What is Goth? The Teutonic barbarians who conquered the Roman Empire in the 3rd-century? Suburban kids dressed in black with a predilection for the novels of Anne Rice, the albums of the Cure, the poetry of Charles Baudelaire and the crumbling cemeteries of New Orleans?

Whatever Goth is, vocalist/songwriter Borgessa says she ain’t it: "I’m not a Goth but that’s what I’m hearing from people: ‘Oh, it sounds Goth to me.’ My music has that dark edge to it. I’m a dark kind of person but I’m also very light. There’s a lot of light going on in my world because it’s all positive and that’s how I want to remain–just straight ahead in the light.

"I would have to give my music its own name–Gothic Luminaire, which means that this is a Gothic world that we’re living in and I’m trying to make light of it. There’s a lot of dark, negative things going on–not saying that my life is negative–but I see these things and I’m around them and sometimes you can’t get away from them because, trust me, the world is beautiful but there’s a lot of negative things going on. I’m seeing these things and they’re affecting me when I write."

Born Michelle Borges 25 years ago in New Orleans, Borgessa is the daughter of veteran studio owner Traci Borges. She releases her first, eponymic album this month and will make her performing debut on January 1 at Igor’s Checkpoint Charlie.

"My last name is Borges and that’s what I was going to call myself," Borgessa explains. "The guy who was burning the CDs said that that was too harsh, too hard. So I said, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to call myself!’ So he put his head down and he goes, ‘How about Borgessa?’ And I was like ‘That’s it!’

"My father owns Knight Recording Studio in Old Metairie. That’s where my continuously writing lyrics comes from–I guess it’s imbedded. It’s hereditary. My dad’s a character. He basically lent me his studio and I paid his engineer Sean Tauzier to work on the project. Sean put the sound together and I wrote every single lyric and melody. Buzzy Langford from the Topcats plays some guitar on a couple of tracks.

"I feel like I have a lot to say and I’ve been writing since I was 10. I’m possessed by writing. In school, I was labeled ‘Special Ed’–they said I was a slow learner but I was writing lyrics on the ditto sheets. I’m an artist–I can’t help it. I believe in my music–it’s part of me. The power of believing is immense.

"My dad said, ‘Go for it,’ and my mother’s scared, telling me how the music business is bizarre and crazy. She said, ‘You better be careful–you might get what you ask for.’"

Inspired by such disparate composers as Marc Almond, David Bowie and Antonio Carlos Jobim, Borgessa usually writes about personal associates, with the exception of her pharmaceutical "My Medication," originally concocted with no one in mind: "Honestly, that is the only song that was not written about someone but now that I have this new boyfriend I adore, I say, ‘Okay, that’s for you–you’re my medication.’"

Despite favoring tombstones and crypts for her publicity photos, Borgessa declares that she has no fascination for the Cities of the Dead: "Not at all. I just like the background and it’s very eccentric looking. I don’t go to cemeteries at 2 in the morning and hang out!"

IN THE PINK

Sue Ford just might be "The Hardest-Working Woman in New Orleans Showbiz." Her main gig is as a member of Won Ton Lust, performing at the Parish on January 6. She does an "unplugged" version of Won Ton with bassist Darnell Haggerty called Sue & "D." On January 26 at the Howlin’ Wolf, Sue will resurrect the Desires on a double-bill with Veloka. And Sue’s latest, most gigantic project is a seven-piece, all-girl band bearing the delightful moniker Pink Slip.

"We live all over the place and can only play together once or twice a year," Ms. Ford confided as she stirred a pot of stew. Pink Slip’s next local recital will be highly visible: the band will perform while riding on a float in the parade of the new women’s Carnival krewe Muses on February 21, a parade that will also feature the Blaine Kern-fabricated head of Nat’ly Broussard, sans her charming husband Vic. During the Carnival season, Pink Slip will also entertain at the Dodge Ball, a fête rumored to be even more scandalously outrageous than either the M.O.M.s Ball or one of Caligula’s Roman orgies.

Besides Sue Ford on keyboards, the Pink Slip players include Darnell Haggerty (switching from bass to drums), lead guitarist Angelie Alciatore (erstwhile member of One), half-Japanese/half-Creole bassist Mika Amani (from Dead Betty), yet another bassist Jeanie Tomlinson (from the Memphis-based Marilyns), rhythm guitarist Jennifer Kirkland and Dallas poetess/lead singer Barbara Cohen.

PINKY SLIT

While it’s not often that this column delves into the world of "longhaired" music, a local concert by "bad girl" violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is an occasion that begs the attention of all music lovers. Salerno-Sonnenberg (are any classical musicians simply named Smith or Jones?) will appear with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra on January 27, performing Tchaikovsky’s "Violin Concerto."

Salerno-Sonnenberg’s most outrageous claim to fame occurred on Christmas Day, 1994. While slicing onions in her Manhattan apartment, she cut off the top of her left pinky finger. Her friends retrieved the tip and rushed her to an emergency room. An eminent plastic surgeon jumped on a helicopter and flew to the hospital. The finger was sewn back together. She figured her career was over. She was depressed. She attempted suicide. She was rehabilitated. She survived. She has not thrown away her kitchen knives: "I still cook and I still slice. I still do not own a Cuisinart."

REEFER MADNESS

Art imitates life, life imitates art–it’s a vicious, smoke-filled cycle. Trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, whose last album featured a ditty entitled "Hide the Reefer," was arrested in June after his vehicle landed on the St. Claude Avenue neutral ground and police officers detected the scent of marijuana in the immediate vicinity. On December 12, Ruffins received a $250 fine and a three-month suspended sentence after pleading guilty to marijuana possession.

PAST TENSE

Recalling some of the best live shows we experienced during the past year, Fiona Apple at House of Blues and Miss Tammy Faye Starlite at the Circle Bar and the Mermaid Lounge both popped into our cranium, as well as the extravaganza at the Mother-In-Law Lounge in March that starred Ernie K-Doe, the Rubber Maids, the McGillicuddys, Egg Yolk Jubilee, Fireball Rockett and Quintron, who we missed when we briefly stepped outside to escape the torrid interior humidity. Perhaps the most pleasant music we heard all year was the guitar playing of Hank Mackie, the master teacher who performs most Sunday mornings for the patrons at Café Rani in downtown Covington. When you’ve got a hangover that feels like your head has been beaten with a hammer, nothing can compare to Mackie’s soothing take on the standards of jazz.