#this is inspired by pebble's last audio

[teddybasmanov]

The villain: *gives the hero, who has finally reached their lair, a scolding on how they've fallen and turned away from the light of their divines by killing the villain's minions and showing anger* The hero: *trying really hard not to laugh and failing harder and harder every passing moment* The villain: what are you laughing at? Have you gone mad? The hero, grinning like a cat: I thought you were supposed to be smart and you bought into everything! All that purity talk is just propaganda for the peasants - "opium for the people" and all that - it's all junk - actual divine powers have nothing to do with it. The villain: *stands there with their mouth open* The hero: I thought you knew - and here you are - mx "I'll kill millions for world domination" giving me a morality lecture - which I didn't care for by the way. If I were you I'd be saying prompt farewells to my head because it'll be departing from your body in the nearest future. The villain: what? The hero, casting a 'divine' light from their hand and cutting the villain's head clean off with one motion: what?

[bubmyg]

anniversary (crying version) - jjk

pairing: jeongguk x reader

genre/warnings: youtuber!au, fluff, the world’s most sickening couple is back except it’s on their anniversary, idk if i’ve ever mentioned this but ot7 are all youtubers in this universe (except for namjoon, he’s just seokjin’s roommate but that’s not important right now jfaksld)

word count: 1,529

summary: you want to surprise jeongguk for your three year anniversary or you give jimin the password to jeongguk’s youtube account (not clickbait)

a/n: yes this is shamelessly inspired by the festa euphoria piano version video and yes, you should listen to it while you read this

“Hey, did you grab your phone after you paid?”

There was a split second moment of panic in the round of Jeongguk’s eyes, puffing out like a frog where the suction of his lips were still attached to the wide straw of his boba. He stalled, mid stride, free hand smacking the pocket of his jeans. When his palm collided with the hard surface tucked securely in tight denim, he relaxed but frowned at you. An adorable pout, cheeks filling with air, nostrils flaring, lips reluctantly pulling away from his tea to scrunch at you.

“Why would you scare me like that?” Jeongguk whined.

You patted his stomach, “Just making sure. Wouldn’t want to lose that.”

He took your hand, pinning your fingers with the thread of his before he said, “Why? All your good nudes are on my camera—”

You smacked him with your free hand anyway, cheeks warming aside from the midday sun encompassing the park sidewalks, and you quipped, “What’s the return policy on boyfriends? It’s been three years now, can I still get at least a small refund?”

“Hey,” Jeongguk turned the attention of his pout to you just to see you falter because he knew you would, “You can’t be mean to me on our anniversary.”

“I’m not mean to you anyway.”

“I know you’re not,” He nearly toppled over you to peck your cheek. “You’re the bestest, most beautiful—”

“Okay, calm down lover boy,” You used the disadvantaged lean of his stature to direct him to your pleasing, “Let’s sit down over here for a second.”

You checked your watch once Jeongguk had settled enough to become preoccupied with swirling his straw around the tiny balls at the bottom of his drink, heart lodging in your throat as you watched the hands click over.

“Hey,” You nudged him by leaning into him, cheek against the inside of his bicep to peer up at him, “Check your phone for me.”

“What’s the obsession with my phone?” He continued to jam the straw into the black substance, swirling them against the transparent plastic, “...did you send me something that’s meant for my eyes only or—”

“What’s your obsession with seeing me naked?”

“You know the answer to that question.”

“Jeongguk,” He giggled when you snatched his drink out of his grasp, settling it onto the pebble coated concrete below your feet, “Check your phone.”

He sighed, arching to fish the device from his pocket before leaning forward, elbows on his thighs, as you attached yourself to his arm. You watched the side of his face instead of the screen as his thumb hesitated, hovering over a dimmed notification.

“My upload was successful?” Dark eyebrows scrunched and his chin tilted just a fraction, “What upload? I didn’t schedule anything—”

You nosed into the sleeve of Jeongguk’s shirt, silent as he surfed to his account, him equally as silent as he tapped on the “successful upload”, a blurry thumbnail preselected by the platform because that wasn’t the focus of the video anyway.

A fade of black into the first shot was all you watched before you pressed your features fully into his arm, holding onto the apex of his elbow a bit tighter as your own voice, distorted audio from the phone speakers but your voice nonetheless, floated to your ears.

“Hey baby…” It was a clip you’d taken that night, morning in theory but too soon after the clock had clicked past midnight to truly be considered morning. His head on your chest, lips parted and drooling against your sleep shirt, your free hand in the fluff of his shower fresh hair while the other tried to maintain a semi decent angle without waking him, “Happy anniversary.”

The song that began to play was one of his, self produced solely for the purpose of his intro and outro but the wordlessly melody extended into something beautiful, something to slap over any and all vlogs he made dedicated to you. One he serenaded you to in the mornings when his mouth was still full of toothpaste or whispered into your hair when the fatigue of everything made it hard to sleep.

It was different this time, though, tweaked at the request of your nonmusical knowledge but fixed by the talented hands of Yoongi, softened and backtracked with a piano you’d watched the commentary-Youtuber play himself while you roughed eager hands over his shoulders and high fived him with two hands afterwards (It’s perfect, thank you!), then taken to Jimin to add to the never-ending list of clips you’d emailed him, once you just wanted placed into a montage, nothing too fancy. But Jimin made it fancy, pouring the love you didn’t know how to say nor edit into the collage of memories, promising not to do anything stupid with his newfound ability to hack into Jeongguk’s Youtube account by means of your quick handwriting on a pink sticky note.

The memories started as early as you had felt confident enough to film him as much as he filmed you, quite literally a clip of him fiddling with his camera while you draped yourself over his shoulder, zooming in on the freckle underneath the smile on his lips while he murmured are you me now? to as late as the week before your anniversary when you’d caught him researching human sized flower bouquets in his office. Capturing the moments in between all of his life that was plastered on the Internet, like seeing himself through a mirror but instead with glasses on that zeroed in on your perspective, the love and affection he was aware of but often blind to the full magnitude.

He filmed things because he wasn’t good with words. You filmed things to reinforce your words, reassure him of your words.

You watched the last clip fade away with the music, the audio of the original clip left in this time, one from your last vacation where he’d given you a tiny diamond ring on the beach (This isn’t what you think. Okay maybe it is. It’s a promise. Do they call it a promise ring?) and you’d cried about how cheesy he was, eyes still a little puffy when you turned your phone camera on but it didn’t matter because he was still rambling to the painted canvas sky about how much he loved you when you squished his cheeks between your thumb and four fingers, ring not quite fully on your finger but prominent nonetheless, puffing out his lips enough to plant a firm kiss on them.

“I love you too, idiot.”

The screen was black long enough for the autoplay feature to slip into his video from the previous week, his own screeching voice bringing him back to reality as he exited the application, locking his phone to set it gently aside on the bench.

“How did you…”

“Yoongi mixed the song for me. Jimin helped me edit and upload,” You watched as he continued to stare at the sidewalk, eyes opening all the way and then scrunching shut.

“So you mean Jimin has my password?”

“He promised he wouldn’t do anything. I’ve been working on this for weeks, he would have already deleted that one prank video where you shaved a stripe into the back of his head and—”

Your surroundings whirled, voice cut off with an abrupt hmph! as you were crushed in a pair of strong arms, turned and twisted until you were straddling his lap.

“I’m kidding. Oh my god, I was just kidding,” Jeongguk’s nose dug into the crook of your neck, fists scrunched at the back of your shirt, “He can delete my entire channel. I couldn't care any less at the moment. I love you so much. I love you so fucking much—”

You cooed when he collected your face in his hands, holding you at the tear of his gaze until the streams bubbling over his bright eyes contoured a line down the slope of his nose. He laughed when your thumb brushed into his skin, collecting the droplets where they framed red at the crinkles in his smile, brushing until it did no good and you decided to kiss him instead.

“Thank you. It’s perfect—” Jeongguk stuttered into the seam of your lips that tasted of salt and peach, “—you’re perfect. You are. It’s ridiculous. I can’t believe you’re mine. How did I—”

“Shh.”

He flushed under your affections, seven shades of shy pink when you kissed his cheek then moved for the other. “This is why I stick to videos,” He told you when you kissed his eyelid, peering up at you with a scrunched nose that you kissed too.

“And you’re damn good at it.”

Some more squeaks and attempts at rambling his affections for you subsided like the leak of tears into your collar. “M’gonna hold you forever,” He decided finally, tightening his grip in the same moment that you tried to clamber off him.

“Only if I can love you forever.”

Silence and then Jeongguk huffed against the dip in your collarbone.

“Ew. Maybe we should both stick to videos…”

[azure7539arts]

Quiet

Pairing: 00Q (Q/Bond)

Rating: PG

Summary: Bond wakes from an unknown dream.

Genre: Angst

Warnings: Implied major character death, suicidal ideation

Additional notes: I blame @solarmorrigan for this. And the only thing anyone needs to know out of this aside from the fact that Solar is to blame for this is that this entire thing is pretty abstract and probably may feel weird.

Inspired by When the Party’s Over by Billie Eilish 

-

Bond woke with a bruising pain in the cavity of his chest, white light washing over his vision like a blinding haze, and the searing of a phantom kiss pressed along the curve of his lips.

It hurt to breathe, and he was already losing air even before he had fully regained consciousness, limbs shaking and the back of his neck chafing from an unknown heat that had been quickly spreading all over his back.

Distantly, he could hear the familiar, rapid beeping of a heart monitor, and in the singularity of that one moment, the only thing he could think of was this:

He really had grown old.

And it wasn’t like he had been operating under some sort delusions that he wasn’t, but well.

“Sir.”

The loud ringing in his ear dragged out like a shrieking siren, and Bond squeezed his eyes shut, turning his head instinctively to the side as though that was going to help with anything at all, a muscle shuddering somewhere in the base of his throat to disorient him that much further.

“Please lie back down.”

Bond swallowed, grappling for air into his lungs, head spinning still from when he had forced himself to sit up just now. He slumped forward like a cordless doll, not understanding what was going on.

His stagnated mind hadn’t quite caught up to all the visual and audio information that was flooding it in tidal waves right then.

“—somebody found you—”

“—We’re still waiting for the tests—”

“—heart problem.”

Ah.

“I don’t have a heart problem.” Bond heard himself say, not really feeling it when the words crawled out of his throat one by one, pebbles falling into a lake.

No.

He didn’t have a heart problem.

-

The pain had started a few years ago, just pins and needles at first, a tiny pressure building right behind his sternum.

It hadn’t hurt, not really.

And even when it had, Bond had hissed in a breath and known that he’d deserved it.

-

Bond walked back to where he last remembered he had parked his car before the memory blanked out, and tried to stop himself from limping too much, muscles and joints not coordinating as he wanted them to.

The grey light of a distant dusk had already started to descend upon them, and by the time Bond managed to get back to his little cabin by the water, the light had snuffed out entirely with the darkness outside thickening into a deep well of black ink, woodland life drenched in a subdued quietness.

He leered at the minor tremors that had continued to remain in his hand and ignored it in favor of opening the fridge and grabbing whatever tupperware of food he could reach first, snagging along a bottle of beer in the process.

The mutton tasted old in his mouth, but beyond that, Bond couldn’t actually tell much of anything else as he leant back into the one chair at the dining table, stared absently at that spot opposite his own, and let his mind drift. 

He pretended it didn’t hurt when he chewed on his cold dinner, the swelling that he’d gotten from his fall pulsing a deep-seated throb that he could feel in his bone.

(If only they hadn’t found him.)

(But then again, Bond knew his luck.

He knew that he’d probably just wake up on his own, even if no one had tried to save him.)

James.

His ears were ringing again.

“James.”

Bond looks up, and all he can see is a soft smile that he has no right to holding so close at all. And just the thought alone is enough to burn a hole in the middle of his chest, an odd sense of jealousy coiling in his veins: it isn’t his to keep, but Bond can’t help but feel so selfish. Petty.

“I love you.”

The transparent sincerity in Q’s eyes is overwhelming, and Bond doesn’t remember to breathe. Doesn’t know how anyone can ever doubt it or look away. Or forget.

(But he did.)

When he looks down again, his hands are full of blood, and Bond gasps at the rattling pain in his ribcage.

-

Bond didn’t have a heart problem. He knew this. 

He knew because it only hurt when he thought about him.

-

Mist rolled in over the mountains next morning, cold and silent and consuming.

It wasn’t a bad place to wait for death.

[insecure-amphibian]

More about me (tagged by Latilda)

– one  /  Name / Alias: Peb, Pebbles

– two  /  Birthday: July 11th

– three  /  Zodiac Sign:  Crab >:)

– four  /  Height: 5′8″

– five  /  Hobbies: Writing, Drawing, Acting and Dungeons and Dragons

– six  /  Favorite colors: I really appreciate red and orange but I’m also red green colorblind so I don’t really appreciate it the right way.

– seven  / Favorite book: To Kill a Mockingbird: Harper Lee, I read it in an awful english class with an abusive teacher while listening to a really shitty audio book recording of it, but it was a really good book man... it was so good.

– eight  /  Last song listened to: Point of No Return - Starset

– nine  /  Last Film Watched: Ralph Break the Internet, I watched it jokingly with my brother’s girlfriends’ friends. And we were making fun of it the whole time.

– ten  /  Inspiration for Muse: I’m gonna list them for Elliarie because she’s who I play most... low-key a Self insert, inspired by my love of Anduin Wrynn, then she slowly became so much more than that. She’s inspired by the little things I see from my day to day life, the random acts of kindness, the things that make me sad, she’s become what I want people to be more like especially as she’s moved past her trauma while not forgetting it. She’s also really inspired by my grandmother, who shares a very similar backstory to Elliarie as she fell in love at a really young age and had a child far to young, but she was braver than Ellie and took care of my mom. 

– eleven  /  Dream Job: I really want to be a voice actor! I’m not pretty enough for Hollywood honestly, and I’m okay with that, but I want to act for a living, and as soon as I’m done with college I want to go to LA and throw everything I’ve got, because even though the chances are slim, it doesn’t mean it can’t happen! 

– twelve  / Meaning behind your URL: It started as a really stupid joke with a friend on Instagram, but it just... kind stuck around, especially because of my anxiety and my love of frogs.

[ivisitlondon]

iVisit... Barbican announces reopening and new programme for the spring and summer 2021

The Barbican announces an exciting programme of new live events and digital content for spring and summer. In line with the latest government guidance, the Barbican is preparing to reopen its Art Gallery, Cinemas, Shop and Cafes, and welcome back live audiences in the Hall, in the week of 17 May 2021; followed by the Conservatory in late May; and The Curve and The Pit on 17 June. The Barbican Theatre will make its much-anticipated return this summer with a new production of one of the greatest musicals of all time.

Highlights from the spring and summer programme include:

Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty, the first major UK exhibition of the work of French artist Jean Dubuffet in over 50 years, will open at the Barbican Art Gallery on Monday 17 May and tickets will go on sale from tomorrow (Thursday 11 March).

Tickets go on sale from tomorrow (Thursday 11 March) for Claudia Andujar: The Yanomami Struggle, a major exhibition dedicated to the work and activism of Brazilian artist Claudia Andujar, in The Curve, The Pit and Barbican foyers, opening on Thursday 17 June.

Live music and audiences return to the Barbican over the spring and summer with a new Live from the Barbican concert series. This includes 15 livestreamed concerts in the Hall with a digital audience alongside a socially-distanced live audience when permitted. The line-up, announced today, includes Barbican Resident Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Sir Simon Rattle, Paul Weller with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jules Buckley, Moses Boyd, Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason, the 12 Ensemble with Jonny Greenwood and Anna Meredith, George the Poet, and the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s new opera Dido’s Ghost.

Kathleen Marshall’s Tony Award-winning production of the musical Anything Goes comes to the Theatre this summer starring Megan Mullally, Robert Lindsay, Felicity Kendal and Gary Wilmot.

The Barbican’s co-presentation with the Bridge Theatre of Vox Motus’s highly acclaimed theatre installation Flight resumes at the Bridge from Monday 17 May for a limited three-week run, subject to government regulations at the time.

The Barbican’s cinemas, including newly refurbished Cinemas 2&3, will reopen from Monday 17 May with a programme of new releases, as well as the annual Chronic Youth 2021, and the curated film series Return to the City.

How We Live Now: Reimagining Spaces with the Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative, an ambitious installation, public programme and publication, will open on Monday 17 May as part of the Barbican’s Level G programme, exploring who are our buildings and shared spaces are designed for, and how they affect us.

Communities in Residence returns to the Barbican from April with a regular programme of small-scale and in-person creative workshops for local community organisations and charities.

Applications for Barbican Creative Learning’s second round of its Open Lab programme launches today, providing grants to commission a further four artists to produce new socially engaged work.

Barbican Box, the Barbican’s flagship schools programme, will be opening applications for secondary schools in Harlow, exploring theatre-making and visual art with students and teachers from May to July 2021.

For children aged five and under, a new Squish Space online group will be offering daily play prompts and activities for parents/carers and their children to enjoy at home.

Barbican Conservatory, home to more than 1,500 species of tropical plants and trees, will reopen to the public for free on select days of the week from late May.

Available now in the online Barbican Shop is a new sustainable living collection, with a range of eco-friendly and ethically sourced products to help lead a more sustainable life.

Full programme information for the above and more is detailed below.

Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director, Barbican said: ‘We’re delighted to finally welcome everyone back to the Barbican to experience the joy of culture and creativity again. When we reopened last year, 96% of our visitors felt safe in the Centre, and we look forward to creating the same level of welcome to ensure another safe return for our audiences, artists and staff.

‘Our reopening programme for the spring and summer is packed with great concerts, inspiring exhibitions, thrilling theatre performances, and thought-provoking film screenings. We’ll also continue running our innovative learning programmes and community work, designed to connect young people, children and local communities with their creativity and provide a supportive, nurturing environment for them to express themselves.

‘We have made great strides in recent times to provide a blended offer of live and digital programming. We’ll continue to develop this for the future to ensure everyone can enjoy our inspiring cross-arts programme while we gradually return to fuller audiences across our building.

‘None of this work would be possible without the continuing support of the City of London Corporation, our founder and principal funder, and the generosity of our individual, business, and trust and foundation supporters.’

The Barbican believes in creating space for people and ideas to connect through its international arts programme, community events and learning activity. To keep its programme accessible to everyone, and to keep investing in the artists it works with, the Barbican needs to raise more than 60% of its income through ticket sales, commercial activities and fundraising every year. Donations can be made here: barbican.org.uk/donate

Visual Arts

Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty

Mon 17 May – Sun 22 Aug 2021, Barbican Art Gallery

Media View: details to follow soon

Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty is the first major UK exhibition of the work of French artist Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985) in over 50 years. One of the most provocative voices in postwar modern art, Dubuffet rebelled against conventional ideas of beauty, hoping to capture the poetry of everyday life in a gritty, more authentic way. Drawn from international public and private collections, Brutal Beauty brings together more than 150 works: from early portraits, lithographs and fantastical statues to enamel paintings, butterfly assemblages and giant colourful canvases.

Spanning four decades in the studio, Brutal Beauty highlights Dubuffet’s endless experimentation with tools and materials, as he blended paint with shards of glass, coal dust, pebbles, slithers of string and gravel. Shown alongside his work are two dedicated rooms from Dubuffet’s collection of Art Brut, acquired throughout his life – shedding light on artists such as Aloïse Corbaz, Fleury-Joseph Crépin, Gaston Duf., and Laure Pigeon, who profoundly inspired his approach to the making and understanding of art.

Significant works by Dubuffet in the exhibition include the Little Statues of Precarious Life, 1954–59, figures made out of natural sponge, wood charcoal, grapevine and lava stone; and the Texturologies from the late 1950s, inspired by the rich natural surroundings of Vence, Southern France, which pivot between our micro and macro worlds, their delicate speckles having a spellbinding effect. While Paris Circus, 1961, is a series of works drawn from the frenzy of street life bursting with consumerism and featuring a somersault of dense imagery.

Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty is sponsored by Sotheby’s with additional support from Waddington Custot.

Claudia Andujar: The Yanomami Struggle

Thu 17 Jun – Sun 29 Aug 2021, The Curve / The Pit / Barbican Foyers

Media View: Wed 16 Jun 2021

Barbican Art Gallery presents Claudia Andujar: The Yanomami Struggle – an exhibition dedicated to the work and activism of Brazilian artist Claudia Andujar. For over five decades starting in the 1970s, Andujar devoted her life to photographing and defending the Yanomami, one of Brazil’s largest indigenous peoples. At a time when Yanomami territory is threatened more than ever by illegal gold mining, and as Covid-19 continues to sweep the globe, this major exhibition is especially relevant in the context of the humanitarian and environmental crises exacerbated by the pandemic.

Claudia Andujar: The Yanomami Struggle is curated by Thyago Nogueira, Head of Contemporary Photography at the Instituto Moreira Salles in Brazil. Based on years of research into Andujar’s archive, the exhibition explores her extraordinary contribution to the art of photography as well as her major role as a human rights activist defending the Yanomami’s rights. Over 200 photographs, an audio-visual installation, a film and a series of drawings by the Yanomami are brought together in The Curve, The Pit and the Barbican’s foyers. The exhibition will reflect the dual nature of Andujar’s career, committed to both art and activism, as she used photography as a tool for political change.

Tickets for Claudia Andujar: The Yanomami Struggle go on sale to Barbican Members on Thursday 11 March and to the general public on Friday 12 March.

Music

Barbican announces line-up details for Live from the Barbican from April 2021

Live music returns to the Barbican over the spring and summer this year with a new edition of its successful concert series Live from the Barbican, including 15 livestreamed concerts featuring the Centre’s resident and associate orchestras and ensembles as well as a hand-picked line-up of artists. The concerts will be performed in the Barbican Hall between 10 April and 18 July 2021 with a live streaming audience online, alongside a socially distanced in-person audience when permitted. The eclectic mix of musicians across many different genres all reflect the wide spectrum of the Barbican’s distinct music offer.

Highlights include:

Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor returns to the Barbican Hall with a vibrant programme including works by Chopin, Ravel, Liszt and Ginastera (Sat 10 Apr).

British artist, composer & songwriter Moses Boyd performs material from his new Mercury nominated album Dark Matter (Sun 18 Apr).

Barbican Associate Orchestra BBC Symphony Orchestra under conductor Alpesh Chauhan with BBC New Generation Artist, viola player Timothy Ridout with music from across three centuries inspired by Scotland (Sun 25 Apr).

Barbican Resident Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Sir Simon Rattle perform Mahler’s song symphony Das Lied von der Erde with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená and tenor Andrew Staples (Sun 9 May).

Barbican Associate Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and its Creative Artist in Association Jules Buckley and guest artists will be joined by legendary singer-songwriter Paul Weller for a concert reimagining Weller’s work, including new material, in stunning orchestral settings in what will be Weller’s first live performance in two years (Sat 15 May).

British folk legend Shirley Collins returns to the Centre following the release of her latest album Heart’s Ease (Sun 23 May).

Kate Stables’s band This is The Kit present their new album Off Off On (Sun 30 May).

Errollyn Wallen’s new opera Dido's Ghost – framing Purcell’s original opera Dido and Aeneas within a haunting story from Ovid, with libretto by Wesley Stace – receives its World Premiere performance as part of Live from the Barbican this summer (Sun 6 Jun).

Barbican Associate Ensemble Britten Sinfonia and Thomas Adès present the UK Premiere of Adès’s Shanty to mark the composer’s 50th birthday (Thu 10 Jun).

12 Ensemble are joined on stage by Jonny Greenwood and Anna Meredith, performing in their own works (Sat 19 Jun).

Barbican Associate Ensemble Academy of Ancient Music and Music Director Richard Egarr perform Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with renowned baroque violinist Rachel Podger (Sun 27 Jun).

Spoken word performer George the Poet presents his innovative brand of musical poetry (Thu 1 Jul).

A duo recital from Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason featuring music by Bridge, Britten and Rachmaninov (Sun 4 Jul).

GoGo Penguin present material from their 2020 self-titled album, and back-catalogue (Sat 10 Jul).

English singer, songwriter and musician Nadine Shah and band perform material from her new, critically acclaimed album Kitchen Sink (Sun 18 Jul).

All concerts as part of Live from the Barbican in summer 2021 will be streamed live from the Barbican Hall on a pay-per-view basis, with live audiences in the Hall from Mon 17 May, if permitted by official government guidance.

Tickets to access the livestreams or to re-watch within a 48 hour-window, are £12.50 and will be on sale from Wed 10 March 2021. In-person tickets for events taking place after 17 May 2021 will go on sale in April 2021. Please find information about how to book tickets here.

Discounted tickets at £5 are available to 14 – 25-year-olds through Young Barbican and over 1000 free stream passes are being offered to schools and community groups in London, Manchester, Harlow and Norfolk, through Barbican Creative Learning.

The Barbican’s resident orchestra the London Symphony Orchestra continues to present weekly digital concerts on a range of platforms. All information can be found here.

Theatre and Dance

Anything Goes

Summer 2021, Barbican Theatre

One of the all-time great musicals Anything Goes makes a welcome return to the London stage this summer, starring Emmy & SAG Award Winner Megan Mullally (Will & Grace) making her West End musical debut as Reno Sweeney, and Tony, Olivier & BAFTA Award-Winner Robert Lindsay as Moonface Martin. Evening Standard Theatre Award Winner Felicity Kendal (The Good Life) will make her West End musical debut starring as Evangeline Harcourt, alongside leading West End actor Gary Wilmot (Chicago / Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) as Elisha Whitney.

This joyous new production of Cole Porter & P.G. Wodehouse’s classic musical will be directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award-Winner Kathleen Marshall. Marshall’s Broadway production of Anything Goes was a major smash hit and received huge critical acclaim. The revival was nominated for nine Tony Awards and 10 Drama Desk Awards, winning Best Musical Revival and Best Choreography at both ceremonies. Now Marshall, in her West End directing debut, will reinvent this glorious musical for London audiences this summer.

Tickets for Anything Goes are on sale now.

Vox Motus – Flight Mon 17 May – Sun 6 Jun 2021, performance times TBC, Bridge Theatre

From a private booth, audiences are drawn into this tale of orphaned brothers and their desperate odyssey across Europe, the action unfolding in a ‘genuinely magical’ [The Stage] world of moving miniatures.

With their small inheritance stitched into their clothes, young Aryan and Kabir set off on an epic journey by foot from Kabul to London. Braving bustling train stations, hazardous sea crossings, menacing strangers and threats of violence, their heart-wrenching story speaks of terror, hope and survival. Based on Caroline Brothers’ novel Hinterland, Flight combines timely themes with engrossing images to honour the resilience of refugee children adrift in dangerous lands.

At the Bridge Theatre audiences are seated individually and given headphones for this intimate experience staged by Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison (magic and illusions designer, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). Like a 3-D graphic novel brought to life, the revolving scenes contain detailed sets and figures, accompanied by binaural sound and narration.

Tickets for Flight go on sale in the spring. The on-sale date will be announced soon.

Diverse City – Mid Life: The Skin We’re In

Mon 22–Sun 28 Mar 2021, online

The team behind OFFIE-nominated play Mid Life, the last show to be performed in The Pit before the country went into lockdown a year ago, presents Mid Life: The Skin We're In. This vital, uplifting short film is available to stream for free for one week.

Mid Life: The Skin We’re In is a poetic look at how to celebrate, survive and thrive in your own skin. It explores the expectations that are placed on women’s bodies and suggests how we can rise to a deeper appreciation of ourselves. The short film was created by Jacqui Beckford, Claire Hodgson and Karen Spicer, and directed by Lucy Richardson. The cinematography is by Monika Davies and the original music by Kandaka Moore.

Cinema

Barbican Cinema will reopen on Monday 17 May, welcoming audiences back to enjoy the much-missed big screen experience. Highlights from the spring/summer programme include the annual Chronic Youth 2021, the Return to the City season and the best in new release titles. The Barbican is also pleased to announce that Cinemas 2&3 will reopen, having recently undergone a refurbishment, with new seating and an improved layout in the foyer. Barbican Cinema 1’s foyer has also been redesigned, creating a contemporary space for audiences to enjoy. Chronic Youth 2021 Barbican Cinema will present the sixth edition of the Chronic Youth, which is curated by the Barbican Young Film Programmers (aged 16-25). With one film programme a month – between April and May on Cinema On Demand and one screening in venue in June – this year’s cohort have chosen films that explore the themes of self-definition, community and chosen family, from filmmakers across the globe. From the gripping story of a dislocated Romanian family in Acasa, My Home (Dir Radu Ciorniciuc), to the heart-warming and rhythm-fuelled shorts programme, Chronic Youth offers moving stories of people uniting through a shared desire to choose their own path, and connect with the world around them. Return to the City After a year when travel has been denied for most people, leaving bustling urban centres deserted, Return to the City – screening throughout June 2021 – visits destinations around the globe, showing unique perspectives of major world cities.

This season re-discovers Paris, Lima, Las Vegas and Kaili City, with a diversity of storytellers as our guide. Some celebrate the majesty and excitement of the metropolis, while others consider the hardships faced by marginalised communities within them. Programme highlights include: Nationalité immigré (France 1976, Dir Sidney Sokhona), which explores the racism faced by immigrants in 1970s Paris; Lima Screams (Peru 2018, Dir Dana Bonilla), a modern day city symphony dedicated to Peru’s capital city; and Queen of Diamonds (USA 1991, Dir Nina Menkes), which shows the more mundane side of Las Vegas, away from the glitz and glamour, through the eyes of a casino croupier getting through yet another day’s work. Tickets for Return to the City are available to book from Thursday 22 April. From Monday 17 May, audiences will also be able to enjoy the best new release titles. Barbican Cinema has been supported by the Culture Recovery Fund for Independent Cinemas in England which is administered by the BFI, as part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund supporting arts and cultural organisations in England affected by the impact of Covid-19. #HereForCulture.

Level G Programme

How We Live Now: Reimagining Spaces with Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative

Mon 17 May – Thu 23 Dec 2021, Level G & online

Through an ambitious installation, public programme and publication, How We Live Now: Reimagining Spaces with the Matrix Feminist Design Co-operative invites the public to explore an important social question: who are our buildings and shared spaces designed for, and how do they affect us? After a sustained period of lockdown and increased time spent in domestic spaces, these questions feel more relevant than ever.

The jumping-off point for considering these questions is a previously unseen archive of work by the radical 1980s feminist architecture cooperative Matrix, who addressed the ways in which the design of the built environment excludes particular groups, particularly in relation to gender, race and disability.

The hybrid programme, co-curated with Matrix founding member Jos Boys, will consist of an installation on Level G of the Barbican Centre featuring rare films, drawings, photos and architectural models from the Matrix archive; as well as a series of online talks, workshops, film screenings and walking tours. The accompanying exhibition book, Revealing Objects, is an experimental publication that combines archival reproductions of Matrix materials with contemporary responses to the key themes of the project.

How We Live Now is made possible with Art Fund support.

Creative Learning

Young Visual Arts Group 2021 Online Exhibition

Available online from May 2021

In May 2021, the Barbican will launch a free online group exhibition featuring newly created works from 14 emerging visual artists between the age of 17-25 on Barbican Creative Learning’s Young Visual Arts Group programme.

Produced remotely and entirely online by the group and the Barbican, the exhibition will showcase a variety of artworks spanning media including painting, drawing, photography, film and performance. The exhibition will feature work from artists Gibril Adam, Fikayo Adebajo, Sally Barton, L U C I N E, J Frank, Ayodeji Akinlabi Fatimilehin Hayes, Nefeli Kentoni, Siavash Minoukadeh, Emariamhe Obemeata, Ioana Simion, Asako Ujita, Tegan Wilson, Zhilin Xu and Jiawen Zhao.

Barbican launches Open Lab call-out to commission four artists to produce new socially engaged work

Barbican Creative Learning’s Open Lab programme will open for a second round of applications from Wednesday 10 March.

The Barbican is supporting the work of eight early to mid-career artists in total. Four artists have been be selected from the first round of applications last year and are creating work between January and June 2021 and another four artists will be selected from this round of applications.

Open Lab supports artists to experiment in any artform with no expectation of delivering a final artistic product. It accepts proposals from artists who are at the beginning of a cross arts or participatory idea or question or would like to explore the creative process with new collaborators.

Interested applicants’ practice should be socially engaged. Work should explore how people’s mental, physical and social wellbeing is improved by participation in and enjoyment of the arts, be inclusive, rooted in community and respond to the uniquely challenging times we find ourselves in today.

Successful applicants will receive £2,000 to develop their idea, have access to bespoke guidance and advice by Barbican staff members and a selected mentor. Applicants should document their process and will have the opportunity to showcase their work on the Barbican’s website and social channels.

Disabled people, those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds and people under 30 are under-represented in the arts sector, so the Barbican is particularly encouraging applications to Open Lab from people in these groups. More information about the programme and how to apply can be found here.

Barbican Box is coming to Harlow in 2021

Barbican Creative Learning and Harlow Playhouse are excited to bring Barbican Box, the Barbican's flagship schools programme, to schools in Harlow and the surrounding area from May to July 2021. The programme is open to secondary schools, as well as Year 6 primary groups.

Now in its tenth year, Barbican Box ignites and supports creative arts practice in schools and colleges through a guided process of making new artistic work.

This year’s Box is designed and curated by Coney, award-winning creators of interactive experiences, and explores themes of games, adventures and play. Recognising the importance of supporting wellbeing at this time, the Box will encourage students and teachers to celebrate kindness, empathy and connection, through engagement with theatre and visual art.

Designed to be accessible to all schools, including specialist providers, the programme introduces young people to imaginative and adventurous approaches to the arts and enriches the school curriculum by connecting schools to professional arts programmes and venues. The Barbican’s National Development Programme is supported by Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

Squish Space: Online Group

The Barbican has launched a new digital season of Squish Space, the Barbican’s multi-sensory adventure for children aged five and under. A series of play prompts will inspire creative activity and exploration of everyday objects by engaging with families in their own homes over the coming months. Designed by Squish Space creators India Harvey and Lisa Marie Bengtsson, new play prompts and activities will be shared via the new Barbican Families: Squish Space Activities Facebook Group. This Facebook group will bring together the families and carers digitally who usually get the chance to connect onsite.

Communities in Residence

Communities in Residence is a responsive programme that provides free space at the Barbican to local community partners including Accumulate, an ‘art school for the homeless’; Key Changes, a mental health recovery charity for musicians; and City of London Age UK which offers support and services to older people.

Communities in Residence offers a collaborative space for valuable face-to-face interaction and is helping to foster feelings of connection and creativity.

All three community groups will return to the Barbican from Easter this year with a regular programme of small-scale, socially distanced and in-person activities. These activities will be connected to the Barbican programme and involve creative workshops, film viewings and visits to the Barbican Art Gallery (once it reopens on Monday 17 May).

Barbican Conservatory

The Barbican Conservatory will reopen to the public on select days of the week from late May. A hidden oasis in the city, the Barbican Conservatory is home to more than 1,500 species of tropical plants and trees, as well as three indoor ponds for exotic fish and terrapins. Entry is free, but tickets must be booked in advance with available dates and times listed on the Barbican website.

Architecture Tours

Starting again on Monday 17 May, Barbican Architecture Tours are a 90-minute walking tour of the Barbican Centre and surrounding Brutalist estate led by an expert guide. The tour ventures through criss-crossing highwalks, leafy courts and sweeping crescents, and visits key points of architectural interest including the tranquil Lakeside Terrace, the striking form of the Sculpture Court and the trio of soaring residential towers. Tours will be available 7 days a week and will run at reduced capacity to allow for safe social distancing.

Barbican Business Events

From Monday 8 March, Barbican Business Events will start facilitating commercial filming and photoshoots, as well as essential business events up to 30 people, on a case by case basis in line with government guidance. Weddings up to 30 people, along with venue hire for larger groups of people, will resume no sooner than Monday 17 May.

Barbican Shop

The Barbican Shop will reopen its physical stores on Level G and at Barbican Art Gallery from Monday 17 May, featuring an exciting selection of design-led gifts. The Barbican Shop also continues to take orders through its online store at shop.barbican.org.uk

New additions to the Barbican Shop include the exhibition book for Jean Dubuffet: Brutal Beauty, now available as an exclusive pre-order for delivery from the 1 April. This fully illustrated 288 page book published by Prestel and designed by the Bon Ton features an introductory text written by the exhibition curator, Eleanor Nairne, alongside rich and insightful thematic essays by Kent Mitchell Minturn, Rachel E. Perry, Sarah Wilson, Sarah Lombardi, Sophie Berrebi and Camille Houzé.

Also now available is the Barbican Shop’s Sustainable Living collection, with a range of eco-friendly and ethically sourced products to help lead a more sustainable life, including water bottles, reusable snack boxes, flower and vegetable seeds, and fashion accessories made using sustainable methods and materials.

Barbican Kitchen, Cinema Cafe and Bar

From Monday 17 May, the Barbican Kitchen, Cinema Cafe and Bar will reopen to the public offering a selection of light snacks, cakes, treats and hot and cold drinks to eat in and take out. Detailed visitor information will be available on the Barbican’s website.

[weneverlearn]

GARAGE PUNK DOC IN THE WORKS! 

Wherein Italian trash rock lifers dust off their old VHS concert tapes and pick up a new camera to document the 1990s garage rock scene.

About the last week of November, a trailer of sorts (above) was making the trash rock rounds. It’s cool clips and odd editing of some of the best garage bands of the 1990s piqued lots of interest and fevered sharings, garnering excited queries of “What?” “When?” “Who?” Gaaaaaggghh!!”

Well it turns out I had a clue, as this in-the-works documentary of the end-of-the-century garage rock scene (ala the one covered in my book) is being scrummed up by Italian uber-fans, Massimo Scocca and Gisella Albertini. They not only started booking great bands from all over the wold in their town of Torino and beyond northern Italy back in the early ‘90s, but they had their own great trash trio, Two Bo’s Maniacs. And yes, @newbombturks have been pals with them since they first booked us in 1993, and are one of many interview subjects planned for the film.

Since the chances of 20th Century Fox coming along to bankroll a doc on the 1990s garage punk scene is probably out of the realm of possibility, here’s hoping Massimo and Gisella get all the help and funding they need to finish the project.

We Never Learn checked in with Gisella for some more details on the project.

So, what is the name of the documentary, and why is it named that?

We needed a working title that could pretty much summarize what it is about, and not just cool sounding: Live The Life You Sing About - Tales of Low Budget and Desperate Rock’n’Roll.  

We started wondering how bands that sound so different from one another are often perceived as part of the same category or “genre.” When someone asks us to define it, we end up with a long series of terms: garage, punk, rock’n’roll; sometimes with an extra “sixties” or “lo-fi” or “low-budget” in all possible combinations because they’re not not necessarily all true at the same time. Maybe the one thing they have in common is attitude. Something like: play, sing, do what you think is right, no matter what other people think or say. This often comes along with struggle, frustration, and the feeling of being on a different planet, so we threw in an extra “desperate.” It also happens to be the title of an old song that a band brought back to the present, which is another common theme here. However, it might still change, if we come up with a better idea.

Who started the idea to do the documentary, and why?

We came across a box of Video 8 and cassette tapes, forgotten in a closet for years, and something clicked: “We should do something with this!”

From time to time we happen to meet kids who were just babies or very young children in the 90’s, but are very much into this kind of music. Usually when they hear the names of the bands we saw play live, they look at us with amazement and envy. That reminds us of when we talked to people who had seen maybe like Bo Diddley and the Rolling Stones in the ‘60s in just one night. Ok, it means that we’re getting older, but at the same time, we feel lucky and grateful that someone worked hard to allow all that to happen. Now, it’s our chance to save someone “from the misery of being a Taylor Swift fan and do something good for the world” ( - Tim Warren). Ha ha ha!!!

Gisella (far right); Massimo (middle) - Photographer unknown

Is there a kind of timeframe to the bands in the movie?

I guess you know exactly what it means having to choose what to include and what to cut. So many stories that should be told, so little pages...or minutes. It’s just an impossible task. So, we somehow arbitrarily put some boundaries. We decided to focus on whatever happened between 1990 and 1999. Last decade of the millennium. Pretty epic, you know. The era of transition towards new technologies that deeply changed the way of doing many things, but at the same time, at least in this kind of music, strongly rooted in the previous decades of the century.

Oh sure, it’s not that a flying saucer with all these bands landed on Earth on January 1, 1990 and left on December, 1999. We will have flashbacks and references to the present as well. But since the documentary is mostly based on our own archive, it’s also necessarily influenced by the fact that we met some people and not others, and we saw, filmed, and photographed some bands more than others.

Tell me about what your backgrounds are -- in music or life in general.

Oh well, the main people [working on the doc] currently is the two of us -- with the precious help of a few people who could not devote themselves to the project until it’s completed, but worked with us and supported us in many ways.

When we came up with the idea, we had two main options: putting together a professional-looking proposal, sending it around and just wait, hoping some producer would notice its great potential and decide to invest thousands of dollars on it. Or, just jump in and start somehow and figure everything else out in the process. We chose the latter -- it’s more punk! There’s no fame and fortune guaranteed with this project. You do it just because you want to and no matter what.

I mean, we expected a bunch of dedicated fans and collectors would love to see a documentary like this. But being realistic, that’s a relatively small niche. We tried to figure what people know about this. in Italy, the closest they can usually get to this kind of music is what here is called the  “Po-po-po-po-po-po-poo World Cup chant.” Real title: “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes. Not even something we plan to mention. 

Next, a bunch of bands of the late 90’s-early 2000s, still quite a bit out of our range. Then numbers get lower and lower, down to the most obscure ones that only few geeks have ever heard of.

Anyway, if all goes well, we’ve finally found a stable technical crew. Also, we’re working on a few ways of funding the project, besides our own bank account, and including crowdfunding later. Plus a few other ideas, but nothing defined yet so I prefer not to say more, until we’re settled.

1995 7″

Torino newspaper clipping, 10/93. - “Shitty local bands get the main title, while they (A-Bones) only appear to deserve a "tough (?) garage rockers from NY.” - Gisella

How far along are you in finishing it, and when do you think it will be done?

We already did a lot of work on the archive and the structure that will help speed up the editing process. However, we still have quite a few interviews to make, presumably in the summer, and post-production that will involve quite a lot of work on sound especially. Sorry guys, sit down and relax, at least until late 2018. But we’ll keep everybody updated on our page.

Who have you talked to so far, and who do you hope to talk to when you come to the States?

We did long interviews with Tim Warren and Ben Wallers at their homes. Then we have eleven more, collected at gigs of the bands that happened to be touring Europe: opportunities that we couldn’t waste. Many interviews were between sound check and dinner, or even after the gig, and we might decide -- with the interviewees -- to use only part of them, or not at all, then do more while we’re in the U.S.A. Oh, I almost forgot to mention 30 audio-only interviews we had made for our zine in the ‘90’s that will be partially edited in as well. Who do we hope to talk to in the States? Hey, we’re Italian and superstitious, we don’t reveal names in advance!

Torino newspaper clipping, 1994.

Tell us about when you first started seeing these kind of garage punk bands. And what was an early show you saw that really made you get into this music?

Gisella: Sixties music has been my favorite since I was 4 or 5, when I found my mom’s Beatles records -- two 45’s -- in a cupboard. From there, you know, Kinks, Them, Animals, Pretty Things, and then Pebbles, Back From the Grave, and the bands more or less inspired by that. So when my friends and I heard that the guy from the Prisoners would play in town with his new band the Prime Movers, we all went, of course. There, we discovered the opening band would be the Wylde Mammoths. Great night, and a first glimpse of things to come. But it was really the Gories and Thee Headcoats records I came across at a local record store that blew my mind and had me say “Oh THIS is what I really want to hear!.” Everything else followed.

Massimo: Well I’m older than Gisella you know, and I saw some awesome bands during the ‘80s like Suicide, Gun Club, etc. I used to collect a lot of garage compilations, early blues records, r&b, soul, and all the good stuff. But the event that attracted me strongly into this music happened in 1990. I was in NYC, checking the Village Voice and saw that the Gories and the Raunch Hands would play that night. So I went there, and man, that gig was unbelievable! Totally different from anything you could hear at that time, and so shocking that it definitely changed my life forever.

I guess there will be a lot of old film footage in the movie. Can you tell us about one or two old videos you have that you are particularly excited about putting in the movie?

The first one we ever shot. it’s 1995, Micha [Warren, Crypt Records] tells us the Oblivians will be touring Europe. The 10” on Sympathy was awesome and the Country Teasers will be playing too, so we decide to follow them around for a week. Right before leaving, I remember a friend of mine had a Video 8 camera from the late 80s, ask him if we can borrow it, and he says yes. Great, off we go in our ‘70s orange, rusty Ford Transit that we can also sleep in. We get to Stuttgart, Germany. The venue is a sort of long narrow basement, really packed, hot wild atmosphere. Camera battery is fully charged, everything ready, we’re thrilled at the idea of filming such an event. Except... five minutes later, the camera’s dead! The battery was fucked up. What do we do? We can’t miss something like this. Between the sets, we ask if I can keep the camera plugged to the only socket around, at the back of the stage, and they say ok. So for the whole gig I’m there in a corner, trying not to pull my 3′ cord too much, horrified at the thought of blacking out amps and P.A., making the band and the crowd mad at me forever. Luckily, I didn’t. And we came home with some real crazy footage!

Was there any band so far that said NO to an interview for the film?

Considering that in most cases we basically popped up at sound-check asking for an interview for a basically nonexistent documentary, we’re really grateful that they all said yes in that moment, despite the often dire circumstances. It gave us the confidence to persist.

As for the future, we haven’t contacted 100% of those we’d like to interview yet. Until now there was only one who said, “Maybe, it depends.” But I already sort of expected this could happen, and in fact I contacted him way before all the others, in order to have time to figure out my countermoves. Not all hope is lost, ha!

Tell us anything else you want about the movie.

We want our documentary to reflect what we think was the feel of that era -- no bullshit, fun, crazy, and not too high tech!

Follow the film’s progress here!!

[giftforguestshophandmad]

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[johnbutlersbuzz]

IS MOUNT RUSHMORE REAL?

( Five minutes read time or listen to the podcast by clicking the Buzz Podcast link. )

Continuing my drive yesterday, north on America’s Heartland Highway 83, I reached Pierre, the capital of South Dakota, late in the evening. I found a campsite next to the Missouri River. It was dark, so I didn’t really see the river, but I could hear it rippling.

I’m waking up slow this morning, with an occasional yawn. After making my coffee, I walk outside, promptly realizing this September day is too beautiful to waste inside. So I’m not.

After walking around a few minutes, I take time to sit at a metal picnic table overlooking the pebbly steep-sloping river bank, slowly sip my coffee and stare at the water swiftly flowing down the longest river in North America.

A variety of birds are flying over the banks of the river. Sparrows, Crow, and I think, Grakie. Others are pecking the ground for food just down from me.

On the subject of birds, South Dakota also has a good population of Ring-necked Pheasant. A dozen or so field hopped various points across 83 in front of ARGO and me. There will be a few less of those beautiful birds when hunting season comes around in a few weeks. Pheasant season is a big deal here and a boon to farmers offering hunting leases.

Sitting under the bright blue sky, I take it all in, breathing in the warm, pleasant September air.

I surmise the Lewis and Clark Expedition did something similar, watching the ancestors of these birds, when they arrived here in this same month of September, back in 1804, sans the metal picnic table of course. They camped nearby where the Bad River meets the Missouri.

However, the Lewis and Clark group didn’t relax for long. According to their journal notes, a little misunderstanding arose with the Lakota tribe, partially due to not having an interpreter. It was the first meeting for both. When weapons were drawn it almost brought a quick end to the whole expedition. Thank heavens for Chief Black Buffalo; he helps calm the situation. And everyone lived to tell the tale.

When I started this leg of my journey discovering America, I intended to drive on Highway 83 from Texas all the way to North Dakota. Stay only on 83. That was the plan, or as near to a plan as I got before setting out on the road.

However, you are aware, as well as I, plans made in the past do not always take into account the whims that strike us along the way. We have to deal with those internal pulls at the time they arise. I assume all of us who have at least a spoonful of wanderlust in our DNA have experienced this on our journeys. Right? Or is it just me?

I don't wanna be so rigid that I can’t alter my course, capturing a moment, or seeing a place I might otherwise regret passing by. Know what I mean?

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson knew this when he wrote, “In the end… We only regret the chances we didn’t take, the relationships we were afraid to have, and the decisions we waited too long to make.” He was better known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll. He wrote a few other things that are thought-provoking and fun, like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and Jabberwocky.

So, looking at the map, I realize Mount Rushmore is only a few hours to the west. The president’s faces carved there is an iconic image burned into my mind. The photo is in every school history book. Now, the real thing was within my reach. I knew I would regret not seeing it.

Mount Rushmore is symbolic of our great nation and of human determination; both the artistic renderings of the four president’s and the raw feat of creating it on such a majestic scale. Guys hanging by wire-rope on the side of the granite mountain, chipping away to create art and a message.

Strikes me as sort of funny, the mountain was named after a New York attorney and businessman for obscure reasons when he was sent out to check land titles in 1884. As my European friend would say, “Very American.”

So I turned ARGO that direction, due west from 83. I was altering my northern course answering the tug of my internal compass and a mysterious element I’ll tell you about later. It would be another bucket list item checked off my list.

Late afternoon was well underway by the time I arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota. Only a stone’s throw away from Mount Rushmore. Make that, throwing the stone, then a the thirty-plus-minute drive up the mountain. I debated going now or waiting till morning.

It was the weekend, so I figured it would probably be more crowded than usual. Although it was well past the end of summer vacation time with most kids anchored back in their desks. When I was finished debating myself, I decided even though it was late in the day, why not go on up there? Maybe the real thing won’t be as big a deal as the photographs of it. If so I can go back to 83 tomorrow and continue on toward North Dakota.

So, I headed southwest out of Rapid City on Highway 16, climbing the mountain toward Keystone at the base of Mount Rushmore.

Getting closer to Keystone, driving under the arch of the glued laminated timber bridges, and then passing through the short tunnel, I have to admit, the anticipation was growing to see this thing in person.

Both the bridge and the tunnel were built during the depression by the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps, during the Great Depression.

My first glimpse was from a turn in the road.

“It’s real,” I mumbled. Funny, that is what came into my mind. Guess we hear about so many things that turn out not to match the hype. Mind-blowing when something is as promised.

Pulling into the park, there the old guys were, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln, four presidents carved in stone on the side of the mountain. The sight was impressive.

I took a few photos, then lingered to absorb the scale of it, while sitting on the outdoor patio eating Buffalo stew from the park restaurant. The hot stew was filled with peas, carrots, potatoes, and tasty buffalo meat. The seasoned steam rising off it in the fresh mountain air transmuted the visual experience into one that reached all the way to my stomach.

Way to go! Thank you United States National Park Service. Good job making my visit to Mount Rushmore an easy, enjoyable and, surprisingly, tasty one. And, of course, a historical, educational visit also.

Dusk was approaching, so I hung around for the night lighting ceremony and ranger talk. It was fittingly patriotic and inspiring.

I decided to return the next day when I learned one of the guys who did work on the mountain in the late 1930’s would be at the park the next day. A CCC guy. Last survivor who worked when the talented genius sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, was directing the project along with his son Lincoln.

Driving up the next day, I felt the same sense of awe approaching the top of Mount Rushmore. I was excited to be able to talk to the last survivor of the Great Depression era work crew.

Nick Clifford helped from 1938 to 1940 build the wood studio for the sculptor, as a driller and as a winch operator on the top of Washington’s head. But he was mostly hired for his baseball abilities as right fielder and pitcher. You see, baseball was a passion of Lincoln Borglum. The teams were competitive, so Nick was recruited to bring in some wins for the team, the Rushmore Drillers.

Doing an interview with Clifford would be fun. Hear first-hand stories about the baseball team. What was it like to work on the sculptures? What was life like back then? He has to have a ton of good stories.

I met Nick at the gift shop at the monument. Told him I was excited to meet him and asked to do a brief audio or video interview with him now or at a later time.

He said, “No,” without any hesitation or an eye blink.

He wasn’t in the best of moods. I could tell it wasn’t a good day for Nick. I smiled, explaining how it would benefit children and history. He listened without looking at me. I asked again in the most sincere, gentle and polite tone of voice as I could summon.

He said, “No.”

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(I spent one more day in the Mount Rushmore area in the Black Hills at Grizzly Bear Creek. Tell you about my rude awakening there in my next post. Sign up for email alerts when I post on my blog and vlog at JohnButlersBuzz.com )