#Jazz and Tim are both 16

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #58 Part 2

It started on a Friday, Danny finished adjusting his uniform as he peered into the mirror in the bathroom his family shared.  Mr. Wayne had been very generous to offer Danny a scholarship to Gotham Academy. He was determined to do his best but, part of him wondered if he was only offered it so Damian would have a friend that attended the same school as him.

 Putting the finishing touches on his uniform and trying to calm down his unruly hair, Danny walked out of the bathroom to hear chatter coming from the kitchen. This caused him to hesitate, Jazz and he decided not to ask Damian or Tim over yet. The state of the house was a bit messy considering it was left to two teenagers to pick up after the four of them. They just didn’t have the time, the both of them were focusing on their own fields of study and avoiding their parents by spending time at Wayne manor. 

So the fact that there was chatter meant one thing, his parents were up from the basement. He didn’t dislike interacting with them but… somehow every conversation with them ended up with an hour-long lecture about how dangerous ghosts were and how Danny and Jazz were to call them immediately if they ever spotted one, as if they’d actually pick up the phone. Danny was starting to believe that ghosts didn’t exist at all. 

He took a deep breath after grabbing his messenger bag from his room and entered the kitchen.

Just as he thought his parents were up from the lab and astonishingly they sat at the table. They were eating breakfast together with Jazz almost like they were a normal family. The sight unnerved Danny but he took his spot at the table, pouring himself a bowl of cereal as Jazz had done. Neither of them trusted anything that their parents would have cooked, most of it ended up with Danny and Jazz having stained or torn uniforms. 

They hated asking Mr. Wayne for anything, and even though he left a credit card for either Danny or Jazz to use, neither of them did. Jazz managed their finances, Mom was too busy to cook or go to the store most times so Jazz handled it and Danny made sure at least the bathroom and kitchen were cleaned up enough. It probably shouldn’t have worked, especially leaving two teenagers to look after the finances, but it did.

“Danno, my boy!!” The loud boisterous voice of his Dad startled him out of that train of thought, “we’ve got a surprise for the two of you!”

Jazz and Danny shared a look, nothing good ever came from one of their parents ‘surprises’.

“Your Father and I completed our-“ before Mom could finish, Dad interrupted loudly.

“THE PORTAL!!” he smiled like he was a toddler in a candy store for the first time.

Jazz and Danny shared a look again, sure they were happy for their parents, but they were also worried about the possible hazards.

Their Mom cleared her throat before continuing, “I get you kids have school, just hurry straight home when you’re off! We’ll turn it on when you’re both home.” She finished her explanation with a big smile.

Danny could hardly believe it, they had been working on it for years. He was a little scared what exactly it meant if it worked but that didn’t matter at the moment. He continued eating and Jazz spoke up, “t-that’s great Mom, Dad,” she spared a glance at Danny but continued when he didn’t speak up but ate another mouthful of cereal, “Uh, well, our ride should be here soon, I’ll meet you outside little brother.” She quickly put her dishes in the dishwasher and headed outside after grabbing her coat and backpack. 

Danny quickly followed after their parents went downstairs probably to tinker with another project after the portal.

Jazz was waiting on the porch after putting on her coat, they both knew how prompt Mr. Pennyworth was and that it wouldn’t take long for him to arrive. It didn’t take long for them to pile in after he arrived. The trip to the school was short, Jazz and Tim were caught up in a conversion about some essay, Danny tried to pay attention to the conversion but his mind kept wandering to the portal and what it meant for his family now that it’s done. 

Damian seemed to notice his fidgeting, “Danny? What troubles you? Is it Dash again?” Damian cracked his knuckles as he seethed the bully’s name. Danny was often bullied by Dash for being in his words ‘a charity case’ since Mr. Wayne paid his tuition, and he recently started bullying Danny for what his parents did since word somehow got out after neither of his parents showed up for parent teacher conferences.

Danny shook his head, “no, sorry, I’m just a little worried about a few things going on at home,” Jazz looked up at this and the two shared a look. Neither of them discussed what they’d tell the brothers about the portal. Jazz eventually nodded subtly and Danny took that as the go ahead to continue. He nervously licked his lips before speaking again, “well… our parents finally finished the portal.”

Damian and Tim shared a look at this, “have they attempted to turn it on yet?” Damian asked after a moment.

“Uh, no actually, they wanted to wait until we got home from school,” Danny shrugged.

“Would you like Damian and I to stay out in the car and wait for it all to be over so we can go back to being normal back at the mansion.” Tim suggested with a light chuckle, none of them thought that it’d actually work.

Having an easy escape route after whatever craziness the portal was bound to cause sounded comforting. Danny nodded a little, “I’d like that, how about you Jazz?”

“Your not leaving me alone with them!” She cried and the two giggled.

Soon though they pulled up to the school and Danny sighed, he had a day to get through.

[caffeinatedvigilantewriter]

So this was inspired by the coffee shop au that really popular amount Danny x Tim Fics

So Jazz is off to collage, but the moment she passes the amity border, she trips the silent alarm and the GIW fakes a car accident. She’s never seen again.

Danny knows better.

Tucker temporarily disables the alarm so Danny can leave Amity Park, live his life and get help.

Danny is quick to find out that he can’t find Amity anymore. It’s in an entire blackout. He went to the location where it was last only to find entire entire town gone with no trace of even existing

Danny moves to Gotham and get the night and afternoon shift for a cafe and meets Tim Drake. They end up dating when they both turn 18 and the next few months are peaceful.

One night, Danny is on shift, it’s two am and he’s joined by Tim (and other bats if you want)

The door jingles open, and everyone is wondering who’s entering at 2 am.

Meanwhile, Danny is frozen.

It’s Ellie.

She comes up to the counter and orders like nothing it wrong and like she are Danny are complete strangers instead of siblings who haven’t seen each other since their older sibling went missing.

Tim is very confused. His boyfriend definitely knows the 16 year old that just walked in, but isn’t saying anything about her (Tim doesn’t know about the ghosts and stuff)

Danny give Ellie her order and she tell him that Jazz is alive and the GIW has her.

Danny and Ellie vanish from Gotham the next morning after Danny’s shift.

Any media is welcome as long as you tag and comment. I might even write the scene I described if you guys want :)))

[gaywineauntsstuff]

More headcanons bc I’m alone on new years

(Yes precrisis Dick became nightwing at 19 but too much shit happens and I mix timelines DONT YELL AT ME)

But I love the idea that Dick was just pint sized for all of his Robin run. Like he’s an acrobat we can fully utilize the fact he was mid waist sized for nearly every adult he interacted with until he was like 16-17.

Late bloomer Dick Grayson who can pass for 12 at 15

And then him and Bruce fight and Dick becomes nightwing and all that jazz

And finally FINALLY his growth spurt hits and he drops the baby fat and all that in like 4 months.

And then he becomes nightwing

And he went from like 4’0-4’10 during his whole Robin run and now he’s cresting at 6’0

And living with Wally means that the boy EATS SO MUCH VERY FAST bc u snooze you lose

So he packs on the pounds and skips that awkward gangly stage and all the adorable lil baby fat on his face is sacrificed to the puberty gods in exchange for a sharp jawline and sharper cheekbones

And the titans and the league don’t rlly get along in the early years so we can assume the only person from the league dick has seen or spoken to is Clark

And then they meet again

And the justice leagues BABY is now a like a full grown man

Like he’s GROWN

And Bruce is going through a crisis bc yeah he’s not dicks dad according to dick but he watched him grow up, he raised him?

He was there for every play, show, report card, every doctors appointment and his boy was so small

And now Dick his tiny little Robin is well he’s damn near Bruce’s height?

He somehow turned around and missed his boy becoming a man

He might not be Dicks dad but Dick is definitely his kid

And his kid isn’t a kid anymore?

And then there’s the voice??

Because sure nightwing jokes around all the time but in comparison to the lil bobbin Robin with his “HOLY ——- BATMAN” and his bad puns and his habit of bat-ifying literally everything in existence

But when he’s in charge?

Of a team?

When he’s given responsibility

Yeah no he’s calm, commanding and authoritative. He’s who everyone in the titans looks to for orders even if it means turning their back on the bat.

And yeah?

He’s proud, so so proud of the amazing man Dick grew into both because and despite of him.

But hes also in misery because he feels like he missed that. He wasn’t standing by Dick through that. How could he be when Dick is too hurt to call and Bruce is too scared to ruin things by calling?

Dick Grayson was always his greatest pride and joy, his biggest achievement and now… his boy doesn’t need him anymore

Then Jason comes back

And he’s bigger and meaner and angrier than all hell and Bruce wonders if he’s cursed to never watch his boys grow up.

(Thank god Tim refuses to get taller)

-I am working on a fic for this but I am a bad writer so if anyone has recs plz donations

[bet-on-me-13]

Supers and Bats

So! Jazz, Danny, Dan, and Ellie are adopted by Clark Kent and Lois Lane after bouncing around the System for a while.

Jazz couldn't legally take care them because she's just an 18 yr old in College and couldn't provide for two 16 yr Olds and a 12 yr Old on her own.

(Dan is in his Post-AGIT Body, so he looks like Danny's Twin Brother, and Ellie is still 12 because she hasn't started Aging yet.)

Anyways, eventually the Fenton Family opens up about their Powers and are accepted into the Super Family. They even Begin acting as Heroes for Metropolis, taking on their own Super names. Like Superkid, Supergal, and Superguy, all lazy but funny names that fit the Family Naming Convention.

And you know the Rule, if you are a Super, you will inevitably end up with your very own Bat.

Obviously Clark adopted Bruce as his Bat. They were the originals, the OG's, they set the precedent.

Kon adopted Tim as his Bat while on YJ, or maybe or was the other way around? They both don't know, since they were both absolutely Messes when they were on that Team. It really could have gone either way.

Jon and Damien have been eachothers Bat/Super since the Day they met. Let's even say Jon never got stuck in that Time Paradox and stays the same age (a gift from peepaw Clocky)

Barbara actually gets Jazz. She's not exactly as Super as the rest of her Family and Adopted Family, but she he up there. And she constantly studies for her Classes at Barbara's Library, so they get to hang out a lot and bond over having to take care of their respective Families.

Danny and Duke get along well, and decide that Danny is now his Super. They started hanging out when Danny decided to become the 2nd Day Shift Hero of Gotham on a whim, cause why is Duke the only one? He splits his time between Metropolis and Gotham but as a Super it's not an inconvenience. They like Joking with eachother on patrol.

Surprisingly Dan and Dick get along very well. Dick used to be extremely Agressive and Violent, and can relate to Dan who has recently begun trying to ugnore his more extreme reactions. They bond over the feeling of not being understood as kids and their shared "Extremely Repressed Anger" emotions. (Dick doesn't have dad instincts shut up jason)

Cass and Steph take one look at "Still a 12 yr old Chaos Gremlin" Ellie and decide that she is theirs now. It's okay, they can share! They absolutely love their brand new Little Sister, and let her be the biggest of Gremlins!

Most people forget but Jason has Bizzaro as his Super, while he is on the Outlaws. Once Ellie hears about Bizzaro's situation, she helps stabilize him using some of Vlad's old Tech. So Bizzaro gets to live in this! Yay!

That's the idea, thoughts?

[havendance]

Okay, I want to play too. Building off of @dustorange's post and @silverwhittlingknife's post

I think, how I would play this: the circus still happens obviously.

And then Dick dies when he's 16 in circumstances similar to Batman #408, where Dick is shot by the Joker and it causes him to fall to his death. (Dick has to die by falling. To me.) Bruce isn't able to catch him.

Bruce is obviously devastated. Going off of Silver, we'll say no Robin!Jason in this AU. Jason can get away with stealing the tires off of the Batmobile of an extremely grieving Batman. As a treat.

Tim is also devastated. I usually have Tim being 3 at the circus, so I guess he's 11-12 when this happens.

I think the fact that Dick was the only Robin in this scenario means that Tim is more reluctant to push himself as a replacement Robin. That and the fact that his HERO Dick Grayson died means I think that he's slower to act.

Eventually though, things get bad enough in Gotham that he does just because someone has to and he ends up as Robin. We'll handwave the details for now.

I think that Dick should get to come back to life during the Knightfall Saga. As a treat.

He comes back to Gotham just in time to see that there's a new Robin and watch Bruce get his back broken.

Tim's been Robin longer before Knightfall in this AU, so he's got a little more experience, but he's also 14, and while Bruce is lying in the Batcave and they don't know whether he's going to wake up or not, and he's fetching the medicine in that one comic, he runs into this unknown, edgy looking vigilante who blames him for Bruce getting his back broken and it's just everything he's been thinking to himself.

Dick sticks around in Gotham long enough to see that there's a new Batman and of course Bruce has someone else he can get to do that. Of course he doesn't need Dick. He runs off to go do like, black-ops vigilante work somewhere.

I think he and Tim do run into eachother once more before Dick leaves town though and Tim's like 'I know I'll never be as good as the first Robin, but that just means I need to learn everything I can' and tries to bother Dick into teaching him stuff because he can tell that this mysterious vigilante is way more skilled than him.

Dick mostly avoids Gotham, but I think they keep running into each other, coincidentally. Tim ends up teaming up with him during Contagion instead of Catwoman and they're both in Paris at the same time etc etc.

And eventually on one of these team-ups, Dick does a quadruple somersault and Tim sees it and everything clicks together and he imminently runs away because that's Dick Grayson and Tim has been talking up the first Robin all this time and it's a lot okay?

I think this is about when No Man's Land happens so Tim goes to go hide in Gotham and help out Batman and become a National News story and all that jazz instead of thinking about it.

But afterwards, Tim is ON THE CASE. I think he doesn't tell Bruce about this because if Dick hasn't told Bruce then he probably has his reasons? And what he was actually wrong? (Even though he knows he isn't)

And then, um, let's put the Dick and Bruce finally confronting each other during Bruce Wayne: Murderer/Fugitive because Dick comes back to Gotham when he hears that Bruce murdered someone because he doesn't want to believe it, but I think he also can't have that same bone deep belief in his innocence that he does in canon because of all the estrangement.

So he attacks Batman and demands to know the truth (without revealing who he is) and Bruce won't answer. Bruce also doesn't know how this mysterious vigilante knows he's Bruce Wayne/got accused of murder, so he low key suspects DICK of framing him, which normally he'd be too busy being Batman full time to care, but here he also recognizes some of Dick's fighting style so he starts investigating him to uncover the mystery.

Meanwhile, Tim noticed that Dick is back in town, so he's trying to recruit Dick to help him get to the bottom of this. He knows Dick's identity now, but he doesn't tell Dick that, he just drops various hints that he knows and hooks Dick up with a line to Oracle (who he has also not shared his conclusions with other than a vague 'there's something about him')

And hmm somehow this all resolves with like, Dick's identity getting out and him and Bruce talking face to face. Bruce is just so desperately amazed that Dick is there, meanwhile Dick still has various issues that are not resolved and it probably ends with Dick running away again and Bruce holding himself back from chasing after him like he desperately wants to. Because if Dick doesn't want anything to do with him then that's just his right because Bruce WAS the one who got him killed.

He does stalk Dick from afar though. Just without initiating contact. Tim and Barbara are more pushy about trying to hang out/talk with Dick in the aftermath.

To skip ahead, I think Bruce leaves Dick the Batmantle after he 'dies' as this last ditch attempt to share how much he loves and respects Dick.

And this getting long so I think I'll call it here.

[theloniousbach]

TERRELL STAFFORD with Tim Wakefield, Bruce Barth, David Wong, and Johnathan Blake, SMOKE JAZZ CLUB, 16 MAY 2025, 9 pm set

When I thought we’d be out of town in June, I reluctantly passed on getting tickets for TERRELL STAFFORD’s Jazz St Louis gig. Since we will be here and we did get tickets for that show (as well as Joey Alexander—meh—and James Carter—wow!), I am glad for this stream as a preview. I can’t imagine that we won’t see Tim Wakefield then as he and STAFFORD are old partners. I think it’s likely that Bruce Barth will be there too as he is often with those horn buddies—and he is one of those pianists I keep an eye out for. It would be great to see David Wong in town, but an absolute gift to have Johnathan Blake on the gig.

Blake is part of Kenny Barron’s remarkable trio among many accomplishments including as a leader. He is seemingly effortless with his cymbals low and therefore accessible with just a flick of the wrists. He has power and finesse and is always doing interesting things. He commanded a big chunk of my attention but he listens so big that he will direct your attention to the key things going on on the bandstand.

STAFFORD leads the way of course, both as a soloist and composer. His tone is strong; I read in Jeremy Pelt’s astounding interview series Griot that Stafford’s education through a Masters was in the European Tradition. Well, he plays very accomplished jazz. The covers were of Horace Silver and Lee Morgan, so there was lots of insistent hard bop, especially the Morgan. But the originals had that too, especially Favor which was soulful and gospel-ly. Barth particularly shone there, but he was essential all night. He and STAFFORD showed another side with a very lush version of Skylark, just the two of them for a few choruses before Wong and Blake came in with exquisite taste. Wong got a meaningful solo on Favor and Blake took a particular showstopper solo on the Morgan. Stafford was impeccable throughout, completing his old friend’s thoughts and pushing him and himself. He was on soprano on the opener adding to that lilt, but his tenor was strong and swinging. I’m glad to assume that he will be along next month and I hope I’m right about Barth too. It would be greedy to hope for Wong and Blake. Still….

[nbatrades]

Miami Heat Land Tellis Frank in Deal with Golden State

On October 2nd, 1989, the Golden State Warriors traded forward Tellis Frank to the Miami Heat for a 1990 second round draft pick (Steve Bardo).

The Golden State Warriors were looking for some frontcourt helped heading into the 1987 NBA Draft. One player on the team's list was Western Kentucky forward Tellis Frank. Standing 6-9 and at 240 pounds, Frank had a surprise senior campaign, winning the 1986-87 Sun Belt Player of the Year after improving his scoring average from 10.2 PPG in his junior year to 18.0 the following season.

Frank was Golden State's choice for the 14th selection in the draft. The team and coach George Karl envisioned Frank as able to toggle between both forward positions.

After being drafted, Frank signed a three-year contract with the Warriors. Frank had a solid role in his rookie season but was inconsistent. The forward appeared in 78 games (29 starts) and amassed 8.1 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.4 APG and 0.7 SPG in 20.5 MPG. A concern was Frank's home and road splits which became a story throughout the season.

Tellis Frank's rookie season home and away splits:

Golden State began the 1987-88 season just 1-9. The losing continued as the Warriors found themselves an NBA-worst 3-18 after 21 games. With the team at 16-48, coach Karl resigned after he wasn't given a contract extension by team owner Jim Fitzgerald. Assistant Ed Gregory took over on an interim basis.

Warriors minority owner and general manager Don Nelson signed on to become head coach for the 1988-89 season. As Gregory finished out the season, the Warriors finished the year with the third-worst record in the NBA (20-62).

Soon the roster would start to morph under Nelson. The Warriors had the fifth pick in the 1988 draft and selected Kansas State guard Mitch Richmond.

Golden State shifted to a perimeter-heavy attack around Chris Mullin, Richmond and Winston Garland. After going 5-3 in the first eight games, Golden State was 3-9 in the next 12 games to fall to 8-12. The Warriors would get back on track, with a 23-9 record to reach 31-21 after 52 games.

Golden State was in fourth place after 76 games with a 43-33 record. The club lost its final six games to fall to 43-39 and seventh place in the Western Conference. Frank saw a drastic reduction in minutes under Nelson. The forward made only 32 appearances and managed 3.3 PPG, 1.9 RPG and 0.5 APG in 7.7 MPG. A hyperextended right shoulder caused Frank to miss the final 20 games of the regular season.

The Warriors went on to the playoffs where they faced the 51-31 Utah Jazz in the first round. In the series opener, the Warriors led for much of the game. The first game saw Mullin score 41 points in a 123-119 win. Game Two was close but the Warriors outscored the Jazz 28-17 in the fourth quarter to win 99-91. The Warriors completed a 3-0 series sweep with a 120-106 win at home.

In the West Semifinals, Golden State matched up with the Phoenix Suns. The series opener saw four different Suns players score at least 19 points in a 130-103 Suns blowout win. Mullin had 37 points and nine rebounds as the Warriors went on an 11-2 run at the end of the game to win 127-122.

In the third game Chambers had 12 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter as Phoenix won 113-104. The fourth game saw Phoenix win in a 135-99 rout. In Game Five, Suns guard Kevin Johnson had 24 points, nine rebounds and 11 assists in a 116-104 Suns win and a 4-1 Phoenix series victory. Frank did not play in Golden State's 1989 playoff run.

Nelson continued to tinker with the Warriors roster in the 1989 offseason. Golden State selected point guard Tim Hardaway 14th overall in the draft. The Warriors kept Frank protected in the 1989 expansion draft from incoming franchises the Orlando Magic and Minnesota Timberwolves. Golden State lost guard Otis Smith to the Magic in the expansion draft after leaving him unprotected.

With a crowded roster and no chances for minutes, Nelson and the Warriors sent Frank to the Miami Heat for a second round pick before the start of the season. The Warriors would have the option of claiming the pick (originally from the Cleveland Cavaliers) in either 1990 or 1992.

Frank had been a rumored trade candidate to the Miami Heat since the middle of the 1988-89 season. He was essentially showcased by Golden State in a January game against Miami where he had 15 points and four steals in a start.

As the first trade acquisition in the Miami Heat's franchise history, Tellis Frank received a new opportunity to play. The Heat got off to a 3-4 start in the first seven games. The losses would soon pile up.

The team had six losing streaks of more than five games including an 0-13 stretch from mid-December to mid-January. Miami still had a three-win improvement from its inaugural year with an 18-64 record. Frank's role was larger in Miami than in Golden State. The forward played in 77 games (39 starts) and put up 9.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 1.1 APG and 0.7 SPG in 22.9 MPG.

After the season, the Heat did not tender a qualifying offer to Frank, making him an unrestricted free agent. He signed a contract overseas to play in Italy with Phonola Conserta.

The second round draft pick that the Heat sent to Golden State originally came from the Cavaliers in a deal for guard Darnell Valentine. Golden State sent the future selection to the Atlanta Hawks in a 1990 draft night deal centered around point guard Rumeal Robinson. The pick was 41st in the 1990 draft and was used on guard Steve Bardo from the University of Illinois.

Tellis Frank on being traded to the Heat (via The Miami Herald):

"I'm going to go down and work hard. We're going to be very happy with one another."

On joining Miami (via South Florida Sun Sentinel):

"It's a good opportunity coming to a young team. I'm a young player and I'm getting a fresh start."

Miami Heat partner Billy Cunningham on the trade (via South Florida Sun Sentinel):

"I think it's a great gamble in regards to the pick we gave up. Sometimes it takes a young player a couple of years to wake up and realize what it's going to take to become an NBA player."

Heat director of player personnel Stu Inman on Tellis Frank (via The Miami Herald):

"He does not have a history of being a self-motivator. But with attention, he works hard. And he does have a reputation for being a good kid."

On Frank's potential (via South Florida Sun Sentinel):

"We think he's a kid who will continue to emerge." 

Golden State Warriors general manager and head coach Don Nelson on trading Frank (via The San Francisco Examiner):

"We wish Tellis Frank the best. It's unfortunate that he didn't get a greater opportunity to play here. He was in a situation where we had better players in front of him. He's now going to have an opportunity to show what he can do." 

On making the decision (via Oakland Tribune):

"I made a decision that Tellis just wasn't going to play here. He was relegated to 11th or 12th guy. It's about time for him to start and it just wasn't going to happen here."

Image via Getty Images/Mitchell Layton

[currentfandomkick]

Danny melted into his partners’ hold.

“Just, fuck, how do you go up to your brother who definitely thinks you’re dead, you last remember him when you were five and ancients it was way before i knew that transmen existed, let alone that i am one!”

Tucker hummed at his side. “Do you want us to call Jazz to get advice from the licensed professional?”

“Or just dodge the fruitloop? There has yet to be a rich bitch that doesn’t hate you on sight or try to new and inventive ways to kill you.”

—

Tim paused as the static interference let up.

“—yet to be a rich bitch that doesn’t hate you on sight or try new and inventive ways to kill you.”

“You’re not wrong, but—Fuck no, revenant no, put the pretty shiny down and—you got me goldfish.”

“Atleast dead dudes like you.”

“Still not sure who in the realms i should send them too—that ecto cannot be healthy baby bird, come here—or joining the crush Danny game.”

Dick narrowed his eyes at Tim’s device.

“How did you—“

“So. Danny lives with someone from R&D who must be lying about making ecto-powered bodysuits as a kid from scrap metal… and i may have left a few bugs at his place. They’re usually jammed.”

“Buddy, i love you too but besides my crisis, we do have my baby-baby coming soon—she’s visiting for a few nights. Testing how stable she is outside the realms but around me. And i have another paper for astonomy on angles. Fuck!”

Dick and Tim paused.

Danny’s medical history was put under both’s hacking. Sealed records showed a distinct F marker that his later records had scrubbed somehow.

And signs of a possible pregnancy during his freshman year with constant trips to the bathroom, chronic fatigue, sudden shifts in weight and a series of absences that coincided with a number of missing lab days, skipped home-economics, and notes from teachers of Danny having ‘gotten a pass to stay with the nurse for severe cramping and early signs of swelling in chest area and feet.’

Medusa pin. Absences in a year plus the symptoms above.

Danny was a survivor and teen parent. Notably the child was not with him—foster care? Forced surrender of child but able to reclaim?

Tim began digging.

Dick paused at a picture of Danny, age seven. Attached to it was a report of a “Jane Doe” found wandering 16 months prior. A then five year old Danny.

Who predated Dick’s debut as Batman’s Robin.

He stopped breathing.

Medical notes included clear amnesia, mixed language skills, and speaking languages (four separate, non-english ones recognized) that none of the social workers identified easily.

This Jane was instead given to a foster family of scientists after showing signs of compatibility. A pair of scientists noted for a close and loving bond while being unconventional and enthusiastic. Whose daughter was Dick’s age. And an enthusiastic older sibling that wanted a baby brother.

Dick felt sick as faint memories of his long dead sister resurfaced.

Jane, jane looked pretty close to—

His stomach lurched at the thought.

Danny can’t be her. He can’t be. Dotty has to be dead at this point.

—

“Breathe babe, now, why don’t you and your broody buddy do some star gazing? I know you’ve got a whole flock hidden somewhere,” Tucker suggested.

“I can ask my boss to give us the night off and watch Ellie while you do.”

“And i can play with cracking whatever slipshod necromancy was done and track it. As this is rank—no offense birdie.”

The botched revenant chirped at Tucker, too neutral to be more than an acknowledgement.

“I think i can handle that… and you need a name,” Danny turned his attention to the botched revenant holding him far too tightly. “How about Kite?”

The poor undead beamed at him.

“Okay you know what? All your buddies are getting birdie names. All of them.”

Not my Circus

A/N: I hate my brain and it's suckish timing...

Danny was a circus kid. He knew that, and so did his parents. Well, the once that took him in when he was five. He knew he had a loving family before the Fentons. Yet he doesn't know himself why he never put in more effort to return to them. No, wait, he had an idea what his five years old mind could have been thinking.

If Freakshow and his mockery of a circus had never shown up in Amity. Then Danny might have pushed the thought of his original family to the side forever. He had been a foolish kid back then, reckless and tempramental, unlike his older brother. He had tried to follow into his parents' and brother's footsteps, but he wasn't as graceful or acrobatic as they were. It was irony really with how much he liked flying and doing tricks in the air now. But still he remembered having a lot of frustrated fights with his brother about his inability to be like them.

When he got reminded he started to do a bit of a more serious research again and when he found out about his originals parents death half a year after he was first declared missing from the circus as well as his older brothers having gotten adopted too, he had dropped it all again. Pushing all of that back into the deepest depths of his mind again. His older brother was doing well. There was no need for him, for Danny.

That went well until Jazz went to university in Gotham and convinced him to go there to collage too, when he sort of forcefully retired from being a teen hero. It went well for a couple of years until his mid twenties.

Because despite Gotham being a city way bigger than Amity, there were still chances of you running into certain people.

The moment he entered the coffee shop and saw the others face, everything he had pushed aside in his mind came right back to the forefront of his mind.

How he foolishly trained in acrobatics behind his families back after another fight while they were moving towns and fell off the wagon.

How he had felt like he enjoyed not feeling presured to be like them and didn't put too much effort into returning to them when he was with the Fenton as well as thinking that his elder brother was probably happier without a stubborn little brother.

How when he looked them up he dropped it just as fast when he learned about their deaths and his elder brothers adoption.

He blinked wide-eyed at the man that stood before him a teen next to him while he held two cups of coffees. He, too, was staring at Danny frozen.

Now Danny had several options of how to handle the situation. And he most likely didn't choose the best one at first as usual. Because what he did in response at seeing Richard 'Dick' Grayson was to turn tail and run even using is invisibility and intangiblity.

What Danny didn't know was that Dick's first, thought, was someone cloned him and not that his missing brother from his days before the Waynes was back.

Thus a game of mouse was started...

[thedemostop]

Famous Female Singers: The Most Famous Voices Ever

The benefits of women's involvement to the music business are numerous. These ladies, who range from the first jazz and blues diva to the contemporary pop and rock aristocracy, have had a significant influence on the music industry.

Their strong voices have reverberated across history, shattering stereotypes and establishing new benchmarks. We'll look at the biographies, professional histories, and hit songs of a few well-known and identifiable female singers who have made major contributions to the music business in this book.

Famous singers female

The music industry has been greatly influenced by women, both on and off stage. Notable female vocalists with enduring influence have come from pop, rock, jazz, blues, and other musical genres. In addition, they have found success as instrumentalists, conductors, songwriters, and composers. Pop musicians have had a significant impact on the genre, such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.

Most famous female singers

Madonna

Birth date and place: Madonna Louise Ciccone, known simply as Madonna, was born on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan.

Hit songs: Her debut single was “Everybody,” released on October 6, 1982. Some of her most popular songs include “Like a Virgin,” “La Isla Bonita,” “Like a Prayer,” “Vogue,” “Take a Bow,” “Frozen,” “Music,” “Hung Up,” and “4 Minutes.”

Highest-selling record: The highest-selling album by Madonna is “The Immaculate Collection”, which sold over 30,000,000 copies.

Awards: Among the famous female singers, Madonna has won seven Grammy Awards out of 28 nominations. She has also won two Golden Globe Awards. In total, she has won 430 awards and received 817 nominations.

Life journey: Born in Charlemagne, Quebec, Céline Dion was the youngest of fourteen children. Five years old was when she started singing with her family. At the age of twelve, she caught the attention of legendary producer René Angélil, who gave her a big break in 1981 with the release of the album "La Voix du bon Dieu." Her rise to stardom began with her triumph in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Following the publication of her debut English-language album, "Unison," in 1990, she rose to fame as a pop singer, mostly in North America and a few other English-speaking nations.

Céline Dion

Birth date and place: Céline Dion was born on March 30, 1968, in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada.

Hit songs: Her debut song was “Ce n’était qu’un rêve,” which she wrote at the age of 12 with the help of her mother and her brother Jacques. Some of her most popular songs include “The Power of Love,” “Because You Loved Me,” “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,””I’m Your Angel,” “That’s the Way It Is,” “I’m Alive,” and her signature song “My Heart Will Go On.”

Highest-selling record: The highest-selling album by Céline Dion is “Falling into You,” which sold over 32,000,000 copies.

Awards: Céline Dion has won 5 Grammy Awards, 12 World Music Awards, 7 Billboard Music Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 20 Juno Awards, and 50 Felix Awards.

Life journey: Born in Charlemagne, Quebec, Céline Dion was the youngest of fourteen children. Five years old was when she started singing with her family. At the age of twelve, she caught the attention of legendary producer René Angélil, who gave her a big break in 1981 with the release of the album "La Voix du bon Dieu." Her rise to stardom began with her triumph in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Following the publication of her debut English-language album, "Unison," in 1990, she rose to fame as a pop singer, mostly in North America and a few other English-speaking nations.

Taylor Swift

Birth date and place: Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania.

Hit songs: Her debut song was “Tim McGraw”. Taylor Swift has numerous hit songs. Some of them include “Love Story,” “You Belong with Me,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Bad Blood,” “Look What You Made Me Do,” “Cruel Summer,” “Cardigan,” “Willow,” “Anti-Hero,” “All Too Well,” and “Is It Over Now?”.

Highest-selling record: Her highest-selling record is the album “1989”, which sold over 14,748,116 copies.

Awards: Taylor Swift has received numerous awards throughout her career. These include 12 Grammy Awards (with three for Album of the Year), 1 Primetime Emmy Award, 40 American Music Awards (including Artist of the Decade – 2010s), 23 MTV Video Music Awards, and 40 Billboard Music Awards.

Life journey: One of the most well-known and prosperous female vocalists of the modern period is Taylor Swift. She was interested in music from an early age. She began taking voice and acting courses in New York City when she was nine years old. She eventually became obsessed with country music, listening to artists like Shania Twain and Faith Hill. She picked up a guitar at the age of twelve and started creating songs. At the age of fourteen, she relocated from Pennsylvania to Nashville and began performing her demo CD for everyone who would listen. Her perseverance paid off when sixteen-year-old "Tim McGraw" made his debut. Taylor attributes her success to her unwavering will to press on despite several failures.

Shakira

Birth date and place: Shakira was born on February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia.

Hit songs: Shakira has numerous hit songs. Her debut song was “Magia”. Some of her other popular songs include “Whenever, Wherever, ” Hips Don’t Lie,” “La Tortura,” “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” and “Can’t Remember to Forget You.”

Highest-selling record: This famous female singer’s highest-selling record is the album “Laundry Service,” which sold over 13 million copies worldwide.

Awards: Shakira has won numerous awards, including 3 Grammy Awards and 14 Latin Grammy Awards, making her the most-awarded Latin artist ever.

Life journey: Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll performs under the stage name Shakira. Shakira began belly dancing when she was quite young. Her mother is from Colombia, while her father is from Lebanon. When she was ten years old, she began writing songs and performing in talent shows. She received assistance from a nearby theater producer in 1990 so she could attend to an audition with a Sony Corp. representative. She then consented to sign a contract for records.

Conclusion

The music industry has been profoundly impacted by these well-known female vocalists' compelling performances and powerful vocals. In the process, many aspiring artists from many genres, ages, and countries have found inspiration in them. Their voices will be heard for years to come because of their skill, commitment, and passion, which have made their names indelibly recorded in the annals of music history.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Give a Ghost a Break

by TheyWereToFarGone Danny Fenton was your typical 16-year-old boy. Well, typical in the sense that he was a half-ghost who battled other ghosts to protect his small town. Aside from that, he was just your average, sleep-deprived teenager. Danny Fenton knew he was adopted, and it wasn't a well-kept secret. However, what he didn't know was that he had a twin sibling, and astonishingly, they were both the biological children of Bruce Wayne, a billionaire who ran Wayne Industries by day and moonlighted as the vigilante Batman by night. What happens when Danny discovers this hidden truth, and what unfolds when they both reveal their secret identities to each other? Words: 6, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Danny Phantom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Sam Manson, Tucker F, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Duke Th, Maddie Fenton, Jack Fenton, Barbara Gordon, Clockwork (Danny Phantom) Additional Tags: Danny Fenton and Damian Wayne are Twins, Good Sibling Damian Wayne, Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, Danny Fenton Lives in Gotham City (DCU), Good Sibling Jazz Fenton, Good Sibling Jason Todd, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, Good Sibling Tim Drake, Good Sibling Cassandra Cain, Good Sibling Duke Thomas, Found Family, Danielle "Dani" Phantom is Called Ellie, Younger Sibling Danielle "Dani" Phantom, Batman - Freeform, danny phantom - Freeform, dcu - Freeform, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Justice League (DCU) - Freeform via https://ift.tt/3KBMuVz

[lochtayboatsong]

The Jesus Christ Superstar essay absolutely no one asked for.

Last weekend, I watched the pro-shot of the 2012 arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar starring Ben Forster, Tim Minchin, and Melanie C, because it was Easter and it was up on YT for the weekend.  I never managed to do my annual listen-through of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass this year, as is my usual Easter tradition, so I figured “Why not watch/listen to this instead?”  It was my first time seeing and hearing JCS in full, and Y’ALL, it has been living rent-free in my brain ever since.  I have a mighty need to get my thoughts out, so here they are, in chronological order by song.  

1) Prologue: I love the way JCS 2012 makes use of the arena video screen.  The production design and concept clearly took a lot of inspiration from the “Occupy ______” movement, which makes it feel a bit dated now.  But every single production of JCS is a product of its time period, so this is a feature and not a bug.  

2) Heaven On Their Minds: This is a straight-up rock song.  It wouldn’t be out of place on any rock and roll album released between 1970 and 2021, and it boggles my mind that Webber and Rice were both in their early twenties when they wrote it.  Also, the lyric “You’ve begun to matter more than the things you say” hits hard no matter the year.

3) What’s the Buzz: A+ use of the arena screens again, this time bringing in social media to set the tone.  Also, this song establishes right from the outset that Jesus is burnt out and T I R E D by this point in the story.  Seriously, can we just let this man have a nap?

4) Strange Thing Mystifying: Judas publicly calls out Mary and Jesus claps back.  Folx, get you a partner who will defend your honor the way Jesus defends MM in this scene.  Also Jesus loses his shoes and is mostly barefoot for the remainder of the show.

5) Everything’s Alright: Okay, this is one of the songs I have A LOT to say about.  First, it’s important to know that I was a church musician throughout all of my adolescence and into my early adulthood.  The pianist at the services I usually played at was a top-notch jazz pianist, and also my piano teacher for about six years while I as in high school and undergrad.  (Incidentally, I had a HUGE crush on his son, who was/is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist and also played in the church band, but that’s a story for another day.)  One of the hymns we played a few times a year was called “Sing of the Lord’s Goodness,” which is notable for being in 5/4 time.  Whenever this hymn was on the schedule, it was usually the recessional, or the last song played as the clergy processed out and the congregation got ready to leave, so we were able to have some fun with it.  After a couple verses the piano player and his son would usually morph it into “Take Five,” a famous jazz standard by Dave Brubeck which is also in 5/4 time.  Anyway, the first time I listened to this song in full, it got to Judas’s line “People who are hungry, people who are starving,” and I sat bolt upright and went “HOLY SHIT THIS IS ‘SING OF THE LORD’S GOODNESS/TAKE FIVE.’”  And I was ricocheted back in time to being fourteen and trying to keep up with this father/son duo in a cavernous Catholic church while simultaneously making heart-eyes at the son.  Final note: This is the only song in the musical to feature all three leads (Jesus, Judas, and Mary Magdalene) and is mostly Jesus and MM being soft with each other in between bouts of Jesus and Judas snarling at one another.

6) This Jesus Must Die: I LOVE that all the villains in this production are in tailored suits.  LOVE IT.  Also, Caiaphas and Annas are a comedy duo akin to “the thin guy and the fat guy,” except in this case it’s “the low basso profundo and the high tenor.”  Excellent use of the arena video screen again, this time as CCTV.

7) Hosanna: My background as a church musician strikes back again.  It honestly took me two or three listens to catch it, but then I had another moment of sitting bolt upright and going “HOLY SHIT THIS IS A PSALM.”  Psalms sung in church usually take the form of call-and-response, with a cantor singing the verses and the congregation joining in for the chorus.  If I close my eyes during this song, I have no trouble imagining Jesus as a church cantor singing the verses and then bringing the congregation in for the “Ho-sanna, Hey-sanna” chorus. 

8) Simon Zealotes: This is part “Gloria In Excelsis” and part over-the-top Gospel song.  Honestly it’s not my favorite, but it marks an important mood change in the show.  The end of “Hosanna” is probably Jesus at his happiest in the entire show, and then Simon comes in and sours the mood by trying to tip the triumphant moment into a violent one.  Jesus is not truly happy again from this moment on.

9) Poor Jerusalem: Also not my fave.  It kinda reads like Webber and Rice realized that Jesus didn’t have a solo aria in Act I, so they came up with this.  But it has the distinction of containing the lyric, “To conquer death you only have to die,” which is the biggest overarching theme of the story.

10) Pilate’s Dream: Pontius Pilate might be the most underrated role in this entire show, and I love that this production has him singing this song while being dressed in judge’s robes.  

11) The Temple: The first half of this is one of the campiest numbers in Act I, at least in this production, and it’s awesome.  The second half is one of the saddest, as Jesus tries to heal the sick but finds there are too many of them.  Also the whole scene is almost entirely in 7/8 time, which I think is just cool.

12) I Don’t Know How To Love Him: Mary Magdalene’s big aria, and one of the songs I knew prior to seeing the full-length show.  This production has MM taking off her heavy lipstick and eye makeup onstage, mid-song, which is kind of cool.  Melanie C says in a BTS interview that MM’s makeup is her armor, so this is a Big Symbolic Moment.

13) Damned For All Time: The scene transition into this song is played entirely in pantomime, and I love it.  The solo guitarist gets to be onstage for a bit, A+ use of the video screen again to show Judas on CCTV, etc.  Love it.  And then this song is Judas frantically rationalizing what he’s doing, and what he’s about to do, with Caiphas and Annas just reacting with raised eyebrows and knowing looks.

14) Blood Money: This is where the tone of the show really takes a turn for the dark.  I think this might be one of Tim Minchin’s finest moments as Judas, because his facial expressions and microexpressions throughout this scene speak absolute volumes.  And the offstage chorus quietly singing “Well done Judas” as he picks up the money is a positively chilling way to end Act I.

15) The Last Supper: Act II begins with major “Drink With Me” vibes.  (Except JCS came WAY before Les Miz, so it’s probably more accurate to say that “Drink With Me” has major “The Last Supper” vibes.)  Jesus and Judas have their knock-down, drag-out fight, and it’s honestly heartbreaking, thanks again to Tim Minchin’s facial expressions.  A well-done production of JCS will really convey that Jesus and Judas were once closer than brothers, even though their relationship is at breaking point when Act I begins.

16) Gethsemane: This is Jesus’s major showpiece and one of my faves.  Jesus knows he has less than 24 hours to live, he knows he’s going to suffer, and worst of all, he doesn’t know whether it’s going to be worth it.  It’s an emotional rollercoaster to watch and to perform, and it goes on for ages: something like 6 or 7 minutes.  Fun fact: the famous G5 is not written in the score.  Ian Gillan, who played Jesus on the original concept album, just sang it that way, so most subsequent Jesuses have also done it that way.  Lindsay Ellis has a great supercut of this on YT.  John Legend notably sang the line as written during the 2018 concert.  

17) The Arrest: Judas’s Betrayer’s Kiss is played differently across different productions.  The 2012 version is pretty tame - I’ve seen clips and gifs of other productions, including the 2000 direct-to-video version, where they kiss fully on the mouth and have to be dragged apart by the guards and it is THE MOST TENDER THING.  Then the 7/8 riff from “The Temple” comes back and the 2012 version lets the video screen do its thing again as Jesus is swarmed by reporters.

18) Peter’s Denial: Not much to say about this one, as it’s basically a scene transition.  But it’s a significant moment in the Passion story, so I’m glad they included it.

19) Pilate and Christ: The 2012 production continues with the theme of Caiaphas, Annas, and Pilate all being bougie af, since Pilate intentionally looks like he just came from tennis practice during this scene.  Also he does pilates...hehehe.

20) King Herod’s Song: Tim Minchin says in a BTS interview that JCS works best when Jesus and Judas are played seriously and the rest of the production is allowed to be completely camp and wild and bizarre all around them, and he is bloody well CORRECT about that.  Case in point: King Herod.  There is not a single production of JCS that I know of where Herod is played “straight.”  He’s been played by everyone from Alice Cooper to Jack Black, and everyone puts a different zany spin on him.  In JCS 2012 he’s a chat show host in a red crushed velvet suit, who is clearly having the time of his LIFE. 

21) Could We Start Again Please: This is another of my faves.  Just a quiet moment where MM, Peter, and the disciples try to grapple with the fact that Jesus is arrested and things are going very, very badly.  This is also my favorite Melanie C moment of the 2012 show.  Her grief is very real, and the little moment she has with Peter at the end is very real.

22) Death of Judas: This is basically Tim Minchin screaming for about five minutes, and incredibly harrowing to watch on first viewing.  

23) Trial Before Pilate: Possibly my single favorite scene in the entire 2012 production.  This is another harrowing watch, but there’s so much to take in.  The “set” that the entire show takes place on is essentially just a massive staircase, and the people with power are almost always positioned above the people without power.  In this scene, the crowd shouting “Crucify Him!” is positioned above Pilate, which is a very telling clue to Pilate’s psychology during this scene.  Jesus is at the very bottom of the stairs, of course.  Excellent use of the video screen once again during the 39 Lashes, to show the lash marks building and building until the entire screen is a wash of red.  Pilate’s counting also gets more and more frantic, especially starting around “20.”  And all the while the guitar riff from “Heaven On Their Minds” is playing.  Jesus’s line “Everything is fixed and you can’t change it” is played quite differently in different productions - here it’s defiant, but elsewhere (in JCS 2000 for example) it’s almost tender, like Jesus is absolving Pilate for his part in the trial.  But it always ends the same - with Pilate almost screaming as he passes the sentence and “washes his hands” of the whole sorry business. 

24) Superstar: The most over-the-top number in the show.  Judas, who died two scenes ago, comes back to sing this.  There are soul singers.  There are girls in skimpy angel costumes.  The parkour guys from the prologue are back.  Judas pulls a tambourine out of hammerspace midway through the song.  And Jesus is silently screaming and crying as he gets hoisted onto a lighting beam while all this is going on.

25) The Crucifixion: More of a spoken-word piece than a song, it’s Jesus’s final words on the cross over eerie piano music, and another harrowing watch.

26) John 19:41: An instrumental piece in which Jesus is taken from the cross and carried, at last, to the top of the stairs, before being lowered out of sight as the video screen turns into a memorial wall and everything fades to black.

So.  I know I’m anywhere from three to fifty-one years late to this particular party, but I am on the JCS bandwagon now and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.  :)

[dustedmagazine]

Dust, Volume 7, Number 8

Big Thief

Our August collection of short reviews contains more big names than usual with singles from Big Thief and Dry Cleaning, a digital compilation from Thou, live music from Obits and a side project from members of the Bats and the Clean. Never fear, there are obscurities as well, including an improv guitar player even Bill Meyer had hardly heard of, a Norwegian emo artist in love with Texas and a death metal outfit verging into psychedelia. Our writers, this time including Tim Clarke, Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Ian Mathers, Chris Liberato and Jonathan Shaw, like what they like, big or small, hyped or unknown. We hope you’ll like some of it, too.   

Marc Barreca — The Sleeper Awakes (Scissor Tail)

The Sleeper Wakes by Marc Barreca

Odd connections abound here. One might not expect the usually acoustic-oriented Scissor Tail Recordings to make a vinyl reissue of an electronic ambient music cassette from 1986, any more than one would expect its maker to currently earn his crust as a bankruptcy judge. So, let’s just shed those expectations and get to listening. Unlike so many lower profile electronic recordings from the 1980s, which seemed targeted for a space next to the cash register of a new age bookstore, this album offers a profusion of mysteries that compound the closer you listen to them. It’s not at all obvious what sounds Barreca fed into his Akai sampler. Japanese folk music? Church chimes? A log drum jam? Tugboat engines? One hears hints of such sounds, but they’ve been warped and dredged in a thin coat of murk, so that the predominant experience is one of feeling like you’re dreaming, even if your eyes are wide open.

Bill Meyer

Big Thief — “Little Things” / “Sparrow” (4AD)

Little Things/Sparrow by Big Thief

Who knows how much more music Big Thief might have released in the last 18 months if the pandemic hadn’t tripped them up? Given the creative momentum generated by 2019’s UFOF and Two Hands, it’s fair to assume the band have plenty of music waiting in the wings. “Little Things” and “Sparrow” arrive with no sign of a new album on the horizon, so are probably being released to promote Big Thief’s upcoming US and European tour. Both songs clock in at around five minutes and handle musical repetition in different satisfying ways. Reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everything,” but hyped up on caffeine, “Little Things” feels like an exciting new direction for the band. It cycles through its whirlpooling, modulated acoustic guitar over and over, the frantic little sequence of chords never changing; the interest comes from the ways in which the rest of the instruments bob and weave in the ever-shifting, psychedelic mix. “Sparrow” is a more traditional Big Thief song, sparse and sad. Its melancholic sway is enlivened by some beautiful wavering vocal harmonies as Adrianne Lenker paints a picture of a Garden of Eden populated by sparrows, owls and eagles, culminating in Adam blaming Eve for humankind’s fall from grace.

Tim Clarke

Simão Costa — Beat Without Byte: (Un)Learning Machine (Cipsela)

Beat With Out Byte by Simão Costa

Piano preparation often makes use of modest resources — bolts and combs, strings or maybe just a raincoat tossed into the instrument’s innards. By contrast, Simão Costa’s set-up looks like took all of the entries in a robotics assembly competition and set them to work agitating a snarl of cables that met the pirated telecommunication requirements for an especially crowded favela. But whether it’s twitching motors or Costa’s own hands doing the work, the sounds that come out of his sound remarkably rich and cohesive. He stirs drifting hums, metallic sonorities, and stomping rhythms into a bracingly immediate sonic onslaught.

Bill Meyer

Cots — Disturbing Body (Boiled)

Disturbing Body by Cots

Disturbing Body is the low-key debut album by Montreal-based musician Steph Yates, who enlisted Sandro Perri to produce. Where the songs are pared back to mostly just vocals and peppy major-seventh chords on nylon-string guitar — such as “Bitter Part of the Fruit” and “Midnight at the Station” — comparisons with bossa-nova classics such as “The Girl From Ipanema” inevitably arise. Where the tempo is slower, the chord voicings are less sun-dappled, and Perri’s arrangements call upon a wider palette of instrumental colors, the songs venture into more interesting terrain, calling to mind a less haunted Broadcast. There’s an eerie sway to the opening title track, backed by rich piano chords and clattering cymbal textures. Fender Rhodes and the light clack of a rhythm track give “Inertia of a Dream” an uneasy momentum. And forlorn trumpet, percussion and piano situate “Last Sip” at closing time in a forgotten jazz club. There’s something evasive yet subtly intoxicating at work here, the album’s ten songs breezing past in half an hour, leaving plenty of unanswered questions in their wake.

Tim Clarke

Dry Cleaning — “Bug Eggs” / “Tony Speaks!” (4AD)

Bug Eggs/Tony Speaks! by Dry Cleaning

A few months on from the release of their excellent debut album, New Long Leg, Dry Cleaning have put out two more songs from the same sessions, which are featured as bonus tracks on the Japanese edition. For a band whose unique appeal is mostly attributed to Florence Shaw’s surreal lyrics and deadpan delivery, it’s heartening to hear further evidence that it’s the complete cocktail of musical ingredients — Shaw plus Tom Dowse’s inventive guitar, Lewis Maynard’s satisfyingly thick bass, and Nick Buxton’s driving drums — that alchemizes into their winning sound. The verse guitar chords of “Bug Eggs” are naggingly similar to New Long Leg’s “More Big Birds,” while the instrumental chorus has a yearning feel akin to album highlight “Her Hippo.” Maynard’s bass tone on “Tony Speaks!” is absolutely filthy, swallowing up most of the mix until Dowse’s guitar bares its teeth in a swarm of squalling wah-wah, while Shaw’s lyrics muse upon the decline of heavy industry, the environment, and crisps.

Tim Clarke

Flight Mode — TX, ’98 (Sound As Language)

TX, '98 by Flight Mode

In 1998, well before he started Little Hands of Asphalt, Sjur Lyseid spent a year in Texas at the height of the emo wave, skateboarding and going to house shows and listening to the Get Up Kids. TX, ’98 is the Norwegian’s tribute to that coming of age experience, the giddy euphorias of mid-teenage freedom filtered through bittersweet subsequent experience. “Sixteen” is the banger, all crunchy, twitchy exhilarating guitars and vulnerable pop tunefulness, its clangor breaking for wistful reminiscence, but “Fossil Fuel” waxes lyrical, its guitar riffs splintering into radiant shards, its lyrics capturing those youthful years when anything seems possible and also, somehow, the later recognition that perhaps it isn’t. It’s an interesting tension between the now-is-everything hedonism of adolescence and the rueful remembering of adulthood, encapsulate in a chorus that goes, “Well wait and see if there’s no more history/and just defend the present tense.”

Jennifer Kelly

Drew Gardner— S-T (Eiderdown Records)

S/T by Drew Gardner

Drew Gardner has been popping up all over lately, on Elkhorn’s snowed in acoustic jam Storm Sessions and the electrified follow-up Sun Cycle and as one of Jeffrey Alexander’s Heavy Lidders. Here, it’s just him and his guitar plus a like-minded rhythm section (that’s Ryan Jewell on drums and Garcia Peoples’ Andy Cush on bass), spinning off dreamy, folk-into-interstellar-journeys like “Calyx” and “Kelp Highway.” Gardner puts some muscle into some of his grooves, running close to Chris Forsyth’s wide-angle electric boogie in “Bird Food.” “The Road to Eastern Garden,” though, is pure limpid transcendence, Buddhist monastery bells jangling as Gardner’s warm, inquiring melodic line intersects with rubbery bends on bass. Give this one a little time to sit, but don’t miss it.

Jennifer Kelly

Hearth — Melt (Clean Feed)

Melt by Hearth

This pan-European quartet’s name suggests domesticity, but the fact that none of its members lives in the country of their birth probably says more about the breadth of their music. The closest geographic point of reference for the sounds that pianist Kaja Draksler, trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, and saxophonists Ada Rave and Mette Rasmussen’s make together would be Chicago’s south side. Their dynamic blend of angular structures, extended instrumental techniques, and obscurely theatrical enactments brings to mind the Art Ensemble of Chicago, even though the sounds on this concert-length recording rarely echo the AEC’s. But it is similarly charged with mystery and collective identity.

Bill Meyer

Klaus Lang / Konus Quartett — Drei Allmenden (Cubus)

Drei Allmenden (translation: Three Commons) treats the act of commission as an opportunity to create common cause. For composer and keyboardist Klaus Lang, this is a chance to push back against a long trend of separation and stratification, with musicians bound to realize the composer’s whim, no matter the cost. Invoking works from the 16th century, he penned something simple, flexible and open to embellishment. Then he pitched in with Konus Quartett, a Swiss saxophone ensemble, to get the job done. The three-part piece, which lasts 43 sublime minutes, amply rewards the submersion of ego. Lang’s slowly morphing harmonium drones and Konus’ long reed tones sound like one instrument, enriched by tendrils of sound that rise up and then sink back into the music’s body.

Bill Meyer

Lynch, Moore, Riley — Secant / Tangent (dx/dy)

Secant | Tangent by Sue Lynch, N.O. Moore, Crystabel Riley

Electric guitarist N.O. Moore is barely known in these parts. I’ve only heard him on one album with Eddie Prévost a couple years back, and the other two musicians, not at all. But on the strength of this robust performance, which was recorded at London’s Icklectick venue, it would be a loss to keep it that way. They combine acoustic sounds with electronics, courtesy of guitar effects and amplification, in an exceedingly natural fashion. Each musician also gets into the other’s business in ways that correspond to the one spicy suggestion made by one cook that elevates another’s dish to the next level. Susan Lynch’s clarinet and flute compliment Moore’s radiophonic/feedback sounds like two flashes of lightning illuminating the same dark cloud, and her vigorously pecking saxophone attack mixes with Crystabel’s cascading beats like idiosyncratically tuned drums. This is one of the first albums to be released on Moore’s dx/dy label; keep your eye out for more.

Bill Meyer

Maco Sica / Hamid Drake Tatsu Aoki & Thymme Jones—Ourania (Feeding Tube)

OURANIA by Mako Sica / Hamid Drake featuring Tatsu Aoki & Thymme Jones

Ourania is named for the muse associated with astronomy in Greek mythology, and the album has an aim for the stars quality. In 2020, Chicago’s Mako Sica lost not only the chance to play concerts, but one third of its number. Core members Brent Fuscaldo (electric bass, voice, harmonica, percussion) and Przemyslaw Krys Drazek (electric trumpet, electric guitar, mandolin) could have just hunkered down with their respective TV sets. Instead, they booked themselves three other musicians who make rising above circumstances a core practice. The duo convened at Electrical Audio with Hamid Drake (drums, percussion, Tatsu Aoki (upright bass, shamisen), and Thymme Jones (piano, organ, balloon, trumpet, voice, recorder, percussion), rolled tape for a couple hours, and walked out with this album. The 85 minute-long recording (edited to about half that length on vinyl, but the LP comes with a download card) exudes a vibe of calm, even beatitude, with twin trumpets and Fuscaldo’s echo-laden, nearly word-free vocals weaving though a sequence of patient grooves like migrational birds on the glide.

Bill Meyer

Mar Caribe — Hymn of the Mar Caribe (Mar Caribe)

Hymn of the Mar Caribe b/w Rondo for Unemployment by mar caribe

Some musicians burn to make something new; others generate attention-getting sounds designed to maximize the potential of their other earning activities; and others, well, they just want you to sway along with their version of the good sounds. Mar Caribe falls into that last category. This Chicago-based instrumental ensemble has spent most of the last decade maintaining a robust performance schedule, and it would seem that recording is pretty much an afterthought; a photo of the test pressing for this 7” was posted in May 2019, but the release show didn’t happen until August 2021. Sure, COVID can be blamed for part of the delay, but one suspects that mostly, these guys just want to play, and they didn’t bother to stuff the singles in the sleeves until they knew when they’d next be leaning over a merch table. The titular suspends anthemic brass and pedal steel over a swinging double bass cadence, and if there was a moment during the night when the band invited the audience to pledge allegiance to their favorite drink, this is what they’d be playing while they asked. Guitars lead on the flip side, whose busy twists and turns belie the implied laziness of the title, “Rondo For Unemployment.”

Bill Meyer

Mint Julep — In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep (Western Vinyl)

In A Deep And Dreamless Sleep by Mint Julep

These songs traverse a hazy, dreamlike space, diffusing dance beats, dream-y vocals and synth pulses into inchoate sensation that nonetheless retains enough rhythmic propulsion to keep your heart rate up. “A Rising Sun” filters jangly guitar and bass through a sizzle of static, letting tambourine thump gently somewhere off camera, as voices soothe and reassure. “Mirage” pounds a four-on-the-floor, but quietly, angelically, like a disco visited through astral projection or maybe a really rave-y iteration of heaven. There’s an ominous undercurrent to “Longshore Drift,” in its growly, sub-bass-y hum, but glittering bits of synth sprinkle over like fairy dust. This is indefinitely gorgeous stuff, ethereal but surprisingly energizing. Dance or drift, take your pick.

Jennifer Kelly

Monocot — Directions We Know (Feeding Tube)

Direction We Know by Monocot

Directions We Know is an LP of free-form freak-outs generated by an instrumental duo that includes one musician who you might expect to perpetuate such a ruckus, and one that you might not. The more likely character is drummer Jayson Gerycz, who may be known for keeping time with the Cloud Nothings, but has shown a willingness to wax colorizing in the company of Anthony Pasquarosa, Jen Powers and Matthew Rolin. The happy surprise is Rosali Middleman, whose singer-songwriter efforts have kept her guitar playing firmly in service of her songs. She doesn’t exactly abandon lyricism in Monocot, but the tunes serve as launching ramps for exuberant lunges into the realm of voltage-saturated sound. On “Ruby Throated,” the first of the record’s four extended jams, Middleman lofts rippling peals over a near-boil of  drums and churning loops. By the time you get to “Multidimensional Solutions,” the last and longest track, her wah-wah-dipped streams of sound have taken on a blackened quality, as though her overheating tubes have burned every note.

Bill Meyer

Obits — Die at the Zoo (Outer Battery)

Die At The Zoo by Obits

Few aughts rock bands held more promise than Obits. The four-piece headed by Hot Snakes’ Rick Froberg and Edsel’s Sohrab Habibion emerged in 2005 with a stinging, stripped-back, blues-touched sound. Froberg’s feral snarl rode a surfy, twitchy amplified onslaught, that was, by 2012 a finely tuned machine. I caught one of the live shows following Moody, Standard and Poor at small club in Northampton the same year this was recorded (so small that I was sitting on a couch next to Froberg, oblivious, for 20 minutes before the show), and what struck me was how well the band played together. The records sound chaotic, and that was certainly there in performance, but the cuts and stops were perfect, the surfy instrumental breaks (“New August”) absolutely in tune. At the time this set was recorded in the Brisbane punk landmark known as the Zoo, the band was near the peak of its considerable powers—and regrettably near the end of its run. Die at the Zoo is reasonably well recorded, rough enough to capture the band’s raucous energy, skilled enough so you can understand the words and hear all the parts. It hits all the highlights, blistering early cuts like “Widow of My Dreams,” and “Pine On,” the blues cover “Milk Cow Blues,” and later, slightly more melodic ragers like “Everything Looks Better in the Morning” and “You Gotta Lose.” The guitar work is particularly sharp throughout, its straight-on chug breaking into fiery blues licks and surfy whammy explosions. It’s a poignant reminder of a time when American rock bands played ferocious shows halfway across the world (or anywhere) as a matter of course and a fitting eulogy for Obits.

Jennifer Kelly

A Place To Bury Strangers — Hologram (Dedstrange)

Hologram EP by A Place To Bury Strangers

A Place To Bury Strangers returns with a new rhythm section and renewed focus on the elements that made its version of revivalism the loudest if not brashest of the New York aughties. Sarah and John Fedowitz on drums and bass join Oliver Ackerman on the five track EP Hologram which is the most concise and vital APTBS release for a while. For all the criticism of copyism thrown at the band since their early days, APTBS has always been as much about Ackerman’s production skills and feel for texture as musical originality and the songs on Hologram sound fantastic at volume. Beneath the sonic onslaught of fuzz and reverb, not a brick is misplaced in this intricately constructed sonic wall. True “I Might Have” is pure Jesus & Mary Chain and “In My Hive” a Wax Trax take on Spector but Hologram is an endorphin rush of guitar driven noise bound to make one forget the world, if only for a while.

Andrew Forell

Praises — EP4 (Hand Drawn Dracula)

Jesse Crowe’s work as Praises has been ongoing since 2014, but has shifted in tone, instrumentation and emphasis since then. While the first two EPs have more of a full, rock band feel, the third one and 2018’s full-length In This Year: Ten of Swords took things in a more electronic, sometimes industrial direction. It was an even better fit for the rest, probing creativity evident in Praises’ work, and 3/4s of the new EP4 are in a pleasingly similar vein. The echoing, ringing denunciations of “We Let Go” and “A World on Fire” are fine examples of Praises’ existing strengths, but the opening “Apples for My Love” is immediately captivating in a very different way. Gauzy and rapturous, it’s a reverie that keeps the satisfying textural detail of the other songs but turns them to different ends. It’s not something that was missing from Crowe’s work before — again, the other tracks here are also very good — but a reminder that what Praises has shown before is not the extent of what they can do.

Ian Mathers

The Sundae Painters — The First SP Single (Leather Jacket)

“This is a supergroup, is it not?” someone asked the Sundae Painters bassist Paul Kean on social media last year, to which he responded, “Some may choose that title. We prefer superglue.” Kaye Woodward, his wife and longtime bandmate in both The Bats and Minisnap, takes the lead vocal on “Thin Air,” one of the pair of A-sides found on their new band’s debut seven-inch. From the outset, Kean’s unmistakable bass playing and Hamish Kilgour’s (The Clean/Mad Scene) drumming lock into a psychedelic march, with the other instruments weaving like kites above, vying for position on the same breeze. “You fight your way down/You fight your way up/You wait for the dust to settle,” Woodward sings. A few gentle strums cut their way through the parade, and a guitar calls out gull-like from above, before everything trails off as if something potent has just kicked in. On the flip side, “Aversion” has an old friend-like familiarity to it, soundwise (if not lengthwise) sitting somewhere between VU’s “The Gift” and “Sister Ray.” Things begin a little stand-offish, though, like you’ve interrupted a guitar pontificating to a rapt audience — it turns its head to look you over, falling momentarily silent, before picking right back up where it left off. Kilgour’s spoken vocals join the conversation, as the song builds towards a groovy kind of fever pitch. “You look a little stoned,” he says, before responding to his own observation. “Well me I’m a little bit groggy/But it ain’t too foggy/I can see some way of getting out of here.” By this point, both guitars (played by Woodward and Tall Dwarfs’ Alec Bathgate) are full-on screeching and howling, and as the song sputters to a sudden finish, our man’s left waiting for someone to buy him “a ride out the gate.”

Chris Liberato    

Thou — Hightower (Self-released)

Hightower by Thou

Hightower is the latest in a string of digital compilations from Thou, most of which collect songs that have been previously released on small-batch splits, 7” records and other hyper-obscure media that briefly circulated through the metal underground. You might be tempted to pronounce that a cynical cash-grab, but Thou has posted Hightower (along with previous compilations, like Algiers, Oakland and Blessings of the Highest Order, a killer collection of Nirvana covers) on their official Bandcamp page as a name-yo’-price download. Thanks, band. Beyond convenience, Hightower has an additional, if a sort of inside-baseball, attraction. The band has re-recorded a few of its older songs with its latest, three-guitar line-up. Longtime listeners will recognize “Smoke Pigs” and “Fucking Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean,” which already sounded terrifyingly massive back in 2008 and 2007, respectively. The expanded instrumentation, new arrangements and better production give the songs even more power and depth, all the way down to the bottom of the effing ocean. Yikes. And there are a few additional touches, like K.C. Stafford’s clean vocals on “Fucking Chained…,” which provide an effective complement to Bryan Funck’s inimitably scabrous howl. Rarely has being pummeled and feeling bummed out been so vivifying.

Jonathan Shaw

Tropical Fuck Storm — Deep States (Joyful Noise)

Deep States by Tropical Fuck Storm

Fueled by exasperation as much as anger, the new album by Melbourne’s Tropical Fuck Storm rounds on the myriad ways in which the world has become a “Bumma Sanger” as leader Gareth Liddiard puts it on the eponymous song about COVID lockdown. A roiling meld of psychedelic garage garnished with elements of hip hop and electronic noise it’s close in method and mood if not sound to another Australian provocateur JG Thirwell whose Foetus project girded maximalist surfaces with rigid discipline. If the Tropical Fuck Storm sought to mirror current conditions, they succeed but lack of clarity in both production and intent makes Deep States a frustrating experience. Backing vocals from Fiona Kitschin (bass), Erica Dunn (keys and guitar) and Lauren Hammel (drums) leaven Liddiard’s blokey pronouncements and there are some good sounds and biting words but the band’s determination to overelaborate and underdevelop musical ideas makes this album seem like a lost opportunity.

Andrew Forell

Marta Warelis / Carlos “Zingaro” / Helena Espvall /Marcelo dos Reis — Turquoise Dream (JACC)

Turquoise Dream by Marta Warelis, Carlos "Zíngaro", Helena Espvall, Marcelo dos Reis

Turquoise Dream documents an example of an encounter that is a mainstay of avant-garde jazz festivals, in which out of towners mix it up locals that they may or may not know. This particular concert, which took place at the Jazz ao Centro Festival in 2019, is one such encounter that deserves to live past the night when it transpired. It featured three stringed instrument players who live in Portugal and a Polish pianist who is based in Holland. But they don’t sound like strangers at all. Violinist Zingaro, cellist Espvall, and guitarist dos Reis blend like flashes of sunlight reflecting off of waves, adding up to a sound that is bright and ever-changing. Warelis, who is equally resourceful with her head under the lid of her piano as she is at the keyboard, adding fleet but substantial responses to her hosts’ quicksilver interactions. The result is music that is resolutely abstract but closely engaged.

Bill Meyer

Wharflurch — Psychedelic Realms ov Hell (Gurgling Gore)

PSYCHEDELIC REALMS OV HELL by Wharflurch

Wharflurch is just plain fun to say — but there are at least two ways in which the name also makes sense for the band that has chosen it: it has a bilious, nauseous quality that matches the vibe of the pustulent death metal you’ll hear on Psychedelic Realms ov Hell; and if you separate the words, you can conjure a sodden, rotten wooden structure, swaying vertiginously over a marshy expanse of water, which is filled with alligators and decaying organic material. Imagine that sway, and that stink, and then imagine yourself collapsing into the viscous fluid, soon to be gator chow. Sounds like Florida, and that’s exactly from whence Wharflurch has emerged. Which also makes sense. Is Wharflurch’s music “psychedelic”? Depends on what you hear in that word. If you want to see hippies dancing ecstatically on a verdant, sun-drenched stretch of Golden Gate Park, then no. But if you have spent any time in the warped, dementedly distorted spaces that psychedelics can open (less happily perhaps, but very powerfully), then yes. Wharflurch likes to accent its meaty riffs and muscular thumps with weird flutters and electronic effects that frequently have a gastric, flatulent quality to them. The saturated and sickly pinks and greens on the album art do a pretty good job of capturing the music’s tones. So do the song titles: “Stoned Ape Apocalypse,” “Bog Body Boletus,” “Phantasmagorical Fumes.” Still game? I’m sorry. But I’ll also be standing right there next to you, on that wobbly, lurching wharf, watching the gators swim near.

Jonathan Shaw

Whisper Room — Lunokhod (Midira Records)

Lunokhod by Whisper Room

That the title of Whisper Room’s fifth album is taken from Soviet lunar rovers makes a certain sense, given how potentially frustrating it might have been for the trio to be working at such a distance. Generally their other records are recorded live, in one room, seeing Aidan Baker (guitar), Jakob Thiesen (drums) and Neil Wiernik (bass) exploring simultaneously, hitting whatever junctions of psychedelic/shoegazing/motorik sound come to them. With Baker in Berlin and travel understandably limiited, this time they recorded their parts separately, layering them together (and bringing in sound designer Scott Deathe to add the kind of pedal processing their sound engineer normally does live). The result certainly sounds as collaborative as ever, seven seamless tracks making up nearly an hour that makes the journey from the friendly, clattering percussion of “Lunokhod01” to the centrifugal ambience of “Lunokhod07” feel perfectly natural. Even though it explores just as much inner and outer space as Whisper Room ever have, there’s something very approachable about Lunokhod that makes it one of their best.

Ian Mathers

[thedemostop]

Top Female Singers: Iconic Voices & Musical Legends

Women have made major contributions to the evolution of music. From the first jazz and blues diva to the modern pop and rock aristocracy, these women have made a lasting impact on the music business. Their powerful voices have echoed down the years, breaking down barriers and setting new standards. In this book, we will examine the lives, careers, and timeless songs of a few well-known and recognizable well-known famous female singers who have made a significant impact on the music industry.

Famous female singers

Both onstage and off, women have made significant contributions to the music industry. Prominent female vocalists in pop, rock, jazz, blues, and other musical genres have left a lasting impression. In addition, they have had success as instrumentalists, conductors, songwriters, and composers. Pop musicians like Taylor Swift and Beyoncé, for instance, have had a big impact on the genre.

Most famous female singers

Madonna

Birth date and place: Madonna Louise Ciccone, known simply as Madonna, was born on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan.

Hit songs: Her debut single was “Everybody,” released on October 6, 1982. Some of her most popular songs include “Like a Virgin,” “La Isla Bonita,” “Like a Prayer,” “Vogue,” “Take a Bow,” “Frozen,” “Music,” “Hung Up,” and “4 Minutes.”

Highest-selling record: The highest-selling album by Madonna is “The Immaculate Collection”, which sold over 30,000,000 copies.

Awards: Among the famous female singers, Madonna has won seven Grammy Awards out of 28 nominations. She has also won two Golden Globe Awards. In total, she has won 430 awards and received 817 nominations.

Life journey: Madonna was born in Bay City, Michigan, and lost her mother when she was a little child. She moved to New York City in the late 1970s to pursue a career in dance. She performed with several rock bands before landing a record contract with Sire Records. Her follow-up album "Like a Virgin" made her a superstar, peaking the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks and solidifying her status as the Pop Queen of the 20th century. Madonna has continuously reinvented herself over the course of her four decades-long career, pushing the boundaries of fashion, music, and entertainment.

Céline Dion

Birth date and place: Céline Dion was born on March 30, 1968, in Charlemagne, Quebec, Canada.

Hit songs: Her debut song was “Ce n’était qu’un rêve,” which she wrote at the age of 12 with the help of her mother and her brother Jacques. Some of her most popular songs include “The Power of Love,” “Because You Loved Me,” “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,””I’m Your Angel,” “That’s the Way It Is,” “I’m Alive,” and her signature song “My Heart Will Go On.”

Highest-selling record: The highest-selling album by Céline Dion is “Falling into You,” which sold over 32,000,000 copies.

Awards: Céline Dion has won 5 Grammy Awards, 12 World Music Awards, 7 Billboard Music Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 20 Juno Awards, and 50 Felix Awards.

Life journey: Céline Dion was the youngest of fourteen children when she was born in Charlemagne, Quebec. She began singing with her family when she was five years old. She was discovered by renowned producer René Angélil when she was twelve years old, and he gave her a major break in 1981 with the release of the album "La Voix du bon Dieu." Her victory in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest propelled her to fame. Her debut English-language album, "Unison," came out in 1990, and she went on to become a popular pop singer, primarily in North America and a few other English-speaking countries.

Taylor Swift

Birth date and place: Taylor Alison Swift was born on December 13, 1989, in West Reading, Pennsylvania.

Hit songs: Her debut song was “Tim McGraw”. Taylor Swift has numerous hit songs. Some of them include “Love Story,” “You Belong with Me,” “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” “Shake It Off,” “Blank Space,” “Bad Blood,” “Look What You Made Me Do,” “Cruel Summer,” “Cardigan,” “Willow,” “Anti-Hero,” “All Too Well,” and “Is It Over Now?”.

Highest-selling record: Her highest-selling record is the album “1989”, which sold over 14,748,116 copies.

Awards: Taylor Swift has received numerous awards throughout her career. These include 12 Grammy Awards (with three for Album of the Year), 1 Primetime Emmy Award, 40 American Music Awards (including Artist of the Decade – 2010s), 23 MTV Video Music Awards, and 40 Billboard Music Awards.

Life journey: Taylor Swift is among the most well-known and successful female vocalists of the modern era. She was interested in music from an early age. When she was nine years old, she started acting and vocal classes in New York City. Later on, she developed a taste for country music, finding inspiration in performers like Shania Twain and Faith Hill. At the age of twelve, she began writing songs and taking up the guitar. At fourteen, she left Pennsylvania and moved to Nashville, where she played her demo CD for anyone who would listen. Her persistence paid off, as "Tim McGraw" debuted at the age of sixteen. Taylor credits her success to her steadfast desire to follow through despite her fair share of scandals.

Shakira

Birth date and place: Shakira was born on February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia.

Hit songs: Shakira has numerous hit songs. Her debut song was “Magia”. Some of her other popular songs include “Whenever, Wherever, ” “Hips Don’t Lie,” “La Tortura,” “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa),” and “Can’t Remember to Forget You.”

Highest-selling record: This famous female singer’s highest-selling record is the album “Laundry Service,” which sold over 13 million copies worldwide.

Awards: Shakira has won numerous awards, including 3 Grammy Awards and 14 Latin Grammy Awards, making her the most-awarded Latin artist ever.

Life journey: Shakira is the stage name of Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll. Shakira started belly dance at an early age. Her father is from Lebanon, while her mother is from Colombia. She had started creating songs and participating in talent events by the time she was ten years old. In 1990, she got help from a local theater producer to set up an audition with a representative of Sony Corp. She then agreed to a record deal.

Conclusion

These well-known female vocalists have made a lasting impression on the music industry as compelling entertainers and powerful vocals.

Along the process, they have inspired numerous aspiring musicians across genres, decades, and countries. Their voices will reverberate for years to come because of their skill, passion, and commitment, which have left their names inscribed into the annals of music history.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Give a Ghost a Break

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3KBMuVz by TheyWereToFarGone Danny Fenton was your typical 16-year-old boy. Well, typical in the sense that he was a half-ghost who battled other ghosts to protect his small town. Aside from that, he was just your average, sleep-deprived teenager. Danny Fenton knew he was adopted, and it wasn't a well-kept secret. However, what he didn't know was that he had a twin sibling, and astonishingly, they were both the biological children of Bruce Wayne, a billionaire who ran Wayne Industries by day and moonlighted as the vigilante Batman by night. What happens when Danny discovers this hidden truth, and what unfolds when they both reveal their secret identities to each other? Words: 6, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Danny Phantom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Alfred Pennyworth, Sam Manson, Tucker F, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Duke Th, Maddie Fenton, Jack Fenton, Barbara Gordon, Clockwork (Danny Phantom) Additional Tags: Danny Fenton and Damian Wayne are Twins, Good Sibling Damian Wayne, Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, Danny Fenton Lives in Gotham City (DCU), Good Sibling Jazz Fenton, Good Sibling Jason Todd, Good Sibling Dick Grayson, Good Sibling Tim Drake, Good Sibling Cassandra Cain, Good Sibling Duke Thomas, Found Family, Danielle "Dani" Phantom is Called Ellie, Younger Sibling Danielle "Dani" Phantom, Batman - Freeform, danny phantom - Freeform, dcu - Freeform, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Justice League (DCU) - Freeform read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/3KBMuVz

[britcision]

Okay I know you said Tim or Damian

Let me argue for Dick

Specifically young Dick who did backflips everywhere for literally no reason

Danny cannot do a backflip out of ghost form because flying is cheating and is caught by Alfred within 20 minutes

However Alfred is sympathetic and becomes Danny’s guide and informs him that if he doesn’t need to be fished out of the chandelier by the end of the day Bruce will become suspicious too

Dick meanwhile keeps trying to do a backflip just without paying attention and keeps falling. Luckily this body doesn’t really take damage and heals real fast

He explains it away by claiming he wants to learn to get it right and yeah Danny’s weird like that so it passes with Sam and Tucker

It does not pass with Jazz

Double bonus points if Jazz does not yet know Danny is Phantom

Luckily for both boys since they are in each others’ bodies they do have each others muscle memories so Danny picks up Dick’s gymnastics like he’s been trained for them the second he stops trying and just lets the body go

Dick on the other hand has no fucking clue why he keeps running for the bathroom the second there’s a cold feeling in his mouth and winds up sitting there confused through at least 2 ghost attacks before Tucker comes in after him

Dick goes for “look I can’t do the thing anymore I dunno why it just isn’t working” hoping Tucker will fill him in on “The Thing”

Tucker… buys it, declares it a problem, runs to grab Sam to help Dick transform, and WILL NOT provide more details for suddenly super worried Dick

Helping Dick transform takes the shape of a LOT of near death experiences that are worrying him more and more and eventually just yeeting him into an ongoing ectobeam, because controlled dying is hard to trigger until you’ve died

That works, Dick is ecstatic with his new super powers, his body’s friends are super into his “new” fighting style and ask if he wants to backflip to be more like Robin

Dick agrees enthusiastically and successfully teaches Tucker to backflip too

Now, Dick being around 16 means there is a canon-adjacent world where we don’t get batsibs, but canon is for cowards and quitters and there’s a billion DC fandom ways around it even ignoring the rat’s nest that is DC’s various canons:

- reverse Robin AU; what it says on the tin. Damian was Robin first, Dick is the youngest Robin after Jason

- alternate first meetings; might be Dick meeting Jason and Tim before Bruce, might be Jason jacking Alfred’s car early, point is they’re here out of order

- time jump; keeps mostly the same events, compacts the timeline so the age difference is a couple years tops and into the soup they go

However, there is also another option:

- we see the baby bats before they are siblings

Tim and his stalker obsession also quickly works out that this Robin may have Dick’s body, but he sure ain’t Dick Grayson. He corners Danny at school to demand explanations

Danny wanders across Baby Jason in Crime Alley on a patrol after his dad’s been beating his ass, patches him up and gives him a Robin Whistle to call if he needs help because Danny doesn’t actually know Dick’s patrol route he’s wandering for fun

Steph is located after having “run away” from home again, angry with her supervillain dad and Danny can REALLY relate to that despite assuring her he can’t but his parents are also wild

(Steph leaves this encounter actually super relieved her dad isn’t a mad scientist that actually sounds way worse. Her dad gets his first hug in 3 years when she finds him

She will later be super confused that the Graysons are not mad scientists until Danny and Dick meet up and explain)

Damian and Cass get respective peeks in by noticing their guardians tracking what has happened to Dick and Danny because death cults are fun for all parties

Also it’s super important that every time Danny accidentally tries to go ghost as Dick he does a backflip instead

This habit translates back over to when he’s in his normal body because Dick stubbornly taught him to do flips (whether or not Danny’s any good at them… well, his transformation sequence includes at least an attempt at a backflip now anyway)

currently imagining a freaky friday dpxdc crossover in which one of the batkids gets kidnapped by cultists whose plan is to give the ghost king a physical anchor in this world by offering a sacrifice for the king to inhabit. however, given that danny is not fully dead, the moment the spell completes the aforementioned batkid gasps awake in a small blue bedroom with NASA posters and glow in the dark stars, and danny wakes up on the cold concrete floor of a warehouse amidst groveling cultists

[dwtsfun]

Dancing with the Stars Season 29 Week 10: Let’s Talk

So I spent some extra time really thinking about how I want to approach talking about this week. There are many parts and I want to address and I wanna do it as thoroughly as I can. So first let me get the trivial things out of the way. Tyra looked amazing. I loved the judges’ entrance. CAI looked incredible too. Bruno looked great. Derek’s suit would’ve looked better if it were a different color. Maybe a darker and cooler color would’ve been better, like a green, blue or purple. 

Okay now let me address the elephant in the room. Nelly. So here’s where I stand. He deserves to be in the final as much as anyone else that is there right now. Period. You can dislike it all you want, but he earned his spot. He is not a Skeleton type where he hasn’t improved, can’t dance for shit, talks shit about EVERYONE and expects to be rewarded high scores for terrible dances. From what we have all seen, Nelly seems to be genuinely shocked that he’s being received well and at the fact that he is doing as well as he is. And he’s hasn’t shown a sense of entitlement that Skeleton always had surrounding him. Plus, he minds his business and doesn’t bad mouth the other celebs. So I’m going to fully reject that comparison. It’s asinine.

“But he was the worst dancer left!” Okay. And? Your point? This is not new. We have had plenty of celebs who were not one of the best dancers make it to the finals. Kelly Osbourne made the finals over Aaron Carter and Joanna Krupa. Cristian de la Fuente made it over Mario. Marie Osmond made it over Sabrina Bryan and Jennie Garth. Jerry Rice made it over Lisa Rinna. Bristol Palin and Bill Engvall made it over everyone. Candace and Alek beat out a ton of people. Noah made it in over Nastia. Ginger dumbass (I actually have real issues with this lady) made it in over Wanya. David Ross got second place. Lauren Alaina got in over James van der Beek. And Nelly making it as far as he has should not be shocking. He’s got the biggest name of everyone on the show. He’s not a bad dancer (he’s actually pretty decent and better than most of the people that I just listed). And his journey is the quintessential DWTS journey. The audience loves a person that comes in with no experience, embraces the experience and improves as the weeks go on. So it’s very strange to me that Nelly is garnering this type of reaction because he’s “the worst left”. It’s almost like a lot of fans have never watched this show before. So I have to wonder what is driving this issue with him (I know why and I’m sure you all know too). It’s the same thing that drove (and still drives the uproar) for Jacoby placing higher than Aly back in season 16.

“But what about his sexual assault allegations! He shouldn’t succeed because of those.” Yes, I know those are surrounding him. Yes, I know he’s been arrested. Yes, I know it likely happened (and for those of you that are going to come in here acting like I’m doubting survivors, I am not. But I have a platform and I’m not trying to be sued if anyone on his team comes across this post). I am not absolving him of that. BUT, many of the fans don’t know that. To them, he’s just the really famous rapper that made those couple of songs that they like and has worked with Tim McGraw. He might even be their favorite rapper. We also cannot suddenly choose to take the moral high ground when it comes to Nelly, while still watching and supporting this show. This show has casted several different types of abusers, racists, downright hateful people and alleged MURDERERS since it’s inception. And it sympathizes with them. This is actually a shoe where many stars go so that they can try to rehab their image. So that moral high ground approach just doesn’t work for this show. Especially not when there is another alleged abuser sitting right next to him. You can make the personal choice not to vote for him for whatever reason. That is fine. But you also have to know that your continued support of the show is going to allow them to keep casting these types of celebrities.

“But Skai and Johnny were just better.” Yes. That is very true. AND people weren’t voting for them in the way that they were voting for everybody else. Each of them had already had at least one bottom 2 appearance. It made sense for them to both end up in the bottom 3 on double elimination night and be sent home. It’s actually what should have happened to Ally last season when she ended up in the bottom 2 with James.

“But his dances sucked!” I will get to his dances from Monday later on in the post. But his dances throughout the season largely did not suck. I will give you his first paso. That was a mess. The rest of his dances were decent to very good.

“Women have it harder than men on this show!” Well see, here is where need some more nuance. White men (pros and celebs alike) get rewarded for the bare minimum on this show. The judges will (and have) rip apart a Black, Indigenous or Asian man very easily. I would actually say that white women are more fairly treated than any other group besides their white male counterparts. The rest of us fall below everyone else in the social hierarchy.

Okay. I’ve gone on a lot so I’m going to make these rankings pretty short.

1. Skai and Alan- I am ranking these based on my personal enjoyment of both dances, So if you’ve followed me for a long time, you know that I love me a good Viennese waltz. And this was beautiful. Skai’s top line is gorgeous. She was very elegant. And the balance of confidence and vulnerability was something I have not seen from Skai this season. Her cha-cha was a definite redemption. I thought she did a great job with her hip action. She was loose. She was sure of herself. She was confident. I’m glad Skai got to have a week where everything was just top notch. If she had to leave, this was the perfect note to leave on.

2. Johnny and Britt- I really loved both of these dances as well. I was shocked at how well their salsa went. Johnny seemed to do a much better job of understanding the movement of it and executing it. As for the jazz, it was amazing. I loved it. And I loved that it didn’t seem like the freestyle lite routines that we’re used to seeing when couples are assigned jazz. These two should be incredibly proud of everything that they accomplished. I spent the season comparing Johnny to Evan Lysacek and while I think Evan beats Johnny in ballroom, I think Johnny was the overall better dancer.

3. Justina and Sasha- I really really liked this tango. I’m not sure if I would’ve given it a 10, because there were definite issues with her frame throughout. But, it was a huge improvement over their last one, so I’m okay with it. She wasn’t hopping throughout the dance and there was a difference in the way she embodied it that I just liked more. Maybe it was the lack of the character thrown on top of a dance that already has a distinct built in character. As for their contemporary, it was very pretty. I don’t care much for that style, but the perfect score was well deserved. 

4. Nelly and Daniella- Like everyone else tonight, Nelly definitely brought his A-game. That paso was a huge improvement from the first time that he did it. There was way more artistry this time around. He was shaping properly minus a few moments. He was smooth and intentional. It was actually very good. His feet still need work, but this was a very nice dance. I liked that Daniella left his shirt off because we really got to see all of the shaping. He is also very nice to look at lol. I honestly felt like this could have been a very solid 27. I could even see Bruno throwing in a 10 because of how attentive he was to the smaller details of this dance. As for the jive, this was actually the dance where I felt Nelly was most at ease. To me, this was their best dance of the season. That final gear that I could sense they hadn’t tapped into yet, was finally realized. Now from the way a lot of the fans were talking, you’d think this dance was a disaster. But it was far from it. He messed up the choreography a few times, so I don’t think it should’ve gotten a 30. But it was no less than a 27. Everything else he did was actually really good. Daniella put in a lot of content into this dance and he really nailed it. Also, recently there have been a ton of dances that were given perfect scores that may not have deserved them (including a few this season). So I don

5. Kaitlyn and Artem- Their paso was a definite improvement over the first time they did it. And I think it was technically the best dance of the first round. However, I still wasn’t feeling it. It was still too restrained for my liking. And while Derek tried to explain it away by saying that was the character of the dance, I just can’t let that slide.Their contemporary was beautiful though. By the time we got to their dance, I was all contemporary’d out because it was the last of three. So I didn’t appreciate it as much at first. But upon my second and third viewing of it, I actually really liked it. Everything that I had wanted from her in the paso and the Argentine tango was sitting right in this dance. I wish she had taken some of that and put it into those two dances as well. I might’ve actually been able to truly get behind her.

6. Nev and Jenna- Their foxtrot was an improvement but like my feeling with Kaitlyn, I just didn’t care. It was good. I don’t feel anything when he dances. It feels very hollow. His contemporary was nice but of the three contemporaries, I liked it the least. It didn’t really stand out. It was there. It was good. Perfect even. I wasn’t all that impressed though. I wish he would stop lying about his dance experience. 

So that’s it. Let me know your thoughts on the night and I will talk to you all soon.