Good News Friday: Billy Joel makes a college kid’s dream come true. A Corgi who’s an awesome goalie. And the best video Bar Mitzvah invite ever

**Was all set to write about my excitement that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal played Thursday night in California, their first match in a year. But Fed’s injured back barely let him move, and Nadal, not really healthy himself, drubbed him. Made me sad to see Fed so not like himself. Get better soon, Fed.

Meanwhile, watching 5 minutes of Jerry Seinfeld doing stand-up from Wednesday night cheered me up a little. The man’s still got it.

Billy Joel may not be what he used to be; his voice isn’t the same, his reputation has been ruptured by his several drunk driving incidents (hey, when “Saturday Night Live” parodies you multiple times, that’s not good), and he hasn’t made any new music in quite a while.

But for people like me who great up in the 1980s with his music, he’ll always be a legend. So it was nice to see a kid who was born WAY after “Piano Man” and “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” came out feel the same way about Billy as millions of us do.

At a college student lecture/concert recently at Vanderbilt University, Billy was asked a question by 20-year-old Michael Pollack, a Vandy student and aspiring songwriter who asked if he could come up and play “New York State of Mind” with Joel.

Billy said “Sure,” and the above video ensued. Just beautiful. I’ve talked about this with my friend Pearlman a bunch, as both of us have been around celebrities a lot and have seen how big of a jerk they can be to fans.

It takes so little for a superstar to make the day of a fan, so little to give someone a lasting memory. I don’t know why more celebrities don’t just take the five seconds to be nice.

Anyway, the Vandy kid does a hell of a job here, don’t you think? Here’s a little background on how he got to play with Billy.

**And now, the most excited Corgi in the world, playing goalie with a ball tossed by his owner.

The anticipation of the dog is my favorite part; he just cannot wait for that ball to be thrown.

**Finally today, saying something is “the coolest Bar Mitzvah invitation ever” isn’t exactly clearing a high bar, I know. But this kid Jorel totally nailed this video invite, with an assist from the music of Queen;

I wish I could go, I bet it’ll be a killer party.

The WikiLeaks scandal doesn’t move me. And an incredible Billy Joel interview

So the entire media world seems to be going crazy over this newest WikiLeaks scandal, involving thousands of leaked diplomatic cables that were top-secret.
Thanks to someone who’s leaking this stuff, we’re supposed to believe, thanks to a hysterical press corps, that national security has been threatened, diplomacy ruined, and the entire world may come crashing down.
Please. Been reading about the WikiLeaks disclosure for a little while tonight, and it sounds to me like much ado about very little.
We have learned, for example, that the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called Iranian officials “big, fat liars,” and that the U.S. has tried to persuade Pakistan to give America some of its nuclear weapons.
There is other stuff in there, unflattering stuff about world leaders, but I mean really, everyone knows that people talk behind each other’s back. That’s what makes the world go round: gossip.
I just don’t see what the big deal is. Maybe I’m missing the boat here. Or maybe, once again, my friends in the media are making this out to be a way bigger deal than it really is.

**It’s fairly required that if you grew up on Long Island in the 1980s, you’re a Billy Joel fan. So of course I was, and still am, a huge fan.
Billy was one of us, just a working-class schlub from the Island who wrote songs on the piano that became the soundtrack to many of our lives. I saw him in concert once, back when I was in high school around 1991 or so, and it was freaking incredible.
Anyway, Billy’s songs have always meant so much to me, from the beautiful “She’s Always a Woman” and “And So it Goes” (a wildly underrated Joel classic) to “Piano Man” and “Summer Highland Falls.”

Howard Stern? I’m so not a fan. But last week Howard had Billy on his satellite radio show for 90 minutes, and it was an incredible interview. Stern came off as just a regular guy, asking questions, and it was fabulous. Billy talked about how he wrote certain songs, how lyrics “muck up” beautiful music, and of his days banging Elle McPherson, and then Christie Brinkley (it was a rough life for Mr. Joel).

If you don’t have time to listen to the whole thing, here’s Part 1. All six parts are on YouTube, if you’re interested. It’s truly a fantastic conversation.