THE NAMES of some of Billy Joel’s former bands: The Echoes, the Emeralds, the Lost Souls, the Hassles. The name of the bar where he had to prostitute himself to cheer up deluded boozehounds: the Executive Room at Wilshire and Western. The first girl I ever French kissed claimed that she and her family saw Joel playing “Piano Man” at a Shakey’s pizza on Sunset Boulevard. “She’s Always a Woman to Me” is about Joel’s wife; “Uptown Girl” is about his second wife. His upcoming autobiography will explain this. The author of the song “Only The Good Die Young” is 60.
Meanwhile, Elton John will always be known for an artistic calamity about a candle and the wind recorded on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. I bailed on him after that double album because he was starting to look froufrou, and then David Bowie arrived and I had to pretend I’d always liked froufrou all along. John’s 11/7/70 still sounds like it has a pulse; it was one of my favorite albums when I was a kid. Obviously I hadn’t heard any Fats Domino. The author of the verse “I’ve no wish to be living 60 years on” is now 62.
BILLY JOEL and ELTON JOHN perform Tuesday (Feb. 16) at 7:30pm at the HP Pavilion, 525 W. Santa Clara St., San Jose. Tickets are $54.50–$180. (408.287.9200)
