NEW YORK (AP) _ Billy Joel bade a stirring farewell to Shea Stadium on Friday during an electrifying, sold-out final show at the same ballpark where the Beatles famously ushered in a new era in rock 'n' roll four decades ago.

He was joined by an all-star lineup of friends including Paul McCartney, who told Joel, "Came here a long time ago. We had a blast that night and we're having another one tonight."

"Good evening, Shea Stadium. Is this cool or what?" Joel told the crowd at the New York Mets' home field, which is to be razed after the baseball season to make way for a new stadium across the street.

"They're gonna be tearing this place down, but I wanna thank you ... for letting me do the best job in the world," he said.

The show paid homage to Shea's baseball glories, with Mets highlights playing on jumbo screens during "Zanzibar." But the concert also was a mark of the stadium's place in music history.

The show came 43 years after the Beatles' legendary show at Shea _ the first concert at the ballpark. The concert came at the height of Beatlemania and demonstrated the sheer power of rock 'n' roll and the Beatles: 55,000 screaming fans at a U.S. ballpark was virtually unheard-of at the time, and the show gave the Fab Four even more cachet among the Beatle-crazed American public.

Joel has always strongly embraced his New York and Long Island roots, and that makes for memory-making concerts every time he plays in the city. Throngs of fans know his music so well they can pretty much take over any chorus they like.

And as if the "Piano Man" playing the last concert at Shea wasn't thrilling enough, high-wattage guests turned up the excitement level.

Tony Bennett sang "New York State of Mind" with Joel on Friday, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler performed "Walk This Way," and Roger Daltrey of the Who did "My Generation. At the end of "My Generation," Joel smashed a guitar against the stage, breaking it in two.

McCartney came on at the end. He sang "I Saw Her Standing There" while on guitar and "Let It Be" on piano _ the last song of the night. Joel sat on top of piano and sang backup.

Garth Brooks appeared on stage earlier wearing a Mets jersey, and in the audience, one of Joel's famous fans _ ex-wife Christie Brinkley _ sang along, word for word, to the chorus of "She's Always a Woman."

During the first installment of Joel's "Last Play at Shea" on Wednesday, John Mellencamp came on stage to perform his hit "Pink Houses," and Don Henley underscored the baseball theme with his standard "Boys of Summer."

The Beatles and baseball shared the spotlight at the concerts. Joel played three Beatles songs ("A Hard Day's Night," "Please, Please Me" and "She Loves You") during Wednesday's set, and introduced his signature "Piano Man" with "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." He also played the national anthem to start the show.

"I want to thank the Beatles for letting us use their room. Best band that ever was, best band that ever will be," Joel told fans Wednesday.

Diane Gentile saw the Beatles play at Shea in 1966 _ their second visit to the stadium after the historic show a year earlier. Her recollection of that summer night 42 years ago: "Oh, my God, there are the Beatles on that stage, and here am I."

"It was unbelievable. It was exciting; you could feel the electricity. Right before the concert we were singing `Happy Anniversary' to John because his anniversary was that day," Gentile recalled.

On Friday, Gentile was back at Shea to watch Joel for what she predicted would be the best concert she'll ever see.

___

Associated Press writer Frank Eltman contributed to this report.

LOS ANGELES — Actor Verne Troyer has settled a lawsuit he filed against a porn broker after the defendant agreed not distribute a sex tape depicting Troyer and a former girlfriend, court documents filed Friday show.

Troyer filed a $20 million lawsuit against porn broker Kevin Blatt, distributor SugarDVD and celebrity gossip Web site TMZ after snippets of the 50-minute tape were released last month.

Records show Blatt and SugarDVD have signed agreements requiring that they get Troyer's approval before selling or distributing the tape or any images from it.

Edwin McPherson, one of Troyer's attorneys, said the actor has no intention of ever granting approval.

McPherson said he planned to amend the lawsuit on Monday to try to prevent Ranae Shrider, Troyer's ex-girlfriend, from releasing the tape.

Shrider leaked snippets of the tape to TMZ, according to a statement filed in federal court by the site. Shrider indicated the tape was recorded on her video equipment and that she was a partial owner.

Troyer, who is best-known for his role as Mini Me in two of the "Austin Powers" movies, has been seeking the return of the tape.

McPherson said other people or companies may also be sued to prevent the tape from being released.

Records do not indicate whether U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez, who has presided over the case, signed off on the agreements Friday afternoon. But since all parties agreed to them, McPherson said he saw no reason why they wouldn't be granted.

"We achieved our goal," McPherson said.

The agreements do not place any restrictions on TMZ, which won a judge's approval to restore an online posting about the tape's existence after it was originally ordered removed by Gutierrez.

Polls have come to dominate the media's horse race coverage of political campaigns. Pundits and reporters constantly use them to tell us who's hot and who's not -- but skip over the fact that plummeting response rates and variables like undecided voters and margins of error and often render these polls useless as anything other than lightweight diversions on par with horoscopes and political betting lines. Our HuffPollstrology chart helps keep you up to date on the latest poll results, along with the latest horoscope predictions, and the latest online political betting lines - and will hopefully help the polling junkies in the media keep polls in the proper perspective.

Mccain vs obama in the General election
mccain	44% Gallup Daily	VIRGO August 29, 1936 Your brain cells are likely to be teased - which would probably make this an excellent day to sit an exam or test. Inspiration could come from someone who shares your moral code or belief system. The down side of this is that this person might be too into 'spin' and less into analysing their methods. It might fall to you to probe a plan or method.	30.9% chance of winning
obama	45% Gallup Daily	LEO August 4, 1961 As for a few signs, you could be trying to fit more into one day than is actually possible. True, it could be that others are throwing ideas at you which leave you so excited that you can't help but want to take action. For some though it could all be too much: depression or a feeling of wanting to escape is a possibility. For those creative Leos who want to shut themselves off from the world and write or read to their hearts content – go for it – but expect interruptions!	65.9% chance of winning

weather report
East		New York, NY 95 degrees (F), 20% chance of rain. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
south		Dallas, TX 98 degrees (F), 10% chance of rain. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
midwest		Chicago, IL 82 degrees (F), 40% chance of rain. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
west		Los Angeles, CA 80 degrees (F), 0% chance of rain. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Sources:

General Election Poll: Gallup Tracking Poll

The general-election results are based on combined data from July 15-17, 2008. For results based on this sample of 2,641 registered voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is +/-2 percentage points.

Horoscopes: horoscopes.co.uk

Weather: Weather.com

Betting Lines: Intrade Prediction Markets

How old is John McCain? So old, the jokes about it are getting old.

So at a taping Friday night of NBC's "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," the host asked the Republican presidential candidate for some new material.

"We all agree on a take on you, which is your seniority," O'Brien said, as McCain, 71, pretended to fall asleep in his chair.

Speaking for all late night comedians, O'Brien said, "we're tired of this take on you," and asked the Arizona senator to give them some fresh material.

"Do you have a kooky uncle, do you have bad breath, webbed toes, anything?" O'Brien asked.

"All of the above," McCain answered before offering up alternative fodder.

"I was able to get shot down, intercept a surface-to-air missile with my plane," said the former Navy pilot and Vietnam War prisoner of war.

"People don't really laugh at that," O'Brien pointed out.

McCain got in some jokes of his own, poking fun at "the cable monsters," his new name for cable news networks.

McCain, who has already had one cable movie made about his life, was then subjected by O'Brien to a series of casting suggestions for another movie about his quest for the presidency and his current search for a running mate.

Playing McCain? Tim Conway. Playing one-time Republican rival Mitt Romney? "Any local weatherman," said O'Brien.

Watch a clip of the appearance:

We've had the Bubba Gap. The Women Gap. And now comes the "Gift Gap." At political gift stores across America, Barack Obama schlock is outselling John McCain schlock at least five to one, according to interviews NBC News conducted with gift-shop retailers and t-shirt manufacturers.

That would mean that five times as many Obama t-shirts are on the streets...five times as many Obama bumper stickers are junking up cars...and five times as many Obama bobble heads are wiggling on desks across America.