Joe

So my friends Eric and Beth have family in San Diego. They usually go home every year around Christmas time. Get back to the states, see the family, eat some real mexican food, that kind of thing. Well, we're pretty busy right now, and Beth isn't working, so she took the kids and flew back to SoCal a couple weeks early to stay with family. Once we wrapped up some stuff at work, Eric flew back by himself. So, he's sitting on the plane, in business class, and he ends up talking to the guy sitting next to him, as you do, it's the Auckland to LA leg, you can't really ignore someone for 12 hours that you're sitting next to. Anyway, Eric asks the guy what he does for a living, and the conversation goes something like this.

Eric: What do you do for a living?
Person: Oh, I'm a singer in a rock and roll band.
Eric: That's awesome, what kind of music do you play?
Singer: Like Billy Joel.
Eric: That's cool. It's great that someone's keeping his music going since he retired.
Billy Joel: No, not like Billy Joel, I'm Billy Joel.

Ouch.

I love how Joel tried to play it off since Eric didn't know who he was. "I'm just a singer in a band". Of course Eric is the kind of person who always seems lucky, so when you hear a new Billy Joel song, and he's talking about the guy on the plane who doesn't know who he his, you'll know where the story comes from. The icing on the cake though, was this.

Eric: So, how do you like travelling with your dad?
Mrs. Joel: I'm his wife.

Twelve hours is a long time to sit next to someone on a airplane.