I devoted the summer of 2019 to listening to and writing about Champaign, Illinois' own REO Speedwagon. It was an eye-opening journey through a complex and inspiring history, and one that ended with me seeing them in concert for the first time. They've played nearby a couple of times since then, but I haven't ventured out for various reasons. Then I saw that they were playing right here in my hometown in early November. I looked into tickets right away, but I didn't end up buying one, partly because they were quite expensive, but mostly because Ticketmaster wouldn't let me buy a ticket for just one seat! I figured I'd wait until the day of and see what offers were out there. Then, in mid-September, came the news. The band released a statement revealing that they would cease touring - and though it wasn't stated, cease to be a band - effective January 1, 2025. In digging further into this announcement, I learned that founding member Neal Doughty retired in Ja
The Nylon Curtain is Billy Joel's eighth album and a fascinating artistic statement from a performer who had delivered three massive hit albums in the previous five years ( The Stranger , 52nd Street , and Glass Houses ). If you want to be pithy about it, The Nylon Curtain is Billy Joel Does Lennon and McCartney. It was Billy's first set of songs to be released following John Lennon's murder in late 1980, and the spirit of the former Beatle and his band can be felt throughout the record. Billy also had the time and the budget to labor over the recording of the songs, effectively using the studio as an instrument the way the Beatles and George Martin did, especially on their later albums. Impressively, Billy manages to make his musical inspiration very clear without directly ripping off any specific Lennon-McCartney songs. It's more like he did a deep study of the Beatles' various tricks - the use of harmony, the plaintive and nasally vocals, the ambitious song str