Luke Sacks

The New York Mets will play the final baseball game at Shea Stadium this fall. Billy Joel, a quintessential New Yorker and baseball lover, will play the final musical notes at the stadium, which has been home to the Amazin’s since 1964, in July. From the Beatles historical concerts to Dwight Gooden’s fastball, Shea has provided some fantastic memories. Here’s a few remembered, mash-up style:

Scenes From an Italian Restaurant – Mike Piazza, who certainly provided his share of Amazin’ moments for the Mets, will probably best be remembered for his performance in the first baseball game played in New York in the post-9/11 era. On September 20, 2001, Piazza hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning that lifted the Mets over the Atlanta Braves 3-2 and brought the tiniest bit of joy to a still weeping New York City.

A Matter of Trust – The Mets lose the first two games of the 1986 World Series at Shea to the Red Sox setting off panic after a 108-win regular season and a dramatic NLCS win over Houston. Tim Teufel’s through-the-wickets error allows the lone run in Game One and Dwight Gooden is shelled for six runs on eight hits over five innings in a 9-3 Game Two loss. The Mets turn it around and win Games Three and Four in Boston.

Read on for eleven more Billy Joel songs that just drive Mr. Met absolutely crazy…

If you live in NYC, you probably take the site of the Empire State Building for granted. If you live in San Diego, you probably take a sunny 72-degree day for granted. And if you are a rock fan, you probably take David Bowie for granted.

Bowie, who put out his first album, David Bowie, in 1967 has been a fixture on the rock landscape ever since and has crossed genre lines so many times, charting it would look like an airline route map in the back of those terrible in-flight magazines.

Whatever your pleasure, Bowie has something for you. You want straight up rock and roll? There’s 1974’s Diamond Dogs and 1980’s Scary Monsters. If it’s a red wine night at home, there is 1971’s Hunky Dory, with more piano-driven tracks, including the powerful “Quicksand” and “Life on Mars,” a song that has surfaced everywhere from Phish shows to Wes Anderson movies.

Read on for more Thin White Duke lovin’, and a few clips from his illustrious career…