Superman Attacks Piano. Caterer Has Kryptonite

So . . . a while back I showed up to play a very nice house party. Got some coffee, talked to the hostess, and finally visited the piano. Oops...the keyboard cover would NOT open. Something was behind it, jammed in tight. The cover wouldn't budge at all.

To make it perfect, it wasn't a simple 'slide-out' cover, but was attached with many tiny, very decorative brass screws. Not only did I have no tools, I'd be afraid to attack this woman's beautiful piano with a screwdriver.

Astoundingly, one of the catering guys was a carpenter and had all his tools out in his truck. Fortunately he wasn't intimidated by the age and beauty of the instrument . . . and he'd already unloaded all the food so he had extra time before the guests arrived.

With some effort we removed the keyboard cover, and Shazam! It was an apparently sleeping superman, with his bed, no less. The grandchild had been playing . . . not practicing...around the piano.

(Reminds me of the time, obviously many years ago, when we took a non-working VCR to the shop. It came back with a tiny toy airplane taped to the unit, and a note, "Recorder will not work with airplane inside.")

And pianos won't work with superman resting on the keys.

In this case, the kryptonite was the catering guy's willingness to work on this beautiful piano, and the lucky chance that his tools were with him.

Ten years ago, I'd never arrive at a gig 45 minutes early. Now, I always do, just in case Superman is there somewhere.