#mack's songwriting thoughts

[yourmomxx]

➵ pogue on pogue macking - madelyn cline x fem!singer!reader | social media au (1)

a/n: I’ve always wanted to do a social media au and honestly this was so fun to make! also, please know that all those pictures are from pinterest and because of that, in no way a measure on the reader’s looks!! I always try to make my works as inclusive as possible for everyone so even more people can enjoy them <3

yourinstagram

liked by sabrinacarpenter, luizakns and 1.998.037 others

yourinstagram thank you so much charleston, for being an amazing crowd and providing me with one of the most fun nights on this tour! love you all so much, hope to see you again soon🧡

view all 17.238 comments

emilyshortcake no because you don’t understand, I wanted to go there so badly but I found out too late and all tickets were already sold😭please be back

↳ reidsgirlfriend @/emilyshortcake I literally sat outside the stadium the entire night because you could hear the concert all the way out there💀

itsbrutalouthere mother mothering

oliviarodrigo 🔥🔥

ynnn please come to italy!!

tunafish got the opportunity to see this live and I will never be the same person again

madelyncline

liked by chasestokes, drewstarkey and 1.284.573 others

madelyncline did a bit of a photodump there🤭

view all 1.472.075 comments

jessiejay how can someone look so good in a casual photo dump?

ynisbabe excuse me?? is that @/yourinstagram that I see?

↳ emilyshortcake no because I thought that too omg

lisawithz them cheekbones DAMN girl

dreamworksworkofdreams A Y/N CONCERT IS THIS REAL I AM FREAKING OUT

madisonbaileybabe 😍❤️

lechair mads is a fellow yn-fan oh my god😍😍

urfellowsapphic slide 3 is literally only another reason to love her

yourinstagram

liked by madelyncline, jackchampion and 1.968.428 others

yourinstagram I am sooo proud to announce that my second album, “daughter of revenge” is now out on all music streaming platforms! As some of you might know, I went through some rough patches in my childhood and adolescence, but I managed to overcome them all and now I am standing here, and I made it, and this is exactly what this album is all about! thank you so much for all your support, because without you, none of this would have ever been possible!

view all 746.103 comments

therealobama I JUST LISTENED TO IT AND I AM ASCENDING OH MY GOD

ynisbabe the declaration of independence < this

emilyshortcake ihumuyd chain⤵️

↳ hannahliv I HOPE YOU NEVER FALL IN LOVE AGAIN

↳ janagp I HOPE YOU’LL BE YOURSELF AND LOSE YOUR FRIENDS

↳ bella_ltn I HOPE THEY CALL YOU OUT FOR SHIT YOU SAID

↳ jjmay I HOPE YOU’RE MISERABLE UNTIL YOU’RE DEAD

suesilvesterforpresident BABE WAKE UP NEW Y/N Y/L/N ALBUM JUST DROPPED

sabrinacarpenter so proud of you hon, keep up the good work!

↳ yourusername @/sabrinacarpenter my twin😩🙏

pussinboots no because the chorus of dying on the inside literally had me dying on the inside

↳ suesilvesterforpresident “Beauty is a knife I’ve been holding by the blade, swallowing my pride so i won’t eat anything” - like no, I don’t need my heart anyway, thanks for asking❤️‍🩹

↳ dwbabe FR

♔꙳⋆ twitter ꙳⋆

♔꙳⋆ instagram ꙳⋆

celebritynews

liked by ynnn, leah_with_an_h and 87.632 others

celebritynews singer-songwriter y/n y/l/n and actress Madelyn Cline spotted hanging out together, as they leave a coffee shop in our favorite city, new orleans

Follow for more updates❤️

view all 60.447 comments

emiliakm any originals fans here?

↳ lassyinatessi @/emiliakn always🙋‍♀️

howdoyouspellpink y/n and mads? literally my two worlds colliding omg

turtleneck they look like gossip besties I love it

toadondaroad they’re honestly both so hot of course they’re hanging out

melani.31 oh to get coffee with them😩🙏

ikissedagirl no because that’s literally right around the corner from my apartment?

↳ andilikedit @/ikissedagirl please tell me if you see them, I will cry

madelyncline

liked by madisonbaileybabe, yourusername and 1.738.959 others

madelyncline my two moods when with whiskey

view all 849.223 comments

hannah._. omg mads😭

madisonbaileybabe so proud of you babe!!

yourusername I just watched glass onion and i cannot stop thinking about it, @/madelyncline any idea why that is?

↳ madelyncline @/yourusername wouldn’t have anything to do with a girl named after a delicious alcohol now, would it?

↳ addyourusername excuse me???

↳ leafme what. is. going. on??

↳ yourusername @/madelyncline can argue about calling whiskey delicious - the alcohol, that is😉

↳ carolinacreek MA’AM

semmily ARIANA (y/n) WHAT ARE U DOING HERE

madelynclinebabe literally the prettiest girl

♔꙳⋆ twitter ꙳⋆

pt2.

[freddiemercurydaily]

25 May 1982, Queen released their tenth studio album ‘Hot Space’ in North AmericaQueen continued their partnership with producer Reinhold Mack and also worked with engineer, Dave Richards.The fans would see a notable shift in direction from their earlier work, they employed many elements of disco, funk, rhythm and blues, dance and pop music on the album. This made the album less popular with fans who preferred the traditional rock style they had come to associate with the band.  “New styles, and a whole new sense of values. You’ll love Hot Space ...eventually.” (The Record Mirror)“We have to do what keeps our interest up. 

We never tried to pander to what we feel people want. A lot of people want to hear rehashes of what they liked in the past, but that would be death for us. That’s really unfair, because we have changed a lot." (Roger Taylor)“I think when you really get down to it, Hot Space was more me; the motivation for it was mine. I seem to remember the rest of the band were a bit sceptical. It wasn’t deliberately trying to be different, but having spent a lot of time in New York before the album, I just got into that side of things.The album was one of the biggest risks we’ve taken, although people can relate to something that is out of the ordinary.  I would hate to be the norm every time we put out an album.  I don’t mean to say that we are always right, because we are not.  All that funk, rhythm and blues and disco, was my idea and it didn’t go off very well with the others.   I think this album was way ahead of its time.  We did what we wanted to do at the time, and we thought it was the right thing to do.  We weren't extremely disappointed. But we're conceited enough to believe that the music isn't less popular, and we are prepared to fight to show that it isn't.”(Freddie Mercury)“I write best when I’m not on guitar; maybe a few riffs or the basis, but strangely enough, you usually get the most perspective on a song then you’re on an instrument that you’re not accustomed to. I’m not accustomed to playing the piano and I find that quite inspiring, because your fingers fall on different patterns. Whereas on a guitar, I pick it up and know where my fingers are going to fall. Mostly I sit alone someplace and think about it. That’s the best way. I don’t think my songwriting has changed as much as the others in the group. I tend to write more traditional Queen material like “Las Palabras De Amor”. I still tend to write melodies and that certain sort of heaviness, which the group does well at its best; the guitar and piano whcih have that sort of thick sound. I really enjoy that, although these days it’s used a little bit more sparingly.” (Brian May)Michael Jackson later cited Hot Space as an influence for his massive hit album, Thriller.  Freddie was the one who suggested that the artwork for the album.  It features a graphic image of each band member in its own colored square. Bold, vibrant colors were chosen for the cover and as a result dingy record store walls across the land were suddenly beaming with a majestic hue. “Hot Space” peaked at #22 on the US billboard charts and went gold! Full credit for the beautiful edit to 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲𝐨𝐟𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐈𝐆 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐭

[thepermanentrainpress]

THE PERMANENT RAIN PRESS INTERVIEW WITH WESLEY MACINNES

Wesley MacInnes can’t stop creating. An actor, musician, writer and director, storytelling has been close to his heart for years and at different stages in his life. This past fall, he starred as Owen Schultz in Netflix’s gritty sci-fi series The Imperfects, and has continued to make music (under Wes Mack) and push his boundaries as an artist. 

You've been acting professionally for around 13 years. What initially sparked your passion for the arts and pursuing it as a career?

With acting, it was something that had always been of interest to me, in that I loved film and art in general, but I was more adamant about music from my earliest days. Acting really got a hold on me in university when I dropped a 2nd year quantum mechanics class to take a theatre / acting one. I loved both of those classes but it was the acting one that ended up sparking me to take all the possible theatre classes at UBC as well as getting involved in a bunch of theatre productions and plays while I was there. Being in that world of theatre, paired with my growing love of technical filmmaking really pulled me in.

I loved it tremendously and in an odd bit of life timing, I walked out of my very last university course before graduating, got on the bus, and went downtown where I filmed a single scene and a one line role on The Vampire Diaries which began my career in film. Notably the character was named Peeing Guy #1. So you know he’s cool, right?

You starred as Owen Schultz in the gritty sci-fi drama, The Imperfects. It's always fun to dive into a new character; how did you prepare for this role?

Owen is very near and dear to me, perhaps because I see him quite similar to myself. Most of my prep for Owen was in casting myself deeper into the geekiest parts of my life (of which there are many – playing DND this week!) and letting myself imagine what different versions of myself would concoct as a hero identity, given the chance.

Owen is kind of a geek who LOVES superheroes and is creating his own idea of a superhero. I like that it’s all happening in real time as we meet him. The powers are new. The branded shirt is new. He doesn’t know yet what kind of hero he wants to be so we get to see him grapple with those decisions. And as a guy who has grown up immersed in sci-fi and fantasy, it’s a thought process I’ve already gone through many times. For me, being Owen was just tapping into it.

What was your experience like on-set, and working with the talented cast and crew? Do you have any key memories that you come back to?

I had a lot of fun on this one. Owen was a chance to really play and be improvisational and the team on the show really let me run with it. From exploring Dr. Burke’s lab like a kid in a candy shop, to diving into a comic book laying around at Juan’s, to punching out a painting and losing my sh*t, there was a lot to play with. I really enjoyed pushing the buttons of the core cast, all of whom had a very different relationship with their powers when I met them.

I think one of my favorite moments though was my final scene with Juan / Iñaki.

You share memorable scenes opposite Iñaki Godoy (as Juan Ruiz). What was Iñaki like as a scene partner and person?

As I said… I LOVED it. Iñaki is both a tremendously fun and kind person as well as a deep and versatile actor. We got along great and when it came time to shoot our last scene it felt like something really special happened. On the page I think the scene read as far more heated and confrontational, but the more times we played through it the tone began to change. The scene was all about the paths we’d taken from our childhoods to where we stood that day. It was really vulnerable and getting to push Juan to admit some of what he’d lost along the way felt really important to his arc and to Owen’s identity.

We had a laugh with Dennis Heaton (creator of the show) that Owen was hitting Juan with the “with great power comes great responsibility” speech, which obviously I love. Honestly, it was a great day because we had the time and space to explore something universal to all people going through changes and that, in the end, it shifted from confrontational to something closer to meeting in the middle.

While the show was not renewed for a second season, why would you encourage viewers to tune in?

Alas. Can’t win em all. I think we told a cool, quirky and unique underdog story, and sometimes those can take time to find their full firepower. I wouldn’t count The Imperfects out just yet.

Last year, you starred in Paramount+'s Guilty Party opposite Kate Beckinsale. What did you take away from working on that project?

That was another really fun group of people and a set that encouraged so so so much improv and experimentation, which for me is the dream space as an actor. What I took away from that one is that Kate Beckinsale is a great actor, lovely person, and a total badass BUT that she is cool with me throwing Froot Loops at her head.

You've been acting in the B.C. film industry for years. What can you say about its current state, opportunities, and the range of projects/genres?

It is an everchanging beast to be sure. I think with the rise of streamers there is a ton of opportunity and a lot a of neat shows being made. I think for me more than anything I try not to get overly caught up in the state of industry. I pay attention when it comes to elections and governmental support in the form of financial policy and tax incentives as they are fundamental to film anywhere in the world. However, I try not to zoom in too far into the minutia because I think as an actor or industry member you can get sucked into feeling that the sky is always falling.

I’m happy to be a part of the BC film industry. I love so many of the folks working here and I’m proud of the work we make.

You're also a musician! Tell us about your love for the country genre, and merging it with pop music. Did you always know you wanted to make country music?

I grew up in Alberta (which is surely a hotbed of the genre), and while there are chunks of country music that I’m not wild about, I think the stuff that draws me in is in the warmth and organic side of production, the songwriting that celebrates life in its simplest form, the love of the outdoors and small-town living, and the elements from classic rock that tend to live in country these days. Mix those together and I’m happy either plunking my guitar out at my cabin, or standing up on a big stage.

You have new music coming soon. What details can you share?

My new album will be out in 2023 with a few new singles. It’s a project I started right when the pandemic began and was a totally different process than anything I’d made before. I think adapting leads to good things and I think the songs I’ve made cover the distance between big and loud and tiny and quiet, and will take people on a very cool journey. Happy to be making music.

Tell us about your songwriting process. Where do you find inspiration from, and do you find a lot of value in writing sessions and collaborating with others?

I find the best way for me to write songs is to either make breakfast, shower or drive my car hahaha. I think Spielberg was quoted as saying driving helps him write and I think where that all comes from is that the conscious mind is great at many things but often gets in its own way in art and creativity. I find when I’m doing some other task (like mentioned above) it allows the subconscious mind to take all the musical ingredients I have floating around in my head and make them into some kind of sonic cake. That’s the cake I like to bake. The best ones seem to come out of nowhere like that so my whole thing becomes just dropping everything and capturing them when they show up.

I do love co-writing, be it in music or film. I find it’s a great way to take your own best pieces (as described above) and grow them into something bigger and better while avoid falling into your own traps. Take John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I think you might be able to say that Paul pushes things to be light and poppy and happy, and John pushes for darker and moodier and stranger. On their own they can write great songs, but together those pieces combine and balance out to legendary stuff. Now we can’t all be John and Paul, but I love the process all the same.

Who are some of your favourite bands or musicians? Who have you been listening to recently?

Hmmmmm Props to Harry Styles on a very cool and creative record. Noah Kahan is always making amazing music that I love.

You performed at Harrow Fair in Ontario in September. How great was it to be back performing live?

Oh boy it felt really calming in my soul. Exhilarating body rush, but calming in the soul. For 90 minutes I was right where I needed to be doing just what I love to do. Getting to connect with people like that (who themselves had been also away from live stuff for ages) felt wonderful and like such a breath of fresh air. It was a riot up there.

I’m glad I rehearsed a lot though because man… the cardio is real.

Between acting, directing (being behind the scenes) and making music, have you ever felt more strongly about pursuing one over the others? How do you find a healthy balance?

They live in balance in me. There are definitely days when one feels easier or harder, but the love for both is all from the same place. It’s just making art and telling stories. I just wish I had infinite time to do more and more.

I’m no longer sure that I have a healthy balance hahaha. I try to do what feels good and keeps the car driving forward, which is even a bigger balance between music, acting, writing, directing and honestly living life. I’ll let you know when I have that one all sorted out.

You're from Calgary but are currently based in Vancouver. What are some of your favourite places to visit (whether it is for food and/or an activity) in Vancouver?

Well first I will need to shoutout a few spots in Calgary that are my absolute favorites. Best pizza in that city: Spiros. Best burgers and shakes: Peter’s. I’m missing those both right now and I’m really hungry presently so now they are all I can think about… shoot.

In Vancouver I think one of my very favorite spots is Granville Island. There’s enough food there to sink a ship… they also have the Aquabus which I LOVE and is this cute little trolley boat that bops around the harbour and for like 8 bucks or something you can head out on a quick tour and get across to different downtown spots. Jolly old time.

We know you're a Calgary Flames fan. How long have you been following the team, and who's your all-time favourite Flames player? What's your prediction for the Flames this season?

I sure am. Some of my favorite early memories were watching the Flames play with my parents, and going to games with my dad and later my friends too. Fun fact: when they score, they set off massive fireballs in the rink and it is extremely hot on your face for a second. Just a hoot!

I’ve been a fan since I can remember. Favorite player all time is a bit of a deep cut. Trevor Kidd was their goalie back in the late 90′s and I was a big fan. Went to his goalie school for a couple years. Jarome Iginla is always surely a wonderful one. Great human and player.

As for this season, I’m never much for predictions but here’s hoping we can smoke the Oilers and win it all!

Our signature question: If you could be any ice cream flavour, which would you be and why?

It’s either chocolate or ‘cosmic time and space travel.’ And I’ll explain why. With chocolate I would be my favorite flavor. However, with 'cosmic time and space travel,’ which I’ve just invented now due to the open-ended nature of the question, I would have a sort of godlike timeless position in the universe and could do and change anything. So, one of those would be great.

-

Thanks to Wesley for taking the time to answer our questions, and The Promotion People for arranging our chat! 

To keep updated with Wesley’s upcoming projects and music, visit his website (Wes Mack), Twitter and Instagram. 

[solatgif]

TGIF: Roundup for September 30, 2022

Read all the way through for a new book giveaway, our book reviews collection, and our featured author Daniel K. Eng!

This week was filled with interviews! From the AALC, Daniel K. Eng spoke on Supporting Asian Americans Academics in Seminary and Owen Y. Lee discussed The Need for Ethnic-Specific Ministries. I reviewed Even If by Mitchel Lee, so we reshared his video on Finding Faith.

In case you missed it, I asked Karisa You to read her beautiful article, and you can hear her voice in our new video: The Light of the World: How Jesus is Reaching International Students. Find more article reads on YouTube.

Our monthly newsletter features our most popular resources. Read our latest edition and join for free. Check out my Asian American Worship Leaders Facebook group and TGIF Playlist on Spotify. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram.

Enter to win this excellent book! Read my review. Special thanks to P&R Publishers for providing our giveaway, presented in partnership with my newsletters for @diveindigdeep and FCBC Walnut.

Articles From Around The Web 

Renee Zou: Type A and Christian

“Our desire for efficiency, meeting targets and smashing personal goals must be subject to God’s priority for us to love.”

Related: Rethinking Productivity and Love in Pregnancy by Heidi Tai

Sean Chen: Do Chinese Worship Songs Sound Too Much Like Pop Hits?

Five praise music songwriters on how they handle criticism, work together, and seek to reach Gen Z through their work.

Related: Sing To Him A New Song: 3 Reasons Why You Should Write Your Own Hymns by Aaron Lee

Tim Challies: Shaken to Bear Fruit: What Has Come from Losing a Son

“The God who is sovereign over all things may lead us into times and contexts that are deeply painful.”

Related: 5 Ways To Show Compassion To Those Who Are Grieving by Sarah Kim

Daniel K. Eng is a husband, dad, pastor, teacher, and follower of Jesus the King. He is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Western Seminary. See our article collection by Daniel K. Eng!

Books, Podcasts, Music, And More

9Marks: Episode 1: On the Reasons We Started Missions Talk

In this inaugural episode of Missions Talk, Jonathan Leeman and Mark Dever chat with Mack Stiles and Ryan Robertson about why conversations about ecclesiology are so necessary in the missions world.

Asian American Worship Leaders: Where the Spirit of the Lord Is (NewStory Church)

Where the Spirit of the Lord Is (NewStory Church) / I Will Glory in My Redeemer (Lighthouse Community Church) / Glorious Christ (Good Stewards Church) / My Jesus, I Love Thee (Christ Central Presbyterian Church) / A Thousand Hallelujahs (Bethel Grace Church)

Aaron Lee: Related Works

Book Reviews: Getting the Message by Dan Doriani, Celebrities for Jesus by Katelyn Beaty, With All Your Heart by Christine Hoover. Listen to our TGIF playlist on Spotify. Join my Asian American Worship Leaders Facebook group.

Check out our Book Reviews for reading recommendations, with an emphasis on Asian American authors.

Featured This Week On SOLA Network

Aaron Lee and Jason Chao: The Need for Ethnic-Specific Ministries: An Interview with Owen Y. Lee

How Asian American pastors should seek leadership roles, being thankful for immigrant churches that came before us, and ways in which ethnic-specific churches excel.

Moses Y. Lee: Finding Faith in the “Even If”: An Interview with Pastor and Author Mitchel Lee

“This Even If book has a message that God has been writing in my heart for about 19 years. Like most things, God birthed this thing out of great pain, great disappointment, and I would even say disillusionment and a place of that wilderness where I thought I was done ministry-wise. I had to come to grips with who I believed God to be, even when my life didn’t really show it.”

Aaron Lee: Trust God in Trials: A Book Review of “Even If”

How can you trust God in trials? In Even If, Mitchel Lee talks us through trusting God when life disappoints, overwhelms, or just doesn’t make sense.

Hannah Chao and Jason Chao: Supporting Asian Americans Academics in Seminary: An Interview with Daniel K. Eng

Understanding your own cultural lens and personal experiences when viewing Scripture, reframing the conversation around pastoral vocation , and the challenges of Bible illiteracy.

TGIF: Roundup for September 23, 2022

Why We Care / At Gracepoint Ministries, ‘Whole-Life Discipleship’ Took Its Toll / Jesus Is Not Ashamed of Those Who Are Overlooked: The Story of Bartimaeus / ​​Beautiful People Don’t Just Happen

General disclaimer: Our link roundups are not endorsements of the positions or lives of the authors.

[disaster-ace-is-me]

what are your top 5 songwriting tips? i’d love to write more songs but i’m not that confident in my lyric writing

hi anon! thank you so much for asking!!!

1. keep a folder in your phone or someplace to write down either one-liner lyrics, song title ideas, song concept ideas, etc. when you start writing a song, you’ll be able to go back into that folder and pull out ideas you’ve had, even if you came across them years ago, and write them into a song. you can even later just go back and pull a bunch of one-liners you’ve had and compile it into one big song!

2. if you want to make your lyrics more eloquent and poetic, you can keep a list of words you like/think are beautiful and use them later in songs! i literally just went through the dictionary and found a whole bunch of fancy words to write down and put their definitions with it 💀 but i mean it worked, i used the words “petrichor” and “dalliance” in a song last night :)

3. if you get stuck on a line but want to keep writing, literally just go to rhymezone or another rhyming website it’s a lifesaver 😂 just look through pretty much every rhyme that pops up until you find something that gives you some sort of inspiration or gives your lyrics more flow.

4. use lyrical parallels and references!!! referencing literature, authors, artists, and other songs will really help with visualization and depth! another fun thing you can do is reference your own work in your lyrics!!!

5. for more confidence in your writing, i suggest trying your absolute best at writing a song about something that seems really simple and concrete, like an inanimate object. write about it as if it has a life and a personality. really pour a lot of emotion into it. it’s gonna sound really silly in the end, but when you go back and write your actual songs, keep in mind that you once wrote an emotional song about a chair or whatever you chose to write about, and if you can do that, you can write about whatever your new idea is.

[alyssagames01]

from @asherangel's instagram story

[painandpleasure86]

Pain is so close to pleasure

Hi! A bit late, but i'm here! For the fic's title you already know which prompt I took from the @deakysgurl 's event ;) Here I'll be telling a bit of the process of creation and recording of that song. Y'know that's my fave from A Kind of Magic, so I really wanted to post this fic.

Word count: 770

Taglist: @warriorteam1924 @toomuchlove-willkillyou @lefanhere and Lizzie <3. If you wants to be in my permanent taglist, just lemme know and I'll add you since the next fic.

The recording of A Kind of Magic was in the works. Some songs were already recorded, but sometimes inspo came with non Highlander ideas. They were already done with those songs, when they started to improvising in the studio. One of those improvisation was Brian was doing a nice solo, and his bandmates followed him. After some minutes, they stopped.

-I think we need to turn this in a new song. Sounds cool. Who wants to write the lyrics and continue the idea? -Brian asked.

-Deaky and I will do it, no Deaks? -Freddie said, nudging John.

Deaky was surprised. Freddie watched to him with attention, waiting for an affirmation.

-Emmm yes.- Deaky replied, watching to Brian and Roger- We will do it -John added, watching to Freddie’s eyes brifly and again watching to Bri and Roger.

-Okay, let me grab some paper and a pencil from the control room -Brian said, leaving his guitar in its stand. Roger followed him, but he wanted to have a rest in the control room. Pressure were over them, mainly over John. “Well, the lyrics… I don’t know, perhaps one of the ideas I didn’t develop for The Works?” John thought.

Meanwhile John was leaving his bass in its stand, and Brian came back with the paper and pen, gave them to John and left John and Freddie alone.

John started to write the song. Silence in the studio. Brian and Roger were watching the scene from afar.

After some minutes of quietness, John extended the paper with his right hand and the pen to Freddie.

-Go and fill the gaps please -John asked, scratching his eyes with the another hand and sighing.

Freddie was reading the lyrics carefully and filled the gaps. But it was just a brief moment.

-It’s done to me -Freddie said, returning the sheet of paper to John.

John saw the sheet of paper and… just were a few additions.

-But you just did a few fillings.

-John, trust in your capabilities, you’re GREAT -Freddie turned left to see Brian an Roger watching the scene- Guys, come here -Freddie yelled.

Brian and Roger walked again and stopped some centimetres away from John and Freddie.

-What’s going on? -Roger asked, watching to Freddie’s eyes.

-John it’s with his low self esteem crisis… -Freddie replied.

Roger was watching John after those words.

-Man, you made I want to break free, how you’re still doubtful about your songwriting skills?… -Roger added, smiling.

John smiled shyly, watching to his lap.

-And don’t forget Another One Bites the Dust! -Bri exclaimed- Surely this song will be great like the another ones. You’re quite good.

John’s cheeks are flushing. He smiled widely.

-See? -Freddie asked to John.

-Okie okie… You convinced me!

-Nope, you convinced US! -Freddie exclaimed, emphasizing the “us”.- Now I was thinking about the music of this song. Let’s play again that improvisation, I wanna see something.

-Okay -replied the three of them.

John left the sheets over the piano and they started to play the improvisation again, of course a bit different.

Some minutes later, Freddie stopped the music.

-Okay, I have an idea for the rest of the song. -Freddie said, meanwhile Brian and Roger were leaving their instruments.

-You guys wanna contribute? -Freddie asked, when Brian and Roger walked near to him.

-Let’s see John’s music composition skills -Roger said, watching to John and winking an eye.

The guitarist and the drummer left to the bassist and the singer alone.

Brian and Roger watched to John and Freddie talking and playing instruments. Brian and Roger smiled when John played this Telecaster or the synths, meanwhile was talking with Freddie.

Some hours later, Freddie called to the another members to tell how’s the song going and John said the title of the new song: Pain is so close to pleasure.

-Sexy name -Roger said, winking an eye.

-Yes, hahaha -John replied, with a smile.-But it’s true. The pain of all of us playing all day long, recording a new album, it’s really close to pleasure… no? -John said, watching to his bandmates.

-Nice analogy and phrase -Brian replied- You’re really brilliant.

John smiled kindly.

-Well, let’s tell to Mack that we’re ready for recording- Freddie said, standing up from his chair.

-We will record bass and piano at first -John added, going to grab his bass from its stand.

After that chat, they started to prepare everything to record.

Recording an album was a pain certainly, but the pleasure that it gives when it’s finished and sounds great, it's priceless. They knew it. They still know it...

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

If you enjoyed this fic, pls like and/or reblog! Thanks in advance for the support!

-Lily

[loveallthegays]

'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series' Adds Andrew Barth Feldman and Asher Angel to Season 2 Cast

The second season of the Disney+ show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series will welcome two new faces to the returning cast, Billboard can exclusively announce today.

Singer-songwriter Angel, known for playing Jonah Beck on the Disney Channel series Andi Mack and Billy Batson in the DC Universe movie Shazam! -- and who recently released his Wiz Khalifa-featuring debut single, "One Thought Away" -- will play a character named Jack, who is described as a "charming, smooth-talking student with wanderlust."

"The cast and I are excited for fans to see how Andrew and Asher expand our East High cinematic universe," said show executive producer Tim Federle in a statement.

[aubryguerra]

The Notorious B.I.G.

INTRODUCTION

Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper and songwriter. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap traditions, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. During 1996, while recording his second album, Wallace became ensnarled in the escalating East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud. Following Tupac Shakur's death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in September 1996, speculations of involvement by criminal elements orbiting the Bad Boy circle circulated. On March 9, 1997, while visiting Los Angeles, Wallace was murdered in a drive-by shooting. The assailant remains unidentified. Wallace's second album Life After Death, a double album, was released two weeks later, and reached number one on the Billboard 200. With two more posthumous albums released, Wallace has certified sales of over 28 million copies in the United States, including 21 million albums. 

INDEX

Introduction

Index

Photo #1 

Photo #2

Participant Account #1

Participant Account #2

Artifact #1

Artifact #2

Summary

PHOTO #1

Not long after Wallace’s death, The double album Life After Death was released March 25th. It sold 700,000 hard copies almost immediately, jumping from No. 176 to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the space of a week. The album’s cover art featured the man formerly known as Biggie Smalls in a long black coat and black bowler. He stared us in the face while leaning against a hearse that bore the license plate “B.I.G.” There were no sunglasses to hide his lazy eye. He wore it full and proud, looking over his shoulder as if he already knew. He wasn’t smiling. But he wasn’t mad. He was just stating the facts from the other side of the grave.

Questions:

Do you think this album would have sold as many copies if he was still alive?

What do you think this album cover looked like before he died?

What do you think this album is about?

PHOTO #2

By 12:45 a.m., the streets were crowded with people leaving an after party. Wallace's truck stopped at a red light 50 yards (46 m) from the Petersen Automotive Museum, and a black Chevy Impala pulled up alongside it. The Impala's driver, an unidentified African-American man dressed in a blue suit and bow tie, rolled down his window, drew a 9 mm blue-steel pistol, and fired at Wallace's car. Four bullets hit Wallace and his entourage subsequently rushed him to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where doctors performed an emergency thoracotomy, but he was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m.

Questions: 

Do you think Christopher Wallace suspected someone coming after him?

What do you think the shooters reasoning for killing Christopher Wallace was?

What do you think Christopher Wallace’s last thoughts were?

Participant Account #1

Sullivan’s Dead Wrong: The Continuing Story of City of Lies, Corruption and Cover-Up in the Notorious B.I.G. Murder Investigation (Atlantic Monthly Press) was released, a new book charting the story of Wallace’s murder and the extreme lengths power brokers in the city of Los Angeles have gone to cover-up the full extent of the crime. Sullivan previously reported that former LAPD officer David Mack, working in connection with Death Row Records’ Suge Knight (rapper), was believed to be involved in arranging the murder of Christopher Wallace. The FBI’s investigation into David Mack’s involvement in the Biggie slaying was stymied by the fear potential cooperators had of Mack. Phil Carson visited Mack in federal prison and interviewed him in connection with the Wallace murder and its links to police corruption.

Questions: 

Why do you think people were so afraid of David Mack?

Why do you think an LAPD officer would want to kill Christopher Wallace?

Do you think David Mack was involved with Christopher Wallace’s death?

Participant Account #2

Voletta Wallace is the mother of rap icon Christopher Wallace. Voletta Wallace, 64, told the Daily Mail she hurts ‘every single day’ knowing that she won’t see her son again and his murderer is still out there. She also says she, and the Los Angeles police detectives investigating his death, know who killed him, but a “conspiracy” is keeping the case from being solved.

Questions:

Who do you think Voletta is talking about in her statement?

Do you think Tupac’s and Christopher Wallace’s deaths had anything to do with each other?

What do you think this conspiracy involves?

Artifact #1

A plastic crown worn by the Notorious B.I.G. during the rapper’s “King of New York” photoshoot — originally purchased for $6 before the March 1997 photograph was taken — sold for $595,000 Tuesday night at Sotheby’s first-ever auction dedicated to hip-hop memorabilia.

Questions:

Do you think this crown would have sold for $595,000 if Christopher Wallace was still alive?

Who do you think would pay that much for a $6 crown?

What is this picture is supposed to depict?

Artifact #2

The 1997 Soul Train Music Awards was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on March 7, 1997. The show was hosted by Brandy, LL Cool J and Gladys Knight. It would be the final public appearance for The Notorious B.I.G., as he would be murdered two days after the ceremony.

Questions: 

How do you think Christopher Wallace felt in this moment?

Where do you think his award is now?

What did Christopher Wallace win this award for?

Summary: 

In conclusion, Two decades after his death at age 24, Notorious B.I.G.'s music continues to Hypnotize. Christopher Wallace will forever be remembered, in fact, A Netflix documentary Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell, executive-produced by Voletta Wallace and Combs, focuses on B.I.G.'s life before he rose to fame as "The King of New York," and features “unprecedented access granted by the Wallace estate.” has been released in his memory. 

TEKS: 

(8) Geography. The student understands how people adapt to and modify their environment. The student is expected to: (A) describe how and why people have adapted to and modified their environment in the United States such as the use of human resources to meet basic needs; and (B) analyze the positive and negative consequences of human modification of the environment in the United States.

(20) Culture. The student understands the relationship between the arts and the times during which they were created. The student is expected to: (B) explain how examples of art, music, and literature reflect the times during which they were created.

Sources: 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/notorious-big-crown-auction-1060809/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Soul_Train_Music_Awards

https://theundefeated.com/features/notorious-big-life-after-death-album-cover/

https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/03/09/mom-of-notorious-b-i-g-says-she-knows-who-killed-her-son/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2017/03/09/tributes-to-notorious-big-biggie-smalls-20th-anniversary/98945220/

https://lithub.com/five-things-you-should-know-about-the-ongoing-investigation-into-biggie-smalls-murder/

[daisylincs]

What about 14/23+54 for staticquake? Please and thank you. 😊

14 = Bodyguard AU, 23 = Performer AU and 54 = Secret Relationship.

Once again thank you to Grace for the wonderful prompt!! In fact, it was SO wonderful I got totally carried away, and wrote this monster of a bullet point-fic. I would say sorry, but I enjoyed myself far too much. Ah, well. I hope you like it, too! 

Lincoln is an Ed Sheeran-level singer-songwriter who fell in with a bad group - but, kudos to him, managed to get away from them. Problem is, now he's in quite a lot of danger because of it. 

But, being totally stubborn and unreasonable, and above all a musician, Lincoln flatly refuses to give up on his performances.

Mack, his manager, throws up his hands but knows there's no point in arguing (he has learned the hard way that it will get him. literally. nowhere.) 

So he compromises: Lincoln gets to go on giving performances IF he agrees to have a bodyguard with him at all times.) 

Lincoln hates the idea - "I'm not a baby, Mack, I can take care of myself, and also there's NO WAY I'm letting some musclebound goon ruin my shows by standing there glaring all the time." 

Mack gets a little smirk on his face at this point that has Lincoln thinking, oh dear. "Don't worry," Mack says, "I know just what to do." 

And Lincoln really doesn't like the look of that smirk - Mack only ever wears it when he has A Plan™.

But he figures, best not to complain now - he can always fire the musclebound goon tomorrow, and anyway the muse is a very flighty thing so he has way better things to be doing. 

The next day, Lincoln goes into his office fully expecting to meet, well, a musclebound goon. Instead, he finds a pretty girl perched on his desk making notes on her phone. 

At first, he thinks she's lost, and being way too nice for his own good, he tries to help her find where she's actually going. 

Only… "Oh, no," she says with a cheerful smile, "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be." 

"No, no," he says, still nice because she's quite pretty, even if she is in totally the wrong place. "This is a private office, actually." 

She hums her agreement - "nice decor, too." 

Lincoln is getting kind of annoyed now, because pretty or no, she's wasting his time. "You don't understand," he says. "This is Lincoln Campbell's office. I'm supposed to be meeting my new bodyguard here." 

The woman gives him a cheeky grin. "I know," she says. "Pleased to meet you." 

Lincoln's jaw drops practically to the floor as he finally gets it. "Wait… you're my new bodyguard?" 

"Daisy Johnson," she says with an exaggerated bow. "Graduated from May's academy with highest honours. I also have a degree in computer science, and by the way, your security system is crap." 

And, much as he doesn't want to be, Lincoln is impressed. Really impressed. She's only been here, what, fifteen minutes, and she's already hacked his security system? 

Also, a graduate of May's Academy? He knows next to nothing about the bodyguarding business, but… wow. 

And as he quickly learns, she's every bit as stubborn as he is. More, probably. If he doesn't want protection, well then that's too bad for him, she's here whether he likes it or not. 

After just one morning, he's already thinking that if he has to be stuck with a bodyguard following him around 24/7, he's glad it's Daisy. 

Days pass, and they get more comfortable with each other, falling into a routine that's almost friendly. He sleeps in, she mocks him for it as she wakes him up with coffee. After breakfast, he goes to the piano, while she improves some tiny feature of their now incredibly sophisticated security system. If it's a show day, or if he's meeting fans, they'll head out to the car together. Daisy has made her routine bug sweep into a kind of game, being unbelievably dramatic about flinging open the doors and declaring them "clear!" before bowing him into the car. 

During the drive, they chat about everything and anything (Daisy is hilarious, and her stories about the family she found at May's are the best. He feels like he knows Fitz and Jemma personally, and wants to smash their oblivious faces together as much as Daisy does.)

 When they get back from whatever show or interview he finished (or after a morning of song-writing), they like to play board games together. Daisy is insanely good at battleships, but he always beats her at backgammon. 

And Lincoln never, ever thought he'd say this, but he really likes his bodyguard. Impossible as it would have seemed to him a few weeks ago, she's become his friend. 

(It helps that she's not some musclebound goon, after all.) 

Which, great as it is, is also kind of a problem. 

Daisy is the furthest thing from a musclebound goon… because she's really, really pretty. 

And smart. And funny. And all-around just a great person. Honestly, could you even blame him for crushing on her? 

Luckily, Daisy hasn't noticed. (He thinks.) And he intends to keep it that way - he is NOT willing to lose his friend over the shitshow that is gossip tabloids. He knows that if the press gets even a hint of something between them, it's tickets for them. 

So, no, he's not willing to risk even thinking about his crush too much. 

Too bad Daisy seems determined to make him think about it as much as possible. 

"I'm bored," she informs him for the fiftieth time that afternoon. 

"That's just because you're losing in backgammon," he points out, also for the fiftieth time. 

She rolls her eyes. "No, I want to do something." Then her eyes light up with what can only be a really terrible idea. "I've got it! Come spar with me in the gym." 

"No!" There's no way he's going to agree to spar with her - seeing her in workout clothes every morning makes it hard enough to stay in his self-imposed friendzone, he isn't going to go making it WORSE by doing something as physical as sparring with her. 

"Pleeeeeaaaaaase?" 

That's the thing about Daisy - once she has hold of an idea, she will not let it go. And she'll resort to any means to get him to agree, even the hugely unfair advantage of puppy eyes. 

"Fine," he sighs, and the way her whole face lights up makes him think maybe it's worth going through the torture of a whole sparring session. 

He reconsiders that as soon as he's actually there. Daisy in full-on sparring mode is a whole new kind of beautiful - eyes shining, grinning hugely between panting breaths, curls loose and tangled around her face. She looks so alive, and God, he has never been more smitten. 

She kicks his ass. 

Twice. 

And on the third time she pins him, she huffs and goes, "I know you can do better than that." 

"Sorry," he says, trying his best not to dwell on the fact that she is currently lying on top of him. "You're just really distracting."

Shiiiit, he thinks, cursing himself immediately. Why, why, why did he say that? 

But Daisy's gaze simultaneously softens and turns mischievous. "Is that so?" she asks, leaning forwards so her curls are tickling his face. 

He has to catch his breath, because when she's leaning over like this her lips are suddenly really close to his. And also, did she just flirt with him, a little? 

He shifts his head a little, trying to ignore how this brings her lips even closer. "C'mon," he says. "You know you're really pretty." 

She raises her eyebrows. "Is that all?" 

"Of course not," he says. "You're smart, and kind, and funny, and badass. Daisy, you're… you're brilliant." 

He doesn't know how the mood turned from playful to so sincere, but he does know he means every word. 

And Daisy knows it too. Her eyes soften, and before he quite realises what's happening, she leans down and kisses him. 

He kisses her back, of course he does. And when they break apart, he sees his own feeling of oh-God-what-did-we-just-do reflected in her eyes. 

They look at each other for a long moment… and without having to say a word, they agree to leave the questions and worrying for later, and for now, let themselves just feel. 

And, well, they do. 

The next morning, Lincoln wakes up happier than he can remember being in a long time. Daisy is stretched out next to him, the sunlight painting her skin gold. 

It has to be the first time in history he's up before she is, and all he can think is how beautiful she looks. 

She wakes up, too, shooting him a sleepy smile that has his insides doing funny things, and for a few precious minutes they just bask in the warmth of the moment. 

But all too soon, reality comes crashing back. 

"I'm your bodyguard," Daisy says, scrambling out of bed with a look of dawning horror on her face. "This breaks every rule in the book, I can't do this." 

"I'm so sorry," she adds quietly, giving him a stricken look as she's halfway out of his room. "You deserve so much better, I should never have done this." 

"Okay, first of all, I was hardly an unwilling participant," he says, and her lips quirk up despite everything. "Second of all - I've been torturing myself for weeks trying to tell myself I'd get over it, but I really like you, Daisy. And I know better than anyone how impossible this seems - believe me, I've analysed every corner of it - but I can't let you go." 

She looks like she might still walk away, but she hesitates just inside the door. "What do you want to do?" she asks quietly. 

And it's crazy, and it's stupid, but he says it. Secret relationship. 

Daisy stands in the doorway, biting her lip, but slowly, she starts to grin. 

And that's how they start dating in secret. 

The funny thing is, their lives don't even change all that much. They still share a coffee in the morning, chat in the car and play board games in the afternoon. They still make each other laugh like crazy and get along like a house on fire.

 The only real difference is that he can kiss her whenever he feels like it, provided no-one's watching. That, he thinks, is the best difference he could ever have hoped for. 

They just need to be very careful not to get caught kissing. 

But after the first few weeks, caution turns into a kind of game - how far can we take this before someone'll be onto us? 

They are almost caught SO many times, and it just gets funnier every time. (Daisy's latest excuse: she needed to inspect his bare chest to make sure he wasn't bugged. Joey's face… Luckily for them, Daisy leaned poker faces from the best.) 

In short, life is great. He's got a job he loves with great people around him, and the best secret girlfriend anyone could wish for. 

It's so great, in fact, that he kind of forgets Daisy is actually his bodyguard. 

She doesn't forget, though. And she does her job. 

Because at his latest concert, some freaky terrorists decide it's just the time to try and make a statement by murdering a popular performer. 

Honestly, those poor terrorists. They never stood a chance against Daisy. 

Everything would have been one hundred percent fine if he hadn't called out "Daisy!" and rushed off-stage when he heard the gunshots, suddenly remembering with a cold shock that his girlfriend was also his bodyguard and currently being shot at. 

But unfortunately, he doesn't really stop to think. He rushes off stage, not giving a damn what anyone might think, to make sure she's all right. 

And the thing is, she's fine. Until she sees him. 

Then she freezes, for just a second, but it's enough for one of the terrorists to get in a shot. 

He sees it all happen in slow motion - the blood seeping out and staining Daisy's bodysuit, Daisy herself swaying and collapsing to the floor. He hears the shot a second after it hits. 

He runs over, his entire world suddenly panicky and terrified. Not Daisy, no, he can't lose her; oh, God, this is all his fault. 

Somehow, Daisy manages to squeeze his hand. He understands the silent message for what it is - it's going to be okay. 

Even when she's been shot, she's still so unbelievably strong. He squeezes her hand back and won't let go even when the paramedics come rushing into the building. 

He keeps gripping her hand as they load her up onto a stretcher, not even caring about the reporters that swarm them as soon as they're outside. 

The paparazzi can go fuck themselves. His girlfriend needs him right now, and that's more important than anything else. 

The next few hours, where he's waiting tensely as Daisy is in the operating theatre, are some of the longest of his life. 

At some point, four people (two men and two women) come rushing into the hospital, faces white and drawn. He's never seen them before, but he recognises them. May, Coulson, Fitz and Jemma. Daisy's family. 

The intimidating one, May, takes one look at him and goes "Daisy's boyfriend?" 

"Yeah," he says, so surprised he almost forgets his worry for a second, "how did you know?" 

May snorts and tells him that he's about as subtle as a brick wall, oh, and Daisy tells her everything. 

He smiles faintly at that. And the five of them - they don't know each other, but in those awful, uncertain hours, they form a bond, the kind that can only form in times of extreme stress when someone you all love is in danger. 

When the tired-looking nurse finally comes out to tell them Daisy's going to be okay, they hug each other on the spot. And it should be awkward, but all any of them can think about is Daisy, so it's not. It just feels right. 

They troop into her room, all five of them together, and a very dopey Daisy smiles weakly up at them. Lincoln immediately reaches for her hand, pressing a quick kiss to her knuckles and lacing their fingers. 

Daisy gives him a small, tired smile, but then her brow squinches in confusion. "Wait… we're supposed to be a secret couple." 

Jemma coughs. "About that." And she shows them the latest gossip headlines: Lincoln holding Daisy's hand for dear life as they rush her to hospital. 

"Oh, that's not good," Daisy says, frowning through the effects of her heavy sedatives. 

This would have totally panicked Lincoln just a few days ago, but now… he almost lost her. The tabloids seem paltry and insignificant in comparison. 

"How would you feel about going on a date when you're better?" he asks, because he thinks she and everyone else in the room needs some cheering up. "A proper date, not a secret meet-up in the closet."

 Coulson raises his eyebrows, like, too much information. But Daisy grins. "I would love that," she says, just slightly slurred through all the drugs. 

"Good," he says, and kisses her forehead. She's smiling as she drifts off. 

Watching her, Lincoln thinks that their secret relationship was never meant to be. It was a lot of fun, sure, but it was never meant to last. 

They were always going to end up being a real couple. 

And honestly? He couldn't be happier. 

The end.

[everythingirl44]

23 + 7 + 40 for Staticquake?

23 = Performer AU, 7 = Florist AU,  40 = Almost Kiss 

I saw this and thought of the movie Forever My Girl, so I took some inspiration from it. Side note, I recommend the movie. It's cute, fluffy, and made me cry. Okay back to the mashup, hope you enjoy it!

Lincoln Campbell was a famous singer-songwriter from a small town. He left when he was nineteen, leaving behind his mom and sister. That was almost five years ago now, he hasn’t seen or heard from his family since he left. He was currently finishing a concert in LA, intending to leave the next morning to go to Arizona for the last show. That all changed when he got a very unexpected call from his sister. According to her, their mom had been sick for the past three years. The doctors weren’t sure how long she had left. Amanda was begging him to come home before it was too late. Five years ago Lincoln would have told her to leave him alone, that he was happy with his life. He couldn’t say no to her, this was his mother. He was backstage with his manager and producer. Bobbi and Hunter took a chance on a young kid and it paid off. 

“Look mate I’m sympathetic really, but this is the last show before your European tour.” Lincoln explained that he had to go home, his mom was sick. Bobbi and Hunter cared, but Lincoln had been falling off the rails lately. He wasn’t writing as many songs, he was drinking more, and ditching his bodyguard Mack. 

“Maybe we can rearrange a few things. You can play the show once you're back from Europe. It will be fine Hunter. Lincoln, take the next few weeks off and go home.” Lincoln didn’t have to be told twice, the next morning he was on the next plane home. He had to rent a car and drive almost an hour from the city to get home. He wasn’t sure where to stop first. He was driving through the town when he saw his mom's florist was still open. Guess that was his first stop, maybe Amanda was working? He pulled over in front of the store. It looked exactly the same. Lincoln used to sit behind the counter doing homework while his mom arranged flowers. 

“Hey! Amanda are you there!” He shouted leaning over the counter, looking into the back room. He heard someone curse as something hit the ground. Footsteps started approaching, he backed away from the counter in shock of who was there. 

“No, she’s at home-” Daisy stopped halfway through her sentence when she saw him. Daisy was Amanda's best friend, they were both two years younger than Lincoln. Back in high school, he had a small thing with Daisy. She was always at their house or Amanda was always at her house. He left her that day too. 

“Daisy, what are you doing here?” It was barely a mumble, his eyes downcasted. He didn’t know how to look her in the eyes. He left everyone without saying goodbye except her. The same morning he left, he went to her house to break up with her. 

“I work here after your mom got sick Amanda took over. I started helping out and you know I always loved flowers.” She said shrugging her shoulders, bringing her arms around herself. Lincoln bought a bouquet to bring home, Daisy watched him leave. Trying to blink back the tears that were blooming in her eyes. She mustered up the courage to call Amanda and thoroughly inform her about how mad she was. It totally slipped her mind that maybe Daisy wouldn’t want to see Lincoln after what happened. Lincoln spent the next two weeks with his family. That included trying to fix the mess he made with Daisy. His mom started getting better, he was able to stay with her and take her to doctor appointments. Some more time passed and he decided it was time to go fix things with Daisy. He showed up to the shop knowing she was working because Amanda was home. She looked up from helping the customer giving him a small glare. He wasn’t doing his best with trying to fix their relationship. He looked around seeing a bouquet of daisies. Smiling to himself he picked it up and waited for her to finish with the customer. The lady left and she stepped forward smiling at her. 

“That will be seventeen fifty-nine.” She said typing on the register. He took out his credit card and signed for the flowers. Lincoln continued to stand there eyeing her carefully. 

“Anything else Lincoln?” Daisy let out an aggravated sigh. He held the flowers out to her and asked if she would consider going out with him. That was something she really wasn’t expecting. No matter how angry she was at him, she still loved him. Daisy took the flowers and agreed to go to dinner Saturday night. Daisy’s parents weren’t exactly happy about her going out with Lincoln again. Especially after they found her crying on the porch at seven in the morning. The minute that doorbell rang she went running down the stairs seeing Lincoln and behind him a limo. They drove into the city, Lincoln asked Hunter to pull a few strings to get them a table at a restaurant. No one knew they were there except Hunter and Bobbi, who told the tabloids he was in New York. So the paparazzi were running around New York trying to find him. 

“Lincoln this is amazing.” Daisy’s smile was wide as they sat down in the quiet restaurant. She never left town before, she had no reason too. The city was beautiful and the restaurant was amazing. By the time dessert came around, they became those cheesy couples that fed each other cake. Lincoln suggested they walk in the park, at first Daisy thought it was a bad idea. He convinced her it would be fine because it was dark outside, no one would spot them. Right? The two walked across the street, Daisy’s arm linked around his. They stopped by the fountain in the center of the park. There were few people walking through. Some walking their dogs or walking with partners and friends. 

“Thank you, Lincoln. This has been amazing.” He didn’t realize how much he missed her smile. He moved to tuck a loose strand behind her ear, dragging his hand down her jaw. She looked up at him, meeting his eyes then looked down at his lips. Their noses brushed and what was supposed to be a kiss turned into a photoshoot. The paparazzi started swarming them, then came along the screaming fans. Lincoln quickly pushed Daisy behind him, trying to hide her from the flashing lights. He tried pushing through the crowd, but there was no luck. 

“Hey out of the way!” The familiar yell of his bodyguard could be heard somewhere in the crowd. Pushing their way through was Mack, Bobbi, Hunter, and the security team. Bobbi got around to Daisy helping her through the crowd. Hunter grabbed Lincoln's arm and dragged him out. They got them into a car, Lincoln could see Hunter was furious with him. Daisy seemed pretty freaked out about what just happened and Bobbi was doing her best to calm her down. 

“How could you be so stupid Lincoln!” Hunter wasn’t usually the serious one, but he did have to shoot through some hoops to get that reservation. 

“I told you, not once but twice. You go to the restaurant then you go home. Someone tipped off that you were in town having dinner with some girl.” He continued to shout at Lincoln. He couldn’t even reply to Hunter. Looking at Daisy, she looked a little out of it. He was used to the lights, the screaming, and the questions. Bobbi asked if she was doing okay. Daisy nodded and continued sipping on the water. Lincoln turned his attention back to Hunter, who was still a shade of red. 

“Now her face is going to be plastered on every magazine. What are you gonna tell people Lincoln? I went home to visit my sick mother and walked out with a girlfriend?” He said sarcastically. Bobbi glared at Hunter for what he said. 

“Say I was some groupie, I’ll go home and you don’t even have to see me again.” Daisy suggested, the three of them looked over at her confused. 

“What? No, we’re not saying that.” Lincoln said quickly, trying to shut down that idea. 

“Why not? I'm just going to make your life more complicated. You love being a musician, that's why you left.” The mood in the car changed after that. Bobbi wished they could give the two some privacy, but they were in a moving car. 

“Because Daisy saying goodbye to you was the hardest thing I had to do! I knew you wouldn’t want this life, so I tried to keep you out of it!” He yelled back at her. Daisy being the stubborn person she was shouted back. 

“You left two days after my graduation! You came knocking on my door at seven in the morning and broke up with me! Then you left, for five years without a call or text. How do you think that feels, Lincoln! Someone you love and thought loved you back just leaves!” Bobbi and Hunter tried to redirect their attention to the windows. Lincoln and Daisy were arguing as if they weren’t even there. 

“I do love you Daisy and that's why I said goodbye. I couldn’t just leave you without some explanation.” That sent Daisy over the edge. She forced them to stop the car and got out. Lincoln quickly got out after her, he kept trying to reason with her and she kept walking. He grabbed her arm and begged her to stop.

“I haven’t made the best choices in life, Daisy. Leave you and my family was one of them, but I want to make up for it now. So I’m not letting you go, not again.” He said softer. Daisy whipped a tear away and tried to give him a smile. 

“Promise?” She asked quietly. Lincoln gave a small nod leaning down in hopes to finish what they started. Once again their noses brushed and once again they were interrupted by the media. This time they didn’t run or except Hunter and Bobbi to save them. 

“Lincoln! Lincoln, is this your girlfriend!” A reporter yelled from somewhere in the crowd. Lincoln glanced down at Daisy who smiled up at him. He looked back at the reporters leaning forward into a microphone. 

“Yes, yes she is.” He said before they pushed their way through the crowd back to the car. Once inside Daisy rested her head on his shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her. He was finally home.

[filteredred]

The Foxhole Court Fic Recs

In honor of Fanfic Writers Appreciation Day, here are a few fantastic works in our favorite fandom.

Signing on the Line by andrewiel @jostenminyard | When Neil Josten is offered a position as a starting striker for a professional Exy team, he feels like all of his dreams are coming true. He signs the contract, not caring about the strict morality clause that controls who he can and can't date in the public eye. Then he meets Andrew Minyard, the top-ranked goalie of a rival team, and then Neil thinks he might just have to care after all.

This fic is ah-mazing. I read it 3 times before I could let go enough to read something else. 10/10

Something in Return by reaching_my_summit @reaching-my-summit | Andrew’s final year at Palmetto State comes to a close. His future is upon him and there are plans to be made. Years ago, Neil asked Andrew to stop smoking in exchange for something. Andrew finally knows what he wants in return.

Post canon andreil happily exploring Disney World.

light fires at night (to push back the void) by inthesea | The first time Andrew realizes he wants to hear the words, Neil isn’t even doing anything. He’s just sitting there, staring at the horizon with that stupidly dramatic faraway expression of his, and letting the cigarette burn down between his fingers all the way to the filter — an outrageous waste of good nicotine, if you asked Andrew. (Or: 20+ times Andrew and Neil say I love you, and one time they say it out loud.)

Remember that fic you read that one time when Andrew counted syllables and consonants and everything about it was just. so. good? I think everyone loves this fic. This was one I read before I read the books based on kudos, then went back and read it again.

dangerous magics by SashaSea (SHCombatalade) @anneuhken | For centuries, there was a war. Then there were the Bindings (Reposted and restricted to registered AO3 users only)

If you’ve seen many fic rec lists, you may have heard of this fic. I searched high and low...and finally it’s back! If you enjoy fantasy, this one’s for you.

Ultraviolence by lscar123 @lscar123 | Neil Josten is of the most successful songwriters in the industry but years of blocking out his own personal pain and writing mind numbing radio hits have started to wear him down so he decides to take a break from it all and return to The Fox Hole, the bar he stumbled onto years ago and helped set up an open mic night at. It's there he meets Andrew Minyard, a bartender who makes an immediate impression on him. Something about Andrew tells him to run but it's either his own stubbornness or his pension for self destruction that makes him stay. Nothing in his life will ever be the same after the first night he spends back in the place he used to call home.

I. Love. Neil. In. This. Fic.

Ohana Means Family by SensationalSunburst @sensationalsunburst | He honestly thought they were going to make it.David understood that adrenaline could make time feel like it was crawling by; make seconds turn to minutes turn to lifetimes. He’d experienced it before. But when a man to his left, up next to Andrew's lot, raised a bottle high, red flushed face contorted in a sneer, he felt time slow to molasses around him.

Part of the Return of Dad!Mack series, in this one, Wymack takes a hit meant for Andrew.

Where You Lead by gluupor @gluupor | When Neil promised Kayleigh that he'd look out for Kevin if anything ever happened to her he'd never expected to be a single teenage father hiding out in a small town. Luckily the town's residents seem keen to adopt them. A Gilmore Girls AU where Kevin's a kid, Neil's his caffeine-addict father, and Andrew's a grumpy diner owner who loves them both.

Part of a just-the-right amount of sweet series set in a small town.

Skilled by wildfrancium @lexatargaryen | Neil has a talent for deactivating sensors that tell doctors when a patient takes their medication. Andrew, a famous Exy player, has a sensor that needs deactivating.

Very cool sci fi.

Kintsugi by SensationalSunburst @sensationalsunburst | “He saw our scars and thought they'd been fixed with gold, like the pottery in the book.” Neil blinked, stunned. “Kids this age are honest.” Andrew said, “They haven't learned to lie.”

This whole series (Small Angry Gardeners) is fantastic, featuring post canon andreil playing pro exy and living in the suburbs. This piece shows Kevin’s son reacting to their scars...it’s beautiful.

Crossfire by RoseGold_En @foxhole-pipe-dream | The year is 2073. Andrew and Aaron Minyard are twins born into a world with a strict one-child policy due to overpopulation. They take on a singular identity as "Adam Minyard", with only one of them allowed outside at a time. Siblings who are discovered are separated from their families and put into an eternal cryosleep. One day, Andrew disappears. Aaron and Nicky have to find him while maintaining the twins' cover. It's up to Aaron to find out who sold them out and why a bureau agent named "Neil" knows his brother's real name.

An excellent distopian au

A Mewment Like This Series by fuzzballsheltiepants @fuzzballsheltiepants | “...will the owner of the cat with the stupid name come back here? Your cat is trying to kill the vet.” And Neil and Andrew both stand up.

A continuing series of vignettes featuring pre-relationship andreil (so far), their cats Sir and King, and various aftg characters. Andrew cooks, and Neil is grateful.

Two Bros Five Feet Apart by Leahelisabeth (fortheloveofcamelot) @leahlisabeth | Jeremy's girlfriend dumps him on the eve of a romantic vacation. Jean fills in.

Jeremy and Jean fake dating on a cruise ship. Cue adorableness.

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 6, Number 2

Grisha Shakhnes

Time for another collection of short, sharp reviews, covering a gamut of styles. Our most tireless contributor, Bill Meyer, turned in a record eight Dusts this time, so if you like jazz, improv and experimental music, this is your edition. Other writers included Ray Garraty, Jennifer Kelly, Justin Cober-Lake, Tim Clarke and Ian Mathers.

Max B — House Money (Self-released)

Max B is doing 75 years in prison, yet before his bid he recorded a lot of music to be used by trusted collaborators. Last year’s Coke Wave 5 with French Montana felt authentic enough to be confused with Max’s pre-prison mixtapes, only a bit more polished. This new EP is no less wave-y and goofy, but too many guest verses dilute the fun. If French, with whom Max B recorded a lot of mixtapes together, seems like a natural collaborator, the rest of the guests are an uneasy fit. House Money is a Frankenstein-y affair exactly because Max himself wouldn’t invite them to his booth (not that they are lousy talents, they are just on a different frequency with Max B). It is probably mixed and produced by someone who thought that these collaborators would attract additional audience, yet the result is the opposite: Max B’s fans would feel alienated by impostors in his own domain.

Ray Garraty

 Jeb Bishop / Jaap Blonk / Weasel Walter / Damon Smith — JaJeWeDa (Balance Point Acoustics)

Pioneer Works Vol. 1 BPA 19 by JeJaWeDa (Jeb Bishop / Jaap Blonk / Weasel Walter / Damon Smith)

No matter how big the stage they occupy, it isn’t big enough for Jaap Blonk and Weasel Walter. Both men are masters of strategic exaggeration. Put them together and a clash is inevitable. Blonk not only spews sound poetry like a symphony of pan-lingual news broadcasts and surreptitiously recorded mouthwash experiments, he manipulates electronics with a video game controller that looks especially ridiculous in his gangly hands. Walter mugs and wallops, each movement lunging simultaneously at your ears and your funny bone. Perhaps you’re wondering, “isn’t this a record review? How will these visual descriptions clue me into the sound?” Play this record and you will know. And you will also marvel at the way bassist Damon Smith and trombonist Jeb Bishop balance the other half of the band’s nuttiness with seriousness so unfailing, you might put your money on them against Roscoe Mitchell in a game of poker.

Bill Meyer

 Ben Carey — Antimatter (Hospital Hill)

ANTIMATTER by Ben Carey

Sydney-based electronic musician Ben Carey played saxophone before he took on modular synthesizers. This may explain the quivering, palpable presence of the sounds he devises; he makes static pulse and shake like swollen lips engaged in the act of vocalizing. His deployments of attenuated tones, sudden swells, and insistent chimes are discontinuous and episodic, but also quite thoughtfully planned out. Both the sudden shifts and the long considerations of discrete elements feel as essential as the unforgettable bridge in a bubblegum cart hit, and the qualities of the sounds Carey ponders amply reward the attention required to follow their shifts in and out of audibility and back and forth across the stereo spectrum. If you’re inclined to get well acquainted with Antimatter, consider springing for the LP. Since both Carey and his label are situated in Australia, it might take some looking and spending, but Rashad Becker’s cut and the 45-rpm playing speed guarantee maximum presence.

Bill Meyer  

 John Chantler — Tomorrow Is Too Late (Room40)

Tomorrow Is Too Late by John Chantler

From the pig’s ass on the sleeve to the titles of the album’s two tracks, John Chantler’s Tomorrow is Too Late promises to deal with endings. But when you put the record on, you find yourself adrift in events that defy linear description, let alone the definition of a final point. Oh, sure, both of them end, but they don’t spend the time leading up to those terminations making sure that you know where they’re going. The title track was commissioned for the 2018 iteration of the French electronic music institution INA GRM’s Présences Électronique festival, and most of its sounds were obtained from a François Coupigny synthesizer that is over 50 years old. Rare earl synths are like worlds unto themselves, and the listener is adrift with Chantler as he invites sounds to converge, dispel, and recongregate in winking, restless masses. On “We’re Always at the End,” the electronic sound convergence make way for a pipe organ, which coheres into a solid sonic presence, but when it disappears, the piece does not. This is music to inhabit, over and over again.

Bill Meyer 

 Richard Dawson — 2020 (Weird World)

2020 by Richard Dawson

This sixth full-length from cult songwriter Richard Dawson unspools like a series of linked short stories, the characters sharing a blighted, latter-day English backdrop and perhaps avoiding one another’s eyes as they pass on the streets. Sung in Dawson’s wavery tenor — with flights up into a very uncertain falsetto — and backed with the most straightforward of rock-ish instrumental arrangements, the songs flourish in their specificity. The metal-riffing “Jogging,” for instance, tells the story of a mid-life crisis with startling exact-ness, an ex-school counselor, laid off and too anxious to leave the house, advised by a doctor to take up jogging. The story is told first person, in the most straightforward way possible, with minimal embellishments. If it weren’t for the crashing guitar chords, the squiggly lines of synth, you might be listening to a friend over coffee.  The scenarios are mostly dreary, of people stuck in soul-sucking jobs, in towns where things go wrong through neglect and inertia. Yet, once in a while the sun comes piercing through, and life, however stunted and bare and grey, turns ever so slightly hopeful. I’ll leave you with verse from lacerating “The Queen’s Head.”

“The guy from the vape shop Ferrying his chocolate labs Waves to us cheerily From a leaky kayak ‘I've lost everything apart from what counts’ Pointing to his dogs and then at his heart.”

Now that’s a pre-chorus.

Jennifer Kelly

 Frank Denyer — The Boundaries of Intimacy (Another Timbre)

On The Boundaries of Intimacy, composer Frank Denyer explores volume dropped to a soft level. The approach produces a sort of intimacy, nearly everything sounds hushed, although it remains unclear whether, as listeners, we're leaning into a confidant or cupping our hand to a wall to eavesdrop. Regardless of our position as listeners, Denyer continues his work with unpredictable instrumentation, highlighting sneh and koto playing in various places (including two version of a koto piece), and combining flute and electronics for a strange tonal study called “Beyond the Boundaries of Intimacy.” When he works with a more traditional set of instruments, as on “String Quartet,” the ostensibly comfortable sounds become unfamiliar, an experienced aided by Denyer's play with dynamics, turning from a crescendo to a near disappearance. Denyer presents those sorts of challenges across these pieces (written over the past 40 years). He requires attentive, patient listening, but rewards it with unsettling experiences.

Justin Cober-Lake

 Avram Fefer Quartet—Testament (Clean Feed)

This record is credited to the Avram Fefer Quartet, and it’s true that the Brooklyn-based alto and tenor saxophone wrote the tunes and leads the band. But he’s not necessarily the guy you will listen to every time that you play it. Not that there’s anything wrong with Fefer’s playing, which combines Sonny Rollins’ muscularity with an affinity for bold melodies rooted equally in soul jazz and West African pop music. He’s got ideas, emotion and chops to spare. But damn, what a band! Fefer and bassist Eric Revis have an association going back to the 1990s; no matter which way the music rolls, the foundation is solid. Drummer Chad Taylor is a regular member of a trio with Fefer and Revis which made a couple records a decade or so back, and he’s also a member of bands led by Revis and guitarist Marc Ribot. Taylor never misses a chance to turn the music up a little closer to a boil, and the blues-rooted tone that Ribot favors here adds steely sentiment to the blues, mass to the Afrobeat repetitions, and confident complexity to the free interludes in this music. So, if your attention wavers from the saxophone for a second, it’s probably because you’re listening to how one of his accompanists is playing off of another one. Wotta band!

Bill Meyer  

  Roc Marciano — Marcielago (Self-released)

In “Saw” Roc Marciano says, “Sometimes I pinch myself in disbelief,” referring to a level of fame he’s achieved after 20 years in the rap game. The listeners are pinching themselves as well, but for a different reason: Marciano doesn’t repeat himself. Roc Marci works with his lyrics on two levels: line by line as well as bar by bar. As defined by Marci, his songs are “poetry over beats.”Marcielago is a quieter effort, closer to Rosebudd’s Revenge 1 and 2, than to 2018’s KAOS and Behold a Dark Horse. To rephrase the poet himself, on Marcielago he’s more like a pimp than a mack. The standout here is “Ephesians” which starts with early electronica and then explodes into a full-scale attack. Marci’s long time collaborator Ka spits here a verse which does an impossible thing: Marciano is murdered on his own turf.

Ray Garraty

 Machtelinckx / Badenhorst / Cools / Gouband — Porous Structures (Aspen Edities)

porous structures by Machtelinckx/Badenhorst/Cools/Gouband

This quartet comprises two steel-stringed acoustic guitarists, one percussionist prone to placing stones on his drums, and one clarinet and a saxophone player who likes to sing. The album’s title implies permeability, and the music delivers by creating the impression of actions happen in different places at the same time. Ruben Machtelinckx and Bert Cools’ guitars create structures made of slow-moving, finger-picked patterns. Toma Gouband and Joachim Badenhorst often sound like they are playing in some resonant space outside of the guitars’ sanctuary, where their sounds can spread a halo of echo around and occasionally blow through the dry, close-miked string sounds. The former’s rattling rocks create more texture than motion; the latter’s distant croons and spare tones create a sense of distance. In their own quiet way, these musicians have arrived at a sound that can’t be mistaken for anyone else’s.

Bill Meyer

  Salim Nourallah — Jesus of Sad (Palo Santo)

The narrators of Salim Nourallah's songs don't often find things going so well. Nourallah's taken that point to its logical conclusion on new EP Jesus of Sad. Rather than indulging depressive tendencies, though, the songwriter brings his sense of humor for a parodic take. “So, you think you've suffered?” he sings to open the disc. “I sip the tears of the world from my coffee cup.” The hyperbole might immediately develops his exaggerated character. Accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Billy Harvey, Nourallah moves on to “Born with a Broken Heart,” a funky number owing something to Soul Coughing while providing one of the best bass lines in his catalog. The cut's full of wit while addressing serious questions about faith, gender equality, and more.  

“This Doesn't Feel like Peace, Love, or Understanding” (the second track here to echo a Nick Lowe title) sounds like quintessential Nourallah, with a pop-rock sound that would have fit on any of his last few records and a relatable sentiment conveyed in smart lyrics. Two versions of “Misanthrope” close out the disc. Nourallah co-wrote the song with Rhett Miller, but here he turns away from the Old 97's' bouncy version (called“She Hates Everyone”). Nourallah slows it down, building complex feelings; he can't fully enjoy his strange love now under his anxiety about the future. It closes the EP well, being yet more honest emotion that manages to misdirect and complicate things, the true heart covered by the knowing satire of “Jesus of Sad.”

Justin Cober-Lake

 Parashi—Tape From Oort Cloud (Sedimental/Skell)

When a record provokes images of a Captain Beefheart lyric turned inside out, you know its makers are on to something. The squelchy sounds that usher in “The Vanishing Coast,” which is the first of this LP’s four tracks, does not bring to mind synthesizers, even though that’s what Mike Griffin (that’s Mr. Parashi to you) probably used some time them. Nor does it bring to mind someone else’s record. Rather, I hear the words “slow and bulbous” as the music sinks slowly into its own swampy stealth. “Broadcast Failures” leaves even those alinear coordinates behind as it pings its way woozily into the depths. The titular malfunctions might be echoed calls which fail to distract the sonar-like main body of sound, or the squashed, distant carousel that follows. Or maybe it doesn’t. File this under best practice befuddlement, but be sure to tape a bookmark to the plastic outer sleeve to remind yourself of the necessity of playing it.

Bill Meyer 

Tom Redwood — The Glue (self released)

The Glue by Tom Redwood

With The Glue, his fourth album, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter Tom Redwood has tapped into a rewarding strain of country/folk that pulls hard on traditional roots, while adding a knowing wink, flowing performances, and plenty of tuneful song craft. As in Jim O’Rourke’s beloved series of Drag City albums, the music-making is taken seriously but is undercut by self-deprecating humor. On “Easy Love” Redwood sings, “When I was young I was easy loving / But now that I’m old, I’m not so dumb,” and on the title track he makes a playful reference to “round, gorgeous thighs.” He’s not afraid to play it straight, though, such as on the haunting “Cold Mother Night,” and reflective closer ��Shut the Door.” There’s superb lap steel playing by Kier Stevens, smart counterpoint on guitar and “cheesy keys” from producer Matt Walker, and ethereal backing vocals from Rosie Luby, which contrasts nicely with Redwood’s aw-shucks delivery.

Tim Clarke

 Grisha Shakhnes — Being There (Unfathomless)

being there by grisha shakhnes

Being There presents the listener with a document of actor, action and the arena in which the former enacts the latter. Essentially, Grisha Shakhnes recorded himself recording and recorded the room in which he was recording. Sometimes a recording device filters the subjects of his inquiry on the way to the recorder; while the sounds were captured by a Zoom digital recorded, some of them went through a Rvox reel-to-reel tape deck along the way. Equipped with the knowledge that you’re hearing Shakhnes making recordings, you quickly find yourself making decisions about what sounds to follow, and then dealing with the consequences of the choices you made as your act of following draws you into the chain of events that made the album in the first place. You are present with Shakhnes, sharing in the creation of Being There.

Bill Meyer

 Six by Seven — Dream On (Cargo)

D R E A M . O N by six by seven

One of the great shoulda beens of 1990s British rock (on the other side of the Atlantic, it’s doubtful anyone not reading something like the NME at the time would have heard much of them), Six by Seven are also one of the few from that era to keep going in a way that’s not just repeating old glories. Now almost entirely just frontman Chris Olley (his son Charlie drums here, but otherwise it’s a solo show) you wouldn’t guess it from the massive, warmly analogue psychedelic/motorik drones and drifts here. Stylistically speaking, Olley can be a restless guy, never really revisiting the glory of Six by Seven’s first three albums (what you might call their classic period, and well worth checking out) but also covering an astonishing breadth during the years since. The recent Dream On is as good a place to dip into his stream of work as any, boasting three massive soundscapes (the best of which might be “And No One Knows Your Name” as well as briefer, dreamier song like “Hey Kid” and the title track. Both his muse and the demands of making music your day job keep Olley forever moving, though — even writing up this release was marked by the appearance of a double album-length Dream On 2, so anyone on Olley’s wavelength can expect a lot to keep up with.  

Ian Mathers

[teejkippen-blog]

Andi Mack Season 3 Promo: Predictions and Thoughts

I really enjoy reading people’s thoughts, predictions, theories, speculation, etc., about the show, so I wanted my first post on here to be me sharing my own. Here are my hot takes. This post is pretty image heavy.

3x01 - The Boys Are Back

I think the first episode will begin with this scene of the highly anticipated wedding, but then Jonah appears as Bowie and it is revealed to be Andi’s dream/nightmare. It is a comedic moment and it will immediately cut to the intro credits afterwards. 

Make of this what you will. It seems like Millicent Simmonds was on set (based on Peyton’s outfit), but the episode descriptions lead me to believe that her character is introduced no earlier than episode 3.

In the exclusive clip, we saw Bex give Andi a makeover as Andi anxiously awaits Jonah’s return from the Frisbee war. Funny that Bex says “Nobody ever looks like that when they run into a guy from their past. They usually look like this.” because Bowie is the one actually at the door. Bowie and Bex are finally on the same page about getting engaged. 

The Good Hair Crew is hanging out at the Spoon and Walker enters. Andi thinks that he’s here to see her, but Buffy tells her otherwise. Buffy admits that her and Walker have been dating over the summer and Andi is surprised. We pretend to be surprised. Andi storms out of the Spoon, and a rift between Andi and Buffy is created. Andi is either upset that Buffy has been hiding this for so long, or she has unresolved feelings for Walker. Or both. Probably both. 

After that fiasco, Andi goes home. Maybe she tells Bex about it.

Andi is still feeling conflicted about Buffy and Walker. Our friend Walker invites himself over to Bex’s apartment and tries to convince Andi to reconcile with Buffy. This could take place the same episode or episode 3 (after the group outing.)  

3x02 - Howling At the Moon Festival

This episode will parallel 2x02 (Chinese New Year.) Andi’s family and friends will be celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival which is on September 24. Let me remind you that Andi’s canonical birthday is September 28. Neither of the following episode descriptions mention Andi celebrating her 14th birthday. Did the writers forget this or did they purposefully leave it out? It seems like a good opportunity to throwback to 1x01, which is Andi’s 13th birthday, the event that started it all. Time is truly an illusion in Shadyside, Midwest.

Anyway, the Mack family tradition of one-upping each other is back. This time Mei does not stand a chance, because Celia has it in the bag with the announcement of Bowie and Bex’s engagement. 

Jonah’s mishap leads to him having a panic attack, and Cyrus tries to help him. His attempts to conceal his panic attacks from Andi prove to be futile when Andi witnesses this one. Outside, Jonah admits to Andi that he has been suffering with panic attacks and scares. Andi reassures him that she does not think of him as any less because of this. This seems like it will be a sweet moment and I’m excited for it. Sue me. 

3x03 - It’s a Dilemma/3x04 - Hole in the Wall

Andi’s group outing is interrupted by Walker. Well this is certainly a group outing, and Walker is there indeed. Maybe this isn’t the group outing described in episode 3. Regardless of what episode this is, sticky situations like Andi, Buffy, and Walker in one canoe usually end up resolving conflicts. 

Maybe this is the group outing instead. 

In 2x19 (Andi’s Choice) there was an emphasis on how Being Around You was written mostly by Bowie. I think what we’re seeing here is Jonah’s attempt to perform an original song about Andi. Unfortunately, Jonah hasn’t been able to hone his songwriting skills and the lyrics are terrible, causing Andi to feel embarrassed in front of the whole cafeteria. It’s okay Andi, you will be able to look past this one day. Look past Jonah right now. There’s a pizza party poster. 

This scene from the promo is so similar to 2x12 (We Were Never) that I expect Jandi will decide to break up or take a break after the song is performed.

Andi sees Jonah cheating on her or getting over her almost immediately? I think not. This is likely a misunderstanding. What I can see happening here is out of jealousy, Andi marches over to give them a piece of her mind. Millicent's character is confused and Jonah has to explain to Andi that she is Bowie’s new guitar student and deaf. This provides an opportunity for the show to educate the viewers. 

We get one shot of Buffy holding basketball team tryouts and she looks stunned. We can assume that this is the first appearance of Raquel Justice’s character. Could that be Buffy’s reaction to seeing her? I think it is possible that Buffy knows her from the girl’s team in Arizona, or they used to know each other even before that.  Or that could be Buffy’s reaction to Raquel’s character showing off her basketball skills. Some people have speculated that she is Marty’s girlfriend but the tryouts were filmed before Garren would officially come back. For her to be his girlfriend, Disney would need to have a lot of faith in him coming back, so this theory is unlikely. Regardless, I predict that Raquel’s character will be a foil for Buffy. They are so similar in their appearance, sporty style and interest in basketball that there must be crucial difference(s) in their personality traits.

Other Episodes

This quick shot is from what is likely another episode starring Millicent that follows after episode 4. Notice the ASL shirt one of the girls has.

The conflict between Andi and Buffy causes Andi to develop her friendship with Amber. Andi and Amber sneak out again, but this time to a high school party. Bowie finds out and Andi gets in trouble again. I don’t have much to say for this one, except for that I think it will probably end in an emotional father-daughter moment. I don’t think that this will be as dramatic as it is portrayed in the promo. Also, Andi is wearing the same outfit as in that Instagram photo that caused speculation that there would be a Jandi and Tyrus double date, but the main plot of this episode appears to be Andi and Bowie’s relationship and Amber/Amber’s redemption arc.

I think we can rule out Cyrus being in trouble with the law. Although dark, it’s possible that the police is there to notify him that one of his family members died of unnatural causes. This could just be a comedic moment though.

The blonde boy is just a plot device to get TJ jealous and have him inevitably admit his feelings to Cyrus. If what appears to be them having tension in the cafeteria is connected to the dirt bike scene, then TJ probably ended up not reacting well to whatever was going on there. TJ has a history of not being able to handle insecurity and jealousy civily. Some people think that TJ is not jealous in that scene, but it was shown immediately after Andi displays obvious jealousy of Jonah and Millicent’s character, which leads me to believe otherwise. 

Who knows what’s going on here. It’s probably not that important anyway. (Prove me wrong, show.)

Cece looks rather upset and concerned. This could be after Andi gets in trouble. 

Amber’s redemption arc has been, and may continue to be, a bumpy one.

I hope this was somewhat insightful, and thank you for reading! 

Disclaimer: These are predictions.

[disaster-ace-is-me]

my favorite lyrics i've written

hi, i'm making a list of lyrics that i wrote in my songs that i absolutely love because i want to <3 (i'll be adding more as i think of them)

"i don't know what made me fall in love with the rain/was it the feeling of drowning or all my troubles washing away?" - somebody else

"i see your face in every sunset/your name tattooed on my lips" - lights with the fast cars

"so i'll stay out of empty dive bars/if you steer clear of the lights with the fast cars" - lights with the fast cars

"so as i pour another bottle of wine/i wish i never had your number memorized" - no i don't

"and since you won't be missing me/you don't know where i'll be" - where i'll be

"and as i stare out an open window/lost in this song's crescendo" - if you're listening

"but now you're so out of reach/that i'm just left to dream of you" - if you're listening

"at least let me know you won't catch me when i fall" - if you're listening

"and now the weight of my world is finally off my shoulders/and you're with some other girl and my bed is so much colder" - camera film

"hearing your voice through polaroids" - camera film

"i lurk in the dark as part of your collection/i live in the stars that shine in your reflection" - no brother of mine

"conqueror, you conqueror of my most glorious land/monster, you monster of a godforsaken man" - no brother of mine

"and i lost you when i didn't know i had you/but i guess you found yourself fine" - ephemeral summer days

"cover my wounds with believable laughter/if it's an art then i am the master" - don't feel better

"you do more than haunt with your cursed letters" - don't feel better

“stop motion pictures probably ain’t gonna work this time/looking for the old color videos back when they were easier to find” - the year

“what's left of me is the echoing of a broken drum” - the year

“the heartache needs a melody/or the music will fade away” - the year

“and i pretend i’m alright/‘cause if i lose my fury, then my vision’s blurry and you’ll start to worry” - blankets

“and you’ve never felt the pain/of having someone burst at your words with all this hurt” - blankets

“so i’ll wrap myself in blankets and try to fake it till i make it/but what if i’m breaking?” - blankets

“from up above, the stars shine brighter/i’m losing ground after soaring higher” - blankets

“your fearful grip is getting tighter/‘cause the circumstance’s getting dire” - blankets

“you had my walls broken/and left my door wide open” - cool

“bend until we break/break until we bleed” - holy tomb

“i gave you my all, you never gave me your hand” - heaven and hell

“if heaven and hell collided, i know you would stay the same/and if the earth subsided, i still wouldn’t have won your game” - heaven and hell

“your love is a war and you had me drafted/you saw my rainbow and had it refracted” - heaven and hell

“drinking champagne with all my enemies/then drowning in whiskey with all my family/i’m flying but i’m not soaring” - broken by a broken man

“what if i die without ever knowing who i am?” - broken by a broken man

“you’re damned if you don’t and you’re damned if you do/you’re what everyone wants if you’re broken and blue/i’ve been crying but do you even miss me?” - broken by a broken man

“i was on fire, but that’s all turned to embers now” - smoke

“and now i’m fine with not being the brightest flame” - smoke

“i didn’t notice i was breathing in my own smoke” - smoke

“like a small candle, i now burn with peace and serenity” - smoke

“i didn’t like dancing in the rain but now i don’t mind” - smoke

“you expected better, and honestly i did too/for the last time in forever, i’ve got everything to lose” - bruise

“it’s kinda dark in here/and this floor feels kinda weird/but it’s alright for now” - dark

“i see a light under the door/dad can’t find what he’s looking for/time might be running out” - dark

“but in the corner i found some of my old toys/so it’s alright for now” - dark

“the colors are so much brighter out here/i haven’t smiled quite like this in years/‘cause it’s alright now” - dark

“now i wear my heart on my hand/don’t you ever let it go” - pink

“you’re my favorite shade of pink” - pink

“and instead of sleeping i’m dreaming/and wishing we talked like we did before/and instead of lying i’m writing/this song to tell you that i miss you more” - i miss you more

“after all these years of tears you would think we’d learned/but we fought fire with fire and we both got burned” - remember

“you keep whispers in your locker/but rumors in your pocket” - the outside

“i still sing the songs that we made up as we went/but it’s a little hard to sing the solo and not duet” - i wanted to thank you

“i’m so glad that i could preserve your purpose” - i wanted to thank you

“and as you drive on by/i won’t say i got butterflies” - i like you

“the flashbacks blend too well with the fantasies” - won’t be today

“but nothing heals the past like time/unless that phrase was just another lie” - won’t be today

“i keep thinking that you should come home/but that’s just ‘cause i don’t wanna be alone/i keep wishing that you would come back/but that’s just ‘cause i wanna get my mind on track/and in the end i know everything will be okay/but that won’t be tomorrow/and it sure as hell won’t be today” - won’t be today

“you would think time would pass me by/a little while after we’d said goodbye” - sorry

“but you’re still here/burned into my mind” - sorry

"i hate that i feel like everyone hates the way i drift in and out of conversations" - sky harbor

"like i'm waiting for the ocean waves to/take me under, so i can drift away forevermore/and they can carry me from this old coastline/but that road isn't stable, and i don't know what i'd be heading towards" - sky harbor

"and i just took off from sky harbor/but my mind feels like it's drowning in the water" - sky harbor

"my mind takes off faster/than the planes in sky harbor" - sky harbor

"five long years of the drought/my mind was running out/of reasons to keep pushing through" - in better circumstances

"i still feel like a stranger in my own skin/but at least i can say i've got someone to face it with" - in better circumstances

"i know in better circumstances i'd love you the same" - in better circumstances

"the tables turn/you live and learn/you crash and burn/and your demons return" - time flies

"and i'm laying on my deathbed/and i can't close my eyes" - time flies

"the golden age of broken bones/and kingdoms and thrones/and journeys to the unknown" - time flies

"but then i moved on/and the nights got too long/i forgot my favorite songs/and where i belonged" - time flies

"love every last drop/of innocence on your face" - time flies

"you make me feel stranded in my own crowd" - single me out

"push all my buttons 'til my circuit's fried/and then push me aside" - single me out

"i'm holding my heart out in my hands/tryna figure out where we stand" - dangerous

"i don't know if i love or hate you/but there's no taking back the tears that i gave you" - dangerous

"who do we think we're fooling?/with you i feel so unhuman" - dangerous

"every little fight breaks me up/more than i would like, we're dangerous" - dangerous

"every path we walk is treacherous/i think we both know we're dangerous" - dangerous

"my mind's flooded with empty words/but clearly they mean something to you/blank love letters and unsent messages/that you'll never know true" - limitations

"when i was 15, nobody believed me/when i said 'nobody wins these days'/now we're all living proof that when you're broken and blue/everything you worked for fades further away" - limitations

"i write so much about moving on/but my past still circles in my head" - limitations

"and i know i could go so much father/if i didn't focus on all the expectations/but every time i try to work harder/i never seem to beat my limitations" - limitations

"have i always felt this alone/or do i just say that in all my songs?" - limitations

"then why's it hard to be myself?/look to the looking glass for help/realized i've done this before/god what was all that healing for?" - oh here we go

[jonathangroffcentral]

Broadway’s Jonathan Groff is the next Hugh Jackman

By Michael Riedel - January 24, 2018

I have found the next Hugh Jackman.

And he is . . . Jonathan Groff.

Everybody — and I mean everybody on Broadway — is talking up his performance in “The Bobby Darin Story” at the 92nd Street Y.

Jackman became famous playing Peter Allen on Broadway in “The Boy From Oz,” and Groff is doing the same thing as Darin in a show we should call “The Boy From East Harlem,” because that’s where the great “Mack the Knife” singer was born.

Groff splish-splashed his way across the stage to cheers from the crowd — a crowd that included some heavy-hitting Broadway producers.

“Chicago” producer Barry Weissler was there and, I’m told, is trying to get the rights as I write this.

“The Bobby Darin Story” was put together by Ted Chapin, who’s producing the Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists program.

Chapin, who oversees the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein estates, was in Australia when he came across this little out-of-the-way show and thought it might make a nice addition to the 92nd Street Y series.

He thought of Groff — who made a sizzling debut in Broadway’s “Spring Awakening” and had a comic turn in “Hamilton” as King George III — as a song-and-dance man in the Jackman mold.

Groff, it turns out, is a Darin fan, and can match you at any karaoke night with “Mack the Knife.”

The 32-year-old jumped at the chance to play the famed singer, and what was a three-night concert run is now in play as a Broadway show.

“It was the best show I’ve seen in a long time,” a Broadway agent told me.

Darin’s story was also made into a 2004 movie called “Beyond the Sea” starring He Who Must Not Be Named (Kevin Spacey).

The show’s first act is about Darin’s hardscrabble childhood in East Harlem, where he was born Walden Robert Cassotto. As legend has it, Darin met the rock songwriter and music producer Don Kirshner one day at a candy store in Washington Heights and they started writing jingles together.

But Darin could move and sing in a way that nobody else could and started getting gigs as a performer. Groff, I’m told, moves with the ease and slyness of Darin.

Darin was, as everybody said at the time, the new Frank Sinatra. But he became political, denouncing the war in Vietnam, and his fans, old Sinatra and Bing Crosby stalwarts, turned against him.

He suffered all his life from rheumatic fever, which left him in weak health. He died, after heart surgery, in December 1973, at 37.

But those songs — “Beyond the Sea,” “Mack the Knife,” “Dream Lover” and “Artificial Flowers” (my favorite) — will keep your toes tapping and your fingers snapping.

I love Hugh Jackman. But — you read it here first — Jonathan Groff is about to snatch his crown.