Sometimes, timing is everything...
276. Billy Joel "Miami 2017 (Live at WTC Tribute)"
Billy Joel. He's not for everybody, but if you come from or have spent any time in the New York tri-state area, he has an archetypal earnest mook heaviness that can't be denied. After stints playing Beatlesque pop and believe it or not, Led Zep-inspired hard rock, he seemed to settle in to a somewhat rockified I'm-just-a-song & dance-man approach (sort of Elton John with a Lawn Guyland accent and minus the mild transvestism) that, truth be told suited him. He was never a 'cool' guy and he was at his best when he didn't try to be. "Miami 2017," a pseudo-sci-fi look at a changing New York City with it's 'time machine' synth intro, slow build piano, flood of local detail, and Joel pushing his limited voice hard, was always one of my favorites of his.
Then 9/11 happened. I saw my favorite place on Earth suffer a scarring blow, that also hit closer to home. One of my closest friends was an NYFD paramedic at the time and I spent most of that day in a haze imagining my buddy at the bottom of a pile of rubble. Around midnight, he called me. He was on vacation in Hawaii. He returned soon after and did several 24-hour shifts at ground zero. On a visit, I remember him showing the packets of a vapo-rub like substance the rescue workers were given to rub under their noses to stifle the stench of the bodies. Later at the a visit to his station, I saw plaques for the men his unit lost that day.
A few weeks afterwards, with a lot of the country still in shock, a concert for the rescue workers was given and Joel was one of the slated performers. He opened with this song (the recording you hear today is from that performance). I admit to a chill up my spine and a lump in my throat. Joel gives it an appropraitely heartfelt and energized performance.
A sentimental favorite? Sure. But he who is immune to sentimentality might as well be dead inside, says I.
Billy Joel. He's not for everybody, but if you come from or have spent any time in the New York tri-state area, he has an archetypal earnest mook heaviness that can't be denied. After stints playing Beatlesque pop and believe it or not, Led Zep-inspired hard rock, he seemed to settle in to a somewhat rockified I'm-just-a-song & dance-man approach (sort of Elton John with a Lawn Guyland accent and minus the mild transvestism) that, truth be told suited him. He was never a 'cool' guy and he was at his best when he didn't try to be. "Miami 2017," a pseudo-sci-fi look at a changing New York City with it's 'time machine' synth intro, slow build piano, flood of local detail, and Joel pushing his limited voice hard, was always one of my favorites of his.
Then 9/11 happened. I saw my favorite place on Earth suffer a scarring blow, that also hit closer to home. One of my closest friends was an NYFD paramedic at the time and I spent most of that day in a haze imagining my buddy at the bottom of a pile of rubble. Around midnight, he called me. He was on vacation in Hawaii. He returned soon after and did several 24-hour shifts at ground zero. On a visit, I remember him showing the packets of a vapo-rub like substance the rescue workers were given to rub under their noses to stifle the stench of the bodies. Later at the a visit to his station, I saw plaques for the men his unit lost that day.
A few weeks afterwards, with a lot of the country still in shock, a concert for the rescue workers was given and Joel was one of the slated performers. He opened with this song (the recording you hear today is from that performance). I admit to a chill up my spine and a lump in my throat. Joel gives it an appropraitely heartfelt and energized performance.
A sentimental favorite? Sure. But he who is immune to sentimentality might as well be dead inside, says I.
