The Boy And The Bird Whistle - On YouTube
#121 - or skating around the kitchen table on roller skates as his mom made him a toasted peanut butter and banana sandwich. An “Elvis sandwich,” he called it.
Welcome to Before I Forget . . I’m glad you are here.
The Boy And The Bird Whistle - On YouTube
A woman at the park caught Joey’s funny bird whistle/”Mystery Bird” event on cellphone video and sent it to the local TV station where it drew enough attention that it made the national news.
Joey got a kick out of it. He liked being on camera, and it got him to thinking he’d like to make his own videos. He could use his sister’s cell phone; it had a good camera.
Jolene had the idea that they could put his speech enactments up on YouTube. Maybe make some money. Joey understood money. It was a good thing.
Dad could help them build a proper set for each video, and Joey could dress for the occasion. She had it all figured out, until she discovered Joey was too young to post on YouTube.
She and Brother Jack were old enough, but after discussions with Dad and Mom, Mom signed him up.
They made the videos in the clubhouse Joey and his dad had built.
It was appropriately called – The Boy And The Bird Whistle. A short simple audio recording of the beautiful, somewhat haunting bird whistle refrain was his intro and outro.
The channel took off. From his first video he got a substantial following. Enough to start monetizing.
He could recite anything he could memorize and even with his voice being that of a child, in his speeches and on video he became the person he was enacting. An actor should have such skill. “He’s a real ham,” Jolene said with a smile.
Joey knew the speeches he wanted to do. Jolene and Joey communicated best with each other. She put his costuming and set ideas together.
It was decided that better gear and production software would be worth the purchase price. Soon, they had what they needed. Lights, cameras, mikes, green screen. Jack handled the cameras and did all the production work.
Mom and Dad handled the business end. It wasn’t long before the channel was making a significant contribution to the household income.
LEARNING THE ROPES
Joey was enrolled in a school for autistics, and they had a tutor coming regularly to their home.
It was in the everyday back and forth of communicating with others where the problem lay. He couldn’t get out of his own way, what with the jumble of thoughts racing through his brain.
It was impossible to nail Joey down to a recording schedule, much to the consternation of Jack and Jolene. He was ready when he was ready. Not unlike many high-end actors.
Joey didn’t recognize the element of time. That he must coordinate his time with others in order to work with them.
He was making progress with professional help. The trick was to organize and prioritize his thoughts. He was being trained.
He was constantly asked, “Joey, what time is it? What time do we eat? When do we shoot our video? When do we go to school? How much time is left before we go?” He was starting to organize himself.
He was getting the hang of it. Painstaking as it was, he was catching on.
Joey was blissfully unaware that he had any communication problems at all. All was good in his world.
ON YOUTUBE
His channel racked up the views and was growing.
He was asked to give interviews on TV, and on podcasts. Though he could memorize something and speak fine, conversations on the fly were a no go, he was flighty, he stuttered, his thoughts out of order. Sometimes he would just clam up. Especially so with those outside the family.
They made good use of the green screen. It was easy to put in a background appropriate for the occasion.
The number of videos grew.
He orated famous speeches, - Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death,” Theodore Roosevelt's "The Man in the Arena,” Chief Joseph’s “I Will Fight No More Forever.” Speeches his mom had him learn in homeschool.
He did passages from books he was reading. He quoted the Stoics, Mark Twain, a scene from one of Louie L’Amour’s westerns, and another from a James Lee Burke detective thriller.
His video of him doing Elvis’s “Don’ Be Cruel” was his most popular. He had Elvis down pat. Suit, guitar, leg shake. The smile.
HAL’s shutdown conversation with Dave in Kubrick's “2001: A Space Odessey,” the second-best numbers. Joey’s voice came from within a bank of computers as he played the part of Dave going through the process of shutting HAL down.
His upcoming video will be a section from the prologue to “The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel,” from Nikos Kazantzakis. The epic begins where Homer’s “Odyssey” ended. Joey likes its poetry.
No video was very long timewise. A few were even short, and funny, like Rodney Dangerfield’s “Back to School” commencement address.
It was difficult figuring out just what was the sauce that made his videos popular. Joey played the part. A real actor. A natural. Did he really understand the depth of his orations, or perhaps the humor in what he was doing?
You’d be looking at a kid, all serious and in character, talking about subjects well beyond his years. It was funny.
After a shoot, he might be out back in the dirt pile with his toy trucks, or skating around the kitchen table on roller skates as his mom made him a toasted peanut butter and banana sandwich. An “Elvis sandwich,” he called it.
Afterall, Joey is just a kid.
Thank you for reading Before I Forget . . !
For my new Subscribers - a post from March 8, 2024,
WRITUS INTERRUPTUS
#89 - When I started my StoryLetter, Before I Forget . . almost two years ago, I thought I would post one story per week. Mainly memories. I didn’t give thought to how long it might continue.
Image by Me
Wow. Interesting kid. "He quoted the Stoics, Mark Twain, a scene from one of Louie L’Amour’s westerns, and another from a James Lee Burke detective thriller." That is quite a reading list if you ask me. I would like more of this story.
I definitely like Elvis but I don't think I could eat peanut butter and banana together. He truly was the king for eating that mess. Hehe. Joey strikes me as quite a cool, young fellow. I'm glad his youtube channel is doing so well. And I understand his frustration with time. I often lose track of it myself. So, he's not alone. Great post, James.