The Legendary Actor - Chapter 35

Overnight, the entire City of New York had become covered in a layer of green. This bright green of the streets and alleys gives the city a festive atmosphere, giving the illusion that spring is near, but in fact, it is St. Patrick’s Day.

The holiday, which originated in Ireland, has become a national holiday there and, thanks to the spread of Irish descendants around the world, has become a holiday in many countries, with the United States celebrating it since the early eighteenth century. Every year on March 17, the traditional colors of Ireland cover the entire city, and people dress up in green elf costumes, wear green top hats, wave Irish flags, drive green decorated platforms, and take to the streets to join the St. Patrick’s Day parade.

Rumor has it that this year’s parade in New York City will reach a new high, with more than 100,000 participants for the first time in history, and the scale will be unparalleled.

Renly had been looking forward to the day for a long time, even making the trip back from Australia, so when he woke up in the morning, he was eager to change into his festival attire, and although he stayed away from the green hat, he put on a dark green suit and slung on a tricolor Irish backpack. Looking in the mirror at his own slightly ridiculous outfit, Renly smiled with contentment.

However, in both London and New York, the atmosphere is very strong, and Renly has always been an active participant, really joining in the festivities – not just a meal, not just giving gifts or getting drunk, but taking in the atmosphere, experiencing the meaning, understanding the culture, participating in the festivities, and being a part of the festivities. This is the right way to open the holiday season. Otherwise, Valentine’s Day or Christmas is just another scheme to empty the consumer’s pockets.

When Renly arrived on Fifth Avenue, the whole world turned green, and the drumming marching band and the noisy onlookers effortlessly got Manhattan into the party rhythm.

After taking a look around, Renly saw a group of young people not far away, wearing green ponchos, green shorts and bright yellow T-shirts, and waving furry green hats in their hands, following the marching band. Without hesitation, Renly quickly joined them, raising his voice and shouting, “Where’s your clover?”

Shamrock, green dwarves and elves – the three essential elements of St. Patrick’s Day.

When they heard Renly’s words, they did not say anything, but turned around in unison and lifted up their cloaks, and Renly burst out laughing – only to see that each of them had a large clover shape printed on their ass.

The young people turned around in unison, smiles full of pride, obviously couldn’t be more satisfied with the surprise they had created, “What about you?”.

Renly didn’t say anything, and brought the backpack from behind to the front. Just seeing the Irish tricolor backpack, they cheered, and their eyes showed surprise. However, Renly didn’t stop. He opened the backpack, took out a big cloud of green like algae, and then … put it on his chin, which was a green goatee, and the effect was amazing.

Not only was it dense, almost completely covering the lower half of Renly’s face, but it was also very long, almost up to the navel, and the fairy tale feeling created by the imbalance in proportion brought a strong visual impact.

Renly chose the dwarves in green.

Needless to say, the young people raised their right hands high, and one by one, they lined up to come over and give Renly a high-five, giving Renly full marks for his costume. Then Renly joined the parade of revelers!

It was after noon that Renly left his newfound friends and made his way to Pioneer Village, but not for work. Today, the Pioneer Village would also be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with a party, where they would gather for lunch and then spend the afternoon decorating the bar for the evening’s festivities.

Entering the bar, one could see four tables assembled into a long one with eight freshly baked pizzas on top. At the end of the table were two large salad bowls and many miscellaneous staff.

Neal, dressed as an elf, had a tentacle headband on his head that was swaying violently from his Derring-Do dance, and he looked like he was having a good time.

Renly greeted a few of his friends, and then walked over to Stanley, who was sitting next to him, “How was the parade today? Neil was telling a funny story about what happened there, and I heard that there was a fruit man running through the streets today?” Stanley inquired with a chuckle.

Renly gave a chuckle back, “Is that all he saw? Well, wouldn’t he pass out if he saw two nude pixies on the street?” The ridicule made Stanley laugh out loud with glee.

Renly brought the carry-on backpack to the table and Stanley exclaimed, “Nice! Did you make this yourself?”

“Of course not, Nia in room 201 made it for me.” Nia, a middle-aged black woman who lived in the same building as Renly, was a really warm and down-to-earth lay, “Oh, here’s a gift for you, Happy St. Patrick’s Day!” Renly took a beautiful green card out of his backpack and handed it to Stanley.

“Are you Irish? How do I remember you being English?” Stanley received the card with an appalled look on his face. Generally speaking, St. Patrick’s Day was not a gift-giving occasion, and Stanley was just making fun of Ireland.

Renly shrugged and said wryly, “I don’t think this is a Valentine’s Day present, but if you say it’s a Christmas present, I’ll take it.”

Without missing a beat, Stanley then opened the card and tucked inside was a Polaroid photo of the gates of Pioneer Village, which Stanley recognized immediately, “Oh, thanks!” Take a good look around, “You’ve got a really nice shot of this doorway, wait, are you sure you shot it here?”

Renly knew that Stanley had mistaken the photo for a gift and pointed to it, “Are you sure it’s all the same in there?”

Stanley was stunned, then took his reading glasses out of his pocket, put them on, and took a closer look. He quickly noticed something unusual in the window, but he didn’t quite understand it, so he took off his glasses and looked at Renly again, “What does this mean?”.

Renly gave a helpless smile, “Do I have to solve the mystery? Then there are no surprises. I thought the point of the gift was the process of discovering the unknown.”

Stanley didn’t say anything right away, but gave it some serious thought, and his eyes suddenly lit up with a flash of light in his head, “So, you … are saying that you uploaded the song? ” Without even having time to wait for Renly’s confirmation, the smile on his lips couldn’t help but start to rise, the sheer and maniacal nature of his love of music as transparent and genuine as crystal.

“Yes.” Renly gave an affirmative response, “It took some time, but it’s now available in all major online music stores.”

Three days later, SongCast confirmed the originality of “The Ballad of Cleopatra” and three days after that, the song was registered with the U.S. National Library. You could find it now in iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and other major online music download sites for ninety-nine cents.

The whole process is really convenient and almost hassle-free, and it was completed smoothly in less than a week. Renly didn’t have to pay any fees to SongCast, because SongCast would be paid a percentage of the revenue from the single song, in accordance with the agreement.

What’s more, if Renly signs with a major label as an independent artist, his earnings are bound to lower, not only because he doesn’t have a big name producer behind him, but also because he doesn’t have a strong enough manager to fight for him. In short, he tends to earn less than the industry average.

But through SongCast, the contracts Renly signs are directly in line with the industry average for new singers, which may not seem much, but is actually a lot. No negotiation, no hassle, no pressure.

Stanley’s eyes glowed with excitement, but he didn’t know what to say, so he lowered his head and rubbed the Polaroid photo with his fingertips as if he was examining his most precious treasure.

To Renly, it was just a gift, with no special meaning; but he could feel that it meant a lot to Stanley, which made Renly smile, knowing that he had given the right gift.

“I hope you don’t mind that I used the front of the bar for the cover, and you better not start thinking about charging me royalties.” Renly’s quip broke the brief silence, and Stanley blossomed into a big smile, his cheerful laugh seemingly agreeing with that.