Digest: Elton John to Host 'Saturday Night Live'; Foo Fighters Play Secret Show in London

Elton John

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Elton John to Host 'SNL'
Elton John has been announced as the host and musical guest – with Leon Russell, with whom he released an album, The Union, last year – for the April 2nd episode of Saturday Night Live. It will be John's first time hosting SNL, and his first appearance on the show since 1982. [Hollywood Reporter]

Foo Fighters Play Secret Show in London
One night after headlining a concert at Wembley Arena in London, the Foo Fighters played an intimate show before 500 fans at a small club called Dingwalls in Camden. The band played the entirety of their forthcoming record Wasting Light along with hits such as "Everlong" and "This Is a Call." [Guardian]

GZA-Inspired Sitcom in the Works
Former Numbers star David Krumholtz is developing Igotchaback, a single-camera sitcom for FX loosely based on the lives of Wu-Tang Clan rapper GZA and his publicist Heathcliff Berru. Krumholtz is expected to star in the publicist role. [Deadline Hollywood]

Willow Smith Single Debuts on 'Seacrest'
"21st Century Girl," Willow Smith's follow-up to her smash hit debut single "Whip My Hair" debuted on On-Air with Ryan Seacrest earlier today. The song will be available in the iTunes store at midnight and will be performed by Smith on tomorrow's episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. [Ryan Seacrest]

The Strokes Headline Sweetlife Festival
The Strokes have been announced as the headliner of the Sweetlife Festival on April 30th at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. In addition to music, the eco-friendly festival will also feature food from local farmers. [Sweetlife Festival]

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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