#about paul and john and their ridiculous wordings

[zilabee]

- The first time I watched Get Back (which is the only other time I've watched Get Back) this was the day where I realised how much a mish mash mess the entire editing of it was, because obviously I know the tapes of day eight much better than the tapes of other days. (on account of it being the day where Paul and John use George as nothing but an excuse to talk about their own broken up feelings and confused affections.)

- Wonderfully, @inspiteallthedanger and @get-back-homeward posted about the cuts and snips in the lunchroom tapes, and how frustrating and impossible it all is, here. So I don't have to kill myself trying to explain how WEIRD the resulting 'conversation' Peter Jackson came up with is. What a strange strange thing he did.

- I'm aware that the art of documentary is cutting bits out, and I know they couldn't put it all in. But I do find it tiring. Even not lunchtime, but all the conversations, all the days. I just want to know what they look like at the appropriate points without having to double guess and think and disregard. We're not allowed that though, until some kind soul steals the full footage and gifts us pure wonder, so unless you can really see their lips move, it's only a mirage.

- But! the full 20 seconds that is given over to watching Paul looking sad where nobody says anything at all is the best 20 seconds Peter Jackson ever spent.

- Paul explaining that obstacles aren't obstacles if you refuse to acknowledge any sadness in your life think about obstacles. I mean he's not untrue, it's not not true, he could make a motivational poster.

- So proud of his terrible news bulletins idea. I actually do think ending a massive spectacular show by having a quiet man come on and quietly announce that you've broken up could be nice though. But really I'm just in love with the fact that instead of worrying about breaking up, Paul has been turning it into a project they can all work on together. (And thinking about how to make it suitably big and show-off break up, because it's the Beatles - I love that he worries about their legacy. George and John are so weighted down by legacy, and Paul's just like 'it's only hard if we don't live up to it, so we should just live up to it'. He's such a lot, but he's true.)

Linda: But you were saying yesterday, you know... you make good music together whether you like it or not. John: I like it. Linda: And making good music is also... John: But it's just... Linda: It's really hard working in a relationship. John: I know.

- I love that they call it feeling guilty about each other.

- I love that when John is talking about how hard it is when Paul won't give in on arrangements, he specifically says that he wants it to work more like it works when they're writing. It soothes me in its easy acknowledgement that the writing is good. (even while he's destroying it I know)

- Paul jokingly saying 'You stay out of this, Yoko' to Linda when she is joining in the conversation is probably one of the first times that joke was made, where it's now a recognisable joke to almost every english speaking person in the world.

- SHUT UP I CANNOT STAND IT. (Literally no idea at what point of the thing I wrote this down but I stand by it.)

- I hope they didn't tell George they only wanted him back as a matter of policy. <333333333

When we're very old we'll all agree with each other and we'll all sing together.

- I love him talking about how it all works better if they sing properly instead of just singing half. I love that they just need to be young again and they're not young, since Brian died they haven't been at all young.

- Love John wanting someone to fact check Paul in case Tucson wasn't actually in Arizona. His surrealism does not stretch to inaccurate geography.

Ringo: The meeting was fine. A lot of good things, but then you know... they all sort of fell apart in the end.

Ringo accidentally writing a perfect little synopsis of the Beatles.

- "I don't feel like the Beatles revolve around the four people. It might be a fucking job." John trying to invent The Plastic Beatles. Or make it a bit like national service for rockstars. Everyone dreading the fucking letter that means they have to leave their families and their homes and their happy bands to go and live in a cauldron with Paul and John for a few months.

MLH: I think at some point we should talk conceptually about the show. Everyone prepares to leave.

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 1.2

George: We don't have to keep [an image] up, we just remain ourselves. Don't we, Ringo? Ringo: well, we do, I mean, it's the other two we're worried about. It's a joke about John and Paul being bigheads, but a crazy person – definitely not me – could also see it other ways if they wanted to.

Paul talking about their mutual friend when asked how they met and John telling him not to complicate it. They're so married it's ridiculous. 

Always looking at each other with every single joke. 

He looks like he's in a lovely enclosure at the petting zoo. I've always been so confused by this footage. Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on?

I LOVE that we now know Paul was cast as Thisbe and John as Pyramus and then they switched. I'm actually dying to know how and why that happened though. My first instinct was “of course. Paul was scared he'd look too convincing as a woman, so John did it for him.” But no. Paul dressed as a woman at the cavern, wore ladies lingerie in Hamburg, and wanted to do a full drag show on TV in the early seventies. So why not Thisbe?

Why do you as a man randomly bring up the color of your friend's dick while staring lovingly into his eyes?

It must be noted. They had a wonderful time playing star-crossed lovers. 

The bickering pianos are so cute! And then John (prompting Paul): and John and I . . . Paul: oh I hate this. John: will probably carry on . . . Paul: we'll carry on songwriting . . . You just know Paul didn't hear the end of that one interview answer for a long long time. And it's because John just had to hear it over and over again.

Love the editing so that Paul smacks John's ass right as the symbols crash. 10/10 A+

This iconic moment. Poor George tally number 4.

Interviewer brings up marriage and John takes a shot like he wants to forget that the whole concept even exists. Literally poor Cynthia. And not even in an “lol her husband's gay” type of way. Just in a genuine “the way their relationship fell apart actually breaks my heart because she really did love him and in his way he loved her too but they were just so thoroughly incompatible” type of way. 

Paul: makes a stupid dad joke. John: giggles gleefully and kicks his feet

I have never seen someone so disappointed that they didn't need to lend their friend a pen. Paul had his hand in his pocket before John even asked the interviewer for a pen and when the interviewer gives him one, Paul literally hangs his head like he's just been cut from the school play. I just. The obsession is frankly cartoonish. But also, he just needs to be needed, you know? How many songs does he have which conflate being needed and being loved?

The juxtaposition of Paul and John elaborately messing with the interviewer (“yes John Lenard, that's me” and “actually it's done by mirrors.”) vs George's “I don't know” and “yeah.” it's actually kind of mean editing but whatever. It is ULM not UH. Someone should make that though.

Again, John. Calm down. He's not that funny. Just look at Jimmy. That's the normal person's reaction to that joke. John is half the reason Paul has such a big head honestly. 

Paul's answer to a question about the Beatles gaining a lot of adult fans is nice. Sometimes he shocks with a bit of wisdom. Sometimes his words don't get messed up at the point they hit his throat as he says. 

What the fuck? Okay so the interviewer asks Paul what he likes in a girl, right? I've always been too distracted by Paul saying he likes a sense of humor and John doing an obnoxious fake laugh in the background because John. It's embarrassing how obvious you are. Stop.

But I never noticed Paul actually says “people”. The interviewer asks about girls and he says he likes “people - er - girls” to have a sense of humor. Huh. Okay. 

So ULM was actually what made me a serious Beatles fan and this was the first moment where I had to pause it and verify to see if what I'd just read was actually true. It really is a doozy. 

How to flirt. A guide by Paul McCartney. Step one: get your crush’s attention. This should be extremely easy. Just gesture vaguely at something you're holding. He'll be interested. Step two: do something suggestive to a phallic object. Step three: that's it. You've got him. He'll do whatever you want.

The editing in this thing truly is brutal. Just the jump cuts from a question about Cynthia to John and Paul making each other laugh to girls screaming to John and Paul unnecessarily touching to girls passed out on the ground to John and Paul desperate for each other's attention to girls waving signs to John and Paul sharing weird eye contact to girls physically mobbing them to John and Paul beaming at each other to a question about Jane. It really does drive home the immense pressure of compulsory heterosexuality back then. 

Then a question that's obviously meant to poke a nerve and start some bad feelings. “Paul. Is John the leader of the Beatles?” Easily rebuffed with “no I'm not” and “there's no real leader”. I know I'm dramatic but really it's like every aspect of that society was against them you know? And they just kind of said "fuck you, we're crazy about each other."

Question: what do they think about when they're imprisoned in their hotel rooms? John: we don't think about one thing. *Whips head to look at Paul* well, some of us do. Oh and you know that how exactly? What, do you just have a printout of his every thought? Do you keep constant tabs on his dick?

Someone give me the heterosexual explanation of that moment when John very clearly and obviously checks out and appreciates Paul's ass as he and Ringo are pretending to be cowboys. Seriously. I'm at a loss here. 

Poor George tally number six? Seven? They're asked what they'll do if England reinstates the draft. John brings up Southern Ireland. George brings up Germany. Paul and John plan their joint escape to Southern Ireland as if George hadn't even spoken. 

The choice to play “Another Girl” over that quote of John's being like ‘Paul's actually much meaner than i am’ is great. Because that's seriously such a jerk song. I don't much like Jane, honestly, but fuck, she deserved so much better than Paul. He was such a douche.  

Literally all the song choices in this are phenomenal. “Hide Your Love Away” over the montage of 60s homophobia moments? It's so genius. Saying everything without saying anything. Letting the Beatles do the talking. 

The laugh track over the cartoon is honestly so sad. Nobody asked them if they were okay with being mocked like that and they never even made a dime off it. What would that have felt like to know that your being “too close” with your best friend was a running joke on TV?

“It's only love and that is all. Why should I feel the way I do?”

[proverbsss]

reading you right (father paul hill/john pruitt x reader) -nsfw

Father Paul Hill, Midnight Mass

prompt(s): "Me. You. Bed. Now." [from this post]

[Pt. 2 Out Now!! Linked Here :)]

anon: I had a normal amount of fun writing this, hope you enjoy :) i wanna do a pt. 2 because ofc i do,, honestly I got a lil hot n bothered lmao

notifs: paul hill is a tease!! ; shoe-grinding ; fluffy smut ; hierophilia ; you're father paul's dirty little secret ; denial ; reader begging ; reader's down HORRENDOUS ; terms used: good girl, slutty thing, pet

"You've been lying there moaning for ten minutes." Father Paul chuckles, trying to focus on his reading.

You feel your leg twitch as you lay on your stomach, looking a bit dazed across the room. A giggle escapes you. In your mind's eye a constant stream of images plays- every dirty thing you’ve done with Father Paul in the last 48 hours, a rare weekend’s reprieve from prying Beverly Keane, sitting bedside with her sister or aunt or who-the-hell cares on the mainland. It was too easy to sneak into the house behind St. Patrick’s, and too goddamn pleasurable to leave after the first night. A delightful ease of domesticity has settled over the two of you. And you’re even more whipped for the Father than you were when this whole messy arrangement began.

"I can't help it-"

"It's understandable to whine like a whore while I'm still inside you, but cooing like that when I'm not even touching you is a little ridiculous." Smug, he licks his finger and turns a page. "A man's ego can only grow so big."

“What are you reading?” you ask, completely uninterested, and your voice betrays it. You might enjoy a good book now and again, but something worlds more tempting is sitting before you. In his jeans and tee shirt, only his glossy ankle boots remaining, Paul is a rare sight out of uniform, like something sent from heaven. Or Hell. Both, somehow.

“You asked me that fifteen minutes ago. Or did you forget already?” He shoots you a disapproving, but playful look. He can hardly resist you more than you can him. Hardly. There is that last smidgeon of reserve that Paul prides himself on. He can’t be bothered to think of you as a sin, because life’s become far, far more complicated in the last few months than any one man can hold in his head, and because it feels like paradise to touch you.

Caught in your inattention, you abandon the ruse of asking about his book. "You fucked me too good...." You whine.

"You're going to complain about it?" He laughs at you.

"You're laughing at me." 

"Of course I'm laughing at you," he admonishes. Not to be taken in by your wiles, Paul's eyes trace the paragraph he's started unsuccessfully three times.

"You whine before I fuck you, you whine while I fuck you, and you whine after I've fucked you. You're silly."

The vision renews itself in your mind of last night creeping around in here, your excitement waiting in the antechamber of St. Patrick’s late at night, Paul sneaking up on you in the dark and taking you in that muggy little den where they keep the wine and spare things. You want him to grunt against your ear like that again, to fuck you like he needs you in order to breathe.

"I'm not silly!" You gasp out. He hears the difference in your voice and scans your body with his eyes. Grinning. He licks his bottom lip and pretends the fool. “I want it, please, I want it, I don’t caaaare…” Your caterwauling would be annoying if it wasn’t so bone-deep genuine. Paul could probably keep you here forever as a pet, a secret from innocuous parishioners, visitors from all walks of life, and you’d be satisfied as long as he used you from time to time. Fed you.

“Oh, that’s undignified.” He smiles, turns the page and hopes he can pick up without the aid of the passage his mind simply refused to retain.

You get on all fours and start to crawl over to him. You tug on the leg of his jeans, utterly debased.

“You’re insatiable, you know that?” his tongue flicks and flutters around the word in a musical way that you know you could find better uses for. You nod. His voice. He could guide you anywhere with it. To make things worse, he imitates you. The facsimile of your lust in his voice is enough to make you jump him. “‘Father, I can't focus on my book....Father, please fuck me with your fingers, I can't without it, I need it...I told you pack things to stay because I imagined I’d be enjoying some downtime other than between my sheets.'"

You bite your lip, the adoring way you look up at him unfairly reminiscent of Biblical portraiture, the Madonna (too ineffably ironic), Saint Lucia, devout, suppliant little succubi. Paul’s heart breaks a little, and his cock twitches with interest, which he endeavors to suppress. 

“What’s that look for, child?” He plays up the religious bent of your dynamic, something that presses inexpressibly sinful and delicious buttons in your dirty mind. 

"I do need you."

You pout. Your words with Paul repeating them was enough to rev your proverbial engine. You shift just the littlest bit, yet the friction of the floor underneath you is enough to tease out a whimper. Not totally on purpose, but not totally by accident. John chuckles again. 

“Present tense?” He pretends to turn a page, but he’s not reading a damn thing now.

"I need you all the time you're not in me.” It’s filthy, but it feels true in these moments when all the thoughts are leaving your head empty. 

He smiles one of his private smiles. His eyelids crinkle as he reaches up to scratch his cheek. "Let's not be pornographic, huh?"

"I wanna fuck again..."

"What else is new?"

"You've ruined me." He looks at you then like you’re something to eat. The book is shut and put down. You have your beloved hot priest’s attention. His eyes ask, smoldering, what will you do now you have it?

“You have my boot. Or aren’t you smart enough to get yourself off.” His tone shifts and a shadowy, serious dominance settles in his countenance. Every behavior, every quirk of his expression, curve of his smile, owns and owns you. He may plead and beg to bury his head between your thighs from time to time, on one occasion he may have shown up at your door, his satchel a deceptive front for rope and ribbon, which you were to restrain and blindfold him with. Life’s too short for dynamics that don’t shift and change like the tides. But in this moment, this energy, you are his. And he intends to impress that upon you.

You gape at him just a moment, heady lust clouding your already addled brain. Then slowly, carefully, you adjust your position, grab the upper part of Paul’s calf, and hoist your lower body up onto his shoe, your pelvic bone bumping his shin. Any hesitations or embarrassment that linger in you drown in the deeper, sweeter excitement of feeling some real friction as you roll your hips. Oh. God.

This might be the senseless, reckless need talking, but fuck. Just the sensation of the toe of his shoe right between your thighs, exactly where you need it, makes you feel a little bit crazy. You look up at him in awe, and thank God he’s not picked up his book again but instead is sitting comfortably, his gaze dropped low to watch you, his groin thrusting the tiniest bit forward at nothing, too much nothing. He groans, and you chase your pleasure like a thing possessed.

Words slip out of your mouth without a shred of logic behind them, and Paul tells you to repeat yourself. He bites his bottom lip as he watches you. “Hello? Still a brain in there?"

“I said you make me so sensitive,” you mumble, finding a new groove in the contour of his shoe, where it meets his ankle, and leaning on his knee, shaking, groping for his thighs, all involuntarily. Your dripping, dripping on his shoe, and the thought of how uncivilized that is makes Paul bite his fist.

"Uh huh, so it's all my fault, then."

"Yes..."

"Yes, 'what'?"

"Yes it's all your fault, Father."

“It’s my fault you’re going to cum on my shoe?”

You whine again. Your soul’s leaving your body, want spreads through every inch of your body, intense and blinding, high, so high.

“C’n I cum, please, can I cum?” You pant, feeling his hands wrap around yours, warm and loving. 

“Look at me, pet.” He orders. You obey. His irises envelop you. You steady yours on them, trying to get a grip, breath filling your belly and leaving your parted lips in rapid gasps. “No.”

Your brows shoot up in surprise. Disappointment isn’t the word for it, desire lets itself out as a sound. You slow down, somewhere in a high place you hear him say:

“Stop grinding, slutty thing. Your Father told you ‘no.’”

You sink against him, laying your head on one of his thighs. He kisses the top of your head, and murmurs, “Good girl. Good girl, good.”

Fireworks are setting off under your skin, your thighs are trembling, every bit of you is sticky. “That wasn’t easy, I bet.” He says, voice condescending and sweet, but every bit as needy as you are. You make another noise in response. 

“I’m not done with you, you know,” he takes your chin into one of his hands, lifts your head. He kisses you again, with a fierceness that just sharpens your feeling. “I’m not even close to done with you.” He rests his in your neck, kisses you once, twice, up your jaw, on your cheeks, the ear he can reach. He bites your earlobe and almost hisses, “Me. You. Bed. Now.”

[Pt. 2 Out Now!! Linked Here :)]

[what-gs-watching]

“I can only smile like this because I have lost so much.”

Y’aaaaaaall, how excited am I that Doctor Who is finally back?! The 60th anniversary specials got me so on board for 15, and I am really so curious about how his arc is going to play out. Nunuwho, and all that. I’m here for it, I’m ready, I desperately need the distraction. 

Obviously, last time we saw 15 he was getting into hijinx with his new companion Ruby over Christmas, and I appreciate that’s exactly where they picked up for the first episode. 

Let’s talk about it. 

Space Babies

Wherein the Doctor and Ruby end up on a space station and something is definitely wrong.

Okay so, this episode was honestly just really cute from start to finish. Babies on a space station? Running the station, rolling around in little strollers? Trying to fight the boogeyman? Fucking adorable. Was the CGI to move their mouths weird? Of course. But again, I’m totally bought into this absolutely ridiculous situation so you gotta just roll with it. It’s pretty clear that this season is going to be a lot more whimsical than they have been in the past, and that might not be some people’s thing, but oh well. I can’t drag myself away from Doctor Who, it’s become too much of me, so I really will just follow where they lead, why the eff not. 

It’s also obvious they’re gonna keep leaning into the whole Timeless Child business, and I’ll go along with that too even if I was NOT a fan of the Flux because I’m interested to see what 15 is going to make of it. He was surprisingly upfront about where he was from when Ruby was grilling him, that was something that historically had to be PULLED out of the Doctor. Telling her, “the one that was adopted was the last one left” (which, isn’t he technically the first time lord also, since they basically harnessed whatever he technically is to become time lords?) And then this man actually said the word ‘genocide’ AND  expressed his gratitude about the fact that he’d survived. Is the Doctor finally letting go of the guilt he felt over that entire absolutely insane situation? 15 really is all about that emotional growth. You love to see it. 

Bypassing the ridiculousness that is a monster made out of straight up baby BOOGERS, I also thought it was interesting that they let that creature live. I’m not sure 10 would have. But again, the whole ‘the only one of my kind’ thing. Adopting the forgotten. Saving everybody, for once. 

Basically, the whole thing was pure fluff. And I like that sometimes. Cute first official adventure. Even though I gotta say I was surprised he gave Ruby a key like, fucking immediately. 15 really is going all in on those human emotions. It’s gonna get him in trouble, gang…

The Devil’s Chord

Wherein Ruby makes a request for where she’d like to go, and they land in 1963, but again, something is definitely off.

OKAY so, here’s the thing about this episode. Asking to see The Beatles recording their first album is a DIRECT LINE to my heart. Ruby talking about listening to records with her aunt - that’s me with my dad. And it’s absolutely what I would suggest. I enjoyed that he said everyone asks about the Titanic (I would too, eventually) but this girl got her priorities right. 

And I loved how he reacted to it. Pure fucking joy, 15. And the little vignette with them getting dressed up and strutting through the fucking TARDIS, yelling “I’ve got wigs galore!” And then being so absolutely excited about landing basically on the cross walk of Abbey Road. Just, all of it. Pulling all kinds of strings for me. I can’t even. 

I can also appreciate how  they got around not being able to utilize actual Beatles music - music is dying! Music is gone! John and Paul singing about having a dog; “my dog is alive, he’s not dead … he’s not your dog, if you want a dog get your own.” I loved the surprise of it, how absolutely absurd. 

The conversations that Ruby and The Doctor have with Paul and John too…the whole episode is a love letter to music, and I love that. 15 says something like “songs that lift you and devastate you and-and make you soar…” and shit, that’s exactly what it is (I say, as I continue to cry through The Tortured Poet’s Department).

John saying “why do I wake up crying?” ugh. The whole fucking thing. As someone whose life has always revolved around music in some way or another, the thought of losing it really is mind melting. All the feels.

All that to say - the Maestro. Damn, gang. Hard fucking whimsy, I see. And what an absolute psychopath. In a creepy, good, but also terrible way. What the fuck was that? 

The point being now we know a little bit what they’re up against - because 14 played a game at the end of the universe, they apparently let gods from the Pantheon into the universe. So now we’re less about aliens, and more about forces The Doctor really shouldn’t be fucking with, but is going to anyway. Because he caused it, after all. And the devastation he had when he realized that - 15 feels so much, so hard. Gonna hit the entire emotional spectrum with this one, which is so not a Doctor thing, and I will enjoy the entire ride.

 There were so many good moments in this one - Ruby playing the piano on the roof, or when she was trussed up in musical notes and just started emitting Christmas music - and that’s the other thing, the Maestro saying “this creature is very wrong.” Girl, what are you? I love the companion backstories, I really do.

Oh AND The Doctor declaring they had to hide, at one point. My dude is realizing his limitations. 14 wondering what he was underneath all of the gadgets and the time machine really sunk in. And then him talking about how his soul was ripped in half? Jesus. Growth, growth, growth. 

Someone might as well get the emotional epiphanies I should probably be having. It counts if I watch someone else go through it, right? 

There’s too much to say about this one. I loved it, even if I did think the last musical number was almost a bridge too far. But, I’m already on this train, so I’m giving up on clinging to expectations.

Boom

Wherein the two of them land on a planet that’s clearly at war but maybe it’s not all that they think it is.

This one is definitely more classic Doctor Who - immediately they’re in danger and it just ramps and ramps and ramps the entire episode and you can never really relax. I love those. This episode is basically all stakes. 

Doctor standing on a landmine? Check. Ruby valiantly trying to help but most likely is going to make it worse but does it anyway? Yes. Post-apocalyptic “ambulances” wandering the battlefield killing people if they’re injured instead of actually helping them because an algorithm decided it? Of course. 

I feel like a lot of shows lately have been trying to lecture me about the danger of AI (I’m looking at you, Murder At The End of The World, which was so terrible I didn’t even bother writing it up) and I’ve been like ‘yeah yeah I get it jesus’ but I think they did a solid job of it in this one. Capitalism and AI together is honestly a worrying combination, and they got me with this plot.

Essentially, 15 is trapped on a landmine that immolate whomever it ensnares basically, turning him into a giant bomb  which isn’t great because as we know he’s a big ol’ space-time event and he needs to get out of it but then the daughter of a soldier we saw killed by the ambulance shows up and then another soldier coming after the kid and things just go haywire. 

The point is, AI is running everything because war has become an industry (more than it already is) and the algorithm is forcing casualties in a war that literally doesn’t exist and everything is kind of terrible but the Doctor manages to talk his way out of it sort of, by connecting to a projection about being a father and protecting their kids always and forever, no matter the form they’re in. 

It’s kind of sweet that they’re letting 15 talk more about his long, long life - in the previous episode he mentioned his granddaughter and when Ruby asked if he had kids he said something like “did have, will have” and then at the end he tells the child he’ll be back to check on them and that “fish fingers and custard” is his favorite which obviously made me squee and I just really appreciate that he’s more…integrated? It’s always felt like they worked so hard to make sure they’re all different and of course they are, but they’re all The Doctor and I want that thread of all of the things that have come before. 

Also, Ruby again with the weirdness, making it snow after she gets shot accidentally and then grabbed by the ambulance, basically dying on the ground. Girl is complicated. Gimme that backstory!

The other thing I really enjoyed was the mockery of “thoughts and prayers”. Fuck people who hide behind that. Fuck corporations that hide behind that. The Doctor’s not taking your shit, and neither should we. 

All that to say, all three of these episodes were ridiculous in their own ways, and I’m about it. So far, 15 is 1000000% his own thing and I love it even if it is fairly far off the beaten path for Doctor Who and I’m excited to see where else he’ll take us. 

Like he said, “There's hardly any time that we're not dead. Which is a good thing, too. We've got to keep the pace up.”

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Pat Byrnes :: @thePatByrnes

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 5, 2024 (Friday)

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUL 06, 2024

For all that certain members of the media continue their freakout over Biden’s electability after his appearance in last Thursday’s event on CNN, it is Trump and his Republicans who appear to be nervous about the upcoming election. 

Journalist Jennifer Schulze of Heartland Signal noted today that as of 8:00 this morning, the New York Times had published 192 pieces on Biden’s debate performance: 142 news articles and 50 opinion pieces. Trump was covered in 92 stories, about half of which were about the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling. Although Trump has frequently slurred his words or trailed off while speaking and repeatedly fell asleep at his own criminal trial, none of the pieces mentioned Trump’s mental fitness. 

But for all of what independent journalists are calling a “feeding frenzy,” egged on by right-wing media figures, it seems as if the true implications of Project 2025 are starting to gain traction and the Trump campaign recognizes that the policies that document advocates are hugely unpopular. 

On July 2, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts assured Trump ally Steve Bannon’s followers that they are winning in what he called “the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.” In March, Roberts told former Trump administration official and now right-wing media figure Sebastian Gorka about Project 2025: “There are parts of the plan that we will not share with the Left: the executive orders, the rules and regulations. Just like a good football team we don’t want to tip off our playbook to the Left.” 

This morning, although Roberts has described Project 2025 as “institutionalizing Trumpism,” Trump’s social media feed tried to distance the former president from Project 2025. “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it,” the post read. Despite this disavowal of any knowledge of the project, it continued: “I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.” 

In what appeared to be a coordinated statement, the directors of Project 2025 wrote on social media less than two hours later that they “do not speak for any candidate.”  

Aside from the fact that “[a]nything they do, I wish them luck,” sounds much like the signaling Trump did to the Proud Boys when he told them to “stand back and stand by,” Trump’s assertion and Project 2025’s response can’t possibly erase the many and deep ties of the Trump camp to Project 2025. Juliet Jeske of Decoding Fox News noted that Trump’s name shows up on more than 190 pages of the Project 2025 playbook. 

Rebekah Mercer, who sits on the board of the Heritage Foundation, was one of Trump’s top donors in 2016; her family founded and operated Cambridge Analytica, the company that misused the data of millions of Facebook users to push pro-Trump and anti-Clinton material in 2016. Trump’s national press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has appeared in a Project 2025 video. Trump’s own super PAC has been running ads promoting Project 2025, calling it “Trump’s Project 2025,” and many of its policies—killing the Department of Education, erasing the separation of church and state, ending renewable energy programs and ramping up use of fossil fuels, deporting immigrants—are also Trump’s.

Project 2025’s director, Paul Dans, as well as both of its associate directors, Spencer Chretien and Troup Hemenway, were in charge of personnel in Trump’s White House, and the theme of Project 2025 is that “people are policy,” by which they mean that hand-picked loyalists must replace civil servants. Trump’s former body man John McEntee, who reentered the White House as a senior advisor after having to leave because he failed a background check, was in charge of hiring in the last months of the Trump White House; he helped to draft Project 2025. Key Trump ally Russell Vought wrote the section of Project 2025 that called for an authoritarian leader; he is also on the platform committee of the Republican National Convention. 

If indeed Trump knows nothing about Project 2025 and has no idea who is behind it, his cognitive ability is rotten. As former chair of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele wrote, “Since [Project 2025] is designed to institutionalize Trumpism and you know nothing about it, then why do you echo some of its policy priorities during your rallies? Coincidence? And how exactly don’t you know that Project 2025 Director Paul Dans served as your chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management, and Associate Director Spencer Chretien served as your special assistant and associate director of presidential personnel? And folks say we should be worried about Biden.”

Trump’s attempt to distance himself from Project 2025 indicates just how toxic that plan is with voters. As political scientist Ian Bremmer dryly noted, it seems that “the second [A]merican revolution apparently [is] not polling as well as the first in internal focus groups.” Former Republican strategist Rick Wilson was even more direct, saying that Trump was trying to distance himself from Project 2025 because “most of it polls about like Ebola,” the deadly virus that causes severe bleeding and organ failure, and has a mortality rate of 80 to 90%.

The extremism of the MAGA Republicans was on display in another way today as well after The New Republic published a June 30 video of North Carolina lieutenant governor Mark Robinson, currently the Republican nominee for governor of North Carolina, saying to a church audience about their opponents—whom he identified in a scattershot speech as anything from communists to “wicked people” to those standing against “conservatives”—"Kill them! Some liberal somewhere is gonna say that sounds awful. Too bad!... Some folks need killing! It's time for somebody to say it.” 

Today the Vatican turned against one of those extremists when it excommunicated pro-Trump archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was the Vatican’s diplomat to the U.S. from 2011 to 2016, for “schism” after he refused to recognize the authority of Pope Francis. Viganò has repeatedly attacked Francis’s Catholic Church for being “inclusive, immigrationist, eco-sustainable, and gay-friendly.”

Also today, Trump’s lawyers asked Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing Trump’s criminal trial for retaining hundreds of classified documents, to dismiss charges that can no longer be prosecuted in light of the Supreme Court’s decision that a president cannot be charged for crimes committed while engaging in “official acts.” They also called the case “politically motivated” and asked Cannon to stop the case entirely in light of Justice Clarence Thomas’s suggestion that Special Counsel Jack Smith was not properly appointed.

The other big news today was that the U.S. added 206,000 jobs in June, bringing the total number of jobs created under this administration to 15.7 million. Last month’s numbers were, once again, higher than economists expected and, according to economic analyst Steven Rattner, above job growth levels before the pandemic. He added that these jobs are not simply a bounceback from the depths of the pandemic: 6.2 million more Americans are employed now than before Covid hit. 

Poking fun at the calls for Biden to step down, conservative lawyer George Conway posted: “Biden needs to RESIGN NOW before any more of these terrible job things are created.”

In a speech today in Madison, Wisconsin, Biden vowed to stay in the race, and the speech appeared strong enough that right-wing extremists, including Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and activist Laura Loomer, posted on social media—falsely—that he was having a medical emergency aboard Air Force One. Tonight, George Stephanopoulos of ABC interviewed Biden without a teleprompter or notes, focusing only on Biden’s age without any questions about policy. ABC News posted the interview transcript with the president’s conversation portrayed the “g”s dropped off the words and with other colloquial pronunciations spelled out, as if it were dialect. Trump, whose words the press tends to turn into clean prose, has refused to do an interview under the same conditions.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[sgtpeppers]

Chapter two is now up! Thank you again for the lovely messages and comments on chapter one 🥲 <3

This chapter features Paul just actually being ridiculous to tease John, and then about 3500k words of smut with some vague plot I thought I better add in...

When Jim McCartney's gambling debts got out of control, Paul started working himself to the bone to help fix the situation. Then an offer arrives from the man Jim's indebted to; if Paul goes and lives with him, the money will be forgotten. Paul says yes for the sake of his brother, but he doesn't expect to be whisked off to a luxurious mansion or the devastatingly handsome owner who comes with it. This is (vaguely) Beauty and the Beast, Mclennon style.

[hoziernaturalevents]

MEET THE BETA READERS!

These amazing people have been hard at work helping the authors prepare the fantastic stories coming your way. Here's a peek at our Beta list (many of whom are wearing multiple hats) and some past works that they've either beta'd, written, drawn/painted, or simply loved enough to share.

@banshee1013

Link to Fic (author)

Title: A Call To Motion Rating: Explicit Words: 22,019 Relationship(s): Castiel Dean Winchester, Dorothy Baum/Charlie Bradbury, Gabriel/Rowena MacLeod, Jessica Moore/Sam Winchester Characters: Castiel, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Gabriel, Balthazar, Rowena MacLeod, Samandriel, Jo Harvelle, Ellen Harvelle, Ash Harvelle, Jessica Moore, Anna Milton, Hannah, Ishim (mentioned), Cole Trenton (mentioned) Uriel (mentioned), Benny Lafitte, Dorothy Baum, Charlie Bradbury Additional Tags: AU, Modern Dance AU, Dancer Castiel, Dancer Dean Winchester, College/University Student Sam Winchester, Dance Instructor Park Jimin (BTS), Choreographer Balthazar, Dancer Charlie Bradbury, Dancer Anna, Strangers to Lovers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Coffee Shops, Both Cas and Dean are Helpless from the Get Go, Cas is a Huge Dork and Dean Thinks it's Adorable, Everyone Knows but Them Summary: After seeing Sam safely accepted to the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Dean finally feels like he can start pursuing his own dream - which just so happens to be Modern Dance after having passed by the studio on his way to work. Then his instructor, Rowena, tells him about an opportunity at a dance company in Kansas City, which he discovers is run by Gabriel Shurley - brother to Castiel Shurley, the man who's audition for the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York inspired him to pursue his new-found passion. Castiel Shurley is adrift - moving to Kansas City with his brother to help run their cousin Balthazar Angeles' dance company after a falling out with his Artistic Director - and lover - in New York. The dance company is a wonderful, talented group, but Castiel found his love for dance shattered along with his heart. That is, until a green-eyed, bow-legged, incredibly gifted novice dancer appears for auditions, and Castiel feels the urge to dance - and love - return to him.

@cautiouslycas

Link to Fic (author)

Title: The Toy Soldier Tattoo Rating: Teen and Up Words: 17,999 Relationship(s): Castiel/Dean Winchester, John Winchester/Mary Winchester, Jo Harvelle/Anna Milton Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Casitel, Benny Lafitte, Anna Milton, Jo Harvelle Additional Tags: Missing Persons, Hospitals, Mentins of Wounds, Mentions of Kidnappings, Mention of Character Death, Nightmares, Tattoos, Tattoo Artist Castiel Summary: Two years after Sam disappears, police officials inform Mary and Dean Winchester there are no more trails for them to follow. The case is cold until new evidence makes its way over to them. It’s the day Dean gets his first tattoo. In honour of Sam. That night, he walks out of the tattoo shop with not only a brand new toy soldier tattoo on his thigh, but also with a crush on his ridiculously cute tattooist Cas. As life continues and his relationship with Cas unfolds, life proves it will keep going on even without his brother and maybe, he should move on too.

@jdl71

Link to Fic (author)

Title: Love Conquers All Rating: Explicit Words: 26,212 Relationship(s): Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Bobby Singer, Jessica Moore, Original Characters, John Winchester Additional Tags: A/B/O, Alpha Sam Winchester, A/B/O Dynamics, Omega Dean Winchester, Top Sam Winchester, Bottom Dean Winchester, Spells, Witchcraft, Grimoires, Secrets, Suppressants, Scent Blockers, Hunting, Drinking, Blood, Heats, Claiming Bites, Mating, Knotting, Mpreg, College Student Sam Winchester, Hunter Dean Winchester, Library Assistant Dean Winchester, Driving, Diners, Motels, Pining Dean Winchester, Pining Sam Winchester Summary: Desperate and in love with his alpha brother, Dean turns to witchcraft in order to take away his pain of unrequited love. Unbeknownst to him, the spell he casts has dire consequences.

@jerzcaligrl

Link to Fic (author)

Title: Lucky Man Rating: Teen and Up Words: 532 Relationship(s): Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki Characters: Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki Additional Tags: Schmoop, Established Relationship Summary: Jared discovers that Jensen has watched his part on Gilmore Girls repeatedly.

@mattzerella-sticks

Link to Fic (author)

Title: electric chair drop Rating: Explicit Words: 2,851 Relationship(s): Castiel/Dean Winchester Characters: Castiel, Dean Winchester Additional Tags: Rough Sex, Rough Oral Sex, Rough Kissing, Objectified Dean Winchester, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester, Choking, Spit Kink, No Lube, Butt Plugs, Strong Castiel, Verbal Humiliation, Dom/Sub Undertones, Dom Castiel/Sub Dean Winchester, Aftercare, Brat Dean Winchester, Erotica, Scratching, Dean Winchester Likes it Rough, Dean Winchester Likes Being Manhandled, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot Summary: Dean’s snipes are facile, and the cuts they make are small. But it only takes a thousand cuts to kill. Dean slowly carves a path towards it across Cas’s skin. A decent man has only so much patience. An angel, less. Cas snaps eventually. or, Cas fucks Dean nasty in the Bunker hallway as punishment, breaking him down to then put him back together later on.

@sevensugars

Link to Fic (Rec)

Title: Every Living Thing by Askance Rating: Mature Words: 36,144 Relationship(s): Castiel/Dean Winchester Characters: Dean Winchester, Castiel, Sam Winchester Additional Tags: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Medicinal Drug Use, Disturbing Themes, Animal Death Summary: When a pair of hunters on the eastern coast witness the arrival of a very disturbing omen, it isn’t long before the news hurtles across the country, piquing the interest—and fear—of people everywhere. In a matter of days, the new, safe world that Sam, Dean, and Castiel have been inhabiting is flipped upside-down. Something enormous is coming—and this time, it’s something they can’t fight. Faced with rapidly diminishing prospects, holed up in a tiny, empty Nebraska town, they are forced to confront fears, secrets, and emotions that might have otherwise never seen the light of day. It seems every story must end somehow, and the only thing that remains to be done is to make the most of what little time they have left.

@spnlifer

Link to Fic (rec)

Title: Open Road by Twin_Feathers Rating: Explicit Words: 223,957 Relationship(s): Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki, Michael Rosenbaum/Tom Welling, Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki Characters: Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles, Tom Welling, Genevieve Cortese, Christian Kane, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Alona Tal, Danneel Harris, Michael Rosenbaum, Chad Michael Murray, Matt Cohen, Ty Olsson, Misha Collins, Sandra McCoy, Steve Carlson, Katie Cassidy, Mark Sheppard, Chase Crawford Additional Tags: AU-Bikers, Explicit Sexual Content, Weapons, Violence, Motorcycles, Bottom Jensen, Student Jensen, Top Jared, Possessive Jared, Kidnapping, Drug Use, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Hospitals, Protective Jared, Gang Violence, Implied Mpreg, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Discussion of Abortion, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Attempted Sexual Assault, Shooting Range, Slow Build, Rimming, Blow Jobs, Possessive Behavior, Jealousy, Slow Burn, Rough Sex, Manhandling, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Panic Attacks, PTSD, Fainting, Nightmares, Cage Fights, Age Difference Summary: Jensen is a young Harvard med student with a bright future ahead of him and Jared is the hot-headed member of the renowned biker gang 'Black Legion'. When their two worlds collide and their lives become intertwined, will they both survive with their hearts intact?

@thestarsmakemedream-art

Link to Art Post (artist)

@thisisapaige

Link to Fic (beta)

Title: Solitudes by ilovehowyouletmefall Rating: Mature Words: 21,756 Relationship(s): Castiel/ Dean Winchester Characters: Castiel, Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester Additional Tags: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, Season/Series 12, Atypical Formatting, Dean's top 13 Zepp Traxx Mixtape, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Brief Mentions of Dean/Lisa and Dean/Cassie, the mature rating is not for sex fwi it's for:, Canon-Typical Alcoholism, Alcohol Withdrawal, Suicidal Thoughts, Fake Character Death, Vomiting, Canon-Typical Violence Summary: Dean and Castiel understand each other more than anyone else. They misunderstand each other more than anyone else as well. After Cas is nearly killed by Ramiel, Dean is coming very close to acknowledging that he wants something more from Cas than friendship. Cas, however, feels the weight of his responsibility very heavily. When Dean asks Cas to stick around longer, Cas says he needs to keep looking for Kelly, leaving Dean feeling dejected. But Cas agrees to help out on one more hunt before he leaves. Neither him nor Dean realize that the monster they're after can make their worst nightmares come true. OR: Dean thinks Cas is killed. Cas is there to witness the aftermath.

[dagwolf]

 In any event, here's a tasty interview excerpt:

Speaking of doing a lot of different records and working with a lot of amazing songwriters, I own a ton of the records that you've done over the years. One, in particular, I'd like to ask you about is Paul Simon's Graceland. I obsessed over that thing when I was young. Do you have any recollections of working on it?

Oh, I have plenty of recollections of working on that one. I don't know if you heard the stories, but it was not a pleasant deal for us. I mean he [Simon] quite literally — and in no way do I exaggerate when I say — he stole the songs from us.

...

The interviewer's softball question leads to an extended rant that rolls on for over 1500 words. There's no clear way to verify Berlin's claims. But it's interesting to consider his characterization of Los Lobos' “collaboration” with Simon at a moment when the latter artist is being trumpeted as the latest hipster influence, like David Byrne and Gang of Four before him. It must be a heady moment for Simon. New York's much respected Brooklyn Academy of Music is feting him with a sold out month-long residency celebrating his post-Garfunkel career — a tribute fest that finds everyone from Byrne to Ladysmith Black Mambazo singing his songs, a residency whose final week — starting April 23rd — includes one of the top 10 ever most unlikely co-bills: Grizzly Bear, Gillian Welch, Josh Groban, and Olu Dara.

WTF, indeed.

After the jump, Steve Berlin's entire diatribe on Los Lobos' “collaboration” with Simon, including a rare dis of legendary former Warner Bros chief Lenny Waronker.

...

Really…

Yeah. And you know, going into it, I had an enormous amount of respect for the guy. The early records were amazing, I loved his solo records, and I truly thought he was one of the greatest gifts to American music that there was.

At the time, we were high on the musical food chain. Paul had just come off One Trick Pony and was kind of floundering. People forget, before Graceland, he was viewed as a colossal failure. He was low. So when we were approached to do it, I was a way bigger fan than anybody else in the band. We got approached by Lenny Waronker and Mo Ostin who ran our record company [Warner Bros.], and this is the way these guys would talk – “It would mean a lot to the family if you guys would do this for us.” And we thought, “Ok well, it's for the family, so we'll do it.” It sounds so unbelievably naïve and ridiculous that that would be enough of a reason to go to the studio with him.

We go into the studio, and he had quite literally nothing. I mean, he had no ideas, no concepts, and said, “Well, let's just jam.” We said, “We don't really do that.” When we jam, we'll switch instruments. Dave will play drums, I'll play something. We don't really jam. Especially in that era. Louie will be the first to tell you this – he was made to play drums. They forced him to play drums. He's not really a drummer by trade. He's never practiced a moment in his life. Not once in his life did he sit down at the drums because of his love for drumming. The other three guys made him play drums in the early days, so he sort of became drummer by default. He hates playing the instrument, I think. Again, you should ask him, but I don't ever ever, ever get the sense that he was one of those dyed-in-the-wool, John Bonham, let's-play-drums-for-three-days-straight kind of guys. So consequently, as the core band was comprised then, we never jammed – never ever. Not by accident, not even at soundcheck. We would always just play a song.

So Paul was like, “Let's just jam,” and we're like, “Oh jeez. Well alright, let's see what we can do.” And it was not good because Louie wasn't comfortable. None of us were comfortable, it wasn't just Louie. It was like this very alien environment to us. Paul was a very strange guy. Paul's engineer was even stranger than Paul, and he just seemed to have no clue – no focus, no design, no real nothing. He had just done a few of the African songs that hadn't become songs yet. Those were literally jams. Or what the world came to know and I don't think really got exposed enough, is that those are actually songs by a lot of those artists that he just approved of. So that's kind of what he was doing. It was very patrician, material sort of viewpoint. Like, because I'm gonna put my stamp on it, they're now my songs. But that's literally how he approached this stuff.

I remember he played me the one he did by John Hart, and I know John Hart, the last song on the record. He goes, “Yeah, I did this in Louisiana with this zy decko guy.” And he kept saying it over and over. And I remember having to tell him, “Paul, it's pronounced zydeco. It's not zy decko, it's zydeco.” I mean that's how incredibly dilettante he was about this stuff. The guy was clueless.

Wow. You're kidding me?

Clue… less about what he was doing. He knew what he wanted to do, but it was not in any way like, “Here's my idea. Here's this great vision I have for this record, come with me.”

About two hours into it, the guys are like, “You gotta call Lenny right now. You gotta get us out of this. We can't do this. This is a joke. This is a waste of time.” And this was like two hours into the session that they wanted me to call Lenny. What am I going to tell Lenny? It was a favor to him. What am I going to say, “Paul's a fucking idiot?”

Somehow or other, we got through the day with nothing. I mean, literally, nothing. We would do stuff like try an idea out and run it around for 45 minutes, and Paul would go “Eh… I don't like it. Let's do something else.” And it was so frustrating. Even when we'd catch a glimpse of something that might turn into something, he would just lose interest. A kitten-and-the-string kinda thing.

So that's day one. We leave there and it's like, “Ok, we're done. We're never coming back.” I called Lenny and said it really wasn't very good. We really didn't get anything you could call a song or even close to a song. I don't think Paul likes us very much. And frankly, I don't think we like him very much. Can we just say, 'Thanks for the memories' and split?” And he was like, “Man, you gotta hang in there. Paul really does respect you. It's just the way he is. I'll talk to him.” And we were like, “Oh man, please Lenny. It's not working.” Meanwhile, we're not getting paid for this. There was no discussion like we're gonna cash in or anything like that. It was very labor-of-love.

Really…?

Yeah. Don't ask me why. God knows it would have made it a lot easier to be there.

And Lenny put you guys together thinking it would be a good match?

Well, “It would be good for the family.” That was it. So we go back in the second day wondering why we're there. It was ridiculous. I think David starts playing “The Myth of the Fingerprints,” or whatever he ended up calling it. That was one of our songs. That year, that was a song we started working on By Light of the Moon. So that was like an existing Lobos sketch of an idea that we had already started doing. I don't think there were any recordings of it, but we had messed around with it. We knew we were gonna do it. It was gonna turn into a song. Paul goes, “Hey, what's that?” We start playing what we have of it, and it is exactly what you hear on the record. So we're like, “Oh, ok. We'll share this song.”

Good way to get out of the studio, though…

Yeah. But it was very clear to us, at the moment, we're thinking he's doing one of our songs. It would be like if he did “Will the Wolf Survive?” Literally. A few months later, the record comes out and says “Words and Music by Paul Simon.” We were like, “What the fuck is this?”

We tried calling him, and we can't find him. Weeks go by and our managers can't find him. We finally track him down and ask him about our song, and he goes, “Sue me. See what happens.”

What?! Come on…

That's what he said. He said, “You don't like it? Sue me. You'll see what happens.” We were floored. We had no idea. The record comes out, and he's a big hit. Retroactively, he had to give songwriting credit to all the African guys he stole from that were working on it and everyone seemed to forget. But that's the kind of person he is. He's the world's biggest prick, basically.

So we go back to Lenny and say, “Hey listen, you stuck us in the studio with this fucking idiot for two days. We tried to get out of it, you made us stay in there, and then he steals our song?! What the hell?!” And Lenny's always a politician. He made us forget about it long enough that it went away. But to this day, I do not believe we have gotten paid for it. We certainly didn't get songwriting credit for it. And it remains an enormous bone that sticks in our craw. Had he even given us a millionth of what the song and the record became, I think we would have been – if nothing else – much richer, but much happier about the whole thing.

Have you guys seen him since then?

No. Never run into him. I'll tell you, if the guys ever did run into him, I wouldn't want to be him, that's for sure.

That's an amazing story. I can't believe I never heard it before.

We had every right and reason to sue him, and Lenny goes, “It's bad for the family.” When we told the story in that era, when this was going down, we were doing interviews and telling the truth. And Lenny goes, “Hey guys, I really need you to stop talking about it. It's bad for the family.”

Amazing. Talk about bad for the family.

I know. Again, it's just so incredible how naïve we were back then. You can't even imagine that era of music when you'd actually listen to your record company president who told you to shut up because “it's bad for the family.” Now, I'd tell him to go fuck himself.

[crepesuzette2023]

Paul McCartney, Celia Mortimer, Iris & Vi Caldwell & Mike McCartney: Sketches for a Coming-of-Age Novel.

All quotes from TUNE IN by Mark Lewisohn, except the last one.

[Paul] had two main girlfriends in the last weeks of 1962 and neither knew of the other. One was Celia Mortimer, 17, the strikingly attractive redhead from art school who designed her own clothes and was a big Beatles fan at the Cavern.

'In my first year at art College everyone was wild about trad jazz, but then word came up the hill that ‘things were happening’ at the Cavern; a few of us went down one lunchtime to have a look—and there were the Beatles. […] It was the first time anyone in Britain had the black polo neck, black corduroy, existentialist look. I instantly took their lead and started to make hip black corduroy things to wear.'

‘[…] Paul was attractive, intelligent, arty, all the things that appealed to me, plus he was good to be with: a genuine, gentle person who wanted to please. He was the complete opposite of John, who was snarly and grumpy and incredibly, incisively funny. Paul was the nice one. We started to go out, but things were still quite innocent. Because I lived some way out of Liverpool there weren’t many places we could go, except to sit in his dad’s front room or my friend’s front room, or the cinema—we saw the first James Bond film.’ EXOTIC NIGHTMARES

Paul’s other girlfriend was Iris Caldwell—Rory Storm’s witty, pretty, blonde sister; George’s first love; the 18-year-old daughter of Ma Storm, whose house, Hurricaneville at 54 Broad Green Road, was central to the Beatles’ late-night social scene.

‘He had a beautiful voice and puppy-dog eyes,’ Iris says, ‘and he was much more interested in me than I was in him. I wanted more than a tuppence-ha’penny guitarist of a Liverpool group.’ Iris’s professional dancing career had taken off: she was as busy as Paul, working summer seasons and London shows and touring around the country; they could only see each other when their diaries dovetailed, and just as Paul was with Celia when Iris was out of town, she was secretly going out with Frank Ifield. […]

Iris always knew that a big part of the attraction for anyone going out with her or Rory was the chance of extended time at Hurricaneville, to hang longer around her dad Ernie and especially her mum, Vi. […] ‘Mum never chucked anyone out,’ Iris says. ‘We were all late-night people apart from me dad, who the Beatles called the Crusher because he had exotic nightmares and ate household objects.’ […]

Mary had been gone for six years this October, and Vi Caldwell was one of the women who tried to fill the breach. ‘I was practically a mother to Paul,’ she said without boasting. She made him food and drink, took his stage-soaked shirts and washed and ironed them, and shared easy intimacies. ‘Paul used to like her combing his legs,’ Iris says. ‘He had really hairy legs and he’d come in from the Cavern all tired, roll up his trousers and she used to comb his legs. How ridiculous can you get? But he adored my mum and my mum adored him.’

Vi recalls: ‘Paul was very temperamental. He would come on occasions and would be terrifically friendly and down-to-earth, and on other occasions he would come and be rather aloof and we wondered if we had offended him, as if he was thinking ‘I’m being too friendly so I’ll keep you in your place.’ That was our impression.’

THRILLING IN A DIFFERENT WAY

[Paul] was without the others, but with Celia Mortimer…and a new song. It was Tuesday/Wednesday 23/24 October [1962], the Beatles’ sole two-day break of the year, and Paul decided to leave his car at home and have an adventure: he and Celia hitch-hiked to London to see Ivan Vaughan. Paul loved hitching: he enjoyed chatting to strangers and seeing himself in an observational role, but he’d only done it with George or John, never with a girl. Celia—intelligent, chic, a pretty redhead—made it thrilling in a different way. And it was to see the brilliant Ivy, his Institute mate and John’s boyhood pal. […]

The new song was I Saw Her Standing There, though it had no title as yet. Its melody and structure skidded into Paul’s head late on Monday as he drove back from a Nems Enterprises Showdance in Widness. This was a sophistication of delivery had never experienced, inspiration so excitingly hot that when he got to Hurricaneville he grabbed an acoustic guitar and started working it out. […] It was truly a magical moment for Rory Storm, who’d never seen anyone write a song before. Vi and Iris would always maintain that he asked Paul if he could have it, exclusively, and Paul said yes—but as Rory didn’t have a record contract it’s unclear why he asked and Paul may have said yes only to regain some necessary peace and quiet.

Celia: ‘We had an amazing time, just wandering the streets in the sunshine, looking at London, holding hands and having fun, and Paul had the melody of what became I Saw Her Standing There going round his head all day, humming and singing it and fleshing out the words. […] He said, ‘What rhymes with “We danced through the night?” and I came up with ‘We held each other tight’, which was really quite naff, but he used it.’ BACK TO McCARTNEY-LENNON

However, the song was completed only when he had a front parlour session with John at 20Forthlin Road. They tried out little bits on Jim Macs Nems piano but mostly used guitars, working ‘eyeball to eyeball’ just like when they’d first written together here as schoolboys. Mike took photographs of them sitting by the little tiled fireplace—important historic images, the only such photos ever taken—so here we see these two sharp ambitious tuned-in young man looking down at an old Liverpool Institute exercise book in which Paul has written the words, complete with plenty of crossings-out. John is wearing his black horn-rim glasses and playing his Jumbo Gibson, Paul is playing a cheap Spanish acoustic of unknown history. Another original, a McCartney-Lennon one, is taking shape right here, right now. BIG PLAYER CELIA AND THE OTHER McCARTNEY BOY

Celia Mortimer’s relationship with Paul ended in the last weeks of 1962. ‘As the Beatles spent more time in London, Paul was there and not in Liverpool so much, and our situation just fizzled out. There was no time for it.’ She went on to become a big player on the London fashion scene, with her own label and studio on Great Portland Street, just a long from where she spent a few hours with Paul in 1962. In between times, she went out for a long time with Mike McCartney and was part of the Liverpool poetry scene.

Mike (a Ladies’ hairdresser at the time): MY FIRST LOVE AND BOB 'FOLK RUBBISH' DYLAN (from The Macs, 1981)

One day my first real love, after mum, walked into the salon; she was one of a group of models posing for the Daily Post and Echo. I was brushing up the hair as it cascaded endlessly down on to the floor. I wasn't exactly the brushing up which excited her, it was the way I did it (isn't it always?). The brush was balanced, she later recalled, on the end of my index finger, the furthest point from my body and, with absolute disdain, I followed it across the shop floor.

Not being a Post and Echo model at all, but in truth a hungry student plying her body for money, she returned for the free evening classes where she became my model, and I discovered that her name was Celia. From a model customer she became a model model, and from a model model we became a model couple.

She was the first woman I gave myself to, and she gave herself in return. In her Husky Street flat we got lost in each other's body and mind; we swam together through many Liverpool 8 late nights and often into the morning, when she would get up to cook breakfast and put on records. I would just lie there, male chauv-like. One morning she kept playing a particular album which didn't impress me.

'Who's that Ceel?'

'Someone they keep playing at college . . . Bob Dylan.'

'Never heard of him.'

'Neither had I, but after a while he's quite good.'

"Ceel—my first real love (after Mum)." Photo by Mike McCartney.

[anotherkindofmindpod]

I’m pretty sure I’be asked this before but…do you think that the Carl Perkins story is true, about Linda telling him what John’s last words to Paul were? I mean, I see no reason for him to lie but it just always has bothered me why Paul has NEVER mentioned it, but at the same time has also never flat out said it wasn’t true. Your thoughts? Thanks.

Hello there! In a nutshell, YES I believe Carl's story happened as Carl tells it. The fact that Paul never mentions it doesn't cause me any cognitive dissonance, as I am sure there are countless details about his relationship with John he keeps private. WAY MORE than we do or ever will know. I also think John and Paul both believed they had a psychic/cosmic/spiritual connection, and so this is just one of many things that would reinforce that belief to Paul. Furthermore, I think Paul is protective (and superstitious) enough to actively NOT want to share these intimate things with the public. Why would he want to expose himself/them to public ridicule? Recording and releasing the song says more than enough, IMO. If people do the legwork on Now and Then and connect all the dots, great! If not, Paul loses nothing.

Thank you for your ask!

[weclassybouquetfun]

I'm seeing all of these headlines from critics about how ridiculous FAST X as if they are just learning what the Fast and Furious films are. They are ridiculous. And? So? Your point being? Are you going to write that Looney Toons cartoons are silly?

22 years, 10 films, countless implausible moments.

You're going to say the franchise is stupid because you have people driving through skyscrapers or parachuting with cars or even surfing on a car but you say nothing about how we're supposed to believe Paul Walker as an LAPD cop when no LAPD cop in the history of the force has ever looked like that?!

This is the real stretch of imagination.

FAST X. The X stands for X-TREME SPOILERS

THE GOOD -I like a bit of fan service and the franchise keeps doling out heaping helpings of it. We got Letty back, Han back, Owen Shaw, Deckard Shaw, Elena back (briefly), whoever the hell Lucas Black and Bow Wow played in TOKYO DRIFT, Hobbs back and now the gal - Gisele.

Their babies are no longer babies.

At this pace I can't even feel bad that John Cena's Jakob died because we didn't see his body. For all we know he could have jumped out the car when it exploded! We see Han's body and he still returned from the dead so...I'm just saying don't count your dead characters before they hatch.

-I loved that they tied this story into Fast Five because that film was my entry into the Fast and Furious films so I remember that one distinctly enough that I could appreciate how they re-did scenes to add the idea that Dante was in their orbit then.

-Following THE SUICIDE SQUAD's lead and relegating Scott Eastwood to bit player. This feels like they were just trying to help him retain his SAG-AFTRA health insurance.

-The twist with Alan Ritchson's character. They intro him giving a wall of exposition about how the "cult with cars" win everyone over and then we see him won over and I think, "Exactly. As it should be." But no! Mans was luring Dom into a false sense of security. Dom was probably too blinded by that tan Ritchson was sporting for some reason.

-Paul Walker's daughter Meadow having a small role. Wouldn't be la familia without her.

-Jason Momoa was having so much fun and he certainly made for an entertaining villain. I'm all in for a villain who wears nail polish and space buns. And I liked how they actually used his photos from his BAYWATCH: HAWAII and STARGATE ATLANTIS years instead of photoshopping it.

THE BAD -Momoa IMO didn't find a good balance between unhinged lunacy and camp. I wish he was able to blend the menacing aspects of the character into his character when he was being more flamboyant. I think an actor who pulled that balance off perfectly was Chris Pine in SMOKIN' ACES.

-I can turn my brain off, I want to be entertained. If I wanted to logic police these films I'd just tweet Neil DeGrasse Tyson and ask his opinion. That said, bad writing is bad writing and this film had some awful writing. The script was written by Justin Lin, Dan Mazeau (Wrath of Titans) and Zach Dean (The Tomorrow War). I like to think Justin Lin knew some parts of the script was absolute dog piss and quit because he didn't want to have to massage a performance out of his actors using those words.

Justin Lin when handing in the final draft to Universal.

-The CGI was so bad! Regressively so. It was like they were using 2001 technology in some of the big scenes.

THE REST A cliffhanger? Editors exist for a reason. You're telling me I am going to have to sit through another 2 hours watching Letty, Cipher and Gisele on their sub adventure through Antarctica, Deckard saving his mum, Dante acting like he's on RuPaul's Drag Race, Roman with the weak jokes (Tyrese isn't as funny as he thinks he is), then a race to hurriedly find a way to give Brie Larson something substantive to do and because everyone comes back, we will see the return of Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell) and then shoehorn back in Rita Moreno to close out the film with another speech about family?

[m1ssunderstanding]

Get Back Rewatch 55 Years On: Day Three

Literally saw the orange sweater and my heart sank. Here we go.

George's hair!! I hate him.

Also literally WHY does he have to lend them his own personal recording equipment? It really is ridiculous how bad the record company treated them considering they were the fucking BEATLES.

Magic Alex! Honestly though why is half of me like "Yes! Scamming king! Take their money and RUN!"

"My Imagination" is physical cringe level.

"The rhythms in the guitars anyway." It's a callback to their earliest days when they had to say that to hustle, but I think part of them really did believe that back then, and part of Paul still does. That the four of them are all they need.

And then in response to that callback to early days to convey current not-articulable feelings, John responds with one of his own. His mini rant about how stupid it is to use three mikes and never come together and sing as a GROUP. It's like he can't bear the thought.

Paul singing his guitar and drum ideas. Apparently my sexuality is women and unhinged men. There's nothing to be done about it. Poor George literally can't get a word between all Paul's "Downownownowneernernerner" and "chuchuchutah ba Ta. Ba." And if I was a good person I'd be annoyed. But no. It's too hot.

"Corny's alright on this one though because what he's doing's corny." Be fucking nice to him. He needs you to be like you were on 909 about every single thing he does because he cares so much what you think. Of course they don't talk about that kind of thing so Paul has no idea. But look at his face!

I also like "the same old shit," George. "Don't Let Me Down" is so fucking sexy idgaf what anyone says.

But here's the other thing is that John is SO down for all of these wrong suggestions Paul's making. If they're not literally saying the same thing at the same time, it's instantly "Yes. Exactly. Yeah."

So John says "alright girls" and sounds like he's just so above Paul and George squabbling and bickering and couldn't care less except for the fact that they're annoying him. Because that's his macho front, right? But then look at his face while they're fighting, eyes darting and full of love, sorrow, and what honestly looks like fear.

Ringo stays the hell out of all of it. Good for him.

Shortly after Paul says "I can't frickin do it on camera either" John starts strumming. And soon George joins, while Paul's pacing and gesturing. And at first I was confused like "they're not being very good listeners that's not very nice" but they're trying to cover up the dialogue for Paul's sake. Trying to take away the cameras if he can't do it with them. "Forget about candy camera." It's very loving, very protective, especially from George. John, we expect this kind of thing from, when it comes to Paul. But George is literally in a fight with him and protecting him at the same time and I find it to be so beautiful.

Gosh, there's so much in this little rant though. "I always feel as though I'm tryna put you down and stop you playing *voice cracks and goes higher* but I'm not." How he looks at John when he says "and I never get any support or anything" and the "and you know it's right." I usually find the 'Paul's the mom, John's the dad' analogy reductive, but boy is it perfect here.

But really, Paul, you've got to just let George do his thing. "I can only do me, you know." George is absolutely right in this argument. He's actually very emotionally mature for being the youngest.

Ugh it's hard to leave them on this note. But I'll pick back up tomorrow

[mythserene]

Mark Lewisohn really wants to overturn narratives and “Get Back” accidentally gave us incredible insight into how little it takes to make him smoothly and confidently wrong

Great AKOM. Maybe too good because it left basically nothing to add on the primary topic. This show followed my own notes more than any so far—but I had not caught the John quote being about the Maharishi—chef's kiss. 👩‍🍳💋

However... it does give me a chance to riff off something they touched on that I've also been thinking about for awhile: Mark Lewisohn's big desire to overturn narratives, and how wrong he gets it when he runs into a fact check we can all see with our own eyes.

Pre-“Get Back” Mark Lewisohn previewed some of the narratives he was itching to overturn, and off the top explained that no one had really told the Get Back sessions correctly. By trying to ingest all that Nagra audio on a sort of anniversary-tribute calendar schedule—(which is insane, impossible, and hubristic beyond words)—he was prepared to make news on a few fronts. (All clips of him are from 2019.)

First of all, no one has told the "Get Back" sessions story right. Yet.

But after binging the Nagras once the expert is ready to “write it differently”

Redeeming Magic Alex

In this tweet is a hidden wink-wink-hint at the new Magic Alex storyline Lewisohn was queuing up. Although if he hadn't tipped us off in the podcast the “not so bad then” would be meaningless. As it is, we have the key.

Magic Alex has been slandered, his studio was fine, and the Nagras — especially George's good vibes — prove it.

Honestly, just imagine what we would be reading from him if “Get Back” didn't exist. This is the flimsy nonsense he builds entire storylines around. Because he prioritizes flipping narratives second only to deifying John. And like a reporter with a thesis he interviews and searches out sources to prop up that thesis. But unlike a reporter he has no checks. No imperative to give competing evidence. Answers to no one. Is wholly opaque about sources. And most certainly doesn't concern himself with adhering to even the most basic UK and US ethical guidelines for historians.

And so this is possibly the best peek we will ever get into how his process works and just how incredibly flimsy it is.

Paul didn't want to go up on the roof—he was the one who had to be persuaded—because it wasn't enough of a climax

Apparently even Anthology was trying to pull the wool over our eyes about Paul and the rooftop concert, but Lewisohn was ready to rewrite history and tell the truth about Paul not wanting to go up on the roof.

The last clip isn't of Mark Lewisohn, but references him as an expert. The final arbiter of fact. And it fits. Because at this point if Mark Lewisohn says it, no matter how ridiculous it is, it becomes cannon. And it pains me to see anyone—especially Beatles' fans—parroting nonsense and looking foolish.

Mark Lewisohn, heroin expert

It is so clear that Mark Lewisohn is going to handle John and Yoko's heroin issue by feigned expertise blended with apologia and creepy idolatry. (See Prellies in Tune In.) How he thinks he's expert enough to opine on the effects of heroin is beyond me, but that's never stopped him before. I really don't think he ever even questions himself or his superior knowledge of anything, despite zero experience or study. His expertise at extricating John from all hard truths is enough, and will make us all stupider. (Also playing now because I am inching up to pointing out something on those Nagras.)

Repeating Mark Lewisohn: the "Two Junkies" interview (where John literally had to stop to throw up) was from a heroin hangover because John and Yoko weren't messed up enough to actually be doing heroin on set

*I posted this last night and Tumblr disappeared 90% of the post then wouldn't let me post more audio because it counted the disappeared audio against me. Therefore I forced myself to repost it this morning before listening to the bonus (Womak/Mal Evans) AKOM I've been so looking forward to and may now go revel in my reward without guilt. 😌

[muzaktomyears]

We took to the stage in the depths of depression. Bruno, very much in evidence, yelled at us that we must ‘make show’, which we did, more as a release for our mounting anger rather than to please him.

“All the way from Liverpool to leap around like a lot of idiots!” Lennon summed up. For that’s what ‘making show’ was all about – jumping around aimlessly, stamping, writhing on the floor. None of us had ever acted the fool like this on stage before.

[…] We went from one extreme to the other. John and Paul were the looniest. John did his best to imitate Gene Vincent, grabbing up the microphone as if he were going to lay into the audience with it, carrying it around with him, leaping about with it like a maniac. Paul roared around screaming like Little Richard and, as the days passed, an act developed.

Stu behaved something like a puppet and managed to hold on to the sort of James Dean image he had fostered, quietly trying to stay cool in the background behind his dark shades. There was not much I could do from behind the drums other than stand up and hop around the kit with a tom-tom under my arm. George paid serious attention to his guitar-playing, trying to prevent the sets from becoming too ridiculous.

The German rockers loved it and no one realized – least of all Bruno – that we were trying to take the piss out of them. But in the end it worked against us. This was the Beatles developing, creating excitement. ‘Making show’ would eventually take us over. However, at first it was a protest for the treatment we were receiving, letting ourselves rip because of the lousy digs and the sub-survival wages of £15 a week each.

We had one number we used to put in that began very slowly and sounded like smooch music. The audience would take to the floor and get all cuddly and close, then suddenly we would erupt into a frenzied rock tempo. At first it took the Germans by surprise – to us it was another form of protest – but then they started to request the song where we changed gear in mid-stream! Another back fire.

We used to stomp around half crazed for more than seven hours a night. Making show? You’ve never seen anything like it. Sometimes Paul wouldn’t even have his guitar plugged in, but no one noticed the omission with all the noise that went on. John used to roll around on stage when he wasn’t throwing the mike in the air; then he would twist himself into a hunch-back pose. By way of a change he would jump on Paul’s back and charge at George and Stu and send them reeling. Sometimes they would give each other piggy-backs. What little music there was would be made by George and Stu and most of that was simply rhythm. Other times John would hurl himself into a sort of flying ballet leap from the stage into the audience and end up doing the splits.

While the audience was dancing, John and Paul often jumped down from the stage and bundled into them like wild bulls; or maybe they would do ring-of-roses with them. But this is what the punters wanted and had paid money for. They didn’t want to sit around the listen to original Beatles’ music – not that a lot existed at this stage – and it was obvious that they appreciated the outrageous slapstick rather than the musicianship. They started to call us the beknakked Beatles – a German slang word that described us as the mad or crazy Beatles – but we never stopped to worry about it.

[…] Many of the stories that have been told over the years about the way we used to behave on stage allege that the Beatles used to have serious fights in front of the audiences. That wasn’t strictly true: a lot of it was just part of ‘making show’. What used to appear to be a brawl on stage began at the Indra, where nightly we began to take more liberties in the cause of ‘making show’. Paul, with possibly only one string on an unplugged guitar, would rush up to John while he was singing and pretend to butt hm. Feigning anger, Lennon would retaliate. It must have all appeared to be very real to the patrons and used to wind them up, but it was sheer pretence, a mock battle in which nobody was hurt. In those early days we were extremely close and the best of friends at all times and we would go through much together in the spirit of five rather seedy musketeers.

There is no doubt that John and Paul gave their all to ‘making show’ – even If they did find it a release from the frustrations besetting us all. Lennon gradually became bolder with each week that passed, haranguing the paying customers as ‘fucking Krauts’, or Nazis or Hitlerites. Later he extended this repertoire of venom to ‘German spassies’ (spastics), indulging in his obsession with the disabled which would later manifest itself more publicly in his writings, drawings and statements during interviews. For their part, the Germans, whom he also advised to ‘get up and dance, you lazy bastards!’, rarely showed any sign of understanding and would often applaud his insults.

[…] He gave many people in the audiences the impression that he was a buffoon, but what he did on stage was simply a form of escapism for him. He played the idiot who shouted his mouth off and yelled obscenities but was the outright victor in any slanging match. It was the kind of behaviour they came to expect of him. After these bitter attacks on the people who were paying our wages Lennon would simmer down as though he had just aired some long pent-up grievance and was relieved to have got it off his chest.

I used to try and explain this abuse of audiences to myself but could only conclude that John harboured no deep hatred of the Germans and that they were simply the scapegoats for his increasing frustration at having to entertain them in a fashion that really wasn’t his style.

At the Indra we acquired a friend who would stand by the Beatles for a long time to come. She was a lavatory attendant, a lady whom we christened Mutti. Anyone over the age of twenty seemed old to us, but I reckon Mutti must have been in her fifties, hence our nickname for her, sounding something like the German word for mother – Mutter. She was in nightly attendance backstage, where our poky dressing room adjoined the toilets (where else?). When we came off stage she would be waiting for the perspiring Beatles with towels and paper napkins and changes of shirt, which was very necessary after the rigours of ‘making show’.

Almost nightly as well she had to prepare a needle and thread for John to repair his pants after his dare-devil Nureyev leaps. But he always insisted on making his own renovations, just sitting there in his underpants, sewing away and using something like sailor’s tacks and a few reef knots. (Needless to say the repair would give way after the next performance!) If anyone arrived backstage – male or female – while he was working away in his underwear he would simply invite them to ‘come in and make yourself at home’ and continue with the task.

Beatle! The Pete Best Story, Pete Best and Patrick Doncaster (1985)

[sleepy-achilles]

Dropping off a prompt or three

Ministry!Undertaker gets his ass kicked by Shawn.

Something bad happens to Shawn (no death) and the Undertaker loses it and Ministry!Undertaker makes an appearance and deals with it.

The nail salon techs never say a word when hot biker guy and his daughter show up and get matching pedicures.

So sorry this took so long. Like incredibly ridiculously long. And their all short. I kinda did prompts more than fics. Sorry I just wanted to get them out

1. Excuse me?

Shawn raises an eyebrow. What did this man just say?

The smirk slowly falls off ministry's face as he sees the look in the shorter man's eyes. "I...I didn't mean it?" Ministry questions as he steps back. Paul looks at Ministry confused. "You are stepping foot in my lockeroom where my kids are sleeping and you want to insult my husband? The husbands who's body you have stolen?" Shawn growls putting his hair up. "Wait wait I didnt mean it like that" Ministry protests. "What are you doing?!" Paul barks. "Taker is scared of him so it makes me!" Ministry protests. "Hes a smart man that's why" Shawn snaps. John holds a baby cassie close whilst Leon stops colouring to watch.

And both are glad they do.

Kane stands there confused as the shorter man punches ministry square in the nose.

Shawn hisses and shakes his hand as ministry's nose pops immediately, blood pouring out of it. "Fuck!" Ministry yelps holding his nose.

Paul raises an eyebrow. Shawn can hurt ministry? That's impossible.

"Shit" Shawn gasps cradling his hand to his chest. "You better get to stepping before I leave you black and blue" Shawn snarls at the taller man. Ministry straightens his back and looks at the blood pooling in his hands. Kane goes to step forward when ministry blocks him. "We do not have time. Leave it." He mutters.

Shawn watches as they storm out before he whimpers and looks down at his hand.

A bag of ice reaches into his view. He turns to see lil Leon holding it up. "Thanks peach" Shawn smiles accepting it. He fears this won't be his last confrontation with ministry. But it will be the last infront of his kids.

------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Guard dogs

"Dad!" John yells. Taker is up out his seat in a instant. He rushes to the younger man. "John? What's wrong?" Taker asks. John points at the screen.

Taker sees red.

Jericho and Christian have jumped Shawn in the car park.

John watches as takers eyes turn fully white, his whole aura changes. Its no longer taker, he knows that.

Ministry doesn't say a word as he turns and teleports away. John watches as the cameras suddenly go down and they are taken back to commentary. "Oh shit" John huffs.

He'd hate to be them right now.

Chris chuckles as shawn groans and tries to hide his face. "Not so touch now hey?" Christian smirks. "Ye-" "I don't know, are you?" A voice growls behind them. Both men slowly turn to see taker. "Taker!" Chris yelps as Ministry grabs them both by the throat. "You think this was a smart idea boys?" Ministry growls. Both men start protesting and trying to wiggle away. Ministry lifts them up and slams them into the concrete. "You messed with the wrong boy toy" Ministry growls before sinking to his knees beside Shawn.

"You good?" Ministry asks not wanting to touch the man. Shawn peaks at him. "Ministry?" "Yeah, taker will be back soon. Just wanted to make sure you're okay" Ministry huffs. "He will want to do some damage to them tho" Ministry adds. "Good. Thank you." Shawn whispers. "Anytime kid."

Shawn watches as takers eyes turn normal. "Are you alright?" Taker asks helping him sit up. "Yes, Thank you." Shawn nods. Taker looks at the out cold heels. "Those bastards" "I think you've already done enough. Cmon, help me to medic" Shawn huffs. "Yeah okay" Taker nods.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Ain't got a clue about nail stuff so...brrr

3. Daddy-Daughter time

"Daddy cmon!" Cassie whines tugging takers arm. Taker glances at the nail salon. "We are supposed to be buying stuff for Leon and John's party." Taker points out. "Please" she flashes her eyes at him. Taker sighs. "Fine." Taker leads the girl into the very quiet salon. He ignores the stares. "Can we have two pedicure please?" Cassie asks. Taker groans. "Of course. Follow me" the woman smiles.

--no idea--

Taker pays the woman and moves to the door. "We'll be back!" Cassie smiles, pulling taker out before he can protest.

And they did. They went back everytime they were in town. Even as they got older.

And the staff did not mind.

"See you later Cassie" Skylar calls as the slightly older girl drags her father out. "Hes still scary even as a biker." The old woman whispers. Skylar looks at the customer. "We will take no hot biker guy slander here." Skylar scolds. "Seriously?" "Yes seriously, he's hot and he's a dad. And that's a very happy little girl. So he's always welcomed here." Blair calls.

[idontwanttospoiltheparty]

If you read this:

https://www.tumblr.com/anotherkindofmindpod/738517419496194048

I find that you can't help but wonder if John was really that lovable. That's some mean shit right there. I, in Paul's place, would have not forgiven him easily for that.

He must have been lovable beyond believe to balance that out. And somehow I doubt that.

This, paired with his behaviour after the split shows him in a very bad light. It really made me lose some respect for him.

(It's interesting to me you linked me to a post that was primarily calling out Lewisohn's narrative tone in Tune In, not John's behaviour.)

Cards on the table: I doubt I could have been friends with John Lennon, because I'm not really into the ribbing/bullying he engaged in. But I don't know that I could be friends with any Beatle, in the end. I've met people somewhat like John, who use the "weaker" people around them as victims to be entertaining to an audience. It's very frustrating, and I don't fault anyone for disliking these people but a) these also are by far not the worst people in the world and b) they're often friendly in one-on-one situations, away from their "audience". Whether one puts up with that is down to the individual – obviously Paul and many others did. Perhaps you doubt John being lovable in part because outrageous (possibly slightly exaggerated!) anecdotes are more likely to find their way into printed books than mundane stories about John being an overall pleasant person. Have you ever seen a post amalgamating every time he was nice? I can't say I have! Does that mean he didn't do enough nice things to warrant one? That seems unlikely, for most people, not just John.

I don't feel those excerpts give me enough context to know how often Paul was in on these jokes. The truth is that the written word can be misleading about the tone of the actions it's describing; how much of John's behaviour in Hamburg was truly bullying and how much of it looked more like him goofing off in Get Back, something Paul clearly delighted in?

All that aside, Paul and John were BOTH ridiculously overworked in Hamburg + delirious on drugs. I think it's safe to assume neither of them were taking every minute of their 8 hour sets 100% seriously. Plus, the whole Mach Schau! element was a real thing their crowds demanded of them, not something John made up! Did he sometimes over-do it and very probably steamroll Paul? Yeah, I think so. But it would be a mistake to envision their pre-Brian gigs as abiding by the same rules of showmanship as the Ed Sullivan Show.

And yeah, John's breakup behaviour shows him in a bad light – this feels like a kind of "water is wet" observation. I do think though that understanding John's propensity to being paranoid (exacerbated by drugs and probably several mental breakdowns) makes a lot of his behaviour during that period at least somewhat understandable. Whether you personally find it forgivable is yours to decide, but I find it weird to place it side-by-side with his 19 yo stage antics. These don't really feel all that comparable.