TOP TEN MONDAYS!!!!! PLUS: IWU Enters the 100 Year Winter

So, after another daft* weekend, we Americans pause to readjust our Rearview Mirror of History and signal left onto Procrastination Blvd. as we squander another perfectly good 20 minutes of our lives reading the latest of edition of.....

TOP TEN MONDAYS!!! Today's Topic: Dave's Top 10 Billy Joel Songs. For those of you who don't know, I aspire to be the next Billy Joel. Billy is one of the few artists who has a full album in my CD case. By that I mean that I own (and listen to) lots of Billy Joel songs. More so, I would reckon to say**, than any other artist (besides, potentially, Albert Einstein). And by "a lot," I simply mean "more than 10." Thus, I am able to make a list, and here it goes:

• #10- The Longest Time. What a great song. So simply, yet so good.
  
• #9- The Entertainer. The melody is oddly phrased, but it's very catchy, and the backup music keeps my toe-tapping.
  
• #8- Go to Extremes. I think he probably wrote this song about romance, but I interpret it as being specific for distance runners. Check out the lyrics and maybe you'll see my point.
  #7- Only the Good Die Young. A Billy Joel classic.
  
• #6- A Matter of Trust. This song took a while to grow on me, but now I'm a big fan. Great words and sweet chords make this a hit, but not quiet good enough for the Top 5.
  
• #5- She's Always A Woman. The melody of this song is so captivating. Billy really shows off his vocal range. And his interesting view of women.
  
• #4- Downeaster Alexa. He plays the accordion in this song. Of course it makes the Top 5!
  
• #3- The River of Dreams. A catchy southern gospel-esque piece of music with a sweet piano riff. Play it, Billy!
  
• #2- We Didn't Start the Fire. This piece is song writers tour-de-force. He chronicles all the major world events of the 1900s in order, and in rhythm, and in rhyme! However, even this song can't stand up to....
  
• #1- Piano Man. There's a reason it's everybody's favorite. The song tells a story, the melody is unforgettable, and the piano solo is dynamite. Had I any bread, I would definitely put it in this piano man's jar.
  

So there you have it. I know I left out some classics (Movin' Out, Lullaby, And So It Goes, Leningrad, etc...), so if you hate my list, all I can say is, "Write your own blog!" Sorry I didn't have time to link you to all these songs. However, I strongly suggest you look them up. It will be well worth your time.

I saw a sweet saxophonist over the weekend. Chris Vardala, the winds professor at the University of Maryland, Home of the Fighting Terrapins, was a guest soloist at the IWU Jazz Festival this Saturday, and he was incredible!

Tonight I almost slipped on the snow. It seems that after a weekend of sweet weather, the White Witch decided enough was enough and has returned to plunge Wesleyan into another 100 years of icy devastation. Nuts.




*- I don't know what that word means.
**- Yes! I used 'reckon' in a blog post. Cross that one off the list.