Catching Up - Pt. 1 - Opus plays ASCAP

So the kid was off, and it was a long and busy week. I halfway felt bad for him because he didn't really hang out much, but on the other hand he got to do some cool stuff.

Monday was a down day.

Tuesday, after I posted, we took the train into the City and arrived at Opus right at 3:30p. We then went by schoolbus to the Nokia Theater in Times Square, where about 12 students had been asked--on extremely short notice--to come play at this awards ceremony they were having for Quincy Jones; ASCAP gave him the Pied Piper award. If you click here, you can view 217 pictures of the ceremony, and our kids are not in one of them. Which pisses me off considering:

• Patty Austin supposedly called Opus that previous Friday to request the kids, and Opus began making calls to the kids homes to oblige the request.
  
• We get down there, about 4:30P, and the kids sat--quietly, mind you--in the darkened theatre for about 2 hours. They could have cared less to see Take 6 and James Moody rehearse, or Patty Austin sing, didn't have a clue who James Ingram was and cared even less about Roberta Flack. Onehalf and I, who got to go as chaperons, had a great time watching the rehearsal.
• At about 6:30P they call the kids down for a sound check; violins untuned. Roberta was a tad annoyed but didn't complain. Patty Austin told the kids--in one pass--how they'd come on and go off the stage, and who they were following. This is about when--or shortly before-the kids found out all of this was so they could play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." At Opus, "Twinkle" is the "baby" song... what every kid learns first. So some of the kids who'd been around a while--all of them graduates from the Sun's school and now getting ready to go into High School--were a little annoyed. A 4th grader, prone to severe mouthing off, said loudly "this is SO NOT worth it!". The sound check lasted all of 2 minutes.
• At about 7P, now back in their seats but this time behind a black curtain (so not only was it dark but they couldn't see the stage), a waitress comes around with a basket of rolls to "tide them over to the buffet". The 4th grader with the attitude problem takes two; the waitress tried to chide him and everybody ducked for cover... but I guess he was too tired to spew at her.
• At 7:30, they tell the kids to line up for the buffet. The performers table was in the back of the theatre and there were no tables to sit at, so the kids all sat on the floor. They didn't care; I thought it tacky. Food was pretty good; my Sun ate seabass and pasta. Afterwards the older kids snuck into the party area and mingled; one of the parents went and took pictures of celebrities. I was pretty annoyed by this point and didn't feel like taking pictures of celebrities. There self-importance and lack of empathy for a bunch of little kids really really annoyed me. And to be fair, the "real" celebrities were a little clueless, but the hangers-on and wanna-bes and almost-somebodys, well... I didn't want their picture. The Sun and the kids his age sat on the floor a little while longer; the Sun played his DS.

• The show started a little after 8P, no announcements; Savion Glover just came on and started to dance. And not for nothin', but the man can dance.

• Some cast members from Stomp came on after that, and the band came on. About 20 minutes later, our kids got up and played the most beautifully sweet rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle" you ever heard. And then they got off the stage.
  

• They stopped to take the official ASCAP picture, but I haven't seen any posted anywhere, so here's mine. And then they were put on the bus back to Opus. The professor met us there and so very kindly drove us home. The Sun Was on cloud nine... he loved getting up there in front of everyone in the dark.

But I'm annoyed... you'da thunk that after all their work and cooperation--the kids were like pros--their picture would be up with the rest of the perfomers from the show... in fact; another group of kids who were some type of chorus... THEY got their picture taken as they sang with Tevin Campbell (who looks very very old.. much older than his supposed age)