#they have what appear to be giant pre rolled blunts

[necromancy-savant]

I’m like I don’t really want to do anything for my birthday this year, I just want to go to Dave and Buster’s and bake a cake and go to my favorite Indian restaurant a few towns over and get a special treat at the dispensary

[cynthiaandsamus]

Maki Oze and Tamaki Kotatsu from Fire Force: Fire fighting cuties! Anyone who’s seen the show knows what a delight these two are, between the toned and beautiful big sister witch with a hair trigger Maki and the fire cat that literally can’t keep her clothes on Tamaki, these two would be sure to liven up Villa life!

Caulfila and Cheelai from Dragon Ball Super: Spunky girls with a thing for Super Saiyan Berserkers. Both are used to rolling with bad crowds whether it’s Caulfila’s gang of Saiyan ruffians or Cheelai’s street gang before she joined the Frieza Force, both don’t take any guff from anyone. Caulifla tends to be more brash and loud and Cheelai is more kind yet sneaky, these muscle loving girls of destruction will sure bring some energy to Cynthia’s place.

Ayla from Chrono Trigger and Kohaku from Dr. Stone: The cavegirl duo, Ayla tends to be more of what you’d expect from a cavegirl, brash, blunt and comes with a horde of trained dinosaurs, but this prehistoric beauty also has a flirty side as well, coming from a time before shame was invented she makes no bones about what or who she likes and will take what she wants. Kohaku is more eloquent and thoughtful but no less skilled and dangerous. Living in a stone world where people are out for her hide has taught her how to defend herself from all kinds of nasty surprises, though she too is puzzled by the modern conveniences of Cynthia’s villa and will likely have a few fun surprises during her stay.

Shino Ashido “Sinon” and Suguha Kirigaya “Leafa��� from Sword Art Online: A long-time tenant of these polls, these girls may have teenage tastes but they are no doubt young women of class. Gifted with special holographic collars by Cynthia that lets them take the form of any of their game avatars while at the villa, these two are looking for more escapist fun than a normal game world can provide. Sinon has grown a taste only for women after her previous experiences with men and though she’s a bit prickly she’s still the badass gunslinger we all know and love. The busty gamer Suguha tends to prefer hanging out in her normal appearance while she’s away from prying eyes but the elf girl Leafa is also down for some vacationing as well. After her experiences in several game worlds she’s looking to try new things and see what the real world has to offer.

Lusamine and Dawn from Pokemon: Two girls that need no introduction, both these ladies have a pre-established relationship with Cynthia and have been waiting for a chance to stay long-term at the villa. The Aether Corporation head is a strong and determined if slightly out there mother that like Cynthia knows what she wants and takes it. The two have long held meetings about who the cutest trainers are and what to do with their mounting fortunes. Meanwhile, topping said list for Cynthia most of the time, Dawn is an up and coming Sinnoh trainer with her eyes not only on the Championship but also on the Champion~ She and Cynthia have quite a playful relationship and on the outside she’s as cute as a button, but seeing Samus getting so cozy with Cynthia may bring out some jealous thoughts in her.

Skyla and Elesa from Pokemon: Another long time visiting muse option, essentially Cynthia and Samus 2.0, a busty determined airhead and her slender blonde companion that has to put up with her, truly these two were made for the villa. The experienced pilot and lovely bubbly Skyla has more enthusiasm than sense sometimes but the pun-loving fashion model Elesa will be sure to keep her straight… figuratively speaking of course.

Ayaka Sunohara from Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-Sou and Mamako Oosuki from Do You Love Your Mother and Her Two-Hit Multi Target Attacks? (shortened for brevity (and mercy) in the poll): What would a visiting muse poll be without Milfs? Shorter, that’s what! The busty caretaker of Sunohara boarding house Ayaka Sunohara has been left to care for the place after her grandmother retired and is now looking for a place to stay and relax for herself. A beacon of motherly kindness and dependability, Ayaka is everything you could ask for in a soft lover but also a determined and stern parental figure that is seemingly good at all domestic skills and gets extremely handsy when she drinks. Mamako Oosuki is a doting yet flighty mother who doesn’t know the first thing about video games and yet commands RPG powers that would make Kirito blush. This mother seems to more often than not find herself in lecherous compromising positions despite her ability to take out almost anything in one hit. Deep down her kind and gentle soul will (literally) light up your heart.

Kagome Higurashi and Sango from Inuyasha: Well there’s a sequel coming, so why not? A normal (if by normal you mean the reincarnation of literally the only person that can purify an ancient jewel with phenomenal mystic power) schoolgirl, Kagome Higurashi found herself in a world of demons, warlords and gravity-defying miniskirts. Despite being a fish out of water Kagome proved herself to be someone of upstanding character who always helps those in need. Wanting nothing more than a feudal fairy tail, this beautiful girl has become somewhat disillusioned with her old world and needs a break, once again heading for another world: Cynthia’s villa, hijinks ensue. Meanwhile the prodigy of the demon slaying clan, Sango and her pet demon Kilala also join Kagome on her trip. Sango’s a kind but no-nonsense kind of girl and it can take a while for her to open up, but it’s worth it to find out because you’ll have a beautiful partner… or a giant boomerang to the head, place your bets.

Ryuko Matoi and Satsuki Kiryuin form Kill la Kill: (Admittedly this one is partially fueled by the mun’s recent Kill la Kill rewatch and random crack test posts) The scantily clad sisterly duo, a tough as nails fighter who doesn’t take shit and a dramatic champion flanked by her elite four guardians... something about this seems familiar. Naturally Ryuko gets along famously with Samus and Satsuki seems to do well with Cynthia, though will these regularly nude beauties take the invitation to the villa?

Kyoko and Misako from River City Girls: Another familiar pairing of a tough girl and her equally tough airhead friend. These River City Residensts are Ready to Rampage through the villa. Though they have absolute devotion to their boyfriends, they do have some ways of cheating the system and still ‘saving’ themselves for them and play fast and loose with the rules of their relationships. Can the villa withstand these girls’ particular brand of rough and tumble love?

Yoko Littner from Gurren Lagann and Misato Katsuragi from Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Gainax girls are here to party! The skimpy sharpshooter Yoko and the smart, slovenly, sexy and sometimes melancholy Misato fit right in with the villa’s casual laid back attitude of constant parties. Neither girl is particularly shy about showing some skin or kicking some ass, being use to casually standing up to giant monsters both of these hard-working women are ready for a vacation and maybe even for a deconstruction of some of their deeper troubles along with the fun.

Note: Tifa, Yuffie and Riza will be around a bit longer, since the list is so long this time I’ll probably have a second poll for the most popular finalists in a few days so be sure to have some fun with them while they’re here!

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Marvel Universe LIVE: Age of Heroes Thoughts

I just got back from seeing the Marvel Universe LIVE: Age of Heroes stage show at London’s O2 Arena and thought I’d share my thoughts on it.

The first thing I have to acknowledge is that I am absolutely not the target audience for this thing even a little bit.

The target audience is at absolute minimum 5 and at a huge push maybe 12 years old, with 8-10 probably being the sweet spot.

It’s essentially for kids who’ve seen the MCU, the 2010s cartoons, played the most child friendly video games, picked up the sticker books and so forth. If there were any winks to the comics or deep cuts me and my friend (who’ve both been around the block many times when it comes to comics) either didn’t catch them or they might’ve been unintentional.

But what exactly is this?

Simply put it is a stage show that runs under 2 hours (including an intermission) in which a group of heroes engage in stunts and acrobatics in a bare bones story wherein they tangle with Nebula, the Ravagers (including Yondu) and most chiefly Loki across some famous Marvel locations for control of the mystical item, the Wand of Watoomb (which debuted in ASM Annual #2!).

The heroes in question are:

·         Doctor Strange

·         Star Lord

·         Gamora

·         Rocket Racoon

·         Drax the Destroyer

·         Groot

·         Spider-Man

·         Captain America

·         Iron Man

·         Thor

·         Bruce Banner/the Hulk

·         Black Widow

·         Wasp (Hope? Janet? It is unclear)

·         Black Panther

·         And a surprise guest appearance from Iron Fist

There are also some other more minor characters of note too:

·         The Chitauri who act as Loki’s soldiers

·         Green Goblin

·         Rhino

·         Lizard

·         Electro

·         And Black Cat

Sans the Chitauri the latter villains only appear briefly in a battle just there to introduce Spidey and the Avengers (sans Iron Fist, Hulk and Doctor Strange) on stage.

The scenario is Green Goblin is committing a crime in NYC that Spider-Man shows up to stop but is then attacked by Black Cat and soon the other Spidey villains. Ultimately outnumbered and out gunned that’s when the Avengers show up to help.

From there Doctor Strange shows up to inform them that Nebula got her hands on the wand and it’s teleporting her somewhere on Earth (this was all shown earlier in the show during the introduction to the Guardians and Ravagers). With Banner’s help they narrow the locations down to K’un-Lun and Antarctica.

As the Guardians head to Knowhere to get one of the Collector’s items that will be able to take them to the wand, the Avengers split into two groups and head to both locations.

The K’un-Lun team consists of Thor, Iron Man, Wasp and Doctor Strange and the Antarctic team consists of Spidey, Cap, Black Widow and Black Panther.

They plan to bring in Bruce/Hulk if the situation gets really dire, but little do they know Loki has invade Avengers Tower in New York and captured Bruce, casting a spell on him that prevents him from getting angry and thus transforming.

Part 1 concludes with the K’un-Lun team fighting Loki who uses his magic to bring a statue of a dragon (who is clearly meant to be Shou-Lao the Undying) to live. The dragon in turn animates a group of stone soldiers to fight the Avengers who’s abilities are ineffective against them. That’s when Iron Fist appears to help out. Deducing that beating the dragon will enable them to beat the soldiers, Iron Fist ends it and the soldiers are defeated soon after. Unfortunately Loki still captures the Avengers.

In Part 2 the Guardians manage to beat the Ravagers (who are also after Rocket’s bounty) and find what they need to get to Earth.

Meanwhile the second Avengers team have found themselves in the Savage Land and the natives are not pleased to see them. Nebula is teleported there but Spider-Man webs the wand out of her (and everyone else’s) reach thus prompting a battle to reach it in time. The good guys win and use the wand’s power to take them to the other Avengers, unaware they are captured in Loki’s throne room on Asgard.

Loki soon captures everyone but thanks to Rocket’s especially dangerous big gun most of the heroes are freed. The big exception is Bruce. This is a problem because only he can penetrate the force field protecting the wand and avert disaster. Unfortunately his own prison cell won’t open.

The heroes then resolve to use a device Iron Man talked about way back in their introductory battle. In short through the power of combined positive thoughts Iron Man’s device can unleash a powerful burst of energy. The heroes (and the audience) send their positive thoughts and succeed in releasing Banner and unleashing the Hulk who saves the day.

Good guys win. Bad guys lose. The crowd claps and cheers as the actors pose and bow. Hulk and Groot squabble.

Based upon everything above you might be thinking this show is rather...well lame.

However it is in fact really, really fun!

As is so often the case with stage shows you have to actually see them (and really in person) to appreciate them, reading a summary or even a script doesn’t do them justice.

As basic and simple as the plot and characters are (we never see the heroes out of costume for instance) it is all service of the point of the show.

Cool stunts, acrobatics, fight choreography and set pieces with some of your favourite super heroes.

On that front the show is a rousing success and the story mostly works towards that end. You want deep thoughtful Marvel storytelling that’s the movies and the comics. You want just pure superhero fun, this is it.

I guess you could argue the writing could be better because it gives little in the way of stuff for the adults inevitably dragged to this by their kids like many Pixar films succeed in doing.

And yes that would have made this stage show better. Better...but not good. After all where is it written that a stage show made specifically to entertain children and just children is bad merely because it doesn’t seek to do more than that, let alone when it totally succeeds?

The stunt work, acrobatics and effects mind you are not Cirque du Soleil or anything. But they are great for what they are. Almost everything in the fight scenes works for instance, stand outs for me being the Spidey fighting his villains (especially Felicia), Black Cat vs. Black Widow (has that ever even happened in canon?), Black Panther vs. the Rhino, Cap fighting whilst on a motorcycle (I felt  the kicks!), Spidey’s own motorcycle stunts (the only time Spidey on a bike has ever been cool), Gamora vs. Nebula and everything with Iron Fist.

The only nitpick I have regarding the fights is that occasionally one character might be off to the side tossing their hands around and stamping for no reason because it isn’t their turn to get involved in the action yet. This happened with Electro actually, I don’t know why. Maybe they felt if they had him actually attack when the heroes were otherwise occupied the villains would just win.

Again though it’s a nitpick. As is the fact that when they introduce us to the Savage Land they reused stock background footage from the ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ show that played at the O2 Arena earlier this year. To let you appreciate just how much of a nitpick this is, I’m pretty sure I was the only audience member to notice this and that’s purely because by coincidence I saw that very show way back in January.

One final nitpick which is really just me is that the gesticulations the actors make and larger than necessary body movements kind of ruined my emersion a little bit, but that’s probably a necessity for this show.

None of the stage performers were really talking, their dialogue had all been pre-recorded by professional voice actors (Cree Summers and Fred Tatasciore being the more obvious ones I caught) and if their costumes revealed their mouths they just lip-synched. As such those over the top gestures are probably an important part of the performance of the show to bring the characters to life considering there isn’t a single person acting in the role. Plus you need some way of communicating emotions (however simplistic) to the audience through distance (the O2 Arena is huge) and costumes.

Since I know so little about stage productions in general and I’m clearly not the real target demographic for this show (nor do I have children of my own so I can’t even really envision their mindset) I’m just going to talk about the stuff I liked and disliked.

To be honest the only thing I honestly disliked were the Guardians. The Guardians films are wonderful but the unintended consequence of their success is that every iteration of the Guardians thereafter (be it video games or sticker books) based themselves upon the movies. It’s not just that that gets repetitive since there isn’t as much material to draw from but it also has the unfortunate effect of making the Guardians kind of caricatures of themselves. The Guardians movies to be blunt do place the 5 main Guardians within clear cut archetypes and then builds upon that. In other media though they really are just reduced to those archetypes.

Star Lord be the cocky leader who can at times be less smooth than he’d like.

Gamora is the serious warrior woman who rolls her eyes at the antics of her team mates and has a rivalry with her sister.

Drax is also a serious warrior but more direct and there is the gag that he takes things totally literally.

Rocket is the snarky and short tempered one.

Groot is the heavy who prefers to be a gentle giant and is Rocket’s BFF.

Because they have been like that in EVERYTHING sans the MCU it’s like watching an old cartoon from the 80s or something where you know exactly what every character is going to do and how they are going to do it because everything is so stock.

In this production that’s not really that big of a problem since everyone is so simplistic and the spectacle is really the entire point. But for me personally I did just get a little bored with their scenes whereas with the Avengers I was at least curious how they were going to do Thor, Cap, Black Panther, etc. Even if their take was what was most likely and little different to most other media to feature these characters in current pop culture, there was just more there for me.

Seeing Banner used as the tech guy but also secret weapon hasn’t been done to death or the only direction you could realistically have expected for the character to have gone in this. And that’s owed to the Hulk having a long and rich history in the comics and other media from which to draw from. The Guardians technically have that, but they were so minor before the film, the simplistic takes based on the film became the default and I knew that within five seconds. Hence their scenes felt like going through the motions whenever they were talking.

Everything else in the show though I really enjoyed. I’m not going to call out the show for doing Green Goblin, Lizard or Black Cat wrong because the nature of the show simply didn’t demand it. the project called for some recognizable and colourful Spider-Man villains that could be practically realized on stage and fight the Avengers. Venom comes with baggage and is kind of too similar to Spider-Man is spectacle is all you are going for and Doc Ock or Scorpion would’ve been way too expensive. So who else are you going to have lead the villains besides the Goblin, who’s abilities allow for aerial stunts and the like? Felicia I grant you could’ve been switched out for the Shocker or someone, maybe they felt they should have at least one other female villain somewhere in the show besides Nebula.

I didn’t care though. Seeing Felicia at all in other media is generally a treat for me and seeing her realized in live action for the first time ever (in a comic book accurate outfit no less) just put a grin on my face as did seeing her duel with Black Widow.

In fact the entire Spider-Villain brawl was the highlight of the show for me and I didn’t even know it was going to be in the thing. As each villain showed up me and my friend were squealing under our breaths. If only they’d had one more villain though we could’ve gotten ourselves a Sinister Six.

How about Spider-Man himself? He was mostly done well too. Now he was obviously influenced by the USM cartoon version of Spider-Man so he sounded like Drake Belle...but a way more tolerable not really annoying Drake Belle. There was also only one moment in the show he was made to look the buffoon. Technically there was another when he was figuring out how to ride the motorcycle but that was an excuse for some impressive stunt work so it’s forgivable.

Speaking of stunt work...they straight up had Spider-Man swinging around the stage at various points, coming close to the audience and thwipping at times! It was spectacular and sensational. He even had an aerial tussle with the Goblin on his glider. That officially makes this more successful than Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark in that regard. They seemed to save Spider-Man swinging around for big moments of the show too, like they knew that was going to be the most impressive thing about it.

They also mercifully didn’t make Spider-Man sellout to the Avengers or Iron Man in any way. Iron Man isn’t treated as his Dad and he and Spider-Man barely talk to one another. Equally whilst Spider-Man is an Avenger in this and is rescued by them, it’s exactly once and he is shown to hold his own as an equal with any of the team. In fact he’s arguably the MVP of the Savage Land battle when he gets the wand.

He also has the best line of the show and one of the best I’ve ever heard from Spider-Man in general. I’m paraphrasing but it goes like this when he’s addressing Nebula (IIRC) after removing the wand from her:

“With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility. And you don’t seem like the responsible type.”

I question how 55 years of Spider-Man comics elapsed with the character never saying that before this stage show!

Besides Spider-Man the character I enjoyed the most in this was Iron Fist.

I’m not a huge Iron Fist fan, I actually find him kind of pointless whenever he’s not teamed up with Luke Cage. But the mere fact that he showed up at all, that the producers cared enough to use him when he hasn’t been in a movie and kids would only know him from the USM cartoon showed there was a respect underlying the production of this show.

More poignantly these less than 30 minutes of stage time Iron Fist got in this did him better than the entire 13 agonizing hours of his Netflix show and to be honest even his much improved second season. The bare minimum anyone wanted out of this character was him to wear the suit, light up his fist and kick pull off some cool martial arts moves.

Netflix instead gave us boardroom politics for practically a whole season whilst this stage show nailed it in 5 seconds. The action choreography was especially great with him in fact and whilst his costume was unique to anything I’ve seen in the comics it captured the gist of his comic book outfits. In fact I’d go so far as to say that this might be the best Iron Fiat outfit ever!

Hulk and Groot were well realized through actors using stilts and I’m actually surprised they made Hulk the show stopper. The whole show was building towards his transformation. Maybe they just realized if he was always there they’d win too easily. I prefer to think the producers just liked Hulk that much.

Over here in the UK, obviously the MCU is big. But for most of the last 50 odd years Spider-Man and Hulk were far and away the most popular Marvel characters. Maybe that’s why they got the best moments in the show?

Iron Man was also used quite well. They respected that because he’s the most famous/popular MCU star not called Spider-Man they had to give him one big moment, but he didn’t steal the show or save the day or get more attention (outside of that moment) than anyone else the way it was too often in the MCU.

His big moment came from when the showmakers apparently either really liked the Happiness Gun from Maximum Carnage or really liked the Spirit Bomb from Dragon Ball Z because Tony’s super positive thoughts device was essentially the same concept.

[jafreitag]

Grateful Dead Monthly: Brendan Byrne Arena – East Rutherford, NJ 10/16/89

On Monday, October 16, 1989, the Grateful Dead played a concert at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Brendan Byrne Arena, aka Meadowlands Arena, was built to accommodate the NBA’s New Jersey Nets, who were moving from the Rutgers University Athletic Center. The arena opened in 1981 across a highway from the old Giants Stadium, and eventually served as home for the Nets, the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, and the Seton Hall University men’s basketball team. The arena was also an event and concert venue that hosted local favorites Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi, as well as a variety of other big-name acts. It ultimately closed to the public in 2015. According to the Wiki, “the vacant arena is [currently] used as a rehearsal venue for large-scale touring concert productions as well as a sound stage for video and television productions.”

The Dead played Brendan Byrne sixteen times from 1983-89. 10/16/89 was their last show there. LN Deaditor ECM was in attendance and offers this reflection:

This was a special show because it was my first Dark Star, but the band sure did make me sweat it out by waiting until the final night of a five-show run to play it – on a Monday night, too! But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s back up just a bit.

The previous week, the Grateful Dead opened the 1989 Fall East Coast tour with two shows at Hampton Coliseum. Those shows were billed as “Formerly the Warlocks” (a nod to the band’s original name) because there had been some trouble at the Dead’s Hampton shows in the past with ticketless people, gate crashing, and drug arrests. As I recall, these shows were not announced on the Dead’s hotline and were not available via mail order like the rest of the tour was. Instead, tickets were made available at only a few select Virginia locations, making them very difficult to get, if you lived out of state, as I did. Somehow, my friend Scott and his wife, Noelle, scored tickets, but I didn’t know it at the time. So imagine my surprise when Scott called me at around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday October 10th to tell me what had just gone down in Hampton. I was a year out of college and had a real job so I was sound asleep. The ringing of the phone jolted me out of bed. I fumbled to find the phone in the darkness and clumsily answered it on the sixth or seventh ring. At first, I didn’t recognize the voice on the other end of the line because the caller was hysterically screaming with excitement. Eventually, I recognized the voice as Scott’s. He was calling from his car phone (very rare at the time), and he was talking so fast that I could barely understand him. There were broken words here and there that I recognized like “Hampton…Warlocks…Oh my God…best fuckin’ show I’ve ever seen….oh shit, I’d better pull over before I get in an accident!” After he pulled over, Scott told me all about the bust-outs: Help/Slip, Death Don’t Have No Mercy (neither of us knew it had been busted out the previous week at Shoreline, no internet), Dark Star, and Attics!!! I thought he was joking at first. Help/Slip and Dark Star, while both rare, were somewhat believable since they had both been played in the 80s with Brent. Attics and Death, on the other hand, were a horse of a different color. Both hadn’t been played since 1970, and most fans considered them retired for good. I must confess that it was a little difficult to be “happy” for Scott. I had missed “the show,” or so I thought. 

The band rolled into lovely East Rutherford, New Jersey on October 11th for a five-show run at the Brendan Byrne Arena. I had secured mail order tickets for every show. There was definitely a buzz in the parking lot about what had gone down in Hampton. Everybody was hoping, praying, and wishing that the band would play some of the bust-outs again. Nobody dared to say the words “Dark Star” for fear of jinxing our chances of seeing it. The new album, Built To Last, was about to be released on Halloween, so there was great anticipation about that as well. Promo materials like the album artwork and the iconic deck of cards were floating around the parking lot. There was a sense that the band was on another creative peak which created an overall vibe of happiness and excitement among fans. 

On a more somber note, this was also the run when the body of Adam Katz, a 19-year-old fan, was found by a motorist lying on a roadway outside the complex on October 14th. He died the next day from a single blow to the head with a ”blunt instrument.” His death was later ruled a homicide, but nobody was ever charged. 

As I recall, the four shows leading up to October 16th were nothing to write home about. I am sure that there were highlights but the only memorable thing about those shows is what the band didn’t play – Dark Star.

On the afternoon of October 16th, Garcia made an appearance on WNEW-FM, New York’s big classic-rock radio station and when asked when Deadhead’s might get to enjoy the band play Dark Star again, he replied, “Sooner than you think.” Whoa! Did Jerry just signal Dark Star? If that wasn’t enough, October 16th happens to be Bob Weir’s birthday. There have been some memorable shows on October 16th – most notably Amsterdam in 1981, but also Winterland in 1974 and LSU in 1977. The planets seemed to be aligned for the makings of a great show. 

The crowd roar was deafening with great anticipation when the house lights finally went down. The birthday boy opened the show with Picasso Moon. It was a curious choice because the band only played it three times since its debut on April 28th, and it hadn’t been played since May 7th (which coincidentally happened to be another band member’s birthday – Billy K). All three of those versions were very rough (to put it charitably), and many fans assumed that the song was DOA. The band must have spent time working on it in the studio because this performance is delivered with oodles of confidence and sounds the way it would on the album and all future performances. I was never a big fan of the song because it sounded like a pimped-out version of Hell In A Bucket, but boy does this version rock! 

Next up is an upbeat Half-Step. Garcia is in fine form, and Brent’s piano is twinkling. In a surprising move, the band plays the instrumental part of the Rio Grande-O section, but skips the vocal part, making this a shorter version than usual. I’m not sure whether this was intentional or not. Garcia switches to his Mu-Tron effect, and the song kind of washes out with a brief pause of uncertainty. Maybe he realized that he forgot the vocal outro of Half-Step. Anyway, the band quickly recovers and forges right into Feel Like a Stranger, which makes for a nice transition since both songs are in the same key  It’s a great choice that keeps the energy high and perhaps signals that things will indeed “get stranger” later as Brent growls, “It’s gonna be a long, long crazy, crazy night.” Garcia gets nice and funky in the jam to create a full-on dance party in the Meadowlands.

In another rare move, Bobby gives the “blues slot” to Brent this evening who leads the band through Good Times Blues (aka Never Trust A Woman). It’s an unrecorded song that debuted on 8/28/81 and was played less than 50 times ever. It was refreshing to hear something other than Rooster, Minglewood, Walkin’ Blues, and CC Rider. The change must have invigorated the band because they completely nail this version. Brent never wasted an opportunity to shine on his own songs and his vocals and B-3 organ solo are amazing. This is a stand-out performance of a song that would be played only 4 more times!

Jerry follows with Built To Last – another new song on the upcoming album. This is a great version, however, the song would be played only two times more before being retired forever. It makes one question the wisdom of choosing to name an album after a song that would not remain in their repertoire.

Another surprise awaits as the band breaks the usual song rotation between Jerry and Bob. Tonight the birthday boy gets to sing lead vocals on the next two songs. Memphis Blues Again fills the “Dylan slot” nicely. Bobby is all over this version with lots of exaggerated vocals. I love how versatile Brent is with his solo on Memphis Blues. Sometimes he uses his electric keyboard, sometimes he selects a MIDI sound, and other times, like this evening, he plays his B-3 organ. As soon as the band plays the last note, Bobby begins strumming the chords to Let It Grow. This is an exquisite performance. The “rise and fall” section is particularly gnarly with Garcia effortlessly switching his sounds and getting some nice guitar runs in. 

“Let it Grow” was typically a first-set closer during this era, but the band gives us a bonus song with Deal. 1989 was a very good year for Deal, as exemplified by the versions on 6/21 (Shoreline), 7/19 (Alpine) and 7/4 (Buffalo), all of which fall within the top 10 rankings on the website, headyversion.com with the latter ranking #1 and #2 respectively. Tonight’s version doesn’t quite reach those amazing heights but still holds a respectable #12 rank, which is to say that it is quite the barn burner. With their jam chops sufficiently warmed-up, Bobby announces a break. What a great first set filled with jams, uptempo songs, and rarities.

The air was thick with anticipation when the band returned for the second set as everybody held their collective breath hoping…wishing…praying…for “IT.” Things got eerily quiet and then Jery played the first signature notes of Dark Star. The New York audience explodes with joy. Smiles, high-fives and hugs abounded everywhere. Euphoria. This starts out as a very melodic Star that doesn’t really stray from the usual pre-first verse theme. The first verse comes after about six minutes. Jerry’s voice sounds a little rough but the spirit is clearly there. The post-lyrics jam continues with the melodic theme but starts to show signs of weirdness at around the 9 1/2 minute mark. If you listen carefully you can hear Jerry switch the key signature from A to D to set up the transition into Playing In The Band. He blasts off some rapid, spacey runs at around the 11 minute mark, which land on the introduction of Playing. Now it becomes clear that the band is treating us to a set that is similar to Hampton, except in a different sequence. 

At 8 minutes, this is a relatively short Playing, but the band flexes its spacey muscles very concisely. Here, Jerry explores his MIDI library more than he did in Dark Star. I especially love his use of the pan flute at the 3:40 minute mark. So trippy!! The jam becomes melodic again as Jerry leads the way into a super-kind Uncle John’s Band. This is a very upbeat version with strong vocals by everybody. The D-minor jams in the middle and end of the song are spectacular – more cerebral than rocking. Garcia briefly re-states the Playing theme, and then goes off into the cosmos of deeper and deeper space until finally there is nowhere else to go except surrender the stage to the dummers, where we were treated to the Beam.

I must admit that hearing the opening strains of I Will Take You Home was disappointing because it did not seem to fit with the spacey theme the band created. But, once again, Brent puts on a stellar performance, which is accompanied by the lovely accents of Jerry’s MIDI french horn.  Brent holds the last line, “I willllllllllllll….take you home.” This is followed by a swell of feedback out of which Bobby slams into I Need A Miracle. The loud, thrashing music is jarring and at odds with the overall vibe of the set thus far. It is perhaps the only possible misstep of the entire evening, but thankfully it is short and leads back into a reprise of Dark Star, which at this point feels like “home base.” All is quickly forgiven. Jerry stays on the melodic theme for almost four minutes of blissful serenity before delivering the second verse. A few descending notes later Jerry starts Attics of My Life. These two magical songs were combined only once before – the famous Capitol Theater show on 6/24/70!!! What a treat! This was the first time most of us had heard a live performance of Attics, and the audience stood in almost complete silence hanging on every lyric. This was church!!! The band delivers the lyrics tenderly like a fragile prayer, and the all-important harmonies are gorgeously sung. 

The show could have ended right there as far as I was concerned but the band cleverly segues into Playing to complete the reprise the same way they did with Dark Star. First there was chaos in the universe, and now there is symmetry. Damn, this band is good. 

Jerry, Bob, Phil and Brent returned without instruments to end this epically throw-back show the only way possible – with a gospel-infused version of And We Bid You Goodnight. It remains one of the most memorable shows I have ever seen.

10/16/89 was memorialized as the live album Nightfall of Diamonds. Here’s the Spotify widget.

More soon.

JF

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[jonasmaurer]

Friday Faves

Hi friends! Happy Friday and happy last weekend of 2018. I feel like I haven’t seen you in so long! We have so much catching up to do. I’ve spent the past week enjoying the holidays with the crew and each day has been incredibly full. There were many days that have blurred together – so often I can’t remember what we did yesterday – and this week, I’ve found myself constantly wondering what’s happening and what day of the week it is.

The girls are the best ages right now and it’s been my favorite winter break so far. We go to bed, and instead of feeling totally spent, I can’t wait to wake up and do it all over again. I also don’t miss school drop off AT ALL. We’ve slept until at least 8 or 8:30 every day (a Christmas miracle! Just don’t ask what time we go to sleep), and it’s such a treat to enjoy slow mornings instead of the usually before-school hustle. We’ve had such a blast together already and I’m already sad we only get one more week of break. Yesterday while I was putting Christmas stuff away, P said, “Why are you taking down the decorations?” I explained that Christmas was over so it was time to put things away and get ready for New Years. She said, “I’m so sad right now. I miss Christmas already.” Me too, girl.

Some fun pics from the past week:

Gingerbread decorating party with the cousins. I picked up these gingerbread sets at World Market on Black Friday and they were PRE-ASSEMBLED, which was clutch. We listened to Christmas music while we decorated, and the kiddos ate about 5 pieces for every one that went on their house. Doin’ it right. 

Cheese board from our girls’ night gift exchange. My friend asked me to make a board, so I rolled up with my enormous paddle and all of the cheeses/toppings in a bag. It still came together pretty well and I added some festive touches (rosemary, pomegranate) along with the usual staples (different cheeses, charcuterie, Skinny Dipped almonds, Whisps, Simple Mills crackers, olives, jam, mustard, dried fruit, fresh fruit, etc.).

Holiday nails. I still love the dip powder! I found an awesome place in Tucson if any of my local friends want the info. 

Christmas Eve, getting ready to head to my dad’s house. We feasted on tamales, enchiladas, beans, rice, and a festival of desserts before opening gifts with dad’s side of the fam. The weather was also gorgeous so all of the cousins could run around and play on their backyard playground.

Our favorite guy was missing the festivities, but we’re excited to see his face again soon.

No egg nog was consumed in his honor. It just isn’t the same without him exploding it all over the kitchen.

Santa came!! The girls were pumped. They loved all of their gifts, but some of the hits were the melting snowman in their stocking, the enormous giraffe, this doll house, this ET book, and their Caboodles. They’ve absolutely loved filling them with little treasures. P also asked for “gym clothes” this year – I told you guys that she’s really into running right now – so she really enjoyed trying on all of her new outfits. She’s rocked athleisure every day this week.

My dad and stepmom got Liv a Hatchimal and watching that thing hatch was a hoot. We were all huddled around the Hatchimal intrigued and elated by everything that was happening. You’d think a live baby animal was being born at my dad’s house. No, it was an electronic bird pecking its way out of a giant toy egg. What is this life?

Cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. We had brunch here at the house, so I made nana’s famous egg dish, the best cinnamon rolls, mimosas, and coffee, and madre brought over tamales, rice, beans, grammies, and coffee cake. I also set out a cookie tray from all of the baking we did over the past couple of weeks. (It makes it so easy to freeze everything and they set it all out on xmas. It tastes totally fresh and you can have a better variety that way!) We spent the day eating, opening gifts, drinking mimosas, and watching Christmas Story before heading out to see the new Mary Poppins movie. (I LOVED Lin and Emily Blunt, but don’t hate me.. I found the music to be underwhelming. We still had a great time and let’s be real, if you put me in a dark room with an enormous vat of popcorn I’m going to be happy no matter what happens.) 

Beauty/fashion:

This hair tie holder! This holds your hair ties so you don’t get weird dents in your arm. 

Beautycounter is having a HUGE sale. Check it out here! (If you haven’t tried anything yet and need help with products, please let me know.)

They’re selling out of a lot of products quickly, but you can still get the Instant Awakening Trio (which has the peel — my very fave product), mini lipgloss vault (all of the colors are flattering ) and this gorgeous palette. If you have New Year’s goals so switch to safer skincare, now is a great time to try out some of these incredible staples.

Read, watch, listen:

Thank you so much to WebMD for featuring me in this article about the new exercise guidelines.

My latest post for the WebMD blog can be found here! This one is all about working out when you don’t really feel like it.

This is an awesome dad!

The best news of 2018.

Hilarious tweets from parents.

Give me all of the scheduling and productivity hacks.

If you’re starting to plan for New Years, here are some of my most popular New Years-ish posts:

5 things to keep in mind for New Year’s resolutions

4 workouts everyone needs to try

Meal prep ideas here!

Steps to accomplish your fitness goals

Back in the fitness game workout

Eats/ recipes:

This Pinch of Yum chicken, lemon, and asparagus recipe. It was so easy to put together, and we enjoyed it one evening with sweet potatoes from the Instant pot. Dinner was served in about 15 minutes. 

This glorious plate of grammies on the table on Christmas morning. 

Happy Friday, friends! I’ll see ya on Monday sharing my goals for 2019 and some tips for going after your fitness and health goals!

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by the blog today. <3

xo

Gina

Random question: what was the best book you read in 2018? After finally finishing Eleanor Olliphant is Completely Fine (and feeling very down when it ended. No spoilers, but the ending just was rough/sad for me) I’m on the lookout for something new!

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[cynthiaandsamus]

New visiting muse poll is up! Since this is the biggest poll I’ve ever had I thought I’d give some snippets about my thoughts on each pair to let everyone know what they’re like and where their place in the villa would be.

Maki Oze and Tamaki Kotatsu from Fire Force: Fire fighting cuties! Anyone who’s seen the show knows what a delight these two are, between the toned and beautiful big sister witch with a hair trigger Maki and the fire cat that literally can’t keep her clothes on Tamaki, these two would be sure to liven up Villa life!

Caulfila and Cheelai from Dragon Ball Super: Spunky girls with a thing for Super Saiyan Berserkers. Both are used to rolling with bad crowds whether it’s Caulfila’s gang of Saiyan ruffians or Cheelai’s street gang before she joined the Frieza Force, both don’t take any guff from anyone. Caulifla tends to be more brash and loud and Cheelai is more kind yet sneaky, these muscle loving girls of destruction will sure bring some energy to Cynthia’s place.

Ayla from Chrono Trigger and Kohaku from Dr. Stone: The cavegirl duo, Ayla tends to be more of what you’d expect from a cavegirl, brash, blunt and comes with a horde of trained dinosaurs, but this prehistoric beauty also has a flirty side as well, coming from a time before shame was invented she makes no bones about what or who she likes and will take what she wants. Kohaku is more eloquent and thoughtful but no less skilled and dangerous. Living in a stone world where people are out for her hide has taught her how to defend herself from all kinds of nasty surprises, though she too is puzzled by the modern conveniences of Cynthia’s villa and will likely have a few fun surprises during her stay.

Shino Ashido “Sinon” and Suguha Kirigaya “Leafa” from Sword Art Online: A long-time tenant of these polls, these girls may have teenage tastes but they are no doubt young women of class. Gifted with special holographic collars by Cynthia that lets them take the form of any of their game avatars while at the villa, these two are looking for more escapist fun than a normal game world can provide. Sinon has grown a taste only for women after her previous experiences with men and though she’s a bit prickly she’s still the badass gunslinger we all know and love. The busty gamer Suguha tends to prefer hanging out in her normal appearance while she’s away from prying eyes but the elf girl Leafa is also down for some vacationing as well. After her experiences in several game worlds she’s looking to try new things and see what the real world has to offer.

Lusamine and Dawn from Pokemon: Two girls that need no introduction, both these ladies have a pre-established relationship with Cynthia and have been waiting for a chance to stay long-term at the villa. The Aether Corporation head is a strong and determined if slightly out there mother that like Cynthia knows what she wants and takes it. The two have long held meetings about who the cutest trainers are and what to do with their mounting fortunes. Meanwhile, topping said list for Cynthia most of the time, Dawn is an up and coming Sinnoh trainer with her eyes not only on the Championship but also on the Champion~ She and Cynthia have quite a playful relationship and on the outside she’s as cute as a button, but seeing Samus getting so cozy with Cynthia may bring out some jealous thoughts in her.

Skyla and Elesa from Pokemon: Another long time visiting muse option, essentially Cynthia and Samus 2.0, a busty determined airhead and her slender blonde companion that has to put up with her, truly these two were made for the villa. The experienced pilot and lovely bubbly Skyla has more enthusiasm than sense sometimes but the pun-loving fashion model Elesa will be sure to keep her straight... figuratively speaking of course.

Ayaka Sunohara from Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-Sou and Mamako Oosuki from Do You Love Your Mother and Her Two-Hit Multi Target Attacks? (shortened for brevity (and mercy) in the poll): What would a visiting muse poll be without Milfs? Shorter, that’s what! The busty caretaker of Sunohara boarding house Ayaka Sunohara has been left to care for the place after her grandmother retired and is now looking for a place to stay and relax for herself. A beacon of motherly kindness and dependability, Ayaka is everything you could ask for in a soft lover but also a determined and stern parental figure that is seemingly good at all domestic skills and gets extremely handsy when she drinks. Mamako Oosuki is a doting yet flighty mother who doesn’t know the first thing about video games and yet commands RPG powers that would make Kirito blush. This mother seems to more often than not find herself in lecherous compromising positions despite her ability to take out almost anything in one hit. Deep down her kind and gentle soul will (literally) light up your heart.

Kagome Higurashi and Sango from Inuyasha: Well there’s a sequel coming, so why not? A normal (if by normal you mean the reincarnation of literally the only person that can purify an ancient jewel with phenomenal mystic power) schoolgirl, Kagome Higurashi found herself in a world of demons, warlords and gravity-defying miniskirts. Despite being a fish out of water Kagome proved herself to be someone of upstanding character who always helps those in need. Wanting nothing more than a feudal fairy tail, this beautiful girl has become somewhat disillusioned with her old world and needs a break, once again heading for another world: Cynthia’s villa, hijinks ensue. Meanwhile the prodigy of the demon slaying clan, Sango and her pet demon Kilala also join Kagome on her trip. Sango’s a kind but no-nonsense kind of girl and it can take a while for her to open up, but it’s worth it to find out because you’ll have a beautiful partner... or a giant boomerang to the head, place your bets.

Riza Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist and Yuffie Kisaragi from Final Fantasy VII: A last-minute entry, Riza Hawkeye is a straight-laced military woman mostly here to keep an eye on the troublemaking ninja she has in tow. That being said, her stern demeanor will surely clash with the villa’s laid back approach but maybe once she warms up to Samus and some of the others she’ll learn to loosen up and have a little fun as well. At the same time, Yuffie Kisaragi is a mischievous ninja who came to Cynthia’s villa for one reason and one reason only: to cause trouble and get into people’s pants.... okay maybe that’s two reasons. But whether it’s stealing their underwear while they’re wearing them or using her unorthodox dorky kunoichi seduction, she’s going to get into those pants one way or another.

Note: Tifa will still be around for a little bit, since she’s so popular I’ll be phasing her out more slowly as the new muses get settled, though Lara will be leaving once the new girls come in