darkness whores unite!
IT’S REALLY, REALLY HAPPENING
Bruce Springsteen – “The Promise: The Making of ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’” Sneak Peek from Columbia Records on Vimeo.
springsteen Archive
From Asbury Park To The Promised Land: Visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Part II
Before I start going through the exhibit and telling you what there is to see, I will just cut to the chase and tell you that if you are a big Bruce Springsteen fan, seeing this exhibit is imperative. It’s imperative because this exhibit is being done now, at the height of his career, WITH HIS FULL AND COMPLETE COOPERATION. There wasn’t much the Hall of Fame asked for that they didn’t get. The access and scope is unprecedented. So while you plan your trip to Cleveland, I’ll get on with the rest of it.
The exhibit is arranged chronologically. It leads you in gently, it’s all about telling the story and giving context. It begins with the Castiles, and Bruce’s early history. Remember those photos in the Kennedy Center tribute, the ones you had never seen before? Well, when HOF VP Jim Henke went out to interview Bruce for the exhibit, as he was leaving, Bruce handed him a CD. What was on it? Those photographs, now printed out and in a case where you can sit and stare at them for a good 20 minutes.
Guest blogging for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
As an upshot of my first visit to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last weekend, I was invited to submit a guest blog for the RRHOF’s website.
There’s also a news story from me on Backstreets.com, but you’ll have to scroll down to the news from 1/26.
Full posts on the Springsteen exhibit and the rest of the hall in general will be up on the weekend.
holiday hurrah
I’ll be featured on the New Year’s Day episode. Considering that Dave and I argued so much he needed to edit afterwards, it should be a good one.
Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY
22 November 2009
Greetings From Asbury Park
I am still trying to find the words to talk about Buffalo. I walked out of the venue Sunday night feeling drained yet exhilarated. I wasn’t bouncing off the walls, dying to start processing and analyzing and taking the show apart, the game of connect the dots, the simple act of keeping the feeling of the show alive by talking about it. It was a quiet, solemn walk to the parking lot, a complete contrast to the emotional explosion that happened inside the HSBC Arena. Two days later, I am wistful and nostalgic and ruminative. I am also over-sensitive, exhausted and emotional. Greetings played on the iPod on the way to work has me unexpectedly crying down 7th Avenue.
brucespringsteen.net on “The River”
My writeup of The River from Sunday night is now up at brucespringsteen.net.
“Spotlight on the Boss Man…”
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
Madison Square Garden, 8 November 2009
The River
As I will tirelessly remind everyone, the key to success with the album shows is with how Bruce frames the rest of the show around the album. Saturday night we had a stunning, monumental album performance, with a second half that kept me wondering when it was going to start to get interesting. If I thought I couldn’t forgive him for “Sunny Day” after “Jungleland,” that was nothing compared to enduring “Sunny Day” after “New York City Serenade” on Saturday night (although to tell you the truth I was so stunned that it took me a few minutes to recover and he could have been playing the Mexican Hat Dance – although the Mexican Hat Dance would at least be novel and amusing, unlike – oh, nevermind). I had already gone on record saying that I would be willing to forgive him “Sunny Day” after “Wreck On The Highway,” except that last night he picked up A DIFFERENT GUITAR and was about to play something else completely different, only to call the entire band over for a conference after which they ALL have to switch guitars in order to play – “Sunny Day.”
New York City Serenade
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
Madison Square Garden, 7 November 2009
The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle
The title of the record tells you the story: The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle. It is the story of Sandy, Kitty, Billy, Rosie, Spanish Johnny and Diamond Jackie. It is an album of epics. It is not an album of half-measures.
This is why there was both a full horn section and a string quartet onstage this evening. Walk tall, or don’t walk at all, as the song goes.
These were the songs you always wanted to hear, the big legends, a million words spilling out. It was an enormous album to wrap your head around the first time you heard it. It was equally enormous to sit there and take it all in as it was being played in front of you.
10/29 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
My review (which was briefly published here because I thought they weren’t going to use it) of the 10/29 E Street Band appearance at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary shows is online now at brucespringsteen.net (under the DC review).
I long for the day they get a website with actual pages.
elsewhere