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Shelved: Jeff Buckley’s Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk

The posthumous Buckley industry began with this problematic album, proof that the people who control a musician’s estate don’t always have his music in mind.

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Tom Maxwell | Longreads | February 2019 | 14 minutes (3,966 words)

On the evening of May 29, 1997, singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley and his roadie Keith Foti picked their way down the steep, weedy bank to Wolf River Harbor in Memphis, Tennessee. Buckley, wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and heavy Doc Martens boots, waded into the water singing Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” After about 15 minutes, a boat passed. Concerned about their boom box getting wet, Foti moved it out of harm’s way. When he turned back around, Buckley was gone with the undertow. His body wouldn’t be found for days. He was 30 years old.

Jeff Buckley had mastered that most singular of instruments: his own voice. Possessing the same incredible range as opera icon Pavarotti, his phrasing could be anguished or exquisite; his breath control was phenomenal. Beyond that, he was the soul of eclecticism: Raised on prog rock, he dabbled in hair metal, gospel, country, and soul. Once, during a live performance, he improvised in the ecstatic style of Qawwali devotional singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan — someone Buckley once described as “my Elvis” — over the riff from Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

“I’m a ridiculous person,” he told the puzzled crowd afterward.

Sadly, if not surprisingly, Buckley left little in the way of recorded output. He released two albums during his life: 1993’s Live at Sin-é and 1994’s Grace. The record he was working on in Memphis, tentatively called My Sweetheart the Drunk, never saw completion and was shelved because of his death. It would have only been his second studio release. What was released more than a year later — a pastiche of studio recordings and demos — is as illustrative of his potential as it is of the Jeff Buckley industry that sprung up after his demise. Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk is a difficult listen, and not just because Buckley was unafraid to be challenging or the fact that much of it is more promise than fruition. The album encapsulates unpleasant cultural and legal issues of privacy, ownership, and the wishes of the artist when they run counter to those of his fanbase, record label, or even his estate. Jeff Buckley would not have wanted Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk to come out at all.

Jeff Buckley was reactive. He always seemed to be working in opposition to those aspects of him that were apparently beneficial: his record label and his provenance. On the eve of the release of Grace, an interviewer had the temerity to ask Buckley about his father, famed folk singer Tim Buckley, who died of a heroin overdose in 1975 at the age of 28.

“I knew him for nine days,” Buckley answered, after shooting the interviewer an unbelieving look. “I met him for the first time when I was 8 years old over Easter and he died two months later. He left my mother when I was 6 months old. So I never really knew him at all. We were born with the same parts but when I sing, it’s me. This is my own time.”

That night, Buckley played a 15-minute version of Big Star’s “Kangaroo,” an intense song from the Memphis band’s own 1973 shelved album, Third. Nothing could have been more portentous of Buckley’s swan song: his attempts to subvert his torch singer image; the growing contrarian imperative that made for parallel musical deconstructions on Sketches as well as Third; and Memphis’s coming role as his place of refuge and demise.

Jeff was born to Tim Buckley and Mary Guibert, a classically trained musician, in Anaheim, California, on November 17, 1966. Growing up, he was known as Scottie Moorhead, a combination of his own middle name and his stepfather’s surname. (Buckley took his biological father’s name after Tim’s death.) He spent the 1980s playing in various bands and working as a session musician.

After moving to New York City in 1990, the disaffected Buckley discovered Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, whose music would change his life. The two met and talked for Interview magazine in 1996.

Buckley: You once had a dream that is now very famous. Can you describe it to me? Khan: My father [the Qawwali singer Ustad Fateh Ali Khan] died in 1964, and ten days later, I dreamed that he came to me and asked me to sing. I said I could not, but he told me to try. He touched my throat, I started to sing, and then I woke up singing. I had dreamed that my first live performance would be at my father’s chilla [funeral ceremony], where we would all sit together again and read prayers from the Koran and so on. On the fortieth day after his death, we held the ceremony, and I performed for the very first time. Buckley: How old were you? Khan: About sixteen. Buckley: I had a similar struggle, because I started very late. Khan: When did you start? Buckley: My first performance was at about age fourteen. And I also hid from my father. He had died by the time I started, but I hid from him a gift that I was born with. There was a period when I was frozen for about three or four years, starting when I was eighteen. In my dream at that time, the ghost of my father came smashing through the window.

Qawwali is Sufi devotional music, originating in Persia more than 700 years ago. More spiritual than religious (as some qawwali can be downright bawdy), it is about devotion — to another person, or god. It’s about the pain of separation, the longing to reunite, and the sacredness of expressing these things.

If Buckley learned anything from qawwali, beyond the vocal calisthenics, it was to adopt a spiritual identity as an artist, to not be afraid of emotion, and to sing from the heart. 

Diffident to major-label interest, Buckley never made a demo tape or shopped a deal. “It would have been wrong somehow,” he once said, “wrong for the music. It needs to have a real sacred setting for people to understand it. Sending your music to established artists or labels or magazines — I mean there is something to be said for tenacity, for trying to pursue recognition that way — but it just doesn’t make sense for the best work. And if you do make an amazing work, it’s sometimes not the best way to be heard. You have to get on a sacred space, like a stage, and do your testifying that way.”

‘I thought we’d have something ready for Christmas, but this was going to take time. Jeff seemed despondent too.’

Buckley’s version of Khan’s “Yeh Jo Halka Saroor Hae” appeared on Live at Sin-é. In the background, some of the crowd laugh at the beginning of his performance, perhaps from amazement, surprise, or derision.

“He’s the only artist that I trusted 100 percent,” Buckley’s manager Dave Lory once said. “We had a saying: ‘Did you pack a parachute?’ because he was always taking leaps off a cliff. No other artist I’d worked with ever did. And I’d say, ‘Do you have a parachute?’ and he’d say, ‘Yeah, I think so,’ because we never knew how hard the landing was gonna be.”

After Grace, Buckley toured extensively, setting up new markets in Europe, New Zealand, and Australia. Despite modest album sales, he had the label support to do this, as he was signed to Sony subsidiary Columbia, home to some of Buckley’s musical heroes: Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, and Bruce Springsteen.

By 1996, pressure for a second studio album was mounting. Although now committed to performing original material, Buckley was not a prolific writer. “I wish I had a real reservoir [of songs], but I don’t,” he told an interviewer. “It just sort of comes. Thoughts lead into each other and gain momentum and then BOOM! Some weird gibberish will come into my mind and I’ll go, ‘That’s the one.’ Dreams, too.”

The new project was threatened by other issues. Buckley’s longtime drummer Matt Johnson left the band in 1996.

“There was the new material they’d tried live in Australia and one or two other demos that Jeff had made, but he seemed about to go into recording his second album with even less material than he had when starting Grace,” Lory wrote in From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye. “Jeff had declared that his days of doing cover versions were over; he wanted it to be all original material, so that option wasn’t available. There was one other problem: no Matt Johnson. No songs, no drummer, and a producer without any hits didn’t feel like a great way to start, but I’d seen Jeff pull greatness out of an empty bag before, so …”

To further complicate things, Buckley decided New York underground guitarist Tom Verlaine should produce the new album, tentatively titled My Sweetheart the Drunk. Verlaine’s band Television helped define a smart, tight post-punk sound in the late 1970s, but Columbia A&R man Steve Berkowitz struggled with his artist’s decision.

“When Jeff mentioned Verlaine, I said, ‘Oh, what a great idea — Tom and all his sounds and ability to play guitar and create sonic structures — he’ll be great on the record,’ and Jeff said, ‘No, I want him to produce it,’” Berkowitz remembered. “And I said, ‘Based on what? What Television did is not what you do.’ I had only respect for Tom, but I didn’t understand how he’d be the producer for Jeff.” Sony had, in fact, floated much bigger names for the project: Butch Vig (responsible for Nirvana’s Nevermind) and U2 producer Steve Lillywhite.

Buckley rented a bland house in Memphis and asked the landlady if he could grow the grass waist high so he could lie in it unseen.

Verlaine understood the label’s hesitation. “I’m not a goldmine for anybody,” he told an interviewer about his work with Buckley. “They probably would have loved it if he wanted to work with Mariah Carey’s producer or something.”

According to Lory, Verlaine was given a tight budget and a flat fee. During the first session, Buckley seemed directionless. The material wasn’t quite finished or rehearsed, and the new drummer wasn’t working out. Four songs were recorded. There was talk, quickly abandoned, of releasing these as an interim EP.

“I was disappointed,” Lory wrote. “I thought we’d have something ready for Christmas, but this was going to take time. Jeff seemed despondent too. He became quiet and insular around this time, looking like some refugee from Crime and Punishment — long coat, long hair, and a goatee — and not being his usual upbeat self. He’d call up with some paranoid thought about someone at Sony or one of the team and have to be talked down.”

 Convinced by friends in a band called the Grifters, Buckley decided to relocate to Memphis and take another shot at recording with Verlaine at Easley-McCain Studios.

On October 1, 1996, Buckley wrote in his journal that he was “going to lay off the band.”

The February 1997 Memphis session was also uninspiring, with one exception. “Out of nowhere,” Lory wrote, “Jeff plucked one gem, ‘Everybody Here Wants You,’ which had the potential to groove like a Smokey Robinson song, and which everyone agreed was one of the best things to emerge from these sessions. Verlaine’s instruction to Parker [Kindred, the second replacement drummer] to hit the snare as hard as he could meant it turned out exactly as asked — heavy handed — but Jeff’s vocal was exquisite, emotional without being as refined as the Grace performances, and his harmony embellishments were gorgeous. When I first heard this song, I thought it was a massive hit in the making, but only in the making.”

The album was abandoned, and Verlaine was let go. “This stuff sounds really good to me,” he told Buckley after the last session. “If you feel dissatisfied maybe you want to take it a little easier on yourself, because there’s nothing wrong with this. I know you probably want to change everything.”

Buckley rented a bland house in Memphis and asked the landlady if he could grow the grass waist high so he could lie in it unseen. When he attempted to buy the house for $40,000, he realized he was broke.

Columbia cross-collateralized their deal with Buckley; that is, they signed him to both a recording and copublishing agreement. Although I haven’t read Buckley’s specific contracts, major-label agreements from that time would have involved an advance in return for a grant of rights: Columbia was given ownership of all Jeff Buckley recordings, as well as a share of his songwriting interest.

“In the United States, copyrights over creative works are ‘alienable,’ so if you transfer your rights to someone else, then that party can exploit them as they wish, subject to any contractual terms,” Jennifer Jenkins, clinical professor of law at Duke University, explained to me. Buckley may have gotten a decent advance from both the record and publishing sides, but Grace reportedly cost seven figures to make, and a percentage of things like video production costs and tour support (as well as advances in their entirety) are recoupable by the label, so he must have been heavily in debt.

Buckley began a life of relative anonymity in Memphis. Unable to afford a car, he biked around town. He set up a weekly residency in a nearby dive bar. According to friends, he took a particular interest in the local zoo, applying to be their butterfly keeper. “Jeff took a shower and got all spruced up,” remembered Tammy Shouse of the Grifters. “He put on his vintage suit, and he was all shiny and went in to put in his application. He wanted a normal-guy life.”

Buckley bought a used Tascam four-track cassette tape recorder and began demoing new material. He sent tapes of his demos to his bandmates, management, and label team.

“I found out after he died that he would make different versions of the songs for different people,” Berkowitz recalled, “because Parker and I compared what each other had been sent and thought, ‘That’s funny, he sent the deeper, darker, heavier stuff to the record company guy and the prettier stuff to the drummer.’”

Buckley decided to hire Andy Wallace to produce My Sweetheart. Wallace, famous for working with Nirvana, had also produced Grace. “I didn’t need to be sold on doing another record with him,” Wallace told Lory. “He could have played me ‘Happy Birthday’ and I would have made a record with him.

“I went down and saw Easley studios. It was a funky place — not a dump but down-home and clearly not a corporate environment, and I like that,” Wallace continued. “And a little on the dry side, acoustically, which I like. Jeff was enthusiastic about working there. I don’t believe he got back in touch with me in the hope that we could make Grace 2. He wanted it to be different, to move on.”

“When he gave me that cassette back then … he said, ‘These aren’t nearly close to being completed. I’m going down with Andy Wallace and we’re gonna put the color to ‘em,’” Lory recalled.

Buckley began a life of relative anonymity in Memphis. Unable to afford a car, he biked around town.

In May, Buckley summoned his band to join him in Memphis. Although they were coming to record a new version of the album, Buckley seemed to have another idea in mind as well.

“The stories I’d heard was that he was bringing the band to Memphis to burn the tapes of the record he did with Tom Verlaine,” Buckley’s friend Glen Hansard told author Jeff Apter in A Pure Drop: The Life of Jeff Buckley. “I was getting that from his friends in New York. He was gathering the band up to have a ceremonial burning of the masters. He was really unhappy with it.”

Back in New York, Buckley visited his manager. “I saw him two weeks before he died,” Lory told an interviewer. Buckley was clear about one thing; namely, that Sony not be allowed access to his sundry demo and studio recordings. Buckley gave Lory all of these recordings. Lory also claimed that Buckley gave him “commercial rights to everything.”

Although this conversation can’t be proven to have occurred, it does seem consistent with Buckley’s wishes, at least with respect to his dim view of his record label. From a legal standpoint, however, it’s moot: Because of their recording agreement, Sony owned everything Jeff Buckley recorded, including cassette demos.

On the day his band arrived in Memphis, Buckley drowned. His mother, Mary Guibert, became his sole heir.

At the time, Guibert was working in healthcare and considering reviving her acting career. She lost little time in asserting control over her son’s estate. According to Apter, she hired lawyers, fired Buckley’s management team, and prevented Sony from releasing the Verlaine-produced version of My Sweetheart that September, calling that plan “exploitative and premature.” She oversaw the combing through of Buckley’s demo recordings.

“I was in a lawsuit with Sony, because Jeff’s last words were, ‘Don’t let Sony ever have the music’ — I knew they owned the music, but they were scrambling to put out whatever they could,” Lory remembered. “I was fired a couple months after he died, and so was Steve Berkowitz, who was his A&R person, and Andy Wallace, his producer — basically anybody who had anything to do with his music were fired. But it was kind of a relief, ‘cause of the stuff we were witnessing.”

What Columbia did issue, on May 26, 1998, was Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, a two-CD grab bag of the Verlaine sessions and some Memphis demos.

“About a week after he died, they called and asked if I could go into the studio and help this guy sort through the tracks and I said, ‘Well, there were track sheets,’” Verlaine remembered, “because I knew that they would do this: They would hire some Mr. Big Mixer and pay him a fortune to remix this stuff. He puts the bass drum, the vocal and the snare on ten and everything else at five and compresses it and there’s your mix. All the tons of very interesting guitar flavorings and moods in there that you don’t really notice … I never really mixed it. There was no mix by me of that record. There were a lot of other shades.”

The one thing that Buckley’s contemporaries — managers, producers, and friends — agree on is that he would not have wanted any of what constitutes Sketches released. “The almost-unanimous belief amongst those close to Buckley is that much of the music that has emerged in his name since 1997 not only runs contrary to his perfectionist streak but would never have seen the light of day had he stayed alive,” Apter wrote.

“This album may not be what Jeff would have wanted to release in his lifetime,” Guibert told Billboard, “but his lifetime is over.” She added that Sketches was compiled “with more love than commerce in our hearts.”

In life, Buckley was contradictory, mercurial, guided by dreams, and informed by spirituality. He constantly reworked arrangements, improvised new melodies, and abandoned recordings that didn’t meet his standards. In death, he has generated content with clocklike efficiency.

Buckley was clear about one thing; namely, that Sony not be allowed access to his sundry demo and studio recordings.

Since 1997, Guibert has overseen a steady stream of posthumous Buckley releases. “So now you can buy Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, the two-disc set cobbled together from the Grace follow-up sessions Buckley had barely begun,” the Houston Press wrote in an unsentimental 2004 article called “Die, Jeff Buckley, Die!” “There’s the live record Mystery White Boy, the five-CD Grace EPs boxed set collecting rare/foreign releases, the two-disc-plus-DVD Live at Sin-é collection chronicling his old NYC nightclub crooner days, another pre-Grace odds ’n’ sods compendium titled Songs to No One 1991–1992 and now, the Grace ‘Legacy Edition,’ which couples the original tunes with a B-sides disc and another DVD. Throw it all in an Amazon cart and you’re out 130 clams.”

Fifteen years later, there are even more CDs and DVDs, comprised of live performances and early studio recordings. (“You fucking dick!” Buckley once said to a bootlegger at one of his shows. “What are you going to do, study it?”) A graphic novel adaptation of Grace was released in April. A book, Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice, will be published in October 2019. According to Rolling Stone, it contains “reproductions of his handwritten lyrics, diary entries and letters.”

“There have been and probably always will be those who wish to speak for my son, take credit for his success or put words in his mouth,” Guibert wrote in a statement. “In choosing these pages to share with the world, I’m giving him the chance to speak with his own voice, for the record … and for his fans to see what a sweet, funny, amazing human being he was.”

In light of this onslaught, it’s jarring to visit Jeff Buckley’s website and see his name and image and know it’s not reflective of his intent, nor most of its content representative of a career he would have designed. If he were to speak in his own voice, it’s doubtful he would say that he always intended to publish his diary.

I understand fans and completists’ desire to access as much music of their favorite artist as possible, but there’s an exhaustiveness to Buckley’s postmortem career that dilutes his legacy.

“My first statement regarding projects to ‘the powers that be,’ in 1998, went something like this: ‘The recordings we have are Jeff’s true remains,’” Guibert wrote in the liner notes to a recent Buckley compilation. “‘We should treat them as we would prepare his body for burial — no makeup, no Armani suit, leave the green glitter toenail polish on, and don’t cut or comb his hair.’”

Recording technology has always been a kind of embalming method. It’s wonderful to hear Claude Debussy perform one of his own compositions, recently captured from a 1913 piano roll, or to have access to the entirety of Robert Johnson’s limited output, especially when his life (as an itinerant black Southern musician in the 1930s) was so little valued. We will never hear Johann Sebastian Bach’s pipe organ technique or Buddy Bolden’s cornet improvisations — instrumental as they were in the creation of jazz. Capturing such transience on a recorded medium is a kind of miracle, as it gives us access to these people beyond their earthly term.

But reflected in America’s cultural thinking and copyright law is the fairytale belief that fame is immortality and that both are to be devoutly desired. Therefore we can entitle ourselves to the benefits of a deceased artist’s work without the responsibility of honoring their wishes. We proceed as if our celebrities belong to us, as if the individual is subservient to the brand, as if persona trumps person. The most base expression of this — as evidenced by the posthumous juggernaut careers of Buckley, Jimi Hendrix, and Tupac Shakur — is the profitability of an artist dropping dead in the bloom of youth and at the peak of their creative expression, so that we may exploit them as we see fit, freed from their contradictory will and controlling temperament. In this particular instance, as in general, love and commerce make for strange bedfellows.

There’s an entirely different conceptual and legal framework for these issues, according to Jenkins. “Contrast this state of affairs with countries such as France that have ‘moral rights’ that are not alienable,” she wrote me. “One moral right is ‘divulgation,’ meaning that the artist can decide when and if his music ever gets released. Moral rights (such as attribution, integrity, divulgation, and withdrawal) are different than the ‘economic rights’ (reproduction, distribution, derivative works, and public performance) we have in the United States.”

United States copyright law doesn’t provide moral rights over music. Neither does our culture afford them. We should ask ourselves who are the true beneficiaries.

***

Tom Maxwell is a writer and musician. He likes how one informs the other.

Editor: Aaron Gilbreath; Fact-checker: Samantha Schuyler

Oh my dear sister, of course I am just kidding. Your pickup lines aren't that bad, it's just that they need a little... polishing.

Speaking of which, how did you find the movie? Personally, even when the plot was a bit bland, Lippmann's acting definitely saved the show. Although there was one part where he did play the violin... I could feel Silver judging his violin playing-acting very heavily. To me it looked like he did a good job, but I can't say the same for Silver. lmao sorry Lippmann

Indeed. Silver had said that one of her favourite composers was Chopin, because while he had a life full of sorrow, his music is truly one of the most beautiful that I have ever heard. If played correctly, you could close your eyes and envision what Chopin had went through. Such a pity that he passed away at the age of 39.

And it's painfully obvious how low quality your jokes are ahaha pianoman's so savage. Sometimes I wonder if I have to hire a tutor to teach you the beauty of pickup lines and jokes, but I see that you're beyond hope now lmao /j.

Silver's hand is getting better, although she still insists practicing piano with her other hand. I tried to get her to rest, but goodness gracious this girl just never wants to stop practising. I guess she just wants to get her daily 40 hours in. But I do wish sometimes she'll take a break and not overwork herself.

Take care, my little sister. I'll see how you are after you meet Lippmann.

-🎹

P.S. I asked Doc about it, and he just laughed and told me that I had 'feelings'. He then asked me who it was, but I didn't tell him. Now that makes me curious; just what exactly are these 'feelings' that he talks about? I trust you know more on this matter than me

hmm, if you say so.. i'll do my best to practice more and work on them. thank you for the encouragement.

speaking of, i think the movie was decent at best. they could've made a better plot and executed the climax better. but the choice of casting was great. i feel like the actors really gave it their all to play their characters, especially lippmann. well, actually, i was mostly distracted by his acting throughout the movie. but please don't tell him that- and yeah! i saw that one violin scene. he did an amazing job, but i've been looking at some violin performances since then, and i agree with silver. thinking back, lippmann's scene seemed a teeny tiny bit unnatural. but i get this. playing a musician's role can be very challenging, silver must know this better than me.

oh, chopin? silver gave me some classical piece recommendations, and i remember some of them being chopin's works. i ought to look further into them. moreover since it's her favorite composer. and i agree. i briefly read his biography, and his life was not exactly the most happy one. i find it amazing how he could create phenomenal works nevertheless.

AHH SHUSHH YOU, otherwise i'll start pestering you with my "low quality jokes" as you like to say it /lmaoo that's right, maybe if i incorporate expensive things to my jokes, they won't be "low quality" anymore. today, i'll give you this: i've seen some people having this animal as pets: axolotls, quite exquisite. now what do you call an expensive axolotl?

that's a lotl 😎

jokes aside, i'm very glad to hear that silver's hand is recovering well. the practicing part.. not quite. thank you for taking care of her. i'll see if i can convince her to take some rest and.. uh, dissuade her from her daily 40 hours practice. i'm sure it won't be that sacrilegious if she is to take a break for at least one day.

thank you! and take care too! i, uh, lippmann practiced that pickup line with me for a brief moment after we watched that movie. as expected, it was absolutely, criminally smooth. i was too distracted by his smile his charm that i forgot my own pickup line, and i said exactly that to his face, out loud. i'm sorry brother, i don't think i'll be seeing you and everyone anymore. i'll fake my death, make a new identity, and fly to paris or somewhere. i won't be able to see him in the eye after all that🙂

p.s. ooh goody! i knew i can trust doc with this. yet still, i strongly believe this is a question only you can figure out. or, let's see, why don't you try asking silver? hehe

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We also had the opportunity to ask the artist a few questions: keep reading for more!

I love how you manage to render your tracks so personal and organic. Does the melody come first, or do you focus on the beat the most?

Answer: Most of the time when I make tracks I usually listen to the beat and mumble melodies to it with gibberish, until I find a melody that suits not only the type of music I make but the type of music I like to listen to. Then those mumbles get turned into lyrics that come from my personal experience. It's difficult for non musicians to understand but alot of artists use this method. Though, I would love to have the opposite approach with lyrics first, its a creative skill beyond me.

Do you perform live? If so, do you feel more comfortable on a stage or within the walls of the recording studio?

Answer: Someday I'd love to perform live! however for now It's just me. My phone. Bandlab. My microphone. My earphones

If you could only pick one song to make a “first impression” on a new listener, which song would you pick and why?

Answer: I believe out of all of my tracks into the blue to be the most intriguing. It undergoes the complex ideas i try to portray very thoroughly. For example in the lyric "I'm answering pieces that i wanna know, you keep on flowing like a river, but how do i?" in that lyric much could be portrayed depending on how you view the song. Some may say it could be someone being left behind confused and lost with a moment of heartbreak and neglect filling in the blanks to hopefully find self peace or find answers to what they might've done wrong to the person leaving them. Some may say that it could be blindly going along the ride despite being hidden from truths or things that could help you see the wider picture. Stuff like that, i love to play with my lyrics and words to create multiple meanings. As well as the lyrics in the song, the undeniable beauty of the harmonies with the layers upon layers of vocals is very ear soothing to me. One of my favourite pieces without a doubt!

What does it take to be “innovative” in music?

Answer: Throughout the time I've been making music. It's important to be truthful with yourself. I use to make song covers with very VERY bad vocals. Unfortunate thing was, people I was sharing them with were complimenting it. At that time it didn't sound right or good to me yet I still took pride in it. One day I just had a big listen to them and came to terms that I really needed to improve. Starting from scratch and learning all the basics off of youtube. Like singing, pitch and singing in key etc. And here we are still singing out of pitch and making bad music. kidding kidding. But being truthful and honest with your work is one of the biggest things that I've found when creating pieces you actually feel proud of. And it may sound cliche but do not be afraid to step out of that "i wanna be known as this genre artist" mask and experiment with different styles of music. I never thought I would be working on Indie rock tracks, it is not in my usual style. Yet i still have one in the books and its very enjoyable and something id definitely try to create more of if it all goes well.

Any upcoming release or tour your way?

Answer: At the time of this content being released, there is a new track out on all platforms. An alternative RnB track called 'Mirrored Like Deja Vu' taking inspirations from daniel caesar and zayn to give it a beautiful downtempo vibe whilst also keeping that energy with an interesting preset I've decided to experiment with. Definitely check it out.

Anywhere online where curious fans can listen to your music and find out more about you?

Answer: For sure. I have instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Spotify and Discord which you could contact me on to find connections and also get updates on music. Frequently I would post snippets on instagram

IG - @Shkil. Discord - shkil. Youtube - SHKIL TikTok - @shkil.

Weekend Top Ten #553

Top Ten Music Videos

So, music, yeah? Alright, innit? I’ve never been a big muso-type person. I’ve never been one to read the NME or Q particularly, to follow a band religiously and find out all about them. But music videos? They’re like little films. Them I can get behind.

Back in my CITV days I liked using commercial tracks in my promos (I mean, I always like using commercial tracks in my promos, but I find other companies are a bit more proscriptive either for financial reasons or for reasons of tone and content). The best way for someone without an in-depth and far-reaching knowledge of the music industry to find good tunes? YouTube. Or at least that’s what I find.

Anyway, there’s always something cool about music videos. As a cultural artifact, their popularity really ties into the rise of MTV in the eighties; yeah, people made videos before that, but I’d say what we consider a video now – the artform – is effectively a product of the eighties. Nowadays, with TV broadcasts of videos essentially rendered an afterthought, YouTube is the place to debut them; they become mini-events, more cinematic in presentation sometimes, free of concerns of censorship or audience. And, of course, a music video is a great playground for artists – not just the musicians but the directors, the designers, the animators. Loads of A-list Hollywood director started out making music videos.

But what makes a good music video? I think, like all art, the answer is “it depends”. It’s cool when there’s a visual and stylistic resonance with the song. Also if it’s just visually compelling; well-directed, exciting, beautiful to look at. Cool, experimental techniques – styles of animation, for example – are another thing. Or if the musician behind it all is also the one directing, overseeing the whole thing, carrying through an artistic vision as if it’s basically just a short film with a song in it.

But a great video doesn’t have to do any of that, really. It just needs to be a really cool music video. Just like a movie or a book might be deep and heartfelt and thought-provoking and artistically adventurous, but then you decide to watch Jackass instead. Anything counts.

And so we have my list; my ten favourite music videos. Now, it’s true, if I were more objective I might have been able to venture further into genres beyond my comfort zone to find other examples of truly excellent videos; but no, this list is pretty much comprised of songs that I like that also have terrific videos. Make of it what you will. Now go and play the guitar on the MTV.

This is America (Childish Gambino, 2018): a terrifying tour-de-force performance by Donald Glover and director Hiro Murai, presented as one continuous, astounding shot. We’re treated – if that’s the right word – to a tableau of images representing various factors of modern American culture, all of it filtered through the lens of the 21st century Black experience. Full of incredible references and pastiches tying police brutality and gun fetishism to slavery and Jim Crow, it’s the sort of meta-textual piece that’s begging to be hyper-analysed. But beyond all that it’s just a phenomenal, haunting, compelling, entertaining, tragic piece of work.

Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel, 1986): I’ve always been fascinated by animation (this won’t be the last animated video on the list), and this one hooked me even as a tiny child. An intricate and beautiful piece of work from Aardman and the Brother Quay, directed by Stephen R. Johnson, a cavalcade of impossible activities fly around Gabriel’s head as he sings, the stop-motion effects of his face giving the whole thing a stilted, distorted, unique presentation, making it decidedly, delightfully off-kilter.

Nobody Speak (DJ Shadow feat. Run the Jewels, 2016): juxtaposing the coarse, vulgar, and exquisite lyrics of a rap battle (with imagery stretching from Snoopy to Trump) with a conference room of middle-aged white guys debating is just a genius, hilarious idea right from the get-go, but this is executed to perfection. Sublime performances of the actors miming to the song conveys a genuine emotion and, well, depth to it all, as matters escalate to a full-on brawl of powersuited business-types, throttling each other and braining people with flagpoles. Bonus points for the random piglet.

Hurt (Johnny Cash, 2002): reinterpreting a very personal Trent Reznor song into something identifiably Cash is one thing, but this video – directed by Mark Romanek – elevates it into something else. A haunting elegy to a life of pain, mistakes, and love, it’s one of the most beautiful videos of all time; footage of an aged Cash playing guitar is interspersed with shots of a deserted Cash museum, old performances and home movies, and increasingly disturbing religious imagery. It’s intensely sad and heroic and triumphant and melancholy.

Thriller (Michael Jackson, 1983): this one would be even higher – probably the highest, truth be told – if it weren’t for the problematic nature of some of the key artists involved, including director John Landis. Talk about music videos as short films, this one is over ten minutes long, homaging and pastiching multiple tropes of classic monster movies. It’s delightfully macabre and creepy, with some incredible prosthetics and makeup work, with – it must be said – a fantastic performance from Jackson, perfectly skirting the line between the inherent creepiness and sexiness of his persona. And, yes, Landis directs the arse out of it, with a barnstorming dance sequence that has to be seen to be believed.  

I’d Lie for You (And That’s the Truth) (Meat Loaf, 1995): coming after I’d Do Anything for Love and Objects in the Rear View Mirror – both directed by Michael Bay – this video was an event. I remember there was even a making-of broadcast on TV! And whilst it might not be as beautiful as the others, it’s a production, a full-on Indiana Jones-style stunt spectacular, with vehicle chases and explosions and Xander flippin’ Berkeley. It’s just big dumb fun and I love it; ironically, more Michael Bay-ish than the videos he did direct (Howard Greenhalgh made this one).

Money for Nothing (Dire Straits, 1985): another exceptional piece of ground-breaking animation that captivated me as a child, this was a rather revolutionary use of computer graphics. Looking like something from an N64 game, two workmen complain about musicians on MTV whilst footage of the band plays in the background – delightfully, they even have rotoscoped headbands and guitars, as if the video wasn’t already eighties enough. Despite some rather dodgy-in-retrospect lyrics, this remains an excellent, landmark video.

Weapon of Choice (Fatboy Slim, 2001): beautifully directed by Spike Jonze, with a great central performance by Christopher Walken. The deserted hotel foyer is artfully shot, and Walken appears suitably weatherbeaten and dejected. But then the music starts, and he dances – exquisitely – around the empty space, his moves simultaneously elegant, elaborate, and amusing. It builds and builds on this amusing concept until eventually he leaps off the mezzanine and flies round in the air, in what is an impressive piece of airborne choreography. Perfectly marries the unabashed joy of dancing to your favourite music with the contradictory aesthetic of a sad, abandoned hotel and a sad, abandoned man.

Take On Me (A-Ha, 1984): another one that’s here due its gorgeous animation. We all know the story: in beautifully rotoscoped line-art, we’re taken inside a comic book, where the interplay of live-action footage and animation is staggering for its time (as the camera pans around characters who alternate between live and animated). it’s really something, and is also excellently directed (by Steve Bannon), brilliantly timed, and even though it’s a bit of a cliché nowadays it remains a really compelling video.

Like a Prayer (Madonna, 1989): just edging out the playground hilarity of Sabotage or the kinky robot escapades of All is Full of Love is this, a pean to bonkers religious imagery, white guilt, and just how sexy Madonna is with dark hair. Madge herself plays a kind of fallen woman (she literally falls over right at the start) who hides in a church and whose remonstrations awaken a Black Christ. She speaks to God, receives stigmata, dances in front of burning crosses, and rescues a falsely imprisoned Black man, thereby – presumably – resetting the clock on police brutality and race relations. It’s utter batshit. It’s bananas. She makes out with Jesus, for Christ’s sake. I adore it, and not just because it’s her best song. The sheer bloody hubris of it, combined with its sincere attempt to make a valid comment on racism in society, is something to behold. It’s also a really beautiful video, directed by Mary Lambert, and it’s worth pointing out it was hella controversial.

So I don’t know enough about the legendarium for Gandalf dancing like a hobbit to be striking beyond “man with phenomenal cosmic power hits the club with the boys,” could you please elaborate?

It's not too far from what you already know!

What I was thinking of is a passage from the Silmarillion. I'm not 100% sure how familiar you are with all the hierarchies of power, so I'll err on the side of overexplaining it. Gandalf is a Maia - a minor god.

The first time we see Maiar dancing is at a High Feast, and Maiar and elves sing and dance before Manwe and Varda, the king and queen of the gods, who are arrayed in majesty for the occasion.

So Gandalf, who has probably sung and danced before some of the mightiest beings in the universe, is now dancing with hobbits, as joyfully as if he were at a High Feast in paradise, even though it's just a friend's birthday party, unworthy of notice by Men, let alone gods.

And you can take this even further in two different directions.

The first is that Gandalf is in Middle-Earth to help save it!! He's got an important mission, and he's stretched way too thin. It's a problem in both books and movies that he can't be everywhere at once but everywhere needs him. But. He took the time to learn the art of smoke rings and how to dance like a hobbit. That's not important on a global scale, but he loves hobbits, and so he loves what they love, enough to learn it.

The second is that I'm sure there are many talented musicians in the Shire, but. Hobbits like silly and repetitive songs that even Pippin finds too lowbrow for the halls of Denethor. But Gandalf delights in these songs same as a hobbit. Except - Gandalf helped sing the world into being. Not the most talented elf could possibly approach the beauty of the song Gandalf once sang, and there he is twirling around to the sound of fiddles played by creatures who can't even understand the size of a kingdom, let alone of the universe.

It makes me think of how Tolkien describes why, in the infinite vastness of the world, the gods should concern themselves with this small speck of dirt we can Earth.

And this habitation might seem a little thing to those who consider only the majesty of the Ainur, and not their terrible sharpness; as who should take the whole field of Arda for the foundation of a pillar and so raise it until the cone of its summit were more bitter than a needle; or who consider only the immeasurable vastness of the World, which still the Ainur are shaping, and not the minute precision to which they shape all things therein.

That's not quite what the passage is saying, because the context is different, but when I read Gandalf (and I find Ian McKellen's performance one of the most book-accurate), what keeps striking me is that there's nothing too great Gandalf cannot comprehend, but there's nothing too small Gandalf doesn't care about. He will fight for the fate of the world itself, but he will also bicker about pipeweed.

It's just. I don't know, man. Gandalf could be Sauron. They're on the same level, more or less. He could definitely be Saruman. Can you imagine either of them, even at their least corrupt, trying to learn - sometimes getting wrong, even, I presume!!! - the silly little dances of the most unimportant of all the free peoples of Middle-Earth? Because I honestly can't, and I just. I love Gandalf and he's friend-shaped and I've been wanting to hug him since I was 10 because he's good and I trust him 🥺

6 through 10 for the music asks? :)

thanks mo!!!!

6- three favorite genres of music? classic rock in general, disco, southern fried rock

7- favorite albums of all time? Maybe You Should Drive/Born On A Pirate Ship (Barenaked Ladies), Band on the Run, Voxx (The Rollers), Rock Rabbitt (Rabbitt), Helmet Boy (Helmet Boy), I’ll probably remember a bunch more later I just got my vaccine so my brain is half focused on what’s happening in my body as a reaction and my brain is usually half functional on a good day anyway

8- favorite quote or song lyric? this is harrrrrrd but BNL has so many good ones. I love the lyrics to “A” and “Stomach Vs. Heart” especially, bonus points to the line in Wind It Up that goes “I was a baby when I learned to suck/but you have raised it to an art form” 11/10 excellent burn

9- favorite concert you’ve attended? this. is. so. HARD DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY SHOWS IVE BEEN TO

-overall I will see Styx at least once a year til the day I die, they give 11/10 spot on shows every time and they are my religion;

-I’m also considering this trend for Kim Mitchell (if he goes back on the road) because the man is FLAWLESS every time I see him and his music just SCREAMS summer night concert chill vibes and every time I think I can’t love him more I learn something new that increases my mad respect for him he is PHENOMENAL live;

-though his concerts are few and far between (like maybe three solo shows a year because he’s busy with Styx) Gowan shows always slap ass and he usually chills in the lobby to meet fans afterwards 1,000/10 perfect man, perfect performer, yes he is my current profile pic;

-a few one offs worth mentioning: Rush, Kiss (because I know they’ll never REALLY hang it up I feel like one day I might just say screw it and get me and @ticket-to-ride13 tickets for meet and greets just to see what happens as we fight over Eric Singer- but the time I saw them they were great aside from the fact that Paul Stanley no longer has a voice beyond a chicken squawk), and that mega show with Micky Dolenz, Jason Scheff, Christopher Cross, Joey Molland, and Todd Rundgren that was PHENOMENAL and even though Chris Cross wasn’t at the meet and greet his FLAWLESS PERFORMANCE of Martha My Dear lives in my head rent free seriously the man has a GOLDEN VOICE UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

10- most underrated musician in my opinion:

don’t. get. me. STARTED

Barenaked Ladies, Glen Burtnik/Helmet Boy/The Weeklings, Rabbitt/Duncan Faure/Karu, the Rutles, Blues Brothers, Brownsville Station, Toni Tennille, Souther/Hillman/Furay Band (and Ritchie Furay in general), Tyrants in Therapy... I’ll stop now

My love for Selena would begin as a young brown boy growing up in Tucson, AZ. As a first generation Mexican-American, and child of immigrant families, her story of embracing her Chicanaroots is what mirrored most in my life. From my earliest of memories, all I know is singing and dancing like Selena, mimicking her moves, perfecting her vocals…even putting a bandaid on my finger and tying my tshirt into a bra. I never felt freer as a kid than when I was blasting and dancing to her music in the living room when no one was home. If you haven’t guessed by now, I was an incredibly unapologetic and unconsciously Queer child. Me and my brother, who is also Queer, would get up in all the Selena drag and perform, then rush to take it all off when our Mother pulled into the driveway. Selena has always been a part of my family’s life…So much so that my Nana would record Selena’s TV appearances in between home family videos on VHS.

I am a “deep cuts” Selena fan. Before my birth in 1990, she already had many years in the game. Her 80s Tejano music is some of my absolute favorite and probably the most slept on. Watching Selena y Los Dinos evolve from kids with cute matching outfits to full fledge flashy performance attire, modern choreography and sophisticated sound is nothing short of astounding to witness. She truly had an immense love for music. I find myself now as an adult watching her live performances and still in awe of her volcanic talent. Seeing her incorporate famous 80s fashion, big hair, huge shoulder pads, and freestyle dance moves into her Pop/Tejano music has me screaming at my TV! Her “Running Man” was just so fresh!!! She was even brave enough to attempt the “Moonwalk”, and even covered both Michael and Janet Jackson songs, as well as many other 80s top 40 jams. You’ve got to Youtube her singing “Girlfriend” by Pebbles, and any performance of “Enamorada De Ti” will give you all the life!! Whew!!!!

Selena would eventually grow into a massive household name for some Latinx folks in the early 90s. I’ve recently converted all of my family’s home VHS videos to digital, and it was so funny to hear her music in the background at family gatherings as early as 1993. She is undoubtedly the reason that I myself love to sing, why I love to dance, and the reason I grew up feeling like I wasn’t the only Pochx in the world, shit, she taught me most of the Spanish I know today!

It brings me great joy to see that while she was still here with us that she knew how much she was loved. She frequently snatched all the trophies at award shows, and we can’t forget about that Grammy! Her image is now beyond the words legendary and iconic, but meteoric and phenomenal. I still can’t wrap my head around her passing. It’s been 25 years, and I am now about to turn 30, I still weep for Selena as if I somehow knew her personally. I’m so pissed at what could have been. Before her death, she was working with the likes of Dianne Warren and David Morales, both famed and highly coveted and respected musicians. She was going to be a massive star, I just know it. Today her legacy lives on, no Quinceanera, sweet 16, wedding, or even backyard junta is safe from a Selena cumbia. Whenever I go to live music shows where artists perform her music, I cheer with excitement because I never got the opportunity to cheer for her, like I do with all of the other divas I stan for. Her voice, image, laugh, smile, entrepreneurship, hard work, creativity, passion and determination has been and always will be an inspiration to all who love her, and to those who will be introduced to her in the generations to come.

Happy Birthday Selena, we love and miss you so so much. Today I celebrate as I sing and dance in my living room for you, and we are together, siempre.

Written by: Carlos, He/Him/His

Los Angeles, CA

Gran Varones Fellow

Nashville (1975); AFI #59

Our current movie is probably the most difficult to categorize or summarize, the Robert Altman satire comedy drama musical known as Nashville (1975). The film was nominated for 5 Academy Awards and 11 Golden Globes, but only won a single trophy at both ceremonies and both were for Best Song (Keith Carradine with “I’m Easy”). The eleven GG nominations was a record, but this was likely because the film had four nominations in the Best Supporting Actress category.  This result is somewhat appropriate as the actors really did not get enough time to really stand out except for in their singing, and the academy really did not know what to do with the performances. Same with Best Picture and Best Director (for which the film was also nominated). The artistic merit is there and so is the story, but a lot of it is what director Robert Altman allowed to happen and recognized as beautiful as he went so it is hard to put the movie into standard categories. Not to rule out the competition, the film went up against One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Jaws that year so there was not a lot of chance along the awards circuit. Now I am going to summarize, but I am not going to break down much because there is far too much going on in this film with 24 main characters and all the different plots. Even Roger Ebert said he didn’t completely understand the film, but that it was not likely meant to be completely understood. So here is my best effort to at least put this wriggling puppy of a movie into a manageable basket:

SPOILERS??? I THINK...I AM NOT REALLY SURE IF I AM SPOILING, GUESSING, OR MISLEADING, BUT HERE WE GO!!!

The movie is set in the city of Nashville that is prepping for a presidential campaign stop that will be accompanied by a country music festival. In the days leading up to the rally for a new reform nominee, a bunch of country singers come together to perform. These artists are accompanied by their management, a variety of groupies, and a large number of up-and-comers looking to get discovered. In amongst this group are also journalists, politicians, and aids trying to organize the whole event. 

The movie begins with a mass of characters all showing up at the airport to meet people or greet the public. Of special note is the return of Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakely), a country singer from Nashville that was in an accident in which she got burned and is still recovering mentally. She is greeted at the airport by a country music staple named Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson). Barbara Jean promptly goes of script and decides that she is going to go and great all of her fans that are being held in the airport building and she suddenly passes out. In the melee that follows everyone trying to leave the airport at the same time, there is a car accident that causes more interactions amongst the characters. 

Another band that showed up at the same time is a folk trio made up of a couple and a guitarist named Tom (Keith Carradine). Tom is a womanizer and sleeps with many of the women who have gathered, including his bandmate, a reporter, a married gospel singer, and a groupie. 

Barbara Jean goes to the hospital for heat exhaustion and she is replaced by a girl that seems linked with Haven Hamilton named Connie White (Karen Black) for a performance at the Grand Ole Opry. Also performing is a black country singer who does not seem to get his due respect in Tennessee. 

There are a lot more characters and a lot more scenes, but I am not about to try break down every single plot line. Mounting tension amongst everyone in an attempt to gain the spotlight, even for a second, builds up to the day of the country folk festival. The line up has the entire cast together in one place and as the festival starts, Barbara Jean sings and she is suddenly shot by a quiet character in the crowd that is a big fan. The movie ends as a singer steps up to the stage and sings to calm the crowd down, giving her a moment to shine in the tragedy that befell another. 

There is quite the mix of genres in this movie because there are definitely set jokes making it a comedy, there is competition and betrayal making it a drama, there is over an hour of singing performances so it is also a musical, and it is set in a parody of the American political system making it a satire. I watched quite a few interviews with Robert Altman to try and get a better idea of his intentions and I am not sure that he knew what the film was beyond a panoramic observation of a Nashville music festival and all the drama and comedy that brought it together. He seems exceptionally elusive when categorizing his film and it seems obvious that he didn’t want that. The film is supposed to be more of an experience than a linear story, which makes the film complicated beyond the simplicity of the music. 

Here is where I might get some hate and I kind of don’t care because it is a personal thing. I have not found that I like country or bluegrass music in general so this particular soundtrack did not do a lot for me. I especially did not like that this is amateur hour as many of the actors (some of whom could not sing) did all of their own music. This made some of the music interludes down right painful. If it were not in my watching rules to not skip ahead, I would have taken a good hour off the run time from all of the exceptionally bad numbers. However. In the long run I am glad I stuck to my rules because I heard 3 songs that I love. I will link those 3 first and I will also link the song that won the Oscar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm8PwXOHNPs (Dues) This is sung by actress and professional singer Ronee Blakely. It is the character’s first singing appearance after an accident so she is a little shaky. She is singing about a failing relationship and how there is a desire to stay and try to fix things to what they used to be. Very powerful and she truly has a great voice. I really like this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NToTcTiX66g (Since You’ve Gone) This song is right before the award winner and the chorus is a mesh of voices that all sound in pain but still harmonically satisfying, This is my favorite song in the movie as it brings a trio on stage where the woman is married to one member but having an affair with the other. I really believe that this song should have been the one that won the Oscar if it was going to come from this film.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BYyDusJYJo (It Don’t Worry Me) This was another song that was written by Keith Carridine besides the Oscar winner that was sold to Altman. It is played many times throughout the film, but I think that the best version is when a talented singing character is looking for a break and suddenly is tasked with calming the crowd after the tragedy at the primary. She sings so woefully with a heavy dose pain and ends up sounding like Janis Joplin. A church choir backs her up and it ends the movie in a similar way to how “Let the Sunshine In” ends Hair (lots of repetition with a growing number of voices and variation).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6y47KcuI4Y (I’m Easy)  This seems like a point of intersection for most of the characters in the film and Altman said in many interviews that he bought the song from Carradine before the plot of the movie fully existed. It seems like Altman had the start of the movie from notes by his writing partner Carol Tewksbury and the end where all the characters are at the music festival. The song did win the Oscar and Golden Globe for best song for Carridine but the tune doesn’t impress me. It seems more important to the movie plot since four different women in the room think that the song is in reference to them. Fine plot point, but a boring song for me. 

So does this film belong on the AFI Top 100? Well, I guess so, but maybe not such a high ranking. It is a slice of Americana set in Nashville featuring a very American style of music during an American election. All the characters were very American in the 70s (except the British one). And it was a pretty good movie with a lot happening and special care to the craft. However, the #59 movie in 1997 was Rebel Without a Cause while Nashville was not on the list at all and then that switched completely in 2007. I liked this better than Ben-Hur so I suppose this movie could be on the list, but Nashville should not replace such an iconic American film as Rebel Without a Cause. Finally, would I recommend it? That really depends on the viewer. The movie is very long and has a lot of very complicated plot threads, some of which go nowhere. I can’t say somebody would like it based on the performance of a specific actor or character because 24 people split up the screen time. Being interested in country music, politics, or the lifestyle of the road musician doesn’t mean you will like this movie either. I would recommend this to those who are interested in film making and story development because the ability to incorporate so many things through shot choice, angles, and overlapping dialogue is pretty phenomenal. I don’t think I will watch it again, but it is probably worth checking out for the experience. I like my movies with a little more plot structure, but that is just me. People in the business would probably love this. 

In conversation with Steve Hackett ...

STEVE HACKETT : FROM “NURSEY CRYME” TO “WOLFLIGHT”  -  45 YEARS OF MAKING MUSIC

With a distinguished and well documented career which spans 6 decades , there is probably not much that music lovers don’t already know about Steve Hackett.   If, somewhere along the lines, you’ve missed out on the back catalog of his glorious guitar work - there is always time to discover something new ... and you should!

Whilst Steve Hackett is probably best known for his work as guitarist and vocalist with ���Genesis” - recording a total of 9 albums with them between 1970 to 1977 - he has also performed and collaborated with numerous incredible musicians; was a key member of ‘Supergroup’ GTR [with Steve Howe] ; and boasts a solo discography that sees Hackett experiment successfully with every musical genre known to man, plus a handful of his own fusions inbetween! With the release of his latest studio album, Steve Hackett is currently enjoying more time in the spotlight, or should we say “Wolflight”? - and deservedly so.   According  to Hackett himself, “Wolflight” is both “Primal and orchestral” and marks a new, unexplored, chapter in the guitarist's career. “Ever since I got involved in the music business” says Hackett, “I have wanted to make this album, to break the rules ...” Whilst retaining the Hackett trademark of electric guitar running right the way through, the album also encompasses, beautifully, the addition of acoustic guitar, with a bizarre orchestra of instruments from the far reaches of our Earth ( some of which it’s possible you’ve never heard before!) Ten tracks which encourage the listener to “wander between parallel universes, on a journey through space and time, looking at the different faces of the endless fight for freedom”. Helen Robinson embraced a recent opportunity to speak to Steve, and managed to gain a little insight into the man behind this lifetime of amazing recordings. Whether we boldly went where no journalists have ever gone before, remains to be seen - but so far as musicians go, we’re fairly sure that Steve Hackett will continue to travel far beyond the final frontier ... HR - When you first joined ‘Genesis’, it was in advance of the bands 4th album "Nursery Cryme" - compared to the band's previous recordings, your input is immediately clear to the listener.   How hard was it for you to join an already established band, and have your ideas included? SH - Very hard indeed! They had their own musical language for various things they had developed since school days and at first I felt an earthling on Mars. I realised I had to learn to speak Martian very quickly and invent some new words too... I realised they needed a harder edge more aggressive aspect. I added some dark colours to their pastels, whilst also embracing their acoustic side with my own ideas for twelve string. With three twelve string players we had the capacity of thirty six strings all chiming away at once. HR - By the time "Selling England by the Pound" was released, ‘Genesis’ had become commercially successful, and You were being recognised as an influence on other musicians with your guitar techniques.  Were you aware of that at the time? Did your new musical / celebrity status affect how you continued to progress with playing guitar, or writing songs? SH - I had no idea that I was becoming an influence on players such as Brian May and Eddie Van Halen. We were pleased to learn that John Lennon was listening to “Selling England...” I didn't feel like a celebrity though. I just kept my head down, got on with my gig and continued to work on discovering what was hidden in the corners of the instrument. HR – ‘Genesis’ is clearly a passion that has never left you, and understandably so! ("Genesis Revisited" also landing you an 'Event of the year' award) . Across all of the ‘Genesis’ albums that you were a part of, have you a favourite track, or a favourite memory of recording with them? SH - I was particularly proud of 'Dancing with the Moonlit Knight' because that one single song contained so many contradictory styles, which somehow all worked together beautifully.  "Selling England by the Pound" was a great blast for me because I feel we were on the cusp of several planes, including rock, classical and jazz. HR - You've appeared on dozens of significant artists' recordings - which means most to you to have been a part of? HR - I very much enjoyed working with Icelandic band ‘Todmobile’ recently because of the quality and power of their writing and performance. It was great to both record and then play with them along with a choir and orchestra in Iceland. There have been numerous others I've enjoyed too. It's wonderful to be part of a large ocean of talent. HR - And I must ask about supergroup "GTR"! Is that something you look back on fondly, or was it hard to retain a musical identity, and remain diplomatic, when recording as a unit with other successful musicians who are renowned for making music in the same genre? SH - I think the positives outweighed the difficulties. Although as with all groups compromises had to be made, I loved several aspects, such as the song 'When the Heart Rules the Mind' which successfully bridged the gap between progressive rock and accessible pop. It wasn't always an easy road but I do look back on it fondly. HR - Your first solo album, "Voyage of the Acolyte", was recorded whilst you were still with ‘Genesis’. Was it difficult for you to step out of their zone, and into your own, Or was it completely refreshing, to have the freedom to do something which was entirely yours? SH - It felt liberating to bypass band politics, but at the same time to have the full cooperation of the band's rhythm section. Also it was an early example of Phil's ability to carry a complete song as lead singer. Many ideas had been bubbling under for me during the whole period of rehearsing, recording and touring “The Lamb..”, and it was great to pilot my own dingy, which became a flagship for the whole fleet of albums that were to follow. HR - "Bay of Kings" was your first fully instrumental album - what inspired you to record something different, and how do you feel it was received? SH - Although it was an album of almost exclusively acoustic nylon classical guitar pieces, it was immediately accepted by an audience that were ready to try on something new from me. I've always had a lot of respect for the classical guitar, which I liken to an orchestra in miniature. HR - You've experimented with a number of musical genres, but where is your comfort zone musically? SH - I've had this chameleon like approach for as long as I can remember. I feel that rock 'n roll doesn't have to be just basic. It can be multi-faceted. Rock's shoulders ought to be broad enough to carry something of the unfamiliar. I always feel the need to bridge different genres, sometimes forming a new style as a result. It's also lovely to discover how one instrument can morph into another. Let's hear it for psychedelic skiffle! HR - Have there been any albums which you found particularly difficult to record, or which you now find difficult to listen to? SH - No album is easy to record or it wouldn't be worth doing. Sometimes the sculptor hates the stone and has to sweat blood before he is satisfied with the results. I struggle with listening to some of my early efforts because techniques come more easily to me now. HR - There's a whole host of guest musicians throughout your solo recordings - who have you most enjoyed working with? Who would you most like to work with? SH - It was wonderful to work with the late great Richie Havens. He had the most incredible voice, sweet yet with infinite power... A rare combination of velvet and leather. I would love to work with  everybody. Another singer I once knew called Dave Thompson also had a lovely voice and I've often thought I would like to do something with him. I enjoyed working with the Royal Philharmonic orchestra for my album "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and it would be great to work with them again. HR – with 45 years of a phenomenal, and successful musical career behind you, along comes your new solo album "Wolflight", which you say yourself is the best thing you've ever done. Please tell us more about it. What is it particularly that you love about the album? SH - I enjoy the cinematic scope of "Wolflight" - the breadth of the instrumentation. The whole thing works like an enlarged orchestra featuring world music instruments, rock instruments and vocals. It's like travelling in a time machine through the ages and around the world at the same time. It's full of complimentary opposites and unlikely pairings such as Australian digeridoo with tar from Azerbaijan or Armenian duduk alongside harp, and oud from Iraq with classical violin and viola... There's a strong sense of the primal and the exotic with a Gothic aspect. The subtext of the album is the long fight for freedom in all it's forms - freedom from slavery, freedom to retain multi-cultural diversity and personal freedom from repressive relationships. The title means the hour before dawn, hour of the wolf hunt. The album begins with a wolf cry and the characters in the title track see the wolf as their totem. The wolf binds all aspects of the album. HR - And for the future - can "Wolflight" be bettered for the next Steve Hackett solo album? SH - I don't know whether I can better this, but I'll always be on the hunt for unlikely and ancient instruments, be a musical archaeologist on Earth, search for life on planet Zog and explore more of those dark crevices and yawning caverns. To boldly go...

Hadestown Has Something to Say!

And I’m so glad it does!

File Hadestown under Shows That Make You Go “Hmm.” This is a show I’ve liked more and more the longer the show has been over and the more I’ve had time to sit and think about it. 

Overall, I really really loved it. It’s such a rich musical filled with amazing stage pictures and beautiful music and really powerful and passionate performances. This is a passion project on stage and it’s marvelous.

The score, of course, is amazing. Anais Mitchell has really written something very special here. I’ve really never heard anything like it before on Broadway - this mix of folk and jazz and rock with an undercurrent of sheer musical theatre. The “Chants” in particular are astounding. Likewise “When the Chips Are Down” and “Wait For Me” and “His Kiss, the Riot” are stunning achievements in musical theatre writing. However. I have one very big qualm about the score, but I’ll talk about this later. 

I know we all love Rachel Chavkin but she really is quite stellar. The phrase I keep coming back to when thinking about her directing style is “all consuming.” Between this and The Great Comet, her musicals feel like being swallowed whole by which I mean everything is very big and very powerful and very emotional and very much like I’m being punched in the gut. I love this feeling. I love theatre that makes me feel like the rest of the world doesn’t exist and she does this with her work. 

What Chavkin does with stage imagery is phenomenal. There is a real sense of other worldliness while still being very grounded in the one we live in. You can tell she really gets these characters and she gets these themes and literally every moment is used to drive the story and make you feel something. There’s a real sense of power in her directing that makes the audience feel every suckerpunch of this show. “Wait For Me” in particular was a showstopper. 

The lighting was wonderful. Like truly stunning. The contrast between light and dark in this show was really interesting and sources of light and what that means was also very fascinating to see. From Eurydice’s candle to the handheld miner lights, everything had meaning and everything felt very poignant. 

Everyone in this show is very good. There isn’t a single bad performance. Eva Noblezada was very surprisingly good - surprising only because I’d never seen her perform before and she really added a lot of good things to Eurydice. 

However, this is Amber Grey’s world and we’re all just living in it. She is AMAZING. She steals every scene and every moment. She is absolutely incredible in every way. The hype about her performance is 100% real and she is honestly and truly the best part of the show. I can’t imagine anyone else playing this role because she is truly perfect. Her Persephone is so layered and so fearful and damaged and fraying at the edges and yet so strong and steadfast and determined. I want to see the show again and just focus in on her the whole time because she is amazing. Even just the way she moves and dances was electric. 

And of course Patrick Page is also stellar. He brings such an intensity to every role he plays, and Hades feels like the culmination of Many Years of Intense Roles. This is also the second role where he’s been mean to Reeve Carney. But I digress. He’s fantastic. His “His Kiss, the Riot” vibrated throughout the entire theatre. His Hades is so complicated and yet very simple and the way Page carries his Hades is really really wonderful. He has this fluidity to him (that also echoes throughout the entire show and I’ll talk about this later) that feels like he was made to be in this very moment at this time. 

André de Shields was another standout for how present he is during the entire show. He doesn’t leave the stage at all really during the entire show and he has this particular brand of swagger and simmer to him. I felt him there throughout the whole just contemplating the cycle of everything going on and yet when the focus wasn’t on him he didn’t steal the attention. Hermes is a very complicated role (side note but I have a theory he’s Orpheus’ dad) because he’s part narrator, part plot moving character and the only one aware of how time works in this world and is also the one telling us the story from start to finish. He has to balance the whole show on his shoulders and de Shields does it wonderfully. 

My goodness those Fates. They were sinister and terrifying and felt like the true villains of the show. They’re basically inner demons personified and they infected every character in the most deliciously evil way. They were so fascinating to watch and I want to read like ten think pieces on them. 

I’ve been raving about this show but there are some things I really didn’t like about it and want to address. 

The first is that all the actors really play to the center orchestra, and, likewise, it’s very much directed that way. The sight lines from the sides is kind of bad, especially from the rush seats. I felt like I was staring at their backs more than I’d like to. They need to play to the whooooole audience. By the way, the rush situation for this show is Awful and they only have like five tickets total. Like that’s all. Myself and a friend got there at like 4:30am and we’re fifth and 6th in line and they had already run out of evening show tickets and we got the last of the matinee ones. About twenty people behind us had also been waiting like 5 hours and got absolutely nothing. So be warned of that! 

And my biggest qualm with the show. My biggest biggest problem with the show is that Anais Mitchell ruined my absolute favorite part of the show with the Broadway transfer. All three “Epics” were my favorite songs in the show and had the most beautiful imagery in the Off-Broadway run and concept album. Here, however, they’ve been stripped of their beautiful poetry and imagery and are really basic songs. I was SO disappointed. The three songs that were my favorite parts of the show became the worst parts of the show. The new versions are honestly bad and it’s disappointing because they didn’t used to be and they don’t have to be. 

It’s hard to believe that Orpheus’ song is gonna save the world because it’s the weakest song in the show. Reeve sings it beautifully but I was so disappointed and honestly hated this change. 

Speaking of Reeve, he’s good! He isn’t amazing, but he’s good and I like the very different approach he’s taking with Orpheus. His Orpheus is scared and anxious and insecure but very very talented. Reeve really gets his footing in Act Two, where he shines. Not spoiling anything but the second to last scene is his best and he’s completely heartbreaking. 

The show is super interesting in how it moves forward and progresses. It just kind of flows from one thing to the next and one moment to the next and it actually reminded me a lot of wind. It felt very much like the wind was blowing the story along and I know that’s a weird way to put it but that felt very much like a thing that was going on.

Also, this show has this really beautiful fluidity in the way characters walk and the way everyone, especially Hades, moves on the turntables. Honestly this is the best use of turntables I’ve ever seen in theatre. It creates the atmosphere and adds so much to the cyclical nature of things and the way it shows movement is beyond beautiful. The movement throughout this show really shined. 

Hadestown has a lot to say and I’m so glad it does. I’m so glad this is a bold new musical that wants to say something and says it. 

There’s so much in this show about capitalism and the dangers of power hungry capitalists and there’s so much about poverty and the lengths people will go to get simple basic needs fulfilled. There’s something really interesting in this show about work and how powerful people use it to completely dehumanize people. Likewise, there’s this very interesting struggle between art and capitalism and artists and money which was super interesting to see personified in Orpheus and Hades. 

Much like Oklahoma!, I felt this show also had a strong theme of “us versus them” especially in “Why We Build the Wall.”  This is such a big thing in American culture that I’ve seen displayed a lot in theatre lately and I think it’s important that it is. It’s important that we’re forced to confront things about America as a whole country that have been prevalent forever but never said aloud. 

Interestingly enough, I feel like Hadestown says a lot about activism. And leadership. Orpheus is continuously presented as this musician who is going to change the world and yet Orpheus isn’t entirely capable in his actions. He has the right words but he doesn’t trust himself enough to fully believe in it - or that others believe in him - despite this song doing magical things. He also must be physically pushed by Hermes to do anything. I saw this as an interesting statement on those who can change the world relying on words over action as well as talking about self confidence and doubt and believing/not believing in yourself. I know that Damon Daunno played Orpheus as extremely cocky and self-assured and seeing Reeve Carney at the opposite end of this is very interesting. I’d like to see Orpheus played somewhere in the middle. 

Going along with that, consequences and choices are a big theme in Hadestown, and I felt that most of the time Eurydice was forced to make choices in order to survive and faced horrible consequences anyway rather than the usual “dumb characters makes bad decision and suffers” or even the Louis Ironson kind of “He knows he shouldn’t do this but is going to do it anyway” kind of thing. 

Oddly enough I loved the statement on climate change this show made. 

I’ve found myself being drawn to art and theatre about cycles and repetitions lately, and Hadestown is exactly that to a t. I don’t know why I love theatre like this so much, maybe it’s my inherent pessimism that nothing ever changes and that we as humans inherently bold that capacity for badness in us, but I suppose it also goes along with my inherent optimism that things can change, we as humans have the capacity for change and maybe one day we actually will. The way this show ends is really really wonderful in this way. 

And of course this show speaks so much about love and love and heartbreak and love and trust. Old love and new love. The parallels between Hades/Persephone and Orpheus/Eurydice are really well done. Trust is such an interesting aspect of this show and I’m glad Anais Mitchell and Rachel Chavkin never shy away from the uglier aspects of it. 

Lastly, Hadestown has what I will now be calling Big SNM Energy, aka Big Sleep No More Energy. I am fully convinced that Chavkin took some inspiration from that show, or at least both Hadestown and Sleep No More take place in the same universe. 

The vibe and feel of both shows is incredibly similar. Likewise, the swinging lights in “Wait For Me” are exactly like the swinging lights in Sleep No More. There were also similar themes of things happening in a cycle, things repeating but moving forward anyway, good and evil, temptation and choices/consequences. The Fates had a very similar feel to the three Sleep No More witches when they’re together. The sheer detail of it all and the location. My friend thinks Hecate is Hades’ ex, which actually narratively works for both shows. 

Hadestown will absolutely be a show I revisit as much as I can because there is just so much in there. There’s so much detail and so much to think about, which all good theatre should have. 

Kings’ Trip (7)

T’Challa | M’Baku | Redeemed Erik

Part 7/11: Fevers and Temptations

Words: 2.5K 

Warning: Profanity

CHAPTERS: @sisterwifeudaku  (1), @blackandfair (2), @royallyprincesslilly (3), @eerythingisshaka  (4), @katasstrophey  (5), @blublubleu  (6), 

A/N: This is my contribution to the wonderful collaboration fics started by the amazing @royallyprincesslilly  I am so grateful and honored to be apart of this collab effort and hope that I did it justice because the rest of these talented ladies have absolutely slayed so far! :D

7: Fevers and Temptations

“Okay, which one of ya’ll niggas finished off the orange juice and put it back in the fridge, empty?” Erik held the item in question high up in the air, his other hand tightly squeezing the door of the LG refrigerator with a mixture of disappointment and irritation.

M’Baku looked up from his nonchalant position on the sofa and shrugged. “I left some for you, short and angry one.”

Erik clenched his jaw and slammed the door, the sound of the suctioning material contracting letting him know that it was sealed. “M’Dumbass,” he took the carton and tilted it over the sink so that roughly two ounces of product slid down the drain. “What the hell was I supposed to do with this small amount of drink?”

Again, M’Baku seemed unbothered by the prince’s vexation. “I assumed that it was an appropriate amount of sustenance for someone of your stature.”

Erik threw the empty bottle in the trash. “And just what is that supposed to mean?” He was already on edge from not sleeping too well the night before and was therefore not in the mood to argue with the Great Gorilla. However, if it came to it, Erik was always prepared to throw them hands.

“Eh, eh, eh,” T’Challa came out of his bedroom with Nakia at his side. “What is all the noise?”

“Bro, why is she always here?” Erik lifted his hands in the air with exasperation. “I go to sleep, she’s here. I wake up, she’s here. What the hell I gotta do to not have to see her face?”

“Die,” M’Baku responded calmly, causing T’Challa and Erik to both look at him. “What? He asked. I answered.”

“I’m going to head out,” Nakia announced while shaking her head and turning to the king. “I shall talk to you later.”

“Of course,” T’Challa responded and went to kiss her when she hurried to place one on his cheek. He frowned slightly as she offered a weak smile and made her way out the door.

“Correct me if I am mistaken, but I believe that you have just been, how to the colonizers say it?”

“Rejected!” Erik shouted, covering his mouth with his hand to allow his voice to project.

T’Challa ignored him and decided not to look too much into it. He was in a good mood after having sat down and made amends with Shuri, apologizing for how he allowed his emotions to get the most of him. His chat with the woman from the bar certainly helped provide clarity and lucidity concerning his conflicting feelings regarding the outpour of secrets that seemed to continue to stem from his father’s growing list of transgressions.

However, while peace existed between the two full Udaku siblings, the king was still slightly troubled but chose to hide his woes for the sake of not wanting to attract too much negative attention to himself.

“What is on the agenda for today?”

T’Challa asked as he noticed Erik had hopped on the sofa with M’Baku, the two carrying controllers in their hands.

“We finna get into this MK, boy.” Erik supplied, grinning cockily. “Ole’ Green Mile over here think he ready for Rainbow Road.”

“Such a rudimentary titled course is clearly no match for a warrior such as myself.” M’Baku loudly proclaimed with his chin raised in the air.

Erik sucked his teeth. “Yeah, whatever. You game, cuz?”

T’Challa started to tell him no but decided to amuse the both of them by partaking in their frivolous activity.

“Why not,” he shrugged, making his way over to the sofa set. “Harmless fun never hurt anyone, eh?”

---

“FOR THE LOVE OF BAST, WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO SWERVE OFF THE TRACK, YOU INEPT SIMULATION?”

“THIS GAME IS CURSED, I TELL YOU! CURSED! NOT EVEN THE GREAT HANUMAN HIMSELF COULD COMPLETE IT!”

Erik was having a field day watching the other two men grow frustrated and livid with their failure to successfully make their way through the course.

“You should see ya’ll faces right now,” he laughed, walking back in the living room, one arm filled with snacks, another with a wine cooler. “Looking like fake ass Timon and Pumba’s.” He’d given up on the course a while ago but the other two were determined to prove that no American game could get the best of them.

The “battle” between the Wakandans and the game went on for another two hours before all three men decided that they were ready to eat. Erik suggested that they try this little Chinese takeout place around the corner, T’Challa being delegated as the one to pick up the food. 

“What kind of establishment does not deliver?” T’Challa spoke to himself as he got out his rental after parking it in a lot across the street. “The food better be….” He trailed off as a slow, melodic beat hit his ears. “-good.” The king found his eyes falling onto the entrance to a place called “The Majestic.” Though no one stood outside, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking that it was because everyone was already inside enjoying the music that he felt called to him.

Before he realized what was happening, T’Challa’s legs carried him across the way and into the establishment. Of course, he was stopped by the bouncer who served as a barrier between him and finding the source of the sweet sounds, but when he threw three hundred dollar bills the man’s way, he was easily granted access.

T’Challa instantly found himself met with the reason for his even being there.

On stage, a woman, with a complexion rich in melanin and touched with hues of gold as if blessed by Bast herself, eyes as deep and warm as the humid heat that occupied the summers of his country, belted out the song that called to him. Her body, curvaceous and filling, her chest pushing boldly against the corset of the bedazzled fiery dress that also allowed a glimpse of her smooth brown legs. Long onyx hair cascaded down her back in wavy tresses, covering half her face, only granting him a portion of her painted red lips that continuously flexed due to the soulful notes that emitted from her mouth.

Ooh

You give me fever

Fever in the morning

Fever when it's late at night

Her raspy voice captivated him, sending unfamiliar chills throughout his body as he noticed an empty spot by the bar and plopped himself down, never taking his eyes off her.

You give me fever

Fever

Fever when you kiss me

Fever when you hold me tight

She worked her way across the stage, sending suggestive and seductive looks and smiles to various members in the crowd while still managing to keep up with the live band.

Fever in the evening

Fever all through the night

You give me fever, yeah

T’Challa was mesmerized as she descended down the stage, helped by one of the musicians who held her hand before she hit the ground. The king marveled at how she interacted with certain attendees, sending occasional winks to male patrons who seemed absolutely flustered by her gestures.

He was so captivated that when she came to him, reaching out and running her hand down his face with a sly smile, all he could do was numbly stare, only breaking from his trance as she walked away from him and back on stage.

T’Challa shook his head when thunderous applause filled the room, signaling the end of her song. He caught the end of the accolades, clapping strongly as she took a bow and blew a kiss before disappearing from his sight.

The king was beyond the realms of interested, not necessarily because of attraction but a rather innocent intrigue. Also, the woman possessed a phenomenal voice;  he felt the duty to inform her of such.

And so, he waited for her to come out into the crowd after overhearing that that was her last performance for the night.

He wasn’t sure how long he was sitting at the bar, consistently ignoring attempts at conversations from women when he spotted her. She was making her way out. He promptly rose from his seat and maneuvered his way through mostly inebriated individuals, never taking his eyes off her.

“See you tomorrow, Rob.” She laughed, a wide smile on her slightly round face.

“Excuse me-” T’Challa froze when she spun around and slammed her forearm into his own which was reaching out to tap her back.

“I don’t know what you want, but I can assure you that I’m not interested.” He was slightly surprised by her voice; it was soft, the epitome of femininity, a complete contrast to how she sang.

In order to ease her apparent discomfort, he raised his arms to signal docility.“I apologize if I scared you-”

She scowled. “Do I look scared?”

“No.” He observed, her face hardened with determination. “I simply wished to tell you that you have a beautiful voice.”

She rolled her eyes. “And a fat ass, right?”

He was appalled. “I would never speak in such a way to or about a woman.”

She lifted one brow, a small smile breaking her poker face before pulling her arm back. He watched her eye him from head to toe. “What’s your name?”

He did not hesitate to reply. “T’Challa.”

“Figures.” She chuckled. “You’re not from around here, are you?.”

“Something like that,” he echoed her chuckle, noticing her slowly starting to ease her way into comfort. “And yours?”

“Max,” she replied but noticed the strange gleam in his eyes. “It’s Maxine, but if you call me that, I will punch you in that pretty face of yours.”

“Understood.” He smiled softly. “Max.”

Max shifted her weight on her right foot and crossed her arms over her chest. “You busy?”

He lifted his eyebrows. “I’m sorry?”

She chuckled and turned around. “Come on.”

T’Challa froze, apprehension overcoming the great warrior. “Where?”

Max twisted her body, walking backward, smiling wryly. “Don’t worry. I don’t bite.” A beat. “Unless you want me to.”

T’Challa was thoroughly confused.

Why on earth would he want her to bite him? How animalistic.

---

“So you have no intentions of becoming a singer?”

Max laughed loudly as she walked the beach with the kind and, though she’d never admit it, handsome stranger. “Not at all. I like to sing, but my heart isn’t in it. It just helps to pay the bills.” She explained with a small sigh. “And I certainly have plenty of those.”

He said nothing but made a mental note to find a way to help her out. Monetarily speaking.

“What are you studying?”

“Social Work,” she responded, pushing her hair behind her ear. “I’m tired of seeing so many kids lost in the system, being shipped around from one dysfunctional home to another. It’s detrimental to a person’s mental health.”

He nodded, listening to her talk, picking up on the sense of sadness that imbued her countenance before she brushed it away.

“Make a difference, ya know?” She looked over at him. “What about you? What do you do for a living? Something illustrious judging by the expensive threads you’re rocking.” She teasingly bumped into him, T’Challa cracking a small smile.

He paused. A part of him wanted to tell her the truth, but he also liked the flow of their conversation, how she treated him so….normally. It was a nice diversion from how people typically acted when they learned that they were in the company of a king.

“I….work in management.” He decided on that vague answer, hoping that it would satisfy her.

“Oh. Of what?”

He stilled with apprehension. Of course, she wanted to know more. She was very perceptive.

A rap song about paramedics that he recalled Erik listening to sounded from her bag as she stopped walking, swinging the backpack around to grab her phone. “Excuse me.” She pulled it to her ear. “What’s up?” Max gave the king a strange look as he lifted his head to the sky as if searching for something. “No. I’m out with….a friend.” He returned his gaze to her. “Just order a pizza...use the money in the jar. I’ll be home soon enough….aight’.” Max hung up the phone, placing it back in the bag. “Sorry. My sister.”

“You have a sister?”

“Pretty sure that’s what I just said.” Max blew out a small breath as she spoke, continuing to walk after fixing her tote.

“I apologize,” T’Challa had no idea why he was behaving so strangely around this small woman with a bold personality. He was a warrior for Bast sake. “I too have a sister...and a brother.” He added quietly.

Max noticed the strange way he said, brother. “Estranged?”

“You could say that.” He commented. “I...just discovered his existence.”

Max made an ‘O’ with her mouth. “One of those.” She momentarily tilted her head and went to push her hair behind her shoulder. “Papa was a rolling stone type shit?” He regarded her with confusion. “You know….like the song?” His expression remained unchanged. “The Temptations?”

“As in pleasures of the flesh?” He suggested with hopeful eyes.

Max fell out in laughter, shaking her head and wiping at her eyes. “Seriously? Where did you say you were from again?”

“Africa.” He responded accordingly, failing to see the humor in his guess.

“And you mean to tell me that they don’t listen to The Temptations in the homeland?”  

“It is a musical group then, yes?”

Maxine just continued to grin, halting in her steps as she swung her bag around and forced it against his chest. “Hold this.” She started to dig through it before pulling out her phone and a set of large, white headphones that held a ‘B’ on the ear part. He watched her press a few buttons before leaning up and placing them over his ears. “Just listen.” He read her lips as she hit something on her phone before the music started to play.

He wasn’t even a full minute in when Max saw him snapping and slowly swaying. “This is wonderful! Who are they again? Do you have other artists similar to these tempts?”

She laughed softly as the two continued to walk.

“If you like them, wait until you hear The Supremes.”

---

Meanwhile…..

“I swear, this bobblehead looking ass nigga had one damn job.”

Erik was going to kill his cousin for turning off his kimoyo beads after going MIA on them.

“No. His name is T’Challa.” M’Baku attempted to explain to the restaurant worker, holding his arm out, stretching his hand. “About this tall, rather skinny in width, similar to him.” He gestured over to Erik.

“Keep it up, Jabari the Big Red Dog.” The prince hissed before pulling up a picture of his cousin, flashing the phone in front of the employee who spoke very little English. “This is him. Have you seen him or not? Cause his car is right outside.”

“Ohhhhhh,” the Asian commented with a friendly smile. “Yes. Him. Of course.”

M’Baku’s face lit up. “So you’ve seen him?”

“Yes!” She answered happily, pulling out her own phone and tapping a few things before showing it to him. “Great actor!”

“No! That’s not him!” A beat. “The fuck? That’s Chadwick Boseman!”

M’Baku narrowed his eyes at the picture on the screen.

“They do share an uncanny resemblance.”

“Man, shut up, Tiny Lister!”

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Collab Authors: @muse-of-mbaku @kumkaniudaku @airis-paris14  @thewriterinflannel @mbakusthrone

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@theresnomoregoodones @missumuch1918  @simplyjaydaa @-harmonytbh @simplyyamberr @sisterwifeudaku @purple-apricots

@heyauntieeee @youcantkillamutant @tadjoa @mejustme06 @bugngiz

@aieyr @bamakakechick @blackbypurpose @yourwonderbelle @multipersonalitygirl @chefjessypooh @hamato-rue159 @blublubleu @elaindeereads @girlie94 @nubian-queen18 @autumn242 @romanticcandle @nubian-queen18 @girl-with-the-pen @headhunchess @afraiddreamingandloving @thatbish27 @almostpurelysmut @blkintrovert @xxthotii @muhhhkrysta @dreamlloudly @k-o-jass @yoyolovesbucky @kileynoelle852 @mademoiselleoya  @silentlikethe-g-inlasagna  @bossyboyd03 @bigdaddyashhh @pocoberry @madamslayyy @nyxy97 @imuhhhkrysta @kaykay4454fan @phambili-myking

@esther-adri  @bluesaladexpertpsychic @vibranium-soul

@yoyolovesbucky @syreanne @dameshaemonique @klaine15689 @jessyalmighty  @amore-fiore @ellebosemanduke @ovohanna24 @esther-adri @chereedrop619 @vibranium-soul @bossyboyd03 @constantlycravingtheunknown @mrssebbiestan @jaeee-http @ceeceenatural

Good Stuff’s Best of 2017

WARNING: I’d like to thank everybody who was here for me when times were low. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy.

Cartoons; the one thing that I will continuously watch until I go blind. 2017 was an emotional handful and an exhausting trudge, can’t deny that, and I’m counting down the best cartoons/animations I’ve seen and loved this year in no particular order. Only two rules, no sneak previews of future projects (sorry to Unikitty and Hideo Kojima). Here we go....

10. HANAZUKI: FULL OF TREASURES

This was a sleeper hit tbh. The fact all the episodes were free on Youtube blew my mind, but having a well structured story with a lovely cold space color palette, actually relatable characters, and a sinister undertones below its tender, colorful charm to be as a nice headliner to when Friendship is Magic came back in spring. It was an inviting start for the year, and with the guy behind Motorcity and Superjail taking the helm and having two more seasons being produced, Hanazuki is something I find is in good hands come 2018.

9. LITTLE WITCH ACADEMIA

Four long years. I waited FOUR long goddamn years...and fuck me was it worth it. A spectacle is what I can call Little Witch Academia. Almost every episode dazzled me with its stage made bravado and confidence that always made me say, “Okay. Let’s make it til’ the next week”. Even when things got serious, LWA knew how to have fun and make the most of its concept. There is a sense of predictability sometimes, but the series would still throw you some good curve balls to never lose your interest. What did lose my interest was Netflix’s sorry excuse of a dub. The movies: fine. But Netflix, try that again, with any other anime, and I will rip your nuts off.

8. Now I might be cheating here since it’s not a cartoon, but shit it might as well have been

CUPHEAD

The effort that went into this is phenomenal, beyond the many other games of the year no doubt. While not everything is animated, I could tell they were cutting corners in some areas, the frame BY frame animated enemies, bosses, and effects made this one of the most visually colorful and alive games to date, next to Mario Odyssey. Not only was this game a frustrating yet joyous romp to start and finish, but the music and art flawlessly channeled the essence of a time where the word “cartoon” was only starting to make good progress. My favorite character would have to be Satan King Dice, whom is an animated homage to great musician and composer Cab Calloway. His stache, his clothing, even his Cheshire grin captured the cool, jazzy vibe Calloway always provided in his performances. He and his fight was the highlight of Cuphead for me and I hope this game, if a sequel isn’t possible, is well remembered for its unexpected excellence in how a video game can look.

7. CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS/L-EGGO BATMAN

Faithful is what I can describe these two. Captain Underpants was just an awesome book to elementary schooler me, but to see a well animated, well written movie about a dude in his underwear was nothing short of a simple yet powerful masterpiece. As for Batman, this is one of the three truest DC and Batman movies around this time, and it has a gay undertone with Batman and the Joker’s relationship (how can you not pull that off, Suicide Squad?). While not a big fan of lego myself, The Lego Movie put my faith WB making another one equally as good, and they did not disappoint. It’s a shame it got snubbed at the Golden Globes, it deserves the award more than the Boss Baby. Plus it had a Superman that didn’t bore me while having a terrible CGI lip job that’s only made worse by his two way dick nose....

Justice League costed 300,000,000 dollars.............

6. DANGER & EGGS

To me, this series felt like one of the few steps forward the world took to make the LGBT+ community feel more welcome and inspired in public outlets; a small step, but progressive none the less. It is a colorful and lively action comedy, a first to be created by a transgender person, where you can see a non-binary character, a pride fest, diverse background characters of orientation and ethnicity, and it feels like they are a part of the world and not footnotes that states that you should respect queer, bi, ace, and so on based on a say so. It’s a show don’t tell type of series and it brightened my summer before I had to remind myself that college exists and is expecting me.

5. TANGLED: THE SERIES

*ring ring* “Hello?” Ye, Disney? How fucking dare you?

My hype for this was undoubtful. I love Tangled the movie, I consider it one of my favorite 2010 disney flics beside Wreck it Ralph and Moana. And when the art style was up for a preview for this (?), I just sat and waited until it finally premiered and damn. I never stopped loving it, but it is until episode 16 where the series starts to hit high note after high note with the direction it’s going for the story. The fact that this all takes place not long after the movie makes the thought where Eugene and Rapunzel finally get married feels all the more earned. It’s working its way to a happily ever after, I adore this show, and this makes me appreciate Frozen a bit more for how far that’s fallen in the world after its one year of fame. Seriously, Gigantic had to get chopped, but Olaf can still live? Give me a break, Disney.

“Sir, I understand your enthusiasm....but this is Domino’s.” Then I will have the 5.99 large with Salchicha and pepperoncini with a liter sprite on delivery.

4. MADE IN ABYSS

This was so beautiful, so awesome, and much better than...

I wasted my life and I cannot say that I will ever reclaim that time proactively again the Anime

Made in Abyss is like Hunter x Hunter except Gon’s more booksmart and Kilua’s a timid robot. The bond between Riko and Reg was a fucking dynamic and heartfelt where Riko’s helps build Reg up and Reg kept Riko and himself safe with his bodily arsenal. That and this series has the best world building where they not only give the low down on almost everything about the titular abyss, but the atmospheric environments and the designs of the inhabiting creatures made this a unique world to want to explore myself. It knew what to show, and knew what to share. When things got serious, I actually tensed up at the thought of shit truly going down; they knew how to soften the terror while maniacally instill fear in us for the safety of the traveling kids. I want to recommend this link to an awesome breakdown of how great Made in Abyss was. However, as it seems that a season two has gone down the abyss as well, and I’m afraid it can’t come back up.

3. LET’S BE HEROES!!

Is it safe to call this the M.U.G.E.N. of cartoons? Just an all up mashup of stuff I love in a Saturday morning? Campy, action, and laid back, this is something I can be sober or grab some kush and I would be enjoy the show just the same. They even have references you might not have ever heard of, but might like the search. OK KO’s a popcorn cartoon, it’s not for everybody, but it established itself well into the modern CN era when Adventure Time finally has to move on. 

2. SAMURAI JACK

Getting this out of the way: episode 6 toiled the final season of Samurai Jack for me. Not gonna go into detail, but if that episode was remade, I would have been more satisfied looking back. However, that does not stop me from saying this is how a revival should be, this is how a reboot should work, THIS is how you can bring nostalgia back. Samurai Jack was great back then, but this season, wrapping up the loose plight of our boy trying to get back to the past and defeat the demon Aku, was satisfactory to many fans. Even those who’ve never heard or remember Jack could just enjoy this as a dynamic mini-series; it gives you context of what happened before without having to recap the original plot of it. For non fans, it’s mostly about an ageless samurai, longing to return to his own time, stuck in the future for over 50 years to the point of losing his honor and his mind. It’s a binge worthy 10 episode season, originally intended to be a movie, and aside from polar opinionated finale, this made Samurai Jack feel great to love again.

1. TRUE AND THE RAINBOW KINGDOM

This is a personal choice from me because 2017 was an honest to god terrible year for me; nothing but turmoil, season to season, and the struggle to cope with that despair in a way I felt actually could help. However, this small series here boosted my spirits because even with it being a show for little kids that I originally wanted to watch as a joke, the competent, enthusiastic spirit it had just moved me in a way that cartoons that I love for eons could only try to do on a whim. It’s not the best made cartoon, it’s not something I sincerely recommend to you all, but it helped me realize that the best thing about life is finding and seeking things that don’t just distract you from the hard and testing times reality puts on you, but gives you a moment of honest bliss and happiness that can influence your outlook on looking forward to better things because things like this, cartoons like this, CAN make you feel better. 

*sniff* Which is why, the actual cartoon of the year....

1. is STEVEN U., BABY!

Just kidding, guys! You will NEVER win, Steven!

TEEN TITANS GO! WINS IT AGAIN, BABYYYY! ONCE AGAIN BABY (i don’t even like it no more...), YOUR NEW FAVORITE SHOW (i don’t even fucking like it no...) RISES TO THE TO-

But Steven Universe in Space, though. That’s when it’ll be great again.

A Ragtime Mind

Watching Bob Milne perform is like seeing the next step up in humanity’s progression, but realized in the form of a man you can engage in a friendly chat. He is the most phenomenal piano player I’ve seen or heard – for accuracy, speed, dexterity, emotion, sensitivity. His staples are ragtime and boogie-woogie, with a smattering of blues. He claims he never practices, but he plays some 250 gigs a year around the world. He owns no recordings or sheet music; he has no need for them because he can assimilate and reproduce any piece of music after hearing it once (putting him, perhaps, in a class with Mozart as far as that ability goes).

He was a French horn player in his late teens, but quit because the horn does require practice to keep the lips in form. So why doesn’t he play classical piano? He started out in honky-tonk bars in Detroit, playing what people wanted to hear and also trying to duplicate the speed and complexity of piano rolls – a supposedly impossible endeavor, since the rolls were reproduced by combining multiple players (Milne succeeded). Many say that ragtime is the most complex of all piano music. So maybe it’s the ultimate, continuing challenge.

But the simple fact that Milne was coming up to northeastern Pennsylvania – to Lycoming College, about which I knew zilch, though I live only fifty miles away – was not the clincher that drew me to hear him; it was the fact that his brain apparently functions like no one else’s. The neurologist who’s been studying him, Kerstin Bettermann from the Hershey Medical Center, would be giving a talk about his mind before he gave his concert.

Both Bettermann and Milne are delightful human beings, and Bettermann is an excellent presenter. Using functional MRI, she had documented the unique ways in which Milne’s brain works and proved that he can indeed do what he claims he’s been able to do all his life: hear, process and view three or four orchestral productions in his head at the same time.

For her testing, Bettermann had used Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and one other that I can’t recall. As a control, she also tested an orchestral conductor who would likely have the closest sort of musical mind to Milne’s. She played them a specific rendition of each piece, then asked them to repeat them mentally while she timed their progress. She would interrupt randomly and ask them where they were in the score, checking their progress against the timing of the recording. The conductor, while able to visualize and accurately reproduce the unfolding of a single orchestral piece, could not manage two, much less three or four, as Milne clearly could.

And the differences in brain connectivity Bettermann discovered between the two were striking. She flashed schematics to show how the two brains had functioned under fMRI during the test. Milne used fewer neural connection systems, made more equal use of the two brain hemispheres, and mostly ignored (or suppressed) normal inhibitory feedback. With Milne’s internalization of music, there is apparently almost no “waste” brain activity – no neural searching, no misdirection.

Milne himself – quiet, charming and funny as hell in an offhand way – answered audience questions after Bettermann’s presentation, before his concert. Yes, he’s always had these abilities, and until his teens assumed everyone (or at least all musicians) did. No, he had no particular offsetting problems in other areas of schoolwork, though math bored him – “maybe because it was too easy” – and “I just hated social studies, what awful stuff."

He has no interest in puzzles, is good enough at chess to beat three players simultaneously behind his back while playing the piano, but obviously doesn’t take any of this sort of thing seriously. Amateur players at festivals are nasty to him, probably because it all comes too easy for him.

When he sat down to play, Bettermann used a back-lit screen to highlight his hands, giving us a close-up yet bird’s eye view of something I didn’t expect I’d see again: a combination of delicious motion, fluidity and certainty. He talked to the audience casually while playing, explaining the elements of music with superb clarity. He gave little demonstrations of how to introduce different, overlapping time signatures into the same piece, playing them off against each other while his thumb – his thumb! – carried the melody. There seemed to be no effort involved in doing something that few alive could accomplish, no matter the time they might put into it.

Not long after the Lycoming evening, our local arts council was setting up its first Ultimate Musical Theater Weekend, in 2015, and we needed to fill a performer slot. Milne was the immediate choice. He arrived from Michigan in November, traveling with a trailer that he and his wife slept in. For his concert, he played a wide variety of ragtime, boogie and blues, some standards, some unknown to most of his audience. He interwove tunes, turned medleys into quiet explications of musical theory and technique. Playing at floor lever, rather than on a stage as at Lycoming, he seemed even more at living-room ease, in quiet rapport with his audience, chatting back and forth.

He played one piece at almost blinding speed (he’s equally effective with slow numbers) while maintaining crystalline clarity. An audience member asked how he could rampage through the music like that. "What, I didn’t play fast enough?” and, standing, he leaned sideways to play a few bars twice as fast.

I’ve nearly always found descriptions of a musician’s technique and effectiveness to fall flat, and I’m sure that’s been the case here. One of Milne’s caliber has to be experienced. Fortunately, there are entrancing videos of Milne online, especially those conducted at the Library of Congress.

During intermission, I was one of several who had the chance to chat with him as he fielded questions sitting in the back row. Does he have an overall eidetic memory? He doesn’t think so, hasn’t considered it that much. Does he think his rare mental and physical abilities are necessarily linked – that he couldn’t have one without the other? He answers with a sort of mental shrug. In general, he doesn’t seem to feel that such things are worth a great deal of bother.

Yet beyond his performance, there’s an immense amount to be learned from Milne. Because of his singular brain functioning, he raises interesting questions about art – what it is, how it’s produced, the relation between the mental (creative) and the physical (production).

Suppose we consider artistic creation as a continuum from abstract impulse to concrete realization:

• Can someone have the abstract impulse toward a particular form of artistic creation but not the physical ability to realize its execution? (Milne’s playing flows without clear distinction between the two. I love music but can’t master repetitive motion to play even the simplest instrument.)

Suppose we consider the production of art as a physical continuum from neural brain processes to bodily execution:

• Should we then say that art can legitimately be described in terms of science? Also:

• Can we call someone an artist who can produce no external art?

• Can one have an “advanced” mental state – artistic or otherwise – but not be able to communicate it because it cannot be realized in action or not recognized by the individual in isolation?

• Conversely, can one have latent physical ability like Milne’s but not the internal creative impetus to produce art? There have been savants who could identify prime numbers up to nine digits long, yet their stunning (and incomprehensible) ability produced no external beauty or usefulness in the real world.

But, for the moment, forget all that and go visit Bob Milne at the Library of Congress.

by Derek Davis

Eoin. Honestly, it isn’t an exaggeration to say that we were on the edges of our seat in anticipation of an app for Jennifer after posting her bio. The anon who was asking about her got us very excited - and while we don’t know whether that was you or not - we do know that the excitement ended up being very much justified. You seem to be exactly what we were looking for in terms of a roleplayer who understood Jennifer’s character beyond the superficial titles of ‘good’ and ‘evil’. Your thought-provoking answers to our app questions made her very human and carefully avoided any of the trappings of a typical stereotype. It’s clear that you took the time to do your research on our story and setting, and we love how you tied so many of these details into your application. We also enjoyed your headcanons, and how they added another very human layer to Jennifer Blake. One thing we intentionally left out of her bio was the casual vibe of human!Jen; her interests outside of magic and sacrifice, her pastimes, and the tone she uses in her day-to-day dealings with the world around her. You brought this side of her to life in your headcanons and in the sample app, and convinced us that you understand all sides of her character intimately well. Needless to say, we cannot wait to have her on our dash and get to interact with your Jen in person!

Eoin, thank you very much for applying. As for Jennifer…

                ⚜ ~ WELCOME TO VIEUX NOYÉS!!! ~ ⚜

Wondering what to do next? Click here and let the good times roll!

⚜ Roleplayer:

⤜ Name/alias: Eoin

⤜ Pronouns: He/Him

⤜ Age: 23

⤜ Timezone: GMT

⤜ Activity: I’d put my activity at an 8 out of 10. I usually check in everyday and attempt to get a few replies out after Uni, though I tend to go quieter around weekends since I work then.

⤜ Best form of contact: Just on tumblr is best for me.

⤜ Any Triggers? No triggers.

⤜ How did you find Vieux Noyés? I came across it while searching the tag ‘supernatural rp’

⤜ What drew you to the RP? The design and intricacy of the RP is phenomenal, the story-world, interconnecting characters and events were all so interesting. But the main element would have to be the maturity it boasts; the emphasis on character development, and seeing characters as three-dimensional people over simple hero/villain labels.

⤜ What is one subplot/element from the Plot page that you are particularly looking forward to seeing in this roleplay? Marcel’s decision to ban magic within the quarter has left many witches and even some vampires in tricky situations. Between the ambitions of the witches and the need for magical items (such as daylight rings) I can see Marcel’s orders being ignored and, if punishment is met out, the fallout from that would be very interesting to see.

⚜ Desired Character: Jennifer Blake

⤜ Why do you want this character? 

From the first time I saw her portrayed in Teen Wolf I adored Jennifer’s character, the change from almost clumsy teacher to powerful Darach, but I was very disappointed at the overall story she was given. There was so much more they could have offered this character instead of labeling her as a ‘villain’ and moving on. The lengths she went to in order to avenge her pack really caught my interest.

Furthermore, within this RP, Jennifer is again a multifaceted character whose immense intelligence and ambition is met with an almost childlike misunderstanding of emotion and consequence. The variation and conflict you can give a character that is this complex would be a very exciting opportunity.  

⤜ What are your future plans for this character? 

Jennifer’s bio makes it clear that she’s already conflicted. But the one element left with no ambiguity is her obsession and determination to increase her strength. Her method of doing this, sacrifice, and the consequences of her doing so is something I’d really like to explore. How her mind would cope with the strain of other personalities seeping through. And whether or not she may be able to create a connection with someone other than Rain to possibly help her through it.

Her mimicry abilities also present an interesting chance for character exploration. I’d like to see whether this woman, who understands so little about sentiment, could perhaps find in someone else the feelings of friendship and family she found in Rain, and may need to find after the recent conflict between the two. Especially since this could provide further conflict with her own plans down the line.

⤜ Put yourself in your character’s shoes. Give us a few lines to describe a day in the life of your character… Where do they live? Where and how do they spend their time? 

Jennifer, despite her ambitions for herself and her coven, found employment at the local high school, Saint Aloysuis, and finds the job satisfying. Just as Rain taught her she reaps a little satisfaction out of imparting the great works of the English language to her students, the subtleties of a well-constructed argument, the best methods of textual research and analysis and even the odd break in the teachers lounge with Jenna, one of the few teachers not to bore her. And, as the school motto insists, develop her talents. She’s worked hard to develop the persona of the slightly clumsy, endearing and only occasionally strict teacher who’s becoming quite popular with the students. After school she may head to either Café du Monde with Jenna, or even Rousseau’s if it’s a Friday, for the odd drink and talk. If not she is fond of frequenting Bourbon Street, for the people and the music. Or even the French Market. She rarely shops, but she keeps herself around people, she has more opportunity to spot a candidate for sacrifice that way. At the end of the day she returns to her apartment on Jackson Square, the noise of the few shops quieting down so she can mark her classwork or further her research, usually with a glass of wine in hand and some soft music playing, before retiring for the evening.

⤜ Give us three headcanons regarding your character of choice.

Jennifer has quite a love for music and dance. Even before coming to New Orleans she had a fascination with jazz, the devil’s music. The way the singer and musicians can create tunes on the spot and the rhythm of the music just resonates with her. Her singing voice is rather good, plus she’s an excellent dancer, and loves to sing, sway and undulate her body to the music of New Orleans.

Despite her position as an English teacher, Jennifer, in her free time, tends to read chick-lit and crime novels over the classics or Pulitzer Prize winners. Her reasons for this are to try and improve her understanding of that strange thing called sentiment; the love shown in chick-lit and the human behavior show in crime novels has helped her a little with that. But, on a more secretive level, she sometimes finds escapes in them. It’s a chance to get away from the tensions of her life and indulge her mind in the mundane problems of the ‘heroine de jour’.

Jennifer is an avid gardener. Not just because the plants and herbs she grows could have properties in her covens spells, but also because life is just one more mystery to solve. She’s seen the inside workings of animals plucked apart, the beauty in that. But there’s an almost similar beauty to seeing a seedling sprout through the dirt, grow, bloom, wither and die. Whole cycles of life and death having come and gone in a single year. One more thing for her to observe and learn from.  

⤜ What are some plots you’d like to explore with your character? 

I’d like to see a plot in which Jennifer is first introduced to someone while putting on her ‘persona’ and developing a relationship based on that. Then having the truth of her nature revealed and how both she and the other party would cope with that. Whether the feelings she ‘put on’ over that time could develop into something real or if the other party could even attempt to make a connection with the real Jennifer. Also, I’d be interested in seeing Jennifer perhaps take on a student of her own. Someone who she thinks could be taught to be what she considers ‘better,’ more wild and ambitious in their studies, always striving for the most powerful outcomes of magic.

⤜ Para sample: 

(Retained for privacy)

⤜ Would you like to be considered for another character if not accepted as your primary choice? No thank you.

⤜ Have you read the rules?: I have, several times in detail.

⤜ Anything else? Just to gush a little about how amazing this RP is. And to please request that if this application isn’t acceptable to you that you’d please message me with some feedback on my performance. I’d really appreciate the opportunity to improve and come back again if need be. Thank you very much!

TOYAH ON RTÉ ARENA WITH SEÁN ROCKS 23.5.2021

SEÁN: Tonight on Arena Toyah Willcox on lockdown lunches, dying her bright blue before it was fashionable and making films with Derek Jarman. To a generation of teenagers and beyond in the 1980’s Toyah Willcox was an inspiration. With brightly dyed hair, dramatic make-up and songs like “ I Want To Be Free” being a call to arms But before success in the music world she’s already made her stage debut at the National Theatre in London and her film debut with director Derek Jarman. For four decades the work continues unabated, she’s just returned to the recording studio,  new solo album “Posh Pop” due for release in July and a remastered edition of "The Blue Meaning", her studio album from 1980 comes out this month and I’m delighted to have Toyah Willcox join me on Arena   TOYAH: Hello! SEÁN: Hi! How are you doing? Good to speak to you. I’m skipping over four decades there very quickly but I want to actually just talk initially about the last year. Tell all those who haven’t been initiated into "Toyah and Robert’s Sunday Lunches". Tell them what’s involved there TOYAH: Well, it’s a massive success. We have traffic of 16.7 million  viewing Toyah Youtube every month and we can not put our finger on why this has just gone viral. It’s basically Robert, my husband, and I in our kitchen – we’ve never changed that setting and the kitchen seems to be as much a star as we are. So it started off with a very simple dance video, a 30 second video exactly a year ago, which within one minute had reached 100 000 people and most of them seem to be in the Philippines     We were absolutely amazed by this so we started to regularly release videos at Sunday lunch at a time when we believed – and we still believe that we as musicians need an audience and an audience needs us   The idea was we just wanted to say to people who were good enough to watch that we are in this with you and it had a profound effect! I do admit to the audiences out there who haven’t seen Toyah & Robert that we push the boundaries and the bar out (Seán chuckles) more and more each week and I’m not sure we can push that boundary out any more   We’ve now reached an international rock audience to the point where we know that the drummer from Radiohead, Alice Cooper and various other iconic people are watching our videos and they are trending them and it’s just been fabulous to a point where we are now deciding that in a about two to three years time this will become our main career. My husband turns 75 any day now and I turn 63 and we’ve decided we’re going to build this as our kind of retirement career

SEÁN: Quite a plan. And we should point out that your husband isn’t any old Robert, he’s Robert Fripp of King Crimson, the guitarist, so we’re talking serious musical pedigree there as well   TOYAH: Yeah. He’s in the Top 50 of world guitarists SEÁN: He can play (both laugh) Let’s put it that way! TOYAH: Yeah! SEÁN: Let’s have a listen – I think this is actually – was it last Sunday, a very recent Sunday at any rate, where you took on – basically what yourself and Robert do in these videos – you take on songs I suppose, we all know and love and lots of them speak directly to your own aesthetic. This is “Firestarter” from  The Prodigy (below) TOYAH: OK. Let me explain. I perform these to two guitarists and I have no microphone and I have no in-ear (monitors). This is me purely responding in the room. It’s no even karaoke! (Seán chuckles)  This is performance art! SEÁN: That’s exactly what it is and I have to say you didn’t mention one of the stars of this particular video which is the copper pot hanging above your Aga. Let’s have a listen to how that all works (Toyah laughs) (Plays the song)   Now, if you haven’t seen the visuals wait until this interview is over and go and search them out (laughs) That is "Toyah and Robert Sunday Lunch", Toyah Willcox speaking with me this evening – and the copper pot in the midsts of these stars in that video as well with Jake, the other guitarist as you mentioned, Toyah   “I'm the trouble starter, punkin' instigator, I'm the fear addicted, a danger illustrated, I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter” Did the Prodigy write the lyrics about you? TOYAH: No! This is The Prodigy! SEÁN: I know that! (laughs) But it sounds like you, doesn’t it? TOYAH: Not today … (Seán laughs) I mean we did that as a tribute to Keith (Flint, who passed away in March 2019) who was a gorgeous gorgeous human being and we pick songs and we treat them as tributes to the original artists so you’re right that there is a little bit of me in that song but I think there’s a little bit of everyone in that song!

SEÁN: Yeah! (laughs) TOYAH: I mean where The Prodigy were absolutely phenomenal was they created a very special energy that the world followed and we wanted to pay tribute to Keith. I think part of the success of this particular video you’ve picked up on is the huge copper jam making pot that I use as the percussion and we think this is part of the success of "Toyah and Robert at Home" that we use kitchen implements in the videos and it’s slightly absurd SEÁN: Yeah but it’s brilliantly absurd at the same time as well. I’m wondering how difficult it was to get Robert to join in … I went down the "Toyah & Robert Sunday Lunch" rabbit hole last night on Youtube as I was getting ready to speak with you and I had such a great time   Initially I wonder, particularly in the "Swan Lake" video where you’re in the garden in fact – was that the initial dance video you were talking about? He’s in the black tutu, you’re in a black tutu, going across the lawn? TOYAH: The initial dance video was me teaching him to jive to “Rock Around The Clock” when I realised that this very brilliant guitarist, who plays very complicated time signatures, had no control of his body and he can not dance   So the tutu came about  - it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. We live on the river Avon near Stratford and I have always wanted to do "Swan Lake" that way and I said to Robert “would you wear a tutu?” and he wasn’t happy about but he trusts me and that particular video reached the world press I mean we started to make headlines on front pages and newspapers from Italy to the USA with that one. At that point Robert wasn’t too happy to be seen across the world in a tutu like that but very quickly people realised that in a time of extreme danger and fear that one of the things the human race can turn to is humour and that was the turning point of our success SEÁN: Yeah. I have to say though, Toyah, yes, they’re very humorous and   there’s an absurdity to them but there’s also something incredibly creative about some of the ones I was watching last night and I’m thinking in particular of “You Really Got Me” The Kinks (below) The way you shot this! A film maker would be proud of it! Robert – (Toyah interrupts) Yeah, go ahead, explain the shot

TOYAH: By the way I have directed and filmed ten videos for my album “Posh Pop” so I know how to make really good short films. So I set this camera up – we live in a five floor property with a stairwell and I just thought – always thought – as soon as we moved into this property twenty years ago that that is a fabulous shot!   Robert was very very happy to do this shot when I set it up so I had to build a very easy scaffold rig to suspend the camera down the three stairwells we were shooting from. We removed all the furniture so that we could put Robert on his back looking up to the top camera, which was three floors up at this particular part of the house looking down on these beautiful mosaic tiles and Robert was playing The Kinks “You Really Got Me”   The thing about this video is he plays virtually every cord wrong. Robert plays in viola tuning which is five tones higher than guitar tuning so this was the beginning of Robert realising if he was going to have to learn classic rock he was going to have to go back to E tuning but that’s a technicality. I think most of your listeners will understand what I’ve just said   So I was trying to sing dressed as a little red demon running up and down the stairwell three floors to tuning I was not getting back off my master guitarist! (Seán laughs) It is a visual feast, it’s a beautiful looking film SEÁN: Yeah, the tiles on the floor as we look from up above look absolutely amazing with Robert lying on them and it is a great shot TOYAH: And I look amazing too! SEÁN: Yes, you do look amazing in your red PVC suit that you’re wearing (Toyah cackles) Some of the costumes that you wear throughout the videos are to seen rather than to be spoken about, I shall put it that way (laughs) TOYAH: Yeah and I would say this is for viewing for over 18 years of age. And I would like to day that I’m pushing out the boundaries that no matter what age you are we are still connected to rock’n’roll

SEÁN: For sure. And that brings me to that earlier part of your career which is – we’re talking about everything tonight that we want to talk about – but specifically about the remastered edition of "The Blue Meaning", your studio album from 1980. Now ironically it’s not just that album it has to said, it’s a massive big collection of music that you’ve given us

In fact it’s a two disc collection, there are extra songs in there, some that are from a deluxe edition that you released later on but there’s also one of your best hits which isn’t on the album itself, I know that, but it’s the one that a lot of listeners will recognise the minute they hear it. This is from the second disc that you’re re-releasing at the moment (plays the original version of “It’s A Mystery”) Oh that is so beautiful to hear in that original version which is part of the double set I know that the real focus is "The Blue Meaning", the album itself but “It’s A Mystery”, that lyric in there “it’s a mystery to me, still searching for a clue” … It strikes me that part of that is still happening for you, Toyah Willcox, but not in any kind of way that makes you anxious, makes you excited in fact that you’re constantly searching

TOYAH: Yeah! I mean that was the very first demo of “It’s A Mystery” and it was done with a band called Blood Donor, the keyboard player had written that song. So that was a very avant-garde demo and we re-recorded it after the writer and myself turned it into a different arrangement and I wrote the second verse for the single and it became a much more of a commercial entity

But the meaning in the song for me is life is a journey and I was brought up that as soon as you left the school gates at 17 or 18 education stopped. Well, that’s just not true and as soon as you hit 30 you’re in old age, well, that’s just not true!   And I think that this song represents the fact that life is a journey and it’s always a rite of passage. We’re always learning new things, experiencing new things and life is an adventure. That I think is a very special meaning within “It’s A Mystery” SEÁN: And also that period in time, I mentioned it in my introduction – you had already had success, you were on the stage of the National Theatre and you’d been in Derek Jarman’s “Jubilee” at that point in time - TOYAH: I’d made “Quadrophenia” and I’d been in a movie with Katharine Hepburn -

SEÁN: Katharine Hepburn was actually – this brings us to a great story around your dyed hair. Everybody’s (saying) “that was the punk era – of course she had dyed hair!” but you had dyed hair much earlier than many others. I think you were in your very early teens that you first dyed your hair a bright blue or a bright pink TOYAH: When I was 14 I was a hair model for a very famous UK department store so my hair started to be dyed when I was 14 and I got threatened to be chucked out of school. It was such a taboo thing to do that buses wouldn’t stop for me, people used to shout at me adding a lot of swear words to this “what are you?” and “bleep bleep clown!” It was an incredibly aggressive statement for a woman to have made in the mid-70’s Today when I look out and I see women of all ages with pink, blue, green hair I think yes! This is why my generation did it! But back then you were seen as someone standing outside of society and it was taken as an aggressive statement   So I was a hair model, I adored having all these different colours and when I met Katharine Hepburn for the audition for Bessie Watty, a 13 year old (above) in a classic play called “The Corn Is Green” for a movie, I wore a wig, I wore my National Theatre wig, which was a beautiful brown wig   When I got the job I turned up for the play reading with Katharine Hepburn with my bright red hair and she fell in love with it and she said that is exactly who and what she was when she was a teenager in Barking in Hollywood. She adored it. She got it immediately SEÁN: Yeah and in fact George Cukor, who was the director, had seen you in the wig and when he saw you with the bright pink hair the following day was going “huh? Who’s this person?!” TOYAH: Well, you’ve got to remember this is the man that discovered Marilyn Monroe and James Dean. He also directed Judy Garland in “A Star Is Born” and suddenly he’s got this young 19 year old turning up with bright red hair. It was a complete leap of faith for him at that time SEÁN: And I want to bring up Derek Jarman and that relationship. How did that relationship start first of all? Was it Ian Charleson, the actor, who introduced you  to Jarman? TOYAH: Yeah, Ian Charleson and I were at the National Theatre together in very different productions but Ian Charleson knew Derek Jarman and felt that Derek would love to meet me and that lead to us going to tea with Derek Jarman and Derek just literally handed me a script and said “pick the part you want” And Derek and me, we loved each other very very much. The bond was immediate and I went onto to do “The Tempest” (below) with him as well

SEÁN: I have a little clip from the dinner scene in “Jubilee”. Was your character in “Jubilee” simply called Mad? Mad with a capital M?

TOYAH: Yeah, that’s it. Mad the pyromaniac

SEÁN: Mad the pyromaniac. Fire starting seems to be our theme this evening, doesn’t it? Let’s have listen to this little dinner scene of Derek Jarman’s “Jubilee” (plays the clip) Does that bring back memories? It must do, Toyah?

TOYAH:I remember itvividly. I remember it was a part of a ten page scene that I was speaking for the whole of the time so I remember the technicality of it!

SEÁN: I’d say!

TOYAH: That the camera was trying to find me, I was trying find the camera. I do remember it. It was an incredibly happy time because it was my very first feature film and yes … It was such anopportunity and Derek Jarman trusted in me but very very embryonic in my performance and I still feel very embryonic as a film actress because film acting is about experience but I loved every minute of making this but it was extra special because it was my first movie

SEÁN: And Ian Charleson was at that dinner table and Adam Ant was there as well if I remember right -

TOYAH: Yeah, Adam Ant, Little Nell from the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” movie … It was absolutely an iconic cast

SEÁN: Yeah and all of that film experience and Derek Jarman’s aesthetic I think is there even in the Sunday Lunch videos that we were talking about earlier on and I guess it will be all over the new album “Posh Pop” given that you’ve said – you feel that the videos and songs are pretty much an item together rather than separate in the case of the upcoming album, yeah?

TOYAH: Yeah. Because “Posh Pop” was written in lockdown I created a pod with my co-writer Simon Darlow … We feel that this album is about humanity and it’s about humanity at a time where we were joined like no other time in our living history. “Posh Pop” is about joy, the need to dance, it’s about connection, love and loss. So this is why I’ve  made the video album to go with this album. It’s one of the most special things that I have ever ever made. It is for  me a very perfect album but what sounds like a pop album has the deepest messages I’ve ever written about

SEÁN: To finish up then I want to go to "The Blue Meaning", the remastered edition that we’re celebrating with you this evening and that opening track “IEYA”. We get an eight minute thirty one second version of this song on the new album. That’s a short version in comparison to some of the rehearsals you had for it. Rehearsals almost in front of live audiences. Tell us about gigs where you basically tried this song out and the audience were there while you were working out new versions of it TOYAH: Yeah, well, “IEYA” was written at soundchecks and we often so loved playing this, it has a kind of trance effect about it, that we would get through our entire set in an evening, in an hour and a half, we’d do five encores and the audience was still calling out for more so we were put in a situation that we wanted to play something new so we would develop “IEYA” live on stage in front of the audience And you’re right, live this could go on for half an hour or more. So we developed the arrangement and the energy and the connection with the audience, actually in front of the live audience, and then went into the studio six months later to record it and I think that’s why this song is so special. It’s because we know exactly how the audience were going to behave when they heard certain parts of it. And even today it’s out encore number and the audience go absolutely bonkers SEÁN: Toyah. Lovely to speak with you this evening. Thanks for being with us TOYAH: Thank you so much Sean, it’s been a pleasure