Sloppy Joe, Salad, Piano Don't Mix

Sloppy Joe, Salad, Piano Don’t Mix

How do you get a sloppy joe and bean salad out of a pinao?

Specifically, how do you get the gunk out before it dries and makes the strings and hammers inoperative?

Those questions may never have been asked before, even at the theoretical level.

They became practical problems Tuesday afternoon for Jon O. Heise, director of the U-M's International Center, He has now found the answers, almost.

It happened like this.

There weren’t enough seats available for all the U-M students and local residents who came to the International Center’s weekly Tuesday luncheon to hear a discussion of recombinant DNA research (story on Page 39).

One woman headed, with lunch in hand, for an upright piano that looked like a reasonable substitute for a seat at one of the tables. She set her lunch on what she thought was top cover; this was immediately followed by her exclamation of “Oh, Jesus,” in the most dismayed tone imaginable.

There's a top on the piano, but it’s hinged, and it was turned back, leaving the innards open to view,

Heise, also speaking in a dismayed tone, said late Tuesday afternoon, "We’re thinking of renting an industrial vacuum cleaner.”

Today, he gave this progress report:

“We dismantled the piano. We were able to lift out almost everything. The sloppy joe and the bean salad were relatively easy. The juice leaked way down. We’re still trying to solve that one.

"All but two keys on the piano work.”