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kyukun · 4 years

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Operation D.I.C.E. HQ! (OumaSai)

i love writing dice sm tbh. theyre all so much fun to write and aaaaaaa

hope you enjoy!

title: Operation D.I.C.E. HQ!

summary: Shuichi finally caves in, and Kokichi takes him on a little adventure. What's the point of this adventure you might ask? Well, to make Shuichi his second in command of course!

word count: 1425

~~ prompt starts after cut! ~~

"Saihara-chan! Just the detective I've been looking for!"

Saihara raised an eyebrow from his book, staring into the purple eyes that beamed so bright and hopeful at him. "Yes?" He asked. He wasn't quite sure what Kokichi wanted. His facial expressions weren't any help either, but then again, they never really are. He could be saying one thing but mean the total opposite. Whatever it was, it wasn't any good he bet.

"I need you, my beloved Shumai, to go and investigate a place with me."

Huh? That was certainly an… unusual request. Regardless, he pressed forward in order to get to the real deal. "A place?" The question came out more like a statement but the latter continued and answered. "Yes! It's a super super duper secret place that I really want you to come look at with me! Please?" He pleaded further, clasping both his hands together while his eyes were in puppy dog mode.

Well, he had no reason to object, and his curiosity seemed to get the best of him yet again. Besides, he trusted Kokichi.

For the most part.

Kokichi was pretty playful in nature. Despite saying malicious things, Shuichi knew he would never act on them. Kokichi wasn't that type of person. He sighed, setting down his book on the table in front of him. "Fine. Uhm, right now?"

"Absolutely. Come on, I'll lead the way." He giggled, taking the detective by his wrist and leading him out of the room which they were in before. Shuichi swore he saw Kokichi smirk but maybe he was just seeing things. He followed the smaller leader for what seemed like hours. Though, it was only an hour but it still took forever. The place was hidden, well, sort of. It was some sort of alleyway in between two stores. The area was definitely sketchy, but lively.

Shuichi felt uncomfortable. "Uh, Kokichi? Where are we?" He spoke up, timidity arising in his voice as he nervously glanced around as Kokichi paid no mind to his apparent hesitancy. He knocked on the door in what he could only assume was a pattern. He remained silent as Kokichi held his hand in his, beads of sweat forming in his palm as his nervousness had begun to dwell on him.

There was a slit on the metal door that had opened only a bit to peer at the two. "Red scroll, yellow scroll, blue scroll." He spoke, earning a raise from Saihara. Was that some sort of pass code? A Japanese tongue twister? The person behind the door nodded and opened the door after sliding the open slit closed. Kokichi turned towards Shuichi and flashed a toothy grin. He had a bad feeling about this. "Well, come on in."

Shuichi felt Kokichi release his hand as he waltzed into the suspicious room nonchalantly. The room had posters as well as graffiti on the inside with pink fluorescent lights. Where exactly was this place?

He walked in and noticed the room was somewhat empty other than a few desks and a bookshelf pushed up against the wall. The person that held the door open was in a clown mask and had a scarf and an outfit very similar to Kokichi. They had a red afro that was almost cartoonish to a degree. He waved gently at the figure who in turn, waved back. The latter shut the door and locked it with the hatchet that was attached.

Kokichi walked over to the bookshelf and pulled on a book. Shuichi was startled with the shelf had begun retracting to the side, leading to a secret passageway. "After you." Kokichi teased, motioning for Shuichi to walk inside of the darkened area. Shuichi complied and walked inside, Kokichi and the other person following him inside. He walked through the hall and noticed it was… like a hideout.

Like a stereotypical movie villain hideout but it wasn't. Sure, it may have looked the part from afar but you could see most of the "villain" aspects of the lair were props. The room had a mix of blue and white lights. Kokichi skipped in front of the group and held his hands open wide. "Welcome to the D.I.C.E. headquarters!"

Shuichi took a look around and saw eight other (he assumed) members who were in similar outfits as the person behind him. They joined him and took off their mask, as did the others except one. "Kokichi, why am I here?"

"See, I knew you'd ask that. So… I lied!"

Of course.

"I knew that if I told you where we were going, you'd say: "Aw man, sorry. Maybe next time." or some shit like that!" He rolled his eyes and collapsed down onto the dark greenish couch in the corner beside the door. "Right…" He trailed off and glanced around the members.

So they are real then. Interesting.

"Oh! How rude of me. I should introduce everyone to you!" Kokichi sprung up from the couch, bits of the couch cushion springing from underneath him in all its yellow, fluffy glory. Kokichi took the detective by the hand once more and walked him over to the group who were greeting him with friendly smiles. Kokichi pointed first to a young girl with long brown hair and a braid to the side of her head, though she still wore her mask. He wondered why.

"This is Two! She's not much of a talker but she's great at prank planning." Two waved, and Shuichi did the same. Next to her was another girl, she had an outfit similar to the rest but the only difference was she had cleavage showing. She was a bit taller than Two, maybe around two or three inches taller. "This is Three. She's basically our mom!"

"Pleasure to meet you, hun." Three extended her hand with a grin. Shuichi shook her hand and moved along to the next, "He's Four. Prepare yourself."

"What?" Before he could process Ouma's warning, he felt a pair of large yet fluffy arms grip him and held him tight. Next thing he knew, he was in the air as Four hugged the life out of him. "So you're the famous one we've heard so much about huh?! Man, Boss does not shut up about ya!" His voice was loud yet joyful. He could see Kokichi in the corner of his eye begin to fluster, "Ahaha! Four! What are you talking about, you big goof?" His words were drawn out but still menacing.

Four blinked absentmindedly before making an "oh" sound and set down Shuichi. "Nothin' at all, Boss."

Shuichi held his suspicions but decided to ultimately drop it. "Anyway, that's Five, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine."

"The one behind you is One."

Shuichi stared as the group of misfits gathered in a circle, whispering amongst themselves. He couldn't help but somewhat admire what Kokichi had been doing. They all seemed like such a big and happy family. He was happy Kokichi had them.

The day continued. Shuichi and the rest of D.I.C.E. had played a bunch of games together and Shuichi (reluctantly,) ended up helping on planning for their next prank. Kokichi could see how brightly the detective shined. And in this train of thought, he pulled him aside. "Saihara-chan, you seem to be enjoying yourself."

"Yeah, I really am." He giggled, glancing back at the others who were sat in a circle playing a round of Connect Four. His eyes then drew back to Kokichi, "They're all great. You know, you're a great leader. They seem to respect you a lot."

Damnit, Shuichi. Why are you so unexpectedly smooth? The leader felt his cheeks turn red, "W-well yeah! But… you know, sometimes even leaders need breaks from their subordinates sometimes so…"

"So?"

"Would you mind… joining me and being my second in command?" Shuichi couldn't see much of his face, but he could tell he was red. Kokichi had one hand on his scarf, which had been brought up to his face and the other had been placed on his hip. His eyes were averted but Shuichi didn't mind. He smiled at Kokichi warmly as if he were the cutest thing he'd ever laid eyes on.

Shuichi said nothing and instead took this opportunity to untie Kokichi's scarf. The smaller male stared at him in confusion, watching as he wrapped the scarf around his own neck. Shuichi bent down a bit, tilting his chin upward with his thumb and index finger and kissed his lips gently.

"Gladly."

#oumasai #kokichi ouma #shuichi saihara #drv3 #saiouma #danganronpa #kyus posts #OK BUT #DICE AND SAIHARA BEING SOFT TOGETHER #BEST THING EVER AND I ENJOY IT VERY MUCH #WE NEED MORE DICE CONTENT #PROTECT THEM

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hannah-deserved-better · 5 years

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My fandoms and my favorite characters and ships

I’m going to talk about all my fandoms and my top one or two characters from each fandom, and my top OTP from each one, if I have any. I’m going in order from when they entered my life.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

I watched TNG when it first aired in 1987. It was my first fandom and my most time honored fandom. I literally grew up watching it as a child, until it ended in about 1994, when I was about 10. I didn’t know about ships or OTPs or anything back then (no internet cuz you know... it was the 80′s and I was a child). But I did have my favorites:

Favorite Characters

Captain Picard: Seriously Picard is awesome. He was my first role model. He always had an important lesson to teach and he always did the right thing. I had tons of different Captain Picard action figures.

Dr. Crusher: She was probably my very first girl crush. I seriously loved Dr. Crusher. I thought she was tough and smart. In the 80s, when women were beginning to be able to go to college and stuff, she was especially important because she was the Chief Medical officer. She had an important role on the ship.

OTP: It shouldn’t come as a surprise that my OTP for TNG is Picard and Crusher. I wanted them to get together so bad!! My favorite episode was “attached” an episode in season seven where the two of them were stranded on a deserted planet and could hear each other’s thoughts. They learned about their intimate dreams and their feelings for each other.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine:

Deep Space Nine is near and dear to me because it was MY show. I watched it as a young teenager. It was there for me when I was dealing with some dark times in my life, and dealing with the challenges of being a teenager. it was the first fandom that I wrote fan fiction for. Of course, there was no internet then either, so it was just on notebooks and those notebooks have been lost in time. But even now, Deep Space Nine is my default when I can’t decide what to watch. Its my comfort zone, it’s where I feel safe. It was also one of the first times I felt moved by a show ending. I mourned TNG but I was too young. DS9 left just a void and there was no netflix to take comfort in, so no reruns.

Kira Nerys

I loved Kira so much! She was so bad ass. I seriously wanted to be her back in the day. She had a quick temper and she could be stubborn but she had a very tough past. She was a terrorist. She fought for her people’s freedom and she cared deeply for her planet. She dealt with some serious trauma and PTSD because she had been fighting as a resistance fighter since she was a child. It’s all she knew. Living in caves, starving, surviving. She taught me how to be resourceful, my favorite quote is when she said if you need a hammer, use a wrench.

Constable Odo

Odo was the sheriff in town. He cared about justice and getting at the truth and he tended to be very hardline about it. He took his work very seriously. I loved his banter with Quark. Odo was the observer, he was on no one’s side but he didn’t hesitate to give his opinion and he wasn’t a fan of authority. He did things his way.

OTP: Kira and Odo! I shipped them so hardback in the day! I knew they had something from the very beginning. In season one I shipped them. I was waiting through the whole show to see them be canon, only to be crushed when Odo left in the series finale! That kiss on the promenade was probably the best thing that ever happened to me!

Star Trek Voyager

I admit I didn’t get into Voyager right away. I was mourning for DS9 and couldn’t handle any more Star Trek spin-offs at the time. So I didn’t get into it until it had already been syndicated. But when I did, it definitely hit me hard. I was going through my early community college years, making friends, I met my husband around this time. I moved away from my parents. There were a lot of changes in my life so VOY came into my life at an important time.

Captain Janeway

Of course, I love her! She’s the captain! She’s smart, she’s tough, and she doesn’t take crap from anyone. She was another huge role model in my life. She was a scientist and a leader. Her crew mattered the most to her and it was through her that I learned about sacrifice and bravery.

Commander Chakotay

I liked Chakotay. I liked his spiritual side. I happen to be part Native American so that’s something I related to him with. He was a strong sensitive type. The warrior.

OTP: Janeway and Chakotay of course! I wanted them to get together so bad! It kills me when they had so many close chances that never happened. I mean it was so clear that they loved each other and that Chakotay/Seven thing at the end was a total slap in the face to us Janeway/Chakotay fans! I still hate the writers for that! it totally ruined the series finale for me.

X-files: So begins the era of stuff that husband introduced me to, starting with X-files. I had never watched it back when it was on because I only had eyes for Star Trek, but my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time, introduced me to pretty much every fandom from here on out. X-files was his show, its what he grew up on.

Scully: I’m a total Scully girl. I love her! She’s a scientist and she wears a gun. Total badass! And I love that even though her scientific mind, she was also spiritual which, as a pagan, I can relate. She knows that she is in a male-dominated occupation but she doesn’t let it bother her and isn't afraid to give people a piece of her mind.

Mulder

You can’t have Scully without Mulder! I love how dedicated to the cause he was. And my husband and I have this on going joke that whenever you see a top secret secured area you have to wonder if Mulder has broken into it yet. Cuz he always manages to get to places where he isn’t exactly supposed to be.

OTP: Mulder and Scully of course! Mulder may be a goof ball but he has said some of the most romantic, amazing things. “You were my constant” that whole speech right there was amazing.

Lord of the Rings

My husband introduced me to Lord of the Rings. I never read the books until I met him and even then, I’ve only read the Fellowship, but I loved the movies. They are my ultimate sick day splurge. I plan a LOTR/hobbit marathon when I get sick.

Aragorn: I think we are seeing a pattern. I like the leader types. The warriors. Which is why I love Aragorn! Also, I’ve always had a thing for guys with long hair so there’s that. But yeah, Aragorn is the sensitive, courageous warrior but he also has this self-doubt. He worries that he won't live up to what everyone knows he must become.

Faramir

The younger brother to Boromir. I hate how Faramir’s father treated him and I think it’s sad how he still looked up to him and to his brother. He was brave but he had a kind heart and he deserved better than Denethor.

OTP: To be honest, I didn’t really ship anyone from Lord of the Rings.

Rurouni Kenshin

I’ve never really been into anime but this is the one exception. And of course, my husband introduced me. He’s been a fan of the anime and the manga. I like this anime for it’s historical content. I am a history major and I love fandoms that make the setting a big part of the show. Like the setting itself is a character too, and this was certainly true in Kenshin. Meiji Japan was a character in the show in many ways. I really loved how it tied history into everything, describing Japan’s beginning of imperialism and its rise that would eventually put it on the world stage.

Kenshin

Kenshin is my favorite character! The wandering Samurai who just wants to protect people. He’s the warrior type just like all my other favorites.

OTP: I didn’t really ship anyone, although I did have a soft spot for Kenshin/Kauru and Sanosuke/Megumi.

The Legends of Drizzt

My favorite book series of all time! I got so obsessed with the Drow through reading these books. My favorites were the first books about Drizzt and his homeland. This is also the first fandom my friend and I got really into and started RPGs with. WE had done RPGs with Voyager and X-files crossovers but this was probably the longes RPG series we did.

Drizzt Do’Urdon: Drizzt and Kenshin have a lot of similarities. Drizzt is another warrior type. He was abused by his female-dominated society until he finally had the courage to do what few drow ever did- leave. He faced hatred and discrimination on the surface because everyone feared the Drow.

OTP: I didn’t really ship anyone. I liked Drizzt/Cattie-brie and I thought it would have been nice if he got to reconcile with Ellifain and maybe they could have been together, but that’s all.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

I wouldn’t say I am a hardcore Buffy fangirl, but I love the show. My sisters were really obsessed with it back in the day and they both know every single episode by heart. My husband is a huge fan so he finally got me to watch it.

Willow Rosenburg

Willow’s my favorite! She’s nerdy, geeky, and witchy. She’s been Buffy’s number one and she’s no side kick, she can handle her own. I was a nerd in school, and still am so I get her.

OTP: I liked Buffy and Angel and Willow and Tara. I also thought maybe Xander and Spike would have been cool, or maybe Xander and Andrew.

The Hobbit

I loved the Hobbit movies despite the criticism. They were my first attempt at publishing fiction online. I have a bunch of my old Hobbit fics on Fan Fiction.net still. I also have saved some of my all time favorite Hobbit fics. I love the brotherly love between Fili and Kili and fan fic writers did such a good job of capturing it!

Fili

I am on the ‘justice for Fili’ team for sure. I seriously feel like Fili deserved way more than what he got in the movies. The third movie irritated me because Fili hardly got a part. It’s like he wasn’t even there. Fili was Thorin’s heir and I just think fan fiction does a way better job of giving him the love he deserved.

Kili

I loved Kili. He’s the younger brother so he feels he has to prove to Thorin- his hero- that he can do what needs to get done. I think it hurt him to be left behind.

OTP: No OTPS here, I don’t really ship anyone. I wasn’t a fan of the Kili/Tauriel thing at all. When I write Hobbit fics, I have these OCs I have been using for years that I ship with Fili and Kili but that’s all.

Supernatural

Last but not least! Supernatural is my last fandom. I’ve been a part of it for about three or four years. It’s my most current, the one I’m into the most at the moment. After it ends, that will be it! No more fandoms for me, all my fandoms will be things of the past. But my husband introduced me to it. He and I both have an interest in theology so that’s why we got into it, for all the angel and religious aspect. I like the mystic stuff, and I like how angels and demons are these different species with their own rules and such. That is the thing I’ve always loved about science fiction and fantasy- I love learning about non human cultures. I like learning how their society is.

Hannah

Hannah is my current crush these days. I love her. I pretty much think she is a goddess. I have so many reasons. I love that she is a soldier and she’s tough, I love that she has flaws but that she’s brave. Her inner conflict was the best part of her character, how she struggled with her sense of law and justice and with her emotions. She seemed to struggle a lot with trying to process the things she felt. I can honestly say that she is the closest I’ve ever seen to a female person with autism in any of my fandoms. That’s why I love her so much, I relate to her on such a personal level, being autistic myself. She inspires my writing and my art so much. She’s probably my favorite character out of all my fandoms right now. I’ve never related to a character more than I do to her. She is the character I love to play the most because she feels comfortable to me.

Castiel

When it comes to team free will, I am a Cas-girl all the way! Who doesn’t love that adorable little angel? I feel like Castiel’s whole time on the show has been so sad. He rebelled for his friends and ever since then, it’s been one disaster after another with him and even now when season 15 is about to come out, I don’t think he’s ever found true happiness, and that hurts. He misses being an angel and it hurts that they don’t accept him for who he is. I’ve tried to touch upon Castiel’s emotional health a lot in my writing because I don’t think the show does a good job of addressing it. He has done so much for the Winchesters but I don’t think he’s happy with how his life is now, especially after the end of the last season.

OTP: Castiel and Hannah! My ultimate hardcore forever OTP. I truly believe Castiel loved Hannah and its clear that she loved him. She is one of the few people in Castiel’s life who seemed to truly, honestly want to address his needs. She literally begged him multiple times to take care of himself, and in true Winchester fashion, was willing to let Metatron out and this sacrifice the world, just to save Cas. She’s one of the few angels who cared about Castiel, even knowing what he’s done, none of that bothered her. In the beginning when they first met, when all the other angels wanted to kill him, she didn’t care what he had done and only left when she thought he had betrayed them and was quick to come back to him when she found out the truth. I love Castiel and Hannah, pretty much all my fics focus on them.

NOTE: Before you start getting all upset about the fact that all my OTP ships are m/f, I want to point some things out to you. First off, I am bi. Second of all, m/f doesn’t always equal straight and m/m or f/f doesn’t always equal gay. STOP IT WITH THE BI ERASURE!!! I have plenty of other ships but these are my top ships and yes I mostly ship m/f. Just because they all just happen to be my favorites. Maybe because all the above characters tend to have certain characteristics and certain traits and it's their personalities that I ship not their gender. Also, I have huge crushes on the above female AND male characters so again, it’s probably why I ship them. Also, I am demisexual so sex doesn’t really play a huge role in who I ship. A lot of these characters also have similarities to me and my husband, so I tend to ship what I see in real life. I actually ship plenty of other ships other than what’s listed, yes most are still m/f, but some are f/f and some are poly. I don’t ship a lot of m/m because, well, I just don’t. I haven’t found any m/m ships that I really ship. I am all about chemistry first and if I don’t feel it I don’t feel it. Since sex doesn’t play a factor in my ships much, I need them to connect mentally and emotionally much more than physically. I also value equality in relationships. I am not into the whole ‘opposites attract’ thing. Characters have to be compatible.

And one other thing. Chemistry is in the eye of the beholder. What one person sees as chemistry someone else might not agree and that’s okay. It’s okay to disagree it's not okay to be a hater.

#ships #supernatural #star trek #castiel/hannah #fandom

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gtfovacations-blog · 6 years

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How to Choose the Perfect Bottle of Wine While On Vacation

The world of vacation souvenirs is vast, varied, and completely overwhelming. If you’re looking for a gift that keeps on giving—at least for a little while—look to local wines. Don’t be intimidated by thoughts of successfully packing multiple bottles into your suitcase (more on that later). Finding a great and unique local wine says so much more about a location than a keychain or shot glass. But finding the right bottle can be a task. This is where John McCarroll comes in to save the day. McCarroll is one part of the wine podcast Disgorgeous, which focuses on the broader culture around wine. “We’re all about normalizing wine, creating a transparent dialogue about what wine is, how it’s made, how it’s consumed, and who it’s for,” says McCarroll. “We love wine and want everyone to love it with no fear of ‘being wrong.’” Before Disgorgeous, McCarroll worked at a vineyard as a grape stomper and assistant winemaker through college. “I spend close to a decade traveling around Europe and the Middle East eating, drinking, and goofing off—obviously wine was always near and dear to me.” What better person to guide us through the act of choosing that special bottle while traveling? McCarroll says the biggest thing to remember: Have fun and don’t be intimidated.

Maren Caruso/Getty Images Choosing Wine When You Know Nothing About Wine Don’t be intimidated by the walls of perfectly-designed labels and foreign phrases. “Don't try to impress them with words you don't understand, and don't try to be too safe,” McCarroll says. “Ask shop owners what they are drinking that's fun and give them a price range. It's their job to have wine thoughts. It doesn't have to be yours.” Find a Wine Shop That Cares Do a bit of research and find a wine shop that sells varietals from the area. “Find a wine store that seems like they care,” McCarroll says. “Avoid gas stations in the Balkans unless you really need a bottle, but walk around and take chances. One of the best wine experiences in my life was drinking liters of Okay Debit (a white from Croatia) on the Dalmatian Coast with two of my favorite people. It was unfussy, imperfect, and delicious with fried sardines. Don't spend your vacation looking for unicorn wine; have some fun instead.”

Getty Images Ask the Right Questions Once you find a shop, make sure to ask the employees a few questions. McCarroll suggests: “What do you like to drink? What goes well with a local dish? What are you proud of?” Don’t be shy. Three Wine Terms /Phrases to Drop From Your Vocabulary Dry rose: “If you're at a place worth going to, they are almost all dry. This sounds like you're scared to order pink wine.” Smooth: “This is my biggest pet peeve. It means nothing. Also ‘strong.’” I don't like Chardonnay: “Go directly to jail. You just haven't had a good one.”

Fiona Hanson/PA Images via Getty Images Read the Back Labels It’s easy to disregard the back label when the front of the bottle can be so alluring. But there may be some information hidden that could introduce you to a whole world of favorite wines, instead of just one new go-to. “If you're in a big city, check out the back labels of wines you like and make note of who imports them,” McCarroll says. “Importers tend to have house styles and philosophies, so if you like a few bottles from one, you'll probably like a lot of what else they have. When I'm in smaller markets, I unabashedly look for Kermit Lynch wines. He's an OG importer and has been banging on about honesty and transparency in wine for 40 years or so. His wines tend to have his name on the front label because he's just that important. Use those as gateways to explore your tastes, and then seek out other wines from appellations or regions.” The Secret to Packing Wine in a Suitcase Sure, you could buy those fancy, bubble-wrap pouches for your wine, or you could look to your wardrobe. “Wool socks, and bring a bunch,” McCarroll says. “Put a sock on either end of the bottle so that it's entirely covered. I’ve never broken a bottle, and I always drop stuff.”

Michael Busselle/Robert Harding World Imagery/Getty Images The Ultimate Wine Vacation “I'd say Terra Alta in Catalonia, which is incredibly rugged and almost looney-toonseque in terms of improbable mountains,” McCarroll says. “Also, they drink incredibly fun wine, constantly, and it's a gem of a place. However, I'm getting a real hankering to go visit Georgia, which has an incredibly deep autochthonous wine tradition that gets very little love in the U.S. outside of rarefied circles.” If you’re into natural wine, this is even more reason to check it out. “So many of the dweeby natural wine trends that everyone is crazy about— like skin contact white wines (orange wines) and fermenting in amphorae—are endemic and there's a culture of feasting.” Finding Out About New Wines If you want to do some research before your trip, McCarroll urges the importance of Instagram. “Follow wine Instagram accounts. I'm crazy about @theglugreport. But the best way to learn about wine is to listen to Disgorgeous and buy everything we like religiously, of course.” Read the full article

#whatwinetobuy #wine

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chasingferriswheels-blog · 6 years

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“Hell,” the poet and public performer Robert Frost once observed, “is a half-filled auditorium.” Brian Fallon—frontman for New Jersey proto-punk outfit The Gaslight Anthem and newly minted solo artist—can relate. But as concert nightmares go, there can be worse things than a sparse crowd. Much, much worse.

A couple of years ago, just after the venue-packing Gaslight Anthem had gone on head-clearing hiatus, Fallon was playing San Francisco’s swank Great American Music Hall, backing his first solo effort, the eclectic, folk/soul/country/heartland-rock mashup Painkillers. It was a dramatic step forward for the raspy-throated composer, into the stylistic big leagues of one of his home-state heroes and longtime supporters, Bruce Springsteen. Backed by a sonically adept group that included guitarist Ian Perkins, his partner in the 2011 spinoff combo The Horrible Crowes, Fallon was there to prove himself with diverse new material. But Bay Area Gaslight fans apparently had not recognized his name on the nightclub marquee; although diehard followers were there in force, the place wasn’t sold out and was instead littered with the insensitive type of ticket-buyer that would give the unflappable Frost himself pause. This is what happened inside.

Perkins had jut emerged from the tour bus parked out front when two drunk tech dudes from Silicon Valley demanded to know who the night’s star was at the box office, and then, shrugging, threw down the money for admittance. The guitarist sighed and shrugged, too. The knuckleheaded duo would repeatedly heckle Fallon, who would drift onto reflective raconteur-ish tangents to “Shut up! Shut up and play the hits!” Even though they had no idea what said hits were. A cellphone-brandishing couple at the back kept framing and filming two songs at a time before returning to the bar to review their latest footage. Other self-congratulatory millennials, talking in hyena packs along the floor fringes, took selfies featuring the band in the background.

The bad vibes finally reached the typically rollicking Fallon when he was discussing a drive that afternoon through Oakland. “Silicon Valley is where the money is!” the inebriated techies barked, high-fiving each other. Fallon explained that he was from New Jersey, prompting a man near the stage to spit back a sneering, “New Jersey sucks!” And that was it. Enough. The gig squealed to a halt, and Fallon had a spotlight beamed onto the interloper, whom he addressed in a prickly before pulling out his wallet and offering the man a cash refund. Shamed, the fellow wisely demurred—peanut-gallery commentary was not free, he learned. And who wants to get thrown out of a concert by the headliner? That’s something you’ll never live down on YouTube.

Such were the indignities Fallon faced in his quest to go solo. But looking back, he says he was ultimately unfazed by what happened that night. “I think if you took one person from any band, like Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin, there’s no way he’s selling out the same places that Zeppelin did. It’s a smaller thing, so there’s bound to be a reduction,” he rationalizes, cheerily. “In the end, you’ve got to just play for the people who are there to receive the music and enjoy it with you. You’ve got to find and section off the people who are there for the love of it and play for them.” He pauses, chuckling, then adds, “But at the same time, I’m not above engaging someone in a funny way. If someone yells, ‘F you!’ I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah? Okay!’ And if you’re not having a good time, then you should get your money back.”

Decades ago, when Springsteen’s audience grew exponentially with Born in the U.S.A., discussion arose over just how much the artist was responsible for a sudden influx of lowbrow listeners who mistook a grim, Vietnam-vet-inspired dirge for a triple-kegging, YOLO party anthem. Fallon doesn’t buy into that. Frat rockers can appreciate his material the same as the Great American Music Hall fans who crowded the stage that night, singing along to every new Painkillers track. “And that was awesome, and the thing that you have to look at and take away from that whole experience, because anytime a band plays new songs, that can go down really bad,” he admits. “And even if you’re losing some people, you’re not losing everybody.”

On Friday, Fallon released his sophomore solo album, Sleepwalkers, and he’s ready to retake San Francisco. “Most people are actually receiving what you’re trying to put out there, and here’s your proof: We’re a few months out from the Sleepwalkers solo tour, and the show in San Francisco is already sold out,” he says. “So something went right with those people that night, because they liked it enough to tell their friends.”

Fallon, 38, also feels a certain responsibility to defuse live-wire situations before, say, a fight breaks out. What if you mouth off from the safety of a crowd, but the bloke next to you just lost his job, or has imbibed one too many? “So I have to manage that from the stage as best I can,” he says. “And if it costs me 25 or 30 bucks to handle it—to say, “If I’m bumming you out or you feel like you’re at the wrong show, I’ll be happy to return your money—then that’s fine by me. If someone’s trying to get you or frazzle you, the minute you respond in kind you’re giving them permission to take away your place of solace, your serenity, and your show. I used to allow that a bit more, but I got hip to it, that I was the one giving away that permission. So I don’t allow it anymore.”

As Fallon tells it, he’s gotten wise to some existential truths leading into Sleepwalkers. The Gaslight Anthem’s final effort together, 2014’s pain-wracked (and aptly dubbed) Get Hurt, found the composer lyrically dealing with the breakup of his marriage, which ended in divorce in 2013. The fallout continued into Painkillers—suddenly, he was living on his own again, without the defining comforts of a band and a family, trying to redefine himself as a songwriter. So he threw out the rulebook and just wrote songs that made him happy. It was easier said than done.

“It was tough, because I was going through a phase of ‘What do I write about?,’ and there was nothing to say, because I was just sitting here at home,” he recalls. And he was at last content with his home life—he had gotten remarried and had a daughter, now 2, his second child. “So I had to go and sit with myself and talk to friends and do that overly analytical psychosis thing. And I changed a lot. I changed big stuff, like my attitude and my entire outlook on things, and I had the time to do it.” His conclusion? He was no longer the aggro mid-20s punk from The ’59 Sound; he was a family man, a huge fan of classic ‘60s soul singers like Sam Cooke and Etta James, and he should stop over-thinking it and craft his work accordingly. Producer Ted Hutt, who worked on The Gaslight Anthem’s 2008 breakout sophomore album The ’59 Sound, was happy to follow him down the retro rabbit hole.

Sleepwalkers opens on the finger-popping old-school R&B of “If Your Prayers Don’t Get to Heaven,” which hearkens back to Gaslight’s most stylistically adventurous set, 2010’s underrated American Slang. Then it bounds into the power-chorder “Forget Me Not,” the hushed ballad “Etta James,” another mandolin-buttressed love song “Proof of Life,” a rat-a-tat-rhythm “Little Nightmares,” the swaying saxophone-laced title track, a Bon Jovi-ish coliseum-rocker “My Name Is the Night,” and a jangly acoustic mortality themed closer, “See You On the Other Side.” It’s a great continuation of the high standards set on Painkillers, which found Fallon no longer relying on certain words and phrases—like “wound” and “bandage”—as he’d often done with Gaslight, and upping his lyrical game. (He realized he’d fallen into a wordplay rut a few years ago, he laughs, when overseas fans had numbered cards they flipped over in concert every time he sang the designated magic word. “At least they were really listening, paying attention to what I was singing instead of talking,” he sighs). He has quietly, studiously become one of modern music’s most important and enjoyably consistent songwriters.

What does Fallon hear, listening back to his latest magnum opus? No recurring poetic themes or metaphorical messages, he swears. “I just hear us having a good time, goofing around and trying to find some good sounds that made us feel inspired,” he says. “Like, with ‘If Your Prayers Don’t Get to Heaven,’ I was listening to The Jam, and I thought, ‘Man, they’ve really got that Motown beat in there on ‘A Town Called Malice.’ Maybe we should look into that. But I have different influences than Paul Weller, so that beat was there, but American soul music kept creeping in.”

As rewarding as the search for solo fulfillment has been, Fallon is excited to play larger venues again on the upcoming ’59 Sound reunion tour. “We talked about it and said, ‘Hey, the ’59 Soundis turning 10, that’s pretty cool. And probably none of us would be standing here if it weren’t for that. So maybe it would be fun to just go out and play the record, because we never did that before. A bunch of people will probably be really excited, so let’s do it’,” he says. “And then?” he teases with a pregnant pause. “Hey, that’s it. People keep asking me, ‘What’s next? What’s next?’ But nothing is next. We’re just doing this on our own time, because I can only put one foot in front of the other, because right now I’ve got my record, and I’ve got The ’59 Sound turning 10. And to go out and tour my record, then ’59? Hey, sounds like a fun year to me!”’

With, of course, no half-filled auditoriums on the itinerary…

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/02/brian-fallon.html

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restateagnt17101 · 7 years

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What Happens When Your Neighbor Is A Venture Capitalist

Via sfphoenix.wixsite.com

Waging a public battle against your rich neighbor with obscene tech money is practically a Bay Area tradition. In David Cowfer’s case, his angry website about an invasive species of Silicon Valley billionaire practically wrote itself. Cowfer is fighting plans to turn a six-bedroom family home in a sleepy cul-de-sac on a picturesque Glen Park hilltop into the ultimate bachelor gymnasium, including a basketball court, lockers, sauna, wet bar, lounge, and a cantilevered swimming pool. Plans also include a two-story garage door with glass panels will roll open to show a spectacular view of San Francisco — and could cause a spectacular nuisance for Cowfer, who lives next door.

The house, which sold for $2.35 million in 2015, was purchased under an anonymous LLC. So it took Cowfer nine months to figure out that the baller behind the renovation was prominent venture capitalist Keith Rabois, a Silicon Valley veteran with a contrarian Twitter account and a Stanford pedigree, who, like his buddy Peter Thiel, is also part of the so-called PayPal mafia.

This is when an ordinary NIMBY narrative — of the haves vs. the have-mores — veered in caricature. San Francisco’s Planning Department found nothing objectionable about Rabois’ construction plans, but Cowfer filed for a discretionary review to bring the issue before the city’s seven member Planning Commission. At a hearing on Thursday, neighbors told the the commission that Rabois is building a personal recreation center, not a home, because Rabois already lives in another home in the same small cul-de-sac, purchased for $3.5 million in 2011. What’s more, his co-worker at Khosla Ventures, venture capitalist Benjamin Ling, owns a $1.8 million house, purchased in 2013, next door to Rabois’ primary residence.

“It's like a Zuckerberg-style neighborhood takeover!” Ryan Patterson, Cowfer’s lawyer, told BuzzFeed News after the hearing, in reference to the CEO of Facebook secretly buying up the four houses surrounding his Palo Alto mansion in 2013. “It’s a cul-de-sac with a lot of homes built in the ‘60s. Now we have two billionaires who own three homes within 150 feet of each other,” said resident Mark Brennan, who grew up across the street in the same house where his parents still live.

Rabois, however, didn’t see the big deal. “What does that have to do with anything?” he asked BuzzFeed News in response to questions about how two investors from the same firm happened to live on the quiet same block. “He bought a house, people are allowed to buy houses. People think it’s some kind of conspiracy, but I found a cool neighborhood,” and my friend followed, said Rabois.

Cowfer’s website, No Court @ Everson, refers to both investors as billionaires, a claim that was picked up in coverage of the dispute in Curbed, SFist, and a local CBS station. There is one small glitch in the all-powerful techie narrative: Ling is not a billionaire. When BuzzFeed News asked Rabois to verify the billionaire claim for himself, Rabois wrote back, “Lol.”

The view from the property being renovated

Via zillow.com

For Cowfer, however, signs of a hostile takeover kept adding up. A few months ago, a real estate agent cold-called him on behalf of Ling about buying his home, which Cowfer interpreted as an attempt “to remove me from the equation,” he said. Ling characterized it differently in an email to BuzzFeed. “I had heard that the property might be coming on the market shortly, and had made a single inquiry in hopes of getting an early look, but nothing ever came of it.”

Rabois insists that he’s made every effort to follow the rules. “[San Francisco is] one of the most heavily regulated real estate markets in history. This is so in the middle of what’s acceptable to complain about,” he said.

But at the hearing on Thursday in City Hall, neighbors argued that the renovation is out of character for Glen Park. Cowfer told the commission that lights and noise could drive down the value of homes by as much as 25 percent. “In a neighborhood where the homes are priced anywhere between $2 million and $4 million, this is not insignificant,” he said.

“I have no problem with him spending his money; he should be spending that in Pacific Heights,” said Joe O'Donoghue, the former head of the Residential Builders Association and final resident to argue against Rabois at the hearing. O'Donoghue, who speaks in a heavy Irish brogue, was the most animated speaker that afternoon, throwing his hand out with disgust when he mentioned Rabois’ plan to build “a garage door going nowhere.”

The Bay Area has a rich and varied history of absurd real estate spats between tech moguls and their neighbors. In 2011, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison got ticked off because his neighbor’s redwood trees blocked the view from his house on Billionaire’s Row in Pacific Heights. (The Wall Street Journal tried to inquire about the debacle, but “Mr. Ellison would only speak through his tree attorney," the paper reported.) Typically these kind of clashes happen in tonier neighborhoods. Perhaps the basketball tussle in Glen Park, once a streetcar suburb for working and middle class residents, is just a sign that these disputes are moving down market.

Like real estate fights everywhere, each side is painting the other as unreasonable. Rabois had a company board meeting and couldn’t attend the hearing, but he told BuzzFeed News, “[Cowfer is] wasting taxpayer money, driving the staff actually crazy.”

Residents, however, insist that Rabois is downplaying the scope of initial plans of the basketball court. “The way Rabois’ team is talking now, it almost sounds like they’ve got a nerf hoop down there [and are] just goofing around,” said Brennan, who also pointed out that Rabois pushed through related permits before this dispute was settled.

The Planning commissioners concluded that there was enough common ground around Cowfer’s request — to shift the basketball court into the hill, so that it doesn’t jut out as far — that they told the two parties to take a few weeks and see if they could sort it out.

“This is a fairly quiet neighborhood. I don’t think people want a bunch of valet partners coming up here all the time and having all these wild parties, said Brennan “It’s not the Red Army coming out of the mountains to try to take this guy’s property away from him.”

Nitasha Tiku / BuzzFeed News

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realestate63141 · 7 years

Text

What Happens When Your Neighbor Is A Venture Capitalist

Via sfphoenix.wixsite.com

The view from the property being renovated

Via zillow.com

Nitasha Tiku / BuzzFeed News

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2o1G4wC

#DIYS

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realestateagent532 · 7 years

Text

What Happens When Your Neighbor Is A Venture Capitalist

Via sfphoenix.wixsite.com

The view from the property being renovated

Via zillow.com

Nitasha Tiku / BuzzFeed News

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2o1G4wC

#DIYS

0 notes