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dustedmagazine · 3 years

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Dust, Volume 7, Number 8

Big Thief

Our August collection of short reviews contains more big names than usual with singles from Big Thief and Dry Cleaning, a digital compilation from Thou, live music from Obits and a side project from members of the Bats and the Clean. Never fear, there are obscurities as well, including an improv guitar player even Bill Meyer had hardly heard of, a Norwegian emo artist in love with Texas and a death metal outfit verging into psychedelia. Our writers, this time including Tim Clarke, Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Ian Mathers, Chris Liberato and Jonathan Shaw, like what they like, big or small, hyped or unknown. We hope you’ll like some of it, too.

Marc Barreca — The Sleeper Awakes (Scissor Tail)

The Sleeper Wakes by Marc Barreca

Odd connections abound here. One might not expect the usually acoustic-oriented Scissor Tail Recordings to make a vinyl reissue of an electronic ambient music cassette from 1986, any more than one would expect its maker to currently earn his crust as a bankruptcy judge. So, let’s just shed those expectations and get to listening. Unlike so many lower profile electronic recordings from the 1980s, which seemed targeted for a space next to the cash register of a new age bookstore, this album offers a profusion of mysteries that compound the closer you listen to them. It’s not at all obvious what sounds Barreca fed into his Akai sampler. Japanese folk music? Church chimes? A log drum jam? Tugboat engines? One hears hints of such sounds, but they’ve been warped and dredged in a thin coat of murk, so that the predominant experience is one of feeling like you’re dreaming, even if your eyes are wide open.

Bill Meyer

Big Thief — “Little Things” / “Sparrow” (4AD)

Little Things/Sparrow by Big Thief

Who knows how much more music Big Thief might have released in the last 18 months if the pandemic hadn’t tripped them up? Given the creative momentum generated by 2019’s UFOF and Two Hands, it’s fair to assume the band have plenty of music waiting in the wings. “Little Things” and “Sparrow” arrive with no sign of a new album on the horizon, so are probably being released to promote Big Thief’s upcoming US and European tour. Both songs clock in at around five minutes and handle musical repetition in different satisfying ways. Reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everything,” but hyped up on caffeine, “Little Things” feels like an exciting new direction for the band. It cycles through its whirlpooling, modulated acoustic guitar over and over, the frantic little sequence of chords never changing; the interest comes from the ways in which the rest of the instruments bob and weave in the ever-shifting, psychedelic mix. “Sparrow” is a more traditional Big Thief song, sparse and sad. Its melancholic sway is enlivened by some beautiful wavering vocal harmonies as Adrianne Lenker paints a picture of a Garden of Eden populated by sparrows, owls and eagles, culminating in Adam blaming Eve for humankind’s fall from grace.

Tim Clarke

Simão Costa — Beat Without Byte: (Un)Learning Machine (Cipsela)

Beat With Out Byte by Simão Costa

Piano preparation often makes use of modest resources — bolts and combs, strings or maybe just a raincoat tossed into the instrument’s innards. By contrast, Simão Costa’s set-up looks like took all of the entries in a robotics assembly competition and set them to work agitating a snarl of cables that met the pirated telecommunication requirements for an especially crowded favela. But whether it’s twitching motors or Costa’s own hands doing the work, the sounds that come out of his sound remarkably rich and cohesive. He stirs drifting hums, metallic sonorities, and stomping rhythms into a bracingly immediate sonic onslaught.

Bill Meyer

Cots — Disturbing Body (Boiled)

Disturbing Body by Cots

Disturbing Body is the low-key debut album by Montreal-based musician Steph Yates, who enlisted Sandro Perri to produce. Where the songs are pared back to mostly just vocals and peppy major-seventh chords on nylon-string guitar — such as “Bitter Part of the Fruit” and “Midnight at the Station” — comparisons with bossa-nova classics such as “The Girl From Ipanema” inevitably arise. Where the tempo is slower, the chord voicings are less sun-dappled, and Perri’s arrangements call upon a wider palette of instrumental colors, the songs venture into more interesting terrain, calling to mind a less haunted Broadcast. There’s an eerie sway to the opening title track, backed by rich piano chords and clattering cymbal textures. Fender Rhodes and the light clack of a rhythm track give “Inertia of a Dream” an uneasy momentum. And forlorn trumpet, percussion and piano situate “Last Sip” at closing time in a forgotten jazz club. There’s something evasive yet subtly intoxicating at work here, the album’s ten songs breezing past in half an hour, leaving plenty of unanswered questions in their wake.

Tim Clarke

Dry Cleaning — “Bug Eggs” / “Tony Speaks!” (4AD)

Bug Eggs/Tony Speaks! by Dry Cleaning

A few months on from the release of their excellent debut album, New Long Leg, Dry Cleaning have put out two more songs from the same sessions, which are featured as bonus tracks on the Japanese edition. For a band whose unique appeal is mostly attributed to Florence Shaw’s surreal lyrics and deadpan delivery, it’s heartening to hear further evidence that it’s the complete cocktail of musical ingredients — Shaw plus Tom Dowse’s inventive guitar, Lewis Maynard’s satisfyingly thick bass, and Nick Buxton’s driving drums — that alchemizes into their winning sound. The verse guitar chords of “Bug Eggs” are naggingly similar to New Long Leg’s “More Big Birds,” while the instrumental chorus has a yearning feel akin to album highlight “Her Hippo.” Maynard’s bass tone on “Tony Speaks!” is absolutely filthy, swallowing up most of the mix until Dowse’s guitar bares its teeth in a swarm of squalling wah-wah, while Shaw’s lyrics muse upon the decline of heavy industry, the environment, and crisps.

Tim Clarke

Flight Mode — TX, ’98 (Sound As Language)

TX, '98 by Flight Mode

In 1998, well before he started Little Hands of Asphalt, Sjur Lyseid spent a year in Texas at the height of the emo wave, skateboarding and going to house shows and listening to the Get Up Kids. TX, ’98 is the Norwegian’s tribute to that coming of age experience, the giddy euphorias of mid-teenage freedom filtered through bittersweet subsequent experience. “Sixteen” is the banger, all crunchy, twitchy exhilarating guitars and vulnerable pop tunefulness, its clangor breaking for wistful reminiscence, but “Fossil Fuel” waxes lyrical, its guitar riffs splintering into radiant shards, its lyrics capturing those youthful years when anything seems possible and also, somehow, the later recognition that perhaps it isn’t. It’s an interesting tension between the now-is-everything hedonism of adolescence and the rueful remembering of adulthood, encapsulate in a chorus that goes, “Well wait and see if there’s no more history/and just defend the present tense.”

Jennifer Kelly

Drew Gardner— S-T (Eiderdown Records)

S/T by Drew Gardner

Drew Gardner has been popping up all over lately, on Elkhorn’s snowed in acoustic jam Storm Sessions and the electrified follow-up Sun Cycle and as one of Jeffrey Alexander’s Heavy Lidders. Here, it’s just him and his guitar plus a like-minded rhythm section (that’s Ryan Jewell on drums and Garcia Peoples’ Andy Cush on bass), spinning off dreamy, folk-into-interstellar-journeys like “Calyx” and “Kelp Highway.” Gardner puts some muscle into some of his grooves, running close to Chris Forsyth’s wide-angle electric boogie in “Bird Food.” “The Road to Eastern Garden,” though, is pure limpid transcendence, Buddhist monastery bells jangling as Gardner’s warm, inquiring melodic line intersects with rubbery bends on bass. Give this one a little time to sit, but don’t miss it.

Jennifer Kelly

Hearth — Melt (Clean Feed)

Melt by Hearth

This pan-European quartet’s name suggests domesticity, but the fact that none of its members lives in the country of their birth probably says more about the breadth of their music. The closest geographic point of reference for the sounds that pianist Kaja Draksler, trumpeter Susana Santos Silva, and saxophonists Ada Rave and Mette Rasmussen’s make together would be Chicago’s south side. Their dynamic blend of angular structures, extended instrumental techniques, and obscurely theatrical enactments brings to mind the Art Ensemble of Chicago, even though the sounds on this concert-length recording rarely echo the AEC’s. But it is similarly charged with mystery and collective identity.

Bill Meyer

Klaus Lang / Konus Quartett — Drei Allmenden (Cubus)

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Drei Allmenden (translation: Three Commons) treats the act of commission as an opportunity to create common cause. For composer and keyboardist Klaus Lang, this is a chance to push back against a long trend of separation and stratification, with musicians bound to realize the composer’s whim, no matter the cost. Invoking works from the 16th century, he penned something simple, flexible and open to embellishment. Then he pitched in with Konus Quartett, a Swiss saxophone ensemble, to get the job done. The three-part piece, which lasts 43 sublime minutes, amply rewards the submersion of ego. Lang’s slowly morphing harmonium drones and Konus’ long reed tones sound like one instrument, enriched by tendrils of sound that rise up and then sink back into the music’s body.

Bill Meyer

Lynch, Moore, Riley — Secant / Tangent (dx/dy)

Secant | Tangent by Sue Lynch, N.O. Moore, Crystabel Riley

Electric guitarist N.O. Moore is barely known in these parts. I’ve only heard him on one album with Eddie Prévost a couple years back, and the other two musicians, not at all. But on the strength of this robust performance, which was recorded at London’s Icklectick venue, it would be a loss to keep it that way. They combine acoustic sounds with electronics, courtesy of guitar effects and amplification, in an exceedingly natural fashion. Each musician also gets into the other’s business in ways that correspond to the one spicy suggestion made by one cook that elevates another’s dish to the next level. Susan Lynch’s clarinet and flute compliment Moore’s radiophonic/feedback sounds like two flashes of lightning illuminating the same dark cloud, and her vigorously pecking saxophone attack mixes with Crystabel’s cascading beats like idiosyncratically tuned drums. This is one of the first albums to be released on Moore’s dx/dy label; keep your eye out for more.

Bill Meyer

Maco Sica / Hamid Drake Tatsu Aoki & Thymme Jones—Ourania (Feeding Tube)

OURANIA by Mako Sica / Hamid Drake featuring Tatsu Aoki & Thymme Jones

Ourania is named for the muse associated with astronomy in Greek mythology, and the album has an aim for the stars quality. In 2020, Chicago’s Mako Sica lost not only the chance to play concerts, but one third of its number. Core members Brent Fuscaldo (electric bass, voice, harmonica, percussion) and Przemyslaw Krys Drazek (electric trumpet, electric guitar, mandolin) could have just hunkered down with their respective TV sets. Instead, they booked themselves three other musicians who make rising above circumstances a core practice. The duo convened at Electrical Audio with Hamid Drake (drums, percussion, Tatsu Aoki (upright bass, shamisen), and Thymme Jones (piano, organ, balloon, trumpet, voice, recorder, percussion), rolled tape for a couple hours, and walked out with this album. The 85 minute-long recording (edited to about half that length on vinyl, but the LP comes with a download card) exudes a vibe of calm, even beatitude, with twin trumpets and Fuscaldo’s echo-laden, nearly word-free vocals weaving though a sequence of patient grooves like migrational birds on the glide.

Bill Meyer

Mar Caribe — Hymn of the Mar Caribe (Mar Caribe)

Hymn of the Mar Caribe b/w Rondo for Unemployment by mar caribe

Some musicians burn to make something new; others generate attention-getting sounds designed to maximize the potential of their other earning activities; and others, well, they just want you to sway along with their version of the good sounds. Mar Caribe falls into that last category. This Chicago-based instrumental ensemble has spent most of the last decade maintaining a robust performance schedule, and it would seem that recording is pretty much an afterthought; a photo of the test pressing for this 7” was posted in May 2019, but the release show didn’t happen until August 2021. Sure, COVID can be blamed for part of the delay, but one suspects that mostly, these guys just want to play, and they didn’t bother to stuff the singles in the sleeves until they knew when they’d next be leaning over a merch table. The titular suspends anthemic brass and pedal steel over a swinging double bass cadence, and if there was a moment during the night when the band invited the audience to pledge allegiance to their favorite drink, this is what they’d be playing while they asked. Guitars lead on the flip side, whose busy twists and turns belie the implied laziness of the title, “Rondo For Unemployment.”

Bill Meyer

Mint Julep — In a Deep and Dreamless Sleep (Western Vinyl)

In A Deep And Dreamless Sleep by Mint Julep

These songs traverse a hazy, dreamlike space, diffusing dance beats, dream-y vocals and synth pulses into inchoate sensation that nonetheless retains enough rhythmic propulsion to keep your heart rate up. “A Rising Sun” filters jangly guitar and bass through a sizzle of static, letting tambourine thump gently somewhere off camera, as voices soothe and reassure. “Mirage” pounds a four-on-the-floor, but quietly, angelically, like a disco visited through astral projection or maybe a really rave-y iteration of heaven. There’s an ominous undercurrent to “Longshore Drift,” in its growly, sub-bass-y hum, but glittering bits of synth sprinkle over like fairy dust. This is indefinitely gorgeous stuff, ethereal but surprisingly energizing. Dance or drift, take your pick.

Jennifer Kelly

Monocot — Directions We Know (Feeding Tube)

Direction We Know by Monocot

Directions We Know is an LP of free-form freak-outs generated by an instrumental duo that includes one musician who you might expect to perpetuate such a ruckus, and one that you might not. The more likely character is drummer Jayson Gerycz, who may be known for keeping time with the Cloud Nothings, but has shown a willingness to wax colorizing in the company of Anthony Pasquarosa, Jen Powers and Matthew Rolin. The happy surprise is Rosali Middleman, whose singer-songwriter efforts have kept her guitar playing firmly in service of her songs. She doesn’t exactly abandon lyricism in Monocot, but the tunes serve as launching ramps for exuberant lunges into the realm of voltage-saturated sound. On “Ruby Throated,” the first of the record’s four extended jams, Middleman lofts rippling peals over a near-boil of drums and churning loops. By the time you get to “Multidimensional Solutions,” the last and longest track, her wah-wah-dipped streams of sound have taken on a blackened quality, as though her overheating tubes have burned every note.

Bill Meyer

Obits — Die at the Zoo (Outer Battery)

Die At The Zoo by Obits

Few aughts rock bands held more promise than Obits. The four-piece headed by Hot Snakes’ Rick Froberg and Edsel’s Sohrab Habibion emerged in 2005 with a stinging, stripped-back, blues-touched sound. Froberg’s feral snarl rode a surfy, twitchy amplified onslaught, that was, by 2012 a finely tuned machine. I caught one of the live shows following Moody, Standard and Poor at small club in Northampton the same year this was recorded (so small that I was sitting on a couch next to Froberg, oblivious, for 20 minutes before the show), and what struck me was how well the band played together. The records sound chaotic, and that was certainly there in performance, but the cuts and stops were perfect, the surfy instrumental breaks (“New August”) absolutely in tune. At the time this set was recorded in the Brisbane punk landmark known as the Zoo, the band was near the peak of its considerable powers—and regrettably near the end of its run. Die at the Zoo is reasonably well recorded, rough enough to capture the band’s raucous energy, skilled enough so you can understand the words and hear all the parts. It hits all the highlights, blistering early cuts like “Widow of My Dreams,” and “Pine On,” the blues cover “Milk Cow Blues,” and later, slightly more melodic ragers like “Everything Looks Better in the Morning” and “You Gotta Lose.” The guitar work is particularly sharp throughout, its straight-on chug breaking into fiery blues licks and surfy whammy explosions. It’s a poignant reminder of a time when American rock bands played ferocious shows halfway across the world (or anywhere) as a matter of course and a fitting eulogy for Obits.

Jennifer Kelly

A Place To Bury Strangers — Hologram (Dedstrange)

Hologram EP by A Place To Bury Strangers

A Place To Bury Strangers returns with a new rhythm section and renewed focus on the elements that made its version of revivalism the loudest if not brashest of the New York aughties. Sarah and John Fedowitz on drums and bass join Oliver Ackerman on the five track EP Hologram which is the most concise and vital APTBS release for a while. For all the criticism of copyism thrown at the band since their early days, APTBS has always been as much about Ackerman’s production skills and feel for texture as musical originality and the songs on Hologram sound fantastic at volume. Beneath the sonic onslaught of fuzz and reverb, not a brick is misplaced in this intricately constructed sonic wall. True “I Might Have” is pure Jesus & Mary Chain and “In My Hive” a Wax Trax take on Spector but Hologram is an endorphin rush of guitar driven noise bound to make one forget the world, if only for a while.

Andrew Forell

Praises — EP4 (Hand Drawn Dracula)

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Jesse Crowe’s work as Praises has been ongoing since 2014, but has shifted in tone, instrumentation and emphasis since then. While the first two EPs have more of a full, rock band feel, the third one and 2018’s full-length In This Year: Ten of Swords took things in a more electronic, sometimes industrial direction. It was an even better fit for the rest, probing creativity evident in Praises’ work, and 3/4s of the new EP4 are in a pleasingly similar vein. The echoing, ringing denunciations of “We Let Go” and “A World on Fire” are fine examples of Praises’ existing strengths, but the opening “Apples for My Love” is immediately captivating in a very different way. Gauzy and rapturous, it’s a reverie that keeps the satisfying textural detail of the other songs but turns them to different ends. It’s not something that was missing from Crowe’s work before — again, the other tracks here are also very good — but a reminder that what Praises has shown before is not the extent of what they can do.

Ian Mathers

The Sundae Painters — The First SP Single (Leather Jacket)

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“This is a supergroup, is it not?” someone asked the Sundae Painters bassist Paul Kean on social media last year, to which he responded, “Some may choose that title. We prefer superglue.” Kaye Woodward, his wife and longtime bandmate in both The Bats and Minisnap, takes the lead vocal on “Thin Air,” one of the pair of A-sides found on their new band’s debut seven-inch. From the outset, Kean’s unmistakable bass playing and Hamish Kilgour’s (The Clean/Mad Scene) drumming lock into a psychedelic march, with the other instruments weaving like kites above, vying for position on the same breeze. “You fight your way down/You fight your way up/You wait for the dust to settle,” Woodward sings. A few gentle strums cut their way through the parade, and a guitar calls out gull-like from above, before everything trails off as if something potent has just kicked in. On the flip side, “Aversion” has an old friend-like familiarity to it, soundwise (if not lengthwise) sitting somewhere between VU’s “The Gift” and “Sister Ray.” Things begin a little stand-offish, though, like you’ve interrupted a guitar pontificating to a rapt audience — it turns its head to look you over, falling momentarily silent, before picking right back up where it left off. Kilgour’s spoken vocals join the conversation, as the song builds towards a groovy kind of fever pitch. “You look a little stoned,” he says, before responding to his own observation. “Well me I’m a little bit groggy/But it ain’t too foggy/I can see some way of getting out of here.” By this point, both guitars (played by Woodward and Tall Dwarfs’ Alec Bathgate) are full-on screeching and howling, and as the song sputters to a sudden finish, our man’s left waiting for someone to buy him “a ride out the gate.”

Chris Liberato

Thou — Hightower (Self-released)

Hightower by Thou

Hightower is the latest in a string of digital compilations from Thou, most of which collect songs that have been previously released on small-batch splits, 7” records and other hyper-obscure media that briefly circulated through the metal underground. You might be tempted to pronounce that a cynical cash-grab, but Thou has posted Hightower (along with previous compilations, like Algiers, Oakland and Blessings of the Highest Order, a killer collection of Nirvana covers) on their official Bandcamp page as a name-yo’-price download. Thanks, band. Beyond convenience, Hightower has an additional, if a sort of inside-baseball, attraction. The band has re-recorded a few of its older songs with its latest, three-guitar line-up. Longtime listeners will recognize “Smoke Pigs” and “Fucking Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean,” which already sounded terrifyingly massive back in 2008 and 2007, respectively. The expanded instrumentation, new arrangements and better production give the songs even more power and depth, all the way down to the bottom of the effing ocean. Yikes. And there are a few additional touches, like K.C. Stafford’s clean vocals on “Fucking Chained…,” which provide an effective complement to Bryan Funck’s inimitably scabrous howl. Rarely has being pummeled and feeling bummed out been so vivifying.

Jonathan Shaw

Tropical Fuck Storm — Deep States (Joyful Noise)

Deep States by Tropical Fuck Storm

Fueled by exasperation as much as anger, the new album by Melbourne’s Tropical Fuck Storm rounds on the myriad ways in which the world has become a “Bumma Sanger” as leader Gareth Liddiard puts it on the eponymous song about COVID lockdown. A roiling meld of psychedelic garage garnished with elements of hip hop and electronic noise it’s close in method and mood if not sound to another Australian provocateur JG Thirwell whose Foetus project girded maximalist surfaces with rigid discipline. If the Tropical Fuck Storm sought to mirror current conditions, they succeed but lack of clarity in both production and intent makes Deep States a frustrating experience. Backing vocals from Fiona Kitschin (bass), Erica Dunn (keys and guitar) and Lauren Hammel (drums) leaven Liddiard’s blokey pronouncements and there are some good sounds and biting words but the band’s determination to overelaborate and underdevelop musical ideas makes this album seem like a lost opportunity.

Andrew Forell

Marta Warelis / Carlos “Zingaro” / Helena Espvall /Marcelo dos Reis — Turquoise Dream (JACC)

Turquoise Dream by Marta Warelis, Carlos "Zíngaro", Helena Espvall, Marcelo dos Reis

Turquoise Dream documents an example of an encounter that is a mainstay of avant-garde jazz festivals, in which out of towners mix it up locals that they may or may not know. This particular concert, which took place at the Jazz ao Centro Festival in 2019, is one such encounter that deserves to live past the night when it transpired. It featured three stringed instrument players who live in Portugal and a Polish pianist who is based in Holland. But they don’t sound like strangers at all. Violinist Zingaro, cellist Espvall, and guitarist dos Reis blend like flashes of sunlight reflecting off of waves, adding up to a sound that is bright and ever-changing. Warelis, who is equally resourceful with her head under the lid of her piano as she is at the keyboard, adding fleet but substantial responses to her hosts’ quicksilver interactions. The result is music that is resolutely abstract but closely engaged.

Bill Meyer

Wharflurch — Psychedelic Realms ov Hell (Gurgling Gore)

PSYCHEDELIC REALMS OV HELL by Wharflurch

Wharflurch is just plain fun to say — but there are at least two ways in which the name also makes sense for the band that has chosen it: it has a bilious, nauseous quality that matches the vibe of the pustulent death metal you’ll hear on Psychedelic Realms ov Hell; and if you separate the words, you can conjure a sodden, rotten wooden structure, swaying vertiginously over a marshy expanse of water, which is filled with alligators and decaying organic material. Imagine that sway, and that stink, and then imagine yourself collapsing into the viscous fluid, soon to be gator chow. Sounds like Florida, and that’s exactly from whence Wharflurch has emerged. Which also makes sense. Is Wharflurch’s music “psychedelic”? Depends on what you hear in that word. If you want to see hippies dancing ecstatically on a verdant, sun-drenched stretch of Golden Gate Park, then no. But if you have spent any time in the warped, dementedly distorted spaces that psychedelics can open (less happily perhaps, but very powerfully), then yes. Wharflurch likes to accent its meaty riffs and muscular thumps with weird flutters and electronic effects that frequently have a gastric, flatulent quality to them. The saturated and sickly pinks and greens on the album art do a pretty good job of capturing the music’s tones. So do the song titles: “Stoned Ape Apocalypse,” “Bog Body Boletus,” “Phantasmagorical Fumes.” Still game? I’m sorry. But I’ll also be standing right there next to you, on that wobbly, lurching wharf, watching the gators swim near.

Jonathan Shaw

Whisper Room — Lunokhod (Midira Records)

Lunokhod by Whisper Room

That the title of Whisper Room’s fifth album is taken from Soviet lunar rovers makes a certain sense, given how potentially frustrating it might have been for the trio to be working at such a distance. Generally their other records are recorded live, in one room, seeing Aidan Baker (guitar), Jakob Thiesen (drums) and Neil Wiernik (bass) exploring simultaneously, hitting whatever junctions of psychedelic/shoegazing/motorik sound come to them. With Baker in Berlin and travel understandably limiited, this time they recorded their parts separately, layering them together (and bringing in sound designer Scott Deathe to add the kind of pedal processing their sound engineer normally does live). The result certainly sounds as collaborative as ever, seven seamless tracks making up nearly an hour that makes the journey from the friendly, clattering percussion of “Lunokhod01” to the centrifugal ambience of “Lunokhod07” feel perfectly natural. Even though it explores just as much inner and outer space as Whisper Room ever have, there’s something very approachable about Lunokhod that makes it one of their best.

Ian Mathers

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epicdefender · 3 years

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Is that ARIELLE KEBBEL? Oh, no, it’s ALEXIA BRANSON, the 21/350 year old VAMPIRE who's been known to be +LOYAL & +DETERMINED but also -STUBBORN & -RECKLESS. They’re now trapped in Mystic Falls, but will they repeat history or will they take another path?

The love of my life was human. He went through what I imagine you’re going through: denial, anger, et cetera. But at the end of the day, love really did conquer all.

Alexia Branson was born to a modest life in the 1600′s. Never taking a husband she focused her attentions on her younger brother, caring for him as if he was her own son after the plague killed both of their parents. It was a tough life, and the hardships had begun to take their toll. At age only 21 she knew she was dying, the fever and pains in her body causing agony as she attempted to push through it to care for her brother.

It was a dark night when a stranger came to their door, promising the woman the chance of immortality, a gift to continue caring for her brother. In her fever induced state she agreed, blood and fangs making her feel as though it was a dream. The man who called himself Kol fed her his blood, and snapped her neck.

It was only when she awoke that she realized she could no longer leave the house when the sun came up and the craving for blood became clear that she realized what this gift truly was. She was bound to the night, for the entirety of her life. But it didn’t matter to her, as long as she had her brother. He was but a child, only 5, and he needed her. Isolated in their home she was happy to raise her brother, to teach him to become a man. And in that time Kol remained with them, teaching her to control her blood lust, of compulsion and controlling her strength.

But as the years passed the village became suspicious of Alexia, the woman who would only appear at night, and had seemingly not aged in over ten years, and the man that accompanied her. They accused her of witchcraft, and in the middle of the night set the Branson’s home ablaze, with the three of them inside.

Both Kol and Alexia managed to escape, but her brother was not so lucky, perishing inside their home. The death of her brother was too much for the vampire, her emotions wild and uncontrollable. The young vampire was almost prepared to walk into the sunlight and set herself ablaze to end her existance before Kol stopped her. He told her of a way for the pain to stop, to turn off her emotions and take revenge on the town that had ruined her home.

The next night fall the young vampire killed each and every single member of the town, leaving no survivors.

For years the two traveled together, relishing in blood lust and hedonism that was frowned upon in that age. It was after massacring yet another village 35 years later that their partnership came to an end. It was as she came upon Kol in one of the homes, adult bodies dead on the floor that she saw what was nearby. Three babies, crying and wailing in their cribs. Innocent, crying, hungry and scared. It was something that sparked her humanity, her instinct to care for the children enough to turn her humanity back on. The three babies were a challenge, but the guilt that gnawed inside her from the murder of their parents left her feeling a duty to protect these three babies.

Kol however, hadn’t felt that sense of duty to the infants, insisting they leave. After a heated argument the vampire and her sire finally parted ways.

Percy, Buxton and Hugo were a handful, but they started a new life in a new village, far away from the one they’d all been born in. Alexia was a patient mother, teaching them of her true nature but swearing them to secrecy. The four eventually began to run a butchers in the town, giving Alexia the chance to feed off of the animal blood to avoid suspicion.

When the three children came of an acceptable age Alexia offered them the same thing that she’d been promised, immortality. All three of them were turned that night, and with a kiss to each of them they parted ways, all ready to try and make their way on their own.

Throughout the years Lexi found herself attaching to lone vampires, ones that seemed as lost as her. This has left her with hundreds of vampires and witches alike as her friends, and her carefree spirit makes her an easy companion to have.

#mysticreturnedintro

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mercerislandbooks · 5 years

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Authenticity and Rejection: Part Two of the Interview with Kira Jane Buxton

In the last installment of my interview with Hollow Kingdom author Kira Jane Buxton, I focused on the environmentalism and passion that fueled Kira’s characters and plot. We discussed her research on the theories of what would happen if humans died off, the plot of her novel, and the resiliency of the earth. Her love of animals, especially birds, and even more particularly crows, was evident as she fed the crows that surrounded us during our last interview.

I also want to share how her passion for writing influenced her publishing process. Like many authors, Kira didn’t find an easy path to publishing. The journey she took was inspirational, challenging, and genuine. I adored her honesty and her complete joy for the success she has had, which is why I decided it was important to publish this section of the interview as well...

Where the journey started for Kira, sort of.

IB: What made you put pen to paper?

KJB: Oh, this is not my first novel. I have been writing for... I always wrote, and I always enjoyed storytelling. For a decade I went off to LA and tried to be an actress. It didn't work out very well, but in a way it was this wonderful grooming to become more of a humor writer. Because a lot of insane things happened there, some of them quite terrible. I used humor to cope and survive. I always had a weird view of things. I honed in on the humor stuff. And laterally, I was burnt out, I couldn't go into one more audition. I just couldn't do it. My then boyfriend now husband bought me a writing class at Santa Monica College. I was so nervous to go, I burned a whole year. I just couldn't do it. I was in a wonderful class with my teacher; I loved that class so much. And then, I never stopped writing after that. It was sort of like I came home. And then I literally came home because we moved to Seattle.

KJB: And so, I wrote and wrote and wrote. And then I wrote a terrible first novel called “Underdog,” and it, oddly enough, had a bloodhound in it, called McGuffin. It was like a Clue rip off and it was inspired by Hearst Castle, which is an amazing place. A wacky place. I was very inspired by that. So I sent that out. I didn’t hear anything from agents. It was like nothing. And then of course, naturally I went for memoir. That did actually attention from agents. But ultimately, they said there wasn’t enough going on in it. And I was like, “Okay, it’s my life?”

IB: It wasn’t interesting enough. *laughs*

Those Pacific Northwest trees we all love.

KJB: I’m not going to James Frey anyone so... *laughs* It was a very strange situation. But I ended up going back and forth with this one agent who was so wonderful. And she said, “You know, I really love your writing. I think this should be a humorous mystery series.” So I worked on it for about a year and turned a memoir into a humorous mystery, and I hired two editors. I over-edited the thing. I ended up not being able to see it. I opened up the document, and it was...

IB: Kind of, like, what is it?

KJB: Yeah, I couldn’t see my writing in it. Things looked snow blind, I guess is the best way to describe. So I thought, I’ll write a sequel of this, and come back to it. Then surely I’ll see it. So I wrote a sequel, came back to it, and couldn’t see it. And all this I had been going back and forth with this agent. Ultimately, I lost the novel. It was like all the rejection came tumbling down. It was about ten years in LA, all these years of writing. I lost this novel. I fell into a funk. I’m not somebody who tends to — I can bounce back pretty easily. As far as rejection goes, I have been rejected more professionally than most people. I feel like I am pretty resilient. I was crushed. I was crushed. I told my friend once famously that I was rolling on the floor crying and drinking wine from the salad bowl and was just like *sobbing noise*.

IB: Beautiful. I love that image.

KJB: *laughs* It’s very real. It’s not hyperbole, that’s really what was happening. So my husband, he said, “Look. Go write the thing about the crows.” I had always wanted to write about them, and so it took a while to figure out what that was going to look like. Once I got the idea, I raced home, I started writing it, and out it came. That first chapter hasn’t changed much. I originally planned for Big Jim to be a little boy. So it was supposed to be this crow and this boy that had this friendship. But instead there was language flying everywhere. The main difference with this novel compared to anything I had written or done was that I always had wanted to be published. I wanted to achieve that goal. I really wanted an agent. That was my biggest dream. The main thing was that my husband said was, “Just have fun. Write the thing that you want to write. Don’t write it for an agent or the hopes for an agent.” So I literally wrote the thing that I thought no one would touch. Because who would touch the book where the lead character is a crow called Shit Turd? No one is going to touch that. No one. One of the greatest moments in my life is when I started getting these phone calls from the best agents in New York, and they were calling me to tell me how much they loved Shit Turd. That was just an incredible moment in my life.

IB: Yeah, you were able to put yourself into it completely without worrying about anyone else. That’s when people wanted the authentic you. I mean, this book really hit me. I was laughing out loud while reading it. And I wanted to tell everyone, "You need to read this book; I love it," or, "I love this part, read this!" I would read parts out loud to people and ask, "Isn't this funny?" It's fun how surprising that gut laugh feeling from a book is. It felt like a discovery as a reader. I liked that.

KJB: I think there is an element of people reading it out loud. The audiobook — one of the things that is great is that people have been reading it aloud to each other — I'm not allowed to look at GoodReads.

IB: Authors are not allowed to look at Goodreads.

KJB: Not allowed. But there are so many wonderful reviews, so my husband shares the ones that he thinks I should know about. Which is great. It's for my sanity. And he says that a lot of times people are reading aloud to each other or laughing out loud. I love that sharing element to this. But the audiobook — I got to listen to it two weeks ago. And it is Robert Petkoff, and he did Less by Andrew Sean Greer, which is one of my favorite books. So I was so excited that he was doing it. He nailed it. He does every character.

IB: And has voices?

KJB: Voices! The thing I was most —I wasn't worried. I wasn't worried because I trust my publisher. And I knew that they would bring it. Hachette Audio is just exemplary. I felt like I was in good hands, but I did wonder... Will the person land the jokes? Because there are a lot of them. The timing is key. But the main thing is that ST is such an emotionally complex being, and to get those registers, all of his bravado and his crassness and his more human side, a lot of it is a veneer for this little bird with a huge heart. He feels so deeply and is so fragile. He got that. He got that! I get emotional just thinking about. And listening to him bring all these characters to life. My husband and I were zombies for a week because we kept staying up all night. I am so grateful to Robert. One of the best things about this book is that it feels like the journey has been joyous from the start. I was worried about the editing. Was the editing going to be hard with the slashing of all the bits that I cared about? The editing was such a joy.

Robert Petkoff

IB: Which is how it should be. Your editor should know what to look for and know where your heart is in the book and strengthen that.

KJB: Yes yes — exactly. So I just feel so — *smiles big, speechless*

IB: I'm so happy for you! My other silly question.... Other than Shit Turd, who was your favorite character to write?

KJB: That's a really good question. I had a lot of fun with Angus, the highland cow. I just love a narcissistic cow. I love a narcissistic animal. Genghis Cat is based on my cat, and the real version is complex. I changed his name and gender so she doesn't sue me, but yes, Angus was easy, and it was a very quick write. I was actually trying to voice a hummingbird. But somehow a Highland cow floated on to the page.

...

Come by the store to pick up your copy of this fantastic novel. You can find the audiobook for Hollow Kingdom on Libro.fm.

Next month, Lori and I will be reflecting on how we did with this summer’s SAL Book Bingo.

—Kelleen

#kira jane buxton #hollow kingdom #kelleen cummings #kelleen #island books #interview #writing process

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nothingnothingaaa · 2 years

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Feeding Ducks Bread: Viral Sign Sparks Anger and Confusion

BBC, OCTOBER 18 2019

Does feeding bread to ducks help them or harm them?

A mysterious sign encouraging people to feed bread to "starving" ducks has stirred up confusion and angry debate about whether or not it is harmful.

The official-looking sign appeared in the Pavilion Gardens in Buxton, Derbyshire, but the park's managers insisted they were not responsible.

A mother who put a photo of the sign on Facebook was inundated with messages demanding she remove her post.

She has since deleted it, after the post was shared more than 17,000 times.

"I honestly thought I was doing a good deed," said Louisa Taylor.

"I have two young children so I really don't need the stress of it all."

The BBC asked various experts and they disagreed with each other too.

The sign appeared in Pavilion Gardens in Buxton, Derbyshire (UK), but has since been removed.

The photo - which was taken by one of Ms Taylor's friends - has appeared in thousands of Facebook timelines after being posted on multiple "Spotted" pages.

One commenter said: "How do people in this day and age still find it so difficult to do something as simple as feed ducks something other than bread!"

Another said: "Generations of people have fed ducks stale bread for years!! I see no decline in the duck population, just bloody feed them."

One woman said she and her husband were publicly told off by a stranger for feeding bread to ducks.

The photo has also been posted on Reddit with the title "I'm confused about duck diet now", and has had more than 39,000 upvotes.

'Quite confusing'

The woman who originally took the photo did not want to be named in this story because she feared a backlash for spreading incorrect information.

"There had been signs up the year before saying you can't feed bread to the ducks anymore, but then this sign was saying the ducks were dying and starving and I thought 'oh dear'," she said.

The RSPB said it was fine to feed water birds small amounts of bread.

What was the experts' advice?

'Bread isn't harmful'

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said it was fine to feed small amounts of bread to ducks but people should also feed them sweetcorn, porridge oats, peas and bird seed.

"Just like us, birds need a varied diet to stay healthy," said Tony Whitehead from the charity.

"Although ducks and swans can digest all types of bread, too much can leave them feeling full without giving them all of the important vitamins, minerals and nutrients they need.

"So, although bread isn't harmful, our advice is to only feed small amounts to birds."

'Excessive amounts of bird droppings'

Peter Birch: "Still too much bread is being dumped in the waterways"

The Canal and River Trust has campaigned against feeding bread to ducks, and has claimed it is "bad for ducks".

"Uneaten soggy bread can cause a build-up of bad nutrients which can lead to greater algal growth, spread disease and encourage pests such as rats," it said.

"It [feeding bread] also creates excessive amounts of bird droppings which, along with being smelly and slippery underfoot, can reduce water quality and clog waterways with harmful algae."

Ducks 'dying from starvation'

[VIDEO HERE MISSING]

A Berkshire charity says that misinformation has confused the public.

Swan Support, which rescues swans, ducks and geese, said many were starving because people had stopped feeding them bread in recent years.

They blamed a campaign called Ban the Bread, which was started by a company selling bird food.

"They wanted people to buy their food and that's where it all started," said Wendy Hermon from Swan Support.

"We were picking them up dying everywhere."

She said flocks of birds had become established in certain areas because of people feeding them and they had become reliant on this food supply.

"It's absolutely fine to feed bread. Bread has been fed to swans, ducks and geese for hundreds of years," she said.

However, she said people should only throw in as much as the birds ate, so there was no excess bread left behind to decay.

'It won't do them a lot of good'

Wild duck food maker Quack Snacks said while a "small amount of bread is unlikely to do ducks harm, it won't do them a lot of good either".

"There are alternatives to bread that contain more nutrients for waterfowl," said founder Andrew Hemmings.

"As lots of people enjoy feeding the ducks it is hard to avoid them having too much bread, so it would be much better if people offered something more nutritious and only did so in small amounts."

'Moderation is hard to judge'

Young birds "Need to learn to forage for plants and insects."

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust said bread was "fine for water birds as long as it only forms a small part of their diet".

"Moderation is especially important in the spring and summer when an unbalanced diet can cause developmental problems for growing young birds," said Peter Morris.

"But moderation is hard to judge when other well-meaning people may also be feeding bread to the same birds at other times."

He said feeding birds vegetables, wheat grain and specialist food was safer and healthier. Winter was the best time to feed water birds, he said, when natural vegetation would be in short supply.

"Additional food is less vital in spring and summer, when young birds need to learn to forage for plants and insects, for a balanced diet and good physical development," he said.

#duck #ducks #duckling #ducklings #feed #bread

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theblovel · 6 years

Text

The Blovel #1

The smell of patchouli fills the air as the sun beams that enter through the towering white framed windows cut through the classroom and dance with the smoke from the burning incense. Coltrane plays through the blue-tooth speaker that sits upon the massive, hand-made, red cedar desk at the head of the class. It’s shellacked to perfection and can sit six co-eds eager to know more about the after-hour whereabouts of the professor that purchased the bureau they frequent. He constantly reminds them to find comfort in the less flattering auditorium style seats there tuition has yet to upgrade. He wears a tailored black and white houndsooth suit with an open collared white shirt with adjacent black pocket square. His black and white saddle oxfords remind his students that even though he shows a little grey in his beard, he knows a little more than they would assume.

He walks among his pupils with an affinity for the genre greater than their appreciation yet he encourages them to allow the music to move their pens. “This is an exercise in letting go and letting it happen. So often we allow our thoughts to dictate to us what we put down on our pages; don’t think, just write. Let the melody dictate your efforts.” Coltrane plays thunderously through the speaker. He observes his students closing their eyes and inhaling the marriage of the saxophone and piano and ingesting the emotions he expresses leaving them in a sentimental mood. Some write, some ponder, some fill page after page and some just a few words. He observes them all as the song plays. When the song comes to a close he speaks to his young writing enthusiasts, “Creative Writing isn’t always about finding the right words; sometimes its about letting the words find you. And with that, have a great Spring Break everyone. See you all in about ten days! Don’t drink too much and please, please don’t end up on the internet. Be well!”

Buxton left the auditorium faster than his students. He loved being a creative writing professor but, like most education professionals, he loves his breaks! He walked briskly away from the students that eagerly asked him which vacation destination he was going to in hopes they would see him. He knew it was grossly inappropriate but he never fed into the advances. He loved his career choice and no twenty-something year old young lady would ever detour him from his plans, no matter what she was offering.

He walked through campus to get a glimpse of the sun at its peak. He never looked directly into the sun but loved the warmth and vigor the sun brought to the world. He noticed how alive campus would be on bright, sunny days, however today campus is scarce as everyone is leaving campus for Spring Break. Normally Buxton stays in town. He knows that vacations at this time, especially the heavily flooded, not too expensive student destinations could pose a huge issue for him if he is even seen at such a place, however, he has taken the opportunity to join his best friend Jeremy on a trip to the Dominican Republic.

As he reached his four door, hard top matte black Jeep Rubicon with limo tint and matte black twenty inch rims, he felt this cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He pulled the phone from out of his pocket and saw it was Jeremy. “Buxton! What the hell are you doing? I thought you were meeting me at my place at 2:00?” “I’m on the way Jeremy. I ended class a bit early but there’s some traffic getting off campus.” “We can’t miss this flight B,” Jeremy responded. Buxton replied, “I’m on the way.”

Buxton and Jeremy get to the airport in time to have their bags checked for their international flight and and find an airport bar to sit at and have drinks. Both gentleman sit at the end of the bar and order their respective favorites: Cabernet Sauvignon and Johnnie Walker Blue. As Jeremy sips his Blue Label, he is excited about the week they will be spending in paradise.

“Bux, are you excited bro?”

“Yeah I’m excited man, but I know I’m going to have to spend the majority of my time watching out for you. The last time we went somewhere it was crazy.”

“Ay look Bux, that was the old me; I’m different now. I got my shit together.”

“Yo, you just got divorced last year and you’ve been sleeping with anyone available to you. I’m not trying to put you out there J, but we are going to the DR and I know your’re going to do your thing. I just hope it comes with less drama than before.”

“C’mon Bux. Forreal? I was just having a good time. Nobody got hurt.”

“Yeah! That’s because I saved both of us from that woman’s husband by pulling you out the room and leaving out the back door before he got up the stairs.”

“But you were right there with me with her friend.”

“Her friend wasn’t married either J. Ay look, I’m not on that anymore. I’m getting a bit tired of the short lived romances. I want something long term. I want more than the moments in time. Anyway, let’s try to enjoy the week.”

As Buxton and Jeremy stand from the bar after paying their tab, Jeremy turns and unknowingly bumps into a woman with her friends and knocks her drink out her hand to the floor. “Oh damn I’m so sorry. Let me uh, let me uh get you another one” Jeremy turns to the bartender to order. Buxton immediately bends to clean up the mess his friend made. As he gets closer to the floor he sees he’s joined by the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. She has short, curly hair, a cocoa brown hue, nice lips, she smells of lavender and she’s wearing glasses; all of which Buxton is immediately attracted to. “Please excuse my friend. He can be a bit clumsy at times.” She replied, “No it’s no worries. I tend to have these interactions all the time. I’m beginning to think it’s me.” Buxton countered, “It could never be you madam. We tend to misstep more often than you. I’ll clean this, I wouldn’t want you to get glass anywhere near you. Let me help you up.” She offered, “No I can do it. I’m a big girl, I’ve been doing things for myself for a long time now.” Buxton retorted, “Maybe it’s time you let someone else carry the burden.” She continued to look at the floor and began to reach out to touch the broken glass. “Please don’t madam. Allow me.”

Buxton reached out his hand to take hers to pull her up from the mess upon the floor. She continued to look at the floor but Buxton assured her that he would handle the mess. Her friends called out, “Girl we are about to leave. Hurry up!” They continued without her as if they knew she would be fine by herself. She lifted her head, pushed her glasses back as they were on the tip of her nose and looked up at Buxton. He towered over her in a comforting way that she found appealing and secure. She liked his lighter complexion and grey accented beard. She didn’t smile but felt the energy of the moment move her towards doing so. “My name is Buxton. Pleasure to meet you...” She leaned into Buxton on her tiptoes, placed her hand upon his chest and moved her face close to whisper into his ear, “My name is Charley, but I have to go now. I’ll see you again.”

Charley walked briskly to catch up to her friends. Buxton swept up the glass and turned to see where she was; she was gone. He felt defeated. How could he let her get away so easily? “You ready Bux? We about to get wild out in the DR!” Buxton grabbed his boarding pass and carry on and walked to their gate. He felt the emptiness of a chance unfulfilled. He wondered if this woman was more than just another moment in time. How would he ever see Charley again?

#TheBlovel writing shortstories fiction newseries weeklyseries #jteheren #the blovel #thebovel #thebloggednovel #weekly series #weeklyseries #short story #short story series #short stories #fictionseries #fiction

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dry-valleys · 5 years

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“At the bottom of this amazing work, the monstrous cavern of vacuum above, the glimmering light of candles and nasty suffocating smell of sulphur and gunpowder, all conspire to increase your surprise, and heighten your apprehensions.

This singular mine, in its position, situation and inclination is different from any other yet discovered, in Europe, Asia, Africa or America.” William Efford, 1769.

Despite very often coming here for the Leaden Boot long-distance walk. Saturday was my first actual visit to the singular Ecton Mines which once marked this hill (1 being the hill in January 2017).

Mining has been carried out here since the Bronze Age, and took a leap forward in the late 17th century when the Dutchman Mine was opened up, so called because European engineers worked on it. (2) is the channel that drained water from the Dutchman mine to the River Manifold- always vital in such a wet area- and still servres as a water supply; we drank good water and tea from its supply at the visitor centre!

The industry really took off when the Dukes of Devonshire, who owned the land, became a social and political force in the area and the nation in the early 17th century. In 1723 William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire, gave a consortium the right to work the mine and the results were so wildly successful that in 1760 his grandson William, 4th Duke (who had been Prime Minister in 1756-7), took direct control.

If their sumptuous house at Chatsworth was the made-up face of the Devonshire empire, this place was the blood and guts. Hundreds worked here, and there was no estate village comparable to the later Cromford (which I look forward to visiting in August) so workers trudged in from existing villages in the area, which are pretty but very remote from here, or anywhere else.

Copper was in great demand for such purposes as bronze cannon, and lining naval ships to defend them against parasites which ate wood but couldn’t penetrate copper; the profits were vast, and the boom year of 1786 fed a great expansion. In 1788 a great work of engineering, a leat (6- much more impressive thaan the picture portrays) was installed to drain water. There was so much of this that at one stage sixty full-time pumpers worked keeping the mine clear, so any new technology was obviously welcome.

We today think of industrialists as being Mr Bounderby type figures who ousted traditional aristocrats, but in fact many early industrialists were aristocratic, owning as they did most of the land and minerals, and having capital. Although Britain had a class system- obviously, with the Cavendishes as some of the main beneficiaries- there was much less stigma attached to industry and work than in more hidebound countries on the continent.

So the 4th Duke’s son, William Cavendish 5th Duke, worked with factory owner Matthew Boulton from Birmingham, and in 1788 the remarkable engine house (7-10) was built. (Another not widely known fact about early industry is that it was often located in remote rural locations, wherever the resources happened to be in those days of primitive transport).

The 5th Duke sponsored the building of the town of Buxton (a town which few know to be largely built on copper; I certainly didn’t until last week!) which took off in the late 18th century, as a means to show off his wealth, but couldn’t have known that the peak of 1786 would never again be reached at the mine.

The new infrastructure was put to relatively little use as deposits were running out, and this was even more the case for (3) the nineteeth century dressing floor, where women and children processed copper to be taken to Whiston, also owned by the Dukes of Devonshire- who really pioneered vertical integration here- where it was smelted in a place near to the coal mines which were conveniently owned by the family.

Although equally remote, this area was linked to the canal network when the Froghall Wharf was built in 1777, again helping the Cavendish family- who supposedly dwelt in a pastoral idyll at Chatsworth- to gain from industry.

The dressing had long happened here, next to (4) a slag heap worthy of my native Stoke-on-Trent, but the present building dates from 1883, by which time William, 7th Duke, was frankly getting desperate; the reserves were running out and it was felt that a push for infrastructure and expansion would reverse the decline in the mine’s fortunes and help cash in on the expansion of copper, which was now being used for electricity cables alongside its old uses.

Sadly these plans all failed and work here ceased in 1891; it seems apt that in this very year Spencer Compton Cavendish became 8th Duke, as his life was dogged by disappointments such as the failure to become Prime Minister and witnessing the near-total death of the Whig party to which his ancestors had belonged, amidst the general decline and fall of the British aristocracy as expertly written about by David Cannadine.

But this wasn’t to be the end; the tireless work of Geoff and Elizabeth Cox saw the place saved for the nation by the Ecton Mine Educational Trust, which still look after it today, and the National Trust bought it from them in 2008.

The NT organise tours, one of which I attended to research this post, and the next step was underground, which will be the subject of the next post. I would urge a visit here before Chatsworth, and while you’re amidst the house and garden you can consider how right George Orwell was: “it is only because miners sweat their guts out that superior persons can remain superior”

#photos #staffordshire #industrial revolution #staffordshire moorlands #peak district

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mouldyoldgrower · 4 years

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youtube

For all those going above and beyond in these uncertain times.

Tip-toes in silence `round my bed and quiets the raindrops overhead.

With her everlasting smile She still my fever for a while.

Oh, Nursie dear, I’m glad you’re here

to brush away my pain.

Once again due to the ongoing Covid-19 issue this post will be a short one. That’s another week of Self isolation completed only another another 10 to go..(Well up to now).

Here at the potting shed it has been exceptionally quiet again, no grandgirls here makes for a quiet day, which is great for any normal Saturday or Sunday after they have been here all week, but after not having them here for over a fortnight it is really starting to show how much we miss the little bundles of energy and the total chaos they bring.

This was brought home in particular this week when i was having a look through some of our shared google photos and there are three new pictures of the girls in the collection one of each with some homemade flowers and it not only brought home how much we are missing them.

Liam & Cory

Thomas

Imogen

Robyn

Grace

It has also brought into focus how much we are missing the other Grandboys as well and no matter how many times we Facetime/skype with them it just doesn’t make up for the mess, noise, chaos and all round Anarchy when they are altogether. The Sooner this damn Coronavirus Buggers off the better my soul will feel and I am 100% certain there are millions of folks up and down this country feeling the same way.

Another real downer for me has been the cancellation of the Ian Anderson On Jethro Tull Show at the Buxton opera house, which is totally understandable given the current situation with the Coronavirus and the government shutdown of all places of entertainment. It still didn’t stop me from feeling so annoyed and downright fed-up it was ridiculous really, but we did have tickets for front row centre and in one of, if not the favourite venue for a small relaxed intimate show, but it wasn’t to be and so it’s now the long wait for the October Show of Jethro Tull: The Prog years. I trust that this virus will have done what it has to do and this show isn’t cancelled as well.

I know and understand that my Whinging and complaining ain’t going to make the situation any better and there are an awful lot more folks in a far worse situation than me. So for them I’d like to dedicate the following.

A Gaelic Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face; the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

TTFN

Wondering Again. For all those going above and beyond in these uncertain times. Tip-toes in silence `round my bed and quiets the raindrops overhead.

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amidsummernightsdreambynafi · 7 years

Photo

LOG 10: BEST TOUR DAY EVER

Our performance at St Thomas Buxton Primary School was personally the best one we have performed. The lighting made us more confident in setting the mood (as seen in the pictures above). There were also other elements that made our performance a success.

WHAT WENT WELL

The were a number of things that contributed to the success of this show. Technically, the lighting worked well with our performance. Thankfully the school was equipped with different swatches of light so we could have a range of colours for different scenes. We used those to our advantage and ended up with a well lit show. Secondly what we would work on is our energy, but this particular performance we fed of the crowd of about 50-60 children, possibly more. They had responded to everything we had said, even making reaction sounds during some scenes as we performed. They worked well with Puck (who had to pick a member of the crowd to find the special flower). The scenes that needed a reaction, they responded correctly by laughing or sighing or clapping. Those reactions fuelled us to do more things out of the ordinary and think outside the box to make them laugh and get even more reactions. Thirdly, we all knew our lines with no stumbling and delivered them well. Fourth, the collective had the right pace this time around. We never give the audience a chance to digest and think about what we say because we always rush our lines hence the stumbling of lines and forgetting. We kept the pace normal speed and gave everyone watching a chance to hear what we were saying. Overall I think that we worked together well as a collective and really took on the notes that we all had wrote down for ourselves as well as rehearsals in the theatre that Tim gave us. I personally think that this was our best performance of the whole tour and I am proud of what we have achieved and how we listened to our own critique and made it work, even though four people had dropped out from our group. We pulled it together and came out with an equal cast. Our staging normally was traverse; but this school had a stage with the audience directly in front. We had conformed very quickly to the new staging we had to adapt to in such little time and did a skim through of the scenes and where our new stage positions were.

EVEN BETTER IF

I think that we did brilliantly and there was very small we could have changed or made better. The only thing I would say is for the group to be more confident when it came to the dancing at the end. Even though we invited some children up to dance with us, everyone seemed as if they wanted it to be over. We knew that the group seemed a bit down about dancing because they wanted choreography. When we did the simple steps that I had come up with, we still weren't in a line so it seemed messy. For this performance, I believe that this is the only thing we have to work on before our final home theatre performances.

POINTS ABOUT MYSELF

I think that this was the best performance I have done throughout the tour. I had taken on my own advice about what I was doing wrong which was the emotion and intentions of my character. I had struggled before with characterisation even though I asked my character who, what where, why and when, knew what was at stake for my character and researched well on my character solely as well as my relationship and connections with Lysander. The problem was physically acting it out. This performance, I worried about acting out the letter scene; A scene that I have struggled with throughout the rehearsal process. As it was my time to walk on stage, I thought of my own father writing this letter, being so disappointing to a member of my family. The tone I had read the letter in sounded quite sad and sultry which I think I nailed. It took me quite a few rehearsals to grasp my character and see that she had a girly and sweet but sensitive side. I think that I truly embodied the character and it was seen in this performance.

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aion-rsa · 6 years

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Dracula vs. The Marvel Universe! 14 Times The Lord of The Undead Fought Superheroes!

https://ift.tt/2AdEcKt

Hey, remember that time Dracula fought the Hulk? Or the X-Men? Or Spider-Man? No? Well, you're in luck, because we do!

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Feature Marc Buxton

Dracula

Oct 16, 2018

Doctor Strange

Marvel

31 Days of Horror

Dracula. The very name conjures images of sexuality, corruption, and decadence. From the original novel written by Bram Stoker in 1897 to the moment Bela Lugosi donned the famed opera cloak in 1931, the character of Dracula has been an iconic horror staple.

In fact, Dracula has been the subject of 217 films, second only to the number of films starring Sherlock Holmes. But films, novels, and television aren't the only genres that have contained Dracula’s bloodlust. Comic books have been a compelling source for new Dracula material. Marvel Comics in particular have been a happy hunting ground for the Lord of the Vampires.

After the easing of Comic Code restrictions in the early seventies, Stan Lee and Marvel were eager to explore classic monsters in the pages of their books. When the code loosened its grip, Lee and company were able to resurrect the four color boogiemen that lay forgotten for so long. In 1972, writer Gerry Conway and artist Gene Colan introduced Tomb of Dracula and a legend was born. Now there was a version of Dracula that borrowed from Stoker and Lugosi stalking the same fictional universe as Spider-Man and the Avengers.

Soon, writer Marv Wolfman would take over the writing chores on Tomb of Dracula and create one of the greatest continuing horror sagas in comic book history. Within the pages of Tomb of Dracula, Wolfman introduced the vampiric detective Hannibal King, Lilith (Dracula’s Daughter), and most importantly, Blade, the Vampire Hunter, who later helped kick off the current superhero movie boom.

Amazon has all your Marvel Dracula needs

Dracula existed within the Marvel Universe, but other than rare occasions not many Marvel heroes appeared in Dracula’s book, giving the title a sense of isolation from the rest of the Marvel Universe. That is not to say that Dracula has not stalked the titles of the mainstream Marvel heroes. Oh no, dear reader, the Prince of Darkness has cast his shadow on many Marvel heroes, making him one of the greatest, if often overlooked villains in Marvel history. Here is a look at times Dracula, the greatest monster of them all, has stalked the Marvel Universe.

Dracula Meets Spider-Man

Giant Sized Spider-Man #1 (1974)

In this tale, Aunt May is suffering from a rare blood disease because she’s Aunt May. Spidey learns that the only man that has the cure is an eccentric doctor that refuses to travel by plane. Spider-Man learns from Reed Richards that the scientist is traveling by ship, so Spidey gets his webbed ass to the ship to find the doctor.

Also on board the ship are members of the Maggia who want the formula, and of course, Dracula himself who is also after it. Hilarity ensues as Dracula dispatches the crooks one by one, and throws the Maggia leader overboard.

The book is a send up of the classic death at sea sequence of Stoker’s Dracula, as Dracula feeds off the Maggia onboard. While never featuring a direct confrontation between hero and vampire, this issue served as a warning...Dracula is out there.

Buy it on Amazon

Allied with the Avengers (1973)

Avengers #118

Ironically, one of the first times Dracula was drawn into the events of the Marvel Universe, he did so to defend humanity! In the Avengers/Defenders war, often considered to be the first true crossover in comics history, the Dread Dormammu opened a dimensional gateway to Earth. The Avengers and Defenders were stuck in Dormammu’s dimension so could not defend the Earth from an incursion by the savage Mindless Ones, headless beings that thrive on destruction. A group of super-powered champions on Earth, not knowing where the Mindless Ones were pouring on from, took up arms to protect their home.

further reading: The Weird History of Marvel Superheroes vs Monsters

One of these beings was none other than Dracula, who along with such heroes as Power Man, the Fantastic Four, and Ka-Zar, fought back against the Mindless Ones. But don’t think Dracula was acting magnanimously true believers; imagine if a horde of beasts was smashing your favorite eatery. That’s what Earth is to Dracula, a theme restaurant with an all you can eat buffet of jugulars.

Yes, Dracula fought the Mindless Ones, but in doing so he made sure his food supply remained strong and proved to Marvel readers just how badass he was by taking on the Mindless Ones...creatures capable of going toe to toe with the Hulk!

The Creation of Baron Blood (1976)

Invaders #7

One of Captain America’s most enduring foes was created by none other than Dracula. What’s more evil than a Nazi vampire? Pretty much nothing, which makes Baron Blood one of the most vile creatures in the Marvel Universe. In the dark days of World War II, John Farnsworth was an English aristocrat obsessed with vampire lore. When he travels to Transylvania, he encounters Dracula, who transforms Farnsworth into the living dead.

Dracula sends blood to England to punish the country for the actions of Dracula’s nemesis Jonathon Harker. As Baron Blood, Farnsworth fought the Invaders, Captain America, and even his own brother who adopted the heroic persona of the first Union Jack.

Blood’s days of fighting for the Axis were cut short when the Sub-Mariner staked the bejesus out of him. Blood was resurrected in the modern day by a minion of Dracula and fought a legendary battle with his old foe, Captain America. Now, a Nazi vampire is pretty badass, but a Nazi vampire created by Dracula himself? That’s some legendary bloodsucker right there!

Available in - Invaders Classic: The Complete Collection Vol. 1

Dracula vs. Doctor Strange (1976)

Tomb of Dracula #44

The Lord of Darkness fed off Doctor Strange (he probably tasted like sage, cinnamon, and quickly forgotten dreams), in the pages of Tomb of Dracula #44. In Strange’s own book, Dracula locks the Sorcerer Supreme in a dungeon so he can watch the embraced Doctor arise as a vampire. That’s quite a sense of irony Marvel’s Dracula possesses, huh?

further reading: Doctor Strange Comics Reading Order

Little did Dracula know that Strange astral projected out of his body before Dracula could finish the fateful bite. Strange uses his astral form to mess with Dracula who furiously arrives at the dungeon after days of being mocked and prodded by the wizard.

An awesome fight ensues between a vampiric Doctor Strange and Dracula which Strange wins by conjuring a blazing crucifix. The edge in the battle went to Strange who seemed to be one step ahead of Dracula, but let us not forget that during their first encounter Dracula easily dispatched Strange with one bite. Dracula’s mistake was letting Strange have time to plot, but the first struggle would foreshadow a climatic future encounter between the magician and vampire.

You can read it here.

Dracula vs. Howard the Duck? (1980)

Howard the Duck Magazine #5

Not all Dracula appearances in the Marvel Universe are legendary but that doesn’t make them any less cool. The following is a treatise on why comics are awesome.

While visiting Cleveland, Dracula spots Howard the Duck. Thinking Howard to be a midget in a duck suit, the Lord of the Undead bites Howard (did I just type that?) but is disgusted by the non-human blood flowing in Howard’s veins. However, Howard is transformed into Drakula (not Duckula or Quakula?) and preys on other ducks.

Howard is restored to his normal self and is actually able to stake Dracula before the vampire can feed off Howard’s hottie girlfriend, Beverly Switzer.

Dracula Joins The Defenders (1981)

Defenders #95

Ah, the Defenders. Long before they were edgy TV stars, they were the parking place for awesomely odd Bronze Age characters.

In one of the non-team’s most memorable storylines, the Defenders were being beleaguered by the Six Fingered Hand. With newer members Hellcat, Gargoyle, and Son of Satan in tow, the Defenders arrive back to Doctor Strange’s mansion only to be attacked by a possessed Dracula. It seems the Six Fingered Hand had gained control over all vampires.

Proving his awesomeness, the Son of Satan breaks the Hand’s control of Dracula, and agrees to help the Vampire Lord take back Transylvania from the Hand. The team with powerhouses like Strange and the Asgardian Valkyrie are just window dressing as the Son of Satan kicks the Hands' collective butts, destroys a metric ton of vampires by summoning sunlight, and saves Dracula’s undead bacon.

further reading: 13 Essential Dracula Performances

This was the first time Marvel used Dracula as an anti-hero in a super-hero title, an honorable villain who was as comfortable in the role of defender of his people as he was bloodsucking fiend. It was a brief union, but among his many roles in the Marvel Universe, Dracula will always be recognized as a Defender.

Dracula vs. The X-Men (1982)

Uncanny X-Men #159

Monster mash-ups are a staple of the genre. While not traditional monsters at all, mutants meeting Dracula have the same cache as Dracula versus Frankenstein or the Wolfman, it’s just a match made, erm...not in heaven.

Structured like a classic horror film, Uncanny X-Men #159 sees Storm the victim in a very odd mugging. When someone overpowered the weather goddess and cut her throat, Storm suddenly finds herself wanting to die, inviting a stranger through her window at night, drawing back from Kitty Pryde’s Star of David, and shunning sunlight. You don’t have to be Bram Stoker to see where this is going and an epic confrontation between vampire and mutant takes place. The X-Men take out Dracula’s monstrous rat and canine minions, but fall before Dracula, all except Nightcrawler who has the faith to drive the vampire off with a makeshift cross.

When Storm arrives, Dracula finds that he cannot control the primal Storm, who stands tall and proud. In an awesome moment, Dracula tells Storm it was her inner strength that compelled him and after a standoff, Dracula retreats. This was Claremont at his finest, giving each X-Man a moment to shine and writing a classic and pretty damn scary Dracula in the process. The issue created an indelible bond between the X-Men and Dracula, one that stands till this day.

further reading: Frankenstein - Comics' Greatest Monster

In the 1982 Uncanny X-Men Annual #6, the battle between the X-Men and Dracula continues as Kitty Pryde is possessed by Dracula’s daughter and one of his most enduring foes, Lilith. It was another compelling confrontation that deepens the threat Dracula had on mutantkind.

Dracula vs. Thor (1983)

Thor #332

Not satisfied with feeding off ducks, mutants, and wizards, Dracula sets his sights on embracing Lady Sif. In Thor #332, Dracula succeeds in feeding and turning Sif. In issue 333, Thor must face a Dracula empowered by god blood (comics = awesome), and an embraced Sif.

This story was significant in showing what a powerhouse Dracula was and established the idea that if Dracula fed off a non-human being, he would be fueled by their powerful blood. Thor managed to free Sif, but not before fans realized that Dracula was a threat to everyone, god, mutant, or human.

The Death of a Legend (1983)

Doctor Strange #59-62

In Doctor Strange #59-62, Strange and a group of companions including Dracula hunters Blade and the vampiric detective Hannibal King close all the plot threads left over from Tomb of Dracula and close the door on Marvel’s vampires for a quite a while. Aided by Avengers Captain Marvel (then Monica Rambeau) and the Scarlet Witch, Strange and company race to secure the Darkhold, a book which contains the Montessi Formula, a spell that will rid the Earth of Dracula and the curse of vampirism. Keep in mind that the Darkhold is an ancient magical book that created vampires in the first place.

further reading: The Bleeding Heart of Dracula

These issues are the type of storytelling that made Stern a legend, taking elements from Dracula’s appearance in X-Men (the first mention of the Formula) and Thor (whom Dracula is reluctant in facing when he sees the other Avengers by Strange’s side). By the end of the story, Strange does recite the formula and Dracula is finally destroyed.

Like all good vampires, Dracula would eventually return, but the storyline has an epic sense of finality to it. After years of being plagued by Dracula, the Marvel heroes fight back destroying all vampires. For now…

Dracula vs. The Fantastic Four (2000-2001)

Before the Fantastic Four: The Storms

Dracula’s shadow is cast far and wide across the history of the Marvel Universe. Before they were legends, Sue Storm and Johnny Storm find a mysterious amulet. The young siblings are attacked by zombies seeking the amulet for its power, zombies controlled by none other than Dracula, who lays inert, staked and comatose, using his mind to control the zombies so they may deliver the amulet to the vampire.

The Storms, before they were Fantastic, must stop the zombies from taking the amulet to Transylvania to resurrect their puppet master. Even immobile, Dracula proves to be one of the most evil and capable beings in the Marvel Universe.

X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula (2006)

The cool thing about this series is that it gave added weight to the idea that Dracula has had an impact on the history of the Marvel universe and that his ties to the world of mutants did not begin the day he tried to embrace Storm. Dracula begins embracing members of Apocalypse’s cult which wakes the legendary mutant to defend his followers. The book ties the history of the Van Helsing family into the war between mutant despot and vampire lord.

You can read it here.

Dracula on the Moon (2009)

Captain Britain and MI:13 #10

The so-called end of vampires arc in Doctor Strange was a large scale storyline bringing in many mainstream Marvel mainstays, but it had nothing on the grand tapestry of cool that was the Dracula arc in the late, lamented Captain Britain and MI:13 title. So, Dracula gathers a sect of vampires on the moon to set up a front for his attack on Earth. Just typing that sentence was awesome. Dracula forms a non-aggression pact with Dr. Doom and only the magic of MI:13 led by Captain Britain and Pete Wisdom has a hope of stopping Dracula.

During the course of the arc, fans find out how brilliant Pete Wisdom is, that Dracula still holds a grudge against Muslims stemming back from his Vlad the Impaler days, that seeing Black Knight duel Dracula is pretty much better than anything else in the world, and that the legendary sword Excalibur wielded by a Muslim woman is more effective against Dracula than any crucifix.

Seriously, stop reading this and track down this storyline, we’ll wait.

Hulk vs. Dracula

Part of the Fear Itself mega-event, this battle between two legendary monsters took a form fans did not expect. During the course of Fear Itself, the Hulk was transformed into Nul, the Breaker of Worlds. When Thor knocked Nul into the Carpathian Mountains, the Hulk became a threat to Dracula’s sovereignty. Once again taking up the mantle of reluctant defender, Dracula most take on Nul with a group of vampires, the Forgotten at his side. The event book was another step into the modern evolution of Dracula and was the first time he appeared alongside the Hulk.

An X feud renewed (2011)

X-Men: Curse of the Mutants

Dracula’s return to the X Universe also served as the introduction of the modern interpretation of the Lord of the Undead. Gone is his rocking ‘stache and suave opera cape, arriving is the white hair and Coppola-esque armor. The story is pretty cool, if needlessly complex at times, and introduces Dracula’s son, Xarus. Xarus goes to war with dear old dad with the X-Men and a group of Atlanteans caught in the middle. The whole thing ends with a fierce reminder, family or not, do not mess with Dracula.

It's available on Amazon.

The new look for Dracula would stay consistent across all Marvel media as it was this look that appeared in an episode of Avengers Assemble on Disney XD. The story arc also brings vampirism closer to the X-Men as never before as Jubilee, once the most innocent of the X-Men, is transformed into a vampire. What Claremont and company began in the early '80s continues today as Dracula’s influence on the X-Men looms like a constant shadow over the heroes!

Read and download the Den of Geek NYCC 2018 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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