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"Piano Men Join Forces"
Billy Joel Plays Good-Time Hack to Elton John's Flamboyant Virtuoso
By: T'Cha Dunlevy
(May 4th, 2001)

What is it about piano men? Actually, what is it about aging piano men? Let's put it this way: more people came out - 19,000 to be precise - to see Elton John and Billy Joel at the Molson Centre last night than for Ricky Martin last year. And they payed way more money.

"This is a great gig," quipped Joel, well on into the show. "I get to look across at the other piano and see Elton John. You all pay. And they give us shitloads of money. This gig doesn't suck."

They're not a bad team these two. John plays the flamboyant kook virtuoso and Joel the good-time, goof-ball hack. And somehow, somewhere, they meet in between.

Things started off with appropriate pomp. The room went black. Two pianos rose from centre stage. The classical-ish music on the loudspeakers gave way to an elaborate rendition of Yankee Doodle Dandy and Joel marched out from stage left to a standing ovation and uproarious applause.

Moments later, John emerged from stage right and they met for high-tens at centre stage - Joel in classic black and John in flashy, silver-studded turquoise. An unlikely team but a good one.

The delirious reception they received, the repeated standing ovations, the numerous, gracious bows from the performers (after almost every song) all pointed to the purpose of the night - to enjoy a rock(-ish) show? Sure. But more to pay tribute to two pop icons and to the cult of nostalgia.

They began with John's "Your Song." Joel led off, gruff but noble. When John took over vocal duties it became clear where the strengths of each lay. Both can sing, to be sure. But John's ease and range are in a league of their own.

Next up: Joel's "Just the Way You Are." It seemed for a while as if it was going to be an evening of tear-jerkers and heart-string tuggers. And when John played his solo set, despite an awkwardly over-energetic opening, he continued the trend.

There were two sides to John. For the sentimental fool who sang "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," there was the wild and crazy "Rocket Man." For the bittersweet "All the Young Girls Love Alice," there was the shagadelic frolic of the "Crocodile Rock."

By the end of his set, a good 90 minutes into the show, John had everyone in their dancing shoes. Re-enter Joel and gear-shift decades. If John ruled the '70s, Joel is an '80s man.

"This is from my last album of...newer material," Joel said, all too willing to take a jab at himself. "I guess that was around 1993. I'm just kinda coasting now."

Throughout his set, Joel was all too willing to poke fun at the situation - and sometimes, even at his fans. "You paid a lot of money for those nosebleeds," he prodded at one point.

"Don't get me wrong. We appreciate it."

And there you have it - two kinds of piano men. The showboat and the wiseacre. Both can get sentimental. Both ham it up in their own way. John does it through his wardrobe, Joel through his banter.

When Joel settled into "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me," you understood where he was coming from. And when John re-emerged, this time in brilliant red (with the word Medusa spelled out in diamonds on his back), they got down to the business of the evening - "My Life," "The Bitch Is Back," "Bennie and the Jets" and even "Great Balls of Fire." Rounding off the evening? Duh. The imperative "Candle in the Wind" and yes, "Piano Man."

Was it worth the top price of $220? Those who made it through the three hours would surely say yes. Others may wonder.

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"Joel, John Show Has A 'Battle of Bands' Feel"
By: Mark Bialczak
(May 4th, 2001)

Here's how the show by pop stars Billy Joel and Elton John Saturday night at the Carrier Dome works.

First, the two take the stage together for a handful of songs. They'll start promptly at 7:30pm, dome managing director Pat Campbell warns, so the 38,000 or so folks who've purchased tickets should get there on time if they want to catch every second of the four-hour show.

Next, John and his band will play a dozen or so of the hits that have made the native of Middlesex, England, beloved since "Your Song" made the Billboard Top 10 in 1970.

Then Joel and his band will perform a comparable number of his hits, songs that have lifted the Long Islander to stardom since "Piano Man" hit the radio airwaves in 1974.

They'll encore on stage together again.

According to reviews, it's been a pretty wild night of piano playing on this tour.

"The John/Joel 'Face 2 Face' tour is billed as being cooperative, and it is, but there was also somewhat of an old-
fashioned Battle of the Bands element at times, or at least a bit of one-upmanship," wrote critic Phil Kloer in the Atlanta Constitution.

"When Joel introduced "Just the Way You Are" as 'a song I wrote for my first ex-wife,' John cracked that the next tune, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," was 'a song I wrote for my ex-husband.'"

"The Elton John and Billy Joel tour is classic-rock radio come to life, a nostalgia show with its heart squarely in the 1970s and '80s," wrote critic Jeffrey Lee Puckett in The Louisville Courier-Journal.

"But some artists raise nostalgia to the level of timelessness by combining superior songs and a passionate performance. When that happens, you don't know - or care - if it's 2001 or 1972."

Of the encore, critic Timothy Finn of the Kansas City Star wrote, "Toward the end...even some of the ushers in the upper deck were singing the chorus, which was really the point of the evening: to remember old times by reliving old songs."

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"'Piano Man' Meets 'Rocket Man'"
By: Paul Riede
(May 6th, 2001)

Why would anybody pay $175 for a four-hour concert?

Ask Jim Dillon, one of many Billy Joel/Elton John fans who ponied up the hefty ticket price for Saturday night's concert at the Carrier Dome. The Onondaga Hill resident did the math as he sipped champagne and ate a pre-concert tailgate dinner with friends in back of the group's minivan.

"If you do a reverse amortization over all the nights we stayed at home when our kids were young, it works out to pennies a day," he said.

Dillon's reasoning must have been sound, because the most expensive concert in Carrier Dome history - with tickets set at $175, $85, and $45 - was sold out by showtime, according to Dome officials.

Traffic on area highways and throughout the university area was jammed as many of the 38,500 concert-goers tried to find parking near the Dome.

Many others took shuttle buses and trains, although Ontrack began advising people early in the day not to try to pick up its train at Carousel Center. The shuttle was in service, Ontrack Manager Bob Colucci said, but the Carousel station cannot accommodate a huge crowd, such as the 1,300 people who showed up there before the Garth Brooks concert at the Dome in 1997.

"I'm just worried about safety issues," Colucci said Saturday afternoon.

As it turned out, only 500 people used the shuttle from Carousel, although nearly 2,500 more boarded at Armory Square, marking the most people ever to use Ontrack for a Dome event, Colucci said.

The crowds at the Dome were orderly; many of the concert-goers were in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and some made it an intergenerational outing.

Judith and Kenneth Miller brought two cars filled with family members up from Binghamton, although the two teen-agers in the group apparently were more partial to Smashing Pumpkins than either Joel or John.

"Oh, God, we had to listen to that on the way up," Judith Miller groaned.

But the concert brought out some youthful fanatics as well. Billy Joel has been a family obsession for Stephanie Iulo, a freshman art student at Syracuse University, since before she was born.

Her parents met at a Joel concert in Passaic, NJ, (price: $6), and the singer's music has been a constant presence in their lives.

"Billy Joel - everything just stops with Billy Joel," said Stephanie's mother, Roseann, who drove from New Jersey for the concert with her husband and Stephanie's younger sister. "There's nothing that's gone on in our lives - our marriages, our kids - that a Billy Joel album hasn't talked about."

The parents' enthusiasm was infectious. Stephanie (who recalls breaking her tooth while dancing to a Joel video at age 5) built a small piano in an art class this year that she was hoping to present to Joel.

When the piano's keys are pressed, small books pop up that contain ticket stubs, photographs and other memorabilia of the family's fascination with Joel.

There's even a picture from the time Stephanie's aunt - another Joel fanatic - drove to a charity baseball game in New Jersey featuring the rock star and the singer Meatloaf.

Stephanie's boyfriend, Matt, also drove up for the concert.

He plays piano at a restaurant back in New Jersey - "mostly Billy Joel stuff," he says.

But there were plenty of fanatics left for John. Thirty-two year-old Shira Rose and her sister, Joanne Weintraub, 28, woke up at 3am to drive in from Rhode Island for the concert.

They arrived at 12:30pm - seven hours before showtime - with flowers and stuffed animals for John.

"We want to see Elton, so we wanted to get the lay of the land and see how we can get to him," Weintraub said.

The sisters said they are on an Elton John Web site most nights communicating with other fans, including Janice Teffo, 41, of Boston, who also drove in for the concert.

"We've all got lives and kids and jobs," Teffo said. "Once every six months, we get to see a concert, and that's what keeps us going."

Rose and Weintraub sprang for the $175 tickets to get into the sixth row, but Rose, a bookkeeper at a Rhode Island hospital, said she wasn't thrilled with the price.

"I think it's a rip-off, but I paid it anyway," she said. "It's really steep, but I can't say no to Elton John."

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"Joel and John Have Right Formula for Dome"
By: Mark Bialczak
(May 6th, 2001)

A couple of master professors taught chemistry Saturday night at the Carrier Dome.

Elton John and Billy Joel wore the educator's robes in the biggest classroom Syracuse University has. OK, John wore a blazing blue blazer covered with in-row white buttons and Joel went with his trademark black jacket. But without a doubt, they gave the screaming sold-out crowd of 38,500 a lasting lesson in what-mixes-best-with what.

When the two pop giants were on stage together at the start and finish of the 3½-hour blast of a show, their voices and piano work blended as neatly as two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.

There was nothing watered down about this concert. From the three huge screens (with the round one behind the stage shining through with the clarity of HDTV) to the surprisingly clear Dome acoustics, the delivery of the wonderful work of Joel and John was striking.

John must have won the coin flip backstage because the face-to-face portion of the show began with his first hit, the 1970 classic "Your Song." But maybe it was Joel who won the toss, because he got to sing the first verse of John's song.

They returned the favor on the second piece, Joel's "Just the Way You Are," with John taking first crack at the vocals.

For the third song, they were joined by John's full band. And they all sounded great on John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me."

When John introduced his band, he joked, "The accumulated age on stage is more than 500,000."

They both appeared to be seriously up for this concert, the only New York state stop on the tour, as Joel told all, adding that it made him feel welcome to be back near home. He then showed just how good his memory still is, reeling off the long list of state colleges he and his band played at way back when.

And all the songs, from John and Joel, sounded as crisp and cool as they ever have.

John's set covered the turf of great albums like "Madman Across the Water," "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboys" and, of course, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."

His opener, the stately "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding" allowed John's great band to show just how close to classical their boss's music could be in the years before it morphed into classical rock. The rest of the set, the great chemistry was between John and the band. Original drummer Nigel Olson and veteran guitarist Davey Johnstone, in particular, were right-on with John as they grandly performed hits that included "Rocket Man," "Levon" and "Tiny Dancer."

The crowd joined in for some chemistry of its own, providing a spontaneous, loud and joyous chorus of laaaaaaa, la la la la laaaaaaa" to John's hit "Crocodile Rock."

Joel had that rapport going, too, with his band and the crowd.

Liberty DeVitto has been with Joel for many tours now, and the band knows when Joel's going to goof and when he's going to play it straight.

Their set blossomed with Joel's still-fresh voice. "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," "Prelude/Angry Young Man" and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" rocked with urgency. The pretty ballad "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" had more meaning than usual because his daughter, Alexa, was in the crowd. He wrote that one for her before his 1993 album "River of Dreams."

"I haven't had a new album since 1993, so I've been coasting," he said with a laugh.

No way. John, neither.

They both obviously have too much respect for the music; their own and each other's. When John sang Joel's "Uptown Girl" and Joel sang John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," it was obvious that like many of the other fans in the big house, they'd spent some time listening to and singing along with those tunes when they were young.

The two "Face 2 Face" encores at the end let the best of both bands and the two leading men continue the party.

The first encore included: "My Life," "The Bitch Is Back," "You May Be Right," and "Bennie and the Jets."

But after John's "Candle in the Wind" and Joel's "Piano Man," nobody had any energy left to do much arguing.

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"Ex-Cellent Gala"
By: Neal Travis
(May 7th, 2001)

Everyone knows your business in a little place like Sag Harbor, so the Hamptons crowd that turned out for the Bay Street Theatre's 10th Anniversary gala Saturday night was quite au fait with the couplings and uncouplings of the celebrities in the audience.

Supermodel/supermom Christie Brinkley and artist Carolyn Beegan - two of Billy Joel's exes - were on hand, and there was a bit of a titter in the hall when a movie about the imperiled baymen was screened, accompanied by the Piano Man's "The Downeaster Alexa" song.

Then Bay Street board member Alec Baldwin, the about-to-be ex of Kim Basinger, came onstage to give a brief reading from "Men's Lives."

It all made photographer Joan Jedell wonder if, perhaps, there is something in the Hamptons aquifer that spells doom for romances.

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"Pop Kings Make Piano Magic"
John, Joel Turn Predictable Into Profitable Adventure
By: Greg Kot
(May 8th, 2001)

Between them they've had 92 top-40 hits and the last time they toured, in 1994, they rolled up $47.7 million in gross revenue - making them the most formidable couple in pop history this side of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

Elton John and Billy Joel may not be as cute as the country twosome, but their act may be hotter, with a trio of pricey sold-out dates at the Allstate Arena. Even balcony seats were $85, plus service fees. "That's a lot of money for a nose-bleed," said Joel, squinting into the rafters Monday.

Memories, they don't come cheap. But the old pros put out, packing in most of the crowd-pleasers in a surprise-free three-hour performance that included individual sets framed by a handful of duets. Those moments when the pair faced each other across their black grand pianos held most of the promise for something out of the ordinary, because otherwise not a note was spilled that hasn't been heard a million times. John's set drew almost entirely from his '70s heyday, while Joel's selections were slightly more idiosyncratic, even including 25 year-old nonhits such as "New York State of Mind" and "Prelude/Angry Young Man." But even the piano man had little in the way of anything fresh to offer, with his last studio album of new songs released eight years ago.

Not that any challenging new material was expected. Both settling into their 50s, the pair has become just another high-priced nostalgia tour, slugging out songs and routines they could do in their sleep. The trick is not to sound like it, and John and Joel approached their songs with conviction, if not inventiveness.

It was all about the songs, and it had to be. Both performers defied rock-star convention as stubby-fingered piano players with cartoon faces and pudgy physiques to become two of the richest pop stars of the last 30 years. Their tunes endure, and John especially chose well. With lyricist Bernie Taupin, John's repertoire can be seen as an homage to the music he admires. At times he fell short - the '50s style that "Crocodile Rock" evokes is not the wild rock 'n' roll of a John precursor like Little Richard but rather the "Happy Days" - style pap of Danny and the Juniors. But more often he nailed the vibe: the Philly soul of "Philadelphia Freedom," the Stonesy sleaze of "The Bitch is Back," the glam-rock of "All the Young Girls Love Alice."

The apex of his collaborations with Taupin is "Rocket Man," and it received a sensitive, extended treatment; it's a devastating portrait of loneliness that, in retrospect, seems to be about John himself and the insecurities that plagued him even at the height of his fame ("I'm not the man they think I am at all").

Even in a red sequined suit and matching glasses, John was a subdued presence, so it was up to the black-clad Joel to evoke his partner's flamboyant '70s persona, mugging like a street mime angling for tips, and once even playing a syncopated rhythm on the keyboard with his hind quarters. Joel brought the sound of his New York City youth - Brill Building pop, Dion, doo-wop and the Four Seasons - through the meat grinder of '70s arena rock. His songs are fussier than John's, and tarted up with bombastic flourishes. Whereas John has toned down some excesses to emphasize the original elegance behind the tunes, Joel still suggests he doesn't know the difference between swagger and shtick.

But the crowd ate up the cheese. Acting like he has nothing to lose, because he doesn't, Joel played the feisty entertainer with a still pliant voice, and reached the notes John no longer could during a duet on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me." Individually, John and Joel may have stopped surprising anyone, but together they make one heck of a 1970s jukebox.

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"Elton John and Billy Joel at the Allstate Arena"
By: Laura Emerick
(May 9th, 2001)

Oh, but they're weird and they're wonderful.

That line, from "Bennie and the Jets," has never been more prophetic. When piano men Elton John and Billy Joel teamed up Monday night, in the first of three sold-out shows at the Allstate Arena, they presented rock theater of the absurdly fantastic.

How else to explain the sight of two pop-music superstars cavorting across the stage, reclining on the tops of baby grands and generally exuding the energy and enthusiasm of musicians half their "Stonehenge" ages (as Elton termed it)?

Now in the fourth decades of their long careers, John and Joel still possess the secret to success: that rock at its best celebrates rebellion as well as the simple joy of being alive.

Throughout the 3½-hour concert, they took turns telegraphing that message. After their pianos rose up from the depths on hydraulic lifts, ♪ J joined forces for three duets. Then each performed hourlong sets of greatest hits.

For sheer exuberance, though, no one could top Elton. From his opening suite of "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding," to "Saturday Night's Alright (for Fighting)," he embraced an absolute lust for life.

The best of his excellent song selection emphasized Elton the balladeer - "Rocket Man," "Tiny Dancer," "Levon." Despite his tendency these days to slow tempos and transpose keys, what keeps Elton John vital is the quality of the songs themselves.

Joel, however, remains a matter of taste. For his fans, he embodies the consummate singer-songwriter. To his detractors, he uses his piano like a bully pulpit, firing off sermons full of sound and fury, and signifying not much, if anything.

Monday night, he straddled that great divide. On songs such as "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant," with its Tin Pan Alley, jazz, classical and gospel influences, he showcased his immense compositional range. But on songs such as "Angry Young Man," he indulged in keyboard excess that recalled Yes at its worst.

But you can't dislike a guy who would let his roadie rock out on an AC/DC classic. Introducing a "tender ballad," Joel brought out Chainsaw (in Angus-style cutoffs!), who proceed to roar through "Highway to Hell."

And give the Piano Men credit for being able to check their respective egos to undertake this joint tour. It's that kind of spirit that - OK, I'll say it - makes us love them just the way they are.

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"Elton, Billy Fill Night With Hits"
'Piano Men' Get Sellout Crowd Feeling All Right
By: Larry Nager
(May 14th, 2001)

"M" is for those million-selling records. "O" is for their old songs we all know. "T" is for the tour that brought pop's premier piano men of the '70s and '80s, Elton John and Billy Joel, to Firstar Center Sunday for a sold-out Mother's Day concert.

The mood was a bit like the old Rat Pack reunion tours - veteran pop masters showing off their craft to a crowd of contemporaries. Neither had new music to play. Mr. Joel's most recent CD is a year-old double-disc concert set; Mr. John's new disc arrives in stores Tuesday - yet another greatest-hits collection.

But if Sunday was a nostalgia trip, accommodations were first class. And the tickets reflected it, reaching $175 for the best seats.

The two worked hard to give the people their money's worth. The non-stop, three hours and 15 minutes spanned their combined 60-plus years in music.

The night opened with twin grand pianos rising from beneath the stage, as the two duetted Mr. John's "Your Song," Mr. Joel taking the first verse.

Then Mr. Joel explained he wrote "Just the Way You Are" for "my first ex-wife." Mr. John sang the first verse on that one.

Not to be outdone, Mr. John said he wrote the final duet of the opening segment, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me" for "my first ex-husband."

They were joined on the last by Mr. John's band. The British singer/songwriter took the first half of the show, running through his songbook, from such early, countrified material as "Levon" to the glitzy pop ballad, "Someone Saved My Life Tonight."

Sporting a bright red suit, Mr. John was in fine voice, moving from his classic ballad "Rocket Man" to such little known songs as "All the Young Girls Love Alice" to his pop-rock anthems, "Saturday Night's Alright (for Fighting)" and "Crocodile Rock."

He also did a good job on Mr. Joel's "Uptown Girl," which the latter had written for his second ex-wife, Christie Brinkley, and which he no longer performs.

For Mr. John's 75-minute set, he was backed by a fine six-piece band, including his longtime drummer Nigel Olsson and Nashville guitar ace John Jorgensen.

They'd barely vacated the stage when Mr. Joel and his eight-member troupe took over. True to his competitive New York roots, he turned up the intensity with "I Go To Extremes" and kept that pace for the next hour.

He touched on classic pop with "New York State of Mind," as well as his own version of '70s prog-rock with the theatrical, multi-sectioned "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant."

He even donned sunglasses and a guitar to do a pretty good Elvis on "Heartbreak Hotel" (which he'd recorded for 1992's "Honeymoon In Vegas"), before launching into his Boomer history "We Didn't Start The Fire."

And though he needed a lyric sheet for "Allentown," Mr. Joel has kept more of the old fire than Mr. John, who spent his set firmly seated at the piano. Mr. Joel remained standing to sing "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" and showed his mastery of microphone stand maneuvers.

Mr. Joel had several of his old band members on hand - drummer Liberty DeVitto, saxophonist Mark Rivera and
singer/saxophonist/percussionist Crystal Taliefero.

Mr. John rejoined him for the encore, starting with Mr. Joel's "My Life" and volleying back and forth with "The Bitch is Back," "You May Be Right," and "Bennie and the Jets."

They also paid tribute to the guy who first took on rock's guitar heroes, as they did Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire."

They returned to their own prodigious bodies of work with "Candle In The Wind" before closing their evening of classic rock with the obvious finale, Mr. Joel's "Piano Man."

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"He's The Tops"
By: Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith
(May 14th, 2001)

Tony Bennett is working on a new CD featuring duets of old blues numbers with some very special guest artists. The popular veteran singer has already laid down tracks with Bonnie Raitt and Ray Charles in Los Angeles, and this month is in New York to record tunes with Billy Joel ["New York State of Mind"], k.d. Lang, and Kay Starr.

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Billy Joel Bumps Into Michael Feinstein
By: Liz Smith
(May 16th, 2001)

Billy Joel bumped into piano man Michael Feinstein in Chicago last week. Billy invited Michael to come to his sold-out concert with Elton John. During this show, Billy dedicated "New York State of Mind" to Michael in the audience. Then Billy went on to segue into a melody that began with Gershwin's "I've Got Rhythm" as the finale
instead of his trademark "Piano Man." This excursion confused Sir Elton.

Billy and Michael are both huge fans of the late musical geniuses George and Ira Gershwin. Michael has given Billy a gift of one of George's canceled checks from the 1920s. The two discuss at length Gershwin's handling of the relationship between classical and popular music.

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"Billy Joel and Elton John: 'Piano Man' and 'Rocket Man' Still Have Appeal"
By: Jon Bream
(May 16th, 2001)

One of the reasons fans are still compelled to see U2, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan in concert is because, though they are past their heyday (they are, respectively, in their 40s, 50s 60s), these artists continue to grow - and age - musically along with their audience. The same can't be said of Elton John and Billy Joel, who are touring together but haven't made any significant new music in years.

Their appeal may be nostalgic for many, but it's also a testament to the enduring nature of their pop classicism. These Rock and Roll Hall of Famers pack memorable melodies and big emotions, with occasional sophistication and depth in both departments, into a four-minute format. What makes these timeless tunes still work in concert is the personality John and Joel bring to their music.

John hasn't eased into middle age gracefully. While writing songs for Disney movies and Broadway musicals, he's lost the stage flamboyance that made him famous. That's OK, he's 54 years-old. It's just that his attitude Tuesday night at the sold-out Target Center seemed to be take-me-to-the-automatic pilot. After playing two songs with Joel to start the show, John seemed strikingly somber doing his 1970s hits with his band. Moreover, from my perch in the balcony, Nigel Olsson's drums often obliterated John's voice and piano.

During his 75-minute segment, there were few of the piano excursions that enlivened his recent Target Center concerts. "All the Young Girls Love Alice," which he hasn't performed for years, sounded less tired than the rest of the numbers. He got lively for "Levon" and soared on "Rocket Man," his symphony to loneliness that ended with a jazzy blues piano flourish.

While John seemed to be more the low-key piano man, Joel, 52, was the explosive rocket man during his 75-minute set. He was chatty, energetic and full of his never-ending shtick. He did impressions of Marlon Brando and Elvis Presley. And on Joel's serious rendition of "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," he perfectly mimicked John's voice.

He also impressed on his own material, turning "New York State of Mind" into a standard and making "The River of Dreams" a joyous confluence of gospel and doo-wop. His performance perfectly set up the joint encore with both bands, when John bought into some of Joel's showmanship. Joel stood atop his piano, John stood atop his piano stool. For "You May Be Right," John got crazy, dancing behind Joel as he played piano, then pulling on his ears as he sang. On "Bennie and the Jets," they engaged in a bit of dueling pianos.

They ended with just the two of them at their pianos. They had begun three hours and 20 minutes earlier playing John's first hit, "Your Song." They finished with Joel's first hit, "Piano Man." In the end, it wasn't about the sum being greater than the parts, but realizing that with stars of this nature, less can be more. Maybe next tour, they should leave the bands at home and do dueling solo pianos.

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"Piano Man's Island"
By Braden Keil
(May 25th, 2001)

Billy Joel has found his dream house and an island in the Hamptons. Sources say the "Piano Man" spotted the waterfront house on Three Mile Harbor while boating in the area and aggressively pursued the owner of the property. The householder had no intention of selling but the musician repeatedly upped his bid until the owner
sang, "I'm movin' out."

The figure is believed by insiders to be more than $6 million.

To ensure that his sunsets remain unimpeded - and to keep pesky gawkers further at bay - Joel is also negotiating to buy privately owned Gull Island, located a few hundred yards offshore from the East Hampton home. He is said to be plunking down slightly less than the $3.9 million asking price for the five-acre isle.

The mainland house, said to be "unimposing," sits on about four acres and has a pool and dockage for four of Joel's boats.

The island property has a modest three-bedroom Nantucket-style cottage - it's approved for a larger building - and includes two sandy beaches. Also included is a half-acre parcel on the mainland consisting of a parking lot and landing for a small boat - necessary for the short ride to and from the remote locale.

A description of the grounds by brokers claims the idyllic island has sunrise and sunset views and is teeming with waterfowl and clamming beds.

Joel, who sold his Further Lane estate to Jerry Seinfeld last year for 32 million clams, has been meeting with East Hampton boards concerning zoning questions. The search actually began after a Hamptons web-site erroneously reported he had inked a deal for a 29-acre place on Peconic Bay in Southampton. That deal never happened.

Devlin-McNiff President Stuart Epstein, whose firm is brokering the island, would not comment on the deal, while Joel's reps say nothing has gone to contract.

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"Big Shot"
Keeping The Faith
By: David A. Keeps
(May 28th, 2001)

Billy Joel wakes up every day and asks himself "Who are you?" The answer: A pianist, a composer, a guy from Long Island and, most important of all, a father.

The short, stocky, green-eyed man in the black mock turtleneck, black jeans and black beret looks strangly familiar.

"Hello," he says. "I'm Joni Mitchell." Maybe it's the face that he has been playing around with Elton John on their national "Face 2 Face" tour, or maybe it's antidote for on-the-road rage, but Billy Joel is not himself lately. Or atleast not his media-anointed Type-A personality. After three decades of international pop stardom, huge
financial successes and reverses and high-profile romances, he is surprisingly affable, with a streak of silliness that suits him like one of his favorite Armani jackets.

We shake hands. The 52 year-old "Piano Man" has mitts that are meaty and powerful but small. When his right thumb sits on the middle C of his nine-foot concert grand piano, his pinky spreads only nine notes, to the D an octave higher. When he performs "I Go to Extremes" in concert, he sits on the piano keys to pound out a melody. So I am compelled to ask "How many octaves is your ass?" Along silence ensures. Joel smiles away. "I haven't measured". But I do know that if I start with the right side of my ass, because I'm facing backward to the piano, that the clump of notes that the cheeks end up hitting are somewhere in the neighborhood of two A's below middle C. And then the left buttock bone will smoosh another three notes. But it's really where the split in your ass doesn't hit any keys that's more important." He laughs. "And now I will be thinking about this every time I play." It won't be the only thing on his mind. "I don't even know who the hell I am right now, and I find that kind of interesting," he muses over a two-appetizer-and-one-glass-of-merlot lunch at a ritzy Santa Monica, California hotel. (He likes to go on stage hungry; it makes him a little angry and makes his performance edgy.)

So, Mr. Big Shot, who do you think you are? "I'm a musician, a pianist, a guy from Long Island, a father, most importantly of all," he says. "And right up there with father, a composer." For the past seven years, ever since he received four Grammy nominations for his gospel-flavored "River of Dreams" album, Joel has been writing pieces in the style of the nineteenth-century Romantics. It started one day when his 15 year-old daughter, Alexa Ray, left to visit his ex-wife cover girl Christie Brinkley and he sat down at the piano and played something so sad it didn't need words. "And I haven't written a goddamn lyric since."

This summer he plans to record one of his compositions with Hyung-Ki Joo, a classically trained concert pianist. Joel expects the critics to cut to shreds. "I don't care," he says. "I am derivative, but the notes are mine; they come from my soul. "What am I doing," he says humbly, "is coasting. I'm irrelevant musically right now." Still, he has been having a ball on the road, despite some reservations: "I'm 52, jumping around on-stage like I'm 21 and thinking this is not right. I'm dreading the point where I start to feel I'm becoming a nostalgia act. And when people pay $100 for a ticket, it's like there's an unwritten agreement that they are not obligated to get crazy. Or even move." He continues, "I'm on the road. I have no home. I have no wife. There's really nothing tethering me to this earth except my daughter. She's the most interesting person I've ever met in my life."

Is Alexa Ray musical?

Oh she's better than I am. She has perfect pitch and instant melody retention. Says now saying that she wants to be a songwriter and a singer.

Are you encouraging her?

I'm not discouraging her. On the other hand, I don't want to be a stage father. (Putting on a Jewish lady accent) "Come on darling! Go on honey! Here's what you should do with your hair!"

Have you started to eyeball the boys she knows in a different way?

I want her to meet a boy who is nice to her. And if he breaks her heart. I'm going to want to break his freakin' neck.

Spoken like a true father.

I didn't realize how difficult it is for girls at 14 and 15. The hair, the clothing, the skin, the cliques. It's unbelievable. My heart goes out to her. And I'm an embarrassment. I'm sure.

In what way?

You know. I'm singing in the car, and she'll say, "Dad, don't! There's cars next to us." And I'm a rock star, and her mom was a supermodel. That must be really weird.

Besides your daughter and your work, what makes you happy these days?

I'm hopelessly twentieth century. I collect old watches. I have a boat building business. I got a Honda Valkyrie Interstate motorcycle that's about the size of half a station wagon. I have a black pug named 'Finouella' that I got for my daughter, even though Daddy does all the cleaning up. What else? Good friendship, good cigar, although if I smoke one halfway down. I'll think, "Jesus Christ, I need a shower!"

It is no surprise that the man who encapsulated the 40 years of Cold War events into the No. 1 hit "We Didn't Start The Fire" turns out to be a history buff who spent a good deal of his youth reading the encyclopedia. Joel's own genealogy is the stuff of a sweeping mini-series. His maternal grandfather was an English Jew who immigrated to America to avoid World War I. His father's father, also Jewish, fled Nazi Germany and landed in Cuba. By the time the Joels were allowed into the States, Billy's father was old enough to serve in the army: "He fought in Italy and then went with Patton's Third Army and watched them blow away his hometown." Upon returning from World War II. Joel's father, Howard Joel, a piano player, married Rosalind Nyman and moved to Hicksville in Levittown, New York, one of the first planned suburban communities in the United States, 20 miles outside Manhattan. The Joels had a daughter, Judy, and on May 9th, 1949, a son named William Martin. Life seemed idyllic, but the marriage was not. When Billy was 8, his father returned to Europe. Joel did not see or hear from his father for the next 15 years. "I had no Jewish upbringing at all other than my circumcision." he says, laughing. The Joels struggled. "My mother was the single mom on the block. She was an intelligent, skilled woman, but all she could get was bookkeeping or secretarial work," says Joel. "So we couldn't fix up the house, couldn't get a new car - all the things suburbanies are supposed to do." Joel listened to soul music on New York radio stations, sang doo wop on street corners and briefly helped form a gang called the "Emerald Lords." His first band was the "Echoes," and he sang and played an organ "made out of wood and cardboard that sounded like a sick cow." His first gig, an experience immortalized in "Only the Good Die Young," was at a Catholic School dance. Take-home pay: $15. As a teenager, Joel went to the local Boys Club, where he boxed. "I was 16, very hormonal, very angry, needing to release a great deal of pent-up hostility: anger at my mother's situation, not liking school, sexual frustration." He won most of his matches, but the he had his nose broken and quit. "I was more of a Romeo than a fighter," he admits. His first sexual experience, while in his early teens, was with an older woman, a beatnik from New York. "It had nothing to do with romance," he says. "She seduced me. I learned just enough to know that I really wanted more and couldn't get it! I was never a matinee idol. I was kind of a schooky guy with buggy eyes that always looked tired because at night I was playing underage in clubs with a phony draft card." He missed a lot of school and never graduated. "I was always the one calling everyone up going 'Come on, let's rehearse,' I was a real ball-buster." he says. In the late '60s, he cut two albums with the Hassles and later married the drummer's wife, Elizabeth Weber.

After they had split up, in the early '70s, Joel went through the looking glass, darkly: His career was going nowhere, and he was scared of being sent to Vietnam. He drank furniture polish and checked himself into a psych ward for observation. A few weeks later, he left his self-pity behind and resolved to start anew. As a solo artist, he was a trusting individual, signing away his songwriting royalities for a pittance. He ended up leaving New York to sit out his contract disputes and sing in a lounge in Los Angeles, a period which he chronicled in his first big hit, 1974's "Piano Man."

Weber managed Joel's rise, eventually turning the business affairs over to her brother, Frank, when their marriage hit the rocks, in 1982. A superstar by then, Joel briefly dated model Elle MacPherson but fell for another model, Brinkley. They were married in 1985, and it was Brinkley, reportedly, who urged Joel to take a closer look at his finances. In 1989, he brought a $90 million suit against his former brother-in-law, which was later settled for a fraction of the amount. Joel hates talking about this behind the music stuff: "This is an old story in the business. Have I made up for a lot of things that were taken away? Yes." And, Of course, after his 1994 divorce from Brinkley, he sold his home in New York's Hamptons to Jerry Seinfeld for somewhere "north of 30, south of 35" last summer. That's millions.

What's the secret to a successful divorce?

We're good friends. We stay in constant contact. Christie has a whole other life, a different husband, two other children. But we go to Alexa's school functions together. It's always good for the children of divorced parents to see that their parents can act like adults.

Have you ever had couch time?

Yeah, yeah, sure - toward the end of the relationship with Christie. I thought maybe it's me. But it didn't teach me anything. The piano was a better therapist. Whenever I've been down or hurt. I can go to the piano, and I feel so much better when I walk away.

Coming from a family of divorce, did it upset you when you went through divorces of your own?

Yes, if you want to stay married, do not become a touring musician. But my big, big reason for being upset was that Christie and my daughter were going to be living in Colorado. And that my daughter could be taken that far away from me was absolutely unbelievable. I think I speak for a lot of divorced fathers when I voice my dissatisfaction with being second-class parents.

Around this time, you started doing tours with Elton. Are you two trying to restablish the piano in rock?

It's still a way to meet girls. And I am not going to deny that for two seconds. Maybe it's immature for a man my age to say that, but I don't think there's any greater reason to create something than to do it out of a romantic impulse.

You're simply besotted with romance and women, aren't you?

Yes, to my utter confusion, I am continually intrigued and interested in women. I think that as much as I know about them. I realize that I know even less as life goes on. Women have had a great influence in my life - my mother doing the extra stuff she had to do to pay for my piano lessons. And now my only child is a woman -
there's some kind of kharmic closure happening there.

In relationships, are you the pursuer or the... (quickly interrupts) - The pursuer! Always. No hesitation at all. It's hormonal, it's chemical, it's a woman thing, and it just drives me completely out of my skull. And I'll trip, and I'll fumble, and all my wisdom and logic goes out the window. I just like romance.

It sounds like you're good at it. What's your secret?

People have pointed out that I am short, but when I talk to someone, I am looking into their eyes, so I am not ware of physical limitations until I see photos of me with other people. I supposed what I've got is a certain amount of confidence because of what I've accomplished. I wouldn't know if I come on strong; I'm not aware of any game plan. And though I've been with models and actresses, I'm not that interesting in having a trophy on my arm. When I'm interested in someone, it's not for a momentary distraction or to get them into bed. If I have a crush, it's major. And maybe women like that. Nothing appeals more to a woman than knowing she is loved.

How do you know when it's love?

I lose weight.

And where are you on the scale right now?

I'd like to drop another 10 to 15 pounds.

Are you seeing someone?

I'm not really comfortable talking about this. Her name is Dina Meyer. She's an actress.

What was your reaction to the New York Post cover story about your 'love triangle' with your ex-girlfriend Trish Bergin and "Survivor"'s Dr. Sean Kenniff?

Must have been a slow news day, man. Trish is an old-fashioned girl, and I feel bad she got dragged through it. The whole thing is silly.

You've had many firsts in your career: the first American performer to tie the Beatles' sales record; the first to tour Russia. What's left on your list?

I would like to be the first man to live forever. Some people don't get that. They say, "You want to live forever and watch all your friends die?" And I say, "So, I'll make some new friends." I'd also like to be the first guy to not have to use make up to take pictures, but that ain't going to happen.

You have mellowed, Billy Joel, haven't you?

Yeah, I have, but I haven't ripened and rotted yet.

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"Now That's A 'Pop' Star"
By: Diane L. Cohen
(May 29th, 2001)

"If there's a more dedicated dad in showbiz than Billy Joel, we don't know who it is. The legendary "Piano Man" joins 15 year-old daughter Alexa at the Concours d'Elegance in Bridgehampton yesterday for an American Cancer Society benefit luncheon. The event was hosted by Alexa's mom - and Billy's ex - Christie Brinkley and her husband, Peter Cook."

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