Band of One

Cherry

By HarryC

Thu, 08 Nov 2018
  • 2532 reads
7 comments
 

Everyone's a great musician.  You're a great musician, too.  You want
to join a band.  You go along to the first rehearsals, and everyone
else is there, jamming away, really getting it on.  You find your
place and join in, and it all goes along okay for a few bars.  Then the
lead guy stops playing and holds up his hand for everyone else to stop,
too.  They do.  He then looks at you.

"You just joined us?  Okay, this is what we're doing.  Just go along with this."

They start up again, and you get in with it.  It's all going along fine.

And then the lead guy stops and holds his hand up again.  Everyone stops.  He looks at you again.

"What's that you're playing?  It doesn't seem right.  Show us."

So, you play your piece solo, and it seems good.  But then he stops you.

"You sure you got that instrument tuned right?"

You check.  It seems fine.  The others all shrug. 

They start up again.  You start in with it, on cue.  It's going along alright again...

Then the lead guy stops it all for the third time.  Again, he looks at you.

"You're in the wrong key, man.  Either that or you got the wrong tempo.  You're missing the beats, or something."

And so on it goes....

Finally, at the end, the lead guy has a quiet chat with a few of the others.  Then he comes over to you.

"Listen, we've got the members we need now.  Thanks for coming."

You pack up your instrument.  Just as you're about to leave, he stops you.

"Say... tell you what.  We need a driver for the van, and someone to set up the gear.  Would you be okay to do that?"

You turn and walk out.

In the High Street, you set up alone and start playing.

Pretty soon, coins are falling in your hat...

Certificate U
Story
Miscellaneous

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I like this Harry. Busking is the way to get noticed. If you enjoy playing it's a pleasure to know people care enough to throw you some coins.

We have a guy in our town who's been playing guitar busking since I moved here in 1987 and he's out there nearly every day come rain, shine, freezing or hot.

Now that's what I call loving music.

Jenny.

 

 

Submitted by celticman on

that's what I call desperate and sad Jenny, but what do I know? good story Harry, I'm sure it's a metaphor for living. 

 

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

Could also be a gritty metaphor for perseverance and self-belief.

Submitted by thornwood on

I liked this. I thought the heading caught me and then started reading, the early bit catch if you want was really cool and works brilliantly like I wanted to know about the movement of a jam. You capture it really well structured to. I feel this could almost be an opening to a novel I would definetly reading, and the bit at the end. Loose change. Really good story I thought. Well deserved cherry.

Stephen d

Submitted by HarryC on

Thanks, folks.  Just something triggered by a situation I'm currently in.  An Aspie in a fix with 'the Establishment' where I work.  In trying to do things right, I'm rocking a boat that needs rocking.  But they don't want it rocked.

We had a guy in my town who used to go out busking a lot.  He wasn't homeless, but his circumstances weren't good.  Recovering from addiction, etc.  He eventually was found dead on the streets one night.  It's a sad fucking system, and too many vulnerable people suffer for it.

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

I like this. The pattern, people re-enforcing that familiar message, you don't quite fit, you're going against the flow, stroking our fur the wrong way. Then ending where he does his own thing, that's the only way to go.

 

Submitted by Stephen Thom on

Cracking piece, final line works really well. Length is spot on, a metaphorical slice of life, bags of heart in its own way