Dirkmonster

Photostream: U2 in Nashville 7.2.2011

Fans attending the U2 concert at Vanderbilt have uploaded illustrious images to Flickr.  Here is a link to the slideshow:

http://www.flickr.com//search/show/?q=u2+nashville&s=rec

My first time to see the band in concert turned out to be more than a show.  It was the most stunning multimedia display I ever experienced.  And the experience was more than a display.  It was intensely spiritual. These boys from Dublin remind me that nothing is more cool than peace, love and one-ness.

J.D. Souther sings "Best of My Love"

From my seat at the Tin Pan South songwriter festival - Hard Rock Cafe, Nashville.

J.D. Souther disses Jonathan Cain at Hard Rock

Song writer J.D. Souther admitted to being "snotty" Friday night as he repeatedly went passive aggressive on Jonathan Cain, a fellow legend.

I kept thinking, now I know why Don Henley thinks it's cool to be an arrogant jackass!

The scene was a Tin Pan South event in a packed room at The Hard Rock Cafe Nashville.  There, lined up on stage, were 4 incredible artists:

Jonathan Cain, who wrote many of Journey's greatest hits.

Brett James, who wrote four #1's last year.

Alyssa Bonagura, a youngster with rare talent.

And, Souther, with his foundational contribution to The Eagles catalog and other classics like "You're Only Lonely".

Cain began the night with a medley of the songs he contributed to Journey - tunes that sold 20 million copies of Journey's Greatest Hits.  When J.D. Souther's turn came around, he snidely described the melody as "chicken" and then showed Cain who his daddy was with an astounding rendition of New Kid in Town.  

That's the thing: Souther could say anything he wanted and then back it up with his book of music.  He could have let the music speak for itself and everyone would have noticed the contrast between Souther's and Cain's style: Poetry set to rock music and Pop cotton candy. Heartache Tonight vs. Don't Stop Believing.  Best of My Love vs. Lovin Touchin' Squeezin'.   Souther anchored the songwriter's rotation leaving Cain to follow him every time in the next round.  By the end of the night, Cain became the peanut butter in a Souther sandwich.

Souther: Plays New Kid in Town
Cain: Brings the crowd to its feet with Don't Stop Believin'.
Then the youngster Alyssa Bonagura offered a tribute to Souther by performing Faithless Love (along with her parents Michael Bonagura and Kathie Baillie of "Baillie & The Boys").

Souther even kicked Cain off his own keyboard so J.D.'s favored pianist could accompany him.  Anchoring the set, Souther glanced back at Cain and said, "What did Journey's Greatest Hits do? 10 million?" Souther chuckled as we all knew what was coming: (Eagles Greatest Hits) "30 million."

Top 10 songs on the Dirkmonster's iPod

This is really opening myself up for abuse, but what the hell.  In the Dirkmonster's iTunes library, these are the "top 10 most listened to" songs:

1. Lost, Michael Buble
2. Gravity, John Mayer
3. Accidentally in Love, Counting Crows
4. Waiting on the World to Change, John Mayer
5. Hey there Delilah, Plain White T's
6. Our Song, Taylor Swift
7. Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
8. If I Had $1,000,000, Barenaked Ladies
9. Bubbly, Colbie Caillat
10. Move Along, All American Rejects

"Where's the Billy Joel?", I ask myself.  And So it Goes is #12.

C'mon let me have it :)  If you have the guts, list your iTunes library top 10 most listened to songs in the comments.

Rosenbaum mocked for attack on Billy Joel

An apparently well known music critic jumped the shark last week in a strange attack on Billy Joel that made about as much sense as Richard Simmons fighting Brock Lesnar.  It was just about as effective too, as some question Rosenbaum's motives: Billy Joel and Boomer Critical Hysteria

Billy Joel should really bust Rosenbaum's keyboard

It's a cliche for music critics to attack Billy Joel, and Ron Rosenbaum admits as much in his mean ad hominem attack on Billy Joel who he calls The Worst Pop Singer Ever.

Really? The worst?  First of all, the piece never even attepts to support the headline.  The closest he comes is by trying to prove that Billy Joel is worse than Bob Dylan.

But I got the point from this piece that was clearly written after Rosenbaum fell out of the wrong side of his judgmental know it all bed that probably has a canopy on it to protect himself from people who would try to throw dog doo at him while he sleeps.  Read the piece for yourself and decide whether it convinces you that Billy Joel is the worst ever.

For me, an unapologetic a Billy Joel fan, this piece made no sense.  Rosenbaum's central point is that Billy Joel has not earned the contempt he shows for the people writes about.  I never heard contempt in the songs, I've only heard it when someone broadsides Billy.  He used to read critics reviews from the stage and call them out in his audience.  I wonder if he'll go after Rosenbaum, who claims to come from the same part of Long Island where Billy grew up.

Can someone be the worst ever and still be incredibly successful and create music that has entertained millions of people over 5 decades?  I guess so, as long as any asshole can come up with a personal definition of what "the worst" is.

Billy Joel's music started speaking to me in the early 80's when I got a 45 RPM record of My Life and its flip side It's Still Rock and Roll to Me. (Rosebaum claims it was never rock and roll.)  Angry Young Man still speaks to me even though I'm not a young man anymore. 

During high school, I played my tape of An Innocent Man almost non-stop.  My first Billy Joel concert was to be at the Hollywood Sportatorium in Broward County, FL.  But the girl I was dating at the time came down with an apendicitis and had to have surgery.  She asked me not to go without her and I gave my tickets away.  When the girl got out of the hospital, she dumped me.  Angry, angry young man was I.

For the quote that appeared beneath my senior portrait in the yearbook, I chose a Billy Joel lyric: "While in these days of quiet desperation, as I wander through this world in which I live, I search everywhere for some new inspiration, but its more than cold reality can give."  Too dark, I know, for a 17 year old.  And I probably had no right to feel that way.  According to Rosenbaum's theory, Billy had no right to write that because he hadn't earned the contempt it shows for, uh, himself I guess.  Regardless, isn't art something that people react to on an emotional level?

And still, I get that some people don't get Billy Joel.  As a freshman in college, the sophomores who lived across the hall held my collection of Billy Joel albums hostage because they were sick of hearing it. 

But that never deterred my love for Billy Joel's music and my love for people who loved Billy Joel's music.  Early on when we were dating, it was a big moment when Lyn and I discovered we both knew all the words to Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.

So, bottom line, I'd have to say that Ron Rosenbaum is full of shit when he claims that Billy Joel is the worst pop singer ever.  Anyone got tickets to his sold out Nashville concert in May?

Music theory made easy

It's a good day when you learn something...

Last night, my guitar teacher Skyler at Gene Ford Music in Brentwood showed me that if you can count to twelve and know your alphabet to G you can understand music theory.  And I thought Uncle Leon was a genius (LOL...he is).

Billy Joel releases new single

Piano Man Billy Joel released a new single this week through People magazine's web site.

Billy hasn't released a pop song since his River of Dreams farewell CD, featuring cover art by then wife Christie Brinkley.  Christie and Billy had had it already by the summer of '95.  So without a muse to write for, Billy spent the last 14 years touring, composing, teaching, on Broadway and wrecking his automobiles.

But Billy's got himself a new wife, Katie Lee Joel, and as everyone knows she's about 5 years older than Billy's daughter Alexa.  And so the new song All My Life comes our way via an anniversary present to his new wife.

Here's an overview of those songs written for all the girls he's loved before:

#1 1971-83: Elizabeth Weber, business manager

I said I love you, and that's forever
And this I promise from the heart
I could not love you any better
I love you just the way you are.

#2 1985-94: Christie Brinkley, Supermodel

And when she's walking
She's looking so fine
And when she's talking
She'll say that she's mine

#3 2004-"forever": Katie Lee, Food Reporter

And I know very well, there's a long road to hell
That's been paved with intentions like mine
All my life, my stars were surely crossed
Now and then, I missed the love I lost
But all that changed, the day you said you'd be my wife

Who could have known that finding you
Would only take me all my life

There are so many things that have made Billy Joel the favorite Entertainer of All My Life. Yeah, his songs have great melodies and are the kind of pop music candy I like.  But I've also identified with the endless search he's been on for whatever it is that fills up the empty space inside - women, fame, rock and roll, anger, honesty, New York, Hollywood, the soul, and keeping the faith.  He will not quit his quest.  And he hasn't quit evolving and showing you every time that he's not the same old Billy.  I also enjoy his emulation of the classic sounds of American music.  This latest is clearly all about Sinatra.  But he's done the 50's, Beatles, blues and jazz too.

I am so looking forward to Billy's show in Nashville on February 21.  I'm quite sure there's something in store that will write another chapter in The Ballad of Billy the Kid.

Listen to Billy's New Recordings

Preview Billy Joel's Madison Square Garden Live recordings. You can listen to them in their entirety - they just include an intermittant voice overlaying the song so you can't pirate a clean version.

New Billy Joel CD

So what if it's the same old stuff?  That's what Billy Joel fans want, and that's what we're getting with the Piano Man's new CD. It's a compilation of live concerts recorded at Madison Square Garden.

Hey Billy, please bring this tour to Nashville!