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Kevin Shirley's Studio Diary — The Final Frontier — 2010

January 6, 2010 Los Angeles - Nassau Been working flat-out at home in Malibu. I'm pretty burnt out. I've just remixed the classic Deep Purple album, Come Taste The Band over the New Year, and just recorded six new tracks with a brand new band this last weekend. Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham and keyboard wiz Derek Sherinian (tentatively calling themselves Black Country). So, I am pretty wiped out. The next adventure on my horizon is producing the new Iron Maiden album - this one to be recorded in the Bahamas.

Left the family, sadly, in the early hours of today, and met Jared Kvitka at LAX. He is to be my assistant and the engineer on the new Iron Maiden album. We fly together to Nassau in the Bahamas, where we'll cut the new album at Compass Point Studios. Maiden have made three of their huge albums of the 80's there. Piece of Mind, Powerslave and Somewhere In Time, I believe. It's cold in Nassau when we land -- highly unusual, but all of the States is mired in a "Deep Freeze" and the Bahamas are experiencing the runoff. Studio manager Sherrie Manning meets us at customs and immigration, and once the work permit thing is ironed out, she shows us to our accommodations. In the early evening I see Steve, Adrian and Janick at the local pub for a beer and walk back home. A cold night.

January 7, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Bump into Steve in the apartment complex parking lot - I have opted not to have a rental car so Steve kindly takes me to the supermarket and we push trolleys around like two old queens, doing their weekly shopping. Quite a sight! Nassau is expensive -- half a trolley of basics is just shy of $300!

Off to the studio, and the gear has just arrived - mine from L.A. and the band's from England. The crew, Sean, Charlie and Michael begin unloading the equipment. Not much for Jared and I to do at this stage as drums, amps, guitars, etc start escaping their packing cases.

January 8, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Drums are up, Guitar cabs are up -- the day is spent wiring, plugging things in, putting microphones up and doing line checks by studio owner and tech-wiz Terry Manning and Jared. It's a very complex setup -- the studio is basically one big room, and there are not any isolation booths in which to put guitar amps to avoid the leakage into the other instruments as we do record the basic tracks with the whole band playing together live. So 'Arrys bass speaker goes in an adjacent office -- the three guitar cabinets go into a second studio, with about 100 feet of high quality speaker cable running from the amp heads, while Nicko's huge drumkit is in the corner of the main studio, so they can all play together and interact with one another. The little tiki-hut vocal booth, originally made for Mick Jagger in the eighties, is where Bruce will sing to get a little separation, but it's still in the main room and there's just no escaping Nicko's booming bombast! The old Neve V series console at Compass Point isn't on it's last legs, but it's definitely seen better days. We don't use any of the console channels for anything other than monitoring -- every microphone has it's own preamp and feeds the Pro Tools recording system. Most channels won't be recorded with EQ. The exceptions are the kick and snare drums, which have copycat Neve 1073 EQs across them. Nothing much, a little top on the snare and a little scoop on the kick -- as Nicko has no padding and the drum sound very resonant. January 9, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Final touches are made to the guitar rigs -- the crew string the guitars and the studio is made ready. We get sounds on everything and the road crew play AC/DC's Highway To Hell to test the systems. Ironic, as the iconic Back in Black album was cut in this very room! We finish up about 6pm, and Jared and I head to Compass Point Resort across the road, and have a drink as we watch American NFL football and the Eagles lose their wildcard game. Jared is from Philly. Michael Kenney drives back from the apartment complex in the rain to pick me up and get me back home. I have hiccups...

January 10, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Day off today -- the weather is miserable. Rainy and windy. I'll stay home and watch football, and work on the "Black Country" Hughes/Bonamassa recordings. I have Pro Tools on my laptop, and quite enjoy the zen of working at my own pace, on headphones. Enjoyed watching an NFL playoff game in my apartment and then Steve Gadd, Maiden's Road manager called, saying Bruce and Davey were getting in and wanted to meet me. So off to the bar and dinner and a chat with the lads, then it's off home.

January 11, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Started tracking today -- was very funny seeing all the band assemble at Compass Point, and they all share a similar headspace, all exclaiming "holy fuck, remember when we were here 25 years ago -- it's still the same!!!!" First we worked on getting everyone's headphones sorted etc. Cut the basics for the ballad Coming Home by 2.30pm, then went on to track called El Dorado. Got 2 takes done, when technical gremlins jumped in -- Adrian's headphones became intermittent, Janick's guitar kept cutting out, then Bruce's vocal microphone fried, then the vocal compressor fried -- but despite all these, we still managed to get 7 takes done -- one of which I'm sure will be quite good enough to begin with. Then at Nicko's bidding, it was off to the Travellers Rest for all of us and a dinner of banana daiquiris and minced crawfish -- apparently band staples 25 years ago.

Haiti just had an earthquake this evening which looks to be devastating... and as we are on a tsunami warning for the Bahamas, we headed back to the studio and retrieved the hard drive for storage on higher ground for the night.

January 12, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Cut an awesome track called Isle Of Avalon today. There were no high waves overnight, and no tsunami here, but we hear reports that Haitian capital Port-Au-Prince is in ruins. I donated to Red Cross this morning as they'll need all the help they can get. My family are home in L.A. and are off to Disneyland today. I miss them...

Wednesday January 13, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Up early and swam across the bay in front of the apartments. Glenn Hughes rang just as I was leaving, to discuss Black Country, (his new band) -- and then I drove to the studio with Steve, Janick and Charlie (Nicko's tech). I had to stop for a cup of Starbucks en route. Once at the studio, I reviewed the track Isle Of Avalon and overdubbed new guitars with all the guitarists - the Three Amigos - playing together. They have a unique chemistry playing together and the signature gallop in the guitars is a result of their individual rhythms combined. After that was wrapped up, it was everyone back in the room and we cut a new song - Mother of Mercy...

Banana Daiquiris have started something -- Bruce came in this morning with a brown paper bag filled with alcoholic ingredients to brew disaster -- 63 proof rum, etc., and after they had cut the track, Nicko and Bruce proceeded to "experiment" with making the perfect banana daiquiri -- blowing up the blender in a stinky electric puff of smoke in the process! Really......

Finished the new track at about 6.30pm, then Nicko, Bruce and I went in search of more daiquiris, Nicko was on a mission and wanted to take in a bit of adult entertainment and do some gambling, and he wanted me to tag along and be his foil -- so I said I was up for a little fun, but that I needed to get back home by midnight - after all I do have a job to do! A determined Nicko went off and I ended up having a beer with Jan at the end of the night, who's about the most normal of the lot I suppose!! Charlie appeared later after putting Nicko to bed about 10ish, after Nicko had cleared the casino at the Sheraton on Cable Beach and lost a bit of money! That's our Nick......... we do love him so!

Thursday January 14, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Not everybody was up to cutting a track today so the band had the day off, and I went to work alone, to go through all the takes and compile a great performance of Mother Of Mercy.

Friday January 15, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Today we cut a Janick song: The Talisman. It really came out great and after the session, Adrian, Dave, Adrian's wife Nathalie and I went to dinner at Nobu in Atlantis. Chocolate martinis and wine started the evening, and then it was off to a late night rock 'n roll bar called Crazy Johnny's where the night turned into morning... I lost my driver's license and credit card and we got home in the very early hours - all the worse for wear. I'm getting too old for these shenanigans!

Saturday January 16, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Woke with a teensy hangover -- to the wrath of my wife back in the States, as she says she doesn't want to be a widow just yet, and I headed in to work nonetheless, after a swim in the ocean, to sort thru the track The Talisman. Sounds amazing, even if I do feel like Death warmed up! Home to recuperate and watch the NFL playoffs... Saints and Arizona...

Sunday January 17, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Woke feeling almost normal! Crazy Johnny, proprietor of his eponymous club -- scene of Friday night's debauched shenanigans - took a bunch of us out to Rose Island with his kid, Dylan, where he has a house on the hill overlooking an absolutely perfect gorgeous white beach -- a great day out. His 400HP Yamaha engines zipped us across the ocean in his boat at "a strong 50" knots, and it was very enjoyable. Janick was the only one from the band to come along; the rest either busy or perhaps even still suffering -- so tech Sean from the crew and his girl Sarah, Tour Road Manager Steve Gadd, and engineer Jared Kvitka made up the rest of the pirate crew. Back in time to watch the New York JETS make it to the conference championship! After living on the U.S. East Coast for 16 years, I'm a declared supporter

Monday Jan 18, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Up at 7am, a great way to start this beautiful day with a visit to the Dentist this morning (I chipped one tooth and a crown fell off another over the weekend). Seems I'm just falling apart! A pretty Bahamian dentist Dr Coverly worked on my teeth in her high heels and a nicely coiffed do. A first for me!

Nicko flew back from Florida today so we didn't start until 1pm. Cut a great proggy tune of Adrian's called Starblind -- which came out very strongly, I think....

Tuesday Jan 19, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Having trouble sleeping -- seemed to be up all night long last night. Late-night text chats with Joe Bonamassa seem to be the case most nights these days, as he sleeps weird hours, planning and scheming... and chatting with his girlfriend in a far off land. I'm the therapist... Recorded another new Maiden song once we finally got going today. It was a late start at the studio as there was no power at all -- Bahamian Electricity was off until 1.30pm, but the song was quite straight forward - even quite simple for Maiden but very powerful: The Final Frontier -- almost more like a rollicking Mellencamp or Tom Petty type song than a Maiden song, but it looks like being the anchor tune for the new album. We kept it pretty raw!

Wed Jan 20, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Didn't sleep last night. Cut a highly complex song today, one of Davey's I believe, The Man Who Would Be King -- one which the band hadn't managed to rehearse beforehand as Janick had cut his hand very badly just as they were starting to learn it and run through it at the pre-recording rehearsals in France -- so he had been rushed to hospital and had surgery on his hand and fingers - the upshot being that the song was cut in sections and pieced together today. It was very difficult. Bruce has decided he didn't want to stay in the fairly boring accommodations we're in, that are a residential complex, so has moved to the Sheraton which is probably a lot more fun and goes on much later than we do, and consequently was a little tired today, which didn't really help. Well, he's at least not flying anywhere…….

Thurs Jan 21, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas I've been having trouble sleeping at night, so Maiden Road manager Steve Gadd gave me a sleeping tab, and I finally slept great all night. Got up, went to the gym and worked out with a trainer (first time in years), and really enjoyed it. Cut a great Deep Purple-ish tune today -- tentatively titled House of Dr. D! I'm pretty sure that title won't stick as it's pretty uniformly sneered at. (It was renamed The Alchemist. KS) Nicko, normally loves the way his drums come out on all the albums, and asked respectfully if I minded if he watched while I edited the takes, and he promised to not say anything -- I of course said I didn't mind, but once I began working, he couldn't stop talking and admonishing me the whole while, about his mistakes, which he calls "Nickoisms", and which I was attempting to repair, so I had to stop the session. Update tomorrow, when we cut the last song, which Steve is still working on tonight and it promises to be an epic... ahhh, the Mighty Maiden!!!

Friday January 22, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas We cut a very intricate piece today. Where The Wild Wind Blows. Nobody had heard it at all and Steve had all these ideas, so we cut about 10 totally different melodic pieces -- he'd show the band then we'd cut a few takes. He shows everyone the song and whistles the melodies to everyone. Nicko was unusually reserved today, but played very solidly and well. We ended up with over two hours of recorded music, which I attempted to start editing as the evening closed in on us, but Steve was totally wiped out - he'd forgotten to eat and drink all day, such was his concentration -- and I don't even know how the song pieces fit together yet, so it will have to wait 'til we get together on Monday! Steve won't come in over the weekend normally, as his weekends are mostly chock-full with his kids activities, and he is first and foremost a dedicated father.

Saturday Jan 23rd, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Went to workout at the gym early then on to the studio, and spent the entire day editing some tracks recorded for Black Country in Malibu -- Black Country is the group I put together with Glenn Hughes, Joe Bonamassa, Jason Bonham and Derek Sherinian. Met Nicko, Davey and Steve Gadd in the Poop Deck bar in the evening, and we drove to the big Atlantis resort where we had dinner at the fancy sushi restaurant Nobu, and then went to see Jerry Seinfeld doing standup. Davey is a big fan and really wanted to go, but it was just OK - nothing special actually. We had a little to drink over the evening... and invariably ended up at the Daiquiri shack chatting to some Irish wedding guests.

Sunday Jan 24, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Woke late -- a little tired still. Relaxed around the condo, made coffee and watched some Gridiron football. Adrian dropped by around noon and borrowed my iPod to listen to the rough mixes of the tracking recordings we have done thus far.

Monday Jan 25, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas The lads took the day off and 'Arry and I went to work about 11 o'clock and began the big job of editing the multiple takes of Where The Wild Wind Blows together. Nobody but he has any idea how it ultimately goes, and the structure altered a little from his original idea in the assembly, but it fits together and flows very nicely. An ironic epic about a suicide pact in the face of a nuclear explosion. And very Maiden!

Tuesday January 26, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Workout with a trainer again at 8am - he kicked my butt! All the band - bar Bruce, who's gone back to London - meet at the studio to listen to all the tracks we've recorded and get a good overview of the album. All the guys seem excited after the playback, and we start work embellishing the rough recordings of Coming Home with some overdubs. Adrian puts an acoustic guitar picking through the verses and choruses, which we double track for stereo imaging. Then Davey plays the first of the guitar solos on his Les Paul guitar, which ironically sounds like a Strat! it's a very Hendrixy Little Wing-ish solo, and he's happy with the result. He's always happy! Then Adrian added the second solo. We assemble a different monitoring system for him in the studio, so he balances his own mix and listen on Genelecs. He's uncomfortable initially, but after a while we get a great solo from him. The raw sound bothers him, so i add a little Pitch Shift, and he's happy. End of the day. Off to the local bar called The Poop Deck for burgers and beer. And coffee tequila. And a last cleansing beer. Nicko and his chef mate, Frankie, visiting from new York, leave first. I leave Jan and Davey chatting at the bar.

Wednesday January 27, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Start the recording day by having Janick add an upper octave to his guitar line in the choruses of Coming Home. This is the end of guitar overdubs on this song.

Then we move onto the song El Dorado. Adrian does a guitar solo, quite a few takes - which I then compile. He's happy. Steve doesn't stay around for things like the guitar solos necessarily, but he likes to hear everything at some point. Next Janick has a go at the guitar overdubs, adding an octave to a prechorus line, then doing his solo. Davey comes in for a late start having had a little beach time and does the middle solo. We listen back quite loud and everyone seems very happy with it. They all leave and I stay to sort through some takes of Mother Of Mercy, so it's ready to be overdubbed. Dinner of fresh fish and a beer at the bar, and I'm home just after 7.30pm. Early night in....... speak to my babies on Skype.

Thursday January 28, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas A very full day in the studio today - Davey starts the day with a bunch of overdubs on The Man Who Would Be King - Harmony guitars on the outro and on the chorus - we try a few on the intro, but they don't really work. Then we do a quick solo, which I reverse a-la-hendrix, and he loves it! We do some other weird noises - divebombs, etc., which go alongside the backwards solo, then Janick does a little tag, after which we do a 3 part guitar harmony with all the guitarists on the second part of the solo. It was originally going to be an Adrian solo, but the track felt so out of control after Davey's musical madness, that we introduce the harmony melody guitars which brings some order into the chaos. This song is now done for the day, and we move to the overdubs on The Final Frontier. Adrian does a big strumming acoustic guitar on the choruses, and then adds a tenor guitar line which echoes Steve's bass line on the chorus - and last he does the solo on his trusty Strat...... and that's it for the day, and the week!

Friday January 29, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas My family are arriving at 1pm from Los Angeles, and we all take the day off work. No one complains! Well, Delta screws up my family's flight, and leaves them with an enforced long layover in Atlanta - so I take the opportunity to go grocery shopping. I need everything at our condo - toilet paper, water... you get the picture, so it's a godsend to have time to prepare for them. The lifestyle of a bachelor doesn't necessarily meet all the needs of a young family, and once I've sorted out the house I head to the airport with Steve Gadd and Mike Kenney, who've come to give us a hand with the luggage and kids. (They offered and are very gracious and friendly - it's no Producer control-freak thing!). They finally arrive at 5pm and as they come through the Arrivals and I see them, I get a little misty as my 2 year-old Talon yells, "My daddy, my daddy, my daddy" .... sweet!! Weekend off playing with my kids in the pool and on the beach!!!!!

February 1 and 2, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas More recording on some of the other songs - it gets a bit "Groundhog Day" in the telling and diarizing of it all, as it's a very similar process every day for all the songs and overdubs. We do various guitar overdubs, solos, harmonies, acoustic guitars...... the Three Amigos take turns and occasionally we record all three together to get that great rolling, galloping rhythm that only Maiden can really create - there's nothing mathematical about it, it's all feel. If you sort it out in Pro Tools, all that feel goes, so we don't!!!

February 3, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas It's my wife's birthday today, so we take the day off and I spend the entire day at the Atlantis resort with my family. A great day, playing on the beaches, sliding down the water slides, floating on rafts on the artificial rapids and rivers, and viewing the absolutely amazing aquarium they've built there! In the evening, we leave the babies with my mother-in-law and go out for an intimate adult evening, but we're so shattered by the day's activities that we end up crashing at about 9.30pm!

February 4 and 5, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Same agenda as Feb 1 and 2. We've almost finished the overdubs on the last song, guitar-wise. Just a last guitar solo of Adrian's to do on When The Wild Wind Blows on Monday, then we'll all gather for a final collective listen, and that's all the guitars on this new Iron Maiden album. We'll add keys for the rest of the week, then it's home for me next Saturday, and Steve and Bruce arrive the following week to finish up the vocals and mix...... February 6, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Windy and stormy today. No studio. Wife and kids are all packed as they leave Nassau for Los Angeles tomorrow - so we had an early dinner of fresh fish from the Poop Deck, then my wife, Dev, and I joined Steve Gadd and his better half, Jen; Janick and Adrian Smith and his wife Nathalie, for a late evening drink. A very nice time and it was fun socialising with just adults for a change.

February 7 - Superbowl Sunday. Gaddsy and Michael Kenney took me and my family to the airport as they left for L.A. today. Janick went off for his first scuba dive ever, with the crew from the Aga Khan's yacht, Shergar, and he really loved it. Gadd and I joined them on the boat about 4pm-ish, had a couple of beers onboard and got the royal yacht tour. Amazing! $100million worth of boat - each tank of gas costs $75,000!! It has two jet turbines, and at 100 ft long reaches about 50 knots! That's flying!! Then off to Crazy Johnny's we all went, to watch the Superbowl, and perhaps a few drinks.......

February 8 Not everyone looked like they were ready to run a marathon this morning, after a long night of Superbowl revelry. Our engineer Jared arrives a little puffy, and As 'Arry said of his eyes, "they look like two piss holes in the snow!" Well, as Jared has a vague connection to New Orleans, he was forgiven! We need to do a few updates to the last song and so Adrian started off the day recording a solo on When The Wild Wind Blows, after which we did some melodic lines on the same song with Davey, some guitar jangle chords in the verses, and that is the band tracks for the new album complete! I let everyone go for the day, and spent the rest of it getting the complex tracks in order so when we do some keyboards over the next few days, we hear everything as it's meant to be heard, and nothing clashes musically or sonically. Had a very English dinner of Bangers 'n Mash and a pint of stout at the Nassau Cricket Club, and home earlyish to watch a movie.

February 9, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Slept great, but woke feeling very stiff. Off to the gym for a gentle workout and then set off to the studio at the normal time of 10.45am, with an obligatory stop at Starbucks en route. Finally we got stuck into keyboards today. Michael Kenney set up the keys and Steve poked away at them, hunting for the melodies running around his head like a chicken pecking the ground. Simple lines, but effective and we accomplished a lot of work. We finished keyboard overdubs on seven tunes today then headed to Poop Deck for a quick drink with Steve before heading home to make dinner.... for myself.

February 10, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Today we finished the few keyboards overdubs left to do on the album. Janick's family arrived from England today, so he asked me to send him an MP3 of the solo he did on The Alchemist, which I did, and he called me later asking if he could redo it, so we'll have another crack at it on Friday. Adrian listened to all the tracks and has a few things he wants to add as well. We all went to dinner at The Poop Deck but as the weather had been a little rough, there was no fresh fish on the menu, so we had burgers while sitting at the bar. Nicko sent us his love from sunny Florida, where he's working on the official opening of his restaurant, Rock 'n Roll Ribs, in Boca Raton or somewhere in the vicinity, this weekend.

February 11, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Up early and I swam across the bay - didn't feel like the gym today. Headed to the studio about 10.30am after a quick stop for a "grande-four-shot-non-fat-wet-cappuccino" at Starbucks and once we got up and rockin', Adrian replayed the verse on Mother Of Mercy and added a harmony guitar to the pre-chorus. 'Arry didn't make it in to the studio today, and while waiting for some computer thing to be done, I was noodling around some blues scales on one of Janick's acoustic guitars, which prompted Terry Manning to show me an old National that used to be blues icon Robert Johnson's dobro! It was very humbling and awe-inspiring to hold it and slide a little on it, and I felt more moved even than when I met Jimmy Page or B.B. King. Its serial # is T968. Back to work, and we listened through a few things and I did a couple of edits that needed doing and we were done by 7pm, off to .........yep you guessed it, the Poop Deck again. It's the only place around, as you've probably gathered, that doesn't require getting a taxi. At least they had fresh fish today, and I ordered one to go and had it at my house while watching the news - boring but very tasty!

February 12, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas Adrian and Nathalie, his wife, left early for a week at Parrot Key. It's the last day in the studio today. Janick came in and redid the solo on The Alchemist. He was much happier than before - the first solo had been much more "in the meter", but this one crossed the rhythms, and he liked the fact that it sounded like he wasn't going to make it, and then did. He felt it sounded more "incendiary!". His phrase. Looked over the tracksheet of Where The Wild Wind Blows and sorted through the multiple parts, and made a cohesive tracklist - then made 2 safety copies of the Master drive, and said our goodbyes to the Mannings in the studio, took Steve two masters - one to leave behind, and one to bring with him. I have one to carry back to L.A. tomorrow, and that's all three master drives. We have a big art canvas in the studio, which has all the album titles and plots the progress of the recording session as we go. So I dropped the big canvas at 'Arry's house, and then went with Steve Gadd and his best gal to the Cricket Club, for bangers 'n mash. Again. Yummy!

February 13, 2010 Nassau, Bahamas The wind howled all night and the rain bucketed down. I woke at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep. Packed, and checked the flight details. Atlanta is covered in snow and is a frigid 25 degrees. All good, it appears. Left for the airport to find my flight cancelled. Managed to get a coach flight (all Business was booked) back home - it adds another six hours to my flight!!! which means 13 hours from check-in til landing, if all goes to schedule. I'm in Nassau airport now.......

February 15, 2010 Malibu, California Finally got home late last night. My luggage didn't. Lots of scrambling and frantic running between gates, but I finally had a good flight back and it is great to be home in Malibu on the beach. I had a very chilled Sunday with my family and now it's back to work in my studio today, going over all the tracks. They're not really ready for my studio, so had to spend the day preparing them to suit a different console, etc. Also, the big storms in California recently have knocked my studio about - all the lightbulbs downstairs had blown, as well as my Summit TLA- compressor, so the day was spent in repair mode, as well as getting the studio bedroom ready, where Steve Harris will stay for the month ahead - he arrives tonight.

February 16, 2010 Malibu, California I'm in the studio early today. I FedExed my blown compressor out for repair - Brent Spear, my tech, is coming in for the day from Las Vegas to make sure everything is working perfectly, the Cable TV repairman is coming today to make sure Steve's English Premier League soccer is available on the telly, so it's all systems go around here. Bruce will be in from London tonight to sing ......

February 17, 2010 Malibu, California Vocal day - Bruce arrived, with stories, as usual. Tales from flights around the world - Russia, Iceland, Niger..... Today he sang Coming Home and El Dorado, then we had a break for lunch, after which he nailed the lead vocal for Mother of Mercy! It's very, very high...

February 19, 2010 Malibu, California Bruce sang again today, then left to fly back to London tonight and on to Africa as Capt. Dickinson tomorrow - I compiled the lead vocal on El Dorado, and then I mixed it. Went to the store to pick up dinner on the way home and my car got wrecked in the parking lot by some Bonehead. Exhausted!

February 20, 2010 Malibu, California Knackered - feel brutally tired today.

February 21, 2010 Malibu, California Had to go with the family to a kids birthday party - I realize I have to do these things, but I really hate doing them. Went for a bicycle ride when we got back, and decided while riding, that I'm going to cycle to San Francisco to do my next job - which is producing Journey's new studio album in April.

February 22, 2010 Malibu, California Compiled the lead vocal track from three or four vocal performances which Bruce has sang for Coming Home and then I set about mixing the song.

February 23, 2010 Malibu, California Compiled the lead vocal track for The Final Frontier today - then mixed it - Steve came in at the end of the day and thought it sounded a bit roomy, so I'll do a drier mix tomorrow.

February 24, 2010 Malibu, California Did a dry mix then some updates on ..The Final Frontier. In the end we went with yesterday's mix - my original mix. After that I began comping the vocal on Mother of Mercy - Steve has a very particular vocal melody in his mind, which Bruce didn't really get 100% correct. It's close tho..... but needs a few tweaks. Left the comp about half way through - it was mind jumbling. Got home to find two sick babies....

February 25, 2010 Malibu, California Last night was a rough night with our poor little sick kids - so not too much sleep at all for any of us last night. Got to my studio just after 11am to find Steve doing the crosswords - he loves them! I had to dig back into Mother of Mercy and complete the vocal compiling!

Adrian came by The Cave for a listen - he thought the tracks sounded good but "a little too much like the band in the studio". He thought more reverb to make them sound more "majestic" and "epic". Steve disagreed strongly. Honestly, they are both right. The thing I personally like about the dry, honest mixes, is that it sets them apart from any other Classic Rock or Metal band. They're not really metal anyway, in the present day sense of the genre, but they're more of a hard progressive rock band. I promised to run some mixes each way and decisions can be made down the road, if necessary.

February 26, 2010 Malibu, California I started the day with an early 30 mile bike ride along the coast and went in to the studio at normal start time of 11 and finished the mix of Mother Of Mercy. Bruce came in from London this morning and very kindly brought me a stack of Formula 1 magazines - it's my passion and the States only sees them about 6 weeks after their appearance in England, so I was particularly thrilled! He listened to a few things we'd been working on - had some issues with a couple of vocal lines he'd sung, and disliked a particular guitar solo we'd recorded at Compass Point, but said "whatever!", and then dug into the work and sang Isle Of Avalon and Starblind. Both are very high - I suggested a lower vocal line in the Isle Of Avalon chorus, which he tried, so perhaps we'll have a harmony - we'll see.

February 27, 2010 Malibu, California A massive 8.8 earthquake hit Chile early this morning. We were on a tsunami advisory again, and as we live on the ocean, we left for higher ground over the lunch hours. The waves were only about 2 feet higher, which didn't really affect things too much up here in Malibu. I'm sure this will prove to be catastrophic again.....

It's Adrian's birthday today! His wife, Nathalie, threw a great party for him. Gorgeous food, great ambience - Steve and his beautiful daughters Kerry and Faye attended, as did Bruce and a host of people. A lot of fun - she had been quite explicit about overstaying our welcome with "Carriages at 11" on the invitation, but by the time it came to go, Adrian wanted everyone to stay longer. Nathalie said, "but it's what you wanted!" We had sickish babies at home, and couldn't stay in any case.........

February 28, 2010 Malibu, California Last day of the month - relax!

March 1, 2010 Malibu, California Bruce came in from Marina Del Ray and sang two songs today - Satellite 15 and When the Wild Wind Blows. Started working on the Wild Wind mix.

March 2, 2010 Malibu, California Compiled the vocal for When The Wild Wind Blows and mixed it! Steve's daughters, Faye and Kerry, came by and listened to all the music completed thus far, and they went with Steve to the local Italian restaurant, The Sage Room, for dinner.

March 3, 2010 Malibu, California Bruce came by today to hear the five mixes that were done. Did a little touch up on When the Wild Wind Blows mix, compiled the lead vocals on The Alchemist and mixed it as well.

March 4, 2010 Malibu, California Started compiling a lead vocal on The Talisman. It was a nightmare to compile! Adrian dropped in late afternoon to pick up a CD of the mixes thus far.

March 5, 2010 Malibu, California. I mixed The Talisman, the second bit. Not the quiet intro bit that sounds like a haunting kids sea shanty. I think fans are going to love this song! March 6, 7, 2010 Malibu, California Weekend - happy to have a break! March 8, 2010 Malibu, California Finished mixing Talisman (the acoustic intro) and compiled the vocal on The Man Who Would Be King. March 9, 2010 Malibu, California Mixed The Man Who Would Be King. Adrian came in and said it all sounded good - and said he was 95% happy with the album mixes and we should look at them and tweak them slightly - I am perfectly happy to reassess any of the mixes, as daunting as the prospect of revisiting everything is, changing sonics etc., but Steve and I are quite happy with it and neither of us can really afford the extra time it would take to remix, so Steve jumped in and basically said we're going to be done this weekend and we are not remixing the entire album. Adrian ultimately understood but wasn't thrilled about it! March 10, 2010 Malibu, California Compiled the vocal for Starblind, and began the mix of it - it is proving to be a complicated mix and quite difficult.

March 11, 2010 Malibu, California Mixed Starblind today. Adrian came by to hear it - and was desirous of more reverb on some things - it's a little bit of a continuous internal battle, and is essentially just a different way to hear things. Def Leppard on one hand, something garagey on the other. Extra reverb was not added to anything. Adrian left happy and understanding, I thought!!! March 12, 2010 Malibu, California It's Steve's birthday today! I've just finished mixing the entire album - mixed The Isle of Avalon and Satellite 15 today. The mixes went very well then I assembled the album in order - putting all the master mixes in sequences and adjusting the gaps or segues between the songs. Steve is packing to leave and I'm planning on having a glass of wine with Adrian at 9pm - both lads appear ecstatic! We're all off for dinner...... Friday May 7th, Oakland, CA Well, it's almost two months later. I've completed the Black Country Communion album and am in midst of producing a new Journey album since we wrapped up the Iron Maiden album. I'm sitting in Oakland airport (I'm producing Journey album in San Francisco) - waiting for a one hour flight to Los Angeles where I'm going to play the folks from Universal Music the new Maiden album later today. We've had the album mastered three times, and have ultimately decided to go with my flat mixes over any of the mastering versions. I think the mastering place did a great job, but Steve, while liking these versions, feels that the integrity of the original mixes has been compromised somewhat and so it's coming out flat. No equalization, no compression, just as it was when Steve heard the MP3s of the mixes and just as it left my studio. Tuesday June 8th, Malibu CA Home after recording the Journey album - in the studio mixing a South African band called Panic Circle today. The first Maiden single, El Dorado, was released yesterday as a free download on the ironmaiden.com website and immediately clogged up the server, but I woke to about a hundred emails from people that have loved it - so, THANK YOU!!! And that is how I spent the early part of 2010 - producing The Final Frontier. Hope you enjoyed that....... - Kevin Shirley

#iron maiden #bruce dickinson #steve harris #adrian smith #nicko mcbrain #dave murray #janick gers #Kevin Shirley #the final frontier #behind the music #behind the scenes

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ledpartynet7 · 5 months

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LED Party Rentals Los Angeles, The ultimate destination for elevating your event to a dazzling spectacle – LED Party Rentals in Los Angeles! We specialize in transforming ordinary gatherings into extraordinary experiences by offering an extensive array of cuttingedge LED party equipment and services. Immerse your guests in a world of vibrant lights and pulsating energy with our top-of-the-line LED Dance Floors that set the stage for unforgettable moments. Create a mesmerizing visual backdrop with our state-of-the-art LED Screen Walls, where dynamic visuals come to life, adding an immersive dimension to your celebration. Our LED Furniture adds a touch of modern elegance to any venue, providing a sleek and stylish setting for your guests to relax and revel in the luminous atmosphere. Capture the magic of the moment with our LED Photo Booth, ensuring that every smile and pose is illuminated in brilliance. Take your event to new heights with our eye-catching LED Inflatables that add a playful and dynamic element to the ambiance. our LED Robots and LED Dancers, who bring a high-energy performance that will leave your guests in awe. Elevate the auditory experience with our LED DJ Booths and Audio Visuals, creating a symphony of light and sound that keeps the dance floor alive. Dive into the world of three-dimensional wonder with our 3D LED Rentals, where technology meets artistry to craft an immersive visual experience like no other. At LED Party Rentals, we go beyond equipment – we offer comprehensive DJ Services to keep the beats flowing and the party alive. Whether it’s a corporate event, wedding, birthday bash, or any celebration in between, we are your one-stop-shop for transforming ordinary occasions into extraordinary memories. Let us illuminate your event with the magic of LEDs and turn your vision into a reality. Your journey to an unforgettable celebration starts with LED Party Rentals in Los Angeles – where innovation meets celebration!

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cistudios1 · 8 months

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Studio Rental Los Angeles | C-istudios.com

C-istudios.com is a one-stop destination for studio rentals in Los Angeles. We have it all, from high-quality sound stages to state of the art photography studios. Contact us for more details.

Studio rental los angeles

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rakeshraseo321 · 1 year

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The Best Collection Of Really Amazing Houses For Filming In The Los Angeles

Universal Locations is a film location service that has been operating since 1982 in Los Angeles. Our extensive online location library and gallery provide the film, television, and special event communities with access to possible film sites, media locations, and movie location libraries.

We are the first full-service film location agency that is run and controlled by a licensed real estate broker, with more than 30 years of expertise in real estate sales, leasing, and management. Our team of film location professionals also rents, leases, and sells real estate for use as filming locations.

Over the years, we have organized thousands of location rentals for movies, still, photography, commercials, music videos, made-for-television series, feature films, print advertisements, fashion photography, fashion shows, wrap parties, after-parties, independent films, and infomercials for all of the main studios, bringing in close to $60,000,000.00. We also offer after-dark wedding and special event locations for these projects, mainly renting out private residences, mansions, and farms for productions.

Universal Locations has earned a reputation as the most reputable and frequently used location agency in Los Angeles, offering a comprehensive range of services to meet the diverse needs of the film, television, and special event communities. The company was founded and is currently owned by industry experts Mark and Bonni Siezega, who have extensive experience in real estate sales, leasing, and management.

To ensure that we are up-to-date with the latest developments and regulations in the industry, we maintain strong connections with government organizations such as Film LA, which are dedicated to supporting filming in the Los Angeles area.

By staying informed of film permits, fire and safety requirements, and new rulings and regulations on location shootings in Los Angeles, we can provide our clients with the most accurate and up-to-date information to facilitate their projects. As a result, Universal Locations has become the preferred choice for location managers and industry professionals who demand the highest level of service and expertise.

Universal Locations Events, LLC and Univers Locations, Inc. represent a vast network of movie, photo, event, and venue locations across California, with a focus on Southern California, Los Angeles, and Hollywood. We offer an extensive selection of incredible locations, elite sites, mansions, and architecturally distinctive film sites to location scouts and managers as one of the first film location services and event site companies in the region.

Our goal is to promote and market California's entire film industry, including sound stages, production facilities, film-friendly places, and movie locations, catering to a wide range of clients, from film producers and Hollywood commercial photographers to webisode producers, special event coordinators, media location coordinators, film location scouts, special event location managers, licensed real estate agents, photo scouts, film and video locations, and California-CA television.

Every day, scouts for movie locations, webisode film sites, commercial film sites, or film location properties are looking for unique locations in Los Angeles, California to use in Hollywood films, television shows, still, photography location shoots, Beverly Hills, and Malibu filming, and television advertisements.

These scouts may also be special event and wedding planners, as well as commercial production companies seeking world-class locations for their projects. At Universal Locations, we understand the importance of finding the perfect location for any project and work tirelessly to provide our clients with exceptional service and a vast array of location options.

#film location scouts #filming site #movie filming locations #film location rental #film shoots #movie locations

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papermoonloveslucy · 2 years

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BEHIND THE WHEEL!

Lucy & Cars ~ Part Two

In the 1960s America took to the open road. Everyone owned a car - and Lucy Carmichael was no exception. In Danfield and Los Angeles “The Lucy Show” was motorized!

“Lucy Buys a Sheep” (1962) ~ When Lucy goes to pick out a sheep to act as a lawn mower, she drives a 1949 Packard Super Deluxe 8 convertible. Packard started making automobiles in 1899 and went out of business in 1958, four years before the series premiered. Future episodes indicate that Lucy doesn’t own a car, so the Packard may belong to Viv.

“Lucy and Viv Are Volunteer Firemen” (1963) ~ As the Chief, Lucy gets to drive the fire truck! This is a Moreland Truck, a company based in Los Angeles.

“Lucy Drives a Dump Truck” (1963) ~ The title tells it! Lucy and Viv drive a 1956 Ford F-Series dump truck to deliver recycled newspapers for cash. The truck has 'Roy Long's Rental' written on the doors. In reality, Roy Long was Desilu's construction superintendent. This is a huge production for the series, using more than a dozen extras, 160,000 newspapers, an enormous sound stage dressed as a city street, and six vehicles.

Parked on the street is a 1961 Chevrolet Apache light-duty truck with a Fleetside bed option. [More about motorcyles in a future blog.]

The dump truck passes a 1956 De Soto Fireflite Four-Door Sedan.

“Lucy Decides to Redecorate” (1963) ~ When they redecorate the house, Lucy and Viv must sleep in the car! Viv's car is a 1953 Ford Crestline Sunliner convertible. This is the first time we have seen inside the Carmichael's garage.

A close-up of the interior of the vehicle and Lucy’s feet!

In her sleep, Lucy’s foot hits the gear shift and the car crashes through the living room wall.

“Lucy, the Camp Cook” (1964) ~ Mr. Mooney drives to the camp in a 1964 Ford Falcon Sprint. The Sprint was overshadowed by the Mustang and was discontinued after 1965. When the car runs out of gas, they must hitchhike.

“Lucy the Meter Maid” (1964) ~ Is another exterior street set featuring lots of vehicles. A 1965 Ford Mustang may also be the same car used in an October 1964 episode of “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” also filmed on the Desilu lot.

Lucy tickets a 1962 Triumph TR4. In court, the Judge admits to owning a “1964 blue convertible” which may be a reference to this car, despite the difference in the actual model year. The license plate is a 1964 NY World’s Fair commemorative plate. Behind it is the 1953 Ford Crestline Sunliner previously seen in “Lucy Decides to Redecorate”.

“Lucy Makes a Pinch” (1965) ~ On a stake-out, Lucy and Detective Baker park on Lover’s Lane in a 1964 Lincoln Continental convertible.

When Lucy and Viv are on their own stake out, they are sitting in a customized Jeep CJ-5. It is never stated where or how they acquired a lavender jeep!

“Lucy at Marineland” (1965) ~ When the show relocates to California, the first episode opens with location footage of Marineland in Rancho Palos Verdes, California . Mr. Mooney agrees to leave work at the bank and drive Lucy and Jerry to Marineland in his light colored Ford Falcon convertible.

“Lucy and the Undercover Agent” (1965) ~ Lucy, Mr. Mooney, and the Countess go undercover. Mr. Mooney is the chauffeur of a Rolls-Royce 25/30 HP Park Ward swept-tail saloon car.

In 1965, Lucille Ball and her husband Gary Morton filmed a home movie while vacationing in Monte Carlo. The film takes place on the streets and features many vehicles.

“Lucy and the Submarine” (1966) ~ Before sneaking onto the submarine, Lucy hides out in a parked Laundry van.

“Lucy and the Ring-A-Ding Ring” (1966) ~ In this episode Mr. Mooney drives a red Volkswagen convertible bug, a somewhat unusual choice for a middle-aged banker during in the mid-1960s.

“Lucy in London” (1966) ~ The special was shot on location. Footage of Picadilly circus includes many vehicles, including a white VW Beetle.

“Lucy Puts Main Street on the Map” (1966) ~ A news crew operates out of a blue hatchback station wagon. The camera is mounted on the roof.

“Lucy Gets Involved” (1968) ~ Lucy moonlights as a carhop at a drive-in burger joint. The episode features the light blue 1962 Triumph TR4 convertible previously seen in “Lucy, the Meter Maid”.

The scenes feature a blue Ford Convertible, a vintage 1920s Roadster, a blue Sports Car, a red VW Beetle with Moon Roof, and a Police Car.

“Lucy and the Stolen Stole” (1968) ~ Buddy Hackett plays a conman who drives a little red sportscar.

“Lucy and the Lost Star” (1968) ~ Before arriving at Joan Crawford’s mansion, Lucy and Viv’s car breaks down in the middle of nowhere.

#The Lucy Show #Lucille Ball #Gale Gordon #Vivian Vance #cars #trucks #automobiles #tv #Lucy #Desilu #vehicles #car

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mhzmegahertz · 2 years

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Audio visual equipment rental company in Los Angeles | AV company LA

Audio Visual equipment and services are essential components for many events, such as conferences, concerts, and corporate meetings. If you're looking for a reliable and professional audiovisual partner for your next event, look no further than MHZ Megahertz. MHZ Megahertz is one of the leading audiovisual companies in California, offering a wide range of equipment for rent, as well as professional installation and technical support services. Whether you're planning a one-off event or a longer-term production.Best audio visual equipment rentals in Los Angeles

MHZ Megahertz can provide you with the top-notch audiovisual services you need. Their experienced team of audiovisual technicians have the expertise to provide you with the right equipment for your event, as well as the technical know-how to ensure it is set up and operated correctly.

At MHZ Megahertz, they have a wide range of audiovisual equipment available for rent, including projectors, screens, cameras, mixers, PA systems, and more. They also offer a variety of lighting, staging, and other production services to ensure that your event looks and sounds great. In addition to their audiovisual rental services, MHZ Megahertz also provides professional installation and technical support services for all their equipment. They can help you with everything from setting up the equipment to troubleshooting any technical issues. For over 20 years, MHZ Megahertz has been providing audiovisual services to customers in California. With their commitment to quality and customer service, MHZ Megahertz is the perfect choice for all your audiovisual needs.Best AV Companies in Califorina

Audio Visual Equipment Rentals MHZ Megahertz is a leading provider of audiovisual (AV) equipment rentals in California. Our audiovisual equipment rental services cover everything from basic multimedia presentations to complex events. Whether you need a small-scale system for a single room or a large, multiroom setup, we have the right audiovisual products to meet your needs. Our audiovisual equipment rentals are all top-of-the-line and include: projectors, digital video cameras, monitors, speakers, microphones, amplifiers and more. We also provide lighting and staging equipment, as well as sound and video editing services.

Our knowledgeable AV technicians are available to help you choose the right equipment for your event or production. From setup and tear down to technical support and troubleshooting, our team has the expertise and experience to ensure that your project runs smoothly. At MHZ Megahertz, we strive to give you the best audiovisual experience possible. Our team is committed to helping you create a successful event, no matter the size or budget. Best AV Companies in California When it comes to audiovisual services, California is home to some of the best AV companies in the business. Here are some of the top AV companies in California to consider when planning your next event:

1. Pro Audio Visual Solutions: Pro Audio Visual Solutions is a full-service audiovisual company based in Los Angeles. They specialize in providing turnkey solutions for corporate events, live performances, trade shows, and more. 2. AFX: AVF is a Bay Area-based AV company that specializes in providing AV services for corporate events, conventions, and trade shows. They are known for their commitment to quality and customer service. 3. JRC Audio Visual: JRC Audio Visual is a San Francisco-based AV company that specializes in providing AV services for corporate events, performances, conventions, and more. They are known for their custom solutions and top-notch customer service. 4. Audiovisual Innovations: Audiovisual Innovations is a Los Angeles-based AV company that specializes in providing AV services for corporate events, conventions, trade shows, and more. They are known for their creative solutions and cutting-edge technology. Whether you're looking for basic audiovisual rentals or a full-service AV production, MHZ Megahertz has the knowledge and expertise to make your event a success.

Phone (650) 641-7135 Toll Free: 1-877-224-9072 After Hours: (408) 469-7789 Email [email protected] Address 415 Nelo St. Santa Clara, CA 95054

#BestaudiovisualequipmentrentalsinLosAngeles #Bestaudiovisualequipmentrentalsinla #AvcompanyinLA #EquipmentrentalinLosAngeles #BestAvCompaniesinLA #BestAVCompaniesinCaliforina #AudioVisualequipmentrentalcompanyLA

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los-angeles-ca-life · 3 years

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Los Angeles Sound Stages

Film Industry

Are you familiar with Mack Sennett Studios? The company has contributed much to the development of the film industry in Los Angeles, CA area since 1916. The people behind the successful soundstage and production studios los angeles are entrepreneur Mack Sennett and comedienne Mabel Normand. There are also beliefs that the company want to share. They believe that art is the catalyst for the biggest revolutions of mankind, and that Art tells a story, which connects cultures, pushes forward ideas, and makes an incomparable social impact. In addition, their purpose is to create art, which translate ideas into stories that connect people to the passion of building a better world. Lastly, they are here to turn their imagination of a brighter future into reality.

vimeo

Demographics

Many people are fond of reading demographic data. The usual interesting information includes population trend and racial makeup of any interesting city. For example, a lot of students study the demographic s details of Tampa, FL location. Based in the 2010 census, the total population of Los Angeles, CA is 3,792,621 inhabitants. Besides, the racial makeup of Los Angeles included: 1,888,158 Whites (49.8%), 365,118 African Americans (9.6%), 28,215 Native Americans (0.7%), 426,959 Asians (11.3%), 5,577 Pacific Islanders (0.1%), 902,959 from other races (23.8%), and 175,635 (4.6%) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 1,838,822 persons (48.5%).

Woman, 37, Killed in Two-Vehicle Crash on Freeway Near Downtown LA

A 51-year-old motorist suffered moderate injuries and his passenger, a 37-year-old woman, was fatally injured Sunday when their BMW struck a disabled vehicle on the 10 Freeway, on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles, authorities said. The crash occurred a little after 5 a.m. on the eastbound freeway, just west of Santa Fe Avenue, the California Highway Patrol reported. Initially, there was a single-vehicle crash, which left a vehicle disabled within the lanes of traffic. The motorist inside that vehicle fled the scene, the CHP said. Read more here...

Woman, 37, Killed in Two-Vehicle Crash on Freeway Near Downtown LA |There are a lot of shocking news reports these days. In most cases, the topics are about accidents, destruction and death. One of these terrible incidents is the two-vehicle crash on Freeway near Downtown LA that killed a 37-year-old woman. Based on the report, a 51-year-old motorist suffered moderate injuries and his passenger, a 37-year-old woman, was fatally injured last Sunday due to a car crash. With that, their BMW struck a disabled vehicle on the 10 Freeway, on the outskirts of downtown Los Angeles. In addition, the crash occurred a little after 5:00 in the morning on the eastbound freeway, just west of Santa Fe Avenue. This was reported by the California Highway Patrol.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, CA

There are a lot of people want to take advantage of the things that Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, CA area has to offer nowadays. For so many years, it became one of the well-known places for sightseeing and checking artworks. In addition, a lot of individuals also enjoy relaxation there. The famed tourist spot is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits. LACMA was founded in 1961, splitting from the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art. The exact address of the place is 5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States.

Link to maps

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, United States

Head north toward W 6th St

82 ft

Turn right at the 1st cross street onto W 6th St

0.7 mi

Turn left onto S Cochran Ave

Turn may not be allowed at certain times or days

0.3 mi

Turn right onto W 3rd St

Pass by Trader Joe's (on the left)

1.8 mi

Turn left onto S Van Ness Ave

1.8 mi

Turn right onto Fountain Ave

2.0 mi

Turn right onto Bates Ave

Destination will be on the right

75 ft

Mack Sennett Studios

1215 Bates Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029, United States

#sound stages los angeles #production studios los angeles #event space rental los angeles

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ariianaz · 3 years

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𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓇𝓉𝓎-𝑜𝓃𝑒 𝒸𝒶𝓃𝒹𝓁𝑒𝓈 | b&a.

Despite Ariana’s awareness that Bill often seemed to downplay the importance of his own birthday while going over-the-top for everybody else’s, the brunette was determined to pull off something subtle enough that it wouldn’t stress him out or make him uncomfy on his special day but just significant enough that he’d hopefully, eventually, realize that his birthday was, in fact, something to be excited about and maybe just a bit extra about. She’d spent the last several nights putting it all together --- sneaking off to search for all the best locations to leave clues, then typing them all out and laminating them to ensure they’d withstand whatever weather Los Angeles threw at them --- and she felt that she’d finally put together the ultimate scavenger hunt. The clues would take him all over the city in whatever fashion he preferred --- she’d gotten him a city bus pass for the day, one of those park ‘n ride bike rentals, and an ample amount of Uber credits for the cause --- as he stopped for clues at various locations with tiny nods to not only their relationship but also things she naturally knew Bill would enjoy. Spots like New York Street, visiting the Marvel superheroes at Madame Tussauds in Hollywood, and one of the city’s trails with the best views of the skyline all made the list, prior to a last stop that provided a casual yet dressy outfit Ariana knew would fit Bill nicely, with an address for his final stop tucked neatly into the pocket of the coat: 71 Above, the restaurant that was nestled at the top of the US Bank building and provided the most breathtaking view of the city at night.

She’d reserved the back section of the restaurant to give them the privacy they not only wanted but also deserved. Both having been busy with a bit of press, she with the early stages of the upcoming season of The Voice and Bill with filming, Ariana couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate him. His gift, neatly wrapped in a small box, sat in her lap as she did her best not to fiddle with the bow that she spent longer than she cared to admit trying to assemble. Mira’s portion, complete with balloon animals and a poster whose glitter embellishments were both endearing and likely all over the carpet at this point, was all assembled and ready to go in the common area of their temporary Los Angeles lodging, thanks to the help of a few kind friends. Ariana smoothed the silk of her dress -- yellow, of course -- against her thigh, gaze preoccupied until the sound of familiar footsteps pulled her head up. “Looks like you found me,” she teased playfully, rising from her seat to move toward him after placing his gift gingerly on the table. Her arms fell into muscle memory and looped easily around his neck as a result of her heels, and she pulled herself softly into his chest. “You look so handsome,” Ariana whispered before pressing a soft kiss into the skin of his neck. “I promise I’m not your gift, contrary to what you might say,” she insisted, her head moving to the side to gesture at the small box, “but, if you want to call it that... I think we can make arrangements for later.” @swedeskarsgard

#———— 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 . ♡ it’s written on your lips. ˎˊ˗#———— 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 . ♡ bill skarsgard. ˎˊ˗#thirty one candles.

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jamielea81 · 4 years

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Just a Simple Lie

Chapter 9

Description: Having worked on small independent films for the better part of a decade, your friend tells you about an opening for a script supervisor with a large studio. Wanting to advance your career, you apply and get an interview. The only downside, they prefer to hire crew who are married. It’s just a simple lie, right?

Pairing: Chris Evans x Reader

Warnings: Cursing, pining, fluff

A/N: This is NOT the final chapter. There is one more after this one. Per the usual: this fic is simply for fun. I know nothing about the personal lives of the two actors in this series and mean no harm. I am also totally guessing regarding the studio talk. Comments, reblogs, and likes are always welcome.

Word Count: 3,932

Catch up with Chapter 8

“What’s going on with you?” Monica asked.

“Nothing.”

She’s asked you this question for the better part of a month. Not Yours only had a couple of weeks left to shoot, but filming had seemed to drag on despite it it’s short two month schedule.

“Are you still down about Travis?”

Okay, yes, you were still lying. Kind of. After the night of the wrap party where Chris Evans walked out of your life, you took the ring off and put it back into your jewelry box saying a prayer of sorry to your grandmother for wearing her ring. Surprisingly no one brought it or Travis up except for Monica. You kept it vague. Said he wasn’t right for you and the two of you were friends. All of which was true and she didn’t press. Except for when she asked what was wrong.

“Travis and I are friends. And I’m fine.”

“You don’t seem fine. You’ve just been down this whole shoot.”

“Have I not been getting the job done? Have I dropped the ball in anyway?” you asked, nose buried in your copy of the script.

“Duuuuude,” she said bumping you.

“Fine,” you tossed your script on to your desk and gave her your full attention. “I’m just tired. Honestly. Haven’t been sleeping well.”

“Maybe your pregnant.”

“You’d have to be having sex to be pregnant, Monica.”

“Maybe you’re like three months pregnant and don’t know it,” she said with a smug grin. She was pulling your chain per the usual.

You gave her a smile that verged on a laugh. “You suck.”

“Maybe so. But you still love me,” she replied.

And you did. The two of you had become extremely close on this shoot. Probably because it was being completely shot on the lot with teenagers and people in their early twenties who liked to go out to clubs. Most of the crew were in their thirties so you stuck together. It was for the best. Look where being besties with Chris got you.

You tried. Honest to goodness tried. The morning after the wrap party you called him with your hands shaking the whole time only to be dumped in his voicemail. You texted him about twelve times that first week and didn’t receive a response. Two weeks later he responded.

Chris: Maybe it’s best we just don’t speak.

Getting that message shot a pain through your heart you didn’t think was possible. Twenty minutes later he messaged again.

Chris: I can’t be with someone who isn’t honest with me. Any type of relationship is built on communication and honesty.

He was right. While he was busy falling for you, you were pretending to be engaged.

Y/N: You’re right. It’s something I’ll always regret but I’ll accept your request. I won’t contact you again.

There was no use pouring your heart out to him again. You had already done so a few times in voicemails and text messages. If anything, you were mad at yourself. Mad for not telling him when the two of you had first gotten close. And again, when you were sick and staying in his rental. Or the numerous times the two of you hung out after filming was complete for the day. You were so ready to let him go after the wrap party until he told you he was crazy about you. Of course, you were crazy about him too, but you had locked that away.

“I’m just having a problem with a friend. I wasn’t honest about something and now we aren’t speaking,” you told her with a shrug.

“If they’re a good friend they’ll eventually come around.”

“I hope so.”

“She’s unbearable,” Ian said, running a hand through his hair making it stand on end. “Can you please just stay with us? Or maybe, um. Maybe you can convince her she’s not working enough?” You chuckled at your crazed friend. “The people at Sony must have professionals on staff that can manage her. I just... I just can’t anymore. Not to mention I haven’t put together any of the furniture in the nursery. Haven’t washed any of the clothing or bedding. There just isn’t time.”

He bent over the sink, hands resting on the polished stone on either side, breathing deeply. You clicked the pulse button on the blender giving it another minute to come together. Ian had come into the room with his mouth moving when you were in the middle of blending the pink concoction making you pause. You released the button, walking past Ian’s arched back to grab glass from the cupboard. Walking past him once more, you took off the cover and poured the fruit and spinach filled smoothie into the glass.

Joanna was on the couch, her legs reclined on the empty seats with her tablet in hand.

“Here you go my dear. I’m taking your hubby out for a beer.”

She rested the tablet on her large belly and smiled. “Thank you. He’s driving me up the wall.”

You kissed the top of her head. “I’ve got you.”

Travis and Gemma were seated at a four top sitting opposite of each other when you and Ian walked in.

“Oh look, Gem! It’s my lovely bride,” Travis nearly shouted as you took a seat next to him.

Flicking him on the arm, he flinched but kissed your cheek. “Are we ever getting over that?” you whined.

“Never,” he whispered.

“I still can’t believe you assholes never told me,” Gemma replied.

“Ye-ah. It wasn’t my most shining moment and I’d like to forget it. He’s all yours,” you tease, raising your eyebrows up and down.

“Been there. Done that,” she replied.

“Hey! I’m right here!” Travis interjected.

You put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer to you. “You’re so pretty.”

“Brat,” he replied.

“I just want a beer,” Ian said, his head resting on the table top.

Travis sprung out of his seat and made his way to the bar to grab Ian his beer because waiting for the server to arrive was just too many minutes wasted.

“So, you’re really done?” Gemma asked, mouth immediately going back to the straw in her glass. Some sort of mojito you thought.

“Mhm. It was for the best. The whole lying thing just was too much.”

During the last week of filming for Not Yours, you gave your notice. You kept it simple that you had some family things going on so you couldn’t commit for the next film. Barbara Floyd, the head of production told you that you had a standing offer there whenever you were ready. It was nice having steady income and influx of films being shot, but you couldn’t continue to work for an employer like that.

Travis returned with three pints, passing one to Ian and yourself.

“Thanks, Trav,” you grinned.

Ian chugged the glass of beer half way down before turning to look at Travis. “Yeah, thank you.” The server stopped by at that moment to check on the table. “One more please.” You chuckled softly causing Ian to look at you. “Anyone else?”

“No, we’re good,” you chuckled again.

“What’s next then?” Gemma continued.

“A low budget, independent. But it’s not a student film. I’ve officially retired from those.”

“Have you official retired from bartending?” Travis asked, knocking an elbow into your side.

“Probably not. It will be my go-to between jobs, probably until I retire.”

The drive to Studio City during rush hour was torture. But truly, it was always rush hour in LA. You really couldn’t complain as the film was being entirely shot in Los Angeles. As much as you did like to visit a new location, sometimes you just wanted your own bed.

With a few worthless honks and a hand gesture you would deny later, you found yourself parked and walking with Jonathan to the shared space amongst the production crew. Jonathan was executive producer and welcoming party for the cast and crew of currently titled, Untitled. Hopefully it would be named before filming wrapped. Being that it was an independent and rather short on funds from what you could tell, you were the sole script supervisor.

“And this is your desk!”

You gave Jonathan the politest smile you could muster. “Perfect.”

It really wasn’t. While your “office” in Vancouver was a cubical, it was modern and new. You didn’t even have walls. It was a small table about the width of two cookie sheets. Spaced on either side of you with about thee feet apart were two other tables for other production crew. At least you figured.

“Great. We are firing on all cylinders today with a table read this afternoon. We hope to start filming tomorrow,” Jonathan added.

“I’ll be ready.”

“That’s what I like to hear. I’m just down the hall if you need me. You have my number?”

“Yep. I should be set, but we’ll know more after the read through.”

Jonathan clapped his hands together, spun around and headed down the tight hallway, presumably to his own table. Maybe it was an office. An executive producer at the very least should have a cubical.

A large banquet table was set up in the middle of sound stage B with more than a dozen chairs for the cast around it. A row of chairs for the producers, the screen writer, director, assistant director, yourself, and a few others circled around the outside. You were a few minutes early per the usual, chatting with the small crew you had just been introduced to. You were getting aquatinted with Simone, the assistant director that was seated to your left when the cast started to trickle in. If you were being honest, you hadn’t looked in to any of the actors that were cast. You had taken on the job last minute when the previous script supervisor had backed out. It was less than a week to prepare, so you spent that time reading through the script a few times and rescuing Joanna and Ian from each other.

Simone had just given you a run down of all the films she had worked on as the two of you compared friends and colleagues in common when you felt someone lightly squeeze your knee. The offending knee groper walked on as your eyes trailed up to see Scott Evans make his way to a chair on the other side of the table. He sent you a wink and you audible gasped.

Fuck. This is going to be weird.

Really, it was only you that was being weird. Scott had squeezed your knee and gave you a friendly wink. But still. Had you known he was going to be in this film, you would have passed on the project. The last thing you wanted to do was make it awkward for him or his brother.

With the reading finished, you briefly addressed the actors letting them know where your desk was located and to come to you with any questions. When no one said anything, you gave a smile and quickly made your escape. Chris didn’t want to speak to you anymore. He made that perfectly clear. Keeping Scott at arms-length would be respecting that.

Scott didn’t film the first week of shooting. It helped ease your nervous stomach knowing you wouldn’t run into him on set or have to provide notes after a scene was shot. You knew he’d be filming the next week, but at least you had the weekend to freak out and hopefully you could just deal with it on Monday.

Cleaning up your table slash desk for the weekend took all but five seconds. Since it wasn’t an enclosed space, you left all personal items including Mr. Fern at home. He was blossoming much to your surprise.

“Hey Y/N.”

You knew that voice. There was no mistaking it. You looked up from your bag you were currently stuffing with your laptop to see Scott in front of you.

“Uh…”

Say something! Anything!

“Hey there Scott. How’s it goin’?”

Yep. You were talented at the art of speaking.

Scott chuckled softly, pulling up a chair from the empty table next to you. “Relax. I come in peace.” You took a shuddered breath. “I’m happy to see you on set. You come with high praise not only from my brother, but from other people you’ve worked with.”

“I doubt that. Your brother is not exactly my biggest fan.”

“I meant work wise sweetie. He can’t deny that.”

You shrugged a shoulder. “Honestly, I didn’t know you were in this film. I took the job when someone dropped out. I’m not like stalking you or trying to get to your brother.” Your bottom lip going between your teeth as soon as you finished your thought.

Scott chuckled again. Shook his head and propped it between his hands, resting his elbows on your table. “You’re cute.”

“Well, I just…I just don’t want to give you the wrong impression is all.”

“You’re not. I never thought that,” he sighed, smile dropping for a second. “Chris is thick headed. I don’t even care if you repeat that. While I think it sucks you lied, I think it sucks that a company also operates like that,” he said.

“Well, maybe they were right.” Scott lifts an eyebrow at this. “What I mean is, Chris and me did get close. Too close.”

Scott sits up straight, hands going to his knees. “But that’s not always the case. Sometimes people are going to fall for each other whether it’s frowned up or not. Listen. My brother has been pretty grumpy for the last couple of months. I was frankly happy that filming started this week because I needed a break from him. He’ll come around. Don’t give up on this.”

You nodded and stood up from your seat. “Walk me out?”

“You got it.”

Despite what Scott had said, you weren’t too sure. Yes, you kissed him and boy, was that quite the kiss. But he didn’t know how you felt. You never got to say the words. And he made it perfectly clear that the two of you shouldn’t speak to each other.

After a month and a half of filming, you were officially on vacation. Well, not really. You just didn’t have another film lined up at the moment. Scott had been nothing but a peach during the shoot. He was as sweet as pie and kept you quite entertained. You weren’t quite sure if you were happy or disappointed that Chris never came to visit Scott on set. In all honesty, you probably would have shutdown and hid, so it was probably for the best that he didn’t. You didn’t pry, but Scott had offered up that Chris had been in Boston, so it made sense he wasn’t around.

You were back to bartending part time. It was something to do with your free time and it was nice to have extra cash in your pocket. Thankfully, you were a saver and lived in a one-bedroom rental, so you could afford to take a few months off.

In your free time you were with your friends. Joanna’s mood swings had subsided and Ian didn’t call you for backup as much as he had been. You didn’t necessarily think she had mood swings. She had a rough few months with bouts of sickness and her emotions were running high. But it was nice to be able to go to her house and have fun like you used to.

“Trav, could you pass me the popcorn?”

He shook his head no, holding the bowl against his chest. “You and Gem are just going to eat it all and not share. I know you two.”

“Wow... I am hurt.”

“No you’re not,” he chuckled.

“I promise to make more after we all finish this bowl.”

“No, you won’t,” Gemma whispered beside you.

You knocked her with your elbow and shushed her quietly. Travis stood and passed you the bowl.

“I’ll go make my own,” he muttered before walking to the kitchen.

You let out a loud laugh, taking a large handful of popcorn and shoving it in your mouth.

Jana laid on the couch across from you with her feet in Ian’s lap. He was rubbing them with a peaceful look on his face while Jana smiled at him. They were happy and that’s all you wanted. You hoped that someday you’d find your person.

Your phone buzzed on the coffee table in front of you. Reaching for a napkin, you wiped the butter off your hands before picking it up.

Scott: Whatcha doin’?

Y/N: At my friend’s house. I work tonight.

Scott: That bites. You work all week?

Y/N: Tonight, tomorrow, and Friday. What are you up to?

Scott: Being lazy. Thinking about a solo dance party.

You smiled at his text.

Y/N: I could really go for one of those.

Y/N: Are you going to be in town for a while?

Scott: A couple of weeks at least.

Y/N: Want to grab lunch next week?

Scott: Sounds good angel. Let me know when.

Y/N: Will do. Have fun with your dance party.

Tuesdays were generally quiet, but people seemed to tip better. You weren’t sure if it was because patrons knew your tips would be few and far between or if the Tuesday crowd was just generous.

You had a tall can of energy drink behind the bar that you snuck sips from as the night went on. You knew it wasn’t healthy, but staying up until three in the morning on the nights you worked wasn’t easy. Making it to midnight was no problem, but after that, you were dead on your feet. It was only eight and you were already dragging. Grabbing the can, you brought it to your lips taking a pull.

“Those things will kill you.”

You put the can down and spun around to face the bar top. Your stomach dropped as you gripped the edge of the counter to keep yourself standing.

“Chris,” you whispered.

“Hey,” he said softly, pulling his black ballcap low on his face.

“Uh, hi?”

What the fuck is he doing here?

“Can I get a beer?” he asked. You stared blankly at him as he took a seat in the stool directly in front of you. “Whatever IPA you have on tap.”

You couldn’t move. Chris was here and speaking to you as if this was an everyday occurrence.

“Sweetheart?”

“Uhhh. IPA?” you asked, somehow getting your voice back.

Chris nodded his head. He interlaced his fingers and rested his hands on the bar. You walked to the far side of the bar to give yourself a minute to breathe. It didn’t matter than there were two IPAs on tap two feet from where he sat, the taps on the far end is where you went. You filled the glass and gave yourself an extra ten seconds to calm down. This was Chris. Your friend Chris who you were crazy about and he was crazy about you. At least he once was. You on the other hand were still crazy about him. You could deal with him in your bar for fifteen minutes or however long it takes him to finish his drink.

You walked back the length of the bar, grabbing a coaster and setting both in front of him.

“What are you doing here, Chris?”

He took a quick sip, licking the foam from his lips before setting the glass back down. “Straight to the point. I can deal with that. Uh, Scott told me you worked here.”

Scott. You internally rolled your eyes.

“That’s why he asked about my work schedule yesterday.”

Chris cringed a little bit, shrugging both shoulders. “I asked him to. I should have just called you, but I wasn’t sure if you would have picked up for me.”

This time you actually rolled your eyes. “I would have taken your call. You’re the one that doesn’t want to be my friend anymore.” It came out way harsher than you meant it to. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” You shook your head, placing your elbows on the bar top and leaned in. “I thought about what I’d say if I saw you again and that wasn’t it. What I meant is I’m sorry. When you and I became friends, I should have told you what was going on, but I was scared. It seemed like such an innocent lie in the beginning but it kept getting bigger. I trusted you, but when it came down to it, I didn’t honor that trust and I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

Chris visible relaxed, his back hunching as he rested his forearms on the bar. “Sweetheart,” he started. “This isn’t all on you. I get why you didn’t want to tell me and while I wish you would have, I can’t hold that against you. I was hurt. Once we started hanging out, I started to fall for you even though I knew I shouldn’t. It was hard, so hard to hold back and respect the relationship I thought you had. So, it hurt when I found out it wasn’t real. But I shouldn’t have pushed you away that I had. I wish I hadn’t sent you that text message after ignoring you for weeks. So, what I’m trying to say is I’m sorry too. I’d like for us to be friends again.”

Friends. Not exactly what you hoped for, but you’d take Chris back in your life anyway you could get him.

“I would like that,” you said, offering him a small smile. “I’ll be right back.”

A couple had come in and taken a seat at table. You walked over, grabbing their drink orders before returning to the bar. It was probably the quickest margarita over ice and whiskey coke you’ve ever made, but you were walking on air at the moment. Chris wanted to be friends again.

Chris had apparently chugged his beer in the few minutes you were gone. You guessed he was just as nervous as you were about this conversation. “One more?” you asked, coming to stand in front of him again.

“Please.”

This time you went to the taps closest to him. You filled a new glass and stuck his old in the dishwasher.

“How long are you in town?” you asked.

“Just a couple of weeks. I actually wanted to talk to you about that.” You leaned on your forearms as you waited for him to continue. “I start shooting a new movie in a few months. I’m directing again.”

Your face lit up at his news. “That’s great Chris. Are you starring too?”

He took a sip from the glass and nodded his head. “I am. Which is the problem.” You crinkled your brow and quirked your mouth to the side. “See, if I’m directing, it’s kind of hard for me to give myself notes and keep me in line.”

“Yeah, you are a tough one to work with,” you sassed.

Chris smiled, letting his eyes go soft. “So, I need a good script supervisor. Any chance you know of one that doesn’t currently have a new film lined up?”

You smiled brightly before giving him an intense stare. “It’s not in Canada in the winter is it?”

“Nah. New England in the fall. What do you say, Y/N?”

You drummed your hands on the bar. “I’ll take it.”

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misfitjohnnys · 5 years

Text

unintentional; intro

You’ve worked hard for everything you’ve gotten and Mark Lee is a soft twist in your busy life, but you know hiding part of yourself eventually always bites anyone in the ass.

Word count: 4k

Reader x Mark Lee

(M)

masterlist // warnings

It took quite a bit of convincing yourself to wake up and leave for the airport, overwhelmed by your senses and disbelief that you were actually leaving town in what you, at the time, thought was a critical moment for business.

You had responsibilities; worries about work, making sure the housecleaner was on top of her game while you were gone, other little nags in your schedule you wanted to avoid. You might’ve been a little bit of a perfectionist in comparison to when you were younger and it plagued you but paid off when you were sitting at the very top of the food chain at work, so to speak. Owning and managing a high maintenance restaurant didn’t come easy. It took nearly all of your time and the last location that opened left a little more to be desired for something you put your heart and soul into. And yet you were leaving for a concert. It felt idiotic.

It wasn’t easy to get up and leave just for pleasure. The worry set in, banging in your chest as you carefully carried a gigantic decorated suitcase down the stairs of your luxury apartment in Los Angeles.

Just have a good time

. You told yourself, itching to stay back inside and take care of business. You’d wasted a good amount of time that day worried about leaving that night, but you got all you needed done to prepare for your trip. You booked a late flight for that purpose, knowing it was hard to sleep enough the night before to be ready to go the next morning. You knew you’d work yourself to death the night before trying to scramble and prepare. Your brain was always scattered before flying. It was scattered in general, but your position made you tons more organized and since the health of the restaurant was your main priority, you had to make sure it was all incredibly perfect before you left.

You hadn’t had an off day in what felt like weeks, you couldn’t count anymore, but that was business. You’d made it successful by being fully involved and on location every day, even in your pyjamas when nobody could see you. Dedication was critical if you’d continue to stay successful. Your dream started at 16 with early graduation, finishing a business management degree early with extra financing classes, following with culinary school. You were top dollar success before 25 and you were proud. You got lucky with investors due to your intense and productive personality, so motivation was the key and, boy, did you have the spunk and drive for success. It was almost a toxic relationship between you and work.

Maybe you did need a break, but it was so hard to accept that. You had been so busy the last few years making a name for yourself and you were a mild celebrity, a big success so young and people had your name in their mouths, especially in surrounding areas. It didn’t come easy. You even worked the morning of your parents’ divorce court, met them at the courthouse, then went straight back to work after a costume change.

The dedication got between you and lots of your relationships. Moving to the city states away meant your friends rarely visited. You never traveled to them as much as you desperately wanted to; time was never available and you worried too much, just to put it lightly. There you were, flying off to see your friends, but it was the SuperM concert that pushed you to the edge to make the decision to go. Seeing the concert was an added bonus, but the main goal was to see your friends and have a good time with them. You were going home for the first time in years and it felt weird when you could just stay in California and see the concert closer to you in a few months, but you had to stop making your decisions less about you and more about the people you cared about. Your business wasn’t the only important aspect in life, and you knew that, but it didn’t feel that way.

Your suitcase was heavy, packed way too full of so many unnecessary clothing items out of fear of having to fly back so soon to business or investment meetings. You had backup outfits on top of backup outfits. There were at least six changes of clothes, multiple pairs of shoes, and you felt kind of silly. You were supposed to be gone maybe three days and it felt like a lifetime you’d be gone. The newest location’s food order hadn’t been submitted for the week yet and that was gnawing at your throat to make a phone call, aching to force you to stay home and take care of it all, but you had to trust who you put in charge on site. You had a wonderful assistant, Irene, and she wasn’t at all hesitant about making you go on the trip. She urged you to buy tickets on a whim and she made sure you’d be flying out with precise measured steps down to the Uber to your car rental, the exact moment the keys would be in your hands, and a hotel suite overlooking a city you hadn’t seen in years.

You were booked and extremely busy all week leading to your departure without even a minute to breathe between rests. It was definitely your fault for taking on too much beforehand.

Red carpets, press conferences, board meetings. You even had an episode on The Ellen Show, reminding everyone about your new openings and new menu items and new branding when all you wanted to do was get some rest and have a drink. It was ironic because the group in the concert you were leaving to see had just been on the show. Ellen was the most fun out of all of your responsibilities, lightening the blow on all your other schedules for the week, but you were used to serious business matter, so it was a nice change in pace.

You briefly wondered if any of the members of SuperM knew about your episode, but you pushed the thought away even if it seemed fun. You ended up passed out on the couch more than once that week, half-dressed and with remaining stage makeup on after every event and you were tired. You were damn tired and getting a full night’s rest seemed more fun than the trip at that point, but you had to trust the people around you. It was hard to do that when you’d gotten where you were because of being so involved with your business.

You didn’t even know if you wanted to go, fearing that if you left for only one moment, all you worked for would come crashing down and you’d lose it all. Realistically you knew it wouldn’t happen and your intense accidental micromanaging sometimes bit you in the ass, but thankfully your workers understood. You picked a good crew, thankfully. Interviews were hell but advertisement was worth it in the end. It was all going to be fine, but it didn’t help the pit in your stomach while you walked.

You lived such a busy life that it was hard to even remember what it was like before your responsibilities. It felt unreal that you’d be in a different city unnecessarily when you could easily stay and do what you had to do, but vacationing and seeing your friends was the deal you worked up with Irene. She was forcing you into it, and you had to remind yourself yet again that you knew it was probably for the best even if it didn’t feel that way in the moment.

It took a lot out of you to not ignore your suggested GPS route and just drive to the restaurant to work all day instead, making up bigger and better reasons to avoid leaving, but against your better judgment you continued on your way, forcing yourself to follow the itinerary that Irene made for you, rolling your eyes as you glanced over her suggestions for the timing of what should be done and ideas for your entertainment.

Have fun!!!

was written about four different times as a reminder.

You both knew you’d ignore it, but you had to be forced to enjoy yourself or you’d just be miserable and not busy on a trip, sitting on the edge of the bed in a hotel just focused on your online number system to check sales, which is exactly what you did for your cousin’s bachelorette party. She was still kind of mad at you for that. Maybe you should call her while you’re in town. Maybe you should call and talk to anyone at home, maybe make some plans? You weren’t sure. You needed distraction and you weren’t sure your friends would cut it on that, but you hoped they would, and you’d have the time of your life.

Your phone felt heavy in your pocket, picking it up once to see only one text from Irene.

Get on the road! You’re going to miss your flight! Tell the boys hi for me!

You rolled your eyes. Your sigh echoed in the parking garage, second guessing the flight and debated on using the excuse of missing the plane. Losing that money didn’t matter, your restaurant and reputation did, but you pushed the thoughts away. You groaned, tossing your suitcase in the back and slid into the driver’s seat of your red Mustang.

The restaurant was going to be fine.

The faded smell of cigarette wafted around the car each time you got in, a reminder of the worst habit continually nagging at your insides but being well-off came with a price. That’s what you’d tell yourself to push away some of the guilt for smoking. It wasn’t the worst habit you could have; you’d often resolve. Your vehicle started up and the dreaded sound of it warming up almost made you sick to your stomach. The Mustang’s hum usually comforted you, but then it was absolutely no help. You almost felt like crying. Almost. Your head was spinning back and forth between the two options and it was hard to keep on track with the correct one.

The drive to LAX felt like an eternity, music blasting through the speakers as a failed distraction while you smoked down the last cigarette before your plane ride. Your head felt heavy, maybe you did deserve some time off.

The concert was in two days. If you were lucky and everything went according to plan, (it always did) then you’d be settled in town by morning in order to meet up with your friends from home and get a drink with the people you hadn’t seen in years. The concert was composed of groups you felt like you’d been into forever, spending time and time online filling your brain with them as a distraction, all you knew was work and your favorite music. You got made fun of for years for liking it so much, but you pushed it off and continued your love in silence. It was your biggest guilty pleasure, but hopefully would be the force to take some much needed relaxing and self-focus that not even your massage therapist could give you on your lunch breaks.

When you heard the news that the super-group had come together, it seemed like the perfect getaway to see them all, rattling your nerves the second you pressed PAY NOW on the ticket website. You were full of mild regret for weeks following, heartbeat fast in your chest when the thought of leaving came up.

You couldn't believe that at your age, you'd be going to see them all. You'd had the time and money before, but just never felt like it was necessary to take a trip just for you. You didn’t know what had come over you, but you assumed your acting on impulse was paying for itself now as you pulled the bags out of the car, heart racing through the airport parking garage so loudly in your ears you thought the flight attendants could probably hear it.

You groaned, dragging your bag up the escalator of the airport, waiting on Irene to let you know she had your car picked up, but she always had everything covered so it wasn’t really a concern as much as you were playing it out in your head.

Walking through the building felt like you were on autopilot, bringing your items through bag check and making sure you were comfortable enough to get on the plane. Thankfully your gate was rather empty because you weren’t sure if you could suffer through any extra anxieties before the flight, you were already so ready to give up and cancel the whole trip, but something didn’t feel right about doing that.

You reached into your backpack, taking out your prescription to take half of a Xanax for the plane ride. You sighed, walking over to the vending machine to get water, attempting to relax before your flight boarded in 40 minutes. It was just past 1am. You wasted your time scrolling through Tumblr and refocusing your energy. You hadn’t been on your blog in a few days and you'd been a little too distracted in the last couple years to keep too properly active, but you managed with updates and Tumblr seemed like the easiest platform to waste your time at that moment. Some good enjoyment and spice in the update world to ease the weight of your worries just a tad.

Your heart was racing as you stared your ticket down once the wait was over, gripping it enough to have noticeable sweat prints on it as you moved your way to the boarding station with heavy breaths and in disbelief that you were actually doing it. It felt like you were being forced to move and go on with your plans even though you knew that wasn’t the case. Your friends would be waiting for you in the city once you touched down. There was nothing to be worried about.

When the plane was fully boarded, you made sure to take the other half of the Xanax to get a decent amount of sleep considering you tossed and turned all night worried about your trip.

You woke up wondering what the fuck you were doing, a nightmare pulling you from your slumber, annoyed and staring out of the plane windows at the city and clouds below you, calming you down more than all else in the world in that moment.

You pulled the plane blanket to your chest and focused on your breathing, aching to land soon and relax enough to actually have a good time.

You had finally realized you'd fallen asleep without distraction when the politest flight attendant you’d spoken to in your entire life lightly woke you up. Your smile radiated and it was probably the most you had relaxed in months, sighing into a yawn and gently folding the blanket next to you before grabbing your items to head back out of the plane and into the destination airport.

The luggage grab was packed, as you expected, but your anxiety was shockingly low, breathing steady and it was even more relieving to easily pick up your bags. This wouldn’t be so bad, you thought. Your peace was quickly interrupted by a piercing yell from about 50 feet away, a familiar voice ringing in your ears to only make you smile wider.

"I can't believe you actually made it!" Your high school friend, Seulgi, yelled over to you.

Your other friend who was responsible for the yell, Yeri, followed quickly behind Seulgi and easily embraced you in the tightest hug you'd gotten in years. Your relieved sigh was heavy, happiness finally settling in. For once in the last couple months, you weren't thinking about work. That was a miracle in itself. “We thought you’d cancel last second and send us some care package in the mail apologizing.” Yeri teased with another tight squeeze.

“I can’t believe you’re home.” Seulgi told you, sighing softly and patting you on the shoulder, joining the hug and pulling the two of you to her chest.

"I told you guys you didn’t have to meet me here!” You playfully scolded your friends. “So where are we going?" You laughed, joking around and pulling up Uber to check where your ride was to pick up your rental car. You determined early on in planning that it was best if you drove around, easier access and much less stress on your part.

"I just need an SUV big enough for 3 people and quite a few bags." You spoke to the rental assistant, feeling a little embarrassed when she asked if you preferred luxury or premium. "Luxury is fine." The keyring was handed to you, biting your lip as you looked down at the Mercedes symbol on the fob. Your friends hadn't been a part of your life since you made your name, so it was only a little awkward when Seulgi and Yeri screamed as soon as they saw the vehicle you'd be driving for the next few days.

"Dude, I could live in this car." Seulgi laughed, shaking her head and tossing her bags into the trunk, grabbing her purse and sliding easily into the backseat.

"It had really good coverage." You resolved, putting your own suitcase and extra bags next to hers before taking up the drivers’ seat as if you belonged in it.

"It seems like it’s got really good everything." Yeri added with a grin, shaking her head and jumping into the passenger seat with her simple small suitcase, opting to change shoes in the front seat so she wanted her bag with her. She was always like that, fixing her makeup as soon as her shoes were changed. You smiled to yourself, shaking your head. Your best friends had gotten you through most of your life as you remembered; now it was your turn to treat them.

It was good to be back, that was a tough pill to swallow as you eased your way down the highway to your temporary home for the next couple days, you hoped it was comfortable.

The hotel suite was far fancier than you were expecting, silk linens hanging from the curtain rods to reveal an amazing view of the city from your beds alone, Egyptian cotton lining the beds along with multiple high-class comforters. To put it short, the suite looked like it was designed for Greek gods instead of a group of people in their twenties like all of you. It was accented with a kitchen, full bathroom, and a balcony. Irene had to have used your points from work trips to secure the highest-level suite.

Yeri couldn’t hide her excitement, jumping straight onto the bed nearest to the window. You easily sat your bags on the free bed while Seulgi crawled under the covers next to Yeri to assert herself as who would be sleeping where. You couldn’t help but to laugh, the two of them always so close to each other and you had to admit you missed it.

You gently pulled off your shoes, tossing your hair into a hair tie to get it out of your way and tried your best to get ready for the day with a shower and fresh face. You felt quite overwhelmed, but in the best possible way. You hadn’t stayed in your hometown in what felt like forever, opting ever so often to only visit for a holiday or important family matters, and you even went as far as to staying outside of the city usually, so you were only a little on edge, trying to remind yourself that you were used to these kinds of things and the discomfort would subside.

You checked your phone, only slightly shocked that you only had a text or two from Irene that were easily blown off. She always knew where your head was at versus where it should be, but the thought was nice even if it slightly annoyed you every time.

Have fun, remind me that you didn’t die on your flight!

I packed some extra warm clothes in case you forgot about the wind chill!

You mildly snorted, shaking your head and deciding to ignore responding to her for now. She probably knew you were already settling in, just wanting an update text even though she always had your location since managing you was her job. You went out to the balcony, lighting up a cigarette in the city for the first time and trying your best to relax a little more. The balcony of the hotel was nice, overlooking the city lights, buildings, and scenery you weren’t used to anymore and for some reason you felt calmed by the cold breeze passing over your legs through your pants, socks not quite warm enough to stop the chilly air. It felt like home, but it was different.

You weren’t a child anymore and you could appreciate the soft hum of the city, quiet sirens heard in the background with the wind whistling through the trees. It felt more comforting than you would’ve thought, filling your lungs with smoke and relaxing into the sounds of a city you never appreciated quite enough. You all went out to dinner and to walk around a bit to visit old memories, so the trip was so far so good.

Making your way back to the suite, you felt pretty good. You took another break outside, letting the cool chair embrace you when you heard the door open and a faint giggle from Yeri, stepping out on the balcony and turning her nose up at the smell of cigarette smoke. She always hated it and you swore you’d never smoke, but desperate times called for desperate measures at the cost of your success. It wasn’t your favorite thing, but the nicotine calmed you enough to keep sane. “What’s up, babe?”

It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to you when Yeri said she wanted to have a party, but it slightly worried you, biting on your lips to think of any reason to say no, but you couldn’t find one, sighing and knowing she probably knew your mental health better than you did and knew you’d have a better time than you ever thought. You scrambled to find whatever you needed in your bag to properly get dressed because you definitely weren’t sure what exactly to wear to a party or who you might see, materialism absolutely showing through as you tried to find the best possible outfit to represent you as a person but still remind anyone you knew that you were still the same person, just on the road to success.

You sighed, taking a sip of water and really wishing it were something a little stronger. Tequila maybe? You weren’t sure, but you had to properly be dressed if any party was going on in your presence. The challenge of throwing a party slapped you in the face, not at all even comfortable with the idea of putting it together and that’s what made you nervous. You were used to throwing dozens of successful business parties and you hadn’t small-partied in years in a non-professional environment, you weren’t sure you knew how to act at one anymore, or even how to get ready for one.

Getting dressed was a nightmare, going through all your clothes when you were so used to throwing on a professional outfit and half-assed makeup to go to work had gotten you into a routine and you weren’t sure what your style even was anymore.

You knew you looked fine, but the usual outfits you wore didn’t really depict who you were as a person, making you sigh and feeling even more nervous and absolutely out of your comfort zone and how long had it been since you’d been to a party? Probably not since the third location’s launch party and that was full of investors and critics so you couldn’t necessarily “party”. You sighed in the bathroom, tugging on a long sweater with some tights and black shorts. Your shoes were brand new, hardly even worn but they seemed to work with the sleek seemingly-no-effort outfit. You hardly even packed your own clothes, Irene assisted you and tossed extra items into your suitcase that you weren’t quite sure of, but she knew you better than anyone, so you were thankful for the help.

Your makeup left a little to be desired, frowning when it didn’t quite come out. You sighed, realizing that you should probably pull yourself fully together and maybe pluck your eyebrows, but that may have just been an excuse to leave the hotel for a breather and a new pack of cigarettes. Maybe the outing would help you calm down after what you called getting dressed “a catastrophe” to your friends. They seemed slightly worried, so you felt a little sick.

“I’m headed out, be back in twenty.” Seulgi and Yeri visibly pouted, looking absolutely perfect and ready for the party, their friends already on their way. There were probably going to be tons of people from university you hadn’t even heard of, so that was rattling your nerves even more. You had a bad habit of over-anticipating and working yourself into being terrified to associate. You put on a fancy hat and headed out the door.

The walk to the car felt like you ran there, steadying your breaths until the door opened, biting your lip as you started it up and sat in the drivers’ seat to tell yourself it was all going to be fine.

You opted to check your phone, nearly frustrated when you’d received multiple texts from employees telling you that it was all going well. It was unfortunate, but you’d like an excuse to worry about and being at work seemed easier than worrying about a party you weren’t sure you were emotionally prepared for.

As you backed out and made your way to a nearby Walgreens, something felt a little off in the pit of your stomach. You had a feeling that nagged at you and you couldn’t quite place it. You made your way into the parking lot, taking a deep breath before stepping inside. It had been a long time since you’d been in a store alone and not with Irene or someone else. You didn’t like doing things alone anymore and this trip had a lot of alone time on it, but you thought that maybe it was good. You’d have a learning experience to get back to being yourself.

You were used to being with people, constant human interaction since your first restaurant opened. It wasn’t like that when you were younger. You were shy and timid and forced to do things alone, so when you were ripped out of that in the restaurant business, you got used to it very quickly. It was like second nature to constantly be surrounded, so even walking into Walgreens felt foreign.

#NCT #nct smut #mark lee smut #mark lee #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct angst #superm #tommowrites #nctfic #unintentional

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asoulofstars · 4 years

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The title of this is currently TBD, as I’ve yet to think of a witty title. Witty title will probably come from @niceofthenine‘s Artemis saying something fun in teasing Riona & Sawyer later.

This is Part 1 of my Riona/Sawyer fake married AU that I absolutely fucking adore. This is all pre-crash, we’ll get to on Island stuff starting in Part 2.

Riona frowned as a bar fight broke out. It was her last night in Sydney, and they’d just finished the conference, and she wanted to celebrate. But when the cops quickly arrived, they all arrested one man, and it was not the man who started it. Riona knew that the FBI had zero sway in Sydney, Australia, but she knew that self-defense was not a reason to get arrested. So, she followed them to the police station, even as the others from her group asked her where she was going.

“Excuse me!” she called. “I was a witness to my husband’s bar fight!”

“Husband? Where were you when he was throwing punches?” the officer asked.

“I was on my way back from the restroom and passed some of my colleagues. I was part of the forensic science conference happening this week. And, I’ll have you know, my husband did not throw the first punch.”

“Princess, they don’ seem to care,” he drawled. “Jus’ head back to the hotel.”

“He is staying the night with us, Ma’am. If you would like to leave your hotel number, we will call you when we have decided to release him.” The officer handed her a notepad.

She put her name and number down, and she frowned. “Is this how self-defense gets handled in Australia? The FBI handles things better than this.”

“FBI? You’re FBI?” The officer snorted. “Come on, Ford. Let’s move.”

Riona watched as the officer led the man away, and she sighed. Nothing left to do tonight, so she went back to her hotel. She packed everything up except for what she would need in the morning, and she went to sleep.

~*~

“Mrs. Ford?” The same voice that had dismissed her last night was on the phone. “You can come pick your husband up. He’s leaving the country today, so apologies if you had another ticket.”

“I’ll be there as soon as possible.” Riona threw the suitcases into the rental, and she headed down to the police station.

~*~

“Are you okay, Cowboy?” she asked, hands going to his face to check for fractures from his fight last night.

“Yeah, Princess. Jus’ fine.” He flashed her a small smile.

She blinked at his dimples, and she flushed. His small smile grew into a smirk, and she rolled her eyes.

“James Ford, don’t come back.” The officer looked at Riona. “Keep him out of trouble.”

Riona snorted. “Sure,” she replied. “Come on, Cowboy.” She wrapped her arm around his, and she tugged him out the door.

“Well, you’re quick on your feet,” he said when they were out on the street.

“You shouldn’t have been arrested for self-defense,” she replied.

“Apparently the other guy is some prime minister of somethin’. They were not thrilled.” He huffed and waved his hands. “Guess I should get my stuff. Got a flight to catch.”

“So do I; Oceanic 815. I can drive you.”

“Since I’m apparently on the same plane, I’ll take you up on that.” He climbed into the passenger seat of her rental.

Riona drove to his hotel, and she followed him to his room. He threw a couple things into his suitcases, and then he shouldered a bag.

“Ready to get to the airport, Honey?” he asked with a playful grin, dimples flashing at her again.

Riona snorted, even as his dimples again threw her off guard enough for her to not respond to his lack of actual packing. “I think I like Princess better.” She walked back to the rental car.

“Good to know,” he replied.

Riona couldn’t help but smile. This man was something.

“What?” he asked.

“I just don’t understand you. You’re minimalistic; you’re belligerent, but you don’t fight until you have to. You’re…very flirty.” She glanced over at him.

“Well, you’re very attractive, and you’re the one who said we were married.” He chuckled. “I travel a lot; it’s easier for me to just have everythin’ packed up and ready.” He shrugged.

“You are…very flattering.” She flushed. “And law enforcement is similar pretty much everywhere. They’re not going to tell a random stranger anything. Wife, on the other hand, they’ll give leeway to.”

He chuckled. “So, Princess. What’s your name?”

“Riona Gallagher,” she replied. “I’m going to go ahead and assume that you don’t use your real name, because you didn’t seem thrilled that the officer used it.”

“I go by Sawyer,” he replied.

Riona could tell that there was a story in his name situation, but she decided to let it pass.

“Do you really work for the FBI?” he asked.

Riona grinned. “Forensic specialist,” she replied. “I’m a lab rat, and even if the FBI had any kind of jurisdiction here in Sydney, if they’d actually responded to the FBI thing, they wouldn’t have given me much more once they found out I wasn’t a real agent.”

He snorted. “Well, Princess, you’re also just not that intimidating. But I’m sure you do a hell of a good job.”

She glanced over at him. “I can be very intimidating, thank you very much. You’d be surprised at the amount of times I’ve moved the biggest FBI agents just with my voice.”

She could hear his grin despite her eyes being focused on the road.

“Mmm. Good to know.”

Riona couldn’t help the smug smile in response, and she glanced at him again quickly. She chewed her bottom lip and tilted her head. There was something familiar about him, both in the nagging sense that she knew him from somewhere but also in their ease. She was comfortable with him, and she enjoyed talking to him.

“What?” he asked.

“We haven’t met before, have we?” she replied.

“I think I would remember you, Princess. Why do you ask?” He turned in his seat.

“This is just too easy. I mean, I like talking to people, but I’m always overthinking something. I don’t feel like that with you.” She shrugged a shoulder at him.

“I mean, awkward went out the window when our first conversation was in a police station after a bar fight,” he replied.

She made a small noise of agreement with her throat. “I just feel like I know you from somewhere. But Los Angeles is huge, so maybe it’s just my brain being weird.”

“You don’ happen to live in Park Wilshire, do you?”

“I do, actually. 1G.” She made a turn and eyed him as they came up to a stop sign.

“2F,” he replied. “I’ve only been there for a couple months; I did a month-by-month lease, because I travel a lot.”

“So you mentioned back at your hotel. What exactly do you do?” she asked.

“Little bit of everythin’,” he replied. “I like havin’ options. I don’ wanna settle down an’ miss out on opportunities.”

Riona eyed him out of the corner of her eye, lips pressed together. She knew that was a partial truth at best. “Alright.”

“What’s that mean?” he asked.

“It means that there’s definitely more to that story, but just because I will tell someone pretty much my whole life story when we met last night, doesn’t mean that other people will expand upon things, so alright.”

Therapy helped her in some social interactions. She learned to recognize the cues that meant not to ask for the same amount of information that she might give. She still wasn’t great about her oversharing, but that was a different story.

Sawyer let out a breath through his nose. “Fair enough. Thanks for that.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied. “How about a totally innocent question?” she asked.

“Shoot,” he said.

“What’s your favorite color?” she asked, grinning at him as she came to another stop sign.

“Green,” he replied. “Yours is purple, right?” He gestured at her outfit.

“That’d be correct.”

“How ‘bout your favorite song?” he asked.

“Oh, that song that just came out a few weeks ago. Mr. Brightside by The Killers.” Riona’s eyes lit up. “God, I wish that song existed when I was in college. Perfect stage dance song.”

“Stage dance?” Sawyer asked.

Riona flushed. “I was a stripper to pay for school. Sometimes I miss it; it was a really fun experience, and it taught me a lot about myself. But those late nights killed me.”

“Still got those moves, Princess?” He smirked at her.

“Yes, I do,” she replied. “Not that you need to know that.”

“Maybe not. But husband-me must be a lucky man.” His dimples were prominent on his face.

“Maybe he is when wife-me feels like putting on a show.” She shook her head at him. “And we are here!” she exclaimed as the airport came into view.

“Finally,” he said. “Been here too damn long. I am ready to say sayonara.”

“It’ll be good to go home,” Riona agreed. “I miss my cat.”

He snorted. “Your cat?” he asked.

“My beautiful baby, Freyja. She’s a Norwegian Forest Cat, and I picked her out from the shelter. She’s my best friend.” Riona paused and chewed her lip. “Well, best friend besides Aislinn, but Aislinn lives out in Massachusetts. She has a cottage and a huge garden and a couple horses, and she is pretty much my sister.”

“Sounds like a good best friend,” he said.

“The best,” Riona replied. “You have pets or friends?” she asked.

“You count as a friend, right?” he answered.

Riona flushed, chewed her lip, and stole a glance at him as she parked. “I mean, yes, but…just me?”

He gave a vague shrug. “I don’ really do the whole friendship thing. Don’ stay places long enough to make meaningful connections. But…you helped me out, an’ I know you a bit better than I’ve known anyone in a long time, so…yeah. You’re a friend.”

She didn’t have time to respond as he got out of the car, shouldering his own bag and taking her luggage with ease. She didn’t bother to question him, instead wrapping her arm around his and leaning into him as they walked towards the gate to wait.

#written in the stars (my writing)#otp: the princess and her asshole #v: lost

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rakeshraseo321 · 2 years

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The Best And Unique Film Locations In Los Angeles

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stephenmalkmusofficial · 5 years

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Top 10 Albums of 2019

Good morning everyone! I can’t believe it’s a whole new fuckin’ decade. 2019 was a great year for music, while a lot of my old favorites put out some lackluster releases (*cough cough* Sleater-Kinney, Weezer), newer and younger bands that I also love really stepped up to the plate and put out what ended up being my favorite records this year, we’ll get to that soon though. First let’s start with some

Honorable Mentions: Avey Tare - Cows on Hourglass Pond Angel Olsen - All Mirrors Jeff Rosenstock - Thanks, Sorry! Big Thief - U.F.O.F. Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center Chris Farren - Born Hot

10. Big Thief - Two Hands

Big Thief have consistently blown me away this decade in making really vibrant, urgent, and important music. Their sophomore effort, Capacity, is probably one of my favorite albums of the past ten years. The unique way that the guitars, bass, drums and vocals all blend with each other make the folk rock they develop seem so spellbinding. After the ethereal UFOF from May of this year, Big Thief came crashing back down to earth with Two Hands, and I love the way the band makes themselves feel so close and intimate, playing together in a mostly live setting (while UFOF involved a lot of effects and overdubs). There’s a range of musical emotions at play here from pounding out one of their longest and most aggressive songs “Not”, which might be my favorite song of the year, to quickly follow up that track with a quiet, haunting ballad “Wolf”. What an effective back-to-back. Big Thief proved this year that they’re a damn important band, and I’m glad I’m listening.

9. Black Midi - Schlagenheim

At first, I wasn’t exactly sure what black midi was, or what they were doing. I saw lots of people on Twitter either hyping them up, or making fun of the hype by making absurd jokes about them. It seems however, the band is in on the joke, wearing huge cowboy hats on stage, meshing two or three different graphic design styles together for their promo materials, and then when I saw them in November, the singer kept quoting a line or two from “Stronger” by Kanye West, eventually throwing it into their closer “bmbmbm”. I finally tapped into their sound by checking out their live video for their song “Ducter” and Pitchfork Festival, and was instantly captivated by how different yet familiar their sound was. It was clear that as musicians, they were super tight and together, while at the same time going on crazy tangents. Each time I revisited this album I found something refreshing and new that I think a lot of other post-punk/whatever bands are too afraid to do. I’m excited to see how these guys grow and evolve since they’re so young, but I’m glad I got to be in on the ground floor.

8. Stella Donnelly - Beware of the Dogs

I’m not sure what exactly led me to check this album out, but after I listened to it I realized my friend Anne had put two songs from it in a playlist she made me earlier in the year (thanks Anne if you read this). Right when the first song came on, I was instantly entranced by Stella’s sweet, upbeat voice combined with a twee-adjacent instrumentals and lyrics about womanhood, feminism and shitty men that undercut everything else. This record is really vital, and is catchy and sugary-sweet enough that it kept me coming back for more, each time appreciating Stella’s message more and more.

7. Strange Ranger - Remembering the Rockets

Strange Ranger had been, for me at least, a band that I was the only one not getting. I checked out their first two records earlier this year, they’re sprawling, epic and dreamy, but nothing about them really made me want to revisit them. Then I decided to check out this record, and it seems that they distilled everything they had been going for and made it more accessible. This record at times feels like it’s taken directly from a hazy alt-rock band’s studio from 1998. Somewhere between Smashing Pumpkins, blur and The Rentals. It’s sweet and dreamy while also getting a little noisy and weird at times. I’m glad something finally clicked for me with this band, now I gotta go get the rest to click.

6. Deerhunter - Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?

Full disclosure, Deerhunter have become one of the most important bands in my life this past year, which is probably why this record is here (not a lot of people liked it and I can understand why), but this album definitely was a grower. After delving into their past few releases from this decade (Monomania, Fading Frontier) this album seemed like the next logical step. It’s clear cut and probably the least dreamy Deerhunter have ever sounded, but it’s not without reason. Bradford’s musings on the highlight “What Happens to People?” is a lament about modern life, and trying to search for a point, and the production brings everything clear and upfront so the band and the listener can ponder these things together. Definitely rewarded multiple listens.

5. Laura Stevenson - The Big Freeze

Laura has easily become one of my favorite solo artists over the past year or so. At first, in the context of being pals with one of my all-time favorite punk artists, Jeff Rosenstock, it was hard for me to wrap my head around someone’s music who was so soft, sensitive and reserved as Laura’s was. However when I booked her to play at a small cafe across the street from my school last December (shout out to the Parlor), it was incredible to see her in her own element. Here, she played at least 4 or 5 songs that are on The Big Freeze, which stands as a monument to Laura’s songwriting, she recorded this album in her childhood home, which only adds to the intimacy that she’s creating here. Listen to Laura Stevenson.

4. Mannequin Pussy - Patience

Mannequin Pussy have become one of my favorite bands over the past couple years. Their 2016 record Romantic was one I came to late but found hard to put down once I started listening, often listening to it twice in a row. Here, Patience builds on everything that made Romantic great and brings it to the next level. Drunk II stands as a testament to a new era of epic breakup songs (see also, Night Shift by Lucy Dacus). The personal highlight for me was “Fear/+/Desire”, and of course seeing them live in their hometown of Philly was incredible. Such an important band!!

3. Tyler, the Creator - IGOR

I’m pretty sure that Tyler’s 2017 Scum Fuck Flower Boy was a tribute to a relationship, and IGOR is the breakup. With Pinkerton being my favorite album ever, I have an affinity for breakup albums. IGOR flows so well and the message and idea is super cohesive, so of course I listened to it all the way through a bunch. I really liked the production and beats he used here too, they were grimy and lo-fi which made the whole effort feel that much more raw. Tyler has really grown into his own into a mature artist who uses the album form to tell a really compelling story, I really loved this record.

2. DUMP HIM - Dykes to Watch Out For

Watching DUMP HIM grow into the vital and fierce punk band we all deserve has been a pleasure to watch, and it all comes together so clearly on DTWOF. The production brings all the ripping guitar solos, excellent drum fills and amazing bass work to the front, as well as Jac and Mattie’s laments on trauma, community and being queer in today’s world. This is a really great and important record, go listen to it!

1. Prince Daddy & The Hyena - Cosmic Thrill Seekers

Prince Daddy have become one of my favorite bands to follow in the past 4 or so years. Their first two records were addicting, but this record feels transcendent, most certainly worth the almost 3 year wait. This record feels like what Weezer’s abandoned Songs From the Black Hole would’ve ended up like, but even better and touching upon vital themes of mental illness, love and friendship. This album is nothing short of epic, and I love it so much. Here’s to a better 2020!

#me

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mhzmegahertz · 3 years

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triptuckers · 5 years

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Love again - Reece Bibby

Request: Yes: Hi, I love your writing. Could you do one with any of the New Hope Club boys where you used to date one of them. Maybe you’re a musician and you’re asked to go on tour with them as a support act even though your one of their ex’s and he thinks it’ll be fine until he starts singing Love Again and realises he still loves you but then you have to turn him down because you’ve got a new boyfriend. (Sorry if that’s too much detail) xx Pairing: Reece Bibby x reader Summary: The request explains it all!! Warnings: This one’s a bit sad but other than that, no warnings. Word count: 2.3K A/N: Not sure what to think of this, I’m not the best at writing sad stuff like this. Anyway, to the anon who requested this, I hope you like it!! (This isn’t proof read so excuse me if there are any mistakes in it). I chose random names for the manager and the new boyfriend. Enjoy reading!!

The voice of the pilot pulls you out of your thoughts. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to LAX airport. It’s a sunny and very hot day, so please drink enough water. Please remain seated until the airplane has come to a full stop. Don’t forget to take all your belongings with you when you leave. We hope you had a pleasant fight, and we hope to see you again. On behalf of me and the crew, thank you for choosing British Airways. Have a good day.’

You raise your hands above your head and stretch. The flight took a little over 11 hours. The first hours were okay. You watched some movies, read your book and talked with your crew. But soon after that you got bored and tired, and you decided to get some sleep. When you woke up again, you couldn’t help but to think of Reece. You and Reece had been in a relationship for almost two years. Until half a year ago, when you split. Things just stopped working between you two. You still loved him, but not as much as you used to. You weren’t happy the way you lived, so you decided to break up with Reece. It was an incredibly difficult thing to do, given that Reece was such a sweetheart and still head over heels for you.

After that, you still talked to him, since you were still close with George and Blake and you didn’t want to give that friendship up only because you and Reece parted ways. You hadn’t seen the three of them in a while. A few months ago, your manager Ally had received a call from Joe, asking if you were interested in being New Hope Club’s support act for the American leg of the Love Again World Tour. Ally talked to you about it and you were quick to accept the offer. You had always loved spending time with the boys and just joking around, plus, you loved performing. You didn’t think your past with Reece would get in the way. You had already moved on and found yourself in a new relationship. You had been with Peter for a while now, and you are happy.

Ally, who sat next to you during the flight, softly squeezes your shoulder. You look up to her, unaware of the fact you had been staring out the window, lost in your thoughts. ‘Time to go.’ says Ally. You nod and begin to collect your phone, book, laptop and all of your other things in your bag. You get up out of the chair, happy to be able to stretch your legs. Ally is already on her way to the exit and you do the same. You thank the people standing at the door and say goodbye. You immediately feel the heat once you step out of the plane. You follow Ally as she makes her way over to the luggage hall. Your band and the rest of the crew is walking behind you. You’re happy to be back in the United States again, you’ve been busy recording your new album, so it’s been a while since you’ve travelled the world to perform.

Everyone helps getting the suitcases and guitars on baggage cars. You push one with your suitcases and guitars to the exit of the airport, where you’re supposed to meet Ben. Ben would take you and your crew to the venue, where the show is tonight. The day before New Hope Club played a show in Anaheim, but you couldn’t make it. That’s why you’re joining the shows in Los Angeles, Toronto, Philadelphia, New York and Washington DC. It’s only a few shows, but you’re excited to play again. You narrow your eyes as you look at the crowd, looking for Ben. You spot someone waving at you and smile when you recognize him as Ben. As you make your way through the crowd, you notice the door of Ben’s black van opening. When you reach the door, you see it’s Blake.

‘Hi guys!’ you say happy and you hug Ben first. ‘It’s so good to see you, Y/N.’ says Ben and he lets go of you. You smile and you look at Blake. ‘I didn’t know you were coming as well?’ you say. ‘I wanted to tag along, I missed my best friend.’ says Blake and you laugh and hug him. You catch up with Blake while Ally is talking to Ben. Your crew is busy making sure all the suitcases fit in the back of the van. You and Blake end up climbing in the van to pull on the suitcases so the doors can close. Ben takes place behind the wheel and Ally gets in next to him. You and Blake sit in the back and the rest of the crew got another rental car, given that there was no way everyone would fit and be comfortable in one van. It takes about half an hour to get to the venue. Once Ben parks the van, you get out and start helping your crew with the luggage. You’re trying to get one of your guitars off the enormous pile of bags and suitcases, when you hear a familiar voice.

‘Look who’s also in the States!’ You turn around and see it’s George. He smiles brightly at you and opens his arms. ‘Georgie!’ you say happily and you wrap your arms around him. George squeezes you extra tight before letting go of you. ‘Look at you! We’re so glad you could join us for tour, it’s been a while since we all spent time together.’ says George. ‘Well, if Joe hadn’t called Ally, I wouldn’t even be here in the first place, so we owe it all to them.’ you say and you laugh. The door of the venue opens and someone steps outside. The sun shines on their face and you notice who it is. Reece spots Blake and George, and then he sees you. He smiles briefly before walking up to the three of you. ‘Hi Y/N.’ he says. ‘Hi Reece.’ you say. ‘You look great.’ says Reece. ‘Thanks, you too.’ you say. ‘Right, shall we go inside? There’s lots to do before the show starts.’ says Blake before things between you and Reece get too awkward. You nod and follow him inside.

The rest of the day is spent setting up the stage and sound checking. The sound checking takes way longer than it should, since you keep fooling around with Blake and George. Reece doesn’t laugh as much as he normally does, but you keep telling yourself that’s because he’s tired due to the jet lag. When sound checking is finally done, you suggest ordering pizza before the boys go to the Meet & Greet. Everyone is talking and catching up while you wait for Ben and Tanner to return with the pizzas. You notice Reece is more quiet than usual, so you sit down next to him.

‘You okay?’ you ask him. Reece looks at you and smiles. ‘Yeah, why do you ask?’ he says. ‘Well, you’re so quiet all the time. I thought something might bother you.’ you say. ‘I’m fine, Y/N.’ says Reece. ‘It’s not because of me, is it? You did agree with me being your support act? Because if you didn’t, I would-‘ ‘Y/N.’ says Reece. ‘We couldn’t wish for a better support act. I’m just a bit tired, and I’m saving some energy for the Meet & Greet and the show.’ ‘Okay. You know you can always talk to me when something is wrong, right?’ you say. ‘Yeah, I do. Thanks, Y/N.’ says Reece and he joins the conversation between George and Blake.

Once you’ve finished eating pizza and the boys are done with their Meet and Greet, you’re backstage, waiting for the sign to go on stage. Everyone drops by to wish you good luck. When there’s only a few minutes before the start of the show, George, Blake and Reece walk up to you. You hug George and Blake and to prevent things from getting awkward, you briefly hug Reece. The music that was playing through the speakers fades away and the crowd starts to cheer. You turn around to look at everyone standing backstage as well. You smile and wink at them before entering the stage, the cheers grow louder. ‘What’s up LA!’ you say in the microphone and the crowd cheers again. ‘How are we feeling tonight? Listen, I’m just going to sing some of my songs, and then you can all sing along to the band we’re all excited to see!’

Your set is about twenty minutes, and after that you wish the boys good luck before going to the balcony to watch the show. The cheers of the crowd are louder than every as soon as George, Blake and Reece appear on stage. The crowd sings as loud as they can, and you can’t help but to smile. You’re so proud of your best friends. You have been following their journey for a couple years, and now you get to be their support act for their very first own world tour. Blake announces they have a new song out and everyone is cheering again. Everyone knows what song it is and they yell the lyrics to Love Again at the top of their lungs. As you watch them perform their new song, you notice Reece looking up at the balcony a couple of times. Every one of them had occasionally looked up and smiled at you, but during Love Again, Reece looks at you every few seconds. Still, you smile back at him when you catch him looking.

When they start singing their last song, you begin making your way down. You wait for them next to the stage as you watch them give their everything. Once they say goodbye to the crowd, they give away their guitars and they can’t stop smiling.

‘You guys!’ you say happily. ‘I’m so proud of you! You did so good, the crowd loved it!’ Despite them being covered in sweat, you hug each of them. Everyone walks back to the dressing room to talk about the show. You’re listening to the conversation between Blake and Ben when you feel a tap on your shoulder. You look up to see Reece. ‘Hey, can I talk to you? In private?’ he says. ‘Yeah, sure!’ you say and you follow him outside. You follow him all the way to an empty hallway. Reece turns around and looks at you.

‘What’s up?’ you say. ‘Okay, I’m- uh- just going to be honest with you. When we were singing Love Again, I couldn’t stop looking at you. I sang those lyrics and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. About us, and what we used to have. I was hoping that we could, well, I was hoping we could try to start over. To try again.’ he says. You look at him. He has a tiny hopeful smile on his lips.

‘Reece, we tried to make it work. I had a wonderful time with you, before things changed. And we tried to make it work. We really did, but it just didn’t. I wasn’t happy, it wasn’t good for any of us. I broke up with you for a reason, Reece. And even though that was one of the hardest things I have ever done, I don’t regret it.’ you say. The smile disappears. ‘But we’re different now, we could try again. Who knows, it might work out this time.’ says Reece hopefully. ‘Reece.’ you say. ‘It. Didn’t. Work. I still enjoy spending time with you, along with George and Blake. And I love to be on tour with you. But we’re going to be more than best friends. No more, I’m sorry.’

‘We can at least try.’ says Reece softly and he steps closer to you. You take a step back. ‘I have a boyfriend, Reece.’ you say and his lips part as he looks at you. ‘You what?’ he whispers. ‘I have a boyfriend. His name is Peter. And we’re happy together.’ you say. Reece nods. ‘Okay. Got it. You’ve moved on.’ says Reece. ‘Yeah, I have. And you should, too.’ you say. You look up at him and a tear slides down his cheek. You raise your hand to wipe it away. ‘There will be someone else for you, Reece. First loves are difficult, as are first breakups. But you have to move on. There’s someone else waiting for you. I have moved on, so can you. I didn’t think it would be a problem if I joined you for tour. But if you want me to leave, I can just tell Ally and we’ll be on our way.’ you say. Reece shakes his head.

‘No, I like having you around. George and Blake like having you around. And you’re a great singer to have as our support act. I just thought it was worth a shot. But you’re right, I should try to move on.’ he says.

‘Shall we go back to the others then? Bet they’re wondering where their amazing bassist is.’ you say smiling and luckily, Reece smiles at you as well. The two of you walk back to the dressing room. Your phone rings and you get it out to see it’s Peter. Reece looks at your phone as well and looks at you. ‘You should take that. Tell him about the show. And how lucky we are to have you as our support act.’ says Reece and he opens the door to the dressing room. You smile at him one last time before you answer your phone. ‘Hi honey.’ you say as you hear the door of the dressing room shut behind you.

A/N: If you want to request something, make sure to read my house rules Here’s the list of characters I write for. Everything that I have written can be found on my masterlist. Please don’t repost my work, as I spend much time and effort on it!! Thank you for reading! Much love, Jo

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