Kaetlin Perna
May 26, 2006

Every little girl dreams of being a rock star. For most girls my age, the rock star they wanted to be was Madonna, with her cone bra, or quite possibly the ladies of Salt n Pepa, "Schooping" for a man. Hey, it was the early 90s. For me, at five years old, I wanted to be Billy Joel.

Now in 1989, when Berlin's Wall was collapsing and MTV was nearing it's prime with Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Faith No More, (when MTV actually played music videos), I watched Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" as much as I watched An American Tale. Billy Joel, not Billy Idol, was the epitome of cool. He wore a black suit, black sunglasses and almost resembled what we remember of Johnny Cash, but he was piano-rock.

Comedians Randy and Jason Sklar explain that it's hard for straight men to honor their favorite musicians, such as REO Speedwagon and David Bowie, in the same fashion that Drag Queens perform songs from Cher and Celine Dion, and be taken seriously at the same time. Girls dream of this too, but most often they grab a hair brush and sing "Like a Prayer" by Madonna or "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" by Cindy Lauper. I would hold solo performances in front of my full length mirror of "All About Soul" and "Captain Jack."

It was 1998. At 14 years old, I begged and pleaded with my parents to buy me tickets to his "Farewell tour." My parents gave in and I saw him in Syracuse. He was only half an inch tall, but it was a dream. He was a little pudgier than I exxpected, but he was still a dream.

I think around that time, I was still convinced that I desperately wanted to pursue my hereditary talent for singing, so it only seemed natural to want to be the "Piano Man." I eventually pursued writing and the rest is history. Deep down, though, I think I was probably supposed to be a male musician in the early 70's, in my past life. It's the only thing that explains this need to be Billy Joel.

“...it's all about faith and deeper devotion.”