Aerial photos of the Oakland warehouse venue where dozens perished in a fire over the weekend resemble a rib cage parted and relieved of its heart. On Friday evening, however, the second-story of the building known as Ghost Ship pulsed with life: Johnny Igaz, a DJ known as Nackt, spun records to a swelling crowd of at least 60, who anticipated a late night of industrial-techno and minimal electronic music by Obsidian Blade and Golden Donna.

Performer Russell Butler was outside greeting arrivals when he turned around to see friends emerging from black plumes of smoke that had suddenly saturated the labyrinthine structure. “I thought of Johnny in the DJ booth at the far end of the building,” Butler said (Igaz is still unaccounted for). “And when people stopped coming out the door—it was just wrong.”

Local musician Mara Barenbaum, who lives nearby, heard about the fire within minutes and rushed to the Fruitvale district warehouse shortly after 11 p.m. Until nearly dawn, she consoled friends across the street as firefighters struggled to quell the blaze. Barenbaum recalled envisioning ladders extended and friends clambering out the windows, but it didn’t happen.

Ever since, officials have been clearing debris with buckets and sifting through the remains of at least 36 people, a number that’s expected to increase. They’ve requested DNA samples of those suspected missing, for identification purposes.

Local politicians clamber for scapegoats: leaseholder, inspector, or gig organizers? One city councilperson bizarrely offered “anarchist rejection of regulation.” Droves of distraught family and friends, meanwhile, gather to mourn in Oakland bars, homes, and warehouse residences reminiscent of Ghost Ship. Their talk centers on fallen community pillars, feckless and tone-deaf officials, survival, and the undertow of displacement. “It feels like the end of individualism around here,” Barenbaum said. “There’s just this needed commitment to solidarity.”

A crane is used to lift wreckage as part of search efforts in a fire-ravaged warehouse on December 05, 2016 in Oakland, California. The death toll from a massive weekend fire at a warehouse near San Francisco shot up to 36, as authorities launched a criminal probe and pushed forth with recovery efforts. / AFP / Josh Edelson (Photo credit should read JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images) JOSH EDELSON

The damage; photo by Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images

Among the attendees and performers unaccounted for or confirmed dead, according to the Trans Assistance Project, are three transgender women: Feral Pines, Em Bohlka, and Cash Askew, one half of downcast synth-pop duo Them Are Us Too. Known casualties include film director Alex Ghassan, as well as Ara Jo, who ran arts spaces and zine fests with infectious aplomb. One of Friday’s scheduled performers, Chelsea Faith, an electronic musician who records as Cherushii for 100% Silk, is unaccounted for. This writer remembers well the inspired ideas of Joey Casio, who also remains missing, about the alchemy of hardware and the dancefloor’s insurrectionary potential.