I've Loved These Days: A Billy Joel Fanfic

Chapter 14 - The Longest Time

••••
I don't care what consequence it brings
I have been a fool for lesser things
I want you so bad
I think you ought to know that
I intend to hold you
For the longest time
••••

Saturday, December 28, 1974
Dear Diary,

Another Christmas in California is in the books, although I have to wonder if it might be our last one here. I think we're both starting to feel a little restless. Over the summer we had a nice break from touring so Bill could record his new album, Streetlife Serenade. It came out in October and then we went right back out on the road to promote it. He's not too happy with how things have gone, and I've watched him get more and more frustrated with the things Colombia is expecting and demanding from him.

The tour ended a few weeks ago and we've been enjoying some well earned rest over the holidays in our new place. We've got almost 2 months before Bill has to head back out, and I'm thinking we need to use this time to re-evaluate what we really want. 1975 will be here in a matter of days, and I can't pinpoint the reason why, but I just feel like this new year is going to bring change.

xoxo,
Kat

****

In my mind, Christmas trees and palm trees don't go together, and yet there I was staring at both of them. The bay window in our new living room looked out onto Mulholland Drive, and from the couch I had a perfect view of our Christmas tree framed by the palm trees lining the street outside.

About two months ago, Billy and I decided that when the tour ended, we would let Janice and Jim keep our lease at the Malibu house and find something new and bigger for ourselves. While none of his albums were bringing us much money, the concert ticket sales were a different story and we'd been able to accumulate quite a bit of savings over the past few months. I had left Billy in mid-November to come back and get set up at our new rental in the Hollywood Hills before he joined me a month later.

"I don't know what they fucking expected." Billy took the last drag of his cigarette and smashed it into the ashtray. "They didn't give me time to write. They didn't give me my own damn band to record with. Of course it was a flop!"

I looked at him sitting across the room at the piano. He'd sat down there 20 minutes ago, but instead of playing a single note, he'd started in on a rant and hadn't stopped. All I could do was offer a supportive ear.

"Studio musicians will never hold a candle to my guys," he continued. "We have a groove. We have an unspoken language. Those studio guys are fine, but they're not my guys. With shit like that, Streetlife was destined to be a flop, and Johnny should have been able to stick up for me and get the execs to listen."

Along with his frustrations on the recording of his latest album, Billy was also rapidly losing patience with his manager, Johnny. He seemed like a nice guy, and I liked him well enough, but when it came down to getting Billy what he needed, he just didn't seem to have the goods.

"Maybe it's time to start looking around at other options," I suggested. "If you think he's not sticking up for you, then you gotta find someone who will."

****

After two months at home Billy was chomping at the bit to get back on the road. It was a cool February afternoon when we boarded a plane at LAX, joining his bandmates, manager, and road crew, along with various girlfriends and wives.