Earlier this year Billy Joel canceled all of his upcoming concerts after being diagnosed with a brain condition called normal pressure hydrocephalus. That's certainly some worrying news, but we've had a few nuggets of hope in the meantime: Last month Howard Stern said on his SiriusXM show that Joel was doing pretty well when they had dinner together recently, and on a new episode of -- sigh -- Bill Maher's Club Random podcast filmed at Joel's home, Joel said he feels "fine," though his "balance sucks."
"It's not fixed, it's still being worked on," Joel said of the condition. "I feel fine. My balance sucks. It's like being on a boat... They don't know really know what causes it. I thought it must be from drinking." He continued: "They keep referring to what I have as a 'brain disorder,' so it sounds a lot worse than what I'm feeling."
Also worth nothing, when the comedian asked about last year's "Turn The Lights Back On" — the unlikely Freddy Wexler collaboration billed as Billy Joel's "first new song in 17 years" — the Piano Man confirmed what many fans suspected: "I didn't write that one."
Maher, being Maher, complained about "woke" people, but didn't ask Joel too many thoughtful questions, so I don't recommend trying to sit through the whole interview. Instead, I'll point you towards HBO's much more insightful Joel documentary And So It Goes; the first of its two parts premiered last Friday, with the second premiering this Friday.
And So It Goes has been getting some great reviews and it features quite a bit of previously unreleased archival audio, including demos from Joel's first album and from the scrapped Turnstiles sessions with Elton John's band.
Turns out there's also a surprise Tony Levin cameo that even the Stickman wasn't aware of until the doc aired. "I remember I'd joined him, along with Steve Gadd, just to play some songs live for label execs, so they could be impressed by their artist (which they were!)," Levin wrote on Facebook with a screenshot of his appearance. "Cool how a long career can have some little nuggets like this. I always dug his music. (And there's my old PBass!)" The footage was before the release of Joel's Piano Man album in 1973. Levin added in the comments:
So, here’s a thing that happened a few years after that scene in the documentary: I was rehearsing with Paul Simon and full band at S.I.R. rehearsal studios on w. 52nd, and in the middle of a song, the door bursts open, Billy Joel rides in on his Harley - yes, rides in… no idea how he got it in the building, or was allowed to. He revs the engine a couple times, gets off the bike, (as we watched, mouths agape) goes to the piano, and sings “Still Crazy After All These Years”, sounding exactly like Paul. (I hadn’t realized til then that Paul had a NY accent.) We laughed, of course - and, my memory is that he just got back on the bike and left. Pretty special, right? Don’t think I ever told the story til now.
Kenny Loggins, who is mentioned in the documentary, also shared an anecdote excerpted from his 2022 memoir Still Alright:
A very young Billy Joel opened for us at the Berkeley Community Theater in 1973. I remembered him from a promoters’ convention in Dallas we’d done the previous year, a private showcase where bookers decided who they wanted to play their venues. Billy wasn’t even on a proper stage; somebody stuck him in the hotel lobby, with people walking right past as he played. I didn’t know anything about the guy, but boy did his music floor me. I thought he was the second coming of Paul McCartney. I promptly ignored whatever else I had going on and sat down to listen. When Billy finally took a break, I went over to talk. “What the fuck are you doing here in the lobby,” I asked, just like he would later write in Piano Man. He muttered something about “my goddamn managers,” and “this goddamn thing.” Grumble, grumble. He was hating it, and I didn’t blame him. What a shitty way to showcase an act. (In 1977, when I was working on Celebrate Me Home, my producer, Phil Ramone, asked me if I was familiar with Billy Joel. By that point, Piano Man had been out for a couple of years, but Billy hadn’t yet achieved superstar status. Phil told me that Billy wanted him to produce his next record. Based on our early encounters, I gave a full endorsement. I don’t know how much influence I had, but Phil ended up producing Billy’s next six records, including his breakout, The Stranger.)
See the Maher video, and a fun new Joel Instagram, below.
Bill Maher tells a visibly unimpressed Billy Joel about his attempt to write what would likely be the worst song ever made. pic.twitter.com/BQHnegagXB
— Nick Newman (@Nick_Newman) July 21, 2025
