Lifestyle
HBO's new Billy Joel documentary is revelatory — even if it pulls some punches
Billy Joel in 1973.
Don Hunstein/Sony Music Archives/HBO
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Don Hunstein/Sony Music Archives/HBO
HBO’s two-part documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes is a revealing look at a complicated music star who has been at the center of pop music for decades.
But it’s also a good example of the challenge filmmakers face in making the modern celebrity biography: a tension between access and objectivity.
To be sure, this project — directed and produced by Susan Lacy and Jessica Levin, veterans of the PBS series American Masters, with superstar executive producers like Tom Hanks and Sean Hayes on board — walks that line very well. The documentary, which debuts Friday with a second part coming July 25, benefits from access to Joel, 76, his family, friends, songs and a tremendous amount of archival material.
When the documentary premiered earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, headlines focused on the admission that Joel had an affair with the wife of a longtime friend and bandmember when he was in his early 20s, attempting suicide twice after the relationship was revealed.
Somehow, the filmmakers got ex-bandmate Jon Small to talk on camera about the moment he learned of the affair — he says “these [were] my two best friends” — alongside extensive interviews with Small’s ex-wife Elizabeth Weber. She eventually married Joel and managed his career through some of his biggest successes in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
There are stars on hand to talk about Joel’s impact, including Paul McCartney (he admits wishing he had written the 1977 ballad hit “Just the Way You Are”), Pink, Nas, Garth Brooks and Bruce Springsteen, who says Joel writes better melodies than he does. But the real revelations come from those who are much closer: his grown children, sister, former bandmates, and his former wives, including supermodel Christie Brinkley.
Billy Joel in 1977.
Art Maillet/Sony Music Archives/HBO
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Art Maillet/Sony Music Archives/HBO
Weber speaks about how Joel’s increased drinking — and motorcycle-riding — during his major success in the early 1980s led her to leave him after he was in a terrible accident. Both Joel and Weber talk about how spiky lyrics in early songs like “Big Shot” and “Stiletto” were references to their relationship. And other stories about the genesis of his hits sound like stuff scripted for a biopic: He wrote the classic “Piano Man” while working in a piano bar in Los Angeles trying to get out of a terrible recording/publishing contract; “New York State of Mind” came to him quickly on the bus ride to New York City after his time in California.
Still, for me, there is still a slight sense of punches pulled. Joel admits to a lot of terrible behavior during the documentary, from affairs to out-of-control partying, firing longtime bandmembers, writing autobiographical songs with insulting lines about people in his life, burying himself in work and neglecting his loved ones.
But the people on the receiving end of this stuff are mostly shown forgiving Joel for his transgressions and expressing their love and admiration for him — leading this critic to wonder if the picture would have a been a little different if he hadn’t been so intimately involved, to the point where new interviews with him are essentially used as narration for the documentary.
This is a question that surfaces regularly regarding modern documentaries on big stars. When Steve Martin opens up his personal archives for Morgan Neville’s Apple TV+ documentary STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces or Michael Jordan’s production company partners with ESPN to create The Last Dance, it’s impossible not to wonder how the story might have been affected by efforts to keep the celebrity excited and involved with the project.
Of course, this can feel like nitpicking. Particularly regarding And So It Goes, which ultimately provides an important reassessment of an artist often given short shrift by music critics during his big pop successes.
The documentary even talks about how Joel would rip up negative reviews from critics onstage back in the day. (Full disclosure: Joel once ripped up a newspaper onstage with a negative review I wrote about his first joint concert with Elton John in the 1990s, though we laughed about it when I interviewed him a few years later, and he didn’t even remember doing it.)
Ultimately, And So It Goes is an expansive, excellent look at Joel’s story – from his early days growing up Jewish in Long Island, right up until the end of his residency last year at Madison Square Garden, which concluded after a decade of performances. (The early screener I saw doesn’t address Joel’s recent announcement that he was diagnosed with a rare brain condition called normal pressure hydrocephalus, leading to cancellation of his concert dates this year.)
And it drops at an important time: A few years past his biggest hits, it’s the perfect moment to look at Joel’s career to see songs with an enduring appeal and impact beyond the trends and concerns of the time when they were first released.
Lifestyle
A meal with an animated Mona Lisa? Immersive dining goes high tech — but will L.A. eat it up?
My dinner course is served. It is a Campbell’s-inspired soup can, lightly angled so strands of broccoli are peeking out. I lift the can to uncover a slow-braised short rib and mashed potatoes. An American dish to represent an American artist, here Andy Warhol.
The room is overtaken with projections, scenes of bustling New York traffic paired with bachelor-pad-like guitar riffs. Shown on a wall above a dinner table is a selection of Warhol silkscreens. It’s a Friday night in West Hollywood, and I’m surrounded by a mix of out-of-towners and those celebrating an anniversary. And while this is a special occasion, we’re urged to get a little messy with our food — to use our hands, to paint with a salad, to draw on a cookie.
The main course: A tomato soup can? “7 Paintings” is an immersive event that occasionally hides dishes in artist-inspired presentations.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Play is the primary side dish at “7 Paintings,” a tech-infused dinner theater that aims to be a crash course in fine art. That selection of veggies paired with multiple mini cups of colorful dressings? Guests are encouraged to mix and match the vinaigrettes into a mess of hues, a nod to abstractionist Jackson Pollock. And yellowfin tuna with dashes of avocado and taro chips? That’s an edible tribute to Banksy, of course. What does raw fish have to do with stenciled street art? It’s bold, heavily angled and has a short shelf life? Maybe? Perhaps don’t overthink it.
Even the paper is edible.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“Have you ever eaten a painting before?” says Nadine Beshir, the Dubai-based creator of “7 Paintings.” “We try to get people out of their comfort zones and eating paper. I want to bring out the child in them.”
“7 Paintings,” held at Sunset House L.A. through the end of August, is the latest example of immersive dining to arrive in this city. These experiences often involve guest participation and are accentuated with advanced multimedia technology and sometimes theatrical elements.
Worldwide, there have been standouts. For instance, Eatrenalin at Germany’s Europa-Park, a dining room-meets-ride where participants are whisked around the space on trackless “floating chairs,” has just received a coveted Michelin star. Ibiza’s Sublimotion has similar haute ambitions, pairing 12 diners together in a room that will come alive with otherworldly projections and performers. At times, diners will win don virtual reality headgear.
But tech-driven immersive dining experiences have never quite taken off in Los Angeles as a trend. Last year, the Gallery, where fantastical cityscapes and projections surrounded downtown L.A. diners, stood just a couple months before the concept was abandoned.
“7 Paintings” pairs food with art and music. It’s “fun dining, not fine dining,” says its founder.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Bartender Luca Famulari shakes a cocktail at the immersive dining event.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“The economics of a restaurant are not the same as the economics of theater and the challenge of combining the two lies in thinking outside the box with respect to pricing and cost structure, such that the customer perceives high value from both the food and the experience,” says the Gallery co-founder Daren Ulmer.
Entrepreneurs keep aiming for that careful balance. “Le Petit Chef and Friends” is currently running at Tangier at downtown’s Hotel Figueroa, an event in which a fully animated film is projected on our plates and tables. Long-running pop-up event Fork N’ Film leans more dinner and movie, pairing dishes directly inspired by what is happening on screen. Upcoming films include “Ratatouille” and “Lilo and Stitch.”
The field comes with challenges. “The costs are very high,” says Joanna Garner, an immersive designer and former creative director with experiential art firm Meow Wolf. Garner has been experimenting herself with communal, immersive dinner events, and her next, the flirtatious “Please Open Your Mouth,” is set for July 11. (No tech there, as Garner is after a more sensual, adult-focused gathering.) Tickets for her event are $150 and a spot in the “7 Paintings” dining room runs $175, priced on par with a number of city’s most acclaimed restaurants.
There is also the reality that all public dining is in some fashion immersive, usually requiring varying combinations of engagement, communication and presentation. And then, are all these added elements distracting?
An animated Mona Lisa sits on the wall as guests enjoy their meals. Throughout the dinner, the painting provides factoids on various artists.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Throughout “7 Paintings,” for instance, an animated Mona Lisa, situated on the wall next to the main dinner table, will provide brief biographical details of each artist represented.
“Being able to nail the food, and nail the story, those are two very difficult threads to weave,” Garner says. “I do think, ultimately, people come to a dinner table to talk to the people at the table and to have intimate experiences. To have an experience where you’re constantly being taken away from the food, I’m not so sure if that’s what people are looking for.”
Food is framed as a star of “7 Paintings” but tasting it is just one component. At one point, we must uncover a cheese course in a tiny treasure chest, the code for the lock hidden in the projections (don’t stress, it’s not a hard puzzle). Beshir highlights the Pollock-inspired salad course, which is accentuated with a jazz soundtrack, as the thesis of the evening.
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1. A guest uses a silicon brush to apply sauces onto an entree, a nod to abstractionist Jackson Pollock. 2. Projections fill up the dining table during meals.
“This course is really about getting people to free their minds from preconceived ideas,” Beshir says. “Like, you have to eat with a fork and knife, or the salad comes and then the dressing. No, the dressing comes and then the salad, and it’s trying with big brushes to paint the way he did. A lot of people do not understand Abstract Expressionism, and they think it’s people just splashing colors around. But when you understand the link between the rhythm of the music and painting, you live it. We give you time to paint with your salad dressing.”
In L.A., Beshir has partnered with nightlife impresario Kim Kelly, who is plotting a “Sleep No More”-inspired walk-around theatrical show for the Sunset House venue later this year. “7 Paintings,” however, is fully seated, and purposefully a little silly. Beshir and Kelly have been evolving it during its L.A. run, recently adding a stronger painting component by giving guests their own canvas to work on throughout the evening. Each night crowns a winner.
“Everyone comes over to look at their art,” Kelly says. “It just kind of changed the whole thing, to be honest. People are now being creative throughout the entire evening. Instead of just watching and occasionally painting, you’re now painting the whole time.”
As for what, perhaps, soba noodles with edamame and mushrooms have to do with Pablo Picasso, or why Salvador Dali gets an unexpected dessert course of a white chocolate potato souffle, Beshir clarifies the goal of the evening. While the animated Mona Lisa will provide backstories on each painter, this isn’t an educational night. “It’s fun dining, not fine dining,” Beshir says.
And by the end of my night, strangers were socializing, showing off their painted cookie creations, sharing Banksy tidbits and asking for recommendations on various vinaigrette combinations. Ultimately, it’s an evening of discovery, packed with surprises like finding an entire course hidden under a canvas.
Darryl Mayes of Charlotte, N.C., left, and Taylor Smith of North Hollywood, right, uncover their course.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“We try not to have too much sophistication, like fried ants or something. I’m personally very adventurous in how I eat, but if I want to have this in 100 cities around the world, I cannot be too meticulous.”
And Beshir has big goals.
“I want this be your movie and dinner thing,” Beshir says. “I want people to be waiting for our next show, and to be able to afford to come every couple months.”
And to come home not with leftovers, but perhaps a painting of their own.
Matthew Rhys was nominated for his role in Widow’s Bay.
Apple TV
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The 2026 Emmy nominations are here. We’re unpacking the record-breaking nominations for Hacks, plus a big day for Widow’s Bay, The Pitt, and The Bear. We’ll also talk about the snubs and make some early predictions of who will win.
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A meal with an animated Mona Lisa? Immersive dining goes high tech — but will L.A. eat it up?
