BILLY JOEL: TV appearance on Thanksgiving night
Billy Joel will be on TV Thanksgiving night with an appearance on the CW network superhero show, Arrow. The episode centers around his concert being the target of a terrorist plot and will feature footage from one of his shows.
Marc Guggenheim, the show's executive producer, says, "He's always been an inspiration to me, personally and artistically. I told him as much when I wrote to him to ask for his permission to use his concert footage in our episode and when he agreed, it was one of the happiest days of my career."
Billy's next show is November 29th in Salt Lake City.
ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME: Bon Jovi still leads the fan vote
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford recently cut a video urging fans to get the vote out in support of the band's nomination for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Apparently it had an impact as Judas Priest is quickly gaining on The Cars.
The Cars are still in fourth place behind -- in order -- Bon Jovi, The Moody Blues and Dire Straits, but Priest is less than 30,000 votes behind the Boston band. Also having a good week is Kate Bush, who has moved past Rage Against the Machine for 12th place.
The voting as of Sunday is as follows:
- Bon Jovi – 798,379
- Moody Blues – 653,248
- Dire Straits – 424,491
- The Cars – 383,408
- Judas Priest – 354,475
- The Zombies – 339,710
- Eurythmics – 316,644
- J. Geils Band – 239,407
- Depeche Mode – 215,324
- Nina Simone – 129,856
- Radiohead – 124,792
- Kate Bush – 116,819
- Rage Against the Machine – 116,287
- The MC5 – 89,439
- LL Cool J – 84,602
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe – 77,810
- Link Wray – 68,248
- Rufus featuring Chaka Khan – 59,328
- The Meters – 41,061
You have until December 5th to place your vote at RockHall.com/Vote. The Top 5 artists, as selected by the public, will comprise a “fans’ ballot” that will be tallied along with the other ballots to choose the 2018 inductees. You'll need to login with a Facebook account or e-mail to vote. Voting is capped at one ballot per day.
The 2018 inductees -- the five to seven acts chosen -- will be announced in December, with the 33rd annual induction ceremony set for April 14th at Public Auditorium in Cleveland. HBO will once again air the ceremony, with details to be announced later.