#first new album and then european championship starts

[borvooven]

are we ready for the new decemberists album tomorrow??

[13uswntimagines]

All In My Head (Alessia Russo X Singer!r)

Part III of the Safe Harbor Universe. Find other parts here

Summary: Being Sick on tour sucks, but that doesn't mean that you want your team to inform your girlfriend. She has her own career to think about. The problem is that honesty is rule number 1 in your relationship.

Warnings: there is mention of a D/s dynamic, but nothing is super explicit. Alessia is referred to as daddy.

Authors note: Yes the ending is a cliffhanger. But this has honestly been in my drafts since like August, so i wanted to put it out. I'm considering a Pt. 2, but it will depend on if people want it. I really hope you enjoy it, and let me know what you think.

You sighed heavily, leaning against the stadium's cool stone wall and twisting the bracelet around your wrist. 

Which stadium, you couldn’t remember. It didn’t matter, really. They all looked the same after a while anyway, blurring together in the never-ending cycle of rehearsals, performances, interviews, and meet and greets. 

All your life seemed to be was performing and promoting music you weren’t even excited about anymore. It was a nonstop grind filled with late nights and early mornings, with almost no time for your well-being. 

You almost wished your girlfriend had implemented a rule that placed a limit on how much you could do. At least that would give you the power to say no. 

You did your best. 

You squeezed in as many phone calls with your girlfriend, Alessia as you could, but she had her own commitments with the Lionesses as they prepared to defend their European championship.

Most of the time you ended up passing out over FaceTime, and waking up to texts telling you she loved you. 

You understood. You both had careers and obligations. You both had to make sacrifices to get to do the things you loved. 

It was… intense, but for the most part, you enjoyed it. You loved playing for the fans. You would deal with all the promotional bs just so you could interact with the people who loved your music as much as possible. 

They deserved that. 

And this tour had been going far better than the ones you had been on before it. You were holding it all together far better than you had in the past. 

Or it had been. 

It all started with a slight tickle in your throat in the city before last. A whisper of huskiness that went away with a nice steam session and some tea. 

It was easy to ignore in the beginning. 

Then you played 4 shows back to back last weekend. 

By the end of the 3rd show, you knew you were screwed, you could barely muster a horse whisper. Alessia had commented that you sounded like a chain smoker, your first sign that she was seeing through you, but you assured her you would be fine. You even joked that you had enough throat coat and grether's pastilles to turn her off for a year. She let you soothe her worries. 

You pushed on, powered my menthol lozenges and Honey, and you made it through the 4th show. 

It would have been fine. It shouldn’t have mattered that your ability to make any sound at all was hanging on by a thread. The 5 days off you had should have been enough to set everything right.

Except you didn’t have 5 days off. 

It was filled with promotional performances for a new album and interviews about how well it would accompany the movie it was attached to. If someone else asked you about how it felt about the possibility of an Oscar nod, you were going to scream. Or rip all of your hair out or both.

The tickle had turned to hot nails, and nothing - not the steam machine or tea and honey - had the power to soothe it. 

You sounded like you were talking through gravel, and your team had been hesitant to even let you go on tonight. 

Alessia definitely would not have, if she knew how bad it really was. You started avoiding her two days ago after you couldn’t make it through a sentence without a crack, and you couldn’t continue to blame the low whistle that accompanied every one of your breaths on allergies. 

You knew going in that performing tonight wasn’t a great idea, but you refused to let the fans down. There were only 4 shows left. Surely you could make it. 

The entire show felt like a battle. 

You had to fight for every note. For every breath. 

Your lungs felt like they were on fire and your throat was raw before you even got to the piano set. 

It took everything in you to hide the thinness in your voice. To prevent every sound from cracking as you forced each lyric out. 

It was…rough to say the least. 

But you made it- even if it was only by the skin of your teeth. 

You were shot by the time you did your final bow and disappeared backstage. You ignored the cold Gatorade being pressed into your palms, knowing it would only aggravate the glass shards in your throat, and shrugged off Steven and Clint. 

You didn’t need their concern, you needed to escape the roaring in your ears. The pounding in your chest. 

So you took turn after turn until you were in an abandoned section of hallways. 

You sighed, grasping at your throat as you slid down the cool wall, pulling your knees to your chest and pressing your forehead into the rough material of your costume to drown out the pounding in your head. Your fingers tangled in the hair at the back of your head and you groaned. 

The sound felt like hot coals in your throat, and it made your chest ache. 

You feared that no amount of steam, or tea, or pastilles would stop it this time. 

The cold bricks of the stadium felt nice against your skin, leaching the heat from your body, though it did nothing to help the fire in your chest. 

A fire that was quickly moving past the gray areas in your agreement with Alessia, and into a place that your daddy would definitely have something to say about. 

You were treating your limits with her like a tightrope, carefully toeing the edge. Except with the way you felt, you knew you were about to topple one way or the other. 

You ignored the sounds of clicking shoes coming closer, hoping that whoever it was wouldn’t see you. That they would leave you be to pull the cracked pieces of yourself back together. 

But your team knew better than to leave you to your own devices.

“Y/n?”

You tensed at the soft hand on your shoulders, and the sound of shifting clothing as someone settled on the ground beside you. 

“You ok, kid?” Natasha asked softly, running soothing circles on the top of your shoulders. 

You let out another breath before you pulled your face from its hiding spot, resting your chin on your knees. “I’m ok. Just wanted some quiet,”

You frowned at the horse whisper that left your lips, and the flair of pain that accompanied it. 

Natasha hummed. 

She had been part of your team from the beginning, back when you were a dumb 16-year-old, long before Pepper, Tony, Steve and the rest of the crew had joined, and she knew you nearly as well as Alessia did. 

She raised an eyebrow at you. “Just some quiet?” 

You knew that wasn’t what she was actually asking. 

The question went much deeper. 

She knew about your… dynamic with Alessia, and she had seen the striker take care of you in various ways. She was asking you what you needed. 

You nodded, looking away from her, afraid that she would see through you. 

“I needed a minute,” You said, your voice barely a squeak. “It was all too much, and I wanted to be alone before I got pulled into something else,”

She made a low sound at the familiar explanation. “And this has nothing to do with how you sound like you’re gargling rocks?”

You grimaced. “Nothing at all,”

She hummed. “So you’re not in any pain at all?”

“Nope,” You breathed out, the p the only clear part of the word. 

“Y/n,” She sighed. “I know you have an… aversion to admitting when you’re not… at the top of your game, but pushing yourself isn’t going to help anything. You don’t have anything to prove here,”

You ran a hand through your hair and rolled your eyes dramatically at her. She chuckled at the action. 

“There are only 3 more shows,” You said. “I can make it 3 more shows,”

“And how would Alessia feel if she knew you were going to put your comfort aside for 3 more shows?” Natasha asked softly. “And not just your comfort, your health. You sound like shit,”

You huffed at the mention of your girlfriend, your fingers instinctively finding the braided bracelet that never left your wrist. 

You knew how she would feel. You could practically hear what she would say. I expect you to take care of the things that belong to me. I expect you to treat them with respect and give them the love and care they deserve. 

“I’ve got it all under control,” You rasped, wincing at the action. 

It was Natasha’s turn to roll her eyes. “Sure you do. Since you have it all under control, you’ll stop ignoring your girlfriend,” She pulled the device out of her back pocket and balanced it on top of your knees. “She’s been blowing up your phone all day. I think she’s worried,” 

You stared at the phone, and as if on cue, it buzzed again with a new message. 

Alessia was going to be furious with you, and your daddy would be on another level entirely. 

She was usually the one to take the reigns when you were set on driving yourself into oblivion for the benefit of everyone else. But she wasn’t here. 

You sighed heavily. 

You knew that if you told her, she would drop everything. She would move heaven and earth if that was what you needed. 

You didn’t want that. 

She needed to focus on her game, and that meant that you couldn’t be a distraction. You would not disappoint her. Not when you were so close to finishing. 

“She needs to focus,” You mumbled, your voice straining. “She’s gotta impress Sarina to make the team. It’s important,”

“I think you forget that you are also important,” Natasha argued back softly, patting your back before carefully pushing herself to her feet. “I’m going to have Pepper cancel the meet and greet. You’re in no shape to meet fans. I should also have her call a doctor, but I already know you’ll fight me on it,” 

You frowned. You never sold meet and greet tickets, choosing to instead have your team select fans at each show. 

“But-“ 

She held up her hand before you could argue. “That isn’t up for debate. Get rest tonight, and we’ll assess tomorrow in the morning.”

Your jaw clenched, but you nodded, knowing there was no arguing with her. 

“I know the world thinks you’re superhuman, but it’s ok not to be indestructible,” She said, softly. “You need to remember to be Clarke Kent sometimes too. There’s a reason Lois fell in love with him first,”

With that, she walked away, leaving you alone with your thoughts. 

The silence of the empty hallway wasn’t as welcoming as it had been. It didn’t quiet your thoughts like it had. 

Instead, it felt suffocating. Like the walls were closing in on you, trapping you in your misery. 

You sighed another painful breath, before you grabbed your phone, reading the top notification, longing not to feel so…alone. 

Hey babe, caught the end of your show on a random livestream. Are we still on for our FaceTime tonight?

You let your head fall back, thumping the wall. 

Everything in you longed to say yes.

But you couldn’t. You wouldn’t. 

It was still nice to fantasize about seeing her. About hearing her say ‘Hello my little one,’ with a soft smile that brought out her dimples. If you closed your eyes you could almost feel the pressure of her fingers on the back of your neck, running through the baby hairs that lived there. ‘I’m here, and I’ve got you,’

You let your mind linger there for a long second before you forced your eyes back open. 

It took you three tries to type out your reply: sorry darling, I’m super tired. Rain check?

And you paused, your trembling finger over the send button, knowing you shouldn’t send it, but hitting the little blue arrow anyway. 

It was awful but necessary. 

You let out another long, ragged breath before you forced yourself to your feet and shoved your phone into your pocket, so you didn’t have to see her reply. You leaned heavily on the wall, no longer enjoying how it sucked the warmth from your skin, but using it to stay upright as the entire hallway tilted to the side. 

You should go back to your dressing room before Steve sent out a search party. Dealing with Nat was one thing, dealing with the overprotective instincts of Steve, Clint, and Thor was another. 

You didn’t have the mental capacity for that, and maybe your dressing room couldn’t make you feel like there was a rope on your lungs, dragging out your soul.

*****

You were not particular about a lot of things when you were on tour. You didn’t care about the size of your hotel room or the cars you were shuttled around in. You didn’t request overly expensive foods or special bubbly waters. 

The only thing on your rider that you were very specific about was your dressing room. 

It was your sanctuary away from the noise. A place you would spend more time in than your hotel room. 

It was important to you that it was always the same. Lit with twinkling fairy lights, the comfy gray couch that followed you on every tour stop standing near the table with your kettle and vocal steamer, and a diffuser already filling the room with the soft scent of lavender and honey. 

It filled your lungs the second you stepped through the door, wiping away the burning ache that accompanied every breath for just a second. Reminding you for one fleeting moment of the honeysuckle of Alessia’s favorite shampoo (the reason she picked the essential oil blend to begin with), before the knives returned to your chest. 

You rubbed your knuckles over your sternum to quell the feeling, stumbling over to the couch and collapsing into it. 

You pressed your nose into the soft gray material, wishing that you had grabbed the bright red sweatshirt you stole from your girlfriend when you last saw her. The smell of her perfume was beginning to fade, but it wasn’t gone yet, and there was a distinct longing in your stomach to be close to her. Even if you were the reason there was any space to begin with. 

You could hear your kettle bubbling next to you, and you knew you should make yourself some tea to soothe the sharp edges in your windpipe, but the thought of moving felt like too much. 

Instead, you sunk into the couch, your arm dangling off the cushion, your fingers brushing the ugly red carpet. 

You felt your phone buzz in your pocket, and you didn’t have to look to know who was texting you. Still, the urge to see what she would say was too great for you to ignore it. 

It took all of your strength to move your heavy arm to your pocket and pull out your phone. Your fingers fumbled over the screen as you squinted at the device with the eye not pressed into the couch. 

The light made the throbbing in your head worse, and the words written on the screen made your lungs constrict.

Ok, my love. Are you sure everything is alright? This is the 3rd time this week.

You could almost hear the worry in her voice. See the suspicion in her blue eyes. 

They never failed to see through you. To strip away your exterior and leave you vulnerable and raw beneath them. It never made you feel exposed, even in the beginning when the two of you decided to extend your dynamic beyond your bedroom. Instead, you felt seen and safe. 

Sometimes she liked to have to work for your submission. She liked to peel away each layer of you one by one until you were a trembling mess beneath her. Open and vulnerable in a way no one else ever got to see you. 

Other times, you gave your submission willingly, stripping off your public persona like a dirty shirt and allowing her to envelop you in her warm comfort. 

How much you wanted that. How much you needed it. 

It was a desperation that filled your entire being. 

Before you could process what you were doing, you had already pressed her contact photo and brought the now-ringing phone to your ear. 

You laid the device on the side of your head and let your arm go back to dangling. It was too heavy to hold. 

It only rang twice before her voice filled your ears. 

“Hey my love,” She said, worry and relief mingling strangely in her tone. “I’m so happy you called me. How are you?”

Her voice washed over you like a soothing wave, like a balm on the sharp edges of your nerves, though it did little to help the fire in your lungs and throat. 

You pressed your nose into the couch, pretending that it was her shoulder for just a second. That the honey and lavender surrounding you was her perfume. That she was here. 

“Y/n, are you there?” She asked, and you opened your mouth to respond, but the words just wouldn’t come out. 

You couldn’t force any sound, beyond a low whistle past your inflamed throat. Your lungs crackled with each breath. 

Your inability to make sound didn’t bother you as much as it should have. 

“Y/n? Did you butt-dial me?” Alessia asked again, and you could almost feel her running her nails through your hair, gently scratching your scalp. “I’m worried,”

The words were said with too much force, not at all the soft murmur your brain had been waiting to hear. 

It shook you out of your haze just enough for you to reach up and grab your phone, clicking the decline button too fast. 

You let the phone drop to the floor with a low thump as it immediately began to ring again. 

Your fingers twitched above the screen, but you didn’t have the strength to reach for it, even as it lit up again with your girlfriend's contact photo. 

Well, it was a photo of the two of you. You were curled up in her lap, in one of her blue UNC sweatshirts that were too big, and she was kissing the side of your head. 

It had been taken after a particularly grueling day in the studio. It was Alessia’s turn to host team bonding night. You didn’t remember exactly who took the picture, Leah or Lotte, maybe, but it was one of your favorites.

What the camera didn’t catch was that your arms were not in the sleeves. Instead, they were tied with intricate knots behind your back, hidden by the sweatshirt. 

It was something the two of you often did, and it was one of her go-to's when you were starting to spiral out of control. 

A part of you longed for the feeling of the knots now, and her fingers twisting the soft rope against your skin. 

Sure, the weight of your bracelet was nice, but it wasn’t enough. 

You let out a wheezing breath that crackled and hurt. 

If you asked, she would be here. She would wrap you up and pull you from your free fall. 

It took you a long second to remember why you couldn’t have that. 

Alessia had a job to do, and you wouldn’t stand in the way of that. 

The phone buzzed again against the ugly carpet, the little voicemail icon flashing. You doubted you would be able to resist calling her back if you listened to it.  

Still, you had to do something. 

So you flicked the screen with one finger, going to your messages, and typing out words that felt fake, even to you. 

Sorry, I’m ok. Just tired. I’ll call you tomorrow after the game. Love you.

You clicked send before you could overthink it though, or your trembling fingers could betray you and type out the truth. You laid your head back down on the couch, curling into yourself as a painful cough forced its way past your lips. 

You weren’t sure how long you laid there, shivering before there was a soft knock at the door, and then the little click as it opened. 

A part of your brain hoped that it would be Alessia. That she had read your mind and somehow teleported to whatever city you were in. 

But the feeling of gentle fingers on the top of your shoulders told you that it wasn’t. 

“Y/n?” Natasha asked, very close to your ear, and you blinked up at her. 

You didn’t remember closing your eyes. 

“Hm?” You hummed, the sound raw and painful. 

“Let’s get you changed, and then we can go back to the hotel and you can sleep,” She said, placing a hand under your armpit and guiding you to a sitting position. 

The tiny movement had coughs ripping past your lips. 

She held you steady with one hand and grabbed you a change of clothes with the other. 

“Easy,” She breathed out, carefully unbuttoning your shirt and pulling it from your sweaty skin. 

She left you shirtless for a long second as she disappeared into your bathroom, and the cool air of the dressing room felt nice on your overheated skin. 

It didn’t bother you. Natasha had seen you in far less clothing than your sports bra and underwear. 

She returned only a moment later with a towel, using it to dry you off before she slipped a light blue t-shirt with a foot on the back over your head. 

The pants took a little more wiggling, but eventually, she was able to get you out of your costume and into a pair of sweats that were far too big for you.

She slid a pair of Converse onto your feet, scooping up your phone and tucking it into her pocket. 

“Let’s get you to the car,” She guided you to stand, keeping an arm wrapped tightly around you. 

“People?” You asked, leaning more of your weight onto her as she pulled you towards the door. 

You missed her eye roll. 

Of course, all you were worried about right now was who would see you, and what they would think. 

“Not here,” Natasha reassured you gently, opening the door. “Only when we get back to the hotel,”

You made a low, painful sound as she half-carried you into the hallway. 

You still had time before you had to pull yourself together. 

******

The city lights blurred into a distorted kaleidoscope of colors during the short ride back to the hotel. 

The cool glass felt nice against your temple, though it did little to ease the throb in your head or the lava in your throat. 

The feeling of eyes watching you for any wavering in your resolve also wouldn’t go away. You couldn’t be sure if it was worry (that you would puke all over the car or pass out), or concern about what the fans would think when you pulled up to the hotel. 

The whirring of the engine wasn’t loud enough to block out your racing thoughts, but any music was too much for you to handle. 

You were drowning. 

Every breath hurt, but you didn’t know if it was because of the physical pain or the anxiety gnawing at you. 

You didn’t like to upset people. You didn’t like to disappoint them. 

You were a people pleaser to a fault, and this wasn’t the first time you had self-destructed to meet everyone’s expectations. 

But at the end of the day, the person you wanted to please most. The person you wanted to not disappoint the most was Alessia. Was your Daddy. 

You knew you were failing, but you didn’t know how to stop.

The car came to a stop in front of the hotel far too quickly, and not for the first time, you were thankful that the dark tint kept you hidden from public view. 

“Ready, kid?” Steve asked, turning around in the driver's seat to look at you. 

You nodded once, reaching forward and grabbing the sunglasses facing the wrong way on his head, and pulled them over your own eyes. 

You took a deep breath before Clint opened your door, painting your signature smile across your features. 

You didn’t wave when you got out, too focused on keeping yourself upright, as Steve’sarm wrapped around you on one side and Natasha’s did the same on the other. 

You felt safe tucked between them, though they did nothing to shield you from shrill screams and cheers that met you as soon as your feet touched the ground. They amplified the pounding behind your eyes, and the way the crowd pressed around you made it even harder to breathe (not that you thought that was possible). 

You did try to flash the crowd smiles as Natasha and Steve guided you through, Clint protecting your back, and you were thankful your eyes were hidden, despite it being nighttime. 

You never wanted the fans to see the… fakeness. The lie.

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding when the hotel doors slid closed behind you, placing more of your weight on Steve as Natash called the elevator. 

“You’re burning up kid,” Steve murmured, shifting to get a better grip around your waist. 

You made a low sound, that turned into a full body caught that nearly had you doubling over. “Is that your way of calling me hot Stevie? What would Tony think?”

The words came out garbled, cracking with every syllable as you tried to talk through the coughs. 

Steve’s arm tightened around you to keep you upright. 

“I think he would say that you are sick,” Steve sighed at the mention of his husband, your publicist, taking more of your weight as another round of coughs wracked you. 

You pushed off of him as soon as you could breathe again, even if it felt like sucking air through a straw filled with needles, and swayed your way toward the elevator. 

It binged open as soon as you reached it, and you stumbled inside, gripping the metal bar on the back wall for support, and resting your forehead on the cool wall. 

You could feel the heat of your skin leaching into the surface, but it did little to quell the pounding in your ears or the feeling like everything was tipping on its head. 

Your fingers instinctively found the braided bracelet, running over the soft leather strands. 

However, this time, it didn’t ease the bubbling anxiety and fire in your chest. 

“We’re almost there, and then you can rest,” Natasha said softly, and you felt both her and Steve’s eyes on you as you leaned further into the wall. 

The movement of the elevator was starting to make you nauseous, but you didn’t think you could voice that even if you wanted to. Not with how raw your throat was. 

It took you a second to realize the elevator had stopped, and it wasn’t until Natasha gently touched your shoulder that you began to move again. 

You let Steve guide you out of the elevator and into the hallway. 

Natasha had the door to your suite open before you even got there, and Steve half-carried you to the bed, settling you on the fluffy white comforter. 

Your fingers tangled in the expensive sheets as you fought to keep yourself upright. 

“Do you want to take a shower?” Natasha asked you softly, kneeling in front of you and carefully undoing your sneakers. 

You shook your head slowly, smothering another cough. “Sweatshirt,”

The croaky word hurt as it left your lips, barely audible and surrounded by more lung-crunching coughs. 

But they understood, Steve, passing you a bright red sweatshirt from your bag. 

You brought it to your face and collapsed back onto the bed, breathing in the perfume that clung to the material. 

It burned as it filled your senses, but you could pretend that it soothed the edges of glass in your throat and lungs. You could pretend that it was her taking off your shoes and tucking you in. 

You could pretend that it was all ok and that she wasn’t going to be livid when she found out. Not that you were sick, but that you hadn’t told her immediately. 

You knew you would take whatever punishment she decided you deserved with no questions. She could be rather creative when she was annoyed with you. 

“Let’s get you settled properly,” Natasha said, shifting you on the bed so your head was on the pillows, as Steve moved the covers and tucked them around you. “Rest now, and we’ll deal with the rest in the morning,” 

You groaned, sending more flames down your airway, rolling over and pressing your face more firmly into the sweatshirt. 

You heard the distinctive sound of your phone being plugged in, and the click of the door. 

And then you were alone. 

More alone than you had been in a very long time. 

Even if it was all your own doing, you hadn’t been this disconnected since the beginning of Alessia’s college career, and your first tour with Taylor. The infamous break in your relationship. Even though neither of you had actually experimented with anyone else, and you had texted and called nonstop, you had been hesitant to push too far, to ask for too much. 

You blew out a long breath into her sweatshirt, ignoring the little needles that followed the air, eyes fixed on the phone on your bedside. 

It buzzed again as if it knew you were thinking about it. 

You reached your hand out, pulling it close so you could look at it, but it was still plugged in. 

The movement had the screen lighting up with a string of messages. The one at the top made your heart hurt.

Please don’t ignore me, my Little One. I’m worried.

It said, and you could almost hear the inflection in her tone. You could almost see her eyes softening, and feel her fingers brushing your hair behind your ear. 

You closed your eyes, pressing more deeply into the sweatshirt under your head. 

Your fantasy world was far nicer than the reality you were in, and the universe wouldn’t end if you stayed in it until morning. 

********

Your night was… hazy, filled with half-dreams that were increasingly difficult to distinguish from real life. As the morning light crept its way further and further across the ceiling, you leaned into the sweatshirt slowly losing its smell, one eye peeking out to track its progress. 

It felt like a timer. A countdown clock on the imagined feelings of soothing hands on your back and whispered reassurance that everything would be okay. 

Soon enough the door would open and you would have to be you again. You would have to pretend like each breath you took didn’t feel like a bear was mauling your lungs, and your brain wasn’t a freight train threatening to escape from your skull. 

You would have to deal with the incessant buzzing of your phone that had kept you on the edge of real sleep all night. 

You would have to face your girlfriend. Your daddy. 

You were not looking forward to it. Any of it. 

The only thing that you were semi-excited about was watching your girlfriend play, even through a screen. That had been your only saving grace back when she was in college before the two of you got back together, and you knew it would be your only saving grace now. 

You sighed, rolling over, the sweatshirt falling from its bunched-up place against your cheek, and reaching for the phone still on the corner of the bed next to you. 

It buzzed again as your fingers caught it, and brought it closer so you could see the screen. It was filled with notifications. 

Some were from the group thread you shared with your manager, assistant, and publicist. Some were emails from people you were collaborating with. 

But the majority were from Alessia. 

You couldn’t help but click on the thread. 

You knew it was a mistake immediately. 

Good morning little one. I’ll have some time if you want to FaceTime before the game. I miss you, and I’m worried. You don’t usually ignore me.

It was like an arrow straight through your heart. 

A direct hit to your will. 

You swallowed hard, ignoring how badly it burned, and typed out a message. 

I miss you too. Good luck today. You’re going to do amazing

You dropped your phone after you hit send, deciding that finding the starting 11 wasn’t important anymore, and stared up at the ceiling through half-lidded eyes, pulling the comforter more tightly around you despite the sweat breaking out across your chest. 

You thought it would help the hollow feeling slowly taking over your insides, or the dull throb that accompanied each breath. 

It did not. 

You let your eyes slide back closed, deciding that the light hadn’t transversed far enough across the ceiling for you to need to be awake yet. Not when the pull of sleep was so strong, and the comfort of your half dreams was too difficult to resist. 

“You know I don't like it when you hide from me,” Alessia’s voice said sternly, as though it was right next to your ear, and you felt fingertips graze your lips. 

You didn’t open your eyes. Even amongst the haze that was filling every crack in your brain, you knew she wasn't here. She couldn’t be here. Not when she was back in London about to play some team you couldn’t remember. 

“I know,” You rasped out.  

The fingers gently pulled at your bottom lip before they circled back towards your cheek, and a thumb brushed across your closed eyelid. 

“And you’re still doing it?” She asked, and you felt the air of each word on your ear. 

You shook your head, turning it slightly, hoping to feel her nose bump hers. “You need to focus on the important things,” 

You didn’t come into contact with her, though you knew you should have with the way you shifted. 

“And you are not important to me?” She asked her voice hardening in the way it only did when you were about to receive a punishment. 

An involuntary shiver ran down your spine, and your eyes opened automatically. 

You sucked in a painful breath, blinking blearily at the face above you.

“I didn’t mean to startle you,” Natasha said quietly, even as your eyes darted around, searching for your girlfriend. “It’s 1, so you need to wake up so we can make a decision about tonight,” 

“Less?” You asked, your voice barely a whisper when you saw that Natasha was the only other person in the room with you. 

Natasha frowned, brushing your hair away from your forehead. “She’s in London, remember? The game against Luxembourg starts soon,” 

Your eyebrows pulled tightly together. You hadn’t remembered that they were playing Luxembourg. 

“She’s starting?” 

“No,” Natasha shook her head. “It’s mostly the young ones starting since the over-under is plus 20 for England,”

Your nose scrunched, and you forced yourself to sit up. “She has to play,”

None of this would be worth it if she never touched the field. 

“I think Serina is using this as more of an identification camp,” Natasha countered, stepping in to help you sit up. “The girls need rest after doing both the Champions League and regular play these last couple of weeks,”

You grunted though it sounded more like a pained wheeze than a grunt. 

Alessia’s schedule had been nearly as insane as your own for the past few months. It was part of the reason you were so… reluctant to bother her with something as trivial as a tickle in your throat. 

“Maybe you should take a page out of her book,” Natasha added. 

Your nostrils flared immediately at the implication. 

Your job was so much less physical than Alessia’s. You didn’t do anything to deserve rest like she did. 

The pressure you both face to perform was inherently different.

She didn’t let down millions of people every time she rode the bench. She wouldn’t crush the dreams of thousands of people if she didn’t take the pitch. 

But still, you could already hear her argument ringing in your head. 

I expect you to care for the things that belong to me as deeply and completely as I do. That includes yourself. Your needs matter, and I will not allow you to disregard them.

“No.” You rasped, none of the bite you meant appearing in the word. 

“Yes,” Natasha countered, shifting the pillows behind you before you leaned back. “There is no way you can perform tonight,”

You huffed, and crossed your arms, glaring at the city beyond the large window to the right of the bed. “People paid-“

“To hear you sing. Not hack your way through a set,” Natasha cut you off. “They’ll be more disappointed if you give them a show that’s not your best. Reschedule the last 3, so they’re worth what they paid,”

Your glare only deepened, and your eyebrows pulled very tightly together as you processed what she was saying (taking a few extra minutes to cut through the thick fog in your brain). 

You knew she was playing on your sensibility. You thought ticket prices were disgusting, and had fought to lower them as much as you could. You had made your show longer in retaliation, so the fans got what they paid for. 

You wouldn’t give them a sub-par show. 

You didn’t look at her but nodded once. 

“I’ll have Tony write a statement. Do you want to approve it before it goes out?” She asked, her voice gentle. 

You shook your head, your lips pursing. 

“We’ll release it then, and I’ll call a doctor so we can get you some real medication,” The redhead continued, ignoring the deep frown pulling at your features. 

It wasn’t that you were trying to be difficult. You just knew what would happen the second the people staked outside of your hotel caught sight of a doctor. 

But now you felt like you didn’t have a choice, and not in the fun way.

“Fine,” You muttered, a hacking cough following it. 

Natasha patted your back until the coughing stopped, and you relaxed back against the pillows. “I’ll take care of everything. I’ll have food sent up, you just watch the game and try to get more sleep before the doctor gets here,”

You huffed but didn’t protest as she tucked the blanket tighter around your torso. 

“I know you’re unhappy with all of this, but it is what it is, and we need to look after your health too,” She sighed, turning and bustling around the room, flipping on the television to the game and grabbing a mug you hadn't noticed from the dresser by the door. “Drink that, and I’ll be back in a bit,”

You didn’t respond as she placed the mug on the table beside you, and disappeared through the hotel room door with a soft click. 

You wanted to groan. To yell. To throw the mug across the room, but you knew it wouldn’t help. 

The other part of you wanted your guitar, not that you were sure your fingers were strong enough right now to actually play.  

You closed your eyes, tilting your head back on the pillows. 

It wasn’t long before you felt fingers in your hair, though you hadn’t heard the door open again. 

You instantly knew who it was, though her perfume was suspiciously missing. 

“You look like you got hit by a bus,” She murmured, her breath brushing across your nose. 

Your eyes fluttered open, meeting her blue, except it was two shades darker than you remembered, the same shade as the old UNC jersey she was wearing. 

“I’m fine,” You croaked, the sound pulling a hacking cough from your lungs that burned as it left you. 

“Ah yes, because you sound just fine,” She huffed, her nails scratching lazily at your scalp. “You don’t need to hide from me,”

You blinked slowly, and her form shimmered slightly beside you. “‘M not. ‘M right here,”

“Rule one is honesty for a reason,” She countered, her hand pausing. “You’ve not abided by that.”

You swallowed around the glass in your throat at the confirmation of what you already knew, and your eyes closed again as the heavy weight of it settled on your mind. 

You had broken the most sacred rule and you were in trouble. It wouldn’t just be a punishment you would have to take. It would be regaining her trust that would take the longest time. 

It was a fragile thing, and you had shattered it. 

You forced your eyes open again, determined to say something- anything- that would make it better, except when you did, she was gone. 

You blinked heavily at the empty bed beside you. The space she had been seconds ago. 

You wanted to shake your head, but with the freight train pounding in your skull, you knew that was a terrible idea. 

“This is a very different starting eleven for England, but it’s what we expected. The only change of note is that Alessia Russo is unavailable for this game.” 

Your eyebrows furrowed at the television, flashing the starting lineup for the game. 

Natasha said Alessia wasn’t starting, but you expected her to at least be on the bench. 

You closed your eyes and let your head fall back. 

What was the point of suffering alone if Alessia wasn’t even going to play?

You weren’t sure anymore.

******

“I’ve got her,” 

You stirred at the familiar voice, and the feeling of gentle fingers running through your hair and the bed shifting next to you. The scent of lavender and honey wrapped around you like a comforting blanket, pulling you closer to consciousness. 

Your eyebrows pulled tightly together before your eyes flickered open, meeting the familiar blue of your girlfriend. 

“Hey there,” She said softly, her thumb smoothing out the crease between your eyebrows. “How are you feeling?”

You opened your mouth, but nothing but a low hacking cough came out. 

“Easy, little one,” Alessia shushed you softly. “Just relax. I’m here, and I’ll take care of you now, ok?”

It was painful how real she felt. Painful how much you wanted to believe she was here with you. 

“Trouble,” You mumbled, coughing violently afterward, unable to stop yourself from leaning into her hand. 

“I think we should make it your middle name since you seem to find it so often,” She murmured, running her hand again through your hair. “But no. You’re not in trouble. Not right now,”

You made a low, wheezing sound, shaking your head, despite the waves of nausea it sent to your stomach. “Real daddy disagrees,” 

She frowned. “Real daddy?”

You swallowed hard, forcing words past your stolen vocal cords. “Not here. In Luxembourg. Won’t fool me again,” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” She said, her nails dragging against your scalp in the way she knew you loved. “Natasha called me last night, and I got on the flight as soon as I could,”

It took a few extra seconds for her words to filter through the unpleasant haze in your brain. Even then, they didn’t make sense. 

Hell, her entire demeanor, including the softness in her features as she looked at you, didn’t make sense. 

You explicitly told Natasha not to call her, and you couldn’t process her going against that request. Not when Alessia had a game to play. 

“My brain is making you up,” You wheezed after another long second. 

She breathed out a half chuckle. “While your brain is brilliant, I wasn’t conjured by it,” 

You made a low, husky sound that could only be incredulity. 

Her thumb again smoothed the space between your eyebrows. “What will it take for you to believe you’re awake?”

You blinked heavily at her, your shoulders lifting and falling. 

She shook her head. “You’re too much,”

“No,” You mumbled, the crease between your eyebrows pushing against her finger. “‘M a good girl,”

“Yes. You are always my good girl, even when you’re being a stubborn pain in the ass,” She agreed fondly, leaning down to press a kiss to your too-warm forehead. “Sleep. I’ll be here where you wake up, and maybe you’ll actually believe you’re not dreaming,”

“Promise?” you asked. Sounding small, as exhaustion pulled at you. 

She hummed. “I promise,”

Her fingers kept their soft rhythm in your hair as your eyes fluttered closed, and you shifted to press your nose into her shoulder, breathing in her perfume with each rattling intake from your lungs. It surrounded you, soothing the burning in your chest, and soothing the sharp edges in your throat. 

For the first time since the lingering tickle started, you actually felt at peace. You felt calm enough to let yourself truly relax. 

It would suck when you woke up and Alessia was gone, but doing anything other than allowing your mind to linger in this delusion felt unbearable. 

Instead, you allowed yourself to sink into the overwhelming pull of exhaustion. 

And you swore you heard an “always,” before sleep pulled you under. 

Even if this alessia didn’t turn out to be real, you trusted her. And as angry as you wanted to be at Natasha and Steve for calling her, you knew she was exactly what you needed. 

She always would be, even if she was just made up in your mind. 

[thelensofyashunews]

Cochise announces headlining WHY ALWAYS ME? World Tour kicking off in February

Fresh off the release of his fourth studio album WHY ALWAYS ME?, Florida rap star Cochise has just announced his forthcoming headlining World Tour – kicking off in February, 2025. Presale tickets will be on sale starting at 12:00pm EST on 11/20 (PW: WHYALWAYSME), while general on sale tickets go live starting at 10:00am Local Time on 11/22 (ticket link here). Taking Houston rapper TisaKorean on the road with him as an opener, Cochise will be embarking throughout North America during the tour's first leg, ending in his home-state of Florida on 3/30, before linking up with buzzing UK rapper Len for the majority of the European leg – concluding in Poland on 5/6. The recently-released WHY ALWAYS ME? arrived in October backed by a string of singles that included "GOOGLE ME", “YOSHIMITSU” (40M+ Streams), and the Aminé-assisted "NASTY". Boasting other features from Veeze and Anycia, WHY ALWAYS ME? served as a championship album celebrating a new era for Cochise — marking his first LP since 2022's THE INSPECTION and his appearance on the 2022 XXL Freshman cover. With production from BYNX (Drake, Travis Scott), Supah Mario (Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert), CHASETHEMONEY (J. Cole, Juice WRLD), and Lex Luger (Kanye West, Chief Keef), WHY ALWAYS ME? is a nebula of intergalactic opulence, melting into Cochise's hypnotizing vocals and sky-diving delivery.

Hailing from Palm Bay, Florida, Cochise is known for a kaleidoscopic sound that blends elements of Jamaican dancehall, hip-hop, and trap with animated lyricism punctuated by deep-cut references to anime, sports, and pop culture. Hailed for his high-flying vocal acrobatics and hazy, ethereal production, he exploded onto the scene with his 2021 major label debut Benbow Crescent, which featured the RIAA Certified Gold hit track “Hatchback” (400M Streams). Cochise has since sold out a solo headlining world tour and collaborated with the likes of Lil Yachty, Chief Keef, Denzel Curry, Juicy J, Teezo Touchdown, Lil B, and more.

HEADLINING WHY ALWAYS ME? WORLD TOUR KICKING OFF IN FEBRUARY – TICKETS ON SALE 11/22 TICKETS

ARTIST PRE-SALE ON SALE 11/20 @ 12:00PM EST (PASSWORD: WHYALWAYSME) PRE-SALE

WHY ALWAYS ME? Tour – North America Dates: 02/13 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts 02/14 – New York City, NY – Irving Plaza 02/15 – Washington, DC – Union Stage 02/17 – Boston, MA – The Sinclair 02/19 – Montreal, QC – Le Studio TD 02/20 – Toronto, ON – The Axis Club 02/22 – Detroit, MI – El Club 02/23 – Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop 02/25 – Columbus, OH – Skully's 02/28 – Chicago, IL – Avondale Music Hall 03/01 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line 03/03 – Denver, CO – Marquis Theater 03/06 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile 03/07 – Portland, OR – Star Theater 03/09 – Sacramento, CA – Harlow's 03/11 – San Fransisco, CA – The Independent 03/13 – Las Vegas, NV – The Beverly Theater 03/14 – Los Angeles, CA – The Regent Theater 03/15 – San Diego, CA – SOMA 03/16 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory 03/18 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom 03/22 – Austin, TX – Mohawk 03/23 – Dallas, TX – Studio at the Factory 03/25 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live Midtown 03/28 – Atlanta, GA – Center Stage 03/29 – Orlando, FL – Beacham 03/30 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live

WHY ALWAYS ME? Tour – Europe Dates: 04/19 – Dublin, IE – Green Room 04/20 – Manchester, UK – Club Academy 04/21 – Glasgow, UK – SWG3 Warehouse 04/23 – London, UK – Scala 04/25 – Brussels, BE – Botanique – Grand Salon 04/26 – Paris, FR – Trabendo 04/27 – Cologne, DE – Luxor 04/29 – Zurich, CH – Dynamo 05/02 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso Tolhuistuin 05/04 – Prague, CZ – Futurum 05/05 – Berlin, DE – Hole44 05/06 – Warsaw, PL – Hydrozagadka

[havana-people]

Top 10 Cuban Salsa Dancers You Have to Know About!

If you love Cuban Salsa or even Salsa in general – here are the current top 10 artists who you have to know about, you are likely to come across them online or at Latin dance festivals. By learning about the dance and the masters who dance it, we deepen our connection, knowledge to the music and movements and overall dancing experience.

1. Maykel Fonts

Maykel Fonts. Style, passion, skill, and charm combined to make this incredible dancer, and basically a Cuban Salsa celebrity and star in the dance world. He completed his studies in Cuba in ballet, modern and contemporary dance, jazz, hip hop, flamenco, acrobatics, as well as Cuban folklore dance, Afro and Rumba.

Living in Italy, Fonts teaches regularly at world festivals, and performs often, he also featured in the dance movie StreetDance 2 and Latin Dream! He is the life of the party, and you’ll never believe he is coming up to 45 years!

2. Barbara Jimenez

Born in Santa Clara, Cuba, Jimenez studied music and took up dance to compliment her artistic career. She then moved to Italy where she has been on the stage for many years performing and teaching around Europe and in festivals across the world.

She is an energetic, strong and charismatic dancer, famous for Cuban salsa, Afro-rumba, timba, and lady-styling, as well as reggaeton and hip hop, she often combines contemporary and modern dances in her choreography.  Her signature move includes the twerk/ booty shake. If you get the chance to attend her classes, don’t miss it!

3. Wilmer y Maria

The only couple on our list for Cuban Salsa artists, Wilmer y Maria, super cool and creative pair who always have fun when they dance! Drawing from their ballet training which gives them those elegant lines they mix Afro-rumba and Cuban folkdance with contemporary dance styles.

Featured in many large festivals across Europe, Wilmer y Maria stand out as fantastic teachers with challenging routines and focus on Son, Afro-contemporary and Cuban Salsa, their performances are always new and exciting with meaning behind the dance.

4. Roly Maden

From Havana, Cuba – Roly Maden is famous for his own brand and style “Roly Maden Style”, including Timba, Lady-styling and Son. He is also a well-rounded artist, his talents including singer, musician, DJ, producer and dancer. His passion makes him a fantastic teacher, focusing on technique, energy, originality and elegance – a trained eye can easily recognise students with his teaching and influences.

Maden has moved to Italy, the European hub of salsa dancing and teaching, and he is one of the most requested artists in his field.

5. Yanet Fuentes

Yanet Fuentes recognised as the best Female Cuban Salsa Dancer at the Cuban Salsa Awards (2006), three time winner of the World Open Salsa Championships, and star of the famous musical “Lady Salsa”. She moved to the UK and fully launched her career, appearing on the British edition of “You Can Dance”, as well as working with Shakira for her music and stage performances, and starred in 2014 movie “Cuban Fury”.

Fuentes is known for her feminine and sensual style, dancing Cuban Salsa and Timba, she moves just as well in her lady-style as when she dances more masculine Afro-rumba movements.  You can also fine her featured in several music video clips including Craig David and Alicia Keys.

6. Alberto Valdez

Cuban born Alberto Valdez is known for his energetic spirit, strict professionalism and wide knowledge and experience over many years. His elegance and passion for the Cuban culture and it’s connection to salsa and the Cuban salsa fundamentals.

One of the first Cuban Salsa and Rueda de Casino and Afro-Rumba promoters in Italy (yes, he also lives in Italy!), he still organises, hosts and teaches at many festivals across Italy and the world. Director and creator of “Cubabaila” school in Italy; Choreographer and artistic director of the group “ClaveNegra” the internationally famous dance group of the “CubaMiSalsa” event.

7. Yunaisy Farray

Yunaisy was born into a family of Cuban salsa dancers, with many successful dance artists inlcluding her mother who encouraged her to start dance at the age of seven, beginning in the Experimental School of Cuban Ballet. She graduated as “triple threat” (singer, dancer, actress) for musical theatre, and later trained as a contortionist at the School of Circus Cubano.

In 2015 she created “LADIES REVOLUTION” creating an impact worldwide for dancers, her brand often addresses issues of mental health and feminism. She also opened her “Farray International Dance Centre” a place for all styles and techniques to train and study, all the while working and performing at festivals across the world.

8. Seo Fernandez

Another artist born in Havana, Cuba, Fernandez started dancing as a young boy in school and on the street. Now Fernandez is a dancer of Cuban salsa, Afro-rumba, reggaeton, hip hop, classical and chachacha; he also worked as a dancer on MTV and his talents extends to singing, releasing an album and songs. It is clear that Michael Jackson is a huge influence over his style in clothing as well as in his movement and voice.

Fernandez works often in Italy, choreographing, performing, directing, teaching and putting on dance festivals every year, he also owns a clothing and accessories line.

9. Alexander Carbo

Carbo began as a ballet and modern dance student at the age of ten in Cuba, as he grew he found his true passion and connection to Afro-Cuban dance through his heritage, and so studied and graduated from the prestigious National Academy of Dance in Havana.

He moved to Italy in 2001 and started working in the dance scene, performing, choreographing and teaching. Later he opened his own dance school “Clave y Rumba” there and continues to perform, often teaming up with Barbara Jimenez for workshops in Afro-Contemporary – his current dance partner is Yunaisy Farray.

10. Yuniel Gual

A Cabaret dancer at the famous Tropicana de Cuba club with his twin brother, Yuniel began to use influences from jazz, bolero, and cha cha cha to create his style. As another Cuban artist that moved to the Salsa hub of Italy, Yuniel specialises in Afro-Contemporary and Afro-Rumba dances, with full commitment to it’s fundamentals.

Gual is mainly a solo dancer, partnering up with Addy Mendoza for shows, as well as creating the group “Sondeakokan”, which brings together other Cuban salsa dancers/artists, who continue to travel the congresses and festivals performing, pursuing quality and innovation, their videos are interesting to check out.

[alysemeadfad]

ₒₗd ₛcₕₒₒₗ

Grandmixer D.ST.

Derek Showard, better known by the stage name GrandMixer DXT, is an American musician, one of the earliest to use turntables as a musical instrument in the 1980s. Renowned for his scratching techniques and his showmanship on stage, such as breaking in to dance or scratching records with other parts of his body other than his hands

Early in his career, he was known as Grand Mixer D.ST, a reference to Delancey Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. He was featured in the influential hip hop film Wild Style.

Widely recognized as a pioneer, Grand Mixer DXT is credited as being the first turntablist. He was the first person to establish the turntable as a fully performable and improvisational musical instrument. Especially important is his technique of altering the pitch of the note or sound on the record.

He is also credited with helping to popularize DJing through his scratching on Herbie Hancock's single "Rockit", from the Bill Laswell and Material produced album Future Shock. He is featured in the 2001 documentary, Scratch.

D.ST’s original group was The Infinity Four MC’s consisting of Kingpin Shahiem, Mike Nice, Baron and Legendary female rapper Kimba.

While working with the Infinity Rappers n 1982, he was part of the first hip hop tour to Europe with Afrika Bambaataa, Rammellzee, Fab 5 Freddy, Rock Steady Crew, the Double Dutch Girls, and graffiti artists Phase 2, Futura, and Dondi.

Phase 2

In late 1972, Phase 2 first used an early version of the "bubble letter" or "softie", a style of writing which would become extremely influential and is considered a "giant leap" in the art form.The puffed-out, marshmallow-like letters drawn by Phase 2 were soon copied by other artists who added their own variations.

 Phase 2 quickly embellished on his original form, creating and naming dozens of varieties of softies, such as "phasemagorical phantastic" (bubble letters with stars), "bubble cloud", and "bubble drip".He described the thrill of tagging subway cars as "impact expressionalism".He is also credited with having pioneered the use of arrows in graffiti writing around this same time. Hip-hop journalist Jeff Chang has noted that Phase 2's canvasses from 1973 have "been widely recognized as defining the early genre."

Futura 2000

He started to paint illegally on New York City's subway in the early 1970s, working with other artists such as ALI. From 1974 to 1978, he served in the U.S. Navy and traveled all over the world. In the early 1980s he showed with Patti Astor at the Fun Gallery, along with Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Richard Hambleton and Kenny Scharf.

Futura painted backdrops live on-stage for British punk rock band The Clash's 1981 European tour.  In 1985, he was on the first meeting of the graffiti and urban art movement in Bondy (France), on the VLP's initiative, with Speedy Graphito, Miss Tic, SP 38, Epsylon Point, Blek le rat, Jef Aérosol, Nuklé-Art, Kim Prisu, Banlieue-Banlieue. More recently, he is a successful graphic designer and gallery artist.

One of the most distinctive features of Futura's work is his abstract approach to graffiti. While the primary focus, during the 1980s, of the majority of graffiti artists was lettering, Futura pioneered abstract street art, which has since become more popular. Conversely, his aerosol strokes are regarded as different from those of his peers, as they are as thin as the fine lines usually associated with the use of an airbrush.

Dondi

Graffiti became a serious part of Dondi's life in the mid-1970s. He tagged using "NACO" and "DONDI", and worked on refining his style, gradually moving from simple tagging to building more elaborate pieces. Using the name Dondi (a version of his own name) was considered very risky at the time, as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the New York Police Department (NYPD) were trying to crack down on writers. In 1979, Dondi officially adopted his name when he painted a giant piece on the roof of his house.

He became a member of TOP crew (The Odd Partners) in 1977. In 1978, Dondi formed his own crew, named CIA (Crazy Inside Artists), which included other prominent artists such as his good friend DURO. For the next 20-odd years, Dondi became recognized as the stylistic standard, influencing generations of graffiti writers.

Dondi pioneered many of the styles and techniques still used by modern graffiti artists. Though he would often do wildstyle pieces for the benefit of other writers (like the famous 2MANY piece), he wanted the public to be able to read and enjoy his work, so he would focus on readable letters with intricate fills and characters.

scratch

Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two records simultaneously.

While scratching is most associated with hip hop music, where it emerged in the mid-1970s, from the 1990s it has been used in some styles of rap rock, rap metal and nu metal. In hip hop culture, scratching is one of the measures of a DJ's skills. DJs compete in scratching competitions at the DMC World DJ Championship and IDA (International DJ Association), formerly known as ITF (International Turntablist Federation). At scratching competitions, DJs can use only scratch-oriented gear (turntables, DJ mixer, digital vinyl systems or vinyl records only). In recorded hip hop songs, scratched "hooks" often use portions of other songs.

Graffiti 

In the early days, the ‘taggers’ were part of street gangs who were concerned with marking their territory. They worked in groups called ‘crews’, and called what they did ‘writing’ – the term ‘graffiti’ was first used by The New York Times and the novelist Norman Mailer. Art galleries in New York began buying graffiti in the early seventies. But at the same time that it began to be regarded as an art form, John Lindsay, the then mayor of New York, declared the first war on graffiti. By the 1980s it became much harder to write on subway trains without being caught, and instead many of the more established graffiti artists began using roofs of buildings or canvases.

The link between hip hop and graffiti evolved as a competition, much like the dance moves of the hip hop culture. Graffiti began to show up on subways in New York and other cities as a form of expression of the culture who listened to rap music. Graffiti distiguished by "tags" or distinguishing marks of the originators and a way to distinguish or stand out from other graffiti artists. Graffiti quickly spread and was picked up by others.

Graffiti is viewed as a form of artistic expression by some and trash by others. Graffiti has been seen adorning the album covers of some rap artists, on sides of buildings, on busses, on clothing, and various imaginative places where you sometimes have to stop and wonder, "how in the world did they manage to get up there?"

Young rappers growing up and wandering the city streets still see graffiti all around them. For some, graffiti represents decay, but for hip hop culture, graffiti provided the visual inspiration that encouraged other forms of creativity and expression, such as emceeing.

Ed Piskor

Ed Piskor is an American alternative comic book artist. He gained his first fame illustrating stories in Harvey Pekar's 'American Splendor' series. Among his original works are the satirical comic 'Wizzywig' (2011) about hacking culture, and the educational graphic novel series 'Hip Hop Family Tree' (2012-2016), which deals with the history of hiphop. In 2017 he created another historical passion project, 'X-Men: Grand Design', a nostalgic look back at the history of Marvel Comics' 'X-Men' franchise.

Hip Hop Family Tree

In 2012 Piskor started a monumental project, named 'Hip Hop Family Tree' (2012-2016). It narrates the history of hiphop and various legendary artists and groups, among them the Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, Schoolly D., the Beastie Boys, Ice-T, Public Enemy, Dr. Dre, Rakim, Will Smith...  Piskor said he was inspired by Robert Crumb's biographical comics about old blues and country artists. Just like Crumb loves music from the interbellum, Piskor is a hardcore hiphop fan. Even as a child he'd try to dig up the oldest singles by certain hiphop artists, particularly trying to find out where a certain musical sample came from? He is so well-educated in the genre that he felt he would be the right artist to make a comic book about the genre. As a bonus he would learn more about its roots too. 'Hip Hop Family Tree' doesn't just focus on the historic facts, but Piskor also illustrated many fascinating and occasional funny anecdotes about certain artists. Graphically Piskor gave the stories a yellowish newsprint effect to match the "old school" feeling.

From January 2012 until December 2015, the stories ran weekly on the website 'Boing Boing'. Fantagraphics later published the series in comic book format. In 2015 'Hip Hop Family Tree, Volume 2' won the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work. It also entered the New York Times Best Sellers list, landing the artist an interview in Time Magazine. Rap legend DMC (of Run DMC) praised 'Hip Hop Family Tree' with the words: "I'm happy this book is here, because it tells a truth." Fab Five Freddy (Grandmaster Flash) shared a panel from one of the comics on his Facebook page and stated: "Being in an Ed Piskor comic is cool enough to freeze hot water." Chuck D. (Public Enemy) also tweeted favorable comments about Piskor's work.

As a huge fan of comics and hiphop since childhood Piskor also saw a correlation between the two art forms. Both are trash pop culture, initially scorned by true art lovers but eventually gaining more critical respect. Many cartoonists and hiphop artists take pseudonyms to give themselves a different public persona and alter ego. Both rapping and cartooning are often said to be easy. Most importantly, Piskor noticed that both hiphoppers and cartoonists have a tendency to borrow material, or sample, from their predecessors and colleagues. It motivated him to pay more homage to other comics in some of his panels.

Hip Hop album covers

Idea influence

vision boards

[celtic-cd-releases]

https://jamesduncanmackenzie.com/

https://www.facebook.com/JamesDuncanMackenzie/

https://jamesduncanmackenzie.bandcamp.com/

[your-dietician]

Sports & Entertainment Spotlight: What the Supreme Court Ruling in Alston v. NCAA Means for the Future of College Sports | Foster Garvey PC

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Sports & Entertainment Spotlight: What the Supreme Court Ruling in Alston v. NCAA Means for the Future of College Sports | Foster Garvey PC

One of the world’s most marketable athletes, Portugal superstar footballer (I’m far more worldly than to say “soccer player”), Cristiano Ronaldo had a viral moment in which he spurned a Coca-Cola product placement in favor of aqua by removing two Coke bottles from the podium at a press conference following a European Football Championship match – but his desire not to be associated with the brand (at least not without compensation) did not actually have the billion dollar financial impact on Coca-Cola as widely reported.

As Amazon’s MGM Studios acquisition comes under regulatory scrutiny, Netflix notches a point in the streaming wars, signing Steven Spielberg’s production company, Amblin to a multi-production deal to “phone home” over.

Jay-Z’s 1995 album, “Reasonable Doubt,” is again the subject of a lawsuit — this time, with Roc-a-Fella Records suing (and enjoining) its co-founder Damon Dash for allegedly seeking to mint the album as a non-fungible token (NFT). For his part, Dash claims he was only seeking to sell his interest in Roc-a-Fella Records. Most of my “Reasonable Doubt” song title puns from last week are applicable here, so I am not going to repeat them (read: writer’s block).

Financial services company Robinhood prevailed — for now — against rapper and actor Ice Cube in a lawsuit over the use of his name, image, and likeness together with his song lyric, “[redacted]” in what Robinhood has construed as a company newslett… Never mind. Nothing to see here. Carry on…

Endorsement Deals, Sponsorships & Investments

CBD and Athletes: Heavyweight World Champ and Olympic Gold Medalist Anthony Joshua Is Now Ambassador and Shareholder of Love Hemp Group June 22, 2021 via Benzinga – Financial News Anthony Joshua, Order of the British Empire, a British professional boxer, two-time unified world heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist is the latest star to join the growing list of celebrities and athletes who are getting into the cannabis and CBD space.

Women Fans Hold Key to Future Sports Revenue Growth, Study Says June 21, 2021 via Sportico – Business “Shrink it and pink it” is how Sports Innovation Lab founder and CEO Angela Ruggiero describes the old, unofficial motto of brands and marketers trying to reach fans of women’s sports. Since then, options have exploded for fans and consumers.

Times Are Changing for the Luxury Watch Industry: How Brands Should Respond June 21, 2021 via Forbes – Top Stories (subscription may be required) Although some time has passed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are still looking for ways to adapt to the changes that came with it. Be it through innovative content or inventive partnerships, brands are trying to find ways to connect with their consumers in the most relatable way. And the luxury watch industry is no exception.

The Rise of the $10 Million Disc Golf Celebrity June 21, 2021 via The Ringer How much can athletes really make in niche sports? A whole lot more than you might think. Disc golfer Paul McBeth set a new standard by signing an eight-figure endorsement contract—and his deal might only be the beginning.

Miley Cyrus Impresses With Kiss Blow For Gucci Fragrance June 19, 2021 via Inquisitr Miley Cyrus is impressing both fans and fellow celebrities with her new brand partnership. The 28-year-old singer yesterday (june 18) took to Instagram to confirm she is the new face of luxury Italian designer Gucci, specifically announcing that she’s fronting Gucci Flora Gorgeous Gardenia Eau de Parfum.

NASCAR Driver Among First to be Paid in Crypto With Car Sponsor Deal June 17, 2021 via Sportico – Business NASCAR driver Landon Cassill and Voyager Digital Ltd. have announced a partnership that will pay Cassill completely in cryptocurrency.

Nike Partners With Pinatex For ‘Happy Pineapple’ Vegan Leather Sneaker Collection June 17, 2021 via Green Queen Nike is teaming up with Ananas Anam, the company behind the pineapple vegan leather Pinatex, to launch a new plant-based sneaker collection.

No, Ronaldo Didn’t Wipe Billions From Coke’s Value June 16, 2021 via Sportico – Business The power of celebrity is on full display at Euro 2020, the European soccer tournament that finally kicked off on June 11 after being delayed a year because of the pandemic. Take Exhibit A: Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese legend who has been the top goal scorer in three of the world’s best leagues. Simply by moving two Coke bottles off a podium at a pre-game press conference Monday and telling attendees ‘Agua!’ Ronaldo wiped billions off of Coke’s market cap — according to multiple media outlets.

Film & TV

Sky Studios Inks Development Deal With Noah Media Group June 22, 2021 via Rapid TV News Sky Studios, the pan-Europe production and development arm of pay-TV provider Sky has announced a multi-title development deal with production and distribution company Noah Media Group.

Is Steven Spielberg’s New Netflix Deal a Surprise? It’s Surprising It Took So Long June 22, 2021 via Exec Review Did another citadel just fall? Has another general just presented his sword in surrender? Steven Spielberg’s production company Amblin has signed a deal to produce multiple features a year for the streaming behemoth Netflix – which is precisely that small-screen player that Spielberg seemed to be rebuking two years ago.

BLAST Premier Extends DouYu Media Rights Partnership June 22, 2021 via eSports Insider – CS:GO CS:GO esports tournament series BLAST Premier has announced the renewal and expansion of its media rights deal with Chinese live streaming service DouYu.

Amazon/MGM Deal to Be Reviewed by Federal Trade Commission June 22, 2021 via Media Play News Amazon’s $8.45 billion acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio, including the lucrative “James Bond” movie franchise, will reportedly be reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission and its just-confirmed Chair Lina Khan.

LeBron James Puts NBA’s Pandemic Business Back in the Spotlight — but the Money Matters Too Much June 18, 2021 via CNBC – Business News The biggest star in the National Basketball Association isn’t happy about the current state of the league. LeBron James used social media this week to express his frustration about the injuries the NBA is experiencing during its 2021 postseason.

Music Biz

YouTube Secures a Big Win in the European Union Over Copyright June 22, 2021 via CNBC The European Union’s top court on Tuesday (June 22) ruled that Google’s YouTube and other online platforms should not be held liable for copyright-infringing uploads in certain situations.

Music Licensing Marketplace Songtradr Raises $50 Million June 21, 2021 via Yahoo Finance – Top Stories Music licensing marketplace Songtradr this morning (June 21) announced a $50 million Series D. The oversubscribed round – which features Regal, Aware Super, Perennial, Argo and Greencape – follows a $30 million raise last August , bringing the Los Angeles company’s total funding to north of $100 million.

Warner Music Buys French DJ David Guetta’s Music Catalogue June 17, 2021 via MENAFN – Top Stories Warner music Group said on Thursday it would buy celebrated French DJ David Guetta’s recorded-music catalogue from the last two decades, and sign a new deal with him for future recordings.

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Judge Blocks Damon Dash From Auctioning NFT of Jay-Z’s ‘Reasonable Doubt’ June 22, 2021 via New York Daily News – New York Jay-Z can knock the hustle, a judge ruled Tuesday, blocking record producer Damon Dash’s effort to auction off the copyright of the Brooklyn rapper’s classic debut album, “Reasonable Doubt” as a non-fungible token.

An NFT of Jay-Z’s First Album Has Sparked a Record Label Lawsuit June 21, 2021 via Business Google News Roc-A-Fella Records (RAF), co-founded by hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, has sued fellow co-founder Damon Dash for allegedly hawking a non-fungible token of Jay-Z’s 1996 debut album Reasonable Doubt.

Are NFTs Always Bad? June 21, 2021 via Foreign Policy What are NFTs, and when did they come into existence? The key to understanding non-fungible tokens is the definition of the term “fungible.” A good or asset is fungible when it is interchangeable with a good or asset of the same type; it is not unique. Currency—from dollar bills to bitcoins—is fungible. Therefore, non-fungible goods are those that are unique.

Club Necaxa Lands $1.5 Million Blockchain Ownership Sale June 17, 2021 via Sportico – Business Club Necaxa has sold 1 percent of the Mexican soccer team for $1.5 million, using NFT technology.

Enjin Partners with Virtual Worlds to Mint Photorealistic Digital Replicas of the Egyptian Pyramids as NFTs June 17, 2021 via Yahoo Finance – Top Stories Enjin, the leading platform for building NFT-enabled virtual worlds, has announced a new partnership with Virtual Worlds, a company with 20+ years of experience in digitizing historical artifacts.

Right of Publicity

NCAA President Mark Emmert Pushing for Interim NIL Guidelines by July 1 June 23, 2021 via The Atlantic NCAA president Mark Emmert is pushing for temporary guidance that will allow all athletes to monetize their names, images and likenesses (NIL) until there is federal legislation, according to a memo obtained by The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach.

Supreme Court Rules Against NCAA Over Athlete Compensation: Here’s What You Need to Know June 21, 2021 via Los Angeles Times The NCAA went to the Supreme Court looking for help in keeping its rules limiting college athlete compensation in place. What it got instead was another significant blow to the amateur ideal and a public admonishment that won’t soon be forgotten.

Supreme Court Rules Unanimously Against NCAA in Alston Case June 21, 2021 via Sportico – Law In one of the most significant sports law decisions in United States history, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled unanimously against the NCAA in NCAA v. Alston. Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the opinion, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh authoring a concurring opinion.

Mark Emmert Calls for Name, Image, Likeness Unity but Legal Challenges Lurk June 21, 2021 via Sportico – Law With Congress unable to pass a federal NIL statute by July 1, and with at least six state statutes set to go into effect on that date, NCAA president Mark Emmert on Friday (June 18) emailed university presidents, chancellors, athletic directors and other school officials. He urged the three NCAA divisions to adopt rules that would permit NIL.

Epic Games Avoids Review of Win in Wrestler’s Gears of War Suit June 21, 2021 via Bloomberg Law – News Top Stories (subscription may be required) Epic Games and Microsoft Corp. won’t have to defend a ruling that they violated publicity rights of a former pro wrestler in their video game Gears of War before the U.S. Supreme Court. The game creators sufficiently transformed Lenwood “Hard Rock” Hamilton’s persona when they created the Augustus “Cole Train”.

What Does NCAA’s Abandonment of Third-Party Adminstator a Concept Mean for Its NIL Legislation? June 18, 2021 via Forbes – Business (subscription may be required) The NCAA has notified its remaining finalists for the Third-Party Administrator, which was meant to assist with the administration of name, image and likeness activities that the organization no longer plans to fill the role.

Is a Famous Face a Form of Intellectual Property? June 18, 2021 via Hollywood Reporter A Philadelphia news anchor’s fight with digital giants, including Facebook, who hosted an unauthorized image of her in ads, raises novel questions about likeness rights and has drawn the attention of SAG-AFTRA.

Federal NIL Bill Stalls in Congress, Setting Table for July Chaos June 17, 2021 via Sportico – Law While the NCAA continues to wait for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Alston case, it gained more certainty Thursday (June 17) as to whether Congress will pass, and President Joe Biden will sign, a federal bill that would provide a national standard for name, image and likeness before July 1.

Ice Cube’s Trademark Infringement Lawsuit Against Robinhood Dismissed by Federal Judge June 16, 2021 via Yahoo! News A California judge on Tuesday (June 15) dismissed a lawsuit brought by rapper Ice Cube against trading platform Robinhood claiming it used his image to promote its products, without his consent.

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[terribleco]

Garry Jones Interview

When I was younger, Garry Jones was one of the kids down my local park who was always out and about, always down for a skate, and always interested in more than just skateboarding. He contributed towards this very blog on many occasions donating footage, photos and even old cameras! His interest in photography proved to be something he had a great talent for, and now he is one of the UK's most prominent skate photographers: having snapped official shots of the Team GB skaters, and photographing some of the world's best skateboarders at Street League London and the European X-Games. I asked him some questions where he talks about photographing Tony Hawk, Jamie Foy, and of course, everyone's favourite northerner Joxa.

Those behind the camera sometimes don't get much recognition, so for anyone who doesn't know you - tell me a bit about yourself.

For sure, I'm Garry Jones - photographer from Coventry. Moved away for a few years to study my undergraduate but eventually came back to Coventry. Without sounding too much like a profile on a dating app: I'm 28 years old, and recently just completed my Masters Degree. I shoot photos of everything from beer brands to shoes but my main focus these days is working in the music industry, portraits and making album art. Saying that occasionally I get to shoot skateboarding also. 

How did you first get into photography?

Not sure exactly when I decided I wanted to be a photographer, it was just always a notion I had from being a kid. Skateboarding influenced me pretty heavily: I had this Blueprint poster, can't remember the skater, but he was silhouetted doing a FS Krooked down a handrail and flashes going off behind him. I used to always stare at the poster figuring out how it was taken. My first steps into the photography world was in secondary school, using a darkroom where I learnt quite a lot to prepare me going forward.

What was your first "proper" camera?

My first DSLR was an Olympus e-410. I got it around the time I started college at the age of 16. That camera served me well: I shot my first events on it, and skate photos I was happy with. I think things got a bit more professional a couple of years later, when I jumped over to Nikon, and everything started to look a bit cleaner.

Tez Aldersley Varial Heelflip’s a yellow hazard in a Coventry back alley

Who were your influences growing up (skaters and photographers)?

Still to this day, there's not many "photographers" that really have influenced my work. If there is, it's more likely photographers that are my close friends that I work with, and they affect my work flow and style. It's skate culture, and the artists/documentarians within skateboarding, that have truly inspired me. 

Ed Templeton is the first, and probably biggest influence: everything he has done with Toy Machine, to his photo books that come out on Um Yeah Art (which is Thomas Campbell's publishing company). Greg Hunt: as a film-maker, always really inspired me with his work with DC and Alien Workshop. I always thought it was really amazing and always used to try and find interviews of him speaking about his work. 

French Fred and his documentation of my favourite brand Cliche really showed me what you can simply do with a black and white 35mm roll of film. Cliche really had such a cool visual aesthetic from their board graphics to the tour videos they put together, such a rad team also. 

Mike Blabac too: his photography of Danny Way, and his first photo book were insane, and to this day those photos are incredible. What I liked about Blabac was the fact he could shoot a really good portrait in a studio also, and had this really nice high contrast imagery which really has influenced my work even more recently as I did a transition into more portraiture work.

Who were the first pro/sponsored skaters you ever shot? 

Sponsored skater has to be Joxa, thinking back: me, you and Joxa used to head out a lot all over the place. Joxa was on Witchcraft back then, so it was always fun shooting with him, plus he's the coolest, most friendly dude. As for pro skaters: I was at NASS 2015 when the Birdhouse team came through on tour, and I had woken up a little bit worse for wear from the night before. I walked through the back entrance of the park and bumped into Jaws, shot a portrait of him with a fisheye and a flash, because I panicked and didn't have time to swap my lens. Later that day, I got to shoot Tony Hawk, which was insane, plus got to see Lizzie Armanto skate in person and she rips!

Tony Hawk with a FS Stalefish at Nass 2015

Who are your favourite photographers?

Hands down, my favourite photographer of all time is Ed Templeton. I love the way he documents the world around him. To go more outside of skating, Don McCullin is a British photojournalist who has work that needs to be seen either in a gallery or in the paper layout it was intended for. He documented the rise of the Berlin Wall, Vietnam and many other conflicts but his imagery is always so strong and tells the story like no other. 

I was always a fan of Lewis Baltz's work too: He explored the notion of how humans use space, the 'urban', focusing on the shape and form. It was a very matter of fact style of shooting. I have a complete obsession with anything to do with the documentation of the Beastie Boys, so Spike Jonze has to be in there. His latest book is amazing, and the Girl collab boards are so sick. Also a lot of my favourite photographers are my friends I work with, as they are inspiring people: Mike Massaro shot a photo of artist Caribou that I just love.

What format is your favourite to shoot? 

Ever since getting a medium format film camera, it's been my favourite. I really love shooting 6x6 medium format, so the frame is a square. Really tried to champion and shoot more film this year: in New York I shot a load of bands with my Bronica SQ 6x6 camera and fell in love with it all over again.

I saw you on BBC Sport taking pics in the background at the UK National Champs: Was it weird to see UK skateboarding being given such a huge spotlight? 

I was really fortunate to come on board with Skateboard England early on, and shoot the announcement photos of the skaters for Team GB. At that point, or maybe even before that, Neil from Skateboard England had really kept me in the loop and tried to get me on board. Saying that, Neil has been a big supporter of me shooting skateboarding, and is the nicest dude, giving me loads of opportunities over the past 18 months. 

To get back to your question, I wouldn't say it was weird, I would say it was about time. There's some really amazingly talented skaters in the UK, and the spotlight was being put on them deservingly. Hopefully we get to see the rest of this journey towards the Olympics soon. Add any of the guys and girls that were in that comp: if you go on their Instagrams, you can see how much they throw down, so everyone getting that moment of coverage is credit to them and their love of skating.

Alex Hallford at the UK National Championships last year

How did you end up taking shots for the European X-Games? 

There's really no crazy story behind this: basically I emailed and asked. Shortly after, I got a reply saying they would love for me to come over. Just goes to show, putting yourself out there and having a conversation with someone goes a long way! 

Which pros did you meet there? 

I met Felipe Gustavo the first year I went along, with a few others, but to be fair to everyone, even in practice people were really focused that year. Second year I went, it was way more mellow for some reason. On the first day, I showed up after getting off of the flight and got to chill at the park and hang with Jamie Foy, who was the nicest dude. We spoke about his New Balance shoe, and his thoughts behind it while Gustavo Ribeiro was just tearing it up in the background. Kelly Hart was there judging last year's comp, which was cool as we had met before at Street League London a couple of times, so I got to catch up with Kelly again.

What was it like shooting someone as gnarly as Jamie Foy skating? Did he land everything practically first go? 

At these big comps, the practice sessions are basically the guys putting their runs together: they are trying the same thing over and over again. Watching Jamie Foy just Krooked everything in sight super pinched was super gnarly, it was crazy to see that level of skating in person. On the other hand, there's Ishod Wair, who just flowed around the course adding bits on and improvised as he went: he's probably the best skateboarder in the world.

Leticia Bufoni with a BS Disaster at the European X Games in Norway

What was the difference in vibe between the European X-Games and the UK National Champs? 

At the X-Games, you can really tell it's a big TV style presentation, with music and competitions and loads of other stuff going on, plus there's all the other sports there. At the UK National Champs, everyone knew each other, and if you didn't know anyone, by the end of the three days you did and it was rad. Churchill was on the mic, so what else do you need? 

X-Games is that finished, high-end product that's been going for years, but I got to go to Simple Sessions' 20th event this year. Simple Sessions is this great comp run by people who do it for the love of skateboarding, and it comes across. Everyone has a really good time with loads of stories coming out of it. You see amazing skating at all of these events and I guess the difference in vibe is maybe down to what's on the line for these skaters who enter. 

With so many high profile photography jobs on the books, do you get any time to skate?

Once a year, me and the Ghost Town Social Gang (Andy, Lyle, Ryan, Paul and Chris), go to a far away land like Paris or Barcelona and have a week or so of skating, hanging out and beers. On the run up to that I attempt to skate, but it doesn't normally happen if I'm truly honest. Think I'm more of a documentarian these days, and see skating as more social than ever, hanging out with some of my closest mates and having a push about. 

Cov’s own Andrew Scott popping over a unique gap opportunity

Did you get to skate the X-Games course? 

Never got to skate it - saying that, I never have my board at those events, as I have to carry loads of camera gear and clothes for a few days. I wouldn't be able to skate it anyway: they have a schedule of who's allowed on the course to practice, and they break down the days so everyone gets time without it being hectic as the courses are only small. If you had all the men and women involved skating at once it would be chaos. I think you have to have the correct wristband to skate as there are stewards everywhere checking. I'm lucky I get pretty good access, just no athlete access! 

What has been your favourite park/spot to photograph? 

Favourite park to shoot was the first year Street League was in London, at the Copper Box Arena. Apparently, the course was awful to skate but it had the Union Jack done in concrete so up high the photos looked great. Also I have had some good times over the years shooting the vert at Epic/Creation: normally Jim The Skin is skating, so always get rad photos. The big Herbert 3 set in Coventry with the old cathedral in the background looks epic. I shot a photo of Tez Aldersley that I still love to this day of him kick flipping it.

Tez Aldersley floating a kickflip down at the Herbert spot in Coventry

Which skater (that you haven't photographed) would you love to get pics of? 

Arto Saari would be sick! I love his skating. Spanky would be pretty high up: been really enjoying watching his footage recently. The skater that takes top of the list would have to be the fastest man in skateboarding: Dennis Busenitz. Just a photo of him pushing or bombing a hill would be a dream shoot!

What advice would you give to any aspiring photographers out there? 

Just enjoy your photography. Put as much time as you can into it, and most importantly talk to people and make connections. 

One last note on this: educate yourself! Take time to learn about photographers before you. Look at different areas, visit galleries, study photo books, listen to lectures - it all helps and gives you a better standing when moving into the professional world.

Anyone you would like to thank? 

Firstly, I’d thank you Ade: all the lifts to parks years ago, and people I met through you, and the videos you made. 

In skateboarding: big thanks to my friends over at Skateboard England, and always a big shout out to Jim The Skin and Ride. Everyone at X-Games & Simple Sessions: you rule. 

Thanks to Andy Scott also, as he kept me in skating for years, he's the hype man. Vic Frankowski: always a supporter of my photography from Content (@hello_content). There are so many to thank, as I can’t do what I do without people giving me opportunities and their time. Love to everyone.

[hi-n-oops]

Fic Rec

I am making a list of fics that I read/re-read (and liked) this week. Mostly because I am abysmal at remembering titles and only remember them by summary (ik im stupid). So here it goes!

A Beginning by SexyAssWoman  @thesexyasswoman

Harry had been in love with Louis Tomlinson since he found his poetry blog years ago. Without even knowing how the man looked like, Harry was infatuated with him. So when he gets a chance to meet Louis for the first time, Harry is set on making an impression. That is until he gets distracted by the blue eyed stranger that sits beside him.

Or, Where Harry was in love with a poet, and the stranger that sat beside him on a poetry session had eyes that looked like the sea.

**This one was short but very sweet!

Dance to the Distortion by Lis (domesticharry) @domestic-harry

Louis accidentally breaks Harry's camera lens and in order to get it fixed, they decide to participate in a romantic couples study. The only issue is that they are not actually couple. Well that and the fact they cannot stand each other.

**Enemies to Lovers- Check; Fake/Pretend Relationship - Check; Enemies who are pretending to be in a fake relationship - Double Check. This fic is pure gold. I loved the dynamics between the characters and how everything played out!!

Hearts Don't Break Around Here by sincewewereeighteen @downgoesanotherhero

"Another car has stopped at the beginning of the carpet. People are going to collapse any time soon, and Louis knows why. Harry Styles has just arrived. And Louis. Well. Louis is a grown man. He curses himself a hundred times for even letting his heart race in his chest. He knew they were bound to meet tonight. What the hell is wrong with him?"

Or: the one in which Harry's having his big movie debut and Louis sings on it's soundtrack.

**I am on a lookout for all the Actor Harry fics and this one was one of the cutest out there!!

Sail into the Sun by angelsvevo

Prince Louis Tomlinson is sick of the closet. Harry Styles is a con man with a hatred of rich people. Louis needed a way out, Harry needed a husband. It was a mutual agreement. Doesn't mean they have to like each other.

**I got to know about this one because of one of my anons, so thank you for that. The author has orphaned the fic, so it was a little hard to find. Marriage of Convenience au!!

Homegrown by casuallyhl @casuallyhl

“It wasn’t an easy decision, if I’m honest,” Harry admits, shoulders sagging in on himself. “Moving is really difficult. My whole life was in Manchester. But Manchester didn’t want me. Leeds did.”

“Well, Leeds is happy to have you,” Louis says, giving Harry a kind smile.

Harry brightens a bit at that, undeniably pleased. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Louis replies, expression soft and lips curved.

Or, a gardening AU where Harry is new to town and the newest volunteer at the local gardening club, Louis is the attractive grandson of one of the members, and the nosy volunteers hatch a plan to get them together.

**This one was so sweet! A feel-good fic!!

The Boys of Summer by larrymylove

Harry is in love with Louis and would have given anything to be his partner for the end of term literature assignment. Louis is the only kid in the class who can get away with anything, and all he wants is the attention of the pretty boy with the curls across the room. Featuring lots of banter, pining, flirting, and Fionn as an unwilling Cupid. 

**This is a short one but adorable!!

Heart on an Open Highway by afirethatcannotdie @afirethatcannotdie

AU. Harry's a popstar about to release his second album, and Louis is the Radio 1 intern who gets his heart racing.

**This is probably the 100th version of the prompt. I loved it!!

i'll be yours to keep by midnights @harryindallas  (you have to be logged in to read this)

louis should've thought a lot more about who he said his fake boyfriend is, especially since he and his "significant other" kinda hate each other. most of the time. 

**This was a re-read! A Hogwarts AU and being a Potterhead, it was a treat!! Enemies to Lovers + Fake/Pretend Relationship!! Need I say more?

Just a Flower Boy by Larryruinedme

Harry Styles is a clumsy, flower crown-wearing, openly gay junior with only two true friends, Niall and Zayn. Louis Tomlinson is the school's attractive, straight football captain, with a small body and a big personality. As fate will have it, Harry has a huge, unrequited, utterly hopeless crush on Louis.

Fate is thrown out the window the day that Harry and Louis find themselves partnered up for a history project. Harry starts to receive notes from a secret admirer, Louis starts to get jealous of Harry's budding friendship with senior Nick Grimshaw, Zayn and Liam develop a thing for each other, and Niall is the best mate anyone could have asked for. And suddenly, Harry's crush on Louis doesn't seem so utterly hopeless anymore.

**This one was so unbearably adorable!! I love HS AUs!!

Swallow My Words by YesIsAWorld @louandhazaf

Senior year is stressful. On top of balancing school work, family, and friends, Harry's lacrosse team is vying to win the state championship, he's not sure where he's going to college yet, and he has a secret boyfriend that no one can know about.

**This fic is very real. Harry’s teammates are homophobic assholes. Louis is Harry’s secret bf. And though Louis is supportive of Harry, he is tired of hiding their relationship. It deals with homophobia, so beware!

Small Doses (Loving You It's Explosive) by QuickedWeen

Louis Tomlinson finds himself at Vitality Fitness to try and turn his life around after having left his cheating boyfriend of four years. The gym's owner, Liam, quickly becomes a good friend, but his right hand man is rude and dismissive from the get-go. Louis and Harry continue to clash all while Harry is trying to move his way up the ranks in Manchester's amateur boxing circuit, but they can't seem to stay away from each other.

**I LOVED THIS!! ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS!! Harry is a boxer (yes, that is a huge bonus to me).

Fool's Gold by tvshows_addict @tvshows-addict

Leaflet for Over Again Inc.

“In relationships, there are three types of people: those who are happy, those who are unhappy but accept it and deal, those who are unhappy and in denial.

Handling this last category is our job: we are professional couple breakers.

To reach our goal, we use all means necessary.”

Or the Arnacoeur AU in which Harry is scheduled to be married to Liam in 10 days and Harry’s mother hires Louis and his team to break them up.

**This has been in my reading list for a long time. Louis is hired to break up Harry’s seemingly happy engagement but nothing is what it seems when Louis gets closer to the situation. I won’t say anything else, find out yourself!!

Only Reason by letsjustsee @letsjustsee

Or, Louis is most definitely smitten with Harry from the second he sees him, but he is also most definitely not the world's foremost expert on beekeeping. He decides to roll with it anyway.

**This is another short one but oh-so adorable!!

tangled up in you by missandrogyny @missandrogyny

Harry blinks once. And blinks again. And says, his voice dangerous: “Niall, did you get me a mail-order bride?”

Because what the actual fuck. It kind of looks like Niall’s just purchased a person. For Harry.

Niall blinks back at him for a few moments, before throwing his head back and howling with laughter. Harry throws a pillow at him. Hard. “No, what the fuck, Harry.”

“A prostitute then?” Harry also doesn't want a prostitute.

“Of course not!”

“A stripper?”

“No!”

Damn, he’s running out of ideas. He settles for launching another pillow at Niall’s head. Niall bats it away easily, still laughing. “Stop!”

“What did you get me, then?!” Niall must hear the tinge of hysteria in his voice, because he’s pulling himself together, trying to stop himself from laughing.

There’s still a big grin on his face, though, when he says, “I got you a professional cuddler.”

A professional…what. “What?”

**Another re-read! This fic is gold. I have probably re-read it three times now and I love it everytime!! Also, the SMUT WAS AWESOME!!!

As Cold as a Whisper by panda_bear21

Harry did not turn around to face Louis yet and Louis’ body screamed at him to take the opportunity and run. Run until he couldn’t anymore, until his lungs collapsed out of breath and he was either safe and away or caught back in Harry’s gaze. Harry turned then, and his eyes were darker than the heavens and just as green as the haunting woods surrounding them, entrapping Louis. Focused, and clear. Louis' heart rattled in his ribcage, shaking, wanting to escape his unmoving body. Harry walked closer and Louis’ eyes stayed on him, breath leaving in a sharp exhale when Harry bent down to touch his face.

A fairy tale au where people in Louis' village are disappearing and Louis is married off to uphold a centuries long agreement.

**This is a fantasy AU. Also arranged marriage! It was so unique and mysterious if a little dark at times! The whole atmosphere of the fic was very foreboding...

pray for some sweet simplicity by delsicle @emperorstyles

Louis is the only omega to ever make it in the cut-throat world of competitive motorcycle racing—that is, he would be if anyone actually knew about his identity. Now, his sights are set towards competing in—and winning—the European Grand Prix, the biggest and most difficult race of the entire year, so he can disappear underground for good. He’s close enough, too, until an alpha sports journalist is assigned to follow Louis’s every move as he prepares for the event of his career.

Or, an AU where motorcycle racing is the biggest sport in a heavily divided world, Louis is trying to take control of his own destiny, and Harry is in for more than he bargained for.

**I probably cried tears of joy when I found this one because it was 200k+ and I was in need of a fic that I could read for a long time on a long ride and because I loved the setting of the fic. It was beautifully written. Your heart will ache for Louis... 

Dunkirk AU Drabble (Alex/Louis Smut basically by @emperorstyles

**DUNKIRK SPOILERS!!!!!!!! So beware. Its porn, but porn with feelings. I actually cried a little (i’m weird, i know)

Can't Fool Me by emma1234 @lads-laddylads

“I hate frats,” Louis repeats for what feels like the millionth time.

“Yes, I’ve heard, once or twice or every day for the past three years,” Liam says. His careful tone reminds Louis of how his mom always sounds when one of his siblings is on the brink of a tantrum.

Louis glances speculatively at Liam’s frat brothers, who are still huddled together and chatting, with the exception of the one who’s looking in Louis’ direction. Maybe Louis shouldn’t rule out a tantrum. While making a scene wouldn’t actually free him from fraternity nonsense in the future, it would at least be entertaining.

AU where Louis hates fraternities and would never be into a frat boy. And one of these things is definitely not a lie.

**I read this as soon as it came out because I read fics before going to bed (who doesn’t?) Louis hates frats, Harry is a frat boy. You do the math. Also, there is a SURPRISE!!!

 Happy Reading!!!

[junker-town]

13-year-old wins diving championship, causing us to contemplate our youth

Photo credit should read OLI SCARFF/AFP/Getty Images

We’ll never be this accomplished.

On Monday 13-year-old Oleksii Sereda became the youngest diver to win the European Championship. Sereda broke Tom Daley’s record (which he also set at age 13), which stood almost as long as he’d been alive after being set in 2008.

There is precisely nothing that will make you feel older and less accomplished than hearing about a 13-year-old becoming a champion in anything, let alone being named the best diver in all of Europe. At this point we have two options:

Cry gently into our coffee and wait for the sweet release of death.

Channel the pain into sharing our 13-year-old exploits in the hopes we can somehow feel better about ourselves.

These are our stories.

When I was 13 I made a movie for Nickelodeon.

Yeah, a real, actually exists short film that I have a VHS copy of sitting on my bookshelf. I honestly don’t remember the contents that well. I know I did the voice over for the main character, and recall it being claymation — but what I remember the best was ruining the behind the scenes documentary they wanted to air alongside it.

Nickelodeon in Australia were doing this thing called Short Films by Short People, and asked for pitches. I wrote a script along with some friends and we were selected, spending the summer working on the film.

Alongside the 3 minute film they wanted to air a short documentary where we told other kids how cool it was to work with Nickelodeon. It was cool, for sure. I remember the animator hated us. I also remember getting yelled at by the producer because I turned up at the studio in a Stone Cold Steve Austin shirt one day. She was normally very chill, but absolutely went off on me because they couldn’t use any footage from that day and didn’t want to blur my shirt. It turns out those suits at Big Gak weren’t okay with an angry bald man standing on a turnbuckle flipping people off.

What a world.

- James Dator

When I was 13 I just wanted to go through puberty really badly.

I was really short and my voice still sounded like a child’s and did I mention that I was really short. Honestly I wasn’t asking for all that much at that point because I was still in middle school. An armpit hair would’ve been huge. But no, I was just really short and had to play against like full-grown-men type of 8th graders in basketball and that was no fun.

Shoutout to the kid who did the diving record, because at 13 I was just whiny and short as hell.

- Matt Ellentuck

When I was 13 I was an active member of a Christina Aguilera fan message board.

First off, yes it was a message board. It wasn’t even Tumblr. It was a message board. The internet was very different back then. Sometimes Christina’s mom Shelly would hop online to talk to us. We speculated over dating and eventual breakup rumors with her backup dancer Jorge. Or the stories fans would bring back from tour. It was always the busiest at night, and you never wanted to miss a big night. Just like you never want to miss NBA Twitter during a big game. If you logged back on later, the FOMO was too strong.

Anyway, her debut album is currently celebrating is 20th Anniversary and I have no idea where my life went. But I kind of miss only caring about what new posts had been made on that message board while I was at school.

- Whitney Medworth

When I was 13 I was obsessed with my Geocities website on Michigan football

I have already revealed way too much about my youth for this website, which you can read about here. Here’s just an excerpt from 13-year-old me:

My Hobbies- Sports and hangin’ around are my hobbies. When I’m with friends we always play basketball, or football, or soccer, or some sort of sport. Following all sports is fun to. It’s like watching a masculine soap opera. Hanging around is always fun, I’m a pretty lazy guy so that’s what I do most of the time. It’s always fun to go the mall or downtown and talk to people, just random people. I have made many friends that way, and enemies.

This is only maybe the third most embarrassing thing on that website. Which you can still go to. But please don’t it’s humiliating. Here’s the link again.

— Louis Bien

When I was 13 I was an active member of an MVP 05 message board.

My family had just moved to Norway, I didn’t speak the language yet and nobody else cared about baseball. But I had my PS2 and MVP 05, and I found a message board of other (mostly) teens who loved the game (a few of whom now also work in sports media, shouts out to them). I started taking requests for custom create-a-players (CAPs for short) of historical baseball players or prospects that weren’t in the game, and I had a way-too-big excel sheet where I had formulas for how to determine what each rating in the game should be based on the player’s stats at different levels of baseball.

Game’s still great, by the way. And now I have way-too-big spreadsheets for Football Manager, instead. They’re color-coded now, which technically counts as personal growth.

— Pete Volk

When I was 13 the Chicago Bears taught me sports pain.

Being the ultimate Jay Cutler apologist, I believed the Chicago Bears could compete for the NFC North title in 2011. The season started off great with Chicago starting off 7-3. They had a last second pick six to beat the Panthers, crushed the Vikings on Sunday Night football, and saw Matt Stafford throw DJ Moore down by the helmet which in turn sparked a brawl. Life was great.

But then Cutler broke his thumb against the Chargers and the Bears lost five of their next six games to miss the playoffs. The losses didn’t bother me that much as much as the way they lost. Caleb Hanie took one step too extra when taking a spike, inciting a penalty and running out the clock against the Raiders. A completed Hail Mary was enough for the Chiefs to beat us. Then the Tim Tebow game happened. In what was one of the ugliest games I have ever seen, the Bears had a chance to run out the clock and get this win out of the way. But Marion Barber decided it was smart to run out of bounds with less than two minutes left. Oh, and all of these games happened in a row. 13 year old me was crushed at how the Bears could continue to break my heart every week. I can only imagine the look on my face if Double Doink happened that year instead.

— Vijay Vemu

[fifiweihao-blog]

memories of 1988

The Hubble Space Telescope Goes into operation to explore deep space and is still in full use today mapping our universe. A bomb is exploded on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie in Scotland on December 21st . Also Prozac is sold for the first time as an anti-depressant, some of the great movies that year included Rain Man, Die Hard and A Fish Called Wanda.

In the early 1980s, Britain had just begun to slough off its reliance on packet mash and tinned pineapple. With Delia, we discovered kiwi and cranberries; trend-setting restaurants proliferated and "seasonality" started to mean something again. The British tend to mainline on nostalgia, but who hankers for the traditional British culinary experience? Prawn cocktail, steaks that should have been sent to a burns unit, serviettes, frozen food, fondue, gateau festering on pudding trolleys, sliced bread…

In 1988, these were just some of our favourites. "Foreign" meant French. "Vegetarian" meant omelette. "Modern British" meant Garfunkel’s. Food wasn’t invented in Britain until 1987, the year the River Café opened in West London. In the provinces, it was later still. Nostalgia is a dish best served never.

Culinary innovations aside, 1988 boasts no seismic cultural shift – unlike, say, 1966 or 1977. It might have witnessed acid house’s Second Summer of Love, but for most people it was the year Bros stole hearts, Neighbours became must-see after-school viewing and England crashed out of the European Championships in the first round.

Before the deregulating 1990 Broadcasting Act, there was no satellite television in this country. In 1988, British film was in good shape, thanks to the artistically stimulating output of the still-new FilmFour. Spitting Image still mattered, thanks to unbeatable material from the Thatcher government, which was also being wound up by ITV’s documentary Death on the Rock. It was a time before the insane pressures of the global market, when films and TV programmes were made for their own sake, not pitched at demographics.

In 1988 the City of London was coming out of the Big Bang. The deregulation and competition that ensued has transformed London into the biggest international capital market, with banks such as HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland taking their place among the world’s best.

1988: when Kylie, Cliff and Ghostbusters ruled

Best-selling single

Cliff Richard’s Mistletoe & Wine

Best-selling album

Kylie Minogue’s Kylie

Highest-grossing movie

Rain Man

Oscar winner

Bernardo Bertolucci, who won nine Oscars for The Last Emperor.

Video game

Super Mario 3 is released. It goes on to sell 18m copies and spawn a television show.

The price of a pint of beer

Around £1

Children’s toys

Ghostbusters toys sell out – with the Slimer toy (complete with bubbles) particularly popular.

Births

Tinie Tempah

Alexandra Burke

Princess Beatrice

Michael Cera

Deaths

Divine

Kenneth Williams

Nico

Roy Orbison

Marriages

Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick

Patsy Kensit and Dan Donavan

Michael J Fox and Tracy Pollan

Mike Tyson and Robin Givens

1988: Jumbo jet crashes onto Lockerbie

A Pan Am jumbo jet with 258 passengers on board has crashed on to the town of Lockerbie near the Scottish borders. Initial reports indicate it crashed into a petrol station in the centre of the town, between Carlisle and Dumfries, and burst into a 300-foot fireball. Hundreds are feared dead as airline officials said flight 103 was about two-thirds full with 255 adults and three children on board. Rescue teams have confirmed there are many casualties at the scene including townspeople who were on the ground. The Boeing 747 left London Heathrow at 1800 GMT bound for New York’s JFK airport. Shortly after 1900 the flight disappeared from radar screens at Prestwick Air Traffic Control Centre.

At 1908-hrs there were reports by the Civil Air Traffic Control Authorities of an explosion on the ground 15 miles north of the Scottish border. Details of the accident are still unclear but there are unconfirmed reports the plane has ploughed into cars and houses. An eyewitness said the aircraft has hit a central part of the town in a residential area. "There was just a terrible explosion, you just couldn’t describe it," he told the BBC. "It is just impossible to approach the town but at the time it went up there was a terrible explosion and the whole sky lit up. "It was virtually raining fire – it was just liquid fire."

Parts of the town are being evacuated and a hall has been converted into a refuge centre. Dumfries and Galloway Hospital, about 20 miles away, is on emergency alert.

Ambulances from southern Scotland and Cumbria have been sent to the scene. The RAF has sent personnel and helicopters from Scotland and Northern England, along with mountain rescue teams to help police. The A74 has been cordoned off after police reported several parked cars on fire. It is thought the plane would have been flying at about 31,000 ft over Lockerbie when it exploded.

In total 259 people aboard the flight and 11 on the ground died in the crash which took place 38 minutes after take-off. The debris from the aircraft was scattered across 845 square miles and the impact reached 1.6 on the Richter scale. The subsequent police investigation was the biggest ever mounted in Scotland and became a murder inquiry when evidence of a bomb was found.

Two men accused of being Libyan intelligence agents were eventually charged with planting the bomb. Abdelbaset ali Mohmed al-Megrahi was jailed for life in January 2001 following an 84-day trial under Scottish law, at Camp Zeist in Holland. His alleged accomplice, Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah, was found not guilty. In 2002 Al Megrahi’s appeal against conviction was rejected.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMo2t_MD1s8

1988: IRA gang shot dead in Gibraltar

The IRA has confirmed the three people shot dead by security forces in Gibraltar yesterday were members of an active service unit. They are reported to have planted a 500lb car bomb near the British Governor’s residence. It was primed to go off tomorrow during a changing of the guard ceremony, which is popular with tourists.

The three – two men and a woman – were shot as they walked towards the border with Spain. Security officers say they were acting suspiciously and the officers who carried out the shootings believed their lives were in danger. The three dead have been named as Daniel McCann, 30 and Sean Savage, 24, both known IRA activists and Mairead Farrell, 31, the most senior member of the gang who had served 10 years for her part in the bombing of a hotel outside Belfast in 1976.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed last night military personnel had opened fire on three terrorist suspects. It said no weapons had been found at the scene. The shooting happened in mid-afternoon. One eyewitness said he had seen a man in jeans holding a pistol in both hands. He said the man was only four feet from one of those he killed. Police sealed off the area for several hours after the shooting. A robot was brought in to defuse the car bomb and troops patrolled the streets. Local residents were warned to stay indoors. The terrorists’ target was the band and guard of the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, which arrived in Gibraltar recently after a tour of duty in Northern Ireland.

Army intelligence officers have been expecting an IRA attack on a military target for some months after a series of setbacks for the Provisionals. Reports say 20 members of the IRA have been killed in the past 15 months. The Independent’s Ireland correspondent, David McKittrick, said 1987 was "a bad year" for the IRA. They lost eight active service members in an SAS ambush in Country Antrim. He has raised speculation yesterday’s killings in Gibraltar may also have been the work of the SAS.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7MBqTw2vl0

1988: Three shot dead at Milltown Cemetery

A gunman has killed three mourners and injured at least 50 people attending a funeral for IRA members shot dead in Gibraltar. It is understood he also threw four grenades into the crowd of 10,000 people gathered around the Republican plot at Milltown Cemetery in Roman Catholic west Belfast. The casualties have been taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast in a fleet of private vehicles and 10 ambulances. Eyewitness reports describe mourners gripped with panic, screaming and shouting while others collapsed to the floor.

The initial shot was mistaken for an IRA salute as the dead, Mairead Farrell, 31, Daniel McCann, 30, and Sean Savage, 23, were buried. But shortly after 1300 GMT as the last of the three coffins was lowered into the joint grave, another shot was fired. Another shot was quickly followed by two blasts 50 yards away which is said to have sent black smoke and earth into the air. Several more shots were fired amid a burst of what is thought to be grenades.

Funeral stewards made repeated appeals for calm as the course of reconciliation in Northern Ireland faced another setback. There are some reports the man was then pursued by hundreds of youths oblivious to the danger.

The Northern Ireland Secretary Tom King, has condemned the attacks and appealed for calm, echoing calls from other political quarters including Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams. But Mr Adams accused the RUC of collusion in the attack. The RUC had agreed to stay away from the funeral after representations from the Roman Catholic church and political leaders. The Ulster Defence Association, the largest of the Protestant paramilitary organisations, denied any part in the attack. It added the outlawed Ulster Freedom Fighters had no part in today’s events either.

The funerals were for three IRA members shot dead by British special forces in Gibraltar, where they were planning an attack on the British garrison. A lone loyalist gunman, Michael Stone, was chased by mourners at the cemetery but was arrested by police. The east Belfast man had been active on the fringes of loyalist para-militarism before the Milltown killings and was ultimately sentenced for a total of six murders when he eventually came to trial. The Ulster Freedom Fighters member was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years imprisonment by the trial judge.

But he was released in 2000, despite massive outrage, after serving 12 years under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. In November 2006 he had his release licence suspended after he was arrested for bursting into Stormont claiming to have a bomb. He was charged with attempting to murder Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness and with possessing an imitation firearm.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFfhkdHIVgA

Corporals Wood and Howes killed by IRA 1988

When two corporals in the British Army inadvertently drove into the midst of a republican funeral, their car was set upon by the crowd. They were dragged out and beaten before being shot dead by members of the IRA. These brutal killings marked the conclusion of a period of 14 days that was to prove one the darkest of Northern Ireland’s Troubles. The incident was filmed by television cameras and the images have been described as some of the "most dramatic and harrowing" of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhfgQOLSrTQ

1988 Timeline

January – Elizabeth Butler-Sloss becomes the first woman to be appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal.

3 January – Margaret Thatcher becomes the longest serving British prime minister this century, having been in power for eight years and 244 days.

4 January – Sir Robin Butler replaces Sir Robert Armstrong as Cabinet Secretary, on the same day that Margaret Thatcher makes her first state visit to Africa when she arrives in Kenya.

5 January – Actor Rowan Atkinson launches the new Comic Relief charity appeal.

7 January – Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock calls for a further £1.3 billion to made available for the National Health Service.

9 January – One of the worst incidents of football hooliganism this season sees 41 suspected hooligans arrested at the FA Cup third round tie between Arsenal and Millwall at Highbury.

11 January – The government announces that inflammable foam furniture will be banned from March next year.

14 January – Unemployment figures are released for the end of 1987, showing the 18th successive monthly fall. Just over 2,600,000 people are now jobless in the United Kingdom – the lowest total for seven years. More than 500,000 of the unemployed found jobs during 1987.

22 January – Colin Pitchfork is sentenced to life imprisonment after admitting the rape and murder of two girls in Leicestershire in 1983 and 1986, the first conviction for murder in the UK based on DNA fingerprinting evidence.

22 January – Peugeot’s 405 saloon, winner of the European Car of the Year award, goes on sale in Britain.

23 January – David Steel announces that he will not stand for the leadership of the new Social and Liberal Democratic Party.

24 January – Arthur Scargill is re-elected as leader of the National Union of Mineworkers by a narrow majority.

28 January – The Birmingham Six lose an appeal against their convictions.

1 February – Victor Miller, a 33-year-old warehouse worker from Wolverhampton, confesses to the murder of 14-year-old Stuart Gough, who was found dead in Worcestershire last month.

3 February – Nurses throughout the UK strike for higher pay and more cash for the National Health Service.

4 February – Nearly 7,000 ferry workers go on strike in Britain, paralysing the nation’s seaports.

5 February – The first BBC Red Nose Day raises £15 million for charity.

7 February – It is reported that more than 50% of men and 80% of women working full-time in London are earning less than the lowest sum needed to buy the cheapest houses in the capital.

13 – 28 February – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, but do not win any medals.

15 February – Norman Fowler, Secretary of State for Employment, announces plans for a new training scheme which the government hopes will give jobs to up to 600,000 people who are currently unemployed.

16 February – Thousands of nurses and co-workers form picket lines outside British hospitals as they go on strike in protest against what they see as inadequate NHS funding.

26 February – Multiple rapist and murderer John Duffy is sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should never be released.

1 March – British Aerospace launches a takeover bid for the government-owned Rover Group, the largest British-owned carmaker.

3 March – The SDP merges with the Liberal Party to create the Social and Liberal Democratic Party. Its interim leaders are David Steel and Robert Maclennan. The merger means that the Liberal Party has ceased to exist after 129 years.

4 March – Halifax Building Society reveals that year-on-year house prices rose by 16.9% last month.

6 March – Operation Flavius: A Special Air Service team of the British Army shoots dead three unarmed members of a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) Active Service Unit in Gibraltar.

7 March – Margaret Thatcher announces a £3 billion regeneration scheme to improve a series of inner city areas by the year 2000.

9 March – It is revealed that the average price of a house in Britain reached £60,000 at the end of last year, compared to £47,000 in December 1986.

10 March – The Prince of Wales narrowly avoids death in an avalanche while on a skiing holiday in Switzerland. Major Hugh Lindsay, former equerry to the Queen, is killed.

15 March – Chancellor Nigel Lawson announces that the standard rate of income tax will be cut to 25p in the pound, while the maximum rate of income tax will be cut to 40p from 60p in the pound.

16 March – Milltown Cemetery attack: Three men are killed and 70 are wounded in a gun and grenade attack by loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone on mourners at Milltown Cemetery in Belfast during the funerals of the three IRA members killed in Gibraltar.

17 March – The fall in unemployment continues with just over 2,500,000 people now registered as unemployed in the UK. However, there is a blow for the city of Dundee, when Ford Motor Company scraps plans to build a new electronics plant in the city – a move which ends hopes of 1,000 new jobs being created for this city which has high unemployment.

19 March – Corporals killings in Belfast: British Army corporals Woods and Howes are abducted, beaten and shot dead by Irish republicans after driving into the funeral cortege of IRA members killed in the Milltown Cemetery attack.

29 March – Plans are unveiled for Europe’s tallest skyscraper to be built at Canary Wharf. The office complex will cost around £3 billion to build and is set to open in 1992.

9 April – The house price boom is reported to have boosted wealth in London and the south-east by £39 billion over the last four years, compared with an £18 billion slump in Scotland and north-west England.

10 April – Golfer Sandy Lyle becomes the first British winner of the US Masters.

21 April – The government announces that nurses will receive a 15% pay rise, at a cost of £794 million which will be funded by the Treasury.

24 April – Luton Town FC beat Arsenal in the Littlewoods Cup final at Wembley 3-2. The match was won in the 92nd minute with a goal by Brian Stein after Luton had come back from being 2-1 down and goalkeeper Andy Dibble saving a penalty in the 79th minute. Luton scorers Brian Stein and Danny Wilson. Attendance 96,000

May – The first 16-year-olds sit General Certificate of Secondary Education examinations, replacing both the O-level and CSE. The new qualifications are marked against objective standards rather than relatively.

2 May – Three off-duty British servicemen are killed in The Netherlands by the IRA.

6 May – Graeme Hick makes English cricket history by scoring 405 runs in a county championship match.

7 May – The proposed Poll tax, which is expected to come into force next year, will see the average house rise in value by around 20%, according to a study.

14 May – Wimbledon F.C., who have been Football League members for just 11 seasons and First Division members for two, win the FA Cup with a 1–0 win over league champions Liverpool at Wembley. Lawrie Sanchez scored the winning goal in the first half, while Liverpool’s John Aldridge missed a penalty in the second half. In Scotland, Celtic beat Dundee United 2-1 in the Scottish Cup final with two late goals from Frank McAvennie to complete the Scottish double.

19 May – Unemployment is now below 2,500,000 for the first time since early 1981.

House prices in Norwich, one of the key beneficiaries of the current economic boom, have risen by 50% in the last year.

24 May – Local Government Act becomes law. The controversial Section 28 prevents local authorities from "promoting homosexuality". Local authorities are also obliged to outsource more services, and dog licences are abolished (except in Northern Ireland).

Albert Dock in Liverpool reopened by Prince Charles as a leisure and business centre including the Tate Liverpool art museum.

31 May – the BBC controversial film, Tumbledown is broadcast despite Ministry of Defence concern.

2 June – U.S. President Ronald Reagan makes a visit to Britain.

11 June – Some 80,000 people attend a concert at Wembley Stadium in honour of Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid campaigner who turned 70 on that day and has been in prison since 1964.

15 June – Five British soldiers are killed by the IRA in Lisburn.

16 June – More than 100 English football fans are arrested in West Germany in connection with incidents of football hooliganism during the European Championships.

18 June – England’s participation in the European Football Champions ended when they finished bottom of their group having lost all three games.

23 June – Three gay rights activists invade the BBC television studios during the six o’clock bulletin of the BBC News.

July – The Freeze art exhibition is held at Surrey Docks in London Docklands, it is organised by Damien Hirst and is considered significant in the development of the Young British Artists.

5 July – The Church of England announces that it will allow the ordination of women priests from 1992.

6 July – Piper Alpha disaster oil rig in the North Sea explodes and results in the death of 167 workers.

A contractor’s relief driver pours 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at a water treatment plant near Camelford in Cornwall, causing extensive pollution to the local water supply.

18 July – Paul Gascoigne, 21-year-old midfielder, becomes the first £2 million footballer signed by a British club when he leaves Newcastle United and joins Tottenham Hotspur.

28 July – Paddy Ashdown, MP for Yeovil in Somerset, is elected as the first leader of the Social and Liberal Democratic Party.

28 July – Paddy Ashdown an ex-Royal Marine commando is elected leader of the Social Democrats and Liberal Democrats.

29 July – Most provisions of the Education Reform Act come into effect in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Act introduces Grant-maintained schools and Local Management of Schools, allowing schools to be taken out of the direct control of local government; a National Curriculum with Key Stages; an element of parental preference in the choice of schools; published league tables of school examination results; controls on the use of the word ‘degree’ by UK institutions; and abolition of tenure for new academics.

31 July – Economists warn that the house price boom is likely to end next year.

1 August – A British Army soldier is killed by IRA terrorists at Inglis Barracks in North London.

2 August – Everton F.C. pay £2.3 million for West Ham United striker Tony Cottee, 22, breaking the national record set six weeks ago by Paul Gascoigne’s transfer.

8 August – The first child (a girl) of TRH The Duke and Duchess of York is born at Portland Hospital in London. She was fifth in line to the throne until the birth of Prince George of Cambridge on the 22 July 2013. She is currently sixth in line.

14 August – Scunthorpe United F.C.’s Glanford Park is opened; the first new stadium to be built by a Football League club since the 1950s. Their last game at their original ground, Old Showground, was on 18 May.

18 August – Ian Rush becomes the most expensive player to join a British club when he returns to Liverpool F.C. for £2.7 million after a year at Juventus in Italy.

20 August – Six British soldiers are killed by an IRA bomb near Belfast. 27 other people are injured.

22 August – New licensing laws allow pubs to stay open all day in England and Wales.

The Duke and Duchess of York’s 14-day-old daughter is named Beatrice Elizabeth Mary.

29 August – 14-year-old Matthew Sadler becomes Britain’s youngest international chess master.

31 August – Postal workers walk out on strike over a dispute concerning bonuses paid to recruit new workers in London and the South East.

3 September – Economic experts warn that the recent economic upswing for most of the developed world is almost over, and that these countries – including Britain – face a recession in the near future.

9 September – The England cricket team’s tour to India is cancelled after Captain Graham Gooch and seven other players are refused visas because of involvement in South African cricket during the apartheid boycott.

13 September – Royal Mail managers and Union of Communication Workers representatives agree a settlement to end the postal workers strike.

17 September – 2 October – Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and win 5 gold, 10 silver and 9 bronze medals.

24 September – The house price boom is reported to be slowing as a result of increased mortgage rates.

30 September – A Gibraltar jury decides that the 3 IRA members killed on 6 March were killed "lawfully".

October – Vauxhall launches the third generation of its popular Cavalier family saloon.

9 October – Labour MP and Shadow Chancellor John Smith, 50, is hospitalised with a heart attack in Edinburgh.

12 October – As Pope John Paul II addresses the European Parliament, Ian Paisley heckles and denounces him as the Antichrist.

13 October – The House of Lords rules that extracts of the banned book Spycatcher can be published in the media.

18 October – Jaguar unveils its new Jaguar XJ220 supercar at the Motor Show. It is set go into production in 1990, costing £350,000 and being the world’s fastest production car with a top speed of 220 mph.

27 October – Three IRA supporters are found guilty of conspiracy to murder in connection with a plot to kill Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Tom King.

28 October – British Rail announces a 21% rise in the cost of long distance season tickets.

2 November – Victor Miller is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Stuart Gough.

4 November – Margaret Thatcher presses for freedom for the people of Poland on her visit to Gdańsk.

9 November – The government unveils plans for a new identity card scheme in an attempt to clamp down on football hooliganism.

15 November – The Education Secretary, Kenneth Baker, says that the national testing will place great emphasis on grammar.

30 November – A government report reveals that up to 50,000 people in Britain may be HIV positive, and that by the end of 1992 up to 17,000 people may have died from AIDS.

A bronze statue of former prime minister Clement Attlee, who died in 1967, is unveiled outside Limehouse Library in London by fellow former prime minister Harold Wilson.

3 December – Health minister Edwina Currie provokes outrage by stating that most of Britain’s egg production is infected with the salmonella bacteria, causing an immediate nationwide fall in egg sales.

6 December – The last shipbuilding facilities on Wearside, once the largest shipbuilding area in the world, are to close with the loss of 2,400 jobs.

10 December – James W. Black wins the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings "for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment".

12 December – 35 people are killed in a collision between three trains at Clapham in London.

15 December – Unemployment is now only just over 2,100,000 – the lowest level for almost eight years.

16 December – Edwina Currie resigns as Health minister.

19 December – The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors publishes its house price survey, revealing a deep recession in the housing market.

PC Gavin Carlton, 29, is shot dead in Coventry in a siege by two armed bank robbers. His colleague DC Leonard Jakeman is also shot but survives. One of the gunmen gives himself up to police, while the other shoots himself dead.

20 December – The three-month-old daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York is christened Beatrice Elizabeth Mary.

21 December – Pan Am Flight 103 explodes over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway killing a total of 270 people – 11 on the ground and all 259 who were on board. It is believed that the cause of the explosion was a terrorist bomb.

Inflation remains low for the seventh year running, now standing at 4.9%.

1988 in British television

4 January – BBC1 moves the repeat episode of Neighbours to a 5:35pm evening slot, the decision to do this having been made by controller Michael Grade on the advice of his daughter.

6 January – All ITV regions network Emmerdale Farm in the Wednesday and Thursday 6.30pm slot.

11 January – The first episode of the game show Fifteen to One airs on Channel 4.

25–29 January – TV-am airs a week of live broadcasts from Sydney to celebrate Australia’s bicentenary.

5 February – Comic Relief airs its Red Nose Day fundraiser on BBC1.

13–28 February – The 1988 Winter Olympics are held in Calgary, Alberta and broadcast to television audiences around the world.

15 February – Red Dwarf makes its debut on BBC2.

20 February – London’s Burning makes its debut as a regular series on ITV, having been developed from Jack Rosenthal’s original 1986 film.

19 March – Two off-duty British soldiers are killed after stumbling into an IRA funeral procession in Belfast. Footage of the incident is captured by journalists and widely broadcast.

22 March – Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher tells the House of Commons that journalists have a "bounden duty" to assist the police investigation into the corporals killings by handing over their footage. Many have refused to do so fearing it could place them in danger.

23 March – Film of the corporals killings is seized from the BBC and ITN under the Prevention of Terrorism and Emergency Provisions Acts.

4 April – The original series of Crossroads airs for the last time on ITV. It returns in 2001 before being axed again in 2003.

6 April – ITV’s chart show The Roxy airs for the last time.

15 April – The Pogues perform their controversial hit Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six – a song expressing support for those convicted over the Guildford and Birmingham pub bombings – on the Ben Elton Channel 4 show Friday Night Live. The song is cut short, however, by a commercial break.

28 April – ITV broadcasts Death on the Rock, a hugely controversial episode of Thames Television’s This Week current affairs strand, investigating Operation Flavius, which resulted in the SAS killing three members of the IRA in Gibraltar on 6 March.

16 May – The youth strand DEF II is launched on BBC2.

30 May – Debut of Charles Wood’s screenplay Tumbledown about the experiences of Scots Guard Robert Lawrence, who was left paralysed after being shot in the head by a sniper at the Battle of Mount Tumbledown during the Falklands War.

8 June – Television presenter Russell Harty dies aged 53.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch announces to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts his intention to launch a new news service. Sky News is launched at 6.00pm on 5 February 1989.

11 June – The Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert is staged at Wembley Stadium, London, and broadcast to 67 countries and an audience of 600 million. It was broadcast on BBC 2.

23 June – Three gay rights activists invade the BBC studios during a six o’clock bulletin of the BBC News.

19 July – The Bill broadcasts the first episode of its fourth season and switches to a year-round serial format.

3 August – Brookside is moved from Tuesdays to Wednesdays which means the soap can now be seen on Mondays and Wednesdays.

31 August – ITV airs a version of The Hound of the Baskervilles starring Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke.

8 September – Channel 4 drops plans to invite Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams to appear on an edition of its late night discussion programme After Dark following

objections from other contributors.

17 September–2 October – The 1988 Summer Olympics are held in Seoul, South Korea and broadcast to television audiences around the world.

30 September – Television presenters Mike Smith and Sarah Greene are seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Gloucestershire.

3 October – The magazine programme This Morning makes its debut. It is presented by Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan until 2001.

19 October – Home Secretary Douglas Hurd issues a notice under clause 13 of the BBC Licence and Agreement to the BBC and under section 29 of the Broadcasting Act 1981 to the Independent Broadcasting Authority prohibiting the broadcast of direct statements by representatives or supporters of 11 Irish political and military organisations. The ban lasts until 1994, and denies the UK news media the right to broadcast the voices, though not the words, of all Irish republican and Loyalist paramilitaries. The restrictions – targeted primarily at Sinn Féin – means that actors are used to speak the words of any representative interviewed for radio and television.

25 October – As the 25th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy approaches ITV airs the two part documentary The Men Who Killed Kennedy, a film which explores discrepancies and inconsistencies in the US Government’s official version of events.

2 November – In the House of Commons, an amendment introduced by the opposition Labour Party condemning the government’s decision over the broadcasting ban as "incompatible with a free society" is rejected, despite some Conservative MPs voting with Labour.

Evacuation, an episode of ITV’s The Bill features one of the series early prominent events – an explosion at Sun Hill police station.

8 November – BBC1 airs Episode 523 of Neighbours featuring the wedding of Scott Robinson and Charlene Mitchell, which is watched by 20 million viewers.

13 November–18 December – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, one of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, is aired as a six-part TV serial by the BBC, featuring actors including Ronald Pickup, Barbara Kellerman and Michael Aldridge.

23 November – The BBC science fiction series Doctor Who celebrates its 25th anniversary and begins the three part serial Silver Nemesis.

24 November – Frank Ruse, a left-wing Labour councillor for Liverpool City Council accompanies Liverpool’s Pagoda Chinese Youth Orchestra to London for an appearance on Blue Peter. He is given a Blue Peter badge, but later receives a BBC headed letter requesting its return. The letter (later discovered to be a forgery) claims the programme had been approached by the office of Labour leader Neil Kinnock expressing concern that a councillor with hard-left views had been given a Blue Peter badge. Upon receiving the returned badge, the BBC writes back to Ruse stating that it had not sent the letter. The incident prompts Ruse to start an enquiry to find out who sent the hoax letter.

26 November – Tugs a children’s model animated series made by Clearwater Features (the company behind the first two seasons of Thomas the Tank Enigne & Friends) debuts on ITV.

1 December – ITV’s ORACLE Teletext service launches Park Avenue, a teletext based soap opera. It is written by Robert Burns and runs until ORACLE loses its franchise at the end of 1992.

3 December – Comedian Steve Tandy wins New Faces of ’88.

11 December – Launch date of the Astra Satellite. The satellite will provide television coverage to Western Europe and is revolutionary as one of the first medium-powered satellites, allowing reception with smaller dishes than has previously been possible.

13 December – Central airs the final episode of Sons and Daughters making it the first ITV region to complete the series.

22 December – BBC1 airs Civvy Street, a spin-off episode of EastEnders set during World War II.

25 December – The final edition of It’s a Knockout to air on BBC1 is another celebrity special, It’s a Charity Knockout From Walt Disney World, featuring teams of celebrities from the United Kingdom, United States and Australia. The series returns to S4C in 1991.

26–30 December – As part of a Christmas special, Channel 4 soap Brookside airs five episodes over five consecutive days.

Ulster Television in Northern Ireland is the last in the ITV network to begin 24-hour transmission.

BBC1

3 January – First of the Summer Wine (1988–1989) 3 May – 4 Square (1988–1991) 30 May – Tumbledown 3 September – Noel’s Saturday Roadshow (1988–1990) 12 September – Stoppit and Tidyup (1988) 18 September – On the Record (1988–2002) 17 October – Playdays (1988–1997) 20 October – Charlie Chalk (1988–1989) 29 December – You Rang, M’Lord? (1988–1993)

BBC2

15 February – Red Dwarf (1988–1999, 2012–present) 9 May – DEF II (1988–1994) 18 October – Colin’s Sandwich (1988–1990)

ITV

4 January – After Henry (1988–1992) 20 February – You Bet! (1988–1997) London’s Burning (1988–2002) 16 April – All Clued Up (1988–1991) 19 July – Wheel of Fortune (1988–2001) 26 July – I Can Do That (1988–1991) 3 September – The Hit Man and Her (1988–1992) 6 September – Count Duckula (1988–1993) 3 October – This Morning (1988—present) 24 November – Children’s Ward (1988–2000) 26 November – TUGS (1988–1989) 1 December – Park Avenue on ORACLE (1988–1992) 3 December – How to Be Cool (1988)[14]

Channel 4

11 January – Fifteen to One (1988–2003, 2013–present) 23 September – Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1988–1998)

Charts Number-one singles

"Always on My Mind" – Pet Shop Boys "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" – Belinda Carlisle "I Think We’re Alone Now" – Tiffany "I Should Be So Lucky" – Kylie Minogue "Don’t Turn Around" – Aswad "Heart" – Pet Shop Boys "Theme from S-Express" – S’Express "Perfect" – Fairground Attraction "With a Little Help from My Friends" – Wet Wet Wet / Billy Bragg "Doctorin’ the Tardis" – The Timelords "I Owe You Nothing" – Bros "Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You" – Glenn Medeiros "The Only Way Is Up" – Yazz and the Plastic Population "A Groovy Kind of Love" – Phil Collins "He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother" – The Hollies "Desire" – U2 "One Moment in Time" – Whitney Houston "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)" – Enya "First Time" – Robin Beck "Mistletoe and Wine" – Cliff Richard

Posted by brizzle born and bred on 2018-01-05 15:38:29

Tagged: , memories of 1988 , 1988 , UK news headlines

The post memories of 1988 appeared first on Good Info.

[torentialtribute]

Usain Bolt has gone… now meet the 100m new world order

a much clearer picture of how & # 39; the world's fastest men compete through Diamond League engagement in Birmingham on Saturday.

In what is probably the best 100m field anywhere this season, the meet at the Alexander Stadium

Where Britain fits into that new world order is a fascinating sub plot, and it will be just over a year ago Usain Bolt Zharnel Hughes claimed that the & # 39; golden generation & # 39; of home spinters is almost on the world stage.

He has just conquered Europe, of course, and his teammate Reece Prescod was good enough for silver, but they know that beating the fastest men in America, the Caribbean and Africa will be much harder in the second half of the Olympic cycle in Tokyo.

They could not have asked for a much more difficult question

Those four, together [bewerken] External links [bewerken] [lijst toevoegen] Do those four, together with Hughes and Prescod and the 2011 world champion Yohan Blake, will be the most hyped in Birmingham, but the depth of the 16-man field is quite something.

Eleven of them are less than 10 seconds this season and 12 are 25 or younger, with Lyles the fastest man in the world in 2018 at 9.88 seconds and Coleman arrives at the indoor and record holder world champions.

If it had been there, it would give a wide-angle view of the post-Bolt landscape that, while rightly depressing for the bean chips of the sport, at least won the advantage of greater unpredictability in athletics

For the first time since 2008, it is a lottery and the shake-up to be the next fastest man is intriguing on the way to the World Championships next year. Hughes and Prescod will be part of the photo and the feeling will remain if Prescod, currently the slower of the two, can take his big frame out of the faster blocks, he has the power to be a protagonist to the summit

Age: 21

Length: 5ft 11in

Season start: 9.88sec

2016 U20 world champion at 100m and 4x100m.

best: 9.89sec

World number 3 in 2018.

World relay silver in 2013 and 2017.

ZHARNEL HUGHES

[194590006] ]

[19459002

Age: 24

Height: 5ft 9in

Personal record: 9.89sec

Best: 9.93sec

194 59008]

: 9.93sec

Son of 1992 Olympic relay champion Leroy.

]

Age: 22

Height: 6ft

Personal best: 9.96sec

Seasonal best: 9.96sec

Double British champion and European silver.

[1945911]

CHRISTIAN COLEMAN

This race, in particular, has the potential to perform Prescod at its best. given his stated desire to hunt fast starter Lik and Coleman off the blocks, allowing him to reach the speeds that Linford Christie's & 25-year national record of 9.87sec

Prescod, which 9.88 wind-assisted earlier in the year for its 9.96sec silver in Berlin, said: & # 39; With 100, if you have really good starters and good finishers, your best race will come true. If you have guys who finish strong, but if you don't have as many starters, I'm not as quick as I should be.

& If you look at the Birmingham Diamond League and the

In the wider world, enthusiasm is currently being drawn by Lyles, the larger-than-life American who has just turned 21 and has recorded faster times

On his 21st birthday, Bolt had disappeared 10.03 seconds for 100 meters and 19.75 seconds for 200 meters, although he had driven only one competitive 100-meter race, while Lyles, who He started mimicking light-dangerous fights and dancing in his blocks, only became professional in 2016, but is 9.93 seconds and 19.69 seconds for the 200-meter, his stronger suit.

He has the kind of personality outside the walls that concerns a follower, and one example of this is his conviction that one day he will set a world record of 9.44sec "I dreamed in 2016. I walked with it and the clock flashed 9.41 and I ran to my mother and said: "Mom, I just ran 9.41! "And she thought," That's a nice album, Noah. "It's funny how you can get things out of reality and make them come true in dreams. But I don't think I can play 9.41.

Lyles stands with American teammates Coleman and Baker as the figure in which most is expected in the 100 meters.

Apart from Hughes and Prescod, there will be three other sub-10sec British in the Birmingham Field – Adam Gemili, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and the reigning Diamond League champion CJ Ujah.

The optimism within British athletics is that one could step up and become a medal candidate at the Doha World Championships next year and then Tokyo 2020.

Saturday's race should end the determination of how long

Considering the British man has won an individual Olympic sprint medal since 200 million silver from Darren Campbell in Sydney 2000.]

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[sentrava]

What’s On in Stockholm: March 2019

As the days begin to lengthen and the sun shares its warmth, take that renewed energy to enjoy Stockholm this March. From the Wonderland exhibit that’ll fill your world with color, to a comedy show that’ll get you laughing, to films that’ll leave you pondering, Stockhol has got that rejuvenating spring spirit.

Here are the best events happening in Stockholm this month:

Friday 1st – Sunday 3rd March

Wonderland at Fotografiska

This incredible exhibit by Kirsty Mitchell has been on display at Fotografiska for a week already. There are only a few days left, and you don’t want to miss it! Mitchell began this project after she lost her mother; it is a journey through the fairy tale world as she healed. Admission to Fotografiska is 165 SEK.

    Saturday 2nd – Sunday 3rd March

Weekend Intensive: Just Write at Crafoords väg

This weekend course will help you pick up that pen and start writing those stories you’re always getting lost in your head with. Whether you are new to writing or experience, you are welcome to Eva Sunmo’s course. Just be sure to bring a pen and notepad! The course registration fee is 2.000 SEK, and seats are limited.

    Saturday 2nd March

Rafiki at Zita Folkets Bio

Rafiki, a film about forbidden love, was the first Kenyan movie chosen to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is banned in Kenya for its “homosexual themes,” and viewing of it is often limited to film festivals in other parts of the world. Take this opportunity to watch Rafiki in Stockholm through the Stockholm Feminist Film Festival, ending 3rd March! Tickets are 130 SEK.

    Arrhult at Hilma

This brother and sister duo write their own music together, with lyrics that represent the new generation with messages of being brave, ambitious, and creative. Come celebrate the release of their new single, “Kids of Paris,” with free entrance! The duo topped the charts with Joakim Lundell in 2017 with the song “Monster.”

    Monday 4th – Sunday 10th March

Tempo Documentary Festival

Bringing you documentaries from all over the world, this festival includes seminars, photo exhibitions, competitions, and more! This year’s theme is “heritage.” Ticket prices vary.

    Monday 4th March

Nicki Minaj (with Juice Wrld and Lil Xan) at Ericsson Globe

Nicki Minaj does it all: she raps, sings, writes songs, acts, and models. Her fast-paced lyrics brought her attention back in 2010, and she isn’t giving up the spotlight anytime soon! Tickets are 550 – 810 SEK.

    Tuesday 5th March

Solid Body, Fluid Mind Opening Reception at Wetterling Gallery

Dina Isæus-Berlin is a Swedish artist and graduate of Konstfack University of Arts, Craft and Design in Stockholm. Her often large-scale paintings show the marks of human movement. The exhibit will be open until Saturday 6th April.

    Wednesday 6th, Wednesday 13th, Wednesday 20th, and Wednesday 27th March

Morning Swim at Selma City Spa

Begin the hump day with a healthy start, watching the sunrise from a rooftop pool, exercising in the gym, and having a healthy breakfast. There will be access to the sauna and relaxation area as well. Tickets are 195 SEK.

    Friday 8th March

The Women’s District at Sergels Torg 5

The 8th marks 100 years since women got voting rights in Sweden. In recognition and celebration of this, “The Women’s District” exhibition will have its opening day. The photographs and stories of women who have lived in the Klara district will be shared. Regular admission is 40 SEK; the exhibit is free up to 25 years, and is free to all on Mondays.

    Saturday 9th March

The Laugh House English Comedy at Sjätte Tunnan

Enjoy two hours of laughs with comedians from the US, England, and Sweden. Entrance fee is 150 SEK. If you’d like a meal included, and the cost is 400 SEK.

    Sunday 10th March

Vegoforum at ABF Stockholm

If you’re interested in trying a vegan diet, or if you simply want to understand more about the lifestyle, the Vegoforum is bringing information to you for free. You’ll have the opportunity to learn about vegan food, environmental issues, animal ethics issues, and more.

    They Shall Not Grow Old at Bio Rio

Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong) produces and directs this historical documentary, using 100-year-old footage from World War I. Using modern technology, the black and white silent footage has been given color and sound. The film is in English, with Swedish subtitles for most showings. Tickets range from 110 SEK to 130 SEK. If you miss this sreening, don’t worry; you’ll have the opportunity to see it again on Tuesday 12th, Saturday 16th, Tuesday 19th, and Sunday 24th March.

    Monday 11th March

Norrsken Open House

Norrsken House is an office space available to entrepreneurs. If you’re an entrepreneur looking to surround yourself with like-minded people dedicated to solving problems more efficiently, you’ll definitely want to RSVP for this event.

    Friday 15th March

Shawn Mendes at Ericsson Globe

We’re in love with this line up: Shawn Mendes, and support from Alessia Cara! These two Canadians are both making an impact on the pop music world today. Tickets range from 450 – 855 SEK.

    Saturday 16th March

The House That Jack Built at Bio Rio

A thriller that follows the story of serial killer Jack, portrayed by Matt Dillon, directed by Lars von Trier. Tickets are 135 SEK for regular admission, 115 SEK for students. The film is in English, with Swedish subtitles.

    Sunday 17th March

Flea Market at Färgfabriken


Have you tried the KonMari method and sparked joy in your life yet? You could sell those once treasured items at this flea market. Perhaps you are in search of treasures to add to your space, or just want to explore. Entrance is free!

    Tuesday 19th March

Dave Matthews Band at Annexet

Rocking the scene since the 90s, Dave Matthews Band always puts on a good show. Tickets start at 695 SEK, and also include a download of the new studio album, “Come Tomorrow.”

    Saturday 23rd March

UEFA 2020 Qualifier at Friends Arena

Whether you call it soccer or football, it’s still a great game! Sweden will play Romania in the European Championship qualifier. Tickets are between 200 and 600 SEK.

    Monday 25th March

Deborah Levy and Agnes Lidbeck at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern

Agnes Levy is a critically acclaimed author, raised in the UK, who has recently been successful with her novels Hot Milk and Swimming Home, both of which were nominated for the Man Booker Prize. Levy will be in conversation with author Lidbeck.

    Thursday 28th March

How Meditation Changes Your Brain at Yeshe Norbu Mind Training Centre

We have all heard of the benefits of meditation, but how does it actually affect our brain? If you’re curious about this, Hans Melo’s talk is the event for you. Melo holds a PhD in Computational Neuroscience in Reinforcement Learning from the University of Toronto, and has over ten years of experience in the practice of meditation. Tickets to this talk range from 160 SEK to 240 SEK.

    Ongoing in March

The Future Starts Here at ArkDes

How could 80 objects affect and shape our future? This exhibit encourages the viewers to think about how these exhibited objects, from smart appliances to satellites, will affect our bodies, our work, and our world in the future. This exhibit opens on Thursday 21st March, and is open until August. Admission is 150 SEK

    Liljevachs Spring Salon

This year’s spring salon exhibits 136 participants’ work for a total of 254 works. Entrance is only 80 SEK (free on Mondays), and there is plenty of material to keep you interested all day long. Allow yourself to fall in love with a piece, as all work at the exhibit is for sale! The exhibit closes on Sunday 24th March.

    In Character at Fotografiska

Anja Niemi’s exhibit at Fotografiska shows her talent at constructing fantasies. Niemi uses the beautiful and the creepy to create her images. Admission is 165 SEK.

    Konsthall 16 at National Sports Museum

This gallery that opened in February is the meeting place of sports and art. The first show has a collection of art from nine Swedish artists. Entrance to this museum is always free.

    Sandy Temper: Making Up Stories at Stora Nygatan 13

This project uses music, video, and pictures to tell the story of a woman, transforming a public square into a pop-up cinema for all to enjoy. An important part of the project is for the art to be easily accessible; the project is shown daily and for free for the entire month of March.

  If you’re a business or organisation that would like us to add your event to next month’s calendar, please contact us at hello [@] scandinaviastandard [dot] com. Thank you!

  Stay Up to Date with our Newsletter

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  What’s On in Stockholm: March 2019 published first on https://medium.com/@OCEANDREAMCHARTERS

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 8th July 2018

All right, I really don’t want to talk about Drake. Let me elaborate: Drake has made a lot of music I love ever since he started rapping, but honestly, after a few years, he just got too popular and lost my interest because, like anyone at their peak, kind of got the mindset of “I can do whatever the hell I want and still get money” – which is, in fact, true. His laziest, mediocre, most boring and cheap songs seem to be his most successful, and that kind of aggravates me, when he’s capable of much better and puts it out, only for it to pale popularity-wise in comparison to the trash that he can spit out. Hence, I am glad UK chart regulations have shortened my Drake-load to only three songs, while America has 27 Drake songs in the Hot 100. Let’s stop rambling and get on into the top 10.

Top 10

Surprisingly, Drake just couldn’t knock George Ezra’s “Shotgun” off of its top spot, now at its second week there. That would be Drake’s third number-one debut this week if not for this track’s somewhat odd amount of strength as a hit. Huh.

Oh, yeah, speaking of Drake, we have “Don’t Matter to Me” from his latest album Scorpion, featuring posthumous vocals from Michael Jackson and uncredited vocals from Paul Anka, debuting at the runner-up spot.

“Solo” by Clean Bandit featuring Demi Lovato is down one spot to number-three, somehow still toppling two Drake songs.

The highest of those two being “Nonstop”, debuting at number-four.

Drake also takes up the number-five spot with “Emotionless”, and just like that, he takes up three spots in the top five of both the US and UK charts. Delightful, it’s like the charts are his house that he rents every Summer.

Due to Drake, we have some decent fallers in the top 10, including number-six, “2002” by Anne-Marie, down three spots to number-six.

Also down by three positions is “I’ll be There” by Jess Glynne, now at number-seven.

“I Like It” by Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin stays at number-eight from last week.

“If You’re Over Me” by Years & Years is also down three spaces to number-nine, but that will definitely rebound with their new album and all next week.

Finally, “Girls Like You” by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B creeps into the top ten at #10 due to a three-spot increase.

Climbers

Yeah, not much increased this week at all. Mostly debuts from last week had smaller gains, but those aren’t really notable. There are seven-space jumps for “Taste” by Tyga featuring Offset up to #27 and “Nevermind” by Dennis Lloyd up to #32, but other than those and “Oh My” by Dappy featuring Ay Em going up five spots to #26, there’s nothing to go and talk to home about here.

Fallers

There are a LOT of small fallers this week, especially for trap-rap and hip-hop since Drake took over that demographic, so I’ll only mention the bigger ones for pop and go rapid-fire for hip-hop. “One Kiss” by Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa is down six to #16, as is “Familiar” by Liam Payne and J Balvin down to #20, as well as “no tears left to cry” by Ariana Grande now at #29. “Flames” by David Guetta and Sia took an eight-spot hit to #34, and “Girls” by Rita Ora featuring Cardi B, Bebe Rexha and Charli XCX didn’t fare well either, down eleven spots to #38, joining Cheat Codes and Little Mix at the bottom of the top 40 as their track “Only You” is down eight spaces to #40 after its debut last week.

Now, for hip-hop: XXXTENTACION – for obvious reasons – didn’t have a good week, with “SAD!” down nine to #14, “Moonlight” down 14 to #31, and “changes” down 15 to #37. Post Malone’s “Better Now” is also down eight to #15, taking an identical drop to “German” by EO, now at #23. And rapid-fire for the lesser falls: “Praise the Lord (Da Shine)” by A$AP Rocky and Skepta hit #21, alongside “Butterflies” by AJ Tracey and Not3s at #22. Women in hip-hop suffered too, as “Man Down” by Shakka and AlunaGeorge hit #30 and “Bed” by Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande had a five-spot injury down to #35.

Dropouts

Drake dropped out the charts. Somehow, “Nice for What” featuring uncredited vocals from Big Freedia and 5thward Weebie is out of the charts from #25, despite the album release and it hitting #1 in the US. That’s really odd, actually.

Other than that, “Love Lies” by Khalid and Normani is out from #33, “Answerphone” by Banx & Ranx and Ella Eyre featuring Yxng Bane is out from #37 and “Family Tree” by Ramz is out from #38, with most of the songs being pretty much at the end of their run, although “Answerphone” is fading away much quicker than I expected it to.

Returning Entries

There is one returning entry this week due to the World Cup and it’s an interesting case. Let’s talk about it.

#24 – “Three Lions” – Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds

“Three Lions” is a Britpop song written by rock band Lightning Seeds, as well as comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner, known for hosting the show Fantasy Football League together. It originally hit #1 in 1996 because it was made to celebrate England hosting the European championships, however it has since been recontextualised for World Cup events. In 1998, it was re-recorded and hit #1 once again, but that version never really stuck. Instead, every four years (and sometimes in between due to the European Championships), the original 1996 track kept on returning to the top 40 or top 100, peaking differently each time – in 2002 it was #16, while it was #9 in 2006, #10 in 2010 (alongside a second re-recording that peaked at #21, released with Robbie Williams and Russell Brand under the name THE SQUAD), #77 in 2012, #27 in 2014, #84 in 2016, and finally, #24 in 2018. It has a strong legacy and will go down as an official anthem for English sport, but is it actually any good?

Well, I’ve never been too much of a fan of music that’s too rowdy or ladsy (for lack of a better word), including a lot of Britpop, but this is too safe for even that. The hook is so weakly delivered with not really much of a passion at all, and I’m not sure if any of these guys can actually sing – don’t get me wrong, it’s catchy and I appreciate all the references to other notable English football moments, as well as some being sampled in an instrumental break that includes a nice guitar/synth refrain that slowly grows in intensity but then it all drops off at that anti-climactic, weaksauce chorus! Skinner’s vocoded, for God’s sake. Put some passion into the main vocals as much as you do with all the backing and left-ear-exclusive vocalising. Yeah, I’m not too much of a fan, but hey, I’ll chip in and have some hope for my own country. Come on, England! It’s coming home!

Wait, sorry, no, it’s not, we just lost against Croatia. God, it’s going to be depressingly ironic when this hits #1 next week – and it probably will.

DRAKE (new arrivals)

#5 – “Emotionless” – Drake featuring Mariah Carey

This is technically a solo Drake song that samples Mariah Carey, but I want to credit her as a feature here because I find it odd (and kind of awesome) how she’s done nothing of note this year and yet she’s still had two top 10 hits in the US since December simply by convenience, the first being “All I Want for Christmas is You”, the second being this new track from Scorpion, and, yeah, you know this is a No I.D. beat as soon as you hear Mariah Carey’s powerful vocals over the simple piano chords and a choir being pummelled by this bass and the skittering hi-hats, very similarly to “The Story of O.J.” by JAY-Z, which he produced last year, especially with how the sampled vocals are chopped-up at times, setting the stage for Drake to body this track with his rhymes about... condemning females using social media and modern technology to enjoy their time in foreign places, specifically Rome, and how he wasn’t hiding his kid from the world, he was hiding the world from his kid (that basically means the exact same thing, Drake, you can’t switch that!). He takes some shots at Kanye and mentions how the wise man once said nothing at all, which apparently, Drake cannot do throughout this year as he’s dissing Pusha T and Kanye throughout the album subtly, and then there’s an awkward fade-out to a nice funky, jazzy piano section that just seems kind of out of place and unnecessary? It doesn’t even lead up to the next song on the album (that’s “God’s Plan”), it’s just kind of there. Okay, but the beat is fantastic, so check this out anyway.

#4 – “Nonstop” – Drake

This nearly debuted at #1 in the US. I’m sorry, but what does anyone see in this?! This is boring. This is trash. This is Drake and his producers just not trying. Drake half-mumbles his verses for the most-part, with some pretty cringeworthy lines about how he’s light-skinned but still a dark man mentally, and how he’s a wig-splitter or whatever the hell. This beat is literally just a bass and some cheap trap percussion I could probably download from Loopmasters right now. This hook is literally just a sample from a Mack Daddy Ju song repeating with static effects and distortion, to the point where it’s unrecognisable and a massive waste of sample clearance money. I can’t believe Wheelchair Jimmy could make a Lil Xan song, but here we are: a sleep-inducing, probably drug-addled sleepwalk through Drake’s mind with more ad-libs than bars, which is probably how I’d describe his album – just replace ad-libs with pointless samples, for which “In My Feelings” is probably the worst case. I’m glad that one didn’t debut. Oh, yeah, and there’s the opening part, which is supposed to be cool and all but all he says is he flipped a switch and has some dumb “flip, flip” ad-lib afterwards, like, what are you trying to do, Drake? No matter what you’re trying to do, you’re failing immensely.

#2 – “Don’t Matter to Me” – Drake featuring Michael Jackson and Paul Anka

So, combining his enthusiasm for both lazy sampling and grave-robbery, Drake decided to buy some unreleased material from Michael Jackson that he wrote with Paul Anka, who provides additional vocals on the song, in 1983, recorded in the same session that lead to “Love Never Felt So Good”, another posthumous single Jackson released with Justin Timberlake in 2014. Surprisingly, Drake sloppily rap-singing over deceased R&B singers has proven to be a working formula, as he does the same stunt with Static Major on the best song on the album, “After Dark”. It’s vaguely tropical in its production, with some nice, warm synths and handclaps as well as some accentuated 808s that set the stage once again for Drake, who has a charm in his badly-sung verses. Michael Jackson’s pre-chorus is okay, and the King of Pop’s chorus is somewhat lowkey, which is a shockingly calm, subtle vocal hook for MJ but possibly an overly dramatic performance for self-certified wig-splitter Drake. Also, I know the audio was from the 1980s, but this could really have been mixed better, especially in the kind of excruciating pre-chorus and bridge (which is just all over the place with unnecessary reverb and echo). Come on, Drake, the mixing throughout this album is way too amateur for someone of your status. JAY-Z’s verse on “Talk Up” might as well have not been there before you made it louder when you pulled a Kanye and changed your own album, cluttering “In My Feelings” even more in the process and not changing this track and “March 14”, which need better mixing, or “Final Fantasy”, which really should have had the unnecessary bridge that samples the Maury skit cut, or “Emotionless”, which could do with you leaving the profanities intact on the explicit version of the album (how do you mess that up, honestly?), or even “Blue Tint”, by giving Future the verse he rightly deserves, instead of just sticking him onto the chorus as an uncredited hook-singer. Maybe you could have put songs on the right side of the album? Side A was darker hip-hop and trap, why is “God’s Plan” on there? Side B was smoother, funkier alternative R&B, why are “Blue Tint” and “Nice for What” on there? Thankfully, this will probably and hopefully be the last time I review a Drake song until my end-of-year lists – in which knowing Drake, he’ll probably make both worst AND best – so I can say I’ve slain this dragon for now (if Pusha T hadn’t done it already).

Conclusion

I mean, what do you think? I can’t give anything to the returning entries, so I have to give Drake something or other. “Nonstop” easily takes Worst of the Week – that is a dreadfully boring song – while I think I’ll give Best of the Week to “Emotionless”, and Honourable Mention to “Don’t Matter to Me” with Michael Jackson and Paul Anka for at least... trying. See you next week.

[thecloudlight-blog]

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First Listen: The Heliocentrics, 'A World Of Masks

When a band is able to many musical styles, it could be thrilling to hear them all on a single album. But it can be just as fun when the institution dives deep into one mode, focusing their musical revel in and artistic imagination into a coherent vision. That’s how the Heliocentrics’ fourth album, A World of Masks, feels. The UK-based ensemble, which has blanketed as much as nine contributors, has in the past delved into hip-hop (first making their name on DJ Shadow’s 2006 album The Outsider), jazz, psych, funk, Afrobeat and greater.

A World of Masks suggestions at all those patterns, on the grounds that musical variety is baked into the Heliocentrics’ musical DNA.

But at some stage in eleven tracks totaling 45 minutes, the group concentrates on the whole on otherworldly psych-funk. Each piece looks like a part of an universal suite, a type of infinite cosmic jam the band should reputedly play for all time. Heliocentrics songs usually originate from improvisation, but this is clearer this time around. The unfastened nature in their unfettered trips evoke European collectives like Can and Träd, Gräs och Stenar as a whole lot as space tourists like Funkadelic and Sun Ra (who, not coincidentally, made two albums within the ’60s referred to as The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra).

The cognizance on A World of Masks comes partly from a new improvement. Heliocentrics tunes are generally instrumental, but on more than half the album’s songs, Slovokian singer Barbora Patkova improvises lyrics, regularly in her native language. Her vocals are just as space-sure as the Heliocentrics’ track – at times she evokes the striking Sun Ra Arkestra singer June Tyson – however they also provide a framework for the band’s elastic jams. The album opens together with her maximum out-the front overall performance, as she sears across the slow construct of “Made of the Sun,” forging a vocal-instrumental symbiosis that persists during A World of Masks.

Listen to Your Inner Voice for Success in Life

How to concentrate for your internal voice is first understanding your real Teacher or Guide whilst in this international.

Our Creator gave us His Teacher, the Holy Spirit to replace the only we made that keeps us within the dream of separation. The Holy Spirit does now not want to raise conflict, however He does need to update what needs replacing.

His substitute efforts will handiest take an instantaneous in time, which is the identical quantity of time you have been dreaming of life faraway from your actual Home.

The Holy Spirit is invisible, but you could see the results of His Presence, and via them you will learn that He is there.

His efforts will no longer have an impact on eternity, because not anything can.

So really ask that He do the job. As you learn how to listen to your internal voice let Him take over as your Teacher, all time that has passed is now long past. Everything now’s precisely because it changed into before you made a decision on a course to nothingness.

Your route to nothingness has been an extended and weary journey, and for now you can’t even don’t forget what it changed into like before you started. In the dream, you do not know what it is want to be awake.

The dream of lifestyles in this international appears very actual.

However, you are still the equal and unchanged-simplest now you have got a brand new trainer Who is guiding you to awakening, as opposed to deeper into the dream. There was a tiny tick of time whilst each of us made the first error and slipped into the dream of separate environment.

Within that single blunders stemmed extra errors within the dream, and others branched.

While these errors were stemming and branching, additionally they held within them their Correction. In that tiny tick of time earlier than we drifted off to dreamland, which is now gone, God gave us a Protector.

This is our Answer, and how to pay attention for your internal voice.

Your adventure continues to answer, and now your new Teacher is showing you Its consequences. However, we cannot fully wake up until the arena as-one awakens. The ego, our former teacher, wishes us to shift from side to side between the beyond and the prevailing.

Much of our time is spent looking on the beyond as though it were real. But our actual, or complete-thoughts perspectives the past as a dream. How commonly have you idea, “It all looks as if it become a dream”?

Your abstract thoughts receive the Holy Spirit’s whispering into your dreaming mind. World Championship Rings

World Series earrings are awards given to every participant in Major League baseball who has received the World Series. Started inside the 1922 World Series when earrings have been given to the members of the triumphing team, the New York Giants, courtesy corporations like Tiffany& Co or Balfour, they have got grown in stature and length. They flaunt the team’s logo in precious stones like diamonds and rubies and are set in 14 carat white gold. Teams shopping for their very own contributors have a machine of classification with the grandest rings for their pinnacle players, and watered down variations for players lower down the rank and crew employees. While the primary jewelry had a couple of diamonds, the modern-day-day version has over 2 hundred diamonds!

Valuable Sports Memorabilia

It is likewise considered through lovers as treasured sports activities memorabilia that may be auctioned or offered at will. Sites like eBay host such objects, and lots of a player in need of cash has sold his ring and made thousands of bucks. Museums have replicas as reveals and there may be a reckoning of who has won the maximum variety of earrings. Yogi Berra has gained the maximum wide variety of jewelry at 15!

Like baseball, there are several professional, semiprofessional, novice, university and excessive school sports. Basketball, Super Bowl Football have all got their championship awards within the form of those rings which can be coveted by all of us, however unfortunately may be enjoyed handiest by means of those players and their groups who win the year’s championship.

Teams are also made from fanatics, who root for their cherished gamers, shouting themselves hoarse and cheering them to victory. So, when a person got here up with the concept that those fanatics too must be rewarded with their very own championship jewelry, it was applied through a few businesses who committed their time, attempt, know-how, and understanding in making precise replicas of the World series championship earrings, as showy, as exuberant, and as ‘obnoxiously over the top’ as the originals.

The Championship jewelry of some of the predominant tournaments and leagues those agencies study replicating are

MLB- World Series- (Baseball) NFL – Super Bowl (Football), NHL-Stanley Cup (Hockey), CFL – Grey Cup (Canadian Football) NCAA (Basketball) NASCAR (Auto racing) Since each yr there was a winner in those video games, the variety is mind boggling and you may order the 12 months and that team’s ring for oneself. It is a passion best fans can recognize and there are heaps out there! Great Gifting Idea

A first-class gifting concept, such rings are fantastic to gift in case you recognise what group the recipient is rooting for. Such loyalties are very sturdy and lifelong and a World Series Championship ring can be a whole lot liked. People who love their teams would love to buy and possess the earrings of their favourite group as a mark of souvenir. There are thousands and thousands of enthusiasts out there of all age companies and gender who would love to have jewelry of their favorite triumphing team. Here is an example while guys love earrings!

The History and Use of False Face Masks Among the Seneca

False Face Masks are considered to be living and breathing “faces” that convey a spirit’s presence with them. The mask are typically used in recuperation ceremonies to convey remedy from health afflictions. There is a False Face Society some of the Iroquois tribes and those who are cured with the assist of False Faces routinely grow to be members. Believers in traditional Iroquois thought do no longer trust or name these False Faces “mask” as they agree with the faces are inhabited via living representations of spirits. False faces are even “fed” with a cornmeal “mush” and they accept presents of tobacco for recovery ailments.

Iroquois legend has it that the beginning of the False Face Mask way of life

Took place due to the fact the “Creator,” “God,” “Divine Supreme Being,” whichever name you choose to use, encountered a stranger once, known in the Onondaga language as “Grandfather.” The Creator challenged Grandfather in his capability to transport a mountain. Grandfather made the mountain shake and rumble however turned into unable to transport it. The Creator stated Grandfather had a few energy however now not enough strength to move the mountain. The Creator then moved the mountain to demonstrate his potential to Grandfather. The Creator told Grandfather now not to appearance at the back of him while the mountain moved, however Grandfather changed into curious and while he became to look, the mountain struck Grandfather within the face and left his face damaged and smashed.

The Creator then hired Grandfather to guard his kids however he knew the sight of Grandfather’s broken face might scare the children, so Grandfather become exiled to the forests and underground caves. To these days, sightings are mentioned of a lone figure, clothed in regal Iroquois apparel, peering from at the back of the timber of the woodland. He is stated to have long hair and either a pink or black face. He most effective leaves the confines of the woods whilst known as upon to heal or interpret dreams. He is now referred to as “Old Broken Nose.”