Manda wrote to the SCGothlist at Yahoogroups:

"I was just noticing how strange it is that the Box after how many
years of being on MONDAY nights has now changed to SUNDAY nights and
that the monthly event at the Blue after 7/4 will be no more.
Why are these changes being made and is it only "coincidence" that
this is happening so soon after the passing of the person who
basically started all of this? I just find it more than a little odd is all."


This is to address Manda's questions about
the movement of the Box to Sunday nights.

Hi Manda,

I wanted to reassure you that there is no conspiracy here
or even subtle undermining of the old regime.

There are some very good reasons why this has been done
and it was really greatly considered and debated before the
decision was made,
so I wanted to explain a few things about why the decision was made so
everyone can be on the same page, hopefully.

Firstly, NO!, this change has nothing to do with Sean's passing.
Nothing can replace Sean's presence in our scene. You can't imagine
how devastated we all are in the staff of the Box (and I only
include myself in that list because I moderate this list and the
SCGoth tribe list as well). Sean's life
and his contribution to this wonderful scene will always be
celebrated
and respected.

Secondly, everyone has observed that the entire Goth scene has been
declining in numbers in not only the entire bay area and Monterey
bay ararea but (as I can attest from touring in 8 countries in
northern europe and the british isles)also world wide.

The last fairly heavily goth themed club in San Francisco, Death
Guild (and yes, there are a few Industrial scenes)has always
conflicted with the Box on Monday nights.

Since the number of goth events weekly in the Bay Area has dwindled,
we realized (and credit goes here to Grey who really pushed all of
these things to all of us originally)that our own local scene was
losing 5-10 people a week to Death Guild. Knowing that several
people from the Bay Area have travelled to the Box each Monday night
we realized that we were also costing Death Guild a few potential
fans.

Death Guild is a bigger event than the Box so we thought that by
moving the Box to Sunday we could give everyone the option of having
two really good Goth party evenings a week that don't conflict with
each other.

Additionally, we realized that by moving the Box to Sunday nights
that 5-7 times a year that day (Sunday) would occur on a three day
weekend night, allowing revellers to party heavily without having
to
go into work the next day, sleepless and hungover.

This move means we can have three or four specially themed nights
that occur on weekend nights that could draw twice as many people as
the regular Monday night used to.

Additionally, to clarify the history of this move: we lobbied heavily for this and Freddie, the owner of the Blue Lagoon
and our 'boss', nominally, rejected the idea. Then suddenly , recently, he reversed his decision. Faced with
sharing one room with other styles of Monday on a continuing basis or trying to do something to revitalize the scene
(by a Sunday move) the DJs (led by Julian, who was officially given the leadership role by Sean before he passed)
opted to move to Sundays.

I think it's an excellent idea and I also think that the wonderful people who dedicate so much of their time to make this club possible
(all tithed energy to my understanding) can really use all of our support in this difficult transitional phase.

This decision was really kicked around and debated and it was
decided that for the good of the entire scene (both ours, the South
Bays and San Francisco)the club would be moved to Sunday nights.

We all hope that it's okay with everybody. Obviously, some people
will be aversely affected no matter what night the club is put on
and we all tried to be sensitive to that fact. I've talked with
several people who have not been able to make it because it has been
on a Monday night so hopefully, in the long run, attendance will
rise and our scene will grow again.

Sincerely, from Northern Ireland, at the end of my tour,

Rick Walker