My memories aren't always what they once were and I'm sad that they are starting to fade or to get misplaced because I've loved so many of those times. It's the spring semester at Rutgers College in 1973.
My friend, Bob, who worked at WRSU-FM had gotten me a gig, unpaid, to work a Super-Trooper spotlight at The Barn (the old RU Gymnasium, with the swimming pool in the balcony-no lie) for Billy Joel who was touring behind his Piano Man album.
The place is packed and the show is great as near as I can tell. The hassle with Super Trooper lights is they are arc carbon and the filament burns out quickly even if you're careful, and swapping out a used one for a new one can be dicey at best but in the dark, and upstairs in close quarters it can be perilous.
I've only had to do it twice for the length of the show and I haven't died or killed anyone else on either changeover. Billy Joel goes into his encore and two things happen though not connected and not simultaneously.
I decide I have had enough spotlighting for the rest of my life and stop working on The Super Trooper and out from the wings comes Bruce Springsteen who is touring behind his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ, and The Barn already raucous goes even raucouser(?)
The pair do Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley together for about ten to twelve minutes of old-time rock and roll for their own enjoyment as we all go delirious. To this day, I have no idea if anyone at WRSU-FM had the presence of mind to be rolling tape during the performance and if they did what became of it and I'll admit it probably sounds better in my memory than it was on stage but it was great.
Many years later I had a chance the first time I interviewed Joel to ask him if he remembered that show. He paused as a big smile lit up his face and he just softly said 'Yeah.' and we moved on. For reasons I never knew and are none of my business, Joel stopped making new music after releasing River of Dreams in 1993 with the exception of "All My Life" (back in 2007) while his on-stage duet partner that long ago night worked and worked and worked.
But maybe we're starting a new book or perhaps nothing more than a new chapter of a previous story as Billy Joel released a new single, Turn the Lights Back On, yesterday morning at seven. His voice is slightly thinner, but his phrasing is still spot-on and his music is flawless as always. Welcome back!
-bill kenny
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