"Hello." Tayaw replied raising one eyebrow. "Isaac, right? I'm Irene. You were great up there." Irene said as she dragged the bar chair closer to Tayaw and took a sit. "Thank you. May I help you?" Tayaw said, a little annoyed that he was distracted from his thoughts. Irene though, did not notice the unwelcoming tone Tayaw gave her. "I'm just curious how a Polynesian man like you learn how to sing country." Irene asked as she leaned forward giving Tayaw a look at the valley of her bountiful hills.
Tayaw almost rolled his eyes at this. While he was flattered at the flirting, he was always spooked at white American ladies. While not true for all white ladies from USA, he always found them self-entitled. In recent history, Tayaw found that they were the second most privileged people next to white men, yet they dared to claim the same oppression as minorities experienced in the future social war. The loud minority of those would result to two generations of self-conscious American men with inferiority complexes.
Aside from that, Tayaw doesn't really know why he's spooked by them. They're either really nice or borderline sociopaths. "It's the love for music, that's all." Tayaw replied simply. "Oh. And your English is great too." Irene said as she played with her hair. "A product of necessity I guess." Tayaw said as he gulped down a good amount of whiskey from his glass.
"Where are you from?" Irene asked again, clueless about Tayaw's body language. "I'm from New York." Tayaw said. He decided to only give straight answers to prevent the conversation from going anywhere any further. "No. What I'm asking is where you are REALLY from." Irene asked again. "Teungeb." Tayaw replied. "Ooh! My granddaddy was stationed in Kangpan before joining the war in Korea! Wheres in Teungeb are you from?" Irene said excitedly. 'Oh for f*cks sake.' Tayaw thought to himself. Quickly calculating, he estimated that Irene must be Alexandra's age: in her mid-20s.
Thankfully, his phone rang as he received a call from Chala. "Excuse me, it's my girlfriend." Tayaw said which obviously disappointed Irene. "Hey. Chala. Ignore my tone." Tayaw said in Teungebian, his tone sounded lovely. "What on earth? What's up with you?" Chala asked a little grossed out with Tayaw talking to him in a tone used for a lover.
"A girl is flirting with me." Tayaw said as he quickly scanned around the bar quickly to look for Chala, his actions unnoticed by Irene. "Where are you?" Tayaw asked. "Oh. I'm going back to my hotel room to continue my conversation with a lady." Chala replied. "The blondie earlier?" Tayaw asked. "The blondie earlier." Chala confirmed. "You have the keys for the truck right? I'm taking a cab." Chala said. "Alright. Have a good evening." Tayaw said and he hung up.
"That was your girlfriend? That was short." Irene said. 'She's still not walking away?' Tayaw thought. "Yes. She just said good morning. It's 5 in the morning back in Teungeb." Tayaw replied. "I see. Well, she's across the Pacific anyway so why don't I accompany you?" Irene said.
This did it for Tayaw. Although he does not actually have a girlfriend, a woman who will seduce a man who's already tied, to Tayaw, is repulsive. "Irene, right? While I appreciate the uhh… Hospitality, I'd like to be alone. Your friends over there must also be waiting for you." Tayaw said as he pointed with his palm the group of ladies looking their way. Tayaw always found pointing with his finger a little rude.
"Fine. Good night." Irene said as she moved forcefully to stand up, almost knocking her chair over. "Have a pleasant evening as well." Tayaw said as he raised his glass to her.
"Did I just see a man brush off Irene just now? She looked angry. What happened?" The bartender actually walked hurriedly to Tayaw and leaned over the counter to gossip. "I have a girlfriend. You know that lady?" Tayaw asked. "Oh. I see. Well, Irene is the singer of one of the regular bands in the bar." The bartender revealed. 'Oh sh*t' Tayaw's heart dropped.
"Really? Do you know what days she plays at?" Tayaw asked. "I thought you weren't interested?" The bartender asked and smiled mischievously. "No. It's just… Tell me first her schedule." Tayaw said. "Okay. Her band plays on Mondays and Tuesdays, I think?" The bartender replied, unusure.
"Phew. Thank god." Tayaw sighed in relief. "What's with you?" The bartender said, confused at Tayaw's reaction. "Oh. I'm Yawat, by the way. You can call me Isaac." Tayaw introduced himself. "Oscar." Oscar introduced himself too. "Well, Oscar, I'm performing here starting on Saturday and then Fridays and Saturdays after." Tayaw replied. "Oh. That's cool! Congratulations. So, you don't want drama with Irene?" Oscar said. "Exactly. Another glass of Jameson please. Neat this time." Tayaw said. Oscar just chuckled as he prepared Tayaw's drink again.
Half an hour later, he hopped back to his rented truck and drove back to his hotel. Tayaw and Chala checked in a famous hotel when they first arrived in Nashville, but unlike the room that Tayaw rented in New York, they booked two separate double rooms; not too fancy, but still spacious enough. After taking a shower and changing to his sleep wear, Tayaw connected his laptop to the hotel's wifi to check his e-mail and chat messages.
One message caught his eyes. It's from his mother, Kilat. To summarize, it goes like "Son, we just received our visitor visa. Your dad picked up the family's passports in Kangpan yesterday." Tayaw is not only glad by the quick approval but also excited because he will be able to show his family around in another country, something that the family never did in his previous life. He can also show them his house in New York.
After leaving a reply to his mother, Tayaw went to YouTube to check how the band's channel is doing. It has been a while since he actually checked because of he got obsessed writing songs once again after he bought Earl Thompson's guitar back when he was in St. Louis. What he saw as the YouTube page loaded is a pleasant surprise. 189,000 Subscribers. He clicked on the statistics and saw that since their last upload back in October 16, the collective views of all their videos are at about 14 million; an average of 400,000 views on each video.
Tayaw then clicked on their second YouTube Channel. Before Tayaw went to America, he told the group to make a second YouTube channel where they can upload their song arrangements. Tayaw also asked them set the videos in private so only the band can see them. The band also agreed to not show their arrangements immediately to their subscribers as they are not confident of their song arrangement skills.
After a few minutes of watching the band's submission for the week, Tayaw is satisfied. It's been 8 months since the band started arranging songs, and they have improved immensely. The average ability of the band in arrangement basically beats out Tayaw's arrangement skills in his previous life when he was in his early 20s.
Regarding their technical skills on their own instruments, the band's learning curve practically flattened. Since their busking in Monna Park, the band's technical ability already surpassed the playing ability of most of the performers in ROH Factory. Aside from Jenna, the rest of the band has the ability to perform appropriate riffs, melodies, and can play consistently at any rhythm and never go out of beat. They can all substitute as members of a professional band as long as they don't perform anything complicated.
If Tayaw could compare Hoon's guitar playing now to the Hoon of Tayaw's previous life, then the current Hoon has the ability of Tayaw's previous life's 24 year-old Hoon. That says a lot about the band. Tayaw realized that the band in his previous life was actually very talented. Tayaw shook his head while thinking it was a pity for the band in his previous life that they never got a spark of inspiration, or that they never got any more famous. Tayaw is also proud that he found Jenna, a fiddler who is just as talented as the rest of the guys.
Tayaw is also confident that the band will be able to cross the current chasm that is stunting their progress. Tayaw foresaw this chasm so he had the band learn song arrangement very early on as it will be a useful instrument in shaping the band into real artists. This obstacle is actually what stops a lot of musicians. A lot of musicians, who will fail to cross this obstacle, will stay as musicians who can only copy other musicians' playing style, and would never ever learn to express themselves with their instruments.
This is also the reason why Tayaw discouraged the band in sharpening their technical skills for now and learn more how to produce emotion with their instruments. Tayaw explained to the band his purpose of telling them so by asking them questions. So what if Hoon can shred seamlessly? Does he feel something to associate with the notes and melodies he's playing? If he has, can he communicate with the listeners if his playing is soulless? So what if Ramil can sustain high notes and do runs on his saxophone, can he play it in a way that is distinct? Or he will just fade among the thousands of saxophonists who play like each other?
Tayaw figured that by making the each member arrange their own songs, they will be able to learn how to process the message of the song and how they can tell the message of the song in their own. This skill will be translated to their playing. Even though Tayaw is confident that the band will achieve his vision, he also knows that becoming an artist is a very time consuming process that requires a lot of trial and error that will take years. Had Tayaw not been blessed with the perfect pitch, it would still take years to surpass his previous life's self as a musician.
Tayaw can only hope that when the band graduates college, they would also graduate from his tutelage.
Tayaw then powered up his camera and filmed himself amend the members' individual song arrangements. This then will be reverse engineered by the members as a part of their learning.