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daggerzine · 1 year

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The interview: Inside the mind of Aug Stone.

Aug Stone is a writer, musician, comedian and probably a few other things i am not aware of. I first got turned on to him in his terrific book Nick Cave’s Bar. Then, shortly after that, came The Ballad of Buttery Ass Cake, his latest novel which was even better than the Cave one. I wanted to know what makes this guy tick so I shot some questions his way and he was more than happy to answer.

Read on and check out his website, too (listed at the bottom of the page...lots o’ goodies there).

Ladies and gentlemen, i present, Aug Stone!

On stage in Brooklyn.

When/where did the writing bug come from?

AS: I was working at a temp job at a bank in Boston after I graduated college in 1998 and I kept making notes on the adding machine paper. I had no real plans for what I was jotting down. But I was a voracious reader at the time, trying to devour all of Nabokov, Evelyn Waugh, and Martin Amis. At my next temp job, they only needed me for certain tasks so a lot of time was just spent waiting at my desk and I continued to write down whatever popped into my head. During this time I realized a novel was taking shape. I wrote a couple novels which were never published. Good practice. Though the best practice comes from just writing every day. As for writing about music, I clearly remember being on a train between Brussels and Antwerp in 2010 and it dawning on me that I should just start a blog. It comes from always being so excited about music and books and wanting to tell other people about them. I forgot about the blog thing for a few months but one night in March 2011, I went to a gig PennyBlackMusic was putting on in South London with The Hall Of Mirrors (Jessica Winter’s old band, excellent 60s-esque tunes) and Nick Garrie. I enjoyed the show so much, the next day I was inspired to start my First Kiss Lips blog. I just kept doing it and Bill from God Is In The TV soon told me if I ever wanted to write for them I could and I went at that with gusto. By the end of the year I had written my first piece for The Quietus and I was thrilled that John Doran emailed me when it was published that I should ‘write some more’ for them. Back in 2004 when I returned to the States after living in London for the first time, I had the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever had, so I knew I had to do it. I had been re-reading all the James Bond novels and I came up with the character of James Vagabond of the British Drunken Secret Service. I was really pleased with this and thought ‘well what can I have him do?’ Soon it hit me that he should go back in time to stop Prohibition from ever happening. I banged out a first draft of Off-License To Kill in about five weeks then revised it a few times over the years, and one last time after I quit drinking in 2012. It became a sort of ode to my drinking days, which were pretty fun for a while. It was around this time it was becoming easier to publish to self-publish so I decided to do that. After my best friend Andy died in August 2020, it was very important for me to get the Nick Cave’s Bar book out, as a tribute to our friendship. I had been telling the story live in the months before the pandemic hit and really wanted it to keep going. In fact, in the months after Andy passed away it became imperative to get it out there. I’d wake up every day and just have at it, wanting to share this bizarre adventure we went on as 23 year olds, trying to find a bar it was rumored our favourite singer owned, in a foreign country, without a clue as to its name or address, and which in the end turned out not to exist at all. Writing and publishing that was such a rewarding experience I’ve been full-steam-ahead ever since. Finished two books last year – The Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass and a collection of tall tales about the role facial hair has played over the years in athletic competition, called Sporting Moustaches, which Sagging Meniscus is publishing next April. Hard at work on a new one as well.

Do you remember your first piece of writing as a youngster?

AS: Yeah. And it’s kind-of strange because it wasn’t really mine. Along with a couple others in my fifth grade class, I was picked to write a short story. I told my grandfather about it and he told me that he once had an idea for a story. My grandfather was a very creative man musically, artistically, but this was the only time I’d ever heard him mention writing. So I took his idea and added the details. The plot was about a scientist who is arrested and will most likely be sent to the electric chair so he lets it slip that as a safety measure he has invented and swallowed a device the size of a pea, that if connected to a surge of electricity has the power to blow up an entire city. Not the sort of thing I’d usually write. I also found recently some ideas for comics I wrote when I was even younger which were basically just Asterix rip-offs set in outer space and in feudal Japan (I was fascinated by martial arts as a child). I’ve got a couple comics scripts in the works as well. Would love to find an artist for them.

Southpaw Beach Sunset

What’s the last book you read?

AS: Ned Beauman’s latest novel, Venomous Lumpsucker. Which I very much enjoyed. I’m a big fan of his work. I took a chance on his Madness Is Better Than Defeat when I was driving across country in 2018. Loved it. And The Teleportation Accident is even better. I love how his work takes you all over the place and you never know where it’s going next, all while maintaining a strong narrative that doesn’t get knocked about by these wild waves. It’s quite unique. Very funny too.

Where did the inspiration come from The Ballad of Buttery Ass Cake?

AS: When my childhood best friend and I were teenagers we used to make up fake bands to ask for at record stores. And to this day, one of the funniest things I have ever heard in my life was hearing Bri ask the clerk at Cutler’s Records & Tapes in New Haven, CT one day during winter break in 1991 if they had anything by Buttery Cake Ass. The guy behind the counter really wanted to help, you could see it in his eyes, there were a lot of bands with strange names around at the time – Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Poi Dog Pondering, Meat Beat Manifesto – and New Haven was a big college town with good taste in music. He asked us ‘Is there any particular album you’re looking for?’ Without missing a beat, I said the first thing that popped into my head ‘Live In Hungaria’. The guy looked even more puzzled. ‘Do you mean ‘Live In Hungary’. Bri and I got very serious, shaking our heads no. ‘It’s definitely Live In Hungaria’. And as that poor man walked away to go check their stock for a record we had made up only seconds before, holding in that laughter was a feeling of utterly absurd joy. A feeling I always try to get back to whenever I do comedy. So I decided to tell the Buttery Cake Ass story, based around two best friends who go on a years long quest to find Live In Hungaria and along the way, piece together the history of the band. It’s bizarre how much of my own life went into a book called The Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass. But I ended up using a lot of what it was like in my early bands, when you have these huge ideas about music and what you want your place in it to be, all the while having little idea how to make any of that happen. And when I got to college my friend Vic and I went on some pretty epic record shopping extravaganzas around Boston. Ones that left both body and wallet utterly exhausted. I drew on those experiences quite heavily for the quest part of the story.

At Repo Records.

Is the writing, music and comedy all intertwined in your brain?

AS: Yeah. This all comes out in its purest form in my Young Southpaw stories. That’s really how my brain works, going off on wild tangents sparked off by some musical connection or other. Ideas like ‘what if David Bowie had replaced David Lee Roth as the singer of Van Halen?’ or ‘what if Gilligan’s Island had been a musical, with instead of Bob Denver get John Denver, have Geri Halliwell/Ginger Spice as Ginger, Professor Griff from Public Enemy, and of course Thurston Moore as Thurston Howell III’. I’ve really liked putting those stories to music in recent years, and I have a backlog of stuff I still have to record.

When was your first stand up gig? how did you feel before and afterward?

AS: October 4, 2018. I rarely make New Year’s resolutions but that year I did because stand up was always something I’d wanted to try. I’d recorded the first long form Young Southpaw story, “At The Movies”, in August so I finally had ‘material’. And I realized time was running out, 2/3 of the year was already gone. Now, I have a big interest in Chinese Metaphysics and within that realm there’s something called Date Selection, choosing the optimal time to do something. So I chose that date and then set about looking for open mics in Nashville, where I was living at the time. And there weren’t any! But there was one in Memphis, 210 miles away. And I thought, well, if I’m gonna do this, this will show the seriousness of my intent. I took the day off work and drove down, listening to the audiobook of James Montague’s excellent Thirty-One Nil: On The Road With Football’s Outsiders and occasionally going over my 5 minute set. Not too much, to keep it fresh. The feeling before was one of just pure intent and focus. I was going to do this. Though I had no idea what to expect. And it did dawn on me how strange what I was doing was, especially considering the out-there-ness of the Southpaw material. But I got to the place, The P&H Café, and there was a big painting of Elvis above the stage and I love Elvis. Everything seemed right, like this was what I was supposed to be doing. I went on sixth and it was AMAZING! That first laugh came about 30 seconds in and it was just the best feeling. The host thanked me for getting the crowd laughing, because no one really had been before, and people came up to me to say how much they liked the surrealness of it and all the musical references. I was on cloud nine. I mentioned Cynthia Rhodes in that very first set. She was my first crush after seeing her in Staying Alive and I remembered the final scene to that movie where John Travolta tells her what he feels like doing now is to strut so I strutted all the way back to my car and drove the three hours home feeling great the whole way, like my new life had begun.

Aug in front of a window.

What’s your top 10 desert island discs?

AS: (in no particular order) The Afghan Whigs – Black Love Dolly Mixture – The Demonstration Tapes Pharoah Sanders – Pharoah Miles Davis – Tribute To Jack Johnson Rancid - ...And Out Come The Wolves Hanoi Rocks – Back To Mystery City Girlfrendo – Surprise! Surprise! It’s Girlfrendo Guided By Voices – Human Amusements At Hourly Rates (is a Best Of cheating? I need this for the full-on rock version of ‘Game Of Pricks’) Van Halen - 1984 The Replacements – Pleased To Meet Me

The first band that made you want to give music a shot?

AS: It was seeing the world premiere of David Lee Roth’s ‘Yankee Rose’ video in the summer of 1986 that made me want to pick up a guitar. I thought Steve Vai making the guitar ‘talk’ was the coolest thing ever. I learned on an old acoustic that my grandfather built, the strings were 3 inches off the fretboard! But this convinced my parents I was serious and for xmas that year I got my first electric guitar, a white Japanese Squire Stratocaster. I immediately formed a band with my friends and we did very rudimentary versions of ‘Twist And Shout’ and ‘Jump’. A couple years later I discovered punk and was so drawn to its energy. I remember that same band doing a blistering version of ‘Anarchy In The U.K.’ one summer day in our drummer’s basement. But it was developing a deep love for AC/DC the year after that that got me writing songs with my friends. Funnily enough, the same summer day in 1986 that my father took me to see Rodney Dangerfield’s Back To School at the movie theatre, we went across the street to the mall afterwards and I bought David Lee Roth’s Eat ‘Em And Smile. I’m pretty sure that day set in motion the rest of my life, carried along by the forces of comedy and music.

German Vegan

How’d you meet Bill Drummond?!

AS: I was writing a piece for The Quietus about the origin of The Teardrop Explodes’ name - https://thequietus.com/articles/09596-the-teardrop-explodes - and Bill was promoting his latest book, 100, at The Idler Bookshop, so I went down to talk to him about the Teardrops. I’ve always considered his work fascinating and it was great to talk to him. He was off to Paris the next day to do his The Lone Sweeper. I moved back to the States at the end of that year but on my subsequent visits, if he was free, we’d meet up for tea. I remember one particular conversation in 2016, where I starting telling him about a lady I was “smitten with”. It wasn’t going well and I was rather depressed about it. I often recall Bill’s words on the matter - “That’s the thing, it’s the work I’ve always been smitten with.” Damn good advice. Get smitten with the work. It’s really served me well in recent years.

What’s next in your world? Another book perhaps? AS: Right now I’m still focused on doing readings for The Ballad Of Buttery Cake Ass. The tour in February was great, awesome to hang out at record and book shops and talk to people about records and books all day. I’m still doing little jaunts. Heading down to Atlanta Memorial Day weekend with a stop at the very cool Epilogue Bookshop in Chapel Hill along the way. I’d really like to do more of this for as long as I can. I have an offer to go read in Seattle, which if I can find a couple other places to read in the Pacific Northwest, I’d love to make happen. I’d love to hit New York, L.A., Chicago, and Detroit too. And anywhere that has a cool record or book shop and wants me to come talk about music. Working on making all those happen. I’m really excited about Sagging Meniscus putting out Sporting Moustaches next April. Every day I continue to work on the book after that, about halfway done now. I also have a new musical project with Sean Drinkwater from Freezepop. We’re called FoxxMachine and it sounds very New Order/Depeche Mode. I also reformed my old punk band from 1995, Inbetween, to record a 7” that will feature a song that never made it to tape back then, and the definitive version of our set closer ‘Vampyro’.

Bonus question- Any idea if Nick Cave has read your book?

AS: I sent it to him (via his management) but I never heard anything back

www.augstone.com

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tabloidtoc · 3 years

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Life & Style, April 26

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Khloe Kardashian is a total fake

Page 1: Lady Gaga in a wedding dress on the set of House of Gucci in Rome

Page 2: Contents

Page 4: The Top 10 SAG Awards Looks -- Mindy Kaling, Jamie Chung, Amy Adams, Sarah Levy, Kerry Washington

Page 5: Kaley Cuoco, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Morales, Viola Davis, Lily Collins

Page 6: Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen celebrated their 12-year anniversary, posting heartfelt tributes to each other on social media, but their relationship hasn't always been so rock solid -- Tom admitted that Gisele has made a lot of sacrifices for their marriage and she hated living in Boston because she had no friends there and felt so alone because Tom was never around; things got so bad they sought counseling, which was the wake-up call that Tom needed -- he promised to make changes and he agreed to quit the Patriots and sign with a team in a location that was more desirable to Gisele and Tom stuck to his word and he came the new quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and since moving to Florida, Tom and Gisele have never been happier and they have date nights every week and always make sure to communicate -- it wasn't easy, but they're both really proud of how far they've come

Page 7: After multiple delays, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc have finally filmed the highly anticipated Friends reunion special and they all got really emotional when they saw the set and being there brought back so many fond memories -- it's the first time in 17 years that fans will get to see the entire cast together since the show went off the air in 2004 -- afterwards, everyone went to Jen's house for dinner -- each of the stars was paid $2.5 million to appear in the special

* Throwback -- Dolly Parton in 1965

* Biggest Spenders of the Week -- Bobby Flay, Aaron Rodgers, Vanessa Hudgens, Angelina Jolie

Page 8: Drew Barrymore revealed that, after three divorces and a string of failed romances, she's sworn off marriage altogether -- Drew doesn't need a man to feel complete and she's happiest hanging out with family and friends -- if the right guy comes along later down the line, great, but for now, she's content with being single

* Becoming one of the most sought-after stars in Hollywood has gone straight to Ana de Armas' head -- the cast and crew are often left waiting for the actress to emerge from her trailer on the set of the new action thriller The Gray Man -- Ana's got a lot going on and she's juggling several different projects, as well as photo shoots and phone calls with her team and people don't stay mad at her for too long, but they have nicknamed her Ana de Diva, but she isn't upset by the scathing moniker because she's a big name now, and with that comes a lot of responsibility and the way she sees it, there are worse things than being called a diva

Page 10: The Week in Photos -- Orlando Bloom got a surprise visit from the Easter Bunny

Page 11: Jennifer Lopez in jeans at a photoshoot for InStyle, Priyanka Chopra dancing around her backyard in a bright yellow dress

Page 12: Animal Tales -- Gilles Marini posed for a pic with his African grey parrot Anya, singer Madison Beer leaned in for a kiss from a caramel-colored stallion, Kate Beckinsale's feline Clive seemed less than thrilled when Kate strapped him to her chest in a carrier

Page 13: Kaia Gerber and her precious pooch Milo snuggled up in bed, Malin Akerman and a goat

Page 16: Stars Behaving Badly -- Lisa Vanderpump let her parched dog drink from her water glass at a restaurant in West Hollywood, Maisie Williams went topless under a translucent jacket while shooting a new TV series about the Sex Pistols in London, HGTV Design Star host Allison Holker used a megaphone to give out instructions to Property Brother Jonathan Scott on the show's finale, Calvin Klein wasn't worried about stains when he shoved a pile of spaghetti into his mouth at West Hollywood's Mauro Cafe

Page 18: Say What?! Helena Bonham Carter who turns 55 in May, Chelsea Handler who admits she consumes mushrooms almost every day, Olivia Munn who is the proud pet parent of rescue dogs Frankie and Chance, Melissa McCarthy on doing her own stunts in Thunder Force, Brian Tyree Henry on Godzilla vs. Kong co-star Millie Bobby Brown

Page 20: Pete Davidson has officially moved out of his mother's home and into a $1.2 million luxury high-rise condo on Staten Island, and it's all thanks to his new girl girlfriend, Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor -- the Saturday Night Live star showed off his two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom bachelor pad during a Zoom call -- Phoebe is a down-to-earth girl, but she doesn't want to date a man who lives in his mom's basement and she thinks Pete's mom, Amy, is awesome and says it's a great thing that they're super close, but being in a long-distance relationship is difficult enough so Pete and Phoebe need some alone time when they're together, which was almost impossible with his mother hanging out upstairs -- Pete knew it was time; he just needed that gentle nudge

Page 21: Matt James and Rachael Kirkconnell were spotted in NYC together, sparking speculation that the former Bachelor couple have rekindled their relationship -- the pair parted ways while the show was still airing after photos of the graphic designer at a plantation-themed college party in 2018 surfaced on social media -- Rachael made a mistake but she owned up to it and was willing to learn from it and it didn't change her feelings for Matt or vice versa and Matt was in love with Rachael too and he couldn't just turn those feelings off so no one would be surprised if they decided to reconcile

* Michael B. Jordan's girlfriend Lori Harvey was left reeling over photos of the actor sharing a smooch with Chante Adams on the set of their new movie A Journal for Jordan -- of course, they were just shooting a scene for the film, but Lori was still annoyed and she asked Michael about it, and he brushed it off and explained it was part of the job but Lori still has her suspicions and she's been thinking about dropping by the set just so she can keep a very close eye on them

Page 22: Cover Story -- Khloe Kardashian living a lie -- devastated by an unretouched photo leak, Khloe faces claims she's a body positivity hypocrite as she demands the viral image be taken down

Page 26: Alex Rodriguez to Ben Affleck: Back off my fiancee -- Ben gushes about ex Jennifer Lopez in a new article and A-Rod isn't happy about it (not quite Bennifer yet :)

Page 28: Prince Harry overwhelmed with work -- Harry struggles to adjust after trading his cushy royal role for a variety of normal gigs -- though his job for BetterUp is primarily remote, added stress comes in the form of Harry's Spotify and Netflix deals, plus growing charity work -- Harry finds all of his new, non-royal titles fresh and exciting, but while he's a great person, some in his inner circle say Harry's kind of dumb and worry whether he can handle the pressure

Page 30: Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli life after prison -- reunited following months spent behind bars, Lori and Mossimo try to pick up the pieces -- prison definitely took a toll on Mossimo and he doesn't expect sympathy, but he's still struggling to adjust to what he went through; it really broke him down and forced him to reevaluate his life

Page 32: Who Lives Here? Lil Nas X

Page 34: Entertainment

Page 35: Star Review -- Jonathan Van Ness

* As Seen On-Screen -- Meghan Markle wore a dark green coat while walking through Archie's Chick-Inn during her CBS interview which was J. Crew's Perfect Lightweight Jacket

Page 36: Go Green at Home -- reduce your carbon footprint even more with these eco-chic essentials, because our planet can use all the help it can get

Page 37: Beauty Crush -- get Jurnee Smollett's look from her makeup artist Emily Cheng for the SAG Awards

Page 38: Spring Beauty Must-Haves -- these product picks aim to reign as new-season favorites -- Camila Mendes

Page 40: Diva or Down-to-Earth? Rihanna bagged her own haul at Bristol Farms in Beverly Hills -- down-to-earth, Shay Mitchell worked from home with help from her most trusted assistant daughter Atlas -- down-to-earth, during a photo shoot in Malibu Brooke Burke got a makeup refresh from a personal primper -- diva

Page 42: Social Stars Posts of the Week -- Sofia Vergara sneaking Heidi Klum a chip on the set of America's Got Talent, Neil Patrick Harris finished the first season of The Irregulars while quarantining in Toronto, Jared Leto pretended to pluck the moon straight out of the sky during a masked outing in Italy, Beyonce treated her daughter Blue Ivy to a meal at Nobu in Malibu

Page 44: Horoscope -- Taurus Gigi Hadid turned 26 on April 23

* They're Not Together, But They Should Be -- Capricorn Charles Melton and Virgo Zendaya

Page 48: What I'm Into -- Kameron Westcott of The Real Housewives of Dallas

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dreamsister81 · 4 years

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"If you listen to the lyrics of Hallelujah closely, you notice it’s a song about sex, about love, about life on Earth. The hallelujah isn’t a tribute to a worshipped person, an idol or a god, but it’s the hallelujah of orgasm. It’s an ode to life and to love."-OOR, August, 1994

Why did you cover a Leonard Cohen song?

Because I find myself in Hallelujah, not because of Cohen.-Knust interview, September 13, 1994

“Any of the covers on the album are there because they mean a certain thing in my life that I love and I miss. One day I was house-sitting for a friend and she left her whiskey out and I got into it and hit this horrible sorrowful jag. I went to the gig-Sin-É, in fact-weeping like a fucking animal. The whole time. I sang ‘Hallelujah’ that night and I got through the show just on the edge of tears. I don’t know why. It just wells up inside you."-Hot Press, October 5, 1994

And this version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", does he know the John Cale version? "Well, actually, I'm playing John Cale's version, that's where I got it from, from that record "I'm Your Fan" that I listened to at a friend's house. I also know Leonard's original, but he doesn't sing every verse, the way John interprets it is so...simple."-Rock & Folk, October, 1994

" 'Hallelujah' for example I learned in New York from John Cale after a year working at Sin-é on a day when I found myself crying like a baby and that song expressed exactly what I was feeling. A title like 'Hallelujah' makes one think of the church, of morality and instead there is a deep humanity inside, there is the idea of making love, losing love, being crucified. Leonard wrote ten verses for that song and I don't know why he didn't sing them all, I just chose the ones I felt were most mine. He has this extraordinary ability to grasp the fundamental element of a certain situation and to "steal" it, make it his own and build the text around it."-Rockerilla, October, 1994

The artists you've covered so far are Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Alex Chilton, they're connected on a certain line. It's kind of cult people or like that. Do you select those songs consciously?

It doesn't matter who's song it is. I did it because each moment in my life matched the song so well. For example, Leonard's "Hallelujah." One day, I was intoxicated with so much sadness, I was totally wasted after drinking whiskey and practicing this song. Right after that, I went into the gig as I was, and I was screaming like an animal. I'm singing that song with those experiences in mind. I have to be myself before the song exists.-Rockin'on October 1994

"Hallelujah, I was just housesitting for a friend, watching her cats while she was away and I got into her whiskey and got into her record collection and there was there was John Cale's version of Hallelujah on I'm Your Fan. And I'm not...there are Leonard Cohen enthusiasts...it's not because of Leonard that I did the song, it's simply because of the song and because of the verses. I'm just in there somewhere. I have no blood bound allegiance to Leonard, although i have an incredible admiration and real great love of his work you know? There's a difference between somebody who's a total Tom Waits freak and just somebody who just likes to listen to them, and you know, the Tom Waits freak will know everything: the demos, the back in the days when he used to sound like Billy Joel, blah, blah, blah...hear the European demos, well, he didn't used to, but back when he was a bit smoother. You know, just knows everything. And I don't know everything about Leonard Cohen, and I haven't read Beautiful Losers, and I haven't done that, but it was just a great song."-WBCN's "Nocturnal Emissions", October 23, 1994 in Boston, Massachusetts

" 'Hallelujah' I didn't do it because it's by Leonard Cohen, but because I like the song. Based on that it was done for all the songs, including mine. The version that inspired me is a John Cale version with all ten verses, unlike the way it appears on Various Positions. The night I first proposed it at Sin-é was a special night, I had also been a bit of a jerk. You see, the word Hallelujah has its own definite sign, you connect it to the church. Instead, for me it is a word that celebrates something very human, it speaks of a deep connection between pain and the human condition. That word has nothing to do with being nailed to a cross: there's when you're hurting, but there's also when you're making love, when you're losing it."-Buscadero, November, 1994

"The fact that I did Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah doesn't mean anything, Cohen is something you discover when you're discovering life, you don't get there when you're very young."-Rumore, November, 1994

"Finally, Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah not for the meaning of religious purity that anyone can see, but for more earthly reasons: pain, sex, orgasm and the cruelty of everyday life. I believe in people, not in heaven. Without people God would not exist, he would not make sense."-Tutto, February, 1995

I wanted to ask you about your version of "Hallelujah". I guess its based more on John Cale's version than Leonard Cohen's original?

Yeah. But I heard the one on (Cohen's album) Various Positions first. Then I was stuck in a room with that I'm Your Fan CD (a Cohen tribute album) and I listened to (Cale's version) and it was, again, very simple. Then I heard that version one time again in Tower Records, and I was just struck. There and then, I thought, "This is wonderful ."

But am I right in thinking you don't really rate your version, compared with Cale's?

Well, he's a man. Mine's too fast. I know the difference between myself in a totally empty situation-which is best, where anything can happen-and in a situation where something's expected. And I don't feel very good about that day, and the time I chose that song to be included on the record, it was between that version and another version that I really despised. All in all, there must 22 versions floating out there. It's just never the right time. It seems that the only right time is when I'm telling it to people. And I guarantee, I have mashed that version into the ground nightly on tour, just creamed it. And there's also a version on the master reel for "So Real" that, because I was so wiped out and exhausted after that day-we'd recorded "So Real" and I recorded one last "Hallelujah", and that was my best one-I just forgot about that "So Real", I was so tired. So it's just hanging around out there. C'est la vie. Part of making records is letting stuff go.-February 28, 1995 interview, published in Uncut, September, 2004

I tell him that Bono loves Grace and says that Buckley's cover of Cohen's Hallelujah is better than his own. (Buckley plays John Cale's slightly altered version of the song from the I'm Your Fan tribute album to Cohen.) Buckley slumps back in his chair, as he does when on the defensive, and curls his lip in a manner that accentuates his resemblance to Matt Dillon. "I don't think I did that right," he sighs, passing over the compliment without comment. "I hope Leonard doesn't hear it. The way I do it live is better. I did it all live in the studio, there's no overdubs at all, but I pop it in unexpectedly in the show and it works better. The way I did it sounded more like a child and sometimes I've sung it more like a man."-Mojo, March, 1995

"It's a hymn to being alive. It's a hymn to love lost. To love. Even the pain of existence, which ties you to being human, should receive an amen-or a hallelujah."-Schwann Spectrum, Spring 1995

"I found myself in that song and I performed it many times in solo shows. But I'd be neglecting something if I didn't say that I learned it from John Cale. John Cale was the one that brought it to recording first, on the tribute album I'm Your Fan and he used these lyrics, these verses, for the song that didn't appear on Various Positions, which was the first album that Hallelujah appeared upon. I was house-sitting for my friend Susan and she had some whiskey...I don't know, I just hit a big, really bad sorrow jag and put on the song, and it was so simple the way John sang it that the words went through me, and I learned the words that night, played it that night at my gig at Sin-e...I don't know, it just stayed with me ever since. I wasn't gonna put it on the album at first 'cause I didn't write it and it would be kinda cheesy but I thought better after a couple suggestions from a friend of mine, and I did. Unfortunately, I think people will ask for it until the day I'm grey and old and fat, which I don't like, so I'll have to write something better, and I will."-Sony promo interview

"He has a unique talent for making everyday life poetic and surreal-the most difficult way to write. However, on Hallelujah, I much prefer the lyrics rewritten by John Cale for the I'm Your Fan compilation. It is this version that I have taken up, not Cohen's version."-Les Inrockuptibles, July, 1995

"That's not a hallelujah of chasteness and piety," Buckley explains. "It's more menstrual. It has more to do with the hallelujah of orgasam, of pain, of joy, of flesh, of being tied to the earth. Not of invisible angels in heaven who may or may not come down to tell you how good or bad you are, or Santa Claus."-Sydney Morning Herald, August 25, 1995

#jeff buckley #hallelujah #mylove #supremebeing #favorite #music #behind the song #it's NOT a bloody Christmas song folks #or meant for a church or kids #please and thank you

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natromanxoff · 4 years

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Queen live at Cumberland County Civic Centre in Portland ME, USA - November 11, 1977

Not only this was the only concert where Sleeping On The Sidewalk was played (although we still have no idea if it was sung by Brian or Freddie) but something else happened as an eyewitness says: "It was the very first time Freddie had the crowd singing to Love Of My Life. I KNOW the crowd I was in that night were singing it at he top of our lungs and I DO remember Freddie looking at us in amazement that we knew all the words and were VERY loud about it."

(x)

Queen have revamped their show quite a bit for this tour promoting their new album, News Of The World. This is the first tour for which they don't bring a support act - their show is longer, running at roughly two hours a night. Visually, they now have a scaled down version of the Earls Court crown as their lighting rig, which was built in Boston.

The album was a return to basics for Queen, as most of the tracks saw very few overdubs. As a result, most of the songs translated well to the stage, and very quickly. We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Sheer Heart Attack, Spread Your Wings, Get Down Make Love, and My Melancholy Blues are all heard on this tour, and are most likely performed for the first time tonight. I'm In Love With My Car and Love Of My Life from A Night At The Opera are also heard live for the first time at this show. Roger sings the former as he did on the album.

In a radio interview earlier in the year, he had this to say about singing lead in concert from behind the drums: "In the context of Queen it's not an easy thing to do. I sing a lot from the drums, but to sing lead on stage, the vocalist should be focal point in concert. For the drummer to sing, I think the whole thing loses a lot somehow." Still, they gave I'm In Love With My Car a try, and it would be played nearly every night through 1981. It would never be performed completely. After the "Cars don't talk back; they're just four-wheeled friends now" line, the band would slightly extend the instrumental section of the song before coming to an abrupt end.

Sleeping On The Sidewalk, however, wouldn't fare so well. They played Brian's bluesy News Of The World number early on the tour, with Freddie on the lead vocal, but it was soon dropped after only three performances.

On this tour the show would begin with a tape of the stomp-stomp-clap of the studio version of We Will Rock You being played. A spotlight would appear on Freddie on one side of the stage where he would sing only the first verse and a chorus (with vocals from the record also being heard), after which another spotlight would be on Brian for the climatic guitar solo. They would then leave the stage amidst dry ice to perform a faster, more straight-ahead rock version of the song. This fast version of the song would prove to be a very effective concert opener, and would be played at most shows from now through the end of 1982.

Death On Two Legs has been cut down, and segues into Killer Queen as part of a much longer medley. Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy follows, as it did earlier in the year.

Get Down Make Love would always be performed with the second verse and chorus omitted. The middle section would never be performed the same way twice, featuring Brian May on the E-bow along with a harmonizer pedal, and vocal gymnastics from Freddie, creating new sounds and treading new ground every night. The Millionaire Waltz and You're My Best Friend close the medley through May of next year.

Spread Your Wings would be performed on this tour with a much more aggressive beat by Roger (in double time) during the improv at the end of the song, like the BBC version recorded on October 28. This song, along with It's Late, would rotate in the setlist in autumn 1977, but they would be heard every night in 1978 and in much of 1979.

Love Of My Life would be performed very differently on stage than on the record, with Brian on guitar instead of Freddie on piano, performed a key and a half lower. Over the years it would develop into a number where audiences of all sizes would sing along, as heard on the various live albums and videos. Although few US audiences sang along with the song, a fan who attended this show fondly recalls Freddie's surprise when some audience members were singing along (thanks to Cameron Myers for confirming). By 1979, singalongs and vocal duels between Freddie and the audience became staples of Queen's live set.

Like the A Day At The Races tour, the segment of The Prophet's Song after White Man is a vocal solo by Freddie, but on this tour it leads into a guitar solo. Brian May's solo spots during this period were his most experimental, as he created many unique sounds every night. Unlike every other tour, he was tuned to drop-D (for the segment of The Prophet's Song to come), which was at least partially responsible for making room for that creativity.

On this tour Brian used his E-bow for the first segment of his solo spot. He recalled in 2004: "It was very useful for starting off my long solo at one point. I could make long Whale-like noises by gently moving the device up to a position over a low string. Along with use of the Tremolo to zoom the pitch way down, and the delays I was using at the time, it gave a lot of scope for building up weird textures. I really enjoyed it if the mood was developing well that night. Usually at some point after a couple of minutes I would lob the E-bow in Jobby's direction, and lay into the guitar with a pick instead, going into more rhythmic areas."

At the end of the opera section of Bohemian Rhapsody, Freddie now emerges from a trap door under the stage.

Tie Your Mother Down is now the final song of the set proper, where it would remain through 1982, with a few exceptions.

The punk element of the era made its way into Queen's show, via the high-energy of Sheer Heart Attack. The song's performance would evolve over time, and soon the band, particularly Freddie, would really ham it up. For now only a small portion of the song is performed, and with a giant snare fill from Roger it merges into Jailhouse Rock. Brian May recalled in 2003: "Strangely enough it was Roger who would wince when someone suggested Sheer Heart Attack as an extra encore â€“ it was totally draining for him to keep up that pattern, especially when we got into it and it got more and more extended in our enthusiasm."

We Will Rock You would be played once again near the end of the show on this tour, but this time the band would encourage audience participation - clapping and singing along to a song that would soon become an anthem for the band and rock music as a whole. Only the first verse would be played on the News Of The World tour. The second and third verses would be added for the Jazz tour and beyond.

John Deacon has switched back to his Fender Precision bass, which he'd use through to the end of Queen's touring days.

This is the first tour where Queen are well-off enough to afford their own private plane to travel between cities.

The first photo is from Shepperton Studios in London, where they spent the last week of October rehearsing (note that Freddie is holding the News Of The World inner sleeve, as he's still in the midst of memorizing the lyrics).

Footage of the band running through Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy and The Millionaire Waltz at Shepperton was seen at the "Stormtroopers in Stilettoes" exhibition in London in 2011. The footage, along with some of the dates on the ensuing tour, was filmed by Bob Harris and his Old Grey Whistle Test crew for a documentary intended to be aired in early 1978, but it took over 30 years for any of it to be seen. Other bits of the rehearsal footage were seen in the "American Dream" documentary on the News Of The World box set released in 2017.

The second row of photos are from a 1978 German magazine. This piece in Bravo primarily focused on the Portland show, so the photos may well be from this night.

#queen #queen band #roger taylor #freddie mercury #brian may #john deacon #queen concerts

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hjnsa · 3 years

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An Interview With David Herlihy, Author of "Bicycle - The History"

David Herlihy's book, Bicycle: The History, was the sole book on bikes which came to the most unmistakable presentation remain at my neighborhood Barnes and Noble. Distributed in 2004, it has been a staggering achievement, carrying the historical backdrop of bikes to a huge number of individuals in a few unique dialects. The book is rich and brilliant, both in its photographs and its words.

I met David while I was in school during the 1980s. He was making a bit of additional money by purchasing delightful, marginally utilized street bicycles in Italy (DeRosas, Cinellis, Tommasinis and so forth) and afterward offering them at surprisingly reasonable costs to cyclists in the USA. This permitted him to enjoy his adoration for movement, play with great bikes, and welcome delight to individuals on the two sides of the Atlantic. On second thought, his books on cycling do essentially exactly the same things...

Q: Bicycle: The History was an enormous achievement. How has this achievement transformed you?

A: Thanks, Forbes. "Tremendous" is a family member (and exceptionally complimenting) term. Yet, in the event that I might gloat a little, since it turned out in fall 2004, Bicycle has sold more than 20,000 duplicates, for the most part hard covers. That is a beautiful thrilled figure for a book of this nature, distributed by a scholastic press. I'm certain it's much more than even Yale had expected. From what I hear, it's currently one of their untouched blockbusters (there are even releases out in Russian and Korean).

This is exceptionally satisfying, just like all the consideration it got in the press, remembering surveys for lofty distributions like The Economist and The New York Times Review of Books (I need to credit my splendid marketing specialist, Brenda King, for designing quite a bit of that). Most were very great and simple to process (a couple were less fulfilling, however I figured out how to get over them before long).

What's more, indeed, I savored my brief encounter with popularity. It was incredible fun visiting and advancing my book, regardless of whether I needed to cover my own costs generally. I delighted in giving slide talks and marking books, and meeting cycling aficionados, all things considered. One of my most significant minutes was at a bicycle show in Edison, New Jersey, where I had a table. After one person affirmed that I was indeed the creator, he sort of lost it. He had his image taken with me utilizing his phone. I felt like a hero.

Returning to reality a bit, I can't say that the book has fundamentally transformed me or way of life, essentially not yet. Be that as it may, it has been an extremely sure encounter and I think it has opened up new imaginative potential outcomes.

First off, it was an extraordinary alleviation and fulfillment to at long last transform 10 years in addition to of examination into something substantial that could give me some acknowledgment and really produce a little income to keep body and soul together (also assisting with paying for all that exploration, which incorporated various outings to Europe. Not that I'm requesting compassion, mind you!) And I should say, with all due respect, that a lot of my best material surfaced around the finish of my request. Had I distributed the book even a couple of years sooner, it basically would not have been as vivid or as rich.

In addition to the fact that i was ready to share many intriguing disclosures, I likewise had the opportunity to air some profoundly held feelings. I think there are a great deal of misinterpretations out there about bike history, particularly as to the innovation and early turn of events. The kick-impelled Draisine of 1817, specifically, was not a bike as such and, as it ended up, it didn't lead straightforwardly to the first bikes of the 1860s (however it was seemingly the essential motivation). I've likewise inferred that the Scottish need claims emerging during the blast of the late nineteenth century are questionable, best case scenario. Also, obviously the extraordinary commitment of Pierre Lallement, the first bike patentee, has for quite some time been eclipsed by the Michaux name, which similarly covered the job of the Oliviers, the genuine mechanical pioneers.

سكوترات كهربائية

In some sense it very well might be a losing fight to demand this load of focuses legends are obstinate things. In any case, presently I've spoken my tranquility and I can continue on to other energizing ventures with somewhat more monetary soundness and somewhat more validity and clout.

Q: What are some different activities you are chipping away at?

A: Over the previous few years, I've kept on giving talks to a great extent for different cycling gatherings and instructive projects. One month from now, for instance, I'll take an interest in a board conversation at the uncovering of the Major Taylor dedication in Worcester. What's more, on May 24 I'll give a discussion at the Museum of the City of New York. We're beginning to discuss assembling a show on the historical backdrop of cycling in New York, related to properly enough-Bike New York, (patrons of the yearly 5 boro ride that draws 30,000 cyclists).

I've likewise completed a few ventures with Velopress of late. I interpreted an extraordinary book on the historical backdrop of Paris Roubaix by the editors of l'Equipe. It's an excellent foot stool book with astounding photographs. Furthermore, I need to say the content is likewise very captivating! I additionally interpreted a book on the Alpe d'Huez stage by my old buddy Jean-Paul Vespini. It's turning out in half a month and I'm truly anticipating pawing through it. I just saw a few evidences and the photographs are eye-popping. Besides the creator worked really hard covering the historical backdrop of this marvel not just as a definitive stage in the Tour yet additionally as a beautiful social rendez-vous.

What's more, I just marked an agreement with Houghton Mifflin to compose a book on Frank Lenz. Exploring his captivating however failed to remember story has been my concentration for as long as couple of years and will keep on being so for a significant length of time.

دراجات هوائية

To sum up: in May 1892, on the cusp of the bike blast, Lenz set off from his old neighborhood of Pittsburgh to circle the globe on the most recent "wellbeing" bike with inflatable tires. Two years into his excursion, in the wake of intersection North America, Japan, China, Burma, India, and Persia, he bafflingly disappeared. Examiners later followed him past the Persian boundary, into Turkey and the premonition place where there is the Kurds. Unexpectedly, Outing magazine, Lenz's support, sent another American "globe girdler," William Sachtleben, to discover Lenz in any condition. It ended up being an extremely awful an ideal opportunity to visit Turkey, with slaughters of Armenians unfurling before his own eyes. Sachtleben himself was fortunate to get back alive. He immovably accepted he had settled the secret, however his inability to discover Lenz's bones or bike, or to get palatable feelings for homicide, left the matter putrefying. Lenz's crushed mother at last got a repayment from the Turkish government, yet his inheritance immediately blurred in the twentieth century as the public lost interest in the bike. I'll talk about Lenz's experience and character, and what persuaded him to go off on this risky experience. I'll likewise follow the excursion exhaustively, putting a positive twist on it. At long last, I'll seriously investigate Sachtleben's discoveries and attempt to sort out what truly befell poor Lenz.

افضل موقع بيع دراجات هوائية

Q: Do you actually have the opportunity to ride your bicycle?

A: I admit that I have the opportunity in principle. What's more, the bicycles. In any case, I don't do as much sporting riding as I ought to (and it shows, though it pains me to say so!). Of late, I've for the most part done coordinated rides every now and then. Bicycle New York has become a practice each May, and it's an impact. I likewise did part of Cycle Oregon a couple of years back, and a couple of other gathering rides from that point forward. Yet, generally I cycle in the Boston region, just to get around. I just procured another Bike Friday, which I actually need to gather. I hope to ride significantly more get-togethers. I might want to get once again into street riding, as well. In principle I could utilize one of my old Italian racers, yet I couldn't want anything more than to get something more contemporary. Also, perhaps a trail blazing bicycle as well. Had the opportunity to complete this book first, however, so I have some optional assets.

Q: Your book clarified that you love bikes. Do you cherish any one kind of bike more than others? Is there a specific sort of bike that is closest and dearest to your heart?

A: I'd need to say the exemplary light weight street bicycle with thin tires is as yet my top choice. But at the same time I'm into bikes as essential transportation, particularly during circumstances such as the present. The Bike Friday offers an incredible mix off both riding delight and reasonableness. I can't actually address mountain trekking as I've never truly enjoyed that game. In any case, I have companions who are truly into it, and I know some time or another I ought to truly check it out.

Q: You used to bring brilliant utilized street bicycles back from Italy. Do you actually have associations around there?

A: In principle, indeed, however I haven't purchased any bicycles around there in a long while. I spent various years in Italy growing up, I actually go one time each year. So I'm as yet conversant in the language. In the past I went routinely to the Milan career expo. Also, I found the opportunity to meet and meeting some incredible names like Cino Cinelli and Valentino Campagnolo, when I composed for Bicycle Guide. However, I haven't kept up my contacts in the bicycle business, though it pains me to mention it. Recently when I've gone over it's been really investigating, eating, visiting, and mingling. In a specific order, obviously.

دراجة هوائية رياضية

Q: Have bikes improved through their set of experiences? Or on the other hand were the old bike plans more down to earth than the plans for new bikes?

A: Well you can surely present the defense that the bike advanced in the second 50% of the nineteenth century, turning out to be progressively roadworthy and thus pragmatic in that sense. The first "boneshaker" of the 1860s was an honorable thought yet one in urgent need of material improvement. You could contend that its substitution, the armada however shaky high wheeler, took the idea off course, that is, away from reasonableness. All things considered, the first bike created a global uproar decisively in light of the fact that it should fill in as a reasonable "individuals' bother." And the high-wheeler, obviously, turned into a costly toy for athletic guys.

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in-flagrante · 5 years

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ALL CHANGE With Michelle Dockery

Best known as Downton Abbey’s indelible Lady Mary, MICHELLE DOCKERY effortlessly transitions from haughty aristocrat to corrupt cockney in Guy Ritchie’s new gangster movie, The Gentlemen. LAURA CRAIK talks to the British star about her working-class roots, embracing a golden age of opportunities for female actors and why working with Ritchie, Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant and her idol Jeremy Strong was a dream come true

Michelle Dockery is about as different from Downton Abbey’s Lady Mary as is imaginable. Dressed in Totême boyfriend jeans, white Adidas trainers and a black cashmere turtleneck, she is warm, effusive and quick to laugh where Lady Mary is frosty and composed, and she has an accent not dissimilar to Victoria Beckham’s. “It may come as a bit of a shock to everyone when I open my mouth in the film,” she smiles.

“The film” is The Gentlemen, a classic gangster caper written and directed by Guy Ritchie in a return to the genre that first made him famous. “Charlie [Hunnan, one of Dockery’s co-stars] is calling The Gentlemen ‘vintage Ritchie’, and I think that’s right,” she says of the British director behind Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. “I play Rosalind, who is the wife of Matthew McConaughey’s character, Mickey,” Dockery explains. “He has these marijuana farms that are growing underneath stately homes, hence the title The Gentlemen.”

Marijuana farms? What would Carson say? Dockery laughs. After six years playing Lady Mary Crawley in Downton Abbey– first in the well-loved TV series (which has won 15 Emmys and been watched by an estimated 270m people worldwide) and latterly in the movie – her role in The Gentlemen was a great departure for the 38-year-old British actress. “Rosalind runs a car dealership, which she’s inherited through her family. She’s a real, tough, east-London girl. I grew up in Essex, and my family has a sort of east-London background, so it was great to step into that world.”

To say the cast of The Gentlemen is “stellar” is an understatement: in addition to Dockery, McConaughey and Hunnam, the movie stars Hugh Grant (who plays equally against type and appears as a corrupt and predatory reporter), Colin Farrell, Henry Golding, and Jeremy Strong, most recently seen as the troubled Kendall Roy in HBO’s Succession – of which Dockery is a huge fan. “I mean, this whole interview could be about Succession,” she laughs. “It’s absolutely brilliant, the best thing on TV. Every single character is Shakespearean. I loved working with Jeremy. We only had one scene together, a dinner-party scene, and I would never have seen his character the way he played it. He was a joy to watch, and worlds away from Kendall.”

Working with Ritchie – and the laugh-a-minute, largely male cast – was, Dockery says, a dream. “There’s one scene where I arrive at my garage, and Guy wanted to add a bit of dialogue, just off the cuff. I had to be on my toes, and I really enjoyed that. So often, when I’m working, the process is very much word for word, and on this film it was malleable. It was liberating.” She also relished collaborating with Ritchie on Rosalind’s look. “Even though Rosalind works in a garage, I get to wear the most beautiful Balmain jumpsuit, and the first scene is me walking into the garage in a pair of Louboutins, which is hilarious. Rosalind has clearly worked her way up to where she is, really enjoys the lifestyle and having money, but still wants to work. I love that about her character, that she still gets her hands dirty.”

Dockery says she is happy with the quality of roles she has been offered in her career (she graduated from London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2004), while being aware that, in the past, female actors have lamented the paucity of fully rounded female characters. “I do feel I stepped into this industry at a time when things were really beginning to change, especially for women. It’s the golden age of television, where creators have the luxury of writing 10 hours as opposed to just two, so there’s room to explore a character in greater depth. It’s now becoming much more normal to start a job or to read a part and for me to have a dialogue with the creators – if there are moments where it’s felt the female character is not involved, for example – whereas I guess in the past, it would have felt like more of a fight.”

Does she have any aspirations to write or direct herself? She laughs. “I do think about, you know, doing other things. Right now, I’m not sure exactly what, but…” she tails off, laughing. The glint in her eye suggests she has something in the pipeline

After a six-month stint in Boston, where she was filming Defending Jacob, a harrowing miniseries about a family whose lives are torn apart after the death of a boy at their son’s school (“it’s not a comedy,” she notes wryly), she is very much enjoying being home in north London, where she lives close to her two sisters (Dockery is the youngest of three). “It’s a cozy time of year to be home,” she smiles, nursing a cup of tea. “It’s great catching up with friends and family – and, because I travel a lot for work, every time I come back to London, I appreciate it much more. Recently a friend came over from LA and we went to the Antony Gormley exhibition. It took my breath away.”

Can she walk around London fairly anonymously? “Yes, more so here than in America. But that’s the thing with our culture. Brits are too cool to approach you, but in America people have more confidence to come over and say something. It still takes me very much by surprise, but it goes in waves. When the Downton film came out, it peaked again.”

She laughs as she explains that she can never tell who’s going to be a Downton fan. “I got into a cab a little while ago, and the driver was this big, burly Guy Ritchie type. ‘Where you going, love?’ he said. And then it went a bit quiet. And then he was like, ‘You alright?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah,’ and told him about my day. And he suddenly went, ‘Shame about your sister in season 3.’ And I just laughed out loud. People really surprise me sometimes.”

Would she say she’s an introvert or an extrovert? “I’m an introvert.” Although not the stay-at-home type. “I do like to go out and dance. For me, it’s not a night out unless I’m on the dance floor. Every couple of months, I just need to dance; have one of those… dance-y nights.”

Her interest in fashion is modest rather than craven. “I love clothes but can be ignorant of certain designers. I like supporting young ones coming up.” She’s also what she calls “a coat girl”, with more coats than shoes. But her most cherished possession is a St Christopher necklace her mom gave her. “It comes everywhere with me. I’ve had it for 15 or 20 years.” She recently started donating her old clothes to Smart Works, a British charity of which the Duchess of Sussex is a patron, which helps unemployed women get back to work. “They’ve got all my skinny jeans.”

Our time being almost over, I finish with the question few subjects want to answer. Is she in love at the moment? She laughs and draws an imaginary zip across her mouth. The line of enquiry is especially sensitive as Dockery’s fiancé, Irishman John Dineen, passed away in 2015. She is now rumored to be dating Jasper Waller-Bridge, brother of the feted Phoebe, creator of Fleabag and Killing Eve. If this is true, perhaps we’ll see her in a comedy soon? “There are things on the back burner, but I can’t say,” she says. Then, in a quick flash of Lady Mary, she concludes with a polite, “Thank you so much. It’s been really lovely.”

The Gentlemen is released on January 1, 2020

#michelle dockery #porter magazine #the gentlemen #personal style #interviews

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theycallmebeccawrites · 6 years

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Chris & Ellie Series: Episode 10

With Tumblr holding my original writing blog @beccaheartschrisevans captive (aka flagged as explicit), I have made a secondary writing blog and may end up closing the other all together. In the meantime, I am reposting all of my stories on my new blog.

Pairing: Chris Evans x Ellie Spencer (OFC)

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: n/a

Episode Summary: This episode takes place in October 2013. Chris, Ellie and Scott go to Boston for the World Series.

Disclaimer: This work of fiction is not to be reposted, used or translated without my permission.

The Chris and Ellie series is primarily chronological. It begins with a flash forward to 2016 and has a few other scenes in the future. However, the majority of their story is told in chronological order starting in 2013 and going through 2017. Each episode starts with a date to help you place it within the story.

The Chris & Ellie Series Masterlist | Chris & Ellie Masterlist

Episode 9.5

Episode 10: Red Sox Win!

October 19, 2013

Ellie sat on the edge of the couch, biting her lower lip as she watched Game 6 of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) between the Red Sox and the Detroit Tigers. She, Chris and Scott had spent nearly every evening during the last two weeks in front of the TV watching the Red Sox advanced first through the American League Division Series (ALDS) and now through the ALCS. Tonight, however, it was just her and Chris as Scott had had a scheduling conflict.

The Sox were up 5 to 2 on the Tigers thanks to a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning. If they could hold onto the lead, they would advance to the World Series; if they couldn't, they'd be playing a seventh game tomorrow.

Chris sat quietly next to Ellie, his eyes focused on the TV just like hers. Both of their phones sat on the coffee table in front of them, each opened to a text message to Scott, who they had been taking turns updating on the game.

The eighth inning came and went in quick fashion, three up and three down for both teams. The Sox were just three outs away from going to the World Series. The top of the ninth started with two quick outs, but then one of the Detroit players got on base.

Full of nervous energy, Ellie let out a slow breath as the Detroit player took second base. She moved her hands from her lap and shook them out.

As she made to put her hands back in her lap, she felt Chris grab her left hand. He tucked it into his much larger hand and squeezed it. A shiver raced up Ellie's spine as her eyes moved away from the TV and to their hands. His hand was strong and warm, but the way he held hers was gentle and oddly comforting.

The sound of the ball hitting the bat met Ellie's ears and she yanked her eyes back to the TV.

"Foul ball," Chris breathed. "One strike away."

As they watched, the pitcher threw the ball and the batter swung, missing the ball entirely.

The roar of the Fenway Faithful echoing from the TV as Chris and Ellie both jumped up from their seats on the couch to celebrate after he let go of her hand.

"WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!" she exclaimed. She gave Chris a hug and then turned to grab Daisy by the face and planted a smooch on her dog's head.

"I should probably -" Chris stopped talking as they heard the front door slam close and quick footsteps above.

"I'M HERE! I'M HERE!" they heard Scott shout. He appeared on the steps a second later and cursed when he saw that the game had already ended. "Damnit. I ran for nothing."

"We're going to the World Series!" Ellie exclaimed. "I'd run for that and I hate running!"

"Can't say I blame you," Scott said and he held his hands out in front of his chest as if mimicking the size of her chest. "That must hurt."

Ellie flipped him off and threw a pillow at him. She made to lunge over the couch, but Chris grabbed her from behind.

"Let's celebrate together, shall we?" he chuckled. "Scott, grab us a couple beers, would you?"

"You can let go of me now," Ellie said half-heartedly. Truth was she didn't actually mind the fact that the Chris was holding on to her, his strong arms wrapped around her waist.

"Oh, right," he said. He let go of her and backed up slightly.

"I can't believe I fucking missed this game," Scott muttered as he brought over beers for them. "I am never promising to do something for someone during the postseason again." He twisted off the lid of his beer. "I missed a freaking grand slam. A grand slam!"

Chris twisted off the caps to his and Ellie's beers and then held his beer out. "To the Red Sox!" he toasted. "May they win the World Series!"

"To the Red Sox!" Ellie and Scott chorused. They carefully clanked their bottles before taking sips.

The three of them sat down on the couch and watched the clubhouse celebration and postgame interviews. In between that footage, the station showed the highlights from the game, which both pleased Scott and made him groan about how he'd missed the game.

As the footage shifted to the crowded streets around Fenway, Chris and Scott both sighed.

"Makes me wish we were in Boston right now," Scott muttered. "Remember 2004? We couldn't get tickets to the game so we went to a bar near the ballpark and watched it there?"

"You kept getting carded," Chris said with a chuckle. "He had just turned 21, like the month before. So he was super excited to flash his driver's license to anyone who asked for it."

Ellie let her eyes shift from one brother to the other. She knew it wouldn't be as fun if they went back to Boston while she stayed here, but it was their home. "Maybe you two should go back there," she suggested. "I'm sure your mom would love to see you."

"And miss watching the games with you?" Chris asked, looking at her.

"Not on your life," Scott finished for his brother. "Win or lose, you're stuck with us for the rest of the post season."

Four nights later, the trio once again sat on the couch, this time waiting for the start of Game 1 of the World Series featuring the Red Sox vs the St. Louis Cardinals. Thanks to the American League winning the All-Star Game, the Red Sox had home field advantage meaning that they got to host the first two games of the World Series. The next three games would take place in St. Louis. Since it was a best of seven games series, it would return to Boston, if needed, for games six and seven.

With all of Boston behind them, the Red Sox pulled to an early lead, scoring three runs in the first inning and two more in the second. Four scoreless innings for both teams followed the early scores and it wasn't until the bottom of the seventh that the Red Sox added to their lead with David "Big Papi" Ortiz hitting a two run home run. They scored one more run in the bottom of the eighth to take an 8 to 0 lead going into the ninth inning. The Cardinals managed to get a run in the ninth, but it was too little too late.

Game 2, the night after the big win, and Game 3, a couple nights later, were both losses for the Red Sox. In Game 2, they lost 4 to 2, unable to score after the Cardinals put three runs on the board in the seventh inning. After a day for travel, Game 3 took place in St. Louis and the Red Sox managed to tie the game up in the eighth inning, only to have the Cardinals win it in the ninth.

With the Cardinals up in the series two games to one, the Red Sox had to win at least the next three games to win the World Series. If they lost one game, they'd have to take the series to Game 7 to try win. If they lost two games, it would all be over for them and the Cardinals would win the World Series.

They won Game 4 with a score of 4 to 2, managing to get their runs early and keep the Cardinals from scoring. They took the series lead three games to two, the next night, after beating St. Louis 3 to 1.

It was during Game 5 that Chris brought up the idea of them going to Boston for Game 6.

"Do you think you can get the time off from the bookstore?" he asked Ellie.

"Wait, you're inviting me to go with you guys?" she asked.

"Of course!" Scott laughed. "Did you really think we'd leave you here by yourself?"

"Can you still get tickets for the game?" she asked.

"I'm trying," Chris told her. "But even if we can't, we'd still be in Boston and could be part of the celebration."

"Then yes, I'd love to go!" Ellie nodded her head. "When do we leave?"

"Tomorrow," Chris told her. "I'll go buy the tickets."

Less than twenty four hours later, Ellie sat next to Scott with Chris across the aisle from them as their plane landed in Boston. They'd flown in First Class and she had enjoyed all the free perks that had been offered to her, much to the brothers' amusement.

"Mom is picking us up," Chris told her as they made their way through the airport thirty minutes later. They had all packed in carry-on bags; her because she was only there for a couple days, and the brothers because they kept clothes at their mom's house. "Normally we'd grab a taxi, but mom insisted on picking us up."

"Obviously she loves you more than she loves us," Scott chuckled.

"I told her I'd bring her some new romance novels," Ellie shrugged then with a smirk added. "Extra steamy ones, too."

The brothers made sounds of disgust as they made their way out to the pickup area.

"That was just mean," Scott muttered.

"I thought you two had relationships with your mom where you could talk about anything," Ellie said, sweetly. "She doesn't tell you about what she reads?"

"If it's anything like the trashy novels you leave lying around the house, I don't want to know," Chris muttered.

"I see mom," Scott announced.

Ellie waited until Scott was out of earshot before she muttered, "Funny how those books always end up disappearing for a day or two and then reappearing in the strangest places."

Chris's face flushed slightly and he put his hand on the small of Ellie's back to guide her to his mom's minivan. Scott had already claimed the front seat by the time they got there, so Chris helped Ellie into the van then loaded their suitcases in the back. He closed the back and then climbed into the open sliding door.

"Hi mom," he greeted as he closed the door and then put his seatbelt on.

"I was just telling Scott and Ellie that I am so excited the three of you are here," Lisa beamed at him from the front seat.

While Chris, Scott and Lisa chatted, Ellie watched out the window as they made their way to the town they lived in. She'd never been to the East Coast before, but had always dreamed about it.

"Oh, I nearly forgot, Chris, you had a delivery this morning," Lisa told him. "It was from the Red Sox's front office." The others in the van stopped breathing waiting to find out where she was going with this. "As you know, you've given me permission to open such things for you while you're out of Boston."

"Mom!" Scott whined. "Just tell us already!"

"Oh, you do ruin all my fun," she said, shaking her head. "They've provided you with three passes for tomorrow's game."

"Oh my god!" Ellie gasped, slapping her hands over her mouth.

"Breathe," Chris chuckled from next to her.

"I'm going to Fenway Park," she whispered, constantly reminding herself to breathe. "I'm going to see the Red Sox play." She breathed. "And they're going to win the World Series and I'm going to be there."

"Yes you are," Chris smiled. "And Scott and I will make sure one of us catches you if you pass out."

A short time later, they arrived at the Evans' family home and it was everything that Ellie had imagined it would be: warm, welcoming and the perfect place to grow up. It reminded her of the house she'd grown up in and it made her feel a little homesick.

"I just realized I didn't tell anyone other than work that I was going to Boston," she said after Chris and showed her to the guest room. "I should probably call my parents at least. Maybe my cousin Phoenix, too."

"Go right ahead," Chris told her. "I'll be in the kitchen helping ma get dinner ready." Ellie quirked an eyebrow at his words. "Ok, so I'll be in the kitchen keeping the kids out of ma's hair while she gets dinner ready."

"That's what I thought," Ellie laughed.

After he left the room, Ellie called her mom and told her where she was. Her mom was excited for her, but reminded her to be cautious at the same time. They talked for a few more minutes before Ellie hung up and called Phoenix. Her cousin was thrilled that she'd gone away with Chris for the weekend, even if his entire family was there too, and encouraged her to take advantage of the fact that they were someplace new.

Once she'd finished her phone calls, Ellie ventured out into the heart of the house and found Chris holding his niece in one arm while having a sword fight, using empty paper towel rolls as their weapons, with his nephews. The sight made her laugh, but also made her heart tighten a little bit. He looked so at home with his niece and nephews.

Dinner was a loud affair with all ten of them around the large dining room table; another thing that reminded Ellie of home. Instead of feeling homesick, however, she found herself enjoying it. The four Evans siblings teased each other lovingly with the brothers even pulling their brother-in-law into the mix with a couple well timed jokes. He dished it right back at them and soon they were all laughing again.

By the time dinner was done, Ellie was struggling to stay awake. They'd gotten up early for their flight and the jet lag was catching up to her. She said her goodnights to the others then made her way back to the guest room. She showered and then got into bed and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

She slept in until ten the next morning and woke up feeling refreshed. She got dressed and then ventured into the main part of the house, finding it nearly empty as the kids had gone to school and daycare while Chris's sisters, brother-in-law and mom had gone to work. She found Chris and Scott in the living room reading.

"We were wondering when you were going to get up," Chris smiled at her.

"I was going to wake you up two hours ago, but he wouldn't let me," Scott told her.

"Mom thought you might like to go see some Boston sights before the game," Chris told her.

"I'd love to," Ellie nodded.

"Did you bring a heavier jacket than the one you wore yesterday?" Chris asked.

"It's my heaviest jacket that I had in LA," Ellie stated.

"That's what mom figured," Chris said. "She left a jacket out for you to wear today."

A couple hours later, Ellie found herself being guided around Boston with the Evans' brothers as her guide. She quickly caught on to the fact that their knowledge of history was a bit iffy and that she couldn't believe half of what came out of their mouths. Nevertheless, they kept her entertained as they led her through the Boston Commons.

When they came upon the finish line for the Boston Marathon on Boylston Street, they joined a few others that had come to pay their respects to those who had been killed and injured in the bombing earlier that year.

With a few hours to go before the gates opened at the ballpark, the brothers lead Ellie to the small coffee shop their aunt owned. Not wanting to cause a scene in the front of the store, they cut through the alley behind the shop and knocked on the backdoor. Their aunt must have been aware they were stopping by, because she greeted them with hugs and then motioned them up the back stairs to apartment she lived in.

Upon arriving into the small second floor apartment, they found a small tray of goodies and a thermos of coffee waiting for them. They each ate one of the treats before finding a place to lay down for a quick nap. Scott claimed the bed while Ellie took the sofa and Chris stretched out on the floor.

They slept for nearly an hour and a half before the alarm on Chris's phone went off. They took turns filling paper to go cups with the coffee their aunt had provided and then helped themselves to a couple treats before they said their goodbyes and thank yous.

Yawkey Way was already bustling with activity when they arrived at the ballpark and they joined the masses that had already gathered there. They got in line for some food and drinks then found a vacant space to eat while they listened to the live music and people watched.

After they finished eating, they followed the steady stream of people into the ballpark and made their way to their seats on one of the upper levels. Ellie kept her eyes open wide as she took in the sights, sounds and smells of the ballpark and the brothers ended up sandwiching her between them to keep her from getting lost in the crowd, Chris leading the way while Scott brought up the rear.

A Fenway Park guide lead them to the suite and Ellie was shocked when she realized it was the Owner's Suite. She plastered a smile on her face as she was introduced to more people than she knew she could remember the names of. Several of them asked how she'd become a Red Sox fan and she shared the short version. The fifth time it happened, Chris took pity on her and explained that it was her first time at Fenway Park and that she had been dying to go out and see the park.

He and Scott led her through the crowded suite and out to the outdoor seats. Ellie felt tears pool in the corners of her eyes as she looked out at Fenway Park. It was everything she imagined it would be and more. She could feel the history of the place and the nervous excitement that was building as the fans filed in.

As the game started, Chris, Ellie and Scott grabbed seats outside and settled in. It was a crisp 49 degrees Fahrenheit as the game got underway and they kept warm by clutching hot cups of coffee. The first two innings didn't give them much to celebrate, but the Red Sox scored three runs in the bottom of third and the ballpark was rocking.

The energy in the ballpark was sizzling just an inning later when the Sox scored three more runs to lead the Cardinals 6 to 0 going into the fifth. It wasn't until the seventh inning that St. Louis managed to get on the board.

Chris, Scott and Ellie sang along loudly with the rest of Fenway as "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" played over the loudspeakers during the seventh inning stretch. They sang again during the break in the eighth inning as all of Fenway broke into "Sweet Caroline."

As the ninth inning got underway, the Fenway Faithful were on their feet cheering their "Band of Bearded Brothers" on. The first two batters hit fly balls to left field, but both were caught. The Cardinals' final batter struck out swinging.

The crowd erupted as the final out was made and the game ended with the Red Sox winning the World Series; their third in nine years.

Chris, Ellie and Scott cheered along with them, tears running down their faces. Ellie gave Scott a big hug and then turned to give Chris a hug. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up, so her feet were off the ground.

Ellie stared into the face of the man who had become one of her best friends and let her eyes linger on his lips for a moment before she flicked them up to his eyes.

Chris licked his lips and then leaned in, letting his lips brush hers gently. He started to pull away, but she pressed her lips back against his. He lowered her feet back to the ground, so she could support herself, and then he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue in between her lips.

Episode 11

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#chris evans #theycallmebecca #beccaheartschrisevans #theycallmebeccawrites #chris evans fanfic #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans fan fiction #chris and ellie series #chris and ellie #chris evans x ofc #chris evans x original female character

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phroyd · 5 years

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We lost one of the Great Film Makers yesterday. Her soul will live on In Cinema! Rest In Peace, Agnes! - Phroyd

Agnès Varda, a groundbreaking French filmmaker who was closely associated with the New Wave — although her reimagining of filmmaking conventions actually predated the work of Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut and others identified with that movement — died on Friday morning at her home in Paris. She was 90.

Her death, from breast cancer, was confirmed by a spokeswoman for her production company, Ciné-Tamaris.

In recent years, Ms. Varda had focused her directorial skills on nonfiction work that used her life and career as a foundation for philosophical ruminations and visual playfulness. “The Gleaners and I,” a 2000 documentary in which she used the themes of collecting, harvesting and recycling to reflect on her own work, is considered by some to be her masterpiece.

But it was not her last film to receive widespread acclaim. In 2017, at the age of 89, Ms. Varda partnered with the French photographer and muralist known as JR on “Faces Places,” a road movie that featured the two of them roaming rural France, meeting the locals, celebrating them with enormous portraits and forming their own fast friendship. Among its many honors was an Academy Award nomination for best documentary feature. (It did not win, but that year Ms. Varda was given an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement.)

It was her early dramatic films that helped establish Ms. Varda as both an emblematic feminist and a cinematic firebrand — among them “Cléo From 5 to 7” (1962), in which a pop singer spends a fretful two hours awaiting the result of a cancer examination, and “Le Bonheur” (1965), about a young husband’s blithely choreographed extramarital affair.

Ms. Varda established herself as a maverick cineaste well before such milestones of the New Wave as Mr. Truffaut’s “The 400 Blows” (1959) and Mr. Godard’s “Breathless” (1960). Her “La Pointe Courte” (1955), which juxtaposed the strife of an unhappy couple with the struggles of a French fishing village, anticipated by several years the narrative and visual rule-breaking of directors like Mr. Truffaut, Mr. Godard and Alain Resnais, who edited “La Pointe Courte” and would introduce Ms. Varda to a number of the New Wave principals in Paris.

These included Mr. Truffaut, Mr. Godard, Claude Chabrol and Éric Rohmer, all of whom had gotten their start at the critic André Bazin’s magazine Cahiers du Cinema, and who became known as the Right Bank group. The more politicized and liberal Left Bank group would come to include Mr. Resnais, Chris Marker and Ms. Varda herself.

Arlette Varda was born on May 30, 1928, in Ixelles, Belgium, the daughter of a Greek father and a French mother. She left Belgium with her family in 1940 for Sète, France, where she spent her teenage years. At 18, she changed her name to Agnès.

She studied art history at the École du Louvre and photography at the École des Beaux-Arts before working as a photographer at the Théâtre National Populaire in Paris.

“I just didn’t see films when I was young,” she said in a 2009 interview. “I was stupid and naïve. Maybe I wouldn’t have made films if I had seen lots of others; maybe it would have stopped me.

“I started totally free and crazy and innocent,” she continued. “Now I’ve seen many films, and many beautiful films. And I try to keep a certain level of quality of my films. I don’t do commercials, I don’t do films pre-prepared by other people, I don’t do star system. So I do my own little thing.”

Her “thing” often involved straddling the line between what was commonly accepted as fiction and nonfiction, and defying the boundaries of gender.

“She was very clear about her feeling that the New Wave was a man’s club and that as a woman it was hard for producers to back her, even after she made ‘Cléo’ in 1962,” T. Jefferson Kline, a professor of French at Boston University and the editor of “Agnès Varda: Interviews” (2013), said in an interview for this obituary. “She obviously was not pleased that as a woman filmmaker she had so much trouble getting produced. She went to Los Angeles with her husband, and she said when she came back to France it was like she didn’t exist.”

Ms. Varda was married to the director Jacques Demy (“Lola,” “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”) from 1962 until his death in 1990. From 1968 to 1970 they lived in Hollywood, where Mr. Demy made “Model Shop” for Columbia Pictures and Ms. Varda made “Lions Love,” which married a meditative late-’60s Los Angeles aesthetic to the New York counterculture. (The cast included the Warhol “superstar” Viva; Gerome Ragni and James Rado, the writers of the book for the musical “Hair”; and the underground filmmaker Shirley Clarke.) During that same period, she shot the short documentary “Black Panthers” (1968), which included an interview with the incarcerated Panther leader Huey Newton; commissioned by French television, it was suppressed at the time.

It was also during that period that she befriended Jim Morrison, the frontman of the Doors, who visited her and Mr. Demy in France; according to Stephen Davis’s “Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend” (2004), she was one of only five mourners at Mr. Morrison’s funeral in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris in 1971. That same year she became one of the 343 women to sign the “Manifesto of the 343,” a French petition acknowledging that they had had abortions and thus making themselves vulnerable to prosecution.

In 1972, the birth of her son, Mathieu Demy, now an actor, prompted Ms. Varda to sideline her career. He survives her, as does the costume designer Rosalie Varda Demy, Ms. Varda’s daughter from a previous relationship, who was adopted by Jacques Demy.

“Despite my joy,” Ms. Varda told the actress Mireille Amiel in a 1975 interview, “I couldn’t help resenting the brakes put on my work and my travels.” So she had an electric line of about 300 feet for her camera and microphone run from her house, and with this “umbilical cord” she managed to interview the shopkeepers and her other neighbors on the Rue Daguerre. The result was “Daguerréotypes” (1976).

In 1977 she made what she called her “feminist musical,” and one of her better-known films, “One Sings, the Other Doesn’t,” which also seemed inspired by personal circumstance.

“It’s the story of two 15-year-old girls, their lives and their ideas,” she told Ms. Amiel. “They have to face this key problem: Do they want to have children or not? They each fall in love and encounter the contradictions — work/image, ideas/love, etc.”

One of Ms. Varda’s more controversial films, because of its casting, was “Kung-Fu Master!” (1988), a fictional work about an adult woman — played by the actress Jane Birkin, a friend of Ms. Varda’s — who falls in love with a teenage boy, played by Ms. Varda’s son. The title — it was changed in France to “Le Petit Amour” — referred to the young character’s favorite arcade game. The film was shot more or less simultaneously with “Jane B. par Agnes V.,” another of Ms. Varda’s border crossings between fact and fiction, which she called “an imaginary biopic.”

After Jacques Demy’s death, Ms. Varda made three films as a tribute: the biographical drama “Jacquot de Nantes” (1991) and the documentaries “Les Demoiselles Ont Eu 25 Ans” (1993), about the 25th anniversary of Mr. Demy’s “The Young Girls of Rochefort,” and “L’Univers de Jacques Demy” (1995).

Ms. Varda was then relatively inactive until 1999, when, armed for the first time with a digital camera, she set about making “Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse” (“The Gleaners and I”), which resurrected an artistic career now well accustomed to under appreciation and resuscitation.

“She was a person of immense talent, but also enormously thoughtful,” said Mr. Kline of Boston University. “When you look at some of the films you might think they were more spontaneous than thought out. A film like ‘Cléo,’ for instance, you might have said, ‘O.K., she just follows Cléo around Paris,’ but the film is extremely beautifully imagined and thought out beforehand.”

In “Vagabond,” an 1985 film in which Sandrine Bonnaire plays a woman who is found dead and whose life is recounted, often in documentary style, “the traveling shots in the film are always ending, and each subsequent shot beginning, on a common visual cue,” Mr. Kline said. “It makes you look at film in a completely different way.”

Alison Smith, author of the critical study “Agnès Varda” (1998), called Ms. Varda “a poet of objects and how we use them.” In an interview for this obituary, she added, “Varda as an artist intrigued, and intrigues, me by the constant freshness and curiosity which she brings to her inquiries into the everyday world and how we relate to it, particularly how she uses the detailed fabric of life.”

Richard Peña, who as director of the New York Film Festival helped introduce “Gleaners” to an American audience, praised that film and Ms. Varda’s “The Beaches of Agnès” (2008) as “touchstones for a new generation of nonfiction filmmakers.”

Ms. Varda is represented at the Museum of Modern Art by photographs, films, videos and a three-screen installation titled “The Triptych of Noirmoutier.” “A decision to change direction and move into installation art when over 80 is, by any standards, remarkable,” Ms. Smith said. “But her energy was awe-inspiring.”

Phroyd

#france #agnes varda #rip

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samlevi-rp · 2 years

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Samantha Levi Timeline

1992; Age 0

July 20th – Samantha Renee Levi is born in Palo Alto, California to Nathaniel and Daisy Levi. Sam becomes the couple’s second child as they had a son in 1989 named Ezra Levi.

1995; Age 3

September – Noah Levi is born in Palo Alto, California.

2000; Age 8

March – Lilah Levi is born in Palo Alto, California.

2004; Age 12

July – Sam has her bat mitzvah.

2007; Age 15

March – Sam starts dating a student of her school two years older than Sam, Leon Kennedy.

October – After a Halloween party, Sam’s best friend Erin King is visibly upset about something and later tells Sam and their friends that a classmate named Cassandra forcefully tried to kiss her. After the rumor spreads and the whole school finds out, Cassandra starts getting bullied and casted out.

2009; Age 17

October - While out with Erin, the two find Cassandra in a car kissing a girl. Erin at first seems visibly upset but later she pulls out her phone and tells Sam that they should film her just to prove that she was telling the truth all along. Samantha hesitates but ultimately follows along what Erin said. Later at Erin’s, her friend suggests uploading the video online just to prank Cassandra and push her into admit what she had done to Erin (even though everyone at school already believed her), Sam pushes against the idea saying that it might be too much and doesn’t see a point on exposing her private life about something that happened two years ago but Erin and all their friends (including Sam’s boyfriend) ends up convincing her to not say anything and then Erin proceeds to upload the video.

November – Unable to handle all the teasing and cruel jokes, Cassandra commits suicide. Feeling guilty, Samantha tries to talk her friends into coming forward and apologize to the family for what happened as the school is already trying to find the source to whoever leaked the video. All of Sam’s friends panic saying that it’ll ruin their futures and that ultimately neither of them is fully at fault for Cassandra’s death. Feeling overwhelmed and pressured, Sam stays quiet.

2010; Age 18

February – Sam gets accepted into the MIT to Study Architecture.

May – Sam graduates from High School.

July – Feeling their relationship changed ever since November, Samantha breaks up with Leon as their relationship and the relationship with her friends has been decaying ever since Cassandra’s suicide.

August – Samantha moves to Cambridge, MA.

2012; Age 20

September – Samantha starts dating Joel Taylor.

2014; Age 22

May – Sam graduates from the MIT and starts working for an architecture firm in Boston.

August – Sam and her boss are assigned to oversee a couple of projects in Chicago. Sam travels back and forth for the rest of the year.

2015 Age 23

February – Sam is offered to transfer to Chicago in opportunity to take her boss’s projects on her own, she moves the following month. July – As distance puts a strain on the relationship, Joel and Sam break up as they feel their lives as taking very different paths.

2017; Age 25

March – Sam meets John Fields, an NFL player for the New England Patriots who’s visiting town. John asks Sam out but the woman declines. A couple of days later the two bumps into each other again, this time John asks for her number just to talk and finally Sam agrees. The two began talking through calls or texts every other day for months.

October – As she is visiting Boston for a few days for a friend’s wedding, John and Sam see each other again finally she agrees to go out with him. By the end of the trip, John convinces Sam to date him officially despite distance.

2019; Age 27

January – Sam gets an interview for W+ Structures Group in New York City and it’s hired to take part in a new project Wolf’s Enterprises to renew their company and all its branches.

February – Sam moves to New York.

2020; Age 28

January – Sam has a meeting with Thomas Wolf in which he explains the next step for W+ Structures in the West Coast and the plan to switch to a more eco-friendly/sustainable approach, he mentions his desire for her to move over there and also get a master’s degree related in the field so she has more tools to take on the task. Sam agrees and begins research for Master degree programs.

July – After a lot of planning, Sam gets into a program to get a Master Degree in Environmental Architecture and Design in a top University in Utopia, California which will also base the headquarters for the West Coast Region. She moves there and starts school in the Fall.

October – John begins to question Sam’s decision to move to California as they are further away and it gets more difficult for them to see each other. After a lot of fighting they decide to try and make it work.

2021; Age 29

February – Realizing how toxic the relationship is turning with all the fighting and back and forth, Sam and John decide to break up.

#SamanthaLeviTimeline

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naijastudio · 3 years

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Kenny Anderson Biography, Achievements, Award& Net Worth

Kenny Anderson is a former basketball player. The athlete spends his career in the National Basketball Association. Anderson played for several clubs. He played as point guard professionally from 1991 to 2006 for New Jersey Nets and Boston Celtics. Kenny is known for his playing style. The athlete was an essential part of his college and school team. The ethnicity of the player is black. The player awarded several prizes during his career in NBA. Kenny Anderson Wiki Fact Celebrated Name: Kenny Anderson Real Name/Full Name: Kenneth Anderson Gender: Male Age: 51 years old Birth Date: October 09, 1970 Birth Place: Queens, New York, United States Nationality: American Height: 6 ft 0 in Weight: 76kg Sexual Orientation: Straight Marital Status: Married Wife/Spouse (Name): Natasha Anderson (m. 2007), Tamiyka Lockhart (m. 2002–2004), Tami Roman (m. 1994–2001) Children/Kids (Son and Daughter): Yes (Lyric Anderson, Kenny Anderson Jr, and Jazz Anderson) Dating/Girlfriend (Name): N/A Is Kenny Anderson Gay?: No Profession: Basketball Player Salary: No Net Worth $1 Million Maybe you know about Kenny Anderson very well, but do you know how old and tall is he and what is his net worth in 2021? If you do not know, we have prepared this article about details of Kenny Anderson’s short biography-wiki, career, professional life, personal life, today’s net worth, age, height, weight, and more facts. Well, if you’re ready, let’s start. Early Life & Biography Kenny Anderson was born on October 09, 1970, in Queens, New York, United States. The mother of the player is Joan Anderson. He raised by his mother alone. He has two sisters named Sandra and Danielle. The player raised in a low-income family. The mother of Kenny always inspired him to make a career in Basketball. In 2005, Kenny’s mother died due to a heart attack. Anderson published on the front page of the New York Sports Section at age 14. He studied from high school in LeFrak City, Queens. The player attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, Queens, United States. High school considered the best school for Basketball. At the end of a school career, he became the first player to named All-City Four Times and four-times Parade ALL American. The athlete received several other awards like McDonald’s All-American, New York State Mr. Basketball by New York State Coaches Organization Association, and USA Today. Kenny was called no-1 player in the United States. In November 1988, he signed a letter of intent at Georgia Tech. The player received an offer from North Carolina, Duke, and Syracuse, but selected Yellow Jackets. In Yellow Jackets, he was the point guard for two years. He, along with Dennis Scott and Brian Oliver, helped the team to get in Final Four 1990. The nickname of his trio was Lethal Weapon 3. Anderson team Georgia tech was at no 8 In 1991 NCAA tournament. The player announced his eligibility to enter in NBA draft. Personal Life The player is the father of eight children. The first time he became the father of a daughter when he was studying and playing at Georgia tech. Kenny was in-relationship with Salt-n-Pepa member Dee Dee Roper. Kenny and Dee have a daughter together. Anderson first time married to Tami Roman. She also appeared in show Basketball Wives. The couple divorced after some time and have two daughters together. In 1998, he met Tamiyka R Lockhart in West Los Angeles while they are going through a divorce. After some, the tied knot with each other and divorced in 2004. They have a son named Kenny Anderson Jr. In 2007, Kenny married the third time to Natasha. They met during the 2004 NBA playoffs. The couple together has a son and daughter. In 2005, the player filled for bankruptcy despite earning $63 million. The athlete revealed in an interview that he sexually abused in childhood. Anderson suffered from a stroke during February 2019. Age, Height, and Weight Being born on October 09 1970, Kenny Anderson is 51 years old as of today’s date 22nd October 2021. His height is 6 ft 0 in tall, and his weight is 76 kg. Career In the 1991 NBA Draft, he was selected by the New Jersey Nets on the second pick. The player became the youngest player in the league. In his rookie year, he scored seven points, two rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. The athlete doubles his point in the second season. Kenny averaged 18.8 points and 9.6 assists in the third season. The player included in the NBA All-Star Game with teammate Derrick Coleman. In 1996, the player traded to Charlotte Hornets with Gerald Glass. The athlete signed to Portland Trail Blazer in 1996. The player later traded to Boston Celtics. Kenny spends lots of time with the Celtic and then sent to Seattle Supersonics. Anderson played as the point guard for the Indian Pacers, Atlanta Hawks, and Los Angeles Clippers. During the 2005-06 season, he released from Lithonia’s Zalgiris Kaunas and his career as a basketball player end at that time. Awards & Achievements The player inducted into New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 September. Net Worth & Salary of Kenny Anderson in 2021 Kenny Anderson Net Worth As of October 2021, The net worth of Kenny Anderson is $1 million. The player suffered from serious money issues. He earned more than $60 million from salary. He was fully broke after retirement. After retirement, he became the coach of the Continental Basketball Association. He played the match in North Korea. The athlete appeared on several TV shows. In 2018, the player hired by head basketball coach for Fish University. Kenny Anderson is working on his income. The player comes from a low-income family background. He created his name in Basketball. Read the full article

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Can Salem’s Lot and Firestarter Reignite Stephen King at the Box Office?

https://ift.tt/2S0a65g

It was almost exactly four years ago when It: Chapter One (as it came to be called), the first of two movies based on Stephen King’s classic 1986 novel, opened in theaters to a record-shattering $124 million in its first weekend. Adjusted for inflation, the film went on to become the highest grossing horror movie (and King adaptation) of all time, earning $701 million worldwide. Not even the vampires of ‘Salem’s Lot multiplied at that rate!

It’s explosive and unprecedented opening coincided (and perhaps helped drive) a new wave of Stephen King adaptations, both as movies and TV productions, and new generations of filmmakers and hungry-for-content streaming services eagerly tapped into the author’s vast collection of works.

As of last year, some 25 projects based on King novels, novellas, or short stories were said to be in development, but of all those, only three—all limited television series—have made it to their respective streaming platforms. Still, there are two movies entering production as of right now: Firestarter, which began filming earlier this year, and ‘Salem’s Lot, which goes in front of the cameras this month.

Both stories have been adapted before—twice in the case of ‘Salem’s Lot—but never satisfyingly, and both a long time ago. The novels themselves were King’s second and sixth books to be published and are part of the classic first 10 or so works that turned King into a phenomenon (that initial run arguably stretches from Carrie to Pet Sematary, more or less).

Nevertheless, following the release of It, several more King-based movies came out—and all underperformed.

It: Chapter Two, which arrived two years after its predecessor in 2019, earned $473 million worldwide. Which is a handsome sum, to be sure; but it’s also nearly 35 percent below Chapter One. Meanwhile a heavily promoted remake of Pet Sematary, issued in April 2019, stalled at a mere $113 million worldwide (even if its tight $21 million budget made it profitable enough). And Doctor Sleep, a clever and powerful adaptation from director Mike Flanagan of King’s The Shining sequel, was a complete bust, topping off at just $72 million globally.

While it’s harder to judge and quantify how several King-based TV or streaming projects did, it’s reasonable to conclude that two recent limited series, CBS All Access’s The Stand and Apple TV+’s Lisey’s Story, came and went without making much of a dent in the pop culture conversation (although HBO’s limited series based on The Outsider caused a brief stir).

So what happened? Was It’s iconic Pennywise the Dancing Clown ingrained enough in the public consciousness to warrant the first movie’s massive success, without that necessarily signaling a wholesale embrace of more Stephen King material on the big screen?

‘Salem’s Lot and Firestarter may be able to answer that question for certain. The former in particular is considered one of King’s all-time masterpieces and was often cited for years by the author himself as his favorite of his early novels.

Set in the small, rural Maine town of Jerusalem’s Lot, the story follows a writer named Ben Mears who comes back to the Lot where he spent several years as a child seeking inspiration for a new book. He gets much more than he bargained for when it turns out that another new resident in town is actually an ancient vampire—and is turning the entire community into his own flock of the undead.

What was so stunning about ‘Salem’s Lot at the time of its publication (the hardcover arrived in 1975) was King’s deft combination of the vampire mythology with the inner workings of a small yet instantly recognizable 20th century American hamlet.

The Lot, its inhabitants, and all their affairs, secrets, scandals, and everyday workings were so vividly rendered that the intrusion of a monster as stereotypical in its way as a vampire (America at the time was still transfixed by demonic possession in the wake of The Exorcist) was realistic and terrifying.

The vampires that eventually overrun the Lot and turn it into a literal village of the dead—led by the magisterial yet barely seen Kurt Barlow—were truly frightening as well; no sparkly Twilight types or tormented hunks a la Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (published a couple of years later) here.

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They were monsters that stank of the grave yet still possessed enough of their old memories and a vicious cunning to make them formidable enemies for the book’s quickly dwindling band of heroes. King drew inspiration from Bram Stoker’s literary version of Dracula, but actually took the concept to the apocalyptic endpoint that the Victorian author only hinted at.

‘Salem’s Lot was adapted twice, in 1979 and 2004, both times as two-part, four-hour (with commercials) limited series for CBS and TNT, respectively. The first was directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and starred David Soul as Ben Mears, with James Mason also top-billed as Barlow’s human assistant/familiar, Straker.

While suffering from the constraints of TV at the time, both in terms of budget and what could be shown, the 1979 version works more often than not. It does combine or eliminate a number of characters, and most controversially changed Barlow from a Christopher Lee-like nobleman to a non-speaking creature resembling Nosferatu’s Count Orlok, shifting the primary villainy to Mason’s Straker.

But Mason himself is quite sinister and very good, as is Soul as the brooding Mears and several other actors. There are also several scenes involving the vampires themselves that are pretty eerie for the time when considering, again, this was a CBS-TV prime time miniseries.

The 2004 version, directed by Mikael Salomon, starred Rob Lowe as Mears, Donald Sutherland as Straker, and Rutger Hauer as a more faithful version of Barlow. The miniseries also restored other characters that had been cut or minimized in the 1979 version and stuck to the same basic narrative while creating a different framing story from either King’s book or the earlier adaptation.

But Lowe isn’t nearly as effective as Soul in the pivotal role of Mears, and both the cast and show overall—despite the names mentioned above and others like James Cromwell—come off as bland. There are moments from the book that are welcome and a few gripping sequences, but this version of the story never ratchets up the intensity to a satisfying degree.

The new feature film, which is now filming in Boston (‘Salem’s Lot at last films in New England, where it’s set, as opposed to California and Australia), has been penned and is being directed by Gary Dauberman, who co-wrote both part of It and has written four of the movies in producer James Wan’s Conjuring-verse (Dauberman also directed the underrated Annabelle Comes Home).

A tremendous King fan, Dauberman told us back in 2019 that his goal was to make vampires on the big screen truly horrific again.

“We haven’t seen that in a really long time and they should be terrifying, and the novel’s terrifying, and it’s fucking great to work on,” Dauberman said. “I can’t wait to bring it to the big screen, we’ve seen it on the smaller screen and it’s going to be awesome on the big screen.”

Whether Dauberman can make King’s 400-plus page novel and all its subplots work as a feature film, even a lengthy one, instead of a more roomy limited series will be an interesting trick to pull off. Some cast members, including Lewis Pullman as Ben Mears, Makenzie Leigh as his love interest Susan Norton, Bill Camp as local teacher Matt Burke, and Alfre Woodard as Dr. Cody, have been announced already, but don’t provide any sense of where the film is headed yet.

As for Firestarter, the book was published in 1981 and warmly received at the time. King was at his early peak of commercial success and readers were eager to devour his next offering. Even so, that tale has probably not retained the same resonance as ‘Salem’s Lot. As the story of a little girl who can start fires with her mind (the result of drug experiments on her parents by a secret government agency), the book was King’s first overt science fiction novel and reads more as a tech chase thriller than his previous supernatural work.

The 1984 film version directed by Mark L. Lester (Class of 1984) featured an extremely faithful screenplay; with a smaller group of characters and its more streamlined, structured narrative, Firestarter is perhaps more adaptable and linear than a vast tapestry of people and incidents like ‘Salem’s Lot. But the film was directed in such workmanlike fashion that the script never comes to life.

The cast is problematic too. Following her breakout in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Drew Barrymore seemed like a no-brainer for the title role of little Charlie McGee. But Barrymore—apparently conscious that she was an “actor”—is overwrought and histrionic, becoming more annoying than sympathetic. David Keith is okay as her father, while Art Carney and Louise Fletcher probably come off best as an elderly couple who help the McGees at a critical moment.

The most egregious casting is that of George C. Scott as John Rainbird, the shamanic Native American assassin who forms an unsettling bond with Charlie once she and her dad are recaptured by the agency known only as the Shop. Aside from the fact that casting Scott as a Native American is ridiculous enough, the relationship just doesn’t work on screen—Rainbird’s fascination with Charlie as an avatar of his own death in the novel just comes off as creepily bordering on child predation in the movie.

It will be interesting to see how producer Jason Blum, director Keith Thomas (The Vigil), and screenwriter Scott Teems (Halloween Kills) handle that relationship in their upcoming remake, but at least they’ve actually hired a First Nation actor, Michael Greyeyes, as Rainbird. Zac Efron is also a solid choice for Andy McGee while Ryan Kiera Armstrong (The Tomorrow War) has won the role of Charlie.

Of the two adaptations, Firestarter is clearly the easier to translate to the screen. Both titles carry instant name recognition for King fans and the general public, but it’s ‘Salem’s Lot that has perhaps the greater pull overall. Plus we’ve seen lots of kids, teens, and tweens with psychic powers on screen over the past few years; when was the last time you saw a truly scary vampire movie?

Neither film has a release date yet; Firestarter is in post-production while filming on ‘Salem’s Lot is just beginning. In the meantime, King himself, showing no signs of slowing down as he approaches his 74th birthday, continues to churn out books and stories which studios and production companies will no doubt continue to snap up. All they need now are audiences to turn up and prove that, unlike Pennywise in It, it won’t take another 27 years for King’s name to mean box office gold again.

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OK, March 8

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Bruce Springsteen

Page 1: Big Pic -- as part of Coach's latest campaign Jennifer Lopez posed with a supersized pink version of their new Pillow Tabby purse

Page 2: Contents

Page 3: Contents

Page 4: Chris Harrison gone for good? The Bachelor host's future with the show remains uncertain after his controversial interview with Rachel Lindsay

Page 6: Since the start of his career Justin Timberlake has endured his fair share of scandals but after welcoming his second son with wife Jessica Biel over the summer and celebrating his 40th birthday, he is confessing that he feels immense guilt about the past and he won't be making the same mistakes in the future -- Justin's done some soul-searching and accepts that he's wronged a lot of people over the years with his own terrible mistakes and he says he's still a work in progress, but step one has been to stand up and admit he's hurt too many women -- in addition to a boozy night out with his Palmer costar Alisha Wainwright in 2019 and his part in the now-infamous Nipplegate incident with Janet Jackson at the 2004 Super Bowl, Justin recently came under fire again due to the documentary Framing Britney Spears which showed him exploiting his breakup from Britney Spears to help his solo career -- Justin's learned from his mistakes and has a lot more sensitivity about the impact of his actions on other people and that's the big difference between the Justin of today and his old, immature self and that self-awareness was evident in an emotional statement that he posted apologizing to both Britney and Janet for the errors in his ways -- his words drew praise from his wife Jessica who says he's come a long way as a husband, a father and more importantly, a human being

Page 7: Wendy Williams is on the prowl for a new man and he's got to be husband material and she is ready for a serious commitment -- Wendy's been staying up until all hours of the night checking out guys online and on exclusive dating apps and she wants someone age-appropriate, fun, kind, independent and of course has no history of cheating -- she's feeling very optimistic and even buying new perfume and clothes and jewelry for all the dates she hopes to have once lockdown lifts

* Texas native Matthew McConaughey is seriously considering throwing his hat in the ring to become the state's next governor -- he's been putting out feelers to see if he's got sufficient support and if enough donors are willing to write checks, he'd mount an aggressive run in 2022 -- he's already gotten the thumbs-up from his wife Camila Alves and their three kids -- at this point, he needs to see an actual path to winning because he's not interested in just making a protest statement; don't be fooled by his aw-shucks attitude, Matthew means business

* Now that Keeping Up With the Kardashians is coming to an end, the hunt is on for a new family to replace the clan and one reality pro is poised to nab the prize: Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Lisa Rinna -- there's already been talk about Lisa picking up the torch and her family is camera ready, consisting of husband Harry Hamlin, and their daughters Delilah Hamlin who's dating Love Island's Eyal Booker and Amelia Hamlin who's dating Scott Disick

Page 8: Things keep going from bad to worse for Armie Hammer -- he was forced to drop out of his upcoming movie Shotgun Wedding with Jennifer Lopez after direct messages he allegedly sent to women in which he described himself as a cannibal and detailed disturbing sexual fantasies were leaked online -- Armie was also fired by his talent agency WME and now the disgraced star may get cut from his new film Next Goal Wins which has already been shot -- he's radioactive and everybody knows it and his completed but unreleased work is getting a second look as studios want to do damage control, and that includes another of his finished projects Death on the Nile where his part could end up on the cutting room floor -- he's a pariah now and it's hard to see how he's ever going to come back from this

* Jennifer Aniston has always had a spiritual side but these days she is taking things to a whole new plane -- Jen has surrounded herself with psychics and has been doing Goddess Circles with the same group of close friends for 30 years, but now she's taking courses to learn to heal herself and be her own guru -- BFF Courteney Cox has been a big influence and Jen's learned a lot from Courteney, who's had a long-term interest in mediums, astrologists and horoscopes, and she's trying to fuse it all together into her own brand of spirituality -- Jen's had a lot of time alone, which has only deepened her questions about the universe and how she can make the most of her life and she's determined to find the answers

* Princess Eugenie is over the moon after welcoming her first child, a baby boy with businessman husband Jack Brooksbank but now the new mom is torn about taking time out from her royal responsibilities -- Eugenie would love to take a long break from everything and focus solely on raising her son however she knows deep down how much she's needed, especially since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are showing no signs of coming back -- as she weighs her options, Eugenie is looking to her multi-tasking cousin-in-law Duchess Kate for some inspiration because she's impressed by how Kate is able to juggle her official duties while raising three young kids

Page 10: Red Hot on the Red Carpet -- stars captivate in enchanting puff-sleeve numbers -- Bel Powley, Aubrey Plaza, Lupita Nyong'o

Page 11: Kaitlyn Dever, Lucy Boynton, Margaret Qualley

Page 12: Who Wore It Better? Hilary Swank vs. Madeline Brewer, Bella Hadid vs. Devon Windsor, Alison Brie vs. Dua Lipa

Page 14: News in Photos -- Tayshia Adams and her fiance Zac Clark felt on top of the world when the visited the Empire State Building together

Page 15: Chrissy Teigen and John Legend were inseparable while out and about in Beverly Hills, Bill Murray and NFL player Larry Fitzgerald Jr. were among the many stars to shoot their shot during a charity golf tournament in Pebble Beach, Rita Ora performing on an episode of the U.K. show Dancing on Ice in Hertfordshire

Page 16: At the Australian Open Serena Williams came out on top during the fourth round, Bachelorette alum Jordan Kimball and fiancee Christina Creedon couldn't wait until they got home to enjoy Candy Pop popcorn's new Peanut M&M's flavor from Sam's Club in Houston, Heidi Montag spent the day hitting the slopes at Lake Tahoe

Page 17: Hailey Bieber starring in Beyonce's new Ivy Park x Adidas collection

Page 18: Brody Jenner had a blast snow tubing while shooting the second season of The Hills: New Beginnings in Lake Tahoe, Avril Lavigne stepped out with her new boyfriend Mod Sun for a romantic dinner in West Hollywood

Page 20: Justin Bieber looked like he'd just hopped out of bed in a sweater and checkered fleece pants in L.A., Robin Thicke in front of a piano in L.A.

Page 21: Steve Martin doubled up on face coverings on the set of his new project Only Murders in the Building in NYC, Michelle Obama on her new show Waffles + Michi, Cardi B spoiled herself with high-end goods during a day of shopping on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills

Page 22: Brooke Burke romancing with boyfriend Scott Rigsby on Valentine's Day, Lucy Hale accessorized her look with her newest rescue pup Ethel in L.A., Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon masked up for a snowy outing in NYC

Page 24: For Galentine's Day Vanessa Lachey snacked on macarons and sipped on wine in L.A.

Page 25: Bella Hadid alongside models Mayowa Nicholas and Heejung Park in Michael Kors' new campaign for the Spring 2021 collection, Hugh Grant stepped out for some fresh hair in London, Sofia Vergara kept it casual during a visit to a pal's house in Beverly Hills

Page 26: Inside My Home -- Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley's Rocky Mountain retreat

Page 28: Marriage isn't easy especially during a global health crisis but for Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard divorce is not an option -- Kristen said she and Dax at the start of the pandemic were at a point in their marriage where they definitely needed a little therapy brush-up and every couple of years they're being very antagonistic towards each other and they don't want that so they go back to therapy and figure out how they can serve their team goal better and it's been incredibly helpful and even in the toughest times they always have each other's back and they're committed to being each other's biggest support systems -- while their relationship may never be perfect, they're happy and love each other and that's what matters most

Page 29: Now that Tom Brady has won his seventh Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he has set his sights on the next prize: baby No. 3 with wife Gisele Bundchen -- they've been telling friends they hope to make an announcement by summer at the latest and Tom and Gisele have been super loved-up since leaving Boston and moving to Florida after the QB signed on with the Bucs and the change of scenery has worked wonders on their love life and put them in baby-making mode -- the duo, who recently bought a $17 million spread on Miami's exclusive Indian Creek Island, plan to build a luxury mansion there complete with a nursery and they hope to be all settled in when the new arrival comes -- they've never felt healthier or been happier

* Aaron Rodgers looked positively giddy when he revealed he had a fiancee, Shailene Woodley at the NFL Honors, but the QB is dreading the next step: bringing her home to meet his parents because it's no secret that Aaron's been estranged from them for years and the last thing he wants is for Shailene to get caught up in the drama -- Shailene wants Aaron to clear the air with his folks, but he's not ready to do that and he doesn't want to bring Shailene into a toxic environment

* It's only been two years since Miranda Lambert married Brendan McLoughlin but she's already itching for some alone time -- she's headed to Texas in April for her first concert in over a year and she's told Brendan he shouldn't come because it will be all work and no play but she really wants to get away from him for a while and after the pair's recent road trip together, Miranda is desperate for some space -- sometimes Miranda feels like she's living with a baby because Brendan whines and complains about life on her farm

Page 30: Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker's romance is heating up fast, so much so that she's practically handed over the keys to her Calabasas estate and she loves having Travis sleep over and sometimes he'll stay the whole weekend -- he gets along famously with her children and Travis has been a friend of the family for years, so the kids have pretty much known him their whole lives and they'll do fun stuff together like hiking or playing video games and Travis loves making breakfast and showing off his pancake-flipping skills --Travis is spending so much time at Kourt's place that he's moved a bunch of his stuff in to make it easier for his kids Landon and Alabama with ex Shanna Moakler to visit him there -- everyone's convinced they'll be living together full-time before you know it

* Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were met with a flurry of well-wishes after they revealed they're expecting baby No. 2 -- the couple decided to wait until Meghan was safely into her second trimester to share the news and they only told a handful of family members before the public and they wanted to cherish this secret for as long as they could -- Harry and Meghan have been nesting at their Montecito mansion and have been busy prepping the nursery and making sure it's eco-friendly with energy-efficient lighting and they're keeping it as plastic-free as possible

* Love Bites -- Clare Crawley and Dale Moss reunited, Kit Harington and Rose Leslie welcomed a baby boy, Paris Hilton and Carter Reum engaged

Page 32: Cover Story -- Bruce Springsteen's private world -- he's an open book in his songs, but here's Bruce's untold story of his struggles with depression and regret -- he still has dark thoughts from time to time but therapy and medication have helped a great deal

Page 36: Stars' Cheating Confessions -- sometimes all you can do is beg for forgiveness; these celebs have all had to plead their case -- Donny and Debbie Osmond, Jude Law and Sienna Miller, Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith

Page 37: David Letterman and Regina Lasko, Dean McDermott and Tori Spelling, Kevin Hart and Eniko Parrish

Page 40: Interview -- Elizabeth Olsen -- the Avengers star dishes about getting witchy again for Marvel's mind-bending WandaVision

Page 42: Golden Girls -- how these Golden Globes nominees get their award-worthy figures -- Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, Lily Collins

Page 43: Kaley Cuoco, Michelle Pfeiffer, Amanda Seyfried

Page 44: Aadila Dosani's vegan recipe for Chickpea and Potato Soup

Page 46: Style Week -- Ashley Graham is the new global brand ambassador for self-tanning label St. Tropez

Page 48: What's Hot Right Now -- create a naturally gorgeous, flushed look with fashion designer Jason Wu's namesake makeup collection

Page 49: Haute hippie retro jeans -- take a trip back to the '70s with Revice Denim's ultra-cool capsule, Los Angeles Lovers -- Delilah Belle Hamlin

Page 50: Flower Power -- floral prints are spring's hottest trend -- rock the pretty blooms for a fresh, boho-chic look -- Kaia Gerber

Page 52: DIY Blowout -- these foolproof finds deliver impeccable hair right at home -- Drew Barrymore

Page 54: Entertainment

Page 55: Q&A with Mary Fitzgerald of Selling Sunset

Page 58: Buzz -- after months of playing it coy, these celebs confirmed their relationships on Valentine's Day -- Scott Disick and Amelia Hamlin

Page 59: Vanessa Hudgens and Cole Tucker, Sharna Burgess and Brian Austin Green, Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, Kendall Jenner and Devin Booker

Page 60: Sound Bites -- Halsey on not conforming to conventional beauty standards, Anderson Cooper on coparenting with his ex, Ashley Graham on the importance of self-care, Kate Winslet on feeling like a fish out of water in Hollywood

Page 61: Tom Holland on the plot of the next Spider-Man flick, Mila Kunis joking about keeping her family entertained during quarantine, Drew Barrymore when asked if she's ever been skinny-dipping, Madelaine Petsch on playing a teen in Clare at 16

Page 62: Horoscope -- Pisces Lupita Nyong'o turned 38 on March 1

Page 64: By the Numbers -- Riz Ahmed

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Kobe Bryant's 40 greatest moments

Kobe Bryant has given fans some of the best moments in sports. From his elite athleticism, peerless work ethnic and insatiable desire to win, “the Black Mamba” struck fear in his opponents during his exceptional career. Here are 40 great (and not so great) moments that are classic Kobe Bryant. 1 of 40

Kobe officially buries the hatchet with Shaq

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images It’s been 14 years since the dynamic duo of Kobe and Shaq broke up in spectacular fashion. Even if they’ve been friendly in their respective retirements, they buried the hatchet on-air in an intense and intimate interview. It was a sweet ending to what was one of the most bitter feuds of the NBA. 2 of 40

Bryant shows a different side with Arianna Huffington

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images Bryant was always a special basketball player, but he was famously distant from teammates and fans. No one seemed to know who the real Kobe was. But as he aged, he let more and more people in. Eventually, he would be interviewed by Arianna Huffington, and there he revealed how beautifully bizarre he was with topics ranging from his upbringing to meditation. Turns out, the Black Mamba is a human. 3 of 40

The trade request

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images After being eliminated in the first round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs, Bryant did the unthinkable: requested a trade. For all of his scoring, he couldn’t carry a team of nobodies far and he wanted to go to a team where he would get support. He eventually withdrew his request, but his discontent with management motivated the move to get Pau Gasol, giving the Lakers a championship-caliber duo to build around. 4 of 40

Striking gold at the Oscars

Matt Petit/A.M.P.A.S via Getty Images Many wondered how Bryant would transition into retired life. Turns out, he stays winning. Mamba focused on his production company, swung big on his first project, “Dear Basketball,” and he came away with one of the most coveted awards a filmmaker can win. Success is not limited to the basketball court with Vino. 5 of 40

Baptizing Ben Wallace

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images Bryant entered the league as a precocious, wiry teenager. General managers and coaches knew he was going to be special, but the NBA fans found out how good he was going to be when he rocked a facial over a very young Ben Wallace in the preseason of his first year. Welcome to the league, rook. 6 of 40

Destroys Nets, Game 3, 2002 NBA Finals

Fernando Medina /NBAE/Getty Images Bryant’s legacy is built on performances when his team needs it the most. In the 2002 NBA Finals, the Lakers had a chance to put the stranglehold on the Nets and go up 3-0. Bryant put up 36 points, including clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the game. 7 of 40

Beats the Celtics to add to Lakers legacy

Bruce Yeung/NBAE via Getty Images There aren’t many players who are bigger basketball nerds than Kobe Bryant. So when he had the chance to add to the Lakers legacy against Boston and failed in 2008, he was devastated. Given a second chance in 2010, Bryant capitalized and added to the Lakers-Celtics lore with his fifth championship and second Finals MVP. 8 of 40

First 50-point drop at 22

Tom Hauck /Allsport via Getty Images At 22, regular dudes are maybe graduating from college, grinding it out at a job or trying to figure out whether Stacy is really into them or not. Kobe Bryant was not a normal dude at 22. A kid who should’ve been more worried about grades dropped 51 on the Golden State Warriors and established himself as one of the baddest guys in the league. 9 of 40

Stops the bleeding against the Detroit Pistons

Kent Horner/NBAE via Getty Images Unexpectedly down 1-0 to the stingy Detroit Pistons in the NBA Finals, the Los Angeles Lakers found themselves with their backs against the wall in Game 2. The Pistons were up by three with 10.9 seconds when Bryant rose up from 27 feet to drain an ice cold, overtime-clinching three. The Lakers may have lost the series, but for one game Bryant carried the team. 10 of 40

Clinches first NBA Championship without Shaq

Jacob Langston/Orlando Sentinel/MCT via Getty Images Many experts doubted Bryant’s ability to get a team to the championship without Shaquille O’Neal. Given the opportunity, he did what he always does: close. Bryant put up 30 points to put away the Orlando Magic to secure his fourth championship, proving he could lead a team to the Promised Land on his own. 11 of 40

Downs the Hawks with a dunk and a shot

Stephen Dunn/Getty Images At 34 years old, people wrote off the Black Mamba as washed. In 2013, the Lakers had their detractors, but Bryant proved he was still up to the task of carrying the team when he turned back the clock to rock a poster dunk over Josh Smith and sank a game-winning shot to beat the Atlanta Hawks. 12 of 40

Wills the Lakers to victory over Raptors in 2013

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images It seems the Toronto Raptors bring out the best in Bryant. In a back-and-forth game in the last minute, he hits two clutch threes to help send the game to an extra frame. Then he shows up right on time to hit a game-winning shot to sink the Raptors and finish with 41 points. 13 of 40

Shakes and Bakes James Harden in the Drew League for a game-winner

Chris Graythen/NBAE via Getty Images When the NBA locked out its players, there was a lot of ballers who were out of a job. True to form, Bryant took his game from the bright lights to the humid gyms of Drew League, where he put on a show. Not only did he pour in 45 points, he sniped the game-winning shot over rising star James Harden. Take that, young gun. 14 of 40

Shuts down Rucker Park

Marc Lecureuil/Getty Images for Nike You never know who’s going to show up at Rucker Park in the summer. In 2002, coming off his third straight title, Bryant stepped onto the legendary court for the first time. Before going with the Black Mamba moniker, Bryant received a couple of nicknames from iconic Rucker Park announcer, Hannibal, but none stuck out more than “Lord of the Rings.” 15 of 40

Gives LeBron James a dagger

David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images LeBron James’ prime and Kobe Bryant’s didn’t quite overlap totally, but it was there long enough for some epic duels between the two. Bryant put his stamp on the rivalry with a beautiful rainbow shot over James in Cleveland to give the final blow to the Cavaliers’ chances. 16 of 40

Dunks over LeBron and wins the 2011 All-Star MVP

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images Bryant always prided himself in being better than the best, and he proved it four times at the NBA All-Star Game with four MVP awards. His last one may have been the sweetest when he dunked on a trailing LeBron James and helped the West blowout the East. 17 of 40

Releases “Detail”

Maxx Wolfson/Getty Images To label Bryant a “student of the game” would be underselling his knowledge and wisdom when it comes to playing basketball. He took that IQ to the fans for easy consumption in his ESPN series, “Detail.” This gave incite to habits, tendencies and solutions that brought every basketball fan closer to the game and its intricacies. 18 of 40

1997 Slam Dunk Champ

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images An 18-year-old Kobe Bryant barely took his training wheels off when he burst into the spotlight with a series of high-flying dunks to win the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest. It would be one of many trophies Bryant would collect in his career. 19 of 40

Putting Vincent Yarbrough through the spin cycle

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images This may be one of the slickest poster dunks ever to occur in the NBA. Bryant not only dribbled the ball behind the back to get the necessary room to set up the dunk, but he also added a 360 when he could have easily just went up with two hands. Only Kobe has that much swag. 20 of 40

Welcome to the league, Dwight

Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images When Dwight Howard went to the Los Angeles, he and Bryant could not get along. I’m guessing this highlight hung over the big man’s head. If you believe this didn’t result in Howard’s hate for Kobe, you’re more naïve than Lakers management, who thought it could get Howard back after the 2013 season. 21 of 40

Great Wall of Yao crumbles

Andrew D. Bernstein/ NBAE via Getty Images The 7-foot-6 Yao Ming was a player who didn’t have many challengers in the NBA. Kobe Bryant never saw a challenge he couldn’t solve. Something had to give. (Hint: it was Yao). Oh, and Bryant scored 52 points. 22 of 40

Averages 40 points…for a month

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images Some NBA players can have a great stretch of maybe four to five games where they are on fire. For Bryant, however, a fire five-game stretch is the norm. An entire month of incredible scoring performances in February 2003? Now that is some legendary stuff. 23 of 40

Shooting free throws with a torn Achilles

Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images You think you know tough? Try sinking two free throws after ripping apart your Achilles tendon, knowing your season and career might be over. 24 of 40

Two threes to win against Portland and claim the Pacific Division in 2004

Sam Forencich/NBAE Getty Images The Lakers needed the W against the Trail Blazers to finish atop the Pacific Division and secure a higher seed in the playoffs. Portland was not going to go easily, giving Los Angeles a fight. But that’s why you have Kobe Bean to sink a game-tying shot in regulation and a game-winning rainbow in overtime. How about that, Ruben “Kobe Stopper” Patterson? 25 of 40

Four straight games of 50+ points 2007

Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images The NBA 2K video game franchise has ruined the standard for amazing performances done in real life. Bryant did his best to emulate it. He made the real thing look like the game at the rookie difficulty setting with this incredible stretch of games. 26 of 40

Downing Spain in 2008

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blackkudos · 6 years

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Phylicia Rashad

Phylicia Rashad or Rashād /ˈfɪliːʃəˈrɑːʃəd/ (born June 19, 1948) is an American actress, singer and stage director. She is known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–92), which earned her Emmy Award nominations in 1985 and 1986. She was dubbed "The Mother" of the African-American community at the 2010 NAACP Image Awards.

In 2004, Rashad became the first black actress to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, which she won for her role in the revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Her other Broadway credits include Into the Woods (1988), Jelly's Last Jam (1993), Gem of the Ocean (2004), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2008). She won a NAACP Image Award when she reprised her A Raisin in the Sun role in the 2008 television adaptation. She has also appeared in the films For Colored Girls (2010), Good Deeds (2012), and Creed (2015).

Early life

Rashad was born Phylicia Ayers-Allen in Houston, Texas. Her mother, Vivian Ayers, is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated artist, poet, playwright, scholar, and publisher. Phylicia's father, Andrew Arthur Allen, (d. 1984), was an orthodontist. Rashad's siblings are jazz-musician brother Tex (Andrew Arthur Allen, Jr., born 1945), sister Debbie Allen (born 1950), an actress, choreographer, and director, and brother Hugh Allen (a real estate banker in North Carolina). While Rashad was growing up, her family moved to Mexico, and as a result, Rashad speaks Spanish fluently.

Rashad studied at Howard University, graduating magna cum laude in 1970 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. She was initiated into the Alpha Chapter during her tenure at Howard University.

Theatre

Rashad first became known for her stage work with a string of Broadway credits, including Deena Jones in Dreamgirls (she was Sheryl Lee Ralph's understudy until leaving the show in 1982 after being passed over as Ralph's full-time replacement) and playing a Munchkin in The Wiz for three and a half years. In 1978, she released the album Josephine Superstar, a disco Concept album telling the life story of Josephine Baker. The album was mainly written and produced by Jacques Morali and Rashad's second husband Victor Willis, original lead singer and lyricist of the Village People. She met Willis while they were both cast in The Wiz.

Other Broadway credits include August: Osage County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Gem of the Ocean, Raisin in the Sun (2004 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play/Drama Desk Award), Blue, Jelly's Last Jam, Into the Woods, and Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death. Off-Broadway credits include Lincoln Center’s productions of Cymbeline and Bernarda Alba; Helen, The Story and Everybody's Ruby at the Public Theater; The Negro Ensemble Company productions of Puppet Play, Zooman and the Sign, Sons and Fathers of Sons, In an Upstate Motel, Weep Not For Me, and The Great Mac Daddy; Lincoln Center's production of Ed Bullins' The Duplex; and The Sirens at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In regional theatre, she performed as Euripides' Medea and in Blues for an Alabama Sky at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia. Other regional theatres at which she has performed are the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. and the Huntington Theatre in Boston.

Rashad was the first black actress of any nationality to win the Best Actress (Play) Tony Award, which she won for her 2004 performance as Lena Younger in a revival of the play A Raisin in the Sun by playwright Lorraine Hansberry. She was nominated for the same award the following year, for Gem of the Ocean. Several Black women have won in the Best Actress (Musical) category, including the late Virginia Capers, who won in 1973 for her portrayal of Lena in the musical adaptation of Hansberry's play, entitled Raisin. Rashad also won the 2004 Drama Desk award for Best Actress in a Play for A Raisin in the Sun by tying (split award) with Viola Davis for the play Intimate Apparel.

In 2007, Rashad made her directorial debut with the Seattle Repertory Theatre's production of August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean. More recently, in early 2014 Rashad directed a revival of Fences, also by Wilson, at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, NJ, which ran to generally positive reviews, and continued an ongoing focus on Wilson's work, including a well-received production of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom that she directed at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles in late 2016.

In 2008, Rashad starred on Broadway as Big Mama in an all African-American production of Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof directed by her sister Debbie Allen. She appeared alongside stage veterans James Earl Jones (Big Daddy) and Anika Noni Rose (Maggie), as well as film actor Terence Howard, who made his Broadway debut as Brick. In 2009, she appeared as Violet Weston, the drug-addicted matriarch of Tracy Lett's award-winning play August: Osage County at the Music Box Theatre.

From March 17 to May 1, 2016, Rashad played the lead role of Shelah in Tarell Alvin McCraney's play Head of Passes at The Public Theater. Her performance was positively reviewed.

Film and television

Rashad received a career boost when she joined the cast of the ABC soap opera One Life to Live to play publicist Courtney Wright in 1983. She is best known for the role of attorney Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. The show, which ran from 1984 to 1992, starred Bill Cosby as obstetrician Heathcliff "Cliff" Huxtable, and focused on their life with their five children. In 1985, Rashad co-hosted the NBC telecast of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Pat Sajak and Bert Convy.

When Cosby returned to TV comedy in 1996 with CBS's Cosby, he called on Rashad to play Ruth Lucas, his character's wife. The pilot episode had been shot with Telma Hopkins, but Cosby then fired the executive producer and replaced Hopkins with Rashad. The sitcom ran from 1996 to 2000. That year, Cosby asked Rashad to work on his animated television series Little Bill, in which the actress voiced Bill's mother, Brenda, until the show's end in 2004. She also played a role in the pre-show of the Dinosaur ride at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom theme park as Dr. Helen Marsh, the head of the Dino Institute.

Rashad played "Kill Moves" wealthy mother on Everybody Hates Chris on December 9, 2007. In 2007 she appeared as Winnie Guster in the Psych episode Gus's Dad May Have Killed an Old Guy. She returned to the role in 2008, in the episode Christmas Joy.

In February 2008, Rashad portrayed Lena Younger in the television film adaptation of A Raisin in the Sun, directed by Kenny Leon. Starring core members of the cast of the 2004 Broadway revival at the Royale Theatre of Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 play, including Audra McDonald as Ruth Younger, and Sean Combs as Walter Lee Younger. The television film adaption debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast by ABC on February 25, 2008. According to Nielsen Media Research, the program was watched by 12.7 million viewers and ranked #9 in the ratings for the week ending March 2, 2008.

In November 2010, Rashad featured as Gilda in the ensemble cast in the Tyler Perry film For Colored Girls, based on the play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. Rashad explained in an interview with Vibe Movies & TV in 2010, that "I saw the original Broadway play. I thought it was amazing how such a story that wasn’t pretty was poetry. Usually poetry is about lofty things and this was the poetry of speech and the movement of everyday people. I found a little bit of it off-putting to tell you the truth, because it was so angry when I saw it. And I think Tyler Perry has added an element here that wasn't in the original stage production, and that is the necessity for taking responsibility for one's own self otherwise you are just living to die. That is where he wrote the line [in the film], "You gotta take some responsibility in this. Otherwise you are just living to die".

In 2012, she starred in another Tyler Perry movie Good Deeds. Also in 2012, Rashad played Clairee Belcher in the remake of Steel Magnolias (the role originated by Olympia Dukakis). This version has an all African American A-list cast, including Queen Latifah as M'Lynn, Jill Scott as Truvy, Condola Rashād as Shelby, Adepero Oduye as Annelle, and Alfre Woodard as Ouiser.

In 2016, Rashad was cast as a recurring guest star in the role of Diana DuBois in the third season of the Lee Daniels-produced Empire television series on Fox.

In 2017, Rashad portrayed Bishop Yvette A. Flunder, pastor of The City of Refuge Church in San Francisco, CA, as past of the Dustin Lance Black mini-series When We Rise. Her appearance in show highlighted the compassion of the church, the commitment of its leadership and the loving home the church provides to minister in the tough, primarily African-American community in San Francisco.

Personal life

Rashad's first marriage, in 1972, was to dentist William Lancelot Bowles, Jr. They had one son, William Lancelot Bowles III, who was born the following year. The marriage ended in 1975. Rashad then married Victor Willis (original lead singer of the Village People, whom she met during the run of The Wiz) in 1978. Their divorce was finalized in 1982.

She married former NFL wide receiver and sportscaster Ahmad Rashād on December 14, 1985. It was a third marriage for both of them and she took his last name. They were married after he proposed to her during a pregame show for a nationally televised Thanksgiving Day football game between the New York Jets and the Detroit Lions on November 28, 1985. Their daughter, Condola Phyleia Rashād, was born on December 11, 1986 in New York. The couple divorced in early 2001.

Awards and honors

2003: Honored as Woman of the Year by the Harvard Black Men's Forum

2005: received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts (D.F.A.) degree from Brown University

2011: received an honorary doctorate degree from Spelman College for her work in the Arts

2011: named the first Denzel Washington Chair professor in Theatre at Fordham University, supported by a $2 million gift from the actor

Wikipedia

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papermoonloveslucy · 6 years

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INTERVIEW OF A LIFETIME: LUCILLE BALL

December 6, 1977

Barbara Walters (Host) was born in Boston in 1929. She first became known as a television personality in the early 1960s, when she was a writer of 'women's interest stories' on “The Today Show.” In 1976, she became the first female co-anchor of a network evening news on the “ABC Evening News.” From 1979 to 2004, she worked as co-host and a producer for the ABC news magazine “20/20.” In 1997, Walters created and co-hosted “The View,” a daytime talk show with an all-female panel. She retired as a co-host in 2014, but still serves as executive producer. In 1996, Walters was ranked #34 on the TV Guide "50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time" list. Lucille Ball was #1. In 2000 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 2001, she appeared on “I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special.”

Lucille Ball was born on August 6, 1911 in Jamestown, New York. She began her screen career in 1933 and was known in Hollywood as ‘Queen of the B’s’ due to her many appearances in ‘B’ movies. With Richard Denning, she starred in a radio program titled “My Favorite Husband” which eventually led to the creation of “I Love Lucy,” a television situation comedy in which she co-starred with her real-life husband, Latin bandleader Desi Arnaz. The program was phenomenally successful, allowing the couple to purchase what was once RKO Studios, re-naming it Desilu. When the show ended in 1960 (in an hour-long format known as “The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour”) so did Lucy and Desi’s marriage. In 1962, hoping to keep Desilu financially solvent, Lucy returned to the sitcom format with “The Lucy Show,” which lasted six seasons. She followed that with a similar sitcom “Here’s Lucy” co-starring with her real-life children, Lucie and Desi Jr., as well as Gale Gordon, who had joined the cast of “The Lucy Show” during season two. Before her death in 1989, Lucy made one more attempt at a sitcom with “Life With Lucy,” also with Gordon, which was not a success and was canceled after just 13 episodes.

Gary Morton was a comedian who worked the famed ‘Borscht Belt’ in the Catskills Mountains. He met Lucille Ball shortly after her divorce from Desi Arnaz and they married in November 1961. At her request, Morton gave up his nightclub career and became a producer of “The Lucy Show.” Morton also served as a warm-up comic for the show’s studio audience. He appeared in several episodes of both “The Lucy Show” and “Here’s Lucy.” Morton passed away in 1999.

Lucie Arnaz (Archive Footage)

Desi Arnaz Jr. (Archive Footage)

Desi Aranz Sr. (Archive Footage)

Earlier in the evening of December 6, 1977, ABC aired new episodes of “Laverne and Shirley” (a show often compared to the antics of Lucy and Ethel) and “Three's Company” (a show Ball admired, and hosted a retrospective of in 1982).

When the show was repackaged for the Lifetime Network, Barbara Walters taped a new introduction and conclusion to the interview as well as new voice-over narration, referencing events from 1977 to Ball's death in 1989. She introduces the show by telling viewers that Lucy talked frankly about her failed marriage to Desi Arnaz, with her second husband, Gary Morton, sitting beside her.

Portions of the interview were later incorporated into "Barbara Walters: 20 Years at ABC."

The interview starts in the living room of Ball's Roxbury Drive mansion in Beverly Hills, California.

Lucy: “There's always one room you live in. Play games in. The plants grow better in.”

Lucy tells Walters that they have 85,000 feet of home movies. She screens one called “The Fat Little Cowboy” starring a two and a half year-old Desi Jr. and a four year-old Little Lucie. While the film is being screened in the living room, Lucy tells Walters that the two are much closer now than they were as children.

Showing stills of her children in “The Lucy Show” and “Here's Lucy,” Walters flashes back (again through still photos) to when Lucy met Desi Arnaz and the creation of “I Love Lucy.”

Walters: (voice over) “There has never been a success like Lucy.”

Walters' narration talks about Lucy's divorce from Desi in 1960.

The interview moves outdoors to the patio, the narration noting that Lucy was 66 at the time, Desi Arnaz was still alive, and the subject of the divorce was still painful.

Walters: “When you and Desi were married you had everything!” Lucy: “We had nothing. He had his own band and was in a play in New York.”

Ball firmly tells Walters that while she was acting, Desi was building the business, although nobody would believe it was him doing the building. She says he didn't deserve some of the names they called him. Lucy asserts there was an anti-Latino bias against Arnaz.

Walters: “And then it fell apart.” Lucy: “That was his problem.”

Walters quotes Lucy as saying that with Gary Morton, she didn't make the same mistake twice.

Lucy: “He's not a loser. I married a loser. He could win, win, high stakes. He worked very hard, but he had to lose. Everything he built, he had to break down. He still claims he's the same way.”

Walters asks whom takes care of whom. Gary says they take care of each other, but Lucy insists it is all Gary.

When first marrying Gary, she was cautious. She didn't want to rob him of his individuality. Lucy mentions that Gary finds solace in golf and that Lucy never minded that.

Walters asks if it is true that Lucy doesn't 'think funny.' Lucy agrees saying she can do funny things other people write down in detail, but she doesn't think funny. She and Gary say they make each other laugh. Gary says she'll do 'Lucy-isms'. Lucy gives an example of a 'Lucy-ism': when making a chopped chicken liver platter for guests, the top came off the salt shaker creating a mound of salt atop the food. To try to fix it, she rinsed it in the sink. They went out to dinner that night.

Gary says Lucy's best quality is her warmth. Gary is hard-pressed to come up with her worst quality but Lucy says it is that she hates that he takes naps.

Lucy says she lives by the ‘think positive’ ideals of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.

Walters asks Lucy what it was like when she stopped doing series television in 1974. “Traumatic,” says Ball. She thinks she stayed on a bit too long, but only stuck it out because her children were on the show. She says she always prided herself on “when to get off.” Walters wonders if the Lucy Ricardo character could work today as well is it did 25 years ago. Lucy hints that people may be getting tired of “the new stuff” and want what they know and want to see again.

Gary Morton says that Lucy (the character) is seen all over the world and there is no limit when something is funny. Lucy says she always felt her audience needed a show that had a beginning, a middle, and a happy ending.

Lucy: “They're trying to make entertainment out of newsreels. What we see in news, which is not very happy these days. To me, that's not entertainment.”

Walters asks Lucy if she ever watches “I Love Lucy” Lucy says no, but that she sometimes runs across one turning the dial. She tells Walters about CBS's reluctance to accept Desi as her husband on TV. Lucy fully expected the show to end after a just year.

Walters: “They say you're very tough to work for. Are you? Are you a perfectionist?” Lucy: “Perfectionist? I have an attention to detail. That's the way I learned my craft.”

Gary says Lucy tends to be a protective mother. Walters says that Lucy's onscreen and off-screen pregnancy was big news, getting bigger ratings than the inauguration of the President and the coronation of the Queen. Lucy says she wasn't aware of any of that because she was busy having the baby, but learned about it afterwards.

Walters wondered if she was worried about having a baby so late in life. Lucy says no one warned her about the risks. Her daughter was born by by C-section, so Lucy was in pain after the birth and cried with joy so much that holding her newborn child actually hurt.

Prodded by Walters, Lucy tells the story of first hearing that she was pregnant on the radio. Apparently, in 1950, radio gossip columnist Walter Winchell had spies in the lab and intercepted the results of Lucy's pregnancy test before the couple could be notified. Lucy lost the child.

Walters wonders how Lucie and Desi Jr. differentiated between their parents' real life and their television lives. Gary says they eventually grew up and realized the difference. Lucy used the fantasy world of their show as a form of escape from reality. She says “I had to pretend, but it helped.”

Walters wraps up the interview (in the updated wrap-around segment) by saying that Lucy died in 1989, but that her legacy is as one of the greats of television history.

This Date in Lucy History – December 6th

"Lucy Wants to Move to the Country" (ILL S6;E15) – filmed December 6, 1956

"Lucy Saves Milton Berle" (TLS S4;E12) – first aired December 6, 1965

"Lucy in the Jungle" (HL S4;E13) – first aired December 6, 1971

#Barbara Walters #Lucille Ball #Lucy #Gary Morton #Lucie Arnaz #Desi Arnaz #Desi Arnaz Jr.#Interview #Lifetime TV #1977 #TV #ABC TV #I Love Lucy #The Lucy Show #Here's Lucy

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