FROM: MITCH SCHNEIDER/
SUSIE SCHOEPE
IDOL MADNESS: Currently on tour as Ace the Face in ‹Quadrophenia,Š BILLY IDOL crossed paths with Neil Young and his wife Pegi who invited him to perform a surprise set at the 10th Annual Bridge School acoustic benefit concert on Sunday, October 20. IDOL went from performing with Who-founders Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwhistle at the San Jose Arena, to Shoreline Amphitheater where Young, Townshend, Pearl Jam, David Bowie, Patti Smith and many other performers were gathered in an effort to raise funds for children with severe mental and physical impairments. When Canadian folk artist Hayden offered IDOL his guitar saying, ‹Will this be okay?Š, BILLY, in characteristic fashion, jokingly responded ‹Yeah, as long as you don‰t mind getting it back broken.Š IDOL took the borrowed instrument onstage to play stripped down renditions of ‹White Wedding,Š ‹Sweet SixteenŠ and the Elvis Presley classic ‹That‰s All Right, Mama.Š Next up, look for IDOL‰s return to the big screen--where he previously appeared in Oliver Stone‰s The Doors--in Mad Dog Time, out November 8 from MGM/United Artists Pictures, Inc.
Writer/director Larry Bishop has assembled an all-star cast including Richard Dreyfuss, Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, Kyle MacLachlan, Jeff Goldblum, Gregory Hines and Diane Lane with cameo appearances by BILLY IDOL, Rob Reiner, Richard Pryor, Angie Everhart and ‹rat-packŠ comedian Joey Bishop (the director‰s father), in this gangster comedy where a power struggle ensues after the crime boss is released from a lengthy stay in a mental ward.
Entertainment Weekly describes the film as being infused with ‹a finger-snappin‰ sense of cool.Š Meanwhile, the touring production of ‹QuadropheniaŠ wraps up 11/19 with a show at New Jersey‰s Continental Airlines Arena, after which IDOL will continue writing songs for a new album due out next year on EMI Records.
# # #