#individual who's much more than some old tv guest spots; but i love him for those too. rip Zia.

[dearosamu]

DESPERADO - EPITHYMIA

SYPNOSIS: she, a dancer with personified problems all the while more that intrigues osamu dazai who came into her life amidst the chaos that is [name] [last name].

WARNING/S: none

six - seven

dazai ended up staying in at home instead of going to work. he felt that he may not be needed today or rather, he may have attended one of mori's oh so important but utterly boring meetings that he loves hosting so much. since [name] felt unobligated to accept his generous offer of financial support, at least he'd have someone else to attain his support - namely akutagawa.

it was a pretty bland day. he lazed around his home before deciding on doing something semi-productive. he had a few of his many cleaners come by to tidy up a good portion of his home - it was theoretically impossible to clean a massive pent house by himself  - while he tended to his own private study, picking away at his piles of paperwork he had yet to look over. he still had time for those. maybe, if he felt like it.

he wanted to hold off on paperwork even more, but a simple phone message sent to him by his business partner wasn't going to let him slack off and waste precious time doing nothing. so, he spent a good few hours holed up in his study, somehow managing to finish weeks worth of paperwork.

dawn came upon him sooner than he would've liked, but his day did a complete one-eighty as soon as he heard a ding on his doorstep.

to his surprise, there stood a familiar woman with [h.c] colored hair and a young boy who clinged onto her side tightly. [name] and yumeno.

he would've teased her for this shortcoming, but her agitated and close to desperate expression silenced him before he could utter a single word. the thought of how she found out his address passed by the brunette's mind. he'd just ask her later.

"please take care of him for me." [name] requests - more like demands - dazai. "just for tonight."

"[name], why are yo-"

"his usual sitter has gone out of town and i didn't know about it until now. chuuya and tanizaki are working and akutagawa can't deal with children. i don't know who else i can trust to take care of him."

"so-"

"just because i'm here doesn't mean i trust you that much."  [name] cuts him off again.

"yumeno has .. taken a liking to you somehow. i'm taking his word for it." [name] gives yumeno a gentle push towards dazai. now, dazai ached to give her a hard time. a few snarky comments here and there, but he simply took yumeno in, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"keep him safe, don't let him lose his doll and get him to bed by ten."

[name] made a move to turn around and leave, but stopped herself from pushing forward. she mutters something under her breath, but decides against repeating herself out loud.

she just continued to walk until her figure could no longer be seen.

--

"wah~ you have such a big and nice place, osa-chan!" yumeno exclaims upon settling himself on dazai's soft and comfortable cushion couch.

dazai is called by many things. he's also a man of weird, yet enticing talents. being a babysitter for a thirteen year-old boy was definitely not on sub par on his to do list. he turns his gaze towards the younger male, motioning with a nod of his head.

"yeah, i do. do you want anything? i think i have something sweet for you. unless you want an actual meal, i got some leftovers in the fridge." though, dazai implies leftover pasta and some sandwiches an actual meal. not exactly practical for the current time of day.

"it's okay, i'm not that hungry," yumeno sends dazai one of his appalling smiles. dazai feels a trifling feeling of dread. why can't this child smile normally?

"let's play a game!" yumeno jumps up from his position on the couch, slightly tossing his precious doll in the air before hugging it close to his chest.

"game?" dazai questions, perplexed. yumeno hums in agreement. "do you have anything fun to play with?"

"i don't have anything that you can play with. why not just play with your doll?"

"marga is precious to me. i can't possibly ruin her pretty state," yumeno replies while stroking a side of the doll's face gently. dazai ignores the weird ministrations of the kid - and how he handles that creepy looking doll with care, opting to sit on the free spot beside him.

"got any board games?" yumeno turns towards dazai.

"no, i don't have time for silly things."

"what do you have time for then?"

"i plan the course of strategic development for my company."

"you're doing that thing again," the kid gives a small giggle. "you're talking all smart!"

"i do like to pride myself as an intelligent individual," dazai gives a small grin in agreement. at least someone was acknowledging his intelligence.

"mhm! even though i have no idea what you're talking about." the young male beams. dazai snorts at the comment. of course he doesn't. he's thirteen after all.

"hey, osa-chan," yumeno tugs at dazai's dress shirt. "i want you to lift me up!"

"a lift? wha-..!" without warning, yumeno jumped on dazai's back, giggles coming out of his mouth at the sound dazai makes.

"h-hey! don't jump at me so unexpectedly!" dazai maintains his balances as he adjusts his position to hold yumeno piggy back style.

"gallop along, my noble steed!" yumeno laughs as he lifts his doll, marga, in the air.

"please don't call me a noble steed," dazai sweats before proceeding to jog around his living room with yumeno on his back.

"you know, for a skinny guy, you sure do seem strong!"

"want me to drop you brat?"

"i'm kidding!!" yumeno laughs as he tightens his hold on dazai in slight fear his words may come true. dazai rolls his eyes in a playful way. [name]'s son seemed like a handful. it's a wonder that she can handle one troublesome brat. "you can put me down now."

dazai bends down a little to have yumeno off his back, in which the latter diverted his attention to his fifty-five inch tv. yumeno points to the black screen, grinning.

"can we watch something on your tv?"

--

a few hours had passed by since [name] dropped off yumeno. it was nearing ten pm, meaning dazai had to get yumeno to sleep soon. he returns to the living room after retrieving a fresh cold beverage from his kitchen, only to notice a small figure slumped against his couch.

he gets closer to find yumeno passed out while the tv still played a random show he was watching an hour ago prior to his drowsy state. dazai chuckles at the sight, placing his glass on the coffee table near the couch to pick up his sleeping figure to transfer him in a guest room. yumeno wouldn't budge and only moved to get in a more comfortable position on the couch. dazai  gave up on trying to move the sleeping male, seeing as he didn't plan on leaving the couch anytime soon and fetched him a spare blanket instead.

his doorbell rang again upon the next two hours. there stood [name], who now wore very different clothes from hours before. she sported a black and white striped skirt that only reached her upper thigh, accompanied with a white over-sized shirt tied to a knot that clearly wasn't hers to cover up whatever was under it. she held a cropped jacket on one arm while the other was placed on her hip, impatience and stress were evident on her face.

"where's yumeno?"

"he's asleep on my couch," he moved a bit for space for her to come in. "don't you have any spare clothes?"

"i got off late and as you can see, i was in a rush." [name] huffs.

"why don't you just borrow one of mine?"

[name] turned her gaze to him indecorously. "what, you want me to dress in your hobo fashion?" she snickers.

"hey! i'll have you know i have attained my fashion sense from someone who actually dresses nice! unless your preference in fashion is the same as that stupid slug, i can see where you get your poor taste from," dazai scoffs.

"if you just wanna insult me with the clothes i'm wearing, i'm obligated to just take yumeno now and step out that door," [name] barks through gritted teeth, clearly annoyed.

dazai ignores her and drags her to his room, shoving her inside. "there's my wardrobe. just pick whatever you like. though it may be a bit large, at least it's proper than your current attire."

[name] rolls her eyes. "do you ever not avoid saying stupid comments for no reason?"

dazai shrugs at her and motions for her to get changed. [name] raises an arched brow to him.

"well? get out! i'm not letting you watch me change, fuckin' pervert!" she pushes him from his leaning position on the door and slams it shut. she's a brat too, treating dazai that way in his own house. she's real lucky that he's o̶b̶s̶e̶s̶s̶e̶d̶  infatuated with her.

he went back to the living room to wait for her to get finished, scrolling idly on his phone for any updates on work that he needed to tend to and going through his other social media.

"done," he watches [name] walk downstairs, wearing one of his black shirts and slacks that were probably too small for him already, seeing how it managed to fit her nicely.

she looked good in his clothes.

really good.

[name] tried to ignore his obvious stare that he didn't even bother hiding. what a weirdo.

"got a spare bag i can use to dump my clothes?"

dazai nods wordlessly and leaves for a moment to fetch a small spare satchel bag from his study. [name] takes it from him without a word, choosing to carelessly stuff her clothes inside it.

"it wouldn't hurt you to at least say a 'thank you', you know," dazai pouts at her, crossing his arms in a child-like manner.

"i don't like you enough to act all nice and friendly."

"you kissed me the other night though."

"obviously to get you to shut up." [name] groans. "and please, do not mention it again to me. ever."

"why though?" dazai questions while placing his hands on his hips. "you insinuated it without me doing anything. and frankly, despite what you told me hours before, you might actually trust me enough to take care of yumeno."

[name] doesn't give him a reply nor bother herself to spare him a glance. dazai steps even closer.

"why do you keep denying me? you know that there's more to it, right? why can't you just tell me?"

"just shut up already!" [name] glares at him. "there is nothing, alright? i have nothing to say to you." [name] pushed pass him to walk over to yumeno's sleeping form, nudging his shoulder to wake him up.

"yumeno? sweetie, it's me. wake up," [name] softly coos at her son. yumeno rubbed his eyes from drowsiness, sluggishly trying to sit up but ended up leaning against his mother.

"h-huh? but, i'm still so sleepyy.." he yawns.

"sorry, yumeno. we have to go now, we don't wanna overstay our welcome," she mutters the last part mostly to herself, but dazai wouldn't allow her act like that.

"why don't you two sleepover? i have a guest bedroom for you two, i don't mind."

"why are you so persistent on having us stay here?"

"i still don't understand your hostility towards me, but i'm trying to get on your good side, alright? i took care of q-chan for you already. at least let me do this for you," dazai insists. [name]'s narrowed eyes softens at this, glancing down towards yumeno's sleepy face. no matter her pride, she'd always put him first before herself.

she sighs, reluctantly agreeing to stay and sleep in dazai's house."fine. not like i had a choice anyway."

soon after that, [name] and yumeno had transferred to the guest room. yumeno already tucked in and continued on his deep sleep. [name] sits at the edge of the bed, humming to herself as she tucks away a strand of hair that were on yumeno's face.

dazai stares at the pair with an emotion he can't understand well himself. he sighs and turns to head back towards his own room. that is until he heard a voice call out to him.

"dazai?"

he hums in acknowledgement, letting [name] know he was listening.

"i.. i'm sorry for how i acted. you're being generous and kind enough to take care of him, as you said and you even went as far as offering us your place." she huffs before continuing. "it was uncalled for-"

"it's alright," dazai gives her a small grin. "i don't mind at all. just tell me if i go too far next time, 'kay? he turns to the side, hand rising up to cover a yawn coming out.

"it's getting pretty late, i should head back now. good night," he bids her a good nights rest before finally heading back. a hand on his shoulder stops him in his tracks.

"you didn't let me finish," the female clears her throat, mumbling something under her breath.

"huh? what was that?"

".. i said thank you. and good night." she promptly closes the door right then.

dazai stands there for a few moments before walking back upstairs to finally get to his room, chuckling to himself.

he really can't understand her sometimes.

#dazai osamu #dazai x reader #dazai scenario #bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs x reader #desperado #reader insert #bsd dazai #dazai fic

[hispeculiartreasure]

Don’t Wanna Fall - S.R.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Female!Reader

Word Count: 2,000

Genre: Angst angst angst angst angst

Setting: Immediately after Infinity War, preceding Endgame.

AN: I am . . . so deeply sorry for this. I’ve been in a melancholy funk for a few days and listening to my Johnnyswim playlist on a loop hasn’t helped. This was inspired by their song “Wicked Game”. Borrowed lyrics appear in italics/ If you haven’t heard it before, go listen to it first. It really sets the mood. This just wouldn’t stay in my heart so I’m making you all suffer with me.

In a split second, the world had imploded. Every single person’s life changed at the snap of a finger. No one would ever be the same.

After the day where everyone lost everything, you threw yourself into your work. You saw a need and had a desperation to be occupied at every second of the day.

People needed to grieve and grief had never been seen on this high of a global scale. Your nonprofit - what was left of it - began coordinating therapy worldwide. You hunted down therapists and counselors that were still living, trained willing volunteers. Support groups, individual sessions, you made it all happen. You fought tooth and nail to make it happen.

Everyone who walked in and out of your doors looked hollow, yet determined. Determined to find something meaningful in the aftermath. Then again, each person had lost someone. Including your staff, including yourself. Your whole operation depended on broken people helping broken people.

The world was on fire, no one could save me but you.

People around you tried to beckon you back out, mentioned you hadn’t been yourself. You laughed in their faces. Who could be themselves after this? You couldn’t help but think that person had died along with the other half of the world. What was the point? It was easier to love no one, to remain independent, to keep everyone at arm's length. That way you could at least pretend the remaining pieces of you could live on.

But then there was Steve.

I never dreamed that I’d meet somebody like you.

He was good - straight down to his bones, he was good. He was kind. He was clever. He was haunted. For all his strength, he was gentle. For all he had in his mind, he was thoughtful. Still waters ran miles deep and it was too tempting not to explore the open seas.

The last session of the week is the one where you allow yourself to move from employee to participant. You knew you needed it, you begrudgingly sat through it. Your heart was no less shattered than anyone else’s here.

That’s where you met him. He was barely recognizable with his shaggy hair and beard that disguised his features. Without fail, he was always early. The previous session hadn’t quite ended, so he loitered by the door, watching, observing. He watches as you finish your duties, as you take your staff lanyard off and subtly transition into group member.

He finds himself sitting by you every Saturday evening. Both of you were among the quieter ones in the group. Mainly listening. Finding solace in not being the only one overcome by the grief.

Weeks pass. During a break you stand near each other in companionable silence, sipping on the instant coffee you’d prepared hours ago.

“Who did you lose?” he asks, soft enough to make you question if you’d heard it in the first place.

You take another drag of the bitter drink. “Everyone,” you whisper, void of emotion. “You?” From the corner of your eye you can see him still staring straight ahead.

“Enough.” You share a nod of sympathy as the leader beckons the group to take their seats again.

He lingers as the group disperses, thinking he was watching you covertly. He wasn’t.

You take down signs, Steve offers to help you stack chairs. You gather your folders into your briefcase before shutting off the lights. You never question Steve’s hovering. In a strange way you understood why he was still here. You’re glad he was still here.

“Wanna grab a drink?” He nods in relief, following you down the street to an old haunt.

Sitting at the bar together, there is very little discussion. Both of you were tired of talking about the feelings and thoughts that consumed you. For some reason, your souls recognized a kinship in each other. You felt seen by him, a feeling later he confirmed was reciprocated.

His hand covers yours on the surface of the bar, gently squeezing.

I never dreamed that I’d lose somebody like you.

Somehow you end up on the front porch of your home, Steve by your side.

Eyes flicker to his, finding that searching look reflected. You lean close, resting your forehead to his shoulder. This isn’t healthy, you think. Steady arms encircle you, a nose nuzzles the top of your head. This is wrong. His lips are inches from yours, waiting for you to close the gap. This will only lead to hurt.

This one would only break you.

You didn’t care. You needed to feel something. Anything. He did too. That much you knew.

It’s strange what desire makes foolish people do.

The pair of you stumble through your living room, mouths insistent, needy on each other. Leaping into Steve’s embrace, he takes you into the hall. Past framed photos, past a more vibrant you in a white dress, a man in a tuxedo gazing down at you adoringly. Past faces you know you’ll never see again. Past a you that had happiness. He angles toward what he assumes is the master suite, resting your back against the closed door for a moment to kiss down your jaw, peppering your throat with affection.

He twists the doorknob, drawing you back to the moment. “No,” you breathe. He freezes, leaning back to assess your meaning. Had he been wrong? Was this not what you wanted? “Down the hall.” Fervor is back in your veins, reviving in his. Shuffling toward the guest room where you’d taken up residence, Steve carries you.

He carries you away from the door, from the memories. Away from the room you hadn’t touched since that horrible day. Away from the place you’d woken up, confused by the dirt in your bed, calling for your husband. Away from the spot where you’d turned the TV on, watched the news coverage. Away from the room where you’d screamed in agony at the empty spot next to you.  Away from where your husband’s ashes still mixed in with the sheets. Away from the tomb of the life that was. Away from a life that was gone.

All that matters is the man that was making you feel anything other than numb.

Morning has almost arrived when you find yourself watching Steve as he slept. Your head is propped on his shoulder, hand firmly resting over his chest. You needed the assurance of his beating heart to keep panic at bay.

Soon self-conscious - but not embarrassed - eyes rove your face. “Breakfast?” he suggests.

You weren’t here to fall in love. Neither of you were under that allusion.

But someone to shoulder this unbearable burden? Sure.

What you found together in the next weeks, months, years wasn’t quite happiness. But it was as close as you could get in the world you now lived in.

You meld into each other’s lives. You are present for each other. You are salves on the others’ heart. You find a new kind of normal. You finally face the master bedroom, you clean out old memories. You find a confidence bolstered by a man you hadn’t expected. You work hard to get better. Steve holds you as you cry. You hold him as he cries. He opens up, he bears his soul. Together you talk fondly of the ones you lost. You get to know the only people the other has left. He gets angry. He seeks you out to bring him back down to earth. You hate yourself for the hope he brings, the peace that floods your body when he’s near.

A dark, rainy night he appears on your doorstep unannounced; clean-shaven, more put-together than you’d ever seen him. Something was wrong.

“We need to talk,” his voice is deep, toneless.

The hope is throttled by dread.

You nod, allowing him to pass by you. You stand toe-to-toe behind the closed door.

He’s different. For the first time since you’ve known him, he stands tall, straight. There’s a purpose to his step, a reason glittering behind his determined gaze. Even though his jaw is set, you can sense his agitation.

“What is it, Steve?” you ask when the silence becomes too heavy.

“I’m sorry I’ve let this go on so long. We’ve reached a place where you have feelings that I just. . . don’t have. I can’t keep letting us do this when you’re going to end up hurt.”

Later you look back and wonder why you weren’t stunned. Why you didn’t rail against him, call him every name in the book, truly tear him down like you wanted. But you were calm, collected, even-keeled.

You can tell he’s lying.

You’ve come to know him too well not to tell. The twitch of an eyebrow, the shuffling of the feet. The barely-there eye-contact.

“Care to share where this is coming from?”

His Adam’s apple bobs. “I’ve known for a long time. It was nice to have someone around, but I never let myself fall. I can get by on my own. And it’s not fair to you.” He reaches to scratch at scruff that isn’t there, instead moving his hand to rub his neck. “I’m sorry,” it quietly floats to you. Much like the first thing he’d ever said to you, you were only half sure he had said it.

Who did you lose?

Everyone. You?

Enough.

For some reason, he feels a need to say these things; to say that he never shared feelings you had fought for so long. You knew better. You’d felt the love in his eyes, felt it in his hands, felt it in his words.

What a wicked thing to say you never felt this way.

Your confusion dissipates when you finally pinpoint the energy he’s carrying with him.

Fear. Anxiety. Dread. Terror.

Something is about to happen, something is about to change.

As much as he’s saying he doesn’t need you. . . you know that right now the opposite is true.

“Alright,” you say much more steadily than you feel. “Do what you need to do.” You step closer, one hand reaching to rest on the back of his neck, the other tapping aimlessly over his heart. “Whatever it takes,” you murmur.

Steve knows that you know he’s lying.

He hates himself for gathering you up. He hates himself for breathing in your sweet scent. He hates himself for the blow he’s just landed. And he hates himself for staying when he told himself he would leave.

But he can’t leave, he can’t do what he’s about to do without saying goodbye to someone that has come to mean the world to him. Someone who was there for the end of his world.

He mutters your name like a prayer all night, etching you into his memory. Determined to carry you with him no matter where the next step takes him. Every possible moment you feel for his heartbeat. You memorize the pattern so it can play in your mind when you roll over to find the bed empty once again.

What a wicked thing to do, to make me dream of you.

You walk him to the door the next morning, feel his lips on yours one last time.

“Good luck,” you whisper against his mouth.

Those blue eyes flicker, forgetting the charade he’d started when he’d walked into your home yesterday. He wants you to hate him. Wants you to be furious, he wants to be the someone you can channel your anger toward. You only watch him, nothing but understanding on your face. “Thank you. I’m. . . I’m so sorry.” That was the only true thing he’d said since you last stood in this spot.

Nobody loves no one.

“I’m sorry too, Steve.” You squeeze his hand tightly before you swing the front door open.

Finally, tears trickle down your cheeks as you watch him walk away. Somehow you know you’ll never see him again.

You know him in his bones.

Whatever he’s set on doing, it’ll get done - no matter the cost.

#steve rogers x reader #steve rogers reader insert #steve rogers x you #steve rogers fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #Don't Wanna Fall #beka writes

[mashitandsmashit]

America’s Got Talent: Season 14 - Finals

Well now I feel like a jerk! I ranked Emanne and Benicio as my Bottom 2 in my “Rooting For” list last week (though to be fair, between them, VoS and DYC, the factors that ranked them in the order they were in were practically nonexistent, because it was too close to even think), but I had no idea that BOTH of them had birthdays this week (and that Emanne’s was tomorrow). I mean no disrespect to the birthday boy and girl...

And again, I must emphasize that I have nothing against any of the acts that made it this far (barring some not-so-great performances from some of them). But when there are several acts that deserved to be here more than several of the acts that ARE here (oh, how naive we were to believe that Marcin EVER had a chance), and almost every act just feels like part of a big mushy sap monster, it was hard to feel much excitement going into tonight...But I kept the most open mind I could...

Let’s do what the judges aren’t willing to do and compare everyone based on their pros, cons and overall experience...by doing a Top 10 list!

...Oh yeah, and...Whoop-dee-doo, Finals and stuff...Let’s just get to it...

10: Detroit Youth Choir. It’s their audition all over again, but with more Nazi salutes! ...I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself...But seriously, they either didn’t have time to prepare a new song, or something happened keeping them from performing what they were ORIGINALLY gonna do...Either way, Macklemore is gonna be there tomorrow, so does that mean they’re gonna perform it a THIRD time!? Two nights in a row!? I guess I’m biased since this is the act that single-handedly ruined the Finals for me (just ONE guitarist in their place would have made all the difference in the world), but I really did honestly see a lot of potential in this act, and it’s kind of a shame that they fizzled out after they peaked at the Quarter-Finals...

9: Tyler Butler-Figueroa. It might be my anger at the Cowellization infesting these Finals why I’m putting Simon’s Golden Buzzer this low on the list after being overall positive to him throughout the game, but this one felt like a mess to me! The violin was scratchy and hard to listen to, it sounded like he couldn’t keep up with the backing-track, and there were no unique dances or staging to really help the entertainment value...At the end of the day, this kid really IS one of the acts that didn’t deserve to make it this far over other certain acts, despite how much I’ve enjoyed him overall...Brian King Joseph is coming back tomorrow; Maybe he’ll teach the kid a few lessons and help him hone his skills, because I know Tyler WILL be a great dancing violinist someday...He’s just not there yet...

8: Benicio Bryant. Well, the Benicio Bros are still by his side, even after he looked and sounded more lost than ever tonight! It’s a shame, because I still found his song to be fairly catchy...I mean, he’s no Robert Finley, but I see a lot of potential in him as well! He just needs to get over his stage fright is all...And maybe cut down on the Mr. Rogers sweaters...I WANTED to say Cosby, but I was worried about what that would imply about him...

7: Emanne Beasha. No real step up from before...She seemed a little shaky as well, but it didn’t bring the performance down as badly as Benicio...Uhhh, Happy Birthday to both of them?

6: Kodi Lee. Once again, this wasn’t his best! Is everyone just in denial or something!? I still stick by my opinion that he was at his best during his first two performances! But what do I know!? I’m just some schmuck writing countdown lists on a website that’s getting sold (yeah, heads up Frank, we might have to jump platforms again). Nothing I say is gonna stop Kodi from taking the win tomorrow night...

5: Ndlovu Youth Choir. I knew it was only a matter of time before they performed this song, and it was as fun and upbeat as I could have asked for! That being said, this didn’t have anything to offer that they didn’t give us before...THAT being said, they are definitely still the superior Youth Choir, regardless of which one gets more votes tomorrow...

4: Ryan Niemiller. Not the funniest material we’ve heard from him either, but I still love his energy and presence! I guess I’m committing a hate crime by not voting for him, but technically EVERYONE tonight qualifies for that...

3: Voices of Service. Maybe it’s because I came into tonight with a more open mind than last week, but whereas I quickly forgot about these folks before, tonight they were hands down my favorite singers! I guess I could go on about the same old stuff regarding their harmonies as well as their individual talents (I don’t even remember hearing much from the skinny guy before, but he might actually be the best singer of the bunch next to the lady!) It’s clear why they made it this far to begin with, but at least they have the talent to back up those cheap ‘n easy votes...

2: Light Balance Kids. THIS is the kind of creative, fun, well-choreographed, well-made performance I’ve been waiting for from these kids throughout the entire live shows! It had the same charm as their Judge Cuts performance, but with even more nicely-done effects! Kinda wish they put more focus on being this hip 90s-style youth group throughout the season...But either way, this should TOTALLY be the new “Let’s all go to the snack bar!” that plays before the movie...The goofy presentation with the food monsters would fit PERFECTLY with “It Chapter Two″! You’ll float too!

1: V.Unbeatable. They REALLY ramped up the crazy flips THIS time! Not much else to say...It’s good to know that they’re as popular as they are, but will it be enough to give them the win that they most definitely deserve...? Well, if nothing more they will DEFINITELY be in the Top 3 tomorrow...

You can tell Howie was trying to carefully dance around saying that this was the the “Best Finals Ever”, because he was contractually obligated to say it like he is every year, but I can definitely see why Simon would say that! These finals were everything he could have dreamed of! Oh, so many tear-jerking Cinderella stories...It’s enough to make a TV producer moan in ecstasy!

But when factoring in what actually MATTERS, tonight was about as lackluster as a line-up like this could have suggested...Only a few REALLY rose to the standards of the Finals...

My Votes: Appropriately enough, the two acts I was rooting for were also the best performers hands down tonight! For that, I used all three voting methods to give them as many votes as I could...

Result Predictions: There’s a case to be made for everyone tonight, but I do have a few observations...First of all, Ndlovu will probably be near the bottom in the votes, because they never had the support that the other Youth Choir had throughout the season...And I think the reason for that is the old factor of DYC being a group of dozens of kids, who each have numerous family members to vote for them along with all of the people giving them the sympathy vote...Ndlovu doesn’t have this luxury, not only because there are less of them, but also because the majority of their relatives are clearly still in South Africa, where they can’t vote for this show...This is why Ndlovu ended up in the Judges’ Choice TWICE, whereas DYC keeps getting easy passes in each round...

I’d like to think that LBK will get enough of that variety vote (that ESPECIALLY seems common in the Finals) to end up in the Top 3 like all acts of their nature tend to land...But they haven’t been as popular as the original Light Balance, and they might not have begged for nearly as many sympathy votes as say, Tyler or VoS...Chances are, the variety votes might end up concentrated on V.Unbeatable...

Which brings us to our main candidates for the Grand Prize: V.Unbeatable and Kodi Lee...It seems practically guaranteed that they will both be in the Top 3...I say Top 3, because there is a side of me that predicts that there may be an act coming between them for the Runner-Up spot! Whenever there are these two acts, one of them a cool variety act and the other some singer that’s been held up on a pedestal throughout the game, and they are BOTH being considered as candidates for the win...it’s usually not the both of them in the Top 2...Usually one of them gets a shock elimination in Third (and more often than not, it’s the cool variety act), and some dark-horse might end up as the Runner-Up...Who that might be is hard to call, but I’m actually considering Benicio being that act standing side-by-side next to Kodi at the end, because again, the Benicio Bros are ever dedicated, to the same degree that Angelica Hale’s fanbase was...

So I’m gonna go ahead and do what Frank usually does by predicting what I think the final rank will be...I’ll keep it pessimistic just to avoid being let down TOO much tomorrow...

10: Ndlovu Youth Choir

9: Emanne Beasha

8: Ryan Niemiller

7: Voices of Service

6: Light Balance Kids

5: Tyler Butler-Figueroa

4: Detroit Youth Choir

3: V.Unbeatable

2: Benicio Bryant

1: Kodi Lee

As for which guest performers will perform with who, I already made my guesses for Tyler and DYC, but I hear that Chris Jericho will perform with Ryan, and I’m willing to bet that Cher will be Kodi’s partner...I'll leave everyone else to surprise me, as opposed to what the final results will be...

(Sigh) Now let’s get this season over with...

[paulvibe]

Just Friends - Part 5 (Paul McCartney x Reader

Words: 2.2k

Warnings: None

Summary: Paul takes you to Ringo’s birthday celebration, where you reunite with the boys.

Okay. Today was Ringo’s birthday party. You’ll be seeing the other Beatles, as well as many other famous, musically gifted people today. No big deal. Paul told you not to worry. They were just other people, but you know, it’s still nerve wracking to attend a party with people who’d you seen on TV, as well as in magazines.

“Are you still deciding what to wear?” Paul yelled from your kitchen. You stood in your bedroom, indeed, still trying to figure out your wardrobe.

“I want to look somewhat presentable!” You called back.

“(Y/N), You always look good, just throw on some pants and let’s go. George asked us to be somewhat early.” Paul’s voice was getting closer, indicating he was walking towards your room. You squeaked, and quickly closed the door, being half naked.

“Sorry, I’m still in my underwear.” You spoke through the door. You could hear Paul laugh.

“It’s not like I haven’t seen you like that before.” He recalled. You blushed, thinking about the many times Paul has seen you without clothes on. There was that time when you were kids and stripped down to play in the creek behind your parents home. And when he walked in on you changing when you were teens. Not to forget the dreadful moment where your dress got a rip in the seam and ended up completely tearing off thanks to the neighbors dog.

“I’m still not letting you in!” You replied, finally putting on a long flowing dress. You opened the door, and Paul stood with his arms folded while leaning against the wall. His eyes scanned you up and down, causing your stomach to twist delighted. His eyes finally met with yours and he grinned.

“You look beautiful. Are you ready?”

You nodded at his response, slipping on some sandals and grabbing your bag.

The ride to George’s home wasn’t too long. It was actually a beautiful drive through the countryside. Your nerves were starting to pick up, but Paul’s reassuring words kept you from exploding, as they always did. To think, it had only been two months since you and Paul reconnected. The two of you talk almost everyday, and he takes you to events. Thinking about it, you could see why people assumed you were a couple.

People always used to assume that you and Paul were together. I mean, to be fair, the things you would do together were coupley things. Like going on trips with the others family, spending nearly everyday together, sleeping over. Your eyes glanced over at Paul. His focus was on the road, occasionally glancing at the passing scenery. His hand gently tapped in time with the song that played on the radio, including the occasional hum of his voice. He was breathtaking.

You’d never realized how lucky you were to have become his friend in the first place. Millions of girls across the world wished they were you, and hoped that Paul would notice them. And here you were, sitting in the passenger seat of his car. You were awestruck. You did become friends long before he was famous, but still. He chose you, over millions of others.

You snapped back to reality as the tires of Paul’s car hit gravel. Your eyes looked around and George’s home came into view. A few cars already littered the driveway, indicating more people were here. Paul parked the car behind somebody else's and got out, opening your door as well. You grabbed his hand and he helped you up.

“This is gorgeous.” You mumbled, looking around the property. The garden was prime and in shape, the lawn was clean and trimmed, not a weed in sight. Blooms of multiple flowers covered the flower beds giving off various vibrant colors. The home was painted with color and design, the exact George vibe.

“I enjoy visiting here.” Paul responded, grabbing ahold of your hand and leading you to the entrance. The chatter of voices was getting louder as you were approaching the party. You squeezed Paul’s hand tighter.

“Oh, look who finally decided to show.” A voice spoke as you and Paul entered the home. You looked around for the voice and spotted John, with Yoko close by his side.

“Aye,” Paul responded. He led you two over to John. “John, do you remember (Y/N)?”

“You haven’t aged a day.” John smiled at you, holding his arms out for a hug. You chuckled and hugged him back.

“It’s lovely to see you John.” You responded. He looked well, his hair was long and uncut. Yoko was quiet, she gripped onto John’s arm tightly.

“How’ve you been?” He then asked, using his free hand to take a sip of his drink.

“You know,” You shrugged, “Normal, I guess.” John chuckled at your response.

“Paul wouldn't shut up about you after you two reconnected.” The man remarked. You smiled and looked at Paul, who was blushing.

“Has hasn’t huh?” You laughed, looking at the guilty man. The two of you chucked at Paul's embarrassment.

More people were starting to arrive, many people you didn't know. You and Paul hung around John and Yoko. George was busy attending to other guests, and hadn't come to talk to you guys yet. Pattie, George’s wife, was also busy making sure there was snacks and drinks for people. You and John chatted some more, he learned that you owned a bakery, and promised to stop by. Though he was only in town for Ringo’s birthday, since him and Yoko lived in New York now.

You could feel Paul's hand on the small of your back, his fingers gently massaged the spot. He introduced you to a few people you didn't know. Someone asked if you were together, which resulted in red faces and stuttering.

George's home was now filled with people, you were only waiting for Ringo to arrive.

“Okay, I think he’s here.” George called out, looking out of the curtains. Ringo then walked through the door.

“Surprise!” Everybody called out, making Ringo jump and then laugh.

“Oh, you lot!” He spoke. “You really didn't have to.”

“This was all George’s idea.” John spoke up, and gestured to George. Ringo went over and gave him a hug.

“Okay everybody, there's drinks and food, as well as outdoor games in the yard.” Pattie then spoke up. You were surprised she even spoke, she was so quiet.

Ringo was making his way through all the guests, greeting them individually. He arrived at you and Paul, a wide smile plastered across his face.

“How does it feel to be so old?” Paul joked, making Ringo laugh. Ringo playfully pushed Paul.

“I'll let you know when I break my hip sitting down.” Ringo responded. “Who's this little bird?”

“This is (Y/N), do you remember her from when we were young?” Paul asked, his grip tightened around your waist slightly, making your cheeks get hot.

“The lass you were in love with?” Ringo spoke, not realizing you and Paul weren't dating.

“In love?” You asked, playfully shocked. Paul's face heated up and he started to stutter out an excuse before Ringo clapped him on the shoulder and laughed while walking away.

The party raged on. Some of the guests pulled out guitars and started a music circle; a few people sang while others played an instrument. Paul has excused himself to go talk to some of the guests, but you decided to hang back by the food and drinks. You watched the man talk to several people, as though he knew them personally.

Paul's people ability always surprised you. He knew exactly what to say and do to charm the pants right off the person he was speaking to. It did help a lot when you were kids, and found yourself in a bind. You couldn't help but observe how handsome he looked today. His hair flopped in the usual paul way. He wore a t-shirt with some jeans, and gestured a lot while he spoke. You smiled softly watching him, feeling your chest get all warm. Maybe you did like Paul more than you'd like to admit. Maybe those feelings from when you were young never went away. But did Paul feel the same?

Paul has always been a touchy person. He loved to stand close to people, he loved to give hugs and handshakes. It hurt a little, to think that the touches between you two weren't personal. That could just be him being friendly. You shrugged off the negative feeling and grabbed yourself a small sandwich slice.

“Enjoying the party?” A voice spoke next to you. You looked over and smiled seeing George.

“You and Pattie killed it.” You replied, taking a bite from your sandwich.

“It’s really lovely to see you.” George spoke, mixing himself a drink. “Paul probably doesn’t want you to know this, but he really missed you. Even when Jane was around.” You didn’t know how to respond to the new information.

“I missed him too.” You responded, your gaze settled on Paul. He was laughing at something someone said. A little smile crept it’s way onto your face seeing him in so much joy. George patted you on the back before he left. You looked down at your feet, biting your lip. Paul had your heart, and there was no coming back from that.

------------

The party was now slowly dying out. You had been there for over three hours. Most of the guests had left, leaving a small handful of people you didn’t know and the ex- Beatles. The sun was getting low, so all of you decided to step outside and have a bonfire. George prepared the fire, with the help of Ringo and Paul. You sat in a outdoor chair, next to where the fire was going to be.

The three of them goofed off, fake throwing lit matches at the others, as though they were all teenagers again. It made you warm to see them still acting like they did when you all were kids. It just shows that fame really didn’t change these boys. Finally, Ringo started the fire and everyone pulled a seat up next to it. George had his guitar and was strumming a few chords. Paul sat in the chair next to yours, and handed you a blanket.

“Beautiful evening.” Paul commented amongst the minor chatter. You nodded in agreement and adjusted the blanket over your lap.

“I've got marshmallows and sticks.” Pattie spoke up, setting a bag of marshmallows onto a table. People stood up and loaded their sticks. You sat behind and watched as they roasted, and burnt, their marshmallows. You listened to George play his guitar and sing some of his new music. It was enjoyable, it felt like you were all teenagers again, like they were just boys with big dreams.

All of you sat around the fire for an hour or so before people called it a night. John and Yoko were the first to go, followed by the stragglers. Ringo left, and then finally you and Paul.

“I’m glad you came today.” Paul spoke up. You two were currently on the drive home from the party. His hand left the steering wheel and gently rested on your knee.

“It was nice to see all the boys again.” You spoke, putting your hand on top of his.

“I think they missed you.” He commented, briefly removing his hand to turn down the radio. You shrugged at his remark.

“I think you missed me more than them.”

Paul cleared his throat and let out a slight chuckle. “If you think I missed you, Kitty, you’re crazy.” You adjusted your position, scooting closer to his person.

“Well, then I must be crazy.” You spoke softly, looking at the side of his face. He was focused on the road, occasionally glancing at you. His grip tightened around your hand. It gave you butterflies, being so close. Paul had always drove you crazy, from relentless teasing, and also how you felt about him. The feelings never went away, no matter how much you willed them to.

The drive was coming to an end as Paul parked outside of your apartment. The two of you got out and entered your home. You fell down onto the couch, taking your sandals off as well. Paul followed in behind, taking his shoes off by the door.

“Would you like a drink?” He asked, walking towards the kitchen. Even though this was your apartment, he still offered to do things for you.

“Please.” You responded, watching his figure grab two wine glasses and a bottle. He then made his way over to you and sat down.

“You know,” You began as Paul filled the glasses, “If you drink, I’m not letting you drive home.”

“Well, then you’ll just have to make a little room in your bed.” He winked, giving you the glass. You giggled and took a sip of the wine. You sat close enough on the couch that your legs touched. Personal space never existed when it came to you two. His hand once again rested on your knee, occasionally drawing a design with his fingers and slightly moving up your leg. You bit your lip and looked up into his eyes.

“You know, I’ve been thinking,” Paul began, but then the phone rang interrupting him.

“Oh, just a moment.” You said, standing up and setting the glass down. Paul watched you pick up the phone and answer. His heart softened looking at your features. Your hair was always done so perfectly, your outfits always matched and were cute. Even when you were in your bakery clothes.

Suddenly the receiver fell from your hands, and you stared blankly at Paul.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, setting his glass down and walking over to you.

“My dad died.”

-------------------------------

Taglist: @starlight-and-moonshine @tarantinoandmetal Thank you for reading <3

#the beatles fanfic #paul mccartney fanfic #paul mccartney x reader #the beatles x reader #paul x reader #classic rock fanfic #classic rock fandom #the beatles fanfiction

[beblebumm]

lesbian mom

My sister told me I dress like a lesbian mom. With no offense meant towards lesbian mothers because as Chloe put it- if I was a lesbian mom, my style would be closer to cool. But because up to this point in life I have been straight and childless, I’m just an appropriator. Which I definitely don’t want to be by the way, but I'm an American and blind appropriation is the American way. Working on it. I’m in the kitchen in Cedar Falls finding all my last sporadic, traveled with items to shove in my XL backpack* by the time Chloe brings her new opinion up to her roommates, my family. “Cathy, don’t you think Maddie looks like a lesbian mom?” “a what? A lesbian? I didn’t hear you” ...and dad’s reaction: “oh.. did you get a surrogate then?” * (United and Frontier front like they will be strict about charging you based on the sizes of your luggage, but they won't be. Apparently my size of backpack does not count as a personal item (free) but instead a carry-on (not free). It's a glutinous excuse for a backpack. However, they don’t say shit to you when you show up on the day of your flight. In the words of my friend Grace: If it's on your back and not on wheels, you're fine. I have had to repack a backpack once, throwing on a sweatshirt and carrying socks in my hand to make it through. But you know what that was? Free.And Fyi- U.S. airlines alone made 5.1 billion bucks in extra baggage fees in 2018. Don't contribute to that mess.) * But anyways, to come to the defense of lesbian moms, I think I dress with the best intention. I don’t think I have bad taste, but I can have bad execution. It's not entirely my fault though, as I feel bigger boobs make a lot of outfits merge towards mother. Tops are always an issue because you have the possibility of looking tenty, and opposite that- the issue of looking too tucked in. It can make the attempted effortlessness come off as starchy. I also straddle this line of wannabe skater and NOT wannabe school teacher, meaning I would love to come across as someone who deserves to wear Vans and less like someone who is reading to your child over snack time. That one is harder to explain, but has a lot to do with stripes. I don't bother running all of this past her, but I told Chloe that if I was flat-chested she wouldn’t be saying this. She didn’t argue but offered to help pay for my reduction. My dad and I get in the car after I make an everything bagel with some onion flavored cream cheese. A Thomas brand bagel, of course. Because it’s the cushiest and you can find them everywhere. We love a processed carb. He drives me to the airport in his new-but-used Toyota Highlander, which doesn’t reek of cigs like his previous whip. He only likes this new car because it has a cassette player, but the low mileage is a plus. I just want to say that the Cedar Rapids airport is low entertainment. It’s a trade-off because you are through security in seconds, but you have to do things like chase after people to hand them their ID’s they left on the counter to help the employees out because we’re Iowa nice and when in the homeland you have to act right. And people wear really ugly printed leggings and foul footwear. Lots of camo and lots of Hawkeye logos, which I do not identify with despite it being my alma mater. I was caught in a very vulnerable spot with my thick and tall Doc Marten's, (not a good airport shoe but a good everyday shoe so what can you do) hunched over the ‘Get Your Shit Back Together Very Quickly Bench’ that comes after security, when I see this rushed looking, young nerd man in a long black trench coat. He LOUDLY and SO abruptly asks this similarly aged gal he was coming up behind whether her hair was red or blonde. She had long red hair with dyed blonde ends. She said “red?” and he says nothing but “HUMPH” without breaking speed at all. Why did he need to know that and also why could he not see that her hair was both colors? And if he cared so much to know, then why did he not respond? Did he think this was considered to be hitting on her?? Because practically yelling at her to inquire about her appearance is not cutting it. I wish for his sake I could at least call him a boomer but he didn't meet the age requirement. Whatever. She looked around for confirmation that what had just happened to her was so weird, which of course I gave to her by saying: “That was so weird.” The sole restaurant by the gates has Blue Moon so that’s redeeming. But it’s in a tin can which is not so good. I used to prefer a draft pour with an orange slice but I am partial to a cold bottle now, plain- no orange. It’s more consistent this way, as some places don’t clean their draft lines regularly and it shows. I met an icon on my flight today. I, of course, was assigned my usual middle seat as I am certain I paid the littlest amount of airfare out of everyone on the plane. Deals only. But as I step up to my row and make that apologetic eye contact with the dude who is about to have to move and let me assume my usual middle spot, the guy asks me if I want to switch spots with his son- WHO HAS AN AISLE SEAT. YEAH SIR, I DO. And this is how I was seated next to the only stranger I’ve had an extended conversation with on an airplane, ever. At least to the point where I was sure I wanted to be buddies with her. She was not stoked on the middle seat, but it’s the one she had in our row. The icon is named Erin and she said: “I’ve been ignoring people on planes for 20 years but you seem like an absolute riot.” I realized I also tend to spend a lot of time ignoring people on airplanes. I actually spend more time trying not to bother the people around me, aka holding urine in until I am nearly bursting because the awkward fumbling out of my usual middle seat is too much. I did, however, have slight banter with a guy sitting next to me on the way into Iowa from Denver on this same trip. All he wanted to say to me was that he had just been skiing in Vail or something. People love being able to say sentences like this, by the way. "Skiing in Vail". It's supposed to impress whoever they tell. Ok. But later on, he and I would exchange terrified eyes as we watched this awful moment unfold after an older fellow in the row across from us ignored all social rules and played his voicemails on full blast, speaker volume, for about 10 minutes. A young gentleman near us let him know that “We can all hear that!” which I would have never said but was also thinking. Obviously. The Voicemail Blarer says “Oh sorry” calmly but is very caught off guard. I thought- wow. That went well. But the Voicemail Blarer takes all of 30 seconds to stew before erupting. He belly yells that he is a “WAR VETERAN AND THAT IS WHY I CANNOT HEAR OUT OF THIS EAR WHICH IS WHY MY PHONE IS ON SPEAKER AND BY THE WAY IM ON THIS FLIGHT BECAUSE MY MOM JUST DIED AND I AM FLYING BACK TO IOWA FOR THE FUNERAL. PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE AHHHHHHHHH KDFKSJDFLKJDFLJSDF”... I feel like the percentage of people flying to Iowa for funerals is probably a decent chunk. Either you're visiting your family or someone died. Just speculating. ANyways. The Mourning Vet Voicemail Blarer said some pretty harsh remarks towards the Complainer that I can’t remember because I was so nervous as a witness to this that my adrenaline was working overtime to suppress. I remember being proud of The Complainer as he kept very level and only said a couple words to defend himself followed by: “I’m sorry you’re going through that man but we don’t all need to hear your voicemails.” I see both sides of this interaction. On the younger Complainer dude’s side, it’s not socially courteous for the vet to be playing his voicemails out loud. Especially for ten minutes. I mean Larry David would have lost it. On the other hand, no one was insulting his status as a vet or poking fun at his late mother, but he has obviously been through more life and more challenges than I and plus he’s grieving. I don’t know. I didn’t mind the voicemails THAT much. Back to today- Erin is the second stranger I’ve met who inspired me this month. Technically this year, and technically this decade, too. Happy 2020. From what I saw, she’s a kick-ass, take no shit, lay it all on the table kind of individual. She had a natural openness about her and radiated warmness but is the type to probably gaurd herself just enough. The kind of person who you would hate to see sad. Born in cedar rapids, went to Iowa for Journalism, got her masters at Syracuse. Has lived all over- New York, London, LA (I think she said). Will not donate to her old sorority, Chi O, because she can’t affiliate with that anymore because it’s lame. But she’s loyal enough to one of her sorority besties to fly to Denver and sit with her while she undergoes a chemo treatment. She asks me about work and I say I have enough side hustles to equate to having a real job. She tells me I need a podcast and says I must have been told this before. I haven’t. But If I had one, I would have her guest star immedieately. She oozes content. Apparently, there’s such a thing as coaching people on how to talk on camera because this is her job. It can be split up into different categories based on the size of the screen. Phone, computer, TV, etc. She kept saying things about “inches”. I thought this was wildly specific, exactly the sort of job you wouldn’t think about until you thought about it. Niche. Hopefully future me is doing something niche right now. But only if I'm enjoying it. She also mentioned some clients she has that I should speak to so I can learn how to travel the world for free. I could have clung to her and never let go after she said this, as that would make my life and her encouragement inspired me. Before this though, we agree I need a credit card that rewards with airline miles instead of cashback. It’s third up on my “to-do now” list- which is different than my “to-do” list becasue that one is for things like making dentist appointments. For the things that should not be put off but can and will be. Until they can't. She asks what my sign is, which is Sagittarius. She said of course. She’s a Virgo. I have no clue what this means. People ask me this sort of thing a lot now though so I need to read up. This guy I met recently who works at Wax Trax Records told me not only extensively about my sign but about my rising moon and one other part of it that I can’t remember. Or is it your rising sign and moon sign as separates? Idk. He told me that every girl he knows has an ex-boyfriend who is a Pisces. True. Erin also told me she’s on some board in Iowa City that is currently discussing the ped mall. I had a lot to say about THAT, as I feel the ped mall has turned into wasted space other than maybe one and a half shops. She agrees. It’s not being utilized like it should be, we think. Too many frat bars. Apparently, her family owns the Bluebird cafes or used to, and I said "ooooooooh!" but that I could never get a seat in the Iowa City location because every hungover kid within a ten mile radius is trying to eat there every Saturday and Sunday morning. I also thought of the time they burned my friend Madison Wood’s toast and she sent it back. I didn’t tell her this though. I like Bluebird. And I hate when people at my table complain about the food. She tells me I'm too good to write for random freelances, which I have dipped my toes into doing. Pays like shit. I agree and listen to her tell me about someone she met when she was just one year sober (she is now ten years along) who pushed her to take charge of her own point of view. It sounded to me like she was inspired to trust and invest in herself. I liked that. As if I needed another excuse to stay out of corporate America. Right before she fell into meditation and soon to be sleep, Erin comments on my middle part and my “nice natural eyebrows” which is funny because I helped the brows out right before going through security. (By helped out, I mean makeup-ed. In the airport bathroom, too far away from the mirror, two different pencils- one chubby for careless shading and one skinnier to help the endpoints of my brow that is otherwise dead.) On the topic of my appearance, I tell her that my sister had just told me that I dress like a lesbian mother. She said she loves my sister.

[onestowatch]

First Look + Q&A: I Don’t Know How But They Found Me Travels From The ‘80s To Release Debut Track & Video

If you could encapsulate an entire film & art collective into an individual person, that would most definitely explain the personality of Dallon Weekes. Imagine if famed film director Quentin Tarantino was a good-looking musician with a great head of hair and magical glitter tears painted on his face—add in a heavy dose of vintage-synth sounds, a unicorn-hair colored drummer, and you’ve got Dallon’s latest project: I Don’t Know How But The Found Me.

If you’ve ever had that friend who references ‘80s movies dialogue, random BBC television crime series and other obscure pop culture facts--then this is the band for you. Just as “I Don’t Know How But They Found Me” may be the best band name you’ve ever heard, you’ll be happy to hear that it comes from the ’80s cult classic film Back to The Future and that essentially everything surrounding the band (imagery, lyrics, etc.) has some sort of ancillary material that you can read up on in between the elusive song release schedule.

You may know Dallon as the long time touring bassist from Panic! At the Disco, and drummer Ryan Seaman is best known from Falling in Reverse, The Bigger Lights, and Weekes’ former band The Brobecks. The long-time friends are taking their next-level project and leaking sonic magic and visuals all over the Internet.

Dallon’s return to center stage comes as more than just music, but more of a concept with a whole backstory. After falling down an accidental virtual rabbit hole with 1980’s cable access talent show videos on YouTube, Dallon knew that his new project only made sense as a band from the early 1980s who appeared on the Superstar Showcase Cable Access TV show and had their tapes and songs go missing for the last thirty years. I Don’t Know How But They Found Me is the best-kept secret living in a time capsule all these years, if albeit by accident.

For the last few months, the band has only released bizarre GIF’s on their Instagram and has had no music released officially, until today. But they’ve leaned into the mysteriousness of it all by playing small shows all over Los Angeles--capturing the attention of fans wondering just what the f*** is actually going on. The lucky ones who have managed to catch them live have kept the rumors flying. The duo are charismatic and theatrical and everything you hoped for from a band with a matching theatrical name.

With their first release, “Modern Day Cain,” those strange Superstar Showcase GIFs suddenly make sense--as the band appears as a musical guest on the show, complete with a random grandma on the organ. Take a look at the video here, and then get the firsthand account Dallon in our Q&A below.

OTW: How did this whole thing start? How did you and Ryan meet initially, because he's obviously in a different band, and you were on tour with Panic. How did it happen?

Dallon: Ryan and I have known each other for like 10 years. He used to play drums with Brobecks for a while, which was my band that I did before Panic. I've been wanting to make a record on the side for a while, and he was always in a similar situation--being a hired musician, playing for another band, so it made sense. I brought him in to play some drums on the record that I was making. It had been a while since we had hung out. I was telling him about what I was wanting to do with this project, and he was really interested, and wanted to be a part of it.

OTW: Where did the band name come from?

Dallon: It comes from the movie Back to the Future, when the Libyan Nationalists find Doc Brown in the parking lot at the Twin Pines Mall. I've always just really liked that--not just that part in the movie, but that phrase. “I don't know how, but they found me”--I just always liked the sound of it. It always implied that there was another story behind that sentence. It's not part of the movie; you had to create it for yourself. Maybe that's the writer in me, trying to make sense of people being vague.

OTW: Everything has been super secret so far, with the exception of a few LA shows. Why so secretive?

Dallon: Having this whole thing be a big secret was really a fun way for us to get it started. We didn't want it to be a secret forever, as fun as it was. I think anyone who's creative, who makes a project, or some kind of art--they want that thing to be as successful as possible, and that's the case with us. We will try to think of some stuff to keep people on the lookout. It's been working for us--having things that people need to discover on their own. I hope that that's always a part of what we do.

OTW: Let's talk about the video for “Modern Day Cain”, how did you come up with the concept of the band appearing on a weird cable access show?

Dallon: While I was in the middle of making the record, I was up late one night and I fell into this weird YouTube vortex of these old cable access talent shows from like thirty-something years ago. It was so bizarre to see this parade of people--like each of them were so sure that this cable access show was their big shot and that they were going to be a star. I was fascinated by it. I immediately fell in love with it, and I wanted to be on this show so bad, but obviously that’s not really possible. The whole idea of IDK being an act from thirty something years ago, who was on this show, and got that chance--that's where it started.

OTW: So your live shows, you play bass, Ryan plays drums. That’s kind of an obscure thing to do live as a duo.

Dallon: We use backing tracks when we play live, which is a pretty common thing now. It wasn't so much ten years ago. I think it used to have a really weird stigma attached to it. If you were a band, and you were using tracks, people would really look down on that. I think over the last decade, it's become more commonplace, more acceptable. When we went into this, we wanted to make sure first and foremost that it was something that was going to be fun for us, but also something that would be simple and inexpensive, so keeping it a two-piece made sense to do for those reasons. I make all those tracks on my own at home--they're taken from the record.

OTW: How does the songwriting process work? Do you guys play other things when you're writing?

Dallon: I'm not a great guitar player, but I do play a little bit. It was the first instrument I ever learned. I think the only thing that I don't really dabble in is drums. I wouldn't call myself an amazing musician, but I do dabble in just about everything.

OTW: “Modern Day Cain” —the song itself— Is there a concept behind the song? What do the lyrics mean to you?

Dallon: It was inspired by a TV show on BBC called Broadchurch. Particularly the priest character, who is played by Arthur Darvill. I really got into that show. I still love it--I have a soft spot for BBC shows in general. When I was in the middle of writing this new idea I had, I was really inspired by that character and his part in the series.

OTW: I feel like there's ancillary material, like assignments that we need to be given to read and watch before we listen to IDK. What are you inspired by?

Dallon: When it comes to drawing inspiration, there are bands and artists that I love that I don't necessarily ever want to sound like or that don't necessarily trigger me to write something new. I think inspirations are more subliminal, they can come from anywhere. They can come from things like a TV show or a movie, or a commercial you heard when you were a kid. They come from everywhere, because that stuff is all around you. All of these exterior things are going to influence you somehow--whether you know it or not.

OTW: What do you hope happens when somebody hears the song or sees the video? What do you hope happens for them?

Dallon: I hope that when people come across it or discover it, that it strikes a chord--that it means something. Anytime that I create art, it has to mean something to me first. It's always my hope that I won't be the only one that cares about this thing. When I put it out into the world, I hope someone else will care about it--maybe not in the same way that I do, but it will carry some kind of meaning for them.

OTW: What is your relationship with Panic! At the Disco at this point?

Dallon: Brendon [Urie]'s my friend--he and Spencer Smith changed my life. I owe a lot to both of those guys. Brendon has been generous enough to keep me around for eight years, and still have me play bass for Panic when they go on the road. It's an amazing job, and I love being part of it.

OTW: So let's say it's five years from now--what do you think you would want the project to be like then?

Dallon: Oh man, “what if’s” are always a little dodgy. I just want this project to be as successful as it can be. If we're making art that resonates with people or not--I hope that we are--but that's what I see this whole experience as: an exercise in making the best art that I can make and hope that it connects with people.

OTW: When you first got up on stage to play the first show ever, and no one had heard anything, was that nerve wracking?

Dallon: To be away from center stage for a long time--I sort of had to figure out how to do it again. The last time I did it was in Brobecks, maybe like six or seven years ago. It's also one of the many reasons why we wanted to start playing around LA secretly, to find those roles again and figure out how to do this thing. We knew if we going the standard route of a press release and a big announcement: "Hey come look at us,”--that there would already be a built in fan base, ready to come see. We didn't want to exploit that. We didn't want to take advantage of fans that way. We wanted to find out our roles again and how to do this thing first and the best way to do that was to start playing secretly.

OTW: After you played your first song live, and people seemed to like it, did that ease your mind?

Dallon: It eases your mind, it makes you feel 10 feet tall, like you're on top of the world. That was another one of the reasons that we wanted to play live shows secretly. LA crowds are notoriously unimpressed with people. It's an entertainment town, so they've seen it all, and they see it all on a really regular basis. To catch the attention of an LA crowd is a challenging thing to do. We wanted to take that challenge head on. We wanted to play for a room full of strangers that didn't know who we were, didn't care, and weren't there to see us and see if we could get their attention.

OTW: What's the story with sticking your pick on your forehead? You do it in the video and you do it on stage.

Dallon: I've just done it for years. As a musician, you go through picks like they’re nothing. They just sort of tend to disappear on you, and fly away. I guess the habit started when I was in The Brobecks. It was a really, DIY project, really low budgets, and picks were a hot commodity. They're probably your most common expense. Rather than dispose of one, anytime that I had to switch from picking to playing with fingers, I would just stick it to my forehead so that I didn't have to lose that pick and have to buy another one later. Pretty much everything I do, was born out of being a necessity somehow.

OTW: What about the glitter tears? How is that a necessity?

Dallon: Oh, that is definitely a necessity right now. I wanted to do something that made me look and feel different from how I am on stage with Panic or Brobecks. I wanted everything to be new--to feel new on stage. That's not something I've ever done before, so I thought I would give it a try. It helps to put me in the zone of playing an IDK show.

OTW: What’s next for IDKHBTFM? Is there a plan or are you just going to see what happens?

Dallon: There is a plan, but we're playing everything close to the chest right now, because we're still a DIY operation. We're trying to figure out the best way to put a record out. There is a whole bunch of stuff, that we want to put out and release into the world. It's just a matter of finding the right way to do it and the matter of timing too. Nowadays, you don't necessarily need a record label to put music out, you know you can do it from your kitchen table or anybody, anywhere, with a laptop and a microphone can make a record and put it out. That's pretty awesome I think. We want to put our stuff out on a scale that's as large as we can.

For More on I Don’t Know How But They Found Me:

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#i don't know how but they found me #80s #synth #electro pop #pop #panic! at the disco #Dallon Weekes #Ryan Seaman

[arkiivlll]

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/26/books/26paul.html

BOOKS

On the Road and Between the Pages, an Author Is Restless for Adventure

By ANNE GOODWIN SIDESAUG. 26, 2006

WHITE OAKS, N.M. — “I can’t live in towns anymore,” Gary Paulsen says, enjoying the view from his 200-acre ranch on the outskirts of an old ghost town in the Jicarilla Mountains, 40 miles from the nearest grocery store.

Living like a fugitive from society, the 67-year-old author says, is the only way he can think clearly. “I bought a house in a town near here, and a nice guy, a neighbor, came over to say hi,” he says, wincing. “It was too close.”

For generations of young, mostly male readers, Mr. Paulsen is one of the best-loved writers alive. With more than 26 million books in print, his name is practically synonymous with the wilderness adventure genre. He has won three Newbery Honor awards: for “Dogsong” (1985), “The Winter Room” (1989) and perhaps his best-known work, “Hatchet” (1987), about the only survivor of a plane crash in the Yukon.

“Gary Paulsen’s writing is very authentic, and kids sense that,” said Margaret Tice, coordinator of children’s services at the New York Public Library and a member of the Newbery committee. “He’s always lived his life on the edge and survived true adventures, but he’s not just an action man; he also knows how young people feel and think.”

Teri Lesesne, who teaches children’s literature at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Tex., has noted a special power in Mr. Paulsen’s work. “If I have a kid who’s a reluctant reader, all I have to do is hand him one of Gary Paulsen’s books,” she said. “It’ll change his life.”

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Mr. Paulsen receives hundreds of letters a day. But his publisher can barely keep track of where to forward them, since Mr. Paulsen restlessly ricochets around the globe: training horses in New Mexico, running dogs in Alaska, riding his Harley across the American West, gunkholing around the South Pacific in his beat-up sailboat.

It’s deliberate: Mr. Paulsen is an unapologetic misanthrope, children excepted. “I don’t have anything against individuals,” he says. “But the species is a mess.” His throat tightens. “The last time I was up in Santa Fe, I wasn’t there 20 minutes before I brewed up, almost slugged a tourist on the steps of my wife’s gallery.” Ruth Wright Paulsen, his third wife, illustrated four of his picture books and a prose poem about an early American farm. “Now I try to be alone,” he says, pointedly.

Compulsively prolific, Mr. Paulsen produces a fresh book for young adults every few months, the vast majority of them novellas. His latest, “The Legend of Bass Reeves,” was published this month by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House. It is identified as “the true and fictional account” of a slave who became the most successful federal marshal in American history.

“He’d ride alone into the center of hell and bring the men out, alive, if possible, or, if necessary, draped dead over a horse,” Mr. Paulsen writes. “He did this 3,000 times. Miraculously, he was never wounded. He rejected countless bribes, and when his own son killed his wife, he tracked his son down, brought him to justice and sent him to prison for life.”

All true. But Mr. Paulsen’s book is a novel, and he openly fictionalizes his protagonist, imbuing Bass Reeves with some of his own traits and experiences. The best writing, he says, is “like carving pieces off your self.” An outcast who survives abuse and a hardscrabble upbringing, Reeves is an expert shot with a sixth sense for tracking and a shamanlike kinship with animals. “Reeves was honest and honorable, and just flat tough,” Mr. Paulsen says, as if he’s fiercely defending a friend’s good name.

Compact, with wolf-blue eyes set in a grizzled face, Mr. Paulsen strongly resembles Ernest Hemingway. There are other parallels. Mr. Paulsen’s prose is spare and well acquainted with death. At various points in his life, he has been tormented by Papa-like demons: too much anger, too much drink, too much emphasis on virility, too many wives, too much loneliness.

Receiving the first overnight guests he’s allowed onto his desert ranch, Mr. Paulsen seems wary but not unfriendly. He wears tall boots and walks gingerly along the overgrown path beyond his door, pointing out rocks and crevices where he’s spotted five rattlesnakes in recent days.

This is bear and mountain lion country, which is why he often carries a snub-nosed .38. “Cats kill you before they eat you,” he says. “Bears like to hold you down and rip your buttocks while you’re still alive.”

All right then.

“Shall we eat?” Mr. Paulsen asks, pulling a few bloody steaks and a plastic vat of potato salad out of the fridge and opening a can of beans.

He is wearing the Iditarod belt that he earned in 1983 on his first try at the brutal 1,049-mile dog-sled race across Alaska, when he finished 42nd in a field of 73. Since then, his love affair with sled dogs has been one of the few constants in his peripatetic life.

“The dogs have affected me in all ways,” he says. “In my understanding of people, in my understanding of love and hate. Once you break down the interlock between species, it’s astonishing.”

Mr. Paulsen also keeps a 40-acre spread north of Willow, Alaska, where he breeds and trains dogs for the Iditarod (which he ran for the third time last March). “From the northwest corner of my land, there’s nothing for 4,000 miles,” he says, his voice quickening with excitement. “There’re no towns, no roads, no people all the way to Siberia.” And few of the provocations of modern society that make him “brew up.”

Mr. Paulsen is a prodigious ranter of the Luddite persuasion; it takes little to set him off. The Internet: “It’s just stupid, faster.” Lawyers: “Miserable human beings.” Organized sports: “Mindless dreck!” Television: “Intellectual carbon monoxide, but hey, TV’s are fun to shoot!”

He grew up poor and lonely in the small town of Thief River Falls, Minn. “My folks were the town drunks,” he says. “We lived in this grubby apartment building. My parents were brutal to each other, so I slept in the basement by an old coal-fired furnace.” He pretended to sell newspapers in pubs, raking the drunks’ money off the bar into his pockets when they were good and juiced. “I became a street kid,” he says. “Occasionally I’d live with aunts or uncles, then I’d run away to live in the woods, trapping and hunting game to survive. The wilderness pulled at me; still does.”

He said he was 13 when he stepped into a library for the first time. It was a frigid winter night. The library stayed open until 9 p.m., and its gold-tinted windows looked invitingly warm.

“The librarian typed my name on a card,” he remembers. “I looked at it and somehow that made me somebody.

Mr. Paulsen became a voracious reader, but not much of a student. “School didn’t work for me. I hated it,” he says. At 17, he forged his father’s signature to join the Army. Once, while he was testing missiles at White Sands, N.M., a Nike Ajax missed its target, locking onto a tagged buzzard instead.

In early 1965, he packed his Volkswagen Bug and drove to Hollywood, where he helped write dialogue for the television series “Mission: Impossible,” and the 1969 Steve McQueen film “The Reivers.” Then Mr. Paulsen left. “I started to like it too much,” he says.

In 1966, he checked himself into a cabin in the Minnesota woods, where he wrote his first book, “Some Birds Don’t Fly,” a collection of humorous essays about the missile industry.

Mr. Paulsen has lost count of how many books he has written since then. His Web site, garypaulsen.com, puts the tally at more than 175. Whether his subject is a slave who risks his life to teach others to read in “Nightjohn” (a book he adapted for a 1996 television movie), or an orphan on the streets of Juárez, Mexico, in “The Crossing” (a film version is now in preproduction), Mr. Paulsen is always writing to conquer his own dark, painful experiences.

“I’m a teller of stories,” he says. “I put bloody skins on my back and dance around the fire, and I say what the hunt was like. It’s not erudite; it’s not intellectual. I sail, run dogs, ride horses, play professional poker and tell stories about the stuff I’ve been through. And I’m still a romantic; I still want Bambi to make it out of the fire.”

Mr. Paulsen stopped writing for adults 10 years ago. “It’s artistically fruitless,” he fumes. “Adults are locked into car payments and divorces and work. They haven’t got time to think fresh. Name the book that made the biggest impression on you. I bet you read it before you hit puberty. In the time I’ve got left, I intend to write artistic books — for kids — because they’re still open to new ideas.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B7 of the New York edition with the headline: On the Road and Between the Pages, an Author Is Restless for Adventure. 

[topicprinter]

The idea arose after working in the tour industry as a guide for several years. Especially as wifi and technology has become more ubiquitous and the world’s screen time has gone up, I noticed the overall pleasure from tours for clients had gone down. Why is that? Are we too addicted to our technology to notice where we are and escape from our email/text/social media bubble? Regardless, I created White Wolf to show guests how to experience Yosemite (the first protected piece of land on earth) the “right” way, which for each person is different, but for many includes getting away from our mobile signal to see one of the most beautiful spots on earth, the way John Muir saw it in the early 1900s.Was it a gradual decision or lightbulb moment to start your own company?It was gradual. I had to learn the major landmarks of America first, educate myself and others on how other cultures were looking to experience America, and then notice what the other companies were missing, whether they refused to offer a service because of the effort involved, or because it just didn’t fit their business model.How did you get your first three clients?Our first clients came about because our first company, Orange Sky Adventures (a budget travel company), became popular and an authority on Yosemite. The ratings for that company rose and guests of the Four Seasons and Fairmont began to call asking not for a budget tour, but for our expertise. How could they see and do Yosemite even though the park was crowded and “sold out?” We knew the ways to get around the crowds to have a more genuine back-to-nature experience, and we began to offer the “tours” they asked for. It was more about the unique experience and less about the money.How did you validate the idea?The idea was validated because we knew the Yosemite market so well, and we noticed a gaping hole in the luxury market. If you are wealthy and want to visit Yosemite from San Francisco, you only have a few choices: One, you can rent a car and drive yourself (which requires time, planning, logistics and gear, which many people do not have or have time for). Two is to reserve a bus tour, which means you need to ride with other families or kids, which is a crap shoot at best; and three is to hire a private driver from San Francisco, who often doesn’t know anything about Yosemite, and may not have ever hiked Yosemite in his or her life. So we began to offer luxury Yosemite services from a Yosemite expert. We custom plan our private tours, whether clients are eighty years old and can barely walk or are young and fit. The response has been quite positive.Did you have any experience/expertise in the area?Yes, I’ve conducted dozens of tours—probably more than 200—to and in Yosemite and spend much of my free time there. And White Wolf’s biggest advantage is being able to connect the city of San Francisco to Yosemite for the luxury market without exploiting the iconic national park.How do you ensure the tours are enjoyable?We’ve done the tours for so long we can usually tell just by screening beforehand what clients need/don’t need. We don’t claim to by psychologists or therapists or aerobic instructors, but we do have a certain understanding after having dealt with thousands of travelers over the years. So we get to know our guests when orienting them to the tour. Then, during our drive to the park, our expert guides can further curate the private tours. Imagine bringing a friend to your hometown for the first time. You want to tell them the stories, and perhaps the history, of your home and showcase where you live in the best way possible for your community. That’s what we do but for Yosemite, and for each person individual interests will vary, and we adapt the tours accordingly.Have you raised any money?The only money raised was on my credit cards, including the purchase of our luxury Mercedes vehicle.Who is your target demographic?Our target demographic includes those who value time and experience over money—the people who want to see Yosemite at a different level than the typical visitor. Although we do tours in Yosemite, what we really sell is expertise. Clients are going with the best of the best. We use their time and money wisely to curate the best possible experience. Our ultimate goal is for former clients to want to visit Yosemite again, on our tour, with someone else, or alone.How do you attract clients?We do have a website, and guests usually find us through internet searches or through word of mouth. Also, travel agents and hotel concierges send us clients, which we very much appreciate.What is the funniest/most strange request you have received from a client/prospective client?We were asked by a wealthy guest to rent an A-class motorhome (one of the largest vehicles on wheels) to show them authentic Yosemite camping, including satellite TV and full butler service. We had a laugh and politely educated them about the real way to camp in Yosemite for authenticity, the same way John Muir and Teddy Roosevelt did in 1903. They understood and no longer wanted to authentically camp, and instead stayed in the Ahwahnee hotel for their visit.What happens if someone does not enjoy the tour?We can generally tell rather quickly whether a guest is enjoying the tour or not. Typically, if someone is not, it’s because of some external source, such as a bad business deal or a family problem, which in this crazy world can happen to all of us. We’re experienced in relaxing and amusing people, though once in a blue moon, a person might refuse to enjoy him/herself. We can bring that person to the water that is Yosemite sans technology, but even if we can’t make him drink, we can usually spray him with a little figurative water.Where did you meet your cofounder/founding team?No co-founders. Many thought the task of building a tour company from scratch in a saturated tour market like San Francisco was too difficult. Really, it’s easy when you know what’s missing in the industry, so I began alone. Once I was successful, then people wanted to join in.Any tips for finding employees?Look for those who are hungry for something more, whether to explore, earn more money or help those less fortunate in knowing Yosemite or San Francisco. Those have been the best employees we have contracted, either from word of mouth or through craigslist.What is the most common package you sell?Our most common package is our Yosemite Wilderness Tour, which families or couples who want to reconnect with each other away from technology usually book (with hikes to the top of Half Dome as a specialty tour for that). Our Yosemite One-Day Tours, although we always recommend clients stay longer in Yosemite, are for those with limited time, and we also do private San Francisco tours for those who need help feeling comfortable in City by the Bay.Did you run any companies prior?Yes, I created a tour company here in San Francisco called Orange Sky Adventures, which showed budget travelers from other countries the classic American road trips with friends, like the kind you see in the movies. It was how I had the confidence to spend thousands of dollars on my credit cards for White Wolf: I knew the process of how to build a tour company from scratch already.What motivated you to start your own business?The honest answer is I knew I could provide a better tour than what other tour companies offered. And because I’ve been waist-deep in the industry for the last decade, I know what the guests crave, both for seeing America as a whole and Yosemite as a micro-market. Even escaping technology is another sub-market to follow.What were your family and friends first thoughts of you creating your own your company?My friends and family have supported me from the beginning. They have helped with sound advice and even some of the work, such as website design and writing, as we continue to bootstrap.What motivates you when things go wrong?When things go wrong—and they always do—is when a business becomes fun. You are forced to be creative to solve your problems, whether with your product, advertising and marketing, legalities and permits, or the money and cash flow itself. Like high tide and low tide, it ebbs and flows. One day we might make a mistake which costs us thousands of dollars, and the next we could reserve an unforeseen tour worth twice that amount.The end goal is to create an organization of people who can support themselves financially in San Francisco (one of the most expensive cities to live in) and share their love of travel with others. Yes, we want cash flow and money to keep coming in, but we want true contentment for our employees too, while showing San Francisco and Yosemite to the guest the “right” way, so the next time she ventures into the wilderness, away from technology, she does not need us.Do you have any advice for someone just starting out?Yes, just begin. Don’t procrastinate. The sooner you start, the quicker you will create a profitable company. If you know more than anyone in your industry or area, there is no reason you cannot build a business around it. Just offer to sell a product or service, and when your potential customer says no, rework your product and marketing until he says yes. It’s that easy. And that challenging.What is stopping you from being 3x the size you are now?A mixture of things: marketing and getting the word out, maintaining our quality with all employees (with our goal of showing Yosemite the “right” way, with expertly trained private guides) and being able to guarantee more tours for those guides, while honing our product as guests ask for more tours.Also natural disaster. The California wildfires taught us a huge lesson in 2018 to not grow too fast, because you never know what problem or catastrophe can be around the corner ready to stop your income in an instant.What are the top 3-5 apps your business could not run without?Just the website because it explains about what we offer as a brochure would, freeing up our time (from our daily emails and phone calls) to run tours. Everything else we could lose, no problem. Plus, in the wilderness, you need to know how to operate without signal, which is the fun part. You cannot learn Yosemite and wilderness expertise from an app.Are there any new tours/packages you’re working on?Yes, several executives we’ve shown around have inquired about these technology-free services for their employees, whether bringing a group up to Yosemite for front-country camping (for those who are new to camping), or even showing their group around San Francisco for a “fun day” with a bus and our private tour guide services tailored to them. We already ran a few, and they were great.What is current revenue? If you don’t mind sharingNot at all. We are new and after our first year reached $110,000, with next year's sales looking to double based on our already-reserved tours. But anything can change with wildfires, earthquakes, and government unrest possible, which can stop our cash flow in an instant. We plan to grow with no problems but will continue to keep our expectations low and instead focus on the best service and product possible, and we believe the rest will fall into place. There is no rush.Would you ever sell the company?Probably not. We feel we have a larger purpose to reconnect people with each other, away from technology. And what better place than in the beauty of nature and Yosemite, away from your cell signal.If you enjoyed this interview, the original and more are here.

#/r/entrepreneur #reddit

[topbeautifulwomens]

#Don #Henley #Biography #Photos #Wallpapers #photooftheday #fashionphotography #red #streetstyle #summer #swag #theferragnis #threads #travel #wshh

With earlier mentioned 100 million in list sales, the Eagles epitomized commercial Southern California rock in the 1970s, and their appeal continues undiminished decades later. As of late 2007, Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975, a 1976 best-of that was the first album ever certified platinum, is the best-selling album of all time in the U.S., its 29 million copies outstripping the previous champ, Michael Jackson’s Thriller (27 million). The group’s well-crafted songs merged countryish vocal harmonies with hard-rock guitars and lyrics that were alternately yearning (“One of These Nights,” “Best of My Love”) and romantically jaded (“Life in the Fast Lane,” “Hotel California”). During the band’s hugely successful career, it had an increasingly indolent recording schedule until its breakup in the fall of 1980. Subsequently, every single of the members pursued solo careers, with Henley’s the most successful commercially and critically. In the 1990s, the band’s sound was frequently cited as an influence by young country stars and culminated with the band’s reunion in 1994. The Eagles continue to be one of clean millennium’s most successful bands.

The group originally coalesced from L.A.’s country-rock community. Before producer John Boylan assembled them as Linda Ronstadt’s backup band on her album Silk Purse (1970), the four original Eagles were already experienced professionals. Leadon had played in the Dillard and Clark Expedition and the Flying Burrito Brothers; Meisner, with Poco and Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band. Frey had played with various Detroit rock bands (including Bob Seger’s) and Longbranch Pennywhistle (with J.D. Souther, a sometime songwriting partner), and Henley had been with a transplanted Texas group, Shiloh. After working with Ronstadt, Henley and Frey decided to form the Eagles, recruiting Leadon and Meisner.

Intending to take the country rock of the Byrds and Burritos a step further toward hard rock, the Eagles recorded their first album with producer Glyn Johns (Rolling Stones, the Who) in England. “Take It Easy” (Number 12, 1972), written by Frey and Jackson Browne, went gold before long after its release, as did their album. (Another single, “Witchy Woman,” reached Number Nine that year.) Desperado was a concept album with enough of a plot line to encourage rumors of a movie version. The LP yielded no major pop hits, but its title track, a ballad penned by Henley and Frey, has become a classic rock standard, covered by Linda Ronstadt, among others. With On the Border, the Eagles changed producers, bringing in Bill Szymczyk (who worked on all subsequent albums through 1982’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2) and adding Felder, who had recorded with Flow in Gainesville, Florida (and who once gave guitar lessons to another Gainesville native, Tom Petty), then became a session guitarist and studio engineer in New York, Boston, and L.A.

The increased emphasis on rock attracted far more listeners — mid-1970s hits included “Best of My Love” (Number One, 1975), “One of These Nights” (Number One, 1975), “Lyin’ Eyes” (Number Two, 1975), and “Take It to the Limit” (Number Four, 1975) — but alienated Leadon. After One of These Nights, Leadon left the band to form the Bernie Leadon-Michael Georgiades Band, which released Natural Progressions in 1977. (Leadon went on to become a Nashville session musician, and in the 1990s formed Run-C&W, a jokester group who played a blend of country and R&B.)

Leadon was replaced by Joe Walsh, who had established himself with the James Gang and on his own. His Eagles debut, Hotel California, was their third consecutive Number One album (the second was their record-breaking 1976 greatest-hits compilation). “New Kid in Town” (Number One, 1976), the title cut (Number One, 1977), and “Life in the Fast Lane” (#11, 1977) spurred sales of more than 16 million copies worldwide.

Meisner left in 1977, replaced by Schmit, who had similarly replaced him in Poco. Meisner has released the solo albums Randy Meisner (1978) and One More Song (1980), and (yes) Randy Meisner (1982). (In 1981, he toured with the Silveradoes; later, in 1990, Meisner reemerged in a group called Black Tie, alongside Billy Swan and Bread’s James Griffin.) Henley and Frey sang backup on One More Song, and in the late 1970s they also appeared on album by Bob Seger and Randy Newman. In 1981 Henley duetted with Stevie Nicks on the Number Six single “Leather and Lace.”

Between outside projects and legal entanglements, it took the Eagles two years and $1 million to make the multi-platinum LP The Long Run. The album included the hit singles “Heartache Tonight” (Number One, 1979), “The Long Run” (Number Eight, 1980), and “I Can’t Tell You Why” (Number One, 1980).

Walsh continued to release solo albums, though his biggest hit to date has been 1978’s cheeky “Life’s Been Good” (Number 12). Felder and Schmit also put out their own albums and contributed songs to film soundtracks. Schmit’s second LP, Timothy B, included “Boys Night Out” (Number 25, 1987).

In 1982 Henley and Frey both embarked on solo careers. Frey charted with “The One You Love” (Number 15, 1982) and “Sexy Girl” (Number 20, 1984) before a movie proved his ticket into the Top Ten: “The Heat Is On,” featured in Beverly Hills Cop, shot to Number Two in 1985. Frey followed this success by becoming an actor, making a guest appearance as a drug dealer on the popular TV series Miami Vice. The episode was based on a track from his album The Allnighter, “Smuggler’s Blues,” which consequently reached Number 12 (1985). Later in 1985, Frey’s “You Belong to the City” hit Number Two. While still dabbling in acting with roles in the short-lived TV series South of Sunset, the movie Jerry Maguire, and a guest spot on the Don Johnson post-Miami Vice series Nash Bridges in the 1990s, Frey also co-founded a music label, Mission Records, in 1997.

Ultimately, though, Henley was the ex-Eagle who garnered the greatest chart success, and the most critical acclaim as well. His “Dirty Laundry” (from his first solo effort, I Can’t Stand Still) made it to Number Three, but the 1985 solo album Building the Perfect Beast was to be his true arrival as solo hit maker and respected singer/songwriter. The kickoff single, “The Boys of Summer,” went to Number Five — supported by an evocative black-and-white video that fast became an MTV favorite — and earned Henley a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance; the hits “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” (Number Nine, 1985) and “Sunset Grill” Number 22, 1985) followed. A third album, The End of the Innocence (1989), created a Number Eight (1989) title track, and the additional singles “The Last Worthless Evening” and “The Heart of the Matter,” which both hit Number 21. The LP won Henley another Grammy, in the same category as before.

In the early 1990s, he sought release from his Geffen Records contract, initiating a long and bitter legal dispute. After participating in the release of a solo best-of album in 1995, Henley was freed from his contract. Five years later, he released a solo album of all-new material, Inside Job (co-produced by former Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch), and embarked on a solo tour to support it. Henley married for the first time in May 1995 and had three children before releasing Inside Job. This life-altering change for the longtime bachelor resulted in a new theme in his songwriting; a lot of of Inside Job’s tracks were clearly about marriage and family, including the gentle ballad “Taking You Home” (Number 58 pop, Number One Adult Contemporary, 2000). Much of the rest of the album, however, still explored Henley’s cynicism toward the business world and the media.

In 1990 Henley founded the Walden Woods Project, dedicated to preserving historic lands around Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts (where Henry David Thoreau and others reflected and wrote), from corporate development. Among the singer’s various fund-raising means were holding charity concerts, featuring other top rock artists, and donating proceeds from some of his own recordings, including a reggae version of the Guys and Dolls standard “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” (1993). In 1993 the Walden Woods Project got a big increase from Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, coordinated by Henley and featuring Clint Black, Trisha Yearwood, Travis Tritt, and others.

In 1994, after years of fielding off reunion rumors, Henley, Frey, Walsh, Felder, and Schmit — who had appeared together in the video for Tritt’s version of “Take It Easy” — hit the road for a massively successful concert tour. The tour went on hiatus toward the end of 1994, due to Frey’s gastrointestinal surgery, but it continued in 1995. In November 1994, the band released Hell Freezes Over, which featured four new songs, including the singles “Get Over It” (Number 31, 1994), “Love Will Keep Us Alive” (Number One Adult Contemporary, 1994), “Learn to Be Still” (Number 15 Adult Contemporary, 1995), and 11 of the old hits culled from the band’s 1994 live appearance on MTV. Within months the reunion LP had sold more than 10 million copies and gone to Number One on the pop album chart.

In 1998 the Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. All seven members of the band performed together for the first time at the induction ceremony. The core members of the group — the ones who had recorded and toured together in the mid-1990s — reunited again for a few concerts at the end of 1999, including a New Year’s Eve show in L.A. A four-CD retrospective set, Eagles 1972-1999: Selected Works (Number 109) was issued in November 2000. In February 2001, the Eagles fired Felder, who retaliated by suing the band, its organization, and Henley and Frey individually; the latter pair countersued. (Felder later wrote a book about his time in the band, Heaven and Hell, which was published in the U.K. in November 2007.) The case was settled out of court in May 2007.

In 2003, The Very Best of the Eagles was released, covering the band’s full 1970s output as well as the new single “Hole in the World.” In 2007, Eagles released its first all-new album in 28 years, the double-CD Long Road Out of Eden, exclusively through Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and Eagles.com in the U.S. It debuted at Number One on the Billboard chart. The band continued to tour successfully through 2008.

Name Don Henley Height 5' 10 Naionality U.S Date of Birth July 22, 1947 Place of Birth Gilmer, Texas, US Famous for Pop/rock singer

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[kartiavelino]

Leighton Meester graduates from ‘Gossip Girl’ to ‘Single Parents’

It’s the day earlier than her long-awaited trip, and Leighton Meester is within the temper to dance. As haze from a fog machine envelops her throughout our Alexa cowl shoot, she rocks out to a string of ’80s hits, playfully lifting her oversize Alessandra Wealthy jacket to “flash” the crew with flesh-tone shorts, arching her eyebrows à la Charlie Chaplin. Moments later, she cradles a small canine within the glam-squad room, slow-dancing with him in her skivvies. When our stylist slides a ruffled purple Dolce & Gabbana robe over her head, she breaks right into a shimmy and her finest werewolf claws, not lacking a beat of “Thriller.” It’s clear that the actress and former “Gossip Woman” queen bee is a pure comic; her buoyancy is guileless, magnetic, contagious. Along with her most up-to-date roles — on final yr’s “Making Historical past” and ABC’s new sitcom “Single Dad and mom” — she’s lastly getting to showcase these comedian chops. “It’s good to go to work and know that you simply’re going to be laughing all day,” she tells us, lounging in a Downtown LA loft après dance break. “After all I like taking over dramatic roles, however for long run, like a TV present, I really like doing comedy — it’s simply type of the place I need to stay.” She’s at present dwelling within the character of Angie, a single mother and lawyer on that latter ensemble collection (debuting September 26), which additionally stars Taran Killam and Brad Garrett. Meester, 32, describes Angie as a “take-no-bulls–t, no-nonsense type of lady.” (Certainly, her sardonic-with-a-heart-of-gold portrayal imbues the pilot with Liz Lemon-esque zest.) “As a result of Angie’s had to make it on her personal, it’s additionally shut her off in loads of methods to opening herself up and being weak and delicate.” Meester, who’s married to actor Adam Brody and mom to 3-year-old daughter Arlo, is equally guarded about her private life. (She met the previous “O.C.” star whereas filming the romantic comedy “The Oranges” however has managed to maintain their 2014 marriage ceremony — and the remainder of their relationship — below wraps.) “The reality is, I simply stay a traditional life,” she says. “After I’m not working, I’m at residence. And that’s it. I elevate a child. I’ve no secret suggestions or methods.” We’ve got so many hang-ups as adults. To not put that in your child is a crucial lesson. Nonetheless, she acknowledges that changing into a mom has modified her. “I feel it’s made me extra open and extra free, and on the identical time far more protecting of myself and of my life.” That features her sophisticated childhood. When Meester was born, her mother and father have been serving time in federal jail for his or her involvement in a drug-smuggling ring — each have been finally launched and later separated. “For me, it was essential that I didn’t do what my mother and father did,” she displays. “Your child is selecting up on who you might be and what you’ve been by means of and attempting to make it higher for you. It’s higher to simply give them a clear slate. However it’s arduous to do, as a result of we’ve so many hang-ups as adults. To not put that in your child is a crucial lesson.” Meester remembers discovering the idea of performing at a really younger age. “I keep in mind watching motion pictures that have been most likely considerably extra mature than I ought to have,” she says. “Like ‘Interview with a Vampire’ or one thing, however I might additionally watch Nickelodeon. And realizing slowly that, ‘Oh, these are actors — that’s not actual.’” She joined a theater troupe in her hometown of Marco Island, Fla.; by age 11, she’d moved to NYC together with her mom and two brothers to pursue knowledgeable performing profession. The tween quickly snagged a spot on “Regulation & Order” and modeling gigs with the likes of Ralph Lauren; a number of years later it was off to LA, the place she graduated from highschool a yr early and landed a number one function on “Gossip Woman,” when she was solely 20. So would Meester encourage her daughter to comply with an identical profession path? “No,” is the fast reply. “I might encourage her if she needed to do it when she was older, however I wouldn’t push her. In actual fact, I might discourage her from doing it as a child. “It’s being surrounded by adults in grownup conditions, being knowledgeable and dealing all day, as an alternative of taking part in or going to college,” she continues. “That being mentioned, I work with children on my present and I do assume that there are some children who’re naturals — that is their calling.” Meester took almost two years off from work when Arlo was born. “It was a privilege. I really feel very, very, very fortunate,” she says. “However I used to be keen to get again to doing one thing I liked.” She’s much less enthused in regards to the fixed query — posed virtually solely to girls — of how she’s balancing parenthood and work. Gown, $995 at Ulla Johnson, 15 Bleecker St.; “Monarch Classique” necklace, $285, and “Deco Fern” ring, $230, each at Fallon Jewellery.Kurt Iswarienko “I’ve labored loads within the final couple of years and so has my husband. Folks, just about day by day, will ask me, ‘The place is your child? Who’s she with?’ And my husband has by no means been requested on set, ‘Who’s taking good care of Arlo?’ “I’ve had a feminist awakening in the previous couple of years,” she continues. “It’s essential to me to tackle roles — and type of at all times has been — that I really feel are totally fashioned and that assist that sentiment.” Within the latest Fox collection “Making Historical past,” for instance, Meester performed a time-traveling feminist who was pointedly not anybody’s girlfriend or love curiosity. “She had her personal factor, her personal storyline, her personal targets, her personal profession, and her personal sense of self — and was stronger than the male characters in some ways, as a result of she type of had to be.” “Single Dad and mom,” in the meantime, is written, created, executive-produced and showrun by girls, a few of whom are additionally single mothers themselves. (Liz Meriwether and J.J. Philbin, of “New Woman” fame, created the present and are EPs, with Katherine Pope additionally executive-producing.) “I really feel very protected,” Meester says. Her most iconic character, Blair Waldorf, additionally embodied feminine empowerment, ruling an Higher East Aspect prep-school kingdom (if a bit ruthlessly) throughout the collection run from 2007 to 2012. Which begs the query: With so many zeitgeisty TV reboots on air, would she ever need to revisit “Gossip Woman”? “I liken it to any individual saying, ‘You had an incredible time in highschool. You made a few of your finest buddies. Would you need to return?’” she says. “No. However, nonetheless, I’ve nothing however love and optimistic emotions about it. I look on it fondly. New York Metropolis was for a very long time my residence and remains to be such an enormous a part of who I’m and part of my coronary heart. The folks I met throughout that point are nonetheless my closest buddies.” Off-camera, Meester ditched Blair’s signature preppy headbands for extra refined kinds, changing into a fixture at Met Galas and New York Trend Weeks (she final attended NYFW two years in the past, dropping by Prabal Gurung and Kate Spade exhibits). As of late, although, the LA-based star is concentrated on consolation — extra particularly, the power to crouch to toddler stage with ease. “I just about stay in denims,” she says. “However I’ll combine it up. I like an informal costume. If I’m sporting denim, I like to put on one thing a little bit bit dressier on high or vice-versa.” Her favourite day-to-day labels embody Reformation and Christy Daybreak, whose items are all made in LA. As for her busy profession, Meester is recording her third album — “singer-songwriter, people, however with some nonacoustic sounds” — which she wrote over the previous a number of months and plans to launch within the subsequent yr or so. She’s additionally guest-starring on the Seth MacFarlane sci-fi collection “The Orville” and is open to returning to Broadway, the place she appeared in “Of Mice and Males” in 2014. “It was so difficult — the schedule and the subject material have been so relentless and heartbreaking,” she says. “However it was probably the greatest experiences of my life.” Regardless of her impressively bold schedule, Meester additionally makes time to bond together with her “Single Dad and mom” castmates. “Oh, yeah, we do karaoke,” she laughs. “I really like doing ballads. En Vogue is an effective means to begin off the night time. I will be useless sober and do karaoke — noon if you need.” True to type, I spot Meester and a pal on a busy DTLA road nook after our interview. She’s singing and grooving with gleeful abandon, ready for the sunshine to change. Gown, $5,130, and belt, worth upon request, each at Balmain; “Chantal” earrings, $257 at Shourouk; White-gold-plated ring with pearl, $240 at Eye-M-IleanaMakri. Kurt Iswarienko Gown, worth upon request at Dolce & Gabbana, 877-703-4872; Elsa Peretti “Excessive Tide” 18-k gold earrings, $1,600 at Tiffany; Ring, $190 at Lele Sadoughi. Kurt Iswarienko Alessandra Wealthy coat, $4,105 at Internet-A-Porter; Alessandra Wealthy earrings, $400 at Opening Ceremony, 35 Howard St.; “Belle” pumps, $525 at Tamara Mellon. Kurt Iswarienko Anouki blazer, $899, and skirt, $396, each at Tata-La; “Jagged Edge Cheekbone” hoop earrings, $260, “Monarch Marquis” stacked choker, $625, and “Monarch Classique” necklace, $285, all at Fallon Jewellery; Atelier Swarovski “Fluid” necklace, $899 at Bloomingdale’s, 1000 Third Ave.; 14-k white-gold ring with diamonds, $900 at Ritani. Kurt Iswarienko 4 View Slideshow Trend editor: Serena French; Stylist: Anahita Moussavian; Hair: Clariss Rubenstein at The Wall Group utilizing Dove; Make-up: Matthew VanLeeuwen at Starworks Artists utilizing Tatcha; Nails: Nettie Davis utilizing Rooted Lady nail polish Share this: https://nypost.com/2018/09/04/leighton-meester-graduates-from-gossip-girl-to-single-parents/ The post Leighton Meester graduates from ‘Gossip Girl’ to ‘Single Parents’ appeared first on My style by Kartia. https://www.kartiavelino.com/2018/09/leighton-meester-graduates-from-gossip-girl-to-single-parents.html