1990: Starting from Baojia Street

While Zhou Yan was signing autographs, Zhang Youan pulled Harry Kane aside.

"Harry, we'll be heading back when the signing is almost done."

"Wouldn't we have lunch together at noon?"

Zhang Youan waved his hand, "I'd rather not eat."

The lunch was not tasty either. It was too formal and a waste of time, but too simple and shabby. It was unnecessary.

"Isn't this too rude?"

"There is an old Chinese saying that the friendship between gentlemen is as pure as water. Today, Y came here just for a simple visit, without any commercial color."

"I am very grateful for his coming. I have never thought about doing any commercial activities. I really like his music and our bookstore will always support him."

Zhang Youan glanced in Zhou Yan's direction and smiled, "I think he's pretty happy too. He's both a musician and a writer, so he must be interested in a bookstore like yours."

"Speaking of which, I'm a little embarrassed. Although I know Y is a writer, I haven't read his literary works yet."

"It's not your fault. After all, his works haven't been published in the United States, and there aren't many of them. But you should have a chance to see his works later."

"Really? Are his previous works going to be translated into English and published in the United States?"

"It's not a previous work, it's a new novel. It's not finished yet, but if nothing goes wrong, it will be published next year."

Harry Kane was quite excited to hear that Zhou Yan's new novel would be published in the United States. "Then I will be able to read his novel next year. By then, our bookstore will definitely promote his novel."

As he spoke, he gestured, "I will reserve a whole shelf in the front row for his novels. This will be the case for all six bookstores."

"Thank you so much. I believe that with the promotion of your bookstore, the sales of Shutter Island will definitely be good."

"Is the new novel called Shutter Island?" Harry Kane asked.

"Well, it's actually a movie script. The script was written a long time ago, and the filming of the movie has already started, so the novel came out very quickly."

"This is another surprise. Will we be able to see this movie next year?"

"Whether you can see the movie next year depends on the speed of the producers. The speed of the novel is easier to control. We can find a publishing company after Y finishes the manuscript."

"Haven't you decided on the publisher yet?"

"It's not urgent. It's okay to wait until the novel is finished before looking for it."

Harry Kane said seriously, "We can't be impatient about this. It's better for the publishing company to confirm it as soon as possible. This will give you room for bargaining and also give the publishing company time to plan a publicity plan. If a novel wants to sell well, it cannot be separated from publicity. If the early publicity plan is not done well, it will greatly affect the performance after it is put on the shelves."

Zhang Youan patted his head and said, "Oh, I forgot. You worked in a publishing group before, so you must be familiar with these things."

"I know a little bit about it... How about this, I'll help you contact the publishing company." Harry Kane took the task directly.

Zhang Youan talked for a long time just for this matter, but he still declined, "This is too much trouble for you."

"It's not a big deal, it's a simple thing for me."

"In this case, I won't be polite."

……

After visiting the Little Bear Bookstore in the morning, Zhou Yan and his friends returned to the hotel and went to the concert hall shortly after lunch.

Today's concert went very smoothly again, with seven encores and seven additional songs.

The next day, the orchestra rushed to the capital, Washington, DC.

Their route to the United States this time is New York-Washington DC-Columbia-Atlanta-Houston.

This route basically flies along the U.S. coastline and border, passing through relatively wealthy cities.

The reason why Houston was chosen as the last city was that Zhou Yan originally planned to fly from Houston to Mexico.

However, in the current situation, he may not be able to make it to Mexico. By the time the concert is over, the "Titanic" crew will most likely have gone to New Scotland.

The performances in Washington, D.C., Columbia, and Atlanta were all very successful. As the popularity of the two concerts in New York grew, the Piano Boys Orchestra's trip to the United States also attracted more attention.

But when people wanted to buy tickets, they found that they had already been sold out.

So much so that when Zhou Yan and his team were on their way to their last stop, Houston, they received a call from the theater, hoping that they could add a few more shows.

The reason for holding the last two performances in Houston, besides being convenient for traveling to Mexico, is also because Houston has a strong artistic atmosphere. I heard that tens of thousands of concerts, dramas, songs and other art activities are held here every year.

Houston's theater district has the second-highest seating capacity in the U.S., second only to New York City.

It is also one of the few cities in the United States to have a professional, resident performing arts group.

Performances in Houston usually have good box office sales, after all, there is a large fan base here. The theater wants to add more shows, naturally due to the enthusiasm of local fans.

Zhou Yan declined the theater's request with regret.

Adding a few performances seems to be a very simple thing, but given the current situation of the Piano Youth Orchestra, it is not easy.

There are a total of ten performances in five cities in the US tour, but there are only sixteen days in total. On average, we have to visit one city every three days, and one performance every 16 days.

This intensity is already very high for them. If a few more shows are added, the band members will have to rest for a few days in between.

This way, the process would take longer and if something goes wrong, they might not be able to finish until the end of the month.

But Zhou Yan still has to go to Canada and has no time to waste here.

Zhou Yan also thought about leaving the orchestra here to perform and going to Canada alone, but the theater might not agree. After all, Zhou Yan is the guarantee of box office sales. If he is not there, the audience's enthusiasm for buying tickets will definitely decrease.

We can try to let them perform on their own in the United States in the future, but the time is not right now.

After arriving in Houston, everyone rested for a while in the hotel and then went to the theater for rehearsal.

Not long after they arrived at the theater, several people came to Zhou Yan.

There were three people in total, one was Kanter, the director of the theater, one was Felipe, an official of the theater district, and the other was named Jabeur, who didn't say what he did.

Felipe and Kante came to see Zhou Yan. In addition to saying hello, they were also trying to get him to stay in Houston and perform a few more shows.

"Y, you are very popular in Houston. I guarantee that even if we add ten more shows, all the tickets will be sold out within two days." Felipe said with a smile.

"I think they can be sold out within a day." Kante is more confident than Felipe.

Of course, his confidence did not come out of thin air. In the past few days, the phone of their theater has been blown away, and most people are asking if they can add a few more shows.

There are even many people complaining that there are too few seats in their theaters.

The Houston Theater actually has quite a lot of seats, with a total of more than 2,500 seats, which is larger than most concert halls. However, the audience felt that it was too small, and they even compared it with Radio City, thinking that if the Houston Theater had the same number of seats as Radio City Music Hall, there would be more than 7,000 tickets for the two concerts.

Although the extra 7,000 tickets are still a drop in the bucket and many people still cannot buy them, the audience does not think so. They believe that as long as there are more than 7,000 tickets, they can buy them.

Zhou Yan could only express regret again, "I also want to perform more shows in Houston, but my schedule really doesn't allow it."

After being rejected again, Felipe knew that he could not keep Zhou Yan, and could only sigh regretfully, "It would be great if you could stay in Houston for a while longer. The 21st is the opening day of our theater district, and there will be many tourists here by then."

Hearing that they have an open day here, Zhou Yan was quite curious, "How often do you hold an open day, and what activities do you usually have?"

"Our open day is an annual traditional event, mainly for major troupes and theaters to promote their new season performances. We will also invite art groups from various countries to come."

Zhou Yan nodded, "Although I can't participate, the rest of the band can stay."

Felipe's eyes lit up. "That's fine. Your Chinese Embassy in Houston has also been invited, and there is a special exhibition area. Do you want to set up another exhibition area for you?"

Zhou Yan asked: "Can it be arranged next to the original Chinese exhibition area?"

Felipe shook his head and said, "I'm afraid that won't work. The exhibition area next to it has already been confirmed. We can only arrange it somewhere else."

Zhou Yan thought for a moment and said, "That's fine. Then please arrange one for the orchestra. If there's anything you need to cooperate with, you can talk to our band leader or the team leader."

"no problem."

Although Zhou Yan was not retained, the Youth Piano Orchestra was retained, and Felipe was quite satisfied.

The annual open day is a very important day for the theater district. Felipe has been busy with this since July.

Whether the open day is successful or not will affect the flow of people to the theater district in the new quarter and will be directly linked to his political achievements.

I believe that the participation of the Youth Piano Orchestra will attract more audience attention.

They chatted for a while, and Jabbar, who had been silent, suddenly asked, "Y, are you planning a new movie recently?"

There were a lot of reports in China that Zhou Yan was preparing for a new movie, but there were very few reports in the United States, so it was normal that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar didn't know about it.

"I am indeed preparing a new movie recently, and it will start shooting soon."

Hearing that Zhou Yan was preparing a new movie, Jabbar was very interested. "What kind of movie is it? Is it related to music?"

Zhou Yan shrugged. "In fact, although the new movie has a lot of soundtracks and interludes, the theme has no direct relationship with the music."

Hearing this, Jabbar felt very sorry. "That's a shame. I really like your film The Chorus. It is a good film that can cleanse the audience's soul. The music in it also gave me a lot of inspiration. I have watched this film many times and I can find new highlights every time."

"thank you for your support."

"In fact, I have thought about turning The Chorus into a musical, but the idea is not mature enough yet."

Zhou Yan looked at Jabbar in confusion, trying to guess his identity.

It was then that Kanter introduced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's work, "Kremlin is a musical director. Recently, The Sound of Music was performed here, and he was the resident director."

Zhou Yan nodded. It turned out that he was a musical director. No wonder he wanted to adapt "The Chorus" into a musical.

But Jabeur was only a resident director, which made Zhou Yan less interested. Generally, resident directors were tools and more like on-site managers, and their creative abilities were difficult to guarantee.

"Adapting it into a play is a good idea, but it's quite difficult. The songs I wrote in the movie probably aren't enough to support a complete musical."

Movies are different from musicals. Movies have many ways to unfold the storyline, but musicals mainly rely on music. If there is less music, it will feel pale.

There is a lot of music in "The Chorus", but it is not enough to support a complete musical.

"That's the difficulty." Jabbar nodded.

As soon as he saw "The Chorus", Kareem Abdul-Jabbar felt that the movie was very suitable for adaptation into a musical, but when he actually started to make it, he found that it was extremely difficult.

He needs to consider making the musical more vivid and fitting without destroying the original content of the movie. First of all, he needs more music, and secondly, he needs to spend more time on the set.

When he learned that Zhou Yan was coming to Houston this time, he was very happy and asked Kanter to bring him to meet Zhou Yan to see if Zhou Yan had any ideas.

In fact, what Jabeur thought was that it would be best if Zhou Yan himself wanted to adapt the movie into a musical. That way things would be simple and he could just let Zhou Yan write the script and the songs himself.

It was naturally easy for Zhou Yan to do this because he had seen the musical "The Chorus".

This musical was staged many years after the movie was released. It was adapted by the director himself and took a lot of time and effort. The music was also re-made and a lot of additions were made.

But Zhou Yan didn't have the mood to do these things right now, so he didn't want to talk to Jabeur about the musical at the moment.

He smiled and said, "Maybe in a few years, when I have time, I can consider writing a musical."

Hearing Zhou Yan say this, Jabbar became a little anxious, "It would be a shame if such a good movie is not made into a musical."

"But I really don't have time right now."

"actually……"

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was about to say something when Carter interrupted him. "Kremlin, I know it's a pity that such a good work can't be adapted into a musical for the time being, but there are always some regrets in life, right? Y is about to start rehearsing, so let's not disturb him."

"I'm sorry, I lost my composure." Jabbar sighed slightly, then smiled and wished Zhou Yan, "I wish your concert will be a complete success."

"Thank you."

After Jabbar and the others left, Zhou Yan found Fang Xiu and told her about the theater district open day in a few days.

"You guys stay here for a few days and attend their open day, which can be considered as promotion for the orchestra. Our embassy will also have an exhibition area in the art center, which should also promote Chinese culture. If they need any help, you can also help them."

Fang Xiu was also very happy to hear that Zhou Yan asked them to stay for a few more days.

Although they arrived in the United States early, they did not have a good time in New York before that. After all, the show had not started yet and everyone was on high alert.

It was different when the show was over, as they were able to wander around Houston in a relaxed state of mind.

"Don't worry, brother. We won't embarrass you."

"Let's go back and ask our team leader Zhang Lin to print some brochures, otherwise there will be nothing during the exhibition."

"What to print?"

"Just print some of the glorious deeds of our orchestra."

"I understand, it's just bragging." Fang Xiu said with a smile.

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes at Fang Xiu and said, "What do you mean by bragging? That's just showing yourself in a realistic way... Of course, it's not wrong to brag a little bit."

"Understood. We will make sure to keep our boasting within limits." (End of this chapter)