Billy Joel has announced plans to hold one of his "Master Classes," where he tells stories about his music as he performs and takes questions from the crowd, on October 27th, 2008 to benefit the Freeport-based "Charity Begins at Home."

Q-104 is sponsoring the event at the Hard Rock Café in Manhattan and is hosting the auction for the show's 400 tickets on its web-site. Bidding on pairs of tickets opened yesterday and closes on October 14th, 2008 at 3:00pm. Special packages, which include meeting Joel and sitting onstage with him while he performs, are also available. Bidders can also go directly to CharityFolks.com.

Charity Begins at Home is celebrating its 30th anniversary of funding nonprofit agencies in the tri-state area that serve those dealing with child abuse, domestic violence, autism, cancer and other issues.

The event will be Joel's second high-profile charity event this month, following next week's fundraiser for Senator Barack Obama, where he will team up with Bruce Springsteen at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

For the first time that anyone could remember anywhere, Long Island pop finally got to take on New Jersey rock as Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen put on a historic full length concert last night in Manhattan.

The reason was to raise money and awareness for Barack Obama's presidential campaign. But for anyone who grew up in the tri-state area, the evening meant so much more than that. The two rockers have had parallel careers. They're about the same age, started at the same time, but really occupied two different parts of the New York-New Jersey culture as homeboys.

The result was far from a typical political fundraiser. Instead, it became one of those rare rock concerts that people who were there may remember forever as one of the best of their lives. If we didn't get to see Sinatra and Bennett, this was the closest thing to it for this generation.

Each singer had a family member on stage too. Springsteen' s wife, Patti Scialfa, played guitar - she was the only musician who wasn't a member of Billy Joel's band. And Billy brought his burgeoning pop star daughter, Alexa, who performed a sultry duet with him early in the show of Ray Charles' "Baby Grand." Joel also had his current wife, Katie Lee, the cookbook author, and his former wife, Christie Brinkley, Alexa's mom, who brought her 12 year-old son, Jack.

And of course there were politicians: Nancy Pelosi and Claire McGaskill represented elected officials. Caroline Kennedy introduced the musicians and the reason for the evening. From a box in the Hammerstein Ballroom, Michele Obama watched the show until Barack was able to come over from the annual Al Smith dinner. With Michele was the triumvirate who put together this complicated night: movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, music exec John Sykes, and Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

The only other bold faced name I saw in the whole of the Hammerstein Ballroom was actor Ian McShane, of "Deadwood" fame, and actress Lynn Whitfield. Later, at the after-party at Cipriani, I ran into New York Daily News publisher Mort Zuckerman, who was so wowed by the show that he only wanted to meet Springsteen.

But I'm jumping ahead. John Legend and India.Arie opened the show, singing together brilliantly on a few numbers of Legends including his "Ordinary People." Her vocals combined with his piano playing made for a socko introduction. But there was more to come, quickly.

Over a two hour period, Springsteen and Joel presented a well chosen list of their alternating hits. After he opened with "Promised Land" and "This Hard Land," Springsteen gave the bottom for the evening, "I want my country back!" he declared. "I want America back." Acting as his own roadie, he packed his guitar and mouth harp in a case, and ceded the stage to Joel, who opened with "Miami 2017 (I've Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)" and the duet with Alexa.

From then on, though, the night belonged only to the two stars and Billy's band. They launched into "10th Avenue Freezeout," then Billy's "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)," which was dedicated to the Republicans. For "Thunder Road," Springsteen brought on Roy Bittan on keyboards to supplement Billy, who then sang "A Matter of Trust." Through all of this, the two men traded verses, piano and guitar licks. The culmination of that was on Bruce's magnificent "Spirit In The Night," which had not rehearsed and didn't know too well. He told Springsteen to call out chords - "the audience will like that," he told me later. So Bruce yelled out, "C Minor, C, A. minor" to Billy on the piano. Springsteen playfully inserted Billy's name into lyrics for other characters, and the number turned out to be exquisite jam session.

More songs: "Allentown" for Joel, Bruce's "The Rising," Billy's "New York State of Mind" and "The River of Dreams," Bruce's "Glory Days" and "Born To Run." The show finally concluded with all four musicians and the band on Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" and Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." By the time Barack Obama took the stage and gave a gorgeously crafted, eloquent speech, the musicians knew they'd done something quite significant musically beyond the politics.

At Cipriani, there was much celebrating, and Harvey Weisntein recalled how he'd produced one of Springsteen' s very first college shows in upstate New York in the early '70s. Billy and Bruce each fessed up about how they'd studied the others' music for the show. Billy was a little disappointed that Bruce hadn't subbed in names of New Jersey newspapers for the line "The New York Times, the Daily News." in "New York State of Mind."

Rocker Billy Joel and his chef wife Katie Lee are such big fans of Thanksgiving, they've already celebrated - over a month early. The couple had their Thanksgiving, surrounded by family and friends, at the beginning of October 2008 - because Joel will be on tour in Australia at the end of November 2008, when the official Thanksgiving Day is celebrated across the US.

Joel's wife says, "We had a Saturday free and had a little Thanksgiving party with friends."

She admits the holiday has become a big deal for her and "Piano Man" Joel - because she's had her best and worst experiences in the kitchen over Thanksgiving.

She explains, "My biggest disaster meal was probably about six years ago when I did a Thanksgiving dinner.

Billy Joel had his speech topic lined up weeks in advance for an appearance yesterday at the National Press Club: "Why I studiously avoid political endorsements."

But after performing with Bruce Springsteen at a Barack Obama fundraiser last week in New York City, he found himself needing new talking points.

Joel told members of the press club and guests yesterday that he felt compelled to support Obama in what he considers a time of crisis. "The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis," Joel said, quoting a Dante Alighieri poem.

Joel said celebrities should still avoid soapboxes, not only because they might be wrong, but because it can be bad for business. "I get insulted when I'm at a show and somebody starts talking to me about political stuff," he said.

Joel moved between a grand piano and a microphone, weaving stories and song. The tunes some consider political are more about people and places, he said. "Leningrad" tries to encompass the Cold War, for example, but his lyrics were inspired by a Russian clown who made his daughter laugh. "For me, the Cold War ended when I met this guy."

As for "We Didn't Start The Fire": "That wasn't really an attempt to write a political song. That was just a bunch of headlines and a terrible melody," Joel said as the audience laughed.

And in "Goodnight Saigon," Joel tried to capture the feelings of friends returning home from Vietnam to a not-so-warm welcome.

Who the heck wants to hear another Hamptons-dwelling showbiz millionaire mouth off about politics? Billy Joel's sentiment exactly. The "Piano Man" did a little bait-and-switch yesterday at a National Press Club luncheon that was advertised as his take on celebrity endorsements - and then declined to talk about his.

Billy Joel was not in a Washington state of mind.

The singer had come to the National Press Club yesterday for what was billed as a luncheon talk about "celebrity endorsements of political candidates." But the "Piano Man" didn't want to talk politics. "I was wondering why you guys wanted me here," he said. "I'm not going to get up on a soapbox here. I am a piano player."

Nobody complained when the musician instead played for the crowd a few snippets of "We Didn't Start The Fire," "Baby Grand," even some Gilbert and Sullivan. And for listeners of a certain age, there probably was no need for Joel to talk politics: His lyrics are a veritable soundtrack for Campaign '08.

Washington awoke Thursday to the happy discovery that there were just 12 days left in what has been the longest presidential campaign in history. The two-year election cycle has cost a cool $5.3 billion, the Center for Responsive Politics estimates.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, for the longest time,
Oh, oh, oh, for the longest time.

The Labor Department reported an additional 478,000 jobless claims, worse than expected and putting the economy at recessionary levels. Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman who presided over the mortgage bubble that has now burst, went to Capitol Hill to admit that a "flaw" in his regulatory model had failed to prevent a credit "tsunami."

Well we're living here in Allentown,
And they're closing all the factories down.
Out in Bethlehem they're killing time,
Filling out forms, standing in line.

Financial circumstances were rather better for GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who awoke Thursday to a second day of bad headlines about the $150,000 that had been spent at Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus on new clothes for her and her family. The treatment of Palin infuriated John McCain, who told radio host Don Imus that Palin was the victim of an "elitist attitude" among Washington types who don't like Palin because she's not part of the "Georgetown cocktail party" circuit.

Uptown girl,
You know I can't afford to buy her pearls.
But maybe someday when my ship comes in,
She'll understand what kind of guy I've been.

A new batch of polls released Thursday morning brought more grim news for McCain. The Republican was trailing Obama in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Florida. "Almost universally bad news for John McCain," wrote The Post's Dan Balz.

Sometimes I feel as though I'm running on ice, paying the price too long.
Kind of get the feeling that I'm running on ice. Where did my life go wrong?

McCain's only good news, if it could be called that, was a suspect Associated Press poll showing Obama's lead at only one percentage point among likely voters.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, keeping the faith.

On the campaign trail, the two sides traded the usual barbs. McCain said Obama couldn't be trusted. "He'll say anything to get elected."

Honesty is such a lonely word.
Everyone is so untrue.
Honesty is hardly ever heard,
And mostly what I need from you.

Joe "Careless Talk" Biden, in turn, suggested that McCain is erratic. "John's getting a little loose," he said. "He doesn't have a steady hand right now."

You may be right,
I may be crazy.
But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for.

McCain continued his frantic scramble to distance himself from the poisonous President Bush. The Washington Times published an interview Thursday in which McCain denounced the president for just about everything that has happened over the last four years. "We just let things get completely out of hand," he said. For McCain, who once boasted that he voted with Bush 90 percent of the time, the divorce was nearly complete.

I don't need you to worry for me, 'cause I'm all right.
I don't want you to tell me it's time to come home.
I don't care what you say anymore, this is my life.
Go ahead with your own life - leave me alone.

Over at the courthouse, jury deliberations continued in the trial of Senator Ted ("An Innocent Man") Stevens.

But as jurors decided the fate of the Alaska Republican, things turned tense in the jury room, where jurors described a "stressful" environment and sent a note to the judge asking that one member of the panel be dismissed. "She has had violent outbursts with other jurors, and that's not helping anyone," the note said. But the judge left the violent juror in place and urged jurors to behave themselves.

You have to learn to pace yourself.
Pressure.
You're just like everybody else.
Pressure.

At the White House, Bush, all but forgotten, had but one meeting on his public schedule for the day: with participants in the US Middle East Partnership Initiative. Nobody seemed to notice.

Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes.
I'm afraid it's time for goodbye again.
Say goodbye to Hollywood.
Say goodbye to my baby.

And at the press club, Joel had finished his hour-long talk and mini-concert. As a final question, he was asked to suggest which of his songs could be a theme for each presidential campaign. He declined, opting instead to sing one of his old ballads, "Summer, Highland Falls," which seemed newly appropriate for the times.

They say that these are not the best of times,
But they're the only times I've ever known.
And I believe there is a time for meditation
In cathedrals of our own.
Now I have seen that sad surrender in my lover's eyes,
And I can only stand apart and sympathize.
For we are always what our situations hand us.
It's either sadness or euphoria.

Billy Joel showed how well-rounded he is musically last night at a special charity concert at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square.

He offered his opinions on the differences between Beethoven and Mozart, impressions of Robert Plant, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and even Chris Rock.

He also broke a bit of news, confirming what has been rumored for months - that he is planning another tour with Elton John next year.