Word: pianos
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...find themselves on familiar terrain -- the bone-dry wit, terse dialogue, lyrical descriptions of nature and hovering suggestion of violence are pure McGuane. But the measured tone and relatively upbeat ending of the book are a far cry from the pyrotechnical flash of his earlier works like The Bushwacked Piano or Ninety-Two in the Shade. Not all McGuane fans have stayed for the ride. "There are readers who abandoned me over the feeling that my writing has become relatively lusterless," he observes. "But your literary style is kind of like your face -- you can't do much to change...
...other career. What was I to do? Start selling lighting fixtures and hope to rise in the corporation?" Instead, he wrote The Sporting Club, an apocalyptic satire of an exclusive Michigan hunt club, which was published in 1969 to rave reviews. Two years later came The Bushwacked Piano, a biting social broadside about a scheme to sell towers stocked with insect-eating bats to the gullible public. In 1973 McGuane upped the ante with Ninety-Two in the Shade, a dazzling novel of free- floating angst and male brinkmanship set in the Florida Keys. Ninety-Two was nominated...
Joel refused to sacrifice speed for substance, though, and every moment of madness was balanced by a slower, more poignant section. On "Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)," Joel's driving guitar-based verses about the destruction of New York faded into a gentle piano conclusion. "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" harkened back to Joel's younger "days hanging out by the village green," and stirring versions of "Piano Man" and "And So It Goes" graced the three encores...
...personal favorite was a hypnotic version of "Goodnight Saigon," Joel's ode to the Vietnam veteran, which began with the pounding sounds of helicopters and combined searchlights that swept the audience with Joel's solemn piano chords. Not a cheery moment, but a moving...
Billy Joel's concert provided no radical innovations or new interpretations of songs; it did show an energetic and talented performer, grateful for his fans and the piano which had made him famous. And in an age dominated by pretentious rock stars, there's nothing wrong with that...