- Location
- Retired in Minneapolis
On Thursday Springsteen is going to present the keynote speech to open SXSW here in Austin. I'm going to be on a plane to LA to do an EHAP the next day in Anaheim. KUT Austin will have his talk as a webcast so I can listen later. Bruce and the E Street Band are going to do a show that night too. What I'd give to be there...even in the back row...nose bleed seats.
When I was in college I worked as a night janitor at plant where parts for Arctic Cat snowmobiles were made. I had to clean the engineering/managers offices as well as the break room and locker rooms for the machine operators. The memory of reading the Time and Newsweek cover stories about Springsteen are still pretty vivid. At the time I heard a few of his songs and they caught my ear. In the next few weeks airplay grew and my ear was stuck on his songs. I bought tickets from a guy to see him in St. Paul on 10/13/80 for The River tour. It seems like the tickets, scalped but still a deal, were under $20 each. The seats were OK at the hockey arena...and the show...sound...experience...whew...THE BEST!!!
There is a trite saying that goes like 'I give 110%!' yeah...right...not possible. When I saw Brooooce and the E Street Band it was the first time that I had ever seen what 100% was like. Could I ever give that much? It was a challenge to meet. Shigo said '70%..plus or minus 10%' That was as efficient as Nature operates. On that night in St. Paul I saw what 100% looked like. The band played for about 3 hours...took a short break and came back for more! The stage setup was the typical arena layout. ON the backend of the bowl. For a few of the songs the band turned to play for the folks in the 'cheap seats' at the back of the band. Oh...no...Max, Roy and Danny weren't swiveling their kits but the mobile part of the E Street Band sure did!
That was the first Brooooce concert...followed by several others. Something that I found at the concerts that was different was that the crowd was so different. Like a group of my friends...but thousands of them. No knuckleheads...whew...what a difference from most other concerts and music shows.
In '84, I think that's right, I was at the concert where Courtney Cox got hauled up on stage during the filming of the video for 'Dancing in the Dark'. During the same concert Bruce walked to the edge of the stage and laid himself into the hands of the audience to body surf back about 20 rows. When he pointed his hand back towards the stage the crowd obliged. Whew...who would have the trust to do that, then or now?
There is hardly a song of his that hasn't spoken to me in some way. Am I fawning? So what?! Classical music is fine...but it sure doesn't 'resonate' with me. That's a word that I picked up from a friend who teaches music at one of the best music colleges in the US...Nora Jones...Don Henley...Mean Joe Green, uh, he wasn't a music major though...ahahahahah.
Bruce has my ear!
Sure...he's a millionaire...had a bunch of houses...horses...on and on. I haven't bought a new Springsteen album in a long time. The ones in my collection came from used stores.
When I heard 'Death to My Hometown' I found the Jimmy Fallon show where they played. His time spent in Ireland sure shows up in the song. Not seeing Danny and The Big Man makes the E Street Band a memory, for me anyway.
When 'Nebraska' came out, on vinyl, I bought it and played it like a lot of people that are my age played 'Dark Side of the Moon'. The grooves became white! One of the cheapest albums to ever be made but what a work! I've got a CD with people covering the 'Nebraska' songs. A nice complement, but, second best, even though all of those artists are favs of mine too. If only...John Fogerty was one of them!
While I was watching the Jimmy Fallon vids I found this one:
http://tinyurl.com/Broooooce
Wow!
I thought that 'Death to My Hometown' had a lot to say...not even!
I have a long-standing offer with Mark...if Aspen Tree ever works at Bruce's place, I'll get myself there on my own dime...if Bruce is around, I'll work for free! Oh, of course, I respect people's privacy. During my career I've talked with people in confidence who worked for celebs. There is a respect that goes with the territory. You don't talk about what you do. 'Loose lips sink ships' fits here. so...if I ever do get to work there, no one would ever know. Such is life!
Then...there is 'The Other Brooooce'...Bruce Cockburn [pronounced Coe-burn
] I was set to see BC with others in Washington, DC on 9/19/01...but some other events happened which lead to the cancellation of the concert.
When I was in college I worked as a night janitor at plant where parts for Arctic Cat snowmobiles were made. I had to clean the engineering/managers offices as well as the break room and locker rooms for the machine operators. The memory of reading the Time and Newsweek cover stories about Springsteen are still pretty vivid. At the time I heard a few of his songs and they caught my ear. In the next few weeks airplay grew and my ear was stuck on his songs. I bought tickets from a guy to see him in St. Paul on 10/13/80 for The River tour. It seems like the tickets, scalped but still a deal, were under $20 each. The seats were OK at the hockey arena...and the show...sound...experience...whew...THE BEST!!!
There is a trite saying that goes like 'I give 110%!' yeah...right...not possible. When I saw Brooooce and the E Street Band it was the first time that I had ever seen what 100% was like. Could I ever give that much? It was a challenge to meet. Shigo said '70%..plus or minus 10%' That was as efficient as Nature operates. On that night in St. Paul I saw what 100% looked like. The band played for about 3 hours...took a short break and came back for more! The stage setup was the typical arena layout. ON the backend of the bowl. For a few of the songs the band turned to play for the folks in the 'cheap seats' at the back of the band. Oh...no...Max, Roy and Danny weren't swiveling their kits but the mobile part of the E Street Band sure did!
That was the first Brooooce concert...followed by several others. Something that I found at the concerts that was different was that the crowd was so different. Like a group of my friends...but thousands of them. No knuckleheads...whew...what a difference from most other concerts and music shows.
In '84, I think that's right, I was at the concert where Courtney Cox got hauled up on stage during the filming of the video for 'Dancing in the Dark'. During the same concert Bruce walked to the edge of the stage and laid himself into the hands of the audience to body surf back about 20 rows. When he pointed his hand back towards the stage the crowd obliged. Whew...who would have the trust to do that, then or now?
There is hardly a song of his that hasn't spoken to me in some way. Am I fawning? So what?! Classical music is fine...but it sure doesn't 'resonate' with me. That's a word that I picked up from a friend who teaches music at one of the best music colleges in the US...Nora Jones...Don Henley...Mean Joe Green, uh, he wasn't a music major though...ahahahahah.
Bruce has my ear!
Sure...he's a millionaire...had a bunch of houses...horses...on and on. I haven't bought a new Springsteen album in a long time. The ones in my collection came from used stores.
When I heard 'Death to My Hometown' I found the Jimmy Fallon show where they played. His time spent in Ireland sure shows up in the song. Not seeing Danny and The Big Man makes the E Street Band a memory, for me anyway.
When 'Nebraska' came out, on vinyl, I bought it and played it like a lot of people that are my age played 'Dark Side of the Moon'. The grooves became white! One of the cheapest albums to ever be made but what a work! I've got a CD with people covering the 'Nebraska' songs. A nice complement, but, second best, even though all of those artists are favs of mine too. If only...John Fogerty was one of them!
While I was watching the Jimmy Fallon vids I found this one:
http://tinyurl.com/Broooooce
Wow!
I thought that 'Death to My Hometown' had a lot to say...not even!
I have a long-standing offer with Mark...if Aspen Tree ever works at Bruce's place, I'll get myself there on my own dime...if Bruce is around, I'll work for free! Oh, of course, I respect people's privacy. During my career I've talked with people in confidence who worked for celebs. There is a respect that goes with the territory. You don't talk about what you do. 'Loose lips sink ships' fits here. so...if I ever do get to work there, no one would ever know. Such is life!
Then...there is 'The Other Brooooce'...Bruce Cockburn [pronounced Coe-burn
] I was set to see BC with others in Washington, DC on 9/19/01...but some other events happened which lead to the cancellation of the concert.
