Music plus geekiness, best combo

[owlmoose]

I was getting coffee at the cafe across the street, as I often do on morning when I have no plans to go out, and someone was playing the piano. This happens so rarely that I forget that the cafe even has a piano, so it look me a moment to realize that the music was live. The song was also familiar, and it took me awhile to place it out of context. Then it hit me: it was the Hymn of the Fayth, from FFX.

By the time I pulled out my phone to inform Tumblr what was happening, the pianist had begun playing Zanarkand, followed by a little bit of Yuna's Theme, and then he moved on to other, less nerdy things (a bit of "Come Sail Away", and some other pop songs, some of the Top Gun theme, a touch of "Heart and Soul"), although there was also an attempt at Roses of May, from FFIX. Then, before I finished my breakfast, he was gone, vanished before I could compliment him on his musical stylings. A bit of random happiness for me, although it makes me a little sad, too, that he will never know that at least one person heard his musical choices and knew them to be a sort of fannish kin.

Comments

[sarasa_cat]

That is awesome. The world needs more cafe pianos with anonymous piano players playing video game music.

[cumuluscastle]

Ha ha. That is so much fun.

[stealth_noodle]

That is fabulous! Last time I was at the Reading Terminal Market, there was a guy playing Zelda and Castlevania music on his keyboard, so I kept getting up from my lunch to tip him and make sure he kept going. :) I really love that moment of "Wait, that is the sound of ONE OF MY PEOPLE."

[sepdet]

That's so lovely. Who knows, maybe the fan piano player will be there again someday and you can tell him.

I had that surreal sensation of "Waaaait....no, it can't be!" once when I heard Eyes on Me (FFVIII) bring piped through a grocery store's sound system, but then it was a Japanese grocery chain.

Live FFX in a random setting is so much better. (Also...Hymn of the Fayth, heh. That's what I use for my alarm clock music.)

[iamshadow]

It's like that really awesome moment when you're on a bus or a train and the mobile phone of someone conventional looking (like, in a business suit or something) starts ringing, and the ringtone is something incredibly geeky and fannish.

[owlmoose]

I agree. Maybe I should learn some tunes so I can be the anonymous piano player myself! (Although I last touched a piano about 30 year ago, so maybe not.)

[owlmoose]

I have long been tempted to make my ring tone the Final Fantasy victory fanfare for just this reason.

[owlmoose]

My favorite story in that vein was many years ago, back at the school, when I heard some familiar music playing in the hallway. After a moment, I identified it as the Luca theme. I went to the classroom where the students were playing it and said "is that the FFX soundtrack?" I earned many geek cred points that day.

[owlmoose]

That is really awesome. :)

(Reading Terminal Market? Are you in Philly? I went to college in that part of the world...)

[stealth_noodle]

I'm pretty far east of Philly, but occasionally I end up at conferences there. Conferences are pretty much just an excuse to enjoy the city, in my book. :)

[sepdet]

Does the original Star Wars Cantina music count? because that's what's on my aging flip phone. (Used to be the Diana Rigg Avengers theme, but it crapped out.)

[sepdet]

This would be awesome. Although thanks to AC, I now associate it with Loz in particular.

[geena]

I cannot get over how awesome that is and how wonderful of a start to your morning it must have been.

[iamshadow]

One of my best friends in high school deliberately bought a certain model of washer/dryer because it plays a tune that sounds very Zelda-ish when a cycle finishes, knowing that it was the best way to get her husband to do laundry.

[iamshadow]

Of course it counts!

My partner's ring tone was the Doctor Who theme for a while, then was Sherlock themes for ages. She's since got a second hand iPhone 3G, which she hasn't put any tones on yet, but whenever I hear the message alert noise, I think of Sherlock anyway, because in The Great Game episode, you hear it whenever Moriarty sends Sherlock a message on the pink phone.

My ring for ages wasn't fannish at all - it was the beginning few bars of Kiss You Off by Scissor Sisters, which is kind of awesome, so I may put it back on once I get a better phone.