We'll be donating a portion of the proceeds of the sale of each shirt to HeadCount, a non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy. Learn more about the 501(c)(3) at headcount.org.

- September 13, 2020



WELCOME TO BOSSTON COLLEGE

BC parent/alum Chris Eidt watches Bruce address the "coronial generation"

Our first-born was nearly four months old the first time my wife and I both together left him for more than two hours. His grandmother came down from New Hampshire, and we took a ten-hour escape to Albany — where we saw our first live show from the Rising tour. That four-month-old is now a freshman at Boston College. After years of indoctrination to Bruce Springsteen's music and a few concerts of his own, it feels fitting that his first extended time away from his parents, his time of growin' up, is in part connected to Bruce.

Last night, two weeks after campus move-in, the university held their First Year Academic Convocation, the official welcome to the newest students. This day for the Boston College community included a noontime Mass of the Holy Spirit, a 470-year tradition among Jesuit academic institutions in which the community gathers to thank God for the gifts of creation and salvation and to seek the guidance and wisdom of the Holy Spirit in the coming year. President Fr. William Leahy S.J., is his homily, talked about the call we are given to "bear lasting fruit to the world" and how being "committed to growing in community meant to not only welcome and value those in our midst but to hold obligation to object to those around us that harm and wound." Engaging in our community and world in this way would come up again on this day.

In the evening, with torches aglow, these young students would normally take their "First Flight" procession through campus that both previews the walk they will take on graduation day and sets the mind to the journey they are beginning, charged to set the world on fire. The destination is the arena — where Eagles play the games — for a keynote address from an author with messages on engaging with the world, developing a habit of discernment, and forming an identity. For otherwise it is as true today as it was in 1985 that "blind faith in your leaders, or anything, will get you killed." And indeed, Bruce Springsteen would be delivering this year's Convocation Address.

This being 2020 and still in the middle of a pandemic, the social engagement side of this event was virtual. First Flight was grounded, and the much-anticipated meeting with the Boss was moved to residence halls to be watched on iPads, computer screens, and TVs. Even the gift of live streaming this event globally seemed to take a little shine off of something uniquely for the BC class of '24. Maybe this is the first lesson in sharing and engagement.

Bruce's gift of communication is not in music alone. While Springsteen on Broadway brought a different level of attention to his storytelling, his skill for delivering a message via spoken word may still be underrated. The lectern is nothing but a different kind of stage, and his ability to paint with words is moving. I am drawn in by the eulogies written to Danny and Clarence, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction of U2, or the 2012 SXSW keynote. And last night, his address to my son and his peers.

Framed by his studio, the tease of guitars and a mixing board in the background, Bruce first noted their common ground, stating, "like you, I am a high school graduate." He shared a regret about not going to college and having to make up his education on his own, imploring the students to make the most of this time in their lives.

"The life of the mind is paramount. The life of the mind is a beautiful thing — along with spiritual life it is the apotheosis of human experience. Take pleasure in your body and your physical life in your youth. Don't waste it, because the aches and pains are coming. But in this place you will not neglect the life of your mind."

He turned part-parent, part-coach, and did the Jesuits proud in teeing up taking advantage of the privilege at hand. "What you are about to embark upon is the greatest adventure of your young life," Springsteen continued. "You can waste it, half-ass your way through it, or you can absorb every minute of what you are experiencing and come out on the other end an individual of expanded vision, of intellectual vigor, of spiritual character and grace fully prepared to meet he world on its own terms."

The second half of the prepared remarks aligned to the Born to Run study guide prepared for the incoming freshman class. Noting that we will soon be looking to them, the "coronial generation," for answers to a better, safer world, Bruce shared his ideas on where to start. He took a walk though finding satisfying work, to immerse yourself into relationships ("to love and let yourself be loved"), to learn to be an informed and engaged citizen, and to heal thyself by "loving your neighbor, your friends, your family, your partner, and yourself."

The conversation on citizenship was more off-study-guide, but it brought the Jesuit ideal of being a man or woman for others to into focus. "Your country needs you: your vision, your energy, your love. Yes, love your country, but never fail to be critical when it comes to your country living up to your and its ideals."

The surprisingly short address clocked in about a minute less than it takes to listen to "Jungleland." More Boss Time followed, though, with a 20-minute, prepared Q&A session of ten questions posed by BC students.

The questions covered topics from the book including passages on the loss of innocence, the legacy of "American Skin (41 Shots)," and finding and holding onto the magic of "1 +1 = 3." Bruce was asked about facing pressure to conform, maintaining confidence ("even today I am a mess of insecurities"), taking risks in music ("I had no other skills and nothing to lose") and the role of faith in musical inspiration ("I consider myself a spiritual songwriter — I write for the soul"), and what he was most proud of ("my relationship with my wife"). The obviously overlooked — or moderated out — question was, will you pick a guitar and play us a song?

There was no-cross promotion this night. It was about and for the students. Yet on the day a Letter to You was announced, it was clear that this time with them was his letter to these students. I think about how many parents in the recent graduation-and-leaving-home cycle wrote their version of this letter (mine was fittingly in the form of a "To Do List") to their son or daughter where we summoned up all our hearts found true in our desire to see them achieve their hopes and dreams.

Last night wasn't just a presentation, it was an intimate exhortation from Bruce to engage and commit that echoes the love we have for our children. Our children, not being treated as children, need to hear that from people other than their parents. Bruce delivered, giving a message of work, commitment, and love to the many but it was received directly and personally. To my son and fellow, much younger, Eagles: Go set the world on fire.

In the archived video below, Springsteen's portion of the 2020 First Year Academic Convocation begins at the 25:50 mark

- September 11, 2020 - Chris Eidt reporting



THE NEW TIMER

Three old songs are new again on Letter to You

Letter to You, Bruce Springsteen's twentieth studio album, arrives as some of its predecessors have: revisiting songs he'd previously recorded, performed, or given away to fellow musicians. Though all spring from new E Street Band sessions, at least three of the album's 12 tracks have a backstory, dating to Bruce's earliest years as a young artist just signing to Columbia Records in the early 1970s.

From "Sherry Darling" and "Independence Day" to "Because the Night," "This Hard Land," and "Long Time Comin'," many Springsteen songs had lives before finding space on a studio recording and emerging in a traditional sense. "Land of Hope and Dreams" and "American Skin (41 Shots)" served as hallmarks of the 1999/2000 Reunion Tour before getting cut in the studio for Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014).

In 1995, when Springsteen reassembled the E Street Band in the studio for Greatest Hits, he came not only with material written for the occasion, but also with several tunes he'd had in his back pocket: "This Hard Land" had been kicking around for more than a decade. The final sequence of Letter to You suggests a similar framework.

In both thought and expression, Letter to You happened very quickly. Springsteen told Martin Scorsese at a May 2019 Netflix event in Los Angeles that he'd been inspired over the course of a couple weeks, by the end of which he'd written "almost an album's worth of material for the [E Street] Band." As he did in the 1995 sessions, Springsteen also revisited older songs when the band convened late last year, this time from further back than ever.

We don't yet know how closely any of the three — "Janey Needs a Shooter," "If I Was the Priest," and "Song For Orphans" — might resemble previously known arrangements. To prepare for their modern E Street renditions, it's worth (re)acquainting ourselves with what has come before.

JANEY NEEDS A SHOOTER

It was a contender, alright: Springsteen considered "Janey Needs a Shooter" to some degree for each record from Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. through The River. That ubiquity, across eras and arrangements, makes it something of a wild card here. One early '70s take features Springsteen on piano (and was actually cut to acetate at the time, suggesting more serious interest).

A later one, probably from the spring of 1979, finds Springsteen working out the words over an acoustic guitar.

A rocking E Street Band rehearsal intrigues the most, likely recorded in Springsteen's own living room in May of that same year. Its crude sound, captured on a boom box (or something like it), probably isn't sufficient to simply drop on to a studio LP, but it's a clue nonetheless: it sounds nuanced, its parts both in place and practiced.

That rehearsal take intertwines with Warren Zevon, who recorded and released "Jeannie Needs a Shooter" in 1980. Intrigued by Bruce's title, Zevon borrowed it and went on to write what he called a "cowboy song," using neither the storyline nor the melody contained in Springsteen's original. In fact, Zevon's tale on Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School is closer in spirit to classic Americana, like John Phillips' "Me and My Uncle," which became one of the Grateful Dead's most oft-performed numbers.

From different angles, both songwriters aim squarely at the patriarchy. Zevon's is a classic boy-meets-girl tale, which becomes boy-meets-her-father, who happens to be a law man. Springsteen's composition — initially spelled "Janie" — features a different spin, with heroics predicated not on Janie's Old Man, but instead on a series of interlopers — a doctor, a proctor, a mechanic, and a cop (Janey's job Springsteen leaves to the imagination).

Both in melody and verse, the 1973 piano version sounds like the prequel to "Incident on 57th Street," with Spanish Johnny in an aspirational space, telling stories of the men Janie would "turn down like dope" — seeing himself as a protector ("I'm staying here tonight baby, and I won't let you slide"). Turning over the Wild and Innocent, it's a different story when easy money lures him away. Six years later, the 1979 full-band version combines that 57th Street spirit with that of the future River cut "The Price You Pay."

IF I WAS THE PRIEST

Also known as (the more grammatically correct) "If I Were the Priest"

"If I Was the Priest" was one of 12 songs Bruce Springsteen played for John Hammond during his May 3, 1972 audition in New York City, which landed him on Columbia Records shortly thereafter. Five would appear on Greetings, and a quarter-century later, four of the solo acoustic recordings from this very audition reel ("Mary Queen of Arkansas," "It's Hard to be a Saint in the City, "Growin' Up," and "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street") would appear on Tracks. While Bruce performed most of these for Hammond on acoustic guitar, he played "Priest" on piano.

Like other compositions Springsteen played that day, such as "Arabian Nights" and "Cowboys of the Sea," "If I Was the Priest" might have gone by the wayside had it not been included in a batch of demos Mike Appel used to shop Springsteen originals to other artists.

These recordings made their way to Intersong Music, a publishing agency in the U.K.; thanks to these "London Publishing Demos," which Bruce recorded in mid-1972, "If I Was the Priest" found a home with Allan Clarke in England. The Hollies singer covered Springsteen's unreleased "If I Was the Priest" for his 1974 self-titled solo album.





Though the swagger at the outset of Springsteen's piano-based demo sounds promising (and prescient of The Rolling Stones' "Loving Cup"), it wasn't a contender for the first LP. There's no mistaking it for more upbeat numbers like "Blinded by the Light" and "Spirit in the Night," which Springsteen wrote at the prompting of label chief Clive Davis, who rejected an initial sequence of Greetings for having "no hits."



A studio version of "If I Was the Priest" was part of a batch of early recordings slated for a gray-market release in the mid-'90s called Prodigal Son; pirate versions of that proposed title emerged, with "Priest" released on Before the Fame. Springsteen appeared in court in the U.K. — in coat and tie, no less — to quash the "official" release and eventually prevailed in retaining his rights.

SONG FOR ORPHANS

Also known over the years as "Song to the Orphans," "Song of the Orphans," et al.

Like "Janey" and "Priest," "Song for Orphans" has a rich history that its obscurity may not suggest. Springsteen performed this one live in 1972 and '73. Tagged back then as a so-called "New Dylan," a 1973 radio performance seems instead to portend something like Neil Young's "Campaigner."

It only took on a Dylanesque feel when Springsteen brought it back in 2005, at the end of the Devils & Dust tour in Trenton, New Jersey (an Archive Series release in 2019). Apparently, Springsteen had heard a bygone version of "Orphans" on Sirius' newly-launched E Street Radio channel, which prompted one of two breakout performances ("I think this is an outtake from Greetings From Asbury Park that's never been released," Springsteen said. "You're not going to know this bastard — then again, some of you just might!")

Widely bootlegged, the song's origins date to 1972, when it was included in the same publishing demos as "If I Was the Priest." Springsteen apparently kept the song in consideration after his first two albums; it appeared on an early song list for Born to Run [pictured above, 1974]. Like "If I Was the Priest," a studio recording of "Song for Orphans" was part of the Prodigal Son material, appearing on The Early Years and other gray-market titles.

How it fits in with contemporary material has us wondering, though the "Song For Orphans" narrative would not feel out of place on Western Stars. Its position in the Letter to You sequence — a denouement, perhaps, before the dream finale — is enticing. Springsteen tends to obsess over the narrative thread an LP weaves from start to finish; penultimate tracks have ranged from "Spirit in the Night" and "Meeting Across the River" to "Dancing in the Dark" to "Hello Sunshine." Stay tuned.

Of course, all this is just history. It remains to be seen how Springsteen has reworked with these slices of juvenilia as he returned to them as a man of 70, rather than an artist in his 20s just starting out — what the modern-day E Street Band brings to them, and how he positions them to tell a new story on Letter to You.

- September 9, 2020 - Jonathan Pont, Christopher Phillips, and Erik Flannigan reporting



SPRINGSTEEN DELIVERS: NEW ALBUM IS OFFICIAL!

Recorded with the E Street Band, Letter to You arrives October 23

It's a red-letter day. A Shore Fire Media announcement has confirmed that a new Bruce Springsteen studio album, his 20th, is just around the corner: Letter to You is scheduled for October 23 from Columbia Records, on vinyl and CD.

The announcement comes accompanied by a first listen, via a video for the title track:

Along with the sound of the single, this morning's press release differentiates the forthcoming album immediately from Western Stars, headlining Letter to You as a "rock album featuring the E Street Band" and later describing it as a "rock album fueled by the band's heart-stopping, house-rocking signature sound."

Springsteen co-produced the 12-track Letter to You with Ron Aniello, recording at Springsteen's home studio in New Jersey in late 2019 — meaning pre-quarantine, and the band did indeed record together as a unit, harkening back to sessions for The River and Born in the U.S.A. In fact, as Bruce tells it, this is the "livest" they've ever been in the studio:

"I love the sound of the E Street Band playing completely live in the studio, in a way we've never done before, and with no overdubs," Springsteen says. "We made the album in only five days, and it turned out to be one of the greatest recording experiences I’ve ever had."

For the five-day session, Springsteen reconvened Roy Bittan, Nils Lofgren, Patti Scialfa, Garry Tallent, Stevie Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Charlie Giordano and Jake Clemons.

"I love the emotional nature of Letter to You,” says Springsteen. And while we don't know precisely the story it will tell, song titles suggest that the artist is taking stock and looking back over his 50-year career — especially given that three of the songs date back to its beginning. As the press release states, "Letter to You includes nine recently written Springsteen songs, as well as new recordings of three of his legendary, but previously unreleased, compositions from the 1970s, 'Janey Needs a Shooter,' 'If I Was the Priest,' and 'Song for Orphans.'"

1. One Minute You're Here

2. Letter to You

3. Burnin' Train

4. Janey Needs a Shooter

5. Last Man Standing

6. The Power of Prayer

7. House of a Thousand Guitars

8. Rainmaker

9. If I Was the Priest

10. Ghosts

11. Song for Orphans

12. I’ll See You in My Dreams

Letter to You was mixed by Bob Clearmountain and mastered by Bob Ludwig. The album's cover photo was taken in 2018 by Danny Clinch, at Central Park West and 72nd Street in NYC, near where Springsteen was staying during his Springsteen on Broadway run.

We'll have pre-ordering information available soon for the album; for those who dug such recent Backstreet Records exclusives as the Springsteen on Broadway pin and Western Stars bandana, we're working to nail down another exclusive item for our readers.

Also watch this space for more information on those three songs that date back to the 1970s — though as for precisely how they fit in with the newer tracks on Letter to You, we'll all be waiting until October for that.

- September 10, 2020 - photograph by Danny Clinch

These troubled times call for a rising. Limited run of this new Backstreets T-shirt will print ASAP pre-order now to guarantee your size, from XS to 3X. Well be donating a portion of the proceeds to @HeadCountOrg. https://t.co/daAMN48glL #Springsteen #RiseUp #TheFutureIsVoting pic.twitter.com/FXao6YIcF6 — Backstreets Magazine (@backstreetsmag) September 9, 2020



ANY REQUESTS FOR MAX WEINBERG'S JUKEBOX? ASK MAX!

The Count Basie Center for the Arts has a new outdoor and socially-distanced concert series, and later this month Max Weinberg will play two of their "Concerts in the Garden." Max brings his Jukebox band to the Blue Grotto in Monmouth Park, Oceanport, NJ, on September 24 and 25 (tickets via Ticketmaster with more info here).

One of the hallmarks of any Max Weinberg show — especially Max Weinberg's Jukebox — is his interaction with the crowd, from taking questions to playing song requests. But with new distancing rules in place to keep concertgoers and performers safe, what's a bandleader to do?

"I'm calling it 'Distant Socializing,' as all safety protocols are in place," says Max. "Widely spaced tables, masks, sanitizing stations, the works. But I will still be taking song requests and questions — the same way we did it for Mighty Max’s Monday Memories."

Below we're posting the song scroll that Max plays at his Jukebox shows for fans in the crowd to pick what they want to hear. This time, fans will help create the setlist in advance.

If you'll be attending the Blu Grotto concerts, take a look at this repertoire of more than 200 classics, and send your request to askmax(at)backstreets.com — we'll pass on all requests to the Mighty One before the shows.

We originally set up that email address for Mighty Max's Monday Memories, the virtual Q&A series Max started in the spring to help keep us all entertained during lockdown, answering questions from Backstreets readers around the globe. If you missed any of its five episodes, we highly recommend you spend some time with MMMM on his YouTube or Instagram accounts.

Though Max wrapped up Season 1 in June, his intention has been to return to the format somehow — and the upcoming concerts will give him another chance to answer more questions. So you can send song requests and/or questions for Max to askmax(at)backstreets.com — please include your name and hometown, too, and we'll make sure he receives them!

- September 9, 2020

On @YouTube as well: Bruce Springsteen will address Boston College students this week. Here's how to watch. https://t.co/QTKdvGiQZE via @BostonDotCom — Backstreets Magazine (@backstreetsmag) September 8, 2020

A LUST SO FINE: HAPPY 5th TO JESSE JACKSON'S PODCAST

Ask a tramp like us what they miss the most about the lack of concerts this year, and one of the answers you'll most certainly hear is: connection.

The excitement of seeing our favorite band make music on the spot is certainly a main draw, but there's something about being in the presence of thousands of fellow fans united by a common interest that heightens the experience.

Our social networks (the real kind) are filled with people we've met at shows, and every concert is both a family reunion and expansion. In these COVID days, we miss that connection. We have online networks like BTX and Facebook, of course, but text-based messages can't match the fidelity of those in-person relationships.

But there's at least one place where deep fan connections still happen, forged and fostered by podcaster Jesse Jackson. Jesse's podcast Set Lusting Bruce (a play on the obsessive fan's never-ending chase for the elusive rarities) celebrates its fifth anniversary today, continuing a long string of conversations with Springsteen fans sharing their stories, experiences, and why Bruce Springsteen matters to them.



Set Lusting Bruce host Jesse Jackson

Music podcasts are a pretty well-trod genre, and even a search for Springsteen podcasts will turn up more than a handful. Several are worthwhile; SLB has a claim to being the first, and it is unique in Jesse's insistence on keeping the focus on the fan rather than the artist.

The inspiration for SLB came after Jesse, already a veteran pop culture podcaster with series on Doctor Who and Game of Thrones, did a guest-host stint on an a podcast called Eighties Retro Overdrive published by Southgate Media Group, focusing on Bruce Springsteen's albums of the 1980s. After the episode, Jesse mused to SMG co-founder Rob Southgate that he was considering starting a Springsteen-focused podcast inspired by the film Springsteen & I.

The idea of an ongoing podcast series focusing exclusively on fan stories might have sounded dubious to some, but Rob had a firm belief that if you're passionate about something, you should podcast about it. So was born Set Lusting Bruce, and in an era where most podcasts don't last more than ten episodes and a few months, five years and almost 600 episodes later, it's still going strong.

SLB's reach has grown considerably in those five years, but as Jesse notes, listeners aren't the focus of his quest. "I just want to talk to interesting people."

And he certainly does: Jesse's guests span a wide spectrum from well-known superfans like Stan Goldstein and Dan French to fans more notable for their day jobs, like famed comic book writer Ron Marz and The Simpsons showrunner Mike Scully. His latest episode features actress Maureen Van Zandt, who of course has a uniquely up-close-and-personal perspective to share.

But Jesse's favorite guests are often the ones with deeply personal stories of how Bruce's music helped them or their loved ones face life's challenges, like Tom French, whose prematurely born daughter survived with the help of Bruce's music, or J'aimee Brooker, who used Bruce's music to help her disabled son learn to communicate.

Jesse believes every fan has a story, and he's learned over the course of the series how to elicit them, almost always starting conversations by asking about what kind of music filled guests' household while they were growing up, and usually ending by asking "Is there anything I didn't ask you that I should have?" Jesse learned the importance of that last one after he wrapped an episode, thanked his guest, and the guest replied (after the recording had stopped), "sometime I should tell you about how I got drunk with the E Street Band!"

And then there's the "Mary question," sure to elicit thought-provoking responses from Springsteen fans (you'll have to listen to an episode to see why).

In recent months, Set Lusting Bruce has gone further afield with its guests and topics, slowly morphing from a podcast about Springsteen fans to a podcast about music fans, where the host just so happen to be especially into Bruce.

"My bread and butter are talking to Springsteen fans, but I like meeting people who are passionate about a topic," Jesse explains, and since his focus is on the fan, the conversation often follows the guest's passion from Bruce to wherever it may lead. "When you blog or podcast, you publish for an audience of one. I'm having good conversations, and I hope my listeners are enjoying them."

When asked how long he envisions the series running, Jesse replied, "I've thought about that… how much is this is about I want people to hear, and how much is me just enjoying doing it?" Sometimes the effort and energy required gets to him, "but then there's that great conversation where an hour and a half flies by, and it feels like we're just getting started. It's worth it for that. As long as my wife will put up with me, and as long as I'm enjoying it, I don't plan on ending anytime soon."

Jesse admits to finding it more challenging these days to find new people to talk to, however. "I'm petrified that I'm going to reach the point where I don't have anyone scheduled and don't have any episodes in the can, and oh my god, what am I going to put out next week?"

As a former guest myself, I can vouch for the ease, comfort, and natural flow that Jesse ensures each and every guest experiences. He even once accommodated a guest who was self-conscious about her English secondary-language skills by sending her his questions in advance, allowing her to record her answers, and then weaving her responses with his own to produce a remarkably natural sounding conversation.

So if you've got a story to tell and you're missing those rich conversations between passionate Springsteen fans, Jesse's got a slot on his schedule reserved just for you. Reach out to him at setlustingbruce(at)gmail.com. To subscribe, simply go to your favorite podcast player and choose the Subscribe option.

Happy fifth anniversary, SLB, and here's to the next five years!

- September 8, 2020 - Ken Rosen reporting - visit Ken's blog at estreetshuffle.com



BOSTON COLLEGE GOES BACK TO SCHOOL WITH THE BOSS

Bruce Springsteen to address First Year BC students this week

Boston College announced in April that the common reading for incoming freshmen of the Class of 2024 is Bruce Springsteen's autobiography, Born to Run. In July the students received a copy of the book, and a detailed reading guide frames how to approach the text both as the story of Springsteen's life as well as inspiration for students "to reflect on their own story."

This is far from the first time that Bruce has made it to a college curriculum. I have been teaching "Springsteen's American Vision" for 15 years, and there are dozens of other courses that focus on various elements of Bruce's work, whether religion, social class, gender, region, or the history of rock 'n' roll.

This is not a college course, however, but a welcoming — an invitation to cultivate, with their new community, habits of intellect and discernment. Students are not required to listen to the music, watch the live performances, read the interviews, or engage the scholarly literature. And truth be told, they likely do not know much of Bruce's work. (At Rutgers, where I teach, students take my course because their parents raised them as fans, and it's New Jersey.)

Boston College, a Jesuit institution, did not choose the book because Springsteen is a world-renowned, iconic musician and public figure (nor because his son Evan graduated from there in 2012). They selected it because his autobiography has already taken its place as a master work of literature that invites reflection on our own journey and how our understanding of it shapes who we are today and how we engage the world.

That last piece is critical to Jesuit education, and it is essential to Bruce's story as the autobiography probes the realms of "work, faith, family" and how Springsteen's adult understanding of his past shapes his present and future.

Born to Run is nothing if not the story of Bruce's growth. It is a work that offers remarkable access to his inner life. Students at Boston College may find the material on religion especially pertinent as Bruce discusses both his estrangement from Catholicism and its lasting hold over him.

He also discusses his bouts with depression and anxiety and admits to seeing a psychiatrist. I hope these passages give struggling students comfort. If Bruce Springsteen still suffers, perhaps they will see their own problems as unexceptional and manageable.

The irony of a community college drop-out composing a lyrical work that is now required reading at college is likely not lost on anyone (including Bruce, one imagines). This is perhaps the greatest gift that reading Born to Run offers: testimony to the power of education.

Bruce hated school and grew up in a house devoid of books, yet he chose to devour literature and film and remade himself into an intellectual. That noun has lost favor, yet it is something of which to be proud, a person who engages ideas and thinks critically.

Bruce name drops Willy Loman and Starbuck in Born to Run, and I hope students at Boston College are encouraged to read Death of a Salesman and Moby-Dick, the works where these characters come to life, and hundreds of other books as well. That is the reason to go to college: not to find a vocation, but to get an education.

The reading guide opens with the question, "Why Read a Book?" In the age of Snapchat and Instagram, an age of dwindling attention spans, reading a book may seem like a staggering task. A book, however, is the best way to get outside oneself, to think about others and in doing so reflect on ourselves.

I only wish, in addition to the reading guide, Boston College provided a listening guide. I hope students take the time to play Springsteen's music. At a minimum, they should blast the track that gives the autobiography its title.

When they do, they will doubtless relate to a protagonist who is trying to cope with the "runaway American dream," just as these students begin their journey and try to figure out their path.

They will also learn that both autobiography and song are about the search for love. That is the eternal message of Springsteen's life and work: "love is wild, love is real."

Having read the book, students at Boston College will receive an additional treat: this Thursday, September 10, Bruce will virtually address the class of 2024 at its First Year Academic Convocation. He no doubt will continue to tell his story and offer words of inspiration for these dark and difficult days. Hopefully, he will also bring his guitar.

Boston College is making a public stream available of Springsteen's address, via bc.edu on September 10 at 7pm. You can also download BC's associated reading guide for Born to Run from bc.edu 9/8 Update: as Boston.com reports, the 2020 First Year Acaemdic Convocation with Bruce Springsteen will also stream live on YouTube.

- September 7, 2020 - Louis P. Masur reporting - Lou is Distinguished Professor of American Studies and History at Rutgers University; he is also co-editor of Talk About a Dream: The Essential Interviews of Bruce Springsteen, and author of Runaway Dream: Born to Run and Bruce Springsteen's American Vision and, most recently, The Sum of Our Dreams: A Concise History of America

REMEMBER ALL THE MOVIES (AND TV SHOWS, TOO!)

With Labor Day Weekend 2020 deemed by public health experts as crucial in containing COVID-19 through the upcoming months, there's no better time for Springsteen fans to stay home, stay safe, relax, and binge some movies and TV. We've got an appetizer to enjoy, before you start digging into the entrees.…

Backstreets contributor Shawn Poole recently recorded an hour-plus conversation (via Zoom) with New Jersey-based film critic Caroline Madden, centered around her book Springsteen as Soundtrack: The Sound of the Boss in Film and Television. Poole and Madden cover all 13 of the films and television series that each got a chapter's worth of attention in her book — nearly all of which are available for streaming over this long weekend or in the days to come.

Madden discusses each production's effective usage of Springsteen's music, as well as what she learned from her interviews for the book with the great independent filmmaker John Sayles (among the first to receive permission from Springsteen to use his music in a film) and longtime Springsteen manager Jon Landau (who once served as Rolling Stone's Record and Film Editor back in his days as one of pop-culture's most perceptive published critics.)

You've probably seen at least some of these movies and shows before, but it's also likely that you haven't seen them all, and Madden provides some fresh insight for a rewatch. We highly recommend her book — published by McFarland, it's aimed at a textbook market and priced accordingly, but it's certainly not too academic for any fans interested in reading more about the use of Springsteen's music on screen. Click here to score a signed copy from Backstreet Records.

- September 6, 2020



LAND OF HOPE AND STREAMS: NEW YORK IS ROCKIN'

Catch Willie Nile's virtual album release show over the long weekend

The pandemic isn't stopping our favorite artists from getting new music out there, and Willie Nile recently put out his 13th studio album, New York at Night. Check out clips for "New York is Rockin'" and "Under This Roof" for a taste — it's inspiring, invigorating stuff, as we've come to expect.

Promoting new material is trickier these days, with no real chances to gig; but Willie managed to put his full band together last week at NYC's Bowery Electric for a socially distanced concert to celebrate the new album, and you can still watch it online in its entirety for a few more days. This "Run Free" clip is taken from the full streaming concert:

If you like what you see, you've got until Monday night to catch the whole show; click here for tickets to watch on demand with add-on options for audio downloads, shirts and more.

- September 4, 2020.



SHOULDER TO SHOULDER AND HEART TO HEART

Point Blank at 40

On September 3, 1980 — 40 years ago today — Dan French mailed out the first issue of his fanzine, Point Blank. I have one in front of me as I type. It has been appreciated and cared for: the A4 paper has yellowed ever so slightly over the years; the corners have rounded as readers repeatedly turned the pages; the two staples equally spaced along the left edge leave slight rust stains. Number 1 opens with an ink outline of Springsteen in one of his signature poses, the neck of his guitar coming out of a barely visible left hand, his body skinned with acknowledgements, credits, and production and printing information typed on a typewriter.

I have no idea how Dan pulled this off; the spacing is absolutely perfect. Dan describes Point Blank as "an unofficial and casual fanzine for Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. It is non-profit-making, aiming only to promote the improvement of conditions for Springsteen fans, particularly the deprived British variety." Handwritten on the neck of the guitar: "No. 1 in a possible series. . ."

Point Blank would eventually have a run of 12 issues, ending in 1992 with a special double issue dedicated to Springsteen's 1992 tour of the United Kingdom.

Improving conditions for Springsteen fans was something Dan felt a need to do because, as he wrote for a British Museum/BBC post about Point Blank in 1980, Bruce fans "were isolated, with little means of making contact, sharing news, and communicating our shared interest." Music fans didn't have forums or Facebook or Twitter; they had to wait until news trickled out in magazines like Rolling Stone, Melody Maker, or Crawdaddy.

At some point Dan came across Ken Viola and Lou Cohan's bi-coastal U.S. fanzine first published in 1978, Thunder Road, and, later, Gary Desmond's Liverpool-based fanzine, Candy's Room, which also celebrated its 40th anniversary this year. He thought he'd give it a try, as he wrote in a 30th anniversary essay, "as a way to meet other Bruce Springsteen fans, in a world before the internet and email, when the only way to connect with people was to place a small ad in a paper and wait to see what would happen."

It was, as Jeff Matthews, founder of the fanzine Rendezvous, wrote me in an email about the importance of Point Blank,

the age of pen pals, stamp addressed envelopes and 50p fanzines. Cassette tape trading, Bruce quizzes, concert meet ups, next album speculation and rumors — this was great fun and it united fans around the world with one common cause. Forty years ago, as a young Bruce fan, and thanks mainly to the fanzines like Backstreets, Point Blank, and Candy's Room, we clung onto every little bit of Bruce trivia like gold dust. And the friendship and community extended, for me, outside of his music and led me to Dan French in 1981. So thanks to Dan French and Point Blank magazine for many, many years of community and true brotherly friendship.

The desire to build community is one of the motivating factors among the more than a dozen Springsteen fanzine founders and contributors I've spoken to over the years. And Point Blank, just as so much of what Dan has done as a Springsteen fan and for other fans, breathes community. In Number 1 alone, Dan immediately thanks "Thunder Road and Candy's Room for the idea," and the issue contains a page of letters, an article dedicated to Thunder Road, and detailed information on how fans can buy each of them. Reading this in 1980, when you felt like an isolated Springsteen fan, would show you that you're not alone, that there are other tramps out there yearning to connect and celebrate the man whose music has brought meaning to their lives.

Number 1 was composed almost exclusively by Dan. He advertised it in various music magazines with such success that only a few months later 80% of Number 2 was composed by outside contributors. People were hungry and wanted to be involved. Dan quickly sold the initial print run of 200 and had to reprint Number 1 many times. Same with Numbers 2 and 3, and by 1982 Dan had to consider them out of print so he could concentrate on putting together future issues.

Each issue feels more confident, with more diverse voices, exclusive content, coverage of more musicians, sophisticated layouts, and funny cartoons, but each still holds that kitchen-table cut-and-paste DIY Xerox aesthetic that is so endearing of 1980s fanzines. When you hold it in your hands, you are holding fandom in its purest form. It led Dan from the hours composing, crafting, and organizing pages to the concerts themselves. For Dan, writing in The Fever fanzine in 1983, "It was most encouraging to stand outside the concert halls during Bruce's tour holding the magazine and to be approached by readers and correspondents I'd never met before, and even stay with them for the provincial shows."

Point Blank, like so many fanzines before and after, was a "social media" that led not to clicks and likes, but to human connection. And eventually to meeting Bruce and handing him a copy of Point Blank.

In 2010, Dan created a free online archive of Wild and Innocent Productions materials: scanned PDFs of all 12 Point Blank issues; a five-issue publication, Songs to Orphans, which provided lyrics to many of Springsteen's unreleased songs; links to collaborations with other fanzine creators; and many work-product documents. We encourage you to look at each of the issues and artifacts, as there are some real gems, such as:

A photo gallery with behind-the-scenes photos of Bruce and many of the band members, including this photo of Bruce holding a copy of Point Blank at the Newcastle airport, in May 1981.

An exclusive audio recording and transcript of Max Weinberg's lecture at the Astoria Theatre, London, 10 August 1986.

A handwritten letter from CBS Records, August 1984, detailing upcoming single releases.

Point Blank Number 9, which has been uploaded in its raw, un-Xeroxed form, revealing the cut-and-paste technique. Also wonderful is raw draft of "Point Blank in the Promised Land" from 1982, describing Dan's visit to Asbury Park.

And my favorite issue of Point Blank, Number 5 (1982), which contains a revealing early interview of Bruce after his April 26, 1981, show at Forest National in Brussels by Marc Didden and translated by Ria Aeschlimann. For me, this is fanzines at their best: there's no way I would have ever found this interview, and if I did it probably would have been in the original language.

In the interview Bruce gives glimpses of his love of music that comes through so well in his current From My Home to Yours series. When asked about covering Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land," Bruce's response shows his emerging confidence in being overtly political from the stage, his indignation about the state of the country, and how he sees his lineage as a political artist: "I sing that song to let people know that America belongs to everybody who lives there: the Blacks, Chicanos, Indians, Chinese and the whites, no matter what the Ku Klux Klan may think about that. You know what gave me such a thrill tonight? That the whole audience went 'booo. . .' when I said the words, 'Ku Klux Klan.' I never got that reaction before. That strengthens my conviction to strike out against those kinds of people. . . . It's time someone took on the reality of the '80s. I'll do my best."

Point Blank emerged with The River, when Bruce was just beginning to gain world-wide fame and confidence in his political voice, published through the behemoth that was Born in the U.S.A and the shock of Bruce breaking up the E Street Band, and came to a close when Bruce was grappling how that fame affected his life and, as we would later learn, his mental health. In other words, Point Blank was there for some of Springsteen's most complex and challenging years, with Dan documenting, recording, and sharing.

Through it all, Dan ensured that Point Blank stayed true to its original goals: build community, celebrate music, and have fun while doing it. And, yet, perhaps even more significant is the legacy of generosity, humility, and caring for all fans that Dan fostered through his fanzine and his activities since. He's been a brother-in-arms and true friend to Backstreets, which shares the same birth year. All Springsteen fans, whether they realize it or not, should be indebted to what Dan French has created for and gifted to our community over the last 40 years.

Visit Wild and Innocent Productions

to download issues of Point Blank and more as free PDFs

- September 3, 2020 - Bill Wolff reporting - Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Saint Joseph's University, Wolff is the editor of Bruce Springsteen and Popular Music and is working on Springsteen Zines: An Oral History of Springsteen Fanzines.

RECAP: VOLUME 11, A "LABOR DAY EXTRAVAGANZA"

From My Home to Yours hears America singing

The eleventh episode of From My Home to Yours is a Labor Day special, and it brings to mind a weird little armchair criticism Bruce Springsteen receives from time to time: how can he still speak to or even understand the concerns of the working class? Now that he's, y'know, a rich rock 'n' roll star?

"It always comes up," Bruce told Backstreets in 2004. "I've settled into the fact that I'll be answering that question for the rest of my working life." It's a misguided question for all sorts of reasons, but as he noted then, it especially denotes "a tremendously muddled idea of how writers write."

Volume 11 is very much about the writers writing. As workers work, the writers write, and it's all reflected not only in the songs on Bruce's new Labor Day playlist but in the poems he recites throughout. Poetry abounds — from his own literal poetry readings to the spoken word of Patti Smith's breathless "Piss Factory" from 1974 — blurring lines between 20th century poets and songrwiters, their mutual inclination to capture a nation at work.

Greetings E Street Nation, friends, fans and listeners from coast to coast! Welcome to our Labor Day extravaganza. Today we are celebrating the American working man and woman — all the folks that keep our world spinning 'round and 'round.

Pop hits, sincere paeans to American industry, warnings about "working for the man," ironic and even grieving takes on labor, it's all here. Because our DJ knows a thing or two about work. He'll work hard for your love, as the hardest-working man in show business, and yeah, he knows about the working class, too. The working, the working, the working life (if you're surprised his own "Factory" didn't show up, maybe it's because the aforementioned "Piss Factory" is, he says, "one of the best songs about factory work I've ever heard").

From the cold open of Aaron Copland's stirring "Fanfare for the Common Man," Bruce moves on to Roy Orbison. "The Great One" (as Bruce calls Roy O.) did write "Working for the Man," speaking of writers, and it's only one of five tracks on the list with "work" in the title. Six, if you count Philip Levine's moving "What Work Is," a poem Bruce recites in full. His own "Working on the Highway" is represented in a cover by Joe Ely ("a great friend of mine… fabulous singer/songwriter/rocker out of Texas").

Organized labor receives plenty of focus, starting with a timely stand-up bit by Jimmy Tingle from his 2008 comedy album Jimmy Tingle for President:

We have all these great holidays, they all have meaning — nobody even knows what they mean anymore! Like, Labor Day: people don't even realize what Labor Day's about. People protested, they demonstrated, they had to sacrifice for things like… the 40-hour work week, benefits, to abolish child labor in this country, safe standards in factories! Some people lost their jobs; some people lost their lives. People don't even realize it — it's completly off the radar. People go, "Labor Day, Labor Day, Labor Day, let me think... are the liqour stores open? Or do we have to drive to New Hampshire?"

Oh, you can't scare Bruce, he's sticking to the union… and the union is also repped here by Woody Guthrie's "Union Maid" (a portion of it, anyway) and Joe Hill's "Rebel Girl," as sung by Hazel Dickens on the 1990 Smithsonian Folkways collection of Hill's songs, Don't Mourn - Organize! Songs of Labor.

This portion of the show shines a light on Hill, a labor activist and songwriter who paid the death penalty just over 100 years ago. Bruce takes us back to his own one-off performance of an old union anthem about the man: "Joe Hill" (AKA "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night"), from the High Hopes tour stop in Tampa. The 1936 Earl Robinson composition was popularized by Pete Seeger and FMHTY favorite Paul Robeson (and later, Joan Baez); in some ways it's a precursor to "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "We Are Alive." Bruce spins his own recording here, performed on May 1, 2014 — International Workers Day — as "a salute for the union folks here tonight."

Digging that one out of his live archives, the DJ expanded on the song with some biographical details (which he may well remember from reading his Howard Zinn) and even a poem — Hill's last piece of writing, from the night before his death:

Born in 1879, Joe Hill was a Swedish-American labor activist and a member of the Industrial Workers of the World — better known as the Wobblies. He was dubiously convicted of a murder and executed by firing squad on November 19, 1915 at Utah's Sugar House Prison. This was his last will and testament: My Will is easy to decide,

For there is nothing to divide

My kin don't need to fuss and moan—

"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone" My body?—Oh!—If I could choose

I would want to ashes it reduce,

And let the merry breezes blow

My dust to where some flowers grow Perhaps some fading flower then

Would come to life and bloom again This is my Last and Final Will —

Good luck to all of you,

Joe Hill

Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," an "all-time classic" in the mix, bursts right out of Bruce's live "Joe Hill," conjoining these two songs written a half-century apart. "To make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be?" It's there you'll find Joe Hill.

There's plenty of workplace diversity in the viewpoints here, and the spirit of Adele Springsteen's work shoes is in the mix as much as Douglas's factory whistle."Let's send one to the working women out there!" Bruce says at one point, reaching for Mick Flavin's "Working Woman" rather than a mainstay like Merle Haggard's "Workin' Man Blues." He later underscores the point by adding Valerie June's "Workin' Woman Blues" to the playlist. And then there's "the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer":

She works hard for the money! I had the pleasure of writing a song and doing a session with Donna and Quincy Jones in the mid-'80s. She was absolutely lovely. I originally wrote "Cover Me" for her, and then Mr. Landau heard it and, doing his duty as my manager, advised me to keep it. So I wrote a song "Protection" for her and recorded it with her. Good… but no "Cover Me."

You can listen to the Donna Summer recording here — that's Bruce on the guitar lead (and subtly, his vocal in the fade-out). He recorded "Protection" with the E Street Band in 1982, but his own version has yet to be officially released. It's better than he seems to think.

Even further back in Bruce's back pages, today's a good day to remember that this is a guy who had a freakin' band called Steel Mill. Which made his recitation of Langston Hughes's "Steel Mills" all the more resonant —

The mills

That grind and grind,

That grind out new steel

And grind away the lives

Of men, —

In the sunset

Their stacks

Are great black silhouettes

Against the sky.

In the dawn

They belch red fire.

The mills —

Grinding new steel,

Old men* *In his recitation, Bruce's delivers the last two lines as "Grinding out new steel / Grinding out new steel"

— though the real masterstroke was following this with his own "Youngstown."

"Steel Mills" is typically considered Langston Hughes's first poem. When he was in high school in Cleveland, his stepfather worked in Ohio steel mills; the poet wrote this at the age of fourteen. Which seems astonishingly young — but then, Springsteen knows all about what a 14-year-old kid can take in.

Once again, the idea that a successful artist can no longer have much to say on this subject ignores the power of his own formative years in a working class family — fully formative years, as evidenced by the Born to Run bio, the Broadway show, and this very radio show. In the stories he's been telling, Bruce's childhood never seems that far away. Again and again (especially in Volume 8, "Summertime Summertime") we're reminded that he is regularly in touch with the boy who grew up commanding the night brigade. His younger self — who watched as work brought joy and indentity to his mother, struggle and darkness to his father — seems always in reach of his psyche, and his childhood has always informed his writing on the recurring subject of work.

And if "you grow up and you calm down" about such things… well, as the Clash would have it, you're "working for the clampdown."

That classic London Calling track appears here "in these days of evil Presidentes" as a Springsteen cover, again from the High Hopes tour — with heavy labor from Tom Morello (who makes several appearances today, as part of Bruce's 2014 live band as well as in Rage Against the Machine's "Ghost of Tom Joad" cover).

A Clash song would likely have made the new DJ set no matter the subject, considering the recent birthday celebration for Joe Strummer (in which Bruce calls the Clash leader "my great, great departed friend and brother that I never had… my inspiration for the past 40 years"). But "Clampdown" in particular is an important facet in this 90-minute playlist about the value and dangers of "working hard" and "working for the man."

"Clampdown" goes right into another live E Street Band performance, learning all those facts real good in "Badlands" from Tempe 1980 — "Live at Arizona State University, November 1980, the night after Ronald Reagan was elected President" — and we'll return to the Reagan era in full force toward the end of this set.

Of course, the backdrop for this episode is not only Monday's Labor Day holiday, but also a COVID-parallel epidemic of joblessness in this country. As reported by the Washington Post, based on Department of Labor figures as of August 27, there are 27 million Americans receiving some type of unemployment assistance.

That's a frightening figure, especially for anyone who understands, as Springsteen has expressed it, that "the lack of work creates a loss of self." Bruce spoke on the subject after the Great Recession at a 2012 press conference for Wrecking Ball, emphasizing that the human cost of unemployment is "devastating. People have to work. The country should strive for full employment. It's the single thing that brings a sense of self and self-esteem, and a sense of place, a sense of belonging." Eight years later, he offers encouragement for those out of work.

On this Labor Day we have to pause and think of the millions of Americans who have been displaced and left jobless by the coronavirus. There is little as painful as to be without productive work. So for this Labor Day, we send our prayers up for a healthy working nation in the coming days, months, and years ahead.

Peter Gabriel's "Don't Give Up" was the accompanying long-distance dedication, and it came in the midst of a summational pack of songs from the mid-'80s that recall the height of the Reagan era.

It's interesting that when Bruce Springsteen thinks of "working songs," even he still thinks of "heartland rock." After all the commercialization and co-optation and parodies and gauzy effects of the decade, still standing tall in Volume 11 is the music of the genre's holy trinity: Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger, and ("my friend… terrific American songwriter") John Mellencamp. "Pink Houses" is the pick for JCM, his perfect slice of Americana and early-'84 Top 10 hit, which he and Bruce finally sang together last year.

For Seger, it's 1986's "Like a Rock" charging from the gate. Liberated from its heavy rotation in Chevy truck commercials (much as they may have actually benefitted auto workers in his home state), we're reminded that the song was never about chassis and tailgates at all, but about a lot of other things: the passage of time, aging and idealism, pride and sense of self, and yeah, the dignity and purpose hard work brings to a body. Stretched out here for its full length, rather than in 15- and 30-second spots, "Like a Rock" reintroduces itself as a lean and potent piece of craft — the sound, in the end, not of autoworkers welding, but of writers writing.

The song's sense of dignity is where you knew all this would wind up, this journey through all these aspects of labor, workin' neath the wheel, from the fields to unions to the Charlotte County road gang. And when the foreman calls time, Bruce lands on New Jersey's own Walt Whitman — all hail the Service Area in Cherry Hill — with a recitation of "I Hear America Singing."

"That's our show for today, folks. Until we meet again, stay strong, stay healthy, stay safe… and have a wonderful Labor Day."

Playlist: Aaron Copland - "Fanfare for the Common Man" Roy Orbison - "Workin' for the Man" Joe Ely - "Working on the Highway" Mick Flavin - "Working Woman" Jimmy Tingle - "Labor Day" [Poetry reading] Langston Hughes's "Steel Mills" Bruce Springsteen - "Youngstown" Woody Guthrie - "Union Maid" Hazel Dickens - "Rebel Girl" [Poetry reading] Joe Hill's "My Last Will" Bruce Springsteen - "Joe Hill" (live in Tampa, FL, 5/1/14) Public Enemy - "Fight the Power" Bruce Springsteen - "Clampdown" (live in Sunrise, FL, 4/29/14) Bruce Springsteen - "Badlands" (live in Tempe, AZ, 11/5/80) [Poetry reading] Philip Levine's "What Work Is" Rage Against the Machine - "The Ghost of Tom Joad" Donna Summer - "She Works Hard for the Money" Valerie June - "Workin' Woman Blues" Patti Smith - "Piss Factory" John Mellencamp - "Pink Houses" Peter Gabriel - "Don't Give Up" Bob Seger - "Like a Rock" Instrumental interlude: Ola Gjello - "Crystal Sky" [Poetry reading] Walt Whitman's "I Hear America Singing"

- September 2, 2020 - Christopher Phillips reporting



THE WORKING, THE WORKING, JUST THE WORKING EPISODE

From My Home to Yours rolls back out this week with Volume 11

One thing that's really helping us get through this year is Bruce Springsteen's E Street Radio show, From My Home to Yours. Though it's generally on a bi-weekly schedule, you never quite know when to expect the DJ to return with a new episode, so it's always good to have a definitive heads-up. And this week... he's bringing it in again.

Volume 11 of From My Home to Yours will be a Labor Day special, airing for the first time tomorrow morning (Wednesday, September 2 at 10am Eastern) and rebroadcasting throughout the holiday weekend. According to the SiriusXM blog, Volume 11 will be dedicated "to workers around the country":

From "Factory" to "Working on the Highway," Bruce Springsteen has written and performed so many songs about the American working men and women. And in honor of Labor Day, the legendary musician will dedicate a special episode of his exclusive SiriusXM series, From My Home to Yours, to workers around the country.… featuring songs from Woody Guthrie, Joe Hill, Patti Smith, Public Enemy, Rage Against The Machine, Donna Summer, Bob Seger, Roy Orbison, and more.

If you miss the initial airing, Volume 11 will also be available On Demand on the SiriusXM app, as well as repeating on E Street Radio:

Wednesday, September 2 at 10am and 6pm

Thursday, September 3 at 6am and 3pm

Friday, September 4 at 10am and 4pm

Saturday, September 5 at 12am, 8am, and 5pm

Sunday, September 6 at 9am and 6pm

Monday, September 7 at 7am and 4pm

Tuesday, September 8 at 12am and 8am

- September 1, 2020



LOOK INSIDE THIS FALL'S BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN: ALL THE SONGS

Coming this fall from Octopus/Hachette is the next installment in their All the Songs series, focused squarely on our man with Bruce Springsteen: All the Songs - The Story Behind Every Track. It's a weighty addition to the Boss bookshelf, at 672 pages and more than six pounds, a chronological song-by-song resource co-written by Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon.

For a sneak peek, the publisher has provided us with a blad as a PDF — a 16-page sampler, previewing the content and layout — and we can share it with you here to give you a better sense what to expect.

View the blad online, or right-click that link to save the PDF to your computer.

The new book invites comparison with Brian Hiatt's similarly titled Bruce Springsteen: The Stories Behind the Songs, released last year — Hiatt's is a must-have, particularly for its wealth of new historical information based on numerous new interviews.

As you'll see in the blad, All the Songs is amalgamating secondary sources instead, offering a different perspective with more of a focus on musical structure (co-author Guesdon is himself a musician, composer, and sound engineer); it also works in material that was beyond the scope of Hiatt's book, including cover songs (the entirety of the We Shall Overcome album, for instance).

We're compelled to put asterisks by the All and the Every in the new title, since any Springsteen diehard will be able to identify songs that got away from Margotin and Guesdon. But if you can handle such omissions, there looks to be plenty to enjoy in their song-by-song analysis of the vast majority of Bruce Springsteen's output from Greetings through Western Stars.

Pre-order Bruce Springsteen: All the Songs in our online shop now, to guarantee bonus Backstreets exclusives: a custom bookplate signed by both authors, as well as a promotional bookmark. We'll ship upon the book's publication in October, in plenty of time for holiday gift-giving.

- August 31, 2020

No official word of a new ?@springsteen? album, but the ?@AsburyParkPress? offers a sensible reading of the tea leaves https://t.co/AYuCNuDSaS — Backstreets Magazine (@backstreetsmag) August 31, 2020

TOMRROW (8/30), BAR A WELCOMES BACK SPRINGSTEEN ON SUNDAY

Springsteen on Sunday will be broadcasting on location this weekend, the weekly radio program on 107.1 The Boss (WWZY-FM) returning to Lake Como's Bar Anticipation with listeners once again invited. Join DJ Tom Cunningham outside for two hours of socially distanced, socially responsible fun.

Guests this week will be the Jersey Shore's country music renegades Williams Honor (Gordon Brown & Reagan Richards, above with TC), and they're bringing a brand new song from their forthcoming album to debut. Plus after the broadcast is over, they're going to stick around and play a couple of songs.

Also on the show will be leader/saxophonist of the Sensational Soul Cruisers, Screamin' Steve Barlotta (right, with TC), who is working his way back from an arduous recovery from COVID. Ain't so sin to be glad you're alive, live and in-person!

The station has joined forces with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 400 to help our friends at Fulfill. (formerly the FoodBank of Monmouth & Ocean Counties). We encourage you to raid your cabinets for some non-perishable food items to help feed neighbors, as Sunday's event will include a "Stuff-A-Truck" for Fulfill. Food insecurity is at an unprecedented level, and you can help make sure hunger won't win here.

No cover charge. Doors open at 8am, brodcast starts at 9am, bar opens at 10am. Grab a bite to eat from the brunch menu or full menu. With every breakfast platter you receive a complimentary Bloody Mary or Mimosa!

For the safety of all present the following will be implemented:

Patrons must wear masks while entering the venue or leaving their table to use the restroom.

Tables will be positioned 6' apart, with the front row of tables 12' from the broadcast.

Seating "Table For Two," "Table For Four" and "Table For Six" configurations only.

Admittance includes a dining and drinks service, with service and seating beginning at 9am.

Fans must remain seated at their table.

Dancing will not be permitted.

Lawn chairs, blankets, pets, food or beverages are strictly prohibited.

Bar Anticipation reserves the right to change any policy without notice.

Venue security will enforce ground rules, which will follow current CDC and State of New Jersey guidelines for outdoor events and dining.

In the event of inclement weather, an alternate plan will be announced.

Please refer to Bar Anticipation for any other questions.

If you can't make it in person, tune in at 9am ET on 107.1 FM at the Jersey Shore (and in Southern Ocean County at 99.7), and go here for all ways and shapes and forms of listening options: 1071theboss.com/apps-streaming/

- August 29, 2020



BIG BOSS BOOK COMING THIS FALL

Pre-order All the Songs now for Backstreets exclusives!

Due in October, the latest entry in the All the Songs series is a massive hardcover spanning five decades, Bruce Springsteen: All the Songs - The Story Behind Every Track.

Co-authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon — who collaborated on earlier books in this series for The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin — take on the Springsteen catalog from Greetings through Western Stars.

They've also kindly done some autographing for us, so that the first 500 pre-orders will ship from Backstreet Records with a signed bookplate. A free, exclusive bookmark, too!

Now, we wouldn't be the trainspotters we are without noting: All the songs? No, not all the songs. Studio album and EP tracks, yes, along with B-sides — and Tracks and 18 Tracks, even The Promise and Chapter and Verse are covered. But you'll discover omissions, too. "The Man Who Got Away" isn't the only one that got away.

But any more songs and it might get too heavy to lift — this is a hefty one for your coffee table (don't drop it on your foot), 670 pages packed with song-by-song notes on genesis, lyrics, production, crew, and more, well-illustrated with color and B&W photos throughout.

Pre-order now to guarantee signed bookplate and bookmark, until further notice, to ship in October!

- August 27, 2020



AUTHOR BRIAN HIATT GUESTS FOR NBTB SEASON 1 FINALE

Today, the None But the Brave podcast wraps up its inaugural season with an extensive and informative interview with Brian Hiatt, Senior Writer at Rolling Stone magazine and author of the authoritative book Bruce Springsteen: The Stories Behind the Songs.

Podcast co-hosts Backstreets contributor Flynn McLean and film producer Hal Schwartz talk to Brian about the origins of the book and how he got access to the many key Springsteen associates quoted, including all of the producers Bruce has worked with over the past three decades. The interview also includes such juicy details as the story behind the still-unreleased 1995 Western swing album that Bruce simultaneously recorded with The Ghost of Tom Joad, as well as the tale about how Hiatt discussed Bruce's performance of "Achy Breaky Heart" from the legendary Basie '93 show with Billy Ray Cyrus himself.

"We were very excited to talk to Brian about his book," McLean says. "He's a long-time fan who knew what to ask the involved personnel to get a deeper read on Bruce's catalog."

Schwartz adds,"We really had a blast talking with Brian. His book is absolutely essential reading for every Springsteen fan."

Listen now via Apple Podcast | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Tune In

Hiatt signed for us when his book came out, and autographed copies of Bruce Springsteen: The Stories Behind the Songs are still available from Backstreet Records. You can also read our 2019 interview with the author. Which won't spoil the podcast episode for you — he's got lots of stories to tell.

Congratulations to Flynn and Hal on an entertaining, enlightening, and educational first season, 22 episodes in all. Previous guests on the None But the Brave podcast include Backstreets Associate Editor Jonathan Pont, photographer Debra Rothenberg, and Stan Goldstein, co-author of the book Rock and Roll Tour of the Jersey Shore.

We'll look forward to welcoming None But the Brave back for Season 2!

- August 25, 2020

DREAMS AND VISIONS OF BORN TO RUN AT 45

As we mark the anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's 1975 masterpiece Born to Run, don't miss this giveaway from Sony Music: enter for a chance to win a BTR prize package including a nifty set of headphones and Eric Meola's stunning book documenting the cover sessions, the long-out-of-print Born to Run: The Unseen Photos.

Celebrate the 45th anniversary of the iconic album and enter to win a Born to Run vinyl, the Born To Run: Unseen Photos hardcover book by Eric Meola, and a pair of Sony WH-1000XM4 noise canceling headphones!https://t.co/LFoSbmPtel pic.twitter.com/gTxji7n6j6 — Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) August 21, 2020

- August 25, 2020



PETE SEEGER, MUSICAL GREAT-GRANDFATHER

An exclusive clip from director Nick Mead

With Bruce Springsteen's live Archive Series putting the Seeger Sessions Band back in the spotlight, we have some previously unseen footage with its late namesake.

Pete Seeger, who died in 2014, wasn't entirely comfortable with having his name on Springsteen's high-profile 2006 project (hence a respectful change along the way to simply the "Sessions Band"), but his life's work of collecting, performing, amplifying, and preserving traditional folk songs remains a prime inspiration no matter the name.

His ambivalence is clear in this never-before-seen footage shot by director Nick Mead (Clarence Clemons: Who Do I Think I Am?). Seeger ruminates on "too much publicity," but he also grants, "I'm a lucky old musician, to know that I've got musical grandchildren and great-grandchildren all over the country."

In under four minutes, we get a closer look at his banjo's legend ("THIS MACHINE SURROUNDS HATE AND FORCES IT TO SURRENDER"), some choice words for uncertain times, and even a magical, impromptu take on Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies."

"In the long run," Pete says in the interview with Mead, "I think guitars and banjos will be more important than guns… Some music just helps you to forget your troubles; some music helps you understand your troubles. And, occasionally, music comes along which helps you do something about your troubles."

Nick also gives us the backstory behind the interview:

Many, many years ago I was having dinner with Jeff Lynne, and I asked him, "So how'd you get into this guitar business, then?" Without missing a beat he said, "I was in bed at 11 one morning, and my mum came upstairs with a cup of tea and said, 'Only musicians stay in bed until 11,' so I went out and got a guitar."



This inspired me to embark on a very personal journey around the world talking to — and filming — the greatest guitar players and songwriters.



I really wanted to talk to Pete Seeger but couldn't find a manager or a record company who'd respond. So I went to Beacon, New York, and asked a mailman for his address. I was all ready to bung the postie $20 but he said, "Pete? Oh, he lives up that trail" — so off I went. Pete wasn't in, but his dog was wandering around, so — and this as close to being a stalker as I've ever been — I got his phone number off his dog's collar.



He was ever so nice when he called the next day: he never asked how I got his number, just apologized for not being in. Said that the price of an interview was some help laying a new concrete floor for his sloop club…. he took children out on the Hudson on a sloop called The Woody Guthrie.



Anyway, after a day slinging concrete, he was as good as his word. This is part of the interview I shot with him.



It's for an ongoing bigger project about guitars and the inspiration, aspiration, motivation, and dedication it takes to pick one up and do something with it. To "make it talk," so to speak.



I hope this is a little inspirational in these troubled times.

- August 24, 2020 - Christopher Phillips reporting - thanks to Nick Mead



SAINTS, DEVILS, AND RANK STRANGERS IN LONDON

New Archive release, the second from 2006, shows how the Sessions tour grew up

After a short delay, the August entry in Bruce Springsteen's Archive Series has cleared the bar: one of the last Seeger Sessions dates, November 11, 2006 at Wembley Arena in London.

This is the second Sessions show to emerge in the Archive Series — the tour's powerful opening gig, recorded at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival less than a year after Hurricane Katrina, was released in 2018 (a subsequent YouTube video presentation became a companion piece).

The entire 2006 endeavor remains a unique chapter in Bruce's musical history; today's set, from the tour's final month, captures this versatile, creative, and audacious band at the top of their game, after more than 50 shows under their belts across Europe and the U.S.

Although the Live in Dublin album was recorded just a few nights later at the Point in Dublin, it is a very different listening experience than the Wembley show. While that 2007 live release captures some great performances over three shows, it doesn't provide the energy and flow of a complete concert.

The Wembley set includes four songs that don't appear in either the Dublin or New Orleans shows: "Devils & Dust," "Jesus Was an Only Son," "Froggie Went a Courtin'" (which goes over very big with an English audience), and the debut of "Long Walk Home," which would be released the following year on Magic. The events that inspired "Long Walk Home" (and that continued in its wake) likely inspired the release of the show now, the week that Springsteen tacitly endorsed Joe Biden for President, appearing in a campaign video set to "The Rising" for the opening of the Democratic convention.

Wembley is a typically boisterous Sessions tour set that you can't help but dance to, but its political messages make it especially powerful.

The 2006 U.S. midterm elections were held on November 7, four days before this performance at Wembley. Democrats won control of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1994, handing President George W. Bush a major defeat and revealing the public's dissatisfaction over the Iraq War.

The election news appeared very much on Springsteen's mind at Wembley. Introducing "Devils & Dust" he said, "Some semblance of sanity has returned to the United States. But damn, it was close, it was more than close…. That great Abraham Lincoln quote — 'You can fool some of the people all the time, fool all the people some of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time' — the problem is, you fool enough of the people enough of the time, you make a big, tragic, fucking mess."

The Sessions Band arrangement of "Devils & Dust" is one of the highlights of the set; the instruments slowly build behind Bruce's vocal, the singers join for the chorus, and the song reaches heights it had never quite hit live, culminating in a majestic trumpet solo from Curt Ramm, an elegy for those lost in war. They follow it with a fierce version of the anti-war "Mrs. McGrath" and a blistering, swinging "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live," the 1929 Blind Alfred Reed composition that Bruce reworked as a response to the government's devastating handling of Hurricane Katrina.

"Gonna Be a Long Walk Home," as Bruce introduces the new song later in the set, raises another question: how we start fixing the mess that happens when you fool enough of the people enough of the time.

A centerpiece of the Magic album and the 2007-08 tour, the new song is fully formed here, with the vocal chorus adding a sense of wistful sadness around the words "long walk home" that's missing from the E Street Band version. On E Street, it feels like "everybody has a neighbor, everybody has a friend, everybody has a reason to begin again." But here, the Sessions music, which carries in it so many stories of racial injustice and the abuse of power, conjures up a town of rank strangers.

As I write this, we are gearing up for what will be the most bizarre and divisive election season I've ever seen. We can't agree on facts. We've lost more than 160,000 people to the coronavirus. People have lost their jobs and businesses. The president is encouraging division. We're physically separated from those we love. The last verse of this version of "Long Walk Home," which didn't make the final cut on Magic, presciently captures the feeling of danger we're experiencing:

Now the water's rising 'round the corner, there's a fire burning out of control

There's a hurricane on Main Street and I've got murder in my soul

When the party's over, when the cheering is all gone

Will you know me? Will I know you? Will I know you?

"Long Walk Home" asks whether we're too divided, too fractured to rebuild principles of democracy. This set answers it with the gospel/civil rights anthems of "When the Saints Go Marching In" and "This Little Light," featuring Cindy Mizelle's house-wrecking performance, and the hard-won patriotism of "American Land." This show is a reminder that the Sessions tour offered an inspiring vision of America where truths can be told, where history matters.

At a time when it's dangerous to even sing together, let alone gather in arenas to see Bruce in concert, the full-throated singing on these songs is exhilarating. Turn it up loud and let your voice loose.

Keep your eyes on the prize. Hold on.

Also read: Erik Flannigan's latest nugs.net blog entry, "Gonna Be a Long Walk Home"

- August 21, 2020 - Lauren Onkey reporting - photographs by Geoffrey Robinson, 11/11/06

TAKE THE WEATHERED WITH YOU

Soundstage spotlights Nils Lofgren and his new live album

This Friday, August 21, brings a new live album from the Nils Lofgren Band, the 2CD Weathered. A day prior to the release, a preview will come via Soundstage, the monthly online series presented by the Springsteen Archives and hosted by music historian Bob Santelli.

Soundstage, a sister series to What's Up on E Street?, showcases "new music, ideas, and trends in American popular music, starting with projects from members of the E Street Band," Santelli says. "In this period of COVID, it's re-assuring that exciting new music is still being made by artists like Nils Lofgren and David Sancious."

The 16-track Weathered was recorded on the road in 2019, as Lofgren toured with a full band for the first time in more than 15 years in support of his latest studio LP, Blue with Lou. Produced by Nils and his wife Amy, the live album comes via his own label Cattle Track Road Records (and Nils has kindly autographed copies for Backstreet Records customers).

As a Soundstage press release states:

Improvisation has always been a key element in live performances for Lofgren, a veteran member of some of the greatest rock bands in history, as well as an accomplished and successful solo artist. "All the band members are old friends used to being encouraged to stretch out and improvise with me,” Lofgren explains. That freedom shows throughout Weathered. "Our crew did a fabulous job getting everything right for us to do our best every night." He continues, "Regularly hearing inspired, improvisational surprises from your fellow bandmates elevated our interaction and made for one of a kind, unique shows every night. We all thrive in a live setting and at every show, the audience kicked the music up to a special level we only reach with their contagious, inspired energy."

For a closer look at Weathered, tune in to the second episode of Soundstage, available Thursday, August 20 at 10am — the series can be accessed via the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music website or via the Springsteen Archives’ Facebook page.

- August 19, 2020

Join us Friday, August 21st at 12 noon PDT / 3pm EDT / 8pm GMT for 'A Song for Joe' - a celebration of the life, legacy and birthday of Joe Strummer. Go to https://t.co/Oftwg7W65N for more information on this very special live event. pic.twitter.com/vZgPJdPF0o — JoeStrummer (@JoeStrummer) August 18, 2020



via Twitter/@RosieCT50

#THERISING RISES AGAIN

With the Democratic National Convention getting underway last night, August 17, Bruce Springsteen's endorsement of the Biden/Harris ticket came in the form of a campaign video. Shown early in convention coverage — and messaged out by both the Biden and Springsteen Twitter accounts — "The Rising" becomes Springsteen's first foray into the 2020 presidential race.

The stirring clip demonstrates once again the flexibility and durability of a Springsteen song, particularly ones dealing with healing or redemption; much the way "My City of Ruins" served after 9/11, now this 9/11 song speaks to our times two decades later, in the midst of another national crisis (or a confluence of them). In the new clip, emergency responders saluted in the song are most likely to work in a hospital, and "the rising" is a call to a diverse citizenry to unify behind what Springsteen has called "the country we carry in our hearts."

"We are the United States of America. There's not a single thing we cannot do if we do it together." #DemConvention pic.twitter.com/SLdNN4Oxdv — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 18, 2020

Springsteen and Patti Scialfa appear briefly in the video themselves, at the 2:30 mark. More keen viewers heard "My City of Ruins" on night one of the virtual DNC, and it's unlikely that the Bossness will end there. The convention runs nightly this week, leading up to the presidential nominee's speech Thursday night at 10pm.

Earlier this summer Springsteen said in an Atlantic interview, "I believe that our current president is a threat to our democracy. He simply makes any kind of reform that much harder. I don't know if our democracy could stand another four years of his custodianship. These are all existential threats to our democracy and our American way of life."

- August 18, 2020

RECAP: HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT

So is good radio: From My Home to Yours beckons the darkness with Vol. 10: In Dreams

While a scheduling change for the bi-weekly From My Home to Yours radio program on SiriusXM triggered speculation, the explanation was straightforward: the tenth installment would air at midnight. No news, no unreleased music, no special announcement. Rather, Bruce Springsteen was taking the night shift.

The surprise, after previous volumes aired at 10 a.m., is that it took ten episodes to flip the script.

"For most of my life, I had no great fondness for the day," Springsteen said, pronouncing himself "a born night crawler, up till 3 a.m. as a young child." The sunrise yielded only impediments: "waking too early, schoolwork, and somebody else running my life."

"But at night," he continued, "I found my mind came to life. I felt a stimulation, and a creative excitement, a freedom, that eluded me in the day. At night, I felt most like myself."

At times, the 81-minute segment titled "In Dreams" played out like a dream segment might, its twists and turns replete with moments you'll not remember. And ones perhaps you won't forget. Mostly, it was a chance for Springsteen to do what he's done over the course of the program these past five months — tell stories, play music, and make some noise — but with an "after dark" twist.

Elegant in places and occasionally choppy, Volume 10 featured instrumental interludes (like "Ágætis byrjun" by Sigur Rós, and others by Moby, Brian Eno, and Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo). Leonard Cohen evoked side two of Tunnel of Love, and Mark Isham guaranteed himself a future recording date for "With Every Wish" on an amazing duet with Marianne Faithfull on "The Hawk (El Gavilan)." Springsteen got namechecked in "American," by Lana Del Rey (a favorite of his, and with good reason).

At the top, he paid tribute to Ennio Morricone, whose "Man With a Harmonica" helped dim the lights and strike a cinematic vibe. As Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra traded vocals and time signatures on the "fabulously creepy" "Some Velvet Morning," Volume 10 began to take shape. Only the song's title implies the dawn: the sun set hours ago, and the sequence begins.

"We are meeting at midnight tonight," Springsteen said, "for a special evening of music for which the night time is the right time." Darkness is more than a simple motif for Springsteen, who perhaps has logged more waking hours after sundown than before — and has the output to show for it. It's where he came up with his music: away from people, their rhythms, their norms. He recalled his work life in the late 1970s this way:

All that night was just something that came naturally to me. There was just something I loved about being awake as the straight world slept. It excited me. It sparked my creativity. And it gave me the uninterrupted peace and quiet I needed to work. Occasionally, I'd break curfew, just to get out of the house. I'd take a 2 or 3 a.m. night drive in my '60 'Vette, over the local roads of Monmouth County; the darkness and shadows of the highway at night was where I lived. I was a wandering spirit, barely there, looking briefly into the dimly lit homes where I could be living any one of a thousand other lives, filled with family and friends. But I wasn't. For now, the life I chose was here: the life of words, the life of song, the life of these roads, of these evenings. This life — and all it gave, and all it withheld — was my life.

That was how he set up "Stolen Car," and the chaser was equally compelling: The War on Drugs' "Strangest Thing." Both songs' characters exist in a sort of self-imposed exile: one waiting to get caught and another trying to "find another way" than living in "the space between beauty and pain." (Springsteen praised Adam Granduciel as leader of "one of the last of the great rock bands"; Granduciel is just as familiar with Springsteen's work.)

Whatever the intersection between personal and creative forces (here, we refer you to Springsteen's "magic trick," explored in his autobiography, Broadway show, and most if not all his LPs), the night time will exact its punishment. In this episode, Springsteen was explicit about that. At least the isolation of his late 20s yielded some of his best music; the defeats he suffered in earlier years seemed to harbor no such reward.

That was a plausible conclusion from a 1965 flashback, in which Springsteen recounts a rebellious but nevertheless "solidly middle class" girlfriend — do you see where this is going? — whose mother threatened to take out a restraining order to keep Bruce away.

I was persona non grata at my first real girlfriend's house. It was 1965. Maybe it was the hair, my cultivated look of dishevelment, but whatever it was, I was marked as an undesirable by my perfect girlfriend's mother. Now, I was 15, and my gal was a year younger than me, 14. But though a year younger, she had a surprising, burgeoning sexuality that showed me up for being as inexperienced as I was at that age. But, I had one thing going for me: I was forbidden. I was not to be had. I was not to be touched. And she had a bit of a closeted rebellious streak of her own. So when mom was away, we ventured to mom's bedroom, where she introduced me, for the first time, to what I think was full-on sex — though due to the fog of war, 55 years later, I can't be completely sure. All I remember was she was beautiful, with a softness and a kindness cut by a streak of cruelty I should have took more notice of. Now, in the shadows always lurked a major problem to our paradise. You see, she was solidly middle class: perfect plaid skirt, blouse with the Peter Pan collar, white socks, long blond tresses. I was a denizen from the far side of nowhere, where blacks intermingled with whites, where a man never left his house in a suit unless he was going to church or in trouble. Where the firemen, and the truck drivers, and the auto workers gathered around each other's porches on summer nights and passed beers and stories of the week around. Well, her mother could not help but be disappointed in and disapprove of who she thought I was. So the word came down, and she theatrically threatened to get a restraining order that would forbid me from seeing her perfect daughter. Now, her perfect daughter had plenty of "Fuck you, Mom" in her, so we began to meet at night, at the Broad Street schoolyard. And there, amongst the empty monkey bars and sliding boards and swings and seesaws, stood an oak tree that became our rendezvous and redemption point. We worked and leaned hard against that oak's trunk on many a summer and fall night, trying to find whatever pleasure and satisfaction we could there. She stole time from Mama, girlfriends, and homework to meet me there. It was always too short, and a little painful. But at least she'd come, and we were there together. Then one night she didn't come. Or the next night, either. So I sat on the swings with the rest of the ghosts, dragging my feet through stones and dirt, until 2 a.m. Then I went home. The revolution was over. Whatever use I had been, I was needed no longer. I had engaged the enemy on the field of the battle of love, and I had been defeated. Or maybe she just got tired of it all — became too much of a hassle. Well, I finally caught her at her locker in school, one morning, and she tried to be kind, but I wouldn't let her. I wanted to hear her say it was all over. So she said it. I went home, and I decided to rid myself of her, to relieve my heart of her, to release my mind of the burden of thinking of her. It didn't work. I'd see her in my dreams.

More than a half-century on, the letdown comes across as palpable; about the only thing that could last longer is the soaring voice of Roy Orbison — "simply the darkest and most emotionally exquisite voice in all of pop music" — whose "In Dreams" both captivates and helps Springsteen compartmentalize in this instance.

Springsteen experiments in other ways throughout the episode: he recites "The Land of Nod," a favorite childhood poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, to set up his wandering, nocturnal ways; later, over the course of several songs, he recites what we presume is fiction, sketching barroom scenes not unlike the one that plays out over "Tougher Than The Rest." And there's simple after-dark noir, too: his own works "Breakaway" and "Meeting Across the River" combine for a "gangland doubleheader."

By the end, there's redemption, and maybe daylight. Even a happy ending, as "the inimitable and gorgeous voice of Marianne Faithfull" soundtracks "many a midnight ride" with Patti Scialfa — a fine coda to Volume 9 as well. But questions remain: "How do we live beneath the beauty of God's hand? How do we become worthy of the love that he's made possible for us on Earth? And how do we light and carry our own lamp through the darkness? How do we be brave in His name and in our love?"

That's a whole other episode for sure.

Playlist: Instrumental intro: Ennio Morricone - "Man With a Harmonica" Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra - "Some Velvet Morning" Instrumental interlude: Ludovico Einaudi - "Night" Lana Del Rey - "American" Instrumental interlude: Moby - "Fireworks" Bruce Springsteen - "Stolen Car" The War on Drugs: "Strangest Thing" Instrumental interlude: Brian Eno - "Always Returning" Leonard Cohen - "In My Secret Life" Bruce Springsteen - "Breakaway" Bruce Springsteen - "Meeting Across the River" Instrumental interlude: Ry Cooder - "Cancion Mixteca" Bruce Springsteen - "Sad Eyes" Instrumental interlude: Ola Gjeilo - "Before Dawn" Bruce Springsteen - "Something in the Night" Instrumental interlude: Sigur Rós - "Ágaetis byrjun" Roy Orbison - "In Dreams" Mark Isham and Marianne Faithfull - "The Hawk (El Gavilan)" Instrumental outro: Robert Shaw - "Beautiful Dreamer" Reverend Horton Heat - "In Your Wildest Dreams"

- August 16, 2020 - Jonathan Pont reporting

We just got separation proofs, looking good so our new limited-run T-shirt will be printing shortly! Last call: pre-order now to guarantee your size, from XS to 3X https://t.co/eruJG99plB #springsteen pic.twitter.com/r8FQMuwtMc — Backstreets Magazine (@backstreetsmag) August 14, 2020



"HIGH ATOP" 7TH AND MARSHALL, 50 YEARS GONE BY NOW

Yep, hold on to your hats, we're marking 50th anniversaries now. A half-century ago tonight, in Steel Mill's home away from home of Richmond, VA, Bruce Springsteen's pre-E Street band headlined a show that has gone down in history — partly for its handsome silkscreened poster, partly as documented by a circulating recording, largely for its location: on the top floor of a seven-story parking garage.

For Richmond.com, Bill Lohmann tells the story of August 14, 1970, interviewing promoter Russell Clem, who also managed the Robbin Thompson-fronted Mercy Flight. Mercy Flight supported the headliners on this rooftop triple bill, and Thompson would go on to join Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt (on bass), Danny Federici, Vini Lopez in Steel Mill within days of this show.

Springsteen would later write in Born to Run:

Steel Mill with Steve and me continued to be great fun. Besides the enjoyment of having my pal by my side, Steve had an aggressive, bold style as a bassist, and he added some nice vocal harmonies. I'd always doubted myself as a singer. I felt I didn't have enough tone and range.... I thought we couple improve our band in the area of our lead vocals and I was willing to step back as full-time singer to do so. There was a fellow named Robbin Thompson in a great group out of Richmond called Mercy Flight. I thought he had one of the best undiscovered rock voices I'd ever heard. He was a cross between John Fogerty and Rod Stewart and fronted his band with a lot of power and style. Raiding another group for their best guy, particularly a group you know, is not a very neighborly thing to do. I didn't lose too much sleep over it. I wanted the best group I could imagine. I told the rest of the band my idea; they didn't think it was necessary, but they deferred. Robbin Thompson came north, and for a while we were the Sam and Dave of hard rock.

For more on the show, read Lohmann's "50 years ago, Springsteen's band Steel Mill headlined a concert atop a Richmond parking deck"

- August 14, 2020

Production work continues on the August release in the Live Archive series, which will not drop tomorrow as hoped. While some may speculate as to why, delays, especially in COVID times, are caused by real world, practical circumstances and events. Patience is appreciated. — Backstreets Magazine (@backstreetsmag) August 14, 2020



COME AND GET THIS MEMORY

Little Steven's Roadshow premieres pro-shot archival 2003 video of "Heat Wave," featuring Martha Reeves with Springsteen and the E Street Band

Summer's here and the time is right for a professionally recorded and filmed performance from the archives of Thrill Hill Productions, especially as we continue to wait patiently for tomorrow's slightly delayed August release from live.brucespringsteen.net's ongoing archival series. So here's one for ya, courtesy of Jon Landau Management and Little Steven's Roadshow.

The Roadshow, a recently launched TeachRock project, is an online talk show like no other. Each edition of Little Steven's Roadshow, co-hosted by Steve Van Zandt and Drew Carey, focuses on the musical history of a different U.S. city. Guests include famous musicians and music-industry figures with connections to the city, along with locally based historians and TeachRock educators. It's an entertaining and informative look at a local music scene's cultural importance, while also publicizing and garnering support for TeachRock's ongoing educational efforts.

Last week's Detroit-themed Roadshow featured the MC5's Wayne Kramer, Alice Cooper (who made it a point to note what a fan he is of Little Steven's Underground Garage as well as "Superfly Terraplane" from Steve's Summer of Sorcery album), Nick Speed, and Martha Reeves.

The episode closed with some previously unreleased pro-shot Detroit muscle from the Thrill Hill archives: a ragged-but-definitely-righteous version of "Heat Wave," Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's first-ever performance of the Motown classic. It was filmed during their September 21, 2003 concert at the Motor City's Comerica Park (home of the Detroit Tigers) with Martha Reeves herself joining the band on lead vocals (accompanied by Martha Reeves Motown Revue backup singer Kim Farinacci singing alongside Patti Scialfa.) You can catch it here or below, beginning at the 2:28:37 mark.

And then check out the rest of the Detroit-themed Roadshow episode, which is well worth your time, as is the preceding Cleveland stop that launched the series.

Next up in the virtual itinerary for Little Steven's Roadshow: Los Angeles on August 27. Click here for more information, and to register for viewing online.

- August 13, 2020 - Shawn Poole reporting

WAIT 'TIL THE MIDNIGHT HOUR

Because the night is when you should experience Volume 10

Normally, we'd be tuning in to a new episode of From My Home to Yours this morning, based on its typical biweekly schedule... but from what we gather, Bruce's latest show just isn't meant for the sunshine.

According to Sirius XM, Springsteen "has special plans this week on his radio show.… you’ll have to tune in Friday night at midnight eastern for a special evening of music fit for night time," with "songs by Roy Orbison, Leonard Cohen, Nancy Sinatra, Moby, Lana Del Rey, Ennio Morricone, Brian Eno, The War on Drugs, and more."

So hurry up sundown, bring on the night, and tune in Friday, August 14 at midnight ET/9pm PT, for Volume 10: In Dreams (1hr, 21m) on E Street Radio, Sirius XM Channel 20.

If you just can't handle the midnight hour, Volume 10 will also be available on demand as well as at these rebroadcast times over the following week:

SATURDAY August 15 - 8am & 5pm ET

ET SUNDAY August 16 - 9am & 6pm ET

SUNDAY August 16 - 9am & 6pm ET MONDAY August 17 - 7am & 4pm

MONDAY August 17 - 7am & 4pm TUESDAY August 18 - 12am & 8am

TUESDAY August 18 - 12am & 8am WEDNESDAY August 19 - 10am & 6pm

WEDNESDAY August 19 - 10am & 6pm THURSDAY August 20 - 6am & 3pm ET

THURSDAY August 20 - 6am & 3pm ET FRIDAY August 21 - 10am & 4pm ET

- August 12, 2020



JOHN. EDDIE.

Podcast host Mitch Slater on his recent gets, John Scher & Ed Manion

In recent weeks, lining up guests for my Financially Speaking with Mitch Slater podcast (don’t let the name fool you!), I've been thrilled to pull off a double shot of music legends — in my book, at least — having conversations with one of the great rock promoters of our generation, John Scher (no Capitol Theatre Springsteen shows without him, folks), and the greatest utility infield of saxophone players in our world, Eddie Manion.

These two episodes were such a treat for me; during this "summer of our discontent" I've been trying to book guests that would lift all of us up, and these guys were the embodiment of what I was looking for. I appreciate Backstreets — which I cherish every day and continue to have as my home page — allowing me to share these two special shows with their audience.



- courtesy of John Cavanaugh/Where Music Lives gallery

John Scher — who for a reason I will never understand was not selected for this year's New Jersey Hall of Fame induction — is one of the inventors of the modern rock concert business. Besides being one hell of a nice guy, he combines great passion and love of music with a terrific business sense — starting at age 16, when he booked the Chiffons for his junior prom (that story is something else).

Speaking with John was like sitting down with the history of rock 'n' roll. Generations o