"It also has actual dirt from 409 Bayville Avenue (the house/victim)."

The seller, apparently a reporter for radio station WBLI who uses the name "SLAMBLI," says he was given the items on April 26th, 2004 when he "visited the house to do a live radio report for the morning show on 106.1 WBLI."

"This is a collectible for the biggest Billy Joel fan out there," he wrote, as he scheduled the end of the auction for Thursday at 12:43pm Eastern Standard Time.

Proceeds from the sale will go to Long Island charities, the radio station says.

Bidding opened at $50, and as of last night, with four days to go, the price had reached $201.50.

Police said Joel was sober during last week's crash, which was blamed on rainy weather.

"Billboards," the first full-length rock ballet, featured music by Prince and garnered national attention for the Joffrey in 1993. It would attract a raft of new audiences on its National Tour, but not critical accolades.

Companies began to take note. Cleveland Ballet swiveled its collective hips to Elvis Presley tunes in "Blue Suede Shoes" (1996). Then Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre ventured into the pop idiom through the first full-length jazz ballet in 1999. Called "Indigo In Motion," it was set to music by Ray Brown, Stanley Turrentine, Lena Horne and Billy Strayhorn with great success.

But it wasn't until three years later that the company capitalized on "Indigo's" success by restaging that ballet and presenting the world premiere of "Brand New Day," set to the music of rock legend Sting. PBT artistic director Terrence Orr set up the idea of ballet bookends, beginning and ending the evening with new productions that would offer multiple perspectives on each rock artist.

It appears that vision has taken hold, with Springsteen the choice this season and Paul Simon on the docket for next year.

The arts have embraced pop before - we have only to look to Andy Warhol. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, too, has long had its Pops series with Broadway composer Marvin Hamlisch at the helm. It is Broadway that Hamlisch favors, but the PSO has updated its programming with stars such as Melissa Manchester and next year's Beatles' tribute concert.

But ballet appears to be cutting to the quick in the drive to meet ticket-buyers at the turnstile. The collective reasoning is to attract new and younger audiences, and those who turned out for Joel and Springsteen ranged from teenagers to middle-aged fans.

Purists who advocate "Giselle" or "Swan Lake" may turn up their noses at the thought of rock and roll, with its MTV connections, invading the pristine air of ballet. Nor do they cotton to using recorded music. Others say it's more economical and, obviously, the risk factor is less when audiences can sing along.

Not that art can't be entertaining or entertainment artful. Orr seems to be staking PBT's reputation on it. To his credit, he has selected notable choreographic talents who have produced what might be termed "serious" thematic ballets with rock accompaniment, unlike the appealing teen movie hit "Center Stage," where the rock finale had numerous choreographic weaknesses.

Tharp, a choreographic powerhouse herself, is likewise serious about "Movin' Out." She views it as a paean to Vietnam soldiers who never received the support of the American public. And she created the production on principal dancers from top companies like American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet.

While the original New York cast manufactured its own electricity, Tharp packed the tour with a younger cast, still well-trained in ballet but with a stronger background in Broadway dance. She also broadened the interpretations for the larger theatres on tour.

That brings up the issue of technique. The New York cast of "Movin' Out" demonstrated more control and purity of line while the touring production, though not as technically proficient, had a sexier, more flamboyant appeal. It resembles, in a way, the old comparisons between the stylish Fred Astaire and an athletic Gene Kelly.

At first PBT wrestled with the same issue in "Indigo."

Choreographer Kevin O'Day used music by Alanis Morissette to encourage dancers to give in to gravity before switching to tunes by Turrentine and Brown. It was something that was the opposite of all their ballet training, where the idea is to be ethereal, to escape the Earth. But today's dancers have to be versatile, and there are indications the company is becoming more comfortable with this choreographic vein.

That may be good for the bottom line. There is no doubt that rock ballets outdraw single-ticket sales for a "plain" mixed repertory program, such as PBT's "Jewels" ($40,000), "Four Last Songs" ($18,000) and "Pittsburgh Choreographers" ($18,000). The rock ballets have topped out at near $100,000 in single-ticket sales, although the cult classic "Carmina Burana" holds the record with $120,000. And storybook ballets are still the odds-on favorite with local audiences.

More companies are testing the waters. American Ballet Theatre, where Orr was ballet master and principal dancer, produced a George Harrison tribute last year. And Atlanta Ballet's anniversary next year will be celebrated with a new rock ballet.

But will companies be able to compete with "Movin' Out" and its big-budget dance spectacle, complete with live band and rock concert lighting? And that begs other questions: Will a greater proportion of limited budgets be given over to rock - money that could be used for new contemporary work in a riskier vein? And will ballet be so concerned with new audiences that it will refrain from experimentation in advancing dance as a serious art form?

Serious questions all.

"Reassuring children that they are not alone or could be abandoned is very important for their well-being," Joel said in a statement Tuesday.

His second book, "New York State of Mind," inspired by one of Joel's songs, is tentatively scheduled for release in Fall 2005.

Last fall, Madonna published the best-selling children's book "The English Roses." Other celebrities with children's books include Jay Leno and Billy Crystal.

"Goodnight, My Angel: A Lullabye" is a heartwarming lovesong from parent to child. Billy Joel's words will assure readers young and old that the love between a parent and child lasts forever. Classic paintings by acclaimed artist Yvonne Gilbert illustrate the relationship between a father and daughter and the profound ways that small moments - like tucking a child into bed - affirm parents' devotion to their children.

Billy Joel said, "reassuring children that they are not alone or could be abandoned is very important for their well-being."

"I'm excited and honored to have Billy Joel on the Scholastic list," said Jean Feiwel, Publisher and Editor-In-Chief, Scholastic Books. "Billy's songs have made an enduring contribution to music, and 'Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)' is one of my personal favorites."

Having sold more than 100 million records over the past quarter-century, Billy Joel ranks as one of the most popular recording artists and respected entertainers in the world. He has had 33 Top 40 hits and 23 Grammy nominations since signing his first solo recording contract in 1972. In 2003, Joel received a Tony Award for Best Orchestrations in "Movin' Out," a Broadway musical based on his songs and music. Billy Joel is a member of both the Songwriters Hall of Fame (1992) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999).

A long-time advocate for music education, Joel began holding "Master Class" sessions on college campuses more than 20 years ago. He has been involved with such philanthropic causes as "The Make A Wish Foundation" and "Save The Music". In 2002 Billy Joel was honored as the "MusiCares Person of The Year" by MusiCares and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

"Goodnight, My Angel: A Lullabye" is produced by Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc.

"It is fitting that some of Raymarine's newest products are being installed on Vendetta. The C-120 displays are revolutionizing the industry. The combination of powerful functions and high style are perfect for this outstandingly designed boat. The C-120 allows for the viewing of radar, fishfinder, and chartplotter in any combination. The high-end, clean look of the dash is enhanced not hindered by the electronics, "says, Terry Carlson, president of Raymarine, Inc.

When commissioned in early fall, Vendetta will be navigated with Raymarine products. The uniquely curved dash will include three C-120 displays with brilliant sunlight viewable displays, ST290 instruments, Ray215 radio, 4kw Radar open array, and the new gyro-enhanced SmartPilot with 8001 control head. Weighing only 40,000 pounds, the 57 Shelter Island Commuter glides atop the open ocean with speeds in excess of fifty knots, while twin 1300 horsepower MAN diesels coupled to Power Vent Surface Piercing Drives quietly drone under a well-insulated engine room.

Coecles Harbor will be represented at the Newport International Boat Show with the Shelter Island Runabout.

"Even in the beginning, when I was being as rigorously unpleasant as possible, there was still underlying it, 'Oh, goody, they're going to hate it,"' Tharp said from New York City. "But 'they' was still operative."

Such subversiveness is long gone - a natural outgrowth, Tharp says, of age and maturity. Today the 63 year-old choreographer is basking in the popular success of "Movin' Out," a new kind of dance-driven musical that opened on Broadway in October 2002.

A nationally touring production of the show, which is set in the 1960s and early '70s and features 24 classic songs by famed pop vocalist Billy Joel, opens Tuesday in the Buell Theatre and runs through June 6th, 2004.

With Tharp's sometimes-clipped responses and dismissals of certain questions about the show and her career during a recent interview, it quickly became clear that she doesn't enjoy such exchanges - something she readily admitted.

It's not that she necessarily dislikes critics or shuns exposure. She just wishes that her creations could speak for themselves, even if she realizes that public relations are an unavoidable part of an artist's job.

"I'm not a publicity-driven person, OK?" she said. "I'm not a celebrity-oriented person. I believe in the work. The work is going to take care of it, and ultimately, if it's any good, that's what there is. It's not about me."

That single-minded focus propelled Tharp to the top of the dance world and has kept her there. She might not have anything approaching Joel's fame among the general public, but no living choreographer is more widely known or respected within the field.

Since creating her first piece in 1965 - "Tank Dive," which related to the notion of jumping into a teacup of water from a 40-foot platform - she has created more than 130 dance works set to music ranging from Ludwig van Beethoven to Frank Sinatra.

"I figured I'd better couch my diagonals and spirals in sex and surprise," Tharp wrote in her 1992 autobiography, "Push Comes To Shove," explaining her early approach to dance. And that description remains apt nearly four decades later.

"There can be a very dry, accurate, precise, somewhat academic, idealized performance," she said. "And then there's something that's a little more down and funky, and I tend to go in that direction."

If "Movin' Out" has brought Tharp some of the biggest audiences of her career, it is hardly the first time her work has been seen away from the dance stage by a broader public.

Tharp provided the choreography for such hit films as "Amadeus" (1980) and "White Nights" (1985), and she has worked on Broadway several times since 1980, including directing and choreographing the 1985 staging of "Singin' in the Rain."

"I'm a show-biz baby," she said. "I grew up in a drive-in theatre. It's always about the folks is the audience, and what are they up to tonight and how do you get to them."

Tharp is not ready to endorse the idea, as some critics have written, that "Movin' Out" is a new kind of Broadway musical because it conveys its story through dance with no dialogue. For that to prove true, she believes it has to inspire follow-up projects in the same vein. No one knows if that will happen.

Among the show's closest historical precedents are musicals such as "West Side Story" and "Oklahoma!" where choreography by Jerome Robbins and Agnes de Mille respectively was not just decoration but actually helped advance the plot.

"(Bob) Fosse's 'Dancin'' is close to what this might be, but it was a revue," Tharp said. And it had no continuity other than the standard kind of revue format. Whereas this does have ongoing characters, a beginning, middle and end without language.

"And in that sense, it's historic, because it's not been done in this way before. Not on the Broadway stage."

Using characters from Joel's hit songs, "Movin' Out" follows six young friends as they confront the Vietnam War and other life-changing challenges arising from the turbulent 1960s and early '70s.

Why Joel's music?

"Some things have something to do with happenstance in combination with design," Tharp said. "And there were several popular musician-composers that I thought about, but Billy came to pass. So, there you are."

Following the sometimes harsh reviews the show received during a pre-Broadway run in Chicago, Tharp revamped it with the help of her son, Jesse.

"The first act was essentially rewritten, more than half of it in two weeks," she said. "I wouldn't have been able to do it if the second act wasn't intact. And as I often say, we had a party, which was the second act. We just had everybody in the wrong clothes. That was the first act. So, all we had to do was get the wardrobe together. And that's how we did it."

"He freaked me out, totally," Holden said.

Afterward, the real "Piano Man" made the Irish imposter an offer he couldn't refuse.

"He suggested that I watch 'The Sopranos,'" Holden said with a laugh. "He said I had to watch it because my Irish accent was creeping in. So I was sent off to watch 'The Sopranos' to get that East Coast sort of 'New Yawky' thing down."

Joel, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer/songwriter whose tumultuous life story could easily be fodder for theatrical treatment, was in truth so supportive of his newest alter ego that he had surprised him on stage moments before the curtain was to go up.

"It was my third show in New York, and I was really, really nervous, as you can imagine," Holden said. "I was still trying to get my feet on the ground, and then there he was. All I said was, 'Jeez, tell me you're not here to watch me.' And he said, 'OK, I'm not here to watch you.' But I knew he was. Somehow I got through it, and he was pretty cool about it afterward."

Holden, a popular 31 year-old country/rock singer from County Kilkenny, seems an unlikely choice to portray a younger Joel in the unlikely ongoing Broadway hit, which is now a national touring production opening in Denver on Tuesday. But that pairing is no more anachronistic than the musical itself, which combines a sweaty, dialogue-free Twyla Tharp ballet with 28 Joel tunes performed by Holden and a 10-piece band.

"When I first heard about it, I did kind of wonder, especially with the no-dialogue part, how the heck they were going to put dancing to all these songs," Holden said. "There is loads of material, but is there enough to create one story?

"The first time I saw it, it took me four songs to realize what was going on. I was just sitting there going, 'Oh, I don't know about this.' But then suddenly, it just hit me. It dawned on me what the story was, and after that it just kind of happens. I think that's the reaction a lot of people have."

Holden learned that "Movin' Out" was casting for an eventual National Tour last year, when he was the lead vocalist in "Riverdance" on Broadway.

"They had everything in place barring the 'Piano Man,'" Holden said. "They had scoped everywhere - Los Angeles, New York, Florida and Chicago. But they just couldn't find anybody."

The difficulty in casting a rock musical from a pool of singers trained for the musical theater is they are often simply the worst performers to sing rock. They are too well-trained for their own good.

"I guess that's why they had such a hard time finding somebody," he said. "From what I gather, a lot of people were coming in having done musicals like 'Showboat' and singing with this big vibrato, which just doesn't work - it can't work. This is rock and roll, and it's gotta be in your face."

Holden did not come from a musical-theatre background. From the age of 16, his bands were playing rock, country, pop and even dance music throughout the United Kingdom. "I was never someone that would go, 'Oh, I really want to be in "Phantom of The Opera,"' or something like that," he said. "I always wanted to be singing rock and roll."

He was coerced into auditioning for "Movin' Out" last June and was offered the job the same day. "I played two songs from the show and they said, 'Why don't you take some time off, on us, go back to Ireland and chill out, and come back and start working on Broadway in August?' And so that's what I did."

For six months, he was the understudy to Tony-nominated Michael Cavanaugh before launching the tour in January. But even though both shows are directed and choreographed by Tharp, Holden has never received direct instruction from her.

"Twyla just wants whoever is playing the 'Piano Man' role to give it what they've got but not really go over the top and take away from the dancing in any way," he said.

Holden has been warmly received by critics, who often describe him, like Cavanaugh, as not just a younger version of Joel but a better singer, which embarrasses him "because Billy is legendary," said Holden, who is far more concerned with winning Joel's often skeptical fans.

While "Movin' Out" has done wonders for ballet's cool quotient, many Joel fans enter with a sense of indignation and violation in just thinking their hero's music has been intermingled with such an incongruous and elitist art form. The initial resistance from some, Holden said, is palpable - especially from those who are made to attend against their will.

"When the curtain goes up, you can look out into the audience and see all these poor guys sitting there with their arms folded," Holden said. "You just know they have been dragged away from ESPN by some woman, and they just don't want to be there.

"But then they see the show and they absolutely love it. Major Billy fans come up to me all the time and say, 'You are not imitating Billy, and you are not destroying his music. I did not expect this at all.' It really is cool to get that reaction."

It's not so cool to be asked about Joel's ongoing legal troubles, which include plowing his car into a 93 year-old woman's house last month. It was his third accident in three years.

"It's so awkward," Holden said. "It's unfortunate that it's that kind of publicity he's getting right now."

But bad publicity has never turned Joel into a wallflower. "He's just the kind of guy where I don't think the press affects him in any way," Holden said. "I think if it did, he would have sorted all (his problems) out by now and gotten himself back on track. He really enjoys his success, and I don't think he gives a toss whatever is written about him. He's done it all. He's not really going to suffer in any way, I don't think."

About a month into Holden's Broadway gig, Joel jumped on the stage near the end of a performance and joined in on the encore, "New York State of Mind," then played four more songs for a delirious audience.

"The atmosphere was crazy, and I have to say it was one of the highlights of my life so far," Holden said. "Having grown up and listened to him for years, you never dream you're going to ever leave Ireland and come to New York and be on stage with that man."

Joel has shown up in several cities on the National Tour, Holden said, "and Denver being one of the major stops on the tour, I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up on opening night."

"She looked at us and said, 'So, do you all know your lyrics?'," Kanyok recalled. "I knew from the start this was going to be different - a tremendous learning experience."

Yes, she said, she did know her lyrics. "I've been listening to Billy Joel songs all my life," said Kanyok, who'll dance Brenda in the touring production of "Movin' Out," opening at the Buell Theatre this week.

The combination of Tharp's high-energy choreography ignited by faithful renditions of a couple dozen tunes by Joel proved a smash when it opened on Broadway in 2002 - a success that didn't surprise Kanyok.

"Right away, we all thought it was a brilliant combination of genres. We saw it as bringing a (dance) discipline back to the musical theatre."

Similar sentiments were echoed by Holly Cruikshank, who alternates in the role of Brenda with Kanyok. When the lanky dancer was invited to audition for "Movin' Out," she felt a mix of emotions.

"They were looking for understudies to do the matinees. I went in because I wanted to be seen by Twyla," Cruikshank said. Unfortunately, the dancer already was starring in a hit dance show.

"I loved 'Contact'," she said. "And I could have stayed there." Denver audiences will have no trouble remembering her in that Tony-winning production: Cruikshank portrayed the magnetic "Girl In The Yellow Dress."

As it turned out, movin' out of "Contact" proved irresistible. The opportunity to work with Tharp - and in Cruikshank's hometown of New York, no less - was too tempting.

Both dancers have solid ballet backgrounds and impressive Broadway résumés. But, they agreed, the rehearsal process turned out to be a supreme challenge.

"Twyla teaches really fast," Cruikshank noted. "I couldn't pick it up right away. She kept telling me, 'Don't be pretty - be ugly!' I fought it for a while. But once I went with it and felt I could do it, I was OK.

"She's so demanding, it was intimidating. But if you work as hard as you can, she'll respect you.

"Still, to be honest, I didn't know if I could make it through the show. It's like a full-length ballet - and I'm a Broadway dancer."

Cruikshank wasn't the only one feeling stress. "I'm six feet, and Laurie is only five foot-four inches, so it's been really hard on the guys, having to make adjustments every night."

The physical demands of "Movin' Out" certainly made an impression on Kanyok. "By the end, your muscles are at an ultimate level of fatigue."

What keeps the dancers going, she said, is the music. "You can't get past the energy of the band (led by singer/"Piano Man" Darren Holden). The drummer, bass player and lead guitar - they're our drivers.

"When they do 'Shameless,' the guitar has two big solos," Kanyok said. "I'm so inspired by his playing, sometimes I'll thank him when it's over. And there are times when Darren reaches for things that really get us going."

As exhausting as it was learning the intricate choreography, other challenges awaited.

While the show is built exclusively on Joel songs, "this is not a dance concert," Kanyok stressed. There is a story line, albeit one told without dialogue. Every dancer, in fact, is also an actor.

"I'm Brenda," Kanyok said. "She has something to say."

Just as in a play, the cast members needed to get inside their roles. That meant doing homework, Cruikshank noted. "Twyla would have us do research. She'd give us reading. Actually, my dance partner David (Gomez) and I sat down and invented some dialogue, to help us get into a particular scene.

"Twyla would ask us, "OK, what's your story? What do you do for a living? What's your relationship with the other characters?'

"This type of show is a wonderful way of expanding what we do - you know, dancers are usually in the background," Cruikshank noted. "She gave us freedom to improvise, so there was plenty of room to grow in the role."

For Kanyok, the preparation proved a major education. "We watched movies about the (Vietnam) War, and about the period.... I'm only 31 years-old (Cruikshank is 30 years-old), so this is all secondhand history for us."

While the dancers appreciated sharpening their acting chops and learning about America in the '60s, it was their time spent with Tharp that seemed to make the biggest impression.

"Twyla's an awesome lady," Kanyok said. "She has that love - for what she does, and for her dancers. After this experience, I have a new mom - Twyla."