#I believe he wrote and recorded this one in the mid 70's

[kitwalkblr]

Omg I can't believe another unreleased Nihil song got leaked!!!

[knives-out20]

The Impact Of The Intergalactic - David Bowie Opinion Essay - by Beck S.

This is an essay I wrote about the span of David Bowie's career. I wrote it for a summer school course I took last year (August 2021) for a course called History of Rock & Roll.

My teacher gave nice feedback after he marked it, talking about how it was an "Excellent paper. It charts Bowie's progress throughout his career well, and includes significant detail. I could really feel the passion you have about him throughout. In fact, there is *too much* detail! The paper was supposed to be 3 pages max, double-spaced. Still, this is a good problem to have; better too much than too little."

So...enjoy!!

From his early works like Hunky Dory, to Black Tie White Noise in the 1990’s and stretching over to Blackstar as his final album, David Bowie has rarely had a bad album or song- in my opinion. His career has had ups and downs, his musical creations ranging in the way he would pitch his voice and what instruments he would use, the people he would produce with, and the wild things he would say. Charting David Bowie’s development over time is in fact an interesting journey.

Early on in his dreamy career, Bowie would have done nearly anything- or in fact, anyone- to grow in the music world. Hopping from band to band (like The Velvet Underground), producer to producer, doing whatever he could do to get ‘in’ in the industry. His early albums weren’t taken very highly in their times- especially with the ‘man-dress’ he wore on the British release of his The Man Who Sold The World album. Although, this dress was only the start of the androgynous appearance he would soon be known for, over the course of his 5-decade-spanning career.

The 1970’s were strange, to say the least. He married Angela Bowie at the start of the decade, then welcomed their son Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones a year later. Bowie went on to be hopped up on cocaine. David donned the look of one of his famous personas, The Thin White Duke. The same persona with slicked-back ginger hair, a white button-up under a black waistcoat and paired with black dress pants. The same Duke who called Adolf Hitler one of the first ‘rock stars’ and gave off a lot of faschist energy. He said many statements he’d later apologize for and grow as a better man from, which is good- it’s better than standing by then, or even backing himself up and supporting them. David Bowie called that period the darkest days of his life, and blamed the crazy statements on his horrid addiction and deteriorating mental state. The late 1970’s were more favorable, seeing as it gave the world what was dubbed the Berlin Trilogy alongside Brian Eno and David’s personal friend, Iggy Pop. Made up of three of his albums: Low and Heroes (both in 1977) and Lodger (1978). He moved from Los Angeles to Switzerland, then to Berlin as a further decision to escape his addiction (the reason he moved away from LA in the first place). It was in Berlin, of course, where he wrote his famous song Heroes, about two lovers, one from East Berlin and one from West.

Speaking of Berlin, David Bowie performed near the west of the Berlin Wall in 1987; he played so loud that crowds gathered on the east to listen. At this time, Bowie had no idea he would be the beginning of the city’s soon-coming unifying. After his death in 2016, the German government thanked him for bringing the wall down and unifying a divided Germany.

Music isn’t all he is known for, though it is a majority. He also starred in movies from time to time. Being the titular man in The Man Who Fell To Earth in 1976, Jareth the moody goblin king in Jim Henson’s 1986 Labyrinth film (what is most likely his most famous role), Monte the barman in the 1991 movie The Linguini Incident, cameoing as himself in Zoolander (2001), Nikola Tesla in the 2006 movie The Prestige, and even Lord Royal Highness in Spongebob Squarepants’ Atlantis Squarepantis in 2007, among a few others. David Bowie dabbled in the art of acting, and was not that bad at it. He was good enough to gain a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, too. Sometimes it bends my mind that my first introduction to my all-time favourite musician was in a Spongebob Squarepants movie, back before I knew who he was, but David Bowie was never one to shy away from foreshadowing. At least one song from many of his albums would hint at the direction he’d go in for his next release. For example, his track Queen Bitch on Hunky Dory foreshadowed his soon-coming Ziggy Stardust. And the Diamond Dogs track 1984 actually hinted at the Philadelphian soul of Young Americans, which is a more famous song of his, which he went on to perform on The Cher Show with its host.

The 1990’s were certainly an experimental time for David Bowie. But to my knowledge, I think the 1990’s was a time for everyone. He married supermodel Iman some days after performing at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, and released the album I named earlier, Black Tie White Noise. It is known to have had a prominent use of electronic instruments, as was his other 1990’s album, Earthling. The early 1990’s greeted David’s first real band since the Spiders From Mars, dubbed Tin Machine. They recorded three guitar-driven albums which received mixed reviews from the masses, but Bowie looks back at this period- as do I- with a certain fondness; “a glorious disaster” he called it, when talking to journalist Mick Brown. Tin Machine is a period I don’t listen to often, compared to his solo stuff, but I don’t press the skip button when it comes on.

Alas, the starman’s career drew to a close as the 2000s rolled in. David Bowie greeted the 2000’s with the birth of his and Iman’s daughter, the beautiful Alexandria Zahra Jones. After suffering a- strange, as it were- heart attack symptoms mid-song during a concert in 2004, he took a hiatus from his career. I say strange because given what I know, he was trying his best to stay healthy at the time. According to my special Rolling Stone edition magazine about David Bowie (released at the start of this year), he was on tour and performing in a really hot arena. But Bowie was sober, and had quit smoking. He was taking medication to lower his cholesterol, and worked out with a trainer. Bowie looked great, and yet he felt a pain in his shoulder and chest, along with a shortness for breath. A bodyguard rushed onstage to usher Bowie off of it, cutting the concert short. He only performed live once or twice after that point, but was set on never going live ever again. And he kept his word on that, unfortunately but also fortunately. Unfortunately, because David Bowie live would have been quite the experience- I wouldn’t know, personally. But fortunately, because I do not believe anyone needs a repeat of the 2004 Reality scare.

I am actually not too fond of speaking of his final years. Nobody really likes to speak of the last years of their idols’ life before their death, so it’s no surprise. Blackstar was David Bowie’s 25th and final album, recorded entirely in secret in New York alongside his long-time producer, Tony Visconti. The album's central theme lyrically is mortality, and seeing as Bowie was undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer at the time, I see it as his way of coping with his incoming death. His producer Tony Visconti called him a ‘canny bastard’, when he realized Bowie was essentially writing a farewell album. Every song on the album is what is considered a swan song, a swan song in question being a phrase for a final gesture of some sort before retirement or death. In this case, death. Over the course of recording the album, David Bowie’s chemotherapy had actually been working and he had an eerie optimism while recording. But by the time they shot the two music videos Blackstar and Lazarus, where he showed off the definite passage of time and cruelty of chemotherapy through sparse and gray hair with sagging skin, he knew his condition was terminal and that this would be a battle he would lose. Blackstar wasn’t the first album to have been made by a musician succumbing to a fatal illness, but in my opinion it is in fact the most beautiful. It’s jazzy, and elegant, showing how at peace he had become with dying.

Blackstar the album was released on January 8th, 2016. Also known as David Bowie’s 69th birthday. Two days later, David Bowie died at his Lafayette Street home on January 10th after living with liver cancer for up to 18 months. Beforehand, he had let it be known he did not want a funeral nor a burial, but rather that his body be cremated and the ashes to be scattered in Bali by his loved ones. His wish was received, and planet Earth was very much bluer and quieter without his colour and wonderful noise.

As I said earlier on, David Bowie’s career came with ups and downs. His mysteriously close relationship with Mick Jagger, his cross with famous underage groupie Lori Maddox, the births of his two talented children, his faschist bender in the 70’s, and final bang of Blackstar in his final year on earth. Through the highs and lows, his career and his music meant a lot to the quote-unquote misfits and freaks of the world, myself included. David Bowie turned and faced the strange, shouted “you’re not alone!” To those who felt the loneliest, he surely spent his career helping those who needed to be themselves, feel more freer and braver in doing so, no matter what they may be when they are themselves. He never went boring, he never went stale, he sang what he wanted and dressed how he pleased, and kept to his word on how much more to life there is when you’re just that; yourself. A year after David Bowie’s untimely passing, his son Duncan Jones accepted an award for British album of the year that was won by Blackstar at the 37th annual Brit Awards. When he accepted it, he made a speech about his father that I will leave here, and never forget. Seeing as it perfectly encapsulates David Bowie’ legacy, and the true meaning of his extraordinary career.

“I lost my dad last year, but I also became a dad. And, uhm, I was spending a lot of time- after getting over the shock- of trying to work out what would I want my son to know about his granddad? And I think it would be the same thing that most of my dad's fans have taken over the last 50 years. That he’s always been there supporting people who think they’re a little bit weird or a little bit strange, a little bit different, and he’s always been there for them. So...this award is for all the kooks, and all the people who make the kooks. Thanks, Brits, and thanks to his fans.” - Duncan Z. H. Jones (February 22 2017, at The O2 Arena in London.)

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Wizard of Oz Queen x pre-teen reader Chap. 1; Somewhere over the rainbow

*Author’s note*

And here it is guys my next MOVIE AU fic series. This time this fic based on the classic movie “The Wizard of Oz”. Now I realized something, I was copying and pasting what I wrote in my author’s notes on my Wattpad when I was mentioning this. I know I didn’t really ask you guys about casting choices for this fic, it was only on Wattpad but I think you guys are gonna love whom I’ve chosen to be each of the lovable Wizard of Oz characters that we all probably grew up with.

Warnings: Dog bites, mentions of putting down dog, bit of angst, Paul Prenter, but there is 70′s Queen fluff so expect that.

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@simonedk​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queensdivas​

@queendeakyy​

@kairosfreddie​

@platawnic​

@geek-and-proud​

_____________________________________________________________

The summer of 1975 would be a year I would never forget for as long as I live.  Not only did I see history come to life, but I also experienced something that almost seemed right out of my favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz.  But before I begin, I would like to tell you who I am.

My name is (Y/n) Gale and I live at Rockfield farm studios with my Aunt Em and Uncle Henry.  My parents died in a car crash when I was just 4 years old, so my uncle Henry (my father’s eldest brother) took me in and he and Aunt Em became my parental figures.

The only thing my parents left behind was my fateful Welsh Corgi that I named Toto (yes I named him after the dog from the Wizrd of Oz, deal with it).  He’s literally the only thing I have left to remember my parents by and he’s always been there for me when I needed him.

I was 12 years old when the famed band Queen came to our home/farm to record their next big album.  And throughout that time I grew close to them, and like I mentioned before it was also the day that would change my life forever.

And so our story begins.

It was mid-July and I was running back towards the house with Toto at my side.  I had been asked by my uncle to go to the market to grab some food for the guys, however I was forced to go along with the band’s ‘manager’ Paul Prenter.

God that guy just really pisses me off.  He’s creepy, manipulative, and wicked.  Toto always sensed something off about him cause whenever he came around, Toto would bark and try to bite him.  This time he did manage to finally bite Paul on the leg after he snapped at me for not grabbing the right apples for Freddie.

After he bit him, I took Toto and ran right out of the store with Paul threatening to get the police involved.  We stopped just a few feet from the house and I knelt down to Toto and said.

“I think we lost him. He didn’t hurt you did he?” I checked him over and felt no bumps or cuts.  I hugged Toto close to me and sneered, “He tried to though. But we better go tell Aunt Em what happened. We can’t let the police get involved. C’mon Toto.”

We took off running the rest of the way home. I hopped over the fence that surrounded our home and raced down the hill with Toto running just ahead of me.

“Aunt Em! Aunt Em!” I soon came up to the farm to see my aunt and uncle near the old incubator counting the freshly hatched baby chicks. “Oh Aunt Em you won’t believe what happened at the market! Paul said……”

“(Y/n) please dear we’re trying to count.”

“But Aunt Em Paul said that he’s gonna get the police to take…..”

“Not now (Y/n)! This old incubator finally died out and we’re more than likely to lose all of our chicks.” Uncle Henry said to me sternly as he placed some of the chicks into his hat.

“Aww the poor little things.” I grabbed on chick and held it close to my face so that it wouldn’t die of pneumonia.  As Aunt Em placed some of the chicks in with their mother in a small chicken cage, I continued to tell them. “But at the market place Paul was yelling at me and Toto was just defending me! Now he’s gonna get the police to take Toto away! But like I told you he was just protecting me cause Paul was yelling at me for picking up the wrong apples that Freddie likes!”

“Now (Y/n) we’ll discuss this matter later. Right now go find that young lad who said he was an electrical engineer and ask him if he could have a look at this incubator.” Aunt Em told me.

“But……”

“No buts. Right now go!” she ushered me away before going back to the baby chicks.

“Yes Aunt Em.” I spoke solemnly before turning away from the farm and walked towards the studio building where I saw John Deacon before I left for the market.

As I walked along, I felt like something was following me.  I looked down to Toto who kept walking beside me before getting ahead of me.  Suddenly I was picked up and thrown over someone’s shoulder.

“And he finally takes her by surprise and hauls her over. The fierce hunter finally gaining the upper hand!” that soft, slightly raspy voice came from none other than Roger Taylor.  I could hear Toto’s frantic barking and he even hopped up and down.

“Roger put me down!” I laughed.

“Fine, fine. But first a little payback.” Suddenly I was spun around like a helicopter.  The two of us laughing and shrieking before I was finally tossed into the hay pile. “Victory and Vengeance is mine at last!” he then collapsed into the hay right beside me, the two of us laughing.

“You’re nuts Roger Taylor, you know that right?”

“And what’s wrong with that? Nuts are like your Aunt Em’s cookies it’s the nuts that makes things interesting.” He said as he hovered over me grinning.

“Yeah. Nuts, handsome but brainless.”

“Oi I resent that! I do have a brain! I got my degree in biology after all. So I’m more than just a handsome face.”

“I thought you were a dentist?”

“I was never a dentist and you know that. God I can’t believe Brian and John told you about that.” He said as he bopped my nose with a strand of hay.  I raised my hand up and took some hay out of his blonde hair and retorted.

“I’m glad they did, cause now I can brag to my friends about how the drummer of Queen could’ve been their dentist.” It was then Roger began to tickle me.

“Swear you won’t tell that to anyone and I’ll stop.” He threatened as he tickled my stomach.  I was kicking up hay until I finally gave in and told him I wouldn’t. With that he stopped and grinned down at me while I tried to regain my breath.

“You’re insane Roger.” He shrugged cheekily.

“But you love me for it.” He said as he bopped my nose again before laying down close to me again.

“Yeah I do.”

“So—do you want to tell me just why you looked upset earlier?” I looked down sadly towards Toto and finally sat up and said.

“Paul’s threatening to have the police take Toto away just because he bit him.”

“He did?” he shot up and looked down at Toto who looked at us with a soft wag of his stub tail. “Atta boy Toto!” he cheered. He patted his leg and Toto soon tried to make his way up the hair pile.  

But he sunk down into it due to his size so Rog quickly grabbed him and held him in the air.

“It’s about time someone gave that irritating, self-absorbed bastard a good bite ehh?” Toto barked and tried to lick Roger’s face.  Roger brought Toto close to his face and he then began to lick the blonde drummer’s face. Rog softly chuckled as he ruffled through Toto’s fur.

“But Paul said he’s gonna get the police to take him away. What if that really happens?” Rog turned to me and handed Toto back to me as he said.

“I wouldn’t worry about that prick. He’s all talk and no bite. He’s threatened me once or twice about having me being kicked out of the band cause of my constant groupies. But Fred and the others wouldn’t dare replace me.”

“They’d be crazy to.”

“Indeed. But—if by some miracle he’s serious, I’ve got your back. Okay?” I nodded as I stroked through Toto’s fur.

“Thanks Rog. Toto’s—he’s the only thing I have left of my parents. If he’s gone then so are their memories.” Roger brought me into a one armed hug and rested his chin on top of my head.

“I know love. I know.” We stayed there for a moment before I asked him.

“Rog? Is—Deacy still in the studio? I almost forgot that my Aunt Em and Uncle Henry want to talk to him about our broken incubator.”

“Yeah. He’s still working on that song of his. Still won’t tell us what it is but that’s how John is.” I slide off the haystack and set Toto down and told him to come with me. “Oh hey!” I turned around and Rog continued, “I forgot to mention Brian and Fred are in there. So if they’re arguing, you now have a heads up.” I nodded and Toto and I raced to the studio.

The first thing I heard were Brian and Freddie’s voices talking over one another.

“I think Brian dear, this guitar solo you have for my song is beautiful but it needs more…...more…..You know rock and roll feel.”

“Well you know I’m always up for that Fred.” I shook my head at the two of them and that’s when Toto went on ahead and met up with John who was sitting in the corner with a clipboard and a stack of papers around him.

Toto immediately hopped up onto his lap.  Ever since they came, Toto’s always been more driven towards John Deacon than any of the other guys.  It might be because of his quiet personality, or some kind of aurora about him that only Toto can tell but any chance he gets, Toto will always want to hop onto Deacy’s lap.

“Well it would seem we’ve got a surprise visitor.” John soon spoke up as he set his stuff aside and rubbed Toto’s head. Brian and Freddie soon turned towards me and Brian said.

“And another.”

“(Y/n) my darling don’t be shy, you know you can always welcome here.”

“Sorry guys I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“Oh nonsense dear come on in!” Freddie gestured with his hand gracefully.  I walked into the studio when Brian said.

“(Y/n) come here.” He gestured with a come hither of his index finger.  I walked right up to him and he immediately began going through my hair and removed a strand of straw in my hair. “How on earth did you get some much hay in your hair?” he asked as he kept going through my hair for more strands.

“Two words. Roger’s revenge.”

“Ahhh. Blondie got back at you from when you scared him into the chicken coop.” Freddie said.

“I tried to tell him that our hens were defensive over their chicks but he wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

“That was rather funny seeing those hens chase after him. And that one that even got on top of his head.” Brian laughed.

“Yep that’s our Gloria. The most protective mama hen of them all.”

“Roger must’ve looked like a tramp to them. So Mama Hen’s gotta do when mama Hen’s gotta do.” Freddie spoke.

“That’s the natural instincts of a mother. I already know Veronica’s feeling that for our son.” John said as he kept petting Toto who was now lying across John’s lap.

“Here one last strand and then you’re free to go.” Brian told me.  This one was the most difficult one as it actually pulled against my hair.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!”

“Sorry.” Finally the hay strand came out and he gently massaged my scalp to ease the tension. “There, all done.”

“Thanks Brian. Hey Deacy, my aunt and uncle are wondering if you could have a look at our old incubator. It broke down and they want to know if you could fix it.”

“Yeah, I can have a look at it. I can come back to this song later.” He stood up and folded it into his back pocket when Freddie spoke up.

“Deacy dear when can we see this new song you’re writing?”

“You’ll see it once it’s ready. And not until then.” Toto followed at John’s heel as the three of us now stepped outside and walked towards the farm.

“So what is your song about anyway?” I asked.

“Oh no I get enough baggage from Fred, don’t you start now.” He groaned with a playful grin.

“I’m not. I’m just asking out of curiosity.” He sighed and looked down.

“Even if I told you, I doubt the others would allow it to be on the album.”

“Why’s that?” we stopped and that’s when he took his lyric sheet out from his pocket and looked down at it before handing it to me. I took the papers in my hands and unfolded them and right across the top in large handwritten font was the phrase.

YOU’RE MY BEST FRIEND (For Veronica and Robert)

“You’re my best friend?” I questioned.

“I know. Not the typical hard rock title song that a rock band would call a song. But I—I really wanted to write this song for Veronica. After……everything’s that’s happened with the sudden pregnancy, her parents utter disapproval of us having the baby before marriage. I really wanted her to have something happy for once in her life. Plus—she’s kept me grounded when the fame of rock and roll gets too much.”

“I think it’s a pretty song. I love the lyrics. I would probably listen to this song over and over again.”

“But it’s not really a song that a rock band would do. God I can already hear Roger’s complaints about this song. Especially with the line ‘I’m happy at home’. Sounds corny doesn’t it?”

“To some yeah, but I think it’s sweet. I mean I don’t know Veronica but the way you talk about her and your son it’s—it’s sweet Deacy. I think you should show this to Freddie and he’d back you up 100 percent.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so, right Toto?” Toto let out a couple of barks as he looked up at Deacy wagging his tail happily.  He smiled and ruffled both my head as well as Toto’s as he said.

“Thanks you two. At least I know two fans of this song already.” I smiled but it soon dropped as I saw what was coming up the trail of the house.

Riding up on the bicycle I had left behind was Paul Prenter and right behind him was the sheriff’s car.

“Oh no.” Deacy turned to see just what was going on and he muttered.

“Oh great now what did Roger do?”

“It’s not for Roger, it’s for Toto. He actually went through with it oh my god he went through it!” I panicked as I grabbed Toto.

“Hey, hey, hey poppet calm down.” Deacy assured me as he cupped my face in his hands. “Whatever happened we’ll fix it okay?”

“Will you?”

“We’ll do our best.” John assured me with a kiss to the center of my forehead as his thumbs stroked my cheeks.  Paul hopped off of my bike and the sheriff parked his car before stepping out.

“Right there officer. There’s the dog that bit me!” Paul proclaimed as he pointed at me.  Roger who soon came up to see what was going on stood right by my side as he said.

“Prenter how dare you call this sweet little girl an animal!”

“No Roger I meant the beast she’s holding!”

“Alright Mr. Prenter let me handle this.” Sheriff Hooper soon said as he came up to us.

“Officer whatever that man has told you it’s utterly false.” Roger demanded.

“Step aside son, the both of you. I just wish to speak with Ms. Gale and get her side of the story.” Sheriff Hooper said firmly.

“You can’t interrogate a minor. Not without her guardians present.” Deacy spoke up.

“Very well son. (Y/n) is your aunt or uncle home?”

“They should be inside the house by now.”

“Alright, let’s move this discussion inside.” Sheriff Hooper walked towards the house while Paul glared down at Toto and I but Roger and Deacy stood protectively in front of me.

“You got something smart to say, you say it to me first Prenter.” Roger sneered.  Paul didn’t speak a word as he slunked away behind Sheriff Hooper.

Inside my aunt, uncle, Paul, Sheriff Hooper, and myself and Toto were in the living room.  Sheriff Hooper told the band to stay out of the affair since it wasn’t any of their business.

“That dog is a menace to this household. I’ll forever feel unsafe until we take our leave unless that thing is taken away and destroyed!” Paul demanded.

“Destroyed? Toto! You can’t do that. Auntie Em, uncle Henry you wouldn’t allow that to happen will you?” I pleaded to both my aunt and racing up to my uncle as I held Toto in my arms.

“Of course we won’t sweetheart, will we Em?” Uncle Henry assured me.

“Oh please Aunt Em,” I raced back over to her chair and pleaded, “Toto didn’t know he was doing anything wrong. He was protecting me. I’m the one who should be punished cause I didn’t catch him in time. You can send me to bed without supper and have me do twice as many chores for the next week.”

“If you don’t allow Sheriff Hooper here to take that dog, I’ll threaten to have this whole studio be taken away from you! There’s a law that protects people against dogs that bite!” Paul threatened.

“How about if she keeps him tied up? He’s really gentle, around gentle people that is.” Aunt Em said.

“Well that’s for the Sheriff to decide.” We all turned to Sheriff Hooper who took a drag of his cigarette.  He exhaled a large puff of smoke and cleared his throat.

“Unfortunately with the evidence of a pretty severe bite I cannot let it slide. I’m afraid by law I will have to take the dog and have him be put to sleep.” He said grimly.

No. No, no, no, no, no, no they can’t do this! It was just one bite and it was in self-defense! Toto was just trying to protect me since Paul tried to hit me.

“Well we—we can’t go against the law (Y/n), I’m afraid poor Toto has to go.” Aunt Em said sadly.

“Now you’re seeing reason.” Paul said as he stood up.  Sheriff Hooper then took out combined leash and muzzle.

“I’ll have to put this on him so that he won’t attack anyone while I put him in my car.”

“No! No! I won’t let you! BACK OFF! YOU BOTH GO AWAY or….OR I’LL BITE YOU MYSELF!!!” I screamed out.

“(Y/n)!” Aunt Em scolded me.

“Paul Prenter you’re a wicked old witch! Please Aunt Em don’t let him take Toto!” I then felt Paul trying to reach over me trying to grab Toto.  I struggled as I pleaded, “DON’T LET HIM TAKE HIM!!”

“Take him Henry!” Aunt Em said gravely.

I watched helplessly as Uncle Henry took Toto out of my arms and held him while Sheriff Hooper put the muzzled lead on him. Toto whimpered and groaned as he swayed his head side to side due to the muzzle.  My uncle then handed Toto over to the Sheriff and he tipped his hat and said.

“I’m sorry. Good afternoon Gales.” With that Toto was gone.  Tears poured down my face as I quickly raced out of the living room and slammed my door shut.

I raced over to my bed and wept hysterically into my pillows.  How could they do this? Grown ups ruin everything! Why did they have to take the one thing that reminded me of my parents.  

I’ve forgotten what they look like, how they acted towards me, and all the memories I had with them cause I was too young to remember them.  The only thing I did remember was when they gave my Toto as a birthday present.

“(Y/n)?” I heard Freddie’s soft voice call out to me from my window.

“Please……I don’t wanna see anybody.” I whimpered.

“We’re so sorry (Y/n). If we could intervene we would but—” Brian said.  It was then we all heard Paul’s horrid voice call out.

“Freddie! Boys! We’re going to our next recording location. Pack up your things and let’s get going now!”

“Hold on we weren’t supposed to leave till three days from now!” Roger exclaimed.

“Plans change. Let’s leave. Pack up and get into the cars.” Great, as if things couldn’t get any worse I was now losing my new friends.  The only ones who really understood the situation I was in and stood at my side.

“Well—I guess this is an early goodbye dear.” I felt Fred’s hand gently stroke head.  I curled up into a ball refusing to even give the guys a final goodbye.

I heard a solemn sigh from the guys and soon all was quiet except for my sniffles and crying.

*3rd Person POV*

The boys packed up their stuff and packed them back into the cars.  Meanwhile Paul had given his last statement for the Sheriff against his dog bite. Roger turned and glared at Prenter and growled.

“You know Toto should’ve bitten him in the mouth, that would’ve shut him up.”

“Rog. Look I hate this as much as you do but the law is the law.” Brian said.

“Well the law is bollocks!”

“Darling I agree but Brian does have a point. A dog bite is serious. I mean if someone else’s cat came and attacked one of my darlings I’d damn well sue the owner’s for neglect. But Toto is a sweet dog, at least between the four of us.”

“I just feel bad about (Y/n). Toto was the last thing she had of her parents. With him being—you know….it’s like she’ll lose everything about them.” Roger spoke solemnly.

“She’ll be alright.” John said as he soon walked across the three of them and placed his bass guitar into the back of the car.

“And how do you know that?” questioned Brian.

“I just know.” Freddie raised a brow and could tell his little Deacy had done something very naughty.

“Alright boys. On we go to Ridge farm. There we’ll finish this album and deliver it to EMI.” Paul said as he got into the front seat of one of the cars.

Then each of the boys piled into the cars they came in and soon they as well as the Sheriff drove off.  When all was clear, peaking out from the grass was a now unmuzzled Toto.

Earlier while the Sheriff was with Paul, Deacy snuck up to the cruiser and unlocked the door and had freed Toto.  He removed the muzzle from him and told him to go hide and not to come out till everyone was gone.  Loving John as much as he loved (Y/n), Toto obeyed and now he was free to run right back to his master.  He let out a few barks before coming through her window and standing right at her side.

*My POV*

I heard a familiar bark coming from my window but I thought I was just imagining things.  That was until I felt a weight beside me and a lick at my fingers.  I looked up and gasped.  Toto was back!

“Oh Toto darling! Oh you came back! You came back!” I hugged and stroked through his fur, leaning my head against his. But then reality hit me.  I held him close to my chest as I said, “Sheriff Hooper could come back for you if he finds you gone. We’ve got to get away. We’ve got to run away!”

I quickly grabbed my suitcase and packed the first things that I touched.  My clothes, a picture of me and Aunt Em, a flashlight, and a shawl to keep warm.

Once I was packed up, Toto and I snuck out the window and we raced out of the farm and walked down the muddy road trail.

It felt like hours since we started walking. The once clear skies now grew dark and grey and the sun was long buried underneath the dark clouds.  Toto walked right at my side when we came across an abandoned car along the side of the road.

It looked freshly new but why would anyone want to abandon a car like this.  It looked in good shape and looked like it could still run.

“Hmm? Now why would someone want to abandon a car like this?” it’s nice black coat gleamed even through the cloudy weather.

That’s when a man around my uncle Henry’s age, maybe even slightly younger came walking back with a tank of gas in his hands.

“Ohh well. And here I thought I was going to be stranded all on my own.” He wore a nice black suit, had short dark brown hair, and green eyes.  He looked like a nice man with a good head on his shoulders.

“We didn’t mean to impose sir. We were just walking along the trail here.”

“Pretty young to be traveling alone aren’t you miss? I mean it’s none of my business, I just seem concerned for your safety.” He said as he came up to the car and set the gas tank down.

“I can look after myself.” I sassed.

“Oh I don’t doubt that. I’ve got a daughter around your age who acts just like you. God that child will give me an ulcer one of these days, but I love her just the same. Sorry, Jim Beach. Although one of my clients insist that I’d be called Miami.”

“Wait—would that client be named Freddie Mercury by any chance?”

“Indeed. You know of him?”

“He and the rest of Queen were staying at our farm for a while completing their album.”

“Ahhh so you must be one of the Gale’s we were told about who owned the farm studio.”

“Yes. I’m (Y/n) Gale.” I extended my hand and he took it as we shook hands.

“As I said earlier, Jim Beach. I’m the band’s lawyer. I only came by to check and see how the lads were doing. And to see if they hadn’t killed each other yet.” He muttered the last part to himself.

“They’re doing good. Well last I saw them. They left the farm earlier this afternoon.”

“Already? But we had them scheduled to stay at your family’s farm house for three more days.”

“That’s—a long story.” I said as I looked down at Toto.

“Hmm. Let me guess, Paul’s idea?”

“How’d you guess?”

“I’ve had my suspicions of Paul Prenter. He’s never really had Queen’s, especially Freddie’s, best interest at heart. But unfortunately there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m not their manager. John Reid is.”

“Well—if I may say Mr. Beach I hope eventually you do end up managing them. You seem to really care about Queen.”

“They’re—a unique bunch. Chaotic and insane. You almost want to pull your hair out at times but……they know what they want and they work together for being 4 completely different people.” I nodded.

“Mr. Beach. Would it be alright with you if Toto and I came along with you to tour with Queen?”

“Umm……I don’t know. What would your parents think?” I looked down sadly.

“They—they died when I was 4 years old. The grownups that own the farm are my aunt and uncle.”

“Oh I’m—I’m sorry.” I shook my head telling him it was fine. “But if I may ask—why do you want to come along with me?”

“My aunt Em and Uncle Henry don’t really understand me anymore. They agreed to have Toto be taken away and be put to sleep all because Paul says he bit him. Ever since the guys came to the farm I’ve had more fun than I’ve had in years. Plus I’ve never been anywhere outside my farm or the nearby market. I want to see the world, go where Queen goes.”

Hearing the stories from the boys about all the places they’ve gone on tour from Japan, to America, all over Europe, and even Australia (even though they were booed off the stage) it’s still amazing to think they could freely travel around the world.

And I want to have that experience.  Travel the world, see new places, meet new people, and be with the people that really love and understand me.

“Hmm…..are you positive that’s what you want?” I nodded. “I mean, if it were up to the guys I’m sure they’d probably let you come but I…..oh nothing. You probably wouldn’t want to hear about it from an old man like me.”

“Hear what?”

“Well. I know that around these parts everyone knows everyone.”

“That’s right. Even though the closest house to our farm is miles away, everyone’s friendly to one another when we see each other.”

“Well. On my way back from the gas station, the clerk there had gotten a call from a frantic aunt who was calling about her niece running away.” I gasped.

“Me?”

“Well I didn’t hear a name but the clerk was very concerned for the frantic aunt. I think I even heard him asking her if she was okay. She might’ve sounded sick.”

“Sick?”

“Again I didn’t pay much attention but he did sound worry. But if that is true I really hope she’ll be okay.” What have I done? Could my running away really have made Aunt Em sick?

“Come on Toto we’ve got to go home right away!”

“But wait I thought you wanted to come along with me and the boys?”

“Oh no, no, no I’ve got to get home as soon as possible. Come on Toto!” we raced back up the trail and I exclaimed, “Goodbye Mr. Beach and thank you!”

*Jim Beach’s POV*

Worked like a charm.  I grabbed the tank and began filling my car up with gas when the wind suddenly started to pick up.  Leaves were blowing high up into the sky and the clouds grew even darker.  

I ceased my gas filling and quickly turned on the radio and heard along the weather station.

‘It would seem for the first time in over 30 years we’re seeing signs of a Tornado reaching from Monmouth to Bristol. Winds traveling at over 180mph. Please be advise to go into your storm cellars, keep away from the windows and stay out of the open fields.’

Oh god.  I quickly got back in the car and started up.  Oh that poor kid I hope she makes it home in time.  And if the boys are still on the road, hope they can get to a shelter in time.

[daggerzine]

Stephen Smith of The Morning Line opens up.

I believe that Bay Area musician Stephen Smith began sending me stuff to listen to/review with his band The Morning Line a few years ago. I really like the band’s brand of melodic rock/pop and was curious to know more. I then realized it was the same Stephen Smith who had been in Boston faves Salem 66 many years before. I then wondered what other bands he had been in that I had maybe checked out (or own records by) so I tossed him some questions that he was more than happy to answer. Read on and give the band a listen, they really deserve your time.

RAWK

Where did you grow up? Was it the Boston area?

North Shore of Chicago until about 14, then high school in the Boston suburbs. I stayed in and around Boston, with stints in New York, L.A., and North Carolina, until I was 25. I was into music as a kid in Chicago, but too young to really be going to shows or anything. Boston was where I really had my musical coming of age. There was a surprising amount of stuff happening in the Suburbs. I saw Husker Du in Concord. The Dead Kennedys in Waltham. And Boston was only about 45 minutes away by train. I remember going into the city and buying records at Newbury Comics, with Aimee Mann behind the register.

What was the first instrument you picked up?

Why I started playing french horn at 11 or 12, I don’t know. It didn’t last. I started playing guitar pretty quickly after that. My first electric was a Stratocaster. I was probably 12 years old. 1979? It was used, so I’m guessing it was an early 70’s one. Got stolen at CBGB while I was loading in in the mid-80’s. Thieves work fast! Let me know if you’ve seen it.

What was the first record you remember buying? As a kid nay band knock your socks off?

My memory is embarrassing, but I recall three early purchases. Singles of ELO’s “Turn to Stone,” and Gary Numan’s “Cars,” and a Beatles comp called “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music.”

The most recent album from 2019. 

What bands were you introduction to punk/new wave/alternative music?

I remember very distinctly tuning into WLYN (later WFNX) and hearing Gun Club’s “Sex Beat”, and Bush Tetras’ “Cowboys in Africa,” and being amazed. I’ll tell you what, though, high school girlfriends were absolutely key to my musical education. Gang of Four? X? Learned about them through my first girlfriend. The Replacements? Through my second. I’m the great beneficiary of other people being better informed than me. Through these same people, I became aware of what was going on locally, and was turned on pretty early to stuff like Christmas, Volcano Suns, the Proletariat.

Was Expando Brain your first band? If not what?

As a fifteen-year-old, I had a couple bands with friends playing covers (I remember Gang of Four’s “Essence Rare,” X’s “Riding with Mary,” “Brand New Cadillac”). But Expando Brain was the first “real” band. I think I was 16 when we started that. Being that age and getting to play shows (like that CBGB one where I lost the guitar), make a record, and be ever-so-slightly enjoyed by some people, was a thrill. I suppose obviously.

Tell me about your time in Salem 66? Howe did you initially meet those ladies?

I don’t remember how we got together! I’m going to guess it was David Savoy’s doing. David managed Expando Brain for a while. He later managed Husker Du, before passing in early 1987. I think he got me together with them. I was 18-19 at the time. They were all 5-10 years older, so we wouldn’t have been traveling in the same circles.

It was absolutely thrilling for me. They were a great, interesting, band. They had “made it,” in my youthful eyes. Signed to Homestead Records? Come on. Gerard had rejected Expando Brain. So I was gonna be on my favorite label (well, maybe SST aside)! I was only in the band for nine months (I think I was a pretty relentless pain in the ass), but so much happened in that time. I think it was all in 1986. We did a tour through the south, so I saw places I’d never seen. We did another tour as a part of our travel to make “Frequency & Urgency,” so I got to see California, an unknown place that loomed so large in my imagination. We stopped in Needles, on the CA/AZ border, and I skated the pool of the motel we stayed at (very poorly). We made the record with Ethan James, who had recorded one of my favorite records of all time (“Double Nickels on the Dime”). I got my first tattoo while we were in L.A. making the record. It was just a dream for a 19-year-old who wanted to be a musician. In some minor way, I *was*.

Waiting for the pizza delivery. 

Was God’s Eye next? If so how did that band begin (and end)?

Yes and no. After getting booted from Salem 66, I went to school. Spent a year at Vassar College. There, I started the first version of God’s Eye with my brother, Tim, who would drive out to Poughkeepsie from Boston now and then to rehearse, and with Ivor Hanson, another Vassar student, who had earlier been in Faith and Embrace (and has gone on to lots of other things, musical and otherwise). I was just writing riffs then, nothing very substantial, and that came to an end at the end of the school year. At the same time, I answered an ad in the Village Voice. A band in North Carolina, apparently signed to a major, was looking for a guitar player. I noodled some notes onto a tape, took a picture, and sent it. I got an audition, then the gig. The band was called the Right Profile and, at the time, they were signed to Arista. ….but no record ever came out. Sort of a roots/American thing before that was a thing. Maybe Petty-ish? I hate to pigeonhole. So I moved to North Carolina. The band was led by a guy named Jeffrey Dean Foster, who is still making great music today. The drummer was Jon Wurster, a name I’m sure you know. For about nine months – again - I played with them. I was the wrong guy for the job though. I didn’t really have the kind of sideman chops they needed. Can’t remember if I jumped or was pushed. Maybe some combination. As an old man, it’s been nice reconnecting with them through the miracle of social media. A year or two after that, I restarted God’s Eye with my brother. In candor, it wasn’t very good. I had decided I needed to sing in a lower register, and it was really just bellowing. Despite that, we had remarkable success. We were managed by Boston dynamo Joyce Linehan, who would later go on to work at Sub Pop, work with Joe Pernice, and work as chief of staff to the Mayor of Boston. She got us much further than we (I) deserved. We made an album, an ep, and a single for Domino in England. The album also came out on Rough Trade in Germany. We got to play some dates in London. Nothing ever came out in the U.S. We had some interest, but it never materialized.

Anything in between that band and your move to the west coast?

Near the end of God’s Eye, I also played a bit with Green Magnet School. They needed a bassist, and I pitched in. Chris Pearson, one of the guitar players in the band, returned the favor, adding a second guitar for God’s Eye. I was lucky to be able to record a single with GMS, the Sub Pop double-single with Six Finger Satellite.

When did you make your movie to the Bay Area and what prompted that?

Frustration with music prompted it. I remember having breakfast with an exec from Stone Roses’ label. Silvertone, if I recall correctly. He sounded so into it! He was gonna put out the God’s Eye record in the U.S.! But it didn’t happen. I decided I needed to have more control over my life, so I bore down, finished college, and moved across the country to San Francisco, sight unseen, to go to law school.

The latest single from earlier this year. 

Were you in any bands before the Morning Line in San Francisco?

In law school I met a fellow student, Jason Hammon, who was in the midst of a pretty successful rock career. He was in Dance Hall Crashers. We stayed friends and, in 2000 or so, we started a band called My Fellow Astronauts, with his brother Gavin (another DHCrasher) and my friend Scout (Scout Shannon & the Willing Deceivers). We played some shows, recorded some demos, but nothing ever came of it.

Tell us about the beginnings of The Morning Line?

It’s 2004 or so. My friend Marco Baroz (Lucy & the Long Haul) played bass, David Knupp played guitar, and somehow we found David Shollenbarger. Maybe craigslist or something? David had played for awhile with Agent Orange. We were in our late 30’s, and knew not to take it too seriously. But we made some demos, and an album in 2007 (“Stay My Satellite”). We were and are very fortunate to have a friend named Peter Craft, who has a great studio called Boxer Lodge, and great skills. We got to spend a year working on the album, and get it just the way we wanted. We self-released, but got a few reviews and a few fan letters, and that’s all I could hope for. Eventually, the lack of success that comes with being in a band of forty-somethings took its toll, and the band was pretty much dissolved in 2008. But Peter (also a terrific drummer) and I kept making demos. I wrote some stuff I liked in about 2015, so we started recording again using The Morning Line name. “Stephen Smith” is too generic to get the job done.

“Smoke,” from 2017, is a collection of things we did over a few years. “North,” from 2019, was a focused, intentional album project, all recorded with Peter, David Knupp, and Brian Mello (the Bellyachers). That’s the band today. I write the songs and sing, but it really wouldn’t sound like it does without them, especially Brian (I don’t think Peter or David will be offended by that).

I know you just released a Morning Line single. What’s next for the band?

Not sure! I’m still riding the high of getting a couple songs done with all of us in quarantine! We’re talking about putting out a collection of odds and ends: demos, the songs from this new single, some remixes. But I’m not sure. We’ll be putting out a couple of those old outtakes as a Big Stir digital single in June. An album of all new material is probably in the future, but I’d guess at least 18 months out. We’re . . . deliberate.

Prior to COVD was the band actively playing locals shows and or doing any touring?

Not really. We play from time to time, but it’s mostly a recording project at this point. You’d be surprised how little interest there is in watching an obscure group of fifty-somethings peddle their wares.

A man, his dog and a weird-ass mountain (ok, hill). 

Who are some of your favorite current bands, local or otherwise?

I’ve been oddly incurious about new music the past few years. I just looked at the Outside Lands schedule and was like, “scarypoolparty? What?” I know that’s inconceivable to you. I tend to get excited by friends’ new products. People I’ve mentioned here, like Brian Mello and Scout Shannon, have had things out over the past year or two. My friend Russell Tillitt has something coming out. Jeff Shelton’s Well Wishers. Just off the top of my head. Bigger name stuff? I like the new Besnard Lakes record. The most recent Sleaford Mods. I’d be happy to hear the new Wrens record, which I suspect may never come.

What are your top 10 desert island discs?

You know how hard this is. Every day a different answer, right? Here goes:

Neil Young – Live Rust The Clash – London Calling Wrens – Meadowlands X – Los Angeles Gang of Four – Entertainment Replacements – Let it Be Jesus Lizard – Goat Jam – Sound Affects Teenage Fanclub – Catholic Education Wipers – Over The Edge

Those and a hundred others.

Final words? Closing comments? Words of wisdom?

Thanks for giving me the chance to think about this stuff. It’s fun to do a little reminiscing. As you know, there’s a deep bench of older indie-rock folks out there, still at it, and doing it pretty well. Thanks for giving us some attention.

 BONUS QUESTION: Red Sox or Giants?

60/40 Giants. It's nice to have a team in each league.

 https://themorningline.bandcamp.com/

[candyheartharry]

Go Your Own Way - Part 1

Hello, hello! I know I brought this up a while ago, a good collection of people seemed interested, so sorry it took me a while to touch it up and post it, but here’s Go Your Own Way, which as stated previously is based off a tweet I once say for a Mamma Mia!-esque movie using Fleetwood Mac songs and starring Harry. OBVIOUSLY I once again have a playlist which can be found right here This first part is roughly 2k words for a shorter little intro piece before we dive in a little deeper, please please please let me know what you think and as always I hope you enjoy! 💕The film of the same name stars Harry as our lead, who on screen is the frontman of an up and coming band called The Silk Roses in the mid-70′s, while our female lead (who also wrote and directed the film) plays his not-so-obvious love interest when she joins the band singing background vocals at the suggestion of the band’s guitarist who met her through her brother. During the day she manages the record shop her father had started, while her brother runs a recording studio out of the back where The Silk Roses recorded their early demos. Off camera, Harry and the main character have become close friends, and sometimes acting as someone’s love interest can be hard to drop when the cameras aren’t rolling. 

“She’s a real triple threat if I’ve ever met one.”

“What do you mean triple? All we did in the film was sing and act!”

“Well, yeah, but you wrote it too, didn’t you? I’d say that definitely counts for something.”

“The question was ‘What did you learn the most about the other while working on the movie’ so my answer would be that Harry likes to make jokes, but can’t take jokes.”

At the fourth and final interview for the last day of the press tour, the two main leads answered yet another round of questions, this time doing a special feature for Vogue’s 73 question’s segment while taking them on a tour of the set. Harry was obviously well known for the countless accolades he had collected throughout his career, while she was the rising starlet about to make her “triple threat” debut for writing, directing, and starring as the lead in her own film. If she was going to write a role for someone to play Harry Styles’ love interest, who better for the role than herself? The film, a movie musical about the personal lives of a band on the cusp of fame in the mid-70’s with a soundtrack composed exclusively of Fleetwood Mac songs, was set to debut at the end of the month in New York City at Radio City Music Hall, so this final day of interviews was likely to be the last time the costars would see each other until the release. 

After answering the final questions for the interview while leading the interviewer back to the parking lot, the pair made their way back to the trailers to collect their things before going their separate ways. While they had formally been given their own trailers, they had grown so close during the filming process they ended up informally sharing one the majority of the time; what had started as an accident after quickly rushing back from sneaking off site during an ensemble rehearsal time and throwing all their belongings in one dressing room before running to set had grown into a habit. Although the film had wrapped months ago, there was a good majority of the promo that was filmed on location, so naturally they fell back into the habit of unintentionally sharing a dressing room to spare each of them from having to cut their conversations short, especially this time around since they hadn’t seen each other nearly as much as they did during filming. 

“So have you already gotten your arrangements to New York straightened out?” Harry asked once the two of them reached his dressing room; he took a seat at the swiveling chair in front of the vanity mirror while she took up her usual spot on his couch next to his entirely too expensive Gucci throw pillows and an acoustic guitar. “Yeah, I’m getting there a couple days ahead just to have some downtime, what about you?” she asked as she tucked her feet underneath her and held one of the pink pillows to her chest. He held out his hand for her to pass his guitar over to him, and once he had it in his hands, he absentmindedly played a few notes to a song as he replied. 

“Yeah, I’m gonna get into town pretty early. I’ve got a flight out tomorrow, so I’ll be in town about two weeks.” He kept his focus on the guitar in his lap while he spoke to her, and glanced up for just a moment before he carried on with his thoughts. “You should let me know once you’re in town and we could go to dinner or something,” Harry tried to say as casually as he could, while in the meantime she held her grip on the pillow a little more tightly at his proposal. 

“There’s bound to be another twenty-five headlines about how me might be dating if we do,” she attempted to say as coolly as she could, not about to turn him down, but wanting to make sure he actually really wants to. “You get used to them,” he shrugged, not looking up from his guitar. He had already made up his mind that if she turns him down now, he would ask again once they’re both actually in the city, so really she didn’t have a choice in the matter, although he’d really like a confirmed yes from her now. “But if you really don’t want to be seen out with me, you can always just come by my apartment,” he continued, glancing up at her again, knowing he’ll break her down eventually, but not knowing that he never really has to at all since she’d say yes to nearly anything he asked her. 

She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head as he continued to play his guitar with that stupid smirk on his face. “Why are you so insistent on the fact that you think I don’t like you? Explain to me where you would get that idea?” she pressed, letting go of how firmly she’s gripping the pillow to fold her hands on top of it. He stopped playing his guitar and for the first time this entire conversation he properly looked up at her. 

“So we’re going to dinner once you get into the city; if you don’t tell me when you’re arriving, I’ll just have somebody get in touch with the premiere coordinator and they’ll let me know when you’re supposed to get there. You don’t have to come if you really don’t want to, but I’d really like it if you came,” he said with a soft smile, melting her heart that would do anything for him.

“Harry, you know I’d always go to dinner with you, you never have to try to convince me,” she said reassuringly, matching his smile. He went back to playing his guitar before he could stare at her too long and start to blush. She’s got a question that’s been on her mind since day one of pre-production, and once he was cast for the lead role in the film that she wrote, she knew Harry would be the best person to ask.

“So is anybody you know coming to the premiere?” she tried to ask casually. 

“No not this one, my mum and my sister are coming to the one in London. Your family coming?” he asked while she watched his fingers dance across the strings. “I’m not sure, they haven’t said for sure yet,” she took a moment’s pause before she gets to her actual point of asking. “Would you happen to know if Stevie is gonna be able to make it?” she asked trying to sound nonchalant about the concept, hopeful that he can pull some strings, but not getting her hopes up in case it doesn’t work out. She had been at the same events as Stevie Nicks about three times now, but they’ve never been able to actually be introduced. 

“Last I talked to her she said she would like to but might have rehearsals scheduled that day, so it kind of depends on what she’s got going on,” Harry replied as he started to play a different song. “If I hear one way or another from her, I’ll let you know,” he added with a knowing smile, very familiar with all that she’s told him about how she’s nearly met her more than once now, but never quite gets the opportunity to. “I think Mick might be coming? Maybe Christine?” he threw in, hoping an appearance by some other members of Fleetwood Mac would still be good enough for her fangirl heart. 

“I’d be honored to properly meet any of them, I can’t believe you just talk about them so casually. It still blows my mind you’re practically adopted into the family collectively by all of them together,” she said exasperatedly. She had never missed the opportunity to let him know how jealous she was of his connections to one of her favorite bands since the day she met him. He abruptly stopped playing in the middle of his second song. 

“You know, sometimes I really wonder if you wanted me in your movie just so I could introduce you to the band, you know that?” he teased, to which she calmly and casually placed the pillow she had been holding back down on the couch before standing up. She motioned for him to hand over the guitar and placed it behind her on the couch as well before she walked over to him and placed her hands on the arms of his chair, leaning down so they were nearly eye level so he’s forced to look at her directly. 

“We’re friends, aren’t we, Harry?” she asked casually.

“I mean at this rate we’ve known each other for a little over a year now, so I’d hope so,” he replied with a smirk.  

She leaned in just a little bit closer - any closer and one might argue it’s pushing the boundaries of just friendship she had just asked him to confirm - and continued. She softly brushed back a strand of his hair behind his ear and gently cupped his jaw in one of her hands, the feather light touches against his face being something that their friendship isn’t accustomed to off camera.   “Let’s make it very clear that I’d push you off of a bridge to meet Stevie Nicks and not think twice about it,” she said before giving a soft kiss to his cheek and a gentle pat to his jaw, after which she collected her purse from the vanity behind him before heading to the door to leave. 

Before she exited, she turned around to him one last time, where he remained looking both a touch shocked and surprised in his seat. “I’ll let you know once I’m in New York, if you don’t take me to dinner, I’ll be very personally offended. See you soon!” she announced with a quick wave over her shoulder before she was out the door, leaving Harry with his heart racing as he turned to face the mirror behind him, his fingers gently going to the place she kissed on his cheek where he finally let a flustered smile make his way to his face. Mixed signals on exactly how close they were as friends was another trend they had developed during filming; it was almost expected and it seemed as if it hadn’t ended once the project wrapped.

[jacquelinep21]

(I wrote this email to my grandmother, aunt, and uncle last week and felt pretty good with how it turned out so decided to publish it here.) 

Friday, May 1st, 2020

Coucou !

I’ve been wanting to write you for a while now, I even started a draft and wrote about ¾’s of it, had to stop to make dinner, and then never finished it. Maybe I was overthinking how I wanted to get the writing perfect when I should’ve just sent something to say hello, give you an update, and check-in that all was well with you. Mieux vaut tard que jamais.

How to describe everything and nothing that has happened since mid-March? Both on a personal level and on a “what’s the situation in France” level?

Personally, I’ve been cooking, both familiar recipes, and trying new ones such as Chickpea Curry, Mushroom-Stuffed Eggplant, One-Pan Wine Braised Chicken with Artichoke Hearts, Shakshuka, Spanish Tortilla, Roasted Red Pepper Cheese Toast, Peanut Butter Chile Sauce drizzled over broccoli and rice, Butternut Squash & Shallot Hash w/Poached Eggs, and a couple others. Let me admit, some were successes, others...will have to be adjusted and reattempted. Not to mention there are days when not having a dishwasher gets to be exhausting.

I still have multiple school projects that I have been working on, both group and individual. My classes were already supposed to end mid-April even before this all started, so it didn’t change much and most classes didn’t have any online classes, as the projects were more important and already put in place. I have three more to turn in before grades are due mid-May, and now the first part of my thesis is due one month later, at the end of June. Productivity has been difficult, as there are days that I feel like I need to do things for me, rather than sitting on my computer switching between reading the news and trying to do school work, but I’ve gotten a little better at it. My job, checking guests into apartments, and working in the office, is obviously non-existent, and likely will be until at least September, but because of the government's chômage partiel or temporary/partial unemployment of over 10 million people in France, I’m still getting 90% of my salary, which I am very thankful for.

What I have been doing for pleasure these days is listening to podcasts, my favorite being Spilled Milk, which I discovered in September when I was doing the grape harvest, a comedy show about food recorded in Seattle. I was taking a photograph or two a day with my dad’s 1984 Minolta 35mm film camera but ran out of film and can’t find a viable way to get more. I’ve been reading every day, finished two books so far, and have started a third. We’ve been watching movies and TV shows, such as Breaking Bad, the Jason Bourne trilogies, Charade, Star Wars, and others I’ve put off watching until now. Something I never thought I would do was a virtual dance/fitness classes but they have been a great source of dopamine and just physical movement. There are also weekly video chats with either Benjamin or I’s friends, which has been especially nice when we can reunite multiple time zones all in one call. My friend that works at Politico’s audio department asked if I’d be interested in recording an audio-diary twice a week as part of a project they’re working on of different people’s experiences during lockdown so I’ve been contributing to that (though not sure what’s become of the project so far). The most coincidental thing that has happened to me during confinement is changing the channel on the TV maybe the second week into the lockdown, as the Prime Minister’s press conference was ending (otherwise we hardly ever watch the TV), to a different channel only to see someone that looked vaguely familiar, and then see the street we live on. We soon figured out the people across the street we had seen filming once or twice were making a documentary on the lockdown. I contacted them after we finished watching the episode and they asked if I was interested in being interviewed. So that happened, haha. I don’t believe it’s possible to stream the episode outside of Europe so I’ve included the video here, it’s in English.

There are of course the daily musings outside the window to see what the neighbors across the street are doing or what is happening on the street below. Avenue de Saint-Ouen has calmed since this all began but it still is busier than I would’ve expected, both with cars and people, not resembling photos you may have seen of an eerily empty Paris. Sundays are the exception, when I can almost clearly hear what someone is saying on their balcony across the way, where the joggers' loud steps hitting the pavement echoes as they try to reach home before their 10am curfew, and the church bells ring telling us the time. The typical characters I can see on their balconies every day include the bald man that drinks his cup of coffee while smoking his morning cigarette, the retired man on the top floor that tends to his potted herbs that dangle over the balcony railing, or his neighbors that have two young boys that run back and forth. The weather has been clearer than any Parisian spring I’ve seen and the temperatures even got to the high 70’s last week but have now dropped and the clouds are back. We are allowed to walk for up to one hour within a 1km radius of our address, as long as we have a form, now available to download on our phones, filled out, otherwise there can be fines, though I have only seen police officers stop people twice.

So what is the situation in France right now? As of Thursday night, 24,376 people have died from Covid-19 in France, 26,283 people are currently hospitalized (551 less than the day before) and 4,019 are in the ICU (188 less than the day before). On May 11th, the lockdown will be lifted to a certain extent, but many restrictions will still be in place. Starting May 7th each département, kind of like a county, will either be classified red or green, depending on multiple factors, and this can change the severity of the rules after May 11th. Preschools, elementary schools, and daycares can reopen, on a voluntary basis by each family, so those in need that cannot do online learning and depend on the meals can return to school under certain hygiene measures. Public transportation will increase slightly but not back to the normal frequency, masks will be obligatory, every other seat must be left empty, employeurs are encouraged the adjust hours of employees that have to return to work to avoid rush hour, and that those not commuting to and from work should avoid public transportation during these hours. We will be able to leave the house without filling out a form, as long as it’s less than 100km from our address. Farther than this (62 miles) we will need to have a legitimate reason, such as professional or imperative family needs. No meetings, private or public, of more than ten people. Individual sports any time of day (currently in Paris jogging isn’t permitted between 10am and 7pm) but no team sports. Libraries and small museums may reopen while abiding by hygiene procedures. Parks may reopen but if considered dangerous, such as in Paris, they may remain closed. Most businesses can reopen, except restaurants, bars, cafés, large museums, movie theaters, concert venues, or theaters, while controlling the number of people in the business and customers may be turned away if they aren’t wearing a mask. Farmers markets may reopen as well. Malls may or may not reopen, depending on their size. Working from home is still strongly encouraged. The government hopes to test 700,000 people a week, though who can get tested isn’t clear. If you test positive you must self isolate for 14 days either at your residence or an allocated hotel, and teams of people will attempt to get in contact with those who may have been infected by said persons to get tested. An app is also in development to track this but is also highly controversial and will have to be voted on by parliament. Masks will be distributed by employeurs, by schools, to nonprofits for those in need, social action centers, and La Poste has set up a website where they can be bought, the government paying for part of the costs. The second phase in which things could change is June 2nd.

Voilà, I think that’s everything. I would love to hear from you when you can write back. Miss you and thinking of you.

Love,

Melissa

P.S. Some recent Articles/Blogs/Newsletters/Podcasts that are Paris related:

David Lebovitz's May 2020 Newsletter

When Cookies Fly and Other Tales of Staying Entertained During Quarantine

Lettre Recommandé: Notes from France by Lauren Collins

Podcast: Documenting confinement in Paris, checking in with the French psyche, May Day history (interview with the couple making the documentary that I was featured in briefly among other interesting things.)

The New Paris Podcast: Paris in Confinement

The Earful Tower Podcast: What does Paris look like in lockdown? (he has recorded several episodes about what has been going on, this is just a more recent one, light-hearted)

The Street That Still Offers Paris Hope

Denuded of Tourists, Paris Reveals Its Old Beating Heart

France 24's English Coverage of the France Lockdown (a great news outlet in English with a more French perspective of whats going on in France with articles and videos)

[randomvarious]

Dave Mason - “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” Reggae Feelings Song released in 1975. Compilation released in 1994. Reggae-Pop / Soft Rock / Pop-Rock

Dave Mason’s got stories, man. Although he’s faced his fair share of ups and downs throughout his lengthy career, the guy’s managed to be in the thick of rock and roll history since the 60s, having played and hung out with a long list of legends. But let’s start with his biggest achievements before diving into the super interesting minutiae: he’s a founding member of Traffic, and although he was constantly in and out of the band, he’s a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because of his early contributions (he wrote one of the group’s biggest hits, “Feelin’ Alright?”). And while he’s enjoyed a pretty sweet solo career as well, you can also hear his work on a number of landmark recordings credited to other artists and bands. He’s the acoustic guitarist on the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s version of “All Along the Watchtower”; he’s on The Stones’ Beggars Banquet; he’s recorded with The Beatles on “Across the Universe,” George Harrison on All Things Must Pass, and Paul McCartney & Wings on Venus and Mars; he’s played with Crosby, Stills, and Nash; he cut an album with Cass Elliot; he’s toured with Clapton; he played with Delaney & Bonnie and Friends; he was in Fleetwood Mac for a brief stint in the mid-90s; he had Stevie Wonder play harmonica on one of his albums; he had Michael Jackson sing on one of his singles; and perhaps most importantly, there’s a photo of him on his website with not only Keith Richards, but with Kid Rock, too. KID ROCK! I shit you not. Some would call that burying the lede, but I prefer to think of it more as saving the best for last.

Mason’s journey as a soloist started in 1970 on Blue Thumb Records with a contract that he would come to hate. In the middle of recording his third album for the label, Headkeeper, he decided that in order to renegotiate his contract, he would steal the album’s master tapes and hold them hostage as leverage. But Blue Thumb was unmoved. They took the few copies of studio-side masters that they had lying around, which comprised half of an album, and then filled out the other half with some live recordings, all clearly against Mason’s wishes and without a single ounce of his input.

But the legendary record executive at CBS, Clive Davis, would soon come to Mason’s rescue. Davis was well aware of what a talent and draw Mason was, and got him inked to a multi-album deal that saw him enjoy a good bit of success throughout his tenure. Most of Mason’s singles would fail to chart, but a majority of his albums went gold (1977′s Let It Flow would go platinum), peaking mostly between the mid-20s and low 40s on the Billboard 200, and he played lots and lots of sold out shows, too.

Now, it should also be pointed out that Mason’s not just a straighforward rock and roller. He definitely does his fair share of rocking, but he’s also a blues guy, somewhat of a country guy, and he’s made some reggae-styled stuff, too. His second album at CBS and fifth as a soloist, Split Coconut, was an album that really saw him take a stab at reggae. Inspired by the ambiance of a Jamaican restaurant by the same name in England, the album would see Mason really going for a relaxed, tropical island kind of vibe. And in order to achieve that chilled-out feeling, he would enlist as some of the album’s session musicians tropical music’s most famed practitioners, namely Graham Nash, David Crosby, and The Manhattan Transfer (unlike my Kid Rock bit up top, this is pure sarcasm). The attempt at reggae would prove successful, too, with the album achieving gold status. 

Featured on Split Coconut is a song called “Crying, Waiting, Hoping,” which, in order to fully appreciate, you need to familiarize yourself with two other songs first: “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” and “Peggy Sue Got Married,” both by Buddy Holly. These songs comprised the A and B-sides of a Holly single that was posthumously released in 1959. Mason’s version of “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” is not just a cover of Holly’s version, but actually a pretty sweet medley of both songs from the Holly single. But instead of being superb rock and roll, Mason and co. were able to fuse the two songs together into a reggae-calypso style, outfitted with skanking guitar rhythms, high-pitched whistling flute, and cheery marimba flutters.

On this song, Mason pulls musical pieces from both “Peggy Sue Got Married” and Holly’s version of “Crying, Waiting, Hoping,” smushing them together in an impressive manner (if you don’t believe me, play chunks of all three songs in succession and you’ll see what a good job he really did putting this thing together). Lyrically, he lifts the song’s sole verse from “Peggy Sue Got Married” and the choruses from Holly’s “Crying, Waiting, Hoping”. The result is a slowed down, expert conjoining of both Holly numbers, transformed into lighthearted reggae-pop, and made for some blissfully innocent weekend afternoon lounging. In 1994, CBS/Columbia would dig into their own archives to put together a German and Austrian-released compilation called Reggae Feelings, which would close with this nifty reggae medley cover.

A nice, little Dave Mason deep cut from the mid-70s that sees him turning a pair of Buddy Holly songs into reggae-pop.

[tisthenightofthewitch]

Ghost: A chat with Tobias Forge; is an instrumental album in the future?

Tobias Forge of Ghost has had an incredible year and it just keeps getting better. We were fortunate enough to speak with him about albums and arenas shows.

Ghost has been incredibly busy in the last year and a half. Between a new Cardinal, a new album, three dead Papas, a new Sister Imperator, multiple Chapter videos, three tours and two singles, all that’s missing is a partridge in a pear tree and Ghost has a holiday song to add to their repertoire. Tobias Forge, the leader of the band, is the busiest of them all adding countless interviews to the list of to-dos.

Given that information, we were extremely grateful when he agreed to talk with us for a bit to chat about Seven Inches of Satanic Panic, the differences between theater and arena shows and the chances of a full instrumental Ghost album.

The Interview

1428 Elm: Thank you so much for taking time from your very busy schedule to talk with us. Congratulations on the new single! Can I ask you what inspired those two songs? Any particular artists?

Tobias Forge: I can’t really talk about it that much. It’s 50 years old and I’m 38. I am personally a big fan of this style of music. I’ve always been.

1428 Elm: Would you say that Papa Nihil had any particular artists in mind when he did this music?

Tobias Forge: I don’t think he wrote anything but I think that the songs are very much in line with what was going on at the time. I definitely believe that he was influenced by the rock movement in the later 60’s. But it also does have sort of a Motown feel at times, so it wasn’t as psychedelic as some other bands were in 1969. They still had that mid-60’s sort of cheerfulness to it that for the most part was gone by then. Things got kind of darker in 1969.

1428 Elm: I can definitely see that. While “Kiss the Go-Goat”‘s theme is said in the lyrics, what would you say that “Mary on a Cross” is about?

Tobias Forge: I would say that a lot of music from that time because essentially the parent generation in the 60’s, were the people that were in their 20’s who were born in the 40’s, and their parents were born in the early 1900’s. So, the parents’ generation of the 60’s were extreeeeeemely conservative.

That’s why you have all these very subtle, sometimes not so subtle references because we’re familiar with the lingo, but back then it was very hidden from the parent generation who didn’t know what Mary Jane was for example.

Rolling Stones “I pledge myself to Mary Jane,” stuff like that. There’s so many innuendos, codes, like “Back Door Man,” “A Whole Lotta Love.” The 60’s was completely fused by playing with the lyrics just because they couldn’t rock it out. And I like that, I find that very interesting. And it takes a certain skill. Yeah, so that one, as most things from that time, has a subtle meaning.

1428 Elm: With psychedelic rock and almost pop influence rock added to Prequelle, are there any other genres that Ghost would like to experiment with? The dream genre that could be melted with Ghost’s sound?

Tobias Forge:  I think we’ve sort of touched upon most of the things, most of the genres that I liked. You can just balance it in a different way, maybe. I guess the only thing that we haven’t really done and I’m not sure if that could be a Ghost album, but is more like soundtrack, orchestral music. I like that a lot. I like when bands have a string arrangement for a song.

At least, if you have that in the background it sort of makes the song swell. But I’m not always super buzzed about a big orchestra and full heavy metal being played together at all times. There’s a lot of symphonic rock from the 90’s and 2000’s, a lot of them and it just becomes too much. It’s such a dense soundscape as is and you also add a full orchestra as well.

It sounds dramatic but not a whole lot of room to breathe so I’m not sure if I would make orchestral arrangements, like full orchestral that I would have the whole band playing along with it. It would be paced out differently. I listen to a lot of 70’s prog rock from Italy and a lot has orchestral music, very experimental.

1428 Elm: Would you ever consider a full instrumental Ghost album?

Tobias Forge: Absolutely. I love instrumental music. I always entertain having instrumental tracks. In the future, it may be 1 out of 10 but it’s always nice.

1428 Elm: You guys made the saxophone cool again with “Miasma.” You’ve talked on the next album about Ghost going back to its harder roots. Is there a past album looking back that you’re wanting to emulate or get that same emotional feel from?

Tobias Forge: No, not really one album. I always say that each new album is like a reaction to each of the previous so since like Prequelle is not a hard rock or heavy, heavy metal album, the natural reaction to that will be to write something that isn’t, I don’t want to use the word soft, it will be different from Prequelle.

The same way Prequelle was different from Meliora etc. I’ll write a record that we don’t have yet because otherwise what’s the point?  But I definitely have an album in mind with slightly more rippage [chuckles].

1428 Elm: Past albums have very strong themes and then the music takes you on a journey. Do you already have the theme in in mind?

Tobias Forge: Yes.

1428 Elm: I know you can’t say (damn!). Even from one tour to the next, your performing locations have changed quite a bit.  How was the energy performing a stage show in a theater different than that of performing in these massive arenas you’ve been doing lately?

Tobias Forge: For me, the three most important things are:1) is that we can bring the same production to every place even though technically the arena might not be dramatically bigger than playing in a theater because we’re not playing the round. We’re not playing to arena capacity.

So technically, sometimes, if the capacity of the area might be similar to a theater, which is like 3200 people or something, but the main difference is that we can have the stage. With very few exceptions, regardless if you live in a small market, the little town that no one plays in, you will get the same show as they would get in New York City or LA, which is very important for me. I think it’s extremely important that if you pay money to see it, you should get the same thing.

Which leads me to: 2) when we play the theaters, there was a constant day to day basis, “Oh, you can’t use pyro. We can’t do confetti. Oh, by the way the curtain doesn’t work. Oh by the way we have this big theater production here so the stage is part occupied.” So we had to change the set almost every day.

I am not a big fan of surprises. I don’t like that at all. I want everything to be identical every day just because the show gets better if it’s done the same way, more of less. There’s wiggle room for a human touch on the show; of course the show gets different if you have 30 ft of stage one night and then there 6 ft of stage and it’s like that every day.

It does make a difference on the band because you have to move differently. These are details, I’m talking shop here in a way that people might not think about.

1428 Elm: This is extremely interesting!

Tobias Forge: Back in the day, American hockey rinks were smaller than European ones because of the action. Americans like action, so the rinks were smaller which led to more fights, more physicality. If you came to a European rink, they were bigger which was harder for anyone used to an American rink. Same thing goes for us and the stage.

One of the most important things, I absolutely HATE sitting crowds.  Not on the bleachers or if you’re sitting on the side, that’s fine. You always want the most energized and enthusiastic people standing in the front. One big, big, big downside for theaters, in my opinion, is that they have seats all the way up to the stage and that really screws up the energy of the show.

Because you want people in the front who are supposed to be there. You don’t want people who can pay for it. You don’t want someone in the front sitting, eating popcorn. It becomes really awkward in terms of being in front of the crowd.

1428 Elm: As someone who went to two different shows in two different cities, I like to eyeball the crowds to see the difference and it’s shocking to see from one city to the other just how different the crowds can be and it makes a difference.

Tobias Forge: Oh yeah and it really does differ from city to city. And that’s one thing when we were repeatedly doing the theater circuit, which has its upsides don’t get me wrong. I definitely prefer theaters but a lot of that city temperament was sometimes lost because of the theaters because you ended up having the front section that were generally the people who were economically the ones that could pay for it.

It’s a Friday night and you come to a city that’s known for a vibrant crowd and still you have people in the front who act like they’re watching a movie. They are sitting back and then you have the people who are wanting to rock out and they are ten rows back. But unfortunately that’s part of the economics of theaters and that’s why I was very adamant about moving away from theaters.

Luckily the promoter felt, let’s try it and see how it works out, and I think the upsides are vast. I’m just happy that we’re able to bring the same show and you get the energy in the show and it feels way better now.

1428 Elm: Well the show looks incredible and I hope you have an amazing rest of your tour and a good rest in 2020 since you all have been go go going for quite a while.

Tobias Forge: Yes, well, there’s a new record so there’s not a whole lot of rest but it’s certainly paced in a different way.

Tobias was an absolute delight to speak with. If you are like me and want to have a fully instrumental Ghost album one day, let the band know your support. I think it would be an amazing change to the Ghost formula.

1428ELM.COM

[gigsoupmusic]

INTERVIEW - MICKO WESTMORELAND ON 'VELVET GOLDMINE' AND LIFE WITH THE MELLOTRONICS

Micko Westmoreland first came to the public's attention as the enigmatic Jack Fairey in the star-studded glam rock fake biopic 'Velvet Goldmine', and since then has done everything from making electronica as The Bowling Green to the sharp edged new wave of his current project Micko & The Mellotronics. With that band on the verge of releasing their second single, a double A-side with the timely 'Noisy Neighbours 'and 'You Killed My Father' (featuring the late Neil Innes), he spoke to Gigsoup to tell all... Starting at the beginning, you got your first break appearing in the film ‘Velvet Goldmine’…  Quite a baptism of fire! Yep, I was fresh out of film school with little acting experience. So I did a ton of research, suspended all activities other than glam rock ones; late mornings, blurry eyeliner, became a kind of ‘Our Lady of the Flowers’, to quote Jean Genet. I did appear on set however with well prepared sleeve notes. Ziggy/Hunky and early Roxy had been teenage territory. Toni Colette really helped me during filming, showing me where and how to move and stand in frame etc. which I really wasn’t aware of and she was such a wonderful person to hang out with. Ewan McGregor was enormous in the 90s but treated you like a complete equal. I’ve acted the fiction of being a sensational rock star, my embalmed alter ego is now moth balled and hermetically sealed for posterity. What do you make of the film’s recent re-appraisal – it was panned at the time but now it’s considered a cult classic A lot of the film heavyweights liked it at the time and have consistently sung its praises over the last 20 years, which has contributed to its legacy, plus Todd Haynes is now seen as a 24-carat auteur. 1998 wasn’t ready for a kaleidoscopic pansexual odyssey. Velvet Goldmine truly tapped into a teenage hormonal feeling, so the audience is responsible for its longevity I think, people have grown old with it and new fans have discovered it. You had quite a lot of success making electronic music as The Bowling Green but then switched tack to making more song-based stuff.  What’s the story there? The music I was making was becoming increasingly filmic, so I moved into movie sound tracks for a while and did two film scores and a few documentaries with my brother; acclaimed director Wash Westmoreland (Still Alice, Colette). One of them, Echo Park L.A., won best drama at Sundance in 2006! I was becoming more attuned to a literary narrative and was listening to Dylan’s Time out of Mind and Beck’s Sea Change at the time – couple that with improvements in technology that weren’t so reliant on sampler and keyboard. I started playing much more guitar again, my first love and now my primary instrument for writing. You made a couple of albums under your own name but then formed Micko & The Mellotronics – your first ‘band’ project.  What was the thinking behind that move? I was very much used to working on my own. I made a couple of solo albums, one which Terry Edwards (P.J. Harvey/Holy Holy) released on his Sartorial label called ‘Wax & Wayne’, and ‘Yours Etc Abc’, on my own Landline records imprint, which I believe was the main unconscious projection into putting a live act together. The person doing PR for it asked, ‘Who’s in the band?’ When I realized I didn’t have one, it made sense to look for folk to start pushing sounds around. How would you sum up the band to someone you hadn’t heard you before?  Can you name us a few bands that have influenced its sound? We get compared to the Buzzcocks quite a lot, I’ll take that. I’ve loved Magazine since teenage, Television too. I also dig Serge Gainsbourg majorly and bands like The Silver Apples. I’m really into Iso Tomita, the 70’s electronic musician and of course Mr. Eno too. People have commented that the double A side, soon to be released, is like early Genesis but I think it’s much closer to The Rutles. Patrick from R.O.C. said there was violence to the sound. I do pride the writing on an intricacy and eccentricity but without getting prog about it. Talk us through the Mellotronics members and their individual flavours... Nick Mackay a friend referred me to. He was playing in a two-piece called ‘Barricades’, and was clearly a very good drummer, real flare as a player/performer and had the magic ingredient for any band – he was a thoroughly decent chap you could spend a ton of time with. Jon Klein is our very own rock star hiding in plain sight. He has a CV better than the rest of us put together: Banshees, Sinead O’Connor to name a few and of course his own band Specimen. I lent Jon my amp when we were on the same bill. I gave him a copy of my previous album and he contacted me the next day, which I considered a big thumbs up. He’s very quick, obscenely talented and has revolutionized day-to-day working practice. In short a turbo charged V12 engine has been carefully placed inside a Hillman imp, with fresh brake pads added. Vicky Carroll the bassist also came through personal referral, Haydn Hades who does stand up. At the time she was playing in a band the ‘Owls of Now’, a very bright lady indeed. She really got what the band was about and had great style. The dynamic of now the band get on and its chemistry is essential to longevity. Having a woman on board was important to us, so we really lucked out by finding such a smart cookie in Vicky. So far, you’ve shared ‘The Finger’, your first single, and now two new tracks, which will (eventually) be released as a 7” single.  Talk us through ‘Noisy Neighbors’ and ’You Killed My Father’. Noisy Neighbours came about from my experience with dealing with serial complainers whilst living in a housing co-op. We shot the video with filmmaker Ashley Jones (www.thechaoesengineers.com) in the next door location the inhabitants of the song were occupying, so we had to be quiet. Of course some complaints are genuine but most were more telling of the complainant than complainee. There are control issues, which come about as a result of trying to micromanage your environment beyond your own four walls. I wanted to make a witty statement about that without being over critical or condemning. Raising a single eyebrow over that type of behavior. ‘You Killed My Father’, the double A side was inspired by Neil Innes R.I.P. (Monty Python, Bonzo Dog, The Rutles). So of course I was thrilled when he agreed to play on it. I was introduced to him through an artist friend Harry Pye. We inadvertly created a supergroup together called the Spammed and meet up once a year to record for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Last session Tony Visconti produced a cover of Bolan’s ‘Get it on’, for us. It comprises, Rat Scabies (The Damned), Horace Panter (The Specials), Neil when he was with us and actor/comedian Kevin Eldon on vocs, I play guitar. The song relates to my childhood, growing up in Leeds and has a Shakespearean quality. I checked the prose with an expert to make sure I hadn’t over egged the pudding. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5iswf8GG6o You seem to be able to attract some interesting names to collaborate with - Horace Panter of The Specials and the late Neil Innes recently, but also members of The Blockheads, Madness, Stranglers and Goldfrapp in the past.  Who would be top of your collaborative wish list? I’d love to do something with Eno again. We became friendly during the mid nineties. I was tutored by him, whilst working on an art show called ‘Self Storage’ with Laurie Anderson but never made it into the studio. A wild card like Wendy Carlos, famed for the soundtrack of ‘A Clockwork Orange’ would be great too. Likewise, your videos have featured some interesting names from British comedy…  What do they bring to the party?  Anyone else you’d like to get on board if you had free reign? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDr7nkOQN9Q All the comedy connections came from Kevin Eldon initially, a super bright and truly wonderful guy. He introduced me to Paul Putner at a Specials gig. Paul’s a brilliant bloke and really likes the band. He found the remarkable Suzy Kane for us. All three have taken excellent roles. Suzy had a lot of input in Noisy Neighbours, suggesting wardrobe and even shots to Ashley as we were making it; we really have had tremendous fun with our contributors. Obviously, Chris Morris would be fantastic but I’m a little afraid to knock. We hear the debut M&TM album is close to completion – what have you got in store for us? A psychedelic mish mash of fable, sound collage and idea. With the new single, 3 of the songs are now out there. On a musical front Horace Panter out of The Specials has guested on a couple of tracks for us and of course we have one of Neil Innes’ last performances too. I’ve written a song about Imelda Marcos, she seemed like a person who was way ahead of her time, a modern template for a highly manipulative battle-axe. I have an author friend in his 60s who’s an eminent  psychologist, (Georg Eifert - Anxiety Happens) so I wrote a song called ‘The Fear’, with a lot of his theories in mind. There’s also one too called ‘Sick and Tired’, it’s not about what I’m eed up about, but like Noisy Neighbours it’s a comment about complaint. When writing I try to look at what gets talked about by everyday people and base some of the songs around those themes. Earwig on phone conversations on buses, pick up discarded bits of paper, when you get into the habit you’ll be amazed what you find. So I get on the 38 and set my brain to record. There’s also a fair amount about growing up on the record too, which I hope all can relate to. I think you have to start with a good idea, that’s on any level otherwise you’re unlikely to get far. From my art college days I got into the habit of noting things down, if you don’t it often escapes you. It’s difficult to marry a multitude of ingredients and let’s face it the world is full of plenty, pair it down and make it resonate. Anyone who tells you otherwise is telling porkies. To make something that stands the test of time is more difficult still. But I’m not afraid of the work and I enjoy ‘the doing’, for me that’s what it’s all about. I believe that as individuals we have a natural tendency to evolve, if we choose to see it that way and trust, it’ll ‘self fulfill’. If you’ll allow yourself to tap into that expansion creatively, you’ll always find inspiration. Micko & The Mellotronics release 'Noisy Neighbours / You Killed My Father' on Landline Records on April 17 with the 7" single schedule to hit the shops on June 27. Read the full article

[telegraphopera-blog]

“The Tales of Kutcharitaville”

In the mid 70′s a small family restaurant opened at the address 2186 Hendersonville Rd. in Arden, North Carolina. The restaurant was called Kutchie’s Dine and Dance Supper Club. The proprietors were a husband and wife team named Kutchie and Anita Peleaz. 

The restaurant later on changed its name and theme to Kutchie’s Key West Cafe, a tropical beach themed cafe. The last dated article mentioning the cafe as open was published on a local online news platform in 2006. 

The cafe closed soon after the publication of the ‘06 article, after three decades of business. The property now sits vacant, having been partially demolished, but the land and remaining structure is still owned by a member of the Peleaz family.    

Shortly after going out of business, strange mentions of the restaurant began to appear in internet key word searches, due to the fact that someone was obsessively posting about the now-closed restaurant, writing about it over and over. The mystery poster began leaving these mysterious posts online in the year 2009, despite the fact that the Key West Cafe had been closed for a few years. The posts were created for the next seven years. 

These mysterious posts, positive glowing promotions for Kutchie’s Key West Cafe, were signed with many aliases, Jake Carson being among the most prominent, and they continued to be posted in news article comment sections for a total of seven years. The posts were also left below food and literary reviews, and even in the guest-book sections of online obituaries. 

The appearance of these posts, which were written about a defunct cafe and posted for seven years straight, were a mystery to the internet. No one could understand why someone would rave about and promote a long-shuttered dining establishment for seven years. 

If you look around the internet, many of the thousands of these now legendary posts can still be found, as well as YT videos on the topic, and a variety of links will take readers to web pages like 4Chan and Reddit, where people devoted to discovering who wrote the posts discuss the mystery.       

For more info see the top pinned posts at: r/KeyLimePieMystery

My Analysis of the KLP Mystery 

In 1958 charter boat Captain Tony Tarracino purchased 428 Green St, in Key West, Florida. He named it Captain Tony's Saloon. The building itself was home at one time to an ice slab morgue, and in 1898 it housed a wireless telegraph system instrumental in receiving messages from Havana during the Spanish-American war. After that the building housed a bordello, and a speak-easy and then became a bar and has continued to be a bar in some form or another to this day. 

The famous address is most noted for being a hangout to many celebrities, including many well-known literary figures, including Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, and Shel Silverstein. During the bar's run as Sloppy Joe's in the 30's, Hemingway spent a lot of time there. Later, in the early 70's, it became a favorited haunt of Jimmy Buffet. Buffet played his music at the place until he opened his own bar, Margaritaville, around the corner on Duval St. He was allegedly paid in the currency of tequila, to play Captain Tony’s, and he even helped to immortalize Captain’s Tony’s Saloon with his famous song "Last Mango in Paris"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Tony%27s_Saloon

This recounting of the history of Captain Tony’s Saloon is significant, and this history of the Key West scene is vital to the theory I am putting forth, for many reasons, as it is some of the relevant information that supports the theory that Kutchie himself was the author of these posts. 

We all know that Kutchie's Key West Cafe was a beach-themed cafe, made complete with the stylistic flavorings of the famous Key West scene. Kutchie masterminded this theme as the 2nd incarnation of the restaurant at some point after it's prior run as Kutchie's Dine and Dance Supper Club ended. 

A poster on Reddit found microfiche “Help Wanted” ads in which Kutchie’s Dine and Dance Supper Club advertised its intention to hire workers in 1976. It was in the 70's that Jimmy Buffet was the toast of the town over in Key West and those years in particular were Buffet’s “pre-Margaritaville” heyday at Captain Tony's. During the 70's is when he spent his time playing Captain Tony's for tequila payments, as the legend tells it. 

The first Margaritaville is listed as opening on Duval St. around the corner from Captain Tony's Saloon in 1985. It is not clear at what point the name and theme of Kutchie's Cafe changed, but at some point during it's approximate 30 year run, it changed it’s name from Kutchie’s Dine and Dance Supper Club and began doing business as Kutchie's Key West Cafe.  

During this time, Kutchie created the Cafe, which we have seen referred to in the KLP posts as “Kutcharitaville,” which is a play of words on Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. The posts also refer to Kutchie as "The Captain," in the same fashion as Captain Tony Tarracino of Captain Tony's Saloon fame. Therefore what we know of Kutchie and his Key West Cafe, is that it too was influenced by Captain Tony's Saloon, Jimmy Buffet and his Margaritaville vibes, and by the Key West culture in general.  

It seems obvious that Kutchie’s Key West Cafe's tropical phase intended to pay homage to and capitalize off the popular Key West culture of the day and throw back to it’s musical and literary heyday. While Kutchie built that creative cafe world for the entertainment experience of his diners, the posts created by the KLP poster also build a creative world for the readers. This is Kutchie’s World. 

The Key West Cafe strived to re-create a slice of the delicious pie that is the famous Key West scene, within the perimeters of Kutchie’s world building, and the posts also work on a literary level to streamline Captain Kutchie’s Key West Cafe into the same pop-culture literary world of legend that Captain Tony’s Saloon and Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville also inhabited in popular culture through their mention in music and literature.  

The posts attempt to create an alternate world in which Kutchie is a Captain, just like Captain Tony, and they link Kutchie’s little tropical paradise in North Carolina to the famous Key West literary and music scene through online world-building, same as Captain Tony’s and Margaritaville were immortalized by writers and artists in the popular media of the day. It is worth noting, that Kutchie himself has been known to build creative worlds for purposes of entertainment. 

Therefore I believe that is reasonable to assume that this writing serves the purpose of further enhancing the historical pop culture relevance of Kutchie and his Key West Cafe and serves to allow Kutchie to continue to create parallels between his creation, the Key West Cafe and the real Key West scene.  

The author of the KLP posts builds a fantasy world through their attempt at unconventional modern literature, much like Kutchie's Key West Cafe itself was a world built by Kutchie from his imagination, and was formed by him merging his personal interests into a “fantasy play” themed business. 

In the world of the KLP posts, statements are made by the author in which Captain Kutchie is memorialized in the same breath as Captain Tony and also the two ”famous” Captains are cast in the role of buddies, having had adventures together in the world built by the KLP posts. Was this past friendship fantasy or reality? Only Captain Kutchie and Captain Tony know for sure. Perhaps it is all just wishful thinking, or tall tale telling, an old man spinning yarns.    

"The Late Great “Captain Tony Tarracino” of Key West Fame was an Old Friend of “Captain Kutchie Pelaez”. Together the two of them Sailed Many Adventures Not Known To Much Of The World! Nighttime Runs Too Cuba And Back. Cheese Burgers, Rum, Scotch, Cigarettes, Cigars, Treasure Maps, Pizzas, Chocolate Bars and Key Lime Pies Helped The Two Make History. If You Can Believe It Even “Mel Fisher” Was Known To Hang With Them!"- Jake Carson FB

https://www.facebook.com/jake.carson.98284/posts/1854653334767359

“..And With An Extra “HEAVY-HEAVY HEART”, “Captain Kutchie Pelaez’s”, EXTRA GOOD FRIEND And OLD PARTNER IN CRIME….The Legendary….”YANKEE JACK”,..Of Key West and Boston, Mass. Has Passed Away, Much Too Soon..Rest In Peace Pisan…….Enjoy Your Key Lime Pies Buddy… .. …We Remember “Yankee Jack”, “Captain Tony”, “Jimmy Buffett”, “Mel Fisher”, “Captain Terry Levi”, “Captain Kutchie Pelaez” And Many Other Famous Characters Down In Key West In The Good Old Days. What A Blast Those Days Really Were!…. ....Do You Ever Wonder?..Who Writes All This Crap?..Well, We Sure Do. They Deserve Getting Awards For Such Literary Skills, We Hope They’re Getting Paid Well. This Stuff Is As Good As “Hemingway” Or “MAD MAGAZINE”!”  -Jake Carson FB

In the above post, Captain Kutchie Peleaz is hailed by Jake Carson as a visionary in the same breath as Yankee Jack, Captain Tony, Jimmy Buffet and "many other famous characters" and then the author goes on to question if you have ever wondered who writes this crap and states that it’s as good as "Hemingway" 

It is obvious that while the creator of the cafe strove to pay homage, it’s also obvious that there’s an intention in the writings to also create a modern experimental literary work that places Kutchie's Cafe somewhere in pop culture history, in the same way that authors such as Ernest Hemingway paid homage to Key West and recorded of it for posterity in history. 

It is made clear when the author says, “This stuff is good as “Hemingway,””  that they fancies their work on the KLP posts to be a valid form of creative modern literature and that they are conceptualizing themselves as one of the vanguards of this new style of creative writing. 

Hemingway and Buffet memorialized Key West and Captain Tony's Saloon in their popular writings. The KLP poster is memorializing the Key West Cafe in the now popularized KLP writings order to push the Cafe into the annals of pop-cuture history for posterity. 

It’s not enough for the Key West Cafe to have been “like” a Key West haunt, it must also be recorded in pop culture history, in order to truly be legend, just like a real Key West hangout. 

The Title of the Masterpiece is “The Tales From Kutcharitaville” 

At one point, Jake Carson states "Hell, If You Didn't Know Better, You'd Probably Guess That This Is Just Another Chapter From That Famous Island Book Named "The Tales From KUTCHARITAVILLE"!...." It is here we are informed by the author that the pieces of work that have been placed all over the internet actually combine, like an old fashioned serial radio show or different books of the Bible, to form a modern internet literature masterpiece called “The Tales From Kutcharitaville" in which the KLP author memorializes his youth, his love of family, and their cafe, which was in the Peleaz families lives for around 30 years. 

In the work, “The Tales From Kutcharitaville,” the KLP author takes you into Kutchie's world, by re-creating it for you on some level. For those who have never been to that famous Key West scene or even to Kutchie's Key West Cafe, the posts strive to recreate the energy from that moment when the two worlds were combined through the creative energy of one man.  

In my opinion, I believe that this all works together to show that the author of the KLP posts is none other than Kutchiemon himself. The author builds a world in their posts to pay homage to the fame of the Key West Cafe much like Ernest Hemingway paid homage to Key West in his writing and much like Kutchie paid homage to the Key West scene by styling his Cafe according to influences from famous Key West characters like Captain Tony and Jimmy Buffet. 

What We Also Know

We know that the Peleaz family has conservative leanings when it comes to politics, and the KLP poster seems to share similar political leanings, or so it seems from their writing. The pages the KLP poster comment on and the celebrity characters mentioned in the world they build also reference artists or celebrities from the boomer era. One example of this would be the attraction the author has to post the KLP writings on web pages covering performing artists like Don Rickles.  

What I Believe 

I believe in the years after Kutchie's Key West Cafe closed down, that Kutchie had nothing to do to foster his creativity, and missed building a fantasy Key West world, and thus moved onto the 2nd phase of world building surrounding the Kutchie's Key West Cafe, the phase in which the shuttered cafe was intended to be boosted to pop-culture literary infamy through the unconventional method witnessed in the author's use of free platforms to leave their mark. 

The author has chosen to clue us into their creation of the KLP world through the use of real world communications platforms that traffic in promoting food and entertainments relevant to the author's world building experience in order to create an “organic feeling” of “manufactured fame” for Captain Kutchie's Cafe. I believe this is Kutchie's effort to create a world of literary legend for his own Key West cafe that will parallel the literary legend built by famous writers to convey the Key West scene's vitality and lore. 

Through the writings, the Key West Cafe takes on a life of its own and becomes a little more famous in pop culture in the same way the original Key West scene is. This legend created, makes the Key West Cafe even MORE like the venues he modeled his cafe after, and also through these writings about the key West Cafe, the Key West scene itself is further immortalized, despite the fact that its even out of business now for over a decade. 

I believe that the KLP posts constitute a new form of literature that is modern, interactive, and dynamic in nature. The works that comprise "The Tales From Kutcharitaville" make use of free platforms and interact much like an ARG within the real world, to create a parallel world in which Kutchies' Key West Cafe comes to literary prominence through the work of the KLP poster's world building much the same way that Captain Tony's Saloon and the Key West music and literary scene came to prominence after it was celebrated in world famous music and literature. 

So we know that the author has also told us the name of this “book” that they have published through unconventional means and they have also explained to us that their work is on par with Hemingway and while many literary scholars would argue that the KLP posts do not constitute a valid form of literature, this author argues that they do, because the platforms on which we receive literature and how we interact with literature changes historically and always have. 

This is why I believe the author of the KLP posts to be a sort of modern day Burroughs, or Bukowski. Insert the name of a famous ground breaking experimental author here and you get the picture. 

I agree with the author of the KLP posts when they stated that the author deserves awards for their literary skills. I believe the world they have created rises above the level of "just some comments on a board," and that the format chosen and the mystery imbued in it elevates the writing to an interactive level of performance. The world draws the readers in. Unlike much of modern literature, the world of the author of the KLP posts grabs the reader’s attention and demands discussion. 

I would argue that the KLP posts constitute a successful “life's-work masterpiece” by the author, and that the author is among a new modern vanguard of experimental underground literary figures that choose to self publish their works in unconventional formats. 

Most would believe that to be considered literature, one must have a book for sale on the shelf, or on the internet, but the KLP posts rise above the commercial literature we know today and present an experience that is on par with a much more highly elevated art form. The book “The Tales From Kutcharitaville” is not just something that you read and set aside, it is something you consume voraciously, and discuss. 

It pulls you in on its whirlwind adventure and also takes you along for the ups and down's in the life of the story's central figure, the Hero of the book “The Tales From Kutcharitaville,” Kutchie himself. It even casts you in a role, in which you become an actor in the story, an "investigator of literary mystery." 

This engrossing experience is provided to you at no charge, the price that is paid is the fact that Kutchie’s little Key West Cafe that used to be on Hendersonville Road in Asheville goes down in literary history, much like Captain Tony's, and the earned posterity is valid and justifiable as the post-humous notoriety is gained through a dynamic, ground-breaking new style of literary presentation. As a matter of fact the fame brought to the Key West Cafe posthumously is the writer’s “Award.”

It goes without saying that Captain Kutchie and his Key West Cafe deserve the literary prominence granted through the posts. The entertainment provided by the literature works on two levels. On one hand we are caught up in this urban legend through the serialized postings and on the other hand, we are also whisked into the world of Kutchie's as actors, where we investigate this manufactured literary urban legend. 

Loose Lips and Being Loved

My theory on why nobody in the know will disclose this author's identity- I believe for the urban legend to work on every level, the author can not and should not claim credit for their work. The mystery is part of the charm of the multi-level literary work, "The Tales From Kutcharitaville," and the mystery of not knowing who created the posts, combined with not knowing why they did it, is what propels the posts to the high level of dynamic performance art that allows them to inhabit both today's world of creative non-fiction, and also reside with one foot in the real world past. 

The mystery of the WHO and WHY is what makes this literary sensation something we can all can obsess over, and ask questions about, and interact with on so many levels. It's what makes this mystery one of the most thrilling creative reads of modern times. 

Some would argue that the posts veer into the crude, perverted, and disorganized, and at times show signs of a disorganized mental state. But many famous authors from literary history struggled with mental disorganization and many of them created their writing from within awkward disorganized mental states. 

Author William Burroughs, for example, often wrote from an “unusual place” that people would say was born of mental disorganization. His work, much like for example, Bukowski’s, was often seen as crude and vulgar and sometimes when an author's literary works were fragmented, crude, and vulgar and showed signs of disorganization they were published and lauded anyways, as “samples of the real life mind” of the author.  

If an authors world is disorganized, that is simply the world they are bringing you into. Vulgarity, perversion, and signs of mental disorganization do not invalidate the serialized work "The Tales From Kutcharitaville" from being considered as a modern-day literary masterpiece. These odd features actually help to propel it into its strange sense of notoriety. These features make the work more honest and interesting, as they provide a sense of genuine character to the work. 

While it could also be a writer who frequented Kutchie's, or it could be one of Kutchie's own family members, or more than one party, I strongly believe all the available evidence points to Kutchie himself as being the author. I believe that as he aged and his mental and creative state changed, these factors, along with the prominence of the work finally coming into view of popular culture, he decided to stop posting because sometimes, enough of a good thing is enough. Once the posts caught on and began to provide the former Key West Cafe with a new infamy, and people began to write to, make calls to, and otherwise contact the Peleaz family, he stopped posting the posts, because of his health, and also because the posts had served their creative purpose probably more then he ever imagined they would.  

Continuing to post the posts in the face of the public attention the posts are now receiving, would only serve to complicate the situation for the author and for the Peleaz family as a unit. If the KP works were created to make the Cafe famous post-humous it worked, but also the family began to face what amounted at times to fanatic harassment. 

People’s Theories on “The Tales From Kutcharitaville”

Some have theorized that the Peleaz family have something to do with criminal actions, that somehow involve the KLP posts, but no evidence has ever been found to validate these assertions of criminal conspiracy. People have also speculated that the posts are the covert/overt comms of spies, as well, that the work is being done by a bot. 

And while no one has ever been able to prove that the Peleaz family has any involvement in untoward affairs, and are proven pillars of their local society, the spy theory has never been substantiated even in the least either, nor has the bot theory. No theory has ever been proven. 

The Pelaez family is an upstanding local family in a tight-knit community of mountain folk, hesitant to trust or embrace outsiders. They've lived there all their lives, and the patrons of the Cafe often grew up alongside of them, and went to school or even to church with them. The Pelaez family, by all appearances, are well-respected hard-working locals that are beloved by the residents of the Asheville-Arden-"Skyland" area. As a rule, they do not possess criminal records.

If Kutchie wrote the posts and someone who knew him well did know this, I believe that they would protect this fact from getting out, simply because all of the love that is shown in the posts for the Key West Cafe and its patrons. That love was very real and is returned by the people of Asheville-Arden to this day. To this day, the people who Kutchie loved, still love Kutchie and his little Key West Cafe back. 

Many believe the secretiveness surrounding the topic of authorship indicates some sort of criminal conspiracy in the community of Asheville, but people are often very protective of the people they love. And regulars of Kutchie’s Key West Cafe say they were made to feel like part of the Peleaz family. To this day there is still brand loyalty to Kutchie’s Cafe. 

It has been reflected that some believe that Kutchie is no longer well health-wise and some readers feel that the writing style of the KLP poster often demonstrates a decline of the poster’s mental health. I believe this is another reason why people would protect the identity of the author, especially if the people in their lives protecting their truth believe that the posts were a product of a looming mental health crises. Everyone loves Kutchie. 

These posts are really about love. They are about Kutchie's love for life, his youth, his community, his Key West Cafe, Key West culture, and his family. The restaurant was the waiting room he spent the best years of his life in, during his time here on earth. 

In the stories he is a figure of action, adventure, and good times, he as a protagonist is a provider of and creator of community. In this community there is a lot of love. In these posts Kutchie has been living it up once again, this time memorializing himself in a contrived literary hoax, in which he has adventures with his celebrity buddies and he has created this little world for himself to use to extend to us and the world at large, the love that went into the fantasy world building of his Key West Cafe and share with us his own brand of magic, much as he shared the Key West Cafe and its “beach in the country,” charms with the community. 

I believe that the author of the KLP posts is a creative genius. I believe that creative genius living in his own self-made world is none other than the Captain himself. 

Who else would place him as the action-adventure star in his own “internet fan-fiction” fantasy Rat-Pack, and who else would seek to elevate The Captain and his former Key West Cafe into the annals of modern literary history? And why? No one but Captain Kutchie himself has any motivation to build this world in which he is glorified. This is original Fan-Fiction, by the Captain, for the Captain.

 The Copy Cat Posts/After The First Mention on Reddit

I believe that after the posts became a topic of discussion online, and people began to question the family members and contact them, that someone else in the family possibly began to reply to the public, or possibly participate in posting some of the posts. 

I do think this is a possibility to explain why it seems like the posts/messages were at one time being replied to or perpetrated by a different party, while showing different styles of writing and sending quotes from a game like Silent Hill. 

Another theory that I'm also leaning toward to support why this occurred is that at some point, some hacker folks who read about the KLP post mystery on Reddit managed to crack their way into some of the accounts in an effort to doxx the identity of the writer, and instead of do so, they used their opportunities looking around in the accounts, to reply to some of the messages themselves. 

This could account for why the replies that were sent to people after the story broke on Reddit, seemed to be related to gaming themes. Gamers on Discord have been known to try to hack their way into these mysteries. I have found evidence as well, that places some of the family members in the online gaming community. This is why I embrace both theories as possibilities regarding the origin of the replies that didn't seem to come from the Original Poster of the KlP posts. 

In regards to it being driven by a bot, I could see how an independent Bot could somehow find the KLP posts and begin to re-incorporate them into their work, but I also believe that it's also likely that the KLP poster could have also purposely made use of a bot in order to spread their creative KLP posts more frequently than possible for them to do by hand on their own.  

Human/Bot SEO Theory 

It's also a possibility that someone involved with the Key West Cafe, Kutchie or a family member, was working online from home to create content to support an-SEO related internet promotion business and simply chose to discuss and post about their favorite topic, while at the same time endeavoring to use the SEO service they were providing content for to elevate the Key West Cafe to modern internet literary fame. 

I believe that this is a faint possibility because the author of the KLP posts states something about hoping that the author will be paid well. If there is any case that this author received any payments for their work, in order to monetize the work, it would have to provide some sort of tangible real world value to some business or other, in order for the author to receive a payment, and if the writing is not being sold as a creative work through a traditional literary showcase format, it must somehow in the end contribute to enhance something that is monetized. There is no proof that anyone has received any payments, but the fact that the author mentions this possibility of a payment means that some could have been made, and there aren't many reasons someone would be paid to generate content like this. The content is either somehow monetized or its art. But it could be both. 

I believe that the author intended for their work to make the Key West Cafe known post-humous but they never realized or understood what the outcome would be, or knew what effect the work would have on the public or the Peleaz family. At the time of authorship, I believe the authors intentions for the posts were sort of a dream that they eventually found actualizing before their very eyes. And they had no way to know that this dream would lead to calls, mail, and emails directed at the Peleaz family, inquiring to know who wrote the posts. 

I am confident in my theory that Kutchie has written these posts himself and I believe that this is one of the most exciting and creative writing samples in this era of new writing and literary presentation to be found online. I believe the author has created a masterpiece and I am thankful to have been invited along on the action-packed, fantasy-driven, world-building ride. 

I feel like I almost know Kutchie by now, as I have been inducted into his Famous World, through the thrilling artistic work, “The Tales From Kutcharitaville.” 

I have been sat down at a table, I have been given the Pie. I have tried the Pie. 

And it was good. 

[serpentinesheldonserpentine]

What are some good books/docu about rock&roll? Thank u!

Hi and thanks for a great ask. You didn’t state your age or what particular era you enjoy, so I will do my best. These are indispensable in the Kornpett library, I lend them out and repurchase them frequently . In no order.

A Natural Woman by Carol King. Essential portrait of the early rock Brill Building era.

The Life and Times Of Little Richard by Charles White. The Beauty. 

Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. 70’s NYC “punk” music by two authors who were there.

England’s Dreaming by Jon Savage. England from the same time period as above.

Unknown Legends of Rock and Roll. Richie Unterberger.

Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards by Al Kooper. Al founded Blood, Sweat & Tears and plays the into organ on Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone. Al has stories.

Last Train to Memphis: Peter Guralnick wrote a comprehensive Elvis biography on the King’s rise.

Tattooed On Their Tongues. Colin Escott digs the stories from the early rock and roll and country days.

Tell the Truth Until They Bleed: Ever wonder why Lieber and Stoller bailed out of Red Bird Records for one single US dollar? Josh Alan Friedman knows that story and many more.

Music: What Happened. The late Scott Miller of Game Theory wrote a thoughtful look back at 50 years of rock and roll.

Unsung Heroes of Rock and Roll. Nick Tosches unearths the sources.

The Dark Stuff. Nick Kent. Keith. Iggy. Brian Wilson. Lou. Nick has the stories.

Follow The Music: Elektra Records founder Jac Holzamn’s book is perfect for those who enjoyed the California music scene around the Doors and others.

It Came From Memphis: I could never pick just one rock and roll primer, but if I had to, this would be it.

The Wrecking Crew: The tales of the top flight LA studio musicians of the early - mid 1960’s.

Blues & Chaos. Robert Palmer almost single handedly brought about the blues revival of the 1990’s. Passionate writing from a true believer.

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Bob Stanley of British band St. Etienne makes so many trainspotting connections I feel like he is channeling …me.

This is a start. You’ll find some focus on “roots” of rock and roll because I find that to be helpful in appreciating that which came later. Dig in, let me know what you think.

Thanks!

Shelly

[triciaisonline]

A(N  ESTIMATED )  TIMELINE  FOR  SHERLOCK 

PLEASE NOTE: John’s Blog and the show contradict each other at times, in these cases, the show will be taken as canon. In times where the show contradicts itself, if other media cannot solve the mix up, then estimates based on what makes the most real world sense will be used to find an answer.

ADDITIONALLY: I don’t want to get flooded with everyone's headcanons for things where estimates had to be made; but i greatly welcome canon information that might have been missed or ( ie: The Game is Now Escape Room ) have been unable to experience. I also do not consider interviews with cast and crew as reliable sources for the most part, as these answers have also changed throughout the years. It will only be given consideration if nothing else contradicts it and was said without the air of taking the mickey out of us as many interactions with fans have. They like to say things just to get us going. So I consider this less of a word of god and more of a word of the clown.

BIRTHDATES

DATES OF MAJOR EVENTS

NOTES

TL;DR

SOURCES

THIS VERSION IS THE REBLOG FRIENDLY VERSION OF A TIMELINE MADE ON MY OTHER BLOG ( SEE TAGS )

BIRTHDATES:

SHERLOCK HOLMES: January 6th, 1981 ( stated in The Casebook ); making him younger than the actor playing him. However, this does conflict slightly as Sherlock states he was nine years old when Carl Powers drowned, and the article claims it was in 1989, which places his birth in 1980 instead. This was before they gave Sherlock a canonical birthdate in any media, however, and for the purposes of this, we’ll be using the casebook age, and claiming Sherlock was either rounding or misremembering due to the fact his childhood memories are not entirely factual. Additionally, the headstone image shown in The Sherlock Chronicles says 1977, but the previous date is the one considered to be Canon. ( See Notes )

JOHN WATSON: unknown, but somewhere in the 70′s. A popular fandate is March 30th. Judging off of the actor’s age, possibly around 1971, but maybe younger as many actors are playing younger than themselves.

MYCROFT HOLMES: Exact date unknown, but he is seven years older than Sherlock, which puts him to be born around 1973-1974. Which makes him canonically younger than the actor playing him.  02/25/19 EDIT: According to sources, Mycroft is given a birthdate in the Escape Room based on the series, October 20th, 1968. While the October date works fine, year for this doesn't fit the "Seven Years Older" claim on the show. The oldest birth date given for Sherlock is 1977 and that would make Mycroft nine years older than Sherlock, not seven. The year given falls closer to Mark Gatiss' actual age, and leaves me inclined to think that perhaps year for the game isn't entirely factual. That being said, there's still no reason he couldn't have been born October 20th. Based on the "Seven Years Older" claim, stated in show, the best guess is October 20th, 1974.

EURUS HOLMES: Exact date unknown, but she is a year younger than Sherlock, which makes her born somewhere in 1982-1983 depending on when she was conceived. 

MARY WATSON: Unknown, but based on the actress’ age, likely 1974;  but maybe younger as many actors are playing younger than themselves. 

ROSAMUND “ROSIE” WATSON: January 2015. We can infer this because based on how far along Mary was at her wedding, Rosie would have been conceived Mid-April, and if she was relatively ontime, she’d be born late January. 

DATES OF NOTE:

REDBEARD / THE MUSGRAVE FIRE: Between 1988-1989 roughly; there is no clear indication on the show as to when these events took place. We can only summarize based on what we know about other events. We know that Sherlock "began" solving crimes at age nine ( see below ) due to Carl Powers; and we know that Sherlock had to be younger than ten years old during the events told in The Final Problem. Assuming that the tragic events of Carl Powers triggered something in him, making him take extra notice due to his own past experiences with Eurus and Victor; but still allowing time for all the events to take place and enough time to have passed for Sherlock to have rewritten the story so completely in his head where he can be suspicious but not fully triggered; I'd place him as seven or eight during these events.

THE CARL POWERS DEATH: 1990

*see notes for Sherlock’s birthday

UNIVERSITY: Sherlock attended the same school as Sebastian Wilkes in the early 2000s. Exact years, and if they were at school for the same duration of time is unknown; but he last saw the man roughly eight years ( if Wilkes can be trusted for accuracy ) prior to The Blind Banker, which would be somewhere in 2002/2003

SHERLOCK AND JOHN’S FIRST MEETING: January 29, 2010

CASE: A STUDY IN PINK: January 30th, 2010

CASE: THE BLIND BANKER: March 23rd-March 27th; inferred by Sherlock deducting the incorrect date on Wilkes’ watch and the on-screen passage of time.

Sherlock traveled to and from Minsk sometime between the events of The Blind Banker and The Great Game; based on the dates given, as well as the close air dates of the two episodes, it’s to be believed that Sherlock left and returned from Minsk on March 28th. This is also made plausible due to the funding Sherlock seems to have for himself, his impatience and the fact that it is a three hour flight each way. 

BAKER STREET BOMBING: March 28th; evening

CASE: THE GREAT GAME: March 29 - April 1st; we know this based on both the blog posts and Sherlock updating his website with the case answers. However, the blog post was edited from the original date of April 6th after it’s initial publication. The reason for this is unknown.

DURATION OF SERIES ONE: January 29th, 2010 - March 29th, 2010: three months exactly.

MISC: John and Sarah go to New Zealand for a week and breakup ( April 2010 )

TRIP TO BUCKINGHAM PALACE ( A SCANDAL IN BELGRAVIA ): September 15th, 2010

IRENE MEETING: September 15, 2010

BAKER STREET CHRISTMAS PARTY: December 25th 2010  

IDENTIFYING IRENE’S BODY: December 25th, 2010 

IRENE REVEALS SHE’S ALIVE: December 31st, 2010

JOHN PUBLISHES THE CASE: March 12th, 2011;

We don’t know the exact amount of time transpiring between New Years Eve and this point. Based on his track record, it’s likely January 15th is meant to be the date that Sherlock is told Irene is in Witness protection ( John seems to publish immediately, regardless of how tasteful it might be to reveal details of recent cases ). This gap would cover everything from Irene arriving at Baker Street, Sherlock going to the airfield, him beating Irene at the game, and saving her in Karachi. It’s likely, considering how erratic Sherlock is by early March with no cases, that the day John tells Sherlock the lie, is around late January / early February. Allowing Sherlock enough time to have done all of this as well as get riled up in time for Baskerville, which had to have occured before March 16th

CASE: THE HOUNDS OF BASKERVILLE: Early March 2011; by best estimates given as John doesn’t take too long to post his accounts of the events, and he had already finished typing up the case prior.

BASKERVILLE CASE POSTED: March 16th, 2011. This is also the same date Moriarty hacks John’s blog with a video of him inside of their flat. Suggesting he’s already free from his interrogation shown at the end of The Hounds of Baskerville.

The dates surrounding Sherlock’s death and The Reichenbach Fall are highly questionable as the episode, the blog, and logistics for certain events all contradict each other. Joe Lidster, who wrote John’s real world blog, has comically said that Moriarty hacking the blog gave it a virus that messed with the dating system, as a tongue in cheek explanation. Meaning if we were to take that as fact, all the dates in the blog could be false. The newspapers shown in the episode, have dates that suggest different things. I’ve chosen the one which makes the most sense, based on the news reel clip on John’s blog, the statement that he went to therapy three months later, the school holiday schedule for the abduction of the Ambassador’s children and several other people’s attempts to sort this all out. An alternative version can be found here.

MORIARTY’S ROBBERIES: Late March, by best guess. Possibly a bit earlier.

MORIARTY’S TRIAL / RELEASE: April 2011

MORIARTY’S PLAN TO RUIN SHERLOCK: June 12-June 14th, 2011

MORIARTY COMMITS SUICIDE / SHERLOCK FAKES HIS: June 14th/15th; the 15th is the more commonly believed date.

JOHN CONFIRMS ON HIS BLOG: June 16th, 2011

JOHN VISITS SHERLOCK’S GRAVE: Mid/Late June 2011

TOTAL SERIES TWO DURATION: March 29th, 2010 ( The Pool ) - June 2011. Fifteen Months / One Year and Three Months

SHERLOCK DISMANTLES MORIARTY’S NETWORK: June 2011 - Late October / Early November 2013

MARY MAKES HER FIRST COMMENT ON JOHN’S BLOG: April 20th, 2013

JOHN POSTS OLD CASES: April 2013 - October 5th, 2013

WEBISODE ( MANY HAPPY RETURNS ): October 5th, 2013

SHERLOCK RETURNS: Late October / Early November 2013

JOHN ALMOST BURNED ALIVE: Guy Fawkes Day, November 5th, 2013

CASE: THE EMPTY HEARSE / #SHERLOCK LIVES: November 7th, 2013

JOHN AND SHERLOCK’S VARIOUS CASES: November 2013 - May 2014

Another case of Blog vs Screen; John and Mary’s wedding invites are shown throughout The Sign of Three with the date May 13th, while John’s blog states it was in August. The blog is deemed incorrect in this case, as well as his entries about the cases Sherlock reads at the Wedding

ROSIE WATSON IS CONCEIVED: Mid April 2014

JOHN AND MARY’S WEDDING: May 13th, 2014; ( see above note about The Sign of Three )

His Last Vow has the opposite problem as the series finale prior, in which next to no dates are given. We only know the dates at the end of the episode. Just that the events of John getting restless, Sherlock using again, Magnussen visiting, Sherlock being shot, Sherlock leaving early to confront Mary, Sherlock leaving to confront Magnussen, John confronting Mary, Sherlock being taken to Hospital again and being released all happen between May 13th and December 25th, 2014. It can take a couple months for gunshot victims to be released from Hospital, depending on the severity. Applying Mycroft Rules and Television Rules we know that Sherlock likely didn’t stay the time a regular patient would have. Knowing Sherlock he would have wanted out as soon as possible. We know John and Mary were at odds for a bit, reconciling on Christmas. Plus there needed to be time for Sherlock to fake date Janine, John to reach the level of restlessness there was and get Charles’ attention. So these next few dates are estimates. The majority of the scenes shown in episode are out of order and happen in two time periods, before Mary’s revealed and Christmas Day. 

JOHN BREAKS INTO THE DRUG DEN / MAGNUSSEN VISITING BAKER STREET: September / October 2014

SHERLOCK GETTING SHOT:  September / October 2014

SHERLOCK SNEAKING OUT OF HOSPITAL TO MEET MAGNUSSEN AND MARY:  Early/Mid October 2014; presuming based on deleted scenes depicting a Sherlock who was unable to move for a while in recovery that this was maybe days or weeks later when it was deemed safe to wake him up from medically induced coma.

JOHN CONFRONTING MARY: October 2014 ( same day as above )

SHERLOCK RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL: Mid-December 2014, inferred by how the family and friends act as if it was more recent while at the Holmes’ family home.

SHERLOCK SHOOTS MAGNUSSEN: December 25th, 2014

SHERLOCK BOARDS THE PLANE / MORIARTY’S VIDEO GOES LIVE: December 31st, 2014 / January 2nd, 2015; the show itself provides two different accounts of this. Mycroft states in His Last Vow, that Sherlock was in holding for a week, placing the scene at the tarmac in Early January 2015; however, the introduction to The Abominable Bride places the scene with onscreen text in 2014 still. The only way both can be remotely accurate is if Mycroft is rounding up, and it’s December 31st, 2014.

DURATION OF SERIES THREE: Fall 2013 - Winter 2014;  just over one calendar year.

CASE: THE ABOMINABLE BRIDE ( REAL WORLD ): December 31st, 2014 / January 2nd, 2015 ( see above )

The first scene of The Six Thatchers, along with the real world scenes of The Abominable Bride and the final scenes of His Last Vow are the same day.

SHERLOCK IS ACQUITTED OF CRIMES:  December 31st, 2014 / January 2nd, 2015 ( see above )

ROSIE WATSON IS BORN: Mid/Late January 2015, assuming she was relatively on time.

ROSIE WATSON’S BAPTISM: March / April 2015; based on many modern traditions, the baby’s age and the style of clothing worn by the attendees.

The Six Thatchers covers the majority of one calendar year, no exact dates are given but we can surmise things based on the shown development of Rosie Watson ( whom we know to be a year old by the end of The Final Problem ). Rosie is shown to have full head support and movement before Mary dies, which is something that happens around six months. This would mean Mary’s still alive around June 2015. Allowing for time in which Mary is on the lam, leading to the aquarium, the following are my best guesses for events.

MARY IS MISSING: Summer 2015 ( how long she was gone for is unclear )

MARY IS BACK IN LONDON: September 2015

NORBURY SHOOTS MARY: October 2015

SHERLOCK RECEIVES MARY’S VIDEO / JOHN’S LETTER: Late October. 2015 / Possibly Early November 2015 

CASE: THE LYING DETECTIVE: Possibly Mid-December 2015 / Early January 2016

Another case of ‘we don’t know how long’; we know Sherlock returns from hospital on his birthday, but the dates in between are unclear. Nor do we know how long John and Sherlock didn’t speak for. Sherlock would have needed a major detox, as well as treatment for his injuries. Based on the timeframe, it’s unlikely he attended any form of inpatient rehab outside of whatever the hospital had on location due to his injuries. Possibly due to either Mycroft pulling strings, or the more likely, Sherlock refusing and signing himself out when able.

We also know that the jump from The Lying Detective and The Final Problem can’t be too long. Even though Sherlock has had a magical recovery from all ailments between episodes, it’s extremely unlikely that John sat on the ‘I was almost killed by your secret sister’ tidbit for a few weeks. Meaning these episodes likely happen very shortly after one another. It also feels unlikely that Eurus would make herself known to John and then wait weeks/months to then begin acting out again once the secret was revealed.

JOHN AND SHERLOCK’S REUNITING: January 6th, 2016

JOHN’S FINAL THERAPY SESSION WITH EURUS: Somewhere between January 6th - January 13th 2016; assuming he went about once a week.

CASE: THE FINAL PROBLEM: January 13th, 2015 - January 20th, 2016; presuming John was able to tell Sherlock after ( not knowing how long he was knocked out for ); and allowing Sherlock and John some time to figure out their next move. This would also cover the attack on Baker Street and the entire event on Sherrinford Island.

ROSIE WATSON’S FIRST BIRTHDAY: Mid/Late January, 2016

OTHER NOTES:

The Entire Series spans six years.

The Sherlock Timeline runs one year behind real world time, with the show’s episodes in universe during 2016, aired in January 2017

Sherlock Holmes would be 29 in A Study In Pink, and 35 by The Final Problem based on the Casebook date. 30 and 36 by The Carl Powers age. and 33 and 39 by The Sherlock Chronicles age. All would make him younger than Benedict Cumberbatch, born 1976.

An incorrect headstone, as seen in The Sherlock Chronicles would make sense with the fact that until The Lying Detective, John states he never knew his birthdate. Which, had his tombstone had it, would make little sense. Providing an in universe reason for this odd lack of knowledge on John’s part. Perhaps John merely guessed? Maybe Mycroft knew he wouldn’t want it known, so they put a fake date? Especially as Mycroft knew he was alive. Otherwise, this is just another plot inconsistency  --- which, I’m getting quite tired of. 

We don’t know when Mary and John first met, but we can infer they’ve known each other about a year from dialogue in The Six Thatchers when John is attempting to propose.

Alternate timelines surrounding The Reichenbach Fall sometimes claim the following dates: Sherlock Testifies: May 9th, 2011; Moriarty is freed and visits 221B: September 20th, 2011; The Kidnapping: November 19th, 2011; Sherlock Falls: November 20th, 2011. This comes from a couple on screen newspaper clippings; but they are contradictory to the stated three month interval stated. It’s up to fans to decide which version they feel is more accurate.

More of a musing, but it’s kind of interesting how many times John immediately runs to the internet to share the details of really recent cases fresh in the public’s mind; in contrast to Watson’s monologue in The Abominable Bride about how careful he is to avoid doing that very thing. Which is even funnier if you view it through the long standing canon lens of John is an Unreliable Narrator

TL;DR:

SERIES ONE: January 29th, 2010 - March 29th, 2010

SERIES TWO: March 29th, 2010 - June 15th, 2011 

SERIES THREE: November 2013 - December 2014

SERIES FOUR: December 2014 - January 2016

WEBISODE: October 10th, 2013

SPECIAL: December 2014

SOURCES:

AO3 META  /  SHERLOCKOLOGY / JOHN’S BLOG / SHERLOCK ( WIKIPEDIA ) / THENORWOODBUILDER @ TUMBLR / BAKER STREET WIKIA / SHERLOCK FAN FORUMS /  THE CASEBOOK ( BUY / FACTS ) / THE SHERLOCK CHRONICLES  / MOLLY’S BLOG / SHERLOCK’S WEBSITE ( official site no longer live, information reposted from various sites listed above ) / CONNIE PRINCE WEBSITE / SHERLOCK: THE GAME IS NOW 

[sinceileftyoublog]

Guided By Voices Interview: A Conversation with Doug Gillard

Robert Pollard (left) and Doug Gillard (right); Guided By Voices perform “I Am A Tree” at SPACE in Evanston

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Journeyman Doug Gillard has been in Guided By Voices for 10 years, over 2 stints, for 12 official LP’s and other releases that no casual fan could keep track of. So, apart from Robert Pollard himself, I could think of no better person to analyze the creative process behind their recent crop of records, including two so far this year, Zeppelin Over China and EP compilation Warp and Woof, and a third coming, Sweating the Plague. More than ever, GBV seems to be a democracy, and not just because each member has gotten his turn at writing a few songs. From my conversation with Gillard over the phone last month from his home in Queens, I got the sense that as long as Pollard doesn’t have a clear idea for the song, he not only welcomes but relies on the others to help him complete it, even if he was the original writer. As for Gillard, he provides the backbone of the songs, something you don’t really notice but would if his contributions weren’t there, especially the horns and strings that supply dramatic flair or emotional weight. At any given live show, he’s the heart and soul of the band, whether doing backup vocals on the set mainstay that he wrote “I Am A Tree” or dishing Pete Townshend-esque riffs on the band’s Who worship.

Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity, wherein Gillard also talks about his favorite new GBV songs, upcoming band-related news, and other projects he’s recently worked on or is working on.

Since I Left You: You’ve said Zeppelin Over China is unlike anything the band has done before. What makes it unique within the GBV discography?

Doug Gillard: I think it’s just a little warmer and has a little more orchestration and is probably the most diverse record.

SILY: A song like “The Hearing Department” is certainly hazier than your average propulsive GBV track.

DG: Yeah, Bob wanted sort of a rumba beat for that in his notes. Sometimes he has notes. Some songs he doesn’t. When we do the music, a lot of times, we just have freedom to take a song somewhere we’re feeling at the time of recording. Other times, he has sort of a vision. It’s a mixed bag, which is great. We like doing both. On that one, given that beat and the chords, it sort of reminded me of an early Fleetwood Mac song--Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac.

SILY: On “Cobbler Ditches”, does he reference “Motor Away”?

DG: I think so, yeah.

SILY: You guys have so many songs, but having listened to a lot of them, I’ve never really picked that out before, where he’s referenced a previous song by title. It had to happen one of these days.

DG: I think it’s happened in the past, but I can’t be sure. There’s been a lot of records.

SILY: On this one, you did a lot of string and horn arrangements. That’s most notable on the singles and the ones you were playing before the album was out: “The Rally Boys” and “You Own the Night”. Where else did you add them in?

DG: They’re all over the record--“Vertiginous Rafts”, the last song on the record. Really, there are little parts of strings and horns on a lot of the songs on here. Sometimes, the strings are in the version of a Mellotron, but mostly, they’re not. Sometimes, they’re really subtle, too, added just to add a little bit of atmosphere.

SILY: Who plays them?

DG: I play them. I have an orchestra program, a MIDI program administered through a keyboard. There’s piano on there--key-related things.

SILY: I’ve seen how you adapted the first two live. Is it the same approach with the others? Are you even playing them?

DG: We will be playing more songs from the record. But when we play stuff live, we just kind of rock it out. I’m not concerned whether parts on the record aren’t in the song live. I really like seeing bands that play songs on the record different from how the record sounds.

SILY: Bob has said in past concerts that you’re the most instrumentally capable version of GBV ever even though the fans want the mistakes. But you achieve the balance between the record and live well. You still retain that rawness.

DG: Yeah, I think that’s true. Sometimes, I’ll try to play some of the string lines live on guitar if there’s room. I was doing that with “See My Field”. But it’s only because I hear them. I don’t have to play them. It wasn’t a request--just something I thought I would do.

SILY: Were the last songs you wrote for GBV the ones from “August By Cake” [Ed note: “Goodbye Note” and “Deflect/Project”]?

DG: No, there have been some B-sides to singles that band members have written that have come out. They haven’t been digitized, necessarily. They were vinyl-only and sold out quickly. One was called “Red Nose Speedway”...What was the other one called? I wrote one with Mark Shue. Kevin March wrote one that ended up on the B-side of a single and so did Bobby Bare.

SILY: You don’t play them live, do you?

DG: No, that’s correct.

SILY: Have you done the string and horn arrangements on other GBV albums before?

DG: Yeah. All the stuff that’s come out so far I have done a little bit, but on August By Cake really not much at all...some keyboards, maybe a string line here or there. How Do You Spell Heaven, a little bit. [Engineer] Travis [Harrison] did some string lines on August By Cake. And I did some arrangements on an ESP Ohio record which came out before August By Cake, which was Travis, myself, Mark Shue, and Bob.

SILY: Now that you’re back in the band, as of 2016, is “I Am A Tree” going to be in the set list for as long as you’re in the band?

DG: [laughs] I’m not sure. I would say probably so, but you can never be sure. There are a lot of songs in the can that Bob likes to rotate in and out of the set list. 

SILY: How does he or the band decide upon the set list on a night by night basis?

DG: Bob will have a master list that he re-sequences for every show. We’ll have a basic list for every tour, give or take some. Sometimes, he’ll get a whim or an epiphany and put something in mid-tour, which is always fine. But the sequence is different every night.

SILY: Do you have a favorite song on Zeppelin Over China or Warp and Woof?

DG: Wow...there are a lot of songs to choose from on both of those, and they’re all so damn good. Zeppelin Over China, I really don’t know what a favorite would be. Let’s see...looking at the list here...I really like “Where Have You Been All My Life” or maybe “Wrong Turn On” or “Jam Warsong”. There’s a ton, though. They all kind of have different purposes, different sounds. Warp and Woof, there are a lot of great little songs on there. I say little because they’re shorter. About two minutes or so. I think one of my favorites is “Angelic Weirdness”.

SILY: The two that are called out in terms of your contributions are the first and the final track, especially in terms of unique recording process. Didn’t you record “Bury the Mouse” in the van?

DG: Yeah, except for the drums. The drums were done first. We already had those, and we finished it on tour in the van. 

SILY: And “End it With Light” was at a soundcheck?

DG: Yeah, I did guitars at the soundcheck on that one. “Cool Jewels and Aprons” is another favorite from Warp and Woof. Oh, I forgot, the last song on 100 Dougs is mine. The instrumental. If you don’t have that actual EP, I can’t remember what sequence it’s in on Warp and Woof, but it’s called “It Will Never Be Simple”.

SILY: The third record you’re putting out this year is no longer called “Rise of the Ants,” right?

DG: That’s correct. It’s going to be called Sweating the Plague.

SILY: Are you able to talk a little about that one, whether your specific contributions, songwriting, and arrangements, or the feel for it in general?

DG: To me, there are similarities to Zeppelin Over China. There’s a little more hard rock on it, a little more of a 70′s rock feel to the songs, some “guitarmonies.” But there are some really nice ballads. It has the four ps that Bob talks about. [Ed note: pop, punk, prog, and psych] Lots of punk on it.

SILY: It’s been described as a little proggy.

DG: For sure. There are a couple prog songs.

SILY: Are there any more records on the horizon for you guys?

DG: There are some reissues this year because of album anniversaries. 

SILY: Bee Thousand?!?

DG: No. There’s always an anniversary of some album. Later this year, it’s the 20th anniversary of the release of Kid Marine, Robert Pollard solo, and of Speak Kindly of Your Volunteer Fire Department, which is a record I did with Bob. It was released under the name Robert Pollard and Doug Gillard, but it was the 4th one in the Fading Captain series of his records coming out around then. That has “Pop Zeus” on it and some other songs. That’s been remastered and it should be reissued in August. There may be a Cash Rivers collection coming out. I’m not sure about when that will be released.

SILY: You’re going to Europe for the first time in decades. Are you excited to play Primavera and the UK?

DG: Very much so, yeah.

SILY: When was the last time you were there with GBV?

DG: 2003, I’d say. We did a European tour and UK tour there.

SILY: Was that for Earthquake Glue?

DG: I believe so. It was either Universal Truths or Earthquake Glue. I think it was Earthquake Glue. I’ve been there a lot since with Nada Surf. I’m really excited to play there with Guided By Voices.

SILY: You contributed to the most recent Neko Case record. How did that experience come about?

DG: Neko had always liked my playing. When she was assembling songs for this record, she gave me a call, I went down to Tuscon, and I played a lot of tracks. I learned the songs. It was great.

SILY: I never realized that you were on The Hold Steady’s Stay Positive, too. I was looking at your credits and was like, “Woah, all these albums I’ve loved over the years!”

DG: Oh, yeah. I was friends with those guys at the time they were making that. I think I had just moved to New York, and they invited me to their session. Tad [Kubler] had me play the recurring riff on “Sequestered in Memphis”. That sort of Stones-y riff. That’s the only song I’m on, I think, but that was fun. They’re really good guys.

SILY: Any plans to come back to Chicago soon?

DG: I’m sure we will. We’re always around Chicago at least a couple times a year. Nothing that I know of just yet, but I’m positive something will happen in that area.

SILY: Anything you’ve been listening to, watching, or reading that’s caught your attention?

DG: I listen to a lot of podcasts. Mark Riley from the BBC does a Bowie podcast, The A to Z of David Bowie. I’ve been listening to a lot of that. I’ve been checking out stuff here and there.

SILY: I don’t have anything else to ask you--is there anything I didn’t ask about you want to say?

DG: Let’s see...not sure. I’m producing a band called The Bye Bye Blackbirds. They’re a guitar pop band from the Bay Area. They’ve definitely been around for a while. They have ex-members of Game Theory, The Mr. T Experience. My friend Bradley [Skaught] is the songwriter of the band. He writes some good songs.

SILY: Anything else not GBV in your realm coming up?

DG: Not really too much. GBV’s been planning a busy year with recording and shows and tours coming up, so I’ve been kind of leaving things open for that. It will be busy playing shows for sure. Really nothing else right now.

SILY: Thanks again for your time, I really appreciate it. Congrats on the releases, and looking forward to hearing the next one!

DG: For sure!

[polhcommunications]

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His voice can also be heard on dozens of radio and TV commercials.

#Who wrote sugar sugar archies series

Dante also co-wrote many songs performed by Jay And The Americans and Johnny Mathis, and was musical producer for Disney's TV series The Little Mermaid.ĭante can be heard singing background vocals on numerous hits including the McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy", Tommy James' "Draggin' the Line" and the Manilow hits of the '70's. The song was a takeoff of "Leader of the Pack," sung by the Shangri-Las. Previously, with The Detergents in the mid-'60s, he helped take "Leader of the Laundromat" into the Top Ten. Some of Ron Dante's other production credits include, Cher, Ray Charles, John Denver, Dionne Warwick, Pat Benatar, Paul Schaeffer and of course, The Archies. Barry asked Ron to listen to some of his songs that day and the two went on to turn out some of the biggest hits of the seventies. The other singers on that commercial were Valerie Simpson and Melissa Manchester. Dante met Manilow while both were singing a commercial which Barry had written. Another backup singer, Andy Kim, had a #1 hit in 1974 with a solo song, "Rock Me Gently". Ellie Greenwich and Toni Wine, the female vocalists, enjoyed lengthy careers as a songwriter and session vocalist, respectively. Ron Dante, who sang all the lead vocals, went on to sing other Bubble gum tunes like the Billboard #9 hit "Tracy" (as The Cuff Links) and produced most of Barry Manilow's chart successes in the seventies. The group is also notable for the singers who provided the voices of The Archies, all of whom went on to successful careers. The group also enjoyed another Top 10 hit in 1970, with "Jingle Jangle", before Bubble gum music gave way to Disco. It went to #1 in the Summer of 1969, selling six million copies and knocking The Rolling Stones off the top of the charts in the process. "Sugar Sugar" was an infectious tune built on rich boy-girl harmonies and a catchy instrumental hook played on the xylophone. But it was a song released the next year that won the animated group its biggest success. The first one, "Bang-Shang-A-Lang" was a #22 hit on the Pop charts and got the band off to a good start. The Archies' songs were also issued as singles. Kirshner tapped veteran Pop producer Jeff Barry to assemble the snappy, kid-friendly songs The Archie Show needed. The show's music was supervised by Don Kirshner, the man who put together the music for The Monkees. Each episode featured a song and dance segment performed by the characters. The Archies began their animated lives when The Archie Show debuted on Saturday morning in September of 1968. Why? Because they were cartoon characters. However, despite this success they never did any live performances or touring. Search for: Follow This, That, and the Other on WordPress.The Archies were a Bubblegum Pop group that had a #1 hit, appeared frequently on Saturday morning television, and put out three hit albums. I’m gonna make your life so sweet, yeah yeah yeah Oh sugar, pour a little sugar on it honey Like the summer sunshine pour your sweetness over me When I kissed you, girl, I knew how sweet a kiss could be I just can’t believe the one to love this feeling to I just can’t believe the loveliness of loving you It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1969 and remained there for four weeks. The song was initially released in late May 1969, on the Calendar label, but achieved only moderate chart success until it was re-released in mid-July 1969 on the Kirshner label, where it became a massive success by late summer/early fall. The “you are my candy girl” line came from them thinking about what kids that age like (candy). The song falls in the genre of pop music known as “bubblegum music.” Bubblegum music, which was popular in the late 60s and early 70s, had an upbeat sound designed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers.Īccording to Jeff Barry, he and Andy Kim wrote this song with preschoolers in mind since that was the audience for the Archie TV show. It was originally recorded by the virtual band the Archies, a group that performed on the Saturday morning cartoon show, Archie. “Sugar, Sugar” was a song written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim. For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, the prompt is “sugar/candy.” I’m positive that many of my fellow bloggers will select the same song I have chosen, since it’s all about sugar and candy!

[bananakarenina]

ashhhhhhh ilu so much

6. this is so meaningful bc i find conflict to be difficult! in real life and in writing, hahaha. so the fact that it comes out believable is amazing to me.

7. one of my favorite comments that has ever been written TO THIS DAY. IF IT WEREN’T FOR THE ENDING AND THE LAWS OF THIS LAND

10. heart like a wheel my extremely niche beloved

14. bahahahahahaha ilu so much. now i’m like, how do i write this.../thinkyface emoji

15. this is not a general question, this is an ash question and i love it. and it’s proving surprisingly difficult to answer! i have researched SO MUCH for like, all of my fics though!

sometimes my favorite research is turning to my musician/recording engineer husband and asking him about music things; i have a decent foundation of knowledge (thank you, decades of choir and voice lessons and basic piano skills) but he is an encyclopedia and knows things like “how to record a bassline so it actually shows up in the mix (our hearts can speak ourselves unseen) hahaha.

i also love just googling 90s time period anchors like when certain music was released/what the boys might have listened to, or what outfits julie might be wearing on the boardwalk in 1999 (praying for dryland) (that one was fun because i came across scans of the dEliA*s and Alloy catalogs, which I used to flip through religiously as a tween lol.)

for love’s sake only and its sequels have so much research just built in; i like to have an approximation of period-appropriate things, even if i don’t have a specific year in mind, and so i would be careful not to use electricity metaphors, for example, because they wouldn’t have had that before the late 1800s (like 1870s at earliest and probably later.) i did a lot of research on period-appropriate birth control for the Big Lovemaking Scene and landed on the pullout method ahahahahaha. the romance novelist Courtney Milan has a wonderful novella called A Kiss For Midwinter that deals with sex education in the late Victorian period but i haven’t read in awhile; i probably should have bought it bc i loved it so much!

probably, though, i did love doing the research for heart like a wheel; listening to the music of linda ronstadt, picking lyrics, and then researching all of the decade-appropriate styles and even writing styles. i wanted it to feel a little like a vintage photograph or slice of life from the mid-70s so i wanted get the details right and i wanted to capture that nostalgic style by changing even the way i wrote certain things. and of course, all the research about roe v. wade and how women’s rights advanced during the period. how dipstick pregnancy tests weren’t a thing until the 80s! how tests in the 70s involved sheep’s blood and a mirror! how i chose texas as reggie’s birthplace and it turned out it was sort of a crucible of abortion rights (with roe v. wade and then rosie jimenez being the first casualty of the hyde amendment). it all just came together so well and i loved researching, even if the subject matter was really heavy.

ahhhhh thank you for asking, apologies for the novel in response. I love you!!

ahhhh for the fic ask game! 6, 7, 10, 14, 15

6. Something I remember vividly from reading one of your fics

There are SO MANY moments from your stories that stick with me because the emotional impact and the imagery and the layers are so good. Like, there's Reggie removing the pins from Julie's hair in flso, which is so intimate and such a good sensual segue, but they haven't admitted that they're in love yet so there's that extra sharp bit of pining that reads like "you're here with me, as my spouse, seeing me in a way that no one else will, but you aren't really mine and I wish you were" and there are a lot of moments like that in that fic alone that make me feel like I literally need to lay down and decompose (as I've said haha). How could I go on after that without going insane?

Any time you do conflict it also tends to stand out to me: the fight over her performance in the same story and the fights in leave the light on are so evocative because they both have good points and they're such organic conflicts.

7. What made me the most emotional after reading

Probably all of leave the light on, if the novel I left in your inbox is anything to go by. Seriously, there are so many poignant lines that just steal my breath in that fic. And that opening line alone! I had to keep pausing when I first read it to flail and cry and process and I'd say that I was on the edge of my seat but I remember quite vividly that I was sitting on the floor. Also--that threat about emotional damage still stands, lol.

10. A character/ship I didn't enjoy/think about as much before you wrote about them

It has to be Reggie's mom! I'd thought about all of the boy's parents before at least vaguely, because the show doesn't give us much and there's so much potential there, but heart like a wheel really brought her into sharp focus and I love what you did with that fic and I'll forever be mourning the state of her relationship because they were so in love once and the tragedy of the way they grow apart--it's so real (also the way they used to work at the pizza parlor and he'd kiss her tasting like tomatoes PLEASE).

You also got me invested in Sweet Tarts, which was another sort of "I was vaguely interested in this" thing where I already shipped them together with Julie, but you really sold me on the Reggie/Carrie dynamic, haha.

14. A fic I didn't expect to like so much

I don't think I've ever read any of your fics without expecting to like them, if that makes sense. I love the way you write and how all of your words feel so carefully chosen. You could write for the nichest thing, like, you could write a Carlos/OC fic from the perspective of Carlos' cat, and I'd be like "I'd die for this cat and this is my new OTP."

15. A question I have about one of your fics

This is a very general question, but: what's your favorite thing that you've learned from doing research for a fic?

[blschaos3000-blog]

Its 3:52 pm

Welcome to “8 Questions with…..”

In doing this series and especially of late,I have been really blessed to be able to talk to a lot artists that I have on a “wish list”. These are people whom I really want to talk with but I don’t think I’ll get a chance to. Ashley Kate Adams was on the list. I first was introduced to Ashley Kate and her talent when the cheetah and I watched a excellent film called “1 Message“. Its a story about a young woman who gets breast cancer amd who is slowly falling into a deep depression. When the young woman meets a man online while tracking down her family tree,the connection changes her life on so many levels. This is a movie that I loved quite a bit and I thought Ashley Kate Adams did a great job in what I found later was her feature film debut and she was only 21 when she filmed it. Since then I have been following her career and chatting once in a while on Twitter. Last week I decided to take a chance and ask Ashley Kate for a interview and to my surprise answered “Yes,I do” within 5 minutes. While we were talking,I asked about her new big project,”Boy Hero” which is set during the 1954 Senate Comic Book Hearings and where publisher Williams Gaines and his legendary EC Comics were grilled because of the content.  It was also during the height of McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklisting,a dark and despairing time (as well as a forgotten period). As soon as we as a society are allowed ,Ashley Kate is kicking “Boy Hero” into high gear and we’ll be posting updates on how the film is progressing. * As you can see,Ashley Kate is a woman on the go,go,go!!  I am so happy that we got a chance to catch her in mid-stride so she could slow down enough to answer her 8 Questions…….

Please introduce yourself and tell us about your latest project?

Hello! My name is Ashley Kate Adams & I am an actress, producer & writer living in NYC! Right now we are so excited to be introducing Frankie! The Musical Cast Concept Album to the world. It releases this Friday, May 29th, on Broadway Records and will be available everywhere music can be streamed. Frankie! The Musical (@frankiemusical) is written by 16-year old Composer and light, Elise Marra. The album is produced by AKA Studio Productions & Mitchell Walker!     Our other main project is “Boy Hero”, a feature film inspired by the Comic Book Trials of 1954. I wrote the 1950’s period film which was inspired by a panel I saw called “When the American Librarian Saved Comics” by Carol Tilley. The film is rounding out development and will be Produced by AKA Studio Productions, Pigasus Pictures & AR Productions and will film in Cincinnati! Please follow us (@boyheromovie) for more exciting updates on fundraising development and production of the film. 

(Michael Kushner Photography)

How have you been coping with Covid-19 pandemic? How are you staying creative and focused?

   I have been thinking a lot about this recently. I’ve been coping with Covid-19 productively. I think many things prepared me for this, the main being thing being the sudden loss of my father in 2016 to cancer. During that time I had to learn to balance many things in conjunction with being completely gutted out with grief. During that time I turned to creating to heal myself and process my emotions so during this pandemic I have followed suit. I’ve actually been working at home with my production company since 2011 so that routine feels like a continuation. We were very lucky, we had just gotten many incredible projects like Frankie! in the can before it felt as if the world froze. Now these projects are able to bring joy to others during this time. On Friday’s I’ve been going LIVE with #BYOP to lead conversations on Grief & Productivity for the Creative @ashleykateadams on Instagram. It’s been important for me to try to help folks navigate this time! 

 When did you first catch the acting bug and what was the reaction like with your family and friends?

I don’t know if I ever caught the acting bug I was kind of just born into the industry. It is what our family does as our family business. You know some families might have a restaurant or a heating & cooling company, we are performers. My parents, who also majored in musical theatre in college (that’s how they met) were VERY honest with me about how hard my future was going to be to move to NYC and pursue this full-time but they knew it was what I was called to do. And I got to make space here for my sister 10 years my junior, Audrey Belle Adams, who recently began her adult career also based out of New York City. 

 How did you land the lead role in your first feature film “1 Message”? What three things did you take with you from the experience? How important is faith to you?

I actually landed my role in “1 Message” thanks to my father. He pitched me at a dinner meeting where the director happened to be. I then auditioned and got the role. That film taught me a lot. The first was that leading a film and being on camera 14 hours a day, 6 days a week is an extremely challenging job. Which leads me to the second thing, I learned how to treat actors on set. The “1 Message” experience is one that seeded in me the need to become an independent film producer to make sure I was always taking care of my actors in an extremely supportive way. Environment, transparency & discernment are everything on a project. The third thing I learned was how strong and aware I was even at a younger age on set. Faith is important to me. It is important to me to believe in something much bigger than yourself. 

(Michael Kushner Photography)

   Which do you like more? Doing TV/film work or live theater and why?

I love both equally but for different reasons. Right now I am very much falling deeper in love with film. I love learning and because I was raised literally at a theatre, in film there is still so much to learn for me. I love each new project on any side. It’s a blast to me navigating each nuance! 

(Michael Kushner Photography)

 What  have been the three pieces of advice given to you in regards to being a performer?

Wow! Great question. “Your best secret weapon is yourself”. That was taught to me by the head of my musical theatre program at CCM, Aubrey Berg. He was correct. I would say the next is to “Be a kind person who people enjoy working with” from Sandra Rivera of Dancensation Studios and the most recent from this past winter break  to “Keep saying yes to the right things and keep expanding” from one of my high school mentors, the great Gail Benedict. 

(Michael Kushner Photography)

 What roles challenge you most as an actress and how do you adapt to make the role yours?

Wheeew. For me the biggest challenge of my actor life was doing “A Christmas Carol(e)”, a one- woman show, directed & written by Alex Freeman. It was terrifying because it was only me on stage for 70 minutes. All I could do to survive it was to walk through it and continue to adapt. Every. Single. Second. I had to be truly present without a fourth wall. There was no protection, no sheen. I love hiding behind characters. I revel in it. It allows me space for courage to be more vulnerable. I’m a weirdo, my prep is usually reading, researching and then I adapt my breath and body. Everything else just kinda happens. The magic of acting! 

 How did the idea for #BYOP come about? What makes a good producer in your opinion?

#BYOP (Be Your Own Producer) came from seeing the need for it. As a producer, actor and creative I can only take on so many projects full time at once but #BYOP allows me to be available to you and your project on an hourly basis. It also teaches content creators how to producer so they can become sustainable and independent! During the pandemic it expanded to teaching these intentions in a group digital setting. The brand is continuing to grow and diversify. In development are many exciting new pieces, perhaps something you could listen to and something you can hold. Stay tuned and be sure to follow @ashleykateadams for updates! ! ; ) 

(Michael Kushner Photography)

You created a one woman show called “A Christmas Carole” for the theater, where did you come up with the idea and how hard is doing a one person production on a nightly basis?

I helped to create the show but I cannot take credit for the idea or writing on that one, that was my creative partner in crime, Alex Freeman. We put it up in 6 days with the help of our two amazing stage managers. It’s exhausting and exhilarating doing a one person production. I lived like a nun during the day to stay calm and preserve all of my energy for the performances. I still can’t believe I did it! 

 How important are awards to you as a performer?

Awards are not important to me as a performer, but the respect and nod that comes because of them is appreciated. I got my first best actress award in 2018 for Alex Freeman’s two-hander “Love” at the New York Theatre Festival. It’s hard being a woman in the business on every side. Especially as a Producer. So when a group of people decide not only that you  “did well” but that you should be “acknowledged”, that is nice. 

You love to sing,what makes a good song and which three Broadway scores would you love to sing if given a chance? Who is your favorite singer/band at this moment?

I do love to sing! It’s a part of my identity even though I’ve been more internal as of late with my creativity. I would say three Broadway scores I would love to sing through would be “Waitress”, “Sunday in the Park with George” and “The Sound of Music”. My favorite singer is my sister, Audrey Belle Adams @abelleadams, always and forever because she has the most flexible vocal instrument I have ever heard and my favorite band right now is M.N.O.P. @MNOP_music. They have rockin’ folk punk music, a kick butt lead female singer & a really cute drummer : ) 

 How important is self-promotion to you and your career? 

Self-Promotion is a large part of a creative career. In the age of social media & “influencers”, it has to be. I have not always been good at it. I had to learn to produce others to get comfortable producing & promoting myself. 

 What do you like to do on your down time?

In my downtime I like doing yoga, going on walks, listening to true crime podcasts, reading, taking class and spending time with my loved ones. 

 The cheetah and I are flying over to watch to you in “A Christmas Carol(e)” but we are a day early and now you are stuck playing tour guide,what are we doing?

If A Christmas Carol(e) played NYC and there was a day off I would say to spend the morning in Central Park, afternoon around Bryant Park popping into the Strand Book Store & the Bean coffee shop and to spend the evening in the theatre district enjoying an OPEN Broadway. Late evening in the village hopping venues and listening to live music! 

(Michael Kushner Photography)

  I want to not only thank Ashley Kate for chatting with us but also for being inspired to make “Boy Hero”. I cut my fanboy teeth reading EC Comics growing up. When I read William Gaines bio and found out just how close that comic books were to being banned,it was shocking. Without Gaines and a slew of others,including many librarians fighting this censorship,there would no “Star Wars”,Marvel or DC or many cultural icons we take for granted today.     Like I wrote before,this is a forgotten piece of American history and much respect to Ashley Kate and her production team on making this film to hopefully remind us of what we almost lost.

Ashley Kate has several different ways that you can keep track of her and her various projects.

You can follow Ashley Kate on her InstaGram page. You can check out Ashley Kate’s next project via her IMDb page. You can also follow “Boy Hero” on InstaGram as well. You can also visit Ashley Kate’s personal website by going here.

Thank you for reading and supporting (and sharing) Ashley Kate’s interview. Feel free to drop a question below and stay tuned for updates about “Boy Hero”. You can also read past “8 Questions” interviews by going here.

8 Questions with………..actress/producer Ashley Kate Adams Its 3:52 pm Welcome to "8 Questions with....." In doing this series and especially of late,I have been really blessed to be able to talk to a lot artists that I have on a "wish list".