Spaceship of Vangelis's electronic imagination... PBS

Now, my boyhood had two life-changing experiences. First was watching Star Wars with my aunt (more specifically, maiguru) in 1977. This was the moment, which happened in Seattle (the summer city of my boyhood), I first saw that Christianity did not structure the whole universe. It wasn't fundamental. Evil could be Satan or Darth Vader, and good could be Jesus or Luke Skywalker. This discovery broke my boy-mind. No one had told me that Jesus might not be seen as all that is good on Jupiter, or Alpha Centauri, or a galaxy far, far away.

Peter Murphy, drama queen supreme. Cristi Russo

Nearly 40 years on from their peak period (1979-1983), goth-rock pioneers Bauhaus still sounded vital and vicious. Playing to a large and largely black-clad crowd of die-hard fans at the Paramount last night, the original lineup of vocalist Peter Murphy, drummer Kevin Haskins, guitarist/saxophonist Daniel Ash, and bassist David J ripped through 16 songs from the aforementioned era (including four covers) to the sort of applause, “WOO”s, and “WE LOVE YOU”s that reflected an undying devotion—and a potent strain of nostalgia.

As far as one could see, the attendees were standing throughout the set, many venturing into the aisles to dance. Sing-alongs happened, unfortunately, as during the night's last third, Murphy's aging pipes needed some slack picked up. (Curses, though, to the dude behind me for his wack “singing” to “Kick in the Eye.”