Credit: Myrna SuarezBilly Joel has won countless awards in his career, but he’s about to receive a very unusual honor: A movie theater is going to name its popcorn stand after him.
The theater in question is the historic Sag Harbor Cinema on Long Island, New York, which was damaged by fire last December. According to Long Island’s Newsday, Joel, a part-time resident of Sag Harbor, has donated money to help rebuild the theater.
The Sag Harbor Partnership says it needs about $8 million to rebuild the theater’s Art Deco facade and upgrade the projection and sound systems. With Billy’s donation, the total the Partnership has raised so far is $2.3 million. It wasn’t disclosed how much money the Piano Man himself kicked in, but it was enough for the Partnership to announce that it’ll name the popcorn stand after Joel.
The president of the Partnership told Newsday, “Billy has spent a lot of time in Sag Harbor. He knows exactly how much the sign and the cinema mean to all of Main Street…So many of his songs show his understanding of how much specific places mean to people and we are so grateful that he agrees the Sag Harbor Cinema is a special place worth fighting for.”
According to Newsday, when Joel played Madison Square Garden in December, he said, “Just want to say goodbye to the old Sag Harbor Cinema” before playing “New York State of Mind.”
Others who are involved in the fundraising efforts include Martin Scorsese, movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, and Dame Julie Andrews.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
