#deejay soda

[lovesbiggerthanpride]

meet me here and kiss me | Frankie Morales x f!reader

Summary: A spontaneous decision to celebrate the New Year turns into something more.

Warnings and notes: just fluff and cute shit, mentions of alcohol / consumption, parties, there are outfit details, and reader is shorter than Frankie, but no other physical descriptions. Both are awkward, but adorable.

AO3

Happy New Year! Sending lots of love to you for 2024.

———-

The combination of music blasting from the speakers and the chorus of excitable voices flowing was decent background noise. You’re sitting at a hightop at the town’s bar, a favorite among the locals. You weren’t planning to venture out on this New Year’s Eve, but it became less appealing to be bored in the apartment with even louder music and noise upstairs and downstairs forcing you to go somewhere else.

The party was open to all, with a casual dress code. So you threw on a sweater, jeans, and comfy boots, drove six minutes, and found a place to sit after greeting familiar faces.

“Okay, everyone! If you’re ready to dance, come on down! Forty-five minutes until midnight,” the host turned impromptu deejay announced.

You surveyed the establishment, deciding if you wanted to follow the crowd. Taking a long sip of your beverage, you continued to mull it over.

“Hey!”

It was Frankie Morales, the incredibly sweet and adorably shy fellow you kept running into at the coffee shop you frequented. Always nice to talk to, but never could tell if he wanted to talk more, or was interested in you. You didn’t want to seem too eager, but you were interested in this tall, broad, former military man.

You greeted him. “Hi, Frankie, how are you?”

“Great! I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”

“Yeah,” you replied sheepishly. “It was getting too wild at the apartment complex, so I came.”

“That’s awesome.” Frankie answered with enthusiasm. His eyes darted from your gaze as he ran his fingers through his curly hair, quickly putting his signature baseball cap back on his head.

“What brings you here?”

“Umm, it was recommended to me by the guys. I’ve never gone to a New Year’s party since moving here, and they think I should get out more.”

The guys were his best friends, Benny and Santiago. They knew he needed to do something outside of work.

“You got some good friends! So glad we got this place. Such a chill environment.”

Chuckling, Frankie pointed to his ensemble — a flannel, t-shirt, and jeans. “Shit, I’d stay home if I had to wear something fancy.”

“You look great,” you reassured.

“Oh, thanks, so do you!”

He was very kind. As you thanked him, attempting to keep your composure, Frankie cleared this throat.

“Yeah. I’m gonna see what the dance floor is giving…”

“Well, if you get bored, I’ll be right here.”

With an understanding nod, he sauntered to find the guys, and you smiled to yourself, as he talked with a few other people. Then you frowned, because he definitely was inviting you over, and you most likely shot him down.

“Ugh.”

You started to hydrate, trying not to overthink. Quietly, Frankie returned to you, leaning on the table.

“Hi again.”

“Having fun?”

Frankie gave you a smile. “Yeah, I think so. Might be better if you joined us over there.”

His chocolate eyes were sparkling. You’ve never seen him look this happy.

“Us?”

“Well,” he shrugged, “more like me.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m not the best dancer.”

“You’re in luck,” he offered his hand, “I’m not either.”

How could you resist another invitation from the cutest guy in the place? You took his hand and moved towards a less crowded space.

“I’m glad you’re here,” he said.

Looking up at him, you agreed.

As the next selection began, the two of you shouted in tandem. “This is my song!”

You couldn’t help but let the music loosen you up. As you danced, you sang to Frankie, while he spun around, bounced, and sang back to you, hand gestures and all.

“Five minutes, y’all! We have champagne, beer, water, sodas at the bar, so grab your beverage of choice so we can toast in the New Year.”

You took a deep breath as the music faded. That was a lot of fun, being carefree around strangers and friends. Adrenaline running through you; the added electricity from Frankie’s hand, casually resting on the small of your back.

“What are you having?”

“I’ll have champagne. Thanks.”

As Frankie walked away, you knew you needed to get his number or something. You were having a good time and after tonight, another missed opportunity would be unacceptable.

“Thank you,” you took the flute and placed it on the table. “Frankie?”

“Yeah?”

With a deep breath, you chose to go for it.

“Hope this is okay, but I—“

Frankie interrupted, touching your hand. “Can I get your number? I really like you and I want to hang out. Like, on a date. If you’re okay with that.”

“I—“

His cheeks reddened. “Damn, was that too forward? I didn’t know if you were interested. But tonight was perfect.”

“Very,” you blurted out, then softly smacked your hand on your forehead. “Obvious now?”

He laughed. You watched the sweet lines form around his eyes as they closed.

“Loud and clear.”

“Okay! Here we go!”

You could hear the party attendees talk and cheer as everyone prepared to count down.

“Five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year!”

“Happy New Year.”

While others celebrated, you not so subtly focused on his lips. He smirked and pulled you close.

“Can I?“

You nodded as Frankie leaned down to kiss you. The butterflies floating as the kiss deepened. It was spontaneous, daring, and genuine all at the same time. Sure, others were kissing at midnight too, but this was timed perfectly.

Benny and Santiago were hollering nearby.

“Wow,” Frankie shook his head as he rubbed your back. “They can’t give me a break. Oh, our drinks.”

Raising your flute, you offered, “To a perfect first date and more for this year.”

———

xo

MASTERLIST

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Equipment Pointed Ankh

Photo: Jennifer Kelly

Equipment Pointed Ankh hammers out intricate rhythmic fever dreams that feel hand-made but actually arise from a complicated deck of digital and electric instruments. The sextet from Louisville, KY has been at it for over a decade and three full-lengths and recently played a mesmerizing set at the Thing in the Spring Festival in Keene, New Hampshire (see photo). Jennifer Kelly reviewed their latest, From Inside the House, earlier this year, noting that, “These tracks bounce and jitter like they want to dance, but then tip sideways into lush string synth lyricism, inscrutable spoken word, and, in one cases, the sound of soda sucked through a straw.” Here are some of the things that inspire them.

Jim Marlowe

Tara Clerkin Trio — Self Titled

Casually excellent clarinet, piano and drum grooves — some live stuff and some studio looping/chopping to great effect. What a great sound. An engaging combo whatever it is. Went nuts after hearing ’em and attempted to find everything else they’ve done. I chose this one but In Spring is another great, very different slice and Live at Bliss Archive is a tough wiggling of jazz tunes through CDJ beer goggles. Calmly unique and cool. One of my most jammed.

Pierre Barouh — Le Pollen

1981 heavy hitting YMO/Mariah and adjacent crews lift up real people chanson singer Pierre Barouh with freshly unboxed synths and a wide-ranging attitude towards song arrangement. The title track is a real highlight for me. Feels like it could have existed as a B-side off Scary Monsters if it was recorded at a restaurant with friends you don't get to see too often. I love it. Trying to think of another superstar group who worked with someone out of their immediate world to such great effect — The Eagles and Joe Walsh? Just kidding.

Ryan Davis

Vacuum Rebuilders — Anything Else Is A Compromise

Not technically a CD, so I'm already breaking the rules here, but I was in Victoria, BC earlier this week and walked into a record store with about 90 seconds to spare before leaving town. This was the first thing that caught my eye, and it was 2 dollars, so I purchased it with the loose change in my pocket and left. My life is better now from having gained this glorious spool of sicko-rock on Calgary’s prestigious Pee Blood label. From the simultaneously brilliant and seemingly microwaved minds that brought you bands like Hairnet, Singing Lawn Chair et al, Arielle McCuaig and Kayla MacNeill are, in this lone Ankhman’s opinion, responsible for some of the most refreshing and exciting rock music to have surfaced from the modern North American underground so far this decade. This specific material is perhaps more sonically aligned with the outsider punk of their Janitor Scum LP on Lumpy than the most recent experimental theater/art-pop/noise-folk shenanigans of their Puppet Wipes project (Looks Real, Siltbreeze), but it's all a part of the same strange and electrifying puzzle as far as my own dumb midwestern ears can conclude.

Gang Starr — Moment of Truth

I’ve listened to rap and hip-hop music throughout nearly every phase of my life since early grade school, but my focus and enthusiasm tend to fluctuate between subgenres therein. And no matter how long I go without listening to it (sometimes years), I always inevitably circle back to what I fell perhaps most in love with growing up, which was early-to-mid 1990s east coast street-wise boom bap shit. Gang Starr’s Moment of Truth, while considered to be of an arguably “post-classic” era by certain purists, is the record of theirs with which I always felt most connected. As of late, it's exactly what I want to hear. Released four years after its predecessor into the freshly treacherous waters of the shiny-suit/jiggy era, the beats, rhymes and ever coolheaded delivery on M.o.T. are as strong or stronger than they were in 1992. If they weren’t already solidified as one of the best emcee/deejay combos to ever do it, they were now. Come for the Inspectah Deck track (shout out Shorty’s “Fulfill the Dream” video from the same year), stay for the truly timeless Guru/Primo magic.

Shutaro Noguchi

José Antonio Méndez — Siempre Estrellas (BMG U.S. Latin)

I sigh every time I listen to this. One of the sexiest male vocals that ever existed on the earth on Si Me Comprendieras. But this CD might possibly be too much of sexy for homosocial ankh van, so I almost went for Perlas Cubanas of his or William Basinski and Janek Schaefer’s …on reflection.

Various Artists — Women of Africa (CSA Records)

Pretty simple but rhythmic melodies and harmonies and just incredible sound choices, phonological elements and beautiful vocals. I almost went for Julia Sarr or Shona’s Mbira CD on Nonsuch. But the first track just made me happy this time around.

Christopher Bush

Daisuke Tobari — Till The End of the Dream

This album is a masterpiece. An idiosyncratic blend of the psychedelic “songbook” (various pages) and the more ritualistic side of far Eastern classical music over seventeen tracks. An intuitive, imaginative and personal set of recordings. At one point, Mr. Tobari sings the words “Happy Birthday.” It is almost too much to get your head around.

Eyes and Arms of Smoke — In Three Houses

Lexington, KY band, active in the mid 2000s. Immaculate sequencing of two tracks, only really do-able in physical format on a CD. First track is a three-minute bongo fever dream with haunted vocals that showcases the song-based home studio sound that they developed on their sole full length, A Religion of Broken Bones. (See Dusted’s 3/9/2006 review). Second track is a twenty-five-minute free-improv mystery that showcases some of the modes unleashed in earlier live sets and tapes. Homespun, disorienting, and other. I cherish this band.

Dan Davis

The KLF — The White Room

This is my shit right now. I can’t really even explain why. It just scratches and itch. Like this is the music made by two dudes who like burned a million pounds or some shit? It’s awesome.

Avalanches — Since I Left You

I’ve been really interested in so called “Plunderphonics” and this record has an insane amount of vinyl samples on it. So, it’s just a fun listen when thinking about the work of making it. Dweeb shit that you can bop to.

[rawyvr]

BEARBRICK™🐻

[thebarongfamily-blog]

S Q U A D

[skullumio]

Tadanobu Asano: "#fujirock" (from his twitter)

[shining-red-diamond]

Trick or Treat, Revenge is Sweet

Words: 1k

Pairing: Felix x Reader

Rating: PG-13

Genre: slight angst, but mostly fluff (in a sense), mostly humor

Warnings: mentions of alcohol, vandalism, mentions of illness and bullying, and some language

A/N: This was inspired by a story time from @/HeyParis on YouTube. I also gave a name to the antagonist.

Fumed.

That’s all Y/N was feeling at that moment. Tanya had humiliated her for the last time, and in front of Felix, too. Typically, Y/N would let it go, but after crossing the line by bringing up her sick father, she nearly snapped. Felix already knew about Y/N’s situation, but he did his best to help her out. However, he thought Y/N was going to beat up, and he held her back.

“Such a good little boyfriend you are, Phillip,” Tanya scoffed.

“It’s Felix,” he huffed.

“Yeah, sure. Anyway, I’m having a Halloween party at my house tonight. Everyone on campus is invited if they wanna come, and that includes you two. But I understand if you have other priorities.”

Y/N had always gone to Tanya’s parties in attempt to make some friends, and she had mangaed to make a few, mainly because they hated going to Tanya’s parties to feel that they’ve done something wild. Tanya’s parties always started out calm, but they always ended up with someone or some people getting overly drunk and other shenanigans that happen. Y/N and her friends typically left early after the first round of shots were passed out.

However, Y/N was beginning to hatch a plan.

“There’s also gonna be a costume contest,” Tanya continued as she played with her brunette locks. “Best costume wins a hundred bucks.”

“It actually sounds like fun,” Y/N nodded. “Since I’m not in the mood to beat your ass anymore, I think I’ll come.”

Tanya looked at Y/N as if waiting for another sarcastic remark, but then smiled in a fake manner.

“Party starts at eight,” she said just before turning to walk away.

“We’re going,” Y/N confirmed as she watch the Wicked Witch strut away.

“Are you sure?” Felix asked.

She turned towards him and exhaled. “I’m not afraid of her. She can put on a ‘nice girl’ an act all she wants, but we know the truth.”

“What are you going to do? Attempt to embarrass her in front of everyone? I think she’s wear a dress to the party, so the only thing you’d do is somehow rip it with out her noticing.”

Y/N shook her head.

“What plan are you hatching?” Felix asked as he stepped forward.

“I’ll tell you when you come over to get ready for tonight.”

-

Taking one final look at herself in the mirror, Y/N felt like she could rule the world. She was dressed in a black, long-sleeve crop top, a black, plaid skirt with some silver chains on it, and she also wore a pair of black wings. Her makeup was dark, but nothing too intimidating. The thigh high boots she wore made her feel powerful.

Felix was dressed as dressed similarly but without the wings. He was dressed as a rock star with a Led Zeppelin shirt on.

His arms slid around Y/N’s waist, and he kissed her cheek. “You are stunning, my love,” he whistled.

“Is this Lee Yongbok or Kurt Cobaine?” I chuckle.

“I was going for a more Billie Joe Armstrong look,” he whined.

“Here.” Y/N grabbed some eyeliner and turned in her boyfriend’s embrace. She got to work, and in about two minutes Felix’s eyes were much more dramatic with the smudged black eyeliner.

“Perfect,” she giggled.

Felix kissed her once, careful not to smear her lipstick. When he pulled away, he asked, “Are you sure your plan will work?”

Y/N nodded. “By the time we’re done, Tanya will be too wasted to know she was set up.”

Once she grabbed two tubes of lipstick, she and Felix headed out the door and began their hike to Tanya’s house.

“You’re really going through with this, aren’t you?” Felix asked after walking two blocks.

“You’re acting like I’m gonna go full-on WWE on her,” Y/N scoffed. “I’m just going to embarrass her, and then I’m not messing with her anymore.”

“You promise?”

“Pinky swear.”

She knew it was only petty revenge, but she couldn’t shake the feeling. She wanted Tanya to have a taste of some of her own medicine. For a little while, at least, Y/N wanted some ease.

Hand in hand, the couple finally reaches Tanya’s front porch, music blaring from the inside as if they could shatter her windows at any moment. Once the approached the front door, Felix rang the doorbell, and Tanya, dressed as a sexy angel, answered almost immediately.

“So you decided to come,” she giggled before losing her balance a bit. Y/N could immediately smell the alcohol on her foe’s body. “You two have fun, but be mindful of the…um…fruity drinks. I think someone poured a little bit of Captain Morgan in it.”

Tanya hobbled away to who knows where, and Felix and Y/N entered the house. It was large and beautiful, no doubt, and Y/N sometimes wished she lived in such luxury; however, she liked her home the way it was. Lights were bouncing off the walls, the entire interior were decorated to the nines in cute Halloween decorations, and everyone there was dressed as various characters or objects.

“So do you want to start?” Felix raised his voice over the loud speakers.

“Not yet,” Y/N replied. “I’m gonna wait until ten. People will either be drunk or making out in different hiding spots.”

“Oi, Felix!” a voice from behind them called. It was his friend Chan, who was dressed up like Ghostface for the night.

“Meet me in the upstairs bathroom in an hour,” she instructed.

The two went their separate ways, and for that hour Felix had fun with his friends from his soccer team. Y/N hung out around the snack and drink area speaking to people she knew. She wasn’t one for alcohol, so she stuck with sipping on soda for the night. The party itself was wild already, the music loud enough to cause a plane crash. More guests were starting to get drunk or disappear to various parts of the house. Tanya was acting more and more giggly and childish as the hour went by.

“I’m an absolute angel,” Tanya praised herself drunkenly to her friends at one point. “I am as pure as freshly fallen snow.”

“Snow that’s been pissed on,” Y/N mumbled as she sipped on her drink, causing a few guys next to burst into laughter.

When she checked her watch, it was five minutes until she and Felix would meet upstairs. After disposing her cup, she made the ascent, putting a little swagger in her step. Her brain couldn’t register why, but she felt powerful. She turned her head to signal for Felix, but he was already trailing behind her.

The two entered the designated bathroom and turned on the lights. The wallpaper was an ugly green pinstripe, and the marble counter wasn’t helping it either. The only decent pieces were the porcelain tub and framed artwork on the walls.

“So, what’s your plan for here?” Felix asked as he closed the door.

Y/N reached into her purse and pulled out the two lipsticks she had.

“Bathroom’s a bit ugly,” she sneered as she handed Felix one of the lipstick tubes. “How about we decorate it a little?”

“Is this part of your plan?”

“No, I just thought of this last minute.”

With a smirk on her face, she and Felix both began their artwork on the bathroom walls. Felix drew and wrote whatever his heart desired, and Y/N just doodled hearts everywhere. This went on for about twenty minutes, Felix managing to stand on the toilet seat to write “Trick ‘r Treat” near the ceiling.

When they finished, they decided to do make murals in the other bathrooms in the house. This continued until both lipstick tubes were empty, and neither of them got any marks on their costumes.

“Is this where your real plan begins?” Felix asked after they disposed the lipstick tubes.

Y/N said nothing but pulled out her phone and called the nearest police department. They stayed in the current bathroom they were in and locked the door while she dialed the number, making sure she used the star-six-seven method.

After someone picked up, Y/N ignited her scheme.

“Hi, this is Jennifer Barbara,” she used a fake voice. “And my neighbors next door, and absolutely loud. I have four children under the age of six, two of them have school in morning; and my husband has work in the morning. You need to come shut this down, please. It’s ridiculous. Listen.”

She held her phone to the door, which she had opened to increase the volume of the thumping music. The woman on the other end agreed to send the police over immediately.

Knowing where they lived, it was going to take the police at least twenty-five minutes to arrive; so Y/N lead Felix back out towards the snack and drink bar. A few more people where already drunk out of their minds at that point, and the party started getting a little crazier.

“A glass of Captain Morgan,” Y/N told the bar tender, and he was happy to pour her a glass. “Thanks.”

“That’s it?” Felix asked as she took her glass.

��Follow me.”

Felix obeyed, and she led him to where the deejay was jamming out to the music he was playing. He notices the two and gives them a nod of acknowledgment before turning his attention to two other women who showed up next to him.

Felix did dance a bit as Y/N just bounced to the beat while pretending to drink her beverage. After a while, there was a banging on the door.

“Right on queue,” Y/N smirked.

Tanya’s boyfriend answered the door, and as Y/N planned, three officers were at the door. The music was still going while the boyfriend and now Tanya were arguing with the police while Billie Eilish’s “bad guy” was playing in the background.

“Party’s not over!” he announced to the rest of people there.

We’ll see about that, Y/N thought as the line “I’m the bad guy sounded.”

As soon as she was sure the deejay wasn’t looking, Y/N took a sip of her Captain Morgan and dumped it in a manner that looked accidental on the equipment. The deejay’s workspace sparked a little, but it mainly blew the speakers out. Fire wasn’t lit, but there was smoke. The party guests immediately started shouting in complaint and running around in panic.

After getting rid of the glass, Y/N and Felix quickly exited the main living room and out to the front patio. The two of them were both roaring with laughter as a few people were starting to exit the house, some of them a little too buzzed to sense what direction they were going.

After catching their breaths, they decided to head to a diner for a late night snack.

“You scare me sometimes, Y/N,” Felix commented as they walked to her house for her car. “But since it is still Halloween for another hour and a half, I’ll let it slide.”

“I’m not doing that again,” Y/N sighed. “If Tanya does figure out it was me that did all of that, then I’ll help her pay for damages.”

Y/N had grabbed the wizard’s wand in her little gamble, and she felt really good. However, she still felt a little bad for ruining someone’s party, even if it was someone she deemed as Lucifer. Her dad would want her to help out with anything.

She looked back at the scene they left. More people were leaving the property, and officers were still getting everyone to clear out. Tanya and her boyfriend were still dealing with an officer, but she had cuffs on her wrists.

Y/N couldn’t help the smirk that was coming back to her face.

“Trick or Treat, you she-devil,” she muttered victoriously.

-

Tags: @burberrylucas​ @daybreakx​ @cloudychannieee​ @barsformars​ @starsandsoul​ @hyyunjins​ @mafia-nct​

[2k18leo]

“Did you just kiss me?”

((reposting this because I made a few alterations. Happy (little late) New Year!!!)

“So, you think you’ll go through with it tonight?” April asked you with a smirk and an eyebrow wiggle. The two of you were heading up the elevator of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. It was already past nightfall on New Years Eve and you were both lugging around big boxes of various fireworks to the roof, where you would later meet up with the turtles.

A warm, pink glow flashed across your cheeks as your eyes glanced to hers and then straight down to the floor. Letting out a little wry chuckle, you stammered, “I-I don’t know. I mean, all you guys are gonna be there and--” She cut you off,

“Girl,” she let out a groan, “So what? It’s New Years!” She straightened her glasses with her cheek while shrugging her shoulders. Her hands were placed in their usual spot, within the pockets of her bright yellow-green sweatshirt. “We’re literally gonna have the best seats in the city. It’ll be perfect!”

“What if he… rejects me?” You say in a joking way to help keep the mood light, but deep down that question has been burning inside you for so long.

April let out a hearty laugh, her shoulders twitching rhythmically, “Don’t be crazy. He would never.”

“But what if—” you began.

“But nothing, hon.” She cut you off, smiling, “Trust me. I know him. I know all of them. We’ve been friends since I was, what, eleven? You gon’ be just fine.”

April has known the boys for a much longer time than you have. You’ve only been friends with them for maybe a little over half a year? Maybe April did know what she was talking about… you hope.

The elevator finally came to a halt at the top floor and the both of you carried the boxes of fireworks out and down the hall to a fire escape exit. There, the two of you carefully climbed the rest of the way to the rooftop.

The crisp air hit you right away, blowing your hair out of your face and back behind you. And the lights. Wow. You never, ever seemed to get tired of this view. It was breathtaking, to say the least. An image could never entirely capture the beauty of that skyline. Billions of shimmering lights dazzled beneath you to miles ahead of you. But this, Times Square, there’s just nothing like it. Millions of people were crowded together at the base of the hotel, all clamoring, laughing, and continuously waiting for the big ball to eventually drop, marking a new year.

“Ayyeee, there’s my favorite girls!” You heard that familiar voice behind you. Turning around, you recognized the blue-clad turtle with the shit-eating grin, followed by his three brothers who were leaping up from the side of the building. Of course, Leo’s presence made a slight pink glow across your cheeks. Out of the corner of your eye you see April giving a smirk in your direction as she eyed the two of you. Leo was oblivious to the expressions between the both of you as you shot her a warning glance. The turtle’s mask tails lightly flapped in the wind as he made his way over to the boxes of fireworks.

“Ho-ho yeah! Let’s see what we got!” He rummaged through the boxes with Mikey when you heard Raph set down a large watercooler on the other side of you. He tossed you a soda in a koozie, which you gratefully accepted, and then one to April and another to Donnie. The purple-clad, who was tinkering on his bo staff to make sure the flame thrower worked, as well as the fire extinguisher, caught the soda without even glancing away from his weapon.

“How you been, Shorty?” said Raph, shutting the cooler after getting himself a soda, then using the cooler as a seat.

You answered, completely used to that nickname he had coined for you, “Great! Bit chilly, but what else is new, y’know?” You shrugged your shoulders in your big wool and polyester coat. The weather was even harsher on the roof of this building. “Still job hunting, so that’s a drag.”

“Ah, well,” said the snapping turtle, raising his soda can in your direction, “To a new year and a new job.” And everyone chimed in to repeat the phrase, wishing you good luck. An appreciative smile took a new expression upon your face as you raised your drink as well.

A short time passed and it was about seven minutes to midnight; you were mingling with Donnie and Raph about random topics. Mikey has been deejaying in the middle of the roof. You guys were sitting on the edge of the building, overlooking the crowd. You three were currently discussing where you would each like to travel and why. You could hear April howling with laughter from somewhere behind you, probably at some wise-crack Mikey or Leo made.

You kept a close eye on your phone to check the time. The closer it got to midnight, the more nerves scattered themselves inside your body. You were really trying hard to listen to Donnie explain how the pyramids of Egypt would be such a fascinating travel location because of all the myths saying that aliens created them or something, but your mind was just mostly focusing on a completely other topic. Leo.

While subconsciously nodding along to Donnie’s story, now off on some tangent about wheatfields, you were straining your ears just to hear Leo’s voice, or even his laugh, behind you. It was such an attracting sound. So sweet. Like honey attracts bees. And you, of course, were the bee. Gah, were you even going to have the balls to pull this off tonight? Every feeling inside of you was either rooting for it to happen or for you to back out and play it safe. Now normally, you weren’t a risk taker, but this was gonna be different. When that ball dropped, you were gonna change that part of yourself. This is the time to try new things, after all. Ugh. Why does this have to be so difficult?

“Yo, y/n!” Leo’s voice chimed, calling to you, “Hey, come look at what we’ve set up. D, bring your torch!”

You got up, followed by Donnie, and walked up to the other three who were gesturing to the fireworks they had laid out in such a specific pattern. Raph stayed behind to alert the rest of you when the time comes. Four minutes to midnight. The crowd’s cheering grew slightly louder as the time passed.

“Alrighty, so you got your standard Peony shells,” Mikey pointed at a few rather large firework casings, “Some Chrysanthemums, a few Willows, a Diadem, which I’m more than pumped more, your Palms, Horse Tails, and Rings. And as for the smaller stuff, we got Roman Candles, Fountains, Firecrackers, Sparklers, Smoke Bombs, and some Ground Spinners. So, I’ll definitely be the first to say, you girls hit the jackpot!”

Directly after April first bumped you proudly, Leo nudged your shoulder in an approving way. You smiled up at him, praying that he couldn’t see the blush on your face. He smiled back and you couldn’t tell if he gave you a wink or not, the moment passed too quick. Okay, two minutes to midnight.

“Aye, the ball’s about to drop.” Raph called to us, “C’mon, let’s go!”

You all made your way back over to the edge of the building, hanging your legs over the edge. You sat by Mikey, who plopped himself in between you and April, and Leo made his seat on the other side of you. Something in your heart did a tiny dance and you couldn’t help but smile. Not just about the fact that Leo was sitting next to you, but about the whole scene. Times Square, the crowd of millions of people beneath your feet, you literally dangling your feet off the edge of the rooftop of a towering hotel, your closest friends in the world by your side. Honestly, what could top this?

There it went, the chrome ball that everyone had their eyes on, slowly falling every second. The swarm of people below you started chanting, “SEVEN… SIX… FIVE… FOUR…”

You and the gang joined in, “THREE… TWO… ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

Loud cheers and screams echoed all around you. Mikey spun his flaming kusari-fundo around above his head in a celebratory twirl, making you laugh. You turned to your other side to finally do it. You were going to kiss Leo. This was it. Your body felt so light. A huge smile was across your face as you turned to face him. But before you could even act on anything, his hands were latched to your cheeks with his lips pressed against yours. Wait. He kissed you?! Immediately, Mikey said exactly what you were thinking,

“Omigosh!”

April laughed at Mikey’s reaction as you flooded out all noise around you. So, this is what it was like… kissing him. Wow. You couldn’t believe your senses. The only thing that made you pull away was a thundering BOOM that erupted above you. Once you realized it was only Donnie who had set off the first of the fireworks, you looked back to Leo who was smiling wildly at you.

You smiled back and then realization hit you a second time, “D-Did you just kiss me?”

His expression faltered a little bit. Was that disappointment in your voice? But he nodded back with a smaller smile. Your eyes lit up as another firework went off above the roof. Without warning, you practically threw yourself on him, kissing him again.

Behind you, Mikey turned to April, “Did you see—?”

April nodded in a smug fashion, “Yeah, she planned for it.”

“Pay up; he kissed her first,” said Raph, chuckling to April. He held his hand out, awaiting his prize for winning some bet he and April had set months ago. April rolled her eyes and slapped a ten dollar bill in his huge hand.

The rest of the night was spent with laughter and shimmering lights followed by booming sounds. Leo had his arm around you most of the time, when he wasn’t trying to do some reckless tricks over the fountain fireworks, of course. Mikey was trying out some moves with his kusari-fundo by trying to light multiple fireworks at once. Donnie was ready with the fire extinguisher application wired into his staff. Raph and April were having a Roman Candle fight and laughing when Leo got hit with one of the blasts. When you checked to see if he was alright, trying to stifle the laughter that was bubbling inside you, he gave you a reassuring wink and kissed you on the forehead before lighting a Roman Candle himself to chase Raph with. Was it always this easy? Why did you believe things had to be so complicated? He liked you back. After months of overthinking things, he actually liked you back. What a wonderful start to the year.

[ichigo777666]

B/C People Are Dumb

This is a rant about those dumb news aritcles about DeeJay Soda & the AA flight fiasco that keep coming up b/c I find it hillarious how they try to make her look like a victim here...

Some of this is quoted from a news article.

DJ Hwang So-hee, known as DeeJay Soda, was kicked off her American Airlines business class flight for wearing pants that airline staff considered inappropriate. Oh really, no shit! Lady, it doesn't take a diploma to know that wearing clothing with “F*ck you” written on it is inappropiate. Here's a fact for you: when you buy a ticket, you're agreeing to the airline's code of conduct. One thing in that CoC is that you're expected to be wearing appropiate attire & that not doing so can result in your removal from the plane. This includes vulgar language on clothing, clothing that's too revealing, or clothing that displays inappropiate images. Having clothes with “F*ck you” on them is clearly that. How utterly oblivious or entitled do you have to be to think that this is appropiate attire for public transportation? Pretty sure a grade schooler could figure that out.

She says "they did not have any problem with me wearing it at the time of check-in nor when I sat down at my seat" Pretty sure they can't SEE your pants at check-in: anyone who's been to an airport knows the counters are chest height and with barriers for safety due to the recent pandemic, there's no way to look down over those counters. If the staff's doing their job as people are boarding, you can usually board business classs or first class without running into a flight attendant as you're getting on. These are smaller areas of the plane where passengers don't need as much direction when boarding & it helps to cut down traffic in the isles. Neither of these 2 things give you permission to wear inappropiate clothing. It's just excuses. You're a grown adult - a flight attendant shouldn't have to tell a grown adult their outfit is inappropiate.

Now let's get onto the other issue: She also claims she was intimidated into taking them off in public. And yet two paragraphs later there's this: Then, in order to comply with the AA staff requirements and reboard the plane, she decided to take off her pants. She DECIDED to take off her pants. How is this 'intimidation' - you CHOSE this in order to get back on! How shocking that an airline would enforce it's CoC policy on a flight - wow! You're not special because you have followers & are an "influencer" - you must follow the same rules everyone else does. You delayed this plane for an hour because of your little hissy fit & unwillingness to follow the CoC & you're "mortified and trembling in fear". Oh boo-hoo. You inconvienced about 300+ other people because you think you're special. It's the airline who's ultimatly going to have to fix all the delays or missed connections from those other passengers because of you. You should have had to pay to fix all the damages you caused them.

She added: “In my 8 years of touring, I have never experienced or been treated unfairly, especially in a country that is known for its freedom of speech and individuality.” Really lady? "I have never experienced or been treated unfairly." Never. Really? There's never been anyone calling you a bad name or lookin at you weird or saying anything at all? Unlikely. Also, the airline is a buisness, just like a coffee shop or a botqiue. If you go into a coffee shop wearing an offesive piece of clothing, the coffee shop has the right to refuses to serve you - it's a private buisness. Same deal with an airline. Maybe the pnats aren't offensive to you, but they probably are to other people which is why a CoC exists for you to follow.

[archetypical-series]

The Princess Story - Part 9

That night, Elizabeth was having trouble getting to sleep in her unfamiliar surroundings. Her father never let her spend a night away from home, and while she sort of resented him for it, she had gotten used to the luxury of her own bed. She briefly considered sneaking off and letting herself into Deejay's room, when the door suddenly opened. The light from the elevator crept into the darkened room. For a moment, Elizabeth thought Deejay might have had similar thoughts, but quickly realized the figure in her doorway was most definitely not him.

The man entering her room, if it was a man at all, stood close to six feet tall, with an imposing muscular frame. Long hair the color of blood hung limply around his face and down his neck. Enormous black leathery wings stuck out from his back, curling slightly around him like two terrible grasping hands, each as large as he was. The door slid closed behind him, and the room was cast back into darkness.

Elizabeth froze. The intruder didn't seem to have noticed her yet. She held her breath, and tried desperately to quiet her racing heart as he lumbered into the room, lurching slowly forward like the living dead. He made it as far as the end of her bed before he suddenly stopped. As he turned his head to face her, she could just make out a faint glow from his icy blue eyes.

“I didn't know someone was in here. Don't mind me. I won't be long.”

He turned and continued through the room. Elizabeth quietly reached for the comm on the nightstand, watching him with a mix of fear and curiosity, as he proceeded toward the kitchenette. Light once again invaded the room as he began rummaging through the fridge. He emerged moments later with a pair of bright green two-liter soda bottles. Then he moved on to the cupboards, locating and retrieving several large bags of chips, pretzels, and other assorted salty snacks.

With his arms full of refreshments, he sleepily trudged back to the door. He tapped the call button with the tip of his wing, and the elevator opened. Without another word or otherwise acknowledging Elizabeth's presence, he got on the elevator and left. Elizabeth sat frozen in the darkness for several more minutes, struggling to process what just happened.

–

Minutes dragged on into hours. Elizabeth tried to sleep but couldn't. By that point her previous fear had completely given way to curiosity. There was still so much about this place she didn't understand, and she was itching to know more. She slowly got out of bed and headed for the elevator. She brought the comm with her in case she stumbled onto anything more terrifying; anything that wasn't likely to be placated with junk food. She wasn't certain that Ty would be able to find her if she ran across something dangerous, but she hoped so.

Elizabeth pressed the elevator call button, and the door slid open. Inside on the wall, there was an image of the Tower. Elizabeth had seen Deejay tap on a spot where his name was written, and that had taken them to his room. Toward the top of the image, there was the word ROOF in capital letters, and a little below that was DEEJAY. Going down the side of the Tower, there were numerous other names or words, most of which she didn't recognize. BOARD, LAB, MALUS, GUEST, KITCHEN. At least “Kitchen” seemed self-explanatory, and she could hazard a guess which room “Guest” was. Below that were a lot of blank spaces where a word could be written, followed by the word GROUND.

Looking over the buttons, Elizabeth noticed something a bit off about one of the blank buttons. Most of them were obviously blank and untouched, but one toward the bottom seemed to have some faded fingerprint smudges on it. She found herself wondering what might be there that whoever labeled the rooms didn't feel the need to announce. She decided to press it and find out.

The elevator lurched slightly, and Elizabeth felt the pull of movement. Her previous elevator rides had lasted only moments. This one seemed to last minutes, although it was hard to tell how much of that was from anticipation. When the elevator stopped, the door opened on total darkness. She made her way slowly into the room, and the door closed behind her leaving the room pitch black. Nervously, she felt along the walls by the door for a light switch. When she found it, she flipped the switch up, bathing the room in pale blue light.

That's when I first saw her. When she first saw me.

I must have been quite the sight, curled up on the floor next to a bare mattress on a metal bed frame. I was holding my arms over my face trying to shield myself from the light, until my eyes finally started to adjust. My face was barely visible under a tangled, matted blob of black hair. It hadn't been washed in days. I still had on this old baggy white t-shirt and black jeans, both faded to the point where they were sort of grayish. No bra; I'm real classy like that. Oh, and I still had on that white flu mask covering the lower half of my face. So yeah, quite the sight.

“What is this?” she asked, incredulous. “Who are you?”

As she stepped closer, I tried to back away but I was already up against the wall. She was staring at my red eye. It was staring back at her. I felt my body trembling.

“Please, don't be frightened. What is your name? Why are they keeping you here?”

I was fighting just to keep my body still. I don't want to say what was going through my head. I never want to say. She looked down and pressed the button on the comm.

“Whatever the reason, Tyler has much to answer for.”

We waited together in silence. I could tell she wanted me to talk, to explain what the hell was going on. She could tell it wasn't going to happen. After a few agonizing minutes, Ty suddenly burst through the elevator door with his gun ready. He relaxed a bit and lowered the weapon when he saw we were both safe.

Somewhere in my clouded mind, I registered a little bit of amusement that he came downstairs in such a rush that he was still in his pajamas. I tried to focus on that silliness for the moment. I mean really, who wears actual pajamas? He looked like a 1960's sitcom dad, if not for the wild-eyed look and the massive revolver in his hand. Maybe early-to-mid-2000's sitcom dad, then.

“What are you doing down here?” he asked.

“Sir Tyler, you are the one who should explain yourself. Why is this girl being imprisoned here?”

He sighed. “She's not. This is her room.”

“This is a dungeon. Any fool could see that.”

“Alright, so we haven't had time to redecorate, but it's not that bad.”

She marched up to him angrily, pointing a finger in his chest. “I want an explanation! Who is she?!”

“Will you please lower your voice?”

He nodded toward me, and she turned back to look. I wasn't totally aware of what my body was doing by that point, but I must have been shaking pretty badly. Ty reached toward the light switch and turned the dimmer knob down, mercifully darkening the room a little more for me. I'm not sure the darkness ever actually helped anything, but I appreciated the effort.

“Alright,” he said to her, his voice barely above a whisper. It still carried clearly through the little room. “I'll give you the short version: we found her a couple of weeks ago, in a city a long way from here. She was out wandering the streets alone in a rainstorm. She wouldn't say what happened to her. The whole thing seemed really weird, but we couldn't just leave her there. We tried giving her the room you were staying in. She was a nervous wreck the whole time, wouldn't sleep, wouldn't eat. She cried and broke things a lot... At least down here in the dark she finally calmed down a bit.”

He was telling her the truth, at least in part, and I think she could tell. Elizabeth looked back at me, presumably with a look of pity. I had trouble focusing on her face.

“Where did she come from?” Elizabeth asked.

“I have no idea. She still hasn't said a word to us. If she even can.”

“Why is she wearing that mask? Is she disfigured somehow?”

“Not that I'm aware of. She got it from Deejay's lab after she first got here. No idea why she wanted it, but he let her have it. She hasn't taken it off since.”

Elizabeth looked around uneasily. “And... She actually chooses to stay in this place, all alone?”

“She can come and go as she pleases, at least within the Tower. She just... doesn't.”

They both fell silent for a bit. Sitting in the dark, my body started to settle down. My thoughts were calm, for the most part. Elizabeth took a step back toward me and looked into my eyes.

“Is he telling me the truth?” she asked. “Can I trust him?”

I wished she wouldn't get so close. But she did need to know the truth. I looked up at her and nodded as decisively as I could manage. I even threw in a weak thumbs-up for good measure.

“That's about the most communication we get out of her,” he added.

“But why would you stay here? Don't you have a home? Haven't you a family and friends who miss you?”

I looked down at the floor. Even if I could speak without my mouth betraying me, I wasn't ready to answer a question like that. She gave me a pitiful look but said nothing else.

“Want us to leave you alone?” Ty asked.

I nodded.

“I figured. Come on, Princess.”

She started to go with him, then turned back to me.

“Um, I'm sorry to have intruded. Whatever is troubling you, I hope it gets better soon.”

It did. Gradually.

The two of them got back on the elevator. Ty turned off the light on their way out. I rested my head back against the wall and closed my eyes, allowing the rogue thoughts to swirl restlessly through my head until sleep finally came to sweep them away.

–

Ty escorted Elizabeth back to the guest room. She still had a lot of questions for him.

“So, you really don't know anything about her?”

“Nothing that would help us find out where she came from. Anyway, she hasn't exactly shown a lot of urgency to go back, as you might have noticed.”

“Do you know her name at least?”

“Her first day here she wrote the letter 'J', but that was it. We've been calling her Jay since then.”

Elizabeth looked down at her feet. “Well, I'm sorry if I caused any trouble for you, or for her. I was only trying to help.”

“Now you know one reason I didn't want you getting too familiar with this place. Anyway, please try to get some sleep, Your Highness. We'll take you home at dawn. I just hope your father won't be too upset.”

“You don't need to worry about him. I locked the door to my room and was refusing to talk to him, so he likely hasn't noticed that I've left my room at all. But if he has noticed somehow, I'll say I ran away on my own. I'll make him believe it somehow.”

“Okay. Well, that's somewhat reassuring at least. Thank you.”

Ty turned to leave as Elizabeth started settling back into bed. She eyed the revolver he was still carrying. Apparently his pajamas didn't come with a holster.

“Sir Tyler?”

He stopped by the elevator. “Yeah?”

“Why did you need that weapon when you came to find me?”

“I never go anywhere without a weapon... But I guess that's not much of an answer, is it?”

“No, it isn't.”

He hesitated. “Well, now we're getting back into things I didn't want to have to burden you with... I'll put it this way: I honestly wasn't sure if I would need it or not. But I'm glad I didn't.”

“...So am I.”

She didn't really understand what he meant, which was probably for the best. Ty got back on the elevator.

“Goodnight, Princess.”

“Good night.”

Sleep still wouldn't come easily to Elizabeth, especially after our encounter, but eventually it did come. I can't say whether Ty slept any better, but knowing him I wouldn't count on it.

[womenofcolor15]

CLUB QUARANTINE IS LIT: Every Night, A Bunch Of DJs Are Saving Lives & We Love To See It

Party people can’t hit the club due to the Coronavirus pandemic, so DJs have been bringing the party to your living room. More inside….

Bars, restaurants and clubs are closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. But that hasn’t stopped the party! Club Couch is LIT thanks to disc jokeys hopping on social media and putting on virtual dance parties to keep people’s spirits lifted.

        View this post on Instagram

                  I had a tearful moment this morning after realizing that we all came together as a global community and danced while I played music in my living room. It was beautiful to experience and I’m truly humbled by the amount of love I’ve received. Thank you to everyone that supported me on this journey. Let’s continue to uplift each other as we get thru this dark time. #gratitude #DNiceHomeSchool #ClubQuarantine • art by @chuckstyless

A post shared by D-Nice (@dnice) on Mar 22, 2020 at 10:42pm PDT

  The front runner is DJ D-Nice. He has been rocking out virtually since Day 1 during his "Homeschool" sessions, reaching 100,000 viewers one night. It turned into a star-studded affair as several A-list celebs - like Oprah, Janet Jackson & Michelle Obama - logged in to rock out with the DJ.

        View this post on Instagram

                  #MichelleObama dropped in on #DJDNice’s lit IG concert. Several celebs also tuned in online, including #Oprah, #EllenDeGeneres, #GayleKing, #TinaKnowlesLawson, #BrunoMars, #LLCoolJ, #BernieSanders, #JoeBiden and #KamalaHarris. He also hit 100k viewers! @badgyalreesie

A post shared by TheYBF (@theybf_daily) on Mar 22, 2020 at 5:06am PDT

D-Nice's virtual parties have been all the rave, especially since some of his sessions have lasted for over 9 hours!

Peep clips of other DJs - 9th Wonder, DJ Boof and more - turning up on social media below:

          View this post on Instagram

                  This message is only for those who need to step their deejay game up.. stop thinking playing new music makes u a dj. Anyone can play whatever is hot at the moment.. the key to being a great dj is being able to know HOW to play music.. EXAMPLE I’m from the era where I use to play from 11pm-4am. I knew how to pace the party. keep ppl drinking and dancing without playing any new music.. new music always go Primetime which was abt 2am.. a lot of y’all play all the new music at 12am and burn yourself out and think u bodied the club when you really didn’t and every dj knows you don’t get the same reaction when you play a song twice... this why only certain djs can play for hours and hold the crowd without leaving. I use to always want to open up the club.. I didn’t want Primetime because the opening dj has the hardest job to do. Which is keep ppl in the room with good warm up music without touching the new shit. There is so much music to play that was hits.. that can still play and get a bigger reaction then the new music. DJS PLEASE TAKE THIS TIME TO LEARN MUSIC AND FILL UP YA SERATO WITH MUSIC FROM OVER THE YEARS... YALL GOING ON LIVE AND SOUNDING LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.. HERES THE TIME TO SHOW WHAT MAKES YOU A GOOD DJ

A post shared by DJ BOOF (@djboof) on Mar 24, 2020 at 5:31am PDT

        View this post on Instagram

                  Last night was nothing but vibes.. I deejayed for 7 hours.... we really partied together.. all I wanted to do was just dj and bring people together. If you know me then you know how much I love what I do. To everyone out there please protect yourself and your families.. PLEASE practice social distancing and follow all the protocols..... stay safe everyone.. . . . #djboof #party #vibes #corona #quarantine #vibes #funday #hiphop #reggae

A post shared by DJ BOOF (@djboof) on Mar 23, 2020 at 6:12am PDT

        View this post on Instagram

                  There’s really no way to describe my set tonight. I guess you had to be there. The moment in time a lot of us turned our back on the radio. The moment in time we all fled to a place where the sounds were fresh. Backpack, deep, conscious. You can call it what you want. In these times, call it a safe haven. Call it refreshing. Tonite, I play the best from the era that made me....The Best Of The Underground. The Best Remixes. The Best Albums Cuts. The Songs that didn’t make the Radio. The Revolution will not be televised.....it will be streamed. No Repeats. Night 4. Tonight Join me. From NC to The World 9pm EST IG Live.

A post shared by 9th Wonder (@9thwonder) on Mar 23, 2020 at 11:43am PDT

        View this post on Instagram

                  Every record, beat, production that I touched. Tonite. The Grand Finale Night 5. No. Repeats. IG Live 9pm EST Sponsored by Epson Salt, ToastChee (Pack of Nabs) and Nu Grape Soda. See you there.

A post shared by 9th Wonder (@9thwonder) on Mar 24, 2020 at 10:26am PDT

        View this post on Instagram

                  Much appreciate for reaaal. I’m gonna stay at it live until this thing is over!

A post shared by Ronald (DJ R-Tistic) (@dj_rtistic) on Mar 22, 2020 at 5:25pm PDT

        View this post on Instagram

                  Let’s take it back to happier times! Who remembers all 28 of these songs from 2007?

A post shared by Ronald (DJ R-Tistic) (@dj_rtistic) on Mar 20, 2020 at 5:09pm PDT

          View this post on Instagram

                  E-Clazz Presents....... “The Boom Boom Room” Everyday 2pm-5pm & 9pm-12am #ClazzInSession

A post shared by ED THA ENTERTAINER (@djeclazz) on Mar 24, 2020 at 9:49am PDT

            View this post on Instagram

                  All Def Music & Watch The Yard Present...

A post shared by defjamblaster (@defjamblaster) on Mar 23, 2020 at 5:30pm PDT

  Coronavirus, Sh** is REAL! #QuarantineDJs #DJTFresh pic.twitter.com/h7DtA7lSri

— DJ T-FRESH (@TheDJTFresh) March 20, 2020

    You got me out my shell #QuarantineDJs https://t.co/F0MTXqu4yV pic.twitter.com/3seagnWh5b

— DJ Trestaxx (@DjTrestaxx) March 21, 2020

    We all on social media might as well

I nominate @DjTrestaxx @DjSpencP @RocketInTheMix @DjLiive713 @lowkeyade #QuarantineDJs pic.twitter.com/tWyJ2n7EoT

— Moe the DJ (@IAmDJMoe__) March 21, 2020

  Also...

          View this post on Instagram

                  Because truly, we can all lift each other's spirits #TogetherAtHome. Learn more about how you can take action to help slow the spread of coronavirus with our partners at @WHO and @GlblCtzn globalcitizen.org/coronavirus #TogetherAtHome

A post shared by Anthony Hamilton (@anthonyhamiltonofficial) on Mar 23, 2020 at 8:42pm PDT

  Singer Anthony Hamilton hosted a free Instagram Live concert where 76,000 people tuned in, including celebs like Monica, Steve Harvey and Jermaine Dupri.

R&B crooner John Legend hosted a virtual concert last week.

Sadly, New Orleans bounce DJ and radio personality Black N Mild (real name Oliver Stokes Jr.,) recently died after testing positive for coronavirus. He was 44, according to Billboard.

  Sad to report DJ Black N Mild has died of coronavirus.

Black N Mild specialized in the bounce sound, which was native to his hometown of New Orleans. He was 44. pic.twitter.com/MMgDoPxOHa

— Only Hip Hop Facts (@OnlyHipHopFacts) March 21, 2020

May he rest in peace.

By the way...

  That was my goal https://t.co/UrQ120xxCF

— DJ iMarkkeyz (@iMarkkeyz) March 17, 2020

  The infectous "Coronavirus" track produced by DJ iMarkkeyz (who turned a video Cardi B made about the virus into a bop) will be donating proceeds from the song to people who have been hit hard by the pandemic.

  YES !THATS WHAT WE GOING TO DO ! Keep in mind you don’t get your money right away ...but even months from now there would be families with financial issues for getting laid off due to the virus .We will Donate ! https://t.co/ehAo8TCUhN

— iamcardib (@iamcardib) March 17, 2020

  Sweet! We know we aren't the only ones randomly yelling "CORONAVIRUS" in our Cardi B voice.

By the way, be sure to tip your DJs if they provide their CashApp.

Photos: LightField Studios/Shutterstock.com

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2020/03/24/club-couch-is-lit-every-night-a-bunch-of-djs-are-saving-lives-we%E2%80%99re-grateful

[jaredkleinmanisanerd]

ROAD TRIP AU (made with the help of @nonbinaryevanhansen, @thisiswhatmylifeamountsto, @dr-evn-hnsn, and other bros from the DEH discord chat)

The Gang™ decides to have a road trip--one last big hurrah--before they go their separate ways to their respective jobs/graduate programs. 

Alana is in charge of planning because she doesn’t mind phone calls, can be trusted to not spend more than they’ve budgeted, and is generally more responsible than the rest. She has a spreadsheet with every aspect of the trip planned--right down to what rest stops they can stop at for people to stretch their legs or use the restroom. She has a color coded binder containing the menus of the restaurants they’re going to eat at, the brochures for the tourist destinations they’re stopping at, and the receipts for all of their reservations; she also has a copy of the itinerary for everyone. Two copies for Jared because...he’s Jared.

 Zoe is the deejay. While she’s procrastinating from studying for finals, because Zoe has senioritis even though she’s not even technically in her last year of college yet, she makes dozens of playlists that are specific for every different road trip mood. One is named “For When Connor Starts Being an Asshole and We Need to Drown Him Out” and another is aptly titled “Weird Tree Noises to Calm Evan Down.” She’s the only one allowed to use the aux chord and she has to keep a close eye on it because Jared’s constantly looking for an opportunity to rick roll the caravan.

Connor is the driver. Not because he’s a particularly good driver, but because he’s pulled enough all nighters in his day that he doesn’t mind driving through the night as Alana requires for some parts of the trip. Even when he gets sleepy, he just has to put on Zoe’s “Please Don’t Fall Asleep at the Wheel and Kill Us All” mix and he’s good to go for another six hours. When Jared tries to call shotgun, Connor tells him “if I have to sit beside you all day, I’m going to drive us off a bridge.”

Evan gets shotgun. He spends most of the time playing eye spy with Connor-- “I spy with my little eye something green” “Evan could you please pick something that isn’t a tree for the love of God”--or reading wikipedia articles on the various trees they come across. He doles out the caprisuns and individual bags of doritos and lays potato chips that they stock up on whenever they find a Wal-Mart that’s reasonably close to the interstate. When they make stops, he’s the one wearing the fanny pack with the tiny fan, travel-sized sunscreen, bug spray wipes, and extra bandaids in it.

Jared is...well, Jared. He’s relegated to the back seat with Alana and Zoe and he’s bored as hell. Alana spends their car time going over the itinerary and reading guide books and Zoe alternates between staring out the window while listening to music on her phone and playing Candy Crush on her phone. Jared tries to help her out by telling her what to do, but she mostly ignores him, much to his distress. At one point, he swipes her phone because “Zoe you’ve been at it for an hour this is getting embarrassing” and nearly gets mauled by Zoe in her attempts to get her phone back. Alana is the only thing between him and certain death at that point. He also smuggles a lot of contraband snacks on board in his backpack and suitcase and refuses to share despite having more chips and soda than any single person could/should consume. 

They end up using Jared’s minivan because it’s the only vehicle they have among them that’ll fit them all. Evan spends the week before the trip helping his friend wash the caked on dirt off the outside of the vehicle and clear out the many discarded fast food wrappers littering the car floor. Connor tags along and does nothing besides throw trash at Jared and write “wash me pls god” on the back of the window before Jared can hose it down.

In all honesty, Jared has a lot riding on this trip. All of his friends are going off to do new and better things and all he’s got on the horizon is some boring IT job in the hell that is corporate America. Plus, he knows that if someone’s going to be left out of the friend group, it’s him. Connor and Evan have been a thing since their senior year of high school and they dropped the on-again, off-again bullshit back in sophomore year of college. Zoe and Alana are definitely a thing, he thinks, even if he hasn’t seen them kiss or hold hands. If they aren’t together yet, it’s only a matter of time. And Zoe and Connor are siblings, so they’re stuck with each other. Jared’s the odd man out. Like always. So this is the last time he’s going to be an integral part of the friend group, and there’s no way he’s going to waste it.

At their first hotel stop, Jared spots a sign behind the front desk when he’s checking in with Alana (because Connor and Zoe kicked him out of the car while they went to find a parking spot with Evan) that says that the maximum occupancy for each room is four people. Alana makes them sneak up in groups--her and Zoe first, then Connor and Evan, and finally Jared bringing up the rear, all by his lonesome. He asks Alana what her plan is if someone comes to check on them and kick someone out because “they have security cameras, you know.” Alana informs him that they’ll just hide him under the bed and, when he asks why it has to be him, Zoe pipes in with “because if we were going to make someone sleep in the car, Jared, it would be you.” So Jared just sleeps under one of the beds, acting like he’s taking the joke too far, but in reality, he’d rather be stuck under the bed Connor and Evan are sharing than be in the car all night by himself.

At one of the gas stations, Connor, being the dick that Connor is, has everyone load up and leave without Jared. Alana and Zoe don’t realize he’s gone until they’ve been driving for thirty minutes. Evan had been napping since before they stopped at the gas station. They return to find Jared surrounded by empty and unopened chip bags and cans of Mountain Dew. He flips off Connor when he starts laughing, yelling “joke’s on you, asshole, I used your credit card!” Connor says having Jared out of his hair for an hour was the best eighty dollars he’s ever spent.

Alana forces them to stay at a campground for one of their stops because the nearby hotels were too expensive and they have a big tent and a small, one-person tent. Jared is (obviously) sent to sleep in the one-person tent by himself. He drags it as close as he can get it to the big tent, periodically scratching on the outside of the big tent throughout the night to freak them out, which ends in Evan not being able to sleep and Connor yelling at him. Not exactly the outcome he was hoping for. The next night, he slips into the big tent when everyone’s asleep, burrowing himself into the warm space between Connor and Evan.

Connor wakes up to find half of Jared on him and half of Jared on Evan. Feeling pissed that a) Jared climbed on Evan without asking Evan’s permission despite knowing how Evan gets when people touch him a lot and b) Jared’s snoring woke him up from some of the best sleep he’s gotten on the trip so far, Connor carries Jared out of the tent and dumps him on the other side of the camp fire before returning to the tent to cuddle with his boyfriend.

That’s the last straw for Jared. It’s obvious that none of his so-called friends want him there, and he’s not the type of guy to stick around when he’s clearly not wanted, so he gets the idea to walk back to civilization and catch a bus back home. Alana, Zoe, and Evan are freaking out when they wake up to find Jared missing--Alana’s two seconds away from dialing 911 and Evan’s about to have a panic attack--so Connor promises to find Jared and ends up driving slowly beside him on the interstate, trying to convince Jared to come back to camp with him.

Jared eventually agrees to come back to camp and they all have to have a serious discussion about what’s been going on. Jared acts like an asshole for a while, saying that he knows when he’s not welcome and it’s not like he wants to be stuck with any of them either, but eventually admits that he feels unappreciated and like everyone’s going to abandon him once the trip is over. Everyone assures them that that’s not the case--even Connor, although that takes more than a few bony elbows thrown his way by Evan and Zoe. 

The trip continues on with everyone being a bit nicer to Jared. Well, everyone except Connor, but Connor is even a dick to Evan, so Jared didn’t expect much from him. Connor threatens to throw him off a cliff at the Grand Canyon and nearly drowns him in one of the pools at the hotel’s they’re staying at. The fact that Jared doesn’t actually come to any bodily harm is probably Connor’s attempt at appreciating Jared more.

At one of the hotels that has a whole freakin’ water park in it, Zoe and Evan go in the lazy river together, floating beside each other in their inner tubes, holding onto each other’s handles so they don’t get split up. Alana is swimming laps in one of the pools while Connor and Jared fight over who gets to go down a water slide first, terrifying the nearby children and annoying the hell out of the aforementioned children’s parents. Jared slips and ends up taking Connor down the slide with him and, of course at that exact moment Evan and Zoe are coming around the bend of the lazy river and see the boys sliding down together. Zoe cups her hands around her mouth and yells “GAY” while Evan laughs so hard he nearly capsizes.

That hotel decides to actually enforce the rule about there being only four people to each room, so Jared is stuck sleeping in the car. Evan shows up right before Jared’s about to fall asleep, a few towels and extra sheets in hand. They put down the backseat and make up a little bed, using the towels as pillows and the sheets as, well, sheets and share a package of cookies Jared swiped from one of Zoe’s bags before she went inside. They’re watching the Bee Movie on Evan’s phone when Connor shows up, scaring the hell out of them when he knocks on the window, face obscured by his hoodie.

Jared’s about to give up his backseat nest with Evan to the two lovebirds when Connor shoves Jared over so he’s squished between the two of them, claiming the rest of the cookies and offering nothing but sarcastic commentary in return. Jared’s a little confused about the whole thing, but he’s not about to pass up a redo of what he’d attempted back when they were camping, especially when Connor and Evan are two (conscious) willing cuddle buddies. 

They have a Serious Talk in the morning and things just kind of go from there. Jared wasn’t expecting to get one (1) boyfriend on this trip, let alone two. He’s a little afraid that things are going to be awkward at first, but that fear goes right away when Evan and Connor join Alana and Zoe in ganging up on him the next day, attacking him with pool noodles until a manager or someone comes out and tells them they have to stop because they’re disrupting the other guests.

It’s not long after that when Alana sends the three of them off to an arcade at one of their stops, thrusting a twenty dollar bill at them and telling them to stay away for at least four hours. Jared and Connor are out the door before she can even finish her sentence, but Evan stays behind knowing what’s coming.

“It’s going to go great, ’Lana. Don’t worry.”

“I know.”

“Mmhm. Well, good luck.”

Meaningful shoulder touch. “Thanks, Evan.”

Evan continues to send his encouragement as Alana leads Zoe to a tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurant that she exhaustively researched many months prior, claiming them the best table that she reserved back in January. The restaurant doesn’t even take reservations, but Alana managed to sweet talk them into make an exception for this momentous occasion.

She asks Zoe to be her girlfriend between performances by amateur artists because it’s open mic night, and Alana couldn’t have planned that extra perfect touch that gives the night if she tried.

Zoe says yes, of course. Was Alana even worried?

Alana shows her (new!) girlfriend the plethora of texts Evan’s been sending her, telling her that everything’s going to be a-okay, that Zoe’s going to say yes, that they’re going to make an adorable couple. There’s also a few “pls hurry up and save me from these two, they’re competing over a claw game now” and a picture of the unicorn stuffie Jared won him, which make them laugh.

As much as they love Evan, they take their sweet time finishing dinner.

The road trip continues as plan without a hitch. Well, much of a hitch. Evan has a panic attack at one of the stops and locks himself in the bathroom. While Jared, Connor, and Zoe try to coax him out, Alana goes to get the manager and has him open the door with his key, rescuing Evan from the bathroom and helping him back to the minivan, telling him that he’s okay, everything’s okay, and offering him water. Evan apologizes for making them fall behind, but Alana tell him it’s fine, the schedule can wait.

The schedule only waits for Evan and Zoe though, so Alana makes up for lost time by forcing Jared to forego peeing at a rest stop and yelling at Connor to run red lights and go off road when they’re stuck in traffic. She even pesters a museum tour guide to hurry up to try to make up a few minutes.

Everyone’s exhausted when they get back. Jared, Connor, and Evan all pile into Evan’s bed, barely saying hi to Heidi and handing over the bag of souvenirs Evan’s been accumulating for her before they’re down for the count. Alana and Zoe don’t even make it to Zoe’s bed--Connor finds them passed out on the couch of Connor and Zoe’s shared apartment the next morning.

While the gang doesn’t split up--not in the next year, not in the next five years, not ever--the trip was one of the last times all of them were able to spend an extended amount of time together. Even Connor smiles when they flip through the scrapbook Alana and Evan made, filled with ticket stubs and awkward pictures from the trip, including one of Jared when Zoe and Connor drew dicks all over his face in Sharpie. Whether he smiles because the trip was one of the best times of his life or because it was one of the few times he’s gotten to draw dicks on his boyfriend’s face is unknown, but Jared and Evan prefer to believe its the former. It is the trip that (finally) got them together after all.

But Connor is a dick, so it’s probably the latter.

[thebarongfamily-blog]

DJ Soda

[paramediks-blog]

10 Secrets That Experts Of dj nunta Don't Want You To Know.

Wedding Songs And DJs In London

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DJ NI please get in touch to check availability for your wedding date, unfortunately I can only take one wedding per day early booking is recommended. Complete the form below with all of the pertinent information and I will forward you a quotation. If you'd prefer some of the extras like bash games, etc karaoke or any other specific requests please add to the additional information box.

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[djmixx649]

Come party with us!!!!! Thursday is coming in HOT... that’s right....July 4th.... Celebrate the 4th of July In Rolling Meadows.......Keep the City celebration going on the 4th, with the first City of RM Post-Parade Party! Enjoy a day full of music by Deejay Mixx, Fool House - The Ultimate 90's Dance Party and the HILLBILLY ROCKSTARZ immediately after the parade. Food, beer, sangria and soda will be served by Rep's Place, with fun kiddie attractions too! REP'S IS THE PLACE TO BE right after the parade this year! A City of Rolling Meadows event, sponsored by Rep's Place. A huge thank you to our co-sponsors, Anytime Fitness, Daisy's Cafe and Miller Lite! #rollingmeadows #4thofjuly #parade #fireworks #djmixx649 #foolhouse #band #hillbillyrockstarz #djmixx #dj #coverband #throwback #familyfriendly #july #country #rock #music #anytimefitness #millerlite #music #summertime #repsplace #celebration #holiday #independanceday (at Rep's Place) https://www.instagram.com/p/BylktOsD95x/?igshid=1q5owjaij9g31

[2k18leo]

“Did you just kiss me?”

“So, you think you’ll go through with it tonight?” April asked you with a smirk and an eyebrow wiggle. The two of you were heading up the elevator of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. It was already past nightfall on New Years Eve and you were both lugging around big boxes of various fireworks to the roof, where you would later meet up with the turtles.

A warm, pink glow flashed across your cheeks as your eyes glanced to hers and then straight down to the floor. Letting out a little wry chuckle, you stammered, “I-I don’t know. I mean, all you guys are gonna be there and--” She cut you off,

“Girl,” she let out a groan, “So what? It’s New Years!” She straightened her glasses with her cheek while shrugging her shoulders. Her hands were placed in their usual spot, within the pockets of her bright yellow-green sweatshirt. “We’re literally gonna have the best seats in the city. It’ll be perfect!”

“What if he… rejects me?” You say in a joking way to help keep the mood light, but deep down that question has been burning inside you for so long.

April let out a hearty laugh, her shoulders twitching rhythmically, “Don’t be crazy. He would never.”

“But what if—” you began.

“But nothing, hon.” She cut you off, smiling, “Trust me. I know him. I know all of them. We’ve been friends since I was, what, eleven? You gon’ be just fine.”

April has known the boys for a much longer time than you have. You’ve only been friends with them for maybe a little over half a year? Maybe April did know what she was talking about… you hope.

The elevator finally came to a halt at the top floor and the both of you carried the boxes of fireworks out and down the hall to a fire escape exit. There, the two of you carefully climbed the rest of the way to the rooftop.

The crisp air hit you right away, blowing your hair out of your face and back behind you. And the lights. Wow. You never, ever seemed to get tired of this view. It was breathtaking, to say the least. An image could never entirely capture the beauty of that skyline. Billions of shimmering lights dazzled beneath you to miles ahead of you. But this, Times Square, there’s just nothing like it. Millions of people were crowded together at the base of the hotel, all clamoring, laughing, and continuously waiting for the big ball to eventually drop, marking a new year.

“Ayyeee, there’s my favorite girls!” You heard that familiar voice behind you. Turning around, you recognized the blue-clad turtle with the shit-eating grin, followed by his three brothers who were leaping up from the side of the building. Of course, Leo’s presence made a slight pink glow across your cheeks. Out of the corner of your eye you see April giving a smirk in your direction as she eyed the two of you. Leo was oblivious to the expressions between the both of you as you shot her a warning glance. The turtle’s mask tails lightly flapped in the wind as he made his way over to the boxes of fireworks.

“Ho-ho yeah! Let’s see what we got!” He rummaged through the boxes with Mikey when you heard Raph set down a large watercooler on the other side of you. He tossed you a soda in a koozie, which you gratefully accepted, and then one to April and another to Donnie. The purple-clad, who was tinkering on his bo staff to make sure the flame thrower worked, as well as the fire extinguisher, caught the soda without even glancing away from his weapon.

“How you been, Shorty?” said Raph, shutting the cooler after getting himself a soda, then using the cooler as a seat.

You answered, completely used to that nickname he had coined for you, “Great! Bit chilly, but what else is new, y’know?” You shrugged your shoulders in your big wool and polyester coat. The weather was even harsher on the roof of this building. “Still job hunting, so that’s a drag.”

“Ah, well,” said the snapping turtle, raising his soda can in your direction, “To a new year and a new job.” And everyone chimed in to repeat the phrase, wishing you good luck. An appreciative smile took a new expression upon your face as you raised your drink as well.

A short time passed and it was about seven minutes to midnight; you were mingling with Donnie and Raph about random topics. Mikey has been deejaying in the middle of the roof. You guys were sitting on the edge of the building, overlooking the crowd. You three were currently discussing where you would each like to travel and why.  You could hear April howling with laughter from somewhere behind you, probably at some wise-crack Mikey or Leo made.

You kept a close eye on your phone to check the time. The closer it got to midnight, the more nerves scattered themselves inside your body. You were really trying hard to listen to Donnie explain how the pyramids of Egypt would be such a fascinating travel location because of all the myths saying that aliens created them or something, but your mind was just mostly focusing on a completely other topic. Leo.

While subconsciously nodding along to Donnie’s story, now off on some tangent about wheatfields, you were straining your ears just to hear Leo’s voice, or even his laugh, behind you. It was such an attracting sound. So sweet. Like honey attracts bees. And you, of course, were the bee. Gah, were you even going to have the balls to pull this off tonight? Every feeling inside of you was either rooting for it to happen or for you to back out and play it safe. Now normally, you weren’t a risk taker, but this was gonna be different. When that ball dropped, you were gonna change that part of yourself. This is the time to try new things, after all. Ugh. Why does this have to be so difficult?

“Yo, y/n!” Leo’s voice chimed, calling to you, “Hey, come look at what we’ve set up. D, bring your torch!”

You got up, followed by Donnie, and walked up to the other three who were gesturing to the fireworks they had laid out in such a specific pattern. Raph stayed behind to alert the rest of you when the time comes. Four minutes to midnight. The crowd’s cheering grew slightly louder as the time passed.

“Alrighty, so you got your standard Peony shells,” Mikey pointed at a few rather large firework casings, “Some Chrysanthemums, a few Willows, a Diadem, which I’m more than pumped more, your Palms, Horse Tails, and Rings. And as for the smaller stuff, we got Roman Candles, Fountains, Firecrackers, Sparklers, Smoke Bombs, and some Ground Spinners. So, I’ll definitely be the first to say, you girls hit the jackpot!”

Directly after April first bumped you proudly, Leo nudged your shoulder in an approving way. You smiled up at him, praying that he couldn’t see the blush on your face. He smiled back and you couldn’t tell if he gave you a wink or not, the moment passed too quick. Okay, two minutes to midnight.

“Aye, the ball’s about to drop.” Raph called to us, “C’mon, let’s go!”

You all made your way back over to the edge of the building, hanging your legs over the edge. You sat by Mikey, who plopped himself in between you and April, and Leo made his seat on the other side of you. Something in your heart did a tiny dance and you couldn’t help but smile. Not just about the fact that Leo was sitting next to you, but about the whole scene. Times Square, the crowd of millions of people beneath your feet, you literally dangling your feet off the edge of the rooftop of a towering hotel, your closest friends in the world by your side. Honestly, what could top this?

There it went, the chrome ball that everyone had their eyes on, slowly falling every second. The swarm of people below you started chanting, “SEVEN… SIX… FIVE… FOUR…”

You and the gang joined in, “THREE… TWO… ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

Loud cheers and screams echoed all around you. Mikey spun his flaming kusari-fundo around above his head in a celebratory twirl, making you laugh. You turned to your other side to finally do it. You were going to kiss Leo. This was it. Your body felt so light. A huge smile was across your face as you turned to face him. But before you could even act on anything, his hands were latched to your cheeks with his lips pressed against yours. Wait. He kissed you?! Immediately, Mikey said exactly what you were thinking,

“Omigosh!”

April laughed at Mikey’s reaction as you flooded out all noise around you. So, this is what it was like… kissing him. Wow. You couldn’t believe your senses. The only thing that made you pull away was a thundering BOOM that erupted above you. Once you realized it was only Donnie who had set off the first of the fireworks, you looked back to Leo who was smiling wildly at you.

You smiled back and then realization hit you a second time, “D-Did you just kiss me?”

His expression faltered a little bit. Was that disappointment in your voice? But he nodded back with a smaller smile. Your eyes lit up as another firework went off above the roof. Without warning, you practically threw yourself on him, kissing him again.

Behind you, Mikey turned to April, “Did you see—?”

April nodded in a smug fashion, “Yeah, she planned for it.”

“Obviously, he did, too,” said Raph, chuckling.

The rest of the night was spent with laughter and shimmering lights followed by booming sounds. Leo had his arm around you most of the time, when he wasn’t trying to do some reckless tricks over the fountain fireworks, of course. Mikey was trying out some moves with his kusari-fundo by trying to light multiple fireworks at once. Donnie was ready with the fire extinguisher application wired into his staff. Raph and April were having a Roman Candle fight and laughing when Leo got hit with one of the blasts. When you checked to see if he was alright, trying to stifle the laughter that was bubbling inside you, he gave you a reassuring wink and kissed you on the forehead before lighting a Roman Candle himself to chase Raph with. Was it always this easy? Why did you believe things had to be so complicated? He liked you back. After months of overthinking things, he actually liked you back. What a wonderful start to the year.

[lvlsrvryhigh]

LVLSRVRYHI-054: Hunni'd Jaws

Introductions first: for anyone who doesn't know, who are you / where are you from? Yo yo, thanks for having me - I’m Hunni’d Jaws. I'm a solar eclipse personified. I moisturize. Facts: Coconut oil is not what it’s cracked up to be, if you want the hook-up on emollients DM me...on some off the record ish. My latest conspiracy is that I'm immortal.

From New York, exiled in Berlin, I mean “based”. How does "On exile" sound? Like I’m on chic sabbatical for being a leftist multi-national expatriate. Although, ya gotta strive for "arbitrarily-detained" these days, for the social media credentials.

What music did you grow up listening to? I grew up whittling didgeridoos. On the real, there’s a rogue didgeridoo in the house I grew up in. I have no clue how it got there. No one knows how to really “play” it, we’ve all tried. If my folks got it at a flea market, I’ll be a livid that my parents are just hoarders, and that Carlo Santana’s 3rd cousin didn’t loan it to us.

I’m so thankful for access to radio like Hot 97 and NYC. Nineties pop music was an animal. Dance-pop, grunge, dancehall, alt-rock, RnB, hip hop, trip-hop, the OG list goes on. I’m nostalgic for the pop hits, from Ace of Bass to No Doubt.

Mix cds were essential living. My street punk older sister got me into punk music and concert-going, starting at places like the Chance in Poughkeepsie. Thusly train-ing to NYC was compulsory. SO former self getting signatures on my cons. I grew up technically too far to be a bridge-and-tunnel though. “Bridge-and-tunnel" is slang for someone who takes one of the bridges and/or tunnels to get to NYC by car. Bridge-and-tunnels get on the Metro-north around White Plains with vodka Coolatas and clog up the Midtown club scene.

My folks played jazz, on special holidays merengue, 60s funk, reggae some 80s pop - cuz they’re into that - oh and a lot radio monotonous news coverage, tonally so nauseating that they smell like plastic factory fumes. Afro-caribbean & latin music were solace, since I’m half dominican. My uncle was more current, and played lots of new wave, punk, or like fat boy slim and beastie boys for us. We ransacked his computer once when we finally got cd burner software.

I also was heavily into indie rock, post-punk and random hip hop or the genre one-offs, like Hold You Down by the Alchemist, I found. Finding music was everything. I wrote about UK experimental & indie music for my HS newspaper - no one cared. My younger sister got me into A Tribe, Madvillian and J Dilla. Shout out to Nora for keeping me updated on hip hop mixtapes throughout the 2000s. And in college I veered towards indie music and electronic.

I'm cutting myself off, we should pick up the conversation here for the next interview. We can highlight more cringe-worthy pleasures that did not age well and my descent into grime and club, and how I’m still an angsty tropical riotgrrl haha.

One of my earliest musical memories was going to this wedding in 1997 and dancing to radio garage house tracks - what we called techno. Recently, I had a dance floor epiphany at Monarch Club in Berlin. Soda Plains played a garage track I hadn’t heard since that era, maybe that occasion. I made a note of the lyrics, found it later, and binged on it for like a week. This is my mentality.

My first introduction to you as a DJ came via Call Dibs, the show you run with Dis Fig on Berlin Community Radio, so I wanted to get an idea as to how the show first came about and what the motivations were behind starting it together. How did the two of you start to put things together? Yeah before Call Dibs, before deejaying, I was a head in NYC. Fel - Dis Fig - and I met then, kicking it many dawns.

Fast forward, in Berlin we saw a vacancy for our musical focus on BCR - whose programming we admired and were acquainted with. It fell into place. We decided to do this plan b, instead of becoming tech-house legends.

Going through the show's archive is like reading a who's who of upcoming djs over the past few years and it's pretty impressive how on top of it the two of you have been. How do you decide on which guests to reach out to? Do you have any dream picks? Thanks! We follow music, convene on that, take turns hosting monthly, and plan logistical. There's been several artists, I heard one track of theirs and decided to ask them. I was lucky they were down. It's insanely cut-throat. There's usually a rose award ceremony and sacrifice.

No "dream picks", I’d like to work with so many people, especially unique gem artists. I'm interested in new, small, unique voices and showcasing challenging fun sounds.. The cult of celebrity dominates booking, the scene and the industry. At the same time, we don't obscurity hunt. The process is organic, why dilute it?

From what I can gather (correct me if I've got this backwards), you moved from New York to Berlin not too long before the BCR show first started. Do the two cities mean different things for you musically? Did anything change for you in that vein after making the move? Yeah definitely! I lived in NYC for a couple summers during school, then moved to Brooklyn after college for 3ish years. New York is it’s mix of cultures and hustle. There are so many micro-communities doing amazing things. It is a pace, hip-hop, outspoken, loud - the majority of new dembow in my mix, I heard blaring out of cars, at restaurants, and in cabs while visiting over in early June. Even just 2 years ago, Bushwick was not what it is now, or Crown Heights even. I grew up in the music communities in NY through Jelly NYC, Tribes, bass warehouse parties like Reconstrvct and DIY venues like 285 Kent, and lived with the Teklife extension. Ballroom, dancehall, jersey club, and footwork were foundational w/ parties like Ghettogothik, Lit City, S!ck Magic, Mixpak, among others. With all this stacked against a city, there's so much synchronicity, like Dubbel Dutch playing an arcade entirely word of mouth, or mythic rooftop parties w/ lineups of whoever is in town not playing officially in the city. Or heads from around the country, turn out to see acts on a Monday night in Meatpacking district. It’s a constant struggle and everything is bought out. I have a deep bond there, the music community has a different appreciation and gratefulness for each other. People dance. I’m idealizing hxc. It all took bites, I got bored, and was looking to contribute.

I shifted gears, and moved to Berlin, to party less. Hahah. Techno goth, crust punk aura, the gay club scene, and deejaying/producer culture are indisputably mainstream. The leftfield club scene is compact w/ Janus, PAN, Trade, Creamcake, Boo Hoo, among others. There’s a core DJ and music producer community here that inspires me, albeit, a catch-22, is insular. There’s more funding, clubs are seen as institutions. It’s still Germany. It’s much more modest, introverted, and chill. The sound is usually spot on. Flights are cheap. It’s more white, whiter than the Midwest.

If you can sort housing, it’s a refuge for creativity because of work/life balance.

You're also involved with a few programs based around teaching dj skills to women and those within the lgbtq+ spectrum in No Shade and Intersessions. What interested you about these programs? What was it like for you personally when you first learnt to DJ? Was there anything similar out there at the time? Who wants a world w/ the same people, the same cliques, in control throwing the same parties, of similar perspectives, w/ the same mega brands curating, playing the same music?  Sign me up if I'm a mega-brand.

I didn’t choose to be half black, a woman, or femme, so I def take advantage of the opportunities given to me. And I'm aware I'm somewhat priveleged. I have a lot of friends who also want to organize and pass the torch. My core ethics are merging human rights, creativity, and access empowerment. I was also involved in the Co-Op compilation w/ Ziur, galvanized to counter the tension and rise of global alt-right movements.

When I first learned to DJ, it was a necessity to socializing. And when I got more serious about it, I had to teach myself. Getting comfortable at the club and tech-literacy was another blind-fold. I’ve had to dj with equipment I've never used before - wish these moments were filmed cuz I went too hard on myself. There were some people to help me but not really. I also had several feminist social groups to help with the visibility of women in NYC, our goals were more about solidarity and the safety of women at parties.

I co-founded No Shade alongside Linnea and Caramel Mafia in association with Acud Macht. The DJ tutoring program aspect gives the participants more security and time with industry standard equipment. They can ask questions, and they are learning from women and non-binary folk. Blasphemy!

Links between music and therapy come up a lot on your social feeds and, though it's not really something I've put a lot of thought into understanding, I often find myself relying on music to clear my mood or help me move past something that's frustrating or aggravating me. Do those ideas ever inform the sets you put together or the music you listen to? That’s sick that you found a personal correlation. Music as therapy vs. music therapy vs. sound therapy vs. vibration therapy vs. however we define music and therapy has an abundance of operational levels. On your experiential level, it’s great for emotional awareness, resonance, letting out stress, etc. 

It can be deeply triggering yet cathartic too. It’s tied very close to memory. People with degenerative neurological diseases can get pieces of their identity and abilities back when listening to their old records, or happiness. In other mysteries, if you suffer a major head injury you can miraculously become a musically-creative, perfect-pitch savant. Still so much is unknown in the regard to cognitive neuroscience, music and healthcare. This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin and Musciophilia by Oliver Sacks expand on this.

The club is an undeniable conduit, escape. A good sound bath from a sound system will reset you. Cymatically, it manifests your physical matter. Certain chord progressions and frequencies will awaken certain feelings. Certain rhythms make you rotate your hip joints, certain vibrations catapult you to an astral plane, ASMR and whiteness soothes and entrances. I’m rambling. It’s personal, it’s human, it’s spooky, it's cyborg. There’s loads of sound phenomena to explore.

The tradition of it in the psych world is very “koombayah”, which led me away from the narrow conventional sense of it. However, there are however strides towards incorporating rap into the psychotherapy application. The history of oration down to modern rap is rooted in the "music game over the streets" to narrate the struggle. Poets from West Africa brought oration traditions over to communicate their highest spiritual being. The command of it is called Nommos. As a practice it's so very suitable for the clinical experience. Therapeutic Uses of Rap & Hip Hop by Susan Hadley discusses this, maybe overintellectualizes it, but it’s an important platitude to introduce formally to the white-coat community. I may go back to school for it, so I can dispute and defend the way. I wish I had proper exposure to composition as a kid. I was more interested in learning tabs so I could steeze on covers.

There’s truth deeper and universal, beyond niche music that privileged perspectives get to admire, be bewildered by and entertain with. It's orthodox. It seems the people involved don't consider how esoteric and self-centered this chokehold of participation is, like subjective tunnel-vision ; music culture is full of circumstance, value judgements, media infrastructure, markets, and industry. Who has access? What is contingent? and Why? What does this all mean in 5-10 years?

You seem to take a playful, lighthearted, but also semi-theatrical approach towards your moniker and press shots (covering yourself in honey, planning to do the same but with bees), which is refreshing and in stark contrast to the ultra serious DJ look (black tee, dark background, lots of shadow, plsdon'tsmile). Was that something you consciously set out to achieve? Wow, thanks for noticing! Deejaying is full of bad baaaad tropes. Shout out Kurupt FM for being as played out as possible. Satire, critiques, and creating new information are important to me but it's more unconscious and involuntary. Music gets all bent out on being serious, then plays into trends and lacks originality.

I treat creating under hunnid jaws as a full multi-medium, creative universe. My press shots were fun. They feel so old, they're from a past life at this point. The series are under themes of objectification, erotica, and sex culture paradigms mirroring a literal interpretation of my pseudonym. The general idea was around for 2 years before it came together with my homegirl Syd who's in Rotterdam now. The actual process felt like I was suffocating and stung my eyes, basically honey-board torture. I'm sitting on a lot of weird ideas and bizarre influences. Just takes one or two sentences for an idea to be a good one. I'm excited to use them when I have more content and collaborators. I'd love to art direct for others. And to do more video.  Or something extrasensory.

Did you set out with a particular idea for this mix? Where / how did you record it? I recorded it in my room on my pioneer ddj-sb controller. No set intention but this mix is a missing cut from a film reel, like a glimpse into my flashback. Disorienting like a horror flick being played in reverse.

What do you have planned for the rest of 2017? Conjuring up some gigs and beats. Ya tu sabes.

If you had to pick something for people to listen to immediately after this mix what would it be? If you can hold out, listen to Call Dibs this Thursday 6-8pm CET.