8/4: The box set rumors going around appear to heave some truth--at long last, it seems that a Springsteen box set is indeed in the works. From the sound of it, this may be what every Bruce Tramp has been waiting for. Though there has been no official announcement, several sources report that the selection and compiling process is underway, with Bruce in a New York studio listening to tapes. The box set will reportedly contain 75-100 songs, tapping the vast amount of unreleased studio material from the past 25 years, on as many as 6 CDs. Watch this space for updates as more information comes in. Speculation is that the box will be prepared for a fall release--late October or early November--to coincide with the holiday season as well as with Springsteen's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Speaking of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Backstreets magazine begins its countdown to Springsteen's induction with the beginning of a year-long series in the new issue. With 25 years having passed as of January since Bruce's first LP release, he is now eligible for induction as of this year. Their four-part series, "25 years of Recorded History" begins in the new issue, #58, with Part One: 1973-1975. The series will continue over the following three issues, covering every aspect of Springsteen's career year-by-year, and they'll wrap it up in the present day just as the festivities kick off in Cleveland in January 1999. It starts now, with issue #58 currently at the printers--don't miss an issue!
4/4: Bruce plays Elaine Steinbeck Tribute: At a tribute for John Stenbeck's widow at the Baystreet Theater in Sag Harbor, NY, Springsteen was on hand to play two songs. He played "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" to open the salute, and took a seat next to Elaine for the majority of the show in the front row of the tiny (300 seats) theatre. Following a number of other artists--E.L. Doctorow, Edward Albee and others--Gary Sinise took the stage to perform Tom Joad's monologue from Grapes of Wrath as he says goodbye to his mother. Following Sinise's reading, Springsteen left his seat and came back onstage for "The Ghost of Tom Joad" to close the evening, saying, "This is for you, Elaine." Bruce said he should have performed "Red Headed Woman"--Elaine Steinbeck being a redhead--because of course, "blondes are fun, but when it comes to gettin' the dirty job done you need a red-headed woman."
2/3: Bruce and Joe jam in Pittsburgh: Despite the fact that this wasn't a very well-kept secret, Springsteen still showed up and turned in an amazing performance with the Houserockers at the release party for "Coming Home." After Joe and the Houserockers played a full first set, joined onstage by friends and family, Bruce joined in for the rest of the night--for the entire second set and an encore. The night included several of Bruce's own songs, familiar to the Houserockers from the "October Assault" a couple of years back, and Bruce, with his trusty Fender in hand, brought a similarly familiar electric guitar assault. Soundcheck included "Ramrod" and "Murder Inc.," both played at the show, as well as "Glory Days," which was not. By all accounts a fantastic performance, including an extended "100 miles..." break in "Light of Day" and Grushecky's son (introduced by Bruce as "Johnny 'Big Beat' Grushecky") on drums for one song. The setlist (with Bruce):Second Set
Never Be Enough Time
Talking to the King
What Did You Do In The War
Homestead
Chain Smoking
Labor of Love
Murder Inc.
Idiot's Delight
Pumping Iron
Ramrod
Light of Day
Encore:
American Babylon
Brown-Eyed Girl
Down The Road A Piece
Rebel Music
27/2: "Coming Home" record release party: Joe Grushecky's
record release party is being held this coming Monday night, March 2, at
Nick's Fat City in Pittsburgh, PA. We'd already been hearing rumors, of
course, that Springsteen would be showing up to jam with Joe and the Houserockers,
but figured these could have been fueled as much by Bruce's past history
of jamming with the band as by any real current info. Until we saw the local
paper today -- yep, in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, of all places to
get a "scoop" on an East Coast show -- which reports the following:
"Seattle singer-songwriter Lara Lavi will join Bruce Springsteen and
longtime Springsteen pal Joe Grushecky onstage for the kickoff concert of
Grushecky's 1998 tour Monday night in Pittsburgh."
Of course, as any Bruce-watcher knows, the chances of Bruce actually showing
up at a gig like this are reduced, ironically enough, when it's announced
in a major newspaper. When expectations are high, Bruce has been known to
back out. Even when he's actually present at an event -- the recent Wallflowers
show in Asbury being a good example -- too much "Brooocing" can
keep him from taking the stage. So a word to the wise: if you go, go to
see and support Grushecky; keep any other expectations low, and there's
at least a chance of a nice surprise...
6/2: Springsteen joins Steve Earle at Tradewinds in Sea Bright on Friday night for six songs! After Earle and the Dukes played their set, Bruce came out for the extended encore, which included a Carl Perkins song, 2 Rolling Stones covers, and 3 of Earle's own. Though they're birds of a feather--and Earle has been covering "State Trooper" for years--this was the first time these two guys have played together. Springsteen played rhythm guitar (on Earle's Epiphone, we hear) and sang backup for the following encore songs:
Everybody Wants to Be My Baby (dedicated to Carl Perkins
Sweet Virginia
Guitar Town
I Ain't Ever Satisfied
Dead Flowers
Johnny Come Lately
** Release alert The second single from One Step Up, Two Steps Back is now in stock. Includes "Downbound Train" plus 4 non-LP Bruce covers. Check out Backstreets' online catalog for more info on this and a few other new items.
31/1: The Come Together benefit concert Add a new page to the Jersey rock 'n' roll history book. In the closest thing to an E Street Band reunion since 1995's Concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Springsteen was joined tonight by Max Weinberg, Steve Van Zandt, Danny Federici, and Clarence Clemons onstage at the Come Together benefit concert in Red Bank, NJ. Quite a time was had by all--all who managed to get a ticket, that is, which leaves most of us out, but we can still marvel with dropped jaws at the set list. Songs included "Two Hearts," "Tenth Avenue Freezeout," "Bobby Jean," "Badlands," "The Promised Land," "Backstreets," "Born to Run," and an impromptu "Thunder Road." All the artists on the bill performed together; no individual sets, but rather performers coming on and off stage as the night's 3-1/2 hour jam went on. This was indicated right away, as the show kicked off with Jon Bon Jovi, Little Steven, Southside Johnny, and Bruce launching into "This Time it's For Real." So those E Street Band songs were, somewhat bizarrely you might think, mixed in with songs like "You Give Love a Bad Name" and "Livin' on a Prayer," but from everything we heard it was an incredible show, with Bruce, Bon Jovi, Southside (in particularly fine form, we hear), and Little Steven sharing mics and trading off vocals on each other's songs and in general having an all-out blast. And rocking out, which is something that's been a long time coming for Bruce. Even Patti came out to do one of her own songs. So let's get to the setlist (vocalists noted in parentheses):This Time It's For Real (ALL)
Two Hearts (BS/LS)
Bad Medicine (SS/JB)
Until the Good is Gone (LS/BS)
Tenth Avenue Freezeout (JB/BS)
Broke Down Piece of Man (JB/SS)
Hard Times Come Easy (RS)
Love's Glory (PS)
There Goes My Baby (SS/BB)
This Time Baby's Gone (LS/SS)
You Give Love a Bad Name (JB/BS)
The Promised Land (BS/LS)
All I Needed Was You (SS/LS)
Someday I'll Be Saturday Night (JB/LS)
Bobby Jean (BS/LS)
Blood on Blood (JB)
I've Been Working Too Hard (SS/JB)
The Fever
I Don't Want to Go Home (ALL)
It's Been a Long Time (SS/BS/LS)
Wanted Dead of Alive (JB/BS)
Backstreets (BS/LS)
Forever (LS/BS)
Livin' on a Prayer (JB)
Badlands (BS)
I Played the Fool (LS/SS)
Keep the Faith (JB)
Born to Run (BS/JB/LS/SS)
Rockin' All Over the World (ALL)
Thunder Road (ALL)
BS=Bruce Springsteen
LS=Little Steven
SS=Southside Johnny
JB=Jon Bon Jovi
RS=Richie Sambora
PS=Patti Scialfa
Also of note: "Born to Run" was so loud that plaster was falling from the ceiling. . . . Springsteen was clean-shaven, wearing a black shirt, black pants, and a red beret. . . . movie cameras filmed the show, for purposes currently unknown. . . . Clarence made his first appearance when "the Big Man joined the band" during "10th Avenue.". . . and, the reason for the show, the benefit raised $112,000 for the family of Sgt. Patrick King.
Tere will be a full report with some great photos in the next issue of Backstreets, #58. And they would like to include comments from readers, as usual, so... did you attend the show? Send your comments to iamtomjoad@aol.com
Other News:
6/1: Springsteen nominated for a Grammy this year? Strange but true... even though 1997 was a quiet year for Bruce, somebody took notice of the US release of In Concert: MTV Plugged, and Bruce winds up with a Grammy nomination from an album that's actually five years old! Springtseen received a Best Male Rock Vocal Performance nomination for the 1992 live album's version of "Thunder Road."
Performance:
16/12/97: Springsteen joined club owner Tim McCloone at McCloone's Rumrunner in Sea Bright, NJ, for a private Christmas party, reportedly jamming on all covers.
13/12: Bruce took the stage at the end of Joe Grushecky's show at Cheers in Long Branch, NJ, to play two acoustic songs with Grushecky: Homestead/Never Be Enough Time
7/12: As a tribute to Bob Dylan, who was being honored at the Kennedy Center Honors, Bruce played for a crowd in Washington D.C. that included President Clinton and many illustrious folks, a solo acoustic rendition of: The Times They are a-Changin'.
15/11: Springsteen played a private wedding ceremony in Colt's Neck, NJ, joining wedding band the Max Weinberg Seven for a half-hour or so of covers.
26/9: Bruce played two songs with Bobby Bandiera at Cheers in Long Branch, NJ: Mustang Sally/Lucille.
4/9: Bruce shares the stage with Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers at the MTV Video Music Awards, playing electric guitar and taking half of the lead vocal duties on "One Headlight."
29/10: Diana, Princess of Wales--Tribute, a 2CD compilation scheduled for release on 12/1, will include a song from Springsteen. While the album features quite a few exclusive tracks, the Bruce contribution will be the previously released "Streets of Philadelphia." Proceeds from the album, distributed in the US by Sony/Columbia, will go to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.
21/10: After lots of crying wolf, Elektra is finally releasing No Nukes on CD. The 2CD set hits stores today, with the same track listing as the original 3LP set, including Springsteen and the E Street Band's "Devil With the Blue Dress Medley" and "Stay" (with Jackson Browne).
26/9: Another surprise club gig, the first on the Shore in quite a while: Springsteen joined Bobby Bandiera onstage at Cheers in Long Branch, NJ, for extended jams of "Mustang Sally" and "Lucille."
4/9: Springsteen appeared at the MTV Video Music Awards tonight in NYC, not to accept an award--"Secret Garden" lost out to Will Smith's "Men in Black" in the Best Video from a Film category--but to perform in a surprise appearance with the Wallflowers. Springtseen joined in on electric guitar on "One Headlight," and took lead vocals for at least half of the song.28/8: In his first on-stage appearance since the Paris shows last May, Bruce jammed with Jimmy & the Gigolos, the house band at the Derby. Taking the stage with his electric guitar during the band's second set at the L.A. club, Bruce kept his baseball cap pulled low and wasn't recognized for a little. But when he stepped up to the mic, the crowd caught on that they were witnessing a "Boss sneak." The set list is still not known, more details pending...
17/7: Springsteen has helped out once again with Joe Grushecky's new album, due out in October. Bruce doesn't produce or perform as he did on Grushecky's last record, American Babylon, but he and Joe have co-written four of the new record's songs together: "Idiot's Delight," Cheap Motel," " I'm Not Sleeping," and "1945." No US label has been nailed down yet, but the album is planned for release in the US concurrently with its European release on the Musidisc label--the same label that put out Southside Johnny's Spittin' Fire earlier this year. Look for Grushecky on the road now, including an upcoming double bill with Nils Lofgren at Tradewinds in Sea Bright, NJ on August 15.
17/7: The upcoming 2CD set of Springsteen covers, One Step Up, Two Steps Back, is due out on the Boss's birthday, 9/23. It's looking like an awesome collection: all new covers on the first disc by artists such as Dave Alvin, Nils Lofgren, John Wesley Harding and John Hiatt; old and hard to find covers on the second disc like Robbin Thompson's "Guilty," Clarence's "Savin' Up," Little Bob Story's "Seaside Bar Song," the Knack's "Don't Look Back," and lots more, definitely not the same old stuff. In addition, there will be two CD singles, each with 4 more covers as b-sides! In all, that's 22 new Bruce covers and 14 previously recorded ones. Look for the first single, Kurt Neumann of the Bodeans doing "Atlantc City," due out on August 26. The first single's b-sides are: The Yell Leaders, "I Wish I Were Blind"; The Bumpin' Uglies, "My Beautiful Reward"; Dusty Wright, "Mary Queen of Arkansas"; Joe D'Urso & Stone Caravan, "Bye Bye Johnny." The second single is due in September. One Step Up, Two Steps Back is the first collection of this kind to be officially endorsed by Springsteen--a dollar from every copy sold will go directly to World Hunger Year, the organization designated by Bruce as the charity of his choice for this project.
22/5: Word continues to circulate about Bruce's involvement with Ed Burns's new film project, "Long Time, Nothing New." It's been reported both that Bruce has an acting role in the movie and/or that he's working on the score--Burns's last movie was "She's the One," with the soundtrack done by Tom Petty.