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Subject: +*+*+*+ Stephen's Secure Blog #314 "Before the Second Vienna Concert" +*+*+*+
Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 18:31:09 -0400
From: " +Grant. " <+Grant@grant.grant>
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Stephen's Secure Blog #314
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 17 in this story, in Summer of year 7 of his special school.
Stephen's Secure Blog #314 "Before the Second Vienna Concert"
START Page
I arrived early at the music hall in Vienna early, as usual. With me
were Chad, Dan, Rose, and Hawk. I introduced Rose and Hawk to the
others, including the music director, saying, "Rose RedCloud, and her
brother Hawk, manage the charity they and their family started to help
endangered peoples like Tibet. All I earn goes to that. They are very
good musicians, too." They were made very welcome. I said to Chad, "We
haven't decided on my solo yet. I was thinking of Mozart's Turkish
March on the piano, with me being physically active. Then the two
comedy Strauss pieces. What do you think?" He said "I would love it,
and it might work here, but you could give the director a heart attack.
I'll go talk to him." He went, and Hawk had to laugh at the director's
eyes bugging out. Chad came back, and said, "It's a go, if you do
something serious before and after that, before the concerto." I said
"We are already set to use the orchestra for an opera sing to start, so
that's the serious part. Then I do the comedy. Then I do the Spanish
transposition on the solo harp. Then we do the set conducting,
'Festmarsch' from 'Tannhouser', and then the Brahms violin. Then the
first encore, the zither Vienna Woods. If he hears anything today we
can agree to add to the list, that, too, before my conducting." He went
back, and made the agreement.
Hawk laughed. Rose poked him. Dan laughed, too. He said "Have you tried
electric instruments, like the guitar, and others?" I said "In a way,
yes, more than you might imagine. You know I can move physical objects
with my mind. I can do that with forcefields, too, and make them any
shape, and have any properties I want. I can make virtual speakers of
any kind, visible or invisible, and play any kind of sound I want
through them, just from my mind and memory. I did that with my
symphonies, and put them in memory cards to give to people, like the
music director here, for evaluation. Did Chad show you my ballet
event?" He nodded. I said "All the sounds and the sets were made that
way." He said "Wow!" Rose said, "We all agree with that." I said "For
me, synthetic music is relatively easy. Playing real music with an
orchestra I don't directly control, is much more challenging." He said
"Oh, so that's why you're doing this!" I said "Partly. The primary
reason is to put me before the public in a nice way, to keep Tibet in
the news, receiving contributions. Oh, I have an idea."
I went to see the director. I said "I recently built a very large
church style pipe organ. Would you like one here?" He said "I would
love that, but it would need a LOT of approvals. We can't do that
anytime soon." I said "Oh, too bad. I could do it in minutes." He
looked really conflicted. He said "Could you remove it the same way?" I
said "Yes. I could leave the console, and just take the pipes, until
they are approved. The console will have its own speakers for
independent playing when needed. It will control the pipes by radio,
and so won't need to be wired directly to them." He said "Please do
it!" I said "That helps you forgive my comedy?" He laughed, and said,
"Possibly." I said "I have a call. May I bring my guests here now?" He
nodded. I ported the UMD guests in, and introduced everybody. I said
"Rose will be your hostess, and Hawk will handle security. Or the other
way around, if you want. They are VERY capable. Good with hugs, too."
Rose poked me, and Hawk and I grinned. I told them about my talk with
the director about the organ, and that they were here just in time to
see it happen. They were REALLY interested.
I explained what I was doing. I made the console, and ported it to
the stage. It had a retractible electrical cord. Then I made and lined
the back of the stage with various pipes for the organ, and some very
big ones along the side walls. I added some shaped sound baffles in
front of some of some sections of pipes, that didn't cover the
openings. The pipes rested on valved air-boxes, all connected by big
air pipes to the master blower, also plugged into an electrical outlet.
There were electrical control cables, too, to the receiver. I said
"Shall we test it?" Amazed silence. Chad said "Sure, go ahead." I sat
at the console, turned it on, and set some stops. Then I tried some
keyboard exercises. The sound was amazing. Then I played the Bach
Toccata. There was a LOT of applause after I finished.
The director was in tears. I said to him, "What's wrong? Too loud?"
He said "I want it very badly." I said "I understand, but I can't do
anything about that." He said "Will you include that in tonight's
concert?" I said "Sure. You know, there is an issue. We won't know how
the acoustics have changed for orchestra play, until we actually do
that. If there is a difference, it might not be acceptable." He said "I
know you well enough now to know you thought of that before you made
all this, and would not have offered or done that if there were any
negative results. I expect there to be improved acoustics." Chad
laughed, and said, "He's got you there!" I said "Oh, I'm SO exposed!"
Everybody laughed.
One of the UMD team said, "Why did you put the big pipes along the
sides?" I said "Well, because there is room, and because such low
frequency sounds are mostly nondirectional to our ears." I said to the
director, giving him a pamphlet, "Here are the instructions for the
console. The diagrams for the pipes are included, too." We exchanged
bows. I said to the group, "If you come over here, I can show you how
this works." They came, and I did, from the base foot bars, to all the
stops. One said "Have you ever composed an original work for the
organ?" I said "No. Think I should?" One said "Absolutely! Your batty
comment comes to mind." I said with a grin, "That already started with
my offer to make this, without the usual bureaucratic approvals." They
laughed. Chad explained to the director why, and he laughed, too. So I
did compose something, and played it. 14 minutes later, there was
shocked silence. Then a lot of applause.
Chad said, "Like your big piano piece, sometimes you moved so fast we
could hardly see you." I said "Not a problem. You already knew I was
there." I got a lot of pokes. Then I played my own arrangement for the
organ, of 'Blue Danube', with a lot of expression. More applause. I
said "Thank you, but I advise you to hold back on the applause, for the
safety of your hands. I will take it as given that you like what I
play. Remember, you are not an official audience." Chad said "Shut-up
and play." I played 'Dark Eyes'. That waltz sounded very good on the
organ. Hawk said, "How would that sound on the zither?" I said "We'll
find out, after this." I played Danube Waves, another good waltz for
the organ.
I got up and sat in a chair. I made and ported a fancy electric
guitar to me, with amp. I nodded acknowledgment to Dan. I took all the
videos on YouTube of people playing Dark Eyes on the guitar, such as
Les Paul, Chet Atkins, and Django Reinhardt, and went an order of
magnitude better, and REALLY played it. I ignored the wild applause,
and still not satisfied, went to the piano and really ripped it. Then I
did it on the clarinet. Then the violin. I didn't even hear the
applause with most of me. Then I knew I was glowing orange, the color
of creativity. I made my own ensemble, of string bass, clarinet, bass
clarinet, violin, piano, trumpet, electric guitar, and the one my body
played, the zither. The others were played by my semitransparent
images. We went all over the musical map, with different styles and
tempos, and with super virtuoso featured solos. Then I stood, and set
the arrangement to support singing, and I sang it in Russian, with all
my feelings.
Then I made contact with my people and told them what I wanted. They
made everybody move to the sides of the room. Rose came to me. I made a
4th forcefield marble dance floor extend outward from the stage, over
the seats. I made the song arrangement best for dancing. I bowed to
Rose, with my arms inviting her to dance with me. She came into them. I
sang to her the first verse. Then we danced the waltz, swirling all
over the phantom floor. Then we stopped, and I sang some more. We did
that, alternating singing and dancing, for 17 minutes, at which time we
were back on the stage, and the music was at its last crescendo. At the
last moment of the song, I dipped her and kissed her. Then we
straightened up and I bowed to her, and she curtsied. In ghostly
silence, the dance floor slowly vanished.
They were all shocked and frozen, even Chad. Rose was almost glowing
in pride. Then there was some wild applause. One from UMD said, "That
was too amazing for words." I said "Yet, you just said some." She
laughed, and said, "I think I did." I said "You should know I didn't
know what I was going to do. When I glow orange, the color of
creativity, it just happens." One said "How did your manager know what
to do, and ask us to move?" I said "He's seen me this way before, and
would go to something of an extreme to make sure nothing interfered
with it." He said "And Rose?" I said "She has, too. As for dancing with
me, well, we've done that before. Some things you don't need words to
communicate." Some nodded in understanding. One said "When is the
wedding?" I said "In late spring." Not all were surprised.
The director came to me and said, "I don't know how you did that, or
how we could have it in a concert, but we HAVE to." I grinned and said,
"If you say so, but that's not MY problem." He looked very funny, which
made me laugh, and then so did he. I said "Really, I'm just the artist.
How my work is presented, as long as it is done well, is not of
interest to me." He said "I understand. Still, that was something I
never could have expected. Simply incredible!" Rose said, "I have to
agree." He bowed to her, which she was not unappreciative of.
I said "There are some reporters outside. May we invite them in?"
There was agreement, and the director sent somebody to do that. I said
to him, "Is the same room available for food?" He said "Yes, and I know
now something of what you did for that." I said "Healthiest way to make
food. Absolutely no contamination or diseases, and I set the conditions
right to keep it all fresh. AND, no deaths in the making of it." He
said "I knew you wouldn't provide anything unhealthy." Rose said, "He
couldn't. Not capable of that." I said "Hey, I don't need that
embarrassment stuff. Let's go greet the reporters." They grinned at
each other.
The leader of the UMD group said to me, "What are we allowed to tell
the reporters?" I said "Your judgement. Let your self interest set your
restraints, if any. You know what shouldn't be discussed in public." He
looked so odd, I had to laugh. So did Hawk. The UMD boss walked away,
shaking his head. One said to me, "Your not ruling, is very strict." I
grinned, and said, "That's more exposure than I had anticipated this
early in our relationship." She laughed. I went to talk with the
reporters. I said "Down that hall, is a room full of food and
refreshment. Have anything you want, except the silver. The beer and
wine contain no alcohol, though. I don't approve of intoxication." Rose
said to me, "You want them to stuff their mouths, so they can't ask you
embarrassing questions?" I said "Exactly!" They laughed. I said "But
just in case, that is the rule before performances. You can watch, you
can talk with the guests if they let you, but not with the performers,
which includes me. Understand?" They did. I said "And do not record the
performers. This is a time when we should NOT have to be on guard.
Remember, we didn't have to let you in at this time. Understand that,
too?" They did, and without any complaints. As they were going to the
food room, I said, "Just so you know, any unauthorized recordings will
be erased automatically, and that might not stop there." Some looked
embarrassed. Hawk laughed.
The flute player came in, but without his father. Some musicians
cornered him, and told him all about what he had missed. Some reporters
were listening very closely. They noticed I noticed that. Some looked a
little embarrassed. Dan asked me, "Have you ever designed your own
instrument?" I said "Significantly? No. Just some improvements at the
most. The crystal flute, for example. While new instruments might work
for solos, they wouldn't work for standard orchestras, sounding too
I made a guitar with two six string necks, and one twelve string, at
the top. The second set of strings actually crossed the strings of the
top, over them and near the last pickup before the bridge. The third
was fully independent, but had a cover on the neck, which contained
pressure activated fingers, to set the chords by different foot pedals.
It was acoustic and electric, with another foot control for that. There
were control knobs and levers on the body of the instrument. What I had
made was something like a cross between a guitar, an autoharp, and a
zither. Even Chad had a wow for that. I plugged it in, and set the
controls, and played some Brahms Hungarian dances, like a full
orchestra, hands and arms flying all over, my fingers a blur. When I
stopped, there was shocked silence again, then a lot of applause. I
said "Well, that worked." Dan said with a gulp, "Maybe I should stop
giving you challenges." I said "Maybe, but you don't want to say that
in front of Chad again. You wouldn't want him to be charged with
assault, would you?" They both laughed.
Then I unplugged the guitar, and played some Spanish classical
selections, and some Bach transpositions. Then I went and played
practically impossible to have a conversation with all the pipes
drowning the room in sound. I was looking for something to do, when
Rose said, "I would really like to hear 'Evening'." I nodded, and sent
her the piano arrangement. She went to it, and we did "Some Enchanted
Evening", and there was a LOT of applause. Then I said "If Ever I Would
Leave You." We did that, too. She said "Somewhere Out There." I said
"Duet?" She nodded, and Hawk took over the piano. We did it, and there
was a LOT of applause. The director came and said, "I would like that
for a concert." I said "We can't. My extra languages technique only
works for me. We will be singing in English, for the American market.
Those in the audience here who don't know English, will understand my
words, but not Rose's" He said "That is very disappointing!" I said "I
can't disagree with that. Sorry."
We went to have supper. They liked the food. Actually, the reporters
You saw me make that three necked er, instrument?" He nodded, his mouth
being full of hot buttered lobster. Then he almost choked. I nodded. I
said "I scan the original down to the individual atoms, and then
recreate it, identical to the original, but nothing living was murdered
to sustain us." He looked thoughtful, and then finished chewing. He
said "I was surprised, and maybe a little horrified at first. But now,
I'm going back for more, and I'll feel better about it, too. Thank you.
I mean that sincerely." I bowed. He told the others about it. My
counseled reporter came to me and said, "I already suspected that, but
I knew you would not give us anything unhealthy. Could not." I bowed to
him, too, which he returned. I said "I learned how to do that when I
was visiting friends in Thailand, by necessity. I can't eat things
which are too spicy, and their cooking can work well as a tasty paint
remover." He exploded in laughter. I said "So when I recreated the food
served to me, I did it without some of the hot spices, but so fast they
never noticed it. I didn't want them to feel insulted. Still, the Thai
people are very warm hearted. Now you know why. It's in the food!" He
laughed some more.
END Page
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++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Grant
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