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Singer/songwriter Billy Joel turns 70

“Mr. Joel has encountered some resistance from rock critics.”

I saw Billy Joel perform at New Paltz in 1974, as I recounted here. I wondered how one could get lost from Long Island unless the group came up the wrong side of the Hudson River.

I thought he was a bit stiff. Four and a half years later, he had his debut at Madison Square Garden, “three shows there that had sold out almost as soon as they went on sale.”

The reviewer noted the singer seemed unusually nervous. Also, “Mr. Joel has encountered some resistance from rock critics.” To say the least.

Someone gave me a book – I wouldn’t have bought it myself – entitled The Worst Rock ‘n Roll Records of All Time (1991). At the end, Jimmy Guterman and O’Donnell picked The Worst Rock and Rollers of All Time. After dissing Paul McCartney, Duran Duran, and Phil Collins, the “winner” was Billy Joel.

Now, he’s been performing sold-out shows at MSG once a month for over five years, always changing them up. He goes on the road about once a month, “even though the man hasn’t released an album of new pop songs since 1993.”

A couple dozen shows per year gives him time to help clean up beaches in Oyster Bay, Long Island. Given some of the travails of his career and life, I’m happy that he seems content.

Some songs – chart action US Billboard pop charts

Captain Jack (1973)- my first favorite song of his
Scandinavian Skies (1982)- overly earnest attempt to write a Beatles song
Baby Grand (#75 in 1986)- duet with Ray Charles, Alexa Ray, Joel’s daughter was named partly for the icon
Uptown Girl (#3 in 1983) – one of my wife’s favorites

You May Be Right (#7 in 1980) – “I MAY be crazy”
The River of Dreams (#3 in 1993) – title song of his last album
New York State of Mind (1976) – his Sinatra song, and I mean that in a good way
The Longest Time (#14 in 1984)- I love that doowop stuff; the song of his I’m most likely to sing along with

Goodnight Saigon (#56 in 1983) – I developed a greater regard when I saw it performed on the Kennedy Center Honors
Piano Man (#25 in 1974) – gets undervalued because it’s like McCartney doing Hey Jude, with everyone singing along
Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (1977) – I didn’t appreciate this song nearly enough when it came out
Big Shot (#14 in 1979) – quasi-punk self-referential piece

Allentown (#17 in 1983)- we’re STILL living there
Pressure (#20 in 1982) – I relate
Big Man on Mulberry Street (1986)- this appeared on the TV show Moonlighting
Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel) (#77 in 1994) – I heard an a cappella group perform this in Binghamton, NY in the mid-1990s

Mother’s Day Vigil against Child Separation

Addressing the policy of inhumane treatment of children

Mother's Day Vigil

Citizen activists bring attention to the human rights abuses of detained children and separated families.

Mothers and local activist groups will stand in solidarity with actions across the country planned for Mother’s Day. We call on our government to end the traumatizing policies of separating and detaining children. We call upon our fellow citizens to stand with us in our objection and call to action. This will be a peaceful family-friendly event.

What: Mother’s Day Vigil to Stand Against Child Separation and Detention
Who: Capital District Border Watch, Progressive Schenectady, and Bethlehem Indivisible
Where: Albany NY, Corner of Madison Ave and New Scotland Ave.
When: Sunday May 12, 2019, 11:00am to 1:00pm
Why: The policy of inhumane treatment of children and the erosion of human rights and international refugee protocol

Bernie Massar, Barnyard (1953-2019)

The Professional Firefighter’s Cancer Fund is a non-profit 501(C)3 organization committed to raising funds for cancer research programs.

Bernard Massar.Jan Kostyun Karen, Carol, Lois, Diane, Irene, Bill, Bernie and I all started kindergarten together at Daniel S. Dickinson, where we did K-9, and graduated from Binghamton (NY) Central High School together.

Because Bernie Massar lived in the opposite direction from most of us, down Clinton Street rather than up Mygatt Street, I spent less time with him outside of school than I did with most of the others. I’m not sure if I had even been to his house.

But he’d been to mine at least once. I had a birthday party when I was eight or nine. I don’t know if it was poor communication or something else, but only two people showed up, my Cub Scout buddy and classmate Ray, and Bernie.

He could be the life of the party, betraying his clean-cut look. I hadn’t seen him in a long time when he – and Karen, Carol, Lois, and Bill – attended a high school reunion c. 2006. I see this jocular fellow nicknamed Barnyard with a walrus mustache, who had been fighting fires for a living for 27 years.

Obviously, I have no current history with him. Yet however unconnected we had become, he’d show up unexpectedly in the back of my mind. Now, Bernie Massar, this guy I’d met when we were not quite five – his birthday is a couple weeks before mine, I still recall – has died at the age of 66 and I have this sense of wistfulness.

And from pancreatic cancer, making him the THIRD person I’ve known IRL who died from that dreadful disease in 2019, and the year’s not even half over.

It makes me want to donate to his designated charity, the Retired Professional Firefighter’s Cancer Fund, 4 Loretta Drive, Binghamton, NY 13905. It is a non-profit 501(C)3 organization committed to raising funds for cancer research programs, which has been doing great work, it appears.

Looking for Roger Green, but not me

The Legacy page includes an obituary for a 59-year-old from Pennsylvania who died this past February. Damn kidney cancer.

For no particular reason, other than I needed an R post for ABC Wednesday, I thought it was time to Google Roger Green, done from my computer on April 21. The second natural hit was the Wikipedia “Roger Green may refer to:

Roger Green (rugby league) (born before 1915), Welsh footballer
Roger Lancelyn Green (1918–1987), English writer
Roger Curtis Green (1932–2009), American archaeologist
Roger L. Green (born 1949), American politician
Roger Green (sailor)

The FIRST natural hit was for the said politician. When he was a New York State Assemblyman from Brooklyn, I’d get an occasional call for him in Albany.

A top hit was to a Visiting Professor in the nursing department at SUNY Poly in Utica, NY. I had never gotten this person before.

Also on the first page was the founder of Roger Green and Associates, Inc. (RG+A), a marketing firm. The perennial is also high on the paid search results. And his Glass Door page ranks well.

The feng shui guy is still around.

PAGE TWO

I’d never seen the MACHINE SHOP MANAGER at the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California Santa Barbara.

Another new page to me: the guy who retired from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, Professor Emeritus of Biblical and Theological Studies, and a “longtime member and a scholar of The Salvation Army.”

A familiar site: The gunmaker.

Oh dear, the Legacy page includes an obituary for a 59 year old from Pennsylvania who died this past February. Damn kidney cancer. Then an 87-year-old from Texas, also in February, and a guy from England, who passed away on New Years Eve. Plus 95 more.

The Amazon page for the 2003 hardcover Hydra and the Bananas of Leonard Cohen by the English poet.

A recently deceased guy from Indiana leads the obits on Tributes page. At least his has content; another one merely reads: “Roger was a resident of Utah.” I checked; I’m not on the list.

Here are 21 sermons. I’ll have to give a listen sometime. Or not.

BTW, a lot of photos of people with my name are from departments of corrections,, i.e., prisons. Make of that as you will.

MOI

Most of the rest of the hits are of me: my underutilized Times Union blog, then this blog.

Finally, the local cable news station recorded my 2017 recollection of the October 4, 1987 snowstorm. They reached out to me based on this 2012 blog post.

For ABC Wednesday

APL Foundation Celebrating Literary Legends

Peter Golden, Lyn Lifshin, and Dan Wilcox

The Albany [NY] Public Library Foundation will be hosting several events in the upcoming months to celebrate the 2019 Literary Legends, Peter Golden, Lyn Lifshin, and Dan Wilcox.

Save the dates!

Thursday, May 30, 2019 – An Evening With The Authors

An Evening With The Authors is a wine and dessert reception will begin at 6:00 pm, followed by a special toast at 6:30 pm. Following the toast, Literary Legends Dan Wilcox and Peter Golden will hold court until 7:30 pm, reading from their work and talking about their craft with APL Foundation Director Alexis Bhagat.

Dan Wilcox

The event will take place in the Community Room in the Washington Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at any branch or online at literarylegends.org after April 30th. Proceeds benefit the Albany Public Library Foundation.

Friday, May 31, 2019 – Leaves of Grass Bicentennial Reading

Literary Legend Dan Wilcox and the Poetry Motel Foundation present their annual reading of “Song of Myself” by Walt Whitman each year on his birthday, rain or shine. Whitman turns 200 this year, so this should be an extra special reading. The event will take place near the Robert Burns statue in Washington Park at 6:00 pm. It is an outdoor event, so bring your own blankets or chairs. This event is sponsored by the APL Foundation and the Hudson Valley Writers Guild.

Thursday, June 13, 2019 – Lyn Lifshin Not Made Of Glass Film Screening

Lyn Lifshin

“Lyn Lifshin: Not Made of Glass” (Karista Films, 1987) is a documentary about one of our Literary Legends. Readings of Lifshin’s poems are interspersed with her own and others’ observations about her life and work. The documentary was produced, directed, and edited by Mary Ann Lynch. It is 55 minutes long and will include a Q&A. The screening will take place at the Opalka Gallery, 140 New Scotland Ave. Albany, NY 12208 from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm.

Friday, June 14, 2019 – Poets from Albany Read Their Favorite Lyn Lifshin Poems

Literary Legend Lyn Lifshin has written more than 125 books and edited 4 anthologies of women writers. For this special reading, local poets will select their favorite Lyn Lifshin poems to read aloud. The reading will take place in the Large Auditorium at the Washington Avenue branch of the Albany Public Library from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm. Please contact APL Foundation at 518-427-4367 if you are interested in reading!