'Glee' eyes more '80s covers: Billy Joel and Queen in the works

Fox's upcoming show Glee already turned Journey's Don't Stop Believin' into a No. 1 seller on iTunes ... and producers aren't ready to stop there.

The show won't really begin until the fall TV season kicks off, but after the buzz generated by Glee's pilot in May, rumor has it that two more songs will be released during the summer to keep people talking.

Glee co-star Chris Colfer told E Online! that Salt-N-Pepa's Push It is on the list of songs for the coming season (as well as Defying Gravity from the Broadway show Wicked).

But even better: There's video footage on the Web now of the Glee cast performing Queen's Somebody To Love. Click here to watch it. Fox has requested that similar videos be taken off YouTube, so hurry before this one disappears too.

Okay, so technically it's from 1976, but '80s fans are feeling the love. (As will Queen's remaining members when this new version hits iTunes.)

Also, Entertainment Weekly says that Billy Joel has called the show's creators and offered up any of his songs for the show. "We're thinking of doing an episode of all Billy Joel," co-creator Ryan Murphy told the magazine.

Van Halen's M&M fetish is confirmed!

Remember the urban legend about how hard-rocking Van Halen demanded all brown M&Ms be removed from their backstage spreads during the '80s? Well, some 25 years later, it's finally confirmed.

The Smoking Gun, which admits to having searched for verification for 10 years now, finally got its hands on a Van Halen backstage rider from 1982. Sure enough, there's a "no brown M&M" clause in there. Click here to see the full document.

Among the other interesting demands:

• The band specified exactly which vegetables it wanted any given day. Brussels sprouts and spinach on even days; peas and green beans on odd days.
• Plenty of Tab diet cola and lime-flavored Gatorade.
• As for alcohol: Schlitz Malt Liquor, Jack Daniels bourbon, Stolichnaya vodka and Blue Nun white wine.
• Even more bizarre: Herring in sour cream for deli trays ... and one large tub of KY jelly.

If you haven't checked out TSG's full list of riders from '80s artists, you're missing out. They ones for Men At Work (no Vegemite!), Billy Idol (he likes I Can't Believe It's Not Butter), U2 (Rolling Rock in bottles only), Def Leppard (no eggs!),   Billy Joel (no recliners) and more.

VJ's mix setlist from Father Paul

Even our "Stuck in the Clergy" fans have suggestions for VJ's Setlist. Here's an e-mail from Father Paul (photo right), who has one hand on the Bible and the other on a Duran Duran fanzine up in Minnesota:

Greetings again from the state whose football team can never win in Tampa Bay! I enjoyed the kid’s letter about wanting a mix tape. Were I to send a mix tape now to a woman, it would be creepy, I would likely lose my job being I'm a priest, face a rather large lawsuit, and cause a public scandal, so I won’t be doing that ever again. However, being stuck in the '80s, there are many perfect ones for a mix tape, so here are my suggestions:

• Rock and Roll Heart by Eric Clapton. It's off his Money and Cigarettes album from I think 1980, and is a nice tune.
• In Too Deep by Genesis. I had the Invisible Touch cassette tape and when my friend and girlfriend were in the car circa '97 he requested I play this. It's on my iPod too, and is a really great song. One of the few I think that has nothing to do with Phil Collins failed marriage.
• Hold Me Now by Thompson Twins.
• No One Is To Blame by Howard Jones.
• True by Spandau Ballet. (Sorry Sean, I don't think it's horrible. My friend claims it is about drugs, 'thrill in my hand, pill on my tongue' ... Hmm, could this be true?)
• Invisible Touch by Genesis. Quite appropriate, though he presumably does know her name.
• She's Got a Way by Billy Joel. Yes, it is from 1971, but it was apparently released as a single in 1982. I’m not an expert, I just have access to Wikipedia.
• Lady In Red by Chris DeBurgh. This one was of course playing at the prom I took a girl to. Heartbreaking at the time, but people move on. Nice song.
• Hello – Lionel Richie. "Tell me how to win your heart, for I haven't got a clue." Seems appropriate.
• Red Red Wine by UB40. Josh played it in an episode of The West Wing, one of my favorite shows, and played it for a woman he liked.
• Every Little Thing She Does – The Police
• Something About You – Level 42 (per your suggestion).
• I Got My Mind Set On You – George Harrison.
• Just Like Heaven - The Cure
• Forever Young – Alphaville. Napoleon Dynamite. Need I say more?
• Don't Dream It's Over – Crowded House.
• Lost In Emotion – Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
• Don’t Stop Believing – Journey. I told you a couple used it at our wedding, so why not on the tape? Great tune.

Hope it works out for him. Though as a priest, I'd remind him to take it slow, and heed the words of Jermaine Stewart: "We don’t have to take our clothes off to have a good time."

Elton and Billy face to face again

Elton John is teaming up again with Billy Joel for a joint tour in 2009 and 2010. The "Face to Face" tour is set to start in March with a series of dates in the South (yay!). Exact dates and cities haven't been announced.

"Billy and I will go out next year for at least two years on and off, all over the world," Elton said on his official website. "It's something I've looked forward to for a long time. I love touring with him - we're both such good friends."

Curious about what their setlist looks like? Here's one from their 2002 tour:

• Yankee Doodle Intro    
• Union Jack Intro    
• Your Song    
• Just The Way You Are    
• Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me    
• Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding    
• Someone Saved My Life Tonight    
• Philadelphia Freedom    
• I Want Love    
• Rocket Man    
• Take Me To The Pilot    
• I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues    
• Levon    
• This Train Don't Stop There Anymore    
• I'm Still Standing    
• Crocodile Rock    
• Scenes From An Italian Restaurant    
• Allentown    
• Don't Ask Me Why    
• Movin' Out    
• Prelude    
• Angry Young Man    
• Lullabye    
• River Of Dreams    
• New York State Of Mind    
• I Go To Extremes    
• All Shook Up Tease    
• We Didn't Start The Fire    
• Only The Good Die Young    
• My Life    
• Here Comes The Sun    
• The Bitch Is Back    
• You May Be Right    
• Bennie And The Jets    
• I Could Have Danced All Night/Great Balls Of Fire    
• Piano Man

[Times file photo]

Sing Shea a song, you're the piano man

Billy Joel bid farewell to New York's Shea Stadium this week, playing the last music gigs at the soon-to-be-destroyed baseball venue. Among the fans in the stands to sing along -- his famous ex-wife Christie Brinkley. Musicians joining Joel onstage included John Mellencamp and Don Henley.

Wondering what sort of setlist an event like that would require? Here's the full list of songs:

• The Star-Spangled Banner
• Miami 2017
• Angry Young Man
• My Life
• Everybody Loves You Now
• The Entertainer
• Zanzibar
• Allentown
• Ballad of Billy the Kid
• New York State of Mind (with Tony Bennett)
• Big Man on Mulberry Street
• Root Beer Rag
• Movin' Out
• Goodnight Saigon
• Don't Ask Me Why
• This Is the Time (with John Mayer)
• Keepin' the Faith
• Downeaster
• Alexa
• An Innocent Man
• Boys of Summer (with Don Henley)
• She's Always a Woman
• Captain Jack
• Lullabye
• Hard Day's Night/River of Dreams
• Pink Houses (with John Mellencamp)
• We Didn't Start the Fire
• It's Still Rock'n'Roll to Me
• Please Please Me
• You May Be Right
• Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
• Only the Good Die Young
• She Loves You
• Piano Man
• Souvenir

Still in love with an Uptown Girl?

Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook have seen better days. Like this one above in 2003, when husband and wife traveled on the last commercial flight of the Concorde.

Today though, Brinkley's in divorce court in New York, the start of what figures to be an emotional and media-infested hearing over who will end up with custody of their two kids: Sports Illustrated bathing beauty Christie (who wants full custody) ... or the guy who cheated on her with his teenage assistant (who'd like to share custody).

"I'd hoped with all my heart we could have settled this out of court," she told assembled reporters, according to the New York Daily News.

Aw, why settle out of court, when you go into a public hearing and tell everyone your husband spends $3,000 a month on porn? Click here if you really want to know more.

Until the mud dries, please enjoy the video of the song that broken-hearted, 80s hero, former husband and all-around good guy Billy Joel swears he'll never sing again.

[AP photo]

Does Bon Jovi give rock a bad name?

Do you remember when Jon Bon Jovi was a bad-ass rock n' roll rebel? Think way, WAY back. (Still a little hazy, I know. It's all the hairspray he used -- it fogs up the brain cells.)

Nowadays, Bon Jovi juggles his time as the co-owner of Arena Football's Philadelphia Soul and pimping his vocal-coaching talents on American Idol. (At least he stopped making movies.) But that's OK, it's his own personal journey and we respect that. (On the web, no one can tell you're being sarcastic.)

Seriously though, Bon Jovi's new album -- Lost Highway -- hit the record stores this week and Times pop music critic Sean Daly sounds off on it in his latest review. Click here to read his words of wisdom.

In the meantime, I have my own favorites ... and then some beefs to pick.

TOP FIVE BON JOVI SONGS:

5. Lay Your Hands On Me: "Right now the rules we made are meant for breaking."

4. You Give Love a Bad Name: "Your very first kiss was your first kiss goodbye" 

3. Bad Medicine: "Gonna take more than a shot to get this poison out of me"

2. It's My Life: "This is for the ones who stood their ground"

1. Livin' On a Prayer: "We've got each other and that's a lot"

FIVE BON JOVI SONGS I NEVER WANT TO HEAR AGAIN:

5. Never Say Goodbye: This song doesn't make me want to say goodbye; it makes me want to flip him the bird.

4. I'll Be There For You: You know a song sucks when one verse ("These five words I swear to you") basically tells you the number of words in the song's title.

3. This Ain't a Love Song: Oh, but it really is a love song. Thanks for the clarification, Dr. Obvious.

2. Runaway: My first garage band played this song (usually right after "Louie Louie" but before "Hungry Like The Wolf.") To this day, I get the cold sweats and acid reflux when I hear the staccato keyboard beginning.

1. Wanted Dead or Alive: It's right up there with "Roxanne" by the Police as most-abused karaoke songs in history. You can't sing it aloud without someone (me, I guess) wanting to punch you in the nose. And why is a guy from Jersey singing a song that sounds like it belongs in a Clint Eastwood movie? (That's a rhetorical question, boys...)

No pop from Papa Joel ... but maybe Alexa

On the eve of the end of his spring tour, Billy Joel went on the record about recording new pop songs:  Not gonna happen. At least not anytime soon.

"Look, I still love rock-and-roll, I still love pop music," Joel told Therockradio.com a few days ago before playing a final gig in Minneapolis. "I haven't divorced myself from the material that I wrote before -- I mean, that's why I'm out here on the road playing this stuff -- and I still believe in it. But I don't feel compelled to write in song form anymore."

Speaking of his latest tour, Joel started covering songs from other popular artists including AC/DC ("Highway to Hell"), Bob Dylan ("Lay Lady Lay") and even the Beatles ("Oh, Darling"). He also dipped deep into his own material, singing two songs from the '70s -- "Zanzibar" and "Everybody Loves You Now."

My take: Oh hell, Billy has told us all before he's not recording any more pop, but it still hurts to hear him constantly reinforce it. Sorta like having your parents tell you and your sister on Christmas morning that you were both "mistakes." (Ummm ... or so I'm told.) But as long as Joel continues to tour and play his hits (and the Christmas presents keep coming), do we really care?

SPEAKING OF JOEL: There's another Joel on the music scene these days -- his daughter Alexa Ray Joel, who just released a debut CD of six songs called "Sketches." But before you think she's getting all the breaks because of Dad, hear this out: She self-released the CD because she has no record label yet.

Still, it can't hurt to call home sometimes, right?

"When I first started writing songs I'd always show them to my dad but because he's so amazing he'd instantly make them way better," Alexa Joel told the Press-Enterprise during a recent interview. "I started to realize that doing that was basically cheating, so now he doesn't get to hear anything until it's done."

Go to her official website or myspace page to hear some of the tunes. (Freakishly realistic photo, isn't it? She's got Christie Brinkley's face but Billy's eyes.)

He's in a Syracuse state of mind

Billy Joel serenaded 5,000 Syracuse University students today while on hand to address the graduating class of 2006. Joel never received his high school diploma, but has received honorary college degrees from a half dozen colleges, including a doctorate from Syracuse.

Joel led the crowd in a slightly altered version of "Down in New Orleans," changing the lines for his audience: "Come on everybody, take a trip with me, up to Onondaga County, that's where I'll be. Oh, you're going to be a lawyer or an engineer, you can even study music in the college here. With any luck, you'll get a Ph.D. at Syracuse University."

Here's some other Joel songs that would be appropriate for today's college graduates. So we give you --

Everything a College Grad Needs to Know Can Be Learned from a Billy Joel Song:
-- Only The Good Die Young: "Virginia, they didn’t give you quite enough information"
-- This Is The Time To Remember: "These are the days to hold onto, 'cause we won't although we'll want to."
-- Pressure: "Now here you are with your faith and your Peter Pan advice"
-- Big Shot: "It’s no big sin to stick your two cents in, if you know when to leave it alone"
-- Everybody Has a Dream: "All the fantasies that I have been keeping will make the empty hours easier to stand"
-- Angry Young Man: "I once believed in causes too. I had my pointless point of view"

And considering the job market and economy...
-- Worse Comes to Worst: "Today I'm livin' like a rich man's son. Tomorrow mornin' I could be a bum"

Billy Joel -- Still going to extremes at 57

Billy Joel is 57 today. (Meanwhile, the dreaded song Piano Man feels like it's 73.)  No word on how Billy will celebrate the day. (As long as it doesn't combine alcohol and motorcycles, he's free to do whatever he likes.) Maybe he could shave that beard so he looks a little less like Garth Brooks or Peter Gabriel.

Though he seems finished with his rock/pop recording career to date, Joel hasn't stopped producing greatest hits and live-concert collections. His latest effort -- 12 Gardens Live -- is a double-disc live collection from his recent 12-night stint at New York's Madison Square Garden. It's set for release in June, when Joel resumes his tour in Vienna.

Speaking of discs .... Did you know Joel had more albums in the 80s than any other decade? True enough. Seven in the 80s alone. Some of his best (Glass Houses, Nylon Curtain, Storm Front) and two of his worst (Innocent Man, Bridge).

We dare not leave without a list in honor of The Man. So here...

Top 5 Billy Joel albums:
5. Storm Front (1989): I Go To Extremes, And So It Goes
4. 52nd Street (1978): Big Shot, My Life, Zanzibar
3. Glass Houses (1980): You May Be Right, Don't Ask Me Why
2. Nylon Curtain (1982): Allentown, Pressure, Goodnight Saigon
1. The Stranger (1977): Scenes from an Italian Restaurant, Only the Good Die Young, Movin' Out. (There's a reason it's the only album Judd Nelson wanted back in St. Elmo's Fire).

For new fans to the blog, check out older posts about Joel, including my long, rambling item about how much I hate the song Piano Man. And Sean Day's effort to rub it in during his review of Joel's show in Tampa. That's good bloggin'!