Norma's Homemade Banana Bar

March Musical Monkey Madness

Prompt #1

Andre is a very accomplished musician.

1.) What instrument does Andre play, why, and with who has he performed?


André plays the Jew’s harp. A backstage hand, whose name doesn’t matter, gave André the instrument years ago while André waited for Barney the Dinosaur to finish recording.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew%27s_harp

André performed with the New Bumfield Symphony just last year. He played ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ on that little instrument. Then after that performance, he did the same song, but with only the sounds of his mouth.



Andre has very eclectic musical tastes, but he likes one genre more than others.

2.) What is Andre’s favorite genre? Does he have a favorite artist, Who and why?

Back in 2002, André discovered Steven Roden once in the Los Angeles library when he was making too much noise by crumpling paper. The librarian told him he reminded her of Steven Roden. Roden’s discography includes ‘Forms of Paper’, which was commissioned by the Los Angeles public library.

Well, André had to find out about that person. Seems Mr. Roden created a genre of extreme and minimalist ambient music called lowercase. Roden made some music by handling different types of paper and then recording the sounds as electronic music.



Per Roden, “It bears a certain sense of quiet and humility; it doesn’t demand attention, it must be discovered… It’s the opposite of capital letters — loud things which draw attention to themselves.” Roden states that he has made lowercase music since the mid-1980s. However, it wasn’t until 2002 that lowercase gained attention from the media following the release of the compilation album “lowercase-Sound”. Roden’s “Bell Is The Truth (Berlin)” is a perfect example of how beautiful and mesmerizing lowercase can be. For this particular track, Roden tapped light bulbs together in total darkness. He used their fragile glass surfaces and springs to create bell-like sounds. (Per Wikipedia)

So if you go into the Banana Bar and spy André on that table in the back corner crumpling paper, then rubbing light bulbs together, sit quietly and listen. He’s making music. Give him a polite round of applause. Then carefully back away. You don’t want to anger the artist.

When Andre was just a little monkey, his parents hired the finest teachers.

4.) With what great musician did Andre study?

André’s parents enlisted the teacher Professor Ludwig Van Deafinbacher to instruct their little chimp when André was just a small monkey. This famous musician specializes in classical music. He and André got along famously. André didn’t even mind going to his lessons once a week.

The only problem is that Professor Deafinbacher is deaf. He cannot hear any sound whatsoever. At an early age, André took that handicap of his Professor’s and used it to his advantage.

So, while Professor Ludwig Van Deafinbacher listened from the big stuffed chair in the corner, André played the piano. But instead of classical music, minuets and scales, André played Gypsy Jazz.

Now Gypsy Jazz has a definition of:
Originated by French guitarist Django Reinhardt, Gypsy Jazz is an unlikely mix of 1930s American swing, French dance hall "musette" and the folk strains of Eastern Europe. Also known as Jazz Manouche, it has a languid, seductive feel characterized by quirky cadences and driving rhythms.

So when André performed at his first recital, he played Gypsy Jazz instead of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and concertos. His audience of two, his parents, were confused at first. They thought André was practicing to become the next Vladimir Horowitz. They had hoped Professor Deafinbacher would train André in the classical manner. But the music he played was anything but classical. It sounded more like some music coming from the bar under their apartment, the Banana Bar.

That very night André stopped studying with Professor Deafinbacher. He took his skills to the bar instead. And that’s why sometimes, if he’s in a good mood and has had a few banana daiquiris, you can find André playing the piano at the Banana Bar. And if you close your eyes, you can almost pretend Elton John is in the room.

Andre often listens to one song over and over. (think about a toddler and "Baby Shark”

5.) What song and why?

André became friends with Barney the Dinosaur back when they were both young. Barney had just hatched from his egg when André found him in the grassy field. André took Barney home to mom and dad.

“Amsadlf! As;dlf!” And just like that, the two buddies were unceremoniously out on the street with nothing but their friendship. No food, no money, nothing.

The two friends wandered all over. But as they wandered, they worked on the idea of a song. A song about friendship and family.

I love you, you love me
We're a happy family
With a great big hug
And a kiss from me to you
Won't you say you love me too?

I love you, you love me
We're best friends like friends should be
With a great big hug
And a kiss from me to you
Won't you say you love me too?

Over and over they repeated this poem. Then one day, Barney put the poem to music. A passerby, a Mr. Jones, who just happened to know someone in the music business, took the pair to a recording studio where Barney recorded their song. Then Barney and Mr. Jones went off to a TV studio where the song was played for the children’s programmer. The TV station booked Barney for a year’s contract.

André watched from backstage as all this happened. He wasn’t asked to be a part of Barney’s act. So as the years passed, André grew older and further separated from Barney.

Now André and Barney never speak to each other. Barney lives alone on an island in Indonesia. André lives in the Banana Bar on Writing.com.

André sings this song often to remind him of happier times with his friend Barney. Sometimes in the Banana Bar you can hear him humming the tune. He is constantly lobbying for the jukebox company to add the song to the choices on the music machine. So one day you may come into the Banana Bar and find that André finally got his wish and Barney’s theme song will be blaring from the jukebox, much to the chagrin of Lilli and all the patrons who are parents of small children.

Warning! If you listen to this, it will become embedded in your brain. Like an earworm.


Since we now know Andre was a pretty successful musician it begs the question;

10.) How did Andre get into the bar business, how did he acquire the Banana Bar?


One day Lilli opened the Banana Bar for business. As she puttered about, straightening the bar, polishing glasses, bringing up kegs, getting the bottles of liquor, out of a corner popped a little monkey.

“Well, hello there! How did you get in here?” Lilli picked up the little guy. He had a note on his little flowered shirt. ‘This is André. Take good care of him. I’ll be back to get him soon.’

The little monkey chittered and chattered and snuggled up to Lilli. It was love at first sight.

As years rolled on, André learned to speak to Lilli in a kind of sign language mixed with some recognizable words. Most common in his vocabulary were the words ‘no’, ‘beer’, ‘banana’ and ‘money’. He learned to count, all the way to 100. He learned the difference between dollar bills and pennies.

So as he matured and Lilli needed more help in the Banana Bar, due to its success among the writing.com patrons, it seemed natural for André to start helping Lilli in the bar. He earned a little spending money, enough to keep him in flowered shirts and beer. Lilli paid the bills, he provided the entertainment, they both poured drinks.

One day André came to Lilli. He threw down a wooden box on the counter.

“What’s this little buddy?”

“Aasnkfd sdjfkd dolls”. André opened the box, out spilled bundles of hundred dollar bills. And a letter with a recipe for banana daiquiris.

“You’ve been holding out on me! Where in the world…On second thought, don’t tell me. That way when they come asking, I can honestly say I don’t know.” Lilli read the letter, then closed the box. She put it under the counter. “You, my friend, are now the owner of the Banana Bar. I’ll stick around to help you run it. I’ll keep on paying the bills. But you need to keep your rowdy family out, you know they just want free beer.”

“ASmduf. ASndkf. ASkdnf.”

“That’s right.Them too.”

So from that day way back in time past, André has been the owner of the Banana Bar. The wooden box is still under the bar, the letter is still inside.The banana daiquiri recipe is still being used. The bundles of hundreds? Well, they’re somewhere in the bar. Lilli and André aren’t telling anyone that secret.

Oh, and by the way, no one ever did come back to get André.