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Billy Joel left the rock and roll business at the height of his career, but he has not left it entirely behind him. Even as he pursues a new career as a classical composer, he periodically teaches a "Master Class" so that he can share his experiences, both good and bad, with young people.

Last year, a class was held at the Performing Arts Center in Westhampton Beach. He taught his latest class in front of a packed Southampton High School auditorium on Saturday, as the opening event in a series of celebrity appearances to benefit Standing for Truth About Radiation, an East Hampton-based anti-nuclear group.

"I am doing this because I want to enlighten people and educate them to the job that I do," said Mr. Joel, telling the audience that their questions would set the tone for the evening.

The questions probed his musical experiences and the sources of his inspiration, ranging from why he wore red socks on a concert tour - the flamboyant Elton John recommended spicing up his wardrobe, he said - to the identity of the woman in his song titled "Laura" - an annoying relative he declined to name.

There was even a zinger from comedian Chevy Chase: "Is there a men's room here?" (Yes, there was.)

Mr. Joel said he feels most comfortable with the music he now plays and composes, classical-impressionist piano pieces: "No lyrics, just music... Words get in the way of the music I want to express." As he spoke, his friend and collaborator, Hyung-Ki Joo, played two of his compositions, "Grand Canal" and "Fantasy."

Mr. Joel said his leap into a new career came despite numerous hit albums and international popularity, and in the wake of bad business contracts and two failed marriages.

One of his ex-wives, supermodel Christie Brinkley, who remains a friend, began the evening by talking to the audience about the STAR Foundation, as did her husband, architect Peter Cook. Ms. Brinkley and Mr. Cook, who live in Bridgehampton, are members of the STAR Foundation board.

Andrew Cuomo, the secretary of the US Housing and Urban Development Corporation, thanked the STAR supporters in the audience for their work as watchdogs of the nuclear industry and introduced Mr. Joel.

In answering additional questions, Mr. Joel said that he listens to all kinds of music - he even enjoys the Spice Girls, along with his 14 year-old daughter - but said his favorite classical composers are Beethoven and Chopin. He added that he does not make a point of listening to his own music, but he will crank up the volume whenever
one of his songs happens to play on the radio.

He shared some funny family experiences, did impressions of Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, and the accent endemic to his beloved Hicksville, but focused on his beginnings as a performer. He said that he was naively steered into being a "recording artist" and a "rock star," going on tour to promote his first album at 21. The tour and the album were not successful, he said, because he was trying to be someone he was not - "probably James Taylor," he mused, performing an exaggerated impression of his erstwhile role model.

"Don't write for your audience. Write for yourself," he advised the would-be songwriters in the high school auditorium.

Commenting on the familiar tunes and melodies that repeatedly surface in different songs, Mr. Joel said, "There are just so many notes and combinations of notes that are possible. It is arrogant for some music writers to sue over a series of three or so notes." With a laugh and a shrug of his shoulders, he added, "Mediocre artists borrow. Great artists steal. And me, I do Chopin."

He said the songs compiled in his "An Innocent Man" album are "a romantic album of my teenage years," and "Vienna," a hit from "The Stranger," addresses what Mr. Joel sees as the madding pace of many of his Baby Boomer contemporaries. The song was inspired by an elderly street sweeper, whom he saw as having a vital usefulness to society.

His finale for the evening was "Piano Man," the song with which he is most identified.

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"Billy Joel Returns"
"Piano Man" Is At Southampton With Other Celebs To Help Stop Millstone
By: Janna Cord
(July 27th, 2000)

It was just like old times last Saturday night when Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley were back together in the Hamptons, but this time it was only for an evening. They joined forces at Southampton High School to celebrate the STAR Foundation's first annual "Summer STAR Series." Joel had agreed to perform a Master Class - an evening of "questions, answers…and a little music," as the program explained, to help raise awareness, and of course money, for Brinkley's cause, the closure of the Millstone Nuclear Reactor in Waterford, Connecticut.

STAR (Standing for the Truth About Radiation Foundation) is a grassroots organization concerned with the toxic effects of radiation. They played a major role in the closure of the High Flux Beam Reactor at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and have now narrowed their keen focus on closing the pernicious Millstone plant. Riddled with numerous safety and pollution violations, Millstone sits just eleven miles from the East End of Long Island and, according to many, is an accident waiting to happen. Due to the isolated nature of the South Fork, coupled with the limited accessibility of the two major egress routes, the Hamptons in particular would be hard to
evacuate in any sort of disaster. To vacate the area within the federally stipulated time of a nuclear accident would be all but impossible. When Joel became aware of the Millstone issue he immediately answered the call to action. "We not only have the right, but the responsibility to ensure that our communities are safe from the dangers inherent to having a nuclear reactor so close to our homes," Joel declared. Additionally, his life long love of the island and the fact that his daughter still resides in the Hamptons were the ultimate impetuous that brought about his involvement with the issue. To that end, Joel consented to make this appearance on STAR's
behalf.

With the Southampton High School auditorium brimming with over 1,000 adoring fans, the evening began backstage with the swift and glamorous arrival of Joel's ex, Christie Brinkley, along with their daughter Alexa, her current husband Peter Cooke and Joel's girlfriend Channel 12 news reporter Trish Bergin. At ease with one another, they gladly posed for photos and chatted amongst themselves. The performance itself was kicked off with an explanation of STAR and its mission, a top ten list of reasons to support the Foundation, followed by some brief remarks from Andrew Cuomo, and finally the welcoming of Joel himself on stage. His appearance was met with an enthusiastic roar. To warm the audience up, Joel began by playing a "fielder's choice" about his baby grand, then the floor was opened to questions. There were six roaming volunteers with microphones, who Joel directed. Joel gave some brief direction on how the evening was to work. He advised that he was there to "educate and enlighten people about the job I do," then he pleaded, "but please don't make your questions a two or three-parter because it's not fair because other people may have questions." Joel seemed lithe and ready for an evening of fun.

The first question came from a twenty five year fan of Joel's who rued that he had seen Joel perform many times over the years, but had never heard him play one of his favorites, "Turn Around" from his "Cold Spring Harbor" album. "Is it that you don't like the song?" the man asked. "Well, you touched on it," Joel replied, "and you were
kind of hinting would I do it, well, uh, no." After the laughter subsided, he added, "but thank you for asking. I've never done that song and probably never will." Then he was on to the next. Questions ran the gamut from technical inquiries to general interest, but most revolved around deciphering the meaning of lyrics or identities of
characters in his songs. Predictably, one asked, "what's a 'Real Estate Novelist'?" referring to the character Paul in Joel's best selling hit "Piano Man." Joel exposed him as a realtor who used to hang out in a bar that he played in who was always talking about the great American novel he was planning to write. Whether he ever got around to actually doing it, Joel had no idea.

Most questions were met with witty and rapid-fire responses. Joel's engaging manner and honest dialogue kept the audience glued like flies to a no pest strip. The laughs rarely died down and the one liners kept coming. When he was asked if the reprise of the "Allentown" theme at the end of "Where's The Orchestra?" was just a cute trick, Joel snapped back, "are you accusing me of being cute?" After a lengthy explanation he eventually chalked it up to "symphonic reiteration," a device used in music where you bring back a part of an earlier piece to tie a group of work together. He also mentioned that he felt "Allentown" was particularly appropriate because of its
overall message of disillusionment. He admitted he really liked the dichotomy of the up beat music and the depressing lyric in "Allentown" and speculated "maybe it's because I'm a manic depressive." He then advised any potential songwriters in the audience that if they did have manic depression, "it's very useful in songwriting, so put it to work."

As expected, fans from his hometown of Hicksville attended, ready to relive the old days. One such woman, after engaging in a geography lesson with Joel regarding various points of interest in Hicksville, was in fact moved to tears when asking him a question about her favorite song, "Honesty." And, as people will often assume rules apply to all but them, questions began turning into "two and three-parters," but Joel took it in stride and castigated kindly and with humor. Joel's old friend Chevy Chase was in attendance, lending his support, and when he stood up to ask a question, made light of the situation by musing, "Yeah, hi. I'm from Yaphank and I have
an eleven part question." The first was "What's your favorite piano?" and he ended his monologue with a review of his questions, the last being, "Does this place have a men's room?" Clearly the crowd adored their interaction.

Other interesting moments included a young girl asking Joel (in a dreaded two-parter) if it was easy to write a song, and if he listened to his own music, to which he answered, "No, it's very hard to write a song, but that's what makes it good." And to the second part he admitted he didn't program his own music when he was sitting
around at home, but if he is listening to the radio and one of his songs comes on, the volume goes immediately to ten and he sings loudly along. He said that this habit can be especially embarrassing when he is in his car and is recognized by a fellow motorist.

He also spoke briefly about some of his successes and failures. He mentioned that his single "Only The Good Die Young," was actually dying on the charts until several Catholic institutions, like Seton Hall College, decided to ban it. It was then that he discovered "if you want to sell something in America, ban it." That negative attention sent "Only The Good Die Young" roaring back to life on the charts, landing it in the top five for many weeks. He even contemplated calling the archdiocese and asking them if they could possibly ban his next album. "Honesty" was another single that was met with mixed reviews stateside, but for some reason became an enormous hit in France. At one point Joel thought he could even be the next Jerry Lewis, that is until he wrote a song in French that was an enormous bomb with the French.

After two and a half hours of uninterrupted interaction, Joel was ready to call it a night. "I'm starving," he complained, "I'm wasting away up here." The relentless audience pleaded for one last question, to which he conceded. Then, the evening finally ended with Joel playing his signature song "Piano Man" and sharing a few last
words about closing Millstone. The audience members, who were not quite satiated, reluctantly bid Joel farewell with a lengthy standing ovation. Fans will surely be waiting impatiently for Joel's next appearance in the Hamptons, but will have plenty of good memories, and lots to talk about, after last Saturday night's special
performance.

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