#hello frisco hello

[oh-great-authoress]

Nadia Sings no. 7

Link to last song

Yes, believe your eyes—it’s a Nadia Sings double feature!

This is one of my favorite jazz standards to sing, and it’s not one that I think most people will know: “You’ll Never Know” (Music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Mack Gordon)

The song was introduced in the 1943 movie “Hello, Frisco, Hello”, where it was sung by Alice Faye, eventually going on to win the 1943 Academy Award for Best Original Song.

In the 21st century, the song was featured in the 2017 film “The Shape of Water”, sung there by the legendary American opera singer, Renee Fleming.

When I first heard this song, between the lovely lyrics and beautiful melody, I immediately fell in love, and I could not believe it when I saw that it was sung by Renee Fleming, who was one of my inspirations growing up.

So I learned it as soon as I could… and have never performed it since—until now, and I think this is the proudest I’ve been of a recording.

I’ll let it speak for itself.

Again, my usual disclaimer; this was recorded in my new recording studio (my closet), using my favorite recording app, BandLab (again, you guys know the drill 🤣), and, as usual, while I put a little reverb effect on my vocal track, this is otherwise as unadulterated a track as the one I posted last time, just my voice, with no pitch correction, recorded into my iPhone.

(Headphones recommended to hear the reverb)

Tagging the same people I tagged last time, as well as those who enjoyed the last-last offering:

@welsharcher

@themareverine

@batmantaking-hobbits2gallifrey

@justhereforfandomandfriends

@musewrangler

@oh-nostalgiia

@sakar-rad

@radical-sky

@randomfoggytiger

@agentfaust

@two-microscopes

@canmking

@asentienthaze

@gays4galadriel

@redcoatchemist

@thehappybaker

@peanutbutterandsadness50

@mymusicbias

If you would like to be taken off the taglist, just send me a message, no hard feelings, and if you’d like to be added to the taglist, just interact with/reblog this post, or send me an ask!

[vampirecorleone]

Appreciation for GREEN Fashion in TV & Film: The Ten Commandments (1956) | The Handmaiden (2016) | Showboat (1951) | Sailor Moon (1992) | Artists & Models (1955) | Nope (2022) | Singing in the Rain (1952) | The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) | American Horror Story: Hotel (2015) | Princess of the Nile (1954) | Attack on Titan (2013) | Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) | Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) | Batman Forever (1995) | The Belle of New York (1952) | Gone with the Wind (1939) | Britney Spears Billboard Awards (2001) | Gossip Girl (2007) | Barbarella (1968) | What a Way to Go (1964) | Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997) | Devdas (2002) | Down to Earth (1947) | Avatar the Last Airbender (2005) | Hello Frisco, Hello (1943) | Legally Blonde (2001) | Batman & Robin (1997) | The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) | Bring it On (2000) | EMMA. (2020)

[the-blossica-fan]

Greetings!

Actors Au - who in the cast can or cannot sing!

Exclude the obvious singers like TF and Isolde, who potentially in the cast can also sing? Either can be based on their va (Regulus Va does sing a song and Lilya sings in a voiceline), or pure headcanon.

Yk how we get special EPs like Reasons and Frisco for each Global release, maybe certain actors also get to sing special EPs or end credits songs for their respective patches . (Im pretty sure some of the Jp vas have sung songs for patches, a Isokania duet and a Vertin one as far as I remember).

Have fun!

Hello Comrade!!

Gotta say straight up, Jessica and Balloon Party can't sing.

I think it's not her VA who sings Catch You Now, and she's got a really good voice for acting but she just can't sing. Amazing actress, terrible singer.

More "please I beg don't sing in public" includes: Adler Hoffman, Rabies' VA, Alien T's VA, Darley Clatter's VA, Eric and Poltergeist (she's too shy).

Horropedia and Blonney are mediocre singers. They're good but not that good. Same with Lilya, Pavia, Kanjira, 37 and Madam Z.

More mediocre singers include Diggers, Doors' VA, Ms. Simone, Greta Hoffman, TTT, Shamane, Pioneer, The Fool, Nick Bottom, Oliver Fog, Medicine Pocket, Ezra, Eagle, Cristallio, Click, An-An Lee, La Source.

Then there's Vila, Satsuki, Spathodea, Sonetto, Mercuria, Tennant and Regulus who are good singers. They're not bad they're actually pretty good singers but their thing is not singing. Not so impressive but when they sing they do it with passion.

Especially Tennant who uses that to seduce her fans.

More good singers include: Ms. Bunny Bunny, Centurion, Charlie, Desert Flannel (she hates to sing in public), Dikke, Marcus, Getian, J, Bkornblume (she whispers as singing and it's so good), Bette, A Knight, Jiu Niangzi, Lucy, Ms. Moissan, Sotheby, Sweetheart, Ulu.

As amazing singers we have APPLe's VA (I call him Adrian but any ideas for a name is welcome), Ms. Radio's VA, Eternity, Kaalaa Baunaa, Schneider and Sophia, who could become amazing singers but just don't want to.

More amazing singers include: Windsong, X, Yenisei, Semmelweis, Necrologist, Druvis III, Melania.

And actual singers: Isolde, Tooth Fairy and Lorelei.

Shootout to ONION and Voyager the only people that no one has heard sing before.

I probably forgot a couple, that's because I tried to go from what I remember and Lord do I barely remember my name

[greatwesternway]

heya! 👋

idk if it's been asked already but: do you have any voice claims for the TFISSAB crew?

Hello!

No one has asked this yet, but it makes sense to. The structure of the letters - that Ray and I each write alternating letters as our respective characters - gives away that its a roleplaying game of a sort. Face and voice claims are quite common in those games.

As it happens though, Ray and I both have backgrounds that sort discourage getting too specific with any kind of work we'd have to outsource. Ray is an animator and so voice casting is something they were trained for in school. I studied game design and learned a lot of the same things they did. Basically that not only is it no use getting your heart set too specifically on a particular voice, but it's also limiting. It's better to go into a casting with an open mind because an actor could surprise you. You could miss out on a truly iconic voice for a character if you're too focused on casting, say, an Ann Margaret type. 'Cause after all, at the end of the day, she won't be Ann Margaret.

Not to say that we consider casting actively for this particular project (most of our engines are stationary displays and so what would we animate them doing? Maybe we could do a radio play, lol). Just that we've been schoolt not to devote much energy in that direction in any project.

That said, we do have generalized ideas about voices though.

Truro describes Pioneer as having a "radio announcers voice", which is a very short way to tell you a lot about how he sounds. Authoritative yet approachable with an air of trustworthiness. And distinctly non-regional.

Pilot and Mate would have had urbanized (read: diluted) Texan accents during their work lives, but Pilot's has been dulled further by his retirement in Illinois. In the scenario in which Mate is rebuilt, his accent remains (Ray also likes the idea of Mate having a particularly deep voice for such a small build.)

999 is a New Yorker and so has an appropriate accent. While I wouldn't call this a voice claim, I did have Jill Zarin from Real Housewives of New York in mind when writing her haranguing U-505. 999 is not quite as nasal as that though.

2903 has a more southwestern accent but it's also diluted by urbanization and the need to be understood everywhere from Los Angeles to Chicago.

Basically, most of these are dictated by where they lived out their service lives. Although Frisco 1630, the Russian Decapod, pretends to have a Russian accent when she meets new engines.

[neilsanders]

A cheeky little hello! 👋 The tune is “Hello, Frisco!” by Harvey Hindermyer and Helen Clark, used under creative commons license.

[penwieldingdreamer]

I see myself with you

So first time posting for TG:M and Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin. I’ve been a fan of Top Gun ever since seeing the first one as a child with my parents and after having seen Top Gun: Maverick a few times now, I couldn’t help the idea coming up. Thanks to @fortheloveoffanfic​ I finally got around to writing it 😅 It’s going to be a kinda mini series, not sure yet how many parts and drabbles I’ll be able to come up with. Happy reading and let me know what you think

Summary: You see the cowboy, you met during your roadtrip in Texas, in a bar in San Diego - your last stop of the trip. Only this time he is the epitome of coky pilot. (2.1k words)

Warnings: cursing, fluff, a little bit of angst, (is Jake Seresin a warning in itself)

Masterlist | Next Part

(gif by @honeybeedewdrops​)

"Please darling, don't forget to be home for your Grandma's birthday, she's already complained twice why you haven't come visiting her when you drove past Frisco."

Sighing, you looked around for Allison who had left you in search of the toilet. "I'm sorry, I'll call her tomorrow. Ally dragged me to a bar, so it's probably going to be late."

"Alright, just be careful and don't let any dipshit talk you up."

With a soft laugh you said your goodbyes and turned back to the barkeep handing out drinks to the other patrons. Looking around you spotted an array of people flitting about - aviators stationed at North Island, financial people dressed up in suits and civilians, just like your friend and you.

For the first time in three years you were back in sunny California, enjoying the smell of the ocean and feeling the salt on your skin. Allison had moved to Europe to study journalism there and being joined at the hip since Kindergarten it was a no-brainer that you followed her, working the few odd jobs here and there to pay for food and rent, not sure if college was where you were headed.

Now that she was done, Ally was thinking of coming back home. "But first, we'll enjoy just driving across the country and going wherever the road goes."

That's how you ended up in San Diego, your last stop after having toured the southern states. 

"Whatcha thinkin' bout, hun? That cowboy got your head all jumbled up?" She grinned, taking a seat next to you. 

"That cowboy is back in Texas, don't think I'll be seeing him again." 

Grabbing the drink from the bar, your friend watched you with a grin. "He left quite an impression on you. Never took you to fall for that southern boy charm."

Laughing at the idiocy of your car breaking down in the middle of Nowhere, Texas, you listened to Ally grumbling in the passenger seat of your rental pick-up 

"Fucking hell, we should have stopped back in Dallas. The car's been fucked up for a while."

Taking a deep breath you leaned back against the hood. Your phone had no reception, no way were you going to be able to call a tow truck to get you to a shop. "We gotta sit it out, Ally. I've got no reception right now."

"Ugh, why does it have to be so hot here."

Just as you were about to respond you could hear a loud whistle. Shielding your eyes against the sun. You didn't know if your brain was making it up or if you were just lucky.

"Howdy, ladies."

"Well hello, ladies." A smooth voice with a familiar southern twang washed over you as you watched Ally's eyes bulge. "Can we buy the both of you another round of drinks?"

Moving your eyes over the group of aviators, you shook your head with a soft smile. Allison raised her glass at them and mimicked your action. "Actually Jimmy just made these for us, so we're good." 

"Oh come on, it's just a drink." The one standing behind you leaned closer, his breath hot on your neck and you thought you smelled that cologne again, like that one night back in Texas. 

Turning around you were met with the same face that had stolen your sleep at night ever since you moved on from the Lone Star State. Jake, the cowboy that had helped you fix the car as well as possible to get to the nearest shop. The guy that took you line dancing one night, and riding the next, so he could take you to the hottest make out spot in town like you were teenagers.

But right now he wasn't Jake, he was someone else. Too cocky for his own good and trying to impress his buddies.

"Yo, Hangman, come on. They're clearly not interested." The dark skinned aviator put his hand on his shoulder, trying to pull his friend away from you.

Shrugging him off, Jake moved his head closer and yet everyone heard what he said. "Last time you couldn't get enough of my darlin'. What's different this time around?"

Next thing he knew, the pilot was drenched in your drink, his mouth agape and trying to keep his eyes from stinging at the alcohol. You had hopped down from the stool and pushed your way through the crowd to get outside. Mourning not having gotten his number when you left to continue your road trip, the days having felt like a dream come true but now you felt relief. His southern charm had been replaced by too much cockiness and thinking he'd get everything with that smirk of his.

Inside, the barkeep sent him a disapproving look and turned back to the other patrons, refilling their drinks and taking on new orders. Allison patted his shoulder and shook her head. "Never thought I'd say this, but you're a fucking asshole Jake." She sent a wink towards his friend and left to find you, knowing it wouldn't be long before you gravitate back towards the cowboy.

“So, how long are you stayin’ here?" Jake asked you, sipping his beer in a bar the next town over.

Shrugging your shoulders you watched Allison laughing and dancing with one of the locals. “I guess as long as it takes to get the car fixed and then we’ll be gone and out of your hair.”

“Ah, don’t worry. Mom’s happy to have you around now that Laurie is back to workin’ and leavin’ the twins with her.” He chuckled, leaning back to look at you. It had been the second day you stayed with the Seresin family on their farm and he couldn’t help searching her out whenever she was near him. Also with him due to leave for TopGun he was glad for the two extra pairs of hands to help his Ma and Pa.

The blonde and you had been staying at the guesthouse, helping with feedings and paddock cleaning at the ranch, although horse riding wasn't too high on your agenda. "I'm not made for riding." You had commented, eyeing the chestnut stallion in his box.

"You know what they say: save a horse ride a" Jake never was able to finish that sentence before you had thrown the hay in his face. 

"What?" You saw a smile that brought out his dimples and couldn't help the curiosity about what he was thinking off. "Is it your girl?"

"Nah, actually I was thinkin' of gettin' you to ride out with me tomorrow." 

Pursing your lips, you gave him the best glare you could muster but the dark blonde just grinned at you. "I told you, I'll not be getting onto one of those four legged death traps."

Now he couldn't help the full bellied laugh that escaped his lips, the other patrons chuckling as you slid further down in your seat, a deep blush coloring your cheeks and disappearing underneath your shirt.

"Four legged death traps, that's a new one."  He took a swig of his beer and pointed a finger at you. "Rowdy is actually really sweet, despite his name and he's the best horse to be on, especially if you've never ridden before. Let's just try it once, maybe you'll like it and it'd be a nice memory before I leave for TopGun."

Your eyes widened at the admission, you hadn’t thought he would be doing something else besides work on his family’s farm and yet the thought of him in a uniform made you tingle, even though there’d never be more between you than stollen looks. "You're leaving? Are you in the Army?" 

"Navy, actually."

“So, you’re a sailor?”

Jake let out a soft chuckle, he knew you weren’t around these parts of the world, but curiously never thought you’d not have seen his awards when you were inside the main house. “I’m a pilot. Lieutenant Jake Seresin, at your service ma’am.”

Giggling softly, you couldn't help the smile that stole itself on your lips. Jake saluted you, sending a wink your way as he gulped down the rest of his beer. "Let's make it a date. You, me, Rowdy and Twink and an open field. Maybe a dip in the creek. What d'you say, darlin’?"

Who could say NO to a hot cowboy, who was a Navy pilot and was going to take a dip in the creek with you? - Yeah, no one. So you agreed, getting up with a broad grin the next day to meet Jake at the main house, but were stopped when you saw a bleached blonde hanging onto him, giggling at something he said.

“Come on Jakey, let's take Rowdy and Twink down to the creek and enjoy cooling off after…ya know. Get away from the farm and let the new help handle it with your parents.”

Sally had been his on and off fling since High School and she thought that Jake would be hers alone, but never thought about his first true love - flying his Super Hornet. So every opportunity she had, she'd make sure he'd only have eyes for her, so far it had worked quite well. He was a flirt and cocky, but most of the time a gentleman. 

Biting your lip your eyes met his and you turned back towards the main house of the farm before he could react, letting himself be dragged towards the stables by Sally.

“So why were you bragging like that back there?” Javy was the only one left from their little group of aviators after the scene Jake had caused. “Did you want to get her back for not getting her into your bed after all?”

“Fuck, no!” Having freshened up a bit, the sandy blonde ordered around for them both and moved to a quieter corner of the bar, talking and keeping an eye out for you. “I thought she’d flirt back like she used to that day I met her. Sally was totally unplanned and the next day it was as if nothing happened. We said our goodbyes and I left for TopGun.”

“But that’s not all. There must be a reason why you’re an asshole trying to get in her pants. I mean, she’s hot and if you fucked it up, I’d be glad to show her that not only Southerners are gentlemen.” The pilot grinned, taking a large gulp of his beer before he chuckled at the scowl on his friend's face. So far only Coyote had earned that title, the other students not really meshing with Hangman’s cockiness and arrogance, even though he was the best at the school.

“Swear that this conversation won’t leave this place. If you tell anyone I’ll deny it and send your ass to the bottom of the sea.” Placing his hand over his heart, Javy nodded his head. It might not leave the bar at the moment, but it sounded like it was a great piece for black mail. Letting out a soft sigh, Jake leaned forward, his words spoken so quietly that he had trouble making out the sentences. “I wanna be the best of the best because that asshole of a sperm donor told me I couldn’t. My Pa loves my Ma, he loves me as if I’m his own, but Greg left us hanging. I wanna prove that I’m better than him and that makes me do dumb shit and fuck up relationships and friendships. Phoenix is right behind me on the scoreboard but instead of being fair and telling her what a good pilot she is, that voice in the back of my mind tells me I’ll never beat her if I make nice. So, I’ll stick to what I know and start fucking shit up, leave others hanging. Same with women, I’m able to get every girl in this bar, I mean, there’s not much to it if you really think about it, they usually fall all over themselves to score with one of us each night, but with her, I fuck up.”

Blowing out the air he didn’t know he held in his lungs, Coyote watched his friend. Jake had always been different when it was just the two of them. Even back in Lemoore where both of them were stationed. It didn’t matter that they were on different squadrons, but they were friends. “You gotta do some serious groveling if you wanna win her over, but if you stick to your charm and stop the assholness you’ll do just fine.”

“I’m gonna marry her, Javy.”

“Thought you didn’t know anything about her.” He chuckled seeing the grin on Hangman’s face.

“I don’t, but she’s the one for me, that’s all I know.”

Divider © by @top-hhun​

[wainwrightjakobshammerlock]

Hello Borderlands fan. In front of you is a computer. You must write a compelling dissertation on why Wainwright Del Frisco Jakobs and Sir Alistair Hammerlock are a well written couple, without mentioning anything about how not forced nor stereotypically gay they are. If you fail I will use your credit card number to commission every Borderlands fanartist I know to draw the aforementioned gentlemen lovingly making out. Will you persevere... or will the homosexuality truly be forced upon you?

[elizabethrzg]

THE BIG BLORBO BATTLE

HELLO! I am going to be doing a GIANT poll tournament between all of my blorbos. I pitting them against eachother. may the most well liked of them live and win.

Each poll will be a day long and will begin as soon as I can make them the following day Winners for each round will be bolded Round 1 list is now split into two blocks bc of the amount of characters

ROUND 1

Laurence Zvhal (Minecraft Diaries) vs Wocky Kitaki (Ace Attorney)

Garroth Ro’Meave (Mystreet) vs Diluc Ragnvindr (Genshin Impact)

Gene (Mystreet) vs TKO (OK KO: Let's be Heroes)

Kaeya Alberich (Genshin Impact) vs Klavier Gavin (Ace Attorney)

Collei (Genshin Impact) vs Trucy Wright  (Ace Attorney)

Hunter Wittebane (The Owl House) vs Knuckles The Echidna  (The Sonic Movie 2)

Dewey Duck (Ducktales 2017) vs Jay Walker (Ninjago)

Apollo Justice (Ace Attorney) vs Rayfa Padma Khura'in (Ace Attorney)

Travis Valkrum (Mystreet) vs Kaedehara Kazuha (Genshin Impact)

Scaramouche (Genshin Impact) vs Morro Wu (Ninjago)

Lloyd Garmadon (Ninjago) vs Louie Duck (Ducktales 2017)

Cole Brookestone (Ninjago) vs Clay Terran (Ace Attorney)

Leonardo Hamato (Rise of the TMNT) vs Sonic (The Sonic Movie)

Donatello Hamato (Rise of the TMNT) vs Matthomule Tholomule (The Owl House)

Dhurke Sahdmadhi (Ace Attorney) vs Jove Justice (Ace Attorney)

Sonic (Sonic Prime) vs Datz Are'bal (Ace Attorney)

Gus Porter (The Owl House) vs Fred Jones (Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated)

Steve Tholomule (The Owl House) vs Venti (Genshin Impact)

Micheal Mell (Be More Chill) vs Warren Graham (Life is Strange)

Daryan Crescend (Ace Attorney, but My Version inspired by friends) vs Chloe Price (Life is Strange)

Max Caufeild (Life is Strange) vs Emira Blight (The Owl House)

Steph Grinich (Life is Strange) vs Nahyuta Sahdmadhi (Ace Attorney)

ROUND 1

Nekoette (Minecraft Diaries) Vs Lukas (MC Storymode)

Dmitiri (Minecraft Diaries) Vs Larry Butz (Ace Attorney Fanon)

Edric Blight (The Owl House) Vs Childe (Genshin Impact)

Chongyun (Genshin Impact) Vs Adrien Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug)

Xingqiu (Genshin Impact) Vs Luka Coffaine (Miraculous Ladybug)

Bennett (Genshin Impact) Vs Lars Barriga (Steven Universe)

Razor (Genshin Impact) Vs Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Tomo (Genshin Impact) Vs Vylad Ro’meave (All)

Ahvram (The Frisco Kid) Vs Agent Zed (Agents: Shed and Zed)

Tommy (The Frisco Kid) Vs Tom (SVTFOE)

Sokka (Avatar: The Last Airbender) Vs Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls)

Garmadon (Ninjago) Vs Lewis Pepper (Mystery Skulls Animated)

Kay Faraday (Ace Attorney) Vs Darell (OK KO: Let's be Heroes)

Launchpad (Ducktales 2017) Vs Lord Boxman (OK KO: Let's be Heroes)

Wu (Ninjago) Vs Papyrus (Undertale)

Darreth (Ninjago) Vs Rad (OK KO: Let's be Heroes)

Ronin (Ninjago) Vs Lancer (Deltarune)

Cassandra “Casey” Jones (Rise of the TMNT) Vs Undyne (Undertale)

[jvzebel-x]

"hello, my name is frisco&i am addicted to shiny things."

🐱💘🪙

[magnuficent76]

I FUCKING LOVE SIR ALISTAIR HAMMERLOCK-JAKOBS AND WAINWRIGHT DEL FRISCO JAKOBS-HAMMERLOCK RAHHHH‼️‼️

Hello Nikolai

[timespass]

Hello Frisco! (1915)

Baritone Reinald Werrenrath & Soprano Olive Kline

[uneasylisteningradio]

Transistor Sister #158 March 19, 2023

Mini theme: Unusual, rare, and obsolete forms and methods of communication!

stream on Mixcloud

Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon - Transistor Sister Small Faces - Lazy Sunday

Zounds - Dirty Squatters Kosmetika - House The Donnas - Boy Like You Pyhäkoulu - Exynyt Giorgio - Stop

Meiko Kaji - 芽衣子のふて節 Omega Tribe - Time for Change Warsaw - The Drawback The Toads - Nationalsville Fania All-Stars - Sabor Sabor

Baby Huey - Running Water Machine - Flowers Tyrades - I Am Homicide Silver Abuse - Plastic Rows Non Band - Vibration Army Vaaska - Invasion

Les Misérables - Western Union Stiff Little Fingers - Closed Groove Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark - Telegraph (The Manor Version 1981) The Fireballs - 3 Minutes Time Intense Molecular Activity - Blinxong Sam Ash and Elida Morris - Hello Frisco The Kinks - Party Line No-Song Kutkotz - Telegram Wreckless Eric - Semaphore Signals

The Baltimore and Ohio Marching Band - The Happy Wanderer Saphron - Sinner Man Vorsicht Kinder - Verschluck dich nicht Charles E. Funk Rebellion - It's Gonna Be the Death of You Dave Edmunds - Dynamite Memphis Jug Band - She Done Sold It Out Liaisons Dangereuses - Kess kill fé show

Chumbawamba - The Day the Nazi Died

[lawishsalon]

Japanese Hair Straightening in Frisco

Transform your hair with Japanese Hair Straightening at Lawish Salon in Frisco, TX. This advanced treatment gives you smooth, sleek, and shiny hair that lasts for months. Say goodbye to frizz and hello to easy-to-manage, straight hair. Our expert stylists use high-quality products to ensure your hair stays healthy and strong. Whether you have wavy, curly, or unruly hair, our Japanese straightening process delivers stunning results.

[dustedmagazine]

DJ Female Convict Scorpion — Paradise Re-Lost (Self-released)

The Christian poetry of John Milton and the idiosyncratic turntablism of Josh Pollock, better known as DJ Female Convict Scorpion, are not an intuitive match. That’s an important thing to note, given the deeply strange quality of Pollock’s music, in which intuition seems crucial. Some of us first encountered DJ Female Convict Scorpion releases as unlabeled CDrs circulating in the mails (especially the several volumes of Clash Ups, from Pollock’s “Anti-Social Remix” series) and were fascinated. It takes Pollock’s particular variety of intuition to suspect that isolating Jowe Head’s gonzo vocal from the Swell Maps’ “Full Moon in My Pocket” would sound both disturbing and great if you soak it in reverb and let it play; or that the interminable drum solo of Led Zep’s “Moby Dick” would become completely transfixing if you laid a scrim of tortured theremin over it. It isn’t paradise, exactly, but you don’t feel any desire to leave.

Leaving, return and loss are crucial themes in Milton’s Protestant poem in blank verse. Many children of the 1980s (hello) did the forced march through Paradise Lost (1667), the more famous part of Milton’s epic — and some of us ended up being very glad that we did. Few literary treatments of Christian myth get anywhere close to the majesty of Milton’s language, and the verse’s strange interplay of a rough-hewn austerity and a begrudging engagement with poetry’s eros ends up being particularly useful for understanding American puritanisms, old and new. You can try to keep that libidinal power repressed and submerged, but it always returns. There’s a reason why Satan is the most interesting thing in Paradise Lost.

Of course, Milton attempted to correct for that interest. Paradise Regained (1671) focuses on the story of the Christ and the establishment of the new covenant with humanity forged by his sacrifice, if you believe that sort of thing. Many of us do not. The narrative is flat, and the mythic scale that thrills in Paradise Lost is — well, lost. Pollock’s Paradise Re-Lost riffs on the dynamic of delight and its loss with a score for a ballet by Nostus Tanztheater, based in Heidelberg. N.B., dear reader, the dance company really exists, but this reviewer was able to find no evidence of the ballet, nor did Milton ever write Paradise Re-Lost, a “third part” of his Christian epic, which Pollock credits as source material. It may be that, in a Satanic gesture of his own, Pollock’s impulse to fuck around with culture has reached a new intensity of pranksome mischief.

You may hear traces of mischievous fun in some of the titles of tracks on Paradise Re-Lost: “Eden Disorder,” “Mephisto Birkenstock” and so on. But the music is mostly more serious. Massive, creepy churchbells toll, sounding as if captured on some degraded cassette tape, at the record’s outset. Soon, the inimitable Nina Simone emerges from the moody morass of a DJ Female Convict Scorpion soundscape: some tense brass, a mournfully lovely flute, more theremin — one imagines the streets of Bedlam set-dressed in late-1940s Frisco noir. And Simone is doing her thing on George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” (you can find the full, joyous and outraged performance on her record Emergency Ward, most of which was recorded at a 1971 live gig at Fort Dix, and it’s insanely good…): “I really want to see you, lord / But I’m afraid it’s too late.” Nobody could express indignant sorrow like Simone. Milton gets close.

In much of DJ Female Convict Scorpion’s music, mood is more important than thematic coherence, and the mood of Paradise Re-Lost is downcast and anxious. There are lots of horns that sound drawn from late-1960s free jazz, a lot of haunted piano, pealing chimes and taut acoustic guitar tangles. Tension builds and builds and goes nowhere. One is tempted to read that as a gesture toward critique of Christian morality, which poses the next world as the ultimate truth, as if our actions on this material plane are secondary, less real. Given just how shitty this world has become, it’s a tempting proposition to give in to. But some of us still believe (or at least want to believe) in material experience and in the value of good works in the here and now, for their own sake. Lots of luck with that.

In spite of loss, some things seem to endure. Pollock reaches deep into our collective cultural imaginary at the close of Paradise Re-Lost, situating the vocal of Anne Briggs’ version of the sea shanty “Lowlands Away” in a glistening, slick mid-1970s soft-rock arrangement. It’s hard to tell what the gesture signifies. The shanty is lovely but sad to its core. The musical accompaniment feels like a warm bath, which sweetens the sadness rather than negating it. In our current period of interregnum, awaiting fascism and its savaging of the bare vestiges of the liberal administrative state, there is a fragile sense of sweetness to this time: holidays and their invocations of relative constants. But atop the treacly surfaces, we know that these bright, clear autumnal skies, with their gem-hard blue, will soon fill with something different. The strains of “Hail to the Chief,” the smell of smoke and something worse than Satan.

Jonathan Shaw

[travsd]

Hello, Frisco, Hello!

Originally published September 24, 2019. This is to announce to all within earshot that I am embarking on an ambitious new period of travel, with multiple motives in mind, almost too many to enumerate: 1) to earn money from speaking engagements and performances and promote my books, blogs and other projects; 2) to see and experience parts of the country and the world I have always longed to see;…

[spikewriter]

You’re right. I do want in because there are so, so many — and a lot of mine don’t have clips, sadly.

-The Pink Lady with Hazel Dawn, a frothy little 1911 musical at the New Amsterdam Theater before Flo Ziegfeld moved the Follies in. (Though he was a producer of this.) Main reason? My mom bought the score for this at a flea market for a quarter, so I grew up hearing the music. At one point, Hazel Dawn played “The Pink Lady Waltz” on stage with a violin.

-The Ziegfeld Follies of almost any year, but if I had to pick one, it would be 1915. W.C. Fields, Bert Williams, Ina Claire, Mae Murray, Olive Thomas, Marion Davies, and Ann Pennington were in the cast and the song “Hello, Frisco!” was introduced.

-The original cast of A Chorus Line, which I missed on my senior class trip in ‘77, though I did get to see Annie with the original cast, including Dorothy Loudon. “What I Did for Love” was the unofficial song of the drama section of our graduating class, because even at that age, the question, “What would you do if you couldn’t dance any longer?” resonated strongly with us. (There is, btw, a not great version of a B&W video taking at the Public Theater before the show went to Broadway on YouTube. I listen more than I watch, but that moment is still heartbreaking.)

-The Bandwagon, 1931. Another musical review and another one at The New Amsterdam, though this one was produced after the the Follies had ended. It was the last Broadway show Fred Astaire did with his sister Adele before she retired from the stage to marry and English lord. (Yes, the film Royal Wedding is partially based on her.) Frank Morgan was also in the cast, and that would have been a treat.

-Anything Goes, 1934, with Ethel Merman creating the role of Reno Sweeney. She did the role for the movie version, but Merman and the movie camera never seemed to be a great fit because she was too big. Would have loved to see her fill the stage with her personality, hitting back of the balcony in those days before there microphones.

And it’s so hard to pick just five. I’d love to have seen Pacific Overtures, but there’s also recording shot for Japanese Television out there on YT with the original cast, including Mako (and better quality than the Chorus Line video) . https://youtu.be/MQ546PASgHI?si=X8vvHvsWDdlSFVi1

I’d put Dreamgirls on the list, but I did get to see it with Jennifer Holiday here in Los Angeles when it opened on tour. (And she was amazing.) A Day in Hollywood, A Night In the Ukraine was another premiere tour production, a show that does not get enough productions, because we all need a revue of great classic movie songs performed by the ushers at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, including a tap dance rendition of the Motion Picture Code, and a second act which is the “great play Chekov never wrote” starring the Marx Brothers and Margaret Dumont. But there’s also Chess, which I saw in London and just missed in New York. Probably should put Les Miz on the list since that is a show I have managed to miss in London, New York and Los Angeles.

One show I really wouldn’t want to see was a muscial originally called Odyssey when I saw it on pre-Broadway tour. Starring Yul Brynner and Joan Diener, it’s one of the more notorious flops on Broadway. When I saw it, the show clearly needed work, but had some funny bits, especially Yul Brynner, who was hysterical as Odysseus masquerading as the beggar when he arrives home. But the show was re-worked quite a bit more, and not to good advantage. By the time it hit Broadway, it was retitled Home, Sweet Homer, and had 11 previews and 1 performance. Some stories say the closing notice as up as soon as the opening (and only) performance was finished. Other stories say it was posted during the intermission.

You have 5 tickets and a time machine to see any Broadway shows in the past

Which 5 shows are you seeing? It could even be off Broadway, a show you’ve already seen, a show you’ll never get to see, ANYTHING. Put your 5 shows in the hashtags…