#i was lucky enough to see them in december 03 and then again in november 04 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cdkwrites · 3 years

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fic list

helpfully sorted by rating then alpha by title. fics will be showcased in modified mla format. under a cut because this is... crazy long and i don’t want it to be something people see and get irked by.

example fic. main ship (character a x character b); minor ships (character a x character b). summary. series (if needed). canon compliant/continuation/oc canon/divergent (from canon)/au. number of chapters, in/complete, XX (word count). 00 month 20XX.

g rated

at least i’m trying. yugi mutou x atem. “how much money would you give me to flip this table, right here, right now, in the middle of class?”. canon compliant. oneshot, 656. 07 april 2021.

chasing thunder. katsuya jonouchi x atem. "what do i get if i win?". divergent. atem’s birthday 2021. oneshot, 351. 03 july 2021.

christmas traditions. katsuya jonouchi x atem. who better than someone new to teach christmas traditions about to make jonouchi enjoy christmas again?. divergent. 12 days of christmas 2020. oneshot, 2,990. 14 december 2020.

coming of age. yugi mutou x atem. atem throws a surprise birthday party. divergent. yugi mutou’s birthday 2021. oneshot, 546. 04 july 2021.

counting stars. yugi mutou x atem. atem misses the stars. yugi finds a way to bring them to him. divergent. oneshot, 2,008. 20 november 2021.

deck the halls. yugi mutou x seto kaiba. seto absolutely does not want to decorate for the holidays. yugi does. they decorate for the holidays. 12 days of christmas 2020. canon compliant. oneshot, 993. 19 december 2020.

i like it anyway. yugi mutou x seto kaiba. seto's running late for a very important date. yugi mutou’s birthday 2021. canon continution. oneshot, 770. 04 july 2021.

it’s nice to have a friend. yugi mutou x atem. atem's always had a crush on yugi. and over the course of a few years, he gets to slowly go from friends to lovers with his crush. au. oneshot, 1,756. 01 november 2020.

lavish cakes. yugi mutou x seto kaiba. yugi always insisted on celebrating a birthday. seto kaiba’s birthday 2020. canon continuation. oneshot, 300. 26 october 2020.

left them all to me. kazuko kubota x great royal wife keket. an odd, twisted smile appeared on the ghost’s face. “ah,” she said, glancing away. “i don’t…remember my name. i don’t even know how long i’ve been unable to interact with the world. the most i am certain of is that i had once been a princess.” oc canon. oneshot, 5,293. 23 may 2021.

little bit of warmth. yugi mutou x katsuya jonouchi x atem. atem's feeling a bit down. jonouchi and yugi have a plan to fix that. 12 days of christmas 2020. divergent. oneshot, 1,187. 23 december 2020.

love you to the moon and to saturn. yugi mutou x katsuya jonouchi. it's all jonouchi can afford. yugi mutou’s birthday 2021. canon compliant. oneshot, 416. 04 july 2021.

myths about love. katsuya jonouchi x mai kujaku. legend told of a beautiful, ancient goddess with a jealous streak a mile wide. she had an arrange marriage with an ugly brute of a god - what a shame. AUgust 2021. au. oneshot, 500. 10 august 2021.

not a birthday. katsuya jonouchi x seto kaiba. no one understands better than jounouchi that birthdays aren't always worth celebrating. seto kaiba’s birthday 2020. canon compliant. oneshot, 100. 26 october 2020.

pink champagne sugar. yugi mutou x anzu mazaki x atem. a lipgloss can be so personal. divergent. oneshot, 170. 02 feburary 2021.

state of grace. yugi mutou x atem x seto kaiba. kaiba had spent some time with yuugi planing the perfect birthday party for atem. atem’s birthday 2021. divergent. oneshot, 520. 03 july 2021.

still learning. yugi mutou x atem. and getting older still. atem’s birthday 2021. divergent. oneshot, 410. 03 july 2021.

trying. anzu mazaki x yugi muto. you gotta teach your gamers how to stretch properly. canon compliant. oneshot, 170. 11 may 2021.

under the mistletoe. yugi mutou x atem. christmas dates is a fairly established tradition. too bad atem's never heard of such a thing. 12 days of christmas 2020. divergent. oneshot, 2,659. 13 december 2020.

where every wish comes true. yugi mutou x katsuya jonouchi. yugi wants a holiday date. jonouchi agrees to help. yami yugi has a very simple solution. 12 days of christmas 2020. canon compliant. oneshot, 1,074. 24 december 2020.

wherever you stray, i follow. yugi mutou x kazuko kubota. a simple birthday set of plans. yugi mutou’s birthday 2021. oc canon. oneshot, 541. 04 july 2021.

you would be there too. yugi mutou x atem. everything's better with your friends. 12 days of christmas 2020. divergent. oneshot, 707. 18 december 2020.

your ivy grows and now i’m covered in you. mai kajaku x isis ishtar. "ew... that is so sappy, i might vomit". canon compliant. oneshot, 552. 15 may 2021.

t rated

a marvelous time. keket x atem. "is someone looking to stake his claim?" "i don't have to stake my claim. you're already mine.". AUgust 2021. au. oneshot, 316. 10 august 2021.

a careless man’s careful daughter. katusya jonouxhi x mai kajaku. mai's parents divorced when she was young. she meets jonouchi, a sweet man working part time waiting tables to put himself through college. he understands her like no one else. au. oneshot, 2,036. 21 november 2020.

acts of service. yugi mutou x atem. the act of risking one's life in service to the one they love can be so personal... 5 love languages. canon compliant. oneshot, 1,500. 04 november 2020.

bone crush. yugi mutou x seto kaiba; mokuba kaiba x rebecca hopkins. kaiba and yugi have been hooking up for a while but there's one thing kaiba won't do, no matter what. and it's enough to break them apart. canon continuation. oneshot, 1,274. 13 april 2021.

but it’s alright. atem x keket. in a year's time, all would crumble. in this singular moment, all is right. atem’s birthday 2021. oc canon. oneshot, 623. 03 july 2021.

come up for air. yugi muto x katsuya jonouchi. “that was, by far, the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.” in wishshipping. canon compliant. oneshot, 954. 10 april 2021.

five times yami yugi almost kissed yugi, one time he did. yugi mutou x atem. challenge format of five times, one time. a nice exploration of yami yugi's feelings and why he didn't kiss yugi five separate times and one time he totally got to smooch his aibou. canon compliant. oneshot, 1055. 28 october 2020.

gifts. yugi mutou x atem. everything yugi gave, it was from his heart. 5 love languages. canon compliant. oneshot, 1,500. 02 november 2021.

give you my sunshine. yugi mutou x anzu mazki. anzu's been feeling a little down during the holidays since it's the first time she's spending them alone. 12 days of christmas. canon continution. oneshot, 3,197. 16 december 2020.

holiday cheer. yugi mutou x katsuya jonouchi. sometimes you need a kiss from your buddy to cheer you up. 12 days of christmas. canon continuation. oneshot, 674. 20 december 2020.

holiday shopping madness. yugi mutou x seto kaiba. what do you get a guy that says "sorry i gave your grandfather a heart attack"?. 12 days of christmas. canon continuation. oneshot, 2,041. 17 december 2020.

in the mourning. n/a. pharaoh atem is dead. priest set is struggling to come to terms with the death of his cousin and what that means for his own future. au. oneshot, 1,806. 14 september 2020.

last words. yugi mutou x katsuya jounouchi. during that pier duel, yuugi had no idea he'd survive. canon compliant. oneshot, 265. 04 january 2021.

let’s be alone together. katsuay jonouchi x mai kajaku. mai wants to make this a good birthday for jonouchi. katsuya jonouchi’s birthday 2021. canon compliant. oneshot, 2,169. 25 january 2021.

life was a willow. atem x anzu. atem had told her she didn't have to fly out for his birthday. good thing she didn't listen. atem’s birthday 2021. divergent. oneshot, 408. 03 july 2021.

living in a material world. katsuya jonouchi x atem. jounouchi really wishes he could afford atem's tastes. lucky for him, atem's a quick study. katsuya jonouchi’s birthday 2021. divergent. oneshot, 2,546. 25 january 2021.

met you by surprise. yugi mutou x anzu mazaki. anzu came back home for him. yugi mutou’s birthday 2021. canon continuation. oneshot, 682. 04 july 2021.

misguided ghosts. keket x atem. “neither of us have any memory of how we got to this point, either. both of us alone for thousands of years. you…understand.” oc canon. one shot, 4,648. 15 may 2021.

ode to christmas. atem x seto kaiba. seto decides to take his boyfriend on a christmas date. 12 days of christmas 2020. divergent. oneshot, 2,948. 15 december 2020.

on the nature of santa claus. yugi mutou x anzu mazaki x atem. romance is in the air, folks. 12 days of christmas 2020. divergent. oneshot, 3,400. 22 december 2020.

part ii. yugi mutou x atem. atem has a nightmare. nightmares. divergent. oneshot, 2,472. 06 october 2021.

perfectly arranged. keket x atem. atem and keket were put in arranged marriage when they were younger. as they both got older, atem started to develop feelings for his wife. he's fairly certain she doesn't feel anything back for him. au. oneshot, 2,974. 09 april 2021.

quality time. yugi mutou x atem. spending quality time with someone is easy when they live in your heart. 5 love languages. canon compliant. oneshot, 1,500. 04 november 2020.

still having nightmares. yugi mutou x atem. yugi awakes from a nightmare. nightmares. divergent. oneshot, 2,320. 18 september 2021.

too proud to say. thief king bakura x atem. "aww you're so cute" for a ship of your choice?. canon compliant. oneshot, 782. 17 april 2021.

we could be the way forward. thief king bakura x atem. bakura had every intention of getting his revenge on pharaoh atem and his court. however, his plans go a bit sideways when he discovers that he and pharaoh atem are soulmates. even worse: atem refuses to act like the brat bakura knows he is. au. oneshot, 8,673. 13 feburary 2021.

words of affirmation. yugi mutou x atem. there are five known languages of love. this explores the words of affirmation that yami and yugi give each other the minute they can communicate with each other. 5 love languages. canon compliant. oneshot, 1,500. 01 november 2020.

writing the future. yugi mutou x katusya jonouchi. yugi's been saving money for a special gift for his wonderful boyfriend. katusya jonouchi’s birthday 2021. canon continuation. oneshot, 685. 25 january 2021.

you’d come back to me. yugi mutou x seto kaiba; mokuba kaiba x rebecca hopkins, katusya jonouchi x mai kujaku. seto has been presumed dead for three years. his return causes both unresolved feelings of grief to be brought to the surface and the past to be dragged right back up. in hopes of helping seto move on and reintegrate back into society at large, mokuba asks yugi to work on spherium ii with seto. never one to leave a friend in need hanging, yugi agrees. over the course of the project, seto and yugi both come to terms with their mutual grief and grow towards a better understanding of each other. canon continuation. 12/17; 88,000+. 02 august 2021.

you felt enough. yugi mutou x kazuko kubota centric, yugi mutou x kazuko kubota x atem x keket. yugi's had a very hard day at work and what he needs is some alone time with kazuko. canon continuation. 12 september 2021

m rated

fall from grace. keket x atem; anzu mazaki x thief king bakura, kazuko x yugi. when atem from one of the high houses of hell is discovered dying in the streets of 1920s paris by a mysteriously kind angel, tensions of this old war spark when she elects to save his life. the devastating fall out of one simple act of kindness is more than enough to shatter the truce. soon, it maybe be impossible to avoid the resulting war for all species on earth. au. 5/?, incomplete, 22,874. 09 july 2021.

my hands are shaking from holding back from you. atem x seto kaiba. a little birthday attention, as it were. seto kaiba’s birthday 2020. oneshot, 1,000. 26 october 2020.

physical touch. yugi mutou x atem. when all the dust settles, they get to be with each other. 5 love languages. divergent. oneshot, 1,500. 05 november 2020.

... so it goes. atem x seto kaiba. getting alone time with your rival can be so hard sometimes, especially when you're a famous ceo who took over your father's company when you were a teenager. even more so when your rival's friends insist on being annoying. au. 5/5, complete, 29,376. 10 november 2020.

e rated

a loaded god complex. atem x seto kaiba. when seto makes it to the afterlife, he gets everything he could ever possibly want. too bad it doesn't last. canon continuation. oneshot, 5,837. 02 november 2020.

dreams. yugi mutou x seto kaiba. seto has a dream about a certain spikey haired duelist. canon continuation. oneshot, 716. 05 september 2021.

flashback on a film reel. atem x kazuko kubota. the intensity of his gaze never faded - and she understood what he was saying. oc canon. oneshot, 2,272. 12 july 2021.

heaven in hiding. yugi mutou x atem. sneaking away from royal guard duty to have a little fun with your charge is always fun. at least in yugi's opinion. au. oneshot, 2,999. 21 january 2021.

i’ll tell you my sins (and you can sharpen your knife). anzu mazaki x atem. she knew exactly what he was getting at. he seemed to be under the impression that the fact she cared about him was conditional, as if there was something he could do that would cause her to stop caring about him. he was absolutely wrong. canon compliant. oneshot, 5,356. 12 march 2021.

take me all the way. anzu mazaki x atem. one way to sooth an ancient pharaoh, i suppose. canon compliant. oneshot, 949. 11 april 2021.

we’re gonna rattle this ghost town. katsuya jonouchi x mai kajaku. first thing to do in a new apartment with your love. go. canon continuation. one shot, 1,026. 18 april 2021.

#masterlist

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shrek-on-the-dance-floor · 6 years

Text

I had a writing assignment in my sophomore year.

It’s about a clock that tells you when you die. What was I thinking? Who hurt me? Am I insane? Is this a scene or a god damn arms race?

The Death Clock

I was born on January 29, 1995. I was a healthy baby, normal size, normal weight. That wasn’t on everyone’s mind, however; the Watch was.

Everyone is born with a Watch. It counts down.

To your death.

My watch at my birth showed 18:09:03:15:45.59. 18 years, 9 months, 3 days, 15 hours, 45 minutes, and 59 seconds. That’s how long I’ll live.

I’m lucky; there were babies born on that day, all around the world, that only lived for 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 30 seconds. There were babies that lived only for 1 second.

The Watches are bittersweet; on the one hand, you’ll know when you die. On the other hand, you’ll know when you die.

My name is Marcus Tolcater. I am 18 years, 9 months, 3 days, 15 hours, 15 minutes, and 10 seconds old. I only have thirty minutes left. For the past year-and-a-half, I’ve been completing my bucket list. I’ve skydived, ran a marathon, swam in the world’s largest swimming pool, and solved a Rubik’s cube multiple times. I only had a few more things left, but I ran out of time. Oh well.

Living with a Death Watch is kind of hard; every now and then you see someone sitting on a bench looking blankly, and then you see them start crying and screaming. After a few minutes, they slump over. Sometimes you see an overworked person holding a coffee and a suitcase running to work and then they just fall over. It’s kind of sad. Sure, I’ll die in my prime; I won’t experience love, having a kid, growing old with my significant other, and seeing our grandchild. Sure, I won’t die an old man. But I don’t care. At least I’m going to die before I see myself become the villain.

My mom died two years after I was born. I don’t remember it, but my dad said that those last two years were her best. We went all around the world. We went to Disneyland, L.A, the Grand Canyon. We went to Machu Picchu, Egypt, the Amazon.

When my mom died, my dad was devastated; she was his world, and now his world was gone. He spiraled down into a dark, black hole. He tried to get out, but it was too late. The alcoholism shortened the Death Watch. When he started rehab to try and get a few days back, time snuck up on him and took him away. I was 13. I’ve lived with my aunt and uncle ever since.

When I graduated from high school in May, I was finally happy that I was done with school. Now I had one more summer to do anything I wanted. Anything.

So, I just stayed home and played video games for the rest of my life.

Nah, I’m just kidding. I only did that for a month

Now it was June 15th. I only had till November 1st to do anything I wanted. I’ll skip the small stuff and just talk about the big things I did in the last five months.

In June, I skydived again, this time without a professional. It was perfectly fine, up until the point where my parachute wouldn’t open. Luckily it opened at the last minute and I escaped with a couple bruises. I also saw three people’s Watches run out, all at the same time. Turns out, they were looking for people that would die the same day as them.

July snuck up on me quickly, and I went to the Vans Warped Tour. I got to see my favorite bands play, like Black Veil Brides, Bullet for My Valentine, and Avenged Sevenfold. It was one of the greatest days of my life. Nothing important happened after that, but something funny happened. I was at the pool with a couple of my friends, and we tried to top the best high dive. Rush did a somersault into the pool, Mike did a cannonball with extra flail, and I (accidentally) did a belly flop. It was painful.

August rolled around, and Mike’s brother ran out of time. His death reminded me that I still had some stuff to do before, well, you know by now what I’m talking about. I started to finish my bucket list. The next thing on my list was to go to Las Vegas, Nevada, for some sightseeing. I wasn’t going to gamble or anything, but I still went inside a couple of casinos to check it out.

September comes, and so does the fall semester of college. I didn’t go because I didn’t have much time left, but some of my friends went. I was part of five going-away parties, and each going-away party made me feel so alone. In Jason’s going-away party, I felt empty.

“I don’t think I’ll see you again, man,” I said. “I may not have much time left.”

“You could visit, maybe,” Jason said. “Sometime before-” He started crying. “-before time runs out.”

“I’ll try,” I said sadly. “I’ll try.”

October, with its creepy setting, flew in to take September’s place. I was packing my car to visit Jason when I got a phone call.

“Hello?”

“Yes, is this Marcus Tolcater?” the male voice said.

“Um, yeah. Who is this?”

“Elliot Salinas, Jason’s roommate. His-his Watch stopped.”

“What?!” I was shocked. I was about to drive to his apartment. We were going to catch up.

“He died this morning. I had to call his parents, his sister, and then you. I’m really sorry man. I only moved in two weeks ago, but he was a great guy.”

I remembered Jason saying, “Sometime before time runs out.”

It wasn’t me he was talking about.

It was him.

I broke down. I started crying right there, knowing there was some random guy I’ve never heard of until now listening to me crying. The dam had finally burst. The dam I had enforced, the dam that never spilled a leak. The dam that had been built ever since Dad died. The dam I built after I saw what Death had done to my dad, who had tortured him by taking Mom away. Who had tortured him after every failed suicide attempt, after trying to drink his way to Death’s outstretched arms, and then yanking them away. Dad thought he wasn’t going to die soon enough, so he tried to go to rehab. When Dad didn’t want to die, Death took him anyway. Death, a merciless figure. Death, who I can’t wait to see so I can punch him in the jaw. Death, who I am not afraid of.

Okay, so now that this short memoir is over, here is my will:

To Mike, I give you all my games and my setup. I’m sure you’ll make good use of them. You have the skill to go professional. Do it.

To Rush, Here’s the $500 you lent me. Thanks for caring so much about your friends, and me; you were there for me when Dad died.

To John, remember the game-winning football pass in 2016? I still have the football and the footage. I know it’s not much, but I know how much you love football, so here you go.

To Caleb, you always carry a book about astrophysics, right? I set up a meeting with Neil Degrasse Tyson on December 18th. You’re welcome.

To everyone else, take anything you want; I don’t care

Anything else I own will be distributed along my family. Thank you, everyone, for making my life so meaningful.

With lots of love,

Marcus Tolcater

I get up and look at my Watch. 00:00:00:00:03.05. Three minutes and five seconds.

I slowly walk downstairs. I’ve walked up and down these stairs for five years. This is going to be my last time.

I see my aunt and uncle, along with my friends. Aunt Jane is crying softly, and Uncle Mark is holding her. Mike, Caleb, Lisa, Rush, and many others.

I sit down, Aunt Jane on my left, Mike on my right.

I look at my Watch. 00:00:00:00:02.01. Two minutes and 1 second to go.

I take a deep breath. “Thank you all, not only for being here, but for being with me all through my life.”

“Of course we would be here, Marcus. You’re our best friend,” says Lisa.

“You are a great guy, man. I’ll never forget you,” smiles Rush.

I look at my Watch. 00:00:00:00:01.00. Just a minute left. I’m starting to tear up. I’m feeling sleepy.

“My, uh, will is on my laptop,” I choke out. “I’ll miss you guys so much.”

Aunt Jane puts her hand on my arm. “We’ll always love you, Marcus. Eliza and Jonathan would be so proud of you.”

My parents. I always remembered my parents. That’s why I feel my friends will never forget me, as I never forgot my parents.

It’s not a bad way to go; painless, like sleeping.

I don’t look at my watch to know how long I have; the clock is starting to tick in my head. Fifteen seconds. Where did the time go? Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. 12 seconds.

“I love you.”

Everyone’s eyes are watery, or maybe it’s my eyes that are watery.

Tick-tock, tick-tock. 8 seconds. Tick-tock. 7 seconds.

As much as I want to stay awake to watch the movie, I close my eyes.

I hear a voice. “Don’t sleep yet, the movies almost over! Just a few more seconds!”

Mom?

“C’mon son, wake up!”

Dad?

I open my eyes, a final time.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock. 4 seconds.

“It’s almost over Marcus. Then you can sleep!”

Okay, Dad.

The movie’s about some kid in striped pajamas. I’ve watched it a million times, but don’t remember the ending.

“It’s over Marcus. It’s over son. Time to sleep.”

Tick-tock, tick-tock. 2 seconds.

I can finally sleep.

Tick-tock.

Finally…

Tick…

Sleep…

#why did i do this #i'm probably insane

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joementa · 7 years

Text

Week of March 27, 2017. I Fell In Love With The Band At The Rock Show.

As I write this, I’m sitting on my couch with Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall on the turntable. This is one of my favorite non-summer Saturday night albums, and definitely my favorite MJ album. Yes, I just said that. Off The Wall is definitely my favorite MJ album, and it’s not even close. And yes, I’ve heard them all. This is one of those albums that’s just perfect for kick-starting your weekend. Take a look at this FIVE song run that opens the album. It’s almost hard to believe how good this is. “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough”, “Rock With You”, “Working Day and Night”, “Get On the Floor”, and “Off The Wall”. These songs deal with Bruce-like issues with a ‘70’s soul vibe that sounds like the good part of disco (i.e. TSOP) and not the lame cheesy part. If that opening run doesn’t put you in a good mood and ready for your weekend, I don’t know what will. And make sure you check out “It’s The Falling In Love”. What a song!

On Friday night, I had the pleasure of seeing The Menzingers play a sold-out hometown show in Philly. Oh my lord. What. A. Show. I have not been to a rock ‘n roll show like that in a long, long time. The energy. The sense of community. The band totally rocked the show, and the crowd, including me, rocked just as hard. There was lots of movement throughout the entire set, and it’s shows like this that are my reasons for exercising as intensely as I do. Sure, I could scale back on my workouts which would mean I would have seen the show from further away. But when you are in a pit with hundreds of people singing and dancing to some of the best new rock ‘n roll, you realize there’s no other way to enjoy it than being in that pit.

This show was a real treat, and if you haven’t seen The Menzingers on tour yet, or heard their fantastic new album After The Party, I cannot recommend it enough. Run, don’t walk, to your local record store right now and buy the album. Stop reading this, and immediately go to their website and buy tickets to their show. You won’t regret it. The band has such a great time on stage. And the crowd does too. As I told everyone I would, I went absolutely nuts during “Lookers”.

This was a special show for me. It felt like the old TGA days for me. There were so many of my friends at the show. It really hasn’t been like that since TGA went on their break. It was fun to watch my friends in the pit, rocking as hard as possible. This is one of the things I like most about music. I love seeing everyone else so happy.

It’s crazy to think that I nearly missed this show. Let me explain. In 2012, TGA was touring their great album Handwritten, and I went to a ton of shows on that tour. The Menzingers were opening at the Philly show on November 27. At that time, I had never heard of them before. A few of my friends told me that I needed to make sure I saw The Menzingers, so I did. And nothing happened. I didn’t get it at all. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think they were terrible. Not by any means. They just didn’t do anything for me.

Flash forward about seven months, and I was talking to a great friend of mine about music. We both love TGA, so were talking about them, and then started talking about other bands. He mentioned The Menzingers, and I told him that I had had trouble getting into them. He stopped me dead in my tracks and insisted that I buy their third album On The Impossible Past. I did so. And I LOVED it. It hit me so hard, and I was instantly in love with the band’s music. I’ve followed them ever since. After the show on Friday, as I was literally out of breath from singing and dancing and fist pumping so hard, and counting down the minutes until I got back to my hotel so I could change out of my sweat-drenched clothes, I felt so lucky that my friend and I had had our conversation almost four years ago. Imagine if we weren’t talking about TGA on that day. We may have never discussed The Menzingers, and if that had happened, I might have continued to write them off. I might have followed their new music. And worst of all, I could have decided not to go to this show. That would have been a terrible decision! I’m glad the opposite happened, and I’m glad I have great friends who are not afraid to be persistent about telling me about truly great music.

The next day after The Menzingers show, we had a few hours to kill in Philly. Hm. A few free hours in Center City. I think I know how to fill those hours….RECORD SHOPPING! We ended up at Long In The Tooth, one of my favorite stores in Philly. They have a great selection of new vinyl and you can find some real used gems if you spend the time digging. Luckily, we had the time to do some digging and as a result, I found some really great gems, a few of which were on my want-list.

Dave Hause – “Time Will Tell” 7-inch This comes with two non-album songs, including a cover of the Souls’ “Ghosts On the Boardwalk”. Not a bad deal for under $4.

Blood Orange – “Dinner” b/w “Bad Girls” 7-inch I didn’t even know this existed. I LOVE Blood Orange, and neither of these songs are on any Blood Orange albums.

Miles Davis – Tutu What an album! This is a great late-night Saturday night album. I was doing some research on this album and I read that this was originally planned to be a collaboration with Prince. Can you imagine an album with Miles Davis AND Prince?!

Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire For No Witness

And now the fun begins. Long In The Tooth had a TON of Prince vinyl. Unless I already had it, or there were visible scratches on the used vinyl, I bought all of it.

Prince - Batman My Dad got me into Prince, and he loves this album. We listened to this on CD all the time when I was a kid. Check out “Trust”.

Prince And The Revolution - “Anotherloverholenyohead” b/w “Girls & Boys” 12-inch

Prince - “Letitgo” 12-inch

Prince And The Revolution - “Let’s Go Crazy” b/w “Erotic City (‘Make Love Not War Erotic City Come Alive’)” 12-inch

Here is a list of some of the music I’ve been listening to the past week. Format: musician – album title, or musician – “song title” (album title).

Bob Dylan – Triplicate

Ryan Adams – Prisoner

Kendrick Lamar – “The Heart Part 4”

Craig Finn – We All Want the Same Things

Laura Marling – Semper Femina

Dave Hause – Bury Me In Philly

Conor Oberst – Salutations

Crystal Fairy – Crystal Fairy

The Shins - Heartworms

The Menzingers – After The Party

The Menzingers – “Lookers” (After The Party)

The Pretenders – Learning to Crawl

Counting Crows – “A Long December” (Recovering The Satellites)

Camp Cope – Camp Cope

The Cure – Three Imaginary Boys

John Mayer Trio – Try!

Wilco – Summerteeth

The Cure – The Head On the Door

Miles Davis – On The Corner

Miles Davis – Tutu

Sam Beam & Jesca Hoop – Love Letter For Fire

Bob Dylan – Fallen Angels

Bob Dylan – Shadows In the Night

Wilco – A.M.

Ryan Adams – “Do You Laugh When You Lie?” b/w “By the Way” and “I’m In Love With You”

Ryan Adams – “Blue Light” b/w “On My Life” and “I Lost My Fucking Mind”

Michael Jackson – Off The Wall

Prince – Batman

Blood Orange – Cupid Deluxe

Lissie – Back To Forever

Nina Simone – Let It All Out

Hootie & The Blowfish – Cracked Rear View

Music is not only fun to listen to. It’s also fun to read about! Hear are a few articles that I’ve read recently, which I think are worth your time.

- JM (John Mayer) has a new album coming out on April 14, called The Search For Everything. The NYT did a feature article on him on March 26. The link to that article is below. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/arts/music/john-mayer-search-for-everything-interview.html?ref=todayspaper

- (F)JM (Father John Misty) has a new album coming out the week before JM’s new album. It’s called Pure Comedy and I can’t wait to listen to it. The NYT did a feature article on this (F)JM, and the link to that article is below. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/arts/music/father-john-misty-pure-comedy-interview.html?ref=todayspaper

- Dave Hause’s new album Bury Me In Philly is one of my favorites so far from this year. I discovered his music in 2012 when I saw him touring in support of his debut solo album Resolutions. He recently did an interview with Xtra Mile Recordings about that album. You can (and should) read that interview by clicking the link below. http://www.1.xtramilerecordings.com/dave-hause-on-resolutions/

- Last week I mentioned Dylan’s Q&A with Bill Flanagan. I think it’s so good, and hilarious, that I will mention it again. Carve some time into your schedule to read this. http://www.bobdylan.com/news/qa-with-bill-flanagan/

- Jack White is one of those musicians that you just have to love if you’re a music fan. I wish all musicians had his passion and love for music. The New Yorker did a feature article on him recently, appearing in the March 13, 2017 issue. The link to the article is below. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/jack-whites-infinite-imagination

- New Miserable Experience by the Gin Blossoms was recently reissued on vinyl. It is a great summer album (check out the song “29”), filled with catchy choruses and ‘90s guitar riffs (never a bad thing). A lot of people know some of the Gin Blossoms hits, but not many people know about how they were close to never being popular at all, and yet at the same time had the potential to be one of the world’s biggest bands. This story explains some of that. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/gin-blossoms-new-miserable-experience-at-25-w473690?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=032917_12

- The New York Times Style Magazine recently included a feature article on Tom Waits, Kendrick Lamar, and Beck, discussing their creative process and the urgency and emergency they feel when creating. That’s quite the group of talented and creative musicians right there. A feature article of each of them discussing their inspirations and creative process is bound to be worth reading. I’ve read it, and it is. Take some time to read it. Here is the link. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/t-magazine/beck-tom-waits-kendrick-lamar.html?_r=0

Now I am listening to Dylan’s great new album Triplicate on the turntable. This is an album that was meant to be listened to on vinyl. And it’s a great Sunday album. So after you listen to MJ’s Off The Wall on a Saturday night, you can listen to Dylan’s Triplicate on a Sunday. You can always find the connection in music!

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