#we are now the Monkees class

[punkymonkeehat]

I shit you not, guys...

My 7th graders, after putting things away and working really hard today, asked why we haven't watched The Monkees in a long time. I said that I thought they didn't like them anymore (cause middle schoolers always change their opinions all the time lol) and a out the entire class were appalled that I thought that and kept saying "We wanna watch the Monkees!! Can we have Monkees Friday? Can you bring in more episodes? I wanna see Davy and Micky again" (this class' favorite). Like, it almost turned into a riot!

I showed them the show last year as a reward for having a great concert and I guess they've been hooked ever since without me even knowing lol

So I put on an episode and all of them gathered around our TV and I was going to skip the theme song to get to the episode (it was the last 5 minutes of class) and they all got so upset and said "No don't, I wanna see the theme song!" So we only saw like, maybe 3 minutes of the actual episode and when the bell ring they wanted to stay and watch more 😆

Band to Monkees pipeline lol

[doublydaring]

can you explain the michael psychosomatic kittens curse to me please it's been bothering me for upwards of a week

it would be an honor. it's kind of a long story but luckily I'm at work.

1. I was drawing pictures of Mike and Peter on zoom with my bestest friend Cal and I was drawing their beautiful 70s long hair as I am wont to do. A thought occurred in my head that the color of their hairs together would make a beautiful tortoiseshell cat. This prompted me to say aloud: "They would have beautiful kittens." Which of course raised questions. I wasn't even really thinking about kitten pregnancy at this point I was just thinking about their hair. But kitten pregnancy sprung forth none the less.

2. The household has been on kind of a Phyllis kick lately because I have a 73 slide long PowerPoint on the Monkees that I have been workshopping into a sort of combination stand up comedy/performance art piece. Our second focus group (the cast of rocky horror) said that they liked it but wanted more interpersonal drama. So I added Peter and Davy's fight and a "wife timeline" so we've been thinking about Monkee wives and I recently read Mike's book and Phyllis I think we can all agree is one of the most interesting and under-examined people in the whole Monkee cluster fuck.

3. So Mike is pregnant with Kittens. Because he and Peter would have beautiful kittens. And we all agree that being pregnant would be a good thing for Mike Nesmith. On a physical level it would suit him but also from a sort of pseudo feminist perspective where he is forced to take on the burden of """"womanhood"""" we feel it could help to facilitate understanding to what he's putting these women through.

4. So it becomes sort of body horror, where he is forced to confront the physical and emotional labor that he has been foisting on Phyllis and then neglecting her but in becoming pregnant he understands her and their relationship blossoms. We decide that Phyllis sort of has a mental break and convinces herself that she's going to trick Mike into thinking he's pregnant so that he understands just for a moment what she's going through. We try to come up with ways you could try to convince a man he is pregnant (this is difficult).

5. We realize we have lost the kitten plot. But Riley (who has been here the whole time because we share a room but I didn't want to introduce to many characters into this) has been taking a class on monsters and the monstrous and there is this medieval medical belief called "the maternal imagination" which is basically the idea that if you are pregnant and get scared by a mouse your baby will be born mouselike. Or if you are looking at a picture of a man who is not your husband while you conceive a baby the baby will look like the man in the picture, not it's actual father. It's a very interesting sort of belief.

6. So we decide that Mike stumbles upon a sick kitten one day and brings it home and is positively doting. Phyllis and his real life children remain secondary. He's about work and this fucking kitten. And so of course it becomes the object of Phyllis’s ire. And she hates that right? Because it's a sick and tiny kitten. And really she should hate Mike (but she cannot hate Mike this is a fundamental truth of her character). But she decides that she can make him understand. By making him think he's pregnant. And she goes to bed that night and has a dream that she gives birth to kittens.

7. Of course this is totally delusional he's never going to think he's pregnant but weirdly, he starts to ... act pregnant? In ways that she would have absolutely no control over. He's got that glow and he's gaining weight and most of all he's happy and is spending a lot more time at home hanging around. And she starts to get all doting excited husband on him. And their relationship is a lot more tenable now that their roles have subtly shifted. Because she is the responsible one right? But previously she'd have to defer to him and he had to perform this masculine patriarch role and neither of them are brave enough to challenge it but they both feel wrong fulfilling those roles. This is just right. But it's also very fucking wrong. Because Mike is pregnant??? And it's getting pretty undeniable. It is also clear that whatever is in there is not a baby. Phyllis has had babies and this is four little squirmy things. And so eventually Mike has kittens and it is not clarified how physically this happens but it does and it fixes him.

Sorry. I know this is pretty much batshit insane but it is the story.

[thislovintime]

Photo by Matthew Asner:

“First day of school in 9th grade. I am nervous as hell because it is my first day of high school and it’s all new. I walk into my Social Studies Class and am greeted by the teacher who just happens to be Peter Tork of The Monkees. A guy I watched goofing around on TV religiously as a child was teaching me about the world. He was a tough teacher. We had a thing in his class where he would always think that I wasn’t paying attention. He would always make a point of stopping what he was teaching and say to me, ‘What did I just say`’ I would always answer him correctly and it always seemed to frustrate him. He was very smart and loved to read from Mao’s Little Red Book. I was truly happy for him when The Monkees started touring and he found success again. I took this picture in our schoolyard at New Dimensions High School.” - Matthew Asner (Ed Asner’s son), Facebook, July 1, 2023

“Since September he has been teaching English, math, drama, Eastern philosophy and ‘Rock Band Class’ at Pacific Hills, a private secondary school in Santa Monica, Calif. A college dropout, Peter got the job on the strength of his interview with Dr. Penrod Moss, the school’s director. ‘I like to hire people who are independent and creative,’ Moss said. ‘I was impressed by his personality and his ability to speak.’ […] While Tork the musician still has dreams of one day returning to the rock circuit, Thorkelson the teacher is happily planning his next course, ‘Mao, Marx and Mama.’ ‘I’m doing something important,’ he says. ‘I never do anything less than important.’” - People magazine, April 5, 1976

“For some time, [Tork] said, the students in his high school classes had trouble forgetting their teacher was once a teen idol. ‘Until I gave out a few F’s,’ he added, grinning.” - The Clarion Ledger, November 1, 1979 (x)

“I was a schoolteacher in Southern California, and I taught music as well as academics, and I really very much love to teach, and, and I think that if circumstances show me that I am not to entertain anymore or my entertaining career per se winds down, I would very, very much love to coach young entertainers.” - Peter Tork, Headquarters radio, September 1989

“[A]s a teacher, I realized that in order to teach something well you need to understand what your student is going through as they try to learn.” - Peter Tork, The Journal Times Online, August 12, 2005

On a 2018 blog post at the Monkees Live Almanac, one former student, Mark, commented: “Best high school teacher I ever had […]. Tremendous empathy.” (x)

“I taught English and social studies. And sure, the kids probably saw me as a Monkee, but they got over that in a hurry. Once I lost my temper at the kids, they’d see I was just like all the others — and I probably lost my temper too many times, since I was in an angry state back then. I have a life now, that’s the difference. I have a spiritual core. I’m not Shirley MacLaine but I believe in greater or lesser worlds and consciousness. Most people think of themselves as cut off from each other; others know there’s a connectedness that can be tapped into.” - Peter Tork, The Boston Globe, August 10, 1989

“In the mid-’70s, Tork got jobs teaching English, social studies and music at two private schools in the Los Angeles area. The first job, which he enjoyed, was at ‘a radical progressive school in Santa Monica.’ The second was at a school he describes as ‘a holding tank for budding fascists. I couldn’t hack it. I found more integrity in being a singing waiter’ — his next job.” - Los Angeles Times, October 20, 1992 (x)

More about that next job here.

[emily-mooon]

NORDEGRIM HEADCANONS

I need to get my many thoughts for them sorted out so here’s one big post for those many random thoughts!

- They are both very good listeners and will listen to the other talk for hours on end about their day and their interests

- Stacey and Neil will play video games together and almost always Neil will win much to Stacey’s chagrin. She will then proceed to throw the controller (it’s canon that she’s a sore loser w/ video games)

- Stacey’s the big spoon while Neil’s the little spoon (despite the fact that hes taller than her)

- Stacey does all of the talking. She will tell the cashier at McDonald’s that Neil asked for no pickles

- Neil fell first, Stacey fell harder*

- Stacey will steal some of Neil’s shirts. He doesn’t mind (though the comic panel one is iffy territory as that’s his favourite)

- I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, they will share bracelets and make their own together

- if they get married they DONT have kids. I just can’t see them having any (same goes for like every other SP character tbh)

-In their first year of uni, they shared a creative writing class. It was a big class so that’s why they didn’t know each other before volume 6 (despite being in the same room way before that)

- I imagine in SPTO Scott’s future (not the one we see where he didn’t change and was going through divorce) that old Stacey and old Neil are like newlyweds and are the most insufferable people to be around. After they get married they are in the honeymoon phase forever

- Stacey is a power bottom argue with my brick wall. She’s a bottom but Neil is even more of a bottom than her

-Neil works part time at an EB games near Second Cup so before they started dating he would stop by before his shift and get like a coffee and hope that Stacey would be there. After they started dating if their shift times line up they will commute to work together

- Stacey got Neil into her 60s rock music. He will randomly hum ‘I’m A Believer’ by The Monkees and get annoyed when some asks if that’s smashmouth he’s humming to (that song I mentioned is a nordegrim song to me)

- SPTO Neil turned Stacey into a cinephile so now they are both talking about the movie Crash

- DORKS IN LOVE IS THEIR CAPITAL D DYNAMIC

- they hold hands a lot :3

- they propose to each other at the same time

- Stacey has cold hands, Neil has warm hands

-they cuddle no matter how hot it is

* the trope of “A fell first, B fell harder” is misunderstood a lot. It doesn’t mean that B loves A more than A loves B, it means that A slowly fell in love with B while B had a moment with A that made them realize how much they loved A. That’s just how I’ve seen it described and I’ve been in fandoms where ppl have misunderstood the trope sm that I just wanted to make this fact as clear as I could.

And that it!

Feel free to share some of your own headcanons if you have any with me cause I would love to hear them! Make a comment on this post or send me an ask and I’ll do my best to answer them as fast as I can :]

Oh and also:

Hope you enjoyed my little headcanons!

[therecordchanger62279]

MY LIFE IN 10 SONGS

Writing an autobiography is something I always thought of doing, but I’d never see it published because my life is only interesting to me. I would also be reluctant to “name names” or to reveal too much of my personal life to a broader public. Even my friends don’t really know me at all. They all have an idea of who I used to be when they met me, and spent time around me. But now I live a very insulated existence, and none of those I consider true friends (and the list is now very, very short) have even seen me in the past decade, or longer. I have changed in ways they could never begin to imagine or to understand. I have experienced life-changing events, some of them traumatic, of which they are completely unaware because they simply aren’t interested. They never ask about me, never ask how I’m doing. You hear of people dying sometimes in their homes, and their bodies aren’t discovered for weeks or even months. If my wife passes before I do, I’m a candidate for that kind of ending.

But the challenge of putting a life on paper, and trying to make sense of it is something most writers aspire to. So, I started thinking that I might let others do the work for me, and I drew up a list of ten songs that would tell the story of my life as I see it, but in words that are not mine.

Each of the ten songs is designed to convey a sketch of my life as I lived it, and the list as a whole works as point-to-point navigation from the beginning to the end. I’ll list the title, artist, and a brief comment or two that offers some perspective. They are listed chronologically.

   1. Born Under a Bad Sign – Albert King. The first event of my life after birth was that I was put up for adoption. I spent the first two months of my life in an orphanage.

   2. Pleasant Valley Sunday – The Monkees. I was adopted by a middle-class couple. My name was changed, and I was gifted with a mostly safe, and quiet life in the suburbs. The images in this song are very familiar to me.

   3. I Am a Town – Mary-Chapin Carpenter. Lyrically, this is an autobiography of a town. But it is also where I grew up, and what I saw when we travelled. Those images defined, and shaped me through the early years of my life.

   4. I Should’ve Been a Cowboy – Toby Keith. In my earliest days, I wanted to be nothing more than a cowboy, living a simple life, unafraid of a hard day’s labor as long as it provided me with some sense of security, and fed me spiritually. There wasn’t much call for cowboys by the time I had to choose. As it turned out, my original instincts were correct. If only I could’ve been a cowboy, maybe my life would have been what I hoped.

   5. Hellhound on My Trail – Robert Johnson. My working years were gradually overwhelmed by a sense that there was, and always had been a shadow following me, and no matter what I did, no real lasting good would ever come to me.

   6. Is That All There Is? – Peggy Lee. Eventually, the shadow caught up with me, and rather than fight, I surrendered, and made my peace with it. Peggy Lee posed the question. The answer I got was, “Yeah, I’m afraid so.”

   7. No One To Run With – Allman Brothers Band. As the places faded into memory, the people all began to drift away, too.

   8. Alone Again (Naturally) – Gilbert O’Sullivan. A lot of people found this song self-pitying when it was released. The rest of us understood it. All the events, and the people who populate a life, fall away in the end, and we, each of us, dies alone. And contained in the song, too, something that most people missed, was the best reason for not committing suicide – nobody would care anyway.

   9. Another Tricky Day – The Who. So, you go on living out the days, one after another. The best you can do is hang on to something to try and survive. I’ll hang on to the music.

 10. High Hopes – Pink Floyd. A final summation of a life lived.

[glennmillerorchestra]

how did you get in to The Beatles and how did you get in to The Monkees?

omg my favorite question hello :)) i could not tell you how i really got into the beatles bc it's basically a lifetime thing but i will explain how i think it happened. i was in a singing class when i was really young and we sang ob-la-di ob-la-da as well as here comes the sun in it. so those are my first conscious memories of beatles songs! my dad is also a decently big beatles/solo paul fan so i grew up on songs like silly love songs, all you need is love, eleanor rigby, etc etc and in middle school when i would transfer songs onto various devices (mp3 players...) i put all of his beatles itunes library in my own music library and the rest is history :) i've actually surpassed my dad in beatles/paul/wings enthusiasm now, and have started introducing him to songs which i think is really cool and sweet

as for the monkees i'm not a monkees veteran or anything! i knew the basics for the longest time and then last year my dear friend hazel @thebuffalospringfeild really got me convinced to listen to mike nesmith's solo career- which very quickly made me listen to the monkees- and then i watched a couple tv show eps and went to their final farewell concert and i think that experience completely cemented me being invested in all things monkee. i actually just wrote 1500 words on them for an article so i would say their influence is still strong a year later. thanks boys 🫡

[the-firebird69]

2001 - explosive bolts

So he gets in and this is Michael too computer and it's not really what we're talking about we're talking about preaching a computer reaching and he's fooled by Michael too and leaves with plastic blocks to play with and it's to try and fool people with the computer works and Michael too got it on the movie and had been sci-fi class and doesn't get it yeah two different things fiction and nonfiction and so I remember which ones which but the words and I better not be you stupid a******... And the big picture of people don't know if they went to his ship or not and they don't know if it's left or not but I know is this big fleets up there and you can leave in the stone chips and still get blown up as you try and go around the other side of the planet I mean the Sun is so what's your problem

Zues Hera

No problem is this there's huge ground bases too if we're labeled as rogue that we could get hit and they've been doing it and we're not really rogue at the point is that you're right it's a check and a balance and these people are nuts but men have a plan and so he's asking is it to go on the other side of Saturn to put the armor on and to detonate while you're on the other side of satin yeah I guess so okay nobody can figure it out then so shut the f****** and let me go to sleep you idiots he says you're a bunch of pesky f***** I'm trying to say that your stuff will work so you get more motivated and then you end up shoving your head into a furnace. Hey what you know what he's saying and we keep doing that we do know that happens and it's stupid I have to tell you something I am sick of this dumb show but the truth is it's really not going to happen that way but these boys think it will because of holding captive with them and doing so well he says the problem with being this stupid and having someone that dumb near me is it they can't tell what their actual statuses and they can't remember what actually transpires throughout the day and we just see that they're not really bright we have to stop them we're going to now

Macs

We know the damn plans likely described but yeah they can't do anything until they go around the other side and right now they're facing huge fleets and bja and Trump are beginning to break 4 billion ships off their fleet leaving five billion. And we are engaging and the series of movies make sense to people but these people are saying makes sense it's just not feasible they're stupid and they're going to get killed for being too dumb. It was in a clip he saw or someone had a monkey and a grocery store and they wanted the monkey out and they should not be Primus in grocery stores and they're protesting in front of the ladies place for using monkeys then they should not and it's part of monkey shines and the protesters right and the idiot is Trump and he gets killed by The Monkees and chimney has he drive up in a car and start assaulting the protesters and they leave and they don't come back and the chimpanzees don't have weapons let's find we find out that the privates are holding their prisoner and they go ahead and try to get them out and yeah that's all you're thinking they're not they're not under control you're just assholes, okay well bja gets put in one

Thor Freya

Olympus

[cottagehowell]

Hello it’s SRS once again!! Hope you’re having a beautiful week :)

These dances sound AMAZING and I love that you incorporate classic rock into the routines and that it strikes such a chord with students! You know for sure 10 years down the line one of these kids will hear come together or something and inadvertently launch into an entire choreographed routine, much to the confusion of everyone around them lol. Have you danced/taught dance for a long time or is it a newer role for you?

OK good to know about the albums!! I am growing increasingly intrigued by the monkees based on your wild & crazy tales and would LOVE some recs!! What songs/albums/etc. would you recommend to get started?

Also yes please tell me about the Mike nesmith imprinting!! I see his name everywhere & am curious to understand the full psychological reasons why you have grafted on to him like a chick to a mother hen

Congratulations on officially having finished your finals!! I hope they went swimmingly :) do you have any plans you’re looking forward to for winter break (if you have a winter break)?

Also you’re a CS major? So brave I truly could never. I barely know how to use a computer let alone make it do NEW things… crazy & wildly impressive. What draws you to computer science?

I study environmental biology! Very fun huge fan but yes the amount of extra labs etc. is crazy. I will actually need to learn R or something next semester for a biostats class but that’s a problem for later… I literally tried to download R on my computer this summer but got stuck on that for an hour and gave up 😭

Have a WONDERFUL time relaxing from the stress of finals!! Hope you get up to something fun this week <3

Omg so sorry for going mia for a week….. now that the semester’s over my sense of time has gone out the window 💀

Your finals were this week, right? I hope they went well!! Sending you all the good vibes 🩵🩵🩵 Do you have any fun plans for your break?

I started dance when I was 2 (lol) and started teaching when I was 17!! So I’ve been teaching for a little while but not like forever lol

I think their first album is a good place to start!! It has more of a pop vibe but has some really catchy songs and sometimes gets a little psychedelic. Last Train to Clarksville was the big hit from that album. I’d also recommend listening to the soundtrack from their movie Head, the music is really really good. You probably already know I’m a Believer and Daydream Believer, so beyond that I’d recommend For Pete’s Sake, Early Morning Blues and Greens, Randy Scouse Git, Listen to the Band, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Goin’ Down, Words, Auntie’s Municipal Court, and Magnolia Simms. The four of them have such different musical influences, so I tried to get a little bit of everything here!

In all honesty, it’s mostly just that Mike is hot. (I think he’s at his hottest mid 70s through mid 80s, but he’s still really cute in the first season of the show as well. Plus in the pilot he looks so young!! Baby.) But he was also really talented and influential even though he never gets credit for it bc of the stigma against the monkees. He was a pioneer of country rock as a genre! He was a major player in the development of music video as we know it today! He created the direct predecessor of MTV and won the first Grammy for music video! He got into VR in the 90s! His mom invented Liquid Paper! The man is fantastic for trivia. On the show, he’s kind of the leader of the group, so I think that also contributes to the cult of personality. When you get into analyzing his gender and sexuality, it gets really interesting really fast. Also he’s an only child raised by a single mom, so he’s kinda sensitive in a way that resonates with me bc I’m an only child too :) But it’s very important to note that he was a complete asshole while the monkees were a thing and also he was a total dick to his first wife (Phyllis deserves so much better, she’s such a queen). So we stay #mikecritical while still thirsting over him. Oh and also his solo work is really wonderful if you’re into country :)))

Glad to be done with finals, yes! I got a 98 on my database exam, which pushed me up to an A from an A- :) I had a project that I finally turned in this past Sunday, so finals week dragged on a little longer than I would’ve liked, but I’m done now!! In January I’m gonna be spending a couple days at a friend’s house, and I haven’t seen her in several years, so I’m super excited :))) also I’m looking at taking a tap dance workshop later this month which will be lots of fun!

What’s really interesting to me about CS is the logical thinking & math aspect, like I enjoy being able to turn my people brain off and just think like the machine. It’s like a logic puzzle which is fun for me :) Plus the sense of accomplishment for having made something! Usually “making” something refers to more creative areas, so CS is kind of unique in that way. And then when your code works there’s that moment of “look!! I made it do the thing!!!”

Omg tell me more about environmental bio!! How did you become interested in it? It’s so cool when people are into more specialized areas of science bc there’s like a whole new world to hear about!! And best of luck with R 🫡 I’ve never had to use a functional language so you’ll have to let me know what it’s like!

I can’t believe Christmas is so close!! It really snuck up on me!! Do you have any traditions/events you’re looking forward to? Staying in bed half the day post-finals?? (That’s what I’ve been doing 🙃) Any hobbies you’re excited to have time for over break?

Much love, talk to you soon!! 🩷🩷🩷

[beatles-loving-gran]

'Tis December 10th...

I honestly didn't realize that 2 years ago today was the day that one of my favorite artists, Mike Nesmith, passed away. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in class (thankfully most of them went outside to do stuff) and decided to check my Instagram and saw Micky Dolenz's post saying Mike had died and I went into shock. I started pacing around the room and my friend was trying to figure out what happened and calm me down. Obviously, death is inevitable, and I had never met the guy, but I was raised with The Monkees. It had felt as though he had practically raised me (and it didn't help that my family and I had gone to his last concert at The Greek Theater). When you think of someone as highly as I did him, you think of them as almost immortal, and it's such a shock to the system. But for now, his music, his history, and his legacy live on through young/younger fans like me. We love ya Nez 💚

If yall need a Mike playlist to listen to today, feel free to listen to mine: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/12oRJ0GejOY0IAuXNTjuFY?si=4afb7697744c45f6

[notmuchtoconceal]

./

./ ./

./ ( ) . /

-/~

m a k e w a y

for Prince Ali~

s a y h e y

it's Prince Ali~

hey!

clear the way!

in the old bazar

hey you~

let us through

it's a bright new star

o' come

be the first

on your block

to meet his eye

make way

here he comes

ring the bells

bang the drums

aw yer gonna love this guy ~ !

Prince Ali~

Fabulous He~

Ali Ababwa!

G E N U F L E C T

Show Some Respect!

Down on One Knee

Now try your best to stay calm!

Brush off yer Sunday salaam

Then come and meet his spectacular Coterie!

Prince Ali! Mighty is He!

Ali! Ababwa!

STONG AS TEN REGULAR MEN !!!

DEFINITELY ~ !

he faced the galloping hoards!

one hundred bad guys a sword

who sent those goons to their lords?

WHY PRINCE ALI

he's got 7 5 golden camels ~

purple peacocks he's got 5 3 <3

when it comes to exotic type mammals ~

yes, he's got a zoo!

I'm telling you!

It's a world-class menagerie!

Prince Ali~

Handsome Is He!

Ali Ababwa!

That Physique!

HOW CAN I SPEAK

weak at the knee~

Well Get On

Out-In That Square

Adjust Yer V E I L and Prepare!

to Gawk and Grovel

and S t a r e

At Prince Ali ~ !

He's got 95 white Persian monkees!

And to view them he charges no fee!!! ~

he's got s l a v e s

he's got servants and

f l u n k i e s

proud to work for him!

bow to his whim

love serving him

they're just Lousy With Loyality

So Are We

Prince ALLEE

Prince Ali ~

Amorous He ~

Ali Ababwa!

heard ur princess was a sight

lovely to see~

And that good people is why!

He Got Dolled-Up and Dropped By!

With 60 elephants

llamas galore

with bears and lions a brass band and more

40 f a k i r s

his cooks and bakers !!!

and birds that warble on key

M A K E W A Y

for Prince Ali!

-/~ -/~ -/~ -/~ _/~ -/~ <\-/~ . . . _/~ o . o _/`

(yeah)

[punkymonkeehat]

2, 8, 24 for nosy asks. 😊

It took me a week, but here ya go! :D

2: So I have obsessions in a few categories: Right now, media wise, I'm obsessed with Hazbin Hotel (I have a lot of critiques, but I really do enjoy the music a LOT), any Jack Lemmon film, and Evil Dead. General Interest: I've been having a severe hyper-fixation of the history of TV and am just obsessed with figuring out how it all works! I teach a music appreciation class, and we talk about TV a lot for our 1950s segment, and I go into little worm holes about it lol it's just seriously so interesting! Music wise, I've been getting back to listening to traditional ska music and surf rock (for some reason). Every day for the past month, dude. Help.

8. I usually dont like to binge, but my favorite shows to binge are The Monkees (or course) and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel!! They're both just so entertaining, I can consume so many episodes in one sitting without even noticing!

24. If I could travel anywhere, I would go to Scotland and Brazil. Scotland because who wouldn't? It's beautiful! Brazil because my dad lived there for a couple years and I've always wanted to go to São Paulo :)

[vincentdelaplage]

SING SANG SUNG #SingSangSung QUI ÉTAIT DAVID BOWIE ? David Bowie, de son vrai nom David Robert Jones (né le 8 janvier 1947 à Londres, Angleterre et décédé le 10 janvier 2016 à New York, US) est un auteur-compositeur-interprète, acteur et producteur anglais. MUSIQUE David Bowie - Where Are We Now? https://youtu.be/Hiz2w_GrgaM (Où sommes-nous maintenant?) À quinze ans, il reçoit un coup de poing lors d'une bagarre avec un camarade de classe, George Underwood, qui lui abîme gravement l’œil gauche et lui laisse la pupille dilatée en permanence. Il débute en 1964 en jouant avec différents groupes et publiant quelques singles dans un style rhythm and blues / rock 'n' roll. Il adopte le pseudonyme « David Bowie » à cette époque, pour éviter la confusion avec le chanteur des Monkees Davy Jones, ce pseudonyme est emprunté à James Bowie, un héros de la conquête de l'Ouest. MUSIQUE David Bowie - Heroes https://youtu.be/bsYp9q3QNaQ Son premier album 'David Bowie' est sorti en 1967. C'est en 1969 qu'il se révèle au grand public avec le titre Space Oddity qui fait écho aux émotions suscitées par les premiers pas de l'homme sur la Lune. 1972 sera l'année de son explosion commerciale au Royaume-Uni : il « devient » alors Ziggy Stardust dont il finit par se débarrasser symboliquement sur scène le 3 juillet 1973 à l'Hammersmith Odeon. En 1975, Bowie, nouvellement arrivé dans la ville de Los Angeles, fait subir à son personnage une métamorphose radicale, qu'il emprunte esthétiquement au cabaret allemand de l’entre-deux-guerres et musicalement aux musiques noires nord-américaines. Il tente de tourner la page des années 1980 pour revenir à un son plus brut, en fondant en 1988 le groupe Tin Machine avec Reeves Gabrels et les frères Tony et Hunt Sales, rythmique d'Iggy Pop période 1977. Plusieurs concerts sont reportés en 2003 pour raisons de santé, mais la tournée se prolonge jusqu’à la mi-2004. Le chanteur et son groupe entament alors une tournée des festivals d'été en Europe, mais les quinze dernières dates sont annulées lorsque Bowie subit en urgence une angioplastie. MUSIQUE David Bowie - Quicksand https://youtu.be/oP2SS8ggLtU Quicksand (Sables Mouvants) Son retour à la mus https://www.instagram.com/p/CpfCJqBMQR2/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[thislovintime]

Peter Tork (and Shoe Suede Blues) at the 50th anniversary alumni battle of the bands at E.O. Smith High School in Storrs-Mansfield, Connecticut, on May 29, 2009. Photos by Ryan Pelham/ZUMA Press via Imago Images.

“I love to perform. I think, as far as I know, that’s all I really liked to do since I was four years old.” - Peter Tork, CNN, May 29, 1986

“[W]e played my old high school alma mater, E.O. Smith High School, in Storrs, Connecticut. It was kind of a sock-hop thing, which was not too swift [laughs]. We love to play, and all we care about is somebody sittin’ still who might enjoy what we’re doing.” - Peter Tork, Medium, August 2017

“[Tork and Shoe Suede Blues] performed in public for the first time since his surgery, as part of the 50th anniversary celebration at E.O. Smith High School in Mansfield. 
A member of the school's first graduating class, the 67-year-old Tork today makes his home in town. He was chatty and sported his typical playful wit in conversation outside the room before his show, showing few effects of his illness as he noted with a sharp chuckle that the worst right now is a numb lip and pain in his teeth. He expects to begin radiation treatments within the next week. Established as a sort of headliner for the evening despite being called a ‘surprise guest,’ he wandered the school gymnasium among a crowd of a little more than 100 in advance of his own set, and encountered several acquaintances. He laughed to recall that he had run into a girl who in the sixth grade passed him a note suggesting they get together. [...] Always more of a musician than Monkees records let on, Tork kept up with the very capable Lauren Ellis as they lined up their electric licks, with him doing the lion's share of the filling as his brother Nick Thorkelson hammered at keyboards as a guest on ‘Wild About My Lovin'.’ The taste for rebellion that has always been an undercurrent of Tork's work reared its head again when he closed his 11-song, 50-minute show with what he termed a ‘nasty,’ Sex Pistols-style version of ‘(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone,’ and it was encouraging to see that despite his recent troubles, he still had the vitality needed to offer that edge. ” - The Hartford Courant, May 31, 2009

[repurposedmeatlocker]

Fun fact. A while ago I was on the Pinterest app scrolling through Monkees photos and I saw this dumb one with Davy Jones cooking or smth with a apron tied around his waist. I thought “fuck yeah” and tried to download it, but because the Pinterest app is shit I accidentally sent it to a college acquaintance from a class project we did last year. So now I am just living my life waiting until the one day they open Pinterest and see this random dm of Davy Jones Monkee being a malewife help. 

[vulturesthedirtiestkind]

Okay one music question one personal.

1.) favorite album(s)

2.) How many siblings if any. And are you oldest/youngest?

👽

ALRIGHTY S O

favourite albums (i'm going to limit the dylan albums for the sake of him not making this list much much longer than it already is):

desire. it's just,, easily one of my most favourite albums of all times

darkness on the edge of town. bruce springsteen my beloved d:') but also every song on this album? absolute BANGER. from "i want to fight my dad" to "i'll prove myself for your love if i have to, i'm willing to work as hard as i need to" to "i need something to change NOW" to "things Happen and we can't really control that, as much as it sucks, we've got to make the most of what we can" this one NEVER fails to make me go feral <3

bob dylan (1962). the first time i heard his rendition of house of the rising sun it changed me

the final cut. i have no explanation

piper at the gates of dawn. once again, no explanation

time (elo). the number of times i've made my family listen to it in its entirety... is almost ridiculous actually dsfghfd. it's just SO GOOD it hits my favourite things (time travel, the bittersweetness and realisation that it's not all it's cracked up to be, FUNKY BASS,,, overall just. yeah <3)

blood on the tracks. this one has ALSO been an all-time favourite! i love all of his music and i can't pick a singular favourite album, but if i had to this is likely one of the ones i'd pick between

doolittle. i've been trying to get (back?) into the pixies and i started with this album and it's just banger after banger. and as a bassist the amount of bass in it makes me VERY happy

the horror and the wild. i have no other explanation for this one either (and ruin is ALSO super good. and love run. they've only got the three albums but they're just <3)

the licorice tea demos. my mom watched me go FERAL when i listened to it for the first time

the last dj

electric ladyland

are you experienced. a classic and one of my most favourite teachers i've ever had would have us listen to jimi hendrix while we did work,, this is one i specifically remember from being in his class d:')

t. rex

electric warrior

room on fire and is this it are tied i think. i've been trying to get more into the strokes and those are the two albums i've been listening to

nirvana's mtv unplugged ALWAYS makes me go feral

angel dream

rolling thunder revue. i tried so hard not to add it but <3

the best of simon and garfunkel for sentimental reasons. my godmother sent me the cd after i fell in love with it at her house <3

the monkees 

more of the monkees (i have this one on vinyl for my bearded dragon!) 

siblings:

this is the funniest question for me to answer ever because technically. i am all at once. my parents are divorced and i am their only child (and was an only child total for six years). at my mom's house i'm the oldest but at my father's i was the youngest for eight? years until they had another one so i'm the middle child there. tldr i just tell everyone i'm the oldest,

what about you!!

[englandsgray]

Sherlolly Self-Interviews 2020

Well hi 👋

Ignoring the internal image of Gilderoy Lockheart smiling smugly while flashbulbs pop and saying ‘In my autobiography, Magical Me...’ 🙈😆 I shall take the opportunity of this lovely event to introduce myself as a writer of Sherlolly fanfiction on AO3...

I am English and somewhere over 30.  I watched the show as it aired, and lost my heart as quickly to Molly Hooper as to Sherlock Holmes.  The kiss is British television history.  Series 4 is my favourite.  Moriarty on the beach is life.  The Holmes brothers break my heart every time.

I am extremely lucky to have been provided some questions to answer here by @ohaine and @mybrainrots - huge, huge love and thanks to these two lovelies, and not just for this.  I admire you both so much as writers, and your support means the world to me ❤️ Thanks too, to @sherlollyappreciationweek!

Where did you begin to write, and have you written for other fandoms?  I wrote my first fanfic when I was eleven years old - a 100 page ramble about The Monkees.  Oh yes.  Then in 2018, I fell for the characters of the Disney Pixar film Cars and began writing and publishing.  So far so random!  Writing in this fandom sprang from binge-watching all four series of Sherlock during lockdown.  I remembered reading Louise Brealey talking about being disappointed Molly didn’t get chance to ‘roundly kick Sherlock’s arse’ and agreeing with her wholeheartedly.  That, over a few weeks, turned into my first fic - Who You Really Are.  

You’re a recent (and welcome!) arrival to the Sherlolly ship, and I was wondering if writing in an established, less active than it used to be fandom has been a challenge?   Thank you, firstly.  My experience of this fandom has been incredibly positive - the sense of welcome has been wonderful.  I will admit I was terrified posting the first fic - there are hundreds of times more stories posted daily in the Sherlock fandom as in the one I had some experience of.  But I needn’t have worried, it’s been a blast.  I will also admit, that it’s no small thing to be surrounded by such brilliant writing and the long-standing passion which goes with it.  But I find that inspiring in itself, and I’m very glad to be here - how supportive the fandom are makes me feel like I always have been!       

What’s your favourite place and way to write?  My aesthetic is Lin-Manuel Miranda in his in-law’s laundry room 🤣 I wrote my first ten-thousand words on the notes app on my phone before my other half told me to stop being ridiculous!  I switch between the laptop, my phone and longhand (I’m a sucker for a nice notepad and a Uni-Ball Eye) and, more often than not, not sat up properly at a table.   

Since you’ve (done something I’ve never managed successfully and) written a novella length fic... how did you organise/keep track of all the details and where you wanted the story to go?  Did you outline/plot in advance?  First of all - I would love to see a novella length fic from you @mybrainrots!  The final scene of Who You Really Are came to me very early on and I knew I wanted the fic to fit within TFP - a lot of it takes place in the timeframe of the final montage.  At first, it was going to be much more about Sherlock’s relationship with the ideas of sentiment and love (the phrase ‘I’m not sentimental about you, I love you,’ haunted me for a while) and I spent some time researching the psychology and playing with scenes from throughout the series - one of my favourites I didn’t go on to use was inspired by the final scene of THoB.  Using scenes from the canon gave an automatic structure, and I was always aiming for the final one I wrote early on - the two of them on the beach (everything is about the beach, with me!)  As I went along and started, inevitably, to slow down, I mapped out the chapters with a short note of what I wanted to be in each, then would add notes or phrases as they came to me - often emailed from my phone!  I had to force myself through a tricky section set in Baker Street at one point, but it came together in the end.  I did plot The Pathologist’s Skeletons on paper first, as I found with a casefic which remains a WIP, that I can get confused and lose focus when it comes to details and how to reveal them in a way which stays paced and interesting.  I’ll certainly do that from now on with longer stories and cases.  How did you keep up enthusiasm for the work?  I want to write an original novel, so I am forcing myself to work through the knotty bits and blocks as a learning experience.  Not everything is destined to be finished or finessed, of course, but I’m finding this process is building my confidence that I can overcome problems and slow periods.  I also find I know when I need some external inspiration - some of my favourite scenes have come to me while out walking the dog or sitting on the beach.  I’ve also been inspired by books or other series or things going on in the world, as we all are, and sometimes that’s pushed me on.  Plus, of course, I’m a newbie - I’m very much in the honeymoon period of my writing, even though I’ve loved Sherlock for ten years! (Ten years! Bonkers.) 

You’ve got a knack for writing Sherlock’s thoughts and capturing his voice.  That said, which character do you find easiest to write?  Which is the hardest?  Thank you so much.  I absolutely love writing Sherlock and Mycroft, and I’m sure that’s because they suit my somewhat over-the-top writing style!  I find Molly and her POV really difficult.  I want the scenes I write from her perspective to sound completely different to Sherlock, but that means writing in a style which doesn’t come as naturally to me.  I’m a long way off happy with that at the moment, but I’m enjoying the challenge.

Is there a scene or character that specifically inspired you to start writing Sherlolly?  The whole of TFP, but especially from the moment Sherlock arrives at Musgrave onwards.  I am desperate to see what a Sherlock Holmes who has been reacquainted with his own heart would look like.  I find his emotionality in those final scenes hugely compelling (Mycroft’s office is one of my favourite moments from across all four series) and, as I have always believed in him and Molly, I practically jumped up back in May after watching it and said ‘right, where’s my notebook?!’.

There’s a lovely peaceful, quiet feeling to your fic ‘We’re All Right At The Moment’.  Can you tell us what inspired it and if you’ve thought of doing the backstory that goes with it?  Thank you!  Like everyone, I would go back to January of this year and start again in a heartbeat, but I am hugely fortunate to be able to say that I have a lot to be grateful to the UK lockdowns for.  I might never have begun writing in this fandom otherwise, for one, and I have had a brilliant time so far and met some lovely people. Honestly, I don’t feel able to do any sort of justice in my writing to what has happened in the world in any broader sense than drawing on my own experiences of staying at home and enjoying my family.  This particular super-short fic sees Molly cutting Sherlock’s hair at home in Baker Street.  I wrote it in the evening after I had cut my other half’s hair and had been reminding myself that despite how horribly worried I was - and still am - about everything, we were all right in that moment, and to focus on that as much as possible.  I wanted to try to capture that, if for no reason other than to look back on this entire experience and remember something lovely, so I am so pleased to hear you felt the fic did that.  It was only after I finished it and reread it, that I realised it is ambiguous as to whether Molly is worried about Sherlock contracting the virus, or whether she is remembering him being treated for it... As I say, I don’t think I could write more about these extraordinary circumstances - perhaps it’s just too close at the moment - so I don’t plan on extending it.  But you know how it is, the plot bunnies hop where they will... 

Do you have a Sherlolly music playlist?  What are your top five favs from the list? Here’s a run down of (6 🙊) songs I have been getting emotional over in the last little while, leading my brain to assign their significance to my favourite couple...

Kissing You - Des’Ree - It’s so 90′s, it’s a bit cheesy, it’s oddly disturbing.  It helped me write A Request, Made Properly, and that gave me an excuse to have Sherlock kiss Molly in the snow.

How Long Will I Love You? - Ellie Goulding - part of the playlist, but also in remembrance of a friend who passed away recently.  Life is very short, love is forever.

High and Dry - Jamie Cullum - It’s made me emotional for a very long time.  The original is my partner’s version of choice, this is mine.  

Think About You - Delta Goodrem - Okay, this one isn’t emotional, and it’s not my usual vibe!  Blame the zoom exercise class I do!  But oh my goodness, it’s Molly.  Bless her.

Blinded By Your Grace (P.T.2. F.T. MNEK) - Stormzy - One of the best ever, I reckon.  Spent an awful lot of time thinking about angels and demons, grace and what it takes to save someone, while writing my latest - The Pathologist’s Skeletons.  This has been in my head most of the (blimmin’) time!

Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding - I didn’t know I was a fan of Ellie until I wrote this list... I don’t subscribe to the theory that the love Molly wants or that which Sherlock has to offer is any lesser because it isn’t ‘normal’ or expected. I don’t think romantic entanglement would come easy to either of them. But it’s still love and it would be beautiful.

Thank you so much for reading.  Thanks and love to @ohaine and @mybrainrots. And thank you @sherlollyappreciationweek for the event and for everything you do ❤️

Feel like I should sign off with a quote from the show...

“You’re not a puzzle-solver, you never have been. You’re a drama queen!” Dr John Watson (Moffat & Gatiss) 2014 😜

X

A fav fic of mine by @mybrainrots

https://archiveofourown.org/works/7563193

A fav fic of mine by @ohaine

https://archiveofourown.org/works/10562904

My stuff:

https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnglandsGray/works