#these are based on my college band's section's vibes

[alas--pringles]

Well it's official, phantom has overtaken swiss for 2nd place in my personal favorites ranking 😅 he's so goofy (and irl he's also from the bay!! So I'm biased) and I've decided that he has bari sax energy. Rubber spine, adorbs, kinda showoffy but seems the type to deny that that's what he was doing, not playing the main bit but still gets a few spotlight moments.

Also Rain is a tenor, cumulus is an alto, aurora is a flute, dew is either a first trumpet or a bone, swiss is either a general trumpet, mello, or alto, cirrus is a mello or baritone, and mountain is still a drummer

[whoiwanttoday]

So I am generally pretty forward thinking and progressive. You know, I want to save the whales. I'm pro choice, pro environment, but against the bomb. But there are some things I am pretty traditionalist on and a big one is gender roles. When I was just a kid and everybody was in a band and we were all punks and everyone was angelic and sentimental garbanzos were a nickle a handful but the vibes were free there weer some truisms. Drummers can't be trusted and they just wander off sometimes and if their girlfriend breaks up with them they're homeless. A big one though was the bassist was always the most talented musician in the band and he was usually curly haired and had facial hair before that was really cool again and he was the backbone of the band be it good or bad he was the one who could really play and be counted on and he could not get laid to fucking save his life. Everyone else was hooking up but the bassist was striking out like it was his fucking job. It wasn't his job, holding down the rhythm section was but I said these guys were the most talented so they had time to take on extra work and apically fail at ever, ever hooking up. I am sure some bassist is reading this and upset and wants to tell me how he was swimming in so much trim he practically drown. To that I say yeah, big talk, it's the internet. I'm not impressed. While you were getting more tail than anyone else on the planet I was constantly getting laid while slam dunking basketballs and doing kick flips on my skateboard. See? I can lie too. Anyway, this was a truism in the sense that 90% of these bands were male and the bassist almost always was a dude. A nice, talented, unfuckable dude. But when it was a girl? Holy fucking shit was she hot. Just without fail. I know people think gendered stuff like this is bullshit but I am here to tell you that female bassists are always so hot it makes people question their sexuality. I know this because I saw it happen twice twice. One time we saw this shitty band play under the dollar theater in the basement bar of the run down strip mall next to the college and they were awful but then this other band came on and this girl came on with short hair and a lot of eyeliner and she picked up a base and she played about two songs before my gay friends leaned over and he said, "I think I want to fuck the bassist". To which I said, "You know she's a girl, right?" And he said, "Yeah, it's weird but she is sexy". To this day he is still pretty super gay but he doubted it than night. Then one time I saw some band middle for the Hold Steady, female bassist and a different gay friend was like, "That bassist is kind of hot. I don't know why but I can't quit looking at her". I knew why though. She was a female bassist and it's just the law that they are hot. Which brings us to Victoria De Angelis, who is a bassist and thus guys, I am here to tell you she's fucking hot. You might claim she'd still be hot even if she didn't play bass and maybe you're right but I bet if she was Victoria De Angelis the girl who murders children you'd be less into her. Because bassists just add that little something extra. Anyway, she is lots of good things, a bassist, a rockstar, an Italian. The real kind of Italian, not the fake kind like me who is only Italian in the sense that I have a grandparent who was born in Italy, which Europeans love to shit on. They're so fucking protective of being European like it's a kind of regional cheese or something but I won't get into that, I am just clearing up she is hot and from a country some of my relatives were from once upon a time, which you might not know why that makes her hot but look at the pictures. I don't have a story about a gay friend for everything, you have to do some of the work here. Today I want to fuck Victoria De Angelis.

[wilderhockey]

nhl teams as school clubs/student orgs

the result of a 15-minute conversation with lil @wymgreenteam this afternoon. based specifically on our experience in hs (also note that I’ve been out of hs for four years now so some of this might be misremembered but whatever it’s about the vibes).

this is not necessarily kind to all (or really any) teams but it is light-hearted and in good fun.

I put it under a readmore because 32 teams is a lot of teams

~

anaheim ducks: theater (actors specifically) - dramatic as fuck. loud as fuck. endearing in spite of it [see sharks/kings]

arizona coyotes: not a club. they’re the guys who show up to school in their tractors from october to march because the weather is fucking terrible and they’ve gotta get there somehow (thanks mn)

boston bruins: key club - self-important for no particular reason. also this is a club where you pay to do community service, which is just fundamentally wrong in the same way I feel when I see the bruins’ meth bear

buffalo sabres: swim team - wet. no I will not elaborate.

calgary flames: garden club - I didn’t even know we had a garden club until lil suggested this

carolina hurricanes: model UN - super well-run, they’ve got some nice kids involved, but I dislike them on principle

chicago I’m not writing out their team name: lacrosse - universally hated except by themselves and often take insults as compliments. also the worst punishment I can think of for a hockey team is telling them they remind me of lax bros

colorado avalanche: empowering women’s club - mostly performative but sometimes (when they can get the whole group together) they do fun things

columbus blue jackets: student section - they’re all college kids sorry it just fits

dallas stars: gender and sexuality alliance - listen. I don’t know what’s going on down there, but I can tell you it’s definitely gay

detroit red wings: cross-country - sometimes the rookies are good but everything else about them is forgettable

edmonton oilers: knowledge bowl - connor mcdavid reminds me of kb kids. leon draisaitl would be that guy who knows fuck-all answer-wise but can hit the buzzer super early and always knows what the question is asking. they just have neatly partitioned tasks for everyone and it sometimes works. yes I did kb for 7 years can you tell

florida panthers: FCA (fellowship of christian athletes) - the combination of donuts and christian rock at every meeting leveled out to a net zero

la kings: theater (tech crew specifically) - black and white outfits and idk sneaky vibes? they feel like a variety show in the same way tech does [see ducks/sharks]

minnesota wild: marching band - they’re dumb. they love each other. pranks are inevitable. some gay shit is happening. the director has very little control

montreal canadiens: magic the gathering club - just some kids hanging out. j chillin. one-sided feud with costco. vaguely hostile but in a blatantly self-defensive way

nashville predators: baseball - they were good for a while one time but now they’re just sad and middling

new jersey devils: speech - it’s fun when you’re not worried about winning, it’s a great group, but the moment you start paying attention to numbers you will cry

new york islanders: volleyball - bitchy vibes. and mat barzal’s tiny shorts

new york rangers: quiz bowl - to quote lil, they “aren’t smart enough for [knowledge bowl]” but also zero teamwork despite individual prowess

ottawa senators: robotics (FRC specifically) - they’re constantly falling apart but when it works it Works. also lots of freaks of many varieties (affectionate)

philadelphia flyers: that one political club a couple of my friends started junior year. pac or something? - it was going fine and then it changed management and now. hm.

pittsburgh penguins: student council - overachievers (affectionate). somewhat ineffective but they’re putting the effort in

san jose sharks: theater (pit specifically) - oft forgotten, but generally chill [see ducks/kings]

seattle kraken: chess club - to quote lil, “good vibes. don’t do anything, just here for fun.” I agree

st. louis blues: choir - rancid vibes. (I was a choir kid I’m allowed to say the vibes were rancid bc they were)

tampa bay lightning: honor society - overachievers (derogatory)

toronto maple leafs: lettuce club - for anyone unfamiliar, this is a club where every year, everyone interested sits at a table and simultaneously consumes an entire head of lettuce. whoever does it fastest is the Head of Lettuce for the next year. I have no fucking clue what they did at the rest of their meetings. leafs vibes

vancouver canucks: anime club - what the fuck is going on over there don’t look pretend you don’t see them and it’ll be fine (affectionate)

vegas golden knights: debate - this is for nolpats specifically I know he’s in LTIR hell but this is for him

washington capitals: that’s just the teacher’s union

winnipeg jets: football - they were never good but people go for the social aspect not the score

[becausethathappens]

re: rhinky thoughts and songs, i stumbled across looking like you just woke up by the front bottoms. and you can't tell me that it's not a rhett/link song. not genre wise (pop punk as it is) but lyrically? where the first verse is from rhett's POV and the second from link's and the chorus is just... too much:

Let's keep this clean

As clean as you'd like

And it probably won't get easier

Just easier to hide

Prepare for an aching

The rest of your life

good god. have a good morning/day/night!

- attachment!anon ☘

Thank you for being so patient! You didn't sound impatient at all, I'm just always guilty about how long I hoard nice asks. Nothing on you at all! Plus, I honestly wanted to listen to the song while I replied and every time I had free time to answer, I wasn't in the position to listen while I did.

But: you're right! It totally does! It also gives off the vibe of a college-ish local band of that era so it adds to it considering R&L's own history. It doesn't seem that far off Wax Paper Dogz.

As for the lyrics, my additional thoughts below.

I loved the next section, too. If nothing else for the sake of tradition. That also vibes with them perfectly. Along with the literal echo of confidence (confidence) like them reassuring themselves or each other in the mirror. Maybe both.

Big fan of how intense the imagery is in general.

The punching against concrete and tradition.

The premise of knowing you would say I love you back to someone even though it's phrased as a future event since the literal words have yet to come. Or implying that actions are louder and have already been spoken.

(Or neither and it's just about living that promise on principle.)

Even if none of it makes any sense and nothing ever comes of it.

Which kind of refers back to the general ache you mentioned above and prior to that, the lines below. Accepting the finality of it potentially never happening and loving it anyway. Or implying that's why they stick with the safety of what's known versus the unknown.

Strongly recommend the song for anyone who wants to listen!

Thank you so much for sending this. I love that while the taste is often varied, the themes found in most people's fandom's playlists remain so similar. (Don't get me started on Rhink close-reads because I've written whole fics based around the practice. 😂) But also jk. I'm slow to respond, but I could talk about how [xyz] relates to them for hours.

[miraculousholder]

We Belong Together ~ Chapter 1

Hey! Just wanted to say that I finally posted my second Miraculous Ladybug fanfic and I am so excited for you all to read it! Will be updated on here and on AO3 :)

We Belong Together - AO3

Summary: It has been years since Marinette Dupain-Cheng last saw Adrien Agreste when he broke her heart. Since then she has moved on and continues to pursue her dreams in becoming a renowned fashion designer. Adrien hasn't forgotten the girl who had stolen his heart, but never got the chance to see her after graduation. But when he decides to secretly have a career in singing and has an underground band, that's when he spots Marinette. The girl who got away in the crowd. Can they both see what went wrong in the past to make it right? Or will they ignore their feelings and completely move on?

Marinette Dupain-Cheng sighs in relief when she finished up her sketches for her senior project. While she still had to make the garnet, it was much easier than designing it. Putting it all together was the fun and best part.

She checks her phone, realizing she had a few missed texts from her friends and one missed call from Alya. Checking the time, Alya should be out from her own class so she decided to call back her best friend.

After a few rings, Alya answered. “Hey girl! By time you answered one of us.”

Marinette chuckles. “Sorry about that. I finally came up with a great concept for my senior project and I had to finish it before the ideas left my head. But I’m finally done with the first part.”

“Oh great! So we’re going out tonight?”

“I did not say that!”

“Girl come on! We’re seniors in college and not once do I ever recall you going out to the clubs or getting drinks with us. While I respect you for committing to the internships and your classes, it’s high time you let loose and have some fun. You won’t be twenty one forever you know?”

Marinette knew that her best friend was right. Her goal was to always become a fashion designer and while she loved what she did, it was definitely time consuming. It was a miracle she even still had friends who understood her busy schedule and made their plans based on her availability.

“I mean, I don’t have classes tomorrow so I guess I can afford to stay up-“

“Yes!” Alya yells and Marinette jumped from her friends loud voice. “Okay, sorry! I’ll text you the details and wear something...with a rockstar vibe.”

“Rockstar vibe?” Marinette questioned. “Are we going to a Jagged Stone concert?”

“Oh you’ll see.” Is all Alya said before she hung up.

Marinette was confused but decided not to question it any further or else she would regret accepting the invitation.

XX

A few hours later, nightfall had fallen over Paris. Marinette ate some dinner since she knew that if Alya and the girls were coming over, there would be some pre-gaming happening before they left to whatever place they had in mind.

Her small pet dog, Tikki, laid comfortably on her Ladybug bed in the living room. Marinette walks over and leaves out a bowl of food for Tikki and refilled her water bowl as well. Tikki already ate but it was just in case she came home late and didn’t wake up on time the next morning to feed her dog.

The door bell rings and Tikki lifts up her head upon smelling familiar people nearby. Marinette puts her dirty dishes in the sink and walks over to open the door.

Alya, Juleka, Rose, and Mylene walk in. All of them wearing concert attire but matched it to their personalities.

“Wow you girls look great!” Marinette exclaims, closing the door.

“And you look good, Marinette.” Says Rose. “I love the jacket.”

“Oh this old thing?” She tugs on her jacket. “It’s just something I’ve had in high school.”

Alya walks over to Marinette’s secret stash of liquor, as Mylene plays with Tikki.

“How’s Ivan?” Marinette asked Mylene.

Mylene smiles when her boyfriends name was mentioned. “He’s doing great! You’ll actually see him tonight.”

“Oh? Is he going to meet us there?” Marinette wonders and before Mylene can reply, Alya hands her a shot glass and she walks over to join everyone by the counter.

Marinette chuckles. “Okay can one of you tell me what we’re doing tonight?”

“Underground concert,” says Alya and hands her a glass. “Nino told me about this band he has been producing songs for and he invited us to go check out them out. Apparently they’re really popular in the alternative scene.”

“Oh sounds like fun.” Marinette and the girls surround her countertop and take a shot. The liquid burning her throat a little but she ignores the feeling.

Rose nods excitedly. “It will be! Alya told me that some of the band members went to school with us!”

Now Marinette was even more curious. “Like who?”

Alya clears her throat. “Lets not ruin the surprise!” She says and changes the subject. “Mari, are you still seeing the guy from the visual arts department?” Mylene asks Marinette.

Marinette has been going out with a boy from the visual arts department as of recent. While she enjoys his company, she isn’t really into him. It just didn’t feel right, but she hasn’t had the chance to tell him they were better off as friends.

“I am but we’re not official,” she assures her friends. “I’m not really looking for anything serious anyways.”

“So if a guy comes up to you and asks you to go home with him, you’ll take it?” Alya wonders and Marinette thinks about it.

“I’ll consider it.”

Alya accepted her answer and they took one last shot before leaving to the club.

XX

The club was in a weird place in the city that was populated with sleazy clubs and teenagers who looked for a good time where they shouldn’t be looking.

The girls go through a dark alley and Alya reads the instructions that her mystery man gave her. She stands in front of a black door and knocks four times.

A minute passes and the door opens, revealing a huge bodyguard wearing a white mask.

“Alya?” He questioned.

Alya nods. “Yup! Carapace told me to come through the back for VIP.”

The bodyguard looks at the girls, stepping aside to let them in. They each held one another’s hand so they wouldn’t lose each other as they entered.

The place smelled like cigarettes and hard liquor, a smell that Marinette wasn’t to fond of but can tolerate. They make it to a small section of the upper floor that had a great viewing of the whole dance floor and stage. The girls sat down and Alya ordered them all a round of drinks.

“Carapace? I thought it was Nino who invited us?” Rose asks Alya.

Alya shakes her head. “No it’s just a nickname that they go by here. You see, majority of these artists are undercover celebrities who like to play music by their own terms or just like to escape the crazy world that they live in. So they make up an alternative identity so they can party or rock out without worrying about the paparazzi.”

“Wait, then how will you know which one is Nino?” Marinette asks. While the concept was cool, she wasn’t sure if she would like to hide her identity from the people she was close to. Unless she really need to.

Alya shows her a picture of Nino wearing a green mask. She then shows the others and they start to be on the look out for him.

“Well I hope he passes by so we can thank him for this cool VIP experience.” Rose says excitedly. “And it’s been awhile since I’ve seen him so we have to catch up.”

Marinette smiles and their drinks arrive. They give a quick cheers before they start drinking.

After twenty minutes of talking and joking around with one another, the lights in their section went down and so did the ones on the stage. The crowd yells out in excitement and the girls get closer to the recliner to watch the show.

Marinette can see a group of boys walk out to the stage and the start of the guitar. The lights turned back on and everyone went crazy over the band on stage.

She can see the name of the band written on the drums, Cataclysm.

What an unusual name, she tells herself as the lead singer begins to sing. He was a fantastic singer and Marinette closes her eyes as she vibes with the loud music playing.

Her friends were clearly enjoying themselves and were maybe a little bit too loud compared to the other attendees who were watching the show in the first floor. She followed along with her friends, also dancing and laughing.

Marinette looked down again at the stage, the band finishing up their first song. The lights were finally on the lead singer and when her eyes stared directly at him, she froze.

XX

(An hour before the show)

Chat Noir, or Adrien Agreste as his most of his close friends and family knew him by, fixing up his black eyeliner and mask. His bandmates were doing the same or sitting on the couch before it was time for them to go up.

Nino comes in and was beaming with excitement.

“What’s up with you?” Jared asks, fixing the strings of his guitar.

“Oh nothing just that Alya and the girls are finally coming to check out the band!” Nino announced.

“Yeah, Mylene texted me that she was here.” Ivan brought up.

Kim was stretching. “Any of them single?”

“Kim, these are our friends from school. Besides aren’t you still seeing Ondine?” Max brings up.

Kim shrugs. “It’s complicated.”

“Actually there is one girl who is single.” Nino answers Kim’s question. “Maybe big shot over here can finally get his first girlfriend.” He points at Adrien who was resting comfortably on the couch.

Adrien opens one eye and looks at Nino. “I can get a girlfriend if I wanted to.” He closes his eyes again and stretches his arms out as he sat up. “But I told you. If I’m getting a girlfriend I want them to fall for me, not Adrien Agreste.”

While he loved his life as the son of famous renowned fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste, it came with consequences.

The main one would be how he made friends. While he was home schooled for a good portion of his early childhood, he was able to attend a real school when he turned fourteen. It was a private school, but to him it was something. But based on how people treated him, he knew he was getting a weird taste of privilege that he didn’t want.

It started with how guys would want to come over only to his place and never bothered to invite him to theirs. Sure his father was strict, but he would’ve allowed it as long as it didn’t interfere with his studies. But no his friends at the time wouldn’t bother.

Then every holiday his locker would be packed with constant love letters or presents girls would leave for him. Not to be rude he accepted the small tokens of appreciation but he never liked it.

He hated this and when he would meet up with his friend Chloe, she convinced him to transfer to her school. It was closer to his place and not as crowded as his private school.

“I mean you’ll still be surrounded by peasants, but you’ll be with me Adrikins!”

And after one long and difficult hour of convincing his father, he agreed to let him transfer to College Francoise Dupont. There he met probably his closet friends and met the love of his life...

“Adrien? Oh Adrien,” Nino says his name in a song like tune. “Time for the show, let’s go.”

Adrien gets up and grabs his guitar. “Let’s do this guys!”

His friends chuckle and they do their backstage circle before they get on stage. While they usually start off the show with one of their classics, they decided to start slow before playing their more hardcore stuff.

As Adrien, he never could be on stage with people constantly watching his every move and wonder how he will fuck up his family name. But as Chat Noir, he belonged to no one. He wasn’t the son of a famous fashion designer. He wouldn’t be in the tabloids the next day. No instead he got to play till his hearts content and go home.

That was until he looked up at the balcony where a group of girls were cheering them on.

And that’s when he spotted her. Even though his eyes were slightly blinded by the bright lights, he can still see her raven black hair that can be mistaken for a dark blue. She blue bell eyes that he can stare at all day. There was only one girl who can ever have him in a trance such as this.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

The girl who stole his heart and the one who will forever be known as his first love.

He continued to sing into the microphone, not removing his eyes from her. “Just another day started out like any other. Just another girl who took my breath away.” He sang, continuing on with his performance. The crowd loved it, girls getting closer to the stage to get his and the others attention.

But Adrien can only stare at one girl.

The one who got away.

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Chapter 10 -- Perfect Harmony | Charlie Gillespie

Summary: Emily Fox is a talented 17-year-old with a passion for all things music. Her dream is to become a successful singer-songwriter one day. But to achieve that dream, she needs to get into one of the most prestigious music schools in her district – it’s all been part of her plan since she was six. Sadly enough, those schools cost a ton of money that her parents don’t want to invest. They don’t even want her to pursue her dream. So, now Emily’s hustling, working at the music store to save up to get into college. That’s until she meets Charlie, an annoying seventeen-year-old boy with the same dream as her. The only difference is, he’s just doing it. He doesn’t need a fancy college to pursue his dream to become famous with his band. He just writes his songs and books small gigs here, there and everywhere. Will meeting Charlie defer her from her dream college, or will he actually help her achieve the dream?

Pairing: Charlie Gillespie x OC (Emily Fox)

Warnings: mentions of death, sexual assault

Important note: the characters of Charlie, Owen, Jeremy and Madison are based on the characters they play on the show and i do not own their names, only OC are mine. The songs aren’t mine either, they’re all from the show except for one.

Chapter ten 

~|Emily Fox|~

I see Charlie again on Thursday and Friday. He sorts the invoices since he’s the pro at deciphering Ash’s handwriting while I clean up anything that’s askew and sweep the floor. We steal glances every now and again, but neither of us says anything. We just smile at each other, knowing exactly what we want to do, but not daring to do so. Maybe for now, the knowing is enough. On Saturday evening, he brings the boys with him, just as he promised on Wednesday. It’s an hour before closing time, so they have to keep themselves busy while I handle the very last few customers. Which they do by keeping their eyes on me and laughing at my customer-service-tactics. Balling up the fists, the fake laughs, the straining against the eyeroll. “There you go,” I say to a middle-aged man, shopping with his son for some essentials for his guitar. “Have a nice day. Bye!” My smile immediately vanishes as soon as the customers have turned their backs to me, which sends the boys into a laughing fit. Now I don’t hold back rolling my eyes. “Can you guys not? A girl’s working!” They immediately shut up, trying to keep straight faces. “You might want to tell her the same,” Jeremy says, pointing to the guitar section where a young girl is reaching for a guitar that’s way too high up for her, meaning she’ll probably drop it from five foot high. “Don’t touch the instruments without supervision!” I yell, causing the girl to turn her head. Her eyes widen, like a deer in headlights. When I approach her, I recognize her as Kayla. The girl who’d asked me for piano lessons. “Oh, hey Kayla!” I greet with a smile. “Changing instruments?” I reach for the one she wanted. “Yeah, he said he was going to teach me,” she points at Jeremy who’s now the one that looks like a deer caught in headlights. I raise my eyebrow at him while he slowly collapses in shame. “Jeremy, really? This is a fourteen-year-old girl!” He now raises his hands, going for the defense. “It was meant to be purely professional!” “Nothing is ever professional with you,” Charlie chimes in, agreeing with me. I glance at him, and we exchange smiles, the ones we’ve been sharing for an entire week now. “Kayla, sweetie,” I turn back to the young girl when I’ve recomposed myself, “Don’t take guitar lessons from complete strangers. Especially not when they’re named Jeremy Shada, okay?” Kayla nods her head ferociously and leaves the shop at once. “A fourteen-year-old, Jere? Really?” Owen asks now that the little girl’s gone. “You guys are acting as if I’d do something bad to her. I swear I was going to teach her how to play the guitar,” his bandmates stare at him with raised eyebrows. “And I didn’t know she was only fourteen…” The words come out in just above a whisper. I shake my head at the boys and then check my watch. Closing time. Perfect. I walk over to the door and turn the little board at the window. “So, Emily…” Owen starts as the three boys hop off the piano they’d been sitting on. “When are you going to join our band?” I instantly glare at Charlie, telling him off for telling them. “I didn’t say anything, I promise,” he says, hands up. “Say what?” Jeremy wants to know. I take a deep breath and let it out into a sigh. “That’s she’s thinking about joining the band,” Charlie admits. The boys erupt into cheers, and Jeremy even wraps me up into a hug, almost the same way Charlie did earlier this week. Only less “I want to kiss you” vibes. “I’m thinking about it. Don’t get your hopes up,” I warn them but can’t help smiling either. It warms my heart to see how excited they are to have me in their band. “There’s one way to try and convince her,” Charlie suddenly says with a teasing smirk on his face. He walks past me and towards the electric guitars where he grabs one. “Cables?” he asks me, and I point to a wooden chest behind him where we keep all of our cables for amps and stuff. He sets up his guitar, tunes it a little, then plays a sick riff I’d heard before. I go to grab all the other equipment from the back, three microphones and stands for each of them, while Jeremy grabs a bass and Owen takes a seat behind the displayed drums. They help me set up the microphones and they’re good to go. Charlie plays the riff again, then Owen counts them in and they’re off singing Now or Never again. I watch them while I start cleaning up what’s left to clean up. I sing along every now and then when I remember the lyrics from the Open Mic Night. By the time they hit the bridge, I’m sweeping near Jeremy, and decide to surprise the boys. “We ain't searching for tomorrow,” Owen sings, and I take this as my cue to move closer to Jeremy – and his mic and sing the echo with him. “Tomorrow,” All three the boys look at me with surprise, but that doesn’t stop us. “'Cause we got all we need today,” goes Owen again. And then Jeremy and I echo together, “Today.” “Living on a feeling that's been running through our veins” Charlie sings without taking his eyes off me and without wiping that smile off his face. Jeremy now steps aside, leaving me to have my favorite line in the entire song. “We're the revolution that's been singing in the rain!” For the last chorus, all four of us begin clapping, like they did on Open Mic night. To finish it off, Jeremy, Owen and I take care of the backing vocals for Charlie.   “Don't look down 'Cause we're still rising Up right now And even if we Hit the ground We'll still fly Keep dreaming like we'll live forever But live it like it's now or never It's now or never” The three boys pant a little after giving their all while I continue sweeping as if nothing even happened. Although, I can’t hide the smirk that’s tugging on my lips. “Wow, that girl can sing!” Jeremy compliments me with a little smile. “Emily,” Charlie’s voice beckons me to look up, “Please, join Sunset Curve?” “Still thinking about it,” I tell him, but I already know I want to. Jamming with these boys feels amazing and I’d do it forever if it wasn’t for my uncle. I need to figure out how I’m going to be okay with singing and writing music with other people. Until I do, I’m going to keep them in a little bit of agony. “Come on, Emmy?” The nickname rips my heart out, even if it’s coming from Charlie’s mouth. “Don’t call me that,” I snarl, startling him a little. I shut my eyes for a second. I didn’t mean to snap. It’s my default reaction to hearing that nickname when it’s from the wrong person. “Sorry, but please, don’t call me that. Anything but that.” I send him a knowing look, hoping that’ll say enough about the why. “Sorry…” he whispers, then wets his lips before continuing, “But Ems, we just rocked that with you. Have we really not convinced you yet?” He has that same puppy-dog-eyes look on his face. Does he know how much that has an effect on me and is he doing it on purpose, or? “Give me a week, okay? I just need to find a way to be okay with… You know…” Charlie nods his head, respecting my decision. I offer him an appreciative smile, hoping that would do. “No, I don’t know. Okay with what?” Jeremy earns a slap on the arm from Owen on that one. “Do you ever think some things aren’t your business?” The dark haired boy simply shrugs. “Hey, why don’t you guys let me hear that new song of yours? Finally Free? I heard it’s good,” I glance at Charlie for the last part, and exchange a smirk with him. He knows. We both know. “Uhm, sure?” Owen says, seemingly confused. “Version two, guys, don’t forget,” Charlie tells them just before Owen counts them in and they’re off playing the song. It sounds amazing. Such a fun song when you add the drums, bass and electric feel of the guitar rather than the acoustic guitar Charlie played it on for me. While I clean up the rest of the store, I mime the song along for as far as I still remember it, hoping the boys won’t see so I don’t have to sing along with them. What I do show them are my killer dance moves with the broom, which really does make them laugh. “That sounds awesome, you guys!” I say excitedly when they’ve finished. Charlie places his guitar on the stand, calling in a break. “I think Sunset Curve might have a hit with that one.” The boys all give me a shy smile as they all gather at the piano again, having ditched their instruments. “Now you,” it almost sounds like a dare. “Now me what?” I ask, keeping my eyes on him. “Show me your song!” The boy sounds way too excited and looks the part too. With his eyes wide and his smile nearly reaching his eyes. I glance from Charlie to Owen to Jeremy and back. “I mean, it’s not really fi—” Owen interrupts my excuse by coming up with one of his own. “Who’s hungry? I’m hungry! Jeremy, let’s get some food for all of us!” Without even asking us what we’d want for dinner, Owen grabs a hold of his best friend and yanks him towards the door and out the store, leaving Charlie and I to our devices. “Will you play it for me now?” he asks, a bit more careful than before as if not wanting to overstep anything. I swallow a nervous lump in my throat before nodding and going to grab my songbook. I place all the loose papers onto the piano and then turn to him. “Grab your guitar,” I order sweetly. The boy obeys and quickly grabs the black Fender from the wall. “Remember what you played the other day when we kind of wrote it together?” He simply nods his head before starting to play the chords he did that first day of writing together. He stands beside me, our shoulders touching, as we look at the song on paper. Then Charlie starts singing, his voice sending shivers throughout my entire body. “Step into my world Bittersweet love story about a girl Shook me to the core Voice like an angel, I've never heard before.” I take a deep breath and start singing my part of the first verse. “Here in front of me Shining so much brighter than I have ever seen Life can be so mean But when he goes I know he doesn't leave” A soft beat and a melody sounds through my mind now, intertwined with the sound of his guitar. Just as our voices intertwine too during the chorus. Like the perfect harmony. “The truth is finally breaking through Two worlds collide when I'm with you Our voices rise and soar so high We come to life when we're” I turn to him, finding myself confident enough not to stare at the papers. “In perfect harmony Woah, woah Perfect harmony Woah, woah Perfect harmony” Charlie smiles down at me with the brightest smile on his face. He, too, feels confident enough to sing without looking at the lyrics. “You set me free,” he sings, not taking his eyes off me. “You and me together is more than chemistry.” Without realizing it, I take a step closer towards him. “Love me as I am I'll hold your music here inside my hands We say we're friends, we play pretend You're more to me, we're everything Our voices rise and soar so high We come to life when we're In perfect harmony” Charlie places his guitar on the piano, letting the melody and rhythm inside our minds guide us instead as we walk around the piano, each in different directions until we’re on opposite sides, looking at each other. “Woah, woah Perfect harmony Woah, woah Perfect harmony” I lean forward on the piano as I sing the first line in the bridge. “I feel your rhythm in my heart, yeah” Charlie walks the other half of the piano, quickly this time, until he’s reached me. “You are my brightest, burning star, woah-woah” I place my hands on his chest as he inches closer. “I never knew a love so real” “So real,” Charlie echoes, pressing his forehead to mine. “We're heaven on earth, melody and words When we are together we're In perfect harmony” I step back slightly, offering him a teasing smirk more so because I’m not ready for what’s about to happen next. “Woah, woah Perfect harmony Woah, woah Perfect harmony” He takes my hand in his and pulls me towards him again. My hands find their way to his chest again while he places his on my waist. “We say we're friends We play pretend You're more to me We create a perfect harmony” The music in our minds has stopped. All that’s left now is our panting breath and beating hearts. Tingles erupt in my body, going from my head all the way down to my toes. I know what’s going to happen and for once, my brain isn’t telling me to pull away or abort the mission. For once, it’s silent. And then Charlie kisses me, and an entire orchestra breaks up the silence in my mind. “I’m seeing fireworks!” Jeremy’s voice makes us break apart, but we don’t go too far. Just our lips disconnect. “Are you seeing fireworks?” Owen nods his head in agreement with his best friend. “Because I’m seeing all the fireworks!” If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the dude is high. I shake my head at Jeremy and turn back to Charlie, who’s already looking down at me. This feels right. This feels like how it should be. All the planets aligned. Just perfectly right.

Taglist: @parkeret @lukeys-giggle @hannahhistorian92 @gingerxarmy @marinettepotterandplagg​ @lovesanimals​ Lemme know if you want to be on my taglist for this story/any of my other works!

[reversedscene]

Does She Mean, Like, Pizza?

Summary:

“Why couldn't they have made mine into a pizzeria or something?” – Reggie Peters, 1x02 “Bright” “I wish I had a puppy! A hamster? Pizza?” – Reggie Peters, 1x02 “Bright” “Wait, so, when she says “deep dish”, is she talking about, like, pizza or...?"  - Reggie Peters, 1x03 “Flying Solo” “Let’s not forget we have somewhere else we can play and eat pizza.” – Reggie Peters, 1x06 “Finally Free”

OR

A 5 + 1 fic detailing the origins of Reggie’s love of pizza.

Word Count: 4502

AO3 link in the notes

AN:

This is 100% inspired by this post by @willexx, thank you so much for letting me use this idea!!

TWs:

overall - discussion and onscreen eating of food section 3 - discussion of coming out to homophobic parents and offscreen Catholic-based homophobia, something adjacent to a panic attack but not quite that severe section 4 - discussion of missing meals/teenagers being dumb about what counts as a meal (you can easily skip the noted sections if there's a trigger, they're all independent of each other)

Does She Mean, Like, Pizza?

1 --

Despite the perceptions Reggie’s friends have, his parents weren’t always that bad. There was a time growing up when they were the type of parents any kid could’ve asked for.

“And then we learned about evaportat – evaporation, where the water goes back to the sky!” Reggie raises his hands, bringing his older brother’s hand up with his left.

“Yeah?” Charlie prompts. “How about when we get home, we put a little water in a bottlecap by the window and you can see it happen?” Reggie cheers his agreement and starts pulling Charlie down the sidewalk. “Calm down, Reg, the water will still be there when we get home.”

Reggie slows down slightly, content to walk beside his brother until they get home. They make it home fairly quickly, Reggie only getting distracted by a wildflower on the side of the sidewalk that he insisted on picking for their mom. When they get home, Charlie reaches up to the front door and lets them both in.

“Charlie? Reggie? That you?” Reggie hears his mom call from the kitchen, quickly followed by her footsteps coming down the hall.

“Hi, mom!” The boys chorus back to her as she rounds the corner.

Reggie holds out the wildflower to her, “Here, it’s pretty just like you!”

“Is this for me?” She asks. When Reggie nods, she continues, taking the flower from him, “Why thank you Reggie, it’s gorgeous. How was school, boys?” Reggie hums in acknowledgment as he crouches down to pull the Velcro on his shoes. He sees Charlie rip open his backpack beside him and hand a small package of paper to their mom.

“I got my multiplication test back today!” Charlie says with a bright smile. His mom flips over the paper and Reggie sees a big colourful sticker at the top before it’s fully turned around.

“A 100, oh Charlie how wonderful!” Their mom coos, wrapping Charlie in a hug. “I’m so proud of you, I know how hard you worked for that.” She pulls away then continues, “You know, I was going to make a casserole tonight, but how about we order pizza instead, boys?”

Charlie and Reggie both cheer as they follow their mother into the living room. First though, they make a pit stop in the kitchen to pin the test up on the fridge with a magnet, the circled bright red 100 stark against the white of the paper and fridge. They settle down in the living room when Reggie’s mom turns to him and asks what he got up to today.

“We learned about evaporation! Water just disappears!” Reggie exclaims.

“Do you still want to do that experiment, Reg?” Charlie asks, already getting up. Reggie nods enthusiastically, with a massive grin on his face – exposing his missing front teeth.

Later that evening, all four Peters sat around the table with a large pepperoni pizza between them. Laughter filled the air and four little bottlecaps of water sat on the windowsill. Reggie was happy.

2 --

Reggie is practically bouncing in his booster seat – scratch that, he actually is bouncing. Luke Patterson, who was in his class for the first time this year, had invited him to his birthday party. They only met on the first day of school but, since their last names are so close, they seem to have spent every second in class talking to each other.

His mom pulls the car into the Patterson’s driveway and Reggie jumps out. He’s halfway to the door when his mom calls him back to get Luke’s gift. Reggie runs back to grab it and goes to run back again before his mom tells him to walk with her. Together they walk up to the front door and Reggie reaches up to ring the doorbell, and a woman with long brown hair answers the door.

“Hello, you’re here for Luke’s party?” At Reggie’s enthusiastic nod, she continues, “And what’s your name?”

Just as she finishes her question, a small boy comes barreling down the hallway. Reggie hears his name being yelled before Luke slams into him, almost knocking them both to the ground.

“C’mon, Reg, everyone’s in the living room, let’s go!” Luke says, grabbing his hand and pulling him into the house.

Reggie looks over his shoulder and waves, “Bye, mom!”. She waves back while talking to Luke’s mom.

Luke turns a corner, and they enter the living room that already has most of the guests there. Reggie can immediately see Jennifer and Sarah sitting in the corner of the couch talking with Mikey who was on the floor, and then Luke’s best friends Alex and Bobby sitting in the chairs a little further into the room. Unsurprisingly, Luke pulls him over to the boys.

“Alex, Bobby, this is Reggie, he’s my friend from class since you’re in Ms. R’s class this year and left me all alone with Mr. K.”

“We didn’t leave you all alone!” Bobby says.

“And it’s not our fault!” Alex adds, before turning to Reggie. “Hi Reggie, I’m Alex.”

Bobby turns and says, “And I’m Bobby, I like your shirt.”

Reggie looks down to see his Back to the Future shirt he was wearing then answers brightly, “Thanks!”

Mrs. Patterson then enters the room, putting Reggie’s gift down with the rest, and told them it was time for party games.

Reggie stuck with the three boys for the entire afternoon. He was in stitches with Luke and Alex when Bobby pinned the tail on the TV instead of the donkey poster at the other end of the room, and immediately paired up with them when Mrs. Patterson – “call me Emily, honey” – had announced it was time for charades.

The pizza arrived in the evening and Reggie ate it sitting crossed legged on the floor surrounded by three new friends and having the time of his life.

3 --

Through elementary school and middle school, the boys stay thick as thieves, even starting a band in grade 8 that went unnamed until midway through grade 9. Bobby’s parents were kind enough to let them use their garage as a rehearsal space – in actual support or just to get them out of the house, the boys didn’t know. Throughout this time as well, Reggie’s dad got laid off and his idealistic childhood came crashing down along with the family’s savings. His parents started arguing more, first about money, then about each other, then about Reggie and Charlie. As it stands now, a few years down the line, Charlie moved out to go to college and Reggie spends more time in the garage than in his own house.

Currently, Reggie is sitting on the couch in the garage, fiddling with the tuning keys of his bass while the body lays on the couch. It’s a few hours after band practice and Bobby had just left to make popcorn in the house.

The studio doors slam open and Reggie jumps at the noise, just barely catching his bass before it crashes to the ground. He looks up to see Alex just inside the doors harshly sucking in air with tear tracks running down his face. Now that Reggie is paying attention, he can hear the difference in Alex’s breathing, the clear signs of hyperventilation that Reggie initially attributed to his hasty entrance.

“Jesus, Alex, what happened?” Reggie says, getting up to try and comfort his obviously distressed friend.

“I – I … I don’t know what came over me. I, I –“ Alex stammers out, his breathing picking up pace.

“Okay, that’s okay, how about we go sit down?” At Alex’s slight nod, Reggie guides him over to the couch, moving his bass off the couch and into its normal position in the process. “Do you want me to count your breathing or distract you? You can use the tap system if you want.” The tap system was a little communication method the four of them had set up a few years ago after Alex had a particularly bad panic attack where he couldn’t speak. One of the three of them ask a two-option question, and Alex taps once for the first option or twice for the second. Alex taps Reggie’s leg twice.

“Okay that’s good. Did I tell you about the bulldog I saw at the beach the other day?” Reggie starts and then continues without waiting for an answer.  “He had these little blue goggles on and a life jacket – because bulldogs can’t float because they’re too dense – and he couldn’t quite walk right, so he kept losing his balance and falling over! He was almost all white, with these brown spots on his ears and a few on his back, I think his name was Winston? I’m not sure if his parents were yelling at the dog or the kid with him though. He loved fetch too, the kid kept throwing the ball into the surf, which explains the goggles and life jacket, he was just so cute!” Alex’s breathing had evened out a little through the story, and Bobby comes in with a bowl of popcorn just as Reggie finishes.

Bobby walks into the room, places the popcorn on the table, and sits on the other side of Alex, clearly sensing the things-are-not-okay-right-now vibe. He looks over to Reggie with a questioning look on his face and Reggie responds with a small shrug and raised eyebrows.

“Hey, Lex, I wasn’t expecting you to be here tonight, is everything alright?” Bobby says.

Alex opens his mouth to respond but he chokes a bit on his words and ends up shutting his mouth while shaking his head.

“That’s alright, man. Do you want to talk about it?” Bobby continues, and Alex answers by nodding. “Okay, do you want me to grab Luke so we’re all together?” Another nod. “Sweet, I’m gonna go call him now, is that good?” After Alex nods a third time, Bobby gets up to go back into the house to the phone. “I’ll be right back.”

A second wave of whatever Alex is going through hits, his shoulders begin to shake, breathing picks up, and his eyes fill with tears again. Reggie calls Alex’s name softly and opens his arms in a silent invitation, which Alex immediately accepts. Reggie shifts them around until they’re both half sitting, half laying down on the couch, with Alex’s face resting on his chest and his arms wrapped around Alex. Reggie starts carding his hand through Alex’s hair hoping it soothes Alex like normal.

When Bobby returns, they’re still in that position and Reggie’s hand is still in Alex’s hair. Alex’s breathing has returned to semi-normal, only hitching occasionally, but his face is still red and covered in tear tracks.

“Luke says he’ll be here in 15.” Bobby says while lifting their feet and settling beneath them. Even though Bobby said 15 minutes, Reggie knows it’ll be closer to 10 – Luke will ride his bike as fast as he can over here if he knows one of them is in trouble. Reggie resumes his hand motions and Bobby begins rubbing his hand up and down Alex’s calf.

After a few minutes of silence, Alex mumbles something into Reggie’s chest.

“What was that Alex? We didn’t quite catch that.” Bobby says.

Alex lifts his head slightly and repeats, “I came out to my parents tonight.” A sense of dread washes over Reggie. Alex was one of the two bandmates with good parents, despite them being on the more extreme end of Catholicism. Reggie hugs Alex a little tighter, and Bobby rearranges himself, so he finally properly joins the cuddle pile. It’s difficult fitting three 16-year-old boys horizontally on the same couch but they’ve had enough practice that they make it work.

Reggie loses track of time but soon enough Luke is bursting through the door in a very similar fashion to Alex earlier that night.

“What did I miss?” Luke pants out. “Is everyone alright?”

“That depends on your definition of alright?” Reggie says from the bottom of the pile.

“I came out to my parents.” Alex adds. Luke is crouched beside them in seconds.

“Are you okay? How did they react? Well, not good considering you’re here. Did they kick you out? Do you need a place to stay?” Luke rapid fires.

“Luke, Jesus, take a breath, you’re overwhelming the guy.” Bobby says.

“It’s okay.” Alex intervenes. “I’m okay now, and you’re right, they didn’t react well. They didn’t quite kick me out but they’re definitely not okay with it. I don’t know why I thought they would be really, I just thought their love for me would overshadow what they believe.” Alex lets out a humorless chuckle. “But I should’ve known with how they spoke about the AIDS crisis.”

“Hey, no, no thinking like that.” Bobby interjects before Alex can spiral too far. “It’s not your fault you trusted them to support you as parents, it was theirs for letting you down. Okay?”

“Okay.” Alex responds.

“Good. Now, have either of you had dinner yet? Because me and Reg haven’t.” When Alex and Luke both shake their heads, Bobby continues. “Okay, I don’t think mom made enough for two extra plates and, frankly, I think we’re overdue for a pizza and movie night out here. How does that sound?” Luke and Reggie voice their affirmative.

“Can we watch My Cousin Vinny?” Alex asks quietly. When all the boys agree – as if they could disagree with Alex after everything that happened today – a small smile graces Alex’s face, the first Reggie has seen since he burst through the door.

As the final few minutes of the movie play out on the screen, all four of them are piled on the couch with two empty boxes of pizza on the coffee table in front of them. The painful events of the day are not quite forgotten but they’re definitely a distant thought.

4 --

Junior year ends and senior year picks up along with the fights between Luke and his parents. Post-secondary applications had opened two months ago, and the deadline is drawing nearer every day. The band’s getting closer and closer to their big break, they can feel it, but unfortunately, that belief doesn’t transfer to Emily and Mitch Patterson.

“I just don’t understand how they don’t get it!” Luke says from the space under the loft and raising his arms in frustration to Reggie, who’s on the couch. “They always said they’d support me, but all of a sudden I don’t want to go to college and everything comes crashing down?”

Reggie hums, trying to think of something that might comfort his friend. “You could get them to come to our gig next weekend? It’s a pretty big venue and we’ve got some consistent fans now, that might help them see this is a feasible path.”

Luke collapses on the couch beside Reggie with a huff. “I could, but I invited them to all of our early gigs and they didn’t come to anything besides the school talent show in sophomore year. I just don’t know how a degree would help a rock band. It just seems like a distraction.” Luke laughs a little to himself, obviously seeing the same irony Reggie does in that statement.

“Maybe do a music degree? It might be helpful, especially if you have to go for something.” Reggie suggests. He’s just trying to diffuse the situation; he already basically lives here, and it’d be a pity for Luke if he had to join him.

“Yeah, and spend hours on audition pieces when I could be spending hours on band practice? No thanks. Also, what the hell am I gonna do with a music degree? I don’t think Bach or Beethoven will help with rock.” Reggie thinks sampling from other genres might be pretty cool, but like hell, he’s going to say that to Luke right now. Reggie knows there’s no helping this cause right now, there’s no way to fix years worth of parental problems in an evening, so instead he does what he does best – distract.

“You know, I’m pretty hungry and Bobby and his parents are with his grandparents, you want to order pizza and play Mario Kart? I brought my SNES over here a month ago.”

“Honestly, Reg? That sounds amazing.” Luke flops to the left, his head landing in Reggie’s lap and his feet kicking over the other arm of the couch. His beanie falls off his head a little and Reggie pulls it all the way off so he can run his fingers through Luke’s hair.

“How much should we order? I missed lunch so I’m good with ordering a bunch.” In reality, they had made quite a bit of money from their last gig, so between the both of them, they could definitely afford for Luke to eat his feelings tonight. This statement, however, had the opposite effect on Luke. He sits up quickly, dislodging Reggie’s hand, and turns to Reggie with a concerned look on his face.

“What do you mean you missed lunch? I thought we stocked protein bars in here for the explicit purpose of preventing you from skipping lunch?” That’s a half-truth and they both know it. Initially, that is why they were stocked – Reggie had spent one too many weekends in the garage while Bobby either wasn’t there or didn’t know and there was no food in the studio. As time passed, however, the bars became communal band snacks as it was a lot less disruptive to grab a bar quick than to trek into the Wilson household if someone got hungry during band practice.

“We ran out of bars last week. Bobby’s mom said she’d pick up more when they got back on Sunday. Anyway, pizza?” Luke sighs but doesn’t fight the lunch issue any longer.

“Only if we get cheesy garlic bread too.” Luke says with a bit of a smile on his face.

“What type of pizza night would it be if we didn’t?” Reggie shoots back.

Later that night, both boys were fighting yawns while trying to stay awake long enough to get a definitive Mario Kart winner. If they were getting the controllers a little too greasy and scattering the pizza boxes around the studio instead of keeping them around the table, well Reggie wasn’t complaining tonight.

5 --

All four members of Sunset Curve exit the venue, walking calmly down the street until they turn the corner. As soon as they know they’re out of view of the building, they all break out into whoops and cheers, jumping around, and grabbing onto each other.

“I can’t believe we booked the Orpheum, holy shit!” Luke yells in their faces. The remaining three yell incomprehensibly back at him.

Once they all calm down, Bobby says, “I can’t believe we got it.”

“It only took us, what? Two years?” Reggie asks.

“And every single favour we’ve ever had.” Alex adds.

“But we did it, boys, we finally made it.” Luke says, slapping each one of them in the chest with a massive smile on his face.

“How about we take the day off?” Bobby proposes.  “We’re right by the beach, there’s months until this gig, and frankly, I think we all deserve to celebrate a little.” Reggie and Alex both voice their approval, while Luke looks slightly apprehensive.

“C’mon Luke, the gig isn’t ‘til July, and Bobby’s right – we do deserve to celebrate for a bit, we’ve been rehearsing nonstop for at least two months now.” Alex says, resting his hand on Luke’s shoulder.

Luke wavers for a moment before his smile breaks through and he agrees. They take off down the street, bumping their shoulders together occasionally and sharing massive grins.

They’re just passing by the pier when Reggie smells the telltale grease of a pizzeria and realizes, since their meeting at the Orpheum was at noon, none of them have had lunch yet.

“Hey, do you guys want to get pizza? We could bring a box down to the beach.” Reggie says.

Luke grabs Reggie’s face with a hand on either side. “Reggie, that is the best idea I have ever heard.” He says, completely seriously.

Fifteen minutes later, Bobby’s carrying a probably overpriced pizza while they all settle into the sand farther down the beach. They each grab a slice and Luke holds his up like one would a drink during a toast.

“To Sunset Curve, boys, we’re gonna be legends!” He says.

“To Sunset Curve!” The three cheer back, toasting their slices against Luke’s.

They spend the rest of the day laughing and joking around. Reggie knows they’re all going to be finding sand in their shoes for weeks after this, but he can’t find it in himself to care. As the sun starts to set, they all get up and throw out the pizza box at the top of the beach. The trek home is a little long but none of them care.

They’re gonna be legends.

+1 --

They, in fact, were not going to be legends. Well, most of them wouldn’t be. Instead, they find themselves 25 years in the future, with no Bobby and no Sunset Curve. There were some good things about the future though, they have a new name, a crazy talented lead singer with the voice of an angel, and they finally got to play the Orpheum – even if they did have to go through hell to do it.

Ever since Julie saved them from Caleb’s stamps, they’ve found the boys are more like lifers. They can now sleep and eat, although they haven’t tested if they have to like lifers, but they can also still teleport and pass through doors. Another ability that came with this half-lifer status is that they can choose to make themselves visible to lifers without playing music with Julie. This particular ability came in useful when Julie decided to tell Ray about them; it’s a lot easier to explain ghosts when they can just appear right in front of your face.

As it stands now, Ray has all but adopted the three of them. Reggie shied away from Ray at the beginning, unable to handle the potential rejection he had grown to expect from parental figures, but it’s been over a month and the other shoe hasn’t dropped yet. In fact, the exact opposite had happened, Ray not only had accepted Reggie’s near-constant presence around him, but he had started including him in what he was doing. Reggie has learned more about photography than he ever knew possible and was even told the super-secret Molina family recipe for hot chocolate.

The boys have slowly started to be incorporated into Molina family traditions and tonight was time for another: monthly Friday pizza nights. They’ve been outsiders to this tradition before, losing Julie for the night back before they could eat, but now that they could, there was no way they would miss it.

Currently, they’re all in the living room waiting for the pizza to arrive. Alex is in the middle of a story about one of Sunset Curve’s first times busking on the pier. Luke is laughing along with it, clearly forgetting about the fact that this story ends with him tripping over his guitar case and almost ending up in the water.

“Wait, Alex, I forgot to ask, how’s your ghost boyfriend doing?” Luke abruptly says, interrupting Alex mid-sentence, seemingly remembering the end to this story if the pink dusting his cheeks is any indication.

Alex’s reaction to his question is instantaneous – his ears heat up and he starts fiddling with the strap of his fanny pack. He just barely manages to spit out a, “He’s not my – okay,” before turning beet red. Just then, the doorbell rings and everyone starts getting up – Ray to get the pizza and the rest to go to the dining table.

“Saved by the bell.” Reggie says to Alex on his way past, jostling Alex slightly with his elbow.

“You could say that, yeah” Alex responds with a slight laugh.

“Seriously though,” Julie chimes in. “You should invite him to band practice again, it was a lot of fun when he was here.”

“You can’t even see him!” Alex says. Everyone was a little disappointed when they found that out. Julie and Willie were looking forward to meeting each other, but it was quickly obvious that Julie’s ghost-seeing abilities only applied to the former members of Sunset Curve.

“Still, it was fun to have him around. Also, I think I think the day you brought him over was the best you’ve ever played in rehearsal.” Julie says with a wink and then walks away to the table.

“That wasn’t – okay.” Alex says defeatedly, turning to Reggie.

“You really did kill it that day, man.”

They both turn back to the table just in time to see Luke pull out Julie’s chair for her. Both Alex and Reggie look at each other, exchanging knowing glances.

“So, we all saw that, yeah?” Carlos loudly whispers to Reggie and Alex, looking directly at Luke and Julie who are holding eye contact that’s just a little too long to be subtle.

“Yeah we did, little buddy. But c’mon, let’s go have some pizza.” Reggie says, ruffing Carlos’s hair, just as Ray comes back with the boxes.

As the six of them sit down around the dining room table, Reggie is reminded of the family pizza nights he would have as a kid, with everyone crowded around a table and laughter filling the air. Except now instead of a large pepperoni pizza in the middle, there were two pizzas – a vegetarian and Hawaiian – and a box of wings. There was also a sad-looking salad that Reggie was 75% sure Ray only threw together in case Tía Victoria came by. The laughter and sense of yes this is exactly where you’re supposed to be feeling of home was the exact same though.

Alex bumps Reggie’s shoulder, knocking him out of the slight daze he had fallen into, and Reggie turns to him and smiles. It had taken a slightly horrific death, twenty-five years, and a brush with another second death, but Reggie had finally found his way back home.

[ecto-american]

Le Freak

Phic Phight Oneshot for @phantomroyalty : Natural born halfas (EX a child with one ghost parent and one human parent) used to be common place. Now they are all gone. What happened to them?

It’s been a rough day lads, and this is purely self-indulgent nonsensical headcanon stuff that I wrote while partly crying over stress! Thus, fun fact for you! You can’t critique or criticize this because if you do, I absolutely will cry again! I know it sucks, it jumps around and makes Zero Sense bc editing? idk her but I just need to be able to post my fun shit and have a good time  :’) I’ll even put literally everything under the cut

Word Count: 1814

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“Cas?” 

Danny looked up from his phone to glance at his mom before his eyes shifted to see who she was referring to. A dark skinned man about his mom’s height with black hair to his shoulders, in jeans and a dark yellow t-shirt was standing with a grocery cart. The man looked around confused for a moment before turning to his mom. Once facing her, he shot her a bright smile.

“Aye, Mads,” he called out cheerfully. 

“Oh, I haven’t seen you since college!” Maddie exclaimed, and Danny internally groaned. He returned his attention back to his phone, continuing to lean onto the grocery cart. He began to text his friends about the interruption. “I can’t believe you came to Amity Park and didn’t tell me!”

He heard his mom continuing to chat. His name soon came up, and he glanced up.

“This is my son, Danny.”

Cas was giving him a bright smile. Danny gave a polite half smile in return, only to freeze as ghost sense went off. He noticed at the end of the isle, a young adult turning the corner, in his early twenties with very long, light blonde hair. Super long, especially for a guy. Jean jacket and dark washed jeans, a regular black band t-shirt. Very ordinary. 

“Dad, they don’t have any salt,” he complained, but he paused upon seeing the conversation. 

“Oh, uh, this is my son, Peter,” Cas introduced briefly, and his entire demeanor shifted. Danny couldn’t help but completely forget the texting conversation. This dude was suddenly...so nervous. “Peter, this is Maddie. We went to college together.”

Peter didn’t come any closer to them. He gave a light, polite wave from afar, and Danny knew that he was staring at his mom...almost nervously. 

“I’m terribly sorry, but we need to get going,” Cas apologized. He pulled the grocery cart with him as he stepped towards his son. “Busy schedule. It was good seeing you!”

“Oh you too!” Maddie was cheerful, seemingly oblivious to the others. The father son duo left the isle, and out of sight. Danny watched after them.

“Where’d you know him from?” Danny wondered. He glanced to see Maddie putting some boxed dinners into their cart.

“Cas? He was an old classmate of your dad and I. Before Vlad, he worked on the portal with us, but ended up dropping out to care for his son, but I’m so glad to hear that he eventually went back and finished. He was always a very smart man,” Maddie replied. She glanced at the list in her hand. “We don’t have much more to get. Let’s try to get done before the rush really comes in.”

123456789

“Phantom,” a voice called out to him. Danny glanced over to see Peter standing nearby. The halfa shot him a smile, capping his thermos and a light salute. Though inside he was a bit shaky. Was he really just? Watching that entire fight?

“Hello, citizen!” Danny put on his public hero voice. He paused, half turning away as he prepared to leave. “Well uh, ghost’s contained. I’ll see you around!”

“No!” Peter’s harsh, desperate plea caught him off guard. “Please. We need to talk. I know your secret.” Danny’s blood ran cold. 

“What secret?” Danny asked quickly. “There’s no secret. I’m a ghost, what secret could I have?”

Peter’s look, that absolute knowing, scared Danny. Despite it, he didn’t seem malicious like he had feared. 

“You can’t run, because I really, really actually need your help,” Peter asked. “I know you’re half ghost.” He hurriedly added at Danny’s panicked look, “But I don’t know who your human half is! I don’t care who either, I just really need to know how you’re so stable.” 

The entire statement caught Danny absolutely off guard. Peter wasn’t giving off any kind of vibe like he was with the Guys in White, nor that he was going to hurt him. He couldn’t even sense anybody else around, and he had been fighting in the area long enough to have already set off booby traps if they existed. And his ghost sense...had gone off around him sporadically. 

“What do you mean?” Danny asked. Peter’s lower lip trembled.

“I’m half ghost too,” he claimed. Danny stared, his heart stopping. “But I can’t...it’s literally killing me.”

“I don’t believe you,” he whispered. Peter motioned for him to move back a bit. Danny did.

There were no familiar rings or flash of light that always signaled his transformation. A dark shadow seemed to overwhelm the other, and left behind a figure that was unmistakably ghostly. Electric blue skin that was forever crackling with purple energy with matching purple eyes, the once blond hair now pitch black and floating around him softly. His outfit didn’t change, but Danny’s ghost sense did go off.

Peter held his hand up, and a purple dome shield came up. An ectoplasmic dome shield. He didn’t know how to feel at this revelation. Danny could only stare in awe at the other. There was more like him. It wasn’t just him and Vlad and Dani. They weren’t alone, there were oth-

The newly exposed halfa doubled over with a groan of pain. The shield quickly melted away, and Danny tensed up. He took a step forward.

“D-Don’t!” Peter’s voice gurgled, and Danny stopped. The newly discovered halfa fell to his knees and knees, and he threw up as his ghostly form melted away. As the form melted away, Danny could feel the air being filled with a rush of electricity and static before it finally faded.

“...Are you okay?” Danny called out.

“Yeah, that’s normal,” Peter wheezed, wiping his mouth as he stood back up, wiping his knees of dirt and gravel. “My ghost powers are super unstable. I can’t…not without...” He paused before glancing up at Danny. “Did you ever have a time where you were struggling to get your powers to work?”

“Yeah,” the teen nodded.

“I’m the opposite. I have to force myself to turn it off, and it takes so much energy, and every time I just try to utilize a little bit of power, it’s this…” Peter trailed off. “It’s overwhelming. And it hurts. And I can’t just bottle it up forever. If I don’t let it lose sometimes...it’s not pretty. I try to do it in isolated areas. Just let the excess energy out.”

Danny could only imagine the kind of destruction. If he had to guess, based on the electricity in the air, this guy had some kind of electric core. 

“How’d you...know about me anyway?” Danny changed the subject.

“I didn’t put puzzle pieces together, if that’s your concern,” Peter assured him. “The other halfa told me.” Danny’s eyes widened. “It’s why my dad and I came to Amity Park. We’ve been looking for a halfa to help us, or uh, rather help me.”

“Wait Vlad told you!?” he blurted out. What the fuck, cheesehead!? Oh, when Danny found him, he was gonna.

“No?” Peter’s puzzled tone snapped him out of his anger. “There’s...more than just us three left?” Danny’s undead heart skipped a beat. 

“Five,” Danny replied. “Who’s this other halfa?”

Peter stared somberly at him, glancing at his feet briefly as he toed with some of the rubble. 

“...I don’t know his human name. I purposefully didn’t ask,” Peter told him. “I originally asked him to help me, but he’s in a terrible spot and needed help of his own, help we couldn’t give. Not without getting ourselves in worse trouble. He said you were a halfa though. It had to be worth a shot. There’s not many of us left anymore.”

“How’d you even become half-ghost?” Danny asked curiously. Peter cocked his head in confusion. 

“I was? Born this way? Ghost mom, human dad?” he said slowly. He studied Danny curiously, and it seemed to click. “Wait were you not born half ghost?”

“You were born this way?” Danny asked back. His mind was going crazy. You could be born a half-ghost? That was possible? How come his parents never knew that? This would definitely explain why his dad seemingly dropped the Fentons as a friend... “Wait, many of us left?” 

Peter’s face told him nearly everything. Something happened. Something bad. The other cleared his throat. 

“Um...yeah,” he said quietly. “It’s kind of a long story. I don’t know all the details, cause I was kinda young, but basically...there was a lot of us. We had our own little section of the Ghost Zone. Do you know how the Bermuda Triangle is a giant natural ghost portal?” Danny nodded in confirmation. “There’s a section of the Ghost Zone near where it spawns most often that we used to inhabit, because of all the otherworldly crossing. Well, we were there. Before the Guys in White found out about us, and they came, and.” 

His breath hitched. Danny felt sick. The Guys in White...knew. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. They not only knew, but did this...oh fuck then that meant that there was a chance that they knew about him, and Vlad, and…..oh no.

“My dad said I nearly died too,” Peter continued. “One of the full ghosts saved me, smuggled me out. And my mom’s a doctor and was able to save me, but I was in a coma for like two months. Some made it out alive too. The unlucky ones…”

“...Died?” Danny guessed quietly. Peter let out a breathless chuckle. 

“No. They’re lucky if the GIW just killed them,” he replied flatly. “It’s honestly terrible. I don’t think you wanna know.” Peter was right; Danny didn’t want to know. It was Peter’s turn to be curious. “So...you weren’t born this way? Right? So how…”

“I was in an accident,” Danny kept it simple. Peter raised an eyebrow.

“Must be one hell of an accident,” he commented. Danny chuckled nervously. Peter sighed heavily. “So, I still don’t know if you can actually help my stabilization issue…cause of the differences…”

“I’ll do what I can!” Danny blurted out. Peter’s face brightened. “Please. I’d love to know more about halfas. We can compare stuff.” The young adult let out a sigh of relief.

“Come to my house tonight, my parents can tell you everything they know,” Peter agreed. He reached into his pocket to pull out the familiar small notebook. He ripped a page out, jotting down an address Danny already knew. “Just...come alone.”

Danny nodded, holding his hand out for the paper. Peter gave it to him, and despite the other powering down, Danny still felt a bit of an electric shock as they grazed hands. 

“I’ll see you then,” Danny promised. 

Grasping the note, he waved a goodbye, and he flew out. He had so much to tell Jazz.

[noona-clock]

Study: Kang Younghyun

In which we dig deeper under the surface of our favorite KPOP idols.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the gifs used in this post. I am not an astrologer nor am I a professional psychologist. These are my opinions based on the research I have done personally/as a hobby. If you disagree with any of these statements, please do so respectfully.

-Admin B

Sun Sign: Sagittarius (Fire)

Okay, I’m sorry, but the second I found out Younghyun is a Sagittarius, I went “Well that explains why he’s so annoying.” I DO NOT MEAN that Sagittarians are annoying. I love Younghyun dearly, and I think I could actually marry someone like him.

But... you have to admit. He is annoying in the most endearing way. And that kind of explains a Sagittarius. They are amazing people: they’re dedicated and hard-working and confident and enthusiastic and it’s really, really hard not to like a Sagittarius because they’re just so darn likable. But their confidence very quickly turns into overconfidence, and they’re pretty much always in your face. So, endearingly annoying is truly a good way to describe this sign - and Younghyun.

I’ve always said that Seungri from BigBang is the ultimate Sagittarius, and I still stand by that statement. But I also think Younghyun is one, too. He’s fearless, encouraging, optimistic, inspiring, loves traveling, is an amazing story-teller, has trouble keeping his mouth shut... all traits of a Sagittarius. I mean, don’t you think it’s obvious that he’s a Fire sign? You can practically feel his passion for music, his passion for writing, his passion for Day6, his passion for life just by looking at him. 

And he makes everything he does seem so damn effortless. But guess what? Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter which is the planet of LUCK. Sagittarians are predisposed to be the luckiest of the signs, and Younghyun embodies that to a T. He is good at playing the bass. He is good at singing. He is good at rapping. He is good at writing songs. He is good at languages. He is good-looking. BUT NOT JUST GOOD. No. At all of these, he excels. He’s amazing. In my humble opinion, he has the strongest, most powerful voice in the group, but when he sings, it’s like he’s not even trying! I don’t understand it!! Except I do because he’s a Sagittarius. There you have it, folks. Brian the Sagittarius.

Moon Sign: Pisces (Water)

So, even though having a Fire Sun sign and a Water Moon sign can be extremely tricky (since Fire and Water do not play well together), I am not surprised whatsoever that Younghyun is a Pisces Moon. If you ever wondered how he comes up with ideas for all the different Day6 songs he writes? Here’s your answer.

Pisces, being a Water sign, is known to be very emotional. But they’re not emotional in a sensitive, moody way like Cancer. And they’re not emotional in an intense, weird way like Scorpio. They’re emotional in a very dreamy, romantic way. They’re like an emotional sponge, too, in that they can absorb other peoples’ emotions - they’re empaths! In addition, Pisces also like to escape the real world by immersing themselves in something they love. They’re ruled by Neptune which is the planet of fantasy, so escaping reality is a pretty common thing among this sign. Many times, the activity they choose is writing, so it honestly really makes sense that Younghyun is a Pisces Moon. He writes some very emotional songs - romantic emotional songs and heartbreaking emotional songs. What a Pisces.

Along with being romantic and emotional empaths, Pisces are also super wise and intuitive. I feel like every member of Day6 can dole out some good advice, but Younghyun especially. He just seems like the type who would make sense of any problem you had and tell you how to work it out, barely even thinking about it. Like, even though he can be kind of mischevious, wouldn’t you trust him if he gave you advice? He just gives off that vibe to me, and I’m certain that’s his Pisces Moon.

Chinese Astrology: Water Rooster

Just like an actual rooster, the Rooster in the Chinese zodiac is known for having a flamboyant and colorful personality. Younghyun is certainly one of the more showy members of the band; he’s always making his presence known, just like an actual rooster. Roosters are also known for being highly intelligent and very well read with a good sense of humor. They are not afraid to argue, and they have no hesitation in saying what is on their mind. This sounds just like Younghyun to me. He is definitely not afraid to speak up and be like “Uh, no, that’s not true” or something like that. He does it all the damn time on After School Club! And, as we’ll see in his MBTI section, this is a recurring theme in his personality. But also - the highly intelligent part. Younghyun is super duper smart, I think we all know this. He writes amazing lyrics, he has his college degree, he is fluent in multiple languages... Need I go on?

Water Roosters, in particular, are known for being a little more emotional than other Roosters - which we see in his Pisces Moon. They are better with romantic relationships, and they tend to have an affinity for love songs. So I’m going to restate my earlier supposition that I could marry someone like Younghyun.

Numerology: Life Path 8

The life path number 8 is known as The Powerhouse. Now, I honestly think this is one of the best words to describe Younghyun. He is a total powerhouse is almost every possible way. He has a powerful voice, powerful writing skills, a powerful presence. So it’s really not a surprise that his Life Path is a powerful one.

The life path number 8 is also a very interesting one. It’s all about developing a positive relationship with money, power, and authority. 8s are known to be doers and achievers, and Younghyun is most certainly that. I think he’s also chosen the right career path if he’s going to fulfill his life path, too. Being a musician will definitely help someone work on developing a positive relationship with money, power, and authority.

MBTI: ENTP

Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving

Younghyun is Extroverted, which is not a surprise. He is also very outgoing; he’s for sure one of the most talkative members. Being an extrovert, Younghyun draws energy from social situations and has a desire to be around other people. He doesn’t require alone time (though he may enjoy it) like an introvert would.

Younghyun is Intuitive. This means he is able to look at the big picture rather than the small details of a situation. He can think abstractly and is more likely to use his imagination to think about the possibilities. This is definitely evident in the way he is able to write all sorts of amazing, different songs. Now, obviously, we don’t know for sure what his romantic life has been/is like, but it doesn’t seem like idols are able to get a lot of experience in that area, especially after they debut. So being able to write romantic songs about relationships without actually being in one is a sure sign of an intuitive individual.

Younghyun is Thinking. He uses his brain to make decisions more than his heart. Reason and logic win out over emotion and feeling, and while this might not make sense because of his fiery passion and his romantic emotional side, but I totally see how he favors logic over emotion. He doesn’t ever seem irrational, and you can tell that every decision he makes is planned and well thought out.

Younghyun is Perceiving. He prefers to live his life in a more spontaneous manner, and he does not mind some chaos. He has no need for structure or lists. This also means his Thinking preference is more dominant.

The ENTP is known as the Debater. They are known for playing Devil’s Advocate just for the fun of it. They love to show off their quick wit, broad knowledge, and foolproof logic.

Other Studies: Park Sungjin, Park Jaehyung, Kim Wonpil, Yoon Dowoon

[scarlettsabetlondongirl]

Read the New Interview by Poet Scarlett Sabet and Led Zeppelin Founder Jimmy Page in Interview Magazine below or click on headline link.

JIMMY PAGE AND SCARLETT SABET ARE THE MUSIC-POETRY POWER COUPLE THE WORLD DIDN’T KNOW IT NEEDED

By Stephanie LaCava

Published October 10, 2019

Scarlett Sabet’s poetry is felt three-fold when she performs it. The written words aren’t the same when she says them; they are trance-like, told as if from memory. To call the London-based talent a poet and performer seems inadequate. She’s more so a musician, or, perhaps, a mystic. Her haunting readings have taken place at storied book shops such as San Francisco’s City Lights and Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, and she’s been invited to read at the likes of Wellesley College. She has published four collections of poetry on her own imprint: Rocking Undergound, The Lock and The Key, Zoreh, and Camille earlier this year. 

Today, she debuts her spoken word album Catalyst, produced by her partner, the legendary musician Jimmy Page. 

Interview sat down with the couple to talk about coming together for this project, the brilliance of the Velvet Underground, and paying to produce your own work.

STEPHANIE LACAVA: You two met in 2012, but it was two years later that your relationship started and you first talked about collaborating together. It would be five more years before today’s release of your project on all streaming platforms. Why this album now?

JIMMY PAGE: One project that I knew it shouldn’t be was poetry with music. So with the production of Scarlett’s work, I wanted to create an individual character for each poem, a sonic landscape to compliment it.

LACAVA: And with all due respect, that was also a cool move. It would have been kind of eye-rolling to do music accompaniment.

SCARLETT SABET: Yes. It feels exciting, but also like a natural progression, I think, because we live and work together every day. Literally every one of these poems, Jimmy was there when I wrote it, and he was the first person that heard it and he’s seen me perform so many times.

PAGE: It was six years ago that I first heard Scarlett read.

SABET: At World’s End Bookshop on the King’s Road in Chelsea.

PAGE: I thought, “This is really interesting. She’s really interesting. She’s definitely got something there.” And the people in attendance soaked up Scarlett’s reading.

LACAVA: Surely, you’ve read a lot of crowds.

PAGE: That’s a good point. The whole place hushed. Rocking Underground was the first poem I heard of Scarlett’s and when we started production, we began with it.

LACAVA: I think people assume the title of the poem is a music reference, but it’s actually quite literal…

SABET: I was on a train. My computer had broken. It was just one of those, ugh, kind of despairing Sunday nights. I just remember there was a guy with a backpack in my face, and I got out my notebook, and there was the rhythm of train.

LACAVA: Do you usually listen to music while you write?

SABET: It’s got to be something that’s trance-like. I can understand why you’d listen to jazz, for example.

LACAVA: That’s a place where both of your practices kind of overlap.

PAGE: Well, yeah. I did this interview with William Burroughs for Crawdaddy Magazine in 1975. We started to talk about trance music. I thought maybe he’d been to see Led Zeppelin on just one occasion. Actually, it was many times at Madison Square Garden. Anyway, we then started talking about this whole trance ethos, about the Master Musicians of Jajouka, this whole genre of tribal trance music from Morocco.

LACAVA: You learned about Jajouka from Brian Jones?

PAGE: Yes. To be fair, I know that Brion Gysin had introduced Brian Jones.

SABET: He was a painter and musician, Burroughs’s lover, and he came up with the cut-up technique with Burroughs.

LACAVA: Ah. What was your connection to Jones?

PAGE: I’d heard Elmore James songs (which Jones played a lot,) but I couldn’t quite work out how to play the music. People would say it was literally, from the neck of a bottle. I thought, ‘So, let’s see how this guy Jones does it.’ Sure enough, he gets up on stage and starts doing some Elmore James songs, and he has the equivalent of what everyone would know as a slide on his finger. I started talking to him when he came offstage, and I said, “Well you know, you’ve really got that down. What are you actually using?” You must understand that nobody that I knew played slide guitar at all. This is the first time I’d seen somebody do it—before Jeff [Beck] was doing it, before the Rolling Stones. So, he said, “Oh, have you got a car mechanic near you?” And I said, “I literally do have one not too far away.”‘ He said, “Go there and ask for a bush. It’s called a bush.” A thing used used in car maintenance. And he said, “You’ll find that it’ll just fit on your finger absolutely perfectly, and that’s what I use.” This guy was so generous.

LACAVA: Is there any young musician today who has really impressed you?

PAGE: Well, I was so impressed with the two guys that I saw with you.

LACAVA: Stefan Tcherepnin and Taketo Shimada, the New York-based Afuma.

SABET: They were so good. You said that was reminiscent of New York in the ’60s?

PAGE: Well, well, yeah. It was. It definitely had that sort of trance vibe.

LACAVA: Back to Scarlett’s start. You did your first reading at Shakespeare & Co. in Paris in January of 2015. Jimmy help set it up?

PAGE: So, when Sylvia (Whitman, owner and daughter of George Whitman) was giving me a tour after my own book signing, I saw the poetry section there, and I said, “Do you having readings here?” And she said, “Yes.” And I said, “Well, French as well as English?” “Oh, no. Only English.” And I thought, “I know a poet.”

LACAVA: It was Sylvia who introduced me to Scarlett years ago.

PAGE: After hosting Scarlett, Sylvia said to me, “It’s really powerful in print, but her renditions, they’re in another realm.”

LACAVA: So, Sylvia’s now the fourth person in this interview.

PAGE: That’s right. And something else funny happened when I was back at Shakespeare and Company. The man in charge of the rare book department said, “Oh, Sir, that Françoise Hardy track that you were on was absolutely amazing. That’s one of my favorite pieces of your guitar work.” I thought, “Well, wait a minute. I’m going to check, I’m going to track this down.” When I heard it, lo and behold, there’s this distortion box. It’s called a fuzz box. And I was the one who helped create this thing, and there it was on Francoise Hardy’s Je n’attends plus personne. I did it when I was a session musician. It was a session in Pye Studios at Marble Arch, downtown where all these Petula Clark hits were done. It wasn’t until you were in the studio that you’d see the artist come in. And you’d go, “Oh, I know who this is.” Or, “I don’t know who this is.” But when Francoise Hardy came in, I knew who she was. She had on one of those turtlenecks and that sort of tweedy skirt.

LACAVA: You also did some early sessions with Nico before she was part of the Velvet Underground.

PAGE: Nico came to London to record the Gordon Lightfoot song “I’m Not Sayin” with Andrew Oldham as a solo artist. So, there’s this huge orchestral session with Nico singing, and Andrew asked me to write a B-side with him for Nico, routine, play, and produce it on a separate session, which I did. It’s called The Last Mile. I was a staff producer on Immediate Records.

LACAVA: How old were you?

PAGE: 19 or 20. I was going to routine her at her apartment just near Baker Street in London with my acoustic 12-string guitar. Nico’s son with Alain Delon was there and he was holding up my guitar in the air, and I decided it was time to rescue it.

LACAVA: When did you see her again after that?

PAGE: Steve Paul’s Scene Club (Paul’s nightclub The Scene at 46th and Eighth Avenue) had been decorated by Andy Warhol. I don’t know what you’d call it here, but it’s this silver wrap—

LACAVA: Mylar.

PAGE: All the walls were covered with Mylar because Andy Warhol said that color was the color of speed. And playing down there was Nico and The Velvet Underground. I had an incredible connection with Lou Reed, and we spent lots of time talking.

SABET: Was that the first time you met him?

PAGE: Yeah, and I’d seen The Velvet Underground on more than one occasion. They were almost like a resident band. Andy Warhol was keen for them to be there. I can tell you exactly what it was like. When I heard the first album, it was just exactly what they were like. They were just like that. It was absolutely phenomenal.

LACAVA: See, that’s interesting in the context of his new project, as well. The difference between seeing someone in person versus the recording…

PAGE: The other thing about Steve Paul’s and The Velvet Underground was that it didn’t really have too many people coming to hear it, which I found extraordinary.

LACAVA: How many people were there?

PAGE: Well, hardly any people. Like, nine, a dozen people. It was so radical, such a radical band. You know, Maureen Tucker just playing the sort of snare drum. And the fact that there was the electric viola with John Cale. You just didn’t get this sort of line-up. It was really arts lab, as opposed to pop music, this wonderful glue, this synergy between them that was dark. It was very dark.

LACAVA: You mentioned Warhol. Do you remember seeing him there?

PAGE: No, he wasn’t actually there, but I met him with the Yardbirds. I don’t actually remember the hotel, but there was a reception for the Yardbirds. He came in, and he was with one other person. I was talking to him, and he said, ‘I just want to feel the band, feel the Yardbirds.’ “I want to feel their presence,” was the exact quote. We had a conversation and at the end of it he said, “You should come to the Factory, and do an audition.” But we were working, and I didn’t manage to do that. And then I saw him again in Detroit in ’67, when we were playing there. Andy Warhol was proceeding over this wedding, and The Velvet Underground were there. So, I got a chance to say hello again.

LACAVA: Something interesting that Scarlett told me once was that you steered her toward self-publishing. That legitimacy doesn’t come from a label—it comes from creating the thing you want to create.

PAGE: Yes.

LACAVA: You could have told her the opposite, based on your experience.

SABET: Jimmy was like, “Well, look. The first Led Zeppelin album, I paid for that.”

LACAVA: You produced and paid for it?

PAGE: Yes.

SABET: They had a record. He then took it to record companies. He took it to Atlantic and said, “This is what we’ve got. I’m not releasing singles. Take it or leave it.” He literally said the words, “I didn’t want to go around cap in hand saying, ‘Oh please. We’d like to write some songs.’ It’s better to do it.”

PAGE: What I’ve been producing over the last few years are Led Zeppelin rereleases and catalog items. It means a lot of listening to quarter-inch tapes, and it’s all in real time. I had to approach this project in such a way that the first album speaks for itself. The last and ninth album of the studio albums were Coda, so on every album in between, I had to make sure all of these companion discs were done and present the idea to the record company along with new artwork—that way to ensure the complete vision of the recordings were released.  

SABET: With the sound engineer, Drew, Jimmy would explain how he wanted to kind of layer some of my voices. And I practiced some on cassette, so it was like a guiding track, and then I’d listen back, and I understood the timing and what we were going to do for each one. If there was a sound or there was a better take, we’d talk about that.

PAGE: The first one that I wanted to try was Rocking Underground, which opens up the whole of this work. It was recorded on a cassette tape. It was so noisy, but urgent. I said, this is what we’re going to use, but then it needed some extra work to be done to augment the base layer—

LACAVA: Oh, that’s cool!

PAGE: So, it opens, and it’s really disturbing, all this ambient noise. And I know we pulled it off. Because there’s such a variety on it, and it will be such a surprise. It’s the sort of thing that you listen to for, say, Side One, from beginning to end. The whole sequencing is there for a reason.

LACAVA: We’re living in an age of the ubiquitous podcast. Everyone has those things in her ears.

“Catalyst, a spoken word album written and performed by Scarlett Sabet and produced by Jimmy Page, is released on a special 12-inch etched vinyl via JimmyPage.com.”-Jimmy Page

Photos: Interview Magazine

[kimonobeat]

aiko bon “Profile Interview” Chapter 4 (3/3)

ーWhat kind of fashion did you wear outside of school?

aiko: In elementary school I was always dressed like a boy. I almost always wore jeans. I started gradually wearing girlier clothes since middle school though. I started wearing a lot of culottes and denim skirts. I used to love the clothes at BETTY’S BLUE. Then in 9th grade, I started wearing Hysteric Glamour. There was this T-shirt I used to wear that had Mickey and Minnie doing something dirty on it. (laughs) That and skinny black pants, skate shoes, and a polka dotted zip-up hoodie. I wore more ‘lolita’-ish clothes in my later high school years. Oh, and in middle school I used to go to Armani fashion shows.

ーWait, you watched Armani fashion shows in middle school? What kind of middle schooler does that? (laughs)

aiko: My older cousin took me with her because she worked in the fashion industry. Sometimes I would copy her and wear perfume. I’d put on Dior, or Chanel, or Poison, and people would tell me, “Ew, you STINK!” (laughs) My favorite fashion style in high school was mod clothing. I also loved psychedelic, hippie-looking clothing, so I used to wear dresses from thrift stores. The fashion I liked around that time had a lot to do with my favorite bands. Like, I loved THE COLLECTORS, so I wore mod clothing, y’know? I also kept my hair in a mushroom cut. Here I was wearing gigantic glasses and vintage dresses… Definitely a cringe-worthy look now. Like, just YIKES. (laughs) Now when I look back on it I just think to myself, “Well, at least I got to do the things I wanted to do. Oh well!” But not too long ago I wanted to eliminate all traces of those outfits.

ーDid you always have long hair up until you decided to chop it off for the mushroom cut?

aiko: Yeah, it was always long except for when I did the mushroom cut. My hair was sooo pretty in high school that anytime people couldn’t remember my name, they’d just call me “the girl with the pretty hair”. It was straight and black, with no split ends to be seen. You can thank my dad’s seaweed dishes for that. I had such healthy hair even though I didn’t take good care of it.

ーYou didn’t really need to do treatments or anything like that?

aiko: Nope! I went to the beauty salon about once a month though. I went to the same hair stylist my aunt went to. They cut my hair and let me pay later. I’d always tell them, “Just the ends, please.” (laughs) I didn’t do anything to take care of it but got my hair cut often.

ーHow was the coursework at your high school?

aiko: Hahaha! I… didn’t study.

ーWhat about when you had exams?

aiko: I did for those… (quietly) But that was the only time I did.

ーAnd your grades?

aiko: Eh, well, they weren’t great. Just average… No wait, a little worse than that probably. (laughs) I had a lot of points taken off. Like, less than 40%. That all depended on which subject, though.

ーSo what classes did you have GOOD grades in?

aiko: Music. I was #1 in our music class. I remembered a pretty good amount of music history, so I got 100 in that class. That and the skills tests we did put me at #1. The other person in my class tied with me for #1 was this guy named Yamamoto Poppo (Coo). We gave him the nickname “Poppo” because he was a lot like a pigeon. I was really good friends with Poppo.

ーaiko and Poppo.

aiko: Yeah, yeah. When it came to music, we had a lot in common. When everyone else was listening to bands like BOØWY, LUNA SEA, TRACY, KATZE, PRINCESS PRINCESS or JUDY AND MARY, we were like, “Hey, you heard Kaji’s new stuff yet?” We also traded each other CDs in secret, and listened to stuff like Harada Tomoyo’s albums, Spiritual Vibes, and Summer Vacation together. I also listened to indies music, something I’d been doing since I was in middle school. I didn’t have any money back then, so I just borrowed CDs from TSUTAYA to listen to. Indies artists didn’t make their music available as rentals though, which meant that I had to buy indie releases to listen to them. And of course, I listened to the radio all the time, same as always. I wasn’t in any after school clubs. I was in a band though.

ーHow many bands were you in during high school, all in all?

aiko: Just one. Oh wait, I was in another band too. The band I formed in 10th grade was entirely made up of girls. A girl named Tomo played the drums, and her older sister played the bass. Another really serious girl named Shimamoto played the guitar. She was the kind of girl who played guitar because she loved, like, B’z and Aerosmith, y’know what I mean? That band only lasted for about 3 or 4 months. We’d say, “Let’s practice!”, fumbled around for a while, then we sorta just fizzled out without even coming up with a name for our band. The real reason that band fell apart was that the bassist lost the scores of the Shonen Knife songs she had. She went through the effort of asking Shonen Knife herself but still lost them. That was too bad.

ーThe members of Shonen Knife sent you guys the band score to some of their songs themselves?

aiko: Shonen Knife wrote their contact information in their indies CDs. There was a “Contact” section that listed their personal address and phone number. (laughs) I don’t remember much, but we wrote them a letter or called them about it. “We wanna cover Shonen Knife’s songs. Would you mind giving us the sheet music?” we asked. They were gracious enough to send it to us, along with a message that said “Good luck!” I was so touched. “Wow, what nice people,” I thought to myself. And then we practiced it. Now that I think about it, the sheet music was pretty simple. They only thing they had written on it were the chords. Just, “Here’s where you strum.”

ーAnd that all-girls’ band fizzled out after only 3 or 4 months.

aiko: I started my first real band in 11th grade. We had 5 members: a guitarist, bass player, drummer, keyboard player, and me. We were all in the same grade. The keyboard and bass players were girls, and the drummer and guitarist were guys.

ーYou were the vocalist, I’m guessing?

aiko: Yup, just the vocalist, no instrument. We said, “Let’s be a band!” and that was that.

ーDid this band have a name?

aiko: Um… (laughs) Let me think. We were “The Pinsaka Knife Orchestra”. The name was based on the names of all our favorite bands. A three-piece indie girl band called The Pinkies, another band called Hanasaka who was passing out cassette tapes they hadn’t even released yet, and Shonen Knife. We covered those 3 bands a lot, so we decided to use them all in the name of our band. Then we tacked on the word ‘orchestra’ at the end, because we wanted to add a bunch more people. (laughs) Not that we needed anyone to play any other instruments; we just wanted them as members of the band. Y’know, members of the band who help us out by making copies of tickets, that sort of thing. The whole shebang sorta felt like Sharam Q. (laughs)

ーBut if you weren’t covering those bands, doesn’t that make the name kind of… wrong? (laughs)

aiko: I thought the same thing.

ーSo were you pretty similar to those 3 bands, at least?

aiko: We were completely different from them. I don’t really feel like those bands had anything to do with each other either. Shonen Knife’s a rock band, right? One of those ‘hit it and quit it’ punk rock kind of bands, y’know? Hanasaka was your average pop group, although they used similar instruments to BO GUMBOS. You see, the drummer played the bongos instead of drums. Visually they had this BO GUMBOS psychedelic vibe going on, but musically they were a pop band. The Pinkies were, what would you call them… Honestly, I only know one of their songs. I used to listen to this song of theirs that was on an indies omnibus release. It was the kind of song you’d do the monkey too, I guess? It went something like, “My cute lil’ baby~ Cha cha cha! My boyfriend’s over there, lookin’ so fine~ Cha cha cha!” (laughs) Well, our band just wanted to have some fun. We covered a lot of pop bands.

ーDid you write any original songs for this band?

aiko: Nah, none at all. No one wrote any songs so we only did covers. We covered Japanese bands like The Pinkies (which I just mentioned), Hanasaka, Shonen Knife, and THE COLLECTORS. People mistook the indies songs we covered for original songs, though, so when we performed at our school festival, we did a bunch of songs everyone already sort of knew. We knew we’d definitely draw a crowd if we performed Mr. Children or JUDY AND MARY. We performed some of Mr. Children’s songs from around the time they released the songs “Kind of Love” and “versus”. There I was, singing, “One of~ these days~ We’ll be together~” I asked the keyboard player to pitch the song up to C for me. The song’s about being in love with a girl who’s older than you. I was actually dating a guy who was younger than me at the time, and he came to see us play. Everyone swooned. (laughs) We also did JUDY AND MARY’s song “LOLITA A-GO-GO”. I wore lolita-ish clothes for it. (laughs)

ーHow long were you in The Pinsaka Knife Orchestra?

aiko: Up until just before I graduated, I think. We practiced in a studio, performed live at school festivals… It was a blast. It’s just, we were all headed down different paths. We stopped after about 2 years.

ーBy the way, when did you decide to apply to a music college?

aiko: Sometime around June of my senior year. (laughs) I didn’t really care where I went to college. I would’ve been fine with a vocational school too. I just sort of thought it would be nice to be part of a music college. When I told my dad, he said, “I ain’t lettin’ you go nowhere unless it’s a music college.” So I was like, “Really!? Guess I’ll go to a music college then!” and asked my teachers for advice just before summer in 12th grade. They said, “Really!? Well, if you don’t turn things around, you’re not gonna get in!” And yeah, that was true. I ended up doing just fine, surprisingly.

ーThere weren’t any particular subjects on the entrance exam of your music college?

aiko: Well first of all, there were the subject exams. Like, I think I did a Japanese exam. There was that, and a ‘composition’ exam where they quizzed you on music history: “Beethoven is ___”. There was also a music theory exam where they asked you questions like, “What interval is this? A minor third.”

ーWere there any practical exams in addition to the subject exams?

aiko: There were! I majored in popular music vocals, so my practical exam was singing a song. They gave you a couple of set pieces to choose from. I chose the song “Yesterday Once More”. I had another exam called ‘solfege’, where they have you transcribe a song, then sight-read the music.

ーDid you do any interviews?

aiko: Oh, I did that too. I talked pretty briskly through the whole thing: “Yes! Yes, that’s right!” But… I don’t remember a single thing I talked about. (laughs) That whole time period when I was applying to music school is a fuzzy memory to me. Honestly, I really don’t remember anything that I don’t really care about… That’s why it’s all kind of a blur to me. I sometimes forget about people too. For example, let’s say you’ve got two people, and they both get teased and bullied in the exact same way. One person might remember how they were bullied, and what people said to them down to the letter, but the other person might not remember anything at all. I guess that’s the difference between people who give a damn and people who don’t. Music school was one of those things for me. It’s not really that I didn’t care at all about music school, I just don’t remember anything about it because it was never really a goal of mine to get into a music college. Even when I was in school, it wasn’t the kind of college experience that made me feel like, “I’m in a college for music!” That’s why I don’t really remember a whole lot about it.

ーWasn’t it hard, going through all those entrance exams? Normally, students who apply to music colleges spend years preparing. You’re not supposed to study for everything a few months before.

aiko: Definitely, because of the specialized subject exams and the practical exam. I studied for those in a huge hurry starting in June. My music teacher gave me very intensive lessons. For singing lessons, I went to this place my music teacher introduced me to and told them I wanted to be a musical major. “You’re not meant for musicals,” they said, so I decided to apply for the popular music department instead. I definitely wasn’t cut out for being in musicals, that’s for sure. At the time, I couldn’t really hold out a falsetto note. “I’m definitely more of a ‘pop music’ kind of vocalist.”

ーEither way, when you decided that you wanted to go to a music school, it really meant that you wanted to sing. You didn’t want to play an instrument, or just compose music.

aiko: Right. That was already set in stone. It felt like the only option to me.

ーYou never wanted to go to a music-focused middle school or high school before you started applying to colleges?

aiko: Not one bit. It had nothing to do with music, I just didn’t really feel like going to high school. I basically went because my dad said I had to. I never felt like studying music when I was in school either, though. It never occurred to me that music was something you could study because it was everywhere: it plays on the radio, you hear it while walking around, you hear it playing in stores, you hear it on TV… So when I got accepted, it was… honestly, I had mixed feelings about it. Even my teachers said, “You don’t seem all that happy about it!” I didn’t desperately wanna go in the first place, so whenever I talked about it, all I said was, “I got in…” When I enrolled it was almost like, “I got in… So I guess I should go after all, huh…”

ーYou weren’t totally sold on studying music yet, were you?

aiko: I was, a little bit. Every time I went to singing lessons, I found myself thinking, “Wow, what IS this… ?” You know how you start off voice lessons doing that ‘ma ma ma ma ma~, ma ma ma ma ma~’ exercise? You’ve gotta practice that sort of stuff to make singing fun. I have to say though, there’s gotta be a more fun way to learn the basics. They are lessons after all, so they’re not that much fun. That was all I was doing, so after a while I thought to myself, “I don’t know about music school anymore…” The field day we did my senior year of high school was SO, SO much fun though.

ーWas that when you were the captain of the pep squad?

aiko: Yup! (laughs) Apparently the kids in my class who decided I would be captain of the pep squad got scolded by the teacher though. At that point I’d already decided to apply to music school. The teacher said, “I hope you all know by doing this that if she ruins her throat, it’s all YOUR fault!” I wasn’t even thinking about my throat. (laughs) My voice was so powerful I was actually kinda curious what would happen if I did hurt my throat. I’ve never once lost my voice, no matter how much I scream and shout.

ーDid you ever think about applying to a regular college as a back-up?

aiko: No, I didn’t. I had zero interest in going to a regular university. Everyone was always talking about how difficult it was to get into a private university in the Kinki region, which I don’t really understand. Someone would say, “Isn’t it amazing that so-and-so got into ABC University?” And I’d just have this blank look on my face. Like, “Huh?” I know about Tokyo University, of course. I know of Waseda and Keio too. I used think Doshisha was a company or something. (laughs) I honestly don’t know anything about colleges. Like, NO idea what’s so great about one university, or what the class curve is. My school was the ‘smartest’ in one of the top school districts, but I stopped there.

ーIt didn’t rub off on you at all, did it?

aiko: Not one bit. You might say they were really focused on skills. Like, “Wow, you’re really good at frisbee!” Because of that, I never really looked at the grade curves when applying to music school. My dad said, “If you’re going to school for music, that means you can only go to a music college!” I said, “What about an art school?” He said no. I probably would’ve found a bunch of other schools if I had looked at the music departments of women’s colleges.

ーIn spite of all that, it’s pretty amazing that you managed to get accepted into a music college with such little time to prepare.

aiko: No no, not at all. Everyone gets lucky every now and then! I’m sure they just went a little easy on me during the exams. (laughs) Classical music is so much harder. I basically had to practice for a couple hours every day. The school I went to had a ‘popular music vocals’ department. We were known around campus for being the ‘delinquent’s major’. They wouldn’t even let us use the opera house. “Popular music isn’t music,” they would tell us. All of the older professors refused to acknowledge pop music vocal students.

ーBut now that you’d been accepted into a music college, I bet you were thinking about having a career in music in the future, weren’t you?

aiko: I definitely did. I had sort of thought about becoming a singer before that, so I had already thought about starting my own career once I’d graduated from high school. Getting into a music college helped me make up my mind, I think. Part of me wanted to become a singer, so I definitely had the feeling that I wanted to cling to whatever would help me head towards that goal.

ーSo when you graduated, were you already hoping to work really hard towards that goal?

aiko: Sure. When I graduated from high school, one of the underclassmen said, “I’ll be sure to buy your CDs when you debut!” Everyone had written stuff like “I’ll be rooting for you when you debut as a singer. Good luck!” in the back of my graduation yearbook too. Seeing people write stuff like that to me definitely helped lock in those feelings, I guess you could say. They said those things to me like it was totally obvious too. “I’m definitely gonna buy your CDs when you debut, Aiko. Good luck to you!” And when they did, it made me think, “Geez, I have to work hard on it now!”

ーWould you say that that’s when your childhood dream of becoming a singer finally felt real to you?

aiko: Yes. It suddenly became reality between the summer of my senior year of high school and graduation. It hit me that I needed to get things going on my own. I couldn’t just wait around for it to happen.

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[darley1101]

Chasing Fairytales: Part 1 The Bachelor Party

A/N With so many amazing The Royal Romance authors out there I as a bit skeptical of not only writing this but sharing it. I was reminded by my dear friend  @blackcatkita that there can never be too many Royal Romance fics out there, so here we go. Some things to know: My MC is named Carin, she's around 23 but feels older due to life experiences, and she didn't have the easiest childhood. You will learn a bit more about her as the story unfolds. I hope you guys enjoy! If you want to be tagged in future updates, let me know!

Chasing Fairy tales

Part One: The Bachelor Party

The stench of garbage assaulted Carin Brooks nostrils as she stepped into the dimly lit alleyway behind the bar where she worked. Taking out the trash wasn't the greatest of tasks but it did allow her a moments reprieve from her dick of a boss. Growing up in the New York State foster care system, Carin had met her fair share of assholes. Her boss was was starting to come close to topping that list. More than once she had caught him licking his lips while watching her bend over to wipe down a table. So far he had managed to keep his lewd thoughts to himself but Carin knew it was only a matter of time before the looks turned into words and the words into actions. When that happened it would be time to hunt up another job. No matter how good the hourly pay or tips were, Carin was not a fan of being groped. Especially by middle aged sleazeballs.

“Cari?”

Carin jumped, her bright blue eyes widening in a fear. The fear slowly turned to relief as her co-worker, a baby faced college kid named Daniel, stepped out of the shadows closest to the trash bins. “Daniel! You scared the crap out of me!”

“Sorry,” Daniel smiled sheepishly. “I heard something in the bins and it's making me a little paranoid. Think you could come with to check it out?”

If the invitation to check out the garbage bins had come from anyone but Daniel she would have been a bit skeptical. Daniel was a total sweetheart though, who was more inclined to ramble on about his experiences waiting tables on a cruise ship than he was to try something shady. Plus, noises in garbage bins were always a real concern. It seemed like once a month there was some story about an unwanted newborn baby being found in the trash bins. The stories always left her with a hollow ache. She'd once been the unwanted baby, only her mother had been decent enough to leave her at a church. Brooks Street Baptist Church to be exact, where a cleaning lady named Carin had discovered her in a box on a pew.

“I'm sure it's nothing,” Carin cleared her throat. Please let it be a stray cat, she thought as she followed Daniel over to the bins. Her heart rate accelerated as the lid to the bin moved slightly and a tiny squeak pierced the otherwise silent alley. She took a deep breath and tossed back the lid. A wave of relief washed over her as several pairs of shiny, unblinking eyes stared up at her. She couldn't help but chuckle. “Daniel, come look!” She took a step to the side so he could peer in at what appeared to be a family of mice eating dinner.

“I don't know if I should go aw because that has to be the cutest thing I've ever seen or if I should be embarrassed that I let mice in a garbage can freak me out.” Daniel shook his head, a bemused look on his face.

“Lets go with the aw,” Carin giggled. “How about we let them finish dinner in private.” Another wave of giggles erupted from her.

“Bonappetite little buddies,” Daniel grinned as he slowly lowered the trash bin's lid. He motioned towards the bag Carin had set down. “Want me to toss it into the-”

The sound of a metal door slamming against brick caused them both to jump. Their boss scowled at them from the doorway. “I don't pay you to stand around in the alleyway flirting and giggling.”

“Sorry sir,” Daniel muttered, lowering his head.

Anger surged up in Carin's gut. “We weren't standing around flirting and giggling. We were taking out the trash like you asked us to,” she shot back.

“It doesn't take both of you and the last time I checked hauling garbage around wasn't all that funny,” the asshole sneered. “Now, if you're done wasting time, we just had a bachelor party come in. Daniel, they're in booth 5. I believe that is your section. Do try to be professional and for the love of God leave off with your little claim of meeting some former prince on that little cruise you took this summer.”

Carin waited until the asshole retreated back into the kitchen before flipping him off. “Asshole,” she muttered. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched as Daniel flung the trash bag into the dumpster that belonged to some Chinese bistro across the way. They weren't supposed to be using it, but more often then not their trash found its way in since the two little bins that belonged to the bar weren't big enough to hold all the trash that was hauled out every night. “I can't believe him. Acting like we're wasting time when he's the jerk who told us to take the trash out.”

“Yeah,” Daniel agreed glumly.

A frown creased Carin's brow. It wasn't like Daniel to let the asshole get under his skin but there was no denying the defeated look on his baby face. “You okay?”

“I finally asked out Jody. Tonight was supposed to be our first date. But now...” His voice trailed off.

Now he had a bachelor party to contend with. Carin let out a sigh. “You look like you don't feel very well,” she said slowly. “I would hate for you to get anyone else sick. Why don't you head on home and I'll cover the rest of your shift. Bachelor party included.” It wasn't like she had any plans tonight anyway. She didn't date and the few friends she did have either had plans with their significant others or were working. So why not help out Daniel? Besides, most bachelor parties tipped well and if things kept going the way they were going with her boss she was going to need that extra cash while she job hunted.

“Are you sure?”

Putting her hands on his back, Carin gave Daniel a little push. “Yes, I'm sure! Now go! I'll tell asshole you started throwing up.” Daniel threw a few more thank you's over his shoulder before hurrying into the kitchen.

Carin shoved her hands into her back pockets and took a moment to brace herself. The asshole wouldn't care that Daniel was leaving early, but he would still make a dramatic stink over it. There would be some whining about unreliable staff and how he had to pick up the slack before he slunk back to his office. Squaring her shoulders, Carin dropped her arms to her sides and walked into the kitchen. Sure enough the asshole was there waiting for her. “I hear Daniel isn't very well and that you're going to cover for him,” he sneered.

Fighting back a sigh, Carin stepped around her boss and into the little restroom off the kitchen that was reserved for staff only. It was little more than a toilet and cracked sink but it served its purpose. “Yup. Poor kid started throwing up.” She stared at her reflection in the mirror and wrinkled her nose. Seven hours of handing out drinks, busing dishes, and throwing out trash had taken its toll. She reached up and pulled down her dirty blonde hair and shook it out before finger combing it back into a low ponytail at the base of her neck. As she tightened the rubber band her body stiffened. She didn't have to look to her right to know that her boss had blocked the doorway. “Excuse me,” Carin said stiffly. “I have a bachelor party waiting on me.”

“Yes. Of course.” He stepped aside. “And Carin...these gentlemen strike me as the sort to leave a nice tip if you're extra nice to them.” The wink he shot her filled her mouth with the taste of bile. She was always nice to her customers, just not in the way her boss liked to insinuate.

Pig, she thought as she pushed past him. Behind her she could hear him chuckling. The sound causes her blood to boil. She takes a few calming breathes before approaching a group of young men lingering near the bar. Presumably this was the bachelor party. If one could call three guys a party. “Good evening, my name is Carin and I will be taking care of you this evening,” she said in what she hoped was a pleasant enough voice.

“We'll be needing your best table,” bit out a man who would have been good looking if he wasn't trying so hard. From his perfectly groomed medium brown hair to his custom fitted suit, it was clear that this guy put way too much thought into how he looked. He also seemed to know that he was good looking, which was a huge turn off in Carin's book.

“Forget the table,” the man standing next to him drawled. “Just bring us whiskey and lots of it.” If the first guy cared too much about appearances, this one didn't care at all. He'd thrown a denim button down work shirt on over a plain white tee and his jeans sported holes that could have been intentional but were probably the result of hours of hard work. There was an air of 'do not come any closer' about the guy that made Carin wonder if he'd been dealt a shitty hand in life as well.

“That can be arranged,” Carin laughed. Had the first guy made the comment about whiskey she would have kept quiet but this one, despite his 'hands off' vibe, seemed like the sort she could joke with. She gestured towards the booths at the back of the bar. “If you'll follow me.”She led them towards a booth that was close enough to the  bar to make a steady stream of whisper an easy enough feat, but not so close that the trio would have to deal with the rowdy drunks that liked to line the stools in front of the bar. “Would you like any appetizers to go with the whiskey?”

“We'll start with the steaks!” For the first time since being approached, the third member of the group spoke. He was good looking enough, with a smile that made Carin smile in return. There was a sort of happy go lucky light burning in his blue eyes that Carin envied. This was someone who enjoyed life to the fullest. Since he also seemed to be the happiest of the bunch, she was fairly certain he was the groom.

“Oh yes!” Mr. Metro-sexual perked up at the thought of steak. “I'll take a filet mignon, medium rare, and prepared with a beaurnaise sauce.”

Carin offered an apologetic smile. “I'm sorry sir, but the closest we have to filet mignon is the deluxe burger.” She had told the asshole time and time again that it wouldn't hurt to put a steak on the menu. Steak were almost as easy to sell as burgers and added a bit of class to an otherwise mundane menu.

“Dare I ask for you wine list?”

“We have an excellent vintage house red,” Carin offered. From the way his nose wrinkled and his upper lip curled, Carin knew the house wine was going to be a no go.

“We'll be fine with a bottle of whiskey and four deluxe burgers,” chuckled the second guy.

“Four?” Carin wrinkles her brow in confusion. The guy nods behind her. Carin turns around, her gray-green eyes widening. Less than a foot away is a man that looked like some sort of god. He was well over six feet tall, with blonde hair, a cut jaw line, and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. For a split second their eyes meet and Carin feels as though she can't catch her breathe. She feels her heart beating faster and her palms sweating. Her mind and heart argued over how to proceed. Logic argued that men like this, men who looked like they belonged on the cover of GQ magazine, didn't dally with the help. They stuck with corporate barbies or pampered heiresses. Longing made her wish she stood half a chance.  

“Sorry I'm late.” Her golden god smiled, causing her heart to skip a beat. “Thank you for your patience, Miss...” he looked pointedly at Carin, an expectant look upon his handsome face.

“Uh,” she stammered, “Carin. My name is Carin.”

His smile widens. “Charmed to make your acquaintance, Carin.”

Oh the pleasure is all mine, she thought “It's nice to meet you, as well.” She can hear one of his friends snickering. Her cheeks grow warm as she realizes they're laughing at her. “Um, I'll just go put in your order,” she murmurs.

After placing and then delivering their order, Carin made a point to only interact with the bachelor party as little as possible. It was probably going to cost her a really great tip, but she didn't care. There was something about the blonde one that turned her into a bumbling school girl. She was twenty-three, not thirteen; too old for crushes that left her tongue tied. Not that any man, or boy for that matter, had made her feel the way he did. That alone was reason to stay away. Guys like him were only good for two things: a good time and a broken heart. Carin wasn't interested in either. So, she kept her distance. She focused on catching up with all the closing chores Daniel hadn't gotten to before leaving. As she filled the last salt shaker, she felt a tap on her shoulder. A gasp whooshes past her lips as she turns and finds herself, yet again, face to face with golden boy.

“I'm sorry Carin. I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to let you know that we're about ready to head out. I also wanted to thank you...and apologize. I know we kept you late, and my friends can be...” his brow wrinkles, “demanding.”

“Nothing I couldn't handle,” Carin assured him. She nods towards the wait station where the register is located. “If you're ready, I can cash out your ticket.”

“Yes. Of course. I don't want to keep you any longer than we already have.”

Her body thrums with awareness as they walk side by side towards the wait station. She tries to keep her head lowered, her eyes trained on the ticket, but couldn't. It was impossible not to steal little glances. Each time she would look up, she would catch him staring in return, a warm smile on his face. He doesn't bat an eye when she tells him the total. Without losing his smile, he pulls out a credit card and hands it to her. She can't resist looking at his name. Liam Rhys. She frowns slightly as she runs the card. Why did that name sound so familiar? Carin shook it off. She had probably heard one of his friends use it. “If you could just sign here,” she murmurs. She watches as he signs his name, her eyes widening as he writes in the tip. A thousand dollars. She blinked, then looked a second time. It was still there. A one and three zeroes after it.  “That's way too much,” she protests.

“You should let me be the one to determine that,” Liam laughed. “Have a wonderful life, Carin.”

Carin stares after him, her mouth gaped open. A shiver runs down her spine as she feels someone press against her side. A lump forms in her throat as the asshole places a hand on the small of her back and leans over to read the ticket. “Looks like you took my advice,” he snickered.

“Please move,” she bites out tersely.

“Why don't you show me what you did to earn that tip.” His hand travels from her lower back towards her rear. She can feel his fingers splaying across her buttocks. Her eyes start to burn slightly as he squeezes one ass cheek.

“Stop it! Let me go!”

The pub was empty of customers and a quick glance at the bar revealed the bartender intentionally looking everywhere but their way. There would be no help there. She lets out a small cry as her boss pushes her up against the small counter where they cut lemons and limes for the drinks. As the hand that isn't squeezing her ass moves towards the hem of her shirt, she wonders if she screams loud enough if Liam and his friends are close enough to hear. They didn't strike her as the sort of guys to turn a blind eye to what her boss was about to do. Her mouth opens, ready to let out an ear piercing screech, when the front door swings open. Liam stands there, his smile waivering as he takes in Carin and her boss. “Carin,” he said slowly. “I meant to ask if you knew of a club that was still open. My friend Maxwell has this sudden urge to dance.”

Carin heard her boss mutter several curses under his breath as she wiggled pass him. “Yes. Of course. I...I know several. If you give me just a moment...” She ran towards the kitchen, praying her boss wouldn't follow. Behind her she can hear Liam attempting to engage the asshole in conversation and she sends up silent prayer of thanks. She grabs her tote and locks herself in the bathroom. Her body starts to shake as she turns on the cold water. This was it. The end of the line. There was no way in hell she was going to stay working here after that. If Liam hadn't....Carin bit back a sob as she splashed cold water on her face. God, if Liam hadn't come back when he did there was no telling how far the asshole would have gone. She took a few deep breaths before exchanging her plain white work blouse and black slacks for an emerald green skater dress. After stuffing her work clothes in the tote, she pulled the rubber band from her hair, letting the light brown tresses fall around her shoulders. Normally, she would stop to apply a bit of mascara and lip gloss but at the moment she just wanted to get the hell out of there while Liam was around to make sure she escaped physically unscathed.

“I quit,” she hisses at the asshole as she storms past him to where Liam is waiting. She tunes out the obscenities he's yelling after her. Instead, she focuses on Liam. Liam with his bright blue eyes and dimpled smile. Liam who had saved her.

[carlculationinfinityinterviews]

DELTA SLEEP INTERVIEW

Delta Sleep, an indie quartet based in Brighton whose sound is sonically cinematic and as broad as the many cities and countries that they've toured.

Ghost City, their latest release covers many musical terrains and spectrum of sound that form a compositional coalition between the cooperatively complex instrumentation and vibrant vocal craft work contained in Devin Yuceil's lyrics.

Each track feels like a new colourful border for the listener to explore. Opening new auditory pathways with each listen.  I met with Delta Sleep on their most recent tour in Southampton to discuss how they became musicians and their processes throughout the creation of their new album Ghost City.

At what point did you realise that music was something that was important to you and what bands and artists were the first to influence your interest in music?

Devin: The first genre of music that I really got into and really cared about was punk, an older friend of mine from college had some of the early albums from Weezer, Green Day and NoFx which we used to listen to in his basement. It was quite extreme back then and we felt like we were being really rebellious. 

Those bands inspired me to start learning to play guitar and write shit punk songs filled with power chords about girls and the establishment.

Blake: I first got into music from listening to a lot of trance and garage. I used to buy those compilation albums from Ministry Of Sound and Judge Jules which led me to start listening to The So Solid Crew and The Heartless Crew. 

Nu Metal bands like Korn and Deftones were what inspired me to become a drummer since it was a combination of metal and hip hop which, are the main genres that I’m currently listening to at the moment. 

David: I listened to a lot of Trance as well, Cream Anthems and then Iron Maiden.

Glen: I used to listen to NoFx, a lot of NoFx, I was even in a NoFx covers band we were called YesFx5000 though, we only played show. I loved Deftones and really got into Aphex Twin and Bjork but in the beginning Pop Punk and Punk Rock were my main jam.

Delta Sleep - Sans Soleil 

How did you all meet and what do you feel that everyone brings to the table creatively and how do you work together as a band?

Devin: Me and Glen met at uni, he had dreadlocks and was really into juggling, we found that we had a similar interests in music and I learned to never judge a book by its cover. 

Blake: I joined the band later and saw that they really needed a solid rhythm section, my role in the band is bring a sense of structure to the songs and provide a core rhythmic backing for the weird and sporadic ideas that Glen and Devin come up with. Like most bands we jam out ideas and shape the content of the song as we go. 

Glen: I definitely take the role of guitar riff guy. 

Dave: Its definitely more of a collective effort in the they we work now.

Devin: Our more recent material is mainly defined by the vocals which has been the main factor in deciding how long a section should be and where they should change or repeat. We've been focusing on using more standard song structures to write the new material which is something we haven't really done before.

How would you describe the approach to your instrument and what bands and artists shaped the creative core of your style?

Glen: Enablers really changed the way that I thought about guitars and how operate in a band, their music features a lot of space, there's a lot of points where instruments will cut out and stop playing throughout a song which gives everything room to breathe in a really unique way. 

Our earlier material used to have tonnes of guitar riffs and ideas that would go on and on and on which, really worked for us in the earlier stages of Delta Sleep.

I'm now writing music that's completely parallel to that where the songs are three minutes long and have lots of repeating sections.

Me and Devin were in another band where I played bass and Devin played drums. The guitarist’s philosophy was to do everything live, record in three takes, songs should only between two and three minutes long and any ideas go into another song. I’m using more and more of those ideas now in our newer material. 

Blake: Personally my approach is to start writing something simple, find the backbeat and then add in various different parts making it more complicated or full as I go along. As previously mentioned I listen to a lot of hip hop so finding that backbeat is one of the core elements of my style.

Delta Sleep - El Pastor

How do you push yourself musically and ensure that you are exploring new creative realms?

Blake: I try to listen to lots of different music and incorporate different  styles into my playing. Our sound is always changing because we're all listening to different types of music and experimenting with lots of different genres. That's how you develop your own sound and style. If you are just listening to one style of music you'll only learn how to replicate instead of innovate.

Glen: I've stopped overthinking my guitar parts, sometimes having the most simple idea is the best idea, improvising can sometimes bring out the best in your playing as well. If you are thinking about a part for too long then it probably isn't  the best  idea you could come up with.

How do you feel that working on Ghost City has pushed you creatively and how do you feel that you have changed as musicians?  How did the original ideas that you had at the beginning change as you worked through the album?

David: I feel like we've become more ruthless in regards to writing and less precious about specific parts, riffs or ideas. 

Twin Galaxies had a lot of parts that we had to fit together whereas with Ghost City any parts or ideas that didn't work were saved for another song so, instead of having 10 riffs we'd have one riff that was fully fleshed out and developed. 

Simplification over complication is what we were after with Ghost City. There's still plenty of  proggy moments but its fleshed out between the   verses and choruses of each song.

Delta Sleep - Single File

When recording Ghost City in Italy I read that you were also playing shows alongside the creation of the album and recording everything live. How did that compare to working on Twin Galaxies? Is this a process that want to repeat in the future?

Devin: We had a tour booked either side of the studio and a few shows booked leading up to those tours as well, we ended up playing a lot of the new songs live which led us to capture the most natural elements of us playing together as a live band.

Glen: Recording live really changed the overall result of how we sound on the album, knowing that everything is being recorded at the same time eally pushes you to make sure that you really the know how to play the songs and work together efficiently.  

We knew from the beginning that we wanted to capture the mood and feel of each track which and doing that live allows you play more expressively and dynamically. Recording everything live provided us with the inital pressure to play as best as we can and capture everything in that single moment during each performance.

Blake: You can punch in for everything and that's fine but it can really take out the soul, recording live captures the vibe and feel of  that moment of a bands performing. Capturing that live element actually makes the tracks feel like something more than a recorded piece of collected information that sounds perfect and has no human element.

David: Having that tour on the way down really helped us to play the songs that would be featured on this album, so we were really well rehearsed since we had to play these songs live to an audience and in the studio.

You can do thirty takes and it can really take the love you have for a song because you've focused so much on planing each part perfectly. Playing live doesn't give you the option to go ever that much detail since your only playing in that moment.

Devin: We still overdubbed a few different parts which was mainly doubling up distorted guitars and adding different textures with delays and other pedals to create other sonic textures. 

Recording our parts live beforehand allowed us to spend more time to have more time to experiment with pedals  and all of the other interludes.

Floater was actually finished in the studio when we were in Italy. We didn't want to change it a lot or over compose anything or really spend a lot of time analysing the parts as the interludes served as a documentation of the time that and moment we spent in Italy.

Delta Sleep - Sultans of Ping

Tell me about the concept for Ghost City, how you came up with the idea to take this creative direction or approach to about the effects of technology on society? How do you think technology and music are working together and do you feel that more bands are taking the organic approach to recording and writing like you did on Ghost City?

Devin: We never sat down and discussed how the album would sound or what musical direction we should follow in terms of a creative idea or blueprint. I feel that our music is cinematic, when writing lyrics I like to place myself in a world or write from the perspective of the people in that world and what they may experience, whether that be tastes, smells, relationships and culture. I feel that process allows me write lyrics thataren't typical and based around common themes or subjects.

When was the last time you listened to music that you feel that really pushed the boundaries of music?

Blake: James Blake's The Colour Of Everything really changed quite a lot for me and I never really understood his music until that album out. The approach to production is something that really stands out and has loads of textures and chopped up vocals. Its a really dark sounding album.

David: There's a band of Ovlov which is I think is meant to be Volvo backwards.

Glen: It's kind of a throwback to music from the early 90's similar to Weezer of Foo Fighters.

Devin: It's like what we talked about earlier where bands are going back and re inventing a genre or style of music and taking a different approach to the simplicity of that music.

What advice would you give to other bands are starting up now and lessons have you learned a long on the way?

Glen: I've learned from making mistakes when I was younger and wouldn’t change anything at all, it’s all part of the learning process of becoming a better musician. 

I've written some absolutely awful songs but that's allowed me to become better and understand why they weren’t great and how to improve myself as a songwriter. 

My advice to other bands is to get your own personal means of transport, learn how to drive and get a van if you can.  

If you can drive then you can play a show anywhere without having to rely on anyone else that could potentially let you down in the long run. Play as many shows as you can outside of your home town and find bands that you love. Try to play with shows with them and gig swap its the best way to form contacts with promoters and bands in different cities. 

I’d also recommend recording everything live if you can and do it as often as possible.

Devin: Avoid any promoter that asks you sell any tickets for your own show, it can be a complete scandal and really rip you off. Don’t always settle on the first idea you come up when writing, ensure that  you and everyone is happy with what you are playing. Try lots of ideas and don’t just follow other bands because they are doing something trendy, you can find your own voice and it may take some time but it’ll be worth it in the end. 

David: Be open to chatting to people at a gig, you never know who you are going to meet or who'll be at a show. I think all bands should know how to put on their own gig and do it completely of their own backs. Its a great learning experience and as you soon as you learn how to put on a show then you have less chance of being screwed over. It'll help you learn how the industry works, try to pick the best shows for your band and try not say yes to everything. 

Please follow Delta Sleep and support their music by checking out the links below as well as their upcoming West Coast USA Tour

Tickets: https://www.facebook.com/tours/322098818343652/

https://www.facebook.com/deltasleepband/

http://deltasleepband.com

https://deltasleep.bandcamp.com

[merciattire-blog]

My Top 12 Thrift Finds and How I Style Them

Welcome back, readers! This week, I will indulge in writing about one of my most loved hobbies: thrifting. Not only am I a sucker for affordable clothing (college budgets, right?), but I also love bringing worn pieces back to life. Plus, it’s a much more sustainable option than purchasing clothing brand new.

Now, if you haven’t tried it, I certainly recommend a trip to your local thrift store. You never know what you may find. As a matter of fact, these items are some of my most worn pieces from my closet! That being said, my goal here is to show that you don’t always have to spend tons of money in order to find pieces you’ll love. Furthermore, I hope this will encourage you to give thrifting a try. So, let’s get into it!

Now, there’s a reason why this item is first on the list. This is, by far, the most worn jacket I own. Ever since I found this gem last year, I’ve looked for every reason possible to wear it.

How I Style it:

Black on black on black—literally my style in a nutshell. If you’ve seen me in real life, there’s about an 80% chance I was wearing this outfit. By throwing on a white graphic tee, the contrast makes this look really “pop”. Of course, I chose to add some leather booties to match the lettering on this jacket and the Harley vibes.

This is definitely the priciest item on the list. However, it is important to consider the brand and condition. Plus, how often do you find a pink leather jacket?

How I Style it:

To align with the feminine hue of the jacket, I layered it over a sheer blush blouse and added some pumps. With the addition of jeans, this look is not too casual, yet not too fancy. Score!

Now, I know what you’re probably thinking—no, I did not steal this coat from the local flea market. Actually, as my boyfriend and I were driving home one day, we saw some signs that said “Free Sale”. (If that isn’t an oxymoron, I don’t know what is.) Naturally, we decided to check it out. Low and behold, the signs were true and there was a whole building of free stuff! Who doesn’t love free stuff? So, long story long, I saw this jacket and fell in love.

How I Style it:

This is literally the perfect fall coat; it’s so cozy! Therefore, I layered it over a chunky knit sweater for extra warmth. With some green jeggings and taupe booties, this fall palette-inspired look is good to go.

Okay, how sweet is this shirt? I saw this at the local flea market and I just had to have it. However, it took me a year or so to put it to use.

How I Style it:

Obviously, my inspiration for this look is Sandy from Grease. After trying on this piece with several outfits throughout the years, an all-black outfit does it justice. I added in a statement double-sided belt to break up this monochromatic look.

When this shirt shrunk after a few washes, my brother-in-law was sending it on its way to Goodwill. (So, in a way, that’s kind of thrifting, right?) Anyways, I got my hands on it first and have cherished it ever since.

How I Style it:

This gem makes up yet another one of my go-to outfits. A tip when it comes to oversized t-shirts: never underestimate the power of tucking or tying a knot to keep it snug. Rolling the sleeves helps, too. With some leather accessories, this simple tee is instantly stylish!

When thrifting, I never fail to do a thorough search for band tees. Why? 1. Music from the 70’s-80’s is the best and 2. they make for a totally rockin’ outfit. Therefore, my closet contains around 10 vintage band tees. (Sadly, I have yet to get a vintage Eagles tee, but then again, who would ever give THAT up?)

How I Style it:

Here we go again—the good ‘ol knot and sleeve roll to the rescue. If I didn’t do this, I would be wearing a dress because this shirt otherwise reaches my knees. With some distressed jeans and Vans, this tee looks right at home. A baseball cap doesn’t hurt either.

Okay, this shirt was just too rare (and cheap) not to purchase. I mean, La Crosse Oktoberfest, baby! I have no idea what year this is from, but judging from the cut and condition, I’d definitely categorize it under “vintage”.

How I Style it:

Due to the shortness of this shirt, I tucked it into some high-rise jeans. Furthermore, what says “fall” more than a good pair of comfy combat boots? To finish off this look, I threw on a belt to tie into the brown autumn footwear.

Here’s another one of my favorite thrifted pieces. I’m pretty sure this sweater wasn’t always supposed to be cropped, but hey, those are totally in now! Also, I recently found out Zara has been around since 1975. Who knew?

How I Style it:

Another signature Paige look: black and white. With this simple contrasting base, I added in a maroon belt for an unexpected twist. This base also gives the gold accents of the accessories their chance to shine!

Usually, I’m not one who wears floral, but when I saw this dress… all bets were off. I had finally found the perfect summer sundress!

How I Style it:

For this ensemble, I planned around the accent colors in the dress itself. Some candy pink heels and a light blush purse effortlessly complete this romantic look.

With the 90’s slip dress and velvet trends coming back into style, I couldn’t NOT purchase this dress. I literally found exactly what I was looking for with this one. It was an incredibly lucky find!

How I Style it:

I went for a wearable, casual look for this piece. The t-shirt-under-a-slip-dress certainly roots back to this popular 90’s trend. However, this dress also looks amazing with some black opaque tights and pumps (another popular 90’s look) to serve as a great New Year’s dress.

When I came across this dress, I was searching for a trending color that was a little out of my comfort zone: mustard orange. Needless to say, I found what I was looking for. Plus, it was only 7 bucks!

How I Style it:

Being that this is an autumn-colored long sleeve dress, I went for a cold-friendly outfit. These suede thigh-high boots are just the answer! Thus, my Thanksgiving of 2017 attire was born.

I’m not going to lie: shoes are a toughie in the thrifting world. The odds of finding footwear that is in your size AND in good condition are slim. Needless to say, these boots are precious to me.

How I Style it:

With statement boots like these, I tend to keep the rest of my outfit more laid-back. These square toe boots give off a strong 70’s vibe. That being said, I styled them with a white embroidered off-the-shoulder top to complete this natural look.

So, there you go. My favorite thrifted finds! I will end with some tips I’ve accumulated throughout the years.

Top 5 Thrift Tips:

· Visit Often – I am, hands down, THE pickiest shopper when it comes to clothes. Therefore, I must make a disclaimer that, more often than not, you are going to walk out of the thrift shop empty-handed. It happens! I have been thrifting for about 5 years now and I only have about 15 thrifted items. So, my point here it that it takes time. However, keep in mind that the turnaround rates of these shops are typically pretty high. So, visit often and don’t give up!

· Look for Trends – One main thing that actually turned me on to thrifting is the prevalence of bounce-back trends. Sure, you could buy a vintage-inspired Tommy Hilfiger tee at Urban Outfitters for $50, or you could find an ACTUAL 90’s Tommy tee at Goodwill for $5. Bam! You’re instantly trendy. See what I mean here?

· Try it on – This is a given. One of the things I like to do is to picture in my mind the various ways I could style a certain piece. If you can’t think of any reason as to why you would ever wear it, then it’s probably not ever going to get worn.

· Keep Your Standards – So, you find an “okay” looking shirt. You typically wouldn’t buy it, but its only 3 bucks! Impulse purchase made. Let me tell you now that it probably isn’t worth it. This is a mistake I made in my first few thrifting trips and I never ended up wearing the clothes. My point here is that, no matter how awesome the price, don’t buy something you don’t love.

· Switch it up – Sure, you may feel the need to limit yourself to women’s size medium, but you might be missing out! Take my Harley Davidson jacket, for instance. This was found in the men’s section, size large, as were my Hard Rock Café and AC/DC shirts. My point here is that there may be potential in other sections that you shouldn’t overlook.

Photo cred: My sister, Tiffiny—I definitely owe you a free night of babysitting.

Thanks for reading! What’s your favorite look? Also, are you a fan of thrifting? I’d love to hear in the comments below!

[knightofameris]

ANYWAYSBSJS (i cant stop thinking abt the minor detail of the mutual pining and driving everyone insane bc of it THATS SO ME IIII- and then semi putting an arm around- hhhhh AND THEN US INTERACTING AAAA we’re so chaotic pls THATS SO US- HDBAJbsshsbsj)

goodmorning!! i hope today treats you well! 💝💕💓 i just took my AP gov midterm exam and it was surprisingly easy? im not confident in the written portion but ITS FINE I HAVE AN A IN THAT CLASS ITS FINE- three exams down,,, five to go HDJSJ-

and yeah i totally get what ur saying about being social!! i miss seeing ppl too,, but im kinda glad? i had a beeeeeg friend group before quarantine and now i barely talk to ppl from school (that friend group was toxic LMAO) but i’m way more confident? like i know how to stand my ground now and be more of who i am rather than a shadow of who i am- idek my brain is on government rn still 🤡🤡 AND AAAAAA take ur time!! i usually study tutorials and look at other ppl’s art and if i see smth i like, i take it and make it my own w a twist!! AND YEAH?? colors are so hard to do!!??!!? my palettes are yikes... if u ever wanna see my art lmk bc i will just link my instagram HAHSBS-

NOOO PLS IM SO TALL >:( i am the tallest person here istg. fear me. i love hugging ppl bc they usually place their chins on my head or on my shoulder and it just makes me :D NDJSJDDK YOU TACKLING SUGA OUT OF NO W H E R E that’s such a funny mental image for me HDJSKDK and no. no u

OOOOO that sounds so interesting?? a natural born leader to me tbh. you could be a producer and help people’s dreams come true!! >:O that sounds to me like it would suit you well tbh,,, a teacher and a producer. :O and im actually taking comp sci this year! i like it,, it’s honestly pretty fun — i just wish my teacher wasn’t so confusing? she’s nice but doesn’t explain v well, i think it would be better to learn from her in person. but w the pharmacy thing i already know i don’t wanna go into that bc i’m struggling a lot w chem already :// and u really thought i had the braincell? im honored but also.. no BDJSNS -🧸

<33333 IM GLAD YOU ENJOYED IT THO ;-; HEHEH i had fun heh

ur so cute, good morning to you too!!! and OOF, I did not take ap gov in hs whoops. I’M GLAD YOU FOUND IT EASY THO. and it’s okay!!! you got this I believe in you <3 

OOO no I totally get that, i’m assuming you’re a senior in high school and this is just based off of my experiences and a lot of others and i’m sure pandemic really nailed it in, but by my junior and senior year in hs that was when I found my more, uh, reliable friends? but I also broke off from my group once I hit college and that’s when you really find the people you can rely on! i have a smol lil group now but it’s all really tight knit and I talk to each person at least like once a week, some more than others but that’s just how the other person works too yk? SO i’m really happy you parted from the toxicity!! don’t need that!!! and i’m glad you’re more confident too!! that’s really good. YOU’LL FIND MORE PEOPLE YOU VIBE WITH AND WORTH YOUR TIME SOON ENOUGH. there will be moments you feel alone and if you do, just remember you got me and the other lovely anons <3 

side note but omg if you are a senior in high school that means when I was a senior, you were a freshman and I was friends with a few back in high school since I was in band and a lot of them latched onto me alsdjflajsdf. i still talk to a few of them here and there and they also reach out to me occasionally so like owo

HNNG i follow a lot of artists on Instagram that i’m like wow, I love that art style and that art style and that art sty- BUT OMG I would love to see your Instagram,,, 

SURE WHATEVER YOU SAY ASDKFHASKDJF. i love it when people place their head on top of mine AHHH. that’s what I do to my shorter friends too and i’m like, wow I understand what it’s like to be tall and to hug people shorter than me. 

DSAJFDASFJ ITS funny cus I feel like I'm so LAZY LMAO. i always describe myself as “ah well if no one else will I guess I will” unless it’s something i’m really passionate about (like i loved band so I went for that section leader position ADSFJAD). but it’s also cus I like fucking around but i’ll get my shit together if I need to aSDFJDASKJF 

OOOO COMP SCI?? is it one of the AP classes? i’m glad that’s becoming more popular across schools,,, i think what saved me when I took CS in high school was just,,, lots of googling. also I guess kinda codeacademy??? 

IT’S OKAY. you’ll fine a way to forge your own path I believe in you!!! 

YOU NEED THE BRAINCELLS THO FOR YOUR TESTS SADLFJASDFJ

[jafreitag]

Grateful Dead Monthly: Capital Centre – Landover, MD 9/25/76 // Onondaga County War Memorial – Syracuse, NY 9/28/76

On Saturday, September 25, 1976, the Grateful Dead played a concert at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland. And on Tuesday, September 28, 1976, they played a concert at the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse, New York.

The Capital or “Cap” Centre opened in 1973 just outside Washington, D.C. The arena hosted the NBA’s Washington Bullets and the NHL’s Washington Capitals, as well as the Georgetown University men’s basketball team, until 1997. It was demolished in 2002 and replaced by a mall. The Dead played there 26 times from 1974 to 1993.

Perhaps ill-named, the Onondaga War Memorial is less of a memorial, and more of an indoor arena. The venue was built from 1949-51, and Wikipedia calls it a significant example of “World War I, World War II[,] and Aroostook War commemorative,” as well as “an early and sophisticated example of single-span thin-shell concrete roof construction.” Ok, boomer. It’s an old shed. And it’s now called the Upstate Medical University Arena at Onondaga County War Memorial – a name that just rolls off the tongue. The Dead played there five times: twice in 1971 (during the furious five era), twice in 1973, and once in 1976.

These shows were in the middle of a short tour that began in Durham, NC on 9/23 and ended in Detroit, MI on 10/3. Between those dates, the band wound its way north, playing Landover, Rochester, NY, and then Syracuse. The first and third of those nights are commemorated (or memorial-ized, see what I did there?) as Dick’s Picks #20.

I asked Liner Notes’ Chief Dead-itor ECM for his impressions of that particular release. He focused on the Landover show, 9/25/76, and sent this extended review:

Note – Keith’s piano is very prominent in the mix and he is in good form for this show.

The band started touring again in June 1976 after an almost two-year hiatus that began after the Winterland shows in October 1974. There were some big changes when the band returned, the most notable being that Mickey Hart rejoined the band after a five-year absence. It took the band some time to adapt to the two-drummer format. This resulted in an overall tempo slow-down for most songs. However, by September the band started hitting their groove and was working towards the glorious, almost orchestral sound that they eventually achieved in May 1977. There are hints of that progression in this show – especially in songs like Mississippi Half-Step, Sugaree, Cassidy, Scarlet Begonias and Dancing in the Street (sans Mu-tron, of course).

The show starts off in fine form with a Bertha that is speedy and driving. It has a great finale with Garcia adding “whoa’s and woos” in between each “Anymore.”

Minglewood is next. It is only the ninth performance since the band revived it at the Orpheum run in July 1976 after a five-year absence (last played on 4/29/71 at the Closing of the Fillmore East). These early versions are tepid compared to the way it would be played with Brent but the band puts in a very solid performance.

The next highlight of the evening is Cassidy. The jam section is now more developed than it was when the band brought it (back) into the repertoire in June 1976 (they played is once on 3/23/74 and then shelved it until the first show in 1976 – 6/3/76). This is an upbeat version that is totally nailed.

Mama Tried, usually a throw-away tune, has some pep in its step and keeps the energy high. It features enthusiastic backing vocals by Garcia.  

The Peggy-O that follows is gorgeous, especially Garcia’s second solo. Beautiful vocals .

The set closes with a lively Let It Grow, which gets downright frenetic at some points. There is also a short drum break which only happened in 1976 and then things simmer down and become a bit exploratory before the reprise. It is notable that Let it Grow was almost exclusively a second set song in 1976. So this first set performance was a bit of a treat. Additionally, Let it Grow would only be played two more times after this before taking a one-year break, making it all the more special. Instead of ending the set there, the band break tradition and give the audience another treat – a bonus song to end the first set – Sugaree. This version is nice and gooey. More telling though is how it shows early signs of the powerhouse that it was about to become in 1977. 

Set II opens with Lazy/Supplication and Half-Step  which are typically “first set songs.” It’s always interesting to see when the band mixes things up and gives “first-set songs” the second-set treatment.

In this case, Lazy/Supplication fares about the same way it does as a first set song. That is to say that it is not as long or exploratory as we might expect a second set song to be. Also, the Supplication jam seems to get cut-off early, but Weir’s vocals are very amped up!

On the other hand, Half-Step is a horse of a different color. Similar to Minglewood, Half-Step was revived at the Orpheum run in July 1976. It had absent since the hiatus. The tempo here starts off a little sluggish but the advantage of this is that it provides Garcia the opportunity to really dig deep vocally with the way he emphasizes the lyrics (i.e., on my waaaaay).The Rio Grandee-O section is fabulous. Garcia plays fluid, joyful, melodic passages which serve to electrify his bandmates as they approach the vocal section. The energy is palpable. The vocal harmonies are delivered with such confidence that the song feels like an anthem. Keith’s gorgeous piano flourishes add to the joyful vibe. Garcia patiently takes the outro jam to a slow and steady peak – early signs of 1977 (without the massive crashing chords). This is probably the best version of 1976.

From there the drummer’s pound out a brisk and aggressive lead-in to Dancing and the energy lifts off. Once the lyrics are dispensed with, Garcia begins a quick and funky lead that foreshadows the 1977 versions without the Mu-Tron. Things slow down as the vocals trail off. The band embarks on what will be the very last version of Cosmic Charlie ever played. Although I love the album, Aoxomoxoa, I am not a big fan of the slowed-down versions of Cosmic Charlie and St. Stephen that were revived in June 1976. The outro chorus “Go On Home…” on this version is extended and repeated like a chant which makes it gloriously eerie. Maybe it was their special way of giving Cosmic Charlie a final sendoff.

Coming off a stand-alone slow tune, the band needed to pick the energy back up so Scarlet Begonias was a perfect choice. This is an upbeat, full-bodied version that hints at how the song will develop when the band joined it with Fire on the Mountain just 6 months later. Donna is very subdued on the outro and does not overstep as she sometimes can do. Her voice quietly drifts in and out of the music which is the way I like it. 

The show ends with a typical long romp on the St. Stephen > Not Fade away segue which was so typical for this era. A respectable Sugar Magnolia provides the encore for one of the better shows from 1976.

And Icepetal at the Grateful Dead Listening Guide blog has covered the Syracuse show, not only highlighting the show itself, but also discussing ’76 and its audience recordings:

This show is featured almost in its entirety on Dick’s Picks Vol. 20. But it has history from long before it came out commercially, and that history is in part related to demonstrating the glory of AUD recordings from a part of a year that isn’t famous for its soundboards. Most of the SBDs from Fall 1976 fall a bit flat. They just lack a lot of sparkle. As we have been dabbling into this period with AUD tapes, there are a fair number of good ones to be found, and it is now time to add 09/28/76 to this list as one of the more satisfying 1976 AUDs. Very up front, with exceptional low end, this tape permeates the sound field with the power of the Dead’s new (in ’76) sound system. Particularly sweet are the sound of the kick drums and Phil’s bass. These instruments tend to lay very flat on the SBD’s, while in the AUDs you can literally touch the energy coming out of them. The drums, especially, pulse with power. You can almost feel the push on the air, absent almost completely from the soundboards. On 09/28 we are thus treated to that most wonderful alignment of the stars – a wonderful recording of a wonderful performance.

It’s hard not to talk about 1976 without mentioning the dismissing the year gets in many Dead trading circles. Generally you either love 1976, or absolutely don’t. However, even some of the most anti-76 folks out there will generally acquiesce that there are a few glowing spots in this year. 09/28/76 falls into this category easily. In fact, after revisiting this AUD after a good many years myself, I regret that it took me so long to share it here on the blog. This show and recording demonstrate all that I love about 1976, and then some. It was one of the first late-1976 tapes I acquired in trade, and as an AUD, continued to cement my preference for this recording medium over soundboards. For this show, and a few others from the Fall of ’76, the audience tape brings an entirely heightened level of experience to the music itself – not because of the crowd, or the energy in the air, but strictly based on the way the sound of the band comes through on tape.

Icepetal’s typically eloquent rendering of the music is worth a read. He effuses about the long transition between Let It Grow and Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad, as well as the second set Playing Sandwich – Playing in the Band > The Wheel > Samson and Delilah > Jam > Comes a Time > Drums > Eyes of the World > Dancing in the Street > Playing in the Band.

I found a review of the Syracuse show in the college newspaper. Wheel of Fortune is such a great song, ha.

Here’s the Spotify widget for DP#20.

https://open.spotify.com/album/34KjKiNyuggM0g2No4ZnTv?si=R3d3HsVvTXK6Faf1WHAVTw

And transport to an audience recording of 9/28/76 HERE.

Thanks as always to Ed.

More soon.

JF

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