#donnie the piano player

[quinnoct]

I found a new brush in procreate so have another piece— but this time its the PB&J duo, or what I’d call, for this art, the ✨Hamato Creatives✨

Version of Mikey with hair under cut ig

Because yes I aged them up to be around my age so Mikey has a head of hair 🤩🤩🤩 they’re probably in April’s house idk and this also has messier sketch lines jdivjdivjdkfjdov

Lmk if ya'll prefer bald Mikey or haired Mikey lmao

[rottmntsimp]

hello!! i was wondering if i could get a ROTTMNT character match up (when ur free and got the time!!)??

i go by many many online names, but usually i stick with sandra! i'm southeast asian, 5'2, and gender non conforming. i got black hair that's in a medium-length butterfly haircut and i usually dress up in a soft-grunge style (i don't have a specific style in reality, too indecisive for that rip).

i have audhd, and find it hard to open up to people. when i have an interest, it's usually really intense! marine biology, certain video game franchises, tv shows, music, the arts—i'm super passionate about all of them and find myself infodumping if i dont catch myself. i keep to myself the majority of the time, but when i open up to people that i believe i can trust, i'm usually described as energetic and very active!

dancing, singing, playing music, and drawing are my main go-to hobbies. especially music—i know how to play the piano, violin, cello, bass, and guitar! the last two are self-taught, but i got a few years under my belt :D

i'm an esfp, and i love listening to people talk about their passions and their love for whatever it is. i'm dramatic and love doing things for shits and giggles (for the plot yk), but i'm bad at recognising and understanding other people's feelings at times. i'm horrendous at comforting others and i can not read between the lines for the life of me.

so sorry for typing so much!! i wanted to make sure u had good material to work with 🤲

i hope you have a wonderful day evening or night !!!

—🌷 anon <33

Hey Sandra! As you didn't state a preference for your partner, I'm going to assume that either any is fine!

Also genuine question, should I add my taglist on these?

Don't ask how but I can see myself shipping you with April!

💚 - When it comes to dressing up, let's be honest, April could probably rock anything [much like I bet you do!]

💚 - So please for the love of god, let her borrow your clothes. She may not ask for it much, but if you're cool with it she is burrowing herself into your clothes-

💚 - Height-wise, I'd say 5'2" is pretty average, but compared to April, oh boy-

💚 - Her canonical height is 4'8", but let's give her a few inches out of pity, and make her around 5'0"...yeah no she's still short.

💚 - If it takes time for you to open up to people, don't worry! She'll be there, waiting and by your side the whole time.

💚 - As for special interests, if you happen to like a video game she has, she'll definitely let you borrow it. Hell, you guys can play together, maybe even infodump!

💚 - ^^ She'll probably sit there, head propped up in her hand, smiling at you softly.

💚 - Now, as for music, I'm sorry if this is just me projecting, but music players,,,

💚 - Would probably swoon if you ever wrote her a song, or even played for her.

💚 - Would probably ask you to teach her a few things, even if it's just the basics.

💚 - You're both extroverted so expect more outdoorsy dates! Amusement parks, bowling, arcades, whatever your heart desires, it shall get!

💚 - Now, as a fellow ✨THEATER KID✨ if you're demiromantic, aro-spec, or just more of a friends to lovers kinda person, depending on how long you've known each other, and if she can trust you to keep a secret, she might introduce you to Donnie, and maybe even the other turtles.

💚 - Pass the vibe check, please, because if her brothers friends don't like you, I'm sorry but you're gonna have to go-

💚 - Now, if you do vibe with them, especially Donnie, maybe, just maybe, you might get an invite to become an official member of the DPFL [Dorky Pals For Life] club.

💚 - Being unable to comfort April on a bad day might lead to an awkward gap between you two at times, but if you two can talk it out, you'll be just fine!

💚 - As for reading between the lines, if you're unable to read a room, or understand a joke, or just something someone said, she'd got you covered <3

I hope you liked it! <33

[cherrynasb]

Nick-Brawl 2 is Terrible, Here's Why...

These issues could kill Nickelodeon All Star Brawl 2 

I apologize for the click bait but my hope is that the  eyes on this video it's an important one! While the new patch 1.3 has fixed pretty much all balancing concerns and player feedback has led to an entire overhaul of the way the game's pace was at a competitive level. There are still plenty of problems that have been around since launch and unfortunately new issues have risen from the newest patch. I've been what I'd consider call a “NASB shill” well no longer! I'm going to start providing videos once a month detailing issues I'm having and others report they have with nasb2. I'm doing this to give my takes on things I feel should absolutely become a priority in terms of fixing, and just to remind the developers of something they may have missed etc. (some of these I've been told are in the bugs forum page on the official NASB server)

Patch note issues: The patch notes while great in terms of detail and information were not up to date with what actually was provided in the patch. This is a huge issue in terms of delivery and can change players expectations. Even if it's edited a day after the notes are released or via a Twitter update. It shouldn't have to come from beta testers that things intended to be added were no longer done or reverted. (Plankton down light buff not being added) there apparently were multiple things where this point applies.

Undocumented changes

\- Up Special height reduced

\- Down Air now only stalls you once per airtime

+ Down Special no longer goes away on shield (this means if you do it right you can lock them in shield and break them from full as someone mentioned above)

General Character issues 

Granny pot still doesn't function properly (not dealing damage or being able to be set off by granny hit boxes)

Granny airplanes sometimes spawn without a model and only wind effect or wind effect is too large and obscures the plane.

Granny piano doesn't work at all anymore despite working fine previously

Donnie can't drop from only one ledge 

Aang air ball shield damage is insane

Teching of any kind on stage still causes the user to do a dash attack if they try to buffer a tilt strong or any attack. 

Defense to Aang is power shielding to get invulne (it's character specific and confusing)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1156047178976985208/1180577086629482526/aang_bug_question_mark.mp4?ex=657ded17&is=656b7817&hm=15576275c70a49a25e0564eff85ed670242cd65c494f32c88206ed52727b4c15&

Patrick has Yoinky Sploinky 

korra's momentum doesnt carry over into up b properly when recovering with side b from the right side

aang infinite needle charge. sometimes when you spawn in and charge needles during invulnerability aang will infinity charge needles and you can’t move untill you shield to cancel it

Phanton specials; sometimes when ember gets cheer she will enter a weird in between state where up down and side special will do normal non-cheer versions, and neutral special will not come out. You can fix this by using slime to do a cheer side B

https://twitter.com/StrawberryWah/status/1731790222067679343 

Gerald side special (skateboard) will get stuck and unable to be canceled with shield if hes hit by a wind box. Try korra up air

Slime block doesn't actually work on some characters?

when the cpus grab ledge they just kinda stay there

Ember super causes spinning sometimes after 

Reptar causes opponent to spin sometimes after using super 

CPUS don't get up from ledge when they are holding it unless you press start to open and then close the menu screen. Doing this causes them to get up from ledge. CPUs do this in training mode or in matches.

Controller/Control issues 

Cstick settings for Keyboard and box don't even work 

There is no way to map C-Stick on keyboard despite there being C-Stick OPTIONS in the settings, like changing what the C-Stick does from light to heavies but no way to actually map it to keyboard.

Settings for alternating Cstick settings don't function or work as intended 

Controller support offline for PS to GCC and Xbox when plugged in at the same time crashes the game. The same is true for boxes with controller specific firmware. This has happened since launch 

Button misinputs (I input strong up air and get light)

Menu UI issues 

Game doesn't switch to correct stage playlist when I select a stage from a playlist (I select a ranked version and it pulls me into the form of stage it is - 

Doubles in the games code apparently has Team Attack features already in the game and able to be toggled on via a mod but have yet to become able to activated on the rules menu.

Ranked 

Elo earned for wins often feels random and is a lot less than when you lose. Usually -20 for loss and +4 for wins.

The focus

Obviously I'm not a developer of the game but as a content creator and as a Tournament Organizer, I see comments in my twitch chats, Twitter threads etc, and many of the comments all say similar things about stability and bug fixing. I think so far the response to character balance and other changes have been great. So the team at Fair Play is on the right track. But I think the team should focus their next big effort on the foundational features of the game. Things like controller support, buffer, squashing bugs, everything I've listed in my video so far. A players experience being pleasant is so important for the games longevity. So far the devs have been wonderfully transparent and quick to answer questions and provide updates so I'm hoping of this video reaches developers! 

Thanks for reading! (Or watching!)

[pianocat939]

Hello, hello my idol, Celina! I have some questions for you to answer if that's alright, I just want to get to know you better. <33

What's your favorite instrument(s) that you have or like to play? And what's your favorite band you prefer more than others? Oh, and one more question! Which Yandere! ROTTMNT turtle brother is your favorite to write or in general you favor?

Thank you, and I hope you have a nice morning/afternoon/evening! ♡♡♡

— ✒️ Anonymous

Omg an anon wanting to get to know me better? Unheard of, but appreciated.

What’s your favourite instrument(s) that you like to play?

So out of all the instruments I play my favourites are piano, quad drums, and oboe. The piano part is simple, I’ve loved it since I was kid. In my opinion quad drums are the most fun to play, especially since we get to be kinda the “pitch carriers” of the drums + cymbals (Adam don’t kill me for messing up on my Jig 2 solo Istg- I didn’t do it on purpose). And although I’ve just barely started, oboe is another favourite. I’ve loved the sound for like a good 2-3 years now and have been wanting to play it for the past year. I always got told it was really hard to play but I was able to play an entire scale within seconds-

What’s your favourite band?

(I assume we’re talking performing and not like guitar type band-)

I’m stuck between marching band, concert band, and drum line help-

I love almost anything with performing music it’s a problem ;-;

Ok so for marching band, learning the sets, movements, and memorizing the music is a bitch but the actual performance…AUGH I CAN ALREADY REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME THOSE BRIGHT LIGHTS WERE ON ME AND MY DIRECTOR WAS SMILING LIKE A MADMAN. When we were done with our half time show I couldn’t stop smiling- I just love the weird prideful feeling.

Concert band often has really dramatic music and I love that too. As a woodwind player, I hate doing the fast runs but hearing the instruments align all together on a stage is just- I’m in love. The trumpets blasting, but blasting beautifully. The percussion running around to get to their positions- the experience is great. And plus everybody looks more attractive when they’re in that formal concert wear

I only started drumline this year (as a freshman in high school) and have never played drums ever, at all. I remember signing up for quad drums bcs I knew I was shit at snare and I liked how quad drums sound. I didn’t think I would be allowed to play quads but because of my years in piano and spatial awareness I got a pass haha. Anyway, playing drums is so fun~! Just hitting shit and bouncing around like a bunch of idiots, it’s great. And actually, just last Thursday I revealed my Jig 2 solo to the crowd for the first time…It was kind of a disaster (I KEPT HITTING MY STICKS HELP-) but my director told me I did great for not knowing shit about drums-

Which turtle do you like to write most about?

Mikey or Donnie. Personality wise Donnie is the easiest for me to write and then Mikey is such a chaotic little guy I can’t help but go ham on him.

…

I totally did not just write like 4 paragraphs on how much of a music nerd I am help-

/sarc

[therecordconnection]

Ranting and Raving: "Mad World" by Tears For Fears

Gary Jules did irreparable damage to song covers made for and used in movies. A crime he didn’t intend to commit, but nevertheless did.

Do you like movie trailers? Do you like when the music in the trailer is a really slow and moody cover of a usually upbeat pop song? You know what I’m talking about, even if you aren’t fully conscious of it. The sad cover version of a song in a movie trailer has been a staple for over a decade now. Ready Player One sucked any and all joy out of “Pure Imagination.” The Batman butchered Nirvana’s “Something In the Way,” turning it into something that is just as dull, dark, and dilapidated as that movie was. The worst offender I know of is A Cure For Wellness having a version of the Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” that sure did leave me sedated. There are tons of these out there, I just named a few of the ones that stick out in my mind the most.

If you want to find where this phenomenon first began, you have to go back to 2001 and the movie Donnie Darko. The film’s composer, Michael Andrews, wanted the end sequence to be a rendition of an old Tears For Fears song, “Mad World.” He had a friend, Gary Jules, who was up to the task.

It became a massive hit and we’re all worse off because of it. Every single terrible sad cover of a pop song you hear in a movie is a direct result of what Gary did. His rendition of “Mad World” is one of my most hated songs. I hate everything about it. Gary’s nasally, whiny voice that sounds like if I kicked Michael Stipe in the nuts, stripping the music down to just a sad-boy piano which removes any and all lyrical dissonance that made the original what it was, all of it. There are few songs in this world that infuriate me, Gary found a way to make the top of my list. It’s a song that removes any feeling I get from the original song. I’m left completely numb and not in a good way. It remains my go-to example of how a cover version can absolutely ruin what originally made a song great. I’m in the camp that believes the Tears For Fears original is the definitive version. With the song having celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, I thought it would be appropriate to try and explain why I find the original so captivating.

But before we get to that, let me answer this question: “Does this mean you hate Donnie Darko too?” I’ll be honest, I’ve never liked Donnie Darko, but I don’t have hatred towards it. I think it’s kind of a stupid movie, but I get why it has it still has its fans. It’s kinda hard to ignore a movie where the plot is more or less about a mysterious figure in a rabbit costume who convinces a possibly schizophrenic Jake Gyllenhaal to go commit crimes because the world is going to end in twenty-eight days. People think it holds up and I’m not going to tell them they’re wrong. No, the only part of the movie I actively hate is Gary’s bastardization of “Mad World.” Everything else is fine.

So, Tears For Fears. For those who may be unaware, they’re the famous British duo of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, hailing from Bath, England. If the name rings a bell but you’re a bit fuzzy, it’s due to having heard their eighties classics like “Shout,” “Head Over Heels,” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” the last of which is one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded. “Mad World” is one that most people know, but I imagine younger generations are more familiar with Gary’s version and think of that one first. I’m aware that the band adore Gary’s version and have performed it live several times over the years, but I’ve said enough about it. Let’s focus on the TFF original.

One thing that I think will catch someone off guard immediately is how different the original is compared to what Gary did with it. Roland and Curt took a lot of inspiration from early Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan, all of whom were synth and new wave pioneers. “Mad World” takes a little bit from each of those guys and immediately creates something otherworldly from that influence. It’s a cold song, musically. Most of the song is made up of synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines, and programming. It’s strangely robotic, but not so cold that you don’t immediately get an emotion from it. The bass synth accompanying Curt’s vocals during the verses just nails that melancholy atmosphere instantly. What makes “Mad World” well, mad, musically is that it’s more or less a song you can dance to (which Roland does by busting out some cheesy but rather impressive moves in the song’s video) while a very sad individual pours his heart and soul out to you. That alone is what draws me to the original. That juxtaposition and dissonance is what creates a lasting effect. It’s also true to life: battling anxiety and depression doesn’t stop the noises or the world outside from moving and that’s what the song is doing musically: it doesn’t stop moving. It can’t stop moving. The sequencers and the drum machines are programmed to keep going and going until someone or something turns it off. When you strip the song down to just a piano, you lose all of that impact. The lyrics are still there, but there’s nothing to create a contrast.

Lyrically, the song works with the music because it’s describing a world that doesn’t fit with the music. The music represents everyone else, not the person singing the song. Hell, it fits because even the narrator feels like they don’t fit in with the rest of the world. The first verse:

"All around me are familiar faces / Worn-out places, worn-out faces / Bright and early for their daily races / Going nowhere, going nowhere / And their tears are filling up their glasses / No expression, no expression / Hide my head, I want to drown my sorrow / No tomorrow, no tomorrow"

The narrator laments that daily life is just a vicious cycle. The narrator observes people living their day to day lives, doing the same thing over and over again, never being able to break the cycle they can’t seem to see themselves. This first verse is a common pessimistic view of things. The second verse is where I think things become the most bleak in the song.

"Children waiting for the day they feel good / Happy birthday, happy birthday / Made to feel the way that every child should / Sit and listen, sit and listen"

Imagine having the belief that the only day children feel good is on their birthday. Yeesh. That may be the case for some and it’s easy to see how the band sells that view. What other day out of the year shows a child that they’re unique and special and are different from most other people? None, really. The possible bleakness in a birthday also comes into play with “sit and listen.” Children “sit and listen” as others sing happy birthday to them at a birthday party, which is a positive thing! Here, the band is talking about a birthday reinforcing the “sit and listen” concept into the grander idea of “children should be seen and not heard.” Again, these lyrics are sung over synthesized horns, keyboards, and a drum machine dance beat! When you read the lyrics to “Mad World” without all of that, you get someone’s incredibly melancholy and incredibly sad view of the world around them. It makes you wonder what on Earth happens to someone that gets them to start thinking this way? Orzabal himself grew up amid domestic violence and abuse through his childhood, so that’s one possible explanation. The observations continue with the rest of the verse:

"Went to school and I was very nervous / No one knew me, no one knew me / Hello, teacher, tell me what's my lesson / Look right through me, look right through me"

Feelings of anxiety, feeling unknown, being relegated to the background and looked through as if you aren’t even there. Every line hits in just the right way. Vague enough to be open to interpretation, but specific enough that the exact feelings the lines are trying to convey get across perfectly. “Mad World” isn’t the most poetic song, but it doesn’t need to be. It does exactly what it sets out to do and works with the music to achieve that.

However, the lines everyone latched on to and made famous would be these:

And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad / The dreams in which I'm dying / Are the best I've ever had

Orzabal, the lyricist for “Mad World,” rejects the idea that these lines reflect suicidal thoughts. In a 2017 interview talking about the story behind the song, he says those lines were inspired by psychologist Arthur Janov, author of The Primal Scream and the man behind the theory of primal therapy. Janov’s belief was that our most dramatic dreams release the most tension, so the lyric “The dreams in which I’m dying / Are the best I’ve ever had” become the only form of escape the narrator has; the only way to start feeling better. The beauty of those lines is in how confessional they are. It takes an immense amount of courage to admit to someone that “the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had.” You have to be carrying around some kind of darkness, some intense pain inside to write a sentence like that. Whether you subscribe to Janov’s theory or not, it’s clear that Roland tapped into something that none of his peers had tapped into before. Lyrically, nothing from 1982 sounds like “Mad World.” It’s not hard to see how people became attracted to the song and first gave it attention all those years ago.

I love the final chorus of the song. That’s when the song really becomes the most maddening. The way the music escalates as Curt runs through the lines. The drums are pounding wildly and all over the place, the synths and keyboards are droning, almost as if they’re trying to drown him out. It sounds like it’s on the verge of breaking and losing complete control... and then Curt sings “Mad world...” and the music calms back down and shifts back into place.

I find it hard to tell you / 'Cause I find it hard to take / When people run in circles / It's a very, very / Mad world

To lighten things up a bit, if there’s any warmth to be found within the song, it lies with Curt Smith’s performance. He sticks out as the lone human element amongst the musical machinery and delivers a vocal that manages to walk a fine line where it’s melancholy and downtrodden but never melodramatic. Other vocalists like Robert Smith of the Cure or Morrissey from the Smiths could probably perform a song like this, but I don’t think it would’ve turned out the same way. There’s this innocence and a certain sorrow to Curt’s voice that really sells the idea that the narrator has been walking around viewing the world in such a depressing and dark way. His is a voice you can sympathize with even if you don’t see the world in the same way. There’s a melodic quality to it that’s just beautiful. There’s beauty to be found in this song, even amidst all the chaos and despair.

I love this song and I don’t think the original gets the credit it truly deserves. There’s nothing quite like it and every attempt to recreate it and reverse engineer it has failed in my eyes. Tears For Fears capture anxiety and depression in a way that is so vulnerable and so human. They capture what it feels like to truly be able to see and be aware of a world where so many people are blind to the fact that they’re all walking around with the same kinds of pain and despair. They capture how it feels to be caught in a world where people and things never stop, where people never really take stock of what’s happening around them. People run in circles and history repeats itself, the same kinds of sorrow and pain that infected the previous generation keep coming back to do the same to the next one.

If one of the goals of Art is to take pain and turn it into something beautiful, something good, then Roland and Curt succeeded. There’s a reason their work continues to endure and be enjoyed forty years later. Their debut album, The Hurting, turns forty next year and if you like this song, I recommend it. The rest of the album explores themes of psychology, depression, abuse, and most importantly, it explores how to begin confronting childhood pain as an adult. It’s well worth your time. Roland and Curt show you that it's a very very mad world indeed.

[gornackeaterofworlds]

Instruments with the boys.. RISE bots ofc

I see Raph being a chello player or drums for sure..

I always see Donnie as being a piano player or a violinist, he's not a spark for the dramatic you know.

Leo is absolutely a guitar player, most likely electric or bass.

And I see Mikey genuinely liking saxophone haha.

A reference to this post I assume

Donnie would be absolutely ham on piano but everyone only ever sees him play the keyboard so they have no idea

I wanna flip Mikey and Raph's, raph would adore the soul of the saxophone

[thomascarruthers-blog]

Howard Britz Jazz Piano Trio Presented By Bethel Jazz and Festival52 1st set 11-9-22 LaZingara Bethel CT 2nd set from CTFF on Vimeo.

Howard Britz Jazz Piano Trio Presented By Bethel Jazz and Festival52 1st set 11-9-22 LaZingara Bethel CT 2nd set

Bethel Jazz Presents: British JazZ Pianist Howard Britz, Bassist Dmitri Kolesnik and Drummer Eric Halvorson.

Howard Britz Piano, Bass Player and Composer Versatile and creative Pianist, Bassist and composer Howard Britz was born in London, England 1961. He played trumpet then saxophone in high school and had begun to play professionally when an jaw injury forced him to give up wind instruments. Switching to bass at 17 years old he also started composing. After attending Guildhall School of Music in London he played in the London and UK scene from 1985.

In 1995 he made the move to the US taking up a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA then transferring to New England Conservatory and graduating in 1995. During the Boston years played with some of the great artists on the scene at the time including saxophonists Seamus Blake, Bill Pierce and Jacques Schwartz- Bart, pianist Danilo Perez, vocalist/composer Luciana Souza, The Jazz Composers Alliance and composer/pianist Guillermo Klein’s Big Van as well as many Latin Jazz and Salsa groups. Moving to Philadelphia, PA in 1996 to join his wife who was studying at the University of Pennsylvania, Howard didn’t know a soul there but quickly found a fertile music scene going on. Although somewhat off the radar of many these days, Philly had some great musicians and he was soon in demand for a variety of Jazz groups, vocalists, Salsa and Latin Jazz groups. Philly was also a great finishing school with all of the clubs, after work lounges and bars around the area, a real working Jazz musicians scene.

In 1998 Howard moved to Brooklyn, New York and recorded his first CD. Released in 1999, ‘The Future, The Past’ was made with some of great musicians he had played with in Philly, with pianist/composer Uri Caine, trumpeter John Swana, and drummer, Byron Lancaster. With original compositions by Britz it was a mature statement by a deeply soulful and experienced musician and composer. Quickly establishing contacts with New York players and old ex-Boston contacts he started working around the city and doing some touring.

In 2005 he released his second CD, ‘Made In Brooklyn‘ with a crew of top NY musicians, including drummers Terrion Gully and Anthony Pinciotti, saxophonists, Jacques Schwartz-Bart and Casey Benjamin and pianists James Hurt and Helio Alves The album also documented a group of musicians who were regularly getting together to play, jam and experiment and record as well as playing on gigs together. Some tracks were made in these informal sessions and some recorded more traditionally at Tedesco studios in NJ. ‘Here I Stand’, Britz’ third CD released in 2007 is perhaps his most cohesive and successful artistic statement. A quintet recording of eight original compositions featuring George Colligan on piano, David Smith, trumpet, Casey Benjamin, saxophone and Sylvia Cuenca, drums.

The CD received excellent reviews for the playing and writing, it contains all the elements that you hear in Britz’ playing, inventive melody, driving swing, latin influenced grooves, intelligent yet accessible songs.

From around 1998, Howard had also become interested in the possibilities of playing piano as well. He had long used the piano as a composing aid but had never developed the technique or chops to really play live. He set himself the task of playing piano professionally. His first serious instrument being a saxophone back in High School, he never lost the sense of loving melody and solos which are not the main role of the bass. Having worked for at the piano for many years, he recorded a CD that came out in 2013 called ‘The Feeling of Jazz’, featuring, the great saxophonist, Donny McCaslin guesting on two tracks and bassist Bill Moring and drummer Eric Halvorson.

Eric Halvorson - Drums Eric has performed with John Fedchock, Dave Liebman, Bob Sheppard, Dave Stryker, Donny McCaslin, Steve Slagle, Vic Juris, Scott Robinson, Adam Rogers, Joe Locke, Bruce Barth, Marilyn Maye, Beegie Adair, vocalist Kenny Washington, Fred Hersch, Mark Murphy, James Moody, and Bill Henderson; vocalist Lucy Woodward; toured internationally with Ute Lemper; Broadway stars Sherie Rene Scott and Christine Ebersole; composer Frank Wildhorn; songwriter and pianist Marvin Hamlisch; soul singer Ben E. King; blues artist George Kilby Jr. and the legendary Pinetop Perkins to name a few.

[sivy-chan-blog]

How do you imagine if guys played jazz, what instruments would they have? Personally, I imagine it like this:

Michelangelo - drummer (In the second movie, it is shown that he has a drum kit in his lair)🥁

Donatello is a pianist (with his fingers that can quickly type on a computer, he would have mastered the piano keys quickly.🎹

Rafael - double bass player (I recently reviewed "Aristocats" and there the chubbiest cat played the double bass)🎻

Leonardo - saxophonist (Personally, I can't imagine jazz without a saxophone, so it seems to me that the instrument itself deserves to belong to the team leader)🎷

I imagine a scene where Leonardo (in an early 30s suit) is trying to get the attention of Sylvia (in a sparkly Marilyn Monroe dress from the movie "Some like it hot"). No, he is not drunk, just a very big romantic💙

Bonus: Here, help yourself, dear🤗💕 I seem to be asking too much of you lately😅:

Uhhhhhh i don't know so much the jazz 😅 .and i never see the movie "some like hot" on Marilyn monroe becouse ther so old movie but raph with the douple bass player hehehe 😄 it's nice i guess...........but.... Leo in a suit mmmhhh 😏😏he always hot in a suit 😏😏,oh! and Donnie, Mikey on that strument it's true becouse Donnie he always do the computer on the type and Mikey well...we seen that scene when Mikey use a drummer😄 and thank you for the cookie.😊(again you wrong my name😐)

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Fri 19 March ‘21

Zach Sang’s 25 min of relaxing ASMR wait no I mean celebration of Zayn’s great talking voice wait NO I MEAN his ZAYN INTERVIEW (promised months ago then sadly postponed until NOW) is here!! Zach is such a good interviewer for these guys, you can tell he sincerely loves the music and he asks great respectful questions only, love it. And sure enough, this is a lovely interview and Zayn actually seems totally comfortable chatting and sharing his thoughts. They talk about lots of specifics about the songs on NIL; Zayn says NIL is his fave of his music and that he “tried to go a little deeper into my own personal things,” he said that he recorded the majority of the album at home in Pennsylvania and that yes, it is influenced by being there, that River Road especially is massively inspired by the locale and “I’ve got a very country vibe going on right now with the big beard and the nature, I’m enjoying it, it’s cool.” He says the cover painting is of “the blank expressions you might get when you’re speaking to somebody that’s not listening,” that “my teenage years were very different than I expected them to be and I learned a lot of things … to take things easy and at your own pace.” About Calamity that he often writes poems (zoems) and just takes lyrics out of them later, but friends voted he keep Calamity as is and go for it, that Sweat (the drums specifically) is an homage to Phil Collins, that he’s writing new stuff and will hopefully have something more out later this year, and Zach asks the pressing question we’ve all had: IS THAT A KAZOO ON CONNEXION? Disappointingly Zayn’s answer is only, I don’t really fuck with those fine details, that’s down to the producers. So no confirmation but also: it’s totally a kazoo. And finally this from Z: “I love music, it’s my solace. I love writing, I love being in the studio and being in that space, it’s something I love to do. I feel like as long as I’m alive it’s something I’ll do I’d like to be able to, I’d like people to remain interested for as long as I’m alive, I know that’s a long shot but it’s a long haul, we’re all trying to stay around for as long as we can.”

We got to see Liam today!! I’ve missed that sweet face! He recorded a little video while walking through a park (“on my way to the shops”) to show off his beautiful shaggy long hair and beard to say that he’s just surpassed 5 billion streams and a “humungous massive ginormous thank you to all you guys who are listening.”

Louis tweeted “a lot of these NFT projects are very interesting!” NFTs are unique digital things-- like normally anything online can be duplicated, unlike real objects, this way it can’t (it’s how crypto currency works), or rather: you CAN still copy stuff, just there’s a way to tell the original from the copy (of a copy). People are excited about this because it makes it possible to sell things that previously you couldn’t really charge money for (like unique digital art). The way it’s achieved is unfortunately via the massive and wasteful expenditure of resources though, it’s very bad for the environment; current bitcoin creation alone for example uses more resources than entire countries and the current NFT craze is racing to outdo that. Louis responded to a DM asking about that; “Louis are you aware the average NFT has a carbon footprint equivalent to more than a month’s electricity for a person living in the EU?” Louis says, “I’m aware and it’s something I’m looking to do differently if I do my own project,” then liked a tweet from a company addressing the issue: "Our carbon neutrality pledge is a step toward making NFT digital collectibles and the digital metaverse part of a green, environmentally friendly future.” IDK how realistic that is, but in any case Louis is aware of the issues and the fans’ concerns.

Anyway he also tweeted about football a bunch- because a former Doncaster player was picked for the England World Cup team!! Louis says the player “was at donny when I was training there. Top lad and top keeper,” and “he deserves every bit of success.” And in answer to queries, the official word from Louis’ merch site (responsive as ever, bless that twin) is that they do not plan to restock the album! No CDs! This is likely due to it having been put out by Syco, who no longer exist, but what does it mean in the long run? It’s a major release and I can’t imagine it simply going out of print forever, surely a reprint of some kind will be worked out?

What secrets was Niall hiding in his photodump yesterday? “What are you playing on the piano?” asks a follower, and Niall selected the tweet to, well not answer, but to draw attention to his failure to answer by simply replying with an eyes emoji, like a troll. Then he posted a picture of sunglasses on an electronic piano, but when asked again to spill what was up said only “a pair of sunglasses on a Wurlitzer.” But IS he trolling? “There’s nothing to know hahah it’s literally a pair of sunglasses on a piano!” he protests. He also tweeted “today is a good day!” which ALSO doesn’t tell us anything but you know what, Niall’s out there having a good time and good for him.

Lenny Kravitz tagged Harry in a throwback post of himself in a stunning look- “real men wear boas,” and the deuxmoi / Olivia’s PR team partnership rose to new levels of obviousness with the gossip blog using a supposed blind item about Olivia (you’d think she was royalty, the astonishing number of blind items they JUST HAPPEN to get) to announce a giveaway in partnership with a sponsor brand she is the face of. HARD eyeroll, imagine thinking that blog wasn’t get paaaaid, can’t relate.

[mendelpalace]

Interview of Mortis Ghost & Alias Conrald Coldwood

Q: ACC, how would you describle the soundtrack you have produced for OFF? How did you get to that kind of sounds? C: I've got a binder for important paperwork, and it's empty! I'm really not good at sorting things. I know where things are, and a vague idea of what they're used for. I think I don't need much more for what I do with them. I've been asked several times what genre I would put OFF's soundtrack into, and I usually reply "soundtrack". Most of the tracks are pots-pourris, and were composed independantly of each other. One or the other *might* be considered trip-hop and some other techno or IDM, I suppose. I'll disgress for a bit - I like disgressing - to also mention a fantastic website called Juneberry78s that features downloadable old pieces of music like Washboard Rhythm Kings' Pepper Steak. I downloaded a bunch of them and put them of my MP3 player. Then, one day, at the station, I came across that one track. And I told to myself it would make a great battle theme! OFF's Pepper Steak might have been Blind Blake's Hookworm Blues actually. Q: What were the influences on OFF's artistic directions? Are there other video games or films, books, albums, events, etc that have inspired you in the creation of this bizarre universe? M: There are thousands of more-or-less direct references in OFF, it's a real catch-all of eclectic influences. I've often mentioned them over the Internet, since it's a recuring question. The most important probably are Silent Hill 2 - a whole part of Zone 3 is a tribute to the series - which I was playing through during OFF's development and killer7 which was my favorite game back then an still ranks pretty high in my all-time favorites toplist today, and also helped me be more comfortable with the idea of making something visually stripped-down and off-beat. There's still a whole bunch of other influences: In video games, I can mention Final Fantasy VI and the two first episodes of the Metal Gear Solid series; and for the rest I can mention Terry Gilliam's Brazil, Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, Satoshi Kon's Paranoia Agent, Kazuya Tsurumaki's FLCL, Masaaki Yuasa's Mind Game and obviously The Wizard of Oz from which I went as far as to steal the credits song. C: Whatever I do, I work using references A LOT. That one guy (I forgot who) once said (something like): "What's important is not what you copy, but what you do of it." Since there were no constraints, I was deeply influenced by what I was listening to at the moment: Second Sight (Graham Norgate's choirs), Silent Hill (Akira Yamaoka's spheres and distortions), Donnie Darko (Michael Andrews's piano and vocoder), the "bootleg soundtrack" of serial experiments lain (Nakaido Reichi's drums) as well as other stuff like Soldier of Fortune (Chia Chin Lee's strings) and Hitman (Jesper Kyd's electronic sounds)... I think that's where most of my influences came from. Then, there also is the base layer, composed of what I'm constantly listening to: Mainly trip-hop (Massive Attack, Portishead, DJ Krush, Sneaker Pimps, Halou) and rock (David Bowie, Radiohead, REM, Bloc Party, Blur -including the great, great 13) as well as bands like Boards of Canada and The Postal Service. Speaking of the later, there is a huge nod to them in OFF when Pablo meows after his brother - I don't know whether or not the english translators were notified of this.

[sashayaweh]

Sam and Bucky dance to this song after having to take refuge in a safe house during a particularly high stakes mission. Theres a record player and Sam makes this necessary senior citizen taunts when he catches Bucky's frequent glances towards where it sits on the wooden shelf. Eventually, Sam walls over to fiddle with it because Bucky insists on faking disinterest, but Sam really wants to see him being not-so-boring for once. It was rare to see the other man take interests in his surroundings, barring the hyperawareness that he had for every environment he found himself in.

Sam could almost imagine Bucky's robo-brain whirring to calculate all the exits, people, and vantage points for any possible threat. He never seemed to fully relax. Even sitting in a chair, he sat stiffly as if he was ready to leap out at at any moment. Sam could understand. He wasn't brainwashed and weaponized for 70 years, sure. But he has seen war and death. Things he'd rather forget. And he's felt fear. The initial fear of the thousand foot free falls, the fear of the police and the banks, and the fear of losing himself in it all. So, Sam gets the mental burden and understands how hard it is to leave once you're in.

So, he fiddles with the record player and pretends not to know how to work it. There's no other records visible, but luckily one is still in place. Bucky would eventually get irritated and put everything into place because he knows what Sam is doing. And he knows that Sam knows. Because Sam knows everything. Bucky assumes this from the amount of time the other man spends talking. So, he puts the record on like old times and ignores the lump trying to force its way up and the memories that resurface. Steve-

"You're lucky, man. Etta James, and a classic at that, talk about a two for one. Looks like our luck it starting to turn around, CP30," Sam smile toothily and Bucky wants to do do something to that gap in his teeth. He doesn't quite know what that is yet. Maybe punch it because Sam knows he doesn't understand that obvious reference. But Sam's smile soften to a close, and the corners curl at the edges as his head begins to sway with the notes. Like silk curtains, his eyes slip close in simple pleasure as if he was settling himself into the music.

Bucky watches and feels awkward. At some point, in the past, he would know what to do in the situation. He would know what to do with the violins and the soulful tones curling words of longing into the air. And tired fulfillment. Maybe, he would know what to do with Sam but he doubts it. Or at least how to...be himself. Maybe then they wouldn't argue for once. Sam opens his eyes and looks over to see Bucky who stood, stone faced and deep in thought. The focus of his hooded stare was intense and Sam scoffed. The other man was being broody again.

"Are you even listening to the music or did you zone out again?" He shifts, slightly elbowing his companion and Bucky blinks, his thoughts shifting back to the present.

"You started talking, I couldn't help myself," Bucky quips and Sam let's out a soft scoft that becomes a short laugh. Bucky feels his own lips twitch.

"You gotta relax, man. You could beat a piñata with the stick you have up your ass," Sam shakes his head. That wide tooth smile is back but this time its less cocky and a little more warm. Bucky rolls his eyes and looks away. He does that a lot. At least he understood the reference this time.

Sam sighs and stops the music. He replaces the needle at the original point and let's it go. After a few seconds of crackling silence, the song fills the room again. Sam slaps the back of his hand gently against Bucky's chest and steps back with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Wanna dance, old man?"

Bucky gently freezes in shock but Sam catches it because he expected it, really. Its why he asked in the first place. He wants to shake up that tightly wound exposure that Bucky has at all times. And he was bored. Bucky was not a talkative person and their current predicament left them without many sources for entertainment. It'd been hours since they arrived, yet Sam was feeling the time pass under his skin like an itch. He was exhausted and body weary, but it was better to stay awake so he could orient to the new time zone. As a result, he couldn't help but pester the other man.

"No."

Sam just kept looking at him. His gaze was sleepy, but a twinkle of the earlier mischief still shined through. Similarly, his skin reflected the warmth of the sun as it clung to the early evening and seeped through the windows. It was lucky that they got to be above ground this time.

The staring lasted a long moment. Like it always did. Then Sam shrugged.

"I know dancing may not be a particular talent of yours-" but before he could finish, Bucky was in his space and the rest of Sam's sentenced disappeared with some of his bravado. Bucky was fast and his sudden closeness wasn't expected given the man's reservations a second ago. The sudden adrenaline that had sparked through Sam's started to fade too. He wasn't scared of his companion, but the man's behavior was largely still a mystery to Sam which meant that sometimes he was caught off-guard.

Bucky raised his right hand out, brow arched expectantly, and Sam took it with caution. The man's other hand rose to hover a few inches above Sam's hip, and it took a few moments before he realized Bucky was waiting for permission. His cheeks warmed and he hoped his complexion made it less obvious. He gently guided the metal hand until Bucky settled it on the jut of his hip, the surface cool and smooth under his soft hold.

"Aren't you a gentleman? Thats that old-school chivalry," Sam teased. Bucky pulled their bodies closer and smirked wryly.

"I aim to please." A new song had started and Bucky briefly tore his attention from the heat he felt spreading along his front. He hadn't danced in a long time. Not like this.

The current song featured a masculine husk crooning affections for the listener. It was accompanied by the distinct, steady tempo of a piano. Bucky felt his body catch the music, the way he'd been taught, quickly adjusting to an appropriate rhythm. Sam followed without much of a pause, finally starting to settle into the feelings of sharing this foreign intimacy with the familiar stranger who was holding him so damn gently. Even so, Bucky gripped him firmly like he'd catch Sam if he even thought about falling.

It was...nice. Nicer than Sam (or either of them, really) had expected. He hadn't been held in who knows how long. He was too busy and had mostly outgrown flings, but it wouldn't be fair to a potential partner if he randomly left on long missions that required little to no contact with those who didn't have the clearance. But that was kind of an excuse. Since everything that had happened, Sam hasn't much felt like having others in his space. He was a social person and owned that, sure. But it was hard to open up authentically as much as he teased Bucky about his tendency to isolate himself. He tries to take the advice he regularly gives to the veterans he takes under his wing. Its enough to sustain his close relationships, including whatever he has going on with One Armed Wonder, but he has little energy to offer anyone else. He has to remind himself that thats okay.

Without thinking, Sam realized he had sunk his head into the crook of Bucky's shoulder. He had started to drift, still following the gentle sways of his partner's body like a boat welcoming the gentle rocking of small waves after a storm. Bucky hadn't said anything, luckily, so Sam remains in his position and enjoys the comforting sounds of soul that has wrapped around them.

He had finally put Bucky onto some real good conditioner after growing sick of the greasy tresses the man sported as the Winter Soldier. No judgement. Its hard to have a solid hair care routine as an international assassin for magic super Nazis. But now, it smelled like honeyed coconuts instead of the scentless, dollar brands he used to buy at random. Even though Bucky's hair was shorter, Sam still caught wiffs of it near his neck. It was more noticeable this close given the man's lack of cologne.

Bucky had noticed earlier when Sam's head dipped into his shoulder. Shortly after, he though he had heard soft snores, but the man's body had otherwise remained upright and solid like usual. He had continued to follow the pattern they'd set, so Bucky had just shifted his hand to his partner's lower back to provide support and kept their pace steady. Otherwise, he lost himself in the heat of Sam's hand and the confusing stillness that had settled in his chest. He felt...anchored. But that was Sam. He was strong and steady, and reliable, but just as capable of sinking as anyone else without the support he inarguable deserved. The support Bucky tried to provide.

Steve was gone now. He'd left the both of them to figure out the aftermath of everything that had happened. Bucky wondered if it hurt Sam like it hurt for him. He didn't blame his Steve; couldn't begrudge him that act of selfishness after all they'd been through. Without Rogers' strong presence between them, they had been left to scramble in the gap and reshape it for two. Sam had his family and Bucky had his therapist, but nobody could understand the them as much as the other, as different as they are. So here they are, slow dancing in a safehouse Rhodes had been generous enough to lend them on short notice. He was amicable towards Bucky, but the generosity was really for Sam. Bucky's neck itched, likely with dried sweat, and he sighed internally. He needed a shower.

The man worked his hand against Sam's lower back instinctually and the other man responds with a questioning hum tinged with sleepiness. Bucky doesnt have an answer so they continue in silence. The song had changed. It was a woman again. She was singing the Blues, if Bucky guessed correctly. He's been picking up more of the music Sam liked. It could be relaxing but full-bodied one moment or rich and thrilling the next.

So far, he has only worked his way up the mid-80s. Sam jokesthat his sensitive hearing isnt prepared for the young and hip tastes that dominate the charts, but he'll still sneak recent artists into his recommendations so Bucky isnt completely "out of the loop." Like always, Bucky would just roll his eyes, but now and again he closes them and try to imagine what Sam felt when listened to the music. Wonders at the connections the man shares with the melodies, and the histories curved into the lyrics. Some things, he couldn't ever understand, even if he tries. So, other times, he just listens.

Now, he's curled over his partner's slightly shorter stature, nose brushing the other man's temple. Sam was not a small man. He was built like a brick house. His upper body was strong, but his lower half was thick with muscle and padded by soft curves of flesh. Probably because he only does legs. Meanwhile, Bucky's own body is near the opposite: wide, sturdy chest that tapers to a firm waist and steady, straight legs. They contrast nicely, Bucky thinks. Filling up the spaces the other doesn't. For two people of their size, they still manag to fit snugly with little space between their bodies. Any closer, and Bucky isn't sure how he'd handle the proximity. He feels lulled into the calmness of the evening that had unexpectedly crept up on them in the quiet of everything around them, save for the music.

The two danced a bit longer, but eventually Sam's body grew too weary after the lack of sleep. With hesitancy, they quietly parted after the final notes of the song slipped from the record player. Bucky turns stopped the music while Sam flops into the nearby couch. His growing exhaustion does not stop him from throwing a smirk Bucky's way which the man met with his regular deadpan stare.

"Not bad. Not a single hip replacement necessary. I'd say thats a success for two old men." Sam quipped. Bucky stayed silent.

"You're not old," he finally said. He hadn't moved from his spot by the record player.

"Hmmm. Well, compared to you, 42 isn't that old." Sam lets his eyes close again but Bucky clears his throat, causing one of them to open in question.

"There's a bedroom upstairs," he explains carefully. They've been on the move for some time now with little time for real rest. If Sam was going to finally sleep then it should be in a real bed, at least.

Sam lets out out a quick laugh, "if you think you can butter me up with a dance-"

Bucky cuts off his teasing with a quick glare. If there was ever a moment being the Winter Soldier has served him, it was now. Otherwise, the heat he could feel trying to redden his ears would send Sam into a fit of hysterics.

"I did a perimeter check when we arrived. There's three bedrooms upstairs. All of them have en-suites bathrooms so take your choice," Bucky grumbles out, avoiding eye contact with his counterpart. The earlier stillness he had felt was slowly disappearing now that they were interacting again. His nerves were more taxed than before. He'll analyze that later. Maybe with his therapist, but she was kind of petty, so maybe not.

Sam's teasing smirk has settled into something a little more kind as he rises frim his seat and crosses the room to where Bucky stands. He roughly claps the other man's arm a couple of times before settling the familiar weight of his hand at the ball of Bucky's shoulder.

"I'm just messing with you, man. Thanks though. That couch would do my back in after being thrown by that explosion. Luckily, you were there to provide some cushioning," he says with that toothy smile. Before Bucky can respond, Sam bids him goodnight and slowly makes his way upstairs. Bucky watches him go, dry-mouthed and slightly confused. Once Sam has completely disappeared from view, Bucky takes in his surroundings and feels the emptiness of the room without Wilson's presence.

He'll do one more perimeter check then turn in for the night. Even he can feel the pullings of sleep. Maybe tonight, he'll dream about dancing.

[crazymecjc]

thinking about how corey cott looked at donny and basically went “hmm he’s a piano player how can I incorporate his musicality into my acting while still portraying him as a mentally ill character with ptsd” and made little choices like twitching his fingers when he’s under stress and just the way he constantly talks with his hands in a slightly awkward way and the way he conducts with his head and mouths words to himself while at the piano,,,, anyway where is this man’s tony, he deserves it

[1962dude420-blog]

Today we remember the passing of Nina Simone who Died: April 21, 2003 in Carry-le-Rouet, France

Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone, was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles including classical, jazz, blues, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop.

The sixth of eight children born to a poor family in Tryon, North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a few supporters in her hometown, she enrolled in the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. She then applied for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she was denied admission despite a well-received audition, which she attributed to racial discrimination. In 2003, just days before her death, the Institute awarded her an honorary degree.

To make a living, Simone started playing piano at a nightclub in Atlantic City. She changed her name to "Nina Simone" to disguise herself from family members, having chosen to play "the devil's music" or so-called "cocktail piano". She was told in the nightclub that she would have to sing to her own accompaniment, which effectively launched her career as a jazz vocalist. She went on to record more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974, making her debut with Little Girl Blue. She had a hit single in the United States in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy". Her musical style fused gospel and pop with classical music, in particular Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.

The sixth of eight children in a poor family, she began playing piano at the age of three or four; the first song she learned was "God Be With You, Till We Meet Again". Demonstrating a talent with the piano, she performed at her local church. Her concert debut, a classical recital, was given when she was 12. Simone later said that during this performance, her parents, who had taken seats in the front row, were forced to move to the back of the hall to make way for white people. She said that she refused to play until her parents were moved back to the front, and that the incident contributed to her later involvement in the civil rights movement. Simone's mother, Mary Kate Waymon (née Irvin, November 20, 1901 – April 30, 2001), was a Methodist minister and a housemaid. Her father, Rev. John Devan Waymon (June 24, 1898 – October 23, 1972), was a handyman who at one time owned a dry-cleaning business, but also suffered bouts of ill health. Simone's music teacher helped establish a special fund to pay for her education. Subsequently, a local fund was set up to assist her continued education. With the help of this scholarship money, she was able to attend Allen High School for Girls in Asheville, North Carolina.

In order to fund her private lessons, Simone performed at the Midtown Bar & Grill on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, whose owner insisted that she sing as well as play the piano, which increased her income to $90 a week. In 1954, she adopted the stage name "Nina Simone". "Nina", derived from niña, was a nickname given to her by a boyfriend named Chico, and "Simone" was taken from the French actress Simone Signoret, whom she had seen in the 1952 movie Casque d'Or. Knowing her mother would not approve of playing "the Devil's music", she used her new stage name to remain undetected. Simone's mixture of jazz, blues, and classical music in her performances at the bar earned her a small but loyal fan base.

After the success of Little Girl Blue, Simone signed a contract with Colpix Records and recorded a multitude of studio and live albums. Colpix relinquished all creative control to her, including the choice of material that would be recorded, in exchange for her signing the contract with them. After the release of her live album Nina Simone at Town Hall, Simone became a favorite performer in Greenwich Village. By this time, Simone performed pop music only to make money to continue her classical music studies, and was indifferent about having a recording contract. She kept this attitude toward the record industry for most of her career.

Simone married a New York police detective, Andrew Stroud, in December, 1961. In few years he became her manager and the father of her daughter Lisa, but later he abused Simone psychologically and physically.

In 1964, Simone changed record distributors from Colpix, an American company, to the Dutch Philips Records, which meant a change in the content of her recordings. She had always included songs in her repertoire that drew on her African-American heritage, such as "Brown Baby" by Oscar Brown and "Zungo" by Michael Olatunji on her album Nina at the Village Gate in 1962. On her debut album for Philips, Nina Simone in Concert (1964), for the first time she addressed racial inequality in the United States in the song "Mississippi Goddam". This was her response to the June 12, 1963, murder of Medgar Evers and the September 15, 1963, bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed four young black girls and partly blinded a fifth. She said that the song was "like throwing ten bullets back at them", becoming one of many other protest songs written by Simone. The song was released as a single, and it was boycotted in some southern states.  Promotional copies were smashed by a Carolina radio station and returned to Philips. She later recalled how "Mississippi Goddam" was her "first civil rights song" and that the song came to her "in a rush of fury, hatred and determination". The song challenged the belief that race relations could change gradually and called for more immediate developments: "me and my people are just about due". It was a key moment in her path to Civil Rights activism. "Old Jim Crow", on the same album, addressed the Jim Crow laws. After "Mississippi Goddam", a civil rights message was the norm in Simone's recordings and became part of her concerts. As her political activism rose, the rate of release of her music slowed.

Simone performed and spoke at civil rights meetings, such as at the Selma to Montgomery marches. Like Malcolm X, her neighbor in Mount Vernon, New York, she supported black nationalism and advocated violent revolution rather than Martin Luther King Jr.'s non-violent approach. She hoped that African Americans could use armed combat to form a separate state, though she wrote in her autobiography that she and her family regarded all races as equal.

In 1967, Simone moved from Philips to RCA Victor. She sang "Backlash Blues" written by her friend, Harlem Renaissance leader Langston Hughes, on her first RCA album, Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967). On Silk & Soul (1967), she recorded Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" and "Turning Point". The album 'Nuff Said! (1968) contained live recordings from the Westbury Music Fair of April 7, 1968, three days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. She dedicated the performance to him and sang "Why? (The King of Love Is Dead)", a song written by her bass player, Gene Taylor. In 1969, she performed at the Harlem Cultural Festival in Harlem's Mount Morris Park.

Simone and Weldon Irvine turned the unfinished play To Be Young, Gifted and Black by Lorraine Hansberry into a civil rights song of the same name. She credited her friend Hansberry with cultivating her social and political consciousness. She performed the song live on the album Black Gold (1970). A studio recording was released as a single, and renditions of the song have been recorded by Aretha Franklin (on her 1972 album Young, Gifted and Black) and Donny Hathaway. When reflecting on this period, she wrote in her autobiography, "I felt more alive then than I feel now because I was needed, and I could sing something to help my people".

In an interview for Jet magazine, Simone stated that her controversial song "Mississippi Goddam" harmed her career. She claimed that the music industry punished her by boycotting her records. Hurt and disappointed, Simone left the US in September 1970, flying to Barbados and expecting her husband and manager (Andrew Stroud) to communicate with her when she had to perform again. However, Stroud interpreted Simone's sudden disappearance, and the fact that she had left behind her wedding ring, as an indication of her desire for a divorce. As her manager, Stroud was in charge of Simone's income.

In 1993, she settled near Aix-en-Provence in southern France (Bouches-du-Rhône). In the same year, her final album, A Single Woman, was released. She variously contended that she married or had a love affair with a Tunisian around this time, but that their relationship ended because, "His family didn't want him to move to France, and France didn't want him because he's a North African." During a 1998 performance in Newark, she announced, "If you're going to come see me again, you've got to come to France, because I am not coming back." She suffered from breast cancer for several years before she died in her sleep at her home in Carry-le-Rouet (Bouches-du-Rhône), on April 21, 2003. Her funeral service was attended by singers Miriam Makeba and Patti LaBelle, poet Sonia Sanchez, actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, and hundreds of others. Simone's ashes were scattered in several African countries. She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Celeste Stroud, an actress and singer, who took the stage name Simone, and who has appeared on Broadway in Aida.

[96thdayofrage]

Mrs. Douglas was the music teacher. Let me be clear: she was not a music teacher, she taught music at the three predominately Black elementary schools in my hometown. She taught at a different school every day and, if you lived in Hartsville, S.C. any time between 1968 and 2006, she was the music teacher. Mrs. Douglas is the reason everyone from my childhood knows the words to “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Black national anthem.

Being home-schooled at a young age, my mother hadn’t shielded me from whiteness so much as she surrounded me with Blackness. But I longed to go to school. I wanted to play on a playground and carry books in a knapsack. Having to raise your hand to speak and eating square pizza seemed like so much fun, which is why I cherished Wednesdays with Mrs. Douglas. On Wednesday afternoons, Mrs. Douglas gave me private piano lessons in her home and I was her prized student. I was a child prodigy and–if I could just remember to lift my wrists and keep my posture straight–I was on the path to becoming the next Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles. I was always eager to play for Mrs. Douglas because she had one thing that inspired students to perform at the highest level:

Mrs. Douglas was beautiful.

Even as a ten-year-old, I could see it. Everyone could. Perhaps the best way to contextualize her beauty is to say she was a combination of Thelma and Willona from Good Times. She had a pre-Beyoncé level of fineness that made little boys swoon and little girls belt their hearts out in perfect tune. And, she began every gathering with the Black National Anthem–“Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

It really is a perfect song. God must have laid that on James Weldon Johnson’s heart because, in 169 words, he somehow captured the entirety of the Black experience. The lyrics are at once painful and triumphant without wallowing in our trauma. And when we hit that “Sing a song...” part, we really spill out all of our Blackness. In the annals of Black music, “sing a song” ranks right up there with Frankie Beverly’s “Before I let you goooooooo....” or Ricky Bell’s confession that “it’s driving me out of my mind.” If there’s anything Black America can do, we can sing a song.

Mrs. Douglas did not teach me the Black National Anthem. I have never been in a setting where people actually learned the words or the melody. Everywhere I went, people just seemed to know it. Looking back, this was probably the work of Mrs. Douglas, but for the first ten years of my life, I assumed everyone was born knowing how to blink their eyes, do the Electric Slide, and sing “Lift Every Voice.”

One Wednesday, at the end of our hourlong lesson, Mrs. Douglas gave me a copy of the Maya Angelou bestseller along with the sheet music to “Lift Every Voice,” as if one were necessary to understand the other. She told me that she would be teaching me how to play the anthem for the next few weeks but we could only begin after I read the pages she had bookmarked. In the chapter, Angelou describes her elementary school class singing the Negro National Anthem. I’m sure my piano teacher was trying to stress the importance of the song to our history and culture but all I could remember is Maya Angelou describing her anger after a local school board official denigrated the entire Black race during her grammar school graduation ceremony:

We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous.

Then I wished that Gabriel Prosser and Nat Turner had killed all whitefolks in their beds and that Abraham Lincoln had been assassinated before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and that Harriet Tubman had been killed by that blow on her head and Christopher Columbus had drowned in the Santa María. It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life.

It was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against my color with no chance of defense. We should all be dead. I thought I should like to see us all dead, one on top of the other. A pyramid of flesh with the whitefolks on the bottom, as the broad base, then the Indians with their silly tomahawks and teepees and wigwams and treaties, the Negroes with their mops and recipes and cotton sacks and spirituals sticking out of their mouths. The Dutch children should all stumble in their wooden shoes and break their necks. The French should choke to death on the Louisiana Purchase (1803) while silkworms ate all the Chinese with their stupid pigtails. As a species, we were an abomination. All of us.

Jesus. Was I supposed to be reading this? Were white people this bad? Was the song this good? And how would this help me play the piano? It did not help my posture at all. I know this was probably Mrs. Douglas’s attempt to ensure that I would thank her in one of the Grammy speeches that I would surely give later in life but, Ma’am...

I. Was. Ten.

Still, enthralled by her beauty and a little disturbed by her reading assignment, I committed to playing the fuck out of that song. And, by “playing the fuck out of that song,” I basically hit the keys harder and with more emphasis (Did I mention I was ten years old?). It was obvious that Mrs. Douglas was pleased. For the next few years, I played “Lift Every Voice” at all the Black functions around town, including Pastors’ anniversaries, cotillions and every Black History Month program. I didn’t even need the sheet music. I didn’t know any other songs. To this day, my entire piano repertoire consists of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” It was the only song I could interpolate into other keys.

But my favorite time to play the anthem was when Mrs. Douglas’s Combined Glee Club performed. The Combined Glee Club was basically the best singers from the Black elementary schools combined into one choir. Led by Mrs. Douglas, the CGC was the number-one ranked glee club in all of the greater Hartsville area. Not just anyone could be in the Combined Glee Club; you had to be selected by Mrs. Douglas. It was the official verification that you had musical talent. I’m sure some people put it on their college application.

If there was something Black going on, they were invited and those motherfuckers could sing. All of my neighborhood friends were on the Combined Glee Club and my best friend played the drums for them. (Yes, they had a drummer!) The CGC usually performed the Donny Hathaway version of “I Believe in Music” (which, until a few years ago, I believed was a song Mrs. Douglas had penned herself). But their specialty was opening up with “Lift Every Voice.”

If I am being honest, I have to admit that I am a tiny bit afraid of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” in the way that I am afraid of the Holy Ghost or making potato salad for a family dinner. I know how important it is to us, so I am afraid to mess it up. Even though I hadn’t been around white people, I somehow knew it was our song. I had never seen it on television or on the radio. It was like a secret handshake or a fried chicken recipe–It belonged exclusively to us. Plus, if I messed it up, Mrs. Douglas might not consider the marriage proposal I was planning in a few years. Every time I played “Lift Every Voice,” there was a lot riding on it.

When I finally started attending public schools, my mother enrolled me at a predominately white school where I was assigned to a homeroom where I was the only black kid in the class. I’d like to explain how the white kids made racist jokes at my expense but, if they did, I didn’t even notice it. In fact, spending time around white people for the first time at ten years old, I learned more about Black people than I learned about white people.

I had not assimilated the subconscious deference to whiteness that often accompanies being Black. I became acutely aware that white people are not smarter or even more educated than any of the kids in my neighborhood. They were perfectly mediocre. They didn’t know how to double-dutch and they didn’t even have a glee club. In music class, the teacher just passed out instruments and let the kids have jam sessions. How were they supposed to acquire their daily recommended dosage of glee? I was a little ashamed of going to school there, so I led all my friends to believe that I was still being homeschooled until they discovered the truth at the annual Holiday Music Showcase.

Every year, all of the schools would get together for a Christmas program to show off their best musicians and singers. The white schools would have violinists, saxophone players and ensembles playing classical music with terrible basslines. As for my predominately glee-less institution, we learned a special super-Caucasian rendition of “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.” I was just thankful that we didn’t have to follow the Negro Mass Choir. They were last on the program.

My white classmates were unmoved as each individual school performed and, with each successive song, I slunk lower in my seat. During Washington Street Elementary’s performance, as they lifted up His name with a perfect a cappella version of “Children Go Where I Send Thee,” a kid sitting behind me whispered:

“Look at all those lips!”

Everyone giggled. I did not.

Our performance was predictably lackluster (probably because I refused to sing). It sounded like an episode of Little House on the Prairie. It sounded like long division. Rudolph’s nose had never been so unremarkable. Had he heard those flat notes wafting through the Center Theater, I’m sure he would have been as ashamed as I was. We trudged back to our seats as the Baddest Glee Club in the Land took the stage for the last performance. Of course, they sang “I Believe in Music.” Accompanied by Mrs. Douglas on piano and my homeboy James on drums, they blew the doors off the place. Even my classmates were impressed because, when they hit one particular a cappella refrain that every Black choir does, my classmates were clapping along. They were off-beat, but they still clapped.

After a rousing round of applause, Mrs. Douglas announced the next song from her piano: “Lift Every Voice.” Of course, all of the Black people in the audience—even the children—stood up. None of the white kids even moved. I was the only person in my entire class who stood.

Mrs. Douglas didn’t play that shit.

She stood up from the piano and glared at the audience as if to say: “You motherfuckers better stand up and show some respect.” I had never seen Mrs. Douglas express anger. And she waited. And the choir waited. She looked. And the choir looked. As she scowled at the audience, Mrs. Douglas saw me standing and smiled. She waved me to the front of the auditorium and whispered in my ear: “You wanna play?”

By the time I sat at the piano and she ascended to the stage to direct the Combined Glee Club, everyone was standing. She looked at me with her usual glance and in one microsecond, my back straightened. My wrists were raised to the perfect 45 degree angle.

And just like that, I was Black.

For the first time since I had read Maya Angelou’s angry words, I was no longer afraid of the song. I don’t know if it was the repetition of playing so many times, or the hand of some unseen thing, but I was suddenly able to play and sing the song simultaneously. And goddamn, did that Combined Glee Club lift their voices. They sang that song.

Our song.

I called Mrs. Douglas today.

I had so many questions. I wanted to ask her why she dragged me around town when I don’t have a sliver of musical talent. I really wanted to know why she made me read that book. I figured she’d tell me something about building my character, giving me a reason to socialize with people my age or how music helps the brain mature. Or maybe she’d make some perfect metaphor about birds in cages.

She did not answer.

I still have a song, though.

We are the song.

[somedayonbroadway]

Have you ever done oe thought about a Bandstand AU? Because I'm now obsessed.

Okay, so I was obsessed with Bandstand for a good six months after they performed at the Tonys. Kid you not, it was the only thing I listened to. For six months straight. And it still hasn’t gotten old.

Quick rant:

Corey Cott deserves a Tony.

Laura Osnes deserves a Tony.

The show deserved to at least be nominated for best musical, if not win the whole thing.

Dear Evan Hansen is great.

But it is nothing compared to Bandstand.

(Also, DEH won best orchestrations against Great Comet… like… what? Did the judges even see that show? DEH had like… a violin, a piano and a couple guitars. It hardly had orchestrations. Great Comet is a ****ing masterpiece of complex, insane music.)

End rant.

Anyways.

Bandstand AU

Characters

Jack Kelly — Donny Novitski (Piano)

Katherine Plumber — Julia Trojan (Singer)

David Jacobs — Wayne Wright (trombone)

Spot Conlon — Davy Zlatic (bass)

Racetrack Higgins — Jimmy Campbell (saxophone)

Crutchie Morris — Johny Simpson (drums)

Albert DaSilva — Nick Radel (trumpet)

Joseph Pulitzer — June Adams

Medda Larkin — Oliver

Bryan Denton — Jo

Specs — Michael “Rubber” Trojan

Okay, so…

Newly back home, Jack Kelly is having difficulty adjusting to life after the war. After losing his best friend from friendly fire, he’s guilt ridden. The minute Jack gets home, he’s bombarded with propaganda that everything would go back to the way it was before. He doesn’t believe that as he is now jobless, is struggling for money, is struggling hard with insomnia and PTSD.

As a composer, vocalist, accordion player and pianist, Jack begins to go to old clubs he used to perform at, only to find he’d been easily replaced. Finding an old friend, Medda, for whom he’d worked with before, he manages to secure gigs at weddings, getting slim money, just enough to eat and pay rent.

After a few weeks, he finds himself slowly losing it. He hears stories of soldiers’ funerals. Those guys came back fine a while ago.

They needed a way to make it stop.

Jack is on the verge of a breakdown. He can’t go a night without a drink. He can’t stop thinking about the war. About Specs.

He can’t get it out of his head.

He’s a genius and he knows it. He’s been musically inclined his whole life. He started playing when he was seven and he started composing when he was nine. And here he is, fifteen years later, still playing weddings. No one’s giving him a job. No one seems to care that he’s struggling or needs to play because if he can’t play, there’s nothing left for him.

But he hears about a contest on the radio. A contest for a swing band to compete in a contest as a tribute to the troops just back from the war.

In a moment of clarity, Jack decides that he’s going to put together a band made up of his fellow vets to shoot for fame and fortune, to show the vets that made it home that there’s hope for them.

So he takes a name that he remembers his best friend mentioned at one time, and he goes out to find a man about to play a gig at a club named Antonio Higgins who Specs had used to call Racer. Racer is a sax player, now studying to be a lawyer. While Race does try to send him away, he realizes that he might need this as much as Jack did and once he finds out that Specs is dead, he can’t say no. He’s doing this for Specs.

Race leads him to find more musicians who served. Spot, David, Crutchie and Albert.

Race doesn’t trust anyone.

Spot is an alcoholic, cracking jokes to get through the day as best he can.

David is OCD. He has clear schedules and plans out every minute of his day.

Albert is a control freak. He’s constantly irritated and just wants everything to be done the right way and for things to work out.

Crutchie lost a leg in the war as well as receiving brain damage in an accident that sent his vehicle flipping three times while he was in the war

Not all of them get along at first. But, for the sack of all of the vets that are losing hope in a post war world where there’s no place for them, they keep it together.

They get through their first gig together. All is well for about two minutes as Race tells Jack he’s glad he decided to play with him and Spot jokes around with Crutchie after Crutchie tells the guys about his meds and how they slow him down, asking him how much slower he can get without being put in reverse. Crutchie is very slow and goofy most of the time, unable to truly remember the events that occurred overseas, but he is a monster on drums. He doesn’t mind the jokes, in fact, he takes a liking to Spot.

It’s after this that Jack tells Albert he needs to come down off the ceiling while playing his solo, claiming that it’s selfish and out of line. Albert argues with him, sparking a bit of tension between the rest of the group. Albert then announced he has a chance to play with Dwight Anson Orchestra. Davey explains that Jack needs to work around his schedule. Albert says that they need to get paid.

Jack shoots back that the gigs they get are where and when they are going to play and he promises to try and give more of an advance in the future.

Once the others leave, Spot with Crutchie, trying to joke with him as he’s taken a liking to the youngest kid of the group, Race approaches Jack and tries to gently explain to him that he needs to learn how to talk to people if he’s gonna be a band leader. This sparks a small argument, almost leading to Race giving up and leaving, only resulting in Jack admitting that he has to do this for Specs.

He explains that Specs’s death was friendly fire and that he’d promised Specs should anything happen to him, he’d check in on his wife. Race advises Jack not to tell Specs’s wife how he died and tells him not to go to trial unless he was prepared to lose. Then he leaves, promising to see Jack for their next gig on Sunday.

So Jack goes to talk to Specs’s wife.

Katherine Plumber.

He knocks on the door before chickening out and turning to leave.

But he’s not quite fast enough.

Katherine laughs at him, accusing him of being too old for ding dong ditch. Jack laughs and shyly walks back, introducing himself as Spencer’s friend. Katherine’s smile fades and she asks him more questions, resulting in Jack telling her he has some pictures that might be of interest to her. Katherine invites him over for dinner.

Explaining to her father the situation, Joseph Pulitzer (yes, he’s very nice in this one. Deal with it.) he agrees to the dinner, telling Katherine that they won’t be great hosts. He tells Katherine to be careful and not to pry, that if Jack wants to tell her more information about Specs, he would.

So Katherine tries to respect the boundaries.

Katherine explains to her father that she feels selfish because sometimes she wishes she could be the same person she was before and that she doesn’t want to be defined as a Gold Star Wife. She used to have a life and she used to be somebody.

She pulls herself together when the knock on the door comes.

Joe welcomes Jack inside and Jack thanks him for his kindness while Katherine jokes that he works hard at being nice and explains that her mother is away visiting her grandparents.

While getting to know each other a little, Jack learns that Katherine can sing but she only sings a church and jokes that if he wanted to hear her sing, he’d have to go to a service. Katherine learns that Jack lost his parents when he was very young and has fended for himself ever since.

Eventually, they get around to looking at the pictures Jack brought. He tries to make the memories light.

But Katherine can’t help but ask if Jack was there when he’d died.

Jack tells her yes.

And Katherine can’t take it. So she excuses herself before dinner has even begun, leaving Jack and Joe to have dinner alone.

That Sunday, Jack finds himself at church, watching Katherine sing beautifully in front of an entire gathering of people.

He catches her afterwards, asking why she didn’t tell him that she got to perform the big finale. He then asks her if she’d like to see him and his band play that night, eventually convincing her that it might be fun.

Joe encourages her to go, telling her that she hasn’t been out since her husband had died. So she goes.

After watching their set, Katherine is surprised to be invited up onstage to sing a standard. She’s incredibly nervous, forgetting the bridge of the song but finishing strong with some encouragement from Jack. She meets the boys. She takes a liking to all of them, telling Davey that his family should be proud, joking along with Spot, immediately wanting to protect Crutchie, much like Spot does.

Jack tells them that he wants to win for the guys who got nothing.

Katherine asks him if he means Specs. And he tries to take it back but she runs off, upset. And Racer tells the guys that she has every right to be a part of this band as she lost her husband in the war. The guys tell Jack that he should try to get Katherine to sing with them.

So he goes to her work the next day. She tries to send him away, claiming she doesn’t need to be saved. Jack counters. “What if I do?” And then he sings her First Steps First before inviting her to rehearsal that night walking away. Katherine tells him on his way out that she’ll be there, on the condition that Jack tells her more about Specs.

At rehearsal, things are a little tense. Katherine quickly finds that Race tries his best to stay out of confrontation, David is constantly questioning Jack’s harmonies and chord progressions, Spot is always drunk, Crutchie is often confused, and Albert is hard to rely on. Katherine loosens up the tension as much as she can, learning the music and getting to know all the boys. She loves talking to Crutchie. She constantly takes Spot’s drinks from his hands and offers him coffee and water. She tries to get Race to open up and Davey to loosen up, while also somehow getting on Albert’s good side.

She finds that once they’re all playing together, things seem a little easier, like they all get along and work well together.

They play at a club in town called Medda’s, playing a song Jack hopes to be a winning song called “You Deserve It”. It’s snappy and catchy and all the boys really enjoy it. After this, Medda asks the band to play the next night and Jack and Kath celebrate with drinks.

Jack then asks Katherine if she’d be willing to take on a stage name, Kathy Pulitzer, saying it had a better ring to it than Katherine Plumber. Katherine doesn’t like this and leaves, unable to handle the idea of losing another part of Specs.

Jack follows her, apologizing after Katherine breaks, crying about how she’ll never see her husband’s body or get to say goodbye.

Jack promises to give her answers if she comes back to the band. So they go tell the guys they have another gig.

The next night, after escorting a very drunk Spot home, Jack expresses his worries that Spot will be wasted on the night of the competition to which Albert replies he has bigger problems and reveals he’d been rehearsing with Dwight Anson and thinks they might have a better song. He leaves, telling Jack he’d be playing with the band that had the better song.

Jack walks Katherine home, angry and scared and exhausted knowing he can’t sleep. He tells Katherine that if it were Specs, he’d be saying how they’d be winning this thing, on their way to New York in some Pullman cars, living the dream.

Katherine shows Jack a poem she’d written that makes Jack feel better. After promising — mostly — not to tease, Jack asks Katherine if he can look through more of her poems. Reluctantly, Katherine agrees.

The next day, Jack returns Katherine’s book with a new song, word for word lyrics to one of Katherine’s poems. He explains that this is the song they need to win. Katherine is hesitant but agrees to sing it.

Going to the contest, the band wins easily, hitting the judges hard with a song with a true story and one that many were too scared to tell.

Ecstatic, the band has a moment of victory before reality sets in.

They’re told that no one is paying for them to get to New York. They’re responsible for travel and getting there doesn’t guarantee them a spot on the broadcast. Jack and Race try to argue, telling them that they have to help them get there because everyone just heard them win, to which one of the producers replies that hardly anyone was listening.

And if no one saw it, it never happened.

(That moment gets me every ****ing time. The lights go out and a spotlight hits every single one of the boys. It hurts so bad.)

Their arguments get nowhere. And they’re left with this crippling news.

Jack falls to the ground in mental and emotional agony. The guys are arguing and getting worked up but Katherine is holding onto Jack, trying to make sure he’s alright.

Jack finally stands and tells them that they’re going to that contest. They have to make it there anyway they can and they’ll take every gig they can get because they have a right to respect.

And all the guys agree.

They’re done fighting for their country. It’s time to fight for themselves.

They take every gig offered to them, writing new songs and winning the hearts of their hometown (Cleveland). They even write a song about their hometown. Everyone adores it.

Jack and Katherine are closer than ever, Jack telling Katherine all the stories about Specs he can remember. He tells her one of his favorite memories of Specs which was when they were playing with some other cats in the army. Specs was playing the drums so fast, telling everyone to go faster and faster until finally he looked at Jack and just told him to sing. And Jack did. It was less of a song than a battle call.

When they write their new song, they begin to perform it everywhere they can as their town loves the song that’s all about them. While they do this, a certain club owner overheard the band talking about making enough money to get to New York. And Miss Medda hatches a scheme.

She asks the band to play more often for more pay and gets the rest of the town in on the game. Jack doesn’t realize what she’s doing.

Davey admits to Albert that his wife kicked him out. Albert offers up his home, igniting the first selfless act any of the others had ever seen from him.

Katherine tried to get Spot to give up the bottle. He refuses.

Spot starts massaging Crutchie’s back every now and then to help him relax and make him feel better after his injury.

In the midst of all of this, Katherine explains to Jack that she has to quit her job in order to make sure she could be at the contest. She says she’d be taking all the overtime and lipsticks as she could before then. She tells Jack how she lied about her mother being away to visit family and how she walked out on her and her father years ago.

And she says she wants to know what happens to Specs.

Unable to keep dodging the question, Jack breaks. He loses it, telling her that she couldn't understand. He’s crying as he recounts every detail in his brain, telling her how it happened, how it was his fault that his best friend was dead.

And Katherine runs away from him, horrified at what she’d just heard.

She doesn’t show up to the gig the next night.

Jack confides in Race who tells him that he’s letting this girl slip away from him. Jack tries to joke about Race not chasing after any pretty girls even though he has plenty of girls lining up to get a kiss from him after shows. Race says that he thought a smart guy like Jack would’ve had him figured out already.

Race lost his partner in the war.

Suddenly, things make a lot more sense.

Katherine stays home with her father, sobbing, explaining that it was Jack’s fault her husband was dead. But Pulitzer tells her that there aren’t reasons for what happens. Everything just happens. He tells her the only thing that matters is what she does next.

Katherine writes a poem and shows it to Jack the next day, apologizing even though Jack says she has nothing to apologize for. She says the same thing goes to him. She explains that she doesn’t know and cannot understand what happened in the frontlines. And this poem was for Jack and the boys.

Jack sets it to music knowing this song is too real and genuine to be played for an audience. So they change the lyrics.

This is the song Katherine would have sung if Specs had come home.

After performing this song for the first at Medda’s, Jack stands up to tell the audience that they won’t make it to New York, getting emotional and telling them that he was no hero and that the wrong guy made it home from the war. Medda stops him and explains to him he doesn’t need NBC when he has Cleveland. She hands him seven tickets to the Cleveland Limited. Pullman Cars. First class.

Jack literally breaks into tears and hugs Medda as tightly as he possibly can.

The band’s going to New York.

Jack gears up the guys for a successful contest while being awestruck and exploring New York City. Jack walks Katherine back to her room after a night exploring. They stop themselves from going into her room together after they both admit there’s more than just friendship between them.

They part ways that night, promising to see each other in the morning.

The next day, they go through preliminaries and are told they’ll be on the broadcast. Jack and Katherine sign the contract and the whole band celebrates until the next night when no one can seem to find Racer.

When Race arrives, two minutes before they’re on, he explains that Jack and Katherine signed away the rights to their own song and would be no more than walk ons if they won.

This just about breaks Jack.

Spot suggests leaving. The rest of the guys agree.

But Jack asks Katherine if she remembers all the original lyrics to Welcome Home, the poem she’d written for her boys.

She says yes.

And they know what they have to do for the soldiers out there to know they’re not alone.

They get on stage and they blow it up.

Crutchie starts the drums. Jack tells him to go faster. Faster. Faster.

Then he looks at Katherine. And he tells her to sing.

Charlie made it home.

Most of him at least .

Had three operations,

But the pain has not decreased .

Al learned to survive.

Means you never trust .

Once you see the worst in man,

Then how do you adjust?

Sean, he cracks a joke.

Claims to be alright .

Drinks a fifth of vodka

In his kitchen every night

And I stand here trying

Like mother Mary

With my private burden

Of grief to carry  

Welcome home my boys

Welcome home my sons

Welcome home my husband

Welcome home my love  

Welcome home

Welcome home

Welcome home  

David’s never free.

Schedules out his day.

Filling every minute

Just to keep the ghosts away .

He could never get

Back the life he had .

Faced with raising kids

Who did not recognize their dad .

Tony made it back to town

Four months ago

Lives to tell the things

No one could bear to know

Keeps his guard up now

A lot goes undiscussed

Focuses on fighting

What he finds unjust  

Welcome home my boys

Welcome home my sons

Welcome home my husband

Welcome home my love  

Welcome home

Welcome home

Welcome home  

Jack, he does his best,

Trying to pretend

What he doesn't talk about

Won't matter in the end

Jack, he made it home

But thinks it wasn't fair

How he made it out

But left his buddy there

Jack, he doesn't sleep

Because the nightmares come

Jack looks for an answer,

Jack, he looks for absolution,

And I'd give up anything

If I could give him some

And I stand here helpless

My arms extended

Knowing full well, darling,

Your war's not ended

Welcome home

Welcome home my husband

Welcome home my love

Welcome home

Welcome home

Welcome home my boys

Welcome home my sons

Welcome home my husband

Welcome home my love

Welcome home

Welcome home

Welcome home

It’s the most honest performance these men have ever given.

Months later, Jack and the band walk out of a movie theatre, joking about how good Dwight Anson Orchestra looked while Sinatra sang their song.

And some girls run up to them, asking for an autograph.

Jack gives them one, telling them to bring their father who served backstage at their next concert.

And then they leave.

They have a gig to get to.

What do you guys think? Wanna see any specific scenes?

For more Mood Boards and AUs, click here!

[errorpedia]

CHARACTERS WOO LETS GO

donny novitski/nova: piano player, accordion genius, hates frank sinatra, feels guilty about the death of his best friend that he accidentally caused, leader of the band and totally in love with his best friend's wife

jimmy campbell: gay saxophone player and law student. he had a boyfriend that drowned on their ship (they were in the navy) but thats all cut from the proshot bc homophobia. i love him.

johnny simpson: drummer who's jeep flipped three times, three times i tell ya. he has memory issues and a bad back and he's genuinely the sweetest dude ever (hes the guy on duck's discord icon not that this is duck no)

nick radel: McMad, play trumpet for two bands, is a bit of a dick but not too bad, was in a prisoner of war camp, has DEFINITELY either shagged or wants to shag wayne you cant convince me otherwise

wayne wright: McDad, the trombone player and dad friend, has OCD and gets kicked out by his wife because he runs his house really strictly, has two kids but he isn't close to them bc he had to go off to war, i love him

davy zlatic: double bass guy, is not suffering from what some people call alcoholism he's loving every second of it, liberated concentration camps, tells jokes and then explains them to johnny

julia trojan: wife of donnys best friend, singer for the band, amazing singer has the best outfits, canonically best friends with jimmy, shes the love of my life

(im pretty sure duck (who i am not) has links to the preview and proshot if you want)

*takes notes* interesting choices

who do you think i’ll self project onto?