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News Updated January 17, 2023



PRE-ORDER NICKI GERMAINE'S LIBERTY HALL NOW!
Book available individually, or as a package with a signed 8x10 print
In March of 1974, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were on the verge of
stardom when they arrived in Texas, to play a stand at Houston's Liberty Hall.
Photographer Nicki Germaine was there, capturing not just what happened onstage,
but also backstage and behind the scenes -- "in all our wide-eyed glory," as
Springsteen writes.

Her historic photographs have gone unseen for nearly 50 years... now, 100 of
these Springsteen & the E Street Band images from '74 unveil a brand new rock
'n' roll story in Springsteen: Liberty Hall.

After previewing her book and its photographs at last weekends Greetings
symposium, Nicki is ready to ship books to us to make available through
Backstreet Records — we're taking pre-orders now.



You can pre-order the book alone for $65, OR with this 8x10 color print [below],
a special Backstreets add-on.

The archival pigment print on cotton rag paper, signed by the photographer,
captures the entire '74 E Street Band under the Liberty Hall marquee. We
appreciate Nicki offering this print for Backstreets readers, at a special
price: book + print for $150.

Springsteen: Liberty Hall has been a labor of love for Nicki, who self-published
this beautiful new book in order to get it right, maintaining very high
standards of print quality. The resulting oversized hardcover (with obi strip)
is an astounding archive of portraits, candids, and concert photography, in both
color and B&W.

The images are given further context by a Foreword from Bruce Springsteen
himself, personal recollections from Germaine and Garry Tallent, and a
4,000-word essay by Bob Santelli.



Pre-order just the Springsteen: Liberty Hall book

Pre-order the Liberty Hall book + signed 8x10

Books and signed prints are expected to arrive at Backstreet Records by the end
of January, at which point we'll ship immediately to you. Pre-orders will
determine the quantity we have on hand, so guarantee yours by placing your order
now!
- January 15, 2022





Joe Grushecky headlining last year's Light of Day, 3/12/22

"ADOPTED SON" JOE GRUSHECKY TALKS ASBURY PARK AND LOD
As Light of Day's WinterFest kicks off tonight, with a Clarence Clemons Birthday
Tribute in NYC, Joe Grushecky and his band The Houserockers prepare for their
annual home-away-from-home visit to the Jersey Shore. Whether in Asbury Park
(where Light of Day began, at the Stone Pony in 2000), Sea Bright (2001-2002),
or the new home of the big LOD show in Red Bank, Grushecky and the Houserockers
have held down Bob's Birthday Bash each and every year of the Parkinson's
fundraiser. In advance of the 2022 Light of Day "Main Event," coming up this
Saturday, January 14, Lisa Iannucci caught up with Joe to talk about just how
long he's been making that trip from Pittsburgh, the American Babylon years with
Bruce Springsteen, LOD founder Bob Benjamin, and more.

Backstreets: It's been around 40 years that you've been coming to Asbury Park,
beginning with the Fast Lane. What do you remember about those early shows?

Grushecky: It was just a classic old Shore town. I had spent some time there
already — we had played Convention Hall on a bill with Ian Hunter. So we just
started playing the Fast Lane because that's where they would book bands that
had albums out. The Pony was still mostly local guys. But we became really good
friends with the people who owned the Fast Lane, so it was just a win-win for
us.

Asbury was a town that historically speaking was really welcoming to out-of-town
artists who made it a second home. Garland Jeffreys, Norman Nardini, John
Cafferty: all of you became regulars. Why do you think that was?

Well, Asbury, there's a rich musical history there. They had a lot of
roots-driven artists, that was the popular thing there — you know, nothing New
Wave — so there was a connection to our music, and it just seemed very
accepting. It just seemed like a natural fit. I'm sure if you talked to those
other guys, they'd say the same thing. Plus it was just a great place to play —
there's no ocean in Pittsburgh!

And the Iron City Houserockers, when we first started playing, we were more
bluesy: Chicago blues, Muddy Waters and all that stuff. Little Walter. That was
our preferred style. We were into J. Geils and the Stones, and of course Bruce
and Southside. So one of the great thrills about playing Asbury was getting to
meet a lot of folks from my record collection! Southside, John Cafferty,
Garland, Bruce, Steven, the horns — you know, the guys from the Jukes. It was
just a thrill for us to come up and play there.


The Houserockers with old friend Bruce Springsteen at Light of Day 2012

I first saw you at the old Decade, in 1986 or so, when John Eddie was promoting
his first record.

That would have been a whole different band than the Iron City Houserockers. For
a couple years there in the '80s, I struggled to get a group of musicians
together that had that same magic that the Iron City Houserockers did. I've
finally achieved it — I think that the band I'm in now is better than any of
those bands.

It's been almost 30 years now since that 1995-96 tour supporting American
Babylon, and Cleveland International released an expanded 25th anniversary
edition of the album last year. That went by fast! Does anything stand out for
you as a highlight from that era?

Well, everything was a highlight! I mean, nothing but fond memories of it. Bruce
and I, we're friends, and I think he would say the same thing — we had a really
good time making that record. And then him coming out and playing with us was
icing on the cake.

That was a time when I had been really contemplating my career decisions, and my
wife said, "Why don't you call Bruce? You guys have been pretty good friends
over the years, maybe he'll play on a song." And it went from just a single
phone call, and Jon Landau's office and maybe doing one song, to us establishing
a rapport and a partnership that we still have to this day. It was life changing
— those were a couple of life changing records for us, and it was great to get
out and play them live.


Light of Day 2015 - photograph by A.M. Saddler

We were "down and out in Beverly Hills" when that record hit, and it breathed a
huge shot of life into us that we've been able to maintain 'til this day. I
don't know what would have happened without American Babylon. I probably would
have been still making music, but that record put us back on the musical map.

I want to talk a bit about [LOD founder] Bob Benjamin, because people get so
focused on Bruce with Light of Day, and I don't want them to forget that it's
about Bob. You guys have been central to Light of Day since its inception
because Bob Benjamin had managed you. How did you first meet Bob?

Well, I didn't have a manager — I had nobody when American Babylon was being
recorded. Bob came into town while we were recording [1992's] End of the
Century, and he was in the business, and he was just so energetic. He seemed
like a go-getter type of guy, and he was helping us out with that record. He was
part of the extended Jersey Shore family, good friends with Terry Magovern. When
American Bablyon was nearing completion, I said to Jon Landau, "I have no
business people." You know, Pittsburgh's a pretty isolated spot as far as the
music business goes; there wasn't really any music infrastructure. A manager,
that's a really close, intimate working relationship, and I had nobody. So Jon
Landau recommended that I give Bob a shot, and we've been together all these
years just on a handshake.


Bob Benjamin and Bruce — and another LOD stalwart, Joe D'urso [back left] at LOD
2015

Bob is a special individual in many ways.

Yeah, he is. It just breaks your heart. Because he was so sturdy, so tough. Not
just physically tough — you could see the determination he had. Just to see him
go downhill all these years [due to Parkinson's Disease] has been heartbreaking
in some ways. In other ways, it's also very inspirational, because you see that
he's not going down without a fight, and he's helped so many other people.

The whole Light of Day thing became so much bigger than anybody ever expected.
It was just a bunch of guys saying, "Let's have a show, we'll make some money,"
and now — what is this, 23 years later? — it's a pretty big deal. I've met
probably my closest friends in the music community all through Light of Day.
It's such a good bunch of people. You know, Willie [Nile], Garland, [Jeffreys],
Jesse Malin, James Maddock — just the whole group of people. Everybody's been
terrific.

It's been fun seeing a new generation of musicians at Light of Day, with your
son Johnny, Jake Clemons, and Asbury Park locals like Bobby Mahoney and Remember
Jones. It's been fun seeing people take on that mantle. But sooner or later,
folks aren't going to be able to play any more. How do you think that legacy
gets maintained?

Yeah, Johnny has been really passionate about bringing in some new blood for
years. And of course, he's been wanting to play with me since he was born. It's
been really tough with COVID, but I hope somebody picks up the mantle.

It's hard, because you don't hear rock 'n' roll on the radio. We need more rock
stations on the radio. We need something like what [Warner Music Chairman/CEO]
John Esposito did — you can see how they built their audience for country music
via country radio. And country radio is still huge. But the lack of rock 'n'
roll radio has been a significant factor in the decline of young musicians. If
there's a revival of rock, it's going to come through radio. Because now, most
of the old bands out there playing, you're lucky if you get two or three of the
original members.

But my son has turned me on to some good music. When he was 12 or 13, we used to
go out and see a couple shows a week sometimes, we'd come down here and see the
Warped Tour.

How does Johnny find music?

He puts his ear to the ground, he knows a lot of the young guys, and that's how
I'd find out about new bands. Not so much anymore, because he's not home with
me, he's out on his own. We were really into Taking Back Sunday for a while, and
the former frontman of Something Corporate [Andy McMahon], his band Jack's
Mannequin.


Light of Day 2015 - photograph by A.M. Saddler

What's your opinion of the changes we've seen in Asbury over the last 10 to 15
years or so?

Part of me says God bless 'em, it's nice to see prosperity there. I can remember
when we first started Light of Day — it was in November, Asbury Park, and you
could have driven a tank down the middle of the street. It's nice to see it
revived; I just hope it just doesn't become too generic and unrecognizable.

I say that as an adopted son — you know, we've been coming to Asbury Park
faithfully since '93, that was our family vacation, so it's part of my legacy
even though I'm not a Jersey guy. I have a strong affinity to Asbury Park and
the musical family there.

But artists and musicians have been pushed farther and farther out — it's too
expensive for them.

Yeah. It's like that everywhere. But it's a cycle. It's happened in Pittsburgh,
too: the artists move, they find an out-of-the-way part of the city that's on
its last legs, and they start building it up. Then everybody comes in, and the
cycle starts again.
- January 11, 2022 - interview by Lisa Iannucci - all photographs by A.M.
Saddler








THE SPIRIT OF '73: ARCHIVES SYMPOSIUM CELEBRATES GREETINGS
Mike Appel, Garry Tallent, David Sancious, Vini Lopez [above, L-R] and many more
on hand for the debut album's milestone 50th anniversary
Greetings from Long Branch, N.J., four miles north of Asbury Park and 50 years
on from the day that Bruce Springsteen put it on the map.

On Saturday, January 7, approximately 600 fans from around the world gathered at
Monmouth University to celebrate the golden anniversary of Greetings From Asbury
Park, N.J., Springsteen's debut studio album.

Sponsored by the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, the
eight-hour 50th anniversary symposium featured a stellar array of key actors,
contemporary players, archivists, and academicians dedicated to the work of not
just preserving Bruce's legacy but also contextualizing it for those of us too
young to have our own "I was there" stories.

Like the album itself, the symposium was a freshman outing for the Springsteen
Archives, the first of a series of events aiming to educate and celebrate the
import and impact of each of Springsteen's album as they reach the half-century
mark. As Executive Director Bob Santelli put it, "We're now in the
50th anniversary business."

Santelli followed his welcoming remarks with a sneak preview of a ten-minute
documentary film premiering "soon," featuring Bruce's own recollections of the
making of the Greetings album, recorded so quickly and on such a tight budget
that the band slept in tents in the studio's backyard rather than a hotel.


David Dye, Tony Pallagrosi, Peter Knobler, and Mike Appel "Setting the Scene"

The symposium kicked off properly with "Setting the Scene," the first of several
panel sessions on the day's schedule. Moderated by Tom Cunningham, the panel
included Peter Knobler, Crawdaddy critic and early Springsteen champion, sharing
his recollection of his memorable ride-along with Bruce and the band for their
December 1972 gig at Sing Sing Prison; David Dye, Philadelphia radio royalty,
describing his discovery of and delight in Greetings when it debuted, and how
the WMMR staff cohered in their early enthusiasm and advocacy for Bruce and his
music; Tony Pallagrosi, Light of Day Executive Director (and former Asbury Juke
and Miami Horn) sharing his early impressions of Springsteen dating back to his
Steel Mill and pre-Greetings days; and Mike Appel, Springsteen's Greetings-era
manager, whose fondness for Bruce and passion for his music was evident even
today as he shared his memories, amazed at times at his own role in the story.

Appel's recollections in particular were vivid and moving. He admitted to being
unimpressed when Springsteen first approached him with a pair of unremarkable
songs, only to be floored when Bruce came back a few months later with a batch
of songs that would ultimately land him an audition with Columbia Records. "What
divinity anointed him between those two dogs and those six songs from heaven?"
Mike marveled, although he later admitted that bootlegs of songs like "Cowboys
of the Sea" made him realize Bruce's talent was probably there all along.

Appel also shared (with some discretion) Bruce's first encounter with Phil
Spector ("I never want to see that man again," Bruce told him), a moving account
of the night Bruce dedicated his one-and-only performance of the
entire Greetings album to him in 2009, and impassioned readings of his favorite
unreleased Springsteen lyrics.


A Peter Cunningham shot of Bruce, Clarence, and Danny on the big screen

The next two sessions let images do most of the talking.

"The Story Behind the Photographs" focused on photographer Peter Cunningham and
his work, facilitated by Greg Linn (Legacy Records/Sony Music). Cunningham was
behind the camera for Bruce's first professional publicity shoot, and he also
captured images from several memorable early gigs, including the band's
legendary stand at the Bottom Line. Captured in action on stage and in surf
(Cunningham joined the band for a day at the beach), his photos reveal at times
a wide-eyed innocence we're not used to seeing in Bruce and the boys. Even so,
Cunningham found Bruce to be a photographer's dream subject — aware of and
passionate about the power of the still image while "noticeably good at just
being himself."


Images from Peter Cunningham's day at the beach, projected for the symposium
audience

Of additional note: Cunningham recalls being the one to call WMMR DJ Ed Sciaky
and cajole him into attending Bruce's January 1973 shows at the Main Point — a
phone call that resulted in the station's full-throated E Street embrace and
their Philadelphia radio debut. One wonders how the story would have been played
out had he not made that call.

"A Conversation with Nicki Germaine" was moderated by Rich Russo. As a freelance
photographer in 1974, Germaine had the opportunity to capture Bruce and the band
that year at Houston's Liberty Hall, both on- and off-stage. Nearly 50 years
later, she has just published a book presenting the results of that extended
photo shoot, and she previewed some of those unseen photographs for the
symposium audience. Although completely unfamiliar with Bruce and the band at
the time, her memories of her up-close-and-personal introduction are still
vivid. She recalled Danny as flirtatious, Clarence as sweet and smart, and Bruce
as aloof and pre-occupied (quite possibly from record label pressure after two
under-performing albums) — and sure enough, those qualities come through in her
images. (Germaine's book will be available for pre-ordering this week through
Backstreet Records.)


Photographer Nicki Germaine in conversation with Rich Russo, discussing her
Liberty Hall book

After a break for lunch, the afternoon session began with an audio/video
presentation by Springsteen Archives assistant curator Connor Rupp, who treated
attendees to early live performance clips of "Growin' Up," "Spirit in the
Night," and "Thundercrack," along with an early solo piano performance of "If I
Was the Priest" and a "Growin' Up" sound-alike outtake called "Eloise."

If forced to choose a highlight from a day comprised solely of them, most
attendees would almost certainly agree it was the next event, the headline
"Making of the Album" panel featuring the album's supporting cast. Original E
Street Band members (and Greetings studio musicians) Vini Lopez, David Sancious,
and Garry Tallent shared the stage with Mike Appel, as Santelli skillfully led
them back in time to 1972.


Bob Santelli, far left, with Appel, Tallent, Sancious, and Lopez for "The Making
of the Album"

The Bruce Springsteen Band had scattered across the eastern seaboard by the time
Bruce signed his record deal, but all three of them jumped at the chance to join
him in the studio. Only Tallent and Sancious had had any studio experience at
that point — they laughingly recalled that they'd done a session for a
"somebody" neither of them could remember.

Memories of hasty rehearsals and only a few days of recording quickly ceded to
fond recollections of pre-Greetings jam sessions and early tour gigs. David
remembered walking eight miles to the Upstage the night he first met and jammed
with Bruce; he recalled a sly improv blues number Bruce called "Heavy Louise"
(almost certainly this is the song fans may know from circulating bootlegs as
"Mary Louise Watson.")

All of the players remembered the "flight to doom" that turned them off of
flying for years and instead set them on a path for misadventure by rail, during
which Clarence clocked a drunk passenger harassing a young mother.

What was most evident during this session was the shared affection and bond
between the men on stage, all of whom were extremely complimentary to each other
— most notably Appel, whose genuine praise for the E Streeters made it easy to
understand why he was such an effective advocate in those days. At times, they
seemed lost in each other's camaraderie and oblivious to the audience of 600,
leading to some remarkably candid moments.


A very big man: Germaine shows her 1974 portrait of Clarence Clemons

At one point, Appel recalled that Clarence's first recording session was not a
smooth one: he squeaked and squealed (or as Vini put it, "fweeted") from nerves
when being recorded solo, even though he was fine when playing with the band.
Appel settled the Big Man down by having the whole band play instead, without
telling Clarence that he was the only one actually being recorded. The squeaks
disappeared.

After the laughter in the room subsided, Vini told Mike that the squeals
actually persisted, and that it was only engineer Louis Lahav's surgical
splicing skill that managed to successfully remove them. Appel's mouth hung open
in amazement — he hadn't known until that moment.

They all remembered the day they first heard the finished album, particularly
Garry, who recalls them signing it "like a yearbook" with his tuba beside him
the day they were working out "Wild Billy's Circus Story" for their next album.

Following panels analyzing the songs and historical context of Greetings, the E
Streeters returned to the stage, this time to perform, as the day closed with
fresh and vibrant interpretations of the album's nine tracks. Joining in were
local musical greats like Jake Thistle, Williams Honor, Jackson Pines, Anthony
D'Amato, Pat Guadagno, Richie Blackwell (who will no doubt feature in the next
50th anniversary event), Pat Roddy, and Monmouth U students Max & Janae.

The album concert was presented slightly out of sequence, to allow the original
players to perform two fan-favorite tracks as the day's finale. Watching David,
Vini, and Garry (fronted by Pat Roddy playing the role of Bruce Springsteen)
perform "Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?" (which they laughingly admitted
they hadn't realized was the song's title until after the album came out —
they'd always called it "Hey Bus Driver") and "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the
City" in such an intimate setting more than 50 years after they'd first recorded
it was a thrilling moment that transported everyone back in time.


A final salute for the Greetings musicians and original E Streeters

The eight-hour event — organized, managed, and at times moderated by Archives
Director Eileen Chapman — was an unqualified success by any measure. Even the
most tenured and knowledgeable fans walked away with new nuggets, anecdotes,
images and revelations to deepen their appreciation of Greetings From Asbury
Park, N.J. The event was filmed, to be made available online to fans in the near
future, and if you missed this event, you'll soon have another: The Wild, The
Innocent, & the E Street Shuffle celebrates its 50th anniversary this fall.
- January 8, 2022 - reporting and photographs by Ken Rosen








THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY OF GREETINGS
Today is the official half-century mark for Bruce Springsteen as a Columbia
Records recording artist, with Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. released on
January 5, 1973. A new official video clip marks the milestone and tells the
story of the debut:






- January 5, 2022




Light of Day founding artist Joe Grushecky at last year's WinterFest -
photograph by A.M. Saddler

GREETINGS FROM ASBURY PARK: LOD 2023 PREVIEW
The wind is whipping down the boardwalk here at the Jersey Shore, and with the
new year upon us that means it's almost time for Light of Day (LOD). This
month's WinterFest will include the usual mix of core artists and newcomers,
with additions John Waite and Philadelphia artists Dave Hause & the Mermaid
rounding out the Main Event lineup.

John Waite, formerly lead vocalist for The Babys and Bad English, has released
10 studio albums as a solo artist and is the subject of a new documentary titled
John Waite - The Hard Way, a retrospective of his five-decade career. His 1984
single "Missing You" was a #1 single in the U.S.

Dave Hause began his music career in the Philly hardcore scene of the mid-'90s,
later forging a solo career that drew upon his punk roots and his affection for
Americana. Along with Tim Barry, Hause was a part of Chuck Ragan's Revival tour
in 2009 and was later featured in The Gaslight Anthem's music video for "Bring
It On." Hause's third solo album, Bury Me in Philly (produced by Eric Bazilian
of The Hooters), was released in early 2017; he formed The Mermaid to tour with
that record.


Willie Nile at LOD 2022 - photograph by A.M. Saddler

Returning LOD artists include stalwarts Willie Nile, Jesse Malin, and James
Maddock; newer additions like Jill Hennessy, The Weeklings, and award-winning
blues artist Guy Davis; and founding artists Joe D'Urso and Joe Grushecky & the
Houserockers.

LOD originated with a 1998 birthday party for Grushecky/Houserockers manager Bob
Benjamin at the Downtown Cafe in Red Bank, NJ. However, it was a 2000 guest shot
by Bruce Springsteen at the Stone Pony that really put the event on the map.


Jesse Malin at LOD 2022 - photograph by A.M. Saddler

While WinterFest's Main Event, Bob's Birthday Bash, isn't until the middle of
the month (January 14 at the Count Basie Theatre), LOD23 events begin as soon as
this Saturday, with kickoff performances in Philly, Asbury, and NYC, where the
Clarence Clemons Birthday Tribute will be held on January 11. See the LOD23
Events page for the full schedule.

All LOD performances raise money and awareness for Parkinson's and its related
illnesses ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) and PSP (Progressive Supranuclear
Palsy). In 23 years, LOD has raised more than $6 million and has grown from a
single evening to both a multi-night regional event in the Northeast and an
international tour. Visit lightofday.org for complete ticket and event
information.
- January 3, 2022 - Lisa Iannucci reporting




FOR CHRISTMAS EVE, I WANNA BE WITH YOU
From "Freehold" to "Loose Ends," July 18, 1999 brings the Meadowlands home for
the holidays
Charming and upbeat, Bruce Springsteen's July 18 performance in New Jersey
typified the early dates on his 1999 Reunion tour with the E Street Band — in
fact, this was only the second U.S. show of the tour. The material, with a tilt
toward River-era rockers, ranges from "The Ghost of Tom Joad" performed as an
ensemble piece to "Jungleland" and "Freehold," a humorous and touching tale of
Springsteen's life in his hometown. As this year's Christmas Eve release,
mastered from the 24-track recording, East Rutherford, NJ, July 18, 1999 becomes
the earliest date from 1999 to appear in the Live Archive series' eight-year
run.

The 15-month Reunion tour marked the rededication of the E Street Band.
Springsteen had put his nine-year experiment with other musical styles and
combinations on hold, recalling his longtime collaborators by the spring of '99.
It was a time where no one seemed to know what might come next — be it the next
song, or something else — including Bruce himself.

"We were somewhat estranged, we were just taking the first small steps of
performing," Springsteen said in 2014, when inducting the E Street Band into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "We didn't know what the future would bring, and
perhaps the shadow of some of the old grudges still held some sway."

But Springsteen was ready, and so was the music he tasked the E Street Band with
performing. Gone was the seemingly hesitant E Street activity in 1995, marked by
middling studio recordings and television tapings meant to serve a Greatest Hits
package and stoke the well-deserved success of "Streets of Philadelphia." In its
place, a rehearsed and well-rounded rock 'n' roll show appeared.

You'll hear that in the set's opening number, "I Wanna Be With You," a River
outtake that serves here as both mission statement and roll call, as Springsteen
joyously beckons E Street musicians to join him. Though a faulty microphone led
to vocal drop-outs, the song takes flight, a hint of what the evening would
bring. In all, the concert featured 26 songs, many of them rock numbers: the
opening rarity (one of three performances that year in the U.S.), followed
quickly by a bevy of crowd-pleasers: a taut "Prove It All Night," "Two Hearts,"
and a pairing of "Trapped" and "Darlington County." Later, the band shines on
"Sherry Darling" and a concise "Working on the Highway."



July 18 was the second of 15 nights that summer in New Jersey, the longest stand
(aside from Springsteen on Broadway) he ever played. By the end of the
residency, Meadowlands audiences (at what was then known as Continental Airlines
Arena) heard an impressive range of songs, from one-offs ("Trouble River,"
"Frankie") to numbers that would appear more frequently ("New York City
Serenade," its first play since 1975) and others that'd again become staples
("The Ties That Bind," "Ramrod").

That insistence on not settling kept the E Street Band sharp and repeat
customers entertained. Here, "Loose Ends," another River outtake, gets its
first-ever U.S. play. In the encore, "Stand on It" takes its turn — the
evening's third selection from Tracks — the E Street Band flooring it as
Springsteen delivers one of the more word-dense numbers in his catalog.



Though fans knew the songs they heard, between tempo, arrangements, and variety,
Springsteen kept at bay any hint of nostalgia. He built the 1999 show in the
present tense and kept it there, with familiar favorites like "Badlands"
stitched alongside newer compositions ("Youngstown," and the 1982 outtake
"Murder Incorporated").

"The River," he recast: with a lengthy instrumental introduction, it takes on a
country feel, accented by saxophone, accordion, and pedal steel guitar. Fans
cheer when Springsteen plays the familiar harmonica refrain after the second
verse, then again in approval as the song ends. This sort of reimagining kept a
songwriting milestone from being merely rehashed. It may have flummoxed some
listeners at first, but its presence from the first rehearsal show in Asbury
Park to its place here and on through the end of the tour a year later showed
Springsteen's resolve.

As the earliest Reunion date in the Live Archive series, July 18 presents
something of an unrefined quality. The band grew sharper as it carried on — by
the following June, when the tour ended with ten nights at Madison Square
Garden, Springsteen had introduced new music and the band sounded like a band.
Still, there was little indication that E Street would be a going concern.
Hearing a show like this one, which bandleader wouldn't want that?
- December 24, 2022 - Jonathan Pont reporting




MEN WITHOUT WOMEN: SUBSTANCE AND SPLENDOR
Little Steven's garage rock debut album was released 40 years ago. Mike Saunders
looks back at the recording sessions, the original Disciples of Soul tours, and
the Wicked Cool reissue
Between 1976 and 1978, Steven Van Zandt (aka Miami Steve) wrote, arranged, and
produced a series of enduring classics for the first three albums by Southside
Johnny and the Asbury Jukes: I Don't Want to Go Home, This Time It's for Real,
and Hearts of Stone. But when his professional relationship with the band ended
in early 1979, he lost the creative outlet that had sustained him between his
commitments to Bruce Springsteen.

He considered the idea of making a solo record at the time, but the next
two-and-a-half years of his life were occupied first with full-time
co-production work on The River and then the 12-month international tour that
followed its release.

Steven's interest in a solo recording project was rekindled in the summer of
1981 when he returned home from Springsteen and the E Street Band's extensive
European tour. He was approached about making his own record by Gary Gersh, head
of A&R at EMI-America, the label that had recently released Dedication by Gary
U.S. Bonds (co-produced by Steven and Bruce) and had a hit with "This Little
Girl." Initially hesitant, fearing that his association with Bruce might be
exploited, Steven warmed to the idea when EMI president Jim Mazza repeated the
offer and assured him that it was inspired by their respect for his work on the
Asbury Jukes and Bonds records.

"I really felt they knew me and understood my work and were ready to make a
commitment for me as an artist," said Steven, "that's why I did it. If they
hadn't come to me and asked, I would've put it off forever. It's great when a
record company does that, when they actually take the initiative. It can be
really encouraging, and that can be important."



After the Springsteen tour ended in mid-September 1981, Steven began to focus on
the lyrical themes that he wanted to explore. Never one to stockpile material
like Bruce, he usually only wrote with specific projects in mind. "There are a
lot of questions you have to ask yourself when you're about to do your first
record. Such as who are you, what do you believe in, what do you want to say, is
it worth saying? You need to justify your existence a bit. You hope the things
you're feeling you can communicate to somebody else, and that they'll be
meaningful."

The six semi-autobiographical songs Steven wrote that fall ("Inside of Me,"
"Save Me," "Until the Good Is Gone," "Men Without Women," "Princess of Little
Italy," and "Forever") reflected different aspects of his personality and
Italian heritage. They focused on the pursuit of love and dreams in an
unforgiving world and the inspiration he derived from hearing music on the radio
in his formative years. With the addition of "I've Been Waiting" (held over from
the Hearts of Stone era) and "Angel Eyes" (which may have been even older), he
had enough completed material to start recording with a bunch of friends, "just
to see if I really had it. Then I got a record deal."



Men Without Women was recorded in two sets of sessions, approximately six months
apart, with two groups of musicians.

The first and most productive sessions took place in November 1981 at The Power
Station in New York, where Bruce and the E Street Band made The River. The band
Steven assembled consisted of E Streeters Max Weinberg (drums), Garry Tallent
(bass), and Danny Federici (organ, accordion), plus Kevin Kavanaugh from the
Asbury Jukes (piano) and a five-piece horn section: Eddie Manion (baritone sax),
Stan Harrison (tenor sax, flute), Mark Pender (trumpet), Mike Spengler
(trumpet), and Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg (trombone). The horn players were
contracted to work with Diana Ross at the time but (without Harrison) were also
fulfilling all Asbury Jukes touring commitments.

"He wanted to rehearse, get the songs ready, go in and just cut them live in the
studio," remembered Max Weinberg. "It was a remarkable experience. Bruce was
there. There was never any talk of three-hour sessions. We rehearsed 10 to 12
hours a day. It was just great, like being in a garage band. I hope I never lose
that."

"We did four rehearsals," confirmed Kevin Kavanaugh. "The tracks were recorded
over a two-day period. No headsets, just a regular monitor system, as if we were
on a concert stage, with little thought to bleed. We went through the song list
two or three times per day. We did some overdub repairs and extra overdubs over
the next few weeks, but essentially that was a live album."

"I decided to go back to the sound I had created with the Jukes," explained
Steven. "'60s R&B-based rock with a five-piece horn section. I recorded the
whole album live in one day. I put the band in a semi-circle, used the studio
monitors hanging from the ceiling instead of headphones, and let it happen.
Horns blowing into the drums, monitors blasting the whole mix back into all the
microphones, I didn't care."

"We came back the next day and did the whole album again to see if we could get
better takes. We may have used one or two takes from the second day. I put
acoustic guitar on a couple of songs. Did my tribute to Ry Cooder [by adding]
mandolin and slide to 'Princess of Little Italy.' Added the double guitar solo
to 'Angel Eyes.'"

Although his contribution remained uncredited, Bruce Springsteen sang harmony
vocals on "Angel Eyes," "Until the Good Is Gone," and "Men Without Women."
Steven "re-sang the vocals live with Bruce because I wanted them spontaneous and
loose and not Everly Brothers-perfect."

"The fun part was that Steven had the sessions catered by an Italian food
caterer," said Kevin Kavanaugh. "So in the lounge outside the studio, there was
a long buffet. Basically we all gained about 10 pounds in two days."



The record remained unfinished for the first few months of 1982 while Steven
took care of other recording and co-producing commitments, firstly with Gary
U.S. Bonds for On the Line (released in June 1982), and then with Springsteen,
for his follow-up to The River. Bruce chose to put out his solo demos as
Nebraska first, but the sessions that Steven worked on that spring produced
eight of the songs for Born in the U.S.A., which appeared two years later.

The Men Without Women recording project rapidly developed into a solo career,
which Steven intended to pursue between E Street responsibilities. In order to
distance himself from his Springsteen connections, develop a separate artistic
identity, let the record stand or fall on its own merits, and be perceived as a
new artist with a debut album to promote, he adopted the name of Little Steven.
The new sobriquet acknowledged several of his heroes: blues harmonica genius
Little Walter; "androgynous, multisexual" rock 'n' roller Little Richard; and
the first band he saw live, Little Anthony and the Imperials, whose doo-wop hit
"Tears on My Pillow" was the first record he bought.

Steven's connection with Gary U.S. Bonds and his manager Jon Apostol proved
helpful in recruiting players for his new band. Apostol also managed bass player
Jean Beauvoir, best known back in the day as an ex-member of The Plasmatics, but
he'd previously been in Bonds's band, and was writing solo material. Pianist
Rusty Cloud had also played with Bonds and recently left to join the Asbury
Jukes. And when an Apostol-organised Rascals reunion fell through, Steven jumped
at the opportunity to hire Dino Danelli, drummer for one of his favorite '60s
bands. The line-up was completed by percussionist Monte Louis Ellison (from the
Alvin Ailey dance troupe) and the five-piece Diana Ross/Asbury Jukes horn
section, now nicknamed "La Bamba's Mambomen."


From the press kit EMI-America sent out with promo copies of the album

Enter the original Disciples of Soul, a flamboyant aggregation of like-minded,
visually diverse characters that bought into the Van Zandt philosophy that "rock
'n' roll is motivation, not entertainment" and abided by a strict set of rules:
"no drugs, no alcohol, no lasting diversion."

"Soul for me is taking on another definition," explained Steven at the time.
"What it means now is an emotional commitment to something. That's what the band
means, people who are emotionally committed to their work, more than the musical
connotation… at this point in my life I'm gonna find guys who are real good, but
I also wanted guys who weren't into booze, drugs or any of that stuff."

The new band then recorded the final two songs for Men Without Women. "After I'd
written the first eight songs, I felt I'd satisfied what I set out to do. So I
started looking at the world in general and the people in it. That's when I
wrote 'Lyin' in a Bed of Fire' and 'Under the Gun,' which are more specific
about the importance of taking responsibility for your own life and the imminent
disaster that will follow if you don't." (Also recorded around this time was a
cover of the Duke Ellington instrumental 'Caravan' that became the B-side to
'Forever').



Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul made their live debut on July 18, 1982,
with an invitation-only concert for family and friends at New York's Peppermint
Lounge, shortly after the horn section had played two major New Jersey concerts
— with the Asbury Jukes at the Brendan Byrne Arena and with Diana Ross at Giants
Stadium.

Also that summer, director Derek Burbidge shot footage for Men Without Women's
celluloid soul-mate, a 90-minute movie with the same title. Scenes were filmed
in the studio, Central Park, Little Italy, and Times Square and featured live
performances of most of the songs on the album, a press conference, tour budget
discussions, interviews with street performers, and a subtitled Italian meal at
Steven's grandmother's house. Clips of several band members driving around in a
convertible later formed the basis of a music video for "Forever."



The movie was part autobiography and part documentary, as Steven described it:
"I wanted to take a camera, go into the street and make a film…our script, by
John Varnom, was more of a fluid outline describing our situation. It was a
story about a band that didn't have the money to tour and decided to make a
movie instead."



The Men Without Women album was released on October 1, 1982, in the U.S. and
October 18 in the U.K. It was credited to Little Steven and the Disciples of
Soul but produced and arranged by his alter ego, Miami Steve.

Apart from the Power Station, some other recording took place at the Hit Factory
in New York and Clover Studios in Los Angeles. The eight songs from the 1981
sessions were recorded by Bob Clearmountain. "Lyin' in a Bed of Fire" and "Under
the Gun" were recorded by Toby Scott. Scott also mixed the album, except for
"Forever," which was mixed by Clearmountain. Wally Traugott mastered the record
at Capitol Records in Los Angeles.

"I made Bob Clearmountain mix 'Forever' in mono, to try and achieve the perfect
Motown record," Steven explained. "It's never gonna be exact and it shouldn't
be, but I wanted to capture [the sound of] a Smokey Robinson Motown record. The
only way I could do that, in my mind, was to make it completely mono. He was so
good in those days. Bob's still the best, but in those days he was beyond the
best. He was something else when it came down to that Neve board that wasn't
automated, and he's feelin' those faders. I made him do something he'd never
done before, which requires a different way of thinking. You're now thinking
depth-wise and vertically, not horizontally."

In addition to the main players, several other singers, musicians, and guests
contributed to the recording, including ex-Rascal Felix Cavaliere (piano,
organ), assistant engineer Zoe Yanakis (oboe solo in "Under the Gun," which she
would later play on tour), Sammy Figeroa and Manolo (percussion), Steven's
guitar tech Ben Newberry (chimes), and Bob Werner (tambourine). Gary U.S. Bonds,
JT Bowen, and Clarence Clemons added backing vocals.

The album title was inspired by a book of short stories of the same name by
Ernest Hemingway. It featured tales "about bullfighters, soldiers and boxers and
the relationship between identity and profession," Stevie noted. "I felt that if
Ernie had written it in the '60s or '70s, it would have included a chapter about
a rock band."

It was also a metaphor for loneliness. "For me, that's how it all started.
You're lonely, trying to fit in, and it's easier to develop camaraderie with the
guys at an early age. You have all this energy that doesn't know where to go, so
you play rock 'n' roll. And hope that if you're successful, the reward will be a
relationship that works out."



Photographer Jim Marchese (who'd accompanied the E Street Band in Europe the
previous year) shot the album cover and additional photos used for inserts and
singles at Bethesda Terrace in Central Park in the summer. The Disciples of Soul
were featured in their long leather coats with the band's name emblazoned on the
back, Hell's Angels-style. Mike Spengler recalled "the photos being shot after
an all-nighter. Steven told us, 'No smiling.' Not hard to do [with] no sleep,
walking around in those long Disciple coats in 90-degree weather. We certainly
looked appropriately grizzled."

"What can't be denied is Van Zandt's fervent intensity as a songwriter and
singer testifying to his needs," wrote Fred Schruers in his Rolling Stone
review. "When he sings 'don't try to stop me til the good is gone,' he's talking
about a life lived for music and the message is delivered over a crunching,
lurching attack from the rhythm section in a voice that recalls the snarl of
Keith Richards mated with the forlorn anger of Bob Dylan circa Highway 61
Revisited. His sizeable band is under full throttle. Men Without Women is a
testament in which Van Zandt wears his heart on his sleeve as surely as he wears
his Disciple of Soul insignia on his jacket."



Coinciding with the album's European release, Steven and a temporary Disciples
line-up (with Benjy King on keyboards and members of the Uptown Horns) travelled
to Germany to appear at the Grugahalle in Essen with Kid Creole and the
Coconuts, a concert that was simulcast live to numerous countries on a
Rockpalast TV special. It was their first public performance, for an audience of
thousands in the venue and considerably more on the small screen. On their way
home, they stopped over in London for a last-minute gig at the Marquee Club.

Little Steven and the band hit the road for their first tour in November 1982.
By then, the horn players had ended their association with the Asbury Jukes
and/or Diana Ross to work exclusively with Steven. (Mike Spengler decided to
stay with Ross, and his place was taken by Nelson Bogart). Primarily covering
the East Coast (with one night at Radio City Music Hall in New York and four at
Clarence's club Big Man's West in Red Bank), the three-week roadtrip included
brief diversions to Los Angeles, for two shows at The Roxy, and to Cleveland,
for two appearances at the Agora and two at Richfield Coliseum, supporting The
Who.

At the end of this debut tour, Rusty Cloud left to work permanently with the
Asbury Jukes and was replaced by Pee Wee Weber. Stan Harrison also left, to
continue with Diana Ross for a while and work with David Bowie on the Let's
Dance LP and subsequent Serious Moonlight tour, permanently reducing the horn
section to a four-piece.

In his role as an ordained minister, Little Richard officiated at Steven's
wedding to his longtime girlfriend Maureen Santoro at Harkness House ballet
school in New York on New Year's Eve, which received coverage in Rolling Stone.
Bruce was best man, Percy Sledge sang "When a Man Loves a Woman" as they walked
down the aisle, and the wedding band from The Godfather performed at the
reception.



Another month-long series of North American shows followed in the first months
of 1983, including two at El Mocambo in Toronto, one-nighters at Park West in
Chicago and the Old Waldorf in San Francisco, and another couple at the Savoy in
New York. It was followed by a month in Europe, where gigs in Belgium, The
Netherlands (a memorable live broadcast from Utrecht) Switzerland, France,
Germany and Sweden preceded an eight-date UK tour, which included shows at
Birmingham Odeon, Manchester Hacienda and London's Hammersmith Palais.

A typical set list from this period included most of Men Without Women (though
rarely "I've Been Waiting"), B-side "Caravan," four songs that Steven wrote for
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes ("I Played The Fool," "I Don't Want to Go
Home," "This Time It's for Real," and "Take It Inside"), and two covers (Aretha
Franklin's "Respect" and Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get a Witness"). Sam and Dave's
"Broke Down Piece of Man" occasionally got an airing, and the European shows
opened with the recently recorded, then-unreleased "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel."



The European tour ended with a concert in Cannes, France, in mid-May, where the
Men Without Women movie was premiered at the annual film festival. The next
month, it ran for one week at the Fox Theatre in Venice, California. Despite
being scheduled for release on videocassette (and assigned a catalogue number),
it promptly disappeared without trace. After viewing a rediscovered master copy
recently, Little Steven was "surprised we'd done as much as we had. It requires
a bit of filling in the blanks, but it kind of makes sense."



Little Steven and the band played three more dates on the West Coast, concluding
with a 9:30am slot at the US Festival in San Bernadino at the end of the month.
It was the last Disciples of Soul show with a horn section for more than three
decades and marked the end of the short-lived Men Without Women era.



Steven then abandoned his horn-driven, rock-meets-soul hybrid, adopted a
contemporary 1980s rock sound, and became a political activist, literally and
lyrically. Alternating twin careers ultimately proved unworkable, and his
departure from E Street (and later EMI-America) was announced in 1984. He made
more records on other labels and toured with new Disciples line-ups, but his
solo career was apparently finished by the end of the decade.

Originally only available on vinyl and cassette, Men Without Women eventually
appeared on CD. EMI also inexplicably released a truncated LP and cassette
version in the mid-'80s (omitting "Inside of Me" and "Princess of Little Italy")
before deleting it from their catalogue.

The album resurfaced in the '90s on Razor & Tie and Connoisseur (with additional
liner notes by Michael Heatley). In 2005, BGO Records issued a remastered CD
version as a twin-pack with Steven's second solo album, Voice of America, with
the original cover artwork and inserts intact (which was not always the case
with previous re-releases) and an extensive historical essay by John Tobler.
Between these occasional resurrections, it spent a lot of time out of print,
particularly on vinyl.

In 2008, Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes celebrated the 30th anniversary
of Hearts of Stone by performing the album in its entirety three times, in
Asbury Park, London and Amsterdam. The following year they released Hearts of
Stone Live, with additional live versions of "Forever" and "Until the Good Is
Gone." In the liner notes, Southside explained that they were "cut for Hearts
but never released." Other sources have suggested that "Inside of Me" also dates
from this period, but no hard evidence has emerged to prove this. Stan Harrison
distinctly remembers "recording 'Forever' on the Disciples record. It was not
part of any Hearts of Stone sessions I was on."

In 2011, Southside and the band played the Men Without Women album in its
entirety at the Stone Pony and subsequently released Men Without Women Live
7-2-11 Asbury Park, NJ, with three bonus tracks featuring special guest Little
Steven. To this day, they continue to play "Forever" and "Angel Eyes" in their
shows. The Jukes effectively kept Steven's early material alive over several
decades, when many had assumed that he was unlikely to play them with his own
band again. But what goes around comes around.

Surprising everyone including himself, Steven reactivated his solo career in
2016, revived his original sonic blueprint, spent the next three years touring
the globe with a 14-piece Disciples of Soul (with original horn players Eddie
Manion and Stan Harrison), and released two studio albums and three live
packages. The live sets included songs from Men Without Women, the first time
the majority of audiences had heard them performed live.



Steven re-released Men Without Women in 2019 as part of Rock 'n' Roll Rebel: The
Early Work, a box set on Wicked Cool/UMe, which contained vinyl formats of his
first six solo albums and four CDs of rare and previously unreleased material.
An all-CD version followed in 2020. The albums were also made available
individually on vinyl and CD, and as digital downloads (which included selected
rarities from the box as bonus tracks, with the remainder appearing on separate
EPs). The Men Without Women download came with an additional 10 tracks, and the
CD format was accompanied by a DVD of the Rockpalast German TV performance.



The 1982-83 Men Without Women era was well represented on the rarities discs,
with alternative versions of songs from the album (an early take of "I've Been
Waiting"; live performances of "Angel Eyes," "Forever," and "Until the Good Is
Gone" from Britannia Row Studios in London; "Save Me" from the Peppermint Lounge
show; and a solo piano version of "Inside of Me" from French TV); a radio
commercial; live recordings from the Marquee Club; studio and live versions of
"Caravan"; and the previously unavailable "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel" (which referred
to Steven's then recent ejection from Disneyland for flouting the dress code),
"Time," and "Alive for the First Time." ("The City Weeps Tonight" from Soulfire
was apparently also intended for his debut album but remained unfinished for
decades.)

Back in 1982, Men Without Women failed to achieve the airplay and commercial
success that it deserved, but it remains an undisputed career highlight for Van
Zandt devotees. Its irresistible blend of passionate vocals and rock-meets-soul
arrangements sounds as fresh today as when it was recorded four decades ago.

With hindsight, Little Steven believes that his inner producer failed to curb
the whims of his inner artist, and that using an outside producer for Men
Without Women might have helped him to create a more polished, and thus
commercially palatable, record. Its rough-edged, spontaneous soundscape may have
hindered its acceptance by the media. "I thought the less produced the album
was, the more open and honest, and the more direct my route would be to
discovering my own identity," he explained in retrospect. "Conventional wisdom
is you never should produce yourself. The only exception was Prince, who was an
extraordinary genius. Other than him, I don't know anybody who successfully
produces themselves… If I had to do it over again, I would double some guitars
and add some harmonies. Most of the album is one live rhythm guitar. But it
holds up as an honest representation of where I was at the time."



"This is not a case of a sideman indulging. Anyone who has followed Van Zandt's
work would have been prepared for something worthwhile from him," wrote Holly
Cara Price in Goldmine. "Men Without Women seethes with a wide spectrum of
musical and lyrical images — a desperate apocalyptic vision, the power of rock
and roll, and love songs bitter and truthful. A driving horn section complements
most tracks, with a Motown flavor dominating. This album has both substance and
splendor and you are likely to find yourself needing it over and over again."



NOTES: Little Steven quotes taken from interviews with Debby Miller for Rolling
Stone (1982), Pipeline (1982), Belgian radio (1982), David McGee for The Record
(1983), Mike Davies (1983), my own interview (2017) and Steven's autobiography
Unrequited Infatuations (2021).

Max Weinberg quote taken from an interview in Modern Drummer (1983); Kevin
Kavanaugh and Mike Spengler quotes taken from my own interviews in 2002 and 2021
respectively.

Rock in Peace: Clarence Clemons, Dino Danelli, Danny Federici, Kevin Kavanaugh,
Holly Cara Price, and Mike Spengler
- December 22, 2022 - Mike Saunders reporting




TEACHROCK HOLIDAY RAFFLE FOR "NYC EXTRAVAGANZA"
TeachRock has been holding a series of Golden Ticket raffles, hooking lucky fans
up with tickets while raising funds for Little Steven's education initiative.

The latest and last stop in their Golden Ticket Holiday Series is for NYC, and
the package is a doozy. Not only a pair of premium tickets for Madison Square
Garden, but also a second pair for another area E Street show, plus Jimmy Fallon
tickets and more.

The NYC Holiday Golden Ticket Charity Package includes:

 * Two (2) premium seats or GA/pit tickets to see Bruce Springsteen and The E
   Street Band's April 1, 2023 show at Madison Square Garden
 * Another pair of tickets for you to gift (or keep for yourself) to EITHER the
   Brooklyn show at the Barclays Center, or one of the Belmont shows on Long
   Island.
 * Two (2) tickets to a live taping of a Jimmy Fallon show in 2023
 * A Little Steven Rock N Roll Rebel - The Early Work Exclusive Colored Vinyl
   Box Set. 11 LPs, only 1,000 made! Maybe Stevie will even sign it for you?!

Every $25 donation to TeachRock is a chance to win the package, and you may
enter as many times as you wish until 11:59am ET, Thursday, December 22, 2022.
- December 20, 2022




OFFICIAL CONCERT RECORDINGS RETURN FOR 2023 TOUR
Pre-ordering is open now, with a discount on full-leg bundles
With Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band hitting the road in just a month
and a half , there's good news for your earholes: like the E Street Band tour
for High Hopes in 2014 and the 2016-2017 River Tour, high-quality official
concert recordings will be available after each show on Tour 2023.

As announced on live.springsteen.net, "multi-track audio recordings from every
concert on the upcoming Springsteen & E Street Band tour will be professionally
mixed by Jon Altschiller, and made available promptly after each show!"

Altschiller, who founded 'Chiller Sound two decades ago, has been mixing
Springsteen's ongoing Live Archive releases to general fan acclaim, having taken
over for Toby Scott early in the series. He came on board with Springsteen in
2016, mixing all of the official River Tour recordings for nugs.net.

As usual, each concert recording will be available individually, but completists
may want to get a jump on it now: for the remainder of 2022,
live.springsteen.net is offering "deeply discounted" tour packages for
pre-order, bundling each leg of the tour.

Single shows can also be pre-ordered now, for what we assume will be their
standard prices of $14.99 on mp3, $18.99 FLAC/ALAC, and $26.99 on CD, with
additional HD formats also available.

The discounts kick in when you buy in bulk:



The 31-show U.S. Tour Package can be pre-ordered for $299.99 on mp3 (versus
$464.69 if purchased indiviudally), $374.99 FLAC/ALAC (versus $588.69), and
$599.99 on CD (versus $836.69).

The 31-show Europe Tour Package is available for pre-order at the same
price-points. Discounts end on January 1, 2023.
- December 16, 2022




Demolition 23 in 1994, with Michael Monroe (third from left)

THE SCUM LIVES ON, THANKS TO WICKED COOL RECORDS
Stevie's label reissues his '94 project with Michael Monroe, Demolition 23
This fall, Wicked Cool Records reissued an undersung project from label head
Little Steven's record-making career: the self-titled album from Demolition 23.
Steven Van Zandt produced the 1994 album, which features two former members of
legendary Finnish rock 'n' rollers Hanoi Rocks, and he co-wrote a number of
songs for it as well.

Demolition 23, now available on CD and blue smoke vinyl as well as digitally,
was originally released nearly 30 years ago, but it wasn't available in the
States at that time except as a hard-to-find import. Featuring ex-Hanoi Rocks
members Michael Monroe (lead vocals) and Sami Yaffa (bass) along with Jimmy
Clark on drums and the late Jay Hening (previously of Star Star) on guitar, the
album contains songs co-written by Van Zandt and Monroe, as well as a Monroe
co-write with Stiv Bators (Dead Boys, Lords of the New Church) and some iconic
punk and proto-punk covers of Johnny Thunders, the UK Subs, and the Dead Boys.

Little Steven's relationship with Michael Monroe goes back to the early days of
Monroe's post-Hanoi Rocks career. The two met in 1985, when Steven came over to
London to produce the latest single by punk supergroup Lords of the New Church.
The A-Side, "The Lord's Prayer" (written by TV Smith of legendary British punk
group the Adverts) was matched with a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover for the
B-side. At the time, Monroe had moved in with Lords lead singer and ex-Dead Boy
Stiv Bators, and being a fan of Steven's Voice of America LP, he was excited to
meet the erstwhile E Street Band member. Bators brought Steven back to the
apartment, played him a Hanoi Rocks track, and a mutual admiration society was
born.



The meeting led in 1985 to both Monroe and Stiv Bators being asked by Steven to
come over to New York to appear on the "Sun City" track and video for his
Artists United Against Apartheid project. Steven went on to play 12-string
guitar on some demos Monroe was working on in 1987, and he penned the track
"While You Were Lookin' at Me" that appeared on Monroe's second solo album,
1989's Not Fakin' It. Steven also co-wrote "Dead, Jail or Rock 'N' Roll" and
"Smoke Screen" with Monroe and fellow former Hanoi Rocks member Nasty Suicide
for that same album.

In a new interview with Backstreets, Monroe suggests that his punk/glam roots
rubbed off on Little Steven. The singer says that he gave Steven a copy of the
Sex Pistols film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle as a present, and that he took
Steven to his first Iggy Pop concert.

"Hanoi started out on the streets — the punk edge was always there," says
Monroe. "We had that vibe, us against the world. The punky edge has always been
part of rock 'n' roll. Shaking up the establishment, being for real."

It made sense, then, when a few years later Michael Monroe and Little Steven
embarked upon the project that became Demolition 23, a name suggested by bassist
Sami Yaffa and taken from the William S. Burroughs book, Exterminator.

Monroe tells Backstreets that he had wanted Steven to be his producer when he
was recording as a solo artist for Polydor, but that for various reasons the
label wouldn't allow it. Parting ways with Polydor opened the door for the
Michael Monroe/Little Steven recording collaboration.

Monroe had a great band together and says that it was a given that he and Steven
were on the same page musically: "Little Steven and I had been writing the songs
with very much a kind of authentic, punky rock 'n' roll attitude," Monroe says,
and that attitude certainly shines through on the tunes they co-wrote for
Demolition 23 — six of the album's ten tracks, including "Nothin's Alright"
[below].



Steven himself calls Demolition 23 "one of my favorite records," and he
described the project in his Unrequited Infatuations memoir: "We missed the
classic punk bands, so we assembled one with Sami Yaffa, an amazing twenty-year
old guitarist named Jay Hening, and a really great drummer named Jimmy Clark."

The "classic punk" sound is there in spades. The album's hooky choruses are
reminiscent of the best of the '77 punk era and the rockier side of its
immediate aftermath, like The Professionals (the post-Sex Pistols Paul Cook and
Steve Jones outlet) or the early-'80s version of the Damned. The crunchy,
souped-up Chuck Berry style of early punk guitar favored by the likes of Jones
and Hanoi Rocks influence Johnny Thunders fills the album. As Monroe recalled in
our conversation, "Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, the LAMF album even
more so than the [New York] Dolls, was influential on Hanoi."

The song titles say it all: "Deadtime Stories," "You Crucified Me," and this
writer's personal favorite, "The Scum Lives On," sound like punk classics from
the titles alone, before you've heard a note of the music. The track list also
contains an ode to a classic London venue that no longer stands (also
immortalized in song by the Clash), "Hammersmith Palais."

The Wicked Cool reissue contains three previously unreleased demos recorded at
Baby Mosher studios before the album sessions commenced.

Demolition 23 clearly still holds a spot in Monroe's heart — a reunion of sorts
was held at the singer's recent 60th birthday party show in Helsinki — and the
singer had nothing but good things to say about Van Zandt and his role in
creating the record. "The comfort of having the production in the good hands of
Little Steven allowed me to relax and enjoy doing my thing," Monroe says.
"Steven brought out the best in everybody, and we didn't waste any time."We
would expect no less!

Demolition 23 is available digitally and physically via these outlets.

- December 15, 2022 - John Howie Jr. reporting




"DO I LOVE YOU" SINGLE? JAWOHL!
Attention vinyl collectors: an exclusive seven-inch spawned from Only the Strong
Survive will be included as a bonus with the January 2023 issue of the German
Rolling Stone. Lead track "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" is the A-side, with
"Nightshift" on the flip, in a picture sleeve. You can pre-order direct now for
the magazine + record, which will begin shipping on December 22.
- December 14, 2022




HOW CAN I KEEP FROM DANCING?
NYE in NYC with The BIG Band at Tribeca Grill
Once again this year, many players from the Sessions Band are reuniting to play
New Years Eve as The BIG Band, ringing in 2023 in New York, NY.

The combo features bandleader Sam Bardfeld plus Lisa Lowell, Cindy Mizelle,
Jeremy Chatzky and Larry Eagle from Bruce Springsteen's 2006 touring band, along
with Gene Casey, Arno Hecht, Larry Etkin (filling in for Mark Pender), and Andy
Burton from the Disciples of Soul. As past years have shown, The BIG Band makes
for a rockin' New Years Eve.

The dinner-and-dancing event has become a new annual tradition at Tribeca Grill,
including a four-course meal in addition to the night's entertainment.

 * NYE at Tribeca Grill, Saturday, December 31, begining at 9pm
 * Reservations taken from 9-10:30pm, grants a table for the whole evening
 *  $175 per guest (excludes beverages, tax and gratuity)
 * Children under 12, half-price (3 course menu)

Backstreets readers get a $20 discount: $155 instead of $175 per person. Just
use the promo code BACKSTREETS when you book your reservation here!
- December 14, 2022





HOLIDAY REMINDERS FROM BACKSTREET RECORDS
Tuesday is last call for standard U.S. shipping to arrive by Christmas!
We've been packing and shipping like fiends to get all this Boss stuff in the
hands of fans in time for the holidays... this year our "standard shipping"
ordering deadline for the holidays is Tuesday, December 13, to shop with
Backstreet Records and have guaranteed delivery to U.S. addresses before
Christmas.

After Tuesday, you can still select Expedited for deliveries anywhere in the
States, but ordering now will definitely save you on shipping!

International customers — we truly value your support, and we'll do our best to
get your stuff to you as quickly as possible... it's just difficult to guarantee
delivery time with international shipping.

Latest addition: the vinyl edition of Live in Cleveland '77 by Southside Johnny
and the Asbury Jukes, officially released by Cleveland International Records.

The killer live set from the Agora featuring Stevie Van Zandt on lead guitar (he
wrote liner notes for this release too) and Ronnie Spector guesting was released
on compact disc earlier this year, with this 2LP set out just in time for the
holidays.



All copies of Only the Strong Survive from Backstreet Records include our
exclusive supplement, The Backstreets Liner Notes: a bonus 16-page CD booklet
giving you history of the 15 songs on the album. Ships FREE with every format of
OTSS: black vinyl, limited orange vinyl, or compact disc.



See these and more of our Latest Addtions here!





If you missed our signed copies of Unrequited Infatuations, with Stevie Van
Zandt signing custom bookplates just for us, we have a limited number of these
hardcovers available again from his original (and only!) signing session as
Miami Steve.

You can also shop by category, for hundreds of items in stock:

 * Boss Shirts
 * Signed Items
 * CDs - Springsteen
 * CDs - Covers/Tributes
 * CDs - Other Artists
 * Vinyl - Springsteen
 * Vinyl - Springsteen 7"
 * Vinyl - Springsteen 10"/12"
 * Vinyl - Southside Johnny
 * Vinyl - Little Steven
 * Vinyl - Clarence Clemons
 * Vinyl - Nils Lofgren
 * Vinyl - Other Artists
 * DVD/Blu-ray
 * Posters & Prints
 * Paper Goods
 * Calendars
 * Books
 * Songbooks / Sheet Music
 * Promo / Other
 * Magazines
 * Backstreets Back Issues
 * Backstreets Merch

Thanks for supporting Backstreets and shopping with us!
- December 12, 2022



PHOTOGRAPHS & MEMORIES
Just a reminder to tune in to our Instagram for a bevy of vintage Bruce/E Street
Band images, with photographer Jim Shive's takeover wrapping up soon!



If you're interested in a print from the Shive Archive (where the Backstreets
discount code DRIVEALLNIGHT saves you 10 percent), his holiday shipping deadline
is coming right up, too — as with Backstreet Records, the last day to order from
shivearchive.com for guaranteed U.S. delivery pre-Christmas is Monday, December
12.
- December 9, 2022




LIGHT OF DAY WINTERFEST 2023 ANNOUNCED
Tickets are on sale now for Light of Day's annual music festival, WinterFest
2023. For "The Main Event," Bob's Birthday Bash on January 14, John Waite joins
a lineup of LOD regulars Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers, Willie Nile, Jeffrey
Gaines, Joe D’Urso, Jesse Malin, Danny Clinch's Tangiers Blues Band, and
more. The big Saturday night show will be held in Red Bank for the second time,
at Count Basie Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre.

Grushecky, Nile, and the Tangiers Blues Band will also play the annual Asbury
Angels Induction the night before, January 13 at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park.

Many more events are scheduled for WinterFest, January 7-20 in Asbury Park, Red
Bank, Montclair, New York City and Philadelphia — for more details on lineups,
performances ticket packages, and shows with Free Admission, visit the Light of
Day events page.

All performances and events will raise money and awareness for its continuing
battle to defeat Parkinson’s disease and its related illnesses ALS (Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis) and PSP (Progressive Supranuclear Palsy) within our lifetime.
- December 9, 2022




ROCKIN' ALL OVER THE WORLD CAFE, DECEMBER 9
This afternoon on World Cafe, Bruce Springsteen makes his first guest appearance
on the long-running radio program, produced by WXPN in Philadelphia for NPR.

Beginning in 1991, World Cafe was hosted for more than 25 years by David Dye, an
early Springsteen booster; Bruce namechecks Dye in Born to Run as a crucial
supporter at Philly's WMMR. While Dye stepped down from World Cafe in 2017,
we're still thrilled that "his" show landed The Boss.

Host since 2019 (and only the third in the show's history) Raina Douris conducts
the interview, which centers on Only the Strong Survive with Bruce "speaking as
a fan, talking about why he wanted to honor these artists."

Tune in on your local station, or stream it at 2:00 ET this afternoon (Friday,
12/9) on xpn.org. You'll also be able to stream the archive of the complete
session, available npr.org and on the show's podcast. 
- December 9, 2022











GREETINGS TURNS 50 —  SYMPOSIUM TICKETS AVAILABLE
Believe it or not, the 50th anniversary of Bruce Springsteen's debut album is
just around the corner — next month! Springsteen released his first two albums
in 1973: Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. in January, and The Wild, the Innocent
& the E Street Shuffle that fall.

To celebrate the half-century mark for Greetings, The Bruce Springsteen Archives
and Center for American Music at Monmouth University is presenting a special
day-long symposium on campus in West Long Branch, NJ, on Saturday, January 7,
2023.

After the event proved extremely popular, inital tickets selling out
immediately, the Archives have moved the symposium to a larger venue — Monmouth
University's Pollak Theatre — and have made more tickets available.

Click here to purchase tickets.

The 50th Anniversary: Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. symposium will include
panel discussions, interviews, a book signing, and a special performance of
the songs on the album by Jersey Shore musicians.

Among the guests participating in the symposium will be original E Street Band
members Garry Tallent, David Sancious, and Vini Lopez, along with former
Springsteen manager Mike Appel.

"This event kicks off a series of 50th anniversary events that will bring
attention to Springsteen's earliest accomplishments in the recording studio and
contextualize the historical importance of each," said Eileen Chapman, Director
of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. "This symposium
is the first of many coming down the road."

Topics such as Springsteen's early '70s songwriting style; the Jersey Shore
music scene in 1972, the year Greetings was recorded; recollections of those E
Street Band members that played on the album; and the premiere of a
mini-documentary on the making of Greetings that includes an exclusive interview
with Bruce Springsteen will round out the day’s activities.

Photographer Nicki Germaine will debut her book, Springsteen: Liberty Hall, from
his 1974 concert in Houston, TX.

The symposium will be held in the Pollak Theatre, beginning at 9am on January 7.
Registration is required. The cost for attending the symposium, which includes
lunch, is $50. Free parking is available in Parking Lots 13, 14, 16, and 25. For
further information, please visit springsteenarchives.org.
- December 6, 2022




C'MON (BACK), STEVIE!
Until now, E Street Radio's Legendary E Street Band has been devoting no more
than a single episode per individual band member (beyond Bruce Springsteen
himself). It's fitting that the first band member to get a second episode
devoted solely to him should be the one who's worn so many hats/bandanas and
gone by so many different names on and off E Street: the one and only Stevie Van
Zandt.

This new episode utilizes the show's usual mix of insightful commentary and
entertaining musical examples to focus on Van Zandt's strength as a horn
arranger as well as the important singing role that Stevie took within the E
Street Band as its "second voice." His vocal-harmony (frequently near-duet) role
is one that host Greg Drew believes is underrated, if not misunderstood
altogether, in terms of its impact — as important as Pete Townshend's and Keith
Richards' second-voice contributions to much of the classic work of The Who and
The Rolling Stones.

There's also an extensive dive into the studio and live recordings of Little
Steven and the Disciples of Soul, and the show concludes with a double-shot of
one of Van Zandt's most offbeat recordings followed by one of his greatest
songwriting/production triumphs, just in time for the holiday season.
Legendary E Street Band's "Stevie Van Zandt, Vol. 2" edition debuts this
afternoon, exclusively on E Street Radio (SiriusXM channel 20) with its airplay
scheduled as follows (all times ET):

 * Monday, December 5 - 3pm and 6pm
 * Wednesday, December 7 – 10am
 * Thursday, December 8 - 6 pm
 * Saturday, December 10 - 4pm

SiriusXM subscribers also can listen on-demand/online via the SiriusXM app.

- December 5, 2022 - Shawn Poole reporting - still from "Camouflage of
Righteousness" (Live at the Beacon Theatre)




GOOD ROCKIN' IN NASHVILLE, WITH THAT "GOD-BLESSED GUITAR!"
Fighting the law, walking the line, and traveling to shows with 8/21/08 in the
Archive series
On more than one occasion in recent discussions of the 2023 Tour, I've seen fans
who catch multiple shows described as "entitled." The first time, it made me
laugh out loud. Attending concerts and talking about them (and listening back
later) are the activities that inspired Backstreets at its founding and remain
the basis of what we've written about for more than 42 years. Granted, there are
fans for whom one has been enough in the past, but I can't say I understood that
— once you've had the heart-stopping, earth-quaking experience of a Springsteen
show, why wouldn't you pursue more?

For decades, multiple shows in an area, affordable tickets, and affordable
travel (whether gas or airfare) made it well within reach for us to hit numerous
nights on a given tour. Fans flying overseas is what helped build this
international community of ours. Though bands like U2 and Pearl Jam have diehard
fans, too, I can't think of another artist outside of the jam band genre whose
tours inspired so much migration.

Personally, I was never able to physically follow a Springsteen tour for very
long — for a lot of us, family, work, time, and money tend to get in the way of
that — but I always enjoyed picking my spots. There have been few pleasures in
life as inspiring as looking ahead at a tour itinerary and planning, figuring,
wondering… where should I go? Where will the magic really happen?

Of course, magic happened every night. Like many of us, I traveled to the
corners of the U.S. and across the oceans in successful pursuit of it. There
aren't many trips people take where they're guaranteed a good time (the only
trip I even came close to regretting was Kansas City '09, when the concert was
outright canceled; still, we had a great steakhouse dinner). But what, looking
back, will be the legendary nights? When placing my bets on the table, I'd
include trips to the middle of the country, where sparks often fly.

In 2005, I missed the high-water stretch of Devils & Dust shows in the midwest,
in late July and early August (Columbus and Grand Rapids are now in the Live
Archive series; I wouldn't complain if Cincinnati,  Milwaukee, and St. Louis '05
joined them). But I'm still thrilled to recall that, three years later, I got
lucky and nailed it with a Magic trip that took me to Nashville and St. Louis in
succession.

Coming near the tail end of the 2007-2008 tour, the truly, yes, legendary St.
Louis '08 stop is already a Live Archive release. Today, that one is joined by
its immediate predecessor, Nashville, August 21, 2008.

As happy as I recall being that night at the Sommet Center, from the unusual
"Out in the Street" opener on, it was still more than 14 years ago; rather than
trying to pull up some hazy memories, let's revisit the Backstreets report I
wrote that very night from my hotel room in Music City, with "Good Rockin'
Tonight" and "I Fought the Law" probably still ringing in my ears.

August 21
Nashville, TN
Sommet Center
Notes: Nashville was all about going the extra mile. Why just do "She's the One"
when you can add the "Mona" intro? ("Mona"/"She's the One" was last performed on
September 10, 1981, and even that was its only performance on the River tour.)
Why just do "I'm on Fire" when you can lead into it with a bit of "I Walk the
Line"? (With the Sommet Center right next door to the Country Music Hall of
Fame, Springsteen paid tribute to Johnny Cash with an impromptu verse of the Man
in Black's trademark tune. With Bruce on vocals and Nils on guitar, the only
possible complaint about this magical moment was that it was too short.) Why
just do "Growin' Up" when you can include one of those long-loved and
much-missed stories in the traditional spot? (Bruce was obliging a sign that
read, "Play Growin' Up... and tell us a story about that God Damn Guitar!") Joe
Strummer's birthday? Let's do "I Fought the Law."

It's those kinds of moments that have long elevated Springsteen's performances
to greatness, and Nashville was full of them. Between the signs and the
approaching end of the tour, spontaneity has become the rule. "I'm gonna test
the band," Bruce told the crowd as the request portion began, showing everyone
the sign for a Tennessee special, "Good Rockin' Tonight." "We played this at the
Capitol Theatre in 1978," he recalled, quickly going over the song with the band
as Max vamped (now with an "I [heart] Max" sign propped against his kit, which
remained for the duration of the show). That wasn't quite enough -- "Short
conference?" Bruce laughed before convening the band for a refresher huddle.
"Elephants never forget!" he hollered before finally launching in: "Well have
you heard the news?" And it was good rockin', with Roy and Bruce each taking
fine solos. And again at the end: "Elephants never forget!"



A great sign set continued with "Growin' Up," that story starting off with the
classic, "Well there I was...." He went on to set the scene of getting his first
guitar, standing in front of the shop window with his mom: "It was Christmas
Eve, nineteen... sixty... four?" And as "that God Damn Guitar" became "that God
Blessed Guitar," they kicked back into the song with Bruce proclaiming, "This is
for you, Pop!"

The next sign request was "I'm Goin' Down": "This is a song that almost didn't
make the Born in the U.S.A. record; it was this or 'Pink Cadillac.'... We've
played this a few times, it's good for a laugh, and probably one of my most
insightful songs about men and women," Bruce said with a chuckle. Next: "The
price of gas is going up, up, up, up, up... Did you ever feel like you were held
up without a gun?" And the River outtakes continued with "Loose Ends" — just a
stunning run.



In the encore, a sign for "Boys in Their Summer Clothes" gave us "Girls" to
replace the setlisted "Tenth Avenue." The sign's photo of a young Bruce playing
ball in cutoff shorts prompted him to assure the crowd, "I know it's a little
strange, but that's actually how men wore their shorts! I promise you!"

After a thrilling "I Fought the Law" ("Happy Birthday, Joe!"), Bruce brought out
a guest for "Rosalita." And after all the speculation about who might guest in
Nashville, who'da thunk it would be a guy from Philly? "Dave Bielanko from the
great band Marah... check out their record!"

Follwing "American Land" with the now-standard one more, though Sam Cooke's
"Good Times" was on the setlist(!), Bruce sent the "incredible crowd" home with
"Dancing in the Dark." The third Born in the U.S.A. song of the night, it might
have disappointed some hardcores who hoped for something more obscure, but it
felt like just the right energy level. For a show that seemed to be one of the
most undersold of the leg, the Nashville crowd was into it and ready to hop.
"You've been a fantastic crowd," Bruce said, "We come through the South and we
get some of the best crowds we've had in the United States."
- December 2, 2022 - Christopher Phillips reporting - photographs by Joseph
Quever




CONTACTS MADE: SCHNEIER'S NEW "FOR YOU" PRINT
You know the image, now you can see what surrounded it. This new print titled
"Everything…For You," available now in a special holiday offering, is akin to a
visual origin story of one of the most recognized images of Bruce Springsteen,
Barry Schneier's "For You."

As Jon Landau wrote in his review of that night's "For You" performance,
Springsteen "sang it with just piano accompaniment and a voice that rang out to
the very last row of the Harvard Square Theatre." Fans have often wanted to know
more about the moment Barry captured this iconic photo of Bruce at the piano in
Cambridge in 1974, as seen in Bruce Springsteen: Rock and Roll Future. With this
new print you can see this moment in music lore come into being.



It's the complete contact sheet from that moment, beautifully enlarged to a 12"
x 18" silver print in an 18" x 24" custom museum matte. Available framed or
unframed, either way it's a gift that will surprise and delight any Springsteen
fan on earth.

Unless, of course, it's… "for you."

Order direct here: barryschneierphotography.com/order-prints and enter
"Backstreets" in the SOURCE box at checkout, so he knows we sent you there.

Place your order with Barry Schneier Photography by December 4 to guarantee
Christmas delivery; orders placed by December 11 will be shipped before the
holiday. 
- December 1, 2022



Page 1 of the Only the Strong Survive Info Sheet from Sony Sweden

ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE REVIEW ROUNDUP
To understate it, Bruce Springsteen didn't sweat over Only the Strong Survive
the way he did over albums in the '70s and '80s. The idea of creating and
releasing an album for the fun of it, which is the sense Bruce gives in his
recent interviews, and handing over production and arrangement duties to his
producer to focus purely on singing, would have been unfathomable back then; at
this stage in his career, wowing critics is surely a lower priority.
Professional music reviewers — generally serious about their fun — have their
say regardless. Surveying reviews of Springsteen's 21st album reminds us how
subjective the exercise is: Only the Strong Survive garnered wide-ranging
reviews from "a superb delight" to "pointless" [to "antiseptic," in the
Backstreets Review]. Here, we boil down the more prominent takes from both sides
of the Atlantic — a baker's dozen from the U.S., and ten more from the
U.K./Ireland. These Reader's Digest-style condensations will give you the gist
but not the critic's full view, of course — to read complete reviews, follow
each link.

"Bruce Springsteen Turns Soul Oldies Into Living History"
A shame that, apart from a few longtime horn players and a brief Sam Moore
cameo, none of the soul-steeped musicians from Springsteen's past are to be
found on his R&B love letter. Occasionally thin arrangements recall the
forgotten latterday LPs where soul greats released sterile re-recordings of
their greatest hits. But even if the arrangements occasionally feel static in
their mimicry, Springsteen's voice shines and sparkles. There's the moment
halfway through "Don't Play That Song" when [he] strays off script. "I remember
those summer nights down by the shore," he ad-libs before the chorus. It's part
James Brown showmanship, part boardwalk reverie, and part camp. And if it sounds
like something he might have done with one of his own songs way back when,
that's his point. He's finding a different way to fold his story into American
music's living history.
— Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone

"Springsteen's Voice a Revelation on Covers Album"
Time isn't always on the side of a rock singer, but in Bruce Springsteen's case,
older is better. The Boss delivers, and it's a revelation. Springsteen's voice
here is crushed velvet powered by a heartache override. On "I Forgot to Be Your
Lover," Springsteen soars on the sorrowful ballad with sustained notes and a
broken-hearted stance that chills the bones. New artistic ground is not broken
on Only the Strong Survive, but its 15 songs celebrate the joy of music, soul,
and performance.
— Chris Jordan, Asbury Park Press

"Only the Strong Survive Isn't Strong Enough to Be the Soul Covers Record Fans
Hoped For"
Springsteen's sessions with his decade-long co-producer got bogged down in an
overly rich arrangement of strings and horns, sounding so much tamer than the
tortured, joyful, loving, hating, sweaty soul you'd expect from a man who once
played it like a wanton preacher wailing for salvation. Instead of heating up
and boiling over, Only the Strong Survive is often coolly reserved and
occasionally dispassionate. If too many tracks fall victim to tepid tones and
overly silken arrangements, maybe lay part of the blame on co-producer Ron
Aniello, who has been blunting Bruce's trusty, crusty vocals and tamping down
his band's buoyant brand of stadium rock and rough R&B since Wrecking Ball.
Ultimately, it could have been more lived-in and mightier, something genuinely
strong, built from muscle memory. But in R&B years, he's still young. Maybe next
time.
— A. D. Amorosi, Variety

"A Joyous Celebration of Timeless Soul Classics"
The older an artist gets, the more comfortable they get with themselves and care
less what the world thinks. That feels like the case on Bruce Springsteen's
absolutely joyous new collection of soul/R&B covers, a superb delight, with
top-notch musicianship and production. What makes Only the Strong Survive such
an effective collection is the diversity of the songs Springsteen selects. The
most important trait for any great covers project is that you feel the artist's
love for the songs, and all 15 ring out with Springsteen's enthusiastic passion.
— Steve Baltin, Forbes

"Springsteen Wants to Change the Topic with Only the Strong Survive"
Last summer, when tickets for the 2023 Springsteen/E Street Band tour went on
sale, Springsteen fans who have been loyal to the Boss for decades found
themselves plunged into a crisis of faith. I don't know a single hard-core
Springsteen fan — and with a personal history going back to a couple of South
Philly Spectrum shows in 1980, I count myself among them — who didn't find their
Boss belief shaken. Landau and Springsteen have skillfully maintained a
cares-about-the-little-guy artist brand since the 1970s. One on-sale concert
tour has transformed Springsteen's image from a guy who tries to make it
affordable for his fans to somebody who's out to make a killing. All that is
context for the release of Only the Strong Survive.
— Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Springsteen's Stroll Through Soul Classics Will Make You Happy"
If Springsteen can play so many kinds of music, then why choose a covers album
as the solo follow-up to Letter to You? Because it makes him happy. And any
eye-rolling aside, it will make you happy too. The man has given us multitudes
of his own reflective lyrics and robust anthems. He loves these classic songs
and wants his fans to experience that same joy.
— Melissa Ruggieri, USA Today


Page 2 of the Only the Strong Survive Info Sheet from Sony Sweden

"Faithful Tributes, Minimal Cringe"
The freewheeling vibrancy and admiration of other artists' work is what fuels
Springsteen's 21st LP. He's shrewdly chosen tunes whose stylings would cater to
his own voice's patented serration (and draw less comparisons, a losing game).
This is a new challenge for Bruce, tackling songs from the vocals on down. At
73, Springsteen is daring to prove once and for all that he's an adequate
singer. Only the Strong Survive succeeds in technicality, texture, and
unwavering timbre. My gut reaction to hearing of this album's existence was a
bit of cringe. But his renditions may spur some to seek out the original
versions and educate themselves. I count myself in that bunch."
— Bobby Olivier, NJ.com

"Bruce Springsteen's Misguided Homage"
The arrangements pay tribute to the original recordings with dutiful precision,
and the overdubbed one-man-band scheme of the project gives the whole thing a
hermetic, tightly programmed feeling that suggests none of the fluidity, free
emotionality, spontaneity, and kinetic energy of soul music. There remains
something off-putting and simply off in this high-profile presentation of a
successful white man singing black music, even in ardent homage. It's not
pointedly wrong. It's just pointless, because it adds nothing to our
understanding or appreciation of the music, or its singer. To fault Bruce
Springsteen for loving soul music would be a slight to the music. He has every
right to sing it. There's just not much to be gained by listening.
— David Hajdu, The Atlantic

Only the Strong Survive Pitchfork Review
Before you rush to judgement about another classic rocker taking the Rod Stewart
route, it's important to remember that covers have always meant something
different for Springsteen. He has a way of not only telling us his favorite
songs, but also showing us how those songs make him feel. It will be obvious
what draws him to this material. The arrangements share his penchant for grand
catharsis and minor-to-major uplift, blues in the verse and gospel in the
chorus. In the lyrics, there are Chevrolets, summer nights and lost love. The
connections are so evident that he barely has to adjust them to put his own
stamp on the music — and so he doesn't. Springsteen has never sounded quite so
light-hearted, so unburdened, on record. (7 out of 10)
— Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork

Only the Strong Survive AllMusic Review
The basic tracks are all studio creations of Ron Aniello, who expertly
re-creates the sounds of Motown, Philadelphia International, Stax, and Chicago's
uptown soul. His mastery in crafting the tracks inadvertently illustrates the
distance between the originals and the covers; those oldies crackled with the
magic created by a bunch of musicians in a small room but these digital wonders
feel studied and airless, even if they do sound good. It's enjoyable enough that
it takes a minute to realize that Springsteen and Aniello aren't exactly
re-interpreting these 15 songs: they're merely playing them for a lark. That's
enough for a good time, but once Only the Strong Survive fades out, there's not
much that lingers behind in the memory.
— Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

"Leafing Through the Soul Songbook"
Much about this set is puzzling. Given the lack of imagination with the
production — all songs have a similar palette, from thumping drums to charged
backing vocals to the orchestrations, and are taken at a uniformly peppy tempo —
this album lives or dies on Mr. Springsteen's vocal performances. And these
performances are often quite good, especially in the record's first half. But a
few songs don't quite land…. By the LP's final third, the album wears out its
welcome. Only the Strong Survive mostly succeeds by its own narrow terms—it
highlights some overlooked songs from years gone by, and it affords Mr.
Springsteen an opportunity to try his hand at soul singing. But it also feels
like a missed opportunity.
— Mark Richardson, Wall Street Journal

"Bruce Springsteen Delves Into Soul"
It's easy to be skeptical: Here comes the rock 'n' roll avatar of the working
class, wrapping himself in nostalgia for his glory days. Yet the 15 songs on
Only the Strong Survive are akin to getting a glimpse inside Springsteen's
process. In many cases, these sound like songs he studied, took apart and
examined closely to see what made them work. There are echoes of many of them in
his own music, which often contains a soul-like fervor that he has always
delivered with the conviction of a true believer. Maybe that's why he totally
owns the songs. This is no mawkish tribute album, nor some milquetoast paean to
the past. Springsteen sings here with self-assured power. Freed of the weight
of, well, being Bruce Springsteen, he can just let loose. (7.8 out of 10)
— Eric R. Danton, Paste Magazine

"Only the Strong Survive: Play It, Steve"
Springsteen's new album should have been incredible. He has the chops, he has
the knowledge and the genuine emotion and affection. There are a million ways
this record could have been the coolest fucking thing. It could have also been
an incredibly well executed soul covers record, with great musicians and
performances. Instead this is a record I cannot listen to either as a
Springsteen fan or a soul music fan and historian. Worst of all, it feels
completely inauthentic. Somehow Springsteen thought this overly bright,
dynamically insubstantial, and emotionally unfulfilling selection of soul music
was something that needed to be released and presented as part of his legacy. It
sounds like Bruce is singing over a karaoke backing track because there is no
depth. Everything is colored the same bright and inoffensive hue no matter what.
We will be hearing this in grocery stores and elevators for the rest of our
lives.
— Caryn Rose, Jukebox Graduate

"The Boss Tackles the Soul and R&B Songbook with Restraint, Respect and
Considerable Finesse"
The album is a sustained exercise in interpretation, a test for himself and his
audience, who are invited to enjoy the sound of him stepping outside his own
myth. There are times you wish he'd taken more chances, but that was not his
intention. [It's] hard to carp when he brings off something as triumphantly as
the note-perfect version of Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do),"
singing as if he knows how it felt to be among the dancers at Wigan Casino. (7
out of 10)
— Richard Williams, Uncut

"Soul Asylum"
Named after and opening with Jerry Butler's silken 1968 battle hymn, Only the
Strong Survive is 15 covers, mostly drawn from the Motown, Stax and Atlantic
libraries, but curated with a connoisseur's twist and, in a few instances, a
long reach into the '80s and beyond. He and Aniello adhere to the original
sermons and love letters with rigor. The singer leaves his mark in distinctive
inflections and the pure pilgrim's rapture of a voice that, in wear and range,
has travelled far in its own right. (4 out of 5)
— David Fricke, MOJO

"A Joyful Ode to the Greatest Soul Songs"
Creating a covers album can be a daunting prospect, as people tend to favor the
original over the remake. But Springsteen resurrects these classics as a means
of celebration, pointing to some of the strongest songwriters and vocalists of
all time with 15 huge and heartfelt tributes, as opposed to just churning out
shallow reimaginings. Not only does it shine a light on what inspires one of the
greatest living American songwriters, it also works to preserve the greats of
the past and ensures that the best music and stories continue to survive. (4 out
of 5)
— Erica Campbell, NME

"The Boss Plays It Safe"
Springsteen's new record of old soul covers deals in yearning and hurt. Its true
theme is vulnerability. These are tender moments delivered with the effusive,
upbeat vigor of the soul revue segments of Springsteen's live shows and The
Boss's lived-in, barrel-chested growl, a very feelgood record about feeling bad…
If there is a criticism to be made of this big-hearted wallow, it's that
Springsteen is lovingly loyal to his sepia-tinted sources, rather than more
artistically brave. There is no attempt to update or reinterpret this material.
You don't want to mention karaoke. It would demean the skill and ardor of this
persuasive set. But there could be a wider range of moods here. (3 out of 5)
— Kitty Empire, The Guardian

"Springsteen Bares His Soul and Has the Time of His Life"
It is clear from the opening snare crack of the title track that Springsteen is
enjoying himself, launching into some feisty back-and-forth with a lush squadron
of backing singers. To use one of those automotive analogies he is so fond of,
it's like a vintage racing car has been stripped down and reassembled with 21st
century turbo-charged power. In the driving seat, Springsteen handles this old
beast like he was born to it. He has a gruff, manly voice with a lot of lung
power. He doesn't have the delicate flexibility of the soul singers he admires,
but has charisma and conviction to match anyone who has ever picked up a
microphone, allied to a dynamic grasp of when to ramp up and when to hold back.
He delivers these songs like they mean the world to him. (4 out of 5)
— Neil McCormick, Daily Telegraph



"Good-humoured Performance Toes the Line"
Bruce Springsteen names his covers albums as though they were wrestling matches.
We Shall Overcome sought to reinvigorate source material, but Only the Strong
Survive takes a nostalgic approach. Arrangements are beefed or tidied up but not
reimagined. A rare high note is reached on the Temptations' "I Wish It Would
Rain," which also features him hollering "I'm a man and I've got my pride," with
manly force, a more typical register. He does not try to imprint himself on this
genial set. To really fly, they need more of the wrestler's character and less
of the admirer. (3 out of 5)
— Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, Financial Times

"Soul Food for Hungry Hearts"
Liberated from the pressure of writing and performing his own numbers, the Boss
sounds energized and awash with confidence. He is in his element and pushing his
vocals to new heights. The title track's heartfelt interpretation comes loaded
with enough warmth to defrost a fridge freezer. This album opens a treasure
chest of old-school gold for new audiences. And as "Covers Volume One" hints,
there is more to come.
— Garry Bushell, Daily Express

"Bless his Soul"
These soul standards suit his lion-hearted delivery. In putting the onus on his
voice rather than songwriting, he's clearly having a blast, and the mood is
infectious. The presence on two tracks of soul man Sam Moore adds a note of
authenticity. Springsteen communicates joy rather better than he conveys pain,
but it's impossible to not to be swept away by the overriding sense of fun. That
mood is best captured on his cover of Dobie Gray's "Soul Days," a song from 2001
that contains some quintessential Springsteen vignettes. (4 out of 5)
— Adrian Thrills, Daily Mail

"The Boss in Soulful Mood"
This was a more casual project recorded late at night during lockdown
restrictions. The style is sweeter. Less of a mighty wall of sound than
Springsteen's most familiar work, but his gruff, weathered voice is a fine fit
for soul. The track selection makes it clear that this is material collected
with love rather than an easy shot at a chart topper. Nothing here will be
unwelcome when he returns to Hyde Park for two giant shows next summer. (4 out
of 5)
— David Smyth, London Evening Standard

"Selection of Soul Standards Unlocks Key to Springsteen's Past"
Perhaps after the intensity of the Letter to You sessions, with references to
death and the passing of time, these songs brought back a sense of the innocence
and joy in the 1960s/1970s when the world was a simpler place for working-class
kids with high hopes. Whatever, the Nightshift pulled together 15 shades of
soul, embellishing them with arrangements that borrow heavily in homage to the
lean originals while sparing no expense. And the singing? Powerful as you'd
expect, but his voice has lost nuance through years of playing stadia. Still,
this is a joyful blast. (4 out of 5)
— Joe Breen, Irish Times

- December 1, 2022 - Mike Saunders reporting




October 13, 1976, Kean College, Union, NJ - photograph by Jim Shive

SHIVE ARCHIVE RETURNS WITH IG TAKEOVER AND NEW BOX SET
He's back behind the wheel… With December upon us, photographer and longtime
Backstreets contributor Jim Shive is driving the Backstreets Instagram again,
with more historical Boss images this Holiday season, many unseen, and a special
Backstreets discount, too. 

For the second year running, the Shive Archive is offering a new box set of
prints for Springsteen fans and collectors — and this time they're all in
color. Shot in a time when color rock 'n' roll photography was challenging due
to low light and fast action, some of these photos have never seen the light of
day.

If you like Jim's work, check out the new Box Set Volume 2 he's just put
together this year, making it easier for those who can't decide which single
image to purchase. Last year's box contained ten images; for the very first
time, the Shive Archive is offering the opportunity to purchase 12 original,
color giclee prints collected together as a limited edition in a clamshell box.


November 4, 1976, Palladium, New York, NY - photograph by Jim Shive

Each photograph comes as a full-frame, uncropped 9"x12" image, just as they were
shot 40-or-so years ago. Included in Shive Archive Box Set Volume 2 as Jim tells
it, are "many of my most loved and collected images of Bruce Springsteen and the
E Street Band, and some I haven't offered for sale. Only 50 sets of Volume 2
will be made available." See all 12 images included at the link above.

Plus, there's a special discount for Backstreets readers ordering the box set:
use code DRIVEALLNIGHT to save 10 percent!



And with more 50 images in contention for the new box set, Jim tells us "those
that didn't make the cut are still worth sharing on Instagram." 

View the new box set and more at shivearchive.com, and stay tuned to our
Instagram to see what else Jim has dug up to share.
- December 1, 2022







STOREWIDE SALE! BLACK FRIDAY AND ALL WEEKEND LONG
As folks get serious about holiday shopping this weekend, we're doing something
we haven't done in a few years... offering a sale on everything*. We have
hundreds of Boss items in stock, and from now through Sunday you can take 15%
off your entire order from the Backstreet Records shop!

Use the coupon code THANKS22 at checkout to see the 15% discount applied.

*Just one exception: Only the Strong Survive. That's because Springsteen's new
album already comes with a special bonus from Backstreet Records, an exclusive
16-page booklet FREE when you order Only the Strong Survive from us.



Remembering the liner notes booklet we printed for Tracks (long out of print,
but a PDF is here) we were inspired to make another insert, thinking that some
background on these 15 soul songs would make a perfect supplement for the new
covers collection.

So we created a CD booklet that goes track-by-track, providing history and
details about Bruce's selections and their original creators. Sized 4.75" square
(standard CD insert size), our liner notes booklet is printed in full-color,
picturing original single sleeves, and fits right inside one of the CD digipak's
pockets — and of course can be stored inside the LP jacket, too.

Not available anywhere else, THE BACKSTREETS LINER NOTES is automatically
included with every format of OTSS we ship out: black vinyl, limited orange
vinyl, or compact disc.

Start shopping Backstreet Records here
and don't forget the THANKS22 coupon code
We appreciate your support!

- November 25, 2022




MARSHMALLOWS ON THE SWEET POTATOES & CRANBERRY SAUCE FROM THE CAN
Bruce Springsteen ran down his Thanksgiving dinner faves last night on Late
Night with Seth Meyers, along with a closer look at various subjects:
Springsteen on Broadway, Only the Strong Survive, Sam & Dave, getting in "tour
shape," grandfatherhood, his "deeply involved and committed" European audience,
and more. No performance, but fun "Tenth Avenue Freeze-out" and "For You"
stories — watch the full interview in two segments below.



- November 24, 2022 - Happy Thanksgiving!








HOME FOR THE HOLIDAY
New Bruce interview on E Street Radio for Thanksgiving Weekend
After his whirlwind media blitz in support of Only the Strong Survive, from his
London jaunt to the Fallon takeover, Bruce Springsteen returns to his
satellite-radio home, E Street Radio, just in time for the long Thanksgiving
Weekend.

The 24/7 Springsteen channel will begin airing Jim Rotolo's new interview with
Springsteen tomorrow, Wednesday, November 23, with airtimes scheduled as follows
(all times ET):

> Wednesday, 11/23: 10am & 6pm
> Thursday, 11/24: 9am & 5pm
> Friday, 11/25: 4pm & 7pm
> Saturday, 11/26: 11am & 3pm
> Sunday, 11/27: 12pm & 8pm

Springsteen and Rotolo discuss how Only the Strong Survive came together, the
album's original title, Bruce's work with Hall of Famer Sam Moore, and
everything else Springsteen's working on as he prepares to go back on the road
in 2023.

SiriusXM subscribers also will be able to stream the new Springsteen/Rotolo
interview on-demand and online via the SXM App.



And a reminder that Springsteen's other recent SiriusXM sitdown, last month's
interview with Howard Stern, will become available for viewing by all HBO/HBOMax
subscribers beginning this Sunday, 11/27. Click here for details.
- November 22, 2022 - Shawn Poole reporting




SPRINGSTEEN IN THE GREAT WHITE NORTH
Last week we offered a roundup of Springsteen's promotional appearances across
the Atlantic; Bruce was also interviewed for Canadian CBC Radio, speaking from
his home with the host of Q with Tom Power. Springsteen talks about Only the
Strong Survive, of course, and about soul music as "an incredibly important
American art form."

Power also gets Springsteen talking about his own music, and the typical subject
matter of his work in the '70s and early '80s: the lives of everyday American
and women. "I didn't want to be a fantasist," Bruce responds. "If somebody would
want to know what America was like in the second half of the 20th century,
during post-industrial times, if you went to my music, you would get a sense of
what people were living through at that time."

Power notes that the subject matter grew more expansive with time, and
Springsteen recalls the response to 1987's Tunnel of Love: "I had some people
come up to me and say, 'I used to like you when you wrote about the cars and the
girls… but the love, the wedding… you lost me there.'

"So you have to be ready for conversations with your fans where they go, 'You
lost me there,' because they may find you again when they get older. You've got
to remain true to yourself and true to the music that's in your heart and that
you want to write. That way, you've got to believe that you're keeping faith
with your audience, and that audience is going to keep faith with you. That's
the deal. Whether it works out or not, that's the operational process."

You can watch the entire interview, via YouTube, above.
- November 21, 2022




HUNGERTHON 2022
Join Bruce Springsteen to help end hunger in America
Since the 1980s, Bruce Springsteen has been working with WhyHunger — previously
World Hunger Year, co-founded by Harry Chapin and Bill Ayres — to help feed the
hungry. Their work together has taken many forms, most prominently raising funds
for local foodbanks across the country, enlisting the help of fans at each show
each time Springsteen tours, and, at Thanksgiving time, his regular
participation in the annual Hungerthon.

Hunger in America continues to be an all-too-common reality for millions who are
struggling to make ends meet, making impossible choices between food,
transportation, housing and medicine. In 2021, more than 33.8 million Americans
— including over 9 million children — were struggling to get enough food to eat.
And we know that the reality of hunger today is even higher. To help strike at
the root causes of hunger and fuel long-term solutions that create social,
racial and economic justice, WhyHunger — a leader in the movement to end hunger
and advance the human right to nutritious food in the U.S. and around the world
— has kicked off its 37th annual Hungerthon fundraiser and awareness drive.

Once again, Bruce Springsteen is teaming up with WhyHunger to offer exclusive
Hungerthon gifts with your donation and an autographed 1952 Reissue Fender
Telecaster Guitar up for auction, all to help nourish people across the U.S. in
immediate need and build a future free from hunger.



You can join Bruce and take action:

> Donate to receive an exclusive, limited-edition Bruce Springsteen From My Home
> to Yours bandana, T-shirt, or zip hoodie
> 
> Bid to win a 1952 Reissue Fender Telecaster Guitar autographed by Bruce at
> Hungerthon.org/springsteen. Auction closes December 5.



Since launching over three decades ago, WhyHunger’s Hungerthon has raised
millions of dollars in the fight to end hunger and invest in community-driven
solutions to build social justice for all. The multi-faceted campaign that runs
through the holiday season. Hungerthon can be heard on the air on SiriusXM,
Audacy New York, and iHeartMedia New York now through Dec 8, and you can follow
online with #Hungerthon. Learn more and take action at Hungerthon.org.
- November 21, 2022








SPRINGSTEEN ON SUNDAY THANKSGIVING TRADITION CONTINUES
Annual all-request benefit show airs 11/27; request lines open 11/20
For the 17th year running, Springsteen on Sunday host Tom Cunningham will be
helping to feed the hungry this Thanksgiving season with his annual fundraiser,
a special, extended edition of the weekly radio show featuring the music of
Bruce Springsteen and other Jersey Shore legends.

As usual, all proceeds from the all-request edition of Springsteen on Sunday,
hosted by TC on 107.1 The Boss (WWZY-FM), will go directly to Fulfill and its
efforts to help the hungry in Monmouth and Ocean Counties for more than 30
years.

Here's how the request show works:

This Sunday, November 20, Springsteen on Sunday will broadcast live from Bar
Anticipation in Lake Como, NJ — all are invited!  — for two hours of
always-great radio: Springsteen selections with a pro at the wheel, and on 11/20
a live performance by Jersey Shore favorite, Joe D'Urso. Doors for the Bar A
event will open at 8am. As usual, the broadcast itself runs from 9am to 11am.

During that time, beginning at 9am, a total of 20 song requests — with
accompanying donations for Fulfill starting at $25 — will be accepted on site or
by calling (732) 643-5831. (Donations over the phone will be accepted via credit
card, and in-person donations may be made using cash, check, credit card or
Venmo.) Listeners are invited to request the Springsteen song of their choice
(unless somebody beats you to your pick) and may include a personal
dedication.  

One week later, a special three-hour edition of Springsteen on Sunday will play
back the requests on 107.1 The Boss, from 8am to 11am on Sunday, November 27.  

We applaud Tom's longtime regular support of Fulfill, dating back to when it was
called The Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties. And while we generally like
to encourage readers to support foodbanks in their own backyards, we should also
remind you that these Springsteen shirts benefit Fulfill, too.

If you don't live near the Shore: you may not be able to make it to Bar A this
weekend, but you can always listen to Springsteen on Sunday, since 107.1 The
Boss streams live via its website (just click Listen Now), through its dedicated
app, and more.
- November 18, 2022





WIN A "GOLDEN TICKET" PACKAGE FOR NYC, 4/1/23
TeachRock raffle will send winner +1 to MSG and more
Steven Van Zandt's TeachRock has begun a Golden Ticket Holiday Series of raffles
for charity prize packages including E Street concert tickets for 2023.

First stop for this series: Madison Square Garden, NYC.

Donate to TeachRock.org today, and you could win:

 * Two (2) premium seats or GA/pit tickets to see Bruce Springsteen and the E
   Street Band's April 1, 2023 show
 * Four (4) pre-show drink passes
 * Two (2) night stay at the Hard Rock Hotel NYC
 * Two (2) Hard Rock Hotel breakfast 
 * Each $25 donation is one chance to receive the MSG Package Package valued at
   $6,000! 

Enter this "Holiday Golden Ticket Charity Package #1" TeachRock raffle HERE.

Each $25 donation is one chance to receive the MSG Package valued at $6,000 —
and is also a tax-deductible contribution that puts the arts center-stage in
students' lives!

Raffle ends Wednesday, November 23 at 11:59am ET, and charity prize package
recipient will be randomly selected after noon that day.. 
- November 18, 2022




SPRINGSTEEN IN LONDON
Bruce Springsteen talks about Only the Strong Survive, the upcoming E Street
tour with "a big horn section and singers," becoming a grandfather, more DJ
shows, retiring from crowdsurfing, inspiring new generations, and more

Between his Stand Up for Heroes performance last week and the first of his Late
Night Starring Jimmy Fallon appearances, Bruce Springsteen made a 36-hour visit
to London for the U.K. leg of his Only the Strong Survive promo schedule.

On November 10, he spoke to Zoe Ball for BBC Radio Two's Zoe Ball Breakfast Show
(aired on November 14), to music writer and podcaster Edith Bowman, and to
Graham Norton for BBC1 TV's Graham Norton Show, which was broadcast the
following night.



The Graham Norton Show
This was Springsteen's third appearance on the U.K.'s premier chat show,
following his 2019 in-person debut and a lockdown interview from his home studio
in 2020. He appeared simultaneously with actors Anya Taylor-Joy and Anna Maxwell
Martin and comedian/presenter Mo Gilligan. Florence and the Machine were the
musical guests. In a light entertainment show that rarely rises above the
superficial, Bruce told the most informative stories.

When asked how the new album was created, Bruce explained that it was "during
Covid lockup. I'd recorded with the E Street Band, and I felt I was done writing
for a while. You're at home, you have nothing to do, maybe I'll sing somebody
else's songs. I had all these songs I loved from when I was a kid. I was brought
up on soul music. My mentors were James Brown, Sam Moore from Sam and Dave,
Jerry Butler and Levi Stubbs. All these people are my masters.

"Then I started to record a song by an artist named Frank Wilson, who was very
popular in the U.K. Northern Soul scene," Bruce continued. "It was called 'Do I
Love You,' which is completely unknown in the United States. I cut that, it felt
great, and [I made] a record of soul music, drawing on some of the influences
I've had since I was a kid playing in the bars. I'm a bar singer. I have a
really good voice for five sets a night. I can go on for hours and hours, as I
usually do. I've got a great voice for that. It's strong. It doesn't go. But I
lack a little finesse. I lack a little of the precision and some of the tone of
my greatest heroes. So on this record I really focused on just singing. My
producer put together the tracks. It was fun to do, and I took my singing up a
notch or two, I think."

Norton then prompted Bruce to talk about the neck surgery he endured a decade
ago that might have damaged that voice: "I had trouble with C4 and C5
[vertebrae] in my neck," Bruce explained. "It was going down my arm, and for
about five years my arm and my hand slowly got number and number, until I
noticed when I was playing the guitar it would fatigue very quickly. I said I
gotta do something about it. The problem is, they cut your throat, and they go
in and tie your vocal cords off to one side. If you're a singer, that makes you
anxious! They tell you that you can't sing a note for three months. You have the
operation done, and they put the titanium in there. Woke up, and it was quite
successful. I didn't sing a note for three months, and then one morning I went
into my garage, had an acoustic guitar, and I started to sing 'Darkness on the
Edge of Town.' Seemed to be okay. Couple of weeks later I was in South Africa
being crowdsurfed across the stadium. I've been lucky that as I've got older, my
voice has gotten better. A lot of people have trouble with their voices as they
get older, but for some reason I've been lucky."



Bruce's third main story concerned the time he went home with a fan in St. Louis
in the early stage of the original River tour in 1980. "I was in a cinema on an
off-night, watching Woody Allen's Stardust Memories, during which [his
character] is not necessarily so kind to his fans. I had met a kid in the lobby;
he was with his girlfriend and said, 'Do you wanna sit with us?' We watched the
movie, and he says, 'Is that how you feel about your fans?' I said, 'Not so
much.' He says, 'I'm gonna go home now, will you come and meet my parents?' So I
went with this kid, we walked in the door about 11 o'clock at night, and he
says, 'Ma, I have Bruce Springsteen with me!' And she goes, 'Who?' He runs in
his bedroom and comes out with the album. 'Oh my God, let me make him some
eggs!' So around midnight I was having some eggs with this kid and his mom. I
saw them for decades after that, every time we came to town."

Other subjects covered in less detail included the time when a plague of locusts
invaded the stage at a concert in Texas, and one crawled down Bruce's back while
he was singing 'My Hometown'; performing professionally for 50 years, but
playing the guitar for more than 60; audience sign requests, including one from
a fan who said he'd give his left testicle for Bruce to play 'Drift Away'; going
to "the best restaurant in Paris" with Jon Landau, feeling short-changed by the
small portions and being relieved to find Terry Magovern waiting outside
afterwards with a McDonalds bag; the fact that his kids had little interest in
the musical part of his life growing up (he explained to them that it was like
"Barney for adults" and noted that kids "don't need a hero, they need a
father").



The focus then turned to next summer's U.K. dates in Birmingham, Edinburgh, and
London with the E Street Band. With no small degree of exaggeration, Bruce asked
the audience to imagine "working with the same people you went to high school
with every day, for the rest of your life, and no one can be replaced or
changed."

Norton asked if it would be a "greatest hits tour," and Bruce replied, "No, it's
just a tour tour."

After Florence Welch had spoken about her love of crowdsurfing, Bruce responded,
"I've had a lot of fun doing it, but I'm retiring that!"



At the end of the show, audience volunteers usually tell a personal story
sitting in Norton's Big Red Chair, which will tip backwards if they're not
sufficiently entertaining or risqué. Springsteen fan Roger Chinn took the plunge
and spoke about going to see Springsteen on Broadway and having his ticket
rejected at the door. He was flipped.

Those who scored free lottery tickets for the Norton filming in West London
(including this writer) saw Bruce tell a joke during a break about Jesus, the
Resurrection, and Groundhog Day that the U.K. audience didn't grasp, causing him
to crack up at his total failure to raise a laugh. He also appeared unfazed (and
didn't respond) when someone in the crowd called out, asking for some free
tickets because they couldn't afford the prices. That was the only known person
brave enough to address this still-controversial issue during Bruce's short
visit to the capital.

In the U.S., this episode of The Graham Norton Show will air on BBC America this
Friday, November 18, at 11pm.



Zoe Ball Breakfast Show
Zoe Ball is a Springsteen fan and asked pertinent questions. Bruce was relaxed
and engaged for Norton, but he sounded much more comfortable (there was
considerable laughter) during this Radio Two recording for The Zoe Ball
Breakfast Show. The full running time — with studio recordings by Bruce, Jerry
Lee Lewis, and Sam Fender included — was 40 minutes. The interview began with
further discussion about the making of Only the Strong Survive and covered
numerous topics.

On Sam Moore: "I've known Sam for about 30 years. He sang on a record I made in
the early '90s. Sam is probably the greatest living soul singer of that era that
we still have with us. He's an incredible singer. I'm lucky to have him sing
with me on a few cuts. He's 86, and his voice is still great. Eighty-six is not
that far away! Hopefully I'll still be doing it then."

Northern soul: "I knew it was this subculture over in Britain. I found that song
['Do I Love You'] on a northern soul compilation on iTunes. I said, 'This is one
of the greatest undiscovered Motown songs I've ever heard. If I can get up near
Frank Wilson's range, I'm gonna try and cover this.' It's one of my favorite
things on the record. Frank was a backline guy at Motown, a producer and
songwriter, and wasn't a fronting artist except for that single."

A possible follow-up album: "I've been looking for material that's slightly
different than the material on this record. We were having such a good time that
we just kept cutting things. There's so much great material. If I was writing,
I'd put out a record of my own songs. Letter to You was really summational as a
piece of work for the E Street Band; I knew I wouldn't be writing for a while.
Instead of not doing something for three years, no records coming out, I'm gonna
start making records that I'm having fun, taking enjoyment in making, so I may
do a little bit more."

His singing voice: "When you're a writer and a bandleader and an arranger, those
things are forefront in your mind. Your vocal is something you usually do last
or give the least thought to. The nice thing about this record is that I have a
great producer, Ron Aniello, who takes care of that. I always give my voice
short shrift. I've had a durable journeyman's voice all these years, so I [tried
to] push it a little more on this record."



Becoming a grandfather: "Patti and I, our kids were young, nobody was talking
about having babies. Then my son [Sam], who is a fireman in Jersey City, met
this fabulous woman [Alex], and they have this wonderful little girl, Lily
Harper Springsteen. A baby in the house is a magical thing. I have a sister 13
years younger than me; I was a teenager when she was born. My memories of having
a baby in the house were always really good. It was the best period in my house
growing up. It smoothed over all the rough spots. It was a wonderful thing to
focus on."

Stand Up for Heroes: "I have very bad jokes that I tell every year. I get up and
do a song and tell a stupid joke, but it's for a great cause. The focus is on
all the soldiers that have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. I've been doing it
for 16 years. It's a beautiful night and a real tribute to the guys who do the
fighting for us."

Honoring Jerry Lee Lewis at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "I met Jerry Lee on
a variety of occasions. This is like Da Vinci. These are the creators of the
form that I've made my life in. He was a lot of fun. I played with him a couple
of times, in Dublin and Cleveland. John Mellencamp and I, who's a very close
friend of mine, sang 'Great Balls of Fire,' and it came out pretty good."

Inspiring Sam Fender: "I've heard some of his records. It's great to see young
kids coming up. That's basically what I wanted to do. I'm a small link in a big
chain. My job is to come out, carry the flag for a little while, and hand it off
to somebody else. And when I see somebody that's that talented, and your music
has meant something to, that was the idea. I wanted to inspire people the way
that I was inspired by pop music. It's always a treat."

Doing more DJ shows: "I gotta get back to doing that. I did about 30 [episodes
of From My Home to Yours]. Radio is a mystical presence for me. I love the idea
of the DJ, who was your conduit to all the artists that you loved, particularly
when I was young. You had a record player, and you had the radio. You couldn't
call up music and play it whenever you wanted. You had close relationships with
the radio stations and the DJs. It was intimate, like they were speaking to you.
I got a chance to play that part myself. I'm gonna start doing it again shortly,
I hope. I still get a kick out of hearing myself on the radio."

Springsteen covers: "I love everybody that covers any of my songs. It's always
fun to hear somebody else do your music. That's always a treat for me. As a
writer, it's always flattering."

Drinking with Barack Obama: "I'm not much of a wine person. So I'll drink vodka
or tequila. He's fun when he has a few!"

His recent work-life balance: "I'm excited about working again. I've been home
for six years. We've loved that. Patti and I live on a great farm. We have our
horses. My daughter's retired horses are there. I've had a good balance
recently. And then of course having the grandchild. It's a really good part of
life, knock on wood."



Next year's U.K. tour: "I love coming over here. We have incredible fans in the
U.K. And I'm excited about this record because I know that U.K. fans are such
big soul fanatics. Our biggest audiences are here and throughout Europe. For the
E Street Band, we're much bigger than we are in America. It's deeply appreciated
after all the years we've been coming over here and playing. There's a
dedication we find here that is unique — not just for us, but for many American
jazz and R&B artists of the past. They came over here and found a second home."

The format of the band: "We're coming with a big horn section and singers. This
is the expanded E Street Band we're gonna tour with next year, so I'll have all
the instrumentation that I need to do some of this soul music."

Changing the setlist: "On the last tour, [we] played 200 songs. Most bands stick
to a relatively limited amount of material. I'm proud of the fact that my guys
can turn on a dime and play something they haven't played in years or haven't
heard in a long time. At the beginning of a tour, it stays a certain way until
we loosen up, then we switch things up. It's good for fans that come to more
than one show, or if we play two or three nights in a venue."

Looking after himself on the road: "I was never much for playing a show and then
going out to a party. People burn their voices out — not on stage, but talking.
My voice has been so good to me, so I know what I need to do. When I'm on the
road, I'm pretty much a monk. I focus my life around being on stage. I do the
show; I go back to the hotel. I'll work on music, write a little bit. I'm
careful. The fans pay for those three hours of you at your best."


Bowman and Springsteen - photograph via Twitter/@edibow

Soundtracking with Edith Bowman
Edith Bowman hosts the weekly Soundtracking podcast, on which she talks music
with a different artist each episode, typically within the film industry
(directors, actors, producers, composers). In early 2020, for Soundtracking
episode 177, Bowman had Springsteen and Thom Zimny on the podcast to talk about
the Western Stars film. Excerpts released from her new interview reveal that
Bruce had trouble selecting material for the new record in the beginning:
"Initially it was really hard. Trial and error. What can I sing well? It's hard
to sing somebody else's songs and sound authentic. I made an entire record that
I threw out. It'll show up in different places. There were some good things on
it, but it didn't feel right. The main thing is that the record is joyful, a lot
of fun, tips my hat, and is a tribute to my mentors and masters and those great
records and great productions."

A Springsteen Soundtracking episode has yet to drop as of this writing, but a
20-minute video of their interview posted to YouTube today, on the Soundtracking
Extra channel:



The only other known interview for countries on this side of the Atlantic was
with Massimo Cotto for Virgin Radio in Italy, which Bruce recorded at home
earlier this month. The 14-minute conversation primarily focused on the new
album, its inspiration, and the power of music in general ("like dynamite") to
change lives. Bruce noted the important cultural influence of Motown; named
Jackie Wilson as one of the smoothest movers, most athletic and under-rated
performers of all time; debunked the myth that men don't cry ("I cry all the
time"); revealed that he recorded Jimmy Webb's 'All I Know' during his lockdown
sessions; planned to include 'Only the Strong Survive' on his next record until
persuaded otherwise by Jon Landau; said that he released 15 songs and "left 40
on the floor"; and described the Four Tops' 'Seven Rooms of Gloom' as "wildly
psychological, insanely intense, pounding, relentless, and desperate, one of the
darkest Motown songs ever released." You can watch the interview at
virginradio.it.
- November 17, 2022 - Mike Saunders reporting







ALL LIVING BEATLES HONOR MIGHTY MAX FOR NJHOF
Wider broadcasts of the 2022 New Jersey Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony begin
tonight, and since the cat is out of the bag, we feel okay revealing the
"surprises" inductee Max Weinberg has alluded to: he received congratulations on
the occasion from both Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.

For the virtual ceremony hosted by Danny DeVito, which premiered regionally over
the weekend, both Beatles sent in video clips to salute Weinberg: Ringo offered
his trademarked "peace and love," and Paul actually sat behind a kit — a rare
instance to see him display his drumming chops — as he sent his congratulations.
We have to imagine these messages meaning as much to the Mighty One as his new
Hall of Famer status.


via Facebook/New Jersey Hall of Fame

None other than Jay Weinberg — Max's son (and fill-in on E Street, prior to his
current 8-year run as drummer for Slipknot) — delivered the speech, saying "it
his my honor to induct into the New Jersey Hall of Fame a man to whom I quite
literally owe my very life: my best friend, mentor, biggest inspiration,
sometimes bandmate, and forever my dad, the inimitable Max Weinberg." A montage
of career higlights followed, and Max himself — "the Big Beat on E Street, the
mightiest of them all," as Jay introduced him — had many familiar names to
thank.

Starting tonight, the 14th Annual New Jersey Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
will be airing on NJ PBS (and possibly other PBS channels as well, check your
local listings).The one-hour ceremony will livestream and air on NJ PBS at 8pm
on November 16; 2am on November 18; and 4:30pm on November 20.The PBS broadcast
appears to be the only way to see Paul and Ringo's congratulatory messages,
which have been removed from the presentations on YouTube (below) and Facebook,
which otherwise have the full program.



Max's induction is the final one, beginning at 43:15 above; don't stop watching
after DeVito signs off, as two other video submissions from friends follow:
tributes from Tom Morello (with "a little tune called 'An Ode to Max Weinberg'")
and The Weeklings.

Congratulations, Max!
- November 16, 2022








GOING ON TONIGHT, I'M GONNA ROCK THAT JOINT
Praise for the soul singers (and the return of "swaves") as Springsteen's
Tonight Show takeover begins
For the first night of the Bruce Springsteen "takeover" on The Tonight Show
Starring Jimmy Fallon, a sharply coiffed and besuited Boss sat on the couch to
chat with the host and then performed Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I
Do)" with a large ensemble of musicians.

Jimmy Fallon has absolutely not improved with time behind the desk as an
interviewer, and talking to Bruce was not going to improve that tendency — there
was of plenty of over-the-top gushing and making statements at his subject
instead of asking questions and responding to the answers. The interview was all
over the place, including random setlists that looked like they'd been printed
out by someone on staff from setlist.fm. One showed nine songs performed 9/28/68
at a Red Bank, NJ, coffeeshop (Brucebase terms the setlist "incomplete and
inaccurate"); Jimmy weirdly calls it Bruce's "first recorded setlist." The
point, presumably, was the contrast with Springsteen's July 31, 2012, setlist
from Helsinki, at 38 songs.



But there was fun to be had nonetheless in this lengthy sit-down before
Springsteen's first live performance of Only the Strong Survive material. During
the setlist talk, he looked surprised himself when he said he'd already come up
with one for the upcoming 2023 tour — or at least "the one we're going to do on
the first day of rehearsal. It changes on the second day of rehearsal."

As Springsteen talked about his new granddaughter ("they come home, they're like
a little loaf of bread… except they don't say as much"), we learned that Patti
doesn't want to be called "grandma," and Bruce is fine with anything as long as
it's not "Boss." 

Discussing how long his concerts are, Bruce said, "I'm stuck at about three
hours," but "three hours goes by pretty fast." Notably he observed that in the
early days of rock 'n' roll, most artists were doing 20-minute sets. "Now,
they'd play 20 minutes, five shows a day," but point being, "you can get what
someone has to deliver in a short period of time." By contrast, "we came up
playing in bars where you played five hours a night."

The interview delivered substance when Bruce took the reins to talk about Only
the Strong Survive, after Jimmy Fallon announced, "You got some jams on here!"
Springsteen again led with the fact that he wanted to make a record that was
centered around singing, and went on: "I finally came to the realization that
the greatest vocal music is, of course, gospel music and then soul music. For
pure singing, there really is no greater music than gospel music. All of our
great R&B singers — Sam Moore, Sam Cooke — these guys all came through the
church. So I realized, the great singers have sung soul music. All my heroes who
I cover on this record — not as good, but I give it a shot — Jerry Butler, David
Ruffin, Levi Stubbs, William Bell, all of these guys were incredible singers.
And great songwriters, too." Springsteen also noted a thread of beach music on
the album.



Fallon played a portion of Bob Dylan singing "Dancing in the Dark" live from
1990, which Bruce said he knew about but had never heard, adding that he loved
it — "that's like a dream come true." He was also made to confront the influence
of his "Dancing in the Dark" moves ("my New Jersey Shuffle") on The Carlton
Dance: "My dancing is… pretty embarrassing, and my kids kill me on that. 'Dad,
you look ridiculous!'"

Perhaps the most rewarding segment of the interview was when Jimmy asked him the
age old question: is it waves or sways? In the summer of 2021, manager Jon
Landau appeared to rule on the "Thunder Road' lyric debate when he declared
"sways" to The New Yorker; at the time, David Remnick noted that "short of
Springsteen himself, no one could answer the question more definitively than
Landau."

Well, here was Springsteen himself.

Bruce reached behind the chair and pulled out a copy of the Born to Run LP (and
a stylish pair of reading glasses) to finally provide his own answer. "This
record is almost 50 years old," he began. "Fifty years ago, I was a sociopath."
He explained that in his youth, he was "insane about every single detail that
had anything to do with my album, my album cover, my lyrics… I went through
everything with a fine-toothed comb, so everything would be perfect and
completely accurate. The lyrics to 'Thunder Road' are in this album. The correct
lyrics." Whatever was written inside the album would be the definitive answer.

Springsteen opened the jacket, and after some laughter stated, "I've been
singing 'sways' for almost 50 years," before reading from the gatefold: "The
screen door slams, Mary's dress… waves." (#TeamWaves, take your victory lap
here!) 

Bruce then declared, "This is wrong, I'm telling you, this is wrong — how did
that happen?" as he put the record aside.

Producing a small electronic keyboard, Fallon asked Bruce about writing most of
Born to Run on piano; Bruce plinked out a little bit of "Thunder Road" to prove
it. "The screen door… swaves!"



Many of us assumed, given the fact that there was no actual band on Only the
Strong Survive, that Bruce would be utilizing the legendary Roots crew as his
backing band. Instead, he performed with a large ensemble that looked very much
like the group who backed him in the lip-synced promotional videos. A prominent
addition to the packed stage: original E Streeter David Sancious on keyboards,
joining seven backing vocalists (with Michelle Holme, Lisa Lowell, and Curtis
King, Jr.), a five-man horn section (featuring frequent cohorts LaBamba, Ed
Manion, and Curt Ramm), two string players, a percussionist, bassist, drummer
Zoë Brecher, and main OTSS instrumentalist/co-producer Ron Aniello on guitar,
tucked away behind the singers.



The performance of Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)," the album's
lead single, was bright and energetic, echoing the showmanship of the legendary
soul revues these songs were originally performed at and that Bruce has admired
and aspired to. Television is a tough gig for a rock 'n' roll act, but Bruce has
pulled off epic, enormous, and highly memorable performances in this medium time
and time again. This was a very strong outing by any objective measure, but it
maintained the curious airlessness of the album. It's befuddling in the extreme
that he wouldn't appear with the Roots — who Bruce admires and deeply respects,
and who absolutely know this material cold — or just, you know, called E Street,
for whom rehearsals are on the near horizon. He's even got the setlist ready.

The Tonight Show "takeover" continues Tuesday and Wednesday, with a bonus
performance on Thanksgiving. 
- November 15, 2022 - Caryn Rose reporting - photographs via
Twitter/@FallonTonight



ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE
The Backstreets Review by Lauren Onkey

WHEN A MAN LOVES A GENRE
Springsteen's vocals and affection for the music drive his soul covers only so
far
Bruce Springsteen releasing an album of soul covers is no surprise. Soul music
has been a throughline in his career, even back to his mid-'60s band The
Castiles. No matter when you became a Springsteen fan, you heard soul music in
his concerts: the Contours' "Do You Love Me?" in the Born in the U.S.A.
megastardom days, Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready" in the reunion era,
Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music" on the Tunnel tour. Back in the early 1970s,
he'd pull out Chris Kenner's "Something You Got." He's created medleys of his
songs and soul covers that work as thematic centerpieces of his shows, like "The
E Street Shuffle/Havin' a Party" (1975), "Two Hearts/It Takes Two" (1999), and
"Mary's Place/The Monkey Time/Turn on Your Lovelight" on the Risingtour. Wilson
Pickett guested in the set at Bruce's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Soul
has obviously influenced his own songwriting and singing on songs like "Fade
Away," "If I Should Fall Behind," "I Wish I Were Blind," and of course "Back in
Your Arms," just to name a handful.


Only the Strong Survive gatefold - photograph by Danny Clinch - art direction &
design by Michelle Holme and Meghan Foley
 
He's also paid homage to soul musicians throughout his career, acknowledging the
debt he owes to soul bands. As far back as a 1975 interview ("Local Boys,
Trailer Parks, and the Godfather of Soul," printed in Backstreets #57), when
asked about his influences, Springsteen said: "All the Stax stuff and Atlantic
stuff, I'm very into that. Wilson Pickett, Sam Cooke, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd,
the MGs, Steve Cropper... most of your better band leaders have been your soul
band leaders. Because the white guys always tend to be a little too sloppy, too
lazy; they think it's part of the act to be not together or something.... The
best band leaders of the last ten, 20 years, from what I've listened to, have
been your soul band leaders. They whip them bands into shape. I tend to use my
band that way. I'm doing different things, but in that tradition. Ain't nobody
does it better than them soul artists."

Springsteen's clarity here is remarkable. In many ways, he's laid a foundation
for a project like this over his entire career. And yet, I can't quite make
sense out of Only the Strong Survive. The only statement we've gotten from Bruce
so far is that he wanted to make an album that showcased his singing. Only the
Strong Survive does that. His vocals are wonderful throughout — full throated,
hitting all the notes, urgent or tender as the song requires. It's a superb set
of songs: lots of Motown, double doses of songs sung by titans Jerry Butler,
Levi Stubbs, and William Bell, and even a couple of hits from the 1980s. The
song selection is surprising — Springsteen has never played any of these songs
before in concert — and reflects the breadth of the soul landscape. The tracks
also feature wonderful backing vocals from Bruce regulars Curtis King, Soozie
Tyrell, Lisa Lowell, and Michelle Moore, and also Fonzi Thornton and Dennis
Collins — incredible singers who have worked with the likes of Chic, Aretha
Franklin, and Luther Vandross.


"Three guys in a room": Ron Aniello (musician/producer/engineer/mixer),
Springsteen, and Rob Lebret (producer/engineer/mixer) - photograph by Rob
DeMartin
 
But the quality of the vocals are often undercut by the lack of ambition in the
music. These recordings, with virtually all instruments played by Ron Aniello,
replicate the original arrangements — two songs, "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)"
and "Turn Back the Hands of Time," even include samples from the original
record. (As Bruce told Questlove in an interview on the podcast Questlove
Supreme this week, "it was basically three guys in a room," and he didn't see
any need to reinvent songs that had such great arrangements in the first place).
As a result the record often feels antiseptic, which is especially jarring after
Bruce was so enthusiastic about recording Letter to You live, as well as the way
his 16-piece band in 2012-13 took on so many great covers.…

Continue reading
ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE
The Backstreets Review By Lauren Onkey

- November 12, 2022




ORANGE YOU GLAD?
Only the Strong Survive update from Backstreet Records
First of all, many who have been asking will be glad to hear: we're now offering
the limited orange vinyl edition in the Backstreet Records shop for pre-order.
We'll be stocking the Indie Exclusive edition, which they're calling Sundance
Orange. (A Nightshade Green editon is available only from Bruce's official
store.)

We didn't want to offer the limited colored vinyl until were positive we could
guarantee it — and now we can. While our allotment lasts, at least, but we'll be
staying on top of available inventory.

Like the standard black vinyl edition, the colored vinyl 2LP comes in a gatefold
jacket, with printed inner sleeves and a 12" x 24" poster.

First look: FREE Backstreets Liner Notes insert
All formats of Only the Strong Survive ordered from Backstreet Records will be
coming with something you can't get anywhere else: our own bonus booklet, The
Backstreets Liner Notes, that we created to provide some history for Bruce's 15
soul selections and their original artists. It's 16 pages, full-color, and sized
as a CD booklet, so it will fit right in the pocket of the digipak, or of course
slipped inside the album jacket. And it's FREE with every CD and vinyl set we
ship out.

Here's a sneak peek:

Opened up, the cover bears a striking Rob DeMartin photograph from the second
OTSS video shoot; a couple sample spreads from the booklet interior are below





A note on timing: as often happens these days, printing is taking longer than
expected. Our printer cites a volatile paper market and industry-wide supply
chain issues. The wait shouldn't be long, but rather than have the booklets in
hand this week, we're now expecting them next week instead. For those who
ordered Expedited shipping, we'll ship you Only the Strong Survive immediately
and send the booklet separately next week; for Standard shipping, we'll be
shipping Only the Strong Survive together with our liners just as soon as
everything's in stock, just as fast as the two of us can get them out the door.
We apologize for the slight delay, appreciate your support of what we do, and
hope you'll find it worth the wait!

Pre-order the album from Backstreet Records for our exclusive bonus:
THE BACKSTREETS LINER NOTES
detailing each of Only the Strong Survive's 15 songs
16-page booklet FREE with the orange 2LP, black 2LP, or CD

- November 9, 2022




TAKEOVER: MULTIPLE TONIGHT SHOW APPEARANCES START MON.
Next week, following this Friday's release of Only the Strong Survive, Bruce
Springsteen will return to 30 Rock for a "Tonight Show takeover," with musical
performances of OTSS material over several nights.

Starting Monday, November 14, Springsteen will appear as lead guest joining host
Jimmy Fallon, and perform several times. From November 14-16, the Boss will
debut four of the soul covers from his 21st studio album. His final performance
will air during The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon's Thanksgiving special on
Thursday, Nov. 24. 

While this marks Springsteen’s third appearance on Fallon's Tonight Show, it’s
his first takeover and first musical performance. It remains to be seen whether
costumes and wigs will play a part.

Taped in front of a live studio audience from Studio 6B at 30 Rockefeller Center
in New York City, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon airs Mondays through
Fridays from 11:35 p.m.-12:35 a.m. ET/PT on NBC and is available on demand on
Peacock.
- November 9, 2022




16th ANNUAL STAND UP FOR HEROES
David Geffen Hall, NYC
November 7, 2022
"During sex, you burn off as many calories as if you ran eight miles… but who
can run eight miles in thirty seconds?"

Ladies and gentlemen, the comedic stylings of Bruce Springsteen.

Bruce was in impish form for his usual appearance at the Bob Woodruff
Foundation's 16th annual Stand Up For Heroes event to benefit wounded warriors
and their families.

As an official event of the New York Comedy Festival, the night revolved as much
around humor as it did on heartfelt tribute to service of the many veterans,
active duty military personnel, friends, family, and volunteers present.

Springsteen is the event's traditional headliner, which means he follows comedy
giants like last night's lineup of Hasan Minhaj, Jeff Ross, Iliza Shlesinger and
Jon Stewart. Bruce learned to thread the needle by leaning into a vein of
raunchy shaggy dog stories; in recent years, though, he'd begun recycling some
of his "greatest" hits. Monday night, he showed up with a fresh crop of terse,
deadpan one-liners, risqué riddles, and dirty dad jokes.

"What do you call an Italian hooker?" he asked, pausing for barely a beat before
answering with a twinkle: "A pasta-tute!"

Bruce credited "The Internet" as the source of his material, and he seemed
immensely pleased with the ratio of groans to laughs generated by his curation
and delivery.

But if his jokes made us groan, his songs made us swoon.



Bruce kicked off his mini-set of four songs with the public debut of "House of a
Thousand Guitars," which he introduced as "my state of the union." (See my April
23, 2021 essay for why that's a fitting description.) While technically debuted
at the event two years prior, in the heart of the pandemic, the 2020 Stand Up
For Heroes was virtual, making this year's performance the first time Bruce has
performed the Letter to You deep cut in public.

"House of a Thousand Guitars" wasn't the only debut of the evening, though.
Monday night's SUFH was the first public event at the brand new David Geffen
Hall in New York City. The acoustics were possibly the best this reviewer has
ever enjoyed, and Bruce took full advantage of them, bringing his voice and
guitar to room-filling life with a clarity and fullness that surpassed both of
his theater runs on Broadway.

Next up was a Stand Up For Heroes tradition: "I'll Work For Your Love,"
dedicated to Eddie and Jill Vedder, reportedly in the room.

Performance-wise, "I'll See You in My Dreams" was the standout of the evening
—every bit as powerful as when it served as the closing number for Springsteen
on Broadway but benefitting immensely from the hall's acoustics.

After three tender and contemplative songs, Bruce sent the audience home on a
high and joyful note: a sing-along "Dancing in the Dark." The audience accepted
his invitation only tentatively and softly, a sign of respect and appreciation
for the strength and warmth of Bruce's soaring vocals in that gorgeous
auditorium.

Thanks to Bruce's marquee power and the generosity of paddle-raising donors
throughout the hall, the event raised well over $700K for the Bob Woodruff
Foundation's ever-expanding initiatives and deepening impact, making Stand Up
For Heroes the surest annual bet for Springsteen's ever-powerful performance and
eye-rolling humor.

Setlist:
House of a Thousand Guitars (solo acoustic)
I'll Work For Your Love (solo acoustic)
I'll See You in My Dreams (solo acoustic)
Dancing in the Dark (solo acoustic)

Watch the full performance:


- November 8, 2022 - Ken Rosen reporting - photographs by Bill Borner




Microsoft Theater, Los Angeles, November 5, 2022 - photograph by Robyn Sherer

HITTING COOL JUST LIKE JIMMY IOVINE
Springsteen inducts the producer/entrepreneur into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, pays tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis
Like any insane person, I had dreams that Bruce Springsteen would show up to
induct Jimmy Iovine at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Saturday evening in Los
Angeles with a song that he recorded in 1978, in the heat of the sessions for
Darkness on the Edge of Town (which young Iovine engineered). An outtake
released officially on The Promise in 2010, "Ain­­­­'t Good Enough for You"
offers a time capsule of the era these two future superstars' paths crossed, as
Bruce sings in the last verse:

> I tried to change, I got a job in sales
> I bought a shirt uptown in Bloomingdales
> And babe I tried to make the latest scene
> Hitting cool just like Jimmy Iovine

Springsteen took to the podium for one of his patented (alas, non-musical)
induction speeches instead: 90 minutes into the evening (before it's cut down
for TV, the annual event can run as long as six hours; this year's was just shy
of that mark), looking tan and rested in a black suit and black dress shirt,
Springsteen started with an anecdote.

"It's 1978. Jimmy Iovine has graduated from being the skinny Italian kid who
changes the tape and hits the start and stop buttons on the recording machine to
the skinny Italian kid at the console, engineering Born to Run and Darkness on
the Edge of Town.… I walked into the studio, and Jon [Landau] just says to me,
'He told me he could do it!'" The story seems to sum up the ethos of Jimmy
Iovine — take a shot, dare to risk it all, it may just work out.

In another anecdote, Iovine picks up Springsteen in his orange Mercedes-Benz for
a drive to Coney Island. "And on the way, he casually drops: 'Bruce. What are
you doing with that song "Because the Night"?… It's unfinished! If you're not
going to finish it, can I have it?'"

"What are you gonna do with it?"

"I want to give Patti Smith a song."

Of course, Iovine would serve as the connective glue between the two New
Jerseyan musicians, and Smith's version would go on to become her most
well-known hit (in a markedly different version from Bruce's original).
 
"Jimmy knows great songs," Bruce continued, "and he knows who can sing 'em. He
has one of the greatest guts for talent, and he's one of the greatest sponges
for learning I've ever met."

Springsteen paused for effect when listing off each of Iovine's many talents and
accomplishments — "Jimmy is brave and smart… he recognized the power of hip-hop
and its ability to conquer the culture" — up to and including the formation of
Beats by Dre and, ultimately, Apple Music.
 
"Of course as an entrepreneur… Beats! He tells me he told Dre, 'We shouldn't
make sneakers, we should make speakers.' So they did! They made millions of
'em."
 
Speaking of the power of collaboration in music, Bruce cited Iovine's longtime
relationship with Dr. Dre, suggesting it mirrored the one he'd seen between
Bruce and Landau. "Jimmy knew and recognized that the chemistry in Jon's and my
relationship was the secret formula not just for rock 'n' roll magic, but for
rock 'n' roll success," Bruce concluded; he then allowed himself one dig at
Gerardo's "Rico Suave," an early success for Interscope Records, before formally
welcoming Iovine into the Rock Hall.


 
Iovine took the podium next with full New York laughter and a quick punch line:
"Bruce is that annoying older brother who does everything better than you —
including making a speech."
 
"When you come out of a neighborhood like so many of us do, you don't believe
you have anything to bring to the table," Iovine said with a smile that lit up
the Microsoft Theater. He listed off the many people he had to thank, including
himself: of his studio gig with Springsteen in the mid-'70s, Iovine recalled,
"Jon [Landau] looked at me, and he said, 'Can you do this?' I'd like to thank
myself for having the balls to think I could!"

When the laughter in the theater died down, Iovine added: "Bruce Springsteen
taught me a work ethic that I can't keep up with. Together, Jon and Bruce
demonstrated the importance of serving something bigger than yourself, and they
also showed me a devotion to excellence. Bruce, you are the touchstone to the
truth, and it guides me every day."
 
Speaking with Variety earlier in the week, and further discussing what he
learned from Landau, Iovine was direct: "Two words: big picture. You take your
bullshit out of it. So when you're working with Springsteen, and a lot of the
songs on Born to Run go through, what, seven, eight, 12 radically different
versions, it's like, okay, there's a goal that he's going toward. The whole
album was like that. There are ballad versions of 'Thunder Road,' different
versions of 'Backstreets,' there are different lyrics — 'Thunder Road' had tons
of lyrics. Tons! He would sit at the piano and write a line, go up and sing it,
write another line — for days! I remember a day where he sat out in the studio,
working on 'Thunder Road' with a guitar, for 13 hours and only said the word
'again.' I fell asleep for five hours in the middle of it. 'Again, again, again,
again!' But one of the things that I got from that album was to learn how to
believe in something as much as the person that's doing it."


Mellencamp and Springsteen do "one last one for The Killer" - photograph by
Robyn Sherer
 
Toward the end of Saturday's induction ceremony, Springsteen returned to the
stage to perform. He  joined John Mellencamp (who gave the induction speech for
power lawyer Allen Grubman earlier in the night) for a double shot-salute to
Jerry Lee Lewis, backed by E Street pianist Roy Bittan and the Zac Brown Band.
Springsteen and Mellencamp traded vocals on "High School Confidential" into
"Great Balls of Fire." The show-ending tribute to The Killer, even just five
minutes at an induction ceremony,  once again proved that this man is ready to
tour and underscored how this fan feels about seeing him back on an arena stage:
"My heart's beatin' rhythm," because, indeed, "all the cats are at the high
school rockin'."



The 37th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will air Saturday,
November 19, at 8pm on HBO.
- November 7, 2022 - Brandon Shaw reporting




THE TOM JOAD ALL-STAR REVUE AT THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE
New from the Live Archive series: for its last night in Asbury, 11/26/96,
Bruce's solo tour embraces old friends and local heroes
When Bruce Springsteen announced three shows at Asbury Park's Paramount Theater
in 1996, fans were curious: when did Bruce last "officially" perform as a billed
act in his adopted hometown?

Sure, Springsteen dropped in to jam dozens of times at the Stone Pony or the
Fast Lane over the years, but the last time he was booked to play Asbury was
nearly 23 years prior, in 1973, when he and the still unnamed E Street Band
played three shows at the Student Prince on Kingsley Street that December. So
there was great excitement to have Bruce scheduled in Asbury Park again, even
though these would presumably be solo performances — as typical for the Ghost of
Tom Joad tour, then entering its second year.


Photograph by Salvador Trepat

The first night of this trio of Paramount Theatre concerts appeared in
Springsteen's Live Archive series three years ago; today's entry is the
relatively star-studded final night, Asbury Park, November 26, 1996.

Weeks prior, on November 8, Bruce played his old grammar school, St. Rose of
Lima, in his Freehold hometown — another previous release from the Live Archive.
Tickets to that benefit show had been limited to Freehold residents only. Each
Asbury Park show, conversely, gave 1,500 or so lucky fans a chance to snag
tickets, benefitting local charities including the Asbury Park Fire Department
and the Women's Center of Monmouth County.


Photograph by Rene van Diemen

The first date, Sunday, November 24, established that the Asbury performances
would be special beyond just the location. That night, Patti Scialfa, Soozie
Tyrell, and Danny Federici all joined for a 25-song set that included tour
premieres "Independence Day," "Wild Billy's Circus Story," "Rosalita (Come Out
Tonight)," and "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)." The next night, original E
Street Band drummer Vini "Maddog" Lopez joined the fun, and four more songs made
tour premieres.

That led to great anticipation for the final performance, November 26. Just two
days before Thanksgiving, Bruce and a stage full of special guests delivered a
24-song show that, for many fans in attendance, managed to top the first two
nights.


Photograph by Rene van Diemen

"For You" was an appropriate kick-off for a magical night. With Danny on the
accordion, Bruce took the stage and said, "Greetings, from Asbury Park!" before
heading into the beloved song from his debut album.

Another from Greetings, "It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City," led to "Atlantic
City." Then, for the second straight night, Scialfa and Tyrell sang backup on
"Tougher Than the Rest."

The first tour premiere this night was "All that Heaven Will Allow," played for
the first time since August 3, 1988, on the Tunnel of Love tour. Richard
Blackwell, who appeared on The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, came
out to play the congas.

"This is a friend of mine, Richard Blackwell. We grew up in the same
neighborhood," Bruce said. He regaled the audience with a "weird experience,"
recalling the first time he left New Jersey and happened to run into Blackwell
at the Esalen Institute in California — after a 72-hour, cross-country drive.


Photograph by Rene van Diemen

Federici and Tyrell joined in for a rare "Wild Billy's Circus Story," then Bruce
reprised a Joad tour story prior to "Red Headed Woman": joking how he was
"traveling around the country promoting cunnilingus," presidential candidates
from 1996 made the gag, too. It's a good laugh, and a reminder of how much light
had entered the Joad show since its stark beginnings.


Photograph by Rene van Diemen

Scialfa and Tyrell (on violin) performed on the next three songs: "Two Hearts,"
"When You're Alone," and the powerful "Shut Out the Light" which also featured
Federici.



After several Joad tour staples — "Born in the U.S.A.," "The Ghost of Tom Joad,"
Sinaloa Cowboys," and "The Line" — Bruce played "Racing in the Street," backed
by Tyrell on the violin. At the time, "Racing" was a New Jersey-only staple,
having only appeared the previous two nights and at the Freehold show. (It made
the set only four more times on the tour.)


Photograph by Ken Lesnik

The encores began with the perfect song for Asbury Park, "I Don't Want to Go
Home," and another guest joined Bruce and company to sing the second verse: its
songwriter, Steven Van Zandt. Three years prior to the E Street reunion,
Stevie's appearance with Springsteen took the night into the stratosphere.

The cavalcade of guests continued as Bruce said, "All right, Vincent Lopez is in
the house! Come on out! We got a fella that I slept on his floor when I wrote
most of the songs for Greetings from Asbury Park, my old good friend, all the
way from Ireland tonight, Big Danny Gallagher!"


Photograph by Rene van Diemen

All joined in for a joyous "Spirit in the Night." At this moment, longtime
Springsteen fan Billy Smith (the co-owner of the Asbury Park Rock and Roll
Museum in the 1980s), turned to me and pointed out that four members of Steel
Mill were on stage: Springsteen, Van Zandt, Lopez, and Federici, standing
together again. How fitting that it was in Asbury Park.


Photograph by Rene van Diemen

The encore fun continued as all joined in for a rousing "Rosalita" followed by
"This Hard Land" with just Bruce and Phantom Dan.

Before closing with the appropriate "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)," Bruce
paid tribute to his adopted hometown and the joy of this Paramount stand.

"This has been a hell of three days, we had so much fun," Bruce said. "It's
really great that this theater is here now in town. It's lovely to be able to
come back into the town and play. I always say that Asbury was — when I first
came here, I was 18 — it was a little more open than the towns surrounding it.
People sort of left you alone a little bit more, and we were here, making our
music. There were so many musicians here.


Photograph by Rene van Diemen

"It was a place where you could have time to find yourself and the kind of music
you wanted to play," Bruce continued. "I met so many good people here — Maddog
Vini Lopez, Big Danny Gallagher, Garry Tallent, Southside ... I wrote a lot of
my early work here: on the beach, or on Big Danny's living room floor, or on
Cookman and Main. We planted the seeds of the band that took us all around the
world and friendships that have really lasted me a lifetime. It's pretty
amazing."

Bruce talked about his children coming to the Paramount Theatre with him.
"I got a chance the other night to just watch my kids running around the
theater, bringing the whole thing sort of full circle," he said. "I guess all
I'm really saying is I'm a pretty lucky guy, and I'm just glad to be here in
town tonight and able to play for you."


Photograph by Ken Lesnik

Before starting the "Sandy" finale with all the guests joining in, Bruce said,
"This song was written as a goodbye song. I wrote it at the time when my life
was changing, and I didn't know what was up ahead or what to expect. But it was
a little more than a goodbye song; it was a love note, too. So this is for
Asbury, wishing that the best may be yet to come."

While it took another ten-plus years for Asbury Park to start to bounce back to
the hip and exciting place it is today, the night of November 26, 1996, at the
Paramount Theatre not only celebrated the past but also gave hope for the
future.
- November 4, 2022 - Stan Goldstein reporting - cover photograph by Rene van
Diemen



ICYMI: STERN SHOW CLIP CAVALCADE
With Monday afternoon's report on Howard Stern's interview with Bruce
Springsteen, we included the three available videos at the time; since then,
eight more have appeared on The Howard Stern Show's YouTube channel. We embed
them here for your convenience, including moving, intimate performances of
"Thunder Road," "The Rising," "Land of Hope and Dreams," and "Born to Run."

















- November 4, 2022




LAST MAN STANDING
Jerry Lee Lewis, "The Killer," 1935-2022
On May 20, 1993 in Dublin, Ireland, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Lee Lewis,
who died on Friday, made his first onstage appearance with Bruce Springsteen.
Two decades earlier, they had been part of a triple-bill with Chuck Berry at the
University of Maryland, but Lewis and Springsteen never performed together
onstage that night. In Dublin, along with Springsteen's 1992-93 band, they
performed two of Lewis's greatest hits: "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lotta
Shakin' Goin' On." Bruce introduced Lewis to the audience as "one of my great
heroes and inspirations," and indeed he was.



Lewis was a key member of the first-generation, pioneering group of rock 'n'
rollers that included his peers Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Buddy Holly, Little
Richard, and Elvis Presley. He was one of the genre's greatest live performers,
blazing the stage with his immense musical talents and athletic piano-pounding,
keys- and bench-kicking showmanship that would feel right at home onstage in an
E Street Band performance.

"Great Balls of Fire" also combined religious imagery with… uh, much more
earthly concerns, helping to pave the way for how Springsteen would later infuse
elements from his own Roman Catholic upbringing into some of his greatest songs.

In addition to creating the music that gave him his Rock and Roll Hall of Famer
status, Lewis became known as a stellar country-music singer and honky-tonk
pianist, which finally earned him a long-overdue induction into the Country
Music Hall of Fame just last month. In his 2012 SXSW Keynote Address, Bruce
Springsteen described Jerry Lee Lewis as "the living, breathing personification
of both rock and country."

On that '93 night, Lewis in turn spoke enthusiastically onstage about how
impressed he was with Springsteen's work. "He's got one of the greatest bands
and he's got one of the most God-given talents I've ever heard in my life,"
Jerry Lee told the Dublin audience. "And if it wasn't true, I wouldn't be here,
believe me… Bruce, you really knocked me out tonight; you were fantastic. And
your backup singers, your band, your drummer, your guitar player… superb! And
the soundman he's got is… the equipment he's got is… rock 'n' roll!"



Just over two years later, Lewis again performed "Great Balls of Fire" and
"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" with Springsteen onstage, this time backed by the
E Street Band [above[, in Cleveland's long-gone Municipal Stadium during the
September 2, 1995 concert celebrating the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame. On that night Bruce introduced Lewis as "one of my all-time heroes, the
one and only, the man who doesn't play rock 'n' roll; he IS rock 'n' roll."

Covers of these two Lewis classics occasionally appeared in other Springsteen
concerts through the decades, along with another one of The Killer's greatest
hits: "High School Confidential," which was performed both on its own and as an
occasional addition to "The Detroit Medley" back in 1981. Click here to hear
Springsteen opening his September 21, 1978 concert at Passaic, NJ's
also-long-gone Capitol Theatre with "High School Confidential." (Another
memorable show where Springsteen opened with "High School Confidential:"
Halloween Night 1984.)


"I'm On Fire" was NOT a Springsteen cover, but "Pink Cadillac" definitely was!

Eventually Lewis returned the favor by recording a cover of one of Springsteen's
songs, "Pink Cadillac," featuring backing vocals from the songwriter himself.
Back in the 1980s, Dave Marsh worked behind the scenes to try making a Jerry Lee
Lewis version of "I'm a Rocker" happen, but unfortunately it never came to be.
Apparently The Killer thought the song had "too many words" (a complaint about
the difficulties of singing Springsteen lyrics later echoed by another Rock and
Roll Hall of Famer, Sam Moore).

Bruce and Jerry Lee's studio work on "Pink Cadillac" took place in 2003, and the
recording was released on Lewis' 2006 album Last Man Standing: The Duets.

Last Man Standing was an appropriate title for the album, since by that point
Jerry Lee Lewis truly was the last living member of the initial group of Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame inductees (the "Class of '86") as well as the pioneering
Sun Records "Million Dollar Quartet" stable of stars consisting of Lewis, Johnny
Cash, Carl Perkins, and Elvis Presley. As the Hall of Fame noted upon Lewis'
passing:

> The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has lost its last inaugural inductee. Jerry Lee
> Lewis sang and played the piano with wild abandon, setting the world on fire
> with his electrifying performances and rebellious persona. His hits 'Whole
> Lotta Shakin' Goin' On' and 'Great Balls of Fire' served as a foundation of
> the sound and spirit of youth culture. Jerry Lee was a genuine pioneer, and
> his music and rock and roll swagger live on forever.

- November 1, 2022 - Shawn Poole reporting



For older news, visit our News Archives

 





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LISTEN: Does Ticketmaster have a monopoly on live events?" [the1a.org]

Updated 9/1/22

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We also post all known concert dates for some of our favorite Jersey Shore (and
Shore-adopted) musicians:

Willie Nile
Bobby Bandiera
Southside Johnny
John Eddie
JoBonanno
Joe D'Urso... and more.

For more information on upcoming shows such as these, check out our Concert
Calendar.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SAVE TILLIE

Many from the Springsteen community banded together to preserve this Asbury Park
landmark.... and Tillie has now been saved!

Check our Save Tillie page for the latest developments.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE SPRINGSTEEN SPECIAL COLLECTION

Organized by Backstreets in 2001, this storehouse of Boss books and magazines is
the largest such collection outside of Bruce's mother's basement. Thanks to the
generosity of fans around the world, total holdings are now well over 15,000.
But the collection is by no means complete.

Check out the Springsteen Special Collection page for more info.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


FIGHT THE MONOPOLY
With the Ticketmaster / Live Nation merger approved, we encourage fans to get
involved to help protect ticket-buyers.

Check our Fight the Monopoly page for the latest developments

 




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