This Speech is My Recital
Who: NPCs, Derek, Maddy What: A “Singing” Telegram for Derek When: November 1, 9:00 PM Where: Derek’s T-Shirt Stand, Las Vegas
“Yo, homie! I got a message for Derek.”
It was 9:00 on a Monday night. Things were starting to pick up outside the Strat, where Derek sold t-shirts to tourists looking for souvenirs from vacation. Since it was early in the week, he wasn’t likely to get crushed with customers, which made it an opportune time for an interruption of the singing telegram variety. Except this was no ordinary telegram. The crew who had assembled in front of the vampire were outfitted in retro tracksuits, midriff tees, sweatbands, and high tops, and they were fully in character.
One stepped forward and spread a flattened cardboard box in front of the t-shirt stand. Another hit play on a silver-gray Sanyo Boombox Model M9705. As the opening cht-cht-cht-cht of Run-D.M.C.’s ‘Tricky’ blasted across the pavement, a b-boy executed a toprock and then dropped into a three-step while his friends circled up.
‘This speech is my recital, I think it’s very vital To rock (a rhyme), that’s right (on time) It’s Tricky is the title, here we go!’
The entire performance lasted about three minutes. At the end, a b-girl held up a spray-painted sign made with stencil letters: