Chapter 26

The journalist had obviously not gone far with his research because he and she jabbered away in French and then he came back to me and asked me if I was a pop star as well in the USA. That led to more questions and answers before he was happy.

The next day I was in the hall with the orchestra and playing my part as the pianist most of the day. We were to have a full-dress rehearsal the next day and then a day off before we did the first concert on Friday evening. The next day I saw the dress that they had for me and could hardly believe my eyes. It was close to my bridal dress in design but was a cobalt blue.

I was gowned and sat at the piano after they had played their first half, a very nice interpretation of Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz which runs about an hour. It all sounded good to my ears, and the conductor agreed, so I was back into my day dress and in the hotel before dinner.

The following day one of the lady violinists, Louise, who spoke English, showed me around Paris. We looked at the Eiffel Tower but didn’t go up it; we went to the Louvre but didn’t see the Mona Lisa. When I asked, I was told that it paid to book ahead for both attractions, and to be in line around six in the morning if I wanted to be out by lunch. That was something the travel agents don’t bother to tell you.

“At least you can stand and look at the Leonardo for a few minutes if you do get in front of it. Not like London where they have a moving walkway that takes you past the Crown Jewels at the speed that they have decided is enough time to look but not inspect.”

Louise was pleasant and knew her city. She took me to a little bistro she knew for a good lunch. I asked her about the jazz club where I was going to play the following weekend, so we went there that evening as normal customers. We had a very nice dinner and listened to some good New Orleans jazz from an English outfit.

She told me that the English still loved that type of jazz more than any other style. When she took me back to my hotel, she gave me a hug and said, “Madam Grosse, you’ve been a pleasure to be with today. I’m looking forward to our concert and I’ll come along and see you play jazz as well. I think it will be an interesting experience.”

The next day I took it easy. In the afternoon, I spent some time in the hotel spa that the orchestra was paying for. I dressed carefully and did an evening make-up to suit the cobalt blue dress, had a light dinner and waited for my transport.

I was picked up by a very smart lady driver who ushered me to her limo and helped me in. At the concert hall I was quite surprised at there being quite a crowd outside. I asked the driver if she spoke English. When she said she did I asked her if the crowd out the front was usual.

She laughed. “Madam, they’re waiting to see if they can get tickets for tonight. There was an article in the paper this morning that said that you were a pop star in the USA that played concert piano for fun. I think that it has interested a lot of people.”

The conductor had other thoughts, asking me if this was all a “bit of a laugh” and I assured him that every time I played music it was serious, no matter what style or genre. He was mollified and wandered away muttering something that my basic French could understand, something along the lines of “derrieres on seats”. At least tonight might be a full house.

After I was dressed, and my make-up touched up, I stood in the wings and listened to the orchestra in full fury with the Symphonie and noted that the audience was well behaved and applauded well. There was no mingling here, so I stood with the rest of the orchestra for a glass of soft drink before it was time for the second half. I had several the members talk to me, many saying that it was a very good crowd. The buzzer sounded and they readied themselves to go back on stage. Louise gave me a hug and told me that I was the main attraction tonight, and to soak it up.

When the orchestra had finished tuning, they stood as the conductor led me onto the stage to some polite applause. He sat me at the piano and then went to his rostrum. There was silence and then we were in the Warsaw. At the finish I sat for a few moments until the applause swelled and stood to take a bow, waving to the orchestra and conductor to take a bow themselves. Then I sat and we were into the Number One, the main piece of my appearance.

After this we all took a couple of bows, and I was given a big sheaf of flowers on stage. The conductor led me off and the orchestra followed but the applause carried on. I went back out on the stage and sat at the piano and the hall quietened down as I started with a Chopin etude. They wouldn’t let me just leave it at that, so I did one of the Satie piano Gymnopédies and then stood, bowed, waved to the audience, and walked off to take the conductors arm and pull him back on stage to take another bow.

There was no party afterward; that would be Saturday night, so I was changed back into my normal dress and taken out a back door to the limo to go back to the hotel. On the way Louise stopped me. She told me that she had been ordered to come to the hotel in the morning. She was to look after me until the evening performance because the management was now very protective of their soloist, a stranger in a strange land. I had to smile at that because they had not cared one way or the other until we had wowed a Parisian audience. I asked her to join me for breakfast and to bring anyone else who wanted to spend a day with a strange American.

Next morning, I went down for breakfast and joined a table of five girls from the orchestra, all from the string sections, and all with French issue Sisters CDs that I was asked to sign. Three had good English and two were so-so and we could converse quite easily with Louise giving the odd French word for the two. I was asked what I wanted to do during the day, and several tourist places were suggested.

Louise told me that she had a budget from the orchestra as a thank you from the management, so I asked. “Will the budget cover six good lunches?” She nodded and I then smiled. “I’m here in Paris, the home of fine dressing and I want to shop. Can you girls help?” Well, you don’t ask a girl anywhere if they liked to shop without knowing the answer so, after breakfast, we hit the dress shopping district.

I gave my credit card an outing, first at a good lingerie shop and then at one of the high-end dress shops. I found a glorious sheath with a cowl neck and split each side to mid-thigh which would be good on stage. I asked Louise and the girls if I was to be in the same dress that I’d worn last night. I was told that this was what was planned.

“Right, I’ll take this one and wear it instead. Now, is there anything that you girls like?”

They were not keen on high end because there were not many times that they would wear it. We went to another shop which was more suited to their lifestyle, and I outfitted all five of them, and got another couple of outfits for myself. They may have been a bit cheaper but were all still Paris labels. We took our goodies back to the hotel where we all dressed in new outfits, and then went for a long lunch, fully intending to blow the budget.

They took me to a place that wasn’t Michelin starred but served good wholesome food with a good wine list. We spent three hours working through five courses. All the time we talked, me learning a lot about life of a girl in a French orchestra and the different roads they had taken to get there.

I told them about a bit of my life, and they were amazed at my early life, growing up on a chicken farm. I showed them pictures of Jordan and Alicia on my phone and then asked them if any would be available on Tuesday when the rest of the Sisters arrived, as it would be good to give them guidance. I had five eager volunteers to accompany me next week and I thought that it would be nice to have assistance to settle into the start of this tour.

After lunch we went back to the hotel and the girls all grabbed their shopping bags, hugged, and told me that they were looking forward to tonight as they had been told that a billionaire was coming along to see us. I laughed. “I’ll introduce you at the after-show party; he’s a lovely man and a patron of the Boston orchestra.” I had a lay down after they left, setting the alarm for five, just in case I slept. It was needed as the lifestyle and jetlag was catching up with me.

I had the new dress in the bag when I was picked up by my driver. She told me that the newspaper review of last night was very good, and that the management was very happy. When the dresser came in, I showed her my own dress and she agreed that it looked good, so I did that performance in the same colors but a different style.

It made no difference to the concert. It was packed and very appreciative. The orchestra was applauded when they went on stage and got a standing ovation when they had finished the first half. Everyone was pumped up and there was good applause when I was led on by the conductor, followed by an ovation after each piece and the encore. We did the same as Friday, all of us taking a few bows before the conductor leading me off and the orchestra following. This time, however, he led me and the orchestra back on stage and they sat as I did the Satie piece. We all took bows again before we left for the final time.

The party after was a very genteel affair but with a lot of jabbering in French that I couldn’t understand. I was, however, ably assisted by my five new friends who were able to interpret for me. I introduced them all to Algernon, Fiona, and their daughters.

Algernon confided to me that he was here in Paris to discuss business with a European company that he was thinking of buying. It was early days yet, and that he was having trouble getting his points across. Two of my new friends had told me this morning that they had done nursing, so I called them over. I asked them if they could interpret medical jargon and Algernon tried them out on a few words which they knew. By the end of the evening, they had a part-time job being his interpreters while he was in town.

I told Louise that Monday I was going to relocate to the hotel that had been booked for us with the jazz club tour and she turned her nose up, telling me that it was not a patch on where I was now. I had to tell her that we would be touring for over four months and that it was all a matter of cost effectiveness.

She had someone with a car who would help me move. There were several photographers at the party, and I was asked to pose with various local celebrities and the leaders of the orchestra during the evening. I finally called it quits and the driver was found to take me back to the hotel where I slept like a baby.

Next morning, at breakfast, I was given a few of the local papers and, although I could not fully read the articles, the photos were very nice. There was one of me on stage with the entire orchestra and bowing; and some with me and the local celebrities. I think that I was described as a world-class pianist as I knew that monde was world in French.

The waitress was smiling a lot as she served me. I rested all of Sunday, ringing home and talking to Jordan and catching up with my body clock. Next day, after breakfast, I packed my bags and went down to the lobby to wait for Louise.

When she arrived, she said that Etienne was outside with the car, and we took my bags out and Etienne helped load them. He was, I discovered, her partner and had taken a morning off his usual job to help me. The fact that he worked in a musical instrument shop and had rung to tell them that he was helping a visitor who had been with the orchestra, had helped.

He smiled. “Monday morning is usually very slow, but the boss said he would like it if you came by on the way. I think he might like to sell you a piano.”

We went to the shop, and when we walked in, I stopped. “This is slow?”

Etienne looked around. “This isn’t usual, I’ll find out what’s going on.” His boss saw him and called out something in very fast French and Louise chuckled.

I asked her what was funny. She said that the boss had told Etienne that all the people in the store wanted to buy a piano, having seen someone play one Saturday night.

I laughed. “Why don’t we help him out. See his boss and ask him if there’s a piano I can use and then you can translate for me while I ask questions.” I was pointed to a baby grand and sat at it to start doodling various etudes and a bit of Satie. The atmosphere in the shop changed and they gathered around to listen.

I asked Louise to find out who wanted a baby grand, who may want a concert grand and who would be happy with an upright, and we were able to split them into the three groups. The boss took over with the upright buyers because they were the ones who were after a bargain, and price was a bigger factor than quality.

Etienne and I worked through the rest, a smaller group, and he spoke for some while. There were some answers and some shuffling between the two groups, and he called over another salesman to talk to the baby grand buyers. Then he and I spoke to the concert grand buyers, mainly, I gathered, very rich people with big houses who had suddenly decided that a good piano would be the thing to have.

It became evident that having Madame Grosse advise them of what they should be looking at was enough to get their signatures on orders. They, at least, knew who they were talking to. I kept playing odd doodling’s while Etienne did the business, and Louise kept up a constant translation between me and the customers. We did push a couple into the baby grand group but, on the other hand, a couple from that group came over to us as they listened to my discussions. I think we sold about four pianos that morning with others going off to talk to their banks, once they had found out what the good instruments cost.

I had a bit of fun and, when we had satisfied the last of the bigger buyers, I went over to the upright buyers and discovered that those still unsure were that way because of the sound of the piano. I told them that you could alter the sound slightly with the pedals but the upright always sounded brighter because of the shorter strings.

To demonstrate I played a bit of Satie on the upright and then did some of my Sister’s music in ragtime. I, and the manager, explained that the upright was always better for family use because they were sturdier and easier to keep in tune as well as being more suited to modern or jazz music.

Etienne sat at an upright and played a piece which he said was Brubeck, and it was nice. The crowd thinned with the manager taking orders until there was one parent with a teenage girl who was being very stubborn. She didn’t want a piano; she wanted a guitar, and her mother was saying that no daughter of hers would be playing that “modern stuff”.

When Louise translated that for me, I asked Etienne if he had any classical guitars and if he did, could he bring two over to us. When the girl saw them, her face lit up, so I pulled a couple of piano stools up, sat her on one and put the guitar in her hands. She stroked it lovingly and played a few chords, and said something which Louise translated as, “This is what I was talking about, not headbanging music “

I picked up on the chords she knew and started playing tunes around them in Django style with her watching me intently. She had been taking lessons somewhere because she was quick to pick up some of the notes and we played around for five minutes until her mother said. “I give in, if this is what you want to play then you can have one of those. It does sound lovely, but I would prefer that you played classics.”

When Louise translated that I winked at the girl and started playing some Segovia which sealed the deal. Etienne’s boss went to the till, gave Etienne some money and obviously told him to buy me lunch because that was what we did before carrying on to the new hotel.

Over lunch I found that Etienne was a jazz fan and had booked for him and Louise to be at the club on Saturday night. Louise had not told him yet that I would be playing in the band there, just that she was entertaining a visiting soloist. He said that he was looking forward to seeing Instability because a friend had emailed that he had seen them in Cleveland, and it had been good.

I chuckled. “Etienne, someone once said that jazz was merely a musical joke. That Cleveland show, and by extension this tour, all started out as a joke played by the Stable Sisters on their agent. He took it seriously enough to send it off to friends and here I am in Paris waiting to kick off a tour. It really is a crazy world.”

He looked at Louise. “You told me that you were entertaining a visiting soloist the other day. So, who is this lovely lady who just helped me meet my whole year budget in one morning?”

“Etienne, Louise told the truth, I am the soloist from the orchestra, and I played the Concert grand. I am also, however, one of the Stable Sisters and therefore one of Instability that you will be coming to see.”

He sat back. “You’re an American pop star, in a Grammy nominated band once called the Pixies, just about to tour four countries and you are sitting her having lunch with us after helping me sell pianos for a couple of hours?”

Louise laughed. “I told you that we had a world-class soloist this weekend and that she was a bit different.”

He looked at me and asked. “Where’s the entourage, the hangers-on, the stylists and publicity guys?”

I assured him that we had an agent in the US, and I usually had a dresser when we performed but pretty much everything else, we did ourselves. We had started out that way and saw no reason to change.

Louise chuckled. “Etienne, sweetheart, Edie Grosse is a person who can talk to a street urchin or a billionaire and not change a thing. We met a billionaire at the party Saturday night, and he was just the same with a lovely family. I didn’t feel as if he was talking down to me and my time with Edie has been something I’ll never forget. Now, we must get her to the flea-bag hotel the jazz club has put her in so you can go back to work and finalize all those sales.”

He took us to the hotel which, while not as grand as the one I had just left, seemed adequate. Etienne helped carry my things up to my room, and then left to go back to work.

He asked me if we could take all the Sisters to the store one day between shows and that he would organize something. He said that he knew his boss would like the advertising and would supply everything. Louise stayed with me for a while as I got to know the hotel and the surroundings. It was only a walk to the jazz club, so we went over and saw the management.

They were surprised to see me. They said that they thought I would be coming with the rest of the band tomorrow. I told them that I had had a booking last weekend to play piano, and Louise pointed to a newspaper on their desk with my picture prominent. She told them that they should expect a bit of a crowd on Thursday evening. I found that the longer I listened the more I was picking up the words, especially when someone pointed to a thing they were talking about. I found out that our instruments had arrived and were waiting to be unpacked.

With the help of Louise, we asked them to book a bus to pick up the rest of the band, and to pick me up at the hotel first. I had a group of assistants who were going to help us get the band settled.

That done Louise and I went down to the stage and checked it out, not being able to get too close the other night. She was dismissive but I said it was all right for an intimate show but agreed that you would never even get the strings section into the space. She giggled when I told her that the conductor would need to stand on a table among the audience.

She and I went and had an evening meal in a little café, something the French do so well. The food was good and the management friendly. I asked about Etienne, and she told me that he would eat around the corner from the shop before he went home. We arranged for her and the others to be at the hotel with me when we were picked up and we had a little hug. She left me, still sitting at the café table with a fresh cup of the best coffee I had ever tasted.

Next morning, she arrived with just two of the others, the other two were busy with Algernon today. The bus arrived and we were taken off to the airport to greet the band. I hoped that their trip had been reasonable and was happy to see them come through the customs door looking reasonably refreshed.

I hugged them all and introduced the others who immediately organized porters for the luggage. Once we were all in the bus Pet asked me how the concert went, and I told her it was a good one. I told her that our helpers were all violin players from the string section, and we got into a discussion about playing in a French orchestra.

Emily remarked that they had been bumped into business class, which helped with the trip, but they were, she said, hungry because even business class food was hardly enough for a growing woman.

Marianne Gregory © 2023