Frankie Presto

ATTENTION

SEE the attached photos of novels in the TWO public gmails I have just sent from Myself to Myself:

FROM kishalay.sinha007@gmail.com [see the SENT box - Password: yzpeternorman - contact number 91-9854979861 or perhaps 91-9854057701] - Subject: "Ayn Rand - Mitch Albom"

TO ksinha1950@gmail.com [see the INBOX - Password: infinity - contact number 91-9854057701] - Subject: "Cynthia"

Thanks. Earthquake. (What?!!)

Kishalay Sinha [G]

Frankie Presto

"The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto" by Mitch Albom (author of "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", "Have a Little Faith", "For One More Day", "The Time Keeper", "Tuesdays with Morrie", "The First Phone Call from Heaven"); SPHERE / Hachette India / Little, Brown / HarperCollins; FICTION UK £ 7.99 IBD Rs. 350. For sale only in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

'Mitch Albom sees the magical in the ordinary' - Cecil Ahern [Ahern might be confused with Ahem. - G]

DEDICATION: To my uncle Mike, the first of many musicians in my life who made me say, "I want to play like that." [Mike - Michael - Archangel Michael - Adam alias Jesus alias ... alias some "hippie" probably. - G]

Frankie Presto: one of the world's brightest stars ...

[NOTES:

presto adj, adv technical = played or sung very quickly

presto n (plural prestos) [countable] technical a piece of music, or part of one, that is played or sung very quickly

presto interjection AmE said when something happens suddenly in a way that seems unbelievable or magical SYNONYM hey presto BrE: You just press a button and presto! A drink appears.

- Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English]

At nine years old, Frankie Preston is sent to America in the bottom of a boat with only an old guitar and six precious strings. His amazing journey weaves him through the musical landscape of the twentieth century, with his stunning talent impacting numerous icons along the way, including Hank Williams, Elvis Presley, Carole King and even KISS. [A senior hostel student at St. Stephen's College, Delhi, used to sing affectionately when he saw Me, playing on My first name Kishalay: "KISS and Love!" - G]

Frank makes records and is adored. But his gift is also his burden, as he realises, through his music, he can affect people's futures - with one string turning blue whenever a life is altered. Then, at the height of his popularity, Frankie Preston vanishes and his legend grows. Only decades later does he reappear, to change one last life ... [I vanished after My exploits in Bombay and have reappeared only decades later. - G]

Here's to all the boys who came along

Carrying soft guitars in cardboard cases

All night long

And do you wonder where those boys have gone?

                                       - PAUL SIMON

Excerpts from Mitch Albom: "The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto":

I HAVE COME TO CLAIM MY PRIZE.

He is there, inside the coffin. In truth, he is mine already.

I do know a great deal about him: the spells he wove with his guitar, the crowds he enthralled with that deep, breathy voice.

The lives he changed with his six blue strings.

I could share all this.

Or I could rest.

I always make time to rest.

Do you think me coy? I am at times. I am also sweet and calming and dissonant and angry and difficult and simple, as soothing as poured sand, as piercing as a pinprick.

I am Music. And I am here for the soul of Frankie Presto. Not all of it. Just the rather large part he took from me when he came into this world.

However well used, I am a loan, not a possession. You give me back upon departure.

I will gather up Frankie's talent to spread on newborn souls. And I will do the same with yours one day.

All humans are musical.

Why else would the Lord give you a beating heart?

****

Of course, some of you get more of me than others. Bach, Mozart, [Beethoven], Jobim, Louis Armstrong, Eric Clapton, Philip Glass, Prince - to name but a few of your time.

I cannot keep you alive. I lack such power.

But I infuse you.

And yes, I infused the man in the coffin, my mysterious and misunderstood Frankie Presto, whose recent death during a festival concert was witnessed by a sold-out crowd, his body lifting to the rafters before dropping to the stage, a lifeless shell.

It caused quite a stir. Even today, as they gather in this centuries-old basilica for his funeral, people are asking, "Who killed Frankie Presto?" because no one, they say, dies that way on his own.

That is true.

***
 

Did you know his first name was actually Francisco? His managers tried to hide that. "Frankie," they believed, was more palatable to American fans. The way young girls would scream it at his concerts -- "Frankie! I love you, Frankie!" -- I suppose they were right. Shorter names are more suited to hysteria. But you cannot change your past, no matter how you craft your future.

Francisco was his real name.

Francisco de Asis Pascual Presto.

I rather like it.

I was there the night it was bestowed.

(From Mitch Albom: "The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto", sphere; UK £7.99 Rs. 350.)

Sounds to Me as if it is a work of fiction written by Eve / "Virgin" Mary / Margaret / "Sister" Nivedita / mysterious UIUC girl "Cynthia" / UIC girl "Marian" (?) / Maggie (what is in a name a la "Shakespeare"?). I still remember My sweet young UIC classmate "Marian" (?) as she stood some distance away at the university with some of her sweet young female friends as she looked at Me with soft bashful yearning eyes as I was leaving the UIC campus with My (unsuspecting) younger cousin brother who was a junior student at UIC and Me silently saying to Myself: "No, My darling, not now, this is not the right time, maybe one day sometime in the future, but not now, not today, not in the near furure, My love." I think I left UIC soon after, probably because I felt I had solved everything there was to solve - death and disease and aging and aliens and immortality and eternal youth - many years before in Bombay / Mumbai during My sensational halcyon days there.

Does she think of Me as her modern-day "Master" a la Swami Vivekanada and that I am a Conman Who calls Himself an "Avatar" of "Swami" [= husband or lord and master] Vivekananda or of his "guru" Sri Ramkrishna (Ram + Krishna) alias boy Gopal? Both have breathed their last - permanently so. I am neither - and I don't run a cheating center/centre - I am He - G. Does she think she is a concubine among a family of concubines a la the ancient Chinese system? She is not. She ought to know that God is Not A Cheap Guy, unlike the late Satan with whom she was so close and familiar for billions of years. (Oops! Ouch! That hurts!)

Kishalay Sinha [G]

Also by Mitch Albom:

THE FIRST PHONE CALL FROM HEAVEN

One last chance. What would you say?

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN

A wonderfully moving fable that addresses the meaning of life, and life after death.

'A powerful book ... Albom has touched the lives of a lot of people he never even knew'  Time Magazine

FOR ONE MORE DAY

Every family is a ghost story ...

'A warm and tender tale'

Irish Evening Herald

HAVE A LITTLE FAITH

Will you do my eulogy?

With those words, Mitch Albom begins his long-awaited return to non-fiction.

'Albom has the ability to make you cry in spite of yourself'

Boston Guide

[Translation: God has the ability to make Eve et al cry in spite of herself? - G]

Kishalay Sinha [G]

LIMELIGHT

আমি প্রথম limelight এ এসেছিলাম TV interview তে on NE TV owned by charming Indian female journalist  মনোরঞ্জনা (wife of a politician - ouch! তবে ওর নাকি divorce হয়েছে - জানিনা এটা সত্যি না গুজব) about shocking corruption in I.T.I.s of Assam - তারপর আবার limelight এ আসলাম TV interview তে with Zarir Hussain on NEWS LIVE owned by a charming Assamese female (wife of a politician - ouch!) about corruption in RTI offices of Assam - আবার limelight এ আসলাম with My interview with FRONTIER TV / FOCUS NE owned by Manoranjana Sinh (অদ্ভুত বানান - Sinh - আর কখনো দেখিনি - Sinh - not Sinha - not Singha - not Singh - but Sinh!!) about the ARTIFICIAL FLOODS in Guwahati caused by simultaneously closing the sluice gate at Bharalumukh and not operating pumps. (আচ্ছা - limelight ছাড়া কি আর কোন light নেই নাকি পৃথিবীতে ? সত্যি কথা বলতে কি, আমি কোনদিন স্বচক্ষে limelight দেখিনি ! By the way, FOCUS NE TV news channel owned by Manoranjana বন্ধ হয়ে গেছে - ভগবান ছাড়া অন্যেরা corruption নিয়ে বেশী ঘাটাঘাটি করলে ওদের কপালে বোধ হয় দুঃখ আছে -- সাময়িকভাবে - তবে in the long run ওদের অজান্তে ওদের কপাল ত খুলে গেল - ওরা ত ভীষণ lucky - for example আমার ত মনে হয় Manoranjana has hit the jackpot ! ভগবান is always very fair and just - also, there is no such thing as something for nothing. (যারা বিনা পরিশ্রমে বেশী আশা করছে, ওদেরকে লক্ষ্য করে blunt message দেওয়া হচ্ছে নাকি?!! - G)

Kishalay Sinha जी [G, भ, आ]