One wintery Friday morning in the first week of December 2007, I emailed a video clip of Bruce Springsteen to four friends. Without giving it much thought, in the subject line I wrote "Your Friday Bruce Fix". In the body of the email, all I wrote was "Admit it, you need it.", and provided a link to a clip on YouTube.
I had no thoughts of sending more clips in the future, certainly not every Friday, and I could have guaranteed you that it would never become a blog. I'm not sure I even knew what a blog was. A year later, and a year ago this week, after 52 Fridays of emails to a growing list of friends and assorted Friday Bruce Fixees, Your Friday Bruce Fix became a blog.
Last week I featured what I feel is the definitive performance of 'Incident On 57th Street'. This week, I give you another definitive version of a song from Bruce's second album 'The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle'. This performance of 'Kitty's Back' comes from Bruce's appearance on 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien', on December 11, 2002, aligning nicely with the anniversary date of the launch of Your Friday Bruce Fix. I suppose one could make the argument that Bruce was the original Bruce Fixer, but December 11 fell on a Wednesday that year, and "Your Wednesday Bruce Fix" just isn't sticky enough to catch on.
This clip of 'Kitty's Back' is the one that I sent to the original four Bruce Fixees two years ago. This amazing performance is the source of my inspiration and motivation to share the gift of Bruce with my friends. The band on stage that night was a hybrid of the E Street Band and the Max Weinberg 7, and on the second and final song of the night, they were joined by "the man himself", Conan O'Brien, on guitar. Ordinarily, I would rather wait until later in the month to feature 'Merry Christmas Baby', but it comes bundled with 'Kitty's Back' in this clip. I guess it's not too early to start spreading some Christmas cheer.
So, happy Friday Bruce Fix anniversary to us, to the original four fixees, and to every other Bruce Fixee that has come along for the ride ever since. In fact, today would be a great day for everybody to spread the gift of Bruce. Wish your friends, family and colleagues a Happy Friday Bruce Fix by sending them the link to this blog. It's a great way to mark the day, and to begin the holiday gift giving season. Here's my gift of Bruce to you, and yours to them, and theirs to whoever. Here's 'Kitty's Back'. Crank up the volume and watch repeatedly until you no longer tap your toes. It could be a while....
Kittys Back-Merry Xmas Baby- bruce springsteen live
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Happy Friday Bruce Fix!
I have never seen Max look so happy: I wish they had kept the camera on him for the entire song and then we could count how many times he rises about a foot off his seat with happiness!
Posted by: Rose C | December 11, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Oh god, I think I have died and gone to heaven every time I watch this version of Kitty's Back!
Posted by: Rose C | December 09, 2009 at 07:09 AM
What a great video! Thanks for the fix. I love your site.
Posted by: A Facebook User | December 04, 2009 at 10:18 PM
As always, awesome job! Thanks for the Fix!
Dan
Posted by: Dan Dolan | December 04, 2009 at 10:01 AM