hunt hollywood

When Roger Griffin, the fat middle-aged owner of Simon's convenience store, saw this good-looking boy skillfully completing a series of tasks such as replenishment, inventory, stacking and cash register, he immediately felt that Simon had a bright future and readily hired him. over him.

However, in terms of salary, it may be that Simon has not been able to find too many jobs in Hollywood. Roger Griffin seems very stingy, and he is only willing to pay the most basic hourly salary of $3.5.

The only advantage is that the salary of the convenience store is settled every week, and Simon can get 140 US dollars every week, which is just enough for him to pay the most basic living expenses.

However, on the third day of working in a convenience store, Simon had to face a somewhat difficult problem.When he checked into the hotel a week ago, he had less than $100 left in his pocket and paid a $50 deposit.

just now.

The time to settle the rent for the first week has come, but the day for the convenience store to settle the salary has not yet arrived.

Chapter 008

The kind Spanish old man had already given Simon a lot of convenience when he checked in. If he left that hotel, it would be difficult for Simon to find a second better place to stay in a short time.

After thinking about it, after the shift in the afternoon, Simon approached Roger Griffin to discuss whether he could pay a week's salary in advance.

The owner of the convenience store who has the potential to pick up the skin did not refuse, but said that the salary of everyone in the store would only be settled once a week.Simon only worked three days this week, and if he had to settle in advance, he would only be paid for three days this week.

Simon didn't intend to grind his teeth for tens of dollars and Roger Griffin, and agreed readily. Three days' salary including the rest in his pocket was enough.As for the time difference next week, Simon also plans to find another temporary part-time job with more flexible settlement.

Then, Simon's straightforwardness made the middle-aged fat man who wasn't too bad after all a little embarrassed, and he rounded up a round number for him with a good conscience and paid 100 dollars.

Leaving the convenience store, Simon walked back to the hotel where he lived for more than 20 minutes.

This is a typical 'concave' motel layout, a white two-story wooden building, a total of more than ten rooms, there are several cars parked in the yard.

The afternoon sun in Los Angeles is just right.

Walking into the yard, Simon saw the hotel owner Diego Salcado, who was in his spare time, sitting under the eaves of the porch, playing and singing with his guitar in his arms, and seemed to be enjoying himself very much.

In Simon's previous concept, the guitar was basically an instrument for young people. He also played it for a while in college, and never touched it after work.But in the eyes of Westerners, where music is a part of life, there is obviously no such conceptual constraint.

Finding a chair and sitting next to the Spanish old man, Simon listened quietly for a while.

The old man was playing an old Elvis song, "Blue Suede Shoes."

If you don't consider the strong Spanish accent when humming, the old man's guitar level is barely audible.

Simon felt a little surprised to make such an evaluation in his heart.

His own guitar level in the past was only able to play "You at the Same Table" with one hand, and he was definitely far inferior to the Spanish old man at this time. Although the old-school tune of "Blue Suede Shoes" is completely out of Simon's taste, it is undeniably difficult to play.

However, after thinking about it for a while, Simon understood.

In the other twelve memories, there is still a top Hollywood soundtrack artist, and an entry-level instrument like a guitar is naturally at hand.And there are other guitar aficionados among Hollywood's multitalented elite.

The old man sang a song leisurely before turning to Simon and asking directly in Spanish, "Why are you back so early today?"

Simon didn't answer, just took out his wallet with a smile, took out the $100 bill from it and handed it to the old man, and also replied in Spanish: "Diago, this is my rent from last week, in addition, thank you Your care during this time."

The old man nodded, took the money, but glanced at Simon's wallet again, and said with concern in his teasing, "Without the $100, you will be hungry soon, right?"

"That's not true," Simon shook his head and said with a smile, "I found a church nearby, so I should be able to get some food stamps."

The old man laughed when he heard Simon's thoughts, and said, "I like you, a young man who is happy with the situation, but it's too impious to do so. Now, can you play the guitar?"

Seeing that the old man handed over the guitar, Simon was a little puzzled, but he still held it in his arms. He re-tuned the strings almost subconsciously, and then began to pluck it. It was still the song "Blue Suede Shoes" that the old man had just played.

As soon as the tune started, the hotel owner couldn't help shaking his head.The boy obviously knows a little bit of guitar too, just very raw.

However, seeing Simon's attentive appearance, the old man did not interrupt.

Then, the Spanish old man witnessed a small miracle that made him a little dumbfounded.

In just 10 minutes, Simon's playing turned from jerky to proficient at a jaw-dropping speed.The old man is also an amateur in guitar, so it is difficult for him to specifically describe Simon's guitar level.

However, the old man realized very deeply that if Simon's playing level was still one block behind his own 10 minutes ago.Then, after only 10 minutes, this young man's guitar level has surpassed his own by ten blocks, and he has even entered the room.

When Simon stopped playing, the Spanish old man immediately asked, "Son, have you ever learned the guitar before?"

Simon nodded. He was also very surprised by his performance just now, and could only explain vaguely to the old man: "I haven't touched it for many years."

The Spanish old man obviously couldn't understand what Simon's concept of 'many years' was, but he finally found a reason for his surprise.

"In this case," the Spanish old man took back his guitar, put it in the box next to it, and then handed it back to Simon, saying, "Give me your backpack, and take this to the beach. It's the peak tourist season now." , I think at your level, if you play there for a few hours, the food money for the next few days will be enough."

Simon just froze for a moment, then readily handed over the backpack that has been inseparable to him these days, took the piano case and carried it on his shoulders, and smiled at the old man with a bit of an inch: "Diago, Gibson's guitar is borrowed." Give it to me, and let me use the car. It's getting dark from here to the beach."

"You little guy," the old man shook his head, still took out the key and handed it to Simon, but deliberately said in a philistine tone: "Don't forget to cheer."

Los Angeles, with its long coastline, has a lot of well-known beaches, the most lively of which is undoubtedly Venice Beach, which is adjacent to Santa Monica Beach.

Venice Beach in summer is even more lively.

In addition to countless tourists from all over the world, the pedestrian street of Venice Beach also gathers all kinds of street performers, artists, painters, cyclists, roller skating enthusiasts and other groups, making the whole beach like a lively carnival.

After driving for more than ten minutes, Simon arrived at Venice Beach. He paid two dollars to store the car in the paid parking lot, and then set foot on the famous pedestrian street on the beach with his guitar on his back.

After a while, Simon stopped at an intersection on the side of the street with a fairly good flow of people.

Putting the piano case by his feet, holding the guitar to reconfirm the feel, Simon randomly selected Elton John's "Rocket man" from memory and began to play and sing.

After two lifetimes of being human, Simon didn't feel any embarrassment about selling and singing on the street. He felt that it would be even more embarrassing if a big man couldn't support himself.

The suddenly inspired superb guitar level unknowingly attracted the attention of passers-by.Although Simon, who is accustomed to being focused, rarely interacts with people around him, there are always tourists in twos and threes around, listening to songs for a while, putting down some change, and then leaving.

The setting sun began to fall towards the sea level unknowingly, and the orange light was projected from behind Simon, dragging his shadow longer and longer.

From four o'clock to now, it took nearly three hours, and Simon didn't feel too tired.

Glancing at the piano case with a thick layer of coins under his feet, Simon felt that perhaps he didn't need to find a second part-time job, so that he could spend his time on other things.

Thinking this way, he was about to finish singing the last song and call it a day, when a hand stretched out from the side above the piano case.

A very beautiful hand, slender, slender, painted with fiery red nail polish.

Obviously a woman's hand.

These thoughts flashed through Simon's mind, but with lowered eyes, he found that the beautiful woman's hand didn't seem to intend to put money in the piano case, but reached for the only $10 bill in it.

This is too much.

So Simon raised his right foot and stepped on it lightly towards the hand that wanted to 'do evil'.

The owner of the hand didn't seem to have expected Simon's movement, nor had Simon expected that the hand would not dodge.So, until Simon's right foot fell, a somewhat exaggerated female voice came from beside him.

"Ah, little boy, how can you step on someone, it's too hateful!"

Simon held down the strings helplessly, retracted his feet, and turned his head to look to the side.

Janet Johnston, who was squatting next to the piano box, was staring at herself accusingly, without the slightest sense of being caught as a thief.

Catherine Bigelow stood next to her friend with a helpless expression and smiled apologetically at Simon.

Simon directly ignored the crazy woman who was still squatting on the ground, and looked happily at Catherine.He called Catherine once after meeting with Jonathan Friedman last week, but unfortunately no one answered, so he had to leave a message.

I didn't expect to meet by accident at this time.

Catherine is still wearing a simple shirt and trousers today, looking very capable.

Simon looked the woman up and down, and said, "What a coincidence, Catherine, why are you here?"

Although the boy's eyes were not aggressive at all, Catherine still felt a little unnatural. She slightly dodged Simon's gaze and said, "Jenny's studio is here. I'm in Beverly this afternoon for a production meeting. Come and go back to Malibu with Jenny."

Simon nodded and said, "So, is it "Blood Corpse Night", how is the preparation going?"

"Casting is coming to an end soon, but the production company has some funding problems, and the filming may be delayed a few months," Catherine said, adding: "I saw your message. Also, Mr. Redman also called me, he was very optimistic about you, but he was very surprised by your age."

Simon smiled, glanced at his watch, and said to Catherine: "I haven't thanked you enough for this matter, since I met you, shall I treat you to dinner?"

Being ignored by Simon all the time, Janet had some inexplicable resentment in her heart. Hearing what he said, the woman immediately pointed to the change in Simon's piano case, and said jokingly: "Little boy, you don't want to use these Can you buy us dinner?"

Chapter 009 The Venetian Beach Paranormal Event

Simon finally looked at Janet Johnston, with a little smile, and said seriously: "Actually, I just want to invite Catherine alone, but it doesn't matter if you come together."

When Janet heard this, she immediately pulled Catherine towards her, as if she was afraid that Simon would snatch the woman away.

However, in an instant, she realized again, stretched out a slender index finger and continued to gesture at the piano case under her feet, saying: "I mean, with your money, you can't even open a bottle of better red wine. "

Simon plucked the strings casually, and said, "I won't drink red wine this time. I'm a boy who treats two women to dinner and drinks red wine. I'll be misunderstood."

Janet glanced at Simon's clothes, and said with contempt: "Who will misunderstand you."

Simon also glanced at the Hermes satchel on Janet's shoulder, and said with a smile, "Yeah, so, I'm afraid you two will be misunderstood."

Janet blinked her eyes a few times in a daze, and then she understood, and gave Simon a hard look: "Ah bah!"

Catherine just wanted to walk by without a sound when she stumbled across Simon on the street.

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.

Catherine had to meet Simon only after being forced to come over by her friend.

At this time, when Jenny used words to run on Simon, Catherine wanted to stop her, but when she noticed the faint smile on Simon's face, the woman suddenly understood a little more.

He is naturally proud, and she can be sure of this from the many details of the first meeting.

However, this pride is obviously not accompanied by a certain paranoia that stems from a deep inferiority complex.Therefore, he didn't feel how embarrassing his state was at this time.Facing Jenny's run on, he acted more like a mature and stable adult accommodating a naughty little girl.

Most of the time, isn't he accommodating the little girl Jenny?

Thinking about it this way, Catherine couldn't help laughing when she saw that her friend didn't seem to be getting any advantage in the verbal confrontation with Simon.

"Which side are you from?" Hearing Catherine's chuckle, Janet immediately gave her a dissatisfied look, warned her, and immediately turned to Simon.Turning her eyes, the woman suddenly changed her face like a fairy, without the slightest anger just now, she slowly took out her wallet from her satchel, took out a $100 bill and waved it in front of Simon, Putting it in the piano case, he said: "Hey, little boy, I haven't heard enough just now, let's sing another song. But if I'm not satisfied, I'll get the money back."

Simon nodded: "Okay, I just opened a bottle of red wine for you later."

"Hey, didn't you hear? I mean..." Janet was about to make another statement, but the boy in front of her had already started to pluck the strings, and this time, on the clear and expensive Gibson acoustic guitar, there was a chord The short notes of ding ding dong dong felt a little familiar to her, but she didn't remember where she heard it before, and subconsciously said: "This, I know, um, it's..."

Simon plucked the strings several times to familiarize himself with the feel. He looked up at the two women in front of him, with a faint smile on his lips, and said, "Flight of the Bumblebee, for Jenny."

As soon as the voice fell, the agile and rapid music had already danced off the strings in front of Simon.

The rush of the tune, which begins with a series of rapidly descending scales, immediately evokes the image of a nimble wasp bending down and rushing towards the evil weaver and cook in the story, and then the tune begins to roll up and down, just like the wasp Quickly dodge and move.

As the most famous piece of soundtrack in Russian composer Korsakov's opera "The Story of the Satanic King", "Flight of the Bumblebee" appeared in "The Green Hornet", "Shining Presence", "The Unspeakable Secret" and so on In a lot of 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 pursued speed and caused a lot of mistakes and omissions, and even played "Bumblebee" into a nest of blasting hornets, Simon paid more attention to the integrity of the song, so he did not deliberately pursue speed.

However, the standard sixteenth-note tunes, supported by Simon's hand speed of about 170 beats per minute, and the high-speed tunes that suddenly flowed out still instantly formed a wonderful freeze-frame picture around the street.

The passers-by within the range covered by the sound of the piano were almost stunned for a moment, and then everyone focused their eyes on a certain big boy with a focused expression.

The mother pushing the stroller stopped;

The couple who were choosing handicrafts put down the nesting dolls in their hands;

The boy who wanted to quickly pass the crowd stepped on the skateboard under his feet;

The middle-aged man on the bench by the street moved away the newspaper in front of him;

A certain crazy woman who wanted to continue to criticize also widened her eyes and tightly closed her mouth.

At this moment, the big boy who was focused in front of him seemed to be the center of the universe.

The tune played for more than ten seconds, and a stylishly dressed young girl who was standing in front of the stall next to Simon also seemed to wake up from a dream, and panickedly pointed the super [-]mm camera lens in her hand at a certain boy.

In fact, she had already passed in front of this boy half an hour ago, and she heard him sing Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" with a very unique arrangement, so she remembered that she was young and rebellious girlhood.

In the new year when I just entered the ninth grade, in order to prepare for the school Christmas party, under the pressure of strict parents, I rehearsed this song by Joni Mitchell with my friends in the basement of my friend's house.

He built a road to heaven.

Build a parking lot.

There are also boutique shops, the Pink Hotel.

and various playgrounds.

……

Joni Mitchell is such a poet to admire.

So many years have passed.

Suddenly looking back.

It's like an eternity.