Billy Joel still has it. Wow.
- Thread starter Noodle
- Start date
He's living proof that homely guys can snag hot chicks.
Crazy story. I unknowingly slept through my chance to play with Billy Joel. Local band I sat in with occasionally (harmonica) invited me out to play with them the next night. It was a Sunday and I had to work the next morning so I skipped the invite and went to bed. Billy Joel showed up that night and played with them all night in a little club in Toledo. His wife Christy and her sisters tagged along. Ugh.
Yes, and her single sisters.
TOP FIVE . . . . . Those whose music I can’t stand and thus get a Sirius channel change as soon as the first couple of notes assault my ears:
Billy Joel (Piano Man makes me want to puke)
Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody should be permanently banned)
Yes (all due to Jon Anderson’s voice)
Rush (Geddy Lee)
Elton John
I think you’re way off on a couple of these.
Yes, Piano Man is awful - we can agree on that. But the rest of Joel’s stuff is awesome and I’m much younger than his usual crowd. And I’m probably the worlds biggest Gen-Xennial Elton John fan.
Rush sucks. Queen is meh.
LOL . Bummer.
A guy sitting in the office right across from me, much younger than me, very smart guy (also... lol) did some of his school in Minneapolis, and his girlfriend knew a guy who called and invited her to a party at Prince's house... (!) She asked to bring her boyfriend and was told OK. This guy decided he was tired from a road trip and DECIDED NOT TO GO. I think he thought it was going to be some bs, but it turned out real. He got the story later from his girlfriend who did go that a bunch of local celebs and musicians hung out with Prince for hours and it was regular party and he was very cool to everyone.
He told the story and told me "I still can't believe I didn't go" . He's a fairly good amateur guitarist himself, and I guess there was some jamming that happened also. LOL!
Agree with Billy Joel and Rush. Yes..... meh, I could go either way, depending on my mood.
Early Elton, a big yes. Later..... no.
Not a huge, huge Queen fan, but any band that can put out "I'm In Love With My Car" is OK in my book.
I'm imagining epic pillow fights.....
Man, jamming with Prince...... epic, but you'd have to feel very inadequate. Prince's guitar playing is so underrated.
You play harmonica? Very cool. Back in the day I loved big head Todd. Way back I liked blues traveler too. Both big on harmonica. They’re actually playing together this summer
I'll throw in:
Fleetwood Mac
Foreigner/Journey/Boston (literally the same band in my mind)
Aerosmith
Fire away.
Obligatory.
Interviewer "What do you smoke to stay so young." Prince: "I smoke other guitar players" .
I think it was Billy Gibbons who said Prince came up to talk at a gig one time, and he was surprised Prince even really knew ZZ Top stuff, but said Prince did. Said Prince sat with him talking guitar for a long time about techniques "how do you make this sound on this riff" etc. and said he respected Prince as being so great already but always trying to get even better and that Prince loved talking guitar techniques with anybody he respected on it. I guess they became friends.
It's too bad Prince is being known for being strange instead of his incredible musicianship.
Yeah bitch. Peoria. I guess they have a riverfront. Free. Extra money for beer in paper cups and funnel cakes. Shirt optional
Foreigner/Journey/Boston - which of these is not like the other?
I'll throw in:
Fleetwood Mac
Foreigner/Journey/Boston (literally the same band in my mind)
Aerosmith
Fire away.
Obligatory.
A: Boston. A damn fine band
Which version of Fleetwood Mac are you talking about?
Dog on Aerosmith all you want, but they're a great party band and I'd take Steven Tyler's leftovers any day. Saw them and the one-and-only Jordan River Festival at the beginning of the 1975 school year, where they headlined. Chris Hillman said it was like being back at Woodstock.
First time was H.O.R.D.E. in 1994
Saw them again at the IU Auditorium where I'm pretty sure the fat bastard John Popper's sweat hit my face. Saw Rusted Root there as well.
To be sure, he was pretty ****ing strange.
Boston is borderline. I probably meant Kansas. In fact, I'm pretty sure I did.
But of all the place name bands, Chicago wins.
Fleetwood Mac only b/c my 17 y/o daughter "discovered" them and it's been on a loop for the past two months.
Just never liked Aerosmith. I always considered them pop Led Zeppelin.
Agreed Aerosmith was a pop Led Zep. Good analogy (metaphor?)
Never a huge Chicago fan, but I've come to appreciate them the last few years. You don't hear musicianship like that anymore.
I missed the entire Kansas hysteria - I was in the Army in Europe and we didn't get much exposure to anything new. I think the closest AFN ever played was "Wildfire".. lol
I have great memories of seeing FM in Indy in the 70s. Always went with a hot date and always got lucky afterwards. Ah, memories......
My mom had his concert from NYE on Long Island on VHS she used to play all the time back in the 80s. Was a good show.
I saw Joel live in Indy probably around 2000. Didn't think he'd still be going strong 25 years later. His voice still hasn't lost too much.
At least protestors won’t be blocking the road on the way there.
Yeah, I like them more now than when they were big when I was a kid.
I won the yearly scholarship our high school gave to one person from our band, to a band camp at Northwestern U. I think it lasted about a week. (I played saxophones, we gave both a concert band and jazz band performance at the end). One of the Northwestern profs loved to tell the story of when he was invited to join (a founding member basically) by guys he knew, a new band 'Chicago' . He was an impressive trumpet player.
But he had just gotten a university job and decided he was tired of beating his head against the wall in bands 'going nowhere'. So he declined.
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Original Fleetwood Mac, with Peter Green, was infinitely better, than the later edition.
I'll throw in:
Fleetwood Mac
Foreigner/Journey/Boston (literally the same band in my mind)
Aerosmith
Fire away.
Obligatory.
I was so surprised at the number of young people, girls especially at a Stevie Nicks concert a couple years ago.
I went to that in Dallas in 1995. Got box seats from this chick I met at Sound Warehouse. 😄
Little too grainy for my taste.
Edgefest was more my speed. Whoa, Blues Traveller played at both Edgefest and HORDE in 1995...
Edgefest #4 (1995)
Date: April 23, 1995Venue: Coca-Cola Starplex Amphitheatre, Dallas, Texas
Lineup: Adam Ant, Letters to Cleo, Veruca Salt, Blues Traveler, Sponge, Deep Blue Something, The Nixons, Hagfish, POL
Dude! I played alto sax.
My claim to fame is I played with Glenn Miller's brother's band in Monterey, CA. I was stationed at the Presidio and joined the Seaside Community Band. Just a bunch of adults who liked to play, but holy shit, they were good. Turns out they were mostly a bunch of retired musicians. One guy who played trumpet asked me if I wanted to join a little band he had that met on another night. Sure, why not. I told the 63 year old Tenor Sax player next to me the guy had asked me to play with his band. She looked at me and said "do you know who that is?". I didn't. She told me it was Glenn Miller's brother and I looked at him and he was a dead ringer for Glenn - it was his brother, Herb. His band played all the old Glenn Miller Orchestra songs and even had the original sheet music. Those guys were so good - I was an 18 year old fresh out of HS and they kind of adopted me. First time I'd ever played with black musicians and they introduced me to pot. lol Herb told me not to hang around with them. I was paranoid about losing my security clearance (this was '73), so I took his advice. But those were the some of the best musicians and best people I've ever met.
The lady who played tenor sax had played in all-girl bands in the 30s and 40s. Really interesting.
Yes music fine. Jon Anderson’s voice is like fingernails on a chalkboard.
I've never had that problem with him. I was a big Yes fan way back when, haven't listened as much in the past decade or so. I do still listen to Wakeman a lot. His Journey to the Center of the Earth is one of my favorite albums.
I can see it except for Elton. Crocodile Rock, Saturday Nights all right for fighting, Levon. Tiny dancer(?). Some good songs in there.
My top 5:
Rush
Def Leopard
Bob Dylan
REM
George Michael (except Faith. Loved that music video).
Cool as heck! Good memories.
Alto for me. Band director had a decent vintage curved soprano he picked up in some garage sale refurbished, and had me play it some in jazz band.
My solos always sucked on soprano because my ear and fingers were trained to alto E-flat, not the soprano B-flat. I'd try to use the scales but I'd hit so many sour notes during my solos when on soprano... LOL. My only good solos were where I played my ass off ahead of time trying stuff to a tape recorded backing track, and then all the different riffs would come together in concert. I was a good player, all state in concert band two years, but I was no natural that's for sure!
Picked up an Ibanez, in my late 50s learning electric guitar after playing nothing for 30 years. It's fun! I'm only a few months in.
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