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fallling-skys-blog · 6 years ago

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Noodle

The one constant in Noodle’s life was fear. The emotion she was most familiar with and knew better than any other. Her first memories were purely of fear and when she thought back she was flooded with the feeling.

So she’d gone out of her way to make sure that she wouldn’t feel that emotion ever again. She rejoined her very public band so that killing her would cause chaos, despite her newfound hatred for the bassist, making it much harder to attack or kill her without outrage. She was the loveable, happy go lucky celebrity everyone could find in their heart to love. She made sure that she kept her skills sharp so that if anyone tried to attack her she could kill them in seconds if the situation called for it.

She hadn’t always been this way, she was naturally happy and excited about everything. The band members all recalling her as a cheerful and upbeat child with a mischievous streak. She had times where she’d get out of control angry for seemingly no reason but only Russel would tell her this and Murdoc only would dare talk about her sweetly now.

She couldn’t remember too much from when she was a child at Kong. Russel had pictures and some videos of her that he’d kept and there were the Gorillaz Bitez that they had filmed but those had been scripted and acted out. She knew she had been extremely close to 2D, hanging out with him whenever she got the chance. He’d been her best friend and older brother. Russel was like her Uncle who she loved and Murdoc had been like her substitute father although if she ever called him that he yelled at her or his face would get strained and she quickly learned to never say that word and that it was forbidden.

Her last memory from her youth being ridden with fear as well. The worst fear, one for someone else. She had no doubt in her mind when Murdoc had his hands wrapped around 2D’s neck that he was going to kill him. She knew the look in a person’s eyes when they had decided without a doubt that they were going to bring about another living human being’s death, it was just back then that she hadn’t realized how.

She’d launched herself at Murdoc, the father figure she had loved and cared for so much, biting down as hard as she possibly could. She could still taste the blood in her mouth from the memory and knew that if it had been anyone other than Murdoc they would have stopped doing their activity immediately from the level of pain she had caused, with her full weight hanging off him.

Finally, Russel had hit Murdoc on the head as hard as possible with a closed fist, knocking him to the ground. Fear still surging through her as she was shaking herself, now knowing what it was that he was capable of. She’d watched as he had gotten up and screamed at 2D, blood oozing from his arm while he pointed and then turned to yell at all of them. Somehow, despite knowing it was wrong, she’d felt guilt over choosing 2D over Murdoc like he’d said back then. Knowing enough English and reading his expression telling her about everything that was happening.

After 2D had come back around and was breathing, she had kissed 2D on the cheek, telling him something in Japanese and hugging him. Turning to Russel to hug his leg quickly, patting his hand affectionately before rushing out the door to her future. She couldn’t stay here anymore and she had to find out who she was. Murdoc wouldn’t come back to the room so 2D would be safe and Russel was always able to take care of himself.

Even when she had been ten on the brink of eleven, she knew that she had to make her own path. So, she’d set out on her journey in Japan to find out her past that she had nightmares about to frequently.

She’d managed to track down an old man in a shop who was supposed to know about the secret government experiments, having been in charge of her own. She’d made her way into the restaurant, reading off the signs to herself in broken English. She figured that he had made them in English for the tourists and paid it no mind while she looked around.

“Ocean bacon?” Noodle had questioned to herself, trying to figure out what that had meant.

She’d felt all the memories flood back at her. When they say ignorance is bliss, they’re correct. That was something she discovered after that, meeting Mr. Kyuzo and clarifying any short questions she had about her past. She’d taken a picture with him when he had asked smiling happily that she knew what was going on now before leaving promptly and thanking him for saving her life all those years ago.

The memories that came back to her when she got back to where she’d been staying were the worst possible images imaginable. She’d taken people’s lives, people who were innocent and didn’t deserve it because of her orders. She would have been killed if she hadn’t when she was a child but it still didn’t serve to comfort her any. The fear and horror amplified only in her dreams, making the experiences more realistic as if she were there again murdering and torturing others for people who she didn’t even know.

When she came back panic attacks, depression, and anxiety spawned from the knowledge of her past and she was no longer the spunky upbeat Noodle of the past. She’d always been wise for her age, an old soul as Russel had called it, but this was different. Those experiences had made her into an adult and everyone in the band seemed to know that, treating her appropriately and discussing things with her like she was.

It was how she wanted it and she wouldn’t let them show affection towards her anymore, she didn’t deserve it and if she had that then Noodle knew without a doubt it would cause her to break down. She didn’t want to talk about it.

Ironically, this brought her even closer to Murdoc. He was an encyclopedia on scarring past experiences and they had bonded over their pain. Growing so close to someone after so long felt nice and despite not wanting to, she got used to having someone to trust and confide in.

He was the only person who understood her. She was pleasant to 2D and Russel but was distant, it was liking living in a house with two close acquaintances or friends who you had faded from but still had lovely memories and a special bond with.

That’s how she lived during that time in her life only extremely close to her father figure Murdoc and no one else, taking on a few of his quirks that were almost unnoticeable.

So he’d been the only one who’d noticed when she was acting squirmish and started to become even more distant. He’d come into her room and asked her when she planned on leaving and she’d looked up at him more curious than angry that he somehow knew about her plans to dissapear mysteriously.

“How did you know?” She had asked and he’d chuckled.

“Bit obvious, isn’t it love? You don’t exactly have your belongings disappear into the damned void for no reason at all. It’s not like that sock in the dryer missing situation, is it? Pretty sure that imbecile 2D’s behind it but I wouldn’t put it past Russel to go an’ pull that trick out of his hat as some sort of backwards revenge. You know they still think it’s my fault that you left before? Bloody unbelievable! You left cause you wanted to, always been like me that way, got to pave your own way and all that sappy shit they say in healing circles or whatever they’re called,” Murdoc said.

“You’re right, I might have left a little later if that hadn’t happened but I needed to find out my past. I’m...still not sure if that was the right decision for me or not,” Noodle said.

“Can’t change the past, don’t let it get to you or you’ll end up like me. Not that I’m not someone you want to be like, superstar, mansion, and to top it off leader of a hit band! You don’t want the nasty habits I’ve picked up, is all” He said and she nodded.

“What’s bothering you, monkey?” He asked, plopping himself down on her bed and leaning back making himself comfortable.

“That nickname is embarrassing, I’m not eight anymore Murdoc,” She’d said, although she hadn’t minded it back then.

“And the fact that my middle name’s Faust is too but I’m stuck with it which means you have to deal with that as well. Now are you going to tell me why you’re leaving or am I going to have to shock it out of you because I left my device at home and I’m not in the mood for torture,” He’d said and when he saw her sour expression he’d stopped himself from going on.

“Didn’t mean it, know that’s a sore subject for you, sometimes I can be a real knob. Go ahead, tell me what’s going on and I promise I won’t go off and say something brilliant that’s actually terrible, yeah?” He said, sitting up.

“I feel like I’m losing my barrier with the band. I’m starting to get close and let my guard down and I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of relationship yet,” She said.

“What, the healthy kind? Hate to break the news but running away won’t solve whatever mess is cooking in that smart head of yours,” He’d replied.

“You’re always so understanding Murdoc. Glad I confide in you when it comes to important things,” Noodle had said.

“Look, I’m not going to stop you, just giving a bit of famous Niccals’ advice while I’m here with you,” He’d said and she’d rolled her eyes.

Then he’d told her about his plan that he’d thought of to get rid of Jimmy Manson and she had completely believed him. It was perfect, they’d get rid of an enemy and she wouldn’t have to explain herself to 2D or Russel. She’d get to go away for however long she wanted and be able to return later for another album if she felt like it. There’d be absolutely no pressure and she would time to find herself and figure everything out alone.

The fear, hurt, and betrayal that she’d felt on that tiny island was etched forever in her mind. She was lucky that her parachute had worked. At the very last second she had just barely managed to get away alive before the bombs went off. She still had a permanent scar around her eye to remind her of that event for the rest of her life, she couldn’t forget if she wanted.

It was easy enough to cover up with makeup luckily and while she explored and found solutions to the problems caused by her past, she had kept tabs on the band. Once, calling out for Murdoc’s help, Gorillaz in general, when she’d come out mostly unscathed and scared but that’d been a mistake. She knew that as soon as she saw the replica of herself that he had made, that all the trust she’d placed in him had been a mistake.

Still being hunted by the Black Cloud and other enemies she had made in her time alone, she had gotten in a boat to the coordinates that she had learned Murdoc was at, not sure if what she would do when she arrived there but knowing that something was compelling her to do so and listening to her instincts served her well most of the time.

She’d ended up assisted by Russel but by the time they got to the island chaos ensued and when she woke up, she found herself in a village located in Japan. When she’d been begged by Murdoc through a pathetic snapchat to join back in the band, she had as a last result needing a quick escape from bodyguard’s of a shapeshifter she had angered by assassinating their boss. Of course, they hadn’t known their boss wasn’t unhuman so it was a fairly appropriate response to try to catch and kill her after the act.

She let herself get close to Russel and 2D but only allowed herself sarcastic remarks in Murdoc’s direction when she felt kind. The cyborg’s head next to her desk with flowers in it to make sure that she remembered the horrible things that he’d done and the lies that he had told and would continue to tell.

When the police came for Murdoc, she’d opened the door while he begged for her help since she was the only one there, she’d shrugged and grinned at him, pointing to her eye with her scar.

“An eye for an eye old man, have fun in jail,” She’d told him, while stepping out of the way of the policemen.

She felt nothing when she’d said it and didn’t feel bad for him while he was begging her to bail him out and how he was sorry. Sorry, that was all she ever heard. Empty sorry’s echoing in her head ever single day of her life.

I’m sorry I ate your pancakes. I’m sorry I hit 2D. I’m sorry I wore your skirt. I’m sorry I tried to have you killed. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

His sorry’s meant nothing and would never mean anything unless he changed and he was a creature of habit so he never would.

When Ace came into the band it was finally full of people she trusted, although she didn’t trust Ace all the way she believed him to be better than Murdoc and that was enough. She made friends with him and he was a bit clingy but it was a nice change of pace and she figured that they could both use the affection that he was more than willing to give.

Everything was perfect until someone had messaged her at random and she decided to give them a chance despite the fact that they were obviously only talking to her to try and free Murdoc from prison. They either had no idea what he did or didn’t care but she couldn’t blame them, blind adoration was a nice thing to have and it wasn’t her place to ruin someone’s love for a person even if it was Murdoc.

It didn’t take her too long to realize the secret message that Murdoc had written and with the coordinates that they’d helped her with, it’d been easy to track down where El Mierda was hiding.

She’d told them that she was going to head out and said goodbye. Noodle decided not to leave at first debating everything but then leaving for the sake of 2D, someone who had always been kind to her no matter what. Even when she’d joined in being rude to him with Murdoc and snickered at some of the stuff that he did to the singer when she was extremely close to Murdoc, 2D had been nothing but pleasant to her.

She was sure that if she’d stabbed 2D that he would have apologized for being rude to her before dying from blood loss. The turmoil that Murdoc had caused him and the abuse that he’d done to 2D was suddenly apparent when she’d stopped looking up to Murdoc. Being hurt physically and mentally while still trying his best to be nice to someone so horrendous was something that was more than impressive to her, most people would have left or done anything else but 2D had stayed and never changed his attitude.

She climbed the mountains grinning when she came across a gang of andean cats on her journey. They were beautiful and she followed them part of her way on her journey, making sure to send the person she’d been texting earlier a photo of herself to show that she was more than okay.

When she got there, she didn’t see anyone at the hideout and sighed. Of course Murdoc would send her on a mission with no actual end. He probably hadn’t even known the proper coordinates in the first place, how would he have? He was in jail.

She unblocked his number momentarily to send him a text telling him not to try and get in contact with her again, gritting her teeth when he sent something back about her abandoning him and trying to guilt trip her about leaving him alone because of El Manana.

She blocked his number thinking about how he was better off in jail, going to sleep once she reached a vaguely safe point to set up camp. She’d head back down the mountain the next day.

She made herself food in front of the fire that emanated warmth in the otherwise freezing cold environment, reflecting on the nightmare that she’d had. It was always either El Manana, her time as a soldier, 2D nearly dying, Murdoc, or the time after the events of El Manana and before Plastic Beach.

She wondered if it was bad that she categorized the stages of her life by the albums Gorillaz had made and the time she’d been in the government facility. She didn’t think so, everyone had their own way of telling time and this was her’s. Someone might say during highschool while she would say the time before and a little after Demon Days.

She thought about the nightmare that she’d had and her past while she sat cross legged, eating her food, and staring into the fire.

The time after El Manana was a difficult time in her life when she was forced to deal with all the emotions that she’d been ignoring or pushing away while performing and recording for Demon Days. Her only way of expression playing guitar, dancing, and locking herself away in her room where no one else in the band could see.

The fear and regret were definitely the more intense and horrifying of the emotions she felt when it came to her days when she’d been a government experiment and from the El Manana incident. Those were the worst but the one emotion she was most afraid of from the government experiment stage of her life was the blood lust that she occasionally felt.

It was something that had been ingrained in her, she’d never asked for the terrible feeling and would get rid of in a heartbeat if she could. She dealt with it after Plastic Beach in a more healthy way by tracking and killing off a certain demon who she had released on accident, since he’d been evil and wasn’t supposed to live on Earth in the first place no one could argue that it was the wrong road to take.

The part that she didn’t like to talk about was when she decided to take out the blood lust in an unhealthy way. In her mind, it was fair and she would still argue that she hadn’t done anything too improper generally. The people she had killed were scum of the Earth and though she’d been an assassin for hire, the people she agreed to kill had to be morally terrible people who most of the population would secretly believe they finally got what they deserved.

She was playing God though and it eventually got to her head. In a good way, considering she’d realized that what she was doing wasn’t her place despite fair justification. The combination of the fact that even monsters have family and have those who care about them, accompanied by her starting falling in love with a girl she met had made her turn over a new leaft since she didn’t want to get her potential love killed by having that as a job. After killing off one last person who was the most vile being that she’d ever been forced to research, she had stopped killing.

It made her think about if she would have killed Murdoc if he’d been suggested for her to assassinate, it would have been an interesting request certainly. He had mentally and physically tormented someone for years and tried to get her killed but that didn’t justify killing him. No, she would have kept tabs on him though to make sure he didn’t hurt any others. You could usually threaten these types of people and they’d manage to get their behaviour in check, nobody wanted to die and they were no exception.

She thought more about it as she climbed down the mountain, if the world would have benefitted from not having Murdoc in it. 2D would be better off, there was no doubt there. Russel could hold his own, Murdoc was cruel and teased him but not past the point of a school bully. He didn’t really affect Ace other than his job position but she knew he’d survive if Murdoc came back, she’d miss Ace’s company though.

What about herself? She was generally selfless except when she had to be selfish for her own wellbeing but then again, was taking care of yourself really seen as being selfish? If it was, she wasn’t sure that being selfish was too bad of a thing, depending on the situation, of course.

Would she be better off without Murdoc? Certainly she’d be less stressed, having someone full of lies who tried to kill her gone from her life would be a much healthier option. It was known by everyone who befriended or met Murdoc that he was toxic. She tried to think of a list of all the bad things that he had done.

He’d started to bully others when he’d realized that was a way to get ahead in life. He’d legally blinded 2D, who could see but terribly as Noodle had once found him talking to a tiny decorative palm tree in the lobby of the dentist. He’d put a teenager into a coma and while he was in that state, Murdoc had bullied him within an inch of his life. He’d given 2D permanent brain damage. Bullied Russel up to the point where he was about to snap. He’d nearly killed 2D when he’d choked him and if Russel hadn’t interfered, 2D would be dead right now.

He’d tried to kill her, leaving a permanent scar and a haunting memory she couldn’t seem to ever forget. He’d replaced her with a cyborg of herself as a teenager. He’d tortured 2D with something he had a serious phobia of while trapping him in a small room with little entertainment, only letting him out when he needed 2D to sing on the album. He’d also fed 2D only scraps of whatever food Murdoc ate himself and only occasionally remembered to give him water, refusing to take 2D to a doctor whenever he got sick.

It was a pretty impressive list of incriminating things that Murdoc had done over the years. If anyone else had done these things they would have paid for it dearly yet Murdoc had gotten off without punishment until now where he was in jail.

If he came back, when he came back, there was no telling what he would do. Sure he hadn’t done anything too disastrous yet except for send her on this wild goose chase with no worries about her own safety but he would never change, he’d had 52 years to try and improve on who he was and hadn’t so much as tried to be a better person than who he was.

She’d stayed in a hotel when she came back home, not sure she wanted to return home yet. She was on a dangerous path of thinking but it was also a logical and justified idea. There was no way of guaranteeing that Murdoc would stay in jail and where he was stuck at, he was only suffering. She supposed that was karma but she didn’t like seeing anyone, even Murdoc, having to deal with ill treatment of that proportion.

She’d been leaning against the backboard of the bed, strumming notes on the guitar that she’d brought with her when she received another text. She’d sighed, not really feeling up to talking to anyone even if the fan of the band was generally kind. She was a little thrown off when she saw the text was from an unknown number and hoped that whoever it was that had been talking to Murdoc hadn’t give her number away to the public or any of their friends.

She read over the text that was simply, “He’s trying to escape.” She decided to text back, taking another risk. 2D and the others would understand if she had to disappear from the world again, after all she was a free spirit and had a few people who would gladly kill her without a second thought.

“Who is this?” She replied, not adding an emoji since the message she had received was quite cryptic and probably not from anyone she should be friendly with.

They replied back with simply, “Like I said, a friend. Thought you’d be interested in Murdoc’s actions.”

“What’s his escape plan?” She sent, even if the information they texted her in response was false, she could always do her own research and find that out.

“Sewer system. I can give him a fake map so he can’t escape if you want.” They texted.

“Ok.” She responded.

“He’ll die.” The next text answered.

She thought about it. This was probably a bluff, a good one but a bluff nonetheless but if it was real. She wasn’t sure she wanted Murdoc out of jail and if he had to die to protect her real family, who had never betrayed her and didn’t deserve to be tortured by Murdoc any longer, then maybe that was for the best. She could deal with the guilt of his death on her hands for them to be happy and safe, she decided.

“Make sure no one is hurt, ok? Only Murdoc.”

She sent back and didn’t get a response which made her nervous but it was too late now. Either Murdoc would be dead or he would live out the rest of his life in jail, soon she would find out which one. For now, she would stay at the hotel here for a little bit longer and explore her surroundings. She didn’t feel like visiting home until she knew for sure what was going to happen. She needed an alibi if something bad did occur and she’d gotten good at disguising her looks so that she couldn’t be recognized by anyone.

She missed the buzz of the house and the band though. Ace obnoxiously changing the channel without even seeing what was playing, driving Russel nuts while 2D scribbled away in his journal with his tongue poked out of his mouth. She brang the phone with her, thinking up how to destroy it best. Whether or not Murdoc would be dead in future, she still didn’t want random strangers to have access to her number and wasn’t fond of the habit of carrying around useless hardware around with her.

#gorillaz #gorillaz imagine #gorillaz imagines #gorillaz fanfic #gorillaz fanfiction #gorillaz noodle #noodle #murdoc niccals #2d #stuart pot #russel hobbs #ace copular

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gokinjeespot · 4 years ago

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off the rack #1315

Monday, March 1, 2021

Hi folks. Long time no write.

I have been mostly isolating at home during the pandemic trying to keep myself and my family safe from Covid-19. I do go out and walk around our neighbourhood to get fresh air and exercise. I don't wear a mask outdoors like I do when I absolutely have to go into somewhere other people will be, like the drug store or my dentist's office. I get anxious when people come too close to me masked or not, but I also get angry when there is plenty of space to keep a safe distance and people don't move away. I have verbally admonished someone for being too close but have decided that I will keep my big mouth shut from now on and just get away from them myself. I don't know if I can keep my trap shut if I was confronted by the guy my brother did at work. This young guy came into the liquor store wearing a mask with a swastika on it. That would make me very angry. Angry enough to confront him? I don't know. I would like to be brave enough to ask him "are you for real with that mask?". Or "are you a Nazi?"…"you know the Nazis lost, right?". My brother would not serve him. It could have been worse though. That racist could have gone through his check-out without that ugly symbol on his mask and he wouldn't have known he was serving a bigot. I think it's better when you see them coming.

My thanks to Doug for lending me his comic books to read.

Daredevil #26 - Chip Zdarsky (writer) Marco Checchetto (art) with Mike Hawthorne (pencils) Adriano Di Benedetto (inks) Marcio Menyz (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). This book may have been put into Doug's sub my mistake but it gave me a chance to catch up with what's happening with the Man Without Fear. This is part 1 of "The Black Kitchen" which ties into Marvel's "King in Black" mega event. Knull is now on Earth and is wreaking havoc. Kinda reminds me of the "Maximum Carnage" event back when I was reading on the regular. Here we have Venom symbiotes running amok in Hell's Kitchen. What I found interesting was the current situations of the main characters. Matt is in prison after being convicted of murder. He can still wear his mask to conceal his secret identity inside. Not true to life but hey, it's comic books. Elektra is now protecting Matt's turf as Daredevil and she's got super scary horns. Wilson Fisk is still mayor with Typhoid Mary as his head of security now. The big shocking ending is that symbiotes get into the prison and one bonds with Matt. Another symbiote bonds with Mary and she attacks Elektra. This sets up overwhelming odds for the good guys as any good comic book will do. Stay tuned.

Action Comics #1028 - Brian Michael Bendis (writer) John Romita Jr. (pencils) Klaus Janson (inks) Brad Anderson (colours) Dave Sharpe (letters). Bendis closes out his run on this title with so much schmaltz you're going to need a shovel to get through it. Jimmy Olsen is the new owner of the Daily Planet. What the nique? Conner Kent goes to the farm team. Jonathan Kent goes back to the future and the Legion of Super-Heroes. I don't know if a new art team is going to come on board but I sure hope so.

Detective Comics #1033 - Peter J. Tomasi (writer) Brad Walker (pencils) Andrew Hennessy (inks) Dave McCaig (colours) Rob Leigh (letters). The art on the first page with Batman and Robin tumbling in the foreground with flashback panels behind gave me goosebumps. It's why I will always love reading comic books. Batman beats Hush by giving him a good old fashioned beat down. The rest of the Bat Family is saved and Bruce can take a breather. Now that the Wayne fortune is lost to him I'm curious to see where Bruce ends up after he moves out of the mansion.

Batman/Catwoman #2 - Tom King (writer) Clay Mann (art) Tomeu Morey (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). The jumping back and forth in time is a little confusing for me but I really like this Black Label story. The relationship between these lovers is more than complicated especially where the Joker is involved.

DC kicks off 2021 with a plethora of comic books taking their characters 10 years into the future with their "Future State" event. Doug decided to check out the following.

Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1 - Mark Russell (writer) Steve Pugh (art) Romulo Fajardo Jr. (colours) Carlos M. Mangual (letters). The story opens with a meeting of the United Planets inner circle. They are debating the inclusion of the planet Lexor which is lorded over by Lex Luthor, the supreme anal pore that we all know and loathe. Lois Lane is Earth's representative and she votes to reject Lexor's membership until Superman lobbies to allow his arch foe's planet to join so that the poor inhabitants don't suffer from Lex's villainous ways. It's a morality tale of Unity, Progress and Compassion.

Future State: Robin Eternal #1 - Meghan Fitzmartin (writer) Eddy Barrows (pencils) Eber Ferreira (inks) Adriano Lucas (colours) Pat Brosseau (letters). In this future Gotham City the Bat Family has been decimated. Bruce is dead, Dick is in Arkham and Jason now works for the law enforcement agency that killed Batman. No mention of where Damian is. I have a feeling that the son of Bruce will show up later as a big surprise. Tim's the last man standing and he's vowed to continue the tradition of keeping Gotham safe. Too bad he doesn't live long fighting against the super cybers. The last panel reveals why this book is called Robin Eternal. Hint: the Lazarus Pits are involved.

Superman: Worlds of War #1 - This $7.99 US anthology of four stories starts off on Earth and ends up on Warworld.

"The Many Lives of Clark Kent" by Phillip Kennedy Johnson (writer) Mikel Janin (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) & Dave Sharpe (letters) is my favourite one simply because I loved the art so much. This is where we find out why Superman is missing from Earth.

"Time and Effect" by Brandon Easton (writer) Valentine De Landro (art) Marissa Louise (colours) & Dave Sharpe (letters) features the new Mister Miracle poking around Warworld. Why? We don't know. Guess we'll find out if we keep reading.

"Midnighter: Future State" by Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad (writers) Gleb Melnikov (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Travis Lanham (letters) has Midnighter running around creating a bloody mess everywhere. It could have just as easily been Lobo or Wolverine in this piece.

Finally "Do Not Go Gently" by Jeremy Adams (writer) Siyam Oum (art) Hi-Fi (colours) Gabriela Downie (letters) features the new Black Racer trying to free the slave labour on Warworld. Unless you're a Jack Kirby Forever People fan you wouldn't care.

As a fan of Mikel Janin's art I would have felt ripped off having to pay for the three fillers in this comic book just to have his work in my collection.

Future State: Catwoman #1 - Ram V (writer) Otto Schmidt (art) Tom Napolitano (letters). Selina is still Catwoman ten years down the line as she attempts to rescue Gotham City citizens being transported to a reformatory by train. Similarities to Nazi behaviour is an easy way to make the bad guys evil. All the previous Batman related Future State books say that Batman is dead but this one has a surprise at the end. Hey, it's Bruce in shackles.

Future State: Dark Detective #1 - Mariko Tamaki (writer) Dan Mora (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Aditya Bidikar (letters). This title blows the whole Bruce/Batman is dead plot device clear out of the water. I can see why the bad guys controlling Gotham City wants the populace to think that, but how are they going to keep up the charade when Batman is clearly running around fighting crime? I like that Batman has lost the cape in this one. This $5.99 US book has a back-up story by Matthew Rosenberg (writer) Carmine Di Giandomenico (art) Antonio Fabela (colours) & AndWorld Design (letters) that I liked even more than the feature. It follows Cole Cash AKA Grifter as he tries to dodge the law. He gets arrested and meets up with Luke Fox AKA Batwing and a whole lot of fun ensues. The Huntress showing up at the end makes this more appealing.

Future State: Dark Detective #2 - Mariko Tamaki (writer) Dan Mora (art) Jordie Bellaire (colours) Aditya Bidikar (letters). This issue explains how Bruce Wayne/Batman "dies" and how Bruce continues to fight crime. I was disappointed that the back-up story didn't follow up on Grifter and Huntress but was a different story about Jason Todd/the Red Hood now working for the bad guys as a bounty hunter capturing masked vigilantes. It starts with him bringing in the Vigilante and ends with him teaming up with a ruthless Ravager to stop an old school Red Hood gang leader stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Rose has no qualms about killing their bounties but Jason brings them in alive, that's why their nickname is "dead or alive". Har. I like Jason's Akira bike.

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junker-town · 5 years ago

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24 great books for quarantined sports fans

From ‘Ball Four’ to ‘Out of Sight’, here are a few books you can come back to over and over again

I love my books. They have traveled with me across the country and back again, prominently displayed in cheap bookcases throughout dozens of apartments around the Northeast. Currently, they are stretched out behind me in my home office where they will stay until the time comes to move off the grid. They will follow me there, as well.

I have read all of them at least once and several of them dozens of times. During periods of my life when I was without human companionship they were literally my only friends. That’s not said for sympathy. The life of a newspaper sportswriter in the 90s and early 2000s involved shitty hours and weekends, which pretty much negated any hopes of having a social life.

Through it all, my books were there for me. They demanded nothing but my time and gave me hours of entertainment.

I’m not particularly proud of my collection. There is very little literature to be found and only a handful of what one might refer to as great works. It mainly comprises sports books, rock star biographies, and a nearly complete set of Elmore Leonard novels.

Most of them are several decades old because I had to stop buying books at some point when I began to run out of room. I’m not linking to them because you can hopefully find an independent bookstore near you that would be thrilled for the business. Do them and humanity a favor.

Here are some of my favorites.

BASKETBALL

The Breaks of the Game: David Halberstam

This is the monster of all sports books, the one against which every basketball book is competing with in one way or another. If you know nothing of the NBA pre-LeBron James, this is where you should start. It’s a window into what feels like another universe, when pro basketball was a cult sport struggling for survival.

Loose Balls: Terry Pluto

I wrote about this one at length and won’t belabor the points I made back before the world came to a screeching halt. If you can’t get into the stories contained within these pages, I frankly don’t want to know you.

The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: The FreeDarko collective

It’s an exaggeration to say every person who heard the first Velvet Underground album went out and formed a band, just as it is to suggest that every writer who consumed FreeDarko wound up writing about basketball on the internet. But almost everyone who did was influenced by them.

The Miracle of St. Anthony: Adrian Wojnarowski

Long before he was the great and powerful Woj, the author spent an entire season with Bob Hurley’s St. Anthony Friars. It’s a masterful bit of storytelling that for my money is the absolute best of the surprisingly robust sub-genre of books about high school basketball.

Other contenders include The Last Shot by Darcy Frey, Fall River Dreams by Bill Reynolds and In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle by Madeleine Blais.

The Jordan Rules: Sam Smith

Judging from the early reactions to the gigantic Bulls documentary, it’s quite clear a lot of you should get familiar with the source material. Smith’s book was shocking upon its release because it dared show Michael Jordan as he really was, without the buffed out Nike shine. It holds up, clearly.

Halbertsam’s Playing for Keeps picks up the story in 1998 and provided much of the narrative structure of the first two episodes.

Heaven is a Playground: Rick Telander

An all-time classic set on the courts of mid-1970s Harlem during a long, hot summer. There are a lot of books that tried to get at the soul of basketball, but this is the standard bearer. I’d really like to know whatever became of Sgt. Rock.

Others in this vein include The City Game by Pete Axthelm, Pacific Rims by Rafe Bartholomew and Big Game, Small World by Alexander Wolff.

Second Wind: Bill Russell

The best athlete autobiography of all time.

BASEBALL

Lords of the Realm: John Heylar

The inside story of how baseball owners conspired for almost a century to suppress salaries while refusing to integrate. It’s shocking how buffoonish management acted during the glory days of the national pastime. Required reading.

Marvin Miller’s A Whole New Ballgame is a worthy companion piece, as is Bill Veeck’s delightful, Veeck as in Wreck.

Ball Four: Jim Bouton

Scandalous upon its release in 1970, Ball Four contains the best line ever written in any sport book: “You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.”

I read Ball Four for the first time in fifth grade and immediately taught my classmates the words to “Proud to be an Astro”:

Now, Harry Walker is the one who manages this crew

He doesn’t like it when we drink and fight and smoke and screw

But when we win our game each day,

Then what the fuck can Harry say?

It makes a fellow proud to be an Astro

Seasons in Hell: Mike Shropshire

There is nothing more soul-crushing than spending an entire season with a bad team. Shropshire covers three hilariously inept campaigns with the Texas Rangers, who as then-manager Whitey Herzog noted: “Defensively, these guys are really sub-standard, but with our pitching it really doesn’t matter.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning: Jonathan Mahler

An underrated late addition to the pantheon that tells the story of the 1977 Yankees amid the backdrop of a city gone to hell.

You will notice there are few books in my collection about modern baseball. There’s a reason for that. The vast majority of them are peans to the wonders of middle management and therefore boring as hell.

FOOTBALL

Playing For Keeps: Chris Mortsensen

The incredibly bizarre — and largely forgotten — story of how the mob tried to gain influence in pro football via a pair of shady agents named Norby Walters and Lloyd Bloom. Good luck finding it.

Bringing the Heat: Mark Bowden

You may recognize Bowden from such masterworks as Black Hawk Down and Killing Pablo. You probably don’t remember that he spent a year with the Eagles after the death of Jerome Brown. As honest and unflinching a look at pro football as you will ever find.

North Dallas Forty: Peter Gent

The only piece of sports fiction on my list is not so fictional at all. Gent’s thinly-veiled account of his own life as a receiver for Tom Landry’s Cowboys is shocking and brutal and sad and poignant. I make time to read it every year.

I used to have more football books, back when I cared about the sport.

MEDIA

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: Hunter S. Thompson

The Vegas one is more popular and Hell’s Angels is a stronger work of reportage, but for a dose of pure Gonzo insanity, this is the book I come back to more often than not.

The Boys on the Bus: Timothy Crouse

The companion piece to Thompson’s lurid account, Crouse plays it straight and lays bare the bullshit facade of campaign reporting. Almost 50 years later, we have still learned nothing.

The Franchise: Michael McCambridge

Details the glory days of Sports Illustrated, reading it now feels like an obituary. It was fun once, this business of writing about sports.

MUSIC

Heads, a Biography of Psychedelic America: Jesse Jarnow

My favorite book of the last few years, Jarnow takes us on a bizarre trip through the byzantine world of psychedelic drug networks connecting it through the career of the Grateful Dead and into modern-day Silicon Valley. I’m waiting for the followup on Dealer McDope.

Not music, but as a companion piece, Nicholas Schou’s Orange Sunshine tells the even-crazier tale of The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, who took over the LSD trade and invented hash smuggling by stuffing surfboards with primo Afghani hash and shipping them back to California.

The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones: Stanley Booth

Reported while on tour with the Stones at the height of their powers circa Let it Bleed, Booth took 15 years to write the damn thing. By then the Stones were already an anachronism. It’s all there, though. Sex, drugs, more drugs, and unbelievable access to the biggest rock ‘n roll band in the world.

This Wheel’s on Fire: Levon Helm with Stephen Davis

In which Brother Levon disembowels Robbie Robertson and exposes the lie at the heart of The Band. Robbie took the songwriting credit and all the money.

Satan is Real: Charlie Louvin

Astonishingly good read that is best consumed with Charlie and his brother Ira playing low in the background.

Mainlines, Blood Feasts, and Bad Taste: A Lester Bangs Reader

Lester is an acquired taste and not all of his ramblings hold up. I will always love him for despising Jim Morrison and completely nailing what made Black Sabbath important. Spoiler: They were moralists like William S. Burroughs.

Please Kill Me: Legs McNeil and Gillian Welch

The definitive oral history of punk rock, an essential document of a scene that launched a thousand mediocre bands and the Ramones, who ruled.

Shakey: Jimmy McDonough

A tour-de-force biography of Neil Young that loses steam toward the end when McDonough makes himself the subject. The stuff about Neil’s bizarre 80s period and his relationship with his son is heartbreaking.

Our Band Could Be Your Life: Michael Azerrad

Pretty much everything you need to know about bands like Mudhoney, Black Flag and Mission of Burma who wove together the musical underground through a patchwork collection of local scenes back when something like that was still possible.

ELMORE LEONARD

You can’t go wrong with anything Leonard writes, but Out of Sight is as good a place to start as any.

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cathygeha · 5 years ago

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LIBERATION THROUGH HEARING

RICHARD RUSSELL

2 APRIL 2020 | HARDBACK, EBOOK, AUDIO | £20 | White Rabbit

A spiritual journey through music by the Mercury Prize nominated musician and the man behind some of the world’s biggest recording artists including Adele, Dizzee Rascal and The Prodigy

For almost 30 years as a musician, producer, label boss and talent conductor at XL Recordings, Richard Russell has discovered, shaped and nurtured the artists who have rewritten the musical dictionary of the 21st century, artists like The Prodigy, Adele, M.I.A., Dizzee Rascal and Giggs. Growing up in north London in thrall to the raw energy of 80s US hip hop, Russell emerged as one part of rave outfit Kicks Like A Mule in 1991 at a moment when new technology enabled a truly punk spirit on the fledgling dance scene. Initially identified in the early 90s with breakbeat and hardcore before embracing a broader musical aesthetic, Russell’s stewardship of the label was always uncompromising and open to radical influences rather than conventional business decisions.

Released in April 2020 via White Rabbit, Liberation Through Hearing sees Richard Russell telling the remarkable story of XL Recordings and their three decades on the frontline of innovation in music; the eclectic chorus of artists who came to define the label’s unique aesthetic, and Russell’s own story; his highs and lows steering the fortunes of an independent label in a rapidly changing industry, his celebrated production work with Bobby Womack and Gil Scott-Heron on their late-career masterpieces and his own development as an artist as Everything Is Recorded.

Always searching for news sounds and new truths, Liberation Through Hearing is a portrait of a man who believes in the spiritual power of music to change reality. It is also the story of a record label that refused to be categorised by genre and in the process cut an idiosyncratic groove which was often underground in feel but mainstream in impact.

RICHARD RUSSELL SAID: ‘Writing this book was an opportunity for me to reflect on the last few decades. I hope people will get something from it. I’ve tried not to compromise in anything I’ve done, and that includes writing Liberation Through Hearing.’

LEE BRACKSTONE SAID: ‘To have any understanding of the music that has soundtracked the past three decades you need to read this book. Liberation Through Hearing documents Richard Russell’s investment in the great artists who defined rap, rave and all its infinite tributaries with a piercing honesty.’

EXCERPT

PRELUDE 1

SALFORD, 17 APRIL 2019

It’s an overcast early spring afternoon. I’m in a recording studio on an industrial estate on the outskirts of Manchester. I’ve been here for an hour. It would have been hard to locate but I was collected at Manchester Piccadilly by a professional who had researched the destination and got us here easily. He used to drive Keith Flint during The Prodigy’s UK tours, and having picked me up we spent the short journey reminiscing about Keith, who passed away less than a month ago, at the age of forty-nine.

I arrive in a sombre mood. There are three musicians here. A man known as CASisDEAD has just arrived from a stopover in Nottingham. He is the most idiosyncratic, articulate and fluent British rap lyricist I have heard since Dizzee Rascal emerged from Bow E3 in 2002. CAS’s themes are typically the underbelly of street life, drug sales and sex work. In the first really classic song he has made, ‘Pat Earrings’, he tells the apparently heartfelt and melancholy story of his ill-fated relationship with a prostitute. At the conclusion of the song, he finds she has continued to see clients despite telling him she has stopped. ‘Heartbroken, I’m at wits’ end / She’s never accepted by my friends / That’s cool ’cause I never liked them’. The narrator is bereft.

As is often the case with those who make disturbing art he seems a person of integrity. Those in the public eye who go out of their way to seem benevolent, the supposedly squeaky-clean ones, are the ones to beware of. Nasty pretends to be nice, and vice versa. CAS has his face covered at all times when in public. Oscar Wilde said, ‘Give a man a mask and he’ll tell you the truth.’ CAS has a taste for the analogue synthesiser sounds of the 1980s, music that soundtracked my youth and was popular around the time he was born.

I have programmed my Roland TR-808 drum machine in order to echo the feeling of the year that the machine was first released: 1980.

This item is my favourite material possession. Its sounds and groove have been enjoying a renaissance in popularity since the James Brown samples of classic East Coast hip-hop made way for the more electronic palette that was being used by rap artists from the South. Its distinct sonic character is still a crucial part of the hip-hop production landscape.

Drums are only part of the story. In creating music for this session, I have enlisted someone who not only has the ability to craft unforgettable melodies but owns a collection of the vintage analogue synthesisers necessary to sonically execute this job properly. He sits behind one of these while his daughter Missy and his best friend Remi potter around. His name is Damon Albarn and, as frontman of Blur, mastermind behind virtual band Gorillaz and all-round musical polymath, he has scaled every imaginable height of creative and commercial success.

Damon and I are both fortunate to have benefited enough from our musical endeavours to each have our own first-class recording facilities in west London. We are in this particular location because of the third musician. We want him to record a hook for the song and this is where he wished to do it. He possesses a deep, deep soul voice that evokes not just the specific time we wish to reference, the mid-eighties, but the theme CAS wants to explore in this song, which is intended for his debut album, for release on XL Recordings.

This theme is the ephemeral nature of fame. The song is to be called ‘Everything’s For Sale’. It may become a worldwide hit. Or it may never be released, or even completed. At this formative stage of the creative process uncertainty is a given.

This third musician’s name is Alexander O’Neal, and he is a sixty-fiveyear-old former Prince associate from Natchez, Mississippi, by way of Minneapolis, where he was the original lead singer for The Time, before making three solo albums with legendarily great production and writing duo, and fellow Prince acolytes, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. These albums were quite successful in the US, but in the UK he became a huge crossover pop star, scoring Top 10 singles with his songs ‘Criticise’, ‘If You Were Here Tonight’, and his duet with Cherrelle, ‘Saturday Love’. His second album, Hearsay, went triple platinum in the UK, and he sold out three consecutive nights at Wembley Arena.

His appetites were always legendary. Along with most other eighties success stories, his star faded through the nineties. With each new decade music changes irrevocably and only a tiny number of musicians can transcend the decade they found fame in. In recent times Alexander has appeared on reality TV programmes Just the Two of Us, Wife Swap and Celebrity Big Brother.

When CAS gave me a list of the eighties voices he wished to try to feature on his album, I knew that Alexander O’Neal was the one to pursue. My guess was that we would find him in LA, perhaps living near the airport, but it turns out he lives in Manchester.

We’re here to capture the voice of this weathered soul survivor, and prior to the session he has been supplied with a map in the form of a recording, a guide version of the song that Damon, CAS and I made in London. Our preparation and planning have been exemplary and, while I have experienced enough ‘best laid plans’ scenarios to know that nothing is ever guaranteed, an hour into the session we have a heartbreakingly soulful performance from Alexander O’Neal on our hard drive. CAS says to me that it is important to absorb moments like this. I agree. I have had many of them but they always feel dreamlike. Alexander says he needs to buy a bed, inexplicably, and with that he is gone

ABOUT RICHARD RUSSELL

Richard Russell (b. 1971) is a British record producer, musician and the owner of the British record label XL Recordings. He has nurtured and guided some of the most influential recording artists of our time including Adele, Dizzee Rascal, The Prodigy, M.I.A. and Giggs. As a producer and musician, Russell has made albums with the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, Bobby Womack, Damon Albarn and Ibeyi and most recently launched his own artist project Everything Is Recorded, whose self-titled debut album was nominated for the 2018 Mercury Music Prize.

ABOUT XL RECORDINGS

XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989. Widely regarded as one of the most influential labels, XL releases on average just six albums a year and has worked with artists such as Adele, Arca, Beck, Dizzee Rascal, FKA twigs, Gil Scott-Heron, Giggs, The Horrors, Jai Paul, Jungle, Kamasi Washington, King Krule, M.I.A., Nines, The Prodigy, Peaches, Radiohead, Sampha, SBTRKT, Sigur Rós, Tyler, the Creator, Vampire Weekend, The White Stripes, and The xx.

ABOUT WHITE RABBIT

White Rabbit is a new imprint published by former Faber Social impresario Lee Brackstone launching in April 2020. In its inaugural year of 2020, White Rabbit will publish twelve titles by music industry legends like Carl Cox, Richard Russell, Mark Lanegan, Annie Nightingale, Chris Frantz and Jehnny Beth of Savages amongst others. Dedicated to publishing the most innovative books and voices in music and literature, Brackstone aims to build on the uniquely successful publishing he was responsible for at Faber Social with authors like The Beastie Boys, Viv Albertine and Jon Savage. Brackstone’s titles for his Orion imprint indicate the range and personality of a list that will encompass memoir, history, fiction, translation, illustrated books and high-spec limited editions.

ABOUT THE ORION PUBLISHING GROUP

Where every story matters.

The Orion Publishing Group is one of the UK’s leading publishers. Our mission is to bring the best publishing to the greatest variety of people. Open, agile, passionate and innovative – we believe that everyone will find something they love at Orion. Founded in 1991, the Orion Publishing Group today publishes under seven main imprints: Gollancz, the UK’s No1 science fiction and fantasy imprint; Orion Fiction, a heartland for brilliant commercial fiction; Orion Spring, home of wellbeing and health titles written by passionate celebrities and world-renowned experts; Seven Dials, for the very best commercial non-fiction, beautifully designed and produced; Trapeze for commercial fiction and non-fiction books that start conversations; White Rabbit, dedicated to publishing the most innovative books and voices in music and literature; and Weidenfeld & Nicolson, one of the most prestigious and dynamic literary imprints in British and international publishing.

The Orion Publishing Group is part of Hachette UK which is a leading UK trade publishing group.

#Richard Russell #midas public relations

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alhexedander-blog · 8 years ago

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1. selfie: Nah. 2. what would you name your future kids? Ed, Edd and Eddy. 3. do you miss anyone? Yeah I miss my big brother. 4. what are you looking forward to? Learning Escrima. 5. is there anyone who can always make you smile? Yeah Kirsten. 6. is it hard for you to get over someone? Yeah really. 7. what was your life like last year? A lot more depressing cos i didn’t know this person that’s pretty much made everything great. 8. have you ever cried because you were so annoyed? Yeah, when I was like three days sleep deprived. 9. who did you last see in person? Kirsten/ 10. are you good at hiding your feelings? Nah, horrible. 11. are you listening to music right now? Nope. 12. what is something you want right now? Cosmos projector, a laptop, a DD Mask and a snowboard and a snowboarding holiday! 13. how do you feel right now? Pretty chill. 14. when was the last time someone of the opposite sex hugged you? Kirsten. 15. personality description: a bit rough around the edges but I think once people warm up to me they see that even tho I’m a little weird I’m probably just about the most caring, protective and loyal person u can come across. 16. have you ever wanted to tell someone something but you didn’t? Yeah quite a few times tbh. 17. opinion on insecurities: they’re something that everybody has and tbh it’s pointless to pick out somebody else’s or try to mask and hide what yours are. When you admit what they are then you can just get on with working on them. 18. do you miss how things were a year ago? Nah. 19. have you ever been to New York? Nope but I would like to. 20. what is your favourite song at the moment? EUNG Freestyle. 21. age and birthday? 21, Dec 14. 22. description of crush. Angelina Jolie. 23. fear(s) getting beaten up/losing an important fight, being tortured, burning alive, being neutered, having my eyeballs touched and prob some other shit. 24. height: 6ft. 25. role model: Georges St-Pierre, Wilson Jr., Attila Varga, Johnny Depp , Ataturk and Putin (but i disagree with his homophobic/racist views). 26. idol(s); Jay Park, Keith Ape, Ed Sheeran and others. 27. things i hate: homophobia, racism, islamaphobia and narcissism. 28. i’ll love you if… tbh I’m kinda like a dog with love. Just play with my hair, take me for walks and drives and I will love you tbh. 29. favourite film(s): Fight Club, Hot Fuzz and loads others. 30. favourite tv show(s) Rick and Morty, Friends, UFC, NBA, Naruto and Bleach. 31. 3 random facts: i love drawing, i love extreme weather (really hot, really cold, thunderstorms, etc) and filmmaking is now just such a big part of my life. 32. are your friends mainly girls or guys? girls. 33. something you want to learn: Escrima! :) 34. most embarrassing moment? Loadssss. My first kiss was so bad. 35. favourite subject? Creative media! 36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill? Become a filmmaker, be happy and marry someone I love. 37. favourite actor/actress? Johnny Depp and Emma Stone. 38. favourite comedian(s)? Jimmy Carr, Steven Merchant and Russell Howard. 39. favourite sport(s)? Basketball, hockey, snowboarding, MMA and BJJ. 40. favourite memory? Turkey, mountains! 41. relationship status? Better than urs. 42. favourite book(s)? The Art of War, The Way of the Fight and the Bruce Lee biography. 43. favourite song ever: too difficult. 44. age you get mistaken for? 18. 45. how you found out about your idol: I have loads haha. 46. what my last text message says: ‘wyd?’ 47. turn ons: neck kissing, biting and grabbign her ass. 48. turn offs: body odour, bath hygiene and hair. 49. where i want to be right now? Turkey! 50. favourite picture of your idol? Idk haha. 51. starsign: Sagitarrius. 52. something i’m talented at? Martial arts. 53. 5 things that make me happy: martial arts, drawing, viewing art, watching the rain/sky and going for walks. 54. something thats worrying me at the moment? Whether or not I’m expelled from college. 55. tumblr friends: too many to bother listing (irl). 56. favourite food(s): pizza, burgers and bananas. 57. favourite animal(s): dogs and cats. 58. description of my best friend: fucking funny af. 59. why i joined tumblr: online scrapbook.

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breakdancedecoded-blog · 8 years ago

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157 Bboy Tracks That You Must Listen to Before You Die

(This post was originally published on breakdancedecoded.com)

In 1972, a man of towering physique – and street influence – travelled the Bronx with the loudest sound system (within the neighbourhood) in his car. Wherever he went, young boys and girls would flock around him, as if he were a real life Pied Piper.

This man had an acute sense of what made the young ones tick. And he knew how to get people’s feet moving. By looping the heavily percussive parts of certain funk tracks, you would have seen a sea of humans going wild.

In other words, just by repeating the ‘breaks’ of a song… It got everyone dancing in a frenzy.

It was pure magic – and it hasn’t stopped since!

So what is the particular cause-effect relationship that I’m highlighting here?

Since the birth of bboying, people created movement as a reaction to music.

That is the relationship. Music = cause; dance = effect. No music, no dance.

If there’s any one thing you MUST know inside out, it’s the music.

You don’t watch bboy videos without turning on the audio.

You don’t feel the hype without the music during your practice. You don’t feel the funk and energy during a jam without a bboy track in the background.

James Brown wouldn’t have his footwork without his music in the first place. Kool Herc wouldn’t have been able to call anyone a “breakboy” if not for the young kids going wild to the beat.

The bottomline is, music is the bloodline of bboying (or any dance for that matter). No music, no bboy.

And I want to inject more life into your breaking, so here’s a list of beats that bboys are lining up to kill. It includes both classics and new beats, both funk and unconventional genres. Some names appear just once, others might come up a dozen times.

Buckle up, bookmark this page, and amp up your speakers. Because this list consists of some of the greatest tunes to have landed in the pages of humanity’s history.

The 157 Songs That Should Be On Your Breaking Playlist

Fred Karlin – You’re Hip Miss Pastorfield

Kraak and Smaak – Squeeze Me

Eruption – Funky Lover

Franki Valli and the Four Seasons – Beggin’

Budos Band – Up From the South

The Lovomaniacs – Sex

MOP – Ante Up (Remix)

Eric B & Rakim – Juice (Know the Ledge)

Dave Cortez – Happy Soul

James Brown – Sex Machine

Kool G Rap and Polo – Poison

Run DMC – Beats to the Rhyme

The Apples – Killing

Arthur Baker – Breaker’s Revenge

Black Heat – Love the Life You Live

KRS One – The Sound of Da Police

Noisette – Bridge to Canada

Head Automatica – Brooklyn is Burning

Incredible Bongo Band – Apache

Eric B & Rakim – Don’t Sweat the Technique

Johnny Bristol – Lusty Lady

Dennis Coffey – Scorpio

The Souljazz Orchestra – Insurrection

Laura Vane & The Vipertones – Man Of Your Word

A Tribe Called Quest – Scenario

Waheymi – Underdog

Isaac Hayes – Disco Connection

Badder Than Evil – Hot Wheels (The Chase)

Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth – The Creator

Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up

Black Sheep – Strobelight Honey

Laura Vane and the Vipers – Roof Off

Frankie Cutlass – Puerto Rico

Binary Star – Masters of the Universe

Manu Dibango – African Battle

Mobb Deep – The Learning (Burn)

Dennis Coffey – Theme from Blackbelt Jones

Mr Wiggles – The Spaniard

Baby Huey – Listen to Me

Manu Dibango – Soul Makossa

DJ Shadow – Organ Donor (Remix)

Cypress Hill – Latin Thugs

Aretha Franklin – Rock Steady

Nice and Smooth – Old to the New

Beastie Boys – No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Cookin’ on 3 Burners – Feel Good Inc.

Cut Chemist – Drums of Fire

Mark Ronson – Ooh Wee (ft. Nate Dogg and Ghostface Killah)

Masta Killa – Masta Killa

The Mohawks – Champ

Toploader – Dancing in the Moonlight

Mr. Wiggles – Top Rock and Roll

Uptown – Dope on Plastic

Yellow Sunshine – Yellow Sunshine

The Blackbyrds – Rock Creek Park

Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth – T.R.O.Y.

Exit 9 – Fly

Mongo Santamaria – Cloud Nine

Wu Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M.

Danny Hibrid & James Brown – I Feel Alright

The Fatback Band – Spanish Hustle

Das EFX – They Want EFX

Osibisa – Fire

Bobby Byrd – I Need Help (I Can’t Do It Alone)

The Bamboos – Tighten Up

Candido – Soulwanco

Big Daddy Kane – Set It Off

Edwin Starr – I Just Wanna Do My Thing

Babe Ruth – The Mexican

Roxanne Shante – Have a Nice Day

Ray Baretto – Pasttime Paradise

Tower of Power- There’s Only So Much Oil In The Ground

BT Express – Energy Level

King Khan – On The Street Where I Live

Jackson 5 – What You Don’t Know

Eric B & Rakim – I Know You Got Soul

Crazy Elephant – Pam

James Brown – Get Up Offa That Thing

Nice and Smooth – Dope Not Hype

Esperanto – Night of the Wolf

Big Daddy Kane – The Wrath of Kane

Poets of Rhythm – Funky, Funky, North Carolina

Nicole Willis and The Soul Investigators – Holdin’ On

Greenwood Rhythm Coalition & Luz Mob – Guajira 78

Masta Killa – No Said Date

The Dap Kings – Nervous Like Me

Fusik – Higher

Esther Williams – Last Night Changed It All

Bob James – Farandole

Electric Light Orchestra – Fire on High

Black Sheep – The Choice is Yours

Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers – Blow Your Whistle

Roberto Roena – Que Se Sepa

James Brown – Superbad

Herman Kelly and Life – Dance to the Drummer’s Beat

Breakout – Planet Rock Part 2

Breakestra – You Don’t Need a Dance

Mongo Santamaria – Crazy Lady

Run DMC – It’s Like That

Frank Ferrer – Pa’ Los Obreros

Jackson 5 – Life of the Party

The Sound Stylistics – The Taking of Peckham 343

The Pharcyde – Passing Me By

Edwin Starr – Time

Los Tios Queridos – Si Me Ves Volar

Breakestra – Humpty Dump

Wu Tang Clan – Ain’t Nuthing ta Fuck Wit’

The Mike Theodore Orchestra – The Bull

The Heavy – How You Like Me Now?

Climax Blues Band – Sense of Direction (Looped Version)

DJ Nas’D – It’s A Great Situation

Lack of Afro – The Outsider

James Brown – Get on the Good Foot

Brownout – Homenaje

The Prodigy – Invaders Must Die

Rhythm Heritage – Blockbuster

The Soul Searcher – We The People Side B

Sam & Dave – Hold On, I’m Comin’

Nas – Made You Look

Jimmy Castor Bunch – It’s Just Begun

LL Cool J – Mama Said Knock You Out

Fusik – Fusik For The B-boys

The New Mastersounds – Bondo Sama

Rhythm Heritage – Theme from S.W.A.T.

Redman – Time 4 Sum Aksion

Cookin’ on 3 Burners – Tokyo Saucer

Run DMC – It’s Tricky

Black Grass – Queztalcoatl Returns

Spanky Wilson – Sunshine of Your Love

Jun Mayuzumi – Black Room

George Benson – Water Brother

Rufus Thomas – Itch and Scratch

Can – Vitamin C

RJD2 – 1976

The Roots – Here I Come (ft. Dice Raw)

Mark Ronson – God Put A Smile On Your Face (ft. the Daptone Horns)

Lords of the Underground – Chief Rocka

Smoove – I’m a Man

Fusik – Funktana

Gary’s Gang – Do It at the Disco

Nas – Hip Hop is Dead

Alice Russell – All Over Now

Mountain Mocha Killimanjaro – Yellow Soul Force

J-Walk – Soul Vibration

Gwen McRae – All This Love That I’m Giving

Harvey Averne Barrio Band – Cucaraca Macara

Ashley MacIsaac – Sleepy Maggie

Hawkeye – Still Jivin’

Jackson Sisters – I Believe in Miracles

Naughty by Nature – Hip Hop Hooray

Brian Auger & Julie Driscoll – Let the Sunshine

DJ Premier – Classic (ft. Rakim, KRS-One, Nas, Kanye West)

Gang Starr – Full Clip

Big Boss Man – Kelvin Stardust

Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers – Bustin’ Loose

James Brown – Give It Up or Turn It Loose

Coke Escovedo – I Wouldn’t Change a Thing

After listening to the entire treasure trove above, I’m sure you have a greater appreciation of music in bboying. Obviously 1 listening session isn’t going to dramatically change the way you approach music, but these bboy tracks are to be enjoyed over and over. Because good music speaks to people without becoming stale; it’s timeless.

Listening to music is just one half of how you engage with the dance that is breaking. How you interpret the mood, how much fire or energy you put into your steps… All of these take guidance and training; it’s a tedious process that you’ll learn to love.

By the way, you can even play the above list of bboy tracks at your next practice or house party! I created a playlist of all 157 songs just for your next practice, so check it out by clicking this little link filled with bboy tracks.

Have I missed out any of the classic beats? Share it below in the comments section!

Just remember your priorities… It’s music then dance.

P.S. In case you haven’t already noticed, the man at the beginning of the story was also known as Kool Herc, one of the pioneer DJs to cut the breaks and develop music in hip-hop.

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junker-town · 7 years ago

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How LeBron James and Stephen Curry (probably) selected their All-Star teams

We know who James and Curry drafted, but here’s our best guess at how they did it.

We’re all waiting on the actual draft order to leak from the NBA All-Star teams. While Stephen Curry and LeBron James stayed silent on who they selected, both said it should have been televised. (The NBA planned to do so, too, only for certain members of the player’s association to push back against the plan.) It almost seems inevitable that someone, at some point, will figure out who exactly went in what order.

That said, there is no need for you to wait. I have the correct order right here. I’m just guessing on all 22 selections, but coincidentally, all 22 selections are correct. I provided brief descriptions behind my air-proof, unfalsifiable logic underneath each pick, which I hope you will appreciate and understand. If you’d rather wait until someone reports the actual order, then skip this article. You may not spoilers. Otherwise, please enjoy the definitely correct, no-way-it-could-be-wrong order that each captain drafted.

(An extremely brief reminder how this worked: starters were voted in by fan, player, and media votes. Reserves were selected by coaches. James and Curry are captains because they received the highest fan vote for their respective conferences. They must select four starters from the starters pool, and then seven reserves from the reserve pool. James begins, but Curry will have the first reserve pick.)

1. LeBron picked ... Kevin Durant

We don’t need a Wojbomb to know James picked Durant. This is canon. This happened. If it hadn’t, then Curry would have picked him second overall — they’re teammates, after all — and he would be on the other team. Plus, James and Durant have always had a good professional relationship. Did you know they even played a flag football game together during the NBA’s 2011 lockout?

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It’s hardly fair, but the two best players in the league will be on the same team.

2. Steph picked ... Giannis Antetokounmpo

This makes sense for obvious reasons, and other ones. Antetokounmpo is hugely popular — after the first returns of the All-Star voting, he led all vote getters — and he’s an MVP candidate this season, prone to making any number of highlight plays. Notably, Antetokounmpo also shares an agent, Jeff Austin, with Antetokounmpo. It’s possible he took James Harden with his first pick, but I’m guessing the Greek Freak.

3. LeBron picked ... Anthony Davis

LEBRON WILL ONLY DRAFT SEVEN-FOOTERS.

4. Steph picked ... James Harden

I wonder if Harden being the most visible Adidas athlete factored into James passing on him. Either way, Curry shouldn’t be worried about.

5. LeBron picked ... DeMarcus Cousins

SUPER SICK PICK, LEBRON.

Yo @boogiecousins chill out man!! Sheesh!!! Super sick stat line

— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 23, 2018

6. Steph picked ... Joel Embiid

Curry had to nab a proper big man somewhere, you know! And let’s be real, Curry has somehow cultivated a baby-faced personality, but he’s an elite trash talker. He surely respects Embiid’s game, too.

7. LeBron picked ... Kyrie Irving

YES IT HAPPENED.

James could have picked DeRozan, and he could have installed himself at point guard, but that wouldn’t have made much sense. There was only one other point guard James could have selected in the “starters” phase of the drafting, and it was Irving. It would have been insanely, absurdly petty for James to not pick Irving.

Does James even dislike Irving? Irving might dislike James, but James’ reaction to Irving’s trade request this summer was always something like, “I’m not mad, but I’m disappointed.” He kept calling Irving a kid, something that was noting as Irving made his wake. James respects players demanding autonomy and making moves, after all. He started it by going to Miami!

Oh, and Irving will now have to wear a jersey that says “TEAM LEBRON.” There’s a subtle joy in that.

8. Steph picked ... DeMar DeRozan

Sure.

9. Steph picked ... Klay Thompson

We’re shifting to the reserve picks, and the vote flips over to Curry first to make it slightly more fair. We know he’ll pick his teammates first, and Klay Thompson’s deleted tweet about not having to ask for a trade makes it clear that Curry agreed to nab him first overall. It makes sense! Out of everyone in this draft, the player that James is least likely to pick is Draymond Green. Plus, James has to reward his own teammate ...

10. LeBron picked ... Kevin Love

James said there was one moment where he and Curry just started laughing, and that’s why this thing should be televised. It probably went like:

JAMES: Well, I guess I’ll take K-Love.

CURRY: Aren’t you trying to get him traded?

JAMES: No, no, this right here is my brother who I just respect so much. What really stands out is his commitment to this team through thick and thin.

James and Curry both start laughing

11. Steph picked ... Draymond Green

Again — teammate pick. He had to. He didn’t want Draymond to head to Bob’s office.

12. LeBron picked ... John Wall

Just to antagonize Kyrie.

Kidding. James and Wall share Rich Paul as an agent, and I bet James took him pretty quick because of that.

13. Steph picked ... Karl-Anthony Towns

Curry’s team is small.

14. LeBron picked ... Kristaps Porzingis

This is a smart pick from James making sure he denies Curry from drafting too much height for his undersized roster.

15. Steph picked ... Al Horford

You guys thought Horford would be the last pick? With Stephen Curry drafting? Oh please. Curry moves off the ball as well as any player in the league. He consistently leads or is near the top of the league in screens set as a guard. He loves running through his two big men on an elevators play. OF COURSE Curry loves Horford, who is “boring” but makes good basketball plays. I’m positive this happened.

16. LeBron picked ... Russell Westbrook

Everyone’s talking about the Irving-James reunion, but I still think there’s serious underlying animosity between Durant and Westbrook. This one is much more fascinating to me.

Or maybe it’s this one?

Bench Mob. #TeamLebron #NBAAllStar

A post shared by @ kevinlove on Jan 25, 2018 at 4:23pm PST

REUNITED.

17. Steph picked ... Jimmy Butler

STEPH: “I’m gonna take Butler next.”

LEBRON: “Nice pick. I love that dude.”

STEPH: “Oh, bet. I’m just glad y’all didn’t end up being teammates.”

LEBRON: “Yeah, but it’s just an All-Star game, you know?”

STEPH: “I’m not talking about that.”

LeBron pretends he doesn’t get it and makes his next pick, but he’ll post something moody and vague to his Instagram story later that day.

18. LeBron picked ... Victor Oladipo

Bad pick. Oladipo will go 3-of-11 from the field with zero assists because he’s back on Westbrook’s team now.

19. Steph picked ... Damian Lillard

Baby splash bros.

20. LeBron picked ... Bradley Beal

James and Beal will swap so many dysfunctional locker room stories.

21. Steph picked ... Kyle Lowry

Even with Lowry lasting to pick No. 21, he’s still teammates with DeRozan. [pretend there’s a heart emoji here, because our story editor won’t allow us to put emojis, but this is an extremely appropriate emoji situation.]

22. LeBron picked ... LaMarcus Aldridge

There is a 10,000 percent chance that Aldridge was the last pick. He’s been great this year, too! TEN-THOUSAND PERCENT.

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