#I’ve seen Ben 3 1/2 times in concert

[fireawayniall]

My two faves are blessing me today...

Ben Rector put out his Christmas album. He also wrote a Thanksgiving Song!

Niall is working with Ryan Tedder!

[beauty-and-passion]

What Eurovision 2021 taught us

1. That a nice, enjoyable show was possible (even if 4 presenters are still too much)

Of course nothing can beat Love Love Peace Peace (even if Ja Ja Ding Dong does its best), but this year's intermissions were very enjoyable.

We expected something flashy and over the top because hey, The Netherlands. Sex, drugs, gays and all that jazz.

But instead Covid surprised us. And then The Netherlands surprised us even more, by making a very enjoyable show, despite the restrictions. My personal favourites were:

The water intermission of the first semi-final. I loved the mixed feelings, how water is both scary and respected, for being such a powerful, unstoppable force.

The rooftop concerts during the final. Social distancing? Sure, no problem, let's make the past winners sing on top of some roofs all over Rotterdam. That was pure genius, I loved it so much.

On the other hand, the presenters were basically all useless. We could've had just two of them instead of four. But hey, at least they weren't as cringy as the three scary ukranians from 2017 or the useless four ladies from Portugal. The true highlights of the show were the intermissions, the guests and especially the songs themselves and this is perfectly good for me.

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2. That we can live in a world without boring ass ballads

I’ve never been so proud of the Eurovision public, especially during the second semifinal: that evening was PACKED with ballads. Boring ballad after boring ballad, with just a couple more funny songs in between.

The ballads were all left behind. Even the two Amen. And I love the irony we chose El Diablo and the finnish band for the final, but no Amen. No saints allowed, only the norwegian angel. As it always should be.

And so we had the best final I've seen since I started following Eurovision in 2014. Catchy songs, dance songs, upbeat songs. And power ballads. Yes, ballads can still have a place, but only if they're good.

Because yes, Switzerland and France were good. Very good. Just not as good as the ones the public wanted.

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3. That we want Eurovision, not Englishvision

Every year, the same message blasts from all Europeans: send a song in your native language. This show is supposed to make other people from Europe (and the rest of the world) to know more about your own country, to enjoy its rhythm and to listen to something we don't usually hear. So why waste this huge opportunity, to bring a generic song in English?

Because the English song wins. Because we all understand English, so English has more chances.

Flash news: GUESS WHO WON THIS YEAR. No, it’s not the generic English song.

The public has been crystal clear, the final poll is even clearer: the top five includes an italian song, an ukraine song, two french songs and only one english song. We want different styles and rhythms, we want to listen to Europe.

So I want to give my full thank you to:

Albania: amazing song, great voice, wonderful language. Do it again.

Serbia: these ladies are fantastic, their song is great and they sang it in their language so I love them

Switzerland: thank you for leaving English to the side to give us some good french

Spain: the song wasn't as good as Universo, but it was in sexy spanish, so thank you for using it almost every year

Danemark: the song was terrible, but it was in your language and this alone deserves everything

France: I know we all make fun of you for being France, but your language is perfect for songs, so thank you for always using it

Ukraine: take note, Ukraine, because Europe is madly in love with your language and your rhythm

Italy: our language is beautiful, so thank you for delivering every year

While my biggest biases go to:

Greece: a generic pop song with no balkan rhythm and no greek either? An absolute shame, greek should always be used for songs.

Russia: russian language is very melodious and yes, we got something this year, but what about bringing a full russian song? We want it!

Germany: I may sound crazy, but I honestly think german language is good for songs. It's not like the mediterranean languages, but it still works. So please, do not be scared and show what you can do with it!

Scandinavian countries: why do you never want to bring your own language? Do it, don't be scared! Yes, Sweden, I'm talking with you: you still never tried to bring something in swedish, so do it.

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4. That we don't want Americans to play with us

For reasons we still have to understand, Flo Rida was competing this year. And he was competing for San Marino, the smallest European country.

I'm pretty sure they took some time to explain to him what was going on, where he was, where San Marino is, wtf was happening, why there were sexy italians and ukranian witches and a norwegian angel and loads of beautiful women everywhere.

And I loved how we all send memes about this, about ahahah why is Flo Rida here, what if San Marino wins where would they host Eurovision, all while enjoying an actual catchy song.

And then, in the end, Flo Rida basically disappeared. Who remembers Flo Rida, when we got Ukraine, Italy, Finland, Iceland, and the UK? And Germany being wholesome? And the love story between Norway and Azerbaijan? We collectively forgot about him and I think it's very sexy from Europe to just say "nope" and push America away, even if for just one week.

And this isn't the first time: we basically showed Madonna in a corner in 2019, thanks to Mans, Eleni, Verka and Conchita. Once again, Europeans knows what they want: we don't want Americans. Australia can because they're like that little brother we took under our wing for no reason and now it's part of us. But not Americans.

The rest of the year is all yours, but one week is ours.

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5. That we can lose like bosses

This year, the voting results have been absolutely insane and FOUR COUNTRIES got zero points from the public, while the UK got both zero points from the public AND the jury.

Don't get me wrong, the song was bad. And yes, Brexit played a role in this. And yes, hating England is Europe’s favourite sport.

But can we please all take a moment and appreciate how James Newman reacted? The public gave him a round of applause and he celebrated this achievement like a boss.

And he had all the reasons! He achieved something incredible, he unlocked something that this new voting system was supposed to never lead to. But he did it. So hats off to you, my boy: My Last Breath was better.

Germany is also used to the bottom of the chart, but this year I really thought Jendrik could have a chance to achieve a higher position. The song was funny, carefree, lively, the hand costume was the kind of trash we need and the message was nice as well. But he still got 3 points.

Despite that, Jendrik celebrated like a maniac and seeing his this happy made me happy as well. I really wish him the best.

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6. That FUCK YOU JURY

Again, same message every year: the jury vote should be eliminated. It's a fucking farce and their votes have nothing to do with what the public want.

The jury focuses on the voices, except when they don't, and clearly giving points to your neighbours is because you like the song, not because they're your neighbours.

I usually make fun of Greece and Cyprus showing eternal love to each other, by giving 12 points to each other every year, but this time, it sounded even more stupid than usual. It really looked like a farce. Why should we see this farce? Why can't we just choose what the public wants? So at least we would blame ourselves for our shitty musical tastes.

Even if I'm pretty sure we all have great musical tastes. Let's not forget that in 2019 the public's winner was Norway, with a song that mixed english, a catchy rhythm and an amazing part in yoik language. Arcade is good as well, but we cannot deny the norwegian entry was a lot more interesting.

And this year, the public's taste was flawless:

Look at this beauty: italian glam rock, ukranian techno folk, french powerful ballad, finnish hard rock and whatever that thing was with Iceland.

There's variety, there's everything for everyone. And there are native languages. Italian, Ukranian, and French on top three, followed by English.

Moral of the story: the public is great and the jury should be abolished forever.

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7. That Ukranian technofolk is all we needed in our lives

I didn’t see enough love for Go_A, so as italian, I think it's my sworn duty to give my appreciation to them and their amazing entry, because this band is awesome and Shum is currently on top of the Spotify top 50 - as it should be, because everyone should listen to it and join this slavic rave party.

I already liked their entry for 2020, Solovey. But I also liked My Last Breath from the UK and Universo from Spain. And this year they brought two of the worst songs. So I was very wary of Go_A.

But Shum is an absolute blast. Katerina Pavlenko's voice is unique and the song is even more, because based on ukranian folklore and traditional dances to summon the spirit of spring. They managed to teach something to all Europe in a three minute song and I think that’s incredibly sexy of them.

And so, I searched for other songs and OMG, I don’t know how it’s possible, but they are all great. Rano-Ranenko, Zhalmenina, Tanula, they all are perfect and I’m in love with this band.

And if all of this is not enough, THEY DID A COVER OF DANCING LASHA TUMBAI. The most iconic Eurovision song, sang by our god Verka. And this is the coolest, most badass cover ever in the whole universe. Please listen to it HERE everyone needs to hear this.

So thank you, Ukraine, for giving us Go_A. We all had a small empty place in our hearts and this place has ben perfectly filled by them.

And yif you think you don’t need ukranian technofolk, is only because you still haven’t listened to it. Please listen and enjoy Shum. You’re welcome.

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8. That rock and roll never dies (and Italy’s well deserved victory)

The last time Italy won was in 19-fucking-90. 31 years ago. I was just born.

And now, they finally won again. And what a song! Despite being italian, I've never listened to Maneskin before, but oh damn, this song is good. Not all their songs are, but this one is. And also Morirò da re.

Their show was perfect as well. This post is really eye-opening about how well they put on their show. The use of the stage, the movements, everything has been part of a great performance, even their clothes. Damiano's voice never faltered, despite having an entire continent watching him. They handled the stage like bosses, despite being only in their twenties. And they gave us some good fucking rock.

And so the public said a loud "FUCK YOU" to the jury and chose its winners. The sassy, sexy italians.

And yes, I know that there has been a lot of petty polemics because those youngsters are having drugs!1!! as if they were a bunch of idiots who used drugs on international TV, with their manager sitting next to them.

Of course it was a pointless accusation and honestly I don't care if some people are sore losers. The drug results were negative anyway, what a shocker.

What we should truly think about is how strong the Maneskin's bladders are, because they spent the whole evening of the final drinking the entire alcohol supply of the Eurovision and, at the end, they were still happy and cool. Hats off to you, you sexy people.

This man is just iconic, why did I miss him before.

Also, have some more Maneskin. You know, as a treat.

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9. That solidarity and wholesomeness are the biggest winners

It's just beautiful to see these nice people, from all over Europe, bonding, having fun, taking photos together and being friends.

The true winner of this, is probably Norway: Tix wanted to have a good time and he had a good time. The video of him vibing with Ukraine and Germany while listening Hard Rock Hallelujah is the best (HERE). His love story with Efendi from Azerbaijan is even better (please, check the video on his youtube channel, it's hilarious). I don't like his song, but he's a great guy and deserves everything.

The italian and finnish rock relationship is also great. Maneskin and Dark Sides found each other, considering they were the only two rock bands in the competition, so mutual appreciation was inevitable.

But Damiano is also a man of culture and he appreciates Ukraine's entry. And Ukraine appreciates both Finland and Italy. Is this what world peace looks like? Because I love it.

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10. That Italians will be Europe's clowns again (and you're all allowed to make fun of us)

Beware, Europe: we Italians are messy and chaotic, our presenters don’t know a single word in English, we are homoerotic AND homophobic at the same time, our musical competitions are so fucking sloooow... let’s say next year’s Eurovision is going to be interesting.

And yes, you’re allowed to make fun of us. We don’t care, we won, so we deserve to be Europe’s clowns once again.

And I don’t know who the presenters will be (my bets are on everyone’s favourites: Fiorello, Amadeus and Malgioglio), I don’t know how we will ridicule ourselves once again, I don’t know where will we find the money to put on the show, I don’t know how ungodly long it will be... but I know that Mans Zelmerlow will be part of it. This man loves Eurovision just like all of us, so I can already see him packing his suitcase and planning his flight to Italy. Come to us, Mans, we will wait for you. We actually need an English presenter, so if you have nothing else to do...

[keltonwrites]

Where no one knows your name

How many times is a person meant to make new friends? When I moved into an apartment in DC with an absolutely iconic girl from Craigslist, I wrote in my journal, “you never know when you’ll meet your next bridesmaid.” Charmingly juvenile, as I was 24 years old. Ironic, as I never had any bridesmaids. And embarrassing, knowing I wrote something that’s surely been embroidered on a bachelorette party t-shirt by now. My point was: you can meet people you fall in love with anywhere, anytime, assuming your heart (and calendar) are open. Now my heart and calendar are open and I am one of Elizabeth Bennet’s sad sisters, cloying and desperate for attention while everyone at the ball ignores me. Meeting people here is unnerving and hapless and eye-clawingly vulnerable. My first new friend told me she was moving away in a few months. Do you invest deeply in hopes of another faraway friendship? Do you just go back to waving as you pass on the street? I like this girl! What an embarrassing thing to have to say to someone! Do you just invite people to every and anything like a lunatic? I can’t even remember to call the people I am forever-and-ever in cahoots with. I’m also deeply bound by what I’ll call the Movie Trap: say it’s 3pm during not-a-pandemic, and you get the urge to see a movie. You look at the showings, and there’s one you really want to see at 7:15. You think to yourself, “I should make an effort,” and you text a friend. “Hey, you wanna go see This Cool Movie at 7:15 tonight?” No one ever says yes. Don’t give me an example of when someone has, because it’s always one of these answers:

“Oooh, I’m actually seeing it with Kate tomorrow - wanna come?”

“Can we go to the 9pm showing? Stuck at work.”

“Yeah but let’s see Movie You’ll Fucking Hate instead.”

Now maybe I’m just lighting flares guiding you to the worst parts of my personality, but this drives me nuts. No, Liz, I don’t want to go tomorrow. I want to go tonight. At 7:15. So I can be in bed by 10. And you’d have to drag my dead body and prop open my eyes to get me to see something like Marriage Story in theaters. The Movie Trap is a big reason I usually hang out by myself, or I make plans weeks in advance. (Don't I sound like a blast.) Just the idea of being like, “I like you! Wanna hang out in October?” makes me want to collapse into a puddle of sad adulthood. Which is why on Friday at 4:30pm, when a girl I’d met a week prior asked if I wanted to grab a drink, I just said yes. I put on a pretty dress, did my makeup, put stuff in a purse, and drove the 25 minutes to town. It was really fun! And how novel to have new contacts in my phone like “Maggie blue house” and “Jess concert friend” — a throwback to the days of “Greg guy on L train” and “Devon ad party.” The very concept of not knowing someone’s last name or even needing it, and a year from now updating their contact info and smiling at your origin story. But for the most part, no one is in our phones. In terms of phone numbers collected, here is the list:

Two friends we knew prior who thank god you guys exist.

New friend who is moving away.

New friend who is game to drink tequila and ride mountain bikes.

Neighbor-not-yet-friend who I really fucking like and am not sure how to cross hang-out threshold with.

​Not to say there aren’t any other prospects or people I’m platonically gaga over, but I don’t have their phone numbers. There are honestly a lot of people like this because when you live in a small town (and you’re from the Midwest) you say “oop, sorry” to every person/object you bump into, and you say “hi :)” to every person you see. These are the rules. If I drive by you and don’t wave, it’s because I was so deep in a daydream I probably shouldn’t have been driving in the first place. This isn’t acceptable, because in our urgency to tattoo our vaccination status on our foreheads so we can make friends, it turns out just driving by someone can be a viable strategy. A few days ago, a man was driving by our kitchen window and then our driveway, and then he reversed back up to the kitchen window and started waving. Ben went outside — it was that kind of wave. The man had seen from his car a smokejumper emblem on the back of a truck in our driveway. “Hey, are you a smokejumper?” We aren’t. But my dad was, and he was in town visiting, accompanied by the emblem on the back of his truck. The guy said we should drink sometime. Numbers were not exchanged. We’ll call that a node, because it’s not quite a connection. And it’s mainly nodes, waiting to be connected, to have relevance. But first, no matter who you’re trying to befriend, you have to answer everyone else’s Do I Care Quiz. The quiz is employed by 93% of locals to determine how they feel about you existing within their personal 50-mile radius. The first question is non negotiable:

1) Are you visiting?

Variations on this question include “how long are you in town?” or “what brings y’all to town?” or my least favorite and most insulting, “did you just finish Jeeping?” I know I have blonde hair and say y’all, but how dare you. (Also, to be clear, you can own a Jeep, customize your Jeep, mod out your Jeep, and love your Jeep, but you’re not Jeeping until you drive too fast through a tiny town so you can hurl your Jeep over a mountain pass without ever getting out of it.) So the answer to “are you visiting” is “no, I live here.” Which brings us to the next question, my favorite for how loaded the gun, kneeling in the grass, scope on, target locked it is.

2) Are you part-time or full-time?

The first time I answered this question, I didn’t realize it was essentially like asking how someone voted in the 2020 election. The judgment was cocked and ready and the palpable relief/joy/or at the very least, tolerance, exuded by answering “full-time” was like when the sun comes out from behind the clouds on a 40 degree day. I was fine, but wow that does feel better. The third question though does not have a standard hoped-for answer. This is where nodes turn to connections turn to phone numbers.

3) What brings you here?

It seems like the best possible answer would be saying you work in town, and you’re going to begin construction on displaced-worker housing to ensure the people who run this town can actually live in it. We’d have everyone’s phone number. Saying you’re a writer who works remotely and bought a house from a legendary and beloved local who could no longer afford it is really something you keep to yourself. But in the interest of making friends, I just word vomit my entire history. We might as well find out at the onset if I make your eyes roll back into your skull. Not at all threatening that all it takes is a single social signal misinterpreted to be the absolute death knell of my ability to make friends in a town of some 1400 adults. In fact, I’ll share one such interaction. I was hiking with Cooper, about 5 miles by foot away from my house. I was on a trail, crossing a sloped meadow, and a group was traversing up the hillside to the trail. I said hi, where y’all coming from. One girl answered and we talked about the trail. She eyed me up and down. “Did you just move here?” “I did!” “I served your family last week,” she said. “Oh,” that phrasing. “Must have been my in-laws.” “Heard you bought Jack’s house. Such a bummer when locals like that are forced out.” “We didn’t even know about his house,” I said. “We were looking at another house and he asked his realtor if he could get us to come see his house. We just loved it, and him!” She had no emotional reaction to this. “You moved from California?” she asked. (Dangerous question.) “Yeah, got these sea level lungs, haha,” attempting to disarm with humor was a failure, “but couldn’t be happier to be out of California.” “It’s not like this all year. Winter’s really hard here, you’re in for a rude awakening.” “Well California’s the last place I lived, but I’m not from there. I’ve lived in brutal winters. At least Colorado gets sun!” I laugh with cloaked loathing. “It’s different when you live at altitude,” she said, like no human aside from her had ever been literally anywhere. “Are you trying to go around?” She indicated the path behind her. “No, y’all go ahead, just gonna wait to give you your space. I’m sure you’re faster than me.” “K, good luck making it to the lake." Maybe she was thirsty. Maybe she was hungover. Maybe she just has vicious delivery, but it felt like every blade of grass was leaning against the wind to listen. She was with four other people and not one of them said a word. I left that interaction not wanting to see another human ever again. But that interaction, and her intimate knowledge of exactly which house I lived in, made me want to decorate like we lived in a gingerbread house, all candy canes and plum drops, screaming to any passerby that we’re friendly. One of the mayor’s first questions to me was “what are you going to do to the house?” There are rules here about what your house can look like, and I kept emphasizing we bought the house because we loved it, not because we wanted to change everything about it. And now, instead of wanting to decorate the interior, I want to put up shades so we don’t contribute to light pollution, I want to hang a sign by the water spigot saying “grab some if you need” for hikers and mountain bikers, I want to paint a sign for the wild mint by our door that says, “I mint to tell you to take some,” because our neighbors were openly panicked they wouldn’t be able to just grab mint from the cabin’s garden anymore. Without question, COVID makes things harder. Dinner parties feel like dares. Dropping cookies off at someone’s house feels invasive. Grabbing a drink feels like the ultimate sign of trust. But at least we have nodes who can connect who can think to invite us and who can see that despite having lived in California, we’re not all that bad. In the meantime, I’ll be painting signs about water and mint, hoping to garner the benefit of the doubt from the so beautifully, earnestly, and waiting-to-see-if-you’re-worth-it doubtful.

Subscribe to the newsletter at tinyletter.com/keltonwrites — high altitude relocation and renovation in a tiny mountain town.

[lochtayboatsong]

The Jesus Christ Superstar essay absolutely no one asked for.

Last weekend, I watched the pro-shot of the 2012 arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ben Forster, Tim Minchin, and Melanie C, because it was Easter and it was up on YT for the weekend.  I never managed to do my annual listen-through of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass this year, as is my usual Easter tradition, so I figured “Why not watch/listen to this instead?”  It was my first time seeing and hearing JCS in full, and Y’ALL, it has been living rent-free in my brain ever since.  I have a mighty need to get my thoughts out, so here they are, in chronological order by song.  

1) Prologue: I love the way JCS 2012 makes use of the arena video screen.  The production design and concept clearly took a lot of inspiration from the “Occupy ______” movement, which makes it feel a bit dated now.  But every single production of JCS is a product of its time period, so this is a feature and not a bug.  

2) Heaven On Their Minds: This is a straight-up rock song.  It wouldn’t be out of place on any rock and roll album released between 1970 and 2021, and it boggles my mind that Webber and Rice were both in their early twenties when they wrote it.  Also, the lyric “You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say” hits hard no matter the year.

3) What’s the Buzz: A+ use of the arena screens again, this time bringing in social media to set the tone.  Also, this song establishes right from the outset that Jesus is burnt out and T I R E D by this point in the story.  Seriously, can we just let this man have a nap?

4) Strange Thing Mystifying: Judas publicly calls out Mary and Jesus claps back.  Folx, get you a partner who will defend your honor the way Jesus defends MM in this scene.  Also Jesus loses his shoes and is mostly barefoot for the remainder of the show.

5) Everything’s Alright: Okay, this is one of the songs I have A LOT to say about.  First, it’s important to know that I was a church musician throughout all of my adolescence and into my early adulthood.  The pianist at the services I usually played at was a top-notch jazz pianist, and also my piano teacher for about six years while I as in high school and undergrad.  (Incidentally, I had a HUGE crush on his son, who was/is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist and also played in the church band, but that’s a story for another day.)  One of the hymns we played a few times a year was called “Sing of the Lord’s Goodness,” which is notable for being in 5/4 time.  Whenever this hymn was on the schedule, it was usually the recessional, or the last song played as the clergy processed out and the congregation got ready to leave, so we were able to have some fun with it.  After a couple verses the piano player and his son would usually morph it into “Take Five,” a famous jazz standard by Dave Brubeck which is also in 5/4 time.  Anyway, the first time I listened to this song in full, it got to Judas’s line “People who are hungry, people who are starving,” and I sat bolt upright and went “HOLY SHIT THIS IS ‘SING OF THE LORD’S GOODNESS/TAKE FIVE.’”  And I was ricocheted back in time to being fourteen and trying to keep up with this father/son duo in a cavernous Catholic church while simultaneously making heart-eyes at the son.  Final note: This is the only song in the musical to feature all three leads (Jesus, Judas, and Mary Magdalene) and is mostly Jesus and MM being soft with each other in between bouts of Jesus and Judas snarling at one another.

6) This Jesus Must Die: I LOVE that all the villains in this production are in tailored suits.  LOVE IT.  Also, Caiaphas and Annas are a comedy duo akin to “the thin guy and the fat guy,” except in this case it’s “the low basso profundo and the high tenor.”  Excellent use of the arena video screen again, this time as CCTV.

7) Hosanna: My background as a church musician strikes back again.  It honestly took me two or three listens to catch it, but then I had another moment of sitting bolt upright and going “HOLY SHIT THIS IS A PSALM.”  Psalms sung in church usually take the form of call-and-response, with a cantor singing the verses and the congregation joining in for the chorus.  If I close my eyes during this song, I have no trouble imagining Jesus as a church cantor singing the verses and then bringing the congregation in for the “Ho-sanna, Hey-sanna” chorus. 

8) Simon Zealotes: This is part “Gloria In Excelsis” and part over-the-top Gospel song.  Honestly it’s not my favorite, but it marks an important mood change in the show.  The end of “Hosanna” is probably Jesus at his happiest in the entire show, and then Simon comes in and sours the mood by trying to tip the triumphant moment into a violent one.  Jesus is not truly happy again from this moment on.

9) Poor Jerusalem: Also not my fave.  It kinda reads like Webber and Rice realized that Jesus didn’t have a solo aria in Act I, so they came up with this.  But it has the distinction of containing the lyric, “To conquer death you only have to die,” which is the biggest overarching theme of the story.

10) Pilate’s Dream: Pontius Pilate might be the most underrated role in this entire show, and I love that this production has him singing this song while being dressed in judge’s robes.  

11) The Temple: The first half of this is one of the campiest numbers in Act I, at least in this production, and it’s awesome.  The second half is one of the saddest, as Jesus tries to heal the sick but finds there are too many of them.  Also the whole scene is almost entirely in 7/8 time, which I think is just cool.

12) I Don’t Know How To Love Him: Mary Magdalene’s big aria, and one of the songs I knew prior to seeing the full-length show.  This production has MM taking off her heavy lipstick and eye makeup onstage, mid-song, which is kind of cool.  Melanie C says in a BTS interview that MM’s makeup is her armor, so this is a Big Symbolic Moment.

13) Damned For All Time: The scene transition into this song is played entirely in pantomime, and I love it.  The solo guitarist gets to be onstage for a bit, A+ use of the video screen again to show Judas on CCTV, etc.  Love it.  And then this song is Judas frantically rationalizing what he’s doing, and what he’s about to do, with Caiphas and Annas just reacting with raised eyebrows and knowing looks.

14) Blood Money: This is where the tone of the show really takes a turn for the dark.  I think this might be one of Tim Minchin’s finest moments as Judas, because his facial expressions and microexpressions throughout this scene speak absolute volumes.  And the offstage chorus quietly singing “Well done Judas” as he picks up the money is a positively chilling way to end Act I.

15) The Last Supper: Act II begins with major “Drink With Me” vibes.  (Except JCS came WAY before Les Miz, so it’s probably more accurate to say that “Drink With Me” has major “The Last Supper” vibes.)  Jesus and Judas have their knock-down, drag-out fight, and it’s honestly heartbreaking, thanks again to Tim Minchin’s facial expressions.  A well-done production of JCS will really convey that Jesus and Judas were once closer than brothers, even though their relationship is at breaking point when Act I begins.

16) Gethsemane: This is Jesus’s major showpiece and one of my faves.  Jesus knows he has less than 24 hours to live, he knows he’s going to suffer, and worst of all, he doesn’t know whether it’s going to be worth it.  It’s an emotional rollercoaster to watch and to perform, and it goes on for ages: something like 6 or 7 minutes.  Fun fact: the famous G5 is not written in the score.  Ian Gillan, who played Jesus on the original concept album, just sang it that way, so most subsequent Jesuses have also done it that way.  Lindsay Ellis has a great supercut of this on YT.  John Legend notably sang the line as written during the 2018 concert.  

17) The Arrest: Judas’s Betrayer’s Kiss is played differently across different productions.  The 2012 version is pretty tame - I’ve seen clips and gifs of other productions, including the 2000 direct-to-video version, where they kiss fully on the mouth and have to be dragged apart by the guards and it is THE MOST TENDER THING.  Then the 7/8 riff from “The Temple” comes back and the 2012 version lets the video screen do its thing again as Jesus is swarmed by reporters.

18) Peter’s Denial: Not much to say about this one, as it’s basically a scene transition.  But it’s a significant moment in the Passion story, so I’m glad they included it.

19) Pilate and Christ: The 2012 production continues with the theme of Caiaphas, Annas, and Pilate all being bougie af, since Pilate intentionally looks like he just came from tennis practice during this scene.  Also he does pilates...hehehe.

20) King Herod’s Song: Tim Minchin says in a BTS interview that JCS works best when Jesus and Judas are played seriously and the rest of the production is allowed to be completely camp and wild and bizarre all around them, and he is bloody well CORRECT about that.  Case in point: King Herod.  There is not a single production of JCS that I know of where Herod is played “straight.”  He’s been played by everyone from Alice Cooper to Jack Black, and everyone puts a different zany spin on him.  In JCS 2012 he’s a chat show host in a red crushed velvet suit, who is clearly having the time of his LIFE. 

21) Could We Start Again Please: This is another of my faves.  Just a quiet moment where MM, Peter, and the disciples try to grapple with the fact that Jesus is arrested and things are going very, very badly.  This is also my favorite Melanie C moment of the 2012 show.  Her grief is very real, and the little moment she has with Peter at the end is very real.

22) Death of Judas: This is basically Tim Minchin screaming for about five minutes, and incredibly harrowing to watch on first viewing.  

23) Trial Before Pilate: Possibly my single favorite scene in the entire 2012 production.  This is another harrowing watch, but there’s so much to take in.  The “set” that the entire show takes place on is essentially just a massive staircase, and the people with power are almost always positioned above the people without power.  In this scene, the crowd shouting “Crucify Him!” is positioned above Pilate, which is a very telling clue to Pilate’s psychology during this scene.  Jesus is at the very bottom of the stairs, of course.  Excellent use of the video screen once again during the 39 Lashes, to show the lash marks building and building until the entire screen is a wash of red.  Pilate’s counting also gets more and more frantic, especially starting around “20.”  And all the while the guitar riff from “Heaven On Their Minds” is playing.  Jesus’s line “Everything is fixed and you can’t change it” is played quite differently in different productions - here it’s defiant, but elsewhere (in JCS 2000 for example) it’s almost tender, like Jesus is absolving Pilate for his part in the trial.  But it always ends the same - with Pilate almost screaming as he passes the sentence and “washes his hands” of the whole sorry business. 

24) Superstar: The most over-the-top number in the show.  Judas, who died two scenes ago, comes back to sing this.  There are soul singers.  There are girls in skimpy angel costumes.  The parkour guys from the prologue are back.  Judas pulls a tambourine out of hammerspace midway through the song.  And Jesus is silently screaming and crying as he gets hoisted onto a lighting beam while all this is going on.

25) The Crucifixion: More of a spoken-word piece than a song, it’s Jesus’s final words on the cross over eerie piano music, and another harrowing watch.

26) John 19:41: An instrumental piece in which Jesus is taken from the cross and carried, at last, to the top of the stairs, before being lowered out of sight as the video screen turns into a memorial wall and everything fades to black.

So.  I know I’m anywhere from three to fifty-one years late to this particular party, but I am on the JCS bandwagon now and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.  :)

[resonantbodies]

press shuffle on a playlist and list the first 7 songs + memories attached to them

thank you for tagging me darling @andwegogreen

1. gloria (henry jamison)

i discovered his music in january after a very long travel day (eon) because maisie peters and him released a song – she said something about wanting to gatekeep his music because it’s That good and yep. i’ve listened to this album a lot but my favourite spot to is on my bed when it’s dark out and my fairy lights are on.

2. someone new (hozier)

i listened to the playlist this song is in a lot while walking to and from the library during final exams this year. i hear someone new and think about walking on old cobblestone streets and how much i’m gonna miss this place once i graduate.

3. grow as we go (ben platt)

i was a theatre kid by association because all my friends did theatre. ben was, obviously, part and parcel of that. but my main memory of this song is the number of times i watched his radio city concert film while baking during summer 2020.

4. minor (gracie abrams)

tbh i don’t have any specific memories attached to this song but i’ve listened to so much gracie this year which might say something about how i’ve been doing LOL

5. renegade (big red machine ft. taylor swift)

this was my third most listened to song in 2021…..it’s a Great song and i think about it a lot. “there was nowhere for me to stay, but i stayed anyways” god.

6. stay stay stay (taylor’s version) (taylor swift)

red’s the first cd i ever got and might’ve been the only album i listened to for a solid two years! so stay stay stay reminds me of a pretty weird period of my life where there was a lot of transition and change – in some ways, this album probably saved me. i think about sitting on the floor and paging through the album booklet, memorizing the lyrics to every single song. i always found the image evoked by “that’s when you walked in wearing a football helmet” very funny.

7. enchanted (taylor swift)

taylor did this concert special or something in nyc as part of her speak now promo and my dad PVRd it for me (but i think he only got, like, half of it. i’ve never seen the full thing!). i used to watch it over and over again. i’m pretty sure it’s still on the PVR so maybe i should figure out what it’s called and find the full version!

you’re tagged if you want to be :))

[i-am-rosie-b]

Jonathan Groff presents a masterclass in experiencing, and demonstrating, emotion through song:

1. “Now” by Scott Alan, at Birdland, January 2008. It seems to me that the emotion here almost gets too much for Jonathan at one point (understandably, perhaps, given the context that Scott provided at the link shown below). If you would like to listen to a version of this beautiful, sad song with better quality audio, it is also on Spotify.

https://jonathangroffappreciation.tumblr.com/post/642083594637049856/scott-alan-on-tiktok

2. I’d Rather Be Sailing from A New Brain, December 2008. There are several videos on YouTube of Jonathan singing this song, but this is the earliest one I’ve found, and seems to contain a lot of genuine emotion. He has said that this song, which is a love song by a man about a man, meant a lot to him when he was young, knowing that he was gay but feeling that he had to keep it secret, and I believe it was one of his audition songs as a teenager. This performance is from before he publicly came out of the closet in October 2009.

https://youtu.be/OUoW54hVUeY

3. Not While I’m Around from Sweeney Todd, 2009 (with Lea Michele). This is another video where his emotions appear to take him - and Lea! - by surprise. https://youtu.be/J2lIbfUAMks

4. You Don’t Know My Name by Alicia Keys, at Joe’s Pub, 2010. A classic of the "acting through song" genre. Jonathan acts out the entire song on stage, including use of borrowed props and the most blatant flirtation with a microphone stand - and the audience! - that you’ve ever seen. Unmissable.

https://youtu.be/RyuNZTWIZc8

5. A Case of You by Joni Mitchell, at Joe’s Pub, 2010. The same show as above, but a very different tone, as he’s making himself - and us - cry here, rather than laugh.

https://youtu.be/iM02l_xLgRc

6. Being In The Dark With You by Ben Toth, 2012 (with Cheyenne Jackson). I had to include this one, of course, as it is my all-time favourite. Not the clearest camera angle, but the intense eye contact comes across, and Jonathan’s slightly submissive posture in this (partially due to the height difference; I’m not used to seeing him look so small!) fits perfectly with the lyrics.

https://youtu.be/bkXDzOv535w

7. Lost in his Arms by Irving Berlin, from Annie Get Your Gun, 2014. Jonathan has said that this song has a lot of meaning to him, as it is from the first musical that he ever saw, when he was in fourth grade, and also because it is one that is usually sung by a woman, but which takes on new meaning when sung by Jonathan without flipping the pronouns. He has performed it a number of times, but this is my favourite version.

https://nyti.ms/3fjlgPk

8. Ham4Ham The Schuyler Georges, 2015 (with Renee Elise Goldsberry, Andrew Rannells and Brian D’Arcy James). One of the things I love most about Jonathan is his ability to completely change his physicality to fit a particular character, and he certainly achieves that here.

https://youtu.be/yhUFZZ5sVrc

9. You’ll Be Back from Hamilton, 2015. Well, of course, I had to include the ultimate example of “acting through song”.

- Stage directions: Create a memorable, unmistakable character, in three and a half minutes, while standing perfectly still and using only your voice, eyes and shoulders.

- Jonathan/KGIII: Nailed it!

https://youtu.be/Ti8xeyaSwCI

10. BONUS: Reacting to Ellen Winter’s debut album, Every Feeling I’ve Ever Felt. I’m cheating slightly here, as this isn’t a video of Jonathan singing (much), but instead of him reacting to his friend’s songs and “feeling every feeling he’s ever felt”.

(For more “Jonathan can’t help displaying every emotion on his face while listening to music” footage, see the video on YouTube of him reacting to Sia’s cover of Satisfied.)

[lunawings]

Ace (and Leo)’s PriZoom Birthday Party!! 4/4/2021

(Yes it took way too long before someone coined PriZoom... But)

That was.............. 

AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Comments on Tatsuyuki Kobayashi’s live appearance at the end

Not to say this showing wasn’t without occasional feedback/unnecessary noise from people who should have been muted, but still, it went a LOT smoother this time. There were only about 170 people but there were supposedly two different rooms (text only and regular cheering) so I don’t know if that was the actual grand total. I did regular cheering of course. I don’t have that much to say in SSS but I like to be a part of the madness. People were really chatty and relaxed this time too! Making shoutouts to the cosplayers and such. Lots of familiar faces from the previous stream!

The staff has even started doing this little thing at the end where they showcase a bunch of different cameras. They didn’t pick mine, thoughhhhh. Actually the only time I was on the main screen was at the very end of the movie. (I think perhaps they have realized they have been inexplicably infiltrated by a gaijin and don’t know how to handle it, as is the Japanese way.) It was the perfect time to realize I... COMPLETELY FORGOT THE 366 LOVE DIARY DANCE FFFFFFNOOOOOOOOO--I have to practice before the next one. It hadn’t occurred to me that we would actually get 366 Love Diary.

So they have mentioned these showings would be the theater edit, and going into it I was really curious like... would it really be the theater edit? Like the completely original version with 366 Love Diary and everything? Or did they just splice the DVD into the theater cut? But I think it really WAS the theatrical version. I won’t know unless I see Part 3 or Part 4 though, because those had some pretty significant differences between the theatrical version and the TV version. (A really noticeable animation error with Leo’s hair in Part 3, Shin’s got a different phone background in Part 4, etc...) Nnnrrrgh I don’t really want to see Part 4 but I might have to... NOT today though. I made the difficult decision to only do Part 2 today. (I miss disposable income....) But hopefully I can do Part 1 in May for Taiga and Part 3 in June for Alexander?

I’ve always considered Part 1 and Part 3 to be my favorites, so I always forget how much I do like Part 2: BABY KAKERU, Joji dragging the Shuffle on his date, JOJI! HAIR!!!!, ACE, Orange Flamingo, Joker Kiss, sssAAAILInGGGGGGGGGGG... (even on ZOOM I got the full body goosebumps when Minato looked up). 

Some notable stuff:

People yelling in Okayama-ben during the Joji flashback (そうじゃ、そうじゃ！instead of そうだ、そうだ！etc) I was DYINGGGG

When Ace’s mic is cut: “Is there a problem with Zoom??” “TAKE JOJI OFF MUTE!!”

Several people prepared fish for particular scenes in episode 4 and 6.

I think my favorite feed was the person who aimed their camera back at the screen with their Torachi and Dorachi plushies watching.

Or maybe just the person who had up the background of the Ikebukuro Train Station the whole time (PPPPFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT)

Someone had up the ferris wheel in Shizuoka where the Kouji scene takes place too though!! AAAAHAAAAA!!! (Going there is seriously one of my favorite King of Prism memories of all time.)

Additional shoutouts to:

The Hiro cosplayer who was eating curry during episode 6.

The girl in the orange happi with “From the cradle to the grave” actually framed on her wall (possibly in real calligraphy!?)

The Tsubasa fangirl (!!??!) who held up a Tsubasa fan whenever she was on screen

The person with the Ace plushie (!!). I didn’t know they existed. He had his hat from the Joker Kiss performance too. 

There was at least one Leo cosplayer but there were SEVERAL Ace cosplayers. Like WOW. Also shoutout to the person who cosplayed as an actual Ace of Hearts card omg I love this fandom so much. 

But really though there was SO. MUCH. ACE. LOVE in this showing. So many Ace backgrounds/homemade Ace cheering goods, etc. I know this was specifically the Ace birthday showing but still. Considering Ace isn’t exactly a main character I think this was pretty huge. 

And now onto what you were possibly all waiting for, the Tatsuyuki Kobayashi greeting! This was basically almost exactly what it felt like to go to a theater greeting show in Japan, just on Zoom. I used to always talk about trying to see the voice actors at smaller events to try and get them to notice me and this was... basically THAT. Almost better in a way!? Because he could see all of us equally? Read all of our comments on the screen!!! Of course I had no idea what to say when presented with this opportunity....... GAHHH HE’S SO FREAKIN CUTE 

We started off by singing Happy Birthday to Ace and Leo (actually just him because we were on mute!), and then we all blew out the candles on a cake together. He mentioned him and the staff would eat the cake later haha. 

He then started to talk about his experience playing Ace. He mentioned that when he first sang Love Mix for Pride the Hero, his character didn’t even have a name yet. He was simply the ghost singer.  And when he came out and made that surprise performance at the MRS concert he was so nervous he barely remembered it!! But when he got to perform again as Ace at the SSS live in Feb 2020, now that Ace had come into his own, he was much more confident and it was very meaningful to him. 

This really resonated with me. I’ve actually seen Tatsuyuki Kobayashi in concert a total of three times. The first time was at MRS during that surprise performance. It was an amazing surprise, but at that time I only saw him as Joji even though I knew he wasn’t. (And I wasn’t even all that attached to Joji back then because he was such a minor character at the time.) The second time I saw him was as Asahi at a Pretty Series show, where I was waaaaaay at the back and didn’t really get to see him that well, so I didn’t really get a proper chance to appreciate his performance. But when I saw him as Ace at the SSS live... THAT was when I fell in love with him (and HOW). Because really, he did just seem SO CONFIDENT and like he was enjoying it so much and finally seeing him perform as Ace for real was really meaningful. 

Sorry for the tangent, but yeah. He talked about how moved he was by how many of us had come to cheer on Ace today with backgrounds, props, cosplay, etc. And he credited all of us cheering him on for him making it this far, for finally becoming the leader of the Shuffle! AWWWWWWRGH! I’m SO HAPPY for him AHH he deserves everything and moreeeeeeeee this was so nice

[princecupcakee]

Park Bench | Reddie

Read on AO3

Rating: E

Pairing: Richie Tozier/Eddie Kaspbrak

Word Count: 3,320

Chapter: 2/8

Past Chapters: Chapter 1 (AO3)

Next Chapters: Chapter 3 (AO3), Chapter 4 (AO3)

Summary: Recently divorced and ‘incapable of love’, Eddie Kaspbrak moves to Los Angeles for work and a small, small hope of a fresh start. Broken up and never dated again, Richie Tozier tries to get back into love with help from his love of music. Quickly meeting eyes and one concert later, they think that maybe love isn’t that bad. So they try it one more time.

Chapter 2: What If Eddie Kaspbrak Was?, What If Richie Tozier Wasn’t? & Richie Tozier And Eddie Kaspbrak Have Breakfast 

Tags/Warnings: Angst / Unhappy Ending / theres only one sex scene but this is explicit anyway / Bisexual Richie Tozier / Gay Eddie Kaspbrak / Post-Divorce / Implied/Referenced Cheating / Inspired By Remembering Sunday (All Time Low) / Inspired by The Book Ninja by Ali Berg / Implied/Referenced Child Abuse / Implied/Referenced Abuse / Implied/Referenced Manipulation

Tag-list: @richietoaster​, @s-s-georgie​, @mikeuris​, @gazebobullshit​, @that-weird-girls-blog​, @tozierking​​​, @thoughtfullyyoungduck​, @s-onora​, @bellarosewrites​, @lermanslogan​, @ambitiousskychild​, @ghostnebula​, @vanillaredvelvet​,

(Ask if you wanna be on the tag-list!!)

Chapter 2

What If Eddie Kaspbrak Was?

He loves Beverly, he really does, but right now, in this gigantic crowd of people, he hates her. Really, really hates her. He thinks that everything and everyone (mildly excluding Ben, Beverly, Bill, Mike, and Mr. cute-Hawaiian-shirt guy-with-huge glasses-who’s-name-is-apparently-Richie) is out to kill him. Two groups of teenagers tried to sell him drugs, or something —he wouldn’t know. He ran away before they could say anything.

It was loud, and hot, and made Eddie, really, really uncomfortable. As much as he tried to avoid the touches of every person jumping around to whatever incomprehensible song was being shouted —yes, he meant shouted — it was too cramped. “You okay there?” Eddie heard a voice behind him ask, loudly. As he looked in that direction, Eddie decided that speaking would be useless, so he simply shook his head. He let Mr. cute-Hawaiian-shirt guy-with-huge glasses-who’s-name-is-apparently-Richie or, simply, Richie, take his hand and lead him out. “You looked really uncomfortable,” Richie smiled, laughing a bit.

“Uh, yeah, don’t do that well with big crowds and everything,” Eddie shrugged, attempting to look ‘cool.’

Richie laughed, “Lets go.”

“But, the concert?”

“I’ve seen ‘em before,” Richie shook his head, “I’ll take you back home, its pretty late anyway.”

“Thanks,” Eddie smiled as he took Richie’s outstretched hand.

“Where is your place?” Richie asked him, crossing the pedestrian.

“I uh, live with Ben and Bev.”

“That mansion? Well, I guess when the husband is an architect and the wife is a designer you get the Buckingham fucking Palace.” Eddie laughed at that (as much as he tried to hide it.)

“But, yeah, I’m staying at Ben and Bev’s while I’m here.”

“While you’re here?” Richie nods

“I don’t live in LA, I’m from New York,” Eddie replied.

“I didn’t think you were from here,” Richie smiled, walking backward to face Eddie.

“That’s dangerous.”

“And thats,” Richie points at Eddie “no fun.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, moving away from the topic, “Its like you guys have your own planet here,” he says, scanning the scenery.

“Says the New Yorker,” Richie said sarcastically.

Eddie gave him a questioning look, trying to hide a smile. “You know, all the big pretty buildings and broadway, and all the big movies,” Richie jokes in a horrible Brooklyn accent.

“Don’t-don’t do that,” Eddie shakes his head.

“Thats my career.” Richie grinned walking into the subway.

Eddie ignored that, “I thought LA was all cars?” He asked.

“It is. I’m doing a kind of project thing though,” Richie smiles talking Eddie’s hand. That slightly throwing Eddie off. “See?” Richie points to a vinyl (yes, Eddie learned the word) with their intertwined fingers.

“I don’t think I understand,” Eddie says looking at Richie.

“I don’t think you need to,” Richie winks, seating Eddie further from the vinyl.

“For a comedian, you’re not funny.”

“Come to one of my shows then. Got one tomorrow night.” Richie winks.

“Sure.”

Richie stops himself before he says ‘its a date.’

“Where did you go?” Beverly asked Eddie as he walked into the kitchen where the rest of the group was standing.

“I went back here,” Eddie says, avoiding eye contact with anyone in the room as he holds back a ‘and kind of got a date. Kind of. Well, no it isn’t a date. I’m just gonna watch his show-’

“Richie ‘went back here,’ too?”

“Oh- no, he just… it was really late and he-he walked and rode the train with me back here.” Eddie replied. Ben, Beverly, Bill, and Mike all exchanged looks while he wasn’t looking. “I uh- speaking of Richie though, what does he even do?” He asked, trying to be subtle. Keyword: trying.

Ben tried to hide a laugh, “Besides working at the shop he does some comedy, I thought we told you already?”

“Yeah, yeah, uh anyway, does he even have shows?”

Deciding that he didn’t want this conversation to last too long since Eddie would never bring up what he really wants to say, “He’s got a show tomorrow n-night, I think,” Bill says looking at Ben and Beverly, “Think we can watch it?”

“Totally, its at a bar not too far from here,” Ben smiles.

“Yeah, sure, why not,” Eddie says quickly, thankful that his friends ‘didn’t’ notice how much he wanted to go.

~~~

Eddie was alone on Sunday morning, tired after the concert the night before, —despite not being there for half of it—and he woke up at around 10. His four other momentary housemates were out for the day on whatever they were planning on doing on a Sunday morning in Los Angeles —he wondered what there is to do. Which made Eddie feel painfully single, but also made him feel a little better. An abnormal creek came from downstairs he shut the door to his bedroom, ‘I must’ve just imagined it, I need coffee.’

A loud crash sound rang inside the house and followed Eddie to the first floor. He ran into the kitchen, grabbed the first thing he could find, and rushed toward the direction of the sound, prepared to hit. “Holy fuck, please no!” Richie shouted, hands above his head, dropping the coat rack he was trying to put straight back up. Eddie dropped the pan in his hands and sighed, relieved. “What the fuck is this? Tangled?” Richie laughed, breathlessly.

“Asshole. I thought there was some, I don’t know, a psychopathic- killer- clown that broke into the house out to kill me.”

“I- I’m not even gonna fucking ask.”

Eddie sighs and rolls his eyes, ”why are you here anyway?”

“Just picking up something, what are you doing here?” Richie asked, ‘well shit. Now I look like an idiot.’

“Told you. I’m staying here.” Eddie answered returning the pan to the kitchen.

“Uh, right,” Richie awkwardly said, wanting to fill the silence. As much as he wanted to ask, ‘are you coming to my show tonight?’ He didn’t and instead, “so, how’s your mom doing? She okay after last night?”

“Ew. That’s disgusting,” Eddie said his face scrunching up, “I, uh, I’m going.”

As if he read Richie’s mind he clarified, “I’m going to your show.”

“Neat.” Richie smiled widely, “uh no. Not neat. No! Not that is it’s ‘not neat’ for you to come to my show, I mean not neat. Like, not the word ‘neat’. Jeez. Uh—“

“Yeah, neat.” Eddie laughed, “weren’t you going to get something?” He knew he was winning this.

“Oh right, uh,” The man in glasses began to walk towards the library —it wasn’t actually a library just an extra room Ben and Beverly filled with books and music things (Eddie honestly didn't know what they were). Again, their house is fucking like a mansion— and Richie came out with vinyl in his hands, “they borrowed it,” He said shaking it.

“Have you heard it before?”

“I don’t think so,” Eddie says walking closer.

“Lets go then,” Richie smirks going back into the room, putting in the vinyl. ‘Sittin' in the kitchen, a house in Macon’ rang the player, ‘Loretta's singing on the radio’

"Smell of coffee, eggs, and bacon” Richie sung.

“What is that?” Eddie asked.

“‘Car Wheels On A Gravel Road’, Lucinda Williams,” Richie replied just as the same line played.

“What kind of song even is that? Its all guitar but not-”

“First, its country and rock. Alt-Country. Second, not all songs with guitars have to sound like ‘The Carpal Tunnel Of Love’ or something,”

“I don’t even wanna what that is,” Eddie rolled his eyes, looking at the player —he didn’t actually know what it was called.

“You live under a rock. Not even a single rock— you-you live in a fucking cave.”

“Half the people I know don’t know what that is.” But Richie was already picking up a new vinyl — ‘is that a fucking sheep?’ Eddie wondered once he saw the cover.

Richie set the —‘what the fuck is that’ Eddie thought— on a place over the vinyl. “We take sour sips from life's lush lips” Richie sung, smiling at Eddie.

“Its so loud. What the fuck is that?” Richie just kept on singing.

“Whoa-oh, we're so miserable and stunning,” Richie sang. As, much as Eddie didn’t want to admit it, he sounded amazing.

“This is so loud. I’m not doing this,” Eddie said walking out of the room. The song being loud was the reason, he promised. It wasn’t because he knew he would lose it if he kept going, it was just loud.

“Hey, what? Eddie, wait!” Richie said stopping the music and tripping over himself to get to the door. “Have you been walking through life with earplugs on? Jeez,” Richie checked his watch, “shit, I’m gonna head back to the store. I’ll see you tonight?”

Eddie thought his heart stopped for a moment, and then he remembered he was going to Richie’s show. Nothing more. Because it shouldn’t be anything more. “Yeah,” Eddie said, watching as Richie walked out the door.

~~~

Eddie was alone in his room Sunday night, (or Monday morning? He couldn’t tell) tired of laughing, tired of being so far away from Richie. His set was amazing (not that Eddie would tell him that.) So maybe he was feeling something. Maybe he was feeling a lot. That doesn’t mean he must fall into Richie's arms. Or should fall into his arms —he thinks that Richie definitely can his hands and shoulders and just his arms are so big. He knows he shouldn’t fall in love again. The last time didn’t do well for him, and he had known her for years before they even started dating. And much longer before they got married. He shouldn’t be feeling this. But what if he was?

What If Richie Tozier Wasn’t?

As he walked out of the door from the Marsh’s house, he headed for the trains once again. Something in his head was pulling him away, not wanting him to continue the project, but what if its what’s good for him? What if Eddie didn’t like him the same way? This might continue to be like Connor. I mean, they saw each other in the store and started talking after ditching a concert? Is that how love was supposed to go? How is love supposed to go? On the other hand, Ben and Bev seem to like him. He trusts Ben and Bev. He trusts Eddie. But what if Eddie shouldn’t be trusted? This was something all too fragile.

Richie walked into the train, looking down on the vinyl he played Eddie. He took out the Sharpie from his pocket prepared to write on ‘Car Wheels On A Gravel Road’ but then his phone let out a ‘ping’ He opened his phone to a group chat with Stan, Patty, Ben, and Bev called: ‘The Four Hets Who Help With The Vinyl Project Thing’ —Richie was also surprised that it fits there.

Patty: Good luck on your date today!!! Stan: Yeah, have fun, rich. Ben: Tell us everything once its done :) Ben: By the way, Stan and Patty, we’re almost there. Stan: See you guys. Bev: Thats great and I absolutely love that for you. But I thought you were with [redacted] [Bev Deleted a Message.]

Richie didn’t catch what Beverly had written, but if it was deleted it probably wasn’t important. Richie opened the mail app on his phone to see the email that got him this date again. He had gotten it the day after he left Hot Fuss on the train, and he, Patty, and Stan had eaten out that night.

Subject: I found your vinyl From: Adam Wilson <@AdAmWIlsOn> To: Richie Toz <@Remembering_Records> 

  ‘Hey, Richie. My name’s Adam. I found the Hot Fuss album you left on the train a few weeks ago. I used to love listening to The Killers but work took so much of my time that I didn’t get to listen to them much anymore, but when I listened to your album, I felt like I finally relaxed, you know? I absolutely love Mr. Brightside but Somebody Told Me is still running through my head (Smile Like You Mean it doesn’t even need to be said. Its perfect. Oh man but then there’s also All These Things That I’ve Done. The Killers are just perfect.)

I should probably tell you somethings about me. I’m a doctor. I moved here from Manchester, UK, around a week ago to start a new job. I also volunteer at animal shelters in my spare time.

If I don’t sound like a serial killer and you’re interested, I really would love a date.

P.S. Mr. Brightside or Miss Atomic Bomb?

Richie had replied to him simply and fairly quickly (he chose Mr. Brightside.) He was heading there now, over to a restaurant downtown. He looked back down at the vinyl in his hands, just as he remembered Eddie smile and laugh awkwardly when he didn’t know what was going on. There was something about Eddie. Richie had no clue what it was, or what it made him feel, but there was definitely something there. He’s never felt this way before. Not with his friends, not with his hookups, not with Connor. It isn’t that he didn’t like it. He just had to be careful with it.

On second thought, maybe he shouldn’t leave them in the subway. He has time to bring them home first, right?

~~~

Richie walked into the restaurant, almost an hour late. By the time he had gotten home, he and Adam were already supposed to be meeting up, since the train he was previously on was going in the opposite direction. He then decided that riding his car would be faster than taking the trains, but the traffic was unbearable. He had taken a few wrong turns heading to the restaurant, too. Not that he didn’t know the place, there was a concert a few streets away that blocked some of the streets. So, exactly 53 minutes and 20 seconds late for his date, he stood there. As expected, Adam wasn’t there anymore.

Richie walked into the backseat of his car, kicking the chair in front of him. Of course, he messed up his first date in years. Fucking years. The one guy was interested in him, now gone, because he- what was he even doing? If he just dropped the two pieces of vinyl, he could’ve gotten this date and would’ve had two or more possible other ones. He wouldn’t blame Eddie for this failed date. He couldn’t. That was all on him.

At least he picked a restaurant close to the bar he was doing his show at. Richie wiped at his tears and climbed into the front of the car. Driving down a few streets, he walked up to the ‘Golden Rookie’ sign at the front of his favourite bar. Taking a deep breath, and willing himself not to puke, he jogged backstage to see Riley rolling her eyes at him.

“Failed date,” Richie smiled jogging on to the stage.

“Hello and goodnight, everybody!” he began, earning applause from a few of the regulars. "So, I checked Twitter this morning and..." he began slightly walking around the stage. He scanned the room, and there, far at the back was Eddie Kaspbrak, slightly smiling at the stage. Eddie was still in his work clothes, a suit and tie. His grin somehow both left and widened the moment they caught eyes.

When Richie got home that night, he thought that his set was the best one he’s done in a while. He wondered why.

Richie Tozier And Eddie Kaspbrak Have Breakfast Eddie wondered what that sound was. It was loud, he didn’t think it was loud for anyone else. It sounded- it sounded like if a pebble hit glass without breaking it. Weird. Eddie looked around the room, the continuous clattering waking him up. “What the fuck is that?” He muttered, walking over to the window. Richie Tozier was standing outside his window, waving at him like a maniac. “What the fuck are you doing here? Its the middle of the night, Richie!” Eddie whispered loudly (he wondered how that worked) once he opened his window.

“Its actually Tuesday morning,” Richie smiled, “C’ mere!”

Eddie rolled his eyes, “go to the front fucking door.”

He changed clothes quickly, trying not to look like he fixed up before seeing Richie. What was he doing? Its the middle of the- its Monday morning, and he's going to go with a stranger to who knows where. He's probably going insane. This was probably a dream, why would this happen if he were awake? Though, a part of him wished it wasn't a dream.

Down the stairs and out the door on to the porch, “What the fuck Richie? Its,” he looked at his phone, “its five in the morning.” He saw a guitar around Richie’s shoulders, (huge shoulders) deciding not to ask.

Richie hummed in agreement. “Yeah, we’re getting breakfast,” Richie said as he locks fingers with Eddie.

“Its five in the morning,” Eddie repeated.

“We’re getting breakfast.”

“At… five in the fucking morning?”

“Yup. There’s a nice diner somewhere here, we can walk.”

“I hope you know I think you’re crazy. The sun isn’t even up.” Richie just nodded.

The two walked to the diner together in silence. Eddie wasn’t uncomfortable, just, surprised. There was a ‘comfortable’ silence between the two, Eddie never really had that before. He was always used to the controlling words, and reminders and the arguing with Myra. He didn’t see his friends much because of work, so when they would meet up, there was never silence. And now there’s Richie, who he barely knows anything about, holding his hand at a time too early, as they walk towards a diner in a city Eddie doesn’t even live in. ‘Its nice’ he thinks, as they walk into the diner. It surprises Eddie, how much it looks like the diners in movies. But everything (and everyone- some more than others) in Los Angeles surprise him. ‘Most things surprise me’, he guesses, ‘I don’t go out much.’ But he knew better than that.

The two took their orders hands still intertwined under the table. “Why are we here?” Eddie asked, now sitting across from Richie.

“Ask that again in,” Richie looked down at his watch, “In 32 minutes, and 19 seconds.”

“Thats weird, but you aren’t going to tell me anything about that until then.”

“Right. So, lets talk about something else. How’d you like my show?”

“You like your praise. Its not that bad.”

“Just ‘not that bad’?”

“Yup, just ‘not that bad.’”

“I had a clear view of you from the stage. I didn’t know you could smile, Eds.”

“Don’t call me ‘Eds.’ Not my name.”

“Whatever you say, Spaghetti,” Richie said as Eddie rolled his eyes, “Do you have work today?”

“Actually, no. Bill and Mike are doing all I need today since I covered them a few days ago. Why?”

“Mind if I borrowed you for the rest of the day?” Richie smirked. (Eddie wanted to hate that smirk, he really did, he just couldn’t.)

“Yes. I do mind. I need a break.”

“Exactly, I’m giving you the world’s best break.”

Eddie sighed, “Please don’t. I’m scared.”

“Come on, I know you missed me.”

“I didn’t. I really didn’t.” He did. “You know what, whatever. Just- why am I here?”

“Look out the window,” Richie nodded.

“Look out the- what?” Eddie said, confused. He turned his head and, "Woah."

Eddie saw, through the trees and the buildings on the horizon, a soft sunrise. Whoever painted the sky in the early mornings, Eddie praised them. “Its pretty, right?”

“Yeah,” Eddie stuttered, looking over at Richie, who was grinning widely.

“You should see the sunset after it rains. Its beautiful,” Richie held back, ‘kinda like you’.

[dfnews]

Episode Recap of "Highs and Lows"

First Aired August 18, 2020

"Jinger and Jeremy share the sad news that they have miscarried their baby. In Arkansas, Ben has second thoughts as he undergoes eye surgery. Jeremy throws Jinger a surprise party filled with some unexpected guests and a special gift."

 Can they laser my eyes out after watching this episode?

 1. In la la land, Jinger talks about having a miscarriage the night after the jingerbread building contest. She's sad and does that dainty Jingerish way of wiping tears from her eyes. Jeremy says it's been hard on him but admits it must be harder on Jinger. He's a smart one right there. 

2. Ben's getting laser eye surgery to correct his horrible eyesight. I'm guessing TLC paid for some or most of the surgery since they filmed it and possibly the business gave them a break for advertising reasons. Hey TLC! Want to fim my lasik surgery? My eyes are as crappy as Ben's and I'll be way more dramatic than him. Ben was too boring. He just laid there and took it. I'm sure a doctor will go down after they try to put a laser near my eyes. But I really do want the surgery and I'll pay for it myself. I just need someone to pay the lawyer fees. Jim Bob claims to have cured his aging poor vision somehow which confuses me. Maybe he can cure Michelle's too since we often seen her wearing reading glasses. Ben and Jessa and kids arrive at the surgery center together for the short procedure. Jessa keeps her kids calm not with electronics anymore but with constant snacking. She really needs to stop that. Placating your kids with food isn't healthy. Get a momma's bag full of special toys or activities for those times they need to wait. I'm not mom shaming! I've worked with young kids for longer than most of you have been alive, so hush! Jessa's kids only had to wait 20 or 30 minutes. They didn't need a three course meal of junk while waiting. I really want to be super nanny for some of these reality show moms. I'll straighten these parents out. How do I apply? After the procedure they ask Ben to read what time it is on an analog clock and he has no clue. I guess he missed that day of homeschooling. TLC never did come back and ask Ben how his eyesight was the next day. That storyline just stopped here.

3. Jeremy is throwing a surprise party for Jinger's 26th birthday. The party is being held at his church friends' house and a portrait of Jinger and Felicity was commissioned to be painted by another church friend and all the party goers are church friends and family. Sounds like pompous fun! Jana and her gal pal, Laura, Ben and Jessa, and Pops and Lolli make it out to la la land for the party. Jinger is distracted from the preparations by taking a photography class with Laura Norcia. I'm not sure if she is a member of the church too but the girl escorting Jinger to the class is. Can't have Jinger do something on her own. They do iPhone photography and then get to work in a darkroom. This brings back a ton of memories for me. I don't remember much about high school but I do remember spending most of my time in the darkroom. I even built my own darkroom at home. Those were the days of feeding film negatives onto spools in complete darkness and hanging photos up to dry. It's sad those days are now gone. 

4. When Jinger gets home Jeremy tells her to get dressed up and to wear heels because he's taking her on a date. Meanwhile, John and Abbie and Joy and Austin double date on a horse and carriage ride in Fayetteville. They chat about stuff and then get hot chocolate. Back to the party. Jinger is wearing a fur stole just to make sure everyone in California realizes she isn't one of them. She's an animal carcass wearing, earth beating, Trump voting Arkansas vampire. But the blindfold Jeremy forces her to wear on the "date" makes them seem more kinky than conservative.  They arrive at the house, everyone yells surprise and they drink something suspicious. See photo. Jim Bob was drinking it too so don't get your hopes up that it was beer or champagne. Then they reveal that god-awful painting which I've mentioned in a previous post. Actually, I can't blame the artist. After seeing the photo that she painted it from, it was actually a good likeness. It was the photo was horrible.  It was such a fancy birthday party for a 26 year old. When I was her age, I would have been happy with casual restaurant dinner and a concert or Broadway show. No way would I have been happy all dressed up in a room with stuffy church people. Even my aunt, the nun, would have been bopping it with me at some concert. Jinger, 26 going on 66. 

5. TLC arranges for Jinger, Jana, Laura and Michelle to go out for coffee together so they could dwell on Jinger's miscarriage. Jinger daintily dabs at her eyes the whole scene because no one will drop the topic and shut the F up. Oh, now she's wearing what looks like a real leather jacket. A very expensive one at that. Maybe they need to start thinking about themselves so much and think about those animal mamas whose babies were killed so pompous people can wear them as nonessential clothing.  Geez, I need a freaking drink after watching this crap and I don't even drink!!! How can Jesus people piss me off so badly? That's not how it's supposed to work.

[talesofafangirlwithadvr]

MARCH PICKS!!!

Life has gotten VERY crazy over the past couple of weeks (it feels more like months-time is irrelevant now). To escape watching the news again and again I have turned to TV and movies now more than ever. While some of these I watched at the start of the month, when life felt more normal, more have been added since “social distancing” and quarantine. But these are my top choices for the month overall. Some will seem familiar from my top Quarantine picks (check out that article if you’d like here) and that’s because many have been my recent watches. 

Spoilers ahead!

LOCKE AND KEY

I cannot stop talking about this show. It is no way similar to this, but I feel like I have not loved a Netflix show like this since Derry Girls last year. This is the show I keep asking people if they have watched it and telling them to if they haven’t. So you should watch this show :)

Locke and Key follows the Locke family as they travel to their father’s ancestral estate after his tragic death. It is their mother’s idea and the three Locke siblings don’t want to leave their home in Seattle and find it tough accumulating to their new home and school. The youngest son, Body, is the first to hear these magical keys that lead to the larger mystery of this story. When I finished watching I had to quickly jot down my notes on the show. I am so happy that I looked at Netflix’s Top 10 list to decide what to watch next. I got hooked easily and while certain characters had annoying moments, in the end I really liked them and cannot wait to see how the story progresses in season 2. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS...... I knew Ellie was going to be “Dodge” in the last episode when she got thrown through the door. It was just too easy. There was still like 20 minutes of the show left and then when she yelled out Tyler. It just felt right, but I was not expecting Gabe to be the 3rd personality! This echo really knows how to manipulate people. And now Eden too! 

The idea of having magical keys and the different powers for each was really creative and something I would have never thought about. Lots of people have compared it to Stranger Things, Narnia and Stephen King novels, and while those are somewhat accurate there is so much more to it. Must check it out for yourself!  

ONWARD

Before movie theaters closed (here in New York) I was lucky to see Onward in theaters. Even though I’ve already seen it, I am still very excited that it will be released to Disney Plus in a couple of weeks (days?) and is already available to buy digitally. 

Disney/Pixar had me guessing what this would be about for a while (like they usually do with their teaser trailers). But the more this was advertised, the more I got intrigued. It was a very cute film about the importance of family. Not just father and son, but also the bond of brothers. It took a slight turn I didn’t think we’d be taking, but am happy to see represented on the screen. I love all the moments the Dad did walking around (only a bottom half). It was pretty funny, especially when he had his top half on. I liked how they used a leash to keep track of him and how they communicated with him by tapping his feet. I think my favorite was the dancing though.  Super realistic with the whole driving thing and getting on the freeway. (When Barley says something about never being ready it felt very accurate.) I wish their dad could hear them though. I understand why he couldn’t, but still it would have been nice considering the ending. Loved the MOM POWER! She was fantastic. I loved her duo with the Manticore. I also liked how realistic it felt, well despite not having mystical creatures in our world. I liked how they focused on beings taking the easy way out and losing a piece of yourself and your history. I wish I could experience a quest like that.  

THE LODGE SEASON 2

The Lodge is a Disney Channel UK show that I was lucky to watch the first season of back in 2016 or 2017 (it’s so long ago I can’t remember). I kept trying to find the second season after it didn’t air on our Disney Channel, but had no luck. That is until Disney Plus. It wasn’t one of the first shows to air on the streaming service, but since coming out in November, the 2 season Coming of Age Musical Tween show is FINALLY available. I was thrilled! (If you can’t already tell.)

Naturally I started by re-watching the 10 episode first season. Each episode is about 25 minutes long, so it was a fast watch. I forgot how well I knew the story-lines and overall plot. For those unfamiliar with the show, the first season follows Skye Hart who is traveling back to the countryside with her dad, Ed to work (and own) the family’s hotel called the Lodge. Her grandad has been managing it for years and needs some help. Also after the recent passing of Skye’s mum it is nice for them to head back to somewhere that was so special to her. (This seems to be a common thread this month. Compared to Locke and Key this is a lot brighter.) Of course, the Lodge is experiencing some money problems so they have to solve that issue and fast because one guy in particular wants to buy it and create a luxurious spa resort (classic bad guy stuff). Skye winds up being the star of a reality TV show called My Amazing Life, which brings the publicity, but more drama than she intended. The show is filled with the classic teen drama: from love triangles to secrets and there’s also a mystery plot involving her mom and a mysterious man with the initials SJ. A bonus is the musical component. In true musical form the songs are often performed in the moment when a character is feeling sad or happy, but there are also concert performances on the show as well. Some of the songs are quite good and ones that I can’t get out of my head. 

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2

So, I definitely enjoyed the first season more than the second. Part of that was due to the plot. Obviously the Lodge was still not 100% solid, but I wanted to move past the money problems of the first season and explore some other stuff. (I don’t know what, but something else.) I also felt it was slower moving. While the episodes are about 25 minutes there isn’t much time to work with, but it often felt like we were still looking on a clue or hurtle for longer amounts of time then needed. I didn’t love the songs as much. Now as I am listening to some of them back I am liking more, but overall I thought season 1′s soundtrack was better. A lot of these songs sounded a like. I liked whenever Kaylee sang, but honestly thought she was singing the same song in a different version (now I know there’s about 3 different songs). Too much techno was used and lots of choreographed dancing that was at times strange. My biggest complaint was that Skye chose Sean over Ben, which was her biggest mistake. Throughout the season you could still see their chemistry in the looks they gave or moments that were said. (Her dad was the BIGGEST Team Ben fan.) But she only discovered it at the end when he was already with Danielle (wasn’t a fan of that ship either because of the way they rushed it). Even though there’s no season 3 (and it’s been years so it’s not coming) I will believe Skye and Ben are endgame. Because just look at them... 

Adorable. 

EMMA

Another one that the more I saw it advertised and read reviews, the more I wanted to watch it. I saw this in theaters after Onward, but just before major social distancing started. There were 5 of us total in the theater, which made it feel like out own personal home theater. Loved this movie a lot more than I thought I would. It paid homage to the novel really well as well as previous adaptations that came before it, yet still was recognizable as its own re-telling. For a full review check out my article: REVIEW EMMA (2020).

NANCY DREW

In the past few weeks (few episodes, actually) I have done a complete 360 with my opinion on the CW’s Nancy Drew. In this first season I was immediately intrigued to enter the mystery and explore a CW show without superheroes (which I honestly do love, but I like how the CW is expanding their shows again). In the fall I kept tuning in for new episodes, but as the season went on they would pile up on the DVR more. My main problem was the supernatural element. I didn’t understand why they had to have ghosts be real in this world. I wanted a classic mystery (I guess in the same vein as Scooby Doo, where the murderers were real people rather than a mystical entity). I started to get used to this element, but I didn’t love it. (This was the time when we had a lot of heavy supernatural material and possessions, etc.) My DVR didn’t tape episode 12, so I watched it through a YouTube review before watching the next one (you can see how much I cared then--now I would have opened the app and watched the episode for sure). The next episode was the Whisper Box, which was great, but it wasn’t until episode 14 that I truly fell in love with this show (and started to watch the episodes the day of). Part of it is definitely that I got used to the style of the show and also that parts of the mystery are starting to wrap up, but what I’m noticing is my main reason is Ace. His character continues to get more screen time and we continue to learn more about his life with every episode. I loved meeting his dad and seeing their relationship. His detective skills combined with Nancy are my favorite part about this show and I ship them so much now. He brings a humor to this show like saying he has enemies at the library. Nancy and Ace’s looks to each other as they read Lucy and Ryan’s emails while at the library. OMG the chemistry! If the writers don’t act on this relationship in later seasons, I don’t know what they are doing with themselves. It’s right there and yet Nancy has two other love interests right now. There’s been so many other things in the last few episodes and I am dying for this show to come back this upcoming week.  

I need more of these moments!!

PARTY OF FIVE

At the start of this month I had done a much better job watching this show and since then I haven’t been as good. I think I still have 5 or 6 episodes left, but I know it ended almost a month ago by now, so I will be able to catch up! I was familiar with the original Party of Five from the 90s and had wanted to watch that show for a while now, but due to the amount of seasons I hadn’t gotten around to it. So, once I heard this one was airing I was really excited to give it a chance. I like that it’s by the same creators as the first season and I can’t explain it, but I was really happy to see the iconic font with the title card. This show is so relevant for our current society. It addresses so many of the issues we face with the government today. Instead of having their parents die in a car crash like the original series, here they are deported which brings a whole other side to the story line. I like how we get to see the kids deal with them being away and the hope to live with them again while also seeing their current conversations. There’s so much drama and I am just hoping for some lightness at the end of this season because these characters deserve it! 

[alwaysgcld]

Ben staying at the hospital was not unusual, though it was a rare occurrence for a weekday. With his new house guest, however, he found it to be a bit more favorable for them both. Letting Thomas stay at the clinic seemed to help ease the older man, maybe even feel a bit closer to his late wife. Even if Ben had made so many changes to it. That was why he had changed into his jogging clothes before driving back to the valley, that way he could just take off for his morning jog instead of disrupting Dr. Hayes morning to do so. It was on the run that he had came across Ismail. A cold chill had went through his body once he realized that he wasn’t just passed out. The journey to the mayor’s house to inform of him of what he had discovered was a blur. Actually, the time from discovering the body to now being seated across from the mayor was a blur for Ben. Was this really happening?

1. where were you on the night of tuesday, october 6?

“I was in Zuzu City, at the hospital. Even though I finished my residency there a few years back, I still pick up a shift there every so often.”

2. can anyone confirm your whereabouts?

“Yes,” Ben pulled out his phone, pulling up his email to show the mayor a confirmation email between him and another doctor for the night in question. “I can give you the contact information for the doctor I coordinated with to work there that night, plus a few other doctors and nurses I worked with.”

3. what was the nature of your relationship with mr. haq?

“There is no relationship, actually.” Ben was well known for his friendly personality and his eagerness of welcoming people, so he knew right away that saying that might spike the mayor’s curiosity so he was quick to clarify why. “Mr. Haq, Ismail, made it very clear he wasn't looking to make friends here with how he interacted with people. So I kept my distance.”

4. how often did you interact with him?

“The last time I actually spoke to him was back during the last summer concert. Well, actually before that, at the team meeting for the group acts. I’ve seen him around town since then, of course. But like I said, I kept my distance from him.” Even when he stopped in at Joja Mart to say hi to Alex when he had been working there, he had avoided speaking to the other man.

5. when did you last see him?

“He made quite a scene in the town square after Joja was closed. That was the last time I saw him.” He remembered being concerned that the other man was going to break his foot if he kept up kicking the lampposts. “I thought about trying to talk to him again then but...” he paused for a moment, a frown on face as he thought about that moment. Maybe if he had the effort then to extend an olive branch, they wouldn’t be in this situation right now. “I didn’t want to risk upsetting him even more.”

6. did anything seem out of the ordinary either in town or in your interactions with mr. haq prior to tuesday, october 6?

“Ismail was the only thing out of the ordinary in town, really. He wasn’t calm and collected like he typically came off as. He seemed to be stressing out over all that had happened, with Joja closing and all.” While Ben was thankful for Joja closing and the general store being reopen, he was sorry for pain it may have caused Ismail. Especially now.

7. do you know anyone else who might have information pertaining to mr. haq’s death?

”Maybe someone who had seen him that night. It’s possible they could have noticed if he was experiencing any concerning problems. Dr. Hayes said that he had seen him at the saloon last night if that’s any help with narrowing that down.”

8. do you have any other insights or information about the case that you wish to share?

He was silent for a moment, a thoughtful look on his face as he tried to come up with something else to help out the mayor. Anything at all. “He seemed like he was in excellent health, so I don’t think it was a natural death. Maybe he drank too much or,” Ben heaved a sigh as he squeezed his eyes shut for just the briefest of seconds since the moment he did he just saw Ismail’s lifeless body. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m wrong and he did have a health condition.” God, he hoped he was wrong. Or that it was accidental. He didn’t want to consider the alternative here. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be anymore help, mayor Lewis. If there’s anything I can do to help you out with all of this, don’t hesitate to call.” With a small smile that didn’t quite match his eyes, he excused himself.

[japanessie]

MY FIRST STORY on Hey! Hey! NEO! with Downtown 30 Sept 2019

MFS was so excited over this one. Must be an honour to be invited to be a guest for these famous comedians, eh?

Disclaimer: I did this with a lot of help from FujiTV onscreen captions and Google speech capture technology wherever possible. My ears can’t do this 100% on their own LOL. Not to mention listening to this a countless number of times! Hundreds! I also rephrased things liberally here and there. The photo collages only serve as a summary. Surely a lot of things were misheard too. Sorry for all the mistakes and fails 🙈 . Here, I picked some parts of the lively conversation and left out the rest that I’m so hopeless at. Words in italic or bracket are my own addition. I also selected some Japanese words to remember and left out the ones I’m not ready for. Sorry it makes things look messy.

A bit of background…..

DOWNTOWN is a popular Japanese comedy duo from Hyogo consisting of members Hitoshi Matsumoto and Masatoshi Hamada. So, this means, they use a lot of Kansai-ben. I can’t even pass standard Japanese, let alone Kansai dialect LOL.

MY FIRST STORY held a lottery for Fan Club members to attend the recording at FUJI TV, Odaiba City on 23 Sept 2019. I didn’t apply because I knew I would not be able to understand things on the spot. Not to mention I had no money to go anyway 😂. Congrats to those who got picked to go!

——————————————

MFS the “handsome"band?

Hitoshi Matsumoto: You guys are kinda like "Visual Kei”.

Hiro: (surprised) Really??

Hitoshi Matsumoto: Very handsome*.

* Not sure if he mentioned someone’s name or what with it.

Masatoshi Hamada: EH? (…looking at Hiro’s face…)

Everyone: (laughs)

Hitoshi Matsumoto: But I’m sorry ok (…putting his hand on Nob…), you are the least popular, I understand that*.

* Oh my God, that’s brutal (but I’m still laughing). Sorry Nob.

Everyone: (laughs hysterically)   Nob: (smiles and nods*)

* Aww…. Nob is so gentle & accepting. It’s not like he’s ugly though. Far from it. Especially if you’ve seen him in person. But it’s hard not to look super “unpretty” when sitting next to pretty boys like Hiro, Teru and Kid'z.

Masatoshi Hamada:   But first, they debuted seven years ago.

Hitoshi Matsumoto:  Since we know nothing about it, were you guys already this good-looking from the band’s formation time?

MFS members: (… err… how to answer this one?…)

Hiro: (…awkwardly..) I guess so. Maybe.

Masatoshi Hamada: Any huge place you guys want to perform in*?

* Actually I’m not really sure what he said. Just guessing ….haha.

Hitoshi Matsumoto: (putting his hand on Nob again) Any problem with him*?

* Kinda like any problem with having a not-so-handsome guy in a band of handsome guys? OMG, brutal LOL

Everyone: (laughs)

Nob: (..somewhat startled…. what, me?)

Hiro: (raises his hand and laughs) No, no. We’re not that kind of band. He’s fine.

Hitoshi Matsumoto: (nudging Nob) Don’t take it to heart, eh? Don’t take it to heart *.

* Not sure if that’s what he meant. Just guessing … huhu.

Everyone: (laughs)

——————————————

Hiro is such a chatterbox, they think he should just enter a grand competition

Hitoshi Matsumoto: (to Hiro) You’re such a talker*! (pretending to look annoyed) Are you going on R-1 Grand Prix or what!

* 喋り達者 / shaberitachisha (?) / master talker, chatterbox

Everybody: (laughs)

Hitoshi Matsumoto: I can’t even talk at all (when Hiro talks)!

Hiro: (laughs) No, no! I’m not going on R-1!

*R-1 Grand Prix is a popular competition where entertainers compete with each other making jokes or whatever funny things to win the title of champion.

* LOL Do you think Hiro talks too much?

——————————————

The Downtown guys know Hiro’s parents very well and are particularly good friends with Mama Mori

Masatoshi Hamada & Hitoshi Matsumoto: (bowing to Hiro in respect to Mama Mori) Send our regards to your mother.

Hiro: (bowing back) Thank you.

* Mama Mori did background narration for the comedy duo for many many years.

Hitoshi Matsumoto: I’ve been to your father’s concerts too.

Hiro: Ah, thank you so much (bowing to Matsumoto-san)

* Sorry, I don’t really understand everything else 😕. Matsumoto-san also mimicked Papa Mori’s onstage self-introduction but I couldn’t capture what was the joke… huhu 🙈.

——————————————

MFS team’s penchant for pranks & Nob’s heart of gold

Masatoshi Hamada: You guys like pranks very much, don’t you?

Hiro: We are mischievous with each other, either with the members or the staff. We do some light-hearted* “hidden camera” thingy. Playful**. Playing stuff on each other (laughs)

* 軽い / かるい / karui / light

* *遊び心 / あそびごころ / asobigokoro / playful

Masatoshi Hamada: (pointing at Kid'z and Nob) It was labour intensive* on you two.

* 骨 / ほね / hone / labourous

* 粗大な / そだいな / sodaina / grand

Kid'z & Nob: (smiling & nodding together)

Hitoshi Matsumoto: Well, keep telling. About the after party and all.

Masatoshi Hamada: You did that in Taiwan!

Everyone: (watching clips of Kid'z and Nob being pranked)

* ネタバラシ / netabarashi / spoiler

Masatoshi Hamada: (patting Nob) That’s horrible, ne~? Did you feel it was really serious, that being overseas?

Nob: Well, I didn’t know a word (of Chinese). So, I was like, “Could I have brought this powder with me or what?” (gesturing being shown a packet of powder with his hands).

* 粉 / kona / powder

Everyone: (laughs) 

* Both Matsumoto-san and Hamada-san couldn’t believe what they heard.

Masatoshi Hamada: (walking up to Nob and tapping his body)

Hitoshi Matsumoto: (reaching for Nob too & repeatedly slamming his hand up & down) Then you (should) just clearly* DENY** it!

* 明確 / めいかく / meikaku / clear, firm, solid, assure, precise

**  否定する / hitei suru / deny

Nob: (looking blurred & clueless)

Everyone: (laughs)

Hiro: (astonished at how goody-two-shoes Nob can be) You don’t say, “Could this be my powder?” in that situation!! You didn’t bring that, right?! 

Everyone: (laughs)

Hiro: In order to do that hidden camera prank, we firstly had to go on a special* trip to Taiwan. Then we had to add one Live performance to it too.

＊わざわざ / waza waza / specially, doing something specially rather than incidentally

Hitoshi Matsumoto: So, you did not do that onwards from that Taiwan live show?

Hiro: Yup, it was the other way round.

Audience: Eh??!!

Masatoshi Hamada:  (referring to the clip) That (felt like) half a year…

Hitoshi Matsumoto:  (…looking at Nob…) Dang! THAT entire time you were getting nothing BUT scolded* (by those actors?)?

* 恨まれる / uramareru / get scolded, get cursed ~ from the word 恨む / uramu

Everyone: (laughs)

Nob: (smiling and shaking his head)

* OMG, Nob is unbelievably nice! He’s not bitter at all.

Hitoshi Matsumoto: You’re the stuff for Wednesday’s Downtown*! (laughs)

* Wednesday’s Downtown is their famous comedy show.

——————————————

Why Teru was never picked for pranks?

Masatoshi Hamada: (puts hand on Teru) You are the only one who has never been pranked?

Teru: Yes, that’s right. I don’t know, (…looking at Hiro….) do you hate* me or something?

* Aww 😍…. so all this time, Teru actually feels being left out by Hiro 😮? He was like, Hiro, why you never want to pick me 😕? 

嫌わる / kirawareru / be hated ~ from the word  嫌う / kirau / hate, dislike

Hiro: No, no! The thing is, if it’s him (….pointing at Teru…), it wouldn’t be as funny.

Everyone: (laughs)

Masatoshi Hamada: How is that?

Hiro: He’s like (…still pointing at Teru …), whatever that’s happening*, he is unperturbed most of the time **.

* 起きる / おきる / okiru / get up, rise, occur, takes place

** 動じる / どうじる / doujiru / move, shift, motion

Teru: (laughs)

Hitoshi Matsumoto: Aah you know, my eyes can see around and filter out for certain* who’s funny and who’s not.

* 確かに / tashikani / certainly, surely

Note: I only guessed the rest of his sentence LOL

Everyone: Ok (…. anticipating Matsumoto-san’s verdict….)

Hitoshi Matsumoto: (…looking at Teru “scanning” him with a very serious face…) This one so totally NOT funny.

Teru: (…covers his face in embarrassment…)

* Spot on 😄! Teru oh Teru. When he tries to be funny, he just becomes corny & awkward instead. Strangely, when he’s not trying to be, that’s when he’s accidentally downright hilarious 😂

Everyone: (laughs)

Hiro: You may stop it right there * (laughs).

* Haha, so, it basically just stops there with Teru. Pranks may not work well on him because of his non-reaction to abnormal situations 😄.  But a true bromance story 😍. Hiro spared you all these times because he knew your character so well, Teru 🤗❤️💕.

* Aww... Teru was so embarrassed to be branded unfunny 😄.

——————————————

I don’t fully understand the joke where they asked Teru if he had some prank ideas on Hiro 🙈😭

*Disclaimer: Below is my best guess.

Masatoshi Hamada: (putting hand on Teru) How about your own?

Hiro: (realizing Hamada-san’s intention) For me?

Teru: (scratching his head) Hmm

Audience: Aaahhh!!

Hitoshi Matsumoto: (to Kid’z & Nob) Do you have something good for (prank) ideas?

Teru: (pointing to Kid’z, Nob & himself) The three of us are setting it up*. (nodding)**

* 仕掛ける / shikakeru / set up

** Does that mean “Yes, we’re thinking of pranking Hiro” 😍 ?

Hiro: (wide-eyed & taken aback by Teru’s answer) Holy cow! !

Masatoshi Hamada: Ah, good (….making a hand gesture as if putting something into something else….)*

* Don’t know the words he said here. Sorry 🙈.

Hiro: That’s not even a hidden camera thing!

Everyone: (laughs)

Masatoshi Hamada: You 3 guys can (shackle) him down and ….

Hiro: (looking at Hamada-san) That’s not even…!

Nob: (pretending to …hmm…. pour water onto something?)

Hiro: Normally I would already be complaining*!

* 訴えます / uttaemasu / complain

Hitoshi Matsumoto: Maybe make it like Masako-chan’s* hair or something (gesturing 2 pointy things on his head).

* If Matsumoto-san meant Masako-chan as Mama Mori, then I guess he was saying to tie Hiro’s hair into two girly piggy tails like his mother likes to do during her comedy skits as まーちゃん (Maa-chan).

Everyone: (hysterically laughs)

Hiro: (waving his hand & shaking his head) Ehh! How are you even going to get close to doing that?!!*

* Lets’s take Matsumoto-san’s suggestion LOL 😂 😂 😂

* Hiroki, you cunning little one! You’re so NOT wiggling your way out of this LOL

——————————————

How was that, my fellow MFS fans? I hope the rough idea is there even if I couldn’t get the thing 100% right.

Help and corrections are very much welcomed. Hehe!

Would love to hear your feedback about this talk. Do you think MFS is visually pleasing to the eye? Does Hiro talk too much? Do you feel Teru has no funny bones? Do you want to see Hiro getting pranked?

Oh wow! To me, I can see why DOWNTOWN is such a popular comedy team in Japan. They truly are hilarious! Thank you Matsumoto-san & Hamada-san.

[purplesurveys]

809

1. Has a boy ever asked your parents for permission to date you? No and I don’t feel like this is necessary; it’s a tad too traditional for me. Once Gab and I became legal to her parents though I did feel the need to come to her house and shake her dad’s hand out of respect and officially acknowledge the fact that I’m seeing his daughter. Over the years I’ve also been kinda courting her parents by buying them stuff, getting them Christmas presents, going to parties they invite me to, etc. so that we can bond more and they can get the chance to know me better.

2. Do you often get stuck behind a tractor driving somewhere out where you live? No, definitely not here in the city. In the province, you’re more likely to get stuck behind either a tricycle OR an eight-wheeler or something bigger, than a tractor. Tractors would be easy to overtake - it’s the long trucks that are bitches to drive past. Dad is an absolute master at overtaking and he has never gotten us in an accident, but I always have to squeeze my eyes shut every time he overtakes in a two-lane highway. 

3. Have you ever hidden alcohol, had a parent find it, and DRINK it? No. There’s really no point in hiding anything, really, from my mom. She’s a witch and would find out anything. It’s much better to give them a heads-up that I have alcohol because they have no reason to refuse it anyway.

4. Do your parents tell you that if someone starts a fight with you, you can finish it? We don’t get to have this kind of conversation. I don’t know what they’d prefer me to do if I get into an argument.

5. Where you ever in 4H club? If so, for what? No, and I’ve never heard of that before.

6. Has your father ever belonged to a sportmans club? I don’t know what this means either. Man it really bugs me when surveys ask question only a certain audience would understand.

7. Is there a band in your state that’s really big, but not big anywhere else? Duh, I live in the Philippines. Yes, we have TONS of bands that are huge here but probably wouldn’t get a cheer anywhere else which is a big shame because we have an insanely talented pool of artists. We have Ben&Ben, IV of Spades, December Avenue, Munimuni, Silent Sanctuary, Autotelic, Orange and Lemons, Over October, She’s Only Sixteen, Lola Amour, The Ransom Collective, etc. The local music scene has always been bustling.

8. If you have siblings, was there ever a tradition your family had when you all turned a certain age? We all had grand 1st and 7th birthday parties. Other than that, not really.

9. To what extent do you think abortion should be legal? Simply put, I wish it was available as an option everywhere. It’s still mostly illegal here and it’s taboo enough of a topic for me not to know what options women here have, simply because the information isn’t available; and I wish that wasn’t the case.

10. Have you ever stood right up against the stage at a concert? No, the concerts I’ve been to have barriers everywhere since I only ever go to shows of big artists. Even Paramore had a certin distance from the audience to the stage, and I was already in front row.

11. Have you ever forgotten to put on an oven mitt before you took something extremely hot out of the oven? No. I’m incredibly scared of hot things and burning my skin so I’m always careful.

12. Do you own one of those airwick things that automatically sprays every few minutes? Nope. I don’t think I’ve encountered one, either.

13. If you are taking (or took) an elective foreign language in high school or college, what level did you make it to? No, we didn’t need to take it in my degree. I’ve always felt kinda jealous about it because it turns out other degrees in my college – broadcast communication and film – do require foreign language classes, so there’s people in my college learning Spanish or Korean or Italian or whatever, and us journ majors apparently don’t even need those skills. Sigh.

14. How many light bulbs are on in the room you are currently in? There’s one main light but it has three lightbulbs.

15. When was the last time you felt extremely out of place? Sometime in April last year when Gab’s school was holding some mini-concert event type of thing. I didn’t know she and her org were going to be doing documentation throughout the event, so we stayed in one of the classrooms which served as backstage while they were working on photos, publicity materials, etc. in real time. Everyone knew each other and everyone didn’t know me, and I got a lot of stares which made me incredibly uncomfortable. Eventually I felt super antsy and I had a silent breakdown that evening. Annoyingly it was Gabie who got mad at me and told me I was wasting her time and that I shouldn’t have come, which was just fabulous to hear when I was having a breakdown as it was.

16. On Election Day, Did you have school? Elections usually fall on Mondays and I don’t have school on that day, so I was always able to go vote with no problem.

17. Have you ever had your phone taken away at school before? Nope. I use my phone if I’m bored/have to answer an important message, but I make sure it’s under my desk so that it’s not distracting to the professor. In my old school we weren’t allowed to bring gadgets, so I never brought my phone.

18. Do you look better with or without glasses? I dunno, I honestly like how I look either way haha. You’d have to ask other people.

19. What is your favorite type of pet bird? We’ve only ever had lovebirds and they were a delight to have. I wouldn’t mind having a pair again.

20. If you dye your hair; Can people tell? If you don’t; Do people think you do? No, they have no reason to think that I do. My hair has always remained black.

21. When was the last time you had a fruit flavored snack? One of the last few days before lockdown. Andrew brought a jar of fruit-flavored gummies to Skywalk; it was a part of his payment for a recent hosting gig he did. 

22. Do you speak with a slight stutter? Nope. I usually have an idea of what to continue saying as I speak.

23. Does your school lean more towards ghettos tendencies or hic tendencies? Noooooooo idea what this means.

24. Is your state a swing, republican, or democratic state? Philippines doesn’t do any of these things. All political parties generally stand for the same things; the only thing separating them is the political color that symbolizes their party. It’s a sorry state we live in here, as if I haven’t talked about how miserable it is here enough.

25. Does your state have any good sports teams? I don’t really follow local sports. And we don’t have states.

26. Are your parents work-o-holics? I’d say my dad is, since over the years I’ve seen him rise up the ranks. I’ve never seen my mom work at home.

27. Do you find yourself wearing more bright colors or neutral colors? Throughout my college years I wore A LOT of black and white. But during my last year I realized how boring that looks like, so I’ve recently upgraded my wardrobe with a whole lotta color. Now I mix up my black and white with olive green, mustard yellow, maroon, etc.

28. Do you REALLY think Bush is the worst president we’ve ever had? I mean he was never my president per se because I am not American and I was too young during his term, so I honestly don’t have much of an opinion on him. I do know he’s not the worst though, considering the garbage bag America has as president now.

29. Did you go fishing a lot when you were younger? Do you now? I have never gone fishing.

[innerclouds]

More requests

200 things you can put in my ask

200: My crush’s name is: Beeb

199: I was born in: A hospital

198: I am really: Quiet

197: My cellphone company is: Nonexistent

196: My eye color is: Ugly

195: My shoe size is: Nine something

194: My ring size is: No idea

193: My height is: Smol

192: I am allergic to: Tangerines and mildly to watermelon

191: My 1st car was: A PoS

190: My 1st job was: Stressful

189: Last book you read: Can't recall

188: My bed is: Too small

187: My pet: Stinks

186: My best friend: The bestest

185: My favorite shampoo is: Nice smelling

184: Xbox or ps3: PC Master race

183: Piggy banks are: Cute

182: In my pockets: Lint

181: On my calendar: Nothing

180: Marriage is: Lovely

179: Spongebob can: Live in my closet

178: My mom: Is loud

177: The last three songs I bought were? Bought?

176: Last YouTube video watched: Some ASMR

175: How many cousins do you have? Lots

174: Do you have any siblings? Yes

173: Are your parents divorced? They never married

172: Are you taller than your mom? Lolno

171: Do you play an instrument? No

170: What did you do yesterday? Haphazardly made an avatar

[ I Believe In ] 169: Love at first sight: Sure

168: Luck: Kinda

167: Fate: Kinda

166: Yourself: Sure

165: Aliens: Yes

164: Heaven: No

163: Hell: No

162: God: No

161: Horoscopes: They're fun to entertain

160: Soul mates: Yes

159: Ghosts: In one form or another

158: Gay Marriage: Absolutely

157: War: I believe it's a thing but it shouldn't be

156: Orbs: Dust mote or bug

155: Magic: It's fun to entertain

[ This or That ] 154: Hugs or Kisses: Both

153: Drunk or High: Latter

152: Phone or Online: Both

151: Red heads or Black haired: Both

150: Blondes or Brunettes: Both

149: Hot or cold: Cold

148: Summer or winter: Winter

147: Autumn or Spring: Autumn

146: Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate

145: Night or Day: Night

144: Oranges or Apples: Apples

143: Curly or Straight hair: Both

142: McDonalds or Burger King: Burger King

141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: Dark chocolate

140: Mac or PC: PC master race

139: Flip flops or high heals: Thongs

138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: For what?

137: Coke or Pepsi: Bepsis

136: Hillary or Obama: Ew

135: Burried or cremated: Cremated

134: Singing or Dancing: Neither

133: Coach or Chanel: What?

132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: Who?

131: Small town or Big city: Either

130: Wal-Mart or Target: I don't have a preference

129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: Neither

128: Manicure or Pedicure: Neither

127: East Coast or West Coast: I'm quite literally in the middle

126: Your Birthday or Christmas: Christmas

125: Chocolate or Flowers: Both

124: Disney or Six Flags: Both

123: Yankees or Red Sox: Neither

[ Here’s What I Think About ] 122: War: Unfortunate but never going away

121: George Bush: Don't care

120: Gay Marriage: Yes

119: The presidential election: Never fails to be a shit show

118: Abortion: Yes

117: MySpace: That still exists?

116: Reality TV: Rarely watched

115: Parents: Love one, don’t care about the other

114: Back stabbers: Go away

113: Ebay: Rarely used

112: Facebook: Trying to get back into for group shenanigans and related fun

111: Work: Tiring

110: My Neighbors: Nice besides one

109: Gas Prices: Need to be free

108: Designer Clothes: I don't pay attention to labels

107: College: Used to be required, now a breeding ground for stupidity

106: Sports: No interest

105: My family: Eh

104: The future: Hopefully better

[ Last time I ] 103: Hugged someone: Eons ago

102: Last time you ate: Couple hours ago

101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: If I did I didn't notice them

100: Cried in front of someone: See 103

99: Went to a movie theater: I don't recall the date

98: Took a vacation: Not that long ago

97: Swam in a pool: See 103

96: Changed a diaper: See 103

95: Got my nails done: Never happened

94: Went to a wedding: See 103

93: Broke a bone: Never happened

92: Got a peircing: See 103

91: Broke the law: Good while ago

90: Texted: Like a second ago

[ MISC ] 89: Who makes you laugh the most: Bae

88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: My bed

87: The last movie I saw: I don't recall the title, I have a terrible memory

86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: Bae

85: The thing im not looking forward to: Flying

84: People call me: Weird

83: The most difficult thing to do is: Math

82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: Never

81: My zodiac sign is: Ratto

80: The first person i talked to today was: Cat

79: First time you had a crush: Some short asshole

78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: Bae

77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: See above

76: Right now I am talking to: See above

75: What are you going to do when you grow up: Go to Neptune

74: I have/will get a job: Yes

73: Tomorrow: Work

72: Today: Live stream

71: Next Summer: Work

70: Next Weekend: Work

69: I have these pets: Cat

68: The worst sound in the world: A yowling feline

67: The person that makes me cry the most is: Idk

66: People that make you happy: Bae

65: Last time I cried: I've answered this

64: My friends are: Bae

63: My computer is: Needing replacement parts soon

62: My School: Long gone

61: My Car: Junk

60: I lose all respect for people who: Pull double standards

59: The movie I cried at was: Idk

58: Your hair color is: Ugly

57: TV shows you watch: None atm

56: Favorite web site: Youtube? I dunno, they're scummy but I still watch vids on them.

55: Your dream vacation: Northern lands or land of the rising sun with bae

54: The worst pain I was ever in was: Past deep depression

53: How do you like your steak cooked: Med-rare

52: My room is: Small

51: My favorite celebrity is: Nigel John Dermot Neill

50: Where would you like to be: Somewhere north

49: Do you want children: Maybe

48: Ever been in love: Yes

47: Who’s your best friend: Bae

46: More guy friends or girl friends: Does it matter?

45: One thing that makes you feel great is: Full tum

44: One person that you wish you could see right now: Bae

43: Do you have a 5 year plan: I'd like to

42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: Not a physical one

41: Have you pre-named your children: No

40: Last person I got mad at: Some dumbarse discord drama

39: I would like to move to: See 50

38: I wish I was a professional: Skydiver

[ My Favorites ] 37: Candy: Blue raspberry/apple jolly rancher

36: Vehicle: 1970 volkswagen beetle

35: President: Theodore Roosevelt

34: State visited: None

33: Cellphone provider: Why are people shilling for cellphone providers?? Is this a new zoomer thing? wtf

32: Athlete: None

31: Actor: See 51

30: Actress: Sigourney Weaver

29: Singer: Till Lindemann

28: Band: Long ass list

27: Clothing store: Stop shilling for corps

26: Grocery store: See above

25: TV show: None atm

24: Movie: See above

23: Website: See above

22: Animal: Shark, rat, birbs

21: Theme park: Idk

20: Holiday: Halloween

19: Sport to watch: None

18: Sport to play: None

17: Magazine: None

16: Book: None atm

15: Day of the week: Thursday

14: Beach: None

13: Concert attended: Ozzfest

12: Thing to cook: Omelette, soup, noodles

11: Food: See above

10: Restaurant: Idk

9: Radio station: See above

8: Yankee candle scent: What?

7: Perfume: None

6: Flower: Rose, Iris

5: Color: Black, gray, purple, blue, white

4: Talk show host: Idk

3: Comedian: Bill Hicks

2: Dog breed: Mop dog

1: Did you answer all these truthfully? Ye

[carndriverrecords]

First Blog Post 3/20/20

Started CnD Records today. Feels Good.

Working on some diss tracks. Not sure if they see it coming - doesn’t matter either way.

Planning to release Car and Driver first real record this Friday 3/20/20. Driving Test Driver Fest 1. 

Self release first record - another 20 tracks next week. Compile top 10 - 15 for first release with other label - thinking Terrible, Kranky, blu ish label or Thrill Jockey. Citrus City a no-go for now. Maybe just keep building CnD records.

Be the middle man - take advantage of opportunities without sacrificing my bands’ (and those I represent) integrity.

Reach sleep destroyer.

Last night at Ted’s - great DJ set. Kidz bop remixes, Fancy. Crowd hated it. Ted disappointed we had to leave but it’s ok with everyone. Tall guy took aux right out of computer, have video. Started dancing - cucked everyone. Everyone thinks they’re the crazy charismatic guy. Am I actually? I think so. Syd thinks so. 

CnD Fest 2 , 3 , 4 at Purchase and beyond. Would like to play apartments, Scully’s den in BK (reach out) and Philly, DC etc.

Next voice memo album - 20 - 25 tracks right now. Better than the first. Danny said best album ever.

Working on “My oh Maia Reason Why” video - my favorite video I’ve ever seen. Getting good feedback.

Important to collab with certain SUNY people before I go:

Members of Lip Critic, Dawson, Neal, Gabe.

Send stuff back and forth with Joseph Kress. 

Need to write song about not sharing a stage w unstable Car and Driver - cost me 2 gigs. Ok because I had the police interaction that night. 

Things have been working out quite well. Syd is keeping me in check. Main priorities are keep the energy going while I can and make sure everyone around me is comfortable with me doing my thing, specifically mom, sofia.

Going to Only Angels tomorrow to collab with Alex.

Tues/Wed in RI with Zach Gorton. Need to see Nick Holcomb, Sofia, Will Orchard if he’s around. Riley in Boston? Would love to. 

Visit Dad soon on the way to Richmond, in a few weeks perhaps. Grandma Roberta etc. They have a BBQ place now - I bet it’s great. 

Follow up in the morning (3 hours from now) with wedding band, Kevin Daniels, drummer etc.

Film sunrise sessions at Purchase: My Ride’s Here, Splendid Isolation, Keep me in your heart, Studebaker, Cat’s in the Cradle, Everybody that you know. Don’t think twice, Boots of Spanish Leather, Someday my Prince, Teenage Dirtbag, Arthur (Woof Woof), Forget You, Signed Sealed Delivered, Superstition, The Promise, Hold me now (TT), Love on Top, Townes Van Zandt, 1-800 superstar, Evan Wright, Tom Petty, Blinded By the Light, Searching for a Heart, Mag Field’s, Barenaked Ladies, TMBG, Dolly Parton one sided love, Byrds, Beatles, Kinks, Stones, Parquet Courts, T Swift (Red, Way I loved you), Mitski, Sasami, Anything Could Happen, Beach House, He Needs Me, These Days, YLT, Beach Boys, Big Star Take Care, G500/Luna, Felt, Psychic TV, Shelia, BJM, Yellow Sarong, Over and Over, Hazel St, Heatherwood, Helicopter, He Would’ve Laughted, I wanna be your lover, The pump, Good enough (sleep destroyer), Them airs, BH (14, indian summer), help me scrape mucus off my brain), Beach Comber, DO YOUR THING, Icehead, Bobby, 1000 times, WIll Orchard, Bon Iver, MGMT, Tame impala, Instant Crush, etc. Art Vandelay, Quick Canal, Stereolab, Grouper, Broadcast, Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Bachelor Kisses, Cranberries, Cure, Pastels, MBV, I found a reason, pale blue eyes, Deerhoof, Gretel Alex G, Dancing w tears in my eyes, Elvis Costello, No age(things i did), Are ya ok, Maus, Ariel, R Stevie, Aphex Twin, Zomes, Vampire Weekend etc.

Bring Laptop for Beats on some and lyrics for all. 

Love life more than ever before. Music feels so good. Want to help, make amends, everything that moondog did. Don’t be homeless much longer.

Not sure if I like throbbing gristle - definitely like Psychic TV.

How savage should diss tracks be? Very? Match the severity of the person’s treatment of me/others. Aka - pretty bad for all except for Auto.

Listened to new Kanye today - 10x better and more influential than death grips. 

Realized today that i’ve spent my whole life wishing I was Kanye and now I am Kanye. Feels very good.

Everyone is gifted but internet makes us angst. 

I am mostly Camus right now - maybe more Kierkegaard soon. Religion and Terrence Malik. Still need to read books.

Order of Books: The graduate Portrait of the artist Consider Lobster Infinite Jest Pynchon Ulysses (At recommendation of American gamer association)

Syd is incredibly gifted. Want to help her feel comfortable doing art/work here in the chaos but also sort out the chaos for both of ours’ sake. I thrive in it, she tolerates well. Want to move to Riverdale still, maybe East Williamsburg with Backpack Chris. We’ll see about money. Philly perhaps, little too far. Jersey is good location but bad commute. Bad to RI. 

Visit RI and Boston Tues - Thurs. Sell Cigarettes at Concerts. Feels right.

Keep smoking for now - quit end of summer perhaps. 

Don’t have Corona Virus - glad we are not quarantined. Still be smart. Don’t expose mom regardless. Protect at ALL costs. 

Really though, why does Journee hate me? Write new track (Journee into forever nevermore not now not ever (Lou)) or Journee into SJW self righteous moral posturing (way too savage - maybe voice memo outro)

AR Kane album is incredible. Syd loves too. Sample everything.

Crazy - sound better at jazz than ever in my life. Exploring harmony - never practice. Teach free lessons all the time. Love the diminished scale. Might be best jazz guitarist to ever live. Time will tell. Would be cool long term. Prefer singing. 

Getting good at piano too.

I’m my favorite lyricist/comedian/actor.

Is maia right, acting isn’t hard? Weird they can’t act.

^Remember to delete^

Don’t share this on Facebook yet.

Why does Journee hate me so much? Just the Louis CK joke?

People who stay home and do nothing hate to see irreverent people doing things.

People like when you’re losing - don’t like to see you win.

^That makes me sound crazy.

F00D outsider might make me famous first.

Need to keep up with legal situation.

Hope mom and dad both live long. Call Syd, get something nice for everyone in family. Get weird jewel cases. Order jewelry from etsy. Post merch on bandcamp.

Finish album art soon. Music videos. Get better at animation etc. Pay Ben for his poster. Actually really good. Maybe album art? Duo album! Record in Wisconsin, release under his name. WIll success be good for Ben? I think so. Still can’t believe Liv told him I wasn’t ok. Wow - good content for lyrics. You truly cannot write this.

How will people react to diss tracks? Extremely negatively. Or no reaction. We shall see. Maybe no real names in the titles...... only on Oh my. 4 names in titles is too many. Don’t release Auto track. Maybe on Voice Memos. 

Track List: Good God Bed Head Rosa Reprise Oh My House Pop 1 skydive Pop 2 APhex GVO Pay 4 Take some Cherish Stars in F Are ya ok too bright Honeys Get to work Everybody That You Know Frost Bit BPC NYC New Age Heimet Helmet Deadbeat dads watermill for slitting bars romantic song david byrne Cinema study in cinema Brain ego Cherry doc marten Can’t liv w/o Venmo groceries Oh you like? Dancin DJ blues We are the State Farm robots Danny dorito is a dirty devito My funny valentine Zoomer blues The thing abt genres Blss Like minds ft dawson Lil toucha jazz Introducing car and driver The holy moment empire Ethics 101 - gma in the street Otto is sad I don’t know what it means! Operatic mellismatic Car and driver fest will be a success! Car and driver fest was a bust again! Cipha’s comedy corner Ryder Be gone evil atonal spirits!

Unreleased mental breakdown compilation ep:

I like all music! I’m a stupid pos Electric micro bike Get off your phone! John frusc Nice song Lap steel for 2 My masseuse advice Bed head wash sq Punchie John Maus yoyo interview Diminished  kinda thing

Build the NYC scene, w Blu ish, Evan, 1 800, sweet joseph, Comics Club, Dawson, Sloppy Jane, Wheatus,

See Jack Fortin in NYC soon. Either my event or his. 

Things are still good. Syd will be a great filmmaker. WIll maybe will end up with a dancer or a filmmaker - Probably not a musician. WIll have many loves. 

Things are good right now - hope they stay that way. 

Feel like Ezra Keonig - hopefully someone reads this one day and agrees. Different time in history and the internet - hope this is less cringe than Ezra’s blog , probably not. Ezra, if you’re reading this, sorry. See ya at Bernie’s rally. 

[magenpeters]

I’m bent but not broken.

A little throwback ✌️Still applies.

I’ve often been referred to as a musical snob or musical elitist by people. Which is fine.. I’d rather be referred to as a musical snob than just a snob by people. I know I can be picky… but I can’t help it. I like what I like. So I started contemplating what I actually like about the music I like. Here’s the list so far that I’ve come up with. Keep in mind, this isn’t complete.

1.) Intensity and Energy – I like music that pushes the listener. It doesn’t necessarily have to be fast or heavy. An example would be “I’ve Seen It All” by Bjork. The song is neither fast nor heavy. But the lyrical content and emotive vocals really crank the intensity up.

2.) Polyphony- I like it when a band with multiple guitarists actually utilize both and don’t just have them “double up.” At The Drive-In was incredible at doing this. They actually ventured away from the concept of lead and rhythm and even delved into the realm of counterpoint melody. Well not in the strictest sense. But they were on the right track. I also love when the bass is utilized not only as a harmonic device but as a melodic vehicle in conjunction with guitar, keyboard, etc.

3.) Polyrhythms – I love 3 over 2 polyrhythms. I mean tastefully used. Not like all the time. I can’t get enough of it. This tends to happen a lot with metal music, which I’m not always crazy about, but theres no better therapy than moshing at a concert with complete strangers to music you can scream your head off at

4.) 6/8 Time – I love 6/8 time. Not sure why. But it may relate a bit to 3. Again, very common with metal music.

5.) Multiple Vocalists – I like music that incorporates multiple vocalists, preferably with different ranges, styles, lyrics, etc. Screamo does this a lot. But sometimes it seems like its done by convention and nothing more. But I still tend to gravitate towards it. To a lesser extent and a slightly different category, I like when vocalists incorporate a style that is counter to the music being played (i.e. Rage Against The Machine)

6.) Key of D – Again, I’m not sure why. But I gravitate towards songs in this key. A lot of times if I hear a song I like, I’ll mutter to myself, “I bet its in D.” Weird, I know.

7.) Style Changes mid-song – I love it when musicians can incorporate a radical style change in the middle of a song. Not everyone is good at this and it blows when it isn’t done correctly. The prime example I can think of is Mr. Bungle’s self-titled album. Few can match its ability to seamlessly switch styles.

8.) Songs which are led by the bass – I know your initial thinking is Primus. But that’s more a novelty to me at this point. I was thinking more along the lines of the song “In The Meantime” by Spacehog. The bassline drives the song yet is surprisingly simple.

9.) Great Drumming – I secretly think I should have been a drummer, instead of a photographer in life. I mean, I play drums, I’ve owned a drum set, I know how to play…but I don’t play. Its who I always tend to watch. Elvin Jones, you are the man (RIP). And drummers are pretty cute, to boot.

10.) Non-conventional Voices – Just to name a few, Les Claypool, Cedric Bixlar, Ben Gibbard, Mike Patton, etc.

11.) Incredible Musicianship – This is a double-edged sword for me. I am instantly drawn to phenomenal players. But my interest usually wanes if there isn’t more depth to the music.

12.) Unusually cadenced lyrics. Enough said.