From: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org (LuckyTown Digest) To: luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Subject: LuckyTown Digest V6 #428 Reply-To: luckytown@luckytown.org Sender: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Errors-To: owner-luckytown-digest@luckytown.org Precedence: bulk LuckyTown Digest Wednesday, August 18 1999 Volume 06 : Number 428 NOTE: Sale/trade posts should be emailed to luckytown-ads, *NOT* to luckytown. That includes tix wanted/tix grovels, post them to luckytown-ads, please. Contents: The Great Statistics Of New Jersey ("Last Call") [P.Schoefboeck@mobilkom.] NY Times article ["Dean, Kara (BSMG)" ] Thoughts on NJ Shows and "Youngstown" [Andrew Rhim ] NEW! KACF FRONT ROW SEATS BIDS [Michael Zorek ] 8/12 review and thoughts on the entire 15 night stand ["Zur, John Francis] song history two [haukepreuss@t-online.de (Hauke Preuss)] Gut-spilling and the Man's response [Texaspts@aol.com] Monday August 16, 1999 [jsaulovich@berksys.com (Johnny)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 09:31:46 +0200 From: P.Schoefboeck@mobilkom.at Subject: The Great Statistics Of New Jersey ("Last Call") And just when you thought it was safe to read the LTD again... (- imagine eerie opening chords of "Goin' Cali" coming in right here -) ..as promised/threatened, here are the latest 1999 tour statistics; this time dedicated entirely to the 15-night stand at the Meadowlands...AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGH!!! (Hey, calm down - this installment will be the last one anyway! ;-)) - - The 67 different songs performed over the course of the stand included no less than 19 tour debuts; 2 of them world premieres ("Trouble River" on 08/01 and "Back In Your Arms" on 08/04). 14 of them were one-off performances. - - On 08/11, "Night" was used as an opener for the first time since December 1980. Opening shows for the first time EVER in Springsteen history were "Backstreets" (08/01), "No Surrender" (08/04), "Adam Raised A Cain" (08/06), and "Jersey Girl" (08/12). - - Less than half of the shows (7, to be precise) opened with material from "Tracks". - - Shows between 08/07 and 08/12 are particularly remarkable for including the highest percentage of songs with references to females in their titles ("Janey", "Frankie", "Sandy", "Rosalita", "Jersey Girl", "She's The One") ever found over the course of just 4 nights on this tour. - - Terms and names related to the Meadowlands stand that were mentioned most often in LTD posts over recent weeks are (in alphabetical order): "C23", "chicken", "Linda", "MIB", and "ticket grovel". Thanks again to the "2 Percent Club" (which hereby officially welcomes its newest member, Douglas W. Corkhill) for keeping the spirit up. Ken, I'm looking forward to your post. Jyrki, keep up the good work - thanks!! Greetings from Vienna, Austria - - Peter "A statistician is a guy who's getting paid $ 2,000 a month for finding out what another guy's supposed to do if he only makes less than half that amount..." ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 11:30:31 -0400 From: "Dean, Kara (BSMG)" Subject: NY Times article August 16, 1999 CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK Necessary Springsteen Keeps the Faith By NEIL STRAUSS Bruce Springsteen was 45 minutes late when he arrived at rehearsal at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., on Thursday afternoon. He was limping, his hand was bandaged, and he was clearly exhausted. In several hours, he would be performing the last of his record-setting 15 sold-out concerts at the arena. In the last five months he had already logged 2 public rehearsals in Asbury Park, a 36-show European tour and 14 performances at this arena. One would think he wouldn't have to rehearse anymore. But Springsteen, who has never shown a sense of entitlement to his rock throne and always felt a strong accountability to his fans -- particularly those from New Jersey, the state that he and his songs are so strongly connected to -- wanted to make that 15th night a little more special than those before it. After all, some fans had been to every show: like the luckier characters in Springsteen's songs, they deserved a reward for their faith and perseverance. So he rehearsed two songs the band hadn't played yet on the entire tour: "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)" and "Jersey Girl." On almost every night prior, Springsteen had ended the show with a new, unreleased song, "Land of Hope and Dreams." It was a very appropriate and telling conclusion to the show, a happy ending of sorts to the preceding tales of characters trying to navigate their way through a morally, financially and emotionally uncertain world, weighing their dreams against their reality and trying to decide which path to follow. The new song ultimately gave its main characters what they wanted, death and vindication, changing the passenger list in the Woody Guthrie song "This Train Is Bound for Glory" (which only takes "the righteous and the holy") to be all-inclusive (for saints and sinners, whores and gamblers). On "this train, dreams will not be thwarted," Springsteen sang with the E Street Band. "This train, faith will be rewarded." But after ending "Land of Hope and Dreams" on Thursday, he delivered a short farewell speech flattering the audience and then put a hand to his chin and mused: "Let me see, how can I say thanks? Maybe just once . . ." Then he trailed off. Most fans knew what would come next: they had been asking for it night after night, holding up signs pleading, "Can Rosie come out and play?" only, at some shows, to be sternly told by Springsteen that he had no intention of performing the concert classic they were asking for. But on Thursday night he had every intention of playing it, changing the lyric about "the swamps of Jersey" to "the great state of New Jersey." And when he sang the line he wrote in 1973, "Someday we'll look back on this, and it will all seem funny," he responded to his younger self, "It is funny." It would have been too contrived to open on first night of the series with "Jersey Girl," a Tom Waits song. But it began Thursday's show. In addition, during "Hungry Heart" Springsteen was joined onstage by a very different native son of New Jersey, Jon Bon Jovi (who in his days as John Bongiovi sneaked into this very arena to see the Boss), along with the guitarist Richie Sambora and Melissa Etheridge. Though Springsteen set the record for the longest stretch of shows at the arena with these 15 concerts, the 330,000 tickets that were snapped up were not the most he has sold in New Jersey during an engagement. (His six-night stand at Giants Stadium in 1985 packed in more people.) But the popularity of these performances comes at an interesting time. In 1985 he was at the height of his "Born in the U.S.A."-era popularity; today, less than a month away from his 50th birthday, most of his recent releases have been archival. The complicated, morally uncertain picture that Springsteen painted of the working class has been replaced on the pop charts by the angry certainty of proud white-trash rebels without a cause like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit, whose sense of pop history stops at early hip-hop and 70's rock. In their songs, which offer few possibilities of redemption, the time bombs ticking in the hearts of Springsteen's down-and-out characters are always exploding. Yet Springsteen's concert popularity endures because, besides always having put on a great live show, he fills a rock-and-roll need that no younger pop act is serving successfully. (He will most likely return to the arena for a New Year's Eve show, though it has not yet been announced.) He evokes a period of pre-psychedelic rock-and-roll that seems to be fading from the collective pop memory. And he speaks for the increasingly invisible backbone of America: the blue-collar laborers, the people caught in the struggle of every day, the poor huddled masses whose individuality he insists on, "The Ghost of Tom Joad." It is a segment of the population that has been slowly losing its voice in popular culture in these years of prosperous baby-boomer spending, romanticized teen-age entertainment and Internet optimism. Springsteen is also necessary because he still believes in rock-and-roll. In a mock-preacher voice each night, he offered the audience paradise in this life through "the ministry of rock-and-roll." An early convert, he was quite literally saved by the music when the guitar gave meaning and direction to the life of an awkward small-town loser ostracized by his parents, his peers and the nuns who taught at his school. He captured that moment with the bittersweet fondness of hindsight at several concerts with an unreleased confessional folk song named after the town he grew up in, "Freehold." But the rock-and-roll sermon reached its feverish peak each night when the house lights came on during "Born to Run." Audience members, religiously rising to their feet, didn't just remember the song, they didn't just sing it: they felt it. "Someday girl I don't know when/ We're going to get to that place/ Where we really want to go." The importance of Springsteen's music is in those four words of aspiration and ambivalence that speak to us all, "I don't know when." Springsteen's 15th show at the Continental Arena was a marked contrast from his first concert there a month earlier. On opening night, with television cameras rolling, moguls and critics from across the country in attendance and a lot of anticipatory hype for the beginning of his first American tour in more than 10 years with the E Street Band, he was somewhat stiff and visibly nervous, though he still delivered a strong set. But as the dates progressed, he and the band became looser, more playful, more comfortable and more familial. One night, they celebrated the birthday of Patti Scialfa, his wife and back-up singer and guitarist; another night, the guitarist Steve Van Zandt even brought his cocker spaniel onstage. At Thursday's final show, Springsteen and the band walked onto the stage as if it were their living room. More than most previous nights, he spoke between songs, ran around, pumped his fist in the air, interacted with the crowd and jumped on the piano (although the shows were still shorter and less talkative and energetic than in his younger days with the band). He also stretched out on electric guitar, playing at least three solos, most notably during "Prove It All Night." He was more himself: serious and passionate but also goofily self-conscious. The drummer Max Weinberg played with more precision and ease than at any of the previous shows I'd seen, and Nils Lofgren gave "Youngstown" one of its best slow-burning guitar-solo codas. From night to night the structure of Springsteen's set appeared to be the same, with a handful of gaps for new songs to be inserted. As time progressed, material from his first two albums (before the studio, songwriting and sales success of "Born to Run") slowly crept its way into the set list. Interestingly, the only stage of Springsteen's career that wasn't represented throughout the engagement was his 1987 "Tunnel of Love" album, recorded as his first marriage was dissolving. A reflection of the optimism that the E Street Band and his current marriage seem to bring out of him was that instead of performing those songs grappling with problems of domesticity and co-dependence, he played love songs like "Two Hearts" and "If I Should Fall Behind" (his 1992 sequel to Ben E. King's "Stand By Me"). It is clear that in 1999 -- with a $14 million home in Beverly Hills, a place in the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame and almost a quarter of a century of success behind him -- Springsteen is far from the embodiment of those he sings about. But at the same time he has gotten more than he wanted only to discover that a dream fulfilled is no longer a dream; it is a new and heavier weight. And in his long engagement at the Continental Arena, he carried that weight admirably. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 08:16:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Andrew Rhim Subject: Thoughts on NJ Shows and "Youngstown" A few things: I read at the Ticketmaster site this morning; Bruce and the band are planning "stadium shows" next year. Wow! Also, after seeing Bruce in NJ, he really is a "cool rockin' DADDY." Yea, daddy is doing well rocking (now, his kids know . . .) Also, I've been listening to "Youngstown" from the excellent 1st Asbury Park Rehearsal show. Each time I listen to this reworked, band version of this song, the sonic power of the E Street hits home and lyrical content becomes clearer. The story of "Youngstown" reminds me of "Born in the USA." Both songs are about a guy returning home after a tour in vietnam, and finding dead living and despair. These songs compliment each other well, describing lives sinking into the ground. Bruce purposely presents"Youngstown" as a full-band rocker, to make a statement as he does with "Born in the USA." It's no mistake that Bruce sees this song in concert as powerful as BIUSA. The way he screams Youngstown at the end of each verse reminds me so much of the presentation of "Born in the USA" on the BIUSA tour. Which brings me to the lighting on Bruce's face during "Youngstown" in concert. As I recall, the lighting shines red and blue on his face during this song. Didn't the lighting make it appear as though Bruce had a blue (or red, I can't remember exactly) bandana around his head? The image struck me during the shows, and has stuck with me. Listening to "Youngstown" just now, I thought about it again. It's quite eerie, because it looked like Bruce in '85. Just curious if other people noticed this . . . Can't wait for Boston Drew _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 23:36:47 -0500 (CDT) From: Michael Zorek Subject: NEW! KACF FRONT ROW SEATS BIDS For all of you interested, The Kristen Ann Carr fund has new front row seats up for auction. To bid on a chance to win Front Row Tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in some upcoming cities we ask that you check out VH1 online (www.VH1.com). As of 5pm on Tuesday August 17, the bidding stands at : Boston-8/21 $7100 Bidding closes at 6pm on Wednesday August 18th Washington DC-8/31 $3500 Bidding closes at 6pm on Saturday August 28th For those unable to bid, who would still like to help out, please send this email onto other Springsteen fans, or people that you might think would be interested in helping out a good cause. For your information, donations to the fund can be sent to: The Kristen Ann Carr Fund 648 Amsterdam Avenue, Suite 4A New York, NY 10025 The Kristen Ann Carr Fund was started in 1993 to honor the memory of Kristen Ann Carr, daughter of Bruce Springsteen's co-manager Barbara Carr and writer Dave Marsh, who died of liposarcoma at the age of 21. The money raised by the fund goes to aid in sarcoma research, as well as to improve the quality of life for young people - especially teens and young adults - who have cancer. The money raised from the sale of these tickets will go to benefit the Musicians on Call program started by the KACF. The mission of Musicians On Call (MOC) is to use music and entertainment to promote or complement the healing process for patients/residents in health care facilities in the interest of improving quality of life and creating a better living and healing environment. While the launch of this program will be at New York City hospital, the purpose is to provide a working model designed to allow others to emulate like programs at institutions around the world.. Musicians On-Call's immediate goal is to lift spirits in Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center by providing patients and personnel with access to live (including in-room) musical performances 5-7 days a week and up to 9 hours a day. These performances can be requested by phone, fax, or e-mail from people both in and outside of the hospital or may be recommendations of a nurse, social worker or other clinician. The musicians will be a mixture of local artists and occasional celebrity participation. During lag times when a musician is not with an individual patient, he/she will perform at out patient treatment waiting rooms, adult and pediatric recreation rooms and also visit nursing stations to see if they or any of their patients need a quick "pick-me-up." The musicians will perform with a simple acoustic guitar or mini keyboard, keeping volume to a minimum level so as not to disturb other patients or personnel. They will only be in rooms for a few minutes at a time (unless more time is requested), and will, of course, come back or wait to perform for a patient who is undergoing a procedure or treatment. The musicians, as a matter of policy, will in no way interfere with normal hospital operations.. - ----- Michael Zorek HWH Account Executive 1414 Ave of the Americas New York, NY 10019 (P) 212-355-5049 (F) 212-593-0065 ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 01:07:45 -0400 From: "Zur, John Francis, JR (John)" Subject: 8/12 review and thoughts on the entire 15 night stand Thoughts on 8/12 closing night: - - The Crowd was the most intense since opening night on 7/15. You could hear the buzz rumbling through the arena 20 mins before show time. The applause during as the band took the stage was almost as loud as opening night. This was a crowd waiting and expecting all the stops to be pulled out. They/We were truly one of the highlights on this final night. Also, the ticket drop line was huge. - -When Bruce stepped up to the mic and said "It's the last dance" - I had an ambivalent feeling - happy to be there on this final night but sad it was coming to an end. - -Jersey Girl brought tear to my eyes. A song that is elevated to a new height when played in NJ. - -Bruce's teasing of the crowd about "what could I do to Thank You?" "What could it be?" The anticipation and excitement was almost as exciting as the song. - -Rosie - The crowd was dancing in the aisles in a frenzy! I had forgotten how much fun this song is in concert. When I think back of all the shows on this stand that I'd seen, I wouldn't trade a moment from any of those shows for the pre-song words from Bruce and the performance of this song with this frenzied crowd - an historic moment. After the song was over, the crowd continued to ROAR and I think Bruce was overwhelmed and not sure if he should play one more. When I left, I had that feeling I had back in 78-81 where you had nothing left and had gone through a whole range of emotions and although spent, you were in a euphoric state. As I look back on this incredible 15 show stand, my highlights are: - -being in the arena on my 40th birthday and opening night - 7/15 - -the deafening applause as the band took the stage on 7/15 (watch the VH1 tape and crank up the sound to see what I mean) - -The Youngstown/Murder/Badlands trilogy that seemed to get hotter and hotter - -Freehold (a good replacement for the stories Bruce used to tell more of) - -The most fun bruce show I've ever seen on 7/29 from the 1st change in the opening song - Ties that Bind, to the playing of FIRE during 10th Ave Freezout, to the glee displayed by the whole band and especially Bruce during Red Headed Woman and Give the Girl a Kiss - a great birthday gift to Patty. - -The passion of Backstreets (we need to go back and re-name this digest back to "Backstreets") - -the ending coda of Racing in the Streets (the E street band at their finest and their signature sound) - -Troubled River - a great, powerful new song - -The beautiful rendition of the River - -Back in your arms again - wow, he's got to play this again - -Adam Raised a Cain - -The singing before Bruce starts 10th Ave - a fun time every night. - -My new appreciation for Out in the Streets and Working on the Highway - fun, fun, fun songs - -The beautiful, countrified version of Factory - I'd like to see Bruce release a country album with these types of gems - -Jersey Girl & Rosalita on closing night - -All the smiles on the people's faces as they sang and raised their arms in the air - -All the new tramps born at these shows. Finally, I have been truly inspired and invigorated by these shows. Sure, it's not 1978, but Bruce and the E Street Band are STILL the best live rock band these is and in fact, may be more inspirational and spiritual now. Mr. Landau, please put out a live CD and videos from this stand! All you long time fans, please take some virgins to these shows, including your mom or you dad, sisters or brothers, friends, colleagues, etc ... See you up the road. ********************************************************* John F. Zur E-Mail: jzur@lucent.com https://www.netcaredata.com (DNS NetCare External Site) http://www.erols.com/tealeaf/studioz (Movie Picks/Photos/Cards) "the setting for transformation is often found at the end of your rope" Bruce Springsteen ********************************************************* ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 00:22:11 -0700 From: haukepreuss@t-online.de (Hauke Preuss) Subject: song history two Song history, part two: - - 'Night" and 'Candy's Room" (from July 27) were last performed at the L.A. Sports Arena, October 29, 1984. ('Night" was opening then) - - 'Sandy" was last played with the E Street Band at the Rosemont Horizon, Chicago, September 8, 1981, although included a few times in 1992 and on the Tom Joad Tour. 'Jersey Girl", always a pleasure for Bruce to include in any show, was last performed in an official E Street Band Show, on September 1, 1985 (although I think that the August 12 version was solo, but whatever) 'Rosalita" was last performed with the Band at the Madison Square Garden New York, May 16, 1988 And still a couple of other songs waiting to be discovered or resurrected. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 17:36:44 EDT From: Texaspts@aol.com Subject: Gut-spilling and the Man's response Hey all, Several Digests ago, Steven Svoboda wrote: " Both interviewers asked me what I would say to Bruce if I had the chance, and among other things I said that I would tell him: You probably have some idea how much you mean to a lot of your fans, but you probably don't fully understand HOW MUCH you mean to a lot of us, how much inspiration you have provided us through difficult times. I am sure there are lives you have directly saved and many more you have greatly enriched. Thank you so much." I had the opportunity to do this in Houston on the STFU tour (hee hee!) as Bruce signed my personalized license plate "BRN2RUN" (the front one that I could legally remove). I spilled my guts, the cheeseball that I am, and told him how much his music has meant in my life, and how it has touched so many others. That he virtually saved my life several times, gave me inspiration, and provided a role model for me when I needed one most, etc.. Guts. Everywhere. The man said NOTHING, and continued signing for several seconds while my blood pressure significantly dropped. Finally, as I was about to be absolutely crushed, he stopped signing, slowly placed the cap on the pen, put the pen on the license, handed it to me, looked me dead in the eyes with 50 other people standing around, and said, "Thank you so much for telling me that." And grinned! I nearly had to be carted away. Anyway, he may have these types of things said to him daily, but he made me feel like it meant a lot to him to hear it, and that he truly appreciated being told. I would feel very good if people told me I had made a difference in their lives, and I got the impression that he values that connection as much as we do. Anyway, I'll shut up now. The thing that got me the most was that he had the opportunity to CRUSH me. To completely let me down- the one person who never has. And he didn't. Enough said. Stephanie ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 19:30:05 -0700 From: jsaulovich@berksys.com (Johnny) Subject: Monday August 16, 1999 Hi LTDers - Today's a triple play in rock history. One of the most influential male performers of the century, who some say created his greatest work when he was young, died this day. Yes, bluesman Robert Johnson died on August 16, 1938, supposedly poisoned by a jealous husband. Oh, singer Elvis Presley died in Memphis on this date in 1977. Finally, Madonna is 41 years young today! "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight ..." Johnny Savage Berkeley CA R-A-D-I-O, hit me just like Lionel Rose You Am I best rock and roll band in the world ------------------------------ End of LuckyTown Digest V6 #428 ******************************* ********************************************************************* ** LuckyTown WWW URL ** The LuckyTown FAQ, back issues, web-based subscription/unsubscription, and many other things can be found on the LuckyTown WWW Page: http://www.luckytown.org ** LuckyTown mailing list addresses ** You can send email to go into the next LuckyTown Digest to: luckytown@luckytown.org You can send email to go into the next LuckyTown-Ads Digest to: luckytown-ads@luckytown.org Any questions for the list admin should be emailed to: owner-luckytown@luckytown.org To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@luckytown.org with message body: unsubscribe luckytown-digest To get further information on how to subscribe/unsubscribe/change your subscription address, as well as the other available commands, send email to majordomo@luckytown.org with message body: help ********************************************************************* The contents of this digest are not necessarily approved by the list admin.