The Finnish publications Seiska and Findance published some new photos of Marilyn Manson, who was spotted with former Rob Zombie bassist Piggy D in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles after going to Mexicali restaurant. These photos were taken on Wednesday, April 24th 2024.
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A week has gone by since tickets to Marilyn Manson's summer tour went on sale, and fans are generally very excited to see him perform live again. And even though various accusers, their supporters, and media outlets have tried canceling him from any comeback due to the coordinated hoax against him, having done all they can to prevent him from ever having a music career again, branding him as a rapist, a pedophile, a murderer, a Nazi, a racist, a cult leader, and pretty much anything else to falsely twist his art and smear his image and destroy him, what we have just experienced this past week, right before the spring equinox tomorrow and the resurrectional atmosphere of the Easter season upon us, is Manson's own resurrection from what could simply be described as a dead career, after being crucified with false accusations.
Remarkably, despite the absolutely relentless campaign to destroy him over the past three years, where they left him dead in the tomb of obscurity, he has emerged, no doubt to the shock and awe of many, leaving them speechless. Despite this promise of Manson's return, no doubt one of the greatest comebacks in rock and roll history, the media is shocked with silenced, the accusers are shocked with silenced, and they are left without a response. They know a tour is coming, an album is coming, and the best the media has done is just blandly mention that it is happening, hoping to draw little to no attention to it, yet out of obligation reporting on it. Maybe they are saving their ammunition for when the beast has fully emerged from the water, for when the hydra has fully regrown its chopped off head, though it can be argued this has already happened, but it more seems like many have been left dumbfounded. All their twisted brains can do is blame Manson's supporters for just being rape apologists and horrible, evil people themselves for allowing such a return to happen, and knowing that it is futile to go after Manson at this point, they are going after the band supporting their return to touring this summer, Five Finger Death Punch (FFDP).
Over the past week, besides the blowback fans and supporters of Manson have received, albeit minimally, the real blowback has been directed towards FFDP. The media has pretty much ignored any type of reaction or commentary, but on social media you will occasionally find someone tagging FFDP asking why they chose to support a rapist and pedophile. An attempt to make this go viral was even made on Instagram on March 12th by Caroline Heldman, an accuser of Bill O' Reilly who is now an activist and supporter of Manson's accusers. This was followed the next day by Manson's old accuser Louise Keay Bell, who tried to add some humor to the mix of calling out FFDP and warning people of what she perceives as the dangers of purchasing a Meet and Greet ticket based on an alleged (and very questionable) incident from her Meet and Greet in 2012. Surprisingly, the ever-vocal Evan Rachel Wood has not reacted (yet), though on March 12th she did appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon promoting her last month of performances for Little Shop of Horrors noticably missing a fake nail, which some have jokingly speculated she stressfully chewed off due to the Manson announcement. FFDP has remained steadfast and not replied to any blowback, which I'm sure they fully expected would come their way. Besides, if you look at the social media comments from various media publications announcing the tour, you will be hard-pressed to see much in the way of negative comments against Manson; instead there is overwhelming support, which says a lot about a possible turning of the tide for not only Manson but for the plethora of accusations coming from MeToo hysterics.
Remarkably, despite the absolutely relentless campaign to destroy him over the past three years, where they left him dead in the tomb of obscurity, he has emerged, no doubt to the shock and awe of many, leaving them speechless. Despite this promise of Manson's return, no doubt one of the greatest comebacks in rock and roll history, the media is shocked with silenced, the accusers are shocked with silenced, and they are left without a response. They know a tour is coming, an album is coming, and the best the media has done is just blandly mention that it is happening, hoping to draw little to no attention to it, yet out of obligation reporting on it. Maybe they are saving their ammunition for when the beast has fully emerged from the water, for when the hydra has fully regrown its chopped off head, though it can be argued this has already happened, but it more seems like many have been left dumbfounded. All their twisted brains can do is blame Manson's supporters for just being rape apologists and horrible, evil people themselves for allowing such a return to happen, and knowing that it is futile to go after Manson at this point, they are going after the band supporting their return to touring this summer, Five Finger Death Punch (FFDP).
Over the past week, besides the blowback fans and supporters of Manson have received, albeit minimally, the real blowback has been directed towards FFDP. The media has pretty much ignored any type of reaction or commentary, but on social media you will occasionally find someone tagging FFDP asking why they chose to support a rapist and pedophile. An attempt to make this go viral was even made on Instagram on March 12th by Caroline Heldman, an accuser of Bill O' Reilly who is now an activist and supporter of Manson's accusers. This was followed the next day by Manson's old accuser Louise Keay Bell, who tried to add some humor to the mix of calling out FFDP and warning people of what she perceives as the dangers of purchasing a Meet and Greet ticket based on an alleged (and very questionable) incident from her Meet and Greet in 2012. Surprisingly, the ever-vocal Evan Rachel Wood has not reacted (yet), though on March 12th she did appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon promoting her last month of performances for Little Shop of Horrors noticably missing a fake nail, which some have jokingly speculated she stressfully chewed off due to the Manson announcement. FFDP has remained steadfast and not replied to any blowback, which I'm sure they fully expected would come their way. Besides, if you look at the social media comments from various media publications announcing the tour, you will be hard-pressed to see much in the way of negative comments against Manson; instead there is overwhelming support, which says a lot about a possible turning of the tide for not only Manson but for the plethora of accusations coming from MeToo hysterics.
As fans have begun to make their summer plans to lend their support for and even meet Manson with much enthusiasm, both Manson and his wife Lindsay posted some very interesting photos on Instagram on March 16th. Below are all the photos that were posted with their captions, beginning with Lindsay then followed by Manson, followed by commentary for each one.
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Lindsay's first photo clearly is meant to be interpreted symbolically, and since we have so far been pointed to a revival of the Holy Wood era, it is probably safe to draw our interpretation from there, with an open mind of course to new connections coming in the future. The colors of the dress are the contrasts of pink and red we have seen with Manson in the past, but there is a common theme of death in these photos that makes me want to speculate there could be more to this in combination with the Holy Wood era, perhaps the fact that Jackie Kennedy wore her bloodstained pink dress during the swearing-in of Lyndon B. Johnson. Other images of death in this photo are the sword, which could further indicate a sense of battle or revenge, and the upside down flowers from my understanding is how you are supposed to carry flowers to a funeral. We can also mention the contrasts Manson really emphasized in the Holy Wood era, in this case the contrast between life (flowers) and death (sword), love and hate, beauty and grotesque, peace and violence. The caption for this photo, "Vernal", indicates the season of spring, which is the season that a transition takes place in nature from the death of winter to the blooming of life.
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The second photo, captioned "plein air" ("outdoors" or "open air"), showcases Lindsay's Impressionist style of art often focusing on the beauty of nature, and reflects similar photos of the sky and open air of her past photography. Charles Baudelaire, the author of Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) which is often referenced by Manson and Lindsay, was also an important art critic. Baudelaire argued that art should capture the modern life, both its glamour and bleakness, with a constant awareness of its transience. Baudelaire’s ideas came to life through the brushstrokes of Impressionists.
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The third photo is captioned "Calla Lilies", and depicts Lindsay with red Calla Lilies. Calla Lilies are unique and often associated with rites of passage, such as weddings and funerals, while red Calla Lilies in particular are said to symbolize faithfulness and courage, which are certainly admirable traits we can ascribe to Lindsay throughout this ordeal.
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In the fourth photo, captioned "Enterrement" ("Funeral" or "Burial"), we are able to possibly make another Baudelaire reference. Édouard Manet, a good friend of Baudelaire, was a French modernist painter who was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. He made noteworthy "plein air" art, and among his pieces was one titled Vernal and another titled L'Enterrement, the latter being said to depict the burial of his friend Baudelaire. In this photo by Lindsay, which has obvious death imagery, we also see an abundance of life imagery, not only with the splendid assortment of flowers at this unknown burial, but even the young children holding a cluster of grapes, as we see in Roman art to depict the wine of the god Dionysius. Again, what we see here is an image of spring, of life and resurrection emerging from death. If we were to associate this with past Manson imagery, in the Holy Wood era during the performance of "Valentine's Day", the decapitated head of Manson (or the Hydra or John the Baptist) is surrounded by clusters of grapes ("we'd drink wine from his head"), while elsewhere in this era it is combined with flowers giving it more spiritual meaning.
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Lindsay's fifth photo is captioned "Hallowed Ground", and if we associate this with the rest of the photos, we can point to the fact that cemeteries are considered hallowed ground, that is, consecrated ground. Besides the reference to death, it could also be a reference to the light of the sun shining through the dark clouds, almost like a divine ray breaking up the dark clouds, or life emerging from death, thus making it another reference to spring and resurrection.
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Lindsay's sixth photo is a photo which Manson posted three different versions of. She captioned it "The Long Climb" while he captioned it "Under A Midnight Sun". Lindsay's caption could be a reference to the ordeal Manson has gone through on a personal level. The term "midnight sun" refers to the consecutive 24-hour periods of sunlight experienced in some regions of the earth during the summer. If there is a story to the order presented in these photos, then it is a story of rebirth and resurrection, but even here we see a contrast with Manson covered completely in black, wearing a hat he often wore during the Holy Wood era, but now for the first time on this hat he wears a skull and crossbones. This tells us that despite the beauty of his surroundings, Manson still maintains the element of the grotesque.
All in all, I believe what we have here, besides everything said above, are images that draw us back to Holy Wood. It reminds me of The Death Parade, a thirty-minute short film directed by Marilyn Manson in 2002, using footage from onstage and backstage of the Guns, God and Government tour. The title derives from a lyric in the song "A Place in the Dirt", from the album Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death). It is assumed the title of this song derived from the 1951 film A Place in the Sun, which ends with a somewhat innocent man being led to his execution. The lyrics of the song can also correspond well to the photos posted by Lindsay. Also, in the short film The Death Parade, Manson visits the so called "Bone Church" in the Czech Republic wearing the same hat he wears in these photos, and in this church are depictions of the skull and crossbones (see three images above this paragraph), which makes this place of the dead truly "hallowed ground".
If we also look at the official Celebritarian Corporation masthead that came out during the Eat Me, Drink Me era to bring together a summary of Manson's past artistic messages, we see some of these symbols that were then assembled seemingly being once again assembled, perhaps in a different form, which includes a possible explanation for the red hands of Manson in his profile photo with the imagery of the stigmata from the Holy Wood era, in reference to Manson being stigmatized and being made a scapegoat.