#we look so old compared to our first quartet picture

[larkace]

Robber Claws

hi guys! i've read a bunch of your fics and got inspired so i wrote a thing! enjoy ;) also, it's pretty long so...buckle up! love yall <3

The criminals lurk in the mist, invisible, but Sofiya Pavlichenkov knows they’re there.

She’s perched in the Lookout’s nest of her Warship in Fourth Harbour, pretending to read the documents her first mate, Kastor, has just handed to her. But her blue coat is flapping in the wind and her papers keep jostling and she’s being watched, all of which is rather uncomfortable.

Idly, Sofiya wonders what the criminals might want. A smuggling, perhaps? Out and away from stinking, crawling, loathsome Ketterdam?

Sofiya hates this city. His city. She misses Ravka, her homeland- the Little Palace.

I miss my bloody Kefta, Sofiya thinks darkly as another bought of wind spirals harshly through the Harbour. The blue coat she wears is a subtle nod to her Tidemaker status, but it’s a sad, thin piece of cloth compared to the grandeur of the Fabrikator-made Keftas. But Sofiya can’t wear her Kefta, not if she wants to blend in in Kerch- a lesson she learned long ago…

Old enemies, Sofiya. Old enemies, but not withered grudges.

Huffing out a sigh that would make Zoya Nazyalensky proud, Sofiya rises gracefully to her feet.

They’re coming. She can feel it; they’re making their way towards the ship. They don’t have to be rowdy to intimidate, that’s for sure - or to make a crowd of Merchants and Thieves part like the sea almost immediately.

Sofiya reaches up behind her head and loops her hand around a piece of knotted rope; takes a deep, steadying breath.

And she steps off the platform into the open air.

For a moment, she catches on the air as if a Squaller has caught her on a buffering breeze, but sure enough, gravity kicks in.

Sofiya welcomes the feeling of her stomach in her throat as the fall takes hold, zipping her past the sails. It's good preparation, anyway, for the three dark figures moving up the docks towards her.

As they near and Sofiya lands lightly on the deck, she confirms what she already knew: these were criminals. Her criminals.

The trio stops in front of her. They're all wearing black and gold - not a uniform exactly, but it’s a solid way to show your allegiance. None of their hands were visible, but if they were, Sofiya would find the Robber Claws emblem branded cleanly onto the backs of their knuckles. Their hoods are drawn up over their faces, but Sofiya can tell from their posture who she’s dealing with.

"Ah, Iseut," Sofiya says serenely, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

The girl in the middle pulls down her hood, revealing shining blond hair, dark eyes, full lips. She doesn’t smile.

"Where have you been, Sofiya?" Iseut asks coolly.

"The Wandering Isle," Sofiya answers immediately, "I stopped at Os Kervo on my return to pick up some supplies. I'm only three days late, Is. Cut me some slack."

Iseut sighs, and suddenly looks less the badass, fake-waitress man-killer, and more the tired mother of a delinquent child. Sofiya feels a flicker of guilt.

She had stopped at Os Kervo for more than one reason. The "supplies" were crates upon crates of commandeered Fjerdan weapons and traps, intercepted by the First Army on their way to the Front Line. Sofiya had paid nothing to take them off the hands of the Ravkan soldiers, who honestly had no clue where to send them. What good were jerky Fjerdan guns to a sophisticated, well-oiled Second Army legion?

Sofiya could picture Zoya's face at the sight of the sad little weapons. Disgust and disdain, unshakable beauty - and perhaps just a little bit of pride that her friend had been the one to collect the Fjerdan cargo. Sofiya would work on selling it all later. She'd dump the Grisha traps in the ocean, though. Drown them like they deserved to be drowned.

"I am sorry, Iseut," Sofiya says, and her words aren’t mistruths.

"Don't apologise to me," Iseut says dismissively, "It’s your friends that were barely able to sleep the past few nights. You should talk to -"

"Destry," Sofiya's words mist the air like a fine rain, "I know."

One of the tall figures stood behind Iseut lowers her own hood. Lyra. Ly.

It made sense that the Robber Claws would send their best Bruisers to Fourth Harbour. Sofiya knew by the other Robber's posture that beneath the hood, she would find the face of Winter. But Winter wouldn't lower her hood in front of so many people, so Sofiya was content with what she could get.

"You really had Destry worried, Sof," Ly says, chastising.

"Destry can handle me being gone for weeks on end," Sofiya crosses her arms. She will not be guilt-tripped, "This job was half a week, and I was only a few days off schedule. I did tell Cherry that I'd be late." The words come out as a question.

None of them say anything.

Another flash of worry courses through Sofiya. Cherry Vlasova is a Heartrender, and one of Sofiya's closest friends. The message that Sofiya had forwarded was simple and concise: I'll be a few days late. Stopping at Os Kervo. Don't worry, no Fjerdans. Tell Destry -S.P

Had something happened to Cherry? She was an avid gossiper; her post box was always full of tip-offs (a useful source of information for the Robber Claws) but Sofiya was reliably informed that her letters were always placed on the top of the pile. Marked "URGENT."

"What happened? Is Cherry alright?" Sofiya demands.

Iseut holds up her palms, and they are callused and grease-marked. Sometimes Iseut is so well put together that Sofiya forgets she's a barmaid.

"Cherry is fine. But all our Grisha are shaken. Whilst you were away, there was an attack on the East Stave."

Sofiya's heart stops and restarts and stops again.

An attack. On the Grisha. And she wasn’t there to - to help, to defend-

"Destry," Sofiya breathes, "And Cherry - and Adali, Roza, Linnea, Yan, Anya- oh, Saints, was it the Fjerdans?"

There are many Grisha members of the Robber Claws. It was one of the reasons that Sofiya wanted to join them in the first place. If the Fjerdans had attacked -

"Everybody is fine," Ly says lowly, "We had Freya and May fixing people up as soon as we heard- and Lita, of course, but behind the scenes."

Freya and May- and even Lita, whose powers most of the gang didn't even know of. Grisha Healers. So people had been hurt.

"What. Happened." Sofiya growls, and Ly glares at her challengingly, fists clenching. The water beneath the decking froths and bubbles as Sofiya brings her own fists together, power surging pleasantly up her arms. If Ly wants a fight, she can have one.

"Calm down, both of you," Winter's smooth voice projects from under her hood. Despite the heavy fabric, her voice is clear and commanding. Sofiya takes a breath to compose herself.

"To answer your previous question: no. It wasn't the Fjerdans." Iseut says, "We don’t know what they were."

Sofiya's brow creases at the chime of fear in Iseut's voice. She's never seen the golden-haired barmaid afraid before.

It begins to rain softly, the pattering of droplets quiet against the wooden decking of the docks.

"We should go back to the Queen’s Head, Iseut," Ly suggests, referencing Iseut’s place of work. Iseut nods once, swiftly, and glances over Sofiya's shoulder at her warship.

"Do you need to...?"

"Yes."

"Go on, then."

"KASTOR! IM GOING FOR A ROUND OF DAY-DRINKING!" Sofiya yells over the shoulder of her rain-splattered coat. She hears Ly chuckle as Kastor's scruffy head pokes out from a window.

He nods at Sofiya when he spots her, and she waves, assenting. Kastor would keep everything safe whilst she was gone. It was their unspoken agreement, unchanging and unwavering since the day they'd become crewmates.

Sofiya turns back to Iseut, Ly and Winter.

"Let's be on our way," she says, and lets her fellow criminals lead the way along the Harbour, her warship disappearing into the mist behind her.

~~~~

The mid-day slump of customers meant that the Robber Claws had the Queen’s Head pub all to themselves.

Iseut- who did not own the pub, but had put more work into it than the real owners ever did- had immediately trekked behind the bar and poured herself a whisky.

"Want anything?" She asks, directing the question directly at Sofiya despite the equal presence of Ly- and Winter (who had lowered her hood slightly now that she was back on familiar ground, with familiar faces.) Bruisers didn’t drink on the job. It slowed reflexes.

"The story," says Sofiya firmly, "It a joke about the day-drinking. What happened?"

Iseut pours herself another whiskey and the quartet take a seat at a shady little circular table in a quiet corner. The murmurs of other Robber Claws members is enough to shelter their conversation from the group- despite Sofiya being sure she was the only one unaware of what had transpired the days she’d been gone.

As Iseut begins her story, with Winter and Ly regularly interjecting with additions, Sofiya feels horror and fear clamp down on her heart like a Fjerdan Grisha trap.

Iseut’s alluring voice weaves a tale of Komedie Brute actors in bloody masks, rose-painted rubble from an impossible explosion, and worst of all: Grisha. Dead Grisha, killed by creatures with screeching metal wings.

“Only a few of our Grisha were hurt,” Iseut sips her drink solemnly, “We took your advice of keeping them anonymous and undercover. We have Erin and our other spies out searching for answers at the embassies. I’m sure you’re just as eager to find out about the winged creatures as we are.”

Sofiya nods, “I am. Thank you for filling me in, Is, really. And to you, Ly, Winter. I know you don’t like going to far from the West Stave.”

The last comment was directed purely at Winter. It’s not a lie. Winter runs a dojo for training Kerch’s women to protect themselves from Barrel bosses and scum alike; she didn’t want her clients finding out about her… Robber side. Being a criminal wasn’t the most unintimidating, friendly persona to have when speaking with vulnerable women.

Sofiya respected Winter and her clean profession. It was hard to be so kind in the Barrel. And men were rarely kind to women at all.

Sofiya knew that first hand.

Shoving away the memories- blue eyes, dark hair, gorgeous smile, charming words and sharper wounds- Sofiya stands in one fluid movement.

“I’m going to find Destry,” she says. Iseut stands, Ly and Winter falling back to flank her again, and smiles. She’s beautiful, that is undoubtful, but the attacks- the sleazy men at the Queen’s Head, the strain of the city- it’s all gotten to her. Sofiya can see it.

This city is poison, thinks Sofiya as Iseut takes her hand and shakes it. Poison and rot.

“Destry will be in her rooms,” Ly supplies, and Sofiya nods at her once.

Sofiya grins brightly, hoping it covers her own weariness, and recites, “Fair winds.”

“Bright stars,” chorus her friends. Sofiya waves over her shoulder as she slips out of the bar and down an alley. Above her, a storm brews in the clouds.

Perhaps the stars would be out that night. It didn’t matter. Nobody in Kerch saw the stars anymore.

~~~~

On her way to Destry’s apartments, Sofiya ran into more members of the Robber Claws.

Malcolm and Firefly, who lived together in shared housing in the Anvil, were shopping for new blacksmiths’ equipment. They each provided invaluable services to the Robber Claws, crafting flawless weapons second only to that of Fabrikators. They greeted her with a wink each. Sofiya moved on swiftly after trading them a Wandering Isle-crafted staff for twenty Kruge.

She picked up some baked goods on the way. She would need them. Destry- who had been her closest friend since she arrived in Kerch- was an Inferni. Fire-bringer; with an even fierier temperament. Rumour had it- and Sofiya knew the rumours were true- that Destry had been attending the University of Ketterdam when she’d heard a boy make a lude comment during an exam and lit the paper on fire with her mind. And that paper had been thrown. At the boy’s face. Ouch.

Sofiya had been nursing a whiskey in a tavern when she’d first heard the story recounted. She’d leapt up from her seat, slithered into an alley and held the recounter at knifepoint until he’d told her Destry’s name.

They’d become fast friends upon meeting. Sofiya had been in awe of someone so rebellious, so brave as to set fire to an exam paper, and Destry- well. Destry had laughed for hours when Sofiya had told her how she’d first come across her name.

But now, staring up at the ornate windows of Destry’s apartment, Sofiya feels unsure. She didn’t mean to worry her friend. Iseut had explained that her letter must have gotten lost during the riots. Sofiya cursed the post offices. So there was a deadly storm- your motto is still “We always deliver.”

Despite her trepidation, Sofiya’s feet were swift on the stairs. She had a key to the apartment, and didn’t hesitate to unlock the door and slip inside without a sound, content to watch Destry whilst she worked; even if only for a moment.

Leaning against the wall, Sofiya’s brow creases as she surveys her friend. Destry’s hair is plaited carefully into two loops at the nape of her neck, hazel strands freeing themselves gently against her light brown skin. She’s stood facing away from Sofiya, arms circled in rings of fire. The shirt she wears is Fabrikator-made; the flames don’t take to the papery material.

Sofiya takes a step forward, and pointedly drops her bag of confectionary on the floor. It lands with an audible thump.

Destry whirls, the fire at her wrists whirling into an inferno ready to strike- until Destry sees who is at her door.

“Shouldn’t have hesitated, Des,” Sofiya said weakly, “I could have put a knife in your back.”

The shock on Destry’s face dissolves. Her face splinters down the middle. Licks of fire at her fingertips wilt into ash in a pile at her boot-clad feet.

“You would have put out the flames with your water, I’m sure,” Destry says, and then flies across the room towards Sofiya, wrapping her in a tight, smoke-smelling embrace.

Sofiya would normally pull back. “Don’t be too open with your heart, Des,” she’d say, “People use your loves against you here.” But Sofiya couldn’t bring herself to say those things. The weight of the week comes crashing down on her head like a tsunami.

Fjerdan traps on my boat, attacks on my gang, tensions in Ravka boiling over… where’s safe anymore, except here?

Destry pulls back slightly to scan Sofiya’s face. She has a smear of oil on her cheek. Destry’s eyes are filled with fire, burning like an ember beneath onyx waters.

“Where. Have. You. Been.”

“Destry-”

“Don’t you make excuses with me, Pavlichenkov,” Destry snarls, “You didn’t warn us you were late! I couldn’t sleep- neither could Cherry!”

“I-”

“We thought you’d been caught, Sofi,” Destry cries, “We thought the Fjerdans had got you! I thought you died.”

The word is ugly and big in the room, choking Sofiya’s response. Death. Dying. Dead. And by Fjerdan hands. It wasn’t so rare for travelling Grisha to be caught and sent to the pyres.

“I’m sorry,” Sofiya says, because it’s the only thing there is, “I wrote- I really did, don’t look at me like that- according to Lyra, there was a storm in the True Sea. The letter sunk with the ship.”

“You’re a Tidemaker,” Destry huffs.

“Yes, which means I manipulate water,” Sofiya says, “Not stop it from overturning ships with important letters on them. Destry, I’m sorry. I brought waffles.” She offers the last sentence like a defendant on trial with the Stadwatch; one final piece of evidence to prove her innocence.

Destry brightens immediately, “Well, in that case.”

The pair of them set to work, shoulders just brushing in the cramped kitchenette. Sofiya’s array of pasties are laid out over two plates, which they lay on their laps. Destry’s job for the Robber Claws is, in few words, that of the logician. Papers are scattered all over her apartment, covered in detailed blueprints and scale drawings of buildings all over Ketterdam, Fjerda and even- rarely- Shu Han. There were no drawings of Ravka.

If Iseut had ever commissioned a robbery in Ravka, Sofiya didn’t know about it. It would be…unwise to hit out at the Ravkans, with so many Grisha in the gang.

But Destry’s job was essential, so Sofiya couldn’t complain about the lack of trays to put their plates on. Such things were useless for such an incredible mind as Destry’s.

“So,” says Destry conversationally as she lights the fireplace with a casual flick of her wrist, “How were the Wandering Isles?”

Sofiya says nothing, massaging her temples lightly. Destry manages a laugh.

“Your silence is telling, Sofi,” she warns.

Sighing quietly, suddenly feeling very tired, Sofiya says, “It was crawling with our Fjerdan friends from the North. ‘Peaceful’ Fjerdans.”

Destry spins, and she is outlined with the fire. We’re opposites, Sofiya thinks. Fire and Water.

“You didn’t-” Destry begins, horrified.

Silently, solemnly, Sofiya raised her palms to face the ceiling. Destry reaches out.

Her gentle fingers trace the scars there. Deep and painful and barely healed, the scars run red against Sofiya’s pale flesh.

“Sofiya…” Destry breathes.

“It was the only way to push my power down,” Sofiya whispers. She’s rarely so emotive, but Destry is someone she trusts with everything. It was a weakness, some would say, but they were each powerful Grisha. They were Gods in a world of men. And they would not kneel “If I hadn’t, I would’ve been caught. It was a price to pay.”

Grisha shone like lighthouses around people. In Kerch, in Ketterdam, it was safer for them- especially ones loyal to a gang, as Destry and Sofiya were. But in the Wandering Isles; where Fjerdans passed through on their way to Novyi Zem, where gang affiliations mattered less than the colour of your eyes… Sofiya tells herself she had no choice.

“Sofiya, you’ve opened up old wounds here,” Destry says, tracing the marred skin of her palms again, “You need a healer. Freya, Lita, May-”

“Wouldn’t understand,” Sofiya finished, pulling her hands out of Destry’s and placing them carefully in her lap, obscuring them with her coat, “They’re healers, Des, not warriors- they’d go to Iseut.”

Iseut. Their unofficial leader, the founder, the lighthouse in raging seas. All of the Robber Claws seemed to be caught in her gravity. She was their sun. And Sofiya… well, Sofiya was the moon. Iseut would send her to a healer, one who would stop her travels. One who would commandeer her Warship, and Kastor… health of the mind was important to Iseut.

But Sofiya was not damaged, as they would tell her. She was not broken. Her mind was sound.

I did what I had to do, to survive.

But Destry can see through it all. Through the mask, through her eyes, right to her bones. Through to her lying, treacherous heart. We’re all broken in the end.

But.

Oh, Destry, Destry, please…

“I won’t tell her,” Destry promises, “But I’d like you to know that I think you should. Tell her, that is- Iseut. She might help.”

“She might ship me back to Ravka,” Sofiya grumbles, biting into a toasty croissant.

“Oh, she wouldn’t.”

“You never know.”

“She’ll want you to heal, that’s all.”

“Yes,” Sofiya rolls her eyes, “But these wounds are of the flesh. The scars on my heart will never heal, not in this life Perhaps there will be mercy in the next, even for my rotten soul.”

“You sound like you’re auditioning for the Komedie Brute,” Destry laughs.

“Mother, Father, pay the rent!” Sofiya crows.

“I can’t my dear, the money’s spent,” Destry choruses instinctively.

Sofiya wipes away an invisible tear, “Gorgeous! We’ll make an actress out of you, yet, Destry Clements.”

“Oh, you most certainly will not,” Destry huffs.

Their laughter fills the air, and Sofiya thinks that maybe there is hope for her rotten soul, after all.

~~~~

The man returns late from the pub wearing only one shoe.

A bottle drained halfway of mauve liquid dangles limply from his pale fingers. The veins in his foot are blue in the half-moon’s light.

He slurs a broken melody. She catches a few words as he passes below her on the street.

“Hmm… perish… light… air… fire… hell… hmmm…”

The man’s name is Danyl Harrop. And he is going to die tonight.

“Hmm… shadow… devil… rot… earth… sun… burn… lose….”

Harrop continues down the road, heedless of the mud on his bare foot. He'd be blackout drunk in the morning if he survived.

He wouldn’t.

Silent as a breeze, steps as soft as downy feathers, she leaps from the streetlight where she was perched.

She strikes.

She is ash and shadow. She is a storm of fire. She is vengeance.

She is death.

Harrop yelps as she pins him against the tree. His face is as white as the moon, with eyes like black craters.

“What’re you doi-” he slurs dazedly, but she silences him with a wave of her hand. He blubbers like a fish on land as he tries to shout for help.

“For King and Country,” says the girl. Stepping away from Harrop, she lets her power hold him against the tree, keeping his muscles upright. She surveys him like an artist would their unfinished masterpiece.

The girl whispers, “Sleep tight, Danyl.”

Flicking her wrist, she snaps his neck. He’s still alive, barely, so she latches on to what little of his mind there is left and strips it like an onion. For a man who is out so late, so drunk, on what the girl remembers as a work-day, he knows too much.

Secrets. They feed this girl, nourish her. There is a skip in her step as she turns away from Harrop; without her supporting his muscles, he collapses against the tree. She leaves his mind just as it goes dark.

There is no need to hide in the treetops upon her return to the city. It gleams just half a mile away, most of which is roiling seawater. As the girl wanders along the road back to Ketterdam, she finds Danyl Harrop’s shoe in a puddle of mud. The girl laughs at the sky. She flips a coin into the shoe, whispers a heartless prayer to her Saints, and moves on.

Back to Ketterdam. Back home.

~~~~

Ok, so that's that! I left it on a bit of a cliffhanger... I may have created a whole plot... so there might be some more coming soon!

all these excellent characters (save Sofiya, Danyl, Kastor and the girl at the end who kills Danyl- who has no name... yet *wink*) belong to the following:

Iseut is @littlegirldorothea's

Destry is @finnick-annie's (I may have made them besties👀👀)

Cherry is @brekkercookie's (they are ALSO besties👀👀 we have a trio omg)

Winter is @cressjacquine's

Lyra is @no-mourners-at-my-funeral's

Malcom is @blackpheonix’s

Firefly is @ask-shadowbon’s

Erin is @lightningboytytonjesper’s

Adali is @apple-bottom-jeansx’s

Roza is @vampire-rights’s

Linnea is @alonlyfangirl's

Yan is @lucentcorrigan’s

Anya is @queenlilith43’s

Freya is @smol-evil-gremlin’s

Lita is @the-whispers-of-moonlight’s

May is @saltyfortunes

and the "Fair winds, bright stars" motto as created by @spicy-tomato-sauce's

oh and the whole Grishaverse is the wonderful @lbardugo's <3

if I missed anyone or you want to tag anyone go ahead!

#shadow and bone #s&b #six of crows #kaz brekker #inej ghafa #nina zenik #matthias helvar #wylan van eck #the crows #pretty people #alina starkov #the darkling #malyen oretsev #mal oretsev #kanej #wesper #helnik #malina #darklina #milo the goat #sankta milo #sankta alina #general kirigan #soc #my writing #fanfic #soc fanfic

[rocknrollarticles]

The Artwoods Story

The Artwoods’ 100 Oxford Street is a UK compilation album released in 1983 that features a four-page booklet (pictured above) that tells the band’s story, written by guitarist Derek Griffiths.

Since there's a limit on the number of photos that can be added to one post, I'll be reblogging this a couple times until I have all the info up. To see this post with all the info added in reblogs, click here.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy Derek’s words as much as I do!

Transcript under the cut (main text + Record Mirror article from page three's rightmost side)

“  It's difficult to pinpoint exactly when the Artwoods came into being because everything just seemed to evolve naturally. The one date however that does stick in my mind is the 1st October 1964 which is the date I turned professional, thus depriving the accountancy profession of a valuable addition to its ranks! But seriously, one must go back to previous events in order to trace the history of the group.

I first met Jon Lord at a party in West Hampstead when he was a drama student at The Central School of Speech & Drama. He was introduced to me by Don Wilson whose claim to fame was his membership of the famous skiffle group Dickie Bishop & His Sidekicks. They had had a hit years previously with "No Other Baby But You", and Don now ran a band on a semi-pro basis called Red Bludd's Bluesicians in which I played guitar. Well, I say we were called this, but only when we were fortunate enough to cop an R&B gig. We used to play The Flamingo Allnighter and lots of U.S. air bases. The rest of the time we played weddings and tennis club dances as The Don Wilson Quartet! Jon Lord was brought in on piano and was a very valuable addition especially as he could get his hands around a little jazz and all the old standards. Jon used to ring me at work and interrupt my vouching of sales ledger invoices in order to discuss the coming weekends gigs. We would bubble with excitement at the approach of an R&B gig as we really hated all the weddings and barmitzvahs.

Around this time Don made a very important policy decision and we suddenly became the proud owners of a Lowrey Holiday organ for Jon to play. Shortly after this Don contrived to drive the band-wagon into the back of a lorry on the North Circular, doing himself considerable mischief in the process. This brought about the unfortunate end of Don's career with us, but not before he had masterminded an important merger of two local bands.

For some time we had been aware, and not a little envious, of The Art Wood Combo led by none other than Art Wood himself. His band underwent a split at that time and Red Bludd's Bluesicians, alias The Don Wilson Quartet, were neatly grafted on. We really felt we were moving into the big league by doing this as Art not only had more work than us but, wait for it, used to sing with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated with Charlie Watts on drums and Cyril Davies on harmonica! The next problem was a replacement for Don, and this was solved by stealing the bass player from another local group The Roadrunners, a good looking cove who went by the name of Malcolm Pool. The offer and acceptance of the gig were transacted in a pub car park somewhere in West Drayton staring into the murky waters of the Grand Union Canal clutching pints of local bitter (Fullers?). (Authors note: drugs had not been invented at this stage, as far as most groups were concerned, apart from the odd pill to keep one awake on an all nighter!)

~

The next personnel change took place some time in 1964 and this involved the retirement of drummer Reg Dunnage, who did not want to turn pro. Auditions were held in London and lots of drummers attended. However it was more or less a foregone conclusion that Keef Hartley would get the job. You see we'd already decided that what The Artwoods needed above all else was a Liverpool drummer! Unfortunately none came to the audition, but Keef hailed from Preston which was near enough for us. Keef had previously played with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, replacing Ringo Starr in the process (heady stuff this), and Freddy Starr & The Midnighters. Both were such influential bands of their time that these credentials combined with Keef's quasi Liverpool accent (at least to our ears) provided him with a faultless pedigree.

~

So that was it, the line-up that would take us through to 1967 when Colin Martin eventually replaced Keef Hartley on drums.

For a while we worked as The Art Wood Combo but then decided it was hipper to drop the Combo and become The Artwoods.

The period when The Artwoods were operating was one of musical change when groups went from recording and performing other writers' material to writing their own. In fact the last year of the group's existence was 1967 which heralded the arrival of "Hendrix", "Flower-Power". "Festivals" and experimental use of mind expanding drugs! 1966/67 were particularly exciting years to be based in London and every night would be spent in one of the many clubs which had recently sprung up. The Ad Lib, The Scotch of St. James, The Cromwellian, Blaises and of course The Speakeasy to mention a few. Many of these we played in and the trick was to be well known enough not to have to pay the entrance fee on nights off. Any night you could be sure to meet your mates "down The Speak" and it became the unofficial market place for rock musicians.

It was also the days before huge amounts of equipment took over. Equipment meant road-crew and trucks and in turn financial hardship. This simple equation has been the downfall of many bands over the years. We used to travel in a 15 cwt van together with all the gear-no roadies, just us. It's amusing to recall but after recording the TV show "Ready, Steady, Go" (in Kingsway in those days?) one would be besieged by autograph hunters on the way to the van with the gear. Even really 'big groups of the day like The Zombies would hump their own equipment and apologetically place an amp on the ground in order to sign an autograph! Because it was financially viable to travel to small clubs in this way, we would often average 6 or 7 nights a week, every week, on the road. A bad month would probably mean less than twenty gigs. This meant we were living, sleeping and eating in close, and I mean close, proximity. You really found out who your friends were.

The subject of equipment is an interesting one as it really distinguishes the bands then from those of today. The average pub band of today would carry more equipment than we did. As I've already mentioned we were quick to realise that we could elevate ourselves musically by investing in a proper electric organ as opposed to a Vox Continental or Farfisa that many groups used. Consequently the group purchased a Lowrey Holiday and we thought this alone would provide us with the Booker T and Jimmy Smith sound.

What we failed to realize was that we also needed a Leslie cabinet with a special built-in rotor to get that "wobbly" sound. Our friend and mentor Graham Bond, the legendary organist/saxophonist, was quick to point out the error of our ways one night when we were gigging at Klooks Kleek in West Hampstead. We groaned inwardly when we discovered the extra cost and humping involved, but it had to be bought. We were fortunate very early on to score a deal with Selmers, who provided us with free amps and P.A., but we had to make the trek to Theobalds Road once a week to get it all serviced as they were not as reliable in those days. I used a Selmer Zodiac 50 watt amp and Malcolm had Goliath bass cabinets with a stereo amp.

The P.A. comprised two 4 x 12 cabinets and a 100 watt amp! When we toured Poland we played in vast auditoria and linked our system with the Vox system being used on tour by Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas. This meant we were pumping out no more than 300 watts which is laughable by today's standards. Although it would never have compared in quality, I can remember standing at the back of extremely large halls and being able to hear clearly all the words Billy J sang. One day in 1963 Alexis Korner sent me off foraging in and around Charing Cross Road for a new guitar, with instructions to mention his name whereupon I would receive a discount of 10%. Previously I played a Burns Trisonic (collectors will appreciate this model did not have "Wild Dog" treble) but fancied owning a Gibson ES335 as favoured by many blues players. Sure enough one was hanging invitingly in the window of Lew Davis's shop.

I ended up paying £135 and still use it regularly today although its value has multiplied five fold. Malcolm came with me that day and bought an Epiphone bass, the same colour and shape as my guitar. For years we looked like matching book-ends on either end of the group! Keef started off using a Rodgers drum kit, but somewhere along the line changed to, I think, Ludwig. There was no out-front mixing as is common today, just the P.A. amp on stage with the vocalist. Primitive I know, but everything revolved around bands being able to travel economically with their gear and perform at small clubs anywhere in Britain. The college circuit was much sought after and provided the icing on the cake while package tours were not necessarily well paid. We did our first with P. J. Proby and got £25 per night (for the lot of us) and we had to pay for our own accommodation!

~

I have already mentioned "Ready, Steady, Go" a show on which we appeared on more than one occasion. The original format called for groups to mime to their records but after a time it was decided that it would become "live" and that the show would be re-titled "Ready Steady Goes Live". We were proud to be picked for the first "live" show and learnt the news via a telephone call to our agent in London from a phone box high in the Pennines. We managed a drunken war-dance of celebration round the phone box believing that this meant we'd really cracked it. As I remember the first show we did featured Tom Jones (complete with lucky rabbits foot) miming to "It's Not Unusual", The Kinks, Donovan and Adam Faith's Roulettes playing live (without Adam). We were promoting our first single "Sweet Mary" and I would put the date at around late 1964.

~

Our first recording deal was with a subsidiary of Southern Music Publishing called Iver Productions and I reckon that would have been mid 1964. Southern had a four track studio in the basement of their offices in Denmark Street ("The Street") and getting the gear downstairs, especially the organ, was "murder". Our first producer was Terry Kennedy and we recorded several tracks with him. Without going too deeply into all the details of recording techniques of the period, one tended to compensate for the lack of tracking facilities available, by attempting to duplicate the live excitement. In many ways it was a frustrating experience particularly for ambitious guitar-players. I was a Steve Cropper freak and I knew as a musician that a lot of his sound on record resulted from him working his amplifier hard in the studio— thus the speaker would emit the sound he was used to on stage. In Britain however, engineers would say "You don't need to play loud man, we can turn you up on the desk". The result was a weedy, thin guitar sound. From way back I'd been experimenting with "feed back" on stage and I really had to dig my heels in about the guitar sound in the studio. Once when I turned my amp up to give it a bit of "wellie" on a solo the engineer bounded out of the control room screaming that the level would bust his microphones!

~

Sometime during the career of The Artwoods it was decided that we should graduate to a better studio. This was arranged by Mike Vernon who also became our producer. Our records had all been released through the Decca Record Co. and Mike was a staff producer with them. Mike w also an authority on "The Blues" and the relationship led to our only single chart record "I Take What I Want" a cover of a Sam & Dave U.S. R&B hit. Mike was also producing John Mayall at the time and it seemed only natural that Mike and The Artwoods should team up. From this point on we recorded at the Decca studio in Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead, but I can't honestly say it did any more for us than our previous efforts in the Southern Music basement, although we could now indulge ourselves in the comparative luxury of the eight track studio. Later on, towards the end of the groups life we were signed by Jack Baverstock at Philips Records who was looking for a group to cash in on the thirties-style gangster craze which had been triggered off by the film "Bonnie & Clyde". As a result we changed our name to "St. Valentines Day Massacre" and released a single of the old Bing Crosby hit "Brother Can You Spare A Dime?" It was an ill- fated venture, which I would prefer not to dwell on, virtually signalling the end of the band apart from a few heavy-hearted gigs with a changed line-up.

~

Before that though, there were many great times to remember, and a fair number of gigs that were memorable in one way or another.

One of our favourite gigs was Eel Pie Island which we regularly played once a month; in fact we held the attendance record there for a while until the ageing blues artist Jesse Fuller took it from us. Eel Pie Island is literally an island in the middle of the River Thames at Twickenham and there's never been a gig like it since. It was an Edwardian ballroom originally I believe, that achieved notoriety in the 50's with the Trad Jazz boom. At that time, an overloaded chain ferry was used to convey the crowd across the river, but during the 60's a small bridge was in existence although it was only wide enough to take the promoter Art Chisnall's mini van. He had to make three separate trips across with the gear strapped to the roof and hanging out the back doors.

The audiences were exceptional for those times and I don't know where they all came from... very much like art students and very much more like the 70's than 60's. Long hair predominated and this was before 'hippies' had officially been invented! If you can imagine a ramshackle wooden ballroom, bursting at the seams, condensation pouring from the walls, the audience on each others shoulders leaping up and down, the sprung dance floor bending alarmingly in the middle, in the summer couples strolling outside and lounging on the river bank ... all this and not a disc jockey in sight! One other bonus was that it was a “free” house and therefore sold many different types of beer— we always favoured Newcastle Brown. Back on the 'mainland' afterwards it was always riotous packing the gear into the truck. I don't know how he managed it but one night Malcolm drove our truck over the support band's guitar which happened to be lying about, thus breaking the neck. I'll never forget the shocked look on that poor guitarist's face as Malcolm smoothly slipped the van into gear, apologised and drove off in that order!

~

No trip up north was complete without stopping at the famed Blue Boar on the M1 for a "grease-up" on the way home. I do not refer to truck lubrication but to a particular rock'n'roll delicacy known as “full-house”. This comprised double egg, sausage, chips, beans, tomatoes, fried slice, tea, and (if you were man enough) toast. It was considered a Herculean task to break successfully the 10 bob' (50p) barrier-all served on wobbly cardboard plates that doubled as items to sign autographs on for the self service waitresses.

Waitress: What band are you?

Me: You won't have heard of us.

Waitress: Oh go on, tell us.

Me: OK. The Artwoods.

Waitress: Never 'eard of you!

It was everybody’s dream to walk into the Blue Boar just as their hit of the moment was playing on the Juke Box.

~

One time we were chosen to represent the twentieth century at the centenary celebrations of the State of Monte Carlo— a most lavish affair which the aristocracy and dignatories of Europe attended. Princess Grace and Prince Ranier were the hosts and people like Gina Lollobrigida and the like were there. The ball was held in the famous Casino at Monte Carlo and we stayed in an opulent hotel called The Hermitage, I think. All I can remember is that we all had single rooms (a rare luxury) which were massive, and you could have pitched a tent under one of the bath towels, they were so big. After this we jetted off up to Paris where we played next door to the Moulin Rouge at a club called The Locomotive.

Whilst we were there we were taken out by our friend Mae Mercer, the American lady blues singer who we backed in England. She lived in Paris and took us out to Memphis Slim's club where we all set about drinking like it was going out of style. At the end there was an embarrassing scene concerning the bill with the result that Mae ended up in tears. Whilst we were bumbling about in an alcoholic stupor, an upright looking gentleman put his arm round Mae to comfort her and a wallet appeared magically from his inside pocket. Without further ado the bill was despatched and we later learned that our anonymous benefactor was none other than Peter O'Toole who was busy in the street outside filming 'Night Of The Generals' and was an old buddy of Mae's.

~

One Boxing Day we loaded up with turkey sandwiches and Xmas pudding and headed off for a gig down in Devon or Cornwall somewhere. We arrived to find the club closed and boarded up, and as usual we were broke. Naturally we were livid, checked into an hotel and located the promoter who lived with his mum. Next morning we drove round to where he lived and burst our way past his confused mum. We found him in his bedroom nervously cowering against some fruit machines which he collected. He had no money so we forced him to empty his damned machines with the result that we drove back to London with 50 quids' worth of 'tanners' (approx 22p for the younger reader!)

Whilst on the subject of disasters I suppose I am duty bound to mention Denmark. The first time we went there we caught the ferry to the continent, drove up through Germany, then caught another ferry to Denmark. There was no promoter to meet us when we arrived so all we could do was drive to Copenhagen and check in at the Grand Hotel. It cost us an arm and a leg but at least we got a good nights sleep after being awake for nearly two days travelling. The next day we made a few phone calls and finally tracked down the promoter. He said: "Didn't you get my telegram cancelling the tour?" We politely said no we hadn't and what did he intend doing with us? He checked us into another hotel (cheaper of course) and set about booking us at places that were similar to English coffee bars and youth clubs. We made enough to survive on and paved the way to more successful tours of that country. In fact by now we had Colin Martin on drums and were pursuing a much more adventurous musical policy and writing our own material. It was just right for Denmark who had taken Hendrix to their hearts to name but one, and we subsequently became quite big there in 1967.

The Artwoods achieved modest success-a minor hit single in "I Take What I Want", but we worked constantly, travelled abroad, had fantastic fun and made a living doing so. We had seven single releases, one album, and one EP, and we broadcast both on radio and TV many times. We did stage tours such as the P. J. Proby tour and covered most aspects of "show-biz" apart from actually making a movie. It was the era when bands still had to prove themselves as a live act before being offered a recording contract. now frequently happens of course that an act can become huge record sellers without so much as venturing to do a live gig.

~

So what happened to everyone? Well Art returned to his former occupation as a commercial artist and finds some time to fit in free-lance work between accompanying brother Ron Wood on raving excursions between Rolling Stones gigs. Malcolm moved into the same field as Art and they now work in the same building. Both of them gig occasionally on a semi-pro basis although Malcolm spent some time playing with Jon Hiseman's Colosseum and Don Partridge in the early 70's. Jon Lord became famous with Deep Purple and Whitesnake as did Keef Hartley with John Mayall and various bands of his own. Colin Martin is now a BBC Radio producer of repute. I played in various bands such as Lucas and The Mike Cotton Sound, Colin Blunstone's band, Dog Soldier (with Keef again), before I somehow drifted into studio and theatre work. Recently I formed an R'n'B band called the G.B. Blues Company, and it's great to be back on the road again.   ”

Derek Griffiths.

Clipping from Record Mirror on June 5, 1965, by Norman Jopling.

“We aim to excite!” … say the Art Woods

Just for the record, the Art Woods aren't a part of Epping Forest. In fact they're a group of five interesting young men, named after the group's leader Art Wood. They also happen to be one of the most realistic groups on the scene.

For a start, they are the awkward position of having a large following, a club residency but no hit record. Secondly. they don't mind pandering to commercial tastes, even though they have been hailed as one of the most authentic R & B groups in the land.

NO PULL

“But authentic R&B just isn't pulling the crowds any more,” says Art. “The audiences want to be excited, not to be lectured on what is 'good' and what is 'bad'. Although there was a time when you could spend half an hour on one number with long solos by everybody, it didn't last long. And although there are some clubs like that still, most of them want something fresh and new.

“And we try to cater for them. We like authentic R&B, but we also like playing everything and anything else. So far, our two discs haven't meant a light. Of course we'd love a hit. But we're lucky enough to make a good living without one.”

DISCS

The Art Woods latest disc is "Oh My Love" and the one before that “Sweet Mary”. Of them Little Walter has said that he couldn't believe any white group could sing and play the blues like they do.

Line-up of the group is Art Wood, leader. vocalist and harmonica. Derek Griffiths, lead guitar, Jon Lord, organ and piano. Malcolm Pool— base guitar, and Keef Hartley on drums. The boys use a specially adapted Lowrie organ, and get a sound that's really different.

But even if the boys sometimes become depressed about no hits records, they should remember groups like Cliff Bennett, the Barron-Knights, the Rockin' Berries and the Yardbirds, and how long THEY waited before they had a hit!

N.J.

#the artwoods #the art woods #art wood #derek griffiths #malcolm pool #jon lord #keef hartley #colin martin #100 oxford street #the 100 club #articles #liner notes #newspaper clippings #record mirror #my posts

[muggle-writes]

Rules: Answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better.

tagged by @elizabethsyson

Nickname: Muggle is my nickname, but when I went by Muggle in person for more than a month at a time, it naturally got abbreviated, usually to Mugz

Zodiac: Aquarius

Last movie I saw: into the spiderverse (same answer as last time. I don't watch that many movies tbh except around Christmas. unless YouTube counts in which case... music of some sort? idk links for the next answer)

Favorite musician: changes by the day. I've kinda been in an acapella and/or folk music mood recently so the Maccabeats and Peter Hollens are in my YouTube and Spotify history a lot recently. also I'm eternally in awe of Forte Handbell Quartet (eta a longer video; i recommend skipping to the techno piece or the Jurassic Park theme)

Last thing I googled: "vine why are you buying clothes at the soup store" (my wife hasn't seen it; also i can't find the vine because apparently it's a much bigger meme than I realized). before that it was "chgrp not root" because work and group permissions are useful when they work

Song stuck in my head: well for most of the day when I haven't been actively listening to something, it's been the Pokemon RSE route-walking music. (but that somehow happens frequently when I'm in the no-music-no-internet room at work, as I was for most of the day, and I don't know how I accidentally trained my brain to make that connection). right now, surprisingly, I don't have any background music playing in my head. I think it's because the humidifier provides just enough white noise that my brain doesn't feel the need to provide its own

Other blogs: my main is @muggle-the-hat and I'm a mod on @why-do-neurotypicals but we've gotten one ask ever so that blog has been dormant for a while. I have a bunch of other sideblogs, but they're all small and I use different screen names on each of them (enby life: no idea which name suits me best so I may as well try them out) so i feel like it would just confuse things to link them.

Following: blogs matching all the themes of my sideblogs, (including this one, which is writeblr), korean langblr, jumblr, assorted fandom blogs, authors of my more favorite fanfictions (some overlap with other categories), and irl friends and acquaintances (including one fandom blog turned irl friend)

Do I get asks: on my main if at all, which isn't really surprising because i have hundreds of followers there and maybe 60 followers combined among the rest. but I get asks far less often than I reblog ask memes so... I'm always happy to get more. I do get tagged in ask games more on this one, but writeblr is actually vaguely organized about tag lists so that makes sense. also I used to get tagged a bunch on my main and I rarely could find the posts again to follow up when I had time to answer.

What I’m Wearing: pajamas. staying warm and cozy

Lucky number: I don't remember what I said last time, but I like a lot of numbers. 64 is a good number. recently I've been debugging software in which 0x3E is my lucky status number and 0x0E taunts me. (um, decimal 62 and 14). Also my other favorite number i can't share until it's no longer the combination to the lock to the Secret Room. (or realistically never because opsec and i shouldn't make public the types of parents we use for that combination lock), honestly I aim to be like.... ah, I'm sure the anecdote involves G.H. Hardy but i don't remember on which side. anyway one mathematician remarked to another about how the id number of the taxi he rode in was sadly uninteresting, and the one I aspire to be like, argued "what are you talking about, this number is interesting because ______" and I'd like to be able to do that for any arbitrary number thrown at me. (hi yes math is good, history is hard, math history is interesting yet i still forget the people even if i remember the math. except when things are named after people, but that tends to be, like, Euler and LaGrange and other people who did lots of cool science things so i remember the methods and the names of the methods separately which never helps)

Amount of sleep: ....depression both screws with my sleep schedule and means I always feel like I need more sleep except when I wake up at 5pm and feel like I've wasted the day. so yeah. I can never get enough sleep

Favorite food: yes (why do I have to pick a favorite?) uh, chocolate in most forms, many other sweet things, red meats (especially if served with potatoes), curry (especially if it has "too much" ginger), fresh-baked bread, chai the way my favorite local Indian restaurant makes it (spicier with just a little bit of sweet, which is the opposite of what i can get from the mocha machine at work which is wayyy sweet with a hint of spice but that inferior chai is still superior to coffee so i drink too much of it). also vegetables which I really don't eat enough of: sauteed zucchini and onions, roasted broccoli

Dream trip: dreaming requires creativity and tbh I funnel that mostly into my writing instead. I wouldn't mind going back to Korea for another visit though

Dream job: my current job is pretty good when I feel productive and when my debugging tools actually produce data maybe??? (they were not being helpful today. but i still mostly like my job.) dream job is probably this but with seniority and confidence and double the salary (while living in a similar area of the country; I wouldn't want to double my salary by moving to work for Google in California and having less available after rent than I do now)

Describe yourself as aesthetic things:

the smell of old books

the first glow of sunrise (the sunrise painting the mountains pink and gold)

a rainbow in the spray from a waterfall

the flicker of distant lightning (watching a thunderstorm fade into the distance)

this picture

Random fact: about me or about the world?

how about a combination answer: when we got our new handbell music this season, we only looked at half the pieces our first rehearsal and afterwards I tried to look up one of the pieces we hadn't gotten to on YouTube because it's got a weird time signature and I wanted to get a feel for how fast it would go and how strict the counting is...... except it turns out we're the first group to ever play the piece. it was commissioned recently but seeing my conductor's name on the page didn't tell me how new it was because he's super prolific. (the fact that it was on printer paper without the publisher's graphics should have been a giveaway but it's only the second time I've been among the first to play one of his pieces so I think I can be excused for not realizing)

Languages: mostly just English, but I took Spanish for years, so I can hold simple conversations in it. I can almost read sound out Hebrew fast enough to keep up in services, and I know some random Hebrew vocab but comparatively no grammar. and I took Korean in college, enough that I can recognize sentence structure but I can really only speak tourist-Korean, though I can sound anything out (if it's typed. handwriting is hit or miss.) in both Hebrew and Korean (and Spanish tbh but i don't often listen to Spanish music) I'm very proud when I can separate the words enough, listening to a song, to translate them without looking up the lyrics. also I tried to learn Japanese from Duolingo when it was new, but I still hadn't gotten the kana straight when it started progressing to kanji so that was a rough time and I went back to Hebrew.

tbh I "dabble" in "language learning" which really means I start a million courses on Duo and stick with none of them. with the notable exception of French, which I acknowledge is super common and probably a good idea to learn but the spelling and pronunciation seem so arbitrary I'm scared to look close enough to learn it properly, and I've never particularly considered starting the Duolingo course for French

I think I lost a few questions, because that's only 18 answers. whoops.

um... who to tag

@abluescarfonwaston if school hasn't drowned you in work yet and @copperscales I'm interested in both of your choices for lucky numbers especially.

... wow I'm blanking on other mutuals I haven't tagged recently. as usual lmk if you'd like to be edited in, or just answer the questions and tag me back, that's great too.

#tag games #i really like that 'describe yourself' question can we keep that around as a poetry prompt? #i think you also tagged me in a 'last line' tag game but i still haven't written anything #my creative energy has been (a) low and (b) directed specifically into generating matching titles for my purimgifts fics #i'll participate if i still remember by the time i'm doing 'real' writing again or you can just tag me the next time that game comes around

[maiji]

PASSION GENTLE SEXY COOL

@atorier and I have this wonderful friendship where we're into different things (series/fandoms), but appreciate the same overarching stuff (e.g., creative process, storytelling, character design and development) so we can still excitedly talk about what we're into with each other. This means she updates me on otome games and I update her on, uh, classic Asian literature and comics with Buddhist monks. It results in lots of hilarious conversations where random things get all blended together and we end up with yet another dumb and convoluted (but IMO great) in-joke.

So I want to tell you about our new character design framework, PGSC: Passion, Gentle, Sexy, Cool.

Long story short, atorier has been playing 夢王国と眠れる100人の王子様 (100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams), in which you basically rescue/collect princes from different fantastical themed countries. 

Each prince has a type: passionate, gentle, sexy, cool, or cute. These labels convey a general expectation of the character's personality, appearance and story, and are broad enough that there is quite a bit of latitude in interpretation for how the label works for them. For instance, gentle doesn't necessarily mean wimpy; cute doesn't necessarily mean the character looks like they're 10 years old, etc. For fun, atorier showed me different characters and I guessed which type they were based purely on design and facial expression. 

Then, I recently finished reading ボーズ☆ライフ！ 春 (Monk Life ~Spring - I haven't decided whether or not to get the summer edition yet lmao), which is a comic of comedy 4-koma about these four guys who purposefully or accidentally shave their heads and go to monk school.

I was showing some pages to atorier and this convo happened:

(No cute, because it easily falls as a subcategory of interpretation under passionate or gentle, and simple is better.)

Armed with our revelation, I started seeing if I could apply this totally arbitrary framework to other things. It's like that school of thinking when conceiving an ensemble cast, where you base each character on a particular thematic pillar to help create interesting balance and dynamics as you write, and hopefully have more diverse characters that can appeal to different people. Like yinyang, the four humours, the four (or five, if using an Asian system) elements, sentai colour symbolism (red, blue, yellow, black, green, pink etc.), that sort of thing.

So let's take Yu Yu Hakusho. Here are the four main characters and my mapping attempt. 

Passion: Yusuke, obviously. This is a common main character personality (like red for Sentai teams, fire element, etc.)

Gentle (and cute): Kuwabara because he's such a softie 

Sexy: Kurama, I think the fandom has spoken on this one

Cool: Hiei, who is outwardly aloof and distant, and I think the fandom would generally agree as well

Not bad. Ok, let's see it applied to a different quartet. This will enable us to appreciate the broad interpretation possible with each label. Here's the Toguro Team.

Passion: Bui, with his intense drive to be powerful and beat Toguro

Gentle: Toguro Ototo (younger) and his many moments of being startlingly thoughtful/diplomatic and not wanting to cause more suffering than necessary

Sexy: Karasu, because of his appearance/attitude and dynamic with Kurama

Cool: Toguro Ani (older), who is an arrogant heartless bastard.

As you can see, this can all be debated - I don't see why someone couldn't argue Karasu and Bui should switch, because of Karasu's obsession with Kurama, for example, or whatever. An interesting and useful system should be flexible and allow you to have overlap and ambiguity if a character is multidimensional, otherwise you end up with the most boring canned stereotypes. But I think you'll agree that the alignments show enough distinction that you can pretty comfortably put people in a section and filter relationships and comparisons through it, which then become more interesting (and amusing lol). They don't have to be totally different, just provide enough of a different angle that you can emphasize certain characteristics over others in how you write or how others perceive the group and its individuals. It's also just fun to rationalize the association and be able to think more deeply about the characters.

Now let's try this with Tale of Genji, sometimes considered the world's first novel. Here are the four main male characters. They don't all appear at the same time as the two friendship-rivalries (Genji and To no Chujo / Niou and Kaoru) are of different generations, but the story emphasizes the difference in quality/personality between each of them and between the generations, so it's valid to compare them all together from a literary analysis perspective. 

Sorry I couldn’t easily google up a cool picture of these people since the heyday of this fandom was like a thousand years ago. But I got this cute sticker set! 

Genji: Sexy

To no Chujo: Cool (here the interpretation is less cold and more, uh, cool cool - he's self-assured, a more toned-down sexy lol)

Niou no Miya: Passion

Kaoru: Gentle

You can add further nuance. For example, Niou is definitely Passion+Sexy, and Kaoru is definitely Gentle+Cool. This example works super ridiculously well, actually! IT'S BASICALLY THE WHOLE CRUX OF THEIR NARRATIVE CONFLICT as reiterated by about a bajillion scholarly articles over the last millennium. Therefore this is now a valid literary analysis framework lmao

After all this productivity, I went to bed.

And then woke up in the middle of the night with the thought, BUT WHAT ABOUT HOKUSHIN AND THE MONKS??

Here's my approximate 4am thought process (you can reference everything we know about them in the monks cheatsheet!): 

Passion: Easy-peasy. Definitely Nankai

Cool: Probably Touou. He's gruff and blunt.

Gentle: I would put Hokushin.

That leaves Sexy for Seizan. OK I'm done and now I can sleep.

Then I fell asleep again and dreamed about something unrelated, like doughnuts or spreadsheets or whatever. When I woke up for work I was like, hmm, this list might need some review. Or who knows, maybe not. Imao

THE END

#silly #lol #passion gentle sexy cool #yu yu hakusho #tale of genji #bouzu life #yume 100 #urameshi yusuke #kuwabara kazuma #kurama #hiei #toguro ototo #toguro ani #karasu #bui #hokushin #seizan #seitei #touou #nankai #hikaru genji #to no chujo #niou no miya #kaoru chujo

[tetesaxman]

My Boston and New York Trip Summary

I wrote this as part of my WLJ Internship.

Staff Diary : 

We have many talented staff: full-time, part-time, interns, volunteers working with us towards strengthening our jazz community. From time to time we’d like to feature a personal thoughts of them. For this entry, we would like to feature our loving intern Te and about his first big trip to the States to Los Angels, Boston and the jazz capital, New York City!

MY BOSTON AND NEW YORK TRIP SUMMARY  Pongthipok Sootthipong (WLJ SG intern)

BOSTON DAY 1 - Wally’s Cafe Jazz Bar

As I was in the car driving from Merced to San Francisco Airport to take a flight to Boston, I’ve already looked up some jazz bars in Boston. Without thinking about how cold it was gonna be when I arrive in Boston, I planned to go to Wally’s Cafe Jazz Bar, which has been established since 1947. There were two things that made me decide to go to Wally’s that day, number one, how close it is to the hotel I was staying at and it advertised itself on its website as ‘Musicians Training Ground’. Since, I really wanted to see what the Berklee kids are doing musically, there was no hesitation. 

I reach Boston at 6 or 7pm, It was about 4 degrees Celsius, which I was told, was quite warm for Boston’s winter temperatures. I was literally freezing. I didn’t rethink my decision though, I took the metro to Wally’s. My description of Wally’s would be a space where the growing musicians can come and grow. It was a small bar with barely more space than the space of one ground floor shop house unit. It didn’t help with the fact that the place was packed back to front. I couldn’t get anywhere past the door.

As for the music at Wally’s, It was a saxophone quartet. I don’t know who it was but they were quite talented and young so I had my suspicions that they were Berklee or New England Conservatory students. To be honest, the level of musicianship on that day was pretty high, despite the loud talking and intoxicated audience. I felt like I didn’t appreciate their music as much as I should. This is purely because they were playing modern jazz, straight eighth kinda feel, which I haven’t studied and therefore do not understand. I stayed for 1 and half set. I had to leave because it was too hot inside the bar, too cold outside the bar and I needed to catch the train back to the hotel. Overall, it was a mixed experience stompin’ in at Wally’s but I blamed that on my level of musical understanding. 

BOSTON DAY 2 - BERKLEE COLLEGE OF MUSIC

The second day of my Boston trip, I was scheduled to meet with the Singaporean bassist studying abroad at Berklee College of Music, Mr. John Koh. We scheduled to meet at 160 Massachusetts Avenue at 12pm or as I called it, the Berklee new building. Prior to my meeting John, i’d like to do some CD shopping. After a search on Google Maps, I discovered that the best thing to do is to head to a music shop at the New England Conservatory, which was only down the road from my hotel. I was expecting the shop to be a CD shop, but instead it was a music shop, full of scores and other stuff. I bought a Brecker book then left. I discovered that I could walk from NEC to Berklee in 10 mins. Hence I did. 

As I walked up to Berklee on that cold saturday afternoon, I see the vibe, the practice vibe. Everybody was walking into or out of the Berklee College of Music buildings with their instruments and with their friends. The vibe was incredibly positive and friendly. There were Wendy’s restaurant, some bars, musical instrument shops and 7-eleven across the street. 

After I met up with John Koh, he took me for a trip around the campus of Berklee Boston. Their recording studios and suites are massive and state of the art. They have loads of fully equipped ensemble rooms littered throughout the campus buildings. They have a library full of music books. They have a big computer lab and a Stan Getz saxophone on display. 

However, their practice rooms are extremely tiny when compared to anything we are used to here at the college I studied at, LASALLE College of the arts or any other practice studios at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music. Their piano rooms can only fit one upright piano and a bench and that’s it. In fact, when I came back to Singapore and told my teacher, Greg Lyons about Berklee. Being an alumni, he described the practice rooms for saxophone as telephone booths. All of this didn’t matter because on this saturday afternoon a week before christmas, everybody was practicing and shedding and hanging around Berklee. In fact, the day I was there, there happened to be an assault that took place at the 7-eleven opposite to the campus, but it didn’t matter because, everybody was still hanging around campus at 10pm. Massachusetts Avenue was still alive on this cold saturday night. 

NEW YORK CITY 

Two days later I was cruising through jazz bars in New York City. I went to the infamous Village Vanguard where I’ve paid 35 dollars for two nights for a 10:30pm set to watch Kenny Barron and Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. The set at Village Vanguard ended around midnight. Both nights, I was starstrucked to be able to watch some of my heros such as Kenny Barron and Dick Oatts performed live in front of me. The set at Village Vanguard ends around midnight. I would then grab a pizza from the store next door and walk down a block to Smalls. I love Smalls. It’s really a proper underground (literally) jazz bar you would envision to see in New York City. I was also there for two nights. I caught Ben Zweig Trio “After-hours” at 1am playing proper, super swingin’ swing music on the first night, and Jon Elbaz Trio “After-hours” at 1am playing more third-stream music which I’ve yet to understand. The will to find out more about the music made me stay for the after jam session on that night. 

It was closing in on 3:30am at Smalls. The after hours jam session is coming to the last song. The last song they played was ‘If I were a Bell’. Since It was getting late, each jammers was only allowed to take one chorus. There were about 6 saxophonists and a few more trumpeters and trombonists. Each jammers looks like they are college kids or younger. I could have sworn that they are 25 and younger. However, their level of playing is beyond beliefs. The language, the connection to the music, the communication within the band stand is astonishing. I’d never forget that last song. Each players were trying their best, all different sounds with one common goal, to play as good as they can play. 

I cannot put into words how inspired I am from taking this trip to Boston and New York as well as Los Angeles, where I actually jammed. I made new friends in these three cities last December and I’m glad. I’m glad that I’m fortunate enough to have experience what the music is really like in one of the best jazz schools in the world as well as the city which has been at the center of jazz music for the longest time. Prior to my journey to the states, I felt really stuck and uninspired, the jazz scene in Singapore was not doing so well and I’ve no new inspiration. No new experiences to fill that urge of wanting more even though I tried to get myself to be inspired, I practiced more, I transcribed more, I listened more. But at the end of the day, It was same old same old.  Same places, same tunes and same acts. It was as though nobody cares about the music anymore. It was as though we lost that connection that bonded music to us. 

Why not move to New York? I’d love to put myself in New York City, but that’s still a long journey away. Obviously there are many disadvantages of living in New York both musically and physically. However, I’m never someone who plans ahead that much, I’m more of a guy who make what now matters. I figured that the thing I can do now, is try to bring New York City back to me. To be the best of what I am. To push beyond expectations and limitations. To be inspired and eventually inspiring. There won’t be an end. 

In Singapore now and doing my thesis for my four months left at LASALLE College of the Arts, I have one big goal. My one and only big goal is to aim high, to aim to be as good as the New York Cats I saw ; jamming ‘If I Were a Bell’ at Smalls at 3:30am in the morning. I know it’s a long shot but it’s worth a try. This is because at the end of the day, you learn from your actions. 

MORE PICTURES

VINCENT HERRING at SMOKE, New York City

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at Village Vanguard, New York City

Jam Session at Mezzrow Jazz Club, New York City

ALL BUT TWO jazz bars I went in the US was overground.

 Masami Kuroki at Rhythm Room, Los Angeles

Written by Tete with help and inspiration from Aya Sekine: Somewhen in early 2019

tetesaxman.com

welovejazz.org

#singapore #singaporejazz #berklee #newyorkjazz #lasalle #welovejazz #welovejazzsg

[reylorabbittrail]

Why the Trio in the Sequel Trilogy Won't Be a Trio

I’ve seen a lot of chatter and speculation over last year and a half about who the Trio™ of the sequel trilogy is. There was an assumption that Finn, Rey, and Poe would be, but look at how Rey doesn’t even meet Poe onscreen in TFA. They have a four sentence interaction in the novelization after awkwardly hugging when the map is completed. Then Rey leaves to go find Luke. 

When asked point blank who the trio is in TLJ, Rian Johnson answered by asking if they meant the three on the teaser poster. Clearly, fan expectations are not quite meeting reality when it comes to character dynamics. 

Now to be fair, there is a surfeit of trios running around the new trilogy. Someone compiled a list (sorry guys, I suck at searching tags or I’d link to that here) and found at least ten of them. But none of them mirrors the Original Trilogy Trio™. 

“But wait!” you say, “Star Wars has always had a trio. Han, Luke and Leia. Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan. Why not now?” So, yeah. I’m going to make the argument that the prequel trio is a very different sort of trio from the OT trio. They aren’t comparable. And there is a good reason that we aren’t getting one at all in this new trilogy. 

Three is a Magic Number 

Literature and Film are littered with trios. Three is one of those numbers that just feels good. It can represent all kinds of things from youth, maturity, and old-age, to faith, hope, and charity. Myth gives us the Three Fates, the God-rulers of Heaven, Earth, and Underworld, the judgement of Paris between Wisdom, Rule, and Love. Within the Christian religion there is not only the trinity of the Godhead, but also Christ’s threefold temptation in the desert, and the call to love God with Heart, Mind, and Strength. Pay attention to those last two. They matter here.

In adventure stories, trios make a good party. Look at Conan the Barbarian. The 1982 movie (a pastiche of several of the short stories) has a trio of fighter-thieves on a mission to rescue a princess from the clutches of an evil cult. The trio is Conan, our protagonist, Valeria, his lover, and Subotai, his sidekick/friend. The combination of hero, love interest, and sidekick/best friend is pretty common. And in terms of symbolic significance, it basically states that our hero succeeds through the support of love, both romantic and platonic. This is Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan. 

Another common trio in adventure stories is Mage, Fighter, & Rogue. Does this one sound familiar. It’s only every swords and sorcery movie ever. It’s the a Trio from Wheel of Time, Rand, Perrin, and Mat. (Significantly, the love interests are not part of this trio. It isn’t a necessary component, unlike the previously mentioned one.) And it also is one way to describe Luke the Magic Space Knight, Leia the Warrior Princess, and Han the Rogue.

The third major type of trio, and the one I want to focus on, is the Tripartate Soul Trio. You should recognize this from philosophy or psychology. Id, Ego, and SuperEgo. Intellect, Will/Spiritedness, and Appetite. Guts(Strength), Heart, and Brain(Mind). See, I told you I was bringing that one back. And the temptations in the desert? They were first to bodily needs, than political power, and finally to intellectual and spiritual pride. And four centuries before Christ, Greek philosophers were pondering the same division.

We know plenty of these, but to stick to popular fandom so, think Spock, Kirk, and Bones. Spock is the hyper rational one, always seeking the most logical solution, but not necessarily the most humane. Kirk is the man of action, acting on instinct, but not necessarily emotion. Bones is the emotional one, prone to irritable outbursts and always chafing at how unfeeling Spock is. 

Another example, you ask? Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Ron Weasley. Hermione is the logical, intellectual one, Harry the instinctive man of action, Ron the mess of emotions. This trio does not necessitate a love interest, but if there is one it will be between Brains and Guts, the alchemical marriage that resolves opposites, leaving heart as the third wheel. The protagonist is always Heart. This is because in the integrated man (or woman), the heart is the center of action, spurred to action by the appetites, and moderated in that action by the intellect. 

Funny how Han and Leia end up together and Luke is the third wheel. Yeah, that’s not by accident. Leia is the brains of the operation, Han is all gut, Luke is all heart. Even there companions reinforce this. Han’s best friend communicates in emotionally charged growls, and is a volatile, reactive creature. Leia’s protocol droid is a prissy robot that is forever spouting off the statically likelihood of actions. Luke’s astromech is a droid of action, along with being pretty sassy. 

Are any of these trios showing up so far in the sequel trilogy? I mean with actual screen time together as a team. Nope. Didn’t think so. 

There’s a reason for this. 

Four Elements, Four Humours 

The Tripartate Soul is still going to matter in a big way in the sequels. But it is not going to be represented by people. I’m working on a much bigger post on why I think that it is going to center on the nature of the force. Suffice it to say that Manichean dichotomy of the first film between good and evil is shifting to something much more nuanced. 

There is another literary number that plays very nicely here though, and for which I’m seeing groundwork laid. Four. Four has its own impressive history, from four gospels to four Cardinal virtues, to the four elements. I’m going to focus on the last one. 

Ancient medicine had a number of schools of thought, including one that was outstandingly bad at healing people, but pretty good at personality typing and identifying primary weaknesses and strengths. The melancholic (excess of black bile, treated with enemas) was prone to despair, the choleric (excess of yellow bile, treated with purgatives) to pride, the sanguine (excess of blood, treated by bleeding) to flightiness, the phlegmatic (excess of mucus, treated with decongestants) to disengagement. But melancholic are emotionally intuitive, cholerics are your fiercest ally, sanguines can make anyone smile, and a phlegmatic is a staunch friend and a rock of stability. 

Want to guess what element they relate to? Well, Choleric is obviously Fire. Sanguine is Air, Phlegmatic is Water, and Melancholy is Earth.  Now here is where I would bring in Avatar: The Last Airbender because it would be perfect, but unfortunately I haven’t seen it. So instead I will note how lovely it is that the Hogwarts houses match up with the four elements. Gryffindor, with its fiery red and gold colors and courageous inhabitants represents the best of the choleric temperament. Ravenclaw is situated in the highest tower, represented by a bird, by people who could be described as having their head in the clouds. They are Air, through and through, and have the quick wit and flitting attention of the Sanguine. (Sanguine is also classic attention deficit, either all distraction or hyper focused.) Hufflepuff is Earth, situated below ground, loyal friends, and likely the nicest people because they are emotionally grounded. Slytherin is Water. Their common room is below the lake, they are the most apathetic to concerns of the wider wizarding world, and fiercely devoted to the few friends they have. 

Want another example? Try Wind in the Willows. The Water Rat, all fight and action, is Fire/Choleric, the Toad is Sanguine/Air with his never ending succession of fads and his obsession with motor cars, the Mole is Earth/Melancholy with his tendency to worry and his sensitivity to other’s feelings, and the Badger is Water/Phlegmatic with his disengagement from the world and his devotion to his few friends. 

Bit far afield of Star Wars, though. I’m getting there. What if we don’t have a trio? What if instead, the trilogy begins with the elements out of balance? Fire is raging against Air, Water, and Earth. There is a major confrontation between each of our heroic characters with our primary antagonist. And all four characters happen to perfectly capture one of those elements. 

Fiery Kylo Ren confronts the flippant flyboy Poe Dameron, Air incarnate. Rey not only comes from a planet that is all Earth, but she exhibits the resilience of Earth. There is a compassion in her nature that has not been stomped out by 15 years of harsh survival. And Finn is Water, loyal to his friends, but initially inclined toward just avoiding involvement. 

So, if the elements are out of balance, thus being the source of conflict, resolution comes not through extinguishing fire and removing it from the picture, but from coming into balance with the other elements. If a redemption arc is in the cards, then this becomes a real possibility. And that means that the end game is ultimately a quartet working together to save the Galaxy. Not only is there the theme of balance in the force at work, but balance in the elements that are bound by the force.

The funny thing about these movies is that they didn’t start with the thematic elements. But as the stories come together, these things just start to assert themselves. It only works when the archetypes play their roles. Otherwise things feel forced. When a Tripartate Soul Trio shows up, we know which one should be the hero, and if it’s played to be Intellect, something feels off. When an elemental quartet shows up, we know the end game is for them to work together so that everyone is in good humour. It’s as fundamental as the second act being the place where exposition occurs and something happens that makes you think the happy ending can’t possibly be pulled off.

I’m not saying that Kylo Ren, or even Ben Solo, becomes besties with Poe and Finn. And this scenario doesn’t even necessitate romantic Reylo (though I’m not giving up on that just yet). She matters to Kylo/Ben’s arc immensely. But a movie where they end up platonic soulmates would not clash with this idea. Granted, I could be completely wrong and I’m ready to laugh at just how off base I might be come December. Still, I think I’m closer than trying to shoehorn any of the existing characters into a Trio that doesn’t quite fit with established archetypes.

#reylo #meta #star wars trio #rey #finn #poe dameron #kylo ren #four elements

[airadam]

Episode 122 : Drop It Heavy

"Scripture tell me no one excluded when rain drippin'..."

- Tobe Nwigwe

This month has been a rough one, but here we are once again with a brand new selection for your headphones and speakers! We remember the great KMG, and then sprinkle the selection with some strong UK tracks, overlook gems, rapid genre jumping, and one absolutely amazing remix. While individually there aren't many obscurities in the mix, I'll be impressed if anyone already knows every track on here...

Twitter : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Above The Law : V.S.O.P (Remix)

Been waiting a long time to play this one - it was quite a few years of looking to find a decent 12" copy (thanks Discogs!), and then it was one I was determined to save for an anniversary of KMG's passing. The original from the excellent "Black Mafia Life" is proto-G-Funk, but this version puts a just a touch of extra chaos (and bass) into the mix, courtesy of Cold 187um on both occasions. An ode to late-night partying and cognac, but still bringing the battle edge to the second verse, this has KMG handling the hook solo but going back and forth with Cold 187um on the mic. A much underrated tag team from the west!

Jigmastas : Too Ill (Instrumental)

I love the fact that the "Resurgence" album came with a complete set of instrumentals, just so you can get that DJ Spinna flavour undiluted - here's just a taste!

Tobe Nwigwe ft. FAT : PEEP GAME

Another #GetTwistedSundays killer! I'm bringing this Texan back for a second appearance in the last four months, with a track I think a lot of you will really enjoy. The producer Nell brings a fresh style, with some great change-ups in the beat - and the other half of the bargain is held up with skills galore. Tobe absolutely crams meaning (and syllables) into his devastating monotone flow, and his wife FAT provides a great spoken-word-like breakdown in an efficient eight-bar appearance. This is a trio of brilliant artists (along with their video crew) doing amazing things.

BADBADNOTGOOD ft. Kaytranada & Snoop Dogg: Lavender (Nightfall Remix)

Canada's BBNG first released the original version of this track on their "IV" album, but Snoop Dogg heard it and somehow knew it could benefit from his own unique enhancement! This version ended up as an inclusion on his 2017 "Neva Left" album; his added verse addressing police brutality, in addition to the controversial video, thrust it into the consciousness of a much larger audience. 

DRS : All Time High

I was reminded of this track from the new "From The Deep" LP when DRS performed it live at a Manchester International Festival event recently. He's one of the most important artists the Manchester scene has ever had, with his influence spreading far and wide - whether fully acknowledged or not. While he's now mostly known for his drum & bass work, he was of course one-third of Broke 'n' English (alongside Strategy and Konny Kon) and this album has him displaying his Hip-Hop skills over the production of Pitch 92. 

Lowkey : Hand On Your Gun

If you like politics in your Hip-Hop, then Lowkey is someone you should definitely be checking for - a British MC of Iraqi descent, he brings his worldview to the mic with strength every time. His second album, "Soundtrack To The Struggle" gives us this stinging condemnation of some of the big players in the global arms trade, with ShowNProve providing the Wild West-themed track.

Kaytranada ft. Karriem Riggins and River Tiber : Bus Ride

A nice instrumental from the "99.9%" album. The guest star Karriem Riggins gets busy on the drums in a subtle way through most of the track before showing out right at the end with a little double-time flair!

Children of Zeus : Respect Mine

"Travel Light" is now a year old and it's still getting just as much play as it did on release! Juga-Naut on production, Mr.Thing on the sharp cuts, and Tyler and Konny Kon putting it down on the mic make up a major league quartet.

Robert Glasper Experiment ft. Norah Jones : Let It Ride

As strong as this track is, it's not even one of my top three from "Black Radio 2", which speaks to just how good that album is! Mark Colenburg earns his money on the double-time drumming that you'd think had to be a programmed drum machine, setting a furious pace that the rest of the groove languidly follows. The bass and piano are low-key and do their thing without upstaging Norah Jones on the vocal of this classy cut.

Janelle Monáe : Cold War

This is an absolutely furious cut. The video is definitely worth a watch - similar to the one for Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U", it stays focused on her face for the entire running length and is packed with emotion, as are the lyrics. Clearly one of the standouts on "The ArchAndroid", with the themes of isolation and struggle articulated by one of the best artists of this era.

OutKast : B.O.B

I've been wanting to do the blend from "Cold War" to this for ages! One of my favourite tracks from this duo, this pretty much made my brain explode when I first heard it back in 2000. I was surprised to find out recently that this wasn't a big hit even on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts, but they were actively trying to go against the grain and a lot of the audience probably just wasn't ready. To me, this is Andre and Big Boi at the peak of their lyrical games, keeping up with a track that really would fit the name "organised noize" - but was actually produced by the group themselves alongside Mr.DJ. That's a real gospel choir you're hearing on the hook and the outro, a really serious guitarist letting loose all over the track, and a real MPC being beaten into submission for those drums. Stone classic from the "Stankonia" LP. Oh, and "got a son on the way by the name of Bamboo"? Well, time flies...

[The Alchemist] Cam'ron : Wet Wipes (Instrumental)

This fit the bill here as something electronic-sounding that was also half the speed of the frenetic OutKast track, allowing us to come back down to earth a bit. The Alchemist cooked up a thudding, menacing beat for what was a typically disrespectful Cam'ron track from 2006's "Killa Season". This was actually Alchemist's first MPC beat (he was a devotee of the ASR-10 up to this point) and has the chopping and aggression that is very reminiscent of a track he did years later, Raekwon's "Surgical Gloves".

The Lady of Rage : Raw Deal

I finally sat down to listen to the "Necessary Roughness" album from front to back for the first time recently, and I can confirm that it was indeed slept-on. This was probably a consequence of it being pushed further and further back by Death Row, until it finally got a very quiet release in 1997. If you'd forgotten about the skills that made her a people's favourite, here's a reminder over a Daz Dillinger and Tyrone Wrice beat, laid-back enough to give her the space to get busy. 

Glenn Lewis : Don't You Forget It (Curtis Lynch Remix)

FIRE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥! The original Glenn Lewis cut from "World Outside My Window") has always been a favourite of mine, and it's one you don't want to mess up with a clumsy remix - for example, the Desert Storm attempt with the most "missing the point" guest rap verse in music history. I can't remember how I found this one, but it stunned me - the re-interpretation is perfect. Lewis is from Trinidadian and Jamaican roots, and the move to connect with someone like London's Curtis Lynch for this remix was a natural but also an inspired move. It sounds like this one has been re-voiced rather than just swapping instrumentals, and it's a rootsy dancehall masterpiece with the drums, bass, and every single accent on point. Turn this one all the way up!

London Grammar : Non Believer

I'm not even sure what genre you'd count this as - Wikipedia claims "indie pop", but even that doesn't quite hit the mark. For me there are definite vibes of what they used to call "trip-hop" - I can imagine previous eras of Portishead or Massive Attack doing a tune like this. This track from "Truth Is A Beautiful Thing" is itself a melancholic beautiful thing, with Hannah Reid's crystal-clear vocals soaring over the moody beat.

Sean Price & Illa Ghee : 2Pac by the Locker

If you know "Juice", you know what this title is all about! I'd describe the track as "short and sweet", if there was anything remotely street about it. Sean P and Illa Ghee come through like a pair of brass knuckles as they do on every other cut on the "Metal Detectors" EP - just beasting.

Jake One : Gangsta Boy (Instrumental)

Coming through slamming like a new take on Dre's "Lyrical Gangbang", this is a monster of a beat from Jake One's "White Van Music Instrumentals". It had to be, since the MCs on the vocal version are the rugged neva smoove M.O.P.

Raekwon : Canal Street

Raekwon is one of the greatest picture painters in Hip-Hop history and this is an absolute art masterclass. From the first lines "All of our fathers is bank robbers, holding TECs/Eights of hero'n, shooting in the steps" he grabs your mind's eye and never lets it go until the track ends. Flawless street imagery all the way from "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Pt.II" to such an extent that the video actually takes away from it! Icewater Productions bring a fairly well-used sample in that brings the crime-flick menace the lyrical content demands. One nice touch on the production side - the sudden turn up of the volume in a matter of a beat or two in the transition from the intro to the first verse - definitely makes it hit you in the chest.

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

  Check out this episode!

[dumbestpersoniknow-blog]

The Path to Avengers: Endgame. Part 12 of 21--Ant-Man

Observations and opinions. Feel free to disagree. I ain’t trying to convince you of nothing. Ant-Man begins flashing back to the 80s. Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, doesn’t get along with Howard Stark. Pym has created a juice that can change the very fabric of reality. In other words, it can make things small. His protege wants to make things small for evil purposes. He must be stopped. Pym isn’t up for the fight, so he recruits Scott Lang, a burglar with a heart of gold, to do the tiny heavy lifting for him.

For years, all I knew about Ant-Man was what I learned from Garrett Morris playing him on Saturday Night Live. Morris said he could shrink to the size of an ant and still have the strength of a human. Then the other superheroes mocked him for having the strength of a human. That all changed when the announcement came that Edgar Wright had been hired to write and direct Ant-Man. Wright is one of the most creative and exciting directors working today. He was an inspired choice. Giddy-up!!!

Let me recommend a video to you lovers of film:  The late, great Every Frame a Painting did a piece on how Edgar Wright towers above other modern comedy directors. They compare and contrast his movies to other comedies. Wright knows he’s working in cinema and he knows how to use all of the cinematic tools at his disposal to imbue his movies with life and imagination.  It’s on YouTube. Search for "Edgar Wright - How to do Visual Comedy". It’s good stuff— even though it barely scratches the surface of what Wright does. But clips are taken from R rated movies, so prepare your sensibilities. 

Onto Ant-Man’s title: Marvel does Iron [space] Man or Ant [dash] Man and Spider [dash] Man. Whereas, DC is pretty consistent about letting no daylight shine through in their compound nouns, e.g., Batman, Superman, Aquaman… Although, if they were truly consistent, she would be “Wonderwoman”. 

This is the first new character to get its own movie since The Avengers formed— except for the Guardians, I guess. This is the second first new character to get its own movie since The Avengers formed. And after the epic Age of Ultron, Ant-Man is a nice downsizing in scope — in more ways than one. This pattern is repeated later, going from Infinity War to Ant-Man and the Wasp. Both seem like a chance to catch a breath and have a few laughs.

Speaking of funny, how can you not like Paul Rudd as Scott Lang? He has a nice, easy, natural charm. He’s a likable actor and an unlikely superhero. This is also the first time we see a Marvel hero as a parent with a child. A child child, that is. You know, of childlike age. It’s nice to see and immediately gives the hero stakes worth fighting for. 

As I’m writing this I’m realizing that Hawkeye had kids in the previous movie. His kids were just kind of thrown in there, weren’t they? I just watched Ultron a few days ago but I have no mental image of his kids. Now that I think about it, they should have been used to better effect. Total extinction of the planet was at stake and I don’t remember Barton being concerned about his kids. He did look at their picture during the final battle. Am I forgetting something? Am I being unfair? Lang’s little girl is a major part of his motivation. That is new. And that makes him more relatable than other characters.

Anyway, back to speaking about funny, Michael Pena might have the best comic performance in a Marvel movie. Maybe. There's a lot of good ones, but he's a solid contender.  In fact, some of the TV ads that came out after the movie was released focused on him. Well deserved. 

Heyley Atwell, Agent Carter, is the first and only person to be with the two different Howard actors, Dominic Cooper and John Slattery. But that’s not too surprising since the only other character John Slattery had previously been seen with was Tony as a tyke in Iron Man 2. As noted in The First Avenger, Bucky had no scenes with the younger Howard. Civil War hindsight being 20/20, that’s a missed opportunity.

Michael Douglas is the first in a series of actors to get the de-aging treatment— Robert Downey Jr. in Civil War, Kurt Russel in GotG II, Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg in Captain Marvel, Michell Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne in Ant-Man and the Wasp, and Zoe Saldana in Infinity War. 

Scott Lang gets a job at Baskin Robbins. I wonder if he works at the same Baskin Robbins as Saul Goodman. Son of Zorn is the Baskin Robbins customer!!! I hope his dad becomes an Avenger for Endgame. They could use the help- and I hear they have some openings. Also, what happened to Son of Zorn?  It was a funny show.  

Edgar Wright has a trilogy of movies called the Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy-- Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End. It’s about as loose of a trilogy as it can be. It’s a trilogy because in each movie the someone eats the same fictional brand of ice cream. Wright should have had Lang working at a Cornetto Ice Cream shop instead of Baskin Robbins to turn the trilogy into a quartet. Quartet? Is that what's one more than a trilogy?

I love Falcon’s cameo. Returning characters appearing in unexpected ways is one of my favorite things about these movies. Although, I do have a problem with how he arrived on the scene. I can buy a man shrinking to the size of an ant. I can buy a man controlling ants with his mind. But Falcon responding to a sensor that is set off by ants? That I cannot abide. Maybe they have high tech pest control at Avengers HQ.

I wonder if Edgar Wright ever had Captain America in his script. He had worked with Chris Evans on Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Brie Larson is also in that movie. That's both Captains. Martin Freeman is in all three of Wright’s Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy. David Bradley is in two of those movies. He gets killed off by Red Skull in the beginning of The First Avenger. Wright has a long history with MCU actors.

The biggest problem with this movie is the Hank/Hope relationship. The conflict between them is deep-seeded, complicated and should be emotional. But It's mostly in the backstory. And the backstory is all done with exposition. Then it's resolved with dialogue. It’s not the least bit visual. Hank leaving SHIELD is done with a flashback. Janet disappearing after going subatomic is done in flashback. 

Hank says Hope never looked at him the same after Janet disappeared. Why didn’t they show a glimpse of that in flashback? Hope had the deciding vote to cast her father out of his own company. That sounds like a crushing moment for Pym. Why isn’t that in flashback? This whole subplot couldn’t be less cinematic if they tried. This isn’t Edgar Wright’s typical style at all. This is the kind of laziness Every Frame a Painting contrasted against Edgar Wright’s work to make him look good. This is very disappointing.

Do I come across as not liking this movie? I have mostly quibbles. I love this movie. It’s loads of fun.

I like that Lang says, “Our first move should be calling the Avengers.” Pym responds, “This could change the texture of reality. Besides, they’re probably too busy dropping cities out of the sky.” Hank Pym created Ultron in the comics. He better hope that texture of reality doesn’t change too much. He’s not blameless in another reality. 

Earlier, Scott flies across a newspaper with the headline “Who’s to blame fo Sokovia?” Fun tidbit. 

The ability to control ants creeps me out a little. I can’t stop thinking about Killgrave. He is a great, creepy villain in Jessica Jones. His mind-control powers are a big part of his creepiness. I wonder if the ant world sees Pym and Lang as their Killgrave. To deactivate a bomb, Janet had to go subatomic so she could go through solid titanium. That small, how was she big enough to deactivate the bomb? I want to understand.

Hank Pym likes to remember his wife by looking at a picture of her hat. If they ever do recuts of these movies like they do with Star Wars, they should insert Michelle Pfieffer into that old picture of Hank and Janet. It’s a little odd that Hank’s favorite picture of his long lost wife doesn’t include her face.

Although this movie is a lot of fun, after reading Edgar Wright worked on it for eight years, I have to say, the directing and editing is a disappointing. I mean, Baby Driver came out just two years later and it is filled with verve and visual delights. Clearly, the director had much more of passion and panache in the latter's case. In comparison, the directing style of Ant-Man leaves the charisma of the actors to carry the movie—which is fine.  They do it well. 

Speaking of which: Michael Pena drives the last scene with more of Luis' storytelling. In the last bit of dialogue in the movie, he alludes to Spider-man. This is the first hint of Marvel’s most popular character. Marvel had been wrangling over rights to Spidey with Sony for years. He’s coming home. As an aside, there are a couple people in Wright’s Hot Fuzz with their faces painted like Spider-Man. It was almost prescient, like it was meant to be. Wait. What? Who’s Peyton Reed? Stan Lee Cameo— Bartender lip syncing to Luis’ story. Mid-Credits Scene— Hope gets a suit Post-Credits Scene— Sam knows a guy Returning Characters— Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, Falcon, Captain America, Bucky

#endgame #avengers endgame #ant-man #paul rudd #evangeline lilly #michael douglas #scott lang #hank pym #edgar wright #hot fuzz #shaun of the dead #the world's end #mcu #marvel cinematic universe

[mainemanus-blog]

How to Save Money on Proposal Expenses

This is the first in a four-part series with our partners Rare Carat, on how to save on the most expensive parts of your wedding. To read the next blog in the series, visit Rarecarat.com

The first thing you think of when people talk about budgeting for the wedding is the actual day— the dress, the venue, the flowers! But what about BEFORE the big day? Stakes are high for creating a memorable proposal these days. Just ask the people at howheasked.com, they’ve got over 53 thousand subscribers on YouTube. Maybe you’re not planning to hire a marching band, but even the most humble proposal can come with some big costs.

Here are some money saving tips for a few of the classics: the ring, some flowers, and pictures to save the memory. You’re on your own with the marching band…

The Bling

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Unless you are planning something extraordinary, the ring is the most obvious and probably your biggest expense. There is a huge range in price when it comes to engagement rings, anything from a couple thousand to a couple million dollars. Knowing what a diamond is worth isn’t always cut and dry. It can be overwhelming even if you know what you’re looking for.

If you want something special, unique, and beautiful, but you don’t have millions of dollars to spend, the good news is you don’t have to.

Technology has evolved to solve all our comforts, and now that includes shopping for diamonds! Tech company Rare Carat takes the guesswork out of this important purchase. The site lets you search and compare thousands of retailers to find the perfect ring for the best quality at the best price. Think of it like Kayak but for diamonds.

Not only can you peruse thousands of options from the comfort of your couch, but they offer tons of free information about what to look for, how to find the best deals. Brush up on your 4 c’s (cut, color, clarity, and carat) and let this smart AI help you save time and money on the centerpiece of your proposal.

The Blooms

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Nothing says romance like flowers. Whether it’s an elegant bouquet, an extravagant arrangement, or a romantic sprinkle of petals, using flowers is a great way to set the mood.

The most obvious choice is to go with your partner’s favorite flower. Even the most exotic blooms can usually be found with a little research. However, if you don’t know their favorite flower or they simply don’t have one, consider some classic options or choose based on their meaning.

Tradition won’t steer you wrong with red roses, but cheerful sunflowers or a delicate pink peony can be just as romantic. Think about your partner’s personality and style, and even check out what certain flowers mean.

For the best price on flowers, go wholesale and don’t be afraid to DIY! We love showcasing new trends and bouquet breakdowns to make the process easy and fun. Buying seasonal bundles means you get the freshest blooms and the best deals. For the same amount of money you would spend on a lavish premade bouquet, you’ll be able to do something truly memorable with all those extra flowers. Have fun and get creative! Imagine surprising your partner with this DIY hanging floral display. We go the extra mile for the one we love, right?

The Pics

{Source}

If there’s no picture, it didn’t happen, right? These photos are priceless when you think about preserving memories, but they can also be practical. Engagement photos are a great way to try out a photographer for the wedding— most wedding photographers have deals that include the engagement photos. They can be used to announce your engagement on a website or the old-fashioned photo in the paper. You can use them for your decor and for save the date or thank you cards. When you think about the value you get from a professional set of photos, it can put that cost into perspective.

If you want to have photos of the actual proposal, you’ll need to line up someone for the event. If you also want video, make sure you have at least one person for each so you don’t miss a single moment. This is great for candid shots, to document that fantastic setting you worked so hard on, and to capture the natural giddiness of the moment.

If you don’t need or want photos on the day, plan out a photo shoot within the first month so you have them back in time to use for your save the dates or invitations. Shop around and get recommendations from friends. If you have a friend or family member who knows what they’re doing and can take great photos that’s wonderful! Don’t do it just to save a few bucks though. You can’t ever get that moment back, so we think it’s worth spending a little extra for photos that will last a lifetime.

We’re not here to tell you to play things small. If you’ve got a big idea planned for an amazing proposal, then go for it! Hire that string quartet, go skydiving, produce a professional music video— just be sure it’s in your budget. Nothing kills the romance faster than a huge credit card bill hanging over your head before you even walk down the aisle. With the deals you got on the ring and flowers, you might be able to add an extra trumpet to the brass section.

 Laurel Nakai is a writer and editor who writes content for everything from tech to lifestyle, but has a special place in her heart for flowers. 

How to Save Money on Proposal Expenses published first on their blog, reposted for me

[thediscogprofile-blog]

Before going into the material recorded with Karma, there are a few distinctions to make. After doing some research into how the music of Altamont and the music of Karma was created, there are a few differences. The first is that while Altamont was a duo, Karma was a quartet (consisting of Wilson and three classmates). Another difference was that in the case of Altamont, “the music was improvised live onto cassette using primitive analog synthesizers and a home made echo machine.”

However, there is one similarity between them: both have some history of actively-suppressed distribution by Steven Wilson himself. In the example of Altamont, Steven actually asked the label to delete all copies of the cassette tapes for Prayer for the Soul and the only reason anyone can listen to it on YouTube now is because promotional copies had been in circulation for some point after it. In the case of Karma, it’s due to live recordings from that era having only one copy in existence—owned by Steven Wilson himself, who’s probably content with them never seeing the light of day.

This excerpt from an interview of Steven Wilson from around 2013 is particularly relevant:

“Karma was what you would now call a neo-progressive rock band. When I was a 14-year-old-kid, I discovered Marillion. They were local lads. I could go see them play in local venues and loved it. A few of us 14-year-olds started this band which sounded a bit like the bands we liked from our big brothers’ record collections. It was a step in the learning process.”

This youthful discovery of Marillion while they were a local band is a case of a young Steven is indicative of the trains of influence towards various eras of music that has cast a shadow on Steven’s entire career. Indeed, one complaint of Steven Wilson’s music is that it is derivative of others, but this can be countered by saying that influence is so inescapable that there is no such thing as being truly original—only a semblance of originality, something that I think Steven excels at in his mature period. Continuing with the quote, to say that “A few of us 14-year-olds started this band which sounded a bit like the bands we liked from our big brothers’ record collections” entails that Karma was a pale imitation of a band like Marillion, but was ultimately missing something. That such a pale imitation was “a step in the learning process” indicates that the existence of bands like Karma and Altamont were necessary growing pains for the material Steven would later give us his various projects as an adult.

Another interview quote (during a question discussing Steven’s earliest bands) from around 2000 is relevant:

“First, there was a band called Paradox, another called Karma and then another one. The two tapes that we made by Karma (“The Joke’s on You” and “The Last Man to Laugh”) have become more well-known because they have early versions of songs I had later recorded for Porcupine Tree…they became kind of a curiosity to Porcupine Tree fans but I mean they’re not different, better or worse than any other 14-year-old kids demo tapes as far as I’m concerned.”

To pick this one apart, Paradox did exist but broke up before they could record anything. Steven’s mention of “then another one” is telling towards how he regards Altamont compared to how he regards Karma—the former isn’t even worth a namedrop, indicative of an embarrassment at the lack of quality of Prayer For The Soul. The mention of early versions of Porcupine Tree songs on the Karma tapes is true—“Small Fish” (Up the Downstair) and “Nine Cats” (On the Sunday of Life) would later be re-recorded. Steven’s closing remark of the Karma tapes as no different “than any other 14-year-old kids demo tapes” is one that can entail two things—that he holds Karma in a similar light to Altamont and that they’re only noteworthy in that they provide a curiosity that Altamont doesn’t.

               But enough about my conjecturing about the words of Steven Wilson regarding this era. The only way I can know for sure if Steven was right on this is by looking at the album itself.

·         “Intruder d’Or” (3:57)

From the first minute, the instrument levels are crisper than they were on the Altamont album. The bopping bassline, steady hi-hats of drums, revolving synthesizers, and use of both electric and acoustic guitar are evenly mixed. This song also has an abrupt tempo change around the two-minute mark, leading to a section which is faster than the rest of the song. Only to go back to the earlier rhythmic pattern for the finish.

This is more impressive than anything on Prayer For The Soul, but nothing to really write home about.

·         “Tigers In The Rain” (7:48)

Electric guitar announces its presence right out of the gate, soon greeted by synth and the rest of a hard-rock instrumentation. This continues until we get lyrics, which (thanks to demo-quality recording) are only partly discernable. After that, there’s a change in rhythm and then one back to the verse rhythm. After this, jagged hard-rock electric guitar comes back to make way for a synth solo. This is followed by a guitar solo demonstrating better acumen of the instrument from Steven than on Prayer For The Soul yet also exhibiting Steven’s gifts of restraint and making the most out of his limitations with the instrument. You won’t have Malmsteen/Satriani/Vai-tier shredding from Steven, but he’ll make any guitar solo appropriate to the song. It’s refreshing to hear that that was evident even at his earliest days. Then next part of the song is a verse using the same rhythm as those which backed the solos. This is followed by an outro where all sound drops out save for an acoustic guitar and the sloshing of water.

For something created by a bunch of 14-year-olds, this is a rather ambitious song only undermined by the limitations of the equipment used to record it.

·         “Small Fish” (4:51)

A heavy synth riff backed by the drums kicks this song off, only to segue into airier synths for the verse. These verses appear to be delivered in a monotone (voice-wise, it doesn’t sound like Steven at all). After the lyrics pass, there is a fuzz-toned guitar solo consisting of Gilmour-style sustains. After this, there is a synth solo and then a drum solo, during the latter of which the bass guitar also begins soloing. Over this, the sounds of crickets and frogs are audible just before the bass drops out. Just as the drum solo wraps up, the sounds of a goat plays out amongst that of the crickets as the song ends.

The increased focus on instrumentation and showing-off of what technical chops this group of 14-year-olds have is admirable. However, the version of this song that appears on Up The Downstair remains superior for reasons to be addressed in that review.

·         “Nine Cats” (14:33)

Piano opens this track and is soon joined by clean-toned guitar and icy synths for the first verse. To this note, the lyrics to this track are completely different from the version later recorded by Porcupine Tree. Mid-way through the verse, bass pops its head in. Soon, drums and electric guitar make their way in and a new rhythm develops—one that feels funk-like yet not.

This drops out and gives way to the verse-pattern, but some of the lyrics in this verse are of note: “I threw five clocks down on my bed/The chimes danced out on golden threads/And turned to footprints on my wall/Sequined tears began to fall.” These lyrics are notable because they were re-uesed for a later version of “Nine Cats” which appeared on Insignificance (a collection of b-sides and demos from the sessions for Porcupine Tree’s 1996 album Signify). This indicates that these songs continue to develop for Steven even after they’re recorded.

Back to the song, where the song returns (after the verse) to the rhythm which I described as funk-like yet not…only to morph into an instrumental section which starts with clean-toned guitar and synths, but is soon joined in by bass and a disco-beat drum part. Then, everything stops dead aside from guitar chords which fade in-and-out after being strummed. Over this, synth begins to play for a bit before the chords become clear and the rhythm section picks up. Then, everything be the drums die out before guitar feedback slowly comes in. Then, a set of synth triplets spark a new rhythm punctuated by drums and bass. After a while, there is a break of silence after which all the instruments (acoustic guitar, drums, bass, and synth) come in. Then, a chord progression is played on both electric guitar and synth while the snare punctuates each note. After a brief bit where there is just drums and bass, a hard-rock guitar solo starts while the drum rhythm becomes more complex. After this, the chord progression part plays again. Then, a brief respite before an arpeggio begins to play on the synth, which leads to another verse. This time, the lyrics are the first verse of the Porcupine Tree version. After this verse, an instrumental vamp builds on the verse’s rhythm for a while until the next set of lyrics ends. After which, a brief drum fill plays which leads to a melancholic-tinged folk rhythm over a synth solo. This is interspersed with a drum solo before the rhythm comes back and gradually fades out, with the synth being the last to go. After all the instruments are out of the picture, the sounds of meowing cats (but given a ghostly echo) are on a loop for around thirty seconds.

What truly sinks this version is that the instrumental sections go on for longer than necessary. Yes, Steven has been capable of writing excellent songs which extend well past the ten-minute mark. Each of those songs either has a structure or a flow that feels impeccable and doesn’t betray the song’s roots—it feels like a natural extension of the foundation. Because that isn’t the case with this version of “Nine Cats,” it suffers as a result.

·         Final Thoughts:

While this album is an improvement from the Altamont album, there are some shortcomings. One of which—the production quality—isn’t entirely the fault of the band (as there are economic circumstances surrounding that). Another shortcoming is one that isn’t as pronounced as it was in Prayer For The Soul, but the version of “Nine Cats” on here suffers from a disjointed flow (much like “Altamont” from Prayer For The Soul). This is not a good place to start, but it is also interesting to hear Steven’s humble beginnings.

#steven wilson #karma #prog #1983 #review #music

[simplyanecdoche]

In all honesty, I am a relatively new Disney fan. I’ve probably visited the Anaheim location a grand total of three times, thus far, in my lifetime. Recently, my rate of attendance has been picking up speed – with a total of two visits in the last 6 months. In that same amount of time, I’ve learned that I am a fan of the Max Pass – a perk Disney offers costumers for an extra ten dollars on top of the ticket price which allows you to connect your ticket with those of your party to make many tasks (like booking fast passes) easier.

However, on my last visit, my Disneyland experience started out rocky; my Disney app. was convinced that my ticket had not been scanned and I was not officially “in the park”. This meant that I could not book fast passes or ride any rides with my ticket. Fortunately, help was readily available, and the cheerful nature of the cast members at Town Hall made my group feel like we hadn’t lost any time as a result of technical difficulties.

Armed with two new fast-passes and renewed happiness, our next mission was to secure five “celebration” buttons for my party — any vendor or shop will supply free customizable pins for any life event that brought you to the park. In this case,  we wanted 4 graduation pins and 1 engagement pin, but the cast member was NOT happy with us when we made our request. She insisted that Disneyland didn’t offer marriage themed buttons (a fact that we later found out was a fib because our wishes were fulfilled by a different cast member).

Disneyland is the branded as the “happiest place on Earth”, and the Disney Company takes great pains to ensure that they create an artificially happy environment for each and every guest. There are relatively few hiccups in the system, too, unless you count minor frustrations like favorite rides being closed during your visit or a cast member’s attitude about responding to your question bordering on rude. Those minor upsets rarely impact the quality of your day as a whole, but in my case, they led me to consider what the “Disney experience” truly means. The juxtaposition of the friendly experience at Town Hall with the grouchy vendor in Fantasyland inspired me to think critically about Disneyland as a space, what makes a visit to Disneyland unique compared to other theme parks, and what inspired Disney to create such a park. What I found was interesting: the average guest experience at Disneyland hold striking similarities to Disney’s (Laugh-o-Gram’s) first major project, Alice’s Wonderland.

“What I found was interesting: the average guest experience at Disneyland hold striking similarities to Disney’s (Laugh-o-Gram’s) first major project, Alice’s Wonderland.”

Disney’s Take on Alice in Wonderland

Alice was one of Disney’s first characters that helped him gain fame. Most people think of Alice in Wonderland (1951) when they think of an iconic Disney Alice – or even the 2010 version – but Disney’s first interpretation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland was actually Alice’s Wonderland (1923), a black and white cartoon reel featuring a live action girl immersed in a cartoon world.

Alice’s Wonderland 1923

Alice in Wonderland 1951

Alice in Wonderland 2010

Alice in Cartoonland

“In this article, I will walk you through the parallels between the images that 1923 Alice sees on her imaginative journey and images which the Disney Corporation has included throughout the park.”

The average guest’s experience at Disneyland is entirely akin to Alice’s expedition through cartoon land. Many of the images from the short film appear in the theme park. Disneyland Park was opened in July 1955. Disney’s hope for the park was that it would be an immersive experience for the guest and inspire people —young and old— to use their imaginations. In fact, he was once quoted saying, “laughter is timeless, imagination has no age, and dreams are forever”(Walt Disney). As soon as you enter the gates you are dwarfed by a larger-than-life mickey-themed flower bed. When you take the slight left (or right) into the park, you are immediately swallowed up by the buildings of Main Street and Cinderella’s Castle – much like Alice was immersed in the cartoon world seen in the video. Even the artificially welcoming attitude of the Disney cast members mirrors the attitude of the animals which Alice meets in Cartoonland. 

It is also possible — since the 1951 Alice is a color transformation and expansion of Disney’s original shorts —  that guests can also be compared to the curious, technicolor darling we know and love. Besides the presence of the iconic teacups and themed rides in Fantasyland, the larger-than-life scale of rides like the Matterhorn and the fact that you can’t see the rest of Anaheim from the park grounds create a sense of immersion and awe that is similar to the experience Alice has when she falls down the rabbit hole.

Although both Alices are similar, in this article, I will walk you through the parallels between images that the 1923 Alice sees on her imaginative journey and images that Disney has incorporated in the park. 

The Train

One of the very first images that appears in the 1923 cartoon is a train – the train that transports Alice into to the fictional cartoon town.

Similarly, one of the first images that greets you on the other side of the Disneyland gates is the Disneyland train, which runs around the entirety of the park. Additionally — if you’re an early bird — you might get to see the park’s opening greeting, in which the conductor waves and greets you. Alice waves to the residents of Cartoonland with a similar disposition in the beginning of the reel.

  The Reception Committee

If the reception committee in the black and white short looks familiar, it’s probably because their costumes are reminiscent of the Dapper Dans – the singing quartet on Main Street.

Much like the animals’ friendly disposition towards Alice, each and every cast member is expected to have a friendly disposition with guests. When interacting with cast members you might hear phrases like, “I’m peachy! How are you today?”.  Everything in the park, including cast interaction, is designed for guest entertainment. In this way,

The Parade

In the cartoon, Alice is greeted by a parade, which runs through the town and is very similar to the parades hosted daily at the theme park.

Alice’s welcome parade from Alice’s Wonderland 1923

Disneyland Pixar Fest Parade 2018

The unique thing about Disneyland parades is that they are enjoyable for both children and adults alike.

Animal Enclosure

  On the Northern-most end of the park, you’ll find Mickey’s Toontown, which is where you find some of Disney’s most iconic characters – Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. You’ll also find Pluto’s Dog Pound, a picture destination for both children and adults alike. If you’ve ever taken a photo with this Disneyland icon, then you know that the bars give the illusion of a cage but can be twisted to your heart’s desire.

 Exercising Our Imaginations

“Every child is born blessed with a vivid imagination. But just as a muscle grows flabby with disuse, so the bright imagination of a child pales in later years if he ceases to exercise it” – Walt Disney

So, there are a few nods to Alice’s Wonderland hidden throughout the Disneyland park. Why is it important? It’s important because it reinforces the specific objective of the space: to immerse each and every guest in a child-like and happy experience completely separate from the challenges and upsets of everyday life.

“…imagination has no age” – Walt Disney

Sources:

“Alice In Wonderland.” Internet Archive, The Library Shelf, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/AliceInWonderland1951.

“Alice’s Wonderland : Laugh-O-Gram Films : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, The Library Shelf, archive.org/details/AlicesWonderland.

Disneyland is “Alice in Wonderland” in Real-Life and We are Alice. In all honesty, I am a relatively new Disney fan. I've probably visited the Anaheim location a grand total of three times, thus far, in my lifetime.

#Alice in Wonderland #Disney #Walt Disney

[theagingboomer]

BoomerCafe.com A second chance for singers over 55

We just had to run this story. It’s exciting, it’s inspiring. Writing for our partners over at NextAvenue.org, Deborah Quilter tells of a show called “Alive! 55+ and Kickin’,” with performers who give new meaning to familiar songs.

On a chilly spring Saturday afternoon, a group of singers gathered at the Mama Foundation for the Arts, located in a tony brownstone in New York City’s Harlem. Keyboardist Edward Cleghorn, Jr. warmed up on the stage at the far end of the living-room-cum-rehearsal-hall. Gold theatrical curtains lined one wall. The group sat in a semicircle, bantering with each other until Ken Wydro, director of Alive! 55+ and Kickin’, announced that it was time to tell their stories and sing their songs.

As the title suggests, performers are 55 or older and this musical revue features gospel, R&B and pop music. But it also includes the singers’ personal stories.

One after another, the mic was passed to members of the troupe. One by one, their histories unfolded.

Heart Attacks and Heartache

Gladys Mitchell had auditioned for another production co-written years ago by Wydro and Vy Higginsen. It was called Mama, I Want to Sing. But when she was called back for a second audition, she doubted her talent and chickened out. Instead, she got a job as an emergency dispatcher for New York City. Mitchell was on the job September 11, 2001, when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center. The stress of that day led to a heart attack.

When Mitchell auditioned for Alive! 55+ and Kickin’ — which offers second chances to older singers— and once again got a call back, this time she went. Now, as part of the group, she fulfills her lifelong dream of singing for the public.

Another singer, Matthew Burke, was abandoned by his mother in a tenement hallway when he was 2-½ weeks old. He suffered horrific abuse in various foster homes.

“If they didn’t like what I did or said, they beat me. Every time I got beaten, it was in the ‘little room,’ where I slept,” he recalled. “I thought if I burned down the room, I wouldn’t get beaten. In my four-year-old mind, I didn’t realize the whole house would go with it.”

Burke spent 23 years in and out of jail for various offenses. Through it all, he always loved to sing— in fact he was the choir director in prison. Now his powerful renditions of Georgia— the name he gave to the mother he never knew— and of I Can’t Stop Loving You (“Those happy hours I never knew, tho’ long ago, they still make me blue”) mine new meaning in the lyrics. Burke says he still suffers from abandonment issues, and those are real tears he cries on the stage.

He now focuses on assisting other people, including helping fellow cast member Theo Harris raise money for medical treatment.

There was plenty of inspiration to go around. Matthew Brown, 77, whose bass-baritone is reminiscent of Paul Robeson, hadn’t learned to read by the age of seven. By 16, he had discovered alcohol. But at age 50, he decided to go to school to learn to read and write. He has since won prizes for his poetry and essays and has been sober for 32 years.

“I have no give-up in me,” he says.

Each song, curated by Wydro, fits each singer’s voice and story like a glove. Renee Connell delivers an oh-so-moving If I Could, an anthem to mothers everywhere who want to protect their children from life’s hurts. Sharon Patrick wows with Mahalia Jackson-like delivery of gospel hymns.

There was even a happy story: Rick Vega met the love of his life on a blind date and urges the audience to take hold of a good thing when it comes to them.

God of Second Chances

The show includes “Sunday morning” songs, though it also has its fair share of Saturday-night fare. There are belters and crooners, trios and quartets. But it was Theo Harris who had me in tears by the second stanza of his song.

Since August, Harris has been suffering from liver cancer, and the handsome man is gaunt and thin. (He looked a lot better in a segment on 60 Minutes a couple of years ago.) Wydro told him he could sit for his song, but Harris stood: frail, pale, a gloved hand on the mic, and told his story.

Theo had come to New York at age five, and his role models were drug addicts, pimps, and players. He learned to do drugs (his ultra-realistic imitation of a junkie nodding off nearly brought some people to the stage to help him stand), and was in and out of prison for 40 years. During that time, he soothed his fellow inmates by singing, and wrote a play to entertain them. When they needed someone to play the role of his wife, Phyllis Harris— who volunteered at the prison with a church group— stepped up to the plate. The two had instant chemistry, and married for real while he was still in prison.

At night, he would take her picture from under his pillow and wonder, “Will she wait for me? Will she be there when I get out?”

Theo Harris

During the performance, Theo Harris gives thanks to the “God of Second Chances” and then, standing alone and still stage center, in a soft, hoarse voice, launches into the first line of Unchained Melody:

Oh, my love, my darling

I’ve hungered for your touch

a long, lonely time

Time goes by so slowly

And time can do so much

Are you still mine?

Keeping the Music Alive

The show came about almost by accident. Several years ago, Vy Higginsen was auditioning older adults to be the parents in Mama, I Want to Sing. Higginsen was struck by the talent of the older people who were auditioning. “They had amazing voices, and I said ‘I’m going to write a show just for you’,” she recalls.

Robin Campos

Originally, Wydro and Higginsen planned to write a story for each singer, but found that fiction couldn’t compare with the performers’ actual life stories. “We give them a chance and a place to express their story,” Wydro says. “Whatever our hurts and wounds and doubts and worries, by coming together, we heal.”

This holds for the audience, as well. The show brings a sense of triumph, redemption and joy to listeners, who are usually on their feet singing along during the final number. These older adults may have taken a lickin’, as the lyrics go — but they are alive and kickin’ and singing. And uplifting themselves and others in the process.

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