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February 1, 2024 "Remember that the future is not yet written, so when things look dark, do as my MIGHTY Mom would insist. Lace up your dancing shoes, and get to work!" -Springsteen on Broadway (introduction to "Dancing in the Dark")

January 26, 2024 Okay, gang, it's "field-trip" time! In addition to its upcoming online lecture presentation and Beatles-centered symposium, The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University has just announced details of yet another symposium, along with the launch of a new major exhibit. Both the symposium and the exhibit-launch will happen next month, and each of them is taking place off the Monmouth University campus. The exhibit-launch is even happening outside of New Jersey...far outside of The Garden State, at that. On Saturday February 10, Asbury Park, NJ's legendary live music venue The Stone Pony - which will have just turned fifty years old, officially on February 8 - will host an early-afternoon panel-discussion presented by the Springsteen Archives and entitled Celebrating The Stone Pony Anniversary: Spotlighting 50 Legendary Years of Music Memories. The Pony's co-founder, Jack Roig, will join with legendary area musicians, concert promoters, music writers, and other noteworthy members of the music community who were instrumental in creating the history of the now-iconic and world-renowned music club, as they share intimate stories and memories from the past fifty years. Tickets for the event, priced at $30 each plus any applicable fees, etc., will go on sale today via Ticketmaster, beginning at 10am ET, and - if any are still available by then - at the Pony's box-office beginning at 12pm ET. Click here for details and to purchase tickets via Ticketmaster. One week after the StonePony@50 event, the Springsteen Archives will premiere its newest major exhibit, Music America: Iconic Objects from America’s Music History, at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum, aka the LBJ Presidential Library, in Austin, TX, fittingly during Presidents' Day Weekend 2024. The exhibition will remain on display at the LBJ Presidential Library through August 11, 2024. The exhibition will feature more than one hundred objects representing the best of American music, spanning decades and genres. For the first time in one place, visitors can see everything from B.B. King’s guitar “Lucille,” the fox fur stole worn by Billie Holiday, and a handmade velvet shirt worn by Elvis Presley to Chuck D’s handwritten lyrics to “Fight the Power,” the outfit Bruce Springsteen wore on the Born in the USA album-cover, a guitar played by Taylor Swift, and a costume she wore on the Reputation Stadium Tour. By focusing on musicians and personal memorabilia from this country’s past and present, Music America chronicles the soundtrack of America. Music America is curated by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music in association with the New Orleans Jazz Museum and Hard Rock International, along with dozens of prominent collectors of American music ephemera. “The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music is honored to premiere Music America: Iconic Objects from America’s Music History at the LBJ Presidential Library,” said Robert Santelli, the Springsteen Archives' executive director. “Not only do we have a longstanding relationship with the library, but so much of America’s greatest music history occurred in the 1960s when President Johnson was in the White House. It seemed only natural that this exhibition, which also celebrates America’s 250th birthday in 2026, begins in Austin, one of the country’s most important music centers, and will then travel to other presidential libraries and museums across the country.” Visitors also will get to enjoy an interactive “Song Bar,” enabling them to hear performances by some of the artists highlighted in the exhibition, along with additional melodies that demonstrate the depth, breadth, and great productivity of American musicians. “I hope this one-of-a-kind collection will give visitors a deeper appreciation of the role music has played in the broad sweep of American history and encourage them to reflect on the LBJ era, a period of incredible cultural and artistic change,” said LBJ Library Director Mark A. Lawrence. “These iconic objects will bring that transformation to life and transport us to another time period, as only music can.” A partial list of artists and objects to be displayed includes: Sidney Bechet's soprano saxophone (pictured below:) Leonard Bernstein’s baton John Coltrane’s saxophone Chuck D’s handwritten lyrics to “Fight the Power” Gloria Estefan’s sequined dress from her 1996 tour Woody Guthrie’s signed “This Land is Your Land” lyrics Billie Holiday’s fox fur stole John Lee Hooker's guitar (pictured below:) B.B. King’s guitar “Lucille” (pictured below:) Madonna’s wedding dress from the “Like a Virgin” video Willie Nelson’s cowboy boots given to him by Gene Autry’s widow Elvis Presley’s 1956 Tupelo, Mississippi, concert shirt (pictured below:) Prince’s Purple Rain shirt and “Cloud” guitar Bruce Springsteen’s outfit worn on the Born in the USA album-cover Taylor Swift’s guitar and costume from the Reputation Stadium Tour Koko Taylor's red beaded dress (pictured below:) ...and last, but certainly not least, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Number One” guitar (pictured below:) Click here for more information on Music America: Iconic Objects from America’s Music History and how to see the exhibition during its six-months run at The LBJ Presidential Library, in Austin, TX.

January 25, 2024 EDITOR'S NOTE: Another highlight of the Light of Day Foundation's Winterfest 2024 was last Friday night's Asbury Angels induction ceremony at the legendary Asbury Park, NJ music venue The Stone Pony, which featured the induction of the late, great Holly Cara Price in the "Guardian Angels" category. We at Letters To You are pleased and honored to publish contributing writer Lisa Iannucci's special remembrance of Holly, who was a friend of Lisa's and - truly - of all of us in the fan community. On a frigid, snowy evening in Asbury Park, my friend Holly Cara Price was inducted as an Asbury Angel, an honor she richly deserved, but one of which she probably would not have considered herself worthy. Holly was a humble, self-effacing person who went from being just a fan pressed against the front of the Stone Pony stage with all the others to an actual employee, a member of the mostly unseen army that made sure the E Street Band tour train ran on time. Usually you would see her just before showtime, hustling from backstage to concert floor of some venue or another, nailing down last-minute details, and you’d smile and ponder how far she’d come, how hard she’d worked to get there, reflect on all the great times shared together in those sweaty bars and all the miles all of us had traveled on our rock’n’roll journeys. Just about everybody knew Holly on the Jersey Shore music scene, and we were so proud to see her name in liner notes or book credits. She was one of us, she was a fan, and she had made it to "the big time." I first knew of her as the writer/editor/publisher of the seminal Voice of America newsletter, which covered all things Steven Van Zandt; probably read her in Backstreets Magazine, too. I am pretty sure I first met her at (where else?) the Stone Pony, most likely at a John Eddie show. Holly could always be found at the front of any concert she attended, always blissfully in the moment, smiling, singing, dancing, enjoying life. She was a great writer and photographer, and was always busy working on a million things, but somehow always found time to drop everything and take to the road when the music called. Later on, when she worked for Steven, you’d inevitably bump into her at a show somewhere, and she was always so happy to see you no matter where you were sitting, but always especially happy to see you if you were seated near the stage. Many demands were made on Holly’s time, and many people asked her for favors, but I never did. Just being her friend was enough. Back in 2020, her ashes were supposed to go into the ocean in Asbury Park as part of her memorial celebration, but COVID restrictions did not permit. That part of the event was supposed to be rescheduled, but I don’t think it ever was. Instead, many of us celebrated her at a distance. We watched and heard remembrances from friends and family on a Zoom call, and immersed ourselves in some of the music that meant so much to her. It wasn’t what originally had been planned, but somehow, it was just what was needed. Holly would not have wanted “a big fuss” made over her anyway. Being at a Springsteen show on the most recent tour and knowing you were not going to see her was a jolt, another in a long list of reasons to always try to be present in the here and now, as Bruce always urges us to do – because really, you never know when that might be the last time you are hearing that music, dancing that dance, hugging that friend. Happy trails to you, Holly, until we meet again. Click here to read more about Holly Cara Price in her archived Backstreets.com obituary. And click here to enjoy - or re-enjoy - the moment when "Miss Holly!" received her special in-concert full-pelvic salute from Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, preserved for posterity in the Live in New York City film. (It's all cued up for ya!)

January 25, 2024 Next week, Monmouth University Public History Professor Melissa Ziobro, who also serves as Curator of The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University, will present a virtual lecture via Zoom. The lecture, entitled “Meet the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music,” will be presented on Tuesday January 30 at 7pm ET, and is hosted by The Princeton Preservation Group. Ziobro will provide an overview of the Archives' collection that features approximately 35,000 items dating from 1927 to present, the history of the collection, programmatic and exhibition efforts to date, and the ongoing efforts to stage a major traveling exhibit while planning for the 2026 museum opening in the Archives' new 30,000-square-foot building. Registration to view this online lecture is free and open to the public. Click here for more information, and to register to view the lecture via Zoom. Special thanks to Lisa Iannucci.

...with a special image and some very special music January 23, 2024 There they are... our two missing-in-action E Street Band blood-brothers, the Big Man and Phantom Dan, both of them January birthday-boys to boot. "He's with me every day," wrote Clarence Clemons of his good friend Danny Federici's passing in the memoir Big Man: Real Life and Tall Tales, "and he'll continue to be with me till the day I'm with him." Clarence also acknowledged Danny in the memoir as "my teacher and my friend. You always did things first. 'Chevy coma soma doma.'" (If you know, you know.) When I started my search for something special to remember our beloved Phantom on what would have been his 74th birthday, I came across the rarely seen photo above early on and knew right away that it would fit the bill perfectly. I like to think of these two smiling and laughing together like this right now, maybe sharing some inside joke in some other plane of existence, just before they jump back onstage for their next gig with that "hell of a band" described in The Righteous Brothers' classic "Rock and Roll Heaven." I also was fortunate enough to stumble recently upon a powerful, moving track featuring Danny, one that somehow I'd never heard before. In 1996, Danny appeared as a special guest performer on Video Dreams, a solo album released by Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders fame. Danny played on two of the album's eleven tracks. He played accordion on "Rouge on Blue" and Hammond organ on the album's closing track, a cover of Scott Kempner's anti-war song "Soldiers' Home." Kempner, a co-founder, songwriter, and key member of not one but two great rockin' bands - The Dictators and The Del-Lords - died last month, and Lindsay closed an episode of his American Revolution show on SiriusXM's Underground Garage channel with his version of "Soldiers' Home" in tribute to Kempner. Danny's accordion work on "Rouge on Blue" is beautiful, of course, but man... that organ-playing on "Soldiers' Home..." It helps greatly that Scott Kempner wrote such a good, melodic rocker. Originally written and recorded for The Del-Lords' 1986 album Johnny Comes Marching Home, it's presumably set in one of the few remaining campuses of The Armed Forces Retirement Home For Soldiers. Although the song is almost forty years old now, and Lindsay's recording of it is almost thirty, the scene and the sentiments related by "Soldiers' Home" remain all too relevant to our current circumstances, unfortunately. Snow is lightly falling outside and a Christmas tree is standing in the soldiers' home's parlor, so maybe it's Christmastime, but it's just as plausible that it's a bit later in January, like it is right now, and somebody either hasn't gotten around to taking down the decorations just yet or has chosen deliberately to leave them up a little longer. In any case, we find ourselves standing amidst a group of veteran warriors "...old boys from The Big One, and the younger ones from 'Nam, all happy to be together...as brothers-in-peace, no longer brothers-in-arms." They begin singing together around that tree, over and over... "Dear Lord above, for what it's worth, We at the old soldiers' home pray for peace on Earth. No more war, never no more. Bring 'em all home..." When you hear Danny's Hammond organ kick in to join all of that singing, once again The Phantom sneaks up from nowhere and begins tearing your heart apart. Then he gets it to beat again with renewed purpose and power... just like he always did (and still does) on Springsteen records like "Racing in the Street," "Fade Away," and "You're Missing." Happy Birthday and rest in peace, Danny. Thanks again for all of the music and inspiration; here's to our eventually forging some sorely needed peace right here on Earth, too. As of this writing, Mark Lindsay's 1996 recording of "Soldiers' Home," featuring Danny Federici, is officially available only at this link (click here) to purchase the Video Dreams album on which it appears.

January 21, 2024 It was all cold down along the Asbury Park, NJ boardwalk this weekend, and that meant it was Light of Day Foundation's Winterfest time again. As has been the case for several years, however, last night's "Main Event" (aka "Bob’s Birthday Bash") took place in nearby Red Bank, NJ’s Count Basie Center for the Arts. The temperature hovered in the low twenties outside, but inside, the atmosphere was warm and celebratory. The 24th-anniversary event was high-energy and fast-paced, and the music menu leaned heavily on R&B influences and sixties/seventies classics, with just a dash of eighties indie rock. The lineup included two of the artists who kicked off Winterfest 2024 last Thursday night: Williams Honor and Fantastic Cat. Williams Honor also crossed paths onstage with Light of Day (LOD) President Joe D'Urso, who in addition to contributing musically to the evening, helped to sell some fundraising LOD merch with former LOD President (and current Asbury Park Press reporter) Jean Mikle, as well. Most artists thanked the audience for supporting LOD, and made sure to mention the reason for the benefit, reminding them that for those who live with these illnesses, ALS, PSP and Parkinson’s are not abstractions. They are people’s reality, and not something to be taken lightly. Indeed, this year, the show opened with a brief set of classic rock standards from ParkinSINGs, a “therapeutic choir” of individuals with Parkinson’s that uses vocal performances as both physical therapy and social/emotional support. The innovative program was developed by the Hackensack Meridian JFK Johnson Rehabilitation Institute in Edison, New Jersey. Also on the minds of many of the performers was longtime Light of Day artist Jesse Malin, who suffered a spinal stroke that resulted in lower body paralysis early last year. Malin, who has undertaken an intensive rehabilitation program in hopes of regaining mobility, has been a stalwart performer with Light of Day, often heading overseas for European events. Remember Jones - complete with flashing neon sign as a backdrop - was his usual ebullient self. Stalking the stage in high heeled sneakers and a lime green and magenta lamé suit, he and his band played with an unabashed joy and freedom that dared the audience not to join in the festivities. Jones’ sets usually include a well-chosen cover, and this year it was a spirited version of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” during which he reminded the audience not to forget the mission of Light of Day. And then there was Dramarama and its enigmatic lead vocalist John Easdale. Prowling the stage in a cowboy hat and long black coat like a Wild West villain, he was a menacing and mesmerizing presence, belting out the anthemic “Anything Anything” as though his life depended on it. Next came the barely controlled mayhem of Low Cut Connie, with lead singer Adam Weiner bounding from the top of his piano to the lip of the stage and back,  jumping into the audience to terrorize unsuspecting attendees and generally whirling like a dervish for much of his twenty-minutes set. Supported by the magnetic Johnny Pisano on bass, Light of Day veteran Willie Nile brought attendees to their feet as always, closing out his set with “One Guitar,” and founding LOD artists Joe Grushecky & the Houserockers turned in their usual crowd-pleasing set of blues-based rock’n’roll, the highlight of which was a rousing cover of The Animals” “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” Acoustic acts were solid throughout the evening, with the effervescent Lisa Bouchelle and LOD newcomer Joe P (Joe Parella, of the now-defunct Deal Casino) turning in lively solo sets that kept folks engaged during breaks between the bands. Closing out the night was Max Weinberg’s Jukebox. (In this instance, Max's supporting band was another group of local heroes, The Weeklings.) The Mighty One had the Jukebox going strong, with the usual audience selections leaning heavily on chestnuts from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones before rounding out the evening as the “house band” for the celebration of LOD founder Bob Benjamin and the traditional all-hands-on-deck concluding performance of the event’s Springsteen-penned "theme song." This year's group-sing of "Light of Day" was preceded by an additional ensemble performance: Jesse Malin's "Brooklyn," as one more way of sending some extra love and support in his direction, too. Check out this video of the moment, courtesy of longtime Light of Day supporter and publicist Sammy Steinlight, followed by videos of several other highlights of the evening, also courtesy of Sammy: The evening as a whole felt like a bit of a throwback to an era when rock’n’roll demanded both your full attention and your physical participation, when people actually had to go to bars to socialize and listen to music, when seeing a band in person really meant something. The unbridled joy with which the bands performed last night was truly infectious. Indeed, many of them came up when performing was never about “likes” or “views,” but putting on a good show, about the power of music to heal. For an evening that, perhaps more than usual, seemed to be about driving out of the darkness and towards the light, it was a perfect fit. All photographs by Mark Krajnak; used with permission. Click here to follow Mark and his work on Instagram.

January 22, 2024 Happy 75th Birthday, and best wishes for many, many more Happy Birthdays ahead, to the E Street Band's original drummer, Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez. "You cannot imitate the style of Vincent Lopez," said Bruce Springsteen at last October's 50th Anniversary Of The Release Of The Wild, The Innocent & The E Street Shuffle symposium. "It simply can't be done." As many fans can attest after a first-hand, in-person encounter with Vini, over the years he's also matured into one of the gentlest, kindest, and most personable figures in rock-and-roll, about as far from his legendary "Mad Dog" nickname as one could get. Until he starts attacking his drum kit, that is. To celebrate this landmark birthday, here's your moment of "Lopez zen" from an event that also will celebrate its own landmark birthday a bit later this year, when it officially turns ten years old. The April 10, 2014 induction of the E Street Band - including, of course, its original drummer - into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame featured performances from Springsteen leading a rare configuration of his legendary band, with both Vini Lopez and Max Weinberg on drums. Below is official Hall of Fame video of the first song they played that night, "The E Street Shuffle," the title track of the second and final Springsteen album to feature Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez on drums. And Mad Dog certainly pounded those skins that night like it was '73 all over again. (In case you're wondering, this video hasn't been cut. This is the complete performance of "The E Street Shuffle" from that night, but as you can hear Bruce tell the band, he decided to skip the song's second verse and jump straight "to the bridge!") Enjoy, all you E Street brats. Happy Birthday and many, many more, Mad Dog!

January 19, 2024 Our contributing photographer Mark Krajnak checks in with his photo-report from last night's kickoff event for Light Of Day Winterfest 2024: LOD Winterfest 2024 officially kicked off on Thursday night at the historic Asbury Lanes when a dozen strummers and fiddlers and singers and even a Fantastic Cat - oh, my! - took the stage. Despite the bitter cold and the icy conditions - and the threat of another approaching snowstorm - the place was packed with folks looking to get the LOD weekend started early. Asbury Park, NJ’s own Jarod Clemons kicked it all off with a bluesy-based set that included his version of a song made famous by his late father, the immortal Clarence "Big Man" Clemons: "You’re A Friend of Mine." The night alternated between bands on the main Lanes stage and the soloists “in the round” so to speak – playing with just their guitars. Following Jarod, the crowd enjoyed performances from Jake Thistle, Emily Grove, Lisa Bouchelle & The Bleu, The Adam Ezra Group, Bob Polding, Pete Mancini, Dave Vargo, Williams Honor (including James Maddock, Bobby Mahoney, and Johnny Pisano,) and Fantastic Cat. Tom Cunningham, who hosts Springsteen On Sunday at 107.1 The Boss, emceed the event, with a number of other local celebs and luminaries in attendance, including Light of Day's Executive Director Tony Pallagrosi, John Easdale of Dramarama, and rock photographer Danny Clinch. A great night of music inside to kick off one of the best music weekends of the year. Stay tuned for more Letters To You coverage of Light of Day Winterfest 2024, including tomorrow night's "Main Event: Bob [Benjamin]'s Birthday Bash" at Red Bank, NJ's Count Basie Center for the Arts. All photographs by Mark Krajnak; used with permission. Click here to follow Mark and his work on Instagram.

An exclusive interview with Letters To You January 15, 2024 (Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday and U.S. Federal Holiday) Two weeks ago, on New Year's Day, ABC broadcast an edited version of last November's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. (The edited version is now available to stream on Hulu, too, while the full-length version remains archived at Disney+, where it first was streamed as it happened last fall.) As we at Letters To You reported last November, Jake Clemons and Tom Morello - both African-Americans, one present E Street Band member and one past - made significant appearances at the ceremony, with Morello actually getting inducted as a member of Rage Against The Machine (while sitting at a table with fellow Hall Nominating Committee member and Hall of Famer Stevie Van Zandt.) It was a historic induction ceremony, as it was not only the first Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony to be streamed live in its entirety, but also the first to be held since Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation co-founder/board-member and legendary Rolling Stone publisher/editor Jann Wenner was removed from the Foundation's board after making racist and sexist comments in last September's New York Times interview. The ceremony played out very much as a conscious, public response to the Wenner scandal, with a heightened focus on the contributions of African-American and female inductees, along with an appreciation of diversity embedded throughout the evening. In addition to the E Street Band members' involvement in the ceremony, Bruce Springsteen's longtime manager, production collaborator, and friend Jon Landau found himself in the media spotlight thrown on the aftermath of the Wenner controversy last fall. Landau, also a close friend of Wenner's, a former (and brilliant) writer/critic for Rolling Stone and other publications, a longtime Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation board-member, and a Hall of Fame inductee himself, cast the only vote other than Wenner's in opposition to removing Wenner from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation's board. Landau issued this public statement explaining his vote: “Jann’s statements were indefensible and counter to all the Hall stands for. It became clear that the vote to remove him from the board would be justifiably and correctly overwhelming. My vote was intended as a gesture in acknowledgment of all that he had done to create the Hall in the first place.” Enter Corey Glover, lead singer of the groundbreaking New York-based hard-rock band Living Colour, all of the members of which are African-American. The entire band, including Glover, already had been among the first musicians to respond to Wenner's comments, with a very powerful and eloquent collective statement. Glover then issued his own individual response to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation board's vote to remove Wenner, as well as Jon Landau's public statement about it, which read, "Mr. Landau and [current Board] members... the gesture of removing Jann Wenner is appreciated and appropriate. While you and your colleagues state that in no uncertain terms, diversity is of your utmost concern, we would prefer to see those words put into action. Saying something without doing anything is an empty gesture. I'd like to suggest a public forum to discuss these ideas. Understanding the issue and doing something about it is a necessity. Perhaps a round table on the grounds of the RRHOF or the National Museum of African American History and Culture might be appropriate? I would further propose that changes of fundamental policies within the infrastructure of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame be implemented. As Keith Richards once said, talk is cheap." We recently connected with Corey Glover to dive more deeply into his public statement, as well as the changes he'd like to see implemented in the wake of Jann Wenner's ouster. Glover began by telling us what had inspired him to make his own individual follow-up statement, after first issuing the full-band statement with his colleagues in Living Colour. "It was after the vote to oust Jann," said Glover, "Jon Landau's bit about... We all knew he was gonna be gone, and Landau just wanted to acknowledge all the stuff Jann had done. I found that ironic, because the Hall wouldn't exist if people Jann denigrated - really - had not done what they had done. He wouldn't have had a job; he wouldn't have been sitting in his dorm room making a magazine. And for a while, we've been under the assumption that things were going to change...things regarding people's attitudes towards the music that they enjoyed, the art they regard as genius... that was going to change. With the advent of social media and the democratization of music, there was going to be something different. And it really isn't. For the most part, hard rock music is relegated to being secondary or tertiary to certain things. But the idea there was going to be some equity reserved in the sphere of music in general... it's not there. And it needs to be discussed. It's strange enough that the blues idiom has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. And in almost the blink of an eye, it has relegated itself to... this rebel music is now relegated to commercials. This anti-establishment idea has now become something that nobody really pays attention to. When there's so much more to it, there's so much more subtlety, and there's so much more nuance, and there's so much more to say about it than Bono. Bono is not the person you go to find out where it's going and where it's been. He's the recipient of its gifts; he didn't refine them... and Jann Wenner's supposition that he was more articulate... only to find out that the transcript of what he said had to be sent back to be refined... but you couldn't give that same kind of grace to Nina Simone, you couldn't give that kind of breath to Joni Mitchell... or Stevie Wonder? "What I'd like to see done... this is not a cosmetic 'We put another black person on the board.' That would be a start, but that's not enough. I think that there needs to be a fundamental attitude change. It's to really acknowledge that fact that you're not really dealing in the real world. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame does not deal in the real world. 'Cause the real world does not look like the board of however many white folks figuring out whether Snoop Dogg needs to be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I know some members on the Nominating Committee and it's like, 'Your name comes up, but it doesn't generate any heat.' And, at the end of the day, the process is a handful of people decide who's who. And that's the kind of thing that needs to change. It's not a democratic process, how these people are chosen." So far, the facts that we've been able to uncover - using the most recent data available to us at the time of publication - strongly support Glover's points about "the infrastructure" of the Hall, as well as "how these people are chosen." On the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation’s most recently filed (in 2023) IRS Form 990 - Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, thirty Board members were listed. Four were Board officers: President/CEO, Chairman, Secretary/Treasurer, and Executive Vice-President. All four Board officers listed were white men. The remaining twenty-six positions were identified simply as Directors. Eighteen of the names listed in those positions also were those of white men. (We also know that two of those white men no longer hold those positions: Jann Wenner, after his removal last September, and legendary Sire Records founder/CEO Seymour Stein, who died last April.) Only five listed Directors were women, all of them white. There were only two African-American Directors listed: Sony Music CEO Jon Platt and musician Pharrell Williams. (NOTE: Since the filing of the form, African-American musician/actor LL Cool J has joined the Board, as well, probably to fill Seymour Stein's vacated Director seat.) And the late, great musician Robbie Robertson, apparently the Board's sole Indigenous member, also served as a Director until his death last August. The list of Board members on the 2023 form also was overwhelmingly skewed towards older CEO/business/finance-types in its membership. Only three musicians were identified in the document as Board members, and one of them - Robbie Robertson - is now deceased. Things look a bit better on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's Nominating Committee, but not by much. The most recent (2023) version of the Committee contained twenty-eight members, sixteen of whom were white men. Only eight of the members were women, all of them white, and only four of the members were African-American. Less than half of all 2023 Nominating Committee members were music writers, critics, or journalists of some type, and less than a quarter of all 2023 Nominating Committee members were musicians. In his early-November 2023 New York Times interview, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame chair John Sykes said, "We have six more members now on the [Nominating Committee,] and we’ve been focusing on putting more women and people of color on the committee, because that’s how it starts." At this point it's still unclear if Sykes was referring to the 2023 version of the Committee or a newer version of the Committee that will address the 2024 inductee nominations, but in either case the addition of only six more Nominating Committee memberships - no matter who gets chosen to fill those positions - is unlikely to have a significant impact in and of itself on changing the older-white-male domination of the Nominating Committee that's in place already. Longtime listeners of E Street Radio also may recall a revealing live-on-air moment from 2016, which provided a much earlier indication that all was not well with the structure and process of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. During the October 19, 2016 broadcast of Live From E Street Nation, co-hosts Jim Rotolo and Dave Marsh (who was a longtime Nominating Committee member and still was on the Committee at that time) were discussing the just-announced list of nominees for the 2017 Induction Ceremony. "Yeah," said Marsh, "I saw a list [on RollingStone.com] that was not the list I remember from the meeting I attended... That's not the list we walked out with... We came out... with, instead of a fifteen-person list, a twelve-person list, on purpose... It's very odd, and what I think is maybe they had... There's never been a leak. This is a leak, but it's an inaccurate leak." Marsh then checked his email on-air to confirm, found that the list posted on RollingStone.com was indeed the officially announced list of nominees, and quickly made the following on-air resignation statement afterwards: "Well, okay... I'm off the Nominating Committee, guys, it looks like to me. I mean, I'm happy about some of this stuff, but this is... nineteen names. I didn't vote for a nineteen-name list. I don't know what's going on, but I don't have to now. I won't say anything further about what happened in that meeting, but I will tell you this... This wasn't it... The Board decided to expand the list of nominees; well then let the Board be the Nominating Committee. I'm really angry about this, and I have a right to be. Don't waste my time. I got two hands that still function; I can jerk myself off if I have to... They added names, almost doubling the list... Look, how many names are on the ballot goes to the issue of what percentage of what the [Nominating] Committee chose [actually gets voted in to be inducted.] What they did that really spits in our face, in my opinion, is they dilute everybody's chances of getting in by making it a bigger list than ever, and there's no advance notice of it. Why would they do that to people who volunteer, some of whom travel from as far away as Europe? Why would they do that, unless they want to just get rid of us? So fine; get rid of me." Corey Glover got to expand even further upon his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame comments after Lenny Kravitz recently weighed in publicly on the Jann Wenner controversy, as well. When asked about it in a late-November Esquire interview, Kravitz, like Living Colour and Corey Glover had done before him, expressed how deeply hurt he was by Wenner's comments. "It’s very disappointing,” said Kravitz, “and sad. I’ve known Jann since 1987. I’ve been to his house. In his life. I was disappointed. I was very disappointed. The statement alone, even if you just heard about the man yesterday, was appalling and embarrassing. And just wrong." But Kravitz then went on to address how a Black rocker like him has gotten dissed not just by the likes of Jann Wenner, but also by significant Black entertainment and cultural institutions. “To this day," said Kravitz, "I have not been invited to a BET thing or a Source Awards thing. And it’s like, here is a Black artist who has reintroduced many Black art forms, who has broken down barriers - just like those that came before me broke down. That is positive. And they don’t have anything to say about it?” After the Esquire interview was posted online, Kravitz tweeted a clarification and expansion upon the points he was trying to make: "It is important to me to set the record straight on recent media reports based on an interview I did. My black musical heritage means a lot to me, and I owe my success to my supporters who have taken this journey with me over the span of my career. The comment I made was not about 'black media' or the 'black community.' I was specifically referring to black award shows in particular. My comment was meant to express a concern about ensuring that black artists are being recognized for their work in what is now being called 'non-traditional' black music, which it is not. Rock and roll is the music we were instrumental in creating and is a part of our history. We must retain our heritage and celebrate that together. BET and countless others have paved the way for this type of recognition. I hope that by sharing my concern a spotlight will be shone on this issue. Love and peace." Shortly thereafter, on behalf of both himself and his bandmates in Living Colour, Corey Glover posted on social-media about their experiences, in support of Kravitz's points: "Living Colour throughout has made a conscious effort to make ourselves available to places like BET, The Source, etc. Mind you, this was happening simultaneously to us in the rock idiom. Their response to us usually was that we did not fit in their format. Ironic; that was the same response we got from the rock 'n roll/white entertainment organizations. Celebrating diversity in the entertainment field doesn’t start with the blues and end with hip-hop. There have been expressions in between. George Clinton/Parliament-Funkadelic, Fishbone, Tracy Chapman, Meshell Ndegeocello; even though there has been glancing acceptance of someone like Jimi Hendrix, rock's influence on the diaspora has very rarely been acknowledged. Lenny was right. None of us has been awarded, let alone acknowledged, for our achievements. [EDITOR'S NOTE: Just for the historical record, but not to dispute in any way Glover's essential points here, in addition to the induction of The Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1992, George Clinton/Parliament-Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.] Living Colour in the past has worked with such historical luminaries as Little Richard and Mick Jagger. We’ve worked with hip-hop royalty from Queen Latifah, Doug E. Fresh, Chuck D & Flavor Flav to Run-D.M.C. And yet there’s barely a mention of rock's contribution to what is modern black music, let alone in rock 'n roll circles. It’s been our experience that most people of color have no idea how deep and far-reaching the influence of Black people is in modern-day rock ‘n’ roll... let alone its impact on R&B and hip-hop. What we hear is 'That’s white people stuff' when in fact, it is not! It’s hard enough to live in places where you expect white supremacy, but not from your own people." The experiences related by artists like Lenny Kravitz and Corey Glover make it clear just how entrenched and complex the problems are. But that also makes Glover's call for the beginning of some honest, open dialogue and major structural/procedural changes all the more relevant and pressing. "I know that the way that it works does not work," Glover told us recently. "What's really sort of missing in this equation is a real conversation about it. There's nobody talking about what we need to do to make it better. There's a conversation that needs to be had. There's a conversation, a deeply substantive idea about what needs to happen, what needs to change. And maybe I don't have all the answers. But in the conversation, somebody will."

January 12, 2024 After last month's double-shot of official archival live recordings dropping on December 8 and December 22 (continuing the tradition of an extra "Christmastime surprise" drop,) speculation's been running high as to whether we'd see a return - however brief it might be, with the resumption of the current tour just over two months away now - to a monthly "First Friday" archival release schedule. While it took an extra week beyond this month's First Friday to arrive, today's release of July 23, 2013 Cardiff is a very encouraging sign indeed, with Live.BruceSpringsteen.net's official email blast referring to it as "the first Live Archive Series release of the year," strongly implying that there are at least a few more to come. In any case, July 23, 2013 Cardiff is a fantastic addition to the Live Archive Series. It was a great night on the second European leg of the Wrecking Ball Tour, filled with rarities including a one-night-only performance of "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" with special guest legend Eric Burdon, and a ragged but right "TV Movie" (with Bruce laughingly proclaiming afterwards, "You heard it first; you heard it last!") And of course, sound recorder John Cooper, mixer/masterer Jon Altschiller, and all at "Team Springsteen Sound" knock it outta the ballpark (or in this case, rugby/soccer stadium) once again. Click here to read Nugs/Columbia's Erik Flannigan's essay "Prime Time First Run" and click here to purchase July 23, 2013 Cardiff. If you're into streaming, you also may want to take advantage of Nugs' special $99.99/year streaming subscription offer, which will end next Wednesday, January 17. It gets you yearlong streaming-on-demand access to everything in Nugs' Springsteen live archives - including any and all yet-to-be-released titles from the current tour and past tours - as well as access to all other artists' Nugs offerings. Click here for details.

January 11, 2024 Happy Clarence Clemons Day 2024! We remember the Big Man - alive forever in our hearts, of course - on what would have been his 82nd birthday, with something very special from one of his more interesting and offbeat collaborators: California-based psychologist and musician Mark Fromm. Clarence's work with Mark is one of the best examples of how contemplative, different, and intellectual the Big Man's non-E Street Band endeavors often got. In the early 1990s, while Clarence was on hiatus from working with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Mark connected with him through vocal coach and singer Raz Kennedy. Mark explained to Clarence that he was both a psychologist and a musician, and that he was in the process of creating and recording a unique album that combined both of those interests. As Mark recently explained to us, "I told Clarence over the phone that I was giving public talks and media appearances as the 'Singing Psychologist' ('Singing Shrink' to my friends,) combining my songs with various life topics, and wanted to make an album about growing up, pursuing one's goals and dreams in any area, and generally doing what's called 'adulting' these days. Even though the title track of the album ended up being called Preparation of the Bridegroom, neither the album nor the title track are focused solely on preparing for a marriage, but more on preparing for adult life in general. "I invited Clarence to play on one of the album's tracks, 'Keys,' and he readily agreed. As a longtime fan of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band since the mid-1970s, especially after I first heard that legendary Bottom Line show on WNEW-FM while growing up in the New York City area, this was so exciting. The studio where we recorded was pretty small to begin with, and when he walked in, in person he seemed even 'larger than life' than he already was. "What made it all even better was just how professional and accommodating he was. He was willing to record many different takes, and try several different approaches to his sax solo, until we got it just right. It's a quality I've noticed in all of the great famous musicians with whom I've had the pleasure of working." Clarence originally was contracted only to play sax on one song, "Keys," but once he got to the studio he ended up adding a bit of a rapping-style vocal to "Keys," as well, and then contributed to the recording of two more tracks that ultimately didn't get included on Preparation of the Bridegroom. Preparation of the Bridegroom was released officially in 2023 and is currently available on most major streaming services, but to celebrate Clarence Clemons Day 2024, Mark has agreed to share with our readers exclusively a limited-time free download opportunity for a full CD-quality version of "Keys," the Preparation... track featuring Big Man wailing on sax, along with the legendary Maria Muldaur singing with Mark and Clarence. From today through Sunday, January 14, you can click below to download the AIFF file and enjoy the full CD-quality version. Also here, courtesy of Mark Fromm, are the complete credits for the track: "Keys" Mark Fromm - lead and background vocals Clarence Clemons - saxophone, lead vocal Maria Muldaur - lead and background vocals Peter Elman - piano and organ Jeff Stratton - electric guitar Alex Baum - bass David Rokeach - drums Produced by Mark Fromm Co-produced and engineered by Dennis Criteser Click here to download the free full CD-quality version of "Keys" (now through Sunday, January 14, only.) You also can order a full-quality physical CD version of the entire Preparation of the Bridegroom album, directly from Mark Fromm, by sending $18 (shipping and handling included) via PayPal to markfromm3@icloud.com In addition to "Keys," Preparation of the Bridegroom features thirteen more tracks. And in addition to Clarence Clemons and Maria Muldaur, other famous musicians who appear on the album include the late, great Rick Danko of The Band, folk singer and songwriter Eric Andersen, Pete Sears of Hot Tuna and Jefferson Starship, Nora Jones’ lead guitarist Adam Levy, Nina Gerber, Chris Webster, and Jonas Fjeld. Many thanks to our friend Mark Fromm for making this special free AIFF download opportunity available exclusively to our readers. Happy Clarence Clemons Day 2024, everyone!

TICKETS ON SALE TOMORROW (MONDAY, DEC. 18.) SEE DETAILS BELOW. December 17, 2023 "...[W]e’d stare out into the pitch-black nothing of the Atlantic, with only the distant sparkling lights of night-charter fishing boats revealing the horizon line. We’d listen to the ocean waves crashing rhythmically on the shore far behind us, the sea lapping against the rocks onto our bare and sandy feet. You could hear a Morse code, a message moving in over that great black expanse of water... with the stars burning the night sky bright above us, you could feel it... something British this way comes." -Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run "The Beatles changed the world literally overnight. There were no bands in America on February 8, 1964. There was one in every garage on February 10." -Stevie Van Zandt, Unrequited Infatuations The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music has announced that it will hold a one-day symposium at Monmouth University on Saturday, February 3, 2024. Entitled Get Back... To 1964, the symposium will get a bit of a jump-start on celebrating the 60th anniversary of the event that launched popular music's "British Invasion:" the February 9, 1964 appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. “The arrival of The Beatles in February 1964 profoundly changed the course of American music,” said Bob Santelli, the Archives/Center's Executive Director. “They inspired musicians here from New York to San Francisco and brought to rock & roll brand new ideas as to how the music could be made.” “The Beatles transformed American music, fashion, and culture. Their mop-top hair styles, Beatle boots and mod clothing became an overnight obsession in the 1960s,” said Eileen Chapman, the Archives/Center's Director. “They encouraged the younger generation to take a deeper look at what was happening in the world.” The day-long event will include panel discussions, interviews, book signings, and musical performances of early Beatles’ songs performed by regional musicians. Scheduled participants include Beatles’ authors Ken Womack (Living the Beatles Legend) and Bruce Spizer (The Beatles Please Please Me to With The Beatles); radio personalities Dennis Elsas and Tom Frangione of SiriusXM's The Beatles Channel; and musician Jim Babjak of The Smithereens. The symposium, which is open to the public, will be held in the auditorium of Monmouth University’s historic Great Hall, located in West Long Branch, NJ. Tickets are $64 each and will go on sale tomorrow, Monday December 18, at 12pm ET in-person at the Monmouth University Box Office in the Ocean First Bank Center and online here.