Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel paired up for an All-Star benefit at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City to support Barack Obama. In addition to an appearance from the candidate himself - who told the crowd to ignore the high poll numbers, reminding them, "Don’t underestimate the power of Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" - Billy & The Boss teamed up on each other's songs, trading verses on "Allentown" and "Glory Days" and dedicating "Movin' Out" to Messrs. Bush and Cheney. With all of the high-profile fundraisers for Obama, Garry Trudeau's joke about no musicians offering to perform for John McCain becomes less funny with each passing benefit.

Any humor to be found over Jim James falling off the stage in Iowa City last week has also faded. The injuries have proved serious enough that My Morning Jacket has cancelled their upcoming European tour. "Our hope was to merely postpone the tour but as our scheduling does not allow that to happen in the immediate future, we feel it is best to cancel this tour in hopes of re-scheduling at some point,” the band announced.

Staying on the subject of jokes that may no longer by funny, Axl Rose may be serious about the release of Chinese Democracy. The track listings have been released, possible cover art disclosed and there's been all sorts of confirmation that November 23rd will be the release date at Best Buy and on iTunes. Let's revisit this issue on November 24th.

Labels: Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Guns N' Roses, My Morning Jacket

On October 16, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel will headline a benefit concert for Barack Obama at New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom. Tickets will range from $500 for the balcony to $2,500 for the floor and $10,000 for the lounge, which better include a handshake from Billy Joel, a high five from The Boss and a cabinet position from the Candidate. On the other hand, perhaps the proceeds will serve as a substitute for the failed Bailout Bill.

Internet rumors sometimes turn out to be true: Springsteen will play half time at the 2009 Super Bowl, joining Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Prince & Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers in the ongoing apology for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction."

Robert Plant crushed the other big Internet rumor, to wit, the Led Zeppelin reunion tour. “It‘s both frustrating and ridiculous for this story to continue to rear its head when all the musicians that surround the story are keen to get on with their individual projects and move forward,” said Plant on a post on his Web site.

Another reunion rumor that's running wild is that Phish will play a three night reunion stand at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. If this turns out to be a hoax, it's one that's fished in a lot of people. (horrible pun unfortunately intended).

Labels: Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, Phish

By: David Schultz

The recently played All-Star marathon at Yankee Stadium gave sports fans everywhere an opportunity to revel in the history of the storied ball park that will be closing its doors at the end of the 2008 baseball season. In the sports world, Shea Stadium, much like the Mets, has the unfortunate burden of living in the shadow of their crosstown rivals. When it comes to rock and roll though, Shea doesn’t have to take a back seat to any venue, especially that edifice Babe Ruth built in the Bronx. Yankee Stadium may have seen its share of Pontiffs and world championships but there are few images that equal The Beatles at Shea Stadium. With the ballpark in Queens in its final year of usefulness, it was extremely fitting that it should play host to one final concert and there could be no better artist than Billy Joel to write the stadium’s last chapter.

As the post-September 11th Concert For New York made abundantly clear, Billy Joel is the de facto voice of New York City. The Florida Keys have Jimmy Buffett, New Jersey has Bruce Springsteen, Detroit has Kid Rock and New York City has Billy Joel; he has become, without question, the go-to guy when New York needs “representation.” For more than 35 years, Joel has spoken for New York City and its constituents, eloquently giving voice to their collective feelings of rebellion, longing and discontent with his broad appeal lying in his ability to deliver anti-authoritarian songs in a non threatening manner. The underlying message of “My Life” doesn’t differ too greatly from “My Generation.” Billy Joel just never frightened parents or made people uneasy like The Who.

With all apologies to Lou Reed, there isn’t a performer more distinctly affiliated with NYC that could have credibly closed out Shea Stadium than Billy Joel. Despite the dearth of new material over the past 15 years, Joel had no trouble selling out two nights at Shea. If his twelve shows at Madison Square Garden in 2006 are any indication, he probably could have sold out more. Even before the appearance of Paul McCartney at the close of Friday night’s show, Joel’s second show irked a number of fans who gobbled up tickets for the Wednesday night show under the impression that it would be the Shea’s “Last Play.” Not only did those fans not get to see the final show, they didn’t even get to see McCartney return to Shea Stadium to add a footnote to the Beatles’ historic 1965 appearance.

Speaking of McCartney, let me digress. Anyone who has known me for a while or simply been with me at a show where I refused to leave early has heard me expound on my “Paul McCartney Theory.” It’s quite simple: what if you left a show early and Paul McCartney came out and played the encore? How stupid would you feel that you missed seeing a Beatle because you wanted to beat traffic or get an extra five minutes of sleep? Friday night resolved that conundrum. Once the last notes of “Piano Man” faded into the sweltering night, people did start to leave. Forget the fact that Joel played an additional song after “Piano Man” on Wednesday night, Paul McCartney surely didn’t show up at Shea Stadium just to make a brief five-minute appearance! Shockingly, rather than wait for the house lights to go up, a good number of people hurriedly flocked to the exits. Each of those people that got up and left after “Piano Man” can live the rest of their lives knowing that they are unquestionably a jackass. Joel quickly returned to the stage but immediately stepped aside so McCartney could sit down at his piano and close the show (and Shea) with a beautiful rendition of “Let It Be.” It was one of those moments you hope to see every time you purchase a ticket for a show. The Paul McCartney theory has been tested and proven; it is now Schultz’ Law of Paul McCartney.

Rumors of McCartney’s appearance had run so rampant that had he not appeared, it would have cast a pallor over Joel’s remarkable three hour plus show. McCartney’s rumored guest spot may have been the most anticipated appearance of Joel’s two “Last Play” concerts but it was hardly the only one. In addition to the former Beatle reviving “I Saw Her Standing There” before a crowd doing their best to recreate Beatlemania hysteria, recent VH1 honoree Roger Daltrey hit the stage, twirling his microphone with abandon through a fine rendition of “My Generation” and Aerosmith’s Stephen Tyler slithered though an energized version of “Walk This Way.” With Joel moving far away from center stage, Daltrey and Tyler had to generate their own fireworks as the band, which perfectly suited Joel’s style and repertoire, didn’t have the grittiness or abandon to give the songs the proper feel. In 1997, Joel appeared in Central Park as Garth Brooks’ guest and Brooks returned the favor at Shea for an ardent run through “Shameless.” By donning Mets attire and replacing his trademark black hat with a Mets cap, Brooks' delivery of the song outweighed the memories his outfit brought back of his comical attempt to try out for the San Diego Padres. Tony Bennett, the only singer to cameo at both Shea shows, strolled out during “New York State Of Mind,” and the singer who famously left his heart in San Francisco made himself a bi-coastal troubadour by dueting with Joel on his signature tune.

Due to Joel’s wonderful performance, the guest appearances were just icing on a cake that didn’t need any. Other than the fact that the placement of the stage in centerfield accomplished the difficult feat of making every existing seat in the building a pretty terrible seat - unless you were sitting on the field, you had a pretty distant view of Joel and his band – there was little to complain about. After opening with “The Star Spangled Banner,” careened into “Miami 2017” whose vision of a decimated New York City fit the night’s theme of honoring the decaying stadium. He dove into “Angry Young Man” and “My Life” with a feistiness belying his age and by using “Spanish Harlem” and “Under The Boardwalk” as a preface to “An Innocent Man,” he gave a historical context and added texture to an otherwise throwaway song but highlighting its shared structure with the doo wop beats of The Drifters’ classics.

Joel didn’t leave out any of his greatest hits, making sure Shea Stadium reverberated with the strands of “Captain Jack,” “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant” and “Only The Good Die Young.” He also played a lot of beloved songs that didn’t have a life of their own on FM radio, relishing the reaction to his personal favorites like “The Entertainer,” “Summer, Highland Falls” and “Root Beer Rag.” Another album track, “Zanzibar” became a soundtrack for a New York Mets highlight reel and “Don’t Ask Me Why” lived up to its name by featuring a Benny Agbayani home run on the video screen. The video screens employed throughout the night provided a significantly unobtrusive enlargement of what was transpiring on stage. Only during “We Didn’t Start The Fire” did the video provide an unnecessary distraction by depicting images to go along with Joel’s rhyming recitation of political and pop culture events from the past fifty years. Even though the theatrics of swirling spotlights to emulate the helicopter effects on “Goodnight Saigon” came across as a superfluous trifle, the proper mood was restored by the end of the song with a number of New York City police officers and firefighters poignantly booming out the song’s chorus.

In the sports parlance, Billy Joel knocked this one out of the park. Unfortunately, as any Mets fan will tell you, what Shea Stadium really needs is someone who can throw middle relief.

Labels: Billy Joel

When Billy Joel announced his "Last Play At Shea," who knew that he meant "last" in the royal sense of the word. Two days after his well-publicized final show at Shea Stadium, Billy Joel will do it again and play the real final show on July 18th.

Tickets will go on sale this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. through www.507tixx.com, the New York Mets' distribution system; news that will not delight fans who tried in vain to secure seats this past weekend. Many frustrated fans were greeted by a repetitive 60 second countdown for more than an hour before being turned away empty handed. If the Web site has addressed any of the problems voiced by Joel's disappointed and irate fans, they haven't said anything to that effect.

Labels: Billy Joel

Billy Joel quickly sold out Shea Stadium this morning, making his "Last Play At Shea" an event whose anticipation may only be rivaled by that of Johan Santana's first pitch.

Ticketing giant Ticketmaster was frozen out of the sales process as the ducats were sold through the Mets online ticketing system, 507tixx.com. As Citi Field is currently being constructed in Shea's parking lot, it's unsurprising that Citibank credit card holders received special preferences. However, 507tixx.com seemed quite ill prepared to efficiently handle the frenzy of Internet activity produced by the allure of one of New York's own headlining the venue.

Starting at 9 a.m., hordes of ticket buyers were greeted with a message informing them that the servers were busy and a clock ticking off a 60 second countdown, after which another attempt would be made. With the average wait being more than an hour, it was hardly shocking to learn that by the time the server was free, all the tickets were gone.

Ticketmaster may soak their fans with exorbitant and unnecessary service fees, but at least they have the courtesy to tell you whether the show is sold out without killing your entire morning watching a clock tick.

Labels: Billy Joel

If you're a sports fan in the New York City area, you can't help but notice the large scale construction going on in Queens as well as the Bronx as both the Yankees and Mets are building new stadiums. While Yankee Stadium has seen more World Series titles than its NL counterpart, Shea Stadium boasts a hipper history when it comes to rock and roll.

In the midst of the Mets last season at Shea, Billy Joel will be the last musician to play on the field that famously hosted The Beatles in 1965 and has also been graced by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Bruce Springsteen. Although Shea has presented various bands during ethnic day celebrations, Joel's farewell show will be the first full concert since Elton John and Eric Clapton performed there in 1992.

The Last Play At Shea: From The Beatles To Billy show will take place on July 16th.

Labels: Billy Joel

Snow Patrol won four awards at Ireland's Meteor Music Awards last night. The lads won Best Live Performance, Best Irish Album, Most Downloaded Irish song, and Best Irish Band - beating off competition from The Divine Comedy, Humanzi and The Frames. Justin Timberlake was named "Best International Male" and Lily Allen was named "Best International Female". Scissor Sisters scooped the award for "Best International Group" and "Best International Album" went to Arctic Monkeys for Whatever People Say I am, That`s What I'm Not.

Mariah Carey is showing off her boobs on the cover of this month's Playboy. Yep, we don't care much either. But, anytime you can put "Mariah Carey", "Playboy" and "boobs" in your post there's a good chance the google gods will smile in our direction.

Billy Joel, Keith Richards and Elvis made Blender's list of rock's worst drivers. Apparently Richards used to have a "napping while driving" habit. Hopefully he sticks to limos these days.

Arcade Fire has now joined Fall Out Boy as the latest indie rockers to duke it out with security guards. NME reports that front man Win Butler scuffled with a security guard after a recent gig when the band wanted to play one more song...in the venue's foyer. In an era where concerts have gotten shorter, I've got to tip my hat to this guy for going the extra mile to give fans something extra to remember.

Philadelphia's Dr. Dog have caught the national media's attention with their upcoming release. High praise is coming from no less than Rolling Stone and GQ (what, GQ reviews music?) and CREEM Magazine. We All Belong drops on February 27th, but you can check out Dr. Dog's video for "My Old Ways" on MTV.com starting today and on MTV2 "Subterranean" on Sunday, February 4th.
MP3: Alaska

Death Cab for Cutie frontman, Ben Gibbard recently wrote a blog entry about The Birmingham Sound: The Soul of Neal Hemphill (a collection of unreleased recordings from Neal Hemphill's Sound of Birmingham and Hemphill Studios) on his MOG.com page, calling it "the best soul music you've most likely never heard."
MP3: "Groove Me Mamma" by Eddie Steele.

You may remember Andrew Douglas Rothbard from his vocal work in Sub Pop rage-rockers Pleasure Forever. After the group disbanded, Andrew disappeared from "the scene" to work on his solo material. His album Abandoned Meander was on Aquarius Records' top ten of 2006.
MP3s: Bull in the Dell, "High Upon Love" & "Indigo"

Labels: Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Billy Joel, Justin Timberlake, Lily Allen, Philadelphia, Playboy, Scissor Sisters, Snow Patrol, The Rolling Stones

Courtney Love on American Idol as a Paula Abdul replacement? US Magazine says the rocker indicated it was a possibility. Would Idol really go from one train wreck to another? Oh wait, Courtney's cleaned up her act now, right?

The Police haven't confirmed a tour yet. But, Sting Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland will continue to stoke those flames by opening this year's Grammy Awards telecast. The February 11th performance will be their first together since their 2003 set at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame and could be a prelude to a highly anticipated 30th Anniversary tour.

Music mogul David Geffen is reporetedly opening his home to folks who buy $20 tickets (for $46,000) to a fundraiser for Presidential candidate Barack Obama. What's that saying...for the people, by the people?

Los Lobos has announced an acoustic tour. The Acoustic En Vivo Tour will feature tunes from their latest record The Town and the City and kicks off February 8th in La Jolla.

Billy Joel will also kick off a tour in February. And, in an attempt to corner the sappy market, is releasing a Phil Ramone-produced track on February 7th on People.com, where it will be available for streaming and as music for a Valentine's Day e-card. Awwww, so sweet.

Warner Brothers "indie rock" act (seriously, that's what they call themselves because they are on Doghouse, but apparently not realzing they've signed to one of the largest media companies in the world) The Honorary has an mp3 circulating from their new record Untouched & Intact that comes out in April.
Stream:: Untouched & Intact

The Makes Nice sent over a couple tracks from their Candy Wrapper and Twelve Other Songs release. The band consists of Josh Smith (guitar, vocals), Aaron Burnham (bass, vocals) and Jack Matthews (drums). The trio recorded the record with Phil Manley from Trans Am.
MP3s: Candy Wrapper and California Sun

Labels: American Idol, Billy Joel, Courtney Love, Los Lobos, The Police

By David Schultz

Without an album of new material to promote, Billy Joel's adopts the theme of his recently released box set My Lives for his 2006 tour, turning the entire show into a comprehensive career retrospective. Taking to the road as a solo act for the first time in seven years, Joel's tour commenced with an auspicious start, selling out New York City's Madison Square Garden for twelve shows scattered throughout the winter and spring. Joel's MSG run will make history as his string of twelve selllouts shatters Bruce Springsteen's record of ten. If 50 million Elvis fans can't be wrong, what about a quarter million Billy Joel fans?

Joel always brings something special to his New York City performances which, in the absence of any Long Island appearances, comprise his homecoming. At the very least, "New York State Of Mind" resonates differently in the Big Apple than anywhere else. By embracing his entire career in a 2½ hour concert, Joel displays the numerous songwriting personas he’s adopted over his 35 year career. The straightforward, if not always factually accurate, storyteller ("The Ballad Of Billy The Kid"), the evocative memoirist ("Goodnight Saigon"), socio-political commentator ("Allentown"), the eloquent rouge ("You May Be Right,""Big Shot") and, his least enjoyable guise, the didactic blowhard ("We Didn’t Start The Fire").

When Joel touched upon his seventies material, especially during 52nd Street's "Stiletto" and "Zanzibar," Joel flashed the brilliance that earned him his status in the classic rock pantheon. In contrast, once Joel focused on his post Glass Houses material from the eighties, his descent into poppier, more commercial music took center stage. The bombastic "Movin’ Out" seemed startlingly at odds with the Lion King-esque tribal romp through "River Of Dreams." Where Joel's older material possessed a cocksure, chip on the shoulder attitude, his later material lost the edge as if he no longer had anything to prove to the world. Perhaps being married to Christie Brinkley did wonders for his self esteem?

From his piano bench, Joel spoke to the audience in a relaxed conversational style, giving some insight into his material. With subtlety, he noted the irony present in Cold Spring Harbor's "Everybody Loves You" pointing out that nobody bought the album when it came out in 1971 and, thirty-five years later, the song seems prophetic. During one story, he realized he sounded like he was rehashing his appearance on In The Actor’s Studio before imitating James Lipton's obsequious affectations.

Having played these songs for decades, the more spontaneous moments of the show came when Joel bantered with the audience or played a riff or two from "Boy From New York City" or "Goldfinger." Over the course of the tour, Joel has interspersed obscurer tunes into the set. On this night, Joel included The Nylon Curtain's "She’s Right On Time" and "A Room Of Our Own." The most spontaneous moment came when Joel surprisingly turned over the stage to Chainsaw, a member of the road crew, walking to the side to play rhythm guitar while the roadie blasted through a rollicking version of AC/DC's "Highway To Hell."

Recognizing that he may be more dangerous behind the wheel of a car these days than behind a piano, Joel's self-effacing sense of humor emerged in the encore. After romping through "Only The Good Die Young," Joel offered a slightly re-edited version of "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" that poked fun at his recent rehabilitation stint. After joking that instead of a bottle of red, "perhaps a bottle of ginger ale instead," he further quipped that between red and white, "I won't be having either one tonight." When Joel strapped on the harmonica to the wild delight of the crowd for the finale of "Piano Man," he expressed faux surprise at the hysteria and claimed that the apparatus was required after his latest car accident.

Joel's stage setup, complete with a rotating piano that receded into the stage when not needed, permitted Joel to play to all areas of the arena. While Joel seemed out of synch with his band during the opening renditions of his Long Island rebel anthems "Angry Young Man" and "My Life," they quickly got onto the same page. Joel's piano playing remains crisp and even though he no longer has the same vocal range, he credibly hit the high notes on "An Innocent Man."

Joel's older material formed the basis for the strongest portions of the show. Joel's musical, Movin' Out, presents New Yorkers with alternative versions of his classic songs on an almost daily basis. However, Joel refuses to relinquish his mastery of his catalogue to the Broadway stage. Although Joel no longer has the rebellious, restless demeanor that fueled his seventies classics, he doesn’t let the softening of the years force the evening into maudlin, sentimental nostalgia. Joel doesn’t go through the façade of acting like he’s singing his older songs as if he’s still in his mid-twenties. Rather, instead of feeling a sense of simpatico, he seems to relish singing songs about the old times. As he does with every performance, Joel closed the show by offering the audience his traditional advice, "don't take shit from anyone." Where once that maxim evoked Joel's sense of rebellion, it now seems like a bit of fatherly advice from someone who knows it worked for them.

Labels: Billy Joel

Billy Joel

Labels: Billy Joel