Me and a Psychic

13. 13 Freaking degrees.

So happy it's not 3 days later

You must go if you get the chance





Growin' Up (guitar)

My Hometown (piano)

My Father's House (guitar)

The Wish (piano)

Thunder Road (guitar)

The Promised Land (guitar)

Born in the U.S.A. (guitar)

Tenth Avenue Freeze-out (piano) Long Time Comin' (guitar)

The Ghost of Tom Joad (guitar)

Long Walk Home (guitar)

The Rising (guitar)

Dancing in the Dark/Land of Hope and Dreams (guitar)

Born to Run (guitar)

I've heard it said that every office has a Michael Scott and if you don't know who it is, then it is you.If you were sitting in the Balcony Even side Row A by the spot light, standing with a raised fist yelling Broooooooooooooooooooooooce and singing along at "Springsteen on Broadway" last night... well.. I have some news for you.I say this because of the dramatic difference between every other hootin' and a hollerin'Show I've seen and the performance of Springsteen on Broadway.You, apparently, did not recognize this difference.I point this out here not embarrass you but instead to show how different the Broadway show is. It's reverent. It's so quiet at times you hear a pin drop. Sometimes he sings with out the Mic. It's reflective. It's an old man dreaming of boyhood intermixed with songs of boyhood. However, there are times he can rock too.But it is clearly not an "E Street" performance.How did I get tickets?I signed up for the "Verified Fan" ticketing process on a whim. I'd go if picked but it wasn't like I felt compelled to go. When the first round of codes were sent via text, I was in the mountains of remote Carlolina-stan with Wifi but no SMS coverage - unless you count holding your phone in the general direction of civilization out off the highest deck and waiting for "the bar" to show up at 4G. Since my phone is tied to my employers intergalactic corporate account, I couldn't even turn on "wifi calling". So basically I was screwed. I fully expected to receive a text the next day while driving through "town" that basically said "thanks for playing but you needed to respond yesterday".That never happened.So I forgot all about verified fan and Springsteen on Broadway until one Sunday when I was cooking on the back deck at home in Mt La-La and received a text about a code for Verified Fan two months later. I was working from home the day tickets went on sale so I thought "why not?"When 10 AM rolled around, I got right in the site and and panicked a bit at "when would we go?". I figured the week between Christmas and New Years is good because I'm off and maybe we can make a short vacation out of it. Of course it's difficult to predict 13 degrees with a windchill of 5 in October.The 28th of December it is. Now, what seats to pick? I started with cheaper lower level seats, picked two and when the price came to seven-hundred-and-something dollars, freaked out a bit. Mr Springsteen, I love you and all but you have enough of my money. The Chancellor was a willing Springsteen victim when it was a large group going out for a good time but 2 hours of Bruce intimacy at seven-hundred-something dollars?No way.I dumped the lower level tix, went for the balcony and to my surprise I got two. One hundred sixty something bucks and I could stay married. Winner.I texted the biggest Bruce fan I know, Gail. Gail is The Chancellor's best friend and the sister of a high school friend - way back when we all lived back in PA. Yes, the Chancellora bit like Oprahhas best friend named Gail. Gail's a little, uh, passionate about these things. When it's an E Street concert, she usually gets Philly AND NY tickets. I told her to save the date as she was my second choice after the Chancellor.Later that night when I told the Chancellor how lucky we were, the first things she said was "well, you have to to take Gail"And we were set. Gail and I would go and the Chancellor and Mr Gail would do something New Yorky at Christmas.Mr Gail wasn't all that happy about it - mostly because for some reason Gail, Bruce's Number 1 Fan in Mt-La-La, neglected to sign up for verified fan ticketing. He wanted to go to the show too but there wasn't much I could do at that point.It never occurred to me that Gail and I would have to explain our "relationship" until the day of.Now, not many know this but Gail is a bit of a Springsteen Psychic since he speaks to her in dreams. It started in '99 when she dreamed he would play "Factory" and of course he did. The night before this show she had a dream where we end up on stage.How would I explain our relationship to Bruce if he asked us when we on stage?Well, she my wife's best friend and ... Well she really likes You and ... Well my wife, she really doesn'tyou. She wanted to go but that whole Verified Fan thing freaked out a bit.... Anyway, we did not get on stage and it never came up, thank God.The day arrived.The whole day seemed like a race against time. We left Mt-La-La a little after two for a 4:45 dinner reservation at Bond 45 on 46th. (I'd recommend it) Of course NYC traffic at Christmas can be wee a bit hellish and we left plenty of time but somehow still found ourselves in a long line of red tail lights waiting to get in the Lincoln tunnel with 45 minutes and 3.5 miles to go. Waze said we weren't going to make it. Like ever. Never saw that before - "you'll never get there" as the ETA.We arrived at the restaurant a little after 5 after the coldest 2 block walk I've been on since walking to Junior High School. They seated us right away and I thought we'd be fine on time from there on. 5 PM, order dinner, how long could that take?Imagine my surprise when at 6:25 we still didn't have meals. Getting a bit nervous now. I must have spent 3-7 PM just snapping my fit-bit up to examine the time - It's amazing I don't have carpel tunnel.Dinner arrives at 6:30 and by 7 we are out of there. We had a bit of a scuffle about seeing the tree at Rockefeller Center, which we could if we rushed but I just couldn't rush through something else. No Tree and off towards Times Square where of course they are setting up for NYE. Snap some selfies and then off to the Kerr Theater on 48th.Here we separated from our spouses as they went on " The Ride " and we headed into the theater.The Walter Kerr is old. There is no getting around that. It's clearly from a by-gone era when men in horse costumes danced and told jokes. "Daisey, how many fingers am I holding up?" and the "horse" scratches three times with a hoof. It's that old.I get the sense that everyone there considers themselves lucky to be there. There's a sense of privilege in the air. "Why, yes, as a matter of fact I did see Springsteen on Broadway, you must go go if you get a chance" type of thing.However, it is the typical NY/NJ Bruce crowd. Before the show my whole row remarked how we were all bald men in the their 50s and 60s. Imagine 480 enlarged prostates.We make our way to the balcony after finding the Ladies room on the street side, the "odd" side of the mezzanine. I find out the men's room is on the opposite "even" side. The women's room has a sign saying how they want everyone to be comfortable and that you can use what ever bathroom of the sex you recognize yourself as.I briefly entertain the idea of identifying as a woman - just to save flights of steps.We meet again the balcony and find our seats on the "even" side. It's really not bad. You can see and hear everything even though it is a strange angle to view the stage.The show starts a little after 8. There will be no Patti tonight as she's ill at home. Later Bruce tells us she was hospitalized on Christmas with the flu.The show is a poetic version of the book with appropriate songs on acoustic guitar and piano intermixed. For the faithful, this is a close to a papal audience as they are going to get.Did I love it? Meh. Don't get me wrong I loved going, but was I going to worship at the feet of He who from Freehold? Probably not.Bruce is funny though, especially with the ironic stuff. He who wrote "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road" specifically about getting OUT of his home town, now lives 10 minutes from the Famous-because-Bruce-is-from-there Freehold. He tells you that he who wrote "Racing In the Streets" did not know how to drive a car at age 21.That's when you realize: Bruce Springsteen was that friend that always needed a ride.He stays away from the Mike Appel days and the darker depression stuff but his father hangs over the whole performance like a shadowy figure. His mom is the happy one. His sister married a rodeo star.Overall, I enjoyed going and I enjoyed bringing Gail. I just wish the person in seat 38 sang-along less.On the way out, while I waited in line with 479 other enlarged prostates at the Men's room, Gail snagged us two discarded Springsteen on Broadway souvenir cups (with lids!) and some strangers last swig of beer. Yes, she's that big a fan.