#i think we discussed? her working at the cabaret club at one point? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

boredout305 · 3 years ago

Text

Kid Congo Powers Interview

Kid Congo Powers was a founding member of the Gun Club. He also played with The Cramps and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Powers currently fronts Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds and recently completed a memoir, Some New Kind of Kick.

The following interview focuses on Some New Kind of Kick. In the book Powers recounts growing up in La Puente—a working-class, largely Latino city in Los Angeles County—in the 1960s, as well as his familial, professional and personal relationships. He describes the LA glam-rock scene (Powers was a frequenter of Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco), the interim period between glam and punk embodied by the Capitol Records swap meet, as well as LA’s first-wave, late-1970s punk scene.

Well written, edited and awash with amazing photos, Some New Kind of Kick will appeal to fans of underground music as well as those interested in 1960-1980s Los Angeles (think Claude Bessy and Mike Davis). The book will be available from In the Red Records, their first venture into book publishing, soon.

Interview by Ryan Leach

Kid Congo with the Pink Monkey Birds.

Ryan: Some New Kind of Kick reminded me of the New York Night Train oral histories you had compiled about 15 years ago. Was that the genesis of your book?

Kid: That was the genesis. You pinpointed it. Those pieces were done with Jonathan Toubin. It was a very early podcast. Jonathan wanted to do an audio version of my story for his website, New York Night Train. We did that back in the early 2000s. After we had completed those I left New York and moved to Washington D.C. I thought, “I have the outline for a book here.” Jonathan had created a discography and a timeline. I figured, “It’ll be great and really easy. We’ll just fill in some of the blanks and it’ll be done.” Here we are 15 years later.

Ryan: It was well worth it. It reads well. And I love the photographs. The photo of you as a kid with Frankenstein is amazing.

Kid: I’m glad you liked it. You’re the first person not involved in it that I’ve spoken with.

Ryan: As someone from Los Angeles I enjoyed reading about your father’s life and work as a union welder in the 1960s. My grandfather was a union truck driver and my father is a cabinetmaker. My dad’s cousins worked at the General Motors Van Nuys Assembly plant. In a way you captured an old industrial blue-collar working class that’s nowhere near as robust as it once was in Los Angeles. It reminded of Mike Davis’ writings on the subject.

Kid: I haven’t lived in LA for so long that I didn’t realize it doesn’t exist anymore. I felt the times. It was a reflection on my experiences and my family’s experiences. It was very working class. My dad was proud to be a union member. It served him very well. He and my mother were set up for the rest of their lives. I grew up with a sense that he earned an honest living. My parents always told me not to be embarrassed by what you did for work. People would ask me, “What’s your book about? What’s the thrust of it?” As I was writing it, I was like, “I don’t know. I’ll find out when it’s done.” What you mentioned was an aspect of that.

When I started the book and all throughout the writing I had gone to different writers’ workshops. We’d review each other’s work. It was a bunch of people who didn’t know me, didn’t know about music—at least the music I make. I just wanted to see if there was a story there. People were relating to what I was writing, which gave me the confidence to keep going.

Ryan: Some New Kind of Kick is different from Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s autobiography, Go Tell the Mountain. Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but think of Pierce’s work as I read yours. Was Go Tell the Mountain on your mind as you were writing?

Kid: When I was writing about Jeffrey—it was my version of the story. It was about my relationship with him. I wasn’t thinking about his autobiography much at all. His autobiography is very different than mine. Nevertheless, there are some similarities. But his book flew off into flights of prose and fantasy. I tried to stay away from the stories that were already out there. The thing that’s interesting about Jeffrey is that everyone has a completely different story to tell about him. Everyone’s relationship with him was different.

Ryan: It’s a spectrum that’s completely filled in.

Kid: Exactly. One of the most significant relationships I’ve had in my life was with Jeffrey. Meeting him changed my life. It was an enduring relationship. It was important for me to tell my story of Jeffrey.

Ryan: The early part of your book covers growing up in La Puente and having older sisters who caught the El Monte Legion Stadium scene—groups like Thee Midniters. You told me years ago that you and Jeffrey were thinking about those days during the writing and recording of Mother Juno (1987).

Kid: That’s definitely true. Growing up in that area is another thing Jeffrey and I bonded over. We were music hounds at a young age. We talked a lot about La Puente, El Monte and San Gabriel Valley’s culture. We were able to pinpoint sounds we heard growing up there—music playing out of cars and oldies mixed in with Jimi Hendrix and Santana. That was the sound of San Gabriel Valley. It wasn’t all lowrider music. We were drawn to that mix of things. I remember “Yellow Eyes” off Mother Juno was our tribute to the San Gabriel Valley sound.

Ryan: You describe the Capitol Records Swap Meet in Some New Kind of Kick. In the pre-punk/Back Door Man days that was an important meet-up spot whose significance remains underappreciated.

Kid: The Capitol Records Swap Meet was a once-a-month event and hangout. It was a congregation of record collectors and music fans. You’d see the same people there over and over again. It was a community. Somehow everyone who was a diehard music fan knew about it. You could find bootlegs there. It went from glam to more of a Back Door Man-influenced vibe which was the harder-edged Detroit stuff—The Stooges and the MC5. You went there looking for oddities and rare records. I was barely a record collector back then. It’s where I discovered a lot of music. You had to be a pretty dedicated music fan to get up at 6 AM to go there, especially if you were a teenager.

Ryan: I enjoyed reading about your experiences as a young gay man in the 1970s. You’d frequent Rodney’s English Disco; I didn’t know you were so close to The Screamers. While not downplaying the prejudices gay men faced in the 1970s, it seemed fortuitous that these places and people existed for you in that post-Stonewall period.

Kid: Yeah. I was obviously drawn to The Screamers for a variety of reasons. It was a funny time. People didn’t really discuss being gay. People knew we were gay. I knew you were gay; you knew I was gay. But the fact that we never openly discussed it was very strange. Part of that was protection. It also had to do with the punk ethos of labels being taboo. I don’t think that The Screamers were very politicized back then and neither was I. We were just going wild. I was super young and still discovering things. I had that glam-rock door to go through. It was much more of a fantasy world than anything based in reality. But it allowed queerness. It struck a chord with me and it was a tribe. However, I did discover later on that glam rock was more of a pose than a sexual revolution.

With some people in the punk scene like The Screamers and Gorilla Rose—they came from a background in drag and cabaret. I didn’t even know that when I met them. I found it out later on. They were already very experienced. They had an amazing camp aesthetic. I learned a lot about films and music through them. They were so advanced. It was all very serendipitous. I think my whole life has been serendipitous, floating from one thing to another.

Ryan: You were in West Berlin when the Berlin Wall was breached in November 1989. “Here’s another historical event. I’m sure Kid Congo is on the scene.”

Kid: I know! The FBI must have a dossier on me. I was in New York on 9/11 too.

Ryan: A person who appears frequently in your book is your cousin Theresa who was tragically murdered. I take it her death remains a cold case.

Kid: Cold case. Her death changed my entire life. It was all very innocent before she died. That stopped everything. It was a real source of trauma. All progress up until that point went on hold until I got jolted out of it. I eventually decided to experience everything I could because life is short. That trauma fueled a lot of bad things, a lot of self-destructive impulses. It was my main demon that chased me throughout my early adult life. It was good to write about it. It’s still there and that’s probably because her murder remains unsolved. I have no resolution with it. I was hoping the book would give me some closure. We’ll see if it does.

Ryan: Theresa was an important person in your life that you wanted people to know about. You champion her.

Kid: I wanted to pay tribute to her. She changed my life. I had her confidence. I was at a crossroads at that point in my life, dealing with my sexuality. I wanted people to know about Theresa beyond my family. My editor Chris Campion really pulled that one out of me. It was a story that I told, but he said, “There’s so much more to this.” I replied, “No! Don’t make me do it.” I had a lot of stories, but it was great having Chris there to pull them together to create one big story. My original concept for the book was a coming-of-age story. Although it still is, I was originally going to stop before I even joined the Gun Club (in 1979). It was probably because I didn’t want to look at some of the things that happened afterwards. It was very good for my music. Every time I got uncomfortable, I’d go, “Oh, I’ve got to make a record and go on tour for a year and not think about this.” A lot of it was too scary to even think about. But the more I did it, the less scary it became and the more a story emerged. I had a very different book in mind than the one I completed. I’m glad I was pushed in that direction and that I was willing to be pushed. I wanted to tell these stories, but it was difficult.

Ryan: Of course, there are lighter parts in your book. There are wonderful, infamous characters like Bradly Field who make appearances.

Kid: Bradly Field was also a queer punker. He was the partner of Kristian Hoffman of The Mumps. I met Kristian in Los Angeles. We all knew Lance Loud of The Mumps because he had starred in An American Life (1973) which was the first reality TV show. It aired on PBS. I was a fan of The Mumps. Bradly came out to LA with Kristian for an elongated stay during a Mumps recording session. Of course, Bradly and I hit it off when we met. Bradly was a drummer—he played a single drum and a cracked symbol—in Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Bradly was a real character. He was kind of a Peter Lorre, misanthropic miscreant. Bradly was charming while abrasively horrible at the same time. We were friends and I always remained on Bradly’s good side so there was never a problem.

Bradly had invited me and some punkers to New York. He said that if we ever made it out there that we could stay with him. He probably had no idea we’d show up a month later. Bradly Field was an important person for me to know—an unashamedly gay, crazy person. He was a madman. I had very little interest in living a typical life. That includes a typical gay life. Bradly was just a great gay artist I met in New York when I was super young. He was also the tour manager of The Cramps at one point. You can imagine what that was like. Out of Lux and Ivy’s perverse nature they unleashed him on people.

Ryan: He was the right guy to have in your corner if the club didn’t pay you.

Kid: Exactly. Who was going to say “no” to Bradly?

Ryan: You mention an early Gun Club track called “Body and Soul” that I’m unfamiliar with. I know you have a rehearsal tape of the original Creeping Ritual/Gun Club lineup (Kid Congo Powers, Don Snowden, Brad Dunning and Jeffrey Lee Pierce). Are any of these unreleased tracks on that tape?

Kid: No. Although I do have tapes, there’s no Creeping Ritual material on them. I spoke with Brad (Dunning) and he has tapes too. We both agreed that they’re unlistenable. They’re so terrible. Nevertheless, I’m going to have them digitized and I’ll take another listen to them. “Body and Soul” is an early Creeping Ritual song. At the time we thought, “Oh, this sounds like a Mink DeVille song.” At least in our minds it did. To the best of my ability I did record an approximation of “Body and Soul” on the Congo Norvell record Abnormals Anonymous (1997). I sort of reimagined it. That song was the beginning of things for me with Jeffrey. It wasn’t a clear path when we started The Gun Club. We didn’t say, “Oh, we’re going to be a blues-mixed-with-punk band.” It was a lot of toying around. It had to do with finding a style. Jeffrey had a lot of ideas. We also had musical limitations to consider. We were trying to turn it into something cohesive. There was a lot of reggae influence at the beginning. Jeffrey was a visionary who wanted to make the Gun Club work. Of course, to us he was a really advanced musician. We thought (bassist) Don Snowden was the greatest too. What’s funny is that I saw Don in Valencia, Spain, where he lives now. He came to one of our (Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds) shows a few years ago. He said, “Oh, I didn’t know how to play!”

Ryan: “I knew scales.”

Kid: Exactly. It was all perception. But we were ambitious and tenacious. We were certain we could make something really good out of what we had. That was it. We knew we had good taste in music. That was enough for us to continue on.

Ryan: I knew about The Cramps’ struggles with IRS Records and Miles Copeland. However, it took on a new meaning reading your book. Joining The Cramps started with a real high for you, recording Psychedelic Jungle (1981), and then stagnation occurred due to contractual conflicts.

Kid: There was excitement, success and activity for about a year or two. And then absolutely nothing. As I discuss in my book—and you can ask anyone who was in The Cramps—communication was not a big priority for Lux and Ivy. I was left to my own devices for a while. We were building, building, building and then it stopped. I wasn’t privy to what was going on. I knew they were depressed about it. The mood shifted. It was great recording Psychedelic Jungle and touring the world. The crowds were great everywhere we went. It was at that point that I started getting heavy into drugs. The time off left me with a lot of time to get into trouble. It was my first taste of any kind of success or notoriety. I’m not embarrassed to say that I fell into that trip: “Oh, you know who I am and I have all these musician friends now.” It was the gilded ‘80s. Things were quite decadent then. There was a lot of hard drug use. It wasn’t highly frowned upon to abuse those types of drugs in our circle. What was the reputation of The Gun Club? The drunkest, drug-addled band around. So there was a lot of support to go in that direction. Who knew it was going to go so downhill? We weren’t paying attention to consequences. Consequences be damned. So the drugs sapped a lot of energy out of it too.

I recorded the one studio album (Psychedelic Jungle) with The Cramps and a live album (Smell of Female). The live record was good and fun, but it was a means to an end. It was recorded to get out of a contract. The Cramps were always going to do it their way. Lux and Ivy weren’t going to follow anyone’s rules. I don’t know why people expected them to. To this day, I wonder why people want more. I mean, they gave you everything. People ask me, “When is Ivy going to play again?” I tell them, “She’s done enough. She paid her dues. The music was great.”

Ryan: I think after 30-something years of touring, she’s earned her union card.

Kid: Exactly. She’s done her union work.

Ryan: In your book you discuss West Berlin in the late 1980s. That was a strange period of extreme highs and lows. During that time you were playing with the Bad Seeds, working with people like Wim Wenders (in Wings of Desire) and witnessed the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the GDR. Nevertheless, it was a very dark period marred by substance abuse. Luckily, you came out of it unscathed. As you recount, some people didn’t.

Kid: It was a period of extremes. In my mind, for years, I rewrote that scene. I would say, “Berlin was great”—and it was, that part was true—and then I’d read interviews with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and they’d say, “Oh, the Tender Prey (1988) period was just the worst. It’s hard to even talk about it.” And I was like, “It was great! What are you talking about?” Then when I started writing about it, I was like, “Oh, fuck! It really wasn’t the best time.” I had been so focused on the good things and not the bad things. Prior to writing my book, I really hadn’t thought about how incredibly dark it was. That was a good thing for me to work out. Some very bad things happened to people around me. But while that was happening, it was a real peak for me as a musician. Some of the greatest work I was involved with was being done then. And yet I still chose to self-destruct. It was a case of right place, right time. But it was not necessarily what I thought it was.

Ryan: Digressing back a bit, when we would chat years back I would ask you where you were at with this project. You seemed to be warming up to it as time went on. And I finally found a copy of the group’s album in Sydney, Australia, a year ago. I’m talking about Fur Bible (1985).

Kid: Oh, you got it?

Ryan: I did.

Kid: In Australia?

Ryan: Yes. It was part of my carry-on luggage.

Kid: I’m sure I can pinpoint the person who sold it to you.

Ryan: Are you coming around to that material now? I like the record.

Kid: Oh, yeah. I hated it for so long. People would say to me, “Oh, the Fur Bible record is great.” I’d respond, “No. It can’t possibly be great. I’m not going to listen to it again, so don’t even try me.” Eventually, I did listen to it and I thought, “Oh, this is pretty good.” I came around to it. I like it.

Ryan: You’ve made the transition!

Kid: I feel warmly about it. I like all of the people involved with it. That was kind of a bad time too. It was that post-Gun Club period. I felt like I had tried something unsuccessful with Fur Bible. I had a little bit of shame about that. Everything else I had been involved with had been successful, in my eyes. People liked everything else and people didn’t really like Fur Bible. It was a sleeper.

Ryan: It is.

Kid: There’s nothing wrong with it. It was the first time I had put my voice on a record and it just irritated the hell out of me. It was a first step for me.

Ryan: You close your book with a heartfelt tribute to Jeffrey Lee Pierce. You wonder how your life would’ve turned out had you not met Jeffrey outside of that Pere Ubu show in 1979. Excluding family, I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who’s had that sort of impact on my life.

Kid: As I was getting near the end of the book I was trying to figure out what it was about. A lot of it was about Jeffrey. Everything that moved me into becoming a musician and the life I lived after that was because of him. It was all because he said, “Here’s a guitar. You’re going to learn how to play it.” He had that confidence that I could do it. It was a mentorship. He would say, “You’re going to do this and you’re going to be great at it.” I was like, “Okay.” Jeffrey was the closest thing I had to a brother. We could have our arguments and disagreements, but in the end it didn’t matter. What mattered was our bond. Writing it down made it all clearer to me. His death sent me into a tailspin. I was entering the unknown. Jeffrey was like a cord that I had been hanging onto for so long and it was gone. I was more interested in writing about my relationship with him than about the music of the Gun Club. A lot of people loved Jeffrey. But there were others who said they loved him with disclaimers. I wanted to write something about Jeffrey without the disclaimers. That seemed like an important task—to honor him in a truthful manner.

Ryan: I’m glad that you did that. Jeffrey has his detractors, but they all seem to say something along the lines of “the guy still had the most indefatigable spirit and drive of any person I’ve ever known.”

Kid: That’s what drove everyone crazy!

Ryan: This book took you 15 years to finish. Completing it has to feel cathartic.

Kid: I don’t know. Maybe it will when I see the printed book. When I was living in New York there was no time for reflection. I started it after I left New York, but it was at such a slow pace. It was done piecemeal. I wanted to give up at times. I had a lot of self-doubt. And like I said, I’d just go on tour for a year and take a long break. The pandemic made me finally put it to bed. I couldn’t jump up and go away on tour anymore. It feels great to have it done. When I read it through after the final edit I was actually shocked. I was moved by it. It was a feeling of accomplishment. It’s a different feeling than what you get with music. Looking at it as one story has been an eye-opener for me. I thought to myself, “How did I do all of that?”

I see the book as the story of a music fan. I think most musicians start out as fans. Why would you do it otherwise? I never stopped being a fan. All of the opportunities that came my way were because I was a fan.

#kidcongopowers #interviews #gunclub #jeffreyleepierce #cramps #Badseeds

13 notes · View notes

madtype · 3 years ago

Text

Cabaret Club Czar Training - YUKI (Part 4)

yuki’s training continues! this time she and majima discuss personal improvement, unsuccessful job hunting, and how yuki ended up as a hostess.

highlights: - majima being very kind and supportive to yuki regardless of the option chosen - yuki still being too nervous to even theoretically sit a job interview - majima making brazen assumptions about yuki’s love life...

full transcript under the cut!

---

MAJIMA: Okay, ready for another round of talking?

YUKI: Yes, please!

M: Wow, Yuki-chan. You've got those battle butterflies all sorted out, don't ya?

Y: Well, it is just you, Majima-san.

M: Hey, we'll have none of that, thanks.

M: Alright! I'm the customer, you're the hostess, same as always. Are ya ready?

Y: Yeah! Of course!

Y: Welcome to Club Sunshine, Yuki! I mean, customer!

M: ...We still ain't there.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Y: Majima-san, thank you for requesting me. It's pretty cold today, isn't it?

M: Hey, Yuki-chan. You're lookin' cute as ever today.

Y: Haha... Hahahahaha...

M: Yo, what's with the giggles? I'm tryin' to talk to you like a customer would.

Y: Oh, I'm sorry! Majima-san, when you're the one telling me I'm cute, I can't help it... Hahaha.

M: Well, whatever works. At least you're doing okay when it's me you're practicin' with.

Y: Y-Yeah. I used to get nervous even talking to you, Majima-san. But with your help, I feel like... I'm getting it now.

Y: Even the conversations with my customers are getting longer lately. I'm actually starting to have fun at work!

M: That so? What ya been talkin' about?

Y: Everything and nothing. What they've done recently, what they ate... Oh, and hobbies!

M: Hobbies? Yeah, I seem to recall yours was...

> Writing in a diary.

M: ...Writing in a diary, right?

Y: That's right! I've recently started keeping a log of the customers I get each day, and I note all of their unique qualities and conversation topics.

M: Ah, that's some nice dedication to your customers. Way to go, Yuki-chan.

Y: I know my customer service skills aren't that great yet, so I thought I'd do what I can to get better.

Y: Well, I'm still working at it. I know I've got room to grow.

M: Hey, that's some good stuff right there, Yuki-chan. You've come a real long way.

> Bonsai.

M: It was bonsai, right?

Y: Wow, Majima-san, you actually remembered I raise bonsai? That's amazing! I only mentioned it briefly, didn't I?

M: Heh. When you're working at a cabaret club, a steel trap memory is half the battle.

Y: That's true. I found myself forgetting little things, so I started keeping a log of my customers' unique qualities and conversation topics in my diary.

M: Ahh, so now you've practically got a case file on your customers. Way to go, Yuki-chan.

Y: I know my customer service skills aren't that great yet, so I thought I'd do what I can to get better.

Y: Well, I'm still working at it. I know I've got room to grow.

M: Hey, that's some good stuff right there, Yuki-chan. You've come a real long way.

> Reading self-help books.

M: ...Reading relationship self-help books, right?

Y: N-No, it isn't! I mean, I guess I did read one. Once.

M: Yeah, what was the line you fed me? “Meat and potatoes are the quickest way to a man's heart!” Somethin' like that?

Y: Ahhhhh! Seriously! Just forget about that, please!

M: Heh heh heh.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M: So, the club's come quite a long way, hasn't it? And you've been here since the beginning to see it all change.

Y: Yes, right. I've only been here for six months, though. I graduated from college just this year.

M: Yeah, remember when this place had three girls in it, including you?

M: So tell me somethin'. Why's a girl like you working in a club like this, anyway?

Y: Th-That's because...

M: Last time I asked, ya clammed up just like this. Maybe it's time ya cleared the air.

Y: ...... (uehh..)

Y: I... I couldn't find a job.

M: Eh?

Y: After I graduated from college, my job search was going nowhere, and I couldn't find anything!

M: Really? In this day and age? Companies are practically hirin' bums off the street, and you couldn't get a bite?

Y: I-It's true! I'm a pathetic woman who couldn't get an offer from a single company!

Y: I do pretty well on written tests, but I get nervous easily, so I'm terrible at interviews. I'm not a good liar like most people are, either.

Y: *sighs* I'm a real loser, aren't I?

> They were clueless.

M: Lettin' someone like you slip through the cracks was a mistake, Yuki-chan. Those fool companies were clueless.

Y: What?

M: Look around ya. It's the times we're in. Everybody's dressed to the nines in lies and vanity, tryin' to one up the competition.

M: But you don't do that. You just put yourself out there the way ya are, honest almost to a fault.

M: I wanna work with people I can believe in. I'd hire an awkward gal who can't tell a lie over a buncha smooth-talkin' succubi any day of the week.

Y: Majima-san, you've made me so happy. I... faced a lot of rejection, but in the end, I'm glad I got to work here.

M: Really?

Y: Yes. Otherwise, I never would have learned to talk to people like this. And I met you, Majima-san, along with everyone else here.

M: Well then, I'm glad ya got rejected too. If you weren't here at the club, who knows what woulda happened.

Y: I'm glad I'm awkward.

> Honesty is a talent.

M: I'd say bein' unable to tell a lie is actually a pretty positive quality, Yuki-chan.

Y: What?

M: Look around ya. It's the times we live in. Everybody's dressed to the nines in lies and vanity, tryin'to one up the competition.

M: But you don't do that. You just put yourself out there the way ya are, honest almost to a fault.

M: I wanna work with people I can believe in. I'd hire an awkward gal who can't tell a lie over a buncha smooth-talkin' succubi any day of the week.

Y: Majima-san, you've made me so happy. I... faced a lot of rejection, but in the end, I'm glad I got to work here.

M: Really?

Y: Yes. Otherwise, I never would have learned to talk to people like this. And I met you, Majima-san, along with everyone else here.

M: Well then, I'm glad ya got rejected too. If you weren't here at the club, who knows what woulda happened.

Y: I'm glad I'm awkward.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M: So how'd it happen? I imagine ya musta met Youda-chan somehow, eh?

Y: Yeah. I was spacing out at a park by myself. I shudder to think what would've happened if he didn't approach me.

M: Interesting. I wonder what possessed Youda-chan to roll up on you.

Y: I remember him saying, “There's something brilliant within you! You're the kind of girl that only appears once in a decade!” That's Youda-san for you.

M: Oh. Uhh... I see.

Y: Youda-san is a really bad judge of character, isn't he?

M: Nah, nah, I disagree.

M: So, Yuki-chan, if you could get a normal day job now, would ya still wanna go do that instead of the cabaret club?

Y: I don't know. Until recently, I really wanted to quit this job, to be honest.

Y: But now, I want to see what I can make of myself at this club for a while.

M: I see.

Y: Of course, at some point I'd like to resume my job search and try to get an office job.

Y: But, this club is a comfortable place to be, and I learn so much every day. So I'm thinking maybe I should grow up a little more here before I start looking again.

> You gotta get sexier.

M: If that's the case, your next goalpost's gotta be sexiness.

Y: Me, s-sexy? Why's that?

M: Considering the world we live in, bein' sexy is a great way to land an interview. Women got some tools men don't, so ain't no harm in usin' em.

Y: I-I see. That makes sense. Maybe I failed my interviews because I wasn't sexy enough.

M: Yeah, maybe that was the problem. And maybe a bunch of other things, too...

M: Nothin' better than an interviewer flustered by a sexy woman, though. He's tryin' to ask ya questions when all he really wants to know is the color of your damn underwear!

Y: O-Okay! But I wouldn't want to answer that question...

> You can network here!

M: Ya never know, one of your clients could turn out to be a corporate manager.

Y: What?

M: If he likes ya, he might offer you a job right there on the spot. Haha.

Y: Whaaat? Though I guess that does happen in manga!

Y: Wh-What would I do? I'm getting nervous just thinking about it...

M: Hey, relax, Yuki-chan. Lay your best line on me.

Y: Wh-What can I do for you Mr. President... My name Yuki... It nice to meet you...

M: Oh man, you sound more nervous than a foreigner on her first day at a shady bar.

> I'll work ya hard!

M: Nice. But fair warning, I'm gonna put the screws to ya!

Y: Y-Yes! I'm looking forward to it! I'll work hard!

M: Heh. You've changed, Yuki-chan. Look at that confidence. I bet you'd ace a company interview now.

Y: R-Really? Heh heh... Hahahaha.

M: ...Just make sure ya don't laugh like that at the interview, or they'll boot ya right out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M: Alright, let's call it a day. Good job, Yuki-chan.

Y: Sure. Thank you very much. Whew... Now I'm getting sleepy all of a sudden, now that I can relax. *yawn*

M: You gettin' enough sleep at night, Yuki-chan?

Y: Oh, y-yes. I just had an unexpected guest over last night, so...

M: Oh, I see. A late night guest, eh? Well, now.

Y: Huh? What is it?

> A lady needs sleep.

M: Nothin', nothin'. Just get your beauty sleep, Yuki-chan.

M: Lack of sleep's bad for the skin! And it's doubly bad if ya fall asleep on the job.

Y: Y-Yes! Thanks for your concern. They say nothing's more important to a woman than her skin, after all. And it would be rude to the customer. I'll be careful!

M: Yeah, nothin' wrong with going out for a night on the town. Just don't overdo it, right?

Y: Huh? Going out? I don't really understand, but, anyway, I'll get more sleep!

> I wish ya the best.

M: Well then, Yuki-chan, I wish ya nothin' but happiness.

Y: Huh? Wh-What are you talking about? I don't understand what you're getting at!

M: It's okay, it's no problem. A bit of a shame, I guess, but if you're happy, I'm happy too.

Y: Um, uh. Thank you? Well, I am happy. I guess I'll keep on being happy!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

M: Okay, I think that'll do it.

Y: Th-Thank you for the lesson.

M: Sure thing. Good job.

#cabaret club czar #yakuza 0 #goro majima #yuki #club sunshine

4 notes · View notes

omgyouatetheprincess · 5 years ago

Text

Janus’ Playlist

AHH JANUS' PLAYLIST LETS GOO

Not that anyone asked for my opinions

Okay so I'd like to start by saying that Thomas, Joan and Talyn did an amazing job on this playlist because every song fits Janus so perfectly.

Here are some of my thoughts on the songs and some interpretations I came up with or found on the internet.

Trigger Warnings - abortion. Mocking of religion.

Black Hole Sun - okay at first I was like 'wow this is really smooth and nice and the vocals are so sweet.' Then I heard the lyrics. "In disguises no one knows,

Hides the face, lies the snake". It's such a Deceit song and I imagine him dancing to it (with or without a partner).

Black Hole Sun by Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, Haley Reinhart

It Seemed That Better Way - holy heck, can I point out that this song is such a bop? Leonard Cohen has such a soothing voice and it reminds me of Patrick Page (aha Hadestown) and if Janus wasn't played by Thomas, I could imagine this as his voice. The song is about not knowing what the truth is and what to believe, and has religious meanings which could be countering Patton and his Catholic beliefs.

It Seemed The Better Way by Leonard Cohen

Anywhere - I feel like Patton would hate this because the first line is "It's a beautiful world if you've been lied to by parents and priests". Anywhere describes how the world isn't a beautiful as it may seem, and that people lie to make you see it.

Anywhere by The Scarring Party

Talking At The Same Time - it is immediately dark and that everything seems fake and a... Lie. A lot of Deceit's songs are about the truth or that everything is a lie and I have to give massive kudos to Thomas, Joan and Talyn because they did an excellent job portraying Janus through his music taste. The song describes how everyone talks at the same time, and what I interpret that as is that everyone says the same thing over and over. It's hard to explain so I'll let you make your own interpretations of it.

Talking At The Same Time by Tom Waits

all the good girls go to hell - I'm not going to lie (ha) but I don't like Billie Eyelash, but I'll see past the artist. My first thought when I saw the song without hearing it is that it's a good choice and Janus probably loves Billie Eilish. Spotify has meanings of songs so I'm going to go off there: "This song is in the perspective of the Devil / no matter how good you are, desperate measures will eventually break you / turn you into bad." I feel like Deceit would sing this around the house. This song is twisting Christian symbolism and the lyrics can be interpreted as Eilish praising people who go to hell as it's better than being morally good. (Also, just switch Peter with Patton)

all the bad girls go to hell by Billie Eilish

Denial - KDJIEKAKSNDENIAL? In Putting Others First, Janus is referred to as Denial and now this song? Everyone start clapping for Thomas and his team. Anyway, the song discusses themes of conflict within a relationship, and the denial and insecurity of being in a relationship near it’s end (source: Genius). Also, Roceit vibes?

Denial by The Vaccines

Trust In Me - first of all, heck yeah! I predicted this song to be on his playlist because it's a slimy snake song from Disney? Hello this is Thomas? I think it's a great song and Johansson's voice is angelic. Kaa is manipulating and hypnotizing Mowgli, and if Deceit could do the same you can bet your bottom dollar he would sing this. We love our not-evil snake boi.

Trust In Me by Scarlett Johansson

Razzle Dazzle - Janus singing this with Roman? Yes please? Okay so I get that this is a villian song, and I love that, but imagine Deceit in a shiny sequenced dress? I also haven't seen Chicago yet so I'm going off what I've heard - this song describes how it is too easy to put on a show and make the audience happy. Basically, acting is just professional lying. The line "Though you are stiffer than a girder they'll let you get away with murder" is so clever (no spoilers but he had it coming)

Razzle Dazzle by Richard Gere

[SLIGHT HADESTOWN SPOILERS]

When The Chips Are Down - I hecking love Hadestown so you can bet I squealed when I saw this song. This song is sung by the fates, who are portrayed at untrustworthy. The title of this song is derived from the idiom “when the chips are down”, meaning “when a very serious and difficult situation arises”. Eurydice is in potentially one of the most serious and difficult situations she could be in: her life is at stake. After Hades invites Eurydice to come with him to Hadestown, the Fates appear and encourage her to consider his offer. They tell her that she should look after herself now that she is starving and the “chips are down”. (Source: Genius). In my own words, the fates are convincing (or manipulating if you will) a poor helpless girl to put herself first and save herself. It also mentions how if you be good to get into heaven,you get a knife in the back.

Go listen to Hadestown, it's an incredible soundtrack.

When The Chips Are Down by Anaïs Mitchell, The Haden Triplets

[TW! Abortion]

Mandy Goes to Med School - okay so this song is about abortion, so we'll have to go off context. Mandy (or Amanda Palmer) has to pay for Medical School by giving abortions in an alleyway with a coat hanger, so I interpret this as having to do shady stuff to get what you want. I think him and Remus would enjoy this song together. I'd also like to note that Logan had a song by Amanda Palmer in his playlist... That isn't relevant but I wanted to note that.

Mandy Goes to Med School by The Dresden Dolls

I Put A Spell On You - 50SOG vibes? I really like this song, it has a nice rhythm and the lyrics are so creepy. This gives me vibes of Deceit cornering/pining another side/love interest because if our baby boy wants to be happy, he should. This is similar to Trust In Me because it talks about enchanting someone to get what you want. "I don't care if you don't want me, I'm yours right now." Chills. Janus singing this song would complete my life.

Also the singer calls the love interest daddy but we ain't shaming

I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone

Evil Night Together - well the title has evil in it so... Perfect for our Evil Snake Boi. This song gives me huge Demus/Receit vibes because it's basically like "let's go on a date in the creepiest place."

What if we drank a drink in the torture chambers... Haha jk ...unless 🥺

Evil Night Together by Jill Tracy

Don't Tell Mama - another musical song? Roman would be impressed. This song is about an English singer, who's mother thinks she's in a convent (a nun), when really she's in a German s3x club. You can really tell why it would be so bad if her secret got out.

Don't Tell Mama by John Kander, Joel Grey, Jill Hawarth, Cabaret Ensemble, Harold Hastings

You're A Cad - definition of a cad: a man who behaves dishonourably, especially towards a woman... This song has a nice beat and gives me TikTok vibes, but it also gives me Moceit vibes (I say vibes too much) because the singer is saying "you're a villain, a cad, a rascal... But I'm like a fish on a hook for you and I still want you." Also, she has a sweet tooth?

You're A Cad by the bird and the bee

As Far As I Can See - all aboard the angst train, CHOO-CHOO "As far as I can see, nobody loves me. As far as I can tell, nobody loves you either" this song gives me such Roceit vibes because the meaning is pretty simple: if nobody loves Janus, then he'll take everyone down with him. I knew there would be that one song that tries to make me cry for our poor baby.

As Far As I Can See by Phantogram

Criminal - first of all, the cover is beautiful. Apple describes the song as “a description of feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality.” She also told in an interview: "One of my friends said to me, “Oh yeah, of course you aren’t writing.” So I was like, “The next time you see me, I’m gonna have a new song.” I wrote “Criminal” in 45 minutes when everyone else went to lunch because I had to have a hit. I can force myself to do the work, but only if someone is right up behind me." Which is the level of pettiness I see in Deceit and I am here for it. The context of the song is seduction and manipulation, so Janus using his sexuality to manipulate the other Sides is a cursed thought.

Criminal by Fiona Apple

Change - if any of them listened to Lana Del Rey, I sort of expected it to be Virgil. Change shows how Del Rey has matured, and I feel like it also portrays Janus' ability to adapt. "Change is a powerful thing... I'll be able to be honest..." Does this mean he's trying to change? Will we get more character development? LIGHT SIDE JANUS?

Change by Lana Del Rey

Devil In The Details - this song is about trusting the wrong person and taking advantage of something. "I am the first one I deceive if I can make myself believe the rest is easy.". More angst, yay.

Devil In The Details by Bright Eyes

Come Little Children - if you had a My Little Pony phase, you probably know this song. Come Little Children, also known as "Sarah's Theme" and "Garden of Magic," is a song sung by Sarah Sanderson in the film, Hocus Pocus to hypnotize children to lure them. Manipulation: a common theme.

Come Little Children by Erutan

Into The Unknown - I was really shocked to see this song until I realized, no, it wasn't the same iconic theme from Frozen 2. This short song is from Over The Garden Wall, a show Thomas watches but I have not. "If dreams can't come true, then why not pretend?" The show plays heavily on the battle between dreams and reality (source: Genius). The way I see this, Janus is convincing the Light Sides to do something, or specifically Roman to make his dreams come true through selfish means.

Into The Unknown by The Blasting Company

This playlist is one of the best because every song had me saying “Janus would so sing this". If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment!

As always, take it easy guys gals and non-binary pals peace out

93 notes · View notes

danganronpasurvivoraskblog · 4 years ago

Text

The Kyojin’s.

Hey, Mukuro. Have you seen Kuripa? I need to talk to him about something.

What for? Isn’t today his day off?

Yeah. But this isn’t work related, and even on his days off, he tends to hang around the staff buildings, right?

Hm...I think he’s up in the lounge. I’ll come with you.

Hey, Kuripa, I needed to talk-

Kuripa?: EventEventEventBoothsWhatToVisitWhereToGo...

*Kuripa is on the sofa, turned away from Makoto and Mukuro, glaring down at something on his phone.

Um...Kuripa, are you ok?

WHERETOGOWHATTOSEEWHOSGONNABETHEREINEEDTOKNOWNOWIWONDERWHATHIFUMIANDRYOTAWANNAGETSCROLLSCROLLYEAHWEGAYKEEPSCROLLINGSCROLLINGSCROLLING...!

WAAH...!

WUH!!?

*Makoto and Mukuro stumble back at Kuripa’s very intense face.

Huh? O-Oh, hey Boss. Mukuro. What’s up?

What’s up with you!? Your face looked way too intense there...!

My bad. My face gets that way when I’m 101% tense and concentrated.

That’s a sign that you’re not taking your work seriously...

Come on, that’s no fair! You know I’m serious about my Foundation work!

What were you looking at?

*Kuripa gets up from the sofa and shows Makoto and Mukuro what’s on his phone.

Have you guys ever heard of Comiket?

Yeah. Hifumi’s brought it up a few times now. Quite recently too.

That’s that big anime and video game based convention that’s held every year, isn’t it? I assume you’ll be attending?

Yep! It’s a big deal for me! This’ll be the first Comiket I’ve been too since “the end” of the tragedy phase!

They had one last year, but I couldn’t make it.

But this year, me and the Kyojin’s are going full throttle!

The what now?

The Kyojin’s. The anime club that I lead.

That’s a thing? For how long?

Only recently. We banded together a few weeks ago.

“We” meaning who exactly? And why “the Kyojin’s?”

So far, it’s just me, Hifumi Yamada, and Ryota Mitarai.

And we’re called the Kyojin’s after an anime/manga called Shingeki No Kyojin, or Attack On Titan as it’s known in English.

This here is a list of all the booths that are going to be shown at this year’s Comiket. I’m making a schedule for all the booths that I plan to visit.

Is now really a good time to be going to a convention? Especially when the Zetsubou threat is still high?

Yeah, but still...I’ve been under a lot of emotional stress lately...Life decisions coming back to bite me, you get it...?

It’s happening in two weeks. I just need some down time.

No, I understand. By all means, enjoy yourself.

Although, if I have anything to say on the matter, I wouldn’t encourage using Future Foundation office buildings for anime club meetups.

I myself don’t mind, but I can’t speak for the other branch workers and leaders.

No worries. I already have a meeting place in mind tonight, so I can discuss it with them.

Oh really? Where?

There’s this Cabaret Club that was opened up in the district recently. It’s called the High Roller.

Forgive me for saying this, but you, Hifumi and Ryota don’t seem like a group who would go to a cabaret club.

Why not?

It’s far too...

social?

Heh. Fair point.

But this is a way I devised to get Ryota out of his shell a little. He’s scared to meet people, even now, so I invited him there to talk things out.

Hifumi’s actually more sociable than you think he is...Though you two should probably know that better than me.

That’s not a bad idea. Cabaret hosts and hostesses seem like good people to talk to.

Wait a second...Isn’t the High Roller...?

Hm?

Ah, never mind. Didn’t you have something you wanted to talk to Kuripa about Makoto?

Oh, yeah, sorry, I’m all ears now.

Could you come with me for a quick second?

Sure.

*Kuripa and Makoto exaunt.

(It’s nice to see Kuripa’s making friends outside our branch but...)

(If I remember correctly, the High Roller was...)

*Mukuro pulls out her phone and looks the place up.

...

(Yes. Manager of the establishment is Kokichi Ouma...I think Maki mentioned him to me before...)

(I trust Kuripa to defend himself, but he should probably still be careful)

#danganronpa survivor #danganronpa #danganronpa 1 #dr1 #danganronpa v3 #drv3 #oc #makoto naegi #mukuro ikusaba #kuripa kurafto #kokichi ouma #cabaret kyojins arc

10 notes · View notes

vannahfanfics · 5 years ago

Text

Moonlight Sonata

Category: Romantic Fluff

Fandom: Gintama

Characters: Gintoki Sakata, Tae Shimura

Requested By: Anonymous User

“Bye, everyone! I’ll see you tomorrow night!” Tae called cheerfully over her shoulder as she walked out of the doors of the cabaret club. There was a chorus of polite farewells from her coworkers, as well as quite a few lamented wails from her drunken customers, as her sweet smile disappeared with the swing of the door. As soon as she stepped outside, however, Tae had half a mind to jump right back into the building, as a chilly wind swept across the dirt street to leap through the folds of her kimono and nip at her vulnerable skin with far too much glee. She lingered in the entryway for a few minutes, as its wooden bearings provided at least marginal protection from the biting cold, while she pondered what to do. The walk home was appreciable and she had no care to fall ill on account of simple pride and forgetting to check the weather forecast for the night. She also had no desire to linger in the cabaret club for the wee hours of the night until the sun came up to bless the world with its warming ways, either.

“Oh, dear… What a mess I’ve gotten myself into,” she tutted aloud as she pouted and tapped her index finger against her cheek. It was a pity that her gorilla-like stalker was seemingly absent today, for he would have undoubtedly noticed her plight and would be bundling her up in a coat by now. Stalkerish and annoying as he was, she did acknowledge that he cared for her and at least tried to, in his brutish, stupid way, look out for her… If he wasn’t a blatant stalker, I might even appreciate it! she thought with a dour look. Just thinking of his ridiculous antics soured her mood a little.

“Well, there’s nothing for it. It’ll only get colder,” she decided finally and pushed away from the post she had been leaning on to begin shuffling down the street towards her home. She kept her arms tucked to her midriff and her steps quick and light to avoid chilling her extremities too much, but it honestly didn’t help; after only a few yards or so she was shuddering and rubbing the pale, goosepimply skin of her arms in feeble attempts to reclaim the minimal warmth she had possessed a few moments before. She tossed a longing glance over her shoulder at the cabaret club. I could always nick a coat from one of those drunkards… She fancied it but would never follow through. She had no desire to be fired over stealing from a customer.

“What the hell are you doing out this time of night in just a kimono?”

While such gruff, aggressive speech would normally frighten a young lady alone in the dark of night, Tae thankfully knew the silver-haired man such rudeness belonged to. She pursed her lips as she turned back around to see Gintoki Sakata standing in the middle of the street, hands tucked into the pockets of his overcoat and that same bored look in his eyes that he always wore. Even this dense man had the sense to bring a jacket tonight, she thought with a small sigh. It’s not like it was surprising, since Gintoki watched the weather religiously due to his worship of Ketsuno Ana, but one would think that a samurai would bravely proclaim “I’m a man! I’m immune to the cold!” Yet here he was, bundled up like it was below freezing. With this wind, it probably is, Tae grimaced as she rubbed her arms again. She could swear that the tips of her fingers were going numb.

“I’m going home from work. I forgot to bring a jacket today,” she answered simply. Standing around conversing with him was only leaving her subject to freezing there on the spot, so she decided to resume walking because at least the activity would get her blood flowing and stave off some of the icy chill… theoretically, but it didn’t seem to help much. She only made it a few feet, right to where Gintoki was idling there just watching her with that same blank, disinterested stare, before she had to stop in her tracks again to let out a very loud, not-very-ladylike sneeze. Whining miserably, rubbing her nose, and lamenting the cold she was most definitely going to be bedridden with tomorrow, she cursed her own carelessness.

“It’s unlike you to look so in distress,” Gin chided at her, and she didn’t even have to look at him; she could hear the smirk on his face. Her head snapped up to deliver some stunning retort, but it died in her throat as soon as she saw what he was doing. There was a quick, shrill whine from the zipper of his jacket as he casually pulled it down, followed by rustling fabric as he shouldered out of the overcoat. Tae’s eyes widened as he thrusted it out to her with one hand (and picked his nose with the other, the gross bastard, ruining what could be a perfectly romantic moment in the only way that Gintoki could). “Here. Take it. I’ll never hear the end of it from Shinpachi if I let his sister freeze to death and not offer her my jacket.” He said so, but from the way that his eyes were trailed off somewhere over her shoulder rather than directly on her implied that perhaps even his seemingly callous heart was a little moved from seeing Tae in such obvious duress. A faint haze of pink bloomed on her cheeks as she reached out to gently take the offered coat, and she almost sighed in overwhelming relief from the sheer amount of heat that bloomed just on her hands.

“Thank you.” One wouldn’t think putting on a jacket had any erotic implications, but Tae literally had to suppress a very small, light moan as she slipped her arms into the large sleeves of Gintoki’s coat. His lingering body heat radiated into her every cell and made it feel like she was ice melting into deliciously warm water. It was slightly too big for her, requiring that she shake the ends of the sleeves slightly to allow her hands to poke through so that she could zip the jacket back up, and she did, right to the tip of her chin to trap as much of that heat in the fibers of the coat as possible. Gintoki, poor vagabond that he was, somehow had acquired a luxurious coat lined with furls of cotton on the inside, and very soon Tae had forgotten what the cold even felt like. Her smile was radiant as she once again expressed her gratitude to him, “Really! I feel much better now.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Tae knew for sure that he must have been freezing, but Gintoki had not a shiver about him as he ran his hand through his moonlight silver hair. Had he glanced at her even once this entire exchange? He was still gazing off lazily into the wild midnight blue of the starry night sky above them. Gintoki was a serious person and not shy in the slightest, so this behavior was definitely interesting. Tae blinked and leaned forward slightly to peer up into his face, and she was damned if there wasn’t the faintest dust of a rosy blush gracing his cheeks. He really does care, doesn’t he? “What the hell you starin’ at?” he snapped at her. He may have intended to place some bite behind those words, but it almost came out fearful; by the way that his face continued to redden, he caught the weakness in his voice and was not too pleased about it. She giggled lightly and flashed him another small smile.

“Care to walk a lady home? In exchange for letting me borrow the coat, I’ll make you a snack when we get there.”

“Tae, I will die before eating any of your cooking.” She stuck out her bottom lip at the terse reply, but, there was no denying she was a terrible cook. Still, there were things that even she couldn’t mess up.

“How about some hot tea, then, with lots of sugar?”

“Now you’re talkin’,” he grinned, and for the first time, his dark irises flickered to meet hers with an excited glitter. There were few things more powerful than Gintoki Sakata’s sweet tooth.

Placing his hands behind his head, he whirled on his heel to fall in step with her as she continued her trek through the streets to her distant abode. For a long time, the only sound was the alternating scrapes of their sandals in the cool sand of the unpaved streets; Gintoki once more had his eyes trained on the heavens as if he were involved in rather deep discussion with the moon and stars, which was apparently more riveting than a conversation with the woman right next to him; Tae didn’t mind, exactly. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure what they would even talk about.

She snuck a sordid glance at him out of the corners of her eyes, and with the silence, she could honestly appreciate the magic that the pale glow of the heavens was working on the otherwise undesirable samurai. Gintoki really didn’t have a bad face at all, and the white light accentuated that, defining his sharp jawline even further such that it mirrored the slicing edge of a katana. Its glow seemed to deposit the stars themselves in his dark eyes, glittering faintly only to Tae’s eyes. Then, of course, his white hair absorbed it like a sponge soaked up water, making the fine threads glow with an almost ephemeral quality that left Tae with the overwhelming urge to run her fingers through it because it looked like supple threads of silk. She was considering this as his gaze once more flickered to hers, and she went red because there was no arguing that she had been staring at him. “What?”

“I was just thinking that you’d be a pretty handsome guy if you weren’t the way you were.” His face immediately screwed up into a very unflattering grimace at her shameless, brutal honesty.

“Damn, Tae, just go and insult my entire being, why don’t you…” he grumbled under his breath and looked away in either embarrassment or annoyance. His arms dropped to his sides to slip one of his hands into the folds of his clothes, while the other fell against the end of his wooden sword, probably the result of muscle memory. From Tae’s vantage point, it almost looked as if his face did not know what expression to form. His reaction had been altogether peculiar too because if anyone else had been with them, he would’ve whipped around and sure given her a verbal lashing. Is he acting differently because we’re alone? she wondered, and she wasn’t quite sure what she would make of that if it were true.

Tae respected Gintoki a lot, despite his overall nature; he clearly loved Shinpachi a lot and he was an honorable man when it came down to the wire. Now that she considered that they were indeed walking side-by-side, under the moonlight, and she was wearing his coat and was going to prepare tea for him, there sure were a lot of implications. Tae found herself looking down at her feet as her face grew warm. It must be the cold muddling my head, she reasoned and slapped at her cheeks. Tae couldn’t possibly have a crush on such an uncultured sleaze like Gintoki Sakata! The brusque strike against her soft flesh left them stinging and faintly red.

“Is your face cold now or something?”

“Wh-what? Um, it was a little, but I just warmed it up a little!” she laughed nervously at his weary sigh. Suddenly she was the one who was nervous and couldn’t look at him. She focused on their surroundings, finding with relief that they were in her neighborhood; sure enough, when she glanced up, she could see her house. Eager to save herself from the awkwardness of the conversation, she scampered quickly over to ascend her steps and unlock the door, with a slightly frowning Gintoki ambling on behind her. “So, about that tea—" she started as she whirled around, her slightly hitched breathing producing a puff of fog before her mouth.

“It’s not that big of a deal. It’s late; I can really just take my jacket and head home,” Gintoki shrugged as he rubbed at the back of his neck. His expression had gone all stiff and complicated again, and Tae suddenly found herself terrified that she had annoyed him some way and disappointed that he didn’t in fact want to stay for tea. She wasn’t going to pester him, though, because she was actually kind of appalled she was disappointed; why on Earth would she want to be alone with Gintoki, and even worse, excited at the prospect? Mind whirling from all the very confusing emotions coming on her at once, she began removing the jacket as she hopped back down the steps. She was just wriggling her arms out of the sleeves at the halfway point when she very ungracefully fumbled over her own feet and tumbled into the open air. She let out a surprised yelp, hands grasping at the empty air in an instinctual attempt to find a hold, while the soles of her sandals slid uselessly across the wood of the steps.

“Whoa!” Gintoki cried and surged forward.

“Oh!” Tae cried as she landed against him. His arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace, and she was very aware of the shape and form of every muscle of his she was in contact with at the moment. Her face was buried right in the middle of his pectorals (which were actually softer than one would think) and just beneath the intense blazing heat grazing her cheeks she could feel the intense pounding of Gintoki’s heart. “I’m sorry!” she cried as she looked up at him; whatever she was going to sputter out next abruptly fizzled out on her tongue, because his face was a mere inch or so from her own. His mouth was similarly hanging open, in the process of asking her if she was all right, but what came out was more of a choked croak. His pupils met hers for only the briefest of moments before once again sliding to the corners of his eyes. “Why won’t you look at me, Gin?” Her voice was a mere breath, light in sound but heavy with desire and want.

Maybe it’s a small crush, quipped a little meek voice in the back of her mind. Her gaze flickered down to his mouth as she saw the corner of it twitch.

“Because I keep thinking you would be a pretty cute girl if I hadn’t seen you pound grown men into dust,” came the eventual reply laced with snark and a fair hint of hesitation. Tae’s eyes flickered back upwards to find that he finally was looking at her… and the way he was looking at her made every hair on her body stand at attention as an electric shiver pulsed across her nerves. Tae couldn’t even bring herself to be angry at the insult borne in his words because the connotation behind them, and that smoldering fire in his dark eyes, had dominated her mind. Tae’s mind was jelly but at least her body knew how to proceed; hands curling into the fabric of his clothes, her back arched slightly as she pressed against him, inhaling deeply with each square inch of skin that met his. The tip of his index finger ghosted across her cheek in the slightest of touches, but Tae could feel the nerves singing even long after he had pulled his hand away to bury it into her tresses of hair, tousling it out of the simple up-do with ease as it settled against the back of her head. After all that time short-circuiting in her mouth, her tongue finally managed to work so she could say something.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for tea?”

“Fuck yes,” Gintoki growled in response, and no sooner did that rumbling reply send another wave of intense electricity over Tae did he jump forward to claim her lips in a feverish, passionate kiss. Tae’s hands flew to his shoulders to brace herself against him as his broad body pushed against hers to make her back arch slightly to compensate for her head craning back; one of them soon began to migrate, sliding over his shoulder up his neck to bury her fingers into his luscious messy tufts of moonlight-white hair. Her eyes drifted closed of their own accord, and as blackness overtook her vision it seemed like every other sense of hers went on high alert; the sweetness of his lips was almost intoxicating, and sparks were jumping over her body with every igniting touch between them. Tae was barely able to stand under the assault of feeling, but when Gintoki pressed the kiss deeper, running his tongue over her bottom lip to silently plead entry, whatever starch keeping her knees steady melted away.

As she complied, parting her lips so his tongue could slither forward and eagerly entangle with her own, she slumped completely against him. He wound his arm around her waist to hold her up as every swirl of their tongues weakened Tae further. Warm waves of pulsating energy hummed in every one of Tae’s cells in tune with the singing of her frantic heart, pounding in a rising crescendo. Just as she was becoming deafened by the symphony of the moment, Gintoki pulled back, and suddenly the music fell into a deep but comfortable silence. Exhaling shakily, Tae’s eyes fluttered open and she found that Gintoki could look nowhere but at her all of a sudden. He chuckled as this fact brought a faint blush to her already flushed cheeks. “What? Now you don’t want me to look at you?”

“I didn’t say that!” she huffed at him while puffing out her cheeks. He laughed under his breath again as he pulled her against his chest, pressing his cheek against the side of her head while he played with the ends of her hair absentmindedly. It may be more than a small crush, she thought in faint amusement as she closed her eyes and just enjoyed the feeling of him holding her. Shinpachi sure won’t be happy about this…

One thing was for sure— Tae was the furthest thing from cold.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

36 notes · View notes

cordoniasmost · 5 years ago

Text

As the World Burns - Part 3

Story: Blood Bound

Pairing: MC (Amy) x Adrian x Jax x Dracula x ? (it’s basically a clown car up in here, y’all!)

Warnings: Language, violence, sexual innuendo/discussions, pregnancy

Word Count: 1333

Find Part 2 Here

A/N: When I stumbled on the theory about MC being pregnant as the reason for the “darkness within” line from yesterday’s chapter of BloodBound (Book 2, chapter 14), I had to write something super dramatic and funny (read: ridiculous) because what’s life without a little whimsy? Haha :) This series is going to be 3-4 parts (maybe 5…). Enjoy!

Tag List: @furiouscloddonutpeanut @averysheart-raleighsdick @kingliamsbish @dr-brianna-casey-valentine @angrypainterfarmopera @maiajaychoices @desiree-0816 @mrsagentbreakdance

Adrian blinked at her, eyes going wide. Jax spoke first. “How the f-”

“I know you probably have a thousand questions,” she cut him off, holding up her hand to stop him. “But I have no idea how to answer literally any of them. I was hoping the two of you might be able to tell me how the hell this happened.”

Adrian had gone rigid, his spine straight, his jaw falling open slightly. He looked like he was in a state of shock, his hand going slack in hers. His wide eyes appeared to look through her as if he’d seen a ghost. She wanted to slap him.

“Adrian!” she snapped, hoping to bring him back to the moment. Jax was a relatively new vampire and the odds he’d heard of anything like this before were low. Adrian might have some more information for them if he could just get past his semi-comatose state.

“I didn’t even think this was possible,” Jax said, running a hand down his face. “Obviously super sperm is the answer. Right, Adrian?” he said, poking Adrian in the side with his elbow, trying to lighten the mood. “The timing isn’t great, what with Gaius on the loose and the world burning down around us, but a baby’s not ever a bad thing.”

Yeah, unless it’s a demon about to burst forth into the world and do who knows what. She’d worry about that later. First, they needed answers and not just to a few questions.

Adrian blinked slowly, his eyes refocusing on her. “Amy, are you alright? I know this is a lot for you to take in as well. Jax and I will be with you every step of the way,” Adrian said, his grip on her hand tightening reassuringly.

Jax nodded in agreement. “Adrian’s right, no matter what a baby is a good thing and we could use a little more of that right now.”

Could she actually get on board with this? Could they actually do this as some big demented family unit? Guess we’re going to find out, she thought.

***

The next morning, she woke with her limbs tangled between the two men’s bodies. None of them had been in the mood for anything particularly carnal the night before considering what she’d had to tell them. They were all lost in their own thoughts, but as usual she was their number one priority. They enclosed her in a cocoon of their bodies, wanting to make sure her and the baby felt safe and comfortable enough to sleep. Both of them would make great dads.

The problem was, though, that she didn’t know if Jax or Adrian were the father of this baby, or if it was someone else. She’d also had that unfortunate time with Drac. She had no idea if gravity would have even made getting pregnant possible and up until yesterday she hadn’t even known being impregnated by a vampire at all was a possibility. She was just grasping at straws at this point.

There was also the possibility that there had been others along the way that she couldn’t remember. She’d spent a lot of time in clubs and cabarets drinking and just partaking in general debauchery. Her memory was spotty at best. It wasn’t her proudest moment, but she didn’t regret the choices she’d made. Her life had been one big fever dream since she’d met Adrian but it definitely kept her on her toes. She felt more alive now than she ever had before.

Besides the whole how had this happened? question, the first thing she wanted to know was who’s baby this was. Amy figured it wouldn’t matter so much to Adrian or Jax but if this baby wasn’t either of theirs… She tried not to let her mind even go there. She’d had the most sex the most consistently with the both of them. It had to be one of theirs, right? There’s only one way to know for sure.

When she felt them beginning to stir, she sat up. They didn’t keep secrets from each other and she needed to be totally honest and ask for their help. From now on, no more random hookups, she promised herself. This feeling of helplessness and not knowing was gross and she didn’t want to have to feel it again, especially now that she knew she could, in fact, get knocked up by a vampire.

“Morning, Amy,” Jax said, voice still groggy. He smiled up at her warmly, leaning up on one of his elbows and rubbing his eyes with his other hand. Adrian sat up, hair rumpled from sleep, and said, “What’s wrong?”

She sighed. “Nothing? Everything? I don’t even know where to begin. The thing that’s bothering me most, though, is that I don’t know who this baby’s father is. I need to figure it out and sooner rather than later.”

“That makes sense, I was wondering myself how it would all work and when we’d be able to find out,” Adrian said.

“If the baby comes out with almond-shaped eyes we’ll know it’s mine,” Jax quipped.

“Ha ha,” Amy said, her eyes narrowing. “I’m serious. I was researching it yesterday and they can do a DNA test as early as 8 weeks along and all the doctor would need is a blood sample from me and all the potential fathers.”

Adrian’s eyes widened. “Wait, what do you mean ‘all’?”

She shifted uncomfortably under both of their penetrating stares. “You know, you, Jax, Drac…”

Jax groaned. “I forgot you hooked up with that douche pirate. I don’t even know how you let him that close to you, Amy.”

She shrugged. “He’s Dracula, Jax. How could I not?”

He chuckled. “I guess I see your point, but still. Gross.”

“Besides,” she said, choosing to ignore his comment. “He was terrible. You’d think that centuries of being a sexual being would have taught him a thing or two but no. He was the most selfish lover I’ve ever encountered.” She shuddered at the memory, one she’d rather just forget.

“What do you need us to do, Amy? We can handle this discretely and figure it out as soon as possible. I can call my personal physician who will undoubtedly be delicate in this situation and might have some more information to give us as well,” Adrian said, his voice taking on his in control CEO tone.

“That sounds like a good place to start. Unfortunately, we’re going to need to get a blood sample from Drac and I’m certain he’s not going to make it easy on me, particularly considering that we stole the Eye from him before leaving him to deal with The Order.”

Adrian winced. “That’s a good point. How do you suggest we handle him, then?” Amy knew what she was about to suggest was going to horrify all three of them equally, but she would never have the answers she needed the most unless they did this. She had to face facts. Dracula was a fame whore, someone who got off on the meaningless attention of the masses. It was what meant more to him than anything and he was in the position of power in this situation. She had formulated a plan during the night when she couldn’t sleep but she knew it’d be a long shot to get Adrian and Jax to agree to it.

She sucked in a breath, preparing herself for the fight to come. “We’re going to offer him something he won’t be able to refuse in exchange.”

Adrian’s eyebrows shot up in question, Jax shook his head gently. “I don’t like where this is going, Amy…” he said.

“Yeah, I figured that’s how you were going to feel but this is important. We’re all going to have to do things we’re not going to like.”

Adrian sighed heavily. “What are we going to have to do?”

“Have you ever heard of something called The Maury Show?”

#choices #choices bloodbound #bloodbound #blood bound #playchoices #play choices #choices stories you play #choices fan fiction #choices stories we play #adrian x mc #adrian x mc x jax #adrian x amy #jax x mc #jax x adrian #jax x amy #dracula x mc

24 notes · View notes

wigwurq · 6 years ago

Text

WIG REVIEW: FOSSE/VERDON

Are you ready for another prestige limited series from FX? Do you like the legitimate THE-A-TRE? Can you do jazz hands upon request? Well then Fosse/Verdon might be for you. MAYBE.

But what about the wigs? Let’s discuss. As this an eight episode series, I will be updating this post weekly and adjusting whether or not the wigs do or do not wurq. Spoilers, obvs.

So this show is about legendary director/choreographer Bob Fosse and his wife/Broadway legend, Gwen Verdon. If you have never heard of either, I suggest that you stop reading because this show is definitely not for you. Sorry? Produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda and directed by Hamilton’s Thomas Kail, this show is made ONLY for theater megageeks and basically no one else. As a former drama club president who definitely got Joel Grey’s autograph after seeing the original Broadway revival cast of Chicago, I thought I fit that bill but after watching this thing, I don’t even know that I qualify. My husband, who spent most of the episode asking questions until finally just deeming the whole thing “boring” was absolutely not the key demographic and yes he went into this knowing who these two people are and has seen several musicals. Similar limited series focusing on very specific pop culture such as Feud: Bette and Joan did a much better job catering to the uninitiated.

EPISODE ONE: LIFE IS A CABARET

We begin at the end, then go straight to the middle, which is: a choice. We first see Sam Rockwell in old man makeup (sorry - I could find no images of this to share) and then backtrack. Much of this episode is focused on Fosse’s transition from choreographer to film director. This is when Fosse had already lost much of his hair and had a bad combover and Rockwell is given this wig that is giving me Ed Harris circa 1998 feels and like all bad man wigs, looks terrible from the back.

We are then plunged straight into production for the film version of Sweet Charity without any explanation of anything other than the fact that (duh) he’s directing the iconic Big Spender number. But wait - there’s a twist! Turns out Michelle Williams as Gwen Verdon did a lot of the directing! DUN DUN DUN. I am all for giving ladies their propers and approaching narratives as if they are Glenn Close’s The Wife character but this does not change the fact that this red Marilyn Monroe wig is not very good.

This is all very Theatre-y with a capital T and an ending in RE NOT ER. Everything has a Theatre quality to it - but not in that Tony winning Hamilton way, more in that Emmy winning Grease: Live! way (Kail directed both) which is to say that there is no immediacy or intimacy to anything - all the characters feel like they are far away, performing on a stage - and it leaves the viewer feeling empty and, well, bored. TV and stage are just not the same! Oh, and Fosse just found out that movies and stage are not the same because Sweet Charity was a big flop! Look at how sad they are in their gorgeous apartment and terrible, bent wigs with backs that jut out from their necks! THE HORROR!

So then Paul Reiser shows up. He is fine and I’m glad he’s getting work and he’s thankfully not wearing a wig! When a new character shows up in this show, you spend the first five minutes or so trying to figure out who they are supposed to be playing, like an IMDb charades game since no one explains who they are and simply give vague context clues. At first, I thought he was Neil Simon, then he mentioned making a movie with homosexuals and Nazis so I was like: DEFINITELY MEL BROOKS but it turns out it he is Cabaret producer Cy Feuer. You, know - CY FEUER? You don’t?? WELL WE’RE NOT GOING TO EXPLAIN IT TO YOU WE ARE FOSSE/VERDON.

Aaaaanyway, Fosse gets the job of directing Cabaret and goes to Munich and meets Liza Minnelli who in this tv reality looks like this which is not how Liza Minnelli ever looked. AND THIS WIG. AT LEAST GIVE LIZA A GOOD WIG NOT ONE YOU FOUND AT RICKY’S. NEXT.

Then Paul Reiser gives Sam Rockwell a lot of guff about taking too long to direct things and not deciding about costumes and hiring ugly German prostitutes to be extras yet somehow allows him to wear these really ugly shoes. Throughout, Rockwell’s wig is a mess of a tumbleweave, not unlike this show. And then Michelle Williams shows up to save his ass like all capable ladies ever and even goes to buy a gorilla suit in NYC only to arrive back in Munich where Rockwell is boning some German translator who looks way too much like Ann Reinking. There’s also a lot of nonlinear theatrical vignettes into Fosse’s past that play like, well, All That Jazz. Which this is not.

In the end, we go back to old man Fosse, and it is told to us that he has only EIGHT MORE MINUTES TO LIVE. Kudos to the production team for somehow trying to turn Bob Fosse’s 1987 death into a thriller. Spoiler: it’s not.

EPISODE TWO: WHO’S GOT THE PAIN?

We (obvs?) begin in Majorca, where 70s-era Fosse and Verdon have gone to patch up their marriage. Also can you think of a more bougie place to go in the 70s to patch up your fancy marriage? There are a lot of scenes on the beach where Sam Rockwell’s 90s Ed Harris wig gets blown around and Michelle Williams cries into a cardigan. And because misery loves company, apparently their best friends, the Neil Simons, are along for the ride. Joan Simon is Gwenny’s best gal pal and her wig is something one might find in a pile of Halloween wigs to play Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.

We then travel back to 1955, or “267 since Gwen Verdon’s first Tony Award.” Yes, this show is still doing this insufferable titling which really is a lot of fun facts that add up to nothing. Regardless, we’re at the point where Verdon and Fosse meet as he “auditions” her for Damn Yankees which he is to choreograph. I have to say that this scene, with both actors dancing and wearing much better wigs than their characters wear in the 70s (still terrible though!) was pretty fun! They can dance!

They also obvs fall very much in love, though weirdly the scene of them actually having sex for the first time is buried in a montage. You have very odd priorities, Fosse/Verdon! Complicating matters is Gwen’s perpetually bent wig, Fosse’s kind of ok in comparison wig, and oh and the fact that he’s married!

This show not only wants but DEMANDS that you wikipedia everything that is happening, mainly from its distinct lack of good storytelling. Anyway, Fosse’s 2nd wife was Joan McCracken and OMG CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A PRESTIGE TV SHOW ABOUT HER? Wiki tells me that her first husband ended up being Truman Capote’s lover and that Capote based the character of Holly Golightly on her and seriously why are we wasting our time on this Fosse/Verdon mess when we could be learning more about her?!?! Anyway, what the show does tell us is that she has a mysterious illness that makes her sometimes not be able to walk (Wiki explained that she had some heart attacks around this time). Also, she is no fool and fully realizes that Fosse is gonna leave her fabulous ass for Gwenny - just the way he left his first wife for her! Also please look at Sam’s terrible lace front here. Also Joan’s wig is very much Joan Allen in Pleasantville which is to say: the best wig on this show.

Anyway, the rest of the episode is devoted to working out some musical kinks in Damn Yankees and watching Michelle Williams dance around in a bad wig. Oh, and then finally leave Fosse in Majorca when she realizes he’s about to leave HER fabulous ass for some German translator (I’m sensing a theme here). And the show ends trying to make Joan McCracken’s death into a thriller! Spoiler: Wikipedia tells me she died in 1961! Wikipedia is a much better show than this, also.

EPISODE THREE: ME AND MY BABY

We begin in some random editing suite where Fosse has gone to begin editing Cabaret and because this show cannot and will not stop trying to be All that Jazz (which I rewatched this weekend and LORDT IS THIS SHOW TRYING TO BE THAT MOVIE - AND ALSO BOTH ARE GARBAGE!) there is an elaborate dance number with random editing assistant (?) ladies. The one good part of this is: Sam Rockwell dancing. Otherwise: garbage fire.

Speaking of garbage fires, the (4 hour!) rough edit of Cabaret that the editors put together for Fosse while he was in Majorca (which he was really pissed about because HOW DARE THEY DO THEIR JOBS) is a friggin mess. Speaking of messes, THE BACK OF THIS WIG. Is Fosse a monk? What is happening here? However, I do appreciate the casting of the dude who played SpongeBob on Broadway as Joel Grey.

Back at Casa Verdon, where Fosse DOES NOT LIVE ANYMORE, Gwenny is making dinner and trying to get her own career back together when Fosse shows up unannounced with Chinese food and pleas for Gwenny to help him edit the mess that is Cabaret. RUDE! Gwenny and her bent wig have their own dinner dates with her agent, Peter Scolari at the Russian Tea Room to get to THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Thus, Gwenny leaves their daughter with Fosse and his epic combover at the editing suite to go to her dinner date and HE CAN’T EVEN HANDLE being with his tween daughter for a few hours (since he definitely has to make time to bone his editing assistant) and ropes Norbert Leo Butz in a very shaggy wig to come hang out with his kid in a hotel room. Gwenny is NOT HAVING IT.

Even though Butz basically just ate a bunch of sloppy food and made the daughter watch a b horror movie, Gwenny points out that leaving a tweenage daughter with a random dude in a hotel room is INAPPROPRIATE EVEN IF THAT DUDE WROTE MARTY WHICH IS A PERFECT MOVIE.

This makes her reflect on her own (somehow very Magdalene-Sisters-like) tweenage years (as played by a younger actress whose image could NOT be found on the internet, gurl) when she was raped and impregnated and then slut-shamed by her parents into marrying a much older alcoholic. YIKES.

So back in the 70s, despite the fact that she’s in some rando straight play called Children! Children! (yes really) which is being directed by a condescending asshole and taking care of her kid, she somehow finds time to go help her estranged idiot husband edit the movie that she basically co-directed. SERIOUSLY WOMEN HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING. Also all these wigs look like crap. Just when you think Fosse is maybe being redeemable, he decides to bring up the Gwenny’s illegitimate son AT THE VERY WORST MOMENT DUDE YOU ARE THE WORST.

Back with Young Gwenny, we see her giving her infant son to her parents to raise so she can go be a dancer. We then cut to her triumphant turn in Can-Can (some years later but Fosse/Verdon definitely doesn’t specify how many). Gwenny’s show might be a triumph, but her wig is still a mess. Oh, and she’s still haunted by the cries of the baby she gave up BECAUSE WOMEN CAN NEVER FULLY HAVE NICE THINGS.

EPISODE FOUR: GLORY

We begin at Cabaret. Isn’t life one, you guys? Fosse is all poised for this to be the flop that (apparently?) Sweet Charity was but nope: it’s a big huge critical and commercial hit! Do whatever you want, now, Fosse! Oh wait, you already do everything you want anyway? Cool! Fosse and his circa 1997 Ed Harris wig are now unstoppably arrogant! Get ready! So Fosse’s next project is the medieval/psychedelic nonsense musical, Pippin which will definitely give you contact highs.

JUST LOOK AT HOW HIGH THIS MUSICAL IS. I think when people from the Mid Waste think of Broadway musicals, this is what most of them still think that looks like. Also this is how I fear I’ll die.

Speaking of! Gwenny’s best galpal, Joan Simon (wife to Neil) is dying of cancer! It’s very sad because she’s really nice and despite her bad Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction wig I appreciate her dedication to half updos with bows that match her outfits.

Gwenny does not even have time to be sad about this because she needs to take her bent wig over to Pippin rehearsals to pick up her daughter only to find that Fosse has given her FOUR TABS TO DRINK THAT IS LIKE 3 1/2 TOO MANY. She handles it by smiling through her hatred and truly this was a very Miranda Priestly moment and also I like Gwen’s top. ALSO LOOK AT THE BACK OF FOSSE’S WIG NO THANK YOU PLEASE.

Over at Pippin rehearsals, we also meet Ann Reinking (who will become Fosse’s lady love for the next decade or so) but for now she’s keeping things professional and also this is Andie MacDowell’s (wigless, thank god) daughter. Ok!

Fosse is definitely NOT keeping things professional and basically boning the rest of the Pippin ensemble cast, whether they like it or not! There is a very #MeToo moment where Fosse ends up getting a knee to the groin and GOOD.

Not so good? Gwenny’s play Children! Children! (that title - I still can’t). Despite asking Fosse to come over and FIX. IT. he is too busy becoming the poster dude for Time’s Up and Gwenny’s show ends up getting bad reviews and closing immediately. Also her wig is fully turning into a Jean Stapleton in All in the Family lewk. Whilst Gwenny’s professional life is going to crap, Fosse is winning ALL THE AWARDS as shown in a really confusing montage which suggested that the Tony Awards are before the Oscars. INCORRECT.

In the end, Fosse drunkenly tries to go bone Gwenny but she has wisely shacked up with that dude from Obvious Child which literally leads Fosse into a MENTAL INSTITUTION and the entire show to basically just turn into All that Jazz which I will remind everyone is a very derivative and terrible movie! OY.

EPISODE 5: WHERE AM I GOING?

The title of this episode should really be an question for the viewer: where are you going? Where are we all going? Are we still really watching this show? Sadly: yes. UGH I think we’re more than halfway through now? Let’s just finish this thing!

We begin at the mental hospital where Fosse ended the last episode. Gwenny and their kid are visiting him and Fosse is basically catatonic. This does not stop Gwenny from moving FULL STEAM AHEAD ON CHICAGO! Then cut to: Southampton? Huh? Sure! There, Fosse and his best bros, Neil Simon and Paddy Chayefsky are having a beach weekend which leads to the above upsetting 70s mens shorts (which thankfully Norbert Leo Butz did NOT sign on for). I love dudes who refuse to wear shorts in the summer, no matter how hot it is. My husband is one of these dudes.

The one problem with this beach weekend? Everybody together in their best impression of Renee Zellweger in Cold Mountain: IT’S RAINING! So everyone is stuck inside. And also it’s kind of a Big Chill sort of scenario except the role of Kevin Costner as the dead friend is now: Joan Simon. And also Fosse just got out of a mental institution 3 months ago. And he’s there with his girlfriend and Gwenny is there with her boyfriend. AND ALL THE WIGS ARE TERRIBLE.

So Fosse’s girlfriend: Ann Reinking! When last we saw her, she was ignoring Fosse at Pippin rehearsals but it’s explained that after his (1 week!) stay in the looney bin, he gave her a ring and now they’re in LURRRVE. Ok? Andie MacDowell’s daughter plays Annie and she doesn’t wear a wig and she’s fine. Fosse’s circa 1997 Ed Harris wig is still very upsetting. As is his tan!

Also upsetting? Gwenny rolls up with this RAT TAIL (it’s hard to see in this pic but it’s the best I could do!) We’re supposed to believe that in the last 3 months she suddenly grew this monstrosity out?!?! MORE ON THE BONE CHILLING TRUTH ABOUT THIS RAT TAIL LATER.

Gwenny also has a really nice boyfriend named Ron. He is played by that guy who played a nice guy in The Office, Obvious Child, and Girls. He doesn’t wear a wig and he is very nice! Fosse’s combover is not!

Oh also along for the ride is Fosse/Verdon’s daughter Nicole who is definitely too young to be dealing with all these effed up grownups and also is bored and ends up giving herself a cigarette/pickle-induced stomach virus. GET IT TOGETHER, PARENTS.

Most of the episode is about whether Fosse should direct Dustin Hoffman in Lenny or proceed with Gwenny’s vanity project, Chicago, despite the fact that his doctors told him to take a year off work from either! Spoiler to anyone who has never seen All that Jazz or who does not know enough about Fosse to even bother watching this: HE DOES BOTH! WHO IS THIS SHOW EVEN FOR?!?! Also Norbert Leo Butz’s man wig is not as bad as the rest. Great work on not wearing shorts again also! Also Fosse/Verdon bone again in secret even though they are married but have lovers. The 70s!

And now to the critical and bone-chilling facts about Gwenny’s rat tail! After a night of drinking and making terrible professional and personal choices, Gwenny sits down to a breakfast of coffee and one single piece of fruit and then....UNCLIPS HER RAT TAIL AND POUFS IT UP! So first off, that clears up the whole “how did her hair grow so long so fast” question. HOWEVER. This now leads to another case of WIG GASLIGHTING. This is when a wig (which is being passed off as real hair) is of equal or lesser quality to a wig that is a known wig within the context of the narrative. In other words - the quality of this rat tail (which we now know to be a wig) is of the same exact quality as the wig Michelle Williams wears to play Gwenny. WIG GASLIGHTING! For other bone-chilling examples of past wig gaslightings please see my reviews of The Danish Girl and Oceans Eight. WIG GASLIGHTING IS TERRIFYING.

EPISODE 6: ALL I CARE ABOUT IS LOVE

And here we are. Throughout this (limited) season, we’ve gotten hints and asides, teases and tosses of All That Jazz but this episode fully just is a remake of the movie All That Jazz. Which I recently rewatched and is terrible. Terrible still? Anyone who would be watching this show would clearly be familiar with this awful film - so why make an episode that is that entire movie with absolutely no new information?!?! Again: WHO IN THE HELL IS THIS SHOW FOR?!?!

Anyway, if you haven’t seen All That Jazz, this episode is about Fosse editing Lenny while also directing/choreographing Chicago AND having some heart issues that end in hospitalization. Gwenny’s wig is bent as ever and Fosse’s circa 1997 Ed Harris lewk is still the same. Truly, there is no new information in this episode at all except that some of it is presented with Fosse AS Lenny Bruce which was an AWFUL IDEA.

OH! Except this lady playing Chita Rivera who is really good and has the brunette version of Gwenny’s bent wig.

ALSO! Nicole Fosse is now played by this slightly older actor who looks nothing like her younger version (or the actual Nicole Fosse) and is in a definitely terrible wig (and also forced to wear heavy makeup to visit her dad in the hospital because kids aren’t allowed to visit hospitals? IS THIS REALLY A RULE?)

Anyway, there’s a lot of All That Jazz hospital drama here and a lot of terrible flashblacks to Fosse’s burlesque tween years which attempt to explain his messed up relationship with women in an extremely Don Draper in Mad Men flashback way. There is also messed up hospital sex with Ann Reinking! THIS EPISODE IS AWFUL IN EVERY WAY!

EPISODE 7: NOWADAYS

Fosse recovered! For now! Back at Chicago rehearsals, everyone is wearing extra socks and doing just great. The most important addition to this show this week is that they got some dude to play Jerry Orbach! His man wig was terrible!

He also very did not look like Jerry Orbach! Anyway, this episode was mainly about Gwenny being TOO OLD for all this choreography, y’all. She was huffing and puffing all over fake Jerry Orbach so Fosse had to cut a lot of her dancing but once the show opened guess what? Gwenny got better reviews than the show itself! Take that, dance steps! However, there was a whole part where Gwenny read Fosse for filth and said that he owed his entire career to her and how dare he make the finale a duet between her and Chita! (He made the finale a duet). There were also many flashbacks about Fosse and Gwenny’s fertility issues and I almost believed that Nicole was adopted until Gwenny got legit pregnant while Fosse was too busy dancing to construct cribs. You almost taught me something, Fosse/Verdon!

OMG I CAN’T STOP LOOKING AT THESE PICTURES OF FAKE JERRY ORBACH. Anyway, Fosse/Verdon then legit DID teach me something: apparently a few weeks into the run of Chicago, Gwenny inhaled some confetti during the finale and it effed with her vocal chords but she refused to leave the show, thinking it might close if she did. BUT THEN Fosse got LIZA EFFING MINNELLI to take her place while she got surgery and recovered! This was news to me! HOWEVER, Fosse/Verdon refused to show me any footage of even fake Liza in the show which was a real missed opportunity.

Anyway, Liza revived the show and Gwenny was kind of pissed about it but on every level: THE SHOW MUST GO ON. Here is Gwenny during the finale which she was forced to share with Chita. And this show didn’t even show us the full finale! I DEMAND TO SEE MICHELLE WILLIAMS DOING THE HOT HONEY RAG WHY DID YOU EVEN MAKE THIS SHOW IF I CAN’T SEE IT. There is literally no reason for this show to exist if it can’t show me Michelle Williams doing a cartwheel in a top hat. What a world. What a wig.

IN CONCLUSION: LOOK AGAIN AT THE TERRIBLE MAN WIG ON FAKE JERRY ORBACH.

EPISODE 8: PROVIDENCE

We begin (or should I say end?) with some grumpy old men talking about what they can and cannot eat (spoiler: they can’t eat anything good!) Both Fosse and BFF Paddy Chayefsky have heart conditions and creative conditions. And I have a condition with this wig on Norbert Leo Butz. NO THANK YOU PLEASE. Anyway, Paddy tells Fosse how to rewrite All That Jazz aka how to rewrite his life and Fosse DOESN’T WANNA HEAR IT. And then Paddy dies and Fosse quite literally dances on his grave but in a really sad and mournful way. Yes, really.

Meanwhile, Fosse interviews Gwenny in preparation for All That Jazz which honestly is just way to meta at this point, and she kinda tells it like it is. And I kinda know I’m not gonna miss this bent wig!

Meanwhile, Ann Reinking is forced to audition to play herself in All That Jazz while under the painfully awkward and terrible direction of Fosse in this circa 1996 Ed Harris wig and LORDT I WILL NOT MISS LOOKING AT THE BAD OF THIS THING!

Then over at All that Jazz rehearsals, Gwenny and Nicole are met with bizzarro visions of themselves much like these bizarro visions of themselves in this show and omg everything just got way too meta and NIcole’s wig gives me hives.

AND THEN. AND FRIGGIN THEN. LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA HAD THE AUDACITY TO PLAY ROY SHEIDER PLAYING BOB FOSSE IN ALL THAT JAZZ. JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT THIS SHOW COULDN’T GET ANY MORE VAINGLORIOUS. MY HEAD AND MY TV JUST EXPLODED.

Honestly, this is the only way for this terrible show to end - in a blaze of glory and nonsense. Well actually, it ended with Gwenny and Fosse reteaming in old age makeup to direct the revival of Sweet Charity but the internet refused to give me any pictures of that and fine. And then Fosse died on a sidewalk in the arms of Gwenny. And then for some reason the whole show ended with a shot of Nicole Fosse’s Vermont house.

WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP IT’S BEEN YOU GUYS. But now we can finally be rid of these terrible terrible wigs and this terrible terrible show.

VERDICT: DOESN’T WURQ

#wigwurq #fosseverdon #fosseverdonfx #samrockwell #michellewilliams #bobfosse #gwenverdon #edharris90srealness #doesntwurq #jazzhands

7 notes · View notes

introvertguide · 6 years ago

Text

Cabaret (1972); AFI #63

Our most recent movie from the AFI list was our first musical from the list, Cabaret (1972) as directed by Bob Fosse. My mom and I have been discussing this film since we watched The Godfather as both movies came out the same year and went head to head during the awards season. Cabaret won 8 Oscars to only 3 for The Godfather, including the tightly contested Best Director for Bob Fosse and Best Supporting Actor for Joel Grey. Both movies are rather dark and gritty in their own way, which is what was popular in the early 70s. So let us break down the tragic story of a cabaret called the Kit Kat Klub, set in 1930s Germany during the rise of the Nazi party, and see what movie audiences loved so much about this film.

SPOILER ALERT!!!! I actually am spoiling less than my previous article, but nevertheless...

The film starts with a welcome song that shows our main players coming together to the Kit Kat Klub (I have put a “C” on the word club in previous articles so the KKK reference would not be as obvious); Brian Rogers (Michael York) is an academic who is working on his doctorate and visiting Germany, Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) is a cabaret girl that dreams of being a Hollywood actress, and the Master of Ceremonies (Joel Grey) is a guide that shows the changing climate of German politics through musical numbers in the club.

The MC explains that all troubles are left outside of the cabaret and there is only fun, music, and beauty inside. Warped glass is all around the inside of the cabaret to show the warped reality that is presented in the club. But this is exactly what the patrons are looking for in the rising fear that is the Nazi party, which is taking over Germany.

Brian moves into a boarding house with Sally and they become friends who hang out at the Kit Kat Klub, Sally singing and Brian presumably looking for light work to earn money. There are some initially ambiguous feelings of attraction between the two, but they eventually start up a physical relationship even though Sally has a reputation for sleeping with men in exchange for auditions and connections. Sally likes the steadiness of Brian and Brian likes the crazy and impetuous nature of Sally.

In comes a very rich Baron named Max (Helmut Griem) to seduce the affections of both Brian and Sally with money. They both fall for it and they both end up having sex with Max, unbeknownst to the other. Around this time, the only song that is outside of the club, entitled Tomorrow Belongs to Me, shows that the Nazi party is taking over and the next decade will belong to Nazi Germany.

There is a bit of a side story (not in the Broadway production) of one of Brian’s students who falls in love with a rich Jewish girl. It turns out that the student is actually also Jewish and hiding for safety. The student confesses he is Jewish and he and the girl are married. End of the side story. Not really the strongest side story, but it pushes the dangers of being Jewish in this new era of Germany to the forefront.

Max leaves Sally and Brian without much of a word and it is revealed that Sally is pregnant and does not know who the father is. Brian decides that he will be the father and Sally seems happy with the choice to keep the child. Brian starts to show less interest and talks about returning to school and Sally decides she will have an abortion without telling Brian. He is upset that she did this without really talking to him and he makes the choice to leave and return to England to continue earning his doctorate. Sally sees him off briefly at the train because she has an audition. She returns and barely makes it through her performance of “Cabaret” without breaking into tears. The MC says goodbye with credits over silence.

There are a lot of topics in the film that would normally have been taboo for the time. I was born and raised in California and earned a couple of psych degrees in San Francisco (including Human Sexuality), so these topics are what I would consider light dinner conversation. However, as far as 1972 American popular culture, this film ran the gambit of hot button issues. The right for women to decide if they can legally abort during the first term of pregnancy was actively being contested in American courts under Roe v Wade. Government upheaval as far as President Nixon and Watergate, involvement in Vietnam, and the Tuskegee airman study (feel absolutely free to look up any and all of these things for a taste of American government deceiving the public) dominated the papers. Bisexuality was not even really considered a sexuality type to the general public so on-screen recognition was a big step for the LGBT community. Supremely progressive stances all piled into a single movie was a brave move which paid off in awards and recognition.

A note about Joel Grey and the part of the MC. He won the best supporting actor award, and deservedly so, over 3 actors from The Godfather. I think he had an almost unfair advantage over everyone else in the category. There was not a lot of screen time for any of the actors in The Godfather and the main player Al Pacino didn’t show up to the awards out of protest for not being in the Best Actor category. The representation from The Godfather camp was a total mess. The group from Cabaret, however, showed up in full regalia and gleefully stole most of the show. Grey had already earned a Best Actor Tony award for his portrayal of the MC, so he had years of practice to perfect his part in front of live audiences. Getting up and doing the same songs and part that he had already perfected with a director like Fosse seems like a foregone conclusion as far as awards. Advantage or no, he was definitely the best supporting actor that year.

On a personal note, I think that one issue that I had with the movie was the character of Sally Bowles. I am strongly introverted in my nature and every little thing that the character did made me angry. She constantly was trying to show off and gain attention. She was loud and obnoxious whether or not she new what she was doing. She made poor impetuous decisions without asking others or giving any thought or consideration first. And she did not really care about others, she was selfish and didn’t care beyond current superficial pleasures. She tried to make up for being ignorant or confused by being a loud spectacle. She is the embodiment of everything that I don’t like about extreme extroverts. And yet I was rooting for her in the end, and for that I give a nod to Liza Minelli and her superior acting skills. Well done, Liza.

I always end up with my recommendation and whether this belongs on the AFI top 100. This was is initially a little bit more difficult in the second aspect when looking back at the previous movies we have reviewed on the list. As far as if I would recommend somebody watch it, of course. It covers a lot of topical issues of the time metaphorically by viewing issues historically, and it will challenge a viewer not to be uncomfortable. Good. I like a movie that challenges me and I hope that my followers can feel that too. It is a musical tragedy and it is not always fun, but this movie has brought up the best talking points between me and my parents, who were alive and college age when this came out. Great movies give you something to talk about.

As far as deserving to be on the AFI, the answer is yes but for different reasons than prior movies. Not as many people seem to know Liza and Cabaret outside of California and New York. Of that group, not a lot have actually seen the film nor are they aware that it is presented like a tragedy. I think it was very overshadowed by the ever popular The Godfather and the controversial topics have made it less part of Americana. However, seeing how Fosse revolutionized the way that musicals were presented on film in a more realistic way changed my mind. Also, looking at pictures to lead for the week in Cabaret articles reminded me that the Liza profile with the top hat, giant eyelashes, and mutton chop looking curl where recognizable to my housemates who had never heard of Cabaret...that made me realize. This movie represents a change from hiding taboo topics to taking them head on using iconic characters like Sally Bowles and the Master of Ceremonies, and for that it should be remembered and celebrated. This film is completely deserving of its place and I invite anyone who is brave enough to watch. And with that I say auf wiedersehen, a bientot,...

#cabaret #sally bowles #joel grey #liza minnelli #michael york #best supporting actor #musical #AFI movies #lgbt #iconic #tragedy #drama #bob fosse #germany #master of ceremonies #abortion #Academy Awards #introvert

19 notes · View notes

queermtl · 7 years ago

Text

House of Baga Represent! An interview with Rita Baga

You’ve been doing Rita Baga since 2007?

Yes. 11 years of fabulousness.

And where did that start?

Here at Mado. I was hired first as a club kid with Marla (Deer) and Celinda and we were called the Three Stooges. And we were just paid to drink and party.

And how has that changed? You don’t get paid to drink and party anymore?

Yeah, a bit. But I have to perform now. Hard times.

How did you move from being a club kid to a drag queen?

I took time. First, well, I’ve been a club kid for like two years without really performing, it was really just doing maybe one show every three months on average. And for a birthday party I was performing and Mado saw me and said, oh you’re good on stage,’ and gave me bookings. It started that way.

Who did you look up to as a club kid?

Leigh Bowery. Even though I didn’t know his name when I was doing it. But I know it now. It’s really the inspiration. And Boy George a bit too. All the classics. But at that time there was no internet, really. It was 2007 and taking like three hours to have only access to a page like Google. So basically pictures from the magazines and I’ve been travelling a lot since I was a kid, so I’ve seen things around the world. And I was impressed by several things in New York City art museums. My father is a big pop art fan and at his house he has several pieces of Andy Warhol, real and fake, so that kind of image has always been an inspiration to me because it has always been a part of my life. Flashy colours and stuff like this. Marilyn.

When you were looking up things like Leigh Bowery before the internet, what other sources did you find?

I was reading a lot of magazines because my first job was at the Couche-Tard, and I was working the night shift so the only thing I had to do was press the gas button when there was customers and half of the time I was reading all the magazines. All the fashion magazines. I had three art courses, so I had to read a lot of books to find inspirations and I did that between 15 and 18 years old and that’s how I found my art identity.

What is it like for you when you meet young queens and they have such easy access to everything and they didn’t have to crawl through all of the dirt to find the diamonds?

I have mixed feelings because first, it’s so easy for them to have access to this kind of information now – and even to have access to everything. Because even when I started to wear fake lashes there was only like two stores in Montréal that had big lashes. And now if you want any kind of lashes you can order it from the internet. And same thing for wigs. If you wanted to have a green wig, there was one place and they had two wigs in stock so you had to fight with your colleagues to make sure you were the first one to have it. But now I’m also living with that reality, so at first I was like, not offended, but kind of jealous that I had to start at that time. But they don’t know what it was like 10 years ago when it was like the golden age. And there was no Grindr, everyone was going out just to meet and to have sex with different partners. So it’s a different time, but I’m glad that I’ve lived in this time too.

How does this easy access to things affect the transfer of information between generations? Are you a mother to a lot of queens?

I only have two drag daughters but I have plenty of children. With the dancers here at club Mado, I call them all my kids. House of Baga represent! But now I feel like there’s a gap between the generation before me and the generation right after me, because I’m kind of in the middle. There’s six or seven queens still doing it from my time. And now since five or six years there’s like 40 queens. There was an explosion. Everybody wants to do drag now.

How does a scene like the Montréal scene – it’s a very active scene, it’s a big family and it’s crossing over a lot because you in particular are hosting these big drag superstar shows with big famous queens from TV – co-exist with the other drag scene from RuPaul’s Drag Race?

Every time I’ve worked with the queens from Drag Race they were all really kind with us because I think they know what’s drag before being famous. They just know that we’re doing the same job that they’re doing. There’s always a clash in the audience when we mix local queens with queens from Drag Race because just, for example, last summer I hosted the Drag Superstars show (at Parc LaFontaine) with a fellow Montréal queen and she was doing a big number with eight dancers and the choreo was so tight and she had her moment. It was fabulous, everybody was screaming, but then right after there was a queen – I can’t remember who it was – but she did a regular number, she was all by herself, and the people were screaming so loud and I was like, ‘oh my god, she didn’t do a thing.’ So I’m just wondering if for them it changes stuff. Are they becoming lazy because they don’t have to do much now? I’ll ask that question next show. But I’m glad that we have this chance to perform with them because it’s bringing a lot of people.

The reaction you had last summer on that stage was amazing.

Yes. And I’m grateful.

You’re also the events coordinator with Pride …

The Queen Supreme.

So, because you’re also an artist, how do you think having an artist coordinate those events has made Pride Montréal something special?

I know that there are a bunch of Pride organizers who are also doing art stuff in different ways. And I think that has it comes to coordinate artists and just having access to stuff in the backstage, it’s easier because we understand what we need backstage. Or just to set a proper time to rehearse and stuff like that, it’s easier. But I think I’m bringing my artistic point of view to the table and I’ve been there for five years now. Already! And I think it’s a growing organization, we’re all growing together and it’s always growing like this from the beginning. So it’s challenging – we don’t want to do the same thing every year, every edition. So we’re trying to listen a lot to what the communities have to say. For now it seems to work.

Can you describe for me your experience just how Montréal has changed in the last 11 years you’ve been doing drag?

The gay village has changed so much in the past 10 years. 12 years ago it was my first experience in a gay village and I was shocked. There was people kissing everywhere and they were partying, and I was under the impression that people were partying all of the time. But now I’ve found that it’s more of a touristic place. The function seems to have changed now. It was a resistant place from the start, but now it’s still a place to mingle and to find friends but it’s mostly different venues to go if you want to have fun. It doesn’t matter your sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s just a place to have fun now. Just here at Mado, on the weekend, we have so many straight people in the audience. It’s like more than half of the audience is straight, so it’s changed a lot. When I first started to work here there were only LGBTQ friends in the place and two or three lost straight boys. Times have changed. It’s more the opposite now.

Do you think that the Village serves less of a political purpose now?

Yeah but if ever something happens in the world, it’s still a place where people want to come. It’s still a safe place for most of the LGBTQ community.

I remember after Orlando coming to the streets here.

It’s weird because if nothing’s happened, it’s like, ‘I’m not sure that I need to go out in the Village now to meet people, but I’ll go if there’s a show that I want to see.’ But if something happens, it’s like, ‘We need to be together in the Village.’

How does the world of the Village interact and work with the more underground scenes in Montréal like at venues like Never Apart or Notre-Dame des Quilles? Do those worlds interact?

More now than when I first started for sure. Now we have since 3 years, we have a Gala de Drag, an annual drag gala. And for the first time it was a mixed event with Cabaret Mado and Cocktail Bar, but I spoke with Uma (Gahd) and she wanted us to try to integrate the other venues outside the Village for next year. Not only the Café Cleopatra, but plenty of other venues showcasing drag queens and LGBTQ talent. So it’s a discussion that we never had before, so I’m guessing there’s some changes. Also the voguing community of Montréal, and just the competition last week for Mx. Fierté Montréal, we had Johnny Deville and Coco who is part of the voguing community. But I don’t know if you have noticed that there was a merge in the audience, and it was rare. I was thinking, ‘I’m seeing people here that I’ve seen at the vogue balls. I’ve never seen them here before.’ So that was cool.

The history of the two scenes goes together, so it makes sense.

You know, I used to feel like it was two separate worlds, but now it’s merging again.

Can you tell us about Mx. Fierté?

We have 53 drag queens from Montréal and Québec. We have 75 in total in the drag community so it’s more than three out of four, and each week we have between four and six cunt-estants. That’s my favourite word. Cunt-estant. And the jobs choose one at the end and the audience as well. This runs 11 weeks and we have two semi-finals.

And what happens to Mx. Fierté?

She, he, they win $2,000.00 and that person will have their own special float in the parade and will lead the T-Dance final closing number with another $2,000.00 budget. There’s also extra prizes – clothing, wigs, and a huge gift basket. There’s about $5,000.00 of prizes.

Can you go back and tell me a little bit about the club kid scene in Montréal? And do you have pictures of you from this period that we can publish on the internet?

I was so ugly. You’ll laugh. I’ll show you one and you’ll laugh.

What was that world like?

It was fearless, I think. Because now I feel like people are really aware of what a drag queen should look like. They’re watching Drag Race, they know all about drag queens. But 12 years ago it was like they just wanted to see a boy wearing a wig. That was all. We were so ugly. We were wearing stuff that we made completely drunk the day before. But it was fun. We were doing everything – it was horrible but it was fun. People were just wanting to have fun and now it seems harder to have fun, but people are so obsessed with their telephone. When I host, I’m like, ‘Can you just put your telephone in your pocket? Please?’

Unless they’re Instagramming you and hash-tagging #RitaBaga.

Unless. But it was not like this 12 years ago. People were more free. Even more sexual. Because now it’s so different. People are so secretive. They have their own secret lives. But it’s still a good time to live. 50 years ago it was another time. But I’m glad that I had the chance to start as a drag 12 years ago. Because I’m just 30 years old, but when I’m talking to my friends who are the same age who started drag at the same time, we’re like, ‘oh, do you remember when it was full of people drunk and smoking cigarettes in the bar?’ And it’s like, ‘fuck yeah! That was so good!’ And now people are so prudish and like, ‘You’re so polished! I know drag! I watch Drag Race!’

Can you tell me some of the people in Montréal that you’re excited about? Young queens or other performers?

I think Uma Gahd is one queen that we have to watch in the years to come. I love Tranna Wintour too, and every time I meet her I’m like, ‘I love you.’ Every time she performs I’m performing here. Every single time. The only time that we were performing at the same time at the same place was a Never Apart party, but I was only there for 30 minutes. I love an emerging artist called Jade Above. I love his music.

Tell us about the Drag Superstars show at the Casino Montréal on March 2.

I’m very excited because two years ago I set a goal of wanting to do a show at the Casino Montréal and it’s really a dream coming true. I’m excited. It’s a drag show and I’ll try my best to meet the girls because at the other show I was so stressed trying to change outfits between every song and I just missed the entire crew. I saw them only at the end to say, ‘you were amazing!’ But I had a talk with Sasha (Velour) because she needed a ride back and she’s really nice.

How did you pick the queens for this event?

I wanted to have a different lineup than what people are used to. I know that a lot of people love Ongina, but I don’t know why here in Canada she’s never booked. She has plenty of gigs in the US but here it’s more rare.

Is it her first time here?

It’s her first time in Montréal. She has performed in Vancouver, I think. And every time they’re touring they’re bringing half of the latest season and fan favourites. But I mean Ongina is a fan favourite. And I wanted to bring Pearl because we have tried to book Pearl two years ago and she cancelled the day before the performance. Same thing for Shea Coulée, so people were angry. ‘I want to see my queen!’ We’re listening. I’m excited and it’s going to be a fun night and we have a whole program for the night. There’s a show but after that there’s an after party and there’s six additional queens from Montréal joining the lineup and performing as surprise guests. It’s going to be very fun. Time to let loose! And now I’m kicking you out to tuck my junk.

Photos by Eva Blue. Interview by Mark Andrew Hamilton.

#lgbt lgbttravel drag dragqueen ritabaga mtlmoments

2 notes · View notes

coldlipsmag · 7 years ago

Text

PHONELESS IN BERLIN

Words: Kirsty Allison

All photographs by Martyn Goodacre, except images of Danielle De Picciotto’s art, and Alexander Hacke’s studio…and the portrait of Morgan, by Kirsty.

Clouds’ shadows camouflage the sea. Sardine boats dodge the lifeboat wind farms. I jet-trash over last night’s cab, and the phone left on the back seat.

SCHONEFIELD AIRPORT

“Yes,” with an ‘of course’-face, “It has all the streets on it.” The tourist board office give me a map with the VisitBerlin travel card – 41E for 6 days, generous. I like free travel, and I like maps. Not Maps that rhyme with apps. I see the island of West Berlin – I put all the streets in my long black woollen notebook pocket.

U-BAHN/S-BAHN

Map in a glass cage – no index – I’ll take a photo – look at it when I’m moving – I can’t take a photo. My cogs shift from the cybernet dimension.

Alone. Letting go of my infatuation with being monitored, I feel an analogue glitch, a slip of fortune as I enter the low-rise city, uninterrupted with pings.

A watch. I could buy a watch – to tell the time.

I could walk rather than do the connection.

THE HORRORS / Synästhesie Festival / Volksbühne

“The people putting this festival together told me this granite floor was from Hitler’s Bunker,” says Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and A Records, DJing in the green room, two floors of sweeping staircases up in the People’s Theatre of Mitte’s Rosa-Luxemburg Platz – once the centre of East Berlin’s GDR.

“Do you believe them?” I ask, of the 8MM Bar promoters who put the festival together. We consider the plausibility, the Nazi star, in dirty creams and blood reds.

Mark Reeder later confirms it to be from the Nazi Vice Chancellor office. And of the cenotaphs stashed beneath the KuDamm – the Nazi spikes. Close enough. Anton is a hero – DIG! the film he stars in aside spars, The Dandy Warhols – an essential on the rock n roll rites-of-passage Reading List. Between his selection of classic psychedelia: “I was born in 1967, in California, of course I’m psychedelic”, with highlights such as Fabio Viscollios 7”, he sets the record straight on all kindsa connections that zip around my references of the night – the stars that guide us, the magnets who form us.

Arrival in Neukölln

So 90s, no blue arrow locator. Without the digital psychographic veils of my screen, the meaning of wrong direction changes – I love to travel, to feel on top of the globe, wherever you walk, with only the weight of the identifiers you carry.

Natural order leads me to Stroke Order – my faux-god-sista, of the Sacred Sound Club – her haus is pink. Y3 shoes, high ceilings, dribble shower, CK mirror. She’s a costume designer for films, but has been hiding out here for a year. Making minimal techno – using autonomous sensory meridian response samples – sounds that turn us on.

Our mothers are pretend godmothers to me and her. She grew up in Vancouver. Dad is a motorcycle racer and ballet dancer in Japan.

Synästhesie Festival / Volksbühne

CAMERA take to the main stage of seated theatre hall. Brutalist fractal collage films of matrix shifting cities, juddering with intent. Projections of you watching me watching you – perhaps being shot live in the auditorium – full scope. Beaming around the physical force of a standing drummer triballing out for a 20 minute set on a bass drum, snare and cymbal. The centre-piece. Astral simulacrum to The Egg who I played with earlier this year. The standing drummer keels in sweat, throws a death white sheet over the drums as though he has beaten them dead, only to dampen their noise, and continue hitting and hitting. Keys, 2 x guitar, sitar bass, different genereration radical on sax – elf dancing.

I’m reminded of the need for parameters – the ones we invent to live inside. The significance of numbers plays on the screens – another hallucination. A replacement for seeing everything through snapshot Insagram lens. Abandoning our digital religion – is so FKK (freikörperkultur – the GDR East Berliners act of rebellion was to strip on Sundays around the lakes – to rip off the communist soaked nylons of identikit clothing*). So naked.

TANGERINE DREAM

A violinist in black – modular synth Memotron on one side – a bank of other buttons on the other side. One life. One nerve shatters and then rest follow. First they twitch, and glitch the matrix…

I catch a bit of THE PINS – all girls – superhot, riot grrrrl electronica.

THE HORRORS

Violent Lenin Uber Alles track shatters across the increased scale of the stage for this headline performance – punk anger of East Berlin, red deco chandeliers of alles Ku-damm Cabaret glory. Waiting for Faris Badwan, the singer who I first interviewed for Dazed and Confused, making a film about his illustration – and exhibition, I wonder about the symbolism of genre/sound/music/art as signs of the times – about resonance – of what we are creating and producing – of X Factor sounds as the capitalist panacea – of our art resonating our environment – or us gravitating towards it. Stroke Order making techno in Berlin.

The futurism of white noise perfection – the dystopian values, four albums in from when I first met Faris – he was maybe 23 then. Unsure if he was going to carry on at St Martins art school. By the time I interviewed him again for Vogue, he was not going back.

And here, seated in the very front row – I witness the evocation of destiny – he’s become less of the shy frontman, but someone who is commanding the respect of the universe – he violently whips the mic lead – he hails the pulses of front row screamers, bonding their necks with rubber wire – he in black PVC – guitarist in red lipstick – beautiful rockstar boys. Lyrics are lost in the Elritch reverb – Faris is crown stealing. Volatile black energy of goth industrial – contemporised by Tom Furse – and his techno pyramid synths. Ice sweat dripping Hackney vampire bassist Rhys Webb. Faris has become storming iconic balearic, striding over theatre seats, in smart city shoes. It’s cosmic goth, it is power – it is owning the depth of Poe hell to Blakean heavens. From voyeurs to submission, the audience leave satisfied.

WEDDING/NW multi-cultural reaches of the city.

Fire station studio. Danielle De Picciotto walks us across a courtyard in twilight. Pyramid of flowers, split by stairs to a below-sea-level, waiting buddha, draped with beads. Left and right basement of Californian security doors, co-joined studios, His and Hers. Drums on the male side, Alexander Hacke, Einsturzende Neubatten – poles of metal to hit. Next door: paintings of black and white folklore S+M dolls with tripped out wings, and photograph reflections. Hers. With tea. Laughter. Discussion. Love. She is love.

***

Lost – ghetto kid guides me and Stroke Order to the ambient dinner in a bar beneath a block in Wedding: soundproof triangles of three-tone pastel shaved hardwood. Clean vegetables, and a series of performances from three post-Akai-ists. Poetry, soundscapes layering paranoic schizophrenic voices – a DJ girl in from Seattle. The residents, ex-pats, from across Germany, and the world – carrying less ego than London. A wholesome intellect carries through, it gets lost in the whirl of London survival. I think back to hanging with the man commonly known as Rodent, the Sex Pistols’ sound tech – he was saying everything is lost in our digital times – the lack of ability to hang out together, they had to live frugally, himself in the studio of The Clash. The intensity of art. It’s easier here. To get involved in your creativity – away from the grab.

SUNDAY

Home jukebox, coffee, and Okay Cafe cinnamon swirls at Jason McGlade and Anne-Cathrin Saure’s (the art director/photographer, and designer of Cold Lips II, and co-createurs of the Shedville font). They moved back here recently – but Jason’s back and forth to London, working on an incredible analogue Polaroid project.

Stroke Order and I head out to Berghain – but instead collide with a very old friend who’s been living in Thailand for 14 years – Martyn Goodacre. He took the most iconic picture of Kurt Cobain, and many more. We tried doing music together when we worked on magazines. We go to a bar, meet with a midwife – talk about the horror show of birth, the guidance into the world, policed by the womb and the channel to birth and the rejection from the vulvic eye. The propulsion.

MONDAY MORNING COMING DOWN FROM AN EMAIL THAT IS CHANGING MY LIFE

Space, China – coffee with Mark Reeder. His vinyl of Mauderstadt is out now. I’ve just run a trilogy of stories on him in DJ Mag, explaining his part in Berlin, from being the Factory rep in Berlin in Joy Division days, through to putting on punk gigs in East Berlin, recording the music in gay bars to play to New Order – thus Blue Monday – and since, from inventing trance music with his label MfS – getting Paul van Dyk on the map – he’s the man. His uniforms. Rare light.

“Danielle [De Picciotto] and Katia – Love Parade would never have started without them.”

[Love Parade was the street party that began in the ecstatic reunification of East and West Berlin. The wall came down in 1990. The old GDR was a wild land. Read Danielle De Picciotto’s Beauty of Transgression for more…or watch Mark Reeder’s B-Movie…and his forthcoming E-Movie.]

He realises he’s late for his lunch…

Alone, back on the Neukölln streets, I look into the door of a Moroccan cafe – get called in by a round-faced Muslim woman, grey jumper, jeans – trainers – Tangiers market vibes, enter – beans – good – no English – point at a box – I don’t know if she knows I don’t want a tagine but takeaway – they waterfall me mint tea – the door slams shut. There are stickers on the wall tiles – plastic table cloths. Am I about to be drugged? Locked in – I have few Euros and no phone to be stolen.

I sit, read the Unspoken Berlin I’ve picked up – and wait for either the drugs to kick in, or to relax. Oh, some brot on the table – no it ain’t Gucci Bloom sea hedgehog fennel and jerusalem artichoke, chestnut puree and scallop, purple watercress like the exquisite experience of Lokal where local ingredients will dance on plates for us later – nor is is it as refined as the Techno sauna we’ll meditate in around the bar – but it is E2.50 and beautifully wholesome – the chickpeas are larger than London.

—-

Neurotitan have taken Cold Lips and my last 3 copies of Unedited. Stefi there is lovely. It’s somewhere that’s always called me on previous trips to Berlin. Many putting a film together that became impossible, about Manuel Gottching, of Ash Ra Tempel – and E2:E4 – the most sampled record – inventor of ambient – before Eno, before the HANSA recordings of Iggy and Bowie. I tell Stefi of my gig last night with Whisky and Words at the Keith bar – where Stroke Order – her pals – and Jason McGlade come by – and Mark Reeder. And Rasp Thorne [post coming to Cold Lips soon, or buy the second edition for total spread]- the consumate performer – lighter over here – my lips are still red from the wine. Stephen Crane. Rasp’s performance of Crane. He’s so good.

Everytime I get on a train here the stasi black jacket ticket checkers are on the same carriage. It’s happened to Morgan 3 times in her year here – and 3 times with me in as many days. I am able to fight my usual paranoias from the top of my Maslow pyramid – the email from a publisher – saying he wants to publish my novel – the one I have had two agents hawk around in 11 years – during which time, I have changed, and so has the story. It is the best email I’ve ever had. Here, lying in bed on the Monday morning after meeting with Anton Newcombe and front row for Faris – Faris frow.Two days later, I’m still flying, as I hit EchoBucher, back in Wedding – they’re taking some Cold Lips…I drop into Potsdamer – meeting… No fucking way. Ticket checkers.

Zug Fallt aus!

You have amazing eyes – you look like Madonna said the guy from Milano – I’m hoping he means old skool hot Madz. En route to the airport – delays – nerves shot / triggering towards Parkinsons and spiked dreams. He calmed me – so did the guy who was also travelling to Stansted – as we ran for the plane, and vice versa. Detoxed from the phone, train home, to the temple – travelling with Alice A Bailey. Nanobotic karmic overide. More ticket inspectors – haunted by the stasi – on plane now – could do with some extra O2 from the overhead locker after running in a coat I just bought which I think I may be allergic to. But it’s so warm.

*German born LA-resident, Benedikt Taschen, the art collector and publisher, has directed the content of the new EAST GERMAN HANDBOOK. An encyclopedic collab with Wende Museum, a place of Cold War artefacts in Culver City. It’s a compendium of communist porn – picture-led, masonically-charged graphics of the whole nine yards of life behind the wall – from ideal weaponary to food, fags, appalling vodka, and the requisite communist shit shoes. It’s got 50s utopian vision written all over it.

1 note · View note

movieswithkevin27 · 8 years ago

Text

Cabaret

After not liking All That Jazz, my expectations for Cabaret were realistic. I knew that it was possible Bob Fosse's directing style was simply not something I was programmed to enjoy. The end result is a film that seems inconclusive. Definitely more up my alley than All That Jazz, Cabaret is still not a film I would quite say I liked. More-or-less, it is an above average musical (in my books) that has some positives and some drawbacks that leave it being a pretty muddled and mixed bag at the end of the day.

First, the negatives. Though La La Land has come under fire for its weak or bad singing from Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, it is abundantly clear to myself that both Stone and Gosling turn in better singing performances than Liza Minnelli and especially Joel Grey in Cabaret. Neither impress, instead turning in bland performances of bland songs such as "Money, Money" or "Two Ladies" (for Grey). Yes, both are legends - especially Minnelli - but neither really struck me as being worthy of the praise they receive for this film on the singing side of things. Minnelli is largely ineffectual and lacks the punch needed for these musical numbers, instead just feeling quite robotic and missing the gravitas necessary to pull of the songs. Fortunately for her, this is not all her fault as some of the song performed in the cabaret are just very bad. Some have great lyrics and melodies, other are just overtly risque for no other value. The former are exclusively songs with Minnelli. The latter are reserved for Grey who is just flat-out grating to watch. He is too exuberant and boisterous. His singing is comically bad throughout and seems to be played out for laughs with his weird lip movements than for any actual singing ability. If people say Gosling is bad in La La Land, then Grey needs his due for being a bad singer in Cabaret. By the end of the film, however, my favorite song was the one not including either of them and given that they were the stars and the main attractions on the musical side, this seems quite alarming.

Second, the editing is quite bad. Just as in All That Jazz, Fosse goes cut happy at points. Jumping rapidly from one image to the next, the film just turns into a blur at parts. While it is supposed to represent the speed at which everything is occurring, it unfortunately has the side effect of rendering those moments entirely unwatchable and distracting. All That Jazz had the same issue with these rapid cuts that distract more than they enhance. It is clearly a style employed by Fosse that simply does not work in my view. While not too plentiful, the moments are bad enough and occur often enough to be worth mentioning. Other than these, the editing is fine. Nothing great and nothing awful. It cuts when it should and is quite cohesive as a final product, but those few moments unfortunately leave a lot to be desired.

In the mixed, not a pro and not a con, section we have the film's sexuality. Openly confronting society's reservations about open sexuality, LGBT persons, and various other sexual taboos, Cabaret is a crucially important film. It shows that those who cross dress, are trans, are gay, are bi, or are lesbians, are just people too. They want to have fun, they cry, they want to love, and they want to laugh all the same. Cabaret, for this, is boundary shattering. It is impressively open about these topics to the point that it may be too much. Mind you, I am not saying it is too risque or that I am a prude. Rather, it feels as though the film tries too hard to push these boundaries. It includes so many topics and, by the end, it feels like the film is just sitting there and judging the audience for not accepting like one of those SNL sketches about high school theatre with the film screaming out, "This is normal and your world view is small." While I agree with its message of acceptance against its backdrop of the rise in Nazism, it feels like it pours it on a bit thick.

On the positive side of things, some songs really stand out. Though I criticized Minnelli and Grey before, allow me to walk some of those comments back in praising some of their songs. For Grey, "If You Could See Her" is beautifully sung, catchy, and incredibly entertaining. It is also thematically relevant with a great take on accepting a person for who they are and not just judging a book by its cover. For Minnelli, "Mein Herr" and "Maybe This Time" are real standouts. The former features solid singing, but tremendous choreography by Fosse. The latter is gorgeously written with a great mournful and longing delivery by Minnelli on the vocal side of things. Yet, bar none, the highlight of the film is "Tomorrow Belongs to Me". Absolutely chilling to watch be sung by a boy in a Nazi uniform and joined in by similar white people, the sequence is brilliantly put together by Fosse and haunting. The singing and lyrics are terrific, but the moment it signifies is the real highlight and shows the perfect blend of music and plot found in the entirety of Cabaret.

The brilliance of this song is similarly matched by Fosse's portrayal of the rise in Nazism in Berlin in 1931. With Jews being threatened and the Nazis constantly present no matter where you go, it is clear that the line of thinking is taking hold. Fosse handles it with grace and turns this portrayal into one of the best ones concerning the rise of Nazism in Germany due to its subtlety. Yes, a song and many lines of dialogue do occur where the Nazis are discussed, but the film's portrayal is defined in images. A man dumped on the side of the road with blood running from him to the sidewalk, a dead dog (WHY KILL DOGS?), anti-Jewish vandalism, and more adorn this film and show the chilling results of hatred. Yet, they are shown in conjunction with how hatred takes power. Early on in the film, the cabaret owner kicks out a man in a Nazi uniform. The man comes back with some Nazi buddies and beat the cabaret owner to near death. At the end of the film, as Joel Grey performs "Finale", we see a few men in Nazi uniforms in the crowd via the reflection of a mirror. It is a chilling image in-and-of itself, but in the context of the film, it comes to represent the general acceptance of Nazis in Germany by this point in time. Though written off as idle threats by men such as Maximillian (Helmut Griem), it is clear the Nazis are becoming more accepted via "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" and the final image of them simply sitting in the crowd. Once rejected by the cabaret owner, they are now allowed into the club out of fear and intimidation, which are the glue to any rise in any authoritarian power. The warnings of Brian Roberts (Michael York) to take the Nazis seriously are well worth paying attention to, just as they are in modern day America with the rise antisemitism, anti-Muslim, nationalism, and other sources of hatred in America today.

Acting-wise, Liza Minnelli and Michael York are both terrific. As the off-the-wall crazy cabaret girl Sally Bowles, Minnelli is a ball of energy but also quite sad. She is open about sex and love, but unsure of how to old onto love for a long stretch of time. She is the quintessential "once bitten, twice shy" kind of girl. Incredibly sympathetic and charming, Minnelli has excellent comedic delivery and dramatic chops in the film and is the perfect foil to York's Brian Roberts. A real fish out of water, he begins a romance with Sally after seeming quite stiff with his British accent and studies at Cambridge. He is the complete opposite of this world of Sally's in Berlin, but he is smart and incredibly brought to life by York. A truly underrated actor, I love York every time I see him and Cabaret is no exception. Alongside Minnelli, he has great chemistry and the two really work well with one another.

With a mixed bag of songs, singing, and perhaps too upfront with its sexuality and taboo shattering nature, Cabaret is an important film for a great many groups of people and it does them terrific justice. Unfortunately, the film is simply too much of a mixed bag for my taste. It has some obvious flaws - Joel Grey, some bad songs, mediocre to bad singing, and moments of awful editing - that really hold it back. Fortunately, a tremendously graceful handling of the rise of Nazism, as well as terrific editing and some great songs propel Cabaret to become a film with more good than bad.

#1972 movies #1970s movies #cabaret #bob fosse #film reviews #film analysis #liza minnelli #joel grey #michael york

1 note · View note

artdjgblog · 8 years ago

Photo

Picture Show (or, The OOPSCARS)

I derive from an area of rural Missouri (The Show Me State) where some still refer to going to see a movie at the theater as, “Going to the SHOW.”

Other than the last few World Series outcomes and the Super Bowl a few weeks prior, off the top of my head the 89th Academy Awards Best Picture envelope mix-up is the most bizarre thing I’ve seen unfold on live television. What a show! I won’t add much more as there are plenty of articles, social media swaps, insider commentary and “think pieces” on La La Land passing the Oscar to Moonlight.

However, it has me thinking of my own playful “Oops! We messed up! The real winner is ACTUALLY ... “ results with the Academy’s top prize. Or, simply the films that have stuck far more to me than others over the years. Many of the top winners are fine films, but I prefer others. And in some cases there’s a tie. In the end, awards don’t matter as we like what we like surrounded by much larger fish to fry in the oil pan of life. But, to further my self-serving at the culture buffet, there are many times the Academy nailed it (even in cases where I shamefully didn’t see all respective nominees).

For the record, extensive research and reminders would be far too exhaustive an attempt to highlight all the films I fantasy-feel should have made the Best Picture nomination cut in a given year. (That would be for another opinionated and elongated discussion.) Therefore, I’ll just stick to those picks that are stuck in true time. Also, I won’t span the entirety of the 89 awards, rather the last 50. I guess this also reveals I have catching up to do with many pictures prior to the 1970s. Not to mention a good chunk sprinkled throughout the years of this little exercise.

I’m declaring myself ineligible for the years I’ve barely seen any Best Picture nominated films or, gulp, none at all. (And from what I understand not seeing all films nominated doesn’t stop actual Oscar voters. Which, is a little weird to me.) There are even a handful of the big winners I’ve yet to see. What kind of film fan am I? (Confession: Moonlight ... I wanted to see you for months but it never worked out. Sorry. Congrats, though!) So, really, why am I doing this? Because it’s fun! It’s hard to see or remember them all, so this may help me fill in the gaps. I’m not in it for an argument. Does the “O” in OSCAR stand for OPINION or OOPS?

Motion Pictures by Neil Young, 1974

BOLD = My Vote(s) / NA = My Idiot Eyes Unseen

1967 (40th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! In the Heat of the Night (NA) Bonnie and Clyde Doctor Dolittle (NA) The Graduate (SHOULD HAVE NAILED IT!) Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (NA)

1968 (41st) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER NOT SEEING ANY FILMS! Oliver! (NA) Funny Girl (NA) The Lion in Winter (NA) Rachel, Rachel (NA) Romeo and Juliet (NA)

1969 (42nd) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Midnight Cowboy Anne of the Thousand Days (NA) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Hello, Dolly! (NA) Z (NA) 1970 (43rd) Patton Airport (NA) Five Easy Pieces Love Story (NA) M*A*S*H 1971 (44th) The French Connection (NA) A Clockwork Orange Fiddler on the Roof The Last Picture Show Nicholas and Alexandra (NA) 1972 (45th) - NAILED IT! The Godfather Cabaret Deliverance The Emigrants (NA) Sounder (NA) 1973 (46th) The Sting American Graffiti Cries and Whispers (NA) The Exorcist A Touch of Class (NA) 1974 (47th) The Godfather Part II Chinatown The Conversation Lenny The Towering Inferno (NA) 1975 (48th) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Barry Lyndon Dog Day Afternoon Jaws Nashville 1976 (49th) Rocky All the President's Men Bound for Glory (NA) Network Taxi Driver 1977 (50th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Annie Hall The Goodbye Girl (NA) Julia (NA) Star Wars (SHOULD HAVE NAILED IT!) The Turning Point (NA) 1978 (51st) - NAILED IT! The Deer Hunter Coming Home Heaven Can Wait (NA) Midnight Express An Unmarried Woman (NA) 1979 (52nd) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 1 FILM! Kramer vs. Kramer (NA) All That Jazz (NA) Apocalypse Now (SHOULD HAVE NAILED IT!) Breaking Away (NA) Norma Rae (NA) 1980 (53rd) Ordinary People Coal Miner's Daughter (NA) The Elephant Man Raging Bull Tess (NA) 1981 (54th) Chariots of Fire (NA) Atlantic City On Golden Pond Raiders of the Lost Ark Reds (NA) 1982 (55th) Gandhi E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Missing (NA) Tootsie The Verdict (NA) 1983 (56th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 1 FILM! Terms of Endearment The Big Chill (NA) The Dresser (NA) The Right Stuff (NA) Tender Mercies (NA) 1984 (57th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER NOT SEEING ANY FILMS! Amadeus (NA) The Killing Fields (NA) A Passage to India (NA) Places in the Heart (NA) A Soldier's Story (NA) 1985 (58th) Out of Africa (NA) The Color Purple Kiss of the Spider Woman (NA) Prizzi's Honor Witness 1986 (59th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Platoon Children of a Lesser God (NA) Hannah and Her Sisters The Mission (NA) A Room with a View (NA) 1987 (60th) - NAILED IT! The Last Emperor Broadcast News Fatal Attraction Hope and Glory (NA) Moonstruck 1988 (61st) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Rain Man The Accidental Tourist (NA) Dangerous Liaisons (NA) Mississippi Burning Working Girl (NA) 1989 (62nd) Driving Miss Daisy Born on the Fourth of July Dead Poets Society Field of Dreams My Left Foot 1990 (63rd) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Dances with Wolves Awakenings Ghost The Godfather Part III (NA) Goodfellas 1991 (64th) - NAILED IT! The Silence of the Lambs Beauty and the Beast Bugsy (NA) JFK The Prince of Tides (NA) 1992 (65th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 1 FILM! Unforgiven (NAILED IT ANYWAY!) The Crying Game (NA) A Few Good Men (NA) Howard's End (NA) Scent of a Woman (NA) 1993 (66th) - INELIGIBLE TO VOTE PER ONLY SEEING 2 FILMS! Schindler's List (NAILED IT ANYWAY!) The Fugitive In the Name of the Father (NA) The Piano (NA) The Remains of the Day (NA) 1994 (67th) Forrest Gump Four Weddings and a Funeral (NA) Pulp Fiction Quiz Show The Shawshank Redemption 1995 (68th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Braveheart Apollo 13 Babe Il Postino: The Postman Sense and Sensibility (NA) 1996 (69th) The English Patient Fargo Jerry Maguire Secrets & Lies (NA) Shine 1997 (70th) Titanic As Good as It Gets The Full Monty (NA) Good Will Hunting L.A. Confidential (NA) 1998 (71st) Shakespeare in Love Elizabeth (NA) Life Is Beautiful Saving Private Ryan The Thin Red Line 1999 (72nd) American Beauty The Cider House Rules The Green Mile (NA) The Insider The Sixth Sense 2000 (73rd) Gladiator Chocolat Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Erin Brockovich Traffic 2001 (74th) A Beautiful Mind Gosford Park (NA) In the Bedroom The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Moulin Rouge! 2002 (75th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Chicago Gangs of New York The Hours (NA) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers The Pianist 2003 (76th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Lost in Translation Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (NA) Mystic River Seabiscuit (NA) 2004 (77th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Million Dollar Baby The Aviator Finding Neverland Ray Sideways 2005 (78th) Crash Brokeback Mountain Capote Good Night, and Good Luck Munich 2006 (79th) - NAILED IT! The Departed Babel Letters from Iwo Jima Little Miss Sunshine The Queen (NA) 2007 (80th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! No Country for Old Men Atonement (NA) Juno Michael Clayton (NA) There Will Be Blood 2008 (81st) - NAILED IT! Slumdog Millionaire The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Frost/Nixon Milk The Reader 2009 (82nd) - DEMANDS A TIE! The Hurt Locker Avatar The Blind Side District 9 An Education Inglourious Basterds Precious (NA) A Serious Man Up Up in the Air 2010 (83rd) - DEMANDS A TIE! The King's Speech 127 Hours Black Swan The Fighter Inception The Social Network Toy Story 3 True Grit Winter's Bone 2011 (84th) - DEMANDS A TIE! The Artist The Descendants Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (NA) The Help Hugo Midnight in Paris Moneyball The Tree of Life War Horse 2012 (85th) - DEMANDS A TIE! Argo Amour Beasts of the Southern Wild Django Unchained Les Misérables (NA) Life of Pi Lincoln Silver Linings Playbook Zero Dark Thirty 2013 (86th) - DEMANDS A TIE! 12 Years a Slave American Hustle Captain Phillips (NA) Dallas Buyers Club Gravity Her Nebraska Philomena The Wolf of Wall Street 2014 (87th) - NAILED IT! / DEMANDS A TIE! Birdman American Sniper Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Selma The Theory of Everything Whiplash 2015 (88th) - DEMANDS A TIE! Spotlight The Big Short Bridge of Spies Brooklyn Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Room

-djg

#oscars #academyawards #movies #films #awards #notesonculture

2 notes · View notes

vileart · 7 years ago

Text

Dramaturgy Rinse:Mike Raffone @ Artworks Elephant

IT’S A KITSCH GIVEAWAY AT SOUTH EAST LONDON’S NEWEST CABARET NIGHT

Lovers of Kitsch are sure to enjoy award nominated comedy performer Mike Raffone’s monthly Cabaret show Cabaret Rinse. Apart from featuring top acts from the world of comedy and variety, Cabaret Rinse also boasts a unique raffle.

Before the show the audience are each given a free strip of raffle tickets. Throughout the show they must compete with each other in a series of bizzare games to randomly generate the winning ticket number. And if that’s not exciting enough the lucky winner then gets to choose her/his prize from The Cabinet of Kitsch, a mock conveyor belt of kitsch goodies that makes The Generation Game’s prizes look positively up market.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

With Cabaret Rinse I wanted to do something that could be a bit more anarchic than I usually do, I was always a big fan of the apparent anarchy of Tiswas when I was a kid.

I was originally thinking of a sort of game show type thing, but that's been done quite a bit recently, but I knew (like everything I do) it had to have a heavy interactive element with the audience. I remembered that I ran a raffle in a comedy night that I used to run about 5 years ago. It proved to be the most popular thing in the show, and the only thing that actually made money. So I had the idea of having a load of stupid games and routines that would generate the winning numbers of the raffle, sort of a bit like the big song and dance they used to make picking the numbers for the national lottery. Only my version would not be as slick and bland, and would have the lotteries and gaming commission break out in a cold sweat. Also the prizes are kitsch tat, but people seem to love that as well.

That's how the idea of Cabaret Rinse was born. It was originally a show that I would mainly feature in, with a few special guests, but after starting to do it once a month it became clear to me that the other acts on the bill should take centre stage. It's a tall order to come up with an entire show once a month! So it morphed from a interactive show idea into a comedy night with a bill of artists and the raffle idea just holding the whole evening together .Actually, if I'm honest I'd say that the idea came to me in a flash of inspiration whilst walking down the street in Adelaide, South Australia when I was there for the The Adelaide Fringe, but I think these were the ideas that were brewing in my head.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?

I'm not sure that the performance has ever been a good space for the discussion of ideas, we performers set the agenda so any debate has to be a bit one sided.

I do think that it's always been a great platform for the dissemination and advancement of ideas. You could say that ideas are discussed as you can look at things from a variety of standpoints. It always says something and has value and meaning, I'm not sure there is any debate thought.

How did you become interested in making performance?

A variety of reasons really. I did always love the fact that theatre said things about all sorts of things, art, politics, science, religion, the human condition. I found that exciting as a young person which sometimes makes me wonder why I ended up in comedy and entertainment.

But then good comedy says a lot as well. I also have a shallow though, and have always reveled in the theatrical nature of theatre, the shear affront and arrogance of showing off. And of course I fell in love with actresses and show girls when I was young. I just decided that it was a world that I wanted to be part of wit all of it's amazing facets.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

Although my shows are heavily interactive and are not really overtly text based I do like to actually write the shows before I perform them these days, and I also work with a director a bit to refine the ideas once they are up and running. Of course it all changes when I perform it, but I like the confidence of knowing that for any show, but biggest problem is too much stuff. I find ideas easy, but I have to work at giving them coherence, and sticking to the point. That's the challenge for me. I also like to give myself creative limitations.

For example for my one man comedy sketch show Brain Rinse the limitation was that every idea had to involve audience interaction and participation, whether onstage as individuals, or joining in en mass. I allowed myself to do anything, as long as I stuck to that one rule. I'm a great believer that it's impossible to fill the blank canvas without these sort of self imposed rules or creative limitations.

With Cabaret Rinse, it was the idea that all the interactive ideas had to generate a number between one and ten in some way, again after that the sky's the limit. Of course what makes Cabaret Rinse different is I have to refine the whole evening, the sort of acts I book, what the running order should be, how many and how long the intervals should be etc etc. Not just the bits that I do.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Yes, and no. Yes for all the reasons that I've explained, and no because for once I'm not the star of the show. I tend to so one man shows, write them, promote them, star in them, even do my own sound cues from onstage. I'm a bit of a control freak. I'm an performing empire builder, a bit like Chairman Mao, except my empire is very small, and I'm not so mean. I also don't have a little book... of any colour, but that's beside the point. It's interesting for me though, to take a back seat and let the other acts on the bill drive the show.

I actually enjoy having these great acts share the stage with me. I have genuine love, passion and respect for the acts that I book. Again it's creative limitations, this time applies to my programming of the evening. They have to be acts that I love, and then I hope that I communicate that love to the audience when I compere the evening.

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Well I suppose the obvious answer to that is that I hope that they experience laughter, but also a togetherness. I want my comedy night to feel like it's just hanging out with friends. In fact some to the club stalwarts are friends of mine and I have no problem in calling them by there first name and being familiar with them.

I want them to feel like they are being entertained in their front room I guess... that familiar. I also love it when people tell me that they don't usually like audience participation but they loved my show.

I try not to put people down, but encourage them to go further with joining in than they ever thought they would. Then they are rewarded as being the heroes that they are, and it becomes their show. As for the acts I book, I've always seen Cabaret Rinse as being primarily a comedy night for acts, like me, who are misfits, who don't fit easily into any genre, or circuit of work. Many of the acts are unknown, or have been given licence if they are experienced for trying something new, or experimental so I guess I also want the audience to feel the excitement of this edge, of not quite ever knowing what they will get, but trusting that it will be good.

A Star Trek toby jug, a Chesney Hawkes picture disk, a home burlesque kit and a nodding Buddha, are just some of the prizes that audiences have eagerly snapped up over the past few months. But it’s not all about tacky consumerism, there has been a lot of fun along the way too. Audiences have re created a Busby Berkely water dance, taken part in a human version of space invaders and played a classic party game with a role of gaffa tape, some sweets and a man dressed in a piñata costume.

Mike explains further, “We get some great acts at Cabaret Rinse, and they are all different and very original in their own way. I felt that just bringing them on in the normal way just wouldn’t do them justice. I wanted a fun, madcap, off the wall way to compere the evening and the eureka moment came when I was on tour in Australia. That’s when I hit on the idea of an interactive raffle and it’s proved a real hit with our audiences. Last month’s raffle winner was so chuffed about winning the 1972 Ed Stewpot Stewart Pop Pary LP, on vinyl with a double gatefold sleeve that she tweeted about it after the show. I think she wasn’t even alive when the record was first released.”

ny c) America

Cabaret Rinse is on at The Artworks Elephant, Elephant Road, Elephant and Castle on every second Friday of the month. Next show is Friday 9th February. This month’s acts include Malcolm Hardee award winning character comic Candy Gigi and Jon Hicks, star of the hit variety show Slightly Fat Features. Show starts at 7:30pm and the Cabaret Rinse pop up bar is open from 7pm. Tickets are £9/£6 concs and there is a £2 discount if you book online via www.cabaretrinse.co.uk.

from the vileblog http://ift.tt/2BCQNV7

#Theatre #Blogger #visual art #Edinburgh Fringe #Experimental Critique

0 notes

marketingmbacasestudyhelp-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Comment on the question posed by Mr. Simitian in the roundtable “Do we have an ethical obligation to make the South Bay a place of opportunity for all

Assignment Solutions, Case study Answer sheets

Project Report and Thesis contact

[email protected]

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

ARAVIND – 09901366442 – 09902787224

Business Ethics

Case Studies

CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

An experienced and knowledgeable Indian tourist guide suggested to a foreign tourist whom he was guiding that it would better to give up the program of going around the places in the city and instead visit a plush five star hotel whose nightclub featured a good cabaret. The guide, further, said that he would explain his life story which could give a clear picture of poverty in India.

Answer the following question.

Q1. Explain the unethical issues in this case.

Q2. Give an overview of the case

CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

Jill has always had trouble focusing. In middle school and high school, she has struggled to maintain her attention on class, homework, and other academic responsibilities. If not for her own determination and the encouragement of her parents, she probably would have never gone to college as she does now. However, with midterms just around the corner, her inattentive tendencies are flaring worse than ever. And with poor grades after her first semester, she needs to do well on these tests to keep her GPA above her scholarship’s cutoff. Fortunately, a friend of hers, one familiar with Jill’s problems, has a prescription for Adder all and offers some to Jill so she can concentrate better during finals. Jill only plans to take the pills this one time considering summer is so near. She doesn’t think she’s getting an advantage because her peers can already focus better than she can. She really needs higher grades this semester to keep her scholarship.

Answer the following question.

Q1. Is it right using stimulants without a prescription? Comment.

Q2. Give your views on the case.

CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

What's on the minds of the people serving on boards or hoping to be? What can be learned about corporate governance trends by knowing the answer? What do the issues business executives are wrestling with add to the picture? Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics provides quarterly programming for Silicon Valley business executives through its Business Ethics Partnership. Stanford University's Rock Center for Corporate Governance provides annual programming for board directors and others aiming to explore corporate governance hot topics. The Silicon Valley Director's Exchange, affiliated with the Rock Center, provides monthly programming on similar topics. I serve on the board of SVDx, staff the Markkula Center's Business Ethics Program and attended the recent Rock Center Director's College at Stanford. Listening is perhaps an underrated activity, but opportunities to do so at these programs in the first six months of 2015 reveal these trends worth watching for the remainder of the year and into 2016. They also helped to illustrate the shifts in corporate governance trends over the past decade. The pendulum is swinging back from concern solely with shareholders to a broader set of stakeholders, from the vantage point of the corporate boardroom, based on comments across a variety of topical discussions and panels. Board directors and governance scholars readily accept a board's role in protecting the interest of shareholders but can also now draw links to shareholder interests from the interests of other constituents, such as employees or the environment, when considering the impact of climate change. The introduction of KKR's Green Portfolio, in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund in 2007, is one example of direct ways environmental impact is being accounted for in business, but it is not the only way. Board directors are fully engaged on the impact to a company's Long term value not only of measures taken to ensure the company's sustainability, but the planet's as well. Thoughtful exchanges in discussions about public relations, mergers and acquisitions, and climate risk and opportunity as a disruptor suggest that directors accept that corporations need to account for broader interests because these interests do have an impact on shareholder value. Additionally, demographic trends, like the increase of millennial in the workforce, introduce a need to consider what those workers are seeking in their relationship with employers. Diversity of perspective has long been supported in research and practice as a goal boards should pursue when assembling participants. Corporations are experiencing greater vulnerability to activist shareholders if an investor's point of view is not represented on the board in the current environment. The rise of LBOs and the reality that many activists are larger corporations than the ones they target highlight a balancing act being played out in boardrooms: acknowledge more stakeholders as their interests affect share price over time but be sure current shareholders feel first among equals. At a minimum, add active investors to the matrix of skills to consider when seating an effective corporate board.

Answer the following question.

Q1. Give an overview of the case.

Q2. “Active investors are required to the matrix of skills to consider when seating an effective corporate board.” Discuss.

CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

In an address to Bay Area government officials during the Center’s quarterly Public Sector Roundtable, Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian spoke about affordable housing in the Bay Area, using the ongoing housing dispute at Palo Alto’s Buena Vista Mobile Home Park as a case study. Although invisible to many, Buena Vista has been a fixture of Palo Alto since the 1920s. But depending on how the litigation plays out, the mobile home park’s 400 residents (consisting of approximately 117 families and 100 children) face the very real possibility of having to leave their homes, their town, and maybe even the entire Bay Area. When Simitian, the son of a teacher, moved to Palo Alto in 1967, he went to school with a group of kids from varying socioeconomic backgrounds. He shared classes with the son of an air conditioning mechanic, the daughter of a high school custodian, and the daughter of the CEO of Hewlett Packard. Simitian recalled that in 1967, nobody thought it unusual that kids of modest means went to the same school as the daughter of HP’s CEO. These kids would eventually grow up to become mayors and middle schoolteachers; there was no limit to what they could aspire toward. Unfortunately, Simitian said, the uncertain fate of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park vividly demonstrates that’s not the case in today’s Silicon Valley. A few years back, Buena Vista’s owners decided they wanted to sell the mobile home property. Given the high demand for land in the Bay Area, it was reasonable to assume that a developer would buy the park and immediately replace it with more lucrative housing. The average Buena Vista household currently makes $35,000 per year. Rent at Buena Vista is approximately $750 per month. If the residents are forced to leave as part of the sale, but wish to remain in Palo Alto, they’ll be faced with the prospect of paying three to four times that much. And the neighboring cities aren’t much costfriendlier. Despite the mobile home park’s invisibility, the people who live at Buena Vista do a

lot of the work that Palo Alto residents have come to rely on. One female resident makes sandwiches in the deli at Molly Stone. Another works at the Four Seasons hotel in East Palo Alto. A third resident was the Rotary Club president of East Palo Alto. Simitian noted that it’s harder to “otherize” people once you know who they are and what their place in the community is. The dispute over the closure of Buena Vista is ultimately a city issue, but Simitian felt early on that something had to be done for the 117 families. Months and months of work have resulted in public backing from local newspapers, school board members, mayors, council members, and an astoundingly successful rally in which 500 people from all parts of the economic spectrum gathered to support their fellow community members. The city of Palo Alto and the county have now set aside millions of dollars to help settle the dispute with the property owners and keep the residents of Buena Vista in their homes. Despite these impressive efforts, the opposing parties are still deadlocked in litigation. With many questions unanswered for the residents of Buena Vista, the question posed by Simitian to the Public Sector Roundtable was, “Do we have an ethical obligation to make the South Bay a place of opportunity for all?” In Palo Alto in particular, there’s a 3to1 jobs to housing imbalance. When new housing does pop up, it’s $4,000amonth housing for people who work at high tech companies. Simitian explained that this Bay Area housing problem has developed into a major traffic problem, as people who work in the Bay Area can no longer afford to live in the Bay Area. Monday through Friday thousands of people shuffle in and out of the Bay Area from remote places like Tracy and Gilroy. These people aren’t just sandwich makers and hotel concierges. They’re law enforcement officers, firefighters, and nurses. Additionally, local small businesses are having great difficulty attracting employees. It’s a dynamic that Simitian believes does not create the kind of community we’re looking for. One member of the Public Sector Roundtable suggested that the case of the Buena Vista Mobile Home Park is an argument for the need for common good. In Simitian’s 1967 Palo Alto, everybody in the community was given a shot. Not a guarantee, but a shot. Now as the community separates into those who can afford to live within the city limits and those who cannot, that opportunity, the participant said, may very well get taken away. Some members of the community will mattero ffactly state that not everyone gets to live in Palo Alto, or Mountain View or Los Altos. The economics simply don’t justify it, they reason. And while Simitian acknowledges that this may be true, he maintains that if we want to have the kind of community where we can go to the deli and say “Hi Sally,” we need to do the best we can for as many as we can. So exactly who is responsible for determining the fate of our community experience? The state? The city? The market? Simitian explained that it’s often human nature to pass the buck and task someone else with solving the collective’s problem. But when a man in a crowd drops to the ground from an apparent heart attack, isn’t it everyone’s responsibility to do whatever they can to help? Housing is usually a regional issue, but it’s typically handled city by city. Simitian pointed out that one challenge is that different cities have different visions for what their city is all about. For instance, the community members of a small, sleepy town might shy away from an initiative to bring affordable housing within its borders because of the stigma that “affordable housing” implies. A lot has been made over the last few years about the 117 families whose community member status hangs in the balance. The question has been raised: Why these 117 families? Simitian believes that one problem with talks about affordable housing is that the people who need the housing most are never in the room when the conversation is happening. The abstract affordable housing dilemma does not often have a human dimension, but with these 117 families, he pointed out, the human dimension is undeniable. You can go to the mobile home park and actually see these people. It’s a real, immediate concern.

Answer the following question.

Q1. Explain why the affordable housing was necessary in the Bay Area.

Q2. Comment on the question posed by Mr. Simitian in the roundtable “Do we have an ethical obligation to make the South Bay a place of opportunity for all?”

Assignment Solutions, Case study Answer sheets

Project Report and Thesis contact

[email protected]

www.mbacasestudyanswers.com

ARAVIND – 09901366442 – 09902787224

0 notes

vivikawidow · 8 years ago

Text

So I admit, it gave it more than a second thought. Holding the card tightly between my fingertips wondering ‘who was this woman from my home land who seemed to know me?’ I had left Westcliff at such a young age that I don’t remember meeting anyone there and they most certainly wouldn’t remember me. Then there was the club – The ‘knock, Knock’ club – that I had been invited to. I had never heard of it before that night either yet it seemed strangely familiar.

“Why don’t we go out and celebrate my new job,” I suggested to my wife.

She was apprehensive. “Where would you like to go?”

I raised my eyebrows and offered a wry smile. “I hear there is at least one club open in this town. I may even be on the guest list.”

Theresa slapped my shoulder playfully. She managed a smile. “That isn’t funny Sam. That woman threatened you. She was horrible!”

I put my arm around her. “Don’t worry. Nothing is going to happen to me. It will give me the chance to find out what she wanted. Would you rather stay here?”

Theresa shook her head. “No I don’t want to be home alone again.”

“I’m sure you will find that it was all for nothing. They probably just have something to do with the mayor and are trying to scare me from the story.”

Theresa hesitantly agreed…

***

Around eight, Theresa and I wandered the rain lashed streets. Most clubs and restaurants in the town were closed but none of those open were called ‘Knock, Knock’ The rain had stopped so I carried a large black umbrella under my arm.

“Let’s just go home Sam. I don’t think we are going to find that club,” Theresa said.

A couple disappeared down an alley way. The woman clutched the man’s arm. She was giggling. She was dressed for a night out. Far more fancy than necessary for an alleyway tryst. I silently urged Theresa to stay as I followed them. The knocked on an old metal door. As the metal door opened a rush of music escaped. The couple went inside. It had to be the ‘Knock, Knock’ club. A lot of clubs had gone exclusive to avoid licensing that were crushing other establishments. Perhaps it was my own apprehension, or maybe empathy for my wife’s concerns but I found myself asking, “Are you sure about this?”

Theresa gripped my arm. “We are just going to see if we can find some information aren’t we?”

I smiled and sighed, the nerves gathered as a fluttering in my chest. We approached the heavy door. The main street seemed one million miles away. The door wasn’t particularly welcoming for a cabaret club. The sign above offered a light humming drown as the bulbs committed tirelessly to their duty.

I knocked heavily – twice for the irony. After a few tense moments the door was finally opened. A tall man with a cigarette between his lips greeted us. He was adorned in a sharp – well tailored black suit, a power red tie and a white shirt.

“Evening,” he muttered without removing the cigarette. “Table for two?” With a flick of his wrist a scantily clad young girl dashed over and ushered us to a vacant table. She offered us a menu each. They were simple, black with the name of the club on it. It was sticky and well used. A stage as the main focus of the club. The band was deep in their music. The chorus girls were dancing in a parade of sequins and feathers. The ‘Knock, Knock’ club was actually so homey it was a pleasant place to be. Theresa even began to settle. We ordered some food. It wasn’t fine dining but it was effective none the less.

The man who had greeted us at the door stepped onto the stage. He had replaced his suit jacket with one from an outfit of evening wear. His red tie was now a black bow.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen,” his voice boomed over the soft playing of the band. Most of the room looked up from their conversations and offered him their full attention – including my wife and I. “Welcome to the knock, knock club. It has now come to that part of the evening that we love. I know it’s my personal favourite. Please welcome on stage – knock, knock’s finest – Miss T.” In a rush of drums and wind instruments, like the welcoming flag parade of a queen, the man rushed from the stage. The spotlight caught a very striking woman in its clasp. She was met with a thunderous applause. I turned back to Theresa just as one of our waitresses laid down a plat of strange meat. I thanked her and she replied in the way of a well taught serving girl who can offer politeness without saying a word. I looked at Theresa. Her already pale face had drained of all colour.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

She reached her quivering hand out and pointed to the stage. “That’s her! That’s the woman who came looking for you.”

***

I turned back to the stage. Miss T was singing a melody with a touch of old school cabaret and the smallest hint of raunchiness. She wore a silver dress which glinted underneath the stage lights. Her voice was sultry and deep. It was a pleasant tone, soft and warm like honey.

Theresa remained frozen in her chair, staring at Miss T until the performance was over, complete with appreciative calls from the crowd. I stood.

“Where are you going?” Theresa cried gripping my arm.

“I’m going backstage to find out what she wanted.”

Theresa shook her head furiously. “Please don’t. Just leave it. Let’s go home.”

“If I’m not back in ten minutes alert the police.”

Theresa’s hand instinctively went to her mouth to conceal the true level of her grief.

I was surprised that no on stopped me as I slipped backstage. At the end of a long hall, carpeted in a very rich shade of purple, lay a door with the letter T on it. I assumed it to be Miss T’s dressing room. I knocked.

“Come in,” came the same silken sound to match the singing. As Theresa had said, her voice was sprinkled with the harsh but musical tones of West cliff accent. I pushed open the door. The cabaret singer was facing the mirror so she spoke only to my reflection.

“You are very lost, my man,” she said. A smile formed. There was a larger than normal gap between her front teeth which gave her an almost child like quality. She had removed some of the pins from her hair so her chestnut brown tresses were in disarray.

“I’m Sam Crusow,” I said with some severity. “You came to my house.”

She smiled. “You are mistaken. I don’t make house calls.”

I became more frustrated. “My wife is outside waiting on me. She recognised you. She told me you were from Westcliff.”

The woman’s smile widened. “I’m not the only one to leave dear old rainy Westcliff for the opportunities of the big city. Look at yourself.”

I could feel tension building in my shoulders. “Just stay away from me and stay away from my wife!”

As I proposed to storm away the singer finally turned herself to face me. She pulled me back with a ferocious grip. “Now, Sam, let’s not get excited. Your name, is it a family name?” she asked.

I found myself replying, “My grandfather was named Samuel.”

“My name is Tabitha. I’m sorry if I frightened poor little Theresa. I’m not going to harm you. I’m trying to protect you.”

“There are people out there who would seek to destroy what your father built.”

Having never known my father or anything about him, other than his name, this came as quite a shock. “What do you know about my father?”

Tabitha lowered her eyes. “Nothing that I can discuss with you now. I’m due back on stage in a few minutes. If you go outside you’ll find that Theresa has already left. I believe you told her to alert the police. She doesn’t mess around does she? I suggest you stop her before she does something childish like tattle to the authorities. If you come back to the club tomorrow I will give you everything I have.”

***

I managed to catch up with Theresa just outside the club. She embraced me tightly and kissed my cheek. “What happened?”

“Nothing, it’s fine. Like I said just someone playing silly beggars trying to stop me covering the story on Mayor Feltz.”

Theresa wrapped her arm around mine and brought herself close to me. She still seemed to be a little shaken but the crisp night air did some work in taking away our cares.

We found our bright green door lying ajar. We both stopped suddenly.

“Wait here!” I instructed, leaving her and venturing into the house to assess the damage.

The door hinges were broken. The furniture overturned. In the initial inspection it appeared that nothing had been taken. Someone had been just trying to shake me up. What was clear though was that whoever it was, they were relentless.

Wiley reporter Sam Crusow has gotten himself in way too deep.

Missed the previous episodes? Read the story from the beginning.

EPISODE 1

Subscribe to this page for the latest episodes of the Knock, Knock series sent straight to your inbox!

Knock, Knock (episode 2) So I admit, it gave it more than a second thought. Holding the card tightly between my fingertips wondering 'who was this woman from my home land who seemed to know me?' I had left Westcliff at such a young age that I don't remember meeting anyone there and they most certainly wouldn't remember me.

#author #blog series #blogger #books #cults #horror #Knock #short stories #thriller #vivika widow

0 notes