#tour bessie on the bass | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

six-costume-refs · 2 years

Note

do you have any info/pics about the band’s costumes through the years? or a post about their costumes already? i would love to see what you have collected.

Yes I do!! I'm going to write up a more in-depth post about all of them in the near future, but for now here is a general overview of major design changes.

Also want to note that any LiW post would be remiss without mentioning paigeleigh59916 on Instagram, who has put a ton of time and effort into making sure the LiW (principals and deputies) are also featured in their photography and tracking down their names and info. I would not have been able to find many of these deputies without their effort, so please drop them a follow if you're interested in LiW content.

If you want more info on the individual Ladies in Waiting and their deputies, I also try to keep their Wikis as updated as I can. Here's the LiW category link or you can find them by production here. There aren't a ton of photos in their galleries for now, but most of them do have a few at least.

Original Costumes (L-R: Terri De Marco, Alice Angliss, Amy Shaw, Katy Richardson; photo from @/aliceangliss) During the 2018 (1st) UK Tour, the band members wore all black. They eventually had studded shoes (pictured under the boots section) and silver accents. The current LiW costumes were introduced when they moved to the Arts for their West End run in Jan 2019.

Tops (Meelie Traill, dep Bessie, West End, @/meelietraillbass; Sara Kleppe, dep Bessie, West End, @/saraplaysbass; Aretha Tillotson, 2019 North American Tour, @/arethaonbass)

The band shirts are one of the costume pieces that have stayed most consistent. They’re built as leotards and the ruffs are not attached - you can see the neckline in the photo of Aretha. They have inverted stripes with rows of silver studs. Some construction changes have been made in different productions for individual LiW to accommodate different body types or shapes, but the biggest change is the length of the sleeves - sometimes they’re tank tops while sometimes they have long sleeves. Every non-UK production has used long sleeves exclusively; both the West End and older UK Tours have previously had some LiW use tank style and some use long sleeve simultaneously, but it’s now long since been standardized to exclusively short sleeve. (Note that some emergency covers who wore the band costume had tank even after it had been phased out for LiW. That’s another upcoming post)

Pants (L-R, 1st: the LiW of Bliss 1.0*; the LiW of Broadway**. 2nd: Katy Richardson, West End, katyrrichardson; Janette Williams, West End, janette.williams6701; Lee Moretti, Broadway, @/leethefury. 3rd row: Sarah Wussow, Breakaway 2.0, sarah_wussow; Meelie Traill, 2021-22 UKT, meelietraillbass; Kat Bax, 2021-22 UKT)

The style of the bottoms have changed a lot: pants in different styles, shorts, skirts. The pants and shorts mostly been a leather or faux leather with lacing, but the placement of studding and lacing depends a lot on the production.

West End: The lace-up pants worn by Katy Richardson (center row, left) are the original West End pants style. In late 2019 some of them briefly started wearing shorts, but they switched back to pants pretty quickly. In the last few months, the West End has switched to solid black pants, which are the ones worn by Janette Williams in the center middle row. 2019-present UK Tours: Shorts with side lacing. A few E/C or unexpected deputies have worn plain black pants or leggings. Australia: Everyone wears the lace-up pants style pictured on Katy Richardson. 2019 North American regional tour: Everyone wore the lace-up pants style pictured Katy Richardson. Broadway: Most of the principals wear lace-up pants but with such a small gap that it usually isn’t visible. They also have studded waistbands. Lee Moretti is shown with slightly different pants - they have the same waistband but a lacing style that shows a much wider nude panel more like the other productions with lace up pants. No idea why hers are different as I only have photos of her pants and the principals (other deps exist, but I haven’t been able to find full body photos). Julia Schade (principal Joan) also wears a skirt like Sarah Wussow’s. NCS productions: The top left photo of Bliss 1.0 shows the standardized LiW pants for the NCL productions. The one exception to this is Sarah Wussow of the Breakaway 2.0 cast, who is pictured below in a skirt (worn over her pants)

Boots (L-R: the 2021-22 UKT cast***; the Bliss 1.0 cast*; Annalicia Senger, dep, West End, annasenger_muze; Alice Angliss, 2018 UK Tour, @/aliceangliss; Lauren Hopkinson, 2021-22 UK Tour, @/laurenhopkinsonmusic)

The boots are where there’s some of the most variation and inconsistency, even within the same productions. Here’s what I know: - There are three main styles: boots with 2-3 straps and buckles with studs just on the straps, lace up boots with studs scattered all over, and lace up boots with studs all over in a consistent, grid-like pattern (more like the cast’s boots). - The straps with studs may be custom-made or at least always bought from the same location, but I haven’t been able to confirm this for sure. - The boots are most well-recorded in the UK, where they have a mix. UKT seems to have started with the straps, but as other cast members have joined (either permanently or temporarily) it’s gotten more inconsistent. I talk about that a little bit more with the deputies below. - NCS always has the several straps with studs. - Broadway has the lace up with scattered crystals (couldn’t fit in this photoset, but you can see it above in the bottoms photoset). - I’ve never been able to get my hands on any photos that show the Australian LiW boots, so no idea on those. - The boots for deputies in the UK policy seems to just be whatever is on hand and works. Deputies sometimes join without studded boots, in which case they’ll just wear plain black boots or shoes (sometimes until they later get a pair). They also commonly seem to get studs added to more mainstream store-bought shoes (not the potentially custom three straps with studs). Some of the deputies have also had boots with crystals or sequins instead of the usual studs - again, probably due to working with materials on hand. Some of them also may be wearing boots from former band members, but I haven’t been able to identify this for sure. I do know that the current, active UK deputies have their own pair of boots, though.

Masks (L-R: left is Katy Richardson, West End, @/katyrrichardson; top right is Meelie Traill, West End, meelietraillbass; bottom right is Broadway cast**) The productions all have black studded masks from what I can find. Broadway are N-95 while UK are cloth masks. I don’t think NCS productions use them. I don’t know about Australia. The studding pattern differs; some are around the edges with others all over.

(top from Sophie Wilson, 21-22 UKT’s Head of Wardrobe, @/sophiemw04; bottom is Amy Shaw, West End, @/amyshawmusic; right is Kellie Nitz, Breakaway 2.0, kellienitzbass) Ruffs: The productions have black ruffs with studding. The West End production briefly didn’t wear them at some point in 2019, but as far as I know that’s the only production that didn’t at any point. Headbands: Most of the LiW wear a headband - it’s just 2-4 rows of separated studs. Number of rows depends on the production. A few productions, rather than having gaps between, have black pleather or vinyl (Australia and early WE). Hair: They don’t seem to have strong policies on hair, but ponytails or a style with part of the hair pulled back are common. However, braids, hair down, etc. have also happened quite a bit. Makeup: Again, there doesn’t seem to be have strong standardization. Eyeshadows usually are a shade of black/white/silver or a natural tone (skin tone type palettes; I can’t say the proper word as it’s blocked). Lipsticks range from natural to a more toned down red (like the one Kellie Nitz is wearing here).

------- *Chanel Miller, Kellie Nitz, Rebecca Caldera, Alexandra Crosby **Pants photo: Elena Bonomo, Michelle Marie, not sure (doesn’t look like Kimi Hayes so I think it’s a dep but I haven’t been able to confirm that or who it is if so); Mask photo is Mariana Ramirez, Michelle Marie, Elizabeth Doran, Elena Bonomo, Kimi Hayes ***Frankie South, Vanessa Domonique, Lauren Hopkinson, Kat Bax

56 notes · View notes

boleyn-falcon · 3 years

Text

!!!! them !!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#six #six musical #six the musical #liw #six the musical tour #six tour #maggie on the guitar #bessie on the bass #tour!maggie on the guitar #tour!bessie on the bass #frankie south #Kat bax

23 notes · View notes

courtneystapleton · 5 years

Photo

#bessie on the bass #six the musical #six uk tour #*mine

29 notes · View notes

dxntloseurhead · 5 years

Text

someone's probably already done this but tour ladies in waiting are:

Maggie - Frankie South (@/frankiesouth.music on insta)

Bessie - Kat Bax (@/katbaxbass on insta)

Joan - Arlene McNaught (@/arlenemcnaught on insta, private account)

Maria - Vanessa Domonique (@/vv_roxx on insta)

#six #six the musical #six uk tour #six uk tour 2019 #ladies in waiting #maggie on the guitar #margaret lee #bessie on the bass #elizabeth blount #joan on the keys #joan meutas #maria on the drums #maria de salinas #frankie south #kat bax #arlene mcnaught #vanessa domonique

20 notes · View notes

augustwritessometimes · 4 years

Text

She Can’t Stop (2/?)

tw: Sensory Overload (once again, based after my own, making them a little hard to describe)

When Parr and Bessie were backstage and the two alternates were on stage, Parr took a deep breath. She knew that Bessie would be even more scared later when she realizes that they had to stop the show because of her.

There’s been many cases where shows have had to be stopped. Anne falling of the stage, Parr having a Sensory Overload, Kitty lost her hearing aids at one point, Jane had a seizure. It’s not uncommon for a performance to be stopped due to medical reasons.

But it’s the first time it’s been stopped because of the ladies in waiting having something,

Parr knows she has to focus on getting Bessie to fully calm down. She’s not sobbing as bad as she had been earlier, but it’s still bad.

“Bessie. Can you hear me?” Parr asked the girl in her lap softly.

Bessie slowly nodded her head but didn’t look up. She’s still crying and she can’t stop. She wants to though. Her head is starting to hurt and is scared she’ll pass out if she keeps going.

“Can you tell me four things you can hear?” Parr had to hope Bessie hadn’t gone nonverbal. Both the women would do so occasionally either during or after an overload, but it makes getting fully calm harder.

“Show, you, me, heartbeat.” Bessie mumbled

“Can you tell me three things you can feel?” Parr held back a laugh when she felt Bessies fingers rubbing her side. trying to differ skin from costume she thought.

“Your costume, my costume, skin.”

“Two you can see.”

“You, wall.” Bessie let out a shaky exhale, she wanted to stop talking but doing this helps.

“And finally, one you can taste.” Bessie stopped for a moment. This one was always weird. Why would she taste anything, no one gave her food.

“Salt?” Parr nodded her head and started to talk to the small girl in her lap.

“You did good Bess. You can change out of your costume and we can stay back here for the rest of the show.” Bessie shook her head.

Sure, her costume wasn’t the most comfortable thing she could be wearing and she had more comfortable clothes but, Parr’s lap was comfortable and she didn’t plan on leaving it

#six queens #six the musical #six fanfiction #six headcanons #six the musical uk tour #bessie on the bass #adhd! bessie #She Can't Stop English #catherine of aragon #Catalina de aragon #cathrine howard #cathrine parr #cathy parr #autistic! Cathrine Parr #tw sensory overload

7 notes · View notes

1962dude420-blog · 3 years

Photo

Today we remember the passing of Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton who Died: July 25, 1984 in Los Angeles, California

Willie Mae Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), better known as Big Mama Thornton, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's "Hound Dog", in 1952,which became her biggest hit, staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1953 and selling almost two million copies. Thornton's other recordings included the original version of "Ball and Chain", which she wrote.

Her recording of Hound Dog, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952, and later recorded by Elvis Presley, reached Number 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. According to Maureen Mahon, a music professor at New York University, "the song is seen as an important beginning of rock-and-roll, especially in its use of the guitar as the key instrument".

Thornton's birth certificate states that she was born in Ariton, Alabama, but in an interview with Chris Strachwitz, she claimed Montgomery, Alabama, as her birthplace, probably because Montgomery was better known than Ariton. She was introduced to music in a Baptist church, where her father was a minister and her mother a singer. She and her six siblings began to sing at early ages. Her mother died young, and Willie Mae left school and got a job washing and cleaning spittoons in a local tavern. In 1940 she left home and, with the help of Diamond Teeth Mary, joined Sammy Green's Hot Harlem Revue and was soon billed as the "New Bessie Smith". Her musical education started in the church but continued through her observation of the rhythm-and-blues singers Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie, whom she deeply admired.

Thornton's career began to take off when she moved to Houston in 1948. "A new kind of popular blues was coming out of the clubs in Texas and Los Angeles, full of brass horns, jumpy rhythms, and wisecracking lyrics." In 1951 she signed a recording contract with Peacock Records and performed at the Apollo Theater in 1952. Also in 1952, while working with another Peacock artist Johnny Otis, she recorded "Hound Dog", the first record produced by its writers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The pair were present at the recording, with Leiber demonstrating the song in the vocal style they had envisioned; "We wanted her to growl it," Stoller said, which she did. Otis played drums, after the original drummer was unable to play an adequate part. The record sold more than half a million copies, and went to number one on the R&B chart, helping to bring in the dawn of rock 'n' roll. Although the record made Thornton a star, she saw little of the profits.

On Christmas Day 1954 in a theatre in Houston, Texas, she witnessed fellow performer Johnny Ace, also signed to Duke and Peacock record labels, accidentally shoot and kill himself while playing with a .22 pistol. Thornton continued to record for Peacock until 1957 and performed in R&B package tours with Junior Parker and Esther Phillips.

Thornton's success with "Hound Dog" was followed three years later by Elvis Presley recording his hit version of the song. His recording at first annoyed Leiber who wrote, "I have no idea what that rabbit business is all about. The song is not about a dog, it's about a man, a freeloading gigolo." But Elvis' version sold ten million copies, so today few fans know that "Hound Dog" began as "an anthem of black female power." Similarly, Thornton originally recorded her song "Ball 'n' Chain" for Bay-Tone Records in the early 1960s, "and though the label chose not to release the song... they did hold on to the copyright"—which meant that Thornton missed out on the publishing royalties when Janis Joplin recorded the song later in the decade. However, in a 1972 interview, Thornton acknowledged giving Joplin permission to record the song and receiving royalty payments from its sales.

As her career began to fade in the late 1950s and early 1960s, she left Houston and relocated to the San Francisco Bay area, "playing clubs in San Francisco and L.A. and recording for a succession of labels", notably the Berkeley-based Arhoolie Records. In 1965, she toured with the American Folk Blues Festival in Europe, where her success was notable "because very few female blues singers at that time had ever enjoyed success across the Atlantic." While in England that year, she recorded her first album for Arhoolie, Big Mama Thornton – In Europe. It featured backing by blues veterans Buddy Guy (guitar), Fred Below (drums), Eddie Boyd (keyboards), Jimmy Lee Robinson (bass), and Walter "Shakey" Horton (harmonica), except for three songs on which Fred McDowell provided acoustic slide guitar.

In 1966, Thornton recorded her second album for Arhoolie, Big Mama Thornton with the Muddy Waters Blues Band – 1966, with Muddy Waters (guitar), Sammy Lawhorn (guitar), James Cotton (harmonica), Otis Spann (piano), Luther Johnson (bass guitar), and Francis Clay (drums). She performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966 and 1968. Her last album for Arhoolie, Ball n' Chain, was released in 1968. It was made up of tracks from her two previous albums, plus her composition "Ball and Chain" and the standard "Wade in the Water". A small combo, including her frequent guitarist Edward "Bee" Houston, provided backup for the two songs. Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company's performance of "Ball 'n' Chain" at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and the release of the song on their number one album Cheap Thrills renewed interest in Thornton's career.

By 1969, Thornton had signed with Mercury Records, which released her most successful album, Stronger Than Dirt, which reached number 198 in the Billboard Top 200 record chart. Thornton had now signed a contract with Pentagram Records and could finally fulfill one of her biggest dreams. A blues woman and the daughter of a preacher, Thornton loved the blues and what she called the "good singing" of gospel artists like the Dixie Hummingbirds and Mahalia Jackson. She had always wanted to record a gospel record, and with the album Saved (PE 10005), she achieved that longtime goal. The album includes the gospel classics "Oh, Happy Day," "Down By The Riverside," "Glory, Glory Hallelujah," "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands," "Lord Save Me," "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "One More River" and "Go Down Moses".

By then, the American blues revival had come to an end. While the original blues acts like Thornton mostly played smaller venues, younger people played their versions of blues in massive arenas for big money. Since the blues had seeped into other genres of music, the blues musician no longer needed impoverishment or geography for substantiation; the style was enough. While at home the offers became fewer and smaller, things changed for good in 1972, when Thornton was asked to rejoin the American Folk Blues Festival tour. She thought of Europe as a good place for herself, and, with the lack of engagements in the United States, she agreed happily. The tour, beginning on March 2, took Thornton to Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden, where it ended on March 27 in Stockholm. With her on the bill were Eddie Boyd, Big Joe Williams, Robert Pete Williams, T- Bone Walker, Paul Lenart, Hartley Severns, Edward Taylor and Vinton Johnson. As in 1965, they garnered recognition and respect from other musicians who wanted to see them.

In the 1970s, years of heavy drinking began to damage Thornton's health. She was in a serious auto accident but recovered to perform at the 1973 Newport Jazz Festival with Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (a recording of this performance, The Blues—A Real Summit Meeting, was released by Buddha Records). Thornton's last albums were Jail and Sassy Mama for Vanguard Records in 1975. Other songs from the recording session were released in 2000 on Big Mama Swings. Jail captured her performances during mid-1970s concerts at two prisons in the northwestern United States. She was backed by a blues ensemble that featured sustained jams by George "Harmonica" Smith and included the guitarists Doug MacLeod, Bee Houston and Steve Wachsman; the drummer Todd Nelson; the saxophonist Bill Potter; the bassist Bruce Sieverson; and the pianist J. D. Nicholson. She toured extensively through the United States and Canada, played at the Juneteenth Blues Fest in Houston and shared the bill with John Lee Hooker. She performed at the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1979 and the Newport Jazz Festival in 1980. In the early 1970s, Thornton's sexual proclivities became a question among blues fans. Big Mama also performed in the "Blues Is a Woman" concert that year, alongside classic blues legend Sippie Wallace, sporting a man's three-piece suit, straw hat, and gold watch. She sat at center stage and played pieces she wanted to play, which were not on the program. Thornton took part in the Tribal Stomp at Monterey Fairgrounds, the Third Annual Sacramento Blues Festival, and the Los Angeles Bicentennial Blues with BB King and Muddy Waters. She was a guest on an ABC-TV special hosted by actor Hal Holbrook and was joined by Aretha Franklin and toured through the club scene. She was also part of the award-winning PBS television special Three Generations of the blues with Sippie Wallace and Jeannie Cheatham.

Thornton was found dead at age 57 by medical personnel in a Los Angeles boarding house on July 25, 1984. She died of heart and liver disorders due to her longstanding alcohol abuse.

#July 25 #1984 #R.I.P.#Big Mama Thornton

17 notes · View notes

a-little-slice-of-fandom · 4 years

Note

what is the difference between the student run and current versions of six?

Hi anon! I’m sorry this took so long. A-levels happened!

So firstly I don’t think it’s as easy as saying “what’s the difference between the student run and the current version of six” because not only was there a run between the student cast and the current productions in the form of the studio cast, but even current productions have had their scripts tweaked and reworked over the course of the past year. The original six tour has a different script to the current west end run, even though the west end run is a direct continuation of the tour. Furthermore, there’s also the issues of external and internal factors which have influenced the show and prompted the changes between scripts, such as reviews from critics/general audiences, bigger budgets and production values, current affairs etc which have shaped the show as a whole. However, the changes between these runs truly fascinate me and I love seeing how Six continues to evolve and grow as a show, as well as seeing how the queens characters have been developed and refined by Toby and Lucy. I’m not a massive theatre fan, I prefer literature, so to see a show that evolves with every passing day rather than remaining as one static entity is really a treat. It’s almost like we’re seeing lots of different drafts, and that’s something I love. And I’ll try my best to summarize it all!

Plot:

The overall plot of Six remained the same over all productions of the show. At the end of the day, the student run still was about the Six wives of Henry VIII coming together and forming a girl group, while arguing over who should be the lead singer before finally coming together as one group.

Run time:

The first biggest difference between the student run of Six and the current runs of Six is its vastly shorter run time. All professional versions of the show have clocked in around 75 minutes, give or take. However, the student run of Six is only 60 minutes long that results in a generally more streamlined version of the show. While this may not sound like a massive difference, it does mean that this version is essentially 25% shorter than usual and does have massive ripple effects for the show. The first reaction most people have to listening to the student run is simply realising how streamlined it truly is, with there being very little dialogue between songs and what little dialogue there is sometimes being radically different. I mean the dialogue between Haus of Holbein often diverges into odd territories...which is saying something for Haus of Holbein.

Different songs:

In addition, every song in the student run is somewhat different to its current counterpart. Some changes are relatively small, such as the occasional changed lyric in Ex-Wives, Don’t Lose Ur Head or Six, or a slightly different tempo to Haus Of Holbein or Howard singing an extra chorus of AWYD. However...three songs (No Way, Heart of Stone and I Don’t Need Your Love) are widely different from their current counterparts, with all three having different lyrics and different tones, and No Way having similar yet still distinctly different musical elements to it.

I could sit here all day trying to analyse why exactly these songs were altered, especially as I have an intense love for these more indie, earnest feeling versions of the tunes we all know and love. However, it is important to acknowledge that some of these older songs simply didn’t fit with the tone (or, dare I say, vibe) of newer versions of Six. They worked for the student run, but that does not mean it would have translated well to other productions.

As for the megasix...it does not exist in this version of Six. The megasix will not make its debut until the studio production of Six, and even at that it is a very different version of the song.

The Queens as Characters:

A definite by-product of the shorter run time and some different songs in the student run has to be the characterisation of the queens in general. Each version of these queens feel so different to the current productions of Six in their own unique way and it’s something I wish I had more time to analyse. Generally, since this was the first production, the student queens don’t always conform to the usual expectations we have of the queens from Six. My favorite example is always Student!Boleyn, who is still quite energetic but also has this openly well-spoken nature to her (or maybe its just her accent..I’m a 17 year old not a theater critic do not take this post for anything more than what it is). In fact, I would easily argue that the youngest performers of these queens had the most mature versions of their respective queens. Yes, they bicker, but queens like Seymour and Boleyn aren’t played for laughs and don’t become the butt of every joke like they sometimes do in newer versions. In addition, the less produced nature of the songs/musical arrangements makes some queens feel so genuine and earnest, like Student!Seymour not being able to cope with the loss of her son or student!Howard just being so empty and broken throughout the show. These characterizations manage to feel so real and be so impactful, even though this is a literal student production being run by 18-20 year olds.

Now, I’m not saying that newer versions of the queens aren’t earnest or genuine or leave an impact because that is absolutely not true (the American versions of AYWD can literally break me). They just do this in a very different way...which makes sense considering that these are vastly different productions.

However...the shorter run time does have a negative impact for some of the Queens, as it does feel like Aragon, Boleyn and Seymour get such a large portion of the show dedicated to them, leaving Cleves, Howard and ESPECIALLY Parr by the wayside. This is more of a structural issue with Six that is still in effect to this day, however, I feel like it is most noticeable in this production. I won’t go fully in to it here (I’d rather have a dedicated post to the student queen characterisations) but needless to say Parr teeters on the edge of being a Mary Sue in this production, saved only by her amazing IDNYL and the talent of Shimali de Silva.

Musical arrangements:

While The Ladies in Waiting have sort of become characters in their own right within this fandom,people seem to forget that they didn’t make their debut until the U.K Tour in 2018 and were not named Maggie, Bessie, Joan and Maria until the West End run in 2019. Before this, the student and studio runs both had larger ensembles to back the queens up instead of being limited to guitar, bass, keys and drums. The student run’s arrangements are great (especially No Way and DLUH), but my favourite arrangements out of all versions of Six has to be the studio run, if only because I love that so many songs included jazz elements, especially No Way, Get Down and AYWD and how diverse everything sounded. While it’s great that the newer versions of Six feel more uniformly pop oriented rather than having lots of different elements like the studio and student runs, I do sort of miss the variety that the earlier versions of Six had to an extent.

In addition, because the student run of six was generally not as pop-oriented as the newer versions, it did mean that certain elements to songs are missing and the whole thing does feel less produced than newer versions (probably due to the budget and time constraints). This is not a slight to either version of the show however: the newer versions really drive home that the Queens are a pop-band with all the produced arrangements to match, which suits the direction that the show was intending to go, while the older versions of Six with their less produced arrangements suited the more indie, literal student oriented version of the show.

Costumes:

Let’s be real here, the student cast costumes were not winning any awards for their costumes. They were odd, mismatched, clashed with one another and overall just didn’t even reflect the queens very well. While Boleyn and her little green dress was a nice outfit, and I seriously love the connotations of Parr being in white (although her in blue also works well connotations wise) Gabriella Slade was a serious god send to the show.

Increased diversity:

Another thing that Six was not winning any awards for in its earlier days was its diversity. While the student run does boast the only NB queen so far in the form of their majesty, Tilda!Cleves, five out of six of the queens were white, with only Parr being played by a WOC (Shimali de Silva).

On a serious note, I’m glad that the diversity of the show improved from this run, and while the tour and Aussie cast are disappointing in this regard as they aren’t as diverse as we would all like, I seriously hope that this show continues to include all women from every background. This show should empower all women and NB folk, not just heterosexual, cisgender white women.

#six #six the musical #sixthemusical #six student run #anon #ask #anon ask #anonymous ask #ask answered #discussion #six analysis #analysis #enya discusses: six #six: student cast

58 notes · View notes

yourdeepestfathoms · 3 years

Text

The Most Important Part of Your Body

[Wing AU; UK Tour]

My part of the art/writing trade I did with @thenicestnonbinary!! They asked for a continuation of my last fic for them and an explanation to Joan’s prophecy, so here you go! Enjoy!

Word count: 3486

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

“Lighting a candle just to breathe the smoke is a bad, bad thing… Tread carefully, for we walk on hot coals… When you play with fire, you’re bound to get burned… Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, you’re going to burn with the rest of us.”

Those words kept replaying in Anya’s head no matter how hard she tried to think of something else. They kept shoving their way to the surface of her mind, ripping apart every other thought until it played on loop, taunting her, torturing her.

What did it mean?

She didn’t sleep at all the night it was said. The image of roaring flames flickered behind her eyelids whenever she closed her eyes, so she just stayed up, thinking.

That was a prophecy. She knew it was.

So what did it mean?

Would there be a fire? Was she going to light it? She couldn’t possibly see herself doing such a thing, but after the dark futures Joan told her about…

She had looked down at her claws and saw that they were shaking.

It had been six days since then, and Anya was on high alert. She was always looking for something that may start a fire- a frayed wire, a fallen light, just someone who looked more pyromaniacal than usual. But, so far, there was nothing.

Morbid curiosity soon grew to be too much- she approached Joan.

“Joan?”

She found the little hybrid in the rehearsal room, surprisingly. It was almost strange to see her out of her dressing room when a performance wasn’t going on.

Joan was tinkering with the piano, practicing with notes and a few chords. When Anya walked in, her ears swiveled around to her, then her head. Her wings perked up slightly, tail raising.

“Anya, hello,” Joan greeted, cracking a small smile.

“Hello, Joan,” Anya greeted back. She cleared her throat. “Joan, I need to ask you something.”

Joan tilted her head. “What?”

“Do you remember when you stayed over at my house?” Anya asked, and Joan nodded. “I wanted to know what that thing you said in your sleep meant. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

Joan blinked. “What thing?”

“The prophecy.”

Joan’s eyes widened. “I gave you a prophecy?”

Anya was confused. “Yeah, you did. Did you not know?”

“I don’t know anything about a recent prophecy,” Joan said, sounding anxious. She wrung her claws in her shirt. “What did I say?”

“Something about fire,” Anya told her, trying to swallow her own fear. “It was--”

Joan suddenly whimpered.

“Joan?”

The little hybrid was now curled on the piano stool, wings drawn in tightly around her, hands clutching at her head. She began to shiver, whimpering in distress, eyes squeezed shut.

“Joan? Joan.” Anya gently touched her shoulders, and they quaked beneath her hands. “What’s wrong? What do you see?”

“Fire,” Joan gasped raggedly. “Oh god, oh god, oh god--”

“Joan? Joan, breathe.” Anya told her, hoping to get through to her. “Come on, honey. You can do it. Breathe. Come back to me.”

Joan suddenly flinched backwards, eyes popped open, breathing heavily. Sweat beaded on her brow and ran down her pale face. She scrambled to her feet, nearly collapsing.

“W-we have to stop them!” Joan floundered, rushing for the door.

“Joan! Joan, hey!” Anya grabbed the panicked girl by the shoulders, squeezing her to try and ground her. “Hang on a moment.”

“No!” Joan yanked away from her and ran out into the hallway. Anya followed after her, watching the way she looked around wildly.

“Wh-where are they? Where is everyone?!” Joan cried. “W-we have to find them, Anya! We-- Agh!!”

She suddenly crumpled again, clutching at her head. Anya lunged down to her side and propped her up against her, stroking her with one wing.

“No! No!” Joan squirmed like she was being electrocuted. “Oh god, no! No!!” Tears were now streaming down her cheeks as she spiraled into full blown hysterics.

“Joan, what’s going on? What do you see?”

Joan screamed and shoved away from her, hightailing it down the hallway.

“Joan!!”

Anya chased after the girl, surprised by how fast she was despite her condition. She rounded the corner and found her collapsed on her knees in front of Cathy, Cleves, and Jane. They all looked simultaneously confused and concerned.

“Joan!” Anya went back down to her side and wrapped a wing around her. “Joan, honey, you need to breathe. You’re having a panic attack.”

“That’s what this is?” Cleves asked.

“Is she okay?” Cathy added.

“I--” Anya faltered, frowning down at Joan’s shuddering form. “I don’t know.”

Joan’s body spasmed. She looked up and her eyes were blank and glazed. When she began to speak, her voice wasn’t scared or panicked or anxious or pained. It was calm. Hollow.

“You feel it all over, and you can see it. And it deals with you. It really works on you. And you don't like it. You don't like it, I don't deserve that, y'know. And nobody else can really understand. You feel it all over. You feel it all over. And you just get the shakes. And it just, it comes up on you. Feel it all over. You feel it all over. Feel it all over…”

Anya swallowed thickly and looked up to gauge the reactions of the three queens: Cathy looked frightened, Cleves looked curious, and Jane looked concerned, but they all seemed to be a little unnerved.

“Was that a prophecy?” Cathy whispered.

“Was it?” Cleves asked, shifting. She shook out her wings as if they were crawling with spiders. “Brr. I’ve got goosebumps. That was freaky.”

“It’s coming,” Joan muttered, hanging her head limply. “It’s coming.” Her breathing rattled, body twitching. “We’re animated meat accepting complete infidelity of the body.”

Then, she shook her head and her eyes popped open again, grey and normal-looking.

“Joan, what is going on?” Jane asked.

“Where is everyone else?” Joan croaked. Her elbows trembled like they were about to buckle beneath the weight of her trembling body. “We have to save them!”

“Save them from what?” Cleves furrowed her eyebrows.

“The fire!” Joan cried. She leapt to her feet and scrambled down the hallway, using the wall for support. She began crying out the names of the other queens and ladies in waiting.

“Joan, wait!” Anya went after her.

She chased the hybrid to the wings of the stage, where Kat was talking with Bessie. When Joan saw the fifth queen, she let out a cry of relief and collapsed against her.

“Kat! Kat!” Joan wept.

Kat’s eyes widened and she lowered the girl to the ground. “Joan? Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

“I think it’s her visions,” Anya said. She watched as Kat swept her wings around Joan and held her close to her chest. “She’s really freaking out.”

“Oh, honey,” Kat murmured, stroking Joan’s head. “You poor little thing… Your head must be hurting so bad, huh?”

“K-Kat-- Kat--”

“Shh, shh,” Kat rocked her gently. “You’re okay. You’re going to be okay.”

“N-no-- No!” Joan tried to push away, breathing heavily.

Maggie came down from the nearby staircase, glanced at the scene, wrinkled her nose, then began walking onto the stage. Joan screamed.

“No!!” Joan shrieked, thrashing wildly in Kat’s arms and wings in an attempt to get free. “No! Don’t go in there! No!”

Maggie looked back at her. “Why?” She ruffled her wings and sniffed, clearly miffed. “I do what I want.

“No! No, Maggie, there’s a BOMB!”

And then, with a whoosh and a crash and a burst of light, the stage exploded into flames.

------

“Anne Askew was burned at the stake at Smithfield, London, aged 24, on 16 July 1546, with John Lascelles, Nicholas Belenian and John Adams. She was carried to execution in a chair wearing just her shift, as she could not walk and every movement caused her severe pain. She was dragged from the chair to the stake which had a small seat attached to it, on which she sat astride. Chains were used to bind her body firmly to the stake at the ankles, knees, waist, chest and neck.

Those who saw her execution were impressed by her bravery, and reported that she did not scream until the flames reached her chest.”

------

After an interminable time floating in a semi-conscious haze, the piercing smell of some burning annoyed her into a state of full wakefulness.

The smell of smoke and burning feathers choked her as she shuddered on the floor, slumber against a wall, nose pressed against the gritty floor. Her wings felt heavy, like they were being weighed down by dozens of logs, and an uncomfortable heat pressed down on her. Pushing herself up on weak arms, she raised her head to face the destruction in front of her.

Smoldering tendrils of curtains dot the floor from after they fell from the overhead poles, leaking toxic wisps of white smoke. Without them hanging up, she could see that half the stage had been turned into kindling, surrounding a yawning crater where the risers for the band once stood. The speakers and instruments and tech pieces were now blackened twists of scrap metal, and a hole’s been punched through the back wall, echoing into another room that was slowly being flooded with smoke and ash. Half the sprinklers above were raining water, the other half just dangled from busted pipes. She couldn’t see any bodies; the fire was too big. A few wounded in the wings with her were just now recovering from the shock of the blast; first someone groaned, then she heard someone calling for help.

Anya blinked and realized that her head must be rattled more than she had realized, because she was slumped against the wall without a memory of collapsing. She spent a few moments trying to make sense of what just happened.

As her head cleared a bit, she saw Kat pushing herself up from the ground, covered in a caking of soot. She saw Bessie on her knees, wide-eyeing the fire. She saw Cathy and Anne and Cleves and Jane and dozens of others running towards the wreckage, while others ran in the other direction.

She saw Joan standing in front of the flames, her quaking body outlined by the golden light.

“Oh my god!” Jane cried, clapping her hands over her mouth in shock.

“Wh-what happened?!” Cathy stammered in fear.

“What did this?!” Cleves shouted at the same time.

“Where is Maggie?!” Anne yelled, her eyes wide with fear.

“I tried to warn her,” Anya just barely heard Joan mutter. “I told her. I told her what would happen.”

Anne rounded on Joan, tears trembling on her lower eyelids. “What did you do?!”

“What did I do?!” Joan’s voice raised into a fever pitch. “I did nothing but try to prevent this happening! I tried to save everyone, and she did not listen to me! She went in like the ignorant fool she is!”

She turned to the fire, spreading her wings to the heat. “I saw it! I saw these flames and I tried to save everyone! I tried! I tried!”

Anne took a shaky step back. “Is Maggie dead?”

Joan did not answer, and Anne sobbed.

“Maybe I can--” Bessie stepped up and breathed in deeply, releasing a blast of frost on the fire trying to crawl into the wings. The flames were smothered, but the hell storm on the stage continued to rage wildly. She breathed out another jet of frost, fighting back the fire as more and more people began to flee the building.

“Watch out!”

There was a blur of gold as someone ran into the fire with their wings shielding their flammable clothing and hair. A moment later, they appeared again, dragging someone else by the arms.

“Maggie!!” Anne shrieked, lunging down to the body. Her friend was covered in burns and ash, and one of her wings looked badly charred, but she was breathing. “Maggie, oh Maggie! I’m so sorry! Maggie, I’m so sorry!”

Aragon frowned, then ran back into the fire. She was not immune to the bite of the flames, but her scaly wings were not flammable, and she was able to pull out two more bodies without only minimal burns.

Anya couldn’t recognize the two other corpses. All she knew was that they were very, very dead, charred beyond belief, wings turned to black skeletons upon their backs.

Anya attempted to get up, to maybe help, but a comforting hand pressed on her shoulder and a warm voice spoke to her, “Don’t move, you’re hurt.”

Looking up, she saw Cathy kneeling beside her. Her face was twisted with worry and fear. Anya’s vision began to blur as she was gazing at her.

“I’m perfectly able to--” As she talked, she made the mistake of trying to push herself to her feet. Something shifted in her right shoulder, sending a flare of pain throughout her body, making her gasp as her right arm collapsed under her weight.

Instead of saying, “told you so,” Cathy yelled for help. Medics had apparently arrived.

“Please," Cathy said, “don’t move. You have a large chunk of metal sticking out of your shoulder.”

Anya looked down and saw it gouged there. A twisted hunk of black iron embedded in her flesh, spilling out fountains of hot blood. Her vision began to blur even more. How did she not notice it before?

A painted lady Cimex and a blue Hydra in EMT jumpsuits finally made it through the crowd of people clogging the entrance and came over to where Anya was kneeling. They pushed Cathy aside with their wings, much to Anya’s dismay. She tried to reach for her friend, but the medics coaxed her into saying still while they began speaking. Something about a female black kite Avem showing signs of significant trauma and blood loss. She lost the thread of what they’re saying, because the Hydra medic started to cut the clothes off of her.

“What?” Anya croaked, and she didn’t realize how rough her voice was. The word echoed in her mind like she was in a cave. How much blood was she losing?”

“Shh,” The Hydra told her. “You need to stay still for me, hun.”

When she tossed aside a bundle of unidentifiable shreds of fabric that used to be a stage manager joke t-shirt, stained with equal parts blood and soot, Anya had to agree.

Anya felt very light-headed and dizzy, so she decided to close her eyes.

Funny. This felt a lot more peaceful than how she actually died.

“You’re right, Cathy. I’m really injured.” Her voice was a half-whisper and half-groan, and she had no idea if her friend heard her. She barely cared.

She felt the cold sting of something in her uninjured arm, and the drugs pushed her the rest of the way into unconsciousness.

------

Anya eventually woke up to bright white and the sharp smell of antibiotics. The slight dizziness she felt, and the absence of pain from her wounded shoulder told her that she’s probably still drugged-up on painkillers, if nothing else.

She was laying in a bed in a blindingly white hospital room, staring at the blank wall. She could smell blood somewhere.

She wondered how long she had been drugged insensible. She had no real memory after the Hydra medic stripped her and shot her with something. But, however badly she’d been hurt, they seem to have patched her up. She recovered to the point everyone felt safe ignoring her.

Anya groaned as she got to a seated position. She ached all over. The place where the intrusive chunk of metal once laid was now gone from her shoulder, and she realized that there was an IV tube injected into a vein in her left arm.

“Hey, don’t move around too much.”

Anya whipped her head around and saw Cathy. Relief instantly bloomed through her when she saw the blue jay unharmed and okay.

“Cathy,” She breathed out.

Cathy smiled softly and took her hand, twining their fingers together. “Hey, you.” She said. “It’s good to see you awake.”

“How long have I been out?” Anya asked, and her voice came out croaking and rough. She coughed and Cathy frowned, brushing some white hair from her face.

“A day.”

Anya’s eyes widened. “A day?”

Cathy nodded. “They sewed up the wound in your shoulder, but wanted to keep you under for a while longer. It’s nine, now.”

“Damn,” Anya muttered. “What happened? How is everyone?”

Cathy’s expression went grim. “Jackie and Sean are dead.” She said, referring to a robin Avem and cricket Cimex, both of which had been on the tech crew. “Maggie’s pretty beat up, but the doctors said she’ll make a full recovery soon. A few others are just burned.”

“God,” Anya said softly. “I can’t believe that really happened…”

“Me too,” Cathy said. “I’m just so happy you’re alive. When I heard the explosion go off I was so worried about you. I thought you had—”

“Hey.” Anya brushed her wing against Cathy. “None of that. Happy thoughts. Look, I’m here, aren’t I?”

Cathy smiled. “You are.” She squeezed Anya’s hand again, then cleared her throat. “The show is being shut down for awhile. Obviously.”

“Thank the goddesses,” Anya said. “I don’t know how anyone would be able to work after what happened.”

Cathy nodded. “Yeah. On the bright side, we get a vacation!”

They both shared a laugh.

“Where’s Joan?”

Cathy made a disgruntled expression that Anya didn’t understand. “I don’t know. I don’t really care, either.” Her voice was so hostile; Anya wasn’t used to her sounding so angry.

“Why not?” Anya furrowed her eyebrows.

“She could have stopped it!” Cathy suddenly exploded, causing Anya to flinch in surprise. ��She has precognition! And she was having visions! Why couldn’t she have told us what she had seen sooner instead of crying on the floor?”

Anya frowned. “Cathy, I don’t think she could.” She said. “You saw her. She was in a lot of pain. She was scared, too. I think she was too overwhelmed to be able to speak.”

Cathy scoffed. “Yeah right. I wouldn’t just flail around on the floor with the knowledge of a bomb about to go off. She could have told us before the day even happened! She can see the furtive! Why didn’t she see this sooner?”

“There’s a lot of different futures to see,” Anya tried to convince her. “This may not have been one she saw.”

“What, is a fucking bombing not big enough for her mind?” Cathy said cruelly, her voice loaded with venom.

“It’s not her fault, Cathy.”

“It is!” Cathy yelled. “If she had just said something, then Jackie and Sean wouldn’t be dead, the theater wouldn’t be destroyed, Maggie wouldn’t be in urgent care, and you wouldn’t be hurt right now!”

“Don’t blame her!” Anya yelled back. “She tried, okay? She tried. We have to give her that. A lot more people could have died without her.”

Cathy huffed and crossed her arms. “If that’s what helps you sleep at night, alright.”

Anya clenched her jaw, but didn’t argue. She was just tired and confused and so, so worried.

She stayed in the hospital for another hour until she was deemed well enough to leave. The first thing she did was fly to the wreckage sight, even though the doctors advised she didn’t fly for a day or so.

Police cars swarmed the building below Anya. Yellow tape was rolled out, restricting civilians from going in. The theater had turned into a full on crime scene.

Anya flew to the park field next, and that’s where she found her. In the same place where she took her hunting.

Anya landed beside Joan.

“I tried.”

Anya could tell from her voice that Joan had been crying.

“I did. I really tried. I wanted to save everyone.”

“You did your best.”

“My best wasn’t enough. Now two people are dead.”

Joan looked at Anya, and her grey eyes were puffy and red. Tear tracks were stained on her pale cheeks.

“Are you--are you--?”

“I’m okay, sweetie,” Anya said. She tugged down her sleeve to show Joan the bandages around her stitched shoulder. “See? I’m okay.”

Joan sniffled and tears spilled over. “O-oh god. Thank goodness.”

Anya wrapped her wings around the young hybrid and pulled her in close. Joan clung to her like a baby bat would to its mother, latched on with her little dewclaws. She sobbed into her chest, and Anya stroked her hair comfortingly, occasionally scratching behind her ears, hoping it would help.

“I wanted to save everyone,” Joan whispered shakily. “I did. I tried.” She sniffled. “Maybe I should just do what Henry did to me when I kept giving him bad prophecies…”

“What did he do?”

“He cut my tongue out.”

23 notes · View notes

toomanyfamdom · 5 years

Text

Many Shades of Green

I have to say some thank yous before I post this.

Thank you to @jane-fucking-seymour , @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts , @millie1536 and @bessie-bass-on-the-bass for being inspirations to me. Without them I wouldn’t have thought of starting to write. They never got mad if I sent them random messages and goodness knows what time for them and have kindly corrected me when necessary. So thank you.

But the person I owe the most to is @the-quiet-winds . I’ve talked most closely with them and they are an incredible writer and the first person to encourage me to basically get myself together and write something for goodness sake. They’ve been incredibly kind, never minding the annoying messages I send them and giving me her permission to write my own interpretations of her stories some co-written with @ichlugebulletsandcornnuts . So for this, I thank you.

This is my first publicized work and I’m open to constructive criticism. This is based on the personal head cannon I mentioned about Anne Boleyn so I decided I would just write about it instead. Please be patient with me. This may seem a little unrealistic but bear with please.

Also, does anyone want a tag list?

Tw: none that I can think of

Word count: 1318

***

All was calm in the queens household.

Which was weird, especially because the ladies-in-waiting were over for the evening for their monthly get together.

It wasn’t the only time the ladies were in the house, they only lived two doors down the road but it was the only scheduled, constant gathering.

They were all gathered in the living room, watching a movie, eating - or in some cases throwing - popcorn when one of the phones began to ring. Catherine, being the closest got to it first.

“Hello?” she answered, face brightening as the other person spoke, “Sasha! Give me one second, I’ll put you on speaker.” Sasha was their manager so if she phoned the house, it was something for everyone.

“Hello?” Sasha’s voice came through the speaker.

“Hiya love, you have all of us here,” Jane told the woman.

“Great, makes my life easier,” they all laughed, “I have some very exciting news for you all.”

“Don’t leave us hanging babes, tell us,” Anna laughed.

“You’ve been invited for a European tour.”

Silence. Then all hell broke loose.

“Are we really going on tour?”

“It would be so nice to go back home.”

“That I agree with, Bess.”

“I’d love to back to France.”

“Same but with Spain.”

“I’d love to go where you grew up Catherine.”

“How cool, we get to travel and still perform. Awesome!”

“Agreed, Kat.”

“That’s a lot of new rigs to learn.”

“You’ll be fine Joey.”

“Where are we going, Sasha?” Jane was the only person with something sensible to say.

“You’ll be starting in Portugal and working your way through Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and ending in Sweden.”

“That’s so many places,” Kat was in awe.

“So many different languages,” Cathy noted.

“We’ll have to see about getting interpreters,” Sasha added.

“Well you have Anna, Catherine, Anne, Maggie and I who can speak German, Spanish and French respectively,” Cathy said, “And Bessie-”

“I can speak Italian,” the bassist confirmed.

“Right,” she nodded, “so it’s just Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish we’ll need help with.”

“I’ll look into interpreters but no promises,” Sasha’s voice was uncertain.

“I’ll learn them.”

Every head turned to the queen who had just spoken.

“Are you sure, Anne? That’s a lot of work,” Maria questioned her friend.

“Well I’m already learning other languages and from what I’ve heard Portugese and Spanish are kind of similar and German, Dutch and Swedish come from the same family of languages so I wouldn’t mind. If it gives us some piece of mind,” Anne scratched her neck and giggle slightly, “I’ve been looking for some new languages to learn anyway so this just made my search so much easier.”

Only if you’re sure sister,“ Maggie looked concerned.

"I’m sure,” the woman in question affirmed, pulling her sister into her arms, “I promise if it gets too much, I’ll stop. Is that okay with everyone?”

Various affirmations were made and Sasha said, “Thank you Anne, that’s one less thing to worry about. Just letting you know, your opening date is in six months. Bye.”

“Thank you Sasha, bye,” Catherine hung up the phone, “well then, let’s get back to our movie, shall we?

***

Four months later and the ladies-in-waiting were over again. Maria, Joan, Jane and Catherine were all in the kitchen making the dinner together, Anna, Kat and Bessie were playing an intense game of Mario Kart and Anne, Maggie and Cathy were in Anne’s room.

"This is incredible,” said Cathy from where she was sitting on the floor by Anne’s desk with the queens many notebooks sat surrounding her, all in different colours and languages ranging from English to German to Swedish, “How many languages did you say?”

“Nine,” Anne said, looking up from where she was lying upside down off the edge of her bed reading some Greek poetry, dangerously close to kicking Maggie in the face from where she was drawing in a random sketch book she found, “and I’m working on a tenth, although it’s a little harder, see that dark blue one behind you? I’m not fluent, that would be impossible in four months but I’ll be able to help in most situations.”

“That’s amazing,” Cathy smiled at her, “now, come help me put these away.”

Anne closed her book and set it gently on the floor putting her hands down and kicking herself off the bed and over onto her feet. She took the books from a laughing Cathy and went round the other side of the divider she had put in her room and came back around to the girls, flopping at Cathy and Maggie’s feet, back to her original position.

“You’re gonna hurt yourself one of these days,” Maggie didn’t even look up from her drawing.

“I know,” Anne winked at Cathy to have the pair laugh at her despairingly.

“You’ll have to teach me some of those languages when we get time,” Cathy said, “Its so nice to see this other side of you and I’m so happy you feel comfortable enough to show me this side.”

Anne sat up, “You two are my nearest and dearest, how could I not be comfortable around you?”

The trio smilled at each other and all of their phones buzzed.

“Did you two get this as well?” asked Maggie.

“From Sasha,” Cathy had already read the message and was looking at it with wide eyes.

“Is it bad or?” Anne’s phone was out of reach.

“The tour’s been cancelled,” Maggie told her.

Anne bolted up straight. “What?! What do you mean?” she asked increadiusly.

“Exactly what she said.”

“What on…” Anne trailed off then jumped off the bed and running downstairs, “Familly meeting in the kitchen!”

Anna jumped when she heard Anne’s shout. The German looked over at her two companions.

“If Anne’s calling a family meeting,” started Kat.

“Something is definitely wrong,” Bessie finished.

“Better not keep the hurricane waiting,” the three went to the kitchen, meeting Maggie and Cathy in the hall and were met with a pacing Anne Boleyn.

“Perfect, we’re all here now,” Anne said, “Have a seat.” She gestured towards the table.

“Anne, what’s wrong?” Jane asked as softly as she could.

“Nothing’s wrong per say, just changes, I don’t like sudden changes so yeah,” Anne muttered to her self. She stopped took a deep breath then said, “Check your phones.”

They all did - except for Maggie and Cathy who tried to calm Anne down a bit. “I have a message from Sasha,” said Kit a bit confused, “why is she messaging me?”

“I have one too,” said Maria

“I think we all do,” Jane said in a grim voice, reading the message.

“Is it bad?” Joan looked over to her former mistress, scared to read it.

Anne took a deep breath, “The tour’s been cancelled.”

“What?!” Katherine almost jumped out of her seat, “But why? All the prep was going so well and we were getting venues just fine.”

“Says here that our sponsor backed out,” Anna said, “If that’s true, there’s no way the tour could be funded babes.”

“You did all that learning for nothing,” Catherine realised the root of Anne’s distress.

Anne visibly deflated, leaning against the counter top, head in her hand. “Its not even that. Well, it is that a little but,” she sighed, “You may not know or remember this from our past lives but I thoroughly enjoy learning. Languages especially, they’re challenging. But I also love learning with a reason. I probably would’ve learnt the languages anyways but the tour gave me a reason. It gave me constancy. And that’s been torn from underneath my feet.”

Suddenly there was a Kitty sized person embracing Anne. “I think its really cool how much you’ve managed to learn Annie. Nine foreign languages? That’s incredible!”

“Well, now I have an excuse to keep learning yeah? Look on the bright side!” Anne returned her cousin’s hug, “Thanks sister.”

#im actually so nervous about this #hope you like it #six the musical fanfic #catherine of aragon #anne boleyn #anna of cleves #jane seymour #katherine howard #catherine parr #maggie on the guitar #joan on the keys #bessie on the bass #maria on the drums

78 notes · View notes

blackkudos · 4 years

Text

Betty Carter

Betty Carter (born Lillie Mae Jones; May 19, 1929 – September 26, 1998) was an American jazz singer known for her improvisational technique, scatting and other complex musical abilities that demonstrated her vocal talent and imaginative interpretation of lyrics and melodies. Vocalist Carmen McRae once remarked: "There's really only one jazz singer—only one: Betty Carter."

Early life

Carter was born in Flint, Michigan, and grew up in Detroit, where her father, James Jones, was the musical director of a Detroit church and her mother, Bessie, was a housewife. As a child, Carter was raised to be extremely independent and to not expect nurturing from her family. Even 30 years after leaving home, Carter was still very aware of and affected by the home life she was raised in, and was quoted saying:

I have been far removed from my immediate family. There's been no real contact or phone calls home every week to find out how everybody is…As far as family is concerned, it's been a lonesome trek…It's probably just as much my fault as it is theirs, and I can't blame anybody for it. But there was…no real closeness, where the family urged me on, or said…'We're proud'…and all that. No, no…none of that happened.

While the lack of support from Carter's family caused her to feel isolated, it may also have instilled self-reliance and determination to succeed. She studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory at the age of 15, but only attained a modest level of expertise.

At the age of 16, Carter began singing. As her parents were not big proponents of her pursuing a singing career, she would sneak out at night to audition for amateur shows. After winning first place at her first amateur competition, Carter felt as though she were being accepted into the music world and decided that she must pursue it tirelessly. When she began performing live, she was too young to be admitted into bars, so she obtained a forged birth certificate to gain entry in order to perform.

Career

Even at a young age, Carter was able to bring a new vocal style to jazz. The breathiness of her voice was a characteristic seldom heard before her appearance on the music scene. She also was well known for her passion for scat singing and her strong belief that the throwaway attitude that most jazz musicians approached it with was inappropriate and wasteful due to its spontaneity and basic inventiveness, seldom seen elsewhere.

Detroit, where Carter grew up, was a hotbed of jazz growth. After signing with a talent agent after her win at amateur night, Carter had opportunities to perform with famous jazz artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, who visited Detroit for an extensive amount of time. Gillespie is often considered responsible for her strong passion for scatting. In earlier recordings, it is apparent that her scatting had similarities to the qualities of Gillespie's.

At the time of Gillespie's visit, Charlie Parker was receiving treatment in a psychiatric hospital, delaying her encounter with him. However, Carter eventually performed with Parker, as well as with his band consisting of Tommy Potter, Max Roach, and Miles Davis. After receiving praise from both Gillespie and Parker for her vocal prowess, Carter felt an upsurge in confidence and knew that she could make it in the business with perseverance.

Carter's confidence was well founded. In 1948, she was asked by Lionel Hampton to join his band. She finally had her big break. Working with Hampton's group gave her the chance to be bandmates with artists such as Charles Mingus and Wes Montgomery, as well as with Ernest Harold "Benny" Bailey, who had recently vacated Gillespie's band and Albert Thornton "Al" Grey who would later go on to join Gillespie's band. Hampton obviously had an ear for talent and a love for bebop. Carter too had a deep love for bebop as well as a talent for it. Hampton's wife Gladys gave her the nickname "Betty Bebop", a nickname she reportedly detested. Despite her good ear and charming personality, Carter was fiercely independent and had a tendency to attempt to resist Hampton's direction, while Hampton had a temper and was quick to anger. Hampton expected a lot from his players and did not want them to forget that he was the band's leader. She openly hated his swing style, refused to sing in a swinging way, and she was far too outspoken for his tastes. Carter honed her scat singing ability while on tour, which was not well received by Hampton as he did not enjoy her penchant for improvisation. Over the course of two and a half years, Hampton fired Carter a total of seven times.

Carter was part of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra that played at the famed Cavalcade of Jazz in Los Angeles at Wrigley Field which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on July 10, 1949. They did a second concert at Lane Field in San Diego on September 3, 1949. They also performed at the sixth famed Cavalcade of Jazz concert on June 25, 1950. Also featured on the same day were Roy Milton & His Solid Senders, Pee Wee Crayton's Orchestra, Dinah Washington, Tiny Davis & Her Hell Divers, and other artists. 16,000 people were reported to be in attendance and the concert ended early because of a fracas while Hampton's band played "Flying High".

Being a part of Hampton's band provided a few things for "The Kid" (a nickname bestowed upon Carter that stuck for the rest of her life): connections, and a new approach to music, making it so that all future musical attitudes that came from Carter bore the mark of Hampton's guidance. Because of Hampton's hiring of Carter, she also goes down in history as one of the last big band era jazz singers in history. However, by 1951, Carter left the band. After a short recuperation back home, Carter was in New York, working all over the city for the better part of the early 1950s, as well as participating in an extensive tour of the south, playing for "camp shows". This work made little to no money, but Carter believed it was necessary in order to develop as an artist, and was a way to "pay her dues".

Very soon after Carter's arrival in New York City, she was given the opportunity to record with King Pleasure and the Ray Bryant Trio, becoming more recognizable and well-known and subsequently being granted the chance to sing at the Apollo Theatre. This theatre was known for giving up-and-coming artists the final shove into becoming household names. Carter was propelled into prominence, recording with Epic label by 1955 and was a well-known artist by the late 1950s. Her first solo LP, Out There, was released on the Peacock label in 1958.

Miles Davis can be credited for Carter's bump in popularity, as he was the person who recommended to Ray Charles that he take Carter under his wing. Carter began touring with Charles in 1960, then making a recording of duets with him in 1961 (Ray Charles and Betty Carter), including the R&B-chart-topping "Baby, It's Cold Outside", which brought her a measure of popular recognition. In 1963 she toured in Japan with Sonny Rollins. She recorded for various labels during this period, including ABC-Paramount, Atco and United Artists, but was rarely satisfied with the resulting product. After three years of touring with Charles and a total of two recordings together, Carter took a hiatus from recording to marry. She and her husband had two children. However, she continued performing, not wanting to be dependent upon her husband for financial support.

The 1960s became an increasingly difficult time for Carter as she began to slip in fame, refusing to sing contemporary pop music, and her youth fading. Carter was nearly forty years old, which at the time was not conducive to a career in the public eye. Rock and roll, like pop, was steadily becoming more popular and provided cash flow for labels and recording companies. Carter had to work extremely hard to continue to book gigs because of the jazz decline. Her marriage also was beginning to crumble. By 1971, Carter was single and mainly performing live with a small group consisting of merely a piano, drums, and a bass. The Betty Carter trio was one of very few jazz groups to continue to book gigs in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Carter created her own record label, Bet-Car Records, in 1969, the sole recording source of Carter's music for the next eighteen years:

....in fact, I think I was probably the first independent label out there in '69. People thought I was crazy when I did it. 'How are you gonna get any distribution?' I mean, 'How are you gonna take care of business and do that yourself?' 'Don't you need somebody else?' I said, 'Listen. Nobody was comin' this way and I wanted the records out there, so I found out that I could do it myself.' So, that's what I did. It's the best thing that ever happened to me. You know. We're talking about '69!

Some of her most famous recordings were originally issued on Bet-Car, including the double album The Audience with Betty Carter (1980). In 1980 she was the subject of a documentary film by Michelle Parkerson, But Then, She's Betty Carter. Carter's approach to music did not concern solely her method of recording and distribution, but also her choice in venues. Carter began performing at colleges and universities, starting in 1972 at Goddard College in Vermont. Carter was excited at this opportunity, as it was since the mid-1960s that Carter had been wanting to visit schools and provide some sort of education for students. She began lecturing along with her musical performances, informing students of the history of jazz and its roots.

By 1975, Carter's life and work prospects began to improve, and Carter was beginning to be able to pick her own jobs once again, touring in Europe, South America, and the United States. In 1976, Carter was a guest live performer on Saturday Night Live′s first season on the air, and was also a performer at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1977 and 1978, carving out a permanent place for herself in the music business as well as in the world of jazz.

In 1977, Carter enjoyed a new peak in critical and popular estimation, and taught a master class with her past mentor, Dizzy Gillespie, at Harvard. In the last decade of her life, Carter began to receive even wider acclaim and recognition. In 1987 she signed with Verve Records, who reissued most of her Bet-Car albums on CD for the first time and made them available to wider audiences. In 1988 she won a Grammy for her album Look What I Got! and sang in a guest appearance on The Cosby Show (episode "How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?"). In 1994 she performed at the White House and was a headliner at Verve's 50th anniversary celebration in Carnegie Hall. She was the subject of a 1994 short film by Dick Fontaine, Betty Carter: New All the Time.

In 1997 she was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton. This award was one of thousands, but Carter considered this medal to be her most important that she received in her lifetime.

Death

Carter continued to perform, tour, and record, as well as search for new talent until she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in the summer of 1998. She died on September 26, 1998, at the age of 69, and was later cremated. She was survived by her two sons.

Legacy

Carter often recruited young accompanists for performances and recordings, insisting that she "learned a lot from these young players, because they're raw and they come up with things that I would never think about doing."

1993 was Carter's biggest year of innovation, creating a program called Jazz Ahead, which took 20 students who were given the opportunity to spend an entire week training and composing with Carter, a program that still exists to this day and is hosted in The Kennedy Center.

Betty Carter is considered responsible for discovering great jazz talent, her discoveries including John Hicks, Curtis Lundy, Mulgrew Miller, Cyrus Chestnut, Dave Holland, Stephen Scott, Kenny Washington, Benny Green and more.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Betty Carter among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Discography

CD compilations

1990: Compact Jazz – (Polygram) – Bet-Car and Verve recordings from 1976 to 1987

1992: I Can't Help It – (Impulse!/GRP) – the Out There and The Modern Sound albums on one compact disc

1999: Priceless Jazz – (GRP) – Peacock and ABC-Paramount recordings from 1958 and 1960

2003: Betty Carter's Finest Hour – (Verve) – recordings from 1958 to 1992

On multi-artist compilations

1988: "I'm Wishing" on Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films

1997: "Lonely House" on September Songs – The Music of Kurt Weill

#05/19 #09/26

7 notes · View notes

boleyn-falcon · 4 years

Text

Tour Joan,Maggie, and Bessie all play Animal Crossing NH and it’s great

Bessie just minds her own fucking business, maybe once in awhile trading with Joan for an item she needs

While Maggie just constantly goes to Joan’s island to smack the shit out of her with a net

Like she will text Joan randomly during the like

“Hey shrimp, get on Animal Crossing and open up your stupid ass island!!”

“B-but Maggie it’s 11:48 and we have work tomorrow..-“

“Does it look like I care!? Open up your damn island Joan!”

“ ;~; “

So yea then Maggie proceeds to go to Joan’s island and chase her around, beating her with a bug net ; maybe on a good day she will be merciful and only just chase her around playing her tambourine constantly to annoy the shit out of her

Maggie knows better than to try that shit with Bessie

#six #six musical #six the musical #liw #joan on the keys #maggie on the guitar #bessie on the bass #tour!joan on the keys #tour!maggie on the guitar #tour!bessie on the bass #six the musical tour #ladies in waiting hcs #six the musical hcs #ladies in waiting headcannons #six the musical headcanons

19 notes · View notes

hmel78 · 4 years

Text

In conversation with Ray Thomas ...

Ray Thomas (29.12.1941 - 04.01.2018)

RAY THOMAS – Founding member of The Moody Blues, admits that success happened quickly for “a bunch of lads from the Midlands who could play a bit”. For Ray himself that musical journey began as a boy – “I always sang, being a Welshman” laughs Thomas “ in school choirs, and the Birmingham youth choir”. Progressing to a one string bass in a skiffle group in the 1950s, Thomas eventually bumped into fellow ‘Moodies’ founding member, Mike Pinder. The two headed to Germany where Ray admits that they were “ripped off”, and returned to Birmingham aged 21, determined to carry on as musicians.

Thomas recalls that what they found on their return to Birmingham, amongst the 250 or so bands on the circuit, was “complete disillusionment! – ‘Brum beat’ wasn’t taking off as the next ‘Mersey beat’ like people had anticipated, and bands were breaking up left right and centre”. Having heard Blues bands touring the circuits in Europe, and in the midst of the scene in Birmingham falling apart, Thomas and Pinder decided that Blues was the way forward. The only other Blues artist in Birmingham at that time was Spencer Davis. Together, Thomas and Pinder approached Denny Laine, who was living with Graeme Edge and his parents; landing Graeme the drum stool on Denny’s recommendation. Disappointingly for the band, John Lodge was not in a position to turn professional musician at the time, and in his place they recruited Clint Warwick. “We Bascially formed a Birmingham supergroup!” exclaims Thomas, “I don’t really think any of us expected the speed at which things took off for us after that”. And it’s true – after only a short spell playing in Clubs around Birmingham, ‘The Moody Blues’ were picked up by a management company, and moved down to London. With the current re-release, marking the 50th Anniversary, of their first album “The Magnificent Moodies” [Cherry Red Records] - I caught up with Ray Thomas for a chat about the beginnings of a Birmingham Blues band, who went on to be considered as global pioneers of progressive and orchestral rock ...

HR : “The Magnificent Moodies” is a very fitting title for a first album, considering the success you went on to have!

RT : We felt, at the time, that it was a bit pretentious to call it that, but management thought it was a good idea!

HR : Do you have any particular memories of recording the album?

RT : It’s been 50 years, and you tend to forget certain things, you know? But I do remember finding “Go Now” ...

We were a working band at the time, just moved down to London, and we’d play anywhere. One night “Manfred Man” pulled out of a show at The Marquee Club, and we stepped in for them, which lead to us being offered our own regular night there. It was a major breakthrough for us in London. The Marquee Club was the place to be seen, and people would queue around the block to see us perform heavy blues. We had talked about putting together an album of songs that we performed live, but Studio time was like gold dust in London at the time and we just couldn’t get in anywhere to start and lay anything down. A friend of the managers from America used to send over boxes of singles and acetates, and one day we came across “Go Now” by Bessie Banks and her brother. It hadn’t been released, but she had laid it down as a demo which was very much lighter and slower than our version, but we loved the song.

At the same time, the Marquee were building a studio at the back of the club. We asked if we could go into the studio and record it. However, the studio was still pretty much a building site, apart from the control room which was almost finished. So we went in there and set up amongst ladders and bags of cement, and recorded “Go Now”. We were the first band to record in Marquee Studios - we were lucky with that. We ended up doing about half the album there – and the other half was recorded at Olympic Studios.

HR : When “The Magnificant Moodies” was released, did you ever imagine what followed?

RT : It was a bit of a shock, because from forming the band to having a number one with “Go Now”, it was a relatively short space of time.

We were all elated , but didn’t realise what a big hit it would be. We were a bit naive really ... It was a massive hit across Europe, especially France. We spent a lot of time touring France, with a lot of the big blues artists. And proof of how naive we were :- We used to stay in Paris – on the West Bank, in the ‘artists’ area. We rented a studio there and recorded a song that Denny wrote called “Boulevard de la Madeline” – he’d seen the signpost on the street and romanticised about it to the point of writing the song, but the Parisian’s ended up in arms about it. When we played it on stage we would silence the audience! What we didn’t realise is that “Boulevard de la Madeline”, was bang in the middle of the red light district! We didn’t know!

We had success in a LOT of countries, incredibly. America loved us, but oddly enough - “Go Now” wasn’t a hit in the states. They released “Tuesday Afternoon” instead, and that did OK.

HR : “The Magnificent Moodies” was the only album that you recorded as that first 1964-66 line-up wasn’t it? Would you have been happy to carry on and record more music in that genre, or were you ready for a change? Did you embrace what came after Denny and Clint left?

RT : The thing was, Clint was married with a couple of kids, and his wife wasn’t happy about the time he was spending on the road , so he went back to Birmingham to run the family business.

Denny left more or less at the same time, to go solo – he fancied trying out songs with a string quartet, which he did, and had a certain amount of success.

I felt like The Moodies were worth the perseverance, despite things having slowed down a bit for us, and had no real issues about carrying on with a change of band members. I’d worked with John Lodge in a band called “Elright and the Rebels” – I was Elright of course – a right a bloody prat! John was actually our first choice of bass player when we formed ‘The Moody Blues’, but his dad wouldn’t let him do it until he’d finished his apprenticeship. Same as my Dad, but I was a year older than John. We all came from working class backgrounds where our parents knew that music was a dodgy game, and wanted us to have a trade to fall back on. In that 12 months whilst John finished his apprenticeship, we’d had a number 1 hit with “Go Now” – so when I called him up, he was down to London like a shot!

I found Justin quite by accident really. I was sitting in a club called the “The Scotch & St James”, which was the meeting place for bands back then, having a drink with Eric Burdon [The Animals] and he was in the throes of putting a new Animals together. I mentioned that I was looking for a new guitarist / singer. Eric had put an anonymous advert in the NME, “Top recording band needs guitarist”, and found who he wanted - so he gave me all of the applications he hadn’t yet gone through, and fate handed me Justin.

And that was the new Moodies.

HR : When you enlisted John and Justin, the band took a different direction musically ... RT : Musically we were moving towards using strings and stuff anyway - If you could have listened to what Mike and Denny were writing towards the end of that time, you could hear that influence creeping in. Justin aided that because he had a much softer voice ...

HR : “Days Of Future Passed” was the first album released with the new line-up; the rhythm and heavy blues, suddenly having been replaced by the orchestral opening of ‘The Day Begins’, and a very different vocal sound ... How was that received?

RT : To tell you the truth, it went down like a cup of cold sick with the record company! [laughs] Before we recorded it – Decca, who we were signed to, had installed this new ‘Deramic’ sound system – best described as Wall to Wall stereo, instead of that old ping pong stereo sound. They wanted us to do a demonstration disc for this sound system, to send out with their reps, and asked us if we would go in and play a couple of standard Rock and Roll numbers; to compliment that, they wanted Peter Knight (composer) to record a couple of classical numbers, and these would become the demo ... but it was going to be rubbish!

So, Tony Clarke - one of Deccas top producers - and Peter Knight put their necks on the line for us at that point. Again - We couldn’t get into the studio to record ‘Days Of Future Passed’, so we approached Tony and Peter with the idea. They liked it, and helped us to record the whole thing in about 8 days - we recorded “Legend Of The Mind” in the same session.

We never actually recorded with the Orchestra ourselves. The roadie would take over what we’d worked on each night, to Peter, and he would then write the bridge for the song. At the very end Peter recorded the orchestra, and then stitched it all together.

We were absolutely bowled over by it. We had achieved exactly what we wanted.

Every Tuesday, Decca would get all of their producers together with what they’d recorded during the week, and the powers that be would sit and listen and decide what they were going to do with it.

Tony played them “Days Of Future Passed” and they said “What the bloody Hell is that?” They didn’t know how to market it because it didn’t fit into any of their pigeon holes. Fortunately for us that afternoon, a chap called Walt Maguire who was over from America - the head of London Records [American Decca] - said “Christ! If you’re not going to release that here, give it to me, I’ll release it in America. It’s fantastic!”

So they decided to give it to him and agreed he could do that, and also decided to release it here. Nobody got into trouble, on our account, and that was the beginning of the new ‘Moodies’, with “Days Of Future Passed”!

We had ‘The Beatles’ come around to our house that night and played it to them ... and they loved it. We were good friends with them, especially George and John. They used to bring stuff for us to listen to too, because they trusted our judgements on it. There was none of that back biting in those days. Everyone was just busy being creative.

We supported them on their last English tour – with Denny and Clint. That was a hoot! I don’t think I dare say too much about what we used to get up to ... But you could see they [The Beatles] weren’t going to do anymore. They were writing some beautiful songs, but you couldn’t hear them. All you could hear was “Ladies and Gentlemen, The B ..” and then there’d just be screaming. The truth is, that they got totally cheesed off with it. They wanted people to listen to what they were doing. The fans were their own worst enemies really ...

HR : Talking of your connection to The Beatles - You were managed by Brian Epstein for a while. Surely that couldn’t have gone better could it?

RT : Well that’s debatable actually. Brian Epstein, was in love with a Bull Fighter in Spain and used to go over there a lot. He had a big organisation by the time he was managing us, but when he wasn’t there, nobody was making any decisions in his absence. We were reliant on all of these people to get us the work, and look after our affairs. They were our agent as well, and things had been quiet for us for a while when a promoter in France contacted Epstein’s team wanting us to tour over there again. So we agreed to it. We touched down at the airport in Paris to crowds of press folks, and screaming fans! We didn’t know that the record company had released “Bye Bye Bird”, and it had been a massive hit there. In short - This promoter had literally paid us peanuts for this tour, and we were a bit pissed off about it all. We went down to see Brian at his house as soon as we got back. There was a bit of a heated debate and I actually said to him “You’re the head of a crap organisation” – so he had a dramatic tantrum, threw us out of his house, and told us to meet him at the office in the morning. When we arrived there, he’d got together all his heads of department and in front of us asked them all about what had happened. He just got blank responses. At which point he stood up and said “You’re right, I am the head of a crap organisation”. Then he asked us what we wanted, and we asked for the contract back. So he sent his legal guy to get the contract, ripped it up into pieces in front of us; told us we were free, wished us luck, and we left the office ...

HR : Well his luck must have rubbed off on you, given the continued success you went on to have. You’ve got a fairly impressive discography there, as proof! RT : Yes I suppose I have really! I’ve lead one hell of a life!! [laughs] I was with ‘The Moody Blues’ for over 40 years, until my health prevented me from carrying on in 2003. It wasn’t a falling out or anything like that, I just had to pack it in. On Doctors orders! I’ve no regrets though. I was approaching 61 years old, had played everywhere I’d ever wanted to - except Sydney Opera house which I would have love to play!

Do you know? We were the first band to play Madison Square Gardens, in New York, twice in the same day, and the City Council put a block on that ever happening again because it brought the traffic in Manhattan to a standstill with everyone trying to get in and out! [laughs]. I went for a walk between shows that day, with our publicist, and thankfully nobody recognised me. We used to get mobbed wherever we went as a group, and to be honest that day I just fancied bit of fresh air and some roasted chestnuts from the street vendor! As we’re standing there, some folks walked up to us asking if we had any tickets – they thought we were ticket touts! It annoyed me even back then, people asking $400 dollars per ticket! So I walked up to one of these touts and asked him how much he wanted for two tickets, and he actually only wanted $200, so I handed it over, and carried on eating my bag of nuts! Next thing, a young couple came up asking for tickets and I said, “I have got some actually” – and gave them to them for free. Our publicist looked at my like I was crazy and said “What the bloody hell did you do that for?” and I said “because I’m going to get one hell of a kick out of knowing that when I walk out on stage later, that that young couple will look up and realise that I’m the bloke who gave them their tickets!”

HR : Do you have a favourite album amongst the 14 that you recorded with the ‘Moodies’?

RT : Well I don’t know really because I always say that they’re all our children. I have different memories of different albums and they all mean something. I love them all. You know, when you start with absolutely nothing and end up with something like “To Our Children’s Children’s Children” – it’s very rewarding. We had a lot of fun playing around with sounds over the years. They were happy days.

HR : And what are you up to these days, post ‘Moody Blues’?

RT : I’m still doing a lot of recording – I’ve never stopped recording really. Solo albums, collaborations and all of that.

Just before Christmas (2014) I was working with John Lodge again. His solo album comes out soon. It was just like old times ...

I’m hoping to record a new solo album this year too – gives me something to do amongst fishing trips! I like to keep busy ...

I’ve just recorded with an Italian ‘Prog’ band, who paid me in Pasta! [laughs] I’m not kidding ... about a month later this huge box of pasta turned up on the doorstep from Naples!

And then I went out to record with a Russian band - the son of a billionaire oil baron, who thought that I was God!

HR : Well You are regarded as a pioneer of progressive and orchestral rock – that’s verging on God-like!

[laughs] At the end of the day - I’m just a guy from Birmingham, with a bit of talent, who got lucky ...

#ray thomas #the moody blues #orchestral rock #the beatles #justin hayward #john lodge #moody blues #flute

3 notes · View notes

cynicalrainbows · 4 years

Note

may I request a fic about Tour Kitty and her daughter Bessie? It can be about anything you want!

So this was originally part of something longer that got discarded- I’d like to write something better, but in the meantime, perhaps this drabble will do? Thanks for the ask anyhow, anon.

(For all those unfamiliar with the hc- credited to @bessie-bass-on-the-bass- the idea is that since Tour Kitty has strong mum-friend vibes and Tour Bessie is absolutely Babey, they end up having a very close mother-daughter relationship (similar to WE Kitty and Jane). I know most people don’t headcanon as much about the LiW but I love this headcanon, ergo this snippet.)

Kitty switched on her tv and flipped through the channels. She wanted, if Bessie woke up, for her to wake up to things feeling normal, safe- to light and warmth and company and gentle background noise… to that end, she flipped past the news, a loud-sounding action film and the football until she found a nature thing- koalas clinging to trees and munching on eucalyptus- which looked innocuous enough.

She turned the sound down as low as possible- she didn’t want to disturb Bessie unless she absolutely had to. Looking at the dark circles under her eyes, she wanted to kick herself. How did she not see this before? Why hadn’t she thought to ask if she was alright, if she was coping- it wasn’t as if she didn’t have nightmares still herself, and god knows, Bessie’s story was more or less a carbon-copy of her own, ending aside.

Every so often Bessie would twitch a bit in her sleep, whimpering and pressing herself into the pillows, and Kitty would smooth her hair and murmur reassurance until she settled again. After a couple of hours, she suddenly bolted upright with a gasp, her eyes wide and panicky, breathing hard.

‘Hey-’ Kitty laid her hand gently against the girls back. ‘It’s ok.’

‘What’s-’ Bessie blinked, looking about her in confusion. ‘I-’

‘Just a dream, sweetheart.’ Kitty tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. ‘Remember? You’re safe with me now, ok? We’re both in my room, in our house.’

‘I dreamt I was-’ Bessie screwed her eyes shut. ‘I dreamt I was still there- I was at court... Henry...everyone was so angry with me- I kept trying to run away-’ Her voice wavers a bit. ‘They was catching me up- I kept-’ A tear rolls down her cheek and Kitty reaches out to brush it away. ‘I kept screaming, I kept screaming for you to come and help, to save me… You turned away….’ Her voice breaks into a sob and Kitty pulls her gently into her arms.

‘Oh sweetheart- that sounds horrible-’ Bessie nods tearfully into her chest. ‘I’m so sorry- you know I’d never do that in real life, right?’ Another nod. Kitty begins to stroke her hair back, hoping to soothe her. It seems to help- Bessie’s tears stop before they’ve really started, although Kitty knows this is probably due more to exhaustion than anything else.

‘Shall I tell you how it would really go?’

Bessie yawns and nods again. Kitty adjusts her hold on the girl a bit and then begins.

‘Ok. So- if you were running, from anyone or anything, not just from... well, from anything or anyone, I would of course swoop in to save you…. I mean, I’m not a good runner but maybe I could have a rope instead? Like a rope I could swing down from, like someone in a film…. Much more graceful than running. Much easier to do in costume too…’

‘In costume?’

‘Well, I’d have to be able to save you even if it was a show day. Got to have a bassist, after all.’

It earns her a small, tired smile.

‘And the rope?’

‘Well swinging in to rescue people is so much more dramatic…’

‘But you’re scared of heights-’ Bessie sounds very sleepy and Kitty gives an internal sigh of relief. She leans to kiss the girls forehead.

‘True. Maybe I wouldn’t be if it was you getting chased though. Because all I’d think about would be saving you. That and how cool I’d look. But mostly about saving you. But you do still have to promise to hold my hand if Anne makes us all go on the London Eye again, in a non saving-you capacity…. She keeps threatening we’re going to go back for New Years...’

The faint sleepy chuckle is music to her ears- she feels Bessie snuggle closer.

‘Anyway, I’d swing in on a rope. And I’d have a cape too. Not pink- maybe purple? Or silver? It would look amazing and whoever was chasing you would be momentarily dazzled by it, so I’d be able to scoop you up and swing away with you to safety before they could even see again.’

‘What if-’ She has to lean in to make out the words. ‘What if- they were too fast-’

‘They couldn’t be sweetheart. Or if they were, I’d still manage to stop them- I’d use my rope to lasssoo them or something. No matter what- whoever they were- I’d definitely save you, ok? Always. Every time. No question. I will never not keep you safe, I promise you.’

There was no answer- she couldn’t tell if Bessie had dropped off to sleep or if she was just too sleepy to respond. Either way, Kitty was glad she seemed so much calmer.

Eventually she decides to get some sleep too. She turns out the lights but leaves her lava lamp switched on so that Bessie won’t have to wake up in the dark if and when she does wake up again. She watched the blobs of yellow oil rise and sink slowly through the glowing tube until she dozes off.

#six #sixfic #six the musical #six the musical fanfiction

17 notes · View notes