#hes been listening to Club Tropicana | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

sennaverstappendiary · 10 months ago

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british grand prix ✩ 09.07.2023

imagine... the beach, the sea, the feeling of sun on your skin; a pina colada in your hand... 🍹☀️🌊🏖️🌴 now, imagine seeing a young person in the periphery of your eye sight, sweating, refreshing their ipad screen every two seconds, despite the terrible wifi. what are they up to, you think to yourself. they seem stressed, a family emergency? maybe a fight with their partner? you decide to take a closer look - maybe you can help!

as you come closer, the ipad screen starts to become more clear to you. the person is looking intensly at the screen, their hands in a praying motion, as if they're asking god themself. and then you see it. a car. all of this over a car. on one of the most beautiful places a person can be, this person is watching a fucking car. on a screen.

you go back to your seat. what the hell dude.

RIGHT so as you can maybe guess!!! that person!!! was i!!! 💥💥💥💥💥‼️‼️‼️ i was celebrating a summer holiday on the beautiful island of kos, greece, when silverstone weekend took place 😵☀️ and instead of being a normal person about it, i told my now ex i needed to watch it, no matter what. LMAO. 💥💥💥

so many good memories from kos. my favorite might be me pulling up to our beach tent, and seeing a FUCKING max verstappen cutout. IN GREECE. BE SERIOUS‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️😵😵😵 I CAN NEVER ESCAPE HIM 🥰🥰🥰💕💕💕💕💌💌 i almost died!!

i watched qualifying on the beach, my ipad overheating and my bladder very very full from all the pina coladas id been sipping (this is the summer i fell in love with pina coladas 🍹💕🥰) - this is the first time i watched something f1 while intoxicated (i can spoil you right now: it will not be the last. not even in 2023. shoutout to qatar U WILL ALWAYS BE FAMOUS ‼️‼️‼️‼️). anyway, back to quali: i was so stressed. the wifi wouldn't work. the data wouldn't work. there was sunscreen on my ipad and in my mouth and sand everywhere. i think eventually i just followed the timing instead of the livestream? i rewatched quali for this series and didn't recognise it sooo... i was super stressed lol and celebrated his pole by getting another drink #yassss 🌙💕 THE FACT MAX GOT POLE IS SO DIABOLIC i love him sooo much... giving the entirety of the UK hope for a lando pole and then snatching it away. thats my pookie 💕💕💕💕🥰🥰🥰🥰💕💕🌷🌷💌💌‼️‼️💥💥💥 afterwards i realised btw. that uh. the beach tent i was staying at. was showing f1 on their tv #IDIOT 💥💥💥💥💥

the race was... something else. my now ex wasn't too happy i wanted to watch (he was very very hungry) but 🥺 i am too autistic not to watch i can't help it :( anyway the universe punished me by that FUCKASS start. max what the hell dude. i was so so scared. especially because once again, this was a first for me... 🥺🥺🥺🥺💔💔💔 i was so scared!!! and also kinda buzzed!! 💕💕 eventually everything turned out alright of course - thank the fucking lords lol the race itself wasn't toooo interesting to be honest - i don't remember much, but i was very very happy and celebrated with a cocktail soo 😁😁😁💕💕💕🥰🥰🍹🍹 and how can we forget!!! first rbr win at silverstone since 2012!! how very special 🥺🥺🥺✨✨✨ also yeah the mclaren upgrades were cool lol i used to have mclaren cb soon in my bio on my sennaverstappen blog LOL i manifested it ur welcome lando... 😁😁😁

✩ song of the race: club tropicana - wham!

YOU. will listen to this song right now. this song is literally the entire vibe of the summer. this song transports me right back to kos, watching silverstone on the beach while sipping on a pina colada. i love this song so fucking much. club tropicana drinks are free. fun and sunshine. theres enough for everyone. 💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹🍹☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷🌷🌷🌷🌷🌷💌💌💥💥‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

✩ extra: a small photodump

#british gp 2023

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scottwellsmagic · 11 months ago

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804: Murray Sawchuck - Our Annual "Murray Christmas" Episode

It’s that time of year again when we visit with our Las Vegas correspondent, Murray Sawchuck. .Our chat with Murray has become a holiday tradition here on The Magic Word Podcast. It’s always good to catch up with Murray and see what he’s been up to in the ever-evolving land of wonder that is Las Vegas. Shows, people and buildings come and go like flickering lightning bugs. Murray also keeps a full calendar of dates not only in Vegas with his daily show at the Tropicana’s “Laugh Factory,” but also across the U.S. as he travels from coast to coast performing in comedy clubs and for corporate dates.

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This year Murray recaps some of the happenings in Las Vegas during this past year, plus gives us some tips on what to see and do when visiting “Sin City.” He also talks about his second television comedy special and what social media he has been using, what’s current ,and problems with “shadow banning.”

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here..If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

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It’s not too late in the holiday season to order one for yourself. It is a trick that can be handled and easily learned by beginners, but seasoned pros love it, too. For more information or to order yours direct from Penguin, please visit: https://www.penguinmagic.com/p/S36489

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#Murray Sawchuck #Las Vegas #Laugh Factory

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ones-delight · 4 years ago

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I unfortunately won’t have therapy until the end of this month (I should have scheduled one earlier this month ugh lmao I thought one later this month would be better) so I’m doing what my therapist suggested, write down all what’s going through my head even if it doesn’t make sense to help bring myself back to reality. lol. I’m very much lost in my own sauce of feelings and thoughts. it’s allllll about my ex again so ugh lmao. My main anxieties are just feelings about my ex and what’s coming up this semester.

I’m currently in my apartment in Iowa City since we’re about to start back up my usual routine. I’ve been here for almost two weeks now which is nice because I’ve been trying to take my time to relax and get myself mentally prepared for this upcoming semester. I’m also low key glad I’m having these overwhelming anxieties right now instead of later this week. I need to ask my therapist again what exactly I am feeling (if it’s like a panic attack because i truly dont know) because I’ve been feeling hella anxious the past few days (in general) and yesterday my anxiety was so intense that I barely ate and I felt sick to my stomach. idk if others have the same too but when I also get hella anxious, all I want to do is go to the bathroom so tmi lmao. I feel this way now and I just cannot stop crying so again, I’m just writing everything that’s going through my mind lmao.

#1) Related to my ex, heart break

Yeah.. I literally keep talking about this/him and I’m glad I have multiple outlets that I can say what’s going through my mind because if I keep these thoughts to myself, I keep spiraling. I’m also very thankful I have multiple strong support systems from people where it truly doesn’t get annoying to them when I keep talking about him/my overall heart break/healing journey. I know I don’t want to burden my friends with my own thoughts (it can be a lot) so overall very thankful for friends, family, and my therapist lmao.

I think the last time I talked about my heart break was the letter I wrote to him. I wrote it and sent it to him lmao. I also wrote his mom a letter in Spanish because I want to stay connected with her and very thankful she reciprocates the same energy, Apparently, he never received the letter even though I sent it over 3 weeks ago, but anyways yeah that’s a story I will tell later in this post. Anyways, it’s legit easier said than done to completely stop checking on his social media. I was doing great before winter break. Now that winter break has happened (still kind of is for a few more days), I have relapsed where I was checking very often. The break was great since I got to spend quality time with family, however, unfortunately being back in Wichita still floods a lot of my emotions where there are still a lot of memories of him and I that still makes me feel sad (luckily no longer sobbing about but I do still feel some type of way. It’s getting better thankfully). It also hurts that he’s making new memories with his new girlfriend Kylie so I was def feeling all sorts of things. Sorry, I’m trying to go onto chronologize order of events that have happened. I’m jumping back and forth lmao

First, did I mention his mom called me the day before Christmas? I was SHOOOOOK when I saw her name on my phone. I legit froze because I wasn’t sure if it was actually her so I accidently missed her call. I’m so glad she left a voicemail so I could listen first and immediately call her back LMAO. But basically, she wanted to check in to see how I was doing, wish me and my family a merry christmas/happy new year, and asked if I could come see her. We joked a bit back and forth like how she was learning English for me while I’m learning Spanish for her. lmao. so after this phone call, I wrote her a letter to update her on what I’ve been doing. I wrote it all in Spanish since that’s her primary language so thank god for google translate. overall, I told her about how I’m about to earn my masters degree in may, I’ve lost now 30 lbs of weight/having a better relationship with food, how I’m honestly still hurt about her son cheating on me (I was in my feels. You know if you ever get those feelings like you want your mom? She legit is like a mom to me since my mom isn’t an active part of my life so yeah I guess you can say I got mommy issues but anyways) I also told her that if she’d still like me to come over, I’d love to come over and see her.

Few days go by, I’ve been creeping onto his social media, it stings to see how he has flaunted his relationship with Kylie. It hurts because I keep playing this comparison game because he truly has NEVER allowed me to post about us and he would himself refuse to post about us on his social media. So, just to see how he’s been basically spending every single day with her and posting her throughout all of his social media, makes me feel an extreme type of way. during new years, she had a party at her house where it was him, her, his brother paco (which I was SHOOOK because she met paco and not everyone has ever met paco, who is his oldest brother), miguel and his girlfriend (both are super cute btw), Blake (surprisingly), and Erik. I felt some kind of way because obviously I know they would share a new years kiss even tho they’ve only been dating for literally a month. I dated him for 3 years and NEVER got a new years kiss (because he wanted to be with bros). Valentines day is coming up and it’d be their “two month” anniversary and I just KNOW he’d actually put EFFORT into spending that day with her. 3 years I dated this guy and he never ONCE did ANYTHING for me for valentines day. ok I’m getting more hurt thinking how he’s treating his other girls better than me so anyways BACK TO THE TOPIC

few days go by and I got another call from his mom. I actually picked up this time because I was really excited to hear her voice again. I legit would die for this woman legit #1 mom. She asked if she could see me and I happily said yes. It really means a lot that she still gives me the same energy that she gave me when I was still dating her son. One of the hardest parts of us breaking up was the potential of losing his family too because they are all truly good people and I am NOT the CEO of letting people go lmao. okay back to subject, I had TONS of anxiety driving over to her house because I had so many thoughts. I asked on the phone if 1.) is Lalo there. She said no. 2.) Is Paco there. No, he apparently flew back to California that morning. I was low key hoping paco would be there still because it would be cool to catch up with him but anyways my main concern was if eduardo was there so since he wasn’t, I was like “ok vroom vroom let’s go” lmao. WOWOWOWWO seeing her just made my heart so happy. She def has a lot more gray hairs since the last time I saw her lmao she’s the cutest anyways, I’m really shook that HIS DAD FREAKING HUGGED ME. THIS MAN NEVER USUALLY HUGS ANYONEEEEEEEEEEE. Typically how we greet each other, it’s like a wave from a distance and we obvi acknowledge each other. so WOOOOW I was very thankful and shook he hugged me. Anyways, his mom showed me around the house with the Christmas decorations, I noticed her birds were still doing well, she even showed me her new plants she got lmao. We sat at the dining room table and talked and ate mexican snacks. She has broken English and I have broken Spanish so literally thank god for dualingo because it has helped me. I love how when we are together, we talk really slow and try to annunciate for each other LMAOOO. Anyways, THIS WOMAN ALSO GOT ME A STOCKING filled with Mexican Candy. omg this woman i love her so much. Anyways, I showed my tattoos to her and she legit wanted to murder me lmao but she says she likes them but hates them at the same time. She also sat me down and we had a serious conversation in terms of how she sees me. She said that I am no longer known as lalo’s novia, what I am to her is a daughter. I am evelyn’s sister and yo boi that got me crying in the club because that’s what I would love to have, to maintain my relationship with them . Okay, to kind of speed things up, basically we kept talking about Evelyn’s quinceanera that’s happening this year AHHHHHH, dropped Evelyn off and her friend to a friend’s quince, and his mom took me to eat at paleterias tropicana where I tried elote for the first time and had a jugo verde WOOOOOW SOOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOD. literally cannot stop thinking about it. Anyways, random note, I noticed my old K-State beanie in the car and his mom said it was Evelyn’s. It gave me a weird feeling because it was originally mine that he gifted me on our first Christmas together but obviously I knew he wouldn’t keep it so I’m not suprised he gave it to Evelyn. It made me wonder then what did he do to the other gifts that he originally gave me but I gave it back to him once we broke up.. okay that was a tangent, anyways, that was it with the night with his mom and ughhh it was a really fun night and I really am looking forward to seeing her again.

Now fast forward to now-ish, me not doing good of not checking his social media, I got triggered because they now made it “facebook officlal” that they are dating. it triggered me because again, he refused to publicize our relationship and it really threw me off that they’ve only been dating for a month (technically interested in each other since October, started dating November) and already publicizing they are together. they moving hella quick and basically, I got hella bitter. I felt reckless and I texted him. I KNOW I shouldn’t have texted him because I immediately felt a sense of regret after but also low key glad I did text him. ugh i hate me lmao. Anyways, i texted him and he asked if he could call me so I said yes. Luckily, the conversation was better than I expected because it was simply like two old friends catching up. It was a really good feeling even tho I’m honestly still hurt about the way that he treated me. It caught me by suprised when he said that he has talked about me with Kylie and he actually stated that he knows what he did and feels regretful for the choices he made. That was a huge shocker and I do still have trust issues because I try to take things that he says with a grain of salt. He may be saying things to me that I want to hear but it’s not the truth so anyways lmao. Our conversation was good and it really got me thinking what exactly am I doing/how am I really feeling.

I really am happy for him. Yes i’m still deeply hurt and feel a type of way about how he treated me, but I can’t do anything about the past and all I can do is just simply be happy for him. I will always love him without a doubt, but he isn’t my person. I hope this doesn’t come off as selfish but he will never find someone better than me, he is simply finding someone better suited for him. What helps me the most about this is thinking about ME because that’s the situation for him, however, I know I will find someone better than him because I deserve the best.

I felt bad for asking because I am just fucking nosy and I’m glad he was okay with me asking about what happened with his relationship with Lila (the girl he left me for) and how did he start dating Kylie. He shared with with me that even though it was all great in the beginning with Lila (and let me tell you dude, he totally was hella infatuated with her lmao), they started becoming two different people. She apparently wasn’t emotionally there for him when he needed her (IRONICCCCCCCCCCCCC BECAUSE THAT’S EXACTLY HOW HE WAS WITH ME THROUGHOUT OUR 3 YEARS TOGETHER) and she ended the relationship. It did make me sad to hear because everyone needs support and it is sad when you go to someone for support and they don’t give you it, ya know? anyways, he said with Kylie, they’ve been friends for two years (I knew who she was when we were together but they’ve always only been friends since they worked at the Sunflower together. This will sound extremely bad but I never thought about her being a girl to worry about because she did a lot of “white” things that we make fun of white people for and so it kind of shocked me that he is dating her now but anyways) apparently he said that “they were hanging out and next thing he knows is that he kissed her and that’s how they started dating.” dude didn’t want to go into detail which was fine but I’m also in my head like “ok lmao you literally just got broken up by your ex and then immediately start hanging out with another girl? ok” ANYWAYS, I really am happy for him and wish him the best.

It was cool to hear about what he’s hoping to do. He shared a lot more detail than usual which again caught me by surprise. Anyways, he shared that he is currently looking for a new place to live (a house to rent) somewhere in college hill (conveniently where Kylie also lives lmao) with Erik. He is also hoping to find another job soon because things at KWCH are no longer making him feel happier so he’s looking to see if he can work for a non-profit org which makes me happy for him because I’d also want to do the same. If I’m at a job where I’m not excited to be, I’d want to also try to make a switch. He also shared that junior (martin, his little brother) will be moving to Cali in May to move close to paco which wow made me really happy for them all. Anyways, he shared that he is hoping to stay in Wichita for about one more year and then possibly relocating to KC or somewhere in Oklahoma. i did encourage him KC because it seems that KC has much more opportunities than Wichita and Oklahoma. Only thing we both hate is driving in KC lmao

Okay, so overall, I’m still really hurt about how our relationship was and how it ended but I’m very grateful that I’m doing what is best for me to make progress because this is not an overall easy thing to do, move on. I do feel low key embarrassed that I still am not over our break up but I’m very glad that I know that He isn’t my person. we will and I cannot get back together with him even if he stated that he has “changed” Yes i invested so much in him to be my forever partner and it didn’t work out but that’s okay. I’m always willing to invest in people to be the best version of themselves and it really makes me happy to see people thrive. I truly cannot and will not take him back if there was ever a time where he wanted to give us a second try because I need to remember how he treated me. If he really was always thinking it was me, then he shouldn’t have cheated on me, treated me so poorly. I’m okay with us remaining friends, but as partners in life? that isn’t it. I deserve so much better and the man of my dreams will come. I’m 10000000% okay with being single because I know I need to work on myself so that I can be fully ready for my next. I really wish my next relationship is my one and only, but hey we’ll see.

so this is already extremely long but I’m very glad I got this all out of me. I know I have other anxieties such as starting school again, which will be my last semester before I earn my masters (FINALLY), RA training coming back up (so me working is coming back), JOB SEARCH. So much is coming up and AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I need to get my head into gear.

#personal

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discofreaks · 4 years ago

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George Michael: The Middle Eight Champion of the World

As Wham kicked off 2021 at the top of the UK single charts, I’ve been thinking about why I love George Michael and his music so much. I also, more importantly, thought of a pun I was really proud of and felt compelled to share.

We all know this time of year is famous for a few things. You’ve experienced your Christmas and your Hootenanny, you may now, for some reason, be experiencing a dry January, but for me it’ll always be George Season™.

This is partly due to the fact he passed away on Christmas Day, just hours before my birthday on 26th December, which at the time felt like a sign of some sort. But, it was mostly just upsetting for me and my mum to be honest. Following the sad news, as soon as I got back to London in January 2017, I did the unhinged thing that fans do and visited his Highgate shrine, created around his house and black Range Rover. All these memories make listening to his tunes at this time of year all the more poignant than usual.

Another reason these freezing months will always be George Season™ is Last Christmas, not the Oscar worthy film, but the song that got him boom-booing to Number 1 with Wham in 2021. The snowy video with the love triangle, iconic skiwear and a look to camera that’s now a gif, has been played on YouTube in fancy 4k over 600 million times. Add in the amount of streams and there has been over a billion listens to this 80s classic. Wowzers indeed. Oh and this time of year is when my loved ones and I traditionally head to west London to witness the best tribute act in the world, Rob Lamberti and his ‘George Michael: Relived’ show.

[Rob Lamberti and friend pictured in 2016]

I decided to conduct some forensic analysis as to why his classics just hit differently to the others for me. After mass testing and plenty of chin scratching I came to the conclusion that my love for his music is because of the unique way he (George, not Rob Lamberti) writes his songs. More specifically though, the way George writes memorable, incredible or what’s now known as ‘top tier’ middle-8s. You know, what Bob Dylan or Paul McCartney might describe as ‘the bit of the song before the last chorus that is not the verse’. The BBC official songwriting guide defines the middle-8 as: “A new chord sequence and melody, maybe a big change in the arrangement of the song, or even an instrumental solo.”

Ray Davies, the songwriting legend of the Kinks, charmingly said: “If after two weeks you still can’t write your middle-8, the best course of action is to see a psychiatrist”. Now it may take two weeks to work out what he meant by that, but basically we are talking about the part of a song George Michael absolutely nailed.

The first hit that sparked this niche search (and justified my pun) was Fastlove, “In the absence of security, I made my way into the night / Stupid Cupid keeps on calling me / And I see lovin' in his eyes / I miss my baby, oh yeah’. Decent isn't it. Anyone reading this would have wailed those words in perfect harmony, perhaps in a living room, an ‘afters’ venue or maybe in a past life - even a nightclub. After that part of his 90s boogie-banger you may choose to complete the section, at the peak of a kitchen disco with, “I do believe that we are practicing the same religion. Thats right.”

When I found that he actually did pen more than a few iconic middle-8, I dived into his huge discography to see if there were more and thank the bass of Andrew Ridgeley there was. Naturally its only right to pull out these iconic moments and pop them in an a list isn't it? Also, I really have been sat on this pun forever and I need to validate it with something.

Now, please enjoy this list (complete with links) of the ex-Wham man’s most iconic middle-8s. Or as he may now forever be known, George Michael, The Middle-Eight Champion of the World. Sorry.

The List (and the iconic bit I have been going on about):

◦ Fastlove ‘That’s Right.’

◦ Careless Whisper - ‘Tonight the music feels so loud I wish that we could lose this crowd’

◦ Last Christmas - ‘A face on a lover with a fire in his heart. A man under cover but you tore him apart.’

◦ Freedom 90’ - ‘Feels like the road to heaven, feels like the road to hell.’

◦ Everything She Wants - ‘My situation never changes.’

◦ Flawless (Go To The City) - ‘Sometimes it brings you down, sometimes it keeps you up. Doesn’t it doesn’t it make you feel better. Better. Better.’

◦ Club Tropicana -’Pack your bags and leave tonight”

◦ Spinning the Wheel - ‘How can you love me, you are playing with my life. You said ‘give me time and I’ll be better I swear.’

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#Wham #George Michael #andrew ridgeley #Last Christmas #FastLove #80s #Wham!#80smusic #popmusic #legends #songwriting #middle8

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brokenbuttonsmusic · 4 years ago

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Eleni Mandell: L.A. Singer-Songwriter with Smoky Chrissie Hynde Vocals and a flair for Tom Waits’ Influenced Experimentation

This post is a near- transcript of the Broken Buttons: Buried Treasure Music podcast (episode 5, side A). Here you’ll find the narration from the segment featuring the L.A. singer-songwriter, Eleni Mandell, along with links, videos, photos and references for the episode.

Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple, Anchor or Mixcloud.

Have you ever bought the wrong record? Like, you intended to buy something that sounded like one thing and you accidentally grab something that sounds very different.

I don’t know if this happens anymore, but I believe it was quite common years ago. Imagine hearing an artist on the radio and being blown away. You go to the record store, find the plastic divider with the name of whom you’re looking for, but you can’t remember the name of the album, or even the song. Remember, you don’t have a tiny computer in your pocket. You’re too nervous to ask the store clerk for fear of looking stupid. So you roll the dice.

“I know it was someone called Neil Young, but there are a thousand Neil Young records here.”

“Hey, this pink one looks cool.”

That exact scenario didn’t happen to me, but that album, Neil Young’s Everybody’s Rockin’, happened to be the most played Neil Young album in my house growing up, so for years I thought Neil Young was a rockabilly revival act. In reality, that was one of several oddball records Young released during a tumultuous period with his record label to fulfill his contract demands. I still love that record.

Eleni Mandell did live out the scenario of buying the wrong record though. She shared the story during a segment of the show Bullseye with Jessie Thorn, where she describes seeing Tom Waits on MTV late at night—back when MTV still cared about music. It was either 120 minutes or IRS’ The Cutting Edge. This would have been around 1984 or 1985, so right around the time of Wait’s masterpiece Rain Dogs. When she went to the record store though, she picked up the 1976 Tom Waits’ Asylum release, Small Change instead. Now Small Change is still a great Tom Waits album, but it sounds nothing like the drastically reimagined sound and musical approach he had begun to employ starting with 1983’s Swordfishtrombones. Something Tom Waits called his “junkyard orchestral deviation.” The spare, off-kilter percussion. Moaning trombones and muted trumpets. Marimba. Plenty of marimba. Experimental instruments mixed in everywhere. Megaphones and CB radios. Trash can lids.

This is the sound Eleni was looking for.

Instead she got lush strings. Delicate piano. Cinematic swells and a melancholy wail.

She got this.

Still awesome, but not the same. She credits the experience with changing her life. She grew to love both sides of the Tom Waits coin. The jazzy piano man in the smoky, whiskey-drenched nightclub and the eclectic, experimental carnival barker that she had her first encounter with on late night MTV.

You can hear that deep appreciation and influence for the full Tom Waits spectrum injected and swirling through Eleni Mandell’s own spectacular catalog that spans more than 20 years now.

She’s got plenty of experimental Waits, especially in her early catalog.

And quite a bit of the jazzy nightclub vibe.

There’s also plenty of folk-y Eleni mixed in, and even some country.

You’ll notice that Eleni’s voice doesn’t sound like Tom Waits though. Did you notice that? It’s less of a deep, gravelly howl and more of rich Chrissie Hynde croon. Spin compared her to Chrissie Hynde and PJ Harvey. Rolling Stone compared her captivating melodies and witty lyricism to early Elvis Costello.

While she doesn’t have the Tom Waits’ wail, she does specialize in his particular brand of character song-study. Like this first song we’re going to hear. The first track off of Eleni Mandell’s second album Thrill. Released in the year 2000. This is Pauline.

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Pauline, from Eleni Mandell’s second record, Thrill. So how did this remarkably unique singer-songwriter get her start and pull together so many interesting influences to create the sound we just heard.

Eleni grew up in the Sherman Oaks region of the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles. She started playing music when she was just 5, beginning with the violin and then piano. Eleni didn’t love playing either, but continued to take lessons until she was thirteen. She remembers wanting to learn to write songs early on, but didn’t have the first idea of how to approach it, especially on violin. She jumped from violin and piano to guitar as a teenager. Her parents exposed her to a variety of musical styles. Her mom would take her to musicals and her dad, a serious record collector, played her Hoagy Carmichael and plenty of jazz standards. She loved the Beatles and remembers Diana Ross making an early impression.

Another early life changing moment came when she discovered the Los Angeles punk band X.

X were huge in LA, and their first album (called Los Angeles) was the first record Eleni ever owned. Or maybe the first she asked to own. The first record she was ever given was Shaun Cassidy’s greatest hits for her 4th birthday. The first she ever purchased with her own money was X’s third release, Under the Big Black Sun. She tells a story of when she was out record shopping at a place called Aron’s Records, located on Melrose, and to her utter befuddlement came face to face with John Doe, lead singer of X. He was shopping for records too. She quickly snapped up a copy of the band’s third album and asked John to sign it. He did. She still has the signed album, which reads “Yours” complete with a big X “-John Doe.” That was the last autograph she ever asked for. It was not, however, the last time her path would cross with that of the band X.

When she was a little bit older, she met Chuck E. Weiss, songwriter, rock n’ roller, beat poet and peculiar Tom Waits associate. Also the subject of the song, Chuck E.’s in Love.

Yes, that Chuck E. Weiss. Waits was in a relationship with Rickie Lee Jones. Waits, Jones and Weiss all lived at the seedy Tropicana Motel in Los Angeles. One day Weiss up and left out of nowhere. Some time later Chuck E. called the apartment where Jones and Waits were living. He explained to Waits that he had moved to Denver because he had fallen in love with a cousin there. Waits hung up the phone and announced to Jones, “Check E.’s in love. Rickie Lee Jones liked that so much that she it turned it into the song we just heard.

Who is this episode about again? Oh, right. Eleni Mandell. Anyway, Eleni Mandell met THAT Chuck E. Weiss when she was not yet 21. Still, she had a friend who was able to get her into The Central, a Sunset Strip club that would later become The Viper Room. This would’ve been around 1990. Weiss was playing there every Monday.

Here’s how the write up on Eleni’s original website describes her first encounter with Weiss.

“The first time she ever saw Chuck E. Weiss perform, he walked right up to her and smiled like a cross between The Cheshire Cat and an escaped mental patient. She met him a month later at Musso and Frank’s.”

Eleni says she was at the famous Hollywood restaurant and recognized Weiss. She worked up the courage to approach him and told him how much she loved his show. He asked if she wanted to accompany him to meet up with a friend at Canter’s Deli. She agreed. When they settled into one of the landmark eaterys iconic red, vinyl booths in walked her hero. Tom Waits. What a night. Tom asked Chuck how he and Eleni had met.

“Hebrew school,” he declared.

Here’s a tune from Eleni’s debut album, Wishbone, released in 1999. This is Sylvia.

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From Eleni Mandell’s first album, Wishbone, that was Sylvia.

Under Chuck E. Weiss’ mentorship, produced by Jon Brion and self-financed by Mandell, Wishbone, as well as her next several records, received strong reviews and drew comparisons to Waits and PJ Harvey in style.

Before Weiss mentored Mandell, he hired her as a door person at his club. She said he would test her to see how tough a door person she was by trying to grab money out of her hand. Weiss would continue to mentor Eleni over the years and they’re still friends to this day.

For her fourth album, Mandell shook things up by diving into traditional country. A mix of covers and originals, 2003’s Country For True Lovers is an exciting update to her sound. And one of her life changing moments came full circle. Weiss introduced her to former X guitarist Tony Gilkyson, who produced the project. She also stacked the sessions with all star players, including Nels Cline from Wilco, and another X hero, drummer D.J. Bonebreak.

Eleni continued to mix and mesh genres on her next release, 2004’s Afternoon.

From the No Depression review of that album:

“Last years Country For True Lovers found Los Angeles chanteuse Eleni Mandell turning her sights on twang rather than her previous more PJ Harvey-oriented material, and she received plenty of critical acclaim in the process, sharing the LA Weekly 2003 songwriter of the year award with the late Elliot Smith.”

“On Afternoon, her fifth album, Mandell combines her love of various genres, including country, pop, jazz and rock, to stunning effect. Produced by Joshua Grange, who also lends his considerable talents on guitar, pedal steel, Hammond organ and piano, Afternoon mostly takes the slow and sexy approach. I’ve Been Fooled and Can’t You See Im Soulful give Mandell the chance to show off her breathy but passionate alto, which can devastate in a heartbeat.”

“Mandell does rock out from time to time, as on Easy On Your Way Out, which has a grungy Elvis Costello-gets-on-with-Liz Phair feel to it. I wanna be your afternoon/I want you coming back for more, Mandell sings on the sorta fun/sorta sad title song.”

She can also write catchy singles. Like this song from Afternoon, “Let’s Drive Away.”

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That was Let’s Drive Away from Eleni Mandell’s fifth album, Afternoon, released in 2004. That song was also featured on the TV show, Weeds.

And here comes the challenging part of covering an artist like Eleni Mandell, who’s put out consistently solid albums for over two decades. There’s not enough time to feature all the good stuff she’s produced, but trust me, over her eleven albums, she always delivers. From the diverse shifting sounds of Artificial Fire [play clip] to the smooth and breezy Dark Lights Up [play clip], Eleni whirls a magical combination of jazz, folk, pop, country and rock, with just enough experimental twists to keep everything fresh.

She’s also branched out from her solo artist gig to release two albums with her band The Grabs. The Grabs allows her to exercise more of her pop side and features Eleni on vocals, Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison, and Silversun Pickups’ drummer Elvira Gonzalez.

And, she’s also released records with the Andrews Sisters inspired supergroup, The Living Sisters, with Inara George, Alex Lilly and Becky Stark.

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I’d recommend checking out all of this.

So now that we’ve established that the Eleni Mandell road is paved with the goods, let’s skip ahead to focus on her most recent album: 2019’s Wake Up Again.

Here’s what Eleni and her website have to say about the latest release:

“For two years or thereabouts,” Mandell says, “I taught songwriting at two colleges and a women’s prison.”

The prison gig came about via Jail Guitar Doors, the organization founded by Wayne Kramer, guitarist of the vaunted Detroit band MC5, in partnership with English musician Billy Bragg. “I don’t know why exactly I was drawn to that work,” Mandell says. “But I had a family member who had been in prison in the 1940s. He wasn’t around when I was growing up, but that sort of fascinated me and I was always curious about what kind of person disappears and what kind of person commits crimes — what are they thinking?”

Working with the inmates also provided many epiphanies for her as a person, and proved fertile for her as an artist, as captured in the 11 songs on this album, her 11th studio release. In many ways it’s the culmination and fulfillment of all the strengths as a writer and performer going back to her start under the tutelage of Chuck E. Weiss, Tom Waits and other top chroniclers of people in the shadows.

“I really enjoyed it,” she says. “I was inspired by the stories, and surprised by the laughter I heard there. And I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was, by how many different kinds of people were there: teachers, lawyers, nurses, and also people who grew up in poverty.”

Here’s a song about one of the woman she met during those songwriting classes she taught. This is Evelyn.

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Evelyn from Eleni Mandell’s most recent album, Wake Up Again. Another great addition to her expansive, impressive catalog. The album is filled with rich character studies and deeply personal self-examinations.

Her early Tom Waits inspiration continues to ignite and propel her, even after 11 albums. Only now she can call Tom a longtime friend.

And she went from obsessive punk rock X fan to counting a member of X as a member of her own band. What a cool, thrilling ride she’s had so far. Eleni Mandell.

References and other stuff:

Eleni interview with Luxury Wagers

Eleni interview with Mr. Bonzai

Eleni interview with Tyler Pollard on Timeline

The bio from Eleni’s current website has a great write up on her most recent album and I quote from it in the episode.

No Depression review of Afternoon that I quote in the episode

Here is the original bio from Eleni’s old website that is now archived. I also quote from this

Eleni has been featured on NPR segments over the years. I did not use anything directly from these, but they are good and informative

Pop Matter review of Dark Lights Up

Good L.A. Times article about Eleni teaching songwriting to female inmates and her latest album

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papermoonloveslucy · 4 years ago

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RICHARD REEVES

August 10, 1912

Richard Reeves was born on August 10, 1912 in New York City as Richard Jourdan Reeves. Although he specialized in playing henchmen, gangsters and street thugs, he actually came from a well-off family; his father was a bank executive he and grew up in an upscale section of Queens, New York. He studied music in school; and then, at the age of 18, he worked as a seaman, spending much of his time in the 1930s aboard ships. Reeves served in the US Army during World War II, reaching the rank of sergeant.

He has the distinction of playing the most gangsters / thugs in TV series based on comic books. He appeared in five episodes of “Adventures of Superman” (1952), as well as appearing in a failed pilot called "The Adventures of Superboy" in 1961. He also appeared in the first episode of “Batman” (1966), although not as a villain.

He is no relation to Steve Reeves (Goliath) or George Reeves (Superman).

Reeves’ first appearance with Lucille Ball was as Hank, one of Ricky and Fred’s poker buddies in “Be a Pal” (ILL S1;E2), the second episode aired in 1951.

Next up he played jealous husband and neighbor Bill Foster in “The Gossip” (ILL S1;E24). Bill is married to Grace, about whom Lucy makes up a story of marital infidelity. SPOILER ALERT: In the end, he is in league with Ricky to get the best of Lucy!

His third appearance with Lucille Ball was as one of the thugs that threaten the Maharincess of Franistan in “The Publicity Agent” (ILL S1;E31, left). SPOILER ALERT! It is later revealed that he has been recruited by Ricky and Fred to impersonate an assassin and that his real name is Bill. Does this mean that Bill is Bill Foster, Grace’s husband? If so, Reeves joins a select group of actors who played a recurring character on “I Love Lucy.” The next time we hear of the Fosters it is Grace (Gloria Blondell) who gets the camera time, while Bill is away on business in...

“The Anniversary Present” (ILL S2;E3), where Ricky arranges to buy Lucy an anniversary gift from upstairs neighbor Grace (who works for a jeweler), but Lucy thinks the two are having an affair. Coincidentally, although Bill Foster is not in the episode, Reeves is - at least his voice is! When jealous Lucy listens at the furnace pipe (”the snooper’s friend”) to hear Ricky and Grace talking, she also hears an argumentative neighbor lady (Barbara Pepper) calling her husband Albert (Richard Reeves) to come to lunch! Pepper and Reeves are never seen and are not credited, but their voices are unmistakable.

For the fourth of his eight series appearances Reeves plays a lighting technician on a ladder at the Tropicana. Although he does not have a character name, he does have a line of dialogue in “Lucy is Enceinte” (ILL S2;E10), where Lucy announces that she is expecting a baby.

Reeves doesn’t have a character name in “The Indian Show” (ILL S2;E24) either, although he certainly has one of the funniest lines of the show. Reeves plays an actor (with a broad New York accent) hired to play a Native American in Ricky’s show.

In “Equal Rights” (ILL S3;E4) Reeves is (for once) a good guy, playing one of New York’s men in blue in the episode’s final moments. For the first time on the show - and perhaps to make him look noticeably different - he has a mustache!

In “The French Revue” (ILL S3;E7), Reeves is back at the Tropicana, this time as a stage hand / security guard charged with physically removing Lucy when she sneaks into the club in disguise. Reeves was likely hired for his physical size and strength, as he (and Fred Aldrich, left) have to lift Lucy off the ground.

For his final appearance on the series Reeves breaks out of his usual casting tropes - acting a character role not relying on his size or playing a tough guy. He plays Lester Bike, host of ‘Millikan’s Chicken-Mash Hour” in “Tennessee Ernie Hangs On” (ILL S3;E29).

Reeves was absent from seasons 4, 5, and 6 as well as all 13 episodes of “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour” but kept busy on and off the Desilu lot.

His final appearance opposite Lucille Ball was in “Lucy Drives a Dump Truck” (TLS S1;E24) in 1963. Once again he is back in blue as one of (Brewster) New York’s finest.

In 1959 and 1960, he appeared in two episodes of “The Ann Sothern Show” produced by Desilu and filmed on the Desilu lot.

In June 1961, he was back on the Desilu lot to film an episode of “Angel” written by Jess Oppenheimer and co-starring “Lucy” cast member Doris Singleton (Caroline Appleby).

From 1959 to 1963, Reeves did six episodes of Desilu’s hit gangster series “The Untouchables” - all as different characters - but not all tough guys.

He returned to wearing blue for Desilu in an episode of “Glynis” a series by Jess Oppenheimer starring Glynis Johns that last only 13 episodes in late 1963.

He kept his uniform on for one of two appearance in “My Three Sons” filmed on the Desilu lot in 1962 and 1965. In the first he appeared with William Frawley (Fred Mertz) and in the second with Doris Singleton (Caroline Appleby).

He died on March 17, 1967, age 54 from cirrhosis of the liver. Fittingly, his final screen appearance was posthumously playing a hit man (uncredited) in the James Bond film Casino Royale (1967).

#Richard Reeves #Lucille Ball #I Love Lucy #The Lucy Show #Desilu #My Three Sons #Glynis #The Untouchables #Angel #The Ann Sothern Show #Vivian Vance #William Frawley #Desi Arnaz

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josiebelladonna · 5 years ago

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vegas lights // joey & frankie

While stopping through Sin City, Joey and Frankie have their eye on the lovely, but morose lounge singer in the club with "the kind of voice that knocks a man out." Reluctant, they follow her backstage for a little something or other.

This was a story I wrote back in January after I finished black diamonds, but I never polished it up or shared it with anyone. So I did just that last night. This one's a little nod to the indigenous side of my heritage. Don't mind if I spice things up a bit for all of youses 😉 Named for the Panic! at the Disco song, but listen to Oye Como Va by Santana, Can't Remember to Forget You by Shakira & Rihanna, Medellin by Madonna, and Gardenia by Kyuss while you read through this for a little extra spice 🌶️

And yes... this is NSFW. You’ve been warned 😘😘💋💋

June 10, 1986. Las Vegas, Nevada.

"Hey, Joe, wait up!"

Joey glanced over his shoulder once he had halted at the stoplight. He hung there for a moment in order to wait up for Frankie to catch up with him and also to hang there in the vast shadow cast by the Four Seasons.

Frankie himself, meanwhile, brushed a rather wavy lock of his rich black hair off of the side of his face. It had only been an hour since Anthrax had checked into the hotel while on their tour with Metallica and Armored Saint, which gave him plenty of time to shower off for the time being, but the heat of the day had dog piled onto the Las Vegas Strip by sunset.

Joey gazed up at the Four Seasons there on the corner: oh, to be staying at the Four Seasons! Nice fluffy pillows and big luxurious showers, and not to mention, free breakfast. Up ahead stood the huge glassy black pyramid that was the Luxor, then the Tropicana, and then Excalibur, New York, New York, Aria, Cosmo, and off in the distance to the point of making his eyes water, the fountain show before the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace.

But on the other hand, Joey could feel the violent heat pulsating off of the blacktop before him onto his lanky bare legs and narrow ankles. It wasn't even technically summer yet, and yet it was utterly sweltering at five thirty in the afternoon.

Frankie caught up with him just prior to the crosswalk and with the glare of the sunlight, Joey could make out the beads of sweat collecting on his brow and all along on the side of his neck like a string of pearls.

"God, it's hot out," he declared as they kept on walking together.

"Yeah, it's pretty warm," Joey added with toss of his inky black curls: he knew he should've tied it back as he felt unsure of whether the moisture on the back of his neck was from his shower or from sweat.

"There's a bar over here, though," Frankie gestured up the block, right before them and a beeline from the Luxor, to the large, bright lit bar with scarlet outer walls and a pitch black roof: if it wasn't for the neon sign out front, either of them would have mistaken it for somebody's house.

"Oh God, I could totally use a drink right about now," Joey groaned as they caught the light green.

Right before them towered the Tropicana, with the pure white lights up top shining with the bright red of the setting sun; but both men were fixed upon this place here right before them. Joey pushed his curly bangs off of his hot brow so as to feel the trace of the desert wind blowing through the casinos there on the Strip. He was about ready to take off his shirt by the time he reached the front glass door first, but retracted the thought once he opened it and was greeted by the blast of cool air from the air vents overhead. He held the door for Frankie, who removed his mirrored sunglasses once the door was shut behind him.

Cool blue light shone down upon their heads as they padded along the hard navy blue carpet to the long luxurious looking bar on the left side of the room; to the right stood the section with all of the low dark tables, and at the far right side of the room was a flat stretch of dim lit dark wood with a stool, a microphone stand, and a drum kit.

"Hey, Frankie, check it out," Joey pointed in that direction.

"Oh, bitchin'!" Frankie replied as they took their seats on the spindly stools there at the bar. "You think we might catch a live act while we're in here?"

"It's a possibility. Maybe if we stay here long enough, we shall." Joey then asked the young bartender with dyed black hair for a glass of scotch while Frankie ordered a glass of red wine. They needn't drink so much as they had a show with Metallica and Armored Saint the next day, but a little drink in such a classy looking place never hurt anyone.

Framed photographs of the likes of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong hung up on the black and silver pinstriped wall next to them. Everything else was either a cool shade of blue or jet black.

"What is this place?" Frankie wondered aloud as Dean Martin softly played out from the right side of the room. He nodded his head and grinned at the sound of Dino's jovial crooning.

"Quite the gem if I might say so myself," Joey said as he took a sip of scotch.

A few more people entered the bar and soon, they noticed a stagehand tuning a deep violet five string bass guitar. Joey held his glass up to his lips and hesitated. Something stopped him. Maybe it was the applause or maybe it was something else, but he turned around for a look up at the platform on the other side of the room. Frankie sipped his wine and turned for a look himself.

She was this short slender little young lady with jet black hair matted into something that was perhaps a step away from dreadlocks, all of which she had tied up from the back of her head and neck with a thick white ribbon: three rich red velvet roses rested upon one side of her head. The torrid desert sun had bestowed her skin with a delicate brown tone; she wore a little red and black strapless sundress with a plunging neckline, a whole score of bracelets on either arm, and a large elaborate tattoo of a bouquet of roses on her left shoulder. Joey took a closer look to find she was barefoot.

Her drummer, a black man with thick heavy dreadlocks and a gray wife-beater, began tapping on his cymbals before launching into a heavy beat. Her bassist, an older gentleman in a black ball cap and a striped shirt, wandered around with his bass line. And then she opened her mouth to sing.

Frankie almost dropped his glass of wine from her rich, dramatic deep voice. She enunciated words with a bit of a swing, so much that she had a lovely vibrato to boot. She held onto the microphone stand with one hand and kept her other hand hovering next to the body of the microphone itself. She had that old-fashioned power and passion of the singers of the Great Depression, and the divas of the Sixties, and yet she had brought it into the Las Vegas Strip in the Eighties. Joey turned around in his chair with his eyebrows raised and his lips slightly parted.

"Now, that—THAT—is the kind of voice that knocks a man to his knees," he remarked. "Holy shit."

"Quite the observation coming from you, too!" Frankie replied with a laugh, but he knew he was serious. The way this woman sang, the way she pinched her eyes shut and held her arms close to her slim stomach, it all seemed to be coming from somewhere deep down inside of her, deep down from underneath those fiery red roses. Joey held his glass by the rim as he watched her in awe. The way she sang almost felt as though she was making love to the audience.

At one point, enthralled by her performance, Joey set down his glass on the bar and gave her his full attention. Frankie finished his wine and set the glass down to do the same.

"I am Sofia Rosencrantz," she introduced herself at one point, her speaking voice small, timid, and laden with a subtle Mexican accent, "but call me The Desert Rose."

"We should totally go talk to her afterwards, Joey," Frankie suggested with a stifle of a hiccup. Joey meanwhile shrugged as he ran the tip of his finger along the rim of his glass.

"I wouldn't mind saying 'hi'," he confessed. She played one more song before the encore, which consisted of her perched atop the wooden piano pushed onto the stage. Joey eyed her sun-kissed legs, all shapely and smooth like milk chocolate; her slender ankles, the left of which accentuated by a pair of black and silver anklets; and of course her narrow feet. He then returned to Frankie, who rummaged through his pocket for a tip for the bartender.

"Yeah, let's go say 'hi,'" Joey suggested as he, too, scrounged for some money in his shorts pocket. Once they had it, they departed from the bar and ambled up to the side of the stage in order to catch her in time.

"Sofia?" Joey called after her.

"Miss Rosencrantz!" Frankie followed up.

She turned for a look at him from the steps on the stage. Once she was on the floor before them, and she gazed at both men right in the eye, she showed them a nervous smile, granted they were two strange men with long hair and odd accents.

"Yes?" she asked them in that sweet feminine voice: she had a friendly smile on her face but her eyes carried an ounce of pain, as if on the brink of tears.

"Um..." Joey could feel his face growing warm, this time from the glass of scotch as well as talking to a beautiful dark skinned woman. He caressed his chin and the tip of his Roman nose before speaking up again. "—we just wanted to say that you put on quite the show just now."

"Thank you so much," she said; her speaking voice was such a sharp contrast in comparison to her singing voice, such that it almost made Joey forget his own name.

"Um, I'm Joey," he stammered, "and this is Frank. Or Frankie as everyone calls him."

"We're both in a band," Frankie quipped.

"Oh, really?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrows and a step closer to them.

"Yeah, I'm a singer, too," Joey added as his face grew warmer, "well, we both are, but I am more so. I mean, more so me."

"And what do you do?" she asked Frankie.

"I'm bass player. I also play straight up guitar but bass is where I feel at my most peace."

"Would you guys like to have a bite to eat or something to drink? You both look as though you could use a little nourishment."

"Well, we both had drinks at the bar just a bit ago, but I'd like a little—" Joey had no idea how to end that sentence. "I mean, some kind of—yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, sure. I mean, yes please!"

Sofia giggled at him and brought a hand to her mouth, but then she gestured for the both of them to follow her into her dressing room. She seemed to move over the floor like a ghost, the way she stepped through the corridor and the way her dress drifted behind her like a veil. Her anklets tinkled like a trickle of water on a sun scorched river bed.

She peered over her shoulder at the two of them following her: as they neared her dressing room, Joey caught a whiff of some kind of peppery incense and clean sheets. She pushed the door open and held it for both him and Frankie.

Her dressing room was lush and well groomed, with her couch and comfy looking chair both donned in crushed red velvet and every corner smelling of that same peppery incense. There stood a bouquet of soft white yucca flowers and crimson bulbous dahlias on the table underneath her mirror. Frankie picked up the smell of cinnamon as she made her way over to a miniature fridge behind the chair.

"Make yourselves at home," Sofia assured them, "mi casa es su casa."

"Dibs on the couch," Joey quipped with a dive onto the plush sofa cushions.

"Damn it!" Frankie scoffed but he couldn't help but laugh at that. Sofia raised her head and doubled back to him with something dark in her fingers.

"Ooh, what's this?" he asked in a kind tone.

"Mexican dark chocolate," she explained, "it has some chile pepper and cinnamon mixed inside." She handed him a square piece and he showed her a friendly smile in return. Joey sat upright for a piece for himself.

"So are you from Mexico?" asked Frankie as he took a nibble of the chocolate.

"I was born there," she replied, "and my mother is Apache Indian and Mexican—" To which Joey's spine erected at the mention of a Native American tribe. "—but I have lived in Las Vegas since I was two years old. I grew up here and I found music here."

"How long have you been singing?" asked Joey with a shy grin on his face.

"Since I was five years old. Most everyone in my family is either an actor or a singer. It... is in my blood if you will."

"Not gonna lie," Joey began again, this time with a nibble on his piece of chocolate. The cinnamon and the pepper inside erased the taste of scotch from his mouth: if he could bask in this rich, lush flavor for the rest of his life, he would. He tilted his head back for a second and then returned his attention to Sofia. Frankie meanwhile, examined the curvature of her legs and ankles, and then the curvature of her hips. She was quite the shapely young lady: if Joey failed, perhaps she could vouch for the other Italian boy.

"Not going to lie about what?" she asked him with a quizzical look upon her face.

"It almost felt like you were making love to the audience," he continued in a soft voice. Sofia turned her head towards Frankie, who took another nibble of the chocolate, albeit a slower nibble and with a deep gaze into her dark eyes. She ran her tongue along the top of her bottom lip at the sight of him.

"You would not want to get involved with me," she warned the both of them.

"Do you," Frankie started once he swallowed the little bite of chocolate: the cinnamon and pepper came back to him in a flash of heat; "mind either of us asking why at all?"

"It is... a bit heavy," she confessed at a reluctant pace.

"Can't be that bad," Frankie assured her with a shrug of his shoulders. Fetching up a sigh, Sofia padded over to him and brought her face close to his. Frankie could smell the hypnotic aroma of her peppery perfume wafting off of her neck and dreadlocks. Her dark eyes examined his skin, especially the smooth skin on his lips and the even smoother skin on the sides of his toned neck. He held the chocolate near his mouth for another bite but he never did take one.

"Let me drink you down," she whispered into Frankie's ear.

"What about him, though?" he asked her with a gesture over to Joey.

"I'll take care of him," she assured him in a husky voice. "But don't you worry at the moment. You know... we are on the Strip. We like to gamble and live in luxury on the Strip."

Frankie didn't move, and neither did Joey.

"We like to gamble under the glitz—and the glamour—and the romance of the Vegas lights. Especially when it comes to a jazzy cinnamon girl like myself."

"What're you—" Frankie started but her pressing her finger onto his lips halted him right in his tracks.

"You don't want to get involved with me," she whispered into his lips before she pressed hers there. Joey almost choked on his piece of chocolate at the sight before him.

"—hold still," Sofia whispered to Frankie as she peeled down his shorts. The air conditioning in the room there only made him sweat even more: he swallowed down the rest of his chocolate so he could relish in her. Joey lunged towards the far corner of the couch so he could have a full view of the sight before him.

Frankie held still with his back to the wall. He watched her peel down his underwear for a caress and a poke and a stroke. Joey was careful to eat up the rest of his chocolate as the sight of this cinnamon girl fondling his friend is about to be an even bigger show than the one they witnessed beforehand.

Frankie closed his eyes as she brought her lips to his head for a kiss and then a bit of a sucking. Sofia closed her eyes as she moved her mouth up closer to his body. He turned his head to the side and part of his lush hair spread across his neck and collar bones.

She made him bloom like a rose in the desert himself. Frankie gasped when he felt himself firming up.

She let go of him and then lifted up her skirt, and whirled around for a bit of a grind on her part. Joey never moved out of his spot as Sofia gyrated her shapely hips over Frankie's length.

Frankie groaned in his throat and knitted his eyebrows together. He started to move with her. Sofia's eyes gleamed and her face lit up when she realized what he was doing.

She whirled back around with her anklets tinkling again. She took him on from the front this time.

Sofia gazed at Frankie right into his dark eyes. She gazed on at him all the way until the point of him getting off. He tilted his head back and let out a low moan.

She moved her hips back and her skirt billowed up like a sail. She turned for a look over at Joey on the couch and with a stunned look upon his face.

She gestured for him to come towards her. Gingerly, he climbed to his feet and ambled towards her. She sauntered up to him and lay a hand upon his warm chest.

"Dance with me," she begged Joey, "dance with me, you sexy, sexy man."

"But there's no music," he insisted.

"Just—dance with me."

Sofia reached down for his hand: she put her other hand around the small of his back and held him close to her. His delicate body was warm from the chocolate, the scotch, and the heat of the day, but he didn't mind, especially when she tangoed with him towards the bouquet of flowers. She brought her nose up to his neck for a whiff of the soft smelling shampoo he had used in his shower earlier.

Once they reached the bouquet, Joey reached for one of the yuccas and held it before her face.

"Hello... bella donna," he whispered to her. She puckered her lips at him as she brought them up to his.

"Bella donna," she whispered back to him. "I love that."

She pressed her lips onto his once, twice, four times. Joey lost his balance and staggered back onto the soft comfy recliner, but she was quick to catch up with him. He spread his legs apart upon the seat cushion. She peeled back his shorts and took a seat.

Now he was hot from the movements on her part. Smooth and steady, like the waves of sand dunes out in the desert.

He held onto the flower's stem as she hummed to herself and ground upon him. He nibbled on his lip when he felt it coming on. Her breasts, so full and feminine, seemed to bring him even closer and at such a quick pace no less. He wanted to touch them but he could only do it one handed. Sofia gazed into his eyes; he gazed back with each and every gyration, each second he felt himself reaching the top as well.

Joey grimaced and curled his toes inside of his shoes. He then made a noise that sounded like a botched scream. A botched scream like the first time he made a mistake during the rehearsals prior to recording Armed and Dangerous.

She was so gentle with him and yet he couldn't help but feel euphoric about it. Sofia leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. As she climbed off of him, she caressed his chest. And he gazed at her with a delirious look upon his face.

"By the way, you never answered our question," Joey pointed out. "Why wouldn't a coupla guys like us wouldn't want to get involved with a girl like you?"

Sofia brushed a curled lock of hair out of his brown eyes.

"Those of us who tour about the world are among some of the loneliest and most in need of love," she told him. "My father had the same problem. I hardly ever got to see him while growing up from his being a touring actor and musician. He is my father no doubt, but I saw the loneliness in him from the beginning."

"So... you don't want to be a part of that?" he asked her in a small voice.

"I am afraid not," she confessed, her tone solemn. "But—the next time either of you are out here in the desert, I just might be here, awaiting the both of you." She winked at him and he showed her a lopsided little grin.

Indeed, Sofia was kind enough to lead them back outside, into the bright neon of the Vegas lights. She kissed the both of them on the sides of their faces before disappearing back into her home, that little bar across the street from the Luxor.

The two men glanced at one another with relaxed, pleased expressions upon their handsome faces.

"Wanna go back to the hotel?" Joey asked him in a broken voice.

"Sure," Frankie replied with a sigh and a toss of his shirt over his shoulder. At least this time night had fallen over them. But nothing could deny the heat of the Vegas valley around them, and the heat of the Desert Rose.

#one shot #short fiction #anthrax fanfic #anthrax #joey belladonna #frank bello #smut #it's weirdly chilly here and in other places so this oughta warm ya up ya bastards #also on ao3 #also on wattpad #writing #text

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your-guide-to-music · 5 years ago

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Your guide to: George Michael

Welcome to your guide to: George Michael! This guide is designed to help anyone looking to explore his music with getting started. The guide covers his background and history surrounding both Wham! And his solo career, and also the music produced during these periods. It is a long guide, as is every guide that will go on this blog but it’s meant to give a very in depth view of the artist and help new fans get to know who they really are. I may update this in the future so if you have anything you want added or have any questions, just let me know!

Background and history

So first off, just like the last guide, I’m going to give a bit of background info on who George Michael is - George was a British pop star who found fame in the early 1980’s as part of a duo with Andrew Ridgeley, a friend he met during his teenage years. He was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in East Finchley, London in 1963 and moved to Hertfordshire in his early teens.

To date, George has had a combined 9 studio & compilation albums go to #1 within Wham! and his solo career. His first two albums inside Wham! - Fantastic and Make It Big both hit the top spot in the UK and although these are the only albums released in the UK, there is a third album called Music From the Edge of Heaven. Music From The Edge of heaven was not released in the UK, but it was in North America and Japan, where it’s peak position landed at #10. The album includes tracks such as the hit ‘I’m Your Man’ and ‘Edge of Heaven’ which both hit #1 in the UK.

In terms of his solo work, these are all his albums to go to #1. LWP Vol.1 actually hit the top spot twice after its reissue in 2017.

The Wham! Era (1981-1986) - Wham were a pop duo formed by friends George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. The group began in 1981 and initially signed to Innervision records after the boys sent a homemade tape to record labels. George acted as Lead Vocalist, Composer and Producer with Andrew primarily acting as guitarist and backing vocalist.

Alongside the duo were backing dancers Shirley Holliman (Who would go on to become Shirley Kemp, the wife of Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp) and Dee C. Lee, though Lee left early on to work as part of the group ‘The Style Council’ with Paul Weller, and was replaced by Helen ‘Pepsi’ DeMacque. After Wham!’s split in 1986, the girls would go on to form their own duo called Pepsi and Shirley, spanning songs such as Heartache and Goodbye Stranger.

The first record released by Wham! was the upbeat ‘Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)’ in August 1982, reaching #8 on the UK charts, it is arguably one of the band’s most well-known songs. The next single was Young Guns (Go For It), released in October 1982 and reaching #3 in the UK charts. This forecast further success for Wham! and in June 1983, they released their debut album - Fantastic. The album hit #1 and things only went up from there. Other hit singles from this album include the ever memorable Club Tropicana and Bad Boys which hit #4 and #2 respectively.

The second album released by Wham! was Make It Big, by this time they had moved to Epic Records after disputes with Innervision. The album was released in November 1984 and was accompanied by 3 #1 singles - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Freedom and Careless Whisper (That last one is actually a George Michael solo song as you all probably know but it is credited to Wham! featuring George Michael. George put Andrew on the writing credits so he wouldn’t have to worry about money as he’d always get royalties from that song.) They almost had a Christmas #1 in 1984 with their classic ‘Last Christmas’, but were beat to the top spot by Band Aid, a venture George was also a part of. The royalties from LC went to the Ethiopian Famine Appeal to coincide with the fund-raising efforts of Band Aid.

In 1985, Wham! became the first western group to have a 10 day visit to China on their world tour. They played a concert at the People’s Gymnasium in Beijing for 12,000 people and a further concert in Canton for 5,000 people. Footage from their tour was featured in the video for Freedom and the tour attracted mass media attention, keeping Wham! at the height of success.

In 1986, George released a second solo song - A Different Corner. This song is always bittersweet to listen to for me, and it was a big success just like Careless Whisper was 2 years earlier. It was around this time that breakup rumours began to circle and Wham! officially announced their disbandment after the release of Music From the Edge of Heaven and a compilation album of their singles called ‘The Final’. A sell-out 8 hour farewell concert by the same name of the compilation album followed and the last Wham! single ‘Edge of Heaven’ reached #1 in June 1986.

The solo years (1987-2016) - In January 1987, a duet between George and Aretha Franklin - I Knew You Were Waiting (for me) - was released. The song was another success for George and it hit #1 in both UK and US charts. This was the third solo #1 he’d had before his debut album was even released.

His debut album, Faith, was released in the UK on October 30th. The album has now well-known classics of George’s discography such as Faith, I Want Your Sex, Father Figure and One More Try. This album spent 12 weeks at #1 in the US and stayed in the UK charts for 92 consecutive weeks. Furthering it’s success, Faith won the Grammy for Album of The Year in 1989 and George embarked on a world tour in support.

It’s no secret (now) that George was unhappy during this time, and in fact at future various times of his career too. The very execution of Faith, including the promotion and touring for it, left him exhausted. At the same time, George was battling with his sexuality and had been for some time which only contributed to his opposement to promotion and the press in general in the future.

In 1990, his second album - Listen Without Prejudice Vol.1 - was released. This album is personally my favourite, George had moved away from the cute little teen idol image he was in Wham! and was starting to pursue a more serious image. The album includes notable tracks such as Freedom ‘90 and Praying For Time and George refused to do any promotion for it.

Freedom ‘90 is particularly notable for its music video, which featured some of the biggest supermodels in the world at the time. He didn’t appear in the music video at all and instead had Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Tatjana Patitz lip-syncing to the song, inspired by this photo from the cover of Vogue Magazine. George would work with Linda Evangelista again for the video of ‘Too Funky’, as well as other supermodels such as Tyra Banks.

The 90’s brought a lot of struggles with it for George, he entered a long battle with Sony over his rights as an artist and he lost his partner, Anselmo Feleppa, as well as his mother.

The battle with Sony was tough to say the least. George argued that Sony had failed to promote his latest album LWP Vol.1 properly as punishment for his choice to downplay his sex symbol image. Sony, on the other hand, argued that it was George’s refusal to appear in promotion for the album that caused the poor performance compared to Faith.

Sony ultimately won the lawsuit and George remained trapped in his contract, something he referred to as ‘professional slavery’. It wasn’t until 1995 that Sony sold George’s contract to Virgin Records and DreamWorks Records, freeing him from the confinements he detested so heavily.

In 1991, George performed Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me at his Wembley Arena show with Elton again, this version was recorded and released, reaching #1 in the UK and US.

That same year we sadly lost one of the best musicians I personally think we’ve ever seen. Freddie Mercury was an incredible man on and off stage, and in 1992 a tribute concert was held in his memory. George attended this concert as a performer and sang queen hits such as Somebody To Love and These Are The Days of Our Lives with Lisa Stansfield.

It was during this time that George discovered Anselmo had been diagnosed with AIDS, the same thing that took Freddie from us, and was feeling not only the hurt from losing one of his idols, but also distraught from understanding he was potentially going to lose his partner.

Anselmo died in March 1993 after a long battle with AIDS. This severely hurt George and led him further into a state of depression and grief. Because of the battle going on with Sony, George wouldn’t release another album until 1996.

Older is, arguably, his best work. After all the pain he had experienced and the struggles he had gone through in recent years, he came back with a strong album that included the hit song ‘Jesus To a Child’, dedicated to Anselmo. Other songs such as Spinning The Wheel and Fastlove Pt. 1 highlights the danger of AIDS and explore the notion of love without commitment.

Looking back, I think it is relatively easy to see the real messages in the music. I think back when these albums were released it probably wasn’t as widely considered and so few were looking for the real messages, just looking at the music but not observing.

In 1997, George also lost his mother to cancer, just 4 years after losing his Partner. I have to say, George created some amazing music during this decade and I believe he came out stronger for going through these things but it’s hard to deny that this was an incredibly difficult time for him and I often wonder how he did it.

1998 was the year George’s sexuality was finally revealed in a more than subtle way. He was arrested in Beverly Hills in April of that year for ‘Engaging in a lewd act’ in a public restroom located at the Will Rogers Memorial Park. The arrest was part of a sting operation using ‘Pretty Police’, the arresting officer involved in the incident was Marcelo Rodríguez and as a result of the publicity, it was soon known that George was gay (not that it was any of our business anyway).

1998 also saw the release of his first solo greatest hits album entitled ‘Ladies and Gentlemen: the best of George Michael’. The album included some new songs such as ‘Outside’, the first single which made fun of his April arrest, and a duet with Mary J Blige singing a cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘As’. The album had to be released through Sony as per the contract severance terms from 1995 and the album reached #1 in the UK, staying there for 8 weeks and making it one of the best selling albums of all time in the UK.

George’s next album came a year later - Songs From The Last Century. This album was completely covers with no original work, songs such as Roxanne (originally performed by The Police) and The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (originally performed by Peggy Seeger) and hit #2 in the UK charts.

Now we’re getting into the 2000’s, the decade in which some of my favourite George Michael songs came to life. I’m 2000 he recorded a duet with Whitney Houston which was going to feature Michael Jackson instead of her at first. He began working on his 5th studio album this year and it was released in 2003.

The album, ‘Patience’, had its first single released in March 2002 and what a single it was. Titled ‘Freeek!’, the song was far, far away from the usual wham! Sound. Georgie had grown up and we were not allowed to forget it. Unfortunately I’ve hit the photo limit for this post but I suggest you watch the music video below if you want an idea of what I’m talking about.

https://youtu.be/VLnYPXTs9LY

youtube

The next single was quite controversial, it’s called Shoot The Dog and the lyrics criticise UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush in the run up to the 2003 Iraq invasion. He also recorded a version of Don McLean’s ‘The Grave’ and performed it on various music programmes, gaining further controversy but praise from Don.

In 2003, George resigned to Sony despite the history between them. Patience was released in 2004 and became one of the fastest selling albums in the UK, selling over 200,000 copies in its first week alone. A number of other singles were released from this album including Amazing, Flawless, Round Here and John and Elvis Are Dead.

The next piece of work from George came in 2006 titled simply ‘Twenty Five’. It marked George’s 25th year in the music world from the time Wham! begun and debuted at #1 in the UK. It was a compilation album, much like the greatest hits from 1998 but this time it included songs from Wham! as well as his solo work. It also debuted some new songs such as An Easier Affair and a new version of Heal The Pain featuring Paul McCartney.

To celebrate the album, George also went on a tour titled The 25 Live tour. The tour consisted of 80 shows and was watched by approximately 1.3M fans. A tour DVD was released featuring his shows at Earl’s Court, London and I definitely suggest watching it, it’s a very good show.

In 2008, George released what is considered to be his first Christmas song since recording Last Christmas with Wham! 24 years earlier. December Song was released to the fans free of charge with George hoping the fans would make a donation instead to a charity.

Now we enter the 2010’s, some of the last years of George’s life. He started his Symphonica tour in August 2011, singing mainly songs from his album Patience and Songs From The Last Century.

In November, the rest of the tour was rescheduled as he became dreadfully ill with Pneumonia whilst in Vienna, even going comatose at one point. Thankfully, he pulled through and even made an appearance at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics.

On August 25th 2012, George released a song called ‘White Light’, inspired by his battle with pneumonia and near-death experience during it. The song got it’s live debut at the 2012 olympics closing ceremony and reached #15 on the UK charts.

The Symphonica tour resumed and finished in October 2012 at Earl’s Court, marking George’s last ever concert.

Symphonica got released as a live album in March 2014 and became George’s 7th #1 solo album in the UK. George’s team announced in November 2016 that there was a documentary titled ‘Freedom’ that would be released in March 2017 but due to the sudden death of George, it was pushed back to October 2017 instead. I really suggest you watch this documentary as it’s very informative about his journey.

LWP got a reissue at the same time and Freedom ‘90 was released as a 7” single in limited numbers to coincide with the documentary and reissue. September 2017 saw the release of a new version of Fantasy featuring Nile Rodgers. At this time, we’ve not had any more new music but have been advised there is some coming. Georgie’s family and estate update us from time to time (see link below, this where all updates are usually posted)

In 2017 I and countless other Lovelies spent a week straight streaming and buying the Last Christmas single, we wanted to get it to #1 for George as it had been a year since he passed but unfortunately somehow despite our efforts, the song was a non-mover and stayed at #3. To this day I’m suspicious about that as there were so many of us streaming and buying etc. That I don’t understand how it could possibly have not moved. But anyway, we tried and George would be proud of us even if it didn’t work.

The music

Okay, well... that was the history of George Michael. Now all we really have left to do is go through the albums (I’m omitting compilation albums though, and giving special mentions to songs not on studio albums instead) and pick out some underrated and favourite songs. I’m going to include his Wham! days in this as it seems only right to, he was a brilliant solo artist but it’s important we recognise where he started.

Fantastic - Bad Boys, Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do), Club Tropicana and Young Guns (Go For It!)

Make it big - Freedom, Credit Card Baby, Everything She Wants, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Music From The Edge of Heaven - I’m Your Man, Edge of Heaven, Where Did Your Heart go?, A Different Corner, Blue

Faith - Monkey, One More Try, Father Figure, Hand To Mouth, Faith, Kissing a Fool

LWP Vol.1 - Praying For Time, They Won’t Go When I Go, Cowboys and Angels, Freedom ‘90, Mother’s Pride

Older - Spinning The Wheel, You Have Been Loved, Star People, The Strangest Thing

Songs From The Last Century - Secret Love, My Baby Just Cares For Me, Roxanne, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Patience - Freeek! ‘04, My Mother Had a Brother, Amazing, Flawless (Go To The City), Shoot The Dog

Special mentions: An Easier Affair, White Light, Outside, Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (with Elton John, I can’t make you love me, Killer/Papa was a rolling stone, Somebody To Love (From the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert 1992)

And we’re finished! That was your guide to George Michael, if you have any questions or want me to add/correct anything then please let me know. Like I said I’ll probably update this in future so it’s worth checking back from time to time. Thank you for reading this far, if you have!

#your guide to George Michael #George Michael #Wham!#80s #andrew ridgeley

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penumbra-rp · 5 years ago

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Congratulations Dean, you have been accepted for the role of Rabastan Lestrange!

“Does reputation matter to you?”

“My reputation? Who do you think I am, Taylor Swift?” he questions tauntingly.

Admin Ash: Dean, from the moment we heard of your interest in Rabastan, we had a feeling he had just the vibe that would be perfect for you, and this application only proved how right we were. Rabastan is hilarious, he’s animated, he’s completely and utterly obnoxious -- just as you stated in his traits -- and I found myself cackling out loud to his antics and the numerous ridiculous things he said. Much like the gem above. He’s a proper nuisance -- wearing his place at the bottom of his graduating class like a medal and taking utter pride in spicing up any dinner party -- and I found that I adored him all the more for it. I know he’s going to give many of our Death Eaters a headache that’ll be too hard to shake. I’m so excited that you’ll be bringing our rambunctious rockstar to us!

Please check out our checklist for joining Penumbra.

01. Out of Character

NAME: Dean

AGE: 21

YOUR BIRTHDAY: July 4th 1997

PRONOUNS: She/Her

TIMEZONE: GMT

02. In Character

CHARACTER: Rabastan Lestrange

CHARACTER’S PRONOUNS: He/Him

FACECLAIM: Robert Sheehan

CHARACTER’S BIRTHDAY: July 29th

PERSONALITY:

+ Persuasive

+ Comical

+ Boisterous

- Argumentative

- Obnoxious

- Impressionable

BRIEF BULLET POINT BIO:

‘What a beautiful little girl you have,’ strangers would coo, easily mistaking the boy’s long dark eyelashes as a feminine feature. The compliment felt like a stab in the heart for a woman who had mothered two sons when she had spent the majority of her second pregnancy dreaming longingly for a daughter.

The minute he had said his first words, the Lestranges knew he would be nothing like their first child. Rabastan was demanding, his mother’s disinterest and father’s sternness only making him thirst more for their approval. He’d approach the world as if it were a stage and his friends and family was his audience. Every move calculated strategically as a plead for more attention, plots intertwined intricately to remove wishfully himself from his older brother’s seemingly overbearing shadow and earn his own moment in the spotlight. When that didn’t work, Rabastan turned towards misbehaving. Playing cruel tricks on Rodolphus which were reciprocated with pure disdain from the young teenager, saying inappropriate things when there were guests around and neglecting to follow any rules. There were no limits, so long as he knew it would obtain him the measliest bit of recognition.

As his troublesome ways manifested and endangered on becoming a larger problem, Rabastan was swiftly packed up and sent to a private school. One where the tuitions were sky high since there was the promise to straighten out unruly children and turn them into well-behaved future politicians and lawyers. The first couple of years, Rabastan was no stranger to disciplinary procedures. Hours upon hours spent in detention, letters sent home on numerous occasions and not to mention the extra load of homework he’d receive on the basis that he never seemed to be listening in class. Yes, within the three years of his enrolment, the youngest Lestrange was fast becoming one of the rare cases that the school couldn’t fix. Foreseeably a failure in the eyes of his teachers and his parents.

That was, of course, until they decided to place the boy in front of a piano. Fingers gliding effortlessly across ivory keys and filling the room with delicate twinkling accents. What was meant to be another amercement spun into Rabastan’s saving grace, the first time he’d receive acknowledgement for the right reasons and actually feel some contentment in what he was doing. When he’d returned home that year for the summer, his piano lessons continued. Quickly followed by learning the guitar, the violin and even the saxophone. Essentially, it was considered to be a miracle, at long last, they’d found the one thing that installed some calm into Rabastan’s relentless frenzy of a personality.

Throughout the years, Rabastan’s creativity and musical talent only appeared to flourish. Carefully written lyrics sang in perfect pitch over another one of his original guitar riffs, an angelic voice filtering through the house and reverberating a gentle symphony in the bleak hallways. But when the time came, the answer was a clean cut ‘no’ to his proposal of studying anywhere else other than the Slytherin school of Social Business. Despite his talents, his father would have sooner fallen into an early grave than see one of his son’s graduating with anything that wasn’t a business degree.

The confinements the course held over his time to express artistic freedom entirely reignited Rabastan’s dormant compulsion to rebel. Skipping one too many classes and spending more time drinking than he ever did in the library. When it came to graduating, the life of the party and class clown unsurprisingly had barely scraped the mark. Proudly taking the place at the bottom of his class and leaving the school entirely unqualified to fulfil a role in the family business.

Rabastan had won. One last swipe of his father’s credit card was enough to book a couple of days in a recording studio and the rest, as they say, was history. Songs that he’d masterfully been pouring all of his efforts into during his studies turned to meticulously crafted pieces of art. With a pretty face and sleek style, it wasn’t long before a record label picked him up and churned him into a full-fledged rockstar. Fame and notoriety came second nature. Orchestrating publicity stunts with his PR team and spreading his own rumours were all part of the game in establishing his very own empire. It was as if Rabastan was created for this fast set lifestyle, stepping on other people’s toes so he could climb the social ladder right to the very top.

Rabastan Lestrange had become a household name. Securing a number one in the UK charts for three consecutive months and selling out venues shortly after the release of his debut album. His quick-witted opinions and outrageous interviews going viral across social media, gaining him the admiration of many and resentment of others. It wasn’t long after that, that his family name would call on his like a curse to act dutifully to another cause.

Owning one of the major organisations that formed the frameworks of the Sacred 28 meant that the Lestrange family were no strangers to the acts of Death Eaters. Regularly, it had been part of the dining room chatter that Rabastan was effectively escorted away from, untrusted with the secrets that Rodolphus’ silver tongue was so often wrapped around. That was until they’d seen an opportunity in the younger Lestrange’s childish arrogance and increasing influence he held over the public. Rabastan’s lust for trouble and manipulative discourse fit suitably within the skill sets of a Death Eater. They would use him as a middle man, putting his sweet talk and skilled bribery to good use and when that failed, he’d follow precise orders and discard of the target.

If it weren’t for Rodolphus’s involvement, Rabastan would have never of handed his loyalty to the organisation as easily as he had. Though the Dark Lord may be the ringleader, for Rabastan this went further than ranks. It was about blood. He’d never been that ideal, pristine version of the man his parents anticipated that he’d be. Dismissing controversies to the press with blatant arrogance and refusing to comment on anything associated with Lestrange Industries and the warfare it supported. This was a chance to prove himself, to his bloodline, he was one of them.

INTERVIEW:

i. How do you feel about your current occupation?

“Adoring fans that scream your name, music royalties, fancy events, groupies,” Rabastan lists off one by on his fingers before scoffing, “no, you’re right, I should really go beg my darling big brother for a space in the family business, I’d be a really sexy secretary for a businessman- I mean, picture me in a pencil skirt.” Rabastan puckers his lips at the thought, using his hand to fan himself down, “my apologies, I’m getting all hot and bothered just thinking about it.”

ii. What song would you say describes yourself?

Running a hand below his chin, he’s selecting his next words carefully. “Hmm, now who do I hand out this chunk of free promotion to if not myself… No, really, I say I like something and the sales skyrocket the next day, I guess it’s my charm.” Reclined in his chair Rabastan springs back up once the perfect song comes to mind, “Have you ever heard of The Cheeky Girls?” his own laughter surrounds him in a pitch almost as harmonic as his singing, “In all seriousness, Club Tropicana by Wham! really just radiates my personality.”

iii. Does reputation matter to you?

“My reputation? Who do you think I am, Taylor Swift?” he questions tauntingly. “It’s been said that I’m like marmite, you love me or you hate me. Either way makes no difference to me. This is where my manager comes swanning in to warn me to play nicely with my dearest interviewer, but you know why my fans love me? It’s because I’m genuine, I’m not going to feed them all this bullshit as other singers do- that reminds me! Buy my new EP, available now on iTunes.” he punctuates with a charming wink, though his tone was sarcastic his intent is entirely serious.

iv. What is your relationship with your parents like?

“Mummy and Daddy wanted a little girl so badly, then when I turned out to be a right old diva they still weren’t impressed” He can’t fight the look of pure delight that rules his expression, even as a boy his parents distaste in his demeanour had been hugely entertaining. “Truth is I like being the black sheep of the family, it’s satisfying work for me. That and I make our dinner parties a lot more enjoyable, I inject a healthy bit of personality into the dining room conversations and stop people from falling asleep in their soup bowls, you know?… for example, bear versus shark, who would win? Obviously, it’s the bear.”

v. What languages can you speak?

“Most days I can hardly even speak English,” he declares humorously, “I speak enough French to get by thanks to private schooling. You know the basics… Voulez-vous coucher avec moi,” he’d definitely learned that from Lady Marmalade, not his expensive education.

vi. If your home was on fire and you could only save one item, what would you choose?

“The drugs- Kidding!” he’s aware that he’s yet to answer one question sincerely. “For all my beautiful fans out there, please know that I would NEVER participate in the massive consumption of cocaine, but I didn’t say anything about ecstasy.” Rabastan pauses long enough to make them feel uncomfortable, visibly revelling in the awkward silence. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist, I’m joking, again. I don’t know what I’d save, I could easily replace anything. So maybe my wallet.”

vii. Which Hogwarts University faculty did you study at? The Gryffindor School of Applied Science, the Ravenclaw School of Humanities, the Slytherin School of Social Science, or the Hufflepuff School of Art?

His lips are pressed together in contemplation, finally a question that couldn’t be glossed over with humour or shocking statements. “The Slytherin School of Social Science,” as he answers, he gags to dramatise his disdain. “I wanted so badly to study Literature under the Ravenclaw School of Humanities, but daddy dearest was refusing to financially support me if I didn’t follow in the family’s footsteps. ‘No son of mine is walking around reading Bridget Jones’ Diary’” Whilst imitating his father’s hoarse voice, his expression changes to an unnatural dark grimace and wags his finger in the air. “-Great book, by the way. So that’s the story of how I became a Business graduate and the bottom of the class.” A nostalgic sigh pronounces itself from his lungs as he stares dreamily into the distance, “oh the glory days.”

vix. What is your social media username?

“@RabastanLestrangeMusic, that’s the one I’m meant to plug anyway, or my publicist will have me by the throat- little does she know, I’d enjoy that,” he glances over his shoulder to see if his manager is watching before looking back to them with a delighted grin, “I do have this lesser known Instagram account, @Rab_a_stan, it’s got a couple of thousand followers, I started it last week and I put really weird unfiltered shit on there- wait can I swear during this interview? I never asked, fuck.”

#accepted

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