Billy Joel on a Motorcycle in Southampton
Friday night I crashed a party, and on Saturday I said I was saying sorry to friend of mine while I was walking down Main Street in Southampton enjoying the sunshine. While in the middle of conversation, I ran into this absolutely stunning blonde woman. She had a way about her, I don’t know what it was. I stopped to let our dogs say hello, and the two of them sniffed each other out to see what was what.
This situation is always interesting. One dog checks out the other and depending on who is walking the dog, you may strike up a brief conversation with the person, or they may look at you with sheer terror in fear that your dog is going to attack their dog. But everything seemed to be going fine with this meeting, and then, in a short amount of time, something kind of amazing happened.
I looked up at the blonde, and out of the corner of my eye, a Harley Davidson motorcycle rode up and parked in a space right next to the two of us. The loud rumble of the Harley hushed to a stop, and a man in sunglasses and a silver helmet swung off the saddle, walked over to the blonde, and gave her a kiss.
My heart was racing at a mile a minute. Yes, I was very, very nervous, and yes, it was because the guy kissing the stunning blonde was Billy Joel.
In the Hamptons, we all have celebrity moments, and nobody ever seems to know what the hell to do. I’ve seen all the movie stars, in their fancy cars and their limousines. My personal rule is that I pretend to not recognize them out of respect. But I simply couldn’t get over the fact that Billy Joel was pimping out on his motorcycle like he was the Fonz or something like that and saying hello to his girlfriend for a brief moment.
I watched the romance take place in front of me for a minute. I really wish I was less of a thinking man, and more a fool who’s not afraid of rejection, so in a sheer panic, I let out the words, “Hi Billy.”
He turned and looked towards me, before saying, “How are you?”
I remained silent as a self defense, and then he gave his girlfriend another hug, and as if he was a high school senior, got back on his motorcycle, revved up the engine and rumbled off down Main Street, into the nothingness.
I started to think about how many people saw him like I just did and whether or not it was going to become tabloid news that he was in the Hamptons over the weekend, but then I realized that it doesn’t matter what they say in the papers cause it’s always been the same old scene.
I had my iPod on me, and immediately fired up the song, “Movin’ Out” and set the volume to the highest level.
I continued walking the dog down Main Street and realized that there were a ton of errands that I needed to take care of before I got back home. It’s funny how you have so much to do but only so many hours in a day. I’m young enough to still see the passionate guy that I used to be, but I’m old enough to say I got a good look at the other side. The truth is that we have to work real hard, maybe even for the rest of our lives. So for me, taking a moment to see Billy Joel in the street is pretty cool.
When I got home, I was pretty tired from the day, so I went to sleep with the television on.