peter posted in the group Open Mic (Open Discussion)
I’m so sorry to see this news. Billy Joel has canceled all scheduled concert performances due to being diagnosed with a brain disorder that has led to “problems with hearing, vision and balance.”
Billy Joel has been one of my favorite singer/songwriters since I was a kid and my own kids have grown up hearing his music around the house and in the car. I have a funny Billy Joel-related story. A former boss of mine is visiting our company’s offices in the WTC (this was around 2000), he gets on the elevator, and the guy in front of him starts whistling. My former boss asks the guy if he could please stop whistling. The guy turns around and apologizes, it’s Billy Joel. Being a Billy Joel fan, my former boss apologizes and tells Billy, that it’s okay, he can continue whistling. Upon hearing that story the first time, I told my boss that he’s probably responsible for Billy forgetting the melody of what would have been another great song.
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Through his career, critics continuously panned his music as schmaltz. I find he’s one of the greatest American pop songwriters of all time, up there with the best around the world (Lennon/McCartney, Paul Simon, Carole King…).
Totally agree – a young female friend of mine (who is an astonishing fiddle player) sang Piano Man when she was first branching out into singing and her version is sublime
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Here is Emily a while after that tentative beginning (with superb singer songwriter Dan Webster) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-29G70sLq8
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One of my old musician friends I played with for years has a younger brother that plays drums and sax semi-professionally named Dan Webster. I’m listening in my headphones, very nice. You know, I am a huge fan of of a bunch of Irish folk rockers like Damien Rice and David Gray from their early days on. In Chicago, there’s a place called The Old Town School of Folk Music where I used to go to a lot of shows back in the day. Of course, once I got married and had kids, I stopped going out to shows as much and became seriously domesticated!
I just heard that here on the news here in England- so very sad — he’s an absolute legend.