Legendary Piano Man finds inner harmony

Legendary Piano Man finds inner harmony
Centre Daily Times - Centre County,PA,USA
NEW YORK -- Billy Joel's rewritten his own theme song. The piano will still sound like a carnival, but the microphone won't smell like a beer. ...

By Rebecca Louie, The New York Times

NEW YORK -- Billy Joel's rewritten his own theme song. The
piano will still sound like a carnival, but the microphone won't smell like a
beer. New York's beloved balladeer, who spent a month at the Betty Ford Center
for alcohol abuse last year, was bone dry when he kicked off the first of a
record-breaking 11 shows at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

"I'm just not drinking," said the Piano Man -- who had
struggled with a love of bottles of red and bottles of white. "I don't know if I
will never have a glass of wine again for the rest of my life, but right now I
am not taking any chances.
"There was a time in my life when I was drinking
too much, and so I have stopped," Joel said. "It's an interesting concept. 'Just
don't drink.' Hmm! I never thought of that!"Though he's suffered hard knocks in
the past few years (including three car crashes that he says were booze-free),
the affable Joel isn't too hard on himself. "I was homeless when I was younger
and I was suicidal when I was 21," said Joel, who also spent two weeks in rehab
in 2002. "Anything that has happened after that is like water off a duck's
back."

In fact, he's mixing up strong confessional cocktails with a
twist of wit.

"Now, (people) ask me about sobriety," the 56-year old said,
"and I am like, God! Don't make me the poster boy for AA. I don't really know
about total sobriety -- I know a hell of a lot about drinking!

"Ultimately, I am surprised that people made just a big deal
about it. I mean I'm in rock 'n' roll. Going to rehab for people like me is like
getting your teeth cleaned."

Joel -- who's touring to promote his four-CD retrospective
boxed set "My Lives" -- has cleaned up in ticket sales in New York. He added an
11th Garden performance (and broke Bruce Springsteen's 10-show record) after the
first 10 quickly sold out. He's glad his tour is concentrated in New York and
the Northeast, allowing him to stay close to his 24-year-old wife, Katie Lee,
whom he wed in 2004.

"I don't like to be away from home a lot," said Joel, who owns
an estate on Centre Island, Long Island and a townhouse near Greenwich Village
(he just sold his six-room Tribeca loft for about $4.5 million). "I really get
homesick a lot at this time in my life."Though Katie Lee accompanies him to many
of his shows, Joel prefers his own digs. There, his professional food-wrangling
spouse whips up healthy treats made with what Joel affectionately dubs "hippie
food." Just four years older than Alexa Ray -- Joel's daughter with ex-wife
Christie Brinkley -- Katie Lee debuted this week as a reality-show host on
Bravo's culinary competition "Top Chef."

And, it's possible the couple may have a bun or two in the oven
soon -- Joel says the duo is planning on having more than one child.

"One kid would be lonely, wouldn't it?" he said.

In fact, these days, with his tour schedule at a minimum, Joel
aspires to domestic labors. "I would be as good a father as I was to Alexa,
maybe even better because I'll be home a lot more. I would kind of like to be a
house dad, actually."

He's already got two Long Island-based businesses set up so he
can be near the family. A nautical nut, Joel has a boat-building operation; his
wares sell for roughly half a million dollars apiece. He also has a
motorcycle-design company that revamps new bikes to look like old
classics.

"I ride my own motorcycles," said Joel, who boasts a collection
of 14. Poking fun at his unfortunate auto antics, he added, "People are like,
'God, the guy is bad enough on cars!' Actually, I have a better track record on
bikes than I do with cars."

With more than 100 million records sold, Joel, who also won a
Tony for the now-touring dance-adaptation of his music "Movin' Out," is still
writing material. He's not looking to record any of his work, however, choosing
to keep the compositions for himself.

"I have been a recording artist for a long time, and I have had
my say," he said. "I suppose I had a lot more ambition and a lot more arrogance
when I was younger to think what I had to say was all that important. Now I'm at
a point where I say, I've shot my mouth off enough. What I have to say is not
all that fascinating. It's time to shut up!"

Howard Live Calendar
Baltimore Sun - United States
... grandchildren, from 11:30 to 5 pm March 19. Choreography is by Twyla Tharp; music by Billy Joel. The cost is $87. 410-313-7279. ...