April 2002.
I will not forget that month, that year!
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I'm not sure why I went to work so early that night. We were scheduled to play at 9:00 p.m. I counted the amount of people seated at the bar, and it was nearly full at 7:30 p.m.
Huntsman Pub is one of the busiest places to visit every night when in Bangkok... at least on certain days. It is an Irish bar located in the basement of the Landmark Hotel. A rectangular bar divides HP, as some regulars refer to it, into two halves. Tables and chairs are organized in a straight line up to the music stage on the right side as you approach the pub. The tables on the right side are more of a lounge design. If you wish to cross via the left side, you must climb at least three steps because that side is somewhat higher. A tiny dance area in front of the stage is popular with frequent customers. It features up to five television sets, and the channels are usually focused on sports, such as the NBA, golf, and tennis. But that night, barely six months after the World Trade Center bombing, everyone was watching CNN.
People were just eating supper, talking, and watching television. Some were virtually yelling as Bono started the first line of 'With or Without You,' courtesy of the in-house music, which is, by the way, one of my favorite U2 songs.
"Good evening, Noel, you arrived early," Martin, one of the regulars, commented. He is in his late 40s, standing near the cashier in his usual spot in the pub, wearing his distinctive apparel, either a Hawaiian shirt or a polo shirt, and drinking his favorite drink, beer. This guy is from Switzerland and works in the IT industry in Bangkok. I've heard he came there every night because he was courting one of the waiters, but I can't confirm that.
"Yeah, I don't want to be trapped in Bangkok traffic," I said. "How are you doing, my friend?"
"I'm OK," he said in his Swiss accent. "I'm in the middle of a business contract." "Didn't what occurred on 9/11 make the corporate world a little shaky?" he continued. "Good on you for liking what you're doing."
"Thank you very much, dear friend. Sorry, but I need to configure my keyboards first. I'll speak with you later ", I apologized.
I walked up to the stage and turned on my keyboards and amps. The Edge is now performing his famous guitar solo, which can be heard in any U2 song.
The bar manager came the stage and whispered something to me about the time Bono was singing another song on the in-house music, I can't remember the title, it had to be 'One.'
"Khun Noel". 'Khun' is a Thai way of calling a name politely.
"Somebody here wants to talk to a band member," she said. Since nobody here except me, I guess that's me.
"Okay, thank you". "Could you please tell me where he is sitting?" I asked.
"The man sitting on your right, the ones sitting alone," she said.
"Okay, thanks" I replied.
I dashed down from the bandstand and approached the man. He was dressed casually in a white polo shirt, walking shorts, and sandals. I assumed he was an American based on his appearance. I have several American friends who usually dress like this when they travel to Asia. Yes, he must be an American, and if I'm not incorrect, he's between the ages of fifty and sixty.
"Good evening Sir" I greeted him. He was wearing sunglasses and my first impression was that maybe he has some temporary eye problems, like sore eyes.
"Hello". "Good evening to you" he replied in an American accent, standing and extending his right hand. We shook hands and that was probably one of the firmest handshakes I ever had. I noticed that his left hand was holding something. Oh no! A blind stick! He is a blind man.
"What can I do for you?" I politely asked him almost nervously.
"Ah, I just want to have a little friendly chat. I've been listening to you guys for a couple of nights now and I must say that you are a good band." "I used to play keyboards in a band before when I was younger and before I got this little boat fishing accident that cost me my eyes," he said.
"Oh, I am the keyboards player," I told to him, "and sorry to hear about your boat fishing accident".
"Well, that was a long time ago", "my name is James by the way, James Avery," he said almost like Ian Fleming's James Bond character minus the accent. Just the thought of it made me smile.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Avery, my name is Noel Nicolas"
"Just call me James".
We talked about him for a couple of minutes. I've learned that he lives in California, I just can't remember now which part, Sacramento If I remember it correctly. Living with his wife in their own ranch. He loves to sail and owns a yacht, and love fishing. When he knew that I am a Filipino, he told me that he has a lot of Filipino politician friends and most of the time stayed with him on his ranch. He named a few, and I was surprised to hear some familiar Filipino names, like Salongas or Romulos, I just can't remember now. But the way he said it was so casual that I was not able to trace any arrogance if any.
His wife let him travel alone. He has a daughter and she is going to get married in 2 months. That was the time of our conversation that he got serious and excited, talking about his daughter.
"My daughter was lost, but now I've found her. And she is getting married" he said.
"I gave her everything, but she became a drug addict". "For how many years she struggled with her addiction and finally last month, she went out of the rehab and will start a new life" he explained.
I couldn't control myself thinking about my own daughters. How they are doing. It was a different story, though.
"Tell me, Noel, what can you give to somebody who has everything?" he asked. "I want to give something to my daughter, something special". "You see, I was a keyboard player myself. I wrote music and I want to give this to her as a present. I need somebody who could arrange that music for me, put in a CD and give to her." he explained.
"Would you help me?" he asked me, almost begging. "You can name your arranging price," he said.
"Okay, no problem James, I can help you, I can arrange that music for you" I replied but a little bit nervous as I didn't have an idea what kind of music was that.
"Wow, that's great!" "Can you guide me to your piano and I will play it to you"
I took his hand and guided him to the band stage and into my keyboards. As he was playing, I've noticed some stares from the regular guests, probably wondering what was happening.
James Avery was a natural musician. He got troubles with some notes, but who in his present state can play the piano perfectly considering that he is blind, unless of course he was born blind like Stevie Wonder. Anyway, he played the music beautifully and I wrote the melody on my music sheets while he was playing it. After almost thirty minutes, we were done.
"Allison Song!" he said.
"Excuse me, what is that"? I asked apologetically. My left ear was really bothering me.
"Allison Song!" "That is the title of that music". "My daughter's name is Allison".
"Beautiful music for a beautiful name", I told him.
"Okay", I said. "Please come back tomorrow evening and I will give you the CD". "I will arrange this music when I get home later after our gig".
"That's great!" "By the way, can I get it around this time tomorrow?" "I know it is a little bit early for you, but I have to be at the airport early tomorrow evening," he said.
"No problem" I replied. "I will be here same time tomorrow evening".
"Thank you very much and see again tomorrow," he said. And he's gone walking slowly on the way out of the bar with his walking stick.
"Who's that guy"? Martin asked.
"Just a guest," I said.
"Okay, do you want to drink with me before you start"?
"Sure, I would love to, beer is fine" I replied.
We talked about anything, politics, golf (tiger woods), sometimes he will just leave me alone in the bar and will flirt with the waitresses. By that time, almost all of my bandmates were on the stage and Bono is singing 'Beautiful Day', I just can't stop thinking about James Avery. Not because of the money that he will pay me for his music, but I guess because of his happiness in sharing his music with his daughter.
We finished playing that night at 1:00 am. Nothing much happened that night except some drunks who danced on the dance floor. Come to think of it, our job is to entertain people, but most of the time, some crazy things happen and we are the ones who got entertained.
After a few minutes of socializing, I went home. While on the taxi, I've been thinking about Mr. Avery and his music. The musical arrangement fills my brain on the way home.
I arrived at our apartment around 2:00 am. During that year, I and Nina were living in one bedroom apartment near Bangkok General Hospital. I've always like the idea of a separate bedroom and living room, giving me privacy in making music.
I opened my PC and ran my music software, PG Music's PowerTracks Pro. Love this software. I can easily make MIDI (Musical Instruments Digital Interface), even without a real music keyboard connected.
Well, nobody knows it but it is one of my secrets in music production and winning the 3rd place in 1997 First Online MIDI Contest sponsored by Creative Labs will prove it.
Anyway, that's another story.
I was so inspired writing the musical arrangement of 'Allison Song', finished the whole music around 4:45 am, almost fifteen minutes before Nina woke up. I burned the CD and wrote 'Allison Song' at the CD cover and went to bed.
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By 7:00 pm, Hunstman Pub was almost full. The regular guests were taking advantage of the Happy Hour promotions.
Of course, Martin is already there talking to some people or his clients. Maybe the contract is in the process of being signed. Good luck to him.
Like he said, James Avery was waiting for me near the stage.
"Mr. Avery, Khun Noel is already here" I heard the bar manager told him.
"Good evening James," I said extending my right hand reaching for his left as his walking stick was on his right hand.
"How are you?"
"I'm good Noel" he replied.
"As I promised, I made musical arrangement for your music 'Allison Song', here is the audio CD," I said giving him the CD.
"Thank you very much," he said. "By the way, how much do I owe you'? he asked.
"You better listen to it first," I said.
"Okay, I will go back to my room and listen to it," he said. "See you later", he added.
He left and I went up to the stage and started preparing my keyboards.
I looked up at the bar and saw Martin smiling at me and signaling me If I want to drink something. I nodded and he asked the waiter to give me something to drink.
Not even ten minutes, I saw James walked back to the bar. I knew it was not even for ten minutes because the second song in the in-house music was not yet finished when he came back.
I went down the stage to see him. I am not exaggerating but I saw him almost running in my direction. He almost hugged me when he said how beautiful the music was. Hiding behind those sunglasses, you cannot easily tell if his eyes were crying but judging the way he talked, yes, he was.
He was so thankful and was really amazed how I arranged and mixed that music so professionally. But he was speechless when I answered his question about how much he should pay me.
"You owe me nothing," I said to him. "Consider that as a gift from a father to a father." "I am glad that you found your daughter again" "That's my gift to both of you".
He was crying as he hugged me and we didn't talk for a while.
"Look me up when you have a chance to go to the US," he told me after a couple of minutes of silence. He gave me his address, telephone number, and email address. I gave him my email address.
"Thanks a lot", "I will" I replied almost asking if a US visa is out of the question.
We said goodbye, then he left.
After two months, on a regular, not so special day, I received an email from Mr. Avery. I knew it was from him because the letters were so big. That was the biggest email font I've read, hehe.
He told me the story about how 'Allison Song' was played. It was a surprise gift from him to his daughter. He told me that Allison was married in their backyard garden. Then 'Allison Song' was played when he walked her to the altar whispering that the song was his gift to her. Then during the wedding party, he was so proud of telling everyone about me and that little musical arrangement which they kept playing many times.
We exchanged many emails after that. Talking about our lives. He always reminded me that any chance I could visit the US, I must stay with them.
Unfortunately, I closed my old email account and got a new one from Google. I was not able to save all of his emails. I don't even remember his email address. I've searched for him but how many James Avery are living in the US now? I know he is also wondering what happened to me. Maybe he is trying to contact or search for me as well.
But I've learned something from that experience. We can make a difference in other people's lives. For him, that was the special gift for her daughter. Money is not an issue. He can pay if I've asked. But for me, money is not important if we can make other people happy in doing other things money can't buy.
It's been more than 16 years. Too bad I cannot find the audio file of 'Allison Song'. I just want to hear it again, it's beautiful melody and the way my inspired talent arranged that music.
But maybe 'Allison Song' was not meant to be found or to be heard by other people but it's owner. What I really want to do now after so many years is to just say, Hello Mr. Avery!
