Now Who's Wacko Here?

Posted by Adam Kuban, March 18, 2004 at 11:59 AM

From the New York Times, Boldface Names column:

It was a book party for WALTER YETNIKOFF, the former head of CBS Records who managed to sign artists like MICHAEL JACKSON, the Rolling Stones, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and [Billy] Joel while rising early and breakfasting on cocaine and vodka.

Mr. Yetnikoff, now sober, has cleaned up pretty well. Physically, he looks as though he could go a few rounds with a baited bear....

Then Mr. Joel revealed Mr. Yetnikoff's secret weapon.

"He's a nut job," Mr. Joel said. "And the musicians were all nut jobs, so finally they had someone they could relate to. He was out of his skull. Walter never hid his passion."

Mr. Joel told another one:

"Michael Jackson was really stressed one time, and Walter called me up and said he wanted Michael to see you can have fun recording," he said. "So I get this phone call from Michael, and the voice is so light I don't even recognize who it is. He sounds like MICKEY MOUSE. When he called, we were in the middle of a pizza fight at the studio and there was noise and yelling in the background. Michael gave the phone back to Walter, who got on and said, 'Idiot, you scared him.'"

Wait. Billy Joel was having a pizza fight in the studio? Is that like a food fight with pizza, or is it a euphemism for something more wild and rawkin'? We just don't know. If the former, we say that it is Mr. Joel who is truly wacko and that Mr. Jackson was right be be scared by the Piano Man's antics.

P.S.: Speaking of Mr. Jackson, our favorite pop culture reference to MJ of late has to be the line in Kanye West's "Slow Jamz," from his College Dropout release: "She got a light-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson/ Got a dark-skinned friend look like Michael Jackson."

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Tags: Oddities