Billy Joel Finally Honored at the Kennedy Center
To anyone who had grown up on Long Island, it seems that it was way passed due. Billy Joel, the every man, poet, song writer, was finally being honored at the Kennedy Center for his life time of work. His songs are the background to all of our lives; the friends we made in high school, the loves that didn't turn out the way that we hoped, the working class guy who just wanted what his old man had, and the Vietnam vet, who gave his life and forged friendship through love of country. Billy Joel, teary eye for most of his honor, looked humble, which is not a surprise. What makes him and his music so true is that he never forgot that he his roots, a working class kid from Hicksville, NY, who just loved music. The first American asked to play in the USSR, it is as much the man and his soul as it is his music, that touches the heart of people world wide, and makes you wonder what took the Kennedy Center so long.
Billy, you will always be our piano man.
Garth Brooks and Vietnam Vets singing ' Goodnight Saigon '
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He could turn out great music one after another. Thanks, Billy Joel.
The thing that most impressed me about the Piano Man was the way he continually reinvented himself & his music . Many of his hits had me guessing as to who the artist was when I 1st heard them on the radio [an anachronistic broadcast medium from the past ] .
And always will thank goodness!
Yes he could, Grump. I wish he would find a new muse and start writing again.
Very true, Petey. His albums were themed oriented, and so one album could sound like the Beatles, while another could be time and place. I always felt that because he never thought of himself as being different than either you or me, what touched him, touched us.
Oh you're just old school. LOL That's what a friend use to tell me all the time.
The modern version of this is [s]he's recently a transgender ...
Can't talk to a man with a shotgun in his hand. Can't talk to a man that don't want to understand stand. Carole King.
Your mother wears army shoes ...
Now its time for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame o include Neal Sedaka. Way past time.
Credit earned is credit due.
Enoch. quartering a note.
Any man who divorces Christy Brinkley doesn't deserve to be honored - how dumb can you be?????
Billy absolutely deserves this honor...and then some! His music has played a big part in my life and always will!
Thanks for all the memories, Billy
Thanks Six!! How did you know that was my favorite?
I don't think so...
This is a guy who was married to Christie. No transgender versions.
RANDY!!!!
If they gave one to Zeppelin last year and to Bruce... Billy was way over due.
And he is that good. Think about how many people have sang 'New York State of Mind" It was Tony Bennett who gave him the award. That says volumes!
So true John!!!
There you go Six!
Now, Now BF.... He has never had a domestic altercation.....and he has quit the booze. Be nice!
I'm sure they are, jwc! Did you know that is the next town next to me?
1st! It was the other way around. She cheated on him, got knocked up by what would be her 2nd husband and then divorced him. Ya gotta keep up with things.
I think they both deserved it. It's contributions made to the arts and they both have made great ones!
Love that song! Also Captain Jack.
Have my tickets already for July.
Carlos and Rob Thomas - Smoooooth
A bottle of red, a bottle of white
Exactly John . My comment was not intended as a slur on the gender of William Joel .
Great combination !
While I appreciate the fact that Billy Joel is getting this honour, I think that my old friend Ramblin' Jack Elliott is just as deserving, as well as my favourite musician, Leonard Cohen. Jack is a kind of remake of the legendary Woodie Guthrie. Although Leonard Cohen is a Canadian, he is most deserving, and if Paul McCartney and Andrew Lloyd Weber, who are both Brits, could receive this honour, so should Leonard.
Leonard Cohen is OK ... as a lyricist . However , not so much as a composer nor as a performer .
What ever mood you're in tonight....
I'll meet you anytime you want
At our Italian restaurant!
You have to be kidding. Petey - learn something about him. Have you never opened a video showing how his huge concert audiences venerate him?
There you go Mac!
Our favorite Italian restaurant!!!! Come on, Carlos isn't Italian. How about we just join the street party. I'll bring the red as soon as I can get it away from Mac.
Petey is that you dancing on the video???? OMG, your not nerdy.
Billy Joel deserved the award if only for this :
I cannot determine if it is true, but it was rumoured that Bob Dylan once said that the only musician who intimidated him was Leonard Cohen. As Dylan is a brilliant wordsmith, he would have meant this dictionary meaning of the word "intimidate":