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cowboy-garfield · 1 year

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wait, have you ever seen the larry evidence? these men are still writing songs about each other and fake dating women?? even if they’re not together now, they’re closeted. many ex-boy band members have come forward with their own experiences of being forced to hide their sexuality (i.e., lance bass, ricky martin)

LMAO IS THIS A TROLL ARE Y'ALL FUCKING WITH ME... this is one of my friends isn't it hsjdkghsk /j

Dude I hate to break it to you, but you've picked the wrong Rango to tango with. My irl friend has been studying the larrie conspiracy DEEPLY for more a year now out of morbid fascination, and I've been along for the entire ride. We're losing our shit on the phone as I type this. I made that brba post referencing the black mold thing before it even broke 200 notes. I know about your rainbow bears and tattoos and babygates and 28.

If you've got something to throw at me, give me your best shot. I'm already in the belly of the beast with your so-called "evidence." And I've never seen a bigger crock of parasocial copium and sunk cost fallacy in my LIFE.

Genuinely idk if this is someone fucking with me, but if you seriously obsess over and speculate and state personal details about real people as if they're factual... then you seriously need to reevaluate your life. Not only is it unhealthy, but it's just weird as hell.

You don't know these people, and they don't know you. They're grown ass multimillionaires who can do whatever the fuck they want.

Hell—they've been involved in WORSE scandals than if they were merely to come out, but y'all probably wouldn't acknowledge any of that to save your life—because then they wouldn't be your little victimized uwu boys. The victimization angle is very important to the agenda I've noticed, because if you tell yourself you're always on the defense (or that someone else is attacking you/whoever you're shipping), you're free from having to self reflect. You're the victims, so why would you need to?

Here is the real kicker though. The real nitty gritty. Even if it came out that these guys WERE closeted, it would still be weird and unhealthy!!

It's genuinely difficult for me to even say any of this, because I've seen the decade-long trips these people go on, and i know how insanely detached from reality they get. But in the simplest terms, it's not your fucking business.

Loving someone's songs, being a fan, buying their merch, streaming their music, or hell—even just liking them as people (which is fine within reason, just like anything)—none of these are qualifiers that give you permission to speculate the details of someone's personal life. There are no qualifiers. At all.

Everyone is entitled to privacy, and no amount of fan devotion gives you a magic coupon owing you those private matters. It doesn't even give you the right to speculate on them. Re: the Heartstoppers actor outing incident. You are not a special fan, and you are not owed anything. Especially when there are thousands and thousands of people who also think they're special fans who just "really get the guy."

Even if that's not what this original ask was specifically saying, that's what the whole culture around this bullshit claims. It's implied. "I'm in the special secret circle of people who know what's Really going on! God our boys need us to support them through this separation so bad :'( It must be so hard for them, I can't imagine. Thank god I'm the one seeing their Obvious signals. Thank god they have me. Those non-believers are just homophobic sheep; I'm the only one who really cares."

The only thing you people have done for them (other than adding half a decimal point to their mountainous bottom lines) is ruin their friendships and lives.

Try to imagine having every minute detail of your life documented and analyzed by people you don't know. Imagine all this invasion is being used to prove a lie about your intimate personal life, which you cannot make them stop believing because of the narrative they've already committed to. Imagine your every denial being 'just more proof.' Imagine your child, girlfriend, wife, being sent death threats daily for years. Imagine having everything from your body language to your cousins' instagram likes to your fucking shopping clothes be scanned for "clues." Everything.

Now imagine that same ferocious invasion extends to every friend, partner, family member, and random ass person you stand next to for five minutes--everyone you will ever meaningfully interact with. That's the fucking pain of theirs I can't imagine; not some made up fucking ship fic about how "the big mean suits are keeping the gay babies down ;("

I can't imagine it. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. And I honestly admire their decorum about it. Because if I was in that position long enough to not lose my fucking mind, you bet your ass I would go harder than this:

But who am I kidding. All these sources are just more false flags from HQ, aren't they? When you invent a boogeyman who doesn't exist—when you craft an entire fanfic ARG out of normal, meaningless occurrences—anything can just be waved offg. Anything can be proof, and anything can be lies from management. You're forever liberated from the shackles of critical thinking! How convenient.

I understand that this is a novel and a half for one ask, but don't mistake that as investment in convincing you. I fully realize I sound just like a redditor, but after more than a year of seeing this batshit, that brain fungus meme blowing up out of nowhere and bringing larries right to me? Oh god, that's ambrosia.

I have been confused, fascinated, and disgusted by this fandom for ages; it's like watching a car crash. Despite the length of this, it's never been worth my time enough to start fights with random blogs though. Most are so removed from reality that arguing would be pointless anyway; can't fight delusion with logic. If that worked, none of this would be happening in the first place. So having the opportunity to rip into this shit when it's been doordashed right to me is like crack. With a laughably confident ask to boot.

This isn't me being a tryhard; I know that so many Larries—especially the oddly large demographic of 30+y/o women—are beyond hope. They've put years up to the double digits into this narrative and likely had it impact their life negatively, which tends to happen when you obsess over a conspiracy. To admit defeat now—to accept reality; boring, thankless reality where they aren't the victims with a promised happy ending—would probably break their brains in half. (Not to mention the toxic hazing, doxxing, elitism, and witch hunts that occur in their own fandom. Don't think I don't know about that shit either.)

I say this with hedonistic glee: I wrote this shit for fun. I could have been working on final projects right now, but I wanted to do this instead. It's not so much wanting to be rude to you in particular as it is me ripping into HL fandom and celeb conspiracists in general. Sorry that your ask was the sacrificial lamb, anon, but I would also like to thank you for being on anon so I could go off without fear of people coming to harass you. If you're a naive fan who got indocrinated by other fans, sorry for the rude wake up call I guess, but tbh I'm not really holding my breath.

And let's knock out some allegations before they even start, shall we? I am not a homophobe. I am not saying celebrities aren't pushed to act a certain way or that abuse doesn't happen in the entertainment industry. I don't care about 1D (hell, half the time i can't tell them apart). RPF is at best, fucking weird and at worst, actively harmful. I think 1D's music is mid. I don't think their relationships are fake, nor do I think that WHOLE ASS CHILD is some random hired actor. As a lesbian, that guy couldn't be the janitor of the lesbians let alone the king. Fucking nobody irl talks about these guys. If they came out, it would be old news within a week. There is no Qanon-esque day of reckoning where they're going to come out and shut up all the #haters. There is no storyline; real life doesn't have those. Homophobia is bad, obviously. Regardless of my opinions on their music or crummy things they've done (which I don't even know much about since I don't care abt them aside from the Larrie craziness), I hate that this toxic fan bullshit has affected them negatively and that goes for any celebrity. This is a wider problem than just the 1D crowd; not even gonna touch beatles, tswift, or kpop. Reality has no clues like a fucking Columbo episode. Lastly, y'all aren't even special--said friend has unearthed at least five near-IDENTICAL rpf shipping conspiracies in everything from fifty shades of grey to olympic ice skating. And those aren't even gay, but they still give their fans secret symbols that they're being kept apart for Some Reason through clothing and special numbers.

Anyway. It's finals week and I have life shit to do. Larries, feel free to file this away in your 'Naysayers Who Will Be Proven Wrong Someday!' hoard. Briefly entertaining a reality where they do come out, guess what: I still don't give a shit. They're just two rich white dudes who make top 40 pop songs. Toxic parasocial fan behavior like this would still be just as weird and shitty as it is in our actual reality, where these guys have never openly declared dating anyone but women and verbally detest this shipping behavior.

I swear to God, it seems like most Larrie shippers don't even like the men that actually exist. That's the rub, isn't it? Reality sucks, but fantasy can be whatever you want it to be. All the things you like about these guys are authentic, and all the things you don't are just manipulation tactics by the puppetmaster marketing team. Forget the fact that they're fucking human beings and not dolls for your amusement or comfort.

You have no idea if they're fake dating women. You have no idea if they're closeted. You have no idea if the generic ass love songs they write are about each other. The truth none of you people realize is that you're probably never going to know, and if that just eats you up inside—good. That's your common sense trying to chew its way out of the cage of confirmation bias you locked it in.

#co-written and produced by my friend who is sadly only on twitter #shoutout sam #ask #larrie #larry #one direction #larry is real #harry styles #louis tomlinson #1D #larry stylinson #larry shippers #skit yells

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meggannn · 4 years

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the Into the Spiderverse #QuarantineWatchParty on twitter yesterday revealed a lot of neat stuff about the film. a lot of the creative team (directors, writers, producers, composer, editors, animators, and Shameik Moore) participated.

there were also a few tidbits about the sequel I found interesting. no plot stuff was revealed, but I found confirmation that certain names that are back on the team, which I found reassuring (especially since I am a little wary of Joaquim Dos Santos being on the sequel, but that’s just me)

behind-the-scenes ITSV

Co-Producer Chris Miller: “We pitched the Sony brass an ambitious tag involving Spider-Ham, Tobey [Maguire], Andrew [Garfield], and Tom [Holland]. They felt it was “too soon””

the Spider-Verse edit suite (during the final crunch weeks)

ITSV stuff:

Visual effects/computer graphics supervisor Michael Lasker: “We built about 140 uniques buildings for Manhattan and Brooklyn, and every building had a night and day variation. We build skyscrapers, residential, modern, industrial, pretty much anything you'd find in New York!”

Co-Director/Scriptwriter Rodney Rothman: “We recorded Shameik Moore singing "Familia" too. The movie almost opened with that.”

Peter Parker would order a latte from Foam Party “and that's what we love and hate about him.”

Co-Producer/Scriptwriter Phil Lord: “[Miles’s science teacher] is based on my cousin @ceciliacallero5 who is very funny and inspiring science teacher.”

“Pine recorded a lot of very silly ad libs with us in London and I will never forget him for it.”

During the death scene, Chris Pine had to “lay down on the ground for a few minutes because he was breathing so heavily. He got light headed.”

Associate Editor on ITSV/Film Editor on ITSV2 Andy Leviton: “An early version had Miles breaking the USB on the train tracks.”

Phil Lord: “The movie started with this scene [introduction of Peter B. Parker] at one point. at the end of the opening sequence. And we zapped Peter B we went to Sunflower.”

Other ideas for animals that Peter B would be crying over (instead of seahorses) included albatrosses and gibbons

Doc Ock’s desktop was based on Phil Lord’s desktop

Michael Lasker: “Doc Ock's villain costume was the most complex outfit that we created. Her tentacles have fx wire geometry published on a per shot basis, and her suit has subsurface scattering, chrome and other metals and translucent materials.”

“Turning Doc Ock into a woman was a Bob Persichetti idea. He and Katherine Hahn are friends through their kids. In earlier drafts she was a Big Lebowski type dude.”

“A whole lot of really good stuff in the movie came from the comics” (this image he shared is from the Spider-Men mini-series, where Peter meets Miles)

Andy Leviton: “We often ask all actors to give us some efforts (such as laughs, yells) whether we need them or not at the time. We asked Nic Cage to laugh. He gave us a small one. Then we said, make it bigger. HE WENT FULL CAGE! The most insane laugh I have ever heard. Sadly, Not in the movie.“

John Mulaney improvised an entire Spider-Ham theme song called “Spider-Ham, the most handsome Spider-Man.” Andy Leviton said on Twitter that he would try to look for the theme song to share it. He also confirmed that everything John Mulaney said in this interview with Jimmy Fallon is correct and not made up.

Rodney Rothman: “There was a moment Mahershala Ali didn't want to perform the death scene again -- the way he explained that to us taught me a lot about how to handle oneself at work. He is an amazing performer and person.”

Tom Rothman (Chairman of Sony Pictures) was behind the scene with Jefferson at the door speaking to Miles. originally it was going to be Aunt May but then Tom basically said "you guys are dumb."

Chris Miller: “Whether Spider-Ham was allowed to say that legally was a real question for several months but thankfully we have a good relationship with our friends at Warner Bros.”

Phil Lord: “There were many versions of Gwen's goodbye where she and Miles kissed. None of them felt right. This [ending] is so much better”

Phil Lord: “Directors felt really strongly that Miles needed his own one on one with Kingpin after everyone left... and they were really right”

Chris Miller: “On the last day of animation I forced Josh Beverage to reanimate the Kingpin punch of Miles with only one hand because the two handed punch killed Peter”

Chris Miller: “This final Miles V.O. Was a real 6-person team effort written during the final mix by the directors, Phil, me, and editor Bob Fisher. It was the last piece of dialogue written and recorded for the film”

Rodney Rothman: “My 4-year-old was really upset Peter B. Parker never got to eat a bagel and he made me storyboard a post-credits scene where he got to eat one at home, it's in my sons room and it really should'vee been in the damn movie”

behind-the-scenes ITSV stuff

The team was inspired by Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama’s work

Composer Daniel Pemberton, Dec 2019: “Last month I went back [to Sony Animation Studios] for the first time since finishing #Spiderverse. The whole building was now covered head to toe in everything spiderverse. It was genuinely quite a moving moment for me...” (Megan note: I happen to have a wonderful friend who works at Sony Pictures and showed me pictures of these cut-outs a few months ago, and now that someone “official” has shared them, I think everyone should see them because they’re delightful)

behind the scenes photos from Rodney Rothman one / two / three / four / five. One interesting photo:

Rodney Rothman shared a lot of photos, one of them a text convo with Phil Lord when they were back in production stages

stuff about ITSV2

Phil Lord is working on the sequel. in what capacity, he didn’t say, but presumably a producer. Producer Chris Miller is also apparently returning in some capacity but I couldn’t find hard confirmation; it’s probably a good bet he will also be a producer, since they are a creative team. On the sequel Lord said on May 6 2020: “worked on it all day yesterday and had a ball. Watching this got me pumped for all the surprises in store for 2022″

Michael Schroeder, who animated the opening logo for ITSV1 and also did the ITSV2 announcement animation, is also working on the sequel, apparently on and off. Someone asked if he was going to [do] a similar variant to the first film’s opening logos for ITSV2 and he said “I believe so”

Japanese Spider-Man will be in the sequel, or at the very least, he has been designed (I know that’s an old link but it was news to me!)

#into the spiderverse #spiderverse stuff

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ikonics44 · 7 years

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A post worth reading found on The Tony Goldwyn FB Fan Page:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/thetonygoldwyn/

For those who don’t know where I stand with Scandal these days… I will let you know that I am a STRONG WARRIOR who has made a CHOICE to not give Shonda Rhimes Live Viewing numbers for any new Episode of Scandal since 5- 09. In fact, I am one of the co-founders of the Scandal Warrior page encouraging those of us in the Fandom that are NOT happy with the Direction of Scandal; do not like the OP Character being reduced down to a degrading factor, are not happy with the little screen time Fitz and Tony Goldwyn are getting on the show, are not here for the advancement of the Diluted Amount of Supporting Characters like Mellie, Jake & Rowan at the cost of reducing the airtime and importance of the main characters, are sick of the plot holes and lazy writing of constant WASH, RINSE & REPEAT themes …. I encourage those people FED UP with the Series, to not Reward Shonda and ABC for putting out BULLSHIT on screen each and every week by NOT watching — in hope for a FORCED Intervention and CHANGE of Direction with the series. If ABC and Shonda want my Viewer Number, they are going to have to “EARN IT” by returning Scandal back to true form! Where OP was the Bad-Ass Fixer, scoring Cases….the White House overcoming obstacles that cross over with the Fixing Process of OPA and a Healthy Relationship for both Fitz and Olivia (not even necessarily together anymore…but happy and content). I have yet to see anything worth giving Shonda Rhimes my Viewing number since her destruction of the series w/ 5-09. Replaying this BS Election night over and over like “Groundhog Day” – minus Bill Murray… starring everyone but the Butler’s point of View is Pointless, a waste of Time and doing NOTHING for Olivia’s “Journey” IMO.

That being said and put aside… ABC has decided to give us a “GIFT” this Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. EST by airing one of its BEST EPISODES of the Series. This GIFT on Screen will be the Replay of “The Trail” Episode 1-06, which was Written by Jenna Banns (Creator of “The Family”, and really the best Olitz Writer that Scandal ever had who wrote the phone sex scene and many other pivotal, epic love story lines of the series); Heavily Supported by Executive Producer Pete Norwalk (Creator of “How to Get Away with Murder” which gave us the twists and mystery behind Amanda Tanner and the Mole storylines; hell we haven’t had good mysteries since he left Scandal) and directed by Tom Verica. For the OLITZ Nation…. “The Trail” is the OLITZ Bible, Foundation for the Scandalous Affair… and the Reason we Fell in love with the LOVE STORY of Fitz and Olivia . It was why we put this Series on EVERYONES RADAR. This is the Episode in which most of us with Morals, actually gave a Pass on the Infidelity Card and rooted for this Couple that had an undeniable EXTRADORINARY LOVE. This is where we see Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn’s Chemistry Explode and Electrically Shock us through our TV Screens. No doubt that this is probably the Most Watched & Re-Watched Episode of all of Scandal.

Why cross the picket line and watch the trail? Let me just spout off SEVERAL reasons why I encourage those that have LEFT the Bullshit, yet still follow the actors, the series through YouTube and Blogs, Message Boards, Twitter, Tumblr, FFic etc… should buckle down and Watch the first Block of Scandal this Thursday night.

1) I want ABC to know that THIS IS THE QUALITY that we want to see on Screen. This Writing, This Storyline is what we will come back to, hold Scandal Parties for, be more than Active on Social Media with and promote the series to our Friends… this Quality and Formula is what MADE Scandal a Success. For an OLITZ Fan…. We need to HONOR this Epic Episode, our Foundation, by Coming out of the Woodwork and Watching and boosting the ratings of this OLD EPISODE over any new Crap shown in that next hour. If the new Episode out performs this OLD EPISODE in ratings, it only will serve as FUEL to SR Fire of Getting Rid of OLITZ for good. Her argument might be that FITZ (Tony Goldwyn) can be written off the show now and still have this Series more than Survive. By not showing up for this Episode, SR will convince ABC that the OLITZ fans are GONE now…. ‘I gave them “Their” BEST Episode and they still NOT watching attitude— so ABC….let me Continue down this Path without Tony and Fitz…. ‘ HORSESHIT!!! I want to be HEARD that this IS THE QUALITY of show I WILL WATCH. ABC needs to know that WE ARE STILL OUT THERE …but have CHOSEN to not support the current Direction. For some of us — we are still Viable Viewers given better Material to watch. For others it will always be a lost cause…as they may never be back and that is each and everyone’s individual choice. I do not stand in judgment for those who were lucky enough to escape the Toxicity of the series for good. However, SR and ABC needs to be sent a LOUD MESSAGE NOW — that Getting Rid of Tony Goldwyn on Screen would be Suicidal to the Series. SR thinks that she can push him aside as she has done to several major characters on Grey’s — she needs a WAKE UP CALL NOW… we are Still out there and she better Slow her Roll with phasing Fitz off the show! We are NOT the same Fans of Grey’s that will Roll Over and Accept anything she puts out there…we are a DIFFERENT, More LOYAL to our Actors type of Fans. We have more than proved that by actively boycotting the series and bringing ratings Dramatically down. What Better way to show them that the “Creepy Cult” is Still Around than to HONOR and WATCH “The Trail”.

2) I want OLAKERS to know that we are still out there lurking and are the Majority of the Scandal Fan base and can make or break this series for good. I am SOOO damn Sick of the OLAKERS that have NO CLUE about the Foundation of this Series being OLITZ because they damn jumped in Watching Scandal at the end of Season 2 and beginning of Season 3, bypassing these critical episodes of “The Trail”, “Happy Birthday Mr. President” and “A Criminal, A Wore, an Idiot and a Liar” that show the deep history of OLITZ. They need to be Educated. I want us to come out in FULL FORCE to overtake SM on this Episode Alone and to Silence those Buffoons that do nothing but Hate on Fitz and Tony Goldwyn and the OLITZ love story. We need to Remind ABC that this episode helped make Scandal a Success and this FORMULA could possibly resurrect the damn series to over 5M viewers if steered in the right direction.

3) Last — I sadly am not an ORIGINAL Gladiator. I did not see the original Airtime of this Episode back in 2012. I missed out on the Live Tweets during this Eppy and if I never watch another LIVE SCANDAL episode again, I would rather end all my Live Viewing on this OLD EPPY than have it be 5-09. To Me Episode 5-09 will go down in TV HISTORY as the WORST JUMP THE SHARK EPISODE IN ANY T.V. SERIES (mark my words). Hell they should re-name that episode as JUMP the WHALE…cause I’ve never seen an Audience Bail as quickly as they did — cutting the Viewership by 1/3rd overnight… So “The Trail” may be my Last HOORAY — of LIVE Scandal, especially if Rumors of Fitz being killed off or written off come true within next 8 episodes down the road. Tony Goldwyn missing out on the 100th Episode Party was HUGE in where his head is with the future of this series. I don’t care what excuses the Fandom has come up with… this party was important PR and he was AWOL with NO Explanation (not that he owes us one). His Absence stirred more talk alone than the damn Series Milestone Accomplished. To not be there in that Picture was HOLLOW. I do know that the man had the knowledge of the Finale at the time of this party because he is Directing it and gets the script ahead of the cast and table reads. So turning your back on the Scandal Family, not being a part of the 100th for the Media, always being that PR cheerleader for the series in fact I’d say he was the Captain of PR for Scandal ….he not being a part of it was a Huge AMISS… I don’t care how people try to sugarcoat it…. It was a LOUD STATEMENT for me and I heard it! So when SR has already said she is arguing about the S6 finale with the Writers a few weeks ago… the last Argument she had with them was S4 Finale with OLITZ on the Balcony… so you do the math on this one and speculate however you choose. I have the answers well enough to know that ABC needs to see my Viewer # this this Thursday for “The Trail” so that they factor me in as a possible LOST (FOR GOOD) VIEWER if Tony Goldwyn leaves Scandal.

So there you have it…. Why I think it is IMPORTANT to watch “The Trail” and be HEARD. This WAS the Scandal Series I fell in Love with. This is the QUALITY I will come back to and watch. Make no Mistake, I’m not a ride or die Olitz Fan… whether they come back together or not is NOT what this is about for me. You have seen me joke about “Ritz” etc… So the “No Olitz No Scandal” is Not really My Motto or message here, although I think those reasons are fine for others. For me I’m perfectly HAPPY having the S4 Finale be “My Ending” with OLITZ on that Balcony with “Whatever we Want” to get my happy OLITZ ending. I’m not sure that I will get anything better than that to be honest from SR and her team of writers, EVER. But I will SHOW UP for this Episode this Thursday Night. I will Honor a Past Episode and give Credit to: Jenna Banns, Pete Norwalk and Tom Verica for putting out a Quality Episode; that Sets the Example to the type of Quality I will Return to for Live Viewing. I will HONOR a time that The Characters all were Likeable. Unfortunately for me the ONLY character I currently like is FITZ, who outside this last episode has been getting minimal screen time. (And yes, I don’t watch but keep up with the storyline through active boards and sites I participate in and clips/gifs I see before some smartass makes a comment on how I know). Should there be an element of LOVE in the Series…. ABSOLUTELY — and if SR is DUMB ENOUGH to Ignore the “GOLD” she has with the Chemistry of OLITZ….so be it. But don’t waste Tony Goldwyn or Kerry Washington’s Sex Appeal all together…. Find a way for their characters to be happy ,in a true growth style, and you may have viewers back. I’m a Ride or Die FITZer. So I will be LOUD and PROUD one last time this Thursday Night for the First HOUR of Scandal…and will Turn the Channel as soon as OLITZ says their Goodbye in her Apartment… until SR and ABC give me a Solid Reason to Come back in the present storyline…… I will continue to turn the channel. I hope MANY of you I know are still out there…like me… will join me in doing the SAME thing this Thursday!

#tonygoldwyn #olitz #scandal

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thotyssey · 7 years

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On Point With: Mike Greco

It’s hard to find a bona fide rock-n-roller in the music scene where pop and dance have dominated the culture for decades, but this charmer is making himself known in gigs all over the city--including a big one at Le Poisson Rouge on Friday night. Give it up for Mike Greco!

Thotyssey: Hey Mike, thanks for talking to us! How are you doing? Mike Greco: I'm doing really well ...and thank you!

You must be excited for your big show this week!

So excited! Really looking forward to getting back in gear with the whole band and playing at Le Poisson Rouge, it's such a great space.

What's your process of picking songs for each set?

The set kind of evolves itself in a way. For the last few shows, we've been performing all the songs from my recently released EP, No Rules About It. After you throw those tunes in the mix, it's a matter of how much time is left, what new songs I wanna try out, and what we think will lift the audiences overall energy.

For this particular concert series "Friday's Friends", I've been having special guests join to perform classic covers that we know everyone will enjoy. That's been really fun to piece together! I for one love putting a cover song or two in a set. It usually resonates well and refocuses the room... People love familiarity!

I'll get back to the whole concert series first, but let's get some background on you! Where's your hometown? Well I'm from Valley Stream, Long Island, and moved to Manhattan in the summer of 2008. I saw a cute video of you harmonizing the Doobie Brothers with your family. Are you all musical? [Laughs] Oh yeah! Well, I was lucky enough to have a lot of musicians in my life. Both my father and uncle were in many bands; they also sing, play and write original material. My mother’s father headed a big band and played banjo, bass, and guitar. I really credit everything I do musically to the three of them.

As far as my generation goes, my cousin Nick plays guitar, violin and sings. His sisters also dabble in singing from time to time. We really have always been a very musical family, especially throughout the holidays and such.

Here comes a "kids these days" question! Kids these days don't seem to be drawn to rock music, particularly classic rock, in a major way. Does this ever frustrate you? Hmmm... well let me open that statement up a little bit by saying that "kids these days", musically speaking, aren't really drawn to very much from the 60's, 70's and 80's. I'm not here to ever judge people on what they like listening to now, so definitely not frustrated.

However, I've come to learn that it's usually a lack of exposure and knowledge of music in the past. I always say that new artists today are either directly or indirectly influenced by what I call the "golden age of popular music," 1960's - 1980's. Personally, I've always been a researcher. I find interest in times past, culturally and musically. It's fun to see where things came from, and if we as a society are repeating ourselves in some form.

So I really applied that thought process to music when growing up. I wanted to know why music evolved into what I was currently listening to on the radio. With the help of my parents and other people, I was kind of in a musical time machine my entire childhood. Which I'm very thankful for now.

That's wonderful! Do you remember when you wrote your first song? Yeah, actually! The first song I ever attempted writing was for my elementary schools PTA program called "Reflections.” They would give a loose theme for all artists to create around. I remember the first theme was "suddenly you turn around and what do you see?” Cute! At what point did you find yourself with enough material to start recording and performing with full sets?

Well to be honest, I focused a large part of my earlier music endeavors on being a session and touring musician for other artists. Which I still love doing. A lot of tribute bands, and things of that nature.

However, I would always write original material at home for myself, and had a growing collection of songs. I just never really prioritized doing anything involving original music until last year. People started to ask me on a pretty consistent basis if I had anything of my own recorded etc, and I had nothing to show them! So I decided after a while it was time to gather up enough songs for an EP and start this journey.

youtube

When you referred to “cover bands” you worked with, are you referring to your work with MaryAnne Piccolo and Damn the Light Productions?

Yes, among some other outside projects! Damn The Light Productions is our baby, though. We've curated and built everything ourselves, in addition to our third partner Steven Moore. We have some very exciting tribute shows ready for release and regional touring. Can't wait for that! Werk! Tell me about what the recording process is like for you: thrilling, intimidating, tedious? Well, recording for me is all three of those things. Depends on the day! I was fortunate enough to have an amazingly talented friend Matt Katz-Bohen produce my EP, as well as co-write some songs with me. He really makes the recording process relaxing and fun. He currently is touring with Blondie who is releasing a new record, Pollinator, May 5th!

Also, engineer and overall musical wizard Jamie Siegel of JRock Studios in Soho made everything much less stressful. When I think of people who I always want in a room while creating and recording, it's those two guys! Give us rundown of where we can get your available music right now. Currently, my EP No Rules About It is available on all platforms: iTunes, Spotify and Amazon music. Working on releasing a single and music video over the summer! So I'm very excited to start on that!

We'll look out for that! So, a lot is going on now in the world and certainly this country... does politics influence your songwriting at all, do you think? Well, I do believe an artist’s job is to create music that will have an effect on people somehow, and of course political activism has been seen throughout music history. For me, I have written unreleased things (for now) involving politics. I just don't see it as being a trend in popular music as it once was in the 60's and 70's. Sadly, people really haven't wanted to hear songs that talk about political issues until very recently. I really hope the music industry and labels start to become more open to popularizing songs with a real message regarding political and social injustices once again. They control what the public learns to love. It's true, there seems to be a disconnect now between lyrical content and popular music, in general.

Definitely a disconnect, but like I said hopefully things change in that regard!

Tell me about this concert series “Friday’s Friends” that you've been a part of this past year or so, mostly at the East Village club Berlin, where you’re onstage with many different performers. How did this all come about?

"Friday's Friends" really came to me as an idea to get out there with a smaller version of my band, and involve other artists who I love. We also wanted a residency to stretch out and let loose playing this new material. So I'm thankful to Berlin for allowing that to happen. As I mentioned before, I love doing a cover song or two, so the idea of bringing talented friends on stage was a no brainer. I really wanted to make this concert series less about me, and more about the downtown music scene and family that we have here in NYC.

For this final show we have two very special people joining the band and I. Randy Jones of The Village People, and Michael T of The Vanities. I can't wait to share the stage with these two, I really love them as artists and most importantly as people! Amazing lineup! And for this final show, you'll be taking the action to Le Poisson Rouge.

Yes! For the finale, we decided to do a bigger event. We will also have two amazing openers, The Worst Humans and Sophia Urista. Lots of music and lots of fun!

Yessss! What's on the agenda down the road? Well, I'll be going back into the studio to record a new single, then working on a music video. No shows on the horizon yet, but once summer hits we will be back on stage with new material! Werq! Okay, so in closing... I ran into you at Boots & Saddle karaoke a few weeks ago! What is the best karaoke to song, and what is the absolute worst! Yes, haha! That was quite the night. Only my second time there! I'm not always a big karaoke fan, but if I had to sing something I always go for “Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin.

I think the worst song for anyone to sing is “Don't Stop Believing” by Journey (although I do love the song and the band itself). Have a good show on Friday, Mike!

Mike Greco performs at the “Friday’s Friends” finale at Le Poisson Rouge on Friday, March 31st (8:30pm). He can be followed on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Also, check out his website.

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