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October 29, 2024 I joined the Spring-Nuts Facebook group on October 17, 2017, about two years after it began its existence, and when I launched this website last year, Letters To You "joined" and became an officially approved "member" of the group, as well, allowing us to connect regularly with many fellow Springsteen fans. After all, even now Spring-Nuts remains one of the largest (though no longer THE largest) of the Springsteen-focused Facebook groups, numbering over 18,000 members worldwide. Much of what has occurred within Spring-Nuts over the past three-and-a-half weeks, however, has had me, as well as a significant number of other fans, greatly concerned. It's led me to question and think very differently about its leadership's actions (and, at times, in action) around some very important issues, involving the treatment of both Bruce Springsteen and his fans with the respect and transparency they deserve. It wasn't so much how the Spring-Nuts administrators handled the posting of (then un -posting and re -posting of) Bruce Springsteen's endorsement video for the Harris-Walz campaign , though I think that now-you-see-it-now-you-don't-but-wait-here-it-is-again approach definitely was bumbling at best. I mean, to this day, I fail to understand why it took so long for the Spring-Nuts administrators to decide to simply share Bruce's video on Facebook with comments limited or closed, if they didn't want to deal with the task of extensive, ongoing comments-moderation. After all, that's exactly how we at Letters To You (and at least a few other online Springsteen-focused groups) handled it , albeit with a much smaller number of viewers/commenters, but still... It certainly seemed ironic - to say the least - witnessing the group's online administrators attempting to over-enforce its "No Politics Whatsoever" rule after already having broken it, all under their banner-posted group motto, "Taking Care of Our Own Since 2015," which of course paraphrases (or is that perverts?) one of Bruce Springsteen's most political songs ever. One also has to wonder if once Bruce's video got pulled from the Spring-Nuts Facebook page (an act that, regardless of whatever the administrators' intent was, ended up giving at least a temporary victory of sorts to those who opposed Bruce's message and wanted him censored for it,) it might never have appeared on that page again without Amy Lofgren's important role in putting a much-needed spotlight on the video's removal/absence . (Lofgren, who is of course the spouse of Nils Lofgren, also faced some extremely disrespectful and abusive flak online for having done so. I, for one, think that she handled all of that with nothing but bravery, reason, and dignity, much to her credit.) Nevertheless, as I already noted above, what concerned me much more were the things that came to light after the endorsement-video drama ensued. In the midst of the various online debates and discussions about how Spring-Nuts handled the situation with Springsteen's endorsement video and some other recent issues of concern, several current and former Spring-Nuts members involved in those debates revealed that they had received abusive/bullying private Facebook messages from one of Spring-Nuts' "Group Experts." (As per Facebook's online community guidelines and procedures , "Admins can recognize knowledgeable members as group experts, making them stand out with a new badge." The Spring-Nuts Facebook group currently has 47 such recognized members.) Each of the private messages from the Group Expert was a slight variation of the following: "I heard you left SN [Spring-Nuts.] Good riddance! You fucked with Howie Chaz [Howie "Howie Chaz" Chazanoff is the founder/organizer/key-leader of Spring-Nuts,] proving you are a loser. Howie is a good man and you are a fool." Another one, addressed to a current member who remains in good standing, read, "do us all a BIG favor and get the hell out of SN. You are a loser and a liar and there's no room for your constant negativity. Why stay in a group that you hate....JUST LEAVE!!!!" The Spring-Nuts Facebook group has five basic rules. The first two posted rules are: Be Kind and Courteous No Hate Speech or Bullying Yet incredibly, no serious consequences whatsoever appeared to have been issued to this Spring-Nuts Group Expert for his online behavior. Not only was/is he still a Spring-Nuts member, but as of this writing he still retains his Group Expert designation. About a week after sending those messages, he posted on the Spring-Nuts Facebook group page a public apology for his actions, including a general/collective apology to the members he had private-messaged. Yet two of the former members are unable to see such an apology, and none of the affected members has yet claimed to have received any kind of personal apology message from their bully. Another online thread began questioning just how much of the money raised by Spring-Nuts through its annual "Spring-Nuts Seaside Serenade" in-person gatherings, merch sales, etc. actually goes to the charities that Spring-Nuts supports. The allegations made online, as well as the data and computations behind them, also raised more than a bit of concern on my part. So I decided to contact Howie Chaz directly about all of this. Not only have I known of Howie since I joined Spring-Nuts seven years ago, but I've also known him informally as a friendly acquaintance since my days as a Backstreets Magazine/website contributor, etc. In the early afternoon of Friday, October 18, I emailed Howie an official media/press inquiry in my capacity as Editor/Publisher of Letters To You. I asked him, as the leader/organizer (aka "The Warden") of Spring-Nuts to provide on-the-record replies to the following five questions: 1. What consequences/penalties, if any, has or will [the Group Expert in question] receive(d) from Spring-Nuts for his bullying, inappropriate messages to several other Spring-Nuts members, past and present? (It appears that as of this writing, [he] has yet to receive from Spring-Nuts any consequences whatsoever.) 2. As you can see from the attached screenshots, some serious questions have been raised regarding the level of Serenade 6 charitable donations, in comparison to how much Serenade 6 money actually was collected through ticket-sales, etc. for an event that was advertised as one in which "All proceeds will go to" charitable organizations. It's estimated that ticket-sales alone generated much more than $36K, given Asbury Lanes' capacity, yet only $36K in donations was announced. Why such a discrepancy? Exactly how many Serenade 6 tickets were sold? What exactly happened to all of the Serenade 6 money generated by those ticket-sales, sales of merch and/or other items, etc.? 3. I also have attached several Spring-Nuts online-store screenshots of Spring-Nuts apparel items that incorporate photographic images of Bruce Springsteen. Did Springsteen and/or his representatives give approval for the use of his likeness in this way? I'm especially curious/concerned about this because none of these items - not even the Serenade 5 item - have explicit statements on their website pages indicating that any of the money from sales of these items gets earmarked for any charitable items: 4. Where does all of the money raised from sales of the apparel items referenced in my third question go? 5. A full week has now passed since Spring-Nuts attorney Jane Weisbecker Arnone tweeted , "A full post of Spring Nut charitable contributions will shortly be linked to the FB page." Have I missed the occurrence of such a posting? If not, how much more time is expected to pass before this promised posting occurs? As of 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday October 22nd, Howie had not replied to any of these questions, so I sent a follow-up message informing him that if I received no response from him within the next twelve hours, I would presume that he had declined to reply. At 11:42 a.m. that day, I received a message from Howie simply asking me to call Joe D'Urso of Rockland-Bergen Music Fest , Spring-Nuts' organizing/presentation/promotional partner for at least some of its events. An hour later that day, Joe also called the Letters To You office and left a voicemail message explaining that he could answer "one" of my five questions. In a pair of followup email messages to Howie, I explained that before I spoke "on-the-record" with Joe about any aspect of this matter, I first needed Howie to confirm specifically in writing (via reply email) that he was designating Joe to be his official spokesperson on one of the five questions I was asking, and for which specific question he would be doing so. Howie never provided any such confirmation to me. Instead at 5:34 p.m. on Wednesday October 23rd, he posted openly on Facebook approximately two-and-a-half pages worth of what reads very much like he wrote it in response to my emailed questions listed above, though of course neither Letters To You nor I ever get mentioned specifically in what Howie wrote. (If you're a member of Spring-Nuts, you can read for yourself what Howie wrote by clicking here .) Far more important, there's a LOT more than just the words "Shawn Poole" and "Letters To You" missing in what Howie's written in his Facebook "reply." First off, he claims that when they first posted Bruce's Harris-Walz endorsement video, somebody on the administrative team at Spring-Nuts somehow forgot to do so with the comments option turned off, even though - as he also claims - the no-comments policy is and always will be Spring-Nuts policy in regards to any posts concerning political statements by Bruce Springsteen. Then, according to Howie, in order to correct this incredible administrative oversight via apparent amnesia, they took down Bruce's endorsement video "temporarily," and re-posted it/pinned it without the comments option. Yet he never gets around to explaining exactly why it "temporarily" took more than twenty-four hours after the video was removed for it to get re-posted, and - interestingly - only about five hours after Amy Lofgren had publicly criticized the absence of any version of Bruce's Harris-Walz endorsement video on the Spring-Nuts Facebook page. As for Howie's defense of how he handled the case of the bullying Group Expert... Well, giving the bully a second chance and keeping him in the group doesn't necessarily mean that you also have to let him keep his Group Expert title, especially when it took him almost an entire week to issue any kind of apology for his actions, and a very weak one at that. (And again, as of this writing, he has yet to apologize personally to any of the bullied folks whom I interviewed, even the ones who are no longer Spring-Nuts members and can't see directly the apology he posted on the Spring-Nuts page.) But apparently Howie and I have very different measures of what indicates someone truly understanding that what they did was unacceptable and reprehensible. Nevertheless, hands-down the most mind-blowing part of Howie's October 23rd Facebook post is his response - or more accurately the overwhelming lack thereof - to the questions about Spring-Nuts' Serenade 6 charitable donations, merch sales, and financial transparency in general. Four of the five questions we asked Howie to answer had to do with these subjects, yet he only responded to the one about the Serenade 6 charitable donations. And what he wrote in response ain't exactly reassuring. $27,397 in expenses for a single fundraising event?! Seriously?! Dude, that is an absolutely ridiculous, virtually impossible-to-believe amount. You're telling us that more than 43% of the money you raised at what was billed as a charitable event went to yet-to-be-itemized-publicly "expenses?!" And incidentally, any experienced, reputable organizer of such events should know the difference between using the phrases "All proceeds (meaning all $63,397 raised will go to...") and "All net proceeds or all profits (after covering more than $27K in expenses) will go to..." But in either case, claiming $27,397 in expenses related to having only about 500 folks gather basically to just eat (at an inexpensive buffet,) drink (at a cash bar,) score a t-shirt that probably cost around $5 to produce in bulk, and dance/sing to recorded music for several hours at a relatively small Asbury Park venue, on a date/time at which the venue normally wouldn't be making much money anyway and therefore likely to be very open to negotiation, is still just... ludicrous. Since Howie's Facebook post also confirmed openly (finally!) that Joe D'Urso/Rockland Bergen Music Festival, Inc. is the person to whom any follow-up questions about Spring-Nuts' Serenade 6 expenses, donations, etc. should be addressed, I attempted to do exactly that. On the afternoon of last Friday, October 25, I called Joe at the number he left for me in his October 22nd voicemail message. This time I got Joe's voicemail, and left a message for him, stating that Letters To You had several follow-up questions related to Howie's October 23rd Facebook post, and that I wanted to arrange an on-the-record interview with him. Joe has yet to respond to my request. Yesterday afternoon, I also emailed Howie to inform him of my attempt to arrange an interview with Joe. Howie simply replied that he has no control over Joe's availability to answer or return phone calls. And left completely unaddressed, by either Howie or Joe or anyone else at this point, are our questions about whether Spring-Nuts has any permission from Bruce Springsteen or his representatives to use Bruce's likeness on some of the Spring-Nuts apparel sold in their online store , and what happens to the money raised from the sales of such apparel. (Sales of these items, incidentally, appear to have been very successful, with several items listed as being at or near sellout status. Selling such Springsteen-image-adorned apparel at prices ranging from $35 to $50 each, when each item costs far less than that to produce, can generate much additional revenue indeed.) Furthermore, the "full post of Spring Nut charitable contributions," promised by Spring-Nuts attorney Jane Weisbecker Arnone almost three weeks ago, still doesn't appear to have been posted on Facebook or anywhere else, for that matter. (Incidentally, regarding those charitable contributions, it's worth noting that since Spring-Nuts isn't a non-profit corporation, as Howie himself confirmed in his posted statement, nobody who bought a ticket to the Serenade can get a tax-deduction for any portion of their ticket purchase from Spring-Nuts. But Spring-Nuts itself can still write off any and all of the charitable donations they make to non-profit organizations from their Serenade ticket-sales. Not a bad little deal for the Spring-Nuts corporation, eh?) Therefore, at this point, in light of all that I've witnessed, experienced, researched, and reported above, I feel that I have no reasonable choice other than to terminate both my individual Spring-Nuts membership and Letters To You's institutional "membership" in the group. This was by no means an easy decision to make, and I hope to maintain my personal connections and friendships with many other folks who may choose to remain members of Spring-Nuts, whom I consider to be fine folks and fellow fans. Some even may contribute to this website, as well, and will remain welcome to do so, of course. But I no longer can have myself or this website be officially connected in any way to a group with leadership that has repeatedly failed to provide any serious answers to most if not all of the reasonable questions listed above, and appears to have strayed way too far from what it means to be a fan of Bruce Springsteen and his key collaborators. Bruce, his associates, their many fans worldwide, and the various charitable organizations that they/we support deserve far better than this.

October 31, 2024 On a much lighter note... Happy Halloween 2024 to every one of our readers celebrating it! Here's hoping you enjoy our appropriately mischievous and playful alterations to the cover of what remains Bruce Springsteen's most recently released "new" album, giving Only The Strong Survive  a Transylvania twist, and bringing in a whole new scaaaaaaaaaaary layer of meaning to that album's title. Of course tonight's biggest Halloween 2024 treat for Springsteen fans will be handed out in Montreal, where he and the E Street Band will resume this year's tour with their first performance on Canadian soil in more than eight years, followed by seven more Canadian dates in November to close out their 2024 itinerary. We hope that everyone in attendance tonight will have a great time, and perhaps even score at least one special Halloween-themed addition to the setlist. But no matter what happens or doesn't happen this evening, the wise exhortation of a rather famous Transylvanian count still stands as very good advice to follow, in relation to Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band: “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!"

October 28, 2024 EDITOR'S NOTE: To supplement our recent streaming-debut-weekend coverage of Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band , we are pleased to present to our readers London-based journalist and Letters To You contributing writer Herpreet Grewal 's edited transcriptions and photos from the London premiere of the film, which took place on October 18 at the city’s Ham Yard Hotel. There was a post-screening Q&A hosted by Scottish radio and television personality Edith Bowman, featuring Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, Stevie Van Zandt, and Thom Zimny. Since we already have posted our own extensive conversation with Zimny about his film , Herpreet has edited her transcriptions of the Q&A to supplement that conversation with a focus on just Bruce's, Jon's, and Stevie's October 18 comments, which not surprisingly were interesting, insightful, moving, and - at times - downright hilarious. Enjoy! Bruce: “The way we made this picture was we started to rehearse, and we called Thom Zimny. I said ‘Thom, bring your camera down.' And that was pretty much it; that was the beginning of the picture. Thom then films things and sends me pieces of things, and puts them together, and things start to take shape. Thom’s emotional instincts about how things fall together are really excellent. We’ve been working together now for twenty-four years, and done a bunch of other films, too. Thom has given me a visual language that we didn’t have previously... He’s a collaborator, someone with the visual skills, and Thom gave that to me. We’ve been great partners for a long time. We didn’t film in the first iteration of the band, which I regret now, because I was so superstitious about it. Once the band got back together, I said we’re going to film everything we do and make one film for every section of our work life. If we use some of them, they are there, and if we don’t, they are there in the archives. So we’ve been doing that over the past twenty-four years.” Stevie: “It was important because of the theme. Our show always has a great range of emotions, but this one a little bit more focused because the album [ Letter to You ] was a bit more focused. So I think it's one of the greatest albums of all time. When you really look at this thing as a songwriter, its really incredible. The depth…It's the most personal record, you know, that we’ve ever made, and so the challenge is to get this across, and because it was a theme about mortality…we knew we had to balance it out with vitality. Yes, we’re closer to the end than the beginning, but we’re not going out quietly... We had to bring a hurricane... There was going to be that one moment in the middle, which Thom captured so beautifully, from '...on the backstreets' to 'I’ll see you in my dreams.' Everything else was going to be like, 'Bam!,' and hit you in the face… We need to bring that every time… We need to transport people to another place for three hours… and then transform people and give them more energy when they leave than when they came. Bruce has always spent time thinking about what is going to be said on the tour. That’s what he needs to spend his time on. So the music... he doesn’t have to worry about it. He took care of the music with the songwriting, and then we made the records. The music is fine; the E Street Band produces themselves. I’ll fix a few things, he may come in and change a few things, but basically the music is going to be there, so Bruce has to spend his time where it counts, which is thinking about what is going to be said, how is he going to say it... And that is what he should be spending his time on, rather than having to worry about the music. He doesn’t have to worry about that anymore.” Bruce: “Yeah, why do I have to rehearse anymore? It doesn’t make any sense.” (laughter from the audience) Jon: “It makes me nervous.” (more laughter from the audience) “We actually shoot every night, and our in-house director [Chris Hilson,] who does the screening every night... Thom picks certain locations where, in terms of where he would go for the backstage story and also where we would enhance and get different angles beyond what we do on a nightly basis, and one of the things you can see in the film is the approach to the audience… when Bruce is communicating, and the importance of communicating what Bruce is feeling, right there, right then on that stage, in that moment, in your town. The other side of it is the audience. Thom shows the crowd and the big exciting mass of people, but when you see the film, what he is really looking for are the faces in the crowd. And so during these montages, like for example, where we had 'The Promised Land,' we had the tracking shot that just goes down the line and we see every individual in that crowd, but you see every individual’s personal reaction to the song and the exchange that is two ways that is going from Bruce to audience, but then from the audience, also, back to Bruce and the band. I think throughout the film, the focus on the faces and the eyes and the vignettes with the fans from all over Europe… those five individual people who were so wonderful, and so captured the spirit of the audience and what we hope for the audience... It was a combination of many elements there.” Bruce: “The key is - I’ve said this for such a long time - you have to look into the audience and find yourself every single night. I look into the audience, go down the line, and I find myself in this kid, or that person, or a hundred people. I spend a lot of time looking at individual faces, and the audience has to look up at the stage and recognize themselves in what you are singing, in what you are doing, and the friends you are there with and this, amongst our group and our audience is a deep, deep, deep, deep, deep experience, because they are looking at me and Steven on stage, and I’ve been with Steven for sixty years. Then they’re seeing me with Roy and Max and I’ve been with them for fifty years. Mr Landau has been around for fifty years - I don’t know how he did it, but he hung in there! So that’s the key... The night you look out and don’t recognize yourself, and the night they don’t recognize you, that’s the night you go home. I have to remind myself I exist every night! That’s really the reason I am up there. ‘Am I really here?’ I got to go up there and prove it.” “We have a long narrative. It began with [ Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ ...] I was interested in continuity... of records rubbing against each other and creating new meanings and third meanings, because my film heroes like John Ford made trilogies, different films based on the same themes, and so I kind of like that. So I wanted to make records that kind of fall into one another. Darkness on the Edge of Town falls into The River . The end of The River actually falls into Nebraska . Nebraska exploded into Born in the U.S.A. ... so I liked the continuity. What you are doing on stage... you are bringing your history to your audience, while at the same time you are focusing on your latest narrative. So we’re bringing our entire history, and focusing a little more on Letter to You , because that was our last record with the band, because it was a great record and dealt with the idea of rock ‘n’ roll, time, mortality and illness, and that is a big part of all our stories. So I wanted to make sure that was at the centre of the shows. The show peaks not with the rock songs, but... with 'Last Man Standing' and 'Backstreets' - this is what I am talking about. And the rest of the show is... this is how I respond.” Jon: “One of the things about the documentary form, the convention of it... you don’t need full songs. So pieces of songs can work as well, or even better, than the entire songs, and also the number of songs we were able to include… The film is one hour and forty minutes and in my biased opinion, it flies by, and you know there is so much music actually in it, but it is different than a concert film. We’ve never done this before; it feels right.” Bruce: “The film is also about the rewards of a band staying together. The actual arc of rock and roll bands is to break up, not stay together. Think about it. How many bands stayed together against how many who broke up? It’s waaaay 90/10. Forget about bands; you can’t get two people to stay together. Simon hates Garfunkel. Sam hates Dave. Hall hates Oates. Phil hates Don Everly… Oh, Noel and Liam; how could I forget them ?! It’s challenging - very, very challenging - but the film shows the rewards. It's a separate art, staying together; it's a separate art itself. You got to imagine... you’re in high school, and those four people you hung around with in high school... how about them being the same four people you’ve worked with every single day of your life until you are 75?! That’s insane to expect any sane person to be able to stand, but the art is, you know, to make it happen.” Edith Bowman: How do you stay together? Bruce: “I pay a tremendous amount of money. That greases the wheels pretty good, and I am a pretty nice boss. The truth is, you needed to cast your band well, you know, with people who have the same sort of respect and feeling and seriousness about what they were doing and what you were doing. Everyone has to hold that music in a very high place, and there are certain boundaries; we don’t fuck with that. So the band has to be cast very well. Steve and I have been friends for sixty years… A musical companion... It's not like anything else. Jon and I, fifty years... but it's an art. That’s an art. Each and every one of those relations... there are more than one moment[s] where it could have gone the other way. So that appeals to me in [ Road Diary ...] watching a bunch of people work together for that long.” Edith Bowman: "Stevie, you said a great thing in the film... This kid you grew up with, and him being a really shy introvert, but on stage he commands these people... Is it still a wonderful thing, as his friend, to see what he achieves and what he does on stage? Stevie: “It’s a miracle. First of all, part of what makes it stay together is that democracies don’t work in bands. This is a benevolent monarchy, and that’s how it needs to be, and that’s how it works." ( MUCH laughter from the audience) “Most of all, this thing... From the beginning, Bruce has had a bizarre career, if you look at it. It was never a commercial enterprise, which changes everything. It’s been an artistic adventure from the beginning. So that’s what he means when he says to cast the band well…you have to do that with that in mind, because if you are strictly concerned with commercial success, you have to cast it differently, because you’re going to be interested in short-term revenue and all that, but this was never the case for Bruce. From the very first album, his music had nothing to do with what was going on. Never fashionable, never trendy, completely unique from day one. It was a personal artistic adventure, so anyone joining that thing knew what they were getting themselves into. Luckily we have had some commercial common ground along the way, which was great, but that was never the intention. That intention of communicating something important and personal artistically is what has kept this thing so vital and important for the audience, because they understand that.” Bruce: “It was the funniest thing… In [late] 1972, my first record was about to come out and I am at a place called Kenny's Castaways in New York. It's a little club. I am there by myself. A buddy from another band walks in, and he’s got a mink coat on, and a nice-looking girl by his side. I’d performed with them before in and around New Jersey. So he sees me by myself on stage at Kenny's Castaways, playing to about twenty-five people, and after I was done, I came down [to see him.] He says ‘What the fuck are you doing?! We saw a half-hour act from you!’ And I said, ‘Yeah that was great, but you know, I think I know what I am doing now.' I played the long game. [I had thought] well, first two records didn’t do very well, third one kept us in the game. I always played the long game, and if you do that right, other things work out. Money comes, money goes, but if you do it right, other things come your way, or if you get the art right, the band right, the music right, and the performances, where you go out and play every night like it's your last night on Earth... That was the serial philosophy of the band, and we’re sticking to it.” Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band  is now available to stream on Hulu  and Disney+ . All photos by Herpreet Grewal - used with permission

October 24, 2024 EDITOR'S NOTE: Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band officially becomes available for streaming on Hulu and Disney+ tomorrow, Friday October 25. Below is our review of the film, along with SoundCloud and YouTube links for our great half-hour conversation with Road Diary 's director, Thom Zimny, and a special official statement from Thom about the film and what it's meant to him to work on it. Everything below is mostly "spoiler-free," but in actuality it's also pretty much impossible to truly "spoil" Road Diary . Like the best Springsteen concerts, even when you know what's coming next, it's still quite an awesome experience. We hope you get to enjoy it for yourself as soon and as often as possible: Too late to stop now... The Letters To You Review of Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band by Caroline Madden and Shawn Poole "The road has taken a lot of the great ones," the late, great Robbie Robertson of The Band told Martin Scorsese in 1978's The Last Waltz , one of the best all-time rock-concert films. "Hank Williams... Buddy Holly... Otis Redding... Janis... Jimi Hendrix... Elvis.... It’s a goddamned impossible way of life... No question about it." In Thom Zimny's new film, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band , Springsteen and his colleagues take a position on touring that's 180 degrees opposite to the one presented in The Last Waltz . "Since I was sixteen," says Bruce in his voiceover narration of the film, "playing live has been a deep and lasting part of who I am and how I justify my existence here on Earth...I plan on continuing until the wheels come off, and for as long as the audience will follow me." And this perspective is being shared by the leader of a group of performers after having logged a half-century-and-still-counting of traveling that road together, as opposed to The Band's relatively short (but still great) sixteen years before burning out and calling it quits, never touring together in their original formation again. It's that love of what live performance at its best can do, for both the performers and the audience, that helped to sustain Springsteen's long-delayed touring plans through the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. "When the world shut down," narrates Bruce in Road Diary , "I made a promise that if we got through this, I'd throw the biggest party I could." We were both there, along with thousands of other fans, on the first night that long-awaited party finally began to happen. We remember how the energy of Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida on February 1, 2023 was buzzing. It felt as if the entire audience was collectively holding our breaths for the first time Bruce Springsteen would appear on stage in concert with the E Street Band since 2017. In a flash, seven years had gone by since The River 2016 tour and its related early-January "Summer '17" tour Down Under, and COVID-19 had turned the world upside down, pushing back Springsteen's plans for a world tour after the release of his 2020 album Letter to You . While the 2021 revival of Springsteen on Broadway certainly did more than just satiate us, we were all craving that invigorating E Street Band sound again. In Road Diary , for the first time, we are able to see and hear how the E Street Band felt about their triumphant return. Director Thom Zimny gets right inside the trust circle the band forms before the show, and in their beaming smiles and tight grips on each other's hands, we can see they were just as thrilled. The director seamlessly integrates Springsteen’s blistering first performance of “No Surrender” that night. This opening song reassured the audience that no matter what happens, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will endure. While the "static" set list has drawn some contention among fans throughout the tour, Road Diary crystallizes Springsteen’s choices and gives us an intimate glimpse into his rehearsal process, setlist curation, and performances. Zimny is a very humanistic director, often using techniques like close-ups, juxtaposition, and slow-motion to soak in the tiny details about someone or remind us of the fragility of time—a theme that has been so prevalent on this tour. While other filmmakers might try to match Bruce Springsteen’s manic performing energy, Zimny uses his very patient and observant camera to capture the introspective depth of Bruce’s work. The slow-motion images of Bruce’s fluid movements conducting the band almost look like a dance. In the rise of his shoulder or the lift of a finger, we can see something magical in the unspoken connection that has developed between him and his band over the past fifty years. Recently, Zimny also spoke with us at length about the filmmaking techniques he utilized and the directorial choices he made for Road Diary . It's a great half-hour conversation, touching upon many aspects of making the film, including the development, importance, and unique role of Springsteen's voiceover narration, how and why Zimny filmed fans the way he did, how he and his crew went about the groundbreaking filming of Bruce's rehearsals with the E Street Band, why Zimny also considers Road Diary "my favorite deep dive into the vault," the invaluable contribution of Ron Aniello's score, and even Zimny's and Jon Landau's reactions to Bruce quoting Jim Morrison! Check out our special podcast conversation with Thom Zimny about Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band , available for listening on our SoundCloud and YouTube platforms, and embedded below: When Springsteen names the songs he wants to include on the setlist, Zimny includes related clips or photographs. In smooth, quick succession, we shift from thoughtful, black-and-white close-ups of Springsteen’s weathered face, the serious expressions of the teenage band The Castiles, and iconic moments from concerts at Slane Castle, Hammersmith Odeon, and "No Nukes." In an instant, we witness the evolution of an artist—a fifty-year journey of loving and sharing music that Bruce Springsteen has traveled from his days as a young man to a 75-year-old contemplating his own mortality. It’s a brief but beautiful sequence that articulates how much the passage of time is important on this tour. Zimny often uses slow-motion to focus on certain audience members—men, women, children, lovers, and friends—gazing up at Bruce with such reverence. He captures exactly what it’s like to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert. Whenever we watch him with the band, time seems to stop; we know that someday we’ll be nostalgic for this amazing moment that’s happening right now, so we try to take it all in. By taking the time to observe the fans’ faces in Road Diary , we are able to see the fruits of Bruce Springsteen’s labor, how he makes the drudgery of everyday life melt away, lifting his audience up into a state of pure bliss. Ghosts of family and friends past haunt this tour and Springsteen’s latest works, such as the Letter to You album, Springsteen on Broadway , and his autobiography, Born to Run . He has become increasingly reflective about the past and what his legacy will be. As we in the audience grow older, too, many of Bruce’s songs come into sharper focus for us. Simultaneously, hearing the voices of this tour's "newbies" - Anthony Almonte, Ada Dyer, and Ozzie Melendez - sharing their experiences of their first-ever full-scale tour with Springsteen, combined with the perspectives of newer, younger fans, reminds us that this music retains such strong, powerful legs to travel far, wide, deep, and into the future. With the past continuing to fade into the rearview mirror, we know that Springsteen and his collaborators still can remain our beloved traveling companions along the way. Ultimately, what Thom Zimny and his filmmaking team have captured with Road Diary greatly deepens our appreciation for the privilege of sharing this time on Earth with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. How lucky we are to experience this journey together, “until the wheels come off.” Oh, and by the way, there's one more thing that connects Road Diary to The Last Waltz ... With Road Diary , just as with The Last Waltz , it's best to follow the advice in the latter film's opening-titles card: “THIS FILM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD!” All photos/stills above are courtesy of Hulu/Disney+, and are used with permission.

October 25, 2024 Below we've embedded the official pro-video feed from the October 24 Harris-Walz campaign rally in Atlanta, GA, cued up to the beginning of Bruce Springsteen's appearance: Bruce began with a solo-acoustic performance of "The Promised Land." He then made the following remarks: “...Thank you, thank you. I’m Bruce Springsteen, and I am here today to support Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for President and Vice-President of the United States, and to oppose Donald Trump and JD Vance. Now here’s why... I want a President who reveres the Constitution, who does not threaten but wants to protect and guide our great democracy, who believes in the rule of law and the peaceful transfer of power, who will fight for a woman’s right to choose, and who wants to create a middle-class economy that will serve all our citizens. “There is only one candidate in this election who holds those principles dear: Kamala Harris. She’s running to be the 47th President of the United States. Donald Trump is running to be an American tyrant. He does not understand this country, its history, or what it means to be deeply American. And that’s why November 5th I’m casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I urge all of you who believe in the American way to join me. Thank you; this is ‘Land of Hope and Dreams’...” Bruce's solo-acoustic performance of "Land of Hope and Dreams" segued immediately into his closing performance of the day, a solo-acoustic version of "Dancing in the Dark" ("Now it's time for some entertainment; here we go...") after which he left the stage, but not before saying, "Thank you, Atlanta! Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for President and Vice-President! Get out there and VOTE! "

October 27, 2024 Good point, Stevie... Happy Birthday and many, many more to one wicked-cool bass player, the man who brings the bottom night after night after night after night (and makes MANY bottoms shake in the process,) the Southern gentleman who comes from a long line of Tallents, the Foundation of the E Street Nation, the Tennessee Terror... Mr. Garry W. "Funky" Tallent ! Today marks Garry's 75th birthday, and tomorrow will mark the 52nd anniversary of his earliest known performance with what was then the yet-to-be-officially-named-or-billed E Street Band . Garry is the E Street Band member with the longest tenure by far, having never missed a gig * in a continuous run from the start of the band all the way through to the current tour, which of course will resume shortly. That's a lotta bottom over a lotta years, and the best part is that it's all still going strong. Play on, "Funky," play on! * CORRECTION - Make that " almost having never missed a gig." Garry intentionally missed Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's December 12, 2020 Saturday Night Live gig, due to COVID-19 safety concerns. To date, 12/12/20 is the only time that Garry Tallent hasn't been onstage during any official E Street Band performance, for as long as the band has existed. That remains quite an impressive attendance record indeed. Special thanks to reader Kevin van Steendelaar for catching our error, and informing us of it.

October 22, 2024 EDITOR'S NOTE: As we continue celebrating LGBTQ(+) History Month , Letters To You is pleased to present this well-deserved spotlight on the Because the Boss Belongs to Us podcast , by our contributing writer Caroline Madden : Bruce Springsteen joked in his Born to Run  autobiography that his Born in the U.S.A.  concert garb—red bandana against his sweaty brow, thigh-hugging jeans, plain white tee, and matching denim vest—had more than just an all-American aesthetic. He was not just performing as the kind of macho guy who grinds at a blue-collar job and enjoys playing baseball on the weekend with his buddies. It was a style that was so over-the-top, Bruce humorously wrote, that he looked "simply… gay. I probably would have fit right in down on Christopher Street in any one of the leather bars." He also once quipped on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that his primary audience was young men, "due to the homosexual undercurrents in my music.” The male friendships in songs like "Backstreets" and "This Hard Land" are so intimate that they can inspire readings of queer love. These are more than just offhand jokes or observations; they indicate how Bruce Springsteen recognizes elements in his music and star power that connect with the LGBTQ+ community. This is precisely what Jesse Lawson and Holly Casio explore in their 2024 podcast, Because the Boss Belongs to Us . The working-class champion and rock star may seem like an unlikely queer icon, but as previously mentioned, certain aspects of his artistry strike a chord with LGBTQ+ audience members. This podcast digs deeper into these ideas. Jesse Lawson (pictured above on the left) has a background as a freelance audio producer, sound designer, and community facilitator, while Holly Casio (pictured above on the right) is a comic artist. Casio's zines, Butch Mother Springsteen and Looking for Bruce , are lovely pieces of fandom that were one of my first introductions to the queer community's appreciation of Bruce. Produced with Molten Heart , Because the Boss Belongs to Us varies its format, but mainly, Lawson and Casio perform as scientists of sorts on a mission to research, gather data, and hypothesize whether or not Bruce Springsteen should be regarded as a queer icon. They consult with other LGBTQ+ professionals in fashion, celebrity and music. They interview Springsteen fans and non-Springsteen fans. Performing this kind of well-rounded investigation feels exciting and draws in audiences who may be skeptical that there is anything queer about Bruce at all. One of the best aspects of Because the Boss Belongs to Us is the many ways it changes up the structure and style. At times, there are very intelligent roundtable discussions, academic without being stuffy, while other parts are riffing on nostalgic memories, or personal, diary-esque narration set against wistful music. No matter what form it takes, the content is intimate and thought-provoking. There are seven episodes and the hosts discuss a variety of issues that may or may not come to mind when considering Bruce’s LGBTQ+ reach. The podcast culminates with a "Panel of Queers" that Holly and Jesse must convince—all of the members (perhaps like the podcast listeners themselves) are uncertain about Bruce Springsteen's queer connections.   Each episode examines a facet of the "Queer Icon Checklist" that the hosts develop, including a camp sensibility and underdog identity. For the camp episode, one of the guest speakers, Brooke Palmieri, makes an insightful point about how Bruce Springsteen has a unique blend of sincerity and theatricality that sets him apart from other queer icons. His showmanship oscillates between a theatrical flair and raw, soulful connection to his characters' complex psyches. Springsteen's relationship to the underdog figure is quite clear, as he often sings from the perspective of the marginalized, whether that be the working class, immigrants, veterans, or displaced youth.   For cisgender and heterosexual audience members especially, it's eye-opening to hear how Springsteen's themes of exclusion and resilience resonated with young queer listeners grappling with their sexuality and societal judgment. The podcast also highlights the importance of Bruce’s transparency about his mental health struggles, particularly in challenging the taboos surrounding masculinity that often prevent men from seeking help and expressing vulnerability. Episode 5, "Cry / Dance / F**k," is a witty yet insightful exploration of how the LGBTQ+ community uses music to access their wellspring of emotions. The episode delves into how Springsteen's music helps them reconnect with feelings often suppressed during adolescence, providing a particularly cathartic release during concerts. For queer fans of Bruce Springsteen, many of these songs were the powerful seeds of their self-discovery that had been waiting years to blossom. The podcast also explores more provocative topics, such as Bruce’s status as a multi-millionaire (now billionaire?) and what that means for someone trying to relate to marginalized communities. Is it even possible for LGBTQ+ fans to emotionally connect to this rich, white, straight Baby Boomer? These are some of the questions raised in Because the Boss Belongs to Us , which also addresses the more conservative segment of Springsteen's fan base, whose political views may be actively opposed to the queer community. These discussions are well-handled, giving room to diverse viewpoints. Another notable aspect is that the hosts are from the United Kingdom. The feeling of wanting to escape a small town that doesn't align with your values is not just specific to Freehold, New Jersey, but universal. It is illuminating to hear how their own experiences in an insu lar and narrow-minded community have shaped their attachment to Bruce's work.   Because the Boss Belongs to Us serves an even greater purpose: to bridge generational divides. We all recognize the intense bond among those who grew up listening to Bruce's music or came of age during his rise to fame. Now, Millennials and Gen Z are carving out their own spaces in Springsteen fandom, and they are bringing more awareness to the devoted fans who are also part of LGBTQ+ community. Holly Casio and Jesse Lawson’s thoughtful perspectives reveal a whole new side to Bruce's work that you may not have considered before, especially if you do not identify as queer. Bruce Springsteen has consistently shown his support for the LGBTQ+ community, from his moving ballad “Streets of Philadelphia” to his recent shout-out at Sea.Hear.Now for helping to bring Asbury Park back to vibrant life.   The idea that the blue-collar everyman like Bruce Springsteen could reflect queer culture is a fascinating concept that Because the Boss Belongs to Us covers in nuanced and affectionate ways. The hosts do an excellent job of guiding listeners through Bruce Springsteen's career and status as a musical icon, and how that might intersect with the LGBTQ+ community. Because the Boss Belongs to Us casts our beloved Boss in a completely different light, revealing new dimensions of his work and offering insights into a community that deserves greater visibility within Springsteen fandom. Because the Boss Belongs to Us is available on Apple , Spotify , iHeart , and many other platforms. Click here to listen to the Because the Boss Belongs to Us podcast on the platform of your choice.

October 19, 2024 On October 19, 1974, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band performed a sold-out, two-hours-plus show at Union College's Memorial Chapel in Schenectady, NY, as the headlining act for the college's homecoming weekend. “It was just an unbelievable performance,” recalls Union College Class of 1975 graduate Chris Fink, who also was the chair of the college's social committee, which booked the concert. “The whole energy of the show. He just blew us away. People filed out of the chapel almost quietly, as if they knew they had experienced something they had never seen before. It was like, wow, I think I just saw something special.” In celebration of the concert's fiftieth anniversary today, Union College's website has just posted a great extensive history of the concert and its lasting impact on many of its attendees, enhanced with photos and memorabilia from the night in question. It also explores some of the behind-the-scenes drama that preceded the show, such as the social committee's debate over whether to book Springsteen or Billy Joel, and the intense pre-show soundcheck that strained the chapel's power supply and (slightly) damaged its ceiling. Click here to read "Spirit in the Night: 50 years ago, Springsteen delivers an unforgettable performance at Union." -Special thanks to Phillip J. Wajda, Director of Media and Public Relations @ Union College

October 16, 2024 [UPDATE - Full video of Springsteen's and Bryan's conversation has been shared by Rolling Stone via its YouTube channel. Scroll below to view the embedded video.] The 2024 edition of Rolling Stone 's "Musicians on Musicians" series launches with Bruce Springsteen and Zach Bryan engaged in a lengthy conversation recorded last April at Springsteen's home-studio (in the midst of the recording session for their "Sandpaper" duet,) and moderated by Rolling Stone writer Brian Hiatt. A transcript of the conversation, accompanied by Danny Clinch's photography, is available wherever you can find a copy of Rolling Stone 's latest issue, which features a Clinch portrait of Bryan and Springsteen on its cover. Subscribers also can read the transcript - or watch video of the conversation - and view Clinch's photos online by clicking here . Springsteen and Bryan chat extensively about songwriting, stardom, genre-pigeonholing, and... yes, even some politics. Though their comments date from last April, they haven't lost a bit of relevance. "There is so much pessimism and division in the U.S. right now," says moderator Hiatt. "I’m wondering, as two great American songwriters, if there is any degree of optimism from the two of you about the chances of us overcoming all of that." "Big question," replies Springsteen. "I don’t know. My take on it is it’s bad, but it’s going to get better. I will sit here and I will predict again, Donald Trump will not be the next president of the United States. Of course, I went all across Europe saying that the last time, and I was wrong. It’s hard to read because sometimes I think, 'Gee, I led my life a certain way. It rolled out a certain way, and maybe that has something to do with why I remain hopeful.' And I just think that generationally, I still feel hopeful. I think we’re going to get past the degree of division that’s in the country right now, and move on to something else—" "Gratitude, maybe?," asks Bryant. "I have absolutely nothing brilliant to say about this, so I’m bailing," responds Springsteen. "So, I’m 28," says Bryant, a veteran of the U.S. Navy. "I don’t have that much experience. I’m neither one way or the other. I served my country for eight, nine years. I think America ebbs and flows, and it always has. Always will. I’m tired of everyone arguing. It’s about time people were just thankful to be American. ’Cause personally, I’m so grateful I get to wake up in a country that’s free. It’s really special to be in a country where there’s so many different people and so many different parties and so many people that have an opportunity to come together and be kind to each other and respect each other’s backgrounds. There’s people that have died defending our rights. Men and women have died for these things, and we just are, like, pissed about what?...Being free enough to say everything we feel? It’s weird. It’s strange. It blows my mind all the time. And I’m just thankful." Springsteen expresses his agreement and adds, "That’s as political as we’re gonna get!" Click here for complete Rolling - Stone -subscribers-only online access to Zach Bryan Meets Bruce Springsteen: ‘I Never Thought I’d Be Sitting Here With You’ - Two great American songwriters get together in New Jersey and go deep on the perils of stardom, classic country, the importance of moms, and the troubled state of the union by Brian Hiatt, with photographs by Danny Clinch. UPDATE - Rolling Stone 's YouTube channel has posted the complete video of Springsteen's and Bryan's April 2024 conversation. Here it is:

October 16, 2024 Tickets remain available for the premiere screening of The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University 's filmed version of its 2024 American Music Honors ceremony. The ceremony took place last April in Monmouth University's Pollak Theatre. This year's honorees were Jackson Browne, Dion, John Mellencamp, and Mavis Staples. The honorees' inductions were presented by Jon Landau (inducting Browne,) Darlene Love (inducting Staples,) Bruce Springsteen (inducting Mellencamp,) and Stevie Van Zandt (inducting Dion.) The evening also featured musical performances from all of the honorees and inducting musicians, backed by Little Steven's Disciples of Soul serving as the house band. You can click here to read Letters To You editor/publisher Shawn Poole's firsthand account of this year's ceremony. Fittingly, the premiere screening of the filmed version also will take place in Monmouth University's Pollak Theatre (located in West Long Branch, NJ) on Friday, November 1, with doors opening at 7:30 p.m. ET. General-admission tickets are only $25 each, with all proceeds supporting The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University. Click here to purchase your tickets online.

October 15, 2024 The ABC News Studios/George Stephanopoulos Studios television special, featuring Stephanopoulos' exclusive new interview with Bruce Springsteen, will have its broadcast debut this Sunday, October 20 at 10:00 p.m. EDT, and begin streaming the next day on Hulu and Disney+. Click here to read the official ABC News announcement , and watch the official trailer below:

October 15, 2024 Bruce Springsteen was a surprise musical guest at Sunday night's 30th Anniversary fundraising gala for the USC Shoah Foundation , held in New York City. He delivered solo-acoustic versions of two of his songs: "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and "Dancing in the Dark." The USC Shoah Foundation was launched in 1994 to record audio-visual histories from survivors of the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah. More recently, the USC Shoah Foundation has established the Countering Antisemitism Laboratory to research, record, and address modern-day versions of antisemitism, including Hamas' deadly October 7, 2023 attacks. At one point during his mini-set, Springsteen joked a bit about occasionally having been incorrectly presumed to be Jewish himself. “I actually was Bruce Springstein for the first year or two of my career," he told his audience. "Everywhere I went — I pull up to the club. ‘Welcome Bruce Springstein.’ This happened as late as a month ago. I’m not joking.” (You can click below for some "living proof:") Bruce also wasn't joking when he talked about why he has long supported the USC Shoah Foundation's important and ongoing work. “The work of collecting the personal testimony and the voices of those who’ve witnessed history," he said, "has just something in common with the work that songwriters, filmmakers... all artists do to understand and to create our real and imagined worlds. We follow the ghosts of history. We listen for the voices of the past to take us into the future, and we lean into their stories and listen to them.” Click below for access to more coverage of this important event (including pro-shot photos and video) from our friend Chris Jordan at The Asbury Park Press :