Billy Joel recently gave an interview with Entertainment Weekly. Here is an excerpt:

In August you’ll play the final show at Nassau Coliseum, your hometown venue, before they tear it down to rebuild it. Do you recall the first time playing there?

It was the first big arena I ever played, right after The Stranger came out in 1977. Very, very exciting. Everyone I knew in the world was there. Ex-girlfriends, you know…

You haven’t released an album of pop songs since 1993’s River of Dreams. Do you want to make more pop music?

I’m writing new music all the time. I’m just not writing pop stuff. It’s not my goal right now. I’m writing for the sake of writing music. Whether it gets heard or not isn’t an issue for me. It keeps my own juices going and my mind active.

Do you write your music down?

There’s no tapes of what I’ve been writing for the last 20 years. I should have put it on tape because I’m sure my memory will start to go. I’m 66 now. Probably got a good couple of years left. [Laughs]

Read more at Entertainment Weekly.

Photo by Chad Batka