Mike – Did I see you on television the other night singing ‘Oklahoma’ with a young woman who was playing the bassoon in the lobby of a trade school? Or was I hallucinating? I know you’ve done many unusual things in the course of your career, but this was unusual enough to make me wonder if that fourth margarita was affecting my perception of reality.
Jim Fuentes
Hi Jim
I can’t say for certain what you saw, or if you were hallucinating when you saw it. I can tell you that, contrary to popular belief, tequila is not a hallucinogen. Like most other alcohols, it’s a depressant. So, while you may have been buzzed the other night, I doubt you were hallucinating. Or, if you were, it wasn’t because of the margaritas. However, if you happened to be in the Sooner State on the night in question, it is entirely possible that you did in fact, witness me singing “Oklahoma” with a young bassoonist in the lobby of a trade school.
The attached clip was recorded earlier this year, while I was filming some commercials with the people of Oklahoma Oil and Natural Gas. Now, if you are wondering what a bassoonist and a show tune have to do with affordable and reliable energy, I’m afraid there’s no obvious explanation. At least, not by the standards of traditional advertising. In this particular campaign, there are no actors and no scripts. It’s just me, getting to know the Oklahomans who provide us with the energy we need. One of those Oklahomans happened to be a brilliant young student named Reagan who is very passionate about the energy industry, and just happens to play the bassoon.
I actually met Reagan the year before, and talked to her at length about her interest in the energy field. Then, when I learned that she played the bassoon, and that her bassoon was handy, I asked her to play something. She obliged me with a few bars from A Symphony for the New World, by Dvorak, and I sang along. That footage wound up in a commercial, which led other people like you – people who may or may not have been hallucinating – to this page to ask why we didn’t do a duet around a better-known song. Many of these people – Oklahomans, no doubt – pointed out that no one in the history of the world has ever sung the titular tune from that most beloved and eponymous musical with a bassoon accompanying.
They had a point.
And so, earlier this year, when I returned to Oklahoma to film some commercials at a trade school called Central Tech, Reagan was waiting for me in the lobby, with her bassoon, to give the people what they wanted.
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