The furore surrounding ‘Magic’ seemed to happen months before the official release date. Maybe it was just that I had become just a little more obsessed and was on the message boards every day or more likely because it was the first E Street Band album for an eon.
I switched my online forum allegiance from BTX to Greasy Lake (GL) in November 2006 between the two shows we saw at Birmingham and Sheffield. I needed (yes needed) to see the set lists for the Wembley shows and if I remember rightly BTX didn’t have a caller at the show.
For you none Bruce readers I should explain that at most live gigs someone on the ground calls, or texts, in to another fan at home the songs that Bruce is playing, as he plays them. Fan number two posts these online. The rest of us sad souls sit at home hunched over the computer waiting to see what comes next… then being terribly disappointed because he played the one thing you wanted to hear the night you weren’t there! It's a kind of masochism
The set list for 11th November might actually have been the start of ‘Magic’ mania. Bruce played ‘Long Walk Home’ an unfinished new song.
He had been inspired by Lucinda Williams who had played a brand new song at her gig the previous night.
Bruce gate crashed her concert - don’t you just love it when he pops up unannounced.
I knew a bit about Lucinda. A work colleague who has a very eclectic music taste became aware of my leanings and lent me Lucinda’s ’Car Wheels on a Gravel Road’. I loved the album right from the start. He also lent me a CD by another woman who’s name escapes me now. I obviously didn’t like that one as much.
On the strength of this one album and her latest release (at the time) we went to see her. I was in boots that were crippling my feet before I even got there. We stood for what seemed like hours in a hot crowded little club. Lucinda came on about three quarters of an hour late and we had to leave before the end to catch a tram. Not a very successful night. She was good though and had I known more of the songs I would have really enjoyed it. Mike took his bat home because she kept us waiting (only one person is allowed to do that!) and I don’t think he has forgiven her yet.
Interestingly she needed help to remember her lyrics but then she does have a huge back catalogue. She wasn’t high tech enough to have a teleprompter though. Instead at the front of the stage was a ring binder on a music stand. When she followed her set list the pages were in the right order but when she deviated - people shouted out suggestions from the crowd - a chap ran on stage to find the right page for her. So all you critics - Bruce isn’t the only one with memory problems.
It was during 2007 that Mike’s passing interest in American classic cars turned in to a bit of an obsession. His dream is to own a Chevy truck. Problem is neither of us is at all mechanically minded and you need a lot of time, nouse (if you are from Portland Oregan this means knowledge nouse - definition ) and money if you buy an old wreck to restore. An already restored truck is way out of our price range.
We started visiting American car rallies - I was looking for a 69 Chevy with a 396...of course (lots of discussion about this here songfacts) but actually I love anything with fins at the back. Anyway at one of the get togethers the local PT Cruiser club had lined up their cars and switched on the neons - now it may be naff it may be kitsch but I fell in love.
A couple of weeks later Mike bought a second hand Cruiser - yes you heard me correctly - Mike who can’t even buy a pair of trousers without weighing up the options for a month bought, on impulse, a car! Then with gusto, he set about installing lights on almost every available surface.
Well Mike didn’t actually install anything himself. He held the spanner for our brother-in-law who is a real petrol head and did all the work for us - thanks Mick.
We joined the aforementioned Cruiser club, called ourselves Born to Run and we were on our way or so we thought. It turned out we weren’t born to run at all.
The first time we took the car to show it off liquid started gushing out of the engine and we ended up travelling home on a break down truck. The battery went flat every week and we had slow punctures in at least two tyres.
After a show in Leeds we had to have a jump start to get us home and at the first big rally the following year steam started pouring out of the bonnet when we were parading round the show ring.
In the Autumn of 2008 we took it off the road intending to break it out again last summer but the poor thing hasn’t seen daylight since!
Well, as usual I have deviated from the plot. I was going to talk about ‘Magic’ but I’ll save it for next week now
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