Dollar tree lake mead and hollywood

The Vanishing Lake: Part 1
Deep in the heart of the forbidding forest, where shadows dance and whispers coil through the trees, there lies a place of unspeakable horror—the Vanishing Lake. It is a cursed realm that devours the souls of the unsuspecting, leaving behind only despair and unanswered questions.
On a moonless night, when the air was thick with a sense of impending doom, two young girls, Emma and Olivia, dared to defy the warnings that echoed through the town. The allure of the macabre beckoned them, luring them into the depths of the forest like moths to a flame.
Armed with flashlights and trembling with both excitement and trepidation, they ventured through the gnarled trees, their senses assaulted by the suffocating silence. The forest seemed to breathe, its darkened heart pulsating with an ancient, malevolent energy.
As they approached the Vanishing Lake, a misty veil descended, shrouding their surroundings in an ethereal haze. The girls exchanged nervous glances, but their morbid curiosity propelled them forward. They could feel the unseen eyes of the forest upon them, cold and unrelenting.
The lake's inky waters lay before them, devoid of life and light. A bone-chilling wind whispered secrets of forgotten tragedies, urging them to turn back. But their youthful bravado consumed their reason, and they stepped closer to the water's edge, their hearts pounding in their chests.
Suddenly, a mournful melody filled the air, its haunting notes reverberating through their very souls. It was a tune from an age long forgotten, a dirge that echoed the sorrow of the lost. The sound burrowed deep within their minds, unraveling their sanity thread by thread.
Unable to resist the siren call, Emma and Olivia stumbled into a dilapidated rowboat that lay abandoned nearby. As they pushed away from the shore, the water beneath them seemed to pulse with a sinister life, its dark depths teeming with unseen horrors.
The boat drifted aimlessly, carried by an unseen force toward the heart of the lake. The mist thickened, swallowing their feeble cries for help. Their flashlights flickered, casting eerie shadows that danced along the water's surface like specters of the damned.
As the moon momentarily emerged from the clouds, its pale light illuminated the horrifying truth—the lake was not empty. It writhed with grotesque tendrils, lashing out from below, hungry for flesh and soul. Panic seized Emma and Olivia, their minds teetering on the precipice of sheer terror.
In one horrifying instant, the boat lurched violently, sending the girls sprawling into the water. They thrashed against the icy grip, their pleas for mercy drowned out by the cacophony of tortured souls. Desperation consumed them as they were dragged under, their bodies entangled in the slimy tendrils that coiled around them like serpents.
Their final moments were a symphony of agony and despair, lost in the depths of the Vanishing Lake—a place where screams go unheard, and souls are condemned to an eternity of suffering.
The town of Ravenwood mourned the loss of Emma and Olivia, forever haunted by the horrifying fate that awaited those who dared to challenge the darkness. The legend of the Vanishing Lake grew, its malevolence spreading like a festering wound, forever etching itself into the minds of those who dared to remember.
Beware, dear reader, for the Vanishing Lake beckons from the shadows, hungry for new victims. And once it claims your soul, you too will become a part of the haunting chorus, forever trapped in its watery abyss.
The Cursed Echoes: Part 2
Deep within the forsaken woods surrounding the Vanishing Lake, an unholy presence stirred, fueled by the blood-soaked memories of its victims. It craved vengeance, yearning to ensnare those who dared to challenge its dominion. Unbeknownst to the world, Lily's triumph had awakened an ancient evil, hungry for new souls to claim.
Years after Lily's encounter, a young couple, Alex and Megan, arrived in Ravenwood, seeking solace in the tranquility of the town. Unaware of the Vanishing Lake's sinister reputation, they ventured into the heart of the cursed forest, drawn by an unexplainable force.
As they delved deeper, the air grew thick with an oppressive darkness. Whispering shadows danced along the path, taunting their every step. Megan clutched Alex's arm, her heart pounding with a nameless dread. But they pressed on, their curiosity entwined with a morbid fascination.
As they reached the lake's edge, the murky water reflected a moonless sky, devoid of any semblance of life. An eerie hush enveloped them, broken only by a haunting melody that reverberated through the stillness. It clawed at their sanity, casting a spell of unyielding terror.
Ignoring the warnings etched into the depths of their souls, Alex and Megan boarded the rowboat, their hands trembling. The vessel rocked with an unnatural rhythm, as if alive with the ancient curse that plagued the lake. With each stroke of the oars, the water beneath them roiled, dark shapes writhing just beneath the surface.
The haunting melody intensified, its symphony of malevolence driving Alex and Megan to the brink of madness. Whispers slithered through the air, malicious and seductive, promising untold horrors if they dared to turn back. Fear gnawed at their resolve, but it was too late to escape the clutches of the Vanishing Lake.
As the boat drifted farther from shore, time lost all meaning. The moon's light waned, leaving them in a desolate realm of perpetual twilight. The once-familiar forest faded into a maddening labyrinth of distorted trees and twisted shadows. Panic gripped their souls, a realization that they had become trapped within the lake's insidious grasp.
Their screams pierced the suffocating silence as the water churned beneath them. Skeletal hands, their flesh decayed and slimy, emerged from the depths, reaching for their vulnerable bodies. The once-harmonious melody transformed into a cacophony of agonized shrieks, an orchestra of tormented souls crying out for release.
In a desperate attempt to escape, Alex and Megan lunged overboard, their bodies plunging into the icy grip of the lake. The water swallowed them whole, dragging them into a vortex of darkness. Their screams dissipated into nothingness, swallowed by the cursed echoes of the Vanishing Lake.
Days turned into weeks, and the couple was declared missing, their fate forever entwined with the unholy waters. Their families mourned, haunted by the harrowing tales of their loved ones' demise. The town of Ravenwood sank deeper into despair, knowing that the curse of the Vanishing Lake could claim anyone who dared to disturb its slumber.
The cursed echoes continue to reverberate through the generations, a chilling reminder that some nightmares are more than mere legends. To this day, those who stumble upon the Vanishing Lake risk becoming lost within its eternal darkness, their souls eternally tormented by the malevolent spirits that dwell within its depths.
So, heed this warning, dear reader, and never underestimate the power of the unseen. For the Vanishing

I always knew my family was involved in some strange things. We never celebrated Christmas, Easter, or even Festivus. No, our main holiday was the Overtide on the first full moon after the summer solstice. As my parents constantly drilled into my head, we were Reepiners, the few remaining mystics of an ancient path. The Reepiners devoted their lives to travel. We explored other worlds, other universes even. Many of us died on the way, or sometimes, travelers from our spiritual path would come back totally insane and rambling. Some had even clawed their own eyes out, as if trying to stop the horrors they were seeing.
My father had no real power in the Reepiners, but he was one of the most accomplished travelers in the world. The young male children of the leaders would often accompany my father out to the woods and ancient cave systems near our house where he would show them unimaginable things. One of the young trainees, a brash young man who couldn’t have been older than seventeen, came back with totally white hair after a single night in the caves with my father. When I asked my dad what happened, he simply gave me a sly smile and walked away.
On my own seventeenth birthday, which took place a few years ago, I was to follow my father out into the forest before sunset. We would be heading to Hollowhead Cave, a ten-mile hike from the parking area. My father found the dirt road, pulling over on a slight turnaround. The nearest neighbor was miles down the road. We took no cell phones or supplies with us. We didn’t have so much as a knife.
We had been hiking for hours. I could feel blisters starting to form on my feet, and trickles of sweat rolled down from my hairline. The insects buzzed and chirped in the ferns and trees surrounding us, and a cloud of gnats followed us everywhere we went. There was a slight smell of flowers in the air mixed with pines. Other than the insects, it was a beautiful and peaceful forest. Finally, my father broke the long silence.
“Are you scared?” my father asked. I looked over at him. His strange, gray eyes were watching me, studying me. They seemed to snap and sizzle with inner energy. My father looked younger than his age, sturdy and well-built. Muscles grown over a lifetime of work filled out his clothes. Even though he was in his fifties, he had almost no wrinkles on his face and few white hairs.
Those are eyes that have seen beyond, I thought to myself. Those are eyes that have seen other worlds. The light that seems to shine from them must be holy. It must be the light of a thousand other universes.
“Does traveling really bring enlightenment, Pa?” I said. He shrugged, looking forward again.
“It may, or it may not. Enlightenment is already here at every moment, just like the same deathless mind is always present in every universe, or the same eternal soul is present in all the seconds of your life. Traveling to other spaces may help you see how this eternal consciousness is the same in every universe, how that endless mind stretches everywhere. It is more of a deepening awareness that you get from travel, one that brings enough wisdom to see the eternal is already here. But you didn’t answer my question,” my father said.
“Yes,” I said, “I’m afraid.”
***
It was nearly dark when we got to the cave. My father had been quiet most of the way. Now as he knelt in front of me, I saw what looked like a hand mirror in his back pocket, rolled up in cloth.
“What’s that in your pocket?” I asked.
“I always hold the black mirror,” he said. “We use it for training the young, opening them up to the idea of traveling, showing them a little of what is out there waiting for those with courage and fanaticism on their side.” The cave was cool and refreshing. Torches had been put out all along the walls, though I don’t know when they were lit. I heard what sounded like a babbling stream echoing up through the rocky chambers, and I smelled far-off water mixing with the smoke of the torches.
“What about the red mirror?” I whispered. I had heard rumors about it, but they were vague and contradictory.
“The red mirror? We don’t generally speak of it. High Priest Arkovitch personally attends to it most of the year. He tries to make it sleep. He tells me that prayer and meditation seem to soothe it. But sometimes it wakes up. I’ll tell you a story while we walk. It’ll make the time pass faster.” His voice seemed to crack slightly at this. His face looked grimmer and thinner in the flickering light. He looked at me with his strange, gray eyes, and in them, I saw the traveler my father truly was. He had an iron core that was so fearless, it almost seemed mad. He gave a nearly inaudible sigh, then he started the story.
“High Priest Arkovitch was given the three mirrors in a somewhat strange way. He was on a meditative retreat, sleeping outside, drinking from the streams, eating ferns and mushrooms and whatever else he could scrounge. After the first day, he woke up to a pile of dead squirrels next to his head. Their necks were all snapped, and they were stacked in a little pyramid.
“The second night, he tried to stay up, but after hours of standing guard, he lost the battle. He says he fell asleep with his back against a tree. When he awoke, he found a pile of hundreds of shoes surrounding him. He says that when he left the spot to forage or drink, these piles were taken away in the blink of an eye. It was as if they hadn’t been there at all. And there was no sign of anyone in the forest. He was out about a dozen miles from the road, far down a winding deer trail. He wasn’t going to be spooked by these childish pranks, he told me. He stayed another night.
“This time, he awoke to find a black box next to him. He opened it, expecting an animal’s head or some other rubbish, but instead, he found these three strange mirrors. He touched them all in turn, the white, the red and the black, and then he pulled them out. He looked into the red. The flat, polished stone on both sides sure made a poor mirror, he told me. In fact, all three of them were almost totally useless. They were clearly hand mirrors, of that he was certain, but who would put just a slightly reflective stone inscribed with strange runes in place of the actual mirror glass? And then his mind made a connection. He had heard of shamans doing similar things to this, making special hand mirrors for rites involving psychedelic drugs or mystical experiences, such as the shamans in Africa with their iboga vine.
“As he looked into it, though, he said the strange runes seemed to start glowing. They sent out red light that pierced straight into his head. He said he tried closing his eyes, but even with them fully shut, all he could see was swirling tunnels of red light. And then he was gone.
“When we travel, son, you know we hear the ringing. Any time you cross universes, all you can hear is that incessant, high-pitched sound which seems to vibrate your teeth and makes your eyes water.” I nodded. I had done some astral projection and lucid dreaming, both of which were considered vastly inferior by the Reepiners, like toys for children to play with. The most advanced in our religion always traveled bodily. It was considered the way to Liberation. Enlightenment itself was the goal, and seeing the true nature of all things by travel was the principal path. But some of the older members of our religion had told me that it was also terrifying, especially since anyone who traveled bodily could die if something in these strange, alien worlds attacked them.
“Arkovitch says the ringing was the most intense he had ever heard. He said he thought his head would split open. The red light still blinded him, but he felt himself floating. And then he felt the light receding and opened his eyes. The ringing in his ears gradually faded as he looked around, realizing he was in a strange jungle, still holding the red mirror in one hand. But the runes had stopped glowing and faded back into the stone, and the mirror again just looked like a useless decoration.
“He says the trees of the jungle stretched hundreds of feet above him with slippery, yellow trunks and thin branches periodically reaching out. Ferns taller than a man surrounded him. He could barely see over the thick vegetation. There were no cries of birds, no insects, no animals or any kind he could see. And then he heard a rustling, just a slight movement. Turning, he saw a blood-red shape duck into the ferns.
“Arkovitch began to run. He ran for his life. He didn’t know what kind of world he was, but he knew when he was being stalked. He heard more of those things, saw glimpses of that bright red hide they had. Then one jumped directly in front of him.
“It stood over ten feet tall, he said, with dozens of black eyes on stalks rising from the top of its thin, oval head. Its legs were sleek and reptilian, like the legs of a velociraptor, and long arms with knife-like claws at the end. It opened its mouth wide, showing rows of parallel serrated teeth, and from a bulging orange sac in the back of its throat, it spit at him. Sticky white webs shot out and wrapped around his legs before he even knew what was happening. And then he heard dozens more of those things closing in all around him, ready to begin shredding his body. These were clearly the apex predators. He was stupid for not realizing why there were no animal sounds now, he said. Likely the life in the area had gone silent and moved on when they realized a herd of those things were in the area.
“As the nearest one bent down, hissing, silver streams of saliva running down its pointed chin, Arkovitch picked up the red mirror. Instinctively, he traced his fingers along the runes, hoping for any sign of life from it. At once, it lit up, blinding him with red light, and he felt himself floating again, the ringing in his ears. He awoke at his house, nearly twenty miles away from where he had started just minutes earlier, still wrapped in webs.” My father stopped in front of me. We had just come to a sharp turn in the cave, the rocks jutting out on both sides and making it thin and claustrophobic. I had to turn my body to slide through. I saw my father having more trouble with his larger frame, but eventually he pushed himself through, sweating and slightly scraped up.
“Wow,” I said. “Where do you think he went?” My father shrugged.
“Son, the mirrors can send you anywhere at any time, but the red mirror in particular tends to send travelers to the worst places, where predators or demons are waiting. Other times, people have found themselves on nearly dead planets where strange robed beings floated in the mists. Arkovitch’s son used the red mirror, and he never came back at all. The mirror just showed back up in Arkovitch’s office after his son had been missing for three days. We don’t know where they went, and we don’t want more people being lost in such a way.
“And now, we are here,” my father finished saying. I looked around, frowning. It looked like just another part of the cave to me. And then, I realized I did see something. Out of the corner of my eye, one of the walls of the cave seemed to shimmer and glow. When I got close to it and touched it, it felt warm, too- much warmer than the other stone walls of the cave. It was only a space about the size of a door.
“Yes, my son,” my father said, “that is the gateway where we will send you through. Your test of manhood will be to see where the black mirror takes you.”
“If the red mirror took Arkovitch without any door, why do we need this one?” I asked. My father leaned in close.
“So that you don’t come back twenty miles away, at the bottom of a lake, or two thousand miles away at the bottom of some volcano,” he said. My heart was beating fast, and my stomach started to hurt. I was having second thoughts.
“OK, let’s do this,” I said. “Let’s see where the mirror takes me.” He nodded and took out the supplies for the ritual. With a prayer to the eternal mind, he handed me the mirror.
It felt much heavier than it looked. Moreover, it was as cold as death. As soon as I touched it, the runes lit up, blinding me. Pure white light shot out of them, and the shimmering of the doorway was so intense now that I saw sparks and electricity. And then, the wall opened.
Every hair was standing up as I watched it happen, as if I were underneath a forming lightning bolt. All I could hear was buzzing. Holding the mirror tightly, I walked forward, through the doorway. Instantly, everything went black and the buzzing and electricity stopped.
I opened my eyes in a strange place. The sun was warm, and the wind blew so fiercely that during the strongest gusts, I stumbled and feared I may lose my footing. Looking around, I saw mountains with iron and other metals peeking out, forming sharp, irregular blocks at the bottom. The tops disappeared under thick, stratified yellow clouds that blocked out the sky. Even the sun here was no more than a hazy, orange silhouette in the impenetrable cloud layer.
I looked around, unsure of where to go. I could barely see any signs of life on this planet, besides some strange, brown moss growing on the bases of the mountains. I couldn’t ask my dad or the mirror for help. But then, I heard something. At first, I thought it was part of the wind. But I quickly realized that it sounded more like gurgling and screaming. I realized with horror that it was in English.
“Help…” the voice said. “Please, for the love of God, help me before it comes back.” I followed the voice around some rocks standing twenty feet high and found a man on the ground- prostrate, bloody and missing a leg. He raised his head at my appearance and I realized I knew who this was. It was High Priest Arkovitch’s son, the one who had gone missing a while back. It was almost hard to recognize him with stringy hair, bloody scraped skin and nearly all of his clothes torn or missing, but I could still see it in the eyes and construction of the face.
“It’s OK,” I said, leaning down. “I’ll get you out. It’s going to be OK.”
“No,” he said. “It’s coming back. We have to go now…” He looked behind me, and his eyes widened. “Oh God, it’s too late.” Without any weapon or even an idea where I was, I turned to look at what horrors this world held- the same ones that presumably had torn off or even eaten this poor man’s leg. As soon as I saw it, I began to scream.

As always, thank you to u/SpacePaladin15 for the wonderful universe that is NoP
Thank you to u/cruisingNW for proof reading and helping me out of some hang ups, you're the man! Honestly LoM wouldn't have gone very far without him! If you haven't you should absolutely go read Foundations of Humanity! It's very good.
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Memory Transcription Subject: Christopher A. Dewey, Human Merchant Sailor, Venlil-Human Exchange Participant
Date [Standardized Human Time]: August 29th, 2136, Very Early Morning.
We got a message an hour ago from Videk, ordering us to report to Hangar-08 to start On-Stick training; and to bring our bags! I guess the guy had wanted to get as much out of the day as he could. That or he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible.
Videk met us at the doors to the hangar, a small travel bag sitting on the floor by his side, tail swaying slowly as he watched us approach. “Good Waking, Taisa. Good Waking… Christopher.” An improvement, I’ll have to ask Taisa about that talk they had.
“This,” He continued, motioning to the shuttle parked in the hangar behind him with his tail. “Is your training shuttle: registration C1-0V3R-HR-EX.Your first On-Stick training assignment will be to follow appropriate lift off and departure procedures, plot and follow a course to The Capitol on Venlil Prime, seek permission to land from the proper authorities, and land safely and legally following those permissions. All of this, while following proper procedure and regulations. All of this will be graded.”
As he speaks the door behind him slides open, revealing a broad hangar bay, heavy clamshell doors dominate the far wall. At the center of the bay sits a stout craft painted white and black, a pair of stubby wings jutting from its sides flowing into a pair of engines flanking a singular tail. Venlil script is painted at the root of the tail and on the top of the rear ramp.
“Upon arrival in the Capitol you will have some paperwork to do at the U.N. offices with regards to your habitation. I will need to pick up some equipment from the training facility at the landing fields. After our respective errands, let’s say half a claw, we will meet up back at the shuttle and from there you will be plotting an in-atmosphere route to Shadetree, Sunward of the Capitol, to drop me off and wait for me to install and calibrate the remote instructing equipment. Once that is completed, you will plot another in-atmosphere course to Heartwood River, concluding this paws evaluations. Do you have any questions?”
I shook my head, and Taisa flicked her ears, in what I believed was a negative. “Very good, load your stuff and we’ll begin immediately.”
After a few minutes of finding places to tie off our belongings and get everything situated, I sat in the pilot’s seat and ran through the pre-flight check with Taisa. We caught a pair of faults in the starboard fuel delivery units. Videk seemed pleased we had caught them, and that he hadn’t had to tell us they were there. I could feel a slight smile tug at the corner of my mouth.
Devious little bastard makes for a damn good instructor.
Once the preflight was complete I closed the rear ramp and hailed the flight control tower. “Tower this is shuttle C1-0V3R-HR-EX requesting clearance for departure, place us enroute to Venlil Prime with planned landing zone of Capitol Shuttle Field 13-Bravo.” A Human voice came back over the line, a bit of mirth in their voice. “Shuttle, Tower, you are clear for departure, opening bay doors now. Good luck and Godspeed.”
The doors to the station hangar yawned open, filling the viewport with the void and all its stars beyond as I slowly brought the shuttle off the hangar floor, easing it out through the opening. I reached over to the nearest display and opened the Nav-computer interface, plotting our course to VP, and then on to the Capitol landing fields. Once I was confident I had the proper navigation commands and sequences set I called over Videk to have him review my work.
He gave me a quick flick of his tail before saying “Looks good, Christopher. Feel free to spool and jump when you’re ready.”
Videk’s approval given, I reached over and pushed forward on the throttles, engaging the drive and hurtling the shuttle into subspace.
It. Was. Beautiful. Everything seemed to stretch, stars in the distance turning from pinpricks of light into brilliant colorful streaks, lengthening as we bounded through the void. Lines of light far off in my periphery zip past like tracers as the ones before me feel as if they’re pulling me in with their kaleidoscope of color. The hum of the shuttle fell into the background while I became entranced by the light show in front me, picturing myself on the set of one of those old sci-fi shows I would watch with Pa on the weekends. The Future my ancestors had imagined was Here, right before my eyes and at the tips of my fingers! This view was… Hypnotic. The simulator couldn’t hope to do it justice.
Two hours. That was it.
Two hours to travel what, until very recently, would have been considered an insurmountable distance for Humanity. Dropping from Sub-space into the proximity of Venlil Prime was another astoundingly brilliant view. Scorched white deserts flowing into massive swathes of golden sands cut by the occasional streak of blue before blending into a beautiful verdant mix of turquoise and green fields, with vast lakes and rivers dotting the forests, flowing into wide marshy wetlands. Before finally, the curve of the planet fell away from its star, allowing the fading sunlight to showcase glittering city lights dotting the countryside.
The thrusters burn to life, crackling and thrumming with power as they drive us forward through the void to the beautiful marble before us. I flip two switches on the overhead, tapping the leftmost display to call up the local channel list and place a hail to the Capitol’s landing fields to request clearance and pad assignment. A quick ping, signifying my hail had been acknowledged, chimed over the console speaker.
“Capitol Shuttle Field 13-Bravo this is Shuttle C1-0V3R-HR-EX requesting clearance for landing at an available pad of convenience.” “C1-0V3R-HR-EX, you are cleared for landing, 13-Bravo, direct to pad Charlie-5.”
The Flight through the Void may have had some feeling of familiarity and nostalgia to the old Sci-fi shows at home; but in-atmo had the far better view! Rolling turquoise fields and towering thick trees, with their canopies tilted greedily towards that unmoving sun, falling away to a gargantuan metropolitan area, its architecture entirely alien yet still somehow familiar. Massive skyscrapers soar to touch the sky, reflecting light in brilliant angles and colors, the space below them populated by squat sturdy buildings and deep black roads. The Venlil going about their lives below look like ants as I ease off the throttle, taking the speed down to prepare for the final approach. The display on the viewport flags my landing area with a small pip guiding me in, slow and easy.
The cabin jostles slightly as the ship settles onto its landing gear. Videk seemed impressed; his ears up as he tapped away at his data pad! Taisa’s tail sways happily back and forth as she runs through the diagnostics of the landing, checking system status reports.
“Looks like we’re all clear. Videk do you have a time we should try and be back by?” Taisa beeps, showing the flight instructor the console in front of her.
“I just need to pick up the equipment and get it linked up, that should only take about a half a claw. Walking to and from the landing field and the U.N. Offices should put you at about the right time.” Videk turned away and made for the ramp; Taisa’s talk helped, and he was clearly trying, but he was still a bundle of nerves around me. His fur was so puffed out it looked like he was holding more static than a thunderhead.
As we stepped out of the artificial gravity of the shuttle I felt like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. My first step faltered making me stumble down the ramp and bounce off the… soft pavement? “Oh, forgot about that.” Videk winced sympathetically, “Our gravity is about twenty percent more than earth’s, so be careful. Falls are likely to hurt a little bit more here.”
“Would’ve been nice to know first, Videk.” I groaned, rolling myself over and sitting up, luckily the visor hadn’t fallen off; I would need to add one of those new back braces and some knee compressors to that order of stuff from home. “Do you know where the U.N. Offices are? Or should we just ask around to find our way there?”
“I do not, but you should be able to get directions on your pad. I trust the two of you can figure it out, so I’m going to go get the equipment I need. I will wait for the two of you with the shuttle once I am ready.” With a parting flap of his ears, Videk turned and walked away; flicking the tip of his tail back and forth as he did.
“Alright then,” I grumbled, forcing myself up off the pavement, swaying as I found my new equilibrium. “let’s get going. Can you pull up those directions?” She nodded slightly, flicking her ears forward. “Got them up already! You alright there?”
“I’m fine.” I grunted, rolling out my shoulder a little. “Feels like I weigh a quarter ton, but I’ll get over it with time. Lead the way.”
After a few minutes of walking we were off the landing fields and into the streets of the city. My boots sinking into the pavement a little with each step, just like on the landing field. “Taisa, what is this stuff? I figured it was just to make landings a little softer on shuttles but it’s everywhere! Looks like pavement but it gives like rubber; why are your roads like this?” “Anti-stampede concrete.” She stated, matter of factly, like that meant literally anything to me. My silence must have tipped her off that I wasn’t getting it as she focused one eye on my visor. “Oh… I guess Humans wouldn’t need that. It’s to help reduce stampede fatalities, it’s the same reason the roads and buildings have gentle curves, no sharp angles.” Looking around at the way the groups of Venlil flowed through the streets I realized she was right, what I had thought was a futuristic aesthetic design was just to keep people from killing each other against walls or trampling them into the ground when they got scared. How strange… and slightly worrying.
“Weird, that sounds like some crazy wonder material. Bet we’d have a bunch of uses for it back on earth.” My eyes watched the tips of skyscrapers towering above us, “How far out does it say we are?”
“Only a little further, about one and a half kilometers.” She responded, a slight pant in her voice. I wasn’t in the best shape, cardio wise, but I couldn’t imagine getting winded after 10 minutes of walking; guess all that talk about the Venlil having less stamina than us was right.
The U.N. Office complex was a series of giant flowing buildings built on a large park area. It wasn’t any design I had ever seen so I figured it had to have been an existing complex that just got turned over to the U.N. for their uses.
Passing through the heavy glass front doors we found a wide receptionist's desk, with several Humans sitting behind it, answering questions and directing people where they needed to go. One of the receptionists, a short dark haired woman with a visor obscuring her face, beckons us over. “Hello! How can I help you today?” “H-Hi!” Taisa beeps excitedly, her tail swaying behind her confidently as she takes a deep breath and straightens her back. “We’re part of the ‘integration’ experiments, we were told we need to fill out some forms for habitation. Where do we go to do that?” “Oh! Congratulations! That would be Suite 216-B” The receptionist answered, excitement in her voice as she pointed to a room on the map infront of her.
“Thank you!” Taisa responded, turning to head up the stairs behind the receptionist's desk. Halfway up the stairs she swiveled her ears over to me before saying. “Sorry, I figure if I’m probably going to have to work with Humans other than you for this I should try and at least work on being able to talk to them.” “It’s alright,” I chuckle, patting her shoulder. “That’s a great idea and you’re doing alright!” Walking down the hallways we saw prints of landscapes from Earth, Machu Picchu, the Uyuni Salt Flats, The Grand Canyon, YellowStone, Hạ Long Bay, The Zhangye Mountains and Plitvice Lakes. I pointed out the places I had been to as we walked past them, finally stopping at suite 216-B.
The door was open so we knocked, getting a quick ‘enter’, before stepping in. A man sits behind a desk, the top covered in organized files and folders, a placard on his desk declares his name as ‘Obediah Kamara’ with a small Liberian flag stamped beside it.
His visor obscures his face as he looks between the two of us before beginning. “I presume you are…” He sorts through a couple of the files and folders before stopping on one and opening it, pulling out a document packet. “Christopher Dewey and Taisa. Correct?”
We both respond in the affirmative as he gestures for us to take the seats across from him, sliding the documents across the table as Taisa’s pad pings on her belt. “These are agreements to ensure that you,” He starts, looking at me. “Understand the rules in regards to your habitation here on Venlil Prime. I understand that part of your integration will be taking you off world to and from Earth, these rules primarily apply to your time here. We ask that you remain considerate of the provided rules and guidelines on the ship if you are carrying Venlil passengers. Taisa, those are the terms, conditions, compensations and requirements for your family to house a human when the two of you are present. Virtual signature of that document is required within the next 3 of your ‘paws’.” Taisa stiffened a little bit, likely thinking about her Mother’s response to my arrival; that was something we were probably going to have to have a talk about later. I had an idea for the short term, at least. I ran through the paperwork real quick and it was all pretty simple: don’t be without the visor or some kind of face covering in settings where you couldn’t guarantee that an unprepared Venlil wouldn’t see you, avoid aggression, speak quietly, no eating meat, animal products or byproducts, no hunting local wildlife; bit odd considering I didn’t even have a bow or a gun but rules are rules, I suppose.
“Sounds good to me,” I said, signing the indicated portions of the document. “When are my items supposed to get here?”
“We don’t expect your requested items to arrive for another week or so, for now you’ll have to make do with what you brought with you.” Obediah responded, shuffling the packet of papers back into the folder they had come from. “With that complete you are free to go. I understand you have training to complete, so I wish you good luck with your endeavor. If you have any questions or needs with regards to your habitation you can contact Sam, their details will be forwarded to your communication devices.”
I caught Taisa’s tail twitching as her ears swiveled nervously out of the corner of my eye; even with her attempts to push through it I think the amount of Humans around was starting to get to her. Still, she was doing better than I think a lot of Venlil would be able to manage. I reached over, gently tapping my hand against her paw, trying to ground her a little before motioning to go, she nodded slightly as she flicked her ears.
“Thank you, Obediah, we’ll be sure to get into touch with them once we get their contact. Have a good day!”
Taisa and I stood, exiting the room and making our way out of the building, stopping to look at another picture or two along the way. Something needed to be done about possibly not having a place to stay to put my, and more so Taisa’s, mind at ease. I figured I could sleep in the shuttle, if I had to. It wouldn’t be particularly comfortable but I could certainly do it; I’d need a mat, maybe a sleeping bag or some blankets and a pillow.
I had no clue where I was going to get my hands on those, or at least a set of them big enough for me to actually use.
Then I saw the temporary units in the field near the offices. Men and Women in U.N. fatigues were milling about the area. Barracks? That could solve the problem, if they’re willing to help out a man in need, of course.
“Hey, Taisa, I need to make a stop real quick.” I state, walking briskly towards the largest of the buildings. “What’s up?” She asks, ears focused on me as she tilts her head a little.
“Well, I was thinking, I don’t think your parents, your Mom especially, won’t, uh… won’t want me around. At least not for a little while until she gets to know me better.”
“I think you can get past it, she’s not that bad… It’ll just be tough.”
“Oh I’m sure I can get past it, but I’d rather not just sleep in the grass in the meantime.” “I don’t think she’d make you sleep in the grass…” “I like being prepared, if she doesn’t want me in her house I’m not going to push the issue.”
“I just… I hope it doesn’t come to that, I’m not going to let her toss you outside like an animal.” She sighs quietly as we push through the front door of the barrack building.
A desk manned by a napping U.N. Marine with Private ranks stuck to his shoulders filled the space beyond the doors. He stirs as the doors clank shut behind us before scrambling to throw on his Visor as he notices Taisa.
“Hello, Uh… Can I help you? This area is for active U.N. personnel only.” He starts, his voice finding its authority only about halfway through the statement.
I stand straight, trying to muster the stern demeanor I’d found in my father and his friends so often when they tried to get something on base after their retirements. “Easy, Private. It has come to my attention that my accommodations lack proper bedding.” “O-Oh, uh, I apologize…” He stammers out, searching for something to say, likely looking to find a way out of trouble for sleeping on duty.
“Sir.” I state. “What’s your name, Private?”
“A-Alvarez, Sir.”
“Alvarez. I’ll remember that, Alvarez, how about we make this quick, you get me a wrap of blankets, 3 pillows and a bedroll and I don’t find your commander to report your… lack of enthusiasm.”
The private snaps to attention before firmly stating. “Yes Sir! I’ll be right back, Sir!”
As the private turns and walks away crisply I hear Taisa whistle with laughter a little beside me. “I’m surprised that worked.”
“You’d be surprised what a hard voice, straight back and the right slacking Private can get you if you just don’t go pushin' it too far in your story.” I whispered with a wink.
After a few minutes of waiting Private Alvarez returned with a duffle bag, stuffed full with blankets and pillows, as well as an inflatable bedroll under the other arm. “Here you go, Sir. Will this be ok?” He asked, passing the items over to me.
“Perfect, thank you Private.” I took the bundle of bedding and turned to the door, before turning my head back over my shoulder, “Oh, and Private? Do try and get proper rest before duty.”
A shaking “Y-Yes, Sir.” followed Taisa and I out of the door.
The first half of the walk back to the landing field was quiet, I was scanning the skyline again, I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was on another planet. Taisa however had her ears pinned back, her paws lightly holding her tail tuft as we walked.
“What’s got ya down?” I asked, watching the herd of Venlil glide around us as we came, trying their best not to get too close to me.
“I’m… concerned.” She sighed, the tip of her tail twitching between her paws.
“About?”
“My mother, what she’ll say… What she’ll do.”
“I can’t exactly say I know what her reaction’ll be… But, whatever it is we’ll just have to deal with it. It’ll probably take time, but we’ll get by.” I soothed. She let go of her tail, placing the tip of it on my back, but her ears didn’t let up at all.
The rest of the walk to the shuttle was quiet as she fidgeted with her paws, trying to take her mind off of the subject. Videk was there waiting for us, a few crates secured to the cargo area of the shuttle that weren’t present before.
“You two ready?” He asked, flicking his tail at us.
“I think so.” I responded, stowing the bedding in an empty compartment as Taisa flicked her ears.
We ran through our preflight checklist again, finding another pre-placed failure from Videk waiting for us, this time in the starboard control surfaces. Once the check was done we radioed the tower for clearance to take off and set an in-atmo course for Shadetree to drop off Videk. It was a short hop, about a half hour of flying or so before I had to call ahead for clearance to land again.
Most of the flight from the Capitol to Shadetree had been rolling turquoise and green hills or open fields of produce growing in the everpresent light. A sudden dense forest rose from the fields, thick dark brown trees with fluttering golden leaves stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. A sudden break in the forest revealed a clearing for the Landing field, much smaller than the one at the Capitol. The city was built under the canopy of the trees, giving it a constant filtered light casting down through the shifting leaves. It was certainly a beautiful town, I’d have to come back to visit some day. Maybe once Videk had warmed up to me a little bit more.
As the ramp fell ,a small cargo truck arrived alongside the shuttle to collect Videk and his equipment. I offered to help but the Venlil driver just about ran when I started talking so I figured it was probably best to just keep out of it. Once the cargo truck departed, Taisa came back up to the cockpit, plopping down in her seat, and looked through the viewscreen at the trees beyond. The soft hiss of the ramp closing marked the finality of Videk’s departure.
“So, how are you feeling about Venlil Prime so far?” She asked, one eye on my face as I finally slipped the visor off.
“I like it! Between the beautiful scenery, interesting architecture and hanging out with you and Shamrock, here I’m having a great time!” I responded, rubbing my hand on what amounted to the shuttle's dashboard.
“... Shamrock?” She asked, her tail swaying in what I figured for amusement.
“Yea! Remember how I told you Humans like looking for patterns? Well it works on words and numbers as well. The tail number for the shuttle could be taken to spell ‘Clover-HR-EX’, or just clover for short. Clovers are a type of plant on earth that a few cultures believed to be lucky, one way or another. One of the nicknames for them was a Shamrock!”
She laughed at me.
“You are such a dork.” She said, wiping a tear from her eye as her tail whipped back and forth. “It’s a good name, usually shuttles don’t get one. I think it fits.”
I chuckled, a thought crossing my mind. “Think we could get any shuttle-grade paint? Preferably green, yellow and black?” She raised an eyebrow at me as her ears cocked at different elevations. “Oh? Someone feeling a little artistic?”
“Well, I could always paint a Shamro-” I was interrupted as the ping signifying we were being hailed sounded off. “We’ll finish this later.” I said, pointing at her as I accepted the hail.
Videk’s voice bled through the speakers. “Ok, looks like the connection is secure. Let’s go ahead and run through getting you familiar with the software, it should be quick and easy.”
It was not.
It took two hours. After a lot of trial and error, stop and go flights to test the connection and a few near misses with an especially tall tree we had gotten the system setup such that Videk was confident it would work in an emergency if he needed to step in. With that all squared away Taisa and I settled in to get on our way to Heartwood River. Sleeping on the blow up mattress or on a real bed hardly mattered at this point, I just wanted to sleep.
The overall flight time was set to be about an hour and a half, not too bad and man was the view beautiful: rolling fields, roaring rivers, pristine skies and alien forests abounded across the countryside. We had just passed over Hidden Plains when Taisa and I were just settling back into talking about her parents and our best route to try and handle them, when the hail system chimed and immediately spat out a harsh tone without acknowledgement, the same one the simulator used for distress calls.
“Mayday Mayday Mayday. Report of shots fired at residence housing humans. Need immediate medical evac at The Berrypatch Farm in The Grove, 11 minutes Night-ward from Hidden Plains. Hailing all airborn craft, we need a medical evac immediately!”
I immediately returned the hail. “This is cargo shuttle C1-0V3R-HR-EX. Responding to Mayday from the Grove. We are en-route to render aid. Hold tight, we’ll be there.”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Taisa tighten her flight harness as I reached for the throttle.
---
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Prices in Canadian dollars

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• The Wailers - Burnin' - VG+ - $30
• Bob Marley & The Wailers - Natty Dread - near mint - $25
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• Peter Tosh - Legalise It - NM record/good blank jacket - $10
• The Upsetters - Blackboard Jungle Dub - near mint - $20
• Funkadelic - Funkadelic- NM record/VG jacket - $15
• Tool - Undertow - near mint - $25
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So when you think of cities with high culture and vibrant music scenes on the east coast, what springs to mind? Obviously New York. Thanks to Drake, we all know about the growing music scene in Toronto. You prahbahbly musta tawt a Bawstan tew. Maybe Montreal or Philadelphia or even Baltimore crossed your mind.
Hah. Baltimore.
Time to check your cultural bias, pal. You passed over a quiet little city on the south shore of Lake Ontario, nestled in the Genesee River valley. It has a history as a hotbed of Abolitionism and Women’s Rights. It is the home of Eastman Kodak, Xerox, Bausch & Lomb, Western Union, Ragu and other innovative companies. It has a lively music scene, great nightclubs, world-renowned universities, thriving museums, arts & culture festivals, and live theatre. It is a true cultural gem that many folks overlook.
Yep. You bet your ass I am talking about Rochester, New York.
Since we know that Stoner Rock can come from anywhere, it should be no surprise that Rochester has produced one of the leading bands in this genre. This week we are going to check out a band you are going to want to listen to. If you know them, you love them. If you haven’t heard of them, you are going to thank me.
This week’s band is KING BUFFALO.
About Them
Hold on a sec. King Buffalo? Not King Rochester?
To be fair, King Rochester sounds like the villain in a Disney movie. Kinda hard to imagine that on a T-Shirt. King New York sounds like a particularly obnoxious Yankees fan (and yeah, finding a Yankees fan that isn’t obnoxious is a tough go). King Albany sounds like a car made by Kia.
But King Buffalo? That just works.
Our heroes didn’t start out together. King Buffalo were made up of members of two other Rochester area bands.
Randall Coon and Scott Donaldson were playing together in Velvet Elvis. That five piece band played heavy rock with space-based themes in the early 2010’s. Sean McVay and Dan Reynolds were in another band called Abandoned Buildings Club (side note: kinda neat that their initials were ABC), who had a pure psychedelic rock vibe. When both VE and ABC appeared to be having limited success, the four musicians decided to merge their talents into one band. Coon had handled vocals and guitar in Velvet Elvis and Donaldson had been rock solid on drums. McVay had done vocals and guitar in Abandoned Buildings Club and Reynolds had anchored the sound with his bass. All the pieces were there for a classic Beatles-esque lineup.
So out of the wreckage of ABC and VE, KB arose. The four members gelled so well that they were able to record their first demo - aptly titled Demo - in just two days. Their sound was immediately compared to tourmates and close friends All Them Witches. But where ATW were bluesy and sludgy, King Buffalo had produced songs full of space. Oh, there were heavy riffs for sure - but there were passages of music that were contrastingly lighter and further apart. The best example of these contrasts can be found in the more than 11 minutes of Providence Eye. The first six and a half minutes come at you at a lulling pace, enveloping you in the moment. You get swept up in the rolling riffs. But then the drop happens and you suddenly realize the song has been building to this peak. The tempo picks up and you ride a relentless rollercoaster until you hit the Black Sabbath-inspired outro, which takes you home. It is an emotional experience. The two other tracks - In Dim Light and Pocket Full of Knife are smaller essays on the same theme.
It was clear right from Demo that King Buffalo had some serious talent. But if you have listened to the band you will notice that one thing is starkly different on Demo than from any of their other releases: the vocals. Randall Coon was the lead vocalist on these recordings. If you play them up against anything since by the band they stand out. Our very own QotSA may have successfully had multiple vocalists on multiple tunes, but King Buffalo was destined to have Sean McVay take over the mic. Shortly after 2013’s Demo, Coon left the band to do a solo project called Skunk Hawk.
King Buffalo stood at a crossroads: did they look to replace Coon, or should they carry on as a Power Trio? The choice for them was obvious. McVay, Reynolds and Donaldson knew that they had fantastic potential together. They decided they didn't need anyone else.
Side note: Regular readers of these write ups know that All Them Witches just went through this exact crisis in 2019. What I didn’t share then is that ATW are close friends with KB. I would not be surprised to learn that ATW had some serious conversations about their lineup with the boys from KB before they, too, decided last year to pare down to just three members.
To re-christen their new lineup, in 2015 King Buffalo went in on a split EP with Swedish band Lé Betre (I mean, hooking up with a Swedish partner is a dream of mine, so I see the appeal.) They re-recorded their standout tune Providence Eye with McVay on vocals, as well as two new tracks - Like a Cadillac and New Time. New Time opens their side of the EP with an infectious, descending riff that hooks you immediately. It is clear from the lyrics - No wasting around, it’s a new time - that they had moved on from Coon. Like a Cadillac follows up and is a three and a half minute jam that leaves you wanting more. The re-recorded version of Providence Eye closes out their side of the split EP and leaves no doubt that they are in charge. It is a tighter, heavier version, and the amazing outro is so low down that it will make you want to rob your own house.
With their lineup now set, it was time to put together enough music to tour on. In 2016, King Buffalo released Orion. Here you can witness the melding of their influences into something majestic and fantastic, and it is here that they really develop their signature style.
To explain this style, you need to understand basic song structure.
Most pop songs tend to go verse - chorus - verse - chorus - bridge - chorus - chorus. Sure, you could add in a solo for the bridge, or a detailed intro or outro, or another verse - but this is a tried and true formula. Some variation of this dominates the pop charts to this day.
Not with King Buffalo songs. These guys are the masters of the drop, and you hear it in most of their tunes. QotSA fans are no strangers to that long build and release; it is an integral part of tunes like The Evil Has Landed, God is in the Radio, Song For The Dead, and I Appear Missing. One of the sickest drops ever recorded happens in the middle of the Them Crooked Vultures tune No One Loves Me & Neither Do I. It is where the music turns around, and a new riff takes over, often along with a pace change. It is then that you realize that the song has built to this climactic moment, and you are engulfed by the music.
King Buffalo does this better than anyone else, and you hear it clearly articulated, again and again, on the album Orion.
Take the song Kerosene for example.
A rolling bass riff from Reynolds establishes the song right out of the gate. Donaldson produces punchy drum beats with cymbal crashes at the end of each phrase. McVay’s slide guitar rounds out the intro. McVay’s vocals - very Ozzy like, if Ozzy had any semblance of self-control - frame the first verse, which ends in a fuzzy, heavy riff with crashing cymbals. This same pattern is repeated a second time and the drop is teased at just past three minutes in, but does not happen quite yet. The listener’s anticipation builds as the airy, soaring solo from McVay calls out in contrast to the rolling bass. After the guitar solo bridge, the band goes right back into the chorus. But then it happens: THE DROP. Just past 5 minutes in, the song takes a complete and abrupt turn for a totally different riff that is at the same time heavier and brand new, and yet has been there all the while.
What King Buffalo does brilliantly is subvert your musical expectations.
The standard structure is V-C-V-C-B-C-C.
Kerosene is V-C-V-C-B-C-DROP-OUTRO. Just when you subliminally expect something the same, you get something different.
The entire album is like that. Orion hardly sounds like a debut. It is a mature and deliberate soundscape built by talented musicians who are making significant choices about their art. Songs like Drinking From The River Rising open with an expansive and elastic topography, but drill down to the molten lava of heavy riffs and distorted fuzz. Sleeps On A Vine begins with one of the most zen riffs you’ve ever heard and ends in a tumultuous and heavy sonic assault that is pure controlled chaos. Every song on the album is a study in contrasts that leaves you with auditory whiplash and a burning desire for more.
They are that good.
King Buffalo were able to tour on their new material, and did so extensively. They played clubs and larger venues, often with friends and fellow Stoner Rockers All Them Witches and other bands like The Sword and Elder. In 2017, the released the EP Repeater as a follow up. It is just three songs (The vinyl ad reads, All songs on one side! No need to flip!) but it is a heck of a musical journey. The title track off the EP is 13+ minutes long and is one huge build. When the fuzz finally drops after almost 8 minutes, it is a true cathartic moment. It sneaks up on you, and is so welcome when it hits - especially after McVay’s repetition that “Every Day is the Same* - that you intrinsically understand how great it is when things finally change for the better. Too Little Too Late is an instrumental tune that is both enveloping and expansive. It is a terrific bridge to the final track, Centurion, which is an unbelievable groove. Centurion has three minutes of set up leading to an unreal fuzzy drop that is so dirty it will get you evicted from your apartment.
The influence of their touring with All Them Witches can also be seen on their next full length release, 2018’s Longing To Be The Mountain. Ben McLeod from ATW produced the album. ATW, The Sword and Elder are all thanked in the liner notes. The album picks up right where Repeater leaves off, with KB experimenting with long form songs like Morning Song and the title track, and shorter jams like Sun Shivers, Cosmonaut, and Quickening. Reynolds and McVay pepper the songs with synthesizer sounds that add colour and texture to the overall compositions. Donaldson drums with impeccable precision to provide each song with a safe mooring to return to, driving the guitars forward at the same time as he holds the rhythm in check. This is most clearly evident in Eye Of The Storm. The result is a rich tapestry of expansive and flowing music full of heavy jams and storytelling that will leave the listener wanting more. Their signature build-to-sonic-explosion style does not let fans down.
The success of Longing To Be The Mountain allowed for extensive touring across North America and Europe. It also led to appearances at bigger gigs, like at Rockpalast and the Stoned & Dusted desert rock event in 2019. Anyone that has seen any of their live work knows that King Buffalo are simply hypnotizing on stage. Reynolds’ bass work is reminiscent of Geddy Lee with his complex and flowing style. Donaldson brings controlled power to the drum kit, and is ready to cut loose when the drop comes. And McVay has become a true front man, comfortable with the lead voice on guitar and the microphone.
Their next release, Dead Star, dropped in 2020 and generated all kinds of buzz in the Stoner Rock scene. Of course, the tour planned to support it got axed when the entire world went into lockdown. But the (short album? EP?) is simply fantastic. Red Star Pt. 1 & 2 continues their long form examination and has everything you’d expect from them. Echo of A Waning Star is a lament of just over 3 minutes that is near-perfect. Ecliptic sounds like the soundtrack to a John Carpenter movie and is a complete jam with serious cool 1980’s vibes. Dead Star, the title track, is almost Radiohead-esque in its evocative and regretful take on death and decay.
But the standout track has to be Eta Carinae, which has one of the greatest musical drops and turn-arounds you will ever hear. The entire song pivots just past four minutes in and becomes a 70’s anthem worthy of Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. If you listen to no other tune here today, you have to check it out. It will absolutely get stuck in your head.
The band dropped their first live record, Live At Freak Valley, in 2020. This is a really nice retrospective/greatest hits album kinda deal. What stands out is just how fucking tight the band is live. With some bands, live versions veer wildly from the recorded ones - and not at all in a good way. This record is the opposite. You can clearly hear on Orion and Kerosene that KB are just that good live.
In the wake of the global pandemic, King Buffalo decided to musically capture the moment in time. They decided to release a trifecta of albums. 2021 saw them drop The Burden of Restlessness and then Acheron. The third record in this trio is 2022’s Regenerator. It is really important to consider all three records in this Triptych at the same time, for they are a sonic cycle.
TBOR is a descent into despondency. Acheron is about hitting rock bottom, and being in Hell. Regenerator is about finding a way to claw yourself back into the light. Each album stands on its own, but together they form a sweeping epic journey that we can all relate to.
TBOR is an album where the protagonist gradually loses the will to exist. There is a cry of deep frustration in Burning, a not-so-subtle reference to a plague in Locusts, a study in being confined indoors in Silverfish, and an outright statement that our hero is sinking in Loam. In fact, the lyrics tell us: “Still I press my face into the ground/I’m waiting for the hammer to fall.”
It is not a happy album.
Just when you think things have to get better, we get the 4-track jam of Acheron. In this record, our hero has fallen to his lowest point. He has descended to Hell. The title track - the first one on the album - makes this clear, when it says: “Waking up under the ground/Silver asleep on my tongue.”
Just in case you didn’t get the classic reference, Acheron is the river one must cross in Greek mythology to get to the underworld. Souls going to Hell had coins placed in their mouth to pay Charon, the ferryman, to take them across the river to Hades. So our hero did sink into the Loam in the last album, and finds himself in Hell. This theme is reinforced in Zephyr, who was the Greek God of the West Wind, and Shadows, which references what the Greeks used to call dead spirits - Shades. And just in case you had any doubt, the final track on the album is Cerberus, named after the three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades.
What is even cooler about Acheron is how it was recorded. Instead of a studio, they recorded the album underground in a cave.
Now that is commitment.
The final album in this cycle is 2022’s Regenerator. While the first two records were about descent, despondency, and hitting rock bottom, this record is about regaining hope and optimism, and finding a way to come back. We hear this clearly in the lyrics of the record’s final track, Firmament, which says: “Out of the loam I rise, embraced by the etheThe river below relieves my hands of silver” - clearly calling back to the tracks Loam and Acheron. And in case you didn’t know, in Greek mythology the Firmament means the Sky or the Heavens.
Our hero has left Hell behind, and ascended into Heaven.
References to positive mythology are all over this album, from the album art to the tracks Mercury and Avalon. It is a total jam. But the best song on the album might just be Mammoth. If you don’t like the guitar on this song, you and I can’t be friends.
I got a chance to see KB perform last year when they toured with Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. They are fucking tight. They were the opening act, but were the absolute highlight of the show. I want everyone to hear this band because they really are something special.
Go check them out.
Links to QOTSA
We know that QotSA front man Josh Homme and Kyuss invented Stoner Rock in the 1990’s. They were the genre-defining band. King Buffalo (and other bands like All Them Witches) have picked up this proverbial torch and are now bringing the sound to the next generation of fans. King Buffalo drummer Scott Donaldson is known to be a huge QotSA fan. Perhaps he saw them live when they played in Rochester in 2014 in support of ...Like Clockwork.
It is also sometimes easy to forget that Josh was not the only architect of the low desert sound. Original Kyuss Drummer and co-founder Brant Bjork wrote many Kyuss tunes and continues to be a leader in the music scene today. King Buffalo have played with Bjork at festivals three times: Freak Valley Festival, Black Deer Festival and the aforementioned Stoned & Dusted. There is also a planned collaborative project between Bjork and King Buffalo that may be coming our way soon.
The future is bright, my friends.
Their Music
Providence Eye
In Dim Light
Pocket Full of Knife
King Buffalo songs from the Split EP with Lé Betre
Kerosene -- live in 2016
Drinking From The River Rising
Orion - entire album on Genesee Live
RepeateCenturion -- Recorded Live in the Quarantine Sessions put out by the band
Live at Rockpalast in 2019 - includes songs from LTBTM
Longing To Be The Mountain - Quarantine Sessions
Quickening -- everything is cool until the snake head pops out. Red Star Pt. 2 -- the official video
Ecliptic
Eta Carinae
Dead Star - Full Album
Silverfish
The Knocks
Loam
Hours
Acheron
Shadows
Mammoth
Firmament
Show Them Some Love
/KingBuffalo - C’mon, everyone -- there are just over 500 subscribers. Those are rookie numbers. You gotta pump those numbers up.
Previous Posts
Tool
Alice in Chains
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
Rage Against The Machine
Soundgarden
Run the Jewels
Royal Blood
Arctic Monkeys
Ty Segall
Eagles of Death Metal
Them Crooked Vultures
Led Zeppelin
Greta Van Fleet
Ten Commandos
Screaming Trees
Sound City Players
Iggy Pop
Mastodon
The Strokes
Radiohead
All Them Witches
ZZ Top

It'a basically a just big lake, and I was really hoping there'd be something cool down there. There was this big build-up to an enclosed part in the middle of the lake underneath the mud on the surface, and all that was in there was a big tree root that you could climb, with nothing on top and you couldn't even ascend through the roof in there. It's not even named on the map, Spectacle Lake or something like that like other depths counterpart locations do.

Amanda (name can be changed to anything) was normal normal 22 year old. She lived a normal life. She was a talented hockey player and it was her passion. She was also quite intelligent working her way towards hopefully medical school. She lives in a small apartment on the fringe of the city her parents had both past away now years ago.
Overall you would say her life was together and heading in only the write direction. Well everything changed one day when a drive along one of the country roads to the old boat house by the lake turned to tragedy. She had always loved the spot, quite and peaceful she went there to think. But today as the rain fell slowly and the roads where slippery she lost focus for only a moment. She saw a car coming towards her and yanked the wheel. But it was to much. Her car lost traction rolled and crashed into a tree.
Her life was changed in that moment for ever. She would never be the same.
This story follows that of Amanda after the accident. It can start at any point after the accident and go in any direction. The key is her life will never be the same. As she grappled with this life shattering realisation and loss of independence she will meet my character. Who I am open to suggestions for their role and connection to her. This is a redemption love story in the most difficult of circumstances. Message me if your interested.

Amanda (name can be changed to anything) was normal normal 22 year old. She lived a normal life. She was a talented hockey player and it was her passion. She was also quite intelligent working her way towards hopefully medical school. She lives in a small apartment on the fringe of the city her parents had both past away now years ago.
Overall you would say her life was together and heading in only the write direction. Well everything changed one day when a drive along one of the country roads to the old boat house by the lake turned to tragedy. She had always loved the spot, quite and peaceful she went there to think. But today as the rain fell slowly and the roads where slippery she lost focus for only a moment. She saw a car coming towards her and yanked the wheel. But it was to much. Her car lost traction rolled and crashed into a tree.
Her life was changed in that moment for ever. She would never be the same.
This story follows that of Amanda after the accident. It can start at any point after the accident and go in any direction. The key is her life will never be the same. As she grappled with this life shattering realisation and loss of independence she will meet my character. Who I am open to suggestions for their role and connection to her. This is a redemption love story in the most difficult of circumstances. Message me if your interested.

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I have seen these at my local dollar tree and want to try it but I don’t know how it taste what’s y’all opinion on it

So…
My friend and his girlfriend steal. They’ve been to Walmart, Kroger, Dollar Tree, Trader Joe’s, Target and have stolen anywhere from $2 to $200. They usually always just walk out and have never been stopped. They’ve stopped/slowed down. They’re scared their license plates are being tracked or they’re going to get caught when they go back to the stores. They’ve stolen well over $1,000
Is it possible to get caught after the fact of stealing. They also have been stealing in another state than they’re from/their plates are from

i know that colleen hoover isn't technically romance and she isn't super well liked here in particular but there are two colleen hoover books, it ends with us and all your perfects, on sale at urban for 10 dollars
they also have meet me at the lake, happy place, the hating game, and a couple more