Tayaw, guided by the muscular man, passed through the small kitchen and got curious looks from the employees preparing ingredients. As they reached the green room, the muscular man told Tayaw to stay put and headed for the boss' office.
After two minutes or so, the door of the boss' office opened and exited the muscular man followed by a man Tayaw recognized as the younger version of the boss. The boss with handsome face composed of sharp features, long wavy salt and pepper hair tied to a high ponytail, and a well fitted three piece suit, looked very striking as always. One could only guess how many ladies and gay men he has charmed over the years.
The boss, Rudy, was someone Tayaw and most of the musicians who performed at the bar respected very much. Unlike most bar owners, Rudy treated the musicians very well and shared a similar passion with music. Maybe it's his love for music that he was able to grow his bar to what it will be in the future. Despite that though, Rudy has a very high standards in hiring musicians who will perform for his bar and will normally not make time for musicians unless the musician is someone he has heard of, or if the musician was introduced by a musician he regularly hires.
In Tayaw's past life, Rudy was very close to him and The Percussive Corrections. Currently however, he is looking at Tayaw with a stern expression and asked with a dismissive voice "Looking for a gig, kid? Lucky for you I needed a break."
Tayaw saw this expression and same voice from Rudy many times in his past life when talking to musicians who wanted to audition, so he wasn't feeling intimidated like a rookie should be. "Yes sir. Thank you for sparing me the time. I surely won't waste it." Tayaw simply smiled and replied in a matter of fact manner.
Seeing Tayaw's subdued but strong confidence, Rudy nodded led Tayaw to the bar proper. "Unpack your guitar, we'll do it unplugged. HEY ROCKY! CALL THE OTHERS HERE TO TAKE A BREAK! WE HAVE AN AUDITION!" Rudy gestured Tayaw to the platform in front of the bar room and ordered the muscular man to call for the employees.
Tayaw saw this as an opportunity to not only impress Rudy, but also to make a good impression on the employees. After all, if he gets the approval of Rudy and will gig here regularly in the future, he will interact with the employees often. As he unpacked his guitar, Rudy's face twitched a little.
Rudy, noticing the new unblemished guitar, had his impression of Tayaw dip lower. A musician's instrument, especially an acoustic guitar, tells the musician's story if one knows what to look for in the instrument. Tayaw's guitar, to Rudy, looks like a blank resume, a sign of utter inexperience. It was too late to stop Tayaw, so he just let it continue.
As the employees settled themselves on the empty chairs in the audience, Tayaw was also done tuning his guitar. The song he is planning to sing is not an original, as he knows his band's originals are not that good. He also will not be singing songs that will come out in the future because he respects the respective writers of those songs too much, it will eat away at his soul to steal from them.
Feeling ready, he nodded at Rudy, and Rudy nodded back as well.
Tayaw started to pluck his guitar, giving out a slow but refreshing melody. After two bars of the intro, his voice finally joined the guitar.
"You meet me, without a worry
In your own beautiful way
Your glamorous design
heals my stiff and awkward
song…
You're like the dancing leaves
Soothing the broken music inside me
With you, my fears turn to pretty pictures
That's all I need.
Can you smile for me
So my heart melts silly."
The song "Leaves" originally written and performed by a famous folk musician Buddy Fridman in the 80s is filled with feelings of longing and love. It tells a story of a travelling man painting a picture of how he feels towards his wife while he's out on the road. Matching the beautiful core melody with a hypnotic plucking pattern of the guitar gives the song a more dreamy feeling.
The cover by Tayaw, infused by his own memory of his ex-girlfriend, the one who got away, made the performance felt genuine. After Tayaw was done with the song, Rudy's eyes were in a daze, as if thinking about someone as well. The whole room, although with the attendance of all the employees of the bar, is filled with silence. Tayaw did not feel nervous. As a performer of almost twenty years in his past life, he knew that there are many types of silence from the audience, and this one is the type that is good.
The silence was washed away by the sound of modest clapping from a chef in the back, the one Tayaw saw prepping ingredients in the kitchen earlier. The chef's clapping was followed by others, and Rudy was awoken from his blank stare as well. Rudy nodded at him, this time with a subtle but a relaxed smile on his face. As the clapping stopped, Rudy said "We have time for another."
Tayaw proceeded to sing another song with a different vibe. In contrast to the relaxing plucking of the guitar of the first song, the second song is accompanied by the guitar's variety of strumming patterns.
It was a refreshing song meant to liven up one's spirit, with lyrics that are well timed with the tempo of the guitar; it makes it easy to sing along to. After the song ended, there was an immediate round of polite but sincere applause from the room.
After the applause, Rudy told the employees to resume with the preparation for the evening. It was only thirty minutes before opening time after all.
Rudy then told Tayaw to follow him as they headed to his office.
"I am satisfied, kid. By the way, you look like someone straight out from high school, yet carry yourself like a grown man. How old are you?" Rudy asked. "Yes sir, I've indeed just graduated high school last June. I'm 16, turning seventeen next month." Tayaw didn't hide his age. After all, working as a minor in an adult establishment is not illegal as long as he is supervised by a responsible adult.
"Ah. A minor. It's incredible to express such emotions in your singing at your age. Did you arrange your cover of 'Leaves'?" Rudy, looking impressed is now much more interested in Tayaw compared to before he did his audition
.
"Thank you, sir. It was my own arrangement. A friend also helped me polish it." Tayaw replied. This Leaves is one of the arrangements he did in his past life, and with the help of Hoon, the lead guitarist, it turned out more polished.
"Good, good. How about the guitar? Do you only play acoustic guitar? I've noticed that your skills are not bad." Rudy asked. He noticed that Tayaw's skill with the guitar is way over-polished for a musician his age.
While it did not appear that Tayaw's skill with the guitar was not practiced with the purpose of being a lead guitarist, Rudy is more than satisfied of Tayaw's skill as a rhythm guitarist. Such skill is great asset for a good solo musician.
"I mainly use the acoustic guitar. I also use it to arrange songs, specifically songs that I can arrange into acoustic versions. I also play the electric guitar but not as good as my skill with the acoustic guitar. I have some licks and riffs in my repertoire on both the electric and acoustic that I can use as I see fit. I never practiced improvisation like any good lead guitarist, though." Tayaw pitched himself, without over-selling of course.
Hearing this, Rudy was even more impressed. To his eyes, Tayaw can play as rhythm guitarist in any good band, including the bands of famous singers. Adding that to his arrangement skills as well, Rudy felt like he found a potential in Tayaw. After assessing the value of Tayaw, Rudy no longer hid his satisfaction.
"Good. You seem like a smart lad, so you probably already know my decision."