#Down the Road APiece

[theatrepup]

The Rolling Stones performing "Down the Road Apiece" on Shivaree, only it's just Brian Jones.

[tfc2211]

Manfred Mann – The Manfred Mann Album (1964)

[rastronomicals]

4:41 AM EST November 8, 2024:

The Rolling Stones - “Down The Road Apiece” From the album Now! (February 13, 1965)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under:    Artists formerly known as the greatest in the      world

–

[rollingstonesdata]

CANCIONES DE LOS ROLLING STONES: ‘DOWN THE ROAD APIECE’ (1964)

Canciones de The Rolling Stones: Down the Road Apiece*VER MÁS CANCIONES*Click for English versionWell there’s a place you really get your kicks/ It’s open every night about twelve to six… Escrita por: Don RayeGrabada: Chess Studios, Chicago, EE. UU., 10-11 de junio de 1964 Del libro Rolling Stones – La Historia Detrás de sus 365 Canciones:Don Raye, un artista de vaudeville y compositor,…

[venerawrites]

I want to ask for angst if you do it...I need headcanons/scenarios about Itachi when he comes back from a long mission after a month and finds his s/o in the corner of the kitchen hugging her knees and resting her head on them,crying silently

(I love you so much♥️)

author's note: I wrote this as a short scenario, I really hope you enjoy! I've been in pretty angsty mood the past few days, so writing this request really helped me expressing some of my frustration. Anyway, thank you so much for requesting and for your kind words! <3

The sun was slowly dipping beyond the horizon, casting a golden glow over the crowns of the trees surrounding the forest path. Normally quite calm and even slow when it comes to moving, Itachi was not walking with a hurried step, unable to stop himself from sighing every time he had to stop so his teammate can catch up.

"You seem to be in a rush, Itachi", Kisame grinned, as he deliberately dragged his feet. The shark-like shinobi was usually not one to mess with his partner, but how could he control himself when he was witnessing the Uchiha's famous collected demeanour crumbling right in front of him?

Of course, he knew the reason for the hurry - YOU. While you never met officially, as your black-haired man tried to keep you as far as possible from anything relating to Akatsuki and his work, Kisame had waited for him to say his goodbyes almost every time they left for a mission. He knew your name, your age, where you lived, and that for some strange reason, despite being nothing more than an ordinary civilian, you had the famous Uchiha wrapped around your finger.

"I am", grumbled Itachi, his onyx eyes fixated on the road before them. Due to the nature of his job, being away was a regular occurrence for him and Kisame. Not only they were extraordinary ninjas, but they also were one of the few pairings in the organisation that worked well together, without constantly bickering or fighting each other.

One-month missions, however, were something that did not happen often, even to them. But when the stake was capturing all of the Jinchūriki, none of them could say no.

It was ironic really, how much Itachi was used to your presence. After the massacre, he promised himself he would never allow himself to grow closer to anyone else. The life of a shinobi was a lonely path, filled with pain and suffering, and he couldn't allow himself to get attached to someone else again.

But life often throws surprises at everyone and things rarely go "according to plan". When he first met you, it was purely by chance - you happened to live on the outskirts of the village where he was sent to and he met you one sunny day at the local market. You were struggling with carrying all of your groceries and as he watched you put your bags down every three steps to rest, he knew he had to give you a hand. As a sign of gratitude, you invited him for a cup of tea and apiece of homemade carrot cake.

Since that moment he couldn't stay away.

Itachi tried. He really tried to keep his distance and stop himself from falling from you. But you were stubborn, in love, and couldn't take a 'no' for an answer - all qualities, which captured his heart before he could even realise it. Even after the end of his mission, he continued visiting you during his free time, often staying for a few days before going on the road again. And while you never put an official label on your relationship, it was clear you were together - if not by the way he seemed to be caring and protective over you, then by the way he never missed pressing his lips against yours first thing when he saw you.

Once the men reached the so-familiar crossroad next to your house, Itachi stopped in place, before glancing at his partner.

"You go and report to Pain without me", he said blankly while getting two scrolls out of his pocket and passing them to Kisame, "I would be in the base in few days time."

The blue-skinned shinobi chuckled, grabbing the scrolls, before leaning toward the Uchiha with a wide smile on his lips.

"A few days, huh? You know you never introduced-"

"Go", interrupted Itachi, his tone now a few octaves lower. At first glance, his expression remained neutral, but Kisame could see the way his eyes held the slightest glint of irritation. With a loud laugh, he shook his head and started walking in the opposite direction of where he knew the Uchiha was heading.

"Send her my greetings", he shouted over his shoulder, his voice echoing around the forest, as his figure became smaller and smaller. Itachi watched his retreating form and only when he disappeared in the shadows, he allowed himself to relax and let out a sigh. With a quick step, he turned around and started making his way to your house.

Usually getting to the small wooden cottage, which you called 'home', took around ten minutes from the place where he separated from his partner. His eagerness to see you and hold you in his arms shortened that time almost half.

As he approached the building, his pace slowed, as his eyes scanned his surroundings. The wooden door was slightly ajar and he took a deep breath, trying to contain the growing mix of irritation and worry that was brewing inside his head. He told you numerous times to stop leaving your door open, especially when he was not here, but you never listened, insisting that it was for him.

"So you know when I am home or you have to use your spare key", you always joked, dismissing his concerns.

Pushing the door with a quiet creak, he stepped into the corridor, looking around for any signs of you. He could feel your presence nearby and he stilled for a few seconds, his eyes narrowing once he caught a glimpse of your raincoat carelessly thrown on top of the coat hanger, numerous dried mud drops covering the sleeves. You were not usually one to leave your stuff dirty like that - if anything, sometimes you went overboard with all the cleaning and scrubbing.

Something was wrong...

Moving deeper into the cottage, he heard barely audible sniffling coming from behind the door of the kitchen and without thinking twice, he grabbed the doorknob, slowly twisting it to the side and opening it as silently as he could. There, in the corner next to the fridge, you had your head buried between your legs, a series of small sobs and whimpers leaving your lips.

Itachi froze in place, his brain immediately switching to panic mode. Has something happened? Did someone threaten you? Hurt you? You seemed to not sensed his presence yet, as you remained unmoving, lost in your own bubble of pain and sorrow. The sight of you looking so weak and distressed made his whole body tense and he watched you for a few seconds, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Finally, with measured caution, he made a few steps toward you, closing the distance between you, before kneeling in front of your shrunken form. Gently, he reached out, his fingers brushing against your arm as a way to make you aware of his presence without scaring you.

His plan didn't work as the moment you felt something touching you, you jumped in your place, lifting your red and swollen gaze only to find your lover sitting in front of you and looking at you with concern. Sniffling, you wiped your cheeks and nose with the ends of your sleeves, trying to calm your breath.

"Itachi", his name came out as a choked whisper, "I'm sorry, I was just about to cook somet-"

The rest of the sentence got stuck in your throat as the Uchiha suddenly wrapped his hands around you, pulling you to his chest. Itachi was not good when it came to dealing with emotions, especially the ones of the people around him, but he wanted to show you that he was here for you. No matter if you decided to share with him what was the cause of your distress or if you preferred to keep it to yourself, he wanted to offer you all the support and love that he could.

Feeling the tears forming in your eyes once again, you buried your face in his chest, inhaling his musky scent. The sound of his heartbeat, slow and steady, seemed to calm your own and slowly your sniffles started to quiet down. Your own arms circled his body, gripping the back of his shirt, almost as if you were scared he would disappear if you let go.

"I missed you", you muttered against his clothed chest while nuzzling your nose against it. The man pressed his lips against the top of your head, tightening his embrace, before laying his chin next to your ponytail.

"I missed you more", the words slipped from his mouth as a sweet whisper, a quiet promise everything will be alright. His hands kept rubbing small, soothing circles on your back till he felt your body fully relaxing against him.

"I am sorry", you said again, pulling away from him and looking down at your lap, "I didn't mean for you to find me like this."

Itachi's brows furrowed and he looked at you for a few seconds in disbelief, before shaking his head and pressing two of his fingers against your forehead, taping it lightly.

"Don't apologize", the corners of his lips twitched upwards, "I am here for you. Whenever you're ready to talk or just need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here. Whatever it is... we are going to face it together. Okay?"

The question of what did you do to deserve a man like Itachi often swirled around your mind. He was caring, loving, sometimes funny, gentle and without any effort on his part, he made you fall absolutely crazy in love with him.

"Okay."

Smiling at your response, he pressed one more kiss on top of your head, before grabbing your arms and pulling you up from the floor. One of his hands remained on your waist, while the other one opened the fridge, curiously looking at the stocked food inside. You followed his gaze before a light blush covered your cheeks and you turned around, reaching for the apron neatly folded on top of the table.

"Are you hungry? I can quickly prepare some lunch straight away!", before you can put the piece of clothing, however, he grabbed it from your hands and tossed it on the kitchen counter, before turning back to you and nuzzling his nose against yours.

"How about you let me cook us some ramen now and then we can do the dinner together, hm?", he asked, pecking you on the lips before reaching for some eggs and sauce from the fridge. You opened your mouth to protest, but quickly closed it after he moved to the stove, organising his ingredients while humming a soft melody under his breath.

Your mouth curved into a small smile as you watched him busying himself in the kitchen, and you couldn't help but ask the question once again:

What the hell did you do in this life or the previous one to deserve him?

Whatever it was, you were thankful. And you were never letting him go.

cc artwork: Richard Lay

[it-one-line-at-a-time]

"...I guess that's how I'd like to remember us, if I could remember us. Standing there by the lake, the sun going down on our childhood. This will be my last entry. I got it in just in time. Just before the fog in my brain swept all of my memories away entirely. Now, just weeks later, I look back on that time not from memory, but from the pages of this book. The nightmare is over. What little police involvement there was was brief and cursory, as is always the case here in Derry. Now that there's no further need for a lighthouse keeper, well, I feel I may move on. See whatever is down the road apiece. As of this writing, Richie's still knocking them dead. He's got a part in a movie."

[pll-reimagined]

Pretty Little Liars: reimAgined

Hello Liars of tumblr!

I am a huge nerd for the Pretty Little Liars franchise – I adore the books (I’ve been reading them as far back as the original release of ‘Killer’), and while I love the show, I've always been more than a little disappointed that it wasn’t closer to the source material. During spooky season, I began both rereading the books and rewatching the show, and it gave me the creative inspiration to blend together the best bits of each canon into one cohesive narrative, start to finish. With that said, I present to you all my passion project, 'Pretty Little Liars: reimAgined', as what a retooled, more faithful adaptation could look like.

My primary goal is to tackle the books’ canon and adapt it to span across a number of 'seasons' in an episodic fashion - currently my plan is a 7-season format with around 13 episodes apiece, leaving wiggle room for more as I progress. I intend to weave in some aspects from the original show that were either invented FOR the show, or ones that it particularly excelled in translating… but not necessarily the ones people might expect. This will range from minor storylines and interactions to entire episodes from the OG - albeit through a different lens - if I believe it will help to flesh out characters and the tapestry of Rosewood at large, however this is not the priority. I may periodically condense, expand, omit, and/or change the order of storylines and arcs to make them stronger, and so as to cut down on unnecessary filler. I want for there to be nods that both book and show fans alike can appreciate while also keeping them in suspense over how events unfold; it'll feel familiar, but won't be a twin copy.

My overall creative concept is a period piece set in 2006 (so I'm keeping as much of the niche style and dated references from the books as possible), with a sense heightened reality and a focus on themes such as symbolism, luxury, and indulgence. Think less ABC Family/CW vibes and more HBO/FX, American Horror Story vibes: big on suspense, a dark and gothic aesthetic contrasting expensive and chic high society, somewhat realistic yet simultaneously a bit larger-than-life or fantastical, can range from slightly eerie to downright unsettling, and doesn’t shy away from vulgarity or adult themes and imagery, but does so tastefully and in moderation. Rosewood should absolutely DRIP with exorbitant wealth, lust, disdain, competition, and secrets, but in the flavor of Old Money. My vision is of a nice suburb in New England, where every yard has a white picket fence to hide the imperfections from your neighbors, and petty, political cold wars matter to your social standing at the country club.

The rewrite will have a more serious and mature tone: less teen romance (though, as it IS present in the books, there will still be some) and more focus on psychological torture, thriller/horror tones, the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Alison, the identity and motive(s) of ‘A’, and what ‘A’ puts the Liars through.

As of now, I have a very rough draft of the major story beats that I plan on covering, as I think the story starts to fall apart when you don't have your long-term mystery road mapped well in advance. My goal is for each story arc/season to feel well-balanced and important to the over-arching narrative, and the 'A' reveals are a large part of this. The 'A' thread is the most meticulous and delicate, as any misstep leads to inadvertent plot holes, which is exactly what happened to the show. Most importantly, the 'A' motivations need to make sense in relation to the Liars - that means no Shower Harvey's running amok in this fic!

I’m also going to fix some aspects of certain storylines, and the timeline in general, that were either rushed, dragged out, unnecessary, unrealistic, or flat-out didn’t make sense, adjusting the pacing where I deem it necessary (RIP Never Ending November). This is less so with the books, although they do have some instances - Sara Shepard wtf do you MEAN THAT ARIA STOLE THE STARRY NIGHT - and more so what I use from the original show. I want to give the story the proper room to breathe and the space to gradually build suspense, ensuring a structured flow for every episode within each season’s narrative arc.

I’m aging everyone up slightly, so the start of the series will take place on the last day of 9th grade (making the Liars around 15), and the time jump will be about 2 years, to the end of the summer before the girls’ senior year (making the Liars around 17). Hopefully this will make some of the plotlines a little less icky and statutory grapey when it comes to age.

I’ll also be combining book and show characters as I see fit, giving preference to the books. In particular, I'll be utilizing the ensemble of Rosewood Day students in a much larger capacity than the show did, so to increase the number of suspects while cutting down on extraneous random characters, effectively creating a small community of socialites not dissimilar to Gossip Girl. These people have largely known one another since childhood, and that should be reflected in their interactions.

I'm retelling the story through the mind and voice of none other than Alison DiLaurentis, and she will operate in a way similar to Mary Alice Young from Desperate Housewives: secretive, slightly omniscient, gone yet still very much a part of the Liars' world despite her absence, and playfully watching over her friends as they navigate past her disappearance. She serves as a narrator for the Liars’ inner thoughts and monologues, but will frequently provide her own insight on situations, occasionally injecting some dry humor into the series.

Lastly, the Liars will actually... y'know... lie lol. While the show captured their positive traits, it suffered from the fact that the girls either didn't do bad/selfish things at ALL, or they were coerced to by outside factors. The girls in the books are much more self-serving, petty, and willing to do bad things to achieve what they want. There will still be 'A' manipulation, however I want the general sense that the Liars are victims of their own actions. They should be much more uncomfortable in maintaining and balancing their social lives with the threat of ‘A’ always looming, poised to knock them off the top of the totem pole should their secrets be exposed. The outward appearance of perfection should be, at least initially, the driving force for the Liars. They’ll be more rational and cautious, making less immediate boneheaded and/or out-of-character decisions like the show portrayed, and a bit more reluctant to trust one another until after things have unraveled and bound them together.

I’m currently outlining the details for the first 'season', and I'm about halfway done with the prologue, which I plan to post by the end of the week to gauge interest. I'm open to feedback, so please let me know what you all think of my little passion project!

[lindenardenshighlights]

down the road apiece

[bearterritory]

Golden Bears Stomp Orange

Lau Totals 3-Set ACC-High 45 Assists

Five Cal Players Post 8 Or More Kills

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – California volleyball ended its 2024 road slate in tremendous fashion at Syracuse's Women's Building, earning a sweep (27-25, 25-15, 25-8) over the Orange to head into their season finale. The Golden Bears are now 14-17 on the year after the rout of the Orange.   Cal outdid Syracuse in every statistical category, including a lopsided hitting percentage differential of .317 to .021. The Orange came into the day ranked 34th in the nation in blocks per set but were outdone by the Bears, who posted 7.5 stuffs to the home team's 7.0.   Junior setter Natalie Lau totaled 45 assists, the most by any ACC setter this year in a three-set contest that also tied the highest three-set total by an ACC player since 2018.   Five Cal players posted eight or more kills, led by Xuemeng (Maggie) Li, who notched 15 on .393 hitting and added 11 digs for her second-straight double-double. Middle blockers Mikayla Hayden (.400) and Sawyer Thomsen (.500) added another nine kills apiece, with Thomsen tying her career high; she also posted four blocks to reach 100 on the season. Ava Mehrten (.500) and Peyton DeJardin each contributed eight kills – a season best for Mehrten. Libero Gianna Bartalo was exceptional in commanding the Bears' defense, earning 19 digs on the day.

Syracuse posted the first point of the match on the way to a quick 4-1 lead, but the Bears responded with an 8-1 run, triggered by Mehrten's first kill of the match. Three kills from Li eventually helped Cal build a seven-point lead at 16-9, but the Orange then went on a scoring streak of its own, winning 12 of the next 14 points to take a 21-18 advantage and force two Cal timeouts. The Bears regained the lead at 22-21 thanks to two kills and a block from Hayden as well as a Syracuse error. Tt took three Cal set points before Mehrten finally finished it off with kill number three.   The Golden Bears scored the first four points of the second set and never relinquished the lead, quickly building a 12-point advantage at 20-8 thanks to two additional four-point scoring runs. Syracuse's defense started to clamp down, but in the end it was no match for Li, who posted Cal's final three points of the set and increased her total to 10 kills. She added another for the first point of the final set, in which the Bears hit a blistering .536 while holding the Orange to -.032 thanks in large part to Bartalo's 11 third-set digs. The Orange tied the score at 4-4 in one last gasp, but Cal smelled victory and earned eight of the next nine points to build a 12-5 lead. One final nine-point run by Cal, featuring two kills apiece from Mehrten and Thomsen and capped off with a short service ace from Li, eventually ended the match.  

[prismaticpichu]

Okokokok so

Sephiroth passes out from dehydration in the manor and not knowing what else to do, knowing just how bad it could be to be caught like this by civilians or what would happen if this info got back to Hojo, Cloud and Zack sneak Seph's unconscious ass to Cloud's house and put him in Cloud’s childhood bed.

Seph wakes up to Claudia making him breakfast, and in general being a good mother figure. And I dunno Zack and Cloud burned the library totally by accident and found a Vampire neither of which are their fault they swear.

Now THAT’s a happy ending! <3 Score one for our bodily necessities!!!

“C’mon, Spiky! Put your back into it!”

A giant mass of silver and black is dragged rag-doll-style along the basement floor, two considerably smaller individuals hauling one boneless arm apiece.

“He’s. HEAVY.”

~~~

Sephiroth, well… he’s quite the confused cockatoo when he wakes up. Why on Gaia is he in a bed half his size? Why on Gaia are there approximately eight posters of him on the wall? Why on Gaia does his back feel like a lawnmower ran over it?

Where is he? What is this? What is HAPPENING—

“Whoah, whoah! Calm down, buddy!” Zack grips his forearm upon seeing Sephiroth begin to huff and puff like a bull, guiding him back down onto the pillow. “You’re safe!”

There isn’t much room to protest when his head is absolutely throbbing; Sephiroth slumps back into the bed, groaning, one eye still creaked open as he scans the room around him with dangerous scrutiny. He’s also coughing like a poor rundown car.

“0h, here!” Zack hands his friend a juice box from the nightstand. “You gotta replenish!”

There’s a western riff in the background as Sephiroth stares down the juice box—a bright green abomination with a hippo-shaped apple drawn on the side. Are you kidding him? No. NO. He is a full-grown man with dignity, and standards, and—

Fortunately, Zack shoves the straw in his mouth anyway.

“Okay, okay.” Zack takes a step back from the bedside, still reading the utter, blistering confusion on Sephiroth’s visage as he sips away. “I’m gonna take things nice and slow, pal. I’ll explain everything.”

Sephiroth narrows his eyes in warning—his signature You better or the guillotine will be having your head death glare. He swallows another round of Juciy Juice.

Zack swallows himself. There’s a lot he could say right now. A whole goddamn book. Everything since the Reactor has just been so… wrong; Seph had planted so many ideas in his head, got so snarled up in things that were just too much for him to bear. He just needs to untie him, thread by thread. Nice and gentle. Nice and slow.

“Well, y’see, me and Spiky were getting real worried about you. So—“

“Jenova is not your mother.”

Oh c’mon.

Both eyes snap towards the voice—the low, sunken timbre that had revealed itself from the unlit corner of the room.

Sephiroth doesn’t even process the fact that some Comic-Con devotee with a claw for a hand begins peeling himself out from the shadows; he barely processes Zack’s frustrated yelping at said devotee. All he can hear is Her. Her. The library. The books. The Cetra. The Truth. Memory consumes him in a single, famished clasp, like a sudden strike of lightning, like a sudden belch of flames, and all of a sudden his eyes are needle-thin and he begins snarling your typical oh here we go again Sephiroth snarls.

He squeezes the juice box so hard that it explodes.

“Mother! Mother! MOTHER!”

“Ahhhhhhhhhh, no! No no no no!” Zack wraps his arms around the other’s neck like a lasso, pleading and hushing and grappling, mustering all his desperate strength to keep Sephiroth lying in bed and not gouging eyes out. “It’s okay! It’s okay! It’s me! Shhhh… take me home… country road…!”

Eventually, with some guided, deep-breathing exercises, Sephiroth does calm down, letting his eyes return to normal and slumping back into the mattress. Zack turns over his shoulder with a silent “Really?!”, while Sephiroth collects himself, coming back to the present… but the memories still remain clear. Crystal clear. Except now, instead of a torrent of poison and overwhelming rage, the memory gouges him out. Leaving him hollow. Sad.

And, wait a minute… why is there a comic-con devotee here?

“Who… are you…” Sephiroth pants, the suspicion creeping back into his voice.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. This is Vincent.” Zack gestures towards the cloaked man. “Me and Spiky found him sleeping in some coffin. He’s been sleeping there for years—had to get him out before we burned that stupid manor down. Hope it’s okay that we borrowed your materia!”

Sephiroth is silent.

“Oh, and… he mayyyyyy know one or two things about J—that creature.”

Sephiroth is still silent.

Vincent goes on to take the reins and explain everything: the experiments, the pain, the Hojo, the regret… The Lucrecia.

“…Lucrecia?” Sephiroth repeats, ghostly, a numb mist having enveloped him entirely. It… it didn’t make any sense. Jenova—he clenches his teeth—he… he spawned from her. She was his…

His…

“Your mother,” Vincent elaborates. “Lucrecia was your mother. And she loved you. She never wanted things to…” He turns away, the bloody tint in his eyes seeming to clot. “Your mother was human, Sephiroth. She made mistakes. So did I.”

Sephiroth’s gaze floats to his hands, words disobedient, his organs and blood and bones sitting in an empty husk. Zack cuffs his hand around his upper arm, squeezing gently, squeezing a whole poem of silent messages.

“So… I really don’t have a mother,” Sephiroth mumbles then. “She’s gone.”

“Who wants pancakes?!”

The bedroom door opens with an enthusiast swing, and in comes Claudia, and in comes the delectable waft of fresh golden pancakes, Cloud at her heels as she carries the plate over to the bedside.

“Here you are, General. Cloud told me that you had gotten sick in the manor; good to see you awake! How is the bed by the way? It has been quite some time since my Stormcloud slept in it.” She turns around, suddenly facing a wide-eyed Vincent Valentine. “Oh, I do not believe we met before. I’m Claudia. Pleasure to meet you.”

“You brought the guy back here?!” Cloud scorn-hushes to Zack. “I thought he was going to stay outside!”

“I needed him to help clear things up with Seph!”

Meanwhile, Sephiroth is sitting in bed, blinking, a platter of flapjacks on his lap and a nice little syrup saucer glistening beside them. Claudia dusts her hands off, smile still twinkling.

“Well, I’ll leave you men be for a little. Please call if you need anything.” Before she left, however, she makes her way back to the bedside, back to the stuporous Sephiroth, and tucks the blanket further up his shoulders.

“I don’t want you to be cold, dear. You are already so unwell.”

And then she leaves for real.

“Aww…” Zack mock-moans once he hears her footsteps patter down the stairs. “She’s better at taking care of you than me!”

“Yeah…” Cloud rubs his neck. “She does that.”

Sephiroth… can’t disagree. He glances again at the fresh breakfast balanced in his lap—breakfast made just for him, because he was unwell, because someone took that information and turned into a remedy. The emerald eyes are rippling, thoughtful and confused and detached yet somehow strung back to his body all again. Tighter than ever before.

“Sephiroth.”

Sephiroth lifts his gaze, meeting Vincent, who bestows to him a slow, meaningful nod. “I believe that is what a mother is.”

~~~

And the four proceed to have a pancake party!!! <33 Whoooooooooh! Sharing is caring!! (Well, three-quarters of the pie anyway. Vincent is just too stubborn.)

“C’mon, Vince!” Zack holds up his fork, the cluster of fluffy magic absolutely waterlogged in syrup. “Try some! It really heals your inner demons!”

[dustedmagazine]

Myriam Gendron — Mayday (Feeding Tube/Thrill Jockey)

Photo by Justine Latour

Quebecois folk singer Myriam Gendron is far from the first artist to turn in some demos expecting them to serve as a rough draft, only to decide that the results stand on their own. Since that debut collection of Dorothy Parker’s poetry set to music (2014’s Not So Deep as a Well), Gendron’s only put out one further record (2021’s justly attention-getting collection Ma Delire: Songs of Love Lost and Found), but she’s been busy with literally life and death. It was only after having kids and then putting together Ma Delire that Gendron really started touring consistently, and then that was sadly halted because of her mother’s sickness and eventual death. That experience informs Mayday, an album of firsts for Gendron; first more traditionally “studio” recording, first time she’s made her music her day job, and first time she’s written most of the songs herself. Despite all those changes, though, Mayday is just as exceptional, intimate, and timeless feeling as anything Gendron’s done before.

On Ma Delire Gendron brought in Bill Nace and Chris Corsano for a song apiece; here she widens and deepens her net (and Nace is back too). A mutual admiration society between her and justly-lauded performers Marisa Anderson and Jim White resulted in the three working together on three songs here, about a third of the total running time. The results are stunning; Anderson and White have worked together to great effect before and Gendron’s richly crestfallen voice fits in perfectly, whether the duo are calm and reflective on “Long Way Home,” foreboding and restless on “Terres Brûlées” (with Nace), or exploratory and elegiac on “Lully Lullay.” The former two also feature Cedric Dind-Lavoie on double bass, and it’s hard not to wish for more from that particular grouping.

That’s not because the rest of Mayday is lacking, though. Gendron eases the listener in with the Fahey-homaging instrumental “There Is No East or West,” and although the title references a gospel song, here it seems to speak more to the feelings of doubt, uncertainty, and grief that course through Gendron’s songs. Whether adapting Parker again on “Dorothy’s Blues,” turning out gemlike instrumentals like “La Luz,” or leaning into the soaring sadness of “Look Down That Lonesome Road,” Gendron continues to be a singular voice (figuratively and literally).

The title of the closing “Berceuse” translates to “Lullaby,” and gentle tone and lyrics match. Until Zoh Amba’s saxophone squeals surge in, playing the track off as Gendron’s electric guitar slowly gets quieter. It’s a striking moment, and after a few listens on that it’s hard to imagine the song and the album without, as if the messiness of life is bursting in to remind us why we need to sing children to sleep in the first place. As always, the beauty of Gendron’s music feels both hard fought and carefully wrought, something worth sharing and protecting.

Ian Mathers

[tfc2211]

Peter Nelson And The Castaways – Down The Road Apiece (1965)

[rastronomicals]

12:37 AM EDT June 2, 2024:

The Rolling Stones - "Down The Road Apiece" From the album Now! (February 13, 1965)

Last song scrobbled from iTunes at Last.fm

File under:    Artists formerly known as the greatest in the world     

[shadoobee]

Even tho I know that line in Down The Road Apiece is supposed to be about Charlie McCoy when I listen to the Stones' version I can't hear anything other than "a cat they call Charlie my boy" and for years before listening to Chuck Berry's one I was perfectly okay with Mick calling Charlie his boy

[longliverockback]

Manfred Mann The Manfred Mann Album 1964 Ascot ————————————————— Tracks: 01. Do Wah Diddy Diddy 02. Don’t Ask Me What I Say 03. Sack O’ Woe 04. What You Gonna Do? 05. I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man 06. Smokestack Lightning 07. Got My Mojo Working 08. It’s Gonna Work out Fine 09. Down the Road Apiece 10. Untie Me 11. Bring It to Jerome 12. Without You —————————————————

Mike Hugg

Paul Jones

Manfred Mann

Tom McGuinness

Mike Vickers

* Long Live Rock Archive