Raised on Radio #19: Billy Joel

After a brief hiatus, it's time to bring bac k the series about music I grew up with.

I grew up raised by a huge Billy Joel fan.

Joel is a bit more of a conundrum than you might think. He has millions of dedicated fans, yet hipsters hate him with the strength of a thousand suns.

A piano man chronicling the everyman (yet, he doesn't draw the acclaim of Randy Newman). a New Yorker who brings Long Island to the rest of the country (he's no Lou Reed, hipsters argue).

So, I generally fall on the side of liking Joel, though his angling towards the lighter side of pop hasn't really been my thing (I do like "We didn't start the fire" which I suppose is about as unhip as one can get).

The early 80s Joel I grew up with was one in transition. The 70s were over and the 'angry young man' phase is one that everyone regardless of who they are must move on from.

Like people in a similar position at the time (Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen) and with what seemed to be the prevailing ethic of the day- it was the time for the consciousness album. Joel's 82 LP The Nylon Curtain.

Stress. Unemployment. Vietnam vets. Joel was making his move into the world of mature singer songwriter (and I played these songs nonstop).

It probably didn't hurt that I shared the name of one of the singles.

Of course, Joel met Christie Brinkley and moved away from FM rock, instead embracing his love of 50s pop and Frankie Valli.

It's hard to argue against that path. Curtain is a low point commercially for Joel (#7 with singles "Allentown" (17) "Pressure" (20) and "Goodnight Saigon" (56). ) Previous album Glass Houses had went to #1 and featured a #1 in "It's Still Rock N Roll to Me". The follow-up An Innocent Man went to #4 and contained 5 Top 20 singles including a #1 in "Tell Her About It" ( I still like that video though, it predates "Hey Ya" by 20 years).

"Pressure" hasn't aged well, but I still have a soft spot for one of my favorite childhood songs- "Allentown".

The song is about the decline of the American steel industry, and the video apparently is about buff, sweaty, half-naked men. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Various Local Sports Posting

The NBADL has started again. The NBA Developmental League is still relatively new and it may have already had its peak moment (This spring's Jeremy Lin - Linsanity).

I am not sure the NBADL breeds devoted fans, but it's a good time, and I try to make it a couple of times each year.

This year's Iowa Energy stars Quincy Miller who has made it onto the Denver Nuggets roster, but is back in Iowa, and a good all-around player named Paul Harris out of Syracuse. Also on the team is Mustapha Farrakhan, who sounds like a WWE heel, but is actually Louis's grandson.

They did beat the Los Angeles D-Fenders and via one of those deal-of-the-day websites we scored some sweet half-court tickets.

I did this fall also make it to see some High School Football, and eventual State Champion Ankeny Hawks.

The Hawks QB Joel Lanning is headed to Iowa State (Nebraska also offered a scholarship) and the Hawks played an exciting option game which often meant one of three players would wind up running the ball, and even in the stands, sometimes it fooled me.

I also took in some local MMA action. Josh Neer is a local fighter who has had a lengthy career in the UFC.

His promotion is WWFC (World War Fighting Championships- and puts on a good show, competing against the more well-established Midwest Cage Championships.

The problem with promotions like this is when the favored local boy loses, which is what happened at WWFC9.

Cory Simpson was submitted in the first two minutes by Jeremy Castro.

Notes: Not my video, somewhat graphic to those not familiar with mma.