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| June, 2010 - The Kansas City Art Institute, the school that awarded me a Bachelor's of Fine Arts after four years of toiling on their campus, recently gave an honorary degree to Robert Rauschenberg. Rauschenberg is perhaps the biggest name who ever attended the school. Walt Disney may wrestle him for the
title, but the fact stands neither stuck around long enough to graduate, and the joke began that only dropping out of KCAI ensured any success. I never got the idea of schools handing out an honorary degree, but this one seemed a bit close to home, so I asked the school if Rauschenberg ever acknowledged the one year he spent at KCAI. |
The school dutifully replied, albeit through Mo Dickens, an employee from the Belger Arts Center, "Bob's time at KCAI was mentioned in his biographies. It was at KCAI, after WWII, that he changed his name from Milton Ernest Rauschenberg to Bob Rauschenberg. His sister, Janet, was at graduation and made a beautiful, emotional, acceptance speech. Bob majored in fashion design at KCAI and designed
costumes for the Merce Cunningham Dance Troupe for many years."
So technically, he never really acknowledged the school during his life, but biographers did and saw it a pivotal moment in his life when he changed his name from Milton to Bob, even though most references to him fall under Robert. The school, for whatever reasons, decided it was worth buddying up to his family and bestow this great 'honor' upon this famous non-alum.
It was around the same time my mind was churning colleges' annual obsession with awarding useless degrees (read into that what you will!) that I ran across a post online about useless banners hanging from sports arena stadiums. Among the entries displaying WNBA Champions, attendance records, and regular season division championships was a sudden glut of banners raised in sports arenas for none other than
Billy Joel. This obviously piqued my interest, and I started to track down all the banners our little musical genius has hanging from the rafters throughout the United States.
| There's a definite trend in Billy Joel banners hanging in arenas: they're all in the Northeast, not more than a few hours drive in any direction from his Long Island base. The Hartford Civic Center, lacking a major tenant since the Hartford Whalers moved to hockey rich North Carolina in 1997, hung a banner celebrating Billy's 22 performances from 1980-2006 in the building. It's
since been renamed some horrible corporate name that I'll refuse to acknowledge here. Not to be outdone, further east the Mohegan Sun, one of Connecticut's two wildly popular Indian casinos, also decided to pay tribute to the Piano Man. After playing ten consecutive sell-out shows at the 12,000 seat arena, they hung a banner - between two possibly fictional banners for WNBA
Conference Championships. Maybe the lively casino feels a younger brother competition complex with the old guard arena to its west, or perhaps had a contractual obligation to honor the rock star. Either way, that's banner number two in our trip through the daisies. |
click on the pictures for a bigger view:
Hartford Civic Center
picture by cleverbj |
Of course, it's hard to describe the vast differences of the New England and northeastern states to anyone who doesn't live there.
Connecticut is the white bread, affluent non-entity that is a little bit NYC, a little bit New England. It's not that surprising they'd take in Billy Joel as their own native son and hang banners throughout the state. But what of New York's Capital District? The land of my birth, the UNABomber's brother, General
Electric and home to one of the worst polluted river systems in the country (Thanks GE!)?
Albany's Times-Union Center, (formerly Pepsi Arena, formerly the Knickerbocker Arena) honored Billy Joel with a banner to the rafters on April 17, 2007. I have looked up and down for a picture, and have contacted the T-U Center, but haven't come across a picture yet. Does it celebrate a certain number of sellouts? Does it say 'thank you'? Has the banner's naming rights been sold to
Stewart's? I will keep searching for a picture.. |
The Mohegan Sun
picture by Dan |
Running through arenas in Connecticut and upstate New York hardly qualifies as newsworthy, so let's get into the heart of the matter, and get into a New York state of mind. The Sixth Best Selling Recording Artist of All Time was born in the Bronx, and has lived out on Long Island
for who knows how long. It's only natural that his hometown arena, the Nassau Coliseum, would hang a banner for him. It's a visually impressive and large banner. Its quite noticeable and stands out well among the banners of the New York Islanders, its hard to read the fine print in the picture, but I believe the banner touts nine sellouts.
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Nassau Coliseum
picture by glazaro | Before the lights go out on Broadway, it makes sense that Madison Square Garden would honor their hometown boy as well. In 2006, Billy Joel played 12 consecutive sold
out shows at the World's Most Famous Arena (their words, not mine), topping the record of 10 set by Bruce Springsteen. To honor the achievement, the arena raised a banner retiring Billy Joel's 'number' 12. Done in New York Rangers colors, the banner is simple and has a mighty feel without all the excess lettering of the other banners. With both arenas in New York honoring their hometown boy, what is the magnificent little coda I can apply to this story? Well, for that, we'll have to head south across New Jersey and the
Delaware River to arrive in the City of Brotherly Love.
| Madison Square Garden
 | Philadelphia's proximity to New Jersey and all things Bruce Springsteen makes it a hard arena for
Billy Joel to crack. Sure, one of this best songs is Allentown, but the Philadelphia-NJ connection is tough for a boy from the Bronx to overtake. At the Spectrum/Wachovia Center (the former being the older, now demolished venue) carried the tagline, 'America's Showplace', and it was the Boss' territory. Hanging in the arena was an imposing banner done in the Broad Street Bullies orange and
black colors, stating as much. But who's the Boss?
But in 2006, Billy Joel stormed back - he performed his 17th sell out show at the new arena and hit 46 in Philadelphia. A new banner was placed next to the Old Boss' depicting the one-upmanship. It was a good day in Philadelphia, but sadly the story has two small twists. Billy has since added two more to his total, but Bruce stormed back to take the lead at 51. Imagine the crowds cheering at the concert when one passes the other? It is like two heavyweights battling,
exchanging blows and seeing who will remain standing when the final bell rings. Alas, for another year or two, this is all a moot point because the Grateful Dead actually hold the record for Philadelphia sell outs at 53, but remain banner-less in the annals of rafter history in Philadelphia. So the title of the Boss remains with Springsteen for the time being, even though Jerry Garcia is out there somewhere, laughing.
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