Billy Joel proved on Saturday (Sept. 20) that he doesn't just use his hands for belting out classics on the piano as he joined an environmental cleanup effort in Oyster Bay, N.Y.
The singer, joined by Governor Andrew Cuomo, arrived at the beach on a boat in the morning to take part in the 21st annual Oyster Bay Beach and Harbor Cleanup, Newsday reports. The pair picked up trash along with other local politicians. "It's good to see the support to keep the bay healthy," Joel, a Long Island native, said. "Our oysters and our clams that come out of this bay are the best."
Joel hasn't released new music since his collection of classical compositions in 2001 titled Fantasies & Delusions. At a live "Town Hall" interview hosted by pal Howard Stern in April, the singer talked about whether new tunes were on the way. "I won't say 'I never,' or 'I won't [write new songs]' I just don't," Joel said according to Rolling Stone. "Everybody has a hard time understanding that: 'Why don't you write new songs?' Well, you have to want to write new songs. Elton [John] would say that to me: 'Why don't you make another album?' And I used to say to him 'Why don't you make less albums?'"
In an interview with American Songwriter a month later, Joel said he just isn't into the whole writing thing anymore. "Let's put it this way: I love having written. I hate writing," he said. "Once you've got it done, it's shiny and new. But then I go through a post-partum depression after that. 'Oh, I have to do this again.' I go through this kind of Cro-Magnon state in my cave, and I would mutter and kick things and probably drank more than I should have, just to get the Dutch courage to do it. I didn't enjoy the process, but I enjoyed the finished product."
A comprehensive live album chronicling Joel's 1987 tour of the Soviet Union, A Matter of Trust: The Bridge to Russia, came out in May.
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