Dec. 13: Pianos in unexpected places

 

See that picture? Now that is a piano in an expected place. A grand piano on top of a cliff in Nice, France? How strange. How bizarre. How surreal.

That picture is a still from an opening of the 1986 movie Under the Cherry Moon, which starred, and was directed by, Prince. I am sure that my sister, who gave me this title, is not surprised that I am writing about Prince again but - Lord help me - as soon as she gave me that title, it was Under the Cherry Moon where the muse immediately whisked me. I now have an intense urge to watch that movie again. I don't think I'll do it anytime soon though because Christmas is approaching and it is necessary, therefore, that I watch On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Charlie Brown Christmas before I dedicate any more time to watching Prince romp around the screen while dressed like this:

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Something happened while doing some research for this note. I learned that my friend and fellow magician, Christopher Camp, died in September. It wasn't just magic that we had in common. We were also Prince fans. In fact, Christopher was such a fan that he used Christopher Tracy as his stage name. Christopher Tracy is the name of the character Prince played in Under the Cherry Moon. On the day Prince died, I spoke with Christopher via the miracle of Facebook web chat. He was crying, devastated. We listed to Sometimes in Snows in April together and I think that helped us both heal.

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I'm never surprised when I see a piano in a school, even if it's in a setting where you don't think a piano should be. I have learned that pianos are seldom relegated to the music room. I have seen them in classrooms, gymnasiums, lunchrooms, pretty much everywhere. 

I'm also never surprised when I see a piano in a restaurant. I usually just assume that sometimes, the restaurant offers musical entertainment, hence the piano being a mainstay. 

But perhaps I'm dating myself a little here. The pianos of my childhood have been replaced by keyboards, which (apparently) sound the exact same way pianos do but have the virtue of being transportable. I've no ear for music so perhaps the musicians among my readers can chime in on this, but I suspect that synthesizers and the like are poor substitutes for baby grands. If Bach or Mozart were beside me, I've a hunch they would dismiss the modern electronic keyboard as symphonic blasphemy.

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A friend of mine tells me a story about living in Newfoundland. One rainy night (it's redundant to describe a night as rainy in Newfoundland) my friend is out for a walk in a suburban Newfie* neighbourhood when he sees someone pushing a piano up the street. Curious, my friend asks what's going on.

"House party," the guy says. "They don't have a piano."

"So you're bringing them one?" my incredulous friend asks.

"For the evening. When the party's over, I'll push it back home."

"Hope you get some help," my friend replies.

"Be nice if they were helping now. Their house is uphill from here."

I have no idea how that story ends. All I know is that my friend will remember it for the rest of his life.

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The plot of Under the Cherry Moon was recycled from so many romantic comedies. In it, Prince and his sidekick play gigolos whose mission in life is to scam rich women out of their fortunes. Eventually, the two catch wind of a young lady who stands to inherit a $50 million trust fund on her 21st birthday. Prince decides it's time to catch the big one - he will win this girl's heart, marry her, and come into a fortune. Doesn't happen, of course. He winds up falling in love with her and, through a series of ridiculous events, winds up dying in her arms. It's a lame story with mostly terrible acting, but does it ever have a killer soundtrack and the movie looks pretty darned slick too. Critics hated it and the movie itself won five Golden Raspberry Awards, but it's not a complete failure because the soundtrack has the song, Kiss, which is among the top three songs of all time.

So there!