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photo by Mark Krajnak  for The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music  - used with permission October 27, 2025 Happy 76th Birthday, and best wishes for many more happy birthdays ahead, to the rock-steady Foundation of the E Street Nation, the E Street Band bassist who's now played more gigs backing Bruce Springsteen than any other musician, alive or dead... Mr. Garry W. Tallent. Pictured above is Garry doing his thing at his latest gig backing Bruce, just last month at The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music 's Born to Run  50th Anniversary Symposium at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theatre. During that symposium, after Garry got good-naturedly teased a bit for being a man of few words, Mr. Jon Landau himself also wanted it known that Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band never have had to do another take in the studio due to a problem with their bass parts. So Happy Birthday, "Funky!" Long may you run in your strong, silent, steady way, helping to hold down that rhythm section with problem-free bass, night after night after night after night (and day, too!)

October 24, 2025 Well, they've certainly been a long time comin', but now they're here. Today, of course, marks the official release date for both the Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere film and the Nebraska '82: Expanded Edition box-set. This Nebraska -centered weekend got a bit of a jump-start last night, as well, with many theaters offering fans a chance to catch an early screening of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere , including IMAX screenings in selected locations . In time, we at Letters To You will be diving more deeply into analyzing and evaluating both of these major releases, but for now all of that can wait a bit longer. After all, we're sure that most - if not all - of our readers already have arranged or will be arranging their own individual musical/multiplex experiences with this abundance of Springsteen-related material, at least over the next few days, anyway. In the meantime, today we've got another great, perfectly timed, and relevant contribution from Columbia Records promotion vet Paul "Rap" Rappaport, this time on how he went to bat for Nebraska to get its fair shot on 1980s rock-radio . (Incidentally, Paul's fascinating account offers a much more nuanced - and accurate - portrayal of the Springsteen/Landau experience at Columbia Records than the new film does, but again, more on that later...) So scrub off the dirt, dear readers, and dig into this movie- and music-filled weekend. We'll see you a bit further down the road...

photo by Mark Seliger - used with permission October 24, 2025 Editor's note: As promised, here's more great stuff from Columbia Records' former Senior Vice-President of Rock Promotion Paul "Rap" Rappaport, author of the excellent new book Gliders Over Hollywood: Airships, Airplay and the Art of Rock Promotion , which includes many Springsteen-related gems in its contents, not surprisingly. With both   Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska '82: Expanded Edition box-set and Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere   officially arriving today, Paul has been kind enough to share with us his personal feelings about Nebraska , as well as a great memory of how he went to bat and played hardball to help Springsteen's offbeat album get its fair share of rock-radio airplay. (Incidentally, everything that "Rap" has written for us this week is distinct additional Springsteen-related content that is not included in Gliders Over Hollywood .) Yet again, Paul Rappaport reveals himself to be not only a master promoter, but also a true believer when it comes to the artistry of Bruce Springsteen, and once more we're honored to publish his writing here. Take it away, Paul... For me, the Nebraska album contains some of Bruce’s best songs, and the rawness of the recordings rings their truth. I suppose that releasing the versions that “didn’t work” for Bruce initially is worthwhile for fans who want to hear the process of creation. I have a tape of “Born To Run” with orchestral strings that were added to see if they enhanced the recording. It’s awful, but it’s interesting to hear, because it gives a glimpse into Bruce’s creative process, working every angle in search of what was best for the song. But I remember once having a conversation with Leonard Cohen about a "Greatest Hits" or "Essential" package that Columbia was releasing. They had talked him into adding an a previously unreleased track. Leonard was none too happy about it. “Paul,” he began frustratingly, “if I thought this track was good enough, I would have included it on one of my albums. But it’s not up to my standard, so I never released it. Now, they are calling it a 'bonus' track!” I’m a music guy, so I understand the curiosity of such things, and I also own my fair share of bootleg recordings. I also know that many Bruce fans have been dying to hear this mystery album for years. I guess it makes sense to release it finally, especially on this date, as it ties so much into the movie that also officially hits theaters today. But for me, sometimes mystery is best. Which brings me to Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere . I am very skeptical of any biopic that is made while an artist is still alive—seems very weird to me. We still have Jon and Bruce and many of the people this film depicts in our lives. We have books, articles, and interviews, so we get a good sense of who these people are and know the parts they played in Bruce’s life and career. To be fair, after seeing Bruce’s heartfelt response to the film and the way his family is portrayed, I think this is good for him and probably good for history. I want the film to be good; I want it to be great . It should be very interesting, as supposedly it is not hagiography. Just the opposite, it seems, because it chronicles a very down part of Bruce’s life, and hopefully will let folks know that even superstars have human hurdles they must clear to live healthy, fulfilled lives. So far I've seen only the trailer, so I don’t really know yet. I just don’t want it to be too "Hollywood." Like everyone else, I’m looking forward to seeing the film. But let’s talk about the original Nebraska . This is one of the most moving albums in rock history. Some would argue that statement, but that’s my belief. When I first listened to Nebraska , I was chilled to the bone. I could feel these characters come to life as real people. I could see them right in front of me like movies playing in my head. Sometimes you don’t need a big band or a big sound to make a statement. Bob Dylan’s world-changing “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” are just guitar and harmonica. B.B. King can say in one single note what it takes other players twenty notes to say. So, there’s a lot to be said for being frugal when it’s called for. In 1982, I was two years into having been promoted to serve as the new head of album rock promotion for Columbia Records, based in New York. I was having a blast, swinging a big bat, and accomplishing a lot for artists like Bruce, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Journey, Loverboy, Men At Work, and many more. I was really feeling my oats and establishing myself as a major player in the world of rock promotion. At the time, I had two major goals in front of me. One was to get Nebraska played in a meaningful way at mainstream rock radio, and the other was to convince album rock programmers who had been shy to play Billy Joel that Billy was a rocker, even though his big hits had been sing-song ballads. Billy Joel is a very cool guy, so I thought I’d take Billy out to dinner on separate nights with the three biggest rock radio consultants. If they met him, I knew they’d fall in love with the guy, who indeed, is a complete rocker, and also refreshingly down-to-earth. Billy said, “I have a better idea. Bring them to my house in Lloyd Neck (Long Island) and I’ll make dinner for them.” Very cool, indeed. He went on to say, “I’ll-a make-a the pasta.” I found this hysterical, yet very cute, because Billy is Jewish, but liked to pretend he was Italian, seeing as how most of the musicians he worked with were of that family. At any rate, enter my lightbulb idea for my other plan to get rock-radio onboard for Nebraska . The ride to Billy’s from New York City was at least an hour. What better place to play Nebraska individually for each of these three big-time radio consultants than in a quiet, dark limousine, completely private with no distractions? It would be a powerful presentation. I could accomplish both my goals in three successive evenings. One consultant was in charge of sixty rock radio stations, one in charge of thirty, and the other in charge of twenty. Even though the stations they consulted had individual program and music directors, they were highly influenced by what the consultants told them to play and what not to play. Radio folks are always worried that a new sound might cause their listeners to tune out and switch stations. After hearing the entire album, I got the same exact type of response from each of them. “Rap (my nickname,) uh…” stammering, “you know this is a very different sound, and we’re going to have to be very careful about how much we play this on our airwaves.” I was incensed. After hearing Nebraska , that’s all you can tell me?! As I write in my book , I view promotion as an art form, and I have a specific, organic, and creative style of how I turn people on to new music, and accomplish my goals. But every once in a while, I've had to get heavy, and this was the very first time in my career where I had to change my approach. I had to make these guys an offer they couldn’t refuse. Each time I heard that same "very different sound... very careful" kind of comment, I replied in the same exact way. “Are you kidding me?! After what Bruce Springsteen has accomplished with Born to Run , Darkness... , The River , selling millions of albums, having a huge hit single with 'Hungry Heart,' doing four encores a night, and being a core heavy-rotation superstar on your airwaves, you don’t have enough respect to give him the benefit of the doubt?! To have his back on this?!” I was getting madder by the second. “No, no, no, no, no, no. This is Bruce Springsteen; we’re gonna start it off in heavy rotation (minimum four times a day.) And after three or more weeks, then we’ll let the people decide, by requests, how much more they want to hear. And if you don’t do that…you can lose my phone number. Bruce Springsteen has earned the right to this kind of support.” “Rap, Rap, Rap…” Each was shocked. “This isn’t like you.” They knew losing my phone number meant losing Bob Dylan’s phone number, Pink Floyd’s phone number, Aerosmith’s, etc., etc. No more promotions, no more free tickets for their listeners, no more backstage meet and greets. Each one asked the exact same thing: “Are you gonna hold me up?!” “Not for just anyone, but for Bruce Springsteen I will.” They saw the seriousness in my face. Each one knew it was quite unlike me to pull a power play like this. But all three realized how important it was to me, and for Bruce. And each one acquiesced. Nebraska was heard quite clearly on 150 rock radio stations across the country. We sold over one million records. ----- Click here to purchase a copy of Paul Rappaport's excellent book Gliders Over Hollywood: Airships, Airplay and the Art of Rock Promotion . image courtesy of Paul Rappaport - used with permission

October 23, 2025 Last Saturday night, after becoming the initial recipient of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures' Legacy Award , presented to him by Martin Scorsese for being "an artist whose body of work has inspired generations of storytellers and deeply influenced our culture," Bruce Springsteen performed solo-acoustic versions of three of his songs: "Streets of Philadelphia," "Atlantic City," and "Land of Hope and Dreams." As of yesterday, pro-shot videos of all three performances have now been released on Springsteen's official YouTube channel , as well. (Each of those videos is also embedded below for your easy access.) And just before he performed the final song of his beautiful solo-acoustic mini-set, Springsteen said the following: “Of course, as we all know, outside of this lovely world of dreams and entertainment we’re all so fortunate to work in and to be a part of, all hell is breakin’ loose in our beloved United States... For 250 years, around the world, despite our many faults, the United States has stood as the beacon of liberty, democracy, hope, and freedom. Now, I’ve spent fifty years traveling as kind of a musical ambassador for America, and I have witnessed the love and admiration that folks around the world have had for the America of our highest ideals. And despite how terribly damaged America has been recently, that country and those ideals remain worth fighting for. So this is a small prayer for all those folks out in the streets today, and for our country... No kings. This is ‘Land of Hope and Dreams.’ ” After singing the song, Springsteen added, "May freedom ring." Bravo, Bruce, for continuing to be a storyteller who also is a truth -teller. And by the way, folks, our exclusive charity-fundraiser "Spirit of '76" t-shirt, with great artwork by Frank Caruso and 100% of all sales-profits going to one of Bruce's longtime favorite charities, The Kristen Ann Carr Fund , also features some similarly-themed Springsteen words, quoted from earlier this year: "Tonight we ask all who believe in democracy ...to rise with us, raise your voices ...and let freedom ring!" We continue taking pre-orders now, in order to ensure on-time delivery for holiday gift-giving, so if you haven't pre-ordered yours yet, click here to do so NOW! Among the shirt's numerous other attributes, you certainly couldn't find more appropriate attire for the many more "No Kings" events that, unfortunately, are likely to lie ahead for us in the not-too-distant future. ---------- Okay, sing it... and say it... again, please, Bruce. No kings... (from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures' Fifth Annual Gala - October 18, 2025:)

photo by John Cavanaugh  for The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music  - used w/ permission October 21, 2025 Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere ain't gonna be the only big Bruce-connected cinematic event on the big screen this fall... The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University has announced its premiere screening of the professionally filmed version of its 2025 American Music Honors event. Last April's event honored Joe Ely, John Fogerty, Emmylou Harris, Tom Morello, and Smokey Robinson. The premiere screening will be held on Thursday November 13 at 7:30 pm inside the University's intimate Pollak Theatre, where the sold-out awards event was held earlier this year on April 26. Tickets for the premiere screening (which are only $20 each, plus fees,) will go on sale today , Tuesday October 21, at 1:00 pm ET. Click here to order your tickets , and click here for further information from the Archives' events pages . Letters To You's editor/publisher Shawn Poole was there last April, and afterwards wrote that " the most overtly political American Music Honors event yet" was "a sorely needed shot of hope and sanity on a stage filled with beloved artists and great music. It couldn't have come at a better time." Just under six months later, seeing the professionally filmed version of The American Music Honors 2025 - inside the same venue where it all took place - is very likely to have the same kind of impact on an audience. (Click here to read Poole's full report from last April, accompanied by plenty of John Cavanaugh's great photos, to get a better sense of what the professionally filmed version will have to offer.) photo by John Cavanaugh  for The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music  - used w/ permission

October 20, 2025 EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION: It was fifty years ago today that a different image of Bruce Springsteen, in the midst of his breakthrough Born to Run album and tour, appeared on each of the covers of both Time and Newsweek in the same week. The news-magazines, issues of which consistently got dated a week ahead of the date they first hit newsstands, were each dated October 27, 1975 for their respective Springsteen-cover-story issues. In 1975, getting simultaneous Time and Newsweek cover-stories was akin to going viral, and in at least some circles (though not all, as you'll soon read below,) it was considered quite the public-relations coup of its period. To this day, how exactly that happened remains a matter of debate and at least a bit of conjecture. If you ask Springsteen's former manager Mike Appel, he'll tell you he was behind it all (of course.) But it seems much more likely that multiple forces were at play, cosmically syncing up along the way as simultaneously as those cover-stories would appear at the end of the whole process. For example, in his Born to Run: The Bruce Springsteen Story biography , Dave Marsh wrote, "One way or another, Jay Cocks of Time [who'd end up writing Time 's cover story] got wind of Newsweek ’s plans and convinced his editors that they should not be scooped." What Marsh didn't note in print was that it very well might have been Marsh himself who informed and encouraged Cocks - with whom Marsh was friends and shared great enthusiasm for Springsteen's music - regarding Newsweek 's plans. (Incidentally Cocks, who at the time was writing film reviews and other articles on the arts for Time , later would become an accomplished screenwriter. His most recently filmed screenplay was for the Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown .) Meanwhile, photographer Barbara Pyle, in her 2015 book Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band 1975 , wrote, "At what I thought was going to be a routine concert in Red Bank, New Jersey, I was suddenly surrounded by Newsweek editors who wanted to buy my pictures. I would never give those pictures to Newsweek because I was a Time 'stringer.' Monday morning, I went to see my editors and told them that Newsweek was doing a cover on Bruce. It was now or never. The Time illustrator used my photos. That's the true story of how Bruce got the covers of Time and Newsweek in the same week." (The Time cover's illustration of Springsteen, which is based on elements from at least two of Pyle's '75 in-concert photos of Bruce, was created by artist Kim Whitesides. Whitesides' illustration is now among the holdings of The Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery . The Newsweek cover's photo of Springsteen also was taken in concert in '75 by the late photographer Bernard Gotfryd during one of the two October 11, 1975 concerts at what was then Monmouth Arts Center and is now part of The Count Basie Center for the Arts. Gotfryd's cover photo is included in the Bernard Gotfryd photograph collection housed at the Library of Congress .) Enter Columbia Records' former Senior Vice-President of Rock Promotion Paul "Rap" Rappaport, author of the great new book Gliders Over Hollywood: Airships, Airplay and the Art of Rock Promotion , which includes many Springsteen-related gems in its contents, of course. Letters To You recently connected with Rappaport after his appearance at The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music's Born to Run 50th Anniversary Symposium , during which Paul attempted to share onstage something he knew about how the simultaneous cover-stories came to be, which turned out to be a rarely - if ever - heard tale to add to the mix. Unfortunately, Paul never got to share his story onstage that day, but we're pleased and honored to give him the opportunity to do so here today. Take it away, "Rap!" ---------- Paul Rappaport speaking at The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music's Born to Run 50th Anniversary Symposium on September 5, 2025 - photo by Mark Krajnak  for The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music  - used with permission First off, thank you for inviting me to be a part of Letters To You. I, like all of you, am a huge Bruce Springsteen fan and have been ever since Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ  crossed my desk at Columbia Records, in Los Angeles, January of 1973. I was then the local album-promotion manager for L.A. and surrounding areas. I was 25 years old and in my second year at the label, having been a former college rep at UCLA. I’d like to take a moment to set the scene, so you can fully understand everything that went along with the appearance of the two covers appearing simultaneously. In those days, Columbia released a lot of albums, and not all came with a marketing plan. So Greetings... landed on my desk unceremoniously with a small stack of other albums. Although the cover was fascinating, my initial thought was, “A rocker with the name Bruce Springsteen??? Wow, that’s a stretch.” Haha. But when I put the album on, I realized that whoever this Springsteen guy was, he had some important things to say. Shortly after, in February, I went to see Bruce’s L.A.-debut performance at the Troubadour. WOW!! I immediately sent an ecstatic teletypewriter message in the shape of Bruce’s Fender Esquire looking guitar to headquarters in New York. That opened some eyes. After seeing Bruce live, the label didn’t even have to pay me to talk up this new artist. I was off to the races, and the rest of the music industry couldn’t stop me from incessantly raving about Bruce Springsteen. Of course, this kind of reaction happened for Bruce at almost every show, but back then, without an Internet, only a few of us who caught a club gig here and there knew what was about to unfold. I share all of this with you because it’s important context to understand all that went on regarding Bruce’s simultaneous covers on Time and Newsweek . For those of you who weren’t around at that time or too young to be aware of the circumstances, you might think this was a great coup, a wonderful one-two punch that would solidify The Boss’s greatness and catapult him into stardom’s stratosphere. But just the opposite happened. Because Bruce’s early supporters, like myself, couldn’t stop talking about him, many radio programmers and industry media were feeling “overhyped.” Certainly no one could live up to the kind of euphoric charismatic performances that we were continually shouting about, trying to get everyone on board. Most of the West Coast radio programmers I worked with were just plain tired of hearing about Bruce Springsteen. When Time  and Newsweek  hit the newsstands on the exact same day, the uninitiated were convinced this was just one more Columbia Records’ marketing scheme to super-hype Bruce into instant stardom. That kind of uber-coverage backfired. In my world, it was not uncommon to hear, “That’s it, I’ve had it. Don’t ever talk to me about Bruce Springsteen again.” I’m sure to the public at large, two covers at once woke up a lot of folks to Bruce. But those two covers made our jobs within the biz harder. We got through it, with a series of live radio broadcasts, and taking radio programmers, press, retail, and general tastemakers to see Bruce one at a time. But helping Bruce launch his career took waaaaaaay longer than any of us thought it would. Near as I can tell, no one actually planned it that way. It is my belief that the planets aligned to create a happy accident (except for the having-to-work-harder part.) I have now heard three stories about how these simultaneous covers came to be. I have no reason to doubt any of them, but I know something that no one else knows. And, yeah, I thought I’d get to spill the beans during our panel last month, but the conversation got steered away from me. During our panel, Mike Appel spoke about trying to convince both magazines to give Bruce a cover. Knowing Mike, I’m sure he pushed them hard. After our panel, I went back to the green room and met photographer Barbara Pyle, who commented that she knew the head of Time  and warned him that he could be scooped by Newsweek . I don’t doubt her veracity, either, but I also am convinced that what I’m about to share here had a big hand, as well, in what ultimately happened. Paul Rappaport sporting his vintage Born to Run promotional satin jacket (that still fits!) as Rich Russo (left) and Mike Appel (right) smile in the background, at The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music's Born to Run 50th Anniversary Symposium on September 5, 2025 - photo by Mark Krajnak  for The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music  - used with permission At the time, Columbia’s East Coast offices were really pushing for a Newsweek cover. I guess they felt it was the easier of the two to get. The head of East Coast publicity called the West Coast offices, looking for their main publicist, to tell him to work the Newsweek  West Coast offices so they’d be on the same page, pushing for the same thing, doubling the pressure. But that fellow was out to lunch, so they left a message with a young assistant and good friend of mine, Phillippa, a very cool and hip music gal from England. “Flip,” as we used to call her, was newly married, and she and her husband were big fans and readers of Time . When the West Coast publicist came back from lunch, Phillippa completely spaced out that Newsweek  was the play, because Time  loomed so large in her head. When her boss finally returned from lunch, she told him that New York had called to tell him to push Time for a cover! Flip confided this to me many years later, because at the time she didn’t want to get into trouble for giving her boss the wrong message, especially after all the ruckus two covers at once created. Before I went to the Born - to - Run -@-50 symposium at Monmouth University last month, I asked her if I could tell her story. Because so many years have now passed, she laughed and said, “Sure, why not?” Mike was certainly pushing both mags, and he did so much for Bruce that I’d never try to dilute any of it. But I also believe that this behind-the-scenes “assist” happening at just the right time helped to push Time over the edge for that same week. The planets aligned. Voi-freaking-la! Two covers, same day! ---------- Look for more from Paul Rappaport later this week, when he'll relate the tale of how in 1982 he got rock-radio to give NEBRASKA its due by "getting heavy" and staging a "holdup." Stay tuned...

October 11, 2025 Announcing Letters To You's first-ever exclusive, limited-edition, charity-fundraising t-shirt... CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER YOUR SHIRT(S) NOW! IMPORTANT NOTE: You do NOT have to use PayPal, Venmo, or GPay to pay for your order! When you get to our Checkout page, just complete and submit your Customer details and your Delivery details. You then will be given additional payment options, including credit-card and Apple Pay options. Sorry for the confusion; it's due to our website-provider's automated order-form options, which are beyond our control. Thanks for your patience/understanding, and for your support of this project! We are pleased and honored that artist  Frank Caruso , who collaborated with Bruce Springsteen on his Outlaw Pete  quasi-children's book, has allowed Letters To You to turn his "Spirit of '76" artwork, originally unveiled on our website for Bruce's 76th birthday , into an awesome high-quality Bayside unisex preshrunk-cotton t-shirt. Frank's beautiful artwork will be reproduced in full detail, using high-definition digital DTF printing, on shirts that are union-made in the U.S.A. All (100% of) profits from sales of these shirts will be donated to one of Bruce's longtime favorite charities, The Kristen Ann Carr Fund . For a limited time only, we are making the shirt available in two colors, "dark ash" gray (90% preshrunk cotton, 10% polyester) and navy blue (100% preshrunk cotton,) and adult sizes small through 4XL. Below are front-and-back images of the shirt in each available color, along with a sizing chart for easy reference: Each shirt costs only $40, with all shipping, etc. included. Pre-order NOW  to ensure delivery for the upcoming holiday gift-giving season. This is a limited-edition, super-cool Springsteen-themed shirt, supporting a great cause and destined to become especially appropriate for wearing through the coming year, when fans around the world will be celebrating the U.S.A.'s 250th birthday. Again, click here to place your pre-orders  NOW! (Images are for illustrative purposes; final shirt designs may differ, but only slightly.) IMPORTANT NOTE: You do NOT have to use PayPal, Venmo, or GPay to pay for your order! When you get to our Checkout page, just complete and submit your Customer details and your Delivery details. You then will be given additional payment options, including credit-card and Apple Pay options. Sorry for the confusion; it's due to our website-provider's automated order-form options, which are beyond our control. Thanks for your patience/understanding, and for your support of this project!

Charlie Giordano in action at Cowboy Technical Services Recording Rig, in Green Point, Brooklyn, NYC - photo courtesy of Eric “Roscoe” Ambel - used with permission October 13, 2025 Happy 71st Birthday to E Street Band keyboardist Charlie Giordano. Coincidentally, if you flip those digits in "71" around to "17," you'll also get the number of years it's been since Charlie first joined the E Street Band, in the wake of Danny Federici's illness and untimely passing. Charlie has been such a great choice to fill such a difficult role because he's never tried to "play like Danny," but instead has consistently incorporated his own unique musical talent and skills into the E Street sound. Of course, Charlie's been performing with Bruce Springsteen for even longer than seventeen years, thanks to his previous stellar stint in The (Seeger) Sessions Band. And very soon we'll get to hear - and see - Charlie in action with Bruce yet again. It was only Charlie and guitarist Larry Campbell who performed with Springsteen in the special live 2025 full-album performance of Nebraska that was recorded and filmed at Red Bank, NJ's Count Basie Theatre last April for the forthcoming  Nebraska '82: Expanded Edition  box-set . (Incidentally, just in case you haven't heard already, the official release of that box-set has been pushed back a week to Friday, October 24 .) But Charlie also has pursued and continues pursuing many other musical paths besides E Street, and has played with and continues playing with many musicians other than Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. The latest case in point: Charlie's keyboard contributions to the just-released The King of Good Intentions , the debut album by poet, novelist, and singer-songwriter Jon Loomis . We recently connected with Loomis, who told us about his album and how thrilled he was to have Charlie Giordano play on it. "The record was produced by Eric 'Roscoe' Ambel," Loomis began, "at his studio, Cowboy Technical Services Recording Rig, in Green Point, Brooklyn, NYC. Roscoe was the original lead guitarist for Joan Jett and the Blackhearts; he also toured with Steve Earle for several years, and has fronted a bunch of bands including the cult-favorite The Del-Lords, and the equally awesome Yayhoos. He’s also produced scores, if not hundreds, of records over the years, for folks like the late, great Mojo Nixon, The Bottle Rockets, and so on. According to Roscoe, he met Charlie when The Del-Lords were touring with Pat Benatar in the '80s, and Charlie was playing keys for Pat. [Editor's note: We covered the Benatar period of Charlie's long and illustrious career in our 2023 birthday salute to the man, and had some fun doing it, too. Click here to read our archived salute. ] "Charlie and Roscoe have collaborated on a lot of projects together over the years. So that’s how Charlie ended up doing those incredible keyboard parts on three of the tunes on The King of Good Intentions ." Loomis also referred Letters To You directly to Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, who wanted to let our readers and us know the following: "I love Charlie. Love having him at the studio. I kind of reconnected with Charlie through the records that I did with Emily Duff. We usually take a picture of the two of us and send it to Nils Lofgren. I produced Nils’ Crooked Line album. And sometimes to [Pat Benatar's longtime musical/marital partner ] Neil Giraldo, too." The three The King of Good Intentions tracks on which Giordano appears are "Big Ol' Stupid Love," "Anna's Garden," and "Beautiful Wreck." You can click here to listen to and purchase those tracks or the entire album, which is a very impressive debut indeed. "When Roscoe told me that he’d lined up Charlie to play keys on a few of my tunes," adds Loomis, "I think my exact words were 'NO FUCKING WAY!!!' Seriously, I was beyond amazed. Charlie did his parts on the tracks separately at Cowboy Technical, so unfortunately we were never in the studio together, but my mind was blown just by his participation. Then my mind was completely blown a second, third and fourth time, when I got to hear what he’d done. All brilliant, of course, and all recognizably him, somehow. It was like a little taste of the E Street Band had magically made its way onto my record. I continue to be amazed even after listening to those tracks probably a thousand times now; his work is that good. So, huge thanks to Charlie for all the great music. I am, of course, a major fan of 'The Boss' and the E Street Band, which maybe goes without saying, and thanks especially for creating these brilliant keyboard tracks for The King of Good Intentions ! Also, thanks to Eric Ambel for bringing Charlie into the project, and for all the great work he did as producer. It’s been a great experience, and I continue to be blow away by how well it all turned out... Please wish Charlie a very happy birthday for me!" Glad to do so, Jon. On behalf of Jon Loomis , Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, and your many other fans around the globe (ourselves at Letters To You included, of course,) Happy Birthday, Charlie, and best wishes for many more Happy Birthdays to come!

UPDATE (October 11, 2025) - Hey, do you really dig Frank Caruso's awesomely beautiful image below? Now you can WEAR  it, and support one of Bruce Springsteen's longtime favorite charities while doing so. Click here to pre-order your "Spirit of '76" shirts NOW! September 23, 2025 Well, it's now just past midnight in the ET (Eastern Time, or is that "E Street Time?") Zone. So Happy 76th Birthday, Mr. Bruce Springsteen! To get ready to celebrate this special day here at Letters To You, we recently reached out to the great Frank Caruso , who collaborated with Springsteen on his Outlaw Pete quasi-children's book. Frank loved our basic idea of how we thought he could help us to salute Bruce @76, in the same year that the latest Springsteen tour with the E Street Band showed the world what true U.S. bravery, citizenship, and, yes, patriotism look like. Given how skilled and creative an artist Frank Caruso is, he took our basic suggestion and turned it into something even better than we'd imagined he would. So in honor of Bruce Springsteen turning 76 years old today, we're very happy and honored to unveil for the first time anywhere Frank Caruso's brilliantly Bruceified version of Archibald Willard's classic painting Spirit of '76 , aka Yankee Doodle : original artwork created by Frank Caruso and used with his permission How fitting, Bruce, that you should turn 76 in the same year that you and the E Street Band also embodied the freedom-loving patriotism behind that spirit of '76. Thank you for recently and consistently reminding us that this hard land of ours, despite everything that's been going down, remains "a great country with a great people," for summoning at each and every concert this year "the righteous power of art, of music, of rock ‘n’ roll in dangerous times," and for so strongly encouraging "all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experiment to rise with us, raise your voices against authoritarianism, and let freedom ring!" Thank you, in other words, for once again living up to the best of your work and helping to bring out the best in all of us, at a time when that's so desperately needed. Happy 76th birthday, Bruce, and best wishes for many, many more happy birthdays ahead. Long may you run! UPDATE (October 11, 2025) - Hey, do you really dig Frank Caruso's awesomely beautiful image above? Now you can WEAR it, and support one of Bruce Springsteen's longtime favorite charities while doing so. Click here to pre-order your "Spirit of '76" shirts NOW!

September 4, 2025 No matter what one's feelings may be about the upcoming Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere biopic, today's biopic-related announcement is very good news indeed. On Friday October 17, one week before the film is released, Sony Music will release Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska '82: Expanded Edition box-set . ( UPDATE: As per the October 8 announcement posted on Springsteen's social-media : "Due to delays in production, the release date for Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition will be shifted back by one week. The set will now be available in all digital and physical formats on October 24, 2025.") As per today's official press release , "Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska will be explored with more context and depth than ever before this fall, with the release of a five-disc [4 CDs/LPs plus a Blu-ray disc] box set featuring many never-before-heard and previously-undiscovered recordings. Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition will... include The E Street Band’s fabled 'Electric Nebraska ' sessions and solo outtakes from the era, as well as a newly shot performance film of Nebraska in its entirety - and a 2025 remaster of the original album. Together, they represent a wholly unprecedented look into the sonic world of this improbable lo-fi masterpiece turned enduring Springsteen classic." Click the embedded YouTube links below to watch the official promo-video "trailer" for Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition  and to hear the first preview-track from the set: a previously-unreleased "Electric Nebraska " version of “Born in the U.S.A” (a song which originally was part of the batch of songs for which Springsteen recorded the demos that eventually became Nebraska ,) featuring Springsteen backed by Max Weinberg and Garry Tallent, in a trio rendition from late April 1982. "We threw out the keyboards and played basically as a three-piece," says Springsteen in the press release. "It was kinda like punk rockabilly. We were trying to bring Nebraska into the electric world." The “Electric Nebraska ” material will feature eight previously-unreleased 1982 Springsteen versions of songs from the Nebraska demos in which he was accompanied by Tallent, Weinberg, Roy Bittan, Danny Federici, and Stevie Van Zandt, including two songs that were left off Nebraska and later released in different versions on Born in the U.S.A. : the album's title track and "Downbound Train." (Note: the screenshots below, taken from the official promo-video "trailer," include evidence of at least one unknown “Electric Nebraska ” track that featured a saxophone part presumably contributed by Clarence Clemons, but apparently no recordings featuring Clemons will be included on the “Electric Nebraska ” disc.) "Over the years," says Springsteen in the promo-video "trailer," "I'd been asked about 'Electric Nebraska ,' and I always thought the question was ridiculous. Finally I went back to the vault, and lo and behold, there it was." (Kudos to Rolling Stone 's Andy Greene for his role in prompting Springsteen to head "back to the vault," as documented in Greene's Rolling Stone interview with Springsteen that was published last June .) "It's shocking," adds Springsteen, "because of how incredibly different it sounded from most of the other electric things I'd ever done." The "Electric Nebraska " tracks "are not the songs you think they're gonna be," enthuses archivist/annotator Erik Flannigan in the trailer. "They're a hundred miles an hour; it's pedal to the metal... On top of that, we get Nebraska outtakes: nine solo-acoustic songs that are not featured on the original Nebraska album. The outtakes and 'Electric Nebraska ' are joined by a 2025 remaster of the original album and then, a new live recording of Bruce playing all ten songs from Nebraska ." Of this new live recording, which will be presented in aural form as a CD/LP and in visual form as a Blu-ray disc, Springsteen says, "When the idea for the box-set came up, I said that's the one thing that I need to do: [re-]record the album from start to finish and then shoot it, let Thom Zimny shoot it as a film." Springsteen was accompanied by several other musicians for this project, but an official list of who was involved has yet to be released. The below screenshot of the box-set's liner-notes from the trailer, however, reveals the involvement of Charlie Giordano in the performance, filmed at Red Bank, NJ's Count Basie Theatre last April: "I think in playing these songs again to be filmed, their weight impressed upon me,” says Springsteen in a quote from the press-release and liner-notes. “I’ve written a lot of other narrative records, but there's just something about that batch of songs on Nebraska that holds some sort of magic." " Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition ," concludes Flannigan in the trailer, "effectively gives us a window into the entire arc of the recording of Nebraska ." And Springsteen himself adds in closing, "This box-set is gonna be lot of fun," and (with a clap of his hands,) "I'm super-excited about [these discs] coming out now for the fans." Click here to pre-order Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition . (Oh, and a well-deserved shoutout to Sony Music for a much more reasonable pricing scale for this box in all formats this time around, folks. Thank you, thank you, thank you! ...sincerely.) photo by David Michael Kennedy - used with permission Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition tracklist Disc 1: Nebraska outtakes (solo-acoustic recordings) 1. "Born in the U.S.A." 2. "Losin’ Kind" 3. "Downbound Train" 4. "Child Bride" 5. "Pink Cadillac" 6. "The Big Payback" 7. "Working on the Highway" 8. "On the Prowl" 9. "Gun in Every Home" Disc 2: Electric Nebraska (recordings with E Street Band members) 1. "Nebraska" 2. "Atlantic City" 3. "Mansion on the Hill" 4. "Johnny 99" 5. "Downbound Train" 6. "Open All Night" 7. "Born in the U.S.A." 8. "Reason to Believe" Disc 3: Nebraska (performed live at Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ) 1. "Nebraska" 2. "Atlantic City" 3. "Mansion on the Hill" 4. "Johnny 99" 5. "Highway Patrolman" 6. "State Trooper" 7. "Used Cars" 8. "Open All Night" 9. "My Father’s House" 10. "Reason to Believe" Disc 4: Nebraska (2025 Remaster) 1. "Nebraska" 2. "Atlantic City" 3. "Mansion on the Hill" 4. "Johnny 99" 5. "Highway Patrolman" 6. "State Trooper" 7. "Used Cars" 8. "Open All Night" 9. "My Father’s House" 10. "Reason to Believe" Disc 5 (Blu-ray:) Nebraska (performed live at Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, NJ) 1. "Nebraska" 2. "Atlantic City" 3. "Mansion on the Hill" 4. "Johnny 99" 5. "Highway Patrolman" 6. "State Trooper" 7. "Used Cars" 8. "Open All Night" 9. "My Father’s House" 10. "Reason to Believe"

October 4, 2025 Yesterday, the Nugs/Live Archive "First Friday" series dropped its first release since last April. The series has returned with quite a banger, too: another great show from the Summer 1981 stand, in which Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band christened the then-newly-opened Brendan Byrne Arena, now no longer in use for any public events (though notably used for some concert scenes in the upcoming Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere biopic) and facing possible demolition in the near future. Brendan Byrne Arena 1981 (July 6th show) finds Bruce and his bandmates reveling in their celebratory six-nights New Jersey homecoming after their first full-scale European tour, in the wake of Springsteen's first number-one album and top-ten hit single. It joins the previously released Brendan Byrne Arena 1981 (July 9th show) as official releases of full-length concert-recordings from that six-show stand. (Recordings of some songs from each of these 1981 Brendan Byrne Arena shows also were featured in the Live/1975-85 box-set.) Among the highlights from this show are a loose and lovely duet with Stevie Van Zandt on Stevie's classic "I Don't Want To Go Home," which remains among the most impressive songwriting debuts of all time. Click below to hear Bruce and Stevie (as well as an arena-ful of folks) having big fun back in '81: The July 6th show also marked the first time that another one of Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels' big hits, "Sock It To Me - Baby!," was included in "The Detroit Medley." "Sock It To Me - Baby!" would be included in "The Detroit Medley" during the rest of the Brendan Byrne Arena '81 shows and only two other shows, both of them also in '81: a Spectrum arena show in Philly on July 13th and an L.A. Sports Arena show on August 23rd. As usual, Nugs is presenting this complete archival live-concert recording in its highest-available quality. It's newly mixed by Jon Altschiller from Plangent-Processed multitrack master tapes, with additional engineering by Danielle Warman. Click here to order/stream Brendan Byrne Arena 1981 (July 6th show.) And you no longer need a different link to read Columbia/Nugs archivist Erik Flannigan's essay on this recording, entitled "Reach Up And Touch The Sky." On the same page where you can order/stream Brendan Byrne Arena 1981 (July 6th show , ) just click the "SHOW MORE" button where it reads, "Show Notes."

September 29, 2025 We at Letters To You would be remiss if we let September reach its end without recognizing yet another significant anniversary/"birthday" this month. Set Lusting Bruce: A Bruce Springsteen Podcast , created and hosted by our friend Jesse Jackson, is now ten years old! Ten years talkin' Bruce down the road... quite an accomplishment indeed. Set Lusting Bruce is the internet's oldest continually-running Springsteen-themed podcast, and with good reason. Jesse Jackson is hands-down the hardest-working man in Springsteen-podcast-show-business. His dedication and tireless work ethic shine through the thousands of episodes he's produced by talking with almost as many folks (some of whom, including some of us here at Letters To You, have been his guests more than once.) Jesse also is consistently willing to discuss and debate all things Bruce passionately and respectfully with anyone who cares to join him. So Happy 10th Anniversary, Set Lusting Bruce , and congratulations, Jesse! Keep up the good work, and may you get every potential podcast-guest on your wishlist in this second decade and beyond. By the way, readers, if you haven't done so already, please consider becoming one of Set Lusting Bruce 's Patreon supporters . We're sure that Jesse would consider it one of the best "birthday gifts" you could give to him.