In 2013, Billy Joel was doing a Q-and-A (and played a few numbers, I think) at Vanderbilt University. A student named Michael Pollack raised his hand and asked if he could accompany Mr. Joel on "New York State of Mind" and to the delight of the audience — and one supposes, to the shock of Michael Pollack — Joel said "Okay." This video is of that unplanned moment and I've gotta say: Billy Joel looks like the greatest of sports for going along with it and praising the kid for his piano playing.
I posted a link to this video here shortly after it happened but YouTube took it down. So who put it back up? Billy Joel. It's on his personal channel. So here it is again…
And now you might be wondering whatever became of Michael Pollack. Well, he hasn't done much…just written or co-written songs recorded by Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Celine Dion, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Ed Sheeran, Maroon 5, Ari Leff, Kelly Clarkson, Jason Mraz, Backstreet Boys, Lizzo, Jonas Brothers, Meghan Trainor, Demi Lovato, Michael Bublé, John Legend and Selena Gomez. You can read more about him on his Wikipedia page. Here he is talking about that moment that changed his life…