Alexa Ray Joel paid her dad a compliment recently. Now at first glance at the word ‘mensch’ you might wonder if she’s upset with him. After brushing up on my Yiddish, I discovered it means “person of honor”. Alexa used such a word to praise her pops for something he’s been doing for years now at his concerts. Billy Joel reserves the front rows and then has his team go up into the nose bleed sections to find ‘real’ fans and then bring them down for the exclusive seats! In 2015, Billy talked with Billboard magazine about why he does it, saying, “It turns out the real fans were always in the back of the room in the worst seats. We now hold those tickets, and I send my road crew out to the back of the room when the audience comes in and they get people from the worst seats and bring ’em in to the front rows. This way you’ve got people in the front row that are really happy to be there, real fans.” Why can’t ALL musicians do that? Well for one, often times it’s not up to them. But when you’ve got the clout of a legendary entertainer like Billy, you don’t ask, you TELL!
