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openheart12 · 3 years ago

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A New Beginning

Summary: Tony and Michelle are once again thrown back into the chaos that is CTU. The same place that tore their family apart, is the same place where they get their second chance at a life.

WC: 4,441

Michelle never thought she would be standing in front of him in the same place that tore them apart, but here they were. She hadn’t seen him in six months and even though this is the hardest thing she’s had to endure, it was better this way.

Especially since he was the one who asked her to leave.

Her heart ached at the memory she tried to bury deep within her but it always found a way to bubble up to the surface.

They locked eyes and she noticed how much different he looked compared to six months ago, hope fluttered in her chest that maybe he finally cleaned himself up.

If not for her, then for Avery. She deserved to have her father in her life.

Michelle had found out she was pregnant just less than a year after they had gotten married. Both of them were beyond ecstatic although nervous.

Tony had ensured that Michelle stayed out of the field and he only went as a last resort. When they found out they were having a baby girl, a mini Michelle, Tony had been adamant on her name much to Michelle’s dismay.

But when Avery Michelle Almeida made her entrance into the world, during a national security crisis nonetheless, she was deemed perfect and healthy. At six pounds and seven ounces, and nineteen inches long, she already had her parents wrapped around her little finger.

Michelle recalled the moment, remembering how Chapelle was pissed that he had to come in as their replacements, but neither of them had cared in that moment. She remembered all the congratulations they received from their friends, how happy everyone was for them.

CTU had played a big part in the course of their relationship. It was where they met, where they shared their first kiss, where he actually ended up proposing, where they had to come in the middle of their honeymoon, and now the place where their baby was born.

And it was going to be the place where they reunited, unbeknownst to them.

Almost everyone knew of their history so they were inclined to see how the day would go. The people they worked with before knew about their daughter, but the newest employees had no idea. Most of them knew that this was the first time they’ve seen each other in a while since the divorce.

Almost all eyes were on them when she made her way through the bullpen and into the center next to Secretary Heller.

Secretary Heller asked Tony to bring her up to speed and he told her of the events at McLennan-Forrester and Jack and Paul. After he finished, he started to walk away as she called after him.

“Tony, I need the access codes for CTU and Division.”

He nodded and handed them to her, their fingers brushed against each other for a brief second. She thanked him and as she turned around to go, he asked her, “what do you want me to do?”

“Division’s sending over a supplemental list of terrorists who supposedly had contacts with Habib Marwan. Check any names that have been flagged by other agencies, including overseas.”

“Given what’s happening right now, it doesn’t seem like the best use of my time.”

“It has to be done and I’d like you to do it.” She started to walk away when he reached out and gently grabbed her arm.

“Michelle, Jack and Paul have information that could be vital to ending this crisis. I should be helping us find them, Michelle!”

“The last time I saw you, you couldn’t stay sober long enough to keep a job.”

“That was six months ago.”

“This is what I need you to do. If you don’t like it, you can resign.”

He let out a sigh, scratching the side of his cheek. “I’m gonna need a security clearance,” he relented.

“I’ll make sure you get a level three.”

“Level three?” He scoffed. “I used to have a six.”

“Right now, all you need is three,” she turned on her heel and walked into the situation room where a woman was sitting. She was looking through the files in front of her when the woman started speaking to her.

“Is there a problem with Agent Almeida?”

“Not at all.”

“It’s just that Secretary Heller is very sensitive to personal conflicts on the job. I know your history. I know that you guys were married and that he sacrificed his career to save your life, but if this is gonna be a problem-”

Who the hell was this woman, parading around like she knew anything about her and Tony’s relationship. “His being here will not affect my work. I won’t let it. Now, if Secretary Heller wants to speak to me about it, I’ll be more than glad to,” she said, signaling the end of this conversation.

With Sarah gone and Chloe back in play, the two of them found a way to put their personal problems aside and work as a team again. Michelle regretted not listening to Tony’s insight about Jack, knowing that he knew Jack and his tactics better than she did. But she couldn’t tell if she did it out of spite or not and that bothered her because she never let anything interfere with her work.

She tried apologizing, saying that she valued his input, which she did, but the damage had been done and the worst of it was yet to come.

Bill Buchanan strode through CTU and Michelle quickly introduced him to everyone else there. Her and Tony were standing close together talking after their failed attempt at capturing Marwan when Bill walked up next to them.

“Did you secure Marwan yet?”

“No, he must’ve slipped through the perimeter,” Michele explained.

“How the hell could you let that happen?” Bill accused, taking Michelle by surprise.

“It doesn't matter how it happened,” Tony defended. “What matters is that he’s gone and we’re doing everything we can to find him.” He and Michelle might not be together anymore, but he’d be damned if he let anyone talk to her like that, especially since it was a situation out of her control.

“What exactly are you doing to find him?” Bill asked, turning his attention to Michelle.

“We widened the perimeter, set up a search grid, state police and LAPD are conducting a sweep,” she answered as they were interrupted.

A few minutes later, Bill walked up to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Listen, um, I’m sorry if I snapped.”

“It’s okay, we’re all under a lot of pressure.”

“You holding up?” He asked softly.

“I’m fine,” she smiled, hoping to convince him and herself of that.

Michelle wasn’t aware that Tony had seen their interaction. Tony knew something had probably transpired between the two and wanted to know the extent of it so he made his way towards Chloe.

“How long has Buchanan been at Division?” He asked her.

“Well, it took awhile to fill Chapelle’s position… six months.”

That’s how long ago she left, he thought. That wasn’t fair and he knew it since he told her to leave. “Where was he before that?”

“Seattle, I think.”

“Seattle?”

“Yeah, that’s where Michelle was posted while you were in jail, right?” Chloe asked, piecing it together. She was one of the few who didn’t know what had happened between Michelle and Tony, it wasn’t her business so she stayed out of it.

“Yeah… thanks.”

Tony had debated on confronting her about it or not and his curiosity ended up getting the better of him. “Michelle,” he called to get her attention, “when were you planning on telling me?”

“About what?”

“About you and Buchanan.”

She immediately became defensive, already knowing she wasn’t going to like where this conversation was headed. “Never because it’s none of your business.”

“Michelle, before you worked with him at Division, you worked with him at Homeland Security restructuring, right?”

“Yeah.”

“We were still married then.”

“Legally… yes.”

“Did you sleep with him while we were married?”

She stared at him in disbelief. “No, I didn’t.”

“But you are now?”

“Like I said, it’s none of your business. You know, it’s not like I have time to do anything between work and raising my daughter,” she retorted.

That jab took him by surprise and he hung his head low and walked away. She felt guilty, but he accused her of cheating on him while they were still married. She couldn’t even look at another man, even now, she was still completely and utterly in love with Tony.

Hours had passed by since their encounter and he wanted to clear the air between them, the tension was at an all time high.

“Michelle,” he began, “I was out of line a couple hours ago about you and Bill. It’s your life and I’ve got no right to judge you.”

“I appreciate that,” she said sincerely.

“And whatever tension there is between us, I would like to apologize for my part in it. I’d like it if we could just let it go so we can do our jobs. Leave the past in the past,” he finished. “And if it would be okay with you, I’d like to be in Avery’s life and I know I don’t deserve it, but she’s all I have left,” he added, sadness lacing his words.

“That sounds good,” she lied with a smile. “I know Ave would love to see you. She misses her daddy.” I miss him too, she thought to herself. Not to mention that she wasn’t ready to let go of their past just yet, she may never be ready to.

“We can talk about it later,” he said before going back to work and she did the same thing.

Both of them seemed to be working together better after their conversation, just like they used to. They became one again, putting their time and effort into the crisis at hand.

“Anything new?”

“Yeah, White House just authorized adding Iowa army reserve units to the ground search.”

“Have they widened the perimeter?”

“Yeah, they locked down a 60-mile radius around the area where the warhead was stolen, but I’m concerned Marwan’s people might’ve managed to sneak it outside that perimeter.”

“Well, we closed all major roads and air traffic immediately, but there is a chance they got it through.”

“Homeland Security’s faxing over casualty projections based on that possibility,” he said just as the fax started to ring.

“That’s probably them right now.”

“Yeah, I’ll get it.”

Another phone started to ring and she answered it, “CTU.”

“I’m calling for Tony Almeida. Who’s this?”

“This is Michelle Dessler, a colleague of his. May I ask who’s calling?”

“The woman he happens to be living with. Is he there?”

She felt as if she had just gotten kicked in the stomach. “Yeah, hold on. It’s for you,” she said, handing him the phone.

“Who is it?”

“The woman you’re living with.” She answered, hurt was evident in her eyes.

“Jen,” he answered with a sigh.

“I’ve been calling everyone we know going crazy looking for you. Then finally I thought maybe Jack Bauer took you back there. God, do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I should’ve called earlier. I’ve been very busy.”

“Really busy with Michelle Dessler?”

“I’m working, Jen.”

“Oh, for CTU?”

“On a provisional basis, yeah.”

“I thought you hated that place.”

“Things have changed a little.”

“Yeah, I guess they have.”

“Look, Jen, we can talk about this later. Right now, I gotta go. All right?”

“Tony, what’s your ex-wife doing there?”

“Jen, I’m sorry, but I gotta go,” he said before hanging up. He rubbed his face, knowing how big of a jackass he had been earlier. “Michelle, um, I’m sorry you had to find out like that.”

“It’s really none of my business.”

“Yeah, it is,” he countered. She started to walk away and he followed after her. “I should’ve told you I was living with someone else.”

“I don’t wanna talk about this right now.”

“Yeah, well, I do. Listen to me,” he gently grabbed her arm, turned her around, and backed her into the wall. “When you left, everything fell apart. Jen happened to be there for me.”

“You don’t have to make excuses for your relationship.”

“I’m not making excuses. I’m just telling you how it is.”

“Do you love her?” She asked, afraid of his answer.

He didn’t hesitate before answering. “No.”

“Ms. Dessler, the new protocols from DOD just came in. Should I send them to your screen?” Edgar told him, quite aware that he was interrupting something.

“Send them to station sixteen,” she answered and with one last look at him, she walked past him.

She didn’t know how much time had passed since Jen called and she hadn’t talked to Tony since and truth be told, she had been avoiding him to try to sort out her feelings.

Her phone started to ring and she answered automatically, “Dessler?”

“Hey, Michelle, it’s Allison.”

Allison was Avery’s babysitter and panic immediately started to set in after seeing what time it was. “Is Avery okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine. She just misses you and wants to talk to you. I tried to tell her you were at work, but you know how stubborn she is.”

Michelle smiled for the first real time today, leave it to her daughter to be the reason. “Let me talk to her, I have a few minutes.”

“Momma?” She heard her daughter's tinge voice say.

“Hey, sweetheart. What are you still doing up?”

“I miss you a bunch. When are you coming home?”

“Not for another couple hours, but what if I told you I have a surprise for you when I get home?”

“Ooohhh, what is it?”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, now would it?” She laughed at her excitement. “But you have to go to sleep to get it.”

“Okay, okay. I love you, momma.”

“I love you too, baby. I’ll see you soon.” She reluctantly hung up. She swore she had to have the easiest five year old who actually listened to her.

“Everything okay?” She turned around to see Tony’s worried expression.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. That was Avery.”

“Is she okay?” He asked as worry started to set in.

“Yeah, she just wanted to talk.”

“Leave it to our kid to be awake way past her bedtime,” he joked.

“I wonder who she gets that from,” she teased back with an easy smile.

“Hey, my sleeping habits have gotten a lot better,” he defended himself with a laugh. “At least I don’t take up half of the bed when I sleep.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t enjoy it, Almeida,” she shot back. They were treading into dangerous territory by bringing up the past but before either of them could say anything, Michelle was called away and she gave him an apologetic smile.

After the news of the attack on the Chinese Consulate circulated through CTU, it only made finding the warhead a bigger priority and it didn’t help that Cheng Zhi demanded to come to CTU to get some answers.

Michelle was just getting off the phone when Tony walked into her office. “This situation with the Consulate is dragging us down. We shouldn’t be diverting resources away from finding that warhead.”

She was amazed at how they were thinking the same thing. “Well, hopefully this is just a formality and we can get rid of him quickly. If we don’t get information from Lee, Audrey’s husband would’ve died for nothing,” she said, leaning against her desk.

“What is she still doing here?” Tony asked, staring down at her through the glass panel.

“I think she wants to stay busy so she doesn’t have to think about it,” she answered softly. She was familiar with the concept herself.

“It’s funny, when I met Audrey this afternoon, it seemed she and Jack were totally together… a few hours later and everything has changed.” Just like it had with them. He turned to look at her before speaking again. “Michelle, I hate being without you,” he said softly.

“I never wanted it to be this way,” she answered honestly. “And Avery… she deserves to have her dad around.”

The phone rang telling them that Chang had arrived and just like that, they were back in work mode.

Later, they were up in her office once again. “Tactical is at Richard’s house, they’re going through his things right now.”

“What about Jack?” Tony asked.

“Jack and Curtis are on their way back right now.”

“Someone has to tell Audrey that Jack is going to be interrogating her brother.”

“Audrey’s not going to want Jack near her brother,” Tony pointed out.

“Can’t be helped… I mean if Richard knows something about that missile…” she trailed off.

“It’s funny, this morning Jack and Audrey were planning their future, now he’s responsible for her husband's death and he may have to torture her brother.”

“Yet, every move he’s made has been the right one.” She went over and sat down on the couch.

“Not if he wanted to be with her.” He took a seat beside her. “Look, Michelle, everything that’s happened today, it’s been hard going through it with you again.”

“It’s been hard for me too.”

“I look at what this job does to people in our positions and I realize,” he met her eyes, “I want us to be together again, but it’s gotta be away from all this. We shouldn’t have to put our country over our family.”

Getting back together didn’t come as a surprise to her, she had been expecting it, but leaving the job completely took her off guard.

“You want us to leave our jobs?” He nodded. “We’ve spent the last twelve years of our lives doing this. Where would we go? What would we do?”

“I don’t care… Look, people start over every day if it’s important to them and you are important to me and so is Avery. I want my family back, Michelle.”

“You’re asking me to leave the only thing I’ve ever done?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered. She turned her head away from him, her thoughts scrambling all over the place.

He went to walk out her door when she stopped him. “Why did you want me to leave?”

“I thought it was for the best and plus, Ave didn’t need to see me like that. I wasn’t the husband or father that I needed to be and I was humiliated and ashamed of myself. I thought I was helping you and that you would eventually figure out that you deserved so much more than I could offer you. Prison was the worst time of my life and I just, I don’t know, I guess I didn’t want you to be ashamed of me like I was of myself.”

“Do you ever regret it,” she asked hesitantly. “Saving me, I mean.”

“Michelle, I never once regretted my decision to save you. If I had to, I would do it again because I love you. If it hadn’t been for you, I never would’ve had the best three years of my life. Our girl wouldn’t be here either if it wasn’t for you. The only thing I regret is telling you to leave, thinking that it would help both of us when it only made things worse.”

“But look where we are now because of me.”

“Exactly, Michelle, Avery has both of her parents. I’m willing to fix us, if you are. I love you more than my life itself and I love our little girl. Nothing is ever going to change that fact. This job isn’t worth it anymore, it’s not more important than you or Avery.”

“Okay,” she smiled, tears in her eyes.

“Okay?” He mirrored her smile.

“I’m ready to leave here. I’m ready to go with you.”

He swiftly walked over to her and cupped her face in his hands, stroking her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Are you sure? Because I’m not letting go of you again.”

“I can’t spend another day without you,” she confirmed and that was all he needed to seal his lips over hers. It had been six months since he saw her, six months since he last touched her and even longer since he last kissed her. The kiss spoke more than words could ever say.

After a minute, he pulled back, both of them breathless with huge grins on their faces. Stupid love drunk grins.

“I love you from now until forever,” he told her.

“I will love you always,” she choked out. He knew repeating part of their vows would make her emotional, but he wanted her to know that he was serious about trying again.

This is forever.

“Come on, let’s get back to work so we can go home.”

Home. It sounded too good to be true, but nonetheless, she was ready to start fresh. A new beginning was exactly what they needed.

Hours passed by, Marwan was dead, the missile had been destroyed, and they had just helped Jack fake his death with the help of Chloe and President Palmer.

Dropping Jack off for the last time was hard for both of them, but Michelle could see the toll it took on Tony. They were friends for years and had come to trust each other like brothers.

She covered his hand with hers and he intertwined their fingers together.

“Let’s go home.”

“Let’s go home,” she repeated with a smile. She gave him the directions to her apartment and they arrived twenty minutes later. Looking over at him, she could tell he was nervous. “Come on,” she nudged him slightly.

The afternoon sun bathed the building in a golden glow with white clouds drifting lazily in the breeze. It was a beautiful day in California.

They got out of the SUV and Michelle led him up the stairs to her front door. “It’ll be okay,” she reassured him.

The keys turned the lock, a soft click was heard before she opened the door. A woman who Tony didn’t recognize was seated in the kitchen.

She nodded in acknowledgment before turning her attention to Michelle.

“Avery’s in her room playing and we did all of her homework, she hasn’t eaten lunch yet because she wanted to wait to eat with you,” she laughed softly. “Are you going to need me tomorrow?” She asked, looking between her and Tony.

“Probably not, but I’ll give you a call if that changes. We’re supposed to have a couple days off,” Michelle explained. “Thank you, Allison.” They bid their goodbyes and Tony wandered over to the living room, where the pictures of Avery caught his eye.

“I can’t believe I let things get this bad,” he said, choking back tears.

“Oh, Tony.” Michelle strided over towards him, wrapping her arms around him as he clung to her.

“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” he kept repeating.

“Shh,” she soothed him gently, rubbing small circles across his back.

“Momma?” A tiny voice asked and she felt Tony tense in her arms.

“Hey, sweetheart,” she greeted, turning around to face her daughter. Her little eyes were trained on the person behind her who was now trying to stifle his sobs.

“Daddy’s home?” She asked, a hint of hope in her voice.

“Daddy’s home,” Michelle smiled as her eyes filled with tears.

Avery tentatively walked up behind him and placed her arms around his legs. Tony stood there for a few seconds, soaking in the feeling of being home before squatting down to her level.

“Hey, pretty lady,” he greeted with a smile, placing a kiss on her cheek.

“I missed you,” she cried out, throwing her small arms around his neck.

“I missed you so much.” He told her.

Michelle watched the two of them, her heart swelling with joy. Her family was together again, her perfect little family.

“Can we watch The Little Mermaid?” She asked after a few minutes, making her parents laugh.

“I see not that much has changed,” he teased, referencing Avery’s favorite movie since she was a year old. Avery led Tony over to the couch where they plopped down on it together, her talking animatedly about anything and everything that came to her mind and Tony listened intently.

These were the moments she missed the most, just the three of them together. She watched them for a few more minutes until she headed towards the kitchen to make some popcorn.

She didn’t even know Tony was in there until she felt his arms wrap around her and his chin resting on her shoulder. “Are you already tired of me? It’s only been a day, Michelle.”

“What?”

“You’re making popcorn… ya know, it requires using the microwave, right? Are you trying to kill me already?” He teased her.

“I think I can handle a microwave.”

“I don’t know, sweetheart. I recall a time where you almost set our house on fire when you heated up that Chinese food without taking it out the box.”

“Shut up!” She laughed, turning around in his arms. “I’ve gotten better since then because-” she stopped, her smile faltering. She learned how to cook, to the best of her ability, after leaving Tony so that her and Avery wouldn’t have to survive off of takeout for three meals a day.

“I know,” was all he said.

“We have to be able to talk about it instead of just pushing it aside. Not like what we did last time.”

“And we will, but now, we have a movie to watch. We’ll talk tomorrow, I promise.”

“Okay,” she relented with an easy smile, her cheeks were starting to hurt from all the smiling she had done within the past couple of hours.

They heard Avery come back to the living room, calling for Tony and the two of them together grabbed the popcorn and snacks and sat down on the couch with Avery between them. She was dressed in her The Little Mermaid pajamas to match the movie.

As the movie started, Michelle stole one last glance at them and smiled yet again. This is what their life was going to start looking like from now on once they left CTU, the place where this all became possible, but the same place that could take it all away in a split second.

This was their second chance, their new beginning, and she wasn’t going to waste it.

#tony x michelle #tony almeida #24 fanfiction #24 the show #24 #tony almeida x michelle dessler #michelle dessler

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aaeoluss · 3 years ago

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Taken From: Up In Flames (WC: 700)

St. Albans, VT, 1996

Chapter 1, scene 6, abridged

As I came around the corner of the building, I saw a figure standing under a streetlight. He had his back turned towards me, but as I got closer, I realized it was Russell.

My first instinct was to turn around and walk the long way back to my dorm, because he looked somewhat like he didn’t want to be bothered, but then I wondered if I should say something. I had this vague idea of making some sort of witty remark, but I couldn’t think of anything. I was then momentarily distracted by catching a glimpse of someone standing in one of the upper windows—she was looking at me, but she looked away quickly when she saw that I had noticed her.

Suddenly, Russell’s voice cut through the silence. “‘Every fact that he had in it was wrong, except that the girl was stabbed’.”

Startled, more by the sound than what he had said, I stopped. “What?” I managed.

He turned to face me, looking similarly surprised. “Oh. Josh,” he said. “I was expecting Aria.”

“Aria?” I repeated blankly.

“We were talking about—” he started, then cut himself off. He shook his head. “Never mind. It isn’t important.”

“No, I know it. Henry Lee Lucas, right?” I asked, joining him under the streetlight. “I mean, his grand jury proceedings, anyhow. McLennan County. 1986?”

“’85. I didn’t know you knew the case.”

“Yeah, I do. Better than most, probably,” I said. “You know, I was obsessed with it freshman year, just before you and I met. I would spend hours reading transcripts of his interviews and court proceedings and stuff. Whatever I could get my hands on. Couldn’t tell you why.”

Immediately after I said that, I wished I hadn’t. For some reason I felt like I had said too much. It felt like I had confessed to something terrible, even though I hadn’t done anything like that.

Suddenly anxious, I shifted, trying to judge Russell’s reaction. Strangely, he must have picked up on the same thing I felt that I had, because he didn’t respond right away, and although it was hard to always tell with Russell, it looked almost like he was giving me a funny look.

“Lucas was an odd killer,” he said finally. “I mean, they all were, obviously. But you know what I mean.”

I held his gaze for a beat before looking away. “What are you doing out here anyway, Russ?”

“I mean, must be the same reason you’re here.”

“To talk about serial killers with Aria in the dark? Not exactly.”

Chapter 16, scene 4, abridged

“‘I think it was just the hands doing it. I know a lot of the things we did, in human sight, are impossible to believe’.”

I recognized it instantly. “‘It’s the force of the devil’,” I said, finishing the line. “‘Something forced on us that we can’t change’.”

“It’s funny about Henry Lee Lucas,” Russell said. “He wanted to be a serial killer so god d— badly, while at the same time being so thoroughly convinced that none of it was his fault. He relished it, but he didn’t want any of the credit. The blame.”

“You know, Russ—”

“What do you want me to say?”

Taken aback, I knit my brows. After a beat, I managed, “what?”

“Tell me what you want me to say,” he said, his tone unreadable. “I’ll repeat it back to you.”

Anger sparked in my stomach. I don’t know why. “Russell—” I started again, but he cut me off again.

“What do you want to hear?”

I opened my mouth to argue with him, but what came out instead was, “tell me I’m not like him.” Then, after a moment, what I really meant, “tell me I’m not like you.” It was a stupid, childish thing to say, but I meant it, I really did. Russell had a way of doing that to people.

“Well, you’re like one of us, take your pick which one’s worse.”

Anyone else would’ve decked him right then and there. I should have. I wanted to. “You’re a f—ing jack—.”

He glanced over at me, the hint of a smirk touching at his features. “I was kidding.”

“Were you?” I didn’t wait to hear his response, I didn’t want to know what it was. “It wasn’t f—ing funny.”

#writing #writeblr

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kalypsichor · 4 years ago

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It hurts so bad to listen to how do you sleep by John (too many people by Paul likewise, but personally how do you sleep does more damage to my heart) why did they have to abuse their musical talents like that 😭😭😭 (ps I love Lennon–McCartney sm like like McLennan actually but they are both my fave members of the Beatles and I love the thing that is more than just a friendship between them✨)

yeah John’s song is so acidic and biting... definitely hurts to listen to. so much emotion in it

#asks

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laconic-void · 3 months ago

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Interesting things in the sandlot original script:

1. Yeah-Yeah was originally supposed to prank the guys in the beginning of the movie by "cursing" the water fountains. Scotty drinks from the cursed one and the guys laugh at him.

2. The Timmons were designated as twins - this may be my mistake, but I thought Tommy was at least a year younger than Timmy. They were likely intended to be identical, as there was a piece of dialog where Tommy doesn't say exactly what Timmy says and they look at each other confused. My guess is that if it were the intention, it was too difficult to cast identical twins or find two kids who looked enough alike.

3. There is a scene in which the kids are actually setting up the sandlot for the summer, clearing leaves and redrawing the lines. I am glad this was cut because it implies that the gang only plays in the summer as opposed to all year round, whenever they can.

4. After Scotty runs away from the sandlot, Benny lectures the other guys by telling them Babe Ruth was originally made fun of.

5. Benny watches Scotty play baseball with Bill and mistakenly (as specified in the script, even though Bill is frustrated, he is not intending to hurt Scotty) gets the idea that Bill is abusing him. He says "What a jerk!"

6. Benny originally says "maybe he is a weenie" when he's up to bat after bringing him to the sandlot. So glad this was cut. NOT my boy!!

7. Each of the boys would pick from "the dugout," a box of baseball cards, and whoever got the best player would get to go first. Designated in some way. I'm glad this mechanic was dropped from the movie because it is difficult to understand from an outside perspective.

8. To follow up the last point, Benny's omen was originally getting five maury wills cards in the same draw, not just hitting the baseball.

9. There is a scene where the gang is watching a dodgers game and Benny accurately predicts Maury Wills' next move, much to the others' astonishment. This is when narrator Scotty says "we all knew Benny was different."

10. There were a lot more swear words. Timmy and Tommy uttered the line "imfuckingpossible" and there was more foul language during the exchange between Ham and Phillips.

11. Phillips originally didn't have a name, and was only in the script as "league punk 1." There was also "league punk 2" who had some lines. Possibly the kid who ended up being shown in the final movie.

12. The signature on the Babe Ruth ball is actually obscured until Scotty hits it over the fence. Only when he realizes how much shit he's in is when the signature is revealed.

13. Some minor details about the characters' families were revealed, such as Bertram having a little sister and the Timmons' dad being a contractor.

14. Yeah-Yeah craps his pants after attempting to retrieve the ball from the beast. This and his prank at the beginning make it more obvious as to why he was shipped off to military school.

15. Benny is able to speak in person with Maury Wills when he's shown playing for the dodgers.

16. Ham was originally supposed to become a pediatrician. This didn't seem overly relevant to anything in the script (except maybe getting sick after the carnival?), but maybe I missed something.

My main takeaway is that there were some interesting details, but most of it was cut for the best. I'll have to analyze this in more depth later.

#original text tag #the sandlot #benny rodriguez #scotty smalls #yeah-yeah mclennan #timmy timmons #tommy timmons

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stupidpianist · 6 years ago

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14 november 2018

It’s 16:48 right now and I’m in the music library. Idea for the Mastodon account to track ‘daily movements’ with more accurate timestamping is working well, really simplifies the process and I’m able to get a lot more precision/small details I would’ve neglected to include through that, but I’m feeling like doing today’s liveblog in a more paragraph-oriented format, sans timestamps?? ‘Throwing the timestamps out the window’ today, just feel like writing ‘off the dome’ in a less structured way, though still linear, hope that’s okay with y’all, if not, please feel free to skip today’s liveblog, please, please, come right this way, right this way, right on out of this paragraph and into whatever other thing you’re reading, pay no attention to little old me.

Woke at a semi-reliable time after ‘sleeping aggressively,’ I feel, really ‘hard’ sleep again. Woke with really heavy eyelids, which is unusual for me, usually if I’m tired I’ll just fall right back asleep, or if I know I need to wake up, I’ll feel groggy, but not tired, just ‘out of it.’ NOT TODAY, THOUGH!!! Today I was just all, whoa, it’s actually a struggle to keep my eyes open. Still somehow scrounged up the energy to make my way to the bathroom to brush, made some oatmeal, took a G Fuel ‘to the face,’ stared at my computer in catatonia until I had my meeting with one of my professors who’s helping me with recommendation letters. Oh, I also showered, yeah, that’s important, yes. Morning was spent in a state of complete stupor, entire head felt heavy and ‘anvil-like,’ I think, felt really cloudy.

Was the first actually cold day of the season, I think!! Which was exciting, I’ve been waiting for winter for a long time, if I can say something like that. Feels good to ‘don’ the ‘big puffy white jacket’ for another year. I’ve had that thing for, like, what, five, six years now at least?? Always said that once it finally wears out completely I’m going to get it repaired rather than buy a new one, that thing is staying with me ‘til the bitter end.’ Considered getting Five Hour Energy en route to campus but decided against it, and just walked while listening to Kero Kero Bonito while trying to regain some kind of cognitive ability before the meeting.

I guess as a way of ‘self-therapy’ for my unacceptably groggy state I decided on Knausgaard over Foucault to read while sitting outside the professor’s office, which is my favourite office. I wrote about it in a prose poem thing a while back, let me find it, wait:

‘My professor, Maggie, pinches at papers on her desk, and I notice a stunning array of mugs and thermoses that line this massive wooden table against her back wall. There’s one student in her class who sits in front of me and uses a MacBook Pro with a pink, soft-finish case. Without fail, at some point in every lecture, she’ll open a tab in Chrome, and start playing gigantic, full-screen, thirty-by-sixteen games of Minesweeper with such speed, efficiency, accuracy, that I’m more than blown away. On some days she managed a poker game simultaneously, and still continued to take detailed notes.

As I stand in Maggie’s office, Maggie glances up at me and says a few more things, and I thank her, then turn and leave. The floor is linoleum, and my boots make ridiculous, annoying, squeaky squelches.’

Could do with some severe editing, I feel… No longer feel ‘happy’ that I wrote this in much capacity, except for concept. Wait, let me just do a quick rewrite:

‘I’m noticing this stunning array of mugs and thermoses that line the massive wooden table against my professor Maggie’s back wall. There’s one student in the class who sits in front of me and uses a MacBook Pro with a pink, soft-finish case. Without fail, at some point during the lecture, she’ll open a new tab in Chrome, and start playing gigantic, full-screen, thirty-by-sixteen games of Minesweeper. Sometimes she managed a poker game simultaneously.

I’m standing in front of Maggie’s desk. Maggie glances up at me and says a few more things, and I thank her, then turn, and leave. The floor is linoleum. My boots make ridiculous, annoying, squelching sounds.’

Hm. Still ‘not happy with this,’ but it feels marginally better? I’ll come back to it, don’t want to ‘abandon’ this topic ‘quite yet,’ feel like ‘there’s something there,’ just haven’t really ‘teased it out’ at all.

So yeah, yeah, I met with Maggie, which took a few minutes. She informed me of the next Miltonmas, her annual celebration of Milton’s birthday, and also informs me that he’s turning 410 years old this year. Feel ‘tremendous levels of excitement,’ might ask A if she wants to go? Seems unlikely that she’ll want to for a myriad of reasons but I’m not gonna miss it unless I’m, like, severely ill.

Jesus as I’m writing this I still feel so so so out of it, probably had one too many beers last night for sure. Need to be up really early tomorrow for a work shift, so I can’t be going to bed late tonight, which is sort of, like, a blessing, so even if I wanted to stay up for whatever reason now I can’t.

After the meeting with Maggie, which went well, as they always do, Corrina OH YEAH WAIT, it’s definitely spelled Corrina unless she intentionally misspelled it on her laptop, I SAW HER NAME on her MACBOOK when we played DUNGEON WORLD LAST NIGHT yeah okay so now we know her REAL NAME AAAAAND we know how to SPELL IT yes so CORRINA was all like, ‘who wants poutine’ on the group chat with Michael, Corrina, Jasleen, Astoria, I, and I was all like, ‘yeah i want poutine’ and she was all like ‘okay meet me at the Starbucks in Eaton Centre and I went all ‘yeah okay.’ So my dumb butt walks to Eaton Centre only instead I go into Place Montreal Trust and I wait by the Starbucks, and Corrina goes all, ‘where are you’ and I go all ‘wait holy crap I’m such an idiot hold on I’m in the wrong building’ so I cross the street and Corrina finds me and we get this gigantic plate of poutine.

Sorry to report: did not taste very good. No no, probably, maybe, like, a light four out of ten? Disappointed. Second bad poutine in a row, need to pay Belle Province ‘a little visit’ to remedy the situation, need some good poutine in my stomach before I risk more bad poutine. So we finish the poutine and then decide to get caffeinated, something I really, really needed given my mental state of just complete BLAUGH, so we head to Starbucks and I completely overspend on a peppermint mocha. God those holiday drinks really GET ME, I love them SO MUCH, everything about the holiday season I ADORE. Tinsel, the music, the atmosphere, the ostensible snow, the wreaths, yeah yeah ALL OF IT, gimme, just-- gimme.

Then knew I needed to practice, even in my semi-conscious-but-more-verging-on-unconscious state, so I say bye to Corrina, who heads back to work, and I take the trek to McLennan, where I check out a copy of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal. There’s an amazing website which features a myriad of English translations of each poem, so I’ll be able to cross-reference all of them whilst trying to keep up with the original French. Feel excited to be ‘getting in on this’ finally, haven’t actively read poetry in a really long time, now that I think about it…

Side note: the computer that I used, or, rather, the section of McLennan in which the computer I used was in smelled like poop. Not even like body odour or anything, like, straight up feces. Was really bad, that’s when I decided I’d just use the computer to see where the Baudelaire book was, and then ‘get the heck out’ and not update the liveblog, would save that for the ‘safety’ of the music library, which I mostly prefer to McLennan anyways.

Is now 17:16. Blasting Igorr through headphones, really don’t want to go practice but know it’ll be good, or, at least, like, mildly fun. Maybe I’ll throw some Schubert under the fingers, or something?? I don’t know, I don’t have many days until I need to record prescreenings, but I’m feeling confident, maybe I’ll take a ‘rest day’ and focus on pieces I don’t need to prepare?? Keep the pieces that I need to record’ fresh’ and not just repeated to hell?

OH OH I know what I’m gonna do. Gonna print out some Thalberg to read. Never get tired of Thalberg. Thalberg, my love. Oh-so-neglected. Hahahahah I’m just spouting nonsense right now, need to leave the computer before my brain further devolves. OKAY onto the PRACTICE ROOMS see you later for the first inaugural ‘Soundtrack of the Day’

20:40: Watching livestream of Megan Boyle reading entirety of Liveblog over ~52 hours without stopping; will not be updating this liveblog any more tonight, please also tune in to the stream, link in Megan’s Twitter

#liveblog #blog #writing

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janiedean · 7 years ago

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music meme take two

tagged by @proskenion04 thanks! since I already did it with ten people I picked ten different ones xD

List 10 artists you like before answering the questions below:

the beatles

guns n’ roses

fabrizio de andré

nick cave and the bad seeds

red hot chili peppers

queen

nirvana

neil young

the pogues

• What was the first song you ever heard by 6?

RHPC: uuuuhm probably scar tissue though I wasn’t into their stuff yet, but I got into watching MTV and stuff when Californication was released and it was their first record, sooooo

• What is your favourite song of 8?

nirvana: hmmmmmmmm of THEIRS def. heart shaped box (but whenever I hear the unplugged version of where did you sleep last night I cry)

• What kind of impact has 1 had on your life?

the beatles: WELL I mean maybe less technically BUT they were some of the only *modern* music that got played in the house - honest my parents know nothing of what happened in popular music beyond beatles/stones/dylan - and I grew up with them like literally and I probably knew by heart both the red and blue greatest hits records before I even knew english and I just really love the beatles a lot and their movies are the best and if they didn’t exist 99% of the people I like wouldn’t exist so SCORE

• What are your favourite lyrics of 5?

GOOD LORD NICK CAVE? WHY DID I PUT HIM AT NUMBER FIVE HE HAS TOO MANY GOOD LYRICS

that said

I think we can settle on

He'll wrap you in his arms, tell you that you've been a good boy He'll rekindle all the dreams it took you a lifetime to destroy He'll reach deep into the hole, heal your shrinking soul, but there won't be a single thing that you can do He's a god, he's a man, he's a ghost, he's a guru They're whispering his name through this disappearing land But hidden in his coat is a red right hand

tho tbh ALL of red right hand is a masterpiece

• How many times have you seen 4 live?

U2: once! and it was a great time u__u

• What is your favorite song by 7?

queen: HAMMER TO FALL god at least this one was easy

• Is there any song by 3 that makes you sad?

fabrizio de andré: ……. 90% of that man’s discography was sad af guys what are we even talking about, but I’m gonna go with la canzone di marinella because I actively avoid listening to it if I can help it because IT MAKES ME WANT TO STAB MYSELF

• What is your favorite song by 9?

neil young: hmmmmmmmmm toss up between harvest, heart of gold, thrasher, rockin’ in the free world and like a hurricane GUYS I CAN’T PICK

• When did you first get into 2?

guns n’ roses: lol. it was a long and hard and learned habit. as in: my cousin decided I had to get into grn because THEY WERE SO MUCH BETTER THAN BON JOVI GOOD LORD HOW COULD YOU LIKE BJ WHEN GRN EXISTED and so he gives me…. use your illusion I. spoilers: the only song I ever heard of theirs until then was november rain and I hated it lol. so he gives me this record except it’s a burned copy so it skips after the first four songs that I didn’t particularly find impressive, and then it stops skipping at november rain and I go like yeah no fuck this. also I didn’t like axl’s voice guys it was a learned taste. then a few years later when I was sixteen I get into velvet revolver bc I saw the slither video on tv and I was like WAIT THEY SOUND GREAT and since it was basically 3/5 gnr after half a year of dying over how much I loved VR I go to my then-high school bf who was really into gnr but wisely never pushed and also like bj bless her and I go like ‘liiiisten if I wanna get into gnr what do I try DON’T TELL ME UYI1’ and she goes like ‘wtf your cousin can’t sell a record get appetite or lies’ and I got both and then I was like OKAY FINE LEGIT, then I got UYI2 which was vastly better and at that point I learned to like axl too bless and at that point I also was writing rps fanfic about the entire group so WHATEVER I LEARNED TO LIKE THEM but yeah it was a long process. ops.

• How did you get into 10?

the pogues: this is much shorter lol. okay so it was in… 2012 I think, I was catching up on the wire and in that show they used the body of an american as the official song the policemen played during a wake for one of them (or when he retired) and they had it on the show along with sally mclennane, I loved both and went like WELL LET’S LOOK THESE PEOPLE UP and that was it, lol. thank u david simon and the wire, you’ve given me great joys including finding out the pogues existed u__u

aaaand tagging @robb-greyjoy sorry you’re automatically tagged for this stuff, @screwdriver-and-souffle, @gwen-chan @blueagia and whoever else wants to u__u

#meme #about me #music

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harrystormauthor · 12 days ago

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ALLAN HOLLOWAY PUBLIC INFORMATION REQUEST

According to TWO sources, yeah, I actually have a few scruples and rules, Allan Holloway was arrested by the Hewitt PD for Domestic Violence. Harry is getting total confirmation from the County and Hewitt PD. That will follow as we get it. H FROM MUCKROCK TO MCLENNAN COUNTY AUDITOR FRANCES BARTLETT Final pay check and date of last working day for Allan Holloway. Dismissals and/or reasons…

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daggerzine · 4 years ago

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Devon Williams Out of Time EP (Slumberland Records)

It seems like this long-running Los Angeles-based musician can’t even get arrested. Yeah, I’ve said it before but it just seems like with his pleasant demeanor (ok, to be clear I’ve never met him) and regular-guy name that Williams seems to get lost in the shuffle of talented songwriters and he is a truly terrific songwriter This 4-song EP is sort-of a companion piece to last year’s A Tear In the Fabric and it’s just as good. The first cut “La La Las La II” is a reworking of a song from 2011 that sounds gorgeous and a slight bit trippy while the next cut, “Across the Ocean” (the one new song here) is a gleaming blend of grand gestures. “Out of Time II” is a reworked song from last year’s album reminding me of a perfect mix of Azure Blue, The Blue Nile and a really mellow Grant McLennan cut and the final tune “Peace Now II” (also from 2011’s Euphoria) where he repeats “I go back and forth chasing a miracle…”) is another bona-fide winner. Yes a few of the songs are old but what Williams does with them makes them seem new and fresh. It’s warm and inviting and we can all use warm and inviting these days. www.slumberlandrecords.com

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doomandgloomfromthetomb · 7 years ago

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Robert Forster Interview — February 2003

Sunday Interview! Hey, I’m going to start re-posting some of these old interviews I did back in the day — many aren’t really readily available.Why the hell not! First up, there’s this one I did for Junkmedia with Robert Forster on the eve of Bright Yellow Bright Orange’s release. I remember that the connection between Boston and Australia was not particularly great, but the interview came out OK! Also, Go-Betweens bassist Robert Vickers was the publicist who hooked us up. That was cool. Also, I think I heavily overrated Bright Yellow Bright Orange. It’s good, but I think I’d rate it as the weakest of the Go-Betweens’ reunion records.

Some things just get better with age. Take the Go-Betweens for example. The band's latest record, Bright Yellow Bright Orange (released last week on Jetset Records), reveals that songwriting prowess of Grant McLennan and Robert Forster remains undimmed, more than two decades after the band made its first tentative recordings. The new album doesn't even remotely sound like the work of a band in its twilight years; rather, it's a potent, ambitious collection of ten shimmering pop gems.

After their somewhat disappointing "reunion" record (2000's The Friends of Rachel Worth, recorded with members of Sleater Kinney and Quasi), the songwriters' collective muse has returned, and the result is some of their best songs in years. The original lineup of the Go-Betweens made some of the finest music of the '80s; on Bright Yellow Bright Orange, Forster and McLennan seem determined to top themselves. A hell of a challenge, to be sure, but they just might be up to it. Forster spoke with Junkmedia from his home in Australia on the eve of the album's release.

So if my calculations are correct, 2003 marks the 25th anniversary of the Go-Betweens. How does it feel to have made it this far?

God, I hadn't really thought of that, but 25 years — uh, good! It feels good. We're especially happy to still be making relevant music.

It being your anniversary and all, have you and Grant gotten each other gifts or anything? What's the 25th anniversary gift supposed to be — silver?

Well, I'm not expecting any gift. I hope Grant isn't! So, no, I don't think so.

How did the two of you meet?

We were studying at the same place, the same university. This would have been in the mid-'70s. We were sort of living off of "Queen and Country", living on campus. And we just became friends.

I'm curious to know what kind of records were making their way down under at that time.

Well that was just around the time when punk was starting up, so we were getting some of the early punk stuff. Also, Dylan's Desire album was a big one, and the first Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers record was issued — that sort of thing was making it down here. And we obviously listened to a lot of '60s stuff — the Velvet Underground, and so forth. A lot of the New York bands of that era were a big influence. Television's first album, the Ramones' first album, I remember quite well. All of that was what Grant and I were listening to in those days.

Was there any one record that really made you think "I want to make something like this!"?

Well, I guess it'd have to be Marquee Moon by Television. That was a real landmark there. It seems like you'd have to spend 20 years studying that to get to where they were on that record. And that record led us to a lot of things -- to the Velvets, to Dylan, to a whole different range of music, really.

How would you characterize your relationship with Grant, in terms of personal dynamics, in terms of songwriting?

Well, it's a friendship. A lot of times, people who work closely in bands aren't friends, but with us that's never been the case. So we've got that going for us. And you know, we're quite similar — a similar age, similar background and all of that. And even though our lives have sort of developed in different ways since we met, we always have a base from which to build off of. So we're similar, but different.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it always seems to me that — unlike other famous songwriting partnerships — yours is a partnership that's fueled more by mutual respect than by competition. Do you think that's accurate?

Yeah, that's a good point. I do think it's accurate. And the songwriting arrangement we had right at the start has really served us well. Since the second album, we've each had the same amount of songs on each album, and I think that eliminates a lot of problems that other duos might have. And so with that arrangement in place, we're both just trying to make the best records and songs possible. I mean, there is certainly competition to some degree — that's healthy. We're both trying to get the best out of each other, I think.

Listening to your records, however uncompromised they might be, it still sounds like you and Grant, unlike a lot of "cult" bands, were trying to write hit songs. Do you think that's true?

Yeah, I think what we're doing did have and does still have broad appeal. I think of a band like, say, Sonic Youth — they're not really going for any kind of broad appeal, even though a great number of people like them. They're sort of designed to have a cult kind of appeal. But we've always worked within the boundaries of the three-minute or five-minute pop song. A lot of what we do has the possibility of broad appeal. And also, you know, we love pop music. We were brought up on AM radio. We're both AM radio kids.

When the Go-Betweens are brought up in the music press, the adjective "influential" is always coming up. Do you find that to to be accurate — do you ever hear a new band and think, "That really sounds like us!"?

No, to be honest. Not really. I think if we were influential in any way, it was more the way we sort of carried ourselves, and the kind of people we are. And the strange twists and turns of our career might have been influential in some way as well. The music? Maybe a little bit, but I don't hear it in a big way. And I try as much as I can to keep up with the current music scene.

The two of you spent the '90s pursuing other projects — recording solo albums, playing with other bands, and writing with other collaborators. Was that time apart valuable to you as a songwriter?

Oh, enormously. Enormously. For the both of us. I think that's the reason things are happening right now with the Go-Betweens, why we're hungry. We had a break from each other, which was great — and we also got to work with other people. I learned to play the keyboards, which was something I didn't have time for the first time around. And I made a couple albums collaborating with different people. I made one with Edwyn Collins producing called Warm Nights and a covers record called New York Girlfriend. I learned a lot about studios, and all kinds of things, and that was all very valuable.

And that brings us a little more up to date, with Bright Yellow Bright Orange. Grant said in the press materials that this is his favorite Go-Betweens album. I thought that was a pretty bold claim to make at first, but, having listened to it quite a bit in the last few weeks, I'm almost inclined to agree. What do you think?

Well, it's hard to say, really. I like it, and it's getting a really good reaction so far, but, when you start talking about favorites, it's hard to single one out. There are some earlier records that I have great affection for. But Bright Yellow Bright Orange is up there, to be sure.

Is there any one Go-Betweens record that really sums it up for you, where you think you accomplished exactly what you set out to do with it?

Hmmm. Before Hollywood is good. But I still think we're sort of striving for that perfect record — I suppose if we had already made that perfect record, there'd be no reason to go on!

Tell me a little about the band you've got playing with you on Bright Yellow.

Well, we've got Adele Pickvance playing bass and Glen Thompson playing drums and keyboards. Glen played on my second solo album. I met him through some other people and he ended up playing on Warm Nights, and when I was touring behind that record I hooked up with Adele. But it took a while to get that combination together with Grant to do a real Go-Betweens record.

Where was it recorded?

Some of it was in Melbourne, a great studio down in Melbourne called Sing Sing, and some of it was done in Sydney, at Paradise Studios.

Does location play a big part in the "vibe" of an album?

Totally. Totally. Place has always been extremely important in all of our recordings. For us, it's like going on location for a film, really. You know, like if you were in Miami, you can't make a Western down there. And if you want to make, say, a sparkling situation comedy, you can't do that in the backwoods of Tennessee. So where we end up recording — it's all been thought through, we've discussed what the best environment would be for that particular record.

Now, in addition to this new material you've got coming out, Jetset and Circus Records put out your first three records, with bonus discs of unreleased and rare material. Were you involved in that? Was it fun for you to go back and listen to those records?

That was done by the record company, and they put the whole package together, and Grant and I for the most part gave our approval. We removed one or two things we weren't excited about. But I do enjoy listening to those records from time to time, although lately I've been getting back to some of my solo career. That stuff is starting to grow on me a bit.

Are there plans to give the remaining Go-Betweens records a similar treatment?

Yeah, there are plans. That'll probably happen next year. We'll do the rest with bonus material and all of that. There's even a record of early bonus material that didn't make it on to the first set of reissues that'll see the light of day sooner or later. It's kind of "the rarities of the rarities."

The Go-Betweens have always enjoyed a particularly fierce fan base. It might even be bigger now than it was in the '80s. Does it surprise that you after all these years you've still got fans all over the world following the band?

Well, honestly, not entirely. We made good music, and we're hopefully still making good music. And no matter how "popular" something is, if it's good, it's going to have a life, you know?

#Robert Forster #the go-betweens #sunday interview

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