busking (ii)

so we went for our audition this morning, but not before vocal complaints from cp about having to wake up in the middle of the night (read: 8 a.m.) to drag himself down to city hall. i was the one who did the planning, and there was good reason for allowing lots of leeway -- bitter experience has taught me that early morning (read 10:45) appointments are never made unless some form of breakfast (read: caffeinated beverages) precedes them. it was the golden rule in rhythm in blue, and it stood us in very good stead while i was musical director, even though i admit that i was cursed at quite a bit.

anyhow. leisurely breakfast, warming up, and we arrived at mita in very good time, only to be kept waiting for nearly an hour while the whatever censorship committee convened and someone named chris popped out intermittently to tell us about the "objectives" of the busking program (like, thanks, captain obvious. i had no idea that buskers were meant to make singapore livelier until you guys told me. i think it would be hilarious if the first objective was something like "to spread the message of doom and eradicate any last traces of joy from our nation")

it came to our turn just before noon. we were brought before the whatever censorship committee -- five very grey individuals who i suspect have not smiled since the 1980s -- and interrogated on our intentions (us, meekly, and in small voices: to spread christmas cheer). the singing took place in a cavernous boardroom, us separated from the panel by two tables and a yawning gulf of space. weirdly enough, they had all the other auditionees in at the same time, so there were a couple of people fiddling with instruments on our left and a skin artist doing henna tatooes on one of the whatever censorship people while we belted out o little town of bethlehem.

it wasn't our best effort. i will not defame cp through exposition of his musical transgressions, but suffice it to say that we did not really compromise on a key till the silent stars drifted by.

thankfully, the subsequent two-and-a-half verses went by with only minor incident. applause, etc., and then, of course, because nothing is ever easy when it comes to the gahmen (tm talkingcock), they asked us why jiahao was not with us. indeed, he wasn't, because the poor guy has just started his stint as a houseman in sgh and barely gets time off to eat, never mind traipse around suffering fools. we explained ourselves, and i pointed out, perfectly accurately, that i had spoken to someone on the phone about having only 3 people present and that they had said that it would not be a problem. the usual speech about gahmen policy got trotted out, and despite all protestations that o little town of bethlehem would not suddenly become a song of sedition with the inclusion of an additional part of harmony, they would not have it. we have no problems giving you the licence, they said, but there has to be a compromise.

the "compromise" came in an email later - they need to see jiahao in the flesh one evening next week from 6-7 to confirm that he is not an al-qaeda operative or a space alien with big laser cannons. This is, of course, an utterly impossible demand given that he doesn't get off work till the sun has long gone down.

so now i have to fight again. i honestly seem to spend about half my life struggling against bureaucratic stupidity and this isn't even really for myself - singapore could use carollers, and obviously charities could use any money we can raise. whatever - once again it has become a matter of principle (read: if i can't get my way, at the very least i need to show you how imbecilic you are). let's hope the pen is still mightier than the sword.