"Vampyre Lounge" was a cable access tv show for Manhattan Cable (MNN). It was created by Asif Murad. It is the longest running video project covering the underground subculture in NYC. The main objective of The Vampyre Lounge was to document the events and happenings taking place in the vampyre and gothic scenes. Vampyre Lounge was based mostly out of NYC's East Village area.
Vampyre Lounge started out under a different name. Around mid 1997 a public access show titled "Vampyre Dreams"'''' premiered on Manhattan Cable Access. This was the beginning of a visual documentation of the events taking place in the vampyre and gothic circles in NYC. Clubs such as the infamous Mother (located in the meatpaking district), The Bank (located on E. Houston St. near Ave A), Coney Island High (located on St. Marks Pl), CBGB Gallery (located near Bowery and Houston), and many other venues and localities usually around the Village area of NYC provided the setting for this cable access venture. "Vampyre Dreams" was initially inspired by another cable access show called "Vampyres". "Vampyres" was the creation of Catherene Night Poe who ran The Vampire Access Hotline. "Vampyres" dealt mostly with interviews that took place at Kathehrine Bledsoe's home in Queens and covered art gallery exhibits and poetry readings. Katherine also worked with her partner Morella on "Vampyres".
When Katherine Bledsoe moved to Florida, Asif Murad along with Morella decided to carry on the show but under a different name. They called their show "Vampyre Dreams" and it went on to become a weekly series on several public access stations throughout the NY metro region and had a full three year run. The show aired on Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island and for a short while it also aired in Queens. Rumor has it that someone taped the show on their VCR and submitted "Vampyre Dreams" to air on a cable access channel in Long Island.
'"Vampyre Dreams"' became one of the top ranked cable access tv shows on Manhattan Cable and had a few different Hostesses including Morella, Madame X (founder of "House of the Dreaming"), Goddess RoseMary (founder of "House Shahaza") among others. In a survey done by Manhattan Neighborhood Network most viewers chose it as being one of their top favorite shows on cable access. The show also garnered a mention in the book "Piercing the Darkness" by Princeton Professor Katherine Ramsland. Prof Ramsland is the official biographer of Anne Rice and has worked with Ann on seven books including "The Vampire Companion" which is a reference guide to the world and history of Anne Rice's vampire characters.
"Vampyre Dreams" ended it's run on cable access tv in late June of 2000 right at the same time club Mother shut it's doors as well. After working on Vampyre Dreams for three years as a weekly show Asif Murad took a long needed sabbatical from his role as a cable access producer. During this time his partner on the show Morella moved to North Carolina. Mr. Murad had family matters to contend with. His dad, after a year long battle with declining health, passed away in Aug of 2002.
In early 2003 Asif Murad went back to Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) and talked to them about creating a brand new monthly half hour show - it was to be called "The Vampyre Lounge"''. The purpose of "Vampyre Lounge"'' was basically the same as Vampyre Dreams'' but aside from covering the vamp/goth lifestyle, The Vampyre Lounge also sought out the local personalities that inhabited the underground world of vampyres and the more stoic Gothic subculture. Although these artists may not have been directly involved with the vampyre lifestyle they still made interesting subjects for the cable access venture. "Vampyre Lounge" was hosted by several people but most notably Djennane Drossier, Babylon Graves and Madame X.
The very first installment of "Vampyre Lounge" featured the band Empire Hideous performing a cover of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" at "Alchemy Mondays". "Alchemy" was the longest running weekly Gothic night in NY history and took place every Monday night at CBGB Galleria. This event was hosted by Althea and Jason. The "Comfortably Numb" cover by Myke Hideous is considered to have surpassed the original Pink Floyd song. It garnered rave reviews by those who caught it on the late night cable access show.
Later in 2009 Madame X called on Asif Murad to create a series of interviews that would be featured on The Vampyre Lounge. Madame X's interviews were called "The Collective". They involved certain members of the vampyre community simply engaging in a casual chat with Madame X. These insightful and often endearing discussions became well known throughout the NYC vampyre community. "The Collective" with Madame X is still in production and can be found on the Internet.
Currently The Vampyre Lounge' is no longer on Manhattan Cable Access but plans are underway to bring it back on an occasional basis.
- Some of the various artists/bands/personalities that have been featured on Vampyre Dreams/Lounge
Belle Morte, Empire Hideous, Cult of the Psychic Fetus, Caledonia, Sofia Run, Serpenteens, ChemLab, CombiChrist, Voltaire, Dresden Dolls, Sky Soto and Vlad Marco, Tony Sokol, Father Sebastian, Folk Fiction, Bitter Grace, Myke Hideous, John Santineross, D'Drennan, St. Eve, Debbie Harry, Christ Stein, The Red King, Katherine Ramsland, Sue Quiroz (head of Vampire Lestat fan club), Charles Gatewood, David Aaron Clark, Danielle Willis, Mr. and Mrs. Nick Fiend of Alien Sex Fiends....and many more (I will keep adding them as time allows).