#also where did woody and june go

[gardenerian]

IAN GALLAGHER | SHAMELESS 6x12

[racheloveyunho]

Till death do us part - 4

Y/N grew up in a wealthy family, she always was seen as a beautiful   and smart kid and was most likely to take her father’s place as the CEO of one of the most important companies in South Korea. However, after   the death of her mother, Y/N’s family slowly started to break apart. Her  father was always working to forget his uncalled pain while his kids   were left alone at home.

She was 17 years old when her life took a  sudden turn when she met him in a dark alley. He was a bloody mess,   bruises everywhere but behind blood and dirt, she could see his   beautiful features and his addictive gaze. Maybe she should have walked away, maybe she shouldn’t have helped him, but the moment his gaze   locked with hers, she was already his.

Choi San was his name.

Genre: Mafia AU, smut, angst, fluff, stranger to lovers

Words: 1883

TW series:  Y/N is described as an OC. Please be aware that this story will contain  a lot of triggering content such as smut, blood, death, murder, drug,  kidnapping, etc. Do not read if you are under a legal age!

TW chapter: Obsessive behavior (from Y/N’s and San’s side), threats, swearing and a hint of jealousy.

Here it was, the silhouette I liked the most

"San..."

He hugged me tightly as if there was no tomorrow. I noticed how he was sweaty and out of breathe, probably from running to get to me faster.

I breathed in his unique scent, it was woody scent, something fresh but still manly. I felt safer with him, everything was easier when he was by my side. I didn't want to let him go and my feelings seemed mutual as he tightened his grip on my waist.

I was like a piece of metal attracted to a magnet.

We sat down on the bed and he let me cry my heart out, listening every word I had to say. I told him my story, my conflictual relationship with my father, how harsh he was with me and my brother since my mom passed away and my arranged wedding with this Hwang Jinyoung.

We talked for two good hours about my problems but also about the future we both wanted.

As time went on, I started to feel sleepy, my eyelids were heavy and my mind was cloudy. I slowly closed my eyes until I fell into a deep sleep into San's arms. He gently patted my head to help me fall asleep.

"Don't worry Y/N, I will protect you from now on."

San hummed a song before falling asleep by Y/N’s side.

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Chapter 4

I woke up in the same room I felt asleep on. The unusual walls made my heart ache at the thought of what had happened between my father and I. I knew deep inside me that there will be no turning back with my relationship with him but strangely enough, i didn't feel bad about it, I was more concerned about my brother than anything.

"Did you sleep well?"

I looked up and was greeted by this angelical face of his. San was laying on the same bed as me, one of his muscular arm holding my frame tightly. I smiled back and hide my face on his chest, smelling his addictive scent at the same time.

"I did."

It was a weird feeling. I knew almost nothing of San, I met him three times and still... I felt as if I could give him my whole body and soul. I couldn't help but think about what my mom told me when I was still a child.

"Someday you will find someone you can rely on, someone who doesn't need words to know how you feel, someone who understand and cherish you as the most precious thing in the world. You will find this person one day Y/N, I'm sure of it."

My lips came upward in a smile as I remembered my mom's word, they had a new meaning to me since I met San.

His grip tightened a little around me while his other hand was busy, gently petting my hair.

"You are acting like a boyfriend"

"Do you like it?"

"Very much" I smiled, looking fondly at him and before I knew it, San leaned on and kissed me slightly.

His lips felt like feather, there was nothing but sweetness and love in this kiss, his right hand cupped my cheek and rubbed his thumb against the soft skin.

When our lips finally moved apart, I looked up to meet his - oh so lovely - gaze.

"You are so beautiful"

"Say the man whom is beauty itself" I giggled softly.

This moment was almost perfect - almost.

My mind was quick to remember about the bitterness of the situation I was in. I looked down sadly, avoiding San's intrigued eyes.

A lot of questions were running on my mind. What will happen from now on? I was still minor and my dad was stubborn, he would never let me escape from his grasp so easily. How will I survive? I didn't even had enough money to stay on this hotel for more than a week.

Unconsciously, I sighed heavily. San took my chin between his thumb and his index and lift my face towards his.

"What is it?" San asked me in a whisper.

"Did you bring your phone with you? I have to call Hana, she must be worried."

After a few seconds, he nodded and gave me his phone. I entered the familiar number and quickly enough, Hana's voice was heard through the phone.

"Y/N!! Is everything okay? I was worried sick! I thought you were coming early in the morning?" Her voice cracked at the end of her sentence. I frowned my eyebrows. She was whispering yelling and it was odd since she was always a loud girl.

"Sorry, I didn't wake up. Why are you this quiet?" I suspiciously asked.

"Y/N, I don't think you should come here, your father was there one hour ago and he was beyond furious! He threatened me and my family, saying that he will ruin our lives if he find out we are hiding you from him!" She cried out.

This sentence came before a long and heavy silence where no one dared to talk. My mind was processing this new information while my heart was scolding me for bringing my best friend and her family into a delicate situation.

San was quietly listening to our conversation, his right hand on top of mine while his thumb was gently rubbing the back of my hand.. 

"I'm so sorry Hana... I didn't mean to bring you into this mess..." I lowered my voice, guilt eating me alive.

"Hey sweety... It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong but... I don't think this is a good idea to go against your father will. He is really scary."

"Are you telling me to came back home and let my father do everything he wants with me?" My throat felt suddenly dry and my heart heavy in my chest.

No answer.

I knew she was just afraid of what could possibly happen to her and her family, she just wanted to protect her loved ones. However, I couldn't help but feel betrayed. She knew how my father was and how hard it was for me to handle this situation.

"I see. Don't worry for me, I'm gonna find a way." I finally stated with the coldest voice I could muster. I didn't let her the time to give an answer and hung up right away.

I stayed silent for a while and so did San.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally looked up at him and sighed with a small smile "Thank you for what you did to me. I owe you one"

"Why are you talking as if you are going somewhere?" he arched his eyebrows before leaning close to me with his signature smirk of his "I'm not planning to let you go away from me, love."

I gasped in surprise "L-love?" I asked stuttering, embarrassed by this sudden pet name.

"Why are you embarrassed about? We just kissed a few minutes ago"

I avoided his gaze and coughed slightly to get rid of the awkwardness "I can't stay here San... You will be in trouble if my dad find out you helped me and I don't want it to happen."

This time, it was San's turn to sight.

"Y/N. Listen to me. I will let you two choices" I frowned but stayed silent to let him continue "You don't know who I am but I can help you. However I won't take you with me if you don't want to. It's up to you. Do you want to stay with me, where I'll promise to keep you safe by my side, or do you want to go back and be toyed your entire life by your father against your own will?"

Silence again.

His face was serious and his voice demanding, It actually made me think I couldn't choose the latter choice - not that I wanted to choose this option anyway.

"Why are you doing this.. I mean, we don't know much about each other and-"

"Kim Y/N, born in Seoul the 25th September 1999 at 3:48. You like horror movies and all kind of sweets, your mother passed away the 4th June and since then, your father had changed completely, leaving you and your brother behind" San said, never breaking visual contact with me "You are the student with the best grades on your class and you are the teacher's favorite and even though you want to attend the prestigious Seoul national college, you don't know what to do in your life yet"

I was astonished, how did he get all his information?

As if on cue, he slipped a hand in my hair "It's been two years now Y/N, no one know you as much as I do. I know every single details about you but now, I don't want to look at your life from far away, I want to be apart of it" He smiled but frowned as I slowly stepped away from him "were you stalking me all this time?" I asked, heart beating fast.

"Come on, I know you are as obsessed over me as I am over you" He laughed before standing up and quickly doing his hair while looking his own reflect on the mirror “I was there every time you talked to your friend about me”

I watched his every move and couldn’t find anything to say. No matter how crazy it sounded, I knew he was right.

"And how are you gonna help me?"

"Your dad isn't all white, quite the contrary" He said "I know enough to tell him to let you be" He added.

"Are you going to... threaten him?" I looked at him through the mirror.

"Why? You don't want me to?" He smiled at me, his back still facing me.

I took a deep breathe.

"No... He deserves it"

He turned around and came closer to me with the widest smirk.

"So... Are you coming with me?"

I watched as the landscape kept changing from outside the window. The spacious car was moving in slow pace in a part of Seoul I never went in.

I knew it was the beginning of something new but everything seemed so unreal, the only thing that kept me back to reality was the warmth of San's hand intertwining with mine.

I quickly take a glance at the driver, his sharp nose and strong eyes made him look cold, a perfect contrast with his tanned skin. I was surprised by how young he was, probably not much older than San and I and obviously both of them were getting along with each other.

I was so focus on looking at the man and wondering who he was to San that I didn't took notice of my staring until I felt San squeezing my hand.

"Y/N...I'm not sure of how I feel about you looking at another man" He pouted cutely to grab my attention back to him. I laughed lowly and gave him a apologetic look "I'm not sure how I feel about you being jaleous while we are not in an official relationship yet" I smirked at him.

"The kiss wasn't official enough for you?" He smirked back "should I give you an other one then? " He asked, his face coming closer to mine.

His lips ghosted over mine but we were interrupted by a loud cough before we could properly touch each other.

"Please San, can you keep your hands for yourself until you both are alone? I don't especially want to see you guys kiss in the back seat of my car" The driver said in a rather annoyed tone.

"Look who is talking" San scoffed "Should I remind you how many times you made out with your girlfriend in front of me?"

The older man let out a dry laugh, his eyes still on the road.

After a few minutes of a comfortable silencex the driver looked at me from the front mirror.

"Your name is Y/N, right?"

"Yes... And you are..?"

"I'm Seonghwa. Park Seonghwa" He said "I'm glad to meet you, San wouldn't shut up and talk about you every fucking day" He laughed, earning another loud scoff from San.

"Watch your mouth, you are older but I'm still the boss here" San growled.

Suddenly, the car stopped abruptly.

"We safely came back to your home sir~" Seonghwa politely stated, not without a hint of teasing in his voice.

San pulled me out of the car, hand still holding mine firmly. I followed him and looked up at the huge mansion in front of us.

My mouth fell agape, this place was way bigger than mine.

"Welcome to your new house" San smiled.

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We are finally starting to introduce the others members!

Also this chapter is a bit shorter, I didn’t even noticed until I checked the number of words but I thought it was better this way, there was nothing to add since the next chapter was already done lol.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it!

See you next time~

Tag list:

@hijirikaww @pinkchampagne2 @xduygu-arsx @joongiebug @leicy0756

[beemusik]

How David Bowie Invented Ziggy Stardust

Jason Heller’s book Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded is the story of how science fiction influenced the musicians of the Seventies. Out now in hardcover via Melville House, Strange Stars also examines how space exploration, futurism and emerging technology inspired the sometimes-cosmic, sometimes-mechanistic music the decade produced. In this section, Heller delves into the creation of Bowie’s most-famous alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.

A small crowd of sixty or so music fans stood in the dance hall of the Toby Jug pub in Tolworth, a suburban neighborhood in southwest London, on the night of February 10, 1972. The backs of their hands had been freshly stamped by the doorman. A DJ played records to warm up the crowd for the main act. The hall was nothing fancy, little more than “an ordinary function room.” The two-story brick building that housed it – “a gaunt fortress of a pub on the edge of an underpass” – had played host to numerous rock acts over the past few years, including Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, and Fleetwood Mac. Sci-fi music had even graced the otherwise earthy Toby Jug, thanks to recent headliners King Crimson and Hawkwind, and exactly one week earlier, on February 3, the band Stray performed, quite likely playing their sci-fi song “Time Machine.” The concertgoers on the tenth, however, had no idea that they would soon witness the most crucial event in the history of sci-fi music.

Most of them already knew who David Bowie was – the singer who, three years earlier, had sung “Space Oddity,” and who had appeared very seldom in public since, focusing instead on making records that barely dented the charts. His relatively low profile in recent years hadn’t helped his latest single, “Changes,” which had come out in January. Despite its soaring, anthemic sound, it failed to find immediate success in England. But the lyrics of the song seemed to signal an impending metamorphosis, hinted at again in late January when Bowie declared in a Melody Makerinterview, “I’m gay and always have been” and unabashedly predicted, “I’m going to be huge, and it’s quite frightening in a way.” Bowie clearly had a big plan up his immaculately tailored sleeve. But what could it be?

Before Bowie took the stage of the Toby Jug, an orchestral crescendo announced him. It was a recording of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, drawn from the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange. To anyone who’d seen the film, the music carried a sinister feeling, superimposed as it was over Kubrick’s visions of grim dystopia and ultraviolence. Grandiloquence mixed with foreboding, shot through with sci-fi: it couldn’t have been a better backdrop for what the pint-clutching attendees of the Toby Jug were about to behold.

At around 9:00 p.m., the houselights were extinguished. A spotlight sliced the darkness. Bowie took the stage. But was it really him? In a strictly physical sense, it must have been. But this was Bowie as no one had seen him before. His hair – which appeared blond and flowing on the cover of Hunky Dory, released just three months earlier – was now chopped at severe angles and dyed bright orange, the color of a B-movie laser beam. His face was lavishly slathered with cosmetics. He wore a jumpsuit with a plunging neckline, revealing his delicate, bone-pale chest, and his knee-high wrestling boots were fire-engine red. Bowie had never been conservative in dress, but even for him, this was a quantum leap into the unknown.

Then he began to play. His band – dubbed the Spiders from Mars and comprising guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder, and drummer Woody Woodmansey – was lean, efficient, and powerful, clad in gleaming, metallic outfits that mimicked spacesuits, reminiscent of the costumes from the campy 1968 sci-fi romp Barbarella. The Jane Fonda vehicle had been a huge hit in England, and it became a cult film in the United States, thanks to its titillating portrayal of a future where sensuality is rediscovered after a lifetime of sterile, virtual sex.

In the same way, Bowie’s new incarnation was shocking, lurid, and supercharged with sexual energy. Combined with his recent admission of either homosexuality or bisexuality, as he was then married to his first wife, Angela, Bowie’s new persona oozed futuristic mystique, which Bowie biographer David Buckley described as “a blurring of ‘found’ symbols from science fiction – space-age high heels, glitter suits, and the like.”

But what bewitched the audience most was the music. Amid a set of established songs such as “Andy Warhol,” “Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud,” and, naturally, “Space Oddity,” the Spiders from Mars injected a handful of new tunes, including “Hang On to Yourself” and “Suffragette City,” that had yet to appear on record. Propulsive, infectious, and awash in dizzying imagery, this was a new Bowie – cut less from the thoughtful, singer-songwriter mold and more from some new hybrid of thespian rocker and sci-fi myth. These songs bounced off the walls of the Toby Jug’s no-longer-ordinary function room. The audience, whistling and cheering, was entranced. A show eye-popping enough to dazzle an entire arena was being glimpsed in the most intimate of watering holes.

Although the crowd was sparse, people stood on tables and chairs to get the best possible view. The stage was only two feet high, but it may as well have been twenty, or two million – an elevator to outer space designed to launch Bowie into an orbit far more enduring than that of Major Tom in “Space Oddity.”

At some point, amid the swirl and spectacle of the two-hour set, Bowie announced from the stage the name of his new identity: Ziggy Stardust.

Like an artifact from some alien civilization, Bowie’s fifth album, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, was unveiled on June 16, 1972. By then, Ziggy had become a sensation. After the Toby Jug gig in February, concertgoers embraced Bowie’s new persona in music venues around the UK. Attendance swelled each night, as did a growing legion of followers who dressed themselves in homemade approximations of Bowie’s outlandish attire.

Just as the album was released, he and the Spiders appeared on the BBC’s revered Top of the Popsprogram, performing the record’s centerpiece: the song “Starman.” For many of a certain age, watching Bowie on their family’s television that evening was tantamount to the Beatles’ legendary spot on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States eight years earlier. “He was so vivid. So luminous. So fluorescent. We had one of the first color TVs on our street, and David Bowie was the reason to have a color TV,” remembered Bono of U2, who was twelve at the time. “It was like a creature falling from the sky. Americans put a man on the moon. We had our own British guy from space.”

Musically, “Starman” was an exquisite and striking slice of pop songcraft, exactly what Bowie needed at that point in his career. Lyrically, he smuggled in a sci-fi story that centers around Ziggy Stardust, who was both Bowie’s alter ego and the fictional protagonist of the Rise and Fall concept album, as loose as it was in that regard – it is more a fugue of ideas that coalesce into a concept. Through the radio and TV, an alien announces his existence to Earth, which Bowie describes in lovingly rendered sci-fi verse: “A slow voice on a wave of phase.” The young people of the world become enchanted and hope to lure the alien down: “Look out your window, you can see his light /If we can sparkle, he may land tonight.” But that alien is reticent, and his shyness makes him all the more magnetic.

Bowie sang the song on Top of the Pops clad in a multicolored, reptilian-textured jumpsuit, which Melody Maker called, “Vogue’s idea of what the well-dressed astronaut should be wearing.” In that sense, “Starman” is a self-fulfilling prophecy: before he could truly know the impact the song would have, he used it to describe its effect on Great Britain’s young people in perfect detail. He was the starman waiting in the sky, and the kids who saw him on TV soon began to dress like him, hoping to sparkle so that he may land tonight.

If Bowie intended “Starman” to be an overt reference to [Robert A.] Heinlein’s Starman Jones, the book he loved as a kid, he never publicly confessed to it. But the admittedly sketchy story line of Rise and Fall parallels another Heinlein work: Stranger in a Strange Land, the novel that had influenced David Crosby in the ’60s and, later, many other sci-fi musicians of the ’70s. The book’s hero,Valentine Michael Smith, comes to Earth from Mars; in Rise and Fall, Mars is built into the title. And both Valentine and Ziggy become messiahs of a kind – androgynous, libertine heralds of a new age of human awareness. Bowie claimed he’d turned down offers to star in a film production of Stranger in a Strange Land and had few positive words to say about the book, calling it “staggeringly, awesomely trite.” Be that as it may, he clearly had read the book and developed a strong opinion of it – perhaps enough for some of its themes and iconography to seep into his own work.

The opening song of Rise and Fall, “Five Years,” elegiacally delivers a dystopian forecast: the world will end in five years due to a lack of resources, and society is disintegrating into a slow-motion parade of perversity and moral paralysis. It’s a countdown to doomsday, with the clock set at five years. The song’s ominous refrain, “We’ve got five years,” is sung by Bowie with increasing histrionics, his voice sounding more panicked and deranged as he repeats the phrase. “The whole thing was to try and get a mocking angle at the future,” Bowie said in 1972. “If I can mock something and deride it, one isn’t so scared of it” – with “it” being the apocalypse.

“Five Years” set a chilling tone, but Rise and Fall didn’t entirely wallow in it. The coming of an alien rock star named Ziggy Stardust is relayed in a multi-song story that’s equally melancholy and ecstatic, tragic and triumphant. On tracks such as “Moonage Daydream,” “Star,” and “Lady Stardust,” Bowie wields terms such as “ray gun” and “wild mutation.” He also claims, “I’m the space invader,” as though he were channeling the ideas of his sci-fi heroes Stanley Kubrick or William S. Burroughs, particularly the latter’s 1971 novel, The Wild Boys.

As Bowie explained, “It was a cross between [The Wild Boys] and A Clockwork Orange that really started to put together the shape and the look of what Ziggy and the Spiders were going to become. They were both powerful pieces of work, especially the marauding boy gangs of Burroughs’s Wild Boys with their bowie knives. I got straight on to that. I read everything into everything. Everything had to be infinitely symbolic.” The photos of the Spiders from Mars inside the album sleeve of Rise and Fall were even patterned after the gang of Droogs of A Clockwork Orange; Droogs are mentioned by name in the Rise and Fall song “Suffragette City.” Furthermore, Bowie posed on theback cover of the album, peering out of a phone booth – just as though he were that other cryptic British alien who regularly regenerates himself and is often seen in a phone booth (specifically a police call box), the Doctor from Doctor Who.

Bowie also drew from work of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Born Norman Carl Odam, the Texan rockabilly artist released a twangy, oddball 1968 single titled “I Took a Trip (On a Gemini Spaceship)” that Bowie wound up covering in 2002; it was from Odam that Bowie borrowed Ziggy’s surname. And after going on a record-buying spree while touring the United States in 1971, he bought Fun House by the Michigan proto-punk band the Stooges, whose outrageous lead singer was named Iggy Pop. He jotted down ideas on hotel stationary while traveling the States, resulting in a name that was a mash-up of Iggy Pop and the Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Ziggy Stardust was a fabricated rock star, one whose sleek facade flew in the face of the era’s reigning rock aesthetic of laid-back, unpretentious authenticity. Instead, Bowie wanted to puncture that illusion by taking rock showmanship to a previously unseen, self-referential extreme.

When it came to Bowie’s urge toward collage and deconstruction, Burroughs remained a prime inspiration. A pioneer of postmodern sci-fi pastiche as well as the literary cut-up technique, in which snippets of text were randomly rearranged to form a new syntax, Burroughs straddled both pulp sci-fi and the avant-garde, exactly the same liminal space Bowie now occupied. Rock critic Lester Bangs accused Bowie of “trying to be George Orwell and William Burroughs” while dismissing him as appearing to be “deposited onstage after seemingly being dipped in vats of green slime and pursued by Venusian crab boys” – a description that sounded like it could have been cribbed straight from a Burroughs book.

In 1973, Burroughs met Bowie in the latter’s London home. The meeting was arranged by A. Craig Copetas from Rolling Stone, and the resulting exchange was published in the magazine a few months later. In the article, Copetas observed that Bowie’s house was “decorated in a science-fiction mode,” and that Bowie greeted them “wearing three-tone NASA jodhpurs.” The ensuing conversation ranged across many topics, but it circled around science fiction – and in particular, the similarity Bowie saw between Rise and Fall and Burroughs’s 1964 novel Nova Express, a surreal sci-fi parable about mind control and the tyranny of language.

In an effort to convince Burroughs of the similarity, Bowie offered one of the most revealing analyses of Rise and Fall as a work of science fiction:

“The time is five years to go before the end of the Earth. It has been announced that the world will end because of a lack of natural resources. Ziggy is in a position where all the kids have access to things that they thought they wanted. The older people have all lost touch with reality, and the kids are left on their own to plunder anything. Ziggy was in a rock & roll band, and the kids no longer wanted to play rock & roll. There’s no electricity to play it.”

Bowie went on:

“[The environmental apocalypse] does not cause the end of the world for Ziggy. The end comes when the infinites arrive. They really are a black hole, but I’ve made them people because it would be very hard to explain a black hole onstage.”

Curiously, it took him another twenty-six years before casually revealing in an interview that a sci-fi song called “Black Hole Kids” was recorded as an outtake during the sessions for Rise and Fall. He called the song “fabulous,” adding, “I have no idea why it wasn’t on the original album. Maybe I forgot.”

But Bowie dropped the biggest revelation about Rise and Fallin the 1973 conversation with Burroughs. Ziggy Stardust, according to his creator, is not an alien himself; instead, he’s an earthling who makes contact with extra-dimensional beings, who then use him as a charismatic vessel for their own nefarious invasion plan. But like Frankenstein’s monster being erroneously called “Frankenstein” to the point where it seems senseless to quibble with that usage, Ziggy Stardust continues to be widely considered the alien entity of Rise and Fall. Considering the shifting identity and gender of Bowie’s most famous alter ego, that ambiguity may well have been his intention. Talking to Burroughs, he ultimately labels Rise and Fall “a science-fiction fantasy of today” before reiterating its similarity to Nova Express, to which Burroughs responds, “The parallels are definitely there.”

Rise and Fall has always been as fluid as Bowie’s facade itself. Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion cast a shadow over Ziggy Stardust, especially the glammy incarnation of the many-faced character known as Jerry Cornelius – who was adapted to the big screen in 1973 for the feature film The Final Programme. It coincided with Ziggy’s own ascendency, not to mention the New Wave of Science Fiction and its preference for fractured narratives and multiple interpretations over linear stories and pat endings.

During their mutual interview, Burroughs brought up the then-current rumor that Bowie might play Valentine Michael Smith in a film adaptation of Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land. Bowie again dismissed it. “It seemed a bit too flower-powery, and that made me a bit wary.” For his part, Bowie’s fellow sci-fi musician Mick Farren of the Deviants later admitted he always thought Michael Valentine Smith was a major influence on Ziggy Stardust. “I was certain someone would call him out for plagiarism,” Farren said. “Nobody did.”

Bowie may have denied his affinity for Stranger in a Strange Land by his boyhood go-to author Heinlein, but he was not shy about professing his love for one of the authors Lester Bangs compared him to: George Orwell. Almost as a footnote, Bowie told Burroughs, “Now I’m doing Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four on television.” That project would never come to pass, but it would lay the groundwork for his next, less famous sci-fi concept album – a jagged, atmospheric song cycle that plunged Bowie into the darkest extremes of dystopia.

[curatedkmen]

“Closer”

2019

“Have you read the script?” Manager Hong had just entered the meeting room at Salt headquarters and Seonho was sitting there alone with his iced Americano, reading a script.

“Oh yeah I’m reading it right now” he has been reading the script for over an hour now and so far he really likes how the story develops and the character that he will be playing, Ko Jiseok.

He has been working on TV for around 3 years at now and he has never played as the first male lead. He never complained though, he fully appreciates every work that has been given to him. For him, every role is interesting and every work should be considered as part of a learning process. However, he has also been acting for almost 10 years now so he couldn't help but get extra excited when he first heard that he finally got an offer as the first male lead in a drama. He had read the script before finally accepting the offer and today he just got the rest of the episodes from the drama script and decided to continue reading it.

“Have you heard about the female lead?” manager Hong asked again.

“Like heard from you or from our CEO? Nope I haven’t” he answered while still reading the script.

“No I mean, don’t you read the news or something?”

Seonho finally raised his head and looked at his manager for the first time in 15 minutes since she entered the room. He let out a small chuckle, “which one? The Moon Geunyoung one? Hahaha” he laughed and took a sip of his iced Americano again. Seonho knew that there were a lot of rumors of which actress was gonna take the offer as the female lead in Catch The Ghost. He also was very well aware that such rumours are usually wrong that in the end another actress or actors other than the one being rumoured is gonna be the one who takes the role. So when he heard about the rumour, that Moon Geunyoung, the nation’s little sister of South Korea was going to play alongside him, a 3 year old television rookie, he just shrugged it off.

Manager Hong just sat there looking at him in disbelief, the fuck is wrong with this guy.

“Yeah the Moon Geunyoung one. She accepted the offer already”

Seonho choked on his drink the moment Manager Hong answered his question. WTF?!

I mean I would love to act with her. She is such a legendary actress and all but this can't be real what if…. I mean she can’t still remember me now can’t she? It has been 10 years? Well unless I count that 2016 incident another meeting so it has been 3 years but still how did this happen?!!

“Wait wait wait wait” he decided to open his mouth to help him digest the information he just received. “When?” He tried so hard to stay calm despite being overly excited but nervous at the same time, he felt like he could explode at that moment.  

“When did she accept? Like a week ago”

He closed his eyes and he let out a loud sigh, he was trying so hard not to yell out of frustration. Manager Hong couldn’t help but laugh at the sight in front of her.

He finally spoke in a low voice, trying to sound as patient as possible, “My Dongsaeng~ you knew about this a week ago so why didn’t you tell me A WEEK AGO?!”

Manager Hong knew right away when Seonho called her Dongsaeng that the guy is frustrated with her. He never got mad at all, which is why she loves to tease him because he would just get frustrated alone and it is so fun to watch.

“You were busy with shoots and you had that family trip with your mom and dad, I didn’t want you to lose focus and of course I did not want to bother your family time with any work related news. Besides, it’s not that urgent”

Seonho closed his eyes and let out a loud-frustrated-sigh for the second time.

“What’s the big deal Oppa? You’re gonna act with Moon Geunyoung! The nation’s little sister for your first drama as first male lead! Isn’t this amazing? I am so excited for you,” as manager Hong talked she was looking at Seonho and the boy had this blank stare in his eyes, “Oppa?! Hello Seonho Oppa?”

Seonho finally snapped back to reality and answered, “Yeah of course it’s amazing. I just, I needed to prepare myself Hong Yoon-ah”

“Yeah right you got like 2 months to prepare dude, chill. Or are you hiding something from me right now?”

Seonho got flustered by the question. Suddenly the memory from 10 years ago flashed back upon his eyes and just the glimpse of it made his face warm. He couldn’t bring himself to tell the truth of what happened 10 years ago and so he decided to just lie.

“You know she’s a legendary actress and I am such a huge fan of her. Also this is my first lead drama project, I would want to give a good impression to her of course. I don't want to make any mistake.”

“You are like one of the most thoughtful guys I have ever met in my life, you got this. Besides the first script reading is still in a week. You have some time to prepare. I love to tease you but I am not stupid you know”

“Right,” Seonho answered her before his eyes made its way back to the script. He brought the script closer to his face so Hong Yoon wouldn't notice his facial expression and he stared at it blankly. Fuck.

2010

Last night, one of his friends contacted him and asked if he would be interested to watch “Closer” together with him. At first Seonho was too lazy to come but when he heard the Moon Geunyoung was the one who played Alice in the play he mediately said yes. It was June and he had just finished his second play that year, a month before, he received his enlistment letter and now he has only one month before he finally enlisted. He just started to do plays only for a year and he has been enjoying it so far.

The play “Closer” is such a legendary play from the UK that he has heard so much before. He had never seen the play but he saw the movie once when he was in high school. He still remembered the dialogues from the movies and how he liked it. He still thinks that the characters portrayed in Closer were very intriguing and complicated that he remembers to be confused of whom he should be sympathized with when he first saw it.

That evening, Seonho and his friend lined up at the entrance while both holding the ticket to the play.

“Moon Geunyoung is so pretty damn. I feel like it was only yesterday that I saw her in Autumn in My Heart. Remember when we used to watch all of her movies back in high school?” said Seonho’s friend.

“As if, she is only a year younger than us. But yeah I remember, she is even prettier now,” Seonho answered his friend while looking at the poster hung up at the entrance. Deep down inside he relates to what his friend said. He couldn't believe that the Moon Geunyoung is now all grown up.

They finally entered the auditorium after awhile. The seats were packed with audiences, thankfully both of them got the perfect seats in the middle row. Not long after the play finally started.

When Geunyoung finally entered the stage, he almost could not believe his own eyes. The nation’s little sister whom he saw a lot on tv since he was a kid has now bloomed into such a beautiful young lady, standing on stage with her mini black dress, looking very mature and sexy. While holding a beer in her hand, she delivered her lines perfectly and seductively to his opposing actor. She smiled, laughed, cried, yelled, threw tantrums on stage and it was all delivered beautifully. Seonho was instantly stunned by her beauty and of course by her mature acting.

For god sake, why is she acting with this old guy, Um Ki Joon, for such an intense play like this. He mumbled inside.

She plays Alice, a young stripper who ends up dating Dan, an aspiring writer. The two of them later on got entangled in a complicated love story with Larry and Anna.

Seonho continued to be in awe for the whole 1 hour and 30 minutes not only because he finally got to see that legendary play that he had been curious for so long, but he fell even harder for Geunyoung’s charm on stage. Although during the play, he also could not help but get a little bit hard while watching Geunyoung kissing that guy on stage. After the play ended and he exited the auditorium, that image of Geunyoung in that dress still lingered in his mind.

“Wanna get drinks?” Seonho asked his friend.

“Sorry bro, I have this date with that girl I met at the club last week”

“Oh well, good luck. I’ll just drink alone, all by myself when it is my enlistment next month it’s okay mean friend” “Come on man, I’m sorry. I’ll treat you for a drink tomorrow”

“Hahahah I’m just joking. Go, your date is waiting” “Alright, bye. Talk to you soon!”

After they parted ways, Seonho found himself walking towards a nearby jazz club that he just discovered a few months ago. The bar is in a secluded area with no sign in front of it, unless anyone told you that it is a bar then no one would have guessed it. One of his theatre friends actually told him about this bar. The owner used to be a lighting director of plays where he worked at the auditorium Seonho just visited. Now he has retired and opened a jazz club instead where actors, actresses and theatre crews have drinks after they finished their play.

He made his way to the bar and ordered his usual. He greeted the owner once he saw him.

“Are you alone?” the owner asked.

“Yes Sajangnim, my friend ditched me for his date”

“I can always accompany you here. Did you just come back from practice or what?” “No, I just watched that play “Closer.” I have no more plays Sajangnim, I am going to the military soon” Seonho answered him while sipping his drinks.

The atmosphere of the jazz club that night was quite calm. With jazz music playing in the background and just a few people were having drinks on the table behind him. He was alone by himself at the bar. Few moments later, someone sat beside him and ordered a drink. He couldn’t look at her face but she smelled nice like a woody and flowery scent mixed with sweat.

Her drinks came but she was too busy taking off her scarf and putting things inside her purse so when she was finally done, she accidentally grabbed Seonho’s glass instead of hers before she finally realized that her glass drink was there, closer to her purse.

“Oh I am sorry” she said.

“It’s okay” Seonho answered her while finally looking at the woman beside him.

There she was. Moon Geunyoung. The woman he just saw on stage earlier. The women that he couldn’t get out of his mind since he left the auditorium 30 minutes ago.

Seonho was flustered so he quickly turned his head back to the racks of drinks in front of him. He did not want Geunyoung to see his cheek got red.

“Geunyoung-ssi, how was your play? My friend here just came from watching it” the Sajangnim suddenly jumped in the conversation while pointing his fingers to Seonho. Seonho sat there bewildered at the fact that Sajangnim knew Geunyoung and would just strike a conversation like this. Seonho also lowkey cursed him inside for dragging him into their conversation.

“Oh really? How did you like it?” Geunyoung answered him while looking at Seonho who just sipped his drinks because he felt thirsty all of the sudden. He tried to control himself because he almost choked when he realized that Geunyoung was now talking to him.

“Oh um I really liked it. I loved it so much. I am also a theatre actor and I have always been interested to watch “Closer” on stage. You did really well, Geunyoung-ssi” ah shit why did I say Geunyoung-ssi? Do I have to pretend to not know her? Does she think I am a freak now?

“That is very sweet of you, thank you….” she paused and raised her palm halfway toward  Seonho, waiting for him to tell her his name.

“Oh it’s Seonho.”

“Thank you Seonho-ssi. I am glad that you liked it. It was my first stage play so I was very nervous. You’re an actor so I trust your opinion.” she said it while smiling at Seonho.

Seonho just smiled back at her. He did not know what to say. He still could not believe that he had just talked to Moon Geunyoung. The actress. No matter how many times he replayed the sentence in his head he still could not believe it. He also could not believe that Moon Geunyoung would go to a club alone by herself after her performance. Shouldn’t she go anywhere with her manager and bunch of bodyguards?

He had so many questions popped up in his head but he was just too nervous to say anything to the woman beside him.

They both drank in silence for 5 minutes while listening to the music until Geunyoung broke the silence.

“So you’re a theatre actor? Which play have you done? Maybe I have seen it?” Geunyoung asked. She knew deep down she couldn’t possibly have watched his play. She has been so busy with work since she was in junior high school, she barely had time to do anything she likes. That night was an exception since she actually had a dinner with her agency’s CEO to discuss work but he cancelled so she could sneak out from her manager and went to this jazz club instead.

“I just started last year with “New Boeing Boeing” and I just finished my play for this year “Rooftop House Cat”. But it is a small play, you can’t possibly have seen it” Seonho answered her question, trying so hard to stay calm.

“Right I have not, but i would love to see your play some time. I actually enjoy watching plays a lot but I couldn't find the time. When is your next one?”

“Ah it’s um, my next one is probably going to be in 2 years. I will enlist next month hahaha” Seonho let out an awkward laugh. He did not know why he did that but he just did. He was just too nervous. FOR FUCK SAKE MOON GEUNYOUNG WANTS TO WATCH MY PLAY BUT I AM GOING TO THE MILITARY FUCK YOU GOVERNMENT.

“Aw that’s too bad, but 2 years is not a long time, I’ll watch your play later in 2012.” Geunyoung answered while sipping her drinks and smiling sweetly at Seonho. He felt like he could pass out right there seeing her smiling like that.

Geunyoung was still wearing her dress that she wore on stage as Alice. She was only covering it up with a black jeans jacket and a scarf when she entered the room but now that she took it off, she was only wearing the black mini dress. She had tied her hair up, showing her bare neck even more and Seonho tried so hard to stop himself from looking at her collarbone.

“For real?” “Yeah of course! Why not? You watched my play, in turn I should watch yours. I am sure you’re great. So how did you decide to be a stage actor?”

Seonho was stunned at her sudden question. It finally felt like her question was a little bit personal than the previous ones. He was going to answer her but he always felt a little bit embarrassed to talk about anything related to his dreams. He feared that the word that came out and the reality in the future might not be as pretty as he imagined it to be.

“I am actually an introverted person, I used to have a hard time speaking in front of the public, it just always gives me a sudden anxiety. During my second year in university, one of my friends actually introduced me to the theatre club and I started to first help out with the staging and script writing then soon I began to act in small roles and slowly I got trusted with bigger roles and I loved it since then. I loved that I could act as different characters, not be myself for a while and suddenly my fear of standing and speaking in front of the public is long gone. I guess when I abandon my real identity on stage, I also abandon my fear and now acting has been a new part of me.”

When Seonho finally stopped talking, he realized he probably had been talking too much and he just realized that those beautiful eyes had been staring at him while he was talking.

“Sorry if I talked too much,” Seonho said right away.

“No, no, no, please. I love to hear more. It’s always nice to talk to strangers about your struggles you know. Sometimes they give better reactions than your close ones.”

Seonho, again, stunned by her reaction. Why does it feel like she is lonely in her world?

Seonho did not know how to respond to her comment and so he just stared at her beautiful eyes until she spoke again, “I am sorry Seonho-ssi if I asked something too personal. I didn’t mean to offend you or anything,” before Seonho got the chance to even open his mouth, Geunyoung added, “why do we keep apologizing to each other, we didn’t do anything wrong hahaha” followed by a laughter. Her laughing face, her hand tucking a few strands of her hair to the back of her ear, he felt like seeing everything suddenly move in slow motion. Get yourself together Kim Seonho, what are you doing?

Seonho couldn’t help it but also laughed at her words, “Right, what’s wrong with us, hahaha.”

For a moment he felt like he could relate to her so much, like he saw himself in her. He did not know exactly why. 40 minutes ago he was just watching Moon Geunyoung the famous actress on stage and now suddenly he is in a bar having drinks while talking to her. He wondered how he could suddenly feel this intense connection with her.

“If I may ask..” he paused half way, hesitating as to whether he should ask her the question in his head or not. The woman noticed his hesitation so she went ahead and said, “yeah go ahead, you can ask me anything.”

“How does it feel to, I guess, having your dreams settled since you were young?”

The question that Seonho asked was unlike any other question that she had ever received before. Everyone always asked something similar like, “have you always wanted to be an actress?” “How do you like your job in acting?”

“Well uhm, I have always been grateful to be able to do acting since I was little. It has always been my dream since I was 9 or 10 years old. But nowadays, it feels like I have nothing to chase anymore. When people around my age had just started to achieve their dream and got excited about it, they got really excited about their adult life, while I have been living in mine for 10 years yet I am still so young. I don’t know what moves me anymore. I don't wanna be ungrateful but that is how I truly feel inside.”

Seonho, of course, could not relate to anything she just said. He spent his life up until that day just like any other normal person. Grew up with his family, went to school, had a lot of memories with friends and such. He was confused about choosing his major for university until he finally got interested in acting, fell in love with it and he had now only started to build his dream. He had not yet lived in it. So he could understand when she said that “people around my age had just started to achieve their dream,” because he is those people. He was still so excited with what life has to offer and Geunyoung is only a year younger than him.

“You know you can always have more than one dream. Right? I mean life is long enough to tie us into just having one dream and now that you have achieved one, you can always choose another dream. Just go crazy!” Seonho said that while smiling brightly at Geunyoung, the girl could not help but smiled back at him.

“Of course! That makes sense. I want to travel the world, I want to see penguins in Ushuaia, I want to try to live in New York for a short while, I want to… god yeah there are so many things to do. You’re right”

“Right? Wait before you continue, where is that penguin place Ushukai?”

“Ushuaia, it’s a city in Argentina where you can see penguins in their natural habitat. Actually it’s called “End of the World'' because it is located at the Southernmost tip of South America.” Seonho looked at her passionately and talked about her dreams while smiling, he felt like he kinda brought a smile back to her face as she looked a bit gloomy while answering his first question.

“Sure, go see penguins, go to New York, go ….. Uhm what else? Go dive in the ocean and see turtles hahaha. Just do whatever it is that makes you happy.”

“You’re right Seonho-ssi. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being nice”

“Of course, Geunyoung-ssi. Anytime”

They continued to talk for another hour, Geunyoung even ordered another drink after she finished her first glass. He could not possibly order another one since he had a pretty low alcohol tolerance. He did not want to do anything stupid in front of this beautiful women in front of him. Although at that time, he was already a little bit tipsy.

While they were still talking, Seonho caught a glimpse of a few people at the entrance. They had been standing there for around 10 minutes but did not actually enter the club. Some of them had a camera on and he just got a hunch that they might be Geunyoung’s fans. because Geunyoung was sitting facing him, her back was facing the club’s entrance so she her face could not be seen from the outside,

“Geunyoung-ssi, why do I feel like those people outside might be your fans?” Seonho said while trying his best to not be obvious from looking at those people outside.

Out of reflect, Geunyoung immediately turned his head to see what Seonho was talking about. Seonho immediately grabbed Geunyoung’s chin made her face him again  before she managed to turn her head fully towards the entrance of the club. As soon as he realized what he was doing he immediately let go of his hand and his face turned even redder now from the alcohol and from touching Geunyoung’s face, “sorry, I just, I thought it’s better if they don’t see you because you know. I am sorry I didn’t mean to-”  

“No no no you’re right, it was stupid of me to just turned around. It’s okay, thank you” Geunyoung cut him because she did not want to make the boy feel bad. She knew he did not mean to cross the line or anything, but he looked so nervous and a bit embarrassed after he suddenly grabbed her chin.

“shit what do I do now. I’m gonna be so dead if they took a picture of me” Geunyoung let out her concerns.

“Sajangnim, isn’t there any back exit here?” Seonho asked the owner.

“Not from this floor, you can go upstairs and take the fire escape to go down. The building is strange, I know, but that is your best shot. Let me apologize to you Geunyoung-ssi, usually this area is safe from random fans like that. I don’t know what happened today”

“No worries Sajangnim. It happens” Geunyoung assured the owner to not feel bad.

“It’s okay I can help get you out from here Geunyoung-ssi” Seonho blurted out suddenly. He was already a little bit drunk at that time but thankfully he did stop drinking after just one glass of scotch so he could still totally run and helped Geunyoung escape the club. Geunyoung on the other hand, had a pretty high alcohol tolerance so she was still very much on alert.

“Thank you so much,” Geunyoung answered while putting on her jacket and gathered her stuff.

“You can just follow me” Seonho said as he stood up and walked in front of her. Geunyoung followed him from behind and both of them took the stairs to the second floor. When they finally arrived at the door, Seonho went ahead and opened the door, “I will go down first just in case you slipped out or anything.”

Seonho safely went down first, “give me your purse” Geunyoung threw her purse towards Seonho so she could go down easily, “don’t worry I’m standing right below you. Just take your time.”

Geunyoung slowly went down the fire escape and when she was about to hit the last step, she missed it, thankfully Seonho was there, so he held her waist and she fell back to Seonho’s chest instead, “You okay?” she was practically in Seonho’s embrace for a split second her hair touched Seonho’s nose and in that moment he could smell her woody-floral scent mixed with her sweat even more which drove him crazy. He couldn’t tell anymore if he was drunk from her smell or from the alcohol he had earlier.  

“Yes, thank you.” Geunyoung answered hurriedly while looking down and pretending to fox her mini dress because she felt her face suddenly get warm.

“Okay so how-” Seonho was just about to ask how she is gonna get home but both of them heard a bunch of people talking from the direction of the entrance of the club, “I am sure it was Geunyoung unnie you know” as they both looked at the direction of the voice, they could see one of the fans had walked towards where they both was standing.

Without wasting any second, Seonho grabbed her hand and took her inside a small alley between the club and the building behind it. The alley was so small it barely fits the two of them there. They both stood facing each other with his chest glued to hers. Everytime she breathed, he could feel her chest moving, the same goes to Geunyoung. Fuck me. I can feel her breathing right on my chest please dear god please save me from any trouble. My dick better not be doing anything stupid for fuck sake.

Seonho did not know where to look, he looked towards the right at the street to see if those fans were still around, but nothing in sight. He then turned left to see whether there’s another way that they could escape, but the alley was a dead end. When he turned around, his lips brushed her forehead because they were standing so close to each other.

Geunyoung was a bit frightened and overwhelmed with the whole situation that she rested her head on Seonho’s chest while trying to catch the breath.  Seonho closed his eyes at the whole situation, he was too overwhelmed with having Geunyoung literally glued to his body and now her head was resting on top of his chest. He rested his head to the wall, praying his dick wouldn’t get hard during this very critical time.

As they were still standing, they could hear the fans voice getting closer from where they were.

“Did you call the taxi already?”

“Yeah, he is gonna come soon. I already said to pick us up here”

Apparently those fans were waiting for their taxi from the side building of the club. Meaning that Seonho and Geunyoung would not be able to go out until those fans left.

Both of them were standing at the back of a bunch of used street signs that were thrown away in that alley so no one could barely see them behind those signs.

Seonho was still in his own madness from having Geunyoung breathed against his chest. They were silent for so long until he broke the silence, “are you okay?”

Geunyoung raised her head and looked at Seonho in the eye, “Yes.”

“Okay good.”

Right after he finished his answer, Geunyoung clasped Seonho’s head and brought his face closer to her face until her lips touched his.

At that time, Geunyoung did not know what was going on with herself. She had just met this guy, Kim Seonho, for the first time and as a celebrity she should be careful with meeting strangers but she just felt like she trusted him. She enjoyed their conversation in the bar, she felt like someone understood her and she has not felt that way for a long time.

She did not know if it was the alcohol kicking in or the loneliness or the fact that this Kim Seonho guy is so handsome and polite, but she just couldn’t control herself.

She started out slowly, kissing the top of his lips and pressing her lips against his. Seonho was taken aback that he just stood still not moving his lips against hers whatsoever. Geunyoung continued to kiss him deeper, now she put her other hand on top of her hand to get him closer to her face. Seonho noticed how the girl in front of him was kissing him hungrily and at that time, he could not think straight anymore he then went ahead and kissed her back. He put his hand at the back of her waist and brought her body even closer to him, as if they were not already feeling each other's breath since 15 minutes ago.

The kiss became deeper and hotter as his hand went down behind her mini dress and squeezed her ass. She reacted to Seonho’s touch by letting out a small moan inside his mouth as she brought her body even closer to Seonho and she could feel the boy got hard against her lower stomach. She continued to kiss him and raised one of her legs half way up so the boy could get better access to squeeze her ass. They finally stopped for a while to catch their breath and Seonho just went straight to her collar bone, sucking it so hard that Geunyoung could not help but let out a moan. He did not want the fans to hear them so he closed her mouth with his hand as he continued to kiss, bite and suck on the girl’s neck while still squeezing her ass. Geunyoung was having a hard time staying quiet as she felt all this sensation from her neck and her ass. She thought maybe it’s better that they just kiss so his mouth would shut her up from moaning and so she put her hands on Seonho’s ears and brought the boy’s lips back to hers. They continued to deepen the kiss and groped each other's body. Geunyoung’s legs are now completely wrapped around Seonho’s hip and she could feel his hardness rubbing against her. She then pushed her hip against his hard dick and Seonho let out a moan for the first time inside her mouth. The guy was already about to lose it when they were still in their full clothing. He then slipped his hand inside Geunyoung’s panties. He was ready to make her feel good inside. As he did that, Geunyoung whispered between their  kisses, “yes,” before continuing to kiss him relentlessly again.  When his fingers finally arrived at the spot, he noticed that the girl was already so wet. He inserted his three fingers inside and started moving it gently. He could feel Geunyoung shivers in pleasure every time he moved his fingers. As he continued to pleasuring her she grabbed his hair and bit his lower lip, to prevent herself from letting out a loud moan, “you’re so good fuck. I’m so close.” Seonho did not answer to what she said, he was still losing his mind. He was too horny, drunk and he was focusing on pleasuring the woman in front of him. Her low moan inside his mouth in between their kisses was like a drug to his ears. He couldn’t believe he was fingering the nation’s little sister in an alley. The actress that he just got to know her name an hour ago. Not long after, she stopped kissing him and put her head back to the wall behind her, pulling Seonho’s head as well as his tongue was still inside her and her hands were still grabbing his hair tightly, she came and he could feel her warm cum all over his fingers.  They were both catching their breaths with Seonho burying his nose against her neck and Geunyoung resting her chin on top of his broad shoulders when her phone rang. He dropped her slowly as she took her phone inside her purse.  “Hello? Yes I am still in that club. I was avoiding some fans so if you could turn around and pick me up from the back side of the building that would be great.” Seonho was standing beside her, looking down and his hard dick. Can you calm down now? Please. You’re not getting it tonight.  He did not realize for how long they were making out in that alley but he realized then that there were no sounds of the fans anymore. They probably went home already.     “So that was my manager. He’s just turning the car around, she’ll be here soon.” Geunyoung said as she fixed her hair and outfit from all the grabbing earlier. “That’s great. I think the fans are gone already.” “Thank you for saving me today.”  “Sure, I mean, of course, don’t mention it.”  He understood it as she was thanking him for saving her from her fans but what she actually meant was for being a gentleman throughout the evening. She was anxious with her first theatre play and she was not in her right mind, running away from her manager and had a drink alone in a club. She surely never had a stranger whom she met for the first time kissed her, let alone put his fingers inside her but there she was, standing in front of that handsome stranger.  Her phone rang and both knew that she had to leave. She took a step forward towards him, put her hand behind his neck and went for a goodbye kiss. They had been kissing for god knows how many minutes but still, when she kissed him again after their make out session, he still got that butterflies in his stomach and so was she. She then parted from the kiss and walked away towards her car. 

[emerald-studies]

The complex Nina Simone

“Born Eunice Kathleen Waymon in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21st, 1933, Nina’s prodigious talent as a musician was evident early on when she started playing piano by ear at the age of three. Her mother, a Methodist minister, and her father, a handyman and preacher himself, couldn’t ignore young Eunice’s God-given gift of music. Raised in the church on the straight and narrow, her parents taught her right from wrong, to carry herself with dignity, and to work hard. She played piano – but didn’t sing – in her mother’s church, displaying remarkable talent early in her life. Able to play virtually anything by ear, she was soon studying classical music with an Englishwoman named Muriel Mazzanovich, who had moved to the small southern town. It was from these humble roots that Eunice developed a lifelong love of Johann Sebastian Bach, Chopin, Brahms, Beethoven and Schubert.After graduating valedictorian of her high school class, the community raised money for a scholarship for Eunice to study at Julliard in New York City before applying to the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Her family had already moved to the City Of Brotherly Love, but Eunice’s hopes for a career as a pioneering African American classical pianist were dashed when the school denied her admission. To the end, she herself would claim that racism was the reason she did not attend. While her original dream was unfulfilled, Eunice ended up with an incredible worldwide career as Nina Simone – almost by default.

 One fateful day in 1954, looking to supplement her income, Eunice auditioned to sing at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Word spread about this new singer and pianist who was dipping into the songbooks of Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, and the like, transforming popular tunes of the day into a unique synthesis of jazz, blues, and classical music. Her rich, deep velvet vocal tones, combined with her mastery of the keyboard, soon attracted club goers up and down the East Coast. In order to hide the fact that she was singing in bars, Eunice’s mother would refer to the practice as “working in the fires of hell”, overnight Eunice Waymon became Nina Simone by taking the nickname “Nina” meaning “little one” in Spanish and “Simone” after the actress Simone Signoret.At the age of twenty-four, Nina came to the attention of the record industry. After submitting a demo of songs she had recorded during a performance in New Hope, Pennsylvania, she was signed by Syd Nathan, owner of the Ohio-based King Records (home to James Brown), to his Jazz imprint, Bethlehem Records. The boisterous Nathan had insisted on choosing songs for her debut set, but eventually relented and allowed Nina to delve in the repertoire she had been performing at clubs up and down the eastern seaboard. One of Nina’s stated musical influences was Billie Holiday and her inspired reading of “Porgy” (from “Porgy & Bess”) heralded the arrival of a new talent on the national scene. At the same mammoth 13 hour session in 1957, recorded in New York City, Nina also cut “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” previously recorded by Nate King Cole, Count Basie, and Woody Herman. The song was used by Chanel in a perfume commercial in Europe in the 1980’s and it became a massive hit for Nina, a British chart topper at #5, and thus a staple of her repertoire for the rest of her career.

Nina Simone’s stay with Bethlehem Records was short lived and in 1959, after moving to New York City, she was signed by Joyce Selznik, the eastern talent scout for Colpix Records, a division of Columbia Pictures. Months after the release of her debut LP for the label (1959‘s The Amazing Nina Simone), Nina was performing at her first major New York City venue, the mid-Manhattan-located Town Hall. Sensing that her live performances would capture the essential spontaneity of her artistry, Colpix opted to record her September 12, 1959 show. “You Can Have Him,” a glorious torch song previously cut by Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald, was one of the highlights of the evening. The song opened with a dazzling keyboard arpeggio that would become her signature for decades. So momentous was the Town Hall performance that it inspired some of the same musicians, featuring the vocals of Nina’s only daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, to do a tribute to a sold out audience over forty five years later.As Nina’s reputation as an engaging live performer grew, it wasn’t long before she was asked to perform at the prestigious Newport Jazz Festival. Accompanied on the June 30th, 1960 show by Al Schackman, a guitarist who would go on to become Nina’s longest-running musical colleague, bassist Chris White, and drummer Bobby Hamilton, the dynamic show was recorded by the Colpix. The subsequent release in 1961 of the old blues tune “Trouble In Mind” as a single gave Nina her third charted record.Her stay with Colpix resulted in some wonderful albums – nine in all – included Nina’s version of Bessie Smith’s blues classic “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out.” Issued as a single in 1960, it became Nina’s second charted Pop and R&B hit and one of two Colpix tracks to achieve such a feat during her five year stint with the label. Other stand out tracks from that era were the soulful song “Cotton Eyed Joe,” the torch tune “The Other Women,” and the Norwegian folk rendition of “Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair” – all beautiful examples of Nina Simone at her storytelling best, painting a vivid picture with her skill as a lyrical interpreter. During this time with the label, Nina recorded one civil rights song, Oscar Brown Jr.’s “Brown Baby,” which was included on her fifth album for the label, At The Village Gate.“Critics started to talk about what sort of music I was playing,” writes Nina in her 1991 autobiography I Put A Spell On You, “and tried to find a neat slot to file it away in. It was difficult for them because I was playing popular songs in a classical style with a classical piano technique influenced by cocktail jazz. On top of that I included spirituals and children’s song in my performances, and those sorts of songs were automatically identified with the folk movement. So, saying what sort of music I played gave the critics problems because there was something from everything in there, but it also meant I was appreciated across the board – by jazz, folk, pop and blues fans as well as admirers of classical music.” Clearly Nina Simone was not an artist who could be easily classified.

Nina’s Colpix recordings cemented her appeal to a nightclub based U.S. audience. Once she moved to Phillips, a division of Dutch-owned Mercury Records, she was ready to expand her following globally. Her first LP for the label, 1964’s In Concert, signaled Nina’s undaunted stand for freedom and justice for all, stamping her irrevocably as a pioneer and inspirational leader in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Her own original “Mississippi Goddam” was banned throughout the South but such a response made no difference in Nina’s unyielding commitment to liberty; subsequent groundbreaking recordings for Philips like “Four Women” (recorded September 1965) and “Strange Fruit” continued to keep Nina in the forefront of the few performers willing to use music as a vehicle for social commentary and change. Such risks were seldom taken by artists during that time of such dramatic civil upheaval.For years, Nina felt there was much about the way that she made her living that was less than appealing. One gets a sense of that in the following passage from I Put A Spell on You where she explains her initial reluctance to perform material that was tied to the Civil Rights Movement.“Nightclubs were dirty, making records was dirty, popular music was dirty and to mix all that with politics seemed senseless and demeaning. And until songs like ‘Mississippi Goddam’ just burst out of me, I had musical problems as well. How can you take the memory of a man like [Civil Rights activist] Medgar Evers and reduce all that he was to three and a half minutes and a simple tune? That was the musical side of it I shied away from; I didn’t like ‘protest music’ because a lot of it was so simple and unimaginative it stripped the dignity away from the people it was trying to celebrate. But the Alabama church bombing and the murder of Medgar Evers stopped that argument and with ‘Mississippi Goddam,’ I realized there was no turning back.”

Nina was deeply affected by these two events. In 1962, she had befriended noted playwright Lorraine Hansberry and spoke often with her about the Civil Rights Movement. While she was moved by her conversations with Hansberry, it took the killing of Medgar Evers and the four girls in Birmingham to act as catalysts for a transformation of Nina’s career.There were many sides to Nina Simone. Among her most amazing recordings were the original and so-soulful version “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and “I Put A Spell On You” (which had reached to #23 in the U.S. charts), eerily moody, unrestrained, drama to the max; “Ne Me Quitte Pas” tender, poignant, filled with melancholy; and with gospel-like fervor, the hypnotic voodoo of “See-Line Woman.” In her own unrivaled way, Nina also loved to venture into the more earthy side of life. After she signed with RCA Records in 1967 (a deal her then husband/manager Andy Stroud had negotiated), her very first recordings for the label included the saucy “Do I Move You?” and the undeniably sexual “I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl” which were from the concept album entitled Nina Sings The Blues. Backed by a stellar cast of New York CIty session musicians, the album was far and away Nina’s most down-home recording session. By this time, Nina had become central to a circle of African American playwrights, poets, and writers all centered in Harlem along with the previously mentioned Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin and Langston Hughes. The outcome from one of the relationships became a highlight of the LP with the song “Backlash Blues,” a song that’s lyrics originated from the last poem Langston Hughes submitted for publication prior to his death in May, 1967 and gave to Nina.Nina’s seven years with RCA produced some remarkable recordings, ranging from two songs featured in the Broadway musical “Hair” (combined into a medley, “Ain’t Got No – I Got Life,” a #2 British hit in 1968) to a Simone-ified version of George Harrison’s “Here Comes The Sun,” which remained in Nina’s repertoire all the way through to her final performance in 2002. Along the way at RCA, songs penned by Bob Dylan (“Just Like A Woman”), the brothers Gibb (“To Love Somebody”), and Tina Turner (“Funkier Than A Mosquito’s Tweeter”) took pride of place alongside Nina’s own anthem of empowerment, the classic “To Be Young, Gifted, & Black,” a song written in memory of Nina’s good friend Lorraine Hansberry. The title of the song coming from a play Hansberry had been working on just prior to her death.After Nina left RCA, she spent a good deal of the 1970’s and early 1980’s living in Liberia, Barbados, England, Belgium, France, Switzerland and The Netherlands. In 1978, for the first time since she left RCA, Nina was convinced by U.S. jazz veteran Creed Taylor to make an album for his CTI label. This would be her first new studio album in six years and she recorded it in Belgium with strings and background vocals cut in New York City. With the kind of “clean” sound that was a hallmark of CTI recordings, the Nina Simone album that emerged was simply brilliant. Nina herself would later claimed that she ”hated” the record but many fans strongly disagreed. With an eighteen piece string section conducted by David Mathews (known for his arrangements on James Brown’s records), the results were spectacular. The title track, Randy Newman’s evocative “Baltimore,” was an inspired Nina Simone choice. It had a beautifully constructed reggae-like beat and used some of the finest musicians producer Creed Taylor could find including Nina’s guitarist and music director, Al Schackman.

Aside from 1982’s Fodder On My Wings that Nina recorded for Carrere Records, two albums she made of the independent VPI label in Hollywood (Nina’s Back and Live And Kickin’) in 1985, and a 1987 Live At Vine Street set recorded for Verve, Nina Simone did not make another full length album until Elektra A&R executive Michael Alago persuaded her to record again. After much wining and dining, Nina finally signed on the dotted line. Elektra tapped producer Andre Fischer, noted conductor Jeremy Lubbock, and a trio of respected musicians to provide the suitable environment for this highly personal reading of “A Single Woman,” which became the centerpiece and title track for Nina Simone’s final full length album.With two marriages behind her in 1993 she settled in Carry-le-Rout, near Aix-en-Provence in Southern France. She would continue to tour through the 1990’s and became very much ‘the single woman’ she sang about on her last label recording. She rarely traveled without an entourage, but if you were fortunate enough to get to know the woman behind the music you could glimpse the solitary soul that understood the pain of being misunderstood. It was one of Nina’s many abilities to comprehend the bittersweet qualities of life and then parlay them into a song that made her such an enduring and fascinating person.

In her autobiography, Nina Simone writes that her function as an artist is “…to make people feel on a deep level. It’s difficult to describe because it’s not something you can analyze; to get near what it’s about you have to play it. And when you’ve caught it, when you’ve got the audience hooked, you always know because it’s like electricity hanging in the air.” It was that very electricity that made her such an important artist to so many and it will be that electricity that continues to turn on new people all over the world for years to come.Nina Simone died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rout, Bouches-du-Rhone on April 21, 2003. Her funeral service was attended by Miriam Makeba, Patti Labelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actor Ossie Davis and hundreds of others. Elton John sent a floral tribute with the message, “You were the greatest and I love you”.” (source)

Watch “What Happened Miss Simone?”

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National Enquirer, October 12

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Queen Elizabeth’s 73-year sham marriage to Prince Philip collapses

Page 2: Kanye West is in top-secret talks to launch his own TV network and is crowing it will be bigger than the Kardashians -- he wants it to reflect his lofty vision of what the world should be and to provide a spiritual awakening for the masses but he doesn’t realize there aren’t a lot of people who want to spend hours a day listening to him rant about how the world would be a better place if he was in charge -- meanwhile Kim Kardashian is at the end of her rope again 

Page 3: Furious Angelina Jolie is tearing into Brad Pitt’s new girlfriend Nicole Poturalski blasting her as a scheming psycho and as a borderline stalker who is dating Brad just to get famous and it’s going to end in disaster for the whole family not just him so she’s already told Brad to keep Nicole away from their kids and she’s looking to make this part of their ongoing legal case 

Page 4: Newly single Kelly Clarkson has enlisted fellow country star Maren Morris to help her find a new man -- Maren advised Kelly to use her talk show to connect with men she admires but Kelly may have taken her advice a little too literally when she had her crush Keanu Reeves on the show and was drooling all over him though she knows it’s probably wishful thinking 

Page 5: Ellen DeGeneres kicked off her new season by publicly apologizing for allegations of misconduct on her talk show but body language experts blasted her remarks as tone deaf and missing the mark totally 

Page 6: Jimmy Fallon’s wife Nancy Juvonen is furious over the time he spends nurturing his bond with close pal Kathie Lee Gifford -- Jimmy loves to reminisce about the old days at NBC with the former Today yakker especially during today’s challenging times and he worships her and he’s the only late-night host who treats Kathie Lee like an A-lister but Nancy can’t stand Kathie Lee’s constant self-obsessed talk and considers her a squeaky third wheel 

Page 7: Cher keeps trying to turn back time with plastic surgery but the results have been disastrous and although she insists her most recent work is a facelift her kisser is frozen and packed with Botox and fillers and lip injections -- she also appears to have had a nose job and a face and neck lift to achieve a smooth jawline and neck and the results have left Cher barely able to move her face and even made it difficult for her to speak let alone sing, disgraced chef Paula Deen had emergency eye surgery this summer in a desperate bid to save her sight -- Paula had been suffering from declining vision for months and was shocked when doctors told her the cornea was dying and going under the knife was necessary to save her sight 

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Tiger Woods took a brief break during practice, Leighton Meester caught some waves in Malibu, Kristen Taekman in a New York Jets bikini, Dolph Lundgren doffed his mask after leaving a lunch date in Beverly Hills, Dominic Cooper took his electric bike for a spin in London 

Page 11: Cash-strapped Tori Spelling and husband Dean McDermott are back in couples therapy and on the verge of filing for bankruptcy -- they’re in counseling for the same old stuff which is their constant fighting and spending money and work that isn’t happening -- the parents of five were hit with tax liens totaling nearly $1 million and were also sued by American Express over an unpaid credit card bill of almost $90,000 which Tori asked her mother Candy Spelling who is worth about $600 million to pay but Candy refused and after Candy revealed her plans to leave her fortune to animal charities Tori and Dean may file for bankruptcy because they both love to spend, Bravo bigwigs are hoping hotel heiress Kathy Hilton will fill the vacancy left by Denise Richards and Teddi Mellencamp on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and producers are trying to keep ratings high by getting veteran Kyle Richards to recruit sister and former castmate Kim Richards and half sister Kathy -- Kathy is said to be high on producers’ wish list because of her wit and humor and is also considered old-school Beverly Hills and show brass want her to bring a certain glamour and sophistication to the show 

Page 12: Straight Shuter -- Demi Lovato at a NYC screening party (picture), when the ball drops on New Year’s Eve in Times Square Anderson Cooper won’t be there because he would rather be at home with his baby boy, The Bachelor has cut all ties with Colton Underwood after his ex Cassie Randolph got a temporary restraining order against him, Teresa Giudice plans to move to NYC after listing her New Jersey mansion but she still wants to keep her job on The Real Housewives of New Jersey and to get around that Teresa hopes to pretend she’s moved into her brother Joe Gorga’s home in Jersey 

Page 13: John Legend revealed couples therapy helps strengthen his marriage to Chrissy Teigen and said they keep their romance going strong by communicating and being considerate and listening, Jackie Stallone was more than just Sylvester Stallone’s mom -- she was also one of the world top astrologers and psychics who predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and Kanye West’s presidential run 

Page 14: Crime -- convicted Melrose Place killer Amy Locane is in lockup again for a fatal 2010 drunk-driving smashup that took one life and nearly took another after a New Jersey Superior Court Judge said she got off too easy by serving two years behind bars and sentenced Amy to eight more years in state prison 

Page 15: The gruesome house of horrors where Drew Carey’s ex-fiancee Amie Harwick brutally met her untimely end is on the market for $1.5 million and her family can’t wait to get rid of it, Shannen Doherty is in pretty good spirits amid her ongoing battle with stage 4 breast cancer according to her former Beverly Hills 90210 co-star Jason Priestley

Page 16: Cover Story -- After decades of turning a blind eye to her husband’s cheating Queen Elizabeth’s 72-year marriage has shockingly collapsed and Prince Philip is now banished to a remote cottage far away from the monarch -- despite royal courtiers painting a rosy picture of the couple quarantining together at Windsor Castle since March the truth is their marriage has been a sham for decades and they’ve been living separate lives for over 50 years and all this forced togetherness was simply too much for them -- Philip has been cheating on Elizabeth since before they were married and has several love children; he has rumored to have had flings with actress Helene Cordet and Daphne du Maurier and Pat Kirkwood and Jane Russell and Merle Oberon and Zsa Zsa Gabor and Princess Alexandria and Sacha Duchess of Abercorn and most recently Lady Penny Romsey -- there will be no divorce and they will just quietly continue their separate lives to the end of their days but the queen never wants to see Philip again 

Page 18: Larry King’s estranged wife Shawn Southwick is demanding $33,000 a month in spousal support because she claims she gave up her music and TV career to marry the frail talk show host and then raise their sons Chance and Cannon, Hollywood Hookups -- Halle Berry and Van Hunt dating, 90 Day Fiance stars Ashley Martson and Jay Smith split for good, Justin Duggar dating Claire Spivey 

Page 19: Tom Cruise is set to shoot the first major movie in outer space and he’s headed to the International Space Station in October 2021 with director Doug Liman -- the two and possibly one additional actor will hitch a ride aboard Elon Musk’s SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to film the unnamed project, the IV needle allegedly used to administer the fatal dose of propofol to Michael Jackson on June 25 of 2009 is up for auction by the estate of the late singer’s father Joe and the chilling item used by Michael’s physician Dr. Conrad Murray is reportedly still stained with Michael’s blood -- it was submitted to the auction by Michael’s cousin Marsha Stewart who says she took it from Michael’s bedroom days after he died, Sharon Stone has pressed her lips on a long list of Hollywood hunks but picked Robert De Niro as far and away the best kisser but rated her other leading men as kind of like meh 

Page 20: Stars Playing Stars -- how they did it -- Muhammad Ali and Will Smith, Frida Kahlo and Salma Hayek, Ray Charles and Jamie Foxx 

Page 21: Marilyn Monroe and Michelle Williams, Queen Elizabeth and Helen Mirren, Billie Holiday and Diana Ross, Bob Dylan and Cate Blanchett 

Page 22: An adopted son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen has charged it was his mother not his father who was the monster in the family -- Moses Farrow says Woody did not molest adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in 1992 and that he can no longer stay silent as Woody continues to be condemned for a crime he did not commit 

Page 26: Less than nine months after Kobe Bryant and daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash a vicious feud has ripped the family apart -- the row erupted between his widow Vanessa Bryant and her mother Sofia Laine after Sofia went on TV to publicly accuse her daughter of tossing her out of the family home -- Vanessa feels she’s already given her mom so much and then she heard through the grapevine that Sofia complained she should have more -- it does seem cold that Vanessa would take such action against her mother but she’s ready to take on anyone using her husband and child’s deaths as a selfish cash grab and that includes Sofia 

Page 27: Danny Masterson’s rape trial is looming and the Church of Scientology is doing everything in its power to back the scandal-scarred actor -- the church’s leaders have assigned their top lawyers to aid Danny who is a prominent member of the religion and the lawyers are scouring every law on the books to get the case thrown out or get him acquitted -- the church has previously been accused of trying to get the other side’s defenses dismissed or judges thrown off cases and using all manner of tactics to delay due process 

Page 28: American Life -- Bighearted ex-billionaire Chuck Feeney has spent 38 years giving away nearly all of his vast fortune and the generous do-gooder said he wouldn’t have had it any other way 

Page 29: Famed stoner Willie Nelson can’t stop sampling his own marijuana products and now friends fear the 87-year-old music legend is smoking himself to death -- Willie’s a believer in the powers of cannabis and promotes it passionately but years of smoking has done a number on his lungs and he can barely breathe at times, Julia Duffy has been keeping close a tragic heartache for more than a year -- her only son Danny Lacy committed suicide at age 29 after years of suffering from mental health issues 

Page 34: Comic Kathy Griffin has seen her popularity plummet in recent years and it’s played a role in her plans to sell her sprawling Bel Air estate -- Kathy has burned a lot of bridges and concerts and TV appearances have dried up because of her many industry conflicts so she’s trying to unload her massive manor with wine cellar and movie theater and eight bedrooms for $16 million -- she didn’t want to sell it but the cost and size have become too much for her to handle 

Page 36: Health Watch 

Page 38: CIA bigwigs once hired a psychic to determine if there was life on Mars -- the misguided mission was said to be part of Project Stargate which was launched in 1978 and somehow cost an astronomical $20 million after the CIA hired a man who claimed he could see the surface of the planet in his mind -- the unnamed man claimed he could see huge pyramids and an obelisk structure and road networks on the Red Planet as well as living creatures, John Lennon’s killer Mark David Chapman shocked the parole board when he admitted he deserved the death penalty even as he begged for his freedom at his last hearing -- his murderous motive was seeking self-glory -- the board denied his parole saying they found his statement infamy brings you glory disturbing 

Page 42: Red Carpet -- London Fashion Week 

Page 45: Spot the Differences -- Luke Bryan and his dog Choc 

Page 47: Odd List -- doctors remove granny’s football-sized tumor 

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Upcoming Marvel Movie Releases: Complete MCU Phase 4 Schedule

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

We’ve got everything you need to know about the upcoming Marvel movie(and TV!) schedule all in one place! The Marvel Cinematic Universe plan now stretches all the way to 2023 (and beyond). The amazing thing is, it’s even more ambitious than we anticipated, with new movies getting announced all the time. It looks like even something on the massive scale of Avengers: Endgame was only the beginning. How can anything ever be bigger than that crazy Avengers: Endgame finale?

Well, it looks like we’re going to find out…eventually.

We’ve compiled as much information as we can find on every Marvel movie coming out in the next few years in a handy release calendar for you. This is where you can check out all the details on Marvel Phase 4 and beyond. You probably want to know a little more about the future of the MCU and all the other Marvel movies in development. Well, we’ve got you covered! However, be advised, almost every single MCU Phase 4 date has recently shifted because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which is wreaking havoc with every industry in the world, so update your calendars accordingly!

These dates have already shifted several times recently, and the most recent changes affect Black Widow, Eternals, and Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Don’t be surprised if they continue to move as things develop with the pandemic, but hopefully by the time Black Widow is ready to come out, we’ll have reached the end of this nonsense.

WandaVision

release date: Jan. 15, 2021

Yes, technically this isn’t a movie release, but with all of the release date changes, and the fact that it has been over a year since the last actual MCU release, we’ll take the good stuff where we can get it. And make no mistake, WandaVision very much appears to be the good stuff.

Ever wonder what happened to Wanda after she went all Scarlet Witch on Thanos in Avengers: Endgame? Well, you’re gonna find out in WandaVision, which appears to depict a grief-riddled Wanda dealing with the death of Vision in less than healthy ways.

Elizabeth Olsen is, of course, back as Wanda, and so is Paul Bettany as the Vision. This show is going to have serious ties to the MCU, with elements that will be important for Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness and Captain Marvel 2 having prominent roles. The trailer is packed with MCU strangeness, which we wrote about here.

WandaVision is the first of a number of MCU focused shows coming to Disney+ over the next year. 2021 will then (hopefully) bring us Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Loki. Since these will also be vital to the future of the MCU, we’ll add them to this calendar as they get release windows and/or trailers get released.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

release date: March 19, 2021

“The legacy of that shield is complicated.”

Yes, it is. And we’re going to find out just how complicated when Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes reckon with the legacy of Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+. Here’s the official synopsis for the series…

“Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities—and their patience—in Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”

Yes, like WandaVision, this isn’t a theatrical release, but also like that show, this is far too important to the future of the MCU to ignore.

Morbius

Release Date: March 19, 2021

Spider-Man spinoff Morbius is Sony’s next big Marvel release, and it’ll officially be the first spinoff to properly connect to the MCU.

Safe House‘s Daniel Espinosa directs from a script by Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway, as former Joker Jared Leto plays the anti-hero biochemist who finds a cure for his rare blood disease by using vampire bat blood. As you can imagine, there are consequences: he turns into a living vampire, for one. 

Um…don’t be surprised if this one ends up moving off this date at some point at the rate we’re going.

Read more about the character of Michael Morbius here, and find everything you need to know about his upcoming movie, right here.

Black Widow 

Release Date: May 7, 2021

The Black Widow movie was heading for a May 1, 2020 release before the coronavirus outbreak, but Disney and Marvel have decided to delay it until the industry’s infrastructure is back to some semblance of normal. First they bumped it to November, but now we have to wait almost a full year from that originally scheduled date before we see Natasha and friends. Disney and Marvel Studios seem absolutely committed to keeping Natasha on a theatrical release rather than sending her to Disney+.

Cate Shortland directed the film, and Scarlett Johansson stars, with Florence Pugh and David Harbour alongside her. One of the movie’s villains is Taskmaster, and we wrote a little bit more about him right here.

Natasha Romanoff will get a prequel movie of sorts here, as we catch up with Widow around the events of Captain America: Civil War. Will the plot affect her character’s ultimate fate in Endgame? Do not count on it.

We have more information on the Black Widow movie right here.

Loki

release date: May 2021

Tom Hiddleston will reprise his most famous role, as Loki finds himself on a heist through time and space after the events of Avengers: Endgame! Oh, and based on this trailer, there’s all kinds of weirdness awaiting, including the return of Heimdall, some other Asgardian hijinks, and…Loki running for President!

Look, he couldn’t possibly do a worse job than the guy who’s been there for the last four years so…Vote Loki!

Venom: Let There Be Carnage

Release Date: June 25, 2021

Andy Serkis (Mowgli) steps behind the camera for Venom 2, which now boasts the catchy title of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, replacing Ruben Fleischer as director this time around. The first film, buoyed by a terrific showing at the Chinese box office, made an absolute ton of money, despite being released to mostly scathing reviews.

Venom 2 will follow up Sony’s 2018 Spider-Man-less spinoff film, but will likely be more connected to the MCU this time around, thanks to a renewed deal between the company and its Marvel Studios partners. Tom Hardy will return as Eddie Brock, of course, and as you can probably guess from that title, he’ll be facing off against Woody Harrelson’s villain, Cletus Kasady aka Carnage!

This one was originally tentatively scheduled for October, 2020, but has been shuffled away for the moment as studios continue to move release dates around because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Read everything else you need to know about Venom 2.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Release date: July 9, 2021

Simu Liu has been cast as the titular Shang-Chi and Tony Leung as The Mandarin (hey, that name sounds familiar! But this time, we’re getting the real Mandarin on screen). Destin Daniel Cretton is directing from a script by Dave Callaham. Given its “Ten Rings” title, Shang-Chi should be steeped in Marvel lore!

This has been delayed twice. Let’s hope that’s the end of it. At least it has resumed production!

We have more info on the Shang-Chi movie right here.

The Eternals 

Release Date: Nov. 5, 2021

The Eternals has completed principal photography and is on post-production. Chloe Zhao is directing from a script by Matthew and Ryan Firpo. 

The cast features Richard Madden as Ikaris, Kumail Nanjiani as Kingo, Lauren Ridloff as Makkari, Brian Tyree Henry as Phastos, Salma Hayek as Ajak, Lia McHugh as Sprite, Don Lee as Gilgamesh, Angelina Jolie as Thena, Gemma Chan as Sersi, and Kit Harrington as Dane Whitman, the Black Knight.

This one was another victim of the release date shuffle, having moved from February of 2021 to November of that year. We’ll get to see Jack Kirby‘s wildest creations eventually!

You can read more about The Eternals movie right here.

Spider-Man 3

Release Date: Dec. 17, 2021

While the next Spider-Man movie doesn’t have a title yet, it’s happening, and the best news of all is that it’s happening in the MCU! Marvel and Sony solved their differences, good sense prevailed, and Tom Holland’s Peter Parker will remain a vital part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This one, well…this might be a live action Spider-Verse movie from the sound of it. Jamie Foxx will reprise his role as Electro from the maligned Amazing Spider-Man films and Alfred Molina will return from the Raimi era as Doctor Octopus. Wait. Are they trying to make this a multiversal Sinister Six movie? Because…we could be down for that.

Thor: Love and Thunder

Release Date: Feb. 11, 2022

Taika Waititi, who gave us the delightful Thor: Ragnarok, will return to write and direct. Chris Hemsworth will be back, but will it be as Thor? Natalie Portman is your new Thor (yes, you read that right, Jane Foster will wield the hammer…just as she did in the comics!). Christian Bale has also joined the cast as the terrifying Gorr the God Butcher.

We have more info on Thor: Love and Thunder right here.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Release Date: March 25, 2022

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness looks like it will open up the storytelling possibilities in the MCU like never before. And that’s just based on the name alone. Scott Derrickson was scheduled to direct, but has bowed out because of “creative differences” with Marvel. But the good news is that Marvel found a suitable replacement in none other than Sam Raimi, who of course has plenty of superhero experience thanks to his Spider-Man trilogy in the early 2000s!

This one has loads of connections to the wider MCU. Elizabeth Olsen will be here as Scarlet Witch, and the film will also connect to the untitled Spider-Man 3 and its own multiversal ambitions. There are also a few rumors doing the rounds that Jericho Drumm aka Brother Voodoo could be introduced in this sequel. We’ll keep an eye on that and update this if there’s any substance to them.

We have more information on Doctor Strange 2 right here.

Black Panther 2 

Release Date: July 8, 2022

Black Panther 2 is still on Disney’s release schedule, despite the tragic, untimely death of star Chadwick Boseman. Marvel has made it official that they have no intention of recasting the role of T’Challa, which is absolutely the right move.

Ryan Coogler will return as director, but there are no other details currently available. We have more information on Black Panther 2 right here.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Sequel

Release Date: October 7, 2022

Is it technically an MCU movie? Nope. But with all the legal weirdness going on between Marvel and Sony, and this franchise’s very multiversal concept, who’s really to say that it ISN’T an MCU movie either, right? In any case, the sequel to the best Spider-Man movie of all time is coming in 2022 with Avatar: The Last Airbender mastermind Joaquim Dos Santos directing and David Callaham writing.

There’s also an “untitled Marvel movie” still technically scheduled for this date but…that is almost certainly not gonna happen now. Expect whatever that project was to move to one of these below dates or to some other currently unspecified date on the calendar.

Captain Marvel 2

Release date: November 11, 2022

WandaVision writer Megan McDonnell has been tapped to write the screenplay for Captain Marvel 2. You know what else is really cool? Candyman‘s Nia DaCosta will direct!

We have no idea where we’ll find Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) in the sequel to her hugely successful first standalone MCU entry. Will she be fighting to loosen her former Kree pals’ iron grip on a pre-Avengers galaxy? Or will the follow up film see her fighting for justice in the present?

Read more about Captain Marvel 2 here.

And then there are still some dates that Marvel has announced that they have yet to match projects to. Those dates are…

Feb. 17, 2023

May 5, 2023

July 28, 2023

Nov. 3, 2023

Some of those dates could very well be good fits for the following films…

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Peyton Reed will return to direct the third installment of the Ant-Man saga, perhaps the most unlikely trilogy in Marvel’s entire arsenal. Paul Rudd will return as Scott Lang, and you can almost certainly expect Evangeline Lilly to return as The Wasp and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The villain of the film? That will be Kang the Conqueror, who will be played by Lovecraft Country‘s Jonathan Majors. The inclusion of Kang opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities for the MCU, and may even tease the arrival of the Fantastic Four down the line! We wrote more about those possibilities right here.

We’re also going to need fast confirmation on Michael Pena’s return as Luis, though. Luis is key…

This will probably slide in to one of those 2023 release dates above.

Blade

Well this one was a surprise. In 2019, Marvel announced that they will be rebooting the Blade franchise with Mahershala Ali playing the titular daywalker. Ali’s True Detective co-star – and former Blade villain – Stephen Dorff is excited to see what he can do with the character, and so are we.

We have more info on Blade here.

Deadpool 3

Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Loeglin will be the writing team tasked with bringing the Merc with a Mouth to the MCU. What a Deadpool 3 could look like in the interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe is, of course, anybody’s guess, but if anyone can crack wise about the follies of this kind of corporate synergy, it’s Ryan Reynolds.

Fantastic Four

The MCU Fantastic Four movie is finally happening! Marvel’s first family will join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a film directed by Jon Watts, who did such a wonderful job with the first two MCU Spider-Man movies. That’s all the information that’s out there at the moment, but as soon as we have more, we’ll update this.

We have our own theories on why Marvel went with the Fantastic Four before the X-Men, but that’s another story.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 

Avengers: Endgame left the team in an interesting place. We broke down some of the story possibilities right here.

After a tumultuous period which saw James Gunn fired and then rehired as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 director, he will become the first Marvel director to ever complete a trilogy for the studio. However, Gunn can’t even begin filming Guardians 3 until he finishes production on The Suicide Squad for DC, as well as an HBO Max Peacemaker prequel. Once those projects are finished, he’s free to return to the MCU.

We have everything else you need to know about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 right here.

And as for those others? Well, we’re still waiting on word on where Deadpool 3 will fit since that is (finally) official, as well as movies to bring the X-Men into the MCU. Could any of those 2023 dates do the trick? It’s very possible! And this doesn’t even account for all of the other MCU Disney+ TV shows that don’t have release dates yet like She-Hulk, Moon Knight, Ironheart, Secret Invasion, Armor Wars, and more!

We’ll keep updating this with new information as it becomes available.

The post Upcoming Marvel Movie Releases: Complete MCU Phase 4 Schedule appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2JEy7L3

[im-sad-lets-kiss]

Losers Club Band AU Part 5

Part 1: https://ifcknly.tumblr.com/post/187929910865/losers-club-band-au-part-1

Part 2: https://ifcknly.tumblr.com/post/187930000260/losers-club-band-au-part-2

Part 3: https://ifcknly.tumblr.com/post/187930093040/losers-club-band-au-part-3

Part 4: https://ifcknly.tumblr.com/post/187930222220/losers-club-band-au-part-4

* When Bev is 9 months pregnant, Richie and Eddie have their wedding

* Bad timing

* They don’t broadcast the wedding like Bev and Ben, but they let paparazzi come before the wedding and they post a billion pictures

* Richie’s tux is tan, but instead of a white button up, it’s a tight Hawaiian shirt

* Tan France would be proud

* Eddie has a pink tux and everything else is white

* They have it in Cali, on the beach and Richie sings Eddie another original song at the reception

* Surprise! Eddie also wrote Richie another song and sang it to him as well

* These songs don’t stream anywhere, nor will their fans hear them. These songs are just for them.

* During the ceremony Mike sang them down the isle. Stan was Richie’s best man and Bill was Eddie’s (how cute the two couples!!)

* Ben got really drunk and sang New Kids On The Block

* Richie actually stayed sober at his wedding 👏👏👏👏

* They did a cute photo shoot with all the groomsmen/bridesmaids/and grooms where they fought with lightsabers

* After they cute the cake, and Richie shoved Eddie’s whole face into it, Bev’s water broke

* They stopped the reception immediately, and all the losers rushed bev to the hospital

* (Richie brought a slice of the wedding cake) 🤦🏻‍♀️

* During the actual birth, Ben passed out two times, almost three

* Bev let Bill record the thing (kinda gross lmao) while the rest of the losers waiting outside

* Richie: “I should be in there! Bev is probably so stressed out, I should give her a cigarette!”

* Eddie: “RICHIE NO.”

* She gives birth to two beautiful twins, one at 11:50 (cause of course reddie has to have their wedding at night, lord) and the other at 12:06

* (Also sorry if those times are two far apart or two close together, I know nothing about twin births)

* Ben named the boy and Bev named the girl (they got eachother approval though, of course)

* Ryan and Raven were the names (btw this is June)

* They didn’t mean for two R names, it just happened.

* They both had red hair, but Ryan’s hair was more red-blond

* Raven screams like hell and Ryan is quiet af

* All the losers are their uncles and it’s pretty adorable

* Richie says he’s going to be a good influence (but oh we all know those kid’s will speak more curse words than normal ones)

* The Losers took off for a month and a half (it could have just been Bev and Ben, but they need Ben for song writing) they weren’t touring atm, so they were recording new songs

* Richie and Eddie waited a month to take their honeymoon. They went to Greece for two weeks. Eddie loves the architecture and beach, Richie loves the food and Eddie

* Ben wrote Raven and Ryan each a song💙

* With the wedding, Ryan, Raven, And the honeymoon: The Losers Club is sky rocking in fame

* Their Instagram jumps a million followers in that month, so now they have 7.7 mil

* They’re a bit behind on schedule but that just means they need to spend all nighters

* Bev and Ben don’t get sleep for like three months lmao,

* With babies and the new album they need to release by August, their blood is now 100% coffee

* They get the album out in time tho, and it’s not their best album, but it’s their most upbeat and happy one

* Two of their songs make top 10 on the charts and they celebrate by a group trip to Disney Land

* They bring Raven and Ryan, of course

* They don’t know if that made it he’ll or heaven

* The babies were so cute in their little Mickey hats and matching onesies

* But it was so hard to move around with the baby bag and double stroller

* Of course fans stopped them several times, but let’s talk outfits

* Beverly Disney bounded Ariel, she wore high waisted teal shorts, and a tight white tee that had Ariel’s sea shells on the boobs

* Ben just wore a bunch of Olaf merch, that dork

* Richie Disney bounded Buzz Lightyear (which basically meant just his colors with a beanie) and Eddie was Woody!

* Bill and Stan wore shirts that said “Her Mickey —>” And “His Minnie <—“ as a joke. (Bill was his Minnie btw)

* Mike disneybounded as Peter Pan

* He brought Katie, and has dressed like Wendy

* Richie insisted they do It’s A Small World 70,000 times

* Eddie loves Epcot

* Bev and Ben prefer to eat all the fun snacks (mostly because they can sit down)

* Mike loves Tower of Terror, Katie hates it

* Bill and Stan wonder off a few times to see all their favorite princesses

* Richie challenges Gaston to arm wrestle

* After the joyous release of the album, Bill and Stan see no better time than the present to get married

* They do a very private wedding in a cute little forest. It’s decorated to look like a fairy tale and Richie sings them down the isle

* Stan wears a navy tux, while Bill wears all white with a navy rose in the breast pocket

* Georgie is Bill’s best man, which is a bit embarrassing the all these old men standing next to them

* Mike is Stan’s best dude

* They hold the relation at their house, and don’t allow paparazzi, but they get a few anyways

* Ben is the photographer for the wedding (cause he demanded to be) but their wedding photos are actually better than everyone else’s

* Again, the band and them as individuals gain more followers that September, like a million or so

* They’re really getting peak success

* They’re as popular as Five Seconds of Summer

* Btw, Stenbrough, Benverly, And Reddie hyphenated their last names

[pjstafford]

To Rock My Soul

This blog is dedicated especially to those with whom I attended concerts in my life.

It is November 1, 2020. Need I say more? If you are living this moment, you are living it. If you are reading this in the far distant future of say November 5, 2020 or later, than google 2020. You will know all you need to know. I am on my second glass of wine and attempting to make sense of here and now. Finding that impossible, I seek to find some indulgence in the things that have brought me joy.

I envy those of you who have spent the last few months with those you love. I have spent it alone. I have no children. I have failed at romance by loving and trusting unworthy men. My immediate family dynamics have been complicated since before I was born. My happiest times have been writing; although even in this passion I have been unsuccessful. Still, notice, I turn to the written word now to seek solace from the isolation of 2020 and the anxiety of the upcoming election. Seeking inward within my self, my truth has not changed in close to sixty years of life. I yearn, as always, to “dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free”. For those who don’t know, that’s a Bob Dylan quote. The title of this blog is a Grateful Dead song. If I could be one place tonight, I would be dancing to some great live music.

I can’t rank the best concerts I’ve been to right now. No energy, really for contests. I can tell you about the six musicians/bands I have most loved hearing in some kind of order.

1. My father

My father was a semi-professional country musician who made extra money on the weekends in the local bars. I remember Sunday jam sessions when I was very young. I remember looking for a spot behind a speaker because if my parents didn’t see me they couldn’t send me to bed. Later, when I was in high school, I was allowed to see him play at the VFW lodge. Still, my favorite memory is him pickin’ a guitar on the living room couch. Third grade I came home and proudly sang the song I learned in school “This land is your land” . My dad, whose family had fled Oklahoma in the dust bowl, said “that’s Woody. Where did you hear him?” I told him in school. “No, he’s blacklisted. Ma, Ma” he said calling to my mother in the kitchen “they are teaching Woody in school.” It dawns on me now this must have been a moment of vindication for him. “Do you want to hear more?” he asks and I sat at the end of the couch while he gladly sang “ Oklahoma Hills where I was born” for his audience of one. Oh, don’t ask me why the word socialist doesn’t scare me or why I have wanted to hear live music my whole life. The dust bowl, Woody, the McCartney era and my labor union father, with no high school diploma, who picked a mean guitar are my heritage. This tells you who I am.

2. David Duchovny ( that X-Files guy)- I have spent a lifetime trying to obtain a type of zen now where time stands still for me except for the now. I achieved it in Seattle in 2017 during one of the most stressful and difficult time in my life when, for one moment, David Duchovny bent down in my face and screamed “I said I’m done.” There has never been a performer as dedicated to connecting with his audience. I was in the front. I watched the sweat dropped off his forehead. It was a night wild and extreme and perfect in every way. I’ve seen him twice since. Each time being filmed.I will love this man every time I see him, but, I want a packed in crowd, me in the front and him bending down again.

3. Bob Dylan. It’s hard to decide the best. I might say Tingley coliseum when Merle Haggard opened because it was the best out of the multiple times I’ve seen the Hag and, also, there is a Cold Iron Bounds which haunts me. However how can I not say the first night of old Coachella when in subsequent nights I added Paul McCartney and Waters and Neil Young and The Who. Or since I’m not going to talk about the times I’ve seen Willie without Bob and I’ve seen Willie more than anyone else, than Dylan, Willie and Mellancamp. Or the time in Albuquerque after Dylan won the Nobel Prize or the last time when he was as good as I’ve ever seen him or in Montana when I crowd dive during a moment when the security was heavily sending folks back and a stranger said “ there you are” and wrapped his arms around me and we danced together. Or the time I saw him in New Orleans. Every time, I have ever seen Dylan! I was going to see him in June 2020. I so hope I get to again.

4. Grateful Dead et al. I only saw Jerry once. I’m going to say there was something special about The Dark Star Orchestra in Alb Stella Blues several nights in a row. Then there was something special about Further at Red Rocks with Kadlicek jumping up and down. And Further at the Pepsi Center and Dead and Company at Isleta. Bob Weir solo in Santa Fe or Mickey Hart at the Sunshine. Oh, my God, and I can loop it around to the first time I saw Bob Dylan was with Phil Lesh. If only I had grandchildren, so I could think about them dancing fifty years hence to a Dead type band. These are the songs that Rock my Soul.

5. The Moody Blues. The first time I saw the Moody Blues was at the Pacific Amphiteater in the 80s, then the Paolo Solari which was intimate and serene, but it was at the Route 66 casino a few days after my sister died that I remember the most. I freely let the tears flow during Question. The band with the words most romantic lyrics.

6. The Who. There are six because I couldn’t leave out The Who...from their first farewell tour...where, truthfully I went up and asked a guard if we would be ticketed for smoking pot ( no, but don’t use cocaine) to the multitude of times I’ve seen them since. They were the first band I saw alone after thinking, oh they weren’t that good the last time, but not being able to tolerate they were playing in my home town and I wasn’t seeing them I bought a ticket the night of and attended my first concert alone. Last time I saw them was old Coachella.

I’m leaving out, among others, Neil Young, the Eagles and Don Henley solo, Prince, and George Clinton.

I’m just missing live music tonight. Yes, Dylan first original music in eight years came this summer, Duchovny dropped a political single, Springsteen has a new album and there is more streaming music than I know what to do with. 2020 -we head into the winter- no dancing in an open sky to live music for me. If it’s not your thing, you think I’m weird. You are missing other things. It is my thing. It is the thing that lifts me out of body, sets me down and says “just be here for now.” It is timeless. It is Woody and my dad and the children of the future and now and you and a performer and we are going to have a moment. It is transcendent, sometimes, and I wish I could transcend a little right now. I am getting old, now, but believe there might still be a dance within me.

But if Rona takes me, in the times ahead, know I will be there still, when the time is right, when the music rocks my soul. I will be the barely visible you think you see out of the corner of your eye....dancing beneath the diamond sky with one hand floating free. Let there be songs to fill the air.

[jamiescallion]

AMERICAN ANIMAL - (January Recap)

Chapter One

Mr Rawling Rump the Rhinoceros, of Austin Zoo, Texas, plunged his large snout into the cool mud and shut his beady black eyes. Rump, as most knew him, let the sludge cool his horn and daydreamed about the coming celebrations. He was excited. The weather had been stifling of late and the party was exactly what the animals needed.

Rump was the oldest mammal in the zoo. His advanced years hadn’t meant he’d learnt humility. Far from it. He was a proud beast who thought a lot of himself, and he wasn’t shy in sharing that around. His enormous enclosure: Rump Ranch, was named by Rump’s father Big Red Rump, and because of its location, next to the entrance, it was considered prime real estate. This made Rump a very important beast indeed. His father Big Red Rump would say:

“You’re a top mammal, son, and you must act like it. The Lion, Tiger, Elephant, Giraffe, Snake, Wolf, Monkey, Gorilla and Bear can afford to mess up. You can’t, the scrutiny is too great.”

Rump had been excited about tonight's chow down for weeks. It was an opportunity to see all of his supporters and also an opportunity for him to gloat. Just one week ago he’d won a triumphant victory over the ruling Big Cats. Rump had repeatedly insisted that President Zanzibar should provide conclusive proof he is an American Animal. Born in an American zoo. Zanzibar eventually relented and Old Baldy, the American Bald Eagle in charge of History and Births, confirm that Zanzibar was indeed born in an American Zoo, although not in Austin zoo. Rump considered the confirmation a victory and took great pleasure in letting his fellow creatures know. Rump’s swaggering self-satisfaction would soon sour.

Rump pulled his horn out of the sludge, climbed on top of Rump Rock, tipped back his head and let loose a thunderous bellow. Simon the snake slunk into the ranch. Simon, a python, was not very long for a python but he was certainly a python. His silvery scales blotched with oblongs of butterscotch yellow, ringed by lines of burnt orange.

Rump and Simon stalked and slid up the shallow slope to the Big Cat enclosure, where tonight’s stomp would take place. Under the giant arches, they went and into the vast and beautifully maintained Palace. Rump nodded cordially in return to those that greeted him. He took his place next to Senator Elena Forde’s enclosure. Elena, a sleek snow Leopard, nodded coldly toward Rump. They’d been friendly once but things had curdled since Rump had attacked her party leader. President Zanzibar, the Lion, climbed onto the speaking slab and addressed the crowd of gathered animals. Rump gazed up at the leader with barely masked disdain.

President Zanzibar looked down and smiled. “It is wonderful to be here with you at the chow down. As you will have heard Old Baldy released my official origin story and I am officially an American Animal. I was born in America!” The animals snorted in support around Rump. Zanzibar smiled more broadly now. “I hope it puts the doubts to rest but in case there is still any uncertainty, Old Baldy said he will give Mr Rawling Rump a blow by blow campfire retelling of my birth story. He’s called it out of Africa.” The animals laughed with great enthusiasm and Rump felt consumed with humiliation. His horn hot with embarrassment.

Zanzibar put up his paw to quell the laughter. “I should add that my mother was not African. She was born in New York Zoo…” Zanzibar now gazed openly at Rump. “Is New York okay or do I need to get Old Baldy to confirm my mother’s origin story too?” Rump’s eyes watered in shock, feeling the crowds communal stare upon him he attempted to smile back with casual grace. As if he’d been in on the joke. Only an awkward grimace was raised. Which only served to stoke the fire of mirth. President Zanzibar called for the stomp to begin and the animals, in unison, began to thud the ground with hooves and paws, trotters and claws. Rump turned to see Simon beating his diamond-shaped head against the ground with concentrated and joyous enthusiasm. Rump gave the snake a contemptuous glance and made his way out of the palace, through the entranced and stomping animals. He trudged back down the hill to Rump Ranch. With every step the rhinoceros’ fury grew, his stubborn will bent on revenge.

Chapter Two

Rump spent three weeks plotting. June ushered in a ferocious temperature and with it a resolve to get revenge done. The rhino climbed onto Rump Rock, tipped back his enormous head and roared. Simon slithered into the enclosure in record time. “Simon, I want you to gather all the animals together and tell them to come to Rump Ranch.” “Of coursssssse,” Simon hissed. “May I enquire as to what we will be discussing?” he said gazing up at the rhino with a colourless smile.

Rump snorted through bucket-sized nostrils and the python wished for eyelids. "This zoo is not great, not great at all. The zoo in Houston and the one in San Antonio are way better, way way better. Which is just terrible. Now go gather the other animals. I’m going to make some changes around here."

“Of courssssse?” said the snake. “But how do you know?" "Old Baldy told me,” Rump said impatiently.

“He wouldn’t lie to me. He’s a true American Animal." Old Baldy, the American bald eagle, visited zoos all over the state. Animals gathered around the ‘news tree’ most nights to hear Old Baldy broadcast the truth. Simon had not heard the claims their zoo was inferior to others but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true.  

"President Zanzibar will surely do something," said the snake.

Rump shook his gnarled head, his yellow straw wig flapping, his beady black eyes rolling and his red necktie swinging.

"That pampered lion won't do a damn thing about a damn thing. He isn’t even a true American Animal. You heard him say his mother was African. He admitted it. How can he be our President if he wasn’t even born in an American zoo?"

“But Old Baldy said he was an American Animal.”

“Do you believe everything you hear?” said Rump.

Simon thought about this. Something deep in his slippery stomach told him Old Baldy had confirmed Zanzibar was an American Animal but perhaps he had it wrong. Did he believe everything he heard? Perhaps he did! One thing was for certain, Rump had never ever lied to him.

“Your right of course,” Simon said. “I will gather the animals. Although I’m not sure the Big Cats will come.” Rump settled the snake a beady glare.

“Tell them exactly what I say. Tell them I am going to clean this crooked zoo up and make it great again. Tell them I’m starting with the big furry hairballs in the White Palace. I’m going to cough them up and use them as earmuffs.”

Simon didn’t understand but nodded all the same. He knew Rump was talking about the ruling big cats but he didn’t know what a hairball was. As he slithered up the hill to deliver the message his thoughts turned to food. Most specifically, lunch.

The reptiles arrived first: Mike the lizard, Toby the toad, Gordon the gecko, Linda the turtle, Eric the skink, Charlie the chameleon and Crazy Tom the one-eyed crocodile, all settled down in the soft brown earth in front of Rump Rock and chattered excitedly as they waited for the great horn (as they called Him) to speak. Rump gave his loyal supporters an exaggerated wink, the enthusiastic reptiles grinned and all winked back. Apart from Tom, the crazy one-eyed crocodile, because a crazy one-eyed crocodile can’t wink.

Next to arrive was the sleek snow leopard, Senator Elena Forde. A senior member of Zanzibar’s administration and the Big Cat Patriot Party, she sashayed into the ranch with what Rump dubbed “arrogant cat syndrome”. Senator Forde climbed the leafy sweetgum tree that stood at the centre of Rump Ranch, stretched her limbs over a thick branch and began to preen her paws. She regarded Rump lazily and said: "What are you going to moan about this week?"

Before Rump could respond with nuclear indignation the heritage mammals ambled through the gates and into the enclosure. Joshua the giraffe, Gaga the albino chimpanzee, Jape the gorilla, Lenny the gazelle, Zee the zebra, Sally the hippo and Archer the toothless baboon. Trailing after them, like a vast grey cloud, plodded, Jacob the African elephant. A kindly and steadfast beast. Jacob was one of President Zanzibar’s most trusted supporters and a well-respected member of the zoos community. He was not known for his quick wit but was universally liked for his honesty, affability and tireless work ethic.

The heritage mammals supported the president with dutiful deference, Jacob going further with a belief that Zanzibar possessed almost godlike powers. The heritage mammals had always aligned themselves with the big cats. Since the dawn of zoos.

After the mammals, came the natives: Butch bear, Woody elk, Hank wolf, Buzz coyote, Rocky raccoon, Henrietta red fox, and Ace the three-legged bison. Rump loved the natives because in many ways he wanted to be one, and the natives loved him back because in many ways they thought he was one of them.

Old Baldy glided into Rump Ranch and landed gracefully on a branch high up in the leafless sweetgum. His friends from the menagerie had already taken up lower positions in the tree. Eric weaver, Sarah parrot, Dodger cockatoo and Reginald falcon were all thinking the same thing: if only the other animals could gain their elevated perspective, they might grasp how ridiculous Rump was, and not hang off his every pompous word.

Next came the rodents. Rump had long labelled them “aliens” because they’d arrived at the zoo from other countries, many of them illegally, or so the rhino claimed. Mohammed meerkat, Zoya mongoose, Ali otter, Baba porcupine, and Jose the Mexican rat. Strictly Jose was a Mexican sereque but only his fellow aliens bothered to learn the distinction. The rodents hung back, near the exit, unsettled and nervous. Ever watchful.

Finally, President Zanzibar wandered through the gates of Rump Ranch, his big cat cabinet marching in behind him. Seven senators: tiger, leopard, panther, jaguar, cougar, puma and cheetah. All lived and worked with the President at The White Palace.

Zanzibar moved through the crowd greeting creatures with an easy smile, the animals beamed back in delight. Only when Zanzibar was sitting on his hind legs, his lustrous golden mane angled upward toward Rump, did the rhino begin his speech…

The lion turned and gave the audience a warm smile and then turned back and looked up at Rump.

“Are we not all aliens in our own way?” His commanding voice silencing the commotion.

“My parents came to New York zoo from Tanzania many years ago. I am a first-generation lion. Does this make me any less of an American animal?”

The big cats and mammals roared in support. Rump shook his horn and looked out toward the assembled crowd.

“You’ve ruined this zoo with your woke snowflakery, Zanzibar. For eight years we have suffered at the paws of your administration. Whilst only the elite or the lowly are cared for. What about the animals in the middle? Enough is enough. We need change. I will do a better job than you. We must make this zoo great again. Do you accept my challenge?”

The gathering of animals roared, snapped, yelped and hissed. Some were noises of support, some of opposition, but all agreed that this was an audacious challenge. Zanzibar had never been opposed before, not even by another big cat, let alone a rhinoceros wearing a straw wig.

After a thoughtful pause, President Zanzibar raised his mane and addressed the gathering.

“It is Mr Rump’s right to challenge me.” He turned his flecked auburn eyes on the rhino. “But I will not stand against you. Another will take my place.” He nodded toward the Leopard lounging in the tree. “I choose Senator Elena Forde to run against you in my stead.”

A clamour of surprise and excitement erupted from the crowd. For the first time in almost a decade there would be an election and on the ballot paper a rhinoceros. Rump let out a high-pitched squeal, a noise that male rhinos are well known for, but try to avoid emitting because they think it’s emasculating. Rump pulled himself together, puffed out his cheeks and thought it through. It was unlikely he would win, the big cat elite was too powerful, their supremacy stretched too far back. However, he was in the race and anything can happen when you’re in the race. Then it came to him, a revelation. He wasn’t a big cat and as such he didn’t need to play by their big cat rules. He cleared his throat and began his acceptance speech.

“I accept any challenge set before me,” Rump began. “and I will fight, fight, fight to expose the lies and corruption the big cat elite have committed for so many years. But, you know what’s more important than anything?” he paused to rear up on his hind legs, delighting the reptiles at the front. “Unity! And you know what I love about it?” Continued Rump. “Unity is love, I’m in love with myself, I’m in love with all of you and I’m sure as hell in love with this zoo. And I don’t just love the animals that already support me, I love the animals that have cat yolk in their eyes. Yeh, that’s right, I’m in love with you because I know you love me right back. Deep down, even if you don’t know it yet. We’re all in love together because we all have one thing in common,” he paused again, glancing toward the exit where the rodents stood nervously watching. “Well, not all of us…and do you know what that thing we have in common is?” he bellowed.

Rump waited a beat and then thundered his final line with slow and purposeful intent. “WE ARE ALL… AMERICAN ANIMALS!”

As the new presidential candidate climbed down from the Rump Rock, a chant started up. Two words. Over and over again: “AMERICAN ANIMAL, AMERICAN ANIMAL, AMERICAN ANIMAL, AMERICAN ANIMAL.”

 Chapter 3

Rump could not sleep that night; he replayed the day's events with growing delight. Excited and restless in his luxurious straw bed. He’d played it perfectly, he’d been cunning, calm and courageous. He knew the odds were stacked against him, but that didn’t matter. If he could just convince half the heritage mammals to vote for him, he’d be in with a chance of prickling some fat cat fur. Besides, win or lose, he was in the game and his daddy had always said:

“Once you get in the game, you can change the rules.” His daddy had also told him: “Winning ugly is still winning.”

It had been decided that the vote would take place in three weeks time. Rump’s campaign strategy was a simple one. Shake the tree and see what falls out. He was going to make sure that this election would be bigger than anything the zoo had ever seen before. It wouldn’t just be unique because Forde was the first female candidate to be selected in the history of the zoo and Rump was the first non-big cat to be selected. It would be unique because Rump intended to break with convention. In fact, he hoped he could break convention altogether. As he lay awake, staring up at the moon, he compiled a list of one ultimate and unbreakable rule: No matter what, however much the big cat elite pressured him, or how compelling the evidence against him was, he would never ever admit he was wrong. About anything. Ever.

One of the first executive decisions the rhino made was to make Simon Python his chief advisor. The other reptiles respected Simon and keeping them onside would be vital. Rump felt sure Simon would make an excellent right-hand snake. Not least because Rump knew he would do everything he asked, without question. He also chose Simon because he was almost as committed to expelling the alien animals as he was. The reptiles had always felt like they’d been treated as second class citizens by the big cat elite, they’d grumbled about it for years. Rump, who once boasted that his Ranch was twice the size of the reptile house, took the decision to make the refurbishment of the herpetarium (reptile house) his first election promise. He would hold a big rally that very day and announce the exciting news.

Rump commenced a run of rallies that quickly became the hottest ticket in town. His impassioned speeches sparking a conversation that divided opinion, animals and even, in some cases, species. Rump railed against the big cat elite with sincere passion, his mischievous charisma and disarming candidness winning over many doubters. He exploded with policies. Opinions that dared talk about real issues; overpopulation, sanitation and animal migration. His election pledges ranged from the wacky and wild to the inspired and necessary. He threatened to dig a vast trench around the zoo to stop the alien rodents getting in. He promised to make all carnivores pay more tax, a vow the big cat elite were most upset about. Rump was vague and direct, unpredictable and cocksure, but most of all he was plain-speaking, no-nonsense and different.

Rump told the animals that if they had a problem, he would fix it. He didn’t get bogged down in detail, he simply said it would be dealt with. If he said a group of animals were corrupt, they were corrupt. Rump didn’t get involved in evidence. Rump dealt in fact. He didn’t get embroiled in proving things; that was what the big cat elite did. He didn’t have time to waste on verifying particulars. Why should he? He knew exactly what was going on. His supporters took his word for it. He didn’t tell them how everything would get better. It just would. Every speech he gave, audience members either chanted and cheered, or heckled and booed. It was a polarisation so stark many animals worried there would be civil war. The middle ground vanished, you were either with him or against him. His detractors were ardent, his followers evangelical.

Every Rump rally ended with the same repetitive chant: “AMERICAN ANIMAL, AMERICAN ANIMAL.”

The rhino climbed onto Rump rock spurred by the sound of fanatical cheering, he gazed out at the assembled animals, his straw wig flapping in the wind. He was pleased to note the new faces. Every day more were drawn to his rallying cry. “We need big talk and even bigger action,” Rump began with intensity.

“BIG TALK, BIGGER ACTION.” Chanted the crowd back at him.

Rump had travelled around the zoo, visiting with animals from all walks of life, talking to them directly, listening to their grievances, promising swift justice or instant resolution. He injected his speeches with their concerns:

“American animals must come first! Let’s make this zoo great again!” he bellowed, waiting a beat so the gathering mob could chant his words back.

Rump awoke on the sixth day of the campaign with an idea. He summoned Simon and instructed him to go and find him a chalkboard. Within an hour Simon slithered back into the ranch, dragging behind him, a thin sheet of grey slate stone.

“Place it at the entrance of the ranch, where all can see it,” commanded the rhino. Rump followed Simon outside to make sure the snake completed the task to his satisfaction.

“What is it for, Mr President-Elect, Sir?” Simon said as pushed the flat stone into place. “I will use it to communicate my important message, direct to the other animals.”

“What a truly ingenious idea, Sir.”

Rump craned his neck and started to write on the board, with his horn. Simon spoke the words as he spoke them: “A leopard can’t change his spots. I don’t have spots!”

The snake wagged his tail excitedly. “What will you call this new form of communication, Sir?”

“Well, let me see, this is a Horn Board!” Rump said kicking the slate tablet. “So I guess the act of committing thoughts to the Horn Board is called Horning,” he added.

The following morning, Rump went to check the Horning Board and was surprised to find a rather large pile of flat stones stacked at its base. Closer inspection revealed each of the slate tiles was etched with a message.

The first of which was written in tall spidery lettering and was signed by the Mexican Sereque, Jose. It was a straightforward opinion: “You’re an idiot!”

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The cover art that received the highest number of likes for the month of January:

Quentin Blake

[the-record-obituaries]

Feb. 26, 2020: Obituaries

Annie Harris, 69

Annie Lou Harris, age 69, of North Wilkesboro, passed away Thursday, February 20, 2020 at her home. She was born April 9, 1950 in Wilkes County to Grover and Margaret Whellington Gentry. Annie was a member of Denny Grove AME Zion Church, where she served as a deaconess, on the usher board; and the treasury board. Mrs. Harris graduated from East Wilkes High School and attended Wilkes Community College with a major in Early Childhood education. Annie had a passion for teaching and spent 30 years in the Woodlawn community preparing preschool children for elementary school. She felt that cultural exposure, discipline and resilience were qualities to equip children with a strong foundation. Mrs. Harris always encouraged children to learn from their mistakes and discouraged them from repeating the same mistakes. Her faith in God was her foundation for life. She was preceded in death by her parents.

Surviving are her husband, Douglas Harris of the home; daughter, Teia Weldon and spouse Dexter of Marietta, Georgia; step-daughters, Nena Gilreath Lucas and spouse Waverly of East Point, Georgia, Hope Gilreath Carter and spouse Allen of Jonesville; step-son, Douglas Harris and spouse Tysole of Ellenwood, Georgia; brothers, John Edward Gentry of Boone, David Gentry of Roaring River; sisters, Lillie Miller of Lancaster, California, Shirley Gentry of Charleston, South Carolina; nieces, DeShanta Richardson, Siah Perez and spouse Francisco, Michelle Gentry; nephews, Kirkland Gentry and Keith Gentry; great nieces, Andrea Richardson and Amiah Richardson; great nephews, Miguel Perez and Liam Perez host of loving cousins and friends.

Funeral service was February 25, at Miller Funeral Chapel with Rev. Michael Gillespie, Rev. Wayne Harris and Rev. Gene Martin officiating. Burial  followed in Mountlawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Denny Grove AME Zion Church, P.O.Box 253, Wilkesboro, NC 28697. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.  

  Talmo Holbrook, 84

Talmo Holbrook, age 84, of Traphill, passed away Friday, February 21, 2020 at Woltz Hospice Home in Dobson. Talmo was born October 18, 1935 in Wilkes County to Lester and Ruby Richardson Holbrook. Mr. Holbrook was a retired U.S. Army Veteran and National Guard. He was the best fiddle player in town. Talmo was preceded in death by his parents; and his wife, Rosemarie Schumann Holbrook.

Surviving are his daughters, Angela Wyatt and fiancé Scotty Church of North Wilkesboro, Jeannette Goss and spouse Rick of Traphill, Debbie Woodie of North Wilkesboro; son, Benny Holbrook and spouse Libby of North Wilkesboro; grandchildren, Brittany Luffman and spouse Austin, Brad Brown, Tyler Woodie, Brad Eller and spouse Corrina, Jon Rhodes and Traci, Ricky Goss and spouse Samantha; great grandchildren, Jaxton Luffman and Zane Luffman; brothers, Randall Whitley and spouse Ruby of Traphill, Jesse Whitley of Wilkesboro.

A private family memorial service will be held. Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Woltz Hospice Home, 945 Zephyr Road, Dobson, NC 27017. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.  

  Elmer Pearson, 81

Elmer Delano Pearson, age 81, of Boomer, passed away Thursday, February 20, 2020 at his home. Elmer was born October 2, 1938 in Wilkes County to John Philo and Lucinda Goodwin Pearson. Mr. Pearson was a member of Mt. Caramel Baptist Church. He loved to do woodwork and had his own woodworking shop. Elmer loved bird watching, loved raising bees and using his metal detector. He was preceded in death by his parents; and brothers, Robert and Earl Pearson.

Surviving are his wife, Romilda Penley Pearson of the home; his children, Gregory Pearson and spouse Sandra, Barbara Huggins and spouse Hal, Susie Griffith and fiancé Marvin Stamper all of Boomer, Jeffrey Pearson of Mulberry; grandchildren, Stephanie Eller, Jonathan Pearson, Beth Huggins, Shannon Reed, Jessica Huggins, Ronnie Griffith, Misty Howard, Adam Griffith, Corey Ferguson, Mindy Govea, Cassie Pearson; and sixteen great grandchildren.

Memorial service was February 23,   at Miller Funeral Chapel with Rev. Jerry Key and Rev. Billy Moore officiating. Burial will be at a later date in Moravian Falls Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the American Lung Association, PO Box 27985, Raleigh, NC 27611. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.

 Jesse Adams, 95

Jesse "Howard" Adams, age 95, of McGrady, passed away Wednesday, February 19, 2020 at his home. Howard was born May 2, 1924 in Newhall, West Virginia to Jonah and Bertha Wagoner Adams. He was a World War II Army Veteran, where he received the Eame Service Medal with 3 Bronze Service Stars, Good Conduct Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and Distinguished Unit Badge. He was proud to serve his country. Mr. Adams was a craftsman with woodworking. He enjoyed fishing, gardening, feeding the birds and flowers. He loved his family and his dogs. Howard was preceded in death by his parents; his son, James Glenn Adams; several brothers and sisters.

Surviving are his wife, Martha Shew Adams of the home; sons, Howard Junior Adams of McGrady, Ronnie Lee Adams and spouse Traci of Crumpler; daughters, Debra Call of McGrady, Diane Holloway and spouse Ervin of Ronda; seven grandchildren; six great grandchildren; and two great great grandchildren.

Funeral service was February 22,  at Miller Funeral Chapel with Rev. Sammy Taylor and Rev. Billy Shepherd officiating. Burial with military honors by Veterans of Foreign Wars Honor Guard Post 1142  followed in Mountlawn Memorial Park. The family will receive friends at Miller Funeral Service from 6:00 until 8:00 Friday night. Flowers will be accepted. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.  

Roger Petty, 59

Mr. Roger Dale Petty, age 59 of Moravian Falls passed away Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at Wake Forest Baptist-Wilkes Medical Center.

A Service to Honor His Life was February 23,   at Antioch Primitive Baptist Church in Sparta with Brother Hugh Miller officiating. Mr. Petty was born June 25, 1960 in Alleghany County to Juanita Petty Irwin.  Roger was the 1995 class valedictorian in the first Paramedic Class offered at Wilkes Community College.  He started his career at Wilkes EMS and then after several years ended his career as a cardiac catheterization technician at Watauga Medical Center in Boone.  He retired from the Wilkes County Rescue Squad in December 2016 with 38 years of service.

He was preceded in death by his step-father; Eugene Phipps Irwin and a sister; Lisa Edwards.

Mr. Petty is survived by his wife; Annette Hutchens Petty of the home, three daughters; Tara Petty Shore and husband Andy of Wilkesboro, Amanda Petty of Las Vegas, NV, Taylor Petty Johnson and husband Michael of Moravian Falls and one son; Logan Petty of the home, five grandchildren; Brett Shore, Nicolas Zeildon, Isabelle Petty, Isaac Petty and Madison Johnson, one brother; Bobby Edwards and wife Denise of Browns Summit and two step-brothers and their spouses; Mark Irwin and Kate of Mouth of Wilson, VA and Phillip Irwin and Chris of Raleigh.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Wilkes Ministry of H.O.P.E., 514 Elkin Highway, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659.

 Peggy Day, 86

Mrs. Peggy Creasman Day, age 86 of North Wilkesboro passed away Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at Wilkes Sr. Village, on what would have been her and Frank's 64th wedding anniversary.  Peggy has relocated yet once again, this time to her eternal home in heaven to be with her Lord and her childhood sweetheart.  

Funeral Services were February 22, at Reins-Sturdivant Chapel with Dr. Bert Young and Dr. Dean Simpson officiating.  Entombment was in Scenic Memorials Gardens Mausoleum.  

Mrs. Day was born April 8, 1933 in Davidson County to Roy L and Pauline Kindley Creasman. She was a member of the First Baptist Church where she was in the Euzelian Sunday School class.  

When Peggy was a teenager she worked for Belk's and Penny's on holidays and weekends.  She graduated from North Wilkesboro High School in 1952 and attended Woman's College in Greensboro (now U.N.C Greensboro) and worked as a secretary in North Wilkesboro at Wilkes Auto Sales from 1953 until 1955 and she also worked at Modern Globe.  

Having met while sledding in the eighth grade, Frank and Peggy quickly became an item; they were inseparable for nearly 60 years. She married the love of her life, Frank Day, in 1956. Peggy did everything with Frank, until he predeceased her nearly a decade ago.  After she married Frank she became a mother and homemaker. Then she went back to work at Nancy King Textiles.  

Nearly thirty years ago, Frank and Peggy Day took the empty Rose's building, once the retail hub of the Wilkesboro's, and turned it into a Victorian themed mini-mall. It was their hangout and a retirement passion after many decades of manufacturing. The Melody Square Mall became an active second hub of the downtown from its inception.  

In the wake of Frank's death, Peggy kept the Mall and her retail store going for many years. For her, the mall and the store were so much more than just a business. Frank and Peggy helped dozens of businesses get their start inside this Victorian village. Most of these new business owners, and their regular customer, became like family to them.  

Likewise, they also enjoyed seeing friends and acquaintances drop in.  It was like the venerable country store where folks came for more than merely shopping and eating.  Many pulled up on a bench to talk, or just sit and watch people go by. Others used the pleasant space to walk laps around the corridors. The mall has changed hands. And now, Peggy has moved on to sled once again with the love of her life.

She loved the Lord, her church and her family with all her heart. She loved and was loved by many friends.  

In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by her husband; Frank G. Day.

She is survived by a daughter; Melody Lynn Rasmussen and husband Gerald of Wilmington, NC and a son; Tim Day and wife Diana of Marietta, GA, four grandchildren; Davis Day, Cameron Day and wife Emily, Alexander Lee Rasmussen and wife Shaina, Nicholas Paul Rasmussen and three step-grandchildren; Joanna Toso, Grace Toso and Jared Toso.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Helping Hands Ministries, POB 5037 Statesville NC, 28687, or http://www.hhmworldmissions.com/ or to Samartians Purse, PO Box 3000, Boone, NC 28607.

Carol Kilby, 80

Mrs. Carol Brown Kilby, age 80 of North Wilkesboro passed away Tuesday, February 18, 2020 at her home.

Funeral services were February 21,   at Mtn. Valley Baptist Church with Rev. Scott Church and Rev. Glenn Dancy, III officiating.  Burial was in the church cemetery.  church.

Mrs. Kilby was born October 2, 1939 in Wilkes County to Roby Hobert and Fannie Isado Vannoy Brown.  She was a member of Mtn. Valley Baptist Church.  

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband; Maurice Kilby.

She is survived by three daughters; Sandra Lambert and husband Allen, Maurica Kilby, Gail Smith and husband Keith all of North Wilkesboro and one son; Alan Kilby and wife Terri of North Wilkesboro, eight grandchildren; Daniel Lambert, David Kilby, Sydney Culler, Grayson Hart, Jaren Smith, Braden Smith, Avery Hart and Seth Culler and four great grandchildren; Baylee Kilby, Lucas Lambert, Kailee Lambert and Jason Kilby, five sisters and one brother.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Mount Valley Baptist Church Building Fund, c/o Bobbie Witherspoon, 1420 Cartpath Road, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659.

 Janie Greenwood, 69

Mrs. Janie Childress Greenwood, age 69 of Ronda passed away Sunday, February 16, 2020 at Woltz Hospice Home in Dobson.

Funeral services were February 20,   at Reins-Sturdivant Chapel with Pastor Bert Mathis officiating.  Burial will be in Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery.  

Mrs. Greenwood was born April 5, 1950 in Iredell County to Lee and Annie Ball Childress.  She was a member of Cherry Grove Baptist Church and she loved corvettes and she loved to travel.

In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by a brother; John Childress.

She is survived by her husband; Alan Greenwood of the home, three sisters; Barbara Sebastian of North Wilkesboro, Merlene Anderson of Cricket and Pat Royall of North Wilkesboro, five brothers; Larry Childress and wife Joyce of Taylorsville, Wayne Childress and wife Judy of Millers Creek, Bill Childress of Wilkesboro, Dennis Childress and wife Dorothy of Ronda and Kim Childress of Hays.

Flowers will be accepted.

 Paul Marley,Sr. 92

Paul Marley, 92 passed away peacefully on February 15, 2020 at his home in Wilkesboro, NC

surrounded by loved ones.  Born in West Jefferson, NC on October 9, 1927 to Coy B Marley and Virginia M Dunn Marley.

 Paul served two terms in the United States Army from May 14, 1946 until April 12, 1947.  

He was inducted near the end of World War II and was stationed at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas where he served in the Medical Corp and later was a Clerk General in the mail room.   Later he was called back to duty in January 24, 1951 for the Korean War and was stationed at Ft. Jackson, South  Carolina. His main duty was processing new recruits, many of the boys were from Wilkes County coming through the lines that later were stationed at other bases for training.

Paul worked for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture as a Poultry Inspector for 40 years before retiring.   He was a member of the Rotary Club and helped them start an annual fundraising horse shows and served as show chairman for many years.  Also, he coached the girls' softball team that the Rotary Club sponsored. He enjoyed fishing, hunting, raising Beagles with his father, music and always had a good joke or story to tell.  After retiring Paul work with Wilkes County Habitat for Humanity raising money and building homes. Also, he traveled with his daughter, Teresa to dog shows all over the United States and a large part of Canada.   Enjoyed spending winters in Florida with his son, Cecil and his wife. Once asked about his children all living so far from Wilkesboro, he answered " If I had known they would all move to great places to visit, I would have had more kids"

He is survived by his wife of 65 years Peggy (Bumgarner), his sister Charlotte Edmiston (George) of Ferguson, his daughter Teresa Marley (Charles Jones) of Indian Wells, California, his son Paul Cecil Marley, Jr (Jennifer Marley) of Palm Bay, Florida, grandson George Bynum of Hudson, NC along with nephews, nieces and countless friends.    He was preceded in death by his parents, bothers Ralph Vernon Marley and James Turner Marley, sisters Pauline Marley and Annie Marley-Funkhouser and daughter Paula Bynum.

The family would like to thank all Paul's wonderful caregivers, staff at Rose Glenn and Wake Forest Care at Home Hospice.  In lieu of flowers, the family request that memorial contributions be made to Parkinson's Foundation at www.parkinson.org, phone 800-473-4636 or  200  SE 1st Street, Suite 800, Miami, FL 33131.

Jackie Gayles, 84

Pastor Jackie Bejerano Gayles, age 84 of Wilkesboro, passed away Friday, February 14. 2020 at University Place Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Charlotte.

Funeral services will be held 2:00 pm, Saturday, February 22, 2020 at Mt. Carmel TPC Church in Harmony, NC with Bishop Jerome Temoney officiating. Burial will be in the church Cemetery. The family will receive friends at Mt. Carmel TPC from 1:00 until 2:00 pm on Saturday prior to the service.

Mr. Gayles was born April 29, 1935 in New  York to Daisy Gayles. He was a member at Seventh Day Adventist in Wilkesboro. He was employed at Bec Car Printing as a Printer retiring after twenty five years. He loved his family and teaching the word of God. His passions were hunting and reading.

In addition to his mother he was preceded in death by a daughter Cecilia Scott and a son Kim Gayles.

He is survived by his wife JoAnn Gayles of Wilkesboro, a daughter Elena Gayles of Florida; three sons, Marc Misher and wife, April of Huntersville; Don Vito Gayles and wife, Tony of Richmond, VA; Keith Gayles of New York; twelve grandchildren and eleven great grandchildren; a sister Elena Simmons of California; and a brother, Dr. Carlos Gayles M.D. and wife Cynthia of Rochester, MI.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials to the Donor's choice.

Online condolences may be made at www.reinssturdivant.com

[unofferable-fic]

The Flower & The Serpent (Arthur Morgan x OFC)

Chapter 1 - Orphans from the East

Summary: In the early 1890s, the Van der Linde Gang were truly at their finest. Experts at stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, they've made a name for themselves across the West. Two of their newest recruits, a pair of rebellious Irish siblings with an unknown past, slowly find their footing and settle into their new lives as outlaws. And yet, as they grow older, threats from all sides begin to appear. A strained relationship with Colm O'Driscoll spells disaster for the gang, and no matter how far they roam across America, the world continues to change around them. If they want to survive, difficult choices must be made. No one is as they seem and the impending arrival of law and order threatens to tear the siblings, and everything they hold dear, apart. Is it too late for anyone to find a happy ending?

Originally posted by loga-boga

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Pairing: Arthur Morgan x OFC

Warnings: Language, violence.

Word Count: 4,699

Next Chapter

Playlist: “Red Dead Redemption 2 Trailer Theme” — L’Orchestra Cinematique, “Blessed Are The Peacemakers” — Woody Jackson, “Old Dog” — The Scratch

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A/N: Also available on AO3. So I've been obsessing over the Red Dead series since December and decided to finally bite the bullet and write a fic about my favourite cowboys and gals. That being said, this bad boy is the result of smashing heads together with a friend of mine, who is also a writer and contributing just as much to the narrative and characters. So this is essentially a mutual creation of ours and we hope y'all enjoy some western shenanigans with some Irish patriotism sprinkled on top. This is my first attempt at anything Red Dead related, so hopefully it isn't a steaming pile of trash! Any thoughts at all, comments are always welcome.

“What the hell is this?”

Arthur Morgan had found himself in many sticky situations in his short life, but standing with his revolver pointed at a pair of kids was definitely a new one.

Well, they were pointing their own guns right back at him, so it wasn’t exactly a situation that required basic manners.

“Looks like they got to our take first,” Dutch replied in disbelief from his spot between the two parties. Their agitated mounts continuously shuffled on their hooves, neighing restlessly as each rider did their best to focus on the newest threat before them. “Hold on a minute there, son—”

“Who are you lot?” the young boy demanded, with his revolver currently pointed directly at Dutch. Behind him, a girl had just finished shoving the much sought after contents of the stagecoach lockbox into a large bag. In her other hand was a gun pointed directly between Arthur’s eyes.

“You best drop that gun, you little shit!” a very wound up John Marston ordered. “Before I put a bullet in your head!”

The girl swiftly pointed her gun towards John, the threat apparently cutting deep. Despite her slight frame and obvious youth, her voice sounded confident from beneath her bandana. “Try it, greasy! I’ll take great pleasure in riddlin’ your fuck-ugly face!”

Of course, John was never one for staying calm. “You ain’t in charge here, little missy!”

“Marston!” Arthur cut in, seeing things spiralling quickly if they didn’t do something.  His furrowed brow was already covered in sweat beneath his hat. “Shut your damn mouth and take it easy!”

“No one needs to die here,” Hosea added, his voice surprisingly calm despite their current predicament. “We all need to relax.”

Dutch agreed and tried to take control of the situation as he always did. “My good friend here is right. How about lowerin’ your guns, fellers, and we can talk this out.”

The boy’s eyes flared on his mostly hidden face. “How about you get your monkeys to lower theirs first!”

While the insult barely fazed Arthur, John was a little more sensitive. “Shut your damn mouth!”

Well Jesus, this couldn’t possibly end well…

* * *

8th June, 1890, outside Waukesha, Wisconsin

Today is the day. Dutch wants me and Marston to scout out the road before the stagecoach comes through later this evening. It’ll be the kid’s first real try at a robbery like this, so Dutch thinks getting familiar with the area might help settle his nerves a little… I was against it at first, but he said we need the extra man if we’re going to deal with the Pinkerton escort afterwards.

As long as he keeps a cool head he should be fine, but he’s still not one for taking orders very well, even if he’s been with us for five years. Still young, dumb as shit, and eager to prove himself. I’m hoping he learns to listen though — Lord knows I’d hate to see anything happen to him.

* * *

“Grub’s up, folks! Grub’s up!”

Arthur closed over his journal at Pearson’s call. Glancing up to see the cook placing a steaming pot of stew over the fire, he returned the book to its spot on his bedside table. Morning had swiftly arrived at the camp, and most of the inhabitants were up and about already, attending to the many chores that needed doing. It was a clear and sunny day, with only a few fluffy white clouds littering the blue sky. The heat was somewhat intense despite the early hour and brought a light sheen of sweat to his forehead. This camp had been their home for some weeks now, and Arthur really didn’t mind. He quite liked it out here — he always preferred the open plains to dense cities. The cosy field where they now resided was situated on the bank of a river outside a small city called Waukesha. The surrounding lowlands were flat, open, and easy to traverse, but the gang was safely hidden from the nearest trail by a thick group of green trees. Though the region was home to some of Wisconsin’s largest cities, most of it was made up of farmland, so it was relatively easy for them to remain here without being noticed. He really hoped they could stay in these vast fields for some time. He could get used to travelling across the stretching green pastures atop Boadicea, and the first breath of fresh air he inhaled every morning bought a genuine smile to his face.

Arthur’s eyes flitted over the lightly dancing trees on the camp’s outskirts before looking to what had originally grabbed his attention. Though Pearson’s food was in dire need of some seasoning, his stomach rumbled at the prospects of a hot meal. He got to his feet, wiping some of his unruly hair out of his eyes, and went to get his share.

“Mornin’, Mr Morgan,” Susan greeted him as she grabbed a cup of coffee.

“Miss Grimshaw,” he replied with a nod, helping himself to a large bowl of stew.  “Mornin’.”

She took a seat on one of the nearby tables and urged him to join her.

With a shrug, he took a seat and set his bowl down. “Coffee good?”

“As always,” she said. “As long as it calms my nerves it’ll do.”

“What do you have to be nervous about?” he asked before taking a mouthful of stew and ignoring the mild bland taste.

“I seem to be more concerned with this stagecoach than you are!”

“You concerned about the coach, or the fact Marston will be near the coach?”

“He can be a headstrong little brat at times, but I’d rather not see him with a hole in his head.”

Miss Grimshaw shook her head in exasperation, but the gesture only brought a smirk to Arthur’s lips. She could be quite a harsh woman, especially when people lounged around and didn’t do their part in keeping everything running smoothly. Despite being the current flame of the ever flirtatious Dutch van der Linde, Susan Grimshaw refused to sit idly by and act like the lady of the manor. She was very much involved in ensuring that the camp remained a functioning unit. She was perfect for the role, probably because she could be positively terrifying if you didn’t help out.

“I’ll admit,” Arthur began, swallowing some food. “I wasn’t exactly happy ’bout the idea at first, but Dutch has faith in the little brat. And besides, he’s got me, Dutch, and Hosea lookin’ out for him. He’ll be fine as long as he does what we say.”

Susan eyed him carefully, but nodded, seemingly happy with his words. “As long as you do look out for him, Mr Morgan. You know how he can be — he reminds me a lot of you at that age.”

“Hey now! Don’t go comparin’ me to that fool—”

Miss Grimshaw cut across him with ease. “It is the reason you two get on so well, what with bein’ such like-minded individuals…”

Arthur finished his breakfast while she reeled off the many reasons why he and John were one and the same. Sometimes it as best just to keep his mouth shut, and this seemed like one such moment. His saving grace came when Dutch called him over to his tent.

“Mornin’, Dutch.”

“And a fine morning it is, son,” he replied with gusto and set down the book he had been reading. He offered Arthur a cigarette before taking one for himself. He lit the two, then continued on. “Hosea and Bessie took young John into town to get some supplies for tonight.”

“How’s he seem?” Arthur asked and took a drag.

“John? Seems fine to me. Maybe a little… let’s say, eager, to get goin’.”

“Still got faith in him?”

“O’course,” Dutch said, his voice firm. “We all gotta start somewhere, Arthur, you know that. He’s seventeen now, so it ain’t a bad age to get goin’. Heck, you did it even younger.”

He knew Dutch was right — there was no point letting John fester around camp doing nothing. They definitely didn’t need a second Uncle around the place, and Marston seemed keen to please… Or maybe he was just passionate about shooting something, who knew? It seemed that Dutch did though, and if there was someone whose opinion mattered, it was Dutch.

Arthur kept busy around the camp doing numerous chores while he waited for the trio to return. Chopping firewood and helping Pearson prepare their dinner for later at least meant that time flew by for him. He was playing fetch with Copper when John finally returned with Hosea and Bessie in tow. While the older couple went to check in with Dutch, Arthur and John mounted their horses and, with Copper running along side them, headed out down the road to the spot where they intended to rob the stagecoach.

“Why are we robbin’ it at this spot exactly?” Marston asked, scanning his eyes over the strip of dirt road.

“It’s the best distance outside town where a robbery won’t attract any attention,” Arthur explained, gently patting Boadicea. “The stagecoach is carryin’ bank transfers into Milwaukee, so you can bet that robbin’ it close to town would bring a whole heap of law on us. See that turn there?” He pointed off in the distance, tipping the brim of his hat to keep the shimmering sunlight out of his eyes. “It’s gonna come down that road there and loop this way. We’ll be waitin’ on this here ridge and hidden in some of the trees so that they don’t spot us.”

“What about them?” the younger boy asked. “They got any guns?”

“Four in total, if Hosea’s intel is right. So we should be able to take ’em out with the four of us. They’ll have a backup escort comin’ in from there, though.” He pointed up the road in the opposite direction. “’The bank in Milwaukee will be sendin’ out some of their own guns to meet the stagecoach just a little ways up the road, considerin’ this lil strip is so deserted. So we’re expectin’ maybe four more guns to show, which is why Dutch wants you involved. Once we rob the coach and the extra men arrive, there’ll be enough of us to take ’em out if needs be.”

“Sounds dangerous,” John mused, hanging on his every word.

Arthur let out a chuckle and proceeded to light himself a cigarette. “What, you scared, boy?”

“No! I ain’t scared, just bein’ honest about things.”

“You’ll do just fine,” the older man reassured him and offered him a cigarette. “You just need’a keep a cool head, and do as Dutch says. That’s how we make sure things go smoothly.” He paused to take a drag. “You ain’t got nothin’ to worry about if you do that.”

John nodded and puffed away to calm his nerves. “Thanks. I’m just glad that you’ll have my back, brother.”

“That’s what family is for,” Arthur responded with a small grin. He watched Copper as the dog sniffed along the roadside. “You’ll be fine.”

The two of them remained there for a few moments more as Arthur went over their plan of action in more detail. Though he knew how John could be, he was glad to see that he was eager to get to work. He hoped this wouldn’t make him over excited when the time came, but he thought back on what Dutch had said — he needed to put faith in his brother to do the job right. Thankfully, Marston had yet to give him a reason to doubt him so aggressively.

They returned to camp and waited out the rest of the day going over their plan with Hosea and Dutch. They had everything planned perfectly — it had to be, otherwise they could find themselves in a sticky situation once the Pinkerton escort arrived. Regardless, spirits were high at dinner time when Arthur, Dutch, Hosea, and young John mounted up and headed out to rob the stagecoach. They road through the fields in the late evening sun, avoiding the main road so that they wouldn’t be spotted ahead of time. The familiar buzz that came with performing robberies and the like was already stirring within Arthur’s chest. It was always risky business, but a part of him loved the thrill and feeling of power that came with these takes. Knowing that the money would be given to those who needed it most also gave him a nice sense of self-worth — it was one of the only things in his life that made him feel that way. He wasn’t a good man by any means, but he still tried to do some small bit of good where he could.

“And here we are,” Dutch announced from atop his horse as the group arrived at the waiting spot. He glanced at his pocket watch and nodded. “Right on time. Does everyone remember the plan?”

“O’course,” Arthur confirmed.

“Good. Now, cover your faces; we won’t be waitin’ too long for the stage to swing by.”

Arthur quickly pulled his bandana up to cover his mouth and nose and double-checked that his guns were fully loaded and ready to be used if things took a turn.

“Remember, gentlemen,” Dutch continued on. “No killing unless absolutely necessary.”

“Best of luck, everyone,” Hosea added.

Then the group descended into silence and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Arthur’s fingers flexed on his reigns. He could see John beginning to get anxious. Something definitely wasn’t right.

The only noise they could hear was the light breeze on the leaves above their heads, and the persistent ticking of Dutch’s pocket watch as he checked the time again.

“Somethin’ ain’t right,” Hosea whispered, mimicking Arthur’s own concerns. “They should have come through here by now.”

“Maybe you got the times wrong?” John suggested. “Or the place?”

Arthur shook his head. “That ain’t it. We heard from multiple people and all of them said it would come through this road at this time.”

“So what do we do then?”

“Well,” Dutch sighed, somewhat vexed with the development. He pulled down his bandana and turned to the rest of them. “We can’t stay here and wait for it to possibly arrive. I suggest we head up road and see do we come across it. But we stay out of sight and appear as inconspicuous as we can until I say otherwise.”

Hosea nodded and uncovered his face. “I agree. It’s definitely a better idea than waitin’ here and hopin’ for the best.”

“In that case, follow me, gentlemen.”

Arthur followed as the group made their way through the fields adjacent to the strip of road. They kept an eye out, but met no one along the way, and their anxiety only grew with each passing second. This was some take according to the locals, so missing it would be a great loss to the gang.

“Up ahead!” Dutch suddenly announced in a hushed tone.

Arthur looked up to see a stagecoach in the distance, stationary on the road. “Why’s it stopped?”

“Because,” Dutch growled out. “It’s bein’ robbed.”

“It’s what?”

“Somebody beat us to it! C’mon!”

Right well, this certainly wasn’t an outcome for which the gang was prepared. Arthur  hastily followed Dutch’s lead as their horses galloped up to the precious stage. He strained his eyes to get a look at who had intercepted the take before they even had a chance. The closer he got, the more information became apparent to him — two figures crowded the rear of the coach, one of whom was emptying its contents into a bag. The other stood by guarding her every move. The drivers and guards were nowhere to be found. At first, Arthur just assumed that the figures were small because of their position in the distance, but the closer he got, the more he realised that this was no normal robbery.

“It’s a pair of kids!” John exclaimed, disgust evident in his tone. “We got beaten to it by some damn kids!”

“Kids?” Arthur repeated in disbelief.

With the noise of their arrival, the pair of young thieves looked up from their prize to see four men thundering towards them on horseback. They were clothed in dirty outfits with bandanas hiding their identities. A quick once over told Arthur that it was boy and a girl who had managed to rob an obscene amount of money from the stage. How in the hell had two kids manage that?

Perhaps riding directly to them hadn’t been the best idea, as the pair were quick to point their guns at the gang.

“Hold on there!” Dutch called, grinding his mount to a halt and holding up his hands. The trio behind him followed suit, but Arthur and John instead chose to aim a weapon at each of them just in case.

“What the hell is this?” Arthur asked, completely dumbfounded with the situation they found themselves in.

“Cé hiad na leaids sin?” the girl asked her companion.

“The fuck you say?” John demanded, already losing his temper.

“Who are you lot?” the boy demanded, his eyes very skeptical already and completely unfazed by this strange man’s apparent aggression.

And now here they were — facing off against a pair of kids on a quiet dirt road. Sometimes Arthur really got tired of this shit.

“How about you get your monkeys to lower theirs first!”

“Take it easy, son,” Dutch answered calmly with his hands still raised. “We mean you no harm.”

“Your friends with the guns there don’t give us much comfort,” the girl replied in a thick Irish accent. “Now do as he said and get them to lower their weapons!”

“If you give me your word that you won’t shoot ’em, I will.”

“Is that a good idea?” Arthur asked, not exactly enjoying pointing his gun at a kid, but also not liking the idea of being defenceless.

“Trust me, Arthur. You and John, put the guns away.”

Arthur released a heavy sigh, but listened to his mentor and returned his gun to its holster. “Goddammit…”

John obliged, though he was far more hesitant to listen. A stern look from Hosea got the point across.

“Now,” Dutch announced. “We did as you asked. How about you meet us halfway and lower yours?”

The pair exchanged a knowing look before slowly lowering their revolvers, but not putting them away. The boy called out to them again. “Now, as I was sayin’, who are you lot and what do you want?”

“No harm in bein’ honest. We were the ones plannin’ on gettin’ that coach, but it seems like you beat us to it.”

“Not our problem,” the girl replied. “We got to it first, so you’s aren’t gettin’ any of it.”

Dutch shook his head. “We ain’t gonna steal it from you. You two earned it, fair and square. I don’t quite know how you managed it, but I’d be lyin’ if I said I wasn’t impressed.”

“We’re used to bumping into rival gangs every now and then,” Hosea added with a goodnatured chuckle. “But not so used to seein’ kids out on jobs.”

“Yeah, well,” the girl grumbled. “You gotta get by somehow when you’ve nothin’ else.”

“Of course!” Dutch agreed. “We ain’t here to judge.”

As they spoke, Arthur briefly turned his head as the sound of horses grabbed his attention. He looked back down the road from where they came, and suddenly remembered an important detail of the plan. “Awh, shit. We got company!”

“Wait, what?” the boy asked, looking baffled. “What’s goin’ on?”

“The Pinkertons!” Hosea confirmed just as the escort appeared at the end of the trail. “How many we got, Arthur?”

“I see six comin’ in!” he confirmed, looking through his binoculars at the patrol heading down the road.

“That’s more than expected!” John commented in dismay.

“Pinkertons?” the young girl repeated. “What Pinkertons?”

“An escort sent to meet the stagecoach,” Dutch elaborated. “I assume by your confused expressions that you two didn’t know about that part.”

“Jaysus Christ,” the boy muttered and drew a carbine from his back. “No, we didn’t.”

“Well then I think your best odds are to come with us, or you can stay here and try to fight off six guns.”

The kids shared a look again before the girl spoke first in a language that Arthur didn’t understand. “Cad a dhéanfaimid anois?”

The boy shook his and gave her hand a squeeze. “Níl an dara rogha againn. Let’s get outta here.”

“You got horses?”

“No,” the girl explained. “We came on foot.”

“Well then, you hop up here with me, son, and your partner can jump on with my friend, Mr Morgan, there.”

The boy took Dutch’s outstretched hand and hauled himself on to the back of the horse, while Arthur offered the girl a hand and helped to pull her up behind him. “Hold on tight now, you hear?”

“I’ll be grand,” she replied, though he could hear the hint of fear in her voice. “Just move.”

Just as shouts and some shots rang out from the arriving escort, the gang sped off and through a nearby bunch of trees in an effort to lose their pursuers. Arthur felt the young girl hold on to his shoulders tightly as he pushed Boadicea as hard as she could go. The noise of the horses thundering along and jumping over bushes and fences was one that he knew well, and one that was always accompanied by a small amount of worry and excitement. He could hear John and Hosea urging their mounts forwards, realising how risky it was being out in the open like this. The head start thankfully gave them a decent advantage over the Pinkertons as they spend through the Wisconsin fields. Unfortunately, despite the distance between them and the men chasing them, the Pinkertons persisted and were hard to lose.

“They’re still on us,” the girl shouted from behind him. “You’s need to do somethin’!”

“I know,” Arthur answered, breathing in deep. “Just lemme think.”

“What about those trees?” William called, pointing to the outskirts of a bunch of greenery just in front of them.

Right on queue, bullets whizzed over their heads, some a mile off and others unnervingly close.

Arthur let out a huff and ducked his head down as one very nearly got him. “Keep your head down, girl! We’re sittin’ ducks out in the open like this!”

“We can lose them in there!” Dutch confirmed. “We just need to make it past the tree line.”

Behind them, the rate of gunfire began to increase the closer they got to the safety of the trees. The escort clearly knew that they’d lose them amidst the thick foliage. Thankfully, the trees drew closer and closer and their bullets managed to miss their targets as they shifted side to side to throw them off. Arthur breathed a sigh of relief as they breached the tree line and slowed to navigate between the brush. He felt the girl’s grip on his frame ease up a little with their new cover and he gave her a swift glance to see how she was holding up.

Dutch called out orders to once more grab their attention. “Everyone, veer left and follow me!”

They manoeuvred carefully between the tall trees and bushes, keeping a careful eye out behind them incase the escort appeared on their tail once more. Thankfully, as they weaved to and fro between the shrubbery, the Pinkertons weren’t seen again. When they finally broke through the edge of the forest and reappeared in an open field, the sun had just about set on the distance and the threat seemed to have been lost.

The horses were eased to a halt and Arthur placed a loving pat on trusty Boadicea’s neck. “You did good, girl.”

“Everyone alright?” Hosea asked the group. The responses he received were unanimously positive though out of breath.

“That certainly could’ve gone worse,” the boy mused as he jumped from The Count.  Seeing no danger around, he pulled his bandana back down to reveal his youthful face. Arthur was surprised to see just how young he was — he looked to be about the same age as he was when he first joined the gang. Despite this, he looked like he was sleeping rough, with a dirty face and a fresh red scar that ran over his right brow and down his cheek. “But at least nobody got shot.”

Arthur noticed the girl dismounting to join her companion and she too pulled off her mask. She seemed just as young as him and showed signs of dirt and older scars. Immediately she went to the boy’s side and gave him a once over. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” he said with a small smile and let out a huff as he got his breath back. “I’m grand. Are you?”

“Yeah. Thankfully these lads are good riders.”

She wiped her brow and reached back to tie her messy brown hair out of her face as Dutch addressed them. “I thought you two did pretty good out there, considerin’ you managed that stage all on your own.”

“Yeah, bar the squad that we weren’t even remotely prepared for showin’ up,” the girl replied with a pained smile. She looked up at Dutch and gave him a thankful nod. “We definitely would’a been captured or worse if it wasn’t for you lot.”

“Outlaws gotta stick together in times like these,” he said calmly. “We’re livin’ in different times, and we’re just tryin’ to survive.”

The boy nodded in agreement and then shared a look with the girl. “We appreciate the help Mister, uh…”

“Van der Linde,” Dutch replied and reached out to shake their hands. “Dutch van der Linde. These are my friends, Hosea Matthews, Arthur Morgan, and young John Marston.”

“I’m Maebh Hennigan,” the girl replied. “And this is my brother, William.”

“A pleasure. Can I ask, is it just the two of you? No parents or family around?”

Maebh flinched slightly at the question. “Uh, yeah. Our parents died a while back and the rest of our family is back in Ireland. We have nothin’, so we have to rob sometimes to get by. But that doesn’t matter, we owe you’s a lot for this. I suppose it's only fair that we give you’s a bit of the money from the stage.”

Dutch grinned at her suggestion and Arthur recognised that look almost immediately. He could already see his leader’s mind coming up with his next plan of action. Based on everything that happened today, he thought he had an idea of what it might be. “That’s a very kind offer, Miss Hennigan, but I actually have an offer for you.”

Maebh and William met each others gaze before the latter sceptically asked. “You have an offer for us?”

“As I already said, outlaws have to stick together if we want to get by out here. It’s the best way to ensure that we survive, that we live.”

Dutch was descending into a classic rousing speech with which Arthur and the group were quite familiar. He had heard it many times himself when he needed a bit of self belief in what they were doing. The most notable time he heard it was when he first met Dutch and Hosea as an unruly fifteen year old with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Yes, this was certainly an encounter with which he had some personal experience.

Atop The Count, Dutch stretched out his arms in a welcoming gesture and grinned from ear to ear. “If we want to live like Americans, then we got to have each others backs, no matter how tough or worrisome things may be. You need a family, you need stability, you need to know that you are safe. But I think that today is a sign of what you both could have.” He paused and Maebh and William hung on every word. “My offer to you two, is how’d you like to join my gang?”

[thedeaditeslayer]

Bob Dorian, actor and magician who introduced classic films on AMC, dies at 85.  

While we are late in sharing this, we would like to share our condolences to the friends and family of Bob Dorian, the original professor Knowby.  Sam Raimi had actually paid him only $100 to record his lines for The Evil Dead. He will surely be missed. You can read the article below. 

Bob Dorian, an actor, magician and avuncular movie buff who presented more than 10,000 classic films, B-movie serials and pre-Code Hollywood gems as the first prime-time host of American Movie Classics, died June 15. He was 85, although he often said he preferred to give his age by way of film history, declaring that he was “born between ‘Flying Down to Rio’ and ‘Top Hat.’ ”

His daughter Melissa Dorian confirmed the death but did not say precisely where or how he died, noting that the family prepared only a two-line obituary in keeping with his desire for privacy.

Mr. Dorian performed on the stage, radio, television and occasionally on film, appearing in two movies by one of his favorite contemporary directors, Woody Allen, and lending his voice to Sam Raimi’s 1981 horror classic “The Evil Dead” as an archaeologist whose tape-recorded readings from an ancient text summon demonic spirits to a cabin in the woods.

Bespectacled and bushy-browed, he began acting at 14; dabbled in stand-up comedy and trapeze-catching at the circus; played the bass in a New York jazz group, the Four Dimensions; and performed mind-reading tricks and other illusions as the Amazing Dorian, sometimes incorporating his wife and three daughters into his act.

“Women, cars — you name it and I’ve floated it,” he told The Washington Post in 1991, describing his powers of levitation. A magic performance he once gave in Saudi Arabia, he added, drove his audience from the room because “they thought I was doing the devil’s art.”

[He’s an expert, yes, but first, he’s a fan: Bob Dorian at AMC]

Mr. Dorian appeared in a 1976 television special alongside magicians David Copperfield and Carl Ballantine, but became far better known as the principal host of American Movie Classics, later shortened to AMC. The network launched in 1984 as a premium-cable showcase for old films, presenting movies without cuts or commercials a decade before the creation of Turner Classic Movies, the channel’s main competitor.

Although he was later joined by daytime hosts Gene Klavan and Nick Clooney, Mr. Dorian was “the heart and soul of AMC,” Los Angeles Times journalist Susan King wrote in 2002, about one year after Mr. Dorian left the network. His departure coincided with sweeping programming changes at AMC, where old movies were replaced with contemporary films and, eventually, original series such as “Mad Men.”

During his tenure, Mr. Dorian introduced movies with a two-minute segment filmed at a living-room set, where he roamed between bookshelves, a black Maltese falcon statue, and portraits of stars Jean Harlow and Hedy Lamarr.

Regaling viewers with Hollywood history and behind-the-scenes trivia, he explained how the filmmakers of “Casablanca” wrote the script as the movie was being made; how Bette Davis landed the lead role in “All About Eve” only after Claudette Colbert suffered a cracked vertebra while filming “Three Came Home”; and how no fewer than 188 actors had played the roles of Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Dr. Watson.

While TCM host Robert Osborne was an urbane film historian, Mr. Dorian insisted that he was little more than a movie fan. “We never use tape-overs,” he told the Dallas Morning News in 1994, explaining his process. “If I make a mistake, we leave it in. I want to seem like a human being who enjoys movies, not a superior professor talking down to an audience.”

He recalled that he got the AMC hosting job in large part through chance, when he met a producer in the early 1980s after being cast as Dracula in a television ad for a video game. “It was a very long two-day shoot, with most of my time spent in a tight coffin filled with way too much smoke,” he told GoFatherhood, a parenting blog. “Lunchtime usually lapsed into long conversations about all those great old movies the producer and I enjoyed when we were growing up.”

The producer, Norm Blumenthal, later helped start AMC, and asked Mr. Dorian if he would be interested in serving as an announcer. Executives were considering “two Broadway actors, a well-known TV film critic and a few others who were more involved in writing as a profession,” Mr. Dorian said.

After Mr. Dorian was suggested as half of a Siskel-and-Ebert-style duo, one executive purportedly had a breakthrough. “Wait a minute,” Mr. Dorian recalled his saying. “The critic might not be too crazy about some of the films we’ve brought in. This guy Dorian likes everything!”

Indeed, he favored classics such as “Citizen Kane” and “King Kong” as well B-movie serials such as “Zombies of the Stratosphere,” encouraging viewers to give the 1952 science-fiction film a try — if only because it featured Leonard Nimoy, who later played the pointy-eared Spock, in a supporting role as a Martian.

Mr. Dorian was born in Brooklyn in April 1934, two months after the release of “It Happened One Night.” He rarely discussed his upbringing, aside from recounting the Saturdays he spent evading matrons at local movie theaters, where he watched three or more films for the price of a dime.

He later worked as a theater usher, a job that enabled him to catch 86 screenings of the swashbuckling 1950 film “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and appeared in television shows such as “Suspense” and “Studio One,” according to one Washington Post report.

Mr. Dorian performed in the Allen movies “The Curse of the Jade Scorpion” (2001) and “Hollywood Ending” (2002), along with an independent Civil War film, “The Last Confederate” (2005). He was also a mainstay of regional theater productions — including at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J. — before retiring to Florida in recent years.

Survivors include his wife of 65 years, Jane Dorian; three daughters, Melissa Dorian, Robin Dorian and Jane Dorian; and two grandchildren.

Mr. Dorian likened his work at AMC as that of a historian or archivist, keeping old films alive for younger generations. But he seemed to find equal — if not greater — delight in his theatrical performances, notably in a 1998 touring production of “The Wizard of Oz,” during which he served as the understudy to the wizard, played by Mickey Rooney, and began the show as Dorothy’s Uncle Henry.

“Then we go through the tornado scene,” he told the New York Times , explaining his transformation into a new character. “I’m upstairs becoming a citizen of Oz, and I come out a little bit later when the Winkies are working for the Wicked Witch. I’m the head Winkie. We hired a line of Broadway ensemble dancers to be the Winkies, and I kept saying, Couldn’t you put me behind these people?”

[hotfuss]

I really enjoyed this wonderful wonderful era so I thought it would be fun compiling a spreadsheet  (available here) of all the outfits worn by brandon during this tour and pulling out some stats out of it :D

brandon completely changes style for each era, i’m pretty sure to match the personal aesthetic he has in mind for each album and this one is no different. the signature marks of this era are: boots, pants, long sleeved shirts, wearing tank tops on stage for the first time ever and pretty colourful jackets or suits. it’s a style pretty close to the desired effect era, while it seems more focused on the colour rather than on patterns. it has been defined as grown up hot fuss  too and I think it’s not wrong either.

there are some outfits recycled from old eras like the horseshoe shirt and the leopard print and the fake military jacket from tde, the pinstripe suit that was used only for the sam’s town decennial extravaganza so far (and reviving it means he wore a waistcoat for every single era, solo album included), the gold suit from sam’s town and the pink leather jacket that is going strong since hot fuss but mostly are brand new jackets and suits.

in the spreadsheet i’ve included what wikipedia calls warm up dates, which are just all the 2017 concerts before the start of the actual ww tour: looking at them and the fist part of the tour you can notice how the aesthetic is a work in progress and gets defined over time so there are lots of exceptions at the beginning like wearing a short sleeved shirt, jeans instead of pants, wearing a shirt for jackets that get be worn with tank tops or the other way around, but from the second half of the first american leg everything settles.

the week 2 of austin city limits on the 15th of october 2017 sees the debut on stage of the gold suit that also marks the first and only time for it being worn for the main set  while the encore saw the debut of the tiger jacket with the gold pants still on.

the gold suit is a work in progress too: after its debut in austin he wears it only for encores, adding the sunglasses and on the 27th of november in london he adds the gold shirt and sparkly gold boots making it the definite look. the gold suit it’s double tied with performing the calling, with the only exception of the calling debut on the 12th september 2017 in london (with live intro by woody harrelson) the calling has been performed (or was meant to be) with the gold suit further confirming that he plays a character while playing that song, as tana confirmed in one comment some time ago (x).

brandon changed outfits thrice in 4 occasion: 

2 times (12th and 26th of january 2018) he switched from the pink leather one to the palm lapel jacket to perform this river is wild. it’s very likely he did the same thing he did at hyde park on the 8th of july 2017 in london when he said the man who plays river can’t wear pink (x), with the difference he changed again for the encore

1 time on the 8th of june 2018 in noblesville when a storm interrupted the concert

1 time on the 5th of april 2018 in mexico city... just because?

brandon didn’t changed outfit 33 times, of which 18 times because there was no encore at all

they had 5 secret gigs, he wore the pinstripe suit one time and the leopard print jacket the others

he took off his shoes and performed in socks 3 times: at the afl pre match in melbourne and rock in rio in lisbon because it was raining and the stage was slippery (kudos to him to perfom in wet socks, one of the worst sensations on earth) and one time in luxemburg where the venue was without ac and was so hot he changed beforehand and continued with his shoes off and showing cute palm tree socks

a couple of remarkable outfits of this era that were worn outside the tour are the custom checkered jacket brandon wore when inducted the cars to the rock and roll hall of fame (inspired by the cover of one of their albums) and a custom stud leather jacket he wore while wandering in tokyo

the gold suit premiered in the man music video (with a red shirt) and appeared in the promotional video for the mayweather vs mcgregor boxe match; the full tiger suit premiered at the late show with colbert and was used at the mtv ema too, the only 2 times where he wore the matching pants; the maroon suit premiered at the red carpet and performance of the rock and roll hall of fame

[grimelords]

I just realised I wrote up my June playlist and forgot to post it at all, which benefits no one. July coming soon, but for now please enjoy three hours of two month old thoughts on the new Kanye, the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack and two songs about drinking beer.

Ghost Town - Kanye West: Now that the dust has settled around Kanye's month of chaos I can safely say Ye is great and Ghost Town is the best song on it, though it's not a coincidence that the best song is the one where Kanye says the least.

DLZ - TV On The Radio: I've been obsessed with this song for a long time. The combination of the absolutely hypnotising drums and very good cryptic lyrics about impending doom is exactly my shit. Also the whistling right at the very end is a perfect moment.

Hyph Mngo - Joy Orbison: Someone had a thing on twitter the other day that was like 'quote tweet this with a phrase you remember that if you told a younger person they wouldn't understand' and someone said Hyph Mngo and I felt age 100. This song really was such a game changer and that whole wave of stuff like this, Koreless and Jame Blake's EP's around then was such an incredible time to be alive. I am aging decades by the second and will not be around much longer.

The Shootist - Bill Elm & Woody Jackson: I've been thinking about game soundtracks a lot the past month or so for some reason and Red Dead really is an all timer. They did such a great job capturing the whole feeling without it just being a straight Morricone rip-off (though obviously it is mostly a Morricone ripoff).

Touch Me - Wish & Fonda Rae: This song is so fucking good to begin with but then it gets really really good in the middle part and where they just start going hogwild with the sampler on her vocals, and then again at the end when it starts sounding like a Battles song.

In The Vespers - Colin Stetson & Sarah Neufeld: Ever since I finished MGSV again I've been thinking about open-world stealth as a genre and how I'd do it, and this song is really the perfect kind of soundtrack to the game I'm thinking of. It's already got four alert levels built in, all the way from Tense to FUCk and back down to Calming Down But Still Scared.

Human After All - Daft Punk: Human After All is still a beguiling album in sound and vision after all this time. The amount of noise emananating from every single element in this song, and songs like Technologic is just so strange compared to everything they'd done before and since, but I think that's what I like about it. It sounds like it was made in 1979 when electronics were a novelty and everyone accepted that they'd be noisy as hell. Also I had an emotional moment this month while I was driving and listening to this song and reflecting on how we are all, human.. after all.. so who knows what's up with me.

Disparate Youth - Santigold: The production on this song is insane. The drums, the guitar, the bouncing piano, it just has so much momentum the whole way through and holy shit I just realised that the video I was talking about last month that referenced The Holy Mountain that I couldn't remember is L.E.S. Artistes by Santigold what an incredible two for one.

Violence - Parquet Courts: This song has the potential to be embarrassing but it's saved from itself by the specificity of the lyrics and the backing vocals that sound like a smiling swing band saying 'violence is daily life!'.

Jane Says - Jane's Addiction: The steel drum as the central melody line in this is such a strange and beautiful choice and also this song has two chords and no chorus. There are truly one million ways to make a good song.

Heatstroke - Calvin Harris feat. Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, Ariana Grande: I really can't believe I missed this song that came out like a year ago, so thank god my girlfriend told me about it. It's incredible. Everyone is operating at full capacity in this song and the structure is so good, the Pharrell/Thug pre-chorus could be a chorus on its own but then Ariana and Pharrell trade lines foe the actual chorus, amazing. Also when Thugger says 'she got every read bottom like a baboon’ the way the backup says '..baboon' slightly apprehensively cracks me up.

Maximum Black - Bohren & Der Club Of Gore: More Bohren, carrying over from last month. This is one of my favourites of theirs, mostly just for the choir sound and the all-time great sax intro at about 4:30. When you start at absolute zero, dialling it up to a 1 sounds like bomb going off.

Dust Bunnies - Kurt Vile: This is like most Kurt Vile songs in that it's sort of just about hanging out and feeling kind of funny, which is a mindset I really relate to.

Here For The Beer - The Sloppy Boys: A bunch of guys from The Birthday Boys have a band now and it's really great. Comedy music is hard but this album is the best kind where it's just dumb ass rock and roll story songs and odes to partying. The way he says 'autographed baseball' makes me laugh every time.

Beer Pressure - Municipal Waste: Anyway that song reminded me of this song, which is almost the exact same song with a slightly different mindset.

Credulous! Credulous! - BATS: There's really something to listening to a song for ten years and then having it suddenly dawn on you one day that it's about an epilleptic 16 year old in the distant past getting treppaned by a mystic and a team of scientists in the present figuring out what happened.

Please Take Your Hand Away - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross: Everyone's (me) always talking about how good The Social Network soundtrack is but nobody's ever talking about how they did a sequel that's just as good and goes for longer than the actual film when they released the nearly 3 hour Girl With The Dragon Tattoo soundtrack a year later. What an achievement!

What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 2 - DJ Shadow: This song is really on a whole nother level. It is really a kind of magic that you can get a 15 minute song out of a two note bassline and a drum loop, but when they're this good it looks easy. The drums especially are just absolutely hypnotising.

One Of One - Kamasi Washington: Kamasi somehow outdid himself on this one my god. The groove in this is just amazing, and the way it twists and turns into something darker and darker before the sun shines through and the hook comes back is incredible. The way the theme comes back all twisted up with strings near the end. Great stuff.

My Exit, Unfair - mewithoutYou: I honestly very nearly got converted in high school just because I was listening to so much mewithoutYou, and it still informs a lot of my religious thoughts. A running theme through a lot of their songs is wrestling with and trying to accept the idea that God has a plan for you that you definitely don't understand and getting extremely upset about it and that's about where I'm at.

Stand - R.E.M.: Apparently this was the theme to a show called Get A Life and it's funny because it really does sound perfect for a 90s tv theme. It sounds like it's two and a half minutes too long. Release the 30 second TV theme version REM.

BFG Division - Mick Gordon: I was watching a guy speedrun Doom on GDQ and the music for that game is so amazing, but it sounds really funy when the whole sppedrun is just clipping through a wall and rocket jumping halfway across the level to trigger the checkpoint. Mick Gordon really nailed this soundtrack, it's a massive part of the atmosphere of the game and it's really the logical expansion of the MIDI themes of the original, it sounds like the original in HD, this is what you thought you were hearing.

Angel's Rest - Marisa Anderson: Marisa Anderson's songs are so loosely structured they often seem dreamed up on the spot, but the sounds and moods seem so carefully considered that the notes themselves aren't so important.

Looks Like I Picked The Wrong Week To Quit Oxygen - Michael Giacchino: If Michael Giacchino doesn't get an Oscar for The Incredibles II soundtrack I'm going to riot. The climax of this is so big I had to stop myself from applauding in the theatre, it's irrepressible.

AM // Radio - Earl Sweatshirt & Wiki: I was having a week where I was really feeling like the phrase "I don't like shit, I don't go outside" and so I suddenly remembered this album. This beat is so, so good. It sounds like nothing else, and it only adds to the alien flavour by giving the second half of the track to an instrumental.

World In Harmony - Adebisi Shank: Adebisi Shank are really the perfect band. They love to have fun and have a big time and they started out with a perfect first album and only got bigger and better by the time they got to the third and broke up. This song is so powerful, and my billionaire dream is to finance a new F-Zero game and get Adebisi Shank back together to do the soundtrack.

Make Luv feat. Oliver Cheatham - Room 5: I'm slowly putting together a playlist of songs that sound like Music Sounds Better With You by Stardust in order to invoke some kind of euphoric 'best night ever' and ascend to heaven but this song is the only other one I have so far.

A Love Supreme Part II: Resolution - John Coltrane Quartet: I don't feel qualified to say anything about A Love Supreme, so I don't think I'm going to. I literally don't know where to start with this. It's damn good music.

"You Got A Killer Scene There, Man..." - Queens Of The Stone Age: This song is a real vibe. This should be a whole genre but I've never really found anything else like it. It's like if The Doors were good I suppose. It's shocking that this song only goes for 5 minutes because it really feels like it could go for 20 and you wouldn't mind. I remember a few years ago I opened this in Audition and slowed it down to 75% and I really recommend it, it makes the whole thing feel as sludgy as I think it's supposed to be and makes all the breaks that much more impactful.

Never Let Me Go - Sarah Blasko: A friend sent me this and said it sounds like a Bond theme and he's absolutely right, especially towards the end where it all starts stacking up. Maybe it would need a bit more brass to be a proper Bond theme but still, I love it.

Protection - Emma Ruth Rundle: I love Emma Ruth Rundle so much and I'm so excited that she's got a new album coming out. The absolute textural thickness she can conjure up in a song like this blows me away. I don't know what it is about her voice but it sounds like the 90s somehow. Does that make sense? This feels like 90s music, like the grunge female songwriter thing went a slightly different way and I love it.​

listen here

[krispyweiss]

The Best of Live Music 2018

Another year is coming to a close and with it, another year of wonderful - and a few not-so-wonderful - live-music experiences.

In an effort to accentuate the positive, Sound Bites is devoting this space - and many column inches of copy - to review excerpts from his favorite concerts of 2018. They’re grouped is as good an order as he could come up with in categories of A+, A and A-; shows of B+ and below didn’t make the, uh, grade.

The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of times Sound Bites has been privileged to see the artist in question.

A+

I’m With Her (3) at Southern Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 5: Though I'm With Her are incomparable, the closest thing might be Crosby, Stills and Nash, if that group ditched the rock 'n' roll and managed to stay on key always. Their version of John Hiatt's "Crossing Muddy Waters" is to Hiatt as CSN's "Blackbrid is to the Beatles - an improvement on what’s already essentially perfect. There really are no words to describe the intensity of their performances, which have been on a steady uphill climb on their three Ohio appearances in the past 15 months, even though their first of those, in Cincinnati, seemed impossible to improve upon.

I’m With Her (2) at Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 5: Even if it’s 100 degrees, sweaters or jackets should be required at any I’m With Her concert, because Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan’ll send shivers up and down concertgoers’ spines. Take any superlative modified by any adverb, and you still couldn’t adequately describe the quality of this concert.

Rhiannon Giddens (2) at Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 20: Barefooted in a yellow, floor-length skirt and a black blazer, with playful splashes of red dye in her black hair, Giddens sawed her fiddle and clawed at her banjo for about half the evening and spent the reminder of her time onstage using her greatest instrument - her expressive voice. Jumping, punching the air to accentuate notes, losing herself in the music with her eyes up in her thrown-back head, Giddens was entranced by the music and cast the same spell on the audience. Part opera singer, part jazzy chanteuse, part Southern wailer, part preacher, Giddens is a nearly supernatural force - like a once-in-a-century storm of music - the rare vocalist who spends entire concerts spitting out notes most singers would be happy to hit once a night.

Magic Dick and Shun Ng with Acoustic Hot Tuna (8) at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, Nov. 10: It's too bad Fur Peace Ranch doesn't have a marquee because seeing the billing of Magic Dick and Hot Tuna in lights would've been priceless. As it went, hearing the former J. Giles Bard harp player paired with virtuosic, wonder-kid guitarist Shun Ng headlining over Acoustic Hot Tuna was also priceless, as the top of the bill put on one of those impossible-to-believe concerts and Hot Tuna were their typically terrific selves during their warm-up slot on a cold, frost-filled Nov. 10 concert in Pomeroy.

An Exclusive Evening with Jorma Kaukonen (5) at Gramercy Books, Bexley, Ohio, Nov. 15: Jorma Kaukonen answered questions, read from his new memoir and played a few tunes when he held court in front of 60 devotees inside Bexley's Gramercy Books. The guitarist's only bookstore stop on his tour to promote "Been So Long: My Life and Music" was billed as “An Exclusive Evening with Jorma Kaukonen” and found the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna co-founder perched on a barstool taking questions from former Rock and Roll Hall of Fame chair and Zeppelin Productions founder Alec Wightman and the audience; reading from the book; and showing off his unique picking style on chestnuts such as the Airplane's "Embryonic Journey" and the "trad." "How Long Blues."

A

Outlaw Music Festival feat. Willie Nelson (12) and Family, Van Morrison (4), Tedeschi Trucks Band (8), Sturgill Simpson, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (2) and Particle Kid (2) at Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, Penn., Sept. 8: Though he's absolutely earned the right, Willie Nelson probably shouldn't follow Van Morrison and the Tedeschi Trucks Band. He followed an uncharacteristically jovial Morrison, who, dressed in his trademark dark suit, fedora and shades visited many corners of his storied songbook in a generous, 90-minute set. Meanwhile, the 12-piece Tedeschi Trucks band slayed the smallish audience in the cavernous stadium. And Sturgill Simpson played a jaw-dropping, 80-minute concert that was boiling stew of blues-based rock with the faintest hint of outlaw spice.

John Prine (2) at Ohio Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 28: John Prine and his four-piece band played a career-spanning, genre-bending, tear-jerking, joke-telling show that found them running through all of this year's The Tree of Forgiveness - but not in sequence - along with many of the best tracks from Prine's songbook.

The Del McCoury Band (3) at Sugarloaf Mountain Amphitheatre, Chillicothe, Ohio, July 8: Despite fronting and giving ample spotlight time to his band, Del McCoury was the obvious star of this show, his acoustic guitar cutting through the music every time such a riff was necessary, and his voice hitting high notes most men can’t reach in their 30s let alone on the cusp of their 80s. He was in a playful mood and granted so many requests, he good-naturedly stumbled over lyrics to long-dormant tracks such as “40 Acres and a Fool” and “Blackjack County Chains.”

Huffamoose (2) at Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, Pa., Nov. 24: At the Ardmore, the Philadelphia-based Huffamoose played a triumphant, 17-song, 105-minute set just outside its hometown that featured cuts culled from its four LPs - its long-out-of-print, self-titled debut (on the local 7 label) and ’97’s We’ve Been Had Again along with the two most recent ones - and demonstrated that although much has changed, much has remained the same. This was the rare comeback concert where the words “we’re gonna do a new one” weren’t bad news.

David Byrne at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, Aug. 11: Whether David Byrne is a simpleton masquerading as a genius, or - more likely - an intellectual hiding behind inane lyrics, the former Talking Heads frontman is nevertheless quite impossible to figure out even after 40 years of pouring himself out with his music. And Byrne is perhaps the only musician who can sing about donkey dicks (“Every Day is a Miracle”) and “Toe Jam” and somehow not come off as a cretinous moron.

Taj Mahal (5) Trio at Thirty One West, Newark, Ohio, Sept. 22: Playing a resonator guitar and with his solidly in-the-pocket rhythm section - the Taj Mahal Trio, ladies and gentlemen - right with him, Mahal got things going with a double greeting of sorts, playing rock-infused versions of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and "Good Morning Miss Brown" back to back. These set the tone for an uproarious evening of song in which Mahal played the blues on his banjo and hollow-bodied electric guitar, played reggae on his ukulele, played folk on his resonator, played boogie-woogie on his piano and played rock 'n' roll on his acoustic guitar.

James Taylor (12) & His All-Star Band with Bonnie Raitt (2) at Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio, June 30: It’s not only Taylor’s catalog, but his presentation, that keeps fans coming back decade after decade. Not only does he switch up songs from tour to tour, he also tinkers with arrangements to keep things fresh. Raitt’s show would’ve been disappointing as a stand-alone concert. But as an entree to Taylor’s portion, it fit nicely.

Toubab Krewe (2) at Thirty One West, Newark, Ohio, Nov. 26: The five-man rhythm section known as Toubab Krewe took concertgoers on an aural journey that lifted off from Newark and went 'round the world during a stupendous, all-instrumental concert inside Thirty One West. It takes serious chops and exceptional song craft to hold an audience's attention for two solid hours while never singing a word. Toubab Krewe have both and both were in full flight Nov. 26 in Newark.

Dead & Company (7) at Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, June 20: If Dead & Company wanted to prove something with their 100th show, they did. They proved that they are finally & truly a band - a band capable of putting together complete, knockout shows, rather than throwing a few solid punches surrounded by the musical equivalent of rope-a-dope.

Alison Krauss (4) at Fraze Pavilion, Kettering, Ohio, June 15: If the term Americana means anything, Alison Krauss is defining it on her solo tour in support of Windy City, on which she and her seven-piece band touch on virtually every type of music a group could possibly cram in to 90 minutes of stage time. Throughout the evening, Krauss accentuated the music with clipped chords and short runs on her fiddle. Though she was clearly the star, she happily allowed her bandmates to shine just as brightly as she did and seemed genuinely flattered to have each of them along for the ride.

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives at Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 30: Stuart and the Fab Supers were terrific. Ostensibly a country band, they’re equally adept at playing rock ‘n’ roll, rockabilly, surf music, honky tonk, folk and bluegrass and did all that and more exceedingly well for a near-sell-out crowd that was as energized as the music itself.

Steep Canyon Rangers (7) at Midland Theatre, Newark, Ohio, Feb. 2: The Rangers spent two generous hours running through tracks new and old in a concert that ended with an enthusiastic standing ovation that caused guitarist Woody Platt to suggest we all follow them to the next gig in Chicago.

The Avett Brothers (2) at Fraze Pavilion, Kettering, Ohio, Aug. 14: The Avetts made Sound Bites cry as band donned at least 10 musical guises over the course of its staggering, two-hour, 10-minute show. From the first note in daylight at 8 p.m. sharp to the final bows in darkness, shortly after 10, the audience was on its collective feet, singing along to nearly every word, as the band held them rapt with its eclectic mix of county, folk, classical, rock and even a bit of prog that featured cello solos, bowed bass, rhythm banjo, piano-cello duets, screeching guitars and lengthy pieces that featured piano and organ a la the Band.

Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams (3) at Woodlands Tavern, Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 28: The couple set the standard early, opening with the Carter Family’s “You’ve Got to Righten that Wrong” before moving into their own “Surrender to Love.” Historical and contemporary. Universal and personal. It was a pattern that would continue all evening as Campbell on guitar, mandolin and fiddle, laid down a bed for the pair’s luxurious harmonies and Williams’ occasional rhythm guitar and shakers and made Sound Bites wonder yet again why Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams are playing bars to scores of fans instead of playing arenas to thousands.

Phil Lesh & Friends (14), Hawaii Theatre, Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec, 31, 2017: This show counts because one-third of it took place on Jan. 1, 2018, and because it was the best Dead-related concert Mr. and Mrs. Sound Bites had seen in ages as Lesh covered not only his former band, but Funkadelic, the Band, Velvet Underground and others.

Los Lobos (17) at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, Aug. 7: Los Lobos are so hot, they can parlay a short-handed opening set into a standing ovation from a half-full house of George Thorogood partisans, who found themselves cheering the band from East L.A. as if they were the second coming of the Destroyers.

Richie Furay at Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza and Live Music, Worthington, Ohio, Aug. 12: Richie Furay - best known as the Buffalo Springfield vocalist/guitarist not named Stephen Stills or Neil Young - plumbed the Springfield, Poco and Souther-Hillman-Furay Band songbooks during an acoustic set that followed an afternoon show earlier in the day. Daughter Jesse Lynch joined Dad on vocals and tambourine on all but the opening salvo of Poco’s “Pickin’ up the Pieces” and Springfield’s “Sad Memory.” At 74, Furay looks and sounds 20 years younger with a full head of salt-and-pepper hair, a life of clean living on his face and a voice that still shows why producers tapped him to sing Young’s songs with Springfield.

Todd Rundgren’s (37) Utopia (3) at Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 10: Just as Utopia was essentially two bands, this was essentially two shows. Billed as Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, but featuring a four-piece reminiscent of the group that emerged after Rundgren’s proggy big band dissolved, the quartet of Rundgren, bassist/guitarist Kasim Sulton, drummer Willie Wilcox and last-minute replacement keyboardist Gil Assayas (who stepped in for the ailing Ralph Schuckett, who stepped in for the ailing Roger Powell), powered through a nostalgic - material ranged from 1972 to 1985 - 130-minute concert that served as a musical way-back machine for the Utopians in the two-thirds filled house. The arc of the band’s diverse songbook was on full display and as amazing as ever.

Todd Snider (10) at Stuart’s Opera House, Nelsonville, Ohio, June 22: An 80-minute, solo-acoustic performance that was both musically and comedically pleasing, as Snider combined his insightful numbers - and a few choice covers - with split-your-sides-open stories that often appeared mid-song but somehow didn’t interrupt the flow.

Elizabeth Cook (3) at Thirty One West, Newark, Ohio, May 16: Over the 80-minute solo set, Cook - who popped cough drops because of a cold but sounded healthy - mostly eschewed heartrending numbers like “I’m Not Lisa” and instead sung of an ex-husband who preferred beer cans to her can on “Yes to Booty;” the alcohol-fueled atmosphere she grew up around on “Stanley By God Terry;” recovery on “Methadone Blues;” and resilience on “Sometimes It Takes Balls to be a Woman.”

Cheryl Wheeler at King Arts Complex, Columbus, Ohio, March 24: Cheryl Wheeler was at turns funny, tender and socially conscious - but mostly funny - always folksy and 100-percent entertaining. We laughed - so hard we cried. And we looked forward to the next Cheryl Wheeler concert and the opportunity to hear the things we missed while doubled over in hysterics.

Los Lobos (16), Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 25: Missing bassist Conrad Lozano, who was replaced, and multi-instrumentalist Steve Berlin, who was not, Los Lobos played an aggressive, one-set show that immediately erased any disappointment the absences might have caused.

Bettye LaVette at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, Oct. 13: Bettye LaVette was backed by guitar, bass, drums and keys/piano as she explored 12 back pages from all eras of Bob Dylan's songbook, from protest anthems to Christian declarations of faith, from well-known numbers to obscurities written between the 1960s and the 21st century. Indeed, the only person who might have rearranged these songs more radically than LaVette is Dylan himself.

Jorma Kaukonen (3) At Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza & Live Music, Worthington, Ohio, June 13 (Early Show): There’s something refreshing about the way Jorma Kaukonen refuses to cash in on his legacy as a founder of the famed San Francisco sound with the Airplane. And as he played and sang his grizzled blues like a man walking the Mississippi Delta in the first part of the 20th century, it was again clear that Kaukonen chose the right path.

A-

Elton John (3) at Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 2: If Elton John is really going to quit touring when his current trek ends - in 2021 - he’s going out in top form. From the first, teasing note of “Bennie and the Jets,” to the final, lingering sounds of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” the musicians tinkered with arrangements just enough to keep things interesting for people who know these songs as well as they know anything. And if this is really farewell - and if "Yellow Brick Road" is really the last song 18,000 Columbus residents will ever hear John play live - it's a fond one.

Tedeschi Trucks Band (9) at Palace Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 9: The 12-piece band begun its "An Evening With" show just after 8 p.m. with a 55-minute opening set that set the table for what came later. Singer Mike Mattison wailed the blues and crooned jazz when he joined Susan Tedeschi on incendiary renditions of "Key to the Highway" and "Right on Time," the front woman got introspective on Bob Dylan's "Going, Going, Gone" and the group wound up powering through yet another spell-binding concert of originals and covers that spanned the past 100 years of music and its myriad styles.

Todd Rundgren (38) at Express Live!, Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 12: Always unpredictable, Todd Rundgren is even more so when he tours as Unpredictable. On these occasions, he and his long-time band - guitarist Jesse Gress; former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince; Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton; and keyboardist Greg Hawkes of the Cars - work off a list of several dozen original and cover songs and play the ones that strike Rundgren's fancy on that particular evening. And on this night, the result was a wildly diverse, two-hour set of songs that bounced around nearly as much as Rundgren’s career itself.

Bruce Hornsby (9) & the Noisemakers at Columbus Commons, Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 24: Hornsby and his current band channeled the pianist's former band, the Grateful Dead, and their taking-the-music-for-a-walk ethos. Stretching it out is a way of life for Hornsby & Noisemakers, who played just 16 songs in 130 minutes.

Roger Daltrey Performs the Who’s Tommy at Fraze Pavilion, Kettering, Ohio, July 2: On a stage packed full of musicians, Daltrey, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and members of the Who’s touring band played Tommy front to back. And they played the shit out of it. The Philharmonic was a fully integrated part of the show, kicking off the concert with “Overture” as it’s always been meant to be heard; turning “Tommy Can You Hear Me” into a whimsical pops-concert moment; adding welcome flourishes to “Sally Simpson;” and filling “We’re Not Gonna Take It” with majesty.

Peter Rowan’s (2) Twang an’ Groove at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, June 16: Once one of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, a co-founder of Old & In the Way and author of classics including “Midnight Moonlight” and New Riders of the Purple Sage’s signature song, “Panama Red,” both of which were played toward the tail end of Set Two, Peter Rowan has been a part of some of bluegrass’ most-important 20th-century moments. He’ll be 76 on the Fourth of July, but his hands are still supple, his voice still able to climb to high-and-lonesome heights with his yodel intact, as his version of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Blue Yodel No. 3” demonstrated.

Dead & Company (6) at Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 4, 2018: Anyone looking to understand why Dead Heads keep going back to see former Grateful Dead members year after year, decade after decade, needn’t look any farther than Dead & Company’s June 4 performance in Cincinnati. It was - by far, and until June 20 - the best of the half-dozen Dead & Company concerts Sound Bites has attended since the group came together in 2015.

Steve Kimock (3) & Friends at Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, Pa., Nov. 23: “Were gonna sort of front-porch our way in to this,” Steve Kimock said as he and his Friends took the stage and cooked up an ethereal, post-Thanksgiving stew that slowly bubbled into the one-off band’s - which came together for a special Black Friday performance in the City of Brotherly Love - opening number, KIMOCK’s “Careless Love.” It was a show that satisfied like a second helping of turkey.

David Crosby & Friends (2) at Kent Stage, Kent Ohio, Nov. 28: David Crosby, Michael League, Becca Stevens and Michelle Willis came into Kent and over the course of an hour-and-40-minute performance proved themselves a top-tier acoustic/harmony group that, with the right setlist, could be a salve for those still mourning the loss of Crosby, Stills and Nash. But with only a few exceptions - excellent exceptions but too few nonetheless - the quartet stuck with 21st-century material, resulting in a concert that consisted of near-perfect execution of fair to very good songs.

Steve Earle (3) & the Dukes (2) at Newport Music Hall, Columbus, Ohio, June 10: Steve Earle is like an outlaw version of Bruce Springsteen, singing everyman songs with a left-wing political bent that’s sometimes so subtle, people will miss it if they’re not playing close attention. Also like Springsteen, Earle finds himself in the midst of a late-career renaissance, as a triad of fire-breathing tracks from 2017’s So You Wannabe an Outlaw were among the highlights of a career-spanning set that opened with a full performance of 1988’s Copperhead Road.

Hubby Jenkins at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, Oct. 20: This was a fascinating concert - musically, spiritually and intellectually. Prior to taking his audience to church in a gospel-heavy second set, Hubby Jenkins took them to school, using his brief, 45-minute first set to educate concertgoers not only about the African origins of the banjo he was playing but the evolution of African-American culture and stereotypes via slavery, the Black Codes and Jim Crow and the minstrel tradition.

An Acoustic Evening with Lyle Lovett (3) & Shawn Colvin (2) at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, Athens, Ohio, March 21: It was one-third Lyle Lovett, one-third Shawn Colvin and one-third the Lovett-Colvin comedy hour. Together, the three-thirds equaled an evening of well-rounded entertainment.

12/27/18