This is a very reflective picture frame and it’s hard to get a good angle to take the picture from. Also, this was the only thing I could think of to take a Billy Joel picture of and then I thought of a better one so I put that at the bottom of the post.

May 9th is not a date I have always thought about in the same way as April 8th.

I don’t know why it’s treated differently in my mind…it just is.

But it’s Billy Joel’s birthday, and though I haven’t spent as many years thinking about Billy Joel’s birthday the way I did Gary Carter’s from when I was very young (I guess baseball players’ birthdays are just something I look at a lot more than musicians’ birthdays), I do think about Billy Joel on May 9th in the same way I think of Gary Carter on April 8th.

The one thing I always knew about Billy Joel is that he was born in the same year as my parents. (So, unlike with Gary Carter where I’d always have to do math to figure out how old he was, Billy Joel’s age I always knew because I always knew my parents’ ages.)

For the record, this year Billy Joel turns 76.

There were times, based on the way he was living in the last 1990’s and early 2000s, that I wasn’t so sure Billy Joel would make it to 76. (Or 66, I suppose.)

But things seem to have settled.

Last year was fun when he put out a new original song for the first time in decades…it kind of got me a little excited a new album might not be far behind.

But that does not seem to be the case.

There is word, though, that a documentary on Joel’s life is coming.

That feels long overdue, but I’ll take it - even though I am not sure his story is as exciting as some of the other musical biopics and documentaries that are out there.

Reading this article about it got me a little excited.

The 2-part show, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, will air on HBO this summer. The description seems like something I’ll really enjoy. (And of course it’s cool I’ll have something else to write about this summer.)

Thinking about the doc I was reminded much I enjoyed the documentary about Billy Joel’s concert at Shea Stadium - The Last Play At Shea. That was so good. (And it’s a nice little reminder of one of the best concerts I ever attended.)

So I’ll choose to believe this documentary won’t disappoint - maybe I’ll learn something new about somebody who I thought I knew almost everything about.

In the meantime: Happy Birthday, Billy Joel. Thanks for giving me some of my favorite music and some of my favorite memories.

Here’s a sign my brother took from WPLJ and gave to me that I was never sure I should post about but WPLJ is now long gone and I’m glad I have this: