Bruce appeared earlier today at the Lincoln Memorial concert for Barack Obama in Washington DC performing for what may have been a crowd of 500,000 people, including the Obama family. He opened the show with an acoustic rendition of "The Rising" backed by a big gospel choir all dressed in red. After performances by Bono, Jon Bon Jovi, John Cougar Mellencamp and other stars, he returned to play "This Land Is Your Land" with Pete Seeger and Seeger's grandson Tao Rodriguez-Seeger.

Bruce will show up as guest DJ on E Street Radio this Monday, January 19. Hosted by Dave Marsh, he'll be playing his favorite songs, from James Brown to Public Enemy, and talk about how he got to know them. Don't expect any big revelations regarding his own music and the new album, but you never know. E Street Radio is part of the Sirius Satellite Radio service and can be heard online or on satellite receivers. Unfortunately, there is a subscription fee involved (although they do offer a free three-day trial period) and last time I checked it was only available to listeners in the US. Read more here.

It had to happen. The entire Working on a Dream album has now leaked and has spread like a California hill fire among the hardcore fan community. Reactions to it are very mixed, to put it mildly. Probably even more so than usual. Only "Outlaw Pete" and "The Wrestler" are somewhat universally praised. The rest have divided the fans in two fractions: those who think it's the worst garbage since Human Touch and those who praise the new direction (and it really is a new direction) as the best thing since [insert title of your favorite album]. I'll withhold the official Greasy Lake opinion until it's been officially released, but I can say that I "ain't hatin' it".

So, how did I get hold of it? a lot of you may ask. Well, all I know is that it was in my inbox when I turned on my computer this morning. I honestly don't know how to find it online. It was on YouTube earlier, but has probably been removed from there already. Even if I did know how to get it, I simply could not share that information on a public website. To be honest, I would personally prefer if these leaks didn't happen. It takes something away from the official release day and everything leading up to it. But when it's sitting there staring at you in your inbox, it takes more will-power than I can muster to resist sneak-peeking. I'm sure most of you can relate.

For the second time in his career, Bruce won a Golden Globe award for a song he gave to a movie. The song was of course "The Wrestler", which is prominently featured in the new movie by the same name. Bruce himself was present at the awards show that took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Hollywood. In his acceptance speech he thanked Mickey Rourke who plays the leading role and who is a long-time friend of Bruce's. He also commented on being up against Clint Eastwood who helped write the music for the movie Gran Torino. And finally, he remembered to wish Clarence Clemons a happy birthday. The Big Man turned 67 yesterday. So happy birthday from Greasy Lake, too. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the first time Bruce won a Golden Globe award was of course for "Streets of Philadelphia" in 1994. Now we'll see if the two Golden Globes will be accompanied by another Oscar when the Academy Awards take place on February 22.

If you have trouble sitting still from anxiety waiting on the new album, you only have to last one more week. Next Monday, NPR will offer an exclusive listen of the entire Working on a Dream album as part of the radio station's "Exclusive First Listen" series. And the best part is, it will be streaming online, which hopefully means that the whole world can get in on a listen.

Bruce is expected to play an active part in the inauguration activities for Barack Obama in just a few days. Strong rumors suggest he will perform in Washington D.C. on January 18 at a pre-inauguration show. The show will be broadcast live on HBO from the Lincoln Memorial at an as yet unknown hour. If you're planning to attend and don't have a place to stay for the night, forget about it. The capital will probably already be flooded with people going to the actual inauguration two days later. So what can we expect from this performance? Well, it wouldn't surprise me if this gig featured the entire E Street Band. The event just seems too big for one guy with an acoustic guitar. Plus, Bruce has some new E Street music to promote. But time will tell. The next few weeks will be exciting times for Bruce fans with the inauguration show, the album release and the SuperBowl performance. Bring it on!

To those of you lucky enough to live in the US or the UK, you can download an mp3 of yet another song from the Working on a Dream album. This time it's "Life Itself", and it's available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk for free. The rest of us have to rely on unofficial sources. Once again, the stupidity of the music business becomes apparent. Do they really think that fans of an artist will just accept they can't get a brand new song by their idol just because they live in the wrong country? Like I have said before on this page, this is a safe way to turn good, law-abiding citizens, who would have no problem shelling out a buck or two for a new song, into music pirates. Whereas people in the US and UK can get the song for free, others are not even allowed to buy it. Well, nevermind. At least you don't have to get the mp3 in order to hear it. It's also available on YouTube as an official video. Just click the play-button below and enjoy (at least until it's pulled from YouTube). For this fan's money it's the best song yet from the new album. Strong lyrics, a good tune after a few listenings, and an interesting new sound. Very promising.

Bruce got tired of Christmas preparations last night and headed to the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank to play some music with some old friends. The occassion was billed as Hope Concert IV and benefitted the Parker Family Health Center. Bobby Bandiera and band, including a horn section, did the backing while Jon Bon Jovi, Gary US Bonds, Southside Johnny, and, for the last six songs, Bruce rocked the house with various Christmas standards and whatever else came to their minds. Bruce was allegedly in a happy mood and great shape and brought the house down with "Tenth Avenue", "Havin' a Party" and more. Complete setlist and a video right here.

Speaking of the unthinkable (see previous post): looks like Bruce will release a new Greatest Hits album through Wal-Mart exclusively. No, we're not kidding. Check it out for yourself. The album will only be available through Wal-Mart's online store and will only ship to addresses within the United States. As you can tell from the tracklist, it won't contain any previously unreleased material, but still... this is just wrong. That is, except for the cover. If the Working on a Dream cover isn't exactly what most fans had hoped for, this new Greatest Hits cover kicks ass and is worthy of a rock 'n' roll superstar like Bruce.

Still have some money left after the grand Greasy Lake charity auction recently? Well, how about checking out another auction? Currently a Harley-Davidson motorcycle owned by none other than our hero can be purchased for a mere $27,500. That price may not stand when the auction ends in three weeks' time, but it's all for a good cause. The money will go to something called the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming U.S. public education for underserved youth. The auction takes place on charitybuzz.com.