The Flywire

atre. In the streets Tap was well known, but beyond the streets he was virtually unknown. It was clear that he and Dontae were a winning combination. Dontae continued to play as he walked towards the bar. Suddenly he lowered the trumpet from his lips, allowing nothing to be heard except the sounds of clicks from Tap's shoes. For twenty or thirty seconds Tap dazzled the crowd with a gritty stylish flair, before Dontae raised his trumpet to accompany him again. When I first met Tap he told me that he had been tap dancing since he was a child. It surely showed. His performance began at the back of the restaurant. But by the time the performance was done he had danced his way along the en- tire length of the hardwood planking. Every click, tap, and slide was amplified by the acoustics of the dome-shaped ceiling which allowed the sound to reverberate. "Tap, t..t…tap, click, click, click, tap, tap...slide, click-clack, clack click, click, click…….". He reached in his pocket and tossed a handful of sand across the wood to accent the sound of his shoes sliding back and forth. The harder Dontae played, the harder Tap danced and the more excited the crowd grew. The cheers could be heard in the lower level prompting some of the dinners downstairs to come up to get a peek. A crowd formed around the bar. They continued to cheer. Then, a performance which in my mind couldn't get any better, somehow did. It reached a climactic moment when Dontae and Tap exchanged folly, (a kind of exciting call and response like preachers do with their congregation). Dontae played a few notes and stopped----then Tap would click and tap a few times and stop. Dontae would play a few more notes and Tap would tap a few more times. This exchange went back and forth until it reached an unforget- table crescendo. The entire performance only lasted about twenty minutes, though it seemed much longer. Outside might have been freezing but inside the Grill was on fire. The energy was electrifying. Interestingly enough, most of the performance was impromptu; the two had done very little rehears- ing. It was further confirmation of just how gifted the two young artists were. Almost as quickly as the performance began it ended, with a room full of cheering people bringing it to a close. The house lights were raised as the two performers slipped back downstairs where they met us in the office. We congratulated them. The performance surpassed anything we had imagined. It was almost magical. Of course, we invited the two back to repeat the performance anytime they wanted. For the rest of the night we were inundated with people asking questions about the duo. They wanted to know how or when they could see the two perform again. Unfortunately, we didn't have an an- swer. We weren't sure if we'd ever get the two together again. The success of that night was pivotal because it helped us understand how much we could stretch the boundaries of the entertainment we provided. We proved that we didn't have to stick to the typical jazz or blues format. People were thirsty for something different, something compelling, and something memorable---that's what we gave them.

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