#smoky joe and the kid

[zannolin]

Questionnaire Tag Game!!

last song: "freezing" by mimi webb

currently watching: pushing daisies, x-files (really slowly), and the karate kid movies to prepare for cobra kai

currently reading: nona the ninth (one chap per day), fablehaven and the horse and his boy (audiobooks), unsolved disappearances in the great smoky mountains, and all the shel silverstein books my family owns which means i'm about to start where the sidewalk ends

current favourites: interpreting this as open to all favorites...trader joe's mint dark chocolate star cookies, john k samson's winter wheat album, shel silverstein poems, "fast car" by tracy chapman, tlt, beyonders, welcome to night vale, tom lake by ann patchett, yellow post-it notes, jason & ferrin of course because if i think too long about rachel i burst into flames, annnnd kendra & warren

tagged by: @lordgrimwing

tagging: @beautyofsorrow @liveandletrain @stormbeyondreality @comfymoth

[erenozturk]

EREN ÖZTÜRK INTRODUCTION.

meet eren; private investigator banshee

GENERAL

FULL NAME: Eren Öztürk NICKNAME(S): N/A AGE/DATE OF BIRTH: 54 (appears 29), 01/04/1969 GENDER: Cisman PRONOUNS: He/Him OCCUPATION: Private Investigator, and owner of Tower Treasure Detective Agency SPECIES: Fae, Banshee

BIOGRAPHY

TRIGGERS: death, haphephobia, racism, xenophobia, gore

ONCE UPON A TIME there was a boy who fell into a hole. 

It’s not a normal way to start a fairy tale, but in the case of Eren Öztürk this was the way his literal fairy life began. Falling face-first into a dark, seemingly endless hole. It was that night that his banshee powers had manifested themselves for the first time within this specific timeline, as well as the defining moment which led him down the path to his current life. Seated in a small office above a laundromat on a corner in Downtown Lunar Cove, surrounded by case files, grainy photographs, and dozens upon dozens of takeout cartons, the banshee often reflects on that pivotal moment way back on that early 80’s autumn day in middle-of-nowhere Pennsylvania and how everything changed forever after. 

Eren Öztürk was born to a mechanical engineer and a children’s book writer in Istanbul in 1969. He doesn’t remember his homeland, at least not back in that time, because shortly after in the early 70’s his parents made the decision to migrate to the United States. Settling in a small and charming town in the foothills of Pennsylvania, Eren was set to have a pretty idyllic childhood. Being the only child the Öztürks would ever have – as far as he knew – he had a warm upbringing full of love and everything a young kid like him could ever ask for. Everything seemed absolutely perfect… That was, until it wasn’t. Being an immigrant to the United States in the 20th Century wasn’t exactly the easiest thing, and being one of the only Turkish families in their small town made things worse. When Eren started attending school, he quickly found himself growing into an outsider and began hiding his sweet and warm demeanor behind a stoic and socially anxious exterior. The kids at school made fun of his homemade dishes, a stark contrast to their pizza and chocolate milk carton lunches bought at the cafeteria. They mocked him and his family as they spoke in their native tongues at the supermarket, and they found every way to let him know he was “just too different” from them.

As a result, Eren had only a couple of friends – Frank, his brother Joe, and their oftentimes collaborator, one Nancy Drew. While the other kids ran about the playground playing freeze tag and hide and seek together, Eren spent his recesses in the library, checking out Hardy Boys book after Hardy Boys book. He delighted himself primarily with the mysteries at the core of each adventure, but also the brotherly bond and camaraderie between its main characters – something he always wished he had in his own life. These novels were the first signs of an inquisitive and curious mind, having bred a love for anything mystery and crime detective related, and when Eren was going through puberty and feeling woefully alone, he began to act out. Combined with a bad attitude, which was undeservingly flung at his parents, Eren began sneaking out of the house and running off to a local art theater late at night when they began showing Noirs from the 40’s and 50’s. Films which he quickly became addicted to. Out of the Past, Murder, My Sweet, Kiss Me Deadly — these movies and so many more all became quick favorites for the young boy, who soon after began daydreaming he was a detective in a trench coat and fedora, on a hot case with a femme fatale in a dark and smoky city. 

After one such late night excursion, and imagining himself as the quick witted detective at the center of the narrative, Eren left the theater on his bike and cut through the woods which lead to his backyard. It was supposed to be a shortcut, a quick way to get home so he could be tucked back in his bed before his dad checked in on him to ensure he didn’t sneak out again. But one sharp turn turned a simple bike ride through the woods into him stumbling face-first into a barely concealed hole. One that felt like it went on forever, endless and dark. He woke after an indecipherable amount of time in the pitch black, sore and covered in scrapes and bruises. As Eren tried to feel around for something to help him up, his hands felt something softer than the hard, cold ground. Adjusting to the dark, he was able to make out a silhouette of what looked to be an oddly shaped object, which his hand reached towards. Moonlight piercing the clouds revealed it to be a corpse, and as his hand sank into the decomposing flesh, Eren let out the loudest, piercing scream he had ever made or even heard in his entire life. His vision clouded as a chilling vision unfolded, depicting the deceased's final moments — a visceral connection to death that marked the onset of his supernatural gifts.

This was the first time his abilities as a banshee manifested themselves.

The trauma of that encounter lingered, overshadowing the remainder of his youth and impacting his relationship with his parents. The banality of life faded into the background, replaced by the manifestation of even more peculiar abilities – a debilitating scream, the ability to transfer an injury inflicted by his bullies to them, and retractable wings which made for many an awkward moment. But all of those were eclipsed by the even more horrifying ability to witness moments of death from just touching a person. It all made adolescence a confusing and isolating period. He was desperate to escape whatever was going on with him, but especially his parents who were stuck between wanting to help their son with whatever was happening to him and horrified as stranger and newer symptoms of his unknown curse made themselves known. He couldn’t stand the terrified look on his mother’s face, or his father’s confusion which quickly turned to frustration when Eren lashed out when they tried to make sense of everything going on with their teenage son. Or the hurt that crossed their faces when he refused their touches, caresses of love and concern from a parent watching their son become undone. The last thing any kid wanted was to see how their parents would die, long before the event itself happened.

The second that Eren came of age in the late '80s, he had made a rather difficult choice. He couldn’t stay there, with parents who would likely never understand what he was going through and in a town where he wasn’t accepted when he was at his most “normal”. So he left home – without farewells, leaving behind the tearful visage of his mother as his last memory of her. His search for answers regarding his strange abilities propelled him into a nomadic existence, hopping from place to place, country to country, continent to continent, searching for something he wasn’t quite sure of, avoiding attachments all along the way. It seemed all across the world there were many places with their own myths to explain what was happening to him, but nothing concrete beyond old wive’s tales. No documented cases of another going through what he was, from what he could find. His existence quickly became the one mystery that Eren had no way of solving. 

With little to nothing to work with, he gave up on his soul searching for a moment and made his way to Turkey, his homeland which he only heard about in stories and in faded memories from when he was really quite young. All his life he had felt like an outsider looking in, only feeling a sense of belonging within the pages of old children’s mystery novels. When he arrived in Turkey, things were instantly somewhat different. For once, he didn’t feel like he didn’t belong, he felt like just another face in the crowd, blending in fully to the environment around him. It felt like maybe things would be alright, maybe he found some happiness despite all the strange occurrences surrounding his existence. He still had the premonitions which haunted him any time he came in contact with people and sometimes objects which formerly belonged to others. This gave way for a severe case of haphephobia, which made him awkward and anxious when out in public. This being the only thing that marred his time home in Istanbul, he didn’t think of it as a major tell as to the supernatural things which had been going on in his life. But he was wrong, there was someone who was able to notice something was off about him and was able to quickly deduce what was going on.

When Zehra first approached him, he didn’t know how to take her boldness, especially when she began asking him about his wings and if this was his “first life”. Of course it was his first life – as far as he knew, this was his only life – but her vagueness gave way to more transparent explanations and soon Eren was getting the explanation he had longed for for a handful of years now. According to Zehra, he, much like her, was a faerie, only he was one called a banshee whereas she was a siren. Suddenly everything about himself made sense, and all because of this stranger who was able to recognize the shared struggles of their kind. Slowly, they forged a profound friendship, and Zehra became Eren's guide, helping him understand his banshee abilities, introducing him to a supernatural world within their own. With her he found his first family outside of his parents, and they worked on his trauma and helped him make sense of his past. Eren knew he was finally with someone who understood him when Zehra gifted him with his first pair of leather gloves. “You know,” she had said warmly, “To help you with your fears.”

He was content to stay there in Turkey with Zehra, but as quickly as he learned about the broad supernatural world they were part of, he learned there were those who wanted to destroy it. Hunter activity was growing across Europe and Asia during that time, and so the fae duo knew they would need to keep moving if they wanted to survive. At Zehra’s insistence they began moving westward. She had heard talk of a supernatural haven back in the States which many of her compatriots had either come from or escaped to. While the thought of going back homeward gave him anxiety, a sense of self preservation prevailed and the pair began slowly making their way towards Lunar Cove, Rhode Island. Between 1988 and 1991, they found themselves settling in towns here and there, meeting others like them and of different species, and trying to find some sense of normalcy wherever they could. Wherever they stayed Eren would pay keen attention to the local goingons, and Zehra was surprised to see the young banshee quietly following and even solving some of the local crimes which were being documented by the public, talked about in small coffee shops and diners.

During a particularly long stay in a town in the Southern US, Eren went as far as crossing paths with detectives on a cold case and made light comments after touching something he was supposedly not allowed to touch. He may have been the anonymous tip to help things progress to justice. While talking over coffee in the middle of the night at a Waffle House in Alabama, Zehra made a throwaway comment about them opening a Private Investigation agency together when they settled in Lunar Cove. At first he shrugged it off, but as they continued their northward travel the thought became more and more appealing. When they finally crossed the barrier into Lunar Cove in the spring of 1993, Eren decided he would make that vision a possibility. Working days bussing tables at an Italian restaurant while he spent nights getting his criminal justice degree at the local college, it seemed like this was the cherry on top of Eren’s life turning out just as it was meant to be. So much so that he stopped aging in 1998, finally feeling his true self. When he got his PI license, Eren began renting out a small office space above a laundromat in Downtown Lunar Cove, and thus the Tower Treasure Detective Agency was born – aptly named after the first Hardy Boys adventure which started his long journey towards amateur sleuthing and now real detective work. Things were going great, perfect even, and after skirting around their feelings for so long, Eren and Zehra finally progressed their friendship into a romantic connection. 

The turn of the century brought with it many changes. Tower Treasure was doing well, mostly dealing in smaller crime cases that the local authorities didn’t pay as much attention to, as well as targeting cold cases in the greater local area in order to earn some extra big cash. With his banshee abilities, Eren began taking on more and more cases regarding inexplicable deaths, using his premonitions to help families get a glimpse of exactly what may have happened when their loved ones perished and providing much needed closure and even a bit of grief counseling as a result. It was simple and sweet, it made those visions which oftentimes plagued him and scared him as a youth into something good for the community, at least he tried to think of it that way. It didn’t always pan out that way and in his seemingly perfect life, there were some cracks which exposed a less happy underbelly. No matter what positive spin he tried to put on things, Eren still suffered with his phobias and fears, as well as an unending guilt for having never reconnected with his parents who likely would always wonder what exactly happened to their boy. Zehra had been supportive of everything he went through, but every person had their individual needs and soon enough she wasn’t feeling as fulfilled as she hoped. And despite himself, Eren pulled away from most everyone and everything. The visions of death began having a toll on him once again, and he found himself pulling more into himself after years and years of detective work. Solidarity has always been his best coping mechanism.

Eventually Zehra left, citing a desire to go back to Europe and find some of the others they used to commune with. Eren knew she didn’t want him to feel bad for not being adequate for her and he comforted himself with the thought that she was back in Europe or Asia, living out her vivid and interesting life and hopefully in the arms of someone who could love her properly. It felt better to think that way than to imagine hunters found her and she had regenerated, or worse. Since she left, Eren never took on another partner in his detective work, or personal life. Left alone, aside from his only lasting employee which was an eternally middle aged vampire secretary with a nasally voice and penchant for knit cardigans decorated with woodland creatures, his agency continued on — still bringing closure to Lunar Cove’s residents in death whenever it’s needed, but with his somewhat dreary case load he’s lost a bit of love for the work over the past couple decades. Now it seemed he was just robotically going through the motions of work and life, as he has been over the past couple decades now. His social life remained minimal, not interacting much beyond his clients and the other members of the fae court, and he shied away from forming new attachments, being haunted by the fear of another heartbreak. Life reached a standstill, a boring downhill slide…

That was, until the Catalyst arrived.

With the chaos and turmoil enveloping Lunar Cove due to the mysterious Catalyst, Eren has found himself contemplating the unfolding mystery between his usual lighter case load. Alone in his dimly lit office, surrounded by the remnants of takeout and mountains of case files he ought to be working on instead, he often reflects on the facts laid out before him on a board hung up on his wall. Photographs, newspaper clippings, and anything he could find about the town’s biggest adversary, pinned up on a corkboard with red lines crossing over all of it, connecting invisible dots he’s yet to figure out, but delights in seeing. The prospect of a tumultuous mystery has been slowly rekindling Eren’s passion for detective work, as the promise of more danger and chaos looms on Lunar Cove’s horizon and ensures that something bigger than they’ve witnessed yet is surely on its way. And Eren Öztürk welcomes the developments, taking in each and every thing that comes up, and prepares to face the shadows that he hopes will soon darken his agency's doorstep. In the meantime, he continues paying close attention to the goings on, doing what little work comes his way, and keeping a careful eye on every new face that shows up in Lunar Cove. In this new chapter of his dark fairy tale life, everyone is suspect. That is, until he can prove their innocence beyond a reasonable doubt.

HEADCANONS

Typically wears all black, a mix between casual and dressy, in particular is usually in a suit and tie but sometimes rocks a tee and leather jacket. The one thing Eren is never without are his gloves. Black or Brown leather racing gloves which he wears to help him interact with the world without a fear of seeing things he doesn’t want to (outside of work) or direct touching with others

Doesn’t invite and has never invited a single person into his home. If you want to see him privately, go to his office, but don’t ever expect to make a house visit.

Has a very dry sense of humor and delivers teasing banter in a very monotonous voice. If you didn’t know him, you may construe this as mean but he is actually a very sweet person. He just rarely shows that side of him to others.

He appears young, but he’s an old man at heart. He loves sitting at the park and playing chess with others, his favorite show is the nightly news, and he will complain about nonexistent back pains. His sensibilities skew towards older interests, namely with music and media. He loves noir films from the 40’s and 50’s but also loves his 80’s coming of age films, and carries a Walkman and mixtapes of 80’s hits on any case. If he’s doing a stakeout there’s a 100% chance he’s listening to Tears For Fears or Spandau Ballet.

No hookups, no romantic relationships, nothing beyond professional (even for his few platonic relationships) — he’s afraid of touch and there isn’t a single exception to the touch rule. Aside from his dog. He needs cuddles somewhere, the poor man.

idk more will come to me I’m sure lol

MISC

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Demisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic FAMILY: a dog named Hardy HOMETOWN: TBD, Pennsylvania FACE CLAIM: Emin Günenç HEIGHT: 6’2” EYE COLOR: Brown HAIR: Dark Brown DISTINGUISHABLE FEATURES:  STYLE:  ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: capricorn PINTEREST: (x)

WANTED CONNECTIONS

Past clients

Acquaintances

Few close friends

Maybe you were one of his cases / he had to trail you at the request of a former flame/loved one

Unwanted Partner In Crime

‘It’s Always You, Seemingly Caught Red Handed At The Scene Of The Crime’

[lucienballard]

RIP Tony Bennett

Tony Bennett, who has died aged 96, made a high art out of being the very best kind of saloon-bar singer – not only in the good-humoured optimism of his big, expansive sound, or his passionate gratitude for life’s lucky breaks and glimpsed beauties, but also in an unquenchable appetite for sharing good songs, whether with 10 people or 10,000.

Frank Sinatra used to call Bennett “the best singer in the business”, an accolade that would frequently turn up in the younger man’s publicity, though a more forthright tribute from the same source (“that kid’s got four sets of balls”) generally did not. Bennett’s artistry and power to stir the heart were qualities a world away from the cliched perception of the Vegas crooner in a tuxedo. During the rock-dominated 1960s and 70s, Bennett was easy to caricature. You only had to pretend to loosen a tie, casually throw an imaginary microphone from hand to hand, and exhale “the loveliness of Paris” in tones somewhere between Sinatra’s and the club style of Vic Reeves.

Closer listening to Bennett’s smoky baritone revealed a different story. His performances often sounded like thanksgivings – for the breaks he’d had, and for his conviction that the good in the world outstripped the bad. This curiously worldly innocence was at the core of his enduring appeal. Bennett’s records (including Because of You and a version of the country singer Hank Williams’s Cold, Cold Heart) topped the charts in 1951 before the arrival of rock’n’roll. His most celebrated later hits included his signature song, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, The Good Life (both 1962) and Who Can I Turn To? (1964). Bennett won 19 Grammy awards and was estimated to have sold more than 50m records worldwide.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/hT5VOnaGRSU?start=2&wmode=opaque&feature=oembed&start=2Tony Bennett performing I Left My Heart in San Francisco on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. YouTube

He was also an accomplished painter and produced a book of his visual art, What My Heart Has Seen (1996). His autobiography, published in 1998, was entitled The Good Life – Bennett knew only too well how ambiguous a notion that could be, having narrowly survived a cocaine overdose and fought off bankruptcy during his troubled middle years. He raised millions of dollars for charities and publicly associated himself with liberal causes. In an interview with the singer in 2002, Simon Hattenstone wrote in the Guardian that Bennett had “done all the classic showbiz stuff, snorted coke with the best of ’em, made out with the younger women, broken bread with the mafia – and somehow come out with his innocence, his idealism, intact”.

Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in the Astoria district of Queens, New York, he was the son of John, a grocer from southern Italy, and Anna (nee Suraci), a seamstress. His father died when Bennett was 10 and Anna worked all hours to support her three children. Watching her struggle, Bennett made up his mind to be successful enough for his mother’s trials to end. His Uncle Dick, a tap dancer, provided an early glimpse of showbusiness, and Bennett was passionate about both singing and painting by the time he attended the School of Industrial Art (now the High School of Art and Design) in Manhattan.

After demobilisation, Bennett took vocal classes in the bel canto style at the American Theatre Wing school (a teacher there suggested he try imitating the phrasing of jazz instrumentalists) and he began singing in nightclubs from 1946 under the stage name of Joe Bari. The comedian Bob Hope hired him in 1949, but, disliking the stage name, told him: “We’ll call you Tony Bennett.”

Bennett worked in New York at the Paramount theatre in Hope’s popular show, which soon needed police barricades to hold back the singer’s teenage fans. When he married Patricia Beech in 1952, crowds of young women showed up outside the ceremony, dressed as if in mourning.

Bennett became one of the biggest vocal draws in the US, with three No 1 hits – Because of You, Cold, Cold Heart (both 1951) and Rags to Riches (1953). His single Stranger in Paradise, from the Broadway musical Kismet, brought him a No 1 in the UK in 1955 but the arrival of rock’n’roll made it Bennett’s first and last Top 10 single in the UK, and he had only one more in the US, when In the Middle of an Island reached No 9 in 1957.

Bennett needed to adapt. Unlike Sinatra or Bing Crosby, he had not worked with the swing big-bands, a learning curve alongside expert instrumentalists that could sharpen technique and fill a singer with fresh ideas. But in 1957 he began a long working relationship with the London-born jazz pianist and arranger Ralph Sharon, who edged him toward a jazzier repertoire. Bennett’s 1957 album The Beat of My Heart was made with help from the jazz musicians Herbie Mann, Art Blakey and Jo Jones among others; it was followed by Basie Swings, Bennett Sings (1958) and In Person! (1959) with Count Basie’s big band.

Along with many other singers of his kind, Bennett found that his sales went into steady decline. He tried an unsuccessful detour into acting before, in 1969, the Columbia Records boss Clive Davis persuaded him to make an album of 60s pop hits including the Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby. The cover art portrayed him in flares and a psychedelic tie, and Bennett was so intimidated by his unsuitability for material he was not yet ready to appreciate that he threw up during the recordings. He later said it reminded him of his mother being forced to make cheap dresses for money.

Bennett left Columbia and worked for smaller jazz labels during the next decade. He performed with the big bands of Woody Herman, Buddy Rich and Duke Ellington, and in 1975 made a duo album for the Fantasy label with one of modern jazz’s most lyrical pianists, Bill Evans. What might have seemed like an unlikely partnership between the cerebral Evans and the heart-on-sleeve popular performer worked remarkably well, with Bennett’s account of Evans’ famous Waltz for Debby revealing an inspired grasp of the art of jazz-inflected vocal interpretation and interplay. Two years later, the pair reconvened for Together Again on Bennett’s own shortlived Improv label.

In the 90s he paid tributes to Sinatra and Fred Astaire, on the albums Perfectly Frank and Steppin’ Out, respectively, and also recorded homages to Billie Holiday (Tony Bennett on Holiday) and Duke Ellington (Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot and Cool). Through his work with kd lang and Elvis Costello on MTV, he reconnected with a young audience. He even played at Glastonbury in 1998, with the organisers laying out a path of hay bales so he wouldn’t get his silk suit muddy on the way to the stage.

On Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues (2001), he recorded a memorable series of duets with lang, Ray Charles, Sheryl Crow, Billy Joel, Diana Krall, BB King, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Wonder.

For his 80th birthday in 2006, Bennett released Duets: An American Classic, featuring performances with Paul McCartney, Elton John, Barbra Streisand and Bono, and five years later came Duets II, with another glitzy cast including Aretha Franklin, Lady Gaga – and Amy Winehouse, with whom he shared a memorable Body and Soul in March 2011.

In 2012, his book of philosophical musings, Life Is a Gift, was published. The 2014 album Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek was another Billboard chart-topper, and the following year he won a Grammy for a tribute album to Jerome Kern.

The Empire State Building was specially illuminated for Bennett’s 90th birthday in 2016 – and that year Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga and more performed on an NBC primetime special, Tony Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best Is Yet to Come. The Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio (where Bennett’s Homage to Hockney is part of a permanent collection) presented its Two Painters exhibition, showing Bennett’s Tuscan landscapes, still lifes and portraits alongside watercolourist Charles Reid’s work. In November 2017, the Library of Congress made him the first non-composer to win the Gershwin prize.

Bennett worked into his later years – because a new audience was there for him, and because the money funded his charitable work, including the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, which he had founded in 2001. He painted every day for as long as he was able. “You paint with nature out in the field and you realise how magnificent being alive is,” Bennett enthused to Hattenstone in 2002. “Most people just walk past it. I used to walk past it. Each day now, because of my age, I just look at it and cherish it. If people could only grasp how wonderful it is to be part of this.” A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in 2016 did not dim this view, with Bennett stating on Twitter: “Life is a gift – even with Alzheimer’s.”

His final live performances were with Lady Gaga in 2021, at Radio City Music Hall, New York.

Bennett’s first two marriages ended in divorce. In 2007 he married Susan Crow, who survives him, as do his sons, and two daughters, Joanna and Antonia, from his second marriage.

 Tony Bennett (Anthony Dominick Benedetto), singer, born 3 August 1926; died 21 July 2023

[uneasylisteningradio]

The Kids Just Don’t Understand June 7, 2023

A dispatch from smoky Philadelphia, filling in for Jon Solomon!

stream on Mixcloud Joe Tex - Who Gave Birth To The Funk

DJ speaks over Golden Stars - Tela de Golden Stars

Miss España - Mi Amplificador Tumbas - Supuesta Libertad Colin Newman - Life On Deck Tozibabe - Ti Ramuntcho Matta - Hop Hop Lewsberg - Non - Fiction Writer The Stools - Into the Street Skinned Teen - Ex-Boyfriend Beat

Air Miami - Bubble Shield (Demo No.2) Chandra - Kate Abi Ooze - "Nice" Guy billy woods & Kenny Segal - NYC Tapwater Non Band - Vibration Army Peace De Résistance - Manifest Destiny

Melenas - Bang The Vicious - Illusions Primer Regimen - Martires The Slickee Boys - Say Goodbye AKA - Mental Timebombs EXWHITE - Get Clean The Fall - Hot Runes Motorbike - Potential to Ride Michael Nesmith - Two Different Roads Turquoise - Brigade de la Haine Spirito De Lupo - Spirito Selvaggio

new_project_666 - Painted Trap The Bureaucrats - She's an American Östro 430 - Das quietschende Bett Betty & the Code Red - Wishful Desire Epicycle - You're Not Gonna Get It The Shitlickers - Cracked Cop Skulls (Sprackta Snutskallar) Pigeon - Permanent Quest

Chumbawamba Peel Session August 2, 1992 Agadoo Birdy Song Knock Three Times Y Viva Espana

Ruth - Polaroïd/Roman/Photo The Exploding Hearts - I'm a Pretender (alternate version) Lafff Box - Some The Living Eyes - Ways to Make a Living Blinding Headache - X-1 Walenda Black Aubergine - Belgorod Insex - Off the Deep End Vanity 6 - Make-Up

Cilla Black - It's for You GLAAS - Haymarket Riot Waltz Accessory - Elektrik

Astrud Gilberto - Far Away (feat. Chet Baker)

[rentnhope]

Top 5 most visited cafes in Mumbai

Mumbai is not just the city that never sleeps, it's also the city that's always sipping on a hot cuppa. From roadside-cutting chai to artisanal coffee shops, Mumbai loves its caffeine fix. For tourists and locals alike, cafes are the perfect spots to relax, refresh, and take in the vibe of the city. It’s also one of the activities to feel freshly arrived at your work after a break. Visiting all these cafes on a bike rental in Mumbai is bliss for people who find it hard to travel. 

If you're looking to do some Mumbai sightseeing over a cup of joe, here are the top 5 most visited cafes you must check out:

1. Leopold Cafe

No Mumbai cafe list is complete without the legendary Leopold. Made famous by Gregory David Roberts' Shantaram, Leopold Cafe is a tourist hotspot known for its old-world charm, piping hot food, and cold beers. The walls are lined with photos of Indian cinema stars, reflecting Bollywood's strong influence on the city. At any time of day, you’ll find a mix of backpackers, college kids, and locals rubbing shoulders with Leopold.

Be sure to try their chicken chili fry and sizzlers along with your choice of coffee or tea. Need to get around? You can get a bike on rent in Mumbai near Leopold and zoom off towards your next Mumbai destination. With reasonably priced meals, free WiFi, and great people-watching, Leopold lives up to its hype. Just be prepared to wait for a table during peak hours. 

2. The Pantry

In hip Kala Ghoda, The Pantry is a cozy hole-in-the-wall cafe that will delight any foodie. Their innovative all-day breakfast menu is to die for. The Israeli Shakshuka with house-baked pita and hummus is a favorite. You can also build your own healthy breakfast bowl with a choice of grains, veggies, and eggs.

Lunch and dinner feature gourmet sandwiches and salads crafted from locally sourced ingredients. Save room for their freshly baked desserts - the cinnamon babka is swoon-worthy. With a thoughtful menu and great coffee sourced from Indian estates, The Pantry delivers big flavors in a small, artsy space. Scooty over from the museum district for a tasty bite.

3. Koolar & Co

No list of Mumbai's trendiest cafes is complete without the Insta-famous Koolar & Co. Get a bike rental in Mumbai or even scooty and get over here.  The whimsical interiors, adorned with colorful murals, make you feel like you've stepped into a Scandinavian children's book. Serving innovative drinks and freshly baked goods, Koolar attracts the fashionable set.

The glass jars of cookies, brownies, and macarons tempt those with a sweet tooth. Exotic coffee brewing methods like siphon, aeropress, and cold brew satisfy the city’s growing coffee culture. Beyond great coffee and eats, Koolar also hosts workshops, markets, and music nights in their outdoor space. Don't forget to snap an #OOTD pic for the gram at this aesthetically pleasing cafe. 

4. The Bagel Shop

For a taste of NYC in Mumbai, head straight to The Bagel Shop. A tiny cafe in Bandra, it serves authentic New York-style bagels and Jewish classics like matzo ball soup, potato latkes, and rugelach. Cream cheese bagels with a smoked salmon schmear are a customer favorite. Lox bagels and pastrami on rye provide delicious kosher deli fare.

The cozy retro interiors have a neighborhood vibe where regulars play Scrabble over coffee. With friendly service and East Coast prices, The Bagel Shop teleports you to a Brooklyn deli. Bike over if you're craving a taste of home while traveling abroad.

5. The Boston Butt

Meat lovers rejoice. This Mahalaxmi hotspot smokes up finger-licking Memphis barbecue in India's first French JAE smoker grill. Their succulent pulled pork and beef brisket melts in your mouth after 15 hours of slow smoking with applewood. From smoked chicken wings and lamb ribs to roasted beets, everything has that charcoal-kissed flavor.

Cold brew coffee, beers, and cocktails provide the ideal accompaniment to these smoky plates. With bluesy tunes playing in the background, you'll feel transported from Maximum City to Southern America. Yeah, it’s really that great. Just make sure to come hungry because the portions are Texas-sized. Don't worry, you can always walk off that BBQ coma on the Mahalaxmi promenade nearby.

Conclusion 

If your Mumbai itinerary has room for a cafe crawl, start sipping and sampling your way through this list. From the classic charm of Leopold to the novelty of The Boston Butt, these top 5 cafes offer memorable tastes and experiences. And of course, you can scoot around to them super easily when you get a bike on rent in Mumbai, even scooties, or even ride-share.

Coffee or chai, bagels or vada pav, Mumbai has a diverse cafe culture that invites exploration. The city scenes you’ll encounter offer endless people-watching and storytelling backdrops for your perfect cup of coffee. So what are you waiting for? Get YOUR caffeine fix at Mumbai’s most popular and hyped-up cafes

[seanhaughton]

Recipe for My Favorite Sloppy Joes Pantry ingredients come to the rescue when you want to fix a quick meal of sloppy joes that the kids will love. Serve the thick, smoky filling on buns.

[dirty30movie]

My Favorite Sloppy Joes Pantry ingredients come to the rescue when you want to fix a quick meal of sloppy joes that the kids will love. Serve the thick, smoky filling on buns. 1 pound lean ground beef, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, salt and ground black pepper to taste, 2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or more to taste, 1 cup ketchup, 1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring, 3 tablespoons brown sugar or to taste, 1 cup beef broth, 1/4 cup dried minced onion

[ellishailey]

Sandwich - My Favorite Sloppy Joes Pantry ingredients come to the rescue when you want to fix a quick meal of sloppy joes that the kids will love. Serve the thick, smoky filling on buns.

[louise-marie-elsa]

My Favorite Sloppy Joes Pantry ingredients come to the rescue when you want to fix a quick meal of sloppy joes that the kids will love. Serve the thick, smoky filling on buns.

[floatedmag-blog]

Smokey Joe & The Kid - Jailhouse Blues ft. Blake Worrell

more genre blending: rap, blues, folk with snappy music video

[dailydoseofweb]

Dear Journal,

It is fascinating what a good cup of tea can accomplish.

The warmth of the cup in my hands, the smell of tea, spices and freshly ground coffee on the air, the honey sweetness of the people here…all of it help to put me at ease. To place my worries on the back burner and simply be.

My Joe would love and hate this place simultaneously. He would say it is all “fake and manufactured nicety” and that “of course the people are going to be sweet. They want good gratuity.” But I have never found fault in that. Besides, it does not feel like that here. It feels genuine.

Why else would Tabitha (“Call me Tabby, kid.”) tell me all about how she came all the way out here from the Smokies to follow her dreams and escape a stubborn “no good bastard of an ex-husband” and enjoy her life? I had not asked any prying questions. No. I had simply wondered in and I have no doubt that I looked every bit as lost as I felt and she had seen that and held out a hand.

I came in a stranger but I know that I will leave as a friend.

[cardest]

New Orleans playlist

Hungry for some po boys? Feeling the Mardi Gras vibes for this weekend? This is the ultimate NOLA playlist, right here. Play the songs here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC182dTlE-Gii6ZOO5ZrN1Z1T

Louisiana and New Orleans, all in the one awesome playlist. If there are songs I left out, let me know and I can add those. Or come meet me at Le Bon Temps Roulé  and we’ll listen to this NOLA playlist together with drinks.

LOUISIANA & NEW ORLEANS

001 Bob James - Take Me To The Mardi Gras 002 Earl King - Ain’t no city like New Orleans 003 John Lee Hooker - goin’ to Louisiana 004 Crowbar -  Wrath Of Time By Judgment 005 True Detective - Theme (The Handsome Family - Far From Any Road) 006 EyeHateGod - New Orleans Is The New Vietnam 007 The The Meters -  Chicken Strut 008 Paul McCartney - Live And Let Die (from Live And Let Die) 009 The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar 010 Lucinda Williams - Crescent City 011 King Hobo -  New Or-Sa-Leans 012 Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting 013 Down - Underneath Everything 014 True Blood Theme Song (Jace Everett - Bad Things) 015 Corrosion of Conformity -  Broken Man 016 The New Orleans Jazz Vipers - I Hope Your Comin' Back To New Orleans 017 Willy DeVille - Jump City 018 Left Side - Gold In New Orleans 017 Necrophagia -  Reborn through Black Mass 018 Johnny Horton -  The Battle Of New Orleans 019 Dr John - Litanie des Saints 020 Foo Fighters - In the Clear 021 Redbone - The Witch Queen Of New Orleans 022 Jucifer - Lautrichienne 023 Danzig - It's a long way back from hell 024 Harry Connick, Jr. -  Oh, My Nola 025 The Gaturs - Gator Bait 026 Jon Bon Jovi - Queen Of New Orleans 027 Cyril Neville -  Gossip 028 Carlos Santana - Black Magic Woman 029 Gentleman June Gardner - It's Gonna Rain 030 Eddy G. Giles - Soul Feeling (Part 1) 031 Tool - Swamp Song 032 Beasts of Bourbon -  Psycho 033 Seratones - Gotta Get To Know Ya 034 Chuck Berry -  You Never Can Tell 035 Grateful Dead - Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodleoo 036 Pale Misery - Hope is a Mistake 037 Exhorder - Homicide 038 King James & the Special Men - Special Man Boogie 039 Chuck Carbo -  Can I Be Your Squeeze 040 Amebix - Axeman 041 Tomahawk - Captain Midnight 042 Waylon Jennings - Jambalaya 043 Heavy Lids - Deviate 044 Red Hot Chili Peppers -  Apache Rose Peacock 045 Necrophagia -  Rue Morgue Disciple 046 Johnny Cash -  Big River 047 Albert King -  Laundromat Blues 048 Meklit Feat Preservation Hall Horns - You Are My Luck 049 Le Winston Band  - En haut de la montagne 050 Dr. john - I Thought I Heard New Orleans Say 051 Down -  New Orleans is a dying whore 052 Samhain -  To Walk The Night 053 Creedence Clearwater Revival -  Green River 054 Southern Culture on the Skids -  Voodoo Cadillac 055 Bonnie, Sheila -  You Keep Me Hanging On 056 Warren Lee -  Funky Bell 057 Elf - Annie New Orleans 058 Cannonball Adderley - New Orleans Strut 059 Doug Kershaw - Louisiana Man - New Orleans Version 060 Willy deVille  - Voodoo Charm 061 The Animals -  The House of the Rising Sun 062 Porgy Jones -  The Dapp 063 Lost Bayou Ramblers - Sabine Turnaround 064 IDRIS MUHAMMAD - New Orleans 065 John Lee Hooker - Boogie Chillen No. 2 066 Hank 3 - Hillbilly Joker 067 Nine Inch Nails -  Heresy 068 Talking Heads - Swamp 069 Irma Thomas - I'd Rather Go Blind 070 Mississippi Fred McDowell -  I'm Going Down the River 071 Dee Dee Bridgewater   - Big Chief 072 Dr. John  - Creole Moon 073 Agents of Oblivion -  Slave Riot 074 Steve Vai - Voodoo Acid 075 Saviours -  Slave To The Hex 076 Kris  Kristofferson -  Casey's Last Ride 077 JJ Cale - Louisiana Women 078 Cher - Dark Lady of New Orleans 079 LE ROUX - Take A Ride On A Riverboat 080 The Melvins -  A History Of Bad Men 081 Floodgate - Through My Days Into My Nights 082 Opprobium - voices from the grave 083 Quintron & Miss Pussycat - Swamp Buggy Badass 084 Child Bite - ancestral ooze 085 Sammi Smith - The City Of New Orleans 086 The Explosions - Garden Of Four Trees 087 Bobby Boyd - straight ahead 088 Bobby Charles - Street People 089 Wall of Voodoo -  Far Side of Crazy 090 Rhiannon Giddens - Freedom Highway (feat. Bhi Bhiman) 091 Elton John - Honky Cat 092 Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde 093 Fats Domino - I'm Walking To New Orleans 094 Cruel Sea - Orleans Stomp 095 Down -  On March The Saints 096 Danzig -  Ju Ju Bone 097 The Neville Brothers ~ Voodoo 098 Megadeth -  The Conjuring 099 Miles Davis - Miles runs the voodoo down 100 Elvis Presley - King Creole 101 Led Zeppelin - Royal Orleans 102 The Lime Spiders -  Slave Girl 103 BIG BILL BROONZY  -'Mississippi River Blues'   104 Kreeps - Bad Voodoo 105 Dirty Dozen Brass Band -  Caravan 106 Kirk Windstein -  Dream In Motion 107 Eletric Prunes - Kyrie Eleison - Mardi Gras 108 Merle Haggard - The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde 109 Corrosion of Conformity -  River of Stone 110 THE ADVENTURES OF HUCK FINN (MAIN TITLE) 111 Zigaboo Modeliste - Guns 112 ReBirth Brass Band - Let's Go Get 'Em 113 Inell Young -  What Do You See In Her? 114 Jimi Hendrix - If 6 as 9 (Studio Version) Easy Rider Soundtrack 115 Deep Purple -  Speed King 116 Exhorder - The Law 117 Crowbar -  The Cemetery Angels 118 A Streetcar Named Desire OST - Main Title 119 WOORMS - Take His Fucking Leg 120 steely dan - pearl of the quarter 121 Tabby Thomas - Hoodoo Party 122 Black Label Society -  Parade of the Dead 123 Dwight James & The Royals - Need Your Loving 124 Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (2012) The Rampant Hunter (Soundtrack OST) 125 PanterA - The Great Southern Trendkill 126 Ween - WHO DAT? 127 Earl King - Street Parade 128 Ernie K-Doe - Here Come The Girls 129 Dejan's Olympia Brass Band ~ Mardi Gras In New Orleans 130 Body Count -  KKK Bitch 131 Goatwhore - Apocalyptic Havoc 132 C.C. Adcock - Y'all d Think She Be Good To Me (from True Blood S01E01) 133 The Meters - Fire On The Bayou 134 Dr. John - I Walk On Guilded Splinters 135 Balfa Brothers - J'ai Passe Devant ta Porte 136 Ween - Voodoo Lady 137 King Diamond -  'LOA' House 138 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Born On The Bayou 139 Dax Riggs -  See You All In Hell Or New Orleans 140 Professor Longhair - Go to the Mardi Gras 141 Dixie Witch -  Shoot The Moon 142 Ramones - The KKK Took My Baby Away 143 Fats Waller -  There's Going To Be The Devil To Pay 144 Mississippi Fred McDowell -  When the Train Comes Along with Sidney Carter & Rose Hemphill 145 Treme Song (Main Title Version) 146 Tony Joe White - Even Trolls Love Rock and Roll 147 Nine Inch Nails -  Sin 148 Exodus -  Cajun Hell 149 NEIL DIAMOND - New Orleans 150 James Brown - Call Me Super Bad 151 Jimi Hendrix -  Voodoo Child ( Slight Return ) 152 Allen Toussaint - Chokin Kind 153 Dash Rip Rock  - Meet Me at the River 154 Hawg Jaw- 4 Lo 155 Hot 8 Brass Band - Keepin It Funky 156 Hank Williams III - Rebel Within 157 Dejan's Original Olympia Brass Band - Shake It And Break It 158 Jelly Roll Morton -  Finger Buster 159 The Royal Pendletons - (Im a) Sore Loser 160 Little Bob & The Lollipops - Nobody But You 161 Gregg Allman - Floating Bridge (True Detective Soundtrack) 162 Michael Doucel with Beausoleil - Valse de Grand Meche 163 Dolly Parton - My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy 164 Othar Turner & the Afrossippi Allstars – Shimmy She Wobble 165 Jucifer - Fleur De Lis 166 Soilent Green -  Leaves Of Three 167 Ides Of Gemini -  Queen of New Orleans 168 Betty Harris -  Trouble with My Lover 169 Lead Belly - Pick A Bale Of Cotton 170 Candyman Opening Theme 171 Goatwhore - When Steel and Bone Meet 172 Acid Bath - Bleed Me An Ocean 173 Pere Ubu - Louisiana Train Wreck 174 Walter -Wolfman- Washington - You Can Stay But the Noise Must Go 175 Alice in Chains -  Hate To Feel 176 Body Count -  Voodoo 177 Live and Let Die - Jazz Funeral 178 Smoky Babe -  Cotton Field Blues 179 Professor Longhair - Big Chief Part 2 180 Lewis Boogie - Walk the Line 181 James Black - Theres a Storm in the Gulf 182 The Balfa Brothers - Parlez Nous A Boire 183 The Jambalaya Cajun Band - Bayou Teche Two Step 184 The Deacons -  Fagged Out 185 Thou - The Changeling Prince 186 Black Sabbath -  Voodoo 187 King Diamond -  Louisiana Darkness 188 Doyle -  Cemeterysexxx 189 KINGDOM OF SORROW - Grieve a Lifetime 190 Hank Williams III - Louisiana Stripes 191 FORMING THE VOID - On We Sail 192 BUCK BILOXI AND THE FUCKS - fuck you 193 Down in New Orleans - The Princess and the Frog Soundtrack 194 Trombone Shorty & James Andrews  - oh Poo Pah Doo 195 Whitesnake -  Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City 196 The Dirty Dozen Brass band - Voodoo 197 Joe Simon - The Chokin' Kind 198 Down -  Ghosts along the Mississippi 199 AEROSMITH  - Voodoo Medicine Man 200 Nine Inch Nails -  The Perfect Drug 201 The Byrds - [Sanctuary III] Ballad Of Easy Rider 202 The Iguauas - Boom Boom Boom 203 PJ Harvey - Down By The Water 204 Louis Armstrong - Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans 205 Dr John - Right Place Wrong Time 206 ESTHER ROSE - handyman 207 Lightnin Slim - It's Mighty Crazy 208 Slim Harpo - Blues Hangover 209 Irma Thomas - Ruler Of My Heart 210 WEATHER WARLOCK - Fukk the Plan-0 211 Superjoint Ritual - The Alcoholik (Use Once And Destroy) 212 Stressball - dust 213 Trampoline Team - Kill You On The Streetcar 214 Xander Harris - Where’s your Villain? 215 Dukes of Dixieland - When The Saints Go Marching In 216 Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds - Su Su 217 Danzig - I'm the one 218 EyeHatteGod - Pigs 219 Hank Williams Jr - Amos Moses 220 The Cramps - Alligator Stomp 221 Crowbar - The Serpent Only Lies 222 Shrüm - drip 223 Thou  - The Only Law 224 DR. JOHN - Babylon   225 Garth Brooks - Callin' Baton Rouge 226 Wild Magnolias - All On A Mardi Gras Day 227 NCIS New Orleans TV Show theme 228 Skull Duggery - Big Easy 229 Harry Connick Jr. - City beaneath the sea 230 Elvis Presley - Dixieland Rock 231 Tom Waits - I Wish I Was In New Orleans (In The Ninth Ward) 232 Neil Young - Everybody's Rockin 233 Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals - Delinquent 234 CORROSION OF CONFORMITY - Wolf Named Crow 235 Widespread Panic - Fishwater 236 Lillian Boutté - Why Don't You Go Down to New Orleans 237 Bryan Ferry - Limbo 238 Scream - Mardi Gras 239 EyeHateGod - Shoplift 240 Better Than Ezra - good 241 Duke Ellington - Perdido (1960 Version) 242 Bob Dylan - Rambling, Gambling Willie 243 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - sAve my soul 244 Le Roux - So Fired Up 245 Concrete Blonde - The Vampire song 246 Boozoo Chavis - Zydeco Mardi Gras 247 Idris Muhammad  - Piece of mind 248 Les Hooper - Back in Blue Orleans 249 Doug Kershaw - Cajun stripper 250 DOWN  - Witchtripper 251 Soilent Green - So hatred 252 Professional Longhair - Big chief 253 Willie Nelson - City Of New Orleans 254 Tom Waits - Whistlin' Past The Graveyard 255 Brian Fallon - sleepwalkers 256 Patsy - Count It On Down 257 Into the Moat - The Siege Of Orleans 258 Bruce Cockburn - Down To The Delta 259 Jello Biafra · the Raunch and Soul All-Stars - Fannie Mae 260 Exhorder - Asunder 261 Cane Hill - Too Far Gone 262 The Slackers - peculiar 263 Crowbar  - A Breed Apart   264 COC - Wiseblood 265 Necrophagia - Embalmed Yet I Breathe 266 EYEHATEGOD - Fake What's Yours 333 Alan Vega - Bye Bye Bayou 666 DOWN  - Stone the crow

I don’t beads by the way! Hit play here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-iHPcxymC182dTlE-Gii6ZOO5ZrN1Z1T

[lattewithatwistoflemon]

I recently discovered the magic that is Adagio teas! I love the idea of creating teas that are themed after characters! I’m thinking of making one for Joe from Megalobox. I had the idea to do hot cinnamon spice, because it packs a punch, and some caramel for his sweetness (like how he rescues kids, because that part warmed my heart). He has this warmth about him, and I thought it would be nice for the tea to reflect that as well as having flavors reminiscent of Mexico. They didn’t have a dulce de leche option, so I figured caramel is pretty close. As for the actual tea leaves, I’m going with black tea simply because that is my favorite. I wasn’t sure what kind off the top of my head, but the site has laspang souchong as an option, which I remember having a smoky flavor reminiscent of sitting around a fire, which reminds me of scenes where Joe sat by the fire with Chief. Now, the only question is what percentage do I want of each tea? Do I want mostly cinnamon and smoke with a dash of caramel, since his strong with a subtle sweetness? Or do I not want the smoke to be too overpowering and maybe balance it out by doing even amounts of all of them? Actually, overpowering doesn’t sound so bad in theory. I want the tea to really emphasize his toughness! Hopefully the fiery cinnamon and smokiness go well together. I’m taking a chance here. :) And what do I call it? It looks like some people give their teas actual names of the characters. So which of Joe’s names or titles do I want to go with?

[corie-the-writer]

Won’t Let Go - Prologue

Summary: Sophia Herrmann arrives back to Chicago after a long four years away. Wanting to keep her past a secret and struggling to find her passion, what happens when her past decides to pay her a visit refusing to let things die? Will the charming Detective Jay Halstead help keep the demons at bay, or will the skeletons from the past be too much to handle?

Prologue: 

Sophia Herrmann had a great childhood growing up, raised by great parents, with three younger brothers and one younger sister. Even though Sophia was almost thirty years old, her parents Cindy and Christopher had her when they were extremely young. Growing up around the firehouse, going to church on Sundays, Sophia wanted to explore life once she had graduated college. She wanted to see what the world had to offer her outside of Chicago. 

The deal was that Sophia would graduate college, then take a year off to explore what ever avenue she had wanted. Sophia agreed, got a bachelor's degree in education with a major in art. Instead of going to college in Chicago, Sophia had gotten a scholarship to Purdue University in Indiana.

Once she had graduated, Sophia had went to Chicago for two weeks to spend time with her family, and then set off to Europe for a week vacation, that gave her a chance to backpack through the unfamiliar cities, and once she had gotten back to the states, she had explored different parts of the United States. 

Sophia had met so many people through her time exploring. She had met some of the greatest people she had ever come across, and also had met some people she would have never liked to cross paths with, but she marked each experience as a learning lesson. 

Now being back in Chicago, as much as Sophia had wanted to stay with her parents, there was just not enough room with four younger siblings. With not having enough time to find a place of her own, Christopher and Cindy was allowing her to stay in the apartment above the bar Molly's, that her father had owned. 

The small apartment was filled with different canvases of paintings she had created since being back in her hometown for two weeks. Most of the portraits were of scenes she had seen in her time of traveling. Some vibrant, some dark, each fitting to the different people and experiences she had came across. For the long haired woman, painting and drawing was an outlet. Not ever fully able to express what her heart felt, it came out perfectly through brush and pencil. All Sophia needed was to get the emotions out some how and art was how she did that. 

Since she had been back for almost two weeks without a job, even though she had money saved from different forms of work, mostly through paintings she had sold, she felt like she was useless. She had convinced her father to hire her as a bartender at Molly's. 

Glancing to the clock, seeing that it was going on eight in the evening, Sophia put her paint brush down, needing to get ready for her shift downstairs. 

Taking a quick shower to get the paint off of her, Sophia had washed her hair and body quickly. Once she was done, she wrapped a towel around her body, and then her hair. Using her hand to wipe the fog off the mirror, Sophia began to brush her teeth. Once she had spit the toothpaste out, she had started to apply her make-up for the evening. Applying simple foundation, concealer and contour, Sophia had went with a subtle smoky eye to make her dark blue eyes stand out more. Once she was satisfied with her make-up, she had began to towel dry her dark brown hair, brushed out the tangles, and then grabbed her hair dryer. When it had became dry enough, Sophia tilted her head to pile the hair and secured it into a messy bun at the top of her head. 

Walking out of the small bathroom and to her dresser, Sophia picked a pair of panties and a bra and let the towel drop to put the fabric on. Moving to her closet, Sophia grabbed a pair of distressed black skinny jeans, wiggled them on and then moved to grab a white V-neck shirt, then grabbed a her favorite red flannel to slip on, making sure to roll up the sleeves some. Once she had gotten comfortable in the clothes she had picked, she moved to put on a pair of socks, followed by her black low rise boots. 

Once she had adjusted her clothing, she had sprayed some perfume on, she grabbed her cell phone from her bed and stuffed it into the back pocket of her jeans and headed out the door. 

When she had gotten down to the bar she was surprised to see most of Firehouse 51 already posted up in seats around the bar, and some of Chicago PD filing in through the door. 

"Hey..." Sophia smiled to her father who was behind the bar with Stella Kidd. 

"Hey kid." Christopher smiled back as he was cleaning a few glasses, "Can you work the floor tonight?" Christopher questioned and Sophia gave him a nod. 

Sophia looked around the bar to notice that a lot of people had yet to have drinks on the table, so she had came up with the game plan of starting from the furthest wall and work her way towards the front door. Grabbing her notepad from behind the bar, Sophia had walked back around to hit up the first table. 

"Hey guys..." Sophia smiled to the unfamiliar faces, "What can I get for you?" Sophia questioned. 

"Can we get a round of tequila shots and four house beers?" A red headed man stated. Sophia quickly jotted it down and gave them a nod, "Oh and how about some of them pretzels." He added. 

"Coming up." Sophia smiled as she turned to walk away to fill the tables order. Sophia had quickly worked through the first five tables, making sure that their drinks were filled and then finally landed on the table that held Chief Boden, Kelly Severide, Matt Casey, Sylvie Brett, Kim Burgess and Adam Ruzek. 

"Hey Soph!" Sylvie and Kim greeted her with bright smiles which she automatically returned. 

"Hey guys, what can I get for you?" Sophia questioned to the table as three other men approached, her immediately noticing Kevin Atwater and Hank Voight. 

"Herrmann already got us." Chief Boden smiled kindly, "How are you liking being back in Chicago?" Boden questioned as Sophia noticed a tall light haired man with freckles looking at her as he adjusted in the seat he had pulled up, then turning her attention back to the Chief. 

"It's been great so far, can't really complain." Sophia smiled brightly then turned to the three men who arrived to the table late, "What can I get for you guys?" Sophia questioned.

"Can we just get another round for them too?" Chief Boden questioned causing Sophia to turn her attention to the older man and gave him a nod. 

Sophia had left the table after stealing a glimpse of the light haired man, noticing the badge and gun near his jeans, how the black t-shirt hugged his chest and biceps, and quickly went behind the bar to get the tables drinks. As she was putting the bottles on the tray, Sophia found herself looking up feeling a set of eyes on her and noticed the man's bright blue eyes staring back at her for a moment before Kim Burgess said something to him, causing him to look away. 

"Girl..." Stella Kidd chuckled causing Sophia to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing, "That's Jay Halstead." Stella commented, "He's a hottie." The dark haired woman playfully elbowed Sophia's side. 

"I don't know what you're even talking about." Sophia joked cluelessly, causing Stella to playfully glare at her as she carried the tray of drinks out from the bar and took it to the table. 

Once Sophia had delivered the drinks to all of the tables, she was now behind the bar helping Stella stock the bars drinks, cleaning the glasses and restocking. Sophia had noticed that Jay Halstead would occasionally steal glances in her direction, softly smiling behind the beer bottle he held. 

As the bar settled, Sophia was leaning against the counter listening to Joe Cruz and Otis talking about different food dishes. Otis was trying to explain to Joe what his favorite Russian dishes were, and Sophia couldn't help but to giggle. 

"You've been to Pizza Hut and gotten a calzone before, right?" Sophia commented after taking a drink of her beer and watched Joe nod his head, "That is basically what a Priozhki is, just so much better!" Sophia explained causing Otis to slam his hand on the counter happily. 

"Finally, someone who gets it!" Otis smiled brightly causing Sophia to laugh, "You went to Russia didn't you?" Otis questioned. 

"For about two days." Sophia commented, "Long enough to eat delicious food, site see and pick up a couple of phrases." 

Otis and Cruz looked in amusement, "Oh boy, here we go..." Cruz mumbled behind his beer bottle, and watched as Otis started speaking in Russian to Sophia. 

Sophia watched in amusement as Otis began to speak fluently in Russian, only being able to pick up a couple of words because of how quickly he spoke. 

"I only got, how are you, did you enjoy Russia and something about night." Sophia commented, noticing that the red headed man was waving for her across the room causing her to roll her eyes a little towards Joe and Otis, since the man had started getting a little rowdy with his friends, "I'll be back..." Sophia smiled, and headed out from behind the bar. 

Jay Halstead had been watching the young woman all night. He had been out on an undercover case for the past month, and now that the case was closed, he had wanted to catch up with his co-workers. He had decided to join them at Molly's for a few beers. 

When he had arrived he didn't expect to see a new face, one that was absolutely beautiful on top of that. Jay had been quite embarrassed when he stumbled over his words when she spoke to him, but quickly recovered. Ruzek and Atwater had gave him a questioning look, and he quickly dismissed it to being tired. Jay had spoke to his friends, and when Sylvie and Kim began talking about the mystery woman Sophia, he had questioned who exactly she was. 

He had quickly found out that Sophia was the oldest daughter of Christopher and Cindy Herrmann, and just recently moved back to Chicago after being gone for almost four years. 

With the way Jay was facing, he was able to watch as Sophia approached a table with unfamiliar faces. Jay finished off his beer as he watched the red-headed man grabbed ahold of Sophia's elbow when she had tried to walk away from the table and slapped her butt. 

Before Jay could stop himself from seeing how Sophia would handle it, he had shot up from his chair and closed the distance quickly, noticing that Ruzek, Atwater, Severide and Casey were all behind him. 

"Hey, get your hands off of her." Jay quickly moved to the man's wrist, pushing his body between Sophia's and the mans, "I think it's time for you and your friends to leave." 

The red-headed man let out a laugh, moving to stand up and come to nose to nose with Jay, "And who are you to tell me what to do, my father?" The man laughed in the detective's face. Jay turned to look over his shoulder, looking to Kevin and then to Sophia who was standing directly behind him, and watched as Kevin gently grabbed her arm and pulled her back behind him, knowing what was about to happen. 

"You have two choices, either leave on your own or we'll escort you out." Jay stated simply. 

"Guys..." Jay was aware of Sophia trying to speak up, but Jay did not like another man touching her in the way he did, so he had chose to ignore her soft voice, "This is not necessary..." Sophia added. 

"Listen to your little bitch." The red-headed man taunted. 

Jay let out a low chuckle and ran a hand over his face before drawing back and socking the man right in the jaw. The man stumbled, his friends tried to jump in to help them, but the men from Firehouse 51 and Intelligence quickly stepped in. The man wiped his mouth, recovering from the punch for a split second before trying to throw a punch towards Jay's face, which he had saw coming, dodging the fist, and then used his left hand to hit the man in the ribs. 

"ENOUGH!" Christopher Herrmann raised his voice, pushing through the men to reach Halstead and the unknown man. He quickly pushed them apart. A look of fury was sketched on his face, "If you two want to fight, you take this outside." Christopher stated, "If I so much as see your face in this bar again, I will not stop anyone from kicking your ass if you ever lay a hand on my daughter again." Christopher sneered, "Take him out back." Christopher added to Jay. 

Sophia was surrounded by Otis and Joe, making sure that she was out of harms way as the familiar faces dragged the red-headed man and his friends out of the bar. 

"Welcome back Soph..." Joe chuckled behind his beer bottle.

[ayeun]

the only person I respect in Bling Empire is Anna (spoiler alert up to ep 5)

Anna - a queen. stays in her own lane but people keep going into hers and testing her. she’s confident, genuine and nice, expects nothing in return and actually has manners. gives sound advice and wisdom and living her best life.

Kane - on thin ice. i love his unfiltered commentary and social intelligence/awareness but hate the fact he’s a shit stirrer and enables/supports bad decisions knowing the consequences. ofc, the show wouldn’t be what it is without him planting those seeds. he’s v smart on who not to cross. honestly he reminds me of some people in high school i’d never want to befriend LOL..

Kevin - big dumb hetero energies. honestly i don’t think he’s as “hot” as people make him out to be. there’s this look on his face that makes me think “oh this guy isn’t smart”, and he truly isn’t. his face KINDA reminds me of an Asian Joe Rogan lmao. i think the thing that makes him the least attractive for me is him being a horndog and making inappropriate remarks in front of Kelly AND Andrew(no sympathy for Andrew, but who tf says they’re gonna fuck someone’s gf in front of them???) the whole salsa thing was hard to watch because of how fucking CRINGEY it is of how he attempted to dip and kiss Kelly like 3+ times. get a fucking clue, dude, and give her some space?? also hate Kevin’s FAKE vibes w trying to get on everyone’s good side to keep these rich people friends in his circle. Kevin’s supposed to be relatable to the “poor audience” but Kevin has a net worth of over $10M, which is double Kelly’s. yet this mfker pretends to be poor. also him defending Anna and then quickly making it up w Kim even though she still hasn’t apologized for  the shit she did. it kind of feels like Kevin’s shooting his shot at all the “rich and hot” girls just so he has something to go off of and start a relationship w them after this all ends.

Kim - hate her. not only did she invade the space and privacy of someone who graciously INVITED HER OVER AS A GUEST, but she won’t own up to what she did wrong even when politely given the chance to. that shit’s on camera what you did, just own up to it?? also her doing shit bc “haha it’s for the camera” and chucking Anna’s shit out the window. why not just remove yourself from there, bitch? also i can’t stop looking at the bad/unnecessary contouring job on her nose and her face looking like she got an ig filter on it. girl just do ur smoky eye and call it a day. you actually look worse with contouring!!!!!! she’s also got those fake vibes and pretending everything’s cool with everyone when it’s actually not.

Kelly - sure whatever feel bad for her for being in the toxic relationship, but also this bitch leading Kevin on KNOWING that he likes her by accepting going to salsa with him and entertaining his fantasies by responding back. Just say no?? tell him to fuck off??? you’re rich you can distract yourself with thousands of other things and with other people. the feeling i get of WHY she wants to keep dating Andrew is to have that connection to a “well-known actor”, that she’s dating a celebrity, and  that he’s white “to boot”

Christine - hate her fake ass “philanthropist” shit. the reason she’s throwing these events is just to boost her social status/standing amongst the rest of the rich people and showing off her “generosity”. the whole seating drama, inviting Anna over convo was cringe all over. the name dropping and then the trivia? typical holier-than-thou attitude lmao. people who try to flex their knowledge and then not know wtf they’re talking about themselves is just EMBARRASSING. i felt bad for her one point on the getting pregnant thing but then i thought to myself. wow, fuckin bitch. hope she really does have to take care of 5 children in the future but that should be okay for her so that she can brag about having 25th generation Song Dynasty princes and princesses. also her comment towards Cherie was so awkward. “woww you guys are not married and u got kids??? id get shamed for that w my family!” ALSO Baby G’s celebration..there was a fucking ballpit that SHE PUT in there and she gets ANNOYED bc Anna, whom she invited, jumps in and has fun?? LMAO lord...

everyone else i didn’t write about i don’t really care about enough to / they didn’t have enough screen time for me to truly judge

[skiplo-wave]

I need WandaVision! T_T I can't wait for them to get into the 80s and 90s. I remember a little bit of the 80s. Roller skating - though I was to little to actually skate yet but I loved watching, big hair and the bathrooms always smoky with hairspray. Nasty jello salad. It is true that the type of shenanigans kids got into was burning down people's garages with bottle rockets, my brothers got into a lot of trouble doing that. I remember watching G.I. Joe and Jem and the Holograms cartoons too.

Lol vision trying roller skate and be bad at it and he’s holding onto wanda 🥰