Rock legend Billy Joel endorses Caon City in reality TV show competition

Update 2/17/19:

There are just a few days remaining for people to vote for Canon City to win the Small Business Revolution grand prize. Winning town gets $500,000 in grant money for local business makeovers and an 8 part mini series on Hulu for season four of Small Business Revolution.

After voting yesterday, Canon City dropped down to third place behind Searcy, AR and Durant, OK.

However, just yesterday the Canon City got an unexpected backing from a rock icon, Billy Joel.

Joel’s endorsement came about because one of his good childhood friends and old band mates actually lives in canon city.

“We played together in a band all throughout junior high and high school,” said Canon City resident Jim Bosse. “Our band was called the lost souls.”

Bosse played guitar while Billy Joel was on the keyboard and lead vocals. The two went to the same high school in Long Island, New York during the 1960’s when rock was exploding. “We entered a band competition back then and won Hicksville our hometown,” said Bosse. “Then won all of Long Island and came in second performing at the worlds fair.” Bosse would eventually go off to college, while Joel would become a rock icon. Joel even wrote a song about his bandmate giving up their dreams in music called ‘James’.

Bosse went to college and practiced optometry in Canon City for more than forty years. He still resides there with his wife.

With his city in the finals for small business revolution, Bosse decided to phone his longtime friend for help.

“Blake Shelton has endorsed one of the other cities so they were a little concerned that might tip the scales on voting,” said Bosse. “So I contacted Billy and he was very gracious and he said sure.”

Yesterday, Joel posted on his Facebook page his endorsement for Canon City in the competition.

“A lot of people don’t know what a great place Canon City is,” said Bosse. ” And the infusion of the booty if we win this will really help the small town.”

As for his relationship with Billy, it hasn’t missed a beat.

“He’s one of the most successful rock musicians of all time and at the same time he’s just an old friend,” said Bosse. Voting for Small Business Revolution closes down Tuesday. People can vote once per day per current email address.

You can support Canon City here:

https://www.deluxe.com/small-business-revolution/main-street/canon-city-co/

Previous Story:

With just days remaining in the voting process for ‘Small Business Revolution’, Cañon City just gained a big celebrity endorsement from a rock legend, Billy Joel.

Famous for rock songs like ‘Uptown Girl’ and ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’, Joel endorsed Cañon City to win the Hulu reality series in a Facebook post on Saturday.

Last Tuesday, Cañon City was announced as one of six final small towns for the grand prize.

The winning city gets a $500,000 revitalization grant, six businesses receive makeovers, and it’s all documented in an eight-part miniseries for the show’s fourth season.

In the Facebook post Joel explains that his friend and former guitarist is a long time resident of Cañon City.

Cañon City currently has the second most votes behind Searcy, AR. Voting ends Tuesday February 19th.

You can vote here:

https://www.deluxe.com/small-business-revolution/main-street/canon-city-co/

You can vote once every day on any email that you currently own. However, you can’t make new email addresses and begin voting on those.