#imagine how heartbreaking it would be to let hue forget about her entire existence :( but still being okay with it...

[berry-hwa]

my upcoming genshin impact comparison issssss

star crossed myth MC and nahida!!!

[MAJOR spoilers here][be warned]

When I woke up, I was riding in a flower carriage. I'd just had a dream...I dreamed it was my birthday.

In the dream, the Knight of Flowers and his retainers found me, "Oh Archon, we've finally found you! The people can't wait to meet you."

-

In the end, I'm just the Moon. The real Sun is long gone.

to be frank i dont remember much of mcs personality because its been so long since i played it lol so this comparison might not be very accurate but idrc because this has been my brainrot for weeks and i love these characters a lot so lets begin

theyre both incredibly compassionate, caring and wonderful in their own way — mc as the former goddess of fate and nahida (lesser lord kusanali) as the god of wisdom. funnily enough the aranara that are considered to be nahidas friends and the children of the forest can be considered as the zodiac gods bc theyre all very silly silly😍

to start with, the goddess of fate chose to sacrifice herself by offering the stars in her eyes to save the earth(even this information is a bit fuzzy im sorry💀 scm fans will know) and became a mortal in her next life. greator lord rukkhadevata chose to sacrifice her power in helping the scarlet king eradicate forbidden knowledge, causing her to exhaust her powers and her form to turn into that of a child's.

by being there for irminsul as the cataclysm happened in khaenriah, she knew irminsul was plagued by the forbidden knowledge because she too, was infected by it. being connected to irminsul meant that unless she herself was removed from it, forbidden knowledge would continuously flow into the world in forms of eleazar and the withering. so - she chose the healthiest branch on irminsul and broke it off, creating a new form of life with it — now known as nahida. the message and clue she left all the way back, amidst khaenriah's destruction, explained how she full heartedly knew that she would have to disappear from this world and from irminsul to save it.

mc's selflessness i feel would lead her to do this exact thing before choosing to disappear, "let the world completely forget me". though she knew it would be heartbreaking for everyone who knew and loved the goddess of fate - especially for the new form of herself that she would've created, she would stay until the very last moment, comforting the new goddess and reassuring her, (rukkhadevata telling nahida that nobody can know what kind of archon she would grow up to be, telling her that she might just become even greater than she was because nahida looked up to the greater lord so much...it just screams goddess of fate for me) telling her that she's found her own answer and can lead her nation with great power and kindness ("I'm the one who posed this question, yet also the one who sought a solution...saving the world with the dreams of the people used to be my answer, and now, you've also found your own answer, and I shall return all the dreams to the people"), it's all so...mc to me. both as lesser lord kusanali and greater lord rukkhadevata.

if you read through that all THANK YOU idk what came over me this is so long 💀probably because ive been so in love with this lore dump aNd because its about one of the major characters im talking about lol

#love 365 #love 365: find your story #voltage inc #star crossed myth #scm #i would have LOVED to draw mc as rukkhadevata but like...yk. lazy #imagine how heartbreaking it would be to let hue forget about her entire existence :( but still being okay with it... #because she created another form of life that resembles her perfectly. so even though the entire world would forget her #including all the gods and mc herself...she would be at ease because in a way #shes still with everyone :)though no one remembers her previous form all that matters is she still exists in a different one #sidenote: the aranara as ot12 is very funny to me

[cabinofimagines]

think of me

a/n ; this is one of my favorite songs to sing ngl but i also am really bad at songfics so i figured i should practice. and also i was feeling really gay all of a sudden and yeah it’s apparent. lmk what y’all think lmao

song ; think of me by sorry, peach

pairing ; piper x mortal!reader

warning ; hella feelings, hella angst, some gay yearning if you read it that way.

“You cuff the sleeves of your t-shirts

You were never the type not to chat

You bit your nails every time you were nervous

I was so in love with that”

“I thought you told me you stopped this, Piper?” you whisper worriedly, examining her surprisingly soft hands in your own, ignoring the heat that ran to your face. She had a horrible habit of picking and biting at her nails whenever she got stressed or nervous. You’ve tried nearly everything to help her stop before she bit away the nail completely, but nothing stuck.

She sighed heavily, cutting her ever-changing eyes at you. You couldn’t tell what she was thinking, as per usual, but that didn’t stop you from clutching her hand in your own.

She smiled softly and moved to brush a stray hair from your eyes, “Don’t worry, I’m working on it!” With one swift glance at your intertwined hands beneath the lunch table, she continued to shovel food into her mouth.

You wish you had pressed her more about it after that, you really should’ve. But the warmth her hand gave, her slim fingers slowly falling between your own and resting there comfortably until the bell rang. The feeling was so intoxicating that you didn’t push the subject, choosing to just bask at the moment at present.

“You like to turn up your music

You regretted your stick poke tattoo

You held my hand every chance that you got

I was so in love with you”

You moved slowly, trying not to jerk her around or move too abruptly and drop her hand. She’d been adamant about holding onto you. She always joked it was because you’d get lost otherwise and she didn’t know how you’d survive on your own, but you kinda figured out that that wasn’t entirely true.

She wouldn’t admit it, but you knew she had abandonment anxiety. As much as she loves her dad, she was desperate for his attention, and she would do anything to get it. Though it seemed everything she did, every outrageous stunt she had pulled hadn’t done the trick. Mr. McLean was always too busy to deal with her.

From here you could see the wrinkle in her brow, way too in her head to notice what she was missing at the moment. You could hear every lyric her earbuds spat out, once again way too loud to be safe. You shook your head and stared at your hands, thumb smoothing over the small heart tattoo on her index finger. 

She swore she didn’t care what Ed tatted on her, but when she saw the shitty outline of a heart, the sigh of disappointment she let out was enough to show that she regretted it. It was cute if you squinted at a distance, but she’d never believe you.

Even though I want to let you go

I want you never to leave me behind

Let me be there in your memory

I will reside in the back of your mind

Where you’ll...

Of all the places you could’ve had your first kiss, you never thought you’d be kissed on the slide at the elementary school playground. But honestly? You can’t imagine it anywhere else

She met you at the end of the slide, watching you slide down the bright yellow plastic with a huge grin plastered on her face. You thought it was an accident at first, assuming she was leaning down to help you up and maybe lost her balance, but she pushed you back instead.

Her choppy brown hair hung freely around her face and the sunset’s golden hues washed over her features, making her skin almost shimmery. Her eyes resembled kaleidoscopes and her lips were pretty and full. You could never forget the feeling of overwhelming love that washed over you that day, at that moment.

And when she closed the gap, locking her lips with yours, you froze. You were so captured by everything that is Piper McLean. From the tickle of her hair across your cheek, her nose brushing against your own as you kissed, and the sweet citrus scent that lingered around her.

In that moment, pressed against the burning plastic of an elementary slide, you knew that Piper had captured your very being. And you weren’t going to fight back.

Think of me, think of me, think of me

Think of me, think of me

Just 

Think of me, think of me, think of me

Think of me, think me

You love my hair when I cut it

You patched up my skin when it cracked

You told me you’d always be my biggest fan

I was so in love with that

You watched her carefully as she placed to bandaid over your knee and smoothed out any creases. She looked up with a grin and moved to peck your forehead gently, calling you clumsy and helping you up off the concrete. The skateboard you’d fallen off of rolled off to the side, almost forgotten the moment you hit a rock and fell off.

It was embarrassing. You just wanted to show her how hard you’d been practicing and you managed to find the only rock at the skate park and eat shit. You scratched the back of your head, fiddling with the strands that were now shorter than before. 

Piper let out an amused hum and moved a hand to your hair and brushing it softly so she wouldn’t mess it up, “I like this,” she mumbled, trailing her lips up to your ear and kissing the corner of your cheekbone lightly, “it makes you look more grown-up.”

You inhaled sharply, too sharply. You choked suddenly, eliciting a hearty laugh from the girl in front of you. You playfully glared as you collected yourself, clearing your throat and moving away to collect your board.

“Jeez, i’m a whole ass clown today.”

“Just today?”

You groan and she chuckles, wrapping her arms around you from behind, resting her head on your shoulder.

“Why don’t you try it again?”

You shook your head, “No I’m gonna fall again and then you’ll just laugh at me again!”

She gave you a firm squeeze, “Promise that I won’t. C’mon, I’ll be cheering you on the whole time!”

“You dream like nobody’s judging

And do everything that you want to

You always wanted the most out of life

I was so in love with you”

Nobody would think it with how much trouble she puts herself in, but she’s actually very thoughtful. You could spend hours on end listening to her plan out the future, trying to push away the butterflies that appear each time she mentioned you as apart of it.

She had everything planned out in this perfect little scenario and it was so sweet... and a little sad. She spoke about how she would convince her dad to leave the fame behind so they could do things like they used to. She wanted you to meet him and have him tease you about your relationship with her. 

“Like a normal dad, y’know?”

You’d hum and scooch over to snuggle into her side, wrapping an arm around her middle and burying your face in her neck. Her sweet scent filled your nose, intoxicating you and coaxing you into a peaceful sleep.

“You’ll see, Y/n. It’s all gonna work out.” 

“Say that I happen to make you cry 

when I told you you were being unkind

Honestly, I tried to leave you be

But you reside in the back of my mind

So I want you to...”

You didn’t argue often, but when you did it was never easy. Piper has always been a really sweet girl, but she has a tendency to lash out when cornered, you knew that all too well. You tried leaving her alone to calm down but then she brought up the one thing you never expected to hear.

You turned with an icy glare, “Did you just...?”

Piper’s expression faded into a one of shock, not believing the words that came out her mouth. She stuttered, reaching out for you and flinching when you brush her off.

“Y/n I’m sorry--”

“That was really uncalled for, that’s not okay.”

A tear fell from her eyes, “I shouldn’t have said that, I wasn’t thinking. Please don’t walk away!”

You huffed and glared down at the floor, trying to stop your hands from shaking, “You never think, Piper. Whenever you get angry you just say whatever you’re thinking!” 

“Y/n I--”

You gave her one more glare before turning on your heel and marching away, ignoring the ache in your heart when you heard her breakdown behind you.

“Think of me, think of me, think of me

Think of me, think of me

Just 

Think of me, think of me, think of me

Think of me, think me”

“I want it to hurt

I want it to ache

I want you to know how it feels

To have your heartbreak

To feel all the things that you do

And everything I go through

When i”

You stared across the street, frozen in place as if you’d seen a ghost. Your eyes welled with tears, watching the girl who never left your thoughts carry on as if you never existed. She looked nearly the same, hair still choppy and braided, that mischievous glint in her kaleidoscope eyes. She looked happier.

Beside her stood two boys, one stood taller with short blonde hair and furrowed brows, the other stood shorter with a mess of curly black hair and an impish smirk on his face. By the looks of it, they were waiting for the bus to arrive, Piper and the shorter boy sharing stories and jokes while the taller one sat deep in his thoughts.

You sniffled, your heart racing and aching and you tried so hard to ignore it all. You urged your feet to move forward, begging your legs to take over and continue walking home. But you were stuck.

Funny how you were the first to walk away when you had her and now, now you were stuck in place; longing for the girl who sat a street length away.

The blonde boy looked up suddenly, tensing as he probably felt your heavy stare. He stared back with a stony look, tilting his head in confusion when you didn’t react. 

It was only when he brought it to the attention of Piper and her friend that your body began moving again. You shuffled down the street at an awkward pace, never looking back despite the gaze on your back.

Piper McLean may never see you again, but you sure do hope she thinks of you. A least a little bit.

“Think of you think of you think of you

Think of you think of you

Just

Think of me think of me think of me

Think of me think of me too”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

taglist ; @smileitsisa , @beneaththeiceandsnow , @hermionessimp , @fangirlofanythingrickriordan , @a-taken-url , @noisyalmonddreamer , @mmmelanie​ , 

#Piper McLean #piperxreader #piper mclean imagine #pipermclean #hoo x reader #pjo imagine #percy jackson #annabeth chase #x reader #Leo Valdez #frank zhang #Hazel Levesque #nico di angelo imagines #Nico di Angelo #Will solace #reyna x reader #jason grace imagine #jason grace

[a-petal-on-the-breeze-blog]

First ever Choices fanfic

Title: The Long Haul Pairing: Endless Summer, Jake x MC (who I’ve named Leah) Summary: After saving the world, Jake is faced with a heartbreaking decision.

***

The room is enveloped in the heavy silence that accompanies the pre-dawn hours. A lone figure stands watch beside the bed, troubled and torn. Beside him, a woman appears angelic in sleep. Her tousled blonde hair, silver in the moonlight, forms a halo around her peaceful face. After a night of lovemaking, she is cocooned in the deep slumber of one who feels safe and cherished.

Jake leans down to brush a pale strand from her cheek. His fingers linger, as if he can’t quite help himself. He has been awake for hours, lost in thought, tortured and deliberating.

Less than twenty four hours ago, they saved the whole world and partied like big damn heroes, the life-threatening mysteries and dangers of the island finally conquered. He had never seen her so radiant, incandescent with joy and exhilarated by their victory. By the fact that they had somehow survived it all and still had each other. After the group celebration had dwindled, they had come together with the fire and passion of two people grateful to be alive.

As they lay exhausted in each other’s arms, she had talked endlessly about the future. Her hopes and plans. With him. And as she went on, he had grown increasingly more uncertain, doubt clawing at his gut. Absolutely, she had a future worth planning. But he didn’t, and now that their time on La Huerta was coming to a close, the sad reality of their situation was dawning on him.

So he had kissed her, and murmured the correct vague responses at appropriate intervals, allowing her to dream aloud. But once she drifted off, her cheerful murmuring replaced by slow and steady breathing, he had slipped out of bed to pace restlessly. Weighing his choices. Considering her future happiness.

Hours later, he has finally reconciled himself to the decision he believes to be the most realistic. Jake briefly leaves her side to pack his few belongings, stuffing them into his duffle bag. Then he returns to the bed and gently kisses her forehead, pausing to look upon her one last time.

It feels a bit like he’s dying inside. The thought of leaving her, never holding her again, is agonizing. He shakes his head to clear it, and backs away unsteadily. If he doesn’t go now, he’ll never find the resolve.

Jake does his best to convince himself that this is necessary. Maybe, at first, she’ll feel devastated, he tells himself; but a girl like that won’t be lonely for long. He, on the other hand, will spend the rest of his life trying to forget her. Drinking away his memories, until they half exist, shrouded in a faraway, fairytale past. She’ll move on, to marriage and family. Soon he’ll only be a ghost to her.

He shoulders his bag, and doesn’t allow himself a final glance back before he exits their room. It hurts too damn much.

Accustomed to gliding through the shadows, he easily makes his way down to the grand staircase and through the atrium. Every step of the way he second guesses himself. Leah will feel abandoned by him. Will she blame herself for his leaving? Will she hate him for it?

“Where are you off to this early, Jake?” Sean’s authoritative tone startles him out of his pensive brooding. He nearly jumps a foot. “It’s not even dawn yet. Got somewhere you need to be?”

“Congrats on your stealth skills, Cap,” Jake bites off. “You scared the ever-loving shit out of me.”

Sean raises an eyebrow. “That’s a colorful way of putting it.” He nods toward the duffle bag. “You’re leaving?”

Jake’s jaw tightens. “Yep.”

The quarterback’s stare is stony, accusing. “Does Leah know?”

“I don’t see how any of that is your business,” Jake replies curtly, dodging the question. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

Sean shakes his head and gives a short, entirely humorless laugh. “Wow, Jake. None of my business? Leah’s feelings and well being aren’t my business? Worrying about my friends isn’t my business?”

Jake turns abruptly, angrily wheeling back around to face his rival. “Oh yeah, I’m sure you’ll make it your business real soon. Comfort her in her time of need. You’ll be there to help her pick up the pieces and move on– with you.” He finds that he’s practically spitting out the words. His fists are balled tightly. “Isn’t that what you’ve wanted this whole time? Aren’t you the fella that always gets the girl?”

Sean blinks in surprise, clearly shocked. He shakes his head. “What are you talking about? We all know how Leah feels about you, and how you feel about her. What’re you doing, man? Why are you running from this?”

“Because that’s what I do, QB,” Jake retorts with exaggerated sarcasm. “I run. It’s what I do best.”

Sean glares back. “What about Leah?” He challenges. “Is this what she gets for trusting you, for loving you? Is this what she deserves?”

Could she really love him? A luckless nobody? Jake hesitates, his chest aching, the regret and longing suddenly too heavy of a burden. In his minds eye, he imagines her still wrapped in sleep, warm and comfortable in the bed they once shared, blissfully unaware of his betrayal. And he hates himself for what he’s about to do. What he must do.

“No,” he answers, resignedly. “She doesn’t deserve this. She deserves so much better than me.” He meets Sean’s gaze. “She deserves someone like you.”

Sean crosses his arms. “She chose you Jake. And you owe her an explanation.”

“The hell I do!” He is immediately ashamed of his words. They are all bravado and stem more from habit than truth. “She doesn’t really know me. None of you do. She’ll be better off without me. She can have the life she was always meant to.”

“Bullshit.” Sean says simply.

“Excuse me, Captain Cardboard?” Jake snarls.

Sean appears unaffected by the insult. “I said bullshit.” Jake opens his mouth to argue, but Sean cuts him off. “She does know you. She sees you as you really are and accepts you. And honestly, I think that scares the hell out of you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jake offers up lamely.

“Whatever, man. You’re acting like a coward,” Sean looks at him pointedly, “and I don’t believe for one second that you’ve ever been a coward in your life.”

They stand in tense silence for a moment, regarding each other with a mixture of mutual frustration and grudging respect. The quiet padding of bare feet on tile abruptly ends the stand off. Leah appears, slightly disheveled and blinking back sleep. She pauses to take in the scene, glancing back and forth between the two solemn men. The tension in the room is palpable.

“Jake? Sean?” She questions from around a yawn. “What are you both doing up?”

Sean nods in Leah’s direction. “I’ll let you two talk.” And after giving Jake a meaningful look, he slips out of the room.

Leah turns to regard him, and he is painfully aware that he looks as guilty as a man possibly can.

“What’s going on, Jake?” She asks, her gaze lingering on his traveling clothes and bag. “Please tell me you’re not sneaking out. Tell me that’s not what this is.”

He feels a lump begin to form in his throat. “You caught me, princess.” He shrugs, smiling weakly. “But it’s long overdue. Now that we got this mess cleared up, I have to see about some business. I’m headed back to Costa Rica just as soon as I can.” He pauses, fumbling over the words. “I’m really gonna miss you. Hell, even gonna miss the rest of the Scooby gang…”

Her face falls, disappointment warring with anger and heartbreak, and he instantly regrets the lightness of his tone. The false humor and cavalier attitude. Suddenly, all he wants to do is gather her up in his arms and apologize profusely for being an asshole.

“You were just going to leave without saying goodbye?” Her tone is more than simply wounded. It’s anguished. “Slip out in the middle of the night like this meant nothing to you?

He releases the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “Leah–”

“I want you to answer me!” A storm flashes in her eyes. “Did I mean anything to you? Did this mean anything?” The pain in her voice is so raw it makes him flinch. He can’t bear to be the cause of it another moment, and so when he speaks, it is with slow, measured honesty.

“It meant everything to me.” He is so incredibly vulnerable right now. “You know that.”

“Then why?” She demands, and he can see the tears welling up in her eyes, deepening the hue, transforming them into glassy pools of brilliant blue. Those eyes that have captivated and haunted him from the moment they met.

Jake sighs raggedly, defeated. “Because I ain’t worth it, princess. Not your time, not your future. You have your whole life ahead of you, and there’s nothing I can offer you that can compete with it.” He smiles sadly at her. “College, your own Prince Charming, the house, the kids. The damn picket fence. You deserve all of it and more. And I can’t give it to you. I’m a wanted man. Hell, I’m a mess of a human being. I can’t give you what you want.”

She regards him silently through her tears, and then shakes her head. “How do you know what I want? You never even asked. You never gave me a choice in this.”

In that moment he feels like the coward he is. As much as he would like to claim that he’s being selfless, that he’s putting her needs first, a part of him has to admit that he has spent years perfecting the art of keeping everyone at arms length. Leaving them before they had the chance to hurt him. And he recognizes that deep down, he is scared as hell. Because he’s completely, helplessly in love with her and absolutely terrified he’ll mess it up. Terrified that one day she’ll see him for the loser he believes he is, and leave him high and dry. And alone again.

He drops his duffle bag and runs a hand over his face, unable to meet her eye. In an instant, she has crossed the floor and is standing less than a foot away from him. Close enough to touch, and man, does he long for nothing more than to touch her. But he remains still, stalled and unsure.

“I want you, Jake.” She says softly, and the sincerity of her words moves him to tears. He blinks hard to fight them off, but they burn and blur his vision.

Leah gently places both palms on his chest and leans her forehead against his, radiating empathy and forgiveness. “I want you, do you hear me? And that’s it. None of the other stuff matters.”

She is so damn good and he is in awe that anyone this kind, this loyal, could ever want to be with him. Could ever truly be his. She looks up at him, earnest, and he knows, down in his bones, that she means every word. Sean’s actually right about this one. She does know him, and she wants him anyway.

He envelopes her in a hug, crushing her to his chest, burying his face in her hair. “All right, princess,” he acknowledges after a long moment, kissing her temple. “You got me, for better or worse. For the long haul.”

She smiles up at him. “For the long haul,” she agrees.

He shakes his head wryly. “Fair warning, life with me ain’t easy. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“I think I have a pretty good idea.” She tilts her chin toward him; an invitation. And one he gladly accepts. Taking her face in his hands, he kisses her deeply, tenderly.

“It’s still so early,” she says, nuzzling against his neck. “Come back to bed, and stay there this time.”

He has the good sense to look abashed. “Yes, ma'am. And I look forward to being able to make it up to you.”

“Good,” she smirks at him, reaching for his hand. “Because if you ever pull an idiot stunt like that again, I swear I will kick your ass, Jake McKenzie.”

He chuckles, kissing her knuckles. “And I’ll gladly take my beating, princess.”

She starts to lead him out of the room, but he stops her, his brow suddenly knitting in shame. “Leah… I’m sorry. I know messed up. I’m a damn fool. This,” he gestures feebly between the two of them, “this is all new for me.” He clears his throat, embarrassed. “And I, well, I just want you to know that you mean the world to me, and I don’t want you to ever forget that.”

“Hey,” she murmurs, wrapping her arms around his neck, “You’re stuck with me, hotshot. We’ll figure this out together.”

He pulls her close and fervently captures her lips with his, winding his fingers in her hair, kissing her earlobe, her neck. And before he can stop himself, the words come tumbling clumsily out of his mouth, unbidden and urgent.

“I love you, Leah,” he whispers into her hair. It catches them both off guard, and she pulls away, staring up at him. He blinks back at her, mouth ajar, cheeks burning.

“I, uh,” he stammers, suddenly painfully awkward and so unlike his smug, roguish self. “I didn’t mean to–”

Leah touches a hand to his cheek. “I love you too, Jake.”

He breaks out into a relieved smile that soon widens into his trademark cocky grin. He nods his approval. “Damn straight, princess.” Jake takes her hand, interlacing their fingers. “Come on now, let’s get you back to bed.”

Together, they exit the atrium. His duffle bag remains behind, abandoned. He doesn’t give it a second thought.

***

#choicesstoriesyouplay #playchoices #jake #jakemckenzie #endlesssummer #JakeFanclub

[joementa]

Week of April 17, 2017 - We Love RSD, and We Miss Prince.

I hope everyone had a great day on Record Store Day and was able to get all of the releases that they wanted.  Record Store Day is a really special day for me, and I think it probably is for most music lovers.  Record stores are the gateway to a world of musical discovery, and they need to be supported as much as possible.  Obviously record stores should be supported for more than one day a year, but what’s fun about Record Store Day is that so many music lovers are all there on one day, and often at the same time.  Meeting these people is very exciting.  One of things I love most about music is hearing others talk about their favorite musicians.  It doesn’t matter at all if it’s a band or musician that I also like.  But when you have a conversation with someone about his/her favorite musician, you can see and feel their passion, which is the same passion that you have for your own favorite musician.  How great is that!

I was really pleased with the release list for this year’s Record Store Day, and I was able to get nearly everything that I wanted.  That included releases from some of my favorite musicians, including Bruce, Prince (SIX 12” maxi-singles!), DMB, Against Me! Pearl Jam, Jason Isbell, Drive-By Truckers, The Goo Goo Dolls, and The Black Crowes (with Jimmy Page).  Yes, it took getting to the store hours before the store actually opened but I didn’t mind at all.  I have been doing this for a few years now, and it’s a lot of fun talking music with other people who just love music.  You get to spend a few hours of your day with people who just “get it.”

While the town I live in has two record stores, I only shop at one of them, Electric Avenue.  They do Record Store Day the way record stores should. Everything is on a “first come, first served” basis, and all of the releases are perfectly organized.  There’s no mad rush to get inside when the store opens. The releases aren’t placed randomly in a bunch of boxes.  Their entire stock is in alphabetical order, so as long as you carefully go through the crates, you won’t miss a release as long as it’s in stock.  If there’s a release that you want, all you have to do is show up early and you’ll get it.  That’s pretty simple.  So to the guy in the back of the line a few years ago who told me to hurry up, I will tell you the same thing I told you then, “Next time, just get here early, bro.”

After hitting up the record store in the morning on RSD, we actually went back to the store because there was an in-store acoustic performance by a band called The GoAround.  I had never heard of them before, and therefore had never heard their music before, but I loved it.  It seemed like there was a lot of 90s rock influenced in their sound, as well as just traditional, all-time classic rock influence as well. I enjoyed it a lot.  We stayed for the entire hour of their set, and I’m pretty sure that as long as they keep playing shows, I will end up seeing more than just one hour of them performing.  Here’s a link to their website (which also contains a link to their Facebook site – it looks like that gets updated a bit more than the website).  Then before we left for the day, we had to buy some more music.  Thou shalt not leave a record store empty handed.

Friday was the first anniversary of Prince’s passing.  I hope you spent some time over the weekend commemorating one of the most talented musicians that has existed on this planet.  There were numerous interesting articles about Prince that were released over the past week or so.  Here’s one that appeared in Friday’s NYT, about all of the artifacts they’ve found in Paisley Park.  7000 items so far, and it’s not even 5%!  Here’s a link to that article.  Hasit Shah wrote a very interesting article for NPR’s The Record, that’s about how we might approach new Prince releases from his vault.  But it’s primarily about something that I think all of us Prince fans are saying….we just miss him, and we always will.  Here’s a link to Hasit Shah’s article.  

I listened to nothing but Prince on Friday, and I still don’t feel like I listened to enough!  One of the great things about Prince was his variety of genres, all the while continuing to make great music.  I made a playlist that you can find right here that shows the proof of this.  These are twenty fantastic songs that weren’t even hits.  Your mind gets boggled even more when you imagine how many great songs are in the vault.  Hopefully one day we’ll find out.  

Just like one of my other favorite musicians, I could go on and on about Prince.  That’s funny, because I think Prince and that other musician have a lot in common.  Prince gets compared to Michael Jackson a lot, but I think comparing Prince to another singular-named musician who was very popular in the 80’s is more appropriate. Nope, I am not talking about Madonna either.  I am talking about Bruce.  Think about it.  Both approached music as something that would save your life.  Both were very controlling about their own music.  They never wanted to do the same thing twice. They crushed the guitar (Eric Clapton was once asked what it was like to be the greatest guitarist in the world. He said “I don’t know, go ask Prince”. And Bruce was always known as the fastest guitarist in Jersey).  They crushed the songs and the songwriting, seemingly effortlessly.  Unlike other older musicians, they continued to create and try new things with their music.  

Oh, and the live shows. Let’s not forget those.  Both are known as two of the greatest performers ever. I can vouch for Bruce – the bar is so high that a three hour show is considered short.  Unfortunately I cannot say the same for Prince because I unfortunately never got to see him live.  The stories are legendary and I don’t doubt it for a second.  The man lived and breathed music.  There was no way he would approach a show casually.

I don’t even think I covered all of the similarities between Prince and Bruce, but I’ll let a COVER (get it?) speak for itself.  As I write this, one year ago today I was lucky enough to see Bruce in Brooklyn.  We all were unlucky in that Prince had passed just two days before.  You could feel it in the room.  Bruce and the band hit the stage, with the lights dimmed.  There was a clear purple hue to the lights.  Nearly all of the band members had some form of purple in their clothes.  Bruce was wearing a purple AND paisley scarf.  With that, the opening chords of “Purple Rain” hit, and we were all feeling it.  The outro was both heartbreaking and cathartic. The show could have ended right there and I wouldn’t have complained after witness something like that.  Here’s a video of that performance.  As Bruce says at the end of that performance….”Prince…..forever……God bless.” 

#music #record store day #vinyl #record store #record shopping #prince #bruce #purple #purple rain #rsd #the goaround