#give me jeremy morse or give me death

[templeofshame]

I’m offended by Jen Tepper choosing the Andrew Rannells version of “Kevin.”

[neverheardnothing]

rewatching joe iconis and family lincoln center performance at 4 am instead of packing or sleeping just to feel something and i have so FEW and so MANY thoughts and yall are gonna hear em all. no i will not put this under a cut. im going to be an absolute bastard about this.

i love the story joe tells about why he's singing mitb as the first song so much. like. the spite of it all. the defiance of it all. the pride of it all. the dig it or fuck off and disappear of it all. the joe iconis of it all. 

“i know exactly the song im going to sing as my first song at the american songbook series.” i love that he highlights the fact that this is the american songbook series.

then immediately jumping right into broadway here i come with molly hager, the other song he is most known for!!!

every time i think about this performance i think about how this was the first (?) time this song was performed by them since the closing of bmc.

and then lance rubin comes up to sing try again. which is the only time that i know of that anyone but joe has sung this song.

i remember a remark made during watching it live that having someone else sing the song made it seem so clearly more about joe and his career. but also having lance sing it immediately makes me think of bbh closing early which yeah is part of joe’s career but also lance’s.

and also the line “if you’re an actor and another actor gets the part you auditioned for” reminds me of how lance found the auditioning process of acting and the whole [not acting part] of an acting career to be terrible which is why he quit to then become an author and the juxtaposition of him singing try again is Something. but also he DID try again he is just applying his efforts to a different creative field and it’s working out great for him. good for lance rubin.

lol i haven’t even talked about the actual performance aspect of this song anyways it’s very different from the two versions ive seen of joe doing it. he plays it a lot more comical. i love it.

sidenote not specific about this performance, but i love love LOVE the line and the music at “use the stairs, walk to the street. see the people, feel the heat, and apply yourself again.”

and also the line “when they cast you out to sea, there’s a lifeboat manned by me called try and try again” will never not make me think of bsol/last on land and bonus lance was also in that show! it just keeps circling around.

everything about these past 3 songs performed at this venue in this set list order in this moment at joe’s career is honestly so wonderful. like you had a songs about an anxiety attack, a suicide/loss of self in success, and repeated failures before this song all sung by individuals. two of these songs were written at points where joe felt frustrated/sad with his career. one written in the aftermath of specific frustration about the first closing of be more chill. one an actual song from bmc. like what a SETLIST for your first three songs! fucking michael in the bathroom, broadway here i come, and try again. truly something.

THE WHISKEY SONG!! i love hearing joe sing so much. while i think we can all agree he’s not the most skilled singer there’s something special about hearing a composer perform their own work. he adds like 3 levels of charm to make up for lack of singing skills lol. just a very charismatic guy.

lance rubin back on tamborine for the next bit of the song and he’s like laughing through it. not completely sure what he’s laughing about honestly but this Is a comedic song (after 3 real downers of songs) and also joe was playing it up.

jared weiss down on the floor with his guitar playing along. that’s its own bullet point.

audience cheering as more family members start coming on stage! i love that the band is getting cheers. love that!!!

the camera isn’t on him but from the audio, nick blaemire is presumably running around giving high fives to people in the audience.

i can’t exactly tell with the camera angle and the lighting but i think that more family members get up from different seats in the audience or at least enter in the back and walk through the audience to get to the stage during this instrumental break. reminds me of how joe loves theater that physically touches you. giving you high fives in this case.

love liz lark brown. she plays it pretty like. frenetic and frazzled. love it.

amara, badia, danielle, will, and nick are just chillin sitting on the steps of the stage. 100% contributes to the vibe of this song. top fuckin notch.

SOMEONE screams AH during the drunk part of the song and i cannot figure out who but it gives me so much life.

jared pulling lance down to the floor with him.

jason going “man.... this place is a dump” like i LOVE the irreverence.

everyone actually getting back up and also converging On the stage during the (kind of) acapella break.

and now your whole gang is up on the stage at the fancy ass appel room singing your what sounds like a mostly upbeat fun song but is actually about self medication with alcohol and it’s a fucking jam. i love the 3 solo songs and then bringing in everyone for a big group number.

sidenote not about this specific performance: the lyrics “i’ll pour some more and then—AND THEN?—i’ll pass out and then—AND THEN!” the and thens were not on the things to ruin album and i wonder why not ALL the time. was it just deemed extraneous? or was this an innovation after the album was recorded?

i love that you can see the band singing along.

yesterdays / i can’t relate. i love this song i fucking love it. i love the synthy keyboard that was an active choice made. which means that joe is not the one accompanying jared in this song.

jared: i hate today. joe: *snorts in the background*

“i like music you can hold” -> old records black suits, susannah’s obsession with music which was of course in vinyl format back then

will once said hearing lgw was very exciting because he’s first and foremost a fan of joe’s so he was hearing a new joe song for the first time and the world got just a bit larger and i think about that quote a lot in relation to this song because i was like Oh i Get What He Means now because this is the first new joe song i heard since like getting into his work and i felt that world getting a bit bigger.

jared’s monotone chorus on top of the girls underneath is so good. it’s so fucking good i cannot.

liz lark brown velociraptor fuckin classic. specifically in this performance the weird ass electric guitar noise at “there’s a dinosaur” is SO good. i love it.

i know people say Trans Vibes from next song (jeff) but this song also gives me trans vibes. i think joe inadvertently writes stuff trans people relate to because of his propensity to write for People Who Are Different.

people cheering as will takes off his jacket hell yeah.

i am way more used to the jeremy morse version of this song and really consider it more his so it’s so fun to hear will sing it.

i love the canon of the “oh”s so much.

after will sings “i go to the window looking out and what do i see? myself just staring back at me.” and someone in the audience AUDIBLY goes “oh.” like what a MOMENT. way more subtle than when someone screamed “WHAT” at the “naked korean girl” reveal during the pipe night performance but on the same tier of Great Audience Reactions.

smooth fuckin gliss bro i love it. arms out by side. i love it.

Classic Jason Sweettooth Williams Singing Helen. but this time they added like some REAL like. oh god i have no idea how to describe it. electric crunchy electric guitar noises. and it’s so good.

i havent mentioned this yet but in the background of every song people who are not in it or are backup vocals are just sitting and jamming along and it’s so nice because me fuckin too.

honest to god just have to give a timestamp for this but bullet point for whatever the fuck eric is doing in the background here.

will and katrina circling each other singing directly into each other’s faces. so good.

the Unexpected dynamic change and following crescendo i am Living.

katrina rose dideriksen riffing up top. yes. YES.

joe starting to play helen sharp and then forgetting part of his introduction to the song is so good.

the inevitable laughter at any performance of this song at “it is not lost on me you’re all here at my show”

i know nothing about the movie death becomes her so i honestly always just think about joe when this song gets performed. also thinking about how in the youtube premiere of this song, joe was talking about how lauren was shouting out the names of all the musical theater composers joe is jealous of.

right place/wrong time. i read a bsol review a while ago about how katrina rose dideriksen was underutilized and gotta say i Agree holy Shit let her sing More.

i also remember how joe once said this song felt the most personal to him and that he cried when writing it

police siren piano.

the first time in this entire song they sing in sync is at the line “i wonder if his/her life is just like mine” and i just start screaming.

when eric and katrina turn to each other for the first time and start singing At each other!!!!!!!!!!!

honey! thinking about jen ash tep talking about how Each performance of this song gets Wilder and Wilder.

love it when nick just gets off the stage and starts singing to people in the audience. apparently one of the people was will’s mom lol.

ACAPELLA BREAK!!!!!! joe just fully gets up from piano and starts WILDLY clapping along!!!!

woman of a certain age! i remember when the live show happened the album had not come out yet and then when the yt premiere of it happened it Had been out for a week or so.

piano note elevator bell

the electric guitar is doing some fucking weird ass things in this song and i am living so fucking much for it.

the riffs badia does are so fucking incredible i immediately paused this video to go and watch her sing big fat ruby again just because i wanted more badia content.

the story behind old flame is so good and joe waiting until the last fuckin moment to give her the song is so fuckin funny.

i love love love these types of joe songs that are like 7 minute long story epics like right place/wrong time and the actress and ammonia and old flame.

“the best way to get past the past is to shoot it in the head” and then the audience cheers and i fucking love it. my commentary is getting shorter. it’s 6 am and i’m tired can you tell. i also just had a lot of thoughts about this early on and less thoughts about later on.

revolution song. the deep ass fucking electric bass is So good i Will go apeshit. like honestly that might be my favorite smaller detail of this song. like i imagine if i were in the room it might be loud and deep enough that i could feel it In my chest. like you can Feel the revolution coming.

i love the faster tempo revolution song has in the cabaret version.

i also love the cabaret specific lines of “evolution in the institution”

joey is a punk rocker was honestly not ever on the list of songs i thought would get performed here but im so glad that they did. like the obvious choice would have been veins for annie golden but they went this route. obsessed with this choice. obsessed with the fact that amphibian replaced this song as the act 2 opener. obsessed that annie is the one singing this.

i am never not screaming about wave and yall know this. just throwback to me losing it in the tags in a reblog of picture of the wave passage going on about how it really does mirror joe’s career and bmc specifically. and again this song being performed for the first (?) time since bmc closed makes the “so today on a hill in las vegas” and onward part SO fucking sad i literally just started crying. the entire song being in past tense up until that part. i will just go die now.

will in the yt premiere talking about texting the line “our energy would simply prevail” in the leadup to bmc coming back.

find the bastard. for some reason when this happened live i thought it was gonna be outlaw that was performed. 

i swear to god it is literally physically impossible for me not to AT LEAST mouth along to “what’s your name, what’s your name” during this song

NAMES ARE FOR ACCOUNTANTS.

MY NAME IS AWFUL LONG AS IT’S THE LYRICS OF THIS SONG.

the goodbye song. it’s never not sad. i love love love that this song is the final song every concert. i also love the recent lore of finding out that penny dreadfuls was the encore song at concerts before they became too long and it had to get cut.

finally gonna mention the background car lights. what a beautiful backdrop.

also since im always on my wrol bullshit i love how fucking clearly you can hear him at the end

accelerando accelerando accelerando. insert [joe iconis peaked when he wrote the accelerando in the goodbye song post of mine].

katrina singing an octave up is always SO fucking impressive i am so impressed by her voice she is so fucking good i love her so much

the bows are so fucking sweet i love them.

goodnight it’s 7 am.

[thelifepartners]

Cheyenne Morse

Hard Red Winter 

Photo Larry Tomlinson

The wheat needed to be protected. The winter wheat was in the ground and the first snow had fallen. I moved along the markers set up around the edge of the farm; retouching the protection spells and hanging new charms. It was work that could have waited another day or so. The One Below always fell into stillness when the first snows came. I could have come out in tomorrow’s sun, had the rest of the family’s help, but I wanted to be alone.

I paused at the next post to hang a fresh protection charm, woven from corn husks by my husband and my niece that morning. It was getting colder as the sun descended toward the horizon. I fiddled with the folds of my scarf until it covered my ears and stretched my fingers inside my gloves, trying to keep the blood moving. Snow was falling around me. Just a light dusting. Nothing like what would come later.  

The One Below has been buried deep in the earth for centuries. Some folk said it would wake up again someday and the world would end. Some said it was dead already. That the presence we all felt was the last ragged inch of an old god falling slowly into decay. No one could say for sure.

The soil here was rich. Better for farming than anywhere else in the world. Whatever it was in the ground was good for growing but it was not kind. We were all as careful as we could be; the crops had protections, every adult was marked.

My brother Haiden died a year ago. His mark had been destroyed in an accident. It was tattooed on his left shoulder and the image was broken by a gash. Split against a rock during a fall from his horse. It shouldn't have been a life threatening fall but to be in this place without protection was a death sentence. His son, Jeremy, was the one who found him. Blood pouring from the gash in his arm, from his mouth, from his eyes. Haiden had a half finished mark drawn on his cheek with his own blood. He hadn't been fast enough. The One Below had turned its eye on him.

Jeremy's scream of fear that brought the rest of us running. It was the last noise he’d made. He’d been mute ever since. 

Lynette and the kids moved in with my husband and I. The farm was big and needed lots of hands. After a loss like that I think we all wanted to be closer.

Everyone was doubled up on protections now. The adults had their tattoos but we’d taken to wearing charms as well. It was harder for the children but they had several charms each and no longer needed to be reminded to be sure they had all of them. Deliah would even draw charms on herself and on her brother with ink or ash from the fire place. We were still working to keep them from doing that.

The most effective charms were used to keep you from being noticed by The One Below. It made your presence quiet. Too many and it made it obvious that you were hiding. It was like trying to hide yourself from danger by throwing a blanket over yourself and yelling at the top of your lungs that there was nothing under this blanket at all. Too much was as dangerous as not enough.

There had been talk of sending the children to stay with their grandmother for a while; give them some distance from bad memories. They refused to go. This was their home. It had been the home of their father. I don’t think they could have put into words exactly why they felt they had to stay but I thought I knew. No one who worked these fields was impervious to loss. When all you have left of a person is your grief over their loss then trying to distance yourself from that feels like they are dying all over again. In time the pain would become an intrinsic part of them. Tucked up under their rib cage, beating like a second heart.

I shivered. The snow was falling more steadily now. I needed to head back to the house but there was something I needed to do first. Another protection, not for the wheat this time but my niece and nephew. They needed protection from their own fear.

I pulled the glove off of one hand with my teeth and pulled out my folding knife with my other. I cut my hand with the knife. I flicked my wrist a few times. Splattering the white ground with red. I spoke the name of The One Below.

"I curse you to look upon me," I said. My voice quavered a little when I spoke but just saying the words out loud made my heart feel stronger. After a life time of wanting to be unseen it felt alien to be stepping willfully into The One Below's sight. After Haiden's death it had felt like a betrayal to keep slinking around in the shadows, unable to stand up to the thing that had killed him. It didn't matter that it would have been suicide. It still felt like I was letting him down. But now the children were in danger. I could do something about that. "You will look upon no one else on this farm while I live."

My breath snarled in my lungs as I felt it's stare upon me. It felt like the sun had turned a secret hidden face to look at me. The dusting of snow around me melted in a circle wider than my arms could stretch. My body was flush with sudden heat. My protective mark burned like it was being branded onto my arm. I wondered how long it had taken Haiden to die in the heat of this gaze. I hissed between my teeth but the heat began to fade before the sound could turn into a scream. The One Below already falling into his winter rest.

I was left gasping and weeping in relief. I brought my chin down so I could rub my tears into the scarf. I sat down hard as my legs gave out beneath me. The ground was still warm and I was both drawn to the warmth as the cold closed back in around me and repulsed by it.

It was dangerous to do this. I would never be safe again. Never fully out of its sight. But now that I had done this the children would be safe. They could cover themselves from head to toe in symbols and they would never be in danger now. They could never draw more attention than I had. They would be flickering candles next to the bonfire of my presence.

"It’s all I can do, Haiden. It’s not much but they should be safe as long as I'm breathing. It won't get them. I promise." I grabbed ahold of a handkerchief in my pocket with my bloody hand. I touched the corn husk charm that Deliah had made. "I promise."

I shoved my hands down into my pockets and headed back towards the house. The snow would cover the bare patch of snow before too long. My hand would heal quickly but it would be longer than the rest of my life before I would be safe again.

[newyorkisdead]

Breathe. Be Kind. Breathe. Be Brave. Breathe. Fail Forward. ...This above all: to thine own self be true...

Four Years ago today, Jeremy O. Torres (1974-2016) took his last big breath... The following are excerpts from some of Jeremy’s favorite plays he directed: 'Kill Devil Hills', 'Angels in America', 'Pontiac Firebird Variations', 'Tibetan Book of the Dead', 'Marfa Lights', 'Kansas City Book of the Dead', & Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Remember to breathe as you read:

"Look Up. Look Up, Prepare the way, the infinite descent, a breath in air floating down. Glory. We’ll mend together. That’s what we’ll do. We’ll mend. The Great Work begins. The messenger has arrived."

Breathe.

"Things are shifting now...shifting. You wanna fly, jack? Everything that rises must fall."

"Through a tunnel now. Brightly..Or some kind of tunnel...soaring like kites...and in the tunnel dream, I’m able to utter things like angel..and give them meaning."

"Your thoughts are like telegraph signals I can hear and the morse code beep - beeping of every little plaintive electromagnetic spark in your mind, rouses me. And the only thing that’s palpable is the sand - and the wind - and the fire - and us.

Breathe.

"They say its heavy but its not, conscience is light, it gives you wings, gives a man pluck - it separates the beasts of the land - will you ever know love without it ? forget it. know what it means to have someone that needs you and to need them back. the feeling moving beyond your own skin, Weak frame, limitation, a gushing spirit what it is. It roosts in your bosom like a sooth-soul bird and crows in the morning and awakens your heart. It redeems any man that keeps it. And to live right you should trust to yourself to live with it or die for it."

Breathe.

"All along the spokes of that great wheel you have what the Buddhist’s call the ‘Bardo’ which is like a gateway state or a kaw river through which them hungry souls can float their way to true reality. All board. So the dharmakaya is the voice of all sounds, the ra ra ra, true words that calleth em over from the fires and the hunger and the bleeding Kansas darkness. Recite your name. Recite. Recite. [Jeremy Oscar Torres, 2016] All Aboard. Ad Infinitum. Behold your hiding place is open. The Gateway state is open. Osiris is open. All Aboard. Infinite space before you without the clucking or crowing - from the ashes of the phonenix the soul takes wing. Infinite mind is before you without center or circumference. From the drum of the ear the feather is plucked. Infinite sound is before you without the bubbling, without the babbling. From the Heart of Death, the Soul bursts forth. Your soul is open - your ear is wide open."

Breathe.

"The forces of attraction in the air between us - all around us - the gravitation pull yoking us together and then yanking us apart."

Breathe.

"Thou knowest tis common all that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity."

Breathe.

"The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard it seems to me most strange that man should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."

Breathe.

"Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, so do our minuets hasten to their end."

Breathe.

"My friend, The time has come for you to start out. You are going home. Oh nobly born, now is the moment. Before you is mind, open and wide as space, simple, without center or circumference. Now is the moment. Your mind in this moment is total transparency no color no substance empty sparkling, pure and vibrant. A mass of light. Not stopped by any obstacle. It has neither beginning nor end, go toward the light, merge with it, merge with the light. Death has happened, it happens to every one. Death has happened so nothing can hurt you, you can’t die again, don’t be afraid, merge with the light. Merge. Merge."

Breathe in. Breathe out.

(Assembled with Colt W. Keeney May 2016, from excerpts of works by Tony Kushner, Jean Claude Van Itallie, William Shakespeare, and Casey Wimpee)

[amazingviralinfo]

Image copyright PA

Image caption Colin Dexter received an OBE for services to literature in 2000

Colin Dexter, who wrote the Inspector Morse books, has died at the age of 86.

His publisher said in a statement on Tuesday: "With immense sadness, MacMillan announces the death of Colin Dexter who died peacefully at his home in Oxford this morning."

His series of 13 Morse novels, written between 1975 and 1999, were adapted for the long-running ITV series, which starred John Thaw.

Dexter's characters also featured in spin-off shows Lewis and Endeavour.

'Sharpest mind, biggest heart'

He wrote his first Morse novel, Last Bus to Woodstock, in 1975 while on holiday in Wales. The fictional detective was then killed off in the final book, The Remorseful Day.

Inspector Morse and Lewis star Kevin Whately described him as "impish and bubbly and always fascinated with everybody and everything".

He told BBC Oxford: "I think I'm incredibly lucky to have had 30 years of his friendship. He would always turn up - he loved being on set with us, and we loved having him there. He was a very warm, benign presence always."

Whately joked: "We used to give him a little role, give him the odd line to say, but he was so awful at speaking and acting that we only let him walk through the shot."

Image copyright PA

Image caption John Thaw, Colin Dexter and Kevin Whately

Sheila Hancock, Thaw's widow, told BBC Radio 4's Front Row: "He did say to me a couple of times that he really did feel that John was the character and the character was John. It sort of evolved between them. In fact, I think one of the reasons he killed Morse off is he didn't want to imagine anyone else playing the part."

She described Dexter as a "remarkably well-read and clever man", as well as a "bubbly guy" who "just seemed to enjoy life so much" and "loved to laugh".

Maria Rejt, Dexter's most recent editor at MacMillan, said the author had "inspired all those who worked with him", adding: "His loyalty, modesty and self-deprecating humour gave joy to many. His was the sharpest mind and the biggest heart, and his wonderful novels and stories will remain a testament to both."

Listen to Colin Dexter on Desert Island Discs

Image copyright ITV

Image caption John Thaw, centre, starred as Inspector Morse alongside Kevin Whately as Lewis

Kevin Lygo, director of television at ITV, said Inspector Morse was "one of the nation's best-loved shows", with Thaw's "irascible detective with a love for crosswords, real ale and classical music" becoming one of the most popular characters of all time.

"Through 33 feature length stories, the casebook of Morse and Lewis changed the landscape of detective drama," he said.

Dexter worked closely behind the scenes of the show and later became a consultant on Lewis, the sequel starring Whately which ran for nine years.

He was also "one of the key creative forces" behind prequel Endeavour - the inspector's first name - which saw Shaun Evans appear as the young Morse.

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Colin Dexter wrote 13 Inspector Morse novels

MacMillan's publisher Jeremy Trevathan added that Dexter's death represented a "tectonic shift in the international crime writing scene".

He said: "Colin represented the absolute epitome of British crime writing, and in the 1990s John Thaw's Inspector Morse took over Wednesday night television. He was one of those television characters who the nation took to their hearts. This is a very sad day for us all."

Fellow crime writers paid tribute on Twitter.

Lynda La Plante said of the late author: "Colin Dexter, a masterful writer and storyteller who entertained millions of readers."

Ian Rankin said: "Sad news - a gentle man with a steel mind; and the creator of such an iconic character..."

Val McDermid said: "Deeply sorry to hear of the death of my good friend Colin Dexter. He brought pleasure to millions and joy to his friends."

Maxim Jakubowski, vice-chairman of the Crime Writers' Association told the BBC: "He will be remembered not just as a superlative crime writer and the creator of such a classic character as Inspector Morse, but also as the most convivial of friends, impish, friendly to all, seldom seen in public without a smile, a man who accepted celebrity late in his life with wonderful dignity and humour."

'A large Glenfiddich'

Norman Colin Dexter was born in 1930 in Stamford, Lincolnshire, and studied classics at Cambridge University.

He worked as a Latin and Greek teacher from 1954 to 1966 before moving to Oxford - where he set the Morse stories - to become a full-time writer.

Carlton Productions made 33 Morse TV films with Thaw in the lead role. Dexter himself made many cameo appearances.

Image copyright ITV

Image caption Roger Allam (left) and Shaun Evans star in Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour

Dexter had type 2 diabetes, a condition that he also gave Morse in the last few books of the series.

When Dexter received an OBE for services to literature in 2000, he said he would have liked to have thought his fictional detective would have bought him a celebratory whisky.

Image copyright PA

Image caption Dexter pictured in his home town of Oxford, where he set his novels

"I think Morse, if he had really existed and was still alive, would probably say to me, 'Well, you didn't do me too bad a service in your writing'.

"He might say, 'I wish you'd made me a slightly less miserable blighter and slightly more generous, and you could have painted me in a little bit of a better light'.

"If he had bought me a drink, a large Glenfiddich or something, that would have been very nice, but knowing him I doubt he would have done - Lewis always bought all the drinks."

Sheila Hancock and Kevin Whately are on Front Row on Tuesday 21 March at 19:15. The interviews will be available online later

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

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