#still thinking about how his favourite Zep song is ‘All My Love’
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modernmanblues · 2 years ago
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date night with Eric where we wear our matching Zeppelin tshirts to a Zep concert 🥰
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lostinfic · 6 years ago
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Dissonance and Harmony | 6
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Pairing: Roderick Peterson (Nativity 2) x Alison Crosby (The Canterbury Tales).
*You don’t need to have seen either film.*
Summary: Alison wants to boost her pop music career whereas Roderick needs to restore his reputation in the world of classical music. Neither of them is above using “irregular” means to get what they want, so when she joins his choir, they are in a unique position to help each other… if only they could get along.
Rating: M  |  Word count: 4k
A/N: I'm far from a music expert, researching songs for a mash-up was holding me back from writing so I had to make up one of the songs.
Ao3
♪ ♪ ♪
Alison still can’t believe Roderick not only agreed to add mashed-up songs to their repertoire— on a trial basis only— but has also invited her to his home.
She stands on the sidewalk, staring at his beautiful Georgian building in Kensington and its liveried doorman. Her phone pings with text messages from Marcus, Janet and Abel.
“How’s it going?”
“What’s his place like?”
“I bet he has one of those hairless cats”
“He’s not a Bond villain!” Alison replies.
“He looks like one”
“Ali watch out for shark tanks lol”
She mutes her phone and heads in.
Roderick greets her with a smile she can only describe as uncertain. Perhaps he’s as surprised as her by her presence in his apartment.
Inside his own home, she expected him to wear a different outfit, more casual than his typical turtleneck and jacket, but he’s not. And he still calls her “Miss Crosby”. Everything to indicate this is no different than their regular choir meetings.
Alison hangs her jacket by the door, regretting her leopard print crop top and pink dungarees.
“Where’s your music?” he asks. She holds up a USB thumb drive. “Convenient but poor quality. Would you care for a drink?”
“Sure, whatever you’re having. What’s your poison?”
“Mint tea.”
“Oh. Spiked with rum?”
She follows him into the open-plan kitchen on the left. It has the same sleek minimalism as the theater, white cupboards without knobs, bare countertops. Where’s all your stuff, she wants to ask.
Beyond the black marble island, the living room stretches to high bay windows, a baby grand piano stands in front of them. The sun is setting over Holland Park, and orange rays play across the glossy black lid of the Steinway.
It’s beautiful but empty, something out of a magazine, the bones of a home she wants to flesh out with silly cookie jars and fuzzy blankets.
Roderick prepares two cups of tea.
“Don’t you have a butler or something to do that for you?” she jokes.
“I gave him the night off.”
“Wha’, really?”
“No.”
He hands her a steaming mug. She detects a hint of alcohol in it.
In the living room, opposite the leather couch, where a TV usually stands, shelves line the wall, stacked to the ceiling with vinyls, CDs as well as pictures and awards. Everything symmetrically arranged.
Alison whistles and takes a closer look.
“You must think it’s vain,” Roderick says.
“Nah, I have a wall of my achievements too, mind you it’s not as impressive.”
The first photo to catch her eye is one of Roderick holding two babies. His twin brother’s sons, he explains with warmth in his voice, he has already started introducing them to classical music.
“Very cute,” Alison says.
“Yes, they are.”
“I was talking about you.” She winks to indicate it’s another one of her flirting jokes.
Roderick rolls his eyes. “Shall we begin our research?”
But Alison is more interested in looking at the other pictures. Many of them are of his former choirs. She picks one up: Roderick fifteen years younger, a jacket too large for his slim body, wire-framed glasses, smiling with pride.
“Do you prefer conducting children or adults?”
“It’s different. I like both… But shaping young minds, giving them the gift of music and self-discipline, it’s very rewarding.”
He wipes specks of dust off several frames, lost in souvenirs, smiling to himself. They’re obviously important to him.
Maybe one day we’ll be on that shelf too.
“You know, for what it’s worth,” she says, “you gave me that gift too. The self-discipline. And I appreciate choral music a lot more.”
“As you should. I’ll fetch my laptop for your music.”
So much for trying to make him feel better.
Roderick sets his Macbook Air down on the coffee table. Meanwhile, she pulls a list of songs from her front pocket, suggestions sent by her friends, and reviews it.
As he browses her music collection, she peruses the albums on his shelves.
Alison loves every genre, from K-pop to opera, traditional Celtic ballads to hip hop, and Bollywood movie soundtracks, of course. As far as she’s concerned, there’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure. Roderick’s collection, on the other hand, consists exclusively of classical music, some contemporary composers and a little jazz.
“No Led Zep or Beatles? That’s your generation, innit?”
“My generation?” He scoffs. “I’ve been listening to Mozart since I was in the womb.”
She picks a few CDs at random and scans the songs listed on the back. As it happens, one is an album of Mozart’s piano sonatas. On the cover, there’s a painting of the composer as a child.
“How old was Mozart when he wrote his first piece?”
“His first simple one, that was around 5 years old.”
“Wow. And you?”
“Seven.”
Alison’s jaw drops, and she takes her eyes off the CDs to stare at him.
“You’re a proper prodigy. Still, you must’ve had like a teenage rebellious phase where you listened to The Clash or something.”
She tries to picture him as a teenager with acne and spiked hair, but she can’t.
“My father forbade other genres of music,” he explains. “My brother Donald did have a phase like that, and that’s why he’s a primary school teacher and I have an O.B.E.”
“As long as he loves his job, that’s what matters.”
“I’m happy with my work,” he retorts. “For your information, I do listen to other music. Sometimes. It’s necessary in my work. I’m not a neophyte.”
“Like what? Name one popular artist you genuinely love.”
He ponders her question for some time while Alison taps her fingernails on the shelf.
“Queen,” he finally answers.
Alison agrees wholeheartedly with him. However, when she suggests they use one of Queen’s songs for a mash-up, he rejects the idea right away, calling it “sacrilegious”.
“Who is your favourite composer?” Roderick asks in return.
Is it a test? What if she picks the wrong composer? She bites her thumb nail, as she frantically searches her memory for a name. “Vivaldi?”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m sure I’ve some Vivaldi on that USB drive. Look, I don’t know, okay? I really do love classical music, and I’m trying to learn more about it, but the titles are all the same: symphony No.8, No.3, No. 4., Opus 8. And all the Russian names and Italian ones sound the same.”
She expects a sneer or a lesson, but he says, “I envy you in a way. You have such wonderful music yet to discover. I wish I could listen to my favourite composers for the first time again. Erase my memory and relive that instinctive reaction to the melody.”
“So, who’s your fave?”
The look on his face isn’t unlike a kid’s who would have to choose between a kitten and a puppy. He scans the shelves and picks a record. The sleeve is worn out, the corners peeled to the brown cardboard. He lays the disc on the turntable and delicately places the needle over it. “Close your eyes.”
Alison sits down next to him, legs crossed, and closes her eyes.
The piece starts slowly with light, ethereal flutes. As more instruments join in, the tempo increases. Bouncy woodwinds, then a staccato of strings, counterbalanced by somber brass. Percussion thunders in. The melody surges into a crescendo that makes her heart beat faster, and ebbs to a wistful air, like a stream in a forgotten forest. A lump rises in her throat. When the song ends, she keeps her eyes close for a few seconds, savouring the chill the finale gave her.
“That was gorgeous.”
“Has a pop song ever done that to you?” he asks insolently.
“Many times, as a matter of fact.”
She scrolls through her music library to the letter L.
“Leonard Cohen, that’s cheating,” Roderick declares.
“Fair enough. So, do you think using his ‘Hallelujah’ would be sacrilegious too?” He hesitates, but Alison insists. “If you don’t want us to use commercial songs from pop stars because you don’t think they’re good enough, and none from artists you respect, I don’t know how we’re going to do this.” She crosses her arms on her chest. “Was that your plan all along? Agree, but then make it impossible?”
“No… but that song is in quadruple meter, it’s uncommon. Then again I suppose there are plenty of Hallelujah songs in choral music, maybe we can find one that will fit.”
“That’d be brilliant!”
He writes the title down on a notepad, and they start searching for other songs.
In order to create mash-ups, the songs must have the same meter and chords so the musical elements can be seamlessly laid on top of one another. But the songs must also carry similar emotions and themes.
They set to work, queuing songs on the computer and pulling albums off his shelves.
With each piece, Roderick shares some trivia about the composers. “Did you know Schoenberg had a phobia of the number 13? And he died on April 13th.” Or “Mozart wrote the overture to Don Giovanni on the morning of the premiere, whilst he had a massive hangover.” “Tchaikovsky, now he was a piece of work, he would hold his chin while conducting because he was afraid his head would fall off.”
Alison cracks up with each fun fact and asks for more. His limitless knowledge amazes her. Although she’s learning, Roderick is not in teacher mode; his eyes sparkle, and his whole demeanour bursts with energy. He discards his jacket and ruffles his hair, and keeps changing track before the previous one is finished because he's too excited to make her hear the next one. “You’ll love Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’.”
Alison shares her music and trivia too: Joan Jet, Elton John, Nirvana, ABBA. “You’re tapping your foot!” Alison points out gleefully.
“I’m not!”
“Yes you are, you love it.”
“It’s repetitive.”
“It’s catchy. Number one hit. Everyone loves it... Even you.”
She bumps him with her shoulder, and he sighs.
“Why won’t you admit it?” she asks.
“I’ve fought all my life against this type of commercial music.”
She rolls her eyes. “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying something catchy. Takes a bit of pressure off our shoulders. It’s a happy song, just go with it. It’s like Schumann said.”
“Quoting Schumann now, are we?”
“I am.” She juts out her chin. “More or less. I don’t remember the exact words. But he said that artists must send light into people’s hearts. ABBA does that.”
“You want light in your heart? Surely nothing can possibly surpass ‘Ode to Joy’.”
Beethoven’s ninth symphony starts slowly, and Alison pretends to snore just to taunt Roderick. But the music escalates, and when the voices join in with a jubilant “O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!” Alison springs to her feet and pretends to conduct the recorded choir. She waves her hands as she pleases in exuberant movements.
“No more tea for you. You don’t know what you’re doing,” Roderick says, but he’s laughing.
“I do know! I’m making a fool of myself.” She grins.
Roderick steps up behind her and places his hands on her upper arms.
“Let me show you.”
Despite the space he carefully left between them, his breath brushes her ear, and her breath catches in her throat.
He guides her arms to conduct properly, up and down, along the tempo. It’s a dance of sorts. Two bodies moving to the same rhythm.
“Hold it… now drop.”
A beat of silence and the symphony slows to one instrument, and Roderick moves her arms in long, smooth strokes. Slowly, the tempo increases again into a steady pounding of brass and chords. Her hands thrust through the air as the fortissimo builds up, faster and faster, toward the finale. Roderick’s grip tightens. Her breath quickens. Her heart beats louder than the fourth movement. The symphony reaches its climax. Notes and voices erupt in an intense finish.
The symphony ends and Roderick’s hands stay on her arms. She leans back against him. For a moment, everything is still. The vinyl crackles. His chest swells with sharp breath.
Another song begins and startles them.
“I can do your job now,” Alison jokes to dispel the tension. “More tea?”
She scurries to the kitchen with heated cheeks.
What was she thinking? He’s the conductor of her choir. And the only professional contact she has who might actually help her career.
By the time boiling water is poured in the cups, she’s convinced herself nothing happened.
“You would have liked Beethoven, I think,” Roderick says when she hands him the mug.
“The man himself, you mean?”
“Yes. Even when he started losing his hearing, he made a point of going out with his friends every day. He was a bon vivant.”
She wonders what that has to do with her. Is he saying she’s like Beethoven? Is that a compliment? A very roundabout compliment.
“I think that’s the nicest thing you ever said to me.”
“I know I’m not the most… genial person, but I hope you know I do think well of you, Alison.”
“I think well of you too.”
They smile at each other.
The thing is, even if he’s not the most expansive person when it comes to compliments and encouragements, and despite how much she craves validation, at least one always knows where they stand with him. He’s honest. For someone, like Alison, who has been fooled by flattery in the past, there’s some comfort in that.
They get back to work. The list of songs grows, but they have yet to be paired in a satisfactory mash-up. Roderick outright rejects many songs he deems too commercial (”mass-produced music is the very antithesis of art, it has no soul”), but overall he proves more open-minded than she expected.
They make each other listen to various pieces. Each song invites the other to step into their inner world. It’s not just trivia they’re telling now, but meaningful anecdotes associated with Haydn, Cher, Stravinsky and Tupac.
Time flies, but Roderick never forgets their task. It helps that he enjoys the musical gymnastics of fitting the songs together. Alison looks over his shoulder as he scribbles notes on blank music sheets. After one listen of the songs, he can already identify chords that overlap. His fluency is astounding.
“Can you find me Alessandrini?” he asks, still writing with one hand, the other pointing vaguely towards the shelves.
His collection is sorted in alphabetical order, she spots the album on the highest shelf, but she's shorter than him and has to stretch as high as she can to reach it. Unsteady on her tiptoes, she retrieves the album but also knocks a picture frame off the shelf. She catches it just in time: it’s a selfie of Roderick with Angel Matthews, on holiday judging by the palm trees in the background. Angel is his ex-girlfriend, or so the Internet told her, but if he still has a picture of her in his living room…
She's not even that pretty.
Roderick takes the photo out of her hands.
“I thought you’d broken up”, she says.
“We have.” He replaces the frame on the shelf, face down. “How do you know that?”
“I googled you.”
“Uh. What else did Google have to say?”
He knows. He’s definitely the kind of person who would search for his own name.
“The usual: career, discography… and that you stole a song from another school during a competition last year.”
His features harden. “I see.”
“Did you?”
“Tell me, Miss Crosby, do you think I could do something like that?”
“No. I— I don’t know. Maybe? But I can’t understand why you would.”
He’s a competitive person, and his desire to use Marcus’s handicap and Alison’s beauty to gain an advantage says a lot about that, and yet blatantly stealing another school’s original song right before the competition seems a step too far.
Without answering, Roderick picks up their empty mugs and disappears into the kitchen. Alison waits, wringing her hands. They were having such fun and she's ruined it. He's not going to think well of her now.
Roderick comes back with refilled cups. Alison chokes on the first sip, it’s more rum than tea this time.
He walks across the room to the windows, and back. Finally, he says, “At the time, I thought I was doing the right thing for my students. I was invited to this competition to give it some credibility. I was under the impression our victory was guaranteed. But when I saw the judges and the audience, I knew they would be swayed by emotional appeals and catchy tunes, rather than our musical excellence. My kids were perfect but what if the judges didn’t see that? And there was my brother and my father there.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I made a bad decision. It was blown out of proportion by my detractors.”
“Is that why Angel broke up with you?”
“No. If anything, she encouraged me. But when it turned into a scandal, well…” He shrugs and goes to sit on the leather couch. He takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose.
Alison isn’t convinced by his explanation. After some hesitation and a few more sips of rum for courage, she sits down next to him.
His straight back progressively hunches over as he circles the rim of his mug with his finger.
“It happened at a peculiar time in my life,” he says without looking at her. “The problem with being a prodigy is that one’s career begins early and therefore… ends early.”
“Are you thinking of retiring? You’re not even 40 yet.”
“I don’t want to. I’m not ready to let music go, but what if she’s ready to let go of me?”
“Oh, Roderick. You always look so confident, I had no idea.” She tentatively strokes his arm.
“Don’t take pity on me.”
“I don’t. I sympathize. I know exactly how that feels.”
He scoffs. “You’re too young.”
“Okay, maybe not exactly, but when I had my birthday last August, I felt like I was getting too old for this, so I told myself I had to make significant progress in my career this year or I would quit. The choir is my last chance.”
“Mine too,” he says.
What a pair they make.
“No, it’s not. It can’t be. You’re a bloody genius. And, you know what, I’m not that old. We’re so daft.”
Roderick chuckles and pats her hand. A fond, but almost paternal gesture, except his hand lingers on top of hers, his thumb rubs along her knuckles. Their eyes meet, he’s not hiding behind his severe glasses anymore, he’s letting her see him, and her heart melts. She gives his hand a little squeeze.
Roderick’s ears perk up, and he looks to the computer. “What is this?”
“Uh? Oh, that’s Florence and the Machine, I think. Yeah, ‘Shake It Out’.”
“This has great potential for choral arrangement.”
Roderick puts his glasses back on and hurries to the piano. He finds the partition online, gives it a cursory glance, and, after another listen, plays the first verse on the piano. Just like that.
“You know the lyrics? Go on.”
Alison sings the intro A Capella, “Regrets collect like old friends Here to relive your darkest moments I can see no way, I can see no way And all of the ghouls come out to play”
He holds her gaze as they adjust to each other’s rhythm. He tweaks the song here and there as she keeps singing. He’s got an idea, she can tell, he slows down after the chorus and he’s looking at her, expecting a reaction, an understanding.
“Wait, play that last part again,” Alison says.
Pride curves his lips into a smile.
“It’s like…”
“Yes.”
“Opus 16!”
He replays the passage and segues into the second movement of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “Opus 16”, a song the choir already knows.
“We have our mash-up!” Alison says, clapping her hands.
“I think we might.”
They analyse the two songs side by side, trying out different points of transition and choral arrangements.
“Does it work thematically too?” Alison asks.
“Yes, it’s about rising from dark times. Williams wrote it after a hard time in his life, when he thought he’d lost his muse. See this line here: ante lucem tenebris it means dark before light.”
“I had no idea.”
‘Opus 16’ has never been one of her favourite chorals, she liked that it was a bit more upbeat, but now that she understands its meaning, she’s excited to sing it.
She can see it so clearly in her mind’s eye: the concert begins in a very traditional way, they’re in formation, wearing those black robes, singing the classics. And then “Shake It Out” begins, she steps to the front of the stage and discards her robe. Her colleagues follow suit and maybe dance a little. The lighting changes too, curtains part behind them to reveal colourful stage props. The second part of the concert consists of upbeat songs and more mash-ups. People in the audience stand up and clap their hands.
Roderick arches a dubious eyebrow at her suggestion.
“It’d be brilliant,” Alison insists.
“I’ll think about it.”
She stands by the piano and they go through the first half of “Shake It Out”. After the chorus, he slows the tempo, they stay in sync, eyes trained on each other, nodding along the notes. The transition into “Opus 16” is a little rough, but it works.
When she hits the high note in the third verse, her voice falters. Roderick abruptly stops playing, and the disappointment in his eyes cuts her deeper than any of his harsh words ever has before.
“I can do it,” she quickly says. “I’ll work day and night.”
“Clarissa would be able to do it.”
“No! I will. I can do it.”
“You must do it,” he says. “Again, from the top.”
Alison straightens her shoulders and gets ready to sing, but after three cups of tea, she needs the toilet.
From the bathroom, she hears the music Roderick is listening to on the computer. He selects more songs by Florence + The Machine.
She smiles smugly to herself. She did it. She changed his mind.
He skips to another song: “I know that it’s over They say that time’s a healer I’m ready to rise again”
“Oh no no.” She stands up from the toilet, but she’s not done pissing. “Fuck.” She hurries as much as she can.
When she returns to the living room, the song is still playing and Roderick’s face is a haughty grimace.
“Is that you?” he asks.
“Yeah, it’s an original song I recorded a while back. In Canterbury.”
“It’s horrendous.”
Alison flinches. His words sting.
“Yeah, it’s silly. Can you stop it?”
“My pleasure. Let’s try the mash-up again, shall we?”
“Actually, it’s getting late, I should go."
“Already?"
I’ve to go if I want to catch the last bus.”
“The bus? At this hour? You must take a taxi. It’s safer.”
“It’s kind of a long ride, I can’t really afford it.”
“Let me call you one, I will put it on my tab.”
Before she can protest, he’s on the phone. She’s too tired to put up a fight.
“He will be here in ten minutes.”
Roderick holds up her coat so she might slip it on.
“I’ll wait downstairs,” she says.
“You’re welcome to wait here.”
“Nah.”
“Okay. In that case, thank you for your help.”
After shifting awkwardly on his feet, he holds up a hand for her to shake.
“Sure. See ya later, Mr. Peterson.”
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ncwhereman · 2 years ago
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hello, hi, good day, greetings. it’s me again, your favourite anonymous spammer 🎅 again i'm really sorry this is a late one.
ok so my favourite albums by any artists would have to be the ones which the songs i recommended are from! this commentary is unnecessary, but still:
are you experienced (the jimi hendrix experience). the quintessential late 60s psychedelic rock album! a lot of classics on here as well as less overplayed gems
led zeppelin 1. a great example of a concept album. every time i listen it’s like i’m hearing it all over again for the first time. i have this one on vinyl and it’s one of my most precious records :)
now this one wasn’t in my initial recommendations but i’m also gonna recommend the album deep purple in rock by deep purple :^) to me, it sounds like a musical marriage between zep and hendrix. how about you? apart from the beatles' albums, what are your top 3 albums atm?
records: sadly i don’t buy records as much as i'd like to but i’m working on growing my collection slowly atm 😭 your help record sounds rly cool, i like the more unusual ones more bc they have small histories behind them. how did a dutch vinyl end up in a german jacket, and then made its way to you - i always wonder who owned the record before me? where are they now? do they still love the same music? ok i’m rambling, but to answer ur question: my ideal collection would have all beatles studio albums, as well as the rolling stones albums (up until the end of the 70s, bc my music taste kinda ends there) bc they’re classics + i love every album. but beatles records are hard to find and expensive here :( i’d also like some coloured vinyl, which i don’t have, like red or blue or something funky. how about you - any goals for your collection?
thanks so much for the film recommendations! i have time off after my finals so i’ll be sure to watch them :D i’m more into comedies so i think i’ll start with the apartment and paper moon. and the hours and times too, i’ve heard a lot about it so if you recommend it i’ll give it a watch. every year i try and watch a few holiday films, but i always end up watching the same ones, mainly home alone 1/2, and it’s a wonderful life (this is one that my parents always make us watch). i’m definitely gonna watch white christmas this year too!
sorry i always write too much here :D and sorry to put you through the stress of choosing a fav beatle. but i’ve always vibed more w george and john too! 
good luck on yr finals, and if they're finished, then congrats :D -srs
hi! sorry for late reply too, i have flu and the first days weren't nice 🤧 i'm getting better though!
thank you for recs, i'll def give them a listen!! i've been meaning to listen to more of these artists for such a long time and finally have a place to start now!
i can't mention my top 3 atm without beatles, sorry 😭 bc not so long ago i finally gave the new revolver mixes a listen and i'm starting to appreciate it much more as a whole body of work. i'm still very into john's walls&bridges and POB, and since i rewatched my fair lady yesterday i'm really digging the soundtrack.
yep, my collection is growing very slowly too! my main concern is how the record sounds bc i listen to them pretty often but usually i aim for the earliest pressings i can find. too bad it's practically impossible to find original beatles editions. i still remember seeing a uk mono copy of meet the beatles in a local shop, meaning it was the original press probably, and it wasn't even crazily expensive but i still didn't have enough money and eventually someone bought it before me. i'm still so salty about it lmao
and yes i love colored vinyl too! if only i could get my hands on those modern fancy pressings ugh. so far i only have two colored records, a red 1962-1966 and a blue abbey road. i kinda regretted getting AR since it's obviously a modern bootleg but it doesn't sound too bad (for a bootleg at least) and the shade is almost exactly like the blue 1967-1970 i wanted to get. it was another case of someone buying it before me 😭 tbh that shade was the deciding factor for me lmao
by the way, if you want something kinda similar to colored vinyl: some original uk copies of elton john albums from 1969 to 1975 are black but appear translucent red when held up to light! and there were a lot of them pressed so they shouldn't be too expensive or hard to find. it was a very cool discovery i accidentally made
i hope you'll enjoy the films, i love both of them! and as for th&t.... well like i said it's in no way perfect but definitely not bad! esp given the circumstances in which it was made. there are so many themes, dynamics and emotions they could explore deeper and further but i suppose they just did the best they could. so if you're interested in the relationship between john and brian i think you should give it a try for at least one point of view on the spanish holiday that in my opinion could very well be pretty close to reality.
oh i completely forgot about it's a wonderful life lmao. thanks for reminding me bc i'll def watch it for christmas, i love it too! and i enjoyed white christmas so much, i adore 50-60s musicals!
the stress of choosing a fav beatle hsksksks it's okay 😭😭 i'm afraid it might be the last anon ask before the big reveal but i'll ask anyway, what are your favorite john and george solo albums??
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yoonia · 7 years ago
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I was tagged by my dearest @vankoya ever since such a long time ago but I keep forgetting to do this (lol I’m sorry)
The rule of the game is for me to answer eleven questions that she has come up with, and then create my own list of questions for others to answer. Hmmm...this should be interesting^^
IVORY’S QUESTIONS.
1. Out of all the BTS members, whose fashion style would you wear for a week, and why would you choose their style?
Yoongi. I just love his sleek look and love it when he wears all dark coloured clothing. I normally wear similar style as he does, with the only difference being that his clothes are probably branded and cost the same as my monthly expenses lol
2. What song would you pay money to never hear ever again?
I have a ton, but Closer by Chainsmoker. Because that song was played everywhere and every single time when it was released. Sometimes I’d walk through some small streets in my city and there would be a few small shops that still plays it ://
3. If you could time travel, what decade/year would you go to, and why?
I’d probably say the year 80-90s, the era where most legends in music still reign. I grew up being taken care of by my older sister who is a Seattle Sound babe so I grew up listening to her fave music, such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and the likes, yet since she grew up listening to 70s rock bands (Genesis, Led Zep, Pink Floyd, etc thanks to my Dad) she made me listen to them too. I just want to experience the time when they were still huge and rocking.
4. Would you rather have your family read all of your smut-inclusive fics in secret and you never know about it, or would you prefer to explicitly, in detail, tell them of the smut scenes that you write, but they never literally read them?
.....This, is a hard one. Here’s the thing. My family knows I write, since (as I have mentioned before) I have experienced publishing my work years ago, so I can imagine them being curious to want to know if I am writing again and what I am writing about. Honestly, I’d rather prefer they find out themselves and not talk about it with me, only because the latter option will only turn out to be the most awkward talk ever. And the event of how my boyfriend accidentally found my folders of smut fics have kind of proven it already lol
5. What book and/or movie would you recommend to everyone until the day you die? As in, the book and/or movie that you would never not recommend to someone.
Movie: Before Sunrise (the whole series), About Time
Book: God Wants You Dead by Sean Hastings & Paul Rosenberg
6. Do you have a saying that you live by, and if so, what is it?
Not really. But I do love a part of a lyric taken from Radiohead’s song, My Iron Lungs, “We’re too young to fall asleep.” 
7. What is your favourite time of day, and why?
My favourite time in the span of 24 hours of my day at this moment would be at 3 am. It would be the quietest time of the night―my roommate would have just returned from work and had just fallen asleep, my cats would have just done with their midnight hunting spree and would be curling on my bed, the neighbour that somehow loves to play music extremely loud would have turned it off (he always blasts music until at least 1 AM) and no vehicles would dare past in front of my flat. 3 am always becomes that peaceful time for me when the only sound comes from my room (either my music or me typing on my computer) so I usually use the time to either work, paint, or write.
8. What ground-breaking invention do you hope to witness/experience in your lifetime? For example, scientists successfully reviving humans from cryopreservation.
Transporter, please. 
9. You can now only eat one particular food/meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the rest of your life. What would it be?
Kimbab. Or grilled cheese.
10. What is something that you can think about that always brings back your childhood nostalgia? For example, mine is remembering that one level on the first Crash Bandicoot video game where you have to run away from a boulder.
The scent coming from wood blocks. You know those builder blocks for kids that was made from wood? That was the one thing I loved to play with when I was little. I would ignore people the moment I started building the blocks and instantly lived in my own world.
11. What is your Subway order? If you do not eat Subway, what food-chain/fast food restaurant do you have the exact same order for every single time you go there, and what is that order?
I don’t normally eat at Subway, but I always order Chicken Schnitzel when I do, with extra sweet mayo and chilli. For Maccas, I always order Fillet-o-Fish with large fries on the side. The one place I eat most is this one coffee shop near where I work. My usual menu would be a Tuna Sandwich with roasted wheat bread, potato chips on the side instead of fries, and sliced cherry tomato, with iced tea. This last one is actually my daily lunch.
I shall tag: @kimtrain, @the95liner, @seoulso, @sarangtaee, @trbld-writer, @war-of-hormoan, @monbell, @whyyoutrynaflexandyourfashionoff, @aichan11, @def-initely-soul, @inktae
MY QUESTIONS FOR YOU.
1. Imagine you are sitting at a diner at 2 am, talking about life over a warm drink. Who would you want to be sitting in front of you for the conversation? (anyone will do, either a famous person or not, dead or alive)
2. What is the one drink you most see yourself drinking?
3. Is there any other language aside from the one you are born with that you are interested to learn about?
4. What is the first thing you do in the morning?
5. If there is something you want to say to your younger self, what would it be?
6. What is your favourite scent of all?
7. Is there any passage/a paragraph/dialogue from a book that you have once read that you always remember? If so, what is it about?
8. Open your Google page. What is the most recent thing you searched on it?
9. If you suddenly turn into a supernatural being, what would you choose to become?
10. If you have to leave home in a rush, and you can only manage to snatch one item in your hand as you head out, what would that one thing that you refuse to leave behind be?
Good luck!^^
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james-swindell · 5 years ago
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Alice Cooper + Black Stone Cherry
Olympiahalle, Munich
1st October
At the start of the year me and a friend had decided to book a week in Munich for Oktoberfest. At the time, it looked fun. When Alice Cooper announced his EU tour, it only added to the excitement for us as the chance to watch a show in a different venue is always welcomed by us. We’ve regularly traveled the UK for gigs and tonight will be no different for us.
After getting in and ordering our beer (my German is a lot better than I remember!), we got to our seats just in time for Black Stone Cherry. This is my 8th time seeing Black Stone Cherry and my friends 1st time, they can lay claim to possibly being my favourite band and certainly one of my favourite bands to watch live. However this is the first time I’ve seen them in a support slot, unless you can count Download 2018 before Guns N Roses even though that felt like a full show.
Right out of the gate Black Stone Cherry showcase their best asset as a live act, their energy. As I’ve become accustomed to at a Black Stone Cherry show, from the first song: Ben Wells and Jon Lawhon are bouncing up and down the stage, Jon Fred Young is beating the daylights out of his kit, even Chris Robertson is prowling the stage looking for people to show off to. Their energy is infectious and you can clearly tell that they love what they do.
The tempo doesn’t let up as they blaze their way through ‘Burnin’’, ‘Me And Mary Jane’ and ‘Blind Man’. There’s a short Led Zep style guitar solo break before they fly into ‘In My Blood’. They stop to talk to the crowd and get them involved before bulldozing back through ‘Blame It On The Boom Boom’ and ‘Lonely Train’. There’s a short snippet of ‘Purple Haze’ by Jimi Hendrix halfway through ‘Cheaper To Drink Alone’ which is funky, but the way they work back into the Chorus and finish the song is anti-climatic and I feel like there’s a better way they could finish jamming that without me feeling like I’ve lost my place. Things get back on track with ‘Family Tree’ with what is personally one of my favourite guitar solos ever.
I think the point of tonight was to showcase themselves to people who may not have heard them yet and I feel as though they won a lot of people over tonight. Tonight was a greatest hits set list, hopefully this means there’s a couple of more Black Stone Cherry shirts next time they come round.
This was my 3rd time seeing Alice Cooper but my first time seeing him headline as I had caught him supporting Mötley Crüe and with Hollywood Vampires. I’m not the biggest fan but I have an appreciation of his work and the show he puts on.
‘Feed My Frankenstein’ and ‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ set the tone right for the evening and we keep rolling hit after hit. Across the board the performance remains tight and there’s a lot of gorgeous harmonies that help support and accentuate Alice’s vocals. Alice is in fine form, he knows his limitations at his age and doesn’t try and overstretch himself. He still nails that signature rasp and sounds a lot better than most colleagues his age.
The hits are spread evenly across the board. If I were a bigger Alice Cooper fan, I think I’d appreciate a lot of these songs in between but for the time it’s enough to keep my head bopping and shouting along after picking up the first chorus. I had an appreciation for all the added theatrics from Frankenstein’s to the Dead Babies and all the staged murders, there was always an added trick up their sleeve to keep me guessing and entertained.
The highlight of the night rolled around with the first guitar note of ‘Poison’ which seemed to get the biggest reaction of the night and the biggest singalong of the night. From there on out until the end of the set a little space is afforded to the band to stretch out a little bit. I feel like I can’t talk enough about how great his band are. Each of them are so tasteful yet allow so much personality through in their playing which is a trait not many manage to do and only comes with years of playing. I’m normally bored by instrument solos but spots afforded to Nita Strauss and Glenn Sobel kept me entertained.
The 1st set climaxed with Alice getting guilotined, a trademark move every time. He comes back on for ‘Under My Wheels’ and ‘Schools Out’, by this point party time is well underway. As always with Alice, you get a hell of a show, dead babies and all. As always, I’m looking forward to next time!
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modernmanblues · 2 years ago
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Hi again! Sorry it's been a few days, I've been busy trying to get everything together for Christmas while juggling work and studies.
Thank you for the recommendations! I'll definitely want to listen to them. And that's really cool that they include all the members on vocals like that! I put on Deceptive Bends now, and I'm only on the third song but I like the softness of the music, it's something I'd put on on a sunny Sunday or a relaxing Friday night. But that's just the first impression.
Ooh, do you have any favourite songs from Beatles or Zeppelin?
Well, White Christmas (Bing Crosby version) is one that always makes it feel like Christmas for real. Also The Christmas Song and Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. Holy Night is one that can bring me to tears with the right arrangement (even though I'm not a bit religious). I also always thought that Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton's "Christmas to Remember" was so very romantic.
What are your plans for the holidays? It's so close now! Me and my partner managed to get a tree today, though forgot to ask to have the bottom of the trunk cut fresh so we're going out for a new try with that tomorrow x) and also to get some presents. Tomorrow we're also gonna try to get the apartment finished decorating. Christmas Eve is the big day here, so there's not much time left, and we would like to have the 23rd to just relax.
/ 🌻
Santa darling, how goes it??
I hope you’re doing well! and no worries, I’ve been busy with work and school myself. I’m just glad this semester is finally over and that I have the rest of this week off work to just take a breather 😮‍💨
Omg! I hope you know you just put a smile on my face knowing you were listening to DB 😭 Please that entire album just screams ✨Eric Stewart supremacy✨ to me 😫 that man literally put his heart and soul into that album and I’m so proud of him for that 😌 Eric plays both guitar and piano and probably other strange instruments on that album and if I’m not mistaken, he was also the mastermind behind producing Bends. I feel like DB was Eric’s way of showcasing his brilliance as a multi-instrumentalist and I think that’s what makes that album extra special to me. I know I’ve probably mentioned this before, but that album was really what made me fall in love with 10cc, but more importantly with Eric. Also as an aside, I don’t know I’ve mentioned this already but I kinda have a thing for multi-instrumentalists lol (i’m talking to you Eric Stewart and John Paul Jones).
As far as Beatles songs, I love Helter Skelter, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Here, There and Everywhere, Day Tripper and Paperback Writer. My favourite Zep songs are probably Misty Mountain Hop, Black Dog, Stairway, Immigrant Song, When the Levee Breaks, D’yer Mak’er and No Quarter.
And those are some great Christmas classics also! I know this is probably gonna sound silly but I also like The Chipmunk Song by Alvin and the Chipmunks. I think that song is just too stinkin’ cute! 💗
Ah and the holidays, I’m always bad at preparing for them lol I still have to do some Christmas shopping. Not that I have a lot to buy or anything BUT I always get extra generous around this time of year and feel obligated to buy presents for people. Also I’m pretty stoked bc this week, I’m thinking about buying myself a bass guitar for Christmas (thank you, John Paul Jones). And that’s nice that you’re taking some time off for a little R & R, we all need that sometimes ☺️
Wishing you a lovely rest of the week and happy holidays in advance! 🎄
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