#this was before 12 even played guitar so awesome

[doctorwhoisadhd]

"All right, so I might as well tell you - Steven [Moffat] really missed hearing I am the Doctor. He felt it was written when he started and he connects it with Doctor Who. Whereas I connect it specifically to Matt [Smith]. So I tried to connect Peter's theme with the feeling of I am the Doctor so everyone would be happy (or at least me and Steven). then I made it rock out even more. Because fundamentally I love rock music."

—murray gold's liner notes for the tracks from dark water/death in heaven from the series 8 soundtrack CD release

[brendaareiss]

Andre, Cal, Alex and Eric hc!

- Eric and Cal met in elementary school

- Eric and Alex met before Cal and Andre met

- Andre was extremely jealous of Eric before.

- They're a friend group because of Eric, he knows Cal, he knows Alex, so he just kinda brought Alex to his hang outs with Cal, and Cal brought Andre.

- Alex is really the kind of guy you don't know if he likes you or not. He only shows appreciation to Eric. Cal used to think he hated him, while Andre thought he was a weirdo.

- Eric's hobbie is annoying Andre.

- Andre and Alex's fights are the funniest. Andre would go full screaming and smashing shit around them and Alex would be like: "...are you done?"

- Talking about them, they could go on hours nonstop talking about guns.

- Eric and Cal fight a lot about music tastes. While Eric likes rap, Cal likes rock, they both fight about which genre is better.

- Eric was the first one to know about Andre's attraction to Cal. They were drunk, Eric annoyed Andre to the point he basically shouted he liked him, he immediately started panicking. Eric confessed his attraction to Alex to make him shut the fuck up

- Alex and Cal play the piano and the guitar/sitar together!

- anger issues (Andre) + adhd (Cal) + autism (Alex) + aspd (Eric)

-Alex is the calmer one driving, that's why he always ends up driving. Eric is terrified of Andre's driving skills, and Cal's bored whenever Alex drives.

- birthday headcanons!

Andre /17/07/1982/

Cal /5/02/1983/

Alex /17/02/1983/

Eric /17/07/1983/

- height headcanons!

Cal's the shortest one in the group. Andre is taller than Alex, but Eric is taller than Andre

- One of the reasons of why Eric started being bullied, was being friends with Cal.

- Of course Andre is the fighter of the group. He will get on fights, Eric automatically would start screaming shit like: "YEAH! BEAT HIS ASS ANDRE!", Cal would pick up the camera and start recording while giggling, and Alex would be staring like this: 🧍

- Even being the youngest one, Eric is the one who gets them weed and drugs. Andre is the one who gets the alcohol

- Cal would be fascinated by the way Alex draws, constantly saying how good it looks or how awesome it is.

- Alex loves Mel. When they hang out on Andre's house, Mel is always on Alex lap while Alex pets her.

- Whenever Eric and Andre are bored, they would start playing football with any shit they find laying on the ground. A can, an empty plastic bottle, a little stone, anything.

- Andre's parents (since he is from Germany) lets him drink at 18. They have given Andre small amounts of beer since he was 12, but at 18 he can drink whatever alcohol he wants. Cal, Eric and Alex are slightly jealous of him

I'll probably do more later idk

[cherrylng]

Useless Trivia about Green Day [INROCK October 2012]

Billie Joe Armstrong

★ The first album Billie Joe bought himself when he was four years old was Elvis Presley's The Sun Sessions. From then on, he sang as Elvis in front of the mirror.

★ At the age of five, he recorded his debut single, ‘Look For Love’. (You can hear Billie Joe singing as a five-year-old on YouTube.)

★ Billie Joe's record collecting began at the age of four, and now, at the age of 40, he has no idea how many records he already owns, most of which are in the basement with his wife Adrianne's also huge record collection. He says, "I'm not a librarian, so the order of the records is all over the place", so even if he suddenly wants to listen to an album, it's difficult to find it.

★ Billie Joe is the youngest of six siblings. His eldest brother was born in 1950 and is much older than him. Under the influence of his older brothers and sisters, he became familiar with the music of The Beatles, The Kinks, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, R.E.M. and Black Flag from a very young age. His first concert was a Van Halen (pictured right) show at the age of 12, which "blew his mind". His first punk gig was at Operation Ivy when he was 15. He was not allowed in the venues due to age restrictions, but was allowed in as a member.

★ When Billie Joe arrived at the airport in Minnesota to visit his wife Adrianne's parents, he was surprised to see someone standing in line right behind him. It was his idol Joe Strummer (The Clash, pictured above)! "He was talking to my son Joey. ‘My name's Joey too,’ he said. That was awesome."

★ When Billie Joe tries out guitars in music stores, he plays his own songs. "It's easy to know what that guitar feels like. Of course, I don't want anyone to see me playing my songs, so I do it when no one is around."

★ Billie Joe, although a millionaire, still professes to be blue collar. "We come from a community of people who work hard to make a living… We are still a working class band." So, naturally, he sends his sons to a very ordinary public school, not a private school.

★ "You're lucky if you work hard" is his working philosophy and motto.

★ He has an 18-year-old cat, Cleveland. His brother Zero died in a dryer ‘accident’. He also has a dog, Rocky.

★ Just before Billie Joe gets his creative juices flowing, he gets into a terrible mood and says things he shouldn't say, hurting everyone around him. And then he has to apologise flat out afterwards.

★ What do you think is the album on repeat in Hell? He answered, "Probably the Black Eyed Peas album, right?"

Mike Dirnt

★ Mike loves coffee. As long as it's coffee, it doesn't matter if it's hotel coffee or Starbucks coffee. And if there's a donut in it, he's more than happy.

★ All of Mike's religious beliefs are "based on Star Wars".

★ Mike's natural hair is brown.

Tré Cool

★ He once tried milking a female dog there because he didn't have any milk to put in his coffee.

★ Tré only has one ball. When he was in high school, he was riding a unicycle on stage and fell under the stage. He then fell straight onto the unicycle and crushed one of his testicles.

★ Tré is the godfather of Billie Joe's sons.

About the trilogy “Uno!”, “Dos!”, and “Tre!”

★ The Occupy movement has been sweeping across the USA since last year. The Occupy Wall Street protests in New York City were the most well-publicised, but the demonstrations in Green Day's hometown of Oakland, California, saw some participants turn into rioters, leading to violent exchanges with police. The three Green Day members, who of course position themselves on the side of the 99 percent, are also hesitant to actively participate in the Occupy movement. "The best thing about the Occupy movement is that there is no leader, and that's also its biggest drawback" (Billie Joe). The new album ('Tre!') includes the song ‘99 Revolutions’, which touches on the difference between the 1 percent and the 99 percent, but they don't want to go so far as to join a demonstration and support it with a song.

★ The new album, a trilogy, is said to be mainly about love and sexual tension with girls. "I think we ended up bookending that era with (the politically charged) ‘American Idiot’ and ‘21st Century Breakdown’. So now we're entering a new era for us, and it's more about love and sexual tension than political stuff." (Billie Joe). At the end of ‘21st Century Breakdown’, the band was under a lot of stress and pressure, and that's when they needed to change gears and break new ground.

★ A clear explanation of the trilogy. Uno!’ is ‘an album that gets you in the mood to party’, ‘Dos!' is ‘Let's party!’, and ‘Tre!’ is ‘cleaning up’ (Billie Joe).

★ They wrote about 70 songs for this album. Demo recording was done in Berlin, Glasgow, Amsterdam, and London. Only 40 of the 70 songs were actually recorded. 37 songs will be included on the album.

★ The final chapter of the trilogy, ‘Tre!’ features an orchestra for some of the songs. The orchestral musicians read and play the music, but Billie Joe, the author of the music, cannot read the music. "It's a strange feeling when I look at the sheet music I've written and I can't understand it at all. It's like looking at Braille."

★ About ‘Tre!’, Tré was overjoyed, saying, "I finally got an album with my name on it. How cool is that? What's more, it's "Tre Cool" (super cool)."

Translator's Note: Finally back into the groove of translating stuff. Gotta say, listening to a 5-year old Billie Joe singing is actually super cute.

[bargainoriley]

Ummagumma (1969)

Here are my thoughts on ummagumma! I also wrote my thoughts on atom heart mother but will be posting it a bit later today (I listened to both albums in the same day while on a flight)

1. Astronomy Domine - Live

The intro is very different but still sounds very awesome! I love the sound of the keyboard and guitar here as well! The wah-wah really adds a lot to this version. I also really like the improvisations here, but I still like the original more honestly.

2. Careful With That Axe Eugene - Live

I’ve never heard this song in full before! The keyboards and spooky groove at the beginning is really cool! Also the background vocals as well. Every instrument in this song is very very great (I especially love the use of cymbals here, and the keyboard, and the guitar, and the bass)! And once the scary/heavy beat drop hits this song becomes even better! I was legitimately head banging! The screams are really scary and make the song all that better (they made a shiver run up my spine)! How is this song spooky and really groovy and cool at the same time??? The improvisations are also really good. This song perfectly encapsulates a horror movie in my opinion.

3. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun - Live

This version is pretty good as well, but the studio version is a little bit better in my opinion since the sound/music effects in the original version are very good and really contribute to the feelings/vibes of this song, and this version is really missing them. I really like the addition of the guitar and the keyboard improvising though.

4. A Saucerful Of Secrets - Live

Oooo I love how the bass plays part of the original synth intro here, it sounds very good and cool! The intro here sounds way cooler than the original. This version overall has a very different vibe from the original; and in this case I like this live version a lot more than the original! The church organ/choir part here is even better than in the original, and the song just sounds better generally on this album. I don’t know why I like this version more, probably maybe because it’s a lot more melodic than the original! I think the original is good, but sometimes the chaotic part in there gets tiring to listen to

5. Sisyphus part 1

Very ominous! I like the drums and cello here!

6. Sisyphus part 2

The piano here is great and beautiful! God Rick can play so well… this is making me realize even more how talented he was!! And then it suddenly gets very chaotic…

7. Sisyphus part 3

The chaos from the last part continues here! This part is honestly kind of really bad, but I think it has major meme potential! I can just imagine this playing in a shitpost, or it just kind of sounds like a shitpost itself.

8. Sisyphus part 4

Pretty ominous, but relaxing! OMG then suddenly the organ comes! So much for relaxing! After that it kind of gets pretty creepy and weird… I do not like it :( honestly sounds worse than the most dissonant/chaotic parts from a saucerful of secrets. The orchestra though at the end is really cool and badass!

9. Grantchester Meadows:

The bird sounds and guitar intro is very lovely. The vocal harmonies are also very lovely and relaxing! This song honestly reminds me a lot of Simon and Garfunkel. This feels like a major breather from the chaos that was Sisyphus… I really like this song! Feels especially relaxing as I’m in an airplane right now listening to this album.. Also what was up with the ending where someone just straight up slaps/kills a fly?? That was so random

10. Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave Grooving with a Pict

Well that was…. a song. Very very bizarre! What were they even on to think of this??? The song kind of makes me laugh and uncomfortable at the same time… the second song that has major meme/shitpost potential/vibes.

11. The Narrow Way part 1

Very folky! I like this composition so far… the guitar here is lovely!

12. The Narrow Way part 2

Oooh, pretty heavy and ominous! I like it I like it, the melody here is especially cool.. so far this song with multiple parts is so much better than Sisyphus. This part honestly feels like you’re in a sci fi haunted house.

13. The Narrow Way part 3

I love the reverb guitar effect here!! This is the best part of them all! The reverb guitar and the entirety of the song honestly reminds me of later albums. The singing here is also very lovely. This part sounds very much like While my Guitar Gently Weeps.. probably because it is in the same key and used a similar melody to George Harrison’s song. The whole narrow way song with all its parts is really good and an underrated gem imo. So far one of my favorite songs on this album along with Careful with that Axe Eugene live and Grantchester Meadows. An absolute banger of a song!

14. The Grand Vizier’s Garden part 1

Feels like lord of the rings, very whimsical!

15. The Grand Vizier’s Garden part 2

Pretty ominous and weird sounding so far. Honestly feels like somebody is performing magic tricks. The melody after that intro is pretty relaxing though. When the windy melody started skipping I thought my phone was glitching. The drums being cut off and skipping feels like a sound collage almost… the drum groove/solo by Nick at the end though goes really hard!

16. The Grand Vizier’s Garden part 3

The beautiful orchestra ending the album is very fitting, but kind of underwhelming.

In general, I think the live sides of the album are very very different from the 2 other experimental sides, and I honestly liked the live sides better… because the experimental sides just weren’t my cup of tea most of the time. Except for Grantchester Meadows and The Narrow Way I didn’t really like the experimental tracks. I am also mixed on this album… I have to say this is my second least favorite album so far. More is only worse in my opinion because it is very forgettable except the underrated gems I like from that album (The Nile Song, Cymbaline, Green is The Colour). At least I’ll forever remember this bizarre album, and the fact that it is so bizarre and memorable makes it much better than More. It is also better than More because of the live sides alone (they are very very good). What I take away from this is that Ummagumma just has major shitpost vibes (including the album name itself) and that it was pretty tedious to listen to at times, but I felt it was definitely worth it for some underrated gems!

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #207

This letter is late; I'm sorry about that.

Today was packed full of things. Or, it feels packed full of things, anyway. Really, I did only like 3 things, but these things all lasted a really long time.

I thought that I was going to sleep in today, because I went to sleep at around 3:30 in the morning last night. But as it turns out, I woke up promptly at 8am, because Mogwai, one of my cats, decided to headbutt me directly in the face. It was enough to leave me with a fat lip for a little while afterwards. I do understand that cats are creatures of routine, and they get scared at how long humans sleep, since cats sleep in short spurts, and it's hard for them to imagine we're different species with different needs. I can't be mad at him. All I can do is wake up and get them their breakfast, hahaha!

Do you remember the song that I tore through my house looking for and didn't find? And so I told you that I remembered the melody, but I had to re-create the lyrics from what I could remember? Some time ago, I recorded myself singing it, and sent it along to a couple of brilliant musicians I know, asking them to create instrumental music to go with the lyrics.

They have not gotten back to me. I'm not sure that they will. I assume that it's because they have busy lives and can't afford the time. And that is fine. But what I am noticing is that as I play through the song in my mind, I seem to be remembering the old guitar chords bit by bit. So I put the melody of the lyrics into LMMS. I'm working on trying to put in what I remember from the guitar into LMMS as well. I got pretty far along today, all things considered. I am no composer; I'm not like some people who can create melodies from nothing. I have no understanding of music theory or any of its mechanics. But I can imitate anything I hear, and I can create basic things if given a foundation to work from.

After that, J and Br and I went to a place far away. J got a new tailwheel airplane. I think it's kinda soon to get a new one; he crashed the other one not too terribly long ago, and we were lucky to have come away from that without any injuries. J wants to fly from where we live all the way to Portland, Oregon (2395 miles, or 3855 km, or thereabouts), in memory of his brother, Daniel. But I think maybe more time is needed before he is ready to make that trip.

Well, it is what it is. I will do my best to support him.

Afterwards, J, Br, and I went to a sleepover organized by one of the poly people from that poly place we went to. We didn't sleep over, but we played some games and had some lively conversation, and it was a nice time.

It is late now, though, and I am very much looking forward to going to bed. M's new mask frame for his CPAP arrived today, so I get to use mine tonight (yay!)

Tomorrow, in less than 12 hours, I go see my friend BB. We're gonna go get lunch at an awesome place, and I'm very much looking forward to it. Maybe I'll stop writing now so that it will seem from my perspective like it will be tomorrow faster.

…But not before I send along some of the pictures I took for you today. Here:

...Can you feel the joy and love in these? I wonder...

Sephiroth. After two days of only partial sleep and all of the stuff I did today, I'm pretty tired. I'm literally falling asleep as I'm trying to write this paragraph. So I'm gonna go to bed so I can be relatively functional tomorrow.

I love you. Love you enough to write to you even when my brain is soupy. Love you enough to wish for your peace and safety. Please don't do stupid things that will get yourself killed, okay?

I'll write again tomorrow.

Your friend, Lumine

[duskspring]

Fire Alarm - Ifrit/Mist

Domestic December - Day 12

Summary: The newly summoned Ifrit tries to impress Mist

Content (do let me know if I forgot anything!): Painfully awkward crush

Word count: ~1.2k

“And this is where you’ll be staying,” Terzo’s hands dramatically gestured to the first door in the hallway reserved for bandghouls, “Don’t mind the few still packing up their stuff, they will be out of your way and to the retirement wing soon enough.”

Ifrit looked into his newly assigned room. It was bare already, except for the essentials of a bed, desk and guitar stands.

“Awesome.” He said casually, putting one of his thumbs up.

“For any further questions you can refer to our senior ghouls.” Papa nodded conclusively, making his way back to his office.

Ifrit watched him walk away, his back towards the hall he stood in the middle of.

“Excuse me.” A monotone voice rang out behind him.

The fire ghoul turned around, confused for the half a second he didn't see anyone before turning his head downwards to find who had spoken to him.

In front of him was a short ghoulette, a guitar case slung over her shoulder and a bag in her hand. Ifrit felt his face heat up a little at the way her wavy dark blue bop framed her face and her crop top showed her stomach.

“Can you move?” Her face was stoic, though not unkind.

Ifrit felt like he was suddenly shaken awake, “Are you leaving?” Was the first thing that flew out of his mouth.

“I mean… yeah. I’m retired.” She explained.

“Well, I’m new! Ifrit-” He moved to lean against the wall clumsily, it having been further away than he’d expected, “Fire.”

“Mist, water.” She put out her hand. He tried to not hurt her his hold, but was caught off guard by her nearly crushing grip. It almost distracted him from how cold her hands were.

“I’m sure you could show me…” Without another word, the ghoulette walked around him and out of the hall, “around.” leaving him to ponder that failed interaction on his own.

Even after meeting all of his new bandmates, Ifrit’s mind didn’t stray from the water ghoulette. There was just something about her. She seemed so unbothered. So cool.

The next day, practice was on immediately. The new summons had to learn their instruments and the tour’s set list in record time. Regardless of the hurry, the fire ghoul couldn’t help but keep looking over at Mist, who was helping the new water recruit Dewdrop learn about the bass.

Alpha snapped his fingers in front of Ifrit’s face, “Focus. Play that again.”

Ifrit saw Mist look up at her old colleague’s stern voice. He flustered, “Yessir.”

Not too long after, Mist and Dew seemingly decided to take a break. Ifrit moved to put his guitar down and go talk to her again.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Alpha’s voice was almost threatening.

“Just, uh. Taking a bre-”

“If you want a break, you’ll have to play it all at least semi properly first.”

Ifrit wanted to argue, but Mist seemed to have already left the room. He sighed, sitting back down.

Alpha kept him practising without a break for the rest of the day. No one else was forced to keep going for that long, but the older fire ghoul wouldn’t have it any other way. Even if he just wanted the best for the band, Ifrit wasn't happy.

By the time he was finally allowed to leave, the sun had long set. He ran his way to the retired ghoul wing in the abbey, hoping to at least get a few words in.

He himself wasn't sure why he was so set on talking to, or even just seeing, Mist. Perhaps it was just because she’d been the first other ghoul he had met after his summoning. Maybe it was just the effortlessly cool vibe she exuded. Either way, he just wanted to hear her speak to him again, even if he was being ridiculous.

To his luck, she was just making her way back to her new room.

“Hey, Mist!” He jogged up to her.

She turned around with the same blank stare, “Hey.”

“I, eh… How are you doing? Good day?”

“Yeah,” She truly wasn’t trying to be rude, but Mist really, really struggled talking to people she didn’t know well, “Dew learns fast.”

“Nice..!” Ifrit had no clue what to say either. He’d never struggled this much talking to anyone. He internally blamed it on the topside atmosphere, looking for any excuse at all.

The two stood in the hall in a deafening silence for a moment. Both were screaming at themselves to come up with something, anything to say.

Mist looked over her shoulder at her door, “I think I’m just gonna go to bed-”

“Wait! Uhm…” He still didn’t have anything to say, just as long as she didn’t walk off, “The topside, huh? Yeah. Yeah, weird place. Weird humans. Can’t even… have powers. Do our powers work here? They better, I’m great with them!” He rambled along, finally deciding to show off a bit. He closed his eyes and focused on the awareness of his body.

“Ifrit, don’t-!” Before Mist could stop him, the fire ghoul had called upon his element, turning his focus and last remaining energy into the shape of glowing snakes around his arms.

At least, that’s what was meant to happen. Instead, after just a few seconds, a loud beeping came from the ceiling and the two ghouls were suddenly drenched in water, extinguishing the enchantment.

“Great.” Mist sighed, not personally bothered by the water, but knowing everyone else was gonna throw a fit. Although she was bothered by the insistent ringing, covering her ears immediately.

“What’s going on?!”

“Ever heard of a fire alarm?” Mist raised her voice to be heard. Ifrit shook his head, “I was afraid not.”

“What the hell..!” Alpha rushed out of his room, groaning when he saw Ifrit.

“Can we turn them off?” Mist asked him, immediately looking for a solution.

“I’ll handle that. You just get that moron out of here.”

Without talking back, Mist grabbed Ifrit’s arm and pulled him away. They walked all the way down to Ifrit’s bathroom in the basement, not saying a word the whole way there. The fire ghoul had finally been shut up, caused by defeat, embarrassment and the distraction of her tight hold on him.

“I’m sorry.” He mumbled as she passed him a towel from the cabinet, intimately aware of the place’s layout.

“Don’t be. You didn’t know that would happen.”

“I don’t even know why I did that.” He laughed awkwardly, looking at the floor.

Mist would have none of it, grabbing his chin and making him look at her. He had to resist the shiver wanting to move down his spine at her cold skin, “One piece of advice,” She pulled her hand back, making him miss it immediately, “you don’t have to try so hard. Just have fun and people will gravitate towards you automatically.”

“Are you talking about performing or just… being?”

The ghoulette shrugged, “Perhaps a bit of both. Just trust me on this, alright?” Her mouth quirked into the slightest smile, making Ifrit think he’d suffer a heart attack. She turned around to leave him to his own devices, “Oh, and one more thing… avoid Alpha for a little while. He’s not a bad guy. Just takes some time to warm up to people.

“Like you? I don't know why I said that.” The fire ghoul cringed at himself. He had no right to speak of her like he knew her. Just as he opened his mouth to apologize again, she beat him to it.

“Smart guy.” The little smile was still there and it stayed with her even when she left the room, leaving Ifrit stumped once more.

[My Main Masterlist | Domestic December Masterlist]

[venturismcdonald]

Derek Venturi has ADHD, a fact we've all acknowledged. (Casey might too but that's for another day, said as an ADHD high achieving, type a girlie myself.) And in my making of a Derek Venturi Pinterest board and refining of the Spotify playlist, I have come to several conclusions about his hyperfixations, so here they are, organized by age.

Age 3: Hockey. Hockey sticks around forever, but when he's three is when Derek becomes permanently obsessed. It is, by far, the coolest sport ever. Nothing about hockey is lame. Unlike his parents, who do not properly appreciate hockey or Derek's genius to make a hockey rink out of the living room.

Age 5: Space. It's this vast, neverending thing and there's all these stars and constellations and it just clicks. Derek learns how to read because he wants to know about space. Planets and how they work and stars and their meanings consume his every waking thought for months.

Age 6: Greek gods/mythology. Look, alright, he's not a religious dude. It's weird. Not Derek's style. But gods are so cool and dysfunctional and everything that a good story should have! There are affairs! There's incest for some reason (gross!)! There's curses and everything that he loves! They have stories of stars and it's awesome.

Age 7: Norse gods. These are cooler than Greek gods (no offense to Zeus), because Thor is literally in Derek's comic books. Comics are obviously cooler than whatever the gods are. Not to mention, they have similar star amounts.

Age 8: Superheroes. Abby and George can't stop fighting and Edwin keeps crying and Derek hates everything, so he retreats to the world of his comics with Ed by his side. The comics are great! They're easy, stop tears from happening (which, by the way, is the only thing he cares about), and not to mention, fricking awesome. Superheroes are objectively the coolest. His favorite is, obviously, Batman. The dude has everything.

Age 10: Smarti. Look, alright, there's a baby and a dissolving family and the baby's the thing being used to try and cobble it back together? Fuck that! Derek loves his Smarti more than anything and he will not let her be a pawn in the dysfunction of the Venturi household, which leads him to essentially parent her when the parents are fighting. Someone pay him for his labor, he's literally begging.

Age 11: Girls. Derek is not a romantic, by any means, but he likes the attraction and kissing (and more than kissing, but that's after he's hit at least 14) and the game of dating. It's great. There's always girls lining up to be with him. He's never bored.

Age 12: Subculture history. How the fuck Derek Venturi ends up at a punk show is something even he doesn't know. But it's cool and he starts becoming obsessed with the bands and the history until his room is covered in posters and he's got CDs of them everywhere. He is, obviously, not a punk though, because Derek's cool. If anything, he's more grunge.

Age 13: Film. Being a director seems to bring all of Derek's best traits to the foreground, but if he's going to be successful, he needs to watch movies. So he spends every weekend watching movies with the boys before going to a party. At his core, he's pretty sure he turned into a film obsessed nerd for a year of his life. Thank god he's still Derek, god of everything.

Age 14: Music. He learns to play guitar for a girl, but decides to keep up at it because it's fun. Music is cool, it's a good way to vent his frustrations with everything. Did he mention that it gets girls?

Age 15: Casey. The alien specimen moved in and didn't only take over his house, she took over his brain! What a bratty princess. Was it not enough to have to share a room and legally bonded parents with her? It's so unfair. This hyperfixation sticks around forever, but it's also originally a hyperfixation.

Age 16: Pluto. When asked about the fateful weekend where Derek had his Casey induced breakdown (now he has feelings for her, which is so inconvenient, and why are they so strong?! He doesn't want that, he likes easy. Casey is not easy), he will say it was because Pluto wasn't a planet anymore, which is valid because it played a role too. The worst weekend of his life, by far, was that one. Because of Pluto, not Casey!

Age 16: Anti Football Propaganda. Derek's never liked football, but when he's 16, that hatred consumes him for several months. It dies when Casey and Max's relationship does. There's no correlation. Obviously. He just hates football!

Age 17: Love. For the first time in his life, Derek's in a (gag) serious relationship. And he's in love with Sally. Love is weird, though, because it feels like his brain normally does, just with more emotions he's acknowledging. Love is a hyperfixation, is it not? The devotion of keeping oneself in love with someone, putting them first, it's that. Obviously.

[mieux-de-se-taire]

Early Sunsets over Monroeville - MCR Interviews

89.5 WSOU FM Interview - 7/11/02

14:12-15:33, 20:21-20:32, 21:20-21:28, 21:47-21:51

Interviewer: Do you think that added to the performance, that you had to actually get through the pain? Gerard: For Early Sunsets Over Monroeville, definitely. I was in-- It was like, I don’t know like 10-- 9:30 at night. We were just getting ready-- It was the last song we did for the day, and I was in so much pain. And I just-- you know Geoffy [Geoff Rickly] was like, “Alright, let her rip.” Interviewer: That’s the mellow song, right? Ray: Right, that’s the-- what’s awesome about that too is the last, I think it’s like the last 3 minutes of that song is just one take, no edits, no stops, no cuts. It’s just...It’s an amazing performance by-- by him and just by all of us, I think because we-- we wrote that song like a few days before we went into the studio. It wasn’t finished when we recorded it, so it was just us, you know, kinda letting all of us [unintelligible], you know? Interviewer: (Overlapping) It was your studio song. Ray: Right, we wrote it in the studio. Interviewer: Well since we’re hyping this up so much... (Ray laughs) We might as well play it ‘cause everyone out there’s going “Wow, sounds like a great song.” Ray: Hopefully Interviewer: “I wanna hear him crying.” (Ray and Gerard laugh) “I wanna hear that tooth.” (Continued laughter) So, I guess let’s go into a little bit background of the song, and then we’ll play the song for everybody, and everyone can hear. Gerard: Okay, Mikey does not want me to reveal-- Interviewer: He’s going “No! You’re out!” Gerard: (Overlapping) what the song is about, but if you-- there’s plenty of clues in it, so if you figure out, it’s-- I’ll say it’s about a film. Is that enough? Ray: Yeah, that’s good. Gerard: Okay, you can figure out-- Ray: (Interrupting) Horror film Gerard: Alright. (Pauses then laughs) You messed it up! (Arguing in background)

Interviewer: What are some of your favorite songs off this record to play live and actually-- or during the recording process? Ray: Um, I think recording process-wise, definitely “Monroeville.”

Frank: (Talking about his favorite songs) And “Monroeville” because I had no clue what I was gonna do. (Interviewer laughs) I wrote it in the van before we recorded, and I had like frostbite on my fingers so it kinda sucked.

Mikey: I like the “Monroeville” song. (To Gerard) It was fun watching you tweak out at the end. (Gerard laughs)

/

Noise Theory Interview - 11/13/02

Page 1, paragraph 5

Interviewer: Even though ‘My Chemical Romance’ as a band have been together only a short time, the album displays some excellent and mature song writing skills. Were the album songs written after the band became complete? Ray: We started in October 2001, and had written 5 songs by January 2002. This was when the band was still a four piece. The rest of the songs came together a few weeks before we went to record. Honey This Mirror and Early Sunsets were written about a week before we left for the studio. We asked Frank to be in the band around the same time, so to get his input on those songs really helped them become what they are.

/

HardcoreNJ Interview - March/April 2003

Paragraph 3

Interviewer: What was the inspiration behind "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville"? Matt: Musically there wasn't any inspiration, 2 days before the recording I happened to be strumming an acoustic guitar in our practice space, and the guys all seemed to like what I was playing (which is a rarity). Anyways, we knew we wanted something different on the record to reflect our softer side. I think it was the most magical part of recording process, seeing a 2 day old song kinda just work, we didn't even have an ending for it. We all just jammed it out improvising. Oh, and the vocals were inspired by a certain movie...

/

89.5 WSOU FM Interview - 7/3/03

8:25-8:31, 8:59-10:27

Interviewer: Alright, so, we’re gonna hear “Monroeville.” Ray: It’s a slow one. Grab your girl...and then shoot her in the head. (Laughter)

Interviewer: I remember a long time ago when you were recording this record that you had a problem while you were singing this song. Gerard: Yeah, I had a hole in my tooth and an abscess in the hole, and it was pushing against all the nerves in my face, and it looked like I had Parkinson’s, and it was (a?) drag, and it-- Interviewer: And your face was droopy, and-- Gerard: It was drooping, and I looked like a-- I went to hospitals the whole time we were recording, and they thought I had facial nerve paralysis, nerve damage, so I had to do that song, like basically with, yeah like the most intense pain and half a face. (Dramatically) Half a face! Interviewer: So, alright, everyone listening out there, now you know he did this song with half a face. Gerard: (After a pause) Half a face. (Laughter) Interviewer: How did you feel about the song after you played it? I know you must have been like, you know, “This can’t be the best I can do” because you’re all messed up and stuff. (Ray protesting in background) Gerard: It felt like that, but (Unintelligible as Gerard and interviewer talk at the same time) when I was doing it, but everybody was so psyched on it when I did it-- Ray: Psyched! People were crying-- Gerard: They were crying man (Laughter) Ray: It was amazing. It was the most amazing, definitely the most amazing-- Matt: (Overlapping) Yeah, we were definitely a bunch of wusses. Frank: Alright, correction, not a bunch of wusses. Ray and Otter (Matt) cried. (Laughter) That’s what happened. Ray: No no no, I will definitely say I-- Mikey: The red sea might have been parted when my brother did that part. Ray: I cried. I think Alex [Saavedra] might have shed a singular tear. Interviewer: A singular tear? Ray: It was definitely some crying going on. (Matt talking in background) Gerard: (Overlapping) I got a hug after that one Ray: (Overlapping) It was bad. Gerard: (Overlapping) I got a hug. I got lots of hugs after that. Interviewer: (After a pause and laughter) Alright, so how’d you feel about the hugs afterwards? Gerard: The hugs were sweet. (Laughter in background) The record was sweeter.

/

Punk It Interview - 10/29/03

Paragraph 28

Sev (Interviewer): What are some of the biggest disagreements amongst yourselves? Gerard: We mesh really well musically and personally. We all have a good time, so there's probably not that many disagreements. The only thing I think we ever disagree upon is if we're going to play "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville" or not. We had a little thing tonight. Some guys wanted to play it tonight, but I'm not sure. It's an ad lib song - the first verse was written, but the last part of the song was freestyle. And I'm not fucking Eminem, so unless the vibe is right, I don't like to do it. I did it in Chicago because the vibe was perfect. It basically happens in the middle of the set. We feel the energy, and if they can deal with it, we can deal with it.

/

Life On the Murder Scene - 2005

31:24-32:01

Ray: And Frank played on 2 of the tracks off the first record, and one of them was “Early Sunsets Over Monroeville.” (“Early Sunsets” begins to play) Ray: He just plays some great, great parts. Frank: (Cuts to different interview) When we were doing “Monroeville”, Ray was laying down his parts, and as soon as he was done, I took the parts that they had recorded into a van, that had like no heat, outside the studio and wrote what I was gonna play. Ray: (Back to first interview) A lot of the melody that he plays during the verses and the choruses is just, you know, absolutely beautiful, and I think really makes those songs work.

/

Barcelona Live Stream - 3/5/11

6:10-6:34

Ray: (Reading a live chat feed) Ooh, would you ever play “Early Sunsets”? Frank: Oh, we have (turns to Ray while Mikey speaks in the background) this tour? I don’t know. Ray: I can’t even remember the last we played that. Frank: I think it was in Chicago. Ray: Yeah? Mikey: (After a pause) Oh yeah, we played it in the Metro. Gerard: (Unintelligible as multiple people speak) like “The End”? Frank: Yeah Ray: That would be a cool one to revisit. Gerard: It was a cool-- I think especially if we give it some structure at the end like, ‘cause that was the problem with playing that song. It has no definitive ending, like it kinda just keeps going and going.

/

Kerrang #1376 (alt) - 8/10/11

Page 3, paragraph 11

Interviewer: I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love” was released in July 2002. What do you think of it now? Ray: You can hear the nervousness and excitement. Every song speeds up which gives them a lot of character. I like the rawness, especially in the vocals. It sounds very true. I get emotional, too. Early Sunsets Over Monroeville is unlike anything we’ve ever done since -- it’s amazing.

/

Where Are Your Boys Tonight? (Chris Payne) - 2020-2022

Chapter 9, page 113

Geoff Rickly: When we were in the studio, Gerard’s wisdom teeth were really hurting him, and he wasn’t able to sing, so he went to the dentist to have them out and afterwards they gave him a bunch of painkillers. He didn’t sing with the fire or the venom, so Alex took the painkillers away from him. Like, “You gotta sing in pain, fuck you! You gotta feel it!” I was taking the painkillers, watching him sing the record. I remember lying on the floor and coaching him through how to sing “Early Sunsets Over Monroeville,” the ballad on the record. I was saying, “You’re following the music, make the music follow you. More intense! The music will catch up to you.”

[oakwolves]

What's an au you'll never write but still think about alot?

Gilded allegro frozen AU. essentially Ryan is older and assumes Anna’s role while Grace is younger but assumes Elsa’s role in the story. I would say Ryan carries Anna's personality more and Grace does with Elsa's tbh. I havent seen frozen since I was like 12 and I don't really see myself writing a fic about it. I did draw something related to it though (please ignore that I fucked up with the ages)

I actually wrote a long thread about it on my priv twitter that I'm gonna transcribe under the cut. I tweaked a few things about the story lol

I think little Grace didn't quite know how to make awesome snowballs and snowman yet, she just watch Ryan do them and try to copy him. She ends up making a tiny... kind of bell shaped... snow creature with two little rocks for eyes and no other appendages.

Grace looked a little disappointed that her snow-thing didn't look as cool as Ryan's but Ryan's like nooo it’s ok look! We can call it Kez... the snow...bell. And that seems to satisfy Grace for a while.

so everything more or less happens the same in canon (I guess you could assume Grace was adopted into the family?) Either way, Ryan (8) convinces Grace (7) to sneak out into the playroom late at night so they could fool around with Grace's snow powers. And Grace is just so delighted to spend time with her big brother and all, but Ryan gets a little too reckless and nearly slips and falls to his death. Grace narrowly manages to cushion his fall... but not before accidentally striking him in the head with the magic.

Things continue to progress as normal, Grace and Ryan's parents take them to those magical rock trolls to undo the effects of Graces magic and warn them that Ryan should never find out about her powers to keep this from ever happening again.

(to account for Ryan's other siblings, they were sworn to secrecy). So Ryan and Grace more or less grow up isolated within the castle. As far as Ryan knows, they had an accident playing in the snow outside, and now Grace doesn't seem to want to play with him anymore.

And the poor guy blames himself for scaring his sister and he wants to do anything to make it up to her. But poor Gracie, sworn to secrecy, just continues to push him away. And as much as that hurt Ryan, that never stopped him from trying throughout the years

Growing up, Ryan took up things like sword fighting and playing whatever the 19th century version of a guitar is to occupy himself (and also prepare to succeed the throne one day). He became really skilled in swordfighting over the years but his true passion lie in his guitar. It was his source of comfort where he felt painfully isolated.

At some point Grace + Ryan's family went to visit distant relatives overseas. Grace stayed home because she was sick, and Ryan insisted on staying home because he didn't want her to be alone. Of course, like in canon, tragedy strikes, and their family unfortunately perished in a storm, and the two grieved alone.

Eventually came the time for Ryan (now 21) to take the throne as king. Of course, he's estatic because he gets to see other people for the first time in YEARS. Meanwhile poor Grace (now 20) is just TERRIFIED because she's worried about exposing her powers to the public or even worse. To Ryan. But she figures as long as she keeps her gloves on, she'll be fine, and once the coronation ends she'll retreat back to her room

And then you've got Ryan practically skipping, jumping, and dancing all over the palace excited for his coronation... then he bumps into someone at the docks.

She's a beautiful young woman with flowing blonde hair and hazel eyes. Her name is Camila, the only daughter in a long line of sons. Ryan's absolutely enthralled by her. He even asks her to marry him, which she...surprisingly accepts!

The coronation happens as expected and Ryan is declared king and all... then he decides to announce his engagement to Camila! The audience is initially surprised but happy about this announcement... except for Grace. When Ryan is allowed to go into the crowd, he finds Camila. Grace intercepts the two, asking Ryan what the hell is going on, why has he decided to marry (and subsequently make queen) a woman he just met?? The two begin to argue, causing a commotion in the room.

Ryan insists that as King he can marry anyone he wants, not that Grace would even care, shutting her own brother out all these years despite his efforts to get through to her!! This upsets Ryan to the point of leaving the ball in the middle of the party. Camila tries to go after him, and Grace confronts him. In her desperation, grabs on to his arm. When Ryan pulls away from her, the action sets Grace off enough to accidentally expose her powers to Ryan and the other guests.

Terrified, she flees the area before anyone can apprehend her.

Aaaaand that's as far as I got in the AU

[freddiemercurydaily]

12 November 1977, Queen performed @

This is almost certainly the longest show Queen ever played, clocking in at nearly 2 1/2 hours. They play thirty songs in all, including eight from ‘News Of The World.’

“A Royal Quartet Rules The World of Heavy Metal Rock”

Boston — By New York or even Philadelphia standards, Boston is a generally sedate town, although an an outsider on hand last week at the Boston Garden would be forced to reassess any such generalization. Indeed, the more than 13,000 young rock fans who packed the Garden on the evening of Nov. 12-provided. an awesome example of mass hysteria, as the British rock group Queen unveiled a new stage show of such epic proportion and sustained excitement that there seems no way to adequately describe its impact.

It was only the second performance of the quartet’s current 27-city American tour (which touches down here at the Spectrum for shows Wednesday and Thursday nights), but it was a clear enough indication that Queen has blossomed into the leading practitioner of heavy-metal rock drama, With British kingpins Led Zeppelin temporarily out of the touring picture (due to the sudden death this past summer of singer Robert Plant’s young son), Queen literally reigns, thanks to ah impressive new album — “News of the World” (Elektra Records) — and the sort of non-stop, three-hour, no-opening-act show pioneered by Zeppelin in the early 1970s.

Queen’s triumph — after about five years of increasing popularity and one smash hit single (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) — derives from a wise and welcome change in musical/theatrical direction. Originally a busily theatrical “glitter” band reliant on a multitude of costume changes, smoke, strobe and fire effects, Queen has considerably toned down its flashy excess. With the exception of one major costume change — from stripes to sequins — on the part of lead singer Freddie Mercury, a modicum of smoke and flare, and a massive, 5,000-pound lighting rig in the shape of a queenly crown, the group’s theatrical impact is almost exclusively tied to its music. Noticeably phased from the current repertoireare the rococo, operetta-like tunes of an earlier period, and in their pIace is a masterfully paced program of eruptive yet polished hard rock

With such boldly articulate new, recent and old Queen songs ” We Will” Rock You,” “Keep Yourseif Alive”, “Liar,” “We Are the Champions”, “Tie Your Mother Down,” the group brillantly sates the mass appetite for the surefire basics of modern pop rock: soaring tenor lead and harmony vocals, pungent electric guitar lines, driving yet sophisticated rhythms, evocative Iyric:s and rich melodies.

“I suppose we’ve been leading up to this all long. It certainly feels like the breakthrough we’d never quite made” admitted Freddie Mercury after the Boston Performance. Mercury is tall, dark, muscular yet lean, retiring yet intense in terms of eye contact, and possessed of a rather pronounced overbite. He’s a gifted showman of genuine grace and relentless energy, a first rate vocalist and songwriter, and quite lucid on the subject of Queen.

“I think it got to the point with us where the theatrical tag began to take over our image, but it was only a matter of time before the musci began to come into its own. That’s what’s making the difference on this tour”, he reflects. In a near chair, bassist John Deacon – quietly amiable – nods in agreement.

“What bothers me so often when people discuss rock ‘n roll is their tendency to label it,” continues Mer­cury. “Either it’s ‘glitter’ or ‘punk’ or progressive’ or whatever, and these tend to obscure the fact that you’re really talking about a kind of entertain­ment that often touches on a lot of styles. The last thing l’d want to do is limit our music to a label.”

Speaking of labels, though — and of “punk” rock in particular — one can’t help but note that one of the group’s new tunes, “Sheer Heart Attack,” affects the piledriving intensity of today’s “punk” sound.

“I suppose it does, now that you mention it,” agrees drummer Roger Taylor, who wrote the song. Blond and blue-eyed, Taylor is very much the pretty boy of the band. “But even so, I wrote it a few years back and we only just got around to recording it. I do think, though, that the punk rock scene is still very nascent, and you’re going to see a lot of these young bands making a lot of crappy music before the good stuff comes along, i suppose it has to be that way”.

The nucleus of Queen — Mercury, Taylor and guitarist Brian May — met up in London in 1969 and rounded out in 1971 with John Deacon. Previously, Mercury had been with a group called Wreckage, while May and Taylor had been members of one called Smile. All four are in their late twenties, and each has a college degree, Mercury in graphic design and illustration, Taylor in biology, Deacon in electronics and May in astronomy.

The most accomplished academic of the four, May not only taught astronomy but published a few papers in British scientific journal before forming Smile with Taylor in 1968. Tall, leather Jacket and sporting an abundant mane of curly black hair, May could hardly look less a scientist.

“I was doing research on cosmic dust”, he explains, ” and I really did enjoy my work, in fact I still keep up with the latest developments”.

By now, the party has thinned down and it’s quite late – 3 A.M. – as May and I share an elevator to respective floors. he shakes his head, dazed and happy. “You know”, he odfers, “we’ve played a lot of places, but everytime I hear an audience roine crazy like they were tonight before we even got onstage, I get such a feeling inside, and I know I could never feel that way doing anything else…”

Source: The Sunday Bulletin

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin #8:

Judy Collins' Fifth Album

Judy Collins had it rough.

Like just about everyone else in history, her songwriting could never compare with that of Joni Mitchell, Sandy Denny or Leonard Cohen; rather she introduced the world to those artists by covering Clouds, Who Knows Where the Time Goes and Susanne. Nearly 60 years later we're more than content to listen to Joni, Sandy and Leonard's own versions and forget all about poor Judy.

And her version of Amazing Grace is nice, sure, but comparing her take to Aretha Franklin's is as silly as comparing my writing to that of my famous brother.

And no matter how many times she posed in the nude with odd, defiant joy Collins could never compete in the looks department with Linda Ronstadt. Who could? All Linda had to do was put on a Porky Pig tank top.

Collins couldn't even win the boyfriend war. Joan Baez claimed Bob Dylan long before his ship came in, so Collins had to shack up with none other than our forever nemesis Stephen Stills, her sweet blue eyes serving as the muse for one of his only good songs before he wandered off to forever suck.

So it's no wonder that the Dollar Bin is chock full of Judy Collins.

(Please note that I bought my copy for a mere 91 cents. And that was in the last year. After noting this, please join me in praise of the God of the Dollar Bin, from whom all blessings flow.)

Anyway, don't be fooled when you see Judy's Fifth Album lodged between Captain & Tennille's corpulent dogs and CS&N's schooner of certain destruction. Snap Fifth Album up; it's awesome.

So let's drop the needle!

Collins' spent her first four albums stuck in the Hootenanny Spin Cycle, producing an album every 6 months full of churning, seasick guitar work and strident, declarative singing. Baez's sound at the time is similar; like stage actors 25 years earlier who couldn't adjust to film's close ups, early 60's folk singers, Dylan excepted, all belt to the back row when in the studio. It's as if they are unsure how exactly this new fangeled thing called "amplification" works.

But with Fifth Album, recorded in 1965, Collins achieves comfort and ease before the microphone, setting the stage for every studio singer who's come since; she sings to us rather than at us, and every moment is wonderful.

Let's start with Thirsty Boots. I always wondered why Dylan covered the song, pretty terribly, for Self Portrait. Now I know. Bob wanted to sound like Judy.

Equally great is her take on Mr. Tambourine Man. There's a lot to say about the track; here it is if you'd like to listen while I ramble.

Dylan's original hit the street in March 65; the Byrds altered the world's axis with their cover a month later. Collins' version didn't come out until the next Fall but it's unclear when she actually recorded the song.

Without any proof, I'd argue that she laid her take down that same Spring. After all, she doesn't sing the song as if it's a Dylan or Byrds cover. Instead, it sounds like she heard Bob sing the song in her apartment one night, demanded the lyrics, then went into the studio and owned it on her own terms the next day.

Sure, Roger McGuinn, who'd served as a mediocre player and arranger for Collins on her previous studio record, invented that iconic 12 electric string sound. Sure, Dylan knew his way around a six string. But Collins straight up shreds on the guitar; no one else is playing for her here. Had she been born 20 or 30 years later and not been shackled by 60's and 70's sexism, it's easy to imagine Judy showing Kim Deal, Kristin Hersh, PJ Harvey and all the boygeniuses who followed how to rock.

There's a lot more to this record. Collins' does her trademark thing yet again, introducing the world to Gordon Lightfoot via her cover of Early Morning Rain. Yes, I know, Ian and Sylvia put out their version a month earlier. But who wants to listen to them when we could listen to Judy?

A year or so later she'd take her talent agent shtick to a whole other level by famously talking Leonard Cohen out of his reticence to even get on stage. Collins knew talent when she heard it, long before others. That's why she relegated Stills to bass in her band in the late 60's and never covered one of his crummy songs.

Let's end with perhaps the most obscure track on the record, The Coming of the Roads. I keep a list in my wallet of previously unknown-to-me artists to seek out whenever I'm deep in the Dollar Bin. Because of Collins' cover of this song, Billy Edd Wheeler is currently underlined on that list.

Dear friends, I hope you are all well. Thank you for reading. I hope your next hunt through the Dollar Bin turns up something half as beautiful as this track.

[justsomerandomfanfic]

The Merchandise - Eddie Munson X GN Reader - November 27th

Title: The Merchandise

Eddie Munson X GN Reader

Additional Characters: Reader's mom, other family members (Mentioned), and Dustin (Mentioned)

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |

WC: 1,727

Warnings: Embarrassment, slightly insecure Reader, Reader has a mother, slight angst, and overall fluff

Okay, let's get one thing straight. You loved Eddie. That was a given. You loved the way he laughed and smiled at you and every little thing about him. He is so kind, caring, and sweet, that no words could describe the depth of your feelings toward him. But, in the midst of all this lovey-dovey stuff, one particular thought had continued to plague you over the months almost year; you wanted to touch Eddie's hair.

Eddie's hair was majestic. Like a lion's mane, thick and beautiful. Every morning it would gleam and sparkle as if a million tiny stars had shone through it. It was perfect and it fascinated you. You wanted to know if it was as soft as you imagined it was. Of course, you've had your chance to touch it, during the many kisses the two of you shared, but you were respectful. You never touched his hair unless he asked you to. You had seen that he was protective of his hair, not even letting that Henderson kid touch it.

But, as you were trying to do your homework, you just couldn't concentrate. You blamed yourself more than Eddie. Resting your hand on your cheek, you stared at the back of Eddie's head as he sat on the ground in front of your bed. Resting on your stomach, you kicked your feet in the air as you daydreamed about your wonderful boyfriend's hair. Eddie looked up from his work and turned around, noticing how absentminded you appeared. He chuckled under his breath.

"What's got you so distracted?" His brown eyes glistened and sparkled like the sun itself. He was so gorgeous when he smiled. Eddie knew what the answer was, he had caught you gazing at him many times before, but he enjoyed watching your expressions change. 

"I dunno," You mumbled softly, looking away and smiling bashfully, "Probably you."

Eddie raised an eyebrow, a smirk overtaking him. "Of course, I'm irresistible." Eddie teased, making you lean over and push his shoulder. He laughed as he went back to his work and you lay there behind him, playing with the edges of your notebook pages.

"No wonder girls swoon all over you." You joked, Eddie glanced down at you and smirked again.

"Oh yeah? What makes you say that?" He teased, putting the book down and turning around so he could face you.

You grinned at him as your cheeks flushed, eyes raking over his features.

"Well, for starters, you’re you. You have long curly locks and amazing skin. You wear awesome clothes and can play the guitar. Plus you're handsome as hell." You said, staring into his brown eyes. Eddie blushed, taking a moment to appreciate your praise. You weren't wrong. He did have a very attractive appearance. "Not to mention, you're passionate, caring, and loving. No matter how much people try to convince you otherwise, you really are an overall amazing person." You sighed dreamily.

"Aw, thanks, babe." Eddie gave you a warm smile, reaching up to caress your cheek with his knuckles. Your face warmed up even more as a smile graced your lips.

"Don't mention it." 

Eddie gently trailed his hand down your cheek, his thumb brushing against your bottom lip softly. The pair of you held each other's gaze for a moment, neither one willing to make the first move.

Eventually, Eddie leaned in closer until his lips were only inches away from yours. A sudden knock interrupted the two of you, causing you both to jump away from each other. You felt guilty as Eddie's expression darkened.

"Come in." You called out, still slightly annoyed.

Your mom peeked her head inside, giving you a sympathetic look. "Hi, dear. Sorry to interrupt, but I just finished dinner. It's ready when you two are." She apologized. Before either of you could respond, she shut the door and walked away. Eddie sighed, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Well, guess we should go eat..." He whispered, kissing your forehead quickly before standing and helping you off the bed. 

You nodded, taking his hand in yours, "Yeah, don't want to miss out on my mom's famous spaghetti." Eddie chuckled, squeezing your hand in his.

The two of you made your way downstairs to join everyone else at the table. While Eddie helped set the table, you stayed close by his side, occasionally stealing glances at him as he worked. When he finally noticed the attention you were giving him, he turned around, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" He asked, a playful grin on his face.

"Nothing." You replied, shaking your head.

He rolled his eyes, returning to set the table. Once everything was set, you both took your seats next to each other. Everyone began eating their food, chatting amongst themselves. You listened intently, body eating while your mind was elsewhere, thinking about Eddie's hair. As you thought, you paused. Were you weird? I mean, did other partners in relationships daydream about their partner's hair? You shook your head, clearing your thoughts, and focused your attention back on the conversation.

You tried to focus on listening, but it wasn't working. You kept picturing Eddie's gorgeous hair and you wondered what it would feel like tangled in your fingers as you ran your hands through it. You wanted to touch it so badly.

"Y/N, dear. Did you hear what I was saying?" Your mother called, making you look up at her with wide eyes.

"Um... No, sorry!" You giggled nervously.

She frowned, placing her fork down, "Are you alright? You seem distracted."

Eddie looked at you worriedly, placing his arm around the back of your chair in silent support.

"Sorry! I was just… Thinking about something." You spoke softly, looking down at your plate.

Your mother just hummed, pursing her lips before she continued her story, while you just pushed the noodles around on your plate.

After dinner, Eddie followed you up the stairs and back to your room where he watched you plop onto your bed, stuffing your face into your pillows. Eddie bit his lip, sitting down on the edge of the bed, and reaching out to rub your back soothingly. You two sat there in silence for a while until Eddie spoke up, looking down at you as you snuggled deeper into the pillow. 

"Are you alright, baby?" He asked, voice hardly above a whisper, yet you heard him.

"Yeah... No..." You answered back, your voice muffled by the fabric on your face.

"You wanna tell me?" Eddie urged, his fingers rubbing circles into your lower back.

You hesitated for a moment, before slowly sitting up and facing Eddie.

"It's nothing." You smiled sadly, not wanting to upset him.

Eddie frowned, "It can't be nothing if it's making you sad." He answered, watching as your sad smile turned into a frown.

"It's weird, Eddie. You sighed, "I keep getting these crazy urges to touch your hair and-"

Eddie's face lit up with surprise as he listened to you, "You want to touch my hair?" He asked, making you look up at him.

"Yeah. A lot. I'm sorry I'm being weird. I just... Your hair is so beautiful. I think about touching it all the time and whenever I do I get this overwhelming urge to run my hands through it. Just like today. Well, everyday, really." You confessed, unable to look Eddie in the eye.

A bright pink hue crept across Eddie's cheeks and the tips of his ears. "I didn't think you'd want to touch the merchandise that much." He mumbled shyly. 

"I literally had a dream about braiding it." You confessed blatantly.

Eddie looked down at your bed, his fingers running along it as he thought. "Why don't you?" He asked, gaining your attention.

"What?"

"Why don't you braid my hair? Right now?" Eddie repeated, still refusing to look at you. He was embarrassed at the idea of you doing it and he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of you. 

"Really?! Are you sure?" You asked excitedly. "I don't want to do anything you don't want me to... Or anything you don't feel comfortable with."

Eddie looked at you, a soft smile playing on his lips, "I trust you, Y/N. If you wanna do it, I'll let you."

Your eyes widened, "Okay," You couldn't help a huge smile from appearing on your face. "I promise, you're going to look amazing, honey." You exclaimed, sitting up on your legs, and scooting behind Eddie.

He felt a shiver travel down his spine at your breath fanning against his neck as you moved, and he swallowed nervously. You hesitated shortly before reaching out your hand, slowly running your hand through Eddie's hair. His face lit up, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh. Your heart raced as you ran your hands through the soft curls, Eddie leaning into your touch slightly. His hair was everything you had  soft and silky underneath your fingertips. You smiled, running your hands through it once more.

"So?" Eddie mumbled, opening his eyes to glance at you.

"Beautiful." You breathed, running your hand through his hair again. "How does it feel?" You asked curiously.

"Amazing," Eddie sighed, closing his eyes, "What type of braid are you thinking?" He asked as you tilted your head.

"You'd look amazing with a french, but I'm going to do the original one. Don't want your first braid to take too long. Besides, I'm not as skilled with the french as I am with the original." You stated, sectioning his hair into three parts.

Eddie sat there as you began to intertwine each section, humming happily to yourself as you did. Once you were done, you held the end of the braid so it wouldn't unravel. You reached forward and grabbed the hair tie sitting on top of your bedside table, tying his braid. Leaning back, you marveled at your work.

"There, all done." You said with a big smile.

Eddie slowly lifted his hand up, gently patting the braid so as to not mess your work up. A smile spread across his face as he admired how cute he must've looked. He turned in his seat, "Thank you, Y/N."

You reached up and booped his nose, "No, thank you, Eds."

[joshydoesntknow]

Thank you for the tag @random-jot!

1. Are you named after anyone?

Nope, I don't believe so

2. When was the last time you cried?

My sense of time is absolutely awful but I think it was a few months back? Although just a few days ago I did find myself welling up at Avatar, of all things. (The James Cameron movie, not AtLA.) I think I was just very emotional that morning, okay?)

3. Do you have kids?

Nooooo. I've never wanted them and I don't think I ever will.

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Sure do. Probably more than I should tbh.

5. What sports do you play/have played?

For real? None. Ever. In school when we were forced to do them in PE then basketball was always my favourite. (This does not reconcile well with question 12.)

6. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Depends on the person, y'know? If there's something awesome about their outfit or hair then probably that, if not then maybe a smile or a laugh or something? Or their big naturals (if they're a wizard)

7. Scary movie or happy endings?

Totally mood based. Scream and Eurotrip are both comfort movies to me and I will not be taking questions.

8. Any special talents?

Not at all. I've never actually competed in a quiz before but I've watched a dickload of The Chase and I can play along with the TV pretty well. Is incredibly amateur quizzing a talent?

9. Where were you born?

In the same town I currently live in.

10. What are your hobbies?

Mostly I just play games or watch tv/movies because I'm lame as hell. I'm really trying to get back into reading regularly but my brain doesn't always cooperate. I haven't been able to play my guitar for months because of some issues with my wrist, but I love doing that when I can.

11. Do you have any pets?

We have some family pets: 2 dogs, 2 cats, 1 tortoise. The dogs are my favourite, even though I used to not like dogs. Those fluffy little bastards stole my mean heart.

12. How tall are you?

5'7" :(

13. Fave subject in school?

English. To be very specific, English Lit with Mr Ellis when we were studying Hamlet. That man had such an incredible passion and it was amazing to learn like that.

14. Dream job?

Oof, good question. Theoretically I'd love to do what I'm currently doing, but better. I'm an author, but a struggling one. The dream would be to have a steady flow of books that do reasonably well and don't drive me crazy to write. I don't want to be a famous bestseller, I just want to make it through life comfortably and happily.

15. Eye colour?

Blue. That's right, I'm ✨ basic ✨ <- Me too, Tom! (Apparently the genetic mutation for blue eyes can be traced back to a single ancestor, so, what's up, cuz?)

[notesonartistry]

Taylor Swift's road to fame

Behind the scenes of the teen sensation's career, from guitar lessons to sold-out shows

By Chris Willman

Updated February 05, 2008 at 05:00 AM EST

”I love turning on pop radio and hearing my song,” allows Taylor Swift, the 18-year-old country music sensation. ”But,” she adds, mindful of her base, ”I don’t look at it as crossover as much as spillover.”

Her cup definitely runneth over. In 2007, Swift’s debut album was one of the top 10 all-genre SoundScan sellers. And all those sales came in while a lot of non-country-lovers had yet to hear of her…or, if they had, were still asking, ”Taylor Swift? Who’s he?” She’s harder to escape now: Besides several smash hits at country radio, she’s moved into the upper levels of the Top 40 format with a remix of her heartbreak ballad ”Teardrops on My Guitar.” (In recent years, only Carrie Underwood, with ”Before He Cheats,” has successfully managed that leap.) MTV is even playing it. And since the album has such legs, it’s a good bet to cross the triple-platinum mark, almost unheard of in this era of plunging record sales. She’s got to be the most popular high school senior in America right now. So: teardrops, schmeardrops… Did being 18 ever suck any less?

But she wasn’t always the belle of the ball, personally or professionally; those rejection anthems she’s so adept at writing weren’t penned purely as fiction. We profiled the rising siren in this week’s issue of EW. But for this exclusive EW.com bonus feature, we also talked with some of the people who were with her on the way up, including her mother, manager, and label president, to find out some of the strategizing that went into achieving one of the last year’s few true musical success stories.

NEXT PAGE: From karaoke to Nashville

The chipmunk years. ”When I was 10, or younger than that, even, I would watch these biographies on Faith Hill or the Dixie Chicks or Shania Twain or LeAnn Rimes, and the thing I kept hearing was that they had to go to Nashville,” Swift remembers. She talked her parents into letting her fly out for a visit. ”I took my demo CDs of karaoke songs, where I sound like a chipmunk — it’s pretty awesome — and my mom waited in the car with my little brother while I knocked on doors up and down Music Row. I would say, ‘Hi, I’m Taylor. I’m 11; I want a record deal. Call me.”’ They didn’t. (But you have to wonder how many of the folks who answered those doors suddenly flashed back to that moment when they saw a grown-up Swift screaming over her Best New Artist nod at the Grammy nominations press conference.)

Rather than discouraging her, that rejection was like rocket fuel. It dawned on her that karaoke-style singing wasn’t going to cut it at any age; she needed to become a full-fledged guitar-picking singer/songwriter. ”She came back from that trip to Nashville and realized she needed to be different, and part of that would be to learn the guitar,” says her mother, Andrea Swift. Earlier, she had tried picking up an acoustic guitar and had no interest in it, but things had changed. ”Now, at 12, she saw a 12-string guitar and thought it was the coolest thing. And of course we immediately said, ‘Oh no, absolutely not, your fingers are too small — not till you’re much older will you be able to play the 12-string guitar.’ Well, that was all it took. Don’t ever say never or can’t do to Taylor. She started playing it four hours a day — six on the weekends. She would get calluses on her fingers and they would crack and bleed, and we would tape them up and she’d just keep on playing. That’s all she played, till a couple of years later, which was the first time she ever picked up a six-string guitar. And when she did, it was like, wow, this is really easy!”

She started writing, too. Two of the songs she’d recorded (”The Outside,” on her debut album, and ”Christmas Must Mean Something More,” from a Target-exclusive Christmas EP she released) were written when she was 12. When she went back to Nashville with her own songs in tow, people took notice: At 13, she signed a development deal with RCA Records, working with that label’s Joe Galante and Renee Bell, a couple of legendary figures in town. But when the deal came up for renewal after a year, she opted out, because she felt she’d have to record outside material if she got to the point of cutting her debut — and at 14, she was already married to the idea of only recording material she had a hand in writing. Not coincidentally, at 14, she became the youngest person ever signed to the major songwriting company in Nashville, Sony/ATV Publishing.

NEXT PAGE: Taking chances

Nashville acceptance, hometown alienation. Swift started to feel cut off from some of her friends, since she was writing songs while they were either playing soccer or partying. ”A lot of people ask me, how did you have the courage to walk up to record labels when you were 12 or 13 and jump right into the music industry? It’s because I knew I could never feel the kind of rejection that I felt in middle school. Because in the music industry, if they’re gonna say no to you, at least they’re gonna be polite about it.” (Being unusually tall for her age, or any age — she’s now 5’11”, without her cowboy boot heels — may have made her more of a junior high outcast.)

Now that she had publishing and recording deals in hand, she convinced her parents, when she was in the eighth grade, that it was time to move where the action is. ”I was from a small town, and nobody really expects you to leave, especially before you graduate. That doesn’t happen. I actually went back a couple months ago and played a sold-out show in my hometown, and it was amazing; ever since all this stuff started happening, the people in Pennsylvania have been the most supportive people I’ve ever known. But I wouldn’t change a thing about growing up and not exactly fitting in. If I had been popular, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to leave.”

The Swifts never pushed their daughter toward a music career, and the family uprooted itself from the Christmas-tree farm where they lived only after it was clear that her stockbroker dad could do his job just as effectively down South. ”I never wanted to make that move about her ‘making it,”’ says her mom, Andrea. ”Because what a horrible thing if it hadn’t happened, for her to carry that kind of guilt or pressure around. And we moved far enough outside Nashville [to nearby Hendersonville] to where she didn’t have to be going to school with producers’ kids and label presidents’ kids and be reminded constantly that she was struggling to make it. We’ve always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true. There would always be an escape hatch into normal life if she decided this wasn’t something she had to pursue. And of course that’s like saying to her, ‘If you want to stop breathing, that’s cool.”’

After getting out of her RCA deal, Swift found a believer in Scott Borchetta, who was then a big cheese at the Universal label group. ”I thought, ‘Oh, awesome, I’m gonna get to deal with Universal!’ I get this call a couple of weeks later, after I do this showcase and Scott’s on board and everything’s rocking. He goes, ‘I have good news and bad news. The good news is I want to sign you, and the bad news is I’m not gonna be with Universal Records anymore.’ Because he was leaving to start up this whole new record label.” She took a chance and went with what would become a new powerhouse indie label, Big Machine, figuring that at least she’d get more individual attention there. ”They only had 10 employees at the record label to start out with, so when they were releasing my first single, my mom and I came in to help stuff the CD singles into envelopes to send to radio. We sat out on the floor and did it because there wasn’t furniture at the label yet.”

NEXT PAGE: The viral marketing plan

The MySpace triumph. Swift’s album wasn’t Big Machine’s first release, or even its first relative success. Another early signing, Texas rocker Jack Ingram, had a song go to No. 1 on the country chart — but he still didn’t sell boatloads of albums. That would be up to Swift, and her success would help little Big Machine go on to become Garth Brooks’ new label, not to mention giving Borchetta the heft to sign Jewel (one of Swift’s childhood influences) to a country deal.

”The story that everyone is gonna tell with Taylor is her use of technology and viral marketing techniques — MySpace and texting — that are non-traditional for the country format,” says RJ Curtis, country editor for the weekly trade magazine Radio & Records. ”This kind of flies in the face of how to market a new artist from Nashville. It’s partly her being in that life group and using the things teens use to communicate and spread music around, but her label had a lot of savvy in that area too.”

But Swift’s manager, Rick Barker, gives the singer and her family most of the credit for working the Web. ”The parents already had her MySpace and her website up and running,” he says. ”The mom and dad both have great marketing minds. I don’t want to say fake it until you make it, but when you looked at her stuff, it was very professional even before she got her deal. And we put her music up there on MySpace before it was out, to help decide what was gonna be on the record. ‘Our Song’ made it to the record because of MySpace.” That song has been her biggest radio hit to date — written about her first real romance, premiered at her ninth-grade talent show, and nearly lost to the cutting room floor. ”If you notice the running order on the record, ‘Our Song’ is No. 11,” the manager points out. ”It was the last song added to the album, and a lot of that had to do with buzz that was being created on MySpace.”

Once the album was actually finished and ready for promotion, MySpace came in even handier. ”People laughed at me,” says Big Machine founder-president Borchetta. ”They said, ‘You’re starting a new record label and you signed a 15-year-old female country singer — good for you! You have a teenager — there’s a lot of those on country radio. You have a new female artist — there’s a lot of those on country radio.’ They were looking at me like I had two strikes. But I knew we didn’t want to count on country radio out of the box. So we went heavy on TV, putting the video out before the single, and doing a special with [cable channel] GAC, and we went heavy on her MySpace and online stuff. By the time we got to country radio, we said: We have you surrounded and you don’t even know it.”

It still wasn’t an easy sell. ”Her records are not records that researched fantastically,” says R&R‘s Curtis — and he ought to know, because when Swift’s single ”Tim McGraw” was first coming out in late 2006, he was then the program director of L.A.’s KZLA, and one of the guys balking at putting her on the air. ”But the radio guys hung in there because anybody who’s programming a station wants to get some younger listeners. Country does a good job of naturally getting 35-plus listeners, so getting someone who fits the image of the 18-to-34-year-old, that’s an asset. There’s a need for [youthfulness] in the format. When Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich and the whole Muzik Mafia thing came along a few years ago, I said that, for the first time since the Garth phenomenon in the early ’90s, there seems to be a real movement happening here. It didn’t last long, because it was more of a fad than a trend; Gretchen really only had that one huge hit, and while Big & Rich have continued to have big songs, it’s been with their more traditional-sounding ballads. But there is definitely a need for a younger artist, younger feel.” Curtis thinks Swift’s adolescent-themed songs have a dual appeal to older and more youthful listeners: ”A lot of the theme of the album is first love, and those are things everybody can get sentimental about, no matter the demo. With things like ‘Our Song,’ a lot of people can relate because it takes them back to their innocent years — and in her case, she just happens to be living her innocent years right now.”

Barker, her manager, offers up some specifics about how they used MySpace to make the Taylor Case to radio. ”Radio does research, and we have no idea who they’re researching, but it was saying people weren’t digging ‘Tim McGraw.’ So we had to go out and create our own research — and that’s what we did with MySpace. What she did was put up a blog on her MySpace that said, ‘Guys, I would like to thank whatever station you’re hearing my song on.’ And people started telling us” — even with stations that were only tentatively programming the song in the middle of the night. ”We were able to take those comments back to radio in individual markets and say, ‘You’re saying researching is telling you it’s not doing that great, but here are 85 people who are telling us they love your station because you played ‘Tim McGraw.’ What MySpace and online told radio stations was: She’s already familiar to your audience. And radio loves familiarity.

”MySpace allowed us to tell the story about Taylor. And it really is her space,” adds Barker. ”She wrote her bio, writes her blogs, and if someone gets commented back to, it’s from Taylor. A lot of times, you can tell it’s somebody else hired to sit there at a computer. Taylor’s space is her space — that’s our secret.”

NEXT PAGE: Embracing the fame

Taylormania. On a brisk night in late January of 2008, the nexus for all this popularity is the Rabobank Theatre, a sold-out 3,000-seater in inland California where Swift is doing a headlining show. About a third of the way back, one delusionally hopeful suitor holds up a sign with his plea: ”PROM? 343-7547.” In the front row, a college-aged dude in a cowboy hat patiently waits for a break in the shrieking before finally blurting out, with half-shy boisterousness, ”Taylor, you’re hot!” But it’s hard for a male fan to get a word in edgewise when the young women in the house spend the entire show standing and screaming, much as their little sisters would for Hannah Montana. There are enough kids and parents on hand that it’s clear she has some appeal to the Disney Channel demographic, as well as to the 17- to 25-year-olds who make up most of the audience, though she writes about adolescent romance not as an aspirant but a fellow survivor. Swift represents the countrified missing link between Miley Cyrus and Alanis Morissette.

She is introducing her soon-to-be-released fourth single, the gleefully vengeful ”Picture to Burn,” which, like many of her songs, was inspired by an old school flame she refers to as ”Bad Cheater Guy.” Swift’s so impressed by the screaming, while going into her nightly spiel about getting back at the boys who spurned her, she adds a nod to tonight’s host city. ”Please know that I try to be a really nice person, in general,” she says as her band vamps through the intro. ”But, if you break my heart, or if you hurt my feelings — or ANY OF MY FRIENDS FROM BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA — well, I will have to write a song about you!” Total eruption, as she marches across the stage in her spangly sun dress and cowboy boots, strumming on her six-string and singing: ”I hate that stupid old pickup truck you never let me drive/ You’re a redneck heartbreak who’s really bad at lying…”

Before the show, we watched her pose for photos for an hour at a meet-and-greet full of fan-club and radio-contest winners. (That’s nothing, for her; at most of the hundreds of shows she’s played so far, she stayed afterward to sign autographs till the last fan was gone, which might last anywhere from two-and-a-half to four hours. But as the crowds grow, those late-night signings are becoming increasingly more difficult to work in.) It’s clear that Swift doesn’t have the steeliness of a lot of starlets her age who were groomed for that by their parents almost from birth. Maybe because this whole massive career thing was her idea, she’s still digging it. When a little kid approaches, she gets down on her nyloned knees and cranes her neck in so that it is pressed against the tot’s. In pretty much every picture, she will look like that person’s conjoined twin. Every so often, with someone closer to her own age, she’ll say, ”Let’s do a funny one,” and urge the fan to screw up his or her face with her.

”She can’t go now to a store without having people come up to her — which she loves,” says her mom, Andrea. ”It makes her day when she’s gone somewhere and people have come up to her and said, ‘I love your music — can I take a picture?’ She’s always grabbing the camera and going, ‘Come here’ and getting the MySpace shot, holding the camera and posing together. She likes that attention. I think where she differs from some people who get to that spot and realize that they don’t really like their privacy sort of being restricted — well, for her that’s not an issue.

”But she never in her life ever said, ‘I want to be famous’ or ‘I want to be rich’ or ‘I want to be a star.’ Those words absolutely never came out of her mouth. If they had, I would have said, ‘Honey, maybe you’re doing it kind of for the wrong reasons.’ For her, the happiest I ever see her is just after she’s written a killer song. As a parent, I felt really good about that. If that’s where she draws happiness from, she’ll have that the rest of her life. She’s not always gonna have the awards, or the attention, or the celebrity, but she will always have the ability to write a song.”

”She has the combination of that 30-year-old business mentality with a real innocence,” says R&R‘s Curtis. But can country fans and programmers — who tend to be a little bit territorial — expect to keep Swift to themselves? Will the pop crossover success get to her? ”We’re talking about an 18-year-old, so it’s hard to know for sure what she’ll be doing five years from now,” Curtis says. ”But just from talking with her, I would say that her value system is a really good fit for country.” And though MTV recently did its first airing of her ”Teardrops on My Guitar” video on TRL, it did look a little bit uncharacteristically wholesome, programmed between Britney and Pitbull, so it’ll be interesting to see how things play out.

In the meantime, there’s still high school to finish up — home-schooled version, while her mom accompanies her on some dates this spring, when she’ll be opening an arena tour for Rascal Flatts. Says Swift, ”I already finished most of my course work, so I just have two electives left.” Which are? ”Public speaking and vocal performance. I guess I’m kind of coasting.”

[wavernot4love]

alright y'all lil (alright, maybe not so little) recap of the second show of AG's Boom Done tour last night 3.4 in Buffalo @ one of my favorite venues, Mohawk Place. because my brain commits absolutely everything to memory at shows & i like writing it all down before i forget

(for fun & plus maybe folks going to this tour want to know what's shakin, since i haven't seen much online yet):

(note there will be setlist spoilers)

- alright so first, a freakin HIGHLIGHT for me was, of course, GET OUT!!!

Anthony was just kinda messing around with his guitar & then teased it by being like "hmm... how should i play this..." and then went into that and the crowd reception was AWESOME, dude. whatever the opposite of masking is, that's what i was doing there. i definitely started physically jumping up & down once i realized what it was (typical wavernot4love @ the AG show behavior). aka evidently he knew your boy (who like i've mentioned on here, got into Circa last summer through a kind person at a Dunes show rec'ing me Get Out & then BSN. Get Out was straight up my introduction 2 Circa) was in the building (/Ih).

also, i had to shorten my clip to post because in the rest i must've had my phone right next to my mouth,,, which made for some horrifying tone deaf live vox from wavernot4love. be glad i spared y'all from that one.

(i'm gonna put one of those keep reading thingies here, click it 2 see the rest)

- he also played Dyed In The Wool & Frozen Creek, continuing that theme (though I expected these more since he's played em recently). Dyed In The Wool with everyone singing along during the chorus was probably my top moment, and one that's gonna stick with me forever, honestly. i remember thinking it straight up felt like, a churchlike (but positive) experience or something during the songs everyone did that for (remember, it's just anthony this tour no backing band, so it was somewhat quiet in there). more on that later, but AG kept pointing out how nice the singing along was & how fun/awesome this all was, and man, that it was.

- he mentioned valuing spontaneity over a planned setlist every night and basically implied he was just goin for whatever felt right at the time. so just consider the songs i mention here as a basic guideline, he could very well switch stuff up every night. i love that he's like this when it comes to shows - idk dude, like, at one point he even asked folks what time it was, laughing when they told him, jokingly accusing them of being untrustworthy & then going right back into the tunes. dude was just here to play, for as long as he could.

- kinda tied to that, there was a running gag of the set being "inconsistent" (his word). he'd bring up jokingly that there'd be moments where everyone could be singing along, and then songs that nobody knows (and he'd jokingly "apologize" for that), and he'd even (lightheartedly) call specific people out and be like (to laughs) "look at this person, they have no *idea* what i'm gonna play next!" actually i think he said that before Get Out. at one point he was (paraphrased slightly) like, "so if i start playing 12 Circa songs in a row, let me know." i love how he just does whatever the hell feels right in the moment.

- also a couple times he messed up while starting a song (i think due to laughing) and bro would call out folks laughing at him for it (lightheartedly) and be like "this is all performance. vou don't know what goes into this!" (this was not at all serious and said through laughter. straight up half the show was all of us in that room just cracking up together)

- he introduced his Title Fight cover (Numb, But I Still Feel It) by calling TF one of his favorite bands & joking that they're gonna hear this & think it's time to get back together so... if you hear that Title Fight reunited, you know why, which, well, if you know that side of the scene, you know what's up. real shits and giggles moment, if i do say so myself.

- at one point (only bad thing) someone at the front was being objectively Weird in the way people (unfortunately) do to try to get an artist's attention (let's just say it involved throwing money (????? literally what) while yelling stuff about understanding because they're in the industry (??)) and he honestly handled it with so much grace. he pretty much said that made him uncomfortable etc and he would Not be taking more of their money please, he already did that, and that led to him ranting for a second i think mostly to himself in a thinking out loud/under his breath kinda way about *hating* having to sell stuff in the first place in order to do this and like,,, i go into this a bit in the tags but it genuinely reminded me of how i get when i'm passionate about something. what i'm trying to say, is dude clearly was heated & meant it. fully. just felt relevant to include

- then he ranted about something related to the moneythrowing, drunk (question mark) weirdo (long story, but it ended in him telling them to tip bartenders with their money instead of weird things), then used that to go on a tangent about how we should always tip people working in service in general and respect/be kind to them even if they seem rude or whatever because doing that shit is hard & sucks and maybe your kindess will be the wakeup call that causes them to one day have a moment where they're like, man, i was a dick back then for no reason. (i feel like i am nearly direct quoting him here)

- then after a song he joked about the incident saving we were probably just all watching like 🧍‍♂️ and it was like watching dad yell at mom at the dinner table while you just sit there staring at the ground and safe to say the mood was fully lightened after that moment of self awareness fhfhfh

- then a few songs later i guess the person that was being weird had left so he was like, (at this point there were no weird vibes whatsoever, like we were all just scoffing/laughing at the situation and cheering him on) "oh that person who hates me left. did they give the bartender that money?" (someone implied they thought so) and he was like "good." and that was the end with that weirdo situation lol. i have absolutely no idea why that person, drunk or not, thought that was a normal cool thing to do. as always, please don't be weird 2 musicians they are in every sense just Some Guys (gender neutral), treat them like anyone else.

- back 2 totally unserious things, during... uh don't mind me, like i've said in my previous posts i'm still getting 2 know Boom Done, so whatever song has like, the horns kinda near the end? he just started making freakin. horn noises since since there were, in fact, no horns in the building and made us all do them too and everyone was just straight up cackling because it was so stupid (/pos).

- idk one thing that stood out to me was one person belting along at the end of... i can't remember what song it was actually, i think one of his older tunes, but you could tell he heard & a song later complimented it & said it was beautiful. i'm telling ya, he kept going on about how nice folks singing along sounded and encouraging that, which was awesome because i wasn't sure what the vibe was gonna be there since it was just him playing.

- don't want to go into detail since it feels like something between Anthony & whoever he decides to tell it to in real time, ya know, but he did tell a pretty extensive story leading up to Miracle Sun. in terms of themes, it was in regards to (with plenty of laughs mixed into the serious bits, of course) letting folks that matter to him down + falling into a cycle of engaging in stuff that temporarily made him feel better but was moreso just self destructive, in the past. just interesting stuff to hear in connection to a song.

- at the end, before Dear Child, he just talked in the most honest manner about knowing he's let people down, cancelled shows (there were laughs mixed in here too), just not been the best version of himself over the years etc, but appreciating how long everyone has stuck around, and how we keep coming back, & jow much it means whenever we tell someone go check out a song or anything like that, & helping him continue to do this and also support his family and whatnot and man it just. embodied everything i love about AG solo sets i guess. i just admire how open a book &p vulnerable dude is. while i love his more theatric frontman persona of course as it's fun as hell, it's so nice at solo shows like this to hear more from him, in seriousness and otherwise. also dude was posting about how fun it was on instagram later so i'm just glad we all had a great time.

- also at one point before a new tune he was talking about these cds he had that have that on it + some rerecordings, Frozen Creek (feat. Keith of GOW), etc. i love cds so i ran to snag one later of course (they're $12)

- as for other merch he had a few shirts (like that cute one i keep seeing around, with him & the puppy), some art prints, & the Boom Done book thingy (i really wanted it but couldn't swing the $25 right now sadly)

anyways,, i posted on Setlist FM for the first time, here are all the songs i remember for sure (there were definitely at least 4/5 others i am not thinking of, i'd say he did 17ish songs, he played for close to an hour and a half. keep in mind he talked a LOT with us which was awesome)

edit: someone added a few more!!!

anyways, that's the show!!! 1. i may or may not be trying 2 figure out how to pull off one of the other northeast dates (looking @ Cleveland, which is closer but i'd have to drive to, or New York, which is further (+ yknow.. dealing w getting around in NY) but i could take a bus to, this weekend/next week as we speak,,,, that's how freakin good and homey (more on that in the tags aka uhh literal diary section of this post) and impactful this show was.

and 2. if any of this (especially said tags) sounds loopy it sure is because i wrote most of this at roughly four am last night post show, when i was even moreso still back *at* the show in my head. i still stand by all of it though of course, i just know it might not be the most coherent.

this tour rocks. AG's tunes mean so much to me. get out 2 a show!!! tell me about your experiences if ya do/did!!!! yay!!!!