The Airplane Studio

by Bruce Grimes

Two people, George and Fred, met on the internet and made plans to go to Africa together. When they got there, George and Fred saw a pawn shop with ukuleles.

They bought 22 ukuleles and 100 pianos from the pawn shop. They performed a Buddy Holly song, “Peggy Sue,” outside the pawn shop. Some friends they met on the airplane listened to them perform. The friends said, “That song is an oldie! Play us a new one!”

So George and Fred put all their instruments on a cargo plane and took them to California, where there was a recording studio. They had asked the pilot where they could find a recording studio. The pilot said, “Give me more money and I will tell you.”

The pilot flew them to California, where they rented the recording studio to record a new song. It was a Jellyroll song, and they played it on their ukuleles.

Some people listened to it while George and Fred were recording the song. They had to play the song three times to get a version that was good enough to put on the radio.

Then George and Fred got $100 to play for a live audience in Las Vegas. They played inside the casino. The people there booed George and Fred. “Boo!” they hollered, and hissed like a snake. George and Fred threw their ukuleles at the audience. They were feeling disappointed that the audience didn’t like their song.

They went back to California and bought an airplane and turned it into their own recording studio. The ghost of Ritchie Valens came to the studio in the airplane. (His real name was Richard Steven Valenzuela.) Ritchie sang his great hit song, “Come On, Let’s Go!” That inspired George and Fred to write their own original song.

They wrote a hamburger song. It was hard, but they just kept working on it until Christmastime. Then the song was ready to share with CBS TV. They performed it on the air. They got poor ratings. They were having a tough time getting anyone to appreciate their music!

They went back to their own recording studio in the airplane and recorded all the songs they knew. They made it into a CD, but people threw the CD away.

George and Fred said, “When are we ever going to get a good song to support us?” They didn’t have jobs; they were hoping to record a song that would hit the Billboard charts.
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But they were discouraged. They decided not to record anymore. Instead, they bought a French fry restaurant. They played recordings of their favorite songs in the restaurant. Their customers loved it. George and Fred finally found a way to share music with other people.