Gamboa mingles with the greats

Glenn Gamboa

Former BJ entertainment critic Glenn Gamboa reported in person on Billy Joel’s 65^th birthday party performance Friday in Madison Square Garden.

Glenn is Newsday's chief pop music critic nowadays.

It’s a long way from Exchange Street in Akron to mixing with Sting, Howard Stern, Jimmy Fallon, Paul Rudd and, of course, Joel in one night.

Cleveland native Glenn, who lives in Brooklyn, has been writing about music for more than 20 years. He led Newsday’s team that chronicled the impact of hip-hop music in America that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Glenn had the highest prediction accuracy among music critics for the 55^th annual Grammy Awards in 2013, including predicting the sweep of the rock field by The Black Keys (former BJ reporter Jim Carney’s son, Patrick Carney, and Patrick’s former Firestone High classmate, Dan Auerbach).

If you want to contact Glenn, his email address is glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

If you want to read Glenn’s article on the Billy Joel birthday bash, click on http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/music/backstage-pass-1.811987/billy-joel-packs-65th-birthday-party-with-surprises-1.7979844