Billy recently visited Cornell University for a new Evening of Questions & Answers on Friday, December 2nd. To get a preview of this Q&A, here are some article excerpts about his visit. Billy has visited a large number of schools over the years in order to share advice with students, and you can watch videos from past visits in our Billy Joel "Questions & Answers" section.
In his 2.5-hour Dec. 2 show, the quintessential "Piano Man," Billy Joel, playfully answered some 20 questions from the audience, scurrying between two Steinway pianos to play anything from snippets to full blown renditions of about two dozen songs, from Bach and The Beatles to his own. ...Joel played, sang, shared stories from his life -- and hammed it up. Leaping across the stage as if in a ballet -- despite a double hip replacement he later mentioned -- he wriggled as if washing in the shower and impersonated such musical buddies as Elton John, Ray Charles and Paul Simon. - Cornell Chronicle
"This is my outfit for tonight,” Billy Joel, donned in a Cornell hoodie and cap, explained to the full house at Bailey Hall on Friday night. “I left my clothes at home." Right away Joel made it clear that he didn’t intend for the night to go as a normal concert does. Rather, he asked for audience questions, and here and there treated us to a bit of music on either piano or electric keyboard, or in Joel’s words, his piano and his "abbreviated piano. It has pianist envy," he joked, pointing to the small keyboard. - Cornell's Slope Media Group
"If a piece of music is good enough, it's for everyone." This seemed to be the most powerful part of Billy Joel's question and answer session in Bailey Hall at Cornell University last Friday night. The show, put on by the Cornell University Programming Board along with the Cornell Concert Commission, and dubbed "Billy Joel: An Evening of Questions and Answers…and a little music" was without a doubt one of the coolest, most interesting, and funniest live shows I've ever seen. The show was more of an unconventional format where the audience would ask questions and Billy Joel would provide answers in the forms of stories and music. - WVBR.com
Comments for this News article
Re: Billy Visits Cornell University For New 'Questions & Answers' Lecture
I was there! It was such a great night -- I got to ask a question!
But I TOTALLY blew it.
I got all excited that I was talking to BILLY JOEL and I had only raised my hand because my Dad was too shy... and I didn't know all the details to the story and so I just blurted out that "MY UNCLE WAS IN A BAND WITH YOU -- HIS NAME IS SNAKE!"
When I told my Uncle what I had done, he laughed. But I could also tell he was sad that I may have ruined his only chance to get in touch with Billy Joel again. (The whole concert, all I kept thinking about was how Billy Joel reminded me of my uncle, and they would be such great friends.)
Well, I don't think I'll ever be able to make it up to him. I probably did ruin my Uncle's only slight chance at getting in touch with Billy Joel. So here I am, in a desperate attempt to make it up to him -- trying again.
My Uncle's nickname is Snake. That's what he went by. In the 70's, Billy Joel hung out with him in Roslyn Harbor, at some bar (which again, I forget the name of -- I'm a terrible niece) and they were both friends with Ritchie Canata, and Ritchie played the (sax?) in a few songs that my Uncle recorded. My Uncle had done the sound system for Ritchie's studio. And so it wasn't my Uncle (Snake) who was in the band with Billy in the late 70's -- it was his good friend Ritchie Canata.
Okay so anyway,
I'm praying/hoping/wishing that someone important and BFF with Billy Joel is going to read this and be like "oh man, I should tell Billy about this -- I wonder if he does remember! Maybe he would like to get in touch with an old friend..."
And so maybe I'll get super amazing lucky and somehow Billy Joel will read this and want to chat with my Uncle and then I can make my Uncle really really happy and I won't feel so terrible for messing up his only chance to get in touch with his old friend.
The end.
Pleaseeeeeeee someone tell Billy Joel!
He will probably remember my question. I was in the balcony and I started by shouting "BILLY JOELLLLL YOU'RE SO SEXY I LOVE YOU!"
And then he made a joke about a snake charmer.
But seriously, I'm telling you, Billy Joel you were friends with my Uncle and it would mean the world to him to get in touch with you and remember his own music days and just sit at the piano and sing the Beatles with you all night long.
Anyway.
Thanks for a great show. You rock.