I'd rather be at a Springsteen gig

I'm So Excited

2012-02-12T20:44:00.001Z

So who's getting excited then? - ME!!!!!!.

Only three weeks until the new album and only 130 days (or if you prefer 3120 hours or 187200 minutes or even 11232000 seconds) until my first gig of the new tour. By then Bruce will have already done 35 concerts so, being an avid set list watcher, I will pretty much know what the nightly staples will be.

There'll be time for him to change it around a bit if it's not working. There were only six new songs in the set list at at the beginning of the Working on a Dream tour. By the time we saw him in Dublin they'd been whittled down to three.

On The Rising tour there were 11 new songs in the set when the tour started in August 2002. All of these were still present and correct when we saw Bruce at Wembley Arena in October. By the time Old Trafford came around in May the following year 9 songs were still there. At the time the band remarked how quickly the fans had taken to The Rising - do I remember this from interviews they did prior to televising the show from Barcelona?

We all know that Bruce has a pretty good feel for the audience, so what we hear this tour, may depend on how well he percieves the new stuff is going down.

Of course there are other new (old) songs for Bruce to draw on, as he hasn't been out and about much since The Promise was released. Now, I really like The Promise and I had hoped, at the time that Bruce would tour with it. Who knows I may like Wrecking Ball just as much but I'd still love to hear, perhaps, Wrong Side of the Street or The Brokenhearted or better still It's A Shame.

When I first heard It's a Shame I thought it would have been a great song for Southside Johnny but Bruce must have wanted to hold onto it himself at the time. The song has horns - lots of them - a great fit for The Jukes.

Now we know what Bruce has in store for us. Perfectly described here. I quote in part:

Can we call them the new Miami Horns??? Yes it will take 5 accomplished, mortal men to replace one Big Man! When Bruce Spingsteen hits the road next month, he will have a 5-piece horn section which will include Ed Mannion and Jake Clemons (Clarence's nephew) on sax, Barry Danielan and Curt Ramm on trumpet and Clark Gayton on trombone.

Most impressive, Boss!!!

So Bruce a horns section. It would be a shame not to play It's a Shame.

I might have an ally here in Little Steven

I think we share the same music taste as second album of Tracks is also one of my faves. Give me Loose Ends or Where The Bands Are any day. Actually I've been lucky enough to hear both of these live already but a second time wouldn't hurt.

Anyway, before all that, the thing that has me brimming over with excitement today are The Grammys. I can't wait to see this first live performance of We Take Care of Our Own. Apparently it went down a storm at rehearsals according to The Toronto Sun:

The 62-year-old singer-guitarist took to the stage at L.A.'s Staples Center to perform his new single We Take Care of Our Own, but quickly turned the normally subdued rehearsal process into an energized mini-concert for a few hundred lucky onlookers.

Accompanied by a string section and backed by his long-serving band — minus sax player Clarence Clemons, who died last year — Springsteen delivered several powerful, commanding performances of the song. Although it was ostensibly just a runthrough for TV and technical crews, The Boss played and sang as if he were in a sold-out arena instead of a nearly empty one. Clad in a black-leather jacket over jeans and a V-neck T-shirt, he windmilled and slashed away at the strings of his Telecaster, at one point jumping onto his upturned Marshall speaker cabinets to commune with drummer Max Weinberg. Between takes, he helped teach the string section their parts, standing on an amp to conduct. "They sound good," he enthused. "We're getting there. Almost."

Springsteen's performances — which generated more interest and applause than any Grammy rehearsal I've seen — was an early highlight on the second day of prep for the 54th annual awards.

Here in the UK when anything like this is on there is always much discussion beforehand about whether or not we will be able to see it. As I write this we are thinking we might have access to the live stream. It'll involve staying up until 1.00am though and I have work in the morning. I understand there will be highlights on UK TV on Monday night - nearly as late though 12.30am!...so actually Tuesday morning.

So my friends over the pond we are relying on you to get something up on YouTube by the time we are up and about on Monday morning.

Dreams Can Come True

2012-02-05T20:16:00.002Z

The first time I heard Working On a Dream was almost 4 years ago during Barack Obama's campaign for the Democratic nomination to run for president of the USA - awful whistling.

At least, I think I have described this rally correctly. I acquired my knowledge of US politics almost entirely from watching 'The West Wing'. This must be my favourite TV show of all time and whilst it might not have been exactly true to life, it did at least give me an inkling of the way the US political system works. I mean how else would I know that The President pardons a turkey at Thanksgiving?

Anyway I've veered a little off topic here.

I'm not keen on WOAD - the track not the album - although the album isn't my favourite either. Love the sentiment - don't love the song. Having said that, shortly after the album was released, I started working on a dream of my own. I needed to get fit enough to go to Hyde Park and Dublin, so rather perversely, even though I don't particularly like the song it does have special meaning for me. It will forever remind me of that particular time in my life. BUT Bruce you could have written me something a bit more rousing to help me along!

I started thinking about this because Follow That Dream came on my iPod this week. I'm a big fan of the BITUSA outtakes and this is a real goody. In my opionion much much better than WOAD, but then researching this for my blog, I have discovered it's not a Springsteen song at all!

He mentions here that it is one of his favourite Elvis Presley songs.

Now I'm not an Elvis fan. I don't dislike him, you understand, but I can take him or leave him. This is my excuse for having such a gap in my musical knowledge.

Bruce talks about following dreams in many many songs - the couple in BTR are reaching for a dream, the couple in Thunder Road are leaving town to find their dream, Meet Me In The Land Of Hope And Dreams etc etc etc.

I am partculary partial to a never-give-up-on-your-dreams-just-go-for-it type of song. I find them very uplifting: very inspiring. They can persuade me that I can do anything - at least for the duration of the song!

And talking about dreams and Elvis this is one of his best. It brings a lump to my throat whenever I hear it. Having said I'm not an Elvis fan I reckon he really pulls it out of the bag on this one.

It's on this list of The 100 Most Beautiful Song Lyrics and look what's at the position below!

On a completely different subject I bought a new compact camera this week. I guess most people judgea cameras on their ability to take a good holiday photo or a good landscape. I, on the other hand, needed a decent zoom and one that takes good pictures in low light. Yes you've guessed it - I'm planning on smuggling it into a gig.

Anyway I've been playing with it. It has one of those thingys that isolates certain colours. Here's something you will recognise with the red bits only highlighted.

Mr Springsteen I Presume

2012-01-29T20:32:00.002Z

Would you like to meet Bruce?

Just a random photo- don't know the people

This thorny subject, in the form of one question or another, has been discussed regularly on Greasy Lake over the years. Some know exactly what they would say if they met him, some doubt whether they would be in a fit state to say anything at all and some don't want to meet him because they believe he might not live up to their dreams.

Beau and Josh

I've been pondering the question this week after reading the story (which I mentioned last week) of Beau and Josh from California who met our man in Asbury Park the other week.

Now - not wanting to meet Bruce isn't an option for me. Beau makes him sound so lovely that I can't imagine saying I don't want to meet him.

Another random pic from Google images

I'd like to shake his hand, doubt I would be brave enough to ask for a photo and I don't think I would say anything other than 'Hi. Great to meet you'. I could tell him that I've loved his music since BTR but it hardly makes me stand out from the crowd! I know many people would really like to tell Bruce how his music has been the soundtrack to their lives - you know - 'Your music has meant so much to me throughout my life' blah blah blah' This always strikes me as being a bit over the top.

Anyway it's not likely to happen. I don't live in New Jersey or even the USA for that matter. I can hardly nip down to Asbury Park at the weekend to stroll up and down the boardwalk on the off chance, or take a trip to Rumson pretending to check out the real estate.

Our friend Elaine with Bruce

I'm not likely to bump into him shopping on Briggate in Leeds. I don't expect he has set foot in Leeds since Roundhay Park in 1985.

He does come over to our little island from time to time when Jessica is jumping. I rode myself many years ago as I mention in this post so I would enjoy a day out at The Horse of the Year Show. It's not the place to meet Bruce though. Well I wouldn't approach him. He is there being Mr Springsteen - a dad supporting his daughter - and I wouldn't want to intrude. I couldn't guarentee that I wouldn't stand open mouthed and gawp though!

lucky Leah who actually wanted to meet Jessica

Leah has me wondering whether I could hatch another plan. What about ' Hello Mr Springsteen. I think your daughter is a very talented rider' As well as meeting him, this has the added advantage of tapping into his parental pride, and thereby getting into his good books. I'm not a good liar though so I think he would see straight through my subterfuge.

I'm not sure I could bring myself to hang around outside a hotel. Don't get me wrong I have no problem if it's your sort of thing but it seems a bit undignified to me.

Staying in the same hotel is a possible solution, if you know where Bruce is staying, and the price is within your reach. I'd even stretch the budget to get a room. My logic might be a bit woolly here but try to stay with me. If you have paid for a room, the hotel is as much yours as it is Bruce's so it can't be helped if you bump into him. An added bonus is you would be meeting him as an equal in a way - as a fellow resident. Sinead and Cein - I'm rooting for you.

Jeremy Zelkowitz and Bruce

I clutch at a very small chance of a meeting Bruce via an entirely different route - Eric Clapton. Yeah I speak of the famous British Stratocaster player. My brother (Ian) was adopted and when our parents died he set out to find his birth family. He found two half brothers one of whom is Eric Clapton's production manager - Mick Double. He gets a mention here and here's a list of his credits.

Mick produced the Cream concert at The Royal Albert Hall in 2005. He invited my brother and sister in law to meet Eric at the gig. Their daughter and her husband who live in Vancouver were guests at Eric's concert last year and were intoduced to him.

Now whilst I am not suggesting that Bruce and Eric are bosom buddies they have played on the same stage together.

I'm wondering if I can persuade my brother, to persuade Mick, to persuade his producer, to persuade Eric's management team, to persuade Bruce's management team that Bruce and Eric could do some sort of show together ... AND give me and Mike a backstage pass.

Hmmmm - it's a bit of a long shot.

Perhaps I will just have to swallow my pride and stand outside that hotel after all.

**********

Oh by the way Mike has just pointed out that I'm closer to Bruce than I thought - Six degrees of separation? pah! I'm the sister - of someone who's met Eric Clapton - who's played on the same stage as Bruce Springsteen.

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The New Single

2012-01-22T20:31:00.001Z

The trouble with writing a weekly blog is you can't keep on top of the breaking news. This is particularly evident this week. With the single being released and the details of the new album available a few days ago I'm a bit late to the party.

Actually all the info was out there on Monday. rockcol.com reported that the new album was to be called 'Wrecking Ball' and would be introduced to us with a single - 'We Take Care Of Our Own'.

They also said:-

Other songs to be featured in the new album are “Jack of all trades”, “Easy money”, “We are alive”, “You’ve got it”. There will also be a version of "Land of hope and dreams” (a song that appeared in live sets and was put in the live album "Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Live in New York City"): the song will be graced by a sax solo by the late Clarence Clemons..

Then from Point Blank there was a list of track titles and an alternative title for the album.

1. Rocky Ground

2. Death to My Hometown

3. We Take Care of Our Own

4. Easy Money

5. Jack of All Trades

6. The Depression

7. You've Got It

8.We 're Alive

9. Shackled and Drawn

10. Wrecking Ball

11. Land of Hope and Dreams

A second source says there will be 12 songs on the disc and the title could be "Rocky Ground". So far none of this has been confirmed.

But by Wednesday the single was, indeed, confirmed.

And by Thursday we had the album details as well

There have been so many rumours about this release over, what seems like, months. When something resembling the truth leaks we all take it with a pinch of salt. As it turns out this latest gossip was, more or less, correct.

Speaking of being late to the party - as an early to bed early to rise person ( It doesn't seem to have made me healthy, wealthy or wise by the way) I didn't hear the single when it was first available. Sitting on the bus at 6.50am on Wednesday morning it seemed, from a quick visit to Facebook, that the world and his wife were already several steps ahead of me.

I managed a couple of listens during my lunch break and liked it instantly, in the same way as I liked 'Radio Nowhere' straight away. Hopefully this bodes well for the album as I'm a big fan of Magic. Mind you I'm not keen on 'Wrecking Ball' - although Tom Cunningham (on Bruce Brunch) suggested the album track is a new version. 'Land of Hope and Dreams' is up there among my favourites, though, and 'American Land'? Will it be a revamped version do you think?

Anyway by the time I got home Mike had downloaded 'We Take Care of Our Own', burnt it to a CD and was playing it on repeat whilst dancing around the kitchen. We played it a lot and I mean A LOT that evening. Reminded me of my teenage days when I would buy a '45' and play it over and over - driving my parents to distraction no doubt. Repeat playings haven't dampened my enthusiasm - I really like it.

I've only a vague idea of what the song is about. I don't go in for the deeper meanings probably because I don't really understand them. I love 'Living in the Future'. I know it has some underlying meaning because people tell me so. I've never got to grips with it and the song makes no sense to me but I still love it.

As you might expect , WTCOOO has already been dissected by those that like to analyse Bruce's words in minute detail. If you are interested I quite like this which isn't too 'deep'. I might check out some other sites and cover this more next week.

Yet another rumour surfaced in the last couple of days - this time about USA tour dates. NJ.Com reports several dates in New Jersey followed by a show at Madison Square Garden before our man hits Europe.

And finally here's a lovely story about two lucky people who met Bruce last week. How excited the writer is about meeting Bruce?? I'm green again!

See you next time.

A Deadly Sin

2012-01-15T21:15:00.003Z

I don't consider myself to be an envious person. Don't get me wrong I wish I could win the lottery but I'm not envious of those who do. We throw our £££ in and have the same chance as the next man. We can do no more. I have friends who have interesting well paid jobs and I sometimes wish I was the same but I decided long ago that I was no career girl so no point in being envious. Envy is a pointless emotion. It just makes you miserable. Either do something about it or settle for the fact that nothing can be done and move on.

BUT

when it comes to Bruce I can't help myself. There is absolutely no point in being envious of the people who were at 'Light of Day' (LOD) last night. There is no point torturing myself looking at set lists and pictures and YouTube clips but I keep looking and yes yes yes I'm green with envy.

Realistically, though, We are never going to go (unless we win the aforementioned lottery). I'm a big Southside Johnny fan and Mike would like to see Joe Grushecky. I could tell you that we would go just to see them or because it's such a good cause but I am rather ashamed to admit that if I was there and Bruce didn't turn up I would be gutted. It's OK if you live in New York or Philadelphia or New Jersey itself. If you can get a ticket for The Paramount show on Saturday you don't have so far to travel but to 3500 miles is a long way to go to be disappointed. So I've talked myself out of being envious. There's no point.

Each week when I sign off I think that the following week I will be talking about a new album. Nothing concrete yet but Bruce has been in Asbury Park shooting a video. Assuming things are going to follow the same pattern as previous years this will be related to a track released in advance of the album. Here's a quote from a Backstreets poster:-

Clad in a dark leather jacket, The Boss braved the chilly temps and gusty winds to film a video with his pal, singer-songwriter Willie Nile, who is believed to add guest vocals on the soon-to-be-released track. Bruce seemed anything but angry, however, even stopping to pose for pictures with fans who are in town for the week-long “Light of Day” charity concerts, according to observers.

“He filmed at Johnny Mac House of Spirits, the Irish Pub on Main Street, and then he went down Mattison Avenue and into the old Savoy Theater,” says a source. The theater, which was built in 1911 and once housed vaudeville performances, is undergoing a massive renovation.

Blogness says that "the band has reportedly been rehearsing the new material" also in Asbury Park. This must be very clandestine as normally we would have heard from fans hanging around outside the rehearsal venue telling us about the snippets of songs they can hear.

So all in all things are moving on but we know nothing. Are Bruce's people doing a better job of keeping things under wraps than usual or do we know nothing because there is nothing yet to know?

Back to LOD. I've reproduced the set list here even though it's old news now:-

1. Incident on 57th Street (solo acoustic)
Bruce left the stage, Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers performed East Carson Street
Bruce returns
2. Darkness on the Edge of Town
3. Never be Enough Time (with Joe Grushecky)
4. Adam Raised a Cain
5. Save my Love
6. Talk to the King (with Joe Grushecky)
7. Atlantic City
8. Johnny 99
9. I’m not Sleeping
10. Because the Night
11. Waiting on a Sunny Day
12. Pumping Iron
13. Light of Day (with Max Weinberg on drums)
14. The Promised Land
15. Twist and Shout
16. Thunder Road (acoustic)

Here's a picture of the man on stage. I like to get Mike's opinion of Bruce's latest fashion statement. He's not keen on the jacket. Says he won't be getting one. Well don't suppose he could afford one anyway. looks very expensive to me.

He likes the shirt though:-

And finally because I can't let LOD go by without including a clip.

Born out of Hell

2012-01-08T20:28:00.001Z

Jacquie and Mike our friends and neighbours are two of the Springsteen virgins we are taking with us to a gig this year. In preparation Jacquie wanted to listen to Bruce's back catalogue and asked for BTR to start with. I thought this was a good idea. Greetings and WIESS are more of an acquired taste, I feel and, whilst Jacquie and Mike have a very eclectic taste in music the first two albums might be better left until later in their education.

When we went over this weekend for food,drink and chat Jacquie remarked that the album reminded her of Meatloaf/Jim Steinman. An astute observation as it turns out as this extract from the Wikipedia entry for Bat out of Hell shows:-

Bat Out of Hell is often compared to the music of Bruce Springsteen, particularly the Born to Run album. Steinman says that he finds that "puzzling, musically", although they share influences; "Springsteen was more an inspiration than an influence." A BBC article added, "that Max Weinberg and Roy Brittan from Springsteen's E Street Band played on the album only helped reinforce the comparison."

I have to say that I don't really hear it myself. I'm a 'Bat Out Of Hell' fan but I think it lacks the really poetic lyrics of, say, Jungleland.

Incidentally in 'Rolling Stone's' 500 greatest albums BTR is number 18 and BOOH is number ... 343

Thought we might lend them BITUSA next. The breakthrough album followed by the one with the widest appeal. When they have digested this we will start to fill in the blanks.

I had to go to hospital on Tuesday for an MRI scan - just a precautionary thing so I'm not worried about the outcome. I was a bit nervous about the procedure itself though. Lying completely still in a narrow tube for minutes on end isn't something I was looking forward to.

The machine makes a lot of noise so I was invited to take a CD along with me to play through some headphones. No contest on the artist - it had to be Bruce - but I had no idea how long I would be in there. I chose Greatest Hits in the end for it's length more than anything. Mike was a little concerned as he has never seen me stay still whilst either BTR or Badlands is played. There wasn't room to pump my fist though so the although the temptation was great it was impossible!

Mike looked more worried than me as I headed off to the MRI room. I couldn't have him there with me but I had Bruce for company - the next best thing. Anyway it wasn't anything like as bad as I thought it would be.

A sad day today as I finally cancelled my Dublin Hotel. We didn't get tickets for RDS and decided to give it up and save our money for (hopefully) an autumn tour in the States. It occurred to me this week, though, that Bruce might be busy supporting Obama. The 2012 Presidential election is on 6th November.

Finally this week a link to this music review. I have already shared this with my Facebook friends and on Greasy Lake but it's so good I needed to include it in my blog. Here's a little excerpt but I'd recommend you read the whole thing. I think the writer really captures the experience of a Bruce show.

...You don’t really get to understand Bruce’s universe until you go to one of his live shows. Until you sleep on the street with other unconditional fans to catch the first row. But it’s worth it. A Bruce performance is a unique experience, a musical communion, a rock and roll exorcism. A shared feeling of happiness fills the air...

It's The Album First

2012-01-01T20:54:00.000Z

Picture 'borrowed' from a FB friend

Well, for us here in the UK, 2012 is Olympic year. Well it's Olympic year for everyone but you know what I mean. I remember exactly where I was when Juan Antonio Samaranch announced that London had won the right to host The Games. I was so excited. Going to the Olympics has always been on my bucket list and I assumed I would be in the stadium watching some athletics-any athletics would do. I just wanted to say' I was there'.

Anyone living in the UK who tried for tickets knows what a disappointment it was. To be fair my worry had been that no one would want tickets. So many nay sayers came out of the woodwork to say sport is a waste of time, not important and we shouldn't be spending all this money bla bla bla. How embarrassing if we had half empty stadiums. As it was, 1.8 million people applied for tickets and 250,000, including me, were unsuccessful. No Olympic tickets then. I was disappointed but not as much as I thought I would be.

Anyway 2012 is now a Springsteen tour year so the lack of Olympics tickets pales into insignificance.

Before that there's the album. Last year there was rumour upon rumour about a new album. The first inkling was way back in June when Ron Anielo listed himself as producer on 'the forthcoming album'. Then there was the bogus press release saying an album - 'Arcade at Night' - was going to be released in November. There were other vague musings - the album was going to be released before Christmas, in the early months of 2012 and now a more precise February 2012. This was all before we even knew there was anything in the pipeline at all!

Now we know there is most definitely an album coming out because Bruce has told us himself. Mind you even he was a bit vague.

For most fans it seems the tour is far more exciting than a new album. It's true that a Bruce concert is the most perfect two and a half hours I can imagine spending and there are many songs from the back catalogue that I would like to hear. I've said this before -I'm not one of those fans who believes Bruce hasn't done anything worth talking about since nineteen seventy something so I am looking forward to a new set of songs.

Whilst I can't say I'm a huge fan of Working on a Dream I love Magic so I think he still has good music in him. Having said that recent history suggests he won't play a lot from the album live. Was The Rising tour the last time he played a lot of new music?

So folks - we will hopefully get an official announcement about the album release date soon and perhaps a couple of taster tracks beforehand. This will at least fill a small gap before Seville in May.

Hope to see some of you in 2012.

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

2011-12-18T19:26:00.000Z

To start this week we have Mike's favourite Christmas song.

Christmas was always my favourite time of year. I would start planning and saving for the next one as soon as the previous one was over. I've never been much for going away on holiday and we don't socialise a great deal so all my energies were put into making Christmas special. That was until 2007.

That year we were going to see Bruce at the O2 in London. That year the 19th December was more important than the 25th. That year, for the first time, something was more exciting than Christmas and since then Santa has taken a back seat. He still 'came to town' but with a bit less vim and vigour than previously.

That gig was the start of two years of, almost continuous, Bruce shows to plan for and look forward to all over the world. My hard earned cash was put aside for tours rather than Christmas and I would have happily swapped 25th December for a Bruce gig.

This year I seemed to have got my festive mojo back a little so I'm really ready for Christmas. We are going to eat, drink and be merry. Then... we are going to look forward to 2012, to a new album, and of course the tour!

Hope you all have a very HAPPY CHRISTMAS

and

a Bruce filled 2012.

It's Unusual

2011-12-11T21:23:00.003Z

Thought I'd start with this video although it's from a week ago, partly because Mike introduced me to Bob Seger's music many years ago - before we got into Bruce and partly because Bob was interviewed backstage and told us more about Bruce's new album than we have learned from the man himself. There is a bit about it in Rolling Stone.

Apparently Bruce says his new album is really unusual. OK - among other things "unusual" can mean amazing, remarkable, outstanding BUT it can also mean strange, bizarre, abnormal. This could go either way!!

The 'Rolling Stone' article also talks about a USA leg of the tour in spring next year. Unless I've missed something these dates haven't been announced yet. I'm hoping for autumn dates. We'll try for something then. Not sure where though. I fell in love with New York City when we went in 2009 but I quite fancy a trip to Boston, and my brother, who has travelled a lot around the States, says Chicago is a wonderful city.

Talking of my brother (Ian) - we are taking him and his wife (Irene) to Sunderland next year to their first Bruce show. Some of you might remember that Ian is a keen amateur musician and still plays in a band from time to time. He will be a hard man to please. I'm especially worried about the sound given that loads of peeps on the forums often say how bad this is.

To help them to make the most of the gig we have been trying to get together a CD of songs Bruce is most likely to play. Obviously we have no idea what is going to happen on the new tour especially now Clarence is no longer with us. We have decided to go with past experience and have chosen all the old staples - Born To Run, Badlands and the like. I'll tell them to learn the first verse of Hungry Heart too. It's as well to be prepared!!

The same goes for our best friends Jacquie and Mike who are coming to Manchester with us and are Bruce virgins, and Mike's work colleague Allyson and her husband Bruce - yes Bruce! They will be with us in Sunderland.

This week there has been one of the regular discussions on Greasy Lake about 'Human Touch' (the album). Got me to thinking he may play some of the tracks off this together with Lucky Town next tour. After all they were played without a saxophonist first time round. We can't be sure he'll play a lot of new stuff judging by the last tour.

I couldn't let this week go by without including this. I know you will have all seen it already but it's worth another look.

Finally I'll finish with a Bruce Christmas song. I only discovered it a couple of years ago and it's my favourite - well for the moment anyway.

The Great Ticket Rush

2011-12-04T21:40:00.000Z

Well the title of my blog has never been more appropriate than on Thursday evening when we were sat in Sheffield Arena waiting for... Bryan Adams. More of him later but first to one of the most important weeks in recent Bruce history - especially for Europeans I suspect. I speak, of course, about ticket sales.

Does anyone else get really stressed out over buying tickets? Silly question really I know you do. Over here in Europe we had pre-sales. So if you had bought from Ticketmaster or Live Nation previously and have an account with them you could get in a couple of days early. If you are an O2 phone customer you could apply through their 'rewards' site also a couple of days in advance. Then I think Vodaphone customers could get tickets early. There's probably more that I don't know about. So although tickets for the UK and Ireland went on general sale on Saturday 3rd December the pre-sales were selling on Thursday 1st. So a day off work it had to be.

Before that, though, we were trying for Paris tickets on the Tuesday. Paris seemed a good bet for two reasons. Firstly there are back to back shows - two nights for the price of one air or train fare and secondly they are indoor shows.

Monday morning started well with Working on a Dream waking me up on the radio alarm. Not my favourite track but any Bruce song is good for a cold dark Monday and maybe it was appropriate, as that night, we started working on our own dream of tickets for next year's tour.

On my way home from work I heard Born to Run coming out of the open door of a little boutique. A good omen?

Paris turned out to be a bit of a mess all around really as we couldn't decide what time the tickets went on sale. There was much panic around the net as we all tried to get the information together and the site was impossible to get onto on Monday night. On our way to bed we weren't hopeful.

We were up 8.00am Tuesday, but to cut a long story short, neither Mike (on the desk top) or me (on the lap top) could get any further than the home page of Gerard Drouot. I had to leave for work at 9.50am - without tickets and feeling very miserable. By the time I arrived at the office I had a phone call from Mike telling me that our Bruce Buddy - Ceinwen had managed to get us seats for both nights. So, in the space of half an hour or so, despair had changed to elation. Thank you once again Cein.

Mike carried on his efforts out of curiosity and managed to secure tickets at 11.55am. Of course he didn't need to actually buy them.

Thursday presented another problem. We wanted tickets for three shows but they all went on sale at the same time. We have a soft spot for Dublin as this is where we met the first in a growing group of Bruce friends and where our touring became about more than just the two of us. Realistically and economically it made more sense to try for Sunderland and Manchester. Mike managed to get us tickets for both

Despite our best efforts together with those of another Bruce Buddy - Sinead - we couldn't get Dublin tickets. Thanks for trying Sinead. The money we have saved by not going to Dublin will be put towards a trip to the USA in the autumn, assuming our man is still touring then.

So back to Bryan Adams. We had never seen him before so had no idea what to expect. This was a tour celebrating the 20 year anniversary of Waking Up The Neighbors. The album which featured Everything I do I do It For You among other songs you will know. Apart from the tracks on this album he played all the hits.

Because it was, in a way, a greatest hits show it may not have been a typical Bryan Adams gig. I don't know whether die hard fans go wanting to hear some obscure album track. If so I think they would have been disappointed. On the other hand I've no idea whether there is any New York City Serenade or Wild Billy's Circus Story in Bryan Adams' repertoire. I suspect not. Having said that his kind of up tempo rock/pop or classic rock ballad is very easy on the ear and we really enjoyed the night.

There were no signs and no children in the audience to sing along but he did pick out a girl from the audience to sing the Mel C part of When You're Gone. I gather this is a constant on the tour.

Incidentally he was on for two and a quarter hours and didn't use an autocue. Leaving the stage after playing three acoustic numbers, as a sort of encore, he remarked that he didn't know any more songs.

I was hoping to entertain you with a video from YouTube but they have all been taken down already!

My final thought on the matter is Bryan's hair which I could barely take my eyes off throughout the show because it did not move at all - I was reminded of Shania Twain's line from That Don't Impress Me Much - 'That extra hold gel in your hair ought to lock it'.

Lastly back to the main man

I hope you all got the tickets you wanted and don't have much longer to wait for confirmation of USA dates. Looking forward to seeing you next year.

YIpee! Yipee! Yipee!

2011-11-27T21:14:00.000Z

A New Tour

Bruce's last tour ended in Buffalo on 22nd November 2009.

I started this blog on 9th January 2010 so it doesn't take a genius to figure out that I haven't written about a tour as it happens. Not that it is actually happening yet but you know what I mean.

I thought this week's post would be easy, but at the moment, my head is so full of hotel bookings, flight times, dates and times of tickets sales etc that I'm not sure I can write coherently!

I ended last weeks post about 9.00pm on Sunday night with a link to a forum discussing The Isle of Wight Festival in 2012. A poster was predicting that Bruce would be the headline act but I, along with most of you who read my musings, took this with a pinch of salt.

Monday morning at 6.00am is not normally a time I would go onto the internet but I had a bit of time to kill so I nipped onto Facebook to see whether anything was happening and there it was ... a link to brucespringsteen.net giving a short statement and a few dates. The same few dates that are there now even though dozens more have been added to the itinerary!! (but that's another story).

Now - do we think that Bruce's management was forced into some sort of announcement because the UK festivals wanted to announce their lineups this week? It's a possibility but then why didn't they just confirm he would be at Hard Rock Calling and Isle of Wight then announce all the other dates when they had them all. I don't know the answer of course but anyway it meant that my newly purchased iPhone was buzzing all day as fresh information came to light - Facebook alerts and texts together with emails from Mike kept me rather too busy all day and perhaps my work suffered a little.

We have been going to Springsteen gigs since 1993. In the early days organising ourselves was easy - just one show a tour and only the two of us. As the years have gone on more shows have been added, more friends have been made and more countries have been visited. This time there is absolutely no question of only one show or one country and as well as seeing Bruce we want to catch up with friends. It became a logistical nightmare at one point especially when we weren't sure whether all the dates had been announced. In fact we are still not sure as there are still strong rumours that there will be extra dates in Barcelona and Dublin.

Anyway I'm not sure whether all our little Tramp Troupe are going to get together at one gig. I think there is at least someone missing from every night. Manchester might be nearly a full house but family and work commitments means that we are all attending different gigs around Europe. Perhaps we can all get together in New York City again and I am hoping for some shows here in the fall.

It goes without saying that I am really excited about this tour - or does it? Not everyone is so thrilled. There are already negative threads on Greasy Lake : - no signs this tour: songs you don't want to hear etc. Come on guys just be grateful for a tour. He can sing what he bloody well likes as far as I am concerned and as for the signs - well I can see they may be annoying if they block your view but we will be sitting 50 yards away! I am not complaining about this you understand - if you choose to sit you accept you will not be near the stage.

...and what about the album?????? Are there fans of many other artists who, given the announcement of a new album and tour, barely care about the album? Does this happen to all bands/artists who have been around a long time? The Rolling Stones for instance or Bob Dylan.

Rolling Stone have a few questions here about the album and tour.

Finally I understand that Nils is just as surprised as we were - here's a quote from Backstreets

Up until a couple of days ago I could honestly say there were no plans that I knew of. Rumors are just that — I learned that as a kid working with Neil Young. Everyone talks about ideas, but they are just ideas until they are made a reality; until then you have to ignore them and get on with your own life. At the end of every tour, inlcuding two years ago, you think is this the last show I'm ever going to play with this great band.... At least I know by summer I'll be playing with some dear friends and as great a band as has ever been. That is a blessing. The fact that I've got a good record out now, thank God I did it when I did.

Good old Bruce - keeping us all on out toes as usual.

The Early Years

2011-11-20T21:08:00.001Z

So I bought this last Wednesday.

I have listened to it only once so far. First impressions? Well... it's interesting. Here is a customer review from Amazon which pretty much sums up how I feel.

I didn't really know what to expect from this release and it certainly isn't for newbies to E Street, but for existing fans there is a lot to be gleaned and enjoyed.

I recommend this to anyone with a true interest in the origins of the Springsteen sound, the recordings are fine and listenable given their source and the sleeve notes are interesting. I hope there are more to this series of radio shows in the future.

I understand there is some legal loophole that is allowing this sort of recording to be released and the same reviewer also covers this topic :-

These are not bootleg releases either. Because of a legal loophole live recordings over 25 years old can be released without the artists permission. If this had been included in a box set of rarities to support Greetings from Asbury Park, people may see it in a different way.

Anyway the recordings are taken from way back in 1973. Bruce, bless him, sounds really nervous and shy.

Now in 1973 some of my Bruce buddies were barely old enough to talk so whether or not they would've liked this at the time isn't an issue. I was 14 years old and into music in a big way. Not this sort of music though. I really wouldn't have liked it at all. In fact to be honest I'm not even sure if I like it now! I'm pleased I've heard it and I will listen to it again, but really, if it wasn't a Bruce recording it would be filed at the back of the cupboard never to surface again.

When I listen to Bruce's early stuff I can understand why he was likened to Bob Dylan. I didn't do Dylan back in the seventies although I like some of his more familiar songs now - Just Like A Woman, Lay Lady Lay, Like a Rolling Stone etc. Chimes of Freedom is one of my favourite Bruce covers. I didn't know it was a Dylan song when I first heard it.

A few months ago I bought Live at the Main Point . This is a recording from a couple of years later and the songs on this are obviously more familiar than those on 'Bound for Glory' but I'm still not sure about the early stuff.

My final recent purchase is Live on Air

I thought it sounded somewhat familiar and - well - I was right. It's highlights from The Main Point! Anyway all is not lost. There is a bonus DVD featuring some of Bruce's appearances on the TV. You can get the DVD on it's own. The reviews aren't great but this, from the same reviewer I quoted above, is a fair summing up

As a Springsteen collector the criticism regarding the quality of this product is, I beleive, unfair. How many Springsteen fans have bought bootleg recordings of very dubious quality without complaint, and at extortionate prices, and in many ways this DVD should be seen in the same way. For the European market these are rare recordings and a little dated but should be seen as such. The price is reasonable and I enjoyed watching it given the limitations. This DVD is not trying to be something it isn't and at the end of the day you get what you pay for. If you want top quality live footage there is plenty available and as a greatest video hits the Springsteen Video Anthology is hard to beat. Like they say you pays your money and makes your choice.

I assumed that unless you lived in the USA and saw/taped them at the time this release is the only chance you would have to see them but I've found Lucky Town on the good old internet. You will see that the picture quality is, indeed, awful and so is Bruce's shirt!!

Lucky town (live 92 snl) bruce springsteen by runawaydream

Some of you may know that we take a keen interest in Joe Grushecky. We have several of his albums and Mike, in particular, likes his music. He will be uppermost in your minds lately following the fantastic shows in Pittsburg the other week. There is a great interview with Joe in Rolling Stone Magazine. Amazingly he has a day job as a special education teacher because he can't make a living as a musician.

Joe met Bruce in 1980 when Stevie was playing on the recordings of The River and Grushecky's album of the time. They had a lot in common so became friends.

There's a funny little piece in The Daily Express in which Nils tells us about Bruce's secret band. Apparently they get together and jam round the kitchen table.

Finally as I've been rummaging around the internet I may have stumbled upon some more rumours about a tour next year. This time it's about the Isle of Wight Festival and is discussed on this forum. Although it's headed 'Isle of Wight Festival 2011' they are discussing headliners for 2012.

lest we forget

2011-11-13T20:22:00.000Z

Here's a tricky question for you. If you had to lose one sense - your hearing or your sight - which would you choose?

I suspect most people would say they would rather be deaf. On the face of it managing without your hearing would seem to be so much easier than being blind. From a purely practical point of view, that may be true but I'm sure I would find it so much harder emotionally to be without sound. Think of it another way. Would you rather see Bruce and not hear him or hear him but not see him?

I've told you previously how much music means to me. Not only Bruce, but music, any music is a central part of my life. Music evokes such memories. I can't listen to Homeward Bound without thinking about my late mum and although my dad died over 30 years ago I'm immediately transported back to my teenage years with him when I hear Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.

Talking to my brother a few weeks after my mum died we found that, quite independently, we had bought a CD of Michael Holliday's greatest hits. Our parents played an old album of his over and over again when we were young.

I say when we were young but actually my brother is eleven years older than me so when he was 16 and playing music a lot in his bedroom I was only five. He had an LP record carrying case which I wasn't allowed to touch. I had a sneaky peak from time to time, though, when Ian wasn't around. When I opened the lid there was an amazing smell - I'm not sure if it was the case itself, the LP covers or the vinyl but I loved that smell.

Maybe it was because they were off limits that these bits of plastic seemed so intriguing to me. I can still remember many of the covers and the songs will always

take me back to a particular time in my life.

This Rolling Stones cover was particularly fascinating

It had a real zip. I had no idea at the time that there was anything untoward about undoing a man's trousers!

Mike's favourite song is Thunderclap Newman's Something in the Air.

This featured on a cassette of Mike's I have talked about before. He had made this cassette of his favourite songs long before I met him. Well they weren't all his favourites - in those days you couldn't just download any track you fancied - you were limited to the records you owned, so although some tracks were favourites, some were just fillers. All the songs take me back to the early days of our relationship, bring back such amazing memories and remind me how much I love my husband....because sometimes in the drudge of day to day life I forget.

This week during the run up to Remembrance Day Radio 2 featured a series in which mother's talk about their sons who were killed in action. They told their very moving stories partly through the music their son's loved. Here is a link. If you have time to listen to only one it's worth it - all the stories are so moving and set me off thinking what music might be a reflection of my life and what tracks I would chose myself - hence the reminiscing.

Bruce has been doing his bit this week too. His annual joke always makes me chuckle - he's no stand up comedian that's for sure. The start of this clip is quite funny. You can hear someone complaining about the shirt!

This made me laugh too

And finally the story of Andrew Kinard who was given Bruce's guitar by the person who won the auction. More about this where else but at Blogness on the Edge of Town

Now and Then

2011-11-06T21:24:00.004Z

I feel excitement in the air this week!

There is many a time when I sit down on a Sunday evening and have no idea what I am going to write about. I decided to be a bit more organised this week and started on something last Monday but now, six days later, important events have superseded my musings. I say important because somehow Bruce's shows with Joe Grushecky feel that way. They feel as if they are a build up to something and that's why I am excited or ... maybe it's just me clutching at straws.

I haven't had a chance to watch all the videos that have come out of the Pittsburg nights. There is a lot of great stuff - almost as good as being there - I said almost. Blogness on the Edge of Town has a great selection of clips.

My reservations about acoustic versions of band songs have been somewhat quashed and I'm thinking an acoustic tour might be no bad thing. Great version of Land of Hope and Dreams here

For two people like Mike and I who usually sit at gigs, or at least we are in the seated section even if we are actually standing, acoustic sort of suits us.

One thing we must all be sure of, after seeing these videos, is that this man cannot give up doing live shows - he is just amazing. His voice is sounding better than ever to me. He looks happy and fit and ready to go. It would seem from this quote that bruce knows folks all around the world want to see him.

"People have flown to Pittsburgh from all across the world! That's almost as crazy as flying to Asbury Park! It's insane! People come from perfectly wonderful places, and they leave them! I met some people from Sweden, and Spain's here too. Even Italy. It's crazy, and the obligation weighs very heavy on my head."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/bruce-springsteen-plays-three-and-a-half-hour-show-in-pittsburgh-20111105#ixzz1cxyoYR17

The end of this clip is fab when Bruce gets the crowd to join in. It's about 3.40 in if you don't want to listen to all of Thunder Road - What! you don't want to listen to it all?

He sings that last line with as much gusto as the audience. It's as if he is one of them rather on the stage -a great illustration of the skill he has as a live performer. He includes the crowd in the gig rather than performing for them. The whole thing almost has a sitting-round-the-campfire feel about it. Now - wouldn't that be a dream come true? - sitting round a campfire with Bruce strumming his guitar, all singing along to Thunder Road.

Whilst we are talking about a new tour and Thunder Road a word to our best mates Jacquie and Mike. They have never been to a Bruce show and we have promised to take them next time round. Hey! you two! start learning the words.

It's been a long time since our last gig ... two years to be exact. On the equivalent Sunday in 2009 a bunch of us were preparing to go to MSG night 2. What a night - I talk about it here. It seems like a lifetime ago yet it seems like yesterday but reading that blog post back now brings a lump to my throat. It was an incredible few days which will never be repeated.

It goes without saying that we would be gutted if Bruce never toured again but if that was the last show I ever saw it would certainly be a very fitting finale.

I can't end on such a negative thought so here is a picture from Pittsburg courtesy of Matt Orel.

Trick or Treat?

2011-10-30T20:54:00.001Z

This week I have been reading some tips on writing an effective blog. Now, I write my blog purely for pleasure so the money making side doesn't interest me. In fact most of the hints and tips aren't really appropriate but the thing that comes up time and again in blog writing advice is that you need to be passionate about your subject.

Of course, for the most part, your readers have to be as passionate about your subject as you are. No one is going to be interested in the weekly musings of an ordinary woman from Leeds unless she is writing about a subject they are interested in. So, I am passionate about my subject and I assume you are too. Lets be honest, if you weren't passionate about Bruce you would think I was just a little odd!! Well, I am a little odd but that's another story.

Every time I go into HMV (and that can be quite often as it is a handy little short cut from one side of town to the other) I have a compulsion to have just a quick look at the Springsteen CDs. I don't flick through them or anything but I just like to know that there is still a full compliment on display!

This holds good for other shops too. In Waterstones I usually check the biographies and in W H Smiths I browse through the music magazines. I was in one of those bargain book shops this week looking for stationery when I spied a book about rock T shirts. I couldn't help myself - I just had to have a little peek at the index to see if Bruce was included. He was... but I didn't recognised the t shirt.

In a music shop that I pass on a regular basis I can see, through the window, a guitar that looks like Bruce's famous Telecaster. I say looks like because from the price it is obvious it's not... I'm so tempted to buy it.

So... I have a question for you - Is this a passion, an obsession or just an eccentricity?

Although The (Bruce) world and his wife have shared this with you over the past few days I can't let this weekend go by without including it here

The Springsteen rumour mill usually runs smooth but I don't remember any mention of this in advance of it appearing. It was a great surprise to me at the time and I absolutely love the video.

Finally this week I've stolen this picture from Angela Cotena's Facebook page

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Let's Hear It For The Banjo Player

2011-10-23T21:20:00.001+01:00

If I am still in the kitchen at 7.00pm I usually catch the beginning of the show that comes on to Radio 2 at that time. The hour between 7.00pm and 8.00pm is, what can best be described as, the specialist hour. Monday is jazz, Tuesday blues and Thursday Bob Harris' country. Those of you who know me well won't be surprised that I often listen to the country show.

Wednesday is folk with Mike Harding (yes that's Mike Harding the comedian). Some of the music he plays is OK. He featured a couple of Seeger Sessions tracks when the album was released. This week he played Crooked Still. Bruce poached Greg Lizst from Crooked Still to play the banjo in The Seeger Sessions Band. Here he is doing his stuff.

It reminded me of a story, which I don't think I've told you before, about the time we went to see Crooked Still. I think it would have been in 2007. Now Mike and I aren't particular fans off folk but it's reasonably inoffensive stuff and we are quite open minded when it comes to trying new genres of music. Nevertheless I don't think we would have found ourselves sitting in The National Centre For Early Music in York waiting for Crooked Still if it hadn't been for the Bruce connection. The National Centre For Early music is a lovely place which I assume was once a church but it doesn't hold many people and we aren't familiar with the folky crowd. We applauded politely along with everyone else after each song. It was pleasant enough but nothing too exciting.

Anyway part way through the show the lead singer introduces the band members...and on the banjo Greg Lizst who has recently been playing with Bruce Springsteen. Well Mike and I cheered - I think it's an instinctive sort of thing when Bruce's name is mentioned - and there was deathly silence. I could feel eyes boring into the back of my head. It was obviously NOT the thing to do when you are sat in the middle of an audience who are obviously rather serious about their music!

We did meet a Laker there though who approached us afterwards to say 'Hi'. He had the good sense to keep his mouth shut during the gig.

Excitement this week as Bruce played The Stone Pony. There's a great detailed article at NJ.com. I had a little chuckle at the story Bruce apparently told about meeting the fans from Sweden who had travelled to see Asbury Park and him. Surely he wasn't surprised to find that fans did this sort of thing. You've go to think that almost every day there is somebody walking down that boardwalk because of Bruce.

We spent a day there - almost two years ago now - and I loved it. I know it used to be a bit run down. Here's a post on a forum I've just read:-

'Asbury Park has a great infrastructure, it's a pretty town especially east of main st., but the inhabitants are what will kill any renaissance. Too many gangstas, crack heads and transvestite prostitutes make for a very ugly urban scene that only the hardiest of pioneers and boosters would tolerate'

Hmmmm well we didn't see any gangstas or crack heads and as for transvestite prostitutes? I do wonder whether, as Springsteen fans, we see Asbury Park through rose tinted spectacles. A place where the sun constantly shines, where we can sit on the boardwalk sipping wine or walk along the beach: a place where there's always good music to listen to and a chance of hearing Bruce play or, better still, meeting him.

I'd go back again in a heartbeat. I'd certainly be there for the Light of Day concerts in 2012 if I could afford it but we need all the money we can muster for a Bruce tour next year.

In the mean time if no album materialises in November how about an album of new songs next year and a Christmas album in December! I love a good Christmas song.

Talk To Me

2011-10-16T21:47:00.003+01:00

We first saw Southside Johnny at The Leadmill in Sheffield in November 2005. That night he only sang a couple of songs we knew. One was The Fever. I can't remember the other but I suspect it was another Bruce song. This was also the first time we encountered Bernie. For those of you who don't know Bernie is a little chap with long grey hair and a unique way of dancing. He can be seen at Bruce gigs all over the world.

Last night The Picturedrome in Holmfirth was our 5th show, and although Johnny sang a lot more songs which I know, I'm still at that stage where I often don't recognise them until we get to the chorus! The Fever was in the set list again. This is a bit of a sing-a-long for the audience and any Springsteen fan would recognise the song straight away. Talk To Me is taken at quite a lick. The crowd like to sing along to this too, as can be heard from the rather out of tune audience participation from Holmfirth a couple of years ago! - skip to about 3.40. There aren't many folks who are worse singers than me but this could be one of them.

Mike and I knew Southside's version of this before it became familiar to all of us when it was featured on 'The Promise'. Hearts Of Stone is also a Southside classic and I prefer his version of All The Way Home to Bruce's. We are still waiting to hear this live.

Here they are doing that version together.

A Southside show doesn't give me the collywobbles in the same way as a Springsteen gig does. I'm so excited before a Bruce show I can hardly eat. The first show of a new tour is always the worst. Will it be as good as the last tour? How will the new songs sound? How will Bruce sound? How many of the classics will we hear? Will we get any of the songs from the more recent albums? Once that first show is out of the way I relax a little but there is a special frisson of excitement before any Bruce show that nothing else can match...nothing else at all!

Don't get me wrong I was really looking forward to Saturday but whether it was a good or bad show wasn't so important to me. Actually I've never seen either Bruce or Johnny put on a bad show. There are some I've enjoyed more than others but that's down to the set list. Can't fault the effort they both put in night after night.

Anyway I took my trusty little note book with me to try to piece together the set list. I knew I would have to be creative with my notes as the titles of most songs would elude me. I popped down a line or two if I had no clue but it was surprisingly easy to work out the title once I had heard the chorus through a couple of times.

Here's the (almost) full list

Cross That Line
I Played The Fool
Baby Don't Lie
All Night Long
Gin Soaked Boy
Without Love
Lead Me On
?
Why Is Love Such A Sacrifice
Forever
I Remember Last Night
Harder Than It Looks
Walk Away Renee
Number One Son
Love On The Wrong Side Of Town
This Time It's For Real
Talk To Me
Happy

A couple sung by the keyboard player
A Song For You (The Carpenters)
I'm A Man(The Spencer Davis Group)

I Don't Wanna Go Home
Trapped Again
The Fever
One More Night To Rock
Hearts Of Stone

Oh and Bernie was there.

The latest rumour on the Bruce album front is a release date of February 2012. I love a good bout of speculation but even I am getting a bit cheesed off with all this now. Lets hope that the next time we hear anything it's a bit more concrete.

Bruce is planning to get himself up on stage though. He's going to be in Pittsburgh with Joe Grushecky on 3rd and 4th of November. For anyone who wants to see some earlier performances check out Blogness on the Edge of Town.

That's all for this week.

I'm Going Down To Lucky Town

2011-10-09T21:54:00.001+01:00

Music is always in my life. If you are a regular reader you will know I have my iPod with me wherever I go: I listen to the radio quite a lot, mostly, but not always BBC radio 2: my colleagues and I can often be heard humming along to ourselves whilst tapping away on the keyboard and sometimes I even wake up with a song already in my head. Yes music is with me all the time but usually in the background.

The only time we really settle down to listen to an album is when a new Bruce album comes out. This is an event in our house. We sit down together probably with a glass of something and really pay attention. We might not speak at all during the first play through but then discuss our initial impressions before listening again. The album will then follow us around for a week or two. It'll be on in the kitchen whilst I'm cooking, it'll be on in the car, it'll get loaded up to iTunes and the iPods. It will be played in isolation and in order. Then it's likely to be put away on the shelf and I'll only hear a track if it comes up during my IPod shuffle.

Someone on Greasy Lake said they like to be in control of their music so shuffle isn't an option for them. I'm the opposite. I don't like to know what is coming up next. I think that's why I still find the radio so interesting. I like to hear new songs, artists I've never heard of and I like to hear an old song that I'd forgotten about. If a Springsteen song comes on the radio it absolutely makes my day!

We have a radio or CD player in every room in our house but only two TVs. Perhaps if we had a TV in the kitchen I might watch that but as it is we have a radio/CD player. The radio goes on as soon as I get downstairs in the morning and often at night whilst I'm cooking tea. The exception to this might be if we have a new album by somebody other than Bruce. This, of course, doesn't require as much attention as a new Springsteen release so it's usually a background thing.

I mention all this because this week I suddenly deviated from the norm and got an old Bruce album out of the CD rack to play in the kitchen. This really is unusual and what's even stranger is that I chose Lucky Town. Now I have a soft spot for both Lucky Town and Human Touch. They weren't the first albums we bought - that predictably was BITUSA - but significantly the HT/LT tour was the first live show we saw. As we all know once you see the man live you are hooked for life.

Well I bopped around and sang along and really enjoyed hearing this for the first time in it's entirety since... well it must be fifteen years! I gave myself a telling off for bowing to what I perceive to be pressure from the Bruce community to dislike this album. OK so it's not the E Street Band - in fact according to the sleeve it's mainly Bruce. It's a great, uplifting, hopeful album and - yes - I like it.

I haven't played Human Touch but Man's Job is a guilty pleasure and Human Touch (the track itself) includes one of my favourite lines - You can't shut off the risk and the pain without losin' the love that remains.

There aren't many songs from these albums that we hear live nowadays. Human Touch pops up from time to time and I think Bruce gives us Living Proof on occasion. If I Should Fall Behind crops up a fair bit and I was surprised to find that the recorded version sounded sort of unfamiliar. Bruce has obviously changed the rhythm and emphasis of the song over the years. I've probably become accustomed to The Live in NYC version.

I remember someone saying once that their favourite version of Thunder Road was the original recording because they didn't like the way Bruce changed the emphasis of the words. Is it called the cadence? I had the same problem with the acoustic version of The Rising. I couldn't get to grips with the melody at all.

Last week Sting was 60 and we all know that our man did a bit of a turn.

Now his voice is great and I must say I really like it but he's certainly changed the lilting melody of the original. Here's Sting's version for comparison.

Here in the UK we have had a bit of excitement this week because Jessica Springsteen is riding at The Horse Of The Year Show. Sadly we have felt compelled to watch the TV coverage on the off chance we might catch a glimpse of dad and to cheer on Jessica - not very patriotic of us!

I have an excuse as I used to follow show jumping when I was younger. I've actually enjoyed catching up with the sport and I think Mike is getting quite into it now.

... So off to watch Jessica in The Leading Show Jumper Of The Year competition.

Rumours...

2011-10-02T18:02:00.000+01:00

...No NOT the Fleetwood Mac Album

Is anyone else checking Shorefire Media every few hours just on the off chance there's a press release?

Does anyone really believe the information that comes out from any other source? Well - no - but we all so WANT to believe. This is why the rumour about 'Arcade at Night' took off so spectacularly. Some peeps thought there might be a grain of truth in the rumour so, to put it politely, others called them idiots. Heated arguments ensued on some of the threads I've seen this week. Come on guys we have a common passion - music we love - so why do we have to be so hateful to each other. Argue, discuss, disagree but there's no need to get personal is there?

The person who runs a FB page called 'Bruce Springsteen News' is seriously thinking of giving up because of the abuse she receives in personal emails. Now all this woman does is post up news that has appeared on the internet elsewhere. She doesn't claim to agree or disagree with it, or filter it in any way, she just copies it for peeps to see. Why would anyone give her grief? Fortunately she has now received a whole load of messages in support. Perhaps that will redress the balance.

You might say that the person who started the album rumour deserves some abuse but let's be honest a lot of the sites that reported the news were sceptical - here's Blogness - and if professional journalists chose to report stuff that hasn't been ratified well that's pure laziness on their part. I suppose it depends on the individual but I can't get angry about this. I'm as passionate about Bruce and his music as the next man but it isn't life and death. So someone had a joke at our expense. It kept the message boards buzzing for a day or two and perhaps taught us a bit of a lesson. Just to be sure here's today's post from Blogness

So I say again... is anyone checking Shorefire Media every few hours just on the off chance there's a press release? Lets stick to the official source.

Another rumour surfaced in the local Florence paper. This is the Google translation which reads a bit strangely in places:-

(01 October 2011)

Bruce Springsteen in Florence
The Boss returns to the stage

At eight years of extraordinary concert at the American rocker Franks on the verge of signing the contract

FLORENCE closer to Bruce Springsteen: We are on the verge of signing contracts that could bring the great American rocker live in our city, next summer at the Franchi stadium. Exactly nine years after a memorable concert in front of thirty-five thousand spectators, the largest mass live event in our city in these two thousand years.

Insufficient signatures, they said, and in the running are two other Italian cities, Udine and Bari, but Florence is a clear advantage because the management of Springsteen and the artist remain a beautiful memory of that night. What's more, it would, at least for the moment, the only Italian date European tour.

Yeah, just turned 62 Springsteen back on tour in Europe.The occasion is the release of highly anticipated new album of unreleased, whose exact date is still under debate among specialists (who says this year, another in spring). It is certain that this is also the first tour without Clarence Clemons, who died June 18 last year, the saxophonist who has left a void in the blackest estreet Band. The idea of the "Boss" in this sense is all'assetto return of the Seventies, with the same horn section at that time, a solution that would be more welcome to fans as well as the new producer Ron Aniello.

In fact, on websites and blogs of fans from two or three days, talking about it, and if Florence was able to really grab an exclusive event like this would be a blow that can revive the fortunes of a Summer Fiorentina rather stingy of great names, returning at once on an international stage.

(01 October 2011)© All rights reserved

This may also be a load of rubbish but as I quite fancy a trip to Italy I've checked out the local airport and we can fly to Pisa which is OK for Florence. Hey, It's hopes and dreams that keep us going in this life!

Anyway thinking of Florence I thought I'd check out YouTube for some earlier Bruce shows in the city and a search brought up this:-

In case that disappointed you there's also this:-

It's the anniversary of the release of Magic today. Now I love Magic. It has been suggested by someone very close to me that I 'love' things a bit too much but I really DO love Magic. There are only a couple of tracks that I don't really care for. The 2007 December show at the O2 has to be one of my favourites not least because we got to wear our Santa Hats!

As I started to write this post we were still waiting for some You Tube footage from Sting's birthday bash. I've just checked again and here we are!

If you are interested in reading about it too, here's a report from Rolling Stone and checkout this piece from The Mail a UK newspaper which is more about the fashion than the music.

Finally I got a surprise text from my husband during the week. He in turn had received it from his boss (not The Boss) who had got it via Twitter. I've heard of couples texting risque photos of each other but this!

Songs from my iPod - Track 2

2011-09-25T21:12:00.003+01:00

I listen to my iPod most days on my bus journey to and from work.

Always on shuffle - sometimes the whole library, sometimes just Bruce.

This is a series of posts inspired by one of the songs I have heard during the previous week.

Some tracks bring back memories of particular shows and when Incident popped up this week as I was walking along it immediately took me back to Wembley Arena 2002.

I've talked about this before but I've remembered it before too, and of course, it doesn't stop me remembering again so I figured I could talk about it again. This might be a strange logic but I'm sure you know what I mean?

It was only our third Bruce show and although by this time I think we had most of the back catalogue to be honest the older stuff didn't really interest us. We both loved The Rising and were looking forward to hearing a lot of the songs from the new album. Being relative novices we didn't know a rarity or two might turn up that would possibly make several people in the crowd cry with joy.

I think by this time I had done a little preparation and learned the words to Born To Run. I listened over and over with the lyric booklet until I got it right. The toughest bit was the last verse where, let's be honest, it doesn't quite scan - 'Someday girl I don't know when we're going to get to that place where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun'.

I also had a little note book with me to write down the set list. In those days we didn't know that we could find the details later on the internet and anyway sometimes you want to discuss it straight after the gig. Although now we could probably remember everything Bruce played during our walk back to the car or hotel in those days with our sketchy knowledge we weren't even sure of the title of each song.

I carried the tickets to that show and the note book around with me for ages but I don't have them any more. I didn't start keeping that sort of stuff until later - shame. Anyway I had no idea of the title of Incident and no idea that it was a rarity so it was lost on me. A few bars in I looked at Mike who was obviously no wiser and I think he suggested I listed it as 'Spanish Johnny'.

When we got home I trawled through our CDs, and yes, there it was. I put this track, along with all the others I could find, on a cassette - my way of reliving a show before we discovered the world of the bootleg! I don't have the cassette any more either but I do have a bootleg - a very good one.

So we've only heard Incident on 57th Street once since - at MSG on 7th November 2009. It wasn't a surprise that night, of course, as Bruce was playing WIESS in it's entirety.

I can't let this week go by without wishing Bruce happy birthday.

We might have been hoping for some good news to go along with this instead we hear from Steven that the band members are meeting up within the next few weeks to discuss their future. My first thought was a break up but Mike pointed out they might decide to carry on. Perhaps they already know they are continuing and are just chatting about how to go about this. In any event at least we might know one way or the other soon.

This week was my birthday too and to celebrate Sinead, one of my Bruce buddies sent me a YouTube clip of... Incident on 57th Street. I like the song although it might not be in my top ten. Mind you it's pretty cool to hear Bruce sing 'Goodnight it's alright Jane'

See you all next week

Jayne
x

Album this Autumn - Do I Still Believe?

2011-09-18T18:59:00.000+01:00

I listened to 'Bruce Brunch' today for the first time for ages. When I first discovered this I would get very grumpy - and I mean VERY grumpy if we got visitors when it was on. My Sundays revolved around these two hours. After a while though, and I never thought I would say this, I got a bit bored with it!

Listening again today, for the first time in a while, I really enjoyed it. We don't own a big selection of boots so one of the good things about 'Bruce Brunch' for me is the live stuff which I've never heard before. I love the long drawn out stories Bruce used to tell. Mike, on the other hand, just wants Bruce to sing.

The lack of news on the new album front is becoming a bit disheartening. I'm not so sure about a release this year any more. If my memory serves me, and I can't be sure it does, when a release is imminent we usually have leaks and much more speculation, discussion and excitement than there is at the moment. Also don't we get a couple of tracks for radio play a few weeks before the release date to whet the appetite? Unless... it's a Christmas Album of course!

I'm pleased to say that Blogness on the Edge of Town disagrees with me and I bow to Pete Chianca's better judgement on this.

Anyway to fill the gap I bought Elsie a couple of weeks ago and I like it. Don't know if there is a stand out track for me but there isn't a song I don't like either. Some of it is very like 'Gaslight Anthem', perhaps because of Brian Fallon's distinctive voice, but other tracks are quite different.

The 59 Sound might possibly be my favourite album in the last five years (certainly my favourite non Springsteen album) so Brian has a hard act to follow as far as I am concerned.

Not much Bruce news this week just a bit from NJ.Com saying he is going to be playing at the Stand Up For Heros benefit on 9th November. This isn't a surprise as he has appeared for the last five years. We usually get a couple of clips on YouTube so, and this is really clutching at straws, there's something to look forward to.

Bruce is also turning up for Sting's birthday on 1st October. Wonder what he is doing for his own special day? Announcing a new album perhaps??

Finally to round off this week Ten things you need for a great Springsteen tribute band.

Postponed

2011-09-11T18:40:00.000+01:00

For reasons that I won't bore you with there will be no blog this week.

However I can't let the day pass without marking it's significance.

In memory of all those who lost their lives 10 years ago today:-

Remembering The First Time (Again)

2011-09-04T19:11:00.000+01:00

When my old laptop died we lost the spreadsheet listing the gigs we have been to and the set list for each. This week I began to prepare a new one starting with the set for Sheffield 1993. I don't remember much about that first show except that at some point during the concert I was hooked.

Having spent the 18 years since, getting to know Bruce's back catalogue, collecting boots, reading biographies and keeping up with discussions on message boards it's hard to imagine what I felt like that virginal night. I know the crowd around us stood up the moment Bruce walked onto the stage and never sat down all the way through. I know we thought they were booing. I know we went on the first night of two because I can remember quite clearly wishing I was going back the next night.

I also remember regretting that I didn't buy a programme. We knew someone who was going the following night and toyed with asking him to get one but I reasoned that it would just get stuck in a drawer and eventually be thrown away. I have never bought a programme since - there's no point starting now - but I wish I had them to look back through. I did buy a T shirt and I have one from every tour we've been to except Devils and Dust. (It was a very hot night, time was short and a drink was more important).

I've talked about this first gig before, but I bring it up again now because when I went back over the set list it struck me that it wasn't great. Bruce opened with three acoustic numbers - Seeds, Adam Raised A Cain and This Hard Land. Mike especially doesn't care for Seeds or Adam. Now, I have no problem with the 'other' band or Human Touch and Lucky Town. I think we all have a soft spot for our first tour and I am no exception. It's these albums (bad or not) that really got me into Bruce. I have to say though that listening to the boot again today 57 Channels was just awful, Atlantic City wasn't so good and Badlands just plodded along.

It's kind of a surprise that we ever went to another show! I know many of you would say that the only way was up from here.

Anyway, although the band wasn't so good and the set list wasn't great there was a point during that night when I knew that this couldn't be the only time we would experience the magic of a Springsteen gig. Could it be the charisma of the man himself? Or the enthusiasm of the crowd? Or just the fun everyone had, including Bruce. Most fans who can't bear this part of Bruce's career will, at least, concede that he looked like he was enjoying himself.

The other thing I've been doing this week is trying to decide what is wrong with our Blu-ray player. We bought it when The Promise boxed set came out so, not so long ago. We can be happily watching something and poof! the sound goes: the picture goes: the picture comes back: the picture goes snowy - we give up.

So to test it I popped in The Paramount Darkness DVD. It gave up during Adam Raised A Cain. I wiggled the HDMI lead but no joy. Got out those other leads - you know the ones - they are red and yellow and white. Plugged these in and... success saw Darkness from beginning to end. Plugged the HDMI cable back and watched it through again! It was a chore, you know, but had to be done just to make sure. The upshot of this is I think it's a dodgy HDMI cable - only works sometimes - a bit like me!

Why am I boring you with this tale? Well seeing Darkness all the way through got me thinking about set lists again. Do I need to get a life?

Obviously as we were lucky enough to be at MSG in November 2009 we have heard all the tracks from The River and The Wild The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle but have we heard ALL the tracks from any other album? From memory I'm pretty sure we are missing Factory and Something In The Night from Darkness. Well, when I get the spreadsheet back up to date I'll know for certain.

There was one of those great little Bruce stories this week. He was in Boston and stopped to chat to a busker - he can't resist a guitar can he? Here's a picture from the story which is here

And the You Tube clip

The other story doing the rounds at the moment is this about a teacher using The Rising to help his students,who were only five six and seven in 2001, understand the impact of 9/11.

Finally that up coming album? Nothing really new on this but the rumour is that Shore Fire Media will make an announcement sometime around Labor Day and that's tomorrow.

In the mean time you could go out and buy Brian Fallon's new album which is out tomorrow.

A taster for you

PS: - Still listening to the Sheffield boot - hadn't realised how different that sound was. Hmmm - not sure I would like it now.

So much hate

2011-08-28T20:49:00.000+01:00

Last week when I was trying to find any evidence that Bruce actually dislikes The Way I came across several threads on a number of forums simply discussing how much they hate Bruce. I Googled 'Bruce Springsteen dislike' by the way. Dislike I can understand. Not everyone cares for Bruce's voice and some people don't like his politics. There are folks who say his music is a bit overblown and any number of people who think he is overrated.

This guy has actually written a whole blog post telling us how much he hates our hero and he's not the only one. I see his post is dated a few years ago. Perhaps, by now, he has turned his vitriol to someone else - U2, maybe, as I see they seem to inspire a lot of hatred too.

This post written only last month is a good read, though, by someone who previously didn't like Bruce and has recently changed their mind. I quote ...

I have just finished listening to Darkness on the Edge of Town in its entirety for the first time (via the awesome recent box set The Promise), and it was glorious.

I don't understand why someone would suddenly announce to the world that they hate a person, I don't understand how someone can carry around such negative feelings and I certainly don't understand how someone could hate Bruce! There are even Facebook pages for people who hate him. They don't have many friends admittedly but what possesses people to set up 'I hate' pages anyway.

This exchange on one message board made me smile though.

Original post
I Hate Bruce Springsteen
Does that make me un-American? Not only has the blasting of “Born to Run” here at the cafe made it impossible for me to concentrate. Now one of the boys at the table next to me is singing along! Save me!
Reply
I LOVE BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN. It doesn't make you un-American to hate Bruce Springsteen, it just makes you a little sad to not have that joy in your life.

For an artist of any kind - musician, painter, author or actor the worst thing must be indifference: for the public not to care about you. I found an article about indifference. Quite highbrow but it sums it up like this :- 'there is no hope for the one who does not care but all the hope in the world for one who is connected albeit in denial and rebellion'. So is there hope for our haters?

I think that as long as Bruce can excite such high emotion, positive or negative, he must be doing something right. At least people are aware enough of him to offer an opinion.

And talking about negative feelings Mark Wright started a thread on Greasy Lake about the 1995 Sony Studio Show. Now I'm not familiar with this, but to put it kindly, Mark says it's not Bruce's best work. Most other peeps agree with him... in some fashion.

Here's a clip see what you think.

I can't, of course, let this week go by without mentioning Stan Goldstein's tweet of 23rd August:-

Hear we're getting a new Bruce Springsteen (non E Street) album this Fall and a tour with E Street Band in 2012. Stay tuned...

I don't know how close Stan is to those in the know but can't think he would say anything publicly if he wasn't fairly certain.

Songs From My iPod: Track 1

2011-08-21T18:29:00.005+01:00

I listen to my iPod most days on my bus journey to and from work.

Always on shuffle - sometimes the whole library, sometimes just Bruce.

This is a series of posts inspired by one of the songs I have heard during the previous week.

This week hasn't been so good, for reasons I won't bore you with, and my number one man has been away for a few days. It's at times like this I turn to Bruce so my iPod has been playing all Bruce all the time.

So one morning... 'one, two, keyboards down, three, four'. This is Bruce's count in to Unsatisfied Heart although it's cut from the beginning of this version.

A quick search of the internet has revealed the lyrics and guitar tab which only goes to prove that I like this song because of the melody particularly the chorus. I had no clue about the rest of the lyrics and now I've seen them I'm not at all sure what they mean. It's one of those Springsteen songs with that underlying menacing feel and that recurring theme of his about the bad things you do coming back to haunt you... I think! Anyway here you are

Unsatisfied Heart - Bruce Springsteen



           Eb

Sir I am a pilgrim

        Ab              Eb

And a stranger in this land

Eb

Once I had a home here

   Fm                Db

My salvation was at hand

Eb

I lived in a house of gold

Ab                   Eb

Yeah on the far hill side

Eb

I had two beautiful children

       Fm             Db

And a kind and loving wife



 CHORUS:

         Fm

 And you live 

        Db        Eb             Ab

 With unsatisfied heart, can you live

        Db        Eb             Fm

 With unsatisfied heart, can you live

        Db        Eb             Ab

 With unsatisfied heart, can you live

        Db        Eb

 With unsatisfied heart



And one day a man came to town

With nothing and nowhere to go

He came to me and he mentioned

Something I’d done a long time ago



I allowed him into my home

On his vow that secret wouldn’t see the light

At night I lay awake in my wife’s arms

She sighed Joe are you alright



 CHORUS



 BREAK: Eb Ab Eb Fm

        Eb Ab Eb Fm

        Ab Db Eb

        Ab Db Eb

        Ab Db Eb

        Ab Db Eb



Day after day, time

Yeah time passed on by

But I could feel myself changing

Yeah changing deep inside



One night I woke up

And as my wife did sleep

I got dressed in the darkness

And I fled into the street



 CHORUS



Night after night

The same dream keeps comin round

I'’m standing high on the green hills

On the outskirts of town



The night air fills my lungs

And rustles my shirt

I can see the house where we live

The building where I used to work



As I draw near

The town’s lit by a red summer moon

I feel your arms around me

I wake up in this room

CHORUS

I also see that you can buy the BITUSA outtakes from here but DON'T because one of your friends among our Bruce community is bound to let you have a copy for free.

Anyway hearing Unsatisfied Heart got me to thinking about The Way. They were my two favourite unreleased songs.

When I was hoping for a tour on the back of 'The Promise' I harboured a vain hope that I might get to hear The Way live. Rumour had it, at the time, that Bruce doesn't like the song so, if that's true, perhaps a live version was really unlikely. Now I assume any up coming tour will be to promote a new venture so perhaps the few songs from The Carousel gig is all we are going to see of 'The Promise' live.

Mike's big wanna hear is Back in Your Arms . No doubt he has a better chance than me as this does get an airing from time to time. He missed it by one show back in November 2009 but would he have traded 'The River' night at MSG to hear BIYA in Cleveland?

We all know that part of the magic of a Springsteen concert is not knowing what gem you might get and isn't it ironic that you can be chasing the one song that someone else has heard several times. One of my best Bruce buddies mentioned the other week that she is still waiting to hear Land of Hope and Dreams. We've heard it three times!

On what you might think is a completely different subject Mike and I are thinking about decorating our kitchen. At the moment we have some framed pictures of New York City on the wall but I was wondering whether to go for a stencil instead - something like this:-

But! but!! but!! whilst I was looking I found this:-

and I really like this one on Ebay. Hmmm can I lean him somewhere? I am so tempted !!

Practice Makes Perfect

2011-08-14T19:44:00.002+01:00

Well this week, over the last few days, I've been browsing around the blogosphere to find out what other folks are posting. This is mainly because I have nothing to say for myself!

One of the most surprising things to me is how many bloggers mention Bruce.

So just this week we have posts on Aquarium Drunkard a music blog based in Los Angeles talking about I'm on Fire and Silverio's Showbiz Silver Platter a writer who is talking about Fire. There is a cover version on this blog which is well... awful!! Fire is also the subject of a discussion on Greasy Lake which you might have been interested in if you could get onto the message board. Apparently it's offline for a couple of days.

This post on This is bold just seems to be a Bruce biography. Not sure what the blog is actually about but this post is written under the heading of Amnesty International.

Jeremy Baker, who describes himself as a music nerd, lives in British Columbia and has a blog called The Morning After His post this week is about I'm Going Down and here we have a cover version by Vampire Weekend ... Hmmm much better.

My favourite Bruce blog Blogness on the Edge of Town is almost always first with any useful news so it's no surprise that I found out about Clarence's public memorial from this blog. The memorial is on 19th August if you need to arrange flights!!

Those of you who have been with me from the start will know that Mike was a bit of a Donna Summer fan back in the day. This was before Bruce crossed our radar, so, we had no interest in the fact that he had penned one of the songs on a Donna album we had. Can't say Protection was ever a favourite but this merger of Bruce's and Donna's versions' is interesting. I couldn't resist putting a comment on the post - us bloggers love getting comments as it shows someone is reading! Glad I did as I've now found out that although the YouTube clip is an unofficial mix Bruce and Donna did actually sing the song together.

There are at least a couple of other non Springsteen blogs in which the writer has posted about our man this week and with a bit of delving I'm sure I could find more.

As far as Bruce blogs go as well as Blogness... you might also want to bookmark All Bruce Springsteen which does exactly what it says on the tin.

If you want to brush up on your french you could have a go at Le Blog... or if your german needs a bit of work you could join The Wish. Quite a good header on this one featuring Springsteen-through-the- ages.

Finally I had resisted writing anything about Bruce's Dancing in the Dark efforts but there is such a lot circulating again at the moment I thought I'd put a couple of clips in. I have to watch from behind the sofa!!

I'm Riding Down Kingsley

2011-08-07T19:59:00.001+01:00

So last week I admitted there are some Bruce songs that I don't really like. At least two of my Bruce buddies disagreed with my choices - both mentioned Kitty's Back. Now I know this is a good song it's just that I can't get my ears around the syncopation if that's the right word. Somebody who knows about music can perhaps tell me.

This week I've been thinking about my favourite tracks from the same albums. This isn't so easy or in many ways so interesting. Anyway here they are... I think. There are others I was tempted to add but I've been ruthless.

Sandy
BTR
Thunder Road
Backstreets
Badlands
Racing
The Promised Land
Drive All Night
Atlantic City

So what would you add, and of course, take away?

Mind you, having said there are some songs I'm not keen on, I would quite happily listen to them all If the man was standing on a stage in front of me. Just lately I find I'm really hankering for a tour - more than usual that is. Perhaps it's because I've some money in my Bruce account that's burning a hole in my pocket!

There is some talk on Greasy Lake. Now, I'm happy to clutch at straws and it's a great thought but don't you just hate it when somebody pops up out of nowhere to say they know something that you don't? It's not the only thread suggesting a tour in the autumn, though, and we know Bruce can spring something on us last minute.

Had to chuckle at the comment by DetCaptain on this page. Didn't find my way to the beginning of the article but it's about Barack Obama's 50th birthday party. How come some people hate Bruce so much? It's such a random and vitriolic comment that once I'd got over the shock it just made me laugh!

The Guardian newspaper is a great supporter of Bruce and he gets a mention in a roundabout way in this article. You need to go right down to the last paragraph. Great to see artists are still dedicating stuff to Clarence and here's Damon's version of Thunder Road.

There's many a time when I wish I lived in Asbury Park. In a couple of weeks time 'Outside the Box' are going to play WIESS in it's entirety at The Stone Pony. Would love to be there for that.

Not so sure about the triathlon although I wish I was fit enough to do something like this. Here are the details of the route. Lots of places we all recognise of course and I notice they cycle down Kinglsey at one point!

Talking of Asbury Park I was flicking through the TV channels last week and stopped on an episode of 'The Sopranos'. We have some of the box set and I'm sure we've watched season 2 but I don't remember this.

And last of all this week still on the subject of AP Blogness on the Edge of Town is asking for your Springsteen Landmark stories. Now I know some of you have them - ahhhh happy memories.

Well You Can't Like 'em All

2011-07-31T17:42:00.003+01:00

I found this blog post earlier in the week which reminded me about my oft visited musings on my favourite 5 or 10 or 20 or whatever Springsteen songs. Well I'm sure I can't chose only five. I might make a stab at 10 but turning this on it's head might be easier for me. So I am standing at the bus stop Thursday morning trying to think of the five Bruce songs that I like the least. More accurately I'm trying to think of five songs I don't really like that are quite popular.

I'd already got to five by the time I had reached Human Touch/Lucky Town and here they are:-

It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City
Kitty's Back
Nebraska
Wild Billy's Circus Story
Meeting Across The River

I don't hate any of the above and there are others that nearly made the list instead but, for today, these are the ones I would choose. I know at least one person reading this who will be aghast at one of my choices and Mike really likes Nebraska. What do the rest of you think?

Photo by Mike Black taken from NJ. Com - link to story below

Well Tramps what about this then? For those of us who have already had the good fortune to visit this spot do we now have a great excuse to go again for another picture? Of course we do!

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I had stopped listening to my Bruce Playlist on the iPod and instead I have the whole music library on shuffle. This makes for some interesting combinations especially as it's the whole of the library rather than just my choices. Last week I got Leona Lewis followed by Nickelback. OK I admit it I like Bleeding Love. OK I admit it I like Nickelback.

I get lots of Bruce of course. His albums must make up a good 10% of our total collection. I don't have the bootlegs on the iPod - just the official stuff. I enjoy the lottery of not knowing what I am going to get next but still like it best when I get a Bruce song. Last week, though, I realised I love a Gaslight Anthem track just as much.

Talking of GA there's a great interview with Brian Fallon here. Are we going to like The Horrible Crowes? At least we have something to look forward to in the absence of even a whisper on the Bruce front. Also a good excuse to include a YouTube clip of one of our favourite Gaslight songs.

If you are feeling like something a bit more intellectual and are interested in American economics you can try this blog post with a Bruce mention of course.

And finally this week there's this little ditty. Elaine - Block your ears!

Back on Stage

2011-07-24T18:01:00.002+01:00

Well a bit of excitement this week as Bruce took to the stage at The Wonder Bar. Well technically it was last week but the information came up on the web too late for me to use it last Sunday.

Now I don't claim to be a Springsteen scholar. I listen to his music all the time, and of course, I know more about him - probably much more - than the average man in the street. I've never really gone searching around for obscure stuff, though as the years have gone on, I've got to know more and more. This means that there's often a surprise around the corner. I didn't know Bruce had written Savin' Up although it's listed on Greasy Lake under the 'Lyrics and Chords' section. I had to chuckle at the way Bruce needed to refer to the lyrics - he must have a memory like a sieve! He seems to be really enjoying himself but looks, kind of, out of place. He almost appears to be a little shy, a little unsure of himself - it's quite endearing.

Here's the full set list if you are interested

Action in the Streets

Savin’ Up
Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
Sweet Soul Music
Shake
You Can’t Sit Down
Raise Your Hand
Knock on Wood
634 5789

We always knew it wouldn't be too long before Bruce appeared on stage again and there were rumours he would be here this night as it was billed as a tribute to Clarence. I still think the Springsteen community probably heaved a collective sigh of relief to see him up there looking fit and happy.

Two other performers in New Jersey this week:-

1. U2 who, at The Meadowlands, thanked 'Father Springsteen for the lend of the hall'.

Here is the man himself with Evan at the gig.

They also paid tribute to Clarence

2.Taylor Swift who I understand often includes a cover in her set of a local artist or band and this was no different.

It's a full week of news this week.

We've all heard this lovely little story but it's worth repeating here.

Stacie Pullano Harkavy was with his daughter on a beach on the coast of Jersey, when Bruce appeared only in shorts and wearing sunglasses. The daughter of Stacie, Jolie, had her guitar with her & Bruce took the guitar from her and played a little bit of Born to Run. Bruce then signed the guitar and did a photo with children

Well.. we think it's a lovely little story but it's not everyone that would take kindly to some half dressed bloke coming along and nicking your guitar. Imagine if he ever did this sort of thing to someone who hadn't a clue who he was!

Then there's this story suggesting that if Bruce ran for Governor of New Jersey he might just win. Don't think it's very likely. Great photo of Bruce though.

And finally folks a bit of personal news. Our Outside the Box CD came yesterday. For the uninitiated OTB are playing regularly at The Stone Pony this year. Mike and I, together with new found friends, saw them in Jesse Malin's New York club the weekend we were over in New York, for Bruce's MSG shows, in November 2009. We have followed their fortunes ever since. I've played the album three times so far and It's pretty good. Can't chose a stand out track yet. If you want a listen there are a couple of tracks on the link above.

This is their first album released through Kickstarter. I donated some money to help which is why their thanks are on the sleeve.

And ... this is really last of all for this week simply because it was filmed in Norway - a country which I am sure is in our thoughts this weekend...

... and because it's Mike's favourite.

Is It a Bird? Is It a Plane?...

2011-07-17T20:32:00.000+01:00

No! it's Bruce Springsteen.

So the latest incarnation of Superman is based on Bruce Springsteen. Well what can I say? It's an obvious comparison. We all knew he was Superman anyway!

from Ultimate Classic Rock

I know nothing about comics but Grant Morrison is a Scottish comic book writer and playwright. Don't know if he is a Bruce fan though but got to assume he is.

Now when I search around for stuff to talk about I simply Google 'Springsteen' and up pops anything that mentions Bruce. I haven't come across this blog before, presumably because he hasn't featured our man previously. There's a fab little quiz in this post. It only takes 40 seconds so why not have a go. I've only listened once and I was rubbish! My brain works too slowly to reach into the memory for the song title before it's gone and I'm having to think about the next.

All the songs in the quiz are well known to us but Your Friday Bruce Fix has some unusual tracks for you to listen to.

I wouldn't say we think about Bruce all the time but we don't very often miss a connection however tenuous. Last night we were watching the quiz that goes along with the lottery draw and there's a question about characters in a John Steinbeck novel. Didn't know the correct answer but did know it wasn't 'The Grapes of Wrath" because the character in that was Tom Joad. This on it's own might not excite much of a comment but a couple of questions later and "Code of Silence' came up as an optional answer. Two Bruce links in one show has to be worth a mention!!

To finish this week some old news but in case you haven't seen it here's a link to Rolling Stones Readers Poll :The Greatest Bruce Springsteen Songs. No surprises here but I had to chuckle at Bill Screitmueller's comment :-

'Asking what's your favorite Bruce Springsteen song is like asking who's your favorite child -- you just can't do it.'

Write This Down And Don't Forget It

2011-07-10T20:57:00.002+01:00

If you are a regular on Facebook you will know that questions are being posed all the time - you know the sort of thing 'What's your favourite song from 'Dirty Dancing?'' 'How many of these films have you seen?' 'What sort of cat food do you feed your moggy?' Now I am a bit of a quiz/survey junkie so at first I couldn't help myself - I answered every question going. Nowadays I try to pass but in the last couple of weeks I've had questions I couldn't refuse - my favourite track from various Springsteen albums.

I had to go for 'can't choose' on the 'Born To Run' Question because I really can't. Now I know for most people it's a no brainer - Thunder Road yes? But although Thunder Road is an absolute masterpiece I still can't dismiss Born To Run. It's BTR that makes me jump up and down, BTR that makes me sing at the top of my voice and BTR that can lift me on a bad day, so for it's pure joyfulness, for it's ability to make me happy when I'm down I have to put BTR on a par with Thunder Road.

Badlands is a feel good song for me too, so reasoning that I couldn't sit on the fence again, I chose this as my favourite from 'Darkness'. It was a difficult decision though as I really like The Promise Land and Darkness itself.

'WIESS' was an easy choice for me - Sandy. It is so evocotive of my own teenage life on the coast. The beach, the amusements, the fairground.

No questions about any other album yet but coincidently Mike had been picking a track from each album to put on his iPhone the other week. He keeps most of his music on an iPod and this is just a back up. Now Mike and I probably don't agree on the best track on many a Bruce album. Atlantic City and Youngstown are possibly the only two. His list is here.

Aint Good Enough For You
Atlantic City
Back In Your Arms
Drive All Night
For You
Hearts Of Stone
I Wanna Be With You
I Wish I Were Blind
John Henry
Kingdom Of Days
Living Proof
Long Walk Home
Matamoras Banks
No Surrender
The Promised Land
The Rising
The River
When You Need Me
When You're Alone
Wrong Side Of The Street
Youngstown
4th July Asbury Park (Sandy)

Now here's a question for you - can you say which album each of the tracks are from? I know this should be easy for most of you but I'm really bad at matching tracks to albums.

Bruce and Joe DePugh from the article

So I've read a couple of articles this week - I think I already knew a bit about Bruce's influence for Glory Days but this was still an interesting read.

Then there's this piece about Clarence's footballing days. I like this paragraph:-

Boozer said the last time he saw Clemons face to face was about 1971 at a restaurant on Wall Street. Clemons spoke excitedly about being on the verge of a major breakthrough. Boozer says he also remembers that conversation as if it were yesterday.

“I asked him what he was doing, and he told me that he had met a blue-eyed soul brother who was going to make him a lot of money,” Boozer said. “I asked him what he meant, and he said that he had met a young fella who could really sing, who stirs the crowd, gets them all involved. He said write this down and don’t forget it: Bruce Springsteen."

Last little snippet for this week. I've been visiting Twitter a lot more lately. I've discovered it's quite good when I am watching a TV programme or sporting event. Other folks comments about, for instance 'The Apprentice', can be quite entertaining. More entertaining than the programme itself you might say.

Got onto this trending thing too. I'm keeping up with the news now. Found out, because they were trending on Twitter, when Peter Falk had died and that South Sudan had been 'born'.

Anyway to get to the point. I popped onto Twitter yesterday and saw that Jay Weinberg was stuck on a plane and to relieve the boredom he was asking if anyone wanted to have a game of 'Words With Friends' (for anyone who doesn't know It's an app a bit like Scrabble). So Mike is now playing 'Words' with Jay Wienberg. So are several hundred other people who saw the tweet!! ... But hey it's sort of a claim to fame.

Save Some Time To Dream

2011-07-03T21:49:00.000+01:00

Some weeks when I start to write my blog I find myself a bit deflated. There are so many Springsteen blogs out there that there is nothing I can say that hasn't already been published more than once already. This is particularly evident when nothing much is happening because we are all finding the same scraps of news!

Anyway I can recommend that you visit Blogness this week and listen to the audio of Drive All Night. This is one of my favourite blogs and always worth a look.

We bought Eddie Vedder's album - Ukulele Songs this week. One of our Bruce Buddies - Tony - recommended it. Mike isn't sure if he likes it. I have only listened to it once so far but I thought it was OK. I need to listen a few more times to be sure if I really like it. I haven't had time this week because I've been playing a lot of John Mellencamp - more of this later.

Anyway Tony suggested we don't, as he put it, waste our money in future buying stuff that we may not like. A copy could be slipped surreptitiously in our direction to test the waters first so to speak. Now this might sound like a good idea but those of you who have followed this blog may remember that I have a love of sleeve notes. This means that copies and downloads don't really do it for me.

I may be old fashioned but I still like browsing round HMV and buying a CD sometimes because I know only one of the tracks or because a friend or colleague has suggested it. I like the anticipation of taking it home, putting it on the stereo and not knowing what I'm going to get. Don't get me wrong we do have a lot of copies (should I be admitting that?) but they are always albums I would never have bought myself anyway.

So Eddie Vedder is to be played next week.

Last week I was preparing for our John Mellencamp gig which we went to on Friday.

I was a little dubious prior to the event as there were some strange reviews on Greasy Lake particularly about a film that was shown before the live gig. The film was a little odd and if I had not been pre-warned I think I would have wondered what on earth was going on.

Before John came on we were treated to a Johnny Cash track. I can't remember what the track was which is probably ignorant of me as I am sure it had some significance. John's appearance was announced over the PA system along with a list of his achievements - you know the sort of thing - nominated for x number of Grammy awards etc etc

So far I wasn't impressed but he bounced onto the stage full of eneregy. He was singing something I didn't know but all the audience stood and cheered and sang along. Everyone was really up for it throughout. It reminded me a little of my first Bruce show. We had invited ourselves to the party but had only half of an idea what was going on! The Manchester Apollo was almost full and I have to say I thouroughly enjoyed it. In my after concert euphoria I told Mike it was the best show I had been to after Bruce... then I remembered Gaslight Anthem and Mike reminded me about Southside Johnny who I really like. So the jury is out for the time being.

The one thing that would stop me going again is the price of the ticket - £80 (including the extras they add on) for just under two hours was a bit steep I thought. Of course Bruce spoils us.

He actually didn't play many tracks from the new album but he did play this which I love but then I'm a sucker for songs about having dreams and making the most of the time we have.

There were a few Springsteen T shirts around and this in the local Macdonalds.

Not quite The Hard Rock Cafe but it's the best I can do for now.

---------------------------------------

We had a sad little moment this week. June's picture on our 2011 calendar happened to be this:-

I couldn't bring myself to turn it over at first but.. look at July's photo - a reminder of the great times on tour - this picture can't fail to make you smile.

It Takes Two

2011-06-26T18:45:00.001+01:00

Last week’s blog was easier to write than I imagined it would be. I wrote it on a wave of emotion and jotted down my thoughts as they came to me. This week it has been harder.

Clarence has been on my mind on and off all week. People grieve in all sorts of ways. I am what you might call a sporadic griever. By this I mean I am sad in chunks rather than all the time. Even when the news broke I didn’t spend the day thinking about it but certain things have happened during the week that brought tears to my eyes. Tenth Avenue Freeze Out on Radio 2 Monday morning. Bobby Jean popping up on the iPod on the bus Thursday morning. Brian Fallon’s little speech before he played The 59 Sound at Glastonbury.

My dad died way back in 1977. I had just turned 19 and everyone said I coped so well. I did. I got over it quickly yet I still cry now sometimes when Morecambe and Wise appear on the TV (they were his favourite). I miss him to this day. I always will.

And I will always miss Clarence.

So it’s the tone and content of this week’s blog that I’ve pondered over. Do I simply go back to the blog I was writing before our world was turned on it’s head? Do I talk more about Clarence or do I talk about what might happen next?

I have flirted with Greasy Lake this week but everyone still seems so raw and many folks aren’t quite ready to move on. I’m not sure if I want to hear about other peeps grief. it only makes me more sad and can be a self perpetuating thing stopping us ever being ready to move on. I’ve not been near for a few days. I need my thoughts to be my own. Need to deal with it in my own way without outside influence.

I admit I am one of those who, with a sad heart, is ready to look ahead.

Lets be honest there have been threads wondering what would happen if Clarence wasn’t ever well enough to perform again so it’s not a new discussion. It’s just that we didn't really believe he would never play again. I suppose we always thought Danny would come back again too. We told ourselves Charlie was only a temporary replacement. We accepted him as such, and when the worst happened, we were already used to him.

So, with apologies to those of you who are not ready to consider the future, I give you my thoughts. What about a horns section? This has been suggested often enough in the past. Bruce can then play what he wants, with or without a saxophone solo, and when the time comes no single person has to be front and centre...just a thought.

As I am writing this I feel as if I need some light relief after all and there is one thing I had been thinking about - not entirely seriously. Consider these three facts:-

We think Bruce’s new producer is Ron Aniello - Patti’s man
Bruce has done a bunch of duets in the last year or so with various artists
Bruce and Patti did do that duet recently for the Every Mother Counts CD

and there's this

So next album - Patti and Bruce doing an album of covers !! I’ve been thinking of songs they could try:-

Islands in the Stream

Something Stupid

I got you Babe

And what about

Cinderella Rockefella or Save Your Love - for those of you outside the UK you may not be familiar with these gems. Believe it or not they both got to number 1 over here.

See what you can come up with. You can use the comments box for your suggestions or my Facebook friends can post your thoughts there!!

If you can't think of any there's a list of famous duets here.

Don't Cry Because It's Over...

2011-06-19T18:32:00.000+01:00

I was still in bed when Mike told me that Clarence had died. I was patting myself on the back for holding it all together. Being British I'm not sure about outpourings of grief for people you don't really know. Then Mike played Back in Your Arms and I shed more than a tear or two. We are all going to miss this man so much.

We first saw Bruce live in 1993 on the Human Touch/Lucky Town tour. Both of us were absolutely clueless about The E Street Band. We wouldn't have recognised a band member if we had fallen over them in the street BUT we did know that there was a big black man who played the sax. He wasn't on that tour of course but it only goes to prove that, apart from Bruce, with no disrespect to the other band members, Clarence is the only person most non Bruce fans would know about.

I bought Mike a saxophone for his 50th birthday. He was keen to learn some Clarence solos. Although he mastered a few songs, his tutor was a jazz musician and the rock tunes were never accomplished. Perhaps now he'll try again.

Today as we all mourn together many words have been written about how much we will miss the Big Man. You Tube clips showing off his skills have come thick and fast. BBC and Sky news reported his death. Johnnie Walker finished his Radio 2 programme with Jungleland which surely includes the ultimate Clemons sax solo.

The last time I saw Clarence live was at Madison Square Garden 8th November 2009. I can't mention this weekend without reminding you that it was the best few days of my life so I pick my special Clarence moment from that weekend.

I last saw him on TV only a few weeks ago on stage with Lady Gaga at the American Idol finale. He may not have been playing with Bruce but given Gaga's popularity he couldn't have been much more 'on trend'. We know from what Clarence himself had said that he was thrilled to have been asked to play with her and, because of the Lady Gaga connection, at the time of his death it's possible Clarence was more famous than Bruce himself! He would have wanted to leave us at the top of his game, and my word, he did just that.

Since the last tour there has been much speculation about whether The E Street band would ever tour again. Maybe they won't but there's one thing for sure Born To Run will never be the same without a sax solo. If Clarence is not there to play it will Bruce employ someone else? If he does will the stage set up remain the same? I don't know but ...

Whatever happens and whoever stands there Clarence's side of the stage will always be Clarence's side of the stage and his spirit will be there - always.

To round off here is the statement from Brucesprinsteen.net

It is with overwhelming sadness that we inform our friends and fans that at 7:00 tonight, Saturday, June 18, our beloved friend and bandmate, Clarence Clemons passed away. The cause was complications from his stroke of last Sunday, June 12th.

Bruce Springsteen said of Clarence: Clarence lived a wonderful life. He carried within him a love of people that made them love him. He created a wondrous and extended family. He loved the saxophone, loved our fans and gave everything he had every night he stepped on stage. His loss is immeasurable and we are honored and thankful to have known him and had the opportunity to stand beside him for nearly forty years. He was my great friend, my partner, and with Clarence at my side, my band and I were able to tell a story far deeper than those simply contained in our music. His life, his memory, and his love will live on in that story and in our band.

And finally I'm stealing a quote from Dr Seuss :-

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

Busy, busy, busy

2011-06-12T21:40:00.001+01:00

Sorry folks. I have a deadline to meet for a doll I am making so really have no time to blog this week. I've found something for you to read though from today's Observer - number 29 in the 50 key events in rock history.

And along with something to read is something to look at and listen to.

Breaking news - I've managed to ween myself off listening to Bruce ALL the time. I've found out there is stuff on my iPod that I don't even know!! The Gaga album is ace.

And finally here's a picture of the last doll I made

It's Claudio Sanchez from a band called Coheed and Cambria.

Forever Young

2011-06-05T16:34:00.001+01:00

So someone has copied Lady Gaga Born This Way for me. I know I know - it's not strictly above board - well not at all above board, but as I probably wouldn't have bought the CD myself, I'm not actually doing any body out of any royalties.

I'd like to say I really enjoy today's chart music but apart from one or two tracks I don't care for it. I try to listen though from time to time just to keep my ear in. I have a fear of getting behind the times. I come across people, many who are a good few years younger than me, who don't have a mobile phone or don't use the internet and even one or two people who don't use a credit card and I can't believe they admit to this. Why would you want to live in the middle ages?

I have wrinkles, aches, pains and my hair is going grey but I try to keep my brain up to date. It's getting increasingly difficult. Nowadays my head is so full when one bit of info goes in another has to leave to make way.

Anyway I do computers, smart phones, MP3 players etc so I think I'm keeping up quite well but... Lady Gaga? I don't have any track listings - any info at all - so just put the CD in and off we went. Well I'd like to be able to tell you that I love the album but I'm not sure if I really do. It's OK but I wonder if I am forcing myself to listen because I don't want to feel old.

I knew Clarence was playing on one of the tracks - didn't know which one. There is one song though I have played a good few times - yep really love this one. Surprise surprise it has saxophone on it and yes there's the Big Man. Here it is from The American Idol finale

Back to more usual stuff. On Friday we, along with a few hundred other middle aged music lovers, went to see Nils Logfren in Bradford. It was more or less that same show we saw last year, and although I enjoyed it more this time, I don't think we would have gone if we had realised we had seen it before. I recognised more of the songs this time but as I have mentioned before I'm not so keen on long guitar solos. This is a problem when you go to see Nils because most of the audience are waiting for ... the long guitar solos!

Of course he did Because The Night but I'm a bit bored with this at the moment. A request for If I Should Fall Behind was a surprise. This is one of the songs that Mike would like to hear live. Well he's heard it now but I expect this isn't exactly what he meant.

Next up for us John Mellencamp in July then Bryan Adams later in the year. Well gotta do something when Bruce isn't touring.

Had we not booked for Nils we may have mortgaged the house and bought two tickets for Rod Stewart at Elland Road. I understand they were expensive seats, but as we could have walked there, we'd have saved on transport costs. I've seen Rod before and have a soft spot for him because he was my first credible music hero back in the early seventies. By credible I mean he wasn't a teen idol. He was a well respected musician until he 'sold out' and moved to America.

Mentioning Rod reminds me that I was going to talk about Bob Dylan the other week. Rod does some great covers of Dylan songs on his early albums. I'm not a huge Dylan fan - I like a lot of his well known songs but don't know any of the more obscure stuff. I hear he's very charismatic on stage but I can't imagine it myself.

Anyway Bob was 60 the other week and Radio 2 did a series of programmes about him. I'm sure I've seen pieces in the past suggesting Bob doesn't like Bruce. Perhaps some of it stems from this Travelling Wilburys' song which Dylan wrote and is obviously a piss take of Bruce.

It makes me smile, actually, and I can imagine Bruce having a little chuckle when he heard it.

Bruce has done many a Dylan cover and there is a great blog here with some links to some of them.

Chimes of Freedom is a favourite of mine. I heard the Bruce version first - didn't even know it was a Dylan song at the time.

And finally this week a blog from a non Bruce fanatic. I found it an interesting read - somebody who admires our man but not necessarily for his music.

Although the writer doesn't realise it I think there are many many of us who admire Bruce for his integrity, his work ethic and his power to inspire us in a way that isn't necessarily just about the music.

How's That?

2011-05-29T21:15:00.001+01:00

Well at this time eight years ago Mike and I were sat at the very back of Old Trafford Cricket ground watching Bruce. It was only our fourth concert and he played Loose Ends. I talk about it in an earlier post Can't find any good YouTube clips of the concert itself so here's this instead.

May seems to be a good month for Bruce gigs in the UK and Europe so here's hoping for May 2012.

Not much to report this week. My earlier search turned up this question. I am the lone Springsteen supporter here under my other name of Alison! If you have a Yahoo account get logged in and post your answer.

I understand from a tweet yesterday that Bruce was at The Wonder Bar on Friday night and went for a walk alone on the boardwalk. It's amazing what I find out when I'm just pottering about the net.

Came across this the other week. Now you might regard these sorts of discussions as tittle tattle but I'm quite interested to find out what help Bruce might have had in the plastic surgery department. I don't mind whether he has had work done or not. If I had his money I would certainly be thinking about it. I'm not sure whether I would be brave enough to go under the surgeon's knife though. I read an article the other week which described how a hair transplant is done. It sounds horrific. If you are interested there's a description here

I don't have a lot of time today so I will end with this. Those of you who visit Greasy Lake regularly will have already seen it.

Springsteen fan plays the Boss's hits too loudly

A HARLOW man's taste for American rocker Bruce Springsteen has cost him more than

£1,000 after Council officers were called by neighbours disturbed by the Boss's hits being

played at excessive volume.

Alan Howorth, aged 62, had already been served with an abatement notice for music noise

last December at his home in Guilfords. However, just a month later, environmental health officers returned after further complaints from people living nearby.

Harlow Magistrates' court was told that officers heard Springsteen hits including Dancing in

the Dark and Born in the USA being played at ear-splitting volume.

Mr Howorth was found guilty in his absence of breaching an abatement notice and fined £500

with £588.42 costs and £15 victim surcharge.

Cllr Tony Hall, chairman of Harlow Council's Environment Policy Working Group, said:

"Fans are used to Bruce Springsteen's energetic and loud performances, but they prefer to see that spectacle in a stadium rather than a housing estate.

"Mr Howorth ignored earlier polite requests to turn the volume down, so I fear was born to

run into trouble when he kept it up."

The case was heard on May 3

Be Happy

2011-05-22T19:58:00.001+01:00

So I am on the bus Monday morning and Thunder Road comes on the trusty iPod. Now I love Thunder Road. Is it the only Bruce song that everyone agrees on? I mean some fans aren't keen on Born To Run or Badlands or Rosalita or... I could go on and on - but is there any one who doesn't like Thunder Road?

Anyway despite my love for the song it did make me realise that I had heard it a lot lately and actually I haven't listened to anything but Bruce on my iPod for weeks - maybe even months. I gave myself a sharp talking to - this just won't do. I know nobody can match up to our man but I must widen my horizons.

I resolved to upload some other music this weekend and not allow myself to listen to Bruce for at least a week. Don't know if I can do it though. Just after my decision was made Livin' In The Future came on - I hadn't heard this for a while and it's one of my favourites. Then When You Need Me - so long since I'd heard this that I had almost forgotten about it. I really like this track although I know it might be a bit too much like a love song for some people's taste. For me it is romantic but not lovey dovey - typically Bruce. There's a favourite line of mine in this song - 'And when those mean days come along we'll stand together and we'll take 'em on'. I'd like to think that's me and Mike - do I hear you go ahhhhhh? So I'm thinking now that this stuff is too good to give up for even a day let alone a week but I will give it a go.

I do like lots of other music. I was reminded of this when three songs which I would probably put in my top 100 came on the radio one after the other last week :-

1. Free Electric Band by Albert Hammond just because I love the idea of giving up a comfortable life to go and play in a band. Mike and I often wish we were a bit more adventurous - like the couple in Lonestar's What About Now (dare I admit I quite liked Lonestar?) - or of course Born To Run

2. Be Young Be Foolish Be Happy by The Tams. Well the title speaks for itself here except at my age I can only aspire to being young at heart, as do The Tams themselves judging by this!

3. The Wonder Of You just because it's a beautiful song.

My brother - who is 64 this year - rang Monday night to say he had seen Lady Gaga on the Beeb doing The Radio 1Big Weekend gig and he thought she was great. He has always been a music buff and has influenced my music choices throughout my life. Being a musician himself he appreciates the technical ability of the performer. So if he likes Gaga she must be good. Whatever you think of her, and of course now we know she loves Bruce I have to give her some respect, she's a star without a doubt. She fascinates me although I'm not entirely sure about her music.

Now Gaga might be influenced by Bruce but it seems his influence elsewhere has declined somewhat. Lady Gaga is apparently now the world's most powerful celebrity whilst Bruce - well see for yourself. Get yourself out on tour man!

The Springsteen bust I mentioned the other week is causing a stir in New Jersey. I've found a couple of articles about it this week and there is some heated debate about the merits of the sculpture and whether or not you are being disloyal if you don't like it.

If you are interested there's an article here and here.

This picture gives you an idea of the likeness.

If you are not into sculpture maybe you will be inspired to write a poem about Bruce which you can submit to this website. Actually I think it's a scam but I'm not sure what the scammers are getting out of it. I see on another forum that many people have been told they are runners up but I can't find anyone who has won any money.

And last of all this week the Express has a nice little article about Bruce the family man. It's always good to see something in the UK press. Shows we still think about him this side of the pond.

Whilst you are reading that I'm off to find something new to put on the iPod.

Giddy Up

2011-05-15T21:47:00.001+01:00

Well a bit of excitement this week. Our man was just down the road watching Jessica at The Royal Windsor Horse Show. Although I don't like to champion The Daily Mail they probably had the best pictures and article here. At least they focused on Jessica and after all it was her gig.

Had I known dad was going to be there I might well have taken a trip. I could legitimately claim an interest so it wouldn't really feel like stalking. You see when I was a kid I went through the pony stage.

Below is my fat little pony - Sherry and here I am all dressed up and ready to go

And this is one of me on another pony showing off my good seat - it's an equestrian term!

These were taken more years ago than I care to admit and when I grew out of Sherry we couldn't afford to buy a horse. After a while I lost interest.

Anyway in case you need to up date your diary:-

The Royal International Horse Show is on at Hickstead between 26 and 31 July
The Horse Of The Year Show is on at The NEC in Birmingham between 4 and 9 October.

I can't remember how these things work so no idea whether Jessica would qualify to jump at either show.

I was on the bus this week when Born To Run took a turn on my iPod... followed by Badlands. I have an irresistible urge to punch the air at the appropriate moments when these songs come on.

If I'm in the car I do it - whilst singing at the top of my voice. A couple of years ago when I was off work convalescing I tried to do 10,000 steps a day and during these walks I would throw my arms up. I had to do arm exercises anyway so it was as good reason as any...

...but on the bus - well - didn't want to startle the other passengers so early in the morning.

So I bought 'Live At The Main Point' this week. I know, I know, I could have downloaded it for free or somebody would no doubt have sent me a copy but in the end after reading Uncut Magazine's review I had to buy it.

Regular readers will know I don't subscribe to the adage that Bruce was better in the seventies. Different yes, but not necessarily better. To be honest some of the stuff from the early days does nothing for me. I think you had to be there.

For those of you who don't know we first saw Bruce in 1993. He was with the 'other' band but we didn't know, or care, we loved it. That being our first time was special for us just as 1975 was special for the people who saw him then.

Anyway despite my reservations about the early days I absolutely love this version of Incident.

We were lucky enough to hear this live at the Wembley gig in 2002 which I talk about here. Don't know if we have heard it since because my old laptop gave up the ghost and our Bruce spreadsheet went with it.

We had listed all the shows we had been to and the set list for each show. Need to do it again but as it's such an enjoyable thing to do we won't mind. It's a good excuse to get all the boots out a have a listen to each show as we go along. Quicker to get the set list off Greasy Lake of course but not so much fun.

Finally just had to let you know that my Bruce doll went down really well at work and I'm excited to say I've got my first order - it's Claudio Sanchez

Hello Dolly

2011-05-08T19:16:00.000+01:00

It's been a bit of a Brucey week for me this week considering the man himself seems to have gone to ground. Lets hope he is working on a new album and sorting out the itinerary for a new tour.

On Monday we nipped to our local retail park and whilst we were there I thought I might as well visit HMV. A chap was hovering around the Springsteen DVDs but I knew just what I wanted so pushed in front of him, picked up The Promise and headed off back to the car. Knew I wouldn't have time to watch it. In fact I forgot all about it for a couple of days. Trouble was I also forgot we now have a Blu Ray player and I had bought the bog standard DVD.

So Wednesday evening after work I'm at HMV in town doing the swap.
'Is this the one that was on the telly' asks the chap serving me
'Yep it was in the box set too'
'Can't get that any more wanted to buy it at the time but couldn't afford it. Awesome documentary'.
Assistant next to him buts in 'Is that the box set that cost about £90? I've never known anything so expensive sell so fast'

Me - well I'm feeling quite smug and proud of our man at this moment. Lets face it most people think Bruce is a has been. In our circle of friends we have a large proportion of Springsteen fans but in the wider world we are part of an increasingly small minority. I know there are new fans all the time and I don't have the stats, but I suspect the fan base decreases year on year. So I'm chuffed to know that Bruce can still draw the attention of young HMV staff.

Cupcake salt and pepper set

Went into Urban Outfitters after this to buy these. Saw them in a magazine and knew they were just the thing for our kitchen. Whilst I was there I saw album frames. I bought BITUSA for a couple of quid from Ebay a few years ago. It isn't my favourite album but it was the first Springsteen album we bought although we had the cassette. I talk about this in my earlier post.

I actually bought the album to frame and put on the kitchen wall - this is also just the thing for our kitchen. If you want to know more about our kitchen the Ideal Home Magazine article is here. Anyway it's in the frame but not yet on the wall.

Wednesday night in the absence of anything else we had The Sopranos on the TV in the background. This sort of passed us by when it was on originally but I started to buy the box sets. I was hoping for another West Wing but it didn't grab me in the same way. Now we know the characters, though, it's easy enough to watch the odd episode. Of course the Bruce connection makes it watchable. Well we haven't watched it for weeks but the very episode we happen upon there's a bit of Bruce dialogue. Copied from Entertainment Weekly:-

Early on in the episode, the script calls for Tony to make a Boss wisecrack. A Fed whose unit has been taping Tony's associates tells him, ''There's something we want you to hear.'' Tony shoots back: ''The Springsteen box set? I already got it.'' But that's just nervous bravado — by this time, he's been shaken by the ultimate betrayal: He's pretty sure that his mother (Nancy Marchand), and his uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) have ordered his death. Why? Because the anxiety-attacked Tony's been seeing a therapist (Lorraine Bracco's Dr. Melfi), and they're afraid he's blabbed too much family business to an outsider.

They play State Trooper over the end credits too. Might mean nothing to some folk but it's the sort of coincidence I like.

As far Soprano quotes go though this has to be the best:-

Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr.: Where the fuck have you been? You're late!
Christopher: Sorry, the highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive.

Another chance happening yesterday - getting back to the car and turning the radio on in the middle of Danny and the Champions' version of Tougher Than The Rest. It's the first time I have heard it but can't find it anywhere on You Tube to share it with you. Think it's only available on vinyl on the Record Store Day EP and I don't have a record player any more. Anyway if you want to listen Dermot O'Leary played it yesterday on his Radio 2 show.

This weekend I've spent most of my time trying to finish the Bruce doll. It's taken me longer than I thought. I was having to make it up as I went along so there were a few false starts. I really enjoyed making it though. I see rag dolls sell for anything from £16.00 to £69.00 on some online shopping sites. Can't see me ever making enough to earn my fortune though.

Anyway here he is - not quite finished. He needs a guitar strap and some boots.

Not the best likeness. I hope my next one (if I make one) will be better. I think it's one up from this though! Scary!

Stand Up!

2011-05-01T19:49:00.004+01:00

Well guys and gals The Promise: The Making of Darkness On The Edge of Town documentary is out on Blu Ray and DVD tomorrow. Yes that's the one we already have but of course it comes with the Carousel gig and a Q and A session as a bonus. I suppose I'll just have to buy it although initially I said I wouldn't.

I don't think there is a lot happening this week but I could be wrong as I don't seem to have had my finger on the pulse the last few days. I didn't even notice that Roy Orbison and friends was on BBC 4 Friday night. Now I've seen this time and time again but I love it and no doubt I would have watched it once more.

A couple of my Bruce buddies have been watching the Hyde Park DVD over the last couple of weeks. I think I've mentioned before that we rarely dig out our DVDs. I'm more of a listener than a watcher when it comes to music. Mind you we had a family get together today and we thought Hyde Park would be a good thing to have on the TV as a bit of background interest. It didn't stay on long though. As soon as Mark (my step-son) arrived he changed to the footie. Well it was worth a try.

I popped The Promise disc 2 on this morning whilst I was preparing for our visitors. A bit of Bruce always helps me along when I have a lot to do. I still love it. Its A Shame is probably up there in my favourites list. Changed to The Dropkick Murphys when nephew Chris arrived. He has some of their early albums and was interested in hearing the latest. Didn't really get to listen though as food and drink were higher priority.

Gave the DAB radio to the younger Nieces so they could choose what to listen to. They along with most of our other relatives are not Springsteen fans. I think they chose one of the rock stations and I had to chuckle to myself when Streets of Philadelphia came on.

So they've all gone home now and our struggle to convert them goes on.

I like the cartoons that are floating about now we are sure where president Obahma was born! Well he did say he wanted to be Bruce.

I was thinking about the inauguration parade on Friday when I was pondering why the Royal Wedding crowds brought a lump to my throat. Many folks have said it makes them proud to be British but I got all emotional when Barrack and Michelle walked down Pennsylvania Avenue - made me wish I was American.

Talking about the wedding there was an elderly couple along the route on Friday who were interviewed by the BBC. They were true Royalists and were disgusted that those around them didn't stand during the National Anthem. They reminded me so much of myself - I feel just the same ... about Badlands.

Did We Miss It?

2011-04-24T20:21:00.002+01:00

Two nearly moments on TV this week.

Firstly - American idol. Now I know it's fashionable to knock this show but I have watched it on and off for a few years, and if I am absolutely honest, I prefer it to X Factor. So Bruce was going to visit but would he actually appear on screen? Well I didn't watch this week so I don't know but I assume the lack of any outrage from fans suggests he kept well away from any TV camera.

In the early years of American Idol rumour has it that Bruce wouldn't even give permission for a song of his to be performed. Here's an old blog post from a fan talking about the first ever Springsteen cover done on the show.

Perhaps Bruce was at a loose end whilst he was in Los Angeles. Although he seems to be happy just strolling along with Patti in these photos.

You know I love the way Patti just looks so ordinary when she's relaxing.

She certainly scrubs up well although MIke tells me he doesn't find her attractive. He prefers Soozie.

The second nearly TV moment happened when we were channel hopping and chanced upon Elvis Costello's Spectacle on Sky Arts 1. Bruce's episode is mentioned but I can't see when it's on. Yeah yeah I know we have all seen it (in our case thanks to Tony P) but it's Bruce on the telly so you have to watch.

Just like yesterday when I strolled by the CDs whilst I was doing my weekly shop. I spotted Songs For Japan and although I had no intention of buying it I just had to check out Bruce's name in the track listings.

We did manage to watch something on the box this week with a slight Springsteen connection thanks to a heads up from Ceinwen. Cemetery Junction is a film written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant and based loosely on 'Born to Run'. It's about escaping from your boring job, mundane existence, home town and doing something exciting with your life. Funny and quite poignant I enjoyed it although we were interrupted very near the end by a phone call and ended up watching the last 15 minutes or so on the plus 1 channel an hour later. It spoiled the flow rather.

As films with Bruce connections go this wasn't my favourite. That would be The Wrestler and I liked Reign Over Me.

Before I finish I've just had a quick peak around my usual message boards and blogs to check for any breaking news but it's very quiet. Perhaps everyone is on holiday.

So that's it for this week except to say that Joe D'urso is starting his UK tour on 18th May. The dates are here.

Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Sea

2011-04-17T20:09:00.001+01:00

Well we have been away this weekend to visit my family on the Lincolnshire coast. I've talked about my home town before - if I squint and suspend disbelief I can pretend it's Asbury Park. The weather was glorious and I love this photo I took through the open door of the beach hut

Irene, my sister -in -law, thinks we are the biggest Springsteen fans in the world but then we are the only Springsteen fans she knows. She saves every article and snippet she finds and this week she handed over the Sunday Times Magazine from November last year. We were in Dublin at The Gaslight Anthem gig the weekend this came out and missed it. I was really disappointed at the time so getting hold of the article after all these months is great.

I haven't had chance to read it all but I notice Bruce says he's been for 'swim in the ocean'. Now Sutton-on-Sea may look quite idyllic in the photo but I certainly won't be going for a swim in that ocean any time soon!!

Nick Rufford who interviewed Bruce and wrote the article says that he shouted out to Bruce after the Roundhay Park gig in 1985 'You didn't play 'No Surrender''. A couple of weeks ago we were listening to a radio programme during which the DJ was asking people to text in to say what they would do if they had their time again or perhaps it was what you regretted not doing. Either way Mike immediately said he would've gone to Roundhay Park. We didn't live in Leeds at the time ourselves but all Mike's family were here so a bed for the night wouldn't have been a problem.

As I've touched on before it never even crossed our minds in those days to go to a live concert of any sort. Anyway this struck a chord with me because he may not have played 'No Surrender' that day but I reckon he's played it at every gig we've been to since!!. Well that's a bit of an exaggeration but we've heard it a lot and I'm happy to keep on hearing it.

From time to time on Greasy Lake someone poses a question along the lines of which song do you not want to hear live again (at least not for a long time)? I expect 'No Surrender' would be some peep's choice but for me it has to be 'Because The Night' probably because it's so familiar to me from listening to the Patti Smith version in my youth. This choice changes though. If I had asked myself this during 2008 the answer would've been 'Mary's Place'.

As promised I've been working on my Bruce doll this week. The dolls I've attempted so far have been copied, more or less exactly, from a book. They were all female dolls and all had flat faces.

I've now progressed to sculptured faces - basically they have noses. So again my first head was an exact copy. For my second I tried to get more masculine features and the third is my first go at Bruce. Those of you with a nervous disposition should look away now!

And finally for this week

It's A Small (Bruce) World

2011-04-10T19:02:00.000+01:00

Hi Guys. Well it's been a slow news week and I'm wondering whether I will have to start diversifying a little and telling you more about my non Bruce world. Yes there is one if I dig deep enough!

So I went to the hairdressers this week. To cut a long story short I have been going to my previous hairdresser for years. Her salon has closed and I was faced with finding someone new. Hairdressing seems to be a young person's job - at least in a city like Leeds it is - and a trendy young person at that. Finding a place where I didn't feel a hundred years old was key to me feeling comfortable. After a couple of false starts I opted for a small independent place.

So she is wielding the scissors and making polite conversation and we get on to holidays - standard hairdresser conversation. I say I am not going anywhere this year but would like to go back to NYC sometime. Told her we saw Bruce at MSG and she said ... 'I love Bruce Springsteen. Saw him in Gothenburg!' Of all the hair stylists in all the salons in all the world I choose her - spooky. Ha! - it was a Bruce story after all.

Been thinking about starting on my Bruce doll this week. I made Belinda a couple of months ago and I've just finished Cassandra. Both girls have gone to good homes.

Belinda

Cassandra

cassandra

Thought I would do a bit of research into Bruce's face. Of course I know what he looks like but as I'm not confident of getting a good likeness I thought I would lean towards a sort of caricature.

This lead me to these pictures among many. Hmmmm don't think I'll be copying any of these. Need to practice a soul patch though!

But what really took my eye was this because he's a doll - someone has got there before me!

I think he's quite cute. If you are interested here's the designer's blog featuring more dolls she has produced. Mike has his head in his hands at this moment. He knows full well that this is another handicraft I must have a go at.

I checked out The 100 Club today just to see what his number 1 song was. I've mentioned this blog a couple of times before because the writer chose two Springsteen songs in his top 100. Good choice for the top slot and great to see that he is now a proud dad.

My trawl through the blogs also turned up a cover of 'I'm On Fire' here. and Bruce's appearance at The Wonder Bar last week gets a mention in OK magazine - maybe not the UK version though. Might have a quick flick through in WH Smiths tomorrow just in case!

Bruce is putting in another one of his guest appearances. This time on a track on the New Stewart Franke CD. No I'd never heard of him. In case you are as clueless as me here he is

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Finally for this week a special mention for my hubby Mike. It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow so this is for him

New Time but same Old Stuff

2011-04-03T20:09:00.001+01:00

For the benefit of my regular readers - thank you one and all- I will start this blog

with a short

announcement

My routine has changed in the last few weeks and this has had an unexpected knock on effect on my blog. This means that my Weekly blog is going to become my Sunday Evening blog.

Hopefully my musings will round off your weekend nicely and set you up for the week ahead.

So as promised during the week I listened to the Born to Run outtakes. Arcade Fire was put on the back burner. Well it goes without saying that Bruce must take precedence.

We downloaded this collection of songs a long time ago and I realise now why I haven't checked this out more thoroughly before. At the time I wouldn't have been interested in alternative versions. I was only just getting to know some of the officially released stuff.

I assume the whole thing suffers a little from not being finished - the two versions of 'Backstreets' sound really tinny. I haven't got a very musical ear but there are definitely strings in version 1 which seems to lick along at an unnaturally speedy pace. I prefer version 2. This is more similar to the official version musically but has different lyrics.

Born To Run has strings too and weirdly backing singers pop up from time to time - very unerving and a bit Partridge Family - ish. Could this be Mike Appel's influence? Anyway yuck!

There are three versions of Thunder Road and I must admit I really like this one.

Takes a bit of getting used to after hearing the familiar track so many times but if you have never heard it before give it a chance. You will be singing along to the new tune in no time.

The two songs that are new to me are 'Walking In The Street' and 'Lonely Night In The Park' which (as I mentioned last week) was the track that prompted me to dig out the CD again - both great songs. I'd never heard of 'The Heist' before either but this turns out to be 'Meeting Across The River' by another name. It's not one of my favourite tracks but this version has more trumpet on it and it's OK.

Anyway on to other things.

Our man has been fairly busy this week here he is visiting The Upstage Club
I must say I'm not sure about the outfit here - perhaps it's because I'm not used to seeing him in beige. Showed it to Mike who has always kind of liked Bruce's fashion sense. He won't be going out to buy anything similar any time soon.

Bruce also popped in to Little Steven's Underground Garage to chat about this and that. The interview will be aired in three parts this weekend and 8th and 15th April. Don't know if we can hear this in the UK.

And in a spare moment he has found time to put pen to paper. As I write this I wonder if he actually sent a letter or just emailed. A letter might be worth a few $$$ on Ebay!

A good few years ago now Mike did a stint as a city councillor. He had to hold regular surgeries where the same complainers turned up time after time. These folk often wrote to the local paper and I couldn't help but think about this when Bruce wrote his letter to the local rag. Not that Bruce is complaining about his dustbins not being emptied

And finally he also turned up at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park last night

Interesting to compare this to another You Tube clip on the same page from way way back

My sign off for this week is another blog. Wouldn't mind swapping locations with this woman, and if I knew how, I would put the clip of Bruce on my own blog. A project for some other time maybe.

Even if you don't want to read the blog just click on the link - it will make you smile and you all know how I feel about smiles.

See you next Sunday. Have a good week.

Clicked too soon

2011-03-27T17:07:00.001+01:00

Well bloomin' heck - I was trying to make a small alteration to the layout of my blog and clicked on the wrong thingy. Now I can't get it back to how it was. So this week's page features an interim design.

I will spend the next few days deciding on something new. This won't be an entirely unpleasant experience but I liked the old page. I had spent a long time deciding on that image. I hate it when I go to the supermarket and can't find my usual items because they have changed the packaging. Now I am forced to change my own design. Reckon I will go for something completely different.

So I was at home on Tuesday morning looking after our poorly cat and I ventured into the territory of day time TV. After channel hopping for a bit I found an episode of Homes Under The Hammer. Go on then I'll admit it I love anything to do with houses and interior design. All these awful makeover programmes are right up my street. Don't ever send that 60 Minute Makeover lot to me though!

Anyway here's this couple buying an old cemetery keeper's house in Knaresborough. Lovely house but unfortunately surrounded by graves. There must be a person working on this programme who has one of those jobs that I would really like. He or she chooses the background music appropriate to the on screen scenario. So what to choose for a grave yard? - 'Spirit In The Night' of course. I must say I was a little surprised - it's quite an obscure track - perhaps the producer is a Springsteen fan.

And who would have guessed it - Jose Mourinho listens to our man. He says "I listen to Bryan Adams, I listen to Sting, I listen to Bruce," I have to thank my brother in law, Trevor, for giving me that little snippet.

It's no secret that Lady Ga Ga is a fan. Her quotes are all over the web this week 'I'm actually really obsessed with Bruce Springsteen'. Well join the club love!!

You might remember a couple of weeks or so ago I talked a bit about Bruce cover versions and mentioned Graziano Romani. Well we now have his album of covers which on first playing is OK. I'll listen a time or two more and let you know next week what I really think. I'm quite open to other people's interpretations of Bruce songs so at the very least it will be interesting. There are a couple of tracks that I am not familiar with - at least I don't think I am - sometimes I know the song but not the title.

And on the subject of tracks I don't know - this is a new one on me. Well actually I thought it was new but it is actually on an album of 'Born To Run' outtakes that I probably only listened to once the first time we downloaded it.

Anyway thanks to callmejoe on Greasy Lake for bringing this one to my attention - love the song and love the fact that I can still find some new-to-me Bruce stuff after all these years. On my to-do list this week - listen to all those outtake CDs we have.

By the way I gave in today and bought Arcade Fire. They shouldn't be allowed to stock non-food items in the supermarket - it's far too tempting. I haven't listened to it yet - another thing for the to do list.

And to finish this week what do you think of this chap????

You can find him here

Life Is Still Worthwhile If You Just...

2011-03-20T17:35:00.004Z

The problem with doing a weekly blog is that if something happens the day after I write it’s old news by the time I sit down to do the next post.

So here is some out of date News about Bruce's first car.

I’ve mentioned previously that Mike and I had a brief flirtation with classic American Cars.

Mike has always hankered after a chevy truck

but I covet a convertible - with fins of course.

Bruce's car would suit me fine but unless a lottery win is coming our way I don’t think I will be putting it in our garage any time soon. Actually it wouldn’t fit in our garage but then if we won the lottery we would be able to afford a new garage ... hmm actually the car might cost so much we wouldn’t have any left for the garage!

We bought The Dropkick Murphy’s album this week. It’s a new genre of music for us but I am liking it. 'Peg O’ My Heart' is fab. We knew Bruce was going to join in at some point - after all that’s why we bought the album, but knowing didn’t make it any less sweet. So at the beginning of the second verse we looked at each other and smiled. Smiled because it is unmistakably Bruce: smiled because although the first verse is good the second verse is ten times better: smiled because... well just because Bruce makes us smile.

Of course we all know by now that Bruce appeared in Boston on Friday and I'm sure this made you grin as big and wide as a Cheshire Cat.

Don’t you just love how even on the worst of days Bruce can make you smile. Some folks might think my Springsteen obsession is strange and I can’t begin to explain how grateful I am that I have found something that enriches my life so much. Most of us are lucky enough to have friends and family who make our lives worth living. Not everyone has that something extra which can make some days special - I’ll say it again - something that makes you smile even in the tough times.

Last week we went to a postcard fair. Mike was looking for some old postcards to introduce into his genealogy blog. Now the people there were mostly middle aged men wearing slacks and anoraks - I mentioned to Mike that many of them were likely to be going on to spot some trains. I didn’t understand their interest but when I stop and think about it can appreciate that they are passionate about something. Finding that elusive postcard will make them smile.

__________________

Bruce had another recent outing - this time at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction thingy. There's a short clip here.

_________________

Spotted an interesting little snippet on Backstreets news this week:-

STEVE PREDICTS SOLO BRUCE ALBUM BEFORE E STREET RECONVENES
Checking in this morning with WMGK morning host John DeBella, Little Steven was asked about "the latest" with Bruce and with the E Street Band:

You know Bruce -- he's always got an album in his pocket, he's always writing something. I don't know this for a fact, but I expect him to possibly put something out that's more of a solo nature, before we get back together. Only because he's so prolific, still, after all these years... I expect him starting to have a backlog of songs, just in terms of the time that have passed.

______________________

And to round off this week? - Well a couple of hours ago I nipped to the local supermarket for some cheese. They were playing ‘Girls In Their Summer Clothes‘ over the PA.

It made me smile.

Repeats

2011-03-12T16:54:00.000Z

Well I’m listening to The Killers - Sam’s Town - at the moment. This album falls into two of our buying categories.

1. They are influenced by Bruce
2. It’s a critically acclaimed album

So whilst we weren’t sure whether we would like it we gave it a go. The Springsteen - esque nature of the album might be apparent to some but I can’t really detect it. Maybe I’m looking for the obvious - you know - a kind of light bulb moment when I think wow! that sounds like Bruce. That moment has never arrived but I really like the album.

I am listening to this today because my search for Bruce stuff has taken me to this blog The Killers 'When You Were Young' is number 17 in the list. We have been here before because both 'Born To Run' and 'Jungleland' have featured previously. Although I don’t know this person I find I am interested in his choice of music simply because he likes Bruce. I haven’t heard of some bands/artists in the list. Some of his choices I agree with and one or two would be pushing towards my list of all time dislikes!!

I really like the idea and I am tentatively considering putting together a list of my favourite Bruce songs to do a similar thing. Deciding why you like a song is quite a task though. Sometimes you - well - just like it and that doesn’t make for very interesting reading. Anyway I’m not even sure whether I would be able to choose, say, my top 50 but at least I would have a list of every song to hand - in the CD rack.

Trying to decide on my faves, If I were to include any artist, is an impossible task. I can’t even remember half the tracks I love. Whenever I've tried this before I've always come unstuck at a point where I have to choose between songs by the same artist. Which do I pick? and in the case of Bruce would this mean that my top 100 would include 80 Springsteen songs and 20 others!

This week, on the radio, I heard 'The First Cut Is The Deepest' by P P Arnold.

I love this song and this is the definitive version (sorry Rod - you know I'm still a fan). I like the way verse is gentle but it builds up towards the chorus and then those drums and horns (trumpets?) are just great. One for my top 100 I think.

I also heard 'Anchorage' by Michelle Shocked today.

Now this is an example of a song I like for no reason that I can put my finger on. Perhaps it’s just the tune because I usually find myself singing along. Not sure if this one would make the top 100 though.

This knotty problem of why I like a song had occured to me earlier in the week when two Springsteen tracks popped up on my iPod. I don't really love Working On A Dream (the album). I played it a lot when it was new in an effort to embrace it but - no. For me, the lyrics are kind of lazy and I find them really repetitive. The obvious is Surprise Surprise Surprise etc etc etc. but it’s not the only example of a line being oft repeated.

I thought this was why I hadn’t fallen in love with the album but now I’m not so sure. The first song on the iPod? ... I’m going down down down down I’m going down down down down - you know the rest. The second? ... My love love love love love love love love will not let you down! Now you can’t deny that each is somewhat repetitive but I love them both.

And whilst we are talking about being repetitive the news this week is the repeat release in May of The Promise: The Making Of Darkness On The Edge Of Town. OK it has a couple of other bits with it - the set from The Carousel and the Q and A session with fans. More from Shore Fire here

Now I've got the documentary and seen it a couple of times on the TV. I downloaded the Carousel set and copied it to DVD (shhhhh - is this illegal?) but I haven't seen the 'conversation with the fans'. I assume it's out there somewhere but I haven't looked. I was hoping for the rest of the Carousel set that hasn't previously been broadcast but perhaps they (whoever they are) are saving that for later. Will I buy it? Don't think so but.... if I pop into HMV I won't be able to resist having a look to see if it's there and if it is? - well it might just shout out 'Buy me buy me!'

My and finally this week is something that made me chuckle from a Yahoo! message board :-

Bruce Springsteen at Apple???
11-Mar-11 03:25 pm
I live in vegas and just visited 2 store locations.
Lines are just huge with people waiting for their ipad 2's. I thought they were selling Springsteen tickets as that is the last time I saw people lining up for stuff to buy.

If Bruce Likes It...

2011-03-06T20:47:00.003Z

A bit off the wall this. On Radio 2 this week they have been trailing a program about George Formby - that’s the British entertainer - not to be confused with George Forman the American boxer and champion of the grill.

He died when I was very young but my dad used to sing ‘Leaning on a Lamp Post’ and ‘When I’m Cleaning Windows’ and most British people of a certain age will know, at least, a few lines from a Formby song.

During the trailer Stuart Maconie mentions that maybe Springsteen would have approved of his (Formby’s) portrayal of the average man. Well I’m not sure about that, but perhaps George would have appreciated the innuendo of ‘Pink Cadillac’ or the comedy in ‘Sherry Darling’. Could Bruce have been leaning on his very own lamp post when Cynthia passed by?

I see from HMV that the new Dropkick Murphys album is released over here on 14th March. Now although the name rang a bell I can honestly say I had never listened to anything they had done prior to my quick listen to ‘Peg O’ My Heart’. I must say I really liked it so I’m considering going out to buy the album next Monday. The Question is do I really like Celtic Punk?

This is one of the less obvious benefits of being a Bruce fan. He seems happy to let us know who he likes by endorsing them in some fashion (couldn’t resist that!).* The songs played over the P.A. before a concert for instance, or as in this case, a collaboration. My policy veers towards the if-Bruce-likes-it-it-must-be-good philosophy so our CD racks have quite a selection of Springsteen approved music. Still trying to come around to Arcade Fire though. They are obviously popular but I’m not so sure.

The latest rumours on a tour suggest 2012. I’ve settled myself to this now so we are planning our 2011 without Bruce. We are going to see Nils in Bradford on 3rd June (full list of dates here) but other than that nothing planned yet.

Anyway Clarence is apparently in no shape to go on tour judging by this interview. He's still at the forefront of someone's mind though. According to this blog Julian Casablancas of The Strokes cites Clarence's 1985 hit with Jackson Browne as an influence. Blimey I'd never seen this before! It's very eighties.

And lastly this week to make up for that which, to be honest, I didn't really like I offer you this fabulous post about 'Jungleland'.

* For you non Springsteen fans out there he has a particular way of phrasing his words during interviews. In some fashion is a favourite phrase.

They Do Bring My Money Home In Crates

2011-02-26T16:10:00.010Z

I found this today. if you click on it now, leave the site open, then nip back when you have finished reading you will find out how much Bruce has earned in that time.

My Bruce buddy - Sinead - owns one of Bruce's harmonicas. He gave it to her during the Bilbao gig on 26 July 2009. We are trying to think of a cool way of displaying it so this week I have been browsing various sites to get ideas. I came across this, which must have cost a bomb, but given my love of guitars, I think it's just gorgeous. If you are interested the site is here

The other week you may remember I bought Sara Elizabeth Goodman's novel Beyond The Palace. In the absence of a publisher she has decided to go it alone. The book is available to buy on Amazon and I have to say I really enjoyed it. Sara is a big Bruce fan. There is a link to her blog Sara*ndipity in my list below

If you are snobby about your reading you may think the writing needs to be polished a bit. It might need editing here and there but the story itself really pulled me in. The content helped of course. It's basically about two people who meet at a Bruce gig during The Rising tour and their relationship over the course of the tour and beyond.

It's an easy read with an intriguing mystery surrounding one of the characters and a sweet, sometimes angry, love story. I would recommend it. Perhaps a good present for a Bruce fan you know although Bruce isn't central to the plot.

I haven't much to say myself this week so I have browsed around the many other music blogs on the net and found this post. It's only short but says it all.

Lastly for this week, if you are aching for some Bruce to watch, check out these clips that The Rolling Stone site has gathered together featuring Bruce's collaborations. I haven't watched them all but the chap you can hear at the beginning of the Arcade Fire clip is soooo excited I thought he might pass out!