#Singer Songwriter Country London Best Singer Songwriter Country London

[allwaswell16]

A fic rec of One Direction fics that take place in a small town, rural area as requested in this ask. If you enjoy the fics, please leave kudos and comments for the writers! You can find my other recs here. Happy reading!

- Louis / Harry -

🏡 I'll Fly Away by @juliusschmidt

(E, 122k, childhood friends) Harry and Louis grew up together in Lake County, Harry with his mom and stepdad in a tiny cottage on Edward’s Lake and Louis in his family’s farmhouse a few minutes down the road. But after high school, Louis stuck around and Harry did not

🏡 Tired Tired Sea by MediaWhore / @mediawhorefics

(M, 113k, lighthouse) As a B&B owner on the most remote of all the British Isles, Louis Tomlinson is used to spending the coldest half of the year in complete isolation, with his dog and the sea as sole companions. Until, one day, a mysterious stranger on a quest to rebuild himself rents a room for the winter.

🏡 Black with Autumn Rain by whimsicule / @baroness-elsa

(T, 93k, magical realism) Harry is a journalist, Louis has lots of secrets and the moors aren't exactly the ideal place to rekindle a lost romance.

🏡 Here In The Afterglow by fondleeds

(NR, 88k, historical) 1970’s AU. In a tiny town in Idaho, Louis’ life is changed forever by the arrival of a curious stranger.

🏡 ocean tides you home (series) by @justanothershadeofblue

(M, 88k, Eroda) Harry is a lonely and depressed popstar who sailed out of his hometown on Eroda years ago to chase his dreams. He comes back to the island only to find his shining childhood best friend Louis just as cold and dreary as the island they grew up on.

🏡 Into the Weeds by kair0sclerosis

(M, 87k, secrets) Following the whispered words of a stranger, Harry Styles finds himself in the small town of Peri Ridge. It’s a town nestled within overgrown forests, raging rivers, and ominous mountains- full of unkept secrets, the aura of freedom, and lost people seeking to be found.

🏡 (Take Me Home) Country Roads by Awriterwrites / @a-writerwrites

(E, 86k, Northern Exposure au) Louis as the big city doctor, Harry as a natural healer, Niall as a secretive barkeep, Liam and Zayn head over heels for each other but they don't know it and a lot of hurt, comfort and moonshine in between.

🏡 Full Moon Dreaming by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom

(E, 43k, soulmates) Louis has given up hope of dreaming of a person, resigned to living a life devoid of that kind of all-consuming love for another and receiving the same in return. But when a new neighbour descends on Louis’ beloved Hanson Bay and moves into the other beach house, could all that be about to change?

🏡 The Things We Know To Be Wild by harryanthus_annuus / @harryanthus-annuus

(M, 39k, HTTYD au) Louis is a London zoologist sent by the University of Highlands and Islands to assess the safety of the island of Eroda as part of the Wonder Seekers Project for sustainable tourism.

🏡 Something About Liminal Spaces by @kingsofeverything

(E, 34k, age difference) Searching for inspiration for his latest book, and hoping distance will help heal his broken heart, Louis Tomlinson heads to the village of Piha on the west coast of New Zealand’s north island.

🏡 It's the Climb by @lululawrence

(NR, 25k, Hannah Montana au) Louis is a world famous punk rock singer with a stage name of William and Jay drags him back to Tennessee for the summer.

🏡 It's Coming on Christmas by QuickedWeen / @becomeawendybird

(G, 23k, girl direction) When Harry Styles gets a call from the caretaker of a bakery in a small town in Vermont, she jumps at the chance to get out of Boston and run her own shop.

🏡 Naked & Proud by kiwikero / @icanhazzalou

(E, 18k, songwriter Louis) In which Harry runs an organic store, not a nudist colony, and Louis doesn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed.

🏡 Between the forest and the field by bluegreenish / @greenblueish

(E, 16k, meet cute) the one where Harry recently moved to a village and his shy dog picks Louis' dogs to play with at the dog park. A fluffy cottage core AU.

🏡 Won’t Let You Down by noellehenry / @noellehenry-original

(M, 15k, inheritance) In a matter of weeks, Harry’s world turns upside down. Suddenly he’s the owner of a farm and B&B, gets involved in illegal trading of unlabeled bottles and has to deal with his everlasting crush on his sister Gemma’s best friend, who has returned to Woodville…

🏡 You Tilted My Hand by @taggiecb

(G, 12k, photographer Harry) Harry Styles arrives in Avonlea, Prince Edward Island for his first day of a coveted and prestigious summer internship at the Avonlea Chronicle. He's quick to realise that he's out of place in the little band of journalists as he's an art major and they didn't choose Harry to be part of the team!

🏡 Babe, There's Something Lonesome About You by patdkitten / @babyarcanacasey

(M, 8k, witch Louis) Louis is a hedge witch, who lives a lonely, solitary life. He's quite happy with his shop in Door County, selling New Age magics to the tourists. 

🏡 Warm Chilling by Larry_you_know / @larryyouknow

(G, 7k, neighbors) Louis moves into a cosy cottage in the English countryside with his dog Clifford to look after his great-aunt's animals.

- Rare Pairs -

🏡 Grundy County Incidents (series) by @haztobegood

(T, 10k, Harry/Louis/Nick Grimshaw & Zayn/Liam & Niall/Greg James) 25 years, 7 friends, 3 relationships, 1 rural county

🏡 Something Good (And I Don't Just Mean Your Chips) by sunsetmog / @magicalrocketships

(T, 9k, Harry/Nick Grimshaw) Nick's uncle's will left his seaside cottage, his fishing boat, and all the contents of both to Nick. Coming off the back of months of very poor life choices, a brand new start in a Yorkshire seaside village seems the last remaining option for Nick

[atruththatyoudeny]

Happy 28th! Here are the amazing fics I read this month: Lost But Won | 2tiedships2 | [16k] If you start out by talking about your weekend of golfing I swear to god I will stab you with a pen,” Louis said by way of greeting. “You’ll have to give me a few minutes though so I can see if I even own a pen. But the warning stands.” “Hello to you too, dearest Louis,” Niall yelled from where he still sat on the couch next to Harry. There was a clunk on the floor and what sounded like shoes hitting the wall as Niall announced, “We have a guest. You might want to save stabbing me until you don’t have a witness.” “Well if they are obsessed with golf then…” Louis trailed off as he made his appearance in the living room. Harry’s mouth dried up. This was not the alpha that Niall had described. When Harry loses his passport after a weekend trip to see Niall, the inconvenience of being stranded in America becomes a little more bearable after meeting Louis. Or a lot more bearable.

frightened by the bite, no harsher than the bark | localopa | [21k] louis loves going to the barricade during his shows. if it’s because he’s got a bit (lot) of touch deprivation and is using it as an excuse to have his big alpha bodyguard, harry, touch him, well, that’s a secret he doesn’t need to tell.

Scarred | allwaswell16 | [23k] As a male omega, Louis has learned to live with disappointment and rejection, but he dreams of the day he finds his soulmate. When Harry inadvertently rejects him as his soulmate, Harry has no idea he's doomed Louis to a slow, painful death. Pride doesn't keep Louis from telling Harry the truth. But love does.

this brokenness inside me might start healing | LiveLaughLoveLarry (SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFic) | [29k] Louis grew up in a tiny town, where everyone knew everyone -- or at least, they think they do. Then he left, and became a successful singer-songwriter, a star that everyone in the country knows -- or at least, they think they do. But when Louis returns home for the birth of his first nibling, he meets a librarian who doesn't know him at all. And that's all Louis could ask for. ~*~ “I remember when you were a teenager," Miss Susan says, "telling me all the things you wanted to accomplish, the places you wanted to go. And I’ve seen a lot of kids, with a lot of big dreams – but you were different. You had this… quiet energy, this determined certainty. When you told me all you were going to do, I believed you.” She smiles, spreading her arms. “And now here you are.” Here he is indeed, Louis thinks bitterly. Back where he started. His dreams on pause, his future uncertain. His whole identity built out of secrets and half-truths, while everyone thinks they know exactly who he is. He left to find himself, he came home to find himself, and yet – here he is, feeling more lost than ever before.

Look To The Sky | babyhoneyhslt | [82k] “Harry, it’s been five years,” Liam says softly, heaving an exasperated sigh. “I know it’s hard, but you need to let it go.” “I can’t let it go.” Harry shakes his head. “He’s my husband, Ash’s father. I can’t give up on him.” “I’m not asking you to give up on him, but you need to stop questioning them. Or trying to get your nose in places it’s not wanted.” Liam watches him. “You know you’re one of my best workers, and I can’t lose you. I’m giving you a warning now, please stop this.” “Or what?” Harry looks at Liam. “You’ll fire me? For wanting answers to what happened to my husband?” ~.~ On the 28th January 2019, British Airways flight BA289 took off from Chile at 10:04am. The fight was due to land in London Heathrow Airport at 12:44am. The flight was flown by experienced Captain Louis Tomlinson, accompanied by the first officer Oli Wright. Around five hours into the flight, BA289 disappeared from air traffic controls radar, and did not arrive in Heathrow at the estimated time. Search crews are currently looking for any signs of wreckage, but the question stands, what happened to flight BA289?

[louisupdates]

It is confirmed that Louis Tomlinson will play at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, 7->12 Aug 2024.

LINK TO LOUIS’ PAGE

Louis Tomlinson is a singer and songwriter from Doncaster, UK. As a member of One Direction, Louis was part of one of the biggest musical groups of all time. Now solo, Louis is following his heart musically.

Following the international success of his 2020 debut album, Walls, 2022 saw Louis release his second album, Faith In The Future. The acclaimed album went to No.1 in the UK, Spain and Belgium and Top 5 in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and across Europe, with combined sales of 2million+ across both albums. Following the release of Faith In The Future, Louis embarked on a huge 100 date global tour spanning most of 2023, visiting North America, Europe, United Kingdom & Ireland with Asia, Australia and South America to come in 2024. Louis has also announced a run of festivals appearances through summer 2024.

During 2023 Louis released his critically acclaimed feature length documentary, All Of Those Voices, which hit cinemas in over 60 countries, and featured global red carpet premieres in Tokyo, London, Mexico City and a live streamed event from Los Angeles. Autumn 2023 saw the Documentary launch on streaming exclusively on Paramount+ globally.

In 2021, Louis was listed in the Guinness Book Of World Records for breaking the record for the most livestreamed concert by a solo male artist, hosting one of the biggest live stream concert events ever held, selling over 160,000 tickets to fans in over 110 countries and raising funds for several important charities and touring crew affected by the pandemic.

Following the huge success of the festival’s 2021 debut, August also saw the return of Louis’ highly successful self-curated event, The Away From Home Festival. The one-day event was staged last year at the stunning Marenostrum Fuengirola in Malaga, Spain, hosting 18,000 fans and selling out in just 24 hours with a line-up of some of the best new British bands. This year saw Louis take the festival to the coast of Italy, hosting it in Lido Di Camaiore, with Blossoms, The Cribs and HotWax headlining the bill in the lead up to his own performance to close out the festival.

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday to Scottish singer/songwriter Graham Lyle, born March 11th 1944 in Belshill.

There’s nothing I can find about Lyle’s early life, but he is best known for collaboration with fellow Scot Benny Gallagher.

Graham and Benny first teamed up in 1959 as members of a local The Bluefrets, and teamed up again in a band based in Saltcoats called the Tulsans. The Tulsans released two singles in 1965 under the name James Galt these rare tracks are now prized by Northern Soul Collectors.

So after doing their apprenticeship around Ayrshire and Glasgow Graham and Benny headed south to London in the mid 60′s, a rare one-off single, “Trees”, was issued on Polydor UK another very rare song, if you come cross it in amongst an old dusty second hand shop you might get a few quid for it.

In 1968 the pair were signed up to write songs for artists on the Apple record label, mainly for Mary Hopkins. Two years later the pair formed the band McGuinness Flint writing nine of the 11 songs on the group’s eponymous debut album, including their two top five hits, When I’m Dead and Gone and Malt and Barley Blues. A second album followed before the pair left to branch out as duo with Gallagher and Lyle in 1972.

As a duo, Gallagher and Lyle recorded a total of eight albums, while they weren’t all big hits the duo were well respected for there song writing and chemistry between them. Their biggest hits I Wanna Stay With You and Heart on My Sleeve both of which also charted in the US. Gallagher and Lyle ‘s songs both topped the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for Art Garfunkel and Don Williams respectively. As session musicians, Gallagher and Lyle also backed numerous big names on disc, including Eric Clapton, Andy Fairweather Low and Fairport Convention amongst others.

In 1981, Graham Lyle formed his own publishing company, Goodsingle Publishing (later to become goodsingle.com), chiefly to administer his own copyrights, and began writing for other artists. These artist included Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Patti Labelle, Joe Cocker, Hall & Oates, Jim Diamond, Wet,Wet,Wet, and Wyclef Jean….the list really is endless!

The song that we definitely all know best that was written by Graham Lyle is the Tina Turner smash hit What’s love got to do with it, in which he teamed up with the English-Australian songwriter Terry Britten. It won the Song of the Year Grammy. The song hit the top of the charts in many countries, and was a worldwide hit, in 2012 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. He also co-wrote one of my favourite songs from the 80′s I should have known better with Jim Diamond. A little known fact is that the song was offered to Cliff Richard, but was rejected, former Eurovison winners Bucks Fizz are said to have recorded a version that was never released. However, the gifted Largs songwriter insisted that he always wanted Turner to record it, and said in a News interview in 2012: "We sent the demo to the publishers and got at least four people wanting to record it. Tina was one of them. We were given the opportunity as the writers to say which artist we wanted to record it.

“I wanted Tina to do it. She was one of the greats, though she was having a tough time and didn’t even have a record deal.”

I'll end this post much in the same way I started it with no news on Graham's latest activity of late, he was mentioned in numerous articles last May after the passing of Tina Turne, butno news other than that.

Song choicei s Lyle siging What's Love Got To Do With It

[lucienballard]

Jane Birkin, actor and singer, dies aged 76

Best known for the sexually explicit 1969 hit Je t’aime … moi non plus, she found fame in her adopted France

The British-born actor and singer Jane Birkin has been found dead at her home in Paris, the French culture ministry said on Sunday.

Birken, 76, was best known overseas for her 1969 hit in which she and her lover, the late French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, sang the sexually explicit Je t’aime … moi non plus.

Birkin found fame in her adopted France, catapulted into the public eye by her turbulent relationship with Gainsbourg. Her heavily accented French became her personal style signifier.

She crossed the channel in 1968 at the age of 22 to star in a film alongside Gainsbourg, who was 18 years her senior. It was the start of a 13-year relationship that made them France’s most famous couple, in the spotlight as much for their bohemian and hedonistic lifestyle as for their work.

The doe-eyed Birkin, with her soft voice and androgynous silhouette, quickly became a sex symbol, recording the steamy Je t’aime … moi non plus with a growling Gainsbourg. Banned on radio in several countries and condemned by the Vatican, the song was a worldwide success.

“He and I became the most famous of couples in that strange way because of Je t’aime and because we stuck together for 13 years and he went on being my friend until the day he died. Who could ask for more?” Birkin told CNN in 2006.

“So Paris became my home. I’ve been adopted here. They like my accent,” she said.

Birkin was born in London on 14 December 1946 to an actor mother and naval officer father. At 17, she married the James Bond composer John Barry, with whom she had a daughter, Kate, but the marriage lasted only three years.

She made waves in her film debut in 1966 with a full frontal nude scene in the swinging sixties classic Blow-Up by Michelangelo Antonioni.

After meeting Gainsbourg, 18 years her senior, in Paris on the set of a romantic comedy – he was her co-star – she moved to France permanently. Their musical and romantic relationship was tempestuous. During one of their raging rows, Birkin launched herself into the River Seine after throwing a custard pie in Gainsbourg’s face.

They had a daughter, Charlotte, who became a hugely successful actor and singer.

Birkin finally walked out on France’s favourite bad boy in 1980 and went on to to blaze her own trail. In cinema, she branched out from more ditsy roles to arthouse productions, gaining three nominations at the Césars – France’s Oscars – starting with La Pirate in 1985.

In her about 70 films she has been directed by France’s leading directors, including Bertrand Tavernier, Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, James Ivory and Agnès Varda.

A chronic alcoholic, Gainsbourg died of a heart attack in 1991 aged 62. A few years earlier, he was in the audience to hear Birkin perform her first solo concert at the age of 40 at the Bataclan theatre in Paris.

In 1998 came her first record without Gainsbourg, Á la Légère. But she repeatedly returned to his repertoire, singing his hits around the world accompanied by a full orchestra, including in 2020 in New York where she performed with Iggy Pop.

The English rose of French chanson became something of a national treasure, who preserved the accent that made the French swoon throughout her life and an endearing air of fragility.

Her life was marked by tragedy, with her eldest daughter Kate Barry, a photographer, apparently committing suicide in 2013. She had leukaemia in the late 1990s and in 2021 suffered a minor stroke.

With her flared jeans, mini-dresses and messy bangs, Birkin was the ultimate It girl in the 1970s. In 1984, Hermès named one of its handbags after her. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001 for her services to acting and British-French cultural relations.

Besides Charlotte and Kate, she had another daughter, the singer Lou Doillon, from her 13-year relationship with the French director Jacques Doillon.

RIP Jane

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ABBEY ROAD—The 1969 epic album by The Beatles, Lynn Anderson, Johnny Appleseed, photographer/photojournalist (and my friend from the Davy Jones/Monkees orbit) Michael G. Bush, Carleen Carter, Craig Chaquico (good to have met you), Darby Crash (The Germs), Gal Costa, Donna Douglas, T.S. Eliot, one of my musical heroes Bryan Ferry, David Frizzell, another one of my musical heroes George Gershwin, Linda Hamilton, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon), Dolores Keane, Amanda Kearns, Julie London, Olivia Newton-John, OMD’s 1980 “Enola Gay” single, Ivan Pavlov, César Rosas (Los Lobos), Tracey Thorn, Stuart Tosh, the musical WEST SIDE STORY (premiered 1957), Serena Williams, and a great American singer-songwriter, entertainer, and NASCAR racing driver Marty Robbins. As one of the pioneers of “outlaw country music,” he released 500 recordings and 60 hit singles from the late 1940s into the 1980s. He’s best known for the western ballad “El Paso,” and I’m a fan of his interpretation of “Red River Valley.” I play both of those songs in assisted living homes, along with Marty’s “A White Sport Coat & A Pink Carnation”— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qB0NM8JbYM

The lyrics portray a shattered young man who was stood up at the prom but, without saying, you know he’s going to bounce back. Marty got the visual for this song after passing a group of teenagers decked out for their high school prom. He zipped off this song in 20 minutes. His original 1957 track is premium country-pop trimmed with doo-wop and rockabilly. His creamy smooth voice owns the story, and his goal was to out-chart his earlier single “Singing the Blues,” which was eclipsed by a competing version by crooner Guy Mitchell. Ray Conniff arranged Mitchell’s international hit, and Marty insisted Ray run the session for his new song. Marty’s instincts were correct—it became his 3rd #1 hit, and it’s still on playlists and soundtracks (it’s also name-checked in Don McLean’s “American Pie”). It’s a fun vocal work-out. If you have prom photos you’d like to share (white sport coat optional), please post. Meanwhile, HB MR and thank you for your great singing and giving us so many songs.

#rocknroll #popmusic #rockabilly #doowop #countrymusic #martyrobbins #highschool #prom #whitesportcoat #pinkcarnation #guymitchell #rayconniff #mitchmiller #donmclean #americanpie #johnnyjblair #birthday #singeratlarge #birthday

[vickiabelson]

** TODAY SEPT 11th/ SPECIAL DAY SPECIAL TIME **

RUMER 1 PM PT LIVE FROM LONDON

I first heard about Rumer through our mutual friend, the late, J Marhsall Craig.  As soon as I had my first taste I became obsessed with her and made it my quest to have her sing in my living room.  I saw her perform at a benefit concert about 10 yrs ago and vowed to make it happen. A great friend and collaborator of the late, beloved PF Sloan, Rumer oft lived across the country and abroad, I met her at last at PF’s memorial 9 yrs ago, just after he’d performed in the living room.  We became fast friends and I’ve listened to her in heavy rotation almost non-stop since. We came thisclose to her appearing at Women Who Write in 2016, and it’s taken all this time to get her on Game Changers… good things come to those who wait. 

Under the name of Sarah Prentice, Rumer sang with the London-based folk/indie band La Honda between 2000 and 2001. In 2004, she formed Rumer & The Denials and released an early version of Come To Me High, and an acoustic recording of Slow.

Rumer's debut album, Seasons of My Soul, was released in 2010. Her debut single, Slow, was featured on Smooth FM, one of my favorite songs, ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvYUfwMBCrU  and the single Aretha on BBC Radio 2’s Record of the Week feature.

Burt Bacharach invited Rumer to his home in California so he could hear her sing, and wrote a number of songs for her with lyricist Steven Sater. A Christmas EP, Rumer Sings Bacharach at Christmas was released in 2010. It featured Some Lovers, from the musical by Bacharach and Sater, Gift of the Magi.

In 2011 Rumer was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Breakthrough Act And Best British Female Solo Artist, she was nominated for for the UK Asian Music Award for Best Alternative Act and Best Newcomer and won the former, she was also nominated for the MOJO Award for Best Breakthrough Act, Best Album with Seasons of My Soul and Song of the Year with Slow and Won the MOJO Award for Best Breakthrough Act that same year. 

Rumer released her second album Boys Don’t Cry, which contains a selection of songs by artists and writers from the 70s.

Rumer released her second album of all original material, and her third total studio album, Into Colour in 2014 in the UK, Ireland, and Japan. The record was then released worldwide in early 2015 by Atlantic Records. 

In 2015, Rumer released a collection of unreleased tracks and b-sides from her back catalog entitled, "B Sides and Rarities". The collection features collaborations with the likes of Dionne Warwick, Stephen Bishop, and Michael Feinstein.  

Close your eyes and Karen Carpenter lives… in bluesier, sexier, more soulful sounds… she’s most oft accompanied by her collaborator and husband Rob Shirakbari, Burt Bacharah’s long-time musical director. She’s sung at the White House for President Obama, been Elton John’s special guest at his BBC Electric Proms concert, sang Jimmy Webb’s P.F. Sloan, with PF Sloan, and recorded it for Jimmy Webb, and appeared on an episode of Daryl Hall’s Daryl House where they performed Sara Smile together as well as I Can Go For That. Unforgettable!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzr6mvDar30

Rumer’s last album, Nashville Tears, released in 2020 covers songs from singer/songwriter, Hugh Prestwood, created during a joyful time in Rumer’s life, enjoying the bliss of motherhood. We’ll be discussing her new single, Before The Planes, which is tragically so apt for this day. 

I so look forward to catching up with my girlfriend, with whom I’ve shared deep truths and laughs. Her voice moves me like no other. It’ll be 9 pm in London, early afternoon here, so I don’t have long to wait. YAY!

Rumer Live on Game Changers With Vicki Abelson 

Wednesday, 9/11/24, 1 pm PT, 4 pm ET

Streaming Live on my Facebook

WednesDaily by Toni Vincent & @peter_and_paul_ Cartoons

[mikefaistinfo]

Onstage, ‘Brokeback Mountain’ Is Still a Tragedy

Much has changed for L.G.B.T.Q. people since Annie Proulx’s short story was published in 1997. But a new theatrical version is a reminder that homophobia is far from over.

By Douglas Greenwood - Reporting from London (May 12, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET)

In 2016, when the theater director Jonathan Butterell was considering a proposal to adapt Annie Proulx’s 1997 short story “Brokeback Mountain” for the stage, he wondered how to translate the prose’s vast landscape and insular emotions into a play.

Last month, in a central London rehearsal studio, Butterell and Ashley Robinson, who wrote the play, tried to answer that question. To help the cast connect with Proulx’s story of a cowboy and a ranch hand falling in love against the wide-stretching landscapes of 1960s Wyoming, black-and-white photographs of American plains and mountain ranges were tacked to the walls during rehearsals.

“The vastness has been there from the very beginning,” Butterell said in a recent interview. When it came to evoking the story’s emotional landscape, the director had stuck one sepia-toned photograph, of a lone cowboy in a snow-covered Wyoming, behind a pillar. The image “speaks to the bit of us that feels alone in the world,” Butterell said. “Maybe he’s at peace with this, maybe it’s the source of his agony.”

Butterell’s “Brokeback Mountain” opened in previews May 10 at @sohoplace in London’s West End. It’s the first time the story has been adapted for theater — an opera by Charles Wuorinen premiered in Madrid in 2014 — and each version now follows in the footsteps of Proulx’s text and the film that popularized it: Ang Lee’s 2005 Academy Award-winning adaptation, which is often cited as one of the best L.G.B.T.Q. films of all time.

Butterell said he was aware of his audience having expectations based on the film. “They’re inevitable,” he said, “but I don’t mind that.”

This theatrical version also has some Hollywood clout. Its lead characters, Jack Twist and Ennis del Mar, are played by the BAFTA-nominated actor Mike Faist and the Oscar-nominated actor Lucas Hedges.

In late 2016, Robinson first wrote a treatment for what he called a “memory play” based on the short story, after speaking with the composer Dan Gillespie Sells and Butterell. Robinson’s script stated that the Wyoming setting should not be conveyed “in a purely literal sense,” and his story is set in 2013, with an older version of del Mar reflecting on the years he spent with Twist between 1963 and 1983.

Proulx approved of Robinson’s vision. She has “high hopes for the play,” she said in a recent email interview. “When I read Ashley’s script several years ago, I thought he had done a fine job.”

In Proulx’s story, del Mar and Twist’s interior worlds are conveyed by an omniscient narrator. In the stage adaptation, music does much of that work.

“These two men can’t sing,” Gillespie Sells said, because “they don’t have an emotional dialogue.” Instead, a character called The Balladeer — played by the Scottish singer-songwriter Eddi Reader — sings with an onstage country and western band. “She takes us through time,” Butterell said. “Sometimes it’s from night to day. Sometimes it’s 10 years.”

“Brokeback Mountain” will be the first time its two lead actors have appeared onstage in five years. Faist, who plays Twist, originated the role of Connor Murphy in “Dear Evan Hansen” on Broadway, and has had more recent success in film, including Steven Spielberg’s 2021 remake of “West Side Story.”

Hedges “hadn’t acted in a while” when he was sent the script, he said, having been focusing on writing instead. The “Brokeback” offer and playing del Mar changed that. “There wasn’t an angle I didn’t love about this,” he said.

As the project entered its final week of rehearsals, both actors were grappling with the process in different ways. Hedges said he was experiencing “tragic and triumphant ups and downs” about his own work. “I have a day where I think I’ve figured it all out, and then a day when it all disappears,” he said. The “collective experience” of theater was daunting compared to working in film, he said, adding that onstage, “I can’t use tricks to make it through.”

Faist concurred: “It’s a challenge, and it’s terrifying,” mainly because of the expectations of having to match the source material and 2005 film, he said. “But as terrifying and frustrating as it is, I really am having the time of my life,” he added.

Butterell said that Faist and Hedges were “as men, as actors, very different creatures.” Faist, he said, had “a sense of life and vivacity,” while Hedges “has this deeply complex interior landscape that’s very much of Ennis.”

Neither Hedges, Faist nor Butterell had revisited Lee’s film since they were approached for the project. “The truth of the matter is, no matter what, he’s not Heath Ledger and I’m not Jake Gyllenhaal,” Faist said of the film’s two lead stars, who both earned Oscar nominations for their performances. He and Hedges, Faist added, would both bring their “own weird things” to the roles.

The production has forced Faist to confront his “traumas,” he said. “We can take those traumas, turn them around,” he added, and, he hopes, make the audience “think deeply about their own lives.”

Following the success of the “Brokeback Mountain” film, Proulx said fans of her text sent her fan fiction that rewrote the ending of her short story, claiming the original was too sad. She told the The Paris Review that those fans had “misunderstood” the story and stated that it was, most importantly, about “homophobia.”

This is the first adaptation of “Brokeback” to be released since the Supreme Court made gay marriage legal in all 50 U.S. states. Robinson — who lives in Brooklyn but was raised in the tiny town of Lockhart, S.C. — said he wrote it to remind audiences that gay trauma still exists.

“These stories aren’t necessarily being told anymore because of a trend to put onstage what we want the world to be,” he said, referring to the theater community. “That’s a wonderful thing to do, but we shouldn’t cancel out all of the opportunities to talk about what’s going on underneath it.”

Butterell added that the fight against homophobia was “not over” in Britain either, citing a recent spike in the number of attacks on L.G.B.T.Q. people.

“This is a tragedy,” Butterell said of the play. “Of course love exists — I don’t want it to be solemn — but the tragedy of this piece is that fear wins.”

Find this article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/12/theater/brokeback-mountain-play.html

[jedivoodoochile]

Happy 78th birthday to Bryan Ferry CBE (born 26 September 1945) / English singer and songwriter.His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established a distinctive image and sartorial style: according to The Independent, Ferry and his contemporary David Bowie influenced a generation with both their music and their appearances.

Born to a working-class family, Ferry studied fine art and taught at a secondary school before pursuing a career in music. In 1970 he began to assemble the rock band Roxy Music with a group of friends and acquaintances in London, and took the role of lead singer and main songwriter. The band achieved immediate international success with the release of their eponymous debut album in 1972, containing a rich multitude of sounds, which reflected Ferry's interest in exploring different genres of music. Their second album, For Your Pleasure (1973), further cultivated the band's unique sound and visual image that would establish Ferry as a leading cultural icon over the next decade.

Ferry began a parallel solo career in 1973 by releasing These Foolish Things, which popularized the concept of a contemporary musician releasing an album covering standard songs and was a drastic departure from his ongoing work with Roxy Music. His second album, Another Time, Another Place (1974), featured as its cover image Ferry posing by a pool in a white dinner jacket and represented one of his most impactful fashion statements. Over the next two years, Roxy Music released a trilogy of albums, Stranded (1973), Country Life (1974) and Siren (1975), which broadened the band's appeal internationally and saw Ferry take greater interest in the role of a live performer, reinventing himself in stage costumes ranging from gaucho to military uniforms. Ferry disbanded Roxy Music following the release of their best-selling album Avalon in 1982 to concentrate on his solo career, releasing further singles such as "Slave to Love" and "Don't Stop the Dance" and the UK no. 1 album Boys and Girls in 1985.

Ferry has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. In 2019, Ferry was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Roxy Music.

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: March 3, 1986

Lyrics:

I've nothing much to offer

There's nothing much to take

I'm an absolute beginner

But I'm absolutely sane

As long as we're together

The rest can go to hell

I absolutely love you

But we're absolute beginners

With eyes completely open

But nervous all the same

If our love song

Could fly over mountains

Could laugh at the ocean

Just like the films

There's no reason

To feel all the hard times

To lay down the hard lines

It's absolutely true

Nothing much could happen

Nothing we can't shake

Oh, we're absolute beginners

With nothing much at stake

As long as you're still smiling

There's nothing more I need

I absolutely love you

But we're absolute beginners

But if my love is your love

We're certain to succeed

Songwriter: David Bowie

If our love song

Could fly over mountains

Sail over heartaches

Just like the films

If there's reason

To feel all the hard times

To lay down the hard lines

It's absolutely true

SongFacts:

"Absolute Beginners" is a song written and recorded by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. Released on 3 March 1986, it was the theme song to the 1986 film of the same name (itself an adaptation of the book 'Absolute Beginners').

Although the film was not a commercial success, the song was a big hit, reaching No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. It also reached the top ten on the main singles charts in ten other countries. In the US, it peaked at No. 53 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Bowie performed "Absolute Beginners" live on his 1987 Glass Spider Tour, his 2000 "Mini" Tour, and his 2002 Heathen Tour. The song has been included on a number of Bowie's compilation and "Best-of" releases, and was included as a bonus track on the 1995 re-release of Tonight (1984).

Bowie was good friends with the film's director, Julien Temple (who had worked with him in 1984 on the 'Jazzin' for Blue Jean' short film). Bowie agreed to Temple's request to write music for the film if he could also play the part of Vendice Partners.

It was recorded at Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley's Westside Studios, London. The sessions were completed rapidly, but the song was delayed due to the problems with completing the film. Virgin wanted the release to tie in with the film's opening. The song featured Rick Wakeman on piano, who had previously performed on Bowie's "Space Oddity" single and Hunky Dory album. Shortly after the sessions wrapped, Mick Jagger flew in to record the charity cover of "Dancing in the Street" with Bowie, which used many of the same musicians. Bowie recorded the lead vocal of "Absolute Beginners" at Westside Studios in August.

Julien Temple shot the music video, which echoed the 1950s style of the movie. The video was a homage to an old British advert for Strand cigarettes. The ill-fated advertising tagline "You're never alone with a Strand" is quoted by Partners in the film. The video also uses footage from the film.

In 2016, Entertainment Weekly chose it as one of Bowie's 20 best music videos. They stated the video "does a far better job of expressing the noirish romanticism" of MacInnes' novel than the film did and also praised the "great dance-fighting scene at the end".

[whileiamdying]

Iranian Protest Anthem That Led to Singer’s Arrest Wins a Grammy

First lady Jill Biden presented the inaugural Best Song For Social Change award

Teresa Nowakowski

Staff contributor February 7, 2023

First lady Jill Biden presenting the Best Song For Social Change award to singer Shervin Hajipour. Kevin Winter via Getty Images for the Recording Academy

Last fall, Iranian officials arrested singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour. His song “Baraye,” posted on Instagram just days earlier, had become an anthem for the protests that were gaining momentum across the country. 

After his arrest, the song vanished from his Instagram page—and sources close to him believe he was made to remove it, according to Rosie Swash of the Guardian. But “Baraye” was already spreading like wildfire, quickly racking up millions of views. 

As its popularity grew, writes the Guardian, “Baraye” was “sung by schoolgirls in Iran, blared from car windows in Tehran and played at solidarity protests in Washington, Strasbourg and London.” It was even covered by Coldplay, who performed it alongside exiled Iranian actor Golshifteh Farahani at the band’s Buenos Aires concert in October.

This week, the lyrics to “Baraye” rang out over the crowd at the 65th annual Grammy Awards, where it was named the Best Song For Social Change. The Recording Academy added the award this year to recognize “songwriters creating message-driven music that responds to and addresses the social issues of our time head-on while inspiring positive global impact,” per the Grammys’ website.

Presenting the award, first lady Jill Biden called the song “a powerful and poetic call for freedom and women’s rights.”

“Shervin was arrested,” she added, “but this song continues to resonate around the world with its powerful theme: women, life, freedom.”

Hajipour was released on bail a few days after his arrest, but he is facing charges that could lead to years of jail time, reports Jon Gambrell of the Associated Press. 

“Baraye,” a word meaning “for” or “because of” in Farsi, takes its lyrics from protesters’ social media posts, in which they write about their reasons for demonstrating with the hashtag #baraye. The song begins:

For dancing in the alleys For the fear when kissing For my sister, your sister, our sisters For changing rusted minds

to dance in the street برای توی کوچه رقصیدن To be afraid when kissing برای ترسیدن به وقت بوسیدن For my sister, your sister, our sisters برای خواهرم، خواهرت، خواهرامون To change the rotting brains برای تغییر مغزها که پوسیدن For shame, for lack of money برای شرمندگی، برای بی پولی To miss an ordinary life برای حسرت یک زندگی معمولی For the garbage child and his dreams برای کودک زباله گرد و آرزوهاش For this command economy برای این اقتصاد دستوری For this polluted air برای این هوای آلوده For Waliasr and worn trees برای ولیعصر و درختای فرسوده For victory and the possibility of its extinction برای پیروز و احتمال انقراضش Forbidden for innocent dogs برای سگ های بی گناه ممنوعه For non-stop crying برای گریه های بی وقفه For the image to repeat this moment برای تصویر تکرار این لحظه For a smiling face برای چهره ای که می خنده For students, for the future برای دانش آموزا، برای آینده For this mandatory paradise برای این بهشت اجباری For the imprisoned elites برای نخبه های زندانی For Afghan children برای کودکان افغانی For all this for non-repetitive برای این همه برای غیر تکراری For all these empty slogans برای این همه شعارهای توخالی For the rubble of the fake houses برای آوار خونه های پوشالی To feel relaxed برای احساس آرامش For the sun after a long night برای خورشید پس از شبای طولانی For nerves and insomnia pills برای قرص های اعصاب و بی خوابی For man, country, settlement برای مرد، میهن، آبادی For the girl who wished it was a boy برای دختری که آرزو داشت پسر بود For women, life, freedom برای زن، زندگی، آزادی for freedom برای آزادی for freedom برای آزادی for freedom برای آزادی

Source: Musixmatch Songwriters: Shervin Hajipour

“‘Baraye’ winning a Grammy sends the message to Iranians that the world has heard them and is acknowledging their freedom struggle,” Nahid Siamdoust, an expert on Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas at Austin and author of Soundtrack of the Revolution: The Politics of Music in Iran, tells the New York Times’ Farnaz Fassihi. “It is awarding their protest anthem with the highest musical honor.”

Leading up to Sunday’s ceremony, the Recording Academy had solicited submissions from the public for the new award. According to the Times, of the 115,000 submissions received, more than 95,000 were for “Baraye.”

As the song’s popularity grows, it continues to resonate with audiences. “I’d never seen my 74-year-old mother cry like she did the day I played her ‘Baraye,’” writes Rebecca Morrison, whose family fled Iran in 1979, in Salon.

“So many of us have cried listening to it over and over,” BBC News’ Bahman Kalbasi wrote on Twitter in September. “The artist Shervin Hajipour has summed up the deep national sadness and pain Iranians have been feeling for decades, culminating in the tragedy of #MahsaAmini.”

Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died in police custody in September—just days after Iran’s “morality police” detained her for wearing her hijab incorrectly. Her death sparked the protests that have been spreading ever since.

The new Grammy honor came after a year and a half of work. Singer-songwriter Maimouna Youssef, one of the artists behind the award, wanted to encourage young artists to make authentic, driven music—the kinds of songs that “bring about understanding where there was none,” she told NPR’s Leila Fadel in November.

“It is like a wildfire that you cannot stop,” she added. “You can arrest the writer, but you can't arrest the song. It's already out there. It's in the hearts of the people.”

— Teresa Nowakowski is an intern for Smithsonian magazine. | READ MORE

[heartintact]

☆ muses !!

f.

audrey flynn. 23-26, bisexual, chemistry student (alisha boe fc). former prom queen, people take turns for her to break their heart, still learning how to let go.

blair irvine. 25 - 28, bisexual, podcast creator (rachel sennott fc). born to be the center of attention, always the most suspicious person in the room, will lie for fun.

camille cain. 24- 27 (centuries old in some verses), she/her, bisexual, vampire in some verses (anya taylor joy fc). pure evil, will manipulate her way into getting what she wants, devotion that corrupts.

chloe prescott. 22-26, bisexual, personal assistant for a magazine / camgirl (sabrina carpenter fc). the glossiest of lipsticks, christmas sweater’s apologist, making others blush like it’s a hobby. 

elaine (lainey) bardot. 23-25, she/her, bisexual, professional tennis player (ella purnell fc). obsessed with winning, nothing she ever does is accidental, feelings are a liability. 

gemma harmon. 23 - 26, she/her, bisexual, coffeehouse waitress | alt modern day princess (jaz sinclair fc). sees the good in everything and everyone, doesn’t care about other people’s expectations, it’s hard for her to feel like she belongs.

iris reyes. 21-23, bisexual, film student | assistant to a movie director (jenna ortega fc). tiny but mean, wicked sense of loyalty, likes to play dirty.

jasmine alcott. 25-28, she/her, bisexual, chef (laura harrier fc). needs approval the same way others need air, just wants to take care of people, has cried tasting meals at least a dozen times.

juno faulkner. 24 - 27, she/her, bisexual (maddie phillips fc). aspiring actress | former theatre kid. wishes she could love people less, always gives a genuine reply whenever someone asks how her day was, lights up scented candles when she’s feeling stressed.

maude seong. 23 - 26, she/her, lesbian (london thor fc). journalist | writer of a “how to” column. doesn’t know how to stay still, small tattoos from every country she’s visited, tries to come across as mysterious but will become best friends with every girl she meets at the nightclub's bathroom.

olivia ‘liv’ harrington. 24 - 26, bisexual, english lit graduate (daisy edgar jones fc). read all the classics before it was cool, loves to doodle, lingerie no one sees.

sienna harrington. 25 - 27. bisexual, inn manager (emily bader fc). loves her attitude problem, will get into a bar fight, competitive to a fault.

stella alvarado. 21 - 23, bisexual, office assistant | cheer captain. (clara galle fc). trying to find fun in the middle of her 9-to-5, usually the last one to leave but just because she’s not that productive, scribbled notes as a love language.

sylvia gilmore. 23-25, lesbian, college student (reneé rapp fc). will judge everyone who crosses her way, has a thing for older women, your favorite mean girl.

vera salazar. 23 - 25, bisexual, singer/songwriter (nicole wallace fc). keeps every love letter she’s ever received, stays up at night thinking about what-ifs, will do her makeup in a moving car and will make it look great.

m.

atlas dixon. 24 - 27, he/him, straight (asa germann fc). horror movie actor | aspiring director. dark circles under his eyes, can’t pretend to be interested when he’s not, gets into a lot of fights and loses most of them.

denver oakley. 26-30, he/him, straight, aspiring writer (logan lerman fc). dancing in the kitchen, getting in trouble because he’s always saying what he thinks, would die for you.

dylan bradshaw. 23-25, he/him, bisexual, english lit major | alt marketing assistant (mason gooding fc). a great shoulder to cry on but no one asks, will always offer if someone needs a place to stay, constantly misunderstood. 

graham munson. 25-29, he/him, bisexual, twitch video-game streamer (dylan o’brien fc | alt chris briney fc). deep down he means well but still manages to screw things up, the creator of one night stands, late night walks around the park. 

jonah mei. 26 - 29, he/him, bisexual, event promoter (derek luh fc). humor as a coping mechanism, won't tell anyone but he loves gardening, will make people fall in love with him just for sport.

logan brody. 26-29, he/him, bicurious, full-time trust fund asshole (dacre montgomery fc). million dollar smile, online shops when he’s bored, adrenaline and bad decisions. 

marcus powell. 40-44, he/him, straight, college teacher (ryan gosling fc). late nights out and very early mornings, the desperate need to be in control, thinks in metaphors. 

matthew novak. 30-33, he/him, straight, programmer (lucien laviscount fc). logical thinker, can’t admit when he’s wrong, ivy league. 

nathan craven. 27 - 31, he/him, bisexual, camp counselor (joe keery fc). the golden boy, afraid he peaked at high school, everyone's best friend.

shane ledger. 24-27, he/him, bicurious, will take literally any job if he needs to pay rent, will also hate every second of it (joseph quinn fc). guitar string scars on his hands, the town’s dealer, will-pull-at-your-pigtails-if-he-likes-you kind of guy.

steven warhol. 36-40, he/him, straight, politician | alt priest (andrew garfield fc). phone is always on less than 20%, following his family’s footsteps, charms his way through life.

fantasy muses (the olympians universe).

cassandra olson. she/her, bisexual. (sabrina carpenter fc/rain spencer fc). daughter of aphrodite. pomegranate juice, mischievousness personified, will put ribbons on everything.

conrad nye. he/him, bisexual. (drew starkey fc). son of poseidon. rebellious heart, will kill for you, rules don’t matter to him.

annika daulby. she/they, lesbian. (kaia geber fc). daughter of ares. shaking fists, sitting on the roof late at night, dark humor.

zion baxter. he/him, straight. (tom blyth fc). son of hermes. dealing with high expectations, trust issues, destined for greatness.

canon muses.

disclaimer: there's a preference to write them against other canon characters. while this is a work in progress, the following muses are available upon request:

marie moreau (gen v, jaz sinclair fc).

chad meeks-martin (scream, mason gooding fc).

tara carpenter (scream, jenna ortega fc).

tatum riley (scream, sydney sweeney fc).

kate carter (twisters, daisy edgar jones fc).

tyler owens (twisters, glen powell fc).

chrissy cunningham (stranger things, grace van dien fc).

carmen 'carmy' berzatto (the bear, jeremy allen white fc).

[vorondoloknittingco]

Harry Styles' Life Story

Harry Edward Styles was born on 1 February 1994 in Redditch, Worcestershire, to Anne Cox and Desmond 'Des' Styles. She has an older sister named Gemma. His family separated when he was seven years old.

Styles spent most of his growing years with his mother and sister in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. He received his education from the 'Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School'.

Styles has admired music since childhood. She enjoyed singing and even performed as lead singer for the school band 'White Eskimo', which won several competitions. Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley and 'The Beatles' were the earliest influences of Styles. He even worked part-time at 'W.'. Mandeville Bakery' at Holmes Chapel to support himself.

Harry Styles is an English singer and songwriter known as a member of the famous pop rock band One Direction. Blessed with his love for music, Styles stepped into the music industry at a young age. She made her debut when she auditioned for a spot on The X Factor. Styles' natural talent and sense of music made him a favorite among the judges. Although he was unable to tour the judges' houses, he was pulled out as a member of the pop rock band One Direction. Stiller called the band 'One Direction'. The band's first song, which was also an elimination song on the 'judge's house' tour, was an acoustic version of 'Torn'. Their performance was so brilliant that they soon gained popularity in the United Kingdom. One of the biggest contenders for the coveted title and a people's favorite, 'One Direction' finished third in the seventh season of 'X Factor'. Soon after, 'One Direction' was signed by Cowell's 'Syco Music Records' on a £2 million contract.

Despite being the youngest member of the men's group, Styles soon became a favorite among fans because of his talents, appearance, and attitude. After months of recording in various cities including Stockholm, London and Los Angeles, 'One Direction' released her debut album 'Up All Night' in 2011. The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Table and eventually became the world record holder. It is the UK's fastest-selling debut album of 2011.

Their first single, 'What Makes You Beautiful', peaked at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. In 2013, director Morgan Spurlock made a documentary titled 'One Direction: This Is Us' that allowed us to take a look at the band's routine. The film grossed more than $68 million worldwide.

During their five debuts, One Direction broke several records and became the only boy band to debut their first four albums to number one in the United States. They also became the first boy band in U.S. chart history to release two number-one albums in a calendar year. After a hiatus hiatus, Styles pursued a solo career and signed a record deal with Columbia Records. Styles has also starred on television and in films, including the Nickelodeon series iCarly, the documentary concert film One Direction: This Is Us, and the feature film Dunkirk.

Her self-titled debut solo album was released in May 2017. The album topped the 'US Billboard 200' chart. It has also been successful in many other countries such as the UK and Australia. The album was certified platinum in the U.S. and four other countries for being the ninth best-selling album of 2017. He also embarked on a tour of North and South America, Europe, Asia, Europe and Asia called 'Harry Styles: Live on Tour'. and Australia, from September 2017 to July 2018.

Harry Styles has an image of Casanova and is known for his various romantic connections. In 2011, he dated television presenter Caroline Flack. Their relationship made headlines around the world due to the age difference between the two, with Styles being just 17 at the time and Flack 32.

After leaving Flack, Styles formed a romantic bond with various personalities including Sarah-Louise Colivet, Emma Ostilly, Cara Delevingne, Lily Halpern and Rita Ora.

In December 2012, Styles began dating international pop star Taylor Swift. The two separated in January 2013. He later dated Kendall Jenner and Nadine Leopold.

A longtime advocate of equality and an ardent supporter of the LGBT community, she often waives the rainbow flag (the flag of LGBT pride) on stage. She has also supported organisations such as the 'Little Princess Trust' and the 'Young Survival Coalition'.

[scotianostra]

Happy 79th Birthday to Scottish singer/songwriter Graham Lyle,  born March 11th 1944 in Belshill. 

There’s nothing I can find about Lyle’s early life, but he  is best known for  collaboration with fellow Scot Benny Gallagher.

Graham and Benny first teamed up in 1959 as members of a local The Bluefrets, and teamed up again in a band based in Saltcoats called the Tulsans.   The Tulsans released two singles in 1965 under the name James Galt these rare tracks are now prized by Northern Soul Collectors.

So after doing their apprenticeship around Ayrshire and Glasgow  Graham and Benny headed south to London in the mid 60′s,  a rare one-off single, “Trees”, was issued on Polydor UK another very rare song, if you come cross it in amongst an old dusty second hand shop you might get a few quid for it.

In 1968 the pair were signed up to write songs for artists on the Apple record label, mainly for Mary Hopkins. Two years later the pair formed the band  McGuinness Flint  writing nine of the 11 songs on the group’s eponymous debut album, including their two top five hits, When I’m Dead and Gone and  Malt and Barley Blues. A second album followed before the pair left to branch out as duo with Gallagher and Lyle in 1972.

As a duo, Gallagher and Lyle recorded a total of eight albums, while they weren’t all big hits the duo were well respected for there song writing and chemistry between them. Their biggest hits I Wanna Stay With You and Heart on My Sleeve  both of which also charted in the US.    Gallagher and Lyle ‘s songs both topped the US Billboard  Adult Contemporary chart for Art Garfunkel and Don Williams respectively.  As session musicians, Gallagher and Lyle also backed numerous big names on disc, including Eric Clapton, Andy Fairweather Low and Fairport Convention amongst others.

In 1981, Graham Lyle formed his own publishing company, Goodsingle Publishing (later to become goodsingle.com), chiefly to administer his own copyrights, and began writing for other artists. These artist included Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Patti Labelle, Joe Cocker, Hall & Oates, Jim Diamond, Wet,Wet,Wet, and Wyclef Jean….the list really is endless!

Finally the song that we definitely all know best that was written by Graham Lyle is the Tina Turner smash hit What’s love got to do with it, in which he teamed up with the English-Australian songwriter Terry Britten. It won the Song of the Year Grammy. The song hit the top of the charts in many countries, and was a worldwide hit, in 2012 it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

My favourite Lyle composition is another collaboration, he co-wrote I Should Have Known Better with Jim Diamond, and I love the song, I sing it often at Karaoke, and yes I hit all the notes!  Another one he wrote with Bitten was the Wets, If I never see you again, which reached number three in the charts here.

Caledonia USA, a musical based on the songs of Gallagher and Lyle, was staged in Largs in April 2016. Originally titled “When I’m Dead and Gone”, it was subsequently retitled after a new song written specially for the show by Gallagher and Lyle.

Again, as with his early life I can find nothing about what Graham has been up to of late, he teamed up with Gallagher for a tour in 2018, since then there’s nothing. 

[singeratlarge]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Heath Bashnick, Henry Cowell, Mercer Ellington, Jimmy Fortune, the 1818 publication of Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN, Nina Hagen, Shemp Howard, Terrence Howard, Jimmy Iovine, Rami Jaffee, Anissa Jones, Johnny Knoxville, Nancy Kovack, George Kooymans (Golden Earring), Lisa Loeb, Bobby Lyle, Graham Lyle, Benji Madden, Harvey Mandel, BeachBoystalk Matt, Bobby McFerrin, Steve Mendez, Miff Mole, Angelique Pettyjohn, Astor Piazzolla, Pink Floyd’s 1967 “Arnold Layne” single, Ric Rothwell (Mindbenders), Jan Schelhaas (Caravan), Mark Stein (Vanilla Fudge), Andy Sturmer (Jellyfish), Verdi’s 1851 opera RIGOLETTO, William Vincent Wallace, Adam Wakeman, Raoul Walsh, Bruce Watson (Big Country), Lawrence Welk, Fred Wikkeling, Anton Yelchin, and the under-celebrated actor, producer, and singer-songwriter Paul Korda. He was born in Singapore into a creative family of accomplished entertainers, singers, songwriters, and accomplished musicians. From there his family moved around the world but Paul was schooled in England. Around age 15, stoking his chops as a guitarist-pianist, he intersected professionally with P.P. Arnold, Sandy Denny, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, The Small Faces, and Cat Stevens—who became one of Paul’s best friends. Paul’s acting career broke out in 1968 when he was cast in the London musical production of HAIR. Concurrently he collaborated on a series of singles with my friend, singer-songwriter Tim a.k.a. Chris Andrews. Here’s an Andrews/Korda track featuring Paul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPTviPx3d8Y

Around 1970 Paul became an ecological activist and started to release solo albums. He continued to produce and write for numerous artists, most prominently with Roger Daltrey and Frankie Valli. Years later he returned to acting by appearing in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and SPINAL TAP while becoming an activist for low-income inner-city youth. By all accounts, Paul had constant brainstorms and bright projects in the works, from musicals to non-profits. He might not be a household name, but his music has been heard around the world. Sadly he passed away in 2020. Meanwhile, HB PK and thank you for sharing your huge creative spark.

#paulkorda #catstevens #hair #timandrews #chrisandrews #parlophone #rogerdaltrey #frankievalli #spinaltap #piratesofthecaribbean #activist #birthday #angelface

[dankusner]

DAILY TEXAN — Short sharp SOS 

Shocked hasn't sold out — in fact, she goes out on a limb — but one gets the feeling that she's not telling the truth

Short sharp SOS 

'Captain Swing’  Shocked goes down with her ship 

For radical diva Michelle Shocked, honesty truly was the best policy.

Michelle Shocked  Captain Swing Mercury/Polygram Records 

Shocked hasn't sold out — in fact, she goes out on a limb — but one gets the feeling that she's not telling the truth

By Lee Nichols | MONDAY NOV 20, 1989 

In a world where homogeneity is the unfortunate rule, one hates to she's criticize musical adventurism.

Patrons of quality music, who have grumbled their way through most of the 80s, jump with zeal on anything different, and especially anything with honesty.

Honesty propelled Gilmer native Michelle Shocked from obscurity as an expatriate folk singer in London to stardom as the leader of a musical movement.

Her much-storied debut The Texas Campfire Tapes was the ultimate in anti-slick, recorded by a campfire at the Kerrville Folk Festival on a Sony Walkman.

She accepted a reduced contract from Polygram to keep her artistic freedom, initially refused to work with bigshot producer Pete Anderson (who has worked with Dwight Yoakam and Rosie Flores — certainly not someone a folk-oriented performer should fear) and still refuses to tour with a band, leaving studio work in the studio.

Unfortunately, this quality and integrity disappear on her new Captain Swing.

No, Shocked hasn't sold out — in fact, she goes out on a limb — but one gets the feeling that she's not telling the truth.

Her previous Short Sharp Shocked ventured well away from her acoustic style into an exciting country/ rock pace that greatly benefited from the overt hand of Anderson, even exploring punk with excellent results.

She must have sweated the risk, but came through with flying colors.

Captain Swing takes an equally bold jump, but this time into big-band-style jazz.

It's not clear whether Shocked or Anderson pushed for the change, but whoever is responsible really fumbled.

Basically, this doesn't sound like a Michelle Shocked LP.

The material is not inherently horrible — her sterling songwriting remains intact — but she fails to convey the originality of past work within this new form.

Some of the wittier numbers, like God Is a Real Estate Developer, probably would translate well as folk songs.

A few pieces do fit — but that's because (Don't You Mess Around with) My Little Sister first appeared pay some kind of tribute to her muon The Texas Campfire Tapes and sical heroes, but it fails as resound-Looks Like Mona Lisa (Smells Like Tuna ingly as U2's Rattle and Hum. Fish) lifts heavily from Black Widow Hopefully, Michelle Shocked is off Short Sharp Shocked. The Western displeased with Captain Swing as swing of Silent Ways also delivers to well, and will continue her live per-a lesser extent, country music being well within her boundaries. formances in her charming, simple

But the remainder just doesn't fit, style and perhaps put that style and comes off as an amateur's at- onto another record).

But at the same time, she should be encour- tempt at a new genre, or perhaps a bad Lyle Lovett imitation.

The ques- aged to continue taking chances - as long as she realizes what works tion to ultimately ask is "Why?" and what doesn't.

Why force the square pegs of her lyrical prowess into the round holes of jazz?

Perhaps she intended to

Nichols, a history senior, is the editor of Images.

DAILY TEXAN 

(UNIV. OF TEXAS) AUSTIN, TX | DAILY — 38,500