#i remember the dj there played a song i have in my collection and we bonded and it was sooo cute T-T

[besarelcielo]

i randomly stumbled upon this person performing while at a queer club when i was visiting sf. i found the club on reddit looking for queer clubs to go to….hearing this song is taking me back to their live performance and it was so incredibly beautiful. i had never been to this club before, never even been to sf before, and the whole day had already felt like my friends and i entered a time warp (a story for another time). we walked through the club and found out there were other rooms in the back, and we walked into the room while Deon was singing and everything seemed to melt around me…my heart is aching i wish i could go back to this moment and be bathed in the red lights and their beautiful voice one more time

[thirstywoso]

Frustration | Niamh Charles x Reader

A/n: I haven't written a fic in around 7 years but after that "we are Chelsea" episode with Niamh I had to write this. It's not edited and it might not be very good but if you enjoy and want a pt2 or more fics send in your requests

Warnings: smut 18+ mdni

A little angst if you squint, fingering r receiving, oral r receiving, thigh riding, squirting, praise kink and masturbation

Word count: 3k

Let's go

Just like most days you were sat in the passenger seat of your girlfriends Skoda Enyaq, this time on your way to Jessie's new apartment for a bonding night with your other team mates.

Although you had your license Niamh preferred to be the designated driver in your relationship before you'd left your house you did insist to her that you we're more than capable of driving seeing as she had yet to drive around that part of Cobham. Just like you knew she would she declined and slipped into the drivers seat. Sighing defeatedly you huffed into your seat. Your girlfriend just smirking at you handing you the aux.

"Baby, you know you're my passenger princess and you are better at playing the car DJ" Niamh giggled.

"Fine!" You mocked offence.

Once down the road and into unfamiliar territory for Niamh you began to direct her telling her what lane to be in and when to signal even though she had the satnav on. She let you carry on a few times before huffing!

"Y/n/n, I've got it"

You knew she hated backseat drivers but you were just trying to be helpful, after a few moments singing along to one of the songs you had put on you'd all but forgotten not to direct Niamh's driving.

"You're in the wrong lane, Jessie's road is the last exit on the rounda... bout" you mumbled out the last part when you caught her eye and she had that stern look plastered on her face. You suddenly remembered what you had done, Niamh wasn't easily frustrated but you knew that was one of her pet peeves.

You could tell she'd stiffened up slightly where she was trying to keep calm and so you put your hand on her thigh and gave her a soft smile. She softened in your touch and smiled asking you to turn up the music as it was one of your favourite songs playing.

"Turning saints into the sea.." you sang in unison as you pulled up in front of Jessie's apartment noting some of your other team mates cars in the lot.

--

By now you had been at Jessie's for a few hours you'd all watched a movie, had eaten the pizza's you'd collectively ordered and had played some of the games as that's usually what you do at a games night.

You were currently playing Pictionary and you were on a team with Jessie whilst Niamh was with Guro, Aggie was with Cat and Zecira was with Nathalie. You and Jessie were winning by miles whereas Niamh and Guro weren't having as much luck. Yourselves mocking and teasing them, it was then you saw the way your girlfriends jaw clenched that she was genuinely annoyed at herself losing.

"Baby don't worry you'll do better next time" you laughed.

"Yeah baby, maybe we will go easy next time" Jessie mocked.

"Give over Jess, you know I could crush you any day of the week"

"Niamhy it's okay Jess was only kidding"

"Yeah Charles it's all good"

"Whatever, let's play a different game"

It wasn't often you drank considering you were a professional athlete much similar to the other girls in your presence, that's why at team bonding nights you all usually got carried away.

As it was getting later and you'd all had a fair bit to drink, Guro suggested that it would be fun to play a game of truth or dare. Which if it went the way it usually did would end in drama.

"Guro you have to go first as it was your idea, so truth or dare?" You questioned

"Hmm, dare"

After a few seconds of trying to come up with a dare for Guro, Aggie chimes in.

"I dare you to chug the rest of your drink"

"Easy" she retorted after swallowing her mouthful and tipping the now empty bottle upside down.

Zecira seemed slightly bored of the tame dares yawning slightly and took it upon herself to spice things up.

"Let's amp it up a little ladies, Jessie truth or dare?"

"Dare"

"I dare you to kiss y/n for at least 5 seconds"

"But.. Niamh"

"But.. but it's just a game Niamh won't care, will you Niamh"

"Sure go ahead" Niamh said nonchalantly, although when you looked at her to gauge how she was really feeling you could see a tinge of jealous behind the smile on her face.

"Fine"

With that Jessie leant over and pressed a chaste kiss to your lips before pulling away slightly, before she had fully sank back to where she was sitting you pulled her back in for a slightly longer kiss which she reciprocated.

"Finally, that's what I'm talking about"

Zecira always loved in her words to 'liven the party'

After a few more rounds and the feeling of Niamh's eyes burning into you, it was your turn.

"I'm going to go with truth"

Nobody had asked you yet but you had already given licked whipped cream off of Guro's cheek and gave Niamh a lap dance which definitely did not start a fire down below for her and the blush in her cheeks was from the alcohol she was drinking and couldn't possibly be anything else. You saw a smirk appear on Zecira's face and almost regretted asking for a truth.

"Who's a better kisser Niamh or Jessie"

Everyone's heads whipped around to look at you, Niamh almost getting whiplash and Jessie's cheeks burning red. You hesitated to answer because it was such a silly question, well to you at least. You soon realised that maybe hesitating wasn't a great idea because Niamh soon got up and stormed out onto Jessie's balcony.

"Thanks Z"

You went out into the balcony and shut the door, Niamh didn't even turn to look at you, she knew you were there but in the moment she didn't even want to look at you.

"Why'd you hesitate y/n/n?"

"What..? Baby please don't be silly right now. I didn't answer because it's obvious, you're the best kisser out there.. not that I kiss other girls. I mean not that I haven't in the past but you know since you and me, me and you"

Niamh chuckled whilst she turned and cupped your cheek kissing you gently.

"Sweetie shh, I know. I just get jealous sometimes like maybe you could do better than me and Jessie is so amazing and after seeing you kiss earlier it just kind of hit a nerve"

You kissed her again in reassurance

"You know you're cute when you ramble though, I'm sorry I walked out. My emotions are just not as in check as I'd like them to be, what with your backseat driving, losing game night and seeing you kiss my best friend"

"You're just a sore loser Niamhy but you know I only ever want you"

"Well after that lap dance I really want you"

"I'm that good huh?"

"That good" she smirked

"How about we head home and we sort out how emotionally.. and sexually frustrated you are honey"

Niamh didn't need asking twice she grabbed your hand and dragged you back inside. Making some poor excuse about not feeling well and needing to go home and she will make it up to them. With that she shoved you out the door quickly following bundling you into a taxi home.

Your teammates looking at each other knowingly and giggling at Niamh's excuse this time because this happened most game nights.

When you got back home Niamh couldn't unlock the door quick enough, when you finally did get inside you both kicked your shoes off somewhere random on the floor as a tomorrow problem.

Within seconds Niamh had you over her shoulder carrying you to the bedroom, you knew all that extra time she was spending in weight training was paying off.

After kicking the bedroom door closed Niamh dropped you onto the bed making quick work of her clothes and nodding at you to do the same.

Soon both of your sets of clothes were discarded haphazardly on the floor, Niamh signalled for you to move up the bed. You pushed yourself back until your head rested on your pillows and Niamh crawled on the bed above you.

For a second you thought she was having doubts because she hoovered above you staring down admiring the way your lip tucked behind your teeth and your chest heaved with need.

"Baby, if you'd rather not tonight we can cuddle instead"

"NO" she practically yelled

"Sorry, no I want to but I just couldn't help but take you all in, I can't believe you're mine sometimes" admiration dripping off every word.

"Shut up" you giggled and gently slapped her arm. Which flexed under your touch causing your breath to hitch. Niamh smirked knowingly and with that pressed her thigh down into your centre leading to another gasp.

Before long her lips were back on yours deepening the kiss, feeling your tongue run gently against her lower lip. Sighing and relaxing into the kiss. Your fingers scratching gently and the nape of her neck and tangling in the fine hairs there.

Biting your lip and carefully pulling away, her lips attached themselves to your neck slowly trailing up and down sucking on your weak points. Her favourite was just below your ear where your jaw met your neck, she could spend all day there if you let her. Listening to the way your breathing sped up and the small whimpers you made.

Niamh kept her attention there for awhile before sinking lower, peppering your chest with lazy kisses before taking your left peak into mouth and gently sucking and rolling the bud with her tongue. She meant on her elbow and caressed your face whilst swapping to your right breast and paying it the same attention.

Her free hand snaking between your legs making you gasp as she hit the jackpot. Her finger teasingly fuming through your folds causing her to smirk against your chest, mumbling around your nipple causing the vibrations to stir something in your lower stomach.

"So fucking wet for me"

"All for you" your head stretched back against the pillow eyes screwed shut needing more. Tight circles started to be drawn around your clit before gliding back between your folds just before it became too much. She knew your body well and better than yourself sometimes.

Your hands soon found their way into her hair as she kissed her way down your toned stomach and along your inner thighs. She continued to tease you before looking up at you. Two of her digits circling your entrance, she gave you a questioning look which you answered with a small nod.

"Words baby, you know I don't find anything sexier than consent"

"I always want to make sure you enjoy what I do and that you want it as much as me"

"Please Niamhy"

With that she sunk two fingers into you, your back arched slightly and she pressed gentle kisses to your thigh as she worked herself into you. It didn't take long for her to find a comfortable rhythm and it helped with you being so wet.

Then came the sensation of her gently blowing against your clit which made your legs twitch. Before you knew it her tongue was gently aiding her fingers between your legs and darted out of her soft pink lips rapidly as she lapped at your sensitive bud.

Alternating between suckling and flicking her tongue over where you needed her most. More of your juices coated her fingers and with that she slipped in a third which was rewarded with a moan that ripped from deep inside you. Curling her fingers deep inside you whilst you grabbed and her hair pulling her impossibly closer.

"Good girl baby, you're such a good girl for me"

Niamh knew how much you loved being called a good girl during sex and it worked you felt yourself getting closer to your peak.

"That's it baby, you gonna cum for me"

"Pl..please"

"Go ahead"

With a few more thrusts you were coming apart underneath her moaning her name, which she would deny but was a massive ego boost for her.

She then kissed her way back up your body before using her hips to aid in thrusting her fingers harder into you.

"One more please baby"

Before you even had a second to think your eyes went white with pleasure and you felt yourself gush into Niamh's palm.

"Fuckkkkk"

She had the biggest dopiest shit eating grin on her face, so pleased with herself.

"I didn't know you could do that"

"Neither did I" you said shyly

"Please don't be embarrassed, that was so fucking hot"

Kidding you sweetly before asking if you were ready for her to pull out. When you nodded she removed her fingers making your legs twitch slightly as your pussy ached to me touched again after what happened next.

Niamh took her finger into her mouth swirling her tongue around them cleaning every last drop of you off of her digits.

Her lips reconnected with yours before you could even think of something to say, tasting yourself of her lips brought another rush of wetness to your core.

You flipped over your positions straddling Niamh's muscular thigh which she tensed below you. Her hands gently squeezing on your breasts as you ground down. Your sensitive nub bumping along each definition.

"You want more?"

You knew she wasn't judging you and was just more curious about your needs than anything.

"Almost there"

Your hips rutted against her becoming more staggered the closer you got. Collapsing back on top of her after your third orgasm. Groaning in her ear as you came down, only adding to the rush of wetness between her own thighs.

"Your turn" you mumbled sleepily

"Not tonight sweetie you're warm out, let me clean you up"

You didn't argue, you knew she was right and you were too tired to reciprocate. You weren't as worried as you would've been at the start of your relationship because you know that not every time is about give and take and some days it's just better to give than receive and visa versa. Although you'd never turn down your favourite meal. Niamh.

Whilst you were thinking about how lucky you were Niamh came back into the room with a wash cloth and some water for you which you happily sipped as Niamh carefully cleaned you up without trying to overstimulate you.

Once finished you cuddled up under the duvet, entwining your legs with Niamh's only for her to let out a little gasp as your leg connected with her centre by accident.

"What was that?"

"Nnnothing"

"It certainly didn't sound like nothing, you're still worked up aren't you?"

Niamh nodded her head but reiterated that she didn't want any reciprocation because she knew your body was exhausted.

"Fine, I won't touch you but I want you to touch yourself for me"

"Baby no, let's cuddle and get some sleep"

With that you gently cupped her discovering how wet she really was, she rolled her eyes in response.

"Please Niamhy, for me. I want to watch you get off for me"

Niamh didn't make an effort to move.

"It'll be incredibly hot knowing your thinking about me and then tomorrow it's my turn to treat you like a queen"

Niamh sighed knowing you wouldn't let up and knew it would be quicker to get it other with so you could go to sleep.

Niamh slid her fingers between her legs as you pulled back the duvet to watch. Her fingers slipped between her pretty pink lips and sunk into herself. She wasn't one for teasing when it came to herself. She had a job and she wanted to get it done.

"That's it baby add another for me, stretch out that tight pussy for me"

Niamh groaned as she added a second finger her brows furrowing and her lip caught between her teeth as she concentrated on your voice, you wrapped your hand around her wrist so you could feel closer to her enjoying the way her tendons flexed against your fingers with every thrust inside herself.

You didn't know where to look eyes darting back and forth between where her fingers disappeared and the concentrated and determined look on her face.

It didn't take long as she was so worked up

"Please can I cum baby?"

"Hmm I don't know"

"Don't fucking tease me, I'm so close! Please!"

You loved hearing her pleas and beg but tonight you just wanted to see her satisfied.

"That's it baby let go"

Niamh's head snapped back as she released. After a few minutes of catching her breath she disappeared to the bathroom cleaning herself up. She slipped into a pair of your training shorts and one of your old college tees. In return she brought you some of England shorts and a UCLA shirt Jessie had given to her one time after she'd gone back to visit.

She helped you into the clothes before laying down and pulling you onto her chest. Your head resting listing to her chest rise and fall rhythmically, your legs draped over hers. She kissed the top of your head and tucked you both under the duvet.

After awhile you thought she had fallen asleep as her breathing was shallow and steady.

"I love you Niamh"

"I love you too y/n"

"Now get some sleep"

[silvergarnet12]

Splatoon was the first Nintendo game to push me out of my comfort zone of single player games, and with the closure of it's servers I wanted to draw a tribute to a game that really means a lot to me.

Some long rambles about the game under the cut.

When I first played the Global Testfire I was 15, and the only mutliplayer games I played were with friends in the same room.

Splatoon was also the first shooter I ever picked up, as I always liked bright colours over more realistic graphics in my games, and back then the only shooters I knew about were Halo(and that was only really a name to me!) and the CoD games.

Any worries I had about being bad quickly vanished as the sheer vibe of chaotic fun the game had, particularly when no one had played it before, got rid of any worries, and all I remember is having fun. And choosing to play as the guy instead of the girl for the first time, solely becuase I wanted a ponytail like in real life(I would continue to use the guy through the series as a tradition, a contrast to what I saw most people online doing).

When the game came out I binged the single player, and vividly remember the first time I fought DJ Octavio, and the first time I heard Calamari Inkantation. If ever a game was to convince me that a song could irreversibly change your life, it was Splatoon. Because to teenage me, in that moment, with Calamari Inkantation playing in the background while I fought an octupus DJ, it did.

It gave me terminal brainworms for this series. And here I am, 8 yrs later. Older and more tired, been through some shit, had some good times, tried, succeeded and failed in things throughout the years.

I've always been grateful that they made the decision for the player character from 1 to return, everytime they've shown up it's felt a bit like seeing an old friend, especially since as the games time skips have always had them close to my age(which probably helped my attachement back in the first game). So hi Three, can't believe we both probably pay taxes now.

I have the original two Inkling Amiibos, in a collection that is slowly building, I'm still attached to Marie, and yes I was on her team for the Final Splatfest.

I cried when it was over, just like I did in 2's Final Fest(I was team chaos, two for two baby!) and will probably do so for 3's as well. Something about this series just makes me super attached to it's world and characters.

So booyah Splatoon, my final online game of yours was well and truly years ago, but I replayed story mode to share you with a friend recently, and I think I'll refight Octavio tonight in honour of the good times.

You encouraged me to try out games I wouldn't have otherwise(hello Overwatch and Deep Rock Galactic), and outlasted one of the other major games of my teenage years(...Overwatch 1 I miss you). So thank you for that.

I'll miss Squid Jump, Inkstrike, the og kit for the NZap 89(why does it's new one not vibe with me ;-;), the Squid Sister's broadcasts and the more saturated colours. At least I can always return to the Plaza in 3, and that Spyke isn't dead like I was concerned he was when 3 released, and see the Squid Sisters perform during Splatfests again.

I have so much more to say in my heart about you but no more ways to word it.

You've been a fantastic game, and will always be a treasured experience that I am grateful to have been a apart of from the very beginning.

Now bring back Moray Towers in 3 damn it! It's in 2 but I DON'T WANT TO LOSE MY FAVOURITE STAGE IF IT"S NOT IN 4.

[mileapo]

Happy Me Happy 'MILE' with Mai Phakphum

“The first time I saw a guitar was probably in grade 2. It was my relative’s guitar. I secretly took it and played with it. Then, the string broke!!! So I secretly hid it and never dared to take it out to play again because I had broken it already… The guitar came into my life again in grade 6. I was a kid at the back of the class. I studied hard, but I sat at the back of the class. Then, there was a female friend who sat in front of me. Her brother played music. She showed me photos of her brother competing in various competitions. She also showed me a magazine called The Guitar Mag. So, I opened it and read it. I read and read and found a guitar. It was an electric guitar in the shape of a white rabbit. 

I was like, “Wow!!! What a beautiful guitar! It made me start to fall in love with the shape of the word guitar from just looking at the picture first.”

And what about Mai's happiness with the guitar!!!

The eyes of the person you are talking to will tell you how they feel. This is not an exaggeration.

“The guitar is the instrument that brought me into the entertainment industry. Since I liked music since I was a kid, starting with the guitar, I started to be interested in music, interested in fashion related to music, which made me curious about music. I became a DJ, started to enter the loop where people saw my face more, started to go to castings, and was once at Grammy for a while. It was a time when I saw the entertainment industry in many other ways. It was the starting point that developed me until now.

The guitar has been with me since the beginning and has always been. For example, in AUTHENTIC MILE FIRST SOLO CONCERT, there must be a guitar that represents us and the different scenes in the show. If it's romantic, it will be an acoustic guitar. If it's a sexy scene, it will be a guitar solo. I am happy to play in the show. Entertaining and making the people who come to see us happy is another happiness that I like a lot.

We asked about the 28th anniversary of LOSO We Are The Rock And Roll Concert and being a guest of LOSO in the past.

“Phi Sek is an artist who I can say with certainty that he is the King of Rock and Roll of Thailand. He is also an inspiration to many Thai musicians. In terms of his work and songwriting, Phi Sek’s songs are meaningful, easy to understand, and honest. I think whoever listens to them will feel that way. I am very happy to be able to perform at the big concert to celebrate Loso’s 28th anniversary. It was fun to work on. The Loso team is lovely.” (smiles)

We asked Mai which guitar he likes the most. Mai replied that it was a very difficult question to answer. Very difficult.

"But if I had to choose, it would be this one I play regularly," Mai pointed to the olive green electric guitar he was carrying. 

“He has an overall meaning and a look that we really like. He’s the one that I feel has the right look, the right tone, not too strong, has a vintage feel, and still has a modern sound that can be used.”

Throughout my life journey, the guitar is the thing that makes me feel the most charming. I am most fascinated by the guitar. It’s like I’ve fallen in love with it. I don’t know how to stop loving it. As for other musical instruments, I might have had the chance to get to know them, but I might not have fallen in love in terms of playing. But in terms of consuming, listening, of course I am someone who loves music. Whether it’s the sound of the piano or the sound design of some electronic musical instruments, they also touch my heart. But in terms of playing, collecting, or anything physical, the guitar is with me. It is my first and only love, something like that.” (smiles)

That Cherished First Guitar of 'MILE'

“It’s still there,”  we asked about the first guitar in Mai’s life.

“Since we saw the white rabbit-shaped guitar in The Guitar Mag, that white guitar started to come into my head. I remember that when school ended around 3-4 p.m., while waiting for someone to pick me up in front of the school, I would complain to myself, saying to myself, “I really want a white guitar.” Then a friend named Ying Yai walked up to me and whispered in my ear, “I don’t know how to play, but I still want one.” I was shocked, my head was full of question marks. How difficult could playing a guitar be? Why did my friend say that even though she didn’t know how to play, she still wanted one? When I got home, I went to my mother and asked to buy one. At that time, I was still young, only in the sixth grade, and I was studying in Kalasin. It wasn’t easy to find one… When I asked my mother to buy it, she said, “Okay, I’ll buy it for you if I pass the entrance exam for Mathayom 1. Let’s exchange.” I was comfortable. I passed the entrance exam for Mahasarakham University Demonstration School (Secondary Section), and I got my first guitar, which was a popular classical guitar model, which most guitar lovers probably started with.”

“As for the first songs I played, they were songs that my guitar teacher taught me, which were “Khang Khao Kin Kluai” (Due Due Due, Due Due) (and then hummed the song for us ^_^) But if it’s a song that ends handsomely, it’s a song by Potato, “Mai Hai Tur Pai”. This is a song that I really like. The MV is beautiful, the feeling is there, and I really get into it. At that time, I was in Grade 6. I knew how to get into loneliness. I felt like playing this song. It just so happened that my guitar teacher’s younger brother, who was a night musician, told me that he would teach me to play a song. He asked me what song I wanted to play, so I told him “Mai Hai Tur Pai” (No Hai Tur Pai ). So he taught me. I was really determined because I really wanted to play it. After teaching him for about 2 days, I could play it. After that, I played this song all day and all night.” (smiles)

The Guitar Masters Who Fueled 'MILE' Passion

“Wow!!! That’s a lot.”

“I think it depends on the time period or the loop of listening to music. At first, we started listening to Thai music. The guitarist at the beginning of our life was 'P' Win Potato'. After that, time led us to know many guitarists, both Grammy and RS. We dissected a lot of songs. We dissected continuously until we learned that the flavor of Thai music is like this. 

When I started studying in Mathayom 2, I secretly went to study music, which made me know about Blues, Rock, Progressive Rock, and Dream Theater (a legendary American progressive metal band). The complexity of listening began to increase. I knew that John Peter Petrucci was this person ( John Peter Petrucci, founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater). We started to enter the loop of all things Rock Metal. My seniors listened to Trivium , so we listened to it too. We felt that it was good, it was cool. (Trivium is an American heavy metal band)

“The time when I really started to change was during Mathayom 4-5. I moved to study at Triam Udom Suksa School in Bangkok. A friend of a friend who was a student at Suankularb played John Mayer ’s “ Neon” in the karaoke room. When I heard it, it made me change my taste in music. It had an acoustic guitar feel, ding ding, ding, but it was a different feel from all the music I had listened to in the past 4-5 years. I can say that John Mayer was the first person who really inspired me. After that, it was blues rock like SRV ( Stevie Ray Vaughan ). Another person I really like is Philip Sayce ( Philip Sayce, Welsh guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor, and producer ).

In Thailand, there are many. Master Winai (Winai Trinatipakdi) and Phi Jack (Thammarat Duangsiri) are my inspirations who I used to study with. If it were about the same generation, I would say The Toys . He has great skill and a clear character. But if we talk about guitarists that I like at present, there are 2 people: Mean Thaitatsamit and Kong H3F. Their signatures are clear, their accents are clear, both in their sound and playing methods.”

And if there's a chance to perform with someone on stage? 

“John Mayer,”  Mai replied with a smile.

“But if it’s a Thai artist, “I want to play with Carabao.” I like the way they present meaning through Carabao songs. I’ve listened to a lot of Carabao songs. I went to the last concert. I like songs for life. I like songs that don’t talk about small images, just small feelings. I like songs that make the receiver, the consumer feel like they’ve gained something from life. Carabao’s songs are songs that have meaning. If I had the chance to be a part of a song with an artist, it would be Carabao.”

'MILE' Dream and A Part of 'MILE' Life

We all had dreams when we were kids, but not everyone can fulfill those dreams. Because dreams of “what do we want to be when we grow up?” “what do we want to do when we grow up?” may be just imaginary dreams. Because when we grow up, “dreams” tend to change over time, according to the context of society, according to what we see along the way. My dream is the same…

"When I was a child, I wanted to be a civil engineer." This is the dream of Pakphum Romsaithong.

“I remember having a relative who worked on road construction. He took us and his children to visit the dam. We saw the development from the laterite area and then saw it gradually develop until it was completed. So we thought about what kind of career could help our city in Kalasin grow. At that time, as a child, we also wanted to have fun, so we wanted to be a civil engineer.

When I started studying in Mathayom 4 in Bangkok, I felt that the vibe had changed. When I was in middle school, I went to school in the King’s class, got good grades, had many close friends, played music, and had activities with friends all the time. When I changed schools, I still couldn’t adjust myself. I studied a lot more. The subjects I studied were more intensive. I started to feel homesick. When I started to skip school a lot, I couldn’t keep up. Things started to go wrong. It made me start to isolate myself, talk to myself more, and see people’s nature more.”

“In the past, I liked to sit alone at bus stops, parks, or wherever people walked by every day for at least two hours a day. I sat mindfully, observed people’s behavior, and talked to strangers. People in the past were very charismatic. Many people talked to me even though we didn’t know each other. Some told me their stories, complained to me about this and that. I had no reason to do this at that time.”

Time makes us grow up and learn continuously. From Triam Udom Suksa School to the yellow and red walls of Thammasat University with the TU Sexy Boy stage that made both seniors and juniors open the warp to find out who 'Mai Phakphum' is and where he comes from.

“I used to think that I wanted to inspire people, but it doesn’t mean that we have to be great or anything. I just feel that being an inspiration to someone who is confused or lost, or being able to make someone who is straying in some way, bring them back to the center, to the point where they can balance, this is what we want to do, and we did it (smiles). 

Today, more people know us, whether it's international fans, younger people, or older people who may be in their 40s. I notice from the cards they write to me or the feedback when they send me DMs. I read them all the time. I may reply to some or not. What I see is what they reflect on how we inspire them. This is one of my dreams that I've seen take shape. I've made it happen and I want to keep doing it."

'MILE' Story of Pushing Through Bad Day

“Have you ever encountered anything difficult?” “Wow, a lot.”

“The more well-known something is, the more people expect it. This is a difficult thing. Even if we have a mindset that we can’t make everyone like us or change anyone’s mind, they say that life gets harder as we grow older. I think the difficulty lies in expectations.”

“The easy way is to let it go, let it go. But when the time comes, it’s hard to do that. It’s easy to say but very difficult to do because we are people who care about others and we think carefully. The best way is to try to stop inputting things, stop playing with our phones for a while, stop asking for opinions from others for a while while the problem is happening. Try to take a deep breath and stay here, in the present, come back to yourself, come back to talk to yourself, ask yourself what happened, what is the best case, what is the worst case. I do this and feel better. Even though the problem or stressful thing doesn’t go away, in the end it gets better.”

“I am lucky that my family is lovely and always behind me, no matter when I fall or encounter something difficult. But if I encounter something not too serious, I don’t tell them because I am afraid that they will worry. I will use a method like taking a nap. When we sleep, it is like resetting ourselves. Or changing the atmosphere, changing focus, or what they say to focus on breathing. At first, we didn’t understand, but when the time comes to try, when we focus on breathing in and out, really breathing in and out, the things that are floating, the things that are stressful, the extreme suffering, will get better. The nature of the human mind is to focus for only a split second and focus on one thing at a time. When we are forced to focus on breathing, whatever is floating will disappear. 

I learned this method when I was talking to a lot of people. One person talked about breathing exercises and I followed what he was saying. I felt better. When I went home and had a problem, I used this method. Hey!!! It helps. 

But in the end, I think everyone should have their own technique. For me, when I started to get to 30, I think that if we tune everything to be in moderation, in the middle, I think it makes us happy easily and it’s easier to move forward.”

The Art of Happiness in 'MILE' Moment

“Guitar, watch, record, wine glass, alcoholic drink”

“We have a bad habit. When we do something, we like to go all the way. We are like ducks who go all the way. When we reach a certain point, we will retreat. We are not experts, but we will understand the structure and then retreat. This is our habit.

All the things I mentioned, if we put them there, they will all be beautiful. Beautiful guitars, beautiful watches, beautiful glasses, beautiful alcohol bottles. Start with beauty first. When we touch them, we will find the next thing, which is what they give us, the form, taste, smell, sound, and so on. Then it will become a story. Story can fool us later. Everything I say will be like a rocket that gradually rises. Story is the last flower that makes the passion for that matter stronger. Like a first impression, I like beautiful things. I feel that even if I put it aside, in ten or twenty years, if we look back, it will still look the same. It has complexity and I think everything is a work of art. We like to consume art, but our art tends to go in this direction. Guitars are also art. They have their own stories, their own shapes. For example, guitars are relics that make them look old or painted in this or that color, which there are many. Or guitar amps, these are all charming. They give off a very personal sound. Vintage guitar amps can’t produce sounds that modern amps can’t. They have a certain sense, a tone, a character of sound, and a certain uniqueness that suits us.”

“If it’s an alcoholic drink, the way to make it enjoyable is like we understand if it’s a top nose or not, or we don’t need any principles at all. We drink it and feel that it gives us some imagination. Rum is one type, whiskey is another, bourbon is another, gin is another, and so on. So we spend a lot of time on these things. But I have to say that I’m not encouraging you to drink it (smiles).”

Vintage is 'MILE'

“Today, I’m dressing up a bit like this vintage style. I think vintage has a sense of timelessness. It has a sense of having its own character. It doesn’t have to follow anyone. It doesn’t have to change because the trend changes. But I will change when I want to change. Vintage is right here.

I think it’s similar to my personality. Actually, I am 100% myself. I am not someone who follows trends. But I have to study trends to work or change my look to follow trends as an actor or as a presenter. But deep down, I know what I like and dislike.”

“In terms of music, I think of Stevie Ray Vaughan ’s (SRV) song Lenny. It talks about an old guitar sound, a bit clear, a bit bluesy, but the guitar tone is the sound I’m describing. A vintage guitar sound is something like this.”

Green → Rose → 'MILE' → Greeny Rose

Why do you like green???

“At that time, I didn’t know what color I liked, but I probably liked it a lot because everything was green. I asked myself that question, but I couldn’t find the answer. Looking back, I only knew that the children’s dolls that we asked for or that we chose were green. They were Shin-chan dolls. Children like Shin-chan in green shirts. Even the first electric guitar that we secretly bought was green. The first amp cabinet, I didn’t know the sound, so I chose it based on the look. It was green felt. Everything was green.”

“I think green is a color that gives a feeling of comfort and is pleasing to the eyes. At the same time, it also has a coolness to it. It’s like a young man in his mid-teens who is starting to get older. He is calm, cool, and sharp but still, not loud. The cool thing about green is that there are so many shades. The green I like the most is olive green. Olive green and British green are British green, like MINI cars and BMW cars. Racing green are the two shades that I like. This is the charm of green for me.”

Tell us about Greeny Rose. 

“The green rose” represents composure, slowness, and calmness in making decisions. Seeing him makes you feel safe and comfortable. Why does it have to be a rose? Because the rose represents the feeling of love and passion at the same time, which is Love and Passion that is given to each other. When you put these two things together, it is a Greeny Rose. But there must be a condition that the rose that is given must be a rose that is willing to let go of each other’s thorns.”

“A rose that is willing to let go of its thorns means that it will compromise with both the giver and the receiver, and both of them will be happy.  Greeny Rose is a green rose that is willing to let go of its own ego thorns. So my meaning is that fandoms should not fight among themselves, or if we have something, we talk about it. The relationship in terms of fans will continue on forever.” 

Is the meaning too deep? Mai smiled and asked us back, then continued to tell us about 3 years of being impressed with Greeny Rose.

“ I think it’s a give and take, a mutual happiness , as I’ve always tried to tell everyone, whoever we meet, it’s a good time in life. And when we’re together, continuing to be together, nourishing each other is not just about taking or giving. That’s what I call a give and take, like a spinning top. We see fun, developing our relationship all the time. This is what I’ve always seen. Whatever we can do for him, be nice to him, do good work for him, respect him all the time as much as we can respect him. Whatever we can do, we do it all.”

“At the same time, Greeny Rose has sent us good feelings in various forms. Coming to the event, sending good feelings via social media, some are not in Thailand, they are abroad, posting to encourage me. I know they are still here, but some have withered, some have disappeared, but new ones have grown.”

“Lastly, whatever it is, I have to thank everyone, thank the fans, thank Greeny Rose , everyone who helped complete the experience, and gave and took together all along. In the past, I didn’t have many chances to thank you. I want everyone to take good care of their health. I want everyone to take good care of their hearts, their minds, and their bodies, both our own and those close to us.”

'MILE' Present is The Best Present

“Being alive now is the greatest gift in the world.”

“Being who we are, living here, is something we unpack and are happy about. And the box next to it that they gave us to live through is about family, about fans, about friends, about various desires, whether it’s a guitar, a record, or other things. The box that comes together to be Present 

Experience is like a grain of sand or a pebble, a stone that comes together. The Star is a big stone that lets us see how to work in the entertainment industry. And the most obvious thing is that we never thought we would become a star. Talking about this makes me feel shy (smiles). But now we can’t deny it. We ourselves used to be secretly confused about how we got to this point.”

In the final conversation, we asked Mai about the role of Kinn, the ill-tempered young man of the main family. What are the differences between Mai and Kinn? 

“Kinn is a size that is us, and then we expand on something more to give him. Love, possessiveness, thinking a lot about people he feels good with. Kinn and I are exactly the same (laughs). Both in the script, in the performance, and in terms of taste, we like it that way, whether it’s drinks, houses, lifestyles that are similar to what we like. But the difference is that I’ve never killed anyone (laughs). The second thing is that I feel that Kinn is too childish. When we’re children, we’re children, but we’re not that childish. But in the story, we expand on the cute side of Kinn’s personality.”

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: RXM Reality

RXM Reality, the project of Chicago-based producer and composer Mike Meegan, blends breakcore, techno, grime, noise, and other styles into detailed composites. Meegan has made five albums to date under the RXM banner, four on Hausu Mountain and one on Orange Milk. Dusted’s Andrew Forell looked under the hood to find the pop in Meegan’s latest, No. 1 in the World, observing “[He] buries it deep beneath slabs of distortion, glitched out percussion, processed vocals and meatgrinder effects. Still, it wriggles and writhes through the cracks to lie exhausted on the surface, grains swept into semblances of songs besmeared with dirt.” Here are 11 decidedly un-pop songs close to Meegan’s heart.

Zen Music — Children of Men

This is a clip from Children of Men where Michael Cain plays the Aphex Twin track “Omgyjya switch 7” with screams edited over it. I saw this movie in a theater when I was pretty young and this clip really made a lasting impression on me.

Datach’I — LaByRa

Just like the Zen Music clip, I have been searching for music like this my whole life.

Zomby & Burial — Sweetz

UK Dubstep and its offshoots are huge for me. I love how this track is edited like a bunch of tape loops cut together.

Toiretstatus — #272

Toiret status, koeosaeme, and CVN all just travelled from Japan to play in Chicago and the show was absolutely amazing. I had the pleasure of hanging out with them before the show and we went to Hyde Park together. This whole album is awesome.

Actress — Get Ohn (Fairlight Mix)

I used to listen to this album a lot when I was falling asleep and I would start lucidly hallucinating. The interchanging loops of Actress’s music shifts so subtly that even if you think they are locked in and looping together, they are actually shifting and morphing through the songs.

Björk’s takeover of Tri Angle Records’ Rinse FM show (1/8) (February 18, 2015) - HD

This choice covers a lot of influences for me. Different shows on Rinse FM turned me on to so many amazing songs that I have forgotten and will probably never remember. This particular mix is Bjork and Robin Carolan DJ’ing a bunch of Tri Angle Records songs. Björk is an amazing DJ and will always be ahead of her time. Tri Angle was such an awesome label.

Wiley — Swimming

Hmmm, maybe I just wish I was living in London like 10-15 years ago. I have no idea why most of everything on this list is from the UK. It's kind of embarrassing for some reason.

Sd Laika — Great God Pan

Classic song from an artist gone way too soon. I hope they know how loved they were.

Vantana Row — Capitalism Tastes Like Sugar

I just found out about this band. They are cool!

Deli Girls — STAY

Great band! I feel fortunate to have met Dan and I hope to make more music with Deli Girls soon.

Mages Guild — MIDIMAGICK BETA TEST

Mages Guild is a collective of people currently throwing the best parties with the best musicians in Chicago.

[respectthepetty]

Since I decided the best way to make it through Our Skyy 2 with minimal damage is to drink my way through it, welcome to the fifth round of

CockTails in the Skyy!

GMMTV is taking the music club into the multiverse of cuteness, so this week's drink is For Goodness' Sake:

sake for Chinzhilla's hot pot adventure

more white wine for all the whining and pining the boys did

lemons, limes, oranges, grapes, and apple slices for the sweetness overload (I was going to comment about the variation of fruits, but I don't know the crowd's feelings on the word, so . . . *takes a big sip directly from the bottle*)

There will be a lot of singing. I fear sake was not the right choice. I did not think this through. I need something stronger like everclear, but it's too late now. *pushes the play button*

Bottoms up!

Glad to know that the gay sheets exist in every universe

And so does Scrabble-telling-the-plot

The colors being gray and brown so far better be a statement about how love brings color into our lives because these two were color-coded in the original, so if we can get The Gay Sheets™ and Scrabble in every universe, I want the colors in this one too!

That lion doll is the cutest merchandise, and I need it.

Oh, so Gun just gets the president position. Nepotism at its finest.

I know some people do not like the Our Skyy 2 theme song, but I LIVE FOR IT! It's Pitch Perfect but gayer.

Tinn's roar is adorable. Like a toddler, just looking cute and making cute sounds.

It's the first song, and it's barely the first part of the first episode. This is not looking good for me.

Damn! Tinn's mom did them like that?! Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas in more.

Does Tinn already like Gun?! He gave him the cape thingy in the gym and now the shaved ice.

ANOTHER SONG! Is there going to be a song each part of this. *doing mental calculation* Are there going to be eight songs?!

I like Tinn's wiggle when he is singing about squishing the bullfrog.

This is how I like my animation.

Another blowing-in-someone's-ear GIF for my collection.

"We'll get to date at the water park" - - Based on a true story via Pond and Phuwin's Little BIG World.

What am I supposed to do with these colors?! Does Tinn already like Gun?! TELL ME! He does, right?!

A song while dancing makes sense, but I'm upset. In my DJ Khaled voice "another one."

Mark looks delicious in this tux with his hair like that. De. Lish.

If SoundWin hadn't ruined my Star in My Mind SeanMaithee agenda, I would be thrilled about them now in this episode. But I'm petty, so I'm going to stay mad.

But I am happy for the TiwsonPor crew.

Another For Goodness' Sake because this is a lot of singing.

Why is this man coming with the logic of throwing out the sake instead of drinking it? WE DON'T WASTE LIQUOR IN THIS CLUB!

Kajorn likes Pat's accent?! Babe, that's so gay of you.

Damn it! I should've named the drink For Love's Sake.

Mark jogging in these sunglasses with those shorts and jacket = Delicious. I'm so excited to see him be a slut and film a sex tape in Only Friends. I pray he blackmails Neo's character with it. I deserve that treat.

I have never experienced such a tensive piggyback ride as the one being depicted on my screen right now. God, just make out already!

Por saying "get out" in English is feeding my soul because it sounds like me telling people to leave my office: "Get out. Okay. Bye!"

Tinn's shirt reads "Happier Times Are Coming" yet I don't believe it because there will be more singing.

This SoundWin umbrella scene is trying to win me over. It's almost working.

I think I forgot pivotal moments of the original series because I don't remember Gun asking Tinn directly during the questions if Tinn liked him, yet here, Tinn directly asks Gun. I like this!

Tiwson and Por talking as boyfriends is giving me everything I didn't think I needed.

How dare this installment make me think Tinn's mom was a sick when she was just asleep!

Giving SoundWin and TiwsonPor some of Tinn and Gun's moments is genius, like Sound not wanting this kiss to be in act with the red and blues, and Por disclosing he is already dating Tiw.

Tinn and Gun running around looking for each other is top-tier romance.

The moms stay doing the heavy lifting in this show. Which is why the dad, who never had a name, is MIA in this installment.

The boyfriend question!!!!! WITH THE FRIEND ZONE BARRIER!

MSP got that Lay's money too! We are rich, fam!

Why did I not think there would singing during the Aof tribute?! It's a music video, so of course there would be singing.

I feel this is GMMTV's way of thanking Aof for keeping the lights on and the fridge stacked these past years because this man is giving this company its life!

I don't need these dolls, but gosh darn it do I want them!

My School President should get a sequel called My Doctor Boyfriend, and they should meet Tan and Bun of Manner of Death (WHERE IS TRANSPLANT?!).

I have no idea what was happening with the colors, which bothers me (and there was singing in a show about singing), but the salute to some of Aof's greatest hits with Tinn and Gun being Med and Thun were an excellent choice. Because of that, I'm going to give this installment the score Vice Versa's could've had before it decided to LIE!

9/10 CockTails for being a solid offering that delivered the same story but with a few twists.

Because A Boss & A Babe just ended last week, getting an Our Skyy feature immediately after feels like it didn't end, and we are simply getting another episode, so I'll be watching (and judging) this in its normal Friday slot before I watch Be My Favorite, that way I'll be too tipsy to care how either of them turn out.

Will we finally get to know the backstory about Jack's previous relationship?

[spikechainblog]

My time at the Grand Fest summarized

So I went to the Grand Fest with my Cohozuna Dad... tbh I've played a couple of matches, I've encountered the first 100x battle I've ever encountered, it was weird since I didn't collect any festival shells yet but also for that 100x battle we lost, HORRIBLY... I then met with @noveloctoling (also I know that Novel's salmonid parents Shallow and Haggy got into the Grand Fest, and basically Jacksley was happy that I happen to bring him to the Grand Fest because Jacksley thought he wouldn't be allowed due to the Big Run) and some other friends, we played a couple of matches with eachother, I congradulated her when she won a 100x battle and reached Ruler Rank (tbh I reached Ruler Rank before Novel before that 100x battle).

Jacksley and I stopped to eat at the food stand that Robo ROM-en set up... I liked the ramen, it was good tasting food... I also met Cain at the stand, along with the former Cohozuna Unit members, Calder, Brook, and Dover... oh and Cove and Caspian was there too (Caspian repeatedly kept saying sorry bc of what he did to the salmonids, he felt some sort of regret) I also forgot I met Cuttlefish and DJ Octavio... I also saw my fellow friends that are agents, Arledge (Captain 3), Faze (Agent 8), and of course that annoying but funny inkling, Jordan (Agent 4)... Also Kai, Jay, and Aenon were performing in the different stages while wearing their usual clothing, and at halftime, they wore their Grand Fest clothing (before halftime started Kai fell asleep on the bus to the Grand Fest and Jay and Aenon woke him up)... halftime made me cry because not only I've got onto the stage after reaching ruler, but Three Wishes made me cry (also the Siren Callers performed their cover of the song)... Of course you usually see me with a stern and emotionless face, but when that song hit me... my tears came coming down, I also encountered my first 333x but unfortunately we lost, but I got emotional when I won my second 100x (I said second because I won my first 100x battle at the Starch Splatfest) basically with my teammates, and we were called the Variety Quartet, also the song that played on the 100x battle that I won was Smeared Canvas, yk the song that plays when you climb the Rocket in Return of the Mammalians story mode, yeah it brings me that moment when I was Neo Agent 3 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon ((this is Teal aka ChainSpike in Splatoon 3, I am still thanking C.Q. Cumber, SaMiAm, and sbrnoe for giving me the 100x win RAHHH THXXXX))

in other words I cannot say... there was so many emotions I brung out as I waved on the stage... even Jacksley was emotional when he saw me on stage bc he was proud of me... I still hated the new Tricolor stage, bc you know, the Big Run, I almost even brung out my True Chaotic Form to destroy that Tricolor stage... i did basically use my weapons I mainly use and also with other weapons, even having myself bring out my old main, the Octobrush, that I rarely even use... As the sun rose, it was all over... I started to break down crying, to the point I had Jacksley hug me... the results came out and Past won... I happen to be happy for Cain, Dover, and all of my friends on Team Past (Cain also broke down crying when he heard the results and came to me, he was so proud to win the Grand Fest)... but yeah... Here's to Splatoon 3, and the memories we made along the way... without the Past, Present, and Future, none of the memories we remember, the moments we have now, and our predictions of what's to come would exist, Time is never-ending, spend it as much as you can... This is Spike "Chain" 'The Great Flame That Shines to All' Kadaver, aka Spike/Chain... thank you... for sticking around...

P.S. I'm not gone, I'll still be here with you all, ask me questions or anything

[vivianbernadetteaurora]

I give the 90s Viber a star sign it will definitely be Pisces energy, maybe also a bit of Aquarius energy for the difference, and the humanity of some of the nature but but a big butt in fact, a massive Uranus, Neptune, Capricorn conjunction which I was born in and I think went up to the early 90s, which then I didn’t even realise does make it Aquarius energy because Aquarius obviously comes after Capricorn and then we have Pisces, if you remember the 90s ages I was born in the early 90s so when it ended I would’ve been nine years old but I remember bits of it and if not, I remember the nostalgia of it. I know many people who were adults in the 90s because most of people I know if me and friends have been and told me it was the best times of their lives., dad brought me up an amazing music and musician himself and is, he’s from Liverpool and there was a massive Beatles fan, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits Pink Floyd, so out of music around me all different types. Being a young child, a young adults and adult or having any sort of connection to this era you know how, know nothing on telly was anything but the fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Simpsons, friends. Jennifer Aniston everybody wanted a Rachel haircut and I remember most people did have that laid out. We all had Barbies and babies baby born had nappies and you could feed., all different 90s adverts

When you grow up, you would make your own CDs and have your own collection where you would write on them and put all your favourite songs which would take a couple of days you would download all your songs from lime wire, and put your twist on and before that came along, we would record everything off the radio and record the charts and try to cut out the DJ every every time the song played out.

Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, had their infamous sex tape, a couple of the 90s, after Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love into the midnight till the 2000 and you would see them both in music videos on TV on different programs because they were everywhere even when they broke up you would see them on their own individual little path even to having a fight at the 2007 VMA

Leonardo DiCaprio with every girls crush at the time and every girl was obsessed withTitanic . I was too young to get this but all my sisters were into that film, while I was watching Beatles films over and over again, it was a happy time. I remember when Mars bars were cheap and bigger and things didn’t make you fat

You would have 50p pocket money for Penny sweets which you don’t really see any more either , every time I grew up and I saw the new technological thing come out my dad was obsessed with having the latest technology of something he has like one of the first iPhones or something it was an iPod , I hated all those things and I felt like I stand it against them. I enjoyed making the music from them but I didn’t like the idea of Blu-ray and 3-D calories. I just felt a distance towards it

And then we had the Spice Girls I had a lunchbox of the Spice Girls and a T-shirt and we remember Jerry Lee because Jerry was my favourite Spice Girl , for me as well my first obsession as someone autistic was Destiny’s Child. I knew everything about them. I knew every member every song and my first CD , I got asked for my dad what CD would you like at Christmas and it was between Samantha and mamba Destiny’s Child and I chose the writing on the wall , it was amazing. I love every tractor this day on that album , his child got a lot of shit at the time because of .

I want you to know that I’m doing so good good so good. I had to tell you, but I’m so good so good., so they had two members that left LaTavia and Latoya, and then they had another team members join Michelle and Farah, Farah Franklin got kicked out of the ground very quickly because Matthew knows was very strict with health, weren’t allowed any brakes, he was known as Joe Jackson of the 90s I guess, because of her strict he was on them and wipe them so hard so then they became a 3 piece,  Beyoncé, Michelle and Kelly . I didn’t see it till years later, but Farrah went on the Wendy Williams show when she was a, and she was told that she was to look like Latvia because she was short and they died, they also tried to make her uglier because she was prettier than Beyoncé. In my opinion. She had green eyes and she was lovely and she always said and other people who said that the other girls when they went on holiday they would., Beyoncé had to wear a high factor so she was a lightest one on the group and, his mother was very racist and wanted to marry a white woman. and his Beyoncé s mum was creole , but she still got black. 

Jennifer Aniston was not going for many, from the nineties to the 2000s till this present day people know what’s going on with Jennifer Aniston and will she ever have children?, We live through the Jennifer Aniston., Angelina Brad saga ,, people had T-shirt saying team Jen or team ange.

The best group of the time the best wraps group one of we had a major amazing rap in the mighty we had the Fugees , Lauryn Hill and the racism scandal of the fact that she said she wouldn’t want any white people to buy her music was it true? Wasn’t it? True we live through these dramas back of what people were saying what they weren’t , everything is captured and therefore , where is now these people who grew up in that time? Almost have to change their views and if they say nothing , say something they’re fucked. You can’t say anything. I’ll be anything without getting it opinion . Winona Ryder was the old alternative girl of, well if you are in a band you would have dated, was that Paleo and all the alternative Tim Burton films, and that pretty girl she even got done in the early 2000s for shoplifting for which she was so iconic and said it was a role in a film,

She’s still a bit Cookey people still do these days with Winona Ryder when she is a bit random at ward shows those strange things, cheated Johnny Depp before he got with Kate Moss he was her first of everything and there was a massive age gap between , Johnny Depp was in every film the night is that you can think of that was popular but also independent. He never wanted to be part of a franchise and then he became the pirates of the Caribbean boy . Everybody fancy Johnny Depp man fancy Jennifer Aniston Kate Moss was a model that everybody knew and was familiar with you to see the adverts of Remo London Bradshaw a.k.a. Sarah Jessica take over the airwaves with advert and performances, the adverts that you would remember for P1 on high essences herbal essence was a shampoo and conditioner , a conditioner could give you an orgasm . that’s it for now guys. This is my look of my own life through the 90s .

[bathoarchives]

Behind The Beats: Hookage's Steady Rise To The Top

photo credits: BACKYARDSTORIES BOTSWANA

In the first edition of our interview series, we have hookage, a music producer/beatmaker born and raised in Francistown and Gaborone. He produces a wide variety of genres. The producer says his exposure to different genres( hip-hop, rap, neo-soul, rnb, deep house, etc.) and cultures nurtured his ability to produce different genres.

He has produced for a variety of artists and musicians locally and internationally, but notably, he’s produced for Kaysotheenigma's “Cherry Bomb,” which won 'Best Female Single' at the YAMAs, as well as three songs off her debut album “Fifth Heaven."

How did you come up with the name Hookage?

So i got the name from the anime series, Naruto but i added a twist to it. In the series, the original word is “hokage” and this is the title given to the leader of the specific village . So i added an extra “o” to honestly avoid copyright infringement issues but the meaning behind the name stands because i view my music and audience as my “village” and it’s my responsibility to take care of them.

How did you get into music production?

It started off as me playing music production games on my tablets as a child around the ages from 9 to 13 because i had always had this deep-rooted interest and passion for music but never really knew how to get into making my own stuff. So in grade 8/form 1, i met someone who taught me how to use Fl Studio and so i started making beats in 2017

We really like your ability to blend different genres into one track, who or what would you say has influenced your style of production?

Honestly, it’s an amalgamation of different producers and artists as i take different things from the individually. For example, i love the way Pharell Williams approaches his beats and certain chord progressions, where with The Alchemist, his ability to chop up samples the way he does or even just finding the samples he does is amazing then artists like Smino or JID, who manipulate their voices to sound a certain way whilst also using their voice as percussive instruments is also insane.

One of our favourite tracks by you is Need U, what's the story behind the track,who's on the vocals?

With that song, the whole thing is honestly a different song that didn’t have any drums on it but just vocals, keys and bass. i can’t even remember the original name of the song but i separated the song into those different layers and added drums of my own. I initially wanted to keep it for myself but i knew i had to at least post it

You've worked with numerous artists across different genres,out of all these collaborations which one would you say is your favourite?

I don’t think i can put a finger on my favorite because we all work together but if i had to choose right now, it would have to be spacerover and lucas chubbs

Which artist would you like to work with that you haven't yet?

There are so many artists i really want to work with atm but for now it would have to be K.alahari without a doubt

Before you performed your set for Backyard Stories, they revealed that you learned how to dj with vinyls from your dad, how was the whole process?

So it’s an interesting story because my dad and his brothers are all former Djs but had their own preferred genres hence why i have the variety of genres between house, hiphop, rnb etc. It was mainly my dad teaching me but the whole process of actually using vinyl was hard but i caught on quickly because i never used digital djing software so i had nothing to reference.

So Botswana was recently introduced to the music collective 'Ascension Pleas' and how it came about but, we'd like to hear from your perspective about how you met the others, your music production process and how being part of the group benefits you as hookage?

So as we explain prior, it really was just coincidence because we didn’t really even have a motive to be at UB apart from rehearsals for Pablo%8’s show that week and we then just decided to work on something. In terms of meeting them, i had already known banzai the longest as we already been working since 2021 but i met Lucas Chubbs and spacerover last year, same with briann bc but that we met at UB was the first time me and BC (briann BC) made music together. For the time being, i usually just give them old beats i didn’t have use for but recently we’ve been working hard with the new beats i’ve been making. I usually make a beat then send it to them to see if they feel it then the decision is made whether to use it or not. Me being apart of the group let’s their audiences become aware of who i am and possibly follow me in my journey and on the other hand, it let’s me share my love for music with like minded people who i can consider my friends and that deep love for music is something you can’t share with anyone

A lot of new generation artists and creative platforms have been emerging in Botswana, which one would you say has stood out the most?

I would firstly say you guys because i’ve seen you guys grow so rapidly but it’s because of your authenticity. Other artists that have really caught my eye are borus, chrysus, emo, mantra, magadi. there are so many more but they’re just a few to name

Favourite producer from Botswana?

it would have to be Simba the Indigo, one of the members of K.alahari

Out of all the songs you produced, which one stands out the most to you?

It would have to be some unreleased, song name titled “Honesty” which will feature on my debut album. It might be my best produced song at the moment

What's next for you, Hookage?

I’ve been quietly working on my debut album which is set to drop next year. This album is what I’ve been working on apart from working with other artists, just slowly piecing it together and it’s going to be a great start for me to establish not only as a music producer but an overall musician.

instagram: @hookagesamaa

stream hookage: campsite.bio

[roo-bastmoon]

BTS Tutorial: Stationhead & Renaissance

Stationhead is an app that connects to your Apple Music or Spotify account and allows you to stream music in a community so that every person’s streams count toward your artists’ chart. Supposedly this app can rival radio (it’s early days; we will see).

Apple Music and Spotify both work on Stationhead's web player. 

If a host is playing their songs from Apple Music, and you only subscribe to Spotify, the matching track from Spotify will play through your streaming account. In the same way, a host using Spotify to play music will have songs matched for Apple Music listeners. So it's a great cross-platform tool.

It can be kind of fun to know you’re streaming with hundreds if not thousands of other ARMYs, especially when you are targeting milestones for certain songs and you don't want to think too deeply about how to build a playlist... but it’s not necessary if you want to just stream on your own accounts.

You need to listen to at least 30 seconds of a song on Stationhead for it to count toward charts.

Here’s a short tutorial about how to set up a Stationhead account, but in my case, I will search for BTS and Jimin on Station head instead of Stray Kids (sorry, Stray Kids—I think you’re cool but I’m a loyal hoe.)

After you download the app and set up your profile, I recommend you search for the following communities on Stationhead and join them:

JIMINCHARTSPH

JIMINGLOBAL

JIMINRECORD13

When a live streaming party is about to start, you’ll get a little notification on your phone and you can decide to join. Then you listen to streams. To maximize your time in the first 24 hours of a release, maybe have Apple Music play on one laptop, YouTube play on a tablet, and Stationhead or Renaissance app going on your phone (tethered to your Spotify). It’s free and it doesn’t spam you, it just takes a few moments to set up accounts on these apps.

If you’re still not convinced, here’s a review from a music professional that gets into the details:

Similar to Stationhead, Renaissance is an app that connects to your Spotify account. If you follow streaming accounts on twitter, they will sometimes throw streaming parties on Renaissance and it can be fun to join in and gather collective streams to achieve certain goals.

You download Renaissance from the app store, sign in (I use my gmail account and connect to my premium Spotify). Once logged in, you can search for Jimin, and there you’ll see various streaming parties going on. You click to join, it’ll open your Spotify account, and you can play that playlist along with hundreds and sometimes thousands of others.

It's simply a great way to find playlists and help meet benchmarks with the community, but don't feel pressure. It's just nice if you're engaging in streaming battles on Twitter; gets everyone psyched up.

Some people prefer Renaissance because you can be in control of your playlist (when to stop and start, the ability to count your streams), whereas Stationhead is more like radio, where the host is a DJ and they are in charge. Really it just all comes down to what you prefer and if you're part of communities that enjoy group streaming.

After our artists land on the charts, it's important to keep streaming so their songs have longevity and aren't just flash-in-the-pan, one-hit-wonders. Using streaming apps is a great way to let your accounts count for streams, without having to curate and manage playlists all day long. (But remember, 20 streams of a song, then login to a different Spotify account for it it count.)

Stream on, stream on, stream until your streams come true!

DISCLAIMER:

I am a Dope Old Person and have been ARMY since January 2022. So I still have a lot to learn.

I’m making mini-tutorials for people like me who are comfy with technology but totally new to voting, streaming, and buying Kpop stuff.

If you know of better, more up-to-date information, please comment or DM me so I can make sure I’m not spreading misinfo. Please be polite about it, though—we are on the same team!

Feel free to apply whatever you learn here to other BTS members and other artists; I’m Jimin-biased so I am focused on helping Jimin at this moment in time, but I’m OT7 so rest assured I’ll put my shoulder to the wheel for all our members!

[stefanp1]

Usually don’t comment much about Dance Tracks but Honey Redmond's post this week reminded me of the importance of working hard and being able look back at not just the glory but the journey. I have been fortunate to have had 30 years in the music business thanks to Claussell Joaquin. Without him, I might have been stuck behind a desk at an insurance company, like I was when we met.

Where did 30 years go? In July 1993 we opened a store that turned into, 3 record labels, a merchandising company, and digital download store. It became a New York landmark for both the NY music community and collectors from around the World. Any minor business skills I may have, were cultivated over 20 years on this block dealing with everyone from the Mafia to the Hells Angels. There is fuckery everywhere, so learning to deal with masters of it was my business school. Like any 21 year old who opens a business in NYC, it was just as hard then as it is now, but we lasted a very long time because of the music we sold and the customers who bought it. Branding people go to business schools for years to try to build this, but that is like letting AI write songs, it lacks soul.

Friday afternoons were an amazing array of people from all walks of life connecting through a shared love of music and record collecting. Contrary to popular myth, the most talented folks were usually the humblest. Norman Cook or Norman Jay came and sat on those black sofas all day raising their hands when they heard something they liked. Danny Krivit always at around 9.50 pm, for his “pile”, Francois asking to pick up the needle so he could “hear that bit again”, it was fascinating to hear music the way he did and to have sold these guys and so many others, records that ended up moving dancefloors across the World.

When asking for a record the lines “Do you know who I am” or I’m a DJ do I get a discount”, were often met with the response established by Stan Hatzakis the original founder of dancetracks, “sorry mate, that is the last copy and its for Frankie Knuckles” who lived a few doors away. He often stopped in for a morning coffee and Joe and I often reciprocated when the store closed on a Friday, by going to the sound factory bar with a white label or a jam he might want to play.

To the customers who came right off work on the F train to second avenue to grab jams for their gigs, or those who just came to be turned onto a new jam, that made a shitty work week worth it. For close to 20 years that is how my weekends started. Records getting played and hands getting raised while we handed out shrink wrapped vinyl to the fiending music lovers in front of us. Anyone who played out or collected rolled by. Many of you in this group who were customers are still my close friends today. They often share messages about a record they heard or that they bought at the store or when they see a Dancetracks price sticker on a record they just picked up on Discogs. I am so grateful to everyone when they reach out, it reminds me what it was all about. Nowadays I have that same feeling when I find a record, or I am turned onto one, by somebody in a record store….forever linked and not by social media.

We had Quentin Crisp at the end of the block, Dee Pop from Bush Tetras who ran the bike messenger service in the middle of the block next to the aforementioned headquarters of the Hells Angels and Frankie Knuckles only doors away from them. When we opened there was not a drug in the world you could not buy on the block which of course brought drama, tragedy and fun.

The store had so many great staff, whose musical tastes were so influential on what went on the wall and more importantly what stayed on the wall no matter how old it was. Remember those days where your music not confined to a few hours on the front page of a website. All of these people were central to the “sound of Dancetracks” which changed with the staff. Phil Duke, Jenifa Mayanja, Kamati Pinkston, Josh Thomas, Jimmy Sky, Tyrone Francis Mickey Miguel, Tommy D Funk, Kalim Shabazz, Ramit Kreitner, June Joseph, Funmi Damian Galban and of course Jacky Sommer, all such great folks to work and listen to music with over the years. Much thanks to Augusta Quiney for such a great logo that still resonates today.

To the distributors whose stock we would hide in their warehouses so no other stores could get it, who always called us when they had something hot, you were all an extension of an ethos that was driven by great music……..never “dancefloor fillers” as they were often described by @Harry Russell, but who also knew the difference between the two.

It was a blast.

[only-a-heartbeat-away]

Hi again!

I listen to so many obscure bands that I am in this bubble where I think they are well known. Even bands I think are fairly popular because.. for example their shows sell out or something and so few know them. It is so strange.

I wish I could wear my chain more but work doesn't want me to, and to be fair, they are probably right that it might not be safe. Nose piercings are not that bad though I hear everyone cries a bit when it is done. I did too but it is reflex of the body more than the pain, I think.

I was so excited when I saw some of the newest Bach solo stuff has Rob on it and even in the videos. He seemed to share the excitement about having one of his old bandmates join him which, imho, is very sweet.

I live in an apartment too so moving can be shitty since it is hard to find a place that allows pets that aren't cats. I have been lucky enough to find a place where the landlord is a science teacher with classroom pets and totally gets the non-fluffy pets that I have. it isn't that common, at least here.

I would love that nature room but as it is I have a bunch of house plants in my apartment to try and get some of the benefits. That is another thing that sometimes makes finding a new place for me difficult.... I HAVE to have natural light and lots of windows. I will not live somewhere that doesn't have at least one window in every room.

Your kitties are so cute. I can't have cats, despite liking them, because I am allergic. I do love going to other people's houses and hanging with their kitties though.

I am not sure if it works with anon but in the blog settings there is a place to allow media in asks. If you want to give that a try we can see if it works. If not, happy to share once we are off Anon.

I have a few CDs but I mostly have Vinyl. I think I have around 100 Lps and probably a similar amount of singles (7 inch). My dad got me into vinyl early on. He had a huge collection and when I was about 10 or 11, can't remember exactly now, he bought me a record player for my room and gave me his copy of Strikes by Blackfoot. (If you haven't listened to Blackfoot yet I definitely suggest checking them out. I know Warrant commonly covers their song "Train, Train" live, have for years.. it is on the Cherry Pie Album.) I still have that vinyl and a couple of his other vinyls, not all of them unfortunately. I do still have his original Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper, Elton John, Rod Stewart and a few others.

My dad knew a guy who worked at a record store and was a local Dj. I have some really cool single LPs that were for release plays on radio. The Bowie and Vandenberg I have are among my favorites. I also have a few signed Lps and 7 inches. Mostly glam and metal.

Do you have any vinyl? If not, are you interested in vinyl collecting at some point?

-Jake

Same with me. I surround myself with people who have the same music taste as me, both in real life and on the Internet, so it’s kind of a mindfuck to me when I encounter someone who’s never heard of even one of my favorite bands.

Sucks you can’t do that, but like you said, it’s probably not safe. I imagine that kind of chain can get stuck in a lot of things, and really hurt too. The pain that goes with a nose piercing wasn’t what turned me away from it, I already knew it was gonna hurt and didn’t care. What made me back out was hearing about the aftercare, that I had to clean the piercing wound twice a day for weeks and even then it could still get infected. I just found that to be too much. I still do want a nose piercing though, maybe one day I’ll finally go through with it.

I think that’s very sweet too. They seem to still be friends and get along even after all the shit that went down, and I find that so endearing.

I’m happy that you managed to find a place that understood and let you have non fluffy pets. It is pretty hard to find a place that lets you have pets, even “acceptable” ones like cats, which I think is ridiculous.

I would love to have houseplants myself but again, I have cats that love to chew on new things and I know some plants can be poisonous for cats. I considered getting some small cacti plants, but that’s just asking for disaster when you have cats.

Thank you! Honestly, I have a feeling I might be allergic to cats too. One day a few years ago I suddenly started sneezing and getting a sore throat anytime I was around my cats, but I’ve been taking over the counter allergy meds since then and I’ve been fine. Even if I am allergic, I don’t want to get rid of them. I consider them a part of my family and they really help me emotionally and mentally.

Even if you have that setting enabled, you still can’t send any pictures on anon. I get why that’s a thing, but it’s still a bummer. Oh well, we’ll just have to wait.

I have a lot of albums on physical media. Over 300 cds and about 60 vinyl records. My dad gave me his original pressings of Abbey Road and The White Album by The Beatles, and even though I don’t like The Beatles, I still really appreciate it. I also have an original pressing of Boston’s Don’t Look Back, courtesy of my uncle. And upon hearing I like older rock music and collect vinyl, one of my mom’s coworkers gave me his old collection of original vinyl pressings for my birthday this year, including the Queensrÿche EP, Def Leppard’s Pyromania and Vixen’s self titled. Might just be the best birthday present I ever got.

I’ve never heard of Blackfoot, but I HAVE heard that Warrant song (and didn’t even know it was a cover lol). I’ll have to check them out at some point. It’s really awesome that you managed to get some of yours signed! I’m so jealous lol.

Do you own any band shirts? If so, do you like it when people comment on them when you wear them?

[star-lightdjparty]

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Are you ready for your party to get better by hiring a Starlight DJ? Reach out to us today. If it's your wedding day or company party or some other sort of festivity; we will always make sure everything goes according to plan using every available resource possible. With a starlight DJ on stage with me during such events; then I can certainly sit back at ease as my guests take over themselves on stage. Allow us to create some memories not worth forgetting!

What Does a Professional Wedding DJ Melbourne Play an Important Role?

[fredalan]

Michael Cuscuna by Jimmy Katz

Michael Cuscuna R.I.P. 1948-2024

Our fantastic friend, then client, Michael Cuscuna, record producer/historian extraordinaire and co-founder of Mosaic Records, passed away on April 19, 2024. Both of us –Alan and Fred– wrote remembrances that we’re reposting here.

.....

Michael Cuscuna by Thomas Staudter

I knew the voice of Michael Cuscuna before I ever met the man. Growing up in an area of New Jersey where we could pull in both New York and Philadelphia stations, I would listen to him DJ at WMMR out of Philly. He had a quintessential FM DJ voice — soft-spoken, intimate, gravelly, authoritative. He didn’t yammer on, but I remember he was clever and his sense of humor was dry as a bone. He played a mix of progressive rock and some things that clung to the precipice of musical genres.  

Years later our paths merged. I started seeing his name on the backs of albums I’d play on my college jazz radio show — now I was the DJ, and he had become a prolific producer, supervising dates for a diverse list of artists, including many dedicated to the avant garde. He also produced for Bonnie Raitt and other groundbreaking musicians. I am searching my memory in vain to recall how we became connected, but he was also creating a monthly promo disk sent to radio stations by Crawdaddy Magazine and I became his producer, using the free facilities of the college station to record and edit. He would collect the interview tapes from the magazine’s feature writers, I would edit them into a coherent radio show, then he would come in and record his host segments. Out of that association, I started writing reviews for Crawdaddy of new jazz releases. He was as wickedly funny in person as I remembered him on the radio. I was a little in awe of his extraordinary knowledge of music — an artist’s historical significance, how a musician’s style linked that person to the artists that came before and after, and why certain artists deserved more recognition than they had received by the public. He turned me onto a lot of music. I think we did the show for a couple of years.   

More time passed, and Michael came into my life again through my partner at our media advertising agency, Fred/Alan. By now, Michael had established himself as an important compiler of jazz reissues that went above and beyond what was typical at the time. Starting with Blue Note Records, but ultimately including the libraries of other labels, he’d go into the vaults and unearth the unreleased sides and alternate takes and place them alongside the more well-known songs. His two-fer series for Blue Note was particularly noteworthy. On the back of that success, he and a former Blue Note executive named Charlie Lourie created Mosaic Records. Their concept was to do numbered, limited editions in luxurious box sets aimed at the collector market. Initially vinyl only, they switched to CDs when that was the prevailing release format. The boxes were gorgeous, each with a booklet filled with photos, an essay by a prominent jazz historian, and absolutely accurate discographical information. They specialized in “complete” collections depending on the frame they decided was relevant. That frame might have been the three-day recording binge from 1957 by organist Jimmy Smith that resulted in enough material for three CDs, the unreleased complete recordings of Charlie Parker’s live solos recorded by Dean Benedetti, or the complete Capitol recordings of the Nat King Cole trio, a box that weighed-in at 18 CDs. They were sold only through the mail, direct to consumers. But they weren’t reaching the market and needed help. In an earlier era, my partner Fred Seibert had attached himself to Michael to learn as much as he could about producing records. Knowing the two of us, Michael asked if we could come up with a direct marketing campaign. In our typically arrogant belief that we knew how to do almost anything or could figure it out, we said yes. 

We began producing a catalog that was mailed out to jazz enthusiasts, slowing building a list of devoted listeners and buyers. My job was to write that catalog. We dissolved the advertising agency in 1992, and mailed catalogs gave way to internet promotion, but I continued writing the sales copy for each release, save one or two that I didn’t do for reasons lost to time. I just wrote one last month for an upcoming set featuring vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson.  

I developed a format for my essays. I started with some thesis about why that artist deserved more recognition, or why the music from that era was crucially important — in other words, why you absolutely had to own that collection. I segued into a couple paragraphs of biography, followed by a few paragraphs where I singled-out important tracks or tried to convey in words the feeling, the sound, the artistry of the musician. I wrapped it up with more “don’t delay” language. In all those years, each and every time I approached a new assignment I had two thoughts crowding my mind — will Michael agree with my thesis? Will Michael take issue with the way I chose to describe the music? Each package gave me an opportunity to do a deep dive into the music, but I knew I didn’t have Michael’s personal connection to many of the artists, or his historian’s perspective on the music. And by the way, he was himself a damn good writer. It never stopped thrilling me when he’d send back an email merely correcting a calendar date, or the number of unreleased tracks, with a message that he thought it was otherwise perfect. More than anything I wanted to impress and satisfy Michael. I was alway so happy that I could.  

I think they had done four releases when we got involved in 1984. The company is closing in on 200 box sets. I can’t believe it’s been a 40-year association. 

We lost Charlie more than 20 years ago. This weekend, Michael passed after a long illness. I will miss his husky laugh, his personal stories about the musicians we both obsessed over, and the gratitude he expressed each time I turned in an assignment. 

To many, his name was a name on the back of an album jacket. To those of us who knew him, we know him as someone who single-handedly rescued the Blue Note archive and other treasures from oblivion, who introduced us to overlooked artists such as saxophonist Tina Brooks, and who demanded we take a second look at music that was significant and mind-blowing. As a colleague, as a client, but mostly as a music lover, I am forever in his debt. My sympathies to the family of this enormously important figure in music. RIP Michael Cuscuna. 

–Alan Goodman (repost from Facebook) 

..... 

Michael Cuscuna, photograph by Jimmy Katz

Michael Cuscuna

Michael Cuscuna, one of my great inspirations and sometime collaborator, passed away this weekend (April 19, 2024) from cancer. Being a cancer survivor  last year myself, when someone I’ve known and worked with for over 50 years it hit particularly hard.

Blue Cuscuna: 1999 promotional sampler from Toshiba-EMI [Japan]

Michael has been the most consequential jazz record producer of the past half century, a man who had not only a passion, but the relentlessness necessary to will the entire history of the music into being. Don’t believe it? Check out the more than 2600 (!) of his credits on Discogs. Substantial and meaningful he might have been, but to me, he was a slightly older friend who was always there with a helping hand. Hopefully, I was able to hand something back on occasion. 

As I said when he answered “7 Questions” eight years ago: “I first encountered Michael as a college listener to his “freeform,” major station, radio show in New York, and was fanboy’d out when a mutual friend introduced us at [an] open rehearsal for [Carla Bley’s and Michael Mantler’s] Jazz Composer’s Orchestra at The Public Theater (MC has a photographic memory: “It was Roswell [Rudd]’s piece or Grachan [Moncur III]’s. You were darting nervously around the chairs with your uniform of the time – denim jean jacket, forgettable shirt and jeans.”) By 1972 or 73, he’d joined Atlantic Records as a producer, and since that was my career aspiration, I’d give him a call every once in awhile. He’d patiently always make time for my rambling and inane questions, and I never forgot his kindness to a drifting, unfocused, fellow traveler. 

“...patiently always make time for my rambling and inane questions...” says a lot about Michael. His raspy voice could sometimes seem brusque, but ask anyone and they will tell you that he always made time to talk. Especially about jazz. 

I desperately wanted to be a record producer and Michael was one of the first professionals I encountered. He had already produced my favorite Bonnie Raitt LP when somehow or other I bullied my way into his Atlantic Records office, where he was a mentee of the legendary Joel Dorn. Over the next few years, Michael was often amused at some of the creative decisions I made, but he was always supportive and even would sometimes ask me to make a gig when he couldn’t. When I spent a year living in LA, he invited me over to the studio while he was mining the history of Blue Note Records that would define his life for the next half century. I completely failed to understand what the great service to American culture he was about to unleash. Along with Blue Note executive Charlie Lourie, Michael’s research resulted in a series of double albums (”two-fers” in 70s speak), but little did the world know what was on Michael’s and Charlie’s minds.

The Cuscuna/Lourie Blue Note “Two-Fers” that ignited Mosaic Records

“I don’t think it’s generally understood just how imperiled the musical and visual archives of Blue Note Records were at one point, and just how heroically Michael stepped in to make sure this unparalleled American music survived for future generations. If you like jazz, you owe the man.” –Evan Haga 

(Joe Maita does a great interview about Michael's career here.) 

Fast forward a few years. The air went out of my record producing tires, I became the first creative director of MTV, I quit MTV and along with my partner Alan Goodman started the world’s first media “branding” agency. Leafing through DownBeat one day I saw an ad that started a new relationship with Michael that would last, on one level or another, for the rest of his life: the “mail order” jazz reissue label Mosaic Records. 

Charlie Lourie & Michael Cuscuna at Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival, Japan 1987. Photograph by Gary Vercelli / CapRadio Music

Long story short, in 1982 Michael returned my check for the first two Mosaic  releases with a note asking for some help. Initially, Mosaic wasn’t the sure fire, instant success Michael and Charlie had hoped for, did I have any ideas? I did, but no time to do anything other than make suggestions, we were busy trying to get our own shop off the ground. This cycle repeated itself for another couple of years when this time when Michael called he said Mosaic was on death’s door. Fred/Alan was in better shape, so Alan and I, on our summer vacation, came up with the first Mosaic “brochure,” convinced the guys we knew what we were doing (I’d read a few paragraphs in a direct mail book in a bookstore) and, with nothing to lose, Charlie and Michael took the plunge with us. Success!��42 years later, the former Fred/Alan and Frederator CFO at the helm, Alan and I always answer any call from Mosaic.

The first Mosaic Record box set 1983

There aren’t many people in the world like Michael Cuscuna. The world’s culture will miss him. I will miss him. Most of all, of course, his wife and children will miss him. 

[savagesneversleepnyc]

THE GONG SHOWS

(Thoughts on COMEDY, HIP HOP, HARD WORK and RESPECT)

I had come to DENVER in the FALL of 1996 on a GREYHOUND BUS. The trip was relatively uneventful. I watched a braggart kid from CONNECTICUT who ran his mouth the whole way get yolked buying drugs on the street outside the station in CHICAGO. Those places were very dangerous in the 90’s at every stop. It was a cheap way to cross the country, but it would lead a person through a gauntlet of bizarre dead-end places where the dirty dog stopped to collect the living attempting to find greener pastures.

GREG had talked me into coming. I saw him that summer and he was quite pointed about the perilous state of my plight should I choose to not leave NEW ENGLAND and get out west to escape the headaches and severe DOPE CRISIS that was breaking like a wave at NAZZARRE. It was the 90’s and things were seemingly very prosperous and the severity of QUID PRO QUO was profound. CREDIT, LIFE, DEBT, and CHOICE all loomed as they impeached the president and I went away from the dark strange world I was raised in and got on a bus to build a thing in a blank form.

Our doings would lead to a myriad of things and alliances. VICTOR IZITT aka PRIZNA 101 aka DJ RICOCHET, our roommate, and I formed a GRAFF crew quickly with some other kids and would throw our first parties in 1999 as 314 BREAK CORP with our mentor ED SANTIAGO aka NRG BOY. This event would feature many of the crew mates who would charge at endeavors they found clever and proliferated to levels of dopeness to deep to touch here in any correct manner.

COUNTDOWN was held in DEC in 1999 at BUMP AND GRIND cafe on 17th and PENN in DENVER. CLIFF T, the owner, and our big brother let us use the space last minute as our initial plan fell through. The BUMP AND GRIND was a coffee shop, bakery, and drag brunch destination of over 15 years in DENVER prior to much of that type of culture being more mainstream. CLIFF had lived in NY in the 90’s as well as had taken the gritty attitude of DETROIT where he grew up and fused it with the NY roots he came to earn. His hard work supported many of us and allowed a real family of artists and outsiders to gather around a father figure.

GREG and I would riff. It would lead to him pursuing comedy and eventually our collaborations in this space. We threw events in different spots despite the stigma of music and comedy. I was in two HIP-HOP groups at the time and GREG was running the SQUIRE LOUNGE open mic that lasted over a decade. We were speaking on the GONG SHOW I had thrown with BABAH FLY of BUGABOO, one of the two groups I was in. The show had been a cool idea but the spot was some odd biker bar in a pocket no one even knew existed. While this may have been sick if we wanted to stage some COCK FIGHTS or perhaps get that FIGHT CLUB we kept hinting at starting in motion.. But BAD IDEAS tend to stay stagnant for good reason.

(It is not possible to remember which idea really came first as the dates for them were close)

We stumbled into the idea of doing an actual GONG SHOW but really making it more in the mean-spirited SQUIRE LOUNGE model GREG had already formed. He pitched his comedy partners who were a decent size crew at this time and all agreed it was a great idea. Initially, the idea of YOU SUCK GET OFF THE STAGE and putting DAVE SOTO in a CASER suit was all just the ball rolling downhill. We somehow found the real GONG SHOW GONG that MR CHUCK BARRIS himself had WACKED to end the MEAN JEAN dancing and so many other people's blind charge at FAME.

The show was a nightmare in a lot of ways. It’s easy to DJ or just do COMEDY. Not a lot of moving parts. The show we built had a shitload of performers of a varying degree of skill, songs that would need to be played and cued, video and audio cues to be flown in live from the board, and an entire banter of judges on stage as GREG paraded the stage of the ORIENTAL THEATHER. He would take the stage as the monster he would allow himself to transform into called BOBBY VALENTINO. This person was a version of my boy but was the EVIL PURE SITH version of him that was the DOG he kept muzzled at all times. The act of letting this person stand on stage and act out this mustachio’d fever dream of filth was stepping deep into the chummed waters in a sausage suit…

The show went off in flying colors despite the massive technical problems mostly due to the use of DVD content in the live show. Most of the performers and the actual content given to my AV guy were OLD and used DVDs that were not fit for home play much less a production. These disasters would really rock the booth and boar but ultimately it was never a thing I let get to me. The shows would run 3 nights usually and we ran it 4 times I feel like. Each one is more complex and pro than the last. The first show did have the BUKAKKAE ALARM CLOCK skit GREG and I wrote like so many bits just being fools talking shit at the BUMP AND GRIND.

The roots of that CRUEL demand for the best and funniest stuff were rooted in that hungry world we came out of. The characters we came up with in that scene have gone on to define a era in COMEDY and put our CITY on the MAP. It’s a proud thing to look back on. So many names that are too numerous to mention respectfully. It’s been amazing to see the organic way true people delivering and producing shows and working with love will invariably rise up and create a legacy. I do not ever claim anything beyond what I know I’ve done and never waited for anyone to tell me it was ok. This was offputting I guess and it made me leave DENVER. I’m proud to represent my home even though it’s not where I was born. DENVER is a place where many writers find themselves on the journey. It’s a strange and mythic place I love and hate in equal measure. So many memories of joy and such deep loss and sadness. Some of the faces of the sublime humans I know still knock on my door as I awake daily. But the faces of the EVIL folk who I had to face and pass on were not jokes and warned the young people that it is not a joke.

The West was won in AUDACITY. The concept of MANIFEST DESTINY is a QUID PRO QUO of taking the land from those who were there in AUDACITY and clutching a GUN and BIBLE on the other hand. This is not a debatable fact. But to forget this trespass and pass on is silly. The West was won in BLOOD and ACTIONS GOOD, BAD, and UGLY. But the actions of simple passion and love all live side by side as those monsters ride off to rob another train or train their sights on the next slow-moving animal to poach.

The GONG SHOW is a moment in the AMERICAN MYTHOS that represents the common person being allowed the 15 seconds ANDY has promised in jest. But the AUDACITY to be a FOOL or be COOL is a thing that most don’t know. It’s easy to see a comic, deejay, producer, artist, writer, chef, or human as a thing you get to judge and talk out an opinion on. This is everyone’s right. BUT PLEASE KNOW. If you do not make, do, say, think that thing you choose to run your YAP ABOUT… It is fully permissible to have a REAL ONE tell you quite simply and plan that it’s not your place and it’s probably best to respectfully STFU.

FOR G.B. 314 and VICTOR PRIMO IZZIT 314

5:37am 4.14024.000003

[mensahjacq]

Our Pre-Game / Aux Playlist

I think every group of friends needs to have a couple of songs that they enjoy listening to together. Or you could be in a group that has completely different music tastes than each other. Thankfully, my friends and I share a decent amount of favorite artists and genres, and because of this, we are able to vibe to anything any one of us plays. Not sure what a pre-game is? Well, according to the Urban Dictionary, it is “ a verb meaning: to drink alcoholic beverages prior to a social engagement to make it more enjoyable.”

My friends and I don’t go by this definition, a pre-game for us is simply listening to music, getting ready together, and setting rules/goals for the night ahead of us. Some of these songs are more fit for the pre-game and some are specifically for in the car, on the way to the event, and on aux. I put this collection of songs together based on how often I hear it around my friends, their reactions when the song comes on, and just the vibe it gives off.

Retro Flow - G Herbo

Starting off with my personal favorite, Retro Flow by G Herbo. (150 plays and counting on Apple Music, yes it is quite literally my favorite song by G Herbo.) It does its job in getting my friends hype and it's my go-to if I feel like the energy/vibe is falling off. We've memorized most of the lyrics and its always so fun rapping along to Herbo's fast flow.

2. I'm On One - Drake, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled

In my opinion, Drake carried this whole song. It for sure is a certified party song and in my opinion, it fits better being played on aux. It gives me that nightlife clubbing music vibe that gets everyone ready to have fun and let loose. I can't remember where exactly I discovered this song but I know I was out at an event, and the DJ put this on. A few seconds into this track is when I pulled out my phone and went to the Shazam app that listens through your microphone and finds the song for you. (I try not to ask people what song is playing.)

3. Sweet Dreams - Beyonce

Usually only played during our pre-game, this classic Beyoncé track offers a break from all the fast-paced intense hip-hop/rap that encompasses this playlist. This is definitely one of my favorite Beyoncé tracks ever, and as soon as it comes on I feel like I transform into one of her background singers/dancers.

4. Time of Our Lives - Pitbull and Ne-Yo

I usually roll my eyes every time a Pitbull song comes on, not saying I'm a Pitbull hater, his music is just not my cup of tea. This song is an exception though, it gives me such happy vibes. I first discovered it on VEVO music back in 2015 when you could listen to music on your TV by going to the On Demand channel. It just brings me back to my childhood which was a much happier, less stressful time so it serves as a great pre-game song.

5. Triflin H**s - Lil Durk

Lastly, this Lil Durk track is an immediate banger whenever it gets played on aux. It's definitely the most vulgar song on here, but still does its job of getting everyone hype and in a party mood.

Overall, this might just seem like a couple of songs that might not go together and it might not make sense to other people. However, this blog post takes more of a personal route and this is really what my friends and I enjoy listening to when we are together. Listening to these tracks alone gives me the same giddy stress-free feeling that I get when I am around all of them, and to me that means a lot.