Simon finally looked at Janet Johnston, with a slight smile, and said seriously: "Actually, I only want to invite Catherine alone, but it doesn't matter if you come together."
When Janet heard this, she immediately hugged Catherine towards her, as if she was afraid that Simon would snatch the woman away.
However, in an instant, she reacted again, stretched out a slender index finger and continued to point at the piano case at her feet, saying: "I mean, with all your money, you can't even open a bottle of better red wine. "
Simon plucked the strings casually and said: "I won't drink wine this time. I am a boy who invites two women to dinner and opens wine. People will misunderstand me."
Janet glanced at Simon's clothes and said with disdain: "Who could misunderstand you?"
Simon also glanced at the Hermès satchel on Janet's shoulder and said with a smile: "Yeah, so, I'm afraid that you two will be misunderstood."
Janet blinked a few times in a daze, and then she realized what she was doing and glared at Simon fiercely: "Ah!"
As soon as she accidentally spotted Simon on the street, Catherine wanted to walk by silently.
The last time they met, Simon left a deep impression on her. The woman subconsciously felt that such an outstanding boy like him was naturally proud, and perhaps she didn't want to see him in embarrassment at this time.
Only when her friend forced her to come closer did Catherine have to face Simon.
At this time, hearing Jenny's words to bully Simon, Catherine wanted to stop her, but she noticed the uncaring smile on Simon's face, and the woman suddenly felt a little more clear.
He was naturally proud, and she could be sure of this from the many details of their first encounter.
However, this pride obviously does not involve any paranoia stemming from deep feelings of inferiority. Therefore, he did not feel that his current situation was very embarrassing. Facing Jenny's squeeze, he acted more like a mature and steady adult trying to accommodate a naughty little girl.
Most of the time, aren't I trying to accommodate the same temperament as the little girl Jenny
Thinking of this, Catherine couldn't help laughing when she saw that her friend didn't get any advantage in the verbal confrontation with Simon.
"Where are you from?" Hearing Catherine's chuckle, Janet immediately glared at her with dissatisfaction, warned her, and then turned to Simon. Turning her eyes, the woman suddenly changed her face like a fairy. She lost all her anger just now. She slowly took out her wallet from her bag, took out a 100-dollar bill and waved it in front of Simon. He casually put it in the piano case and said: "Hey, little boy, I haven't heard enough just now. Let's sing another one. But if I'm not satisfied, I have to get my money back."
Simon nodded: "Okay, I'll open a bottle of red wine for you later."
"Hey, didn't you hear? I mean..." Janet just wanted to make another statement, but the boy in front of her had already started to pluck the strings, and this time the expensive Gibson acoustic guitar with a clear sound made a jingle. The short ding-dong-dong notes felt familiar to her, but for a moment she didn't remember where she had heard them before. She subconsciously said: "This, I know, um, it's..."
Simon plucked the strings several times to get familiar with the feel. He looked up at the two women in front of him and said with a faint smile, "Flight of the Bumblebee, for Jenny."
As soon as the words fell, the smart and urgent music was already playing on the strings in front of Simon.
The rapid-fire melody, which begins with a series of rapidly descending scales, immediately evokes the image of a nimble wasp swooping down towards the evil weaver and cook in the story. Then the melody begins to tumble up and down, just like the wasp. Move around quickly.
As the most famous piece of music in Russian composer Korsakov's opera "The Story of the Satan King", "Flight of the Bumblebee" has appeared in "The Green Hornet", "Shining Style", "The Untold Secret", etc. It has appeared in many film and television works, and with its extremely fast melody, it has gradually become a famous song for many musicians to show off their musical skills.
Compared with those guitarists who blindly pursue speed and cause a lot of mistakes and omissions, and even play "Flight of the Bumblebee" like a swarm of exploding wasps, Simon values the integrity of the song more, so he does not deliberately pursue speed.
However, the standard sixteenth-note tunes, supported by Simon's hand speed of about 170 beats per minute, suddenly flowed out of high-speed tunes, still instantly forming a wonderful freeze-frame scene around the street.
Almost all the pedestrians within the area covered by the sound of the piano were stunned for a moment, and then everyone focused their attention on a certain big boy with a focused expression.
The mother pushing the stroller stopped;
The couple who were choosing handicrafts put down their matryoshka dolls;
The boy who wanted to quickly pass through the crowd stepped on the skateboard under his feet;
The middle-aged man on the bench on the street removed the newspaper in front of him;
A certain crazy woman who wanted to continue to criticize also widened her eyes and pursed her lips tightly.
At this moment, the focused big boy in front of him seemed to be the center of the universe.
The tune played for more than ten seconds, and a young girl in fashionable clothes who was standing in front of the stall next to Simon seemed to wake up from a dream, and hurriedly pointed the super-eight-millimeter camera lens in her hand at a certain boy.
In fact, she had already passed by the boy half an hour ago and listened to him sing Joni Mitchell's "Big-Yellow-Taxi" with a very unique arrangement, which reminded her of her youth. And the rebellious girlhood.
In the New Year when I had just entered ninth grade, in order to prepare for the school Christmas party, I rehearsed this song by Joni Mitchell with my friends in the basement of my friend's house despite the pressure of my strict parents.
*He built a road to heaven.
*Build a parking lot.
*There are also boutique shops and pink hotels.
*And a variety of playgrounds.
*…
Joni Mitchell is such an admirable poet.
So many years have passed.
Suddenly looking back.
It's like a lifetime ago.
She liked music, painting, and movies, and dreamed of becoming an artist like Joni Mitchell. However, she later followed her parents' wishes and entered Yale Law School.
In the blink of an eye, it is already the last year of my doctorate in law.
During a casual trip or on the street, I heard the song from back then again, and many thoughts from my girlhood suddenly came to my mind.
So, I wandered around Venice Beach for a while, but unknowingly turned back, hiding next to me and pretending to be a passerby, hoping to hear this boy singing "Big-Yellow-Taxi" again.
For this reason, he took out the camera in his bag and wanted to secretly record a video of him singing.
Then I heard the conversation between him and the two women just now.
and the stunning "Flight of the Bumblebee" at this time.
Her name is also Jenny.
Standing nearby and listening to the boy say "Flight of the Bumblebee, for Jenny", the string in my heart was even plucked.
Many people on the street came over, and she no longer remained reserved. She walked over quietly, hiding herself from the crowd. She adjusted the camera lens in her hand and focused on the figure in front of her who was concentrating on strumming the strings. At the same time, she felt sorry for this shabby-dressed boy in her heart. My profound guitar skills gave me a small shock.
She had studied piano, and the top pianist her parents hired to teach her happened to have demonstrated this piece to her and explained many of its details to her. Therefore, she knew that "Flight of the Bumblebee" is not too difficult to play, but it is not easy to play well.
Moreover, compared to the piano, it is even more difficult to perfectly express this piece of music with a guitar with only a few strings.
But at this moment, the boy in front of him not only achieved this, he even created a strong image of a wasp flying among the crowd in the small world enveloped by the sound of the piano through a perfect performance.
Then, what surprised her even more was that after completing the first 70-second performance, the boy did not pause at all and immediately started the second time. The tempo was obviously faster, but the tune was not out of shape at all.
This should be more than 200 beats per minute, right
She thought to herself, one minute passed quickly.
It loops again and the tune speeds up again.
And then again.
On the fifth time, she felt that even if the boy's hand speed could not reach 300 beats per minute, it was probably not much different.
The sixteenth-note "Flight of the Bumblebee" has four notes per beat and a hand speed of nearly 300 beats, which is already a level that can only be achieved by the top guitarists. At this time, an ordinary street boy suddenly appeared.
Is this my imagination? Or, the paranormal incident in Venice Beach
Although it felt a little incredible, she still instinctively felt that this boy could definitely be faster.
However, when the last performance ended, the sound of the piano suddenly stopped.
She moved her gaze down from the side of the boy's face and found that the boy's palm was carefully pressing on the strings, obviously not intending to continue.
A series of slightly regretful sighs seemed to float in the air.
Immediately, all the people watching on the street applauded enthusiastically.
She also wanted to applaud, but found that she still had a camera in her hand.
So he quickly turned it off, put it down without leaving a trace, and gave him a guilty look. Although I couldn't record the "Big-Yellow-Taxi" I wanted, this video is definitely enough for me to treasure.
Amidst the applause of the crowd, the boy politely thanked everyone, and some people generously put several large bills into the boy's piano case.
She glanced at it, and the $100 that the woman put in just now was still eye-catching. However, the $10 note that I put down half an hour ago while he was not paying attention was already covered by other banknotes.
She felt inexplicably regretful. Although there was still a lot of cash in her wallet, she instinctively did not dare to step forward.
Afraid that he would notice her.
She is such an inconspicuous girl.
With this thought in mind, after a moment of excitement, the onlookers dispersed one after another.
I realized that I should turn around and leave, but there were still a few people there, so it didn't seem to matter if I stayed for a while longer.
Then he heard the woman who was very rude to him ask him in a stuttering tone: "Well, little boy, last time you said... well, which mental hospital did you come out of?"