Solomon's Private File #255
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 27 in this story, in the Summer of 2053.
Solomon's Private File #255 "Musical Interlude"
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Galya and I were backstage for a performance of the famous flutist
known as Rickard. He was terrific! I don't know if that was motivated
by us, but I sure couldn't complain. How we came to be there, was
caused by a serious matter. Two weeks before, I had shifted to his home
in Vienna, and said, "I apologize for the interruption, but I found
your missing flute." Before I could give it to him, he grabbed me in a
hug and cried all over me. After a bit of that, I said, "Trying to make
your flute jealous?" He had to chuckle. He took the case and opened it.
I said, "All perfectly clean." He said like he was afraid of the
answer, "Did anybody play it?" I said, "No. It was taken for the metal.
I know, what an insult!" More chuckles.
He assembled the flute, and played it, with virtuosity. Then he said,
"Do you play it, too?" I said, "Dad made me learn all the instruments,
but I've never done serious playing. My family does play together,
though. We want our children to know and enjoy good music. Oh oh, I can
almost see your mental gears engaging!" He grinned and said, "A concert
with you would be a great success." I said, "As if you don't usually
have great successes?" He said, "Greater." I said, "How is that
possible?" He just grinned. I said, "So, what do you have in mind?" He
said, "A guest act?" I said, "My wife plays the balalaika, like her
mother. I could sing. Hmm, remember my father and Dark Eyes?" He said,
it!"
I said, "Too bad I don't have Chad to negotiate for me." He said,
"Sad loss. I liked him very much." I said, "He reincarnated into my
group, but that child doesn't remember past lives. Might, soon,
though." He said, "That could be very interesting." I said,
"Absolutely!" He said, "But his work. Do you need the rights to your
performance? Payment?" I said, "Yes. Standard guest artist pay, and
will go to charity. Wouldn't be right to be in a professional show for
free. Disrespect to other artists." He said, "I have to respect that!"
I said, "And I must own all I do. Legal issues. I need to control what
happens to it, to prevent misuse." He said, "I have to agree with that,
too." I said, "Here's contracts. Look them over, and with your lawyer,
and make your decision. I'll be playing the guitar for some small solo
parts. My wife is unusually excited about this. Mother in law is even
more." He chuckled.
I said, "Know yet, where and when?" He said, "I have to talk with my
agent and manager, but possibly in two weeks in Brussels. Only that one
song?" I said, "Guest doesn't take over the whole show. But I could add
a little to the song. Some new words to make it longer." He said,
"Please do that." I said, "So, when do you want to have us rehearse
with your group?" He said, "You won't need us for accompaniment?" Is
said, "No, but your people should hear us before the event, rather than
be surprised into changing how they play after us. We will NOT be the
last act." He said, "I understand. Will you stay after it, for the
press?" I said, "If they confine their interest to only music." He said
with a grin, "As your father made happen. They are going to be very
frustrated!" I just grinned, and he laughed.
I said, "Would you like to hear us do it now?" He said, "But you have
not done this before!" I said, "So it will be the first time. What's
the problem?" He said, "Oh, er, your father composed the second before
"Not like your father, with your humor, but I like it just as well." I
said, "Better not like it more." He said, seriously, "I do understand
what you mean. And that while you will do a song he did, it will be
very different." I said, "Even though I don't want to be known as an
Galya ported in, in disguise, with her instrument. I did the
introductions. I made my electric guitar. We tuned. I sent her the
arrangement. She nodded. I started with some fancy fingering with the
whole song, and she did some chords, then we did it with me singing and
with some chords, and she was picking and strumming the Russian folk
way. Between sung verses in Russian and English, we did some different
instrumental styles. When we were done, Rikard shouted, "Bravo!
Magnificent! Amazing! Incredible!" I said to Galya, "Did he swallow a
dictionary?" She poked me, and he laughed.
I said to him, "Advice? Any changes?" He said, "I can't think of
anything. Why interfere with perfection?" I said, "Ah, so you know my
wife." He looked strange, and Galya grinned and poked me. She said to
him, "His humor is REALLY different from his father's." He recovered
and said, "I see that more now. They say it's unique, and serves to
identify him. I don't doubt that in the least, now." I sighed, to their
chuckles. I said to him, "Here's a recording of what we did, for you to
show to your manager, only. A recommendation. Don't announce the song,
just that we'll play one." He said, "Interesting. The best psychologist
at work. I have to agree. May I make a call?" He did. I said, "Can a
manager die from excitement?" Galya said, "Probably not. Close,
though." I said, "Wow! He actually dropped his phone. Broken. I fixed
it." He called back. Rickard told him that I had repaired it for him.
More strange noises. More discussion. I ported to him the contracts, on
request. He agreed to them, with mutterings about lawyers.
There was a rehearsal with his group a week later. We wowed them. The
publicity had already started, and was creating a lot of comment. And
some controversy about ticket availability. Most who already had them
for the long scheduled event, wouldn't sell them, even at over a
thousand dollars a piece. The few who did, made a gigantic profit, and
so did the brokers who resold them. There were many attempts to sell
counterfeit tickets, but they disappeared before they could be
purchased. That was noticed, and the media talking heads grinned about
that. Galya laughed. Often. So did Ivanna. I don't have to mention what
Hawk was doing, so I won't.
The opera hall in Brussels was packed with very interested people. We
were the next to the last act, so we waited back stage. Mom was with
us, and so were Percy and Ivanna, in disguise. They were excited, which
I found interesting, and I let them know that, which made them laugh,
and Galya poke me. Then it was our time. We walked onto the stage, to a
big applause, and Rickard introduced us. Then I said in French, "I will
be singing in English and Russian, the song, 'Dark Eyes', but the
people here who don't know those languages, will still understand me."
We did it just like we had before, and they loved it. Wildly, actually.
It took many bows to get them to resume their seats, so the last act
could play, and they were very good.
After the show, a LOT of people wanted us to sign their programs. I
told them we don't do that kind of thing, severely disappointing them.
Then the reporters wanted at us. I ignored them, and discussed the
other performances with the performers. The reporters got the message,
and joined in that. Then it was our turn. I did the introductions, but
didn't name the in-laws. They asked why. I said, "We want to maintain
our privacy. I didn't have a choice. My parents made me a public
person. We don't want to do more of that. We want for our people as
much normality as they can have in their lives here, while their
off-world lives are anything but normal. It's like you don't want to be
bothered in your own house." Mom said, "That's true. I didn't think of
it that way before. Thanks, Sol." In-laws echoed that. I said, "Er,
you're welcome." Galya grinned.
One asked, "Why did you decide to do this?" I looked at Rickard, and
he said, "My flute was stolen. The one Stephen made purposely for me.
Sol recovered it. I asked him to join me in a show. Begged him,
actually." I nodded, and they chuckled. He said, "He offered the song,
and you know I HAD to agree." Chuckles. One asked me, "Why Dark Eyes?"
I said, "It was something he had seen my father do, so I knew he was
familiar with it. I wanted to show a different way of it. And Leia
plays a perfect instrument for it, VERY well. Would be great to do it
together, and it was." We hugged. I said, "And our children wanted us
to." One said, "How many children do you have?" I said, "That's not a
question about music." He said, "Do you play music at home with your
children?" Galya said, "We do, and with our whole family and friends,
too. Its a lot of fun, and good for teaching a lot of important
things." I grinned and said, "You were hoping we would say something
about a trio, quartet, or quintet, to indicate the number of children,
didn't you." Grins and nods.
Mom said, "And our friends bring their own children with them. We
have a very big music room." One said, "Where is that?" We grinned, and
I said, "That one wasn't very subtle." Chuckles. I said, "We have
different homes in different places, including different planets. Most
of them have music rooms, and we can always make one more when we want
to. Want to see one with a big pipe organ in it?" They really did, so I
showed them images of the home on Allguard, and told them where it was.
I said, "Yes, we've played it. Very loud. Even your bones can hear it.
There is no way to accurately reproduce the real effect of the full
pipe organ, but with another full pipe organ." One said, "If requested,
would you make them for others?" I said, "There are still people who
make and restore them. I shouldn't take away from their business. My
father only did that so he could play it. And he really did!" Chuckles.
One said, "Do you play other instruments?" I said, "Most of us who
play an instrument, play others as well. We are the kind of people who
need to do things the best way possible, so when we want to learn
something, we go all the way with it. A serious study of music for us,
means we learn ALL about it, including how to play almost all the
instruments. And no, I didn't study music seriously. I don't know if I
could be better than my father was, and I do NOT want to cause that
comparison." Nods of understanding.
One said, "Your voice is remarkable! I could feel your voice moving
me, capturing my attention, more than any other singer I've heard in
person." I said, "That effect was more intense when I was a child. We
know what it does, and why, but why I have it, and how I do it, we
don't know. As far as we know, nobody else we know of who's living, can
do it at my past and present level. Well, dead people would have a
little trouble in even trying." They chuckled, and Galya poked me. She
said, "Anybody else in history?" I said, "Yes, actually. Probably more
who didn't sing. I had the voice myself in some past lives. Killed me,
in one." She said, "The choir boy." I nodded.
One asked, "Can you conduct?" I said, "I do some of that at home. I
don't know how well." Mom said, "No complaints, so far." He said,
"Would you be available to to it in a performance?" I said, "I don't
plan to be available for any musical performance in the future." Ivanna
said, "But you didn't plan to do this one, before you were asked." I
said to her, plainly, "I knew that." Chuckles. He said, "Do you want
to?" I said, "No. There is no reason. I did this here to please
Rickard, and honor my father who helped him. That's done." He asked
Galya, "Would you like to?" She said, "I don't know. I don't see any
benefit to doing it. I have a lot to do with my life, and what extra
time I have, I would like to spend with my family. Music isn't anywhere
near my major interest. That's best left to people who live for it." He
said, "What is your major interest?" She grinned, and said, "Not
music." I grinned and hugged her. I said to them, "You know we have
children, so you know what at least one of our major interests is." One
shouted from the back of the pack, "Sex!" I said, "Not right now, we're
busy. But thanks for the offer." Laughter. I said, "There goes Hawk."
They laughed some more, knowing what I meant.
I said, "Raising children is the major interest I was thinking of.
All who have had them, know that very much causes that other interest
to be severely neglected." Nods all over. One said, "On other planets,
do they have music like we do?" I said, "The music of other planets is
different. VERY different. But then, it's just as different here on
Earth, in different cultures. Ever heard the traditional music of
Thailand?" One said, "REALLY different." I said, "Some species don't
have any music at all, such as those hard shelled people who use clicks
to communicate. Some are even tone deaf." Mom said, "Such as the blue
crab people." I said, "The Nagindra have music a lot like ours. My
father played their instruments and music for them when they visited us
to experience a love and healing broadcast." One said, "Can we hear
that?" I said, "Not today. Maybe some time in the future. In fact, I
think we've used up all the good music questions for today."
The manager ushered them out. I said to Ivanna, "So you want us to do
more of this?" She tried to look innocent, and said, "Whatever gave you
that idea?" I said, "Well, you did." Galya laughed. Ivanna said, "For
charity?" I said, "This one's going to PBS. Dad started that, and I'd
like to do the same with this kind of thing, kind of for him." She
"Yes, to honor you and your heritage. Why do something for only one
reason? Both sides of the family together, seemed like a good idea."
She hugged and kissed me all over, to show agreement. Percy practically
grinned his face in half. So did Rickard.
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Grant
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