Los Angeles 26th April 2012 - show 17

The distance from San Jose to Los Angeles is 340 miles. So we are up to 7340 miles now.

"Heaven" - @IJasonAlexander

There are a couple of good reviews today and as usual I'll pull out my favourite bits.  The first from Variety has this great bit about Clarence and Jake :-

If there was a noticeable void on the side of the stage where legendary saxman Clarence Clemons once stood for thousands of you-had-to-be-there concerts Springsteen filled the space with a solid five-piece horn section...
But it was the addition of enthusiastic saxophonist Jake Clemons, who just so happens to be Clarence's nephew, which cemented the realization that the E Street Band remains an ever-changing musical organism. The young Clemons' showmanship and, clearly, his excitement of just being part of a legendary band, as well as his ability to hit all the right notes his uncle never missed, clearly felt good for the audience's soul.


I've condensed the final two paragraphs here but it says it all and confirms what everyone of us already knows. 

The E Street Band come into your town, give it their all while having the audacity to make each city feel special and unique, and ship out.
It's what they do. And as long as Springsteen can find the strength to strap on the Fender, there's little reason to expect the carnival to slow down anytime soon.

Then there are these couple of paragraphs from The Los Angeles Times

One of the things that makes Springsteen the greatest musical performer of our time is the deep love with which he ministers to his flock. The arena was filled with a rare vibe, a feeling of brotherly and sisterly (Springsteen danced with his younger sibling on “Dancing in the Dark”) love. When’s the last time the big Canadian strangers next to you bought you and your husband a beer during an arena show?

This was perhaps the most inspirational show I’ve witnessed in 30 years of attending thousands of concerts, including at least a dozen by Springsteen. There was maybe one better: When he played Jazz Fest in New Orleans after Katrina and turned the city of ruins into a city reborn. 


The set was shorter than has been the norm lately.  Tom Morello featured on Death To My Hometown, Jack Of All Trades and The Ghost Of Tom Joad.  Now I know he is a great guitarist but long guitar solos aren't for me. You've got to feel a bit sorry for Nils too. He is also considered to be pretty good on the guitar and rarely gets chance to shine. Presumably he doesn't mind though, otherwise he wouldn't be there !


As is often the case with Bruce's covers California Sun was a mystery to me. I had to go to YouTube to find the original version. And an extra clip tonight - Bruce's version. 


California Dreaming for night 2 maybe? California Girls?





So here's the list - not the best for me but you may disagree.  

	Atlanta 18/03/12 Time 8.10 to 10.44	Los Angeles 26/04/12 Time 8.22 to 11.08
1	We Take Care Of Our Own	Badlands (12)
2	Wrecking Ball	We Take Care Of Our Own (17)
3	Badlands	Wrecking Ball (17)
4	Death To My Hometown	The Ties That Bind (4)
5	My City Of Ruins	Death To My Hometown (17)
6	The E Street Shuffle	My City Of Ruins (17)
7	Jack Of All Trades	The E Street Shuffle (5)
8	Seeds	Jack Of All Trades (17)
9	Easy Money	Something In The Night (1)
10	Waitin' On A Sunny Day	Candy’s Room (3)
11	The Promised Land	She’s The One (6)
12	The Way You Do The Things You Do	Easy Money (12)
13	634 -5789	Waitin’ On A Sunny Day (17)
14	Shackled And Drawn	The Promised Land (16)
15	Lonesome Day	The Way You Do The Things You Do (17)
16	The Rising	634 - 5789 (17)
17	We Are Alive	The Ghost Of Tom Joad (1)
18	Thunder Road	The Rising (17)
19	Rocky Ground	Lonesome Day (7)
20	Land Of Hope And Dreams	We Are Alive (17)
21	Born To Run	Land Of Hope And Dreams (12)
22	Dancing In The Dark	Rocky Ground (17)
23	American Land	California Sun (1)
24	Tenth Avenue Freeze Out	Born To Run (17)
25		Dancing In The Dark (17)
26		Tenth Avenue Freeze Out (17)
27
28

Practice Makes Perfect

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!!

Write This Down And Don't Forget It

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.  

It Takes Two

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:-

1. We think Bruce’s new producer is Ron Aniello - Patti’s man
2. Bruce has done a bunch of duets in the last year or so with various artists
3. 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...

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.

Forever Young

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.

If Bruce Likes It...

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.