With six words, Billy Joel gave about 60,000 Shea Stadium fans the thrill of a lifetime last night: "Ladies and gentlemen, Sir Paul McCartney!"
Not since Mookie's grounder went through Buckner's legs has Shea Stadium been as loud or shook as hard as it did last night.
It was Billy Joel's "Last Play At Shea" - the second of two concerts designed to give Shea, which is closing at year's end, its musical sendoff.
We knew there would be "special musical guests" - the names had been leaked, so everyone knew that Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, Steven Tyler, and Roger Daltrey would all come on for one song at some point. They did, and they were terrific.
But when Billy came back for an encore - and everyone was expecting to hear the opening notes to "Piano Man" - he threw one of the best curveballs in the history of Shea Stadium: "Ladies and gentlemen, Sir Paul McCartney!".
When they began to play "I Saw Her Standing There", I nearly wept. Yes, I know, if you're not of a certain age, that reaction seems ridiculous. I am. And it's not. And when he came out again and played "Let It Be" - there were some dry eyes in the house, but I didn't see them.
I watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I bought every album. My sister was a member of their fan club. In short: I did (and do) love the Beatles. Obviously, I'm a little late on the idea of ever seeing them live. But I came damn close last night!
So thanks to Billy Joel - a terrific musician and performer who gladly upstaged himself to bring Sir Paul on. And give Beatle fans like me the thrill of a lifetime.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Caught Up In The Gadgetry
The gadgeteers finally got me.
As much as I like and admire the wonders of modern electronics, I'm not what you'd call an early adopter. I'm the type of person who hears about something neat and useful, then waits for all the early bugs to be worked out. Then, if I determine it's something I might want, I go out and buy the second version. Or third. Or fourth. Or maybe never.
This especially applies to mobile phones. iPhones? Don't have one. Don't want one. Nothing against Apple or others, but I have a standard line that I use when someone shows me their spiffy new smart phone. I take my phone, point to it, and say "you know what this one can do?" My audience waits in breathless anticipation of the answer, and then I finally say, after sufficient pause .. "It makes phone calls!!".
This attempt at comedy gets varied reactions, but I really have only used my phone for one purpose: to make calls.
Until this week.
Our family is on Verizon's "New Every Two" plan, whose main feature is that two of the words in the title rhyme, but also lets you have a new phone for free (or a discount) after two years. (Actually, they just changed it to 20 months, but that didn't rhyme, so they kept "new every two" as the slogan ..)
My wife and I both picked out very nice new (free) phones that work just fine. And so, I thought I was ready for another two years (or 20 months) of saying "Hey look! This phone makes calls!"
But then, I discovered a new mind-boggling feature: if a song is playing in the nearby vicinity and you press a certain button, the phone listens to the song and then tells you what song it is! Then, of course, it offers you the opportunity to buy the song and/or a matching ringtone. But you don't have to do that - the song ID feature is free.
They got me. I'm totally obsessed with this.
I've been identifying songs off my computer, off loudspeakers, off car radios, off anywhere that has a song since I got it. I don't know why this has hooked me, other than that I like music, and I love marketing ideas that are so damn clever you don't even mind that the purveyor is trying to sell you something.
So, the last few days, in the midst of the hoopla over the new iPhone, I've been taking my Motorola out and waving it around as usual. But no longer am I touting the virtues of a phone that makes phone calls. Now it's all about identifying songs!
Oh yeah, it DOES make calls. I think. I haven't made one yet. I've been too busy seeing if my phone really can tell "I Wanna Be Sedated" from "Chances Are".
As much as I like and admire the wonders of modern electronics, I'm not what you'd call an early adopter. I'm the type of person who hears about something neat and useful, then waits for all the early bugs to be worked out. Then, if I determine it's something I might want, I go out and buy the second version. Or third. Or fourth. Or maybe never.
This especially applies to mobile phones. iPhones? Don't have one. Don't want one. Nothing against Apple or others, but I have a standard line that I use when someone shows me their spiffy new smart phone. I take my phone, point to it, and say "you know what this one can do?" My audience waits in breathless anticipation of the answer, and then I finally say, after sufficient pause .. "It makes phone calls!!".
This attempt at comedy gets varied reactions, but I really have only used my phone for one purpose: to make calls.
Until this week.
Our family is on Verizon's "New Every Two" plan, whose main feature is that two of the words in the title rhyme, but also lets you have a new phone for free (or a discount) after two years. (Actually, they just changed it to 20 months, but that didn't rhyme, so they kept "new every two" as the slogan ..)
My wife and I both picked out very nice new (free) phones that work just fine. And so, I thought I was ready for another two years (or 20 months) of saying "Hey look! This phone makes calls!"
But then, I discovered a new mind-boggling feature: if a song is playing in the nearby vicinity and you press a certain button, the phone listens to the song and then tells you what song it is! Then, of course, it offers you the opportunity to buy the song and/or a matching ringtone. But you don't have to do that - the song ID feature is free.
They got me. I'm totally obsessed with this.
I've been identifying songs off my computer, off loudspeakers, off car radios, off anywhere that has a song since I got it. I don't know why this has hooked me, other than that I like music, and I love marketing ideas that are so damn clever you don't even mind that the purveyor is trying to sell you something.
So, the last few days, in the midst of the hoopla over the new iPhone, I've been taking my Motorola out and waving it around as usual. But no longer am I touting the virtues of a phone that makes phone calls. Now it's all about identifying songs!
Oh yeah, it DOES make calls. I think. I haven't made one yet. I've been too busy seeing if my phone really can tell "I Wanna Be Sedated" from "Chances Are".
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