Stephen's Secure Blog #242
These stories about Stephen began was when he was 10 years old, and
moving to a new part of the country to attend a special school for
gifted students, in the 1950's. This was from a time before computers
would fit on a desk, and when people communicated with friends in other
countries by actual letters sent through the postal service. He wrote
225 of them to a friend. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he
still wanted to record his life, in case he lost his memory again, and
wrote 30 entries in his first logbook. Then he wrote to an artificial
intelligence called Geenee, in the master computer in his school for
gifted students, which he started attending in 2016. Now it's after
2018, and he's continuing to save his memories in a secure blog.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stephen is 16 in this story, in the Fall of year 7 of his special
school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #242 "Before the Second Show"
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Rose, Hawk, and I, arrived early in the morning at the venue. We
helped the staff set up the stage. This time, we also had room for the
dance band setup, in the much bigger hall. Some of the orchestra
musicians came in early to set up their own instruments, and to just be
with us. The dance band musicians wouldn't be coming until the
afternoon, having worked the night before. We were all in a good mood.
Then the assistant hotel manager came in and tried to get involved. I
said to him, "You don't need to be here and annoy my people." He said
"But I'm the manager!" I said "Assistant, and maybe not that after the
manager arrives. I run this show, or I cancel it. I did it this way the
last time, and your manager didn't have any problem with it. You can
ask him now, but I recommend, if you want to keep your job, you wait
people, including ME, are performers. As such, we need to be in a good
mood and relaxed before we perform, or things will go badly, which will
reflect badly on this hotel, when I have to tell everybody why. Do YOU
want to be responsible for that?" That got his attention. He stayed
mostly out of the way, chewing his fingernails almost to the elbow,
despite my shooting him some calmness every so often.
The pianos arrived. I tuned them without any problems. I helped some
of the other musicians with their instruments, too. The station manager
arrived with his crew, including the reporter from the last time, who
had trouble looking me in the eye. I said to the manager, "You don't
really need to be here this early." He just grinned his face almost in
half. I said "I don't know if I will have much time for fun before the
performance. I have to keep that jumpy assistant hotel manager under
control, until his boss arrives and yells at him for me." He said
"Leave that to me." He told his crew to have at least one camera on me
at all times, and recording. Then he went to speak with the hotel
staffer. There was a lot of intimidation involved. The victim shriveled
and slunk away. The victor came back, and I said to him, "I thought for
a minute there, somebody would have to mop the floor." He laughed
loudly. He said "He had no idea who you were." I said "Well, some ideas
are good." He laughed some more.
I started assembling some of my own instruments. Then I wet the reed
for the clarinet, and then started playing it. The lead orchestra
clarinet player was surprised, and came over. When he could, he said to
me, "That sound is amazing! What kind of wood is that?" I said "Er, how
much do you know about me?" He said "Oh, one of those strange things I
shouldn't ask about." I nodded, and said, "Because the answer would be
very distracting." He laughed. I said "I can say this, though. I make
all my instruments, so I can make them with scientific accuracy, and
with the best materials for them. The flute the soloist played with us
the last time, I made out of platinum." He said "Wow!" I grinned and
said, "Yes." He laughed. I said "I have one here. Would you like to
hear it played?" He grinned and said, "Absolutely!" I sent some words
to Hawk in contact, and he went to sit at one of the pianos, while I
was assembling the flute. I said "One of my arrangements, for the
Flight of the Bumblebee." I nodded to Hawk, and we began. When it was
over, there was a lot of applause. A flute player came over to me and
said, "I have never heard that played better." I said "Thank you. It
was just a little fun piece. I was showing the sound of the instrument
to our friend here." He said, "Do you ever sell the ones you make?" I
said "I do not want my friends to be murdered." They looked surprised
and then thoughtful. Another musician said, "I don't see the
connection." They took him aside and explained. He said some really
surprised exclamations, and nodded his head almost off his shoulders.
Hawk had a hard time not laughing about it.
I went over to the station manager and asked if it had been recorded.
He said "Thanks for your concern. It was. An amazing performance." I
said "Thank you. It was the second time we played that one. I don't
know if we will have it in a future show." Then I wandered off in
thought. I exchanged some of that with Rose and Hawk. Then Rose went to
the piano, and with Hawk on the drum set, I started a really jazzed up
"When the Saints Come Marching In," on the clarinet. We really went to
town on that, and tried lots if different variations, with all three of
us doing solos. After ten minutes, we ended it with a flourish. After
we were done, in the silence, we laughed. Then there was a lot of
applause. We bowed. I said "Well, that was fun. I should write that one
down." The clarinetist said, "THAT was just a jam session?" I said
his head. We laughed. We continued that discussion in the staging room
during lunch.
After lunch, we went back to the music room. On the same instruments,
we played some Benny Goodman Trio arrangements. Then I took out my
violin, and tuned it, and then played some jazz on it. Then some wild
Gypsy style things I made up as I was going along. When I was done,
somebody said "Superbly done, but I don't recognize that." I grinned
and said, "Maybe next time. I just made it up. I'll write it down
later." He said "How could you remember all that?" I said "Well, I have
total recall. Very useful in these situations." He said "Wow!" I said
"I hear that a lot." He almost strangled. I grinned. I said "Rose, can
you Phantom me with night music?" She grinned and nodded. I started it
with the violin, and she joined in with the piano, and then I sang
"Music of the Night", from ALW's play, "Phantom of the Opera", with as
much dramatics and feeling as I could put into it. When I was finished,
all the straight women there wanted to jump on me. There was a LOT of
applause. I bowed and said, "Thank you. That was the first time. I
think I'll be including that one in an album." Rose said loudly, "You
had better!" There was some laughter. I went over to her, and
whispered, "To make this look normal. How about Exodus, four hands?"
She said "Yes!" We grinned at each other. I bowed to her, and swept my
arm toward her, and she announced the next thing we would play. We
played it very well, considering it was the first time for either of
us. There was a lot of applause.
I contacted Srinoy, and said, +I just thought of something. Can you
sing the Thai national anthem?+ He said +Yes, but I don't know if it's
good enough to do it in public." I said +My music room on Allguard.
Rose, Hawk, and I will be there by projection. I'll play the music.+ He
ported there, and that's what happened. I said to him there, "The show
after this one, to start it off, if you agree. Later in it, you play
the Grieg, which our Team already planned. Alright with you?" He said
"Wow! Great! Thank you!" I said "One question. Should I sing it in this
show? I'm not Thai. Would that be a problem if I did it?" He said "I
don't know. I'll ask my parents and get back to you. And we'll be at
the show tonight." I said "Good. Thanks." We all went back to what we
had been doing. Then I spoke in the air to the museum director, "Please
excuse the interruption, but I have a time sensitive question." He said
"No problem. What is it?" I asked him, and he said, "If you are the
performing singer, yes, it should be fine. My wife and I will be there
tonight, of course. Thank you for the tickets!" I said "Thanks, and
you're welcome." Srinoy contacted me to tell him his parents said I
should. I announced to the room, "There will be a slight change in the
program for tonight. To start, I will sing the Thai National Anthem.
Comments?" They were all in favor of it. Including the dance band
musicians. I told them, "I don't know who will be doing the music. When
you are all here, I can try you first." They REALLY liked that idea,
which made Rose and Hawk grin.
Soon, they were all present, and with their instruments ready. They
played it once through, just fine. Then with me singing. It was good.
If I used them, there would be no problems. I thanked them. The station
manager said, "The Anthem. Can I use all of it?" I said "If whoever
plays the music agrees, and gets proper credit for it, absolutely! I
love this country and its people. I hope the people with two legs don't
have a problem with my including the elephants in that. I love them,
too. I have been treated so well here, but that's to be expected of a
Buddhist country. This is where my love to the world started from, and
that is why I have chosen to start my music here. My love tells me to.
It will be an honor and a privilege for me to sing the National Anthem
of Thailand here tonight." He said "Thank you!" I nodded, and went back
to the other musicians, who some of them had some not so dry eyes.
I announced, "Attention, everybody. I want to try something new.
Talking to people in a lot of languages takes too much time. I'm going
to see if I can do something about it. I'm going to sing a song in
English. I'm going to attach some of my love to it. Then I hope
everybody will hear it in their own native language. Do I have your
permission to try that?" They gave it. I did Billy Joel's "Piano Man",
on the piano, naturally, hooking my love to it, slightly, and my
language center. Judging by their drop jawed amazed look, I thought it
might have worked. I said "Well, did it work?" Those who could, nodded.
I said "Will somebody SAY something about what they heard?" The station
manager said, "I heard the English words, but understood them in Thai.
It's difficult to explain." I said "Thank you. Is there anybody who
doesn't know English, who understood the words I sang?" Some people
said they did. I said "So, do you all think it is a safe and effective
thing for me to do tonight?" They did. I said "Alright. I will talk in
Thai, and sing in English and Italian. Thank you all for your strange
looks, er, I mean help." Some laughter.
Then I decided to do something really different. At the piano, I
played Strauss's Radetzky March, really accentuating the beat, and with
pauses, in a dramatic comedy style, with all kinds of funny expressions
and bouncing around, to go with the changes. There was a lot of
laughter, and a whole lot of applause when I finished. Then I held up a
finger, imperiously, to get their attention, and then played my
arrangement of the Strauss II Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, which was very
fast and complicated. After I finished, I kept my fingers moving in the
air, and shook them to make them stop, and looked hard at them to check
if they really had stopped. One finger was still moving, and I put that
hand under my other arm and pointedly ignored it. Then I stood and
bowed, and the whole room erupted in laughter and applause. Chad had
come in physically, in the middle of that, and he was amazed. So were
Hawk and Rose. I said "I thought I would try some comedy. I think it
might have worked a little." Chad said "I think it did. I'll be showing
that around, and you WILL have requests to do that all over." I said
"But it works best on a piano." He growled, and I laughed. Chad went
over to the TV crew to tell them not to use that, and I had to point at
Chad and nod, to settle the argument.
I said in contact to Chad, +I don't want to show the comedy until
after my first show on American TV. Supporting my goal, and my rise in
fame for that, the way it needs to be, comes first.+ He said +I'm torn
in half by that.+ I checked his waistline. He chuckled. He said +I have
to agree, as much as the artist in me is really upset about that.+ I
trying not to laugh.
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Grant
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