Pianos

Partnerships between pop superstars usually deliver less than the sum of their talents. Nostalgia isn't always enough, but a surprising collaboration between Elton John and Billy Joel, who play nothing more than their best-known hits from the '70s and '80s, has been going strong since 1995. That was enough to land the singer-pianists in front of a full house at the Honda Center in Anaheim on Saturday as part of their latest "Face 2 Face" tour.

When the Necks take the stage at REDCAT on Thursday night, there will surely be some confused looks darting around the audience before the performance begins. If the Australian piano trio's pattern holds -- as it has for the last 22 years -- the musicians will stand over their instruments, heads bowed, waiting for complete silence to fill the room. No one moves, no one makes a sound, until inspiration strikes.

A 59-year-old piano teacher who fled to Germany in 2006 to avoid prosecution pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually assaulting three young girls in their homes or at a La Mirada music school. In April 2006, Daniel Peter Gaudin was charged with molesting a girl during lessons at her home starting in late 2004. The 7-year-old turned 8 in the course of the alleged abuse. Gaudin scheduled the lessons for times when her parents were away, prosecutors say. Free on bail in that case, he fled to Germany and missed a court appearance in late 2006, authorities said.

Dennis Hagerty, president of Keyboard Concepts, which runs David L. Abell Fine Pianos on Beverly Boulevard, foresaw the recession about two years ago. "We always feel it first in our business," he said, adding that he's had to let go of or not replace about six employees in a company of roughly 35, and sales in each of his five stores have dipped by 20% to 40%.

Renzo Piano, the Italian architect who designed the New York Times building and co-designed Paris' Pompidou Center, is set to build a new gateway to Valletta, the capital of Malta, and rebuild the city's opera house, which was bombed in 1942. The two projects will cost between $76 million and $101 million and take about four years to complete, Maltese Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said. The former opera house will be reconstructed to serve as the new parliament building. The projects are part of a plan for the regeneration of Valletta that also involves refurbishing the city's palaces and forts, Gonzi said.

Regarding your article about the toy piano ["Plaything for the Serious Player," by Rick Schultz, Nov. 9], I recall during a visit to the original Motown studio-museum in Detroit years ago that among the battered equipment was a toy piano. The lady who ran the place, Esther Gordy Edwards, proudly pointed out that in 1965, writer-producer Brian Holland had played it on a No. 1 record, the Supremes' "I Hear a Symphony." You can play your old single and hear for yourself. Jim Dawson Hollywood

Manny and Fima are a couple of very well-liked guys who live in the same building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They come from the same part of the world and from countries that begin with the letter U: Manny was born in Ukraine, Fima in what is now Uzbekistan. Manny's the mensch with a flair for practical jokes. Fima's known to be a character. Like a lot of Eastern European Jewish emigrants to New York, they like to eat, but they have been watching their weight and lately have lost some.