyrics,

"so much for my happy ending..."

 from by Avril Lavigne (it's known that Manson met Avril Lavigne in real life). And then the images faded away...

At which point did the dream end anyway? I woke up next Sunday and when I got the chance to look at the newspaper I found with the deepest of regrets that the once lavish and eccentric marriage between Manson and Dita had fallen apart. I was in shock, but most of all puzzled. Mixed feelings came about.

Then it wasn't until June 5th with no delay that the album landed into my hands. When I came across the Track 1, the eerie sound became oddly familiar and that´s when I flashbacked into yet another vision.

I was in what seemed to be a big hotel, probably from the 1930s. I walked across the many rooms that it had and along the way I felt the presence of ghosts; spectres. And then these lyrics came to mind:

"it´s 6 am, Christmas morning, no shadows, no reflections here, lying cheek to cheek in your cold embrace..."

or they could have been the memories left behind where he used to live.

One way or another dreams have tied me inexplicably to this album, like I had been a part of this experience, therefore it holds a place in my unconscious. Like some time later, Manson got up early one morning, dressed in a white suit. The breeze made the curtains seem like waves in the ocean. His house had gone empty, like moving. He had a particular attachment for antiques and still was determined to get rid of them. All but one big wooden wardrobe and a tall mirror, symbols of self?

The weird thing was that my grandfather was the one who helped him move. But, oh well.

Coincidences happen all the time, don´t they? They are related to what is known as psychic links (refer to the work of Dion Fortune, Psychic Self-Defense, 1971) and the stronger the affinity becomes the stronger the bond. I covered this subject earlier in another entry (see: The Psychic Bond )

With this supernatural introduction we dig deeper into the rabbit hole and see what more wonders EAT ME; DRINK ME have in store for us....

"No, I´ll look first," she said, "and see whether it´s marked
poison or not."