"Don't blame me for not warning you, Alex. If little Lowry doesn't agree, if he says no, then this is the end of it. You're not allowed to bother him anymore. Take this lousy song and do whatever you want with it!"
The next day, in a moving Toyota Eagle, Tony listened to the demo, took out the cassette tape, and casually tossed it back to Alex.
"Fine, I'll figure out how to release my own single if necessary."
That's the downside of revealing everything to Tony first. Alex's original intention was a win-win situation, but now Tony sees him as an opportunist. Of course, saying he would release a single was just an angry outburst. In this era, debuting solely with a single requires a very tortuous and difficult path. Just to get strong recommendations from DJs on music radio stations of all sizes, one needs at least one of the following: connections, background, or financial resources. Putting aside the high quality of the music itself, the singer's ability to scheme and maneuver must be top-notch.
"cool."
The driver's 'muffler' uttered a single word as he parked the car outside an office building, inside which was the Chicago office of the Composers' Association.
"So expensive..."
Alex grinned as he looked at the price list on the coin-operated timer next to the car, stuffed in a few coins, and couldn't help but complain, "I told you I could come alone."
"That won't do. I have to keep a close eye on you now."
As Tony entered the building, he looked around and exclaimed, "It's so 'white' here!"
Indeed, the heart of the city is now almost entirely white territory. This is the real Chicago, a world-class center for academia, art, law, finance, business, and publishing, the birthplace of skyscrapers. White-collar and gold-collar workers in high-end suits and business attire hurry about, their pace of life completely different from that of the South Side.
As they approached the elevator, a young white woman waiting there saw the three of them and immediately took a few steps back, shifting her bag to the other side of the elevator and moving it further away from them.
"NAZI!" Tony muttered under his breath.
The elevator doors opened, and the three of them went in. The woman remained where she was, staring at her toes with her head down as if there were a flower there.
Alex sensed that Tony's anger was about to burst, so he quickly closed the elevator door.
"Look! It's the last decade of the 20th century, and white people are still the same! They assassinated Dr. King and locked down Area 51…" Tony launched into another long-winded rant about racial discrimination and white conspiracy theories.
Alex has gotten used to it now. At this time, his brain automatically filters out Tony's voice. He now has only one goal: to maximize the power of the cheat as soon as possible and improve his life.
The registration process was simple: pay the fee, leave your name and contact information, and put the cassette tape and sheet music into the file folder provided by the Composers' Guild. That was it. Alex confirmed with the staff again that the information provided by Goldman was accurate. Although this registration was not related to copyright, the date and content of the registration would be very strong evidence in future copyright ownership lawsuits, providing him with excellent protection.
"Looks like you're really serious..."
Watching Alex complete the filing process in an orderly manner, Tony's suspicions lessened considerably.
"Of course, I've almost spent all the money Aunt Susie gave me," Alex complained.
The three of them got out, 'Muffler' started the car, and drove directly to the building where Little Lowry lived.
Although Lowry is a rapper, he's not a kid from the slums. His high-rise apartment building, apart from being a bit old, has all the necessary security measures and property managers.
The three were led upstairs, where AK was already waiting at the door. After the usual set of Black-style greetings, he welcomed them inside.
The living room is large and has a classic-style carpet.
Little Lori lay lazily on the sofa, holding a guitar in his arms, clearly showing his displeasure. "Hey, APLUS! Come on! Let us see your music!" He waved to Alex and called out in a teasing tone.
"Uh, okay."
Alex took out the demo cassette and sheet music from his bag, and AK next to him took them with a smile. "Sit down, everyone." He pointed to the sofa, turned around and tossed the sheet music to Little Lori, and took the cassette to insert into the dual cassette recorder.
"Hey." Tony, seemingly oblivious to the awkwardness in the air, darted over and sat down next to Little Lowry, extending his fist and smiling warmly, "Thanks for giving Alex this opportunity, brother."
Little Lori smiled helplessly, bumped fists with him, said nothing, and just gestured towards the tape recorder.
His family's dual cassette recorder was the kind of model that black people liked to carry on their shoulders to the stadium or parties. After a bit of static, Alex's immature singing began. The song from the secondhand store wasn't long, just over three minutes, and then only the slight static of the cassette tape spinning was left.
AK turned off the recording.
Tony stared intently at Lori's face.
Alex's attention was entirely focused on another person: Little Lowry's manager. He had come out from the inner room as soon as the song started playing, standing in a corner with his arms crossed, listening intently. This was something he had asked Tony to do; he had promised Tony that if Little Lowry said "no," he would leave, but in exchange, Little Lowry's manager had to be present. Little Lowry might be kept in the dark about the new album's near-certain failure, while this manager, who had shouted "We're finished" back then, certainly knew their current predicament perfectly well. However, someone his age wouldn't easily let anyone see through him; he remained expressionless and unsmiling throughout.
"Um..."
Little Lowry thought about it seriously for a while. The sheet music was in his hand. He had just listened to the sheet music. Due to the limited conditions, Alex recorded this without accompaniment. The only background sound was the mechanical sound of a metronome. Tony did not give it a high rating after listening to it, but Little Lowry, who understands music, would definitely be able to see the underlying meaning.
"Drums and saxophone?" Little Lowry didn't say 'no'.
"Yes." Alex breathed a sigh of relief and pointed to the sheet music in the other person's hand. "Other instruments were used later on."
"I know, I know..."
Little Lori kept turning the sheet music over and over, muttering, "The lyrics are very interesting..." He tapped his hand to keep the beat and hummed a couple of lines from a particular section.
"Alex came up with this idea while browsing a secondhand store, on the very day we were filming the music video. Haha, what a clever little devil," Tony explained for Alex. "What do you think? Not bad, right?"
"The completion rate is very high." Little Lori raised an eyebrow and looked at Alex.
"real?"
Tony beamed. "I knew this kid's got something. He's the lead trumpet player in our school band, and all the teachers love him. The equipment for recording this song was borrowed from a teacher! He himself has very high expectations for this song. Guess what? Before we came here, we were preparing... preparing something for this song?" He turned to look at Alex.
"My brother, just shut up..." Alex sighed inwardly, but he had no choice but to answer: "For record."
"Yes, yes, yes, it's on file!" Tony couldn't stop talking once he started. "You know, when we were waiting for the elevator, we ran into a white woman, and when she saw us…" He mimicked the woman's awkward gesture of shifting her bag, "she acted like she'd seen some kind of robber…"
"Wow... filing a record..."
Little Lori smiled and handed the sheet music to AK, then lay back down.
"Racism! This is racism! It's NAZI! Seeing NZer reminds me of thieves…" Tony was still saying.
AK flipped through the sheet music and said, "I think this song isn't quite right for you, Lori..."
"What?" Tony was speechless, looking at AK.
"Well..."
AK paused for a while before saying, "This song is generally about buying second-hand clothes and items, right? Lowry, your persona is cool, handsome, young and fashionable. If you really sing about the fun of buying second-hand goods in such an exaggerated way... wouldn't... wouldn't those young girls... um... you know what I mean."
"Hey, AK, you…" Tony wanted to yell at AK, but he didn't have the confidence, so he turned to Lowry and asked, "Lowry, what do you think?"
"Um..."
Little Lowry shrugged. "On such professional matters, I respect AK's opinion."
"Okay… alright." Tony's eyes dimmed.
AK took the cassette tape out and handed it back to Alex along with the sheet music.
"Thanks." Alex smiled at him, feeling much more at ease than Tony. There was nothing more to say; it seemed he would have to find another way.
"Uh... wait a minute."
The manager, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up, "Alex? Is that right?"
"Yes." Alex nodded.
"Tony just said you're a trumpeter, but this sheet music is for a saxophone and drums? Why don't you… why don't you play the trumpet instead of the saxophone for us? Right here, we have a trumpet, and the drums…" He thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers at AK, "Go to the room and get the trumpet, and the African drum."