by Continued from YouTube here:
Work progressed slowly at first. Pam fit in well with the employees of the shop as well as the colorful characters who frequented the shop looking for the latest records or electronic music playing equipment. Most people recognized her from the PBS documentary, as by now it was part of a cultural icon just like the “real” TV series. Pam was intrigued with the music that played all day in the shop. She was especially enthralled by the chopped-up mashups, music that was manipulated far beyond what the original musician dreamed of.
As time went on, Pam started seeking out some of these mixed-up tunes online. Something inside her clicked. She bought some software and started making her own mash-up tunes at home for her own listening pleasure. Of course she did this privately, being a little embarrassed by her love for mixing music in such a way. She played a few of “her” tunes for Jim, who was fairly unimpressed because he really didn’t understand the whole concept.
A few months in to the project the painting was going well and Nate was quite pleased with the project. Sometimes customers stopped by just to talk to Pam and then buy something. Nate’s dad Ralph was particularly ticked because his prized mural was being fixed. Ralph even told Nate to hire Pam as she was so good with the customers and she seemed to have a working knowledge of a lot of the things in the store due to Pam’s musical side projects at home.
But with Jim’s tepid response to her tunes, she was dying to know if her work was really that good or not. Bravely, she gave Nate a thumb drive with some of her mashes to listen to whenever he “had the time, no hurry.” Part of Pam wanted Nate to never listen to her tunes.
Nate was blown away. Pam’s mashups were phenomenal! She heard stuff in songs that original artist might not have dreamed of producing. Nate asked Pam if he could play her creations during business hours. She enthusiastically agreed. Staff and customers loved Pam’s music.
Ralph was especially impressed with Pam’s creations. He reminisced that the mixes reminded him of the “extended mix” records they produce for DJs.
On a particular day, Pam was painting away, the shop was buzzing with activity, Pam’s mash-ups lifting everyone’s vibes via the speakers. But an old Grassroots tune was mixed in on one mix, and Nate kind of yelled at Pam. His reason was that Pam used royalty free tunes to mash and Nate was worried about getting sued. Pam quickly assured him that she knew the songwriter, Creed Bratton. She used to work with him, (for many years she added) at Dunder Mifflin back in Pennsylvania.
Ralph was in the store that day, and overheard this fact from the corner of the store. He couldn’t get over to the loud talking by the mural fast enough. Ralph is a HUGE Grassroots fan! Pam actually ended up calling Creed, now out of jail (it was a misunderstanding) and on a musical tour. Ralph and Creed talked for over an hour and Creed promised to swing by in a few weeks when his tour touched down in Texas.
The day of the big visit was magical. Jim brought the kids by; Michael Scott and Holly even drove down from Colorado with their kids to visit. Darrel even stopped by! During the festivities (Creed LOVED the shop!), Creed remarked that the music playing on the store’s system was wonderful. Nate then informed Creed that it was Pam’s stuff!
Creed wanted to listen to more, so Pam brought out her laptop. Creed offered to hook Pam up with some music biz people he knew in exchange for the privilege of being her manager. Somewhere in this moment, a space bar was pushed and a long tune that Pam was working on started playing. Forty-one minutes of nine chopped and mashed tunes. It was awesome! Creed wanted to use it for something…. And as it was yet untitled, Pam named it after her old co-worker and new manger Creed Bratton. She insisted on using “Beesly” as her professional name, as she thought using “Halpert” or Beesly-Halpert” would interfere with his work at Athleap.
While standing there taking in the moment, the packed store, Michael, Holly, Jim, Darrel, Creed, plus all the kids, Pam remembered the last line of the documentary and she repeated it;
“There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?”
That’s the fictional story of the song, Creed Bratton
Art Can Sell 
Leave a Reply