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anthonyed · 4 years ago

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Hi! If you’re still doing prompts, can you do 49. “Who hurt you?” Or 53. “Who cares about what they think?” + stevebucky?

Anon, I wanted to do both, but I only managed one this time :/ Maybe the second one would be a fluffier Part 2 to this piece in the future. If that happens, I'd rb this with the link (From this list: “Who hurt you?”)

-//-

There’s a boy in his class he’d never seen before.

Stick-like with dishwater hair and a beak for a nose. He walks around like he’s got the entire world on his bony shoulders; head down, eyes on the floor and he makes sure he’s one with the wall all the time.

Bucky knows it’s not his business, but he knows what a fist to the face tastes like on the tongue, so he makes it his, anyway.

Two weeks into the term, he catches the boy out of the school gate and asks, “Are you new here?”

The boy startles and looks up and - My god! Bucky thinks.

He’s got the prettiest pair of blue for his eyes and if Bucky had been thirteen, crushing on a boy for the first time, he would have freaked out.

As it is, he’s 17 and been out for a year now. So he shakes the awe out of his fluttering lashes and puts on his best smile. “Hello, I’m Bucky Barnes,” he says. Hands held out for an offer to shake.

But the boy looks at him then his hand and he looks up again and he mutters, “Keep away from me.”

Bucky has faced rejection a billion times, he’s not a stranger to being shunned because of his sexual preference, but hell. This wasn’t even a come on. He was just introducing himself. And the response he got to that just pisses him off - beautiful boy or not.

“Shit dude, who hurt you,” he scowls. “Here I am offering friendship cause you look like you could use one and - you know what. Fuck you, man. You wanna be alone? Hell if I care.”

Should have stayed in his lane. Should not have made this boy his business. Should have known he was just like the rest of them jerks.

Except he looks like he’d sucked on a sour candy upon hearing Bucky’s words and he stutters out a soft sorry. “I thought you - you were gonna jump me.”

“Well, I wasn’t, all right,” Bucky sighs, raking his fingers through his hair and it’s kind of awkward.

But he walks home that day with the boy’s name fresh on his lips and his hand still warm from a shake.

Steve Rogers is turning 18 in three months against all odds. Ma seems to tear up more and more leading his birthday and he cannot blame her for that. She’s emotional, and if he wasn’t so hopeless himself, perhaps he’d feel the same.

Living with Cystic Fibrosis sent him to deathbed more than once. He’d greeted the reaper, kissed its hand but every time they thought this was it; he was pulled back to earth once again.

He doesn’t hate life, he just thinks he’s been fated to death since the day he was born.

So he keeps to himself; doesn’t make any connections he cannot afford to sever and kisses Sarah Rogers goodnight before bed like it’s their last goodbye.

But he’s turning 18 in three months and maybe that gives him some hope because he accidentally lets a boy in too deep into his heart.

When Bucky first finds out about Steve’s… condition, it’s been three weeks into their friendship, and they’re in a coffee shop sharing a bagel sandwich after their last class for the day.

He’d said something funny and Steve had broken into peals of laughter, grabbing his chest and wheezing from uncontainable joy and for a moment, it was the most beautiful thing Bucky had ever seen.

And then it was the worst.

He saw Steve collapse right in front of him and ten other people; saw someone call for an ambulance, one of the staff yelled at Bucky about something but he couldn’t hear it. Couldn’t compute anything at all.

He froze where he stood; watching Steve die before him.

The paramedics arrived, someone pointed at him, one of the paramedics asked him if he was a friend; he said, yes.

She asked, “Can you tell me what happened?”

He stuttered, “No. I - He. He’s my friend. But I don’t know what just happened to him. Is he - Is he going to be okay?”

She’d looked at him, first disappointed then sad. She said, “Your friend’s going to be okay. If you want, you can ride along with us.”

She probably thought Bucky was a bad friend, but she never said that. She showed him the band around Steve’s wrist - which he’d never seen Steve took off, much less asked what it meant; just assumed it was important and left it at that - and told him what it means.

She flipped Steve’s wallet open, pulled out a card and gave it Bucky. “You’re lucky we know him,” she said.

“Stevie’s a good boy. But he’s very shy, and he’s always kept to himself so, it’s very nice to know he’s been going around making friends.”

Two hours later, he’s still sitting in the waiting room with his hands clasped in front of him, watching two ants carry a bread crumb across the tile between his feet.

Someone sits next to him; a nurse under her unzipped hoodie she’s got on and when he looks up, she smiles at him.

“I heard you’re Steve’s friend.”

Bucky’s been so tensed for a long time that he chokes on his spit when he opens his mouth. She waits patiently for his cough to subside. Once he can, Bucky rubs his hands over his pants and says, “Sorry. Yeah. I - I’m his friend.” Then he panics, “They said he’s all right and told me to wait here. Is he - Is everything -,”

“Have you had anything to eat yet?” She interrupts him, “Or drink maybe?”

He looks at her then; really looks at her, and he shakes his head. Something about her is too familiar so when she says, “Come,” he went with her.

She brings him to the canteen and buys him a sandwich and bottled water. “Eat,” she says. “If you’re gonna stick around, then you’ll need the energy.”

And that’s how Bucky met Sarah Rogers.

Steve is tired most of the time, but when he isn’t, he’s the brightest ball of sunshine.

His joy made Bucky bloom like Cherry Blossom in Spring. Every single smile and laughter; if Bucky could collect them all in a cup and drink, he would. But even then, he doesn’t think he’d get enough of it.

He loves him.

First as a friend, then as a boy who’d like to possess Steve; keep him to himself; all that smile and happiness, just for Bucky and only Bucky and he would never let anyone take his Stevie from him.

But then, something happens.

He gets invited to Steve’s little birthday party, and he claps as Steve blows out the candles. Hoots the loudest, laughs with Steve’s mom and then at one point, he’s sitting by her side pulling tissues for her to wipe her tears.

The room down the hallway got its door locked with Steve inside it.

“Sorry,” Mrs Rogers sniffles. It’s the fifth time she’d said it and Bucky has had enough.

“Seriously,” he tells her. “Stop worrying about it, Mrs Rogers.”

She laughs while a tear runs down her cheek at the same time. “Oh, God,” she sobs. “You shouldn’t be seeing this - Nobody, should be seeing this.”

Bucky keeps his mouth shut and hands over another ply.

Later that night, lying in his bed in the dark, Bucky thinks about what had happened. About Mrs Rogers kiss to Steve’s forehead, and her harmless words; “You’re growing into a handsome man, darling. Someday, somewhere, you’re gonna break someone’s heart.”

She wasn’t wrong. Hell, Bucky sat there thinking: he’s already breaking mine, Mrs Roger.

But that wasn’t what Steve thought. Whatever he did, it made him very angry. “Stop putting your hopes in me,” he snapped.

His poor ma, stunned, asked, “What?”

“Your hopes, ma,” Steve hissed. “You know none of that would happen. I won’t make it out of school -,”

And right then was when Bucky saw a mother break her own heart.

Her hand came in a flash, connecting sharp against Steve’s face; the loud slap echoed and the second she realised what she had done, Sarah Rogers cupped her mouth with that same hand - shaking -, her eyes wide in horror and her heart -

Hours later, Bucky could still hear it shatter into a million pieces. He realises too, they never did cut the cake tonight.

The next day, he doesn’t see Steve in school. He calls his phone, and calls Mrs Rogers when he doesn’t pick up. Her line goes dead too.

She texts later. Saying Steve’s in the hospital again.

Is he going to be okay? - Bucky writes her.

Ten minutes later, his phone flashes with; I don’t know.

He’s not okay.

They’ve got tubes stuffed down his windpipe, bags of fluids going into his veins and he’s looking bloated in the face.

The doctors keep hushing to Mrs Rogers. They tell her things Bucky doesn't understand; big words, complicated medical stuff and Bucky’s not so smart in the brain. He gets by with B in science at the very best. So he fills the chair by Stevie’s side and holds his hand instead.

When Bucky’s ma was around, she used to take him and his sister to Sunday church. She bought for them a bible each and knitted covers out of wool; one blue, one pink for Bucky and his sister, respectively.

After she passed, Bucky gave up faith and his belief. He’s stopped praying at all.

But right now, with the sound of Stevie’s heart echoing in beeps around them, he holds his hand and whispers what he remembers.

“He needs a new set of lungs,” Mrs Rogers says.

Seeing her in the hospital without her uniform on is very jarring. Bucky stares at her fingers curled around a paper cup holding coffee like they held all the answers.

They told themselves that the chairs in Steve’s room got too hard for their spine, so they’re in the canteen for better cushioning.

Truth is, they couldn’t take the silence in there anymore. So they’re out here drowning their sorrow in the most crowded place in the hospital.

“You know, I’m very glad that he met you.”

Bucky looks up from her hand and meets her watery smile. She sniffles, “He knew he didn’t have a long time. So he walked alone. Never made any friends. I have the suspicion that he hates saying goodbye.”

Bucky’s throat aches so he swallows it down. Sarah Rogers lays her hand over Bucky’s and squeezes.

“Thank you,” she tells him. “For choosing my son.”

He knows then that she sees right through him.

“I love him,” he tells her truthfully; his heart too swollen with Steve to hide no longer.

She gives him another watery smile and pats his hand two short times, “I know.”

Bucky swallows the lump in his throat and says, “I never told him that.”

If; Bucky thinks.

If he could go back in time, he’d like to go back to the first day he met Steve and ask, “Would you go out on a date with me,” instead of offering friendship.

Or the first time he walked Steve out of the discharge suit so he could catch his frail hand, then his blue eyes and say, “Be my boyfriend Steve Rogers.”

Maybe a week before Steve’s birthday, when they were sitting in the park, with the late summer breeze caressing their skin and Steve had held his lips pressed the entire time.

They’d only known each other for two-and-a-half months then, but Bucky felt like he’d known Steve his entire lifetime. And he could tell that Steve was upset that evening.

He’d gotten off the phone with his mum that afternoon and back then Bucky didn’t know, but now, he could guess it was probably Mrs Rogers mentioning throwing him a birthday party.

If Bucky could go back to that evening, he wouldn’t just stop at making jokes for Steve to laugh at. He would take his hand in his and press his mouth to Steve’s cheek. He’d like to tell him, “You’re beautiful” and that, “You take my breath away, Stevie.”

He’d like to tell him in detail just how deeply he was in love with Steve. With the sound of birds chirping overhead and water lapping in the lake, he would like to have kissed the sorrow out of Steve’s lips.

But time travel is a fairy dream, and as it is for Bucky; he’s just another boy who’d missed his chance.

So he takes what he could get; he hoards minutes he could get with Stevie and treasures them dearly. Especially those without Sarah Rogers hovering by.

He tells him what he thinks; the weather, the new pair of shoes his nurse is wearing today, the little boy with a broken nose that reminded him of Steve and a helluva lot of ‘I wish’-es.

He tells him: “You taught me how to love selflessly.” Tells him: “I would have given anything to have you beside me, but now I just want you to stop hurting.”

#stucky #stevebucky #mine #thank you for requesting anon! i LOVED writing this #prompts

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popunktomlinson · 5 years ago

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this is just the mess of all the fics that i read between december ‘19 and may ‘20 for my own reference but if you want to check any out there are stars next to my favorites! this is mostly drarry with some larry, scorbus, and one (1) wolfstar pairing.

Larry:

Missed Connection - kingsofeverything (3k)

Harry is absolutely clueless when it comes to figuring out if other guys are into him, so he enlists his friend Niall to assist. That may or may not be a mistake.

Like Candy In My Veins - littlelouishiccups (85k)

“Um…” Harry said slowly after a moment. “Okay. That’s… this is… Let me get this straight.” He lifted up a hand and swallowed. “You told your family that you have a boyfriend… and my name was the first one you thought of?”

(Basically the A/B/O, enemies to lovers, fake relationship, Christmas AU that nobody asked for.)

Forget the Silent Nights - LadyLondonderry (45k)

The last Christmas with the seven of them in that broken old house on Redwood all together was probably one of the most memorable holidays each of them had, what with the wedding and the the snowstorm and the raccoons in their attic…

And the baby they stole, of course.

Point. Drop. Call. - 4ureyesonly28 (2k)

Teenagers get bored on a hot summer day and decide to play a little game…Whoever loses has to call their crush, no matter who or where they are.

Drarry:

Written on the Heart - who_la_hoop (114k)

When he’s hit by an illegal love-spell though, Harry finds he has more to worry about than whether or not Blaise Zabini actually wants to be his friend. For if everyone affected has been blessed – or cursed, by the look on Malfoy’s face – with a magical tattoo revealing the name of their soulmate, what does it mean that Harry’s skin remains completely bare?

hello goodbye (’twas nice to know you) - tamerofdarkstars (5k)

Draco Malfoy thinks he might know whose thoughts are scrawling themselves on his skin, but that's crazy. Impossible, even. It has to be a mistake.

Self-indulgent soulmate AU where the thoughts of your soulmate inscribe themselves on your skin in a shifting magic tattoo

Hope Springs Eternal (But Love Springs in the Forrest, Unannounced) - lettered (12k)

Draco falls into a love spring. Harry saves him! And now they’re bonded for life. Draco is horrified. Harry thinks it’s kind of neat.

The Lesbian Muffin Debacle - abusing_sarcasm (7k)

Pansy and Ginny have a muffin-induced potions accident and Draco and Harry are stuck watching their love life from the sidelines - quite literally. Fortunately, they're able to give each other a hand.

✨The Owl Who Came for Christmas - dracogotgame (18k)

Draco has a debt to pay off, no matter what Potter thinks. And he has a Very Good Idea to go along with it. Things don't go as planned.

Strange Bathfellows - bixgirl1 (28k)

It started with a bath. Or a potions accident. Or maybe it started before that, but who can tell anymore.

Featuring: Uncomfortable wanking, more comfortable wanking, mutual wanking, bath sharing, inappropriate betting, secret shagging, those secrets at Hogwarts that everyone knows, and oblivious Harry who knows one thing: he's falling in love.

Something I Don’t Want to Stop - lq_traintracks (16k)

It's Harry and Draco's eighth year, the Houses have been all but demolished in favor of unity, and they're being forced to room together. How ever will they cope?

Psuedo - dysonrules (24k)

Draco runs into an interesting man during a drunken night out. Pansy slips the man Draco's address, not realising that he is actually Harry Potter in disguise.

Things get a bit out of hand after that.

Two Truths and all those Hidden Lies - keyflight790 (8k)

It didn’t matter whether Draco knew about the Polyjuice or not; nor did it matter what face Harry deigned to hide behind in the club. Draco could spot Potter a mile away.

The Other Side to Draco Malfoy - makingitwork (20k)

Draco Malfoy's best friend is Theodore Nott, the only person he trusts. So The Golden Trio decide to make Harry use Polyjuice Potion to see what Draco knows about the war.

The only problem is, while pretending to be Theodore Nott, Harry discovers another side to Draco. A better, lonelier side.

Right Hand Red - lq_traintracks (73k)

Harry felt Malfoy's breath on his lips as they came together over the bottle, hands firmly planted on the floor as though they each needed their familiar soil, refusing to cross into enemy territory.

Except that Malfoy no longer felt like his enemy.

Malfoy felt inevitable.

Good to Me (And I’d Be So Good to You) - AWickedMemory (9k)

Everyone returns to Hogwarts after the war, but nothing is quite the same. Harry's groupies are creepier than ever, Ron and Hermione are snogging all over the place, and the once-proud Draco is shuffling around like a kicked puppy. But that's okay: Harry's got a plan.

Good Company - Greenflares (8k)

With Hermione and Ron always together, Harry's return to Hogwarts to complete his education isn't exactly fun. Somehow, it's his unlikely friendship with Malfoy that keeps him sane.

The Lip-Lock Jinx - Casis Luna (20k)

The Lip-Lock Jinx, a jinx that renders the victim mute that can only be undone in two ways: if the caster reverses the spell on the victim, or if the victim serves the purpose of the jinx and kisses the person that they desire. It’s just Harry’s luck that he gets jinxed by Ginny Weasley and he’s in love with Draco Malfoy.

Like Diamonds We Are Cut With Our Own Dust - raitala (11k)

Draco has borne the mark of the Dark Lord for over ten years. It is familiar to him, but he pays the price for it every day, and Harry has noticed.

Burning the Ground - lq_traintracks (10k)

"Strap him down," someone said, and Harry felt the rage thicken inside him -- the viscous fear.

Magical bindings pulled taut around his wrists . . . He felt a wand touch his arm and then a sharp bite as something punctured the skin, and a sweet, cool tonic rushed his veins.

His breathing slowed. His eyelids drooped. The ceiling went grey and dark. And then he heard a woman's voice sigh, "Someone, get Healer Malfoy."

✨Turn - Saras_Girl (307k)

One good turn always deserves another. Apparently.

Around You Moves -ignatiustrout (30k)

Harry knew Draco was gay when he invited him to move in. He’s never had a problem with this. So why does he feel so weird about Draco bringing men home all of a sudden?

Who Else But You - jeni_andtheafterthought (6k)

Draco loses his soulmate before he understands what that means. Then, it happens again. Quite the anomaly, Draco is encouraged to keep a journal following the experience. Finding his soulmate, solving the mystery surrounding his soulmate bond may be more than he bargained for.

you’ve got the antidote for me - Kanadakicksass (21k)

When Harry Potter unintentionally severs their soulbond before it can fully form, Draco Malfoy resigns himself to a slow death and decides not to burden Harry with a soulmate he's made it very clear he doesn't want.

✨Grounds For Divorce - Tepre (122k)

Malfoy finds a coin. Harry finds a letter.

A story about histories, a story about families. A story about a lemon tree somewhere in Upper Egypt.

Symbiosis - fireflavored (20k)

sym·bi·o·sis (sĩm'bē-ō'sĩs) n. Biology A close, prolonged association between two or more different organisms of different species that may, but does not necessarily, benefit each member.

Through The Looking Glass and What Draco Found There - magpie_fngrl (17k)

Draco discovers the Mirror of Erised is a portal and he enters an alternate reality where your deepest desires come true. Or how Draco found himself in the world of his dreams and Potter had to come and ruin it.

Bond - AnnaFugazzi (173k)

I started to write this before HBP came out, and crossed my fingers that HBP wouldn't make it totally non-canon. No such luck, I'm afraid. This, therefore, is an AU story, where (SPOILER) still teaches (SPOILER), (SPOILER) didn't try to (SPOILER), (SPOILER) didn't succeed in (SPOILER), (SPOILER) never dated (SPOILER), and most importantly, (MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS) never happened.

Two Wands Make a Right - dannyfranx (21k)

Harry's wand is playing up and Hermione thinks she knows the answer, but why does she have to be right all the time, why does Draco Malfoy have to be so god damn difficult and why is he wearing his tie backwards?

Running on Air - eleventy7 (75k)

Draco Malfoy has been missing for three years. Harry is assigned the cold case and finds himself slowly falling in love with the memories he collects.

You Send Me (Honest You Do) - firethesound (37k)

As far as potion accidents go in general, and deaging incidents go in particular, Draco knew this could have been so much worse. Harry only lost about ten years, and all his memories are still intact. But the sight of him looking as if he’s stepped straight out of Draco’s Hogwarts memories has dredged up a whole mess of complicated feelings Draco thought he’d buried years ago, and Draco really doesn’t know what to do with any of it.

✨What We Pretend We Can’t See - gyzym (131k) ✨

Seven years out from the war, Harry learns the hard truth of old history: it’s never quite as far behind you as you thought.

Eternity - TheFiestyRogue (1k)

On one's 21st birthday, one's soul mark is burnt into one's skin. It could be anything; a name, a number, a symbol.

Technicolor Beat - fortunate_cookie (5k)

"H-Harry, you..I don’t-understand...", the blonde said breathlessly looking to the equally as breathless Gryffindor.

"Yeah. I...yeah...", Harry replied intelligently.

or the one where harry and draco are soulmates and there's a chase involved.

such a softer sin - therewascourfeyrac (16k)

After Draco meets Harry Potter, he's left with two tattoos, one on each wrist. One for a soul mate, one for his enemy. He's never known any one else who has the same name on both wrists.

Just The Two Of Us - Hekatee, Pierian (3k)

Harry finally meets his soulmate. Except his soulmate has been given a heavy dose of morphine and has no idea that his drugged-up rambling includes the words that change Harry's life forever.

Timer - JulietsEmoPhase (2k)

“If a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate, would you want to know?” Of course, Harry had to miss the moment his clock ran out.

Two Weeks - shiftylinguini (22k)

If Harry had to guess which out of he or his Auror Partner, and tentative new friend, Draco Malfoy, would turn out to have Veela ancestry, his answer would be: neither, because that is ridiculous. Finding out the answer is actually him, and that his Veela heritage is wreaking havoc on his ability to work, sleep, and above all be in the same room as Malfoy, is a surprise to say the least. But this is fine. Harry’s been through worse, and he can just sit this one out, regardless of how much his body is screaming for the one person he doesn’t want to ask for help. Can’t he?

A Convenient Impracticality - firethesound (39k)

Somehow Harry ends up agreeing to a fake relationship with his ex-nemesis-turned-friendly-acquaintance-with-benefits, except for some reason it involves an awful lot of actual dating and, sadly, not much sex. Confused? Harry is too, but when has anything with Draco Malfoy ever been as straightforward as it seems?

Precious Memories - ravenclawsquill (18k)

When Harry’s Pensieve breaks with a very important memory trapped inside, he has no choice but to hire an expert to repair it. Then Draco Malfoy steps out of his Floo, and Harry isn’t sure what to expect. He certainly isn’t anticipating tea, biscuits and gold-rimmed glasses.

Helix - Saras_Girl (93k)

Seven months after the end of the war, Harry is feeling lost. Fortunately, he is about to be offered an unexpected and sparkling chance to find himself again.

Temptation on the Warfront - alizarincrimson (180k)

Draco Malfoy is forced into hiding with the Golden Trio and dragged into their search for horcruxes. What ensues is a journey of redemption, unexpected friendships and an unwanted, turbulent romance with Harry Potter. Warnings for swearing, sexual content, and dark themes.

Scorbus:

re-read:

The Unicorn Incident - who_la_hoop (18k)

Growing up is hard to do, especially in the shadow of your father's reputation. Scorpius Malfoy has a tough time keeping his resolution to be the best Slytherin he can be when schoolboy games, unicorns, incompetent friends and a beloved enemy all conspire to teach him something different – and rather wonderful – about himself.

Scorpius Malfoy’s Future Wife - josephinestone (2k)

Albus Potter and Rose Weasley's parents have a bet on who Scorpius Malfoy is going to marry. If it's Lily, they will be just like Ginny and Harry; If it is Rose, they'll be just like Ron and Hermione. Harry witnesses the answer.

Never Trust A Slytherin - who_la_hoop (12k)

Al grinned. It would be the crowning glory of his final year – the one thing that would prove, once and for all, that he was not his dad in any way, shape or form. He would seduce a Slytherin – the son of his father's great enemy – and prove to Scorpius Malfoy his perfect trust in him. How hard could it be?

Wolfstar:

The Electric Fizzing Prick Pistols, or Whatever - whitmans_kiss (4k)

Everyone is born with Words on their arm that connect them to their Soulmate. James finds his, Sirius had everything figured out back in First Year, Peter doesn’t talk to girls anyway, and Remus thinks he’d very much just like to put his earmuffs back on and disappear.

#fic rec #read #drarry #drarry fic rec #fics #mine

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rachelstwomoms · 5 years ago

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Earrings For Rachel

This story takes place in my “Childhood Friends AU” universe, but several years earlier. If you’re like me and love the idea of Sera and little Rachel going around LA like the adorable mother-daughter pair that they are, this one’s for you.

——————————

The day that Rachel Amber’s been waiting for is finally, finally here. The child has an extra bounce in her step as she walks hand-in-hand with her mother down the streets of Los Angeles. They pass bakeries and bookstores and a bunch of other shops that, on this sunny spring afternoon, are all just a blur. Today, Rachel has only one destination on her mind.

From the days when she was a tiny baby who hadn’t even learned to walk, Rachel’s been fascinated with jewelry and pretty little accessories. Necklaces. Bracelets. Her very first piece of jewelry was a special bracelet that her mother gave her right after she was born. Although Rachel doesn’t have memories from that early in her life, Rose has told her before that she’s never taken it off, not even in the bath. Rachel doesn’t want to take it off, anyway. It reminds her of her mother. Even when she doesn’t get to see Sera it makes her feel a bit like she’s there.

If Rachel begged long enough, sometimes Rose would let her wear some of her jewelry. There was one particular necklace in Rose’s jewelry box that Rachel really liked, with a thin, silver chain and a star-shaped pendant. She asked her stepmother if she could wear it so many times that one day Rose just let her have it. Rachel wore that necklace every day until an unfortunate incident at preschool where it accidentally got flushed down the toilet. Naturally, Rachel flipped out and Rose was called to the school to come and pick her up early after three different teachers all failed to calm her down.

Luckily for her parents, Rachel got over it quickly. All Rose had to do was plop Rachel onto the couch with her favorite snack and stick The Little Mermaid into the VCR and she was fine. Unfortunately, the movie turned out to be both a blessing and a curse. Even though her daughter’s watched this movie a hundred times before, this time Rachel gets to the part of the movie where Ariel becomes human and is getting ready to have dinner with the prince and is utterly captivated by the mermaid’s new pearl earrings. Ever since then, that’s all Rachel’s been talking about. Earrings, earrings, earrings. Her parents are well aware that no fancy necklace nor bracelet could distract Rachel from her current obsession over earrings.

Gone are the days when Rachel’s love for the accessory could be appeased with little plastic clip-ons and magnetic studs. She’s getting older. Wiser. Now she knows that the earrings that Rose and Daddy buy her aren’t real. And Rachel’s ready for the real deal. She may or may not have thrown a good tantrum or two (or three or ten) in order to get her point across. Her birthday’s coming up and, this year, there’s only one thing that she wants: to get her ears pierced.

At first, James and Rose weren’t too keen on the idea. They both thought that their daughter was still too young. A big part of the reason why they ended up giving in, other than the tantrums, of course, was because Sera helped convince them. The young mother opened with the obvious, stating that plenty of girl Rachel’s age have their ears pierced. Sera took the time to explain that the safest option would be to take Rachel to a licensed body piercer, and that the tattoo parlor where she’s gone to get her own tattoos done also does piercings. Sera reassured them that it’s a reputable shop and that she trusts the staff. One of the employees who does piercings also happens to be one of her closest friends, so she would feel completely comfortable letting her pierce their daughter’s ears. James and Rose eventually got on board and gave Sera permission to take Rachel to have it done.

And today’s the big day.

As mother and daughter approach the end of the block, Sera suddenly comes to a stop in front of one of the shops and Rachel squeezes her hand excitedly.

“Mommy, is this the place?”

The first ten times Rachel asked, Sera’s answer had been no. This time, however, they’ve actually reached their destination. “Yeah, Baby, we’re here.”

Rachel tilts her head back and looks up at the gothic-style lettering of the sign above the door. Right in the middle, there’s a skull and crossbones with a pirate sword going through the top of its head and coming out of its mouth. Rachel can’t exactly read yet, but she does know her ABCs and their sounds, so she spends a second trying to make out what the sign says.

But these letters don’t look like the ones she knows. They’re shaped differently, and Rachel finds herself getting frustrated trying to decipher them. Before she can ask, though, Sera’s pulling the door open and leading her inside.

It’s rather dark inside the shop. Black walls are covered from top to bottom with framed tattoo designs and photographs of past customers. The reception area is dim and eerie, front desk illuminated by a glowing red neon welcome sign. On the wall behind the desk is another skull and crossbones that match the sign outside. Upon hearing the door open, a woman with four buns in her hair comes out from the back of the shop to greet her guests, breaking into a toothy grin when she recognizes who it is.

“Sera! It’s great to see you again!” She comes over and greets Rachel’s mother with a long hug. Her arms and neck are covered in tattoos and there’s a gold ring in her nose. She leans over to look at Rachel, smile growing even wider. When she speaks again, Rachel notices that she even has a piercing on her tongue. “You must be my client, Miss Rachel.”

Rachel puffs out her chest and beams upon being addressed in such a grown-up sounding way.

The woman reaches out to shake Rachel’s hand and introduces herself. “My name’s Dani. I’m going to pierce your ears today. Is that okay?”

Rachel’s wearing the biggest, happiest smile Sera’s ever seen. Her daughter gleefully takes Dani’s hand and walks with her to the back of the shop. Sera follows behind them, letting out a sigh of relief. Part of her had been slightly worried that Rachel might be scared, either by the interior of the shop and its whole skull motif, or when it was actually time for her to sit down and have her piercings done, but her daughter is all smiles as she chats with Dani and climbs fearlessly into the black leather chair.

“I get to have real earrings because I’m big now,” Rachel proudly tells Dani.

“Yeah?” Dani washes her hands and pulls on a fresh pair of rubber gloves. “How old are you?”

Rachel holds up all the fingers on one hand. “Five!”

Sera raises an eyebrow and chuckles. “No, Dawn, not yet. Almost. ” Her daughter erupts into amused giggles. Sera explains. “She’ll be five in July.”

“And then I’ll get to go to kindergarten. Right, Mommy?”

“That’s right. This fall.”

“Wow. School, huh?” Dani hands Rachel a laminated card showing their selection of starter studs. “Well, Miss Rachel, are you ready to choose your very first pair of earrings?”

Rachel’s eyes light up. She takes a second to admire all the different kinds, but it doesn’t take her long to select a pair for herself. She points to the picture of some simple white pearls. “These look just like Mommy’s!” She turns her head and looks at Sera. “Mommy, can I see?”

Sera complies and tucks one side of her hair behind her ear. Both Rachel and Dani look and, sure enough, the earrings are almost identical.

Dani lets out a small laugh. “Are those the ones you want?”

“Yeah!” Rachel bounces a little in the chair.

“Sera, I see you’ve got a ‘mini-me’ on your hands.” Dani looks at Sera and grins.

“Yeah, she’s going through her ‘just like Mommy’ phase.” The young mother finds it endearing how much her daughter tries to imitate her lately. Sera smiles lovingly at Rachel. “Aren’t you, Baby?”

Looking absolutely pleased with herself, Rachel giggles again.

“I figured it was best to get this done now,” says Sera, tucking Rachel’s hair behind her ears and taking one last look at the unpierced skin. “She’s been asking for E-A-R-R-I-N-G-S for her B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y, so…” Trailing off, she shares a knowing look with Dani. “You know, so they have time to heal before then.”

“Yeah, I get you.”

Dani pulls a wheeled tray of tools over to the chair. She shows each one to Rachel, tells her what it’s called, and explains exactly what she’s going to do with it. First, she cleans Rachel’s ears with a liquid solution and a small piece of cloth, earning more laughs from the clearly ticklish child. Dani then marks a tiny dot on each of Rachel’s earlobes where the piercing will be and has Sera take a look. Once she has both Sera’s and Rachel’s approval, Dani takes one of the tools from the tray and measures the marks just to make sure that they’re even on both sides.

Everything looks good.

“Okay, Miss Rachel, are you ready?” asks Dani, holding up the piercing needle. “Which ear do you want done first?” Rachel points to her left ear, so Dani moves to that side of the chair. “You’re doing awesome, you know that? I’ve had some grown-ups come in here before who were nowhere near as calm and brave as you.”

Rachel enjoys the praise. “I’m not scared.”

“You are the coolest kid I’ve met,” Dani says, gently turning Rachel’s head to the opposite side. “I’m going to pierce your ear now, okay? You might feel a teensy-weensy pinch.”

Rachel holds still and tries not to move her head, just like Dani tells her. Dani counts down from three and then sticks the needle through. From her seat across the room, Sera watches her daughter’s expression change as the piercing needle comes back out and Dani puts the first earring in place. There’s a shocked, confused look in Rachel’s eyes and her mouth is twisted into a tight grimace. Discomfort is written all over her face. Sera holds her breath and hopes that her daughter doesn’t have a meltdown. They’re already halfway through and can’t back out now.

Rachel looks over and searches her mother’s face for her reaction, so Sera makes sure to mask all traces of concern behind a reassuring smile and lots of praise.

“You doing okay?” Dani goes to put the back of the earring on to secure it in place, but Rachel pulls away at her touch. Sera jumps up from her seat and goes over to try and soothe her daughter before the situation has time to escalate.

“It’s okay. Dani’s just going to put the back on so it won’t fall out.” Sera holds Rachel’s hand and strokes her hair. “You’re such a brave girl. I’m so proud of you.”

While Rachel’s distracted, Dani slips on the earring back and then hands Sera a handheld mirror. Sera holds it up so she and Rachel can look in it together. “Oh, Dawn, look at your earring! It’s so pretty.”

Sera can tell from her daughter’s face that she’s dangerously close to crying. Rachel’s eyes are shiny with tears but she looks curiously into the mirror.

“Do you like it?”

Rachel nods and the motion causes two tears to roll slowly down her cheeks.

“You’re okay, Baby.” Placing the mirror on the chair, Sera takes Rachel’s other hand as well and gives both a comforting squeeze. “You’re so brave.”

Dani moves to the other side of the chair and a flash of panic appears on Rachel’s face. She’s no fool. She knows what’s coming now and isn’t looking forward to it one bit.

“Just one more and then we’re done!” Sera attempts to distract Rachel. “We can go get smoothies! What kind do you want?”

Rachel flinches when Dani touches her other ear. Her voice is wavery. “M-mango… and strawberry…”

“Alright, Miss Rachel, I’m going to pierce your other ear. Are you ready?” Compared to earlier, Dani’s tone much gentler. It’s clear that she doesn’t want to upset the four-year-old further. Rachel chokes out a tiny sob and nods her head yes , but her facial expression and body language say otherwise. “Would you feel better if you sat in Mommy’s lap for this one?”

Rachel nods again, pulling her hands from her mother’s and lifting her arms up. Sera lifts Rachel up and takes her place in the chair before placing her in her lap. Dani starts the countdown again and then pierces Rachel’s other ear, earning a stifled, squeaky cry of pain from the child. Once Dani sticks the earring back on that second earring, she holds her empty hands up in front of Rachel to show her that she’s finished. “That’s it! You’re all done.”

Wiggling in her mother’s lap, Rachel turns her body around and clings to Sera’s neck. Instinctively, Sera’s arms wrap around Rachel and she spends a moment comforting her, telling her how well she did, and reassuring her that she’s going to be fine. To everyone’s relief, Rachel only cries for a short minute before Sera coaxes her to look in the mirror again.

“Oh, Baby, look! You look so big. They look just like Mommy’s.” Sera tucks her own hair behind her ears and carefully brushes Rachel’s out of the way so they can compare earrings. “We’re matching now.”

Snuffling, Rachel turns her head to look. Her lips curl into a small smile when she sees her new, real earrings. Sera hands her the mirror so her daughter can continue to admire her ears while freeing up her own hands. She wipes Rachel’s tears away with her fingertips. “You really did so good. It ended up hurting a little but, huh?”

“Yeah…” Rachel pouts but still doesn’t take her eyes away from her reflection. “Can we go now?”

“Dani’s going to show us how to take care of your ears while they’re healing, but then we’re all done. Are you ready for your mango strawberry smoothie?”

Remembering the promise of her favorite fruity treat, Rachel perks up. She listens attentively during Dani’s explanation about the importance of keeping her ears clean and nods when asked if she understands. When Dani asks her to promise not to touch her ears or take out her earrings until Mommy says it’s okay, Rachel promises. But even Dani, despite only having known Rachel for a few minutes, notices a big change in the child’s demeanor compared to when she and Sera first arrived. Rachel’s a lot more quiet and subdued, and the piercer can’t help but feel a little guilty.

When it’s time to leave, Sera has to pry Rachel off of her when they reach the front desk so she can pay. Even once Rachel’s standing on her own again, she stays close to Sera, one arm around her mother’s legs.

Dani comes around the side of the desk so she can send Sera and Rachel off.

“Dawn, can you say ‘thank you’ to Dani?” Sera asks.

Rachel looks up at Dani from her spot pressed tightly against Sera’s side. “Thank you.”

Dani crouches down and smiles at her little client. “You did so awesome today. Can I get one last peek at those gorgeous ears of yours?” Taking a step out from behind Sera, Rachel pushes her hair behind her back to show off her earrings and Dani gasps. “Whoa! Sera, is that you? I could’ve sworn you were taller! Did you shrink?”

An amused smile creeps its way onto Rachel’s face. Shaking her head, she points up at her mother. “No, Mommy’s right here.”

Dani looks up at Sera, then back to Rachel, then switches back and forth between them a few times. “No way, there are two Seras? Since when?”

“No!” Rachel’s voice rises in pitch as she gets the giggles. “That’s Mommy! I’m Rachel!”

Dani shakes her head. “No. No way. I met Rachel today and she was just a little girl. And you’re practically a grown-up lady. Are you really Rachel?”

By now, Rachel’s laughing uncontrollably and she goes up close to Dani’s face and leans in. “It’s me! It’s Rachel!”

Dani reaches out and tickles the girl’s sides, causing her to shriek and burst into hysterics. “Ah, all right. I guess you do sound a little like Rachel. I didn’t recognize you because now you look just like your Mommy. You could be twins.”

“Mommy!” Rachel hops over to Sera excitedly. “Am I your twin now?”

Sera shoots Dani a grateful smile, then chuckles and puts a hand on her daughter’s head. “Do you think Daddy and Rose will be able to tell us apart?”

Rachel hums, suddenly thinking seriously about the situation. “Mommy, you have to wear a jacket so they can’t see your tattoos. Then we can trick them!” This earns a good laugh from the adults in the room. “Or maybe I can get a tattoo.”

Dani snorts.

Sera shakes her head, still laughing. “Sorry, Baby. No tattoos.”

“What about when I’m bigger?”

“When you’re much, much bigger.”

Rachel smiles cheekily. “Like when I’m eight?”

“Try eighteen.”

The door to the tattoo parlor opens, and in walks another customer. With Rachel back to her usual self, Sera knows that the time has come to bid farewell to Dani. Before they leave, Rachel throws her arms around her new friend and gives her a big hug. Dani wishes Rachel well in kindergarten and waves goodbye, only stopping once Sera and Rachel are completely out of sight. Back on the streets again, the young mother and her young daughter head to their next stop, the smoothie shop.

After walking a couple blocks in comfortable quiet, Rachel’s voice suddenly breaks the silence. “Mommy?”

“Yeah?”

“When I’m eighteen,” Rachel recalls the tattoo conversation from earlier, “will you still be my mommy?”

“Always, Baby.”

Satisfied with this answer, she smiles and squeezes Sera’s hand tighter. At four years old, Rachel Amber doesn’t really understand the concept of time. She’s old enough to know that a day means morning, afternoon and night. She knows that going to sleep makes one day end and the next day begin. But she can’t yet comprehend exactly how long a day is, or how many days are in a year, or just how many more birthdays she has until she’s eighteen.

They come to a stop at a crosswalk, and, while they wait for the light to change, Rachel catches a glimpse of her reflection in the window of the shop on the corner. Her new earrings glisten in the afternoon sunshine.

At four years old, Rachel is sure of one thing, though.

When she grows up, she wants to be just like her mommy.

#childhood friends au #rachel amber #sera gearhardt #baby rachel and young mama sera bonding #life is strange

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awkward-toshinori · 6 years ago

Note

Hey Yo, can I get all 200 asks for the ask meme thing? Please and thank you!

Absolutely

200: My crush’s name is:

Horia

199: I was born in:

Romania

198: I am really:

friendly and trustworthy

197: My cellphone company is:

Digi

196: My eye color is:

Aqua Blue

195: My shoe size is:

7,5

194: My ring size is:

20?? hell if i know tbh

193: My height is:

5′7

192: I am allergic to:

nothing

191: My 1st car was:

I can’t drive yet!!

190: My 1st job was:

No jobs yikes :c

189: Last book you read:

Sword of Destiny!!

188: My bed is:

messy and full of plushies

187: My pet:

no pets but ahh my baby plant

186: My best friend:

I’ve got tons of them and I’m pretty sure they know themselves

185: My favorite shampoo is:

ah I don’t really have any preferences

184: Xbox or ps3:

*big gasp* ps3

183: Piggy banks are:

They’re superb but I would feel so bad about wrecking one

182: In my pockets:

Glasses tissues

181: On my calendar:

uh there’s nothing noted yet

180: Marriage is:

Something quiet amazing and lovely, at least from my point

179: Spongebob can:

aww man I don’t watch spongebob

178: My mom:

is shorther than me, that’s for sure

177: The last three songs I bought were?

I didn’t buy any songs but I did buy albums and the last three I bought I suppose were Aenima by tool, Portrait of An American Familly by Marilyn Manson and Slipknot by Slipknot, I think

176: Last YouTube video watched:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q9UafsiQ6k

175: How many cousins do you have?

2 or 3 I think

174: Do you have any siblings?

Yes, one

173: Are your parents divorced?

nope

172: Are you taller than your mom?

yes B)

171: Do you play an instrument?

Not yet but I’m planning on getting a bass so

170: What did you do yesterday?

I went to a cool concert

169: Love at first sight:

not rlly

168: Luck:

nope

167: Fate:

also no

166: Yourself:

no *oops doopsie I’m sorry*

165: Aliens:

yes

164: Heaven:

nah

163: Hell:

162: God:

nopety

161: Horoscopes:

not really

160: Soul mates:

hmm a bit

159: Ghosts:

158: Gay Marriage:

157: War:

not really

156: Orbs:

not really :/

155: Magic:

no but I find it interesting154: Hugs or Kisses:

hugs

153: Drunk or High:

I personally wouldn’t go for any of those but drunk ig

152: Phone or Online:

online

151: Red heads or Black haired:

black haired

150: Blondes or Brunettes:

ah, blondes

149: Hot or cold:

cold

148: Summer or winter:

winter

147: Autumn or Spring:

spring

146: Chocolate or vanilla:

vanilla

145: Night or Day:

night

144: Oranges or Apples:

oranges

143: Curly or Straight hair:

straight

142: McDonalds or Burger King:

McDonalds

141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate:

White Chocolate

140: Mac or PC:

139: Flip flops or high heals:

flip flops

138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor:

sweet and poor tbh

137: Coke or Pepsi:

coke

136: Hillary or Obama:

Obama??!!

135: Burried or cremated:

cremated

134: Singing or Dancing:

singing

133: Coach or Chanel:

coach

132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks:

I uh, none

131: Small town or Big city:

big city

130: Wal-Mart or Target:

I had never went to one though Wal-Mart

129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler:

Adam Sandler

128: Manicure or Pedicure:

Manicure

127: East Coast or West Coast:

East Coast

126: Your Birthday or Christmas:

Christmas

125: Chocolate or Flowers:

flowers

124: Disney or Six Flags:

disney

123: Yankees or Red Sox:

Yankees

122: War:

I uh personally don’t agree with them and uh dunno

121: George Bush:

Don’t have one yet

120: Gay Marriage:

I find it lovely but too sad it’s not legal here so

119: The presidential election:

Quiet stinky as in no good choices

118: Abortion:

See this topic rips itself in two, if it’s intentionally done I personally think it’s the worst thing to do but that someone can do whatever they want, it’s their body after all, though if it happens and it’s not intended just, big sad react

117: MySpace:

I don’t have an opinion on it

116: Reality TV:

I don’t really watch it nor like it

115: Parents:

I would’ve appreciated if my parents showed me more support and love but not that I have anything against our type of relationship at the moment so

114: Back stabbers:

I totally not like them so I choose to cut contact with them

113: Ebay:

It’s fine till now

112: Facebook:

I’m not a big fan of Facebook

111: Work:

If it’s something I love, it makes me feel good but if it’s not it kind of brings a feeling of uneasy and frustration to me

110: My Neighbors:

They’re chill, the baby and the puppy are my favorites

109: Gas Prices:

kinda shitty here

108: Designer Clothes:

They can design what they want however they want, this is not really a topic of interest for me

107: College:

I can’t wait to get to it ngl

106: Sports:

Not one of my interests but they do look fun

105: My family:

I tolerate them easily but yeah I love them

104: The future:

Other than that I’m scared as hell regarding the future? nah

103: Hugged someone:

Eh!! Today!!

102: Last time you ate:

7 hours ago??

101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile:

Oh last week I think

100: Cried in front of someone:

U H, yesterday

99: Went to a movie theater:

last thursday

98: Took a vacation:

last Christmas

97: Swam in a pool:

last summer

96: Changed a diaper:

never tbh

95: Got my nails done:

OH, it’s been ages since I’ve done that

94: Went to a wedding:

4 years ago

93: Broke a bone:

never nyehehe B)

92: Got a peircing:

I don’t have any but planning on getting some

91: Broke the law:

never

90: Texted:

minutes ago

89: Who makes you laugh the most:

tbh, my friends

88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is:

my stuff but mostly my baby plant

87: The last movie I saw:

Captain MArvel

86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most:

finishing high school

85: The thing im not looking forward to:

Missing upcoming opportunities

84: People call me:

Satana(I have the perferct explanation)

83: The most difficult thing to do is:

talk in servers or groups tbh

82: I have gotten a speeding ticket:

Oh I’d feel terrible and embarassed tbh

81: My zodiac sign is:

LEo

80: The first person i talked to today was:

my boyfriend

79: First time you had a crush:

in 5th grade

78: The one person who i can’t hide things from:

My boyfriend.. because he knows when something’s up with me or if something’s not good

77: Last time someone said something you were thinking:

hmmm weeks ago I think

76: Right now I am talking to:

@angelwings-234

75: What are you going to do when you grow up:

be a programmer

74: I have/will get a job:

I hope to get one as a programmer in the future (though hell If I know what exactly yet)

73: Tomorrow:

I’ll probably hope for school to end faster just so I can nap

72: Today:

I haven’t done much tbh

71: Next Summer:

Will be so busy and I’m so not up to it

70: Next Weekend:

I’ll be going to a cool ass contest

69: I have these pets:

I have a baby plant!!!

68: The worst sound in the world:

static noise

67: The person that makes me cry the most is:

myself?? sounds a bit edgy

66: People that make you happy:

all the close friends in my life and some artists along with stuff I enjoy a lot

65: Last time I cried:

yesterday

64: My friends are:

There are too many to list them but luv them all

63: My computer is:

full of games that I’m probably not going to finish in the following 2 months

62: My School:

kinda sucks when it comes to students

61: My Car:

does not exist yet

60: I lose all respect for people who:

who are rude and big mean bags of shit?? I could detail this but dunno

59: The movie I cried at was:

Interstellar

58: Your hair color is:

blonde

57: TV shows you watch:

SOA, Gotham when my bf watches it and I don’t really like TV shows though I have some on my waiting list

56: Favorite web site:

https://www.pbinfo.ro/

55: Your dream vacation:

just, somewhere around a forest, it’d be quiet lovely ngl

54: The worst pain I was ever in was:

tooth pain

53: How do you like your steak cooked:

a bit raw tbh

52: My room is:

ass messy as me

51: My favorite celebrity is:

uhhh Corey Taylor

50: Where would you like to be:

Right now?? At my bf, if it wouldn’t bother him..

49: Do you want children:

ABsolutely

48: Ever been in love:

still am ig

47: Who’s your best friend:

I have too many but love them all so much

46: More guy friends or girl friends:

I have more guy friends apparently

45: One thing that makes you feel great is:

achieving something

44: One person that you wish you could see right now:

All of my best-friends tbh

43: Do you have a 5 year plan:

I do

42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die:

Not yet and I doubt I’d do it

41: Have you pre-named your children:

me and my bf came up with some names but who knows

40: Last person I got mad at:

My bf i think

39: I would like to move to:

another city in my country, a much bigger one

38: I wish I was a professional:

artist

37: Candy:

Haribo

36: Vehicle:

Renault or Dacia

35: President:

don’t really have one

34: State visited:

I haven’t been to any at all

33: Cellphone provider:

Digi

32: Athlete:

I don;t have one yikes

31: Actor:

Hmm Benicio Del Toro

30: Actress:

I like some but I don’t have a favorite one

29: Singer:

Peter Steele, his voice is simply, lovely

28: Band:

Ohhh anon Tool and Cargo atm

27: Clothing store:

I don’t have a fav one

26: Grocery store:

any??

25: TV show:

Sons Of Anarchy

24: Movie:

The Alien trilogy

23: Website:

Twitter I think

22: Animal:

Cat

21: Theme park:

I don’t really have one

20: Holiday:

Christmas

19: Sport to watch:

ski jumping

18: Sport to play:

Volleyball I think

17: Magazine:

Don’t have one

16: Book:

The Shinning

15: Day of the week:

Saturdays

14: Beach:

Don’t really like beaches

13: Concert attended:

Truda’s concert for moment but I suppose Disturbing’s going ro replace it or maybe Cannibal Corpse, who knows

12: Thing to cook:

Pudding

11: Food:

Noodles or cremeschnitte

10: Restaurant:

One called Anna

9: Radio station:

don’t have one

8: Yankee candle scent:

dreamy summer nights

7: Perfume:

men’s one are my favorite, gotta admit it

6: Flower:

ORchids

5: Color:

purple and black

4: Talk show host:

don’t have one

3: Comedian:

A romanian one, can’t remember his name

2: Dog breed:

German Shepherd, American Eskimo, Border Collie, Golden Retriever, Siberian HUsky there are too many I can’t choose only one

1: Did you answer all these truthfully?

yes I did it oh god

14 notes · View notes

acehotel · 6 years ago

Text

Just/Talk: Justin Strauss with “Breakbeat Lou” Flores

“BreakBeat Lou” Flores has been a student of sound since he was three years old. The legendary Bronx-born DJ, B-Boy and hip hop pioneer — whose modus operandi could be summed up by the line, “If it’s funky, it’s funky” — cut his sonic teeth in the early 70s in New York City, where he says “there was no better recipe” for hip hop to happen. Here he chats with longtime Ace friend and fellow New York mainstay Justin Strauss for this edition of Just/Talk about the octopoidal nature of being a DJ, soaking records in bathtubs to hide their labels from rival music crews and the first record he ever bought.

Justin Strauss: In my mind, you’re one of the architects of hip hop. You were there at a very important part of New York and music culture. What was your introduction to music? Obviously, it’s been a passion — what triggered that?

Lou Flores: Well, the music started at a very early age. My mother used to have a social club in the Bronx, and at the age of three I got the interest in playing the bongos because I had seen the band members rehearse. When my mother was opening the club up, I gravitated.

JS: How old were you?

LF: I was three. So I learned to play bongos first and then congas at the age of three, and that really catapulted the love for the intricacies of music. In my household, my mother, on the weekends, she was always playing. Wake up in the morning, it was cleaning day, so she was always playing music, everything from The Beatles, Elvis, Frankie Lyman, Marvin Gaye, so it wasn’t just Latin music. It was a little bit of everything, so my palate for music was very cultured from the beginning as far as I can remember.

JS: This is in the 60s?

LF: This is in the 60s, early 60s for sure.

JS: You were working and helping out in the club, hanging out in the club.

LF: Yeah, just hanging out.

JS: And the club was in the Bronx?

LF: Yes the Bronx, 138th and Brook Avenue. My mother and I were extremely, extremely close. My mother was my hero. In most cases, most have the father, but my mother was my hero. The man that I am today across the board, even in music, it comes because of her. She gave me that love and passion, respect and the love for music.

JS: Was that something you knew you were going to pursue at any certain point?

LF: No. I was heavy into sports when I was younger, but I think the first thing that really got me, that touched me, the bug that really touched me, was in New York City, there’s the numbers game that people play. So I was young, I played the number one time. I had a dollar, played the number. Well, this is 1973, and I won the number. One dollar got me seven dollars, so I went to a record store.

JS: And the numbers is street lottery?

LF: Illegal lottery, street gambling. Musically, first thing was a Willie Colon album called El Malo, which featured a record called “Che Che Cole,” which featured, at that time, Héctor Lavoe. I loved the record to death. I used to play with my mother’s albums. She was like, “Stop playing my record. You’re going to wear my record out.” When I played the number that day, I won, and I went to a record store and bought my first record in 1973, a 45 of “Che Che Cole,” which I still own to this day.

LF: It’s 1973, at that same period, this whole culture called hip hop started to bubble up.

JS: It wasn’t known as hip hop.

LF: It wasn’t known as hip hop. You started hearing the jams at block parties. It was going on. You would hear those things, but there wasn’t the continuous aspect as the break beat facet of the culture. At that time, B-Boys weren’t called B-Boys yet, but I was already dancing in 1973.

JS: Where were you going? Just to clubs or parties ?

LF: Not even clubs. This is block parties, or house parties, that’s the way mainly the whole thing of New York, especially in the Bronx was the house parties. We had parties for everything. We had birthday parties, Christmas, Thanksgiving, rent parties.

JS: What DJs were playing — was it Kool Herc?

LF: No, this is before him. Way before that. But, you would hear guys like PBJ Jones doing certain things in the Bronx, you would hear other guys that were not as notable as Kool Herc. But that actually had equipment, because, think about it… in those days, getting two turntables and a mixer was extremely expensive. Then a little while after, you started hearing about this guy that had this vision playing this continuous musical interlude. That’s the best way to describe it, which became what they call, “rocking the breaks.”

He would take the intro of a record that had a featured drum or a breakdown of a record, which usually means the music tends to leave a portion on the record and you would hear mainly just drums, baseline or just a very sparse aspect of music. Just concentrating on a groove more than a melody. So, that he was concentrating on that because he noticed that when that part would come in, the height of the activity of his parties would come when these breakdowns would come into play. He concentrated on that to get the energy of the particular event to have a peak period. So, instead of having it flow 30 or 40 seconds, he extended it for a couple of minutes. But it wasn’t two copies, yet. At the time, he was rocking… he would go from break to break. It was playing, let’s say from "The Mexican” breakdown, to the “Give It Up Turnit a Loose” breakdown, to the “It’s Just Begun” breakdown and vice versa.

JS: These records were all from different genres?

LF: Yeah, “The Mexican” by Babe Ruth was a rock record, “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose” was a James Brown record and Jimmy Castor’s “Just Begun” was a combination… was leaning more into a disco aspect, but not really disco, but had the funk aspect to it. So, it was a multicultural, multi-genre facet of music display. Because at that time in New York, if you know… New York was very multicultural.

JS: Very diverse.

LF: Diverse listening palette for music, I remember at that time, I think it was WABC was the main station that everyone was listening and you heard everything from Marvin Gaye to Aerosmith so, New York was probably more cultural than most places in the country, I would say. So, that started bubbling up.

JS: When did you start digging for records?

LF: I started working 1978. Real quick, in 1974, I started DJing. I joined this crew called, The Paradise Crew. Which is one of the first crews that came out. So, from 1974 to spring of 77, there was few and far between crews that came out that actually had systems. Here comes the 1977 blackout and for whatever reason, the city decided to donate systems to a lot of kids. And, I’m being facetious.… the stores were vandalized and looted … and from you having one DJ crew in a matter of a two mile radius. Now you have a DJ crew every three blocks. So, that was 1977. For sure, from 1974 to 1977, I was really… more or less… a bedroom DJ, I helped carry record crates for DJs and stuff like that, so I wasn’t really hard-bodied into it. Come 1978, I got booked to do my first hookie party in New York.

JS: What’s a hookie party?

LF: Hookie project is when you left school at 12 o'clock and you stood somewhere else 'til three o'clock and made believe you were at school, but you weren’t at school.

JS: You were in your own school.

LF: Exactly. So, I got hired to do that. We went to a friend’s basement where his father was the Super. We set up equipment and we rocked there. So, that particular summer, I got a job at Crazy Eddie’s. Which used to be a electronics and record store chain in the tri-state area. I was hearing this break that Afrika Bambaataa was playing and I didn’t know what the heck it was. One day I was putting records away while working at Crazy Eddie. I saw this 45 promo, which I was already gravitating to promos. I put the record on and it was Manzel’s “Space Funk”.

JS: That was the record?

LF: That was the first digging record that I bought in 1978 and after that I became a hard-core digger… I decided just everywhere I would go, from Brad’s Records to Bleecker Bob’s, to The Music Factory, to Downstairs Records. Just looking for records, looking for breaks. And, I would spend every penny my mom would give me for lunch money went to that. Every little gig that I would get, would go into records so… 1978 was when the bug really bit me and I became hardcore embedded into DJing and hardcore embedded into digging.

JS: And, at the parties where you DJ’d were people rapping and rhyming over records? Is that something that was starting already?

LF: I would say, by 1975 it really caught on real heavy. Because that’s when you have Grandmaster Flash, the Furious Three and then you had the Mighty Fours which in turn became the Cold Crush Brothers. You had Funky Four Plus One More, you had Masterdon Committee, you had Soulsonic Force. You had The Jazzy Five.

JS: What year is that?

LF: This is from 74 all the way to 76.

JS: Okay, that’s pretty early.

LF: Yeah, there were crews already in those days.

JS: This phenomenon hadn’t come downtown yet.

LF: Yeah. It hadn’t come downtown yet. This is before the Negril parties downtown, this is before Michael Holman, this is before all those days —

JS: Okay. I remember when I was DJing at the Ritz in 1980 and they had the Sugarhill night. It was one of the first downtown hip hop events.

LF: Oh, yeah.

JS: And The Funky Four, Grandmaster Flash, Sugarhill Gang all played and everybody was blown away. You’re really not old enough to be in clubs at this point, correct?

LF: No, but those days nobody cared. My sister was the one that enabled me to go because she’s older than me by a few years. She would go so it enabled me to go into these clubs. I was a dancer, at least in 73… so I was already dancing hustle from 74–75, so I would dance with my sister. So, it was an attraction. My sister and I became known as dancers. And, people would look at us and they were like… okay, so that’s why I was let into most of these little jams back in the day. So, I was able to be exposed to that life really early on because I was a dancer.

JS: It was important. So, you DJ’d at these parties and your friends and crews started developing?

LF: Yeah, then everybody wanted to be like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Three — everybody wanted to be like The Mighty Four. So, the crews started developing there and I had a crew already. We used to rock every so often. It would be simple, at that time I would consider more like nursery rhymes kind of things. Like rhyming Mikey and Nike. And, stuff like that. But, the thing was everybody wanted to be rapping on a beat. Like these, what I call, Ghetto Superstars, because these guys became iconic to a lot of the young generation that we had. Because, think about it, in the beginning of the 70s we were losing a lot of cultural things in school. We weren’t getting enough art classes, we weren’t getting enough music classes. So, that hunger and thirst that we had, that creative aspect was being fed to us through what became hip hop.

So, the music aspect of being creative and even in just a rapping cadence that wasn’t really singing, but you had this new thing of rocking over just a drum beat mainly. And, being able to create some kind of poetry on rhythm over these particular beats that became a bold thing to do. So, it became a thing that everybody wanted to have… every crew wanted to have some guy that would be able to be on the mic. What we called crowd pleasing in those days, because it was more like, you know, people say, “Ho”... So, it was more of a call and response kind of situation. It became something that was extremely attractive to the youth and especially in the hood. It was something that you didn’t have to get caught up with, not joining any gang, or anything like that. You had the dancing, you had the music and then you had the entertaining person, Master of Ceremony. Which became the MC, which became attractive and a peaceful thing to be around.

JS: And, you guys would go from party to party, setting up your own equipment, bringing all the records —

LF: Yeah. Because it became a competitive thing. My crew is better than yours.

JS: And, did your crew each have certain records that you wouldn’t want anybody else to know about?

LF: That’s how it started. The thing was to discover the break that nobody else had. Something that fit that mold but nobody knew about. Think about it, even at that early time, a lot of records were very unknown to people. So, you will find, in the dollar bins, you would find them, like at Korvettes or Woolworth.

JS: Records that were basically ignored.

LF: Yeah.

JS: The rest of the record might have been terrible but if it had twenty seconds of an amazing break...

LF: It was incredible, I remember the first time we heard, we used to call it “Toys in the Attic,” by Aerosmith, it was “Walk This Way.” Even the Black Sabbath, the first album, that drum break. It was incredible. “When The Levee Breaks” by Led Zeppelin. Even though we weren’t really into a rock kind of situation, but those drum breaks were that phenomenal that we gravitated to that.

The Winstons was a gospel group that had a big record, won a Grammy but the B-side became the biggest record they ever had, which was the “Amen Brother” break. Which you know, by us bringing that out into the world, made it what it became. But, it was just those kind of things, to be unique enough and find records that nobody else had but that fit the mold. And, you know, Bambaataa was the master of that. I can only say this, the culture wouldn’t be what it was, or there wouldn’t be the name breakbeat culture if it wasn’t for Bam because he set the template for the music being so versatile. Because he would say break beats are not genre specific. If it’s funky, it’s funky.

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JS: The Monkees was one of his, I remember him playing “Mary Mary,” like, I heard that and I was like, “Wow!” Remember there was this, obviously the competition between the crews and you guys would scratch off the labels so nobody would know each other’s records.

LF: I will go even further. I would put the record in the bathtub with water so the label completely comes off. So, you wouldn’t know anything.

JS: And, everyone wanted to know what it was —

LF: Exactly, because I know, I remember one of the biggest things for me. I remember I went to a street jam and Charlie Chase was playing. He was playing, “Rocket in the Pocket” by Cerrone. So, I’m looking at his record and it’s Atlantic Records and I’m like, “What the heck is this freaking record?” So, you were very secretive so he told me, I mean, for whatever reason, I asked him and he goes, “Cerrone.” And, I’m like, “Cerrone? Okay, fine.” I go to Crazy Eddie’s and I see Cerrone Four and I see “Rocket in the Pocket,” this is the record. I play the record and I said, “This is not the freaking record, it’s a disco record. What the heck was he playing?” But, then Cerrone was on Cotillion Records, it wasn’t on Atlantic. So, I’m looking, I’m saying, “But this is not the same thing, what the heck!” So, I don’t know if you remember Cerrone had, there was two releases. There was one with a white cover and there was one with a black cover. So, I found the black cover. So, I found the black cover, I said, "This has to be it. It was the same crap record. So, then one day, I was looking in the bin. And, something comes in that’s this live Cerrone album. And, I’m like, “What the heck is this, double album?” So, I look and I see, “Rocket in the Pocket.” I open the back of the thing and it said Atlantic Records and I said "Damn, this has to be it.” So, I put it on and it’s like, real slow. I’m like, “It doesn’t sound like it,” but because, I know what we were doing already, there.

We would take 45s and put them on 33. We would take 33 and put it on 45. I played that on 45 and I was like, at least I know what that was. But, before that, I was thinking the record that he had was so worn out that, that’s what you heard the “Shhhhh” which really wasn’t worn out, it was the applause from the live crowd. And, then you stumble records like that. But, then when I found out, I easily was able to find the record he had, that’s where I decided to take the whole label off. And, I was like, nah, my cannons, secret weapons, you’re not going to find out. No.

JS: But you eventually used a lot of this knowledge. What was the inspiration for the Ultimate Breaks and Beats series of records, which basically laid the foundation for a lot of what came in hip hop and other genres after those records were released?

LF: Well, it’s two-fold. Lenny Roberts is the founder and co-creator and what I would say, the money man behind all the records I was involved in as far as break beats. We started doing bootleg 12 inches because we couldn’t find all the obscure records and people wanted them. Then all of a sudden, Bambaataa said to Lenny, I’ve got two tapes that I want you to put out and make a 12 inch out of.

So, we were like, sure. The one side was a live recording of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five at Bronx River and then the other side was a pause-tape done by Afrika Islam, which became the infamous Bozo Meko 12 inch with “Fusion Beats” on one side and “Flash it to The Beat” on the other side.

When we put out this particular 12 inch, it outsold every other 12 inch that we had. And, the reason why is because that pause-tape that was done by Islam had multiple records. He had “Champ” by the Mohawks. He had the “Get Up, Get Int It, Get Involved” by James Brown and then he had Dyke and the Blazers “Let a Woman Be a Woman.”

So, it had those three records on it, so it became more of a compilation than just a single 12 inch. At the same time Super Disco Brake’s — Paul Winley was putting his records out. The thing that Paul Winley was not conscious of, or he didn’t care two bits about what the culture was. The quality of the records he put out was horrible. He had put, “Take Me to the Mardi Gras” with a skip on it. He wasn’t using virgin vinyl either. So, we saw that. So, we said, let’s create one ourselves that would compliment what we did with the Fusion Beats 12”. We thought, “What can we do to make it attractive for DJs?” We’re not going to call it ‘”Disco Breaks” because we’re trying to get away from disco.

So, we’re going to call it “Break Beats.” If you look back at the late 70s, early 80s time… the DJ did almost everything. The DJ took care of everything. So, that’s why the logo became the octopus. But, if you look at it, it only has six tentacles out of eight. The DJ was the MC when he had to be, the DJ dealt with the strobe light, the DJ was the sound guy and the DJ also DJ’d the two turntables. So, we were trying to show that aspect of a DJ.

JS: This is the era before sampling records had begun.

LF: This is 1980. DJs were either scratching the record or just throwing in record. No one was even thinking about sampling drums or anything.

JS: Right, this is strictly for DJs. Who’s the first one to record, in your mind, the first rap record?

LF: Well, that’s a big argument between the Fatback Band, “King Tim III” and then Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.” I think those as far as rap records as we know it, from the hip hop standpoint. But, if you want to hear the first record that has a cadence and it sounds like hip hop and everything else, it’s Pigmeat Markham, “Here Comes the Judge” — 1968. It has the same cadence and everything. But, it wasn’t done with that mindset. But as far as rap as we know it, there is a big dispute between Fatback Band and Sugarhill Gang as to which was actually released first. As far as in New York, it was Sugarhill Gang. And, Sugarhill Gang fit more of the mold, because it was recorded like you were rocking over a break beat, which was “Good Times” by Chic even though it was played live.

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JS: I started DJing at the Mudd Club in New York City in 1980 and I was just buying everything. I bought every kind of record, Everything was new. Punk, New Wave, disco, hip hop all at the same time. It was an amazing period.

LF: It’s like I said, New York is the only place that it could have happened as far as hip hop and let’s say punk and all of that stuff is because the melting pot of people in New York in cultures, there’s no other place in the world that was like New York, let’s say from early to mid-70s to early to mid-80s. There was no better recipe for that to happen than New York.

LF: The club scenes and the rebellious aspect to it that we had at that time was just everything, it was like the perfect dish that we needed to cook, it had to be cooked in New York at that particular time.

JS: So with the Ultimate Breaks and Beats series, was it an immediate success?

LF: Yeah. And, another point I want to bring across is the reason we also put those records out in the early 80ss. Then what was happening was, some of the second generation of DJs that were making hip hop, instead of the cutting up break beats because they couldn’t find them, they were cutting up rap records. They were cutting up “Love Rap,” they were cutting up “Feel the Heartbeat,” they were cutting up “Catch the Beat.” Good drum breaks, but they weren’t break beats per se. They were rap records that had drum breaks in it. So, that’s another reason that we wanted to keep doing it… to make sure it continues to have a solid legacy, that the foundations are intact. So, for me the foundation for what we know and what we love as hip hop is the break beats.

JS: How many volumes did you end up doing?

LF: We ended up doing 25, a total of 25.

JS: When you were doing them, do you think about, I don’t want to put this… I want to keep this for myself. Or were you happy to share the knowledge?

LF: On volumes one through nine, which we did as bootlegs, were to cover the foundations of break beats. We got a lot of flack from a lot of OGs for sure. But, again, we have to keep the DJ culture alive, and keep the hip hop culture alive. But then by 1986, when we decided to do the Ultimate Breaks and Beats, as legal records. That’s when sampling came into play. So, now you have a different dynamic of what music is being used for.

JS: So, now sampling becomes a thing. Do you remember when you first became aware of sampling and how that changed everything as far as record production and hip hop production in particular? Because now record producers, like myself included, were buying you series and sampling for our productions. So music would sound a lot different now without those records.

LF: 1986. Yeah.This is my motto. I would say that we were instrumental for keeping hip hop, hip hop. In the sense that the aesthetic sonic dynamic that hip hop has would not have been what it is, if we had not put those records out. Starting in 86. Because, when Marly Marl stumbled on sampling the kick and snare, that changed everything. That changed the whole… to me, it brought the rap music back to the park. That’s where I say, because it sounded like the records or the performances that you heard back in the parks in those days, so it took it to a new level of appreciation and creativity because, after a while, there’s only so much you can do with a drum machine … from the DMX or the BX or 808 or the 909, that was around along with the LinnDrum, you know there’s only so many styles you can do. When you were able to take all the kick snare from different drum machines and make it sound the way you want it because, if you look in the first two records that Marly Marl produced with that technique, it was Boogie Down Productions’ “The Bridge Is Over” and “Eric B. Is President,” by Eric B. and Rakim. It just changed the whole dynamic, it was like, how the heck do you do this?

JS: So, that started a whole industry of people clearing samples and making a whole lot of money for people who might have never made money from the original release or hadn’t in years. You helped a lot of people, in a way.

LF: Exactly. Syl Johnson said it best when he said, “As much as people may hate sampling, I love sampling. Because sampling bought me my house, sampling gave me a new life to a new generation and sampling kept my legacy alive.” We exposed a lot of artists that were not really known and kept their legacy alive.

Also if it wasn’t for reggae, there would be no hip hop. In reality. The whole aspect of playing with the systems and talking on the mic while music was going on came from the “toasting” aspect of reggae music. So that played an intricate part in what we were doing. But, in a million years, I didn’t think it was going to be that huge. And, the thing is, I knew exactly when it changed. It changed exactly between 84–86. It was two pivotal points. It was Crazy Legs doing the Flashdance movie which gave a new audience to the culture of hip hop through the B-Boys. Those two things were extremely pivotal. That changed the whole dynamic aspect of how hip hop was being heard and how hip hop was being seen.

JS: One record I want to talk about, because I think it’s so important for many reasons, is “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five featuring Melle Mel. Lyrically it changed everything in hip hop at that point.

LF: Well, let me tell you a story about our record which people don’t understand. That same rhyme was said by Melle Mel a year prior on an Enjoy Records called “Super Rapping.” If you look at “Super Rapping,” go all the way to the end of the record, it’s the same rhyme. But, the energy of that record was totally different, much faster, like a party record. By the record being slowed down a little, the music being slowed down a little, giving it more or less a psychedelic sound and then him delivering that rhyme as it was is what changed the dynamic. So, a lot of it had to do with the way music was being presented as more of a bed for the rhyme. Because you look back earlier, as far as the culture, remember it’s always been a party, dancing crowd. This actually changed it to push the lyrical aspect to the forefront.

JS: And “White Lines,” again by Grandmaster Flash sampled or replayed the bass line from a Downtown New York band, Liquid Liquid, was massive in all the clubs, Uptown and Downtown.

LF: And, I think we played a big part in that because we put Liquid Liquid on Volume 9 of the Ultimate Breaks and Beats. Which was used as a break because Bambaataa was using it in his sets.

JS: So, let’s fast forward a bit. Now, you’re back into music full time?

LF: Yeah. I left, for 12 years, I worked in the banking, the financial area and I was miserable. Great money but I was miserable and I had to come back to my passion so 2009, I came back and this is what I do now. This is how I live, breathe, DJing, producing all over the world. I’ve been blessed too. Starting first on the lecture circuit. Teaching it, breaking down a historical aspect of what this culture is. Then people finding out I DJ also.

JS: How do you feel about hip hop today? LF: Hip hop has always been very different in many different ways. There’s good and bad of course and there’s also an individuality aspect of it. So, I say this, at the end of the day, hip hop has always been the music of the youth and it speaks more as a youth language. So, what I would say is this, the language they’re speaking, it is speaking to the youth, the only problem that I may have with hip hop is that the individuality of hip hop is not being utilized the way that it’s supposed to be. And, I’m saying this to say that in our era, as you know, it took more than just having Apple Garage Band and iTunes to bring a record to the masses. When I go to do lectures, I’ll tell them, before, when we had to do a record back in our day, it literally took blood, sweat and tears.

But, I still respect a lot of it. Because I think there’s creativity and everything else. Anderson Paak – he’s extremely creative, J. Cole is another guy that’s extremely creative that I think deserves the second listen to, third listen to. That’s on that side. There’s a young kid, incredible, by the name of Cavalier. Out of Brooklyn and now lives in Atlanta. Extremely creative, even down to the sounds. You don’t even hear the mundane 808 that everybody is using. Or the mundane keyboard pads that everybody is using. So, people are actually taking it to the next level.

Then you got guys like Adrian Young. I don’t know if you know who Adrian Young is. He’s taken it to a whole different level, he’s probably the most impressive to me because he’s taken the bull by its horn and broken down how it’s done. He has an incredible studio in LA. Down to vintage board, an incredible sound room, everything from the Rhodes and to the grand piano that he uses. He’s captured that side. I think he’s probably the one I’ve been most impressed by in a long time sonically. And, every album that I hear, again, we’ve been students to this sound for a long time and he’s captured that sound extremely well, extremely well.

And, another guy, an old goodie but classic guy that does that on a regular basis, I don’t know if you’ve heard Kenny Dope’s regular R&B or funk stuff. In those projects, he’s captured the essence also. I’ve been privy and honored to have seen and heard some of the projects and if I close my eyes I can honestly think that this is something that was recorded in the 60s. That’s how good it sounds. So, those — as far as music — those things sound incredible to me.

JS: So, you’re still inspired.

LF: Oh, everyday. I have to be, man. I think, this is the way I feel. You have to be a lover and respect the views. You have to be a lover and respect of the craft that you do and you have to be a lover and respecter of the culture of what we do. And, I think again, we haven’t seen each other in a trillion years, but your impact and the way you put music together — even from those days that we were doing this the old fashioned way — was impressive to me. And, even listen to some of that stuff way back, like the other day, I was listening to your Debbie Harry remix and the drums you did, I’m like, “What they heck, this freaking guy just took this record and made a freestyle sound out of it.”

JS: You were an inspiration as well. I always went into the studio armed with a handful of Ultimate Breaks and Beats albums, as well as other stuff that I would find. It’s been an honor to have stayed in touch. And, we were always connected through music and through our mutual friend, the editor supreme Chep Nuñez, who edited a lot of my remixes and who is someone I think about to this day when I make music and I miss him.

LF: If it wasn’t for him we would have never had met, and you helped cultivate my sonic ear.

#yes #interview #justin strauss #just talk #ace hotel #ace hotel new york #ace hotel nyc #ace hotel new york city #ace nyc #music #musician #lou flores #breakbeat lou #hip hop #new york city #new york #dj

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miky91ftw · 6 years ago

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The Stravaganza Series: An attempt at in-universe timeline (1/3)

PART 2 [X]

Eh, I know that the Stravaganza fandom on Tumblr (and pretty much anywhere else tbh) is quite non-existent, but, nevertheless, I wanted to share this surely excessive and probably unnecessary ramble/analysis concerning the actual timeline of the show, based on a series of notes I wrote last year, that where then conveniently forgotten in my HD until i remembered about them the other day.

I was inspired to write them down after noticing that events seems to be happening at a way faster pace in later books than in the first ones, so I wanted to verify it this was really the case (spoiler: it is). I also added information about various character’s birthdays and age during the series, as stated or implied from a variety of sources*.

Please note that my estimations are based on several fundamental assumptions, such as:

The day in which a saint is celebrated is the same in both worlds;

Easter is calculated with the same criteria (implying that moon phases are the same in both universes)

People in Talia are already using the Gregorian Calendar (despite the fact that it was adopted only in 1582, while the series ends in 1580).

This said, let’s get started with the first part, covering the first two books!

CITY OF MASKS

Our universe time: from May 2002 to March 2003 (approx. 10 months).

Talian time: from May 16, 1577 (Marriage with the Sea) to March 8, 1588 (Last day of Carnevale) (approx. 10 months).

Ok, Let’s start with the years: Rodolfo tells Lucien that they are in 1577 during their first meeting, so that’s pretty much set. I don’t remember if the year in our universe is actually mentioned, but it can be inferred from what is said in latter books (it also matches the time the book was published).

Given that Lucien and Arianna are both 15 at the start of the book (turning 16** during the time gap between Arianna’s election and the Epilogue), we can deduce their birth year are, respectively, 1986 and 1561.

As for the exact days, we know that Marriage with the sea is celebrated on Ascension day, so 40 days after Easter. If we calculate Easter 1577 on the base of the aforementioned assumption, we get 7 April, so Ascension day is May 16. May 17 is the forbidden day, and it is also the day of Lucien’s first Stravagation to Talia (the last person to do so before him was Dr. Deathridge himself, who arrived in Bellona 24 years before, so around 1553).

Another important day is the Feast of the Maddalena, which we can assume takes place in the same day Mary Magdalene is remembered in the saint calendar, 22 July. This makes sense if we take into account that the Maddalena is supposed to be reminiscent of Venice’s Redentore, which is celebrated in July as well. So, by the time the celebration rolls in, Lucien has at least two months of experience regarding Bellezza and its surroundings.

Now, I do not have exact information about what happens next (i need to read CoM again), but I believe it is safe to say that all the other events from Maddalena onward (Lucien’s trip to Venice, Arianna’s incarceration, the murder in the Sala di Vetro, etc.) take place in at least three weeks/a month. In this case, Lucien’s death falls around late august/early September, and thus the main plot of CoM takes about three months and a half to unfold. I know that there is a two-week time shift around Lucien’s death due to the gate instability, but I won’t go into detail as A) this would make things even more complicated, and B) the phase shift eventually gets corrected, so let’s just forget about it.

CITY OF STARS (where things get complicated, thank you Falco -.-)

Our universe time: from late spring/early summer 2003 to 15/16*** September 2004 (approx. 1 year and 2-3 months).

Talian time: from early summer 1578 (Merla’s birth) to 15/16 September 1578 (Stellata di Falco) (approx. 3 months).

See that huge-ass incongruence in the dates? Yeah, this time it won’t be easy.

Well, we know that the time shift happens right after Falco’s death,which in turn happens the day after the Stellata, on 16August 1578 (the day of Stellata is fixed, and is 15 August). As for when the book starts, we don’t have a precise date, but I believe we can safely put Merla’s birth at least two months before the Stellata (this would still make her growth exceptional, if we consider that a horse’s weaning doesn’t happen before the fourth month).

So,what does this implies for the characters, age-wise?

For starters, we know from chapter 9 that Georgia is a Gemini. This means her birthday is between 21 May and 21 June. Given that we didn’t get any mention of her birthday since she started stravagating, we can assume**** she already celebrated it before going to Remora, and thus her being 15 would mean that her birth year is 1988. This means that she is finishing year 10 at the start of the book, and that she is 16 and starting year 12 in the epilogue (which should be the case if the “exams” mentioned in the aforementioned epilogue are the GCSE, which is taken at the end of year 11).

For Arianna and Luciano, they are both 16, turning 17 after the epilogue. This means that, after the time shift, the age gap between Luciano and Georgia is less than a year, around 5/6 months (!). (So much for spending half of the remaining books fawning over Luciano-Senpai)

For the two di Chimici, Falco and Gaetano, we can play it safe thanks to the dates on their family tree, as provided in the afterword. So, Flaco is 13/14 (we don’t know the exact birthday, but I sort of headcanon him as a Scorpio*****, so that would make him 13 at the time of the main events, and 14-soon-to-be-15 in the Epilogue). Gaetano is 17/18. We know from Falco’s story that his birthday is in summer, so we can assume that he just turned 18, or that he does so before the end of the book.

We also know that Benedetta, the brothers’ mom, died in 1577******, while Falco’s accident happened the year before, in 1576. Poor Falco, talk about traumas.

this said, the vast majority of the plot takes place is about a couple of months, and, again, this is sort of a reasonable time for the events to unfold (especially if you take into account that the whole, beautiful mess that is City of Flowers takes place in barely 6 weeks. But we’ll deal with it in part 2)

FOOTNOTES

*: most of which are now basically gone, in particular: the official site and the promotional Facebook and Twitter accounts created to promote books 4-6. Unfortunately, only part of said page is retrievable via The Wayback Machine.

**: Arianna’s and Luciano’s birthdays were actually revealed in the aforementioned Facebook/Twitter pages,which are now unfortunately gone. As the only proof I have is my notes and my memories, I am pondering about trying to contact Mary Hoffmann herself and ask her about said dates, so to have a reliable sources for my fanwanks. Btw, Arianna was born on 12 October 1561, while Luciano was born on 22 november 1986.

***: I don’t think it was explicitly stated, but I believe that the time phase that happened after Falco’s death was completely cancelled by the time of the second Stellata. This would also make sense if we consider how Falco, now Nick, felt that he had to stravagate back once again, as if it was now safe for him to move across time and return to Talia in the day dedicated to his remembrance.

****: I know this is a bit of a stretch, but Hoffman is usually really coherent and precise on the chronological integrity of her works , so I refuse to believe that she intentionally had Georgia said she was a Gemini without mentioning any eventual upcoming birthday in a paragraph that was all about births and zodiac signs. I mean, that would be extra poor™️ writing and Hoffman can do better than that.

*****: look, we all know that there is only one sign who can realistically believe that dying twice and hopping through dimension is the way-to-go solution to all of your problems, together with “pretending to be a ghost to stop your murdeous parent by scaring the life out of them”. Gaetano is also totally a sweetheart Cancer, btw.

******: this would also explain why we barely get to hear about the big powers in Giglia for most of City of Masks. They were busy mourning the death of their Duchess.

ANYWAY I LOVE THIS SERIES AND EVEN IF THIS TOOK ME FOREVER YOU SHOULD READ IT AND ALSO READ THE BOOKS!!

#stravaganza #stravaganza series #mary hoffman #city of masks #city of stars #ya literature #michele rambles

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motiveandthemeans · 7 years ago

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Laurelworth

Chpater II: The Riddle of Love

“The impending delivery of John and Mary Watson’s child brings me to Laurelworth. My companion in solving crime is refusing to go on cases during the last trimester of gestation and will not likely return to my aid till six months after the child is born.” Sherlock elaborated between sips of coffee.

“I am sorry, truly. I’m sure it is a great disappointment as you find London so diverting.” Molly replied with a compassionate smile. “What will Mrs. Hudson be doing with her days now that you aren’t bumbling above her?”

Such cheek? Sherlock inwardly mused. Perhaps this would be a simpler endeavor than I assumed!

“I suspect that she’ll enjoy the alone time. I believe her sister will be coming to visit for several weeks as well.”

Molly nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer as she dug into her eggs. As the pair ate in silence, Sherlock Holmes studied his wife. It had been some months since he’d last seen her at Christmas and while she had been beautiful then in her red evening gown amongst the candlelight, she was stunning now. The notion didn’t seem to make rational sense given that Molly was wearing a plain blue riding habit, her hair tied back in a simple ponytail, but his heart still soared at the sight all the same. Perhaps it was because he’d not seen his wife in so long that any dose of her was refreshing to his senses. Either way, it did not matter the reason; she was lovely with a glowing tan and freckles across her nose and cheeks, auburn hair lightened by her time in the sun.

Having been so caught up in his assessment of Molly, he’d not noticed she had already finished her breakfast before him and stood, calling the dogs and Mrs. Lyle.

“Yes ma’am?” The older woman asked, her graying hair pulled back in a tight bun, black uniform crisply ironed.

“Will you have Gabriel or Jean ready Gypsy and bring her round in a half hour? I’m going to walk with the dogs for a bit.”

“Of course, ma’am. Do you have a preference for lunch?”

Molly gave an indulgent laugh, resting a reassuring hand on the head house keeper’s shoulder. “Whatever you’ve prepared for the house will be fine. I would ask that it be rather large, after I tour the peach orchards I am to meet with our accountant, Mr. Ivanov, and from there I will head to surgery till about eight o’clock tonight. Naturally, that will not leave much time for dinner.”

“Surely we can wait for you?” Mrs. Lyle insisted.

“No, no, Mrs. Lyle. Just fix something for Mr. Holmes and be off for the evening, the cooks as well. I’m sure we can survive the night without you.” The brunette winked, pulling on her leather gloves and whistling to the two dogs waiting patiently around her ankles. “Come along then, we must find you pair a stick! Thank you again, Mrs. Lyle!”

“Yes Mrs. Holmes, anything you need!” She smiled.

Sherlock watched the exchange with rabid fascination, the staff was sure to love their mistress with the kindness and smiles Molly so freely bestowed upon them. Envy coursed through him like he’d never known. His wife had scarcely acknowledged his presence, not even bothering as to inquire after his activities planned out for the day. He had not expected Molly to drop all her responsibilities, however, he would’ve thought she’d have at least attempted to entertain his audience.

There was a coolness to his wife’s demeanor, while she flashed him sunny smiles and a friendly enough greeting, the Consulting Detective got the impression that she was…indifferent, to his presence here at Laurelworth. Clearly she expected that they would live the next nine months as though neither had existed, much as they has the previous fourteen months. Sherlock did not begrudge Molly her ambivalence, while he had expected ire at his unannounced arrival, the apathetic manner which she regarded him with was somehow worse.

Sherlock cleared his throat.

“Mr. Holmes, I beg your pardon-“

“Does Mrs. Holmes often traverse the estate unaccompanied?” He interjected, taking one last gulp of coffee.

The older woman flushed, in embarrassment or anger, he could not tell. “N-No, sir! I would never allow for it! The shepherd, Herr Schaper, or the game keeper, Mr. MacDonald, or-or one of the farm hands goes with her always!”

“I am not familiar with this Schaper.” Sherlock replied suspiciously. Mercy, did his male bravado know no bounds? “How long has he been in my wife’s employ?”

“Nearly a year, sir.” Mrs. Lyle answered. “When the mistress arrived at Laurelworth, she made a great many changes to the staffing, all of which have been for the better, Mr. Holmes.”

Frowning, he nodded, rising from the table. “I shall be in my study, do not disturb me till Mrs. Holmes has returned for lunch.”

“Of course, sir. Generally, she takes her luncheon in her study or on the deck…”

“Either will do, just inform me of her return immediately.”

Sherlock had not lied to his wife when he told her of his reasons for returning to Laurelworth, but it had not, strictly speaking, been the entire truth. After a rather intimate conversation with the Molly living in his Mind Palace, a revelation about the potential wonders of being married -happily married anyway- struck the genius like a ton of bricks. Could he have perhaps been falling for Molly all along? The year they spent together at Baker Street was difficult for Sherlock to adjust to. He’d been rude and short and dismissive of Molly’s presence in his life. However, there were times Molly was doing absolutely nothing but sitting on the loveseat reading and his heart would race. Once when she’d gone downstairs for tea with Mrs. Hudson and her laughter had filled the entire townhome; Sherlock remembered feeling a pang of guilt that he had not been the one to elicit such joy from his wife.

So, upon discovering that he had, in fact, been harboring feelings for his spouse much longer than he had realized, Sherlock did what all good Consulting Detectives do when out of their depth.

Annoy John Watson, friend and confidant.

“Sherlock, I do not know if it is wise to just…drop in on Molly.”

“Why not? Mary said herself to make a ‘grand romantic gesture’! What could be more ostentatiously sentimental than presenting my person when she least expects it?” He had exclaimed, pacing the floor of 221 B as his man, Billy Wiggins, packed his bags for Laurelworth. “You have been known to stop in unannounced at St. Bartholomew’s Midwifery when Mary was working to bring her pastries or packed lunches. How is this any different?”

“Well, for one, Mary doesn’t despise my blooming guts…majority of the time anyway.” John had answered uneasily. “Look, you and Molly parted under horrible circumstances of your own making. She loved you, deeply, and you all but threw it back in her face the moment Irene Adler wandered back into your life.”

“So what do you suggest then, John?” Sherlock growled in frustration. “God, this is miserable! I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, all I can think about is ‘Molly This’ and ‘Molly That’ and ‘I wonder if Molly is enjoying the early spring weather’…it’s unbearable! Truly, I cannot fathom how I have gone so long not recognizing that I was…I was…”

John smiled, hoping against hope that Sherlock was comprehending just what it was he felt for Margaret Louise Holmes.

“...In love with her.” Sherlock finished with a dumbfounded smile. “B-But my work…it’s never been better! How has love not afflicted my case success rate?”

“Ever consider that perhaps it is what has aided in its prosperity? Sherlock, when you are trying to work out a problem with a case, you throw yourself into composing. Maybe you threw yourself into solving crimes the past fourteen months because, subconsciously, it helped you solve the riddle of your love for Molly.”

He swallowed nervously. “I’m…I’m scared, John. I’ve made an awful, terrible mess of things.”

“Yeah, you have mate.” John rested a comforting arm upon Sherlock’s shoulder. “But it’s not hopeless, the easy part was confirming you love her, now you just have to convince her of your affections.”

“Will you…will you help me?” Sherlock’s voice hoarse with emotion. “Please, John?”

“Of course, mate. But I’m warning you, it’s not going to be pretty or pleasant at first.”

“I am willing to do whatever it takes to win back Molly Holmes’ heart.”

Molly was still out touring the orchards, leaving Sherlock to his devices. He’d already arranged his study to his liking, cleaned his smoking pipe and hidden away his valuables in the safe, including the large parcel of unsent letters he’d written to Molly over the last fourteen months.

Now he had one singular task ahead of him: Learn what Molly likes. Deciding that snooping about her room would be a gross invasion of privacy, Sherlock opted for her personal study instead. Surely if the maids were allowed to freely enter and exit, he would be allowed to as well!

Conveniently, there was a hidden door behind a bookcase that lead to the adjacent room his wife had taken over as her study. Sherlock entered, his senses instantly struck with the overwhelming presence of everything Molly. The room smelled of juniper and peonies, the sofas and love seats plush velvet and carved in delicate, feminine patterns. The roaring fire told him that a servant had not long ago been in here, meaning that time was probably on his side.

The walls were covered in bookshelves, hundreds of texts filled the space. A human skeleton sat in the corner, dressed in an old morning suit. Sherlock smirked, Molly always did have strangely morbid sense of humor. In another corner sat a large globe, inherited from her father after his death. On the walls hung various paintings of her kin or works of art she’d purchased or been gifted. Above the mantel was a portrait of her mother, Abigail, who had died of Malaria in Bombay when Molly was nine. Another painting displayed upon the wall was a birthday gift from Mycroft, a real Hashimoto Gaho. Sherlock frowned, remembering how Anthea had gushed over Molly’s enthusiasm upon receiving it.

“She wept she was so touched! Truly it was the best gift we have ever bestowed upon a person. A more deserving recipient there could not have been!” Anthea had exclaimed smugly, earning an affectionate eye roll from his older brother.

Two large cathedral windows framed Molly’s desk from behind, the dusty rose curtain’s drawn to bring in as much natural light as possible. The desk contrasted his own greatly, where Sherlock’s had been messy and chaotic, Molly’s was neat and organized. Few sentimental knick-knacks littered the desk, a large map of the grounds took up most of the space. The desk was punctuated by several pen and ink wells, a wax seal stamper with the monogram ‘MLH’, a bouquet of fresh wildflowers in a Chinese vase they had received as a wedding gift was placed on the corner, and a solitary silver picture frame was angled for her to see directly when sitting in her chair.

Sherlock felt his breath catch, it was a picture of him on their wedding day. Looking down at the thick platinum band on his left hand, it dawned on him that Molly still wore her Welsh gold wedding band. Surely if Molly truly despised him, she would not have set his likeness in such plain view or kept his Grandmama’s ring!

Hope soared through him, taking one last sweeping glance around Sherlock exited through the secret door and back to his study, it was time to make a plan.

A light shake on the shoulder brought Sherlock out of his Mind Palace.

“Mr. Holmes, the Missus has returned for lunch. She’s taken it out on the porch.” Mrs. Lyle said.

He grinned, leaping from his supine position on the sofa. “Excellent, thank-you, Mrs. Lyle.”

The head house keeper beamed, no doubt pleased she could finally appease the insufferable Master of the house. “You’re very welcome, sir. It is summer chowder in bread bowls and greens today, will that be to your liking?”

“Is that a favorite of Mrs. Holmes?” He asked, removing his dressing gown and straightening his collar.

“Yes, she enjoys it very much. She wrote the recipe with Mrs. Honeycutt, our cook.”

“Wonderful!” He called back, racing out of the study and down the hall to the main doors, earning curious glances from the passing staff. He slowed upon his arrival to the large front porch overlooking Bass Lake and the mountain forest upon their doorstep. As beautiful as the view was, none could compete the sight of Molly. She’d removed the jacket of her riding habit revealing her fitted high collared linen blouse, her beautiful thick hair, now free of its usual ponytail, flowed down to her slender waist.

“Mr. Holmes, is something the matter?” She questioned curiously.

“No. No, why would something be the matter?” He sputtered, moving to sit in the chair beside her, a table between the two housing a bowl of peaches and a pitcher of sun tea.

“Well…it’s just that…I assumed you’d be taking your lunch in your study, if you ate all.”

“It is true, I do not typically eat lunch. However, given that this is a special dish to you, one you help create no less, I thought I might try it.”

Molly blinked, clearly shocked by his statement. “I-uh, yes. I did. How could have possibly known that?”

Sherlock gave her a wry smirk. “Mrs. Holmes, surely you know me well enough now to know I’m a fairly observant man.”

Molly opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the servant coming out to deliver their lunch. “Thank-you, Gillian, it looks wonderful?”

“Is there anything else I can get you ma’am?” She asked with a friendly smile.

“I’m fine, truly. How is little Gerogie feeling?”

“Oh, much better, Missus! That tonic you gave me did wonders for him. He’s sleeping so much easier now that he’s breathing easier. Not that I am getting any sleep, of course. I still stay up at night paranoid that he’s going to stop breathing any second.” Gillian gushed.

“Well you make sure to get some rest, Gillian! It won’t do him any good to have sick Mummy.” Molly smiled.

“Yes Missus ‘olmes. Is there anything I can get you, Mr. ‘olmes?”

“No, thank-you, that will be all for now.” Sherlock replied in as warm a tone as he could muster, wanting to impress Molly with his newfound tenderness.

The pair were silent for a while, eating their lunch in peace as they listened to whippoorwills sing and butterflies flutter around the flowers flanking the front stair leading up to the porch. Workmen walked to and fro, dropping a hello or a wave to Molly and (if only by association) Sherlock.

‘This is it, Sherlock! Take your chance to make conversation with Molly. She needs to know you take an interest in her life!’ John’s voice cheered him on.

“I trust the orchards were in good condition? The peaches look very appetizing.”

“Yes, they were.” Molly gave him a perfunctory smile.

“Mycroft once ate a whole peach cobbler by himself in our younger years.”

“Mmmm.” She hummed between spoonfuls.

‘Don’t give up!’

“Will you be going on horseback to the village or taking the carriage?”

“Horseback, did you want to venture down to Northbury? I could arrange for a footman to take you.”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I’ve plenty to entertain myself in my study.” Sherlock answered with a small smile, locking their gaze. Molly’s breathing quickened, a becoming flush rising to her cheeks.

Oh, she is lovely. Sherlock thought inwardly

“I should be off.” She stood abruptly, leaving her food half finished. “Mr. Ivanov is a patient man but I’d never forgive myself if I was late to surgery.”

“You’ve not finished your meal.” He stood, catching her wrist in his hand. Her brown eyes widening at the voluntary contact.

“Really, it’s so warm. I don’t have much appetite in this heat.”

“You grew up in India, how is late March in Northern England considered warm to you?”

“I’ve acclimated.” She huffed uneasily, her hand still in his.

“Well, at least allow me to help you with your jacket.” Sherlock reluctantly released her hand to fetch the blue riding jacket from the arm of her chair. He held it up, Molly turned her back to him, moving her thick hair to the side. The sight of her exposed neck made his blood thrill.

“I’d nearly forgotten it, thank-you for reminding me.” She blushed with embarrassment, letting her hair swing loose once she’d slipped her arms through, buttoning the front as she turned to face him.

Unable to resist the urge, Sherlock rose his hand and gently brushed a lock of hair from her eyes, folding it behind her ear. She had not slapped his hand away yet, but her posture went stiff as a board at the contact. Not wanting to push his luck, he did not venture further, though the desire to run his thumb across her cheeks was over-whelming to say the least.

“Thank-you for taking lunch with me. I enjoyed our time together.”

Molly tried, and failed, not to look flabbergasted at his words.

“Y-You are welcome. Have a good night, Mr. Holmes, I shall see you on the morrow.”

Molly turned to leave just as an idea struck him.

“Will you be riding home alone tonight?” He blurted out once she was a few paces away.

“Usually one of the stable boys or footman come and escort me home.” She answered. “Did you have a need for them this evening? I could arrange for two to stay overnight-“

“PerhapsIcouldcomeandfetchyou?”

“I beg your pardon? I didn’t quite catch that, Sherlock. You spoke so quickly.”

He let out a nervous laugh. “I-I was merely suggesting that…perhaps I could come and fetch you from surgery this evening.”

At first Molly appeared dumbfounded, then her face flushed.

This time, not from embarrassment or physical attraction. It was most assuredly in anger.

“What game are you playing at, Sherlock Holmes?” She snapped, marching up to him and glaring up at him squarely. “Never, not once, did you walk me home during my time at St. Bartholomew’s. Need I remind you that it’s a large public hospital in the middle of London? Why the sudden concern for my safety when we are in a safe country village and not drenched in the industrial hustle of Town? Is this some sort of social experiment-”

“Molly, please, let me-“

“No! I do not want to hear your excuses! I have been respectful of your solitary lifestyle and will not be made a punching bag for your frustration when my presence becomes too much to bear.”

“That is not my desire any longer, I wish to-“

“We may be married, but we are not a couple, Sherlock.” Molly continued with a humorless laugh. “We are not even friends! So please, let us just spare the façade. Do not feel pressured to act as a doting husband would. I freed you from that responsibility months ago.”

Ah, that one stung. Sherlock inwardly sighed.

“You are my wife, we are married, and therefore we are a couple.” He said in earnest. “I apologize if I was too…forward, for lack of a better term, in my attempts to be close to you. It was not my intention to anger you.”

“I will not be made a fool of in my own home, Sherlock Holmes. You and Mrs. Adler did a fine enough job of that in front of the Ton in London. I’ll not have you speak to me as though I were some human abscess in front of the servants or villagers.” Molly drove on. “You smeared my reputation in London society and made a mockery of our marriage. Do not act as if the last fourteen months of separation change the facts.”

Sherlock inwardly sighed, there would be no winning this argument.

“I apologize for the inconveniences I have put upon you, believe me it was unconsciously done. Good afternoon, Mrs. Holmes. I hope your time at surgery fares better.” He said before turning to leave.

He did not look back for fear of seeing hatred burn in her fine dark eyes.

Sherlock watched as Molly locked the door to the surgery behind her, then walk over to where he held her horse, Gypsy’s reigns.

“Thank-you for escorting me home this evening, Jean. I know it’s later than I said but we had an emergency case.” Molly said, mounting Gypsy, giving the broodmare an affectionate nuzzle.

The doctor had not realized something was suspicious till she noted the horse her companion was riding.

“Jean, I’m not sure Mr. Holmes would approve of you riding Dante-“

The Consulting Detective smirked, watching her eyes widen a fraction as she took him in.

“Mr. Holmes, what are you doing here?” Molly demanded.

“Escorting you home.” Sherlock commented. “I hope we are not going to argue about this again, I’m already here. No sense in quarreling over it.”

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Molly nudged Gypsy into walking. “I suppose you are right. But this doesn’t mean I’m speaking to you.”

“Well, that’s rather a shame, I was hoping to hear about your time at surgery.”

Molly gazed at him with a mixture of surprise and suspicion. “Who are you and what have you done with Sherlock Holmes?”

“I am still him. However, it is my intention to be the Sherlock Holmes you deserve, Margaret Louise Holmes. The one I should have been all along.”

#Sherlolly #sherlock x molly #sherlock #Sherlock Holmes #molly hooper #victorian!lock #Victorian au #victorian #AU

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haught-at-waverly-place · 6 years ago

Note

answer all of them

answers under the cut! only doing this cause im that bored

200: My crush’s name is: no one 199: I was born in: 1996198: I am really: bored197: My cellphone company is: wtf who cares?? 196: My eye color is: green/blue 195: My shoe size is: 6.5194: My ring size is: idk small 193: My height is: smol 192: I am allergic to: cats and all of nature in the spring and summer 191: My 1st car was: an hhr or as i liked to call it a poor mans hearse190: My 1st job was: an in home care taker aka i cleaned elderly peoples homes189: Last book you read: god i dont read188: My bed is: my best friend 187: My pet: is the loml 186: My best friend: she lives too far away tbh 185: My favorite shampoo is: i use old spice 2-in-1 like the basic bitch i am184: Xbox or ps3: ps3??? what year is it the switch is where its mfkin at 183: Piggy banks are: dope af 182: In my pockets: nothing cause im a broke bitch 181: On my calendar: nothing cause im a boring bitch 180: Marriage is: cool good on everyone who is married to their best friends 179: Spongebob can: new spongebob can die cause its garbage 178: My mom: is the best 177: The last three songs I bought were? who buys songs? 176: Last YouTube video watched: air crash investigations (dont ask) 175: How many cousins do you have? idk 174: Do you have any siblings? one sister 173: Are your parents divorced? nah 172: Are you taller than your mom? nah 171: Do you play an instrument? i used to play the violin and guitar but not anymore 170: What did you do yesterday? tried not to die [ I Believe In ]169: Love at first sight: idk maybe? 168: Luck: sure 167: Fate: yeah sure 166: Yourself: hahahahahahahahahahahahaha no 165: Aliens: fuck yeah 164: Heaven: ehhh no 163: Hell: no 162: God: not really 161: Horoscopes: lowkey160: Soul mates: every one has one 159: Ghosts: kind of 158: Gay Marriage: nah why would gays want to get married 157: War: war is p stupid 156: Orbs: wtf is an orb??155: Magic: no [ This or That ]154: Hugs or Kisses: kisses 153: Drunk or High: drunk 152: Phone or Online: online 151: Red heads or Black haired: black 150: Blondes or Brunettes: brunettes 149: Hot or cold: cold 148: Summer or winter: winter 147: Autumn or Spring: autumn 146: Chocolate or vanilla: vanilla 145: Night or Day: night 144: Oranges or Apples: apples 143: Curly or Straight hair: curly 142: McDonalds or Burger King: mcdonalds 141: White Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: this is dark chocolate erasure and i will not stand for it 140: Mac or PC: mac 139: Flip flops or high heals: neither both are garbage for the feet 138: Ugly and rich OR sweet and poor: im already sweet and poor sooooo137: Coke or Pepsi: where is my dr. pepper representation 136: Hillary or Obama: obama 135: Burried or cremated: cremated id like to go out in a burnin glory even if im already dead 134: Singing or Dancing: singing 133: Coach or Chanel: neither 132: Kat McPhee or Taylor Hicks: who are you people 131: Small town or Big city: big city 130: Wal-Mart or Target: im a lesbian so target obviously 129: Ben Stiller or Adam Sandler: neither 128: Manicure or Pedicure: pedicure only cause they message my feet and legs 127: East Coast or West Coast: west coast 126: Your Birthday or Christmas: xmas cause snow 125: Chocolate or Flowers: chocolate 124: Disney or Six Flags: disney 123: Yankees or Red Sox: neither who cares about baseball [ Here’s What I Think About ]122: War: men bein garbage 121: George Bush: why? 120: Gay Marriage: hell yeah we got it 119: The presidential election: we might as well have elected a crackhead 118: Abortion: let women get them safely so they dont fucking die its that simple117: MySpace: jesus is it 2006 again 116: Reality TV: its trashy but ill watch it cause im trash 115: Parents: love your parents kids (unless they are abusive) 114: Back stabbers: are awful just like maybe dont stab people in the back literally and metaphorically 113: Ebay: ive literally never used ebay in my life 112: Facebook: its p garbage i barely ever use it 111: Work: capitalism has killed workers and quality work 110: My Neighbors: they are there 109: Gas Prices: i havent gotten gas in like 2 months so like idk 108: Designer Clothes: why are they all like so ugly??107: College: stressful and only vaguely worth something 106: Sports: fun to play but boring to watch. i only go to sporting events for the alcohol 105: My family: is v dope and i love them 104: The future: stressful and i hate thinking about it [ Last time I ]103: Hugged someone: last night it was my dad 102: Last time you ate: last night lol 101: Saw someone I haven’t seen in awhile: probably back in december with my best friend 100: Cried in front of someone: oooof all the time 99: Went to a movie theater: like 2 wks ago 98: Took a vacation: january i went on a cruise 97: Swam in a pool: last summer i think 96: Changed a diaper: uhhh never…. 95: Got my nails done: god way back in high school when i thought i was straight 94: Went to a wedding: last friday! 93: Broke a bone: 3 wks ago haha 92: Got a peircing: i havent gotten a piercing since i was like 6 91: Broke the law: uhhh i plead the fifth 90: Texted: i texted my mom like 40 mins ago [ MISC ]89: Who makes you laugh the most: myself 88: Something I will really miss when I leave home is: my dog shes so cute 87: The last movie I saw: spiderman into the spiderverse 86: The thing that I’m looking forward to the most: a vacation to see my aunt in indiana 85: The thing im not looking forward to: going back to school 84: People call me: uhhh my name? 83: The most difficult thing to do is: rn? pretty much everything 82: I have gotten a speeding ticket: never 81: My zodiac sign is: im a leo 80: The first person i talked to today was: my mom 79: First time you had a crush: first time i remember was freshman yr of college 78: The one person who i can’t hide things from: my mom 77: Last time someone said something you were thinking: i dont remember 76: Right now I am talking to: nobody im a lonely bitch 75: What are you going to do when you grow up: hopefully something to do with neuropsychology 74: I have/will get a job: 73: Tomorrow: wtf does this even mean 72: Today: or this one 71: Next Summer: and this one 70: Next Weekend: and even this one 69: I have these pets: a golden retriever mix 68: The worst sound in the world: 67: The person that makes me cry the most is: hahaha myself 66: People that make you happy: my family and friends 65: Last time I cried: yesterday 64: My friends are: amazing wonderful people that i love 63: My computer is: my lifeline 62: My School: is small but good 61: My Car: is a lesbian wagon that looks like i live in it 60: I lose all respect for people who: cheat on their s/o 59: The movie I cried at was: i dont usually cry during movies 58: Your hair color is: confusing kind of blonde also kind of brown 57: TV shows you watch: she ra, killing eve, grey anatomy too many others to list 56: Favorite web site: youtube 55: Your dream vacation: to go to germany 54: The worst pain I was ever in was: idk maybe my post surgery foot pain 53: How do you like your steak cooked: medium rare the only way a steak should be eaten 52: My room is: always a disaster 51: My favorite celebrity is: taylor swift 50: Where would you like to be: idk 49: Do you want children: noooo 48: Ever been in love: yes i have 47: Who’s your best friend: we aint naming names on here 46: More guy friends or girl friends: girl friends45: One thing that makes you feel great is: playing with my dog 44: One person that you wish you could see right now: A43: Do you have a 5 year plan: god no i dont even have a 5 hour plan 42: Have you made a list of things to do before you die: nah 41: Have you pre-named your children: nope40: Last person I got mad at: myself39: I would like to move to: somewhere other than where i am now 38: I wish I was a professional: at being not depressed [ My Favorites ]37: Candy: bottle caps or ritter sports 36: Vehicle: subaru wrx hatchbacks with a wide body kit are b nice 35: President: who tf has a favorite president 34: State visited: oregon or washington 33: Cellphone provider: who has a fave cell provider???32: Athlete: none31: Actor: idk like chris pratt or something 30: Actress: rn jodie comer 29: Singer: hayley williams 28: Band: paramore 27: Clothing store: h&m 26: Grocery store: target 25: TV show: law and order svu 24: Movie: princess mononoke 23: Website: youtube 22: Animal: red panda 21: Theme park: disneyland 20: Holiday: halloween 19: Sport to watch: none they are all hella boring 18: Sport to play: softball 17: Magazine: none i dont read 16: Book: i dont read books cant concentrate for that long 15: Day of the week: idk saturday 14: Beach: ive been to a beach like 3 times and i barely remember them 13: Concert attended: paramore after laughter concert last summer 12: Thing to cook: cooking stresses me the fuck out so i dont have a favorite thing to cook 11: Food: pasta!! 10: Restaurant: uhhh i dont really have one 9: Radio station: its 2019 who listens to the radio 8: Yankee candle scent: i dont really use candles 7: Perfume: i dont wear perfume 6: Flower: peach roses probably 5: Color: red 4: Talk show host: i dont watch talk shows they are all boring 3: Comedian: john mulaney or iliza schlesinger 2: Dog breed: corgi 1: Did you answer all these truthfully? hahahahaha

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nooneelsecomesclose17 · 8 years ago

Text

AO3

For my anon from last night:

Someone I Love Was Born Today

Robert felt like he was floating, the new mattress was perfect and he didn’t want to move. It’d taken him and Aaron ages to find the perfect bed, well it had taken him ages to find the perfect bed. Aaron had followed him around the store complaining that it was taking so long. The first night in their new home was a different story however and Aaron was very grateful for all the time it had taken.

He heard a groan from beside him and rolled over to see Aaron squinting against the brightness of what appeared to be a perfect spring morning. It was Saturday so they had nowhere to be, probably a good thing considering the state Aaron had been in when he arrived home the night before after a night out with Adam.

“You suffering?” He reached over and ruffled his husband’s hair, revelling in its gel free appearance.

“Go ‘way.”

“Charming! I’ll make the coffee then, shall I? Not sure I should be really, not today.” He pulled on a t-shirt and wandered down the stairs running a hand through his hair and yawning. He’d quite enjoy a lazy morning in bed with Aaron but it didn’t look likely. Maybe they could go out somewhere later, just the two of them.

“What’s got you smiling?” He swung round as Liv appeared behind him still in her pyjamas.

“It’s a beautiful day! You have plans today, right?” He asked hopefully as she sat at the table, feet immediately going up onto the chair next to her. He shook his head, couldn’t be bothered to tell her not to.

“Yeah, Chas is taking me shopping in Harrogate. Don’t worry, I won’t spoil whatever you’ve got planned.” He sits opposite her clutching his coffee.

“I don’t have plans as it happens. Aaron might though, once he’s conscious.” He tries to keep the hopefulness out of his voice, not in the mood for her teasing him today.

“Ooh, hang on!” She jumps up, almost tripping over her feet as she rushes from the room. He chuckles into his mug as she goes. A minute late she’s back, a wrapped parcel in her hand. He looks at her wide-eyed. “Here you go. Happy birthday. Tough luck if you hate it.” She says it with a smile so he ignores her.

“Liv! You didn’t have to. I didn’t even know you knew it was my birthday! Can I open it?”

“Vic told me,” she shrugs trying to play it down that she cares, “Course you can open it! It’s not much…”

He debates teasing and unwrapping it slowly but he resists temptation, instead ripping off the paper to find a Lego Star Wars set. It isn’t one of the more popular ones but then he knows the price of some of those so he’s not surprised but he loves it, loves the fact that she thought about what to get him rather than go for the kind of generic presents that he himself has probably been guilty of buying more than once.

“Liv, this is great! You know Aaron is going to moan, right?” He had frequently as Robert had unpacked his models and figures when they moved in. Robert had ignored him, happy to finally have a place to put them, something he hadn’t done since before he met Chrissie.

“Of course! I’m going to get dressed, Chas will be here soon.” She got up from the table and surprised him by coming round to give him a hug. “Happy birthday Rob. Don’t forget the card!”

With that she’s gone and he reaches for the card, dreading what he might find in the envelope, but he’s pleasantly surprised. It’s just words block printed on the front in different colours, but he bursts out laughing when he reads it.

31 is just 18, with 13 years experience! Or put another way… 217 in dog years! (31 doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?)

He sets it down on the table next to the present, still smiling, before making a start on Aaron’s morning tea. He’s not heard any movement so he guesses he’s gone straight back to sleep. He’s right, when he gets upstairs Aaron is once more buried under the duvet just his hair visible. Robert sets down his tea before climbing onto the bed and pulling the covers away from Aaron’s face.

“You gettin’ up or what? You can’t sleep my birthday away.”

“What?” Aaron’s pushes the duvet away and stares up at him frowning.

“I said, you can’t sleep my birthday away.”

“Your birthday?” Normally Robert loved Aaron’s adorably confused look but this time he couldn’t deny being just a little disappointed. “Shit, Robert, I’m sorry.”

“S’alright, isn’t an important one.” He sits back on his heels out of Aaron’s reach. He shouldn’t be so bothered, it isn’t like he makes a fuss of birthdays usually, although that’s because he hasn’t had anyone around that he wanted to make a fuss with, but he hoped Aaron would be different. He’d understood last year when Aaron hadn’t mentioned it. With Liv arriving and the trial only just being over he’d had other things on his mind, but this year everything was settled and calm, yet he’d still forgotten.

“No! It is. They’re all important. I’m an idiot. You didn’t say anything!” He hadn’t because he didn’t think he needed to, Aaron shouldn’t need reminding. His face must give him away because Aaron shuffled closer to Robert placing kisses all over his face, “I’m sorry.”

“Doesn’t matter. You want breakfast?” Aaron shrugged, “Well I’m starving. I’ll see you downstairs.” He feels awful, pulling away from him like that, like a child having a tantrum but he can’t help feeling this way. He hears Aaron start the shower as he enters the kitchen, stopping as he sees Liv’s present, happy that at least one person remembered him.

He starts their breakfast, bacon and sausages grilling nicely, toast ready in the toaster, kettle boiled again when he hears the letterbox rattle. Collecting the post he sees a couple of envelopes that obviously contain cards and he frowns, can’t think who would be posting anything to him. He checks on the food before ripping into the first card.

His eyes sting as he opens it, moves the cheque for ten pounds out of the way, that itself a giveaway as to the sender before he even reads it. He’s thirty one and his Gran still sends him ten pounds, every Christmas and every birthday. He should go and see her he knows, before it’s too late. It’s been too long already. Maybe in the summer he can take Aaron and Liv, introduce them to Annie. The next card is a mystery but he laughs when he opens it. It’s from Victoria. Only his sister could live in the same village and post his card. He remembers she always loved collecting her birthday cards from the letterbox.

He sets them down on the table, tells himself he isn’t leaving them on show to rub it into Aaron’s face just a little, and goes to check on the breakfast busying himself as he hears Aaron coming down the metal staircase. He fixes a smile on his face and carries the plates of food to the table, noting when Aaron clocks the cards, his face falling just a bit.

“Where’s Liv?” Aaron asks, sitting down.

“Your Mum has taken her shopping in Harrogate. Won’t be back til late.”

“I’m an idiot.” Aaron puts his knife and fork down, breakfast barely touched.

“Well I know that. You’re my idiot though. Eat, Aaron, it’s fine. I’m a big boy, I’ll get over it.”

“You shouldn’t have to! I didn’t remember last year either. I’m your husband, I’m supposed to remember these things.” Robert reaches out and takes his hand.

“You had more than enough going on last year let alone remembering my birthday. Now, eat. You can buy me lunch at the pub, how about that?” He can never stay angry at Aaron too long and certainly not if he’s going to beat himself up about it. “Look I got ten pounds from Gran so we can go wild!”

“I can do better than lunch at the pub! You’re going to Vic’s, yes?” Robert nods, he said he’d call in briefly, expecting to have other plans. “Right, well after that we’ll do something. I’m not being outdone by my sister and your Gran!” He taps the Lego box in annoyance and Robert nods.

They finish their breakfast and after a detour to the shower where Aaron apologised once more, Robert made his way to his sister’s.

“Happy birthday!” She greets him with a smile and a hug. She swiftly hands him a present and he can see an elaborate cake on the worktop. “Is it the right one? When I got to the shop I forgot which one you’d said.”

“Yeah it is, thanks Vic.” He holds up the book that she’d asked the name of and nods. They did this, told each other what they wanted, knowing they could buy themselves whatever they wanted anyway. “And thanks for the card.”

“What did Aaron and Liv get you then?”

“Liv got me Lego,” She rolls her eyes, “I can’t help liking Lego. Leave me alone!”

“And Aaron?”

“He...uh...don’t know yet.” She frowns, “He’s sorting it now I think.”

“Hmm leaving it to the last minute isn’t he!”

“He forgot. I shouldn’t be mad, I mean it’s Aaron, he’s not organised.” He knows this, it’s part of why he loves him but still, it’s his birthday and Aaron’s his husband.

“Oh Rob! He’s just like Adam!”

“Does Adam forget your birthday?” He’s sure he would have heard her complaining if he did.

“No, but I make sure to mark it on the calendar every year. Maybe you should do the same.”

“Yeah, maybe.” He huffs a laugh, resolving to do just that. “Anyway I best be off, have to see Diane and then find out what he’s come up with.”

He hugs her goodbye and carefully transports his birthday cake up to the B&B to see Diane before making his way home, resolving to stop Aaron feeling guilty. It doesn’t matter, he has his husband here with him, he doesn’t need anything else.

“I’m back!” He slams the door behind him, leaving the presents he’s accumulated in the hallway, carrying the cake into the kitchen.

“Hi.” He hands him an envelope. “I popped to David’s, so don’t be expecting anything fancy.” He rips into it, not caring one bit that it isn’t fancy. Even if he had to be reminded, it’s still from Aaron.

Someone I love was born today. From your idiot husband. I love you.

He smiles, always does when he hears Aaron say ‘I love you’ in any form. He sets the card in pride of place on the table, in front of all the others, this one the most important.

“Thank you, my wonderful idiot.”

“Come on, we haven’t got much time.” Aaron’s at his side again, kissing his jaw.

“Where are we going?” He asks, his hands on Aaron’s hips, considering dragging him back to bed and to hell with the plans he’s made.

“Hmm, that’s a secret. You’ll like it, I think.” He looks down at his feet. “I really am sorry. I’ll do better.”

“Aaron you don’t need to do better, you’re perfect. It’s a birthday, I’ll have more of ‘em.” He kissed him, melting into him, arms tightening holding him close until Aaron pulled away.

“We have to go.” He hands Robert his jacket, shrugging on his hoodie and picking up his keys before ushering him out of the door.

An hour later he’s stood on an airfield on the outskirts of Leeds, staring at Aaron in amazement. “A flying lesson? You booked me a flying lesson?”

“Yeah...you hate it don’t you?” Aaron’s biting his lip, “I remembered you telling me you’d always wanted to.”

He can’t believe he remembered that conversation, long ago now, about childhood dreams, how he would often sit in one of the fields on the farm and watch the planes overhead, and wish he could be up there. It wasn’t even something he’d thought of much if at all, just the fantasies of a child, nothing more, but Aaron had listened, had remembered.

“Aaron, you...I can’t believe you remembered. This is great, really.” He grabs Aaron around the waist, pulls him close. “You’re coming too, right?”

“Oh no, no way!” Aaron pulls away but Robert won’t let go.

“Come on! It’s my birthday!” Robert hasn’t changed so much that he won’t use a little bit of guilt to persuade him.

Two hours later they’re back on firm ground after the lesson where they flew out over the Dales. Robert is grinning from ear to ear, he’s sure he looks like an idiot. Aaron on the other hand looks a little green.

“You alright?” He asks, arm slung round his husband’s shoulders.

“I will be. So am I out of the doghouse?” Robert laughs.

“You weren’t in the doghouse, don’t be daft! But that was fantastic! I love you.” He keeps his arm around him as they head back to Aaron’s car.

“Right, well, it’s not one of your fancy places but I called Mum and she and Liv are going to meet us back at the pub for dinner.”

“Perfect. Oh by the way, you do know that you’re helping me put the Lego together don’t you?” He can’t help smirking at his husband’s frown. It may not have started out the best but right now he can’t remember a better day.

“What!”

“You forgot my birthday, Aaron, you may not have been in the doghouse but you still have some making up to do.”

“I’d rather make it up to you in bed.”

“Don’t worry. We can do that too.” He settles back as they head back to the village, ignoring Aaron’s occasional grumbles about grown men playing around with little plastic bricks, musing on just how Aaron can finish making things up to him.

#robron fanfic #writing #robert sugden's birthday 2017 #robert sugden #flying was the first link on google #it was late #birthday fic #fluff fluff fluff

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deli-counter · 8 years ago

Note

do all 155 questions you reblogged

you are a good person

1: Full name Delaney Quinn _____

2: Age 19

3: 3 Fears Failure, elevators, my college

4: 3 things I love biscuits, broad city, carpeted garages

5: 4 turns on men sighing, intelligence, deep, low voices, people who take action immediately in bad situations

6: 4 turns off arrogance/narcism, men who talk about cars a lot, flip flops, really strong perfumes and colognes

7: My best friend Matthew!!!!

8: Sexual orientation Straight

9: My best first date Every single first date I have ever had has been utter shit in every way and I could explain but there’s no time nor drive to do this

10: How tall am I 5′4″ - 5′5″ maybe?

11: What do I miss Bahn mi......i am paleo now and it sux but I do love complaining about it and seeming important for doing paleo

12: What time were I born Like 12:15pm

13: Favourite color green!

14: Do I have a crush like 100 but none are realistic, accessible, or serious

15: Favourite quote “From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity.” - Edvard Munch

16: Favourite place honestly i love my bathroom i love pooping and workin on my best self

17: Favourite food gnocchi

18: Do I use sarcasm yeah i think everyone does

19: What am I listening to right now broad city dialogue

20: First thing I notice in new person how they greet you/tone i guess

21: Shoe size 6 1/2 - 7

22: Eye color brown

23: Hair color dark brown but the dye’s faded into just muddy brown with some red how interesting

24: Favourite style of clothing vintage

25: Ever done a prank call? yeah

27: Meaning behind my URL i do theatre and i’m pretentious

28: Favourite movie The Help

29: Favourite song ??? stupid ass question idk

30: Favourite band ??? stupid ass question idk

31: How I feel right now ??? stupid ass question idk

32: Someone I love My sister!

33: My current relationship status Single

34: My relationship with my parents really great tbh

35: Favourite holiday Halloween

36: Tattoos and piercing i have none

37: Tattoos and piercing i want i would like to get my ears pierced

38: The reason I joined Tumblr to complain to my friend Jenna

40: Do I ever get “good morning” or “good night ” texts? No

41: Have I ever kissed the last person you texted? No

42: When did I last hold hands? Yikes who knows

43: How long does it take me to get ready in the morning? 45 min?

44: Have You shaved your legs in the past three days? yep

45: Where am I right now? my room

46: If I were drunk & can’t stand, who’s taking care of me? i’m taking care of someone else and i do not like drinking

47: Do I like my music loud or at a reasonable level? depends

48: Do I live with my Mom and Dad? when i’m not at college yeah

49: Am I excited for anything? i’m in spring awakening and we start rehearsals on saturday!!

50: Do I have someone of the opposite sex I can tell everything to? yes my sweet sweet matthew

51: How often do I wear a fake smile? as dramatic as this question is, so am I, and a lot

52: When was the last time I hugged someone? today I hugged my beautiful and perfect sister

53: What if the last person I kissed was kissing someone else right in front of me? that’s okay it was for a scene

54: Is there anyone I trust even though I should not? oh yeah

55: What is something I disliked about today? this was the worst day in a while so a lot

56: If I could meet anyone on this earth, who would it be? dave malloy

57: What do I think about most? anxiety dude and currently what caused my ptsd

58: What’s my strangest talent? ?? idk i do a great Viola Dais in The Help impression as risky and bad as that sounds

59: Do I have any strange phobias? sure but mostly just elevators

60: Do I prefer to be behind the camera or in front of it? in front

61: What was the last lie I told? great question

62: Do I prefer talking on the phone or video chatting online? neither

63: Do I believe in ghosts? How about aliens? yes and yes

64: Do I believe in magic? I believe in the power of God so sure that counts

65: Do I believe in luck? nah

66: What’s the weather like right now? it’s like 67 rn

67: What was the last book I’ve read? I ready mostly scripts now so idk

68: Do I like the smell of gasoline? no

69: Do I have any nicknames? Squeaky, Del, Delami, Lane, Joanne, Jew, etc.

70: What was the worst injury I’ve ever had? I had like a kidney stone that sucked. Idk about injury. A chunk of my nose is missing due to skin strep I had as a child.

71: Do I spend money or save it? Both

72: Can I touch my nose with a tongue? If I help it up there yeah

73: Is there anything pink in 10 feet from me? I have an old Lady Be Good postcard near me with some pink on it, and Sorcerer’s Stone is beside me and there’s some pink on that cover

74: Favourite animal? Koala I think

75: What was I doing last night at 12 AM? Sleepin maybe or playing Sims Freeplay

76: What do I think is Satan’s last name is? None he’s got one name like Beyonce

77: What’s a song that always makes me happy when I hear it? The Private and Intimate Life of the House from Great Comet

78: How can you win my heart? Genuinely respect me

79: What would I want to be written on my tombstone? “Rip it up”

80: What is my favorite word? I like cynosure a lot. Someone called me that once and it was always very special to me.

81: My top 5 blogs on tumblr rossgellerfanclub 5 times

82: If the whole world were listening to me right now, what would I say? does anyone wanna pay for my college

83: Do I have any relatives in jail? no

84: I accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what’s even cooler is that they endow me with the super-power of my choice! What is that power? shapeshifting

86: What is my current desktop picture? a pixelated ocean and sky it’s very cute

88: Bought condoms? no

89: Gotten pregnant? no

90: Failed a class? maybe? to be seen

91: Kissed a boy? yes

92: Kissed a girl? yes for a scene at school

93: Have I ever kissed somebody in the rain? no

94: Had job? define job

95: Left the house without my wallet? yes

96: Bullied someone on the internet? no

97: Had sex in public? no

98: Played on a sports team? no

99: Smoked weed? no

100: Did drugs? no

101: Smoked cigarettes? no

102: Drank alcohol? a sip once or twice and it’s bad man i hate it

103: Am I a vegetarian/vegan? paleo bitch!!!!

104: Been overweight? ya

105: Been underweight? no

106: Been to a wedding? yes several

107: Been on the computer for 5 hours straight? yes easily

108: Watched TV for 5 hours straight? yes easily

109: Been outside my home country? yes

110: Gotten my heart broken? no

111: Been to a professional sports game? yes

112: Broken a bone? no

113: Cut myself? yes

114: Been to prom? yes

115: Been in airplane? yes

116: Fly by helicopter? no

117: What concerts have I been to? american idol but the season with carrie underwood

118: Had a crush on someone of the same sex? no

119: Learned another language? like partial sure

120: Wore make up? yes

123: Dyed my hair? yes

124: Voted in a presidential election? yes

125: Rode in an ambulance? yes

126: Had a surgery? no

127: Met someone famous? yes! a few but i don’t feel like listing

128: Stalked someone on a social network? we all have

129: Peed outside? no

130: Been fishing? no

131: Helped with charity? yes

132: Been rejected by a crush? yes

133: Broken a mirror? no

134: What do I want for birthday? cash and a nice dinner and maybe a kiss!!

135: How many kids do I want and what will be their names? 2! i would like a boy and a girl. Names like Ezra and Porter and stuff idk

136: Was I named after anyone? Elaine from Seinfeld, cause her nickname was Laney

137: Do I like my handwriting? it’s alright yeah

138: What was my favourite toy as a child? i loved barbies man and I had a lovely babydoll

139: Favourite Tv Show? 30 Rock

140: Where do I want to live when older? NYC then Chicago then somewhere weird like Vermont and then Germany

141: Play any musical instrument? i used to play flute and a lil piano but now like nothing. trying to work a vocal looper tho

142: One of my scars, how did I get it? cutting myself

143: Favourite pizza toping? caramelized onion and basil

144: Am I afraid of the dark? yeah a bit

145: Am I afraid of heights? yeah

146: Have I ever got caught sneaking out or doing anything bad? i made a friend online when I was like 12 and did not tell my parents lol

147: Have I ever tried my hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end? yes of course

148: What I’m really bad at dancing

149: What my greatest achievements are surviving ptsd is pretty fkn cool

150: The meanest thing somebody has ever said to me not discussing that here

151: What I’d do if I won in a lottery pay off college, pay off my parents debt, donate to charity, buy myself some luxury apartments and a dog, some amazing food, get some good bras, see a ton of shows on broadway!!!!!

152: What do I like about myself persistence and humor

153: My closest Tumblr friend jenna we don’t talk much anymore but I’ll always love that b

154: Something I fantasize about being a greek goddess or in the center of a victorian love triangle quite honestly

155: Any question you’d like? ------ N/A

THANKIE!!!!!!!

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flytsofangels · 8 years ago

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The Fan Mail Fix

(Written for my daughter on her birthday. Hope you like it. I sure love you!)

Yuri was tired.

He’d spent the last few hours trying to perfect the new moves in his routine — step, turn, repeat — and he had just about had enough. Enough practice. Enough ice. Enough cold.

Enough wondering what that mark was really supposed to mean.

After all, when you’re born into a world where your soul mate is marked by a coloration that created a letter of the alphabet on the skin of your hand, you’re supposed to be more relaxed. More secure. More certain that there really is someone out there for you to love and who will love you in return. Wasn’t that the whole point? To be able to feel secure?

But he didn’t. Because his hand and his reality didn’t match.

Because … well … Viktor.

Viktor. Who hadn’t bothered to show up to coach him today. Who was probably sitting around in the hot spring or stuffing his face or …

Or being completely adorable with that floof of a dog of his …

Viktor. Whose name started with a “V” and not the “B” that was clearly marked on Yuri’s hand.

It was what made Yuri so tired: thinking in these circles against the yearning of his own heart. Because his heart told him that Viktor was the one. The man who caused all those fluttering butterflies to romp around in his stomach when he saw him. The man whose lips Yuri desperately wanted to feel under his own, if only to know how soft they were. And to make those butterflies dance around inside of him even more energetically.

Yuri could see himself with Viktor well past the time that either of them would be able to perform even a single Axel, sharing every moment and thought with each other until they were very gray and very … well, not as athletic as they both were right now. And not as driven to win at any cost. That would be a nice day, someday.

But right now, Yuri was consumed by his need to train and succeed. And he would happily say that Viktor was making that possible. His new coach was helping him make all of his dreams come true.

Except for that ultimate dream. The one that was promised on his hand.

Yuri tugged the hood of his heavy coat up and stuffed both of his mittened hands into his pockets, dropping his head to stare at the snow-covered sidewalk that would lead him back home. When he had trudged up to the Ice Palace, the skies had been gray in the kind of way that always promised snow, but he hadn’t realized that so much of the white stuff had drifted down from the heavens while he trained. If he had known the weather was going to turn, he would have kept himself at home. Snow could be so unpredictable; he might have been trapped up here, alone. With only his circular thoughts to occupy him.

Not that he had managed to get away from them during his training. Once the movements had been impressed onto his muscles, Yuri had used only the smallest portion of his conscious mind to tell his feet, legs, arms, and torso what to do next. Instead, his mind had wandered back to his greatest conundrum.

Why was there a letter “B” on his hand when he loved someone whose name started with the letter “V”?

There were two easy answers, of course. The easiest — the one that didn’t go most powerfully against what he had been taught from the moment he had been born — was that he didn’t actually love Viktor. He probably was just experiencing an infatuation, based on the fact that the internationally renowned, champion figure skater had left behind his own dreams of more time in the spotlight to seek out and coach Yuri. It had been the Russian’s choice: there was no way that Yuri could afford to reimburse or adequately compensate Viktor for the time and energy that had been poured into the hours of training during the past few months. He was almost forced to accept it as a gift, and that fact made it even harder for him to face his new coach with any offerings of his love. He owed Viktor too much in his professional life to try to drag the Russian into his personal life, too.

On the other hand, the other easy answer was that the tradition was wrong. Even though he had been raised on the idea that there was a soul mate in the world for him — someone who had a name that matched the first initial clearly marked on his hand — he had been raised with some other, equally as false ideas. Like you could catch a cold simply by walking outdoors in winter with wet hair. Or that you can see the Great Wall of China from space. Just because that’s the way that people had always thought things would work didn’t mean that was true. He felt his love for Viktor too deeply and achingly for him to simply dismiss it. So perhaps this soul mate tradition was wrong.

Except every experience in his life said that it wasn’t. His parents. Yuko and her husband. So many, many others.

Yuri sighed and watched the heat of his breath form into a misty vapor that wrapped around his head. If he wasn’t careful, the vaporous breath would cover his glasses, making it impossible for him to see where he was going for a few steps. Not that being blind in the snow was dangerous here in town, but he didn’t like that idea of not knowing where he was going. He might step off a curb into traffic or twist his ankle on something he couldn’t see.

Or he could lose his heart to the wrong person.

It was useless, he reminded himself, to continue to think about it at all. He wasn’t going to solve anything by chasing his own tail like this. It was better to push it into the background and concentrate on his skating. At least that would keep him occupied. Mostly.

Stepping through the front door of his home, he stomped the snow from his footwear and slipped out of his coat. After hanging it from a hook by the portal, he sank down on the step and tugged off his boots, placing them where the melting snow wouldn’t seep into anyone else’s shoes. Sliding his feet into his house slippers, he headed off to his bedroom.

“Yuri! Is that you?” his mother called to him.

“It’s me,” he replied, stifling the sigh that he wanted to let escape. He knew he should be more grateful that he was still allowed to live at home — was even welcomed there. But right at this moment, he wanted to be alone more than anything.

His mother walked into the room, a wide wooden spoon in one hand. “I’m so glad you didn’t get trapped by the snow. When I saw it get heavier, I was so worried about you. But then again, you would have been in your favorite place, wouldn’t you?”

Would I? he asked himself silently. The Ice Palace had been his favorite place. Until Viktor. Now — anywhere where his coach was was so much preferable. But his mother was waiting for an answer, so he said, “Of course.” If only to keep her from asking any more questions.

“Anyway,” she continued brightly, almost as if she hadn’t heard his response, “I need you to take Viktor’s mail to his room. It seems like he finally got his coach to forward it to him, and I really hate to disturb him, especially since he’s devoting so much time to your career. Can you carry it to him for me, please?”

“Sure,” Yuri mumbled and then turned to look at the huge, duffle-bag-sized mail satchel that was leaning against the wall. Surprised, he blurted out, “That? You want me to carry that to Viktor’s room?”

But his mother had already left the room. “Thanks, honey!” she called back to him.

Sighing again, Yuri walked over to the bag and looked down at it. Then he kicked it for good measure. It was just one more reminder of all the things that were more attractive to the Russian than him and his career. Out there, in the spotlight, Viktor was a star, the heart-throb of millions, the handsome and charismatic champion who had rocketed awareness of figure skating to new world-wide heights. Yuri had the hardest time understanding why one floundering figure skater had drawn his coach away from all of that.

Squatting down in front of the bag, he wrapped both of his arms around it and then used his powerful thighs to lift it. He tottered to one side, relying on his memories of the house to help him down the corridors until he was at Viktor’s door. With one foot, he pounded on the portal and waited.

“Come in!” Viktor called, his voice muffled by the door.

Yuri sighed in frustration. His hands were occupied simply keeping this giant bag of mail from spilling across the floor of the hallway. He kicked the door again.

“Come … oh … Just a minute …”

The door opened, and Yuri staggered forward until he was in the center of Viktor’s room. Unfortunately, his arms suddenly gave out, and the duffle hit the floor, the drawstrings releasing their tight hold and spilling a variety of bright envelopes and packages across the floor. He groaned at the mess and looked up at his coach.

“Sorry …” he started and then stopped seeing the small smile on Viktor’s face. That smile, those eyes, that face. It was almost too much, and Yuri turned away, squatting down in the mess and beginning to stuff the mail back into its container.

“You don’t have to do that,” Viktor said, moving beside him so that his knee brushed against Yuri’s. The butterflies that filled his stomach began to dance heatedly in excitement. “I can pick this mess up myself. After all, it’s really mine.”

“No, no,” Yuri disagreed reflexively. “I made the mess. I can at least …”

He paused when he heard Viktor laughing beside him and looked over at the stark white envelope in his coach’s hands. Or it was supposed to be white. Whoever had sent it to Viktor had pressed a set of lips coated with lipstick repeatedly to the white surface, decorating the paper with kiss after kiss.

It was like a graphic reminder of Yuri’s own secret desires, and he looked down at the envelopes and packets in his own hands.

“I get a lot of these,” Viktor said, a little laugh in his voice. “It’s wonderful to know that so many people love me. All kinds of people, all over the world.”

“Yeah,” Yuri said slowly. “That’s lucky for you.” But he could lift his eyes from the paper in his hand, and he also didn’t seem to be able to move. He heard the sound of ripping and the rustling of a letter being smoothed open and then that laugh, the laugh that he loved, echoed around the room again.

“Another marriage proposal. They just never give up.”

When you’re the prize, Yuri wanted to argue aloud, who wouldn’t fight forever? Who wouldn’t give up everything — including their dreams — just to be near you? To wake up beside you every morning? To go to sleep with you every night?

Angry with the despair that he could feel threatening to choke him, Yuri stuffed his handful of envelopes back into the mail bag. Unfortunately, one letter slipped out between his fingers, and he reached down to pick up the paper from the floor. Without thinking about it, he read the address listed on the front, staring at the strange characters, almost not believing what he was seeing.

“What’s this?” he said softly, extending his arm and seeing the envelope shake in his nervous fingers.

“What’s what?” Viktor replied, looking up from the box of chocolates that he had opened, supplied by another adoring fan.

“Here on the envelope? Is this for you?”

Viktor nodded. “Sure. That’s my name. In Cyrillic characters. You know that’s how we write in Russia, right?”

“I hadn’t thought about it. I hadn’t though about anything other than the characters used in English.”

“Well, that’s silly,” his coach said, popping a dark, creamy candy between those lips that Yuri longed to kiss. “People in Japan don’t even write like that. But I suppose you all learn English characters after you learn Japanese. Is it important? It just has my name and my address from my coach’s training center in Russia.” Viktor shrugged and turned back to his candies.

Is it important? Yuri gasped, gripping the envelope against his chest to try to hide the excited trembling that was racing through his body. Important? It was the second most life-changing moment of Yuri’s entire life.

Unable to believe that he had seen what his eyes had shown him, Yuri pulled the envelope away from his heart and stared down at the black letters chasing each other across the surface. With one trembling fingertip, he traced the first letter — the alien, Cyrillic character — that made up Viktor’s name. And his heart sang.

Over and over again, he followed the lines of the character. Not two angled lines, but a more swooping, curving pair with one straight line.

Like the letter “B”.

#yuri on ice #yuri au #writing

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theliterateape · 7 years ago

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"Here's My Heart": Braid's 'Frame & Canvas' Turns 20

By David Himmel

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Frame & Canvas by the Champaign, Illinois-based band Braid. This album mattered. It mattered when it was first released for what it meant for the punk/emo/hardcore genre. It mattered for what it meant for the band. It mattered for what it meant to me and the thousands (Tens of thousands? Millions?) of kids like me. And yeah, it matters now.

I know I’m not the first to get all fanboy gooey over this album or this band. But lately I’m having a hard time not submitting to the allure of nostalgia, that gorgeous siren. No, it’s not nostalgia. It’s reference to the past, my past. It could be that the last year was a wild one — first year of marriage; dog gets sick; land a new job; wife gets pregnant; lose the new job; dog dies; first child is born. A lot of impactful things have happened personally — internally. And it’s been busy externally, too — all things Trump; the generational war; the race/socio-economic war; the geographical war; Stranger Things 2. In wild times like these, it does one best to cite history for the guidance, clues and cues for how to best navigate the new, but always familiar, waters. And so, I’ve been going back to the well of my favorite movies, books and music for comfort and clarity.

Frame & Canvas is a favorite. Braid is a favorite. As such, the record release of 20 years ago today is worth writing about.

On April 7, 1998, I was a freshman in college at UNLV. I was miserable. The whys and whats of why are too numerous and convoluted to get into here but I can tell you that overall, I felt stale.

I didn’t run out and buy Frame & Canvas on its release day. I don’t remember when I bought the CD but I remember that it did not leave its place in the 6-CD disk changer in my new Volkswagen Golf — my first car — for all of my sophomore year at school. I remember playing it at full volume with the windows down and the sunroof open as one of my sophomore year roommates, Matt Sandoval, and I drove to San Diego for a weekend on the beach. He was impressed with it. It sounded like nothing he’d ever heard before. He wanted more. So did I.

“So I’m told that Chicago’s cold. Can’t be cool as California.” — First Day Back

Braid wasn’t new to me. The released two albums (and a slew of singles and splits and compilations, etc.) but Braid hadn’t resonated with me until Frame & Canvas. The band’s third and final album — before the release of a two-volume compilation of singles and B-sides, and a temp-to-full-time reunion release 16 years later — was just the right mix of nuance that my sensitive, wannabe rockstar heart and ears required. I had even seen Braid perform the earlier stuff at Chicago’s Fireside Bowl several times when they shared the bill with my favorites at the time, The Promise Ring and The Get Up Kids to name two. (Those bands still rank among my favorites, and their albums remain in routine rotation on my turntable, in my iTunes and in my car.) After I completely absorbed every lyric, drum beat, guitar riff and bass line I could from Frame & Canvas, I dove into the older stuff. And now I loved it. All of it. I became a superfan.

Braid broke up in 1999. They went on a one-off reunion tour in 2004. I flew from Las Vegas to Detroit to see them open for Minus the Bear. I still have the ticket stub. It wasn my birthday weekend. It was fucking incredible.

But back to the record at hand…

The songs were about being in a state of certain uncertainty. A place of transition with the balls to step up and have no fear of fucking it all up. The songs were about girls and friends and getting older and being younger and parents and longing and having and missing and distance and places and things and giving a shit and not giving a shit at all.

“We’ve got a lot of great mistakes to make. We’ve a lot of chances to take, so let’s take our time and hurry.” — The New Nathan Detroits

Or that’s how I perceived them. What do I know? I didn’t write them, I only listened to them. It’s that old argument: What Does The Art Mean And Who Does It Mean It To? The album, front to back and back again was everything my tender Midwestern heart was feeling and everything my late teenage brain was thinking

Frame & Canvas was released at the end of my freshman year, but it was wholly consumed throughout my sophomore year. My sophomore year was the year when I was still sad but sick of being sad; bored but sick of being bored; interested but struggling to find something interesting. Throughout the album, there were lyrics that spoke to exactly what I was feeling or thinking, or needed to hear because I hadn’t thought of it that way. And certainly not with that shift in time signature or run down the frets.

It was my sophomore when I shook off the dust and salt and tried new things while staying evermore true to myself. That was the year college started to be enjoyable and life started to suck. That was the year my twenties began and a new, more confident, less afraid David emerged. I didn’t know what a Nathan Detroit was — I didn’t get the reference, but I couldn’t help to relate because there was something both familiar and new about this guy, Nathan. (I later, of course, realized that Nathan Detroit was a reference to the character from Guys and Dolls. The reference and connection still accurately applies.)

One of my longest standing and still best friends, Brian Wolff, once told me, “You treat lead singers like they’re great philosophers.” Yeah, I do. Fuck Socrates. Eat shit, Voltaire. Bite my dick, Angelou. Give me my Nanna, Broach, Portman, Schwartzenbach, Andriano…

I’m not alone in this, I know. Music matters. Bands matter. Singers and guitarists and bassists and drummers matter. They say and play what we want to say and play but can’t because we’re in our own way. And get this; there are bands for the bands, too. Everyone is inspired.

So, it’s 20 years later…

I’ve seen Braid perform live countless times at this point — considering all the times in high school at the Fireside, the reunion show, the quieter shows before the release of the new album in 2014 and the few since. And yeah, I own the VHS and DVD of Killing a Camera, the live performance documentary of the band’s swan song performances. I’m a fan. Superfan.

In the years since Frame & Canvas has been among us, the listening public, it has remained a constant source of companionship. Through girlfriends of distance, through missing my Midwestern roots while living my dear dessert life in Nevada, through being married...

“I can’t come home, I’m stuck in a phone booth again. But once in your arms, we’ll rise above the ground. You and me, and the beautiful aerial view… I’m never coming down.” — Collect from Clark Kent

A short departure for a story of a different tone, yet related…

When I was making my move from Las Vegas to Chicago during June of 2007, I stopped in Rock Springs, Wyoming. It was on the way and I had to pee. I also was jonesing for a small town beer. Preferably a draft. I found what I considered a local-enough tavern to piss and throw anchor in, and steered the VW into the small parking lot. I too my piss, drank my beer and scribbled in my notebook. Those writings are somewhere, actually close to me in a well-disheveled filing of notebooks in my desk just to the left of this very keyboard. I’ll spare you the contents of that bar top writing because it’s not good. At least not without music to it…

Point is, while I was drinking and writing, it dawned on me that Braid had recorded a song about Rock Springs, Wyoming. It’s called I Keep a Diary, and as I realized that, I recognized that was living out a song I loved. For I, too, was keeping a diary. Bonus: The date of the diary entry in that song is my wife’s birthday. How about that?

“Ten-ten, ninety-seven… Rock Springs, Wyoming hotel. As far as I can tell, I just don’t miss you anymore.” — I Keep a Diary

OK. So here we are, 20 years later. I embarked on my career, I poured through and over girlfriends, I bought a house with a pool, I lost my virginity, I bought a boat — sort of — I got married, I became a dad, I bought another VW Golf then a VW GTI, I got some cancer, I became a scotch drinker.

The thing about our formative years is that they’re always formative. We don’t grow out of who we were when we were angsty, emotional, needy, angry, confused, certain, brilliant, and dumb-as-fuck teenagers and twentysomethings. That is our base. All of us. That’s why our record collection, and collecting, caps out around the time between our teenage and late twenties years. Unless you’re a music critic or seriously committed to avoiding atrophy in spite of the certain emotional disappointment new music will bring your aging ass, this is true.

But Braid keeps on.

Never mind that the band got back together. Never mind what members went on to do in subsequent years. Never mind that Bob Nanna — guitarist and vocalist of Braid — went on to write — for hire — our wedding song. Yeah, it’s pretty fucking cool that my rock ‘n’ roll emotional hero knows my dog’s name!

How does one reconcile fandom with heroism. I see these guys at shows… they are cool enough and real enough to be friends but incredible enough to pass me over as a passing piece of late ’90s and early 2000s dust. Except that we’re all part of the same thing… The Scene, the listening public. And wouldn’t you know it? My wife hired Braid’s lyricist to pen our wedding song.

Jesus Christ.

The frame… the canvas… it’s still so real and so important.

And if Bob, Todd, Chris, Damen or Roy happen to read this… Thanks. Next time I see you at some show in town, the drinks are on me.

#Braid #David Himmel #Emo #Frame & Canvas

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paulodebargelove · 7 years ago

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Happy Birthday Usher Raymond IV (born October 14, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. Born in Dallas, Texas but raised and lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee until moving to Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 12, his mother put him in local singing competitions, before catching the attention of a music A&R from LaFace Records. In August 1994 he released his self-titled debut album, Usher. He rose to fame in the late 1990s with the release of his sophomore album My Way(1997), which spawned his first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, “Nice & Slow”, with top-five singles “You Make Me Wanna…” and “My Way” earning him his first two Grammy Award nominations in 1998 and 1999. His third studio album 8701 (2001), produced the number-one singles “U Remind Me” and “U Got It Bad”. The former won him his first Grammy Award in 2002, along with “U Don’t Have to Call” in 2003 for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Confessions (2004) established him as one of the best-selling musical artists of the 2000s decade. It sold over 20 million copies worldwide, bolstered by its four consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number one singles —"Yeah!“, “Burn”, “Confessions Part II”, and “My Boo"—and has been certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Confessions earned him three Grammy Awards in 2005, including Best Contemporary R&B Album. Here I Stand (2008) and Raymond v. Raymond (2010), debuted atop the Billboard 200, produced the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Love in This Club” and “OMG”. The EP, Versus, also produced the Hot 100 top-five single “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love”. Looking 4 Myself (2012), also debuted atop of the Billboard 200 chart and produced the Hot 100 top-ten single “Scream”. Raymond v. Raymond and Looking 4 Myself notably received Grammy Awards for R&B singles “There Goes My Baby” and “Climax”.

The RIAA ranks Usher as one of the best-selling artists in American music history, having sold over 23.8 million albums and 38.2 million digital songs in the United States alone. To date, his worldwide sales stand over 43 million albums and 75 million records overall, making him one of the best-selling music artists. Usher has won numerous awards including eighteen Billboard Music Awards and eight Grammy Awards. At the end of 2009, Billboard named him the number-one Hot 100 artist of the 2000s decade, the second most successful artist of the 2000s decade, and ranked Confessions as the top solo album of the 2000s decade. Billboard also placed him at number six on their list of “Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years”. Usher has attained nine Hot 100 number-one singles. He has been inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2008, he started his own record label Raymond-Braun Media Group (RBMG) a joint venture with talent manager Scooter Braun. The most prominent artist Raymond represents is Justin Bieber.

Early life

Usher was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of Jonetta Patton (née O'Neal), from Tennessee, and Usher Raymond III. Usher spent the majority of his young life in Chattanooga: his father left the family when Usher was a year old. Usher grew up with his mother, then-stepfather, and half-brother, James Lackey (born 1984). Directed by his mother, Usher joined the local church youth choir in Chattanooga, when he was nine years old; there, his grandmother discovered his ability to sing, although it was not until Usher joined a singing group that she considered he could sing professionally. In the belief that a bigger city would provide greater opportunities for showcasing his talent, Usher’s family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where there was a more conducive environment for beginning singers. While in Atlanta, Usher attended North Springs High School.

Career

1987–96: Musical beginnings and Usher

At age 10, Usher joined an R&B local quintet called the NuBeginnings, which was organized by local music svengali, Darryl Wheeler. Usher recorded 10 songs with the group in 1991, and the ensuing album, Nubeginning Featuring Usher Raymond IV, was only made available regionally and by mail order. However, Patton took him out because, according to her, it was a “bad experience”. The album was re-released nationally in April 2002 by Hip-O Records.

At age 13, Usher competed on Star Search, where he was spotted by an A&R representative from LaFace Records, who arranged an audition for Usher with L.A. Reid, the co-founder of LaFace; Reid signed Usher on the spot to a contract with the record company after singing Boyz II Men hit record “End of the Road” . Usher’s mother left her job as a medical technician to manage his career, but later broke up their relationship as manager-client in May 2007. Usher was introduced on “Call Me a Mack”, a song he recorded for the soundtrack album to the 1993 drama-romance film Poetic Justice. During this time period is where young Usher first met Chilli, his label mate who he would later date down the road.

Preparing for his debut album the unthinkable thing happens to Usher and he loses his voice. Usher was going through puberty and having a difficult time adjusting his voice. LA Reid became skeptical of Usher and put his recording on hold thinking about dropping him from the label. Usher pleaded with the label to keep him and L.A. Reid did. From this point Reid didn’t know what to do with Usher so he sent him to New York in the spring of 1994 to live with Puff Daddy to attend what Reid called “Flavor Camp”. Usher quickly adapted to the lavish lifestyle of Puff Daddy although in an interview with Rolling Stone, he expressed it as the “Hardest days” of his life. “I had to knuckle up, figure shit out in New York” he said. As he lived at Puff’s house in Scarsdale, he noticed that “There was always girls around”.

On August 30, 1994, LaFace released Usher’s self-titled debut album behind the co-executive production of Sean “P Diddy” Combs.Usher peaked at number twenty-five on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and was accompanied by three singles: “Can U Get wit It”, “Think of You”, and “The Many Ways”. The album has sold over 500,000 copies, to date. The album received backlash because Usher was singing about sex which the public had a hard time believing coming out of a 14-year-old’s mouth. Again the LaFace had their reservations about signing Usher because the album wasn’t as successful as they anticipated. At this time Jonetta Patton, Usher’s mother took control of his career and put him in more talent shows the summer of 1995 building Usher a larger fan base and ultimately putting more confidence in L.A. Reid.

After graduating from high school, Usher continued to develop his skills as a stage performer and laid the groundwork for his second album. He also appeared on their version of “Let’s Straighten It Out”, a 1995 duet with fellow Atlanta teen recording artist Monica; and on “Dreamin’”, from LaFace’s 1996 Olympic Games benefit album Rhythm of the Games. He was also featured on “I Swear I’m In Love” off the 1996 Kazaam soundtrack.

1997–2003: My Way and 8701

Usher developed a friendship with American record producer, Jermaine Dupri, with whom he co-wrote and produced several tracks for his second album, My Way, released on September 16, 1997. The album’s lead single, “You Make Me Wanna…”, reached number one in the United Kingdom, becoming Usher’s first record to be top single; the record led to his popularity reaching in the country. It also became Usher’s first gold- and platinum-certified single in the United States. The album’s second single, “Nice & Slow”, peaked in January 1998 at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Usher his first US number-one single. Later in February of the same year, the single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America; My Way has been certified six-time platinum in the United States.

“You Make Me Wanna…” won the Best Male R&B/Soul Single at the 1999 Soul Train Music Awards. In the closing months of 1997, Usher embarked on a series of tour engagements including a spot on Puffy’s No Way Out tour, dates with Mary J. Blige, and the opening spot on Janet Jackson’s The Velvet Rope Tour. Usher’s first concert album, Live, was released in 1999, which featured appearances by Lil’ Kim, Jagged Edge, Trey Lorenz, Shanice, Twista and Manuel Seal; the album has been certified gold in the United States.

Usher made his acting debut on the UPN television series Moesha, which resulted in a recurring role on the series and subsequently his first film role in 1998’s The Faculty. Usher’s extracurricular activities outside of the recording industry gathered momentum over the following year as he was cast in the soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful. He completed two more films, She’s All That, and his first starring role in Light It Up. He also appeared in the Disney TV movie Geppetto.

Usher’s third studio album, originally titled All About U, was slated to be released in early 2001. The first single, “Pop Ya Collar”, was released in late 2000 and became a number two hit in the UK but underperformed in the United States. The album was subsequently pushed back and retooled after select tracks were later leaked to the radio and Internet. After having revised and renamed to 8701, the album was released August 7, 2001 (8.7.01). The first two singles “U Remind Me” and “U Got It Bad” each topped the BillboardHot 100 for four and six weeks, respectively. 8701 has been certified four-time platinum in the United States.

Usher appeared in the 2001 film Texas Rangers. In February 2002, Usher won a Grammy for ‘Best Male R&B Vocal Performance’ for “U Remind Me”. The next year, he won the same award for “U Don’t Have to Call”, making Usher the only artist aside from Luther Vandross and Stevie Wonder to win this award consecutively. In summer 2002, Usher contributed vocals to P. Diddy’s “I Need a Girl, Part I”. The year closed out with a trio of TV series appearances, all in November, on The Twilight Zone, 7th Heaven, Moesha, andAmerican Dreams, the latter in which Usher portrayed Marvin Gaye.

2004–09: Confessions and Here I Stand

Usher’s fourth studio album, Confessions, was released on March 23, 2004—just as its first single, “Yeah!”, was in its sixth week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and fifth week on top of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Chart. The album’s nearly 1.1 million unit debut sales was the highest first-week numbers ever scanned by a male R&B artist and the seventh best of the Nielsen SoundScan history. To date, the album has accumulated sales of over 20 million copies worldwide, over 10 million of which were sold in the United States, earning the album a Diamond certification by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The album’s second and third singles, “Burn” and “Confessions Part II”, also topped the Billboard Hot 100, the former for eight weeks. Usher became the first artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay with four consecutive number-one singles, In September 2004, “My Boo”, a duet with American singer-songwriter Alicia Keys, also peaked at number one at the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the album’s fourth number-one single. In December, the album’s final single “Caught Up” peaked at number eight on the Hot 100.

Confessions earned Usher numerous awards, including four American Music Awards, two MTV Europe Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, and three World Music Awards. At the 47th annual Grammy Awards ceremony in 2005, Usher won three awards, including: R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals for “My Boo”, which he shared with Keys; Rap/Sung Collaboration for “Yeah!”; and Contemporary R&B Album for Confessions. At the 2004 Billboard Music Awards, Usher was recognized Artist of the Year, in addition to receiving 10 other accolades.

Usher supported Confessions with the “The Truth Tour”. The tour set featured a small stage up on top of the main stage, where the band played with Usher and his supporting dancers left with enough room to perform. The smaller stage had a mini platform attached to it which lowered to the main stage and had two big staircases on both sides of it. To the left, a group of circular staircases climbed to the top, and to the right, there was a fire escape replete with steps and an elevator. Kanye West and Christina Milian was the opening act for the tour. Usher at select dates would bring out special guest, during his Atlanta show taping he brought out his artist at the time Rico Love to rap a verse on the song “Throwback”. During a more intimate part of the showing Ushers dancers selected singer Monica from the crowd to be serenaded by Usher while he sang album favorites “Do it to Me” and “Superstar”. Usher also performed Confessions Pt. II remix where Kanye would appear from back of the stage. Then lastly Usher would also bring out artist Lil Jon and Ludacris where they would finish the show performing the hit “Yeah”. This concert date was filmed to make the official tour DVD of Truth Tour: Behind the Truth “Live from Atlanta”. It has been certified by the RIAA selling more than 7 Million copies.

In spring of 2005, Usher scored a number three Hot 100 hit as a featured vocalist on Lil’ Jon’s “Lovers & Friends”. In 2007, Usher also collaborated with R. Kelly on the track “Same Girl”, for Kelly’s album, Double Up. He was also featured in a remix version of Omarion’s “Ice Box”. Usher also appeared on the track “Shake Down” on American singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige’s 2007 album Growing Pains. In November 2005, Usher starred as a disc jockey named Darrell in the Lions Gate film, In the Mix.

On August 22, 2006, Usher took over the role of Billy Flynn in the long-running Broadway musical Chicago. Usher, whose opening night this week brought out stars Penélope Cruz, Gabrielle Union, Clive Davis, and Rosie Perez, and others. Usher played the role of Flynn for two months but a case of strep throat brought an abrupt ending to Usher’s run in the Broadway revival of the musicalChicago, which saw a spike in ticket sales after he joined the cast. The New York Post reports that Usher’s absence has cost the production an estimated $400,000 in refunds to disappointed ticket buyers. Producer of Chicago, Barry Weissler also issued a statement sending his thoughts and best wishes to Usher for a quick and speedy recovery. Usher made a spectacular Broadway debut, bringing a great dedication, work ethic and his amazing talent to the show. We all hope that he might return at some point for the many fans that were unable to see his wonderful performance as Billy Flynn. Usher has found a new home on Broadway and is welcomed back anytime.“

Here I Stand was released on May 26 in the United Kingdom and May 27, 2008, in the United States. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Chart with first-week sales of over 433,000 copies. To date Here I Stand has now sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States, been certified platinum by the RIAA, and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. While not approaching the success of his previous album, it received positive reviews from most music critics, who praised the maturity in the album’s lyrics. To promote Usher’s fifth studio album, the single "Love In This Club” was sent to radio in February 2008 and peaked at number one on theBillboard Hot 100. It went on to spend three consecutive weeks at the top—becoming Usher’s eighth number-one single and the fastest-rising song of his career. It also reached No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The single was another huge international success for Usher. It reached No. 1 on the New Zealand Singles Chart, No. 3 on the Irish Singles Chart, No. 3 on the Eurochart Hot 100, No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 5 on the Japan Hot 100, No. 5 on the German Singles Chart, No. 5 on the Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders), No. 6 on the Canadian Hot 100, No. 8 on the Swedish Singles Chart, No. 8 on the Australian Singles Chart, No. 9 on the French Singles Chart, No. 9 on the Swiss Singles Chart, No. 10 on the Norwegian Singles Chart, No. 12 on the Austrian Singles Chart, No. 13 on the Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia), and No. 18 on the Finnish Singles Chart. The follow-up single “Love in This Club Part II”, which features American singer Beyoncé Knowles and rapper, Lil Wayne, peaked at No. 18 on the BillboardHot 100 and No. 7 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Its third single “Moving Mountains” peaked at No. 18 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and reached No. 6 on the New Zealand Singles Chart. The album’s fifth single “Trading Places” peaked at No. 4 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In September 2008, Usher announced he would embark on the 15-date tour One Night Stand, in which the audience is only females. On January 18, 2009, Usher performed with Stevie Wonder and Shakira at the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial. He also sang “Gone Too Soon” at the memorial of Michael Jackson on July 7, 2009.

2010–11: Raymond v. Raymond and Versus

Raymond v. Raymond, was released on March 26, 2010, in Germany, on March 30, 2010, in the US, and on April 26, 2010, in the UK. The album was expected to follow in Usher’s Confessions album’s footsteps. Raymond v. Raymond was released only months after Usher’s divorce from Tameka Foster. “Papers”, a song about divorce, was released as the first single for the album in October 2009. It topped the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for two consecutive weeks, becoming his tenth number one single on that chart. It also peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Critics praised the song for its emotion. “Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)”, was released as the second single on December 8, 2009. The single peaked at number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song was released as the second international single in July 2010. “Lil Freak” was announced as the album’s official second single in the United States. Usher and Nicki Minaj shot the music video for the song on March 9, 2010, in Los Angeles with director TAJ Stansberry. It reached number 8 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. It became Usher’s fourth Top 40 hit single from Raymond v. Raymond, when including the buzz single “Papers”.

“OMG”, which features will.i.am, is the third official US single and the first international single. The song received mixed reviews, complimenting the song’s dance and club vibe but criticizing the Auto-Tune effect. It reached number-one in Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States. The song became his ninth number one in the United States, making him the first 2010s artist to collect number one singles in three consecutive decades, and only the fourth artist of all-time to achieve the feat. Usher also became the third artist to have at least one number one song from five consecutive studio albums. The song’s choreography and dance-heavy accompanying music video has been compared to that of “Yeah!”. “There Goes My Baby” was released to airplay as the album’s fourth single in the United States on June 15, 2010. The song reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, and number-one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming Usher’s eleventh number-one hit on that chart. The song ended up tying with “You Make Me Wanna” for fourth longest stay on the chart with 71 weeks. All of the album’s singles received incredible air play. On April 7, 2010, Raymond v. Raymond debuted at number No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 chart, becoming his third consecutive No. 1 album and selling an impressive 329,107 copies in its first week of release, making him the first male artist since Eminem to have three consecutive albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200 chart. After one month of release the album was certified Gold by the RIAA. On June 17, 2010, the album was certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Raymond v. Raymond also dominated the International Charts. Debuting inside the top 10 in Canada, the United Kingdom, Holland, Australia, Germany, Spain, and Italy. Due to the huge international success of Ushers newest single “OMG” and the good first week sales for Raymond v. Raymond Usher is considered to have repaired his mainstream image and to have made a good comeback. The album reached number-two in Australia and the album has been certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). The album debuted at number four in Canada and has been certified Gold by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). Raymond v. Raymond debuted at number-two in the United Kingdom.

Usher announced on July 8, 2010, a follow-up extended play to his sixth studio album Raymond v. Raymond called Versus, and a deluxe edition of Raymond v. Raymond, both to be released on August 24, 2010. Usher described Versus as “the last chapter ofRaymond v. Raymond”, and that it would explore the subjects of being newly single and a father. The album included 9 tracks, including 7 new tracks, Raymond v. Raymond single “There Goes My Baby”, and Justin Bieber single “Somebody to Love (Remix)”. The tracks would be included on a deluxe edition of Raymond v. Raymond. The album debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart and is preceded by the singles “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love” featuring Pitbull, for mainstream audiences, and “Hot Tottie” featuring Jay-Z, for urban circuits.

The first single from the album, “DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love”, was released to iTunes on July 13, 2010, and sent to radio on July 20, 2010. Due to strong digital sales the song debuted at number nineteen on the Billboard Hot 100. The song became the fourth highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100 of his career, behind 1997’s “Nice & Slow” at number nine, 1998’s “My Way” at eight, and 2010’s “OMG” at number fourteen. Since its release, it has gained international success, peaking in the top 5 in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. It reached the top 10 in Canada, and Europe. It reached number-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in its third week of release, and became the first time Usher has had two top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time since his albumConfessions. It also became Ushers sixteenth Billboard Hot 100 top-ten hit of his career. The second single, Hot Tottie has reached number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number twenty-one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Usher appeared at the 2010 MTV VMAs on September 12, 2010. He then performed at the 2010 American Music Awards on November 21, 2010, and also won the awards for Male Soul/R&B artist and Favorite Soul/R&B album for his album, Raymond v. Raymond. According to Rap-Up.com, Usher has started working on his next studio album, and that he is again teaming up with long-time collaborator Rico Love. The OMG Tour began in November 2010 and ended on June 1, 2011, it made $70 million worldwide.

Usher also made an appearance at the Super Bowl XLV to sing his song, “OMG” with The Black Eyed Peas’ singer will.i.am.

2012–14: Looking 4 Myself and The Voice

In November 2011, Usher revealed that for his next album he was working on a new type of music which he has depicted as “revolutionary pop”, which combines different genres to form a new sound. His seventh studio album Looking 4 Myself was released on June 8, 2012, worldwide and received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. American singer-songwriter and record producer Rico Love was interviewed by Billboard magazine stuff, where he spoke about his relationships with artists and experiences. He commented on how Usher wanted to do things differently on the album compared to his previous efforts, saying: “What he wanted to do [on Looking 4 Myself] was explore himself musically. He stepped outside of what was safe and normal. He wanted to make an album that expressed where he was going sonically and not just where he’s been for the past 12 to 15 years. He’s growing, developing, moving, shaking, and being something that’s new, cultural, and that’s affecting people sonically. That’s kind of forcing the people to grow and elevate”. In an interview for MTV News, Usher stated that Looking 4 Myself is “the most artistic of an album” he has ever had in history. When questioned by Reuters during an interview regarding the latter quote, and how this project was different, Usher explained that he felt he was near a ‘rebirth’ and that prior to Looking 4 Myself, he felt restricted and conformed to a specific standard. He said to himself “I gotta go with what I feel and hopefully people will follow me”.

The lead single from Usher’s seventh studio album is titled “Climax”. It impacted Urban radio on February 21, 2012, and was made available for purchase as a digital download on February 22, 2012. It impacted US mainstream radio on March 13, 2012. The second single released from the album was “Scream” and the third single “Lemme See” which features Rick Ross. “Scream” was premiered on April 26, 2012, while “Lemme See” was premiered on May 8, 2012. On Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay, “Climax” enabled Usher to add a second song of his in the six longest stays at number one for (11 weeks) after “You Make Me Wanna” with (12 weeks).

In 2013, Usher substituted for CeeLo Green as a coach for the fourth season of NBC’s The Voice. His last act, Michelle Chamuel, lost the winning title to Danielle Bradbery, mentored by Blake Shelton. He returned for the sixth season and his last act, Josh Kaufman, won.

On March 19, 2013, Usher made initial notice of his eighth studio album, titled UR, was being in the works. Talking to The Fader, he described the album as “everything you can imagine”, saying that it’s “gonna be freaking out of here”. In an interview with singer-songwriter Eric Bellinger by Rap-Up, the former explained that he, along with Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, and Brian Alexander Morgan, was working on Usher’s next album. Bellinger compared the album’s music to Usher’s Confessions (2004), saying that it is “more R&B, more urban” than Usher’s Looking 4 Myself. The latter declared that his next album would show that he is “still Usher”. “Good Kisser”, a dance-heavy throwback R&B track, was released as the first single allowing Usher to achieve his 13th no.1 on the Airplay chart, tying Drake for most leaders in the list’s history. Produced by Pop & Oak, it was performed at The Voice. Since then, two other singles have been released from the album: “She Came to Give It to You” featuring Nicki Minaj and “I Don’t Mind” featuring Juicy J. The latter allowed Usher to lead the Rhythmic charts with the most number ones (13).

On August 25, 2014 Usher announced his UR Experience Tour in support of his then-titled eighth studio album UR. The UR Experience kicked off in Montreal, Quebec on Nov. 1 and closed in Tampa, FL. on Dec. 14. The 27 city North American leg was supported by opening acts DJ Cassidy and R&B newcomer August Alsina. The European leg of the tour visited 23 cities and the support would be Nico & Vinz. “With The UR Experience, I want to give my fans an ever-changing live show full of surprises and special guests,” Usher says, via a press release. “I am really excited to be with my fans and give them an Usher experience like they’ve never seen or heard before.” While on tour, with the collaboration of Honey Nut Cheerios, he released “Clueless,” a new song that If you purchased a specially-marked Honey Nut Cheerios boxes at Walmart, you will receive a download code to get the song for free.

2015–present: Hard II Love and Hands of Stone

On October 16, 2015, Usher released an interactive music video exclusively on the music streaming platform Tidal called “Chains” that featuring artist Nas and Bibi Bourelly. “Chains” literally forces the viewer to confront the issue of racial profiling and police brutality head-on: By utilizing the webcam on the viewer’s computer as well as facial recognition technology, “Chains” paused mid-song whenever the viewer’s eyes deviate from the video. Usher performed the song for the first time at the Tidal X:1020 concert on October 20, 2015 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Arena. On January 14, 2016, after continual delays of his eighth album, Usher announced via Daniel Arsham Instagram post that he changed the title of the album from UR to Flawed. It was scheduled to be released in April 2016, but has been pushed back with no release date. On June 9, 2016, Usher released a new single from his expected forthcoming albumFlawed on the music streaming platform Tidal titled “No Limit” featuring Young Thug, along with a second single titled “Crash” on June 10 for all digital platforms.

On June 12, 2016 it was reported that Raymond signed a management deal with business partner Scooter Braun, who represents Justin Bieber whom him and Raymond have a joint venture with. This report was confirmed by Usher while doing a sit down interview with Ryan Seacrest at the 73rd annual Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France during a panel on June 21, 2016. Usher furthered his acting career, starring as American former professional boxer Sugar Ray Leonard in the 2016 American-Panamanian biographical sports film Hands of Stone about the career of Panamanian former professional boxer Roberto Durán. In it, he starred opposite of Édgar Ramírez, Robert De Niro and Ruben Blades. On August 26, 2016, Hands Of Stone premiered worldwide. “Missin U” was released as a third single by RCA Records on August 26, 2016 for online streaming and digital download, along with “Champions” (from the Motion Picture Hands of Stone)“ both on Vevo. "Rivals” featuring Future, also was released as a fourth single, and debuted exclusively on Tidal with it’s accompanying video. It was released on Vevo on September 2, 2016.

Hard II Love was released on September 16, 2016 and received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics. The lead single, “No Limit” featuring rapper Young Thug initially impacted Urban radio on June 9, and eventually peaked at number 32 on theBillboard Hot 100, and number-one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop charts.

Artistry

Musical style and influences

Usher’s music is generally R&B, but he also shows versatility by incorporating pop, hip hop and blaxploitation funk. Contextually, Usher’s music has an autobiographical nature with emphasis of lifestyle, relationships and love. NME’s Lucy O'Brien marks that 8701“introduces touches of '80s rock guitar and the minimal rhythm of '80s hip hop”, noting that “Versatility is the key here: staccato beats with mellifluous melody, rich slow-jams and edgy harmonies”. On Raymond v. Raymond and Looking For Myself, he explores Synthpop, hence further expanding his appeal and range by collaborating with Latin and dance artists like Pitbull, Romeo Santos, and David Guetta. Complex editors view Usher’s artistry to bring out “the best of pop music in R&B”. They described his dynamism of working with a range of contemporary genres and producers as “Neptunes Usher” in reference to “U Don’t Have to Call”, “Crunk Usher” in reference to “Yeah!”, and “EDM Usher” in reference to “Climax”. Hard II Love sees Rolling Stone’s Maura Johnston further commend his ability, claiming the album “manages to stretch the boundaries of R&B while winding toward the brooding atmospherics that have enveloped much of pop”, whereas Stereogum’s Chris DeVille expands “The guy’s natural singing prowess and effortless ability to jump across genre make him a national treasure.”

On many occasions, Usher has named Michael Jackson as his biggest influence. Usher once told MTV, “He influenced me in so many ways, more than just music ….. as a humanitarian, as a philanthropist, as an artist, as an individual who transcended culture. I wouldn’t be who I am today without Michael Jackson.” During the television special 'Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special’, Usher was able to dance with Michael while performing “You Rock My World”. Prince being another main influence, Usher said “every album I’d always do like one song that is very Prince-influenced, because he’s a great influence on me musically, especially just kind of being expansive and creating music that represents many different genres.” In Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” issue, he explained “I was interested in music and trying to find a model. It was Michael, or it was Prince. He had an attitude, a rawness that Michael didn’t have. He was not urban, but he was our version of what cool could be.” In addition, he has spoken of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder as great musicians and philanthropists stating that “they figured out what they were as they were going, by inspiration as well…allowing their music to speak to where they were and what they had to say”. Other musical influences include Luther Vandross, Janet Jackson, Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Al Green, Boyz II Men, and Bobby Brown.

Usher was inspired by Frank Sinatra’s My Way album released in 1969 so much that he decided to name his sophomore album My Way. Prince would inspire “Nice & Slow” while giving him his first number-one single on Billboard 100. Usher’s third album 8701 would be inspired by love and heartache, containing influences from Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and Michael Jackson. His fourth album was inspired by rapper Eminem, who he credited for being transparent. Usher said in an interview with Sway Calloway; “the honesty of hip-hop and what Eminem was saying on his records it motivated me, like, if he can be that honest through hip-hop – and there’d been other story tellers but never quite as vivid as his. So I was like, we need to keep it real like him. I wanna go all the way in.”

Vocal style

Raymond possesses a Leggiero tenor vocal range of 3 octaves and 2 notes. At the age of 13, he set the record for the longest note ever held by a child on Star Search, with 12 seconds. Rick Juzwiak speaks “his vocal range is even more impressive than his emotional one” with emphasis on his falsetto being “something that sounds as natural as a speaking voice…he’s the picture of grace against shrieking synths”. Juzwiak emphasizes the singer’s expressiveness by commenting “his emotional range is vast enough to sell tenderness, lechery and wistfulness within minutes of each other”. Usher had been working with Atlanta Grammy nominated music and vocal producer as well as vocal coach, Jan Smith, since his teenage years on early albums such as My Way and 8701. Smith cites Usher as “the single most gifted singer I’ve ever worked with in 26 years”. On Looking For Myself Usher received positive acclaim for his vocal ability on singles such as "Climax” and “Dive”. Consequence of Sound’s Ryan Hadfield praised Usher stating that he was showing his “superior R&B vocal range”. Matt Fibula from PopMatters added “Usher’s voice has never sounded better—and that’s saying a lot”. MadameNoire named him on their list of "Male Singers With the Best Falsetto Game”, citing songs such as “Superstar” and “Can U Handle It?” from Confessions along with “There Goes My Baby” and “Climax” as his most exemplifying ones.

Performance and showmanship

Usher has received praise for his stage presence and voice during live performances. His performances and dancing technique have often marked comparisons to his idols Michael Jackson and James Brown. He told People Magazine in 2008 that “James Brown introduced me to soul. Because of him I was given a clear view of what a real performance is and should be. I learned showmanship from him.” Jim Harrington from The Mercury News said “Usher is a man of many talents. - Yet, his biggest selling point on the live stage remains his fancy footwork. This guy can dance like nobody’s business.” Chad Batka for The New York Times said “He has established himself as one of R&B’s supreme performers and craftsmen, following through on what he learned from Michael Jackson in particular: songs that alternate between choppy and smooth, vocals punctuated by exultant high whoops, a dance vocabulary.”Rolling Stone describes him as the “Award Show King”. Maura Johnston explains that “His dedication to choreography dates back to the days when Janet Jackson made videos that looked like they were shot in one take. He’s an entertainer that would have been stunning at any point in the last 60 years of television.”

Art and feminism

Usher is a staunch fan of art and also supports feminism. In 2014 December, he attended Art Basel Miami and participated in an art installation at JJ Brine’s VECTOR Gallery at Select Fair by performance artist Lena Marquise “Body As Commodity” during which she offered collectors to purchase 10 minutes of energy for $100. The news of the participation became the #1 reported on event of Art Basel Though Usher refused to issue any official statements about his participation, many assume his participation has to do with support for art and feminism due to the topic and tone of Usher’s recent release at the time of song “I Don’t Mind” featuring Juicy J which talks about supporting the work of an exotic dancer, hinting at his support for the new wave of feminism.

Usher is an art collector; in an interview with Vulture he said: “It’s significant to where you are in your life,” explaining his turn to art collecting. “As you get older and have children, your reflections on what matters begin to change.” Raymond says “I started slowing it down,” he went on, “enjoying the places I went, going to museums, understanding the nature of what artists were trying to say.” Raymond is good friend with graffiti and street-style-inspired artists RETNA, who did the cover art for Justin Biebers studio album “Purpose” as well is a contemporary American artist, Daniel Arsham who directed his music video “Chains” and did the cover art for his singles “No Limit” and “Crash”.

On Tuesday, June 2, 2015 Usher was honored alongside Robert Di Nero by the Gordon Park Foundation Dinner and Auction in downtown Manhattan for his contributions to the arts at a charity gala in New York. Receiving the Gordon Parks Patron of the Arts Award, named in honor of the late photographer-turned-filmmaker Gordon Parks.

Public image

Usher is widely regarded as a sex symbol from a young age, predominantly for his stage persona. Fusion states “Usher—one of the greatest R&B sex symbols in the past 20 years, paving the way for Chris Brown, Trey Songz and Justin Bieber—used sex as a major part of his image”, while VH1 considers him to be “the sexiest male performer ever to walk a stage”. People magazine named Usher the “Sexiest R&B Star” in 1998, quoting singer Monica who said on stage, the sexiness was manifest in “his movements, his gestures, the way he expresses his lyrics.” Actress Adrienne Frantz who played with Usher in The Bold and the Beautiful also said “Usher definitely has a way with women. His smile is sweet and sexy at the same time”, adding “he’s a great kisser.” Usher made the cut forPeople magazine’s “Sexiest Men Alive” in 2004, as he did 4 years later again in 2008. In 2005, Madame Tussauds New York unveiled a wax figure of Usher during a competition to launch The Usher Interactive Experience. Another wax figure was unveiled alongside other singers for the opening of a “VIP room” in 2007. Rihanna told MTV in 2006 “I was in love with Usher when he first came out. I was just like he’s so fine![…]I thought he was the hottest thing. I think he was my first crush definitely.” After his marriage, the sexual nature of his music was expected to mature as The New Yorker writer Sasha Frere-Jones writes “The challenge here is to convince us that he is a married and responsible man—grown and sexy, without sacrificing the louche, frictionless sense of play that made him famous.” VH1 have listed Usher at number 9 of its 100 Sexiest Artists List. According to Glamour magazine, Usher was one of the “50 Sexiest Men of 2010”. In 2012, Billboard reviewed his fashion evolution stating “The singer came onto the scene in the '90s rocking baggy jeans and suits that made us question his celebrity status, but over the years this R&B star has developed his own signature look, rendering him a modern day fashion icon”. In 2013, Complex magazine placed Usher in its “Most Stylish R&B Singers of the 90’s” list. InStyle magazine rate him both for sex appeal and style as he was included their “Hottest Celebrity Abs” collection before coming under “37 of the Most Stylish Dads”.

Legacy

Billboard named Usher the Hot 100 Artist of the 2000s decade. Usher had the most no. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 charts with 7 and held the no. 1 position for a total 41 weeks. He also scored eight No. 1s on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart more than any other artist. Confessions was ranked as the top solo album of the decade, selling over 20 million copies worldwide. Considered by Vibe to be “the Thriller of our generation”, Complex says the album “became pop culture catnip” because of its theme. Pop music critic, Sasha Frere-Jones of The New Yorker remarks that “For a while, Confessions was pop music” and says it “may turn out to have been the last true blockbuster in pop”. According to Angus Batey of The Guardian, Usher is “hailed as the best dancer in pop since Michael Jackson, and credited with inventing Justin Timberlake (the former 'N Sync star’s debut album was built from Usher’s blueprint).” Jody Rosen says “He’s the biggest male pop singer in the world; sometimes, it seems like he’s the only one, in a marketplace still dominated by divas”, and describes him as “the most reliable hit-maker of his generation”. Usher has attained 9 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, tied with the Bee Gees, Elton John, and Paul McCartney.

James Brown, known as the Godfather of Soul, performed a duet with Usher in 2005 at the 47th Grammy Awards in which he honorably dubbed him the “Godson of Soul”. Brown reiterated “The new godson; Usher, the new godson” following the performance. Usher later responded saying “James Brown will always be the Godfather of Soul and to receive that compliment was great on national television.” Usher was inducted into the 29th Annual Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2007, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2016 with a star located at 6201 Hollywood Boulevard.

Billboard ranked “Yeah!” at number 14 in their “Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Songs”, while VH1 ranked it at number 15 in their “Greatest Songs of the 2000s”. Confessions is placed at number 16 on Billboard’s “Greatest of All Time 200 Albums”, and critically ranked 48th amongst their “88 All-Diamond Certified Albums” list. Vibe magazine placed it at number 10 of its “Greatest 50 Albums since '93”. Time magazine’s pop stardom ranking metric, ranked Usher 3rd in history, based on all-time chart performance and contemporary significance. Usher is placed at number 14 on Billboard’s “Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Artists” list, before also being included in their “35 Greatest R&B Artists of All Time” list at 31. Yahoo Music classed Usher as the best R&B act behind Michael Jackson in the 2000s purely based on album sales. Described by Fuse magazine as an “R&B icon”, he was ranked at number 10 in their “100 Most Award-Winning Artists” list.

Usher is known as “Mr. Entertainment”, and has also been referred to as the “King of R&B” by BET. The BET Honors honored him for his contributions to music with a Musical Arts award, presented by Bobby Brown who said “You remain a game changer, for your discipline, for your perfectionism. You’re just a god man”. BET recognised Usher’s influence on many contemporary artists such as Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Jason Derulo, Miguel, Drake, Justin Bieber, Omarion, Ray J, August Alsina and Eric Bellinger. Ne-Yo further cited Usher as an influence upon the honor saying “I feel that without Usher, there would be no me, there would be no Chris Brown, there would be no Trey Songz. He paved the way for us”. Other R&B, hip hop and pop artists who have cited Usher as an influence are Bruno Mars, Zayn Malik, Jeremih, Sam Hunt, Leon Bridges, Sammie, B.Smyth, and Jacob Latimore. Actor Tahj Mowry cites 8701as an influence in his role of pursuing music and a singing career.

Achievements

Usher has received numerous awards throughout his career from having one Diamond certified album in Confessions, two multi-platinum albums in My Way and 8701, two Platinum albums in Here I Stand and Raymond v. Raymond, and one Gold album inLooking 4 Myself, collectively selling over 23 million albums in the US and 43 million albums worldwide. This includes eight Grammy Awards, eighteen Billboard Music Awards, nine Soul Train Music Awards and eight American Music Awards. In 2004, Usher set the record for most Billboard Music award wins in a single night by a male artist, taking eleven awards. At The 26th annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Awards in 2013, Usher was honored with the Golden Note Award which recognises extraordinary career milestones in American music.

On the Billboard Hot 100 chart, “Nice & Slow”, “U Remind Me”, “U Got It Bad”, “Yeah!”, “Burn”, “Confessions Part II”, “My Boo”, “Love in This Club” and “OMG” have all reached number-one accumulating 47 weeks at the top, more than any other male artist. Usher spent 28 weeks at number-one in 2004 alone, marking an all-time record for most cumulative weeks spent atop in a calendar year on the Hot 100. He broke the record set by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in 1940; whose records spent 26 cumulative weeks atop on charts which preceded the Hot 100 era. “OMG” made him the first 2010s artist to collect number-one singles in three consecutive decades ('90s,'00,'10s). He became the fourth artist of all-time to achieve that feat behind Stevie Wonder ('60s,'70s,'80s), Michael Jackson ('70s,'80s,'90s), Janet Jackson and Madonna ('80,'90s,'00s) and became the third artist in history to have at least one number-one single from five consecutive studio albums. On the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, Usher has 13 number-one singles tied with Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye. Usher also has 13 number-one singles on the Rhythmic chart, and 15 number-one singles on the Airplay chart, with “You Make Me Wanna” (12 weeks) and “Climax” (11 weeks) becoming two of the longest stays atop on the latter. Billboard also placed him at number 6 on their list of “Top 50 R&B/Hip-Hop Artists of the Past 25 Years”. Usher has topped several Billboard Year-End charts, including three in 2004. He topped the Hot 100 Songs chart with “Yeah!”, while “Burn” held second place, making him the first act since The Beatles in 1964 to have two singles occupy the top two positions. He further topped both the200 Albums and R&B/Hip-hop Albums charts with his Confessions album. On the 2000s Billboard Decade-End chart, “Yeah!” finished second, behind Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together”.

Other ventures

Business ventures

Usher founded vanity record label US Records, in 2002. The label is a subsidiary of Clive Davis’s J Records, which is distributed by Sony BMG. The first album released by US Records was the soundtrack to In the Mix in late 2005, which was used to introduce the label’s acts, such as rapper Rico Love, Canadian teen R&B artist Justin Bieber, and R&B vocal quartet composed of Jon A. Gordon, Michael A. Gordon, Courtney Vantrease, and Robert Brent p/k/a One Chance, and singer Rayan. Usher served as songwriter-producer in the project. The Raymond Braun Media Group, which Justin Bieber is signed up to, is a joint venture between Usher and Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun.

Aside from recording music, Usher is involved in other businesses, including several restaurants. Usher is a part owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers professional basketball team. He is part of a group which bought the team with a reported total purchase price of $375 million. He became the third pop artist to own a large stake in an NBA team. On June 19, 2016 Raymond won the 2016 NBA championship with the Cavaliers as a minority owner. In 2007 Usher worked with Richard Herpin and Honoring Blanc for the fragrances Usher He and Usher She. The promotion for the fragrance, featured Usher and Martha Stewart in the Macy’s, “The Magic of Macy’s” commercial. In September 2008 Usher released the fragrances, UR for Men and UR for Women. Usher fifth fragrance, VIP was launched in 2009. Usher served as the contestant mentor for the Top 10 Week of Season 9 of the television show American Idol. He appeared on the ITV1 show Britain’s Got Talent on June 5, 2010. Recently Usher joined as a new coach of American reality talent show The Voice alongside Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Shakira for season 4, which premiered on March 25, 2013, on NBC.

On March 30, 2015, it was announced that Usher is a co-owner, with various other music artists, in the music streaming service Tidal. The service specialises in lossless audio and high definition music video with curated editorial. Jay Z acquired the parent company of Tidal, Aspiro, in the first quarter of 2015.The slogan “Turn the tide” and the hashtag “#TIDALforAll” was used by various artists on social media during the buildup to the press conference relaunching the service. Usher, along with sixteen artist stakeholders (such as Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Beyonce, Rihanna, Madonna, J.Cole, Nicki Minaj and more) co-own Tidal, with the majority owning a 3% equity stake. The idea of having an all artist owned streaming service was created by those involved to adapt to the increased demand for streaming within the current music industry, and to rival other streaming services such as Spotify, which have been criticised for their low payout of royalties.“The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value”, stated Jay-Z on the release of Tidal.

On June 28, 2015 Usher became partners with Yoobi the fast-growing school supplies company called based out of The Los Angeles. The company donates a portion of its products to schools and has brought in over $20 million in revenue between June 2014 and June 2015, CEO Ido Leffler tells Inc. exclusively. Usher line of supplies with Yoobi features a collaboration with Jonni Cheatwood, the artist who does the designing. The slogan is “Mixing street smarts with school smarts". The collection is available online and at Targets nationwide, and for every purchase, school supplies are donated to kids in need in US classrooms. When asked why he partnered with Yoobi, Usher said, “Preparing future leaders through my New Look Foundation has always been about having the proper tools to succeed in life. If they don’t have the tools, young men and women from underserved communities can’t even begin to understand the idea of having a new or different perspective. So that’s where this collaboration came together giving young people the tools and supplying them with hope.”

Endorsements

Usher has worked with MasterCard since 2004, together they launched the Usher Debit MasterCard. A sleek black card, which features the Usher’s face, has that was passed out to concertgoers during his nationwide The Truth Tour.“ In 2009, Raymond partnered with Belvedere Vodka, launching the campaign Product (Red) that went to donate half of all profits from a new special-edition bottle to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa. MasterCard again teamed up with Usher in 2015 to surprise one cardholder. Usher was disguised as a street performer to surprise one of his biggest British fans, who was flown in to Los Angeles as part of MasterCard’s Priceless Surprises campaign in support of the 2015 BRIT Awards.

Usher, in 2012 partnered with the number-one selling dance game Microsoft Dance Central 3. Exclusively made on Kinect for Xbox 360. His role in the game was to bring his iconic talent and lend out his authentic choreography of his dance routines to his hit songs “Scream” and “OMG”. Usher himself provides voiceover instruction for players participating in the Dance Central 3 game. At the launch of the game Usher gave a surprise performance of his song “Scream”.

In 2013 Usher partnered with Samsung shooting a 2:28 minute short film directed by Rich Lee that included his single “Looking 4 Myself” from his then new album. The video features two Ushers in a face-off, as “down-to-earth” Usher seeks revenge against his “celebrity” alter ego after fame destroys his relationship. According to superstar, Hancock and The Matrix inspired the choreographed fight scenes with himself. The short film featured him using a Samsung’s smart TV using the new motion control features that allows users to swipe through the channels. The commercial generated twenty-two million views making it the second highest viewed Samsung commercial behind LeBron’s Day with the Samsung Galaxy Note II.

In 2015 Usher teamed up with Pepsi for The New Pepsi Challenge along celebrities Serena Williams, Usain Bolt, and many others. Every month, Pepsi “ambassadors” will use social media to issue a new challenge, many of which blend social responsibility with popular culture that encourages consumers to “do something different.” Usher’s challenge invited fans to capture a single photo of an image that they feel inspires and amazes others to look at the world in a new way. The winners photo would be selected and used in an upcoming Pepsi film.

Acting career

Usher made his television acting debut on the American sitcom Moesha in 1997 playing Jeremy Davis, the love interest and classmate Moesha played by Brandy Norwood. He has acted in feature films, debuting in 1998’s The Faculty. In 1999 Usher appeared as a student disc jockey in the teen romantic comedy film She’s All That. The same year he starred in his first leading role in the movieLight It Up with Rosario Dawson, Vanessa L. Williams and Forest Whitaker. The following year he played in Gepetto and Texas Rangers. He starred in the 2002 Twilight Zone revival episode To Protect and Serve as a police officer. Usher continued to make appearances in various television shows, including the period drama American Dreams (2002) in the role of Marvin Gaye. In 2005 he starred in the crime-comedy film In The Mix with Chazz Palminteri and Kevin Hart. He has acted on stage, making his debut on Broadway in 2006 in Chicago as lawyer Billy Flynn and joining the cast of the Off-Broadway play Fuerzabruta in 2012; the former performance was critiqued by theater critic Ben Brantley as unfitting for the character played (Usher was “cast so hard against type, you would think you would hear him cracking from the collision”), despite commending Usher’s vocal and choreographic performance in the show. In 2013 he began filming his role as boxer Sugar Ray Leonard for the upcoming American biographical film Hands of Stone the follows the life of Argentinian boxer Roberto Durán. In the film he stars alongside Édgar Ramírez, Robert De Niro, Ellen Barkin and Ana de Armas. The film debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France on May 16, 2016 and is set to release in the United States August 26, 2016.

Usher quietly married his long time girlfriend and manager Grace Miguel in September 2015 while vacationing in Cuba. Speculation was made of the two being married when Miguel’s Instagram post showed a picture of a gold wedding band on Usher’s finger. He confirmed the marriage during an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Discography

Studio Albums

Usher (1994) My Way (1997) 8701 (2001) Confessions (2004) Here I Stand (2008) Raymond v. Raymond (2010) Looking 4 Myself (2012) Hard II Love (2016) Tours and concerts

World tours

Evolution 8701 Tour (2001–2002) Truth Tour (2004-2005) OMG Tour (2010–2011) Euphoria Tour (cancelled) The UR Experience Tour (2014–2015) Regional tours

Share My World Tour (1997) The Velvet Rope Tour (1998) No Way Out Tour (with Puff Daddy & The Family) (1998) One Night Stand Tour (2008) Televised concerts

Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Special (2001) United We Stand: What More Can I Give (2001) One Night, One Star: Usher Live (2005) We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial (2009) Filmography

The Faculty (1998) She’s All That (1999) Light It Up (1999) Geppetto (2000) Texas Rangers (2001) In the Mix (2005) Killers (2010) Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011) Scary Movie 5 (2013) Justin Bieber’s Believe (2013) Muppets Most Wanted (2014) Hands of Stone (2016) Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016) Last of the Showmen (2017) Stage productions

Chicago (2008) (Broadway)

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lorrainecparker · 7 years ago

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Charlie Parish: three years filming HBO’s The Defiant Ones

Charlie Parish put a camera on his shoulder, either a Canon Cinema EOS C300 or C500, and took off after the rap mogul. The result is a four-part documentary called The Defiant Ones. And this interview!

Directed by Allen Hughes, The Defiant Ones tells the stories of rapper Dr. Dre and producer Jimmy Iovine – the latter the son of a Brooklyn longshoreman, the other one of the greatest rappers alive – and their long-standing partnership which has shaped not just the rap music world but a plethora of transformative pop culture events.

To capture Dre’s world, Hughes’ longtime collaborator Charlie Parish put a camera on his shoulder (using the Canon Cinema EOS C300 and C500 in turns) and took off after the rap mogul. Over the course of 3 years, Charlie spent an average of one full day a week filming Dre, capturing his professional life and his daily life, and even his family life during vacations and a month spent on his private boat.

The final footage captured throughout that time was edited in with archival footage as well as pieces of over 15 hours of seated interviews with Dre, and countless other hours with Iovine and their colleagues and contemporaries. The HBO documentary premiered a couple of months ago, and now ProVideo Coalition shares with its readers an interview with Charlie Parish. Interviews, either live or done using modern technology, are a collaborative effort, and this one would not be possible without all the people that connected me with Charlie Parish and made every effort possible to make this happen. A big thank you to Charlie Parish, who accepted the challenge and took the time to answer this set of questions, which I believe everyone would like to ask him. So, without further ado, let’s dive into the interview.

ProVideo Coalition – In your Twitter page you present yourself as Director, Cinematographer, Producer and paranormal nut. Who is Charlie Parish?

Charlie Parish – Straight away with a tough one as I’m really still working that out! In my work, I consider myself a filmmaker – I’ve learnt many roles including Cinematographer and producer but where I feel my true talent lies is in directing. I’m currently looking for representation as a director and that’s how I would like to be perceived by others in the industry.

However, my absolute passion in life is the investigation of the unknown. In life I truly am a paranormal nut!

PVC – What is a Britishman doing in LA?

CP – I ask myself that a lot! Well, I guess it’s tied in to the first question as when I started in the film industry (2001), I had to accept any role I could. I was a ‘jack of all trades’ which is probably the same for many people entering the film industry. I was having very little success gaining employment at home in the UK and was lucky enough to gain opportunities out here although it was all ‘work experience’.

This is where I’ve built a real contact list and it’s certainly the epicenter of film, so I think I chose well.

PVC – You were the “shadow” – once a week – of Dr. Dre for three years, I am told, to capture footage for The Defiant Ones. How does one cinematographer organize life to shoot someone for such a long period of time?

CP – It wasn’t as rigid as once a week and when I really think about it, I would average it out at 3 times per week. I would work to the schedules of Dre and Jimmy which were very very varied as they were so busy – These guys don’t stop!

I actually started the project with Director Allen Hughes back in the spring of 2014 – before HBO even entered the frame – so I had already prepared to be in it for the long haul. I didn’t expect 3+ years but I don’t think anybody did.

I do find documentary filmmaking far more difficult than scripted projects – I like a schedule, a storyboard, a call sheet. We had very little of that and I just had to be ready at all times. Although the random work hours pained me on occasion, it was what I signed up for. I missed a lot of football (soccer) games and there were a few times I had to suddenly leave a party or a family thing to go shoot for the show. It was non-stop and going about my daily life with that anxious, ‘on call’ feeling was the norm.

PVC – Did you follow more people who appear in the documentary and/or captured footage for other segments of the documentary, or were you tasked with following Dr. Dre?

CP – Yeah absolutely, I was across the board. I shot a number of the interviews, I was also on B Cam (CU) for pretty much all of the interviews. I shot a lot of the reconstruction scenes, drone shots, time-lapse, B roll and Inserts and the majority of the verite stuff. I was on call 24/7. If Dre had an artist in the studio at 1130p on a Tuesday night, I was there. If Jimmy was flying out to NYC in 2 hours time, I was on the jet. If the skies look great and conditions were right, I’d run out and shoot a time-lapse.

I was lucky enough to collaborate with some supremely talented DPs along the way, though. Vincent Wren and Shane Daly really helped to create many of the stunning interviews conforming to the style we set out at the start. We even had Peter Deming shoot an interview which was a beautiful moment for me as he was the first person to guide me to my first work experience in film in 2000. Jerry Henry, Edwin Stevens and Guido Passi shot some wonderful verite stuff during major events.

My right hand throughout, though, was my AC, Joshua Makela. He’s a brilliant, young DP in his own right. He and I would run and gun when needed and he was a huge help.

PVC – Apparently, you met Dr. Dre while filming an Eminem show at Wembley, in 2014. You said in an interview, that you both “seemed to click straight away about our love for cameras and how I was shooting”, and that “a long-standing relationship was born then”. What camera were you using at the time, do you remember? Did you and Dr. Dre discuss(ed) cameras?

CP – Yeah, it was 2014 at the Eminem show in London. I had met Dre once before when I was in the mix on The Hughes Brothers’ “The Book of Eli” but this was the first time we spoke at length. I was shooting with the C500, C300 and the 5D Mk III. He really took an interest in the cameras and asked me: Why I was shooting certain things? How I was shooting certain things? Why I chose that particular camera? He then revealed that he shoots stills and proceeded to show me some of his photos. As you can probably guess, he’s brilliant at that too!

A funny story to this was after the first show, Dre invited me on to his yacht in the Mediterranean with his friends, which Allen Hughes was part of – I actually believe Allen orchestrated this as he so brilliantly does. He knew he wanted a camera on board capturing Dre in his ‘relaxed’ mode.

At Wembley, Allen had wanted me to shoot what he described as an iconic shot of Dre entering the stage. As there was back to back shows, I had two chances to shoot this…to get it right. On both nights I tripped up on the stairs and ruined both the shots. When we reviewed the footage, I saw the disappointment on everybody’s face, including Dre. I was gutted and didn’t sleep a wink that night. I was certain Dre wouldn’t want ‘Unsteady Eddie’ shooting on the boat when I had failed so miserably.

However, I really do think there was an instant connection and he understood it was just that – a slip up. Dre’s wife, Nicole, was also a huge comfort during this episode. I’m not sure how she did it but I remember I felt she was in my corner. He has only brought it up once since and we have had a good laugh about it.

PVC – The story of how you got Dr. Dre to have his own United shirt is popular now. Were you already filming him for the The Defiant Ones documentary at the time you decided to give him a shirt?

CP – Yes, this was the second yacht trip I was invited to. It was to celebrate Dre’s 50th birthday and it was another opportunity to capture him when he was at his most relaxed. Although it was a new relationship built through the work we were doing, Dre treated me so wonderfully during the year and I wanted to thank him. The only way I could think to do that was to give him something involving one of my passions– a signed Manchester United shirt!!

PVC – You were at Dr. Dre’s 50th birthday – when you offered him the United shirt. Were you there to film the whole event too?

CP – Yeah, Allen and I were there on the trip and we were able to capture some really beautiful, intimate footage. It’s hard to escape from a boat in the middle of the ocean so Allen was able to corner Dre easily! There was plenty of down time but we tried to schedule something once a day.

PVC – How does one manage to keep being objective when filming someone who is more than the subject of a documentary, because you’ve, as you say, a long-standing relationship? Is there a moment when you put the camera down? How does it work to balance the friendship and the cinematographer’s duty?

CP – Again, there was plenty of times when the camera was off and it was just friends having a really good time but Allen, Dre and I put in some real work too. As I said previously, Allen knew he needed to integrate someone who could capture his investigation into Dre and Jimmy’s world without that person interfering or throwing off the dynamic he was creating. His directive to me was, “Merge into the background, become wallpaper, make yourself invisible”. After many many sessions of being the only person in the room with them, it just became normal. They trusted me and Allen trusted me.

After years of being in their company, getting to know them and becoming friends, it’s a natural thing to root for them. I wanted them to win. When Allen asked the tough questions and sensitive issues were brought up, I remained impartial in my operation but it did affect me greatly. Here’s Dre being quizzed about something that makes him uncomfortable and my view is an ECU of his face. It was uncomfortable for me too. I can only imagine how Allen was feeling trying to draw things out of his friends of 25 years!

PVC – Considering that Allen Hughes tells his team to “Don’t ever cut until the subject is off the set” and that for this documentary, as he described in an interview with IndieWire, he “was trying to find the real person between the lines”, how do you follow his “rules” and when do you decide it is time to stop capturing footage?

CP – This was never difficult for the crew. He just made it clear from the outset that this was the technique he was using. If he called “cut”, we would respond with the question, “hard cut?”. If Allen said “no”, we kept rolling. Really simple but very effective.

PVC – I believe you’re mostly on your own or with a small team throughout the three years following Dre. Having worked long with Allen Hughes I believe you know what he wants, but how does it work for you to know exactly what he is after from each new session? Or do you just capture whatever you deem as important, and then go through the footage with Hughes to decide what goes in and out?

CP – Allen would send me out to follow Dre or Jimmy. He’d send me to cover a studio session, shoot a drone shot, shoot B-roll, a time-lapse etc… We’ve worked together for the last 17 years so I mostly had a firm understanding of what he wanted. The majority of the time it worked and he liked what was shot but sometimes he would send me to shoot it again. There were times he gave me homework which involved watching a certain film and referencing a particular style or shot. I don’t think I know anyone who knows cinema like Allen so he was always able to reference something to show how he wanted things shot. It worked well although sometimes, it was just too difficult to get results with just me, a camera and a couple of lights.

PVC – The final documentary is some five hour long, and it is a mix of new and old footage. How many hours of footage have you captured for this project?

CP – Oooph. This film must have the most footage ever shot…it must certainly be up there. For me personally, I shot hours and hours. Then add to that, the wonderful archival footage that Ryan Gallagher, a producer on the show, unearthed. Hmmmm… I couldn’t even guess. Maybe HBO has a complete building of hard drives holding The Defiant Ones footage. There was just so much. I’m sure the doc could have been 20 hours long!

PVC – For this project you relied on Canon cameras. Which models, and why?

CP – We used the C500, C300 and 5D Mk III. The footage I saw around the time we started the doc really impressed me and I personally owned the 5D so it was an easy choice. I know there are lots of higher spec and higher priced cameras out there but these 3 models were real work horses and could be used with minimal ‘dangleage’. For interviews and much of the b-roll, I used the C500 recording 4k Raw to the Odyssey 7Q. For the run and gun, I used the C300 and 5D Mk III. Time lapses were on the 5D Mk III and more recently the Mk IV.

These cameras produced a great image and the thing that was really impressive was the low light capabilities. I was shooting in really dark studios on many occasions but knew I was still getting a useable image even at high ISOs. This was what we chose over 3 years ago but I still shoot with the C300 – I can’t wait to to get my hands on the updated versions!

Luckily for shooting DPs like me, these cameras are very forgiving. There were times when I was a little down after reviewing the footage but the issue was on how I shot it and not how the camera performed.

PVC – Did you have different gear sets for different situations? How does one prepare, gear wise, for a three year project filming someone? Please, feel free to explain everything you can about this aspect of your work.

CP – This was so simple for me. I would load the car up with everything I had. Once I was at the location, I would judge whether it called for a drone, slider, lights etc… Sometimes it was just the bare bones of the C300, Monopod and radio mics and shotgun mic.

The good thing about this is, if you take everything with you, you’re never caught out.

Allen Hughes directed the four-part documentary The Defiant Ones. Charlie Parish worked with him throughout the whole project

PVC – Allen Hughes said in an interview that this documentary was built to be, it had to be “an emotional ride”? Was it also also an emotional moment for you? Have you ever been working a specific human subject for so long? How does it change one’s perception as a cinematographer? Does it change it?

CP – This was the most difficult 3+ years of my life. It was so difficult for everyone involved because we lived it. Also going on past 3 years was tough. I just had to try and constantly remind myself of how lucky I was to just be in employment but also, I was in the company of the most incredible person I had ever met in Dre. There were certainly many many ‘writers block’ moments for me as I don’t know anyone less interested in pop culture than myself – I’ve always been the ‘weird kid’ who wondered about other life elsewhere in the universe, not what the latest trends are. Trying to find the creative spark daily was a struggle and I tried to absorb the excitement from those around me. Most of the crew are obviously huge music fans which really helped. I just knew that when I was setting the shot and the cameras were rolling, all my anxieties disappeared. So yeah, it was a hugely emotional ride.

PVC – You wrote on your Twitter feed, December 8, 2016, this “Three years in the making. Three years of absolute top secret film making…finally…” Guess it was about The Defiant Ones. Was it hard to keep this project secret?

CP – It was difficult. People always ask: What project are you on? What’s it about? When is it coming out? It wasn’t like there was a gag order but we all realized that word travels fast in town and we didn’t want to chance compromising the authenticity of the piece by revealing things early.

PVC – Did you work on other projects as well during this time? Which, if you can mention them?

CP – I worked on little bits here and there but The Defiant Ones was my job so it took priority. I was able to develop a project I have had on the back burner for a few years which I have now hit full production on. It’s a funny piece called “Resolution” about a disillusioned guy in his mid-30’s and his ‘against the odds’ decision to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming a professional basketball player. I’m finding this one difficult too – it’s another documentary!!!

PVC – You’ve worked with Allen Hughes in other projects before. Which one do you remember as the most exciting?

CP – That’s another tough one. They have all been memorable periods of my career. I guess “The Book of Eli” was the most exciting. It was the first time I had a director credit as I was shooting the second Unit but it also gave me the confidence that I could actually do it.

PVC – What’s next for Charlie Parish?

CP – Lots!! As mentioned I am now shooting my own movie – in production as we speak. That should take around 18 months to complete. I have spoken with Dre about a couple of movie ideas that he liked, so hopefully something could come of that.

I also have a really interesting project going on that I believe will change the movie industry at every level. That involves apps, websites and techy stuff. I had this idea in 2004 that nobody ever took interest in but my fellow The Defiant Ones producer, Ryan Gallagher, almost choked on his beer when I told him a few months ago and since, people have taken notice. It’s one of those, “I can’t believe it’s not been done?” ideas. We are already in the building stage with the techy folk. I seriously believe directors, cinematographers, indie filmmakers and major studios alike will benefit from this project. Watch this space!!

The post Charlie Parish: three years filming HBO’s The Defiant Ones appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

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