
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, September 18, 1993                   TAG: 9309180127
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PEOPLE COLUMN

Hollywood players are so excited at what they're sure will be the huge success of Martin Scorsese's "Age of Innocence" that "studios are scrambling" to buy the rights to Edith Wharton's other novels, including "The House of Mirth" and "The Reef."

"Of course, the best thing about these projects is that the author can't complain," an insider said. "The dead don't hassle you over rewrites."

\ Billy Joel declared in Boston that "this will be my last long marathon tour."

He's sick of the grind and scalpers. "Sometimes it feels like I'm working just to pay the scalpers," the rocker said. "The scalpers cut out the younger fans. So then you get all these older big shots who have the money to spend and sometimes they just sit there."

To counter scalpers, Joel gobbles up tickets to the first two rows and gives them to fans in the worst seats.

by CNB