Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
So, we’re sorta on a bi-weekly participation schedule with the ‘Corn, But the atmosphere here in coastal Oceania is cold and precipetacious. Extreme cold expected on the weekend, which always makes us think about life in the Arcadian Era.
Be that as it may, jenne and ceayr host a most enjoyable ‘hop, the Unicorn Challenge. It’s a photo prompt bloghop but, unlike my other prompt-hangout, the Six Sentence Story, with a 250 word limit here, we can get all War and Peace on that there photo there.
The crowd was small. But friendly, in that ‘OK-I-don’t-have-any-plans-for-the-next-thirty-minutes’ sort of way. The venue was a country bar but the stage was set up in the parking lot. Part of trying to appeal to a wider audience.
We’d been together for a week. The drummer called and said, “I found us a singer. He’s amazing. He knows every song that ever played in a truck-stop jukebox. Plus I gots a bass player who doesn’t take drugs. Well, not during the day.”
We got together in a rehearsal hall. We sounded great. The singer was a natural frontman. By the end of the week, the drummer said, “A friend of mine is playing at the LoneStar Bar & Grill this weekend. He said we could play a set on Sunday afternoon.”
Sunday rolled around. As planned, after the scheduled band’s first set, we took the stage. Like we’d rehearsed, the first song was ‘Movin On’ by Merle. A simple enough song, I even borrowed a Telecaster from a friend. Best of all, it was one of the singer’s favorite songs.
In daytime outdoor venues, the chatter of the crowd stood-in for dimming houselights. I opened with the guitar lead. Looking to my right, the singer appeared to be auditioning for Madame Tussaud’s. After a 2:17 instrumental, we collected our singer and left the stage.
We resolved to make a list of questions for any new musician.
The first question would be, “Have you ever performed before an audience?”
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About clarkscottroger
Great take on the prompt. clark. Loved ‘friendly, in that ‘OK-I-don’t-have-any-plans-for-the-next-thirty-minutes’ sort of way’
Thank you, doug. half the fun of writing, for me, is stumbling across effective and/or expressions, descriptions
Flagged at the ten, right? Better luck with the next singer.
that is a true statement
Haha! Shell shock.
Funny stuff. Love it, Clark!
froze solid
Clark, I am hugely impressed!
You’ve told a terrific wee story in a highly entertaining voice without any of the sensational similes or magnificent metaphors that tend to be your trademark.
I love it.
PS Who among us has never suffered from stage fright, hmm?
Hey, thanks man.
agree… which is why I felt bad(ish) for the guy. that particular line-up was never seen again.
You didn’t use any metaphors or similies, the story didn’t need them.
Straightforward folk in a straightforward siuation.
The stripped-down style shows their youthful enthusiasm and inexperience.
And their acute embarrassment.
An experiment with style?
I’m with C. E. – I love it.
More serendipitous insight than experiment.
One more reason for bloghops being an excellent approach to learning to write good.
I like the metaphors and similies. For me they’re like painting or maybe film. If, with words, I can stimulate a predictable image in the mind of the Reader then I’m halfway successful. (Now, as to the emotional response of the Reader is another level entirely. Have such ambition).
The thing about this one is I had no idea for a story, then saw (here or somewhere) where a writer was relating a personal experience and I thought. ‘Why not tell the story of…’
(side bar: for me, while there’s no shortage of adventures among the interesting characters that I have been gifted with, I’m aware that there needs to be some emotional content. to this end I will, more often than not, ‘mine my past’. find trauma or triumph, play it back as often as necessary and let it shape my final choice of words.)
but this being a real event in my ‘real’ life, I noticed a lack of need to add emotion and focused on telling of the story. Hence the simple structure (total fan of Orson Scott Card. In Ender’s Game, and I once counted, the average sentence length was, like 8 words. damn! I also enjoy the pulp genre, Child, Parker and them. Same economy of words).
So, thanks to you and c. and the gang for having a situation that allowed me to find a path less traveled for my usual efforts.
Maybe an experiment is a serendipitous insight?
Whatever it was, it worked!
Memo to self: check out Orson Scott Card
that is very possible
(His most famous and, imo, accessible novel is ‘Ender’s Game’)
“Looking to my right, the singer appeared to be auditioning for Madame Tussaud’s.”
I can laugh reading that line but I wouldn’t want to have been you or your bandmates. Tough break.