#part rockers unite

[agathameriwether]

Watch "Redfoo - Let's Get Ridiculous (Official Video)" on YouTube

My all time fave song from Mr #redfoo check it out... let's bring him back 🤞 #longlivepartyrock

[slowlyoats]

The Lost Boys: What is their role within the group?

Marko

- The crazy

- I think out of all the boys Marko is closest with his vampire nature

- He puts the least amount of effort into trying to blend in

- And why should he?

- He’s an old, powerful being, who has seen a lot of life. He’s more authentic then any human on the board walk

- He gives the group that feeling of being unhinged, of being one step away from complete anarchy

- To the public he is a warning of how dangerous the boys are

- Everyone has heard about what this boy can and will do to his victims

- But I think to the group, they see him as a reminder of their true nature

- Vampires at heart exist outside of society, they are the strangers that everyone fears. They are chaos and beauty.

- So, whenever the boys get a tad too *horrified gasp* domestic. Marko is right there to remind them of what they are

- Chaotic, bloodthirsty, unpredictable vampires

Paul

- Life

- Paul reminds the boys that though they may be dead, there is still so much life to live

- He’s the one that is up way past sunrise singing a song he just can’t get out of his head in the most acoustic part of the cave

- He’s the one talking to the travelers on the Board walk about their adventures abroad, and what they’ve seen and done (I have a feeling that though he may be older, he hasn’t traveled outside the United States much)

- Paul is the one challenging some of the boys more outdated/old fashioned opinions

- I believe he is definitely the youngest out of all the boys, so his views are more modern

- Whenever there is a new ride on the Boardwalk he HAS TO ride it. Or a new snack or arcade game! basically whatever is NEW he must see and experience!

- He’s teaching himself how to play the guitar, and he’s not that good at it but he doesn’t stop practicing despite David’s complaints

- Paul reminds the boys that there is more to their existence then drinking blood and hunting

- He is the life of the group

Dwayne

- the handyman

- I think he would be the one responsible for fixing the bikes. He wouldn’t be responsible for like the general maintenance on all four bikes, but when Marko takes the Boardwalk stairs a tad too quick, and snaps a part of his bike, Dwayne fixes it

- Over the years he has gained a lot of experience on how to fix the bikes and stuff around the cave

- This is mainly due to living with the destructive duo that is Marko and Paul

- He generally really does like to fix things, it gives him a sense of purpose within the group

- He’s usually the muscle of the group (and he doesn’t have any complaints with this because it pats his ego) but he does like being able to tangibly provide something to his brothers

- Usually he will fix up the bikes without being asked, or trick one out as a surprise for one of his brothers

- He’s friends with the owner of a local mechanic shop, and trades work for parts on occasion

- thankfully the owner doesn’t ask many questions when he has to bring a bike in for fixing, and it’s got a few splatters of blood here and there

David

- The procurer

- David is the one constantly on the look out for the groups next meal

- Even if it looks like he is relaxing, smoking a cigarette while leaning against a board walk railing, taking in the lively scenery. He’s not. He scouting.

- They need to feed every few days at the very least, and it’s not every night they can find a bite to eat

- They don’t feed from shop owners, and they do it sparingly from the locals to not draw to much suspicion

- When David spots someone that he thinks would be a tasty meal, he spends a while observing them. And then determines which of his boys would be the best to draw the human in

- Do they look preppy and girly? Paul would be able to pull them with his rocker look and charm

- Are they stand off-ish and a little wild? Gremlin energy would be the way to go, and with Marko’s big eyes, who could resist?

- A shy beauty? Being ignored by her obnoxious friends? Oh yes, Dwayne will be able to get them stuttering and bashful with one look

- It’s almost too easy at times, but David doesn’t mind, because once off season hits the Boardwalk, hunting gets a lot, lot harder

[hometoursandotherstuff]

I couldn't believe that I found such a huge home for only $349,900. How could the brick 1900 home in Huntington, PA with 10bds, 7ba be $350K? Then, I looked inside and I hope it's not only me, but I am creeped out.

Maybe it's the way they opened the front doors, like "Come in," and then they slam shut.

Not exactly a entrance glamorous hall.

Did they use some sort of distorted lens? Why does the sitting room look so eerie?

I see pocket doors on the right. The wainscoting and long shelving unit are nice. I also have to mention the ceilings.

The dining room is dark even with the chandelier on.

Oh, wow. I like original kitchens, but this is so claustrophobic. I don't even know if you could brighten it up and make it cute.

Why is this home so dark? I almost miss the HGTV light gray wood.

For such a large house, why is the kitchen and this bath so tight?

Well, it's a huge room with a grand fireplace, but it's so depressing.

This house is going to need a lot of brightening and freshening up. This room opens to the patio.

Why are the baths so small and narrow? This one looks like it has an original sink and the medicine cabinet, too.

This room looks brighter.

it's a single family home, but it has a small kitchen up here.

There's also a dining room. The table is set with just ghostly white dishes and a stack of bowls.

Interesting murals. This has to be a separate apt.

A 3rd kitchen is dark, with a single lamp on the counter. How is this a single family home?

And, here's another living room.

This must be another set of stairs in another part of the huge home. What a big window seat.

This is weird. I guess the stairs only go down one floor. Interesting that the floor is different.

Where are we?

This is a larger bath, original except for the toilet, but what's up with the sink?

There's a covered deck up here.

This house goes on and on. It needs so much updating, though.

Wow, now this is a library. It's gigantic.

Reading nook looks eerie with an empty rocker.

Patio is nice.

There's another deck above the garage.

The L-shaped house is on a 1.01 acre lot, but the building takes up most of the land. It looks like the roof is in need of replacement. I don't know, the price is right, but it needs so much work, plus the upkeep, there's no a/c, heat must cost a fortune, so would furnishing it, and there's no way only 1 person could possibly clean it, alone. And, that's not even counting the maintenance of the grounds.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/770-Oneida-Hts-Huntingdon-PA-16652/2057216918_zpid/

[cjlouwho]

What do you think Rocker was doing before he joined S.W.A.T?

For some reason I keep thinking that Rocker was part of the bomb squad unit

Realistically: joined the academy right after high school. Worked as an officer for 5 years before joining SWAT.

More fun to imagine: he was a juggling clown who worked kids bday parties and after successfully defending himself (in full clown get up) against a robber after work one evening he decided to make a change.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

For Cape Breton-based Rabbi Naj Siritsky, there's euphoria in becoming true to oneself, even in the face of discrimination.

Siritsky is transgender and non-binary and said the process of transitioning has been deeply spiritual.

"I didn't even know it was possible to feel the joy that I feel of becoming me … because it was denied to me by a lot of trauma of this world," they said.

Siritsky and Alberta-based queer advocate Pam Rocker have founded a new Queer Interfaith Coalition. The coalition aims to unite queer and transgender people across different religious backgrounds and regions to fight hate and misinformation targeting the 2SLGBTQ+ community.

Its members believe that advocacy for the rights of 2SLGBTQ+ people is compatible with and linked to core parts of their faith. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland

[raccontidialiantis]

Il meglio di te

Mi piace parlarti. Apprezzo la tua apertura mentale, la varietà degli argomenti di cui posso discutere con te in maniera anche molto dettagliata, informata. La tua voce è sempre profonda, decisa. Hai un tono dal suono ipnotico, caldo e basso.

Mi affascini ogni volta che muovi le labbra per parlarmi. Potrei osservarti per ore, mentre parli. Ascoltare le tue frasi intelligenti è un gradito bonus. I tuoi occhi poi mi penetrano l'anima e la portano a galla per fartela esaminare.

Non potrei nasconderti nulla neppure se volessi. Amo il tuo profumo personale e semplicemente ammiro il tuo stile peculiarissimo nel vestire: a volte sei di un'estrema femminilità, altre invece interpreti perfettamente una biker-rocker degli anni sessanta. Poi, ogni tanto dai tuoi cassetti esce fuori un insospettabile e sorprendente jolly!

Ti piace il jazz, cosa che per una ragazza è piuttosto inusuale. Adoro il ciuffetto di schiuma che ti resta sulle labbra quando bevi la tua birra alla spina. E il modo in cui te lo lecchi via, poi… Oh, Signore! Sai trasformarti da pantera a gattina nell'arco di tempo necessario ad assaporare una mia genuina carezza. Mi stimoli, mi affascini, mi spiazzi. Ti amo ogni giorno di più.

Sei al centro esatto del mio cuore. Che batte solo per te. Quando sei silente, cerco di intercettare i tuoi pensieri. Vorrei rubarteli e baciarli tutti: uno per uno. Per farti capire che se hai bisogno, io per te comunque sia ci sono. Poi te li restituirei, stai tranquilla!

Prima di andartene, mi lasci sempre con un bacio lanciato, un sorriso e infine una persistente, innocente ma totalizzante scia del tuo profumo. Mi avvolgi anche quando non ci sei. Mi pensi. Ti penso. Percepisco una cortina invisibile di gelosia attorno a te che mi lusinga e mi fa sentire ancora più amato. Perché io sono tuo per la vita.

Poi c'è la tua parte più segreta, quella… peccaminosa. Quella che puoi permetterti di lasciar libera soltanto quando sei con me e nessun altro attorno: è un segreto dolcissimo, condiviso tra noi. È quella piccola parte del tuo corpo che si apre soltanto a me, che mi accoglie. Ansiosa di soddisfare entrambi. 

Costituisce lo scrigno del tuo pudore e di fatto è il mio luogo privato dell'anima. È il meglio di te. È quello che mi ha stregato e da cui non riesco più a staccare la mente; neppure per un istante. La curi e la nutri a mio esclusivo beneficio. Quando me la mostri, vuoi tassativamente che anche io sia nudo assieme a te. Altrimenti ti vergogni da morire. Sei di stampo antico e io questa cosa l'adoro.

Perciò la rispetto e te la bacio delicatamente, come fosse sacra. Lo faccio spesso, non appena posso. Tu arrossisci, quando insieme lo facciamo succedere. Perché è un bellissimo miracolo d'amore che nasce solo da due anime insieme, unite dentro. Ti piace da morire. E per me è un onore e un dovere, fartelo. Perché tu, donna, rappresenti il mio massimo desiderio e la mia ragione di vita.

Rda

[fuzzkaizer]

Roland - AP-7 Jet Phaser

"... Most people know Roland Corporation for one of two reasons: One; for its amazing synthesizers and drum machines spanning several decades. Two; as the parent company of Boss, the biggest effects brand on the planet. Some pedal enthusiasts are unaware that Roland itself made pedals—good ones! 

For a time in the ‘70s, Boss and Roland intermingled with one another, with Roland choosing to slap the Boss name on certain effects (CE-1, DM-1, DB-5) and its own name on the rest, even though some of this gear shared similar enclosures, and even though some pedals were branded as one company, but as the evolution of the other company’s innovations (such as the Boss CE-1 being a standalone Roland Jazz Chorus effect). I’m here to talk about perhaps the most unsung vintage Roland piece; the AP-7 Jet Phaser.

For reasons unbeknownst, Roland excelled at ensconcing a stellar (oftentimes dirt) circuit within the confines of another, larger pedal and releasing the non-dirt part as a standalone model. One such example is the AD-50 Double Beat fuzz wah, containing an absolutely disgusting fuzz circuit yet releasing the AW-10 Wah Beat. 

The Jet Phaser is just such a circuit, combining phaser with, well . . . “Jet.” Much like the fuzz section from the Double Beat is—by virtue of naming conventions—a form of “beat,” “Jet” refers to an absolutely screaming distortion effect that sits in front of a juicy phaser circuit—the same one found within the AP-2 Phaser. 

This highly-adapable Jet circuit transforms the mild mannered phaser into a pulverizing throb, jumping out of the mix with some serious propulsion. Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone famously used one, as did Ernie Isley of the famous brothers, on “Who’s That Lady?.” In fact, that thick, viscous fuzz you hear on that cut’s leads is the characteristic Jet sound, and has been one of the most quietly sought-after lead tones in history. 

The Jet side of the circuit has no analog in today’s pedal market, it’s a curious piece of circuit, featuring equal parts discrete semiconductors and monolithic op-amps. A rotary switch on the face of the unit selects between four forms of Jet and two of Phase. Switching between the Jet settings yields different tonal compounds, cycling between gain stages, a notch filter and more. All of this is controlled by one master Jet knob, which offers varying intensity rather than a simple volume. On all Jet settings, the phaser is integrated; no configuration offers an isolated Jet section.

On the phaser side, we have an eight-stage FET-based phaser with a Resonance control. As far as vintage offerings are concerned, eight stages—the MXR phaser line of the 45, 90 and 100 offers two, four and six stages respectively—is quite a feat. With the added Resonance control, the phaser section can actually give your amp a little bit of a nudge at the peaks.

Much like the Maestro PS-1A (and B), the Jet Phaser offers a Fast/Slow footswitch that comes in the form of . . . an actual footswitch instead of clunky organ rockers. Maestro’s model offers ramping between speeds if you switch it on the fly; difficult if you’re not wearing pointy heels or cowboy boots, so the ramping feature wasn’t a tactfully expressive performance tool. The Jet Phaser solves all this by offering a Fast/Slow switch and letting you set your slow speed with a knob (the “Fast” setting is just this same knob turned all the way up). When switching between the two speeds, the rate gradually descends to the desired level.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t include my all-time favorite effects-adjacent video—Larry Graham absolutely shredding on a Jet Phaser. ..."

cred: catalinbread.com/kulas-cabinet/roland-ap-7-jet-phaser

[crackshipoftheweek]

Crack Ship of the Week back again with another post! (After nearly an entire month) Lately I've been working a lot of 10+ hour shifts at my current job, along with helping out at my family's restaurant, updating my résumé, and searching for other jobs to advance my culinary career, so I've been really busy, sorry for not posting in quite a while. On the plus side, I've managed to network with some industry professionals higher up the ladder, and I was recently contracted by a personal chef agency!

Without further ado, let's bring out

This Week's Crackship:

Party Poison (Danger Days) × Johnny Silverhand (Cyberpunk)

Ship Name(s):

Poison Hand, Dim Mak (see notes below for explanation), Rockerboys, Ronin (see notes below for explanation)

Why It's Crack:

No interactions (separate canons)

Why It's Cracked:

Canons share many similarities. Both are cyberpunk series set in an alternate universe California in the near future (now partially set in the near past, as well), following a war or series of wars that negatively impacted the United States' geopolitical power, costing it territory that would be filled in by an independent city-state (Battery City in Danger Days, and Night City in Cyberpunk) and the resultant power vacuum being filled in by megacorporations (Better Living Industries in Danger Days and Arasaka in Cyberpunk. Like Arasaka, Better Living also seems to be a multinational corporation with at least some notable amount of presence in Japan, hence Better Living having had a .jp domain during the Danger Days album's promotional period, as well as using both English and Japanese writing in much of its content). Crossover potential abounds

Both fill very similar niches in their respective stories (renegade rockers who rebel against corporate overreach with the power of punk rock, and occasionally this gun they found. They both became the exemplar of their respective series' spin on the "rebel with a cause" archetype [Killjoys in Danger Days, and Rockerboys in Cyberpunk])

Both lived and operated in similar timeframes, not taking into account Johnny's engram whom stars in Cyberpunk 2077. Party was active in the 2010s up until his death in 2019, and Johnny was active throughout the 2000s up until his death in 2023)

Both may also be war veterans (Johnny is a confirmed war veteran who deserted the US Military in protest of the government's corruption and purposeful destabilization of Central and South America. Party Poison may have been one of the many Killjoys to take part in the Analog Wars, though this isn't confirmed iirc)

Both died a similar death, to somewhat similar people, for similar reasons. Both raided the main HQ of their respective antagonistic megacorps in order to rescue an abducted loved one (surrogate little sister "The Girl" in Party's case, and former lover Alt Cunningham in Johnny's case), during which they were brutally gunned down by their corporate foes' bald and sociopathic enforcer (Korse and Adam Smasher, respectively)

Both dye their hair. Party Poison's hair is dyed red (natural color unknown afaik), and Johnny Silverhand dyes his hair black, with it being naturally blond.

Notes

"Dim Mak", also known as "Poison Hand" or "Touch of Death" is a purported system of acupressure-based martial arts said to have originated in ancient China and been culturally imported to Japan. Count Juan Raphael Dante, an eccentric martial arts practitioner who taught karate in the 60s and 70s, also claimed to be able to teach Dim Mak to prospective students, infamously advertising this alleged service in the back page ad spaces in Marvel comic books of the time. This likely was seen at times by Gerard Way, an avid comic fan, as he titled one of the songs in the wider Danger Days multimedia project as Black Dragon Fighting Society, which shares an identical name with the martial arts organization founded by Count Dante. "Dim Mak" is also the name of a record label founded by Steve Aoki, who made a remix of the famous My Chemical Romance song "Welcome to the Black Parade". This fact is also relevant to the ship as Dim Mak distributes punk rock music, with punk rock being the primary genre performed by both Party Poison and Johnny Silverhand.

"Ronin" was chosen a ship name due to their shared status as outlaw warriors, similar to (but generally less shitty towards bystanders than) the ronin of Sengoku and early Edo-period Japan. Party is an outlaw vigilante who fights against BLI, whereas Johnny is a former US soldier who deserted and fled prosecution by moving to Night City. In addition, this name was chosen in reference to Johnny's band, Samurai. Keanu Reeves, who portrays Johnny in Cyberpunk 2077, also starred in the 2013 American remake of The 47 Ronin (unfortunately)

[black-arcana]

LACUNA COIL To Release New Single 'Oxygen' Next Week

Italian heavy rockers LACUNA COIL will release a new song, "Oxygen", on Wednesday, October 2. The artwork for the single can be found below.

"Oxygen" will arrive two months after LACUNA COIL released its previous single, "Hosting The Shadow", featuring a guest appearance by Randy Blythe from LAMB OF GOD.

In April, LACUNA COIL released "In The Mean Time", featuring Ash Costello of NEW YEARS DAY. The song's title is a reference to the mean times the world is living in, as well as a reference to the state the band itself is in, between cycles.

In July 2023, LACUNA COIL released the official lyric video for a new track called "Never Dawn". For the song, the band partnered with CMON, the renowned board game publisher behind the popular game "Zombicide".

LACUNA COIL played its first concert with the band's new guitarist — whose name has not yet been disclosed — on August 4 at the Rockstadt Extreme Fest in Râșnov, Romania.

This past June, LACUNA COIL announced the departure of guitarist Diego Cavallotti.

Cavallotti, who joined LACUNA COIL in 2016, initially as a fill-in guitarist following the exit of Marco "Maus" Biazzi, later said in a social media post that "this decision is not the result of my dissatisfaction or desire to explore new opportunities."

When LACUNA COIL announced Cavallotti's departure on June 17, the band wrote in a statement: "As we step into a new cycle, writing and recording our next album, we are parting ways with Diego 'DD' Cavallotti. We thank him for the many unforgettable moments shared over the years and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours.

"All future live plans remain unchanged and the new songs are taking form, we can't wait to share them with our fans."

LACUNA COIL recently completed the "Ignite The Fire" U.S. tour with support from NEW YEARS DAY and OCEANS OF SLUMBER.

In a recent interview with Brazil's Sonoridades Inc., LACUNA COIL singer Cristina Scabbia spoke about the progress of the writing and recording sessions for the band's follow-up to 2019's "Black Anima" album. She said: "I can't really tell you a lot. I can tell you that we are progressing very fast. We are almost, like, 100… We completed, let's say, the demoing. We still have to record the rest of the songs, but we will soon — probably after the tour, after the [May 2024] North American tour. And if everything goes as projected, before the end of the year [it] will be released. And that's already a big news, because we always say, 'We don't know. Maybe.' … I absolutely love the songs. I'm part of the process. But I'm very pleased."

Asked if "Never Dawn" will be on the upcoming album, Cristina said: "I think it will be. I think it will be, 'cause it will make sense. And it also fits with the other songs — it really fits with the other songs. Many heavy songs."

LACUNA COIL has spent some of the last couple of years promoting "Comalies XX", the "deconstructed" and "transported" version of the band's third album, "Comalies".

"Comalies XX" was made available on October 14, 2022 via Century Media Records.

LACUNA COIL celebrated the 20th anniversary of "Comalies", by performing it in its entirety at a one-night-only concert on October 15, 2022 at Fabrique in Milano.

"Comalies" was originally released on October 29, 2002 through Century Media Records. The LP, which featured the band's breakthrough single "Heaven's A Lie", has reportedly gone on to sell over 300,000 copies in the United States alone.

[invisibleicewands]

A ROCK BAND hailing from Caerphilly has teamed up with a Hollywood star, to fund the education for aspiring actors in an arts funding project.

Rockers Manic Street Preachers have teamed up with Hollywood star Michael Sheen to fund aspiring actors. 

Mr Sheen said: "We’re in the midst of an arts emergency in Wales.

"Cuts are taking away tongues at the very moment our stories need to be shouted loudest."

The Manics and the Good Omens actor handed thousands of pounds to 11 aspiring actors over the past three years to fund their educations. 

Sheen, 55, has pumped more than £250,000 of his own money into the arts funding project, which is also backed by the "Design for Life" rock band. 

Sheen revealed that the funding - given as part of his Mab Gwalia organisation - will be renewed for a further three years after he hit out against government cuts to the arts. 

The Damned United actor, said: "Mab Gwalia has emerged to provide support to give tomorrow’s talent a platform and pathway to develop their craft and tell our truth to the world. But the door is open to others with shared values who can contribute financially to the fund."

The Mab Gwalia Welsh drama student scholarship has so far handed up to £15,000 per academic year to aspiring actors and announced it will continue for a further three years. 

One of those students, Hollie Saunders, said the funding helped her attend Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. 

Maesteg-based Holly, said: "The scholarship really made me feel so confident and just kind of hopeful, and without that scholarship, I wouldn't have been able to have that propeller to be like, I could do this too."

Sheen - who is known for his roles as former Prime Minister Tony Blair and soccer boss Brian Clough - has also helped fund a writing project and given bursaries to 11 writers from working-class and under-represented backgrounds.

One of those to benefit from the A Writing Chance scheme, Grace Quantock, of Newport, Gwent, praised Sheen for funding the initiative. 

Ms Quantock, said: "Michael Sheen’s belief in Welsh working class voices changes lives. He knows art makes change, revolutionises lives, opens horizons and he is willing to step up to make that happen in his art and in his actions. 

"His support changed my life through the A Writing Chance programme."

Outside the arts, Mab Gwalia has supported causes as vital as autism support, army veterans, mothers suffering post-natal depression, community skills hubs, foodbanks and more.

[agathameriwether]

I wish I could tell him how I feel, just tell him, that's all, I want him to know how fantastically, amazing and talented and brilliant and inspirational he is to me.

How he's changed my life, what his work and personality has done for me. I want him to know that all his talent and hardwork has touched people, has made a difference, is appreciated!

I want him to know he's not forgotten, he's still appreciated, his work still enjoyed and his influence is still far reaching.

I wish he was still active, I wish I was living this then when he was the hype, when he was available and I could have been immersive there and then.

Instead of coming late to the party and missed everything. I am so sad I missed all the fun. But still, even now his influence is touching me, opening my heart and awakening my soul!

He and his music make me so happy, I have a nee lease of life, he uplifts me and brings me such joy, I just wish he could know!

I love HIM.

[metalcultbrigade]

AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Diet Cheap 17/12/1976

A brief history background on the AC/DC record that was released in no less than three different editions/pressings:

A modified international edition was released on Atlantic on 17th December 1976, although the label was unhappy with its vocals and production. (According to bassist Mark Evans, band manager Michael Browning told him he assumed Bon Scott would be fired as a result.) The band even teetered on the brink of being dropped. "The Atlantic A&R department [in the US] said, 'We're sorry, but this album actually doesn't make it,'" recalled Phil Carson, who had signed the band. "'We're not gonna put it out and we're dropping the band'… So I went to [Atlantic executive] Nesuhi (Ertegun) and showed him the sales figures that we'd got for High Voltage. They were not awe-inspiring but, considering we'd only paid $25,000 for the album, this was not so bad… Nesuhi backed me up and I re-signed the band at that point. I managed to claw it back in. Thank God."

As biographer Murray Engleheart observes in his book AC/DC: Maximum Rock & Roll, the band had not even toured the States yet, a market the band longed to conquer:

The tough rock acts only got what little airwave attention they did because they'd built up a fanbase through years on the road. AC/DC hadn't had the opportunity to marshal troops through touring the U.S., and at the time there was no way something as raw and gritty as Dirty Deeds was going to make it onto American radio playlists by itself. It was a brutally simple catch-22...Americans were said to have trouble understanding Bon, and if the people working with the band couldn't make out the lyrics, how was his voice going to work on the all-important U.S. radio networks?

Following the American success of Highway to Hell in late 1979, copies of the album began to appear as imports in the US. Some of these were the original Australian edition on Albert Productions; however, Atlantic also pressed the international version in Australia, and many of these were also exported to the US. Strong demand for both versions (in the wake of the even greater success of Back in Black) led the US division of Atlantic to finally authorize an official US release in March 1981. It went straight to No. 3 on the Billboard album charts.

However, the release was also poorly timed, considering that AC/DC had successfully reinvented itself with a new singer, Brian Johnson. The band was working on a new album, which would ultimately become For Those About to Rock We Salute You, released later that same year; the US release of Dirty Deeds was widely seen as damaging the momentum for that album, which it outsold. The band was forced to add songs from Dirty Deeds to its setlist on its subsequent tour, also taking the focus away from their new album.

In the book The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC, author Jesse Fink quotes Phil Carson as saying that the release of Dirty Deeds was "one of the most crass decisions ever made by a record-company executive", blaming A&R man Doug Morris and his New York cohorts:

At the time, Doug's argument was purely financial. Back in Black had already sold over five million copies. Because of those numbers, Doug told me Dirty Deeds would sell at least 2 million. I told him he was right about that, but that it would also create a new sales plateau for AC/DC...God knows how many albums For Those About to Rock would have sold had Doug waited for that to come out.

The international release had significant variations from the original album. "Jailbreak" (which had preceded the LP's release in Australia and the UK) and "R.I.P. (Rock in Peace)" were jettisoned in favor of "Rocker" (from the 1975 Australian album T.N.T.) and "Love at First Feel". "Jailbreak" did not see a release in the United States, Canada, and Japan until October 1984 as part of the international '74 Jailbreak EP. A promo-only single, with "Show Business" as its B-side, was released to radio stations in the US at the time. "Love at First Feel" is one of only two tracks from international AC/DC albums not to be available on the band's Australian albums (the other is "Cold Hearted Man", released on European pressings of Powerage); however, "Love at First Feel" was released in Australia as a single in January 1977, with "Problem Child" as its B-side, which peaked in the Kent Music Report Singles Chart Top 100.

The international release of Dirty Deeds also contains "Big Balls", one of the band's most infamous compositions, that finds Scott, a deceptively clever lyricist, using double entendres by using ballroom and costume parties to obviously reference his own testicles. AC/DC had mined this territory before on "The Jack" and would again later on songs like "Given the Dog a Bone", but "Big Balls" could be their funniest attempt at sexual innuendo, although the song was controversial in its day and drew the ire of some critics who mistook the band's sense of humor for crude perversity. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap also led to more AC/DC appearances on Australia's Countdown music programme, following those in support of High Voltage and T.N.T. These appearances included a live performance of the album's title track, as well as a music video for "Jailbreak".

Two songs on the international album were edited from the full-length versions on the original Australian album. The full-length "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" has the title of the song chanted four times, starting at 3:09, but on the edited version the chant is heard only twice. "Ain't No Fun (Waiting Round to Be a Millionaire)" lasted 7:29 on the Australian album but was faded out early to 6:57 on the international version.

This means they trim off the Chuck Berry licks and title chanting to the end; however, both these full-length versions were restored on the 1994 Atco Records remastered CD of the international album. The most recent 2003 CD edition by Epic Records goes back to the edited versions, as originally on the 1976 and 1981 international vinyl editions.

The uncut versions of both songs were released on the 2009 box set Backtracks. On the original version of "Rocker", included on the Australian T.N.T. album, the song lasts 2:55 and cuts out abruptly as the guitar riff hits its peak. Conversely, all international editions of the "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" album have a slightly shorter version where the song fades out at 2:50 before the cut. "Squealer" appears to be longer by thirteen seconds on the international version; this is due to it having a bumper of silence at the end, as it is the final track on the record.

"Ride On" has a four-second difference (longer on the international version) which appears to be from a minor speed issue, although the last guitar slide can be heard better on the shorter Australian version.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Kate Briquelet at The Daily Beast:

MAGA pastor Sean Feucht and a band of Christian nationalists are glomming on to campus protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, leading “United for Israel” marches at Columbia and the University of Southern California while professing their belief that the conflict is a harbinger of the “End Times” predicted in the Bible. On Wednesday night, Feucht’s followers and far-right extremists rallied outside USC with the help of a police escort—an image that stands in stark contrast to the LAPD officers in riot gear who previously arrested activists from the school’s pro-Palestinian camp. The Christian Zionist parade kicked off with Feucht performing contemporary worship music (“Our God is an awesome God”) and anti-LGBTQ speakers like preachers Lou Engle and Ché Ahn, who once crowed at a “Stop the Steal” rally: “We’re gonna rule and reign through President Trump and under the lordship of Jesus Christ.”

Feucht, looking every bit the part of a Jesus rocker in a black jean jacket, fired up the crowd with a concert before the march. “Lord, we stand together against hatred, bigotry, anti-semitism, violence that’s taken over this campus and the streets of the city,” Feucht said between songs. “God, I just pray today that America would see a different story tonight.” “Where they’ve seen division, they would see unity and joy,” added the 40-year-old Sammy Hagar-coiffed pastor, who once prayed over former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey. Afterward, Fox News portrayed Feucht as a hero of sorts for the Jewish people. “We want Americans to see that we are fed up with this rot of anti-Semitism on the college campuses, and that we’re gathering together in unity, bringing prayer, bringing hope,” said Feucht, who’s risen to MAGA fame and riches after holding worship concerts flouting COVID rules in 2020.

The irony of divisive activists making up the “unity” flock didn’t seem to be lost on reporters and extremism researchers, including Kate Burns, Jeremy Lindenfeld, and Kelly Stuart, who documented the scene in real time. They estimated a few hundred participants showed up versus Feucht’s projection of “thousands.”

[...]

“There’s a veneer of interfaith, there’s a veneer of solidarity,” said Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS). “I do interfaith dialogue for a living. These people are not doing interfaith dialogue. They’re doing Christian supremacy, but they’re cloaking it in the garb of interfaith solidarity.”

“If Sean Feucht is an enemy of anti-Semitism, why does he hang out with Proud Boys and QAnon supporters and conspiracy theorists at places that tolerate outright anti-Semitism like the ReAwaken America tour?” Taylor added. “Why does he invite far-right militia members to be security at his own events? Color me skeptical that Sean Feucht cares one whit about anti-Semitism.” (A Proud Boy and a Jan. 6 insurrectionist reportedly belonged to Feucht’s security team at his Oregon “Let Us Worship” event in 2021.) Feucht has also palled around with podcaster Elijah Schaffer, who has made anti-Semitic remarks along with his guest speakers like white supremacist Nick Fuentes. “Do you believe Jews disproportionately control the world institutions, banks, & are waging war on white, western society?” Schaffer asked in a 2023 Twitter poll.

[...] In New York, Feucht teamed up with conservative radio host Eric Metaxas, who, according to Media Matters, uses his platform to promote the belief that Christians should control the government, and once punched an anti-Trump protester in the face. A day before descending on the Big Apple, Feucht went live on Facebook and appeared almost giddy about the “end days.” “Yes, these are the end days,” Feucht said. “I know people say all the time, ‘Everyone’s saying it’s the end days.’ ‘Jesus said it was the end days 2000 years ago.’ Well, it is the end days, and we’re one day closer to the return of Jesus.” “And as that ramps up, we’re going to see a rise of evil, we’re going to see a rise of glory, and we’re gonna see a rise of hatred for the Jewish people.”

[...] Many evangelicals like Feucht believe in an End Times prophecy where Jews will return to Israel (and convert to Christianity) as part of Jesus’s Second Coming.

Far-right Christian nationalists such as Sean Feucht have traveled to various campuses where protests against the Gaza Genocide are happening to preach a right-wing pro-Israel Apartheid rally under the guise of an “interfaith rally.”

[anarkittyuwuuniverse]

"Like a state, an operating system “governs” the programs and applications under it and networked with it as well as, to some extent, the individuals who avail themselves of these tools and resources. It defines us in relation to itself, and each other, as “users,” and can reward us, reject our requests, or even bar us from access according to its needs. It can also monitor and surveil us. Referring to giant metaplatforms like Android and Apple, the German sociologist Philipp Staab observes, “Their own systems are continuously optimized for maximum convenience, to reduce the need to switch to another system. On the other hand, they make it as difficult as possible for users to use certain services outside their own ecosystem.” This is our starting point for understanding the State. Its central feature is the legal, administrative, and decision-making structure we refer to as government. But the State is a much larger, more complex phenomenon, a comprehensive means of organizing and exercising power that, once it’s launched, expands to cover more and more aspects of existence according to a direction and logic of its own. “The state could never be the means for any special or definite end, as liberalism conceived it to be,” the German anarchist Rudolf Rocker wrote in his classic, Nationalism and Culture ; “it was rather, in its highest form, an end in itself, an end sufficient for itself.” At the same time, and again like a computer operating system, the State is not a material object or entity. The various pieces of “hardware” we associate with it—big, imposing neoclassical buildings fronted by Greco-Roman columns quite often come to mind, along with military bases, roads, and monuments—are merely material containers and symbols of the immaterial reality. An operating system is soft ware, a collection of embedded commands that direct a machine called a computer. The State, too, is “software”: a collection of ideas, doctrines, commands, and processes that direct the deployment of human beings and their deployment of physical resources. The State is at once a political, social-cultural, and economic entity. Like an operating system, it networks together institutions, organizations, and less formal groups including government but also many others: corporations, banks, other financial institutions (state-chartered, as it happens), and other underpinnings of capitalism; eleemosynary (nonprofit and charitable) institutions; so-called civil society groups and political parties (especially “established” parties like the Democrats and Republicans in the United States, which have evolved into quasi-state institutions); and even basic units like families and households. Other institutions and groupings that form part of the State furnish cultural and even paramilitary support to the social order, strengthen organized religion, and reinforce racial and gender stratification: for instance, the extreme wings of the nativist Alternative for Germany; the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in India; and the American Legion, the Ku Klux Klan, the National Rifle Association, militia groups, the Proud Boys, and the Southern Baptist Convention in the United States." -The operating system: An anarchist theory of the modern state

[fuckyeahvanhalen86-95]

Alex Van Halen hopes that those coming to his new memoir, Brothers, for a tell-all will be disappointed.

“It’s not about the dirt,” Van Halen, older brother and bandmate of the late Eddie Van Halen, tells Billboard. “If I start throwing dirt, it’ll never end. I think some people would like that; that’s how projects are sold nowadays. I think it divides the audience, and we’re not here to divide. I think the tone of the book and how I want the book to be perceived is more on a spiritual and creative level. That’s why there’s very little, or any, dirt in there.”

“The majority of things that were written about Ed were third party,” he continues. “They weren’t really there. I’m not degrading any of it, but it’s not accurate. I really felt like a lot of the stuff that was out there was incorrect, and it didn’t do justice to the more sensitive side of Ed. So before I die I would like to at least partially set the record straight.”

Brothers, publishing Oct. 22 and written with New Yorker staff writer Ariel Levy, acknowledges the sex and drugs and rock n’ roll. But as the title indicates it’s primarily a chronicle of the drummer’s relationship with his guitar hero brother, who passed way during Oct. 2020 at the age of 65 after a long battle with cancer. The tome is undeniably emotional, with some passages written directly to his late brother. Van Halen acknowledges that the process “really took its toll on me.”

“You have to remember we were together for 65 years; that’s a lifetime, if not more,” explains Van Halen, who was born in Amsterdam and came to the United States with his family in 1962, eventually settling in Pasadena, Calif., where the Van Halen band was formed in 1974. “(Brothers) not only forced me to look at everything Ed and I had done in our lifetime, but also — and I should thank Ed for this — it forced me to look at me. What are my motivations? Why am I really doing this? Who does anybody do this? It took me a lot of places…very heavy.”

Throughout Brothers’ 231 pages, Van Halen discloses the tight bond between him and Eddie, personally and musically — and presents the connection between those two as one and the same thing. Van Halen offers a detailed account of the entire family dynamics, too, from the influence of their father, Jan, a jazz musician, and their more strict Dutch East Indies-born mother Eugenia, and the impact of immigrating to America and being treated as outsiders. The passion for music came early and was a constant, of course, and one can read in Brothers a kind of mission on Van Halen’s part to offer a more expansive and sophisticated view of his brother’s talents.

“There was more going on than most people recognize or realize, and it’s not our job to ‘teach’ people,” explains Van Halen, who also makes use in the book of a variety of other sources, including published interviews with his brother, books by original frontman David Lee Roth and producer Ted Templeman, and philosophers such as Friedrich Nietzsche. The brothers, who first learned to play piano, actually started out on each other’s instruments before switching as teenagers. “When Ed picked (the guitar) up he could make it sing. It was amazing. That sound, that intonation was phenomenal. You couldn’t express it in words. Everybody gets blinded by the fact Ed was such a phenomenal player (that) you’re not even understanding who the human being was. Maybe people don’t care, but I care. He’s my brother.”

BROTHERS OF A BAND

Writing about Van Halen the rock band in Brothers, Van Halen says that “me, Ed and Dave were very subversive in the way we looked at music and the political system and the way we looked at people in general…The band was dysfunctional. It was completely running on three wheels, if you will. I think Ed was quoted as saying ‘but we always played well,’ and that was ultimately what kept it together until it was no longer together. It was a very sad moment when that whole thing fell apart.” Van Halen, in fact, writes in Brothers that Van Halen’s 1985 split with Roth “was the most disappointing thing I’d experienced in my life, the thing that seemed the most wasteful and unjust. Until I lost my brother.”

Despite the acknowledged rancor with Roth over the years – and blaming Roth for the failure of a planned Eddie Van Halen tribute tour — Van Halen maintains that “I’m not angry at all with Dave. He was one of the three main components of the band. At the time we didn’t recognize it because we were constantly battling things out. That’s why I mentioned (in the book) that the first person I called when Ed died was Dave because I felt like I owed him that, to the work we had done together and the fact that our families knew each other and the fact that everybody was sort of on the same level, if you will, when we first started. I don’t know where things went wrong…I have nothing but the utmost respect for Dave and his work ethic. I just think some of his choices were really strange to me, but that’s not my job to figure it out.”

Other than his brother’s death, Van Halen chose to stop the story with the Roth split, leaving out subsequent runs with Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone and even the reunion with Roth that started in 2007. (Roth and Hagar both wrote memoirs after their respective tenures with the band.) Van Halen cites “limitations to how big the book could be” but also says it the scope of the narrative made sense to him.

“What happened after Dave left is not the same band,” Van Halen explains. “I’m not saying it was better or worse or any of that. The fact is Ed and I did our best work whenever we played. We always gave it our best shot. But the magic was in the first years, when we didn’t know what we were doing, when we were willing to try anything.” Not surprisingly, Van Halen was not responsive, either, when Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony reached out about him taking part in some way in their Best of All Worlds tour celebrating Van Halen.

“I’m not interested,” he says. “They’re not doing the band justice. They can do what they want to do. That’s not my business.”

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME

Van Halen does add, however, that his auction of drum equipment and other items in June “was misinterpreted” and simply clearing out a warehouse of gear that wasn’t being used.

“I’m not quitting. I don’t know where that came from,” Van Halen says. “I’ll die with sticks in my hand.” Spinal issues he’s been battling for decades are still present, he adds, including a recent injury during a trip to a shooting range in 2022. “But with modern technology we have now I should be OK in about five years,” he says.

Despite rumors of what the Van Halens were up to between the last tour with Roth (in 2015) and Eddie’s death, Alex maintains there was little to report. “We never really talked about it,” he says. “We prefer that things just happen by some kind of magic. The issue was Ed had been dealing with cancer for quite a number of years, and some of the stuff that he was doing out of the normal procedures, if you will, had side effects. Some of the stuff that was being said about Ed was completely wrong, and it was painful…. He was fighting cancer. It’s as simple as that.”

Fans are certainly excited about the presence of a new instrumental track, “Unfinished,” that’s part of the audio version of Brothers. It hails from a trove of ideas the brothers recorded at Eddie’s 5150 studio and stashed away, and Alex anticipates releasing more of that material “when it feels right.”

“I’m not in a hurry,” he says. “I do have a certain obligation to keep it to Ed’s standards. He was meticulous and he was a pain in the ass…and I need to have access to the right takes, ’cause not every day did we play at our best. But we always had the tape recorders running. We didn’t go in the studio like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna make a record from beginning to end.’ We had little pieces here, little pieces there, you put ’em away until the time comes and you go, ‘Hey, I think I like that piece…’ and then go back to it and build something from there.” He told Rolling Stone that he’s approached OpenAI about using its technology to help turn some of the material into songs.

“I know people want to hear it,” Van Halen adds, before cautioning that, “the other side of the coin is this doesn’t sound like Van Halen. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” He says that for future releases he’s also “looking forward to getting some people involved…other musicians and producers. You have to have the right team, because not everybody can do everything. So we’ll see.”

For the time being Van Halen is focused on promoting Brothers, which he’d also like to turn into a movie — though he notes that, “I learned a long time ago not to put your hope in things that don’t exist yet. I know people who would be willing to participate, but it’s a very complex fabric of things that need to happen.” Meanwhile Van Halen has three book events lined up — signings at Barnes & Noble in New York on Oct. 21 and at Books & Greetings in Northvale, N.J., the following day, and a live conversation on Oct. 24 at the Frost Auditorium in Culver City, Calif.

“People can ask whatever they like — that’s their prerogative,” Van Halen says. “It’s my prerogative to answer. Or not answer.”

One thing Van Halen will make clear, however, is that his brother is still a strong presence in his life.

“He’s not gone for me,” Van Halen says, citing the “island voodoo” of their mother’s upbringing and the Spooky Action at a Distance concept of quantum physics. “He’s still there. His spirit’s here, and it’s not something you can grab or touch. There’s something between us that’s just connected on a level that is beyond explanation. Scientists will tell you that you cannot destroy energy, it just takes different shapes, and that’s kind of how it is for me with Ed.”

“I really had a tough time when Ed passed — full of rage, for a number of reasons. I heard this thing by Billy Bob Thornton; he just said basically when his brother died he didn’t know how to deal with it, and he basically said that you’re not running away from the fact that you’re not together anymore. You accept it for what it is and then the pain will slowly diminish, but it’ll never go away. That’s why i said (in the book), ‘When I see you again, I’m gonna kick yo’ ass…’”

[lindyloosims]

Chapter One, Part Two:

This recent behaviour of his puzzled Dex just as much as it did Ash, he had no clue why he hadn't gone down there and offered to help. He had no idea why he chose to stay out of sight and watch the clumsy girl who tripped over the old saggy box and landed on top of it, spilling it's contents all over the lobby. What he did know was that after they'd got all their things inside the flat, Dexter was inspired to play his keyboard and write a new song...something he hadn't done since he broke up with Rosalie!

With all of their bags and boxes inside, the girls took a moving in photo of each other and intended to hang it on the wall as a reminder that they started happy and must continue to be exactly that no matter what happened...happy!

When the doorbell rang for the first time, Roxy frowned and stifled a yawn, "Nope, not going! It's all yours Miss 'I want to be a super duper uber chef girly!'"

"Gee thanks FRIEND!" Lainie laughed and went to answer the door...

...stood outside was a young woman around their age. She had brown hair with blonde streaks and her outfit was...loud was the only way Lainie could describe it. When she spoke, Lainie knew she was a bit eccentric, "Hi there new person! I'm Charlotte, Charlotte Kennedy! I live over there up on the landing with all the plants and the cats that use the elevator! I came to say...well...hello!"

"Hi, I'm Lainie! Nice to meet you!"

"Welcome to the building Lainie! Is that short for Elaine?"

"No, it's not it's...!" Charlotte cut her off, not even waiting to find out what it was short for,

"Oh, strange ha! What's in a name except letters and funny pronunciations!" She chuckled to herself.

Lainie found this girl, Charlotte, odd to say the least! She was very colourful and extremely pretty but totally off her rocker! "Have you met the boys from number twelve yet?" she raised an eyebrow at Lainie and stared intently at her.

"N-no I haven't, not yet!" 

"Well a word of warning, they are very noisy boys! They're in a band together and they practice a lot! I'm next door in number 11 and I hear EVERYTHING! Mrs Ubercutes has a terrible time trying to sleep! She's my older cat!"

"Oh!"

"So if there's anything you need, just come on up the stairs over there and give me a knock. I work at the cat shelter down the road three days a week but apart from that I'm always in!"

"Thanks, it was really nice to meet you Charlotte." As Charlotte smiled vacantly at Lainie she tried to go back into the flat and batter Roxy for hiding inside and leaving her alone. But part of her found Charlotte Kennedy to be a sweetheart who only wanted a friend. She got the impression that she only had her cats to talk to, which was sad as she was so kind and caring! "I'll stop by and see you some time, me and Roxy!"

"Oh, I never get visitors, it would be really lovely! We can have tea and biscuits and talk about the weather! How wonderful!" Yes this poor cat lady was just lonely, what harm could it do to visit her now and again?

Since spotting the cute clumsy girl an hour before, Dexter's creative juices were flowing! Not only had he penned a song, he had also begun to sketch a picture of something other than a piece of fruit! Ash came breezing into the flat as Dex continued to draw and Drew was dozing on the couch, he slept a lot. "Hey hey boys! We're going out!" Ash announced and kicked the side of the couch to wake Drew.

"Andrew???"

"He's asleep Ashton?" Dex's voice came from behind the kitchen unit.

"You don't say Sherlock!" Ash replied sarcastically, "DREW WAKE UP!!!"

Drew was not too pleased to be disturbed, "What the hey elder Maloney!"

"We're going to go and say hi to the new girls downstairs!"

"Are we now? For why oh fearless leadless?" Drew yawned and smirked at Ash.

"Because Dexter has a crush on one of the girls and it'll be fun!"

Drew instantly stood up and said "I'm in!"

"I'm not going! You can't make me!" Dexter pouted and whined like a four year old.

"If you don't then Drew here will tell them all about you...HIS version!"

"Hehe ohhhh yeah!" Drew laughed and Dex got up rather swiftly from the floor...

"I will observe from the landing!"

"What is wrong with you? You and our bannister are getting pretty friendly lately!" Ash gave his usually flirty and confident younger brother a puzzled look.

"I don't think this is very funny dear brother!" Dex continued to pout and refused to look at either Ash or Drew.

"Aw Dex! You just turn on your charm and she'll be putty in your hands like all the others! This is just what you need to get over Rowena!"

"Rosalie!"

"Whatever, come on!"

"They're probably out!" Dex tried to reverse back up the stairs but his brother grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"We just have to be polite and introduce ourselves! Simple as that!"

"I have stuff to do!" Dex once again tried to go back upstairs...

"Seriously what IS wrong with you Dexter??? Drew! Go ring the bell!"

"Why me?" Drew sighed and gave Ash a dirty look.

"Fine, I'll go ring the bell then!" Ash muttered and headed for the girls' door.

As the doorbell rang for a second time that day, Lainie wasn't letting Roxy away with it this time, "Okay we both go Brownie's honour?"

"Brownie's honour! Wait! That's a peace sign!" Roxy chuckled and gave Lainie a mocked disapproving look.

"So? Let's go torment the neighbours!" Lainie replied with a bigger laugh.

The noisy boys! That's what came to Lainie's mind when she saw the three tattooed males standing outside her door. Roxy mumbled her approval in the shape of "Hubba hubba!" as Lainie elbowed her to be quiet.

The one in the middle spoke first, rather nervously, like he hadn't spoken to a woman in a while bless him. "Hi! I'm Ashton Maloney, this is Andrew Mitchell..." he gestured to his right hand side, and then to his left...

"And this...is my brother Dexter!" the young man on his left was looking straight at Lainie, when she caught his eye he looked away blushing. He seemed rather bashful, and ever so cute!

"I'm Lainie Robertson and this is my best friend Roxy Harmon."

"It's nice to meet you girls, isn't it Dexter???" Ash gritted his teeth and nodded his head towards Lainie as the shy one, Dexter, shuffled forward...

"Hello!" Lainie said softly and smiled.

"H-hi!" he managed to reply.

Dexter could hardly find the words, his mouth was dry and his palms were sweating. He felt hot all over and his legs were turning to jelly where he stood...

...Lainie was mesmerised by him, he wasn't her type but she was under his spell. She didn't go for pretty boys, and he was ever so pretty for a boy! Despite the facial hair and the tattoos, he was a beautiful looking man!

Time stood almost still, every move and sound they made happened in slow motion. His hand reaching out and hers responding...

...so slowly and shakily, funny...he didn't seem the type to be shy and lost for words...

...he tried to speak, his eyes fixed on hers, but nothing came out. He had the most bewitching blue eyes, not like hers, they were almost turquoise! So bright and full of passion and creativity... 

...Dexter was transfixed! She had the cutest freckles and the most adorable nose! Their hands were inches apart but taking an age to actually...

...touch! As he felt her fingers entwine in his, it felt like his heart had stopped! And he would never be the same again!!!

End of Chapter Two.

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