#Everyone got used to god tier writing; so what in the Game of Thrones finale & Avengers Endgame Natasha gets no funeral fuck was this??

[phoenixduelist]

The only S3 opening I accept is Izzy literally clawing out of the grave, yelling: 'None of you absolute TWATS bothered to check for a pulse??'

In a show where every tiny movement has 26280 meanings and possible interpretations, I refuse to believe that this death has absolutely none.

And I also hope after crawling out, his first half conscious journey is into Ed's and Stede's inn, sending both into a cardiac arrest

#ofmd #ofmd spoilers #izzy hands #our flag means death #omfd season 2 #ofmd s2 #The reactions would be slightly better if he had gotten a death he and his arc deserved. Protecting the crew or even Ed after everything #That his funeral was somewhat respectful; the crew finally verbalizing the thanks for his protection during the Kraken era; Ed who knew him #longest also saying a few heartfelt words. and bury him in the sea maybe? instead of keeping him around like a garden accessory. #idk for some reason that also bothers me. that everyone got to live the life they planned; their freedom while he's trapped underground #Everyone got used to god tier writing; so what in the Game of Thrones finale & Avengers Endgame Natasha gets no funeral fuck was this??

[aion-rsa]

Rome: The Long Road of the Original HBO Epic

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It was the biggest show ever produced when it premiered on HBO. Filming in exotic international locations and on sets that went on for blocks, it was an epic spectacle that many whispered couldn’t be done on television. Not with its hundreds of extras in lavish costumes, and not with its cast of more than a dozen major characters. Yet HBO gambled big with a budget that exceeded $100 million on its first season.

These details might be mistaken by many as the genesis of Game of Thrones. But before HBO’s song of ice and fire, this was also the origin of the first actual modern TV epic. It was the story of Rome.

In its debut, Rome was even more gargantuan in scale and opulent in design than Thrones’ first few years. Filmed at the legendary facilities of Cinecittà Studios in the actual Rome, HBO and showrunner Bruno Heller oversaw a vast recreation of antiquity during the life and times of Julius Caesar. From the austere grandeur of the pre-imperial Roman Forum to the eventual seediness of the gangs on the Aventine Hill, the final days of the Roman republic were reimagined in sweaty, shocking, and spectacularly expensive detail.

“We used the most modern scholarship, which suggests that all the sculptures were painted,” Heller says over Zoom as we reminisce about Rome and its Cinecittà extravagance 15 years after the series’ 2005 premiere. Every morning Heller would  be up at 4am, arriving early on set and getting lost in the art direction’s colors. “Walking out there at dawn into the Forum and seeing this world created, it was just magical. It gives me goosebumps now thinking about it, seeing a hundred [Gaul] tribesmen on horseback with great furry helmets charging down a hillside yelling, that sort of thing. No one makes things like that anymore. Even something like Game of Thrones would use CGI for the kind of things that we were doing for real.”

Actor Kevin McKidd, who played one half of Rome’s soul, the honorable to a fault Lucius Vorenus, expresses similar awe when he thinks back at what they accomplished.

“I mean listen, none of these budgets were small, but I think Game of Thrones ended up being smaller than ours,” McKidd correctly points out. Whereas Rome was budgeted at $100 million when it premiered, Game of Thrones debuted with a more reasonable starting price tag of $60 million. Says McKidd, “Ours, it was the first time anybody had tried this, so we just had to spend the money. And I think they figured out, it seems, ways to do it smarter or for less… because our show came out of the gate just huge and bawdy and big, and unapologetic.”

Heller is even more succinct in describing Rome’s making.

“Most films, and even TV, is planning for battle,” Heller says. “Planning for a big TV series like [Rome] is like planning for war, for a campaign. It’s invading Russia.” He pauses, “You have to think about the retreat, as well.”

This was Rome’s war: brief, bloody, and beautiful.

‘Very Unlikely to Be Made’

When HBO first hired Heller to take a crack at a Rome treatment, he didn’t think for a minute it would get made. In the early 2000s, HBO was a different place than it is now. The Sopranos and Sex and the City of course turned the premium cable network into the leader of the prestige cable revolution—or harbinger of peak TV as it would later be called—and the network had its eye on bigger and more dazzling projects. In 2001 HBO even released the most expensive miniseries ever up to that point with Band of Brothers. But that World War II-set series also had the names Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks attached as producers. The network still relied on bankability.

So when Heller took a meeting about Rome, he was acutely aware he’d be unable to lend that same prestige to a sword and sandals epic. He’d written some scripts before at HBO and admired the vision of then-HBO chairman Chris Albrecht and Carolyn Strauss, then-president of HBO’s entertainment division. But he was being called in to discuss a show based on a preexisting miniseries pitch by John Milius and William J. MacDonald—a pitch the network was already wary toward.

“It’s one of those projects that’s really going for broke and very unlikely to be made, [given] the budget that was required,” Heller recalls of HBO’s attitude toward Milius and his vision. “They were paying me to write a script to take it at least to a respectable point at which time they can say, ‘Okay, thank you.’”

Citing himself as “cheap” at the time, Heller recognized it was easier to pay a young writer for a treatment than a whole production crew for a pilot. So he used the opportunity as an excuse to immerse himself in Roman history and lore. This began via conversations with his co-creators Milius and MacDonald. Their central conceit already had in place the three characters of young Octavian, the boy who would be Augustus, first Emperor of Rome, as well as Roman centurions Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus.

In history, as with the series, Pullo and Vorenus were the only Roman soldiers who Julius Caesar mentioned by name in his journals. But other than being Roman centurions in the 13th Legion, not much else is known of the men. And Heller took his first major liberty when he lit on the idea of changing Pullo from a centurion to a coarse, insubordinate soldier beneath Vorenus’ command.

It was a savvy move that mapped the heart of the Rome series. Whereas most other fictions about this oft-dramatized era in history focused on the lives of the legendary patricians—be it Caesar and Octavian, or Marc Antony and Cleopatra—Rome would maintain all those characters and the lower tiers in daily Roman life. Through the introduction of Pullo and Vorenus, and their contentious friendship, the fall of the Roman republic suddenly becomes an upstairs/downstairs dramedy.

Says Heller, “The model that first sparked me on ‘oh, this is how to play it’ was [Tom Stoppard’s] Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, because the larger story is so well known, like Hamlet, that it’s hard to tell that story. The downstairs story has to be more compelling than the upstairs story, because the upstairs story, a little like Batman, is a given. It’s a myth. Everyone knows what happens.”

It also allowed Heller to dive into modern research.

“There was a lot of very recent scholarship at that time that transformed people’s sense of what Roman [history] was,” Heller explains. “There was much more about the everyday life of Roman people, about how people would have lived in apartment blocks in the insular working class life, and looking at it from that modern perspective.”

Reflecting on the dirtiness and filth that would be in the Roman Forum, the showrunner adds, “It’s lucky that practically every previous representation of Rome on any scale kind of went for the grand imperial late Edward Gibbon velvet drapes and marble columns. Even Gladiator went for that. Whereas, in fact, it looked much more like Calcutta or Bombay, and smelled like that.”

This also provided the writer the chance to explore Roman culture and custom with a greater push for authenticity than many Hollywood films of yore. For example, Heller attempted to learn how to read Latin at least as well as the uneducated Pullo—though he says he only got about as far as being able to recognize “oh that’s a pub” if he were walking the streets. More successfully he came to understand his vision of the Pagan working class mentality when he wrote a scene of Pullo praying to Portunus, the Roman god of locks and keys.

It all informed an extravagant treatment for a series he’d end up writing half the episodes of (and he tells us all 22 installments of the show passed through his typewriter before shooting). Yet, at least per the co-creator, what got Rome greenlit was as much his innovations as the developments of an entirely different epic series at HBO.

“[Chris Albrecht] was looking for something that had to be big and that they had to put money behind,” Heller says. “I think it was going to be Mel Gibson doing Alexander.” Indeed, at the same time HBO was developing Rome, the network was also working with the then-beloved Oscar winning director behind Braveheart for a 10-part series on Macedonian conquest.

“Then it turned out that Mel Gibson was going to do Alexander but he wouldn’t be Alexander,” Heller says. “[But] they didn’t want to be in business with Mel Gibson as a director-producer without Mel Gibson as [the star].”

As Gibson’s project imploded, Rome’s prospects would rise, sans any stars. Clearly things in the entertainment industry were about to change.

A Bottle of Tequila in the Roman Forum

When speaking with McKidd over Zoom, the actor’s affection for Rome is profound. Not 20 feet from his screen rests Lucius Vorenus’ sword, which he safely keeps in his own home. Similarly, within the actor’s mind resides nothing but warm memories. He reminisces about seeing his children spend summers growing up around the actual ruins of the Roman Forum and Colosseum during production; and he savors still the long nights at Cinecittà with British theater legends like Kenneth Cranham, a fellow Scotsman who played Pompey Magnus.

“It was an incredibly social time,” says McKidd. “It was almost like summer camp for British actors. We all got to live there; we went out for long dinners every night and we’d speak to Kenneth and all the older actors, who told us such amazing stories about all their time in the theater.”

But one relationship, perhaps the most significant of the entire series, was that shared by McKidd and his co-star Ray Stevenson, aka Titus Pullo. While there were of course other vital parts to the series, from worldly Ciarián Hinds as Caesar to Tobias Menzies’ despairingly well-intentioned Brutus—and one must never overlook Polly Walker’s Machiavellian Atia of the Julii (Heller’s favorite character)—the heart and soul of the series belongs to Pullo and Vorenus, the odd couple of 48 BCE.

Off-screen McKidd and Stevenson had known each other for years through mutual friends, but it wasn’t until they were in the final round of chemistry auditions in a Covent Garden hotel that they began a significant lifelong friendship. But then, it was a late epiphany to cast the red-haired and fiery McKidd as the straight-laced Vorenus.

For the actor, the process began early when he bumped into Heller, as well as executive producer Anne Thomopoulos and director Michael Apted, while in Romania. At the time, McKidd was there filming the TV movie Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004), as it was cheaper to shoot a period piece about 16th century Scottish court intrigue in eastern Europe than actual Scotland. The Rome team was entertaining a similar idea.

“I’m strutting around in my thigh-high leather boots and period costume, and we’re riding horses and swinging swords, and all that stuff and having a great old time,” says McKidd. “And I hear these American voices in the corridor, so I come out, and here is this guy called Bruno Heller.” They immediately got to chatting about the Danny Boyle movie McKidd did, Trainspotting (1996), and about this new TV series focused on ancient Rome. McKidd quickly prepared with his current director a film reel of himself riding horses.

Yet when HBO finally sent him a script, the producers didn’t want him for the Vorenus role; they saw him as Pullo.

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On the casting process, McKidd remembers, “I said to them, ‘I’d love to come in and read, but I would really much rather read for the part of Lucius Vorenus.’ And they were like, ‘No, we really see you as maybe Pullo, can you read for Pullo?’ So I said, ‘Okay.’ So I came in and I read for Pullo. And they’re like, ‘Okay.’ Then a week goes by, and they call and they say, ‘We really love you, but maybe can you come in and read for Marc Antony?’”

So it continued until McKidd begged to get a screen test for Vorenus. It even took so long he initially considered turning the series down in favor of indie projects he was already committing to. That was at least a thought he had on the set of Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven (2005) until word got around at the pub to co-star Liam Neeson.

“I came down to the bar and Liam was pointing his finger at me and he was like, ‘You, I need to have a word with you outside,’” McKidd says. “And I was like, ‘Ah shit.’” Out in a snow-covered Spanish countryside, Neeson commanded, “Go to a phone booth, find a phone right now. Call your agent and hope and pray they haven’t offered that part to somebody else.”

They had not, and soon enough McKidd was flying alongside Stevenson to the actual city of Rome.

“I remember me and Ray going to Rome in the spring… with Michael Apted, walking around this back lot at Cinecittà, and it was all just scaffolding at that time, there was no frontage. I remember Michael turned to me and Ray and said, basically, we can’t fuck this up, because it was so huge. It was so beyond anything that any of us had ever seen.”

With red paint chipping across weathered doors, and mules grazing in the squares, a Roman Forum unlike any other came alive in the same space where Martin Scorsese just filmed Gangs of New York. The sense of size and scale was overwhelming, as was the pressure on Stevenson and McKidd to anchor it. Fifteen years later, McKidd is candid about how that tension shaped each man and, in the actor’s mind, the series.

During the last day of production on the first season, after shooting had wrapped and festivities began, McKidd and Stevenson found themselves sharing a quiet set of stairs leading up to their Roman senate. Between them was a bottle of tequila. Off in the distance, the faint sound of wrap party debauchery was rising to a muffled roar, yet the central stars of Rome were keeping their own company and having a long overdue conversation.

“I don’t think Ray would be mad at me for telling this story because we’re still close friends and I love him dearly,” McKidd says with a measured tone. “Initially, he and I clashed. We just had very different styles. Ray’s this big larger than life personality, and as Bruno would say, I’m much more this ‘Presbyterian,’ or you could say a little more controlling… and we ended up at loggerheads a lot, and fighting, and being difficult in the first season.”

Yet as McKidd is quick to point out, this translated to perfect chemistry on the screen, as Pullo and Vorenus were often “at loggerheads” during the first season, which culminated with Vorenus’ life imploding on the same day as Caesar’s assassination. Meanwhile Pullo found some semblance of peace. But here in the twilight of a recreated Roman Forum, the season was getting a much needed post-script.

“The wrap party is going on somewhere, and we can hear the music,” McKidd says, “and he and I just sat out there sharing the bottle of tequila. And we had it out, you know? Because we both had been holding stuff in for the season about things that annoyed each other… We got all of it off our chest and we ended up just having a huge hug, and we threw this bottle, this [now] empty bottle of tequila, into the middle of the Forum. We made a pact with each other that from that point on we were going to be the closest of friends, and we still are.”

In many ways, it mirrored the coming dynamic between Pullo and Vorenus in season 2, which McKidd likewise recognizes.

“Our bond was unbreakable in the second season,” he says. “You see that chemistry shift and move, and morph throughout the two seasons, and it pretty much tracks Ray and my relationship.” And it would prove indispensable that second year, especially as both characters, like their actors, were forced to close ranks and face that the end was nigh.

The Cost of Doing Business Like the Romans Do

Founded in 1937 by Benito Mussolini, the international renown of Rome’s Cinecittà Studios has long superseded its less than auspicious beginnings. Celebrated as the home to a highly skilled community of filmmaking artisans, Cinecittà’s name is inseparable with legendary filmmakers like Federico Fellini, Roberto Rossellini, and Sergio Leone. And it’s been the site of landmark Hollywood productions, such as Roman Holiday (1953), Ben-Hur (1959), and even the notorious Cleopatra (1963). Yet as Heller points out, no American production has been back to Cinecittà since Rome.

Says the creator, “It’s Italy, I love it, and it’s part of the culture, but you were there to be picked over and for them to, in completely formal and legitimately legal ways, take as much money out of the production as possible.” He pauses to smile and choose his next words carefully about the difference between shooting a movie and TV series in that environment.

“With a series, you’re making long-term relationships,” he continues. “It’s like a marriage. A movie is a one-night stand. You can be a bastard to everyone on a movie and you’re never going to see them again. So the result is more important than the relationships. In a TV series, the relationships are more important, in the end. It’s pointless having a successful first season of a show and then you can’t do the second season because no one will work together.”

This is not to say the only reason Rome was prematurely cancelled had to do with frustrations over the cost of doing business in Rome—McKidd also cites, for example, Rome eating up too much of HBO’s production budget from other projects in 2006. Nonetheless, reports of high-finance rigamarole even reached the cast.

Says McKidd, “I heard enough to know [about] the scaffolding. I don’t know how many tons of scaffolding was used to build that set, but I remember one of the earlier conversations was, ‘We need to buy this much scaffolding.’ And the people at Cinecittà were like, ‘You can’t buy that much scaffolding, but you can rent it from my brother.’”

Both Heller and McKidd insist there was no criminality or dishonesty about this, and it was simply the way things are done. But for the creator, word was executives high above his pay grade were disturbed by the Byzantine labyrinth of Italian politics. So much so it became contagious throughout Hollywood.

“At one stage, the Italian government issued arrest warrants or provisional arrest warrants for all the fiduciary producers of the show,” Heller recalls. “And that’s a sort of a standard Italian business practice, but when buttoned-down straight-laced lawyers from New York are flying out to Rome and discovering that this is [how business is done], people were spooked.”

It was also just a contributing factor to Rome’s untimely cancellation, which occurred during the pre-production process of season 2—and before the series’ popularity would explode with the international DVD sales and second season launch.

Heller was so far into writing the second season that they were in prep, gearing up to film the second season premiere, when he got the call it was over. The havoc this wreaked on Rome’s remaining 10 episodes, with one of them ready to shoot, was immediate.

When the first season concluded, Gaius Julius Caesar was dead, Vorenus had lost the love of his life, and Rome was headed toward civil war. The second season was always meant to be the fallout of that war, with a study in the brief and doomed alliance of Marc Antony (James Purefoy) and young Octavian (Max Pirkis), as well as the woman between them, Octavian’s mother and Antony’s lover, Atia. All of that, plus the death of Brutus and the other conspirators, would still occur in season 2… but so would Antony’s flight to Egypt and the eventual civil war between a now adult Octavian (Simon Woods) and Antony and Cleopatra (Lyndsey Marshal).

“I had to reconceive the second season basically from scratch,” Heller says with lingering exasperation. “Because when you take out that much history, the jump between the death of Caesar and Marc Antony taking over, and his death in Egypt, it was a huge amount of quite obscure but great, scandalous, fascinating, eventful history.” Most of it had to be jettisoned, too, between Brutus’ death and Antony declaring in his will that Caesar and Cleopatra’s son is Caesar’s true heir.

Some critics and fans were disappointed with the visibly breakneck pace of the second season. Others found it an exciting retelling of that period. One of Rome’s stars seems to be in the middle.

“I think the second season was successful in some ways, but it also feels, in my mind, a little rushed,” McKidd confesses. “And I think Bruno would say that too. Just because so much story was crushed and sort of concentrated down into season 2. I love [it], but I definitely felt like it was a lot condensed in.” 

And yet, McKidd and Heller both seem to lean more toward a satisfaction with it. In fact, the producer even suggests the ending with the ascension of Octavian to imperial status (he takes the title “First Citizen”) was the perfect grace note. While it’s well known among fans the series had a five-season bible with Cleopatra and Antony’s deaths originally marking the end of season 4, and season 5 following Vorenus and Pullo going to Palestine in time for the birth of Christ, that was never Heller’s favorite part. 

“That was one of the elements that Milius was fascinated by that I had no interest in whatsoever, frankly, trying to tie it in to the birth of Christ. Because, at the time, it meant nothing. It would have to be a completely different story. Put it another way, no Romans were worried or thinking about the coming of the Messiah.”

It was a Christmas story Heller didn’t want to tell. Even so, he had some interesting ideas already in place, including a vision of the ancient Holy Lands being closer to Monty Python’s Life of Brian than Ben-Hur.

“Palestine was in ferment at the time, and messiahs were popping up all over the place,” Heller says. “Judaism, at that point, was in a moment very much like Islam at the moment, full of passion and ferment and faith, and dreams of martyrdom.”

Like much else with Rome, it feels like a fascinating opportunity left unfulfilled, but one that the creator is glad to leave unexplored.

All Roads Lead to Rome’s Legacy

Rome shined briefly but brightly on premium cable. Premiering in the fall of 2005, it was gone by spring ’07. But even shortly after its cancellation, there were some small whispers of regret because of the show’s DVD sales; whispers that continue to be heard by stars of the series. McKidd says if you asked HBO in 2020, some would likely wince again at cancelling it, as he heard they did by the time season 2 aired. But “they couldn’t go back on that, or felt they couldn’t.”

But if it burned off like a Roman candle—with fire and thunder in its wake—the show still provided a roadmap for how to produce a massive spectacle as a television series.

“I think a lot of the producers that aren’t the ones that you hear about mostly, like Frank Doelger…  were all pivotal on Rome and went directly into Game of Thrones,” McKidd says. “Frank Doelger was one of the main producers, and he very much was the guy who whipped our show into shape and we learned a lot of lessons. So yeah, I think very directly, those people went into Game of Thrones and had learned a lot about how to do this kind of level [of production.]”

Heller likewise marvels at how HBO learned from Rome’s problems with its initially more affordable and tighter fantasy epic.

“The way they divided crews up in Game of Thrones, it was clever because there was always a general staff of central command, but they had more than one general, and they didn’t lose control of the generals,” Heller says.

And just as Rome carved a path for the modern era of epic television shows, Game of Thrones has now created a space for more diverse TV epics like Netflix’s The Witcher and Amazon’s upcoming Lord of the Rings series.

“[We were] ahead of the curve in the sense that it was too early,” Heller says. “But it’s not so much the audience [changed], as it is the appetite and the ability of networks and studios to make things of that size and to promote them and to market them, and to have faith and the courage to back them up.”

This series walked so that Peak TV could run. It’s a formidable legacy, and one that proves all roads in blockbuster television really do lead back to Rome.

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from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/38reEeK

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

[mustangshelby04]

Boston Boy - Chapter 16

A/N All right guys, there’s only one more chapter after this! But don’t worry your beautiful heads off, I’ll be doing some one shots to continue the story. Let me know what you want to see. I would love to get your ideas for the future of this beautiful couple!

Kate sat in the nursery with Gally curled up next to her and Dodger sitting with his head on her leg.  She looked around the room and admired hers and Chris’ handiwork.  They had gone with a Winnie the Pooh theme, using the original drawings of the characters since the colors were softer.  Chris had bought a beautiful and very plush, white and gray glider with a gliding foot rest for the nursery and it was Kate’s favorite place in the penthouse now.  She would spend hours rocking in the chair and dreaming up what her child’s life would be.

The glider was the only piece of furniture in the room beyond a bookshelf that was already starting to collect books.  The travel system from Ellen was sitting in one corner of the room with a large box full of the rest of the amazing gifts from her.  The rest of the furniture hadn’t been bought yet.  She and Chris were ordered not to buy anything beyond the glider.

Kate was now four weeks away from her due date and was beyond ready for it to be over with.  The world tour she’d joined Chris for had taken a lot out of her.  While she had had a ton of fun, her body just hadn’t been up to the task of that much fun and growing a small human at the same time. She had taken another week off and then gone back to work.  Unfortunately, the doctor was worried about her blood pressure and her showing some early warning signs of preeclampsia, so he had asked her to stop working as much as she had been.

Danielle had been amazing about everything.  She had two kids of her own and understood what Kate needed better than Kate herself did.  She had promised that Kate’s job was secure when she was ready to come back full time. Until then, she would only work part time if she felt up to it.

Chris walked into the nursery and chuckled. “You know, you can’t hide forever.”

“Who says I can’t try?” Kate retorted.

He just held his hands out to help her stand up. “Everyone is downstairs waiting.”

She took his hands and let him lift her to her feet. “I hate baby showers. And bridal showers for future reference.”

“Noted.  Not like I can do anything about it.  You’ve met my mother.  And my sisters and my brother.  You’re welcome to fight that.”

“Chicken shit.”  

“But hey, the cake is really pretty.”

“You weren’t supposed to go downstairs.”

“I needed something to drink.  They kicked me out pretty quickly.”

Lisa, Carly, Shanna, Scott, and Helena had all decided that they were going to decorate and Kate and Chris weren’t allowed to see any of it.  They didn’t even know who was on the guestlist. The whole thing had been kept hush-hush from the parents-to-be.

“I can’t wait to get our place to ourselves again.”

“It is feeling a bit crowded this week.  Careful!” Since the doctor had mentioned the preeclampsia (and Chris had done research on it), he had been hyperactively protective of her.  He freaked out if she tried to walk up and down stairs by herself.  She just rolled her eyes at him.

“Happy baby shower!” Everyone yelled and Chris and Kate came down the stairs.

There were so many people there!  Helena, Bill and Jan, and Lisa, Carly, Shanna, and Scott were obviously there; Chris’ dad, Bob and his wife; Kate’s aunt Charlotte had come up from Virginia and her uncle Ron and aunt Debbie had come in from Chicago; Scarlett Johansson had come; Downey and his wife were there; Chris’ best friend, Tara, had made it down; April was there; Danielle had come with her husband, Charles; Amy had driven up for the occasion; Sebastian Stan had shown up; and Megan was there, too.  The place was decorated with pink and blue streamers and balloons that said, “It’s a Boy” and “It’s A Girl” on them.  There were a few that said, “Boy or Girl?”  There was a massive pile of presents in the living room.  The cake and food had been set up in a beautiful display on the kitchen island and a drink station with a blue punch and a pink punch was set up on the kitchen counter.  There were little woodland creature decorations everywhere, too.

Carly and Scott walked over to Kate and Chris.  Carly draped a “Mommy-To-Be” sash over Kate while Scott pinned a “Daddy-To-Be” button to Chris’ shirt.  Lisa and Helena were both wearing pins that said “Grandma-To-Be.”  Someone had made a diaper cake and set it next to the actual cake, which was two tiers of cutesy woodland creatures running amok.  There was a photobooth area with different props for the pictures that Danielle had kindly set up and offered to run.

“Happy baby shower!” Carly squealed, kissing Kate’s cheek.

“That is a fuckton of presents.” Kate said.

“We’ll get to those.  Right now, we want pictures!”

Chris and Kate were stood at the photobooth and the guests that wanted pictures were allowed to pick the props.  It took a good half hour before they were allowed to get food.  Chris fixed her a plate so she could go sit down.  The love seat had been decorated with blue and pink streamers and someone had created the backs of thrones out of cardboard. One said Daddy and was painted blue and the other said Mommy and was painted pink.  There were even fake pink and blue jewels glued to both of them to make them even more throne-like.

Carly made Chris and Kate sit in their respective seats while people ate and Shanna hosted the three games they had planned.  April won the game where the guests had to use string to guess how big around Kate’s stomach was.  She received a gift bag filled with home spa items.  The second game was where the guests had to guess what candy bar was melted in the different diapers.  Tara had won that game and was given a gift bag filled with candles, an engraved picture frame, and various candies.  The third and final game was called “My Water Broke” where everyone had been given an ice cube with a plastic baby in it.  The first person who’s baby was free of the ice had to yell that their water broke. Sebastian had been overenthusiastic when yelling it, startling everyone in the room.  He had walked away with a $50 VISA gift card.

While everyone started throwing their plates away, Helena had Chris and Kate cut the cake.  She stayed to serve the pieces to everyone while the parents-to-be took their love seat thrones again.  Carly, Shanna, and Scott had begun moving presents closer to the love seat to be passed over to Chris and Kate.  While they waited for everyone to get their slices of cake and eat them, Scarlett came over and sat down next to Kate on Chris’ side of the loveseat.  Chris had gotten up and was across the room talking with his father and Bill.  Probably getting some dad advice.

“You’re not having any fun, are you?” Scarlett said conspiratorially to Kate.

“Not in the slightest.” Kate said. “I hate showers.  And I feel like a bloated whale.”

“I hate these things, too.  Just give me the presents and don’t make a fuss.”

“Exactly!”  

“And for the record, you don’t look like a bloated whale.” She held her hand out to Kate. “Your fiancé sucks at introductions.  I’m Scarlett.” “Kate.”

“I’m sorry we’re just now meeting.  I wanted to come along on the Civil War tour, but I had some prior engagements.”

“It’s ok.”

“Chris has talked almost non-stop about you and the baby.  I’m so happy for you guys.”

“I’ve actually been kind of nervous to meet you.”

“Yeah?  Why’s that?”

“Chris talks so highly of you.  You’re one of his closest friends.”

“Oh, I’m not that scary.”

“I didn’t think you would be, and hey, I survived meeting Tara.”

“She’s a cool chick.”

“Yeah.”

“If I’m being honest, I’ve been kind of nervous to meet you, too.”

Kate laughed. “Me?  Oh god, why?”

“Well, I’ve met a few of Chris’ girlfriends.  None of them, in my opinion, have measured up to what I think my friend deserves.  I can be a little protective of him.  I was a little nervous that you wouldn’t measure up, too.”

“That scares me.” “Don’t worry.  From what I can tell, you exceed expectations.  Chris looks genuinely happier than I’ve ever seen him. Downey, Mackie, Lizzie, and Hemmy all sing your praises.”

“They’re sweet.”

“So how are you feeling?”

“Um…. Done.  I’m feeling done.  If Jelly Bean wants to vacate the premises, I won’t stop him or her.”

“I remember those days.  They pretty much sucked.”

“Yes.  Yes, they do.”

“You’re in the home stretch now.”

“Thankfully!”

“Any contractions yet?”

“Lots of Braxton Hicks.  They’ve been happening a lot on and off today.”

“It’s all the excitement.”

“That’s what I figured.”

“Oh god, have you started nesting yet?”

“Yes!  It’s insane! It’s been driving me batty not to have the furniture we need to finish the nursery.  We were told to hold off on the big stuff.”

“I would love to see it.”

“Yeah?” Kate started the struggle to get up and Scarlett helped her to her feet. The two women headed around into the kitchen and started up the stairs.

“Whoa, hey.” Chris came rushing over. “Where are you going?”

“To show Scarlett the nursery.”

“I’ll come with.”

“Chris, baby, I can walk up the stairs without help.”

“But….”

“Go back to the party, Evans.” Scarlett joked. “You’re being a helicopter mom right now.”

Chris looked at them with wide, puppy dog eyes. “I’m immune to those things now.” Kate said. “Put them away before you strain your eyes.  I’ll be fine.”

Scarlett laughed and followed Kate upstairs, turning briefly to mouth to Chris, “I really like her.”

Ten minutes later, the two walked back downstairs arm in arm and laughing. It made Chris happy to see that they had hit it off and seemed as thick as thieves already.  Lisa walked over and apologized to Scarlett before taking Kate away. She and Chris spent the next hour and a half opening all of the presents that their guests had brought and ones that had been sent from friends that couldn’t make it to the shower.  Carly was writing down what they got and who sent it so Chris and Kate could send out thank you cards later.

When the shower finally wound down and people began leaving, they were given cute little gift bags with travel-sized hand sanitizers from Bath and Body Works, mini-jar candles from Yankee Candle, some butter mints in a little baby bottle, and little engraved frames holding a picture from Chris’ and Kate’s maternity shoot that Danielle had insisted on doing.  The only ones left at the end of the night were Amy, Lisa, and Scott.  Helena and Bill had declined the offer to stay at the penthouse and had gotten a hotel nearby.  Lisa and Amy were staying at the penthouse in the two guest rooms while Scott was taking the couch from Kate’s garage apartment that Chris had put in the downstairs guest room that they had turned into an office for him and Kate.  Carly and Shanna had driven back to Sudbury so Carly could get back to her kids and Shanna could get to work in the morning.

“We’ll start working on putting this all together tomorrow.” Lisa said.

“I can’t believe we got all of this stuff!” Chris said. “Everyone is so sweet for doing this.” Kate let out a heavy breath and rubbed her stomach. “What’s wrong?” Chris was on instant high alert.

“Braxton-Hicks.” Kate said. “They’ve been happening on and off all day.”

“Are you sure?  Should we call the doctor?”

“I have an appointment tomorrow.  I’ll be fine.”

“Do you need anything?” Lisa asked.

“Actually, I’ve got a headache and I’m feeling kind of tired.  I want to go upstairs and lay down.”

Chris stood up and helped her to her feet. “I’ll be back down in a little bit.”

“Go on up and stay with her.” Lisa said. “We’ll clean up down here.”

“Thanks, ma.”

Kate sighed as Chris helped her change into her usual oversized T-shirt she slept in, take her contacts out, and lay down on their bed. “Thanks.”

“Are you ok?”

“Could you grab some Tylenol for me?”

“Of course.” Chris rushed into the bathroom and came out with Tylenol and a glass of water.  He set to work massaging her feet, but stopped when he noticed how swollen they were. “Babe, are you sure you’re ok?”

“I’m a little dizzy, but I think that’s cause of the headache and all the fun today.”

“Kat, your feet and legs are really swollen.  That’s a sign of preeclampsia.  So are headaches and dizziness.”

“The doctor did say I was at risk.  We’re going tomorrow, so we can ask then.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to call now?”

“Chris, it’s late.”

“It’s nine at night.”

“Well, that’s late enough.” Kate curled up on her side. “I’m going to sleep.”

“I’m going to brush my teeth and take my contacts out, then I’ll join you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to.” He leaned over and kissed her.

 *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Chris woke up to the sounds of his name being called between gagging coming from the bathroom.  The clock said it was around three in the morning.  He quickly jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom.  Kate was clinging to the toilet, shaking and crying. “Hey….” He moved to her side and let out a curse when he saw the blood in the toilet. “Kate!”

“Chris, I don’t feel good.” Kate sobbed.

“We’re going to the hospital.” He jumped up and ran out of the room. “MA!” Chris burst through the guest bedroom door, startling his mother awake. “Ma, it’s Kate!  Help!”

Lisa was up like a shot.  She followed Chris into the bedroom and then pushed past him when she heard Kate. “Oh no! Sweetheart…. Chris, get her some clothes.”

“What’s going on?” Amy asked from the doorway to the bedroom.

“I’m taking Kate to the hospital.” Chris said, grabbing a pair of yoga pants out of one of Kate’s drawers while dialing the number to a car service on his cell phone. “Can you go wake up Scott?”

“Yeah!” Amy turned and ran downstairs.

Lisa was running a washrag over Kate’s face, whispering comforting words to her. “Come on, Katie.  Let’s get your clothes on.” Chris came over and gave his mother the yoga pants as he dialed the emergency number to Kate’s doctor.

Scott ran in, throwing a shirt on. “What’s going on?”

“Scott, come help me.” Scott rushed over and helped his mother get Kate into her pants and shoes. “Amy, honey, do you have Helena’s phone number?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Amy said. “I’ll call her.  Where are you going?  I mean, what hospital?”

“New York Presbyterian.” Chris said. “It’s not far.”

“Ok. I’ll call her.”

“Here,” Chris grabbed the pen and notepad out of Kate’s nightstand drawer. He quickly wrote down a number for the car service and another number underneath it. “Call this number and give them this account number.  Send a car for her family, they’re at the Millennium Hilton, and then get one for yourself.  I’ve already got one on the way.” He turned and swept Kate up into his arms.  Scott and Lisa helped steady them as they walked down the stairs.

 *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Kate looked around the private birthing suite and sighed.  She had been poked with needles and had an IV in her arm, ready to administer drugs if needed.  They had brought in an ultrasound and had hooked her up to a fetal monitor after taking her for a CT scan.  Chris sat on the bed next to her, holding her hand.  He was the only one allowed in with her right now.

“I just want to go home.” Kate said, laying her head down on Chris’ shoulder.

He kissed the top of her head. “I know, baby.”

Doctor Beauchamp walked into the room and looked at the waiting couple. “Well, the blood in your vomit is from a small tear in the lining of your esophagus. Sometimes this happens with the nausea and vomiting during pregnancy.  It’s manageable if we can control the nausea and get you to eat soft foods for seven to ten days.  What concerns me is the protein in your urine, Kate, and how high your blood pressure is.  We talked about you being preeclamptic and you’re showing enough of the signs right now.”

“So, what’s the plan, Doc?” Chris asked.

“I want you, Kate, to try and make it to 39 weeks.  Right now, you’re still within reason to give birth naturally like you want, so what I’m going to do is keep you here for the next two weeks so we can monitor you, but you’re on strict bedrest.”

“You’re not going to induce?” Kate asked.

“I could and I might even be able to do it more naturally than giving you Pitocin since you’re dilated to one, but I don’t want to and I know you want to avoid the Pitocin at all costs.”

“Yes!”  

“I want Jelly Bean to bake for a little longer, so two weeks here on bedrest. You’re only allowed out of that bed to go to the bathroom and to take very quick showers.  Chris, you may want to go home and pack some of Kate’s stuff. Comfortable, loose fitting clothes, please.”

“You got it.” Chris said. “Anything.”

“Ok. I’m going to go discuss with the nurses everything they need to know and I’ll be back later with a list of some super fun bedrest rules.” Doctor Beauchamp walked out and Kate burst into tears.

“Hey,” Chris pulled Kate to him tightly. “Shh, it’s ok.  It’s only two weeks and then we’ll meet our little Jelly Bean.”

“But there’s so much to get done before then!”

“Ma isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and neither is Scott.  I’m pretty sure your mom isn’t leaving now.  I can call in whoever else we need to get the stuff put together before the baby arrives.”

“But I won’t get to help.”

“I can bring some stuff here for you to work on.”

“I just want to go home.”

“You will.  And when you do, you’ll be holding Jelly Bean.” Chris kissed her sweetly. “I’m going to go let everyone know what’s going on and see if we can have anyone back here besides us.”

 *_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Over the next week, Kate didn’t show much change.  Which wasn’t a bad thing.  She had started to dilate some more, so the doctor was happy that she might even give birth without any help.  Bill and Jan had gone home, but Helena had decided to stay to be there with her daughter.  She and Lisa were staying at the penthouse with Scott.  They Facetimed with Chris and Kate so the couple could help finish decorating the nursery with the furniture they had gotten.  

On her twelfth day there, July 8th, Dr. Beauchamp had decided they didn’t need to wait any longer.  She decided to try the more natural induction of labor by going in and stripping the membranes.  It was extremely painful, and Chris had no idea how that much of the doctor’s arm fit up inside his fiancée, but it was effective.  Kate’s contractions had set in and she went into active labor.  Chris was by her side for every single minute with Lisa and Helena taking turns on Kate’s free side.  Kate labored for fourteen hours before it was finally time to push. Dr. Beauchamp allowed Kate to move around and try to find more comfortable positions to deliver the baby in, but nothing was working.

“Kate, the baby is stuck and going into distress.” Dr. Beauchamp announced. “We need to get this baby out now.  I’m going to have to do a c-section.”

“No.” Kate growled, trying to push again.

“Kate, you need to stop pushing.  This baby isn’t going to come out naturally and you’re only going to hurt yourself and the baby if you keep trying.”

Kate let out a scream as another contraction bore down on her. “I need to push!”

“Kate, your blood pressure is through the roof.  You need to calm down.”

Chris tried soothing Kate, but nothing helped.  Doctor Beauchamp called for the anesthesiologist to meet them in the OR with a spinal tap while she administered an anti-anxiety medicine. Kate was so scared and so worked up that the medicine didn’t have much of an effect.  Chris was made to stay in the room while they got Kate prepped for surgery.  He paced the floor, waiting for them to come get him.  They had told him it wouldn’t take more than ten minutes.  It had now been thirty minutes.  He was about to start kicking doors in when a nurse came to get him.

Kate was strapped down to the OR table with a sheet pinned up as a screen. She was still panicking and gripped his hand tightly.  He whispered comforting words and tried to keep her focus on him.  She kept complaining about how bad her upper back was hurting and she couldn’t get comfortable.  The doctor and nurses begged her to stop writhing, but she was in too much pain. They gave her a booster on her spinal tap and that seemed to do the trick some.  The doctor took advantage to quickly perform the c-section.  Chris stood up to peer over the curtain to see the baby come slithering out of the open wound.  The baby’s cry echoed in the room and Kate closed her eyes in relief.

“It’s a girl!” Doctor Beauchamp announced.

Chris turned to Kate and started to say something, but the words died on his lips as the sound of the alarm on the heart monitor went off.  The nurses came up and told him to leave, but he refused.  He began yelling at them to help Kate and security was brought in to physically remove him from the room.  They took him back to the birthing suite where his mother and Helena were waiting.  They jumped up and he started to sob.

“I don’t know what’s happening!” Chris cried. “They won’t tell me anything. She was in pain and they gave her more drugs and just after the baby was born, her heart rate dropped.”

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Syndication service later onand Mr Jack Douglas who produced Johnand Yoko Ono’s current album double fantasy who was with Johnand Yoko shortly before his tragic death here in New York last night I would be right back to run the 1975 interview with John Lennon after these announcementsand I hope that you will stay with us we back in about two minutesand seconds John Lennon in a Best Dad Bod Ever Since 1965 Vintage Father T Shirt little bit later on in the program will talk about the possibility of us having to leave the United Statesand at that time his attorney Mr Leon Wilds will join us to make certain that John or I make no mistakes in the legalities but I welcome you hereand I’m glad that you’re here as I said at the outset the back in 1964 by after the cataclysmic arrival of the Beatles here in the United Statesand the great popularity had on the Ed Sullivan programand others there were many people who did not really understand what you were doingand and they thought then that your hair was longand that you looked might. They can escalated to a vaccine invention so is very important that we resist this mashup not only is truth on our side the Constitution and the law on our side but logic and common sense is on our side and a lot more people out there that are frustrated with this mask shipping you think they just don’t know the lawn he don’t have the intimate knowledge about what’s really being done to us like we do there pushing the coalition shut the schools down and the church is why because schools and churches aware boating happens if they can shut down a bolt of the polling places guess what happens mail in voting Horowitz study of our thousand hundred UK schools show very little evidence that the virus is transmitted in school you know why because everybody has tested positive is asymptomatic the CDC and the World Health Organization already said asymptomatic people do not get the do not. Like John Snow Amy’s motivation is drivenand the nonsense in the service of keeping him sympathetic relative to Dragon Lady bad we know what kind of a guy Jamie is based on his actions so for him to say even really giving us a why only serves as a cheap twist surprising but not unexpected isn’t it after all he’s explaining his motivation with wordsand motivations are explained with words that means a defect to make telling the audience the thing makes sense with your dialogue while not supporting the thing with the characters actions is kind of the trends in the last season game of thrones Thursday one of the greatest villains not just in TV history but arguably all of literature she she didn’t have much to do battyand there did she all of tearyand stupid mistakesand wildly out of characterand unmotivated sudden trust in his evil sister serve the purpose of keeping Circe in the game optional remember I chose to help promises or assurances which feels even more insulting given that Circe closed lowing up that faces no consequences nor has a secret evil plan beyond staring on a balconyand glowering over my domain with a glass of wine which I get it that’s my usual Friday night but all she in season eight is a scene of the thing was not to be the most in the show makes Circe sympathetic but it’s like in the most condescending way possible be characters somehow just go she just got he says come when the plot says so Circe’s armies instantly crumbleand she dies a weirdly sympathetic death in Jamie’s arms who is here for some reason in a rocks fall everyone dies situation that feels more on par would like a your Disney movie is in line with someone who once said how or how this is important to look at Circe for who she is presented as a monarchand what the show built her up to be before dinner is torched King’s Landing elements multivitamin will take off the big thing hereand I mean big scene as a defining actionand Circe’s rule is are effectively blowing up the in universe equivalent of the Vatican as a means to wipe out her enemiesand flex on how many foxy gives which is zero is the scene was awesomeand yes it feels like something someone as recklessand vengeful as Circe would do when pushed to the editor Brink but prior to season for most of the plot of game of thrones is centered around the direct consequences of one guy Ned start getting his head lopped offand what pretty much everyone who wasn’t a child who ordered it even Circe felt was a massive dick move meanwhile postseason six Circe not only blew up one of the largest buildings in West Rosen wiped out a decent chunk of the faithand its leader but also decimated one of the most powerful wealthyand well liked familiesand mistress with a lot of loyal Bannermanand apart from a few stray remarks from other characters you sister this major act of mass violence just kind we just move on it nobody cares there are no consequences for this she is crownedand life goes on the only person opposing her is Dragon lady who would have invaded no matter who is on the throne so let’s break this down why in God’s name when they set up Circe finally exacting revenge on the faceless masses that through literal feces on her during the walk of shameand weeding out religious extremism with impunity only to conveniently forget the internal logic of much smaller scale political issues like that starts execution causing massive upheaval dimension again wasting someone likely entities talent’s well here is why because of how season eightand this one act necessitates that yes Circe would be considered an unparalleled top tier Megatron grade tyrant she couldn’t have wiped out all of the faith militant or even most of them let alone the countless followers of the seven in West Rose who would feel understandably very pissedand personally attacked by this maneuver is also to say nothing of all people who saw her as 100 illegitimate or believe that her children were inbred pastors or who would want revenge on her for what she did the house Tyrell to the dumb dumb throated juicy situation which in theory could have led to some of the best acting from one of the most talented players but the problem here is that it would have revealed her as a tyrant leading to a situation where literally anyone with a claim to the throne would be looked upon by the people attend landing as a liberator which leads us to the person who at least far as everyone knows has the best claim to the throneand wouldn’t you know it has already defined herself as a liberator so Dragon lady shows up writing some dragons like okay hi I’m here to liberate y’all on the breaker of chains love me please it’s fair to say that DD created a situation where I actually does a pretty great for the small book of Kings Landingand the vast vast majority of the nobles who already support herand pretty much everyone who is in the iron Bank of bravos to whom the Lancers a lot of money can count on the back support our students to go should they wrote a situation where there’s no way Circe would be able to maintain power after her move with the septic without being a complete totalitarian who stomps out dissent before it even manifests she created a situation where she had no choiceand she is a personality to relish that sort of thing like oh God yes revenge please I live for thisand I remember the face of every peasant who flung shit at meand I will pull each of their fingernails out myselfand on a related note you really expect me to think alike Circe’s good I like be upset that the nurses murdering that the innocence of Kings Landing after what they did to her she should be like go girl so the only way to deal with the fallout of Circe’s actions while still barreling full steam ahead to this predetermined ending is to ignore them altogether the show must maintain that the people of Kings Landingand help greater West Rose are never affected by their monarchand that they don’t care that social trends do not apply to the rabble or the common folk even though that was a huge chunk of the Kings Landing plot for seasons six that yes the machinations of the powerful do have effectand politically savvy nobles like Marjorie Tyrell have sound methodsand this development in later seasons especially with Circe kill me because what set game of thrones apart for the first few seasons was how it was so conscious of the house that intrigues a magical or otherwise have realistic consequences that affect not only the lives of the major characters but also the culture of the world itself like in season seven during the latrine attack dinners recklessly burns all that food from the reach that surely should have some consequences right may be set up a touch of the old starvation but like the destruction of the set they wrote a situation that should have had consequences but didn’t that the existence of a gun create a situation where it makes perfect sense not only for the people of West rest to reject an heiress for her own sense of entitlement to make her descent into power up session makes sense only based on the situation but also based on the character that we know unfortunately that is not the situation at the Chapel Road facility with the nearest nurse came to power effectively from nothing not only because of an important nameand some dragons but because people believed in her once so it was like the service provider leaving with whom I know a lot of people problematic writing or no sacrifice a lot because they believed what she believed this isand then she went some more crimesand you didn’t even see it coming because she pretty don’t you feel stupid

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[swimintothesound]

Gateway Indie

On May 20th of 2008, my musical taste changed forever. We (or at least I) tend to discover things in waves. Specifically waves of increasingly-tiered obsession that escalate until I can focus on one thing and one thing only. I’ll find a song I really like, devour the album that it came from, read everything on the band’s Wikipedia page, explore their discography, listen to side projects, see them live, spend exorbitant amounts of money on limited edition vinyl, then (apparently) write about my experience years later.

One of the most important steps in my particular brand of hyper-obsessive fandom is delving deeper into the genre of the band who I’ve recently discovered. Whether it’s simply to contextualize their sound, see if I recognize any of their contemporaries, or just to get a better understanding of the world’s musical history. When one artist’s discography isn’t enough, sometimes the next logical step is to start absorbing everything in their immediate vicinity. It’s a beautiful notion that one album can open the door to a whole new world of music that was previously hidden. It’s how you diversify as a music listener and as a person.

Up until high school, I’d really only explored the genres of classic rock, grunge, and some metal. All pretty standard stuff, especially for a white suburban teen, but it was all music that came out before I was born. In 2008 I discovered a group of albums that opened my eyes to the ever-cool world of indie and, more importantly, paved the way for my interest in both the genre and the contemporary music scene as a whole. As each of these albums near their 10th anniversary I realized that not only have many of them achieved “classic” status within the genre, they were also part of a larger movement for my generation.

Universality

Now that the internet has paved the way for services like iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp, music has become more insular than ever. In 2017 there are entire sects of fans who can be hyper-devoted to one artist or scene that may never intersect with anyone else. Additionally, with the rise of social platforms like forums, Twitter, and reddit fans can live in a bubble… and while it’s great to connect with other fans, it also means the vocal obsessives are more walled-off.

We have fewer “universals” than ever before. Ed Sheeran is one of the best-selling artists in the world right now, but I don’t think I’ve heard a single song of his. Drake is breaking records every week, but if you don’t care about hip-hop, he’s pretty easy to avoid listening to. It’s a byproduct of the ever-splintering media landscape that we’re living in.

So there are positives and negatives, but this splintering is relevant because those “universals” will become fewer and far between as we move forward. Looking beyond music, you have shows like Game of Thrones which is one of the most technically popular and most-talked about shows currently on TV. It consistently shatters its own self-set viewership records, numbers which are worth screaming about in 2017, yet would have gotten a show canceled even 20 years ago. There’s just more to watch, more to do, and more to care about in 2017, so if you don’t want to watch Game of Thrones, you truly don’t have to. This isn’t the 20’s where everyone gathers around the radio for the day’s episode of Little Orphan Annie. I feel like I’m getting off track, but music is this phenomenon multiplied by thousands. Not only are there dozens of alternatives mediums vying for your attention, practically anyone can create music in 2017. There are more alternatives (and therefore fewer commonalities) than ever before.

I feel like we will reach (or perhaps have already hit) a point where there are simply no more universal artists. There’s never going to be another Beatles. Obviously. But looking purely at The Beatles on a scale purely based on audience and cultural impact, there will never be another musical group in the history of the world that reaches the omniscient presence that the Beatles achieved. There were fewer artists to listen to then, fewer ways to create music, and even fewer avenues to discover new music.

As technology has improved, we’ve seen a direct impact on the music industry as an entity. At the same time, we’ve also seen artists effectively harness this power. Groups like Odd Future were pervasive and forward-thinking enough that I (a high school-aged non-hip-hop listener) knew who they were and knew at least a few of their songs. While everyone’s musical journey is a unique story filled with personal discoveries that have influenced their taste, this is really a story about the first universal that I was a part of as it was happening.

I Miss the Old iTunes

Back when iTunes was still relatively new, it was my only source of current music. I would almost instantaneously drain any gift card I was given, using it to cross several songs off my carefully-curated iTunes wish list. I was also fortunate enough to have my Dad’s massive collection of nearly one thousand CD’s at my disposal, but as you could imagine, most of those albums were a decade old at least. That’s why I was a rock fan first: ease of access.

But I always found ways to satiate my hunger for new music. From VH1 to renting CDs one by one from the local library, there were only so many ways to hear new music, even in the mid-2000’s. One of the most unexpected avenues that I took advantage of was the (now sadly-defunct) iTunes Single of the Week Program, which offered exposure to countless contemporary acts one song at a time. It may not have been much, but this program turned me onto dozens of artists and sounds that I wouldn’t have heard otherwise. Through this mishmash of mid-2000’s media, I was able to satiate my budding hunger for new music as a penniless 14-year-old.

That brings us back to the first sentence of this post.

Unbeknownst to me, indie folk was blowing up In 2008. Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago was gaining serious traction a year after its release thanks to the album’s breakout hit “Skinny Love” and in May “Skinny Love” was put up as iTunes’ free song. As with most songs in the program, I’d never heard of the artist, nor had any experience with the genre, but I downloaded it anyway because that’s how hungry I was for new music.

I downloaded the track (no doubt on my family’s bulky oversized 2005 laptop) and synced it onto my iPod immediately. I was floored. I’d never heard anything so delicate. It was catchy (especially for a folk song) but it also had a soft warmth and reserved delivery that was a revelation to me at the time. “Skinny Love” evoked a feeling that was unlike any other music I’d ever heard. I had to have more.

Part of the beauty of the Single of the Week program was how random it was. One week it’d be an electropop song, the next it would be something folky like Bon Iver, and then it would be a latin song. I didn’t necessarily like it all (quite the opposite, in fact) but I listened to it all for the sake of discovery. The fact that these songs were free was just the icing on top of the cake. I had nothing to lose.

I had no idea at the time, but indie folk saw a massive explosion in popularity in 2008 with the rise of acts like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes, who both released stunning debuts around this time. I didn’t realize that this era of indie had been such a widespread phenomenon until I saw people discussing Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago on its tenth anniversary calling it their “Gateway Indie” album. I liked that phrase, but I didn’t think much of it until I heard the ineffable deep_cuts youtube channel cite both For Emma and Fleet Foxes as “dominating adolescent MP3 players the world over” at this time. Maybe it was just his worldly UK accent, but something clicked for me. I realized this was not only a formative album, era, and sound for myself, but for everyone my age.

Beyond Folk

Later that year I met some of the coolest people in my high school. And by that I don’t mean cool in the traditional sense, they were dork-ass nerds like me, but they were dork-ass nerds with impeccable musical taste. At this point, the edgiest thing I had ever listened to was Nine Inch Nails, but these guys opened my mind to the larger world of indie music. Genres I didn’t even know existed. Sounds I could barely conceive of. This was 10th grade and the albums they showed me would go on to become some of my favorite and most formative of all time.

The first song I remember them playing for me was the opening track to Portugal. The Man’s first album Waiter: "You Vultures!" which was titled “How the Leopard Got Its Spots.” I’m going to stop there for a second just to point out this band/album/song combo was (before hearing the first note) already more experimental and out-there than anything else I’d ever heard up to that point.

“How the Leopard Got Its Spots” is a pokey unpredictable song that almost borders on prog. While Portugal. The Man changes up their sound every album, their debut is easily the most experimental of their discography, still retaining many characteristics of the band’s post-hard predecessor Anatomy of a Ghost. But I didn’t know any of that at the time. I just listened to the song, enraptured by the track’s grungy guitars that paired perfectly with Gourley’s shrill high-pitched singing. The lyrics were obtuse in a Relationship of Command-type way and the final glitched-out chorus haunted me for days after the fact, becoming an immovable earworm. I remember at the time Grand Theft Auto IV had just been released (God, take me back) and I’d spend hours tooling around the game’s gray city listening to this song on repeat for hours.

Sometime later, Eric (the one of the group who I was closest to) and I found ourselves sitting next to each other during a weirdly-placed mid-day homeroom period. I asked him what he was listening to and he said “I’ll show you” he handed me his headphones and hit play on his 3rd generation iPod Nano. What I heard were the first shimmering notes of Minus The Bear’s “Pachuca Sunrise.” The song’s carefully-times guitar taps and intensely-technical drumming provide the crunchy background for Jake Snyder’s laid-back sensual lyrics and Cory Murchy’s smooth flowing bassline. It gelled into a transformative experience that made my body feel warm with sunlight and love. There’s a reason it’s still one of the band’s most-played live songs even a decade later. It turns out “Pachuca Sunrise” was many people’s first Minus The Bear song and led countless fans to the group’s second album Menos El Oso.

At this point, I already had enough “material” to go off on my own and endlessly devour these two records from these two very different bands. And I did, but I was also hungry for more. I came back to this group of guys in our shared AV class and begged for more in the coolest way I could without discounting my own cred.

From there Eric, Oliver, and Max threw me into the deep end. They showed me “Death Rides a Horse” by instrumental band Russian Circles. I dug it. Ratcheting up the intensity, they moved onto “Laser Life” by the post-hardcore band Blood Brothers. I dug it. They then threw the hyperchaotic cybergrind “Chapels” by Genghis Tron at me. I didn’t dig it, but I warmed up to it pretty quickly.

While there were dozens of other acts and songs that these guys turned me onto over the course of the next year, this crop stands out in my mind both for its breadth and what they’ve gone on to represent for me personally.

Portugal. The Man would go onto become one of my favorite bands. I’ve often proselytized online that they have one of the best discographies in indie rock. I would also go on to expose this band to my two younger brothers, and for one of them, Portugal. The Man has become their favorite band of all time. They currently sit at my 8th most played band on Last.fm with just over 3,000 plays.

Minus the Bear was my favorite band for years. At 6 concerts they’re also far-and-away the band I’ve seen live the most, and two years ago I saw them play Menos El Oso in full for the album’s 10th-anniversary tour. The album’s closing track “This Ain't a Surfin’ Movie” has been my favorite song of all time since I first heard it. The band is currently my 6th most-listened band on Last.fm, and three of the band's albums are have made it onto my list of all-time favorites.

Russian Circles would eventually lead me to the world of post-rock and instrumental metal. Bands like Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, and Earth, all of whom have served as my reading and studying music throughout high school and college. Russian Circles also have a nearly-perfect discography, and they currently sit at #15 on my Last.fm.

Meanwhile, Fleet Foxes were always a bit boring to me… until this year. Maybe I have more patience at 24 than I did at 15, but I’ve had their discography on repeat for this entire summer and I’ve been loving it.

Most importantly, Bon Iver served as my gateway to all of this. It’s weird that a slow quiet folk album could pave the way for something as discordant and brutal as Genghis Tron, but I guess it’s a snowball effect type of thing. For Emma, Forever Ago also became somewhat of a soundtrack for my first real relationship, and despite that relationship’s rocky conclusion a year later, I can still listen to the album today and enjoy it as much as I did the first time hearing it.

I can’t thank these three dudes (and the creators of these albums) enough. I can safely say that my life would be unequivocally and vastly different without having gone through this period of exploration when I did. I would be a different person with different tastes and interests entirely. Full stop. So for that, I can only say “thank you” and hope that I returned the favor with someone else somewhere down the line. Sometimes discoveries come from the most unexpected places. Sometimes a random song can lead you down a path you never could have blazed yourself. Sometimes a single song can change everything.

#Bon iver #fleet foxes #portugal. the man #waiter you vultures #minus the bear #blood brothers #russian circles #indie #metal #genghis tron #Metalcore #high school #music #high school music