Jack Of Arts

October 7, 2011 Friday – 6AM

"That's the portion we told you to take to Ouigab, right?" Liboo asked dumbfounded as he watched Tayaw load the 80kg portion of the tuna easily in the back of the truck. "Yep. I overestimated how much meat a 164kg tuna would have. Haha." Tayaw replied.

The family enjoyed the lobster and tuna very much. The octopus, however, despite tasting like the lobster after being well-cooked, tasted bland to the family as they lacked good spices to go with it. Tayaw's proposal of eating it raw also freaked out the family so they just steamed it.

"At first, I didn't believe you can eat all of the portions you're taking with you, but with how strong your body is, I realize you will definitely eat it all before we consume our portion." Kilat said, dumbfounded as well at Tayaw's strength as she patted Tayaw's muscles. The couple doesn't actually know Tayaw's real strength; they just believed Tayaw's excuse of training like an athlete to stay healthy.

"Yes, my appetite really increased after I started training. I'm also sharing the tuna with my agent." Tayaw agreed. "By the way, when will you visit again? It would be nice if you visited more often." Kilat told Tayaw. "I will mom. But if my application for the US visa gets accepted, I may have to stay in the US for a few weeks to a few months to sell the movie rights for my fairy tales." Tayaw explained his circ.u.mstances. He did not want to reveal his intention of investing on start-ups because his parents would definitely disagree. It's not their fault of not knowing about the future.

"Alright. I also hope they will buy your rights fairly. I want to see your fairy tales in movies." Kilat nodded. "The film companies that contacted me make animation movies though." Tayaw replied. "Of course. Your stories are for kids after all. I don't think the world is ready to make a movie based on the a.d.u.l.ts' version of your fairy tales." Kilat said.

"So, have you got everything you need?" Liboo asked after he sealed Tayaw's cargo bed. "Yes. Please tell Payew that I took one of his potted plants." Tayaw replied. "You don't have to worry about it. I don't think it would matter to him. He already gave your mother and I some of his plants; one for your mom's office table, and one for mine." Liboo assured Tayaw. "Okay. I'm off then." Tayaw finally bid his goodbye. After hugs and some more words, Tayaw started his drive back to Ouigab.

On his drive, Tayaw is also practicing his singing. His naturally attractive husky baritone made him rely on it too much in his previous life but realizing the limitations of it in expressing emotions; he started learning to sing higher notes. After many months of training himself, he can now sing high notes that lower tenors can sing. He cannot hit those high notes continuously though and needs a lot of warm up and conditioning.

While listening to Peter McKinsey's song in his head, he also realized that although those songs are great, they can even be greater by applying subtle vocal agility to make the emotions even more apparent. A singer's vocal ability is displayed when they are doing vocal runs like how a lead guitarist does riffs on the guitar. Excessive display of vocal agility is also not good, which is why Tayaw doesn't like listening to some RnB singers that much.

Despite that, Tayaw still found it useful to have some vocal agility. Just like his playing in the guitar, he can now do vocal runs in whatever ascending or descending scale. Adding his vocal agility to high chest-head voice notes during the climax of a song, Tayaw found it very attractive to listen to and great to display more variations of emotions like freedom, desperation, and anger. (Look up Park Hyo Shin – Wildflower. I based Tayaw's voice on him only in baritone)

His vocal practice lasted just as long as his five hour drive. Tayaw could not practice his high notes for that long before but because of his enhancements, he noticed that his healing and recovery time has also reduced.

Tayaw arrived at Ironstone just before lunch and immediately stacked the tuna inside the freezer. He will cook some tuna dishes for the band later in the evening so he spared two large cuts and put it in the refrigerator to slowly thaw.

Tayaw was still not feeling tired after the long drive, so he went packed his acoustic guitar and microphone and went out again and drove to his favorite music store in East Ouigab. After an hour or so, he walked out of the music store with two portable amplifiers, a portable mixer, microphones and power banks. He bought these things to familiarize himself how to set up their instruments and sound system. The portable amplifiers are for the instruments and microphones, the mixer for clear recording of the audio, and power banks for electric supply because public electric supplies in parks and plazas are very unstable.

Tayaw bought all these for the upcoming busking. Tayaw does not know exactly when they will do it, but the band is in the process of finishing up arranging the last few songs out of the 30 songs they have decided to perform. Tayaw also did not sign up in the ROH Factory for gigs this October to help speed up the arrangements and practice before Northwestern's Prelims exam week starts.

Loading the stuff he just bought, Tayaw did not go back to Ironstone immediately and went to drive around Ouigab. He wants to find a good spot for the busking; a spot that is fairly crowded, has no other buskers around, has a good backdrop, and is away from the noise of cars. Tayaw found it fortunate that he is in Ouigab, an arts and University City that is filled with just the people he wants for an audience; young people like University Students and aspiring artists that are active in the internet.

After two hours of going around Ouigab, Tayaw found himself in West Ouigab. He parked his truck in a public parking space just a few minutes on foot away from Nabla Institute of Engineering, NIE for short. NIE is one of Teungeb's best Engineering colleges but is very difficult to get into. If Tayaw was as academically inclined as Payew, he could have gone in it instead of Northwestern. He is in West Ouigab not to actually visit NIE, but because of the good spot he found for busking a few minutes of walking from NIE.

He got out of the truck and surveyed the park around him. It is comprised of mainly grass and trees that visitors of the park would have a picnic on. The park interested him because of its downwards, inward sloping layout to the middle which makes the park bowl-shaped. His eyes however are caught by the 15 x 15 meter man-made lake, or in this case, a pool, in the middle of the park. In the middle of the lake is a stable fountain which Tayaw judged to glow up in the evenings judging from the turned off lamps pointed at it. The lake is surrounded by brick pavement which Tayaw estimated is wide enough for his band to set their up instruments at without blocking people's path.

Tayaw seeing that the skies are clear, with no signs of raining anytime soon, he went back to his truck and changed into his performing clothes which he always keeps in the glove compartment in the backseat. After changing, he unloaded an amplifier, a microphone, a power bank, and his acoustic guitar and brought them beside the lake. After a few minutes of fiddling around, he finally set the sound equipment up, ready to be used.

Busking in Ouigab needs a permit but because he's intending on busking without profit, he figured it is fine to just set up and start playing. The park is still sparsely crowded but because he's just performing to get a feel of the place, he didn't care and started playing a finger style guitar instrumental composed of his original melodies.

Because of the sentimental and nostalgic piece that is coming out of the speaker, the people in the park got curious and started gathering in front of Tayaw's set. A couple that Tayaw saw jogging around the pathway surrounding the park descended down to the lake to watch him. A man walking his two terriers also stopped by and sat down on the grass to watch and listen. Some people that were having picnic also moved their mats and rugs closer to Tayaw's set.

After the instrumental was over, some of the people gathered gave a polite applause, which Tayaw returned with a couple of nods. Because this isn't a gig, Tayaw did not interact with the crowd like he did in ROH Factory, but limited his response with just nods and smiles.

Tayaw then moved on to play his cover of a rock love anthem. He has two versions of the cover; one is for a wider audience, one sounds more intimate intended for a smaller room or a smaller crowd. Tayaw chose the second version and started playing the intro. The people around found the melody familiar despite coming out from an acoustic guitar. After plucking the intro, Tayaw's voice entered.

"Our times together keep trapping my heart

did you ever love? Was it a passing relationship?

Our times together weren't long but trapped by heart

You who set my heart on fire

Did you ever love me? "

The people found the arrangement refreshing and actually started listening more seriously. They started swaying with the rhythm too. "Hey. It's like a different song." One woman whispered to her friend after the song ended. Tayaw moved on to his other songs, only giving slight bows and nods to the crowd in between.

Seven songs in and thirty minutes passed since he started, and there are now at least 40 people gathered in front of his set. It's currently four in the afternoon so many students from NIE have already finished their classes for the day and some just happened to be passing by the park when they heard Tayaw singing so they decided to drop in.

Tayaw found the situation wonderful. He did not expect that him performing alone will gather this many people. Tayaw is not tired yet but he decided to take a break to gather more information about the crowd and the place.

"Hi. Good afternoon everyone. I've been playing thirty minutes straight and I need a break." Tayaw greeted the crowd which they responded with applause. "Hi! Are you a celebrity?" One girl yelled her question confidently at Tayaw. She was impressed by Tayaw's performance. She also noticed Tayaw's expensive clothes, sun glasses and classy hat so she figured Tayaw must be a famous singer she has not heard of. "No. I'm not. I'm actually here to scout the place out for my band. Are you a student from NIE?" Tayaw replied through the microphone. "I'm from a different university. Some guys here must be from NIE." The girl replied which some young lads in the crowd nodded at in agreement.

"I see. That couple over there, hello! Thank you for staying this long." Tayaw said to the jogger couple. The lady in the couple waved in response, and the man gave Tayaw a thumb up. Tayaw noticed the oldest person in the crowd, a man who appears to be in his 50s who just joined the crowd a song ago. "Thank you mister for dropping by. Is there a song you wish to request?" Tayaw said to the man.