Categories: New York, New York, Words about Music | 3 Comments »

Another step toward iPod gold…

I’ve been saying for many years now that the killer app on the iPod has not yet been written.

Categories: Tech Talk, Words about Music | 1 Comment »

Pictures from Billy Joel’s Shea Stadium Concert

I’ve posted a series of pictures that I took during Billy Joel’s “Last Play at Shea” on July 16, 2008. Click the picture to the left to see them (or check out my “Featured Photos” in the left-hand margin!)

Also, for those who haven’t heard yet, the guest stars in the second show (July 18, 2008 – the true“Last Play at Shea” were somewhat different than the show I saw. Tony Bennett reprised his appearance, but John Mayer, Don Henley and John Mellencamp were replaced by Steven Tyler (“Walk This Way”), Roger Daltry (“My Generation”) and the Sir Paul McCartney (“I Saw Her Standing There” and “Let it Be”).

From what I’ve read, the Who song was punctuated by Billy Joel smashing a guitar on stage – a nice throwback to that signature move by The Who. But it was the McCartney appearance that really tells a story: The Beatles were the first rock show to perform at Shea Stadium, and in doing so, they changed the face of American Rock & Roll forever. It was more than fitting that Sir Paul came out to sing in this, the stadium’s last rock show. Even more fitting was the way in which Billy Joel gave up his stage (and his piano) after the vaulted Piano Man, and allowed Sir Paul to close out the stadium with the classic Let It Be.

Billy Joel has always had a lot of class. That finale not only showed his class, but also his deep respect for the history of that great institution that is Rock & Roll.

Bravo, Billy! Bravo, Sir Paul!

Categories: Words about Music | 1 Comment »

ISBS Review: Billy Joel at Shea Stadium – The “Last Play at Shea”

Billy Joel brought the house down last night. Or, at least, he played to a house that someone else is bringing down later this year.

It what can only be described as an amazing display of talent, guts, and stamina, Billy Joel rocked Shea Stadium last night for more than three hours, steamrolling through his unparalleled music catalog with the determination of a prize fighter in a championship bout. The show had everything, including selections from Joel’s well-known “Greatest Hits” albums, several obscure tracks that he rarely plays live, and a host of other musical surprises that sent the crowd reeling over and over again.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning.

The stage at Shea Stadium was a bit of a departure from Joel’s standard arrangement. The grand piano was still front and center, of course, but the lack of audience members behind him meant the absence of the typical keyboards and runways that allow him to move about the stage during the show. In their place was a full string section at backstage right, and what has evolved over the last few years into a full-strength horn section at backstage left, complete with trumpet/flugelhorn, trombone, and several saxophones. All of this was flanked by several large viewing screens, designed in the shape of the New York skyline, so folks in the upper deck would have a chance to see Joel at more than a microscopic scale.

The show began with the Shea Stadium announcer asking the crowd to “please rise for our national anthem” in true baseball style. Joel has performed the national anthem at various recent World Series and Superbowl games with, shall we say, “mixed success.” This time, though, on his “home turf” with his very own grand piano and his very own sound system, he delivered a rich, full performance of the song. My hopes were high.

Then the video screens came on. Joel looked completely exhausted. His face was flushed and dripping with sweat, and he was rubbing down his entire head with a towel while frequently drinking out of a coffee mug and spritzing his tongue with artificial saliva to stay hydrated. The first few songs, which included Miami 2017,
Angry Young Man and My Life were separated by conversations with the audience, during which Joel was obviously catching his breath and towelling down for the next song. While his voice was still rich and strong, his body language on stage made me wonder whether he’d survive the evening, let alone put on a lengthy, energetic show.

But then, to quote some of his lyrics, Joel seemed to “get his second wind.” He launched into a few rarely performed songs – Everybody Loves You Now,
The Entertainer, and Zanzibar, featuring the absolutely mind-boggling trumpet/flugelhorn talents of Carl Fischer. I don’t know if it was the fact that the sun had set at that point and the night had cooled off a bit, or maybe the energy from the Shea Stadium crowd boosted his adrenaline, but from that point on, Joel seemed to get younger and more energetic with every song. By the time he got to
It’s Still Rock & Roll To Me and You May Be Right, he was standing on the piano and shadow-boxing with the mike stand like he did back in the ’80s (OK, that’s too generous – how about like he did in the early ’00s?).

The hits kept coming, and Joel took special care to make each one a showstopper. He turned Innocent Man into a church spiritual, and Captain Jack into an all-out gospel celebration. The video work behind We Didn’t Start the Fire, showing all of the various historical people and events mentioned in the lyrics, enhanced the song tremendously. Goodnight Saigon was extremely poignant, given the presence of a dozen or more veterans from various branches of the military who joined him on stage to sing, “We said we’d all go down together.” That song ended with chants of “USA! USA!” from the crowd, a la the 1980 Lake Placid Hockey Team’s heroics. The aforementioned string orchestra put an amazing shine on songs like
Goodnight, My Angel and The Ballad of Billy the Kid, and the horn section turned
Big Man on Mulberry Street into a romping, big band jazz number.

In my January, 2006 review of his Madison Square Garden Concert, I said, “There were far fewer piano riffs/solos than there had been in years past, but what he did play sounded great, even if it wasn

Categories: ISBS Reviews, Words about Music | 6 Comments »

The Gaffe Machine claims its latest victim: Miley Cyrus

OK, seriously? I saw a passing headline on the train this morning about Miley Cyrus posing nude in a magazine, and I couldn’t believe it when I saw the actual photo. This is considered a nude photo? This is even considered risque? Or even remotely inappropriate? I realize different people fall at different places on the prude-o-meter, and I mean no disrespect, but seriously – don’t we see more of Miley (and just about anyone else) when they’re wearing a swimsuit? On a public beach?

What we have here is another manufactured story, churned out by the Gaffe Machine, so reporters can fill their column inches or air time with another celebrity “Gotcha!” Everyone wants Miley to do something scandalous, so they can news catalog her with Brittney Spears and Lindsay Lohan.

Don’t believe me? Every news article I read about this so-called scandal contained at least one paragraph that mentioned Brittney and Lindsay. Let’s think about this seriously for a minute, shall we? Between the two of them, Brittney and Lindsay have been drunk drivers, on drugs, married and divorced several times, in rehab, involved in legal and sometimes violent altercations with both family members and members of the press, and more. Miley Cyrus posed for a picture by a world-famous, well-respected photographer that exposed her bare back. On what planet is this considered even remotely similar?

The ultimate irony, though, was the quote from Disney Channel spokesperson, Patti McTeague:

Unfortunately, as the article suggests, a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines

<smacks forehead> Wow. The Disney Channel is criticizing someone for exploiting Miley Cyrus in order to make money. Wow. Just….Wow.

Categories: News and/or Media, Words about Music | 5 Comments »

More Song Graphs

This post about graphs that represent well known songs has quickly become one of my more popular posts, so I figured I’d pass along a link to a few more song graphs. These are cute, although there are not nearly as many as the first link…

Enjoy!

Categories: Words about Music | Comments Off on More Song Graphs

Bill Moffit Dies…

Bill Moffit passed away on Wednesday in his home in Jacksonville, Florida. He was 82.

Most of you are probably thinking, “Who is Bill Moffit?” Then again, most of my regular readers have been in a marching band with me, so probably not.

Here’s the bottom line: if you’ve ever heard a marching band perform, particularly a high school marching band, then the odds are almost 100% that you’ve heard a Bill Moffit arrangement. He would arrange commonly used songs like The Star Spangled Banner in such a way that they sounded good but weren’t overly complicated, so a group of non-professional musicians could play them. As such, almost every high school and college did just that.

The above linked article says he arranged 450 songs for Marching Band, but I’m actually surprised it wasn’t more than that, given how often I’ve seen his name. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that he directed the fanfare trumpets at the Olympic Games in 1984 and the Pan American Games in 1986.

Good for him. Talk about a legacy that will live on forever…
(Hat tip: Kushol Gupta)

Categories: Words about Music | 1 Comment »

Song Graphs

Here is an awesome Flickr slideshow that represents well known songs as charts and graphs. Go look at the whole thing, but here are a couple of my favorites:

(Hat tip: Willow Gross)

Categories: Words about Music | 2 Comments »