<\/p>\n
A discussion of suburban motifs in Billy Joel\u2019s 1980 album “Glass Houses.” A comparison between the piano-based compositions of Joel and George Gershwin. A talk subtitled “Billy Joel and the Anthropology of Deindustrialization.”<\/p>\n
If America’s colleges ever offer a Billy Joel major, these could easily be among the course requirements. For now, they\u2019re among the events comprising the first-ever Billy Joel Symposium, which runs Saturday and Sunday at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame<\/a> in Stony Brook.<\/p>\n Six months in the making, the symposium is intended to achieve a few different goals, according to Tom Needham, the Long Island hall\u2019s vice chairman. One is to keep Joel\u2019s fans satisfied while the singer undergoes treatment for a brain disorder that led him to cancel all upcoming concerts<\/a> last year. Another is to highlight the hall\u2019s induction ceremony for Dennis Arfa,<\/a> Joel\u2019s longtime booking agent, which takes place Saturday evening. Yet another purpose, and perhaps the most important, is to improve Joel\u2019s standing as a serious songwriter, musician and performer.<\/p>\n “He wasn’t always treated the best by music critics,” Needham said, pointing to Joel\u2019s frequent abuse at the hands of Rolling Stone during the 1970s and his omission from The New York Times\u2019 recent list of America\u2019s greatest living songwriters. “But I reached out to academics who study music, and put the word out,” Needham said. “And the response was overwhelming.”<\/p>\n The Billy Joel Symposium runs June 6 and 7 at The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, 97A Main St., Stony Brook. Tickets are $36 per day. Separate tickets for Dennis Arfa’s induction ceremony are $105.95. For more information and to purchase tickets\u00a0call (631) 689-5888 or go to\u00a0limusichalloffame.org.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n That call went out in December and invited “fans, scholars, critics, musicians, and students to submit individual papers.” Needham wouldn\u2019t estimate how many submissions the Hall of Fame received, instead calling it “an awful lot.”\u00a0Ultimately, 20 papers were chosen, though there will also be non-academic talks from such folks as Jon Small, Joel\u2019s former bandmate in The Hassles<\/a>; John Jackson, director of the Billy Joel Archive; and Wayne Robins, a former rock critic at Newsday.<\/p>\n Robins, a Franklin Square native who has also been inducted into the hall, covered pop music for Newsday 1975 to 1995, a stretch that includes most of Joel\u2019s recording career (his final rock album, \u201cRiver “f Dreams,\u201d came “ut in 1993). Robins, 76, said his talk at the symposium will focus on the delicate line he walked as both a reporter who cultivated a relationship with Joel and a critic who had to honestly express his opinions.<\/p>\n One early review stung Joel so much that he brought it up during their first interview together, Robins recalled. But they also forged enough of a relationship that Robins joined Joel\u2019s tour through Russia in the summer of 1987. \u201cI neve” asked him for favors or vice versa,\u201d Robin” said. \u201cWe wer” just acutely aware of each other\u2019s existence and had to deal with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n Jack”on, the archivist, said he\u2019ll present audio and video artifacts that have not been seen or heard by the public. One possibility: Extremely rare footage of Joel\u2019s \u201cGlass “ouses\u201d<\/a> tour,”filmed at The Budokan arena in Tokyo.\u00a0Included are portions of just three songs, \u201cYou Ma” Be Right,\u201d \u201cMy L”f”\u201d and \u201c”onest”,\u201d that “ere meant to be handed out to television stations. Jackson may also bring a clip of Joel playing \u201cMy Lif”” for an underwhelmed crowd in Philadelphia\u00a0before the song had been released.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s o”e of his most identifiable, enduring songs. And you’re like, \u2018No one knows what this is,\u2019\u201d Jacks”n marveled. \u201cIt\u2019s j”st fun to hear things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n One “f the younger presenters will be Kendall Biehl, 22, a Brooklyn Law School student from Tolono, Ill., who was in her early teens when she fell in love with Joel\u2019s music. Biehl became such a fan that she wrote \u201cBilly “oel\u2019s Musical Narratives and the Tapestry of Collective Memory\u201d as he” undergraduate thesis at the University of Tampa. When she saw the symposium\u2019s call for papers on Joel\u2019s Instagram story, she sent hers in.<\/p>\n Biehl said she\u2019s seen Joel live only three times, including at his 149th Madison Square Garden concert, but she understands the singer\u2019s need to stay off the road and mind his health. \u201cI thin” that if he needs to focus on that, he should. He’s given up so many decades of his life already,\u201d she s”id. \u201cBut se”fishly, I would love to see him again.”<\/p>\n