JULY 1 2009
AMERICANWAY 31
hewouldplaymore than thememories.The
reasonhedoesn’t?A small-scale tourwould
mean laying offmost of the crewnecessary
for these arena-size touring circuses. “I’ve
beenworkingwith thesepeople for so long,
andIdon’twant tosaygoodbye to them,”he
says. “I don’t want to cut them loose.” The
man values loyalty, which is no doubt one
of the reasons he still enjoys playinghis old
songs to audiences that still want to hear
them.
He’s also holding on to another dream:
hitting the small clubswithhis close buddy
Sting and a few othermusician friends as a
jazz-blues combo called Porkpie Hat. “Ev-
erybody wants to do it,” Joel says. “But our
schedulesaresodarnbusyandnevermesh.”
He vows, though, that one day, he’ll make
it happen.
What he’s less sure about is if there’s
another pop record in his future. Joel was
never definitive about leaving pop music;
henever said itwas forever.But somewhere
along the way, he got tired of competing
withhimself.He just turned60,and though
it’sonlyan imaginarybenchmark tohim,he
plans to spend some timefiguringoutwhat
todonext—what towrite,whohe’ll be.
“People are always asking, ‘Are you going
tomakeanotheralbum?’”Joel says. “Idon’t
know. Ireallydon’tknow. If Igetsome ideas
for some new songs, I’m not going to stop
myself from writing. Will I record them?
If I think they are really good and I want
to hear them, then, yeah, but maybe not.
Maybe. Maybe not.” He pauses before con-
tinuingwith, “I know enoughnow and I’m
wise enough now not to make plans. Life
comesandwhacksyouupside thehead, and
things happen that you never expect, and
that’s where you end up. I think I’ve been
able to stand back from this whole career
— the rock-star persona, the celebrity, the
recording artist, the songwriter guy named
BillyJoel—and takea lookathimandgo, ‘I
knowwhoyouare. Youdon’t kidme. You’re
not larger-than-life tome. This is just your
job. This is what you do.’ I’ve never really
trusted in celebrity or stardom or fame or
recording success. It doesn’t last.Why am I
still around? I have no idea.Maybe I’mdo-
ing something good. You know, good stuff
seems to last. I givemyself that.”
AW
RobERtWIloNskY
is a film critic for Village Voice Media as
well asawriter for the
DallasObserver
and theeditorof itsblog,
Unfair Park. He knows everyword to “PianoMan.”
