Hot Breakfast! loves Billy Joel. There, we said it.
So when our buddy Joe Trainor said he wanted to get the gang back together – the one who performed a tribute to Billy Joel a few years ago – we jumped at the opportunity to play this music again. Then we panicked, because we haven’t really been practicing our saxophones for, oh, a couple of years.
But no matter. We are back in shape and completely psyched to perform The Music of Billy Joel at the Smyrna Opera House in Smyrna, Delaware on Saturday, July 25th at 8:00. And that’s just the beginning of it. See, when we create these tribute shows, it seems silly to only play them once because we work so hard to make the show great. So this time around we were sure to book the show in a few places spread out over several months, which lets us bring this great show to many people in many places; and best of all, we get to play these songs that bring us so much joy.
This isn’t a Hot Breakfast! gig, nor is it a Joe Trainor Trio show. It’s sort of a merging of the two bands, bringing Matt, Jill, Joe, and JT3 drummer Jeff Dement together with guitarist Chuck Kuzminski, bassist Allen Trainor, singer & percussionist Kerry Kristine McElrone, and special guest guitarist/harmonica player Stephen Manocchio. Matt & Jill will be singing and playing saxophone, guitar, percussion, melodica, and whatever else they can find.
We love this music. It’s our youth. Billy Joel’s songs inspired both of us to make music. Jill considers Billy Joel to be her first vocal teacher, and I consider him a master of songwriting, someone I still turn to for inspiration (and help) while writing my own music. But in addition to it being our youth, his music is also very much our now; and we’re so thrilled to be a part of this show.
DATES:
- Saturday July 25, 2015 at the Smyrna Opera House, Smyrna, DE. (Tix available here!)
- Saturday October 24, 2015 at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts (a special fund raiser for City Theatre Company!). (Tix available here.)
Saturday January 23, 2016Saturday, April 23 at the Everett Theater in Middletown DE. (Ticket info available soon!)
Look, we know the odds are slim that Billy’s gonna show up to any of these shows and join us for “The Thing About Boats” and “It Only Takes Two to Rock.” But don’t you think you should be there, y’know, just in case? We sure do. (He’s not coming. But it’s gonna be an awesome show, and we’re gonna rock it just for you.)
An Innocent Dork (or two),
The Suburban Legend (Matt) and Ji11 (Barbara)