Pearl river "instrumental" to the soloist.(FOREFRONT)

DAVID ALLEN, a staff writer with the Daily Bulletin in Ontario, California, recently uncovered a Pearl River twist to the story behind the story of the movie The Soloist starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx. The movie was based on The Soloist: A Lost Dream, An Unlikely Friendship, a book written by Steve Lopez, and a story Allen wrote for his column in the Los Angeles Times. In the movie version of The Soloist, Foxx plays Juilliard-trained, Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless street musician who finds new hope in life when he is given a cello by a kind-hearted, anonymous lady. Allen discovered that the kind-hearted donor was, in real life, an executive at Pearl River Piano Group America of Ontario, California.

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In the book, Lopez explains that AI Rich, then CEO at Pearl River Piano Group America, was moved by the column and contacted Lopez to offer a cello and violin for Ayers. He eventually supplied not only a cello and violin but other musical instruments to help support a music school for a city homeless shelter. According to Lopez, when Mr.

Ayers received the cello, he put Rich's business card atop his tarp-covered shopping cart, as if in tribute. He then sat down on a milk crate and played the cello for eight hours straight. "Eight hours seems like two minutes when you're having fun," said Ayers. "Mr. Rich has given me a new lease on life."

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