Mr Springsteen I Presume

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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Just Around The Corner...

Some of you may remember from my earlier blogs that I used to talk about other music we have bought down the years.  This was because I needed some filler material.  As we got more up to date and I could remember more Bruce related details I no longer needed to mention other things.

Perhaps that was a shame.  Whilst Bruce does figure large in our music collection we do still try and listen to other stuff.

Earlier this week on the radio - Radio 5 for a change - they were discussing the demise of rock music in the UK.  In the States it is still alive and kicking I believe.  They used the term rock music loosely - the definition being guitar based tracks.  Using this description only three rock songs got into the top 100 in 2010 - 'Don't Stop Believing'  by Journey, Train's  'Hey Soul Sister' and Florence and the Machine with 'You Got The Love' (this compares to 13 in 2009).  There were 47 R&B songs and 40 pop songs.

Actually some of the biggest stars in 2010 were rock bands - Bon Jovi, U2, AC DC and the like and the big Metal/Rock festivals such as Sonisphere are almost as popular as Glastonbury.  It seems us rock fans simply don’t buy singles.  We buy albums and go to live gigs.  Now you might think this doesn’t matter but it means radio is struggling to find rock music to play and therefore young kids don’t hear it.

The observant amongst you will also notice that the three bands mentioned above are no spring chickens any more.  New rock bands coming through are few and far between.  Hmmm - is rock music simply for old (I use this word with tongue firmly in cheek) people?

I mention this because a lot of the new music Mike and I buy is actually old music.  I’m an unabashed pop music fan so looking back at the hits of, say, 1974 when I was 16 my least favourite bands would be the rock bands - T Rex, Cockney Rebel, Alice Cooper.  The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton also feature in the list of most popular singles in 1974.  I would't have considered buying anything by either when I was 16.

These days we own a couple of Rolling Stones albums and I might go out and buy Eric Clapton but, although it’s new to me it’s hardly contemporary.  By the way did you know that Eric Clapton is the only person to have been inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame three times?  Once in his own right, once with Cream and once with The Yardbirds.

I got that snippet from Wikipedia together with this :-  Guitarist Little Steven writing Clapton's entry for Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time", on which Clapton ranked 53rd, said "Eric Clapton is the most important and influential guitar player that has ever lived, is still living or ever will live."

So I started out talking about other music but all roads lead to Springsteen.  I don't have to tell you that though do I.


Bruce is 23 in the list


Anyway, as it happens, the last two albums we bought were Lissie and Thea Gilmore. Despite what I said earlier Lissie is hardly an old timer!  Not sure about the album though.  ‘Cuckoo’ got a lot of airplay and has a real country feel but the rest of the album is a bit different and iTunes describes it as alternative.

We bought Thea Gilmour because Mike liked 'You’re The Radio'.  Thea’s got to be up there in my book anyway because she’s a Bruce fan and he‘s a fan of hers apparently.  Can’t say I’ve played the album much though.


See what you think of her version of cover me.




So the 11th annual Light of Day concert series is in Asbury Park this weekend.  Bruce has performed in seven of the last 10 years.  I assume he’s at a bit of a loose end at the moment so the odds are he’ll put in an appearance.  Hopefully this will mean something to interest us on You Tube next week.

For those of who don’t know about the origins of LOD I’ve copied a small bit from the website below.

History


Light of Day - the concerts and the organization - grew from a birthday party and fund-raiser held in 1998 at the Downtown Cafe in Red Bank to celebrate the 40th birthday of artist manager and music industry veteran Bob Benjamin. Benjamin was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in 1996.


In 2000, Benjamin and Tony Pallagrosi of Concerts East, Inc. organized the first official Light of Day concert, which took place at the legendary Stone Pony in Asbury Park on Nov. 3 - Benjamin's birthday. Headlining were Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers, the Pittsburgh-based band managed by Benjamin.


The shows, named after a Springsteen song that is the title of a movie starring [Michael J] Fox and Joan Jett, have raised funds for the ongoing fights against Parkinson's Disease, PSP, ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and related diseases





Two things to finish off.

Firstly a quick reminder for those of you in the UK.  BBC 4 Saturday night (15th January).  Bruce is on from 9.00pm. Stuff from The Promise and the Seeger gig from St Luke's again.  So if you can’t get to The Paramount Theater, Asbury Park you can at least see Bruce on the box.

Secondly Bruce has been nominated yet again for The Best International Male Solo Artist Brit Award.

He has now been nominated six times and won once - unsurprisingly in 1986 on the back of 'Born In The USA'.

Bruce was beaten by Eminem in 2003
                                 Kanye West in 2006 and 2008
                                 Jay-Z in 2010

This year he is up against Eminem and Kanye again together with Cee Lo Green and David Guetta.  My money is on... well anybody except Bruce and, to be honest, I've never really been able to get excited about the Brit awards anyway.