Google accidentally deleted it's own blog recently. I love the quote:

The blog was mistakenly deleted by us (d' oh!) which allowed the blog address to be temporarily claimed by another user. . . . Our bad.

Hey, at least they didn't accidentally delete the search engine...

Via Instapundit, here's a map of the world that resizes the countries based on relative levels of net immigration.

On most political issues, I'm happy to offer my opinion regardless of how many facts I have (one of the many benefits of not actually being responsible for any of this...), but in this case, all I have are questions.

First, if we're so interested in protecting the illegal immigrants, why not simply make them legal? I mean, we control the immigration laws, right? If we're going to protect them when they're here, why not just hand them a photo ID card at the border? Then we could even get them to pay taxes and other fun stuff like that.

I'm being glib, but seriously: I can't think of anything else in this country that we call "illegal," and yet argue about whether or not their should be a punishment for it.

More questions: if there are jobs that people are willing to do for less than the minimum wage, and we're willing to let people pay less than the minimum wage to do these jobs, then why don't we establish legal exceptions to the minimum wage laws for certain jobs? If, as our leaders are currently telling us, immigrants do this work because Americans refuse to, then nothing changes. If, on the other hand, there are Americans who would work in the fields for $2/hr, would we rather they be unemployed, restricted by their unfortunate (!) status as citizens or legal immigrants?

Anyone have any answers here? Is it just about stirring the pot before the mid-term elections? Is this a problem no one wants to solve?

I'm on the commuter train heading home. The man sitting next to me has fallen asleep. His right elbow is leaning against the window while his right hand props up his head. His left hand is holding his open cell phone, which is currently running some kind of Texas Hold'Em game.

His left thumb is resting (rather firmly) on the "3" key. I'm not sure what the "3" key does in this game, but he appears to be losing hand after hand. I have no idea if this is for real money or not, but if it is, this is quickly going to become a very expensive train ride for this guy.

Question: Do I wake him up?

As I may have mentioned before, my new work location is in 50 Rockefeller Center, right across the street from the famed 30 Rockefeller Center, home of NBC Studios in New York.

This morning when I booted up my laptop, it did its usual scan for available wireless networks. One of my choices was a network called "SNL". You think...maybe?

Makes me wish I knew more about breaking into networks...

It seems I wasn't the only one watching a non-televised game on the CBS website. I think the success of this is an awesome thing long term. Maybe we can off-load all the specialty channels into on-demand websites, and make channel surfing a little easier? Perhaps when the web interface is a TV/Remote Control just like the rest of TV...

Ah, convergence - thy name is subtlety...

Continuing the theme of my discussion with Jeff about superior Mac technology, here's a guy writing for BusinessWeek Online who thinks Mac users shouldn't boot to Windows, even if they can.

I'm very much convinced that the arrival of the MacTel machine has moved this debate away from the last vestiges of technology, and squarely into politics. You're either in the Microsoft party or the Apple party. And whatever party you're in, everything the other party does is bad. Worse than bad - evil. Any indication that "they" may have an advantage, no matter how small or in what context, is sacrilege.

A few key snippets from this article to illustrate:

There was a certain illogic to the idea of running Windows on a Mac. As one commenter on Slashdot.org observed: "We've figured out how to put an inferior OS on more expensive hardware!" That way, he says, you can have both the frustrations of Windows and pay a lot for the equipment. "Next, how to mod your Porsche into a Toyota Camry."

First of all, the hardware is more expensive because it's not made/sold in the same quantities as Dells or HP/Compaqs. There's no reason to believe Apple could not compete given the same economies of scale. As for an inferior OS, there are certainly arguments to be made in terms of architecture, security, etc. But this guy has no interest whatsoever in making those arguments. Instead, we get this:

Windows certainly is inferior. But like taxes and carbon emissions, many people find it a necessary evil for getting along in the world. I dislike the way Windows gets in your face all the time with system messages, and how it requires so much hand-holding.

I have one Windows box at home. Every time I use it, before I can get anything done, I need to update something -- whether it's a new set of spyware or virus definitions, some new component of Windows, or the driver software for my mouse. The Mac for the most part stays out of your way and walks you through simple updates, but only when you really need them.

Sigh...

On the one hand, he complains about security. On the other hand, he can't be bothered by updates to his virus definitions. Even still, if it really bugs him, he should set the virus updates to download automatically on a regular basis (this is what I do - it only bugs me once a year, when I have to authorize the credit card for another annual license to the software). The same is true for Windows updates/patches - with LiveUpdate, I never get bugged at all (unless I want to be). And the mouse driver? Dude...if that's really happening, get a new mouse.

This a time to go on the offensive: Bring back the "Switchers" TV ads that portrayed happy Mac converts telling their personal stories of Windows unhappiness followed by Mac-inspired bliss. Ellen Feiss, call your agent! It's time for Apple to publicly flog Microsoft for a long string of slipping development schedules.

Damn straight! Why make the two systems interoperable and let people choose the tool they need to do the job at hand, when you can wage all out war and attack the opposition through the media will half truths?!?

I am sure Microsoft is not the least bit happy about delaying Vista until after the hoilday season. There must be some significant functionality that isn't working right for them to forego that kind of marketing opportunity. I'm also sure that if they did release it early and a major bug was found, this same author would be all over them for rushing software to market before it's ready (something Apple would never, ever do...)

To paraphrase Aragorn's rousing speech from before the final battle in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, a day may come when it makes sense for Apple to get serious about offering Macs that boot to Windows easily. But it's not this day. This is the time to fight.

And so the battle rages on. Next week: Bill Gates is secretly wiretapping e-mails to suspected terrorists, and Steve Ballmer is having an affair with his intern.

After some good advice from friends, I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a Video Ipod (the rationale that finally won out among the many offerred was this: What the hell - just buy the damn thing already.) I also minimized on accessories, which was my concern here, by not buying a car charger or a radio transmitter (we'll use the old iPod whenever we're in the car with the kids. The new one is MINE, ALL MINE!!!! BWAH, HA, HA, HA, HA. Sorry...)

At any rate, the iPod lived up to Apple's typical standard of easy to configure, easy to use, etc. I had it up & running in a few minutes (not counting the several hours it took to upload 3,000 songs from my iTunes library, of course). But then, I went in search of video.

Much of the video available on the web is in one of several formats: Quicktime (.MOV), Windows Media (.wmv), MPEG (.mpg), or Real Media (.ram). The iPod only supports H.264 video (.m4v) and MPEG-4 (.mp4). This page from the QuickTimePro tutorial, however, explains how QuicktimePro will effortlessly convert videos into the proper format. Seemed simple enough, so I shelled out my $30 and downloaded the upgrade.

I found a QuickTime video on the web, and followed the steps in the tutorial. Everything went swimmingly, except when I tried to watch the video on the iPod itself. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. I could watch it just fine. I couldn't listen to it. The video had transferred without any audio. To the web, Batman!

A quick Google search of Apple's site yields this surprising page, which basically says, "Yeah, sorry, but that doesn't really work all that well..." It, in turn, refers you to this page, which contains this priceless line:

You may want to consider using a third-party utility to convert the muxed file to a format that does allow you to edit or export.

Again, not entirely accurate. It's not a priceless line: it's price is $30 (for the QuickTimePro software that doesn't do what I bought it to do), plus the cost of the third party software that does perform that function.

So, it's back to Google, this time in search of software that will properly export video to the iPod. It turns out there are two generally accepted standards: iSquint and Podner. Here's a quote from the iSquint FAQ page:

Q: Windows version? Please?

A: Sorry, can't help you there. Doesn't feel very good to want a piece of software you can't have, does it? iSquint is a reflection of the type of software that is created for - and expected from - the Mac. Simple and powerful. I'm sure someone out there can make a .NET frontend to ffmpeg.exe, but it won't be me.

So much for cross platform compatability, huh? On to the other option, Podner. Here's what their FAQ says:

Q: Is Podner available for Windows?
A: No. Podner is very dependent on the Mac OS X operating system and cannot easily be made to work on Windows.

Dependent on the Mac OS X? But I thought OS X was all about open standards, and what could run there could run anywhere. No? Well, thanks for nothing folks.

The happy conclusion to all this is a group of software packages I was told about that accomplish the job:

HiDownload: Downloads streaming video from the web and stores it in its native file format, including support for multiplexed ("muxed") files like MPEG1 and MPEG2. (Cost: $35)

URL Helper: A very neat little program that scans your internet connection looking for streaming video and displays the URL of the source file (even files hidden behind ActiveX or Javascripts). I can play a video, wait for URL Helper to find the source file, then right-click on the URL and select "Download with HiDownload." (Cost: $20)

Videora IPod Converter: A more robust "Export to IPod" tool than QuickTimePro - it allows you to queue multiple files and convert them all in batch mode. Also, it runs a little faster than QuickTimePro. And best of all, it's freeware, so you don't have to spend the $30 unless you want to (assuming, of course, that you haven't spent it yet, as I have...)

So, I'm all set now - multiple videos of all kinds (well, not all kinds, although I couldn't resist downloading Janet Jackson's "Wardrobe Malfunction" just for posterity's sake, so I guess that sort of fulfills the pr0n requirement), working well on the iPod, sound and all.

Now if only there were a way to get my $30 back from Apple...

Via John Scalzi:

A company called KinderStart.com is suing Google because their page rank dropped dramatically, causing a 70% drop in their viewership.

Scalzi has a lot to say about the merits of the suit, which I'll skip over here. But check this out: the lawsuit will likely get a lot of press, including online press. You've gotta assume that some portion of those articles will include hyperlinks to both Google and KinderStart. Depending on the popularity of the news sources that provide those links, KinderStart's PageRank will increase, due to the presence of hyperlinks from well visited sites. So basically, as the story gets more coverage, the content of the lawsuit itself diminishes.

Now, what happens if all this attention raises the PageRank to the point where they drop the suit? Then the articles get archived, life moves on, and the PageRank drops. What does KinderStart do then? Sue again?

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Well, what a day this has been! I'll post a much longer (rant-filled) essay on all the technology woes I went through today, but here's the long and the short of it: I've got the wireless network setup the way I want it now (full, or near full signal everywhere in the house *AND* on the deck in the backyard. I even walked to the woods in the back, and the signal was still fair. I'm typing this right now from my deck (according to Yahoo, it's 34 degrees), just to prove that I can. Really, it's been that kind of day.

For the geeks (but, as I say, much more later): I bought a Linksys Range Extender to go with my Linksys Wireless Router. I also caved in and bought the Video iPod. Not only that, but our color inkjet printer up & died on us this week, so I had to buy another one of those. It's been a very expensive & frustrating day, but now that it's done & everything's working, I'm very psyched.

OK, I gotta go. My wife is looking at me through the dining room window & pointing out to me just how cold it is...

Much more tomorrow...

Again, from Jeff Porten:

Google's decent into evil.

Here's what Google will look like in 20 years. (Hat tip: Jeff Porten)

UPDATE: Michael Weinmayr adds another example.

CBS is showing free, live streaming video of all the games, so even though the Penn game doesn't rate national television, I'm still able to watch it live. Here's the scoop:

NCAA Tournament - Round 1
University of Pennsylvania vs. University of Texas
Dallas, Texas

1ST HALF

6:34 left to play: Penn 14, Texas 13
Yes, really. Even more amazing: Penn has 4 3-pointers and 2 foul shots. They haven't made a 2-point shot yet.

3:41 left to play: Penn 16, Texas 16
They finally got a 2-point basket and they're holding their own against Texas. I'm sure this will all fall apart in the end, but for now, WOW!!!

1:59 left to play: Penn 19, Texas 18
They are playing amazing defense. No fast breaks. No lay-ups. Double-teaming the best guys, and then getting back to cover their own men when he passes it off. Quote from the announcers: "Who would have thought..."

1:00 left to play: Penn 22, Texas 20
That's two more 3-pointers for Penn. Unbelievable...

HALFTIME: Penn 23, Texas 22
YOWZA!!! And for those who care, the Penn Band's version of "Fight On, Pennsylvania" is drowning out the Dallas, TX crowd. Go Band!!!

SECOND HALF

Penn is shooting 28% to Texas' 38%, but they are 6/14 in 3-pointers. The bad news is, I think we might have pissed them off. Here we go...

18:10 left to play: Penn 25, Texas 25
Texas keeps shooting & missing, but they keep getting the rebounds. Penn better start hitting their shots, or this could get ugly...

16:35 left to play: Penn 25, Texas 27
Fast break...Penn missed a 3-pointer and Texas took the rebound coast-to-coast...

15:20 left to play: Penn 25, Texas 29
Texas made two foul shots, Penn couldn't get a shot off before the shot clock ran out, and then they fouled Texas again. The crowd's getting into it now. Penn needs a 3-pointer to turn the momentum tide RIGHT NOW...

14:30 left to play: Penn 28, Texas 31
Texas made two more foul shots, but Penn got that 3-pointer, and now Texas turned it over. Very cool...

13:14 left to play: Penn 28, Texas 31
No scoring, but the Penn guy was just rolling around on the floor with the ball, while the Texas guys tried to take it away. IVY BALL!!! Such a familiar sight... ;-)

10:00 left to play: Penn 31, Texas 38
If there were quarters, this would be the 4th. They've still got the lead, but the game's not out of reach. Penn just has to stay close, and then get lucky at the end. This is the best they could have hoped for at this point...

8:49 left to play: Penn 36, Texas 39
Gotta love those 3-pointers. One more & we're back to square one. Let's go Quakers! Announcer quote: "Penn will not go away..."

7:48 left to play: Penn 36, Texas 41
They got a rare fast break & put one in. But Penn has two foul shots coming now (they're in commercial)

7:48 left to play: Penn 38, Texas 41
WOOOSH!! WOOOSH!!!

6:19 left to play: Penn 40, Texas 41
PENN with a fast break. Can you believe this? 3-Point scoring right now is Penn 27, Texas 3. Time out, Penn. GO BAND!!!

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Just turned on CBS. They're still showing the UNC game, but the Penn score is now one of the three running totals at the top (to be fair, it's probably because all the Texas fans are curious about their #2 seed, not all the Ivy League viewers, but still...)

5:00 left to play: Penn 40, Texas 43
Texas got a layup. Penn just lost the ball. Uh oh...

3:49 left to play: Penn 40, Texas 45
...and Texas has two foul shots coming. Penn just missed a 3-pointer. Like I said, they have to get lucky at the end. Still a chance, but it's getting dimmer. Porten's right - this is going to be a heartbreaker. I'm just not sure I know who's heart right now...

(EDITOR'S NOTE: UNC has 38 seconds to play. I bet they switch to the Penn game on CBS when the UNC game ends...)

3:32 left to play: Penn 42, Texas 47
Penn made two foul shots. Now they're trying a full court press. Foul on Penn... Ah, well.

3:10 left to play: Penn 42, Texas 49
Two more foul shots for Texas. These guys just don't miss...

2:00 left to play: Penn 42, Texas 49
I think Penn's starting to unravel. They're pressing inside, rather than trying to find the 3-pointer. Texas keeps taking the ball away inside.

1:22 left to play: Penn 45, Texas 51
Jabber just made his first 3-pointer of the half. Maybe someone on the bench is reading my blog. ;-) Anyway, it still looks bleak, but it ain't over yet...

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Funny, the announcer keeps saying, "let's go back to Greg Gumbel" and then keeps talking. It just occurred to me that the TV broadcast probably breaks back to Gumbel, but the Internet feed is not going to leave this game...)

1:00 left to play: Penn 45, Texas 51
Penn did a great job of trapping Texas, but couldn't get the ball. Finally, they fouled. Now Texas has two foul shots...

52.8 seconds left to play: Penn 45, Texas 52
Texas made one of them. Penn drove right to the basket & missed. Penn trapped them in the backcourt and they called timeout. Great trapping, but it's costing valuable time. I would think they'd run down the court, take a 3-pointer, and then foul right away...

35.8 seconds left to play: Penn 45, Texas 52
Same thing: great trapping - took Texas almost to the limit to get the ball over the half court line, and then Penn fouled. So they succeeded, but it cost them 27 seconds. I don't get it...

30.8 seconds left to play: Penn 47, Texas 54
Texas made them both, but Jabber just made a shot and got fouled. Missed the foul shot, though...

28.6 seconds left to play: Penn 47, Texas 56
Another two foul shots.

23.5 seconds left to play: Penn 49, Texas 56
A field goal for Penn. Band is playing Cheer, Pennsylvania. They stack up nicely to the Texas band, who I'm sure does more rehearsing. Nice job, guys...

14 seconds left to play: Penn 52, Texas 58
Another time out. Texas band is playing a smokin' version of "I've Been Working on the Railroad..." Penn needs some unanswered 3-pointers, and I mean NOW Unfortunately, they don't have the ball...

10.7 seconds left to play: Penn 52, Texas 60
Two more foul shots. Dunphy is subbing in some other players (so they can say they played in the game).

GAME OVER: FINAL SCORE: Penn 52, Texas 60.

What. A. Game.

Hurrah for the Red and the Blue....

Well, my new job puts me in Rockefeller Center each day, which is a stone's throw from 5th Avenue, so on my way to grab lunch today, I stopped by the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

This was probably my first St. Patrick's Day Parade. I say "probably" because I deal with the participants of the parade every year (the mostly drunk, exceedingly green-clad people who clog the streets, drink too much, and laugh incessantly for no apparent reason. One year, there were a bunch of drunk revelers on the train in to the city (that would be roughly 7AM - gotta admire that kind of dedication), but I'm honestly not sure if I ever actually saw the parade itself.

So here's the report: Meh.

Marching bands, cheerleader squads with batons and flags, a few Irish flags - your typical parade stuff. The spectators were extremely well behaved (at 12PM - must be a record). In fact, I didn't see anyone who I'd categorically declare drunk.

The most interesting thing at the corner of 51st and 5th (that's right by St. Patrick's Cathedral) was the New York Police Department. They had the side street divided into three lanes with wooden police barriers. The far right lane was for people who wanted to cross 5th Avenue eastbound, the far left lane was for people crossing westbound, and the middle lane was for people who wanted to approach 5th Ave and watch the parade. It was extremely well organized and was working like a charm. Every time there was a break in parade traffic, they let a clump of people on each side of 5th Avenue cross, then cut the line off when the next float came by - optimizing street-crossing without disrupting parade traffic at all. Yet another well done, thankless job by the NYPD.

I'll probably have more to report after I attempt my commute home - after all, today is St. Patrick's Day, Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament, and Friday. Lots of reasons to party tonight - I have to believe there will be more interesting things to report by nightfall...

A classic from James Lileks:

Remember: your iPod has more storage capacity than everything in this room.

If you like that, check out the whole series here.

For the UPenn alums in the crowd (any any Philadelphia fans, I guess), check out the new building that's going up near the Walnut Street Bridge.

When I graduated from UPenn 15 years ago, the only real "skyline" building was 1 Liberty Place.

OK, OK, I know I'm the last one on the planet to go wireless, but my new job provided me a laptop and a wireless card, so I went out and bought a wireless router, and bingo - I'm sitting in my den, blogging from the couch. Very, very cool...

Still lots to do - I can't get on my corporate network yet, and I haven't figured out things like viewing files from my home PC, sharing a printer, setting up all the various security features, etc. But for now, I've got internet access, which is a good start.

UPDATE: Trying again on Friday night. Last night, every time I went in my den, the network went offline (I think it's a distance thing). Right now, it's showing me 2 out of 5 bars, and the performance is acceptable. Maybe I should just go out & get a repeater so I don't have to worry about it.

The investment banking firm Needham & Co have done a study that attempts to determine how much Apple would earn if the Mactel machines ran Windows natively.

Bottom line: 1 million more machines, a 22% increase in sales for Apple, and an 80% increase in market share (9.2%, up from 5.1%).

The article points out that the survey is biased because it surveyed college students who already are mor highly disposed to Macs than the general population. Fair enough, but what it doesn't consider is the corporate purchases that would come if Apple were just another hardware provider, like HP or Dell. Without any supporting data, I would guess that this number would drawf the ones above.

Isaac Hayes, rock & roll icon and voice of the Chef on South Park, is suddenly offended by the cartoon and wants out.

I don't watch the show, but I wouldn't think it would be a place for sensitive folks. This (rather angry sounding) quote from co-creator Matt Stone might have it right:

"This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology," Stone told the Associated Press. "He has no problem--and he's cashed plenty of checks--with our show making fun of Christians."

 

This guy died.

Bummer...

This is the fourth in my series of reviews of the "My Lives" Box Set from Billy Joel. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to reviews of the other discs.

I can sum up my feelings on Disc four with one word: Meh.

This disc is basically representative of what Joel has been doing for the last ten years or so (except for his current tour which, not accidentally, harkens back to the previous 3 discs). It contains live versions of those songs that he most often performs live, a couple of benefit performances he's given recently, and some of his more recent, classical music.

The live stuff comes primarily from his Millennium concert in Madison Square Garden (12/31/99). Don't get me wrong - these are entertaining and energy-filled versions of the songs, but since the Millennium Concert has already been released on CD, none of it is new. The exceptions here are You May Be Right which comes from a Face-to-Face concert and is a great (new!) version of the song, and Los Angelenos, which sounds like it's from an older concert and could very well be the version that was on Songs in the Attic (in which case, it's out of place on this disc).

The benefit numbers include The Beach Boys' Don't Worry, Baby from a tribute to Brian Wilson, which may be the best track on the disc. He dedicates it to his daughter, Alexa, which is sweet when the lyrics are "Everything will turn out alright; Don't worry baby," but gets kind of creepy when he gets to "Oh what she does to me; When she makes love to me." I guess we can give him a pass, since the song he wrote for her is much more appropriate. There's also the September 11th tribute version of New York State of Mind, which is about as soulful as Billy Joel gets (and with good reason, of course).

Finally, there are three selections from Fantasies and Delusions. I have a great respect for those who compose (and perform) classical music, but I have to be in precisely the right mood to want to listen to it, and can't honestly claim to ever enjoy it, so I'll refrain from commenting further on these.

The disc also has a hidden track, containing a mock interview with Billy Joel (probably by someone in his band), which purports to be promotional material for Glass Houses, circa 1980. It's basically Joel kidding around with his buddy, making fun of the concept of promoting an album. He plays a couple of joke songs, including one in the New Wave style that was hot back then (classic moment: he stops in the middle and says, "Oops - too many chords" and plays it again - all on the same chord). He also runs through potential promotional slogans for the album which I greatly enjoyed (examples: "People who live in glass houses shouldn't listen to the Stones" and "People who buy this album shouldn't get stoned.")

So, to summarize: the box set was a nice dose of new Billy Joel material to listen to, which was refreshing for someone who's been listening to the same old stuff for quite some time now. There are some great nuggets in there, along with a bunch of repeats from previous discs to fill out the mix. I think it's a must-buy for the "rabid fan," which is likely why they released it in the first place. The casual fans should probably stick with the studio albums, though, unless they enjoy rarities of any kind, in which case this is certainly a treasure trove.

I also feel obligated to note (for completeness' sake) that there's a DVD included in the box. When I get around to watching it, maybe I'll post something about it too, but I'm assuming it's just a collection of concert videos. The big exception there is the two UMixIt tracks at the end, which allows you to remix the songs (and even add your own tracks) if you play the DVD on your PC. At the very least, I look forward to isolating the piano part on these tracks and re-learning them on the piano based on what he's actually playing, rather than what the sheet music says he's playing. More to come on that front...

---

My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4

This is the third in my series of reviews of the "My Lives" Box Set from Billy Joel. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to reviews of the other discs.

Disc 3 of the series basically showcases Billy Joel as a kick-ass cover band and movie soundtrack contributor. As a cover artist, Joel offers up the Isley Brothers' Shout (recorded live at Yankee Stadium), two Elvis Presley tracks from the Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack (All Shook Up and Heartbreak Hotel), Duke Ellington's In a Sentimental Mood from the soundtrack of A League of Their Own, the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night (a staple of his Face-to-Face setlist with Elton John), Leonard Cohen's Light As A Breeze, the Disney classic When You Wish Upon a Star, and two Bob Dylan tunes: To Make You Feel My Love and Highway 61 Revisited. It's been said many times that Joel is quite an impressionist, and putting all of these covers on the same disc highlights that fact. He not only does a pretty good job imitating the voices (especially Presley and Dylan), but also has an uncanny ability to capture the style of the original tune while still providing his own take on the material.

As a soundtrack contributor, there are the songs mentioned above, but also a couple of originals: Why Should I Worry from Disney's Oliver & Co. and Where Were You (On Our Wedding Day) from Runaway Bride, both of which, in my humble opinion, are good enough to have made it on their own as singles if they weren't already part of a movie soundtrack.

The real gems on this disc, though, are the live (Yankee Stadium) version of I Go to Extremes and the alternate version of River of Dreams. In the former, Joel's piano playing exceeds even his own high standards, particularly on the improvisational riffs near the end (over the years, these settled into a scripted few, including the one where he bounces down the keyboard on his backside), and some clever variations in the lyrics ("Darling I don't know why I go for ice cream..."). The latter has a lot more featured piano than the released track, including a swing-style version of the Goodnight, My Angel theme right in the middle of the piece. In retrospect, they probably cut it down for timing so they could release it as a single, but this version is much, much more entertaining.

Motorcycle Song, a demo that eventually became All About Soul, and the unreleased You Picked a Real Bad Time are the only "rabid fans only" tracks on this disc. I liked Motorcycle Song because the lyrics are such obvious placeholders (they describe Joel riding his motorcycle around various Long Island highways), in much the same way that Allentown was originally written as Levittown ("Well we're living here in Levittown; The grass is green the dirt is brown..."). You Picked a Real Bad Time is roadhouse blues in the spirit of Big Man on Mulberry Street, and while I like it a lot, it's not as good as the released material.

The only original album cut on the disc is The Downeaster "Alexa", the first track on the disc, which I'm sure is there because it has some sentimentality to Joel ("Alexa" is his boat, which he named after his daughter), but given the rest of the material, I think it sticks out like a sore thumb.

All in all, this was my favorite disc so far. The first two discs show Billy Joel, rock & roll hopeful from Levittown, hungry for success and working hard to prove himself to everyone. This disc shows BILLY JOEL - SUPERSTAR, spending some of his hard-earned capital to branch out in different directions, lend his name to smaller projects, and have some fun with the music, rather than trying to create the next classic rock song every time out.

I look forward to Disc 4...

---

My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4

This is the second in my series of reviews of the "My Lives" Box Set from Billy Joel. Scroll to the bottom of this post for links to reviews of the other discs.

For the rabid Billy Joel fan, Disc 2 will not be as exciting as Disc 1, primarily because it contains more album cuts that the rabid fan already has in his/her collection. The casual fan will be happier with it, though, since the album cuts are generally not obscurities, but songs that were released as singles and received some decent radio air play. Examples include An Innocent Man, Easy Money (which was the title song for a 1983 movie of the same name, starring Rodney Dangerfield and Joe Pesci), Modern Woman (which was on the Ruthless People soundtrack in 1986), and Baby Grand (the duet with Ray Charles).

Like Disc 1, this collection also includes some live performances, although Captain Jack sounds basically like the album version, and The Times They Are A Changin' was already released on the Russian album. The golden nugget of the live tunes on this disc is I'll Cry Instead, a Beatles cover that Joel did with Elton John at one of their Face-to-Face concerts. I always enjoy hearing Joel cover the Beatles - his attention to detail and his ability to do various musical styles (increasingly rare in today's artists) make these versions good imitations of the original, but still come across sounding fresh and energetic.

The demo tracks on this disc are also interesting to the rabid fan. The End of the World eventually became Elvis Presley Blvd., which was released as the B-side to Allentown, back when records had B-sides. Elvis Presley Blvd. is also included, so you can hear how the lyrics went from intricate and cheesy to clever and catchy.

The Prime of Your Life eventually became For The Longest Time. This track is most interesting for the music, since he had very few words written when it was recorded (most of the track has him simply humming along). The music, though, is a very dense piano arrangement, and sounds very much like classical music. It's funny to listen to the classical piano and hear the doo-wop in your head that it eventually morphed into.

Also of note is Christie Lee, his most explicit ode to Christie Brinkley (now referred to as "Ex #2"). The unreleased version is a swing number, but eventually became straight rock & roll when it appeared on the Innocent Man album.

There are other unreleased songs, including a version of Getting Closer with Steve Winwood (although Winwood never sings a note, so you wouldn't know he was there unless you read the liner notes), and And So It Goes, which also sounds very much like the released version.

Then there's the Roadhouse Blues number, House of Blue Light and the Beatles-esque Money or Love, both of which have nostalgic value to the rabid fan, but probably wouldn't be appreciated by too many others.

All in all, I enjoyed Disc 2, but with a few exceptions, much prefer Disc 1. Stay tuned for more on Discs 3 and 4.

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My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4

My posts about Billy Joel have been getting hundreds of hits (helped along, I'm sure, by Google and the fact that he's touring), but people are clicking through, so who am I to not respond with more content?

First of all, a backhanded compliment to buy.com. I ordered My Lives on Saturday night, and chose Budget Shipping (5-7 days), which is free, as opposed to Standard Shipping (3-5 days), which would have cost me a few bucks. The discs arrived at my door Monday afternoon. So, first, wow - that's incredibly fast service, especially given there was a weekend involved. But then, hey - good thing I didn't pay money to have it delivered faster, since I got it within one day anyway.

That aside, on to the music (I've only listened to Disc 1 so far (1960's - 1980), so I'll post more as I go). Bottom line: this material is for the real Billy Joel fan. The ones who know all the songs, not just Greatest Hits 1 through 3. As one of those fans, I thoroughly enjoyed it. If I weren't one of those fans, though, I think I would have hated it. Passionately.

The first two tracks are from The Lost Souls, Joel's first band. I've heard him say on his college lecture tours that My Journey's End was the first song he ever wrote, so here's your chance to hear studio version of the first ever Billy Joel song. That said, the recording quality is awful (so much so, that I originally thought something was wrong with the CD). The quality improves as we move toward the 1970s, with a couple of tracks from The Hassles and one from Attila (a Jazz Ensemble and Heavy Metal band that Joel experimented with before going solo). The insert warns that the Attila tune, Amplifier Fire is loud enough to be scary, but I didn't mind it in the least. There's even a rather clever mixing technique in the middle, where the keyboard is vamping in the left channel and the drums are in the right, and then they gradually switch, then switch back, then switch again, etc. At the time, that was probably high technology. Today it's so easy to do that folks don't bother doing it, making it unique once again.

After that, we get back to what we all know as Billy Joel music. Piano-centric, melodically interesting tunes ranging from ballads to full-blown rock & roll. Basically, the songs can be broken down into three groups: album versions of lesser known songs, unreleased studio and/or live versions of popular songs, and unreleased demos.

For the rabid fan, the album versions are nice, but nothing new. For the more casual fan, I think they'd probably highlight why these songs were never hits (with the possible exception of She's Got a Way, which is a gorgeous ballad no matter how you slice it).

The unreleased versions of popular songs will probably sound exactly the same to the casual fan, but to the rabid fan, they're fantastic bits of musical trivia. The highlight for me was the unfaded version of Zanzibar, where you get to hear a whole lot more of that fantastic trumpet solo at the end. The reggae version of Only The Good Die Young is fun as well, although I've heard it before elsewhere.

The rest of the tracks (seven in all) are demos. These were never released and, in many cases, not even finished (he hums his way through verses he hasn't written yet.) The best of these tracks are songs that were eventually released under different titles or with different lyrics. For example, Piano Man is there with an extended harmonica part, an extremely annoying echo effect on Joel's voice, slightly different lyrics, and a different melody for the bridge (the "La Da Dah" part). There's also These Rhinestone Days, which became I've Loved These Days, New Mexico, which became Worse Comes to Worst, and a version of Miami 2017 that remains a ballad all the way through. I thoroughly enjoyed these tracks for two reasons: first, the sparse arrangements show off Joel's piano playing more than the final cuts, and second, because they give a fantastic insight into his writing process - how the music gets set first, and the words come gradually, often getting rejected and rewritten (sometimes scrapped entirely, sometimes tweaked only slightly). The other demos on the disc are songs that were never released under any title, including Only a Man, Oyster Bay and Cross To Bear. The rabid fan would be interested in these because they are, to most people, new Billy Joel songs, which is something we haven't been treated to in a very, very long time. The casual fan will likely think of them as bad Billy Joel songs, lending no weight to the fact that the artist went on to do much more interesting things.

So, overall, I'm very pleased with Disc 1. Your mileage, as they say, may vary.

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My other reviews:
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
Disc 4