#leeds key club

[stxring-xt-the-sun]

HOT MULLIGAN at the The Key Club, Leeds. (23/04/23). https://www.instagram.com/maggsvisuals/

[rightearring]

fiatp @ key club, leeds. september 22 2017

[tracysflaw]

Nova Twins Supernova Tour @ Key Club in Leeds | 26.02.23

[mydayinthebuilding]

Make Me A Different Person (spiderman!jongseob x gn mutate!reader)

CAST LIST

You as The Experiment… Y/N (unknown last name)

Kim Jongseob as Peter Parker… Jongseob Parker

Hwang Intak as Harry Osborn… Intak H. Osborn

Haku Shota as Ned Leeds… “Soul” Leeds

Choi Taeyang as Michelle Jones… Taeyang M. Jones

Choi Jiung as Harley Keener… Jiung Keener-Stark

Yoon Keeho as President of the Anti-Spiderman Club… Yoon “Pres” Keeho

ACT ONE: PART ONE

“Ow!”

"Watch it, loser!"

The door had opened right into your outstretched hand, and your knuckles screamed in pain, but you desperately tried to control your breathing as Eugene Thompson--aka Flash--scrambled past you. You glanced back at his burly figure and spiky blond hair thudding down the hall, bumping into everyone he could and blaming it on them. You shook your head, and carefully reached for the door again, quickly pulling it open.

You headed to the back of the classroom, holding your hand tenderly.

"Well, Y/N," started the teacher, and you looked up to see that no one else was in there. "Almost all the other kids just left to go on that field trip." He noticed you were in the back of the room. "Have a seat up here. I'm surprised you didn't go--after all, you're one of my top students."

You took a seat in the front, unzipping your backpack. "Yeah, well, I'm fine in your class, Mr. Kang, but science class is a different story."

He chuckled. Then he shrugged into his words: "I didn't have much planned today, so you're free to work on another class... science, perhaps?"

You nodded. "Will do."

You looked down at your hand that Flash had smashed the door into. It was still throbbing and red around the knuckles, but luckily didn't break open any skin. Then you checked the faint Light underneath the skin on your wrist, and took a calming breath when the energy dial was low. It will be fine, you reminded yourself. You shook out your arm, then pulled out your laptop.

The tab currently open was a few of your photography club pictures. You'd had them done for days, but thinking about showing them to anyone gave you goosebumps. You closed the tab, and opened the class site.

Your science teacher had posted an assignment for people not going on the field trip; that included you and only you. As you looked through it, you knew she'd done it simply to irk you, because you were learning about plant biology, not the chemistry behind a spider's venom. Of course, it was clear that the field trip was also useless, since your peers that went weren't required to take notes.

But you weren't about to go on that field trip. They were touring Oscorp, the second best robotics and chemical manufacturing company in the States.

Oscorp was also home to many of your fears. Sure, spiders were freaky, and their robots were always a little creepy to you, but they weren't even half of what truly scared you.

Suddenly, you noticed you'd been pressing the keys down hard, and the screen in front of you was full of the home row letters. You blinked, and put your head in your hands. Palms pressing on your eyes, you tried to focus on the shapes in your mind so you could stop thinking. But every flash of color was like memory lurking just below the surface.

It's going to be fine.

The door opened, and you looked up, eyes readjusting to the light through a squint, and met eyes with a couple students whose pleasant smiles quickly turned to upturned noses.

Your stomach lurched.

A batch of juniors that just so happened to hang with Flash--apparently they'd grown up with him, and kept hanging with him even when he got held back. So, of course, they loved to bully whoever he decided wasn't worth his time.

And that included you.

You felt your muscles tense up, and your heart rate was increasing ever so slowly, but you knew that you'd be fine with Mr. Kang in here--

"Oh, good! You just needed those copies for your project, right?" Mr. Kang said, getting up. "You can stay here and keep an eye on Y/N, though they probably don't need it, and I'll go print those for you."

"Yes, sir," said Julie. She cast you a nasty smile. "Thanks."

And soon enough, you were alone with a gang of bullies. Your hands squeezed into fists as your thoughts turned dark.

There were four of them in total. A tall football boy with greasy blond hair past his ears folded his arms and flexed his chest over them. You thought his name was Connor. A girl holding a phone in front of her face ruffled her coffee-brown hair so she had an extreme side part, and then stuck out her tongue and its piercing for a picture. You didn't remember her name, but knew her follower count was impressive. Then there was Julie's boyfriend, Riley, who had his arm across her shoulders and his chin held high in the air.

But Julie was the clear leader when Flash wasn't around. She held herself so confidently, and twirled her long red hair with one finger in a way that almost seemed like a threat. You swallowed, and gave the best smile you could muster, then glanced back down at your screen. With tense muscles, you sat there praying.

It's fine, you're fine, you're calm, you're normal, you're fine!

She marched over to your desk, but you were glued to your seat in fear. When you met her eyes again, they were livid.

"Good morning," you said. But maybe you really should have stayed quiet this time.

~~

"Does anyone want to take a guess at what percentage of the work done here began in Mr. Osborn’s notebook?”

“Probably one percent, tops,” said Flash, snickering. “If his straight-C's son took after him, that is.”

“Anyone else?” Liz said, shaking her head. She was technically supposed to be learning with the rest of the sophomores, but she was an intern there. They asked her to take the group on a tour, and thanks to her confident smile, Jongseob couldn't take his eyes off of her.

She tucked her dark wavy hair behind her ear, and he watched her bright eyes search the group. He didn’t notice that she’d focused on him. “Jongseob?”

“Sorry?” His face heated up as he glanced away. “Um, seventy percent?”

She grinned. “That’s more like it.” He felt his heart skip a beat when she smiled especially brightly in his direction.

Soul leaned over his shoulder and whispered, “Dude, do you think she’s into you? That was-“

“Shut up, Leeds.” Jongseob nudged in the side. Soul leaned away, laughing.

Liz shook her head once more at another kid, and then Intak raised his hand.

“90 percent.”

“That is correct! Mr. Norman Osborn is the main mastermind behind this company’s projects. Of course, Intak would know more about it than me, but…” She gave a close-lipped smile. “If you’ll look here…”

Soul patted Intak on his shoulder. “Flash just shot you the nastiest look. Should I fight him to defend your honor?”

Jongseob and Intak blinked at him. He hunched over.

“Yeah, who am I kidding? I’m not street smart. I can’t give up my perfect school report to defend you.”

Intak shook his head in a chuckle. “Either way, my father doesn’t reflect what I’m like in school. Flash has a point. I get B’s in my first language, and my dad comes up with all the latest ground-breaking technology.”

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that," Jongseob said with a laugh. "How could your dad have come up with all of this? He's just a guy."

Intak shoved his hands in his pockets. "You'd be surprised."

“Now, if you follow me to the next room,” Liz announced, opening a door that Flash immediately strutted through, “you’ll be able to see work on the neutralization of deadly spider venom.”

The class gasped a little at the sight of webs strung across the entire room. Flash tensed, and froze in the doorway.

“These spiders live the average amount of time and can eat the same things as usual, but their venom is engineered not to hurt humans in any way.”

“L-let’s go to the next room,” Flash said, backing away.

“Not yet. Are there any volunteers to hold one of these little spiders?”

Jongseob glanced at his friends, but Soul shook his head hard. Intak crossed his arms and smiled sweetly. “Jongseob will!” he called.

His heart dropped. “No, dude, what?”

“Don’t you think it would impress Liz?”

“Come on, Jongseob!” she said.

And then he found himself pushed to the front of the group, presented with a spindly arachnid hanging by a string. Its beady eyes stared down at him, legs wiggling as it lowered itself. It was like it knew what was happening. He held a shaking hand below it, every part in his body already tingling in anticipation and, honestly, fear. He knew it wouldn't hurt him, but he couldn't get over the thought of eight legs crawling all over him.

And then it hit his skin. The whole class seemed to shiver in excitement, watching the nerd hold a bug half the size of his palm. But it did nothing. They just stared at each other.

"See?" Liz offered. "It's entirely harmless."

Jongseob allowed himself a calming breath, and then laughed. It inched down to his wrist. "This isn't so ba- Ow!"

The spider went flying through the air as Jongseob looked down at his wrist in shock. It bit him! It wasn't supposed to injure him in the long run, but the bite was right beside the Light. He shifted his sleeve a little and watched his veins pulse strangely, before reverting back to normal.

"Hey--Jong-" Liz rushed toward him, reaching for his hand, but he flinched away.

"I'm fine! Haha, don't worry. It's not like it'll kill me."

Her brows furrowed, but then she nodded, and turned to the screaming group trying to get away from the rampant spider. Flash was nowhere to be seen.

He looked back down at his wrist. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He swallowed, hard. Then he rushed out the door, knocking into Intak's shoulder on the way. Where were the restrooms? He barely made it to his own stall before collapsing over the toilet, gagging.

~~

"Stupid, stupid, stupid." You patted down the entirety of your backpack and quickly realized your chip wasn't in there. It was like an inhaler for your "episodes", and every time you got too confident in yourself, you let it go missing. And right now wasn't a good time for it to be.

A shudder passed through your body, and your jaw clenched so hard, you thought you might crack a tooth. You glanced at the juniors, and knew immediately that this would be bad. You just had to leave--

"So, Y/N, I hear you got a perfect score on the science homework," Julie started with a smirk. "Oh, wait, you didn't even turn it in. Thanks, by the way, for lending it to me."

She sat on your desk, and you immediately stood up, accidentally pushing your notebook off the desk. The juniors gasped. All you could feel was your blood rushing in your ears. She scoffed, and her friends stepped closer to you.

"It's not like you needed it. Are you going somewhere?"

You tried to take a slow, calm breath, but it sounded angry.

"Got--to--go," you managed, before shoving past a couple of them. They reached out to grab you, but recoiled from your skin. Your arms were rock hard--not because of any muscles, but because of the episode that was beginning. You had to get out of there, before you exploded.

You pushed open the door in a hurry, revealing a shocked Mr. Kang and a stack of papers going everywhere. You couldn't even squeak an apology, and instead tears began to stream down your cheeks as you ran.

"Julie? We need to talk," you heard him say, and then you rounded a corner and slammed into the fire retardant box on the wall.

Its door went flying, and you didn't even bat an eye until you reached the restroom and could splash your face with cold water. You couldn't even feel it, which was a really bad sign. But you kept doing it, hoping that it would reverse the effects. When you started feeling the chill, you stopped, and ripped a paper towel from the dispenser to dry off. You hadn't even noticed the water had splashed all over your front side until then.

"Great." You grabbed another paper towel and tried to pat off the wet splotches on your shirt, but it didn't help. You caught yourself in the mirror and laughed. You were a sight to behold, for sure.

Your eyebags were the biggest thing on your face. Your eyebrows were drawn in a permanent scowl. Worst of all, you could still see the uncontrollable fear of yourself in your eyes. You were disgusting--horrible. You could imagine the headline: "UNDERCOVER FREAK OF NATURE INFILTRATED HIGH SCHOOL." Thanks to Julie and her gang, you were always on edge, wondering which day would be your last at this school. Sometimes you resented her for the fear. Today you found yourself wishing she had won this time. Maybe then you wouldn't have to hide. Maybe then someone would hear you out.

Maybe then you'd get help.

But as you stared into your own soul, you knew there would always be something wrong. You couldn't be fixed. A monster that hid under its own bed was better than a monster running free.

There was a knock at the door, and your head flung toward the sound. "Y/N? It's Mr. Kang."

Your voice stuck in your throat. Glancing down to your wrist, the dial seemed to be cooling down. You shuffled your feet to the door, opening it shakily.

When he saw you, he sighed in relief. "I'm glad you're okay. I had my suspicions about Julie and her friends, but I didn't know they had a problem with you."

All you could do was nod.

He pursed his lips. "Let's go talk to the principal."

You followed him, the sound of shoes on the floor echoing in your ears, but all the while you wondered how you weren't spotted yet. How did he not realize you were the freak? If anyone deserved to be bullied, it was you.

"No one deserves to be bullied, Y/N," he said suddenly. You blinked, and he chuckled. "That must be why you stayed quiet about it, right? Well, you're wrong. You are a great student and a good person."

"Thanks, Mr. Kang." There was really nothing else to say.

"So, you're being bullied? Homework stolen, a couple of sharp words, and you've been physically hurt before?"

"Yes, sir." You looked down at your hands, tugging your sleeve further over your wrist. Mr. Kang had gotten you a dress code sweatshirt to replace your soaked one. It gave you little comfort when speaking to the principal like this.

"I'm thankful for the report." The principal cleared his throat, and finished typing. "However, Y/N, I can't let your own behavior slide. Not fully."

You snapped your eyes upward, suddenly feeling a tingling in your body. You struggled through a calming breath, but your eyes clouded up anyway. "Sir?"

It's fine, it's fine.

"You broke school property today. The fire retardant case is completely smashed on the floor. I'm afraid you'll have to pay if off. Since you're a great student and I don't totally blame you, only worry about two hundred bucks of it."

You released a shaky breath, nodded, and reminded yourself that they really couldn't know anything was different about you. Hardly anything really went wrong, and accidents happen. You could pay this off, and then no one would have to pry further. If only you had the money.

~~

“Hey, Jongseob?”

Jongseob squeezed his eyes shut, tears wetting his lashes. He clutched his stomach gently, leaning a little bit more over the toilet. He was on his knees, keeled over in a public stall, and he’d forgotten to close the door. Well, it was too late now.

“Jongseob, are you in here?”

It was Intak. He wanted to sigh in relief, but every movement he took made him more aware of the nausea building up. He glanced at his wrist again, but the bite was still very prominent.

Can’t harm him? Yeah, right. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He’d always pretended to be the same as everyone else. But the light on his wrist was proof of otherwise. He suddenly gagged, and ripped his hand from his stomach to the toilet seat to brace himself.

The episode came and went, but then he saw that the entire front of his shirt had come off with his hand now on the cool ceramic. Fresh air met his sweaty chest, and he took a steady breath.

Footsteps approached quickly, then, and he knew immediately that Intak was there.

“Oh, man, are you okay?”

Jongseob’s cheeks burned in embarrassment. He wasn’t necessarily a cool guy in front of his friends, but this was sort of humiliating. The son of the creator of these spiders witnessed him basically overreact.

“I’m sorry,” he managed, hanging his head.

No answer. He heard paper rip and water run, and then Intak came back over and pressed a damp towel to his forehead.

“Don’t be sorry. A lot of times the placebo effect really does affect you like this. You know it’s not gonna hurt you, but some part of you still fears it, so your body reacts.”

Jongseob tensed, and finally looked up at his friend. He was shocked to see a kind smile, where there normally sat a reserved frown.

“It’s totally normal, it’ll be fine.”

“I want to go home.”

Intak nodded. “Let’s go. Where’d your shirt go?” Then he spotted it. “Ah.”

“I don’t even know.”

Somehow Intak snuck him out of the crowded building, and got him an extra lab coat to cover up with, no problem at all. He was starting to feel much better, and wondered if he should say he’s fine to go back.

But they were already in a taxi headed to his Aunt May’s house, so he let himself recover. He pressed his palms against the leather beneath him, and stared out the window at the city flashing by.

Oh no—Aunt May! That would not end well. If she saw him come home early looking so sick, she’d ask questions. He knew logically, it wouldn’t be a big deal to lie a little bit, but he also knew he was a terrible liar.

“My dad will pay for any healthcare you need, if you do.”

He sucked in a breath. “No, no, it’s not a big deal. I feel much better by now.”

Intak laughed, “Good! Because explaining this to him would honestly suck.”

Jongseob believed that. Mr. Osborn was a stern man, and he could guess that he wouldn’t be too happy to hear his project was having negative effects. He’d probably care more about silencing this incident than Jongseob himself.

But that wasn’t a big deal.

“Woah, you can’t even see the bite anymore!”

Jongseob jumped and looked down, and realized it really was gone. Like nothing happened. Maybe he really had imagined it. He sighed, looking out the window once more. Intak patted his shoulder with a similar sigh.

The taxi stopped, and Jongseob realized he was staring right at his house. He started, and thanked Intak sincerely, offering to pay him back. As always, that wasn’t an option. Intak waved goodbye and Jongseob turned to face his front door alone.

Unfortunately for him, Aunt May spotted him through the glass of the door almost immediately.

“Jongseob!” she exclaimed when he opened the door. “What- what are you doing back here so early?” She threw down a pile of folded towels—it was laundry day—and reached out to caress his face with soft, cool hands. “You‘ve got a fever.”

“Just a small one, but I guess it was enough to leave early.”

Her forehead creased and her worry lines grew deeper. Before she could say anything, he continued.

“Honestly, I just wanted to leave. It was boring and had nothing to do with class. I have homework to do.”

She stepped back, eyeing him with suspicion. “Alright. Well, help me carry these up to the bathroom and then you can get on with that schoolwork.” She wagged a bony finger in the air, and a smile began to form on her lips again. “You’ve got to keep your scholarship, or you’ll be getting a job!”

Jongseob relaxed, and took the towels with a forced smile, hurrying up the stairs. “Love you, Aunt May!”

“Oh, get on with it!”

But once he’d ducked into the bathroom, he realized there really was something wrong. The towels wouldn’t drop. It was like he was… sticky.

~~

part one out of six.

taglist (let me know if you want to continue being tagged): @foggypkryptonite @thecarnivaloflies @zendieya-8 @harmonys-bunny @fullsunstrawberry @marleymade @hw4ngss @chuuswifereal @horangipoweryummyyummy @the-kpop-simp @blue-lumiere @yereneee @hrts4seobie

[honeybeezgobzzzzz]

𓅨 Dreamswept: Chapter Four

Dreamswept: In which Dream’s imprisonment brings out his darker side. Y/N’s mother works for the Burgess’s as a nurse, and after stumbling across what is hidden beneath Fawny Rig’s mortars one summer, Y/N’s life will never be the same. A darkness has attached itself to her and no matter how long she is kept from the Endless in the basement, he has not forgotten her kindness and brief moments of comfort. No, he has not forgotten, and now he craves it.

Warnings: None.

To Note: Dark!Morpheus/Dream x Female!Reader, Inspired by 'Claiming His Queen' by @moonmaiden1996 (Go Read It!).

Word Count: ~2.2k

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“Y/N/N…. Y/N/N? Y/N!… Y/N!!!” Jerking up in place, your arms battled against the blankets you had wrapped yourself up in during the night. Blowing hair out of your face, you glared at your door. “Y/—“

“I’m bloody awake, Blythe!” You shouted at her from your bed.

“As you say, sleeping beauty!” Blythe fired back. “Izzy burned all of the pancake batter and we have nothing in the fridge to eat. Get dressed, we’re going out for breakfast!” You flopped back on your bed with an inebriated groan. How many years had it been since you figured out how to cook meals for yourselves and Isabel still managed to burn all of the pancake batter? She was lucky you hadn’t been woken up by the sound of the fire alarm. Glaring at the ceiling of your room, you roughly dragged your covers to the side and untangled your limbs from your sheets. You moved into a sitting position on your bed and ran your fingers through your hair while looking out at the Saturday morning. Ever since graduating from Wycombe Abbey school and attending university with your two best friends, life had been relatively simple and uneventful… Isabel’s lack of cooking skills and proclivity to set things of fire, aside. The three of you had been rooming together since your start at the Wycombe Abbey, but now that you all held university degrees, you were finally moving on.

Not from each other, of course, you would all maintain strong contact, but you all had different plans. Isabel had gotten a job in Leeds as an architect and Blythe a job in Birmingham for her degree in accounting. You were finally returning home to Wych Cross, a move you were greatly looking forward to. Your best friends were determined to make your last few weeks living together the best to date. Last you had heard from the two they were planning to drag you to a club tomorrow for one last ‘hurrah’ before you caught a train south to Wych Cross on Wednesday.

You got up from your bed and wandered out of your room to the shared bathroom, knowing both of your roommates were probably getting hangry at this point in time. Cleaning up from your sleepy state in the bathroom, you double tasked brushing your teeth and hair while looking for clean clothes to wear. By the time you were ready and hopping your way to the front of the apartment, working socks on your feet, Blythe and Isabel were arguing with each other over where to get breakfast.

“If you can’t make up your bloody minds about where we’re eating breakfast,” You snipped at them, grouchy from hunger yourself as you grabbed your purse and keys. “Then we’re going to my pick.” That made both girls glower at you, and with a triumphant smile, you glided past them, heading for the door. “Come on, I’m starving.”

The arguing continued over breakfast, even after you had put your foot down on where you were going to eat. It was when you were fixing your second cup of tea that you finally put an end to it.

“Girls!” You hissed out, giving both of them looks. “I love you both dearly, but if you don’t shut up in the next five seconds I will strangle both of you!” Isabel and Blythe glared at each other, but did as you asked. “What are you even arguing over since I know it’s not over breakfast?”

“Iz, here, is thinking about getting back with Grant. Which, first off, hell no! Second, why would you go crawling back to that misogynistic arsehole? He never treated you right at all. As your friend, it is my job to tell you when you are being stupid.” Blythe answered, her eyes trained on Isabel. Your eyebrow rose and you turned to the woman in question.

“Isabel, Blythe and I spent a good three weeks picking up the pieces of your heart after you caught him cheating on you… I don’t want to have to do that a second time.” You told her frankly. “You remember the very explicit threat Blythe told you should he start sniffing around you again?”

“He said he was sorry! He was practically groveling!” Isabel protested weakly. “He brought flowers, Parisian chocolates, and—“ You held up your hand, stopping her in her tracks.

“Iz, a cheater is never going to change their ways and if he really loved you… why did he cheat the first time?” Isabel’s face fell at your words, and while you did feel sad that you were dashing her hopes, your words were spoken from your heart. You didn’t want to pick up the broken pieces of her heart a second time. Reaching across the table, you took her hand in yours and gave it a squeeze. “You know I say this with the best intentions, right?” Isabel bit her lip and nodded.

“I just want to go back to having that perfect relationship, I don’t want to have to start over.” She sighed out before looking up at Blythe. “Like, Blythe has the perfect relationship and be both know that Joey is going to propose any day…”

“Or she’ll just propose herself,” You offered back with a small chuckle. Blythe stuck her tongue out at the two of you but grinned behind her latte. “Joey’s an adorable person, but slow on the uptake sometimes.”

“Leave my girl alone,” Blythe puffed out. “Jojo will figure things out… eventually.” You rolled your eyes.

“Heavy on the eventually.” You reached for your tea and took a sip. Isabel let out a snort, nearly drawing her water up her nose. She spent the next minute coughing with Blythe pounding on her back. Breakfast finished on a lighter note.

“If you poke me in the eye with that mascara wand… I am going to mutiny and abandon going to the club entirely.” You sternly told Joey as she concentrated on putting mascara on your lashes. Joey rolled her brown eyes at you and continued her work.

“Like Blythe and Isabel will let you not go when you are leaving on Wednesday.” Joey shot back, her face deep with smugness. “I’m not going to poke you in the eye, Y/N/N. Calm down, I’ve been doing this since I was ten.”

“Is that supposed to be a comfort, Jo?” You quipped at her, trying not to flinch at the mascara wand brushing against your eyelashes. “Why is this such a beauty standard? Feels more like torture.”

“And you are being dramatic my friend,” Joey chided with a tut, giving your lashes one last brush before pulling back with a pleased smile. “You’re done with your torture, Y/N/N, go get yourself into that hot mini dress you go for your birthday before Blythie get’s impatient and forces you into it.”

“I am going to burn that bloody dress one of these days…” You muttered while making your way back to your room. The dress in question was a dress Blythe and Isabel had given you last year for your birthday. It was one of those little black dresses that when worn, would draw hungry eyes. The dress highlighted your best curves and hid all of the parts you normally tried to hide. You looked good in it… but you never felt comfortable flaunting your body and assets. Out of the three of you, you were the most reserved. Your experience in dating was very limited and Blythe and Isabel tried to get you out as much as possible to hook you up with someone.

It was irritating, but manageable. You just had to get through tonight and you wouldn’t have to put up with them trying to hook you up anymore. You loved the pair, but their meddling in your lack luster love life was never ending. Changing into the mini dress, you finished putting in your earrings as you walked towards the kitchen of the apartment. Isabel was leaning against the kitchen counter, phone in hand and fingers rapidly moving across the screen. You eyed her fingers before looking at her face.

“Izzy?” You gently probed, your eyebrow raised in concern. She scowled, typed some more, then slammed her phone down on the counter.

“There! I’ve just told Glenn to piss off for the last time and blocked his number!” She said triumphantly.

“Kudo’s for you, Iz, Glenn’s a twat I will happily never hear of again.” You praised her while Joey came gliding into the kitchen looking as beautiful as ever with her short pixie haircut spiked with glitter. “Looking good, Joey, got plans tonight?” Joey’s eyes sparkled mischievously and you shared a laugh. Hopefully she and Isabel would be too busy to pay any attention to you. You would only just have to deal with Blythe’s machinations. A manageable task but not ideal.

“Alright, who’s ready to party!” Blythe asked, strutting into the kitchen in a shimmering dress that fit her perfectly. It was going to be a long night. The four of you set out for the night club and started with a round of celebratory shots and while Blythe dragged Joey out to the dance floor, you remained behind to talk with Isabel. Neither of you were big into dancing, which really defeated the point of going to a club in the first place, but you both knew how much Blythe loved dancing and humored her more than you cared to admit.

“So, if you’re going home does that mean you might have a chance of finding yourself a local boy to catch?” Isabel asked, her eyes sparkling from interest in the topic. You eyed her suspiciously.

“No.” You replied shortly. “I didn’t go out from the manor that much and spent most of my time chasing frogs. You know that.”

“Pity…” She huffed out, slurping at her current fruity drink. “I should make sure to visit then, drag you out to find you a boyfriend. Seriously, Y/N, you need one. We both know how lonely you are at times.”

“I don’t need a boyfriend, Izzy.” You retorted. “After Evan I think I’m good with a nice long break from the dating scene. Besides, aren’t men more interested in women who actually know what they’re doing? My dating skills are at the bare minimum. It doesn’t help having a scar smack dab in the middle of my cheek.” You gestured to scarred tissue on your face, the only physical evidence left of the accident that stole a block of your memories when you were younger.

“You’re beautiful and you know it, Y/N, and your dating skills are terrible because you’ve spent all your time in the last years studying or working… and then you get so tried, all you wanna do is sleep which means you have to take your meds, which knocks you out for a solid ten hours.” Isabel grumbled, wrinkling her nose. “Why are you still on those meds anyways? I’d have thought you would grow out of your nightmares by now…”

“I don’t have dreams period, let alone nightmares.” You reminded her. “Medication stops those… and as for my continually taking them? My mother was quite insistent that I remain on it so I don’t suffer from nightmares, she was actually somewhat hysterical about it and the only way I could get her to calm down was agree. It’s not like the medication is messing with my waking hours.”

“You’re an adult, Y/N/N, you don’t have to listen to your mother anymore.” You made a face of your own and took a long drink of your own beverage. Yes, you were an adult, yes you still listened to your mother… but everything you did at this age just felt normal, routine.

“I just don’t want to upset her, she’s starting to get up there in age and I’m worried about her health.” You sighed out after lowering your glass back to the tabletop. “Recently found out that she has congenital heart disease, nothing too bad but the doctors don’t want her to stress her heart out, physically or emotionally.”

“They only just found it?” Isabel asked, her eyebrows pinched together. “Now?” You shrugged at her not understand why it hadn’t been caught any sooner.

“Don’t know why they haven’t caught it until now, she’s a nurse, you’d think that it would be something easily caught… I don’t know. Mother says she’s perfectly fine, never one to be a hypochondriac, but I’m concerned that she’ll off play her symptoms to the point of injury. You know she’s stubborn like that.” Isabel contemplated your words as lights flickered around you, you had reached the point in the night where the music and lights would get unbearably loud.

“Given how much she bosses Alex and Paul around? I’d say your mother is more than stubborn if she can get them to do what she wants.” Isabel said, her voice raising in volume.

“But is that stubbornness or her just being bossy?” You questioned back, flourishing your hand. “You know she’s a very bossy woman. There’s little point in trying to argue with her.”

“Maybe you could try and talk to her when you get home? It doesn’t seem unreasonable and might I remind you… your an adult!”

Date Published: 10/12/22

Last Edit: 4/3/23

Previous | Masterlist | Next

[ijustwantedtobeoneofthestrokesuk]

Doing It Ourselves

Online

The internet played a key role in making the UK indie scene sustainable, but this was pre-social media, if the NME wasn’t talking about it, you wouldn’t know about anything that was going on beyond your doorstep unless you went on the band forums which built communities of like-minded people. These weren’t exclusively for the London bands, but it was that scene that really benefited from them.

They were a space where bands could share their music to an audience who liked bands similar to theirs, for free. The Others, The Paddingtons and The Cribs used their own forums and each other bands’ forums to not only advertise gigs but book gigs too. Arctic Monkeys recognised this as part of their early success (despite not doing it themselves) but it only worked for them because of the quality of the music. Success requires both luck and skill, without the skill it just becomes a trend that won’t last, Arctic Monkeys outlasted everybody because they were better than everybody.

Ask anybody who was part of the 2000’s indie scene about .org (The Libertines fan forum), they were probably on it. It was legendary and it built a community amongst fans but it was more than just a fan club. 

The band themselves used the forum to engage with fans, often jumping in on conversations, uploading demos (people would burn them on CDs and sell on eBay) and announce last-minute gigs. The forum was also used by other bands in the scene to connect with like-minded people and build a fan base. If something exciting was happening in London, details would be on .org. 

Zac Stephenson (Special Needs) “We used to post our news on .org and some other fan forums. It was great because there was a pretty large gig-going community on there and it was easy to reach them quickly and at no cost to the bands. And there was a lot of exchange of fans, particularly as bands shared line-ups.” 

Tom Greatorex (Black Wire) “There is no way anyone can ever talk down the importance of online message boards from 2002 - 2006. Every website that had anything to do with music had one: club nights had one, bands had one, cities and towns had one and they were integral in constructing this amazing network of people. 

There's nothing new about any of it, fanzines and letters pages in music mags had been doing it for decades but this was instant. Two extremely important factors that fed into this came a couple of years beforehand: Napster and the roll-out and prevalence of what was then called Pay-As-You-Go mobile phones.  

All of a sudden young people had access to music and sounds which would have most likely passed them by previously, maybe through lack of funds or maybe due to a geographical remoteness, via Napster. You could take a punt on an artist without losing your pocket money. 

Pay-As-You-Go made it affordable to be in direct contact with your friends which made meeting up for gigs much easier. It also meant that if you organised events/gigs you could make last-minute bookings and alterations at the drop of a hat. 

What these two cultural changes cultivated was a sense of immediacy and so when the internet really became a household tool around 2001 (mainly thanks to AOL carpet-bombing the UK with free installation disks through the post allowing easy dial-up access to people who may previously have still thought the Information Superhighway was just for nerds. Once people found out how much porn they could access any other war was lost) these kids were already primed with the knowledge of how to use it and where it should go. 

In fact they were so on it that almost a quarter of a century later the music industry still doesn't know what its own role is. 

Black Wire booked our first tour using message boards. We didn't know any promoters outside of Leeds so we hit people up on forums. The brilliant thing was that all the promoters used the same message boards so they could all coordinate with each other directly, in real-time, what would be the best dates for the gigs to happen.  

'Playing a gig in Bath on the Friday? Ok, the promoter for the Cardiff gig is going to pick you up afterwards and drive you to their friend's flat where you can stay for the night so you're in town for your show on the Saturday' (This is just one example of something that actually happened because of forums). 

For that first tour we pooled together our dole money for train tickets to the first gig and then used the fees from each subsequent gig to pay for train tickets to the next. 

It's called DIY that is. Punk Rock. Make a note of it. LOLzzz.” 

Paul Melbourne “I don't actually know I discovered .org, I was just always on it from as soon as I'd first heard about The Libertines, and that was as much a part of it all as the actual band. It was where you would go to chat music, gigs and new bands with like-minded kids across the country. It just harboured that real sense of community amongst like minded folk. There was no bullshit or pretension, just people who liked the same music travelling the country meeting up for gigs and getting wasted! 

Pete was the only Libertine I remember contributing, I think Carl posted from time to time but after things got messy with Libs Pete would regularly be on there posting about all the tiny gigs we has doing, tenners on the door! 

That community spawned many lifelong friendships! At the time that was where I discovered The Others who were notorious on the scene at the time and they really carried on the whole community and made their own. All of the Poptones bands were part of .org and bands like Special Needs, 10,000 Things (one of the most underrated bands of that time), Ludes, Dustin's Bar Mitzvah and Les Incompetents. 

I have made so many lifelong friends through .org, and indirectly met my wife through there, we met through mutual friend Alan Jewels, who we both met through going to gigs with .org'ers. I went to uni in Notingham and we would regularly find out about gigs on .org and travel down to London and to other cities, Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and meet up with .org'ers there. Also many gigs at Stoke Underground! An unlikely place to go but for Pete making it a bit of a second home for a time! I met one of my best mates Delaney (delaney girl) on there and all of her mates who are some of my best mates to this day!” 

Tom Atkin “.org was massive for The Paddingtons.” 

Each band had its own forum and online community too, The Others, The Cribs, Bloc Party and The Rakes were all pretty active, it was tribal and it brought fans from across the world, which was never so easy in pre-internet days but is normalised in the social media era.  

Bill Ryder-Jones “I was aware of The Coral forum and engaged with that a bit but ultimately we belonged to a time where fans had to go looking for info on their bands.” 

Whatever you had an interest in, however niche, it was now easily accessible to find others to connect with. Music blogs had started to build up a following, each had its own core group who went there for the latest news, reviews and opinions. We take this for granted these days.

NEXT CHAPTER

[h0nestandcunning]

free throw, saturdays at your place & eat defeat @ the key club, leeds

[justforbooks]

Sir Bobby Charlton, who has died aged 86, was one of the greatest footballers England has ever produced. He was certainly the most successful, the only English player to win all of football’s major honours – the FA Cup, Football League and European Cup with Manchester United, and the World Cup with England, accumulating a record number of international caps and goals.

As captain of United in 1968, when they were the first English team to win the European Cup, and a key player in the 1966 World Cup-winning team, he was the embodiment of a golden age of English football. But he was also involved in one of the game’s darkest moments, the 1958 Munich air disaster, in which eight of his team-mates, three United staff and a further 12 passengers were killed.

Charlton was renowned for his raking passes and explosive long-range shots, with either foot, and was blessed with speed, athleticism and perfect balance.

Some commentators say he was a scorer of great goals rather than a great goal scorer, but the statistics undermine that claim. For England, he scored 49 in 106 appearances, and he was United’s highest all-time scorer, with 249 in 758 games, until 2017, when his record was beaten by Wayne Rooney.

But it was his modesty and gentlemanly demeanour, as much as his outstanding ability, that won him admiration far beyond Manchester and England. At the height of his fame in the mid to late 60s, when London and the counterculture were in full swing, one of the world’s most famous Englishmen was an old-fashioned sporting hero. Across the world, the first or only two words of English many people could speak were “Bobby Charlton”.

He was born in the Northumberland mining village of Ashington, the second of four sons of Robert Charlton, a miner, and his wife, Elizabeth, known as Cissie, who came from the famous Milburn football family. Four of her brothers were professional footballers and her cousin was the Newcastle United and England centre-forward Jackie Milburn. Bobby’s elder brother, Jack, also became a footballer, and, although not as gifted as his younger brother, he enjoyed a distinguished career as a centre-half for Leeds United, and later as a successful manager. Jack and Bobby were England team-mates in 1966.

Most Ashington boys went down the pit on leaving school (as Jack did briefly before joining Leeds), but from a young age it was apparent that Bobby would become a footballer. He passed the 11-plus but attending the local grammar was unthinkable because it was a rugby-playing school. However, he was such a prodigy that his headteacher – with encouragement from Cissie – arranged a place at another nearby school, the football-playing Bedlington grammar.

In his last year at school, he played four times for England schoolboys, scoring five goals, and football scouts from across Britain were soon knocking at the family’s door. He received offers from 18 clubs in all, but was charmed by Manchester United’s chief scout, Joe Armstrong, and signed for them in 1953.

Apart from a brief swansong with Preston North End and then Waterford, in Ireland, it was to be his only club, and an inspired choice. Not only were United a club on the rise, but their inspirational manager, Matt Busby, was prepared to give youth its head, assembling a precociously talented young team that played with swagger and flair, capturing the nation’s imagination and earning them the nickname the Busby Babes. They swept all before them to win the First Division (the equivalent of today’s Premier League) in 1955-56, and retained the title the following season, in which Charlton scored twice on his debut, against Charlton Athletic, on 6 October 1956.

As champions, United entered the European Cup, the first English side to do so, and reached the semi-finals in 1957. A year later they beat Red Star Belgrade in the quarter-finals, with Charlton, now an established first-teamer, scoring three goals over the two legs. On the flight back from Belgrade the following day, the team’s plane stopped to refuel in Munich. In freezing conditions, it crashed and burst into flames while attempting to take off from the snowy runway.

Charlton was catapulted 40 yards from the plane, still strapped into his seat, and clear of the burning wreck. He woke minutes later, suffering only from shock and minor cuts. He later described his escape as a miracle, but it would haunt him for the rest of his life. The grief of witnessing friends perish left its mark, turning an already shy young man into an introspective one. Many close to him, including Busby and his brother Jack, said that Bobby changed for ever after Munich. “He never got over Munich,” said Busby. “He felt responsible. Those were his kids that died that day.”

Characteristically, Jack was more blunt. In his 1996 autobiography, he wrote: “I saw a big change in our kid from that day on. He stopped smiling, a trait which continues to this day.” The book lifted the lid on the brothers’ strained relationship – they barely spoke for many years, partly due to the cooling of relations between Norma (nee Ball), Bobby’s wife, whom he married in 1961, and his wider family, in particular Cissie, to whom he did not pay a visit in the final four years of her life. Fortunately Bobby and Jack were reconciled before Jack’s death in 2020.

Despite all the success and veneration that would come Charlton’s way, he always carried a slight air of melancholy. He was not withdrawn, however, on the football field, where he exuded the freedom, desire and commanding presence characteristic of great athletes.

Just 23 days after Munich, Charlton was back playing for United, and for the remainder of that traumatic season, and indeed the next decade, he was the foundation stone on which Manchester United were rebuilt. Showing remarkable spirit, United reached the FA Cup final within three months of the disaster, with a patched-up team of youth players, stop-gap signings and four players who had survived the crash. There was a tide of public sympathy behind them, but they lost the game 2-0 to Bolton Wanderers.

On 19 April, shortly before the Cup final, Charlton made his England debut, scoring in a 4-0 win against Scotland at Hampden Park. He scored twice more in his second game, against Portugal at Wembley, and this earned him a place in the squad for the World Cup in Sweden that summer. It was the first of his four World Cup squads (another record for an Englishman), though he did not get off the bench in Sweden. By the 1962 World Cup in Chile, he was a first-choice player and scored against Argentina as England reached the quarter-finals before losing to the eventual champions, Brazil.

As hosts of the 1966 World Cup, England made a disappointing start, with a 0-0 draw against Uruguay. It was in the second game, against Mexico, that Charlton lit up England’s hopes with a magnificent goal, running from his own half with the ball before unleashing a trademark thunderbolt shot. In the semi-final against Portugal, he had the international game of his life, scoring both goals in the 2-1 win that put England into the final.

He had a relatively quiet game in the 4-2 final victory against West Germany, given the task by the England manager, Alf Ramsey, of marking the brilliant young Franz Beckenbauer, who had been told to mark Charlton, so that they largely cancelled each other out. But the battle between the two best players on the pitch was pivotal to the game’s outcome, as Beckenbauer acknowledged years later: “England beat us in 1966 because Bobby Charlton was just a bit better than me.” Ramsey declared that Charlton was “very much the linchpin of the 1966 team”, and he was voted player of the tournament. He ended the season not only as a world champion but as Footballer of the Year and European Footballer of the Year, too.

There was to be one last World Cup hurrah, in Mexico in 1970. He was 32 by then and, although he was still perhaps England’s best player, in the quarter-final, again against West Germany, with England winning 2-1, Ramsey controversially substituted Charlton to conserve his energy for what seemed like a certain semi-final. But the Germans came back to win 3-2 and England were out. It was Charlton’s record 106th cap – the game in which he passed Billy Wright’s tally, and a record that stood until passed by Rooney in 2015 – and his last, an unsatisfactory end to a glittering international career.

His halcyon days with England coincided with Manchester United’s post-Munich renaissance. By the mid-1960s Busby had built his second great team, Charlton now at the heart of it, playing as an attacking midfielder. The line-up included the Northern Irishman George Best and the Scot Denis Law, who together with Charlton formed a dazzling forward line that reignited the legend of the Busby Babes. They were brilliant individuals (in the space of five years, all three were named European Player of the Year) and together helped United win the FA Cup in 1963 and the league title in 1964-65 and 1966-67.

Ten years after the Munich disaster, United finally realised Busby’s dream of playing in a European Cup final, against the Portuguese club Benfica. United won 4-1 at Wembley, with Charlton scoring twice and lifting the cup as captain. For him and Bill Foulkes, the only two crash survivors in the team, and for Busby, it was an overwhelming evening. After the match, while the rest of the team celebrated, Charlton was so exhausted that he could not get off his hotel bed to go downstairs and join the party. Busby retired as manager a year later, and United went into slow decline, though Charlton played on until 1973.

With his playing career over, he felt uncertain about what to do next, and simply waited for the phone to ring. It was three weeks before it did, and he accepted the first offer that came his way, to manage Second Division Preston North End. The club were relegated in his first season in charge, and he resigned the next. It was a chastening experience after so many illustrious years as a player, and he never returned to full-time management.

He had more success in the media, working as a BBC football pundit, and in 1978 he also set up the innovative Bobby Charlton Soccer Schools, which provided top-level coaching to young players. In 1984 he returned to Manchester United as a director. He developed a close bond with the United manager Alex Ferguson, and his diplomacy and peerless standing in the game made him the perfect ambassador for the club as it developed into a global sporting brand in the 90s. Such qualities were not lost on other sporting bodies, and Charlton, who was knighted in 1994, was an automatic choice for the teams bidding to win the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games and the 2002 Commonwealth Games for Manchester, the 2006 and 2018 World Cups for England, and London’s successful pitch for the 2012 Olympic Games.

He is survived by Norma and their daughters, Suzanne, a former BBC weather presenter, and Andrea.

🔔 Robert Charlton, footballer, born 11 October 1937; died 21 October 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[brettyimages]

Autofiction tour day 10: Leeds

The last day of tour, better make it count! I headed up to the o2 with a coach party of IOs to take my last number of the tour (20) just before 11am. Arts and crafts time had started with Simon and Mat paper dolls propped up in the corner, so we got to work on adding Neil, then Richard. After lunch and an eventful Travelodge check-in I made it back in time for clearing up and readying the queue. I missed half of the band arriving but Neil and Brett showed up a little later and met their paper doll selves - Neil posing with little Neil a particular tour highlight for me. Then ears pressed the door for a final soundcheck: Pale Snow and IDKHT Reach You (3 times until it was right). I hung out there under cover for a little longer, eating birthday cake and waiting for the rain to stop so I could get back to my queue spot and thankfully I stayed as another song started being soundchecked on piano... Stay Together. My heart stopped for a moment as I tried to figure out whether my ears were deceiving me, then the four of us gathered by the box office ran to the back of the venue which had an open door, holding one another as we listened to the song being rehearsed. After that the queue was an excruciating wait - would they play it? They'd scrapped Wastelands on piano in Bristol so it wasn't a sure thing but I still vibrated with excitement.

Just before doors came Sam with an armful of leftover October tour T-shirts for those of us who'd spent a good chunk of the month on the road ("a gift from Suede"), then lining up time. The venue's notoriously bad entry system worked in my favour and despite expecting second row, I got my barrier spot in front of the magic carpet again. Perfect for watching the Sprints bassist who took the opportunity to pose on the monitors as they made my dream come true and added I'm In A Band to the set. Even better for watching Brett plunge to his knees for the final act of IDKHT Reach You, delivered into my filming camera. Then it happened: Stay Together. Stunning as a piano number. Brett sounded beautiful. I managed not to cry and just basked in the glow of my favourite Suede single. The rest of the set was standard, excellent as always, bittersweet as the final one but such a joy.

Outside security warned us that the band would leave via the bottom door so we all traipsed down the hill and gathered in such numbers that I knew I wouldn't see any of them there. I took a gamble and headed back up to where the van was still parked, and it paid off: first Simon, congratulating the 3 of us for being clever and offering hugs. Then Richard, Mat, Brett and Neil, waving each one off as they headed homewards. Not for us though - Key Club for nostalgic 00s indie (and Elephant Man) until 3am closing time. Truly, an incredible Suede tour.

[thank-god-and-you]

I was tagged by @markcampbells--thank you! <3

Last song: It Is What It Is by Lifehouse.

Favourite colour: Green!

Currently watching: Oh, I've got absolutely too many shows on the go, it's no wonder it takes me forever to get through anything. Some of these I've been catching up with for literal years because I watch like one episode a month or something, LOL. Various YouTube game playthroughs, Call the Midwife, The Crown, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, Orange is the New Black, Easy, Sanditon, Benidorm, The Office US, 30 Rock, Keeping up Appearances, a few reality shows, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Pokémon, The Bear, Riches.

Last movie: Aladdin: The Return of Jafar. Working my way through Disney movies that I haven't seen before and that was one of them.

Currently reading: The book that I pick up once a week and read a few pages of in between writing: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, which I am enjoying. The book I've been reading every night before bed: The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave, which I knew within a few pages I would not enjoy, and wouldn't have picked myself (Mum panicked and picked it as part of a buy-one-get-one-half-price deal alongside another book which I haven't opened yet), but once I'd started I couldn't not finish. I'll be finishing it off tonight, which I'm glad about. I'll be starting The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqui tomorrow (audiobook version because I am a simple bi woman who just wants to listen to Balvinder Sopal's voice for eight-and-a-half hours).

Sweet/spicy/savory: Sweet, though I am highly constrained by my ARFID.

Relationship status: Likely gonna be single forever. I have severe anxieties about dating because of body image/ARFID, so yeah. Most of the time I'm fine with that. Other times I feel like I'm in a glass box watching life pass me by.

Current obsession: If you'd told me five years ago that I'd be leaving my twenties completely and utterly obsessed with a soap couple, I would have laughed in your face. But the power of lesbians, I guess! My life basically revolves around Suki Panesar/Eve Unwin at the moment.

Last thing I Googled: The location of a sex shop in Leeds. It was for fic purposes, LOL.

Currently working on: Literally so many fics! (Mix of actual titles and doc placeholder names below.)

Anna/Bates: A Sky Full of Stars, blindfold, come here, Feb 21 Prompt, Friday Afternoon, Key Details, Let's Get Quizical, Made of Starlight, Say My Name, Secretum Lingua Caritate, Sehnsucht, The Moral of the Story, Throw Away the Key, web cam

Suki/Eve: leedsgate, A Stained Glass Variation of the Truth, pride, revenge, phone, picture, prompts, boxing, Our Once Barren World Now Brims with Life, Our Legacies Hide in the Embers, And Beauty There Echoes the Speck of Our Souls

Dany/Jorah: Vivat Crescat Floreat, Aut Vincere Aut Mori, warm soup

Anne/Ann: pony, eager, confrontation, Takes Courage and Madness to Live As We Do

Bob/Helen: superheroes, did you sleep with her

Felix/Calhoun: fear is a four letter word, bed sharing

[tomsmusictaste]

Yours Truly @ Leeds Key Club 11.03.23 — “Heartsleeve” 🖤

Yours Truly were awesome last night! I was a little disappointed that they didn’t play ‘I Can’t Feel’ which is my favourite song of theirs, but they did end up adding ‘Heartsleeve’ to the set, which is another of my favourite songs that I really wasn’t expecting to hear at all, so that was super cool 🖤🤘

Lizzie Farrall and South Arcade were great too, especially South Arcade, I think I’ll be checking more of them out in the future

[random-jot]

Yours Truly @ Leeds Key Club 11.03.23 — “Heartsleeve” 🖤

Yours Truly were awesome last night! I was a little disappointed that they didn’t play ‘I Can’t Feel’ which is my favourite song of theirs, but they did end up adding ‘Heartsleeve’ to the set, which is another of my favourite songs that I really wasn’t expecting to hear at all, so that was super cool 🖤🤘

Lizzie Farrall and South Arcade were great too, especially South Arcade, I think I’ll be checking more of them out in the future

Edit: I already posted this on my music sideblog but for some reason a draft saved to my main too, so here it is again!!!

[jeffkazee]

Happy New Year, everyone. Please allow me to take a moment to comment on the recent news of Southside Johnny Lyon retirement from touring. I apologize in advance, this is long.

I want to thank John for all the cities played, miles travelled, songs sung, stories told, laughs laughed, and most of all, the enormous amount of music that we performed together since 1998. Even all our fighting and cussing don't seem so bad, now.

50+ years leading a band around the world. A contrarian from New Jersey without a plan. Jawdroppingly awesome.

South gave me a place to hang my hat immediately after I joined the band—his encouragement to be myself, and to "set a fire" under him was affirmation to me that someone wanted me around for a reason other than to just fill a seat. I was doing better than okay as a NYC sideman, making a living and playing with cool people, but man, I really wanted to be in a band. His commitment to the performative, put-it-in-their face, for-the-people, unscripted presentation of old school Rock & Roll meets Soul was gold to my eyes, and instantly drew me in. Never a dull moment, no pretentiousness, and no intentional showbiz phoniness allowed. Let the chips fall where they may—in real time, in front of real people. It was rare for a band then and it's rare now.

Thank god, he always had the songs. Great songs. Every show, Southside would sing absolute masterpieces written by the likes of Asbury Jukes co-founder Steven Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Leiber & Stoller, Holland/Dozier/Holland and so many more. And, South didn't just sing those creations, he lived inside them, interpreting the lyrics and melodies as he saw fit, in real time. Feeling each line of heartache and personalizing each phrase of hope and exaltation. Add in his natural "It" factor—few people can walk onstage like him, usually dressed like a high school guidance counselor on a bender, and immediately elicit such strong reactions by the audience—and well, the stage was his to own, to destroy or often, both. A performer unlike any other, period.

Alas, as the Frontman retires from touring, so does his band. The Asbury Jukes will be remembered as an entity that supported their leader with muscle, nuance, accuracy, looseness, virtuosity, encyclopedic musical knowledge and the power to turn on a dime when their enigmatic singer changed gears and courses—sometimes mid-song. The band was like a freight train, almost impossible to knock us off the tracks. The Jukes played with pride and purpose on every stage—be it in clubs, arenas, parking lots, boats, knockdown joints, stadiums or zoos (not kidding). A band for The People.

Too many great Jukes to mention, but I must call out my longest—tenured bandmate (he's got me by a couple of months), trumpeter/horn arranger, Chris Anderson. He and I were on the bridge that linked the classic earlier lineups with the present generation that we know today. We were given instructions by Johnny to help him go forward, and we accepted.

Thank you to our Manager, Harvey Leeds, for saying Yes more than No, and then figuring out how to afford Yes.

About fifteen years ago, South made me the bandleader. John and I had become songwriting and producing partners, and our infamously (let's call it dynamic) active friendship was a natural fit onstage, as well. I appreciate the agency that he gave me. It was like walking a tightrope every night, but hey—I always loved the circus. Following in the footsteps of former iconic leaders like Bobby Bandiera, Billy Rush and Little Steven, I was well aware of the legacy and weight Johnny was bestowing to me as his musical consigliere. I took it seriously in every spectrum of our band—performances, arranging, writing/producing material, studio work, art and business opinions. I'll always be grateful to have been given those keys.

A few things I'll miss:

—my many travels and talks with the invaluable Joe Prinzo, our Front of House mixer, Road Manager, and oh-so much more. Many, many days off in faraway places, drinking coffee, buying stuff, eating excellent dinners, talking about our families and scheming for the next cool thing for the band.

—our dear friend and lifelong roadie, Hood, who we lost in April of 2020. He joined the Jukes as a kid and worked for Johnny until his passing. For me, the band was never really quite the same after he left. His passion for the Jukes and knowledge of Rock and Roll was epic. A good man.

—the time spent on and offstage with my bandmates and crew. I love them all. We experienced life together in busses, airplanes, Econoline Vans and countless backstage greenrooms. Together, we watched each other's families grow, lost loved ones, felt the high and lows of the path we'd chosen, and a ton of bullshit talk about Chuck Berry, The Godfather, Coltrane, Pete Rose, politics, The Yankees and the Mets, and everything else. Much respect each of these talented, soulful and wayfaring warriors. Champions, all.

—writing dozens of songs with Southside, in the "Southside Johnny Suite" in my Queens, NY basement (just a couch to sleep on), surrounded by my kids's plastic toys and dolls, countless keyboards, and tons of yellow legal pads, napkins, hotel stationary—any piece of paper that held a lyrical nugget. Opening up each other, emotionally and philosophically—anyway we could to get a true line written. One learns a lot about each other in those situations. We wrote some stuff we're both proud of. Then, the dinners upstairs, cooked by my wife Constance, and the chaos of my daughters and a slightly fueled up Uncle Southside talking god-knows-what at the table. It was loud.

—I'll miss the incredible fans that followed and supported Southside and the boys for over 50 years. I've received so many emails, messages and posts from you, detailing your love for John and the band. So kind and warm to my heart, Thank YOU, for giving me purpose and such a rewarding career. It was an honor.

I'm not sure how it plays out for Johnny in regards to the "what now" part of his life. That's his tale to tell. As his friend, former employee and fan, I hope he finds some time to create more stuff and sing a bit now and then. It's my opinion that he has more to give, and I'll always support him in any endeavor. A friend, until the end.

Folks. Please let it be known that I'm not retiring from anything, but merely stoking the fire again for the next stage of my artistic life. I hope that you will find some time to catch me at a show or check out my music, new and old. I've always had an active musical life outside of the Jukes, and now that part of my journey is ramping up to something new and special.

All good things come to an end. Damn. What a ride.

God Bless Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes

Love, Jeff Kazee

Images below, 1) group portrait by Danny Clinch 2) South & me by Mark Kraynak 3) group bow at The Paradiso in Amsterdam by unknown.

[tameblog]

The best hotels in Miami are your fast pass to a whole new world of nightlife and sun-drenched fun, from showy, celebrity-filled restaurants and clubs open until the early morning hours to beaches that double as fashion runways—not to mention home prices that break record after record. An understated destination this is not.“Miami’s hotels tend to be glamorous spots that are the ‘it’ places to hang out in town,” says Shelby Albo, a luxury consultant at travel advisory Embark Beyond, who adds that, “in fact, people visit Miami just for the hotels.” Our list of 14 standout properties in the Magic City spans from Surfside to South Beach, and we don’t exclude Mid-Beach in between—check them out below.The Best Hotels in Miami, According to UsPhoto: Ryan ForbesLaunched as one of the brand’s three inaugural hotels in 2015, the environmentally sustainable, beachfront 1 Hotel South Beach occupies a full city block on a prominent stretch of Collins Avenue on a site where Miami’s first large luxury hotel was built in 1920. Since that time, the structure went from hotel to residences, was demolished and rebuilt, and finally underwent a $1-million renovation and redesign by Miami architect Kobi Karp before reopening as the 425-room, LEED Silver certified 1 Hotel.The beachside setting informed the design of the hotel, and all materials are reclaimed or repurposed and locally sourced, including eco-friendly and economical driftwood that’s prominently employed throughout the property. The ground floor restaurant and lobby, featuring a garden with local foliage, open up to bustling South Beach, and a lavish rooftop pool offers views of the ocean and the city. This Michelin-key hotel also features three other resplendent pools decked out with cabanas, as well as a 40,000 wellness spa and fitness center that includes a SoulCycle studio. From $999 per night.Photo: Craig DenisAnother top hotel option on Collins Ave. for the eco-conscious traveler, The Palms Hotel & Spa melds environmentally sustainable design with a tropical aesthetic in a historic Art Deco building. An on-site “green team” ensures that the hotel maintains eco-conscious practices, which earned the property Green Globe certification and a 3 Palm rating from the Florida Green Lodging program. Hailed as a “tropical enclave” in one guest review, the 251-room hotel overlooks the ocean, pool, or lush tropical gardens from each spa-inspired guest room or suite. And the hotel’s actual spa is a true destination: Influenced by Ayurvedic holistic philosophy, The Palms AVEDA Spa offers beachside massages as well as other spa and salon services. Guests will enjoy pampering beyond the spa with an attentive staff that prioritizes service to ensure a sophisticated and satisfying experience. From $427 per night.Photo: Dylan RivesImpeccable service is a prime consideration at Hotel Greystone, which received one 2024 Michelin key. With a true Art Deco style depicted in the hotel’s ziggurat roofline, curved facade, and porthole windows, the Greystone was designed by well-known Miami architect Henry Hohauser in 1939, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and underwent a $65-million renovation led by Holly Muhl in 2019, reopening two years later.Muhl’s goal with the interior design was to “create something stylish and comfortable that evokes the dynamic layers of Miami Beach,” she says. Set on the corner of 19th Street and Collins Avenue across from the beach in the Art Deco district, this adults-only boutique hotel offers 91 posh guest rooms and suites, a main restaurant and bar, courtyard cafe, and rooftop pool and bar—a place to see and be seen any time of day or night. From $311 per night.Courtesy of The Goodtime HotelA collaboration between the famed Miami nightlife and restaurant entrepreneur David Grutman and the singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams, the Goodtime Hotel is hands-down the liveliest place to stay when you’re in Miami. As the name suggests, guests really are in for a good time: The trendy public spaces feature hand-painted murals and Deco plasterwork while rooms are pure fun, with leopard-print benches and pink rotary dial phones. This Miami Beach hotel also has a 30,000-square-foot pool club called Strawberry Moon, a spacious gym, and a library where guests can socialize over coffee or cocktails. From $165 per night.Courtesy of W South BeachAfter 10 years as an Art Basel social center, W South Beach reopened in 2020 following a $30 million renovation. Gone are the dark tones and shiny finishes: The 357 guest rooms now feature an airy aesthetic and emphasize warm oaks and natural light, making this a serene getaway on Collins Avenue. The property also has a new spa and an updated art collection, valued at $100 million and featuring 21 original Andy Warhols. Standout amenities include on-site tennis and basketball courts, new beach cabanas, and an outpost of the celebrity-favorite restaurant Mr. Chow. From $423 per night.Courtesy of The SetaiWith sleek, dark tones and a distinctly Asian-influenced design, the Setai, Miami Beach oozes elegance. You can spend your time at the property—a member of the Leading Hotels of the World—sipping fresh coconut juice from the fruit itself by the three guest-only swimming pools or splurging on a treatment at the Valmont spa. The signature restaurant, Jaya, serves up some of the best Asian food you’ll ever eat, including killer Indian curries, and you can expect a full-on show while you dine. Think fire dancers, aerial acrobats suspended from the roof, and live jazz. From $630 per night.Courtesy of The BetsyA European-inspired, family-owned luxury boutique hotel right on Ocean Drive in the heart of South Beach, the Betsy is a property where an art gallery (the fabulous collection is a highlight) meets a jazz club (there’s live music seven days a week) meets a coffee shop that hosts regular book talks and poetry readings. The hotel also has a beach-facing outdoor dining terrace that’s buzzy all day and a rooftop pool with panoramic views of the city. From $428 per night.Courtesy of Faena Hotel Miami BeachIn the heart of Mid-Beach and boasting some of the widest and most pristine beachfront Miami has to offer, Faena Hotel Miami Beach can best be described as maximalism and then some. With the help of Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, Argentinian hotelier Alan Faena reimagined the historic Saxony Hotel, originally built in 1947 and the stomping ground of Hollywood icons such as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, into an Art Deco–inspired space that’s a throwback to its old glory days. Source link

[ramestoryworld]

The best hotels in Miami are your fast pass to a whole new world of nightlife and sun-drenched fun, from showy, celebrity-filled restaurants and clubs open until the early morning hours to beaches that double as fashion runways—not to mention home prices that break record after record. An understated destination this is not.“Miami’s hotels tend to be glamorous spots that are the ‘it’ places to hang out in town,” says Shelby Albo, a luxury consultant at travel advisory Embark Beyond, who adds that, “in fact, people visit Miami just for the hotels.” Our list of 14 standout properties in the Magic City spans from Surfside to South Beach, and we don’t exclude Mid-Beach in between—check them out below.The Best Hotels in Miami, According to UsPhoto: Ryan ForbesLaunched as one of the brand’s three inaugural hotels in 2015, the environmentally sustainable, beachfront 1 Hotel South Beach occupies a full city block on a prominent stretch of Collins Avenue on a site where Miami’s first large luxury hotel was built in 1920. Since that time, the structure went from hotel to residences, was demolished and rebuilt, and finally underwent a $1-million renovation and redesign by Miami architect Kobi Karp before reopening as the 425-room, LEED Silver certified 1 Hotel.The beachside setting informed the design of the hotel, and all materials are reclaimed or repurposed and locally sourced, including eco-friendly and economical driftwood that’s prominently employed throughout the property. The ground floor restaurant and lobby, featuring a garden with local foliage, open up to bustling South Beach, and a lavish rooftop pool offers views of the ocean and the city. This Michelin-key hotel also features three other resplendent pools decked out with cabanas, as well as a 40,000 wellness spa and fitness center that includes a SoulCycle studio. From $999 per night.Photo: Craig DenisAnother top hotel option on Collins Ave. for the eco-conscious traveler, The Palms Hotel & Spa melds environmentally sustainable design with a tropical aesthetic in a historic Art Deco building. An on-site “green team” ensures that the hotel maintains eco-conscious practices, which earned the property Green Globe certification and a 3 Palm rating from the Florida Green Lodging program. Hailed as a “tropical enclave” in one guest review, the 251-room hotel overlooks the ocean, pool, or lush tropical gardens from each spa-inspired guest room or suite. And the hotel’s actual spa is a true destination: Influenced by Ayurvedic holistic philosophy, The Palms AVEDA Spa offers beachside massages as well as other spa and salon services. Guests will enjoy pampering beyond the spa with an attentive staff that prioritizes service to ensure a sophisticated and satisfying experience. From $427 per night.Photo: Dylan RivesImpeccable service is a prime consideration at Hotel Greystone, which received one 2024 Michelin key. With a true Art Deco style depicted in the hotel’s ziggurat roofline, curved facade, and porthole windows, the Greystone was designed by well-known Miami architect Henry Hohauser in 1939, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and underwent a $65-million renovation led by Holly Muhl in 2019, reopening two years later.Muhl’s goal with the interior design was to “create something stylish and comfortable that evokes the dynamic layers of Miami Beach,” she says. Set on the corner of 19th Street and Collins Avenue across from the beach in the Art Deco district, this adults-only boutique hotel offers 91 posh guest rooms and suites, a main restaurant and bar, courtyard cafe, and rooftop pool and bar—a place to see and be seen any time of day or night. From $311 per night.Courtesy of The Goodtime HotelA collaboration between the famed Miami nightlife and restaurant entrepreneur David Grutman and the singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams, the Goodtime Hotel is hands-down the liveliest place to stay when you’re in Miami. As the name suggests, guests really are in for a good time: The trendy public spaces feature hand-painted murals and Deco plasterwork while rooms are pure fun, with leopard-print benches and pink rotary dial phones. This Miami Beach hotel also has a 30,000-square-foot pool club called Strawberry Moon, a spacious gym, and a library where guests can socialize over coffee or cocktails. From $165 per night.Courtesy of W South BeachAfter 10 years as an Art Basel social center, W South Beach reopened in 2020 following a $30 million renovation. Gone are the dark tones and shiny finishes: The 357 guest rooms now feature an airy aesthetic and emphasize warm oaks and natural light, making this a serene getaway on Collins Avenue. The property also has a new spa and an updated art collection, valued at $100 million and featuring 21 original Andy Warhols. Standout amenities include on-site tennis and basketball courts, new beach cabanas, and an outpost of the celebrity-favorite restaurant Mr. Chow. From $423 per night.Courtesy of The SetaiWith sleek, dark tones and a distinctly Asian-influenced design, the Setai, Miami Beach oozes elegance. You can spend your time at the property—a member of the Leading Hotels of the World—sipping fresh coconut juice from the fruit itself by the three guest-only swimming pools or splurging on a treatment at the Valmont spa. The signature restaurant, Jaya, serves up some of the best Asian food you’ll ever eat, including killer Indian curries, and you can expect a full-on show while you dine. Think fire dancers, aerial acrobats suspended from the roof, and live jazz. From $630 per night.Courtesy of The BetsyA European-inspired, family-owned luxury boutique hotel right on Ocean Drive in the heart of South Beach, the Betsy is a property where an art gallery (the fabulous collection is a highlight) meets a jazz club (there’s live music seven days a week) meets a coffee shop that hosts regular book talks and poetry readings. The hotel also has a beach-facing outdoor dining terrace that’s buzzy all day and a rooftop pool with panoramic views of the city. From $428 per night.Courtesy of Faena Hotel Miami BeachIn the heart of Mid-Beach and boasting some of the widest and most pristine beachfront Miami has to offer, Faena Hotel Miami Beach can best be described as maximalism and then some. With the help of Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, Argentinian hotelier Alan Faena reimagined the historic Saxony Hotel, originally built in 1947 and the stomping ground of Hollywood icons such as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, into an Art Deco–inspired space that’s a throwback to its old glory days. Source link

[alexha2210]

The best hotels in Miami are your fast pass to a whole new world of nightlife and sun-drenched fun, from showy, celebrity-filled restaurants and clubs open until the early morning hours to beaches that double as fashion runways—not to mention home prices that break record after record. An understated destination this is not.“Miami’s hotels tend to be glamorous spots that are the ‘it’ places to hang out in town,” says Shelby Albo, a luxury consultant at travel advisory Embark Beyond, who adds that, “in fact, people visit Miami just for the hotels.” Our list of 14 standout properties in the Magic City spans from Surfside to South Beach, and we don’t exclude Mid-Beach in between—check them out below.The Best Hotels in Miami, According to UsPhoto: Ryan ForbesLaunched as one of the brand’s three inaugural hotels in 2015, the environmentally sustainable, beachfront 1 Hotel South Beach occupies a full city block on a prominent stretch of Collins Avenue on a site where Miami’s first large luxury hotel was built in 1920. Since that time, the structure went from hotel to residences, was demolished and rebuilt, and finally underwent a $1-million renovation and redesign by Miami architect Kobi Karp before reopening as the 425-room, LEED Silver certified 1 Hotel.The beachside setting informed the design of the hotel, and all materials are reclaimed or repurposed and locally sourced, including eco-friendly and economical driftwood that’s prominently employed throughout the property. The ground floor restaurant and lobby, featuring a garden with local foliage, open up to bustling South Beach, and a lavish rooftop pool offers views of the ocean and the city. This Michelin-key hotel also features three other resplendent pools decked out with cabanas, as well as a 40,000 wellness spa and fitness center that includes a SoulCycle studio. From $999 per night.Photo: Craig DenisAnother top hotel option on Collins Ave. for the eco-conscious traveler, The Palms Hotel & Spa melds environmentally sustainable design with a tropical aesthetic in a historic Art Deco building. An on-site “green team” ensures that the hotel maintains eco-conscious practices, which earned the property Green Globe certification and a 3 Palm rating from the Florida Green Lodging program. Hailed as a “tropical enclave” in one guest review, the 251-room hotel overlooks the ocean, pool, or lush tropical gardens from each spa-inspired guest room or suite. And the hotel’s actual spa is a true destination: Influenced by Ayurvedic holistic philosophy, The Palms AVEDA Spa offers beachside massages as well as other spa and salon services. Guests will enjoy pampering beyond the spa with an attentive staff that prioritizes service to ensure a sophisticated and satisfying experience. From $427 per night.Photo: Dylan RivesImpeccable service is a prime consideration at Hotel Greystone, which received one 2024 Michelin key. With a true Art Deco style depicted in the hotel’s ziggurat roofline, curved facade, and porthole windows, the Greystone was designed by well-known Miami architect Henry Hohauser in 1939, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and underwent a $65-million renovation led by Holly Muhl in 2019, reopening two years later.Muhl’s goal with the interior design was to “create something stylish and comfortable that evokes the dynamic layers of Miami Beach,” she says. Set on the corner of 19th Street and Collins Avenue across from the beach in the Art Deco district, this adults-only boutique hotel offers 91 posh guest rooms and suites, a main restaurant and bar, courtyard cafe, and rooftop pool and bar—a place to see and be seen any time of day or night. From $311 per night.Courtesy of The Goodtime HotelA collaboration between the famed Miami nightlife and restaurant entrepreneur David Grutman and the singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams, the Goodtime Hotel is hands-down the liveliest place to stay when you’re in Miami. As the name suggests, guests really are in for a good time: The trendy public spaces feature hand-painted murals and Deco plasterwork while rooms are pure fun, with leopard-print benches and pink rotary dial phones. This Miami Beach hotel also has a 30,000-square-foot pool club called Strawberry Moon, a spacious gym, and a library where guests can socialize over coffee or cocktails. From $165 per night.Courtesy of W South BeachAfter 10 years as an Art Basel social center, W South Beach reopened in 2020 following a $30 million renovation. Gone are the dark tones and shiny finishes: The 357 guest rooms now feature an airy aesthetic and emphasize warm oaks and natural light, making this a serene getaway on Collins Avenue. The property also has a new spa and an updated art collection, valued at $100 million and featuring 21 original Andy Warhols. Standout amenities include on-site tennis and basketball courts, new beach cabanas, and an outpost of the celebrity-favorite restaurant Mr. Chow. From $423 per night.Courtesy of The SetaiWith sleek, dark tones and a distinctly Asian-influenced design, the Setai, Miami Beach oozes elegance. You can spend your time at the property—a member of the Leading Hotels of the World—sipping fresh coconut juice from the fruit itself by the three guest-only swimming pools or splurging on a treatment at the Valmont spa. The signature restaurant, Jaya, serves up some of the best Asian food you’ll ever eat, including killer Indian curries, and you can expect a full-on show while you dine. Think fire dancers, aerial acrobats suspended from the roof, and live jazz. From $630 per night.Courtesy of The BetsyA European-inspired, family-owned luxury boutique hotel right on Ocean Drive in the heart of South Beach, the Betsy is a property where an art gallery (the fabulous collection is a highlight) meets a jazz club (there’s live music seven days a week) meets a coffee shop that hosts regular book talks and poetry readings. The hotel also has a beach-facing outdoor dining terrace that’s buzzy all day and a rooftop pool with panoramic views of the city. From $428 per night.Courtesy of Faena Hotel Miami BeachIn the heart of Mid-Beach and boasting some of the widest and most pristine beachfront Miami has to offer, Faena Hotel Miami Beach can best be described as maximalism and then some. With the help of Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin, Argentinian hotelier Alan Faena reimagined the historic Saxony Hotel, originally built in 1947 and the stomping ground of Hollywood icons such as Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe, into an Art Deco–inspired space that’s a throwback to its old glory days. Source link