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[sinceileftyoublog]

Cracker Interview: Telling the Band's Story

Photo by Jason Thrasher

BY JORDAN MAINZER

"Sometimes, nowadays, you don't have control over what you're promoting and marketing."

Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven front-man David Lowery, speaking to me over the phone from his hometown Athens, GA, was referring to songs going viral on TikTok when you least expect or even desire it, something that's happened to artists from Duster to Faye Webster. But control is exactly what Cracker have been seeking for the past two decades. In 2006, a day after their previous label Virgin Records issued a Cracker greatest hits record without the band's permission, Cracker released their own, Greatest Hits Redux, via British independent label Cooking Vinyl. More importantly, the songs on Redux were rerecorded, meaning Cracker owned the masters, and the band priced them on iTunes for less than the versions on Virgin's collection, resulting in greater sales for the Redux versions. Plus, if you were a Cracker diehard or completist, wouldn't you have wanted to nab the technically "different" versions of these classic songs?

In November, Lowery and company called back to their previous middle finger to the music industry, releasing Alternative History: A Cracker Retrospective, also via Cooking Vinyl. The compilation contains the Redux versions of the band's most popular tunes as well as their past collaborative rerecords with Boulder bluegrass jammers Leftover Salmon, live recordings from Madrid and the German TV show Rockpalast, deep cuts, and previously unreleased material. Lowery, also a Senior Lecturer in Music Business at the University of Georgia, is as privy to anyone to the general listening habits of Gen-Z, knowing that music listeners increasingly favor playlists over albums. Consider Alternative History Cracker's official band playlist.

In fact, some of the versions on Alternative History have become canon in the ears of fans. If you've caught Cracker performing "I See the Light" live, the spritely ending here (originally on Redux) should sound more familiar than the comparatively slower outro from their self-titled debut. The jaunty barroom pianos of the Leftover Salmon collaborative version of "Sweet Potato" breathes new life into the Kerosene Hat standout. Leftover Salmon also help Cracker get to the point on "Eurotrash Girl", the arrangement carried by Noam Pikelny's banjo rather than dripping psychedelic guitars.

Of course, Cracker hopes that Alternative History becomes anything but alternate--if not definitive, that it stands on its own. It provides Lowery the opportunity to tweak his vocal performance and banjo playing on "Almond Grove", and for the band to remix, ever so slightly, even recordings released a mere few years ago. The compilation ends with "Ain't Gonna Suck Itself", the band's infamous dismissal of Virgin Records that appeared on 2003's Countrysides. It was the only non-cover song on that album, and ironically, wasn't rerecorded when it appeared on Redux. Here, we see the now indie rock band dangling a carrot over the heads of major label executives, cheekily asserting the control they continuously fight to keep.

Cracker's currently on tour in support of Alternative History, and on Sunday, they stop at Old Town School of Folk Music for two shows: an afternoon unplugged set and an evening full band show. Below, read my conversation with Lowery, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: Why did you decide to release this alternative history?

David Lowery: Students who would take classes from me would dig through my catalog and discover Cracker through these algorithmic playlists that the streaming services generate, which are sort of weird. Obviously, the hits are at the top of those playlists, but [sometimes,] something [gets traction from] someone else's playlist, like "Greatest Hits of the 90's" or "Songs From The Television Show Californication." Playlists are sequenced badly, because they're by popularity, and I was kind of tripping on the fact that if somebody wants to get into a band, there's a better way to do it. [Plus,] our Greatest Hits Redux was only our first 10 years of the band, so we needed a new one. We needed a new retrospective.

I started talking to Cooking Vinyl about it, because a lot of our catalog is licensed by them. What we were gonna do was license key tracks from the Universal Music Group and Concord catalogs, but That started to seem expensive. One of the good things for Cracker is that through the years, we've rerecorded a number of our hits and key tracks for licensing. One of the reasons you do that is if somebody wants to come for a commercial, film, video game, or streaming license, you can offer them this other track at a slightly reduced price and keep all the money. That was very helpful for us. There were a lot of rerecords of our hits, and they're very well done. Movie directors are super picky. They want a particular recording of a song, so the rerecords have to sound just like it. There were also various collaborations we did over the years, like with Leftover Salmon and Drive-By Truckers, and because of the constraints of licensing, we started looking at this like, "What if we did a retrospective, but did all re-records, outtakes, B-sides, and live recordings, and tell the Cracker story that way?" I just thought it was more interesting, and in a lot of ways, a more accurate telling of the band's story.

SILY: Some of the versions on here are the ones your fans prefer. Also, it seems like once you release a song and play it live over the years, it takes a new shape and often becomes the definitive version. Do you agree with your fans in that regard?

DL: Certain songs, the beauty of the recording you get in a studio can't be matched. But "One Fine Day", which over the years has evolved into a Crazy Horse-esque, 8-minute-long song, that's just a better version of the song. We had a really good recording of that from the German television show Rockpalast. "Gimme One More Chance" from that same show is a good one. There's a stripped down, slower, more quiet version of "Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey" from when we were on tour in Spain a few years ago. That's a different interpretation of the song, but it's cool. It works really well. In some cases, these other versions we did of the song, the live versions, maybe, were better than the original recordings, because [at the time of recording,] the songs were new and we hadn't played them that much. There's also just weird stuff, like the fact we found a demo of "Merry Christmas Emily", which I did as a rock rave-up, a roots rock version from forever ago. The original demo of the songs was completely different, and I had forgotten about it. [The version on Alternative History is] not the demo of the song, we just recorded it as we would have if we had changed the song to more of a rock song. It's almost like a different song with the same words. These things are important for people to hear, almost like an alternate reality.

SILY: There are a couple songs on Alternative History that aren't even rerecords, you've just reintroduced them because they were from a record you didn't think enough people paid attention to, like Greenland and the song "I Need Better Friends". I was also happy you included alternate versions of songs from Berkeley to Bakersfield, which is my favorite Cracker record. How does your relationship with your songs change over time? Do you still identify with the person you were when you wrote them?

DL: Most of the time. There's a certain level of professionalism you have to have. I've played "Low" 5,000 times, but I have to play it like it's our new song. I get myself in that mindset. It's a challenge with older songs we've played so many times. But we have such a large catalog, we can always mix it up. We'll play our 5 hits, but every other song in the set is different than the last time we played that city.

SILY: Do you ever think you'll do a live tour of alternate versions?

DL: We used to do a Cracker duo tour, and that evolved into a trio when we borrowed a pedal steel player. That's what we did for a while. There was talk of us releasing an album of it, but we never really got around to it.

SILY: You could get Leftover Salmon to join you. I love your collaborative version of "Eurotrash Girl" with them--it's concise and compacted.

DL: There was a 20th anniversary of that [album, Oh Cracker, Where Art Thou?, in 2023], and we talked about trying to do some shows together, but we couldn't fit it into our schedules. Those songs are important to our career and catalog. A lot of our fans know about them, but a lot of the general public doesn't. I love that version of "Eurotrash Girl". It was done in a single take. We were talking about how to do it, and [Leftover Salmon's] banjo player at the time suggested we do it as a waltz. We were noodling around and got it going, and that's the take, from conception to printed recording in 30 minutes.

SILY: Are the Madrid songs on here the same you shared on Bandcamp in 2023?

DL: Yeah. We did that as a limited edition CD, only 600 copies. A couple of them are slightly remixed, because in between the time we released the Madrid shows and the release of this record, the stuff we call "AI," which is really just very intelligent signal processing, has gotten so advanced, we were able to rebalance those recordings a little bit, where, [for instance,] the vocals were too quiet. The [songs are] slightly different. Someone with a fine ear will notice the instruments are balanced better, because you can literally take a two-track live recording and remix it down, and it has no artifacts. It's bizarre.

SILY: It's been over 10 years since Cracker's released a new record. Is there anything next for you?

DL: My 3 solo records [that came out since COVID] all come out as a box set with even more songs on it in May. It started before COVID, but that project was supercharged by COVID. It's super cool, because it's kind of somewhere between Camper and Cracker. Some of it is stripped down, and some of it has a string section. I've been doing solo shows--not a ton of them, because I've been waiting for all of this to come out as a box set--and it's started to become a pretty popular show for me. I sold out 2 shows in Atlanta. That's kind of where my focus has been. I imagine we'll make another Cracker record. I'd hoped Camper would make a record for our 40th anniversary, but I don't think we'll have time to make that happen, so instead I think me and Chris Molla, one of the founders in the band in the early years, are thinking of making a recording of our band that preceded Camper van Beethoven but shares a lot of the same songs. I got a lot of stuff going on; I'm not sure if it's a Camper record or a Cracker record just yet.

SILY: Right before COVID, I saw the Cracker-Camper Van Beethoven tour at Lincoln Hall in Chicago. For some reason, my wife and I had watched Bio-Dome earlier that day, and there's a Camper song in that movie that you played later that night (“Good Guys and Bad Guys”). I had totally forgotten about that. It was such a weird cosmic connection, experiencing a movie and song I hadn't in years on the same day.

DL: There's a certain kind of B movie that gets played over and over again that generates a lot of performance royalties for us, and that's one of them. Another one is Year One. We had two songs in Sharknado, another weird sleeper that just keeps getting viewed and viewed. It's interesting when songs go into those films; there's a certain B movie that has that weird long life.

SILY: Is there anything lately you've been listening to, watching, or reading that's caught your attention?

DL: The Penguin, which is not a superhero movie, but a mafia movie from the Batman universe, is super well done. If you're ever into science fiction, The Three-Body Problem is a mind-blowing trilogy, and so is The Expanse series. I've gotten back into sci-fi because one of my sons is really into sci-fi and space shanties. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of John K. Samson's solo records. He's put out a number of solo records that are outstanding writing. In some ways, there's something about him that I think people hear Camper in, in a way, but that's not really why I listen to him. I just think it's outstanding writing and storytelling.

[steezylad]

Louie Lopez for FA • by me

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Curved-billed Thrasher

Birds

Photographer: Jason Polak

Common Redpoll

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[keycomicbooks]

Night Thrasher #1 (2024) Davi Go Black History Month Variant / Jason Holtham Writer / Nelson Daniel & Alan Quah Artist / 1st Appearance of O.G. (Elvin Haliday) from Earth-616

#NightThrasher #1 (2024) #DaviGo #BlackHistoryMonthVariant / #JasonHoltham Writer / #NelsonDaniel & #AlanQuah Artist / 1st Appearance of #OG (#ElvinHaliday) from Earth-616 "Remix, Part 1: Don't Call It a Comeback" And other stories. It's time to thrash the night! SAVE ON SHIPPING COST - NOW AVAILABLE FOR LOCAL PICK UP IN DELTONA, FLORIDA https://rarecomicbooks.fashionablewebs.com/Night%20Thrasher%202024.html  #RareComicBooks #KeyComicBooks #MarvelComics #MCU #MarvelUniverse #ComicBooks #NerdyGifts #KeyIssue

[captainpirateface]

Before he was a Mallrat or his name was Earl, Jason Lee was a bad a$$ professional skateboarder! During the 80s & 90s, Jason was one of the biggest names in the sport, showcasing his jaw-dropping tricks including "The Tre Flip" which he perfected. He was often featured in Thrasher magazine and is even in the Skateboarding Hall of Fame!

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Cutting Too Deep~3~Final

Part 2

Angst

Words : 5.5k

@babyloutattoo89 @palomam18 @becca-alexa @sadbitchfangirl @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @djkeruigbbygirl @haileighboi @bookshelf-dust @moonchildquinn @strangerfreak

“ Please, Steve” you begged him following him around Family Video trying to get him to agree to be your fake boyfriend.

He shook his head while taking things out of the box that came in not long ago. 

“ It’s not going to hurt anyone, Stevie” you jutted out your bottom lip with your eyes pleading like puppy dog eyes.

Steve didn’t even need to look at you to know what you were doing. “ Y/N, I said no.” 

“ Why not?” Steve sighed, shaking his head. 

“ Because you can’t just use people!” He shouted turning around, anger in his eyes.

He put a hand on his chest. “ I’m a person with feelings too. You’re not going to use me just piss Munson off.” 

“ But Steve I-“ he pointed a finger at you, spatting the next words, “ When did you turn out to be such an asshole?” 

You gasped at the words, eyes widen hearing the words from him.

“ Excuse me?” His lips threw in a thin line as he turned back to the box. He didn’t really mean to be so angry with you but he knew you were playing a dangerous game with someone else’s feelings.

As much as he didn’t like Eddie, but he tolerated him because of you. 

“ Fine, I won’t use the precious Steve Harrington. I thought we were friends. I guess not” Steve’s hands landed on the opened box, he sighed hearing you walk out of the back room and heading to the front where Robin hid behind a shelf listening in the conversation. 

You didn’t even bother to say bye to her and heading to your car where you angrily drove away. 

It wasn’t until two days later where you walked through the doors with Andy by your side with his jacket around your shoulders.

Chrissy and Jason on the other side of yours as your hand was in Andy’s hand. Heads turned with wide eyes as they saw you with them. Since when did that happen? 

Gareth, Dustin, Mike, the freak and Jeff all turned to see you. Mouth dropped. 

“ Since when is she dating one of them?!” Dustin shouted. 

“ How have we missed the memo?” 

“ What’s up my little sheeps?” Eddie walks over to them not really paying attention to what they were looking at until his eyes landed on you. His mouth felt dry, and his heart felt like someone threw it in the trash and put it through a thrasher.

Everything in him felt cold and unwanted. He felt like he was in someone else’s body.

He couldn’t believe it. You felt like a bunch of bricks hit him of betrayal. How could you? 

His nose scrunched up in disgust. You happen to walk by making sure to pull Andy down to kiss him on the cheek.

Right in front of Eddie who angrily watching this unfold. His throat build up and he can’t swallow the lump in his throat. 

His hands are shaking and his eyes fill with tears.

It was like his chest was clenching together finding it harder and harder to breathe. He collapsed against the lockers as he felt his chest burning and tears rolling down his cheeks. 

“ Eddie?” Jeff calls out to him. “ Are you okay, man?”

Eddie doesn’t answer him as his vision blurs with tears and he can’t take this emotion. He feels like everything inside of him has erupted and he’s not the person he is. He feels everything running through him. 

He stands up to push past anyone in his way as he needs to get some air. He feels like he’s about to throw up and he hasn’t ate anything today yet.

He pushes the door opened, stumbling through people, tears rolling down his cheeks as his hands come up his knees as he chokes out whatever is bothering him in his mouth. 

A hand rubs his back while he’s having this panic attack that he thinks he’s having.

He feels everything just trying to get out and he hates it. He hates you for making him feel like that. 

“ I’m sorry, Eddie” the sound of Dustin’s voice fills his ears. Eddie doesn’t look back and shakes his head. Dustin continues to rubs Eddie’s back. 

“ Maybe you should go home” he suggest. Eddie sobs more and coughs even more as his hands are shaking. People are looking at him with disgust as they walk past him.

“ Move along! Nothing to see here!” Dustin says. He sends a sympathetic look towards Eddie’s way and Eddie seems to calm down a bit as he stands back up, wiping with the back of his hand the salvia, snot and whatever else with the back of his sleeve. 

Dustin fishes out a napkin from his backpack that his mom usually adds in, just in case. 

“ Here” he hands Eddie a napkin which Eddie takes and wipes his eyes away. Dustin has never seen Eddie act like this and looks at the school back in concern. 

“ I’ll call Wayne to come pick you up” Dustin says. “ Let me call him” he says. Eddie puts his hands on Dustin’s shoulder and shakes his head. 

“ Thanks, Henderson but he’s at work and there is no need to bother him” Dustin shoots him a disapproving look.

“But you’re not feeling well” Dustin mutters. 

“ I’ll be fine, I need a smoke. Thanks, Henderson. You can go back to class” Dustin shakes his head as he looks back at the school again. “ I could always tell my mom I had to look after you for skipping class, she would understand. She loves you.” 

“ Henderson, go to class” Eddie pleads. “ I’ll be fine” he took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket off his jacket and lights one up. 

Dustin sighs and says, “ If you need anything, you know where to find me. I can go get Gareth or Jeff.” He points back at the school. 

“ Henderson, get your butt to class before I kick it” he says. The cigarette hanging in the corner of his mouth. 

Dustin nods as he squeezes Eddie’s shoulder and heads towards the school. Eddie looks towards the school and sighs to himself. 

He was getting a big headache from all of this. 

Andy kept putting his arm around you all through the day. You hadn’t seen Eddie for the rest of the day and getting looks from the rest of the Hellfire table, mostly glares.

Dustin didn’t say a word to you when he passed you in the hall. You were a bit hurt by this but you felt like you were digging a hole with this game you were playing at. 

At lunch, you walked past the Hellfire table hearing them stop talking as they turned to glare your way.

Dustin had taken a piece of sandwich with a mouthful he glared at you while you stopped at the table.

“ You look a little lost there Y/N” you heard the sound of Stephanie’s voice. “ Were you hoping to catch Munson?” She asked as she stands in front of you now with her hands on her hips. 

“ Awe look at you with little hope in her eyes that her little friends don’t like her anymore, tough. No one likes you anymore,  you’re such a sad little nobody” she took the milk from your lunch and opened it. 

“ Look at what your wearing even, god do you even know how to dress?” You look down at your outfit as everyone turned to glance at you. 

“ Did you really think dating Andy would do you any good? He feels sorry for you, little girl. No one would date such a nerd like you. You’re a living joke” she laughs, her little group laughs with her as she pours over your head. 

You gasped feeling some get into your eyes, the cafeteria laughed at what happened. You felt eyes on you as tears filled your eyes. 

“ Leave her alone!” Someone shouted. Everyone turns their heads to see Robin standing at the door with her hands on her hips. You thought she wasn’t your friend anymore.

“ What are you going to do about it?” Stephanie asked. Robin stomped her way over getting her own tray with food spilling it into the garbage and taking the tray, slamming it over her head. Everyone gasped even the Hellfire table as they watched. You hadn’t thought Robin would do this. 

She grabbed your hand and the two of you ran out of the cafeteria all the way to the bathroom.

She closed the door with her back, leaning against it as she laughed while you joined her. It was only a few moments until the both of you stopped, to catch your breathe. 

“ Are you okay?” She asked making her way over to you and gets a paper towel as she try to reach out to help you.

You turned to look at the mirror at yourself seeing the milk drenched your hair, your shirt drenched in ilk and you looked like a horror show happened to you. 

“ I will be” you mumbled turning on the faucet to wash your hair. She stands behind you looking into the mirror.

“ I’m sorry this happened to you” you shrugged, sniffling.

“ It’s like I deserved it” you mumbled. You turn off the faucet and turn your hair to the side putting it in a side pony tail. “ I think I’ll head home. I don’t feel like going to the rest of my classes.”

“ Do you want me to come with you?” 

You shook your head. 

“ Thank you, but I’m sure I’ll be fine. It’s just milk” she shook her head.

“ I meant, what happen earlier with Stephanie?” 

“ You handle it, Robs. I didn’t know you had in you and with a swing like that” she shrugged, a small hint of red on her cheeks. “ I’ve learned from the best” she says, a slight smirk on her face. 

You chuckled, and a shrug. 

“ I’ll see you later” she squeezed your shoulder as she headed out first, looking out in the hallway in case Stephanie would be standing out there.

When the coast was clear, she signaled for you to come out. You followed her and looked around yourself and headed towards your locker to get your back pack. 

When you were heading out to your, there in the parking lot was Eddie’s van wide open in the back.

You paused in your step debating weather to check on him or making your way to your car where it was close to his van where he would see you leaving. 

You sighed to yourself heading to your car thinking he didn’t want to have anything to do with you after all the harm you caused but you were only doing it because of what he did with Stephanie. For revenge. 

But you felt like you were losing your friends from all of this. 

You fished your keys out of your pocket, the jingle has altered Eddie on it as he sat up in the van as his eyes landed on you.

His eyes roamed your hair seeing it dried up and looks different. He saw your shirt soaked and put two and two that something has happened. 

He watches you fight to open your car with a mutter of curse words underneath your breath. He always found it so cute how you would mutter such words in a cute way and your nose scrunched up in annoyance too.

You managed to open the car, and slip inside, starting it. You let it run as you leaned your head back against your seat not even noticing that Eddie has been watching you from the back of his van. 

You leaned back to put the car in reverse when you notice he was watching you and you made eye contact with him.

There was a slight wanting to wave at him, to show him some greeting but you sat still looking at him as he looked at you. 

He looked so sad and lonely. 

The two of you remained eye contact until it started to pour which made Eddie break his eye  contact as he stared up at the grey sky filled with sadness.

He scooted closer as the scent of rain fills him, closing his eyes as it soothes him. You watch him as he looks up at the sky looking like he was the most beautiful person you have ever seen in that moment. 

You were in awe of him even if he caused you pain. You can’t forgive him for the damage he has done.

He opened his eyes and noticed your car still stood there as he glanced back down to see you have been watching him.

He put out the cigarette and dropped it on the ground to stomp on it before he shut the back of the doors of the van and hurried into the van.

The roaring of the van brought you out of your thoughts as you started yours, driving away and passing Eddie who watched you drive away.

He wondered why you were staring at him like that. 

You sat in your room later that night, reading a book in your bed when there was a knock at the door. 

“ I’m not hungry, mom” you shouted to her. The door opened to reveal that it wasn’t your mom standing there but none other than Steve Harrington. You put the book down in your lap curious why he was there. 

“ Why are you here?” You asked, “ thought you hated me.” He sighed as he shook his head making his way over to you to sit on the edge of the bed. 

“ Robin told me what happened today, didn’t know she got an arm on her” you chuckled. 

“ She has her surprises” he chuckled along with you. But he hasn’t turned to look at you as his eyes stared into his hands that were in his lap. 

“ You know he never deserved you in the first place” he says. Your eyebrow shoots up in surprise. “ What do you mean?” 

“ Eddie Munson isn’t good for you, no matter how much you want to believe he is” Steve says. You shifted that you sat next to him with your hand on his arm. 

“ I loved him, you know?” You mumbled, Steve turns his head to sadly look at you and nods his head. “ You believe that even after he hurts you, that there is a chance that someday he’s going to be with you again?” 

“ I know it’s stupid” you sighed turning to look down at your lap. Two fingers lift up your chin to make you look at him. 

“ Nothing you do is stupid” he says. “ He’s the stupid one for hurting you. I mean, Stephanie Peters? She’s such a mess of a bush.” 

It caused you to chuckle.

“ Thanks” you nodded. 

“ You know I could never hate you, how could someone as sweet as you, hate you?” 

“ There are people” you shrugged. 

“ Are you doing okay?” He asked placing his hand on your knee. The heat from his hand radiates bringing you comfort in a way. 

“ I am, thank you for coming in and checking in on me.” 

“ It’s part of my job, being your best friend” he knocks his shoulder into yours. You knocked into his. 

“ We’re all good?” You asked.

“ I promise” Steve says holding out his pinky for you. You chuckled seeing the goofy look on his face lifting your own pinky up hooking around his. 

“ A mess of a bush? What even is that? Did you come up with that on your own?” Steve rolled his eyes as he grumbled underneath his breathe how he hates you.

He doesn’t really hate you, it just came to his head when he was thinking about it. 

“ Oh shut it, it flew in my head and came out. You know what? Forget even about it” 

You laughed knocking into his shoulder this time sending him almost flying off the bed. He caught himself shooting you a dirty look while you stuck out your tongue.

You were glad to have someone like Steve in your life. 

It’s been a couple of more weeks since all you and Eddie have been doing is looking at one another like your life depended on it.

Your friends were growing tired of it, even though Eddie was an asshole on hurting you, yet you still hoped. There was hope in your eyes from Robin over looking at you reading you like a book. 

“ You know, staring isn’t going to do anything? If you honestly wanted to talk to him then go” she says, an annoying look on her face. “ Pick up your balls and go talk to the man for crying out loud.” 

“ It’s not that easy” 

She hums, rolling her eyes. Of course, it wasn’t easy. You don’t even remember the last time you had a real conversation with Eddie and yet be alone in the room with him.

Eddie rubbed his face as he yawned leaning forward on the lunch table as he looked around until his very eyes caught yours. But it was too soon to hope that you’d continue to look at him. 

You looked away as soon as he looked over. 

“ God, you two are annoying” Jeff says.

This brought Eddie’s attention as he turns his head, with one of his eyebrows hiding underneath his bangs as he waits for him to continue. 

“ It’s everyday the same thing, every time. You two need to talk to each other or not look at each other waiting for a miracle to happen” Jeff continues.

“ If you want to be with her, then talk to her.” 

“ It’s not that easy” Eddie mutters. “ Besides she doesn’t want anything to do with me.” 

“ Right, and why does she keep staring at you like a lot puppy waiting to be cuddled?” Mike asked. Eddie glared at him flicking a pretzel his way. 

“ You don’t know what your talking about Wheeler.” 

The Hellfire club sighed to themselves as this was another day and another stared down between the two of you. 

Later that night, you walked downstairs to dinner seeing your mom setting up the table. 

“ Hey mom” she puts down a fork and turned her head seeing you standing there twisting the end of your shirt and nervously looking at her. 

“ What is it, hunny? Did something happen? Are you okay?” She asks. You dropped your shirt that you were twisting and walk over her to throw your arms around her waist.

She is surprise by your actions since the two of you don’t do hugging much. She wraps her own arms around you after drying her hands with the front of her shirt and looks down. 

“ Did someone hurt you?” She frowns feeling her shirt become wet from your tears as she cups your face with one hand.

Your lips are doing a duck face while fresh tears are strolling down your cheeks. You had no idea what to do with yourself with the whole Eddie situation. 

You begin to tell her what happened and what Eddie has done to hurt you, your mom was someone you loved talking to when it came to advice and coming to with struggles.

She always lends you an ear and listens. When you were done, your mother’s heart was in two from her baby feeling so hurt and so lost. 

“ You know what I used to do when my feelings were hurt?” You shook your head.

She moved away from you and headed to the living room where you followed her, confused on why she knelt down in front of cabinet that held some of her memories that you knew about. Not all of them since she didn’t want you snooping there. She knows the curious mind you have. 

“ What are you looking for?” You sit down besides her as she pulls out some notebooks that are bent and full of dust. She blows on top of them and brushes away the remaining of the dust from the notebooks and flips the pages. 

Pages upon pages were filled with writings. 

“ What is all of this?” She gently smiles as she remembers what they are to herself and continues to flip the pages. Your eyes run over the words seeing them as they were poetry. 

“ I used to love to write poetry and come up with little songs in my head. Never really shared it with anyone besides your father who adored my little notes and letters I wrote to him.” 

“ Can I look?” You motioned to the unopened notebook near her legs and she nods her head letting you go through her things. You slide the notebook over your lap and flipped through the pages.

Your fingers brush over the hand writing as the pages were no longer white or any color that you thought was passable for a notebook. She watches you in wonder. 

“ Why don’t you write your feelings down and see what you come up with?” She suggest with her eyebrow raised. “ Who knows? You might come up with something extraordinary.” 

You had heard what she has said but you were too busy reading your mother’s words and her feelings. She wrote about her feelings for a boy she liked before your father you thought.

But then you continue to read and they were about your father from the first day she met him to the day she married him. 

You flipped to the last page of the notebook where it had a short like poetry but it wasn’t about your father.

It was about you.

Your mother describes you as her joy, as her angel and as her miracle. She says you were the most wonderful thing to happen to her and that she was always going to be there for you, till you needed her. 

Tears well up in your eyes as you stared up at your mother who look at you with concern on her face. 

“ What is it?” 

“ I love you” you threw your arms around her waist and laid your head in her lap where she smiled down at you and ran her fingers through your hair while humming to you. The humming seemed to fit on what you had read. 

“ My little girl” she says, “ My sweet little miracle baby girl. Mama is always going to here for you.” 

You don’t remember anything else as you fall asleep in her lap as she continues to hum. 

You had taken our mother’s advice going to the store tomorrow on the weekend to get yourself your own notebook where you were going to write down your feelings.

The hurt. The pain. Everything. No it wasn’t a journal. 

The other part of it was that your mom surprised you with your own guitar where she thought music might help you with your feelings and the words you wanted to share into your own notebook. 

“ You’re doing what?” Steve asks as he turns around to face you after hearing that you had picked up music as something you never thought you’d be into doing. Writing songs. 

“ What are you writing about? The songs…” Robin asks as sh walks around one of the shelf. You came to visit them in Family Video thinking they needed to see a familiar face before they got bored and decided to restock every shelf in here.

Keith hasn’t stopped by so you were good. He secretly thinks your cute and you found out from Max who told you with disgust on her face. 

“ My feelings” you shrugged. 

“ Are you writing about, Munson?” Steve asks while Robin shoot him a look like why did you ask that dingus.

Your lips grew in a thin line and there was a lump in your throat you were trying hard to swallow. 

“ What?” Steve asks as he threw his hands up. “ She’s not into him! They haven’t talked! It’s nothing bad if I ask her, right?” He turns to look at you as his eyes plead thinking it’s okay that he asked.

He was a bit worried he made you upset. 

“ It’s alright, I’m working on something and let just say they will be clear as day to him if he ever finds out about it.” 

Suddenly Robin’s eyes grew wide as she reached for your hands, holding them both and the look that she was giving you was a bit scary. You didn’t know what to say about it. 

“ You’re scaring her Robin, what are you doing?” Steve asks. 

“ I have an idea!” Robin shouts. 

“ Why don’t you perform the song at the Hide Out?” She suggest. “ You can show us your new talent and how cool you are.” 

You shook your head, removing your hands away from her giving her she was crazy for even suggesting it. Her eyebrows frowned together seeing you weren’t really liking the idea. She sees the fear in your eyes. 

“ It’s only going to be Steve, and I and possibly five drunks and the bartender” she says like it was going make you feel better.

Because it doesn’t, you know that Eddie comes into the Hide Out to sit in the back, sometimes play pool with Gareth and Jeff.

It was their spot to perform too. You didn’t want to run into him.

“ I can’t” Steve frowns as he leans on his elbows on the counter. 

“ He won’t be there if that’s what your worried about. I’ll tell Henderson to keep him busy” Steve suggests.

You look between Robin and Steve seeing the pleading look on their faces. They were really proud of how you were handling this with Eddie and letting your feelings known through something like music. 

“ Fine, you win but only if I can get movies free for the whole year” you point toward Steve. “ Don’t you dare tell Keith.” 

“ He won’t even know, I promise you” Robin offers you a smile as she places her hand on your shoulder. “ I’m happy you took this outlet and your turning a new leaf.” 

You supposed it was a new leaf and things were looking up for you. You were doing something you never imagined to do. You always thought that Eddie was the talented one and here you were, finding out you had your own talent to share. 

Maybe performing at the Hide Out would’t be as bad as you thought. If only you knew how stubborn Eddie was and he wasn’t about to miss playing pool at the Hide Out.

Dustin kept trying to push Eddie away from coming to the Hide Out. 

“ What are you hiding, Henderson?” Eddie crossed his arms over his chest, looking down at Dustin. “ It’s a surprise for me? It’s not my birthday, you know?” Dustin had his hands on either side of the Hide Out door preventing from him from coming in.

Eddie did miss Steve’s car in the parking lot as he was too busy smoking a cigarette and fixing his jacket to notice it was there. 

He heard music coming from inside and his head tilted as his eyes scanned the building and listened to the voice.

He can’t put a face to it or the voice on where he heard it. Does he know this person? 

“ ….Dustin, who’s playing in there?” He asked.

“ Uh.. no one!” Dustin shook his head, “ Not a single soul. Just a bum.” Dustin shrugged. He knew who it was and was told clearly by both Robin and Steve to not let Eddie into the Hide Out.

He had one job.

Yet the doors flew opened with Eddie tackling Dustin to the ground, the commotion has brought silence as the music has stopped. You were on stage with a guitar in your hands while standing with the microphone too, singing when Eddie came crashing in.

His head shot up to the stage and his eyes grew wide seeing that it was you who was singing. He stood up from Dustin who groaned in pan on the ground.

“…. And your not going to help me, right..” Dustin sat up. 

“ Henderson, you had one job!” Steve shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. 

“ I’m sorry! He tackled me, I didn’t really think he would do that. He’s heavy too. I’m one person. Should of had Hopper be the look out then!” Dustin shouted. 

While the two went back and forth at each other, Eddie looks up at you with wonder. 

“ You sing?” He asked. “ Since when do you play guitar?” He asked. “ Who taught you?” He sounded hurt that someone else taught you how to play and you didn’t come to him out of everyone. 

“ Boy, sit down!” One of the drunks shouted at him. Eddie threw him his middle finger not even looking at him as his eyes were locked on you. 

“ Are you going to finish?” Eddie asks. “ The song? What’s it about?” He asks. 

“ You” was the only thing you told him into the microphone. He puts his hands on his chest feeling his heart race that you wrote something about him. He thought it was sweet. 

“ Oh sweetheart..” 

Robin snorted all of sudden catching Eddie’s attention. 

“ Something funny to you, Buckley?” 

“ It’s not what you think, Munson” Eddie’s eyebrows pinched together in confusion when Robin shouts to you to finish the song that you were signing. Eddie turns his head once he hears the sound of your voice.

“ Twinkle twinkle, little boy, do you know I'm not a toy?” His eyebrows shot up in surprise hearing the lyrics. “ I don't wanna be a part of your broken heart” his jaw clenched tight at the words. 

“Twinkle twinkle, little boy, don't you know I'm not a toy?” His nose twitched as he understood what kind of song this was.“ Are you scared of what you are? Lonely in the bar.” 

As the song continued, the more he grew angered at it, at you, at the lyrics but his felt his eyes brim with tears feeling eyes watching and listening. He wasn’t alone listening to this.

He had hurt you and he understand. For days the both of you were looking at each other with hope and now you came to a decision. 

Which he didn’t like. 

He stomped his way over to the stage where you were still singing into it and ripped the microphone away from you.

The bar became silent as gasps were heard. You threw him a surprise looked and stepped away thinking he was going to throw the microphone.

“ Enough” he stated. “ You don’t know mean this” he barks. 

You shrugged turning around to walk off this stage where he chases you into the backstage area where he takes your wrist and turns you around to face him. 

“ What was that?” Eddie asks, hurt in his tone. 

“ My feelings, and my talent” you responded. 

“ I know I’ve heard you and I’m sorry, I’ve apologized to you and I don’t know what else you want me to do. Please..” He begs as he takes your face with both his hands but you feel like your a whole different person when he touches you.

You don’t want to be near him anymore. You don’t want this and don’t need this. You were going to move on even though you weren’t healed from the wound he has placed but you deserved better.

Eddie wasn’t it. 

“ You’ve heard me loud and clear, Munson. I don’t know what else do you want me to stay. I don’t want you to beg. I don’t want you to cry. I don’t even want to hear the sound of you voice. You did the damage and now you get to live with the fact that you mean nothing to me” you spatted in his face, pushing his chest. 

“ No…” he shook his head. “ You love me..” He adds. 

“ I don’t know, you’re just a lonely boy in the bar” you patted his chest and turns around to walk to you friends leaving him to have a fit as he kicks and stomps.

He’s doing his little tantrum while you fall into the seat sitting by Robin and Steve as they both offer you a drink, Dustin throws you an apologetic look from earlier. 

“ You’re forgiven, Henderson” he lets out a breathe of relief as he sips on his own drink which was a coke.

He turns to look over to spot where Eddie has gone to see him sitting on the side stage with his shoulder shaking with his head down. He decides to make his way over to him to keep him company feeling a little bad for his friend. 

“ I loved her, Henderson” Eddie mutters through his tears. He falls into Dustin’s lap as he continues to cry.

Dustin puts his hand on his back and rubs it not really saying anything. He doesn’t want to say the wrong thing and lets Eddie cry into his lap.

You turn to look where Dustin has went off to see him comforting Eddie. 

“ Don’t even bother, you’re moving onto greater things” Robin say picking up her glass. “ To better things.” She says. You pick up your own and Steve joins. 

“ To better things” the three of you clink glasses, cheering as you laugh seeing Steve spill his own drink as it falls onto his hand and on the table. 

“ Nice one, dingus” 

[slugterra-twisted-ends]

Slugtember Day 13: Friday the 13th

Poor Glimmer's finding herself in the role of 'Final Girl' in this slug-sized Friday the 13th recreation with Jason the Thrasher

[butcherlarry]

Exercise Fic Recs 21

Sorry I’m a bit late posting this, I just got back from watching ATSV.  It’s just as good and everyone has been shouting about and I don’t know why it took me so long to getting around to watching the movies.  Anyway, on to the fics!

The Only by pasdecoeur  (Superbat, complete.  Felt like being a little sad, so I read this fic again.  Bittersweet, read the tags.)

how many roads less traveled? by TopHat  (Superwonderbat, complete.  Polyamory negotiations between the trinity.  Very sweet, features ace Bruce.)

be my kryptonite by renecdote  (Superbat, complete.  Clark has a sensory overload, Bruce helps.)

Courage by LemonadeGarden  (Batfam, complete.  Bruce has a run in with fear toxin and Dick helps him deal with it.)

Stuck in the Middle (With You) by TheResurrectionist  (Superbat and Batfam, complete.  A re(re)read for me, I needed some good humor.  Damian gets stuck and Dick calls for help.  Shenanigans ensue.)

Just a Formality by FabulaRasa  (Superbat, complete.  Bruce and Clark get married for work reasons, and Clark has So Many Feeling About This.)

misty by TheResurrectionist  (Superbat, wip.  Different first meeting.  Bruce crash lands on a cold, barren planet and Clark finds him.)

Patchwork Pod by Ktkat9  (Superbat, wip.  Another merbruce fic update!)

Midnight Hour by BisforBread  (Superbat, wip.  Medieval/fantasy au.  Clark is a prince and Bruce is a knight and they have Feelings for each other.)   

a world in repair by Batbirdies  (Barfam, wip.  Part of the Emotional Motion Sickness series.  Jason and Damian go on a trip together, but not everything goes according to plan.)

Veritas by Anonymous  (Batfam, complete.  Batman gets hit with truth serum and talks about how he loves his kids SO MUCH.)

Jesus Is Not A Zombie by Sadsnail  (uuuuhhhhh, bible fic?  I blame @beachcat0772 , she posted this in our friend server and told me to read it.  It’s just crack fic, but GOOD crack fic 😆)

They had a pastry with lemon curd on it, I couldn’t resist!

It was so rainy this morning!  It pretty much rained the entire time I was birding.  Got so cool pictures though!

The baby geese, they are growing up!  They are looking more and more like adult geese everyday:

Wasn’t able to get a good picture of this guy, but it’s a brown thrasher!  This is the second time I’ve seen him running around the area:

Look at this funky lil’ guy!  A grackle!  They were so fun to watch:

There were SO MANY swallows out flying around.  They kept flying around me, they were so much fun to watch!  And they’re SO PRETTY too.  I tried to take some pictures of them in flight, but it’s SO HARD.  This one is ok, I need to practice more.  This guy is a barn swallow:

A red-winged black bird chilling in the rain:

This is also a red-winged blackbird, but a female!  She caught breakfast!  This is probably my favorite picture I took today:

A robin!

When I got to the arboretum, some tree swallows were flying around!  Here are the best pictures I got of them midflight:

A titmouse grabbing a snack in the middle of the rain:

There’s also a big flock of goldfinches that hangout here too!  I thought this guy looked handsome:

This white-breasted nuthatch was having fun hopping around on this tree:

OMG.  I didn’t realize this until I got home, but these are juvenile eastern bluebirds!!  Wow!!!

This has a parent and a baby!!  Holy moly!!

An indigo bunting in the rain.  I think my lens was starting to fog up:

A downy woodpecker.  I like how it looks like they’re peaking around:

A black-capped chickadee!  They snagged a treat:

An indigo bunting again:

I love this picture of a female cardinal:

Now onto some scenery!

ngl, the rain made everything look prettier.

[your-local-uwu-artist]

HELLAO how about 6, 14, 15, and 25 for the Kirby OC ask game!!! :D

🗣️: If you could cast a voice actor to voice your OC who would you choose?

tbh I havn't really been able to nail a voice-claim/hc down for Button. Though I def think he would have a more masculine-sounding voice, but with some sort of quick to it (like being raspy or squeaky) the only thing I know for sure is he needs like, a loser white guy voice.... if that makes literally any sense

also I think they have the vibe of a character whos eng and jp voices are very different but somehow both work equally very well (like calcifur and meowth, both of those have very different directions taken with their voices but both work in the same way somehow??)

ummm some potential candidates are Charlie Day, Jack McBrayer, maybe Jason Ritter? Daniel thrasher has never voice acted but he's def a candidate

for jp something similar to either Nate's pkmn masters jp voice, or like, something very raspy and mascot-character esque

14. 🍱: If your OC had a dish themed around them at the Kirby Cafe, what would it be?

hmm I'm not sure? this isn't really my area of expertise: here's some random ideas tho~

-apple pie flavored waffle? shaped like a star of course

-little button shaped sugar cookies?

-half chocolate half vanilla cupcake? to represent the angel+demon thing, combine it with the sugar cookies maybe? have two of them decorated like his eyes mayhaps?

-apparently there is a way to make drinks glow in the dark but it requires a black light so dead end :(

-mac n cheese, idk how to make it cute but it needs to be involved

-wait! idea: pretzel shaped like a lyra?

15. 🧸: If your OC had any merchandise themed around them, what would it be?

now this one is actually right in my area of expertise I love toy design

for some less simple things:

one of those little craft kits that gives you the supplies to make something simple like a felt plush sewn together with yarn, you could sew a little small star-button billow, and a little kirby plush and the aesthetic is all Button themed. Or maybe a a friendship bracelet craft kit? there's a lot of potential craft kits what with being from patch land

or maybe a merry magoland themed re-ment set that features a little Button working a booth

or you know those little keychain plushies?

dude I could design these ALL DAY

hell I've thought a lot about button merch just with what I could feasibly make happen. Button acryllic charms? Button buttons? a Button themed candy bag keychain? those keychains with the little magnet heart accesories? I could do that with Button and characters he's shipable with. standee with tail wag? glow in the dark standee and the stand part is a magic circle? button enamel pins? button ACRYLIC PINS?

25. ⭐️: If your OC got their own spinoff game what would it be about and what would the gameplay be like?

a few ideas!

-epic yarn style! the story line is Button learns about Kirby's Magic sock and decides to visit home~

-game where you sail across the sea!!! Meta Knight wants you to collect a special flower that only grows on this one island, he's too busy with meta knight stuff to get it himself. So he has sent Button on this fetch quest. i guess you could make it into a platformer, but maybe it could be like a minigame collection? that would involve things like puzzle games to figure out navigation. or upkeep/tidying around the boat. maybe there could be 'events', like finding a waddle dee lost at sea and bringing them home. or needing to fix the boats engine

-prequel game of one of Button's journey's during angst-era. platformer but with a lot of puzzle aspects implemented

-if you wanted a more epic quest with co-op modes and all maybe Button caught wind of some powerful magic source and is seeking it in hopes of restoring his Halo, and of course theres a positive message in the end where no Button doesn't get his halo back but he got his Self worth back or smth. (the true halo was the friends we made along the way I guess) would still want puzzle aspects implemented

-game where kirby and co is on vacation but danger strikes and Button, Magolor, Taranza, and Marx has to take the place of Kirby and co.

-unrelated but take a moment to imagine Merry Magoland but with Button around doing his job. Imagine a special animation of them being shocked when the player gets a high score or smth

[heckcareoxytwit]

A preview of Night Thrasher #1

NIGHT THRASHER #1

It’s time to thrash the night! The death of a loved one draws Dwayne Taylor back to New York City, though his days as NIGHT THRASHER are long over. But Dwayne finds the past difficult to outrun when SILHOUETTE, his ex-teammate from the NEW WARRIORS, seeks his help against a new criminal called THE O.G. And the mystery of the O.G.’s true identity and what’s to come will change Night Thrasher’s legacy forever! Don’t miss this bold new direction for a cult classic character who is leaving the ’90s behind him! Written by: Jason Holtham Art by: Nelson Daniel Cover by: Alan Quah Page Count: 40 Pages Release Date: February 14, 2024

So the loved one who died off-panel is Andrew Chord, the father of Silhouette? Rest in peace, Andrew Chord....

[3thurs]

Third Thursday January 16

Third Thursday events and exhibitions for January 16

The next Third Thursday — the monthly evening of art in Athens, Georgia — is scheduled for Thursday, January 16, from 6 to 9 p.m. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. This schedule and each venue’s location and hours of operation are available at 3thurs.org.

Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia

Yoga in the Galleries, 6 p.m. — This free yoga class surrounded by works of art in the galleries is led by instructors from Five Points Yoga and open to both beginner and experienced yogis. Sanitized mats are provided. Space is limited and spots are available on a first-come, first-served basis; tickets are available at the front desk starting at 5:15 p.m.

On view:

“Waffle House Vistas” — Photographs by Micah Cash taken from inside Waffle House restaurants, plus a newly commissioned time-based work.

Permanent collection: A wide range of the museum’s permanent collection is always on view, featuring painting, sculpture, works on paper and decorative arts from the Renaissance to contemporary periods.

The museum’s days of operation are Tuesday – Sunday. Reserve a free ticket and see our policies at https://georgiamuseum.org/visit/.

ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art

ATHICA@675 Pulaski St., Suite 1200:

“Plantronics: Presented by PlantBot Genetics” — Animatronic plant sculptures, video and wheat paste mural.

ATHICA@CINÉ Gallery:

“R.B. Pruett: Paintings” — Through cutting up and repurposing paintings, Pruett uses layers of fragmentation, collage and distortion to build new images that twist and turn with a cartoon cubism.

Lyndon House Arts Center

Artist reception for the new exhibitions “Twist: Carol John” and “Distillations: Patti Robert-Pizzuto and Johntimothy Pizzuto,” 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

On view:

“Twist: Carol John” — In John’s paintings, dots, lines and squares multiply to create vibrating forms and surfaces that resonate with playful pops of color. 

“Distillations: Patti Robert-Pizzuto and Johntimothy Pizzuto”— Composed of drawings on paper and wall-bound constructions, this show brings together the work of life partners who share a restrained palette and lightness of touch. 

“Inspired: Artworks by Students of the Clarke County School District” — This year's CCSD student art exhibition biennial features artworks by students inspired by Athens artists and creatives.

“fast tracks, ski masks, plaid slacks: Tim Root” — Tim Root’s playful wooden constructions draw from a comic book aesthetic, featuring humorous yet grotesque characters brought to life in bold colors and graphic black outlines.

“Window Works: Meditations on Perceived Acts of Violence: Michael Reese”— This body of work examines the idea of perception as it relates to Black bodies. The work speaks to Reese’s understanding of the intellectual and behavioral gesturing that is required of Black folks to successfully control the narrative of perception.

The Athenaeum

“Matt Keegan: Realia” — The sculptures, collage and paintings here are informed by a set of 400 double-sided image-based flash cards the artist’s mother made from the late 1980s to the mid-2000s to teach English to high school and adult ed students.

ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery

Show closing and special event, 6 p.m. sharp, — MacArthur Genius Grant winner, birder and South Carolina poet laureate Drew Lanham will read his poem from “Murmur Trestle,” plus music by T. Hardy Morris and other special guests

On view:

“Murmur Trestle: Photographs by Jason Thrasher” —Thrasher spent six years focusing his lens on an immersive exploration of the railroad trestle associated with Athens band R.E.M., photographing it within its changing natural environment.

“Grit Portraits: Paintings by Tobiah Cole” — Paintings of some of the artist’s friends from his many years at the Grit, a beloved restaurant formerly on Prince Avenue in Athens. A limited-edition fine art print of one of Cole's landscape paintings made in Maine will be available for purchase.

The Classic Center

Contact the venue to ensure Third Thursday exhibition and access: 706.208.0900

“Legendary Georgia Musicians in Watercolor” — Jackie Dorsey’s homage to musicians who have called Georgia their home. 

“Linnentown Then and Now: The Johnsons” — Portraits by Caroline Ford Coleman).

tiny ATH gallery

“Noah James Saunders” — Wire sculpture in fused glass by the local artist. Music by Humdingers during this opening reception.

—

Third Thursday was established in 2012 to encourage attendance at Athens’ established art venues through coordination and co-promotion by the organizing entities. 

Contact: Michael Lachowski, Georgia Museum of Art, mlachow@uga.edu.

[masquedrones]

La tecnología de drones está revolucionando las prácticas de pulverización agrícola en una histórica granja de Alabama

La Peinhardt Living History Farm, situada en Cullman, Alabama, ha dado un paso adelante en la gestión agrícola al implantar tecnología avanzada de drones, gracias a una colaboración con Sky Spray, una nueva empresa local, tal como informa The Cullman Times. Sky Spray, cofundada por el ex Asistente del Jefe de Policía de Cullman, Jason Mickle, y Chris Thrasher, utiliza el dron de aplicación DJI…

[the-nightly-film]

August 21st, 2024

It's been a long summer and I've been kind of bummed I didn't get to watch as many movies as I normally do, but I wasn't going to miss my pre-birthday marathon for anything. This year's focus was my favorite slasher of all time. He's back! He's the Man Behind the Mask! He's Jason Vorhees!

Since I've never written about the series on this blog before I'll give a quick review of each of the films I got to today below. I didn't do all of them, just my favorites!

1. Friday the 13th (1980) The original and an absolute classic. I love this film because of its twist ending and the fact that it was made sorta half assed and spawned a multimillion dollar franchise.

2. Friday the 13th pt 2 (1981) A really solid thrasher that hits all the right beats and puts Jason up there with Leatherface and Myers right away.

3. Friday the 13th pt 3 (1982) This one is only weak for me because I think the kids are a little annoying. However it wins back points for being the first to slap a hockey mask on ol' Jason and some of the kills are top tier. Would love to have seen it in all its cheesy 3D glory.

4. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) Another solid slasher and I love Tommy Jarvis but Crispin Glover's ten minutes of screen time steals the show for me.

5. Friday the 13th pt 6: Jason Lives (1986) I am aware that I skipped one but I don't really care. This might be my favorite of them all. Solid cast, terrifying Jason, sick kills, and a killer soundtrack. Also as a fan of the Scream movies I enjoy the bit of tongue in cheek humor.

[newmusicradionetwork]

Joe Nichols Releases First Song From Upcoming 11th Studio Album

Three-time GRAMMY nominated Quartz Hill Records artist Joe Nichols’ releases new song, “Bottle It Up,” today across all streaming and digital retail partners. With his “signature neo-traditional sound” (Billboard) and rich baritone, Nichols latest track is a rollicking slice-of-life ode to capturing the good times and savoring the special moments with family and friends. LISTEN to “Bottle It Up” HERE. WATCH the official lyric video HERE. “‘Bottle It Up’ is about the good things in life and saving them up. And also enjoying them when maybe life is a little less than stellar,” says Nichols. “I think we would all like to take great moments in our life, capture them, put them in a bottle and constantly drink from it. It’s about storing up the good stuff.” Written by Josh Kear, Dan Isbell and Paul Sykes, “Bottle It Up,” marks the first song release from Nichols’ upcoming 11th career studio album as well as his second project for Quartz Hill Records. The song was produced by Mickey Jack Cones (Jason Aldean, Thomas Rhett) and Derek George (Randy Houser). Earlier this week Nichols joined chart-topping rapper, singer, songwriter and producer Post Malone onstage at his “A Night in Nashville” show at Marathon Music Works for a collaborative performance of Nichols’ Platinum No. 1 hit “Brokenheartsville,” which Malone called “one of the best-written songs I’ve heard in my entire life.” Nichols recently released a mashup of Alice in Chains’ “Rooster,” and the Hank Williams, Jr smash “A Country Boy Can Survive” which has become a fan favorite at his live shows as Nichols continues touring across the U.S. and beyond. Joe Nichols Summer 2024 Tour Dates  - 08/02/24 – Astoria, OR – Clatsop County Fair & Expo Center - 08/09/24 – Swansboro, NC – Swansboro Baseball Field - 08/10/24 – Hagerstown, MD – Meritus Park - 08/16/24 – Shipshewana, IN – Blue Gate Performing Arts Center - 08/17/24 – Mineral City, OH – Atwood Lake Park - 08/22/24 – Mason, WI – Concert in the Corn 2024 - 08/23/24 – Saint Joseph, MO – Missouri Theatre - 08/24/24 – Eau Claire, WI – Seymour Ball Club - 08/31/24 – El Dorado, AR – MAD Amphitheatre - 09/01/24 – Camdenton, MO – Ozarks Amphitheatre - 09/07/24 – Las Vegas, NV – Downtown Rocks Concert Series - 09/14/24 – Corona, CA – Dos Lagos Amphitheatre - 09/28/24 – Fort Dodge, IA – Downtown Country Jam - 10/11/24 – Roanoke, VA – Dr. Pepper Park at the Bridge - 10/12/24 – Hiawassee, GA – Anderson Music Hall - 10/13/24 – Orange Park, FL – Thrasher-Horne Center - 10/24/24 – New Braunfels, TX – Brauntex Performing Arts Center - 10/25/24 – Dallas, TX – Gilley’s Dallas To view a full list of dates and to purchase tickets, visit: joenichols.com/tour About Joe Nichols: Multi-platinum Quartz Hill Records’ Joe Nichols is one of country music’s most-lauded recording artists. A 21st century traditionalist, Nichols is an artist who is both timely and timeless – one who has racked up more than TWO BILLION cumulative audio streams/ views including a half-dozen No. 1 singles and ten Top 10 hits with a sound that blurs the boundaries between country music’s past and present. It’s an approach that has earned Nichols three GRAMMY nominations, a CMA award, an ACM trophy, a CMT “Breakthrough Video of the Year” Award as well as multiple gold and platinum-certified records. Nichols’ additional honors include awards from Billboard, Radio & Records and Music Row Magazine as well as a New York Times “Best-Albums-of-the-Year” nod. The celebrated star has appeared on national media programs ranging from the ACM Presents: Superstar Duets in CBS primetime to The Tonight Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The View, Entertainment Tonight and Austin City Limits. He also made his big screen debut in the feature film, Murder at Yellowstone City. Nichols’ follow-up to his critically-lauded album, Good Day For Living – which included the Top 15 hit* of the same name – will be released later this year. The first song from his 11th studio album, “Bottle It Up,” is out now. For the latest news on Nichols visit: www.JoeNichols.com and follow him (@JoeNichols) on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok. Read the full article