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View this thread for the most up to date pubstomp list! This thread is updated everyday! Organizers, you can create an account and publish your event on Esports-Tickets.com if you plan to sell tickets, $0 fees promo for organizers
I tried to look for a pubstomp thread but couldn't find one so here it is! Usually Reservoir_cat creates this one but I haven't been able to get in touch with him/her. Here's the old TI7 and TI6 pubstomp threads.
There are a couple of threads made to ask for surveys/feedback/how-tos about pubstomps, feel free to PM me because I've organized several pubstomps in the past and partnered with sponsors such as RedBull, Logitech, GameVox, AMD, etc. as well and can offer a few tips and tricks!
Comment below with the country, city and description for your pubstomp, it helps a lot to include a link for additional details.

Country	City	Description
Australia	Brisbane	Event Link - Tickets $20 before 18/08, $25 after. Food and Drinks provided, giveaways and 1v1 tournament as well. luberk
Australia	Melbourne	Event Link - One amazing guy has rented a cinema in Melbourne, Australia if you feel like joining us at 3am! priorax
Australia	Sydney	Event Link - The same amazing guy that rented out a cinema in Melbourne, Australia has also rented out a cinema in Sydney, Australia if you feel like joining us at 3am.
Austria	Vienna	Event Link - HurghtRS
Belarus	Minsk	Event Link Official Secret Shop, bars , cosplay & sponspors giveaway. Velcom Cinema & Galileo Silver Screen RestorKa
Brazil	Belo Horizonte	Event Link - We will broadcast every game, including group stages, at WASD eSports Bar in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. For the finals we are planning a big event with giveaways and x1 with pros and semi-pros. The tickets are R$ 10,00 and you can check it out here. Urso_WASD
Brazil	Porto Alegre	Event Link - Venha assistir a final do The International 2018 ao vivo, em um telão, na Lends Club! Teremos comida, chopp e premios! Come watch The International 2018 finals on a big screen, at Lends Club! We'll have food, draft beer and prizes for atendees! esportsPOA
Canada	London	Event Link - We will once again host @ The Squire Pub & Grill in London, ON, CAD. RGBKnights
Canada	Ottawa	Event Link - At Click eSports Sat, 25 August 2018 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT. Ticket types to only watch or to also use gaming PCs at same time (note that I am not the organizer) Cote-de-Bone
Canada	Toronto	https://esports-tickets.com/event-public/ti8ve - Join us again this year at the Cineplex Yonge and Dundas! We’ve always sold out every year for the pubstomp and the crowd is always awesome! Need more information? Information and tickets are on our Esports-Tickets.com event page and you can join the Canada Dota 2 group. Some ticket packages are limited in quantities, so if you can't purchase a specific ticket, it means that it has been sold out. chibista
Denmark	Copenhagen	Event Link - Cinema viewing party for the Lower Bracket Final and Grand Final of TI8 on 25. august 2018. 17:45-04:00 CET (or whenever it ends) with competitions, giveaways, free Coca-Cola at entrance, hosts, entertainment and a great atmosphere. Panel, interviews, and ceremony will all be broadcasted as well. OlLi_-
Estonia	Tartu	https://www.facebook.com/events/218604902140257/ - Hey! I'm organising a pubstomp in Tartu, Estonia. No ticket and proper pub food at the pub Illegaard. More info can be found at our FB event. dekamano
Finland	Helsinki	https://www.facebook.com/events/285584798893275/ - PHZ.fi in co-operation with Aalto Gamers are organizing a viewing party in the Helsinki metropolitan area (Espoo, Otaniemi to be precise). You can get there very easily by metro from Helsinki. Come enjoy the final day of TI8 with us! There's gonna be pizza & soft drinks available for free + there's a grocery store and a grill close by to the venue phzgames
Finland	Jyväskylä	Event Link - There's one here organized by JeSSe Ry: Jyväskylä, Finland. Ilokivi onstage. Facebook link for the event: This is 18+ event. Hallunder
Germany	Karlsruhe	Event Link - Since we have successfully hosted Germany’s biggest Dota 2 public viewing for a couple of years now, we want to try meet the expectations this year once again. We will be broadcasting the grand finals on August 25th on the AKK tribune starting at 7pm. There, we want to collectively experience the biggest spectacle in this Dota 2 year with all the fans from near and far. Not only Dota 2 players but also DotA veterans, Dota 2 newbies and everyone who wants to get to know the phenomenon Dota are welcome to join us. spcemarine
Germany	Regensburg	Event Link - The 4th year in a row we are organizing the Dota TI finals public viewing in the old town of Regensburg. The event will take place at Picasso Regensburg. Starting time is 18:00 at the 25th of august. Like the last years the entrance is free, we have a pubquiz and MEGA Dota related drink specials. This year we also organized a Fotobox (thanks to the Gamerverein Regensburg) were you can take fotos with your favourite Dota heroes or even become one yourself! For further details you can look up the event page or contact us via facebook. Kryptondifluorid
Hong Kong	Hong Kong	Event Link - Location is still to be determined. Dota2 HK is hosting one on Grand Finals Day. Aug 25, 10pm HK Time. cybuster2
India	Delhi NCR	Event Link - Dota 2 Delhi pubstomp is back sunnydiv
Ireland	Dublin	Event Link - It's in the same pub as previous years. Strictly 18+ unfortunately. Hopefully can get added to the list. KC252
Netherlands	Amsterdam	Event Link - Confirmed to broadcast as many of the games as possible, even after official closing times. No Facebook event yet. Razorya
Netherlands	Rotterdam	Event Link - Pretty sure there is one in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. I'm not sure it's a "pubstomp" but they're supposed to be hosting something. justanothrunistudent
Russia	Saint-Petersburg	http://dota2vo.ru/ti8 - Organizing pubstomp 6th time in awesome theatre with lounge zone, secret shop, 1x1 tournament and other stuff. Come to us on 25th of august finargot
Singapore	Singapore	Event Link - Singapore's one's at SAFRA Yishun, main atrium. Minimum spending of S$5 as per the post, for snacks pass. Cannot go because i booked a hotel somewhere else. nekosake2
Singapore	Singapore	Event Link - 2nd one is at Singtel Comcentre, with PMS nekosake2
South Africa	Cape Town	Event Link I think there's something happening in Cape Town (South Africa), I'm definitely gonna attend it :D meeposki
South Africa	Johannesburg	Event Link - Sparky_Naartjie
Sweden	Stockholm	https://www.facebook.com/events/206858336604801/ - I'm not entirely sure, but I believe it's an 18+ event. burger_stand
Thailand	Bangkok	Event Link - Not sure if this counted as pubstomp but we are having one in Bangkok, Thailand. Sponsored by Lenovo Thailand. It will be hosted at Siam Pavalai Theatre on the 6th floor of Siam Paragon shopping mall. Aug 25-26 10pm-10 am local time. Rawinza555
Thailand	Bangkok	Event Link - Another BIGGEST PUBSTOMP in BKK THAILAND is held by INVATE, Esport Specialist in Thailand (The best Live Broadcasting), who will bring the best experience to all Dota 2 fans!! discotechssss
Ukraine	Odessa	Event Link - there is pubstomp in Odessa, Ukraine if anyone even cares
United Kingdom	London	Event Link - This event is pending and not finalized JawnisBritish
United Kingdom	London	https://www.facebook.com/events/259335661345723/ - We are having one at the Carlsberg Esports bar in central London with free entry, food and drinks available and more to be announced. BanKseSports
United Kingdom	Manchester	Event Link - Over 18s only (they are Casino venues) epicWinbar
United Kingdom	Newcastle-upon-Tyne	Event Link - Over 18s only (they are Casino venues) epicWinbar
United Kingdom	Reading South	Event Link - Over 18s only (they are Casino venues) epicWinbar
USA	Acton	https://m.facebook.com/thepizzaplaceacton - Considering doing deals on pizza, apps, and Beer if we can get anyone out there. 85" TV and 6 TV'ss total in the sports bar. Pictures on Facebook. At this point its just me and my one friend. renorhino88
USA	Baltimore	Event Link - Hey, representing the Baltimore one as well! This event is 21+, food specials. It's the fourth year we've participated! Seanbiscuit
USA	Chicago	Event Link - If you're 18+ in Chicago and want to watch Grand Finals surrounded by fellow fans, come out to a FanHome hosted International watch party at Hi-Point, the gaming lounge of Highline in River North on Saturday, August 25th. Tickets are sold above, each ticket provides you entrance to the bar, food, giveaways from FanHome's beverage partner, and enters you into a raffle. Jayhawk2b
USA	Cincinnati	Event Link - I’m proud to announce the official TI8 Pubstomp this year in Cincinnati! I’ve been working with the owners of 16-Bit Bar+Arcade. We have a great venue setup, with our own reserved seating to accommodate however many people show up. We'll even have a signature drink just for the occasion! Please be sure to tell your friends and family (even those who haven’t watched or played DotA – they might leave a fan!).This event is for guests 21 and over, so please keep that in mind. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions and please RSVP if you plan on attending. Banana___Hammock
USA	Houston	Event Link - The International 8 Watch Party on August 25th In Houston, TX! Whether you love Dota, or have never seen a game this is going to be a great party for all gamers! We will have special guests, vendors, raffles, drink specials, food, hookah stands and much more! We will be raffling off a Hyper X gamer setup including a Mechanical Keyboard, Mouse, and Headset! LotharThrowaway
USA	Medina	Event Link - Welcome to the 6th year of me hosting Dota pubstomps in Medina Ohio. Last year was a great turnout but after many people saying that it was too small i looked for a new place again. Luckily the place i hosted in 2016 is back and that's where we are this year. As always the event is open to anyone of any age and no cover charge! I just strongly encourage anyone who attends to Eat and Drink there as they are giving us the place for the whole day for free. theaxel11
USA	Oakland	Cafe el Patio - In Oakland, California is going be showing everything from the group stages to the Main event finals! Address is 4030 International Blvd, Oakland CA. There is limited seating but there are three TVs. typicalhonduran
USA	Sacramento	Event Link - Come watch The International 8 at my house! Join us for our second annual Pubstomp! We host Friday and Saturday and setup a LAN party in the dining room to play between matches. Fairfield is located directly between San Francisco and Sacramento (North-East bay). Last year we had six viewers. Please RSVP so we can plan for food and message you the exact address. Amenities include: 75" 4k UltraHD stream with Pioneer 5.1 Surround Sound, Pizza, Beer, Nachos and More, Couches, Enthusiasm, Fast Internet, 420 Friendly josher777
USA	Seattle	Event Link - If you're over 21 and are in the Seattle area during TI, @FollowMe has organized a pubstomp in Capitol Hill for Saturday, August 25th. Sketches_Stuff_Maybe
USA	Washington	Event Link - Join us at Tenley Bar and Grill to watch the finals on their projection screen. This event is ALL AGES and cosplay is encouraged. There will be giveaways throughout the day of some Dota2 swag as well as 3 full event tickets for GEXCon (gexconvention.com) coming up at the end of the month. dmr83457
Vietnam	Hanoi	Pending details from 23 Creative VN ptaqll5
Vietnam	Hai Phong City	Event Link - Time 21:00 , day 25 / 08 , location : 21 Trần Hưng Đạo Street - Vườn Xuân Coffee butchimau_hp_95
Vietnam	Ho Chi Minh City	Event Link - Watch their full HD video for the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOLKzDDyNuU ptaqll5
Vietnam	Ho Chi Minh City	Event Link - Time: 21 h00 day 25/8-10 h00 day 26/8, location: Restaurant 68 lộc shots, number 213 to theme, Ward 15, District 10, TP. Ho Chi Minh. All details, please contact MEGA esports gaming house at 0909791809 ptaqll5
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PS: Also still hoping Valve would ship this merch out to us pubstomp organizers :D
PS: Discount on ticket fees on esports-tickets.com, pm me for details.

Things To Do: Jan 21st to 27th

My story from gambler to non gambler

Just want to start of with saying the main purpose of this story is to show that you, me and all other gamblers are just a like and nobody is an exception in terms of being a degenerate gambler,
I am 23 years old I’m a kid from Dublin Ireland, I grew up in a home with just me and my mother and I am an only child, my father has never been around as he’s spent the majority of his adult life in prison. My mother done an amazing job doing both jobs, she worked hard for a living and I wanted for nothing, I was spoiled rotten and had everything. As I grew up and started secondary school I was a handful to say the least, always fighting always in trouble of some sort, never attending school I would constantly bounce classes, I was very crafty as a teenager. As I came to the age of 15 by then all of my friends would be drinking and I was never a drinker, I would smoke the occasional joint and that would mostly be it but that escalated and I started supplying blow around the area to pay for my own smoke and some food and entertainment on the weekends as things were tight at home financially with just my mother paying the bills.
It all started with friends talking about how people would click football accumulator bets with very little stake for very large returns. I would ask exactly how it works as the thought of clicking a nice bet at 15 was a nice thought indeed. It’s simple the lads would say just tick each box for each team, we would wait outside the local bookies ask people to go in and grab us a couple of accumulator sheets and we would tick away and same again ask somebody going in to place are bets. It didn’t take long at all for it to escalate for me as the money I was making from the blow the weekends would be gambled and keep in mind it was only small money 100-200euro but at the age of 15 in secondary school that was a lot of money. I soon found myself standing outside the bookies asking people to put 10s 20s and 30s on horses for me and the occasional 50 bet and keep in mind only 2,3months previous I was placing 1,2euro accumulators. I was like a fucking gobshite outside the bookies with the lads, having bets placed and watching them through gaps between the advertisement boards in the front window and egging the horses on you’d think I was riding them for fuck sake haha, it wasn’t long before it started to get nasty and while this was developing I had been expelled from school and had to attend a school just outside Dublin city, I would keep doing my dealing during the week and weekends to pay for my smoke and gambling until it got really nasty, I would gamble the money I had collected to pay of the drugs I had received on slate and then ask for more and before I knew it I found myself getting lends of Peter to pay Paul and it was all a mess, there was money owed everywhere all because of the gambling, the gambling came first and then when I’d won or lost the weed smoking would come after, at this stage I was smashed and in debt up to my eyeballs I would have to get a bus every morning to a school basically in Dublin city center which would be a good 45-70 minute bus journey depending on traffic and each morning I would get this bus into school and then back out of school, everyday my mother would leave me 7euro that would pay for my 1euro 50cents bus fare in and out from school and leave me with me exactly enough to purchase a chicken roll and drink deal in the local shop, I was only settling into the new school and was only attending a couple of days and I had a pain in my hole with it all I wanted to do was gamble and get money up to gamble, every morning I would board the bus and pay my bus fare and make way for Dublin city center but it wasn’t my school stop I was getting off at, I would continue on and get of at the last stop which would leave me at a street called O’Connnell street in Dublin city and on O’Connell street there was a casino that would open at 10am, I would be in there for 9am and hang around outside waiting with my 5er to enter and play the roulette table, A measly 5er to my name in the middle of Dublin city a 3hour walk from home and a cunt of a walk that was, a walk I would get all to familiar with, the casino doors would open and like bats out of hell me and the rest of the degenerate gamblers would scurry in to find our seats, there was about 8 tables with about 6seats a table and we all had all sorts of theory’s on which number would come out at which table at certain times of day and lucky seats that would pay out at certain times, 90% of the time I would loose my money and find myself walking 3hours home or praying there would be a different bus driver on as all the previous had heard my sob story’s once to many on how I’d lost my money or been robbed in return for symphony and a free bus fare, this went on for 6months and it was nasty, the horror story’s iv seen and heard in that place would give you the creeps, I would see full grown men crying at the tables on how they will have to go back to there wife’s again after loosing the weeks wage again with more unpaid bills and no food in the house. As much as it was a sight for sore eyes there is something about a bunch of people sharing the same addiction and how they have the ability the communicate so well with each other and don’t get me wrong I did have a laugh sometimes with the people you would meet which would be from all walks of life and mostly men, workers, and there I was amongst them day in day out because the thing was when you’d a 3hour walk ahead of you and your sitting on a comfy leather chair with no money for food and free water to keep you going you’d end up just spending 3,4,5 hours there watching the spins to see patterns and trying to get a good suss for the following day, take in mind I was going in with a lowsey 5er and it would be gone in seconds but whatever it is about gambling your lead to believe you can turn a 5er into 5grand if you were lucky and which you could but very unlikely.
I would be about late 16 at this stage and I’d gotten sick of gambling with 5ers and owing out money so I started to branch out to different contacts in different areas for more drugs on thick and also more weight which meant a bigger payment needed to be made for the drugs and more chance of a big fuck up. I would find myself collecting anywhere from 800euro to 1500euro each Friday and was gambling about 300 roughly a week at minimum and I was managing to keep my head above water in regards to paying of my man each Friday for the drugs but that was until it started to really spiral out of control. I found myself on a certain Friday waiting around to meet my man which he was held up and to be another 2hours before he could meet me to collect the money, so I had 2grand in my pocket for 2hours and I’m standing at my local shop outside my local bookies and then I somehow convince myself I will just go in for a 5euro bet, before I knew it I had waxed the whole 2grand in about 30minutes and couldn’t believe it. My mother ended up having to pay for my drug debt and then I continued on not to get more drugs to gamble but to rip of every customer I had for drugs by robbing them for there money for drugs and that would probably be in the range of 15grand, I continued on and I won’t go into it as I could be here all day but from 15-16 and just over a year of gambling if I’d done that much damage you could only imagine the damage I’d go on to do for another 5years ha.
My mother never gave up and I ow her a lot as I would probably not be here today if I’d continued on gambling I don’t know how many times the thought of me leaving everything behind gave me relief that I would be free from gambling, how many times I’d been down the park sobbing my eyes out on the verge of bungee jumping of a tree except with the rope around my neck, the thing about gambling when your in the depths of it, it’s the most loneliest place I believe a man can ever be, because it’s just you and the addiction staring into the eyes of each other, the way it detaches you from everything in life, the way you can be with your friends and family physically but not mentally, constantly thinking of a bet or to get money up for a bet just so far apart from the person siting next to you. My mother tried a lot for me and she had came across a book and before I get into it about this book, I was the gambler who believed I genetically inherited this burden and had accepted the fact I was a gambler till the day I die, and that’s what the gambling trap is designed to do, my mother would constantly say it’s not the case and I’d tell her she didn’t understand what I did about it and i wasn’t to blame cause that’s all the trap will let you understand is that your a gambler and that’s it, it’s designed to make you believe there’s no hope and that this is it for the rest of your days and it’s sad because as a gambler you accept it as much as you want to walk away from it.
ALLEN CARR THE EASY WAY TO STOP GAMBLING is the name of this book and when I picked it up to read it I had no intention of stopping gambling but one thing the book asks for you to do is to have an open mind and to believe just for a second that everything it says is possible and by god is it, this book instantly gave me such a lift I couldn’t believe it I was only 20 pages in and i knew what Allen Carr was saying was logic as the books states, instead of using the willpower method this book breaks down the condition logically and shows it for what it is and the tricks and illusions that keeps us stuck in the trap basically think of it like this if you were a mouse and let’s just say a really smart mouse and you get giving the mechanics of how the trap works, you would want to be stupid to get caught out by it again and this is what the book does it shows us exactly how it all works and once you know how it works you’ll never get caught out by it again the logic in this book is mind blowing, I would be 50 odd pages in and hugging my ma with tears saying this is it, the will power method is the wrong method people, it’s like having an itch on your leg and trying not to scratch it through will power it’s only a matter of time before you give in to scratch it, how many times in life have we tried to stick something Out through will power and failed? I myself could say probably 80% of the time. I’m a person that’s all about logic, I’m a realist and if you are to this book will blow your mind it’s crazy the knowledge it provides not only for gambling but for many other things it will give you another look on life, I’m coming up on nearly 2years of the gambling and can hand on heart say there is no urge, I’m not like someone going to GA meetings through will power fighting an urge each day, I have removed the urge through logic, the quality of life I have is amazing but don’t get me wrong life is still hard and that’s when I say fuck me life’s so hard without gambling how the fuck did I do it for 6years, cause I’m strong and believe it or not someone with an addiction isn’t the sign of weak will power it’s the sign of strong will power the same way when u try a cigarette for the first time and you say I’m not getting anything out of this why is everyone doing it and then the next day you try again and you say I’m still not enjoying this I don’t know why people like this until you keep trying and trying until your addicted and that is the work of a strong willed person, to keep trying something they didn’t like to see if there would be something to like, I just beg anybody who’s suffering with gambling addiction to please read the book with an open mind and I won’t even say you need to be ready to stop cause I can’t honestly say I was but what I’ll say is I’m a reasonably intelligent person and for me to read the logic on the mechanics of the gambling trap and for me to get trapped again, it’s simply not possible for me to ever get caught again. All I’m saying is read the book with an open mind I gave an insight into the misery I brought of My family and friends through gambling and it was an experience and made me the person I am today.
the thought of giving gambling up leaves us with the idea we’re missing out on something as if it’s a genuine pleasure when simply all we are doing is removing something that has caused nothing but misery to are lives since day 1 and the day you realize you aren’t sacrificing anything that your just removing gambling and resuming your life to the same way before you ever gambled the same way you didn’t need it then and the same way you won’t need it now.

The Weight We Carry Ch 18

So you've been asking and I heard! The latest chapter in The Weight We Carry! I got bit by the writing bug earlier this morning and if my strange writing habits weren't so time consuming I'd have it out sooner. As it is I'm posting this and then going to bed! So if there's any glaring mistakes or horrible things I didn't mean to leave in? Well... shit.
My Stories
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Previous Chapter
Highway Y outside Eldon, Former Missouri. 9:21 am local time, December 25th 2034.
“This… isn’t… a very… good… Christmas.” I looked over my shoulder with a smirk as I saw Sergeant Huertas pedaling along at the back of the group. Wobbling a little as he kept riding.
“What’s wrong sergeant? Don’t you get enough PT? This is just a nice little ride into town.” I looked ahead up Highway Y as we kept riding. Thankfully it hadn’t snowed since the trucks came through so the road was clear enough for the rest of us to follow on our bikes. Since the attack on Fort Sierra the trucks and cars were all being used to move around supplies and equipment, along with our wounded. The rest of us. Myself included, had two choices for transport. Foot. Or bike.
“It’s… not that… this… hurts… my dick.” The sergeant replied which made the rest of us start laughing and I shook my head a little at his rather honest answer.
“You’ve got to adjust the seat sergeant. Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to properly ride a bike?” I asked then as I looked back to see him huff and puff, his breath coming out in big plumes thanks to the low temperature.
“When I was a kid! Not… for this… ride so… long… your dick… hurts… shit.” I couldn’t help but laugh once again. “In the… fishing village… where I grew up… we drove places.” I thought that over a moment.
“Fishing village? Aren’t you from LA?” I asked and he nodded as he kept pedaling.
“Like I said… the fishing village. Fuck… I didn’t… join the army… for no… goddamn… tour de… Missouri shit.” I kept chuckling even as I shook my head and kept moving. Leave it to Sergeant Huertas to make a long cold bike ride more amusing.
“Come now sergeant. Bicycle corps have a long and storied military history. Starting in the late 1800s. Used by the first commandos of the modern age. The Dutch in South Africa.” I glanced around the group of bike riders around me then. Lewis was to my right, Felon was to my left, and the rest of Alpha around us. I was plenty well protected in this group of resistance soldiers riding their bikes into old Eldon. Might as well give them a little history lesson while we rode.
“The Dutch? Weren’t they known for smoking a lot of pot and growing tulips?” Lewis asked which made me chuckle again.
“Don’t let their modern history fool you. The Dutch once held a massive trade empire spanning the globe. New York as first New Amsterdam, and Australia was New Holland. Though for some reason the Brits didn’t rename New Zealand… Anyway they actually started a lot of modern military ideas. The first marines were Dutch. They raided the English navy at port once. Burned up a lot of ships up the Thames river which would be like… the Cubans sailing up the Mississippi and burning shit in Saint Louis.”
“The Dutch?” Felon asked and I nodded as we kept pedaling along, Huertas wheezing behind us.
“Yep. Then their king… or prince? The monarch of the Netherlands at some point became the king of England and shit went downhill for the Dutch after that. The Brits conquered most of their colonies and they were never the same… But anyway back to bicycle corps. In the…” I paused and tried to remember my years a bit. “A few centuries ago the Dutch settled in South Africa and later the Brits showed up and drove them inland away from the coast. The Netherlands had to give up the colony and they became the independent… Boers. Before you ask no I have no idea what Boers means or why the name change.”
“They called themselves pigs?” Lewis asked and I laughed before shaking my head.
“B-O-E-R-S.” I spelled out. “Like I said. I don’t know the meaning. Anyway, the Brits weren’t satisfied with the coastal towns when they found out about the resources deeper in South Africa… and all of Africa I guess. So they took over. Then the Boers began a resistance campaign that spawned the first modern commandos. Hit and run raids, early IEDs, all sorts of guerilla tactics. It was a brutal and protracted affair. War crimes for both sides involved honestly. But back then they weren’t called war crimes.” I trailed off as we kept riding until Lewis spoke up again.
“So… the bicycle corps?”
“Right.” I nodded as he reminded me. “So one of the best commandos at the time realized that horses take supplies and are pretty easy to spot, and only certain people could have them since they were expensive. But they also had bikes. So what’s faster and easier than walking 20 miles? Biking 20 miles.”
“It ain’t… fuckin… easy…” Huertas panted from the back which made most of us chuckle again.
“I said easier. Easier doesn’t mean easy. Anyway, that’s Eldon up ahead.” I pointed to the buildings ahead of us a ways. “We’re not far now. But yeah… the Dutch were the first marines, and commandos, and created the first bike corps. They were in limited use for decades. Even in World War 2 the Danish had them and later on the Germans used them as they got pushed back into Germany. In fact the Boer commando who came up with the idea was the great great grandfather of… that one… actress…” My words slowed down as I tried to think of her and glanced over at Felon. “You remember her right?”
He just shrugged as he kept riding. “Colonel I have no idea who might be related to an old Dutch commando.”
I sighed out then and slowly shook my head. “Shit…” Was all I could mutter. “That’s going to bug me.” What was her name? I could picture her… she was in that movie about Australia. Driving that big war truck thing around. Fuck! What was the name of that movie? I was getting too damn old. I let out another sigh and shook my head. “I’ll remember in the middle of the night.” I muttered knowing that it would eventually come to me when it was too late.
“We’re coming up on the junction.” Felon pointed out the slight curve in the road where Highway Y would meet 52. As we got closer I began to slow down without really thinking about it before finally coming to a stop at the intersection and looking to my left for oncoming cars. “Sir are you expecting traffic?” I looked over my shoulder at Felon and then laughed as I started to get riding down the road as we turned right.
“Old habits.” I answered with a shrug. On either side of us snow was piled up around the old abandoned houses. Most of them had Christmas decorations still up from the invasion all those years ago. Up ahead on the right I spotted some of our trucks parked in front of the old dollar store. “You can finally give your dick some rest Huertas.” I called over my shoulder to a wheezing reply.
“Thank Christ!” I chuckled again and looked over to Felon.
“Get them warmed up and fed. I’m heading down the road a bit to the bank across from that… Gas station with the… what was it? Mobster’s pizza?” I was about to continue when I heard Huertas cry out.
“Don’t mention pizza! Fuck! I’d… I’d fuckin… kill… for a big… greasy… pepperoni… fuck.” Felon just shook his head at that.
“With cheese in the crust?”
“Beer! Beer in the crust!” Huertas called back as I frowned.
“How’s the supposed to work?”
“Science! Fuck… I dunno… just… give me… a way… to eat… greasy pizza… and get drunk… at the same time…” He was trying to stand up a bit as he rode now, one hand adjusting his pants as I heard him mutter something about “cojones.”
“Well they won’t have that here.” Felon called back. “Just soy sludge and hot porridge probably. Warm you right up Huertas don’t you worry.” Most of the soldiers pulled off then to stop in the old parking lot of the general store while Lewis and I continued on.
“They used to have a lot of gas stations didn’t they?” Lewis asked as we rode on and I nodded as we past several local places with gas pumps out front. I could see the old sign for McDonalds further down. By now the golden arches had faded to a pale yellow white. There were still some old cars in the parking lot. The snow covering everything but the tops of the windows and their roofs, their paint stripped from years of neglect. Diagonal from the fast food place was the birck building of the bank and there were more of our trucks out front.
Lewis and I rode up onto the sidewalk then and dismounted our bikes, leaning them against the building as we headed inside. Sergeant Jackson nodded to me as we entered and I let out a happy sigh as I saw an oil drum someone had dragged to the middle of the big room and set a fire in. I walked towards it, glancing up at the ceiling to see it was already blackened from the smoke. But without a fireplace or a heater this was simply how we had to keep warm. Rubbing my hands together after removing my gloves I held them up before the fire and looked around.
All the old desks had been removed or shoved to the side and I could see Reed off in the bank’s small vault with a clipboard in hand. We were storing some of our gear and intel around the town until we could get a new camp. The most important stuff would go into bank vaults. Besides Reed there was Jackson and the rest of Bravo scattered around the place. I’m sure some were up on the second floor keeping watch, but only Lewis and I were huddled around the oil drum fire for now. When Reed finally finished with her checklist she walked out of the vault and over to us.
“Sir, have a nice ride through the snow?” She smirked a bit and I gave a snort. Reed was a good officer. I gave her credit for being so professional despite our resistance conditions. I always felt she was a bit too stern and formal with the soldiers though. She was relaxed and casual when it was just me and Lewis but she held very strictly to the old separation of the enlisted from the officers.
“I did, but Sergeant Huertas was having some problems with his seat.” She just shook her head and rolled her eyes before she went on.
“So, we’ve gotten most of our things stashed through the town. You and Alpha were the last to make it down off the mountain. I got word from Piven that the gun bunnies made it to Barnett. His guns are stashed around Rocky Mountain and we’re going to have to hope the aliens don’t find them.” I nodded at that. We barely had time to get out of the Ozarks before the Unity brought in heavy reinforcements so getting the howitzers hooked up and towed would have been nearly impossible.
“What about Hatchet?” I asked and she pointed to a map up on the wall of the area.
“Same as last report. Unity forces are heading northwest from the remains of Fort Sierra to Versailles.” She was about to continue when Lewis spoke up.
“Is that how you say it? I’ve been pronouncing it ver-sails this whole time.” Both Reed and I laughed at that for a moment.
“It’s French.” I informed him and he frowned.
“The French settled there?” He asked and I shook my head. Sometimes I forgot how little history the kids these days knew.
“No it’s just a name. We’ve got a long proud history of stealing names from other places for use here. Like… Paris Texas.”
“West of us is Warsaw.” Reed added. “North up the 87 is California.” I laughed at that.
“Yeah Missouri has Warsaw, Versailles, and California… and… isn’t there a Nevada here too?” I asked and Reed nodded. “Then… Pittsburg?”
“No that’s on the Kansas side.” She mentioned and I nodded.
“Well I know there’s a Moscow Idaho. And Dublin California.” I listed off.
“New York New York Las Vegas Nevada.” Reed added but I just snorted.
“That’s a casino it’s not the same.” She shrugged and then wagged a finger at me.
“But we’ve also got some pretty original names too like Knob Noster.” I laughed as she reminded me about that.
“Oh yes that’s right. Over near Whiteman airforce base… I never did find out what a Noster is or why it has a knob.” I sighed and shook my head slowly before shrugging. “I just hope that it confused the aliens too while they were invading. So back to Hatchet. They’re moving up and away from us even now? Has he been drawing them up?” I asked and Reed shook her head.
“He’s only instigated minor hit and run raids on convoys for supplies but they’ve been scattered all across from 135 to 52.” She pointed at the highways on the map. “And they’re already moving past his position. They’ve got a heavy presence and they’re searching the town itself but they aren’t really stopping for long. Oh and he said you wanted to know about anything unusual? Two nights ago in one of the camps the dogs went… as he phrased it. Nuts.” I arched a brow at that and she handed me the radio transcript.
Hatchet reported that the trained dogs in the camp began acting strangely shortly after sunset. They would growl at the woods but wouldn’t bark and often would try to pull their handlers away from the edge of the camp and closer to the center. In fact all the dogs formed a ring at the center of the camp that night and didn’t sleep but kept an alert and vigilant pose as he put it. Several combat patrols were made that night but no contact was made and no trace of Unity hostiles were found. I shook my head as he described their behavior just like Reed said, as nuts. “That was two nights ago? Nothing since?” She shook her head as I rubbed my chin.
“We haven’t had time to properly interrogate the pilot either. We’ve got her down the street in the Hardee’s freezer.” I glanced up at Reed then and frowned trying to place the name.
“Is that… the Arby’s out here?” I asked and it was Reed’s turn to frown before she realized what I meant and shook her head.
“No, Arby’s is just Arby’s. You’re thinking of Carl’s Junior. I forget sometimes you’re from the west coast.” I just groaned a little and sighed.
“Well damn. Earlier Huertas was talking about greasy pepperoni pizza and now I just made myself think of a big fat ham and cheese sandwich. I guess I’m just hungry. Was Carl’s Junior… Hardee’s the one that had that special that was just a big pile of french fries covered in cheese and bacon?” I asked and heard Lewis groan a little.
“Would you stop with the food? I’m hungry too.” Reed smirked then.
“I can help you two with that problem. Even get you a ham and cheese.” She nodded at me before looking over at Jackson. “Sergeant Jackson. Go get some sandwiches from upstairs.” The Sergeant nodded and headed into the back of the bank to get upstairs as she explained. “We’ve been picking up some goodies from the farms around Jeff. Including ham and cheese.”
I was feeling greedy and couldn’t stop myself before asking. “What kind of bread?”
“Rye I think.” I got my hopes up for a moment. “Just the light one. Not marbled.” I let out a disappointed grunt and shrugged.
“I really shouldn’t get my hopes up. But one day. One day I swear I will have a Reuben again.” Reed chuckled as I said that.
“For a west coast boy you always go on about Reubens. You sure you’re not from New York?” I scoffed as she asked that.
“You act like marbled rye and pastrami is somehow exclusive to the east coast, when they got it from eastern Europe so really you’re just denying yourself the culinary splendor that makes up America.” She smirked at that. “Anyway it’s about where you find it. We moved around a lot when I was a kid but I always could find a Jewish or Russian deli with good rye bread. It was so much more flavorful than that enriched white bread crap in the stores.” I thought it over for a moment then and shrugged. “But I guess now all bread has to be pretty fresh. Not like I can just walk into a supermarket and pick up a loaf of Wonder bread.”
“The Unity provisioning centers usually have some form of bread.” Lewis mentioned. “But… I don’t think I ever got anything that wasn’t a few days old and pretty stale.
“Well you’re in for a treat today.” Reed mentioned as Jackson came back out with a brown paper bag. He opened it up and handed me a hot sandwich wrapped in deli paper and I couldn’t help but let out a soft groan.
“Oh it’s hot… Just what I needed after riding 10 miles uphill through the snow.” I started to unwrap my sandwich as Lewis chimed in.
“Sir, it was actually more like 5 miles downhill.” I just glanced over at him while he unwrapped his own sandwich until I caught his attention and he looked at me.
“Lewis, would you like to go back outside in the cold Missouri winter and ride 5 miles uphill and then 5 miles back down? Or would you like to just agree with your commanding officer and eat a hot ham and cheese sandwich?” He stared back at me for a few seconds before quickly raising his sandwich to take a large bite, as if I was about to take it from him. “That’s what I thought.” Was all I said and looked down at my meal. It was warm but not really toasted. Not like I cared. Light rye, thick slabs of ham, and also thick slices of what looked like very pale yellow cheddar. Without mass production and consumer demand cheese had stopped being orange.
As I took a bite I kept it small, not wanting to eat too fast or choke on a big chunk. But I nearly went back on that idea as I could taste how damn fresh it all was. One of the benefits of getting supplies from the local farms.Which made me pause for a moment. But I kept chewing and swallowed before speaking. “How did they get fresh rye at this time of year? It’s late December and there’s no crops growing.” I looked at Reed who frowned and then shrugged.
“I’m… not sure? I’m sure they had some stored away for the bread.” I thought that over for a moment as I looked at my sandwich.
I glanced at Lewis who was still chomping down big mouthfulls of sandwich, then Jackson past him. “Did you have one?” He nodded.
“Yes, sir. Why?”
I looked back to Reed. “Did anyone get sick?” She looked confused and shook her head. “No? Is this a trustworthy farm?” Switching back over I saw Jackson who seemed to catch on.
“Yes, sir it is. They’ve always been good about providing supplies for the resistance. I know the rye crop is over but it’s just a grain. I’m sure they had some stored away for bread like this.” I nodded slowly and then shrugged before dismissing that thought.
“Just an old man being paranoid I guess. Lord knows I’m no farmer.” I sighed as I realized that a life of being a spy master had corrupted me permanently and this was just one of the more minor ways. I went back to taking small manageable bites of my sandwich and then had to keep from spitting some out when I looked over to see Lewis with his cheeks bulging. I choked down my current bite and spoke. “I had no idea you were this hungry Lewis.”
When he looked at me he just tried to say something but all I could hear was a muffled collection of sounds that meant nothing to me. “Well try not to choke to death. I’d hate to train a new orderly.” I looked past Jackson and nodded at him. “More in the bag?”
“Yes, sir. I was warming them up to take over to the guards at the Hardees. Got a thermos of hot soy sludge in there too.” I reached out for the bag then which he handed over.
“I’ll take it over. I need to talk to the prisoner anyway.” Jackson nodded and began to head for the door when I spoke again. “I didn’t ask for an escort sergeant.” He looked back at me then seeming surprised.
“You should have an escort sir. We’re not in a secure camp.” I snorted at that.
“The nearest Unity forces are supposed to be miles away. And we’re in the center of Eldon. We have sentinels on all the roads. You think I’m in danger walking… what, 200 feet?” The Sergeant shrugged.
“I still think you should have an escort sir.” I glanced over at Reed who shrugged so I then copied the movement and shrugged as well.
“Doesn’t hurt I guess. I must really be showing my age for a young man to offer and help me cross the road.” I smiled and he did as well but the lack of laughter cut a bit deeper than I’d figured it would. We headed outside and I shivered a little at the change in temperature once we were outside. “Did you want to talk to me in private? Is that why you felt the need to escort me?” I asked but the sergeant just glanced over and shook his head. Was I really looking that old and feeble these days? I just rode a bike five miles through snowy roads… I shrugged it off then and kept walking.
The old fast food place was ahead of us past yet another gas station. The once bright and colorful signs faded and worn. I could barely make out a sign about some sort of new hamburger with ham on it and snorted a little. One of Jackson’s men nodded to us from the window as we walked around the structure to the entrance. Inside it was still pretty cold, but not nearly as bad as outside. One of them had a fire going inside one of the ovens.
“Brought you guys some chow.” I mentioned and the soldiers approached, thanking me as I handed out the still warm sandwiches followed by the thermos. I took another few bites of my sandwich as I waited for them each to get a cup full of hot soy sludge and then took the thermos as they handed it back. “The prisoner talkative?”
“Lizzie? She answers questions. Doesn’t venture much on her own except complaints.” One of the soldiers answered me. A corporal based on the smiley face patches on his gear. Just how did that start again? I wish I could remember. How much could I not remember today? I frowned a little and tried to clear my head as something caught up with my brain.
“Lizzie? You guys named her Lizzie? As in… Lizzie the lizard?” I asked and they chuckled.
“That’s her name. It’s on her documents.” Jackson informed me.
“She named herself Lizzie?” I asked then and he shrugged.
“Someone named her Lizzie. That’s all I know for sure.” That made me think for a minute as I just shifted and shook my head.
“See this is why I don’t trust the Isoren. Bregnan have names that sound like you’re coughing up phlegm. The Rekanta don’t even have real names that I can tell. They just have their rank and then a number. But Isoren? They have suspiciously human names. I don’t like it.” I shrugged then and headed to the back of the restaurant. The freezer was pretty easy to spot, as was the icepick they were using to keep it locked shut. I removed the ice pick from the handle and opened it up.
Inside was our captured alien pilot. The reptile was bundled up in thermals and a parka, and ski pants and was still shivering visibly when I saw her. She was just standing in the middle of the room shivering and clutching herself in the cold. “Oh hell you look like a popsicle. Come out here.” I waved her forward and the alien quickly stepped out and then feeling the heat from the oven stood in front of it close enough that I thought she might burn herself on it but clearly the alien wanted the heat.
I stepped into the freezer then and noticed it was about as cold as the outside. “Ah right even without power it’s insulated. Probably kept all the heat from the oven out. Sorry about that. I’m the one who told my men to keep you someplace secure. But that’s not necessary now.” I mentioned and closed the freezer door. I glanced over at Jackson and his men clustered around the old counter as I waved them away to give me and the alien some space.
Jackson nodded and motioned for his men to head closer to the front of the seating area. I handed the thermos to Lizzie then. “Soy sludge.” I said simply and she unfastened the cap so quick I thought she might have just ripped it off before she tilted her head back and started to chug it down. I was about to reach out and try to stop her as I saw the steam coming off the dark liquid but even as I heard her whimper she kept drinking until it was all gone. After that she was shivering less but handed the thermos back, her tongue hanging out a bit as she looked to be in pain.
“Burn your tongue?” She nodded at my question and I just sighed. “Wait here.” I set the sandwich bag on the counter along with my own sandwich and walked outside, scooping up a bit of what looked to be clean snow and walked back inside to press it into her hand. “Suck on some of this.”
The alien looked at the snow as if she’d never dealt with it before. Perhaps she hadn’t. Then she put some in her mouth and we stood there in silence as she seemed to work it around before nodding. “Maybe not burn… just felt very hot.”
“Well I’m sure with how you were shivering in there it’s a hell of a temperature difference to suddenly chug hot sludge like that. Are you hungry?” She nodded then and I was about to tear my sandwich in half when I paused. “Can you eat cheese? Dairy?”
She nodded to that as well. “Given treatment after conquest. Is good source for fat. Need more fat. Cold planet.” I smirked a bit at that and finished tearing my sandwich apart to hand her half. She glanced at it, then me and I took a bite of mine before she began to eat what I’d given her. Once more we just stood there, but now we quietly ate our sandwiches. She finished hers first and waited for me to finish before speaking again. “You said needed to be keep secure. No longer?”
“Well, you’re still our prisoner. But your friends didn’t come looking for you like I thought they would. Hell they didn’t even slow down. They just raced off chasing that Chimera of yours.” She eyed me carefully and I knew she didn’t want to talk about that stuff but I was no longer interested in the fast and sloppy route. “Still hungry?” I asked and she looked a bit confused but nodded once more.
I walked back to the counter for the sandwich bag, just one left so I pulled it out and crumpled up the paper bag they’d been in. I tore it in half just like the other and then reached out with half in either hand. “Which one?” I asked and she hesitantly reached for the one in my left. So she favored her right. I was curious if aliens were lefties or righties and so far I’d seen they were mostly righties. The Bregnan at any rate. I wondered if that meant anything.
This time as she ate I spoke. “Do you have any special dietary needs? We take multi-vitamins to make up for certain deficiencies in what food we can get. I can show you what’s in them. I’m not very familiar with Isoren diet.” The alien pilot studied me carefully and shook her head slowly as she chewed, then swallowed before speaking up.
“No… should be fine with human food. Maybe more… mmhhh… plants?”
“Vegetables and fruit?” I ventured which made her nod. “They’re not as easy to come by in the winter. Hence the vitamins. We’ve got lots of those. Before the invasion people were concerned about eating healthy. We had so much food to eat most of it was very tasty but bad for our health in large amounts. But since it tasted so much better we kept eating it.” I chuckled a little but watched the alien to see if there was any reaction.
“This I was told. Seems so strange… before we get too heavy. Too… mmhh.. Fat. They reduce rations. Why did you not simply reduce rations?” That was interesting. So a pilot had rations? The Unity wasn’t starving. Military habit? I’d find out in time.
“We were free to eat what we wanted. We were successful enough to get fruits and vegetables in any season. But… not any more.” I shrugged. “We’ll see if you can take our multi-vitamins.”
She watched me as she ate a bit more of the sandwich and I took a bite of my half, waiting for her to initiate this time. “So… I am prisoner. But you share food with me? You do not bind me?” I nodded at that. “This is… not as I was told.”
“Have you been treated alright?” I asked then.
“Cold… coldest in that… room.” She nodded past me at the freezer. “But past few nights… not hurt. Fed when able… allowed to wear warmth.” She touched the front of her parka with her free hand. “I thought… maybe just waiting until done running. Thought that room was start. A room to freeze me if I did not talk. But you say mistake?” I nodded.
“Just a simple mistake. I told them to keep you secure. And that room is very secure. It’s just… also cold.” I shrugged.
“I thought… punishment. For not answering questions.” I looked over at Jackson and the other three sitting in one of the old booths up front, talking and drinking their cups of soy sludge.
“Did they ask you questions?” When I glanced back at the alien she was shaking her head.
“No.”
“So… why would we be punishing you for not answering questions we didn’t ask you?” The pilot frowned at that and slowly shrugged. I was curious if shrugging like that was natural to them or learned from us. “Well, no more cold rooms. Soon we’ll move to the houses for the day. Not sure how long we’ll be here. If you keep behaving things should go pretty smooth. Then maybe we can send you home when the fighting dies down.” I shrugged and tried to seem non committal but the alien seemed confused.
“Not here now to… barbecue me for information?” I frowned at that and then laughed.
“Grill you? No. No I wanted to make sure you were fed and doing alright. I’ll have questions later. I don’t know much about the Isoren. All the Unity says is you’re faithful servants. Like the Bregnan.” I made sure not to smile when the alien let out a hiss.
“Not like them! They are brutes! No manners! Too aggressive. We are better. More useful. More civilized.” I raised my hands then.
“Hey that’s only what we heard from the Unity. They don’t tell us much.” She got quiet at that and seemed thoughtful. “I’ll talk with you later Lizzie.”
“Wait… that is all? No… questions about Chimera?” She asked and I shook my head.
“Nope. It’s moved on. I’m more interested in you. Your kind. If you need something let them know.” I pointed to the soldiers up front. “If you get cold where they set up for the day tell them. They’ll find you more blankets, or get a fire going. Just tell them.” I nodded and turned to leave, motioning for Jackson who got up from the booth to walk over to me. I stepped outside with him before talking. “You trust your men to watch her?”
He nodded. “Yes sir I do.”
“Good. Tell them to keep a light touch with this one. Treat her well. Be gentle but firm. She can’t just wander off but don’t tie her down. Keep someone up at all times at night to make sure she doesn’t escape but no interrogation, no mistreatment. They’re free to talk to her. But simple questions only. Nothing about Unity forces or their military. Okay?” He nodded once more and I gave his shoulder a pat as he headed back inside to talk to his men.
While he was in there I briefly considered heading back to the bank on my own without him as an escort but figured I’d just wait. Didn’t make sense to possibly annoy him over something so trivial. When he came back outside we went crunching back through the snow towards the bank. “How was the fight for the supermarket crossroads back at Fort Sierra?” I asked then, realizing I hadn’t done much after action work yet since I’d been so busy with the evacuation and then hiding in the woods.
“Surprisingly easy sir. By the time they started to retreat we were well entrenched and Zeus just moved the barrage up along their path. Did we ever get a final count of the hostiles sir?” I shook my head at that.
“No we were moving out of there too quick. Best guess is around a buck twenty.”
“What about our own casualties sir?” That made me sigh softly. Besides hiding out in the woods these last few days I’d also been carving stars into rocks to honor our dead.
“We got off light. Final count was 34 dead. About the same seriously wounded. We caught them by surprise and hit them hard as we could. You know as well as I how poorly the Bregnan do in an ambush. Especially when they’re outnumbered. Their only instinct is to charge. They’re too used to having the upper hand.” He nodded at that. We’d seen them charge head first into kill zones. The Bregnan were not tacticians. They were bred to charge it seemed. So charge they did.
“Sort of sucks to think that even if we always could kill them three to one there might not be enough of us left.” I nodded as he said that. It was a sobering thought. As we approached the bank I saw a third bike stacked next to mine and Lewis’. When we headed inside it wasn’t much of a mystery to see who it belonged to.
“Master Sergeant Felon. Has Sergeant Huertas’ ass managed to recover from his earlier ordeal?” I asked as Felon laughed.
“Yes, sir I do believe he has. At least enough to stop complaining and start eating.” I smirked at that and nodded. “Either way sir I found us a house Lewis, you, and I can camp out in today.” I nodded at that. Felon was more or less my bodyguard when he wasn’t commanding Alpha.
“Alright well let's go take a look then. Major Reed has he told you where we’ll be?” I looked past him at the Major and she nodded.
“It’s down the street a bit. Not too far at all. If I need you or hear anything I’ll send someone down. Plus Lewis has his radio if things require breaking radio silence.” I nodded then and motioned for Lewis who tipped a cup he was holding up to his mouth to quickly gulp the contents before he stepped back outside with Felon and me. Felon got his bike but was just walking it rather than riding it.
“The snow down the street makes it a bit too hard to ride. We didn’t want to drive our trucks further into town in case a Unity patrol rolls down the highway. It’s not too bad though just a few blocks. I’m sure you’ll love it sir. You’ll fit right in.” I frowned as he said that and tried to think about what was down this road.
“You’re not trying to take me to the funeral home are you?” I asked which made him laugh.
“No sir. You’re not dead yet are you?”
“I most certainly am not. Sergeant Jackson thought I looked so old and frail though he did walk me down the street.” I let out a grumpy harumph which made Felon laugh again while we walked our bikes along the old snow covered street. I looked around as we walked along. Past an old church, then a career center, then a fire station, then another church. Looking back I never understood why we had so many churches. Then again why did we have so many gas stations? Everyone liked their own particular brand I guess.
We passed the funeral home and I glanced over at Felon. “We’ve passed a few houses Felon. Where are we going?”
“Just up ahead. Across from that boat.” When he pointed I squinted to see a boat sticking up out of the snow half a block up. It looked like at one point it had been covered in a tarp but the tarp was torn to shreds and the boat itself didn’t look much better. When I saw the house we were approaching I scoffed a little, looking up at it.
“Did you just find the biggest fanciest house in the area?” I asked as I looked up at the big columns out front and the Christmas decorations littered all over the place.
“Yes, Sir I did. I figure the nicer houses are built better. Besides it’s got a fireplace.” He pointed to the chimney.
“They’ve all got fireplaces.” I replied as I waved my arm around the neighborhood. But either way we were soon walking up the path past the little statue in the front yard sticking up out of the snow and up the brick steps to the front door. I knocked and the other two just stared at me for a moment as I sighed. “Old habits.” I repeated again and tried the door which opened with a loud ominous horror movie creak. But inside was dark and quiet.
“Anyone home?” I called out but got no reply so I knocked my boots against the door frame to try and knock most of the snow off and stepped inside. To the right in the corner was the skeletal remains of a Christmas tree. I sighed heavily as I saw the presents arrayed around the bottom. Still wrapped, but now covered in dust and dead Christmas tree.
“You always call that out when we enter an old house like this.” Felon mentioned as he stepped past me. “Has anyone ever answered?”
“Not yet.” I replied with a shrug.
“Look at this one.” Lewis pointed at one of the presents which was very sloppily wrapped. Whoever had covered it looked like they’d used one giant piece and just wrapped the boxy contents in it, folding it at odd angles and using a giant piece of tape to hold it all in place. Felon picked it up.
“Ah shit… it’s just made out to dad.” I shook my head slowly then as I walked further into the house, glancing at the pictures at the walls. The people were smiling and happy. Were any of them still alive?
“Open it.” Lewis was saying behind me.
“What?”
“Open it. They clearly aren’t coming back for it.” I heard the tearing of wrapper paper followed by Felon’s surprised gasp.
“No way!” I looked back and frowned as I tried to see what the box was he had in his hands. “It’s the complete blu-ray set! The original trilogy, the prequels, and the new stuff! Look!” He held the box out towards me. “It’s the one with the unmolested original trilogy at that!” I arched a brow as I tried to piece that together.
“Unmolested?”
“Yeah you know, like it was originally aired! Without all that bullshit CGI stuff they added later. Thanks George.” He muttered that last phrase sarcastically.
“Are the stand alones on there?” I asked but he shook his head.
“Nah just the core.”
“Well it’s still not a bad find.” I replied before seeing Lewis’ confused face. “Wait… you’ve got no idea what we’re talking about do you?” He just shrugged and I began to look around. “Leo see if the power still works. Lets find the TV. Lewis here hasn’t seen this glorious masterpiece of science fantasy before! We need to correct that.” Felon snapped off a salute to that.
“Sir yes sir!” He said before heading deeper into the house, the boxset held tight in his hands as if he was afraid he’d lose it.
“Lewis head back up to the general store and requisition us snacks. Lots and lots of snacks. You’ve got…” I tried to do some mental math. “Somewhere between 18 and 24 hours of movies for us to get through.”
“What?” He stood there looking even more confused at me. “But… aren’t you worried about Unity or… planning our next move or something?” I was about to reply when there was a loud clack from somewhere in the back and the lights flickered to life around us. So I just lifted my hands to the ceiling,
“It’s Christmas Lewis and we’ve just been handed a miracle! So go get some food and prepare yourself for a spectacle of Hollywood entertainment! You’ve missed out on some of our finest cinema! It’s time to correct that and show you some of what we’re fighting for!” He snorted at that.
“Movies? I think fighting for our freedom is pretty damn important sir.”
“It most certainly is. And that includes our freedom to make movies! So get.” I waved him out the door and then went to find Felon and the house’s TV. I knew I was being a bit selfish, especially with Unity forces just a few miles down the road. But if they headed our way Reed would warn me. And I couldn’t remember the last time I’d sat down and just watched a movie. Maybe this Christmas wasn’t going to be so bad.
Next Chapter

Stuff to Do in Tucson: August 2015

Greetings! It's the AUGUST 2015 of the Stuff to Do in Tucson thread!
Use this sticky post to collect general stuff going on around town (including Tucson's surrounding areas) in AUGUST. You can still start new posts about an event, especially if you need help planning something. This will just serve as an easy reference. The end of July can be found at the top of the list.
Comment with the details (date, time, location, admission fee, age restrictions, etc.) about any August event/gathering/get-together that you think people may be interested in and I'll update the text of the main post so people can easily see what's going on.
Examples of good stuff to tell us about include:

Art shows/exhibits
Museum events
Musical acts/shows
Gaming get-togethers
Charity events for actual charities (not kickstarter-like campaigns for your startup xyz store)
Your band's upcoming gig (playing at a venue that isn't your house)

And more!
^Anything ^advertising ^any ^specific ^product ^or ^anything ^illegal ^will ^be ^removed.
~~JULY 28~~
Tuesday Night Classics: The Usual Suspects - Harkins Theatre - 5455 S Calle Santa Cruz - 7PM - $5
~~JULY 31~~
Movies in the Park: How to Train Your Dragon 2 - at Reid Park, Demeester Performing Arts Pavilion - 920 S Concert Pl. - movies begin at dusk - free
~~AUGUST 1~~

The Cup Cafe 25 Year Anniversary - 6PM-8PM - all ages - free
KMKR Summer Party Series: Pigmy Death Ray, The Tribulators, Texas Trash & the Trainwrecks - at Xerocraft - 101 W 6th St. - 7PM-10PM - $5 suggested donation
Cool Summer Nights: Full Moon Festival - at the Arizona - Sonora Desert Museum - 2021 North Kinney Rd. - 5PM-10PM - General Admission (18-64) $19.50/Seniors (65+) $17.50/Youth (13-17) $15.50/Children (4-12) $6/Kids 3 and under free - see website for activities schedule
Tucson Roller Derby double header - Tucson Indoor Sports Center - 1065 W. Grant Rd. - doors open at 6PM, first bout at 7PM - $20 VIP tickets/$15 at the dooPresale tickets $10 for adults - $5 for ages 11-17 - Free for children under 10 w purchase of adult ticket

~~AUGUST 4~~
Tuesday Night Classics: The Departed - Harkins Theatre - 5455 S Calle Santa Cruz - 7PM - $5
~~AUGUST 5~~
Corona de Tucson Food Truck Roundup - 2653 E. First St. - 5PM-7:30PM
~~AUGUST 6~~

Couch to 5k (C25k) running/training program (and every Thursday thru Sept. 9) - starting at the north end parking lot of Hi-Corbett - 6-7PM - free
Kevin Nealon and Norm MacDonald - Casino del Sol conference center - 8PM
The Parlor Show featuring The Magicians - at The Parish - 6453 N. Oracle Rd. - 7:30PM - $15/person

~~AUGUST 8~~

Second Saturdays Downtown - starts around 6PM - free to walk around
Don't Blink Burlesque @ The Hut - at The Hut - 305 N 4th Ave - doors 8PM/show 9PM - Tickets $10/$15/$20 - ages 21+
Hummingbird Heart Garden Community Gardening - 938 S. Verdugo Ave. - 6PM-8PM
Cool Summer Nights: Conservation & Comedy: The Joke's On Us! - at the Arizona - Sonora Desert Museum - 2021 North Kinney Rd. - 5PM-10PM - General Admission (18-64) $19.50/Seniors (65+) $17.50/Youth (13-17) $15.50/Children (4-12) $6/Kids 3 and under free - see website for activities schedule
A(r)t Your Service: Reboot 2.0: Employee Art Show Opening Reception - at Hotel Congress - 6PM-2AM - free

~~AUGUST 8-9~~
Return of the Mermaids - 4th Ave. and Downtown Tucson - starts on the 8th at 11AM
~~AUGUST 9~~
Fall Out Boy - at Casino del Sol - 7PM - see website for tix
~~AUGUST 11~~
Tuesday Night Classics: Bad Boys - Harkins Theatre - 5455 S Calle Santa Cruz - 7PM - $5
~~AUGUST 14~~
Movies in the Park: The Princess Bride - at Reid Park, Demeester Performing Arts Pavilion - 920 S Concert Pl. - movies begin at dusk - free
~~AUGUST 15~~

8th Annual Chess Fest - at Hotel Congress - 3PM-6PM
Cool Summer Nights: Astronomy Night - at the Arizona - Sonora Desert Museum - 2021 North Kinney Rd. - 5PM-10PM - General Admission (18-64) $19.50/Seniors (65+) $17.50/Youth (13-17) $15.50/Children (4-12) $6/Kids 3 and under free - see website for activities schedule

~~AUGUST 16~~
Tucson Bonsai Society's Monthly Meeting: "A World of Hot Weather Bonsai" - Catalina United Methodist Church, Building H, Room 230 - 12PM-4PM - see website for more info
~~AUGUST 18~~
Tuesday Night Classics: The Shawshank Redemption - Harkins Theatre - 5455 S Calle Santa Cruz - 7PM - $5
AUGUST 20

Nandi's First Birthday Party Breakfast - Reid Park Zoo - 7AM - $50/person (discount for zoo members & children) - see website for tix
Thursday Therapy at Cafe a la C'art - 150 N. Main Ave. - 6PM-8:30PM

AUGUST 21

Ben's Bells Project's 2015 Science of Kindness Conference - at Banner-University Medical Center (Duval Auditorium) - 1501 N. Campbell Ave. - 6PM-9PM - see website to register
Friday Night Live! at Main Gate Square - Geronimo Plaza, btw Park Ave and Euclid Ave on University Blvd - 7:30PM - free

AUGUST 22

Tucson Birthday Celebration - at the Historic Train Depot - 414 N. Toole Ave. - 10AM-4PM (11AM birthday cake with Mayor Rothschild) - free admission - free parking
Ben's Bells Project's 2015 Science of Kindness Conference - at Banner-University Medical Center (Duval Auditorium) - 1501 N. Campbell Ave. - 8AM-5PM - see website to register
Cool Summer Nights: Science Rocks! & Teacher Appreciation Night - at the Arizona - Sonora Desert Museum - 2021 North Kinney Rd. - 5PM-10PM - General Admission (18-64) $19.50/Seniors (65+) $17.50/Youth (13-17) $15.50/Children (4-12) $6/Kids 3 and under free - see website for activities schedule
Nandi’s Birthday Party Encore - Reid Park Zoo - 8AM - regular zoo admission
5th Annual Salsa & Tequila Challenge - at La Encantada Shopping Center - see website for tix - 21+
OMGFest (Offline Multiplayer Game Festival) - Double Tree - 445 S. Alvernon Way - 10AM-10PM - $10 (proceeds go to Tucson Community Food Bank) - family-friendly event
Blackout @ The Bashful Bandit - 3686 E Speedway Blvd. - 9PM-2AM - no cover - 21+
MOCA Tucson's Screen Series: Family Movie Night - Buster Keaton Shorts - 265 S. Church Ave. - 8PM-10PM - free

AUGUST 25
Tuesday Night Classics: Beverly Hills Cop - Harkins Theatre - 5455 S Calle Santa Cruz - 7PM - $5
~~AUGUST 26~~

“Weird Al” Yankovic - Casino del Sol AVA Amphitheater - 7PM
Eric Hutchinson - at The Rialto Theatre - 8PM - $22-$24 - all ages

AUGUST 29
BBW Meetup - 11AM - locations vary so check Facebook group
AUGUST 30
Romo Tonight - at The Flycatcher - 9PM - 21+
RECURRING EVENTS
NIGHTLY
SkyNights at UA Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter - 9800 East Ski Run Rd - starts around 3PM - $60 Adults , $30 Youth (7-17 yrs) includes a light dinner
WEEKLY
Geeks Who Drink - different venues every day

Monday - Dante's Fire - 8:00 PM / NEW Eclipse Sports Grill 7:00 PM
Tuesday - Hotel Congress - 8:00 PM
Wednesday - The Auld Dubliner - 8:00 PM / Trident Grill - 8:00 PM / NEW Playground Bar & Lounge - 7:30 PM
Thursday - Aloft Tucson University - 7:30 PM (Starts Thursday, Sept 4th) / Bumsted's - 8:00 PM / The Canyon's Crown Restaurant & Pub - 8:00 PM

MONDAYS

90s House Party - Hotel Congress - 9PM-2AM - free cover - $0.90 drinks - 21+
Laughs and Draughts (Open mic comedy & draught beer specials) - at The Flycatcher - 10PM - 21+

TUESDAYS

Retro Room Board Game Nights - 337 E. Fort Lowell - 6PM
Pale Blue Comedy Open Mic - O'Malley's on 4th - sign up at 9:30PM / show at 10PM
Video Game/$2.50 You-call-it drink night with WTFAlex - 9PM - 21+
Taco and Tecate Tuesdays - Hotel Congress - free live music at 9pm/for $5 you get tacos and a Tecate

WEDNESDAYS

Knitting Group - at Grandma's Spinning Wheel - 6544 E Tanque Verde Rd - 5PM-8PM
Whiskey Wednesdays - Union Public House - no cover
LIVE and Rare Residency (live music/DJ) - at R Bar - 9PM - free

THURSDAYS

Gallery Row ArtWalk - 3001 E. Skyline Dr - free
Comedy Open Mic at Laff's - doors at 7PM / show at 8PM
The films of Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray - at The Loft Cinema - 7:30PM - regular admission prices
Big Brother Beats (Old School Hip Hop, R&B, and Funk) - at R Bar - 9PM-1AM - no cover
Couch to 5k (C25k) running/training program (thru Sept. 9) - starting at the north end parking lot of Hi-Corbett - 6-7PM - free

SATURDAYS

SATURDAZE Dance Party - Hotel Congress - 10PM - free - 21+
Saturday Nights at La Cocina w/ DJ Herm - La Cocina - 201 N. Court Ave. - 10PM - $3

SUNDAYS

Amtgard/Obsidian Gate, full-contact LARP group, weekly meet - at Joaquin Murietta Park - noon
Make Your Own Bloody Mary Bar (sometimes with live music) - Hotel Congress - 10AM-2PM
Juggling Club - at Himmel Park, near the library - 6PM

AMA The Curator of Paradise Lost Ask Me Anything

First Class

The year was 18XX.

It was late one night, on the Southern Pacific railroad, and Sean Hanley laid back and watched the stars.

Wind roared past the open roof of the third-class train car, the sound of the locomotive mostly drowned out by the rushing gale that blew overhead. Sean could still feel the wheels churning beneath him, under the straw and the wooden floor. Or maybe it was just his heart beating in his head; he had a few drinks from a bottle of Jameson, that he sat down at arms reach from where he lay.

Third class wasn’t so bad, Sean thought. Sure, it was packed with the misfits of society, the floors were straw held together with mud and piss, and it smelled like ten tons of shit, but this view of the stars was to die for. The liquor also went a long way.

He sat up and looked around the crowded car. There was a herd of people, a diverse assortment of colors and nationalities. They danced, they ate, they drank and joked and argued. They were alive. A group of Irish men, like Sean, stood around a small circle throwing dice, jeering and shouting. Sean had played with them earlier, emptying his pennies into their open hands when the dice rolled against him.

“Get your lazy ass up outta that shit!” He heard a voice calling to him. He looked up at Frankie Donahue running over to him excitedly, a briefcase in his hand. “Where in the hell have you been?” Sean said, rising from the hay, staggering a little as he gets up onto both feet. “One of the security guys is my cousin, second-cousin actually, once removed.” Frankie said with a devilish grin. “Or at least I convinced the dumb motherfucker that we were!”

Frankie nearly fell over laughing, while Sean, who had found his footing now, just looked at him incredulously. “And what is that?” He asked, gesturing to the briefcase. “I was getting to that, you’ve got to be patient, Jesus Christ I swear.” Frankie retorted through laughs, but not without irritation. “So I get this asshole thinkin’ I’m his cousin an all,” he continued. “And I offer him up my flask, all full of the good shit you see, and I bribes him into lookin’ the other way as I take a peak in one of the first-class carriages!”

Frankie was smiling that wide smile he’d get whenever he had gotten into something rotten. Sean just glared, not quite angry, more confused than anything. “Wait so you stole that?” He asked as Frankie nodded excitedly. “Franklin Francis Donahue you dumb motherfucker!” “No no no I’m brilliant!” Frankie spoke out through fits of laughter, bending over to open up the case.

Sean glared at Frankie as he pulled expensive looking formal clothing from the briefcase. Frankie looked at Sean smiling expectantly. “Oh come on,” He began. “This shit is genius! We dress up real nice, show the right people these boarding passes, and hello first-class gambling car!”

“You dumbass,” Sean scolded. “We’ve got no money, what the hell are we gonna do in the gambling car?” Frankie rolled his eyes, “Frankie Donahue and Sean Patrick Hanley are broke, but not Brian and Carl Cleary!” He pulled out two boarding passes marked with those names. “First-class passengers are given an allowance of chips to use in the casino, we go in and we gets free money!”

The idea hung in Sean’s mind like a drop of blood fallen into a glass of water. Maybe it was his empty wallet, or perhaps just a lingering buzz from the liquor, but this idea was starting to see not half bad. “Okay,” Sean began. “I’m in, but only if I get to be Kyle.” “It’s Carl.” Frankie corrected. “Fuck, are you serious? Damn it, ok, I’ll be Carl.”

They moved into a corner and changed into the new three piece suits. The fit was too tight in parts, too lose in others, but Sean had to admit it felt good to be out of his dirty rags. “Looking sharp, boyo.” Said Frankie, straightening a bowler hat on his head above his gold-framed glasses. Sean said nothing, but appreciated the compliment anyway, even if he could not admit it.

The two strolled through cramped second-class passenger cars on the way to the gambling car. Sean peered at the closed curtains that hid away all the passengers. “Must be nice sleeping with some privacy.” He said quietly, walking with his hands in his new pockets. “Where we’re going, last thing you’ll be thinking of is sleeping, trust me.” Said Frankie, a bit too loud near the sleeping passengers.

Frankie always had been a bit too loud. Frankie did the talking, and Sean did the thinking. Or at least that’s how Sean looked at things. If asked Frankie would likely tell you he was both the brains and mouth of the crew. And also the muscle and looks while he was at it. The two had known each other their whole lives, since they were children living back in the old country. Even back then Frankie was causing trouble and Sean was foolishly getting caught up in it also.

The two approached a tall man, likely 6’3” or 6’4”, that stood guard of the casino door. He wore a cheap, poorly-fittedsuit, and was ghastly pale. His face bore a strong chin and sunken eyes, sat beneath the dark hat that covered his bald head. “Boarding passes.” He said, moving his eyes first over Sean, then onto Frankie. “Yeah yeah sure fella, I’m getting them.” Frankie said, retrieving the passes from his breast pocket.

A bead of sweat fell down Sean’s forehead as the large man looked over the passes. After a moment of waiting, he spoke. “You’re Brian and Carl Cleery?” “Yup,” Frankie chirped. “No relation!” Sean jabbed his elbow into his friend’s side. “Don’t listen to this dipshit,” Sean said with a tinge of fear and disbelief in his voice. “He’s trying to pull your leg, we’re brothers.” “Yeah I’m sorry I’m sorry,” Frankie said on a low note. “We’re brothers, we’ve got the same Ma and everything.”

The guard glared coldly at them. Sean considered running, it was clear to him that this whole thing was a massive disaster. He wondered what would happen, would they be arrested? Or would they toss them off the moving train? To his great surprise the guard opened the door and gestured for them to enter. “Have a marvelous evening.” He said in a warm tone, deep and welcoming.

Inside the walls were gold and polished to a shine. Gas-burning lights hung from the ceiling, dimly illuminating the dozen or so passengers that orbited the tables. There were card tables embroidered with exquisite green felt, elaborately decorated roulette wheels, and away from the gambling, thick leather chairs positioned around small coffee tables. The boys were awestruck for a moment; they were not supposed to be here, but here they were.

A mustached man in the back checked their tickets and provided them each with a cache of chips. Frankie headed over to a card table, while Sean focused his attention on roulette. He bet on black, he always bet on black.

For someone with such a loud mouth, Frankie had a hell of a poker face. His trick was to make everyone else think he was awful at the game, choreographing his every action only to subvert their expectations when it really mattered. This was working fairly well against most of the other players, but not the woman smoking a black cigarette.

Frankie couldn’t tell what it was about her. Maybe her looks had thrown him off his game, there was something about her that sent chills down his spine. Or maybe she could read his mind, it felt like that at times. She’d flash those big eyes, stare into his soul, and know his every little secret.

He was slowly losing it all to the mysterious woman. Every quarter lost made him more and more ensnared by her. “So, if you’re gonna be taking all of my money, do I at least get to learn your name?” He asked slyly. She took a long drag from her cigarette. “No.” She must be the devil herself, Frankie thought. “Another round?” He asked. “I’d love to.”

Before long Sean was settling into an armchair, more or less out of cash. He needed a drink. His luck didn’t go very far betting on black when the roulette seemed a sea of red. A man sat across from him, reading a newspaper and drinking from a glass of red wine. He looked up at Sean and spoke with a French accent. “Lady luck not on your side tonight?” “It’s been better,” Sean answered him. “And yourself?” “I don’t gamble, this is just the most interesting car to be in this time of night.”

He had a point, Sean thought. There was plenty of food and drink and interesting people in here. He could live without the music though, some classic Sean couldn’t name warbling through the horn of a phonograph.

The man took a sip from his glass and then spoke. “So what brings you out to Texas, Monsieur...?” “Hanley, Sean Patrick Hanley.” Sean answered, a cold feeing sinking to the pit of his stomach as he realized he had said his actual name and not the man he was impersonating. “Ah, Monsieur Hanley, what brings you out to Texas?” The French man asked. “Work,” he answered. “New York is getting too crowded, not enough room for advancement, so I’m seeing what’s needed out in El Paso.”

The French man smiled a coy little smile and nodded. “I understand that too well.” He said to Sean. “I don’t think I caught your name?” Sean asked the man. “Nathaniel Garren III.” He said, as if he was somehow boasting. Sean smiled. “Well, nice to meet you, sir.”

“And what about you,” Sean asked the stranger. “What brings you out here?” He took another sip before answering. “I’m actually returning from business, the company I work for is based out of California, but all the bankers we work with are in New York, so I must travel back and forth.”

“I’m guessing the money is worth it.” Sean said to him. “Money can make anything worth it, remember that Judas betrayed Christ for only thirty silver coins.” Sean felt uncomfortable for some reason. He assumed the liquor was hitting him all at once. He felt cold and like he was spinning.

“Ok,” Frankie said looking at his hand. “You’re probably going to clear me out, are you really so desperate to get ride of me?” The woman smiled a little. “Yes, it would be nice.” She said. They laid down their cards and it wasn’t even a contest. Frankie pushed over the last of his chips and walked away from the table, looking for his friend.

He found Sean and put his arm in his shoulder. “Hey boyo, you’re not looking so good, broke already?” Frankie asked. Monsieur Garren was quiet, he took a long sip of wine, then returned his attention to the newspaper. Sean looked up at his friend. “Yeah, yeah... I’m spent, maybe we should get out of here.” “Yeah, sure.” Said Frankie helping Sean up onto his feet. Frankie threw one last glance over to the woman as they were leaving, she rolled her eyes and then returned her attention to the cards.

Sean started to feel better on the walk back, but things seemed different, darker. It was likely just because more people had gone to bed and so fewer lights were lit, but it didn’t seem right. This was nearly pitch black, wasn’t that unsafe? “Can you even see where you’re going?” Sean asked. “No, but it’s a train, we can only go straight.” Answered Frankie with a small laugh.

“How long were we in there?” Sean asked, his memory seeming more and more fuzzy. "That's actually a good question," Frankie said sounding puzzled. "God I don't know, could be a half hour could be half the night." He then paused for a moment. "Well, time flies when you're having fun and all that, right?" Frankie propositioned half-heartedly. "Yeah, sure, I'm sure that's it." Sean mumbled.

No one made a sound when the reentered the third-class car. Not a single lantern was lit and there was only the howling of the wind overhead and the pulse of the train itself. This wasn’t right, Sean thought, all these people quietly asleep at once seemed an impossible task. Sean and Frankie creeped through the straw searching for any sign of life.

Frankie saw them first, a man slumped in a corner by the dice circle. At first glance he appeared to be sleeping, or blacked out, but with closer inspection Frankie noticed the blood-less gash straight across the man’s neck. Frankie shouted and stumbled back in fear, tripping over another body laying behind him covered in straw.

“What the fuck are you yelling about!?” Sean shouted angrily at his friend as he lit a lantern he found resting on the ground. As the light filled the room they saw how grim of a scene it truly was. They were dead, all of them, the car was littered with corpses. Some lay facedown in the muddy straw, other piled up against the walls. Many looked perfectly natural, but a few were torn apart, limbs rendered from torso.

The bodies were pale, nearly bloodless. Specks and splatters of plasma stained the walls and the straw, but there were no large pools. With these many corpses the blood should have been up to Sean and Frankie’s ankles, but it just was not there. Sean thought that perhaps it had drained away, but too much straw was still in place, and it still had a crunch to it, all that blood should have left it soggy and red.

They were silent for a moment, a long, terrible moment. There was only howling wind, chugging wheels, and the cloudy sky of the endless desert. Then Frankie broke, a bestial screech erupting from him as he lept back onto his feet. “No no no fuck this fuck this fuck this!” He yelled loudly. “We are leaving right now, we’ll jump off this fucker if we have to.”

Sean continued to be stunned. He had lost his footing and now leaned against the wall wide-eyed. Frankie stormed over yelling to his friend. “Are you listening to me? We have to go right now, I mean it!” Frankie shook him, but Sean didn’t react, shock had totally overtaken him, and once Frankie let go, Sean slumped to the floor, tears in his eyes. Frankie yelled out again, punching the wall in frustration.

Sean sat there, deeply breathing, looking up. Clouds had come to obscure the stars that he had been gazing earlier, but now the moon peaked out from beyond their veil, illuminating the roof of the train. Frankie had not seen what Sean had, the tall silhouette of a being standing above them, only revealed in the cold light of the moon. He was tall and thin, like a man that had been stretched to unnatural proportions. His shoulders were broad, his neck short, and his head misshapen like an onion or turnip. He stood and watched them. Sean knew it was facing them, he had saw a reflection of light in its eyes, like an animal in the night.

Sean choked on his words, finally scrambling backwards up to his feet. All he could manage was to point up to the fiend. Frankie’s attention was caught, and he now noticed the man, more dread somehow sinking deep into his stomach. Frankie turned to run, but the man leapt from the roof, gliding down to tackle him. Sean also ran, but as Frankie hit the ground he extended his grip desperately out around Sean’s ankle, bringing him too crashing down into the straw.

Frankie screamed, violently thrashing under the weight of the man, his glasses fractured on the ground. Sean squirmed and crawled, trying his hardest to get away from the scene, but Frankie’s grip around his ankle was strong, tightening the more he panicked. “Help me! Oh god in heaven please help me!” Frankie screamed, pleading to his friend, tears forming in his red eyes.

Sean tried again to get up, but Frankie’s grip was too tight, sending him back down onto the ground. Sean looked down at his legs, Frankie digging his nails in deep, drawing blood. The assailant smiled widely, his worm-like tongue passing over impossibly sharp teeth. Sean made eye contact with the ghoul and the immediately regretted it. His eyes were black, but not empty. They glowed like cold fire, endless voids, glassy peep-holes into the darker places of Hell, where every faceless shadow moved like a massive body, gliding on smoke. Sean saw himself dying, he saw a world without a sun, mushroom clouds replacing trees and the dead walking the Earth.

But when he looked down, into Frankie’s red crying eyes, he saw them young again, back in Ireland. The boys were nine the first time they met. Sean fancied Frankie’s older sister at the time, and he had saved up money for weeks in order to buy her candy. She accepted the treat, but rejected Sean, going as far to tease and humiliate him. Frankie broke into her room that night, stealing the candy and offering it to Sean in a sign of goodwill. That was when the friendship began.

Years later Frankie had been kicked out of school after too many drunken fights. Sean followed, persuaded by Frankie’s tales of saving money and coming to America. They worked hard, smuggling unseen things in and out of Dublin in the night. Their boss was a crook, but in time they made the money and hopped on the boat with Frankie’s younger brother. They had become men, or at least they told themselves that.

Tears ran down Sean’s face as he looked down at his friend, begging and pleading for help, clutching onto Sean’s leg, desperate under the weight of that terrible man. Sean knew Frankie wouldn’t let go, his primal fear had turned his hands to vice grips. Sean closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then ran his free foot straight into Frankie’s face. There was a dull thud, then Sean pulled his foot up and rammed him again and again. There was a snap as Frankie’s nose broke, spraying blood all over his face and the straw.

The vile man pulled himself up Frankie’s body, letting his long tongue lap up the crimson fluid that covered him. Sean winced and then kicked one last time, hard and powerful into his friend’s broke face. Frankie stopped moving, his grip let up, and Sean was free. He scurried away, struggling up to his feet, as the creature was stuck transfixed to the fountain of blood that leaked from where Frankie’s face was.

Sean tumbled to the floor in the nearly pitch black sleeping carriage, out of breath and choking on his sobs. He grabbed a seat and lifted himself back onto his feet, limping along the corridor. When he could manage to sputter out whole words again, he began crying for help. There was no answer, only a dark silence. Desperately Sean tore at the privacy curtains dividing the seats from the corridor. One after the other he searched, finding no one. Panic overtook him once more; he couldn’t understand why the car was empty, but it was clear there was no help for him. He was completely alone, although not for long once that man caught up to him.

Sean slid down into one of the seats and drew the curtain closed around him. He tried his best to focus, to steady his breathing once he heard the back door to the car open and close. He smelled the stench of blood and decay in the air as he huddled, eyes closed, listening for the man’s footsteps. They were quiet, gentle even. The rapid pace of Sean’s beating heart meshed with the steps, creating an odd rhythm in his ear. Sean fought through the panic, but it was great, his mind racing from one horrible thought to the next. He replayed his foot smashing into Frankie’s face, the horrid tongue of that monstrous man, and the horror that awaited him if he was found.

In time, the door leading out of the carriage opened and shut. Sean kept deadly still for a few moments longer, never more terrified of anything in his life. Once he had finally caught his breath, he crawled out under the curtain, creeping along the carriage. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and he could see the carriage was in pristine condition, no sign of a struggle like in the third-class car. Maybe there was never anyone in this car, Sean pondered to himself. He tiptoed to the exit, unsure of where he could go that he would be safe, when he felt a drop of liquid land on his head. Sean froze, a deathly chill spreading through his body. Turning to look up, the ghoulish man was unnaturally suspended from the ceiling, a glaze up blood drooling down his chin onto Sean.

There was no time to run, the man pounced, and much like Frankie before him, Sean was under his grasp. The man howled with laughter, blood speckling out his terrible maw, along with the stench of what must be a thousand corpses. Sean tried to fight, but once he looked back into that man’s horrible eyes, he was gone. There was no carriage, train, or even desert. In his eyes there was only dead suns, orbited by swarms of bats, bloodthirsty and crazed. The darkness overtook Sean, and he lost himself in the coldness of the void.

Later Sean could see once more. He was in the gambling car, in one of the leather seats he sat in earlier. There were a few people around him, most notably Monsieur Garren in the seat across from him, and the woman with the black cigarette standing in the pack, smoking away. Shadows hung on their faces, shifting in the dim flickering light of the lanterns above them. The music was still playing, warped and strange, occasionally skipping with a bump in the tracks.

Before he could say anything, Sean noticed he was restrained to the seat. Panic built up in him once more as he struggled to get loose. “Now now Monsieur Hanley, settle down, get comfortable, you’re my guest here after all.” Chuckled Garren as he smirked over at Sean.

The ghastly man walked out from behind Sean into his point of view. Sean began struggling harder when he saw him, adrenaline rushing through his veins. Garren raised up an empty glass, and then man brought an ornate looking metal jug to fill it, a dark red liquid spilling from its lip. Garren swiveled it around, basking in the sickly aroma. “Ahh.” He said. “This is Monsieur Donahue, is it not?” “Yes, sire.” Hissed the hideous man. Nathaniel Garren sipped from it, as if it was his fine wine from earlier. “Very flavorful, if I do say so myself. At least, for blood of such a lowly status.”

Sean struggled to hold down vomit as he watched Garren drink Frankie’s fresh blood. The business man sighed and seemed to relish in the taste of it. Then he offered his glass to the woman, who drank from it with a cold smile. “He’s so much better like this.” She said, darkly chuckling.

“Perhaps Monsieur Hanley would like a taste.” The Frenchman said smugly. “Pour him one.” The ghoul did as he was told, preparing another wine glass filled with the blood. Sean cried out, struggling as hard as he could as it was raised up to his lips. Garren was not patient. “Drink it.” He ordered coldly. Sean lost control of his mouth, compelled to do as he was told. As much as every fiber of his being was screaming not to, he obeyed, taking the thick blood into his mouth. It was the worst thing he had ever experienced in his life, warm and metallic, a vile taste. Sean cried as he swallowed it down, a piece of his humanity going down with it.

“Do you like it?” Garren asked with a chuckle. “You earned it, the kill was yours.” Sean couldn’t talk, he just spit over and over, trying to purge the blood from his mouth. Instead it dribbled down his chin in a crimson mess. Garren got up from his seat and started walking towards Sean. “You did well, proved you’d do whatever it took to survive. You told me you were looking for work, I’d like to offer you a job.”

Sean was helpless as Garren sank his fangs into his soft neck. They felt like icicles, chilling his blood. His head fell back and his vision darkened until all Sean could see was stars.

[ROLEPLAY] ! Extreme Instability !

Rapid City Journal (RCJ) - January 21st Edition
1965–1970: Early career Influenced by early-rock-and-roll and rhythm-and-blues artists, including groups such as The Beatles, The Drifters and The Four Seasons, he favored tightly-structured pop melodies and down-to-earth, unpretentious songwriting.[20]
After seeing The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, Joel decided to pursue a career in music. In an interview he said of the group's impact, "That one performance changed my life … Up to that moment I'd never considered playing rock as a career. And when I saw four guys who didn't look like they'd come out of the Hollywood star mill, who played their own songs and instruments, and especially because you could see this look in John Lennon's face – and he looked like he was always saying: 'F--- you!' – I said: 'I know these guys, I can relate to these guys, I am these guys.' This is what I'm going to do – play in a rock band'."[21]
Joel joined the Echoes,[22] a group that specialized in British Invasion covers. The Echoes began recording in 1965. Joel (then 16) also played piano on several records released through Kama Sutra Productions and on recordings produced by Shadow Morton. Joel played on a demo version of "Leader of the Pack", which would become a major hit for the Shangri-Las.[23] Joel states that in 1964 he played on a recording of the Shangri-Las' "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" but he is unaware of whether he played on the demo or master version;[24] The released single included a co-producer credit for Artie Ripp,[25] who later was the first to sign and produce Joel as a solo artist after Michael Lang, who had given Joel a monetary advance, passed Joel along to Ripp to focus his attentions elsewhere instead.[26]
In late 1965, the Echoes changed their name to the Emeralds and then to the Lost Souls. Joel left the band in 1967 to join the Hassles, a Long Island group that had signed with United Artists Records.[27] Over the next year and a half they released four singles and two albums (The Hassles and Hour of the Wolf). All were commercial failures. Joel and drummer Jon Small left the Hassles in 1969 to form the duo Attila, releasing an eponymous debut album in July 1970. The duo disbanded the following October when Joel began an affair with Small's wife, Elizabeth, whom Joel eventually married.[28]
1970–1974: Cold Spring Harbor and Piano Man Joel signed a contract with the record company Family Productions (owned by Artie Ripp but backed by Gulf + Western[29]), with which he recorded his first solo album, Cold Spring Harbor (a reference to Cold Spring Harbor, New York, a town on Long Island). Ripp states that he spent $450,000 developing Joel;[29] nevertheless, the album was mastered at the wrong speed and as a result, the album was a technical and commercial disappointment.[30]
The popular songs "She's Got a Way" and "Everybody Loves You Now" were originally released on this album, but went largely unnoticed until being released as live performances on Songs in the Attic (1981). Columbia released a remastered version of Cold Spring Harbor in 1983.
Joel began his Cold Spring Harbor tour in the fall of 1971, touring with his band (Rhys Clark on drums, Al Hertzberg on guitar, and Larry Russell on bass guitar) throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico, opening for groups such as the J. Geils Band, The Beach Boys, Badfinger, and Taj Mahal. Joel's performance at the Puerto Rican Mar Y Sol Pop Festival was especially well-received; and although recorded, Joel refused to have it published on the Mar Y Sol compilation album Mar Y Sol: The First International Puerto Rico Pop Festival. Nevertheless, interest in his music grew.[31]
During the spring of 1972, the Philadelphia radio station WMMR-FM began playing a concert recording of "Captain Jack", which became an underground hit on the East Coast. Herb Gordon, a Columbia Records executive, heard Joel's music and introduced him to the company. Joel signed a recording contract with Columbia in 1972 and moved to Los Angeles; he lived there for the next three years.[1][32] For six months he worked at The Executive Room piano bar on Wilshire Boulevard as "Bill Martin". During that time, he composed his signature hit "Piano Man" about the bar's patrons.[33]
Despite Joel's new contract, he was still legally bound to Family Productions. Artie Ripp sold Joel's first contract to Columbia. Walter Yetnikoff, the president of CBS/Columbia Records at the time, bought back the rights to Joel's songs in the late 1970s, giving the rights to Joel as a birthday gift.[34][35] Yetnikoff notes in the documentary film The Last Play at Shea that he had to threaten Ripp to close the deal.
Joel's first album with Columbia was Piano Man, released in 1973. Despite modest sales, Piano Man's title track became his signature song, ending nearly every concert. That year Joel's touring band changed. Guitarist Al Hertzberg was replaced by Don Evans, and bassist Larry Russell by Patrick McDonald, himself replaced in late 1974 by Doug Stegmeyer, who would stay with Joel until 1989. Rhys Clark returned as drummer and Tom Whitehorse as banjoist and pedal steel player; Johnny Almond joined as saxophonist and keyboardist. The band toured the US and Canada extensively, appearing on popular music shows. Joel's songwriting began attracting more attention; in 1974 Helen Reddy recorded "You're My Home" (Piano Man).
1974–1977: Streetlife Serenade and Turnstiles In 1974, Joel recorded his second Columbia album in Los Angeles, Streetlife Serenade. His manager at the time was Jon Troy, an old friend from the New York neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant; Troy would soon be replaced by Joel's wife Elizabeth.[36] Streetlife Serenade contains references to suburbia and the inner city. It is perhaps best known for "The Entertainer", a No. 34 hit in the US. Upset that "Piano Man" had been significantly cut for radio play, Joel wrote "The Entertainer" as a sarcastic response: "If you're gonna have a hit, you gotta make it fit, so they cut it down to 3:05." Although Streetlife Serenade is often considered[by whom?] one of Joel's weaker albums (Joel dislikes it himself), it contains the notable songs "Los Angelenos" and "Root Beer Rag", an instrumental that was a staple of his live set in the 1970s.
In late 1975, Joel played piano and organ on several tracks on Bo Diddley's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album.
Disenchanted with Los Angeles, Joel returned to New York City in 1975 and recorded Turnstiles, the first album he recorded with the group of hand-picked musicians who became the Billy Joel Band. Produced by James William Guercio (then Chicago's producer), Turnstiles was first recorded at Caribou Ranch with members of Elton John's band. Dissatisfied with the result, Joel re-recorded the songs and produced the album himself.
"Say Goodbye to Hollywood" was a minor hit; Ronnie Spector recorded a cover as did Nigel Olsson, then drummer with Elton John. In a 2008 radio interview, Joel said that he no longer performs the song because singing it in its high original key "shreds" his vocal cords; however, he did finally play it live for the first time since 1982 when he sang it at the Hollywood Bowl in May 2014. Though never released as a single, "New York State of Mind" became one of Joel's best-known songs; Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett have each recorded covers (Bennett's a duet with Joel on Playing with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues). Other notable songs from the album include "Summer, Highland Falls", "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)", "Say Goodbye to Hollywood", (a live version of which became a Top 40 hit), and "Prelude/Angry Young Man", a concert mainstay.
1977–1979: The Stranger and 52nd Street Columbia Records introduced Joel to Phil Ramone, who would produce all of Joel's studio albums from The Stranger (1977) to The Bridge (1986). The Stranger was an enormous commercial success, yielding four Top-25 hits on the Billboard charts: "Just the Way You Are" (#3), "Movin' Out" (#17), "Only the Good Die Young" (#24), and "She's Always a Woman" (#17). Joel's first Top Ten album, The Stranger was certified multi-platinum and reached number two on the charts, outselling Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge over Troubled Water,[37] Columbia's previous best-selling album. The Stranger also featured "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", an album-oriented rock classic, which has become one of his best-known songs.
The Stranger song "Just the Way You Are" — written for Joel's first wife, Elizabeth Weber[38] — was inspired by a dream[39] and won Grammy awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.[40] On tour in Paris, Joel learned the news late at night in his hotel room.[22] Rolling Stone ranked The Stranger the 70th greatest album of all time.[41]
Expectations were high for Joel's next album, 52nd Street, which he released in 1978, naming it after Manhattan's famous 52nd Street, which, at the time of its release, served as the world headquarters of CBS/ Columbia. The album sold over seven million copies, propelled to number one on the charts by the following hits: "My Life" (#3); followed successes from the album were "Big Shot" (#14), and "Honesty" (#24). A cover of "My Life" (sung by Gary Bennett) became the theme song for a new television sitcom, Bosom Buddies, which featured actor Tom Hanks in one of his earliest roles. 52nd Street won Grammy awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male and Album of the Year.
In 1979, Joel also traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival that took place between March 2–4, alongside Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson, Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Weather Report, and an array of Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón.[42] His performance is captured in Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.
1979–1983: Glass Houses and The Nylon Curtain The success of his piano-driven ballads like "Just the Way You Are", "She's Always a Woman", and "Honesty" led some critics to label Joel a "balladeer" and "soft rocker". Joel thought these labels were unfair and insulting, and with Glass Houses, he tried to record an album that proved that he could rock harder than his critics gave him credit for, occasionally imitating and referring to the style of new wave rock music that was starting to become popular at the time. On the front cover of the album, Joel is pictured in a leather jacket, about to throw a rock at a glass house (referring to the adage that "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones").
Glass Houses spent six weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard chart and yielded such hits as "You May Be Right" (used as the theme song, covered by Southside Johnny, for the CBS mid-1990s sitcom Dave's World) (#7, May 1980), "Don't Ask Me Why" (#19, September 1980), "Sometimes a Fantasy" (#36, November 1980) and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", which became Joel's first Billboard number-one single (for two weeks) in July 1980. "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" spent 11 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and was the 7th biggest hit of 1980 according to American Top 40.
Glass Houses won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Male. It would also win the American Music Award for Favorite Album, Pop/Rock category. The album's closing song, "Through The Long Night" (B-side of the "It's Still Rock & Roll to Me" single), was a lullaby that featured Joel harmonizing with himself in a song he says was inspired by The Beatles' "Yes It Is".[31] In a recorded Masterclass at the University of Pennsylvania, Joel later recollected that he had written to the Beatles asking them how to get started in the music industry. In response, he received a pamphlet about Beatles merchandise. This later led to the idea of Joel conducting Q&A sessions around the world answering questions that people had about the music industry.[43]
His next release, Songs in the Attic, was composed of live performances of less well-known songs from the beginning of his career. It was recorded during larger US arenas and intimate night club shows in June and July 1980. This release introduced many fans, who discovered Joel when The Stranger became a smash in 1977, to many of his earlier compositions. The album reached No. 8 on the Billboard chart and produced two hit singles: "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (#17), and "She's Got a Way" (#23). It sold over 3 million copies. Though not as successful as some of his previous albums, the album was still considered a success by Joel.[31]
The next wave of Joel's career commenced with the recording of his next studio album, The Nylon Curtain. With The Nylon Curtain, Joel became more ambitious with his songwriting, trying his hand at writing topical songs like "Allentown" and "Goodnight Saigon". Joel has stated that he wanted the album to communicate his feelings about the American Dream and how changes in American politics during the Reagan years meant that "all of a sudden you weren't going to be able to inherit [the kind of life] your old man had."[44] He also tried to be more ambitious in his use of the recording studio. Joel said that he wanted to "create a sonic masterpiece" on The Nylon Curtain. So he spent more time in the studio, crafting the sound of the album, than he had on any previous album.[44] Production of The Nylon Curtain began in the fall of 1981. However, production was temporarily delayed when Joel was involved in a serious motorcycle accident on Long Island on April 15, 1982, severely injuring his hands. Still, Joel quickly recovered from his injuries, and the album only ended up being delayed by a few months.[45]
In 1982, he embarked on a brief tour in support of the album. From one of the final shows of the tour, Joel made his first video special, Live from Long Island, which was recorded at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York on December 30, 1982. It was originally broadcast on HBO in 1983 before it became available on VHS.
The Nylon Curtain went to No. 7 on the charts, partially due to heavy airplay on MTV for the videos to the singles "Allentown" and "Pressure". "Allentown" spent six weeks at a peak position of No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the most-played radio songs of 1982, pushing it into 1983's year-end Top 70, and making it the most successful song from The Nylon Curtain album, besting "Pressure" which peaked at No. 20 (where it resided for three weeks) and "Goodnight Saigon" which reached No. 56 on U.S. charts.[46]
1983–1988: An Innocent Man and The Bridge Joel's next album moved away from the serious themes of The Nylon Curtain and struck a much lighter tone. The album An Innocent Man was Joel's tribute to R&B and doo wop music of the 1950s and 1960s and resulted in Joel's second Billboard number-one hit, "Tell Her About It", which was the first single off the album in the summer of 1983. The album itself reached No. 4 on the charts and No. 2 in UK. It also boasted six top-30 singles, the most of any album in Joel's catalog. The album was well received by critics, with Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for AllMusic, describing Joel as being "in top form as a craftsman throughout the record, effortlessly spinning out infectious, memorable melodies in a variety of styles."[47]
At the time that the album was released, WCBS-FM began playing "Uptown Girl" both in regular rotation and on the Doo Wop Live.[48][49] The song became a worldwide hit upon its release. The music video of the song, originally written about then girlfriend Elle MacPherson, featured future wife Christie Brinkley as a high society girl, whose car pulls into the gas station where Joel's character is working. At the end of the video, Joel's "grease monkey" character drives off with his "uptown girl" on the back of a motorcycle. When Brinkley went to visit Joel after being asked to star in the video, the first thing Joel said to her upon opening his door was "I don't dance". Brinkley had to walk him through the basic steps he does in the video. Their work together on this video shoot sparked a relationship between the two which would later lead to their marriage in 1985.[50]
In December, the title song, "An Innocent Man", was released as a single and it peaked at No. 10 in the U.S. and No. 8 in the UK, early in 1984. That March, "The Longest Time" was released as a single, peaking at No. 14 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. That summer, "Leave a Tender Moment Alone" was released and it hit No. 27 while "Keeping the Faith" peaked at No. 18 in January 1985. In the video for "Keeping the Faith", Christie Brinkley also plays the "redhead girl in a Chevrolet". An Innocent Man was also nominated for the Album of the Year Grammy, but lost to Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Joel participated in the USA For Africa We Are The World project in 1985, capping off a series of successful singles.
Following the success of An Innocent Man, Joel was asked about releasing an album of his most successful singles. This was not the first time this topic had come up, but Joel had initially considered "Greatest Hits" albums as marking the end of one's career. This time he agreed, and Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and 2 was released as a four-sided album and two-CD set, with the songs in the order in which they were released. The new songs "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" and "The Night Is Still Young" were recorded and released as singles to support the album; both reached the top 40, peaking at No. 9 and No. 34, respectively. Greatest Hits was highly successful and it has since been certified double diamond by the RIAA, with over 11.5 million copies (23 million units) sold. It is one of the best-selling albums in American music history, according to the RIAA.
Coinciding with the Greatest Hits album release, Joel released a two-volume Video Album that was a compilation of the promotional videos he had recorded from 1977 to the present time. Along with videos for the new singles off the Greatest Hits album, Joel also recorded a video for his first hit, "Piano Man", for this project.
Though it broke into the top ten, Joel's next album, The Bridge (1986), did not achieve the level of success of his previous albums, but it yielded the hits "A Matter of Trust" and "Modern Woman" from the film Ruthless People, a dark comedy from the directors of Airplane! (both #10). In a departure from his "piano man" persona, Joel is shown in the video playing a Gibson Les Paul. The ballad "This is the Time" also charted, peaking at No. 18.
On November 18, 1986, an extended version of the song "Big Man on Mulberry Street" was used on a Season 3 episode of Moonlighting. The episode itself was also titled "Big Man on Mulberry Street".
The Bridge was Joel's last album to carry the Family Productions logo, after which he severed his ties with Artie Ripp. Joel has also stated in many interviews, most recently in a 2008 interview in Performing Songwriter magazine, that he does not think The Bridge is a good album.
In October 1986, Joel and his handlers started planning a trip to the Soviet Union. He became one of the first American rock acts to play there since the Berlin Wall went up, a fact not lost on history buff Joel.[51] There were live performances at indoor arenas in Moscow, Leningrad and Tbilisi. Joel, his family (including young daughter Alexa), and his full touring band made the trip in August 1987. The entourage was filmed for television and video to offset the cost of the trip, and the concerts were simulcast on radio around the world. Joel's Russian tour was the first live rock radio broadcast in Soviet history.[52]
Most of that audience took a long while to warm up to Joel's energetic show, something that had never happened in other countries he had performed in. According to Joel, each time the fans were hit with the bright lights, anybody who seemed to be enjoying themselves froze. In addition, people who were "overreacting" were removed by security.[53] It was during this concert that Joel, enraged by the bright lights, flipped his electric piano and snapped a microphone stand while continuing to sing the current part of the set.[54] He later apologized for that incident.
The album КОНЦЕРТ (Russian for "Concert") was released in October 1987. Singer Pete Hewlett was brought in to hit the high notes on his most vocally challenging songs, like "An Innocent Man". Joel also did versions of The Beatles' classic "Back in the U.S.S.R." and Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin". It has been estimated that Joel lost more than $1 million of his own money on the trip and concerts, but he has said the goodwill he was shown there was well worth it.[31]
1988–1993: Storm Front and River of Dreams The recording of the album Storm Front, which commenced in 1988, coincided with major changes in Joel's career and inaugurated a period of serious upheaval in his business affairs. In August 1989, just before the album was released, Joel dismissed his manager (and former brother-in-law) Frank Weber after an audit revealed major discrepancies in Weber's accounting. Joel subsequently sued Weber for $90 million, claiming fraud and breach of fiduciary duty and in January 1990 he was awarded $2 million in a partial judgment against Weber; in April, the court dismissed a $30 million countersuit filed by Weber.[55]
The first single for the album, "We Didn't Start the Fire", was released in September 1989 and it became Joel's third and – to date – most-recent US number-one hit, spending two weeks at the top. Storm Front was released in October, and it eventually became Joel's first number-one album since Glass Houses, nine years earlier. Storm Front was Joel's first album since Turnstiles to be recorded without Phil Ramone as producer. For this album, he wanted a new sound, and worked with Mick Jones of Foreigner fame. Joel is also credited as one of the keyboard players on Jones' 1988 self-titled solo album, and is featured in the official video for Jones' single "Just Wanna Hold"; Joel can be seen playing the piano while his then-wife Christie Brinkley joins him and kisses him. Joel also revamped his backing band, dismissing everyone but drummer Liberty DeVitto, guitarist David Brown, and saxophone player Mark Rivera, and bringing in new faces, including multi-instrumentalist Crystal Taliefero.
Storm Front's second single, "I Go to Extremes" reached No. 6 in early 1990. The album was also notable for its song "Leningrad", written after Joel met a clown in the Soviet city of that name during his tour in 1987, and "The Downeaster Alexa", written to underscore the plight of fishermen on Long Island who are barely able to make ends meet. Another well-known single from the album is the ballad "And So It Goes" (#37 in late 1990). The song was originally written in 1983, around the time Joel was writing songs for An Innocent Man; but "And So It Goes" did not fit that album's retro theme, so it was held back until Storm Front. Joel said in a 1996 Masterclass session in Pittsburgh that Storm Front was a turbulent album and that "And So It Goes", as the last song on the album, portrayed the calm and tranquility that often follows a violent thunderstorm.
In the summer of 1992, Joel filed another $90 million lawsuit against his former lawyer Allen Grubman, alleging a wide range of offenses including fraud, breach of fiduciary responsibility, malpractice and breach of contract[56] but the case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.[57]
In 1992, Joel inducted the R&B duo Sam & Dave into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That year, Joel also started work on River of Dreams, finishing the album in early 1993. Its cover art was a colorful painting by Christie Brinkley that was a series of scenes from each of the songs on the album. The eponymous first single was the last top 10 hit Joel has penned to date, reaching No. 3 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and ranking at No. 21 on the 1993 year-end Hot 100 chart. In addition to the title track, the album includes the hits "All About Soul" (with Color Me Badd on backing vocals) and "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)", written for his daughter, Alexa. A radio remix version of "All About Soul" can be found on The Essential Billy Joel (2001), and a demo version appears on My Lives (2005).
The song "The Great Wall of China" was written about his ex-manager Frank Weber and was a regular in the setlist for Joel's 2006 tour. "2000 Years" was prominent in the millennium concert at Madison Square Garden, December 31, 1999, and "Famous Last Words" closed the book on Joel's pop songwriting for more than a decade.
1993–present: Touring Beginning in 1994, Joel toured extensively with Elton John on a series of "Face to Face" tours, making them the longest running and most successful concert tandem in pop music history.[58] During these shows, the two have played their own songs, each other's songs and performed duets. They grossed over US$46 million in just 24 dates in their sold out[59] 2003 tour. Joel and John resumed the Face to Face tour in March 2009[59] and it ended again, at least for the time being, in March 2010 in Albany, New York, at the Times Union Center. In February 2010, Joel denied rumors in the trade press that he canceled a summer 2010 leg of the tour, claiming there were never any dates booked and that he intended to take the year off.[60] Joel told Rolling Stone magazine: "We'll probably pick it up again. It's always fun playing with him."[61]
Joel performing in 2007 in Florida On August 25, 1994, Joel and second wife Christie Brinkley divorced, but they remained friends.
1997's "To Make You Feel My Love" and "Hey Girl" both charted from Joel's Greatest Hits Volume III album. Joel wrote and recorded the song "Shameless" that was later covered by Garth Brooks and reached No. 1 on Billboard's country charts. Joel performed with Brooks during his Central Park concert in 1997. To add onto his achievements Joel was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. Ray Charles made the induction speech and mentioned the duet Joel wrote for the two of them, "Baby Grand" (a track on Joel's album The Bridge released in 1986).
On December 31, 1999, Joel performed at New York's Madison Square Garden. At the time, Joel said that it would be his last tour and possibly his last concert. Two of his performances from that night, "We Didn't Start the Fire" and "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" were filmed and featured that night as part of ABC's special New Year's Y2K coverage. The concert (dubbed The Night of the 2000 Years) ran for close to four hours and was later released as 2000 Years: The Millennium Concert.
In 2001, Joel released Fantasies & Delusions, a collection of classical piano pieces. All were composed by Joel and performed by Hyung-ki Joo. Joel often uses bits of these songs as interludes in live performances, and some of them are part of the score for the hit show Movin' Out. The album topped the classical charts at No. 1. Joel performed "New York State of Mind" live on September 21, 2001, as part of the America: A Tribute to Heroes benefit concert, and on October 20, 2001, along with "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)", at the Concert for New York City in Madison Square Garden. That night, he also performed "Your Song" with Elton John.
In 2003, Joel inducted The Righteous Brothers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, noting that his song "Until the Night" from the album 52nd Street was a tribute to the duo.
In 2005, Columbia released a box set, My Lives, which is largely a compilation of demos, b-sides, live/alternate versions and even a few Top 40 hits. The compilation also includes the Umixit software, in which people can remix "Zanzibar" and a live version of "I Go to Extremes" with their PC. Also, a DVD of a show from the River of Dreams tour is included.
Billy Joel with his band performing in California On January 7, 2006, Joel began a tour across the U.S. Having not written, or at least released, any new songs in 13 years, he featured a sampling of songs from throughout his career, including major hits as well as obscure tunes like "Zanzibar" and "All for Leyna". His tour included an unprecedented 12 sold-out concerts over several months at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The singer's stint of 12 shows at Madison Square Garden broke a previous record set by New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen, who played 10 sold-out shows at the same arena. The record earned Joel the first retired number (12) in the arena owned by a non-athlete. This honor has also been given to Joel at the Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia) (formerly the Wachovia Center) in Philadelphia where a banner in the colors of the Philadelphia Flyers is hung honoring Joel's 46 Philadelphia sold-out shows. He also had a banner raised in his honor for being the highest grossing act in the history of the Times Union Center (formerly the Knickerbocker Arena and Pepsi Arena) in Albany, New York. This honor was given to him as part of the April 17, 2007, show he did there. On June 13, 2006, Columbia released 12 Gardens Live, a double album containing 32 live recordings from a collection of the 12 different shows at Madison Square Garden during Joel's 2006 tour.
Joel visited the United Kingdom and Ireland for the first time in many years as part of the European leg of his 2006 tour. On July 31, 2006, he performed a free concert in Rome, with the Colosseum as the backdrop.[62]
Joel toured South Africa, Australia, Japan, and Hawaii in late 2006, and subsequently toured the Southeastern U.S. in February and March 2007 before hitting the Midwest in the spring of 2007. On January 3 of that year, news was leaked to the New York Post that Billy had recorded a new song with lyrics—this being the first new song with lyrics he'd written in almost 14 years.[63] The song, titled "All My Life", was Joel's newest single (with second track "You're My Home", live from Madison Square Garden 2006 tour) and was released into stores on February 27, 2007.[64] On February 4, Joel sang the national anthem for Super Bowl XLI, becoming the first to sing the national anthem twice at a Super Bowl. and on April 17, 2007, Joel was honored in Albany, New York, for his ninth concert at the Times Union Center. He is now holding the highest box office attendance of any artist to play at the arena. A banner was raised in his honor marking this achievement.
On December 1, 2007, Joel premiered his new song "Christmas in Fallujah".[65] The song was performed by Cass Dillon, a new Long Island based musician, as Joel felt it should be sung by someone in a soldier's age range (though he himself has played the song occasionally in concert.) The track was dedicated to servicemen based in Iraq. Joel wrote it in September 2007 after reading numerous letters sent to him from American soldiers in Iraq. "Christmas in Fallujah" is only the second pop/rock song released by Joel since 1993's River of Dreams. Proceeds from the song benefited the Homes For Our Troops foundation.
Joel with Mike DelGuidice in 2016 On January 26, 2008, Joel performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra celebrating the 151st anniversary of the Academy of Music. Joel premiered his new classical piece titled, "Waltz No. 2 (Steinway Hall)" arranged by Brad Ellis. He also played many of his less well-known pieces, with full orchestral backing arranged by Mr. Ellis, including the rarely performed Nylon Curtain songs "Scandinavian Skies" and "Where's the Orchestra?".
On March 10, 2008, Joel inducted his friend John Mellencamp into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
Joel's staying power as a touring act continues to the present day. He sold out 10 concerts at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut from May to July 2008. The casino honored him with a banner displaying his name and the number 10 to hang in the arena. On June 19, 2008, he played a concert at the grand re-opening of Caesars Windsor (formerly Casino Windsor) in Windsor, Ontario, Canada to an invite-only crowd for Casino VIPs. His mood was light, and joke-filled, even introducing himself as "Billy Joel's dad" and stating "you guys overpaid to see a fat bald guy". He also admitted that Canadian folk-pop musician Gordon Lightfoot was the musical inspiration for "She's Always A Woman".[66]
On July 16, 2008, and July 18, 2008, Joel played the final concerts at Shea Stadium before its demolition. His guests included Tony Bennett, Don Henley, John Mayer, John Mellencamp, Steven Tyler, Roger Daltrey, Garth Brooks, and Paul McCartney. The concerts were featured in the 2010 documentary film Last Play at Shea. The film was released on DVD on February 8, 2011. The CD and DVD of the show, Live at Shea Stadium were released on March 8, 2011.
On December 11, 2008, Joel recorded his own rendition of "Christmas in Fallujah" during a concert at Acer Arena in Sydney and released it as a live single in Australia only. It is the only official release of Joel performing "Christmas in Fallujah", as Cass Dillon sang on the 2007 studio recording and the handful of times the song was played live in 2007. Joel sang the song throughout his December 2008 tour of Australia.
On May 19, 2009, Joel's former drummer, Liberty DeVitto, filed a lawsuit in NYC claiming Joel and Sony Music owed DeVitto over 10 years of royalty payments. DeVitto had never been given songwriting or arranging credit on any of Joel's songs, but he claimed that he helped arrange some of them, including "Only the Good Die Young".[67] In April 2010, it was announced that Joel and DeVitto amicably resolved the lawsuit.[68]
2011 marked the 40th anniversary of the release of Joel's first album, Cold Spring Harbor. According to Joel's official website, to commemorate this anniversary, Columbia/Legacy Recordings originally planned "to celebrate the occasion with a definitive reissue project of newly restored and expanded Legacy editions of the complete Billy Joel catalog, newly curated collections of rarities from the vaults, previously unavailable studio tracks and live performances, home video releases and more", although this never fully came to fruition.[69] The album Piano Man was re-released in a two-disc Legacy edition in November 2011.[69]
In 2012, Joel signed an exclusive worldwide publishing agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), and its subsidiary Rondor Music International. Under the agreement, UMPG and Rondor replaced EMI Music Publishing in handling Joel's catalog outside the U.S. Additionally, the agreement marked the first time since Joel regained control of his publishing rights in the 1980s that he began to use an administrator to handle his catalog within the U.S. The agreement's focus is on increasing the use of Joel's music in movies, television programs, and commercials.[70]
On December 12, 2012, Joel performed as part of 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief at Madison Square Garden, a concert held for all the victims of Hurricane Sandy. He changed the lyrics to "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" to make it relate to all the damage caused by Sandy.
In May 2013, it was announced that Joel would hold his first ever indoor Irish concert at the O2 in Dublin on November 1. He subsequently announced his return to the UK for the first time in seven years to perform three dates in October and November. Joel played two arena dates in Manchester and Birmingham plus a very special show at London's Hammersmith Apollo. In October, Joel held a surprise concert on Long Island at The Paramount (Huntington, New York) to benefit Long Island Cares. The venue holds a capacity of 1,555 and sold out in five minutes. Joel headlined a solo arena concert in New York City for the first time since 2006 when he performed at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on December 31, 2013. In 2015, Joel performed 21 concerts (in addition to his Madison Square Garden residency) from January 7 to August 2 in various cities around the U.S. and Canada.
On December 3, 2013, it was announced that Joel would become a franchise of Madison Square Garden, playing one concert a month indefinitely, starting with a date on January 27, 2014.[71]
Joel performing at Madison Square Garden in 2016 On January 7, 2014, the Billy Joel in Concert tour began. Joel kicked off the 2014 New Year in the Amway Center (in Orlando, Florida) and performed several cover songs such as Elton John's "Your Song", Billy Preston's "You Are So Beautiful" (in tribute to Joe Cocker), The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends", "Can't Buy Me Love", and "When I'm 64", Robert Burns' "Auld Lang Syne", and AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" (with Brian Johnson). Rufus Wainwright joined Joel during the concert to sing "New York State of Mind".[72] Joel also performed an unusual set, including the song "Souvenir" (from 1974's Streetlife Serenade) and excluding "We Didn't Start the Fire".[73]
On August 4, 2015 Joel played the final concert at Nassau Coliseum before the arena underwent a $261 million renovation.[74]
On April 5, 2017 Joel played the first concert at the newly renovated Nassau Coliseum.
On June 24, 2017, he returned to Hicksville High School fifty years after his would-be graduating class received their diplomas,[75] to deliver the honorary commencement address. It was also the 25th anniversary of receiving his own diploma from the same High School.

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