Your Friday Bruce Fix

Bruce Springsteen, J.J. Jackson Interview, Rave On, Growin' Up, But It's Alright

In last week's Friday Bruce Fix, I closed with the earliest known televised interview of Bruce Springsteen dating back to 1976.  This week, I'm opening with an interview conducted by J.J. Jackson for a Los Angeles television station.  J.J. Jackson, otherwise known as Triple J, was one of the original "Fab Five" MTV VJs when the channel was launched in 1981. 

When I first saw this interview, I thought that this was the same J.J. Jackson who recorded the mega hit single 'But It's Alright' back in 1966.  Shockingly, I may be wrong.  Others may share my confusion as an examination of the two J.J. Jackson entries in Wikipedia shows both with identical birth dates of April 8, 1941, both born in The Bronx, NY. 

It's either a phenomenal coincidence that John J. "J.J." Jackson the VJ, and Jerome Louis "J.J." Jackson the soul singer were born on the same day, in the same city, OR one or both of those entries is not entirely accurate, or is just plain wrong.  Could they actually be the same guy?  I don't feel like researching this any further to clear up the confusion.  If anyone knows the truth, please post a comment to enlighten us.

I prefer to think this was indeed a phenomenal coincidence, and that not only were the two J.J.s born on the same day, in the same city, and both went into the music business and eventually went by the same handle, but I'd also like to think they were born in the same hospital around the same time and that maybe there was some confusion and that the two babies were switched at birth and brought up by the other's biological parents. 

If I'm to believe what I've read, J.J. the VJ, aka Triple J, passed away, on St. Paddy's Day, March 17, 2004.  I think J.J. the soul singer is still alive, unless of course, through some phenomenal coincidence, he died on the exact same day.  By the way, it IS a phenomenal coincidence that I'm writing about this just two days after St. Patrick's Day.  I had no idea J.J. (at least one of the two) was even dead. 

This interview is widely considered Bruce's first television interview, but after last week, we now know this is not quite the truth.  This fix has certainly turned into a one big mess of dubious facts, clarifications, coincidences, confusion and unanswered questions.  Some fix....  what's the opposite of a fix?

Towards the end of the interview, Bruce mentioned playing Buddy Holly every night before he goes on stage to keep himself honest.  On this night, he actually opened with a Buddy Holly tune, 'Rave On'.

I thought it would be fun to play another song from Bruce's historic performance that night, July 7, 1978, at The Roxy.  In the Bruce Fix three weeks ago on February 26, 2010, I featured an early acoustic performance of 'Growin' Up'.  Six years later on the Darkness tour, it had morphed into a full band, show stopping centerpiece, with a great story.

Finally, this fix (or whatever it is) would not be complete without hearing from our man J.J.  Can you guess which one?

Appropriately, the clip suggests that this tune comes from 1968. That is of course wrong, it was from 1966, although the confusion may come from the fact that this song magically resurfaced to hit the charts again, I thought in 1969.  Maybe it was 1968..... 

Happy Friday! (I think it's Friday.... let me check...)

Bruce Springsteen, Twist & Shout

Well, I don't know about you, but I've had a pretty hectic and tiring week and with the weekend mere hours away, I'm in the mood to shake it up, baby.  So, with that simple truth as my catalyst, today will feature the first ever all 'Twist & Shout' Friday Bruce Fix. 

For many years, from the 'Born to Run' tour in 1975 through the 'Tunnel of Love' tour in 1988, Bruce Springsteen closed a lot of shows with 'Twist and Shout'.  I suspect it was Bruce's secret weapon, the song he'd tack onto the end of the encores if he suspected the audience had even the slightest bit of energy left and he wanted to hit them with that one last knockout punch. 

This first clip is the final song of the night at the end of what is widely regarded as one of Bruce's finest shows on the 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' tour, and maybe one of his best ever.  From the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey, on September 20th, 1978, here's 'Twist and Shout'.  Check out Bruce's sweat soaked jacket and shirt, just shy of the 8:00 mark, and then the dancing fool that takes over from there. 

I thought it would make for an interesting contrast to have a listen to the original recording. I think for most people, the first time they heard 'Twist and Shout', they were listening to The Beatles' version. With that great recording, and astonishing vocal performance from John, The Beatles pretty much made this song their own. 

The original was recorded in 1961 by a band out of Philadelphia called The Top Notes.  It was produced by a 21 year old named Phil Spector.  I'm guessing The Beatles weren't familiar with The Top Notes' version, but were inspired by The Isley Brothers' recording from a year later.  It was written by Phil Medley (who as far as I can tell, was not related to Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers) and Bert Russell (who as far as I can tell was not related to Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics). 

 

If The Beatles all but stole 'Twist and Shout' from The Top Notes and The Isleys, Matthew Broderick hijacked The Beatles' version, at least for a little while, in his hilarious and joyous performance in 'Ferris Beuller's Day Off'.  As you shut out the light and close your office door behind you at the end of the day today, hold this image of Ferris in your mind, because it's the end of the week, and time to celebrate. While you're doing your best Ferris moves on your way home, I'll be over here, dancing like Brucie in the last minute or so of today's first clip before leaving the stage to the final strains of 'Twist and Shout'.

Happy 'Twist and Shout' Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

I'm going to keep this short and sweet, after all, it's Christmas morning and I've got presents to give out, and hopefully even a couple to receive.  I also have to prepare myself for all the overindulgences of the day that will surely follow last night's overindulgences.  It won't be easy, but I'm sure if I stay focused, I will somehow get through it all. 

So, here you go.  If Santa hasn't yet arrived, then maybe this will tide you over until he does.

If that wasn't enough, how about this from the Max Weinberg Seven, with support from key members of New Jersey rock royalty, including Bruce, Little Steven, Jon Bon Jovi, Southside Johnny, and Bobby Bandiera, with Nils Lofgren, Gary US Bonds and Willie Nile thrown in for good measure.

Merry Christmas and Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, The Light In Darkness, Summertime Blues, Badlands, The Promised Land, Prove It All Night

In my entire life, only once have I lined up overnight in order to buy tickets for anything.  It was 1978, and my university buddies and I took turns holding our spots in line, eventually scoring two sets of six seats on the floor at the historic Montreal Forum for Bruce's November 8, 1978 concert.  That was a long time ago, and I have to confess I don't remember much about the show, nor do I think it changed my life, but I have no doubt that it was the most exhilarating performance I ever saw.  I also know that it was everything rock and roll should be and I walked out of the Forum knowing I would be a Bruce fan for life.

After all the hype and the well deserved breakthrough success of 1975's 'Born to Run', and the subsequent frustration and near career death experience of his legal battles with Mike Appel in 1976 and 1977, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band were finally free to resume their assault on the rock and roll world.  They returned to the recording studio, and in 1978, Bruce delivered his latest masterpiece 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' to Columbia Records.  On May 23rd, 1978, Bruce and the boys set out on a ferocious seven month tour of North America in support of the album.

Lawrence Kirsh's great new book 'The Light In Darkness' documents this tour through a collection of photographs and essays submitted by fans who, each in their own way, have strong emotional connections to and recollections of this tour.  I'm about half-way through the book, and I'm struck by all the passion and detailed memories people have regarding the Darkness album and tour.  Reading this book has inspired this week's Friday Bruce Fix.  It would also make a great companion piece to the much anticipated commemorative Darkness box set, with a remastered audio disc, full length concert DVD and any other goodies that might be hiding somewhere in a vault.  (Come on Brucie......  please???) 

One of Bruce's greatest talents is his ability to write, record and perform in a way that enables forming powerful connections with his fans, who in turn connect with important people in their lives and build families and communities. For a lot of people, Darkness and its tour came along at a time in their lives when they were figuring out who they were, where they were going, what they valued, where they drew the lines, and what they believed was possible. 

It is no coincidence that Bruce and his band were at the same point in their evolution.  It is something that naturally happens as we transition fully into adulthood.  Continuing to this day, I believe that people who were too young in 1978 to notice, or perhaps had not even been born, are able to go back to the Darkness album and tour and make those connections if they are at such similar points in their lives.  The themes Bruce dealt with on that album are easy for us to identify with and relate to in our own lives.  Those songs become our songs and our stories.

Reading Lawrence Kirsh's book reminds me that this band was on a mission, taking no prisoners, running from town to town simultaneously discovering and proving their greatness, and redefining what a rock concert could be.  There were many legendary moments and concerts on this tour, and in this week's fix, I'll highlight three great concerts.

The first clip (audio plus slideshow) features the opening two songs, 'Summertime Blues' and 'Badlands', from the August 9th show at the Agora in Cleveland. 

The second clip comes from the August 15th stop at the Capital Center in Largo, MD, featuring a joyous performance of 'Promised Land'.  I especially love the four consecutive solos from Danny, Steve, Clarence and Bruce. 

Finally, from September 19th at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, comes a scorching performance of 'Prove It All Night', with Bruce in full guitar hero mode, proving it with everything he had, as he did in every song on every stop on this tour.

To learn more about 'The Light In Darkness', go to www.thelightinDarkness.com

 
  
Happy Darkness Friday!

 

Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny, You Mean So Much to Me, Hearts Of Stone

After last week's mammoth Friday Bruce Fix featuring The Big Man (or is it Big Man?) himself, I've decided I need to pare this one down a little.  I just can't feature five clips every week.  That pace would kill me, and that wouldn't do any of us any good, would it? 

By the time Bruce Springsteen went into the studio to record his first album, 'Greetings From Asbury Park', he had been writing and performing his own songs for perhaps seven or eight years in a variety of bands.  He had amassed a wealth of material from which to choose featuring a range of styles and themes. 

When choosing tracks to include on any of his albums, Bruce is always careful to ensure that those he chooses work well with each other and form a coherent whole.  This sometimes means great songs are left off albums, and many of those found their way onto 1998's 'Tracks' 4 cd box set. 

Today's first clip features a song that didn't make it onto 'Greetings From Asbury Park'.  From a July 31, 1973 gig at My Father's Place in Rosalyn, NY, 60 minutes of which were broadcast on radio, here's a great version of 'You Mean So Much to Me'.  It was originally written for and performed with the Bruce Springsteen Band in 1971. 

Bruce never released 'You Mean So Much to Me' but later gave it to his Asbury Park buddy Southside Johnny who released it in 1976 on his first album 'I Don't Want to Go Home'.  For that recording, Southside shared vocal duties with Ronnie Spector of the "Ronnettes", and also the former wife of Phil Spector, he of the wall of sound and Russian roulette fetish.  Here's how it sounded with the Southside Johnny & Miami Steve wall-of-horns treatment.

The mid to late '70s were a particularly fertile song writing period for Bruce, with many outstanding songs being left off 'Darkness On The Edge Of Town' and 'The River'.  'Hearts Of Stone' is one such example.  He wrote it in 1977, quite possibly with the intention of giving it to Southside Johnny.  Whether or not that was his intent, this great song didn't really belong on 'Darkness'.  Instead, it became the title track of Southside's all-time best album in 1978.

Clip number three for this week is Bruce's original recording that was later released on 'Tracks', followed immediately by Southside's classic interpretation.  I think I hear Miami Steve singing background vocals on both tracks, and that's Stevie's fine lead guitar work on Southside's recording.

There, that wasn't nearly so mammoth, was it?  Well, maybe just slightly less mammoth.

Happy Friday!

The Bruce Springsteen Band, Don't You Want To Be An Outlaw, I'm Into Something Good, Take Out Some Insurance

Today's Friday Bruce Fix features what was known as The Bruce Springsteen Band, which had at its core, Bruce, Steve Van Zandt, Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez, Gary Tallent and David Sancious.  Bruce formed this band in July of 1971, and the line-up would expand for gigs, perhaps depending upon the song, to include Bobby Feigenbaum on sax, and Harvey Cherlin on trumpet, along with Barbara Dinkins and Delores Holmes on backing vocals.  I believe that Danny Federici may have, at times, played some organ for this band. 

Our first clip features a song titled 'Don't You Want To Be An Outlaw', although its correct title may actually be 'Ballad Of Jesse James'.  I can't be sure.  Maybe Bruce will post a comment for us to clear up the confusion.  This recording appears to come from a March 14, 1972 rehearsal session at Challenger Eastern Surfboards in Highlands, NJ, featuring the five core band members and some nice dual lead guitar work by Bruce and Steve. 

And here's a live double shot, that starts out as a bluesy rendition of the Goffin/King composition, 'I'm Into Something Good', made famous by Herman's Hermits, and later segues into 'Take Out Some Insurance', a Singleton/Hall composition from 1959.  This live recording is from The Back Door Club in Richmond, Virginia, where The Bruce Springsteen Band performed nine nights over three of four weekends in February of 1972.  It's not clear which night this clip was recorded. 

I owe a special thanks this week to two websites, www.springsteenlyrics.com and www.brucebase.org.uk .  They enabled me to easily research the stories behind this week's clips, and are a wealth of information that I turn to regularly.

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Forever Young, The Times They Are A Changin', I Want You

This week's Friday Bruce Fix is inspired by the recent news that Bob Dylan was detained by police as he wandered the streets of Long Branch, NJ one rainy Thursday evening in July.  Bob apparently stood a little too long in front of a house for sale, peering into the window, thus spooking its occupant.  This led to a suspicious person phone call to the Long Branch Police.  The police officers probably thought it was a bit unusual for a scruffy looking 68 year old wearing a hoodie and a dark raincoat to be wandering around by himself in the pouring rain in a working-class neighborhood. 

When asked for identification, the guy who almost singlehandedly changed the course of popular music couldn't produce any and the young police officers didn't recognize him, nor were they buying his claim to be Bob Dylan.  Long Branch's finest drove Bob back to his tour bus (he was in town, on tour with Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp) where his manager vouched for him.

There are all kinds of great reports and blogs out there on this incident that you may want to find through Google, but I want to focus on the rest of the story.  What was Bob doing?  He said he was looking at houses for sale.  It just so happens that when police found him, Bob was just a couple of blocks away from the home where Bruce Springsteen lived in 1974, and where he wrote the songs for his breakthrough 'Born to Run' album.  It also just so happens that within the last 9 months, Bob has visited the childhood homes of Neil Young and John Lennon.  Since Bob hasn't seen fit to explain what he's up to, I thought it would be entirely appropriate to speculate, and I'd like to encourage everyone reading this blog to post your own theories.  Here are a few of my own unfounded speculations to kick things off.

• He's searching for inspiration for a song about how the best songs are written in dumpy old homes (apologies to the parents of Neil and John).
• He's planning to buy at least one previously lived in home of everyone in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, and then sell the whole lot of them to a wealthy Dubai developer at a tidy profit.
• He's studying to get his real estate broker's license as a fall back plan in case his singer/songwriter thing doesn't work out.

I look forward to your comments.  Now onto this week's clips.  Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bruce Dylan, or is it Bob Springsteen?  I got it.... from Hibbing, New Jersey, Mr. Frederick Zimmerman!

To wrap up our little tribute to Bob, here is an outstanding audio only clip from a show in early 1975, before 'Born to Run' was released, and I suppose while Bruce was still living in that house in Long Branch. I think this must be Bruce's best cover of all, and maybe the best all time cover of a Dylan song, although there are probably a lot of good counter arguments to that last statement, and you might also argue I am biased. The photo looks to be post 'Born to Run' as he had shaved off his beard.  Nice ride. Hmmm, do you suppose that's the house in Long Branch? Does anyone know?

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Remember When The Music, Harry Chapin, Cats In The Cradle, Mail Order Annie

Harry Chapin died July 16, 1981, 28 years ago yesterday, in a fiery car crash on the Long Island Expressway.  The official cause of death was cardiac arrest, though it was unclear whether his heart failed him before or after the crash. Whichever happened first, it led to the other.

In life, Harry's heart along with his passion for living and giving, motivated him to do something to make a difference in his world.  Harry earned a substantial amount of money over his career and gave much of it away, with an emphasis on causes related to battling hunger in America.  It was estimated he donated a third of the proceeds from his paid concerts to charitable causes.  The following two paragraphs are directly from Wikipedia.

One report quotes his widow saying soon after his death — "only with slight exaggeration" — that "Harry was supporting 17 relatives, 14 associations, seven foundations and 82 charities. Harry wasn't interested in saving money. He always said, 'Money is for people,' so he gave it away." Despite his success as a musician, he left little money and it was difficult to maintain the causes for which he raised more than $3 million in the last six years of his life. The Harry Chapin Foundation was the result.

Chapin was interred in the Huntington Rural Cemetery, Huntington, New York. His epitaph is taken from his song "I Wonder What Would Happen to this World." It is:

Oh if a man tried

To take his time on Earth

And prove before he died

What one man's life could be worth

I wonder what would happen

to this world

This week's first clip features a very fine solo acoustic performance by Bruce Springsteen at the Carnegie Hall Tribute show in December of 1987 honoring Harry Chapin's life, and includes a great little story about how Bruce met and got to know Harry.

Harry's big hit was 'Cats in the Cradle', a song based on a poem his wife Sandy wrote about her first husband's relationship with his father.   The birth of his son Josh inspired Harry to turn Sandy's poem into a song, and it became his only #1 hit.

Here's Harry at his story-telling best.

Thanks Harry. Happy Friday.

Bruce Springsteen, Blowin' In the Wind, Bob Dylan, Bad Moon Rising, John Fogerty, This Land Is Your Land, Woody Guthrie

This week's Friday Bruce Fix features Bruce Springsteen showing us his folksy, rootsy roots, along with social and political commentary and a little protest thrown in for good measure.  These clips feature songs written by some of Bruce's key influences, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty and Woody Guthrie. 

We lead off today with a double shot.  This clip is from Chateau de Vincennes in Paris, France at the SOS Racism Concert, which was broadcast on French television in June of 1988.  Bruce performed just 4 songs, all acoustically.  These are the final two songs in the mini-set.

As the 'Born in the USA' tour wound down in late 1985, after being on the road for about a year and a half, Bruce and the band rolled into LA for their final stop.  The final night of the tour was filmed and this next clip was from late in the show, sandwiched between 'Rosalita' and 'Born to Run'.

In 1940, Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land is Your Land' as a response to Irving Berlin's 'God Bless America'.  Woody felt that the America he knew was a lot different from the one Irving wrote about.  Woody's America was suffering from Dust Bowl conditions and the Great Depression, while emigrant and blue collar workers battled racism and classism as they roamed around looking for work.  Woody's lyrics addressed liberty, individual rights and property ownership. 

I suspect that a song like this has been a source of inspiration for Bruce in taking up the cause in fighting for the disadvantaged and for what he believes is right.  His spoken intro provides some insight into how Bruce interprets Woody's lyrics.

Happy Friday!

Bruce Springsteen, Many Rivers to Cross, It's All Right, Jimmy Cliff, Curtis Mayfield

This week's Friday Bruce Fix features our man Bruce Springsteen indulging in his love of gospel. Our two feature clips come from his 1993 tour of Europe during what I call the wilderness years away from the E Street Band.  Bruce toured with this band for about a year from mid 1992 to mid 1993.  The musicians included Shane Fontayne (guitar), Tommy Simms (bass), Roy Bittan (keyboards), Zach Alford (drums) and Crystal Taliefero (guitar, percussion and vocals).  A friend of mine refers to this as the Shane and Zack Band.  Not surprisingly, he calls this tour the Shane and Zack Tour.

Bruce has always liked having a broad pallet of instruments and vocals to work with (see the March 13, 2009 fix featuring Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom) and to this band he added backing vocals from Gia Ciambotti, Carol Dennis, Cleopatra Kennedy and Angel Rogers.  Bobby King also provided his backing vocals as well as the occasional lead vocal.

On just a few occasions late in this tour, as a great counterpoint to the usual assortment of bring-down-the-house rock anthems, Bruce would throw in a cover tune selected from his melting pot of influences.  There were a couple of nods to John Fogerty with 'Who'll Stop the Rain?' and 'Rocking All Over The World'.  Another double noddee (not to be confused with "double naughty", which is something else entirely) was Jimmy Cliff with 'Trapped' and today's first clip.  In 1969 Jimmy Cliff released 'Many Rivers to Cross' and he later included it on the soundtrack album for the 1972 film 'The Harder They Come', in which Cliff starred.

Another influence covered on this tour was Curtis Mayfield and his group The Impressions.  'It's All Right' went all the way to #4 in the pop charts in 1963.  This was a show closer on a few occassions. Hey Brucie, let Bobby take the lead for a bit, alright?

 

And, what the heck, we may as well have a listen to The Impressions' original recording of 'It's All Right', because well, it really is all right!

It's All Right to haaaaave a goood Friday!

PS.  As a little news item for those of you who can access Fuse TV (I think you have to be in the USA), on Saturday June 20th, Fuse will be showcasing footage from the 2009 Bonnarro Festival at which Bruce and the E Streeters performed last weekend.  More info here:   http://fuse.tv/tours/bonnaroo-09/   Thought you might like to know.