If you missed the chance last year, Lawrence Kirsch is once again raffling off a copy of his much sought-after book For You, which currently cannot even be found on eBay. The book is a brand new copy and signed by the author. However, you shouldn't want it because it's worth a lot of money or signed, but because it's simply a great book that all Bruce fans should own... and not in the least, because the proceeds of the raffle goes to cancer research. In order to participate, please go to Lawrence Kirsch's website for more info and you may also want to read Greasy Lake's review of For You. Good luck!
If you go to Reference here on Greasy Lake, you will find a brand new section called Bibliography. Well, actually, "brand new" may be a stretch. We had a book section on the previous version of the site, too, but now we have the "new and improved" book section. There are so many books out there about Bruce, but not really a place where you can get an overview of them with other than just the most basic information. Until now, that is. While there are still many of the books without a description in our bibliography, many of them do have one, and they are all categorized, and where possible, we have provided a cover image.
Still, even so, it could be a problem for any student of Bruce to decide which books are worth tracking down and which ones aren't. That's why, in order to mark the occasion of the new bibliography section, we have also made this list of 10+1 Bruce books that you must read. Of course, there's lots of room for disagreements, but hopefully this will be a help to anyone looking to expand their Bruce knowledge.
So here goes... in no particular order....
Dave Marsh: Two Hearts (2004)
Two Hearts is a compilation of Dave Marsh's two originally separate Springsteen biographies: Born to Run from 1980 and Glory Days from 1987. Those two books are the closest we get to authorized biographies, and for that reason alone they are essential. They offer the most insightful look at Bruce's career up until 1986 that we may ever get and have been an invaluable source for most other Bruce biographies written over the years. Marsh has been criticized for his subjectivity and his rose-red depiction of Bruce, which is probably somewhat justified, but if you are just getting into Bruce and want the best possible introduction to the man and his (early) career, you probably don't care. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Dave Marsh is planning to bring his project up-to-date with a new biography. He did release the lavishly illustrated coffee table book On Tour about Bruce's live shows, but it failed to deliver the same kind of insight of his previous Bruce books, so for now we just don't have anything covering Bruce's career post-1986 that can compare to Two Hearts.
Bruce Springsteen Talking: Bruce Springsteen in His Own Words (2004), edited by John Duffy
This book was originally published in 1993 as just Bruce Springsteen in His Own Words, but a new edition was published in 2004 to bring it up to date. It basically consists of nothing but Bruce quotes, from a couple of lines to half a page. The quotes have been categorized, so if for instance you want to know what Bruce thinks of his fans, you go to the chapter about fans and so forth. It's possible that Bruce sometimes can seem a little incoherent in his interviews, but this book takes care of that problem by doing all the hard work for you and presenting only highlights. So whether you read it from cover to cover or just pieces here and there, you are sure to get a good insight into his mind.
Racing in the Street: The Bruce Springsteen Reader (2004), edited by June Skinner Sawyers
A foreword by Martin Scorsese alone should be enough to put this on the list, but that's not even the best thing about this book. The best thing is that it compiles hundreds of pages of the best and most famous writing about Bruce. We get the infamous articles from Time and Newsweek from 1975, we get revealing interviews from The Advocate and DoubleTake, and we get the best writing from famous writers and reporters like Dave Marsh, Charles Cross, Robert Hilburn and many others. We even get excerpts from works of fiction such as the Greasy Lake short story by T. C. Boyle and In Country by Bobbie Ann Mason. Last but not least you can read about how Dave Barry got to share a stage with Bruce at a bookseller's convention.
Marc Eliot: Down Thunder Road: The Making of Bruce Springsteen (1992)
Although heavily, and rightfully, critizised for its factual errors, this book is one of the most important Bruce biographies you will come across. Covering mainly the early years of Springsteen's career and his time with manager Mike Appel, it gives the reader a unique look at Bruce Springsteen's rise from skinny beach bum with a guitar to one of the most talked-about stars of the Seventies. Moreover, when the book came out in the early Nineties it was one of the first times that the public got Mike Appel's side of the story, including the lawsuit that threatened to put an end to Bruce's career almost before it took off for real. Marc Eliot worked with Mike Appel on the book and has included tons of transcripts from the court and copies of court documents. While not quite as shocking as they wanted you to believe upon release, the book still shows some sides of Bruce you may not have read about before.
Lynn Goldsmith: Springsteen (1984)
A unique photobook by professional photographer and former Bruce girlfriend, Lynn Goldsmith. They used to date during the late Seventies, and throughout their relationship she took hundreds of pictures of Bruce, onstage and offstage, on tour and at home. Some of the best of those photos made it into this book making it one of the most intimate documents of Bruce during the Darkness era ever put to print. About half the shots show a sometimes intense, sometimes goofy Bruce on stage during that legendary comeback tour. The other half are either Bruce posing in a photo studio looking the sexiest he's ever done or private photos of Bruce playing pool, Bruce goofing around with Clarence, Bruce writing songs, and even Bruce in front of his bathroom mirror. The book is hard to find these days, but if you get the chance don't miss this close look at your hero.
For You: Original Stories and Photographs by Bruce Springsteen's Legendary Fans (2007), edited by Lawrence Kirsch
An extensive collection of tales by Springsteen fans all over the world. We get it all: concert tales, tales about close encounters with Bruce, about how we became fans, about our favorite songs, and just tales about the impact our hero has had on us. More often than not, the stories are both well-written, entertaining and touching. Even non-fans would get a new understanding for our passion if they read these accounts. So lend the book to your unsympathetic mom, spouse or girlfriend if all you get is upturned eyes whenever the talk falls on Bruce. But most of all, the book is for us, the fans, and works as a giant confirmation that, yes, we got it right. Bruce is special. And it's everyone else who's nuts.
Backstreets: Springsteen: The Man and His Music, 2nd edition (1992), edited by Charles R. Cross
Launched in 1980 as a photocopied flier, Backstreets is now one of the longest living fanzines in the world for any artist. Through the years they have set new standards for writing about Bruce. So when the then-editor Charles R. Cross collected their best articles in this book from the first 10+ years, it automatically became a collection of the best Bruce writing. Period. Several of the articles are interviews with key figures in the Springsteen world, including band members and, in a ground-breaking interview, former manager Mike Appel who broke more than 10 years of silence to sit down with Backstreets. The book also features an E Street Band family tree, a guide to Springsteen landmarks, sessionography, and setlists from 1965-1992. In these Internet times the last-mentioned sections may be of less importance, but back then they were an indispensable source for Bruce geeks, and even today you should be able to get a good kick out of them.
Bruce Springsteen: The Rolling Stone Files (1996)
It seems like for as long as music has existed there has been Rolling Stone to cover it. At least, since Bruce first started to make small bleeps on the national radar screen in the US, Rolling Stone was there to write about it. This book contains all the articles, notes, reviews, artists of the year awards, etc., that put Bruce in the spotlight, from 1973 and until the book was released. Thus, The Rolling Stone Files becomes a treasure of source material for serious Bruce fans. One of the best things about it is that a lot of it was written as the events were still happening. There is a refreshing lack of analytical hindsight. And when it comes to the early articles, no knowledge of what Bruce would become later on. Most of all, this is simply a great collection of articles and some of the best interviews the man has given. Only gripe one might have with this book is that it doesn't show pictures of the numerous Springsteen Rolling Stone covers.
Stan Goldstein and Jean Mikle: Rock & roll Tour of the Jersey Shore
A guide to all the historic Bruce sites on the Jersey Shore and Freehold. From the Boardwalk and "Giant Exxon Sign" in Asbury Park to the E Street/10th Avenue street sign in Belmar and the legendary Highway 9 west of Freehold. Whether you ever intend to visit Bruce's home turf or not, this book is a both informative and entertaining introduction to the locations that created Bruce and that Bruce created. Apart from just listing the locations one by one and describing them, the book is interspersed with stories about Bruce appearances like the summer of 2002 Bruce mania in Asbury Park or Bruce's surprise midnight appearance at a record store in Red Bank to sign his newly released Live in New York City album. Everything is richly illustrated with both b/w and color photos, which in most cases have never been seen before. A superb memory for those of us who have been there and a good substitute for those of you for whom the dream has yet to come true.
Bruce Springsteen: Songs
Finally, we have to make room for Bruce's own book. Yes, Bruce himself wrote a book. You didn't know that? Well, it's called Songs, and it is just that: the lyrics to most of Bruce's released songs from Greetings From Asbury Park to The Ghost of Tom Joad. In other words, the foundation of everything. "Well," you may say, "we already know all the lyrics". Sure, but it's nice to have them collected in one place, and besides, in between each album chapter, as a pretty important bonus we get Bruce's comments on each album. We hear about his song writing techniques, his vision with the albums, and a few anecdotes. What hits you the most is how much thought Bruce puts into, not only each album and song, but his whole career. You may not like all his albums, but don't think for a minute that they weren't very deliberately crafted. The book is also full of pictures, some of which are from Bruce's private collection. An altogether beautifully designed book with those words you know so well and the thoughts behind them.
(Dis)honorable mention
Christopher Sandford: Point Blank
A lot of fans would say that this book has nothing to do on a list that's supposed to represent some of the best and most essential Bruce reading. And yes, it is full of factual errors, anonymous sources and gossip, but it is also one of very few Bruce biographies that at least tries a different approach and stands out from the gray mass with its pieces of gossip that, true or untrue, Bruce probably would not have sanctioned.
Clarence Clemons’ all too early departure from this world has regrettably forced us to view his work knowing that that’s it. There won’t be another blast from his golden horn, no new solos, no more interpretations of old solos. Fortunately, he did leave behind 40 years’ worth of amazing work in the shape of official releases, bootleg recordings, and what is stored in the memories of millions of fans who experienced him live.
The Big Man’s contribution to the E Street Band history and sound is huge, and trying to rank it is not only all but impossible, but also something that might take away attention from all his other great solos and achievements. That is of course not the intention here. The following top 10 list is strictly personal and should not in the least serve as inspiration to other suggestions. If it makes you play and enjoy the embedded YouTube videos, that would be great. If it makes you think of other songs and other sax solos, that’s even better. And if you share them here or elsewhere, now, that would be just be perfect!
But enough of the talking. Here is Greasy Lake’s “Top 10 Big Man Sax Solos”:
10. Secret Garden
The brief 1995 reunion of the E Street Band for the Greatest Hits sessions showed a whole new side of Clarence Clemons. His beautiful sax solo that wraps up “Secret Garden” is a breezy, hypnotic New Age piece that resembled the music on his solo album Peacemaker. A very far cry from mostof the other solos on this list.
9. The Promised Land
Like the song itself, the sax solo is just a perfectly crafted piece of music. The way it effortlessly ascends out of the preceding guitar solo and lifts the song to new heights with its somehow both mournful and triumphant tones.
8. She’s the One
Bruce wrote the whole song around a sax solo he’d thought of, and a song like that, of course, needs to be on the list. It wasn’t included in our recent sax solo poll, and that was a big mistake. Because it really is some amazing power sax that sticks to your mind like the those “eyes like a midnight” sun that Bruce sings about. The version shown below is from Copenhagen 1988, my first show, where “She’s the One” was one of the absolute highlights.
7. Spirit in the Night
Okay, maybe the traditional middle solo isn’t all that significant, but the laid-back, jazzy saxophone is so dominant throughout the song that Clarence virtually owns it. It’s such a shining moment for him that it really must be on the list. Word has it that Clarence loved playing it and wished it would be on the setlist every night. You can easily understand why.
6. Sherry Darling
One of Bruce’s best party songs, and definitely the best - according to me - party saxophone. And it’s not so much because of the traditional solo after the second verse, but instead the super bouncy solo that wraps up the song. In live settings it seemed like Bruce would challenge Clarence to play it as fast as he possibly could and to repeat the riff for a ridiculous amount of times.
5. Drive All Night
“Drive All Night” is a song that many fans love and others consider drivel, but perhaps most can agree that the sax solo is one for the ages. It sounds lonesome and romantic and like the last redeeming element in an otherwise dark, dark night surrounding the protagonist’s car on the deserted highway.
4. Independence Day
If Bruce had written “Independence Day” in the last 10 years, he probably wouldn’t even have considered adding a saxophone solo, but back in the late Seventies, he could add sax solos to anything and make it work. This mournful, beautiful sax tune somehow succeeds in making an already perfect song even better, and Clarence puts in all the emotion he can muster.
3. Born to Run
When you talk about “Born to Run”, the song, it’s not usually the sax solo you emphasize, but there’s every reason to pay attention to it. Actually, the song has two sax solos. One after the second verse and one after the bridge, but it almost seems like the latter takes over right where the first one left off before winding down into that wonderful guitar/sax crescendo that can make stadium foundations shake.
2. Thunder Road
The first time I heard the saxophone outro to “Thunder Road”, I couldn’t believe something so beautiful could have existed without my knowledge. I was left overwhelmed and breathless by this melancholy, yet triumphant fanfare. It was stuck in my brain for days, and it’s still one of the melodies I most often sing to myself in my head.
1. Jungleland
Was there ever any doubt about the number one spot? The 3-minute “Jungleland” sax solo is not only Clarence’s best sax solo - ever - it is perhaps the greatest sax solo in the history of rock ‘n’ roll and one of the finest moments of any Bruce song. It takes off, slowly at first, like a cat stretching after a nap, then flows majestically on a carpet of thundering drums, before changing tempo again and winding down to a gentle halt. It is anything but just a filler solo to show off Clarence’s skills as a sax player. It is essential to the story being told, and it creates as many images before your inner eye of Magic Rat and Barefoot Girl being chased through the asphalt jungle as those brilliant lyrics. Here’s the complete song taken from the last tour Clarence would be part of.
As all of you will have heard by now, Clarence “Big Man” Clemons passed away on Saturday evening as a result of the stroke he had a week ago. Never again will he blast the “Jungleland” solo from up on that stage. Never again will he wrap his arms around Bruce. Never again will his smile light up a 50,000 seat stadium.
The loss of Clarence is devastating. To Bruce, to the E Street Band, and to the fans. His importance in the band and in Bruce’s music cannot be overestimated. Perhaps even more than Bruce himself, he was the symbol of the E Street Band, and not even so much for his characteristic sax sound, but for the contrast his big, dark, calm presence was to the skinny, white whirlwind that was Bruce. He radiated a soothing spirituality and pure love that was impossible to ignore. He may have had physical problems during the last tours, but had it come to the point where he would no longer have been able to play his horn, there’s no doubt he would still have been an important part of the band. If only to sit on his throne and be a physical manifistation of the music and the message.
But it is of course as a saxophone player the world knew Clarence best, and his contribution to Bruce’s music shouldn’t be ignored. When he ripped into a solo, it really meant something. Like three fat lines with a marker under a word in a book. There are probably about a thousand saxophone players in the world who could have done a better job technically than Clarence, but when it comes to emotion, timing and just bringing the right sound at the right time - be it an ear-splitting screech or a gentle whisper, Clarence and Bruce’s music was a match made in Heaven. His saxophone was the icing on the cake, the magic stardust, the devine ingredient.
If Bruce was yin, Clarence was yang. Only time will show what Bruce will do without that. The only thing that’s certain is that it will be different. Very different. Will the band continue? A few weeks ago I would have said that without Clarence there would be no E Street Band. Now that it’s reality, my feeling is that the best way to keep his memory alive will be for the band to continue. And to just go on playing, and to go on playing, and to go on playing, until there’s no one left, and the big roadie in the sky has pulled the final plug. What better way to spit in the face of these badlands?
Bruce has released the following statement regarding Clarence's condition via his official website:
By now, many of you have heard that our beloved comrade and sax player Clarence Clemons has sufferred a serious stroke. While all initial signs are encouraging, Clarence will need much care and support to achieve his potential once again. He has his wonderfully supportive wife, Victoria, excellent doctors and health care professionals, and is surrounded by friends and family.
I thank you all for your prayers and positive energy and concern. This is a time for us all to share in a hopeful spirit that can ultimately inspire Clarence to greater heights.
FROM CLARENCE'S FAMILY
Clarence's family appreciates your concern and wants to let you know that you can send him your wishes via e-mail to notestoclarence@clarenceclemons.com.
As is being reported all over the news, Clarence "Big Man" Clemons has suffered a stroke in his home in Florida and is currently in the hospital. No official statement about his condition has been released, so we don't know just how serious it is, but unofficially the word is that it's serious and that his fellow band members have been called to Florida. Clarence has had health problems for years, mainly with his back and knees, but also as a result of an unhealthy lifestyle. However, in recent years, he has allegedly changed his lifestyle, including ending his smoking habit. Hopefully that will help him pull through this crisis.
It may come as a surprise to some, but New Jersey's music history is so much more than Bruce Springsteen. In his new book, award winning music journalist Gary Wien makes a case for just that by listing the 100 best albums by New Jersey artists between 2001 and 2010. Of course, even without having read the book, I'm sure Bruce takes up a fair amount of pages, but you will also encounter other international stars like The Gaslight Anthem and My Chemical Romance as well as lesser known artists like Keith Monacchio, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Anthony D’Amato. The book is called Are You Listening? and will be available on June 1 from www.njmusic.org and online booksellers.
Gary Wien has previously published the book Beyond the Palace about Asbury Park's music scene, and he is also known as contributor to Backstreets Magazine.
It’s been a long time since Bruce Springsteen went from being “the future of rock” to “elder statesman of rock”. One of the blessings, or curses, that come with that title (depending on your attitude) is that everybody wants to sing with you and have you on their records. Bruce is no exception. The older he gets, the more invitations he seems to receive from other artists who want a little bit of that magic touch Bruce always brings. Or maybe he just accepts more of those invitations these days? The fact is, in the last 10 years, he’s appeared on more tracks by other artists than in the first 30 years of his career combined.
But let’s go back to the beginning. Other artists have recorded Bruce’s songs since the early Seventies, but it wasn’t till 1978 that Bruce appeared on another artist’s album with something besides song-writing credits. It was none other than Lou Reed who sent the invitation, but it wasn’t exactly a duet. More of a spoken word passage about nine minutes into the very avantgarde title track of Reed’s acclaimed album Street Hassle. Bruce’s part included a line from “Born to Run” during a section of the song dubbed “Slip Away”, which bore a slight resemblance to some of Bruce’s “Backstreets” and “New York City Serenade” interludes from previous years.
If “Street Hassle” showed Bruce a bit out of his element, his next appearance with another artist was the exact opposite; maybe because Bruce himself wrote and produced most of the album in question. Gary U.S. Bonds was a somewhat forgotten Sixties rock ‘n’ roller that Bruce took under his wing in 1981 and for whom, with the Dedication album, he created a relatively successful comeback. He lent him the E Street Band as the album’s backing band and did a duet on the opening track, “Jolé Blon”, a song that would become a live staple on his own River Tour that year.
Otherwise, the Eighties were remarkably void of Bruce appearances on anything other than his own releases. Of course, he did participate on both “We Are the World” and Little Steven’s anti-apartheid single “Sun City”, but those kinds of all-star charity releases are a different animal than what we’re discussing here.
It wasn’t until 1991 and his participation on the first single of Nils Lofgren’s Silver Lining album, the beautiful ballad “Valentine”, that he was again utilized in a duet (still the only solo album by an E Street Band member that has Bruce credited for vocals, including Patti Scialfa’s three albums). A few months later he helped out another old friend, Southside Johnny, on the rollicking, nostalgic “It’s Been a Long Time”, which wasn’t a duet as much as a quartet, with Little Steven and Jon Bon Jovi also taking part. Both 1991 appearances were enthusiastically welcomed by fans during a period where Bruce was otherwise all but invisible, and they are still among the most enjoyable third-party projects he has been part of.
1995 - during another period with Bruce not quite sure of what to do next - saw no less than a triple-shot of duets. Again, he decided to help out a few artists who were more or less unknown to the general public. Joe Grushecky, Joe Ely and Elliot Murphy were all friends of his whose careers he felt deserved a boost. In the case of Grushecky, Bruce took him under his wing like no other since Gary U.S. Bonds by producing his excellent album American Babylon as well as singing backup on the song Bruce himself wrote for it, “Homestead”.
The other Joe - Ely - had to settle for Bruce contributing vocals to “All Just to Get to You” on his album Letter From Laredo. The same was the case with Elliot Murphy on the song “Everything I Do (Leads Me Back to You)”, which may be one of the more obscure appearances Bruce has done, but it is nonetheless an incredibly beautiful song that deserved a much larger audience than it got.
Bruce was busy for the next few years with his own music. His last duet of the 1900’s was an unlikely one. Mike Ness of Social Distortion released his first solo album in 1999. Track #3 was a hard-rocking punk-styled tune called “Misery Loves Company”, and yes, that was Bruce singing a couple of verses. No one had ever heard of a Bruce/Mike Ness connection before. They didn’t seem musically related in any way, but who cared? This was the most rocking Bruce had been in ages, and he sounded great.
And that brings us to the 2000’s and a steady stream of duets with Bruce as one of the voices. It started out with Bruce and wife Patti Scialfa singing backup vocals on an Emmylou Harris song called “Tragedy” on her album Red Dirt Girl. They were pretty low in the mix, but that’s them, all right.
Bruce got a much more prominent role next on the dying Warren Zevon’s goodbye-to-this-world album, The Wind, on the song “Disorder in the House”. Not so much because of his vocal performance, but because of the scorching guitar solo that must rank among the best Bruce has ever done in the studio.
Then it was back to more familiar territory with no fewer than two duets on Joe Grushecky’s 2006 album, The Good Life. Apart from the title track, Bruce appeared on a song that was already well known to fans and that the two had written together several years previously. In fact, Bruce had been the first to present it to the public when he opened the first of 10 Madison Square Garden shows with it in 2000. The song is of course “Code of Silence”. Bruce released a live version of it on his Essential collection in 2003. The version on The Good Life, however, is a studio recording made for the occasion.
Joe Grushecky once strived to become famous outside of Pittsburgh, too. Even with Bruce’s help he never quite succeeded (not counting Bruce fans all over the world). More fame was probably not a concern to rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis when he - or probably his agent - contacted Bruce in 2006 to have him participate on The Killer’s duets album Last Man Standing. Bruce obliged and added vocals to his own song “Pink Cadillac”, which absolutely lent itself to Jerry Lee Lewis’ rockabilly piano.
In 2010 Bruce was once again heard on a duets album. This time it was by Kinks legend Ray Davies, who, unlike Jerry Lee Lewis, stuck to his own songs and had Bruce sing along to the Kinks classic “Better Things”.
One of the charming things about Bruce’s work with other artists is that he will skip back and forth between legends and up-and-coming artists or plain unknowns. There’s no doubt Jesse Malin is a great talent, but his career hasn’t quite taken off yet from a mainstream perspective. In 2007 Bruce did his best to help things along on Malin’s critically acclaimed album Glitter in the Gutter where the duet between Bruce and Malin on “Broken Radio” ranks among the highlights.
In 2009, however, Bruce was back with the legends when he helped out his friend John Fogerty on a cover of the Everly Brothers’ “When Will I be Loved”, which was included on the former Creedence singer’s solo album The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again.
The same year he joined the daughter of a legend, Roseanne Cash - Johnny Cash’s eldest offspring - who is pretty big on the country scene in her own right. She asked Bruce to sing along on a cover of Don Gibson’s beautiful country ballad “Sea of Heartbreak”. This is Bruce in his best crooning mode, and if you don’t want to miss it, you should pick up a copy of Roseanne’s album The List, which is worth a listen even if it hadn’t been for Bruce.
This brings us to 2011 and Bruce’s only appearance so far this year on a duet. Very few Springsteen fans had probably heard of The Dropkick Murphys prior to the latest New Year’s Eve. I know I hadn’t. It turned out to be no less than an Irish-American Celtic punk band, and together with Bruce they did a power version of a 1913 song by Alfred Bryan and Fred Fisher called “Peg o’ My Heart”. And trust me, when you hear all of the 2 minutes 25 seconds of it, you’re no longer wondering what Celtic punk means.
No new Bruce appearances on other artists’ albums have been announced at the moment, but if the last 10 years are any indication, we’ll see a lot more of them in the future. As of right now, we can already create our own Bruce Duets CD and fill it to the brim with often very different music from what we’re used to, but always with that special Bruce spice that we know and love. And a lot of predecessors, contemporaries, and successors of Bruce have been fortunate enough to sprinkle their own music with that Bruce spice. Who knows, they may even have opened a few eyes to a world of music outside of Bruce’s that some of us sometimes tend to forget.
Happy listening!
Did I forget any? If so, leave a comment. Also, you can visit the discography section and read more about a lot of the albums mentioned in this article.
As a follow-up to the recent post about the European leg of The River Tour, I'd like to post a little story that a reader named Jonathan Scott submitted to us. Just thought it radiates the sort of innocence that must have been dominating these shows for the European fans.
Back in March 1981 I read an ad on an Italian music magazine called Ciao 2001 (long defunct...) by a guy called Carmine who had organized two buses from Milan + tickets for the forthcoming April 11, 1981 Zurich concert by Bruce Springsteen. I spoke to a friend and to a colleague at work, and "hey presto" - 5 of us were ready to take the plunge in sending "Carmine" a fair amount of cash to go to the concert.
Carmine was true to his word (in spite of our worries...) and so five kids in their (very) early twenties, who had heard only 4 or 5 Springsteen songs (and that was just a few days before the concert itself) left Genoa early in the morning of the 11th to go to what would be for four of us a pivotal event in our lives!! The kids were called Jonathan Scott (me), Gabriella Trevisanutto, Marina Morri, Enrico Rosasco, and Paolo Saba.
Gabriella and I got together the following day and were married the following year (still are), Enrico and Marina got together a few days later and were married 18 months later!
So the love affairs that started that night were not only with Bruce and the band...
With the 30th anniversary of the concert approaching, I thought I should share this little story and a few pictures with you and the readers.
Users of the live section here on Greasy Lake may have noticed a login box in the right-hand column of the Live Performance section along with a little "New feature coming soon" label. Well, I'm proud to announce that "soon" has arrived and a new feature is finally ready to be rolled out. It's no exaggeration to say that it's the biggest new addition since the last design change, and we are very excited about it.
So what exactly is it? Well, it’s called My Page, and it is your way to keep a record of the Springsteen shows you have seen or that you own bootlegs of. Using Greasy Lake’s extensive database of Springsteen live shows, you are now able to pick out the ones you want on your lists, rate them, comment them and share them with your friends and family or just other people on Greasy Lake.
And how exactly does that work? First of all you need to create an account. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to use the same account as you use for the message board. Then you go to the Live Performance section and one by one pick out the shows by using the form that appears in the upper right corner of each show where it says “Add to My Page”. Later on you can go to My Page and edit your entries including rating them with stars and typing your comments.
Once your list is finished you can open the public version of the page and use the share tool, which supports all social networks and other sharing options you can think of.
That’s about it for now. Now all you have to do is go register and start building your lists. Hopefully we’ll be able to add new features to My Page in the future. Suggestions are very welcome. But first we want to make sure that the current version works right, which means, if you come across bugs or things that could be smarter, please let us know.
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