Last night, Super Mondo Corp had their big trade show party. And by big, I mean big. Like Cow Palace and parking lot big. Playing that night as entertainment was Lenny Kravitz, Steve Nicks, and Billy Joel, who headlined.

Now, at one point, Prince was going to play. While he was supposed to play, some sort of fight broke out between somebody and one week Prince would headline, the next week Joel. Now this seemed kind of crazy to me because while Joel is deserving of some respect, we're talking about Prince. I guess it was a generational thing with the older execs thinking Joel is their cup of tea while anyone young enough to see "Purple Rain" thinking that nobody, but nobody gets higher billing then the Purple One. And seriously, would you rather watch Joel tinkling on a piano or Prince doing some sort of thirty minute funk jam. I'm not sure, but I wondered if they would both play the main stage and I'm thinking does Joel really think Prince should open for him? And I'm not talking about in terms of who is a bigger star, but I'm talking about the fact nobody can really top prince.

But whatevs-- Prince did not play anyways.

Billy Joel did get the headline and played the Palace central. While I think playing the corporate party circuit is probably a humiliating venture, Joel did manage to fill the place so I'm thinking it's in a way, the biggest audience he's played in front of years. While I'm not a fan (I'm kind of apathetic-- I don't hate him but don't really like him but think he's kind of talented anyways), he did put on a good show, except....

To play with the whole idea of playing in San Francisco, he did a few minutes of "Somebody to Love" and, then, God help us "Purple Haze."

I left the arena immediately in protest.

You know how the old saying was that there's a little Elvis in everyone. Well, you could say the same about Hendrix and there is no Hendrix at all in Billy Joel. Not even close. I heard from someone that they played a few snippets of "Highway to Hell" and, dear God, there is no AC/DC is Billy Joel at all. Ever and never.

So Harlan and I checked out some Stevie. She was actually pretty good-- her voice was phenomenal. She played all the big Fleetwood Mac songs (with Mick Fleetwood on the drums), Dave Mathews' "Crash" (?) and a few solo hits. Towards the end, there was a miny drum solo, then a beat kicked in, the guitarist started wailing, and then out came the recognizable groove to "Edge of Seventeen."

Yes, I was about to hear Ms. Nicks herself sing about the White Dove who sings a song sings a song ...and Sounds like she's singing... whoo...whoo...whoo. She wailed too.

Now I've seen a lot of bands. I've seen a lot of great bands playing a lot of great songs. I've also seen a lot of completely random bands doing randomm songs (the Hooters anyone? Madness?) but that had to be one of the most random moments of my musical life, the fact that I can say I have now seen Steve Nicks sing "Edge of Seventeen."

Top that.

See, the thing is that when I first started listening to rock radio, Steve was HUGE. Her first solo album had come out and every half an hour, the station (WYSP, represent) would either play "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (an underrated gem if ever there was), "Leather and Lace," and, yes, "Seventeen." All I needed was Tom Petty himself to hop onstage to sing "Stop Draggin" and my inner twelve year old would have been happy.

And all thanks to Super Mondo Corporation.