#70's salsa

[runs-4-pinkcupcakes]

Hey bunnies! It’s been a minute. 🩷

I have spent the summer getting chubby. 😀 But it’s been worth every alcoholic beverage and vacation calorie.

I decided to spend as much of the 90 days of summer saying YES to new experiences. I had to not let my weight hold me back from all the things on my bucket list. It HAS for many many years. “So sorry, but I’m too fat to go and do this and that. Sorry! But I have nothing to wear, it’s all too tight and I’m too self conscious!” I’ve known this my whole like, but I’m trying to live it “people who love you do not see your weight as a barrier to loving you”. They invite you because they want to spend time with you. Stop saying NO. You DO want to go.

Summer 2023: It’s had some ups and downs.

I went to Lido Beach Sarasota FL. Beautiful beach. 2 days in I had COVID: took 13 days to recover. That birthday vacation ended quickly.

Tried to make it up in Vegas end of June with 108 F temperatures. So hot you couldn’t even sit by the pool. Stayed at the spa most days.

Went to my first Grateful Dead concert. Perks: I already had COVID so no mask. The Free Contact high was amazing!

I did archery for the first time! Love it .

I learned to play CRAPS.

I went white water rafting at the American River.

Camp and made s’mores.

Watched the fireworks! 🩷🩷

Taught my self to make my favorite drink: Paloma.

Went to a Fiesta party and a Disco party. YES! Dressed up: wig and all!! Salsa and 70’s music and dancing.

46 days left of SUMMA! Go get it!!! ☀️☀️☀️

BTW: I’m back on my exercise and diet plan. I Do have a threshold. 🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️

💋

#personal #selfsun #selfie #exercise over 50 #california #weight loss after 50 #white water rafting #disco balls #bucket list #summer #2023 #learn new things #have courage #adventure #go get it #get it girl #say yes #you are not your scale number #don’t worry what other people think #they are too busy with their own worries #Grateful Dead #dead & company #dead & co

[dollarbin]

Nickel Bin #4:

Cat Stevens' Foreigner Suite

Though I'm surely as guilty of practicing it as the next music blogger, I don't know how to spell pretentious without looking it up.

But The Beatles surely entered every new Spelling Bee hoping pretentious would be the first word they were responsible for. They knew the concept all too well. After all, Yoko and John decided his schlong, and nothing else, was a worthy subject for a 40 minute film.

(No, I'm not gonna show you a clip of the movie here; get your mind out of the gutter; and anyway, the film was only ever shown once and is not available anywhere; so no slow-motion image of Lennon's Johnson for you; Yoko said "the critics wouldn't touch it"; neither will this blog...)

Paul meanwhile routinely praised his own music by posing as a nonexistent journalist named Clint Harrigan. And George was inspired to write Try Some, Buy Some to document "his sudden perception of God amid the temptations of the material world" while living in this house:

And Ringo... well you know The Dollar Bin is shy about criticizing Ringo, even if his website just announced a "LANDMARK PHOTOGRAPHY RETROSPECTIVE HARDCOVER “BEATS & THREADS” CHRONICLING OVER 70 YEARS OF HIS LEGENDARY DRUM KITS AND ERA DEFINING FASHIONS."

There is perhaps just one form of late 60s to mid 70s era rock pretension of which the lads from Liverpool never partook: the side-long song. Arthur Lee's Love introduced the idea of one long song filling an entire side of vinyl on their second record, and everyone, including Lee, instantly recognized that doing so was pretentious nonsense.

(By the way, Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands does not count. Why? A) it's only 11 minutes long and takes up a side on its own only because it is at the end of a double album, b) it's too awesome to criticize in any way, and c) cuz I said so.)

Relax: I love Pink Floyd's Echoes (not to mention The Pentangle's Jack Orion) as much as any reasonable white guy, but you've got to admit there is little one can imagine more pretentious than declaring that your music requires listeners to concentrate for 18-23 minutes without pause because you're a big deal artist sent by the gods who cannot be bothered to meet the needs of radio formatting or real people with real responsibilities.

And that brings us to our first ever discussion of one of the Dollar Bin's greatest oddballs, Cat Stevens. It wasn't pretentious enough for Cat to fill the entire A Side of his career cauterizing 73 album Foreigner with one song; he also insisted on calling it a "suite".

The musical term "suite" has its origins in the 1500's and was central to Baroque era music; the idea of a suite was to assemble serious music together for the purpose of serious dancing. Bach wrote a bunch of them; time signatures were to be rigidly followed; everything was either homophonic (not homophobic, ye hasty reader, homophonic: all acceptable music is queer friendly) or polyphonic or, who am I kidding? I have no idea what a song suite actually is; all I can say that it's a serious piece of serious music; in other words it has nothing to do with Jethro Tull.

What I'm trying to say here is that taking three to seven pop songs, smashing them together (with either total or no elegance) and calling it a "suite" is comparable to me wrapping up last Wednesday's spaghetti in a tortilla, adding canned salsa, and declaring my pathetic lunch a Super Deluxe Burrito. Stephen Stills was of course the master of such pretension; see Suite: Judy Blue Eyes. I'll bet he's tucking into a spaghetti burrito as we speak.

Cat Stevens' Foreigner Suite is, admittedly, another totally pretentious addition to this club. And yet, it features everything we love about the Cat Man: sweet harmonies, dense sonic changes, passionate lyrics and his patented I'm-a-grandpa-who-zipped-up-too-fast-and-got-his-hairy-hacky-sack-caught-in-it vocal stylings. Plus he recorded the song while on tax exile in Jamaica and was appropriately enamored with reggae, so the whole thing is a fitting follow up to Paul Simon's Mother and Child Reunion.

My wife bought this record early in our relationship at a Salvation Army without my pretentious approval. I knew Cat Stevens. My long ago friend Thom Moore of Moore Brothers fame had shown us Harold & Maude and I'd been listening to Tea for The Tillerman since middle school.

(My buddy Eric and I once spent all of a sleepover listening to the title track on repeat; when we finally went to bed we turned it down as low as it could go while still remaining audible; therefore we woke up every other minute and a half when everyone belted out HAPPY DAY!; we had no access to, or interest in, drugs, so that was our idea of trippin').

But I'd decided early on that everything after Mona Bone Jakon (now that's a record that deserves a big deal Dollar Bin treatment; it's the overlooked third member of holy, end-of-the-60's, white people music trinity alongside Five Leaves Left and Astral Weeks) was a compromise, and that everything after Teaser and the Firecat was a worthy soundtrack for that film about Lennon's one-eyed monster.

So I turned my pretentious nose up at my lady friend's thrift store find, resumed listening to Daydream Nation, and thereby missed out on Foreigner Suite for the rest of the 90's.

But then we had a kid in 02 it was time to a) rewrite my pretentious first/last novel, b) drink more/cheaper beer, and c) listen to the records in my collection I had previously ignored, all in an effort to prove to myself that I was not simply a middle aged, balding dadman forever more. And that brought me to Foreigner Suite.

Let's listen.

Where to start? I count the soulful main theme (There are no words...) which opens the piece briefly and then comes back for an extended run at the end, then there's another two or three unique melody sections as well as the funk in the middle, and then the whole thing soars away with sweet piano doodling and a chorus that I can't begin to get my head around: heaven, Cat sings, must have programmed you. Is he singing to a 60's era, Warehouse-sized IBM machine? Or to Neil's new robot? Is he inventing the internet years before Al Gore did?

I love this song. I'd play it loud on weekends in our first real home whenever my wife was at work. My infant daughter spent the 8 minutes unpacking all her toys one by one, tasting each of them. And I'd sit on the floor beside her, tasting them too. Then she'd don every costume jewelry necklace in the house and crawl about, dragging bling wherever she went. And I'd sing along with Cat and crawl along after her, marvelling. After all, Heaven had programmed her.

And when she graduates from college this May I'll likely have Cat Stevens in my head:

When you're talking to me And the whirling wind turns to song Why it sets my soul free

Here's to Cat. He wound up donating all the money he saved on his taxes while in Jamaica to UNESCO.

More importantly, here's to Martin Luther King. Today's his day. His words and voice are currently knocking the wind out of my ninth grade students in all the right ways.

And, most importantly, here's to all the unpretentious people who spent today in service to others.

Cheers.

#cat stevens #stephen stills still sucks #nickel bin! #pink floyd #arthur lee #sad eyed lady of the lowlands

[thecandywrites]

Monster March 2023 Day 26 Part 1

U-pick.

Yeah, I know, I know it's already FUCKING MAY and I'm still on day 26 of Monster March. I'm officially TWO FUCKING MONTHS LATE. AAAAAAHHHHHHH. But, better late than never.

And there's A LOT of backstory so it's all under the cut.

So I grew up in Kalamazoo Michigan. Every summer, on our way to South Haven on Lake Michigan, we would stop by Leduc Blueberry Farm in Paw Paw which was literally on the way. A family farm that had FIVE varieties of blueberries you could pick yourself. So, keep in mind, I'm nearly 40 now. So all this was 20 years ago for me. So this is all set to...fucking 20 years ago when I really was 17, and that DAMN FINE, country farm boy driving that tractor that had a special trailor with benches just for the U-pickers to get driven out to the various sections of fields that they had on the...had to be 100 acers of just...blueberry bushes, as far as the eye could see practically on various plots of land.

So all the places and the names of the farm- that's all REAL. And yes, my mother, at 9 months pregnant really did go blueberry picking with me and my other sisters and the ACTUAL REAL LEDUC'S. (Super nice, wonderful family farm people, who- actually sold the farm to the Berry Brothers a few years ago for MILLIONS of dollars, which I'm very happy for them. But The Leduc Name is still on the Farm because Leduc has almost a cult following) Anyway, they FREAKED THE FUCK OUT that my mom was gonna go into labor RIGHT THEN AND THERE right in the rows between the bushes. TWICE. Once with my sister Erin and again with my sister Ari. And they really did give us one hell of a deal on our U-pick blueberries to just GO AND LEAVE before my mother's water really would break and she would give birth in the field. So that interaction really did happen. TWICE.

Did my mom actually go into labor? No. She had her Weight Watchers water jug she would put lemons in for water though that they did provide at the barn. Did I get an official Leduc blueberry bush when I went back and begged and pleaded and promised it was for my own personal, purely sentimental reasons for wanting to have? Yes. And did Ohio's lack of FUCKING CHILL HOURS KILL IT? YES. Right after I threw away the fucking contact information. (The HORROR, the SHAME)

But I do really have Kabluey blueberry bushes now. They're close. Really close. Never gonna be an authentic Leduc Blueberry but close enough. As close as I'm gonna get any time soon.

But did the Leduc's have any sons my age? No clue. Were any of them named Tristan? No idea. Did I, as a seventeen year old want the damn fine farm boys to bend me over and plow me between the bushes better than any other field ever was? Oh HELL YES! But did I ever say anything? Nope. I chickened out every time.

So a lot of this is very much rooted in reality. And of course it's set to the late 90's and early 2000's where it really was $10 for a whole TEN POUND BOX of blueberries that the migrant workers picked on the farm. OR HALF THE PRICE if you picked it yourself. Thus- U-PICK is a really, REALLY big thing up there. Still is at a lot of the orchards especially.

Does Leduc Blueberry farm still have U-Pick now? No. The new owners, The Berry Brothers- won't let you anymore. But they do have a U-pick blueberry farm nearby, (I have no idea what varieties they have on that one- so I don't know if it's the same or even if they even have the Leduc Blueberry on that farm, I've never been, not yet anyway). But at the actual old Leduc Barn that they've rebuilt into a Leduc Sales Barn/Store/Bakery- they do have wine and hard cider that was DELICIOUS. In addition to a freaking bakery and a restaurant and all kinds of blueberry stuff- including, I shit you not- blueberry salsa and blueberry BBQ sauce. However the Leducs didn't get out of the berry business entirely, they still have a Leduc Strawberry Farm. And they are pushing on 70 years of being in the berry family farm thing. Which I honestly hope they can manage to stay with it and keep the Leduc name and legacy going for as long as possible. So this is very much a Love Note (?) and a shameless self indulgent fanfic.

As always, thanks to @borealwrites for keeping Monster March 2023 open for me long enough to try to finish them. Bless you. I only have 5 left. But once I started writing this, my hand slipped for...24 thousand plus words. That I've divided into three parts. FOR NOW. So right now, it's fluffy and SFW but once I get a chance to finish these damned prompts, I want to come back and finish this proper and give this the panty dropping, ovary exploding, hot, sweaty, sweet smut it deserves. Sasha and Tristan deserve it dang it. And I need the shameless self indulgence, as a treat. lol.

Anyway, enjoy.

Monster March 2023 Day 26- Werewolf

Kabluey 

Part 1

U-Pick

Tristan wiped the sweat from his brow with his tank top on this hot July afternoon when a mom with her three daughters came into view from the barn with a stack of buckets and bright blue ties the U-pick buckets always came with. 

“Wow.” His ears perked up when he heard one of the girls say as he looked up to see her gawking at his exposed abdomen before she flushed and sheepishly dropped her gaze guiltily.  Her mom, with her own very pregnant belly, walked, or rather, waddled towards him before he noticed just how pregnant the mom was. Her mom was very heavily pregnant. His ware senses told him she was dangerously close to going into labor. 

“Ma’am? Are you sure you should be out here? The closest hospital is at least 40 minutes out.” He asked as he watched her waddle over to him, her large belly, making her long boho skirt sway from side to side. The oldest daughter, who had previously praised his bare belly had also, coincidentally, in his humble opinion, one of the prettiest ones she had, that was closer to his age pushed her young toddler sister in the stroller while the other one was texting away on her phone, and seemingly none the wiser to her surroundings as she shuffled with her sisters and her mom. 

“Oh, I’m a good two weeks out, and I always go at least a few weeks late. I’m probably a month away from delivering this stinker. Ain’t that right Little Rocket?” She waived off with a solid pat to her belly before the baby inside seemed to kick at her hand, making the woman giggle. Her daughters helped her climb up and then sit down on the special trailer that had benches so he would drive those who wanted to U-pick their own blueberries could do so, and go to the various rows of the various kinds they had at his family’s blueberry farm. 

“And even if she does, we’re covered. Isn’t that right Ellis?” The eldest reassured him as she nodded to her backpack before she got her little sister out of the stroller and kissed her little sister’s cheeks sweetly and put her onto the bench next to their mom before she folded up the stroller and put it up between her mom, and the closest spot next to him. 

“Covered?” Tristan repeated skeptically. 

“Yeah, you’re talking to a midwife and her daughters. I’ve already helped deliver this one. And I’ll help deliver that one too.” She said as she gestured from the toddler to her Mom’s pregnant belly. 

“Well, as long as you’re ready for it, that’s your business, just don’t rope me into it.” Tristan murmured under his breath.

“I won’t.” She laughed which got him to chuckle too before others came and joined them. 

“So what’s your name?” The eldest asked him once she took her own backpack off and let it rest between her feet so her back could cool off. 

“Tristan.” He offered her his hand. 

“Sasha.” She offered her hand in turn to shake his. 

“So your mom is naming your little…brother…Rocket?” Tristan asked curiously as he waited for more to come from the barn to where they were currently sitting before the wind picked up her scent and sent it into his nose and he had stop himself from immediately shifting as his eyes did anyway from behind his sunglasses as he hoped that she hadn’t seen that. 

But his question got her to laugh which he found he quite liked the sound of. Because it wasn’t that fake ‘oh my goodness, you’re so hot- so everything you say is funny’ kind of laugh. No, this was- a real, ‘this is funny’ laugh, which he liked infinitely more. 

“No. It’s a girl. And her name will be Arianna. My mom wanted a Spanish name to honor my grandparents who went all over South America on missionary work. But we just found out, that it’s actually a French name and it’s the name of a French Rocket. So ever since- she’s been Little Rocket.” Sasha explained. 

“So which blueberries are we picking today? Dukes? Bluecrops? Elliots?” Sasha asked.

Tristan’s jaw was nearly sitting in his lap. Because usually only the other blueberry farmers talked about blueberry varieties. And Tristan felt like he knew all of them on the west side of the Great Lakes. And he did not recognize the beautiful girl before him as one of them. Which was good, because he felt he was related to more than half of the ones he already knew. 

“Bluegolds.” He answered as he kept a grip on the wheel of the tractor, letting it’s ribbed and nubbed wheel be a grounding force for him as the wind blew more of her scent into his nose as he fought not to shift again as he tried to tell himself that this had to be puppy love that his instincts were screaming at him that he had found his mate. Because that would be just…ridiculous, right? Or…way too soon to have- that particular instinct kick in, and kick in as strongly as it did right now. But he would be loathed to try to deny he didn’t automatically feel a pull towards her and was, very much attracted to her either. 

Every ware had puppy love, it was something of a first love, first infatuation, first big crush kind of thing. But he didn’t think he had had his yet and he was terrified that this was it because they both appeared to be at that age where it could go either way. It could very well be puppy love and hot and fast but turn and burn forever, or could go low and slow but all consuming and forever. And he wanted…he wanted the hot and fast but steady and sure and all consuming and forever, he instantly wanted both, immediately and he had to stop himself because this girl didn’t know him from…anyone or anything. She may not even be ware or know about wares or anything and she may very well be, just innocently out with her mom and her sisters, out blueberry picking, at his family’s farm- the same way near countless others did. And to her, all he is- is the guy who drove the tractor. Just a cog in a much greater machine. But he felt like he saw her around before. Because their U-pick farm usually had the same “regulars” that would come every summer. And she seemed like a regular. But she just may be in the middle of a metamorphosis from pretty girl to drop dead gorgeous woman. 

But, oh, he was in trouble either way. 

“Nice. How do they compare with Kablueys or Calypsos?” She asked. 

Oh, may all that is good and holy have mercy on his soul. He usually thought that when his parents talked about what varieties of blueberries they wanted to add to their ever growing blueberry farm- his brain was gonna rot. He thought that between the five varieties they started out with that would give them blueberries from the end of June clear through the end of August, was more than enough, but they had varieties that saw to it that they had blueberries from the beginning of June- clear through to the end of September. Now it seemed like every year, there were at least five new kinds between the various big greenhouses. 

But the way this girl just rattled off varieties of blueberries like she was one of the daughters of the other well known blueberry farmers, he was practically swooning. Which was unusual for him. Because usually other blueberry farmers who have been doing this for generations- either loved it, or preferred to talk about anything other than the damn blue things. And before this moment, he had thought he had been the latter. But right now? He was ready to have everyone get off so he could give her an official tour of every blueberry they had right now to practically uproot any kind she liked and give it to her as a courting gift. 

“Not as tangy and sour as Calypsos, haven’t tried Kablueys yet.” He admitted, wrapping his tongue around the word, trying to repeat how she had said it- exactly. 

“Really? Well I ordered them from Ohio, they’re still at least a week or two away from ripening. They’re supposed to be a southern highbush with a low to mid chill hour needs. But are supposed to be very sweet and very bold in flavor without the staining that the rabbit eyes tend to do, and a decent size to boot.” She answered and he nearly had to put his hand over his heart, like a southern woman who was about to say ‘be still my beating heart’ because his heart felt like it was going to beat right out of his chest. 

All because suddenly this girl who wasn’t even dressed that sexy or even remotely flirty, just a tankini tank top and a pair of shorts was suddenly the most beautiful creature he ever seen in his life as he now couldn’t get his eyes to shift out of their ware state as he felt transfixed as her scent practically engraved itself into his mind, heart and soul. Not in a ‘wow that’s a great perfume’ kind of way. But in a ‘wow that person’s genetics need to mix with mine’ kind of way. Wait, was this it? His parents warned him that wares fell in love twice. Once with “puppy love” the second was the ‘happily ever after with your mate’ kind. And he had been terrified of both and now that he met her, he was scared of it being the former and hoping it was going to be the latter. But she was so young, he was so young, it could honestly go either way and he was suddenly so scared of his own young and stupid and inexperienced self scarring off his mate. Because the longer the moment he was sharing with her lasted, the more he had to fight off his own instincts to just follow her wherever she would go. Down I-94 if he had to. 

“So you just work here in the summer?” She asked. 

“Nope, I live here, right there actually.” He nodded to the house across the street as he pushed his sunglasses up to conceal his eyes and hope that nothing else about his form was shifting at the moment and he could stay in his human form. But she was definitely compatible, something about her was just…irresistible and his mouth was watering at the prospect of getting a taste, of any kind of her because her scent was just that delicious. 

The house he nodded to- that he and his brothers were raised in- was the same dark navy blue, the same color a very ripe blueberry usually was. 

“Oh sweet. So you’re a Leduc then?” She asked. 

“Yeah, I’m Tristan Leduc.” He nodded in confirmation. 

“Aww, that’s nice. Sasha Wright, pleased to meet you. Please tell me that they pay you to drive this tractor though- at least. I get the whole - family farm concept but this is not easy work and just because you’re born into it, doesn’t mean you should do it for free.” She offered before he turned to shake her hand. And in that moment, he could have sworn he felt a delightful tingling jolt of electricity. Because, while the weather was hot and they were both sweaty. He didn’t care. Her handshake was gentle yet firm and confident and her hand almost felt as calloused as his own. Which meant this girl worked hard with her hands at least, even as clean as her hands were and it was like magnets just turned on inside of him and he turned as far as he could in his seat on the tractor to face as much of her as he could and that touch was like the first hit of a drug he was instantly addicted to. 

And she was talking to him about the family business like she already knew it and understood it and the fact that she immediately aligned herself with him and his welfare, he was done for. Technically, his parents bought him a house he was slowly, but surely remodeling it and making livable. But now, he suddenly felt he needed to double down on his efforts. 

“Yeah, it’s not as much as I could make working somewhere else, but whatever it takes to make the family farm a success.” He answered with a cheesy smile and a thumbs up which got her to laugh again. 

“I know exactly what you mean. When my mom isn’t pregnant or a midwife for someone else, I’m working with my dad. And he and my uncles and my grandfather all own their own plumbing business. And if my mom wasn’t pregnant, and I wasn’t a midwife in training, I’d be digging ditches and sweating pipe, with the only payment being my dad buying me and my sister Autumn, lunch for a whole full day’s work. Which is a crock honestly. But it’s the family business. And it’s a whole family effort to make it work. Especially in the beginning when things are small and it’s all sink or swim. But we’ve been coming here for years. Hopefully you guys are able to do well enough to at least pay you for your hard work.” Sasha admitted. 

“We get by. I hope your dad’s business goes better so he can at least pay you for you and your hard work.” He returned because women in plumbing didn’t exactly go hand in hand like that. But that explained her handshake and what he felt and he was pleasantly surprised. 

“Thanks, Right now things are ok. But with the economy and the weather. It feels a bit too much like feast or famine half the time.” Sasha nodded. 

“I know exactly what you mean. When the blueberries are ripe and we’re able to sell them and have U-Pick- good weather tends to bring out the masses. But bad weather drives them away and they’re perishable and we feel like they’re either not ripe enough to pick or everything is rotting right off the bushes before we can get to it, no matter how many day workers, or even seasonal workers we hire.” He admitted. 

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I have friends who own orchards and vineyards. It’s something you spend all year getting ready for. And when it hits you go nonstop and try to do all you can until you feel like you’re ready to fall over and collapse and you run yourself into the ground. And then before you know it, it’s over and you’re counting your gains and losses and trying to figure out how you can make next year better than the last one.” She shook her head subtly. 

“All while hoping the weather itself cooperates. But it’s Michigan. You don’t like the weather, wait 20 minutes. It’ll change to hopefully something you do like, but then only stay that way for 20 minutes before changing again. Thanks Gulf Stream and Lake Michigan giving us Lake Effect weather.” She smiled and gave him a thumbs up with her cheesiest ‘customer service’ or even ‘commercial’ tone of voice and it was Tristan’s turn to bust up laughing. Oh he liked her. A lot. She was beautiful inside and out- and had a great sense of humor. 

Oh the gods were either very cruel or very good to him to send him his mate, on today of all days. Just when he was thinking he should get the hell out of here and out of this business. Here was his mate, inspiring him to keep going and make it work. And feeling like, at last, someone who could know, sympathize, empathize and offer comfort and support while giving him the chance to say whatever was on his mind and heart and be with him, rain or shine, through the good and the bad and everything in between. 

“But in the meantime, I’d rather be out here picking my favorite blueberries and run the tiny chance and probability of possibly helping my mom go through labor, than digging a ditch and sweating pipe, all while trying to remember the five different measurements my Dad just rattled off for the next five pieces of pipe he’ll need for the job.” Sasha admitted as Tristan refocused on her and what she was saying. 

Suddenly the thought of her actually doing those things was…suddenly so attractive. Most girls he met, were either vapid, or vain or boycrazy, or too glued to their phones to even appreciate who or what was around them, which Tristan felt like he was guilty of half the time himself. 

And most girls, especially his age- only cared about looks, whether or not their current flavor of the week was “hot enough”, or “ripped and shredded” which was all aesthetic and not functional at all half the time. Or all about the bling, bank accounts and cars and a “lifestyle”, one preferably luxurious where they didn’t have to work at all, but still go out and shop and post pics on Instagram, and get that follower count up as high as possible, all while looking- model out of a magazine good- doing it. All while expecting, or demanding that their flavors of the week practically worship the ground they walked on while contributing nothing to anything other than their annoying presence. 

But it was like, she was the exact opposite of that. And it was like he was talking to someone at least twice the age he figured she was for how mature she seemed and the longer he was in her presence, the more he liked her and the harder he fell for her in the process. 

“So you gonna drive or what Mr. Laduc?” She asked once she noticed the trailer getting full from people climbing aboard. 

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” He apologized before he turned around and drove the tractor to the spot he was supposed to. 

“So what’s your Dad’s plumbing business?” He asked her over his shoulder as he drove them there. 

“Wright Plumbing. Like the Wright Brothers? Or Frank Lloyd Wright?” Sasha answered. 

“Awesome! Yeah, I’ve seen your guy’s trucks around. But I thought it was a pure orc business?” Tristan nodded as he wondered if their house would need plumbing any time soon. 

“Oh, yeah, we get that a lot. The business employs a lot of them and we employ some from every clan there is around here. But we have people of all kinds working for us. And we hire from all the species. We don’t discriminate either way. It’s a trade. It’s something someone has to have intelligence, good work ethic, strength and skill to do. That’s all it is, we employ everything from across the species spectrum.” Sasha shrugged. 

“You could probably do it just fine, if you didn’t want to be in the blueberry business.” Sasha appraised with an appreciative glance to the toned muscles on display on his arms. 

“So you guys are hiring?” He asked.

“Always. Not that there’s that much turn over, just…the business trying to grow and get little satellite offices. We have a few branches in the larger cities. So now we’re working on smaller, satellite branches in some of the smaller cities. That aren’t the size of Kalamazoo, or Lansing or Grand Rapids or Battle Creek or Saint Jo and stuff.” She explained. 

“Wow, so wait, you’re trying to open satellite offices but your dad still doesn’t pay you?” Tristan asked. 

“Kinda sorta? I mean, technically, yes and no. I don’t get- like a paycheck every time I do, because I’ve already told my dad it isn’t something that I want to be more involved with- than I already am. But my dad is one of the co-owners and he’s taking on business partners. Who then run their individual branches, like any other franchise. Any money he doesn’t pay me for work during the day, he still pays himself since the company specifically has a clause where contractors can hire day laborers to do more of the hard, manual labor- like digging ditches. So he adds that to his own paycheck and gets to bring it home as income for the family and instead he lets my mom and me get more things for the farm itself- like apple trees last year and citrus trees the year before that. But it’s blueberry bushes this year. And most likely- figs next year, so instead of dollars- it’s fruit bearing trees and bushes for our hobby farm. But otherwise, he can also take that money and actually use it to better the company and especially the benefits for the other employees and their apprentices- which I honestly want more because that’s better in the long run. Plus, I still get “experience”, “life lessons”, “self sufficiency lessons”, “school credits”, and “exposure” and “business contacts” as payment too, and they pay for just about everything, so there’s not a whole lot I really need that much money for. But, technically I do get a paycheck, but it comes from midwifing with my mom. She makes sure I get paid for that at least for pocket money and stuff. Plus that work is completely different, and for me personally, it’s much more rewarding. It’s not work as much as it is guiding a mother on her journey through the child bearing process and especially the birthing process and the miracle of life- when that little life is wanted, and will be cared for in the first place.” She clarified. 

“Plus, my cousin, Brianna, she doesn’t want to go into plumbing as her career either. She’s going to school to be an LMT and right now the plan is for her to go into a pregnancy massage so she and I can work together. I’ll be a midwife, Brie will be the pregnancy massage therapist and my other cousin will be a doula. We’re going to start a business of our own. Brie will be The Wright Touch Medical Maternity Massage Therapy. And I’ll be The Wright Birth Plan. And together we will have The Wright Maternity Practice, we just need OBGYN’s, of which, we both have another cousin who is going to school to be a doctor just for that, so we’re pretty set there.” Sasha proudly proclaimed. 

“Oh that’s smart. Make a good use out of the family name.” Tristan praised because that was so cute, and so smart and such a good use of the family name Wright, like it was a fun play on words. But such a thing then presented a new problem as he then had to try to push out thoughts of shifting and taking her off and breeding her right so she would have a pup right now if she wanted it. But he had to remember, house first, have to have a house to make a home with your mate- first and actually make your intentions known and actually courting her properly before they could ever get to that step in the relationship, if she even wanted one with him in the first place. 

“And have it be associated with something other than plumbing.” Sasha insisted before he came to the right spot. 

“Here we are.” He announced once he got to them. 

“Thank you so much for getting us here safe and sound. Great job. You didn’t crash, or run anyone over. And the tractor isn’t on fire and broken beyond repair. Another round of success.” She praised in a lighthearted teasing tone as she pat him on the back which got him to laugh. 

“Thanks, I try.” Tristan nodded as he tried to not lean into her touch too much. 

“And you succeed.” She beamed happily before she slipped her backpack back on and got off and set up the stroller and got her littlest sister while her younger sister helped their mom off the trailer. 

“Thanks. Holler if you need anything or heaven forbid, your mom’s water breaks.” He called after her. 

“I thought you didn’t want to be involved?” Sasha asked. 

“Just because you’re more than capable, doesn’t mean you should try to do something by yourself. I can still dial 911 and do my best to help if I need to.” Tristan reassured her. 

“Ok. Thanks. I don’t think she’ll go into labor. Because honestly, the baby hasn’t even dropped yet and other factors that play into the process haven’t happened yet. So when she says she’s still a ways away from having the baby. Trust the mom. It’s her body. She’s done this three times already. She knows her body better than anyone else. So if she’s not worried, I’m not worried and neither should you be.” Sasha insisted as the others boarded up the now empty seats and were ready to be driven back to the barn. 

He watched as Sasha and her family began to walk down the row of blueberry bushes, pushing the cart with her youngest little sister into one before going to the next one over and began to pick some herself as Tristan wanted to get off and join her, but he still had a job to do. 

After a few more rounds though, she and her mom and her sisters all had their buckets full of blueberries and purple fingers and lips from eating as they went too and wide smiles which always made him smile to see them so happy. 

“So? What do you think of the Bluegolds?” He asked. 

“Really good. Always some of my favorites. Really similar to Auroras, not as flat as Blue Sugars, but not as sour as Spring Highs, good tangy like Calypsos. But not as overpowering and a punch of intense blueberry flavor that borders on artificial- that rabbit eyes usually are.” She appraised and Tristan had never thought, in a million years, a pretty girl talking about blueberries would be as amazing and delightful as the conversation he was having with the one his eyes were currently on, or that she would somehow look even prettier now than when she was when he first laid his eyes on her. Even her eyes were as blue as the blueberries in the fields around them while her pretty blonde hair was ribboned with blonde from all the sun she clearly got as she had moved her sunglasses up to once she got under the canopy of the trailer to sit down. 

“I’m happy you approve.” Tristan beamed happily. 

He drove them to the barn and he outright called to his cousin, Charlie, to take a turn with the tractor because he wanted to check Sasha and her family out himself as he happily got a big 10lb box and took their buckets and dumped them in, getting a few more when it was clear they had picked more than 10lbs worth. 

“Wow, you sure do know what you’re doing, these look great.” He praised when he didn’t spot a single green or even purple- under ripe one in Sasha’s full bucket. 

“Thanks.” Sasha smiled proudly as she helped untie the strings from around her sister’s waists as her mom was happy to waddle over to the water cooler and refill her large jug of water that she already had a few wedges of lemon in. 

“Oh, that’s so much better.” The mom said as she sucked it down before she passed the cup around to her three daughters to sip on too. 

“Ok, that’ll be five dollars.” Tristan said.

“But we have 30lbs of blueberries, it should be fifteen dollars.” Sasha contested as she gestured to the three- quite full- ten pound boxes of blueberries they had picked, technically, they had had two and a half boxes worth but he topped off the third box himself from the huge tub that the regular harvesters usually collected. Usually it was ten dollars for ten pounds if the seasonal workers at the farm picked them. Or it was five dollars for ten pounds, or $2.50 for five pounds if the customer picked them. 

“Nope. Just for not having the baby on the farm today, it’s five dollars.” He insisted which got the mom and her daughters to bust up laughing. 

“Honey, this is your family’s farm, we shouldn’t be cheating you like that.” The mom said as she tried to hand him a twenty - before he took it but gave her a ten and a five in change. 

“It’s not cheating. If anything Sasha told me about a new kind of blueberry I haven’t heard of. I’d be much obliged if she told me where she ordered it from so we could order it too to see how we like it.” Tristan offered and he told himself he was going to work up the courage to ask for her number. 

“Here.” Her mom offered Sasha as she handed her daughter a business card and a pen from her little purse.

Sasha wrote down the name of the blueberry and where she ordered it from on the back of her dad’s business card and handed it to him but still put a ten’er with the card. 

“Consider it a tip for safely driving us to and from the fields.” Sasha insisted as he tried to only take the card but ignore the money before he put his hands up and back away to keep her from giving him another dime. 

“Oh for crying out loud, take the money you rightly earned- dang it!” Sasha demanded with a laugh as she tried to lean over the counter to put it into a pocket but he just laughed with her and took another step back to keep his pockets out of her reach. 

“You keep it! You work hard and your dad doesn’t pay you at all. So you keep it.” He insisted. 

“Oh, yes he does, it’s just not traditional money. I told you! Tristan Laduc, you take this money from me or I’ll jump over this counter myself.”

“Sasha Wright, you keep that money for your own hard work and save it for that Wright Birth Plan business. Use it to buy business cards for that.” Tristan insisted before she scrunched up her nose but still smiled at him. 

“Fine. You win this round, but I’ll get you, when you least expect it.” Sasha finally caved and shook her head but kept the money and put it into her own pocket before wagging her finger at him and narrowed her eyes while her smile was as bright and warm like sunshine itself. 

“And I’ll see you coming from a mile away.” Tristan recalled. 

“Sure you will.” Sasha laughed as she just shook her head. 

“Thank you, I appreciate the generosity. You didn’t need to, but I appreciate it.” Sasha smiled appreciatively before she urged her mom back to their van and they drove off as Tristan had to fight not to shift immediately to follow her home. But he had a feeling he’d be seeing her again. Even if he had to destroy his own house’s plumbing to do it. 

A week later, Tristan’s family’s house water softener died, and Tristan immediately thrusted the business card in his dad’s face.

“Call them! Call them!” Tristan insisted. 

“What in the tarnation…from Portage? Why would they come all the way out here to Paw Paw?” His dad asked once he looked at the business card. 

“Just call ok? Please? Even just to get an estimate.” Tristan insisted.

“It’s my mate’s dad. He’s a plumber.” Tristan blurted out loudly before he could stop himself as his dad blinked in surprise but called the name on the front of the business card before he looked at the back and gave the name of the blueberry a blink of surprise before Frank Wright answered the call. 

“This is Frank Wright with Wright Plumbing.” Frank answered. 

“Hi Frank, my name is Chuck Leduc…”

“Oh from Leduc’s Blueberry Farm?” Frank asked. 

“Yes, the very one. Apparently someone from your family came to get some blueberries and left your business card with my son Tristan with…Kabluey blueberries? Written on the back? Um, but I’m actually needing to talk to a plumber because we have a malfunction with it today.” Chuck explained. 

“Oh that must be from Sasha, she told me your boy Tristan did her and my wife quite a service last week in exchange for that name of the blueberries she’s added to our garden this year. I wouldn’t know about the blueberries, cause that’s Sasha’s thing. But the plumbing is what I do best. So what can I do for you Sir?” Frank asked. 

“Well, my water heater went kaput, it’s been on the frits for a while now, and I think today is the day she finally went out.” Chuck admitted. 

“Oh, I see. Sorry to hear about that, what size is it?” Frank asked. 

“Well, I don’t rightly know, let me see…” Chuck began before he got a flashlight and listed off what was on it before Frank listed off what the replacement options were and how much each one would cost him as Chuck was impressed it wouldn’t be as much as he feared. 

“Well, I could get you in tomorrow. Unless you really need it tonight?” Frank offered. 

“Oh, we’ll get by. When do you think you could get here?” Chuck asked. 

“Oh we should be out there between 10 and 11.” Frank estimated. 

“Then we will see you then.” Chuck smiled before he took the card and looked up the place that was written on the back of the card and specifically the variety of blueberries. 

“So Sasha Wright huh?” Chuck asked Tristan. 

“Yeah. Sasha Wright.” Tristan nodded as even the name was starting to make him shift again before he forced himself to stop and turn back. 

“And Kablueys huh?” Chuck asked his son as he raised his eyebrows with an air of curious skepticism. 

“She said they were good. Said they were tangy and flavorful as Calypsos without the tart or sour, Just as strong and bold as rabbit eyes without the staining and just as sweet as Bluegolds.” Tristan recalled and it was Chuck’s turn to blink in surprise while he felt like his son had somehow transformed into a completely different person right before his eyes, without having to shift to his werewolf form at all. 

“Since when does a girl talk to you about blueberries and not send you the other way running and screaming for the hills?” Chuck asked. 

“Since she kept her way too pregnant mother from going into labor in the fields when they came last week. And we started talking and we hit it right off and it was like meeting my best friend for the first time and she was suddenly everything I never knew I needed.” Tristan answered. 

“Ah, I see. She pretty?” Chuck asked casually. 

“Very.” Tristan before he could stop himself. 

“Anything else you want to tell me about her?” Chuck asked. 

“Well, you might meet her and see for yourself, if she’s working with her dad that is. Apparently, she gets roped into helping her dad and working for free, with the only benefit being her dad buys her lunch and pays her in blueberry bushes instead of dollars. She’s really…well she’s really nice, and funny, and sweet, and thoughtful and… mature.” Tristan explained. 

“Uh, huh. You know, that’s not a bad idea, maybe I should consider paying you in blueberry bushes too.” Chuck nodded in understanding as he put the business card into his own wallet. 

“No, Dad, come on. For her it’s a hobby her dad indulges her in, for us it’s our livelihood. If you’re only gonna pay me in blueberry bushes, I quit I have 50 acres of them that I don’t know what to do with other the field hands pick them and put them in the barn to sell.” Tristan insisted. 

“Ok fine, how about acres? Make that little place a real homestead instead of just a hobby farm.” Chuck asked. 

“Dad, I already know you’re leaving everything else to Gabe.” Tristan reminded him. 

“Not necessarily. Gabe gets this house and the 50 acres the current U-pick farm is on. But I still have another 100 I’m setting up for more than just blueberries that I can work with. If this girl has an eye and a head for it. And if you like her so much to the point you just point blank told me- she’s your mate. And if she can make you talk about blueberries with that same look of excitement you just showed me, the kind of excitement you used to have when you were a kid and- by a miracle- knows about varieties that I haven’t been told about yet, then that’s practically fate right there. If you think you just found your mate, Son, I’m pretty sure you did too.” Chuck appraised proudly. 

“But what if it’s just…puppy love?” Tristan murmured with a pout. 

“Then the Leduc family farm will still benefit from finding yet another kind of blueberry we can add to our arsenal.  Even if it’s only half as good as she says it is.” Chuck reassured him. 

“But what if she only wants it to be a hobby and not her means of living? What if that would suck all the joy out of it, like it already has for me?” Tristan asked. 

“How old do you think this girl is?” Chuck asked. 

“She looked to be about my age. But she acted way older.” Tristan offered. 

“Oldest daughter?” Chuck ventured. 

“Seemed so.” Tristan nodded. 

“Now son, oldest daughters are usually the best daughters. They grow up quick because they’re usually called on to help with their younger siblings and the house. They’re usually the best wives and mothers in the making.” Chuck praised. 

“Well, actually her mom is a midwife and that’s what she wants for her career instead.” Tristan informed him. 

“Even better, there’s not enough of those around these days. It’s all doctors and hospitals, insurance, copayments and deductibles and impersonal medical care. Whereas midwifing brings that personal attention and personal care right back into medicine and some of the most important medical professions in the history of civilization itself. Plus, if she has experience with plumbing too? She sounds like she’s well on her way to being a Jill of all trades.” Chuck endorsed. 

“She was very personable.” Tristan had to nod in agreement. 

“Tris, do you remember when Gabe was dating Mandy? And you complained that he seemed to change overnight and that the Gabe you grew up with got replaced with a different Gabe all together? And you hated it because he wasn’t so fun anymore and he wouldn’t play like he used to?  Because he had turned all serious?” Chuck recalled as Tristan’s shoulders sagged. 

“Yes.” Tristan confirmed. 

“Well Son, you might as well be looking in a mirror because you’ve cared more about business in the last week since you met this young lady than you ever have. And just the thought of seeing her again has you damn near waxing poetic.” Chuck appraised. 

“So, they’ll be here between 10 and 11, I think I can count on you to help right? Especially if it’s her dad. You want to make a good impression with her old man don’t you Son?” Chuck presumed. 

“Of course.” Tristan nodded. 

“Well if she brings any of those blueberries, and they’re decent, I think we’ll know what to put into the new ten acres.” He offered.

“Maybe. She seemed like she knew what she was talking about and had a good sense of taste.” Tristan shrugged with a pleased grin. 

#Monster March #Monster March 2023 #Monster March 2023 Day 26 #Monster March 2023 Day 26 Werewolf #Monster March Day 26 Part 1

[dietcokedemise]

Confessions of a Junkorexic

june 6, 2023 | entry #13

🩷☠️🖤☠️🩷☠️🖤☠️🩷☠️🖤☠️🩷☠️🖤☠️

I’M BACK IN THE 190s! it has been damn near two years since i last weighed this low!! wtf!!!! it sounds a bit pathetic out loud (ok very pathetic) but i’m sooooo happy to finally be out of the 200s 🥹 don’t get me wrong i’m still obese, especially for my height, but i’m still rlly proud of myself. my never ending b/r cycle has wrecked havoc on my life for YEARS and it’s been a long time since i’ve had the strength to fight it and actually stick with my self control efforts.

this being said, i did cave and let myself have some simple carbs today 💀 i was supposed to be cutting simple carbs out of my diet this week but of course that only lasted what? two days?? i simply cannot help that i am a slave to pb&j sandwiches! (honestly i’m a slave to anything starchy) that loaf of brioche bread my mother bought has been taunting me ever since it entered my sacred home and i’ve been fighting the binge demons ever since. i want it GONE! i actually had to talk myself down from eating an extra slice of bread while making my sandwich 😭 i took one bite out of it but i had to force myself to rip it up and throw away the rest of it.

tossing food i shouldn’t eat has been a exponential struggle of mine for god knows how long. i so desperately wish i was one of those people who could just douse their food in dish soap or bleach to avoid eating it, but i’m never brave enough to actually follow through with it when the opportunity presents itself. being able to toss that extra slice was definitely a mini achievement for me and i’m proud of myself for being able to get rid of something instead of just caving and eating it. food addiction is a bitch, but i’m determined to make it my bitch!

🩷☠️🖤☠️🩷☠️🖤☠️🩷☠️🖤☠️🩷☠️🖤☠️

food log

breakfast

egg white bites w/ cheese (51 cals)

2 slices of bacon (80 cals)

zero sugar vanilla greek yogurt w/ cinnamon + sliced almonds (70 cals)

small vanilla iced coffee (136 cals)

lunch

pb&j sandwich (379 cals)

dinner

grilled chicken w/ creamy salsa (243 cals)

12 oz diet coke (0 cals)

snacks(s)

water + sugar free drink mix (10 cals)

total cal intake

969 cals 👍 (lol 69 🤭)

🩷☠️🖤☠️🩷☠️🖤☠️🩷☠️🖤☠️🩷☠️🖤☠️

daily stats

cw

197.8 lbs (89.7) [-3.2]

bmi

37.4

lbs until current gw (180 lbs)

17.8 lbs

lbs until ugw (100 lbs)

97.8 lbs

steps

967

hrs fasted

15

days binge free

5

#its not as simple as just eating #tw ed diet #tw edd #disordered eating thoughts #ed bllog #ed but not sheeran #i wanna be small #tw ana diary #tw disordered eating #ana trigger #obese ana #overweight ana #fat ana #confessions of a junkorexic #tw ed stuff #ed di3t #ed no sheeran #ed tingz #tw ed mention #tw ed thoughts #anarecia #ana thoughts #anarexiz #ana shit #tw ana shit #anareksya #anarexx #anarexja #tw eating issues #tw eating stuff

[hearts-hunger]

Ok I think about having a bonfire with the boys way too often👀 I definitely agree that its going to be Mexican food (maybe I’m biased porque soy mexicana) but overall it’s mostly a potluck and there’s a whole bunch of options. Danny and Jake being absolute middle aged dads manning the grill and drinking beers while Sam and Josh are either grazing on chips and salsa and gossiping in the kitchen or they’re left unattended with the fire pit. Every lawn chair, beach chair, random bar stool, and even a couch are set up around it. There’s some easy 70’s rock, disco, and funk playing and they’ll all fight over the aux until they’re too drunk to care. Once it get’s later the s’more supplies come out and everyone thinks it’s a great idea… until Josh starts screaming because his marshmallow caught on fire and he can’t put it out fast enough. He flings it onto the other side of the yard (where Sam later steps in the remains of the marshmallow and his flip flop almost gets stuck to the grass). There’s always at least one (1) noise complaint at every bonfire.

kjdhhhjs i laughed out loud at the marshmallow thing please

danny’s definitely wearing a “kiss the cook” apron and jake sends you outside every so often to check on josh and sam and make sure they’re not setting anything on fire. you sprawl out on the couch and make sam go get you a drink, and josh perches on the armrest and spills the tea he and sam were very invested in talking about. jake cusses and scolds when josh freaks out about his marshmallow, and then he’s cussing and scolding sam for making such a ruckus when his flip flop gets stuck. danny takes over making smores because he makes them perfectly, and to save jake's poor nerves.

#sam and josh being chaos twins while jake channels an exasperated dad and danny channels a patient mom #we love to see it djhsbh #zee #maddie talks to friends! #soft hours

[epistrophyarts]

Epistrophy Arts presents

Meridian Brothers (Bogotá, Col)

With Superfónicos (ATX)

Tuesday August 16. 8pm

Antone's Nightclub (305 E 5th St., Austin, TX 78701)

Tickets $25 advance, $35 door

“Genius prophets of colombian weirdness" - MTV Iggy 

“For those who haven’t heard previously heard them, Colombia’s Meridian Brothers are easily among the most interesting groups in South America” - AFROPOP

“Tuneful, clever and enormous fun” - THE GUARDIAN 

“The Meridian brothers push all boundaries of what you think you know about music. Promise, you'll love it” - NPR 

“So why listen? Because it takes a strong will and clear musical vision for a band to cut through all the music for which Colombia is known” - NPR 

“A dream world between electronic experimentation and regional folk” - LE MONDE 

“Tropical madness from the most consistent of all the “world for club culture” labels. Twisted cumbia at around 150BPM... terrorises the dancefloor!”- GILLES PETERSON 

Colombian guitarist and composer Eblis Alvarez started Meridian Brothers back in 1998 as a vehicle for his own experimental music.  Over the years, the group has evolved into a five-piece band focused on re-interpreting all manners of Latin Tropical styles with a strong psychedelic and experimental sensibility. The Meridian Brothers’ music uses popular Latin American rhythms, augmented by sampling techniques, elaborate effect processing, and Eblis’ quirky and theatrical vocals, which channel imaginary characters with both pathos and humor.

The group has released records on Soundway records, Names You can Trust and Bongo Joe and have proved very popular in South America and Europe where the band has toured extensively and has started to reach out to an audience more familiar with indie rock and experimental than Latin music.

Meridian's new album is a tribute to New York's 70's era Salsa Dura. For the project, they have created an avatar, a fictitious group named El Grupo Renacimiento, and written a new repertoire trying to emulate the writing style of those late 60's and early 70's groups while retaining the Meridian Brothers idiosyncratic style of arranging and recording. The sound of instruments has been modified to fit the Meridian electronic templates, and the result is a fantastic album true to the spirit of Salsa Dura and in line with Eblis Alvarez two decade-long experiment with Latin tropical sounds.

The album will be released on the Ansonia label - a historical Latin label that was specialized in Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban music from the 1960's and has only recently been revived and has made its catalog finally available on digital platforms.

Meridian Brothers new album will be their first release in over 30 years - a nod from Ansonia Records to the legacy of Latin music history as it steps into the modern era.

Eblis Alvarez has been an intricate part of the new generation of Colombian musicians for the past ten years. He is also a former member of Frente Cumbiero and a current member of trio Los Pirañas.

Meridian Brothers include Maria Valencia (saxophone, clarinet, percussion and synthesizers), , Cesar Quevedo (bass) and Alejandro Forero (electronics and synthesizers) Mauricio Ramirez (drums)

Superfónicos is Colombian Funk. Better yet, it is Caríbe Soul…fed by the Indigenous and African roots of the band’s Colombian heritage, telegraphing a politics of peace and unity from the stage to your ears. They only ask that you dance toward a place in your mind beyond struggle and strife.

Superfónicos was formed when bassist Nico Sanchez and guitarist Erick Bohorquez began discussions about creating a group with a foundation in Afro-Colombian rhythms. They soon teamed up with guitarist Andres Villegas and percussionist Daniel Sanchez, and started rehearsing together during time away from their other bands. That core group developed the band’s unique sound, laying the foundation of what was to come. In 2016, gaitero and vocalist Jaime Ospina—who has recorded with the likes of Pacha Massive—relocated from Colombia to Austin, where he met and instantly connected with the group. It was also during this time that the band met with famed local producer and Grammy winner Adrian Quesada at Level One Sound. Their recording session resulted in a sound that not only encapsulates a moment in time but helped to define Superfónicos as a collective. It is a musical mestizo that is ever-changing but deeply rooted in Caribbean flavors.

Epistrophy Arts is a grass-roots cultural organization dedicated to presenting the finest adventurous and improvised music in Austin Texas. Since January of 1998 we have presented over 50 concerts with some of the major figures in international contemporary adventurous music

This project is supported in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

A film doesn't need to be “good for you” to be good. Look at 1974's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre for example. It’s horrifying and unsettling. That’s the point. That’s what makes it great. Nearly 50 years later, it still terrifies while its long lineage of sequels, prequels, remakes, and reboots continuously disappoint. Attempting to imitate David Gordon Green’s Halloween (2018), 2022’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre promises much and then fails to deliver in every department except for one.

In 2022, young entrepreneurs Melody (Sarah Yarkin) and Dante (Jacob Latimore), along with Melody’s sister Lila (Elsie Fisher) and Dante’s fiance Ruth (Nell Hudson) have purchased the abandoned Texas town of Harlow so they can sell the properties and create a trendy, gentrified hot spot. They didn’t expect anyone to be living in the dilapidated buildings, much less an elderly woman named Ginny (Alice Krige) and the mentally stunted, murderous man in her care (Mark Burnham) - the culprit behind a 1973 bloodbath we call The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

If you want gore, this movie has it by the truckload. Despite being what? 70? 80 years old? Leatherface effortlessly turns everyone into pools of chunky salsa. Via his trademark chainsaw, of course, but also using hammers, knives, shards of glass, meat cleavers, and people’s own broken limbs. I believe David Blue Garcia was aiming to make this man who wears human skin for a mask seem demonically strong but the movie takes it to such an extreme it feels more like this story is set in a calcium-deficient universe.

Get ready to follow some of the dumbest horror movie protagonists you’ve met in a while. Now let me be clear. I’m not criticizing Dante for going into a house he believes is abandoned to look for important paperwork. He saw the two weirdos living there leave. He doesn’t know he’s in a horror movie whose antagonist can teleport and make his chainsaw silent if the scene demands it to be. I am calling him and his friends stupid for their complete lack of preparation, forethought, or common sense. When you have an entire town of dusty buildings to sell, you don’t show up 15 minutes before your potential buyers do. You case the joint, you make sure nothing is going to interfere with your big venture. When something goes wrong and the old lady who wasn’t supposed to be there has a heart attack, you don’t follow her and the police up to the hospital because, why would you? You don’t insult the guy brandishing a gun when you’re in the middle of nowhere with no authorities to be found - not if you want to live anyway.

Aside from the nauseatingly convincing viscera and blood, there’s only one thing this movie does somewhat well. Even then it's so scattered, I'm certain it was by accident. This movie is set in the present when people have cell phones, v-logs, and eagerly pull out their cameras whenever they see anything remotely dodgy. I’ve often criticized horror movies for finding contrived ways to get rid of their devices and/or signals. In TCM, Leatherface stumbles upon a big group of people. They’re frightened and puzzled, they pull out their phones and warn him with cancellation if he steps forward. It doesn’t go well for them. There’s a kernel of a good idea there. Yes, you can call the police, you can record evidence, you can do all sorts of things but they won't help you right there and then if your assailant doesn’t care. At that moment, the movie has sort of cracked a slasher movie problem. The police are on their way. They’ll be here in 30 minutes. Just in time to scoop what’s left of you into a Ziplock bag. The rest of the time, however, people just forget they have phones. No one calls for help, no one texts their friends to let them know “I’m trapped in this house and there’s a hulking lunatic in here with me, if you come in, make sure you do it quietly!” We know there isn’t a police officer within the surrounding 50 miles, but they don’t!

At face value, Texas Chainsaw Massacre seems similar to 2018’s Halloween. Both ignore all of the previous chapters except for the original and bring back the lone survivor so she can face the demon that’s plagued her all of these years by putting him to rest once and for all. Both are significantly more brutal and violent than their ancestors. The difference is that Laurie Strode was a memorable character we grew attached to and that her (still ongoing) struggle against The Shape/Michael Myers feels like it's going somewhere new. TCM just wants to restore the status quo so it can pump out more gruesome sequels - the post-credit scene confirms this.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is indistinguishable from the later Friday the 13th films, or any other randomly chosen slasher flick. The staggering body count might please gorehounds. For everyone else, it's a depressing, pointless film with nothing to say and no imagination, whatsoever. (May 13, 2022)

#texas chainsaw massacre #movies #films #Movie reviews #film reviews #The Texas Chainsaw Massacre #David Blue Garcia #Chris Thomas Devlin #Fede Álvarez #Rodo Sayagues #Sarah Yarkin #Elsie Fisher #Mark Burnham #Moe Dunford #Nell Hudson #Jessica Allain #Olwen Fouéré #Jacob Latimore #Alice Krige #2022 movies #2022 films

[allovertheworldblog]

Las Veags, Nevada, USA

Chances are you will get lost in the casinos and hotels of Las Vegas, they are that big.

Some say they’re designed so that you spend longer than you want to in them, so no windows, no clocks, cheap food and alcohol. 

One day I went to see the lions in the MGM casino.

I got lost trying to get out of the place.

I stroll past the high rollers area, which is cordoned off.

The scene is straight out of Ocean’s Eleven. 

Inside the area there’s a 70-odd year old man, trimmed moustache, dapperly dressed with thick framed glasses.

He has a clipboard in hand and is reviewing the play.

Standing by the players, he exudes authority and an ever so calm respectability.

The table which is almost entirely peopled by Asians has a suited host and a standing croupier to keep the whole show going. 

This scene is a picture of Vegas.

Trying to find the exit I pass by another scene, a man in his 50’s who looks like he’s dressed more for the beach than a casino, getting sick at the side of the corridor. 

I go to the Bellagio for the fountain show, which is incredible.

I’d seen it the night before and it didn’t impress me, but tonight it is a real show.

A Danish guy I meet on the bus who was off to a Salsa club tells me that Americans make him feel small.

He tells me that it’s taken him a while to get used to the style of Americans. 

Nights in Las Vegas were cold, it is in the desert after all.

I should have remembered the Atacama desert in Chile and how cold that could get at night.

But no, it didn’t sink in.

During the daytime in Vegas it could get so hot as to give you sunburn, but at night it sure gets cold.

That’s the desert for you!

I didn’t get to the Grand Canyon or to Boulder Dam or even go to a show while I was in Vegas.

I was staying in a hostel so kept the backpacker mentality, trying to keep an eye on my expenses.

That really isn’t the way to experience Las Vegas.

I will probably go back one day, but I sure won’t stay in a hostel.

#photography #travel

[agendaculturaldelima]

#FeriasyFestivales #ElEscenarioDelMundo

📣 “IX FESTIVAL INTERNACIONAL DE TEATRO Y DANZA TEMPORADA ALTA” 💃🎭♬

💥 El Festival organizado por la Alianza Francesa se inicia el 06 de febrero, con una edición que ofrece a los distintos públicos de la ciudad de Lima, una selección especial de obras de teatro y danza de de Francia, España, Chile, Japón, Italia, Bélgica y Perú, además de cine, talleres gratuitos, conciertos y encuentros con el público.🌎 

🤩 Una de las novedades de esta edición es la presentación de clases abiertas de danzas tradicionales peruanas y urbanas, programadas para el 10, 17, 24 de febrero y 01 de marzo: “Primeros pasos del Tango” a cargo de Oscar Buroz; “Zapateo Andino. Huaylarsh de Carnaval” dirigida por Alexander Clemente Polo; “Marinera de Malambo” impartida por la campeona nacional de Marinera Alejandra Ambukka; y “House Dance” dictado por Brighit Mercado y Astrid Camacho. Estas actividades gratuitas se realizarán en el Espacio Libertad de la Alianza Francesa (Miraflores). 🎬🎥🎞

📽 Las actividades se complementan con la proyección de largometrajes y cortometrajes: Cine Danza Argentina, del 14 al 16 de febrero, en los que se proyectará una Selección de cortometrajes “Social Tango” y los largometrajes argentinos “Being” y “El Tango, esos minutos de revancha” dirigidos por Pablo Destito y Agustina Videla, “Grooming y Mentira la Verdad V. Filosofía con el cuerpo” de Pablo Destito. El 01 de marzo la proyección especial de la película “La Danza de los Mirlos” de Álvaro Luque. Reservas aquí: https://www.joinnus.com/events/theater/lima-la-danza-de-los-mirlos-peru-temporada-alta-2024-59583 .

🎼 La Clausura se realiza el sábado 02 de marzo a las 8:00pm. con un concierto a cargo de  Flora Masato, agrupación musical conformada por músicos egresados de diferentes escuelas de música que promueven la cumbia peruana, con influencias del reggae, el jazz, el rock y la salsa; y Los Mirlos, la legendaria agrupación de cumbia amazónica peruana formada en la década de 1970, siendo los pioneros del género y dejando una marca indeleble en la escena musical de América Latina. Liderados por Jorge Rodríguez Granda, estos músicos han fusionado con maestría elementos de la música tropical peruana con influencias contemporáneas, como el surf, el rock y la psicodelia. 🎙️🎷🥁🎸🎺🎹 @aflimaoficial @aflimacultural @picantecm

📜 Programación:

💃 THIS IS NOT (an act of love & resistance)

👥 Elenco: Maria Astallé, Maria Cofan, Cosima Grand, Hanna Hedman, Maria Puertas, Gwendal Raymond, Julia Soler y Asha Thomas [Centro Coreográfico Nacional de Grenoble & Compañía Studio Fictif - Francia].

📢 Dirección: Aina Alegre

📆 Martes 06 y Miércoles 07 de Febrero

🕗 8:00pm.

🏛 Teatro NOS PUCP (av. Camino Real 1037 - San Isidro).

 🎯 ENTRADAS:

🎟 Adultos: S/.70

👴👵 Jubilados: S/.50

🎫 Estudiantes AF, PUCP y UPC: S/.45

🖱 Reservas: https://www.joinnus.com/organizer/temporadaalta2024

🎭 GENTE EXTRAÑA SOBRE EL ADIÓS DEL ESTE DE ASIA [Prueba]

👤Actuación: Macla Yamada

📢 Dirección: Yudai Kamisato [Japón]

📆 Viernes 09, Sábado 10 y Domingo 11 de Febrero.

🕗 8:00pm.

🏛 Teatro de la Alianza Francesa (av. Arequipa 4595 - Miraflores)

💃ALGUNAS COREOGRAFÍAS

👤Actuación: Ramona Caia

📢 Dirección y Coreografía: Jacopo Jenna [Italia]

📆 Martes 13 y Miércoles 14 de Febrero

🕗 8:00pm.

🏛 Teatro de la Alianza Francesa (av. Arequipa 4595 - Miraflores)

🎭 LAS PENAS DEL JOVEN WERTHER

✍️ Dramaturgia: Miquel Mas Fiol [España]

👤Actuación: Mel Salvatierra.

📢 Dirección: Miquel Mas Fiol [España]

📆 Jueves 15 y Viernes 16 de Febrero.

🕗 8:00pm.

🏛 Teatro de la Alianza Francesa (av. Arequipa 4595 - Miraflores)

🎭 A FUEGO

✍️ Dramaturgia: Pablo Macho

👤Actuación: Pablo Macho

📢 Dirección: Emma Arquillué y Pablo Macho [España]

📆 Sábado 17 y Domingo 18 de Febrero.

🕗 8:00pm.

🏛 Teatro de la Alianza Francesa (av. Arequipa 4595 - Miraflores)

🎭 EN MITAD DE TANTO FUEGO

✍️ Dramaturgia: Alberto Cornejo

👤Actuación: Rubén de Eguía

📢 Dirección: Xavier Alberti [España]

📆 Lunes 19 y Martes 20 de Febrero.

🕗 8:00pm.

🏛 Teatro de la Alianza Francesa (av. Arequipa 4595 - Miraflores)

🎭 REMINISCENCIA💃

👤Actuación: Malicho Vaca

📢 Dirección: Malicho Vaca [Chile]

📆 Miércoles 21 y Jueves 22 de Febrero.

🕗 8:00pm.

🏛 Teatro de la Alianza Francesa (av. Arequipa 4595 - Miraflores)

🤡 VUE [Teatro de objetos, clown y circo contemporáneo] 🎪

✍️ Dramaturgia: Étienne Manceau.

👤Actuación:  Amélie Venisse [Francia]

📆 Viernes 23 y Sábado 24 de febrero.

🕗 8:00pm.

🏛 Teatro de la Alianza Francesa (av. Arequipa 4595 - Miraflores)

🎭 BURN BABY BURN

✍️ Dramaturgia: Carine Lacroix (Francia)

👥 Elenco: Abigail López, Angela Rojas, Aric Bernal y Verónica Infantes [Francia – Perú]

📢 Dirección: Georgia Tavares

📆 Martes 27 y Miércoles 28 de Febrero.

🕗 8:00pm.

🏛 Teatro de la Alianza Francesa (av. Arequipa 4595 - Miraflores)

🎯 ENTRADAS:

🎟 Adultos: S/.40

👴👵 Jubilados: S/.30

🎫 Estudiantes AF, PUCP y UPC: S/.25

🖱 Reservas: https://www.joinnus.com/organizer/temporadaalta2024

[joseandresoliveras]

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[dimemasazucar]

From drum to guitar, Bachata takes Salsa in a different direction and tells a different story despite being considered the same as 'Bolero' at the time. (Spoilers though, it starts in Cuba- so we will go more into the genre itself and to our family in the DR.) "Despair is a part of failure" Joan Soriano's father says when discussing the dissimilarity between art and making it 'big'. There is a certain youth to both the genre of Bachata and the patience Soriano's father suggests because of his age. But what is the one thing that would help his family the most? Unfortunately the main crux (to no surprise) is- money.

Regardless of which island or country you're from, an unfortunate link between many of the arts and their evolution is starting off broke. But how does a genre from our family in the DR represent an evolution of the struggle? Well, incredibly so. I tell you what, if there's one thing that music does, it's have the power to connect people in a way that transcends time and culture. Even becoming a part of the culture- it's such a beautiful legacy that music leaves with us. Enough rambling though, back to the links- Bachata. Takes the drum of son and meringue and sets it in the mid-ground (if you'd work with me here) in favor of the guitar. If you haven't heard 'old school' bachata, I got you in a bit, but for now trust me when I say it's as expressive as any other latin genre of music.

See, before Bachata there was Meringue and Bolero, both different variations of latin music, dance, and expression.

For my meringue-heads of the 90's and early 00's your family was probably blasting Elvis Crespo's Suavemente or any splash of hits from El Zafiro Carlos Manuel 7 Orquesta and Fernando Villalona. The 60's was setting the stage, the late 70's to the 80's was when it was popping off though. Before this? The bolero's of the 60's were bringing us HOME. I`m talking Rolando La Serie, Altemar Dutra, or the BUTTERY vocals of Raul Marrero- if you know Bachata you probably know any of these (and MANY more) in rotation. Stories of love, loss, societal woes, and the pangs of artistry explored with an incredible amount of horns, emotion, and the (eventual, we're looking at Bachata mainly here) inclusion of the guitar front-and-center created something incredible. Why the name "bachata"? In short? Classism expressing a xenophobic subform within racist beliefs. Somehow 'Bachata' was the music of the lesser class because people were (checks notes) darker skinned and poor- wack. Boleros of rich areas had this whole ensemble, and the people rich enough to enjoy these thought that this was the only form of true (remember, this was before the term was used colloquially, so I'm using the term here despite it being considered 'Bolero' due to classism) Bachata out there. When the poor people in the bario were playing in much more humble groups, or trios. From those trios spawned that GOOD Bachata we know of today- that eventually evolved into, well, what we've been talking about. Side note: Imagine calling Bachata 'poor people Bolero' because it was different than what you expected, then it turns out to travel the entire world over the course of 40 years. All from the bario, to the radio. And again, from people taking something of nothing. Something that's interesting in The Duke's particular story (and one I am happy to have learned about) is how 'The classic' doesn't always translate to 'the hits'- at least not at first sometimes. Times change, you know? Sometimes it takes a minute for the original essence to make their waves again. But, as time is cyclical and water flows effortlessly, so too do the classics come back around. While The Duke finds his flow around this time and becomes the legend people know of today- the precursor to his success was built upon the foundation of groups like Aventura and Xtreme! We 'schmoovin when we dance to Bachata baby! The guitar part of bachata finds itself still included as we travel through time into the 00's, but I'm gonna be honest with you, it was the fusion of hip-hop that took Bachata to the next level in New York. (Probably because it's thanks to The Bronx that we even have the genre as prevalently as we do to this day, being a New Yorker is pretty cool I'm not gonna lie.)

At the height of Bachata you can see a large connection between our cultures, because- you know, we share history. Instead of focusing on the struggle-to-substance story instead I want to connect our distinct cultures in song because the song is crazy good.

If you haven't heard already, there is a bachata version of La Vida Asi from Puerto Rican legend Ivy Queen that I always suggest people listen to to capture the essence of our cultures at their height together in the 'Latin storm' of the 00's. As you enjoy the song I encourage you to think about Soriano's story and recognize it is not the story of one man, or one family- it's a representative look at how culturally some of our greatest works have to struggle the hardest to be shared the most. While I have my own personal feelings about the sharing and evolution of music, at its base-level I think all genres have a song for somebody to enjoy in it. You can learn much through how a culture struggles and succeeds through its music. So please, listen intently and remember that with the speed, guitar, and (more often than not) emotional songs of bachata comes an equally emotionally gripping history that adds another connection to the web of beautiful latin music worth exploring and learning about.

#bachata #salsa #Bachata music #Salsa music

[cyarsk5230]

Latin hip hop

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Latin hip hop (also known as Latin rap) is hip hop music that is recorded by artists in the United States of Hispanic and Latino descent, along with Spanish-speaking countries in the Caribbean, North America, Central America, South America, and Spain.Latin hip hop

Stylistic originsHip hop

Cultural origins1970s, Bronx, New York City

Typical instrumentsTurntable, synthesizer, DAW, rapping, drum machine, sampler, drums, guitar, bass guitar, piano, beatboxing, vocals

Latino hip hop in the United StatesEdit

Latin rapEdit

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, most Latin rap came from New York and the West Coast of the United States. Due to the heaviest Puerto Rican migration to New York City in the '50s, during the 70s, the birth of hip hop involved Latinos from the Caribbean islands. DJ Kool Herc was from Jamaica. Puerto Rico loved Hip Hop from America. Among the first rappers from the island were TNT, Brewley MC and Vico C. Later generations saw talented MCs, DJs and groups emerge all over the island. And artists from this period include Daddy Yankee, Anuel AA,[1] Big Boy, Bad Bunny, MC Ceja, Noriel, Ozuna, Iann Dior, Ivy Queen, Mexicano, Chezina, Lito y Polaco, and Kool Bob Love.[2]

Mellow Man Ace was the first Latino artist to have a major bilingual single, the 1989 track "Mentirosa". This song went platinum, leading Mellow Man Ace to be described as the "Godfather of Latin rap" and inducted into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame inductee. In 1990, fellow West Coast artist Kid Frost further brought Latinos to the rap forefront with his hit song "La Raza (song)." In 1991, Kid Frost, Mellow Man, A.L.T. and several other Latin rappers formed the rap super group Latin Alliance and released a self-titled album which featured the hit "Lowrider (On the Boulevard)". A.L.T. also scored a hit later that year with his remake of the song Tequila. Cypress Hill, of which Mellow Man Ace was a member before going solo, would become the first Latino rap group to reach platinum status in 1991. The group has since continued to release other Gold and Platinum albums. Ecuadorian born rapper Gerardo received heavy rotation on video and radio for his single "Rico, Suave". While commercially watered-down, his album enjoyed a status of being one of the first mainstream Spanglish CDs on the market. Johnny J was a multi-platinum songwriter, music producer, and rapper who was perhaps best known for his production on Tupac Shakur's albums All Eyez on Me and Me Against the World.[3] He also produced the 1990 single Knockin' Boots for his classmate Candyman's album Ain't No Shame in My Game, which eventually went platinum thanks to the single.[4]

In the mid-1990s, the success of LA's Cypress Hill led to additional Latin hip-hop artists finding label support. Delinquent Habits were a horn-sampling trio that found MTV support for their breakout bilingual single "Tres Delinquentes" in 1996. By the early 2000's, two Mexico-born, United States-raised Latin hip hop acts found success on major labels. LA's Akwid fused banda with hip-hop on hits like "No Hay Manera" while Milwaukee's Kinto Sol told tales of Mexican immigrant life over more minimalist beats. The genre even spawned a bicultural novelty, the Brooklyn-based crew Hip Hop Hoodíos, who fused their dual Jewish and Latino cultures on songs like "Havana Nagila" and "Raza Hoodía."

Latin rap in the East Coast and MiamiEdit

DJ Charlie Chase fused hip-hop with salsa and other music genres. Chase was the DJ for the New York hip-hop group the Cold Crush Brothers, from 1978 and through the '80s. East Coast Latin artists such as the Beatnutsemerged in the early 1990s, with New Jersey native Chino XL earning recognition for his lyricism and equal controversy for his subject matter. In 1992, Mesanjarz of Funk, led by the Spanish/English flow of Mr. Pearl, became the first Spanish rap group signed to a major label (Atlantic Records). In 1994, Platinum Producer and DJ Frankie Cutlass used his own label, Hoody Records, to produce his single “Puerto Rico” which became a classic. In the late 1990s, Puerto Rican rapper Big Punisher became the first Latino solo artist to reach platinum sales for an LP with his debut album Capital Punishment, which included hit song "Still Not a Player".

Southwest and Chicano rapEdit

Latin rap (as well as its subgenre of Chicano rap) has thrived along the West Coast, Southwest and Midwestern states with little promotion due to the large Latino populations of those regions. Jonny Z is considered to be a pioneer of Latin hip-hop, due to him being one of the first Latinos combining Spanglish lyrics with freestyle, salsa, mambo, and regional Mexican banda. He scored four Billboard Hot Dance singles between 1993 and 1997, including one of the greatest Miami bass songs of all time, "Shake Shake (Shake That Culo)". Besides bass music, he also recorded the Chicano anthem "Orale". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States Volume 2, Page 301 states: "A new style of Latina and Latino hip-hop was created in Miami and Texas by the bass rappers DJ Laz and Jonny Z, who mixed Latin styles with bass music".[5]

[queenmotherbird]

[jennifersebastian]

HOMEMADE SALSA

"This is an old old recipe, My grandmother use to make this back in the late 40's early 50's , My Mom use to fix this when I was growing up in the 60's and 70's, I fix it for my family and now my Daughter makes it for her fiance. obviously it's a family favorite!" Must express something to keep getting my recipes…. Thank you. Join Us For More

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[breezeriderebike]

Exploring Miami's Vibrant Streets with Breeze Rider Ebike

Miami is famous for its beautiful beaches, lively culture, and exciting atmosphere, offering many exciting experiences. Moreover, exploring the city's streets and neighborhoods on a bike is an incredible way to immerse yourself in its charm. That's where the Breeze Rider Ebike comes in – the ultimate companion that effortlessly combines electric power with exploration. And it ensures a memorable experience of Miami's dynamic cityscape. In this blog, we'll explore the exciting features of the All Terrain Electric Bike while discovering hidden gems and unique encounters along the way.

Effortless Exploration of Miami Beach

Miami Beach is a must-visit destination for cycling enthusiasts, and the Electric bike takes it to the next level with its electric advantage. Powered by a strong 350W motor, this e-bike effortlessly propels you along Ocean Drive, offering fantastic views of the Atlantic Ocean. Cruise past the iconic lifeguard stands and feel the refreshing ocean breeze as you effortlessly glide along the beachfront. Thanks to its efficient battery system, the E-bike ensures long endurance, up to 70- 80 miles. So, it can allow you to explore Miami Beach and beyond without worrying about running out of power. Weighing just 23.24 kg, its lightweight construction adds to the ease of riding. And it makes it a breeze to maneuver through the streets and crowded areas.

Uncovering Wynwood's Vibrant Street Art

Miami is not just about the beach; it boasts diverse neighborhoods with hidden gems waiting to be discovered. With the electric bike, you can venture into Wynwood. It is renowned for its vibrant street art and trendy cafes. First, glide through the streets and admire the incredible murals adorning the buildings, each telling a unique story. Then, take a break at a local cafe, enjoy a refreshing beverage, and immerse yourself in Wynwood's artistic atmosphere. The e-bike's 10-speed gear shift system allows effortless adaptation to the neighborhood's diverse terrain. So it can ensure a smooth and enjoyable ride through Wynwood's vibrant streets. Besides, its responsive and efficient braking system provides enhanced control and safety, allowing you to confidently explore Wynwood's hidden corners.

Immersive Nature Escapes in the Everglades

The e-bike is the perfect companion for experiencing Miami's natural beauty. Discover the breathtaking Everglades by riding along the scenic trails of Shark Valley. You can ride your e-bike and observe this vast wilderness's unique flora and fauna. Feel a sense of tranquility as you glide past sawgrass marshes and spot alligators, turtles, and an array of bird species. Moreover, The e-bike has all-terrain tires, providing stability and grip as you cruise through the diverse landscapes of the Everglades. Besides, its lightweight and durable aluminum frame ensures a smooth and comfortable ride, allowing you to connect with nature in an exciting and eco-friendly way.

Captivating Cultural Journey in Little Havana

Immerse yourself in Miami's vibrant Cuban culture by exploring the colorful streets of Little Havana on the e-bike. You can feel the lively rhythm of salsa music as you ride past cigar shops and art galleries. You can also stop at Maximo Gomez Park, also known as Domino Park, and witness locals engaged in lively games of dominoes. Besides, indulging in authentic Cuban cuisine at one of the neighborhood's renowned restaurants is impressive. In addition, the e-bike's comfortable seat and ergonomic design ensure a pleasurable and immersive cultural journey through Little Havana. And its powerful 350W motor provides an extra boost, effortlessly carrying you through the lively streets and enhancing your overall experience.

Conclusion

The All Terrain E-bike combines long endurance, a powerful 350W motor, a 10-speed gear shift system, lightweight construction, and all-terrain tires, making it the perfect companion for exploring Miami's vibrant streets. With its impressive features, you can effortlessly explore Miami Beach, uncover Wynwood's vibrant street art, immerse yourself in the natural beauty of the Everglades, and embark on a captivating cultural journey through Little Havana. So, hop with Breeze Rider Ebike, embrace the electric advantage, and embark on an unforgettable journey through the busy streets of Miami.

#electricbike #electricbikes #cycling #ebike #ebikelife #ebiketour #ebikestyle #ebikeadventures #outdoors #cyclinglife #mountainbike #adventure #commute #city ebike

[alexisginesphoto]

Final Project Field Plan - HUN 191

I plan to photograph the region by walking through it systematically over the course of six weeks, breaking down the area I plan to cover each week by region. I will start from the North and work my way South—I usually get more caught up in the South, as the neighborhood becomes more lively, and I prefer to have more time for that at the end. I plan to photograph the buildings/architecture of the neighborhood, as I feel this will be important to document as time/gentrification will inevitably change the look of these neighborhoods. For this same reason, I plan to document the people of the neighborhood as well—the residents, but also some of the locally famous shop owners and street personalities. The last component I plan to photograph are the parks and train stations within 10459, making observation as to how these public spaces are utilized by the local community. I do not plan to photograph the schools.

I will be transparent and say, as this project is rooted in street photography I don’t have a set goal as to how I want the project to look in the end. My goal is to hold myself to the schedule of showing up, being present, making connections and allowing things to flow naturally within the 6 week timeframe. I expect that the people I encounter along the way will be what makes the project special. 

Week 1: April 3rd – 9th                   *Easter Weekend

Areas of Focus: Starlight Park to Freeman Street (pictured below)

Definite Photograph Goals: 

Starlight Park, Freeman Street Station

People exiting churches after Easter Sunday services on April 9th. 

There is a cluster of three Christian Churches in the triangle block of Jennings St., Freeman St., and West Farms Blvd.

Week 2: April 10th – 16th        *Wedding Weekend, Spring Break Week 

*** I have a weekend to attend this Sunday so I need to format my shooting schedule accordingly. I also start a new job this week. I will be shooting early mornings during the week before work, and Saturday. 

Areas of Focus: Freeman Ave (North Boundary) to 167th St. (South Boundary), Whitlock Ave. (East Boundary), Union Ave. (West Boundary) – see below. 

Definite Photograph Goals: 

Whitlock Ave. Station 

Paradise on Earth Community Garden @ 1106 Fox St.

Field of Dreams Park @ 167 & Southern Blvd.

Concrete Plant Park (not technically in the 10459 zip code but just on the other line of the border. I am choosing to include this because without a doubt it is a huge part of the neighborhood—no other “zip code” has direct access to it.

Whitlock Avenue Bridge, also known in popular culture for a famous photograph Martha Cooper took of it in the 70’s.

Bryant Triangle—it’s known as a junkie hangout but it’s undeniably part of the neighborhood that everyone is aware of and not something to be overlooked. Also, lots of pigeon feeding goes on here. 

Reverend Polite Playground. Big during baseball/softball season. 

Week 3 & 4: April 17th – April 30th

Areas of Focus: 167th St (North Boundary) to 163rd St. (South Boundary), Whitlock Ave./Bruckner Blvd. (East Boundary), Tinton Ave./Union Ave. (West Boundary) – see below.

Definite Photographic Goals:

Simpson Street Station, Intervale Ave. Station, Hunts Point Station

Southern Blvd Shopping District, Street Vendors, notable shops

Davidson Houses, NYCHA

Basil Behagen Playground, Horseshoe Playground, Lyons Square Playground, Printer’s Park

Big Pun Mural 

Tats Cru Bronx Mural, present-day graffiti tour point

Hoe Garden

20/20 Deli

Week 5: May 1st – May 7th

Areas of Focus: 163rd St (North Boundary) to Longwood Ave. (South Boundary), Bruckner Blvd. (East Boundary), Tinton Ave. (West Boundary) – see below.

Definite Photographic Goals:

Bill Rainey Park 

Prospect Ave. Station, Longwood Ave. Station

John Ahearn sculptures

Salsa music store on Longwood Ave

Week 6: May 8th – 14th

If there were any areas I needed to revisit, this is my time to do so. 

Making a final edit to the photos taken—Ideally I would love to make a zine out of this material but that may be ambitious depending on my workload from class. Plan B would be to As of right now, there is no Plan B. I will discuss with Prof. S if my presentation plan does not materialize as I’d like. I’ll know whether this is feasible by Week 5.

#hun191 #alexisginesphoto