Jack Of Arts

November 26, 2011 – Saturday 9:30 pm – Nashville

"Man. If you weren't a good musician, I would have bailed on you by now." Chala complained to Tayaw while they drove to Blackbird Café. He was actually almost pissed when Tayaw said that they're staying in Nashville longer because Tayaw decided to start gigging in the bar. He knows however that it's one of the downsides of traveling with an artist like Tayaw.

"Come on. You've got yourself an all-American girlfriend. Admit it. You'd like to spend more time here." Tayaw said mischievously. "Okay. You're right. But until Christmas? Isn't that too long?" Chala said. It's true that he wants to see if his relationship with his new girlfriend would work out, but if it does not, Nashville is too much like Ouigab, he could not imagine how bored he will be to stay here for a month.

"Okay. That's fair. But I can assure you that we can part ways on the 18th in Atlanta. You can go home to Ouigab for Christmas." Tayaw said. "Hey kid. That was low." Chala said. Chala expressed once to Tayaw that he spends his Christmas alone and would rather stay that way until he gets married. He hates spending Christmas with his parents because they will bring up his marriage again. Chala's parents after all, are already in their 70s and he feels guilty that he has not given them a grandchild yet, an important responsibility for an only child like him. "By the way. Why Atlanta?" Chala asked.

"I agreed with my family that they will be taking a direct flight from Kangpan to Atlanta on the 18th." Tayaw explained. "But, why am I needed in Atlanta?" Chala wanted a clearer answer. "I don't have a driver's license man. I can't drive my parents around from Atlanta to here. I promise. Just drive us around to the nearest rental car dealer from the airport in Atlanta, and we're good." Tayaw said. "So it's my license you needed after all." Chala said as he slapped Tayaw's back.

"Why a car rental place? Your dad has an international driver's license?" Chala asked. "Yep. I asked him to apply right after I asked you to have someone process their visitor visa. If there are no delays, he would be receiving it before the end of the month." Tayaw said. "Hmm. That's good." Chala said in understanding.

"Why don't you spend your Christmas with us, Chala?" Tayaw asked. Even though Tayaw teased Chala earlier about his lonely Christmas days, he wanted his family to get to know Chala better. After all, Kilat, Liboo, and Chala are around the same age with his parents at 43 and Chala at 44 years old.

Chala was surprised at the invitation and honestly, he felt moved. This is not the first time that he was invited for a Christmas dinner because he has a lot of friends. But when Chala joins his friends' families for Christmas, he gets the feeling like he's intruding; especially when he sees his friends play with their kids on the dinner table.

He also feels jealous at his friends. They all led similar lives, but only Chala and two other friends ended up growing old single.

Tayaw's invitation, however, is different. Even though Chala knows that Tayaw's parents are just as old as he is, they led a different life compared to him. He has nothing much in common with Kilat and Liboo, so he would not feel jealous at all. Tayaw is also a good kid, so he is looking forwardtoe the people who raised him.

"Alright. I might as well. I would act as a translator." Chala accepted the invitation. "Hey. My mom and dad speak English just fine. You can just have fun with us." Tayaw said. Tears pooled up in Chala's eyes when he heard this. He doesn't know why exactly but he felt moved. Thankfully, the tears didn't fall.

"Oh. And when they ask, tell them that we just sold the movie rights. They don't know that I invested in companies. They would lose their mind after finding out how much I spend on the investment." Tayaw asked of Chala. "You really have it rough, huh." Chala said sarcastically."Haha. May I ask by the way, how much you invested? It's not that much is it?" Chala asked.

"Oh. I spent what I got from the movie deal." Tayaw said. Chala took a deep breath at this. "Why risk that much money? You can just slowly acc.u.mulate your riches with what you get from your books." Chala said. "Well. I just like the companies I invested in and their business model and vision inspired me as well. If it doesn't work out, then that's that." Tayaw said. "Fine. Your money." Chala gave up. He knows that Tayaw is a smart kid, so he knows that Tayaw would just not invest on a band company. He could only hope that Tayaw's investment would grow.

It wasn't long before they reached Hillsboro Pike and Tayaw parked the truck on Blackbird Café's parking lot. As they approached the entrance, Chala noticed the list of line-up written on the blackboard outside the entrance. "'Isaac Yawat'. You changed your stage name?" Chala asked when he saw Tayaw's stage name on the line-up. "Yep. I'm planning on breaking into the international scene as a singer anyways, so it's better to choose a more universal stage name." Tayaw explained.

"Henry, the bar manager, actually suggested me to do it. 'Isaac this isn't New York where a lot of foreigners live. People might be turned off by your stage name if we put it in the poster' he said. It made sense so I did it." Tayaw continued.

"Well. That's true. It would be funny if a guy named 'Yawat' would be playing country." Chala nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I'm promoting myself here as well so I also changed my names on iTunes and Stoppify so that any Nashville person who will be interested in my music can look me up easier." Tayaw said. With that, they entered the bar. Chala found an empty seat, and Tayaw excused himself to the backstage.

While Tayaw walked towards the backstage, Henry came up to him on the way and escorted Isaac to the waiting room. "Kid, you dress more old-fashioned than I do." Henry said as he noticed Tayaw wearing another set of a three piece suit. "I just like looking sharp on stage." Tayaw replied.

"Everyone, this is Isaac, the new guy. Y'all take care of him." Henry said to the other performers as he and Tayaw entered the waiting room. Henry then went out immediately to do some manager stuff, leaving Tayaw at an awkward position. "Oh. You're the guy Travis was talking bad about?" One of the performers, a man in his 30s, said in interest. "That might be me. Name's Isaac." Tayaw said as he offered his hand for a handshake.

"Rez Clay." Rez shook Tayaw's hand. "Rez, don't tell me you actually believe that kid? Hey. Bobby Elliot. Rez and I are in a band with the guys behind us. We're the closers tonight." Bobby introduced himself too and his band, the Strawberry Front. Tayaw also nodded at the Strawberry Front in greeting.

���Of course not. Henry knows who's good and who's not. If he says Isaac here is good, then he's good." Rez replied. "Hmm. I don't like that Travis kid. I don't know why Henry still keeps him trying out when he's just bad." Bobby said. Tayaw almost felt bad at the guys bashing Travis. Almost, because Tayaw just found out Travis tried to sabotage Tayaw's image to these guys.

"I heard from Henry that you have a Devil song. Quite ballsy, kid." Rez said, switching back the attention to Tayaw. "Yep. Well. The crowd liked it." Tayaw said, wondering why Rez labeled it as 'ballsy'. "Are you ready, kid? I never expected that you're up this far into the line-up. When Henry said, a new guy, I thought you would at least be the opener." Bobby said, despite his trust in Henry's judgment of arranging the line – up.

"Yep. I'm ready. Performing at a huge bar is not new to me." Tayaw replied. "Good. By the way, next time, you should come at least an hour earlier than your time. Henry doesn't have a healthy heart." Bobby said. "Alright. I'll do that. I was actually busy practicing in my truck outside." Tayaw said in excuse. He just does not like waiting around for long, so he came in just before the start of his gig.

"Hmm. I think the guy is finishing up. Why don't you play your devil song again? We also want to hear it. Henry had a lot to say about it." Rez, who just looked at his watch, said to Tayaw. "Okay. I'll put it in the middle of my set; I'll make it the highlight." Tayaw said as he pulled out his guitar from its case and started tuning his guitar to standard. Rez and Bobby also left him alone.

However, it does not mean they stopped observing Tayaw. "Hey. Look at that..." Bobby said to Rez as he discreetly pointed at Tayaw's guitar. "Yep. Holy sh*t, it looks old. Like antique old." Rez replied. "Do you think it's a copy?" Bobby asked. "Nah. I don't think so. Look at body, where the pick guard is supposed to be, the wood thinned out; probably worn out from years of play." Rez replied.

Tayaw after tuning his guitar played a bluegrass progression. "Oh. It's clean. He's good." Rez said, impressed by Tayaw's fingerpicking. "How good?" Bobby asked. "I don't know exactly. But when it comes to acoustic guitar, I think he's better than me." Rez said. Bobby was surprised at this response. Rez, in his day job, is a session musician for some recording artists based on Nashville, and is the best guitarist Bobby knows personally.