'Shades of gray' delay Billy Joel lecture

Event rescheduled forEvent rescheduled fortonight at 7:30 p.m. inEvent rescheduled fortonight at 7:30 p.m. inIrvine Auditorium and Doree Shafrir Succumbing to the whims of Mother Nature, rock musician Billy Joel was forced to postpone last night's Irvine Auditorium lecture until tonight. Connaissance Co-Director Rich Archer, a Wharton junior, said the rescheduled show will be held at the same time as the cancelled show. The same tickets will be honored. Archer explained that Joel's agent called the group yesterday morning with the news as Connaissance members began setting up the stage in Irvine. "Billy has a phobia about weather," Archer said. "He said he was sorry." According to Archer, Connaissance will incur extra costs due to of the postponement. He explained that the organization must rent a piano and other instruments and the auditorium itself for an additional night, adding that Connaissance also had to "piece together" another sound crew for tonight's show. Joel did, however, grant an interview yesterday afternoon to WQHS, the University's student-run radio station. WQHS Station Manager Christian Stadler, a College sophomore, said he thinks Joel "really wants to come" to the University. "We were going to ask how Christie Brinkley is doing, but we decided against it," Stadler added. In the interview, Joel mentioned the March 27 joke issue of The Daily Pennsylvanian, which carried an article informing the University community that Joel had died. "I didn't have a heart attack -- I can't get there because of the weather," he said. "I'm on the east end of Long Island and the weather is horrendous here too. "I never dreamt that I would have a White Easter," he added. Joel also emphasized that his lecture will not be a concert. "It will be me talking to people and people asking me questions," Joel explained. "There will be some music involved." According to Archer, 800 students entered Connaissance's final ticket opportunity, held early yesterday morning via e-mail. He said the first 500 responses arrived in the first 13 seconds after the contest began at 4 a.m. Originally, Connaissance had planned to distribute 39 pairs of tickets via e-mail, to the first students who sent messages to Joel@route66.resnet. But because of the overwhelming response to the contest, Connaissance decided to give out one ticket per winner. "In our view, people made a last-ditch effort to get into the show," Archer said. "We wanted to give out as many tickets as possible." Barring any additional odd weather, Joel's show will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Irvine. No cameras, bookbags or recording devices will be allowed inside.