Billy Joel: And So It Goes

Year 18, Day 236 - 8/24/26 - Movie #5,410 - SQC DOC BLOCK FILM #49

BEFORE: I'm probably very late in posting this one, I had to take another skip day, however I have three very good excuses for doing so. First, we had another downpour thunderstorm on Sunday morning, thankfully I was awake at 6 am, having not gone to sleep yet, and I was able to start bailing out the backyard basement steps, where the drain backs up, before my wife woke up. We have sandbags and a trashbag covering the door, however if the water gets high enough, it will start to come into the basement. A tiny bit of water did come in, but barely enough to even mop. Second excuse, I somehow sprained my ankle, not sure if it was from working Saturday night or bailing water Sunday morning, or if I just slept on it wrong, but it prevented me from getting back upstairs to my computer until very late on Monday. 

But the main reason to take another skip day is the fact that this documentary on Billy Joel, the next-to-last one in my chain (of course) is in two parts, and each is almost 2 and a half hours long, meaning that if I count this as ONE two-part film, instead of a two-part doc series like HBO does, the total running time is almost FIVE HOURS. I've had to split that into two viewing days for my own sanity, however with all the skip days the Doc Block has gone on longer than I planned, math tells me that it's been 55 days since the start of the Block and I've watched 49 films in that time-frame, so yeah, somehow I almost took a week off from movies during an 8-week span. Well, it's almost over and then I won't have to watch docs for a long while. 

Now for the 49th installment of my "Get to Know a State (or District)" featurette, there are just three states left to choose from, so even though Billy Joel is a Long Islander and therefore a New Yorker, that was the first state to go, so he's going to have to cover RHODE ISLAND. No worries, I found out that when he kicked off his "An Innocent Man" tour in 1984, Providence RI was the first stop, despite a major snowstorm. He came back there in June of 1990 on the "Storm Front" tour, playing there in summer was much smarter. Anyway, RHODE ISLAND!

Date admitted to the U.S.: May 29, 1790 (lucky 13th state)

Claim to fame: Smallest state in area, though not the least populated

Nickname: The Ocean State or "Little Rhody" (nobody calls it that...)

State Motto: Hope

State Flower: Violet   

State Bird: Rhode Island Red (chicken)

State Insect: American Burying Beetle

State Tree: Red maple

State Fish: Striped bass

State Mineral: Bowenite (OK, now you're just making stuff up)

State Fruit: Rhode Island Greening Apple

State Drink: Coffee milkl

Notable Sports Teams: Providence Bruins, a minor-league affiliate of the Boston NHL teams, and they used to have the Pawtucket Red Sox, I wonder what happened to them. Ah, they moved to Worcester, MA. 

Fun Facts: Rhode Island borders only two states, Massachusetts and Connecticut - or does it? There's apparently a small maritime border with New York, like the easternmost part of Long Island. The state was founded by Roger Williams who fled religious persecution in Massachusetts, which is ironic because that's the same principle the Pilgrims founded Mass. on, what a bunch of hypocritical Massholes. Little Rhode Island was actually the first colony to renounce the British crown, but since the state contested the Articles of Confederation and then boycotted the Constitution convention, it did not become the first state of the U.S., it took so long to ratify the Constitution that it became the LAST of the 13 colonies to be declared a state. Well, they're stubborn up there I guess. I know they also have some unique cuisine items up there, like their own kind of hot dogs and that weird coffee milk drink and unique calamari, also clam cakes, stuffies and a drink called the Awful Awful. 

And I have been to Rhode Island, many times. I think I saw my first concert in Warwick, RI but it wasn't Billy Joel, it was Weird Al Yankovic. And I've been to the Chowderfest in Newport, RI many times over the years. Mostly I just visit the rest stops now, because once we hit Rhode Island I'm so close to my hometown that we might as well wait to eat, and Rhode Island food is so weird anyhow. So that makes 29 states visited by me, out of 49. That's probably where I'll land, 29. Jimmy Page carries over from "The Ventures: Stars on Guitars" - unexpectedly, somehow so does Billy Joel. 

THE PLOT: Showcases an extensive look at Billy Joel's life and music career, featuring exclusive interviews, performances, home movies and personal photographs. 

AFTER: Like I said above, this documentary is almost FIVE HOURS long if you manage to watch both parts. Now I have, so I can attest that they were very very thorough in making it, I now know a lot about Billy Joel - SO MUCH! I probably know more about Billy Joel than Billy Joel does, well, I mean he's 77 years old now so he's probably getting quite forgetful. I wonder if he agreed to make the documentary so he could always just watch it again if he forgets to remember any aspects of his life.  

They cover the early years of course, taking piano lessons and being smacked around by his father if he should try to play something like "The Moonlight Sonata" with a boogie-woogie beat. It turns out some adults back then did NOT foster creativity in children, and his father Howard (formerly Helmut) Joel took music very seriously and he met Billy's mother, Rosalind Nyman, while they were both in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance" at the City College of New York. Well, he was an accomplished classical pianist, born in Germany, but he was also the son of a textile manufacturer there, who was Jewish and forced by the Nazis to sell his company to a Gentile for almost nothing. Billy's grandfather and father left for Switzerland, and Howard came to the U.S. via Cuba and became an engineer, but still remained a musician. Billy's parents split up in 1957 when he was 15 or so, and he did not see his father again for maybe 30 years, when he tracked him down in Vienna, Austria. (When he did, Billy learned his father had re-married and had another son, his half-brother, Alexander, who became a classical music conductor.)

Billy Joel, of course, grew up on Long Island (we go to this rest stop that has a "Long Island Walk of Fame" so I'm pretty familiar now with all the famous people born out there) and his family called Hicksville home during his youth, Billy didn't graduate with his class because he went off to make music, but later in 1992 he wrote some essays and his old high school gave him his degree, just 25 years late. He played in local bands like the Echoes, which became the Emeralds, which became the Lost Souls. But he left the Lost Souls to join the Hassles when they offered him a Hammond organ to switch over - that's where he met Jon Small, the drummer and the only other serious musician in the Hassles. Jon Small and Billy tried to start a heavy metal ground named Attila because they wanted to be the next Led Zeppelin, but that didn't work out. 

Billy moved in with Jon Small and his wife, Elizabeth Weber, however he and Elizabeth spent a lot of time together and were attracted to each other, and well, we all know what happens when there's a love triangle, somebody gets shut out because nobody back then had invented thrupples yet, so Elizabeth and Jon broke up and Elizabeth and Billy got together, and were married for quite a time, 1973 to 1982. Billy became very famous during that time, and at some point Elizabeth also became his manager, since she knew more about what his career could be or needed to be than some random person with more experience, but less know-how. And she also served as his creative muse, too, being his wife and inspiration for songs like "Just the Way You Are" and "She's Always a Woman" and for a while they lived in Los Angeles and he worked in a piano bar, where she was a waitress, and all that played out in "Piano Man". 

It's amazing how much of Billy's personal life turned up in his songs, I mean it probably shouldn't be that surprising but not every songwriter ends up putting so much of themselves out there, I guess they're all trying to write songs for everybody which means a lot of generic situations or random veiled thoughts about love and relationships, but no, everything that happened to Billy Joel seemed to end up in a song, and they play all the song cues here to drive that point home. When he and Elizabeth were having relationship issues, that played out in "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" and "Stiletto" and ultimately "You May Be Right", which detailed a wild motorcycle ride home that Billy took with no headlights, in the rain, and possibly drunk, leading his wife to say, "You must be crazy..." and then that inspired the song. 

However, just when the career was really going well, with the success of the "Turnstiles" album and the commercial breakthrough of "The Stranger", Billy had an accident on his motorcycle, and was in the hospital for a while, and Elizabeth, who had warned him repeatedly about the dangers of motorcycles and the possibilities of having an accident, had realized she'd had enough. By then she already had an apartment in Manhattan, so I guess it was a good time to split. Billy took it hard, of course, and started drinking again and nobody saw him for a while, but he came back with new music, as he always did, and that was "Glass Houses", really the kind of album you make when you're divorced and angry and ready to show the world you have a new bad attitude. 

(THIS is about where Part One ends, after the motorcycle accident and the divorce from Elizabeth - meaning we're only about halfway through the story, so sure, cue up Part Two)

"Songs in the Attic" was next, but of course those were mainly the correct versions of older songs, ones that were improperly sped up on his first album, "Cold Spring Harbor". Then came the "Nylon Curtain" album, with songs like "Allentown" and "Pressure" and "Goodnight Saigon", so he was still going through his angry stage, I think...or the point was being made that the American Dream was dying because of Reaganomics or something. 

But then of course he met Christie Brinkley, on the island of St. Bart's, where she was doing a modeling shoot, and life was good again, meaning American music fans got more uplifting songs like "Tell Her About It" and "Uptown Girl" and "The Longest Time". Well, inspiration is where you find it, I guess. For a while they were the hottest celebrity mismatched couple on the planet, he's a rocker and she's a model and this was never going to work out, except that it did for a time, and then of course it didn't. What happened was they went on long road trips together, and everywhere they went, like all over Maine, they met people who claimed that Billy had bought property in town, or they'd bought their cousin's horse or car or something. This meant that Billy's manager, his ex-brother-in-law, had been traveling around and spending Billy's money buying a bunch of properties and things, meaning that Billy was nearly broke as a result. 

Well, actions have consequences, and not keeping an eye on what your business manager is doing has very bad consequences, but rather than keep a $90 million lawsuit going forever, Billy decided to get back out on the road and tour, more often and harder than ever before, to try and make that money back, build up his fortune again. But then he was spending so much time away from Christie, again, actions have consequences, that he was touring and she was home and they weren't spending any time together, and you know how that story ends. 

Part Two also covers the big concert Joel did in the Soviet Union, after his album "The Bridge", which had the songs "A Matter of Trust" and "This Is the Time" on it. I remember the concert album from the U.S.S.R., that was a big deal to me because he covered the Beatles song "Back in the U.S.S.R., and also Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'". Back in the U.S. to release "Storm Front" in 1988 and do a few other things, like getting divorced from Christie Brinkley in 1994 but also starting to tour with Elton John around the same time. Those joint concerts took place, off and on for 16 years, despite the fact that Billy tried to retire in 1999, after the New Year's Eve pre-millennial concert at Madison Square Garden, except, you know, he was really bad at retiring, I think. 

He also tried to just focus on writing classical music for a while, and somehow had the number one Classical album, but then it was Superstorm Sandy that got him back into touring again, he did a benefit concert in 2012 for people on Long Island affected by the hurricane and that led to going back to MSG, and that led to a long residency there that went to 100 nights between 2014 and 2025.  Well, they had to end this documentary somehow, somewhere, so finally after five hours they managed to stop telling me about stuff Billy Joel has done. But he defiantly claims that he's "not finished", so in the end, there's a diagnosis of "artist brain" to be made. Dude, you're 77, if you want to retire, YOU CAN. You worked very hard for a long time, you tried to retire before, you were just too early - maybe now is a better time? Just take a break, stay at home with your fourth wife and your new toddler children and take it easy before you break a hip or something. You've got the memoir, you've got the five-hour documentary about all of your accomplishments, now maybe let some younger people have arena concerts, whaddaya say? People will still listen to your music, that's never going to change, so why isn't that enough? Oh, right, your toddlers will still need to go to college someday - but don't you think you can leave them money in your will? Just saying. 

Directed by Susan Lacy (director of "Spielberg" and "Jane Fonda in Five Acts") & Jessica Levin (producer of "LennoNYC" and "Spielberg")

Also starring Billy Joel (also carrying over from "The Ventures: Stars on Guitars"), Dennis Arfa, Christie Brinkley (last seen in "I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not"), Garth Brooks, Jackson Browne (last seen in "Roy Orbison Forever"), Tommy Byrnes, Richie Cannata, Rhys Clark, Steve Cohen, Clive Davis (last seen in "Earth, Wind & Fire"), Anthony DeCurtis, Liberty DeVitto, Larry Franke, Bunny Freidus, Sandy Gibson, Wendy Greguski, Edna Gundersen, Don Henley (last seen in "Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary"), Steven Hyden, Russell Javors, Alexa Ray Joel (last seen in "Always at the Carlyle"), Alexander Joel, Hyung-Ki Joo, Danny Kortchmar, Katie Lee, Bradshaw Leigh, Paul McCartney (last seen in "Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley"), John Mellencamp (last seen in "Devo"), Bertha Miller, Judy Molinari, Nas (last seen in "De Palma"), Nick Paumgarten, Pink (last seen in "Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion"), Mark Rivera (last seen in "Billy Joel: The 100th Live at Madison Square Garden"), Crystal Taliefero (ditto), John Rockwell, Alexis Roderick, David Rosenthal, Brian Ruggles, Denny Seiwell, Jon Small, Bruce Springsteen (last seen in "Bruce Springsteen: Born to Rock"), Sting (ditto), Elizabeth Weber, Sean Weber-Small, Arlyne Wilcox, 

with archive footage of Tony Bennett (last seen in "Reinventing Elvis: The '68 Comeback"), John Bonham (last seen in "Becoming Led Zeppelin"), John Paul Jones (ditto), John Lennon (ditto), Marilyn Monroe (ditto), Robert Plant (ditto), Luke Bryan, Steve Carell (last seen in "John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls"), Ray Charles (last seen in "Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan"), Stephen Colbert (ditto), Jimmy Fallon (ditto), Janis Joplin (ditto), Barbra Streisand (ditto), Chevy Chase (last seen in "The Ventures: Stars on Guitars"), Jimi Hendrix (ditto), Elton John (ditto), Miley Cyrus (also last seen in "Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion"), Whitney Houston (ditto), Roger Daltrey (last seen in "Paul Anka: His Way"), Aretha Franklin (ditto), Pete Townshend (ditto), Rodney Dangerfield (also last seen in "I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not"), Paul Simon (ditto), Bob Dylan (also last seen in "Return of the King: The Fall and Rise of Elvis Presley"), Frank Sinatra (ditto), Ringo Starr (ditto), Tom Ewell (last seen in "The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes"), Andy Gibb, Barry Gibb (also last seen in "Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary"), George Martin (ditto), Joni Mitchell (ditto), Lionel Richie (ditto), Mark Goodman (also last seen in "Devo"), Jimmy Guercio, Bryant Gumbel (last seen in "Raise Hell: The Life & Times of Molly Ivins"), Daryl Hall (last seen in "John Candy: I Like Me"), Larry King (ditto), Shirley MacLaine (ditto), Adolf Hitler (last seen in "Audrey"), Thomas Hoving, Howard Joel, Mick Jones, Michael Lang (last seen in "What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?"), Jay Leno (last seen in "Pamela: A Love Story"), Elle Macpherson, Barry Manilow (last seen in "Bang My Box; The Robin Byrd Story"), John Malkovich (last seen in "Mile 22"), Linda McCartney (last seen in "The Beatles: In the Life"), Philip Nyman, Rosalind Nyman, Rosie O'Donnell (last seen in "Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything"), Diane Sawyer (ditto), Scott Pelley, Itzhak Perlman (last seen in "Mister Rogers: It's You I Like"), Katy Perry, Phil Ramone, Lou Reed (last seen in "Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple"), Keith Richards (last seen in "Cheech & Chong's Last Movie"), Artie Ripp, Linda Ronstadt (last seen in "Johnny Cash: The Redemption of an American Icon"), James Taylor (ditto), Ed Sciaky, Jerry Seinfeld (last seen in "Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!"), Joel Siegel, Phoebe Snow, Doug Stegmeyer, Howard Stern (last seen in "When We Went MAD!"), Donald Trump (ditto), Cat Stevens, Julius Streicher, Jason Sudeikis (last seen in "Lorne"), John Tesh (ditto), Lily Tomlin (ditto), Frank Weber, Terry Wogan, Walter Yetnikoff

The Beach Boys (also last seen in "Reinventing Elvis: The '68 Comeback"), Talking Heads

RATING: 7 out of 10 music videos played on MTV (some directed by Jon Small)