#one more cd is always a win. especially if it's mary

[opanchu]

found a bunch of hungarian cds at this one store and look what i gotttttt ^_^

[lovehugsandcandy]

Find the Lady (BP, Ash x MC)

A/N: So I started this when I was amused by the hijinks of BP and abandoned it when it started to get old but then figured I should try to finish it...because I do love me a snarky LI, don't I? This was already posted in AO3, sorry if you already read it.

Pairing: Ash x MC; mentions of Courtney x Mario ‘BrainMelt’ Bautista, Bachelorette Party

Length: ~3600 words

Rating: PG-13 (Swearing. Someone (?) drinks too many Bloody Marys and gets sick.)

Summary: Find the Lady but Mandy’s the Lady and, if Ash can find her, he’s not letting go.

Ash had to do a double-take, a triple-take, hell, a quadruple-take, when he walked by the open door of the Peanut Butter and Banana Quickie Chapel & Pawn Shop at the far end of the Strip. It wasn’t unusual for the gaudy gold doors to be propped wide open in the spring, Vegas heat not yet in full force, comfortable days still the norm before the fire of the summer arrived; the chapel was small enough that he was able to peer inside, past the makeshift pews, past the smoke machines and disco balls, all the way to the far wall where linen flowers and neon lights surrounded the glitter-gold script of their slogan. One-stop shop! We’ll put a ring on it and take it off your hands, too!

However, none of the garish decor caught Ash’s eye. Instead, it was captured by the trio who stood with their backs to him, speaking to the Elvis impersonator. Now that he looked closer, he could tell that it was the blond girl who hooked up with the magician and the hotshot doctor who just happened to live out East near Mandy. These two were just secondary to the sight that stole his attention though because, right in the middle, always right in the thick of everything, stood the gorgeous lawyer herself, braid cascading down her back as she spoke animatedly to Elvis. 

He wanted to head in, to say hello and take just a second to bask in her attention, to see her face, but he had to pause. If she was here, talking to a quickie minister with Reed at her side, it could only mean one thing. She definitely wouldn’t want him popping back into her life at this exact, special moment. So he took just a minute to watch, her hands flying through the air as she gestured to the flowers, the pedestal. He had to smile, melancholy as it was. He was glad it worked out for them. She deserved to be happy.

~~~~~

He hadn’t seen her in six months; hell, it felt like they had barely spoken over text since she left for the airport with her friends and his heart, but she was never far from his mind. He always knew that he was little more than an interesting diversion in her life, a wild story about the time she was in Vegas and met a two-bit hustler while on the run from the mafia, but for him? She was no drunken exploit or tall tale. Yes, it had been short romance, but it was the first time a tourist wove a path into not only his bed but his mind and his bones and his soul. He could still see her, clear as day, standing on the roof of his shit apartment, bathed in the sun's glow as it peeked over the mountains. 

He would recognize her anywhere.

Which is why he had to do another double-take on the Strip that night. He was in the middle of a game of Find the Lady, a pair of eager college-aged tourists focused on his hands as they followed the familiar routine, over-under left right left, when a dark braid caught his eye for the second time that day. He turned his head, quickly, too quickly, and his hands stuttered, the second card falling from his palm to the pavement below.

The girls in front of him laughed as Ash gaped at the card on the ground. He never messed up this game. “Wow, ladies.” He pulled his best smile out. “I think you both distracted me. You win this time.” He knelt to grab his card and held out the deck again. “Best two out of three?”

Once they had finally wandered off, after five more games where he made sure he focused only on his cards, not the gorgeous brunette he was certain he saw, he scanned the crowd intently. Nothing. He looked around.

“Jayson, man, did you see-?”

“I’m not helping you.” Jayson held up his discs. “I’ve had no success tonight because you keep telling people my mix tape is just me at karaoke.”

“It is you at karaoke. It’s not even good karaoke; it’s a clip from your phone at Club Yamang that ends with you screaming at a bouncer as they throw you out.”

“I told them I paid my tab.” Jayson glared.

“Yeah, with a stolen credit card.”

“Man, shut up, you don’t need to blow up my spot.”

“You have no spot.” Ash was still scanning the crowd, Strip packed with tourists and grifters and hustlers enjoying the glittering facades around them. “Do you remember-”

“I remember nothing.” Ash sighed as Jayson stalked off, clutching his CDs under one arm as he looked for his next victim.

With one last look around, Ash shook his head and got back to work. It’s not like she was here to find him anyway.

~~~~~

The next night found him outside the strip club, LIV DUDS blinking in the window. Shitty exterior aside, it was always packed on Saturdays, an easy way to catch willing coeds as they streamed out of the club, high on the buzz that only scantily clad strippers provided.

He was far from the door, eyeing the crowd and waiting for someone who seemed willing to play, when a shout made him turn.

“BACHELORETTE PARTY PART TWO! WOOHOO! ALL THE FUN WITH NONE OF THE GUNSHOTS!” His jaw dropped. It was the blond again, Courtney, the one with the enormous wild streak and dirty mind. She was bouncing, vibrating, visibly excited at being in her element again. And trailing behind her? Ash watched as the three amigos walked out, the senator’s ex and the one with the sketchy job and then, trailing behind with a blush on her cheeks and smile on her face, there she was. Mandy always took his breath away, every time he saw her, and this was no exception.

He stood, frozen on the spot, watching her talk on her cell, hands gesturing, as Diana put her hands on her shoulders to hustle her into a waiting Dryve.

Crap. 

He sprinted forward but watched as the backdoor shut, car lurching and pulling out into traffic.

Fuck. He glanced around, eyes falling on an idling cab. He dashed to the window, knocking frantically.

“I need a- Gene?”

Gene rolled down his window. “’Sup, Ash?”

“I thought you were still pretending to be a human statue by the Bellagio.”

“Meh. Gold paint took forever to wash off, especially when it got inside those tiny shorts and irritated my-”

“TOO MUCH INFORMATION!” Ash grimaced, making a mental note to bleach his brain as soon as he got home. “Anyway, I need a ride. Now.”

“I’m on my break!” Gene gestured to the tuna sandwich in his hands. “I haven’t eaten all day!” The words were barely intelligible around the giant bite in his mouth. 

Ash could just make out the taillights of their car heading downtown. With a deep breath, he opened the door and yanked Gene out of the driver’s seat.

“What the-”

“Here.” Ash pulled open the back door and shoveled him in before hopping behind the wheel, turning the engine, and peeling out. He could just make out the rideshare and had suddenly never been so grateful that the Strip was a long, flat line. “Just sit and enjoy.”

There was a rustling in the back and then a thud as Gene dove towards the floor. “My sandwich!”

“I’m sure it’s fine.”

“You stole my cab.” He was pouting, brushing off the grime from his food, but Ash sensed that it was halfhearted as he settled into the seat and stepped on the gas.

“Not stealing-you’re in it!”

Ash saw Gene take a giant bite of his dinner in the rear-view mirror. “Still stealing,” he sulked.

“Risk I’m willing to take.” He didn’t know what he would say to her if he caught up to them. ‘Congratulations’ seemed a little too fake, ‘Remember me?’ a little too bitter.

“Grand theft auto here. I can’t believe I took financial advice from a thief!”

“Not a thief, I’m borrowing. Much like one does with a loan when they incur a debt. But I’m giving your collateral back when we catch up with that car!” Ash concentrated on darting between traffic, keeping the Dryve in sight, winding his way up the Strip, past the familiar glittering lights and lively casinos. “And, come on! It’s Vegas! Live a little!”

“View’s different back here.”

“That’s the spirit. Enjoy the ride, man.”

Gene gazed out the window. “Did you know that Dirty Harry’s has half priced drinks tonight?”

“Yeah, they do every year on Clint Eastwood’s birthday,” Ash answered idly, focused on getting closer to the girls’ car, gaining some distance as it started to slow down.

“Hmm….” Gene peered at him. “You’ve been doing this a long time, haven’t you kid?”

“Stealing cabs?”

“Hustling on the Strip.”

“About ten years.”

“You ever think about doing something else?”

Ash thought to the manuscript saved on his laptop, forty thousand words, a treatise on hustling tourists and taking risks in the world capital of risky decisions, only partially completed before he lost his motivation, right around the time he realized he lost Mandy for good. He thought about his book and how maybe he could write from anywhere, even from the ritzy East Coast city where doctors and lawyers met and drank expensive whisky with their expensive degrees on the wall. 

He swallowed. Gene was still looking intently at him, eyes peering into him like he read minds. “Sometimes,” Ash responded with a shrug. “But right now, I’m just thinking about catching up to that Dryve.”

“Just don’t crash my cab. I don’t need anymore debt!”

“You got it.”

Finally, after running two red lights, a nerve-wracking close call with a drunk tourist, and inventive insults from the backseat that Gene should definitely trademark, the Dryve pulled up to a stop; he could see the Girl Scouts jump out and file into their hotel.

He screeched to a stop in front of the building, wincing as the valet dove out of the way. “Ok, take your cab, Gene. Here’s my stop.”

He slammed out of the cab but the “Hey, Ash?” from behind him made him turn.

“Yeah?”

“Good luck with your girl.” He had to smile. Of course Gene knew who they were chasing. Ash had always been obvious.

“Thanks, man. Thanks for everything.”

With that, he raced into the lobby of the hotel, the same hotel where he had accidentally rescued them from the gunman, the same hotel with the forest penthouse and shitty security that seemed to allow Norwegian murderers open access to guest rooms. He shook his head. Focus. No time for a walk down a truly trippy memory lane now; he had to find them. Where could they be?

Luckily, raised voices at the bar to his right were a clear signal. A loud commotion, raised voices, and breaking glass? Bingo.

He skidded into the bar and froze. And blinked. And blinked again. “Ummm....”

“Oh! Hi, Ash.” Aisha gave him a quick wave and then returned to the task at hand, trying to corral an overwhelmed Courtney while bobbing and weaving to avoid the signature hand flap. “Courtney, come on!”

“But....” Ash grimaced as her hand collided with Aisha’s shoulder, the slap barely audible with the noise of the insanity in front of him. “But...”

Diana peeked around her friends, barely visible behind the giant thing in front of him. “Hey, Ash.”

“Hi, Diana. Umm...” He blinked again, wondering if he blinked enough times, the vision in front of him would fade. Did he hit his head? “Is that an ostrich?”

She scoffed at him. “It’s an emu!”

“Why the hell do you have an emu?”

Courtney was still flapping her hands, limbs vibrating as she stood; Diana edged away from her and muttered,  “.... because we’re staying in the rain forest suite again?”

“What. Do emus even live in the rain forest?” The emu looked unfazed. 

“Who cares, Ash!?! Do I look like I watch National Geographic?”

“Yes?” He took in her prim outfit, the severe look on her face, and the bottle of electrolyte water in her hand. He nodded definitively. “Yes. You look like your idea of a wild night is binging National Geographic in a bathrobe and fuzzy slippers while wearing a face mask and drinking a green juice.”

She wrinkled her nose. “That was so specific that it feels like you were spying on me last weekend.”

He rubbed his temples. “Ok, where the hell did you get an emu?”

Courtney had calmed enough to join the world of the semi-functional and jumped in, “Ash, it’s Vegas! You can get anything here!” She lovingly stroked the neck of the bird; it seemed like it enjoyed the attention. Then again, who knew? “They still haven’t supplied any cute animals, so we had to find our own!”

“You mean, you stole it from the zoo.” Ash whirled to see Mandy walking in, a severe man in zookeeper garb trailing behind her.

“Borrowed!” Courtney’s voice did the screech-thing again.

“Stole and hid it in the suite until it escaped because no one fed it!” Mandy put her hands on her hips.

“What?!?! I left it cocktail weenies and made it Bloody Marys from the mini fridge!”

“It eats seeds. Insects. Grass.” The zookeeper edged closer. “It can’t metabolize alcohol; since water is scarce in their natural habitats, they have a tendency to consume vast amounts of liquids so it has reserves when-”

The zookeeper trailed off as the emu made a few grunting noises and, in a stunning display, threw up partially digested hot dogs and red liquid onto the bar floor as the entire group lunged backwards. They all looked at each other in stunned silence.

“Of all the vomit I thought I would see, I really didn’t think it would be from that.” Diana blinked, looking down at the violent red stain on the floor. For once, Ash agreed with her completely. The emu squawked and looked around, nosing its beak towards the bowl of peanuts on the bar. 

“Did that emu just boot and rally?” Courtney sounded as shocked as Ash felt.

The zookeeper sighed. “They really are amazing animals with a fully developed system of-”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, enough with the zoology lesson.” Aisha glared. “Can you get this thing out of here?”

The zookeeper glared. “It’s not a thing. It’s the second largest bird on Earth with a wingspan of-”

“Ok.” Mandy patted his arm. “It’s amazing, but can you please remove it? I’m sure it wants to get back to the zoo.”

“Fine.”

Ash stepped out of the way, watching the zookeeper coo in some bird-language that made the emu duck its head and follow him out of the bar.

“Wow.” Courtney had stars in her eyes. “That creature is majestic.”

Mandy shrugged, catching Ash’s eye for the first time. He felt his heart stop. “Hi, Ash.” Hell, time stopped.

“And that’s our cue...” Courtney grabbed Diana’s arm, and he barely registered them brushing by, Aisha hot on their heels as they entered the bowels of the casino. The only thing he registered was Mandy’s gaze, pinning him in place with the weight of months of unspoken words and missed opportunities. 

She stepped closer and still he couldn’t move. “Earth to Ash.”

“Hey.” He looked behind him, taking in the open pair of barstools, past the pile of emu vomit on the ground, and set his shoulders. “Do you want to grab a drink? Not Bloody Mary’s?”

He could barely focus on anything else as they settled down at the bar and waited for their drinks. The dim lighting made her seem shadowy, gauzy, as if she were floating in and out of his daydreams; he had to shake his head and take a swig as soon as the beer was placed in front of him. It seemed like she was already so close to fading away, back into her normal life and out of his reach.

“I wondered if we would find you.”

Her voice brought him back to the present, and he shrugged a shoulder. “Vegas is a small place for a local. Also, the four of you cause so much trouble it was only a matter of time.”

“Courtney causes so much trouble.”

“And you’re right there with her.” The smile was impossible to stop. “I seem to remember you getting into trouble all on your own.”

“And I seem to remember you bailing me out a few times.”

“Don’t need to do that anymore.” He winced as the words came out far more bitter than he intended.

“Ash? Why are you…?” She put her hand on his arm and he inhaled sharply, as even that simple touch sent his mind spinning. He pulled away, needing a bit of distance, any distance, something to give him space from the memories of another bar, just like this, another time when he wondered if he would ever see her again. She sighed, watching him, dark eyes cautious and waiting, before she leaned in again to aver, “You know I missed you.”

He had to turn away so she wouldn’t catch his eye roll. “You stopped texting me but it’s ok, I get it.”

“I’ve been working on some things, Ash. I’m sorry but-”

“It’s fine.” He shrugged, lifting his glass. “It’s all transient. You know how it is.” 

“We had something real. You know we did.”

“Aren’t you getting married!?!”

“WHAT?” She stared at him. “To who? What?!?”

“To Reed? The doctor?” Ash shrugged, turning away from her to hide his face. “I saw you at the chapel. And it’s your Bachelorette Party. Congratulations.”

A hand on his cheek turned his face, so he could see Mandy gaping at him. “Reed? Wait, what? No, no, no. He’s here for the wedding, too. Courtney is getting married.”

“Wait, Courtney?” Any happiness he may have felt at the implication that Mandy might be fair game was supplanted by his shock. 

“Yeah. To Mario.”

Ash was so glad that he hadn’t taken another sip of beer because it would have ended up splattered on the marble of the bar. “The MAGICIAN?”

Mandy shrugged. “I think it’s good for her. She needs a bit of stability in her life.”

“I agree, but a magician named Mindblaster is the stability here?” Ash couldn’t stop the scoff.

“Ok. So it’s not a ton of stability.” Mandy smiled. “But they really are a great fit. And she’s happy.”

“Huh.”

She caught his eye. “And I’m not getting married.”

“I see…” It felt like the air had left his lungs. “So, are you saying you’re single?”

“I don’t know about single…” Ash felt his face fall as Mandy looked up at him, curiously. “There is this guy I like….”

He turned to face the bar, grabbing his beer. Of course.

A hand on his arm stopped the bottle halfway to his mouth. “You fool. You know my type. Japanese-American street performers?”

“Pretty niche, you know.” He had to smile ruefully, trying to keep the bitterness from his voice. “You remember you left him behind, right?”

She swallowed. “Ash… I’m moving to Vegas.”

“What?”

“My firm has a rotation program for high potential lawyers.” She looked at her hands. “I was selected and get to work with a top partner at a different branch across the country for nine-month trial period. If it goes well, I might have a permanent position.” Finally, she raised her head to meet his eyes. “It’s a big career opportunity. And I requested to come to Vegas.”

He carefully placed the bottle on the bar. “Are you serious?”

“Starts in two weeks. I want to be more than a tourist here. My career is so important to me, Courtney’s moving here, but I mean…I was hoping you…”

He cut her off with his lips. He just couldn’t stop himself from kissing her, pulling her close so the bar stool tilted and she was supported by his hands on her waist, her thighs against his, reacquainting himself with her lips and her tongue and the small of her back and the soft noise she made in the back of her throat and how her hands clutched his jacket as if she was afraid he would vanish.

Pulling back, he had to grin, eyes tracing over her face, the soft look in her eyes. He’s had some big wins in his life but this one takes the cake. 

“And here I was, thinking of moving out East.”

“Wait, what?” She was still so close to him and he watched the individual lashes surrounding those beautiful eyes flutter as she gazed at him.

He shrugged, feeling bashful. “I missed you.”

“Well, you’re lucky my type is extremely rare back home.”

“Your type....” He couldn’t stop the grin spreading across his face. “Tell me all about this street performer you like. Total hunk, right?”

“No one says that anymore.”

“Dashing hustler by day, fearless mafia fighter by night?” He smirked and leaned closer, drawn to the smile playing around her lips; it called to him, to his every cell, urging him closer.

“You legit peeled away as soon as we got shot at.”

“With an amazing sense of self-preservation?”

Finally, her grin broke into a wide smile, beaming across her face, and burned into his brain. “Oh my God, shut up and kiss me again.”

So he did. Nine months of this with a chance for more? That’s a gamble he’d take every time.

.

Tags:

Perma Tag: @leelee10898 @emichelle @client-327 @choicesgremlin @brightpinkpeppercorn @thequeenofcronuts @lilyofchoices @choicesarehard @desireepow-1986

This Mess: @tinypenguincheesemachine, @lizeboredom 

[yourmandevine]

Come on, come on, come on: get through it

NOTE: A lot of people who have read this have shared their condolences and well wishes, which is really nice. Some have also asked if there was anything they could do for Sean’s family, which is amazing. If you’re able and feel moved to, there is: There’s a college fund for Winnie. Thanks to everyone who has reached out.

***

One of the best friends I’ll ever have died on November 29, after a fight with cancer. He was 36, and he leaves a wife and a young daughter, all of which is an infuriating sin. I’ve been trying to find a way to sit with that. I’m not sure how well I’ve been doing.

I gave the eulogy at his funeral mass. Whenever I’ve talked to people about that, they have apologized to me, have said they were so sorry that I got asked to do that, that I had to do that. It’s weird: I never looked at it like that.

I feel so lucky that I got to know Sean Enos-Robertson -- to really know him, what he cared about, what he loved, what made him so special. You rarely get to know anybody like that, and when you do, sometimes you don’t wind up liking what you see. That never happened with Sean; he was a font of joy, someone who lived to make the lives of others just a little bit better. His wife asked me if I’d write something down and talk to people about this beautiful, amazing person I was so lucky to know. That wasn’t a burden. It was a privilege. An honor.

And now, a few weeks later, as I’m trying to figure out how to process this, I keep thinking that I’d like to share that.

You guys won’t get to know Sean, which is so, so decidedly your loss. But maybe this lets you know how much he meant to me, to us, and to so many other people, and it makes you think about the people who mean this much to you. And maybe you tell them.

Maybe you tell them while you have the chance, because telling people you care about them, and who they are in your life, and why you love who they are full stop is one of the best things there is, and there’s never a wrong time for it so long as it’s before the end. I got to tell Sean how I felt before he died, and I got to tell his family, and his friends, and his students -- my God, his students -- and now I’m telling you. Sean Enos-Robertson was brilliant, the best, a light in a lot of lives. I miss him, and I love him, and I always will. Here’s why.

***

Hello, everybody. My name is Dan Devine, and I'm a friend of Sean's. I am a friend of Sean's. I'm not going to use the past tense for that; it didn't stop being true last Thursday, and it's never going to.

On behalf of Courtney and Winnie, and of the Robertson and Enos families, I'd like to thank you for being here. In a broad sense, Sean believed in community: in the power of people uniting for a common good. More specifically, Sean believed in love. He loved his family — his wife and daughter, his parents and in-laws, his brother and grandmother. He loved his friends. He loved his students and colleagues. He loved the people he leaned on, and who leaned on him — those of us here today, and many others who couldn't make it, but are sharing their love, and our grief.

Sean was one of my favorite people. He was magnetic. He was invigorating. He was cool as hell.

Sean radiated. He was a candle: someone who lit up and warmed every room he walked into, every person whose life he touched. This ... this is a tough room to light up. So we're going to have to do it together.

Before we do it, though, I want to acknowledge a hard truth I've been sitting with, and that you might be sitting with, too. It is deeply, impossibly unfair that Sean is gone — that he was taken from us so soon. Too soon. Way, way, WAY too soon. That's real, and it's OK to feel that.

In my better moments, though, I can set that aside and make room for gratitude — that Sean walked into my life in the first place, that I got as much time with him as I did, and that I got so much exposure to such a shining example of how to love.

There's a song by Tom Petty that I really love called "Walls." There's a line in the chorus that goes, "You got a heart so big, it could crush this town." That was Sean. Sean loved openly, fearlessly, completely — he hugged like you could win medals for it. He loved with everything he had, with his whole body. And if you don't believe that, then you never saw my man dance.

He loved music, and especially sharing it — I don't think anybody made me more mix CDs to try to put me onto something that I hadn't heard. (I'm pretty sure I have about five different "best of Blur" mixes. Sean really loved Blur.)

I met Sean at Providence College in the fall of 2000, right near the start of our freshman year. I'd seen him around at meetings for people who wanted to apply for shows on the college radio station, WDOM, but we didn't become friends right away. I know exactly when that happened: October 29, 2000. (I looked it up.)

That night, Mike Doughty, the singer from Soul Coughing, played a solo show at the Met Cafe in downtown Providence. I took the PC shuttle downtown by myself to catch the show, and somewhere around the weird acoustic cover of "Real Love" by Mary J. Blige, I saw that tall, skinny dude again. We awkwardly sidled up to one another to watch the show, and wound up walking back to campus together. We talked about bands and school and the station and whatever else two 18-year-olds talk about, all the way back home, and that was that. From that moment on, that was my man.

We hung out a lot, as evidenced by the staggering number of old photos I've looked through recently in which one or both of us had extremely tragic haircuts, facial hair, or sideburns. We lived together for two wonderful years in an awful apartment in Cranston, R.I.

The first year, we lived with our friend Todd. We had two parking spots for three cars, so one of us would always be blocking somebody in. Whenever it was time for the blocked-in person to get out, he'd ask, "Are you behind me?" And always, every time, Sean would answer, "100 percent, man."

It was this small, dumb thing, but it always made me laugh. Sean was really good at that.

We learned how to be adults together, finishing school and trying to figure out how to pursue our passions. After searching a little, Sean found his. In 2007, he took a job teaching history to middle schoolers at Harlem Academy. He shared with scores of students his belief in civic responsibility, in actively engaging with our nation's past, in interrogating history to learn about how we got where we are and how we might make decisions about our future. He loved teaching, and he was incredible at it. In 2016, the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History named him the New York State History Teacher of the Year, and they don't just give that out.

Sean's commitment to his students went beyond the classroom. I got a much clearer picture of that when Courtney sent me a note she received after his passing from one of his students, sharing both condolences and her memory of Mr. Robertson as someone who "would always reach out to me when he thought I needed it." One day, in eighth grade, this student confided in Sean that she thought she wanted to be an artist. She braced for stereotypical adult dismissal, the classic speech about "getting a real job."

Instead, she got a giant smile and an inspiring conversation about Courtney's job as a graphic designer, about that being a real path, and about how she might be able to realize her dream. Courtney invited her to visit her job to see firsthand how it was done, and that it could be done. She's kept that dream throughout high school, and now into college, thanks in part to Sean's willingness to listen, to care, and to open his life to a student in need. I'm willing to bet there are a lot more stories like that.

The student concluded her note with a beautiful sentiment: "I pray that you and Winnie and the rest of Mr. Robertson's family and friends are able to find peace and comfort, and I pray that you are able to think of him and feel peace and joy, because I genuinely think that's what he would want." I think she's exactly right. Sean wanted to lift people's spirits, to lighten their moods; on the day he invited some of us Brooklyn friends over to tell us that his fight was coming to an end, he kept moving back and forth among playlists of incidental music, setting a soundtrack to hum underneath all the laughs and tears and reminiscing. Even then, dude was still DJing.

We learned how to be somebody's partner, and eventually somebody's husband, together. Sean met Courtney in 2002, and as I remember it, he knew very, very quickly that he'd hit the jackpot. I'm sure that they had their share of tough times over the years, especially recently, but they always seemed immensely supportive of one another. Their love, from the outside, always seemed easy, in that way that let you know it was right, secure for the long haul.

Something Sean and I had in common, and that I've always felt grateful for, is that we always knew our magnetic north. Everything in our life oriented around the person we wanted to spend it with, and wherever work or school or whatever tossed us, we could always go back to that, back to our person, and get pointed in the right direction. Courtney was his compass, his best reason for doing everything.

When they were going to get married, Sean asked me to stand up with him as his best man, and to give a toast. I dug that toast out of a box last week, and here's the part that matters: "I think that all guys — the honest ones, at least — will admit that the women in our lives do a lot of the heavy lifting in helping us become decent, valuable men. And this is no exception [...] When Sean called to tell me that he and Courtney had gotten engaged, the first thing I remember thinking is, 'They deserve each other.'"

Their time together deserved a better ending than this. But what came before — the 16 years of knowing this great a love was possible, the nine years of marriage, the two and a half years of Winnie's life? That was exactly what they deserved.

Courtney is one of the strongest, fiercest, most remarkable people I've ever met — a woman who has faced unimaginable challenges and kept putting one foot in front of the other. I can't fathom what today is like for you, Courtney, but I want you to know: we are going to be awesome for you and Winnie right now. And tomorrow, and the next day, and all the days after that. I'm sorry, but you're stuck with us.

We learned how to be fathers together. Sean was there for me when my Siobhan was born, ready to cradle this tiny thing in his arms and envelop us with love, and to look me in my bloodshot, frantic eyes and let me know that I didn't have to be OK, because I was never going to be alone with it all. I wanted to do the same for him when Winnie was born, but Sean never seemed to need it. He was just ready: all open arms and full heart and perfect love.

Winnie is amazing, and brave, and funny, just like her dad. She's one of my favorite people, too, and I ache for her. But I'm also so grateful that there are so many people who will line up to tell her just how fantastic her father was. She will always know how special he was, and how special she was to him, and how much he loved her. We'll make sure of that. It might be the most important thing any of us do once we leave here today.

This hurts. This is hard. It's not supposed to go like this. But we don't get to make these kinds of choices. All we can do is deal with the fallout.

I'd ask you to remember the words of Sean's student: "I pray that you are able to think of him and feel peace and joy." Sean Enos-Robertson spent 36 years doing everything he could to bring peace and joy to everybody he met. Sean loved with his whole soul, and we can do that, too. We can do that for him. Let's be candles. Let's radiate.

[jimhenson-themuppetmaster]

Joe Raposo (February 8, 1937 - February 5, 1989) was a composer who wrote songs, score, background cues, and other music for Sesame Street and other Muppet projects. Raposo created some of the best known Muppet songs, notably the “Sesame Street Theme”, “Bein’ Green”, and “C Is for Cookie,” and helped establish the musical sound of Sesame Street. Some of his Sesame Street songs have since become popular standards covered by everyone from the Carpenters to Barbra Streisand, including “Bein’ Green” and “Sing”.

BACKGROUND

Joseph Guilherme Raposo was born in Fall River, Massachusetts, of Brazilian Portuguese heritage. His father was a music teacher and conductor, but Raposo initially majored in law at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1958. He soon began performing as a jazz piano accompanist and then studied at L'Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris with Nadia Boulanger instead of going on to law school. While still at Harvard, he conducted an out of town tryout for a Broadway show, with his first scored musical Sing Muse! opening in 1961. Raposo subsequently moved from Boston to New York where he provided dramatic underscoring for Bertolt Brecht’s A Man’s a Man, served as musical director of Truman Capote’s House of Flowers (1968) and wrote incidental music for Jackie Mason’s Broadway comedy A Teaspoon Every Four Hours (1969). It was Sesame Street that brought Raposo widespread fame, however.

WORK WITH HENSON AND SESAME

Raposo first worked with Jim Henson on the special Hey Cinderella! (1969), for which he scored and wrote all of the songs. Raposo subsequently worked on Sesame Street, though he was chosen independently of Henson on the recommendation of Hey Cinderella! writer Jon Stone. Serving as musical director for the first five seasons, Raposo initially wrote material for all aspects of the show, including the instrumental theme for the live action Buddy and Jim skits, and only occasionally collaborating with staff writers such as Stone, Jerry Juhl, Daniel Wilcox, and Jeff Moss (who contributed heavily to the show’s musical sound himself), among others. As Raposo recalled, Sesame Street “just came along. It didn’t have a name. It was a bunch of people meandering around trying to do a show for Public Television.” Most of his best known songs, however, soon fell into two groups: those written for Muppet segments and those for live action films, often sung by Raposo himself.

Of the Muppet tunes, some were jaunty, whimsical exercises in education, as with Cookie Monster’s anthem “C Is for Cookie” or “Would You Like to Buy an O?” Others were slower and more contemplative, expressing the innermost thoughts, fears and desires of the characters, as with “Imagination,” “Nobody,” and especially Kermit’s classic lament “Bein’ Green.” Such introspection resulted from Raposo’s songwriting methods, a process he called “psychological dress-up”:

“When you write songs, music and lyrics, you’re always putting on somebody else’s clothes. The degree to which you’re able to dress up and counterfeit yourself as this person, that’s as good as you are as a writer. And I’m pretty good at it, which leaves me tremendous doubts about my own personality.”

Raposo’s sound, often dominated by the piano over other instruments, was also a fixture of film inserts, usually played over footage of people or animals and performed by Raposo himself. As with the Muppets, Raposo’s style as composer and singer varied in moods, from the comedic and even brash (adopting cartoonish voices for “What Do You Do With a Fruit?” or as the titular animal in “I’m an Aardvark”) to the melancholy (“Somebody Come and Play”) or soothing mood pieces (“Everybody Sleeps”). One of the few occasions when he lent his voice to songs written by others was “High, Middle, Low” (as the Anything Muppet singing “middle”). One Raposo classic which fits in neither of the above two categories is “Sing,” performed in many different contexts on the show, and later covered by a variety of popular artists.

In fact, through his work on Sesame Street, Raposo deliberately set out to cross the forced boundaries between pop music and children’s songs.

“Some educators have complained that the music on Sesame Street is too sophisticated for little ears, that we should curb the spontaneity of blues and rock and instead teach the children “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” But what most educators don’t realize is that the lamb left the nursery the day they brought the TV set in. Children are now exposed to and learn to love every conceivable style of music… And the beauty of our music is maybe that the child in the Grosse Pointe home is hearing gospel and blues for the first time and the black child in the urban ghetto is hearing the harpsichord and the flute for the first time. Someday, when they grow up, they’ll have one more thing in common.”

Raposo continued to work with Henson on The Great Santa Claus Switch and The Frog Prince (both with lyrics by Juhl) and went on to serve as musical director and song writer for CTW’s follow-up to Sesame Street, The Electric Company. Raposo left Sesame Street after 1974 (replaced by Sam Pottle as musical director) contributing only occasional material (such as new songs for Sesame Street Fever) and would not return full-time until Season 15 in 1983, working more often with other lyricists. During that interim, Raposo continued to collaborate with Henson, scoring the pilot The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence (originating the “At the Dance” theme used on The Muppet Show) and both songs and score for The Great Muppet Caper, which garnered him an Academy Award nomination for “The First Time It Happens.” He also worked on The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show and composed and produced all songs for Miss Piggy’s Aerobique Exercise Workout Album.

FAME AND LATER WORK

In 1970, “Bein’ Green” was covered by Frank Sinatra, and as Raposo put it, “then I became famous.” Sesame Street took a backseat for a time to a wide range of projects in film, TV, and theater, as well as writing original songs for Sinatra and other singers. While still staff musical director for CTW, Raposo worked on You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1971) as musical arranger, supervisor, and composer of incidental music. Following his departure from Sesame in 1974, producer Richard Horner tapped Raposo to write all songs and score for the animated film Raggedy Ann and Andy (finally released in 1977). One song from the film, “Blue,” was later used on The Muppet Show (performed by Helen Reddy, who also covered the song on albums). “Blue” and “Rag Dolly” were later recycled by Raposo for the 1986 Broadway show Raggedy Ann and Andy (with a substantially different plot and several new Raposo tunes).

On a more adult level, Raposo scored Robert Altman’s Academy Award-winning drama Nashville (1975, with Lily Tomlin and Cloris Leachman) and composed music (sans lyrics) for the Three’s Company theme song as well as the instrumental theme for its spin-off The Ropers, among other projects. He returned to children’s projects in the 1980s, collaborating with Theodor Geisel on three Dr. Seuss animated specials, composing music for a special based on the Madeline books (which aired on HBO four months after his death), and writing the theme for Shining Time Station.

In the theater world, Raposo collaborated with Sheldon Harnick (lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof) on the cantata Sutter’s Gold (1980), and A Wonderful Life (1986), a musical adaptation of It’s a Wonderful Life which was performed largely in colleges and made its Broadway debut as an Actor’s Fund benefit in 2005.

LEGACY

Raposo died from lymphoma on February 5, 1989, three days before his 52nd birthday. He was survived by his wife Pat Collins and three sons. The special Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music, hosted and directed by Jon Stone, aired in memoriam. Nearly three years later, a tribute CD was released commemorating his work on Sesame Street. In 2004, a short children’s book about Raposo, A Boy and His Music, was written by Odete Amarelo and Gilda Arruda with illustrations by Josette Fernandes. Raposo’s songs continue to be heard on Sesame Street, and his name appeared in the credits for original songs up to Season 40.

COMPOSITIONS for Muppet Projects

Hey Cinderella! (music and lyrics) The Great Santa Claus Switch (composer and conductor, no lyrics) The Frog Prince (composer and conductor, no lyrics) Out to Lunch (music and lyrics) The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence (score and songs, including “At the Dance” theme) The Great Muppet Caper (score and songs) The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show (arranger, conductor, all original songs and cues) Miss Piggy’s Aerobique Exercise Workout Album (music, lyrics, and album producer)

[yuyategoshifansusa]

Jun NS Yuya Tegoshi Solidarity JJJJ. "NEWS M This scene as well. NIKEDUNGDOM יווננננגלי VOL.6 ABOUDMANT TIME Ratio 5. TT DONA RANG CD In Epis The ball will also be le! IGER 1 collection PAKISTAN AUD ARABIA that's all INDIA E01 -twenty four ONO NIGERIA LED STATES അവ AUCANU EP JANU DEN CAN NDLE TANZANA SEY CHEELES IndtainOcean PROFILE Born November 11, 1987. I am from Kanagawa prefecture. Formed NEWS in September 2003. Release the hit of "Miso Soup 2004". Currently, the end of the world is Itte Q! "(Japanese TV series) 1986-28 auvalue 7 ° In February Barcelona came to Japan following the classico and Tegoshi Kisaru who talked about Swinsachika "Balsa war and real warfare everything looks better" for the end of the year told hotly about Gaespanola . I will make major debut on. Unit formed with Takahisa Masuda in 2006, Tegomass Guller is appearing. He is an enthusiastic football fan who continues to play from kindergarten to the present. ARICA Yes. bwin OHHU You are doing how to take it. There is. Al is strong like baseball already. Even so, the season is reopened. I've been watching if Rona is a little stuck and there is an interesting exhibition. Barcelo. Also when Valencia games All I see is Le Battle Rusa, rare 7 points or 8 points, I am stunned Can you score points in the top spot? After all why Real's in this season is not so ordinary, but compared to Barça I think. A lot of reworking can be taken even more than Barça, even if the opponent draws itself to their own, middle aim can be aimed. It's a battle of attack. Simply has a quick foot, there are many large players. Set play bowl, real are all the highest physical ability score points are short False, Mourinho has a great record in his second year in office. Porto also Intel However, it was the second year that I achieved three crowns. Last year 's Real did not work well. Even so, apparently the team of this season is stronger. It seems to be a director to correctly correct the task of the first year in the second year. It is enough to think that it is not the strongest now, even in comparison with the past Real. The uniform is also cool (laugh). Also, I am surprised that there are few players in bad shape. Diy I'm sorry that Mary had injured, but Kaka and Shachin came back and Coentlon is doing fine. Higuain is also a sub but I'm deciding to score a goal ... ... ... Whenever I take a point I always make a hat trick It is an image, neither R 5 Noudo Higuain Even (laugh). Just this All players WSK Because I will do it, Mouri The strong performance of Mr. Nino's skill is Mourinho's I thought it was great again (2 pairs of parents " Snow Do not you think that it is related? WSK Tegoshi now seems to be the Spanish league which is watching the game most. Power WSK Do not you think? 100 people B Especially bwin Loud is doing fine. What is his greatness that Tegoshi will see? I'm really excited and watching, his play will change the players. Small players are bigger and closer. I like whether he / she is close to him or not. Many reasons are attached, but Messi has come after all, and there are also many PKs that teammate has acquired. There are a lot of K? I will not forgive others who are not just PKs I took (laugh). Also, Ronaldo is an image taking P and 3 and 4 points from P rating. There is a weak image. For Ronaldo, Messi got a goal from every opponent evenly, I guess Messi. After all Messi (haha). A Ronaldo and Messi were asked which one is above. Is not it? It is a common dispute, but then it will become delicate for a moment. It is very polite and dynamic, unchanged. I think that it was time of trap. It is said that traps are also related, and furthermore the balance is good Ronaldo has a trunk firmly Compared with last season, this season, this award ceremony was held in January I received a winning prize Record the goal of the 10-H season and say 20 Noudo, others GREATI!

[vinylbay777]

Musicians Who Competed on ‘Dancing With The Stars’

The latest cast of ‘Dancing With The Stars’ has been announced, and as is to be expected, it includes a few singers amongst its celebrity ranks. Singers competing in season 28 (which starts September 16) include Fifth Harmony’s Ally Brooke, The Supremes’ Mary Wilson and ‘American Idol’ alum-turned-country superstar Lauren Alaina.

Though not always a given, musicians tend to do well on ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ There have been multiple occasions where they have risen to the final rounds and even won the entire season.

In honor of the new ‘Dancing With The Stars’ cast, Vinyl Bay777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look back at some of the most memorable musicians to grace the ballroom stage. Here are seven singers / groups whose performances captivated viewers.

1.       Normani Kordei: Ally Brooke isn’t the first member of Fifth Harmony to put on her dancing shoes. Back in 2017 bandmate Normani Kordei took to the stage to compete, finishing in third place on season 24. At the time, the group was still going strong, having released their third, self-titled album just months after her appearance. Going by just her first name, Normani’s solo career is heating up now as her single featuring Sam Smith, “Dancing with a Stranger,” peaked in the top 10 this year.

2.       Drew & Nick Lachey: 98° singer Drew Lachey was an early contestant on the show, winning season two all the way back in 2006. It took his older brother and bandmate Nick 11 years to follow suit. Nick became part of the second married couple to compete against each other on the show, as he was joined by his wife Vanessa Lachey (a former MTV V-Jay), and first couple to be partnered with another married couple (dancers Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy). When Drew competed, 98° had been on hiatus for several years, but by the time Nick danced, the band was back in the swing of things with a studio album, a Christmas album and a couple of tours under their belt.

3.       Nick Carter: Surprisingly the only Backstreet Boy to compete, Nick Carter placed second in season 21. A fan favorite, he was a high-scorer from the beginning. He even performed to two of BSB’s songs. While on the show, BSB were in the midst of a comeback of sorts (though they never really left), having just gotten off an extensive world tour behind their album ‘In A World Like This.’

4.       Joey Fatone & Lance Bass: Though they participated in different seasons, the tongue-in-cheek rivalry between *NSYNC’s Joey Fatone and Lance Bass was one of the drivers during Bass’ season. Fatone came in second on season four, which meant Bass had a lot riding on his appearance. He ended up coming up at tad short, placing third on season seven. *NSYNC never managed to spark a real reunion after the show (they’ve sang together at a few one-off events), but Fatone did get some acting and hosting gigs out of the show, while Bass’ brand has never been stronger.

5.       Donny Osmond: In a season filled with musicians, teen star all-grown-up Donny Osmond came out on top for season 9, beating out Mya (2), Kelly Osbourne (3), Aaron Carter (5) and Macy Gray (15) for the mirror ball trophy. Osmond had been a fan-favorite from the beginning, especially with older viewers and his success most likely came from that fan base pushing him through.

6.       Nicole Scherzinger: Former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger went for the gold on season 10, winning the whole competition. It was around this time that Scherzinger’s solo career was taking off, though she became better known for judging musicians than being one.

7.       Kellie Pickler: Lauren Alaina is also not the first ‘American Idol’ alum-turned-country superstar to hit the dance floor. Back in 2013, Kellie Pickler won season 16 of the program. At the time, Pickler was working on her fourth studio album, ‘The Woman I Am,’ releasing first single “Someone Somewhere Tonight” while still competing.

Musicians have usually done well competing on the reality dancing competition ‘Dancing With The Stars.’ Like the artists above, the show has seen several take the top or runner-up spots with memorable performances. With season 28 starting in September, time will tell how this year’s musicians fare against the other celebrities competing for the mirrorball trophy.

                                                             ---

Find music from these ‘Dancing With The Stars’ competitors and more at Vinyl Bay 777. As Long Island’s top new independent record shop, we have thousands of titles to choose from in a variety of genres. Browse our wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs, memorabilia and more in store at our Plainview location or online at vinylbay777.com. With more titles being added to our selection all the time, you never know what you might find at Vinyl Bay 777.

[ladyherenya]

Books read in July

I had more time to read, but I also read a few novellas and rediscovered audiobooks.

It occurred to me a few years ago that an audiobook makes housework less tedious, but back then the library often didn’t have books I wanted as audiobooks, and there was inconvenience of lugging around a CD player or transferring umpteen CDs to my iPod. Now my library now has a good range on Overdrive, and being able to borrow audiobooks online and download them straight to my phone makes finding and listening to them so much easier. It’s amazing.

I’ve asterisked my favourites.

(My longer reviews and ratings are on LibraryThing.)

* The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red by Martha Wells: Told from the perspective of the Security bot assigned to a team surveying an uninhabited planet. The self-dubbed “Murderbot” avoids arousing suspicions about its hacked governor module and its binge-watching habits. But when things start going wrong, it has to work much more closely with its human clients than it would prefer. AI-with-feelings is one of my favourite things, and this particularly AI is delightfully grumpy and introverted. But this doesn’t just have an entertaining narrator, it also has a high-stakes mystery and some decent humans, and the combination is amazing. Well and truly exceeded my expectations.

Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor: After a year at university, Binti returns home. It’s a difficult homecoming, because not all of her family approve of her decision to go to university, and Binti’s plans of undertaking the pilgrimage that will mark her transition to becoming a Himba woman are disrupted by revelations about her heritage from her father’s side. An interesting, unusual story about culture, identity, prejudice and technology. It ends with a lot of things unresolved, in a cliff-hanger-y sort of way that strongly suggests the story isn’t over.

* The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold (narrated by Marguerite Gavin): A gripping story with unusual worldbuilding, set in the world of the five gods. Lord Ingrey, sent to retrieve Prince Boleso murderer, becomes convinced that Lady Ijada was acting in self defence - and that no one else will accept that. Things quickly get much more complicated, and Ingrey and Ijada become tangled in mysteries about the past and the gods’ plans. I’m very glad I listened to the audiobook! The narrator highlighted the amusing moments, and I suspect I became much more attached to the characters as a result of experiencing their story more slowly. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this as much as I did.

August Folly (1936) by Angela Thirkell: A summer of dinners, donkey rides, rehearsals, train journeys, cricket, secret worries, siblings and romance. When Richard Tebbin comes down from Oxford, he’s moody, awkward and self-absorbed - and becomes promptly besotted with the much older and married Mrs Dean. This is not a situation I’d consider delightful or charming, yet I was captivated. Thirkell astutely portrays family dynamics, with their various tensions, and many of the characters have complexities or contradictions, and show unexpected depth, strength or growth. I’m very glad I didn’t skip this one (in spite of the odd and unnecessary, but fortunately brief, references to prejudiced attitudes).

Dealings with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede (unabridged dramatisation): Cimorene has no interest in being a traditional princess. When her parents attempt to arrange a suitable marriage for her, she defies convention by running away and volunteering to becomes a dragon’s princess. This story combines dragons with the of subversion of fairytale tropes, so I’m surprised I didn’t become more invested. I don’t know if this was due to the dramatisation or the story itself - Cimorene is so capable and content with her circumstances it’s hard to connect with her. Or maybe this is simply one of those books I would have appreciated more fifteen years ago?

Black Dog series by Rachel Neumeier:

Black Dog Short Stories: A collection of short stories, mostly set just after the events of Black Dog. All of them involved more action than I was expecting. I enjoyed them, especially the backstory in “The Master of Dimilioc”.

Pure Magic: The black dog community of Dimilioc has dealt with one threat, but they have other enemies out there - and things really don’t go to plan. The result is very tense with very high stakes, and I couldn’t put it down.  Dimilioc’s reluctant new member, Justin, grew up unaware of his magic and knowing little of black dogs. I appreciated the different perspective he brings. Unlike Justin, Natividad’s very certain she wants to be part of Dimilioc - but is still getting her hand around what that actually means. I liked how the story ultimately deal with her agency and her disobedience.

Unconventional by Maggie Harcourt: Lexie’s father runs six fan conventions every year, and Lexie is right in the thick of it. As a look at the friendships and chaos behind the scenes at conventions, Unconventional is engaging and reasonably lighthearted. However, because the focus isn’t limited to convention shenanigans, the story loses something by never properly showing Lexie’s life beyond convention weekends. A couple of issues feel resolved too easily and some of the conclusions Lexie reaches feel a bit... artificial. I was disappointed that it was almost-but-not-quite something with more depth. Still, it’s fun and fannish.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss: A mystery set in the late 19th century, in which most of the characters are borrowed from, or are the offspring of characters from, 19th century Gothic and mystery fiction. I’d read most of those stories and was delighted to see them all woven together like this. It’s all very meta in a way I really appreciated. After her mother dies, Mary Jekyll tries to find her father’s murderer. Instead she becomes involved in Holmes’ investigation into murders in Whitechapel and meets several highly unusual women with connections to the Société de Alchimistes. And together they write their own story.

Court of Fives trilogy by Kate Elliot: In postcolonial Efea the Saroese Patron class are forbidden from marrying Efean commoners.  As the daughters of a Saroese army captain and his Efean lover, Jessamy and her sisters, occur a precarious place in society. But that hasn’t prevented Jessamy from sneaking out and training to compete in the Fives. When her family’s circumstances change, she has to use all the skills to protect those she loves.

* Court of Fives (narrated by Georgia Dolenz): I loved this. The narrator is excellent - Jessamy and her sisters are so lively and believable - and the story’s absolutely gripping. I stayed up much later than I should because I was so worried for the characters! Jessamy’s impulsive high spirits and interactions with her sisters reminded me of Jo March from Little Women. I love that Jes’s relationships with her family are the heart of the story, and that she develops a more nuanced understanding of her parents’ choices. She also realises how they’ve sheltered her from challenges others face.

* Poisoned Blade (narrated by Georgia Dolenz): Jessamy has always dreamed of competing as an adversary in the Fives - but not when her victories are ordered and used to advantage by the man who tore her family apart. As Efea’s political situation crumbles, Jes becomes more aware of its complexities and of her unique position with loyalties to people from both classes. Frustratingly yet understandably, she takes a lot of risks - she’s learnt she’ll never win by playing it safe. I love how Jes’s relationships with her family remain central to the story, and how believably complex and strong-willed they all are. 

Night Flower (prequel novella): A cute story about how Jessamy’s parents met. It’s interesting seeing them as young people newly arrived in the city - moreover, seeing them as they see each other, not as their daughter perceives them twenty years later - but I was a little disappointed it didn’t show more of their relationship. I wanted to read about the point where, with a more thorough understanding of each other and of the sacrifices their relationship will involve, they chose to build a life together.

Jane and Prudence (1953) by Barbara Pym: Charming but it is also unromantic and sometimes uncomfortably astute. Jane and Prudence are friends who met years earlier at Oxford as a tutor and a student respectively. Jane is a vicar’s wife, adjusting to life in a new parish; Prudence is twenty-nine and unmarried, working in a London office. I appreciated that Jane is not particularly good at some things, like running an efficient household and yet is accepted as she is. Jane and Prudence’s friendship is also realistic and refreshing - they don’t always understand each other, but their friendship has persisted despite their differences.

The Wrong Side of Right by Jenn Marie Thorne: Kate is a teenager who has grown up knowing nothing about her father. After her mother dies her father’s identity is unexpectedly revealed. He’s a senator, with a family, and he’s running for president. As the campaign progresses, Kate has to decide how much is she prepared to pushed around, and what she will do when she doesn’t agree with her father’s politics.A few odd details initially struck me as a bit unrealistic - but I read the rest in one go. It satisfactorily addresses my quibbles, and finds the right balance between lighthearted and heartwarming.

[toraonice]

Yuri on Ice BD booklet translation (with Kenji Miyamoto interview) - Volume 2

Finally a new translation… This is a full translation of the booklet contained in the BD/DVD vol.2. This time I also decided to translate the captions under the pictures in the “TOPIC” sections because some of them actually have important information (like the one about the 3 sisters). Since it would be weird to only translate some based on what they say, I just translated them all and added them to the translation of the vol.1 booklet as well (you can find that here). If you check it you will understand why I hadn’t thought of translating them in the first place…

Like vol.1, the booklet has 3 parts: 1) Character introduction for Yurio and (short ones) for most characters living in Hasetsu like Yuuri and Nishigoori’s families. By the way, regarding Makkachin’s voice actor listed as “?”, I read in a recording report on Otomedia Plus that (at least in one of the scenes) Suwabe offered to voice him, lol. (I’m writing Makkachin as “he” but actually the gender is not officially confirmed yet) 2) “Topics”, in other words random curiosities. This time this section has some interesting information, especially if you are not too familiar with figure skating. (It also clears up why Yuuri and Victor are always alone in the rink and why they necessarily need to practice very early in the morning) 3) Interview with the choreographer Kenji Miyamoto. It explains more in detail some of the things that were mentioned in the commentary to the choreography footage of vol.1. The parts in round brackets are exactly like they are in the original text, it’s not something I added.

Hopefully I will be able to translate the audio commentary and choreography footage (which I still haven’t even had time to watch of course) too by the end of Sunday…

***If you wish to share this translation please do it by reblogging or posting a link to it*** 
***Re-translating into other languages is ok but please mention that this post is the source***

A beautiful monster that continues to grow

Yuri Plisetsky voiced by Kouki Uchiyama

Russian Height: 163 cm Date of birth: March 1st Blood type: B

Past record: 2 times consecutive winner of the Junior Grand Prix Final 2 times consecutive winner of the Junior World Championships

Introduction He debuts in the senior class at the age of 15 after repeatedly winning the Junior Grand Prix Final and Junior World Championships. Now a pupil of the noted scouter of young talents Yakov, he is Russia’s new hope. During his junior years he already mastered quadruple jumps, but his coach prohibited him from using them in matches. With his sharp jumps, he is in the focus of attention as everyone is curious to see how far he will be able to go in his first year as a senior. His talent was noticed when he was still little and he left his family in Moscow to train under coach Yakov in St. Petersburg. On the ice he is as beautiful as a fairy, but off the ice he is quite mischievous and is known for the striking aesthetic sense of the outfits he wears in the selfies posted on his SNS. He’s also famous for his devoted fan group Yuri’s angels, who cheer on him wearing cat ears. His favorite food is his grandpa’s pirozhki. Katsuki Family

Mari Katsuki voiced by Kyouko Sakai Yuuri’s older sister who works at “Yutopia Katsuki”. She likes idols and has a thing for blond boys. She named Yuri “Yurio” when he came to Hasetsu.

Toshiya Katsuki voiced by Souryuu Konno Yuuri’s father. He owns “Yutopia Katsuki”, the only day onsen in Hasetsu. He is not very familiar with figure skating and actually likes soccer.

Hiroko Katsuki voiced by Kei Hayami Yuuri’s mother. She runs “Yutopia Katsuki” with her husband. She knows Minako-sensei from when they were students, and Hiroko is the younger one. Nishigoori Family

Takeshi Nishigoori voiced by Jun Fukuyama Yuuri’s childhood friend and former rinkmate. He works at “Ice Castle Hasetsu”, is Yuuri’s good supporter and helps him with his basic training.

Yuuko Nishigoori voiced by Mariya Ise She is Nishigoori’s wife, works at “Ice Castle Hasetsu” and Yuuri has always admired her. She is Victor’s fan and doesn’t only care for Yuuri but for Yurio as well.

Axel, Lutz, Loop Nishigoori voiced by Akiko Yashima The 3 twins of the Nishigoori family, also known as the “3 skating otaku sisters”. They skillfully use their parents’ smartphones to post on the SNS and they organized “Onsen on ICE”. Their potential is bottomless. Minako Okukawa voiced by Yuka Komatsu Former ballet dancer who currently teaches a ballet class in Hasetsu, she is Yuuri’s strict but affectionate teacher. She travels around the world to support Yuuri and as a personal hobby.

Makkachin voiced by ? Victor’s pet dog, a standard poodle. He came to Hasetsu together with Victor. He is quiet and friendly to people, but is a bit greedy when it comes to food.

YURI!!!’s TOPIC

TOPIC 1: Skate Otaku Sisters The triplets of the Nishigoori family. Since they can do anything people tend to forget that they’re still 6 years old kindergartners. Axel, Lutz and Loop can be distinguished by their hairstyle and personal color. The reason they are called “skating otaku” sisters is that they use their parents’ smartphones and PC to check information about skaters on the social media and enjoy watching real time live streamings of international tournaments. By watching their behavioral pattern you will be able to understand how skating otaku all around the world live. Their parents work at an ice rink, but it’s not clear whether the 3 sisters can skate too.

*Each of them has an assigned task: taking movies, pictures or uploading *Their carefree action strongly influenced the story *A perfect spin. Maybe they can skate…? *They are even good at drawing, but they use crayons *Axel has pigtails and her color is purple. Lutz has a bun and her color is light blue. Loop has a ponytail and her color is pink.

TOPIC 2: Off ice training Of course, figure skating is mostly practiced on the ice. However, there are also many kinds of training that must be done off the ice, like fitness training, stretching exercises, core training and so on. Beside running and stretching, many skaters also incorporate ballet lessons into their basic training. In addition, some of them take lessons or hear the opinion from dancers and performers of various genres, to improve their expressiveness and understanding of the program. Sometimes they might even go stand under waterfalls to train their mental strength… maybe. There are no restrictions on the types of training, as long as they can improve their skating skills and expression.

*It’s a tough sport that requires lots of basic training *It’s important to have a trainer that supports you *Stretching exercises at any time *Russia is the home of ballet *Training your mental strength might be the hardest

TOPIC 3: Music Choosing music is important to create a program. Cases where music is created from scratch, like for Yuuri’s FS, are actually rare, and most skaters choose existing songs and have them edited so that their length is according to regulations (in case of the men’s senior class it’s approx. 2:40 min. for the short program and 4:30 min. for the free). Usually songs are edited by either the choreographer, music professionals or skaters themselves. Most of the times they use the original title of the song, but in cases of original songs such as “Yuri on ICE” or when the skater wants to deliver a certain message they use a different title for the program.

*It’s important that the song gives you an image *Sometimes they choose from what are called “standard songs” *The CD is an important object that they must hand out at tournaments

TOPIC 4: Choreography Program choreographies are commonly created by coaches or professional choreographers, but there are also skaters who create them on their own like Victor, and some who order them from professionals unrelated to the skating world, like for Yurio’s FS. When a choreography is created by a dancer or someone who doesn’t skate, usually the steps and exact footwork will be thought by the coach. Most professional choreographers aren’t always by the skater’s side, therefore skaters practice the choreography on their own and then have the choreographer come over a few times during the season to adjust it. Yuuri is really lucky to have a coach & choreographer teaching him on a one-to-one basis every day.

*Victor was already creating his own choreographies when he was competing *Yurio’s choreographer is a legendary prima ballerina *A choreographer that skates together with you is very precious

TOPIC 5: Ice rink Every skater has a home rink that they use as their base, but rink conditions are very different depending on the country. In Japan, except for the rinks owned by a few universities, most rinks are open to the public, therefore if athletes want to reserve a rink for personal training they need to book it outside of normal opening hours. Yuuri and Victor also look like they’re comfortably training alone in a large rink, but actually that’s usually in the early morning or late at night**. In some countries with better conditions there are many rinks and some of them even have different training hours depending on the level of skaters, therefore some Japanese skaters choose to have their home rink abroad. Yuuri must be really grateful to Nishigoori. [**translator’s note: for your reference, most normal rinks in the Tokyo/Kanto area are open to the public from 10:00 to 18:00]

*The Detroit rink Yuuri used to belong to *Yurio’s home rink in St. Petersburg *The Thai rink is downtown

Figure skating choreography Kenji Miyamoto interview

I said that if I was going to do it I would do everything myself, and choreographed about 20 songs.

The first time I was asked about the choreographies was in the summer of 2015. The first meeting was around October or November. My first thought was that it sounded like fun. There were countless possibilities, and I thought that we might get more people interested in figure skating, therefore I was really looking forward to it. At that time I didn’t think about the difficulties, and replied that I definitely wanted to do it. When I received the first request there were lots of songs and I was told that since it was hard schedule-wise they might have to ask someone else, but I said that if I was going to do it I would do everything myself, and adjusted the schedule.

-Choreographies were created at night, over a short period of time-

If I were working with a skater normally it would take about 3 days to create a program. We talked about the fact that it would have been difficult to create programs for dozens of songs right away, but since I was going to just skate them myself (instead of teaching them to a skater) I guessed it would have been faster. In the end I created choreographies for about 20 songs. I left 2 weeks of my schedule free from any other job. Every day I’d sleep during the day and we’d start from 23:00, after the rink’s business hours, until about 5:00-6:00 in the morning. It was still early spring, but everyone was freezing and every time we’d come out of the rink all clad in down jackets. We must have looked like some suspicious gang (LOL).

-Programs were conceived based on the songs and a little information-

On the day I had to choreograph a song I received information from director Yamamoto and Kubo-sensei, like what kind of person the skater is, where he’s from, what kind of songs he likes, the way he usually lives and so on, and I would get into his role and create the choreography. I only received 2-3 songs in advance, and the rest all came basically the day before choreographing. The songs were mostly original so it took longer to work on them, it was really a tight schedule. In some cases they said “today we were going to choreograph 2 songs, but 1 isn’t ready yet”, so on that day we only did 1 song and the next day we choreographed 3. If I were working with a skater it (3 songs in 1 day) would be absolutely impossible (LOL). All songs were difficult to choreograph. I was told that the programs need to be used in tournaments and skaters must be able to get levels for them, so even though the songs were edited slightly shorter than what you would normally use in a match, they include all necessary elements (required in a competitive program such as jumps, spins etc.). A program that was easy to picture is the protagonist Yuuri-kun’s. Also, Victor-san. About Victor-san I was told that “he is an absolute champion with a stately presence, a skater that no one can surpass”, so I created “Hanarezu ni Soba ni Ite” as a majestic and excellent performance. I made him raise his head in a way the line of his throat would look beautiful, like a white stone statue. It’s not something I was told by Kubo-sensei and the others, I came up with that idea myself. A program that was hard to imagine was maybe the FS of Thailand’s Phichit-kun. The reason is simply that I’m not familiar with Thai folk songs, so I had to look up pictures and movies and it took some time. Just at that time I couldn’t lift my left shoulder anymore and had my trainer come over and tape it, I guess that was really when I had the hardest time. I had to do movements for many different skaters, some of which are not movements I normally do myself, that’s why I ended up injuring my shoulder a little.

-Trying different camera angles and clothes-

There were 4-5 fixed cameras on the side of the rink, and Kanako Odagaki-sensei skated after me with another one. The sense of speed feels different when looking through a camera compared to looking normally though, so whenever I sped up I would end up going too far from the camera. In the beginning it was difficult because I kept leaving too much distance between us, but we got better with each time and in the end we were able to basically move in synchrony. For every program I told the director and the staff what the skating course would be in advance, and depending on the choreography we discussed on what would be the best way to film it, for example if it was better to film it from the center of the circle or from the outside, and I discussed with Kubo-sensei as well. Even for the clothes, in the beginning I was skating with a pitch black outfit, but I was told that it was hard to distinguish left and right and so I wrapped tape on one side. Also, since all athletes skate with costumes, I tried to wear clothes like large blouses so that the staff could see how they flutter in the wind when you skate. I always used to set my hair, but I also skated without setting it so that they could see how it moves when you turn around, how you sweat and so on. (We didn’t only film each program once,) I repeated every program a few times. However, doing everything again from the start to the end was difficult, also because my body wouldn’t last. (When I felt that it was difficult) there were times when I asked them to film as best as they could because I was only going to skate the full program once. If it still wasn’t enough, I skated just the parts they needed to see again the next day. (As it also happens when I create choreographies for real skaters) sometimes I would realize that I needed to shorten the skating part, or that even though the sequence was very difficult there was still a chance that they could land a jump. The rink was small, so jumps were done differently than normal ones, and I thought it could be fun to change the curve too.

-People who started skating after watching Yuri-

To be honest, I thought that once it became animation it would look very different from the actual thing, but in fact it was almost the same. Of course flat pictures are not the same as tridimensional reality, but it got really close to the essence of skating. I was surprised at how realistically they recreated muscles and other details. The staff is seriously amazing. Some shots were different than what I had created, because when the director, Kubo-sensei and the staff watched it they thought that another form would look better and so they changed it. It was interesting to see how different people see things in different ways. But they really did a wonderful job, because when I watched the programs they were indeed beautiful. I see a lot of response now that the series has started airing. (The other day when I went to a tournament) a foreign coach grabbed his pupil just before they were going to skate and told them “you know, Kenji did all the choreographies for Yuri!” (LOL). I replied “you don’t have to tell them now” though. It’s great that it’s having so much response, and I’m very happy about it. I was asked to do choreographies for those songs, and there was even a boy who said he started skating after watching “Yuri on Ice”, that really made me happy. Looking back, I’m glad that I said I would do everything myself.

Kenji Miyamoto / Born in 1978 in Hyogo. Ice dance winner of the Japan Figure Skating Championships in 2001-02. After retiring from competition he became one of the leading choreographers in Japan, creating programs for skaters of all ages, from children to world champions, both Japanese and foreign.

[dear-chaton]

We Fly By Street Signs ~ I. Gasoline;

Archive of Our Own Chapters; 1 2

Alright so I found an old story from a year ago and decided to revamp it into a proper drag racing au, so please enjoy the first installment of We Fly By Street Signs

Or the one where drag racing was Marinette’s whole life until a certain bachelor came along

                                                I. Gasoline; 1982

Adrenaline. That hormone secreted by the adrenal glands, especially in conditions of stress, increasing rates of blood circulation, breathing, and carbohydrate metabolism and preparing muscles for exertion

One moment Marinette was staring at the starting line, Alya holding a checkered flag above her head while a crowd gathered around her car and the other racers. The reigning champion revved her engine causing the newbie named Ivan, to do the same. Her best friend since they were little, Nino Lahiffe was parked on the other side and laid a long one his horn.

❝Shut up will ya!❞ She shouted, earning a wild chuckle from the man. Nino gave her a salute before Marinette called her attention on the volunteer waving the flag in front of them. Alya Cesaire, Marinette knew of the girl since primary school and knew she made the right decision to have her be the referee if Nino’s drooling was anything to go for.

❝Racers, start your engines!❞ Marinette and the other racers revved their engines as the crowd around them cheered. Marinette knew every face in the crowd that night, it was hard not to know when she came around these parts to race every weekend. Nino began to taunt the newbie as Marinette began to breathe in deeply, all noise ceasing to exist. She placed her hands firmly on the steering wheel.

There was peace for what seemed like forever but in reality, it only lasted a millisecond as a bullhorn was released and the three racers peeled away from the starting line.

The newbie proved to be a newbie when his car stalled as Marinette and Nino took off. And anyways, this was just between Marinette and Nino, he owed her for pulling strings to get Alya to come tonight and there was no way she was letting the jerk win to impress the girl of his dreams.

It was a simple around the block race, if Alya knew her stuff like Marinette knew the reporter did, then she would know this was nothing to fuss about. Still, it was nice to see Nino get his act together, even if it was for this girl. Things weren’t always so happy and well between them but she was just honestly happy that he was showing part of his old personality again.

That was a story for another time as Marinette took a hard right in order to cut Nino off. Tired squealed, and she knew she was in the lead when she heard Nino cursing at her.

❝Ladybug!❞ Hearing her alter ego shouted making Marinette laugh in delight, her face was sure to start hurting from all the smiling she had been doing. What she didn’t expect however was for Ivan to take the previous turn with ease and speed past her with the bird held high. Marinette scoffed, she wasn’t about to get bested by this newcomer and switched gears to go even faster. Tires screeched behind her, Nino coming to speed with her with his window down.

❝That dirty bastard! He rammed me into the fence and overtook me!❞ He shouted, before speeding ahead. Marinette saw that his paint job was now horribly ruined and knew what she had to do. These were neighborhood races, everyone knew everyone and one of the rules was to never mess up someone’s ride. You were immediately disqualified so that meant, even if Ivan crossed the finish line, it wouldn’t count unless Nino or she passed it.

❝1v1, oh you’re on Lahiffe.❞ Marinette mumbled as she pressed on the gas just enough to speed past Nino and Ivan in the final stretch. It was not even up for debate her win. Nino was sulking before he got out of his car, only to stop when Alya walked by.

❝Ladybug! Ladybug! Ladybug!❞ Everyone cheered, hoisting Marinette onto their shoulders. Nino eventually did join in on the cheering, he knew that Marinette was fair and deserved it. He stepped up to the crowd as Marinette was let down from her throne, fanning the crowds as they silenced.

❝Now to celebrate Miss Lady Luck’s win, are you all ready for the party of the year?❞ He yelled, fist pumping the air. Cheers broke out again as Marinette laughed, surging forward to give Nino a fast side hug and stole his snapback.

The brunet chuckled, giving her a friendly shove and stealing his hat back. The crowd disperses fairly quickly, leaving just them two as they walk to their cars, laughing quietly to themselves. They’re almost there when suddenly Nino stiffens and Marinette knew she had 0.2 seconds to leap away before he puked. But it never came as he swayed from side to side, reaching out blindly for her.

❝I’m fine, just get me to my car.❞

❝You must be insane to think I’m letting you drive in this condition.❞

❝Oh, c’mon I promise Alya I would be there at the party.❞

❝You're sweating and almost fainted, Nino are you taking your medication?❞

❝Of course, I am Mari.❞ Nino wiped the sweat off his brow and looked at her with sadness.

❝It's just a little episode, cmon I might actually get to talk to Alya.❞ Marinette bit her lip in thought, he looked well enough and this was the first time in while that he had an episode. She groaned and Nino gave out a little whoop in excitement.

❝Fine, but I’m driving so you don’t have another accident.❞

❝What about old Jade, I just can’t leave her out here in the open, all alone.❞

❝We can always pick her up tomorrow, when we, oh I don’t know, go on about our normal lives?❞

❝Fine, just let me pick something up at the apartment.❞

❝If you forgot protection I swear to god Nino,❞

❝Mari! No, I wanted to show Alya my new mixtape!❞ Nino blushed as they got situated in her car.

As Marinette drove away from the street, she had to ask.

❝How’s your leg?❞ Nino groaned, rolling up his left pant leg to reveal the same old prosthetic he’s had for the last two years.

❝Still intact Mari, no need to worry.❞

❝But there is, Nino this is the fourth time in two months you’ve nearly passed out while racing!❞

❝I’m fine, honestly Marinette it was two years ago. I got the best of the best right here.❞ Nino knocked on his leg, a knock on the metal sounded back and she sighed. Marinette had to believe him, Nino was always stronger than she thought but that didn’t mean she could just erase the accident from her mind just like that.

❝Please tell me you’ve been using the ointment at least.❞

❝Yes, mother.❞

❝And do you still have the cover or do you need another one. Your birthday is coming soon, right?❞ Silence answers her and Marinette glances at Nino, who was trying his hardest to look stern.

❝Mari, I know you blame yourself, but you know I don’t right? I’m fine as can be.❞

❝But you can’t race professionally.❞ Tears that she had so desperately tried to hold back fell freely. A hand came up and wiped them gently away as she pulled into their driveway.

❝Who says I want to?❞

❝You! You told me your entire life that you want to be a super cool racecar driver and it was your dream Nino, you just can’t give that up.❞

❝Marinette, you and I know fully well that you would keep me off the track even before I got this thing. If anything, you belong out there, not me.❞ Nino sighed, running a hand through his messy locks.

❝Its high time that I stop fooling myself and quit this recklessness, plus I’m not quite ready to lose more than my leg, let alone you.❞ Marinette laughed, as Nino reached over the console to give her a hug.

❝Alright, I’ll be right back unless you want to change clothes?❞ Marinette looked down at her oily rags for clothes and took the car keys. The door to their second-floor apartment was already open, seeing Nino had a head start, Marinette swung it close as she headed to her room to change.

The advantages of having a best friend since you before you could walk; automatic roommate.

The disadvantages of said best friend were as such. Marinette heard a crash come from Nino’s room and dropped everything she was holding, sprinting to his side of the apartment only to find him grinning wildly with a CD in his hands.

❝You are going to be the death of me one day I swear.❞

❝Nice bra.❞ Marinette squealed, covering her chest as she ran from Nino’s room and his stupid laughter.

❝Last time I’m checking if you’re dead or not!❞ She shouted from the safety of her room.

❝Love you!❞

❝Yeah yeah, love you too❞

Within half an hour, they were ready, changed and on the road. Nino was driving this time as Marinette had no clue where the party was in the first place. She wasn’t even the party girl type, but she just couldn’t miss out the moment Nino started blubbering in front of Alya, it was too pure.

❝Oh, I forgot to mention but one of my buddies from school is going to be there.❞

❝Oh no, if this is another one of your ploys to get me on the dating scene, it's not happening.❞

❝No! God Marinette, I learned my lesson after Nathanael,❞ He rubbed his arm subconsciously, Marinette had a good arm when she needed to.

❝I’m just saying, he doesn’t get out much and I would appreciate it if you didn’t bite his head off.❞

❝Just as long as you don’t set me up on another blind date, you got yourself a deal. And when have I ever bit anyone’s head off?❞

❝Are you kidding me right now? Are you serious, do you have a temperature or something? Need I remind you of secondary school where you and Chloe fought like every day and I’m still in shock that you never got suspended.❞ Marinette mumbled to herself as Nino continued to list off her encounters with rude people.

❝Alright I get it,❞

❝Good, I thought for a second you were Marinette’s doppelganger. And since when do you have a ladybug bra?❞ Marinette squealed, avoiding Nino’s poking finger as he steered with his knee.

❝Drive like a normal person Nino!❞

❝Funny you say that miss drag racing queen. What am I, your chauffeur or something?❞

❝Hey, you offered to drive, not me.❞ Nino huffed, taking a right turn before they rolled into a quiet neighborhood.

❝Shit, I think I forgot my phone! Mari, you gotta lend me yours so I can text Alya.❞

❝Nope, the last time I gave you my phone I got a random girl asking to hook up again.❞

❝I told you that I’m interested in Alya and that was one time, I was young and stupid, Mari, please!❞ Marinette all but throws her phone at him, waiting for the telltale noise of typing before jumping out of the car.

❝Thanks, Mari, I owe you!❞

❝Don’t forget your mixtape and we’ll call it even.❞ Nino gave her phone back, locking the car and pulled her up to the house.

❝Have some fun Mari, and don’t get too into your head!❞ Nino shouted over the loud music before disappearing, typical.

Well, she was surely going to show him, as she made her way to the kitchen. Little did she know, this was the party that would surely change her life.

[airadam]

Episode 121 : X

"...celebrate like a crooked capitalist..."

- Mr. Voodoo

The podcast reaches a huge landmark this month - the tenth birthday! Thank you to all of you for your support along the way. It's not easy to put together a show month after month, but when I hear from people how much they enjoy listening (especially when they've gone out and bought some of the records), it makes it all worth it.

I hope you enjoy this month's show - there are some rarities, some obscurities, and a bit of an extra-special treat! I've dipped into the vaults for some real personal favourites, so hopefully they're loved outside of the confines of my headphones!

Twitter : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Run-DMC : For 10 Years

Only a short one, from their comeback "Down With The King" LP - when else was I going to have a chance to play it? :)

Natural Elements : Live It Up

Big 12" from my university days, a period when Natural Elements were already making themselves one of my all-time favourite crews. This track from the soundtrack to the not-particularly-notable film "Black Mask" was also on the B-side to the also-excellent "2 Tons", and that's a vinyl you should be able to pick up very cheaply nowadays on the used market. Charlemagne (the real one) is on the beat, and as with all NE tracks, lyrical quality is guaranteed and delivered.

[Nick Wiz] Shabaam Sahdeeq ft. Cocoa Brovaz : Every Rhyme I Write (Instrumental)

I was almost going to include the vocal version of this track (known to most from the "Soundbombing 2" mixtape), until it twigged how well the beat mixed with the NE track before it. Nick Wiz of that era was a master of blending those staccato electronic sounds with more traditional Hip-Hop drums and bass, and he's still doing his thing today. As an aside, I think me and my man Pascal may be the only two people ever to blast the "Soundbombing 2" tape while barrelling through the Budapest area in an old Trabant. True story.

Mobb Deep : Rare Species (Modus Operandi)

It's already been two years this month since Prodigy passed. For this special episode, I thought it was worth pulling out a lesser-known track which also contains one of my favourite verses of his. Those of you who know this already will be aware that it came out on the soundtrack for "Soul in the Hole" (in the fine tradition of 90s soundtrack records that barely relate to the film), but it's actually a remix to an unreleased tune called "Reach". Classic Mobb dunn business all over, but the start of that second P verse...just too good. Havoc definitely kills it on the beat, with snapping drums over the top of some subtly clever sample work.

Black Moon : Freestyle

I'd forgotten quite how aggro this was! Buckshot is solo on the mic here with that real 90s grittiness over a flawless beat from Da Beatminerz. The "War Zone" LP was very different to "Enta Da Stage" - not as jazzy, definitely a different sound - but is not one to be overlooked.

A Tribe Called Quest ft. Consequence : Mind Power

The first two tracks in this section have been pretty gully, so for the second half we keep the flow sonically but take the lyrical aggression down a few notches. "Beats, Rhymes, and Life" is an LP that had to grow on me, but this track was always up there. The lyrical quality is there, drums are crispy as you like, and it's got a jazzy feel that could easily have fit onto either of their previous two albums. 

DJ Honda & De La Soul : Trouble In The Water

Chilling things all the way out as we come to the end of this section, this is a really good De La track that may have passed some people by. From the second DJ Honda album comes this reflective song, which for me is absolutely made by that first verse, reminiscing on growing up. 

Oddisee : After Thoughts

One of the many great instrumentals on Oddisee's "The Beauty In All" album. I didn't realise until doing some research that this is unbelievably popular on Spotify, which is pleasantly surprising. It's always good to find out that people appreciate quality music that the industry isn't pushing upon them!

Mary J. Blige : Good Woman Down

I only heard this 9th Wonder-produced track recently thanks to an article from the man Gino Sorcinelli, the man behind the excellent Micro-Chop blog. Mary is someone I firmly believe will one day have a film made of her life, and she gives just a small window here on this great song from "The Breakthrough". She's been through a lot, and thank goodness, she's still here and still on her game. 

Agallah : Don't Wanna Be The Last

From around the period when Agallah was doing a lot of work with PCP/Dipset, this has been a drivetime favourite for me for the last three cars I've had! A hard one to find for quite a while, Agallah's 2004 "Doomsday" mixtape is the source for this one. Like the track that follows, if you enjoy hearing the kick drum get busy then this should be right up your street. 

Camp Lo : Cookers

Chuck D tried to tell you - B-side wins again! From the quiet period between their storming debut "Uptown Saturday Night" and their underrated sophomore release "Let's Do It Again", the "Troubleman/Cookers" 12" let the world know that the Lo were still on it! Geechi and Cheeba go back and forth with ease over Ski's beat, one that clearly drew on the EEC kick drum mountain to smack harder than most.

Fat Joe ft. Armageddon : Find Out

Is that DJ Premier on the beat? Diamond D? Buckwild, perhaps? Nope, the legend Marley Marl reminding you that he fathered sampling/beat making in the way that many other great producers would do it today. That delicate acoustic guitar loop withstands an absolute battering from the heavy drums and bass Marley puts on, and Fat Joe has no problem slicing right through the middle or it all. This is from a white label 12", but you really want to pick up the "Don Cartagena" album for this and other gems. 

Roni Size/Reprazent : Out Of The Game

Bristol, stand up! Even in the period when I really didn't mess with much drum & bass, I couldn't deny the "In The Møde" album. This hectic track was one of my favourites, largely off that moody, crime-thriller guitar riff. Smashing along at almost 180bpm, it still sounds masterfully under control.

8 Gold Rings & In The Loop MCs : Tribe Cipher

Here's a special treat for you - big thanks to Agent J and 8 Gold Rings for making it possible to include this month! The much-missed Manchester Hip-Hop club In The Loop was known not just for the great selections from DJ A-Up and Agent J, or the flavoursome hosting of Bedos, but for the monthly ciphers in which local MCs could step up and showcase their skills  - ciphers from which a lot of great local MCs have emerged. Around the time of my "Manchester Marauders" exhibition, In The Loop connected with the then-nascent band that came to be known as 8 Gold Rings, and got them to soundtrack the month's cipher with a set of live renditions of A Tribe Called Quest instrumentals. Here we have just over 20 minutes of that absolutely fire session, with 8GR playing like a live mixtape while the vocalists battle for the month's crown. 

Air Adam : Walk

An old beat I found while having a look through my archives - I couldn't hear an MC on it, but I found it's one I kept listening to so it's perfect for an instrumental bed here!

Geto Boys : Fuck A War

RIP Bushwick Bill. He had one of the more unique career paths, from dancer with the original Ghetto Boys, to MC with the reconstituted Geto Boys, solo releases, and eventually becoming a born-again Christian in a complete 180 to much of his old lyrical content. Right here, we're on the Geto Boys' second LP, "We Can't Be Stopped" (the one with the infamous album cover of Bill after he had shot himself in the eye [content warning]), and he goes solo on the mic putting the first George Bush and the Gulf War on full blast. The third verse goes a little off-piste with the message compared to the rest, and with the hook also being too short to really mix with, I did a little edit to just contain the first two verses and an instrumental outro for a nice blend.

E-40 ft. Keak da Sneak : Tell Me When To Go

"Jesus Christ had dreads, so shake 'em..." Bay Area classic material! For those of us outside the area, this was an anthem for the Hyphy movement, as E-40 and Keak lay down a little of the lifestyle - also illustrated in the wicked video. The first single from "My Ghetto Report Card" is just a certified banger, and guaranteed to make you move something. Surprisingly, the production was actually courtesy of an Atlanta native (crunk heavyweight Lil Jon), and it's almost entirely drums and percussion, with enough energy to make you want to throw something out of the window!

Zapp : Get Up Off The Wall

After the death of the great Roger Troutman, Zapp could have been forgiven for just packing up the whole thing for good. Fortunately for us, they're made of rare stuff, and after a few years off they returned. While they now are primarily concentrated on their live work, at which they are absolute masters, there have also been a couple of albums. "Zapp VI : Back By Popular Demand" gives us this track, with the air of classics like "Dance Floor". The CD is hard to find and incredibly expensive, so there's no shame in just going for a digital purchase here! 

Ilajide : Don't Fake

If you haven't got "Heet Tape" yet, you're really missing out. Clear Soul Forces' Ilajide puts all the bump into reworking a classic 80s sample (which you may recognise, but which I won't name in case it's not cleared) and shows his rhyme skills into the bargain. It's just a genuinely fun track, and the video is in the same vein :)

The Chemical Brothers : Piku

The Chemical Brothers are one of a handful of groups I actually learned about from the old PlayStation game "Wipeout", and who coincidentally started DJing in the same student halls where I started to learn the craft! "Exit Planet Dust" is still my favourite LP from their catalogue, but "Dig Your Own Hole" definitely had tracks as well. This one I'd never paid that much attention to, but after a recent listen - and on realising the classic Motown sample they snuck in there - I was pleased to gain a new appreciation for it and find a spot for it here.

Ice-T & Ice Cube : Looters

Apologies for the sound quality, but here's a real rarity here for you! This was the unreleased title track for the soundtrack of the 1992 film that was eventually titled "Trespass" - until the L.A. Uprising happened. Ice-T and Ice Cube go hard on the mic over a beat that sounds like a Sir Jinx production, though I can't be sure. More so than the final title track (which I'm a big fan of), this one explicitly covers a lot of the plot of the actual film, so if you're trying to be efficient with your time... :) I chanced across this in a London used records shop, but your best chance of getting one of the few white label bootlegs is to hit Discogs.

Ry Cooder & Jim Keltner : King Of The Street

Finally, we close with the final track on the officially-released "Trespass" soundtrack album, a rock/blues (mostly) instrumental number that was a favourite of mine from the first listen! California's Ry Cooder plays many instruments, but on this track he shows his guitar chops alongside the skills of the legendary session drummer Jim Keltner. Aggressive, dramatic, pure flames.

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

  Check out this episode!

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"A Master Class in Instagram Marketing Ft. Rev Ciancio" (Inbound Success Ep. 85)

What are the best practices for using Instagram to market your business or brand?

Rev Ciancio

This week on The Inbound Success Podcast, author and Instagram marketing expert Rev Ciancio pulls back the curtain on how he's built up almost 80,000 followers on Instagram and breaks down exactly what marketers need to know to master Instagram marketing for their own businesses.

Rev covers both the high-level strategy that will help you win at Instagram, as well as the nitty-gritty tactical details you'll need to know to look like an Insta pro.

This week's episode of The Inbound Success Podcast is brought to you by our sponsor, IMPACT Live,  the most immersive and high energy learning experience for marketers and business leaders. IMPACT Live takes place August 6-7, 2019 in Hartford Connecticut and is headlined by Marcus Sheridan along with special guests including world-renowned Facebook marketing expert Mari Smith and Drift CEO and Co-Founder David Cancel. Inbound Success Podcast listeners can save 10% off the price of tickets with the code "SUCCESS". 

Click here to learn more or purchase tickets for IMPACT Live

Some highlights from my conversation with Rev include:

Rev is a food blogger and Instagram influencer focused on the restaurant and hospitality business.

He has taken a very intentional approach to what he posts on Instagram and specifically shares things related to his passion for food and how to market restaurant and hospitality businesses on the platform. 

Rev says there are really only two reasons that a business should be on Instagram. Either a portion of their target audience is already there, or they have the ability to build an audience where nobody else is.

Instagram is a very visual platform, so if you can't express either the values of your company, or the solutions your service or product provides, or you can't speak to your audience through a visual medium, it's the wrong social network to be on.

It's a particularly good platform for conveying corporate culture through photos of employees, office environments, team outings, etc.

Instagram has both very casual users who just look at photos and videos but don't read captions, and intense users who go deep on a topic. Rev says to design your Instagram presence for the intense user by sharing striking images and videos, and then going deeper in your captions.

Because Instagram only shows a limited amount of text from the captions before making you click to read more, when you're crafting the message to your Instagram post, think about what's going to happen in the first six or seven words that's going to make somebody want to tap more to see what else you wrote.

Photo quality is critical on Instagram and apps like Snapseed make it very easy for even a layperson to create professional looking photos very quickly.

Consistency is also very important, so Rev says to determine how often you will post and then stick with that scheduled to develop a habit amongst your audience.

One way to get discovered by new audiences on Instagram is hashtags. The platform allows you to use up to 30 hashtags, and Rev suggests taking a "content mix" approach by combining some more popular and widely used hashtags with some more niche terms to find your audience.

There is a debate going on right now about whether it's better to post hashtags in the caption to the post or in a comment. Rev is testing both approaches right now and suggests that others do the same.

Instagram doesn't allow you to use hard line breaks when posting captions, and will actually remove hard line breaks when they are put in. Rev suggests using a third party tool such as a notes app to create captions and insert a period in between paragraphs to get around this. Doing so makes caption text easier to read and also lengthens the amount of time your audience interacts with your post, which Instagram's algorithm really likes.

To make it easier to format and schedule out Instagram posts, Rev uses Later, a third party software tool.

Photos and videos posted to the Instagram feed are a great way to capture a moment in time, whereas Instagram Stories are more effective at digging deeper into a topic and weaving together a narrative.

If you're posting a large volume of content to Instagram and one of your goals is to get people to visit your website, or click through on something, then putting a link in your bio can be a great way to accomplish this.

Resources from this episode:

Save 10% off the price of tickets to IMPACT Live with promo code "SUCCESS"

Follow Rev on Instagram

Connect with Rev on LinkedIn

Follow Rev on Twitter

Check out Rev's website

Listen to the podcast to hear how Rev approaches Instagram marketing and learn how to apply those lessons to your business Instagram strategy.

Transcript

Kathleen Booth (Host): Welcome back to the Inbound Success Podcast. I'm Kathleen Booth and I'm your host. And my guest this week is Rev Ciancio, who is a hospitality and digital marketing consultant. Welcome Rev. Rev Ciancio (Guest): Hi, thanks for having me.

Rev and Kathleen recording this episode

Kathleen: I'm happy to have you here, especially because we're going to talk about something that we haven't talked about yet on this podcast.

But before we get to that, you have a really interesting background. What you're involved in now is really interesting and kind of different from some of the other guests I've had on.

Tell my audience a little bit more about yourself and your connection to delicious looking food.

About Rev Ciancio

Rev: So I used to be in the music business, and I owned an independent agency that did marketing promotion on behalf of record labels and publishers. I got this in my head one day that working for a small amount of time on a band, or an album was fun, but I really wanted to get in deep with bands, and I become an artist manager. So I was managing rock bands and touring the world and all that fun stuff.

What I sort of learned over time in that business is that the majority of band members who pick up an instrument don't do it to start a business, they do it because they want to play guitar, or they want to sing a song.

I found that over time, my ability to teach people in that industry to think about business first, or think about business as much as they do their creative aspects, just wasn't providing the results I'd hoped it was. And I was like, "Well, I bet I can apply these same principles to food and to restaurant marketing."

So I made a leap from doing independent marketing and consulting for basically rock bands, to chefs and restaurants. You'd be amazed at how similar those two things are.

Kathleen: I feel like the same thing could said about doctors. Don't they always say doctors make the worst business managers?

Rev: Probably, but I feel like the art of health is less art and more science. So you'd be surprised the similarities in rock and roll, and in food and hospitality. But I kind of quickly learned that you can't download a hamburger, and that if you have a favorite restaurant you might eat there again as opposed to you're not going to buy an album twice unless you're converting from album to CD, or whatever digital.

Anyway, I started to apply the principles I had learned in the music business in marketing, branding and promoting bands to restaurants and food and it worked.

So that was it, I was done. I was done with the music business and from that point forward I sort of focused on hospitality marketing in the forms of local search, social media, menu management that kind of stuff. I actually went and even owned a bar for awhile.

So, not only have I consulted, not only do I like eating, but I've actually been in the trenches and run a bar and restaurant.

The most important lesson I learned in owning a bar and restaurant is that I'm really bad at running a bar and restaurant. But I'm pretty good at the marketing and branding piece. So, I sort of got out of owning and just focused the rest of my career on helping location-based businesses, primarily restaurants, to be successful with digital marketing, and digital marketing tools.

Kathleen: You've spent some time also at Yext, correct?

Rev: I was there for two years, yep.

Kathleen: They're a big player in the local marketing space as well. I've actually had the CMO of Yext on the podcast talking about local search and SEO and optimization. So, it's an interesting background, a mix of things that you have from working at the smaller level with those local businesses to working in a larger SaaS company that's aiming to help those kinds of companies at scale.

Then, one of the things I found really interesting about you, and that was kind of a fun side rabbit hole that I went down, was your Instagram. Warning to anyone listening. Do not look at Rev's Instagram if you're hungry. It's kind of like going grocery shopping when you're hungry. It's really dangerous.

But you have this really interesting Instagram that's attracted quite a following. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Rev on Instagram

Rev: Sure. Well, first of all I don't make any apologies for causing hunger pains. So, no apologies happening there. If you happen to go look at my Instagram screen name, which is just my name Rev Ciancio, I post what a lot of people call food porn.

So, I used to write a lot of content when I was in college and whatever about the music business, about music. Then I got in the music business and I didn't want to have my passion and my job sort of be the same. So, when I started in the music business I still wanted to write, so I started writing about food.

Back in like it must have been in '99, 2000 food blogs weren't really a thing. So my first real food blog was in 2003 and I've just sort of kept creating content since then whether it was a blog or Pinterest, or Snapchat or whatever.

Instagram, I've been on since 2006 so quite a while. But, that I think is the first social network that really lended itself towards the visual nature of food in terms of it being appealing and looking. I really think only in maybe the last three or four years has that channel really become what it's become in terms of growth, and influencer marketing as it appeals to food.

So, how did I get there? Well, I used to treat my Instagram just like everybody else. Pictures of my daily life, and shaking my fist at an angry bus. Or, here's a really poorly lit picture of a salad. You know, just a snap shot of my life.

I made a decision that if I was not only going to lead digital marketing for other businesses, but if I wanted to sort of attract a bigger audience, then I needed to practice what I preach.

So I was like, "Well, I'm not going to look at Instagram as being a yearbook, or a photobook of my life. I'm going to use this to prove that I am who I say I am to reach a broader audience." Then actually be able to use it to learn so that I could transfer that knowledge to my clients.

So, all those great looking photos you see up there were intentional. I decided what was my reason for being on there, what theme did I want to have, why did I want people to follow me. So there's a lot of thought and a lot of curation into sloppy looking cheeseburgers is what I'm trying to tell you.

Kathleen: I mean, the food is insane. I am now deeply regretting the healthy kale salad I chose to have for lunch right before I did this podcast interview. I'm looking at the pizza, the burgers, all of it. It all is everything that I would eat if I had no limitations.

Rev: Well, then it's doing its job. It got your attention.

Kathleen: Yes. It did.

Now, this is exactly why I was interested in talking with you because I really haven't had anybody come on the podcast yet, and I think I'm at about 80 episodes, and talk about Instagram. I talk to a lot of B2B marketers. Certainly B2C as well, but I think particularly in the B2B world, everybody feels like they need to be on Instagram, but nobody can quite figure out what to do with it. I think B2C is doing a little bit better, and I think some Instagram ads are helping.

But, I feel like a lot of the people that are listening really don't have a deep knowledge of Instagram. Maybe I'm making an assumption. I don't have a deep knowledge of Instagram. I mean, I use it. We use it for our business. I wouldn't say it's a major driver of traffic to our website, or leads, or even brand awareness for us.

So, I really just want to pick your brain for marketers who are listening, who are maybe grappling with "How should I use Instagram for my business?"

How would you suggest they get started today, given where Instagram is now? And then we can maybe dive a little bit deeper into very specific tactics of ways to do it right.

How To Use Instagram For Business

Rev: Cool. Well, I would say this really about any social network but specifically as it relates to Instagram. There's only two reasons why a business needs to be on Instagram. Either a portion of their target audience is already there, or they have the ability to build an audience where nobody else is.

If you can't define either of those things I would tell you not to use Instagram or any social tool.

Where it gets specific with Instagram is, this is like a "duh" moment of course, but it's a super visual format. So, if you can't express either the values of your company, or your interests, or the solutions your service or product provides, or you can't speak to your audience through a visual nature, it's the wrong social network to be on.

So, is it a powerful platform for B2B? Well, yeah, I would say it is. But then it's how are you using it.

So, what I think the problem with a lot of businesses when they approach Instagram is they approach it the same way they might approach LinkedIn, or the same way they might approach Facebook or Twitter. They're just copy and pasting the same format, and they're using it to broadcast whatever it is they're broadcasting.

Because Instagram is pretty visual I think it makes a great play for it being a great way to brand your business. So it doesn't necessarily have to be promotional based, "Buy our product. Use our service." But it could be about your people, it could be about your brand, it could be about your customers.

So, I think Instagram is a great tool for expressing either who you are as a brand, or who are the customers you help.

Kathleen: It's interesting that you say that, because I think to date ... Again, we haven't put a lot of resources into our Instagram. But, I feel like the one area to date where it really has produced results for us is with recruiting. Because people do ... We tend to recruit a lot of younger marketers, I say younger but that's younger than me. Which is a lot of people. People who are in that Instagram demographic, and they do tend to look at our feed and see the pictures.

We post a lot of more kind of cultural things -- our employees out having fun together, stuff happening in our office. It's been really great for that. We really haven't put a lot of effort into it as far as attracting a customer, a subscriber audience. I think that there's probably a lot more we could be doing to be quite frank.

Rev: I think you hit on it. I think a lot of, especially in 2019 the way the work force is going, people choose where they're going to work. Not just on the availability of a job or not, but what is the culture like. I think Instagram is a great tool for expressing the culture of what it's like to be a part of your brand from the inside.

So, I would agree that, that's actually a really great use of Instagram because you can take pictures of, or videos of people and moments and show what it's like to be a part of your team. So from that aspect it's actually a really great recruiting tool because it gives a vision into what it's like to be there.

Kathleen: So, fair to say that the key differentiator of Instagram, well key differentiators, one is that the platform is really built around pictures and video? Then, I know the other one is that you can't put links in your posts. You can put a link in your bio, but not in your post, correct?

Rev: That's correct. One of the things with Instagram is because it's sort of an open format and it's very heavy in the influencer world and there's a lot of brands trying to figure out what to do there, I think you get a lot of casual audience. So, just because somebody liked your picture doesn't mean they read your text. So even if you did attempt to put a link in your text, which doesn't hyperlink, or you were smart and put it in your bio and told people to go there after they read the post, it doesn't mean they're even going to see that text.

Rev: So, the problem, or maybe the challenge, with Instagram is that you get a lot of intense users. If you want to go deep as a fan on any subject, cars, education, food, swim wear, vacation you can go super deep by following super deep oriented brands, or channels, or influencers. But you're also going to get the bigger you get a lot more causal of an audience. So it's a lot harder to get them to convert from being causal to intense. But, it's a great place to drive intensity.

So, you see that picture and if it really speaks to you, then you might click more, then you might take my call to action. You might go to my story. So, I tell people to design their content for the intense experience, not the broad audience.

Kathleen: Okay. So, it sounds like focusing on videos and images that can stand alone without any supporting copy?

Rev: Well, from an attraction standpoint. I'll use my account as an example because thats honestly the best one I have, or maybe the one I have the deepest lens into.

So, if you go look at my Instagram account without clicking deeper, it just looks like cheeseburgers, french fries, steak and barbecue. But if you start to go read the captions, or you read the stuff I'm putting out there, you check out my stories, a lot of them have not just where should you get that pizza, but how you should manage your reputation online if you're a restaurant. Or, the importance of impression metrics in Instagram.

So, the actual text is a bit deeper. I do that by design.

The picture of the cheeseburgers is there to get your attention. It's my headline if you will. Then the text drives a deeper intention. So, I've sort of designed it that if you want to casually like burgers, you can, and if you really care about what I have to say or my thoughts, you can go deeper.

I think the sort of a great way to look at how Instagram can work for a brand is that the pictures have to be appealing about whatever it is that you're trying to spread.

Like we were talking about recruiting. What's it like to work here? Then the text, and the links, and the calls to action can be how to take that next step, how to find out more. How that brand can appeal more to the intended, or target, audience.

Kathleen: We talked about the pictures, and it definitely sounds like, if I'm hearing you right, that that's about the first attention grab. We'll call that almost like the top of the funnel. How do you real them in?

Then, as you're describing, there's what you put in your caption to the picture. I mean, even as a casual Instagram user I've noticed there are certain little tricks people use, hacks, et cetera in terms of formatting their captions, how they want hashtags to show up.

Can you talk a little bit about the different ways that you can use that space to your advantage and to help you get found?

Rev: Sure. So, one of the things that you need to keep in mind when you're building the text for your Instagram posts is that they do cut you off. So there's only a certain amount of characters before you have to tap more to see it. It's almost like an article versus going deep into a blog.

So when you're crafting the message to your Instagram post, you got to think about what's going to happen in the first six or seven words that's going to make somebody want to tap more to see what else you wrote.

So, I know again this is going to sound like a "duh" moment. But you got to think in terms of story telling.

The photo gets your attention, that first line needs to make you want to click to read more. So you have to think about, when you're crafting an Instagram post, how intense is the message? If it's not super intense, you can sort of give it away before the fold.

Like if it's ... Let's say it's a giveaway. You're going to run a promotion on your Instagram. I would tell you that the first word in your post should be "giveaway" so that I know, "Hey, that's a giveaway. If I want to participate in a giveaway I need to tap more."

But, if it's more of a story that reveals a point or needs to drive something, you need to almost treat it like it's a headline to your photo. I hate to use the words "click bait," but really you got to think about what's going to drive that tap for more.

If you're going ... Look, I don't tell brands to get on Instagram and think about growing your follower base. It's pointless. You want to grow engagement. So I don't care if you have 100,000 followers, or 10. How many of those followers are hanging onto every word and photo you say?

So when you're writing that text, and you're thinking about "How do I get them to click more?", you got to think about what's the best story you can tell? What is the highest value you can have and get them to click more?

Anything else, Kathleen, that I'm going to go through today is completely tactical-based like where to put your hashtags, which hashtags to use. If you can't sort of perfect the image, the call to action and how to get click more, none of the other advice I would ever give you has any relevance whatsoever.

Kathleen: So, have you seen any examples of brands that are doing this really well that have that deep level of engagement and that passionate following, if you will?

Brands That Are Crushing It On Instagram

Rev: Most of my examples will be food, that really shouldn't be a surprise.

But I really like Taco Bell. I think all their images look great. So they've taken the time to make sure they captured your attention by having a really interesting image. Then if you go look at their photos the first line of text, that pre-header to the more, is always something that makes you sort of want to know more. It makes you want to tap more, it makes you think. You can almost decide in the instant whether you need to know more or not. They're a really good brand to follow.

I kind of also really like Food Beast. I don't know if you're familiar with Food Beast, but they're a media channel. So they're kind of an agency and they do some influencer marketing stuff. They have a podcast or whatever, and a blog, blah blah blah. But their whole thing is about really intense food experiences. So, they don't post a picture of burgers at In 'n Out. They post a picture of a stack of 17 patties on a bun. So, it's really intense but then you'll go click it and they'll be something about how you can order that burger. Or why you should tap their bio to go listen to an interview with somebody who figured out how to gain the secret menu system at In 'n Out.

But, anyway. The content's super engaging. So the photo will draw you in, the text will make you want to tap more and then there's usually some sort of call to action that makes you want to go deeper.

So, those are two examples of brands I really enjoy following.

Kathleen: Okay. We'll definitely have to check those out to see how they're crafting their captions.

Now, as you mentioned there are tactical elements to this. So, shifting from the strategic, which is how do you tell a great story, how do you craft a great first line to get somebody to want to hit that more button and dive deeper. Then there's the very tactical elements of formatting these things. Again, the hashtags. Can you get into the tactical side of it a little bit?

The Nitty Gritty of Mastering Instagram Marketing

Rev: Sure. So, let's start high level.

The first is photo quality. It's so hard for me to tell people to not edit their photos. There's some really simple, simple easy to use apps you can use on your phone.

I happen to like Snapseed, it's available on both iOS and for Androids. I mean, I've got it down where I can edit a photo whether it's a picture of my kid in the backyard, or a stack of french fries I can edit it in under 30 seconds. They've made it super easy to just adjust the white balance, up the structure, add a little saturation.

The difference between a crappy photo and a much more engaging photo is much lower. There's a much lower barrier for entry than you think there is.

Kathleen: Now, do you have to know much about photography or graphic design to do this? Or is this something that anybody could figure out using Snapseed?

Rev: I have been doing some sort of photo content since 2003 and I know nothing. My photoshop skills are about as good as I can cut and past a taco into somebody's hand. I have no photoshop skills. I mean, you said earlier that you really liked my pictures. That's something I could teach somebody in a matter of minutes. It's much easier than you think it is.

So, number one, edit your photos. Don't assume that just because it looks good on your phone it'll look good on mine. Run it through an editor. Do a little white balance, a little contrast, play around with it. But number one, definitely edit your photos. Don't think your handheld device is good enough that you can be a master.

Number two, a really good, and important, tactic is consistency. So, if you're going to post every day on Instagram, then post every day. Don't post every day for a week and then stop doing it. If you don't have the bandwidth to post every day, post every other day, or post just on Saturdays. But you want to build an expectation with your audience of how much content to expect from you. Don't put anything out there that doesn't help ... That basically doesn't help people.

So, if you're like, "We're going to post every day," then you better make sure that every day you have something that's valuable to people. If you can't possibly put up something of value every day, then lower your cadence, right? It's okay. Instagram's not going to hurt you if you only post on Sundays.

Have that consistency, let people expect to know when somethings going to ... They're going to get something from you.

Kathleen: Is there anything you can do in the way you create your post to increase the odds of it getting found by somebody who's casually looking through Instagram? Because there are your followers, and then there are the people that are going to stumble upon your content.

Rev: Sure. So, I'm sure everybody's heard of this but one of the best ways to attract new audiences on Instagram is with hashtags. I'm going to break down something really important here in a second about hashtags. But, the thing to know is you can have up to 30 different hashtags. So, I suggest that people use a content mix of hashtags.

So, again, I'll use food as my example, of course that's my lens. I wouldn't share a picture of burgers and then have all burger hashtags. I'll have some location hashtags, I'll have some branded hashtags, I'll have some more cheap food type hashtags. But you want to get a mix of hashtags that appeals to different levels of your audience.

Some hashtags are going to have millions and millions of uses. If you have 100 followers there's little to no chance that you using a #Life, or #Happy that you're ever going to score with those. You need to find things that are a little bit more deeper down the funnel in terms of getting an audience.

But you need to think of that mix in terms of tiering your hashtags. But the other thing to note, and there's sort of a conversation happening out there in Instagram land, you can either put the hashtags in the caption of the text, so along with your call to action and your description, your story. Or you can put them as a comment. So they're separated.

There's a conversation out there happening, and nobody's sort of landed on which side of the coin is better. But I would tell you to test it.

Kathleen: That's really interesting. I haven't heard about this. So, I would love to get your sense of when you might use one versus the other.

Rev: Well, I have been religiously posting the hashtags in the text of my content for three years. So, I'll write out my post, I'll pick out my 30 hashtags. When I go post it up I've included the hashtags with the text.

Somebody recently told me that they're having success with using it in the comments. So I'm actually in the middle of a seven day test where the prior seven days I only did in the text, these seven days I'm only doing it in the content. Then, I'm going to measure what the differences were in those.

When you're going to run a test like that, and I would tell everybody to test this. Everybody. Know what you're testing.

So me, right now, I'm just looking for a signal. Do I get more audience, do I get more followers, do I get more engagement? What do I get more of?

I'll then take that information and then do a second deeper test. So, right now I'm just looking to see how it affects my impressions. Do I get more or less impressions by putting it in the text versus the comments? Then once I have an answer on what I think it is, then I'll test the next thing which is "Okay, if I continue to get higher impressions will I then get more followers?" See what I'm saying?

Kathleen: Yeah.

Rev: So, Instagram doesn't give us these answers. You kind of got to out there and test them. I'm not exactly sure based on what Instagram has put out there whether there is a difference.

I do know that the algorithm works different for every single account. So that's why it's important to have a theory and to test it. Have a control, that kind of thing.

Kathleen: Okay.

Rev: I would tell somebody to always use some hashtags. Never to not use a hashtag. Even if you don't score for the Explore page, which is when you go to search in Instagram and you see recommended things, you should go look at hashtags are how you get there.

But, even if I post something ... Like, every Monday I post a marketing tip. In that I always use #Rev'sMarketingTips.

So let's say you happen to find the post I did this Monday. You think that's a valued tip. You see that I'm using that hashtag, you can then just tap that hashtag and find other posts related to that subject that go back years, and years, and years, and years.

So, the value of the hashtags I think most people would look at as, "Oh, that's how you hit the Explore page and get a bunch of followers and likes." It's also good for research.

I did a thing last year where I was trying to categorize all the types of fries. There are 21, by the way. I needed a photo visual of smiley fries. I didn't know how to find a picture of smiley fries so I just typed into the Explorer S-M-I-L-E-Y-F-R ... And guess what? People had used the hashtag, so I found the things I needed.

So, hashtags have a double value. It can help you be found sort of in the immediate, and also in the long run. But I would tell everybody to use at least the most relevant ones to the content every time.

Kathleen: Okay. Now, I want to come back in a minute to the Explore tab but I don't want to get distracted from this and lose track.

So, I notice when I look at your posts you have a very particular format that's almost paragraph style. In between your paragraphs you have a period on the line break. This is getting very tactical and technical but it's something that I'm interested in. I see a lot of other people do their initial caption and then five line breaks with little periods and then their hashtags.

Can you talk a little bit about that and also for the newbie to Instagram, because I remember when I had this question, how do you do that? Because you can't do a hard return from your phone.

Rev: So, we'll start with the why, we'll talk about the how, and then I'll go into why you would do each one.

So, first of all you can't do a line break when you're typing in Instagram. Typically they'll just pull it back anyway. They'll delete the line break. So, I put a period in between paragraphs or sentences so that it's essentially a line break. It just so happens that there's also a visual to my line break. They don't allow you, so that's why you would do it.

Now, why do I particularly do it, or why would I recommend you do it? Well, I think if you take five sentences and you put them together they're much harder to read than five sentences with spaces in the middle. So I'm trying to make a really fast moving social network a bit more digestible.

If you see what I call "word vomit," you just see five sentences all smashed together on Instagram, your brain's not going to register that as fast as if I have one sentence, a line break, one sentence, a line break. It feels more digestible and easy.

So I'm trying to get my content to be a little more easy to digest and I would tell that to anybody.

But, now to get into the super, super, super deep part. So the Instagram algorithm rewards the accounts by users who spend more time. So if you come to my content and you spend one second that's worth X amount of algorithm. If you spent two seconds that's worth X+. If you spend five seconds X++. If you spend a full minute on one of my Instagram posts the algorithm is like, "Wow, this must be a pretty awesome post."

So, why would you put in line breaks, or multiple line breaks is you're trying to get people to scroll and interact. So it's a little bit of gaming the system, you know what I'm saying? But, truly Instagram does value time spent on a post.

So that's why you would might see somebody has a sentence and then five line breaks. They're trying to gain time on the post.

Kathleen: Now, the technique I've always used to do that, because you can't do it in Instagram, is to open up the Notes App on my phone and type it in there and then copy and paste it over. Is that pretty much what you do, or do you have some other secret sauce behind how you're doing this?

Rev: I used to use Notes on my phone. I just don't like that app. So now I use Simple Notes. Simple Notes also has a super easy desktop format so it's easy to go back and forth between, which Notes doesn't really. So, but essentially it's the same thing. I write it in the text based notes and then cut and paste it in.

Instagram Software Solutions

Rev: But there are a number of software solutions out there that will let you do that where you can actually write it in the software and have it push it. I just don't happen to like them.

Kathleen: What are some of the more common ones?

Rev: Later is probably one of the biggest ones. I really like their analytics, I just don't ... I'm not a scheduler. I don't like scheduling software, so.

Kathleen: Got it. Those are some of the details that I think if you're not a heavy Instagram user can really trip you up. Being like, "How are all these people adding these line breaks and periods? Why are they doing that?"

Rev: But I could see for a ... You know, I'm a user in that regard. But for a brand or business if you're managing multiple social channels and you have content going out everywhere having a software that schedules could be super, super helpful.

Kathleen: Yeah.

Rev: Don't take me saying I don't like it meaning it's not good. It's just not what I need.

Getting Into Instagram's Explore Tab

Kathleen: Now, back to the topic of the Explore tab. So you mentioned that is how you can get found in Instagram by an audience that may not already know about you if you land on the Explorer tab.

Can you talk me through how does that happen? How does Instagram decide what to put there?

Rev: So, the answer is "I don't know." Anybody that has the answer either works at Instagram or is lying.

Like I said, I'm in the middle of the test and I went and actually analyzed my last 14 days worth of content, so 14 posts this morning in preparation for this conversation. I realized that in the last 14 days I made it to the Explore page twice. It was only worth about 400 total impressions.

So, how do you hit it? I don't know. Ways that you can sort of try to get in the surface of it is having better engagement. One of the ways to send a signal is through hashtags. So the way ... Let me see if I can explain this a different way.

So, here's how the algorithm works. If you, Kathleen, post X type of content and I, Rev, happen to like your content and then I go like content that's similar to Kathleen's content, it will send a signal to me and to Instagram that your account should be shown more to me. Does that make sense?

Kathleen: Yeah.

Rev: Then as long as you continue to post similar relevant content, it's going to be shown to me. So my algorithm is unique, and your algorithm is unique. Where they match is where the magic sort of happens.

The Explore page is where your content and the general populace, so the ven diagram of interest, that's where the general algorithm and your algorithm meet.

So, everybody's like, "Oh, hit the Explore page. Hit the Explore page." People think, "Oh, if I get 10,000 likes in the first 10 minutes I'll hit the Explore page." That is not how the Explore page works. It used to but Instagram's gotten a lot smarter.

So now, again, it's going to take into effect your Explore page, and my Explore page are going to be totally different.

It's going to show me things that are relevant to me based on other posts I've engaged with. It's going to show you relevant things based on what you've engaged with. Hashtags is just a way for you to send a signal that your content might be relevant for X type of category or content.

Kathleen: You said that you knew two of your posts had landed on the Explore page. How did you know that?

Rev: So, if you have an Instagram account and you have, I forget, over so many followers you can change it to a business account. I have a business account and one of the advantages to a business account is Deep Insights.

So you can pull up your Insights on any post and you can see what your reach was, you can see how many followers you got because of that post, you can see impressions and then you can also see how people found that post. So you'll see something like from home, or from hashtags, or from profile, location, Explore, and other.

So, like I said, I went and looked at my last 14 days of content and only two of my posts had impressions from Explore. So if you just view Insights and then you can see. If it doesn't say from Explore, that post did not hit the Explore page.

When To Post to the Instagram Feed v. Create An Instagram Story

Kathleen: Interesting. Now, changing gears for a second, Instagram has the feed and then it has stories. I would be really curious to get your take on when a brand should use stories versus when they should use the feed for something.

Rev: There's a great question. When to use stories, and when to use feed?

I read a poll the other day, and after the interview I'll send you the report so that you can link it up if you want. But basically a company went out and did a bunch of research on Instagram the other day and found out that people don't look at stories. Not nearly as much as people thought they did. I think the reason for that is people originally assume that stories didn't screw up their algorithm for their feed so they were like ballot stuffing, and box stuffing. Like, "Oh, I can put anything I want in my stories. It doesn't hurt my algorithm." Almost like, "Oh, it's going to delete in 24 hours. It's throw away content."

So, you might have an influencer or a person that would go put up 14, or 15 story posts in a day and I think what's happened is as people have started to actually look and play with stories, they move through it even faster than the feed.

So, if you have 20 live stories it feels like homework for me. I don't need that much vision into your life. Unless you're somebody who I really look up to, or you're a celebrity I'm really interested. Or, I don't know somebody you're stalking.

But, when to use them, and I think is really what's good here, is I think that they have to be a part of the overall content plan. The feed is intended as a snapshot. Here's a moment in time, it's super curative, we thought about this, we put time into this post, it's meant to represent us a certain way.

So I think people look at the feed as having a certain value because they know that you have to work to have a certain quality post. They're expecting a certain level of quality.

Where the expectation with stories isn't the same. It's more people are looking for "How do we get here? What's the story behind the story? Is there really a Wizard of Oz behind the curtain?"

So, when would I tell somebody to use a story? When you need to tell deeper parts of a story. Or, when you need to show a side of the brand that's a bit more snackable, right?

Like, I'll give you an example. I know that my content is photo-based around food, and then provides restaurant recommendations and hospitality marketing tips. If I put a picture of my kid in my feed it doesn't deliver against either of my brand goals.

But, I might put a picture of my kid in my stories because something funny happened and it shows you a little bit more about my brand, or my personality. It doesn't necessarily have to interrupt the broadcast of Rev Ciancio. It's just "in addition to."

So, is that a really, really long way to say use it to tell the high listing stories?

Kathleen: No, that's perfect.

The other thing I think is so interesting, though, is that feed and stories have very different functionality. Stories has dramatically enhanced tools when it comes to your ability to edit. I want to even say, like, add bling, or bedazzle your images. There are so many things with text overlays, and animated GIFs, polls, and questions, and music. It goes on and on.

So, that's one of the things I think is really interesting, is the way that you can manipulate the images and the video on your stories is very different then what you can do in the feed.

Rev: Yeah. I think that's one of the fun parts about stories is there's more you can do. You can actually put a link that people can click, and you can have a call to action. You can put fun animations. That's why I think stories are sort of more the behind the scene thing. You can definitely have a lot more creative fun with them. It's easy to add a GIF, it's easy to add a link, it's easy to add a geo locations.

From a business account aspect, one of the things that I love about stories and that was really helpful from a branding and marketing perspective is you can actually calculate sticker taps.

So, a sticker tap is anything that you add to the photo that leads somebody to another destination. So, it could be a geo tag, it could be another screen user name, it could be a hashtag. You can look back and see how many sticker taps.

So, if you're a brand and you're using influencer marketing, you're paying influencers to post sponsored content about your brand you can have them report back, "Hey, how many people saw your story and then tapped to my page?" That's a super valuable metric because it shows high intention.

So, I mean that is one of the great things about stories is there's a lot more fun and a lot more tools.

What Is "Link in Bio" And When Should You Use It?

Kathleen: Yeah. Now, the other thing that I'm really curious about is the whole "link in bio" thing. You see a lot of, particularly news organizations do this a lot where they then maintain dedicated pages on their websites that are just collections of stories that you get to from tapping the link in their bio. Then you tap on that and it takes you to another ... That's sort of their way of getting you to come back to their website.

Any thoughts on should brands be using that? Is that just for bigger companies? When does that make sense?

Rev: I love telling people to always take another ... I'm sorry. Let me put that another way. I love calls to action. Even if the call to action is, "Like this photo." It's a call to action. So, to me, if you have something really valuable, or really funny, or really important to share telling people, or asking people to click the link in your bio to learn more, to read more, to get something for free to download is a great use of it and shows high intent.

So, I published a book. Well, actually my former employer published a book that I wrote earlier this year. I know that I've driven almost 600 downloads to that book from my Instagram bio page. In the grand scheme of thing if I'm getting 2,000 likes a day 600 isn't all that much. But, to me those 600 taps are more important to me than any other content action, or engagement action that's happened on my profile.

How do I know that? I track that link. I make calls to that link. I look at that link. So I think it's a super ...

Putting a link in your bio and drawing a call to action to it is a great way to give customers another reason to be deeper involved with your brand. Or to reward them, or to help them, and I think it shows a really professional way, even if it's just entertaining, to use Instagram. Give me a deeper experience. If you want me to follow you and engage with you give me lots of fun stuff. Give me lots of value, give me lots of information.

So, I'm a huge fan of the call to action. Set a quick link in bio and I'm a huge action of people measuring it.

Kathleen: There are two different ways you can handle that link in the bio. There's the send them to a page on your website where there's a thing, whether that's an offer, or a book as you have. Or there are these third party tools that are specifically for the link in bio feature that allow you to create almost a dynamic page that has multiple offers, or multiple gateways to other things.

Have you used any of those, can you speak to are there any of those in particular that you recommend?

Rev: Sure. I've tested a couple of them and they didn't really deliver against my goal so I kind of stopped. But I can tell you why you would think about using something like that.

So, the way the algorithm is working currently with Instagram is the life of a post, they've extended it. So if you put something in your feed it typically performs about for three to four days. Meaning it's going to continue to get activity, maybe somebody came to Kathleen's page, they start up following you, it throws a couple posts up and they like it. They realize you like it. Three days later they'll test another one from four days ago.

So, anyway, the life of a post is a little bit longer on Instagram than it used to be. It's certainly longer than the life of a Facebook or Twitter post.

So, how does this relate? Well, if I put up an article on Monday and say, "Hey, go click the link in my bio. You should read this article." But then I post another article on Thursday and tell you do to the same thing. If you see that one from Monday you can't interact with it again. So, that call to action kind of dies the minute you switch your bio.

If you are a brand, or a business, or a person that has lots, and lots of media content to share, that's where those tools are really, really helpful because then if I missed the ability to click the link that was directly to the contents that you told me to link to that landing page still gives it to me. Like, I didn't miss out on it as a brand, or a marketer, I didn't miss out on that tap. I didn't miss out on driving that value.

So that's why you would use it.

Kathleen: I see it a lot with media organizations. I follow The Today Show on Instagram and they do a really good job with the link in bio thing. Then they have their page with a million different things you could go off and look at. So that's a good example for anybody who wants to see that.

Rev: Yeah, anybody who's producing a high amount of content like a news channel or media outlet it's a super valuable tool. If you're just sort of writing a blog here and there, producing a monthly video, maybe not a tool that's going to deliver as much value to you. But still something to look at.

Kathleen's Two Questions

Kathleen: Yeah. Well, I could talk about Instagram with you forever. But, we are running out of time. So before we wrap up two questions I always ask everybody. The first one is: company or individual, who do you think right now is doing inbound marketing really well?

Rev: I'm going to answer that question from an Instagram content perspective, how's that?

Kathleen: I love it.

Rev: I love Later. Later is an app that helps you sort of manage your Instagram content. But, I love that their content is a mix of thought leadership, product attributes and branding. It's super specific to Instagram marketers and people who need Instagram solutions.

But it helps people think about the space, then they tell you a bit about why their product could help you. Then they also do some branding moments.

So, they're truly using content in the way it should be used, to get your attention, to get you to consider their solution, to understand the problem. Really that's what inbound marketing is. It's about awareness and conversion down the funnel.

Kathleen: They are @LaterMedia on Instagram, because I just went and followed them as you said that.

Rev: They have a good content mix too, I tell people if you want to learn more about how to do good Instagram marketing, actually check out Later. They have some good marketing and some good branding.

Kathleen: Boy, just casually glancing at their account one thing the very interesting that they do well is all of their images kind of thematically hang together, like from a color standpoint. They're all very pastel and bright and happy. So, that's really interesting. It takes a very keen editorial eye to carry that consistency out throughout everything.

Rev: They have clearly thought out what their Instagram marketing ... Why they're doing Instagram marketing. It's one of the great reasons to look at their account.

Kathleen: All right. Second question: the world of digital marketing is changing really, really quickly. It can be very hard for marketers to stay up to date on the latest developments. How do you handle that? How do you keep yourself educated and on top of everything?

Rev: Oh, boy. Well, you have to want to learn. That's the first thing. Me, I listen to, there's probably three or four podcasts that I really, really recommend that I'll listen to every single episode on. Because they've consistently delivered value and the types of things I want to learn about in marketing. But then there's also a couple media sources that I really like. So, it's reading, it's listening, it's educating, it's asking questions. Then my favorite part about marketing, and the most important one, is testing.

So even if you learn something new, or somebody listening to this interview today is like, "Oh, that's really cool." Don't take my word as bond. Let it inspire a thought and then go test it. Maybe some of this works for you, maybe it doesn't, maybe you come up with something better than what I've thought of. That's really ... How do I stay educated and keep abreast? I learn, ask questions, and then test, test, test, test, test, test.

Kathleen: All right. You got to spill the beans on what your favorite podcasts are.

Rev: So one of my favorite podcasts is Social Pros with Jay Baer. What I love about Jay is that podcast has been around for many, many years and they sort of started it to talk about great solutions and great ideas in social media. But it's really come about digital marketing.

On one episode you might get some great thought leadership about how people need to think about marketing tomorrow, then the next episode you'll get super neat tactics on how to master HubSpot. So it's really good if you like inspiration and tactical information, which is like some days I don't need inspiration I'm just like, "Tell me how to change my day-to-day." That's a great one.

My other really favorite one is The Marketing Companion podcast with Mark Schaefer and Tom Webster. It is entirely thought leadership. So they're not going to tell you, "Hey, what's the best way to get more engagement on Twitter today." But, they truly, truly care about marketing and like to think deeper. So if you're a really heady marketing nerd like myself, and probably a lot of people that listen to this show, The Marketing Companion podcast is a really great podcast for inspiring you to want to think differently, and to be ahead of the curve and be a better marketer.

Kathleen: I was just listening to their episode on Mark Schaefer's new book Marketing Rebellion this morning.

Rev: I'm obsessed with the concept in that book. I believe that reputation management and customer success is the most important form of marketing, that's kind of what that book's about. So, it's speaking to a lot of the values I hold.

Kathleen: Yeah. Very cool. Well, thank you for sharing your insights on Instagram, that was really interesting. I feel like I know a lot more know than I did when I started. I am self-admittedly not an Instagram pro. So, that was really helpful.

How to Connect With Rev

Kathleen: If somebody's been listening and wants to reach out and learn more from you what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

Rev: Well, again, thank you for inviting me out today. I truly enjoyed this conversation. People say to me all the time, "Oh, I should be like you. I should be on Instagram." If you don't know why you should be, then don't. Take the challenge that works for you. But if people want to ask me more questions, or get more information my screen name is the same on every LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. I'm @RevCiancio. If you're like, "I don't know how to spell that, or I can't remember." Just Google "Expert Burger Taster" and I should be in the top seven results.

Kathleen: Nice.

Rev: Yeah.

Kathleen: You can also visit the show notes and I'll have links to your Instagram, and your LinkedIn, and any other place that you reside online.

Rev: Thanks so much. I'll tell you what, obviously anybody who's listening to this after its been recorded you'll already have known this, but I'm going to put a link to this podcast in my bio once I have the link.

Kathleen: Love it. Excellent. Link in bio, check it out. Very good. Well, thank you so much, Rev, it's been fascinating.

If you are listening and you liked what you heard, as always, I would really appreciate a review on Apple Podcasts, or the platform of your choice. Really, I would appreciate it. If you know somebody else who's doing kick ass inbound marketing work tweet me @WorkMommyWork because I would love to have them as my next guest.

Kathleen: Thanks for joining me Rev.

Rev: Thank you for having me.

Want to stay updated when the podcast is released?

Drop us your name and email address below and we’ll send you the show notes every Monday!  

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/instagram-marketing-rev-ciancio

[chroniclesofawkwardness]

Yellow Bird

Last Friday, I witnessed something I'd always thought would be funny to see in person. I laughed, but not as heartily as I thought I would.

Working second shift means I'm still in the building long after most other employees have gone home. Fortunately, summertime affords more hours of daylight to accompany the stillness that often envelops the building after six o'clock in the evening. I usually take lunch around six o'clock because I like to walk the quarter mile from one end of the building to the other in relative peace an quiet instead of having to play Frogger with my co-workers in the atrium. During business hours, I can usually spot three distinct types of employees. The first type is someone using his or her cell phone, head down, yet bent slightly forward, eyes and/or thumbs transfixed on a screen. It's amazing that people in this state don't account for more workplace accidents. I want to startle them like a caged animal who occasionally has to tap on the glass walls of his cell to remind the hordes of gawking humans who he is. I imagine a mass of humanity piling up like cars on the freeway after one wintery fender bender causes more chaos then it should. In the words of Talking Heads, as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention.

The second type of employee travels in horizontal packs of usually three, but sometimes as many as five or six across. These people are impossible to maneuver around whether I'm simply trying to get from point A to point B, or I've decided to just walk on a break instead of visiting Starbucks. My Fitbit has a unique way of making me feel like less of a man if I don't take 117 more steps to win the hour. The frustration of not being able to maneuver around type two is only compounded by the fact that if I do manage to find a clear path beyond a chorus line of co-workers, I immediately find myself on a collision course with a member of type one. Naturally, this person is oblivious to his or her surroundings. I have no choice to fall back in line behind type two before an incidental touch with a warrior from type one causes all hell to break loose. For all I know, such a tangible moment could result in a sexual harassment complaint to Human Resources, or accusations of attempted theft of a personal electronic device.      

Employees in the third group must all have Fitbits because I can spot them just by looking at their shoes. This group changes into tennis shoes on breaks or lunches and power walks up and down the atrium. I don't mess with this bunch. Who am I to interfere with someone else's mission? Truth be told, some days I like to just people watch, especially when power walkers swing their arms while walking or insist on demonstratively touching a wall to prove that they made it to the end of a given segment of their journey. I have yet to see an instructor compelling them to do so by yelling words of encouragement into a microphone, though this would admittedly be hilarious.

Quarter miles in solitude are also meaningful because they remind me of my teenage years. This was the time when my taste in music began to take shape, owing to far too many hours in my room listening to bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden. Choosing to take steps as an adult in my free time is as empowering today as choosing the next track on my favorite CDs was then. Whether chaos stems from puberty or the workplace, there are few things one can control in life. Among these are musical preferences and the use of one's own body.

Initially, I was drawn to the bands I mentioned earlier because their music was popular at the time. Many of my friends were listening to the same songs, and I wanted to fit in. Or so I thought. Pearl Jam's Jeremy and Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun were all over the radio and MTV, so being into them seemed like just the thing to do. I'll always be able to say that Superunknown was the first CD I bought with my own money and that Pearl Jam's Ten was one of two cassettes I still owned long after even CDs were turning into an antiquity. (The other one is The Joshua Tree by U2.) Though childhood nostalgia will always be tied to those bands that came out of the Pacific Northwest in the late 80s and early 90s, my attachment to the music has evolved as my own circumstances have changed along with the circumstances of the people who made the music.

Seventeen-year-old me was content to understand maybe one out of every five words of a given song as long as I liked the sound. I didn't think much about the subject matter as long as the beat resonated with me emotionally whether I was angry, sad, depressed, or something else.

Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights (2002) began to change the way I thought about music. When I bought it, I was waist deep in my Master's thesis where I explored the directions of rock and folk music in Yugoslavia during the wars of the 1990s. As a graduate student, I began thinking about not only how music sounded and how it made me feel, but also what the musicians were saying in the lyrics of the songs. NYC from Turn on the Bright Lights is a good example:

I had seven faces Thought I knew which one to wear But I'm sick of spending these lonely nights Training myself not to care

The song spoke to me at a time when I was still processing my parents' divorce, and reflecting on a childhood spent usually doing one of three things: Losing myself in a textbook, gazing up a stereo (most good Catholics were looking up to the Virgin Mary), or seeking sexual release through masturbation. It's amazing how hard some old habits die, and how lengthy the time of dying can be. Think of Unglued by Stone Temple Pilots:

Moderation is masturbation What is what and what makes you feel good? All these things I think about I think about Always come unglued Yeah I got this thing it's comin' over me I got this thing its comin' over me I got this feeling comin' over me Over me

When I got into Led Zeppelin, I began to wonder why many of the artists I'd grown up listening to hadn't included a few words of homage to these influential predecessors in their liner notes. As I discovered the blues of Robert Johnson and Junior Kimbrough, I wondered why Led Zeppelin hadn't done the same thing. More recently, I've come across artists such as Odesza and Pretty Lights, whose music is more electronic in nature. Yet something about the time in my life when I bought Superunknown still has hold of me.

Why do generations have to lose their heroes? Is the loss of such individuals as much a blow to the collective consciousness of men and women of a certain age as it is the true end of an era? I don't imagine musicians like Scott Wieland of Stone Temple Pilots and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden (both of whom haven't been gone all that long) ever set out to be placed on pedestals by throngs of adoring fans. I think their music spoke to a generation that largely wanted to be left alone to gaze up at the stereo. This is not because this generation is afraid of living. Maybe those like me, who can vaguely remember records, but were more concerned about filling the scratches on a randomly discovered copy of Nirvana's Unplugged in New York with toothpaste, found their voices through the music of the period in human history when cassettes were on the way out and filesharing was in its infancy. Maybe we didn't realize the influence their music had on us until we returned to it as adults to look beyond the sounds and into the lyrics. Until those who created it began to leave us.

As I drank a cup of coffee in the early evening of that Friday, I saw a small yellow bird fly full speed into the glass window nearest my desk. Being of a certain age, my first thought was of Soundgarden's song Like Suicide, which I'd read Chris wrote about a crow he killed to put it out of its misery after he heard the ill-fated bird crash into a window.

Dazed out in a garden bed With a broken neck Lays my broken gift

Just like suicide

I immediately thought the bird was dead. It lay there on its back without moving for what seemed like an eternity. His or her fellow birds probably thought so too. Moments after the collision, several even smaller birds hopped gingerly up to their fallen friend and began pecking at him or her. They say the animals are always the first to know.  Still, the comedian in me wondered if, in a darker more cynical sense, the birds were laughing hysterically to themselves. I imagined their dialogue going something like this: "Did you see what Steve's dumb ass did? There's no way he's coming back from that! LOL!"

On a more serious note, some of my concerned co-workers went outside to check on the bird. After several minutes, it managed to stand upright and waddle its way into the grass, having surely sustained one hell of a concussion if not worse. I even wondered if this particular bird had planned to end its life. After all,  just like with humans, one can never be too sure of exactly what goes through someone's mind right before making the ultimate decision.

One of the reasons I'd admired Chris Cornell was that whenever I'd return to the music of Soundgarden, be it after months or even years away, I'd discover a lyrical depth that both my academically-experienced ears and still-youthful soul could appreciate. I also felt that Chris had "made it" where many of his contemporaries had fallen short. He lived past age 27. He had children. Those aspects of his life reminded me that there was hope beyond the desire to  be left to gaze up at the stereo; that the desire to be left alone with your thoughts, to create, is not always a bad thing. Chris and others showed me whether they meant to or not, that you don't have to be a social butterfly or a Social Justice Warrior to be happy.

All these thoughts occurred to me within the five minutes that passed between the bird hitting the window and it staggering away what I assumed would be its final resting place. It's no wonder that those five minutes felt like twenty years.

During those five minutes, I'm sure singular employees were staring at their cell phones to catch up on text messages or wish their cousin's boyfriend's dog a happy third birthday. The last of the packs of five or six across were about to break up for the weekend. Hell, even the power walkers who so demonstratively swung their arms at every opportunity were making plans to meet up at Zumba class on Saturday morning followed immediately by reconvening at the bar to unplug the Wi-Fi, drink wine, and get housewife wasted. Still looking good in yoga pants after two kids, a tummy tuck and a breast lift had to be worth celebrating.

Oblivious to the plight of little yellow bird.

That evening, like most, I chose to walk the quarter mile alone, and enjoy the long days unique to summertime. The bird's sudden and violent ending reminded me of the fragility of life, and how important it is to spend yours doing things that bring you joy. I fall off the wagon sometimes. I don't always eat right, and I'm not ready to publicly disclose my browsing history. But, more often than not, I think I make good choices. I just try to be a decent human being. At some point, despite my nostalgia, I decided I wanted more out of life than being left alone to gaze up at the stereo, but I don't regret listening to music alone in my room. I discovered some damn good stuff in the process. Your taste in music is another of few things you can control in life.

I'm still here though many of those who crafted the soundtrack of my youth are going or have gone away. Knowing they’re gone is tough, but it’ll be okay. I’ll be okay. I still believe there's hope, and no one can take away my freedom to choose hope over despair, life over death, and joy over sadness. Regardless, I’ll embrace whatever life throws at me. No labels. Just an open mind. 

[hottytoddynews]

Sixteen years ago, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart’s “The Phantom of the Opera” became the longest-running show in Broadway history, surpassing the 7,485 performances of Webber’s “now and forever” “Cats.” On January 26, POTO continues its reign into a fourth decade, seemingly “now and forever.”

POTO, produced by Cameron Mackintosh (“Mary Poppins,” “Les Miserables,” “Miss Saigon,” “Cats”) and Webber’s Really Useful Company, is not only one of the most successful Broadway road shows ever—it’s also one of the largest. This new production, co-produced with NETworks Presentations and as dazzling and dramatic as the original, launched in November 2013. It returns to Memphis’ majestic and historic Orpheum Theatre November 29 through December 10.

The musical first took Memphis by storm in November 1997, with thousands of theatergoers from throughout the region making it a sold-out smash. It returned to the Orpheum by popular demand in 2001and 2014.

The Tony Award-winning Best Musical has additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, who co-wrote the book with Webber based on Gaston Leroux’s “Le Fantôme de L’Opéra.” The classic story tells of a masked madman, terribly disfigured from a fire at the Paris Opera, who lurks beneath the catacombs of the building (which actually exist, along with, as depicted in the show, an underground lake) and inflicts terror on all. He falls madly in love with soprano Christine and devotes himself to creating a new star, employing all manner of the devious methods at his command. That includes murder and, when he doesn’t get his way, crashing a massive chandelier onto audiences.

It’s estimated this reimagining of the romantic thriller has been seen by over 2.5 million people across the country. The new product features reinvented staging by director Laurence Connor (Broadway’s “School of Rock” and “Miss Saigon” revival) and scenic design by Paul Brown.

The tour, with choreography by Scott Ambler and lighting by Tony Award winner Paule Constable, has a cast of 30, an eight-member corps de ballet, and a 14-piece orchestra under musical supervisor John Rigby, making it one of the largest productions on the road.

Tenor Derrick Davis stars as the infamous masked Phantom. He appeared on Broadway and on tour as Mufasa in “The Lion King” and regionally as Curtis Taylor Jr. in “Dreamgirls.” His CD, “Life Music,” is available on Amazon. For a preview of his stunning voice, check out: Derrick Davis sings “The Music of the Night” from “The Phantom of the Opera.”

Canada’s Eva Tavares, portraying Christine Daaé, the ingénue at the center of POTO’s love triangle, is a triple-treat talent: singer, actress and choreographer. In March, she was featured in the Toronto world premiere of “Sousatzka,” a musical by three-time Tony Award nominee Craig Lucas (especially known for The Light in the Piazza) and the composing team of Tony Award winner Richard Maltby, Jr. (lyrics) and Academy Award winner David Shire, based on the 1962 novel, “Madame Sousatzka.”

In the role of the debonair, love-smitten Vicomte de Chagny Raoul is Texan Jordan Craig, who received training and has performed many roles with the Houston Grand Opera.

In January, POTO will surpass 12,500 performances before an estimated 18 million at Broadways’ Majestic Theatre, where it opened in 1988 with a then-record advance of $18 million. Four years earlier, it premiered on London’s West End, where it’s still thriving.

A world-wide theatrical blockbuster, it’s estimated that 140 million people in 35 countries (15 languages) have surrendered to what many feel is Webber’s best score. The two-disk original cast album spent five years on trade charts, and a single-disc highlights recording spent over six years on Billboard’s Pop Album chart.

Back in 1984, as the show was premiering on London’s West End, advance sales and preview audience reaction suggested an unstoppable hit. Webber, on the other hand, was far from certain, even after blockbuster hits “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Cats” and “Evita.”

“I wish I could say I had the best time of my life during those heady days,” he states. “‘Phantom’ is the only show I’ve done that was entirely unchanged during previews. Our brilliant director, Hal Prince, was so certain we’d be a hit that he suggested we take a holiday and return for the opening.”

“At openings,” he continues, “even when you feel you have the public with you, you’re at your most vulnerable. I couldn’t bear to sit through the show.”

Cameron Mackintosh, a co-producer with Webber’s Really Useful Company, found him and got him back for the curtain call. Amid the thunderous applause, Webber yearned to have loved ones around him.

But then-wife, Sarah Brightman, playing Christine, was onstage basking in audience adulation with her Phantom, Michael Crawford. “While all were celebrating,” Webber says, “I felt alone and frightened.”

It didn’t help when the first review, by the London Sunday Times critic, came out and simply read “Masked balls.” States Webber, with the memory still vividly ablaze, “Those were the only words. Most composers, let alone producers, would be suicidal to receive a notice such as that. Amazingly, it didn’t faze [co-producer] Cameron [Mackintosh] one bit.”

Ever the optimist, Mackintosh telephoned “while having a jolly good breakfast” and, in a fortuitous prediction, told Webber, “Nothing any reviewer writes can alter the fact that Phantom has chimed with audiences.”

Webber, was used to critical snipes. He points out POTO’s reviews “were wildly polarized between those who really did or really wouldn’t surrender to the music of the night.” What was most upsetting was ruinous gossip that Brightman, an alumna of the West End “Cats” production, who’d been onstage since her teens, got the role because she was his wife.

“The fine line between success and failure is perilously small,” says Webber. “I’m struck 30 years hence with the phenomenon ‘Phantom’ has become. Much credit goes to the [Tony Award-winning] late Maria Björnson for her opulent design and costumes. And would another choreographer have understood the period as well as former prima ballerina Dame Gillian Lynne (“Cats”)? Many said the chandelier moment could never work. It turns out to be the most theatrical moment I ever conceived—a moment that can only be achieved in live theater.”

Harold Prince, the legendary, multi Tony Award-winning director of the West End and Broadway productions, says he was instantly hooked on the idea that Leroux’s classic was musical material. “To my surprise, Andrew’s initial idea for the score was to use famous classical works and write only incidental music. Much to my delight, he later decided on an entirely original score – one of his greatest.”

“However,” Prince adds, “the superlative score wasn’t Andrew’s only contribution to ‘Phantom’s’ success. It was his instinct to take the story one step further and make the emotional center of the show a love triangle. That struck a chord with audiences. It’s the crucial difference between our musical, the novel and other versions of the story.”

The Phantom of the Opera has won more than 70 theater awards, including seven 1988 Tony Awards and three London Olivier Awards. Since 2010, it’s become one of the most accessible musicals of all time, with hundreds of high school and university productions licensed through R&H [Rodgers & Hammerstein] Theatricals.

Tickets for the Memphis engagement of POTO are available at the Orpheum box office or by calling (901) 525-3000, http://ift.tt/1llMdLQ, and via Ticketmaster, where service fees will apply.

Trivia: As anyone who’s toured the Paris Opera has seen, there’s a private box reserved only for the Phantom at every performance – just as he demands in the musical. Interested in how Memphis’ Orpheum first got “The Phantom of the Opera” and other big musicals, such as “Les Miserables” and “Miss Saigon”? Check out their video: http://ift.tt/2zOPh6g.

Ellis Nassour is an Ole Miss alum and noted arts journalist and author who recently donated an ever-growing exhibition of performing arts history to the University of Mississippi. He is the author of the best-selling Patsy Cline biography, Honky Tonk Angel, as well as the hit musical revue, Always, Patsy Cline.

Production photos by Matthew Murphy and Alastair Muir.

The post As “Phantom of the Opera” Comes to Memphis, Andrew Lloyd Webber Recalls Its Premiere appeared first on HottyToddy.com.