Blogocentric Formulations

Andre's Acquisition

(566 words)

"Invalid Item"  | March Musical Monkey Madness Day #10

Prompt ▼

10.) Since we now know Andre was a pretty successful musician it begs the question: how did Andre get into the bar business, how did he acquire the Banana Bar?

Andre got into the bar business as a matter of necessity.

He acquired the Banana Bar specifically, as a matter of circumstance.

In the days following that first "world" tour with The Muse ("Andre's Tour" ), Andre was just a mild-mannered monkey with a portative organ ("Andre's Instrument" ) hoping to make a name for himself with his magnum opus, a K-pop inspired Christian folk metal epic currently entitled Breakdancing My Way Through The Bible: A Folk Metal Odyssey ("Andre's Genre" ). But once he received his first royalty check for $3.28, he realized he wasn't going to be able to finance his dream project without some additional capital.

As one might imagine, investing in a musical concept album at the bleeding edge of the intersection between K-pop, Christian music, and folk metal was a tough sell. Andre wasn't able to find anyone who would give him the money outright, and his attempt at a Kickstarter failed miserably. In retrospect, offering backer rewards like, "whatever's between the cushions of my couch" and "a Kraft mac-and-cheese dinner cooked for you by the visionary artist" probably didn't do him any favors. Nor did the surprisingly concerted effort by the various autocephalous archdiocese of New York in response to the unfortunate incident with a non-portative organ ("Andre's Termination" ).

However, with some support (financial, not moral) from Steve Winwood ("Andre's Teacher" ) plus a surprising amount of loose change raised from street performances of a metal version of "We Don't Talk About Bruno," "Andre's Song" , Andre was able to scrape together several thousand dollars to invest in a business that would create some income to help fund his passion project. That several thousand dollars got nearly cut in half when Andre got a call in the middle of the night from The Muse ("Andre's Partner" ) who needed to be bailed out of a Micronesian prison ("Andre's Legacy" ) for unspecified crimes against a Pelew flying fox, and Andre felt like he owed him one thanks to how much The Muse had helped him with his magnum opus ("Andre's Collaboration" ).

Long story short, Andre wasn't exactly able to be selective about his investment opportunities.

And that's where the Banana Bar comes into the story.

Andre, feeling a little discouraged at having so much of his hard-earned cash go to bailing out a friend and limiting his investment options, happened upon the Banana Bar while he was in need of a drink. He stopped in and was enjoying the best Rumchata Banana Cream Pie cocktail he'd ever had in his life ("Andre's Party" ) when he overheard the then-proprietor of the bar discussing some costly updates with a repairman she had called out. Money was tight and she had no way to pay for the needed updates. Andre, whose musical talents were rivaled only by his generosity, left the remainder of his hard-earned cash as a massive 50,000% tip on his Rumchata drink.

The proprietor rushed outside to ask why he'd overpaid for an $8 drink by about $4,000. Andre just shrugged and said that he believed she'd put it to better use than he would. She invited him back for another drink, and they got to talking. Talking turned into repeat visits, and repeat visits turned into friendship. Ultimately, when the woman passed away a couple years later, she left the Banana Bar to Andre in her will. He continues to own and operate the bar in her memory, while working on his music on the side.