I've seen the lights go out in Flushing

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Meat Loaf is a complete Yankee whore.

Who closes down Yankee Stadium btw?

[soupcan]

Milli Vanilli.

[Guest sharpie]

Dickshot, on further investigation, you are correct about Meat Loaf. I seem to remember him being in the booth for a Mets game and so assumed he was with the good guys. He isn't. I don't like his music, either. Have more work to do on finding a Met-loving Yankee-hating rock star.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Met-Lovin' Big Shots.

[Benjamin Grimm]

="Johnny Dickshot"]Meat Loaf is a complete Yankee whore.

Yeah, if he was a Mets fan, it would have been Bob Murphy's voice on Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

(How great would that have been, by the way?)

[Guest Edgy DC]

Only modestly great.

[Willets Point]

I think Bob Murphy dodged a bullet.

[Centerfield]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Who closes down Yankee Stadium btw?

The Mets. 9th comeback against Rivera in Game 5 to send the Series back to Shea with the Mets leading 3-2.

[stevejrogers]

Edgy DC wrote: Isn't it telling that he identified himself so nobly with the guy who toiled honorably only to lose credit to the more glamorous and self-centered, and that guy turned out to be a world-class phony? He's deeply invested in frontrunning Yankee culture.

If that song was writen in the mid-80s I'm sure it would have been "but the Mets grab the headlines everytime." Rose's fate some 10-15 years later has nothing to do with it.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

When I think of Long Island bands, the discussion begins with The Trinity: Twisted Sister, Good Rats and Zebra. They were the reason I was glad the drinking age was 18 when I was in high school (and New York licenses then didn't have photos) so we could get in to Hammerheads to see the bands!

I've meet Dee Snider a couple times, and he's an interesting, articulate guy.

Now, Brian Setzer used to come into 300 Bowl when I worked there, and would deny who he was -- wanted some peace and quiet, I guess -- but still dressed like a 50s guy and showed his Stray Cats tats, which made me think he really didn't want peace and quiet.

I have a playlist on the iPod with all New York songs. There's some neat stuff on there.

I'd say let No La Tenga, known Mets fans, close the stadium, but, um, they might have trouble filling more than a couple sections.

[bmfc1]

MGIM:
"I'd say let No La Tenga, known Mets fans, close the stadium, but, um, they might have trouble filling more than a couple sections."

Excellent thought--it's Yo La Tengo. I know someone who knows them and they are indeed Mets fans.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

As noted here yesterday, Randy Jackson of Zebra sang the national Anthem at Shea on Monday. It was at least the 2nd time he'd done that as we saw him perform it also in 2005.

[Guest Edgy DC]

="SteveJRogers"] ="Edgy DC"] Isn't it telling that he identified himself so nobly with the guy who toiled honorably only to lose credit to the more glamorous and self-centered, and that guy turned out to be a world-class phony? He's deeply invested in frontrunning Yankee culture. If that song was writen in the mid-80s I'm sure it would have been "but the Mets grab the headlines everytime." Rose's fate some 10-15 years later has nothing to do with it.

Wrong. He was a phony. If he had never gotten banned, Rose still would have been a phony. It wasn't his fate --- but way to cleanse him of responsibliity.

Mets-Yankees is beside the point.

Cake: Pretending to align himself with a struggling everyman character. (Who is in fact a famous successful celebrity who gets plenty of headlines playing the role of the guy who doesn't get headlines.)

Eating it, too: Relishing being a celebrity New Yorker entitled to championship teams, the access he gets to them, and the money to be made by association with their popularity.

I have little doubt he'd substitute the Mets for the Yankees if served his purposes. That's my point, he's being more cynical and self-serving than he'd have you believe while he's playing soulful.

On edit: Seriously, if you aligned yourself with a folk hero, named your kid after him or something, you wouldn't feel stupid to find out he's a crook, and had been a phony all along? Does Joel really still sing that song?

[bmfc1]

"Does Joel really still sing that song?"

Yes. "Zanzibar" is on the "12 Garden Live CD" compiled during his 12 sold-out concerts at MSG in '06. The line was changed to "Rose, he knows he'll never make the Hall of Fame...." And it's a great song, despite the MFY reference.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm not complaining about the Yankee reference.

[Guest Mendoza Line]

I never thought I'd find myself in the role of defending Billy Joel, but he wasn't identifying himself with Rose or the Yankees.

More Zanzibar: Me, I'm trying just to get to second base, and I'd steal it if she only gave the sign

Billy just wants to be an average Joel - he's neither the Yankees grabbing the headlines nor Rose trying to grab the headlines and failing pathetically.

More Miami 2017: They said that Queens could stay, they blew the Bronx away

No complaints there.

Just like Shea, Billy's been in decline for the past 20 years or so. I'd rather see Paul Simon close the stadium (who else ever referenced "Corona" in a song that had nothing to do with Mexican beer?), but Billy Joel's not a bad choice.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Mendoza Line wrote: I never thought I'd find myself in the role of defending Billy Joel, but he wasn't identifying himself with Rose or the Yankees.

No-huh-way. His admiration is for Rose toiling in his (non-existent) obscurity, and he's drawing a parallel to his own more modest futile struggle.

[Willets Point]

Yo La Tengo at Shea would bring me, my wife, and child, so that's 3 tickets tight there!

[Guest Edgy DC]

Has your chiild seen daylight yet?

[Willets Point]

6 more weeks, give or take.

[Guest sharpie]

I'd be there for Yo La Tengo as well.

Paul Simon, though from Queens, is a MFY fan from childhood. Invoking Joe DiMaggio and all, appeared on the Dick Cavett Show with Mickey Mantle 'cause he wanted to meet his idol.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Kiss is a New York band, would actually sell some seats, has no Yankees references (well, they don't reference much of anything outside of a guaranteed rhyme of 'knees' and 'please' on every CD) and could even start the demolition as part of the show!

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't think Shea should be demolished. It should just ascend into heaven.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Specific references in KISS songs:

Detroit
New York
Third and forty-three.
Beth Criss

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I don't think Shea should be demolished. It should just ascend into heaven.

Hmmm, or take a stairway to heaven....then I read that these guys are coming back.....,

By ROMINA SPINA �
Associated Press Writer �
LONDON (AP) � Led Zeppelin will perform a one-time comeback concert in memory of Ahmet Ertegun, a co-founder of Atlantic Records.
The band will perform together for the first time in 19 years on Nov. 26, at London�s The O2 venue, on the banks of the River Thames.
Promoters said the concert would pay tribute to Ertegun � the label boss who popularized Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Led Zeppelin � who died in December at age 83.
�During the Zeppelin years, Ahmet Ertegun was a major foundation of solidarity and accord,� Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant said in a statement. �For us he was Atlantic Records and remained a close friend and conspirator.�
Ertegun, who co-founded the Atlantic Records label with Herb Abramson, signed Plant�s band in 1968 and later snapped up the Rolling Stones.
Led Zeppelin�s remaining original members Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones will headline the concert with late drummer John Bonham�s son, Jason, on drums, organizers said Wednesday.
The quartet is expected to perform a full set lasting up to two hours.

[Willets Point]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I don't think Shea should be demolished. It should just ascend into heaven.

Interesting comment from someone who has stated he's an atheist. Perhaps Yancy just believes in the baseball gods?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Atheist or not, I still have a Catholic background.

Maybe instead I should have said that it should ascend to the moon, or maybe to Neptune.

[G-Fafif]

We may not indulge in solipsistic "he's not a true Met" debates, but we certainly quibble around the edges, don't we?

No artist appears on my personal Top 500 more than Billy Joel. He's at Nos. 466, 363, 351, 335, 269, 146, 103, 31 and 11 -- the nine separate entries edging out the Spinners by one and Grand Funk ("Bad Time," No. 70) by eight. I'd probably leap at the chance to see him at Shea in the same way I leapt at the chance to see the Mets at Camden Yards. I find having one's favorites juxtaposed so closely an irresistible force.

I don't know that it's necessary or appropriate to have a concert as the stadium's final event. But I don't think Billy Joel, MFY leanings and all, will desecrate Billy Shea's memory. If you can't reunite the Beatles or fly in the Baha Men, he would be as well suited as anyone.

Top 500 Songs of All-Time, as I humbly refer to them:

http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/12/31/2608790.html

[G-Fafif]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Hmmm, or take a stairway to heaven....then I read that these guys are coming back.....

I didn't think the O'Jays had ever disbanded.

[Guest sharpie]

Yo La Tengo do a pretty funny version of "The Night Chicago Died" (#2 on G-F's list) and, of course, they do "Meet the Mets." If Shea has to end on a Billy Joel concert, Yo La Tengo should be the opening act.